Tenchi-Muyo! Ryo-ohki: Earth and Sky - Heavens by Achariyth A word to the wise, TM!R: Earth and Sky is a fanfiction series inspired by the OAV series. Although set sometime after OAV 13, Earth and Sky will probably incorporate elements of the TV series, Shin Tenchi, and Midsummer's Eve as well. Tenchi and company are owned by AIC and distributed by Pioneer. Fusion, _Starchaser's_ ship design, and the Fish are the property of David Feintuch. Any other references to other authors' works are intentional, and do not belong to me. Part One: "Captain. We are set to Defuse in ten minutes, sir." a Lieutenant reported from his console on the bridge of _Starchaser_, scoutship for a ravenesque race that called itself Crebain. _Starchaser_ was the one of the first of the Crebain's newest class of interstellar exploration vessels and only the second to incorporate the new Fusion faster-than-light drive. She set out from their home planet with the mission to explore nearby systems, and to establish contact with any sufficiently advanced culture. After exploring each system, _Starchaser_ would release a Fusion probe to return to the home system. Four years and three systems later, her crew had yet to see the halfway point of their mission. The _Starchaser's_ Captain, a Crebain considerably larger in stature and darker in his jet black plumage than his crew, nodded in response. He was trying not to let his crew see just how impatient he was to Defuse. Eighteen months of the starlessness and tedium of Fusion had dampened his spirits, as well as those of his crew. Now, just the thought of seeing stars again, made his pulse quicken with anticipation. Ordering all sections to Defusion stations, the Captain turned again to the simulscreen. He wondered if this system had intelligent life. The odds against that were rather high. None of the nine systems explored by Crebain ships held a creature more advanced than boneless fish. This new system would be the tenth, and of those ten, _Starchaser_ had scouted four. Still, the possibility existed. Maybe the culture would be sufficiently advanced and benevolent enough to replace _Starchaser's_ cursedly slow Fusion drive with something more efficient. Slowly, the ship's chronometer ticked down to zero. At zero, the Captain traced an arc on his control display and _Starchaser_ Defused. In an instant, she* stopped riding the N-wave she used to sail at faster then light speeds and reappeared in normal space somewhere between Jupiter and Saturn. The only indication of _Starchaser's_ return to normal space that the crew could notice was the sudden reappearance of stars when one looked out a viewport. After Defusion, the Captain scanned his status map of his ship. Containing a two-dimensional rendering of _Starchaser_, the map relayed to the officer on the bridge the status of every section of the ship. Although pleased with his crew's readiness, the Captain could not help but to wonder about the design of the ship. _Starchaser_, unlike other Crebain ships, was designed around the specifications her Fusion drive mandated. This resulted in a ship than looked like a stubby pencil with three foam disks attached roughly around the halfway point of said pencil. Compared to the more elegant avian lines of more typical Crebain ships, _Starchaser_ and her sisters were downright ugly. With Defusion accomplished, the Captain began barking orders to deploy sensor probes to scout the Sol system. The crew scurried about, executing their Captain's orders as rapidly and efficiently as possible. It would be at least four hours until the sensor probes began relaying useful information about the system. *I'm using the American tradition of referring to ships as female throughout the series. * * * Somewhere inside the regional Galaxy Police Headquarters closest to the Sol system, a sensor technician's display flashed red. Automatically, the tech queried the computer for the cause of the alarm. "Commander, an unknown ship has entered the Sol System." The Commander, a member of the leonid species that seemed to make up a good portion of the Galaxy Police personnel, pondered the new development. "What is the ship's name and registry?" "The ship does not appear to have standard Galactic transponders, sir. I'll check to see if the ship's design is in our computers." The Commander nodded in approval. He enjoyed working with his staff, especially since they acted on their own initiative, not waiting to be ordered to do a task. "How long will that take, Ms. Kochanski?" "An hour or so, sir," the tech replied. "But