Jamie Jeans                             Surprises all around
November 17/97

Well I hope that you people have been enjoying the story thus far. If
you have been reading it so far, then you know that it has been steadily
improving due to the comments and help of Brazil, which I would like to
give thanks to. There will be many more chapters after this crisis is
done because there are so many good ideas to deal with. Like I said
before, don't hesitate or procrastinate in your comments and criticisms
to me. They help me to improve. My e-mail is: xwing@perf.bc.ca

Legal stuff: All the characters and cabbits of Tenchi Muyo belong to
Pioneer INC except for Samantha Jones who belongs to me.
________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 6

As soon as the power had gone out, Aeka made her second escape attempt
at escape. The branches, when powered, would automatically close around
anyone that would try to escape, as the scratches on her cheek proved
when she had tried to escape earlier. But now that main power was out,
the branches would merely remain stiff and still, giving her a chance to
escape.

The princess studied the branches, searching for the biggest gap
in-between the branches. They were all evenly spaced, but she was
determined to try.

"Oh I hope Tenchi's all right," she thought, picking a gap and starting
her way through. Exerting her strength to the fullest, she was able to
push the branches of her cell apart an inch or so.

She was halfway through the bars when her hips wedged in between the
branches.

Oh dear," she thought. "This is not good. But at least Ryoko is not here
to see this."

"Well well princess. Looks like someone's been gaining some weight. I
told you all those treats would go to your hips," said a voice tinged
with barely restrained mirth.

Aeka looked up and saw Ryoko barely keeping from laughing at her. Tenchi
and Washu stood behind her but the young man wasted no time in coming
forward to help the Princess.

"Come on Ryoko, give me a hand here," he urged, straining to push the
bars apart another inch or two.

"Oh all right," Ryoko said.

Stepping forward, she took Aeka's hand and concentrated, phasing the
Princess the rest of the way through the branches. She was not gentle as
she let go of her hand and dumped her on the floor.

"Thank you," Aeka muttered, then turned her attention on Tenchi. "Oh
Lord Tenchi, I knew you would come for me." She threw her arms around
him and gave him a tight hug.

"Interesting change of dress Aeka," Washu said.

The Princess suddenly remembered her current attire and blushed red.
Quickly she asked Washu to give her something else to wear.

"From Genius scientist to seamstress, what an insult to my skills," she
said, but obliged her. Pulling her portable computer out of midair, she
tapped a few keys and a round plate of light slid down Aeka's body,
replacing her attire with her own Jurai battle suit.

"Thank you. Now we must help Samantha," she said, more comfortable not
that she was in something more decent in front of her beloved.

"Why? Where is she?" Washu asked.

The sound of battle and laser bolts echoed dimly through the elavator
shaft, with the occasional laser bolt bouncing out of the elavator
shaft.

"Never mind. Forget that I asked."

                                *               *               *
Things were not going good for Samantha. As soon as she had heard the
high pitched whine of the microturbines, the Attack droid had spotted
her. Its single red eye seemed to focus on her and she struggled to get
inside before it could attack. Hidden lasers and other weapons came out
of hidden holes along the droids body, took aim and fired upon her.

With a boost of strenght from her chi, Samantha pulled herself inside
the deck and rolled away from the entrance as lasers lit up the
darkness. She looked about the deck, searching for a place to hide and
realized that she would find none in the bath house.

"Well I suppose I could use the bath considering how much dirt I picked
up rolling down the hill," she thought.

A few seconds later the Attack droid came in through the door and
immediately began firing at her. With no other place to hide, Samantha
dove into the nearest bath and hugged the bottom, waiting for the
barrage to end. It was a full minute later before the barrage ended and
the droid stepped forward to peer into the water and claim it's kill.

Suddenly the Canadian burst out of the water, eyes white as she flew
over the droid's head and landed on its back.

"Take a dip!" she shouted, bringing her hands down in a double fist on
the head of the droid.

The blow was not strong enough to damage the android, however, it was
strong enough to knock it off balance and into the water below. Samantha
jumped off in time and watched as it sank to the bottom, hoping that it
would not be enough to put the robot down. Like some black parody of a
Phoenix rising from the ashes, the Attack droid rose out of the water
and advanced towards her.

"This is not good," Samantha thought, enhancing the strength in her
right hand and slamming it into the slit of red plastic that she hoped
was the droids eye.

As what happened the last time she had hit the droid, her fist bounced
off with a loud clang. The droid rocked back on it's feet, waves
splashing over the edge of the bath has it brought its hands
protectively over its eye, which was cracked. Sensing an advantage,
Samantha got perilously close to the Android and waited until it had
lowered its arms.

"Peekaboo Cyclops," she shouted, slamming her left fist into the red
eye.

This blow, made with more strength then the last, snapped the head back
on its short neck. There was an awful whirring sound emitting from the
neck assembly as it brought its head back to stare at her. Samantha
noticed with smug confidence that the skin around the visor was cracked.

"Now to push my advantage," she thought leaping forward and up onto the
Droid's wide flat right shoulder.

With muscles and bones enhanced, she slammed her fists repeatedly into
the visor of the Droid, damaging the already chipped area and adding to
the fine web of cracks. The Droid, however, would not go down so easily.
As it began to wave its arms about, the lasers started to pulse at
random intervals and angles in an attempt to drive her off. Pushing the
droids right arm away, she barely ducked the left as it pointed it's
laser at her and fired, the energy searing into the right arm of the
droid.

This gave Samantha an idea. Grabbing the left arm, she bent it down to
point at the head. A burst of light ignited from the cannon even as she
felt incredible heat through her left shoulder. She gasped in pain and
lost her grip on the wet Attack droid, falling into the water. Luckily,
the water cushioned her fall the and laser burn had cauterized the
wound, preventing it from bleeding