No Need for Humans I By : SStormtrooper You can contact Me via : SStormtrooper@Hotmail.com Chapter 1 : An Ultra Marine Falls Into the Land of Stars ======================================================= *The war isn't going well. Four years of fighting and nothing to show for it but 40 million dead bodies. Colonies blown to hell and back, countless fighter squadrons destroyed, cruisers wreaked, and all sorts of other crap. And now, I out here on patrol checking my asshole to make sure no Jurains are sneaking up there, this sucks.* Joseph Ruthenburg relaxed into the seat of his space fighter. He raked his eyes over the cockpit displays and settled into his patrol route. His fighter's autopilot system put the craft into a 22 degree starboard roll and turned to the long leg of patrol route and then straightened out before continuing on its new course. *Humans fighting the Jurians. What the hell is that all about ? Coming into our space, lecturing to our leaders about the backwards of our race, our 'immorality', the weaknesses of our leaders, the flaws of our government... 'You will become valued members of the Jurian Empire.' What a bunch of shit. We had every right to attack. They provoked us into declaring war. We could not know, there was no way we could have known... about their little secret. Hell, the ship is running without proper ID codes, and they opened fire on OUR forces. The first blood was on their hands. Course, that little girl couldn't have known what the 7th fleet was doing in that system, but what the hell is up with giving 17 year old princesses command of battlecruisers ?* A light blinked on the starfighter's control panel, and the computer began beeping for his attention. Ruthenburg leaned forward and activated the communications system to receive the incoming message. "This is the Coalition Carrier Ares to all patrolling starfighters, we have detected a Jurian battlecruiser located in star quadrant 50i approx. 500,000,000 kilometers from our present position. Break off patrol duties and return to the carrier immediately." Joseph Ruthenburg activated the cockpit radio with his free hand, "This is Starfighter 01 Beta to Carrier, message has been received, heading back to your position." "We copy fighter 01 Beta, Keep this channel open for further reports." "Roger control. Computer, shift navigational point to current position of home carrier, set auto-pilot, best possible speed." After relaying the rest of his commands to the computer, Joe checks his spacesuit's seals to make sure they are all functioning. There were many horror stories about pilots with suit ruptures that had been sucked into open space through the rupture when their cockpits decompressed. Two years of warfare with the Jurains had made everyone in the Coalition very cautious. Cautious people were the only ones left in the military. Careless people usually didn't survive to see a soldier of Jurai face to face. "Computer, estimate time to carrier interception." 'Estimated time to carrier arrival is 40 minutes.' replayed the cockpit computer to a toneless female voice. Although the current computer voice was devoid of all expression, it was preferable to previous attempts by the scientists to make the computer systems more 'user friendly'. Time passed slowly in the cockpit of Joe's starfighter. A recent news report resurfaced in Joe's memory. Several weeks ago, he heard that Princess Aeka, heir to the throne of Jurai, and the A-1 class criminal Ryoko had been reported missing. Aeka, had disappeared while on a journey to meet with a special suitor on some far off planet. Ryoko had been running from the GP when she too disappeared along with the officer that was trailing her. Since then, little information had been received about either of them. Some of the generals in the high command were worried about this development, if the Princess was not found, the Emperor of Jurai might come to the conclusion that she had been captured or killed by the humans, and add that offense to humanities' list of 'crimes' against the Jurain people. Earth would really be in it deep then. The war of retribution would become a war of vengeance and Joe doubted the emperor would stop until humanity had been wiped from the stars. Well, no matter, if the Emperor wanted to play hard ball, Joe Ruthenburg, ace pilot would defeat him and reclaim all of what the Coalition had lost. Joe chuckled to himself inside the bulky spacesuit. As a child he had had fantasies of becoming a great pilot, or a famous hyperball player, or pleasing his parents by performing wondrous academic achievements. Now he was fighting for their lives, and by the look of things, he wasn't doing a very good job. After half and hour of boredom and a few unpleasant moments of urinating into a plastic tube, the navigational computer alerted Joe that the carrier was within visual range. The C.S.S. Ares was a magnificent ship, a marvel of human ingenuity and technology. She was half a mile long, 2000 ft wide and her internal storage bays could carry enough supplies to take the ship and the men and women aboard it to the rim of space and back. The materials used to construct her had to be mined from asteroids, the amount of raw materials needed would have depleted a planet twice as large as Earth. Joe stared proudly at the huge ship. He had been aboard her for 7 months now and loved his new post. The humming of the ship's systems helped him sleep, and the sound of thousands of people talking across the ship eased his loneliness at times. Now, the great ship was flanked by several of her smaller escorts which made up the 14th Reserve Fleet. The C.S.S. Ares was deemed so capable by the High Command she didn't have any of the support vessels that usually accompanied Coalition StarCarriers. The Ares stood always stood alone against the forces of Jurai. The 14th Reserve Fleet had done fairly well for itself. They had destroyed 4 Jurain Heavy Cruisers and 16 smaller vessels in the 6 weeks they had been on patrol. Their current mission had been to find a route through the Muterian Nubela safe enough to establish a convoy route through quadrant 49. It was dangerous work. This sector of space was used widely by Jurian resupply vessels and patrolled frequently by the Galaxy Police. Since the GP wanted to maintain their good relations with Jurai, they had started to take offensive actions against the Coalition in the recent months. It seemed everyone was turning against the human race. Only the Cathoons, a strange race of catlike beings had allied themselves with the humans. Apparently, they had a lot of bad blood between them and the Jurains and were taking the opportunity to repay them for past grievances. Suddenly, a voice over the comlink shook Joe out of his reverie. "This is control to all fighters, the target has been confirmed, Jurain Battle Group sighted in Quadrant 50i. Flagship is a royal family battlecruiser. The ship belongs to a member of the upper house of Jurai. Assume enemy to be a class one threat. Fighters are free to engage, usage of cluster munitions has been authorized. Good Hunting." Joe grabbed the control column and swung his fighter towards the enemy battle group. The computer started to feed targeting data into his HUD display. He looked over the controls and began one last system check. "Computer, master arm off, engage ACM (ACM technology exists now. It is simply a radar mode that scans the space in front of a fighter and locks on to the closest target. Range is rather limited so this radar mode is used only used for close range confrontations.), activate defense systems, bring RCS on-line, bring reactor under flux control." The two groups of enemy fighters began to close in on one another. The Jurain battle group resembled a collection of wooden carvings moving through space. The light from distant stars glinted of the metal hulls of the human ships, making them shine like newly minted coins. The human fighters began to maneuver 'up' towards the incoming Jurian ships. Frantic shouts began to fly over the radio as the two sides began to engage in battle. "I've got two trees on my tail!" "Starfighter 01 break left!!" "Fucking tree is turning with me." "Alpha leader