Tenchi Muyo is the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  The author
owns only the writing.

The Last Avatar: Part 6
The Day of Salvation



	Mihoshi whimpered as she came to.  She could hear the sound
of cloth fluttering in the wind.  She opened her eyes but quickly
shut them as unexpected rays of light caused a flash of pain in her
head.  She tried again and allowed her eyes to adjust.  She was
lying under a tree, resting on a bed of soft grass.  She tried to
move her hand to her head, to try to stop the pounding, but nearly
cried out in pain.  She couldn't move her arm.
	Looking down, she found it a sickly purple.  It was fair bet
it was broken.  She looked up and saw the Mahotsukai's escape pod
not far away, the blue and gold GP parachute connected to it was
still flapping in the breeze.
	She detected movement nearby and turned her head.  Kiyone
was lying on the grass near the pod, apparently unconscious.  The
movement came from a  person kneeling over her body.
	Whoever it was wore a sky blue cloak and hood.  He was
checking Kiyone's injuries.  He was facing away from her, so she
couldn't see his face.
	The figure paused, seeming to sense that he was no longer
alone.  He turned and pulled the hood back, facing her.  Mihoshi
stared at his face.  It was a young man looking at her.
Reddish-brown hair covered his head.  He smiled.
	"Don't be afraid," he told her.  "We won't hurt you."
	For some reason, Mihoshi found herself immediately believing
this man.  She looked at Kiyone, and he seemed to almost read her
mind.
	"She'll be okay.  A few bumps, but it looks like you took
the worst of it.  Try not to move."
	Mihoshi nodded.
	The man looked up at the trees and called out.  "Azaka!
Amara!  Over here!  I found them!"
	Mihoshi watched as two more figures appeared from the trees.
One wore a sky blue cloak the exact same shade as the red-haired man.
The other figure, the figure who was now approaching Mihoshi, wore
a dark blue robe.  Mihoshi looked up at her and found the face of a
smiling, brown-haired woman looking down at her.
	"Hello," the woman said, with a reassuring smile.  She kneeled
next to Mihoshi and reached out, gently touching the GP's broken
arm.  Mihoshi winced.  "Oh, my!  That looks painful!"
	"It is!"  Mihoshi blubbered.
	The woman reached into the folds of her robe and took out a
canteen and a wash cloth.  "Hold still, child," she intstructed.
	Mihoshi watched as the woman poored water from the canteen
onto the wash cloth.  The woman took the cloth in both hands and
looked down at Mihoshi.  "Would you like something to bite on?"
she asked.  Mihoshi blinked.  "I'm afraid this is going to hurt a
great deal."
	"Um...No?"  Mihoshi answered uncertainly.
	The woman suddenly latched onto Mihoshi's arm, pressing the
wash cloth into it.  Mihoshi screamed in pain as her wounded arm was
squeezed by the clutches of this woman.  Tears ran down her face.
The woman's eyes were closed.  She appeared to be whispering
something.
	Through the pain, Mihoshi began to feel something else.  It
was like a dull throbbing in her arm, followed by the feeling of
pins and needles, as if her arm had been asleep.  Her screams began
to subside as the pain drifted away.
	Finally, the woman pulled the cloth away and smiled.  Mihoshi
blinked in shock.  Her arm didn't hurt anymore.  She wiggled her
fingers.  She could move it again.  "Wow!  How did you do that!?"
Mihoshi asked, amazed.
	The woman smiled.  "Such is the power of Tsunami's divine
grace."
	"Oh,"  Mihoshi replied as if she understood.  "By the way,
my name is Mihoshi.  How do you do?"
	The woman smiled.  "My name is Amara Dayne."

	Washu winced and opened her eyes.  Three feet down, the floor
stared back at her.
	"Unfamiliar floor," she whispered.
	She tried to move, but looking up, she found that her hands
were held above her head, encased in some kind of dark, purple
crystal.  Looking "down," she found that she was encased up to her
waist in a similar crystal.
	A mechanical whine sounded out, and suddenly, she began to
move, her body rotating up so that she was no longer facing the floor.
As her view moved up, she saw a man  in black standing nearby,
scanning her with something.  He made a few notes and turned away.
Washu squinted, trying to figure out  what was happening to her.
She tried to teleport away or summon her holotop but something was
blocking her powers.  She looked up at the crystals again and saw
them glowing with every attempt she made to use her powers.
	<So that's it,> she thought.
	She began to turn again, and soon she was facing another
horrific sight.
	"Ryoko!"
	Ryoko was being held against the trunk  of a black tree by
crystals, just as Washu was.  She got a good look at her unconscious
daughter.  She was bruised and cut, and her hands had been severed.
Washu took a moment to wonder why they had not regenerated.  She
figured the crystals binding Ryoko must have been preventing her
from using her own powers the way they were preventing Washu from
using her hers.  Then she saw something else that made her blood
run cold.
	Ryoko's gem was missing.
	Her main source of energy was gone.
	Without that gem, she was nearly powerless.
	More black-clad men were scanning her, touching Ryoko's temples
with telepathic probes.
	Washu grinned triumphantly and called out to them.  "Forget
it, boys!  You won't be able to access  her mind.  I've seen to
that!"
	"Foolish bravado,"  a haunting, feminine voice  called from
seemingly everywhere at once.  The men were ignoring her.
	Washu paused.  "Who's there?"
	"Then again, it was always your arrogance that made you stand
out...dear sister."
	"Answer me!"  Washu called out.
	The voice laughed.  "You were clever, sister.  Very clever.
Dampening your memories to make it harder to find you.  Yes, very
clever.  But find you, I did.  Like I found Tsunami.  Like I found
her Avatar...and now yours."
	Vines from the tree snaked down from their branches and
wrapped around Ryoko, pulling her taut against the tree trunk.
Ryoko moaned in her sleep.
	"Stop it!  Leave her alone!"  Washu cried.
	"I knew I could never turn her Avatar," the voice continued.
"He was too...pure...too idealistic.  Much like her current Avatar,
it would seem...  But this one..."  A vine reached up and wrapped
around Ryoko's throat, but gently, almost like a caress.  "This one
knows pain."
	"Who are you?!"  Washu screamed.
	The voice laughed again.

