New Partner!
Chapter Three: And sometimes the bear gets you.

    Washu sighed, leaning back in her floating cushion.  "Will those two
ever
learn?  How many lessons am I going to have to give them?"
    Washu rubbed her eyes and shook her head.  "Now they get along and what
happens?  They team up against OTHER people!"
    Suddenly the headache hit again, a series of painful flashes and
pictures
in her head.  They had started some time after the first dinner with Kiyone.
Amazingly, Washu believed that the headaches had been triggered by something
Mihoshi had said during the meal.  'Some part of her tale, the story of our
little group,' thought Washu.  Something in Mihoshi's tale about Dr. Clay
did
not seem to fit Washu's memory and the more she tried to pinpoint the
problem
area in her memory, the bigger the headaches got.  'Well,' she decided, 'let
me focus on the Ryoko and Ayeka problem for now.'
    Washu turned about to lay stomach down on the cushion, chin in her
hands.
 She thought carefully of a why to fit the conflict between all the girls
but
without doing more damage to the situation.  Suddenly her eyes became bright
and her smile seemed to take up half her face.
    "I am SO smart!" she shouted.

    Captain Jay switched the viewing panels to heat vision but it did little
to help him understand what he was seeing.  Before his tank, the J-1, were
the ruins of some kind of city.  It had appeared right before them, at the
end of the jungle.  Beyond it was the wide flat plains and marsh of the
river
valley.  At least that is what his map showed.
    The ruins were not shown on any of the maps.
    "Jay unit, Stop here," he whispered over the hover tank's radio channel.
His driver brought the tank to a full stop, adjusting the intake fans and
trying to keep the huge tank from getting tangled in the nearby trees and
vines.
    The inside of the turret was all computer displays, giving Jay a full
360
degree view of the area.  The other three tanks in his company were
spreading
out, guns searching for a target.  The air pouring from under the skirts
flattened the grass and kicked up yellow pollen from the flowers.
    "Sir," said his driver, Anne, "those ruins don't fit Hive architecture."
    "I know that," said Jay as he went through the menu control next to him.
"It don't fit any architecture we know of.  Not that hard when you figure
we're new comers to this universe."
    "Well, what do we do?"
    Jay sighed, rubbing his scarred fingers over his chin.  In his time he
had repaired many a damaged component, sometimes right in the heat of
combat.
    "I don't like it," he said, "either we go through all bunched up or we
go
in by different directions.  Either way, if we get ambushed, we're going to
lose somebody."
    "And if we sit here," remarked Anne, "the Hive will start hitting us
with
artillery shells, air cover or no air cover."
    "If they know we're here," snapped Jay.  But he knew she was right and,
like most tankers, he hated to stay still.
    Jay slapped the load selection menu and had a HE shell slammed into the
barrel.
    "OK," he whispered over the radio channel, "J-1 will go right down the
main road.  J-2 and J-3 will take up left flank down what looks like a
secondary road.  J-4, I see what looks like a hole in the buildings to the
right. You go thru there.  Fire at anything that moves.  We should be the
only unit in this sector."
    The three tanks replied with double clicks over the radio and started to
move along, lifting themselves higher on their air cushions, trying to move
over the small rubble without touching it with their skirts.
    "Do it," commanded Jay as he placed his right foot on the gun petal and
checked to make sure his machine pistol was loaded.  Attached to his chair
were two small hand grenades.  More symbols of luck than anything else, he
always kept them here just in case.  He hoped that they would stay nothing
but symbols.
    As J-1 flowed over the tall grass into the relatively cleared space
between two of the buildings its skirt scraped against one of the walls.
There was a screaming noise of metal against rock that seemed so loud that
Jay wondered if it would wake the dead.  Jay frowned, starting to sweat.  He
kept the panels flipping through the spectrum, searching for an energy
source
or sudden movement.
    The tank was allowed to move about three blocks before Jay heard a
series
of soft pops that the tank's microphones had picked up.
    Even while he was shouting "INCOMING!" over the radio the tank's slopped
armor was hit by a series of missiles.  They were badly aimed and a few
skidded off the armor and exploded harmless in the air.  A few were direct
hits, but they only damaged the green and brown paint job.
    "Fire-and-forget missiles," Jay reported over the radio, as he swung the
gun along to line up where the tank's AI suggested the missiles had been
fired from.  He stomped down on the pedal.
    The main gun fired the HE round into the building and finished what time
had started.  The whole block was leveled in a fireball of flame and heat.
The machinery reloaded another HE round into the gun.