ejec...... BOOM!!!!!!!!" Static filled the communications frequency for a moment. "I can't shake em, I can't shake em" "STARFIGHTER 01 BREAK LEFT NOW!!!" In front of Joe's cockpit a lone star fury is screaming away from two Jurian fighters which are closely following him. The pilot was trying to pull away from his pursuers by slamming his fighter into full afterburner. He was slowly pulling away from the pursuing fighters but their weapon blasts were coming closer and closer to him. "STARFIGHTER BREAK LEFT YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!" Instantly, on cue, all the human fighters in Joe's immediate area pulled High-G left turns and starting diving away from imaginary or real pursuers. Seeing a Jurian fighter that had gotten separated from the main force, Joe fired his navigational thrusters and slid in behind the Jurian craft. He corrected for the other craft's slight jinking maneuvers and fired a burst of plasma bolts at the turning fighter. The energy from the impact caused the Jurain fighter to explode into a million fiery chunks of organic material. Joe banked right and began searching for another target. The chatter on the radio told him the fight was still roughly an even match. The Jurains had destroyed 13 human fighters while losing 10 of their own. The two capital ships and their escorts were slowly closing in on each other. The crew of the Ares was rapidly shouting different orders over the radio to their escorting fighters and the various support vessels in the battle group. "Cruiser Toluene, turn 16 degrees to port and line up with the destroyer Pavilion, C.S.S. Hermes launch all fighters immediately and have them support 4th squadron. Remaining members of 7th squadron, break off combat and head back to Home Base for resupply." "BRIDGE, THIS IS SENSOR ROOM, WE READ 2 JURAIN BATTLECRUISERS JOINING THE IMPERIAL VESSEL FROM HYPERSPACE." "Sensors please confirm that report. Weapons, bring all forward batteries to ready status. Prepare Star Flash Missile System for launch." "Weapons copies bridge. All forward batteries report ready, Star Flash system will be on-line in 45 seconds. Targets ?" "Target the Jurain Royal Family Battlecrusier." "Confirmed, Royal Family vessel targeted, computing firing solution." "BRIDGE, SENSOR ROOM. CONFIRMED CAPTAIN, TWO JURAIN BATTLECRUISERS HAVE JUST JUMPED OUT OF HYPERSPACE AND ARE LOCKING ON TO US CAPTAIN!" "Weapons do you have that firing solution yet ?" "Royal Family vessel has been targeted, firing solution is confirmed, missile internal computer is tracking the target." "Fire when ready." "Yes sir... Firing in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... launch commit, 2 missiles away. Missiles are tracking the targets, estimating 1 minute until target. Two missiles blasted out of their launch tubes in the sides of the C.S.S. Ares and began ripping through the space separating the Ares and the Jurain fleet. The missiles flew straight and true, impacting on both sides of the Royal Family vessel. The twin explosions, like bright cherry blossoms, ripped through the ship's superstructure and tore off the hull plates on the other side. The Jurian vessel was gutted, it started to list along its y-axis, spewing its guts into open space. Cheers broke all over the C.S.S. Ares and inside of the cockpits of her fighters. Joe was faintly aware of yelling at the top of his lungs along with a multitude of others. A loud yell broke through the radio chatter to deliver its message. "BRIDGE... SENSOR ROOM, JURIAN BATTLECRUISERS HAVE LOCKED ON TO US. FOUR.... CORRECTION SIX ADDITIONAL BATTLECRUISERS HEADING TO OUR POSITION FROM QUADRANT 48I, ETA 5 MINUTES." "Sensor room, began tracking the new contacts until they jump out of hyperspace. Weapons, target the remaining cruisers and await my command." On the Defensive System's monitor, several red lights began to blink, begging the overworked crewman manning the station for attention. The young officer paled when he looked at the source of the problem. "MISSILE! MISSILE! MISSILE! The Jurain ships have launched long-range missiles at us. Counting... 10 type 62 Fire Dragon missiles heading toward us. Missiles have acquired and are homing on our position. The fighters surrounding the Ares began to distance themselves from the Carrier, trying to get out of the missile's blast radius to avoid being crippled when the missiles hit. Joe angled his fighter towards one of the surviving Jurian fighters and began pursuit. On board the Ares, the Captain was shouting commands at the crew, preparing the ship for the missile attack. "Man your defensive stations! Sensors, get me more information on those incoming missiles. Weapons, arm Star Point missile defense guns. Divert power from Hyperspace engines to weapons. Sensors, give me data on those missiles!" "Missiles are still tracking, MBC reads 30 seconds until impact sir." "Helm, begin evasive maneuvers. Defense, prepare to release countermeasures on my mark. Sound collision alarms, get the crew away from the outer hull in case of a breach." The crew leapt to obey. The great ship began to spin counter-clockwise and accelerate at a -5 degree pitch relative to the center position of the nearest star. (Since there is no up or down in space, the easiest way of relating position data to a starship's control computer would be to compare the ship's position to all nearby objects when the computer first comes on-line. Then, either based on pre-programmed data, or the computer's own interpretation, 'up' would be defined as a certain direction , and all following maneuvers would be based on the first definition of direction by the navigation computer. The positions of distant objects would be plotted on a three dimensional graph [x,y,z]. The map would extend as far as maximum sensor range. You can imagine the problems that would be created if the navigation computer were to be damaged or the information lost.) The 4 giant Magma fusion engines accelerated it to its top sublight speed of 400,000 kph. "Missiles have begun final acceleration, impact in 6 seconds." "Helm, break hard to port, release starboard countermeasures now now now!" Several thousand pounds of sensor jamming materials were ejected out of the right side of the ship as the maneuvering thrusters fired and kicked the ship into a tight left turn. 7 of the Jurian missiles were confused by the countermeasures and either continued to accelerate forward or they turned into the large cloud of metallic chaff. The remaining three missiles turned with the Ares and impacted the ship just under the engine housing and engineering section. The Lower Fusion engine immediately started its emergency shutdown cycle and damaged pump lines began spewing coolant liquids and hydraulic fluid into space. Several million liters had been lost before the automatic safeties kicked in. The entire engineering section lost power for one or two seconds before the electrical system could compensate for massive shorts in the ship's power grid. A crew of engineers were killed when the coolant line they maintained ruptured and covered them with reactor coolant that had been superheated to 4.0x10^5 degrees C. The hanger bays lost control of the mechanical door systems and the fighters that were still stored there were ripped to shreds with shrapnel from the resulting explosions flew through the open hanger doors. Without coolant, the Fusion reactor went into the Emergency Cooling Cycle and a 7 minute timer started counting down. The surviving engineers knew the ship would not have main power for 7 minutes while the reactor cooled to a safe level. Secondary explosions along the underside of the ventral hull blew computer boards and melted whole sections of the computer core. Surge protectors blew out in spectacular displays of electrical energy. Without computer control, the mechanisms controlling the hyperspace engines began to go through their pre-heat cycle. A hull breach in the forward control room had killed everyone in the hyperspace drive section and prevented any action from being taken in the first few minutes to prevent the build-up of energy. The bridge was a mess. Bits and pieces of debris had been blown everywhere. 