	Ryoko opened her eyes.
	"Who are you?!"  she heard Washu shout, then a laugh, then
nothing.
	"Wha...Mayuka?!"  She looked from side to side and winced at
the pain involved.  She tried to move her hands, but they were bound
above her head.  She tried to see how tightly by wiggling her
fingers...
	Only to find she had no fingers to wiggle.
	"Ryoko!"
	She looked up and found Washu encased in some kind of crystal
not far away.  She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to
teleport out, but the more she tried, the weaker she became.
	"Don't, Ryoko!  Don't use your powers!  Your gem's gone!"
	Ryoko gasped and stopped.  Her gem?  Gone?  It came back to
her.  The fight in her living room.  She had brought her sword down
to turn a slash from one of those warriors, and another had cut her
hands off at the wrist while the blades had been crossed.
	She struggled in her bonds.  She couldn't see what she was
tied to, but it was rough against her back.
	"The demon, Ryoko,"  someone announced from her right.  She
turned and found a young man in a black robe approaching her.  The
other men and women in the room bowed to him respectfully.  He was
obviousy in charge here.
	"What did you do with Mayuka, you rat bastard!?"  she screamed
at him.
	The man didn't answer her.  Instead he leaned forward and
studied her intently.  "You don't recognize me, do you?"  he
commented quietly.  "It's what I expect.  I doubt that mass murderers
ever remember the countless millions they kill face by face."
	Ryoko grit her teeth.
	He smiled at her.  "I'll give you some time to think on it,"
he told her.
	"And just who are you anyway, hmmm?!"  Washu demanded.
	The dark priest turned to her.  "You wanna know?" he asked
gamely.  He smiled.  "You have a link with your daughter, do you
not?"
	Washu didn't answer.
	He turned back to Ryoko.  "So I think I'll let you see for
yourself."  He reached out and touched Ryoko's forehead while she
struggled.  Ryoko's eyes went wide in pain.
	Washu mirrored her expression as she felt the dormant mental
link reestablish itself.  She screamed and struggled against the
crystals holding her.  A bright light filled her mind.  She shut her
eyes, but couldn't get away from it.  She could hear screaming,
explosions, the rumble of fires, and the smell of smoke filled her
nostrils.
	She saw fire.  So much fire.  It was if she were looking down
at hell.  Buildings and trees were in flames below her.  She heard
laughing in her own mind, very familiar laughing from two familiar
people.  One laugh came from an unctuous, male voice.  The other
came from her daughter.
	The view changed as whoever's eyes she was looking through
turned to find two Jurain fighters heading towards her.  She saw a
hand reach out, a fiery red gem prominent on the wrist.  Two, red
energy blasts shot forth, downing the fighters.
	Ryoko.
	She was looking through Ryoko's eyes.
	She descended, lancing out with energy blasts at will,
decimating anything that was unfortunate enough to catch her eye.
	Another building.
	She landed and turned to it.  A white tree was prominent in
front of the entrance.  She raised her hand to destroy it.
	"Stop!"
	She turned to her right and saw a man there.  His blue robe
was stained with blood and burned cloth.  He approached her pleadingly.
	"Please," he begged.  "Please, in Tsunami's name I beseach you!"
	She turned back and aimed again.
	"PLEASE!"  he cried again.  She turned again, amused.  "It is
an orphanage," he explained fearfully.  "The children within have
done nothing to you!"
	She could feel Ryoko smile, but not from choice.  She knew
her daughter was only mimicking the thoughts and expressions of the
puppetmaster who was controlling her.  It was *his* smile, *his*
laugh, not hers.
	"Won't Tsunami protect them?"  She heard *his* voice ask in
her mind as Ryoko's voice repeated out loud.
	The priest fell to his knees before her.  "Tsunami protects
all her children...even you..."
	She heard *him* laugh, Ryoko's laugh echoing him.  "What kind
of goddess allows someone like me to do this?"  Kagato/Ryoko asked.
	"In Tsunami's name, I beg!"
	"In Tsunami's name you die!"  Kagato/Ryoko hissed back.  Ryoko
turned back to the building...
	"NO!"
	A power bolt shot from her hand and struck the building,
consuming it in fire.  Ryoko turned back and aimed at the monk.
She fired.
	Washu screamed.
	She opened her eyes and found the face of the monk staring
back at her.  It took her a moment  to realize that she had left the
nightmare.
	"Proud of your puppet?"  he asked.  Washu said nothing.  "I
suppose I really should thank you," he told her.  "It was the...
defining moment in my life."
	Washu stared at him.  Behind him, Ryoko lay limp in the tree's
bonds.
	"She was right, after all," he whispered.  "Tsunami didn't
save them.  I prayed to her, begged her to save them, but she didn't
answer.  Her...mercy...was apparently only reserved for the corrupt
nobility that worshipped her.  And as I slowly recovered from my
injuries...I saw that.  I saw her hypocrisy for what it was."
Washu stared at him in horror.  "So I thank you, Professor Washu.
Your creation made me the man I am today."