    "Roger," commented Annie who was already increasing the speed of the
tank.  The only real defense against dumb missiles was not being where they
were targeted at.  The missiles were not smart enough to adjust their flight
or chase a target.
    Suddenly Jay's panels started to flash, as Hive warrior on the roofs
started to pour fire down at the tanks.  Bullets couldn't do much but make
the warriors feel like they were doing something.
    Jay stomped the pedal again and another block of wreckage disappeared
along with the attacking warriors.  Smoke and dust was starting to make it
hard to see and Jay had the AI switch to heat sensors.  The Hive and their
equipment would show up really well.
    Suddenly the blue outline of J-2 that was on Jay's status panel flashed
red and disappeared.
    "This is J-1, to J-2 or J-3, what the hell just happened?"
    "This is J-3!" screamed a voice, "We've run into Hive battle suits!
They're too fast-"
    J-2's symbol flashed red and vanished.
    "What the hell!" shouted Jay, "Hive battle suits are nothing but big fat
targets!  Anne, cut a left thru that building!"
    As Anne steered the tank into the building, smashing right into and
through the wall, Jay was reloading the main gun with an AP round.  The
tank's front armor hit the next wall and soon J-1 shot out into the next
street in a blast of dust and sound.
    The turret's AI found the targets.  The tall, slim looking battle suit
seemed to be barely bigger than the warriors they housed.  Even as Jay
stared, they seemed to be hovering over the uneven ground on small leg
thruster.  Shoulder mounted mini-guns whirred and flashed.  In the
background
stood the two twisted hover tanks, smoke and flame pouring out of wounds in
their hulls, almost hiding the smaller heat images.
    Jay stomped down on the gun's petal, blasting one of the hovering enemy
suits to pieces right as the tank's hover skirt was turned into Swiss cheese
by the enemy's fire.  The tank screamed and skidded across the street as the
fans tried to fill an air chamber only slightly faster than the air was
escaping.  Jay reloaded the main gun with a shatter round as he broadcasted
the J-1's log to the orbiting transports.
    "You won't have it so easy next time!" he shouted as he hit the petal.
The main gun fired, fitting the air with tiny diamond tipped spears going
just under the speed of sound.  Two of the Hive armored infantry were tossed
back like dolls, blood and flesh exploding out of their backs.
    "No armor!" yelled the amazed Captain as his tank reloaded the main gun,
"Nothing but powered suits!"
    The advancing warriors kept firing and one of the display panels inside
the turret went from live picture to computer generated pictures.  Some of
the optical sensors that dotted the outside of the tank were being destroyed
and the AI was trying its best to make up for the loss of data.
    The tank suddenly rammed into one of the crumbling buildings, having
never even slowed down its advance after crashing into the street.  Jay
realized before he even had to ask that Anne was no longer with the living.
Jay gave the petal trigger one last kick as he scooped up his grenades.  The
AI adjusted the gun a tad right before firing.
    The main gun roared and turned another armored Hive warrior into
hamburger as Jay popped out of the top hatch.  One of the armored infantry
made a very impressive leap, landing right on the turret and making the
whole
tank shudder.  Jay's welcome of a burst of machine gun fired pointblank into
the chest sent the attacker falling backwards, purple blood spurting into
the
air.
    'Nothing but very FAST powered suits!' thought Jay as he pulled the
rings
and held a grenade in each hand.
    "Come and get me!" Jay screamed as he lobbed the two grenades as the
rushing enemy.  When not being seen through a heat sensors of the tank the
suits had a jungle pattern camouflage, very much the same as Jay's tank.
Both grenades exploded, splashing the enemy infantry and the J-1 with
flames.
 Jay slid down the other side of the tank, right down the slopped armor,
right through building's broken wall.  As he got up and ran towards the
opposite side he made sure to slam a fresh clip into his machine pistol.
Outside he would hear the guns still roaring and hear the hiss of thrusters
as the Hive's warriors moved in to outflank him.
    In front of him, set in the far wall, was a door that looked like it was
made out of wood.  Real wood, stained and somehow protected against what
must
have been hundreds of years of abuse from nature and time.  If Jay had not
been running for his life he might of wondered about a race who could make
long lasting wooden doors that could stand up to rain and heat and insects
but weren't smart enough to still be around.
    'Lucky them,' he thought as he ran, sweat running down his face.
    Right when he was about to reach the other side of the room, right when
his left hand was about to shove the wooden door out of his way, the very
air
seemed to exploded.  As he was thrown against one wall and surrounded in
light and heat, his realized that the fusion bottle in his tank had just
been
breached.

