New Partner! Chapter Seven: When the Devil drives. The huge harvester known as the 'Road Hog' floated silently through the clouds of space orchids, sucking up ton after ton of organic material. The bridge status lights all showed green, the ones that still worked. Captain Joan Stratford leaned back in her chair, working on her quilt, as the ship's computers carried out most of the work. She worked slowly on the patch as the harvester filtered and processed the orchids which were rich in protein. Within a few weeks the tanks would be finally full and the ship would return to the food factories that orbited the few suns within the Lemon Nebula. The clear areas around the young suns were the only places where the huge robotic facilities could get the free solar energy which allowed them to function without relaying on imported energy sources. Right when she was about to finish the patch and start on another the alarms at one of the unmanned stations started to beep. Joan Stratford looked up from her work. "God damn it," she demanded as she got up and walked over to the station, "what is it this time? A backed up intake pipe? A broken pump? A power overload?" The tiny viewing screen of the station showed multiple objects advancing on the harvester from all directions. The computer identified them as small spaceships, the drive signatures and energy readings suggested fighters. "Pirates?" asked Joan the air, shocked. "Pirates attacking a harvester? Are they nuts? Do they know what Lemon Food Services will do to them in court?" The ship's equipment did not answer, waiting for input via the keyboards of the stations. Joan just stood there, knowing the harvester had no defenses, not even flight. It was just too big and too far away from a Galaxy Police HQ to even hope to escape. As the fighters got close enough, the harvester's sensors were able to make another sweep, getting a clearer picture of what the unknown space craft were. A viewing station showed an outline of a Hive fighter, an arrowhead shaped hull, with two huge engines and forward facing laser cannons. "Oh my God..." The station beeped again and reported that the fighters were hailing the 'Road Hog'. "On speaker now." The speaker seemed to explode with a robotic voice, no doubt a translator program working its best to turn the clicks and hisses of a Hive pilot into a Joan's native language. "Food harvester," demanded the speakers in a loud, if emotionless, "come to a full halt. You will be boarded by warriors. You cannot escape, as we know you have no weapons and a crew of only one or two. I repeat, Food harvester come to a full halt." Joan shook her head to clear it and continued to watch as a group of six silver colored fighters spread out about her ship, laser cannons pointing at her hull, allowing her computers to notice the targeting systems locking onto the harvester. Other fighters seemed to be approaching in formations, dozens more, and behind them were larger ships her sensors could only detect by their size. She swiftly typed in the proper commands, using smaller jet engines to kill its motion and turning everything off but life support and a few minor systems. She then switched on the radio and said, "I give up." Galaxy Police Commissioner Alex sat in the rice paddy, his shorts muddy, his shirt soaked. His walking stick and white cap lay in the mud before him. Half a mile away was his small office, with its radio equipment and its small power plant, which was still smoking. The small nearby town that was the so-called capital of Beta Six was untouched. The stone walls and wooden roofs standing tall and proud. Next to him were two other officers, also sitting in the mud and looking dazed. Surrounding them were six Hive warriors, five armed with snub-nosed assault rifles as the sixth was armed with a flame-thrower. The wide muzzle of the flame-thrower seemed to be pointed at the three Galaxy Police. Alex felt that the last warrior seemed older than the rest and might even be an officer by its calm stance, while the others seemed to twitch a lot. 'Of course,' admitted Alex to himself, 'they could just be reacting to the hormones filling their systems.' Farther out, between the town and the jungle were two rusty looking troop transports unloading armored hover cars. They won't prove useful in the jungles, but not all of Beta Six was forest. Much of it was marsh, rivers and small lakes. Hover craft like those spreading out around the landing gear of the transports, the warriors in their open beds setting up the heavy machine-guns and small rocket launchers on top of their sloped sides, would be very effective in getting about. Another flight flew over the forest, six Hive fighters in an open formation, very much like the fighters who had launched an aerial attack on his office only about an hour ago. Among the streets he could see the natives being peacefully rounded up as Hive troops checked the city, house by house. High above, in the greenish sky, appeared a spinning purple hole and more spaceships appeared. Saucer shaped troop transports, fighters, shuttles and even a few cargo haulers. "They are not armed," said Alex out loud to the warriors standing about him. "Only the tribes, the hunters and gatherers, who live in the jungles will be a problem." Alex stopped, before he gave more information then he should. If some of the outlaws on the planet put up a fight, good for them. The one armed with the flame-thrower seemed to tilt its head, listening. The others seemed to ignore his words. Alex sighed and wished he and his men had been armed with something more powerful then laser pistols. Whenever Beta Six had gotten into any real trouble the local law enforcement just called the Galactic Union for help. Alex doubted he would be able to get any help with the