4 crewmen had been splattered when a conduit exploded as their mag-lift car had arrived on the bridge. The remaining crewmen climbed back into their seats and assessed the damage to the ship. "Commander, damage report." "Captain, we have lost main power. The core is in the emergency cooling cycle. Fighter bays 1, 3, and 4 are unable to launch or recover spacefighters. The computer system has suffered massive damage and our hyperspace engines have been damaged. In addition there are heavy causality reports coming in from all over the ship. We have hull breaches in 13 different locations along the starboard ventral hull. "Captain, sensors reports the 6 additional Jurain battlecruisers are 30 seconds from their subspace entry point." "Captain, I can't get any word from engineering." "There is a hull breach in section 11A, we are venting drive plasma." "Fighter wing #4 has been completely destroyed." "Sir, Reports coming in from our escorts. The Invincible has been lost with all hands. The Hermes has been heavily damaged and cannot move under her own power. The Pavilion is moving along side to assist, she has also taken a hit to her fighter bay. Her captain reports 45% combat effectiveness." The Captain of the Ares took a deep breath. He looked at the tactical screen for a moment noting the positions of the Jurain ships. They were organizing their forces into a battle group. Probably the Imperial Guard formation. They would form an assault line and close in for the kill. Without launch capability, the ship was defenseless and they could not retreat until the hyperspace engines had been repaired. Fear raced through the captain as he considered his few remaining options. Stand his ground and be destroyed or... *No, I can't do that. Earth would be lost. The entire Universe would unite against us.* Some medics arrived on the bridge to treat the wounded that hadn't been moved off the bridge. They went over to a female ensign that had collapsed against a bulkhead in the rear area of the bridge. They quickly rolled her body onto a stretcher they had carried with them. One of the medics put a hand over his mouth before reaching for a blanket and placing it over her upper body. The other medic went over to where she had been laying and began wiping something off the floor with a blood soaked piece of cloth. *If I do not use them, 15000 more humans will end up like her. If I do, 10 billion might die in the witch hunt that would follow.* The voices of the men and women he commanded seemed to call out to him. They spoke of revenge, their desire for life. The captain let out a tense breath, he knew that fulfilling their wish, winning a victory using those methods, would prolong this war and might be the action that ends the human race. He silently fought with his inner emotions while the crew rushed about him to repair the ship. "Captain, Sensors. Enemy ships are regrouping into Imperial Guard formation. Second wave of Jurian battlecruisers are 10 seconds from subspace entry point." *There it is. They closing in to kill us.* The captain reached for a silver key hanging around his neck. The bridge crew stared at him with disbelieving eyes as he took the key and placed it in the console next to his chair. "This is the Captain to weapons control, As captain of this ship, I am authorizing the use of anti-matter weapons. Release code is Dragon Sword. I repeat, code is Dragon Sword. Confirm missile system readiness." A disembodied voice from the ship's intercom replied, "Code confirmed. The AMMS is fully operational. What are the targets ?" "The estimated subspace jump point of the incoming Jurain fleet and the two remaining cruisers." "Targets identified and targeted. The computer is tracking the targets. Firing code ?" "The firing code is Silver Dagger." The captain placed his hand on the fingerprint scanner underneath the key slot and the computer performed a retina scan. Satisfied with the results, the computer flashed the words 'ID Accepted' on the missile controller's screen "Code confirmed, ID Check is positive. Missiles are primed and in active tracking mode. 10 seconds until launch readiness." "Clear the bridge." called the captain. All non-essential personnel began to leave the tense bridge as the captain sat down in his chair. "Communications, warn our surviving starfighters to clear the blast area." "Yesss sir." The young female Lt. begins to order Joe and the other surviving fighters away from the Jurian ships. "5 seconds until missile launch, 3... 2... 1... launch commit." The Lt. Commander in the missile control room depresses the red firing buttons under the control boards for missiles # 1,2,3, and 4. The silos containing the missiles fill with a nitrogen gas solution until the pressure inside the missile bay reached 5000 psi. The launch hatches are blasted off and a catalyst is mixed with the hydrogen gas causing the missiles to be ejected out of their launch tubes at 100 m/s (meters a second). 0.55 seconds after launch, the missile's solid fuel engine ignites and propels the missile at its selected target at 1/20th the speed of light. When it entered its final approach range, the computer fires a kick motor that separates the warhead and its final stage engine from the second stage propulsion unit. The final stage liquid fuel engine ignites and propels the missile towards its target at its terminal velocity of 1/15th the speed of light. At 1,000,000k from target the matter-antimatter warhead arms and the computer cuts the engine to conserve fuel in case of a miss. (If the missile misses [not likely] the proximity sensor will detonate the missile or the engine will be relighted and the missile will circle around and track its target again) The Jurian defensive computers tracked four targets heading towards their positions at incredible speed. By the time the missiles had been detected, their approach and range calculated, and the operator warned, they had already reached their final approach range. The two Jurian battlecruiser began to lurch to the left in a desperate attempt to dodge the four incoming missiles. The Human built missiles easily corrected for the changing positions of the Jurian ships. The ferro-titianum nose cones punched holes in the outer hulls of the two battlecruisers and the missiles cut through several decks before the warheads exploded, vaporizing the two ships and creating a light brighter than a supernova. The shock wave from the explosion begins to travel away from the impact point. The Jurian reinforcements jump into normal space just as the shock wave passes through that area of space. The six mighty vessels are ripped to pieces by the massive forces released by the four 1-Gigaton warheads. Shock waves reach through the emptiness of space, ripping apart Jurain starfighters and crushing smaller pieces of debris as they float through the void. The shockwaves dissipate a mere 100,000 kilometers from the C.S.S. Ares and the surviving human ships. Inside Joe Ruthenberg's fighter... all the lights were out. No lights, no instrument readings, no status monitors, nothing. Not even the Jesus light was on. (In space the Jesus light is the light that means the area is pressurized and intact .) The only light in the cockpit came from the tiny status light inside his spacesuit. Relieved that the suit was still intact, Joe began fumbling around the cockpit, looking for the emergency power switch. He found the small switch located under the seat and flipped it. One of his computer monitors lit up and a small green dot focused in the center. "Well, at least it booted up." (When the space shuttle was invented, computers were still in their infancy. On board an actual space shuttle, the presence of this light means the NAV computer has booted and is waiting instructions. At this point, the machine doesn't even know its a computer. All information and data needed for flight control must be inputted from this point. In Joe's fighter, this screen is the display for the main computer when the fighter is in a low power situation.) Joe called up damage data for his fighter and gazed at the tables. He activated the emergency generator. *Hmmm.... 30 minutes until reactor restart......