    "No," whimpered Tenchi, in horror.  "No, that's not a good idea.  That's
a nightmare!"
    "Oh come on Tenchi," said Washu, as she hugged him and looked up into
his
shocked eyes.  "We have to try something."
    "Oh, I guess," said Tenchi.  "OK, OK, but nothing too detailed.  A
simple
weekend camping trip, OK?"
    "Sure, whatever you say," replied the departing Washu, already planning
on what to bring along.  "I know this nice planet, with ruins and
everything.
 We could explore!"
    "Ruins," remarked Tenchi as he started to follow, "what do you mean, a
nice planet with ruins?  I said keep it simple!"

    'My Lady.'
    'Yes, D3.'
    'My Lady Tokimi, Washu's memory blocks that I set up recently are
starting to break down.  The chat she had with Mihoshi about Dr. Clay's
missing memory is starting to resurface due to both the information in
Rift's
memory bank AND Mihoshi's telling of the group's life stories to Kiyone.
When she finally realize that her memory has been tampered with she might
try
to dig deeper AND then find the real dirt.'
    'Real dirt?  You have to stop listening to human radio shows.  Didn't I
tell you to erase the memory, not just lock it away?'
    'I am sorry my lady, but her mind is very strong.  Frankly, to erase
something out right in Washu's mind is dangerous.'
    'Well, no matter.  As long as she does not travel to Gamma Ten.'
    'Is that why you gave the Hive permission to colonize that planet?'
    'That information is not needed for you to continue to serve me.'
    'Yes, my lady.'

    J-4's gunner would have been blinded if his turret's AI had not
protected
his vision by turning off the panels.  Both the driver and gunner were
rocked
as the glowing fireball, as bright as a small sun, reached up high into the
air.
    "Get us out of here, NOW!" he shouted into his radio, pounding the side
of his chair.
    It was too little, too late.  The expanding waves of death slammed into
J-4 only a second later.  The only beings to survive the battle would be the
ones who hadn't been in it to begin with.

    "No, no, no," said Kiyone, as she tried to wipe the sweat off her
forehead.
    She pointed at the blueprint.  "We have to repair the power coupling in
the port side engine OR we'll never get off the planet."
    "Oh," said Mihoshi, looking down at the parts she had been working on.
"What is this?"
    "THAT is our water recycling unit," sighed Kiyone.  "So put it back
together before we run out of fresh water."
    Mihoshi smiled up at Kiyone and said, "OK!"
    "Hey, what is that all over your fingers?" asked Kiyone.
    "Oh," Mihoshi said, holding up a wrapper, "I've beening eating the
ration
bars.  Want one?"
    "How many have you had?"
    "She has consumed twenty four energy bars, ten protein bars and one low
fat shake," reported Farmer.
    "In the past 24 hours," said a amazed Kiyone.
    "No, in the past hour," corrected Farmer.

