New Partner! Chapter Four: Home Sweet Home. Division: Reg(OVA) Kiyone and Mihoshi listened to the classical music as they both sipped a fruity red wine and enjoyed their stuffed shells with toasted garlic bread. "Oh, this is great Kiyone," said Mihoshi as she had another sip of wine. "You must've learned a lot more about cooking during kitchen patrol than I ever did." "Well, I try my best," said Kiyone with a smile. "It helps that Farmer stocked the ship's galley with such an excellent choice of ingredients." "Why thank you," stated Farmer's voice. "It was easy once we docked with the rendezvous vessel. I figured if we're going to be here for a while during the repairs I might as well replenish our supplies with the good stuff." The cabin, that was situated right behind the ship's cockpit, had a warm feeling to it. It had started out kind of empty, as Officer Kiyone had very little in the way of personal items, with only a bunk and a chest. When Mihoshi had moved in, the cabin had become a forest of color and sound. Now they had two twin beds, a small table, a work desk, three bookcases, dolls, pictures on the wall, a CD player, a TV and a pile of lingerie. She had even brought some of her Mickey Mouse dishes along. "Could you past the cheese?" asked Mihoshi with a full mouth of paste. "Here you go," answered Kiyone giving her partner the small dish, holding it by the mouse ears. "Do you think Tenchi and the gang are OK out there camping all by themselves?" remarked Mihoshi as she spooned some cheese onto her third helping of stuffed shells. She had found out all about the camping trip from Nobuyuki after calling the Masaki household by tapping into the Earth's phone system from space. "Sure," said Kiyone, "think about it. The Gamma system has been one of the greatest of all mysteries within our history. A habitable planet where five different races have tried to colonize and all failed. There are ruins that show the planet HAD a great civilization over five millions years ago, a civilization that ruled the whole northern spiral arm of the Milkyway galaxy. What happened to them and why can't anybody else live on their planet?" "That sounds very dangerous!" remarked Mihoshi in horror. "No, no," said Kiyone. "they're not going there to start a colony. They're there to have fun and explore. A few days and they come back and nobody's hurt. Pass the sauce, it goes great with this bread." Mihoshi pasted the bowl to Kiyone and said, "Well, I guess that's OK than." "Sure it is," added Kiyone with a cheerful smile. "I bet they're having the time of their lives," commented Farmer. "I just saw a pair of huge glowing eyes!" screamed Ayeka as she moved closer to the campfire. "Don't be silly," remarked Washu as she stepped into the circle of light, having come from the downed time ship, "there are no large animals on this planet besides us and the Hive. In fact if you listen really heard, you'll notice something you should have before sunset." Ryoko frowned and tilted her head while Ayeka put another log onto the roaring flames. "I don't hear anything," stated the yellow eyed woman. "Bingo," said Washu. "As far as I can tell, there is nothing but bugs and trees on this world." "The Hive are more than just bugs," replied Ryoko. "Yes," said Washu as she adjusted the backpack she was carrying on her back, "well, I didn't really know they would be hanging about this part of the galaxy. Fact is, I didn't even think they had space ships yet. They don't count anyway, they're not from this planet." "But how about that?" said Ayeka as she pointed into the darkness, towards the ruined dome. From the air the building would have been invisible, as the jungle had covered it with vines and moss. Only from the ground could it be seen. "Well, that is interesting," Washu remarked as she sat down on a log and dumped three hand size containers onto the ground from the pack. The redhead pulled another item out of the backpack and started to search the surrounding forest with the tiny, but powerful, medical scanner. "All trees and insect life right now." "Why don't we check it out now?" demanded Ryoko, too hyper to even feel like staying still much less sleeping. "I mean, why not explore it and maybe even use it for a place to sleep in instead of out here?" "Because it is dark now," stated Washu as she examined one of the containers, "and Tenchi, Sasami and Ryo-Ohki need a full night's sleep. Also it's giving off a very strong energy reading." "Bad energy?" asked Ryoko as she glanced at the dome's dark outline against the star filled sky. "Well, that's the problem," remarked Washu. "The reading seems to change depending on how close I get to the dome. I noticed that when I was exploring the area about the ship earlier. I'm not sure of the nature of the power source, but sometimes it seems to be from an organic source." "The building is alive?" stated Ayeka, staring at the subject in question. "In