it looks like a new class of ship. Could be space pirates, smugglers, or a new interstellar-capable species." "Keep me posted on this ship. If it so much as moves a laser turent, I want to know. Move a Sentry satellite closer to provide us more information. Hopefully it's a new species and not a band of space pirates." * * * "Oh, Kiyone!" an eternally cheerful voice sang out somewhere behind Detective First Class Kiyone Makibi. Kiyone grimaced, as she usually did when her partner called for her. "Yes, Mihoshi?" she replied, resigned to her fate. Detective First Class Mihoshi Kuramitsu was like a little child at times, and like any little child, she often wanted to buy stuff, visit places, and do things that Kiyone would rather not deal with. Unfortunately for her partner, she also could talk Kiyone into doing almost anything, no matter how hard Kiyone resisted. It did not matter that Kiyone tended to enjoy herself on Mihoshi's outings, she still held a sense of foreboding whenever Mihoshi called. Kiyone was the newest of a series of alien women who had, through one way or another, taken up residence at the Masaki house. Having been repartnered to Mihoshi in an attempt to increase patrols in the Sol system in response to the increased activity in the area due to Kagato and Dr. Clay's successive violations of the non-combat zone surrounding Earth. Since Earth was still regarded as a Juraian colony, whether its people knew it or not, the Galaxy Police, who technically did not have jurisdiction over the area, had difficulty in sending Kiyone to Earth. Only after Emperor Azusa had realized that his daughters would have better protection did he allow the Galaxy Police to assign a sole "advisor" to assist (i.e. baby-sit) the sole existing Galaxy Police advisor in sovereign Juraian space (i.e. Mihoshi). Kiyone was chosen partially because she was the best of the younger generation of Galaxy Police, as well as Mihoshi's last partner. Mihoshi's grandfather chose Kiyone personally because he wanted someone he could trust to keep his granddaughter safe. Many detectives would have given their eyeteeth to be assigned to the Sol System, but Kiyone felt slighted. She perceived her assignment as a backwater system that dead-ended her career, feeling that she would be forgotten when promotions or reassignments were handed out. Needless to say, this did not help her fiery temper at all. "Can we go to the karoke bar again?" Mihoshi asked innocently. Karoke had become something of an obsession with the blonde policewoman. "No, we've already gone twice this week." Tenchi's father, Nobiyuki Masaki, made an excellent living as an architect. Considering that he had to support his father, his son, himself, six alien women, and one voracious cabbit, Nobiyuki was fortunate to have such a high paying job. With all those mouths to feed, the family budget was strained at best. Converting all the Masaki fields into carrot fields to feed the carrot-obsessed Ryo-ohki helped somewhat, but there was not much room for impulse buys, a specialty of Mihoshi's. Kiyone did not want to be a burden to the Masakis', so she was considering working part time to help out. After all, Galaxy Police credits just do not convert into yen, dollars, francs, or anything else on Earth. At one time, she had also thought about moving into a small apartment, but at part time wages, she would be hard pressed to make ends meet. "Please," Mihoshi begged, smiling and doing her best to get Kiyone to cave in. Kiyone was about to respond in her typically angry fashion, when she heard a commotion out in the backyard. "Ryoko, get off of me!" "Miss Ryoko, get away from Tenchi this instant! I demand it!" "Make me, Ayeka. Besides, if you haven't noticed this by now, Princess, this isn't Jurai. You can demand all you want, but I don't have to do anything," came Ryoko's reply. Then two voices resumed shouting at each other, each trying to best their rival for Tenchi's affection. Kiyone sighed again. Ryoko and Ayeka were fighting over Tenchi. Literally. For the third time today. Kiyone often wondered why Tenchi put up with the constant bickering and fighting of two powerful and very possessive women. She did not understand why he did not choose someone and be done. Mihoshi and Kiyone winced as an explosion further shattered the illusion of peace in the home. Kiyone silently prayed that something wrong had happened in Washu's lab, instead of Ayeka and Ryoko's argument escalating into blows. Then again, if he chose one of the girls, Kiyone had a suspicion the slighted