    The Lord-Regent Lance had removed the clothe that had kept his eyes
hidden and looked down at the three dimensional representation of the new
armored suit being used by Hive's ground forces.  The dark room was full of
high ranking military and nonmilitary officers.
    "It does not look like much," he murmured.  Many of the scientists and
engineers crowded about the projector nodded.
    "You are correct sir," said the intelligence officer. "It has no armor
really.  It is more of a powered suit with leg thrusters and shoulder
mounted
weapons.  About 9 out of 10 carry mini-guns."  The officer pushed a button
in
the remote control in his hand, switching to a new image.  "About 1 in 10
seem to have flame-throwers.  While the suits themselves might not be
impressive, they have been introduced to the battle over the planet Gamma
Ten
in vast numbers."
    The officer pushed another button and the projector started to break
down
the image, peeling it apart piece by piece to show the insides.  The officer
used a small laser stick to highlight certain parts of the suit.
    "They seem to be much cheaper to produce than other war craft the Hive
have and they seem to use standard ammo.  Of course the Hive can hatch as
many warriors as they need to fight in them, so their only limit to their
use
is resources available."
    An officer from the science section lifted a hand and asked, "Do you
think this is a direct reaction to our own new tactical suits?"
    The officer from intelligence nodded, "Yes.  It was designed with speed
in mind.  The weapons are pretty light but still allowed it firepower enough
to go head-to-head with our heavier ground craft."
    Lord Lance asked while still staring at the glowing image, "Has it gone
against our own suits?"
    "No," said the officer, tugging on his black jacket, "we don't yet
really
know how well it will do against our own powered armor."
    "I see," remarked the Lord of Haven, as he leaned back in his hover
chair.  "And the operation Wasteland?"
    The officer glanced over the crowd, not really wishing to discuss the
operation in front of so many, but really having no choice.  Most of the
crowd knew about the operation anyway, so it was silly to worry about leaks.
    "The Hive took the contaminated cargo.  Their sensors won't pick up
anything because the virus won't activate till it is absorbed into the
system
of a plant.  Of course, it is very contiguous and once awaked will wipe out
all tailored plant life on any planet that it is used on."
    "All plants?" asked one of the more junior officers from the Space
Weapons Section.
    "All tailored plant life," corrected the officer.  "Plants who have been
designed, bred or engineered by non-natural means.  It is a smart virus and
will leave the wild life alone.  Therefore, it should only attack the crops
that the Hive are growing for whatever reason.  On a planet or in a space
station, the virus will turn their farms to wastelands and the Hive will do
all the labor for us."
    "Dismissed," stated Lance, as he picked up his clothe and started to
wrap
it around his head, covering his eyes.

    "So, what do you all think?" said Washu, after giving the others her
little speech.
    "Isn't Gamma Ten a tad far away?" commented Ayeka.
    "No, it's only in the Northern spiral of the Milky Way galaxy," replied
Washu with a smug smile.
    "Northern spiral?" burst out Tenchi.  "I thought you said you would keep
it simple!"
    "Well, getting there would only take a few seconds," stated Washu, "my
ship can easily get there in that amount of time. Our'll bring all we need
to
sleep, eat and explore.  I think we should stay there at least a week."
    Ryoko grinned and added, "I like it.  Sounds kind of interesting to me,
exploring the ruins of some lost cities.  We might find treasure!"
    Princess Sasami blinked and said, "Do you really think so?"
    "Hey, you have a spaceship now?" demanded Tenchi.
    Ryoko smiled and said, "Sure, why not?  I doubt anybody has been there
in
a million years."
    Washu smiled and added, "The only problem is that Mihoshi and Kiyone
can't come, as they've gone patrolling and haven't come back yet."
    "Hello, explain to me why you have a spaceship!"
    "Oh, I see," said Ryoko, exchanging glances with Ayeka.  "Tenchi is
going
along with us, right?"
    "Of course, silly girl," beamed Washu.  "Did you think we were leaving
him behind for some reason?"
    "HEY!" shouted Tenchi.
    "What is it?" asked Washu, looking over at Tenchi with a tiny grin.
    "Where did you get a spaceship?"
    "Well, it's not a spaceship, as much as a time ship," Washu explained,
"otherwise it could take us a few weeks to get there."
    "A TIME ship?" asked Ayeka.  "I'm not sure I like that idea."
    "No, it sounds great," said Ryoko, as she nudged Ayeka in the ribs, "You
and me and Washu and Sasami and TENCHI."
    "Oh yes," continued Ayeka, nodding her head up and down, "I sure do like
the idea."

    "I'm so cold," whined Mihoshi.
    "Then stop playing with the environmental controls," demanded Kiyone
from
the copilot's seat as she carried out the last few checks of the ship's
systems.
    "Oh.  Right," replied Mihoshi as she gave the floor panel a kick.
    Kiyone was about to yell at Mihoshi to stop that when a funny thing
happened.  The ship's engines roared to life.
    "We've done it!" exclaimed Kiyone as the ship slowly lifted off the
surface of Mars.
    "Yes!" shouted Mihoshi happily.
    "Are we bonding or what?" asked Farmer as the ship increased speed,
shooting away from the red planet.