a way," said Washu, "like a reef, parts of it are dead and other parts still seem to be active." "What are those," asked Ayeka as she peeked over the fire at the cans at Washu's feet, "food rations of some kind?" "Yes," said Washu as she tossed one to Ryoko, who snatched it right out of the air without a thought. As Washu handed the princess a container Ryoko looked at the label and laughed. "What's so funny?" said the princess as she peered at her own ration. "Listen to this. Space Chicken Parmesan, one serving. Produced and packaged by the Lemon Nebula Food Services. Just open the Self-Heating Container and enjoy." Ryoko chuckled as she ripped off the top. The chicken parmesan was cooked through and through even before the top folded up to become a spoon. Washu smiled, "Yes, well I was able to find some real food for Tenchi, Sasami and Ryo-Ohki. But I fear we'll have to do with these." "Why is it green?" asked Ayeka as she watched Ryoko hold up a large spoon full of green sludge. The princess stared down at her container and frowned. "Preserves. I think," said Washu as she opened her container. "Oh, lucky me. Space White Chunk Tuna Salad with Mayonnaise." "Why is THAT green also?" inquired Ayeka. Ryoko was trying to shallow and was having a hard time overloading her gag reflex. "My God," said the blue haired demon, "how old are these rations?" "Well, according to this date," said Washu as she shoveled up a spoon full of tuna from the warm container, "these stuff is older than me." "I'm not hungry," whimpered Ayeka as she dropped the silver container onto the ground and glanced about, watching the shadows of the night twitch and bleed about the fire. "Come on, you have to eat something," said Ryoko as she forced another spoon of chicken into her mouth. "Yes, you do have to eat something," agreed Washu as she forced herself to chew the very sandy tuna salad. "I will try," stated Ayeka, bravely picking up the discarded container and opening it with a swift jerk. The scent of Space Meat Lasagna filled the clearing. "Oh, it's green too!" Ryoko let off a belch and was civilized enough to blush. "Excuse me." "I'm really thinking about legal action against this guys," commented Washu as she stared down at the can full of steaming green sludge. "What did you feed the others?" demanded Ayeka as she fought with the green sludge, trying to get some onto the spoon. "I found a couple cups of pot-of-noodles and a bag of baby carrots," said the scientist as she tossed the rest of her ration into the fire. A fireball the size of a small BMW rose up into the air with a flash, making it as bright as day for one brief blinding moment. "I'm done," said Ryoko, carefully placing her container of chicken to one side. Washu tossed Ryoko the canteen of water. "You better have some. To get the taste of the meal out of your mouth." "Well," said Ayeka with a shrug, "I bet Kiyone has Mihoshi eating police food that's even worse than this stuff." Tenchi and Princess Sasami enjoyed their noodles under the red emergency lights. Ryo-Ohki happily chewed on her baby carrots, sitting next to the humming air conditioning unit. Most of the viewing screens had been turned off, but some of the lesser ones were still on, showing the energy cells as they slowly crept up to full power. Silently and unseen to them, but still also online, were the ship's sensors which were taking in depth readings of the dome that Washu had found so interesting after the crash. The ship was checking out organic patterns, astral patterns and even simple genetic patterns. "Do you think we'll be going back home soon?" asked Sasami as she stirred the noodles with her spoon. "Well," replied Tenchi, "tomorrow I think we're going to be exploring the ruins outside. Also, I am not sure how long it will take to recharge the ship's cells. In fact, I don't even know HOW the cells are recharging themselves." "Oh, that's easy," remarked Sasami after she slurped up some noodles. "The ship uses an energy convertor. It can take gases from the atmosphere, any type and can transform them into pure energy. 100% efficiency. The more energy you make, the more systems you can bring online to help and the faster the process gets." "Sounds like flying by pulling on your own shoelaces," joked Tenchi. "Well, Washu been dealing with space travel for about 20,000 years," said Sasami with a smirk, "how long has your Earth been living and working in space?" "Point taken," said a blushing Tenchi. "In fact, this is the first alien planet I have been on." "No," pointed out Sasami. "Washu's lab is on about a dozen different planets. More by now." "Oh, I keep forgetting that around you gals nothing is what it seems." "Meow." "And cabbit," added Tenchi. Ryo-Ohki offered Tenchi a tiny carrot. "Thank," laughed Tenchi. "These noodles could use more salt," sighed Sasami. The colony was an agricultural commune, a small one, meant to only feed the local planet's