New Partner! Chapter Eight: A Short Little War. "Do you think Kiyone and Mihoshi will get help in time?" Katsuhito glanced up from his cup of green tea and said to his son-in-law, "I hope so." Nobuyuki stared up at the night sky. He was scared, not just for himself, but his son and the rest. "I am sure Washu has been working on an answer to the problem," stated Katsuhito as he slipped off his eyeglasses and gently cleaned them. Nobuyuki nodded, but continued to stare at the sky, as if his human eyesight could tell the difference between harmless stars and the flare of warships moving into orbit. The two Guardians moved about the lake's edge, their scanners checking and sweeping the forest, the waves and even the sky. Katsuhito placed his eyeglasses back onto his nose and watched the two organic robots. He felt slightly worried about them. They were programmed to protect members of the Jurai family and both were showing signs of stress. Funny, watching robots showing stress, but that was the only word he could find to describe it. They wanted to protect the Princesses and even himself, yet neither had the firepower or the knowledge needed to defend the estate OR the planet against a fleet of Hive ships. They might be able to take on many times their number of the Hive warriors, but they would be no match against armored hover craft or atmospheric fighters that would also be part of the invasion forces. In Washu's lab stood two cloaked objects. They stood on the tarmac of Washu's new underground hanger and weapons research lab. "This is the weapon which will defend the Earth," stated Washu as she pulled the sheet off the egg. It was a white egg, about four feet tall and oval shaped, with three thrusters at the bottom and a large muzzle at the top. It had no markings or anything else over the smooth surface of its body. The lab seemed silent, but for the humming and buzzing from the instruments around them "It looks like an egg," said Tenchi as Ryoko and Ayeka walked about the so-called weapon. "It is a Washu Defense Pod, Type A," said Washu. "It has three ion engines and an ion cannon. It has a hardwired brain, giving it super fast reflexes and an aggressive outlook on life." "You only have one?" asked Sasami as Ryo-Ohki poked the egg with her paw and mewled. "I built 400 type A pods," answered Washu as she moved to the other shape covered by a sheet. "This is Washu Defense Pod Type B." She removed the sheet and there was another egg. "It looks the same," commented Ryoko as she floated about the two pods. "No, no, no," said Washu as she knocked on the pod. "It has a CPU programmed with fuzzy logic and a list of rules dealing with dog fighting. It can think in a limited way, by rewarding tactics or rules that work with points. The more points assigned to a tactic the more likely it will repeat that tactic. I was able to only build 100 pods of this type." "It has an AI?" asked Ayeka as she glanced at both pods. They seemed to be exactly the same to her. Same number of engines, same ion gun, same size. "No, no," said Washu. "It is like comparing a cobra to a mongoose. A cobra works on instinct alone, while a mongoose learns what works by surviving the fight. They don't have the room for a fully functioning AI." "So," stated Tenchi, "the longer the type B lasts the better it will get. Won't it be kind of slow at the beginning of a fight?" Washu smiled, shaking a finger, "that is why I built so many of type A pod. They will go right into combat and give the other type time to learn. I hope." "But...," Tenchi looked at the pods and continued, "how are you going to send them into battle fast enough to do any good?" "One way transportation," replied Washu. "My computers will detect the Hive fleet and allow me to place the pods right in their path. The pods will be in passive mode till the Hive ships approach. Then they will go active and attack before the Hive ships have a chance to even notice them. I hope." "Won't the trip mess up their equipment?" asked Tenchi, remembering the last time he had used one of Washu's transportation devices and shivered. "No," said Washu with a giggle, "they don't have DNA to mess with." Bristle sat down among some of the playing babies and broke up the ration bar to give a tiny part to each of the tiny chicks. They happily ate the pieces of the fruit bar and a few asked for more. Bristle took out his own bar and gave it to the begging toddlers. The old worker glanced about the makeshift nursery. The nurses had taken over one of the larger structures, a storage area, and had moved in the chicks. Tiny walls had been made, to keep the young Hive members in and to protect them. Bristle stood up and gave some of the chicks a pat on the head before removing himself from the building, exiting