    Kaki flew his fighter in for one more pass, his particle cannons lashing
out at the gutted Hive troop transport.  The hull bulged outward as
explosions ripped the interior apart.  Seconds later the transport was
vaporized by the consuming energy of the blasts.
    Kaki carefully decreased speed and dodged the twisted wreckage, burning
gases and frozen bodies that floated above Gamma Ten.  The ring of space
debris that moved about the planet was the result of two weeks of continuous
fighting between the two fleets.  There was no peace up here.  When one part
of the battle space died down another part would flare up.  Some battles
were
nothing but an exchange of fire between two passing shuttles.  Others became
raging tornados of missile fire and energy beams as two battle squadrons
would go head-to-head, thrusters red-hot from overuse and force fields
flickering as they came close to overload.
    Kaki scanned the space for his mother ship and soon was rewarded as the
'Fury' came into view.  It was flanked by a few missile boats who had
stationed themselves a few miles off.  Their job was to keep enemy ships and
missiles as far away from the carrier as they could.  So far, only a few
weapons had gotten through to the huge ship and it continued to function as
a
secondary command post for many of the ground troops.  Nearby, in this area
of calm, floated a few transport ships and a hospital ship.
    Kaki glanced about but failed to see where the big boys were.  The
battleships and heavy cruisers were mostly likely in a higher orbit, taking
on the heavies of the Hive's fleet.  In the lower orbits there were military
shuttles, medical craft and bombers.  Many of the small fry were so busy
supporting the ground combat that they just didn't have the time or fuel to
waste attacking the alien spacecraft.
    Kaki smiled and said, "Me, on the other hand, well, that's my job."
    Kaki cheered to himself as two more fighters, both from his group, swing
in behind him as he approached the 'Fury'.
    "This is Kaki of the Fury coming in for a landing.  I need to be refuel
and recharged."
    The radio was silent as the space controller checked his voice against
the ship's record.
    Kaki's fighter flew past the missile boats, their systems tracking him,
as the 'Fury' replied, "Roger.  Use docking bay Zero-Zero."
    Kaki frowned, as he adjusted his course.  Zero-Zero was an empty bay
which was designed to swiftly retrieve damaged fighters.  No fuel or ammo
was
stored there to prevent explosions.  Either the other bays were too busy
with
other craft OR they did not plan to launch him back into the battle.
    As his fighter glided into the bay and the computer controlled tractor
beams locked onto his ship Kaki was able to give the bay the once over with
his naked eyes.  Row after row of fighters, bombers and shuttles were being
locked down for faster than light travel.  The 'Fury' and maybe the rest of
the fleet were about to leave these area of space.
    "No" Kaki said, as he stepped out of the cockpit and onto the ladder
that
had been pushed against his ship.
    "No, sir?"
    Kaki turned to glare at the ground crew that were already preparing his
fighter for the hyperspace jump.  "What is this?  Why are we retreating?"
    "You didn't hear?" one of the crew asked.  "My God, they just detected
another Hive fleet entering the system.  Our capital ships have gone to
delay
them.  They should give us enough time to allow us and the Third Army to
withdraw."
    Kaki growled and punched the his right fist into the side of his
fighter.