* On board the Ares the EMP waves from the four anti-matter bombs passed through the ship impacting on all over the ship's electrical systems. Inside engineering the fusion reactor's loop began to expand as the system restarted the reaction process. The EMP field passing through the ships destroyed the circuits that controlled the core's reaction process. Without any engineers in the section to control the reaction, the reactor began to increase the conversion process unchecked. When the capacitors being charged by the reactor filled with energy, the emergency power relays began feeding power into the ship's largest energy storage unit, the hyperspace generators. The massive power dump filled the capacitors in a few seconds. With a power spike imminent, the computer started the pre-heat sequence on the hyper engines to shunt off some of the power. After the pre-heat sequence had been completed, and the power input still increasing, the automated program continued, initializing the jump matrix and forming a jump point. The Captain of the Ares gathered himself of the floor and began shouting out commands. "Get me a damage report now! Sensors, what happened to those ships?" "Captain, sensors are off-line. The long-range sensor dish has been damaged. I recommend sending some starfighters to determine the result of our attack." "Very well. Communications, order some starfighters to inspect the enemy fleet." "Sir, we have lost all primary communications systems. Our short-range systems are limited to 100,000k. We will not be able to communicate with our fighters after they have departed." "Understood. Send them on their way. Continue with damage report." "Captain this is the doctor, we have a serious problem captain." "What is it Doctor ?" "We have a serious coolant leak in the secondary hull. The emergency bulkheads cannot close cause' the power gird in this section has been completely destroyed. Toxic gas has completely cut us off from engineering and is moving forward into the surrounding sections of the ship!" "Ahhhh..." "CAPTAIN, ENGINEERING. SIR WE HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM IN HERE!" The sound of burning material is heard in the background along with the hissing of a coolant leak. "This is the captain what is the situation in there ?" "CAPTAIN THE CORE IS FAST BREEDING. I CAN'T STOP THE FUSION PROCESS WITHOUT THE MAIN COMPUTER AND THE COOLANT LINES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED SO WE CAN'T COOL DOWN THE REACTOR! IF WE DON'T SOMETHING SOON WE'RE GONNA HAVE A CORE FLUX AND THEN A CORE BREACH!" "Captain, sensors, I have an intermittent contact on the long-range sensors. I can't quite make it out. It is not answering on the IFF (Identification Friend Foe)." The Captain let out a slow breath and then pressed the com button on his chair. "Crewman, you must gather the remaining engineers and stabilize the reactor." "Captain, I don't you understand the situation in here, I'm standing in cool.." The Captain cuts off the scared crewman. "Crewmen you must stabilize the reactor at all costs, we cannot afford to lose power now." The crewman switched off the com unit and turned around to look at the remnants of engineering. Superheated coolant was pooling around the legs of his chemical suit and a hissing sound told him that some gas was still leaking into the reactor room. Inside the core, the production rate was reaching dangerous levels. The young crewman grabbed a tool kit from its holding rack and ran over to the shattered coolant line. He pried open the kit with shaking fingers and reached inside for a sonic wrench. The situation in the hyperspace drive had been growing steady worse. 1 minute had passed since the fusion reactor had prematurely restarted. The power gird had completely charged the 8 exa-farad (for non-science majors : exa = 1x10^18 farad = A^2 x s^4/kg x m^2. A farad is an extremely large amount of electrical charge. 1 farad of energy can create a lighting bolt that will fry a house.) energy storage units in the hyper space power system. The computer responded to the overload warnings by dumping the resident charge in the storage units directly into the hyperspace engines. The incredible surge of power caused the engines to rip a hole in the space-time-reality continuum (ripped of ST, but could not think of another way to describe it.) A star gate formed in front of the star carrier. Its gravitational well was enormous. All sorts of debris and bits of metal were sucked through. Starfighters were drawn into the circular field of energy. The Carrier began to succumb to the mighty forces pulling against the ship. --- In another dimension, on a different Earth, Washu looked up from her latest experiment. It was a wondrous success. The math and research involved had been quite simple. The only difficult part involved crunching all the numbers after the equation had been solved. With this new invention, Rho-oh-ki would always have enough carrots to eat, now that they cloud be grown using the fundamental nutrients found in anything around them. Using the special formula Washu had perfected, carrots, or any other kind of vegetation could grow using the minerals and energy contained in a baseball bat as opposed to the waiting the long and tedious period while they extracted them from surround organic material. Washuu threw her head back and laughed. Although this was a minor experiment, it was always good to start the day off with a success. Her twin dolls mounted themselves on her shoulders and began heaping praise on her. "DR. WASHUU YOU'RE THE GREATEST!" "THE GREATEST GENIUS IN THE UNIVERSE!" "SOON YOU'LL INVENT SOMETHING EVEN GREATER!" "HAIL WASHUU! HAIL WASHUU!" Their praise encouraged Washuu to lengthen her period of celebration. *So refreshing to be a genius. I don't know how other people survive not being as smart as me! Oh how wonderful it is to be a genius!* Washuu hopped from one foot to another. Washuu took another moment to bask in the glory of her achievement and then turned around and headed back to her computer station humming softly. After cracking her knuckles, Washuu spread her hands over the semi-transparent matrix of her computer and waited while ideas for her next experiment grew in her mind. *I have it! My next experiment will be to find a way to accurately navigate through subspace!* Grinning now, Washu sat down to work on her newest idea. She was so wrapped up in her work she almost missed the warnings coming from her hyperspace monitoring computer across the room. Quickly downloading the information onto the computer in front of her, Washu read the incoming data. *Got im himmel!* she declared, practicing an Earth language she had been studying. *There is enough energy in this hyperspace disturbance to create a sun! Those mass and displacement readings... this thing must be huge! Hmmm... roughly 1.78E18 metric tons with a fusion - antimatter energy signature. What the hell is powered by that ?* The computer flashed another warning. What ever was traveling through hyperspace was going to emerge somewhere in this solar system, maybe as close to Earth as Jupiter. *Hmmm... Fascinating. I should monitor this situation closely, such an opportunity to record data on hyperspace phenomenon.