"Tenchi Muyo!" and all characters herein are the property of Pioneer and AIC, save those created by the author. This is a fanfic and is not for profit. "Tenchi Muyo!" Odyssey Chapter Fifteen: MihoKiyo Side Story II by William Nichols "Kiyone," whined Mihoshi's voice from the living room of their dorm room. For the past three days they had been posing as ordinary college students from Andorrian Institute of Technology. They had gone about their daily business researching the papers of the great Hakubi Washu. They had always known Little Washu was a tad bit eclectic, but some of the things they found were down right odd. "What is it Mihoshi?" said Kiyone. The emerald haired GP had just jumped out of the shower and this had better be pretty damned good. Mihoshi was sitting in front of the television still in her pink bunny pajamas. Kiyone just shook her head. For one of the galaxies top crime fighters Mihoshi acted like a kid at times, well most of the time. "Look," she said pointing to the news cast about the incident on Tyran prime. "So," replied Kiyone. A terrorist attack was hardly enough to pull her out of the shower. But what she saw next made her drop her towel. "My God," she mumbled, not noticing her own nakedness. "It's Tenchi," added Mihoshi as the pictures of the suspects flashed across the screen. "I've got to call Washu!" said Kiyone as she activated the trans- dimensional phone unit. "What's up," said Washu as her face blinked in on the small screen. "I take it you've heard by now," asked Kiyone. "You mean the incident on Tyran Prime?" Kiyone nodded. "I saw the pictures of Tenchi and Ayeka as well, and Misaki has been breathing down my neck wanting to know what's going on. If it wasn't for Funaho I really think she would kill the lot of us." "That's where Ayeka gets it from," laughed Kiyone as she pushed a lock of green wet hair behind her ear. "I suspected it had something to do with Tenchi's Odyssey since I recorded one hell of a temporal anomaly about the time the attack was supposed to have taken place." "So Tenchi's alright?" "I believe so," continued Washu as she pulled up some data from her end. "I lost the signature of the master key over a day and a half ago." "This pushes our time table up doesn't it?" "Drastically," commented Washu. "I have already read reports of archives dealing with Jurai and Tsunami increasing security in face of retaliatory attacks." "We'll go tonight then," concluded Kiyone. "Uh, Kiyone?" asked Little Washu. "Yeah?" "Is it just me or have they changed the dress code at the academy lately?" Kiyone realized she was naked right as the laughing image of Washu blinked out. She clenched her fists for a second before she calmed down. 'The worlds greatest genius and she strung me along,' she thought as Mihoshi handed back her towel. "Thanks," she sighed as she sat down next to the blonde GP. "This is not good," commented Mihoshi. Kiyone was about to think something incredibly sarcastic about Mihoshi's mastery of the obvious, but was cut off. "But at least Washu said Tenchi was alright." Kiyone just sighed. For all of her ditsyness, Mihoshi had a kind heart, and Kiyone could not fault her for that. "No its not," she sighed. The two sat silent for a moment as they watched the pictures of the devastation on Tyran Prime. "We've got to get a move on it!" said Kiyone as she headed back to finish her shower. "Right!" bounced Mihoshi. **** As our two GP's were getting ready to complete their errand an important meeting was taking place across campus... "We have to increase security," said a dark haired man to his compatriots. He was Josiah Grumman, head of security. "Don't get bent out of shape," replied Dean Eisen trying to maintain order at his university. There had already been a protest by a few of the Tyran students at the academy over the recent incidents, but nothing major. And he wanted to keep it that way. "Listen Vaul," pleaded Grumman. "This is a dangerous situation. We are in the possession of many ancient texts regarding Tsunami and the religious history of Jurai. This is a prime target for some Tyran hothead to prove he has balls of adimantium!" "Just calm down Josiah," said Dean Eisen as he rubbed his temples. "We will increase security around the most sensitive level red items, but we are an institution of higher learning. I will not diminish my student's capacity to learn over heightened security. Does that sound like as fair compromise?" Josiah leaned back in his chair for a moment as he pondered the proposal "Agreed," he said reluctantly. "But the first