	"Here, drink this.  You'll feel better."
	Kiyone took the cup from the brown-haired woman and nodded
in thanks.  She sipped the contents, expecting some kind of broth
or medication, but found it was only water.  She drank it hungrily.
	She had only come to an hour ago to find herself in a small
bed in a modest cabin.  Mihoshi had been sitting beside her bed,
the gash in her forehead was now only a scar that looked as if the
wound had been healed for years.  Mihoshi had tried to explain what
had happened, but in her state Kiyone couldn't grasp much of it.
Now this woman had appeared.
	"Where are we?"  Kiyone croaked.
	"Our home,"  the woman told her.  Kiyone sized her up.
	"Kiyone, this is Miss Amara Dayne.  She's the one who healed us."
	Kiyone nodded in gratitude.  "Thank you, Miss Dayne."
	Amara smiled.  "You're quite welcome."
	"What about the ship?"  Kiyone asked.
	Mihoshi bowed her head.  "I don't know.  I woke up near the
escape pod.  Mr. Kamidake was tending to you.  I don't remember
anything before that."
	"We saw your ship going down and saw the escape pod eject,"
Amara told her.  "How do you feel?"
	Kiyone blinked in mild surprise.  She felt better.  Much better,
in fact.  "I'm...I feel better, thank you."
	Amara smiled.  "You have a good spirit.  That's why Tsunami's
water acts so quickly."
	"Are you a doctor?"  Kiyone asked.
	Amara's smile never left.  "Of a sort," she said simply.
	Kiyone suddenly remembered how they had gotten here in the
first place.  "A comm unit.  I need to use your comm unit."
	Amara blinked.  "We don't have one."
	Kiyone sighed and nodded.  "Then could you take me to someone
who does?  It's very important that I get in contact with Galaxy
Police HQ."
	The woman blinked again.  "I'm afraid that you won't find a
transmitter anywhere on this planet."
	"What?!"
	Amara nodded.  "This is a class T planet.  Primitive by Jurain
standards.  We live here with very little technology, as is our way."
	Kiyone grit her teeth.  "Damn," she muttered.
	"What about the emergency transmitter?"  Mihoshi asked.  "The
one in the escape pod?  Couldn't we use that?"
	Amara shook her head.  "No, I'm sorry.  We were going to use
that transmitter to call for assistance when we found you, but
Kamidake found that the transmitter had been destroyed in the crash."
	Kiyone swore under her breath.  She sat up and tried to clear
her head.  She felt remarkably well considering that only a few
minutes ago she was comatose.
	<Now what?>
	"I see our other guest is awake,"  a low voice called from the
door.  Kiyone looked up and found a large man with blue hair and
a blue moustache and beard standing at the door.  He wore simple
clothing, trousers and a plain white shirt.  He entered the room.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he said.  "Azaka Kobayashi, and
this," he gestured behind him.  A red-haired man entered behind
him.  "Is Kamidake Maru."
	"It's nice to meet you,"  Kamidake said.
	"Hi,"  Kiyone said simply.  "Captain Kiyone Makibi, Galaxy
Police."
	"Well, Captain,"  Azaka boomed, "It seems you've had an
interesting day."
	Kiyone took a breath.  "You could call it that."  She decided
not to waste time.  "Miss Dayne tells me there's no transmitter on
this planet, is that right?"  Azaka nodded.  "What about a ship?"
	"No ships, not anymore."  He smiled.  "I'm sorry."
	Kiyone sighed and layed back on the bed, her head coming to
rest on the pillow.  She took stock of the situation, summing up all
the factors that had led them here and what would probably happen
in the near future.  With three words, she delivered her report on
their status.
	"Then we're fucked."

	Lieutenant Danyana'tal stood behind the Kingslayer's
communications officer and strained to hear the transmission through
the static.
	"Play it again," she ordered.  "And try to clean it up."
	The comm officer made a few adjustments on her board.  The
transmission came through again.
	"May..y!  ....  ...ay!  This is Osp...ee-Zer... to GP...avin ....
kios!  We are going....peat!  We are going down!  GPS Mahotsukai...
P ship!  We are going..."
	"What's causing the break-up?"  Danyana'tal asked.
	The comm officer thought for a moment.  "Sounds like
electro-magnetic interference.  I'd say the transmission was  sent
from inside the corona of a sun....or near a quasar."
	"No quasars nearby,"  Danyana'tal said.  "And if they were in
the corona of a sun, they're already dead."  She hmmm'd in thought.
The Mahotsukai was the only GP ship unaccounted for.  She knew she
had better find it before Captain Zara got back.  "You say it's
electro-magnetic,"  she said.  "What else could generate that kind
of interference?"
	The comm officer looked up at her.  "A tactical N2 detonation."
	Danyana'tal smiled.  "That would explain why the pursuing
fighters haven't reported back.  Captain Makibi killed them."  She
thought for a moment.  They sounded in dire straits, but they needed
to be sure anyway.  "Work on getting a fix on the source of the
transmission," she said.  "I think it's time we put our new
crewmembers to work for us."