labor force of engineers, scientists, nurses, factory workers and local militia. The city was seamless, having grown into place over two hundred years ago from transplanted cuttings of older communities. The second wave of ships had brought the colonists and inorganic equipment that could not be grown nor built locally after the city had reached adulthood. Bristle moved among the rows of pink and yellow fruit, collecting the ripe ones and placing them in the basket strapped to his back. The fruit would be a great treat for the young ones at the nearby nursery. He easily moved among the low fruit bearing bushes, stepping carefully over them with his four long legs. High above him bioluminescent moss gave more than enough light, day or night, to keep the plants growing. The air was full of spores and pollen, giving the impression of fog. From a distance a member of the Hive looked more like a pear than an insect or maybe a snowman. The large lower segment of his body held the major organs and was even strong enough to rest on when he was tired. The middle segment held most of the major muscle groups and his six chambered heart. The four legs were hinged to the bottom of this segment, each an equal distance from each other. Two arms were attached to the top, each arm twice as thick as any of the legs. The fingers on the hands were skillful and thin compared to the toe hooks which dug into the soil. The head, with its clicking jaws, huge dark eyes and flickering antennae, held a brain larger than most primates, even man's. Bristle was an old worker, having been one of the first to be born on it, so his head and joints had gray hairs growing out. It gave him an old, weathered look unlike the shiny, sleek shells of most of the younger generations. Because of his age he had been moved to the labor pool that worked within the city's gardens itself. While old he was still fit enough to bring something to the Hive. Around him other Hive members collected nectars from the flowers as while as seeds for the future. Mushrooms were being carefully picked and young trees were being transplanted from smaller pots to the rich soil of the greenhouse. Bristle decided he had enough fruits in his basket and entered for the exit of the green house. He passed fruit trees, flowers of many colors and even different types of fungi. The door looked like the rest of the wall, only the scent giving away its location. He pushed his right hand against it and the flesh parted, splitting into three petals that peeled away from his touch, allowing him out of the structure. The sunlight was pouring down from one of the two suns of the binary system, filling the busy streets. Workers, much like himself, moved about. Many carried tools or boxes, others pushed carts or even drove small street cars who moved about on their many legs. Bristle took a second to enjoy the smells and sights of the busy city. The buildings and structures about him were living, organic in their nature. They had started out as seeds, but had swiftly grown, becoming a huge living network of brown trunks, huge green domes and miles of searching roots. Massive leafs, like huge green sails, had spouted out of the roofs and branches. They turned and bent, following the light from the sky, absorbing energy and releasing waste water into the air. Down, deep below Bristle's feet the root system not only collected water and nutrients but allowed the systems of the city to exchange data and resources. Bristle headed for the nursery, moving over the living bark of the street vine, his body handling the weight of the fruit basket easily. He passed a cluster of native trees which the city had allowed to live. The city never fought the native wildlife. It learned from it and even interbreed with it in a very limited way. Hive cities ended up becoming back of the biodiversity, not enemies of it. To his right was a dome, which having been damaged by an industrial fire, was already healing itself. Self-repair was a big plus of having a genetical engineered colony. He entered the nursery and stepped over the fleshy barricade that kept the tiny mewling babies within. Long legged nurses met him just inside the doorway and accepted the basket of fruit, as babies mewled and chirped at his feet. Many of them were already getting their cups, ready to get their share of the tasty fruit. A baby warrior tried to use the adult language, clicking and chirping up at Bristle. He rewarded the tiny warrior with a pat on the head and a large slice of the pink and yellow fruit. Many of the chicks finished their fruit and removed their rinds to the compost pit. The pit would open up and take in any organic leftovers, waste that the digestive systems of the nursery could easily use. Nothing in the city was allowed to go unused. Bristle left the nursery as a humming noise filled the sky. High above the dark trunks and twisting leafs was a small shuttle, corkscrewing