sign of trouble and I'm locking the place down." "It will not come to that," promised Dean Eisen. "For your sake I hope it doesn't," replied Josiah as he left Dean Eisen's office. *** "This place is amazing," said Mihoshi as she and Kiyone walked to the cafeteria. Kiyone had to admit the science academy was an impressive place. It spread over the entirety of planet Todain. From orbit the planet looked like it was cossed in brilliant silver spider webs. These were really the mag-lev transit tubes connecting the various campuses, but still it was a most impressive sight. "It is," replied Kiyone as the doors to the cafeteria complex hissed open. They made their way through the throng of students to one of the complexes lift cars. "Fourth level." The lift car's computer chimed in acknowledgement and began to speed them to the upper level. "Where we going?" asked Mihoshi. "Just a place I found yesterday," replied Kiyone as the magnetic locks eased them to a stop. Mihoshi's eyes went wide as the doors opened to reveal a lush arboretum. "This is the Jurai Caf‚," said Kiyone as they found a table. "It reminded of the hills around Tenchi's house, so I figured you might like it." "I do," bubbled Mihoshi as she clicked on the menu. The caf‚'s delicacies were illustrated on holo-screens built into the table. To dine all one had to do was select the entr‚e and the order would be sent to straight to the kitchen. No one was around so Kiyone felt somewhat at ease discussing the night's plans. "We are going to have to be extra-careful tonight," said Kiyone as she sipped her water. "I know," replied Mihoshi never looking up from the menu, "but I can do it." "That's not what bothers me," began Kiyone as she keyed in her order. "I know we're doing this to help Tenchi but it will look like it was done by somebody taking revenge for what happened yesterday." "Can't we just give it back when we're done?" "I suppose so but it will still look bad." Kiyone stopped for a moment as the waiter brought her and Mihoshi's appetizers. She nodded as the white- jacketed waiter spread her napkin in her lap and sat the bowl of warm soup in front of her. It was tangy and somewhat salty, but still very good. "After we get out of the archives," began Mihoshi between spoonfuls of soup, how do we get to the Yagami without causing too much suspicion?" "I've already handled that," replied Kiyone as she sat her bowl of soup aside. "I will signal Washu and she will send a false message recalling us back to AIT." "Sounds good to me," squeaked Mihoshi as the waiter brought out their main course. Kiyone smiled as Mihoshi acted, well like Mihoshi over their main course. 'Hang in there Tenchi,' she thought. *** "Hello again," said Kiyone as she walked up to the main reference desk at the academy archives. The same young student that had been there when she surveyed the building was at the desk. "Hello miss Makibi," he said as Kiyone rested her elbows on the desk, making sure she leaned over rather slowly. The poor kids eyes widened as he loose blouse fell down a little bit. "What can I do for you tonight?" he asked. Kiyone smiled as he finished those words. What the kid did not know was that she had seen the reflection of Mihoshi slipping by in the corner of her glasses. "Oh nothing in particular," she said playing with a lock of her green hair that had slipped out from beneath her red headband. The kid blushed a little; oblivious as to what was really going on. "Now lets see," mumble Mihoshi as she looked for a place to stash her street clothes. She found a study cubicle near the access point she needed and slipped inside. Once the door was locked she pulled off her pink sweater to reveal the form fitting black stealth suit. After hopping around on one foot for a moment Mihoshi managed to get both of her shoes off and slid off her slacks. She folded the clothes and sat them next to her backpack. "Here we go," she said as she pulled out a small device from the bag. She clicked the red button at its center and sat it on the desk. Anyone who decided to do a sensor sweep of the archives would find the signature of one slightly ditsy student from AIT studying. Mihoshi slipped a band around her shock of blonde hair and smoothed it back as best as she could so that the stealth suits mask would fit better. The addition sensor gloves rounded out the ensemble. With a hum the suits systems came in line and the display on the visor began to feed her information. Mihoshi slipped the backpack back on and eased out of the study cubicle. A few commands tapped