	"Her resistance to the mind probes is substantial,"  one of
the Faithful, a Beleguese named Stovar reported.  "It may take time
to get what we want from her."
	The dark priest hmm'd in thought.  "Our dear Professor Washu...
>From what her Holiness tells me, we're lucky.  Had we come across
the good professor with her memories and faculties intact, we
wouldn't be here.  No offense," he added, throwing a glance to
Zara, who sat at the table next to him.
	"None taken.  She managed to kill two Faithful.  No mean
feat..."
	"How long?"  he asked Stovar.
	Stovar took a breath.  "It depends on a variety of factors.
One of which is the fact that I don't know what I'm looking for."
	"Neither does she,"  the priest pointed out.  "So she won't
be protecting it.  Just open her mind for me.  Once that is done,
I'll go in and retrieve the data.  Now, what about the Avatar?"
	"Her mind is more...pliable,"  Stovar told him.
	The priest said nothing.  Instead he sat back in his chair.
"Is that so?"  he whispered.
	"What?"  Zara asked.
	He smiled.  "I think I have a rather amusing idea."

	Washu opened her eyes  groggily.  She tried to move again, but
to no effect.  Half of her entire body was now encased in crystal,
and she could feel her powers being drained from her.  She looked
up and saw the priest, followed by another man and Zara enter the
chamber.
	"Well, my dear professor, you seem to be quite resilient," he
told her.  "We can't seem to enter your mind at all."
	Washu gave him a cold smile.  "Poor little psychopath," she
cooed.
	He smiled at the joke.  "I've heard faith and psychosis
compared before, Professor."  He turned to the man.  "Stovar,
prepare her."
	Washu felt a chill run up her, but hid it behind another smug
smile.  "Gonna try again?  Go for it."
	The priest smiled.  "Oh, no, Professor.  We're done with you
for now."
	Washu's smile fell as she watched Stovar remove several
mental probes from a box and begin fixing them to Ryoko's temples.
The demon, unconscious, didn't notice.
	"Leave her alone," she breathed.
	The priest smiled back at her.  "Oh, I don't think so."
	"LEAVE HER ALONE!"  Washu screamed.
	"We're ready,"  Stovar told him.
	The priest approached Ryoko, dangling against the side of the
tree.  Washu  renewed her struggle to free herself, to come to her
daughter's aid, but the crystal had drained her, weakened her to
the point of frailty.
	The priest reached out and touched Ryoko's forehead with his
finger.  Just then, Ryoko woke up, screaming.
	"RYOKO!"  Washu called out. She watched, helpless, as the priest
violated her daughter's mind.

	Ryoko saw him in her mind, tried to fight him off, but
something gave him powers that she couldn't begin to describe.  She
could see a mental image of him as he rifled through her mind.  She
knew what he was going to do, and fought harder to stop him, but he
was too strong.
	Images, faces, friends, family, loved ones...they began to
disappear from her mind one by one.  She clutched at the memories,
struggled to hang onto them, but like sand through her fingers,
they disappeared.
	Within moments, the names Noboyuki, Yosho, and Sasami meant
nothing to her.  They didn't exist.  She didn't know them.
	Aeka.  Aeka was reduced to nothingness.  Their fights, their
rivaly, their love for Tenchi was forgotten.  Gone.
	Mayuka!
	She clung to the memory of her daughter like a lifeline.  The
image of her face.  The smile she had given her when she called her
"mama," for the first time.  The mortified expression on her face
when she went on her date with Masaru. She held on, mentally
white-knuckled as the other memories were torn from her mind.  She
screamed outwardly and inwardly.  Screamed for help.  Begged for
mercy.
	She saw her daughter's face begin to dissolve before her
mind's eye.  She reached out, tried to grab onto the individual
grains of mental sand, weeping, screaming, crying as her daughter's
face, memory, *life*, dissolved in front of her.
	A moment later, she had forgotten why she was crying.
	Tenchi's face appeared before her.  She clung to that.  His
memory.  If she could cling to that, she might make it through this.
	She heard the priest laugh in her mind.

	Ryoko screamed one last time and fell silent.  Washu watched
as the priest approached her and removed a knife from the folds of
his robe.
	"STOP IT!  LEAVE HER ALONE!"  Washu screamed futilely at him.
	The priest pushed Ryoko's head to one side and made a small cut
in the tree holding her.  He quickly pulled the knife away.  Washu
watched in horror as black, viscous sap began to flow from the cut
and touch her daughter's skin.  Ryoko woke up and started screaming
again.  Washu tried to reestablish the mental link, tried to comfort
her daughter *somehow*, but she couldn't get through.
	The sap began to enter Ryoko's body through her eyes, ears,
and mouth.  The demon began choking as the thick liquid started
running down her throat.  Washu watched, helpless, for several
minutes until the sap disappeared.  Ryoko hung there, unconscious.
Washu looked up.  There was movement from above Ryoko.
	She watched as Ryoko's hands began to regenerate again.
	The priest smiled and waved to two men in black Jurain garb.
"Take her to a room where she can rest.  She has a long day ahead
of her."  The priest turned to go.
	"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER, YOU BASTARD!?!?"  Washu
screamed at him.
	The priest stopped and turned back to her.  He smiled.  "I
have given her faith, Professor."  He laughed and turned away again,
leaving Washu alone in the darkened room.