* Washuu settled into her lab chair, fingers flying over the keyboard while she set up her sensor nets to record the event. --- 1,000,000 kilometers from Jupiter a distortion in space began to form. A small dot of electric blue light began expanding, throwing off bolts of energy has it grew in size. When the circle reached the size of Saturn's rings, it momentarily stabilized in normal space. From the immense space anomaly came an intense gravity well. For .00000003 seconds all the objects in the nearby solar systems shifted .01 cm towards the intensely glowing disk. Several starfighters span out of the stargate and entered our universe, linking with the familiar slot on the subspace continuum that we inhabit. The Ares began to be pulled towards the stargate, but the monstrous amounts of power needed to keep the gate open exhausted the energy reserves of the hyperspace engines, and every other energy system on the ship. The stargate closed 1.5 seconds after its creation, sealing the starfighters that had crossed over from their own dimension. The power grid of the Ares cycled through its power reserves and then shut down when it could not find an energy source to energize its circuits. The pilots of the 4 starfighters that had crossed through slumped in their cockpits as their fighters drifted through space. The gravitational energy from the stargate had caused them to blackout due to G forces exceeding 15 times the force of standard Earth gravity. Only their specialized spacesuits protected their blood from pooling in their lower legs and staying there. The four fighters drifted through space for several minutes. When they reached Earth's position, their onboard computers picked up surface transmissions from small satellites orbiting the planet. Recognizing the language and data patterns from the satellites, the computers powered up their communications systems and investigated. *** Establish datalink......... unsuccessful Reason Cannot communicate with other system Retry............. unsuccessful Analyze known information Other system is running old style binary communications feed. Output source is a 22 Hz low grain optical antenna. Is other system open to ground transmissions ? Yes. Is other system open to space transmissions ? Yes. Possible method of space transmissions ? Low frequency transmissions from electromagnetic pulses transmitted by a carrier wave of extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves. Match information with database of known users of technology. Stand By.... ID confirmed... target object is a US Type XII Keyhole Remote Observation Satellite. Reason for occurrence. Unknown. Search for GPS position transmissions located in data stream of target satellite. -Target object is engaged in tasks. The target object is using electromagnetic waves to scan a land mass located at . The land mass is identified as Japan by the target object's internal computer. GPS data from the target object is the site of the C.S.S. Aux. Launching facility. However, no evidence of the structure is present according to the data being received from the target object. Lock on to GPS data of Type XII Keyhole Satellite. Use position data to guide descent to last known position of Launching facility. --- *This is amazing! A localized stargate forming right there, in the Sol system! --- The navigational computer of the small starfighter began to bring the craft down to Earth. The seek fighter cut through the atmosphere and began angling towards the Island of Japan, looking for its landing point. Breaking thrusters in the engine pods fired, slowing the descent of the fighter until it reached a slow 100 mph. The fighter dropped into Japanese airspace and began scanning for the massive structures of the Coalition Space Launch facility. Unable to find any traces of the landing site, the computer looked for a large clearing to set down in. Locating a suitable site took time, most of the space on the island was covered with Urban areas that could not be used. It considered using the runways at Tokyo's International Airport, but abandoned the idea when it could not link with the control tower to arrange a landing spot. With thruster energy declining, the computer began running through lists of known landing sites. Chester Navel Air Station, The Marine training grounds in Nagasaki, Moffet Field, Meiremar Navel Air Station, Andrews Air Force Base, Travis Air Force Base, Dreamland, Da Nang, Minot (A SAC Air Base), The testing sites near St. Petersburg, Clark Air Force Base, The F-23 Nighthawk base near Pusan, they were all either too far away, or simply not there. The computer abandoned its search for suitable military landing sites and began looking for any clear areas where it could set down. Spotting a remote site situated on the Japanese mainland, the computer began its final landing burn. The site was the best available. The site was near a fair sized body of fresh water, which the pilot could use as a source for drinking water and food. The forest and hills surrounding the lake would shield the countryside from damage in case of a reactor breach, and the area was relatively free of people and structures. There was evidence of a small, lightly built structure, possibly a medium-sized house near the landing site, but the computer no longer had time to search for another one. The fighter glided down towards the open field that contains the Masaki vegetable garden. The computer fired the landing thrusters once more and the ship settled down on the ground. After checking the outside air for contaminants, the computer opened the airlocks and vented the internal air, mixing it with fresh air from outside the fighter. The medical unit injected Joe with a powerful physical stimulant that roused him from his unconscious state. He slowed sat up in his chair. He squinted at the bright sunlight streaming in through the armored Plexiglas of the fighter's cockpit. *Man, that suns' really bright!... WHERE DID A SUN COME FROM? WHERE AM I?* Joe looked out the sides of the cockpit at the surrounding countryside. He took in the lake, the trees and flowers dotting the banks, and forest of maples in front of him. He stared the garden for several minutes until it dawned on him that the strange orange things he was looking at were carrots, and not alien vegetation. *Okay... There weren't any planets within 13 light years of where we were patrolling. How the hell did I end up in a place like this ?* Joe tapped some commands into his navigation computer. *EARTH???? THERE IS NO WAY I'M ON EARTH.* He rapidly performed a systems test on the computer system. *NO WAY. THIS COMPUTER IS HOOKED ON NARCOTICS. I CAN'T BE ON EARTH.* Joe turned and looked at his surroundings. The beautiful blue lake, the forest of maples slowly turning into a wondrous collage of colors. *LOOKS LIKE EARTH... OR SOME OTHER TERRAIN ENVIRONMENT. This is not Earth, there is no way this is Earth.* "Computer, give me a map of the land masses of this planet." Joe stared at the monitor for several seconds as a familiar blue orb rotated on the screen. *Okay... that doesn't prove anything. The computer must be lying to me. That's all there is too it. The computer is a lying sonofabitch.* A smile began to spread over Joe's face as he listened to himself. he began to chuckle and then bursted into full laughter as the humor of the situation dawned on him. Wiping tears away from his eyes, Joe began typing more commands into the fighters computer control panel. --- Across the lake, Sasamii was heading out of the house. She was going out to the vegetable garden to gather some cabbage for the evening meal. She got a basket from the supply room and headed out to the garden, Rho-oh-ki bounded after her happily. "Come on Rho-oh-ki! Lets go out to the garden and get you some carrots !", shouted Sasamii in her bubbly young voice. Rho-oh-ki let out a happy meow and hopped ahead of Sasamii. "Hey, wait up for me!," shouted the young princess as she ran after the cabbit. "Jurian life signs detected." declared the starfighter's computer. Joe glanced up from his control panel. He vaulted out of the flight seat and grabbed his sidearm from its holster. "Computer, what direction are the signals coming from ?" "The signal is coming from a Jurain located 100 meters in the Northwest direction. Subject is a low body mass and is being followed by a Cabbit." *What the hell ? A Jurian with a cabbit ?* Joe squinted across the lake searching for the Jurain. He brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the sunlight being reflected off the surface of the lake. On the other side, he saw a young girl running to a cultivated patch of dirt holding a wicker basket. *She is the Jurian ? Doesn't look too dangerous...* The computer interrupted his thoughts with another alarm. "Low-Intensity energy signature nearby... matches energy signature of royal-family class battlecruiser. Advise extreme caution in this area. Exact location of cruiser is located bearing 345, distance... 75 meters." *75 meters ???