onto the street. The greenish sky seemed so weird to him. All around him were warriors and workers and even Greens. The Hive military had decided the natives, known as Greens, were not a threat and even allowed many to stay within the buildings. The Greens were furry primates who had come to the Galactic Union's notice during one of the many drug wars between space pirates and local police. Some Greens had escaped, but most had stayed within the towns, fearing for their females and their own offspring. These males, when properly watched, made good workers in the rice paddies and were perfect at selecting the freshest fruit from the jungle. Of course the there were still rebels to worry about and this forced warriors to patrol the wooden walkways between the flooded fields and to guard the dams, many of them cradling missile launchers and high-powered rifles. He watched, as some of the young natives walked by him, many with their digits within their mouths. Interesting habit of the young of this race. The young had been left alone and many of the females had been assigned to care for them. The Hive knew of the need to protect and care for the next generation. The young were smaller versions of the adults with curly green furry to protect them from the sun AND help hide them within the brush. The males had three tails and the females had five, no doubt useful during courtship's. The Galactic Union members had been locked up at first. Now some of these 'Police' were allowed out among the cities. They were willing to help, acting less like female warriors as much as male drones. They debated and complained and asked and demanded, but in the end, they seemed to help more than hinder operations. One of these 'Police' was always with a white cap and a stick. He went about to help deal with the children, help with labor problems and making sure that the natives have enough food for themselves. He was not one of the natives, but he dealt with them as if he was one of them, born and bred. They called him 'Alex'. As Bristle sat down near one of the paddies he could see the one named Alex working in the field, side by side with the Greens and the Hive members. "I understand how you feel," said the Commander as he lifted a tea cup, "and Captain Nobeyama is right now, as we speak, getting in touch with both Marshal Anderson AND the Royal Council of Jurai." Officers Kiyone and Mihoshi sat before the Commander's desk as they watched him take a slurp of his tea. They had both arrived only half an hour earlier to a quiet station. While there was still many secretaries and technicians running about the Seventh Headquarters, the docking struts had been totally empty. "You understand it might be awhile," pointed out the Commander as he gently placed the cup back on the saucer. "Marshal was in a very important meeting with the Galactic Security Council. As you can guess, many planets such as Yura and Todain are demanding more ships to defend their sectors." "Well, yes," remarked Kiyone, "but surly with Jurai's help you can scrape up enough ships to come to the Earth's rescue." "My dear officer," said the feline alien, "while many people look at Jurai as a major and powerful member of the Union, I am sorry to say even they have a limit. Many of their ships have already been sent to help protect many of our most important member planets. Do you KNOW how many planets of the Galaxy Academy there are?" Captain White was thought of as one of the most lovely officers within the Galaxy Police Forces. Her longish white hair was as pure as snow and her blue eyes are bright as tiny gems. The missile frigate under her command was well run, its crisp boxy like appearance hiding the rows of powerful missile batteries that it carried. Now Captain White was sweating, her ship cloaked by the bands of glowing electromagnetic rays and the dark shadows of cosmic dust. Waiting in ambush for the Hive ships they believed to be in the area. White kept her face as calm as she could be, knowing that the crew was watching, themselves very nervous. She allowed her hands to move slowly and gently, adjusting the passive sensors as they floated in the nebula. "Report," she demanded on the ship's intercom. "We have a reading that fits a Hive ship, a Beam Destroyer. It is 30% by -34% and closing." "Missile status," asked White as she focused the ship's sensors to look for the Hive ship. "Ready," replied a new voice, "the first volley has the data downloaded. They will approach at half speed and once the smart missiles ID the Hive ship, they will go to full thrust." "Mixture of missiles," asked White as she tightened her straps. "Half will explode on impact. The rest have delay fuses. All warheads in first volley are fission." "Red alert," said White. The