rival, especially if it was Ayeka, would try to obliterate her rival for Tenchi's affections, and possibly even Tenchi if she was not careful. And woe to the Earth girl who might steal Tenchi's heart. Ryoko and Ayeka would tear her to pieces. Ultimately, it did not matter to Kiyone who won the "Great Tenchi Sweepstakes," just as long as the incessant fighting stopped. Having no desire to intervene in the present argument, Kiyone felt a sudden urge for karoke. And, since Mihoshi took her role as a peacekeeper a bit too seriously, Kiyone had mere seconds before Mihoshi would try unsuccessfully to break up the fight. "All right, Mihoshi. Let's go." Karoke is the lesser of two evils, Kiyone thought. "Yeah!" Mihoshi cheered enthusiastically. "Gee, Kiyone, usually you put up more of a fight. Are you feeling well?" "Yes. I just want some-" Kiyone was interrupted by another explosion, bigger than the last. "peace and quiet for once." "They do fight a lot." "Yes, they do." "Maybe we should stop them." Kiyone turned, grabbed Mihoshi's arm. "Come on, Mihoshi. Let's go!" She rushed out of the house, while Mihoshi tried frantically to catch up with her partner. * * * "Stop it! Both of you, stop fighting!" Tenchi shouted angrily at Ayeka and Ryoko. It astonished and infuriated him how frequently Ryoko and Ayeka fought over him. It also surprised him how many girls began to like him ever since he awakened Ryoko. He knew Ryoko, Ayeka, Tsunami, Washu, and Mihoshi all liked him. Sasami had a schoolgirl crush on him, and now that he was not home schooled anymore, he noticed that some of his female classmates were friendlier than usual. All this attention surprised Tenchi. After all, he did not consider himself a Don Juan, Casanova, or a Ranma Saotome. "Sorry, Tenchi," Ayeka apologized, turning away from Ryoko. "We didn't mean to upset you, Tenchi," Ryoko replied contritely. If it had been anyone else besides Tenchi asking her to stop fighting, Ryoko at best would have ignored the request. At worst, well, what kind of casket is used for a person who has just been disintegrated? Tenchi was grateful for the momentary peace and quiet However, the odds of it lasting more than a moment were very slim. The two rivals would probably fight over who started the argument. True to form, Ayeka rightly accused Ryoko of being the instigator of the latest argument, provoking a new round of fighting. Tenchi could only sigh in response. He sometimes wondered why the gods subjected him to this. If he asked, Tenchi believe the answer would be either "It amuses us," or "Because you anger me." He walked away from Ryoko and Ayeka, knowing he was unable to defuse the time bomb of their argument. "I think I'll go check on Sasami," he thought as he walked towards the house. Princess Sasami Masaki Jurai was the younger sister of Princess Ayeka, and also the "goddess"/Protector of Jurai Tsunami. While on Jurai, Sasami was mortally injured as a result of a fall inside Jurai's Royal Garden. Tsunami merged with Sasami, saving the young princess' life. Tenchi knew that Sasami had a crush on him. Sometimes he wondered if Tsunami liked him because Sasami did or vice versa. It was also unknown how much of Sasami's personality was Tsunami's or her own. Anyways, it would not be proper to ask Sasami any of these questions, and Tenchi was very proper. Tenchi reached out to open the door when it opened abruptly. Kiyone rushed through the door, inadvertently knocking Tenchi down to ground. Kiyone stopped running to see if Tenchi was okay before resuming her three kilometer dash. Mihoshi, on the other hand, tripped and fell onto Tenchi, landing in such a way that Ryoko would have given all her gems to switch places with Mihoshi. Kiyone groaned, fighting a futile battle against her anger. Mihoshi could be so clumsy sometimes. Relieved for once that Ryoko and Ayeka were occupied, Kiyone tried to separate Mihoshi and Tenchi, before a problem ensued. Ryoko and Ayeka fought each other like cats and dogs, but if another girl threatened to steal Tenchi from them, the two would turn on the rival, as Tsunami had found out. If either saw Mihoshi now, life would be... complicated... for everyone involved. Tenchi was trying his best not to blush. "Mihoshi, are you all right?" he asked, genuinely concerned. He also tried to sit up, hoping Mihoshi would get the subtle hint. Mihoshi just nodded, sitting up and, more importantly for her long term health, off of Tenchi. Normally she could talk to Tenchi, but there were times when she was unsure of her true feelings