out on her wrist top computer relocked the door. Another command activated the suits passive cloaking device. Mihoshi shimmered from sight. The suit refracted the ambient light around it making the wearer nearly invisible when standing still. Her access point was about twenty meters away and fortunately no one was around. The hatch resealed with a bit of a thud as Mihoshi crawled into the service tubes. Parts of the archives required massive power supplies and environmental control systems, necessitating the series of meter in diameter tubes. The designer of the archives probably never thought that someone would use them to infiltrate the system, but Washu would have. Knowing her she would have placed high output lasers every few meters to fry whomever decided to go where they were not wanted. "Now which way," she asked no one in particular as the data popped up on her visor. "Oh yeah!" he added right before she banged her head on a bulkhead. "Ow- wee," she whimpered rubbing the side of her head. The screen in the visor laid out the vector to the next junction point. It was ten meters ahead of her and two floors up. Mihoshi made her way to the junction doing her best not to bump her head again. From there she was instructed to take tube Romeo Alpha. This would lead her to quadrant four, sub-level Charlie, and access to the level red material. Mihoshi slid open the access hatch and poked her head out. No one around, just the austere white walls of the archive. She swung her legs down and eased her self out of the service tube. "Now where did I put it," she mused as she began to feel around for the key card Funaho had sent. After a moment of near panic she pulled it out of her pocket. "Please work," she prayed as she slid the card across the scanner. A moment later it blinked green and requested the pin number. She keyed it in hoping that she got it right and held her breath. If she screwed this up Kiyone would toss her out of an air lock. After the confirmation code had been sent the door sub-level Charlie hissed open. Mihoshi ran inside and looked for the nearest access terminal. She found one and slid the card across again. This time she pulled up the directory. She scanned it looking for Washu's book. Finally she found it and made note of it in her suit computer system. "I hope Kiyone's doing alright," she said as she made her way to the storage unit. 'My God!' thought Kiyone. 'Washu owes me and I mean she owes me BIG for this!' For the past hour she had been listening to what had to be the most boring dribble she had ever heard. Never again would she admonish Mihoshi for being scatter brained. As nice as the kid at the circulation desk may be, he was absolutely boring. Kiyone made a mental not never to date an inter- dimensional physics major, even if he was Gods gift to women. "Is that so," she said in reference to some faceless point he had just made. She did not mind using her body as a distraction, but if this gut tried to look down her cleavage one more time she would nock his block off. "How about getting something to drink?" she asked. Anything to shut him up would be acceptable right now. "I'm not supposed to leave the desk unless it's to help somebody," he admitted somewhat sheepishly. "But it would be," purred Kiyone as she ran a finger under his chin. "I don't know where the soda machines are." "I'll show you," he stammered as Kiyone led him out from around the desk. 'Putty in my hands,' thought Kiyone as the young man led the way, doing his best to hide what was going on in his pants. 'God I'm good,' she added. 'Just please hurry up Mihoshi!' *** "Let's see." Mihoshi had just accessed the right storage unit when she was prompted to enter another PIN code. Kiyone had not mentioned a second PIN and Mihoshi surmised that she probably did not know about it. A small counter popped up in the corner of the screen and began a three-minute count down. "What to do?" she cried as she began to hop around. Finally she just tried the first thing that popped into mind. "Charlie-Romeo-Alpha-Bravo," she said into the mike. To her great surprise and relief the counter stopped and a smiling chibi-Washu popped up on the screen. For some strange reason she had remembered that everything in Washu's lab crab shaped or related, so why not try it as the PIN? The storage unit unlocked and the drawer disengaged. Mihoshi pulled it open as thick white fog billowed forth. With a grunt she heft the ancient tome out of its storage unit and placed into the stasis unit Washu had made. She twisted the lid in place and