* Joe looked in the direction of the pond... his eyes panned over the lake and its surrounding trees and plants. A large tree was growing in the lake about 70-80 meters away from his position. The tree looked relatively harmless. It was only 20 or so feet high and its branches had barely any vegetation on them. Joe watched as the young Jurian princess gathered up some cabbages in her basket while the cabbit sat nearby eating carrots. After she had filled the basket, she turned and headed back to the house with the cabbit following behind. After Sasamii had disappeared into the house, Joe got up from where he was crouching and looked in the direction of the house. "Computer, was that little girl the source of the Jurian life signs ?" "Confirmed Lt." *What the hell is going on? I black out in my starfighter somewhere in the Omega sector after a huge battle to find myself on a planet that is a mirror image of Earth. Right next to my landing spot is a house and a young member of Jurai's royal family that has a cabbit for a pet...* Joe opened the seals on his flight suit and took off the flight helmet he was wearing. He inhales deeply, savoring the fresh autumn air. *Fresh air, high oxygen content.* Joe reaches into the cockpit of his fighter and takes out his survival pack. Inside it was his emergency radio, a small supply of field rations, a compass, and a few other survival items such as rope and matches. Joe tucks the pack into its special compartment in his flight suit and after checking his sidearm, climbs out of his fighter. Joe stood up and activated the cloaking mechanism on his fighter. Within seconds, his ship had changed its camouflage pattern to match that of the surrounding environment. Special thermo-camoflague prevented detection by infrared sensors, satisfied that his fighter was safe, Joe turned to face the house that he had seen the young Jurian go into. *I don't know where I am or why I'm here, but I'm gonna find out.* Joe Ruthenburg started advancing on the house across the lake. *** Chapter II : No Need for a Stormtrooper --- Joe Ruthenburg began silently crawling towards the house. --- About 1500 miles to the North of Tenchi's house, another star fighter began its descent into Earth's atmosphere. This fighter is a slight different model as Joe's machine. The engines are larger and grouped in an incline position for high speed (as opposed to widely spaced support pylons for greater maneuverability) there are two small canards placed below the cockpit for low speed control. The wings are stubby, with a high angle of attack. They are variable geometry wings that can be spread wide for good handling at low speed dogfights and during takeoff and landing and then swept back for high speed flight. There are four hard points under each wing for attachment of externally mounted weapons and equipment. The cockpit is decorated with 30 enemy kill marks. The name along the cockpit's trailing edges said the fighter belong to Lt. Mark Rush. Inside the cockpit sat a short muscular pilot, wearing a bulky armored flight suit. He pushed his fighter's control stick forward, and the fighter began to nose down into the atmosphere. --- Deep inside the Russian frontier, the crew of a SA-10 SAM battery look up from their monthly issue of the humor magazine Parsorka to see a blip quickly passing through their radar screen. When they send an IFF signal at it the contact does not respond. The radar operators continue to watch the contact as it passes through their operations area. The contact continued to head west, passing over the Seys Laser Facility. That facility is a classified area and the missile operators leapt into action. The missile battery commander began shouting orders to his crew. "(in Russian) Give me target information on that contact right now! Contact command all advise them of the situation. 'Missile battery 14 engaging aircraft overflying the Testing facility.' send that." "Yes, Comrade." "Comrade Captain, we have radar lock on the contact, no IFF signal, we are clear to fire." "Very well, fire all available SA-10's." "Yes Comrade Captain." The fire control officer presses several buttons on his control panel. Outside the control van, 3 SA-10 SAM missiles fire off their launch rails and begin their ascent towards the target. "Tell those missile loaders to ready the launchers for another salvo. Hurry up! Go! Go! Go!" shrieked the officer. ---- The starfighter 12 miles away angled towards the Japanese mainland. Mark Rush clutched the control stick and continued his descent. The RWR (radar warning receiver) on the control panel began beeping, signaling that his fighter was being scanned by radar beams. "What the hell, what is scanning me ?" Looking at the secondary sensor display, Rush noticed a small square located right under the triangle representing his fighter. "What the FUCK? A SAM SITE IS RIGHT UNDER ME??" Then the beeping coming from the RWR system turned into a high pitch whine, meaning the search radar had been switched into attack mode (Attack radar has a higher frequency [higher frequency means increased waves with a shorter period, which equals more reflected waves off the target and a more precise fix on the target] and is concentrated in a smaller area.) "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT... Computer, dump autopilot re-entry program. Give me manual control." Mark Rush pushed the fighter into a hard dive, cutting through the atmosphere at speeds over mach 5. Mark pushed the throttles up to their maximum setting, placing the fighter into afterburner mode. "Computer, remove safety lock-out, push reactor to 105%." -Warning, the reactor is not designed to operate at specified level. Prolonged use will result in loss of containment. "SHUT UP AND DO IT YOU FUCKING MACHINE! AUTHORIZATION RUSH 1!" -Warning missile lock-on confirmed. 3 missiles are tracking. Range to missile... 10 miles. "AWWWW FUCK ME!" --- The Russian Missiliers lifted the new missiles onto their launching vehicles. The fins were quickly snapped on and the data cable plugged into the ground computer. "Missiles reloaded captain." "Fire second salvo, all missiles." "Firing" 3 more missiles blasted off their launch pads and rocketed into the atmosphere. --- -Warning, 3 additional missiles have begun tracking our position. *MOTHERFUCKER* "Computer released multiple chaff and flares, and find me a landing spot!" -Receiving IFF transmission from nearby craft. ID codes confirm object is a type IIA Star Fury Fighter. *A Fighter... around here? Must be more survivors of that star gate...* "Computer, give me a vector to that Star Fury." A line on Mark Rush's HUD display drew a line across the Sea of Japan to an Island, vaguely J-shaped that was nested next to the larger Asian land mass. A small cross on the HUD identified the exact location of the signal. *Damn it... 5 missiles are still tracking me... gonna have to make a break for that other fighter.* Mark Rush banked left slightly and then dived 50 degrees nose down towards the distant point. At his fighter-bomber's speed of Mach 5.37, the remaining altitude quickly disappeared. The G counter in the cockpit also began to rise, 6.7, 7.1, 7.3, 7.5, 7.9, 8.3... A black fog descend over Mark's vision. The cockpit environmental system overpressurized the cockpit and tilted the chair to compensate for the High G-forces being generated by the fighter-bomber's steep dive. Stealing another glance at the secondary radar screen, Mark saw the missiles were seconds away from impact. The first salvo was within two miles of his position. The G-counter passed into 9 times the force of gravity. *Got to extend out... I don't have enough airspace to maneuver... can't break out into space...SHIT. 10+ G's.. holy mother AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....