for him. Whenever this happened, she just couldn't speak without blushing and getting embarrassed. No matter how hard Kiyone tried, she still could not get Mihoshi to talk coherently about her feelings for Tenchi. "Come on, Mihoshi! We'll be late!" Kiyone hinted, glaring at Mihoshi impatiently. Then, turning to Tenchi: "Oh, I'm sorry about this," she apologized, as she helped her partner and the youngest Masaki back to their feet. "That's okay, Kiyone," Tenchi responded cordially. "We'll be back for dinner. Bye!" Kiyone said hurriedly, pulling Mihoshi behind her as she started running again. "Way, Kiyone! Slow down! Please!" Mihoshi panted. "Okay. Have fun!" Tenchi called after the rapidly disappearing two Galaxy Policewomen. "That's strange," he whispered to himself. "Usually its Mihoshi pulling Kiyone everywhere." He shrugged. "Go figure." He walked inside his house. "Good evening, Tenchi," Sasami greeted him between giggles. She tasted the dish she had been preparing for supper. It would seem unusual to have the youngest girl in the household be responsible for cooking meals for the Masaki's, especially since Washu, Mihoshi, Kiyone, and Nobiyuki all could do a respectable job at cooking. However, Sasami was the household's best cook, and she had assumed the role before the other girls had arrived on Earth. Somebody had to cook since Ayeka and Ryoko could barely hold their own (in more ways than one) against Akane Tendo's cooking and Nobiyuki often was needed at the office. Besides, Sasami did not mind at all. "Dinner, won't be ready for awhile." "Smells good, Sasami. Would you like some help?" Sasami smiled at Tenchi's compliment. "No, not right now." Sasami saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head, and found a humanoid Ryo-ohki climbing onto the table in attempt to reach one of the carrots Sasami would use to make supper. "No, Ryo-ohki! You'll ruin your supper!" Ryo-ohki, surprised by Sasami's outburst, lost her balance and tumbled, reverting to cabbit form in the process. She miya-ed in disappointment, then looked up at Tenchi with sorrowful eyes. "Not this time, Ryo-ohki. Maybe after dinner," Tenchi responded. The cabbit sighed, and scurried off towards the carrot fields. "Well, if you don't need my help, I'll be in my room studying." "Okay, Tenchi." Tenchi left the kitchen to go to his room, stopping to tip-toe quietly past the door of Washu's lab. He did not feel up to one of Washu's little "tests" that usually left him stripped down to his boxers and at Washu's mercy. One time she even asked for a sperm sample. Now Tenchi did not know much about such tests, but he was pretty sure the nurses that collected the samples did not collect them using hands-on assistance. Walking upstairs, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he entered his room to finish the night's homework. * * * "You've got two incoming, Echo-3. The green-haired model and the ditz," Echo-6 radioed. Mihai Tamarov, also known as Echo-3, grinned wryly. "Affirmative, Echo-6. Try to keep it down, though. I'm sure they head your last message, over." "Shut up you two and do your jobs," Echo-Leader admonished in a gruff voice. "Yes sir!" came the stereo response. Mihai settled down behind the bush he had picked as his post. This was the seventh stakeout he had participated in ever since he joined the United Nations Commission for the Search for Extraterrestrial Life on Earth, known in bureaucrat-ese as "Unsettled." Mihai had always thought that name sounded more like a digestive problem than a proper name for a secret service. Even "Men in Black" sounded better, as the more roguish operatives of the Commission called themselves after the American movie had been released. It just seemed fitting. Unsettled's stated mission was to find any alien creatures who might have taken up residence on Earth, and register them, after the aliens paid a fee. The fee usually was paid in technology, knowledge, or service. Any creature unwilling to pay the fee was escorted off planet, usually under the threat of annihilation. Sure, the Commission used strong arm tactics and violated many human rights in achieving their objectives, but where could the aliens take their complaints to? Mihai heard rustling. Crouching down low, he was able to see the two alphas, Unsettled radio slang for aliens, running frantically on a nearby path. The green haired one was pulling the blonde (in personality as well as color). A half-minute later, they disappeared from view. Mihai radioed to the next person in the surveillance network setup