down towards the city's small space port. Bristle twitched happily, remembering that the greenhouse had been promised a container of very advanced fertilizer. He moved quickly, walking past warrior barracks, inorganic warehouses, smelly factories. He arrived at the port just in time to see the shuttle land. Missile launchers and plasma cannon dotted the landing field of the space port, along with emergency response teams. Unlike the rest of the city the port would not just heal any damage it received from an enemy attack within a few days. Few things here were organic, including the reinforced runway and this meant that it had to be protected at all costs. A warrior holding a small machine-gun waved Bristle to a halt. "Greetings warrior," clicked Bristle. "Greetings elder worker," chirped the warrior. "What is your business here?" "Fertilizer shipment," stated Bristle, "it is very important and we have been looking forward to its arrival for the past few weeks." "Go ahead than," said the warrior as she waved Bristle on. "The motor pool will loan you a ground truck." "Thank you," replied Bristle, "thank you very much. Things are looking up." The Haven Hospital ship (called the 'Protector') floated peacefully among the rest of the Third Fleet, deep within the Orion Nebula. Within one of the many chambers of the ship was a small baby chick of the Hive. His room had blue wallpaper and deep pink carpeting. He was chewing on his red ball, one of his many toys that the scientists had given him. "OK," said Blaine as she walked into the room with the tray of food. "Time for yummy food." The baby chirped and ran over, forgetting his ball for the moment. "Pudding," the baby chick hissed. "No, not today," said Blaine as she knelt down and helped the baby Hive worker use the fork. "It's a salad today." "Pudding?" "No, salad." "Pudding." "No, salad." Behind the two way mirror stood two more scientists in a dark room watching Blaine try to get the baby chick to eat the greens. All around cameras and scanners took note of the tiny enemy's actions. "So, after weeks of working on this project, you have nothing to show the military?" asked Loa, shaking the folder in his hands. "We have lots of data," corrected Gene, "just none that the military would be interested in. It has not been a waste, I mean, look at it! We've got get speaking our language. Plus the studies on the DNA. Totally natural, no engineering at all. We've done every test we could think of." Loa sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I'm not attacking your work, but you know the military wants something else." "I know what they want," stated Gene. "They want us to cut open the tiny guy and find out new ways on how to kill his race faster. They want us to clone a dozen of him to kill and burn and smash and study. Well, THIS project has been approved by the Lord Lance himself, so they can go stick a plasma charge up their butts!" Loa stared at his fellow scientist. "Are you OK?" Gene sighed and shook his head, running his left hand through his thinning hair. "No, the pressure is getting to me. I mean, I am born and trained to solve problems and this is one of the greatest, most interesting problem in the universe. I've never dealt with a newborn, none of us have and those idiots want me to put this baby under the knife." Loa shook his head, "Well, I'll try to keep them calm, but you're going to HAVE to give them something soon or they might try to take the baby away from the Science Departments." Gene snorted, "what they going to do, put him under a light and demand he draw a map to show them the way to the Hive's major planets?" Loa just shrugged and said, "I don't know." Gene turned to glance back into the baby's room. The baby chick had climbed up onto one of the chairs, tiny fork clasped in one hand, as it pressed its face against the mirror, looking into the dark room. Blaine stood behind the chick, holding the tray and looking confused. Gene laughed, "well, looks like he figured out the mirror." Loa chuckled and said into one of the many recorders housed into the dark room. "Baby chick's eyesight is developing non-visible sight." The tiny chick made a chirping noise and waved the empty hand. Nobuyuki carefully served his father-in-law the steaming bowl of noodles and then served himself. The older Katsuhito glanced down at the noodles as he picked up a spoon and said, "Not bad." Nobuyuki laughed and remarked, "Hey, remember, before all the females came to invade our lives, I use to cook the meals for myself and Tenchi." Katsuhito nodded, "that is true. I, myself, forgot how much I use to live on simple meals like this before Princess Sasami came into our lives." "Yes," said Tenchi's father as he stirred his noodles. "Do you think they'll be OK?" "Of course they'll be OK," commented Tenchi's grandfather as he tried the noodles, "Washu knows what she is doing. I am sure, unlike us, they are having