* The overwhelming G-forces sucked the remaining blood out of Rush's head, causing it to begin pooling in his lower body. Bruises started to form in all the places where his body came into contact with a hard object. Under the legs and across his back. Two missiles from the first salvo of missiles missed the fighter, the third impacted under the right stabilizing wing. The fighter began to spin slightly to the right under the force of the missile's explosion. The next three missiles picked up the erratic behavior of the fighter and homed in. They exploded underneath the engine housing of fighter, causing fragments from the missile's to be sucked into the atmospheric air intakes. Both engines flamed out. With the pilot unconscious, there wasn't anyone able to correct the vibrations that rocked the small craft. The fighter began to go into a flat, inverted dive, heading for the Sato bridge. -Warning Propulsion system damaged, coolant system damaged, weapons system damaged, defensive system damaged, reactor shielding damaged, core temperature increasing. Eject, Eject, Eject, Eject... When the pilot did not respond to the computer's signals the computer system began efforts to save the crippled fighter-bomber. Deciding the other fighter would be able to provide the pilot with the best means for survival, the computer used the last of its non-nuclear fuel to turn the plummeting craft in the right direction. The fighter-bomber streaked down thru the atmosphere, cutting through the remaining space between it and the ground. Slowly, Mark Rush began to come around. *Ughhh... where am I... whhatt is gonning on...? What the... 10000 ft ? 1000 mph...?* The ground rushed up towards the cockpit at an incredible rate. The breaking thrusters on the fighter fired, slowing the craft to a slow 400 mph about 200 ft off the ground. The autopilot tried to pull up on the control column but could not save the fighter due to damage to the flight systems. Mark opened his mouth to scream as the fighter plowed into the upper branches of the trees that dotted the mountainside near Tenchi's home. --- Up on the roof top of the Masaki home, the space pirate Ryoko sat on her futon, soaking up the warm sunlight. Her sensitive ears picked up the sound of thrusters firing in the upper atmosphere. Shaking off her sleepiness, Ryoko looked up in the direction of the sounds. A space craft, much more advanced than the human creations she had seen around this planet was rushing towards the Masaki home. --- A few minutes later, Mark wakes up inside his fighter. *Wow, that has painful.* He gently turned his head from side to side, testing his range of movement. Slowly, he began to slowly move the other parts of his body. His arms and hands seemed to work fine, if a little sore, but when he started to shift his legs, pain shot through his body. Something was pressing against his right leg, pinning it against the left and restricting his movement. Mark then began to look around his cockpit, trying to figure out what he was going to do. A bird's nest close to the cockpit's canopy caught his attention. He stared at it for several minutes, attempting to ascertain how it could hold the eggs inside it secure while being upside down. After another period of intense concentration on the nest, it dawned on him that he must be upside down. His body agreed by beginning to pool blood in his brain. *Ughhh... gotta... get out of here.* Mark fumbled with his release straps, they gave, dumping him onto the roof of his fighter. He hit the emergency release and tumbled out when the cockpit seals opened. *Ouch... that hurts... ouff. Damn it, I need to take a piss. Better take care of business first.* Mark pulled himself upright using a convenient rock and stumbled through some bushes until he was satisfied no one could see him. *Ok, ok, c'mon open up... goddamn flight suit. Open up motherfucker I gotta take a piss.* Finally managing to open the fly of his G-suit, Rush commenced to take care of business. An old argument he had once had with one of his buddies resurfaced in the back of his mind. *I wonder why they call it 'taking' a piss when you're really LEAVING a piss. Must be one of those 'don't touch, don't tell' policies. Gee, I wonder where I am. I didn't notice any planets near the carrier before getting sucked through that star gate. Shit happens when you're unconscious.* After answering the call of nature, Mark zips his pants back up and walks back to his ruined fighter. Mark reaches into the cockpit of his fighter and takes out a small footlocker. He touches a control on the instrument panel that makes a panel on the side of the fighter's fuselage pop open. From inside the compartment Mark drags out a large duffel bag. Quickly shedding his flight suit, Mark opens the duffel bag and takes out a large suit of body armor. He quickly secures the chest plate and its series of interlocking Tritiantum plates. Next comes the composite reinforced Kevlar arm plates. The right arm has three downward pointing strips (HINT : YES I KNOW THIS IS THE RANKING ENSIGNA FOR A SERGEANT). Then he strapped on the upper and lower leg plates and put on his special anti-land mine boots. He hooked on his combat harness and opened the footlocker. Inside lay a Second Generation SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon). It resembled the one currently in use by the US Army with one important exception. Instead of using chemical propellants to fire the bullets, it uses electromagnets to accelerate the special rounds which are constructed out of an ultra hard metal (such as tungsten or lead with a steel jacket, no casing for propellant just a penetration tip). This system required the addition of a portable power source that weighed about 15 lbs. The total system weighed about 35 lbs and had a shoulder strap to carry the gun. Mark grabbed six 100 round clip magazines and tucked him into ammo pouches sown into his belt. Two fragmentation grenades dangled from the holding pockets of his harness. He grabbed a rucksack lying at the bottom of the foot locker. Mark stuffed several throwing knives, spare ammo for his sidearm as well as the standard submachine gun given to fighter pilots into the sack. He didn't really expect to use the submachine gun, but there was no reason to leave it behind. Mark carefully placed an explosives kit into his sack and finally added his survival gear to the last compartment of the sack. He hefts the rucksack onto his back and cradled the SAW in his arms, adjusting the shoulder strap until the gun dangles at his hip. Mark turns towards the house nested several miles away in a small valley. A beautiful lake is situated on the western side of the house with a small tree growing in the middle. A stone path led north up towards a secluded area that was blocked from view by the tree line. Mark pulls a small laser distancer out of his pocket and points it at the house. The small LED screen blinks back at after a few seconds. *Hmmm, about 2k away. Could be there fast if I wanted to. Large house, two stories large glass paneled side facing that lake. Come to think of it, that house has a lot of windows. Prowling up to it is gonna be a challenge.* Rush started running towards the Masaki home. Gracefully jumping over fallen trees and small ditches, he soundlessly glided trough the thick forest. His feet seem to hardly touch the ground, he effortlessly moved through think bushes and low hanging vegetation without disturbing it or it catching on his clothing. Within a few minutes Mark reaches the stone path that leads up to the shrine. *Alright, how I just get my bearings straight and I'm good to go. Okay, the house should be down this path about 1000 ft or so and then a little to the right of the path. Right, now I...* Mark Rush spun around found himself pointing his weapon at an old man who had come down the steps leading to the shine and had gotten within a few feet before Mark had noticed him. *What the hell? How did this old guy sneak up on me ?