	Kiyone slammed the powerpack into the blaster and worked the
action.  It was smooth and steady.  The blaster didn't seem to have
been damaged in the crash.  Hopefully, she wouldn't need it, but
she was done taking things for granted.
	"Are you sure you wish to do this?"  Azaka asked her.
	She nodded.  "If the Mahotsukai soft landed, her radio might
be working.  If we can find it, we can get a message to GP HQ."
	"In that case, we should move quickly,"  Amara told her.
	Kiyone looked up and noticed for the first time that Azaka,
Kamidake, and Amara were shouldering knapsacks.  She threw a look
to Mihoshi, who only shrugged.
	"No, I can't ask you to come with us,"  she told them.
"You've already done more than enough for us."
	Kamidake smiled.  "You need us, Captain.  Or will your ship
announce its presence to you with fireworks?"  Amara giggled at this.
	Kiyone bit her lip.  He was right.  They had no idea where the
Mahotsukai was, and they had seen it go down.  They also knew the
planet, which was more than she and Mihoshi did.
	She nodded.  "Okay.  Thank you," she told them with feeling.
	"Serving others is what we do, Captain Makibi,"  Azaka told
her, putting on his knapsack over his blue cloak.
	"Wow!  That's so nice of you!"  Mihoshi told them.  "Thank you
so much!"
	"You're most  certainly welcome, Detective,"  Kamidake told
her with a smile.  "Shall we go?"
	"Sure!"
	Kamidake and Mihoshi walked out of the cabin together.
Kiyone saw Azaka and Amara share a look.  "Did I miss something
while I was out?"  she asked them.
	Azaka smiled at her.  "Kamidake is a young man, and you know
how easily a young man's fancy is turned."  Amara giggled.
	Kiyone smiled uncomfortably.  On one hand, having a kind,
handsome man like Kamidake paying attention to her could be good
for Mihoshi.  If, however, he wasn't careful...
	She sighed.  Mihoshi could take care of herself.  She knew
that.
	"Okay, let's not let them get too much of a head start,"  she
said with a smile.

	"Here."
	Danyana'tal looked over her sensor officer's shoulder and
nodded.  She had found what she needed.
	Coordinates.
	"It's a small planet.  Primitive, but liveable.  If they
landed and survived anywhere...it's there."
	Danyana'tal smiled.  "Excellent.  I'm going down there with
a landing party.  You're in command until then."  She started for
the Kingslayer's turbolift.
	The sensor officer swiveled around in her chair.  "What
about the Captain?!"  she asked.
	"Give her an update when she checks in,"  Danyana'tal ordered.
"But I want Makibi myself."  She smiled as the turbolift doors
closed behind her.  "And I have the perfect bait," she whispered.

	Kiyone looked up at the yellow sun overhead and wiped her brow
with the back of her hand.  It sure was hot here.  The group had
been walking for three hours now with no sign of a break.  Kiyone
had been content to follow Azaka's lead since he had watched the
ship go down.  Kiyone braced herself for more.  It could take days
to reach the ship and that was if it hadn't landed in an ocean or
smashed into the side of a mountain.
	Amara was walking next to her, so she decided to make chit
chat with the young woman to pass the time.
	"So where did you learn to do that?"  Amara looked at her.
"Healing, I mean,"  Kiyone elaborated.
	Amara smiled.  "I learned the art in the seminary."
	Kiyone blinked.  "You're a Tsunamic priestess?"
	Amara nodded.  "After a fashion," she said with a smile.
	The GP Captain looked up as she heard Mihoshi giggle.  She
and Kamidake were ahead of them, holding a conversation.  "What
about Azaka and Kamidake?"  she asked.  "Are they priests?"
	"Soldiers,"  Amara told her with a shake of  her head.  "After
the war, we all moved here to live a life of peace as dictated in
The Book of the Tree of Origin."
	"So they were in the war, huh?"  Kiyone asked.  "I can relate."
	"You're a soldier too, then?"  Amara asked.
	Kiyone nodded.  "Yeah.  Kind  of.  It's hard to explain."  It
was rather hard to explain the GP's role in the Third Galactic War.
On occasion, GP ships and troops had engaged *both* sides of the
conflict.  It had been a confusing time.
	"How far do you think it will be, Kamidake?"  she heard
Mihoshi ask Jurain next to her.
	"It could be quite a ways, Detective Mihoshi.  We brought
camping gear with us if that is so."
	"I love camping,"  Mihoshi told him.  "My father and
grandfather used to take me on camping trips when I was little."
	"I enjoy it as well.  It allows me to immerse myself in these
natural surroundings."
	Kiyone listened to the two talk back and forth.
	"They seem to be getting along well,"  Amara commented with
a smile.
	Kiyone only nodded.  "Mihoshi's been through a lot recently.
It's nice to hear her laugh again."
	At the very front of the group, Azaka stopped.  "We'll rest
here for a bit, then push on."
	"Are we close?"  Mihoshi asked.
	The blue-bearded man laughed.  "Detective, ask me that again
in two days, and I'll give you an answer you'll want to here."
	"Oh..........Sure thing!"  Mihoshi replied enthusiastically.
Kiyone only smiled.
	It *was* nice to hear her laugh again.