around the Masaki property. An idle part of his mind wondered what the green-haired one was like, once a person got to know her. Then he shook his head. That would not be professional of him, and could quite well get him killed if he ever had to fight her. At least Mihai could take solace in the fact that this mission had gone better than the others he had worked on lately. There had been a half dozen false alarms, such as the Nerima district, and the Tomobiki fiasco had soured Echo Sqaud's morale. It had taken a month for the last of the squad to recover from wounds due to electrocution. Mihai twitched slightly in remembrance of that failed encounter as he prayed that this would not be a repeat performance. One of the alphas was known to hurl energy blasts when she was angered. But if things went well, there would be promotions, generous bonus pay, and at least six alphas from which Unsettled could glean technology from. "Tamarov, pull back. Now!" the squad leader growled urgently on the radio. Mihai's eyes widened. His commanding officer never used last names except in an emergency, such as being discovered by a target. Swearing in Romanian under his breath, he bid a stealthy, but hasty, retreat from his position alongside the road. "What did I do now?" he wondered silently. From a location unseen by Mihai, but visible to his commanding officer, Ryo-ohki sat, watching the Romanian move out of view. She miya-ed softly, then scampered off in search of a carrot to eat. * * * Washu scanned the link data Ryo-ohki had acquired for her today. Filtering the information past Ryoko's link with Ryo-ohki had been difficult, but rewarding,. Washu, using Ryo-ohki as her "camera", had been spying on the intruders since she had first discovered them about three weeks ago. It was a welcome distraction from her most frustrating project, the trigger to Tenchi's conscious control over the Light Hawk Wings. She knew that placing Tenchi in mortal danger allowed him to use the Wings, almost if there was a force whose sole goal was preserving Tenchi's life. However, there must be a way for him to generate the Light Hawk Wings on command. The seemingly contradicting data frustrated and baffled the supergenius, something she did not handle well. Therefore, she was almost relieved when the Unsettled scout team began their reconnaissance of the Masaki house. "What is this?" the self-proclaimed greatest mind in the galaxy thought out loud. She saw Kiyone and Mihoshi running along a path, while a camouflaged and hooded figure watched silently. Then the figure retreated hastily. "Wonder why he did that?" she mused silently. "Well, at least he isn't following Kiyone and Bubblehead. Still, I guess I should warn them soon." By this point, only Washu and Yosho knew of the intruders. Until Washu knew more about why they were here, Yosho had decided not to cause Tenchi and the others to worry needlessly, preventing Ryoko from taking out her feelings on the intruders as well. At the same time, Washu had began preparing traps similar to the one currently installed on Tenchi's door. "His retreat indicates military training. Hmm. I doubt the Self Defense Force makes house calls," Washu dictated to her computer. Typing away on her holocomputer, she accessed the UN's computer network. Noting certain sections were either encrypted or restricted, she loosed her special hacking programs to break the electronic seals. Five minutes later, the United Nations most secure files had been breached. The five linked planets that comprised Washu's lab held an astonishing amount of computing power, more that enough to breach any security system. However, since much of the United Nation's files were encrypted, Washu would still have a hard time sifting the files for relevant information. It had to happen sometime. Washu was only surprised that it had not happened earlier. After all, Earth was rather xenophobic in nature. Popular shows like _Independence Day_, _Alien_, _X-Files_, _Macross_, and _War of the Worlds_ seemed instruct all Terrans, as some Earth writers had dubbed their race, not to trust anyone from another world since the intruder was more than likely to try to take over the planet, slaughtering many humans in the process. Washu snickered derisively at that thought. These silly humans would have been enslaved within a year if Washu wanted. All she had to do was create an army of Ryoko clones. However, after Kagato had captured and controlled Ryoko, Washu had sworn she would never make another Ryoko. The destruction one unit could cause