    "OK, we're almost here!" said the cheerful Washu as she tightened her
seat belt.  "I hope you guys enjoy flowers.  This planet is known for them."
    The time ship was a lovely little ship, with a pilot's seat and four
seats behind that, making up two rows of two.  There were no windows, but
there was a large viewing screen that covered the curved wall in front of
Washu's tiny bridge controls.
    "Oh, that sounds lovely," remarked Ayeka from the first row behind
Washu,
"don't you think so Tenchi?"
    "Sure," Tenchi replied as he checked his seat belt.  He was sitting in
the second row, next to Sasami who was holding Ryo-Ohki.  The space behind
the second row was filled with crates and boxes of camping supplies.
    Ryoko winked at Ayeka and sat up, turning backwards in her seat, to
smile
down at the nervous Tenchi.  "Hey, don't worry.  Not while we're around?  We
can pick some flowers, go fishing and have a blast!"
    Ayeka grinned, but kept an eye on Washu, thinking, 'she is up to
something.  She is helping Mihoshi and Kiyone is some weird, indirect way we
won't even figure out till it's too late!'
    "Here we are," shouted Washu with glee as the time ship entered normal
space.  The view of space on the front screen went from what looked like
abstract finger painting of time travel to the normal view of space.  A
control stick unfolded before Washu and the status lights all showed green.
Washu had tried to explain why the ship's computer, as well as the human
brain, could not truly see what was in time but it had gone over everybody's
head.  Everything looked fine.
    Until the ship started to shudder, shake and rock about like monkeys the
size of King Kong were jumping on it.
    "What the heck is happening?" cried Ayeka just before an unbalanced
Ryoko
sat down into the Princess's lap.
    Washu grabbed the control stick, as she pushed some of the buttons in
her
pilot's chair.  "We seem to be in a debris field of some kind.  This wasn't
here last time."  Washu typed into the nearest control panel and the shaking
seemed to decrease slightly.  "I adjusted the heat shielding to help deflect
some of the junk out there."
    Sasami screamed.
    Before the time ship floated a hull.  It had been sliced open from bow
to
stern.  The wound was trailing wires, gases and frozen bodies.  The bodies
were that of huge insects, lifeless and bloated, with frozen purple blood on
their faces.
    Tenchi covered Sasami's eyes and forced her to look away, as Ryo-Ohki
tried to comfort the tiny princess.
    "Get us out of here!" shouted Ryoko.
    "I can't," Washu shouted back as she moved the small time ship away from
the corpse of a ship, "the energy cells need time to recharge."
    "MEOW!"
    "Stop shouting," said Tenchi, "please.  What we have to do is find out
what is happening and try to stay out of it."
    The ship's movements seemed to become smoother as Washu dodged about
things she did not wish anybody to recognize.  She leaned closer to the
front
screen to block the view.
    "Hey," said Washu, "I got a lock on the planet.  My sensors were having
a
hard time with all the heat and radiation up here in orbit."
    "Radiation?" exploded Ryoko.  "Listen, we have to get out of here.  Land
us on the planet."
    "You're right," added Ayeka.  "Maybe if we landed on the planet, we
could
hide till the cells were ready."
    "That might work," Washu said, then added to herself quietly, "as long
as
the planet is not the reason for the battle in the first place."
    Ryoko leaned over to Washu and hissed, "I heard that."  Ryoko glanced
over to Tenchi, who was rocking the tiny princess in his lap, and added,
"And
you might be right.  Try to find someplace as far away from any energy
sources, got it?"
    Washu nodded and with one hand started the scanners on an automatic
sweep
of the planet below.  Data started to fill the smaller secondary screens
near
her feet and above her head. Soon the ship was displaying the first draft of
a rough map of the planet's surface.
    "Oh my," said Washu after studying the data for a few seconds.
    "What does that mean?" asked Ayeka as she stroked Sasami's blue hair.
    "Well," said Washu as she turned to face the rest of the group, "it
seems
the planet is covered with energy and heat sources.  Forest fires, huge
craters and what looks like nuclear fallout in some areas. I would say we
are
coming in at the tail end of a battle."
    "Then we can't land on the planet?" remarked Tenchi.
    "Oh no, we're going to have to land," said Washu as she turned to face
forward and kicked the ship's engines into full thrust.  "We have a dozen
Hive warships trying to lock on us with their weapons."

    As the time ship screamed downwards towards the wounded planet,
disappearing into the atmosphere, the Hive ships gave up trying to target
it.
 It did not match Haven designs and it had been unarmed.  One ship could not
win control of the Gamma system now that the Hive's reinforcements had
arrived.

    "Hold on everybody," shouted Washu as the ship rattled around them,
slicing through the atmosphere, "I'm coming in a tad fast!"
    "A tad fast," yelled Tenchi as he flapped his arms about, "a tad fast!"
    The front screen showed the forest coming up fast, as the ship dropped
towards it like a flaming meteor.
    "Braking rockets on," reported Washu as she slapped a big red button.
The ship's shaking motion became worse even as the front view showed that
the
time ship WAS slowing down.  Washu brought the nose of the ship up just a
tad
more and tried to aim for a clearing in the jungle below.
    "HOLD ON!"
    The ship plowed through the upper branches, snapping off tree tops and
smashing through the leafs.  It sank into the forest like a diving sub,
crashing lower into the forest till it finally met a tree that was far too
thick for it to knock over.  It came to a stop, the engines cutting off with
a cough.
    "Welcome to Gamma Ten, of the Gamma System," stated Washu as she checked
her head for cuts or bruises.
    "Meow?"
    The ship's lights started to flicker and the smell of ozone seemed to
leak from the equipment.
    Tenchi just moaned from his seat, as Ryoko lifted her head from between
her knees.  "I hate first class seating," the demon woman complained as she
tried to undo her seat belt.
    Princess Ayeka and Princess Sasami said nothing as they were out cold.
    "Well, that's the last time I fly you people anywhere," joked Washu.

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-------------------
 Tenchi Muyo! and related characters are owned by AIC and Pioneer.
Everything else is mine.  For those of you who think I might be getting too
realistic with my military scenes, I would point out that they pale to the
real thing (or even to other sci-fi military books)!