	Danyana'tal entered the Gavin Stolykios' flight deck and found
her target.  The woman, wearing a GP flight suit, noticed her
approach and came to attention, saluting smartly.
	"I require you for a mission.  You will come with me."
	"As you wish, Mistress,"  the GP replied.

	Mihoshi heard the owl hoot in the distance and playfully
hooted back.  She waited a moment and heard another hoot in the
distance.  She cupped her hands around her mouth again and hooted,
mimicking the bird.  She waited again, and again heard hooting, but
this time from two different owls.  She giggled.
	"I have a fan club," she said, turning back to the group sitting
around the small campfire.
	Kiyone through another piece of wood on the fire and sighed,
looking up the sky.
	Mihoshi caught her mood and her smile slipped.  "Kiyone," she
began quietly, "Do you think anyone else made it out okay?"
	Kiyone turned to her for a moment, staring into the blonde's
eyes, watching the fire reflected there before quietly replying,
"No."
	"Oh,"  Mihoshi said dejectedly.  "Well, maybe the Stolykios
will send a ship after us, or..."
	"Mihoshi,"  Kiyone whispered, "Danyana'tal screwed us.  We
were ambushed.  With her patrol ships gone...The Stolykios is gone,
Mihoshi..."
	Mihoshi stared into the fire.  The three Jurains watched
them from the other side of the fire, drinking soup they had made.
The blonde looked up again, smiling.  "Yeah, but Mitsuki's smart,
and the Kingslayer was outnumbered, so someone *had* to..."
	"THEY'RE DEAD, MIHOSHI!"  Kiyone screamed at her.  Mihoshi
gasped and drew back a pace.  "*All* of them,"  the GP captain
finished in a silent hiss.
	Tears pooled up in Mihoshi's eyes.
	"You don't think I want to believe otherwise!?"  Kiyone
continued to rail at her.  "You think I don't want to believe that
maybe some of the others made it out?!  That maybe Shara ejected!?
That *maybe* Mitsuki got a fucking clue and bugged out!?"
	Mihoshi said nothing.
	"Well they didn't, Mihoshi," she hissed.  "They didn't,"
she repeated quietly.
	Mihoshi grit her teeth.  "Fine, Kiyone.  You believe what
you want, but *I* think some of them made it out!  Mitsuki isn't
stupid!  She would've pulled back!"
	"I certainly hope Mitsuki made it,"  Kiyone growled.  Mihoshi
blinked in puzzlement.  "Because if I *ever* see her again, I'm
going to kill her."
	The three Jurains watched as Mihoshi just stared at her
partner.  "What?!"  Mihoshi stood up and stared down at her seated
partner.
	Kiyone stood up and faced her.  "That's right!  You were there,
Mihoshi!  You saw what we were up against, and that...that...
incompetent *bitch*...left us there to fry!"
	"There was no way for her to know!"
	"That's no excuse!  We told her what was going on, and she
ordered us to stay in that death trap!  All so she could get her
fucking  promotion!"
	"We don't know that!"
	"We *do* know that!"  Kiyone bit back.  "She was *always*
like that!  She cut corners!  Put her ambition ahead of her men!
And that can never...*never*...happen!"
	"When did you do it?"  Amara asked suddenly.
	The two GP's turned to her.  Amara looked up at Kiyone.
	"Well?"  the priestess asked again.
	Mihoshi stared at Kiyone, who sat back down.  She stared into
the fire for a minute, then, "During the war.  I wasn't a squadron
commander yet, but I occasionally led patrols in and around Zehran
space."  Mihoshi sat down and listened as Kiyone continued her story.
"Zehran sat between a Danitan Space Force base and a Jurain convoy
route.  The Danitans occasionally would send out fighter-bombers to
strike at Jurain trade, and cutting through Zehran cut their flight
time by about seven hours.  Of course, Zehran was neutral and under
the protection of the GP, so we had a problem with that..."

	"Sensor contact!  Bearing two-nine-one mark zero-six-zero!"
Detective First Class Chase Warren called out  from the right seat
of the Mahotsukai.
	"I got 'em,"  Shara called out over the comm from the Karisuma.
"Tally ho!  Left, ten o'clock high!  Looks like two of them."
	Lieutenant Kiyone Makibi checked the sensors.  "Danitan Aka
class.  Medium fighters."  Kiyone blinked and checked her sensors
again.  "Shara, are you detecting some kind of interference on
your end?"
	Before the other GP officer could answer, another voice broke
in over the comm.  "Good morning, brave warriors of the Galaxy
Police!"  A boisterous, female voice met them.  "I bring you
greetings from my sunny home of Danitan!"
	"Ah, *fuck*!"  Shara's voice came in.  "It's Kariga'darrin!"

	Mihoshi looked at Kiyone in awe.  "*You* flew against Ling
Fauntara Kariga'darrin?!"
	Kamidake blinked.  "Who is Kariga'darrin?"
	Mihoshi answered him.  "One of the Danitan Space Force's top
aces.  They used to talk about her at GP HQ when I worked admin during
the war.  Sixty-three Jurain kills, sixteen GP.  They called her
'the Stilletto.'"
	Kiyone nodded.  "She was stationed at that DSF base.  Every
once in awhile, she'd try leading her squadron through Zehran.
Sometimes our squadron got there in time to turn her back.  The
Danitans were having enough problems with the Jurains.  They didn't
want a war with the Alliance as well.  So usually, Kariga'darrin
would back off.  Sometimes, though, she just couldn't let it go..."