was enormous. That and Ryoko could be so ill-tempered at times. Washu loved science, learning, and the joy of creation, not power. Oh well, yet another idea that will never happen. When Washu had joined the Masaki household, she quickly realized that sooner or later someone would figure out that most of the household were not Terran. The remote location helps negate Ryoko's energy barrages and the stream of spacecraft that the house always seemed to attract. Everyone's humanoid bodies helped camouflage their alien origin, even if most of the girls, with the exception of Mihoshi, had Technicolor hair. Sooner or later, their secret would be out, filling the area around the Masaki household with gawking tourists, paparazzi, _Enquirer_ journalists, scientists, and other less scrupulous persons. The relative peace of Tenchi and his family and friends would be shattered forever. Fortunately, this was just conjecture, up to now. Instead of paparazzi lurking around the house, there were trained paramilitary personnel, increasing the gravity of the situation exponentially. If it had been paparazzi, Washu would have let Ryoko deal with them. Earth would have fewer paparazzi and Ryoko would be more cheerful, making the universe a happier, much safer place in the process. But fry a few troops, and the hills would be swarmed by vengeful and well-armed comrades. Sometimes Washu wished she could have the innocence and countenance of Mihoshi. A few seconds after that thought, she would reprimand herself for drinking too much sake. "Oh, well. Time to tell Yosho today's news," she said after implementing a text search program. She then left her lab, beginning the long walk to the shrine. * * * "Thank you very much, Kumashiro-san," Tenchi said before he hung up his phone. He had recently re-enrolled in a nearby public school. Since he was having some difficulty completing his homework, he had called a classmate, one Sakuya Kumashiro, for help. Two hours later, the two of them had spent more time chatting than discussing their homework. Tenchi looked at his clock and sighed. Sakuya had helped somewhat, but now he had to hurry and finish his homework before Ryoko interrupted him. "Back to work," he thought aloud, as he sat down at his desk. He picked up his pencil and read the first problem. But before he could start writing, he heard a knock on his door. "I'm never going to get this done," he groaned, as tears of frustration flowed. Regaining his composure, he called out, "What is it?" The door opened, and Ayeka stuck her head into the room. "Tenchi, dinner is ready," Ayeka answered pleasantly. "Thank you, Miss Ayeka." Tenchi stood up and walked with Ayeka downstairs to the dinner table. He sat down next to a jealous Ryoko, who glared at Ayeka. Giggling as she spoke, Sasami greeted Tenchi and Ayeka, bidding them to eat. Kiyone and Mihoshi were devouring Sasami's latest meal, a Juraian pasta served with a chicken Caesar salad. Lately, Sasami had begun to experiment with European recipes in addition to the Juraian and Japanese dishes she had already learned. She was anxiously awaiting her mother's next visit so she could share some of her favorite Earth dishes. Washu and Yosho, in direct contrast to the Galaxy Policewomen, just picked at their meal haphazardly. They seemed to be preoccupied with something. This struck Tenchi as odd, for his grandfather and Washu were two of the most confident and unflappable people he had ever met. This did not bode well. Tenchi made a mental note to ask Washu about what was bothering her. The meal proceeded quietly, as Yosho and Washu's discomfort settled upon everyone present. Even Ayeka and Ryoko were silent, although this did not prevent them from glaring at each other. Ayeka was upset that Ryoko sat so close to Tenchi. Then again, if Ryoko was within two feet of Tenchi, Ayeka grew jealous. "Thank you, Sasami. Dinner was excellent," Tenchi praised Sasami, in an effort to break the unusual silence lingering around the table. Sasami smiled, basking in Tenchi's praise. Part of the reason she worked so hard in the kitchen was to please Tenchi. If he left, chances were that the other girls diet would suffer as a result. The others echoed Tenchi's sentiment, grateful to have something to talk about. The meal ended soon afterwards, and everyone dispersed. Tenchi walked upstairs to attempt to finish his homework before Ryoko decided poke her head in his room. Silently, he gave thanks that Ryoko had not overheard his conversation with Sakuya. End of part 1 Send all C&C to Achariyth@AOL.com