computers, all of which were linked to the intercom, turned on the red lights and give off a silent alarm which made the seats throb. The systems of the ship decided that there was a 90% chance that the ship was truly a Beam Destroyer. Captain White allowed herself a feeling of thanks towards the Gods. The Destroyer's range with its weapons was cut down by the surrounding Lemon Nebula. The enemy's own safety devices would not allow many of their weapons to fire without a clear target, an unlikely event within the dark confines of the cloud UNLESS the Destroyer was able to get much closer than White wanted to allow it. "Open missile doors." The ship vibrated as doors folded outwards and the warheads of over fifty missiles peeked out. "Missile systems updated with latest data. Target's speed and course has not changed." White nodded to herself and lifted her right hand, placing her thumb onto the red firing button on the control panel right above her head. She waited, counting to ten and then stabbed at the button. The ship rolled and pitched as fifty missiles launched themselves into the rainbow of space and within seconds disappeared from sight. Sensors were able to follow them most of the way. "No reaction from the target." The long range sensors reported an inferno of energy and radio noise. White was able to get a glimpse on the screens of a slight change in the color and texture of the nebula in the direction of the Hive ship, but it might of just been her own eyes playing tricks on her brain. "Second volley ready," reported a young voice, "they will launch at full thrust and warheads had delayed fuses. Fission warheads." White pushed the button again, no bothering to count. The ship once again shuddered as fifty more missiles left, smart weapons, homing in on the already wounded warship. "Warm up the engines," said White as the doors shut over the launchers, "prepare to set course for the jump point, LN-23." As the missile frigate slowly started to head for the secret jump point, an area within the nebula where an artificial sphere of vacuum had been cleared by Union engineers using gravity stations, White smiled to herself. "Well, done," she said over the intercom. Behind them the Hive Beam Destroyer died, very much like the Blue Belles it had ambushed only a few days earlier. "So in conclusion," reported Nobeyama from the image that floated before the King's throne, "not only will the Hive be attacking Colonial Planet 0-315 but they will have to use all their reserves to do it." "I see," said the King of Jurai, leaning back in his chair. "If we can wipe out their fleet reserves," stated Marshal Anderson from another floating image, "we could then work on liberating the invaded planets without fear of the Hive ground units being reinforced." Behind Anderson, in his picture, were dozens of people, all in the robes of the Galactic Union's Security Council. The Marshal was calling directly from the security chambers. The members of the Council ranged from human to totally non-humanoid in appearance, many of them wearing translator devices and breathing masks. "Are you sure about them having little in the way of reserves?" asked a stranger that stood next to the King. He was slim, wearing a black uniform, from his shiny boots to the black cap on his head. "Who are you?" demanded the Marshal, taken off guard for a second. The King gestured and said, in a calm and somewhat sleepy voice, "This is Commander Hiro, of the Haven Military Intelligence and he is here on order of the Haven High Command to form an alliance with us." Commander Hiro bowed towards the three dimensional projections of the two members of the Galaxy Police and said, "I think we can help you when it comes to Earth." In the outer reaches of the planetary system, in the deep blackness of space, there started to form spinning purple and blue dots. They expanded, ripping open the very fabric of space, causing waves of energy to wash over the surrounding area of reality. These wounds gave birth to Hive ships. A Hive Battleship came out, followed by another Battleship and another, till there was a total of five massive ships. These were followed by fatter military transports. The ships looked pretty much alike, all designed for the same function of traveling in the harsh environment of space. The ships started to organize, the warships forming a protective wall while the bigger but slower transport moved up behind them. Slowly the ships started to move, setting course for the target. A small, blue and white planet, a planet called EARTH. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------Tenchi Muyo! and related characters and settings are owned by AIC and Pioneer. The rest is mine. I would suggest you start running for the hills now.