melted remains of the subspace radio in his office. "It is amazing," said one of his pale subordinates, "that they were able to hit us with JUST the right amount of force. No tanks have landed and there are no heavy bombers in the air." The other subordinate, a humanoid with long fur all over his body, snorted and said, "With a local police force on the planet totaling only about 200 officers, many employed from the Greens, they didn't need anything else." Alex frowned as his mind suddenly had a thought. He sat watching the hover craft move over the paddies, their fans leaving behind muddy waves in the water, and realized that both men were right. "They knew where our office was," he said, glaring at the warriors about him, "they KNEW where the subspace radio was, where the best place to land was. They knew there was nothing deployed here that needed heavy weapons, like tanks or bombardment from orbit." Alex was about to say more when another troop transport landed only a half mile away, the landing gear sinking into the muck. As the door opened, he waited for the warriors to pour out but he was shocked to see what did pour out. Chirping, mewling baby Hive members being herded by pale, long legged adult members of the Hive. None were armed. The chamber of Jurai's Supreme Council, was a large circular room, with layers of ascending work stations. At each station was a member of the Council, many of them either members of the royal family or very powerful members of other lesser families. In the center of the Council's chamber stood Lady Funaho, both the Inspector General of Information AND the Representative of the Supreme Council. She bowed to the members of the Council as the lights dimmed. "Greetings my fellow nobles. I have come right from the King's chambers with information which I believe it very important to this body." Lady Funaho used a control in her right hand to turn on the holographic projectors hidden within the ceiling. A model of Jurai appeared, a planet of blue and green, circled by two rings of tube shaped stations. Data flickered next to the organic stations, showing which symbol was a robotic defense satellite, which was a traffic control center and which was a customs office. Beyond these two rings were tiny crosses, showing the points used by civilian traffic in entering and leaving normal space within the system. Just outside the sphere of crosses were Jurai warships, a mixture of the regular naval units and the units of the Royal Body Guard. "There is the problem we face," remarked Funaho as she pressed a button on her control. Red symbols appeared around the edge of the projection. Clumps of enemy ships, Hive dreadnoughts and heavy cruisers. Many in the chamber gasped and a few stood up, staring at the symbols. "As you can see," continued the Lady, "there are no military transport ships. Only capital ships waiting outside the range of our own weapons." "Lady Funaho," asked one of the men, standing up in his green and blue robes, "why are they allowed to do this? Why haven't our fleets chased them out of the system?" "Good question my Lord Fiji," replied the Lady. She glanced about the chamber, meeting many of her fellow Council members in the eyes, giving each a nod. Many of the men and women nodded back at her in support. While the Lady Funaho was from Earth she had proven to the Council, again and again, that within her calm, almost fragile looking body was a strong and very sharp mind. "The answer is simple. The Hive has launched a series of attacks against Galactic Union planets or allied planets. They are also raiding many of most heavily used traffic lanes. Most of the activity seems to focus on the fringes of civilized space. The Galaxy Police has stripped many of their Headquarters to send help. The King has released many of our own regular naval units to help protect important planets and trade centers." Lady Funaho pointed with her left hand up at the glowing symbols above her head, "those are all we have left. IF we attack, we might be able to beat back the ships we see, but the Hive MIGHT enter space using the nearby jump points." The crosses flashed. "Right now our ships are in a perfect position to catch any enemy ships in a crossfire with our battle station." The computers responded to the Lady's voice and showed enemy ships appearing between the Jurai ships and the Jurai station. Within seconds the Hive ships were ripped apart with only a few Jurai ships or stations being destroyed. "The same problem happens if we send more of our ships out to help." Once again the computers reacted. Some of the Jurai ships disappeared and the Jurai units clustered closer to the planet, leaving many of the crosses outside the local defenses. Hive ships started to appear at the hyperspace jump points and this time the battle went very different. As many Jurai ships were catch in a crossfire as the Hive ships. Soon it looked like the Hive ships were pushing their way through the rings, many crippled by the attempt, but a few launched missiles at the planet. Data showed that the planet's cities could suffer large casualties, as little as 30% or as much as 80%. "Thank you," said Lord Fiji as he sat down at his station, "I see the problems that the King faces." "They are here to keep us from sending more help," explained Lady Funaho, "not to invade us. They are a threat, to pin down our forces, and they are doing a very good job at it." "But Marshal Anderson," begged Commander Oak as he leaned over his desk, "you've left the Twentieth Headquarters stripped of all but two patrol ships. You can't take my Missile Frigate Squadron also." "I am sorry Commander," said the blond image of the Marshal from the screen that floated over the floor in the center of the office. "But your area has seen little or no action