* The 'old' man was tall, dressed in a simple priest's robe and carrying a wooden practice sword. Behind him was a young Japanese boy who was also carrying a practice sword. He had short spiky black hair that was gathered into a small ponytail in the back. His pants and shirt hung loosely on his tall lanky frame. The boy seemed as surprised as anyone would suddenly found a heavily armed ultra marine standing in their backyard. The older man showed no outward signs of surprise other than a slight creasing of his forehead and an eyebrow that raised itself several millimeters above its normal position. The three men stood looking at each other for a second or two in total silence. Katsuhito recovered first and spoke to the stranger, "Hello, who might you be ?" Mark Rush was totally surprised by the old man's calm. His training had always taught him to ACT, not think and that the worse mistake a ultra marine could make was to hesitate. His finger began to tighten around the trigger of his weapon when a flash of light appeared in front of him. A woman, moving like greased lighting appeared OUT OF THE GROUND in front of him. She was moving so fast Mark could only see a blur from her black and red skintight clothing and the flash of a long glowing sword she was swinging at him. --- Ryoko watched as the fighter crash landed on the side of the mountain. The wreck looked bad to her experienced eyes. The pilot would have had a hard time surviving that one. Ryoko settled back on her futon and watched a thin trail of smoke begin to rise from the spot where the fighter had gone down. Resolving to get a closer look in a few moments. A few minutes later, the smoke cloud stopped and the vegetation around the crash site shook slightly. Ryoko, noticing the slight details, got up and teleported inside the house. "Tenchi!... Tenchi!... Where are you Tenchi ?" Sasamii walked into the living room carrying a basket full of vegetables with Rho-oh-khi perched on top of her head. "Oh hello Ryoko! How are you today?" asked Sasamii in her typically bubbly voice. "Oh fine, hey have you seen Tenchi around here ?" "Well, I think he is at the shrine practicing with Grandpa today." "Thanks Sasamii," said Ryoko, turning to go. "Hey Ryoko, why are you looking for Tenchi?" "Oh, I want to show him something. That's all Sasamii." "Oh, alright." Sasamii continued into the kitchen holding her basket full of veggies. Humming to herself, Sasamii began to go through her morning ritual of preparing food for everyone. Soon the stove has covered with cooking pots and the kitchen filled with the wondrous smells of her cooking. Ryoko teleported out of the house and flew along the path that lead up to the shrine. "TENCHI!... TENCHI!" *There he is... who is that guy over there ?* Ryoko flew closer for a better look at the stranger. *He has a gun. And he's pointing it at Tenchi! Don't worry Tenchi, I'll save you!* Ryoko changed into her battle armor and teleported in front of the strange soldier. --- *Don't think, just act.* Mark jerked back out of the sword's reach. Letting the assault rifle fall to his side, he reached up to his combat harness and pulled out his vibration knife with his right hand. (A vibration knife is not an invalid concept. It is simply a knife that vibrates at an ultrasonic frequency. Dentists and jewelers already use this technology to remove the plaque on your teeth and dirt from rings. The ultrasonic sound waves liquefy the dirt and debris on the object being cleaned. If the instrument vibrates at a high enough frequency, the sound waves will liquefy flesh. The sound waves have a range of only a few millimeters. That is why the knife must still come into contact with the target using traditional fighting techniques.) The new woman slashed at him with her sword. Pivoting on his left foot to parry her blow, Mark felt his elbow grinding in its socket. *Man, this chick is strong. Can't overpower her, gonna have to think my way out of this one.* Ryoko noticed her opponent's lesser strength and brought her energy sword down in a crushing overhead swing. Rush managed to barely sidestep out of the way and aimed a powerful kick at her right kneecap. The impact caused her leg to twitch slightly. *Damn, that kick would have put me on my ass. This is going nowhere fast.* Mark had to again parry with his vibro-knife, sapping his strength to stop the momentum of Ryoko's sword. Mark began to circle around Ryoko, trying to gain more ground to move around. Casting a glance at the two men he had seen first, Mark noticed they were backing off, giving the two of them room to fight. Giving room, but not interfering. Their stance was not hostile, their wooden practice swords were held loosely in their hands. *They must know this woman. Bad for me.* Ryoko vaulted into the air, twisting her body as she rushed towards Mark. She brought her leg around in a roundhouse that caught Mark right in the center of his chest. The heavy armor plate on his torso absorbed the blunt impact of the blow but the momentum caused him to stumble back a few paces. Ryoko pressed her attack, thrusting with the point of her sword. Seeing this opening, Mark steps into her thrust and slashed at Ryoko's stomach with his vibration knife. *Ryoko is going to get hit...* "RYOKO, LOOK OUT!" yelled Tenchi as he jumped towards the fighting pair with his wooden sword. His grandfather shook his head at Tenchi's action. "Tenchi, you shouldn't interfere in a duel." Tenchi leaped at the fighting pair. He pointed his sword at Rush's midsection, hoping to knock him away from Ryoko and prevent that killing strike. Time slowed as Tenchi flew at Mark. Mark, sensing danger whipping his head around and saw the young man leaping towards him with his sword ready. Mark brought his elbow up and smashed it into Ryoko's face, causing her to stumble backwards stunned. Mark hopped forward with his right foot and swung his left leg around in a powerful roundhouse kick that caught Tenchi in the chest and lifted him up and propelled him back towards Grandpa. Tenchi landed in a heap at his grandfather's feet. "You see, you shouldn't have interfered." "Ughh.............," was the only response Tenchi could muster. Turning back to his original opponent, Mark saw Ryoko a short distance away forming energy bolts in her hands. A lesson his first drill instructor had taught him resurfaced in Mark's mind. *In a life or death fight there is only one rule : don't play fair.* Mark hawked up some phlegm and spit at Ryoko's face. Ryoko brought her hands up instinctively to block the flying projectile. Mark leapt at her slashed at her neck. Ryoko, caught off guard, brought her arms up to block the blow. The knife cut her right wrist open, and continued forward, missing her throat by centimeters. Ryoko screamed in pain and teleported behind Mark. With Ryoko's weight suddenly gone, Mark fell forward towards the ground. He rolled as he hit in order to land face up. He had lost his pack and rifle sometime during the fighting. Now, Ryoko jumped into the air and swung down at him. Mark rolled out of the way and parried her energy sword again as he got up. He was giving a lot of ground, and the few good hits he had gotten didn't seem to be affecting her. Ryoko hadn't gotten him yet, but the intensity of the fight was tiring him out really quickly. It had to end soon or the women would win for sure. As Ryoko and Rush squared off again the old man called out, "Alright that's enough you two, there will be no killing at this shrine." To emphasize his point a bright blue light hawk sword appeared in his hands. *Holy Shit. That guy has a Light Hawk Sword! These people are Jurians! What the hell is a royal family member doing here?* Another sound entered Mark's mind. Someone was running up the stone steps of the shrine towards them. Mark swiveled his eyes to look and saw the second most unexpected sight coming towards him. A pilot, dressed in a flight uniform of the Coalition Space Command was coming towards them with a gun in his hand. "Alright you people, get away from that marine or I'll blow your plant loving brains out," shouted Joe as he rushed up the concrete steps towards the clump of people surrounding Mark Rush. To be continued... Author's Afterward... or shorthand... or notes... whatever. This is my first 'published' attempt at a fanfic. Needless to say, there are spelling errors, formatting problems (I don't have a good word processor I so ashamed! :( bo hoo hoo) Oh well, some people can write and the others just suck. Please let me know what you think. Also, I have ideas for how I want the new characters to turn out but I don't really have a strong storyline worked out yet. If you have any suggestions please E-mail me'. I'll entertain any constructive suggestions. The plot will probably result from someone's suggestion, so give me some ideas. Contact me at : SStormtrooper@Hotmail.com I belong to nothing, na da, zero. I'm a new fan just getting into anime. (If my soldier buddies find out my ass is in a sling)