a great meal around a glowing fire, just waiting for the sun to come up. They can go fishing and exploring, maybe Washu will bring back a couple of plants just to study. I am sure the girls will find lots of pretty flowers and such." "Of course," laughed Nobuyuki after burning the roof of his mouth, "and I'm sure Tenchi will enjoy it the most. He always loved to fish." "Yes," replied Katsuhito, "by the way, you put too much salt in this." "Hey," joked Nobuyuki, "I said I use to cook for me and Tenchi, I never said I was good at it." In another Haven hospital ship (known the 'Tranquillity') about 40,000 million light years away, Mist was receiving a visitor in blue. Kaki stepped into the small room and up to the medical bed. Mist was sitting with a tray in her lap, pillows piled behind her. She was enjoying the hospital's best meal in the form of a meat cube and some vegetable strips. She smiled at him and said, "Hello Officer Kaki." She stabbed a cube with a fork and popped it into her mouth. "Hello," said the pilot as his heart raced a tad faster, "I hear you're doing better?" "Oh yes," she replied happily, as she brushed some of her hair out of her face, "One of my legs were broken and a few muscles torn, but my breed heals very fast. The hospital food is good." "That's good," said the officer as his black eyes stared into her yellow ones. The hospital food didn't look like anything special to him, but then he hadn't lived the life of a dirt pounder and his idea of good food was food served in a proper dining hall with the other officers of the navy and fighter wings. Anyway, few female pilots looked as nice as her. The long nonmilitary hair, the tall slim body and those nice big...eyes. "Mm," she blushed as he stared and asked, "how are you?" "Oh, I'm doing fine," remarked Kaki, "I already spent a few days training some of the newbies about real combat in the flight simulators of the Fury. I've tossed in a few things that the computers never think of just to shake things up." "I see we fell back," said Mist as she gestured to the window display. It showed a giant red star outside the ship. It looked angry and very unstable, with huge flares reaching out like greedy hands. Blurs pasted the display as tiny repair drones went from ship to ship. Two of the nearest ships, each a destroyer, were floating along side the hospital ship, their hulls pitted and blemished by the inferno of alien fire they had endured during the retreat. "Yes, the Sixth and First fleet have fallen back, for now," said Kaki, his face now turning red with rage. "We, I mean the Fleet Commanders picked this system because it was still close to Hive space, yet long range sweeps will be unlikely to detect our ships." Kaki closed his eyes and tried to let relax. 'I lost most of my pilots fighting for a world we never got to hold,' he thought to himself. He gasped and glimpsed down at his hand, which Mist was now holding. "Are you OK?" she asked staring up at him. "I'm just a tad mad. Mostly at myself," replied Kaki, adding in a rush, "I keep losing pilots. My people. Many were my brothers and sisters. Some may be my offspring for all I know. I keep losing them, to enemy ships and even people who turn out to be allies." Kaki turned his head away, trying to hide his eyes. They seemed to burn and feel moist at the same time. His rage was slipping away no matter how much he tried to hold onto it. "You are crying," said Mist. "I first did that during my second mission. The one where I found the chick." Her voice became soft and she added, "I felt so sorry for it. It had come into the world, totally innocent and it was about to leave it. I should have killed it. I was born to kill it, but I didn't." Kaki used his free hand to wipe at his eyes, but failed to stop the tears. Emotions were something all people had, even the people of Haven, but some emotions were strangers to the clones' hearts and self-pity was something fresh to Kaki. "But that's not all," sobbed Kaki as he fell to his knees. "It's the ones who live. Don't you see? In this war, you either die while innocent or you becoming the living dead. I've seen it happen to the pilots who taught me and now I see it happening to me. We never get a chance like the rest of the races." Kaki pulled at his own hair, shouting, "We go right from vat to battle to the grave. Most of us are veterans by our tenth year! Why? WHY?" Only silence met Kaki's question as he buried his face into Mist's lap, knocking aside her meal. Neither Mist or the burning star beyond the ship's hull had an answer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- Tenchi Muyo! and related characters were created and are owned by AIC and Pioneer. I own the rest of my story. Well, I don't own the Earth, but you get the main idea. This story was brought to you by Lemon Nebula Food Services. Please enjoy their many fine products or they WILL hunt you down. They know where you live!