for over three weeks. And even little missile frigates COULD be useful in fighting the Hive's forces. You ships could prove very effective within the Lemon Nebula." "But sir," said Oak, as his green furry tails swung back and forth in anger, "there are still pirates and outlaws who work within my area. We have also lost contact with Beta Six." "I am truly sorry," said Anderson, "but you know as well as I do that Beta Six and many of the planets in your area have NO formal trade agreements with the Union. Only two are members of Galactic Union and we're only there to protect Union citizens and sometimes to help the other planets with major law enforcement problems. The current crisis over rides all that. I am sorry." "I understand," said the alien primate, as he sat down on the chair, his feet grasping the table edge as he tried to control his temper. The image of Anderson nodded, even as the picture collapsed and the subspace communication equipment shut off. Commander Oak pounded on his desk with his huge hands. "Damn, damn, damn!" Lord-Regent Lance stared down at the images. Picture after picture, taken by military cameramen, showed nothing but death. Two of the Hive colonies had been found and invaded by ground troops. There HAD been defenders, mostly warriors fighting to the death, defending some of the dead cities. The fighting had come down to troops fighting for the planets, inch by inch, building by building. Many of the images showed dead soldiers, from both sides, piled on top of each other. Lance felt sick. His yellow robotic eyes seemed to ache as if he was about to cry. It was more likely that the nerves that attached his eyes to the rest of his gray matter were starting to fail. "So," said the leader of the Haven High Command. "We have become planet killers again." "So, I don't think we could have realized the amount of damage our viral weapon could have done," stated one of the junior officers, one of many who stood within the viewing chamber. All the most important of the Haven High Command seemed to be present, making for a rainbow of uniforms. "What?" Lance glared at the officer. "And who should have realized it if not us? We designed it you fool!" The officer bowed his head, as others in the room moved nervously. The Lord rarely yelled and for him to do so suggested he was under great pressure. "I want a manned courier prepared," commanded the Lord as he wrapped the white clothe about his head, covering his eyes from sight and from the sight of the pictures that continued to scroll in the air before him. "Yes, sir," replied one of the Fleet Commanders. "Where will it be going?" "Jurai." The time ship appeared with a flash as it entered normal space, the onboard computers trying released any extra energy, helping the ship to come to a complete halt. Washu leaned against the control and sighed. The sensors beeped happily, as they quickly recognized the local star the tiny vessel was now in orbit around. Ryoko and Ayeka both examined the read outs and even Sasami seemed interested in what the sensors were saying. "Well," said Ayeka as she turned to face Ryoko, "we're back in the solar system." "That's Saturn," said Tenchi as he glanced at the viewing screen, having unbuckled his belt and leaning over the first row of seats. "Yes," remarked Washu as she sat up and turned on the radio, trying to pick the correct channel. "We need to talk to somebody first." Even before she could continue, a voice came out of the radio. A joyful, fun filled voice. "Hey guys," said Mihoshi's happy chirp, "how was the camping trip?" "Listen Mihoshi, Kiyone," replied Washu, "Gamma Ten was a war zone. The Hive and the military of Haven are going all out and it's going to spread. I have information from a trusted source that Earth and other planets of the Galactic Union are going to be a target. You HAVE to go get reinforcements. I will try to do what I can to defend the Earth, but we will need help." There was silence from the radio for a few moments. Then Mihoshi's voice came back, pouring out of the speakers. "A war zone? But I thought the Hive had barely gotten into space." Washu sighed and was about to reply when the patrol ship flashed by the time craft, the massive engines of the booster unit almost blinding all in the tiny ship. "I understand," stated Kiyone's voice. "Farmer," said Officer Kiyone from the pilot's chair, "course laid in?" "Yes," said Farmer. "We will enter hyperspace within 2 minutes. Once we hit faster-than-light we will be heading for Galaxy Police Seventh Headquarters. I have sent a warning via subspace, but I doubt we will get a reply before arriving." Mihoshi picked herself up from the second chair, where she had been thrown by Kiyone in her partner's haste to get to the ship's controls. "Do you think we can get them to believe us?" "They better," said Kiyone as she strapped herself in, "because I don't think they have time to debate it." "We don't have any information besides Washu's word to back up the claim," pointed out the ship's AI. "Then we go right to the Marshal, right Mihoshi?" "We're not going to name drop are we," asked Mihoshi as she finally strapped herself into her chair, "I would hate to name drop." "Yes," stated Kiyone, "we are going to name drop. Marshal Anderson, King of Jurai, Washu and even Prince Yosho if I have too." "Prince Yosho?" "Don't you read your own reports," complained the green haired officer. Washu and company watched as the Galaxy Police Patrol Ship entered the twirling disk of hyperspace and disappeared. "We have work to do," stated Washu as she aimed the time ship towards the inner planets. "Hang on!" growled Ryoko. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- Tenchi Muyo! and related characters or settings are owned by AIC and Pioneer. All the rest is my mess.