	"Dammit, Kariga'darrin!"  Kiyone bit out.  "How long are we
going to play this stupid game of yours?!"
	"No game, Honored Makibi!"  the Danitan's voice came back.
"Myself and wingwoman are merely out here conducting flight
exercises...yes...flight exercises...that will do nicely..."
	Shara's angry voice came over the comm.  "You know, we can
still hear you."
	"Quiet!  No one like intelligent posterior!"
	"What did she say?"  Shara's partner asked.
	"Something about your mother,"  Warren answered.
	"She called you a smart ass,"  Kiyone told her.
	"That little, amazon bitch!"  Shara remarked.
	Kariga'darrin laughed.  "Shall we begin exercise?"

	Kiyone paused and looked into the fire.  "Running across
Kariga'darrin is bad enough.  Running across Kariga'darrin when
she has the jump on you..."

	"She's rolling out!"  Shara warned.
	"Warren, get Zehran on the line and get some reinforcements
out here..."
	"Hold up, Kiyone,"  Shara told her.  "It's only Kariga'darrin
and her wingman.  We can take them."
	Kiyone bit her lip.  Regs stated...
	"Kiyone, if we can take down Kariga'darrin, the Danitans will
think twice before sending their squadrons through here again!  Our
careers will be set!"
	Kiyone gave the idea a second's worth of thought.  "Chase, is
it still just the two?"
	"Confirmed!  Warren told her.  "Sensor contacts Aka one and
Aka two are the only ones on the scope."
	The two Danitan fighters were almost within range.

	"I had about two seconds to make a decision,"  she told them.
"So I made it."

	"Shara, take Aka two.  I'm going after Kariga'darrin."
	"I got her,"  Shara told her.  The two GP patrol ships changed
course.  Kiyone brought her weapons online and moved into position.
The Danitan fighters dived right past them.  The Mahotsukai and the
Karisuma turned to pursue.
	Kariga'darrin watched the GP ships turn after them and grinned.
She activated the comm to her wingwoman.  "Altia....Chi dai!"
	Suddenly, the two Danitan fighters split, heading in opposite
directions.  Shara followed one, Kiyone the other.
	Something tugged at  the corner of Kiyone's mind.  "Chase,
keep your eye on that scope, understand?"
	"Yes, Ma'am."
	The Aka in front of her rolled out again and dived.  Kiyone
followed expertly and tried to get a lock on the fighter.
	"What you wait for, Honored Makibi?"  Kariga'darrin asked
over the comm.  "Afraid to come swim in the deep end?"
	Kiyone growled.  "Hope you brought your swim suit."  She
pressed the trigger and watched as meson bolts flew from the cannons
under the Mahotsukai's nose.  The Aka spun left and dodged them.
Kiyone blinked.  She had never seen a ship flown so nimbly before.
	Kariga'darrin laughed at her.  Kiyone growled again and brought
up the targeting scanners for the Starsparrow missiles.  She waited
for the tone to signal that the missile had locked on.
Karriga'darrin seemed almost content to wait for her to fire.
	The uneasiness tugged at Kiyone's mind again, but another taunt
from Kariga'darrin eclipsed it.  "This is boring,"  the Danitan
remarked.  "Are you sure you Kiyone Makibi?  Hard to tell.  You fly
like a man!"
	The tone went off.  Kiyone fired.  She watched the missile
streak away.  The Aka rolled onto its back and dived, releasing two
chaff pods.  The pods exploded, throwing thousands of slivers of
metal into space.  The missile, confused, went for the decoys.
	But this time, Kiyone was ready.
	She didn't wait to see if the missile would strike.  As soon
as she launched it, she switched to the meson cannons and   started
firing.  The GP had the satisfaction of watching one meson bolt
strike one of the fighter's stabilizers.
	"Ouch!  Perhaps you *are* Honored Makibi.  Luckily an ace
such as myself always has a contingency scheme!"
	Two more chaff pods shot out from behind the Danitan fighter.
They exploded just like the first two, only this time it wasn't chaff
inside....
	It was EM nets.
	"Shit!"  Kiyone cried and tried to pull away.  It was no use.
The Mahotsukai ran headlong into one of the Electro-Magnetic nets.
Arcs of electricity ran up and down the Mahotsukai's hull.  Power
began to cut out all over the ship.  The GP patrolship began to
list to one side as it drifted, dead in space.
	"Damage report!"  Kiyone demanded.
	Warren shook his head.  "Propulsion, weapons, and navigation
are out.  We have partial sensors and short range communications."
	Kiyone banged her control pad with her fist in frustration.
The comm system was still working, however, allowing her to hear
Kariga'darrin's laughter.  She looked out the window and saw the
Aka do a victory roll.
	"Many thanks to you, Honored Makibi,"  Kariga'darrin said.
	"What do you mean, 'thanks!?'"  Kiyone shot back.
	"Setsu na chyo dai oa dai,"  she heard Kariga'darrin order.
	Warren's eyes went wide as he looked at the sensors.
"Fuck me,"  he whispered.
	Kiyone looked at her own sensor terminal and saw it.  The
interference from before had just cleared.  On the screen she now
saw almost *thirty* Danitan bombers heading for the Jurain trade
route and one Electronic Warfare ship flying just on the edge of
their sensors.
	A distraction.
	Kariga'darrin and her wingman had been a distraction to keep
Kiyone and Shara from going after the bombers.
	"Raise Shara!"  she ordered.  "Perhaps she can..."
	Warren shook his head.  "I'm reading the Karisuma now,
Lieutenant.  Dead in space...just like us."
	"Raise Zehran, maybe they can stop them!"
	"Out of range."
	Kiyone grit her teeth.
	"The Danitan military thanks you, Honored Makibi,"
Kariga'darrin told her.  "I will put you in for commendation.
However, I must now leave.  May the Goddess speed your way home."
With a final laugh, the Aka flew off.
	Kiyone watched it slowly shrink in the distance, unable to
stop it.