activated the dampening field. Once the drawer was closed and the stasis unit back in her bag she was ready to get out of there. What she could not have known was that when one of the storage units is opened an electronic note is made with the Academy Security office. *** "What's that?" asked Josiah Grumman as he walked past a console. "I don't know," replied the officer manning it. "There is no one scheduled to be in that sector at this time." "Give me a visual." To his surprise the screen showed no one at the storage unit. "Go to thermal." No change. "Cross spectrum." His eyes narrowed in on what looked liked footprints, but they faded away too quickly for him to be sure. "Sir," asked another officer from across the room. "Is Queen Funaho on the campus?" "I wasn't informed if she is," he growled. If the queen of Jurai was here and no one alerted security, there would be unholy hell to pay. "Well her PIN number and access card was used in sub-level Charlie." "When?" "About ten minutes ago." "Shit." Grumman walked over to the main console and slammed the alert button. "We have a possible situation at the archives!" he barked. "All available units meet me there!" *** 'What has Mihoshi done!' screamed Kiyone mentally as a claxon began to blare in the archives. "I've got to get back to the desk," gasped the young man after he nearly choked on his soda. "What is it?" asked Kiyone trying to sound surprised. "Probably just a security drill." At that moment Kiyone felt the pager in her pocket go off. "Excuse," she said as her infatuated young friend ran back to the circulation desk. "Mihoshi!" she said in a hushed yell. "What did you do?" "Nothing!" came the bubbly voice over the speaker. "I got the book!" "And you did not set off an alarm?" "No Kiyone! I promise!" "Well some one did." "It wasn't me-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e!" came Mihoshi's scream across the comm link as the lights went out. "Mihoshi?" Nothing. "Mihoshi?" Still nothing. "Great," muttered Kiyone. "Just great." *** "Ow," whimpered Mihoshi in the dark as she picked herself up. She had been so wrapped up in talking to Kiyone she failed to notice that there was no floor directly beneath her as she made her way back to the study cubicle. After falling a few meters a conduit broke her fall. Unfortunately the conduit broke as well and half the campus was now without power. Fortunately her suits visor had night vision capabilities. By the time she made it back to the cubicle she could see the lights from the campus security vehicles beginning to line up around the archives. Thinking quickly she slipped her street clothes back on and made her way back down to the circulation desk and a very irate Kiyone. "What did you do?" whispered Kiyone. "Nothing," repeated Mihoshi as Grumman and his security team barged into the building. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," said Grumman as his men fanned out into the building. "Yes sir," acknowledged Kiyone as she began to push Mihoshi out the door. If the gods were going to give her the perfect chance to walk out this free and clear she was going to take it. "Miss Makibi!" called the kid from the circulation desk. 'What?!' thought Kiyone. "Can I have your phone number?" 'Oh God,' moaned Kiyone mentally. "Maybe later," she said pushing Mihoshi out the door. The poor kid just stood there waving at her as she made her get away. Kiyone felt as like she had been holding her breath for hours by the time they made it back to the Yagami. *** "Let's rock," she said as the Yagami was given clearance to leave the Academy spaceport. Their departure had been scheduled in advance, so no one was incredibly suspicious of it. It was just an odd coincidence that their stay came to end the same time that the occurrence at the archives. By the time someone figured out there was a connection between the two, they would long be back on earth. And thanks to Washu all records of a Kiyone Makibi and a Mihoshi Kuramitsu will have been erased from the academy data banks. And when Queen Funaho returns the missing text personally some time later, no one will say a word. That is the wise thing to do when the head of the Holy Council returns a missing text. Some times ignorance is bliss, even at the epicenter of galactic knowledge. "I'm proud of you Mihoshi," said Kiyone as she laid in the course for earth. "Mihoshi?" The blonde GP was once again sound asleep in the co-pilots chair. "You've earned it this time," laughed Kiyone as they headed for home. The Odyssey shall continue. William Nichols