	Kiyone reached into her pocket and removed something from
there.  "Kariga'darrin was many things, but she wasn't a liar.  A
few weeks later, I got this in the mail."  She tossed the object to
Mihoshi, who examined it.
	"A Danitan Valor Crescent,"  Mihoshi remarked, examining the
military medal.
	Kiyone nodded.  "Awarded for bravery while fighting in the
pursuit of Danitan interests," she told her.  "If I had just
followed the regs and notified Zehran, they could've stopped that
raid.  Instead, a convoy got wiped out and they used *me* to make
it happen."  She sighed.  "I keep that medal with me to remind me
that people *depend* on me doing my job, not trying to climb the
ladder to the top."
	Mihoshi  didn't know what to say.
	"That's why I'm going to kill Mitsuki,"  Kiyone told her.  "She
had good people depending on her to do what was right for them, and
instead she thought of herself!  You didn't know them very long,
Mihoshi, but the men and women in my squadron were my *friends*!
They deserved better than that, dammit!"
	"Then they deserve a little faith!"  Mihoshi hissed angrily.
She got up and stalked away into the darkness.  Kiyone went back
to staring into the fire.  Kamidake watched the blonde go, and got
up, following after her.
	"Was it really necessary to strip away her hope?"  Amara asked
Kiyone.
	Kiyone glared at the priestess.  "False hope can be a bad
thing too, ya know."
	"In your case, perhaps,"  Amara conceded darkly.  "But perhaps
Miss Mihoshi *needs* hope to cling to...Especially now."
	Kiyone turned back to the fire.

	"Miss Mihoshi?"  Kamidake called softly.
	Mihoshi wiped a tear from her eye and turned to the young man.
"Yes?  Oh, Kamidake.  I'm sorry."
	Kamidake smiled and offered her a tin cup.  "Would you like
some soup?  You haven't eaten anything tonight."
	She took the cup from him and stared down into it.  "Kamidake...
Is it stupid to think that...some of them made it?"
	Kamidake smiled.  "Not in the slightest."
	"I mean, there were a lot of GP out there...and it's *possible*
that some of them made it, right?"
	"Certainly."
	"Some of them *had* to make it out....Right?"
	"Of course some did."  Kamidake sat on a nearby tree trunk
that fallen over from old age.  "Miss Mihoshi, I was a soldier once
too."  Mihoshi sat next to him on the log and listened as he went on.
"Even in our most darkest hour, our fiercest battle..."  His voice
lowered to a whisper, "There was always hope.  And as long as there
is hope, there will be someone to carry that hope."
	Mihoshi smiled.  "Thank you."
	Kamidake gave her a rueful smile.  "Happy to be of service,
Miss Mihoshi."
	"So you were in the war, huh?"  Mihoshi stated.  "Where were
you stationed?"
	Kamidake looked up at her, his smile losing some of its
brightness.  "I last saw action on a small planet called Mallistair."

	Ryoko lay on a cold cot, rolling from side to side in confused
pain.  She saw images in her head, but couldn't tell where they were
from.  Faces...They meant nothing to her.  They frightened her.
She held her head and cried as she tried to make sense of it all.
	Tenchi!
	She remembered Tenchi!
	His warmth!
	His smile!
	His love?
	Love?
	"And since when do I love you?"  she heard.  Her eyes moistened
as fresh tears welled up.  She heard the voice again.  He was
standing next to her bed.
	"Tenchi,"  she whimpered.
	"Yes," he said, leaning down next to her.
	"I...I love you, Tenchi..."  she whimpered.
	"Do you?"  he whispered with a smile.  "Did you love me when
you slapped me?"  Ryoko's eyes scrunched shut in pain as the memory
surfaced.  "Or when you let me die?"  he hissed in her ear.
	Ryoko cried out in agony.

	The tree, in Tenchi's form, smiled down at his new slave.
She was coming along nicely.  "How could you do that, Ryoko?"  he
asked.  "How could you let me die like that?"  The assimilation had
given the tree all of Ryoko's remaining memories, the ones surrounding
her lost Tenchi.  As the priest had thought, they were extremely
useful in warping her thoughts...and controlling her.
	Ryoko cried painfully on the cot.  "Tenchi..."
	The tree smiled.
	"LEAVE HER ALONE!"
	The tree looked up in shock.  Someone was standing in the
shadows of Ryoko's room, and surprisingly, he appeared to be able to
see the tree's mental essence, something only Ryoko should have been
able to see.  The tree searched the shadows.
	"Just who the bloody hell are you?"  it asked, its mental
form drawing its lips up in a sneer.
	The figure stepped out of the shadows and stood toe to toe
with the tree's essence.  The tree blinked.  The figure snarled.
	"I'm Tenchi Masaki, you son of a bitch!"


Author's Notes:

Please send C&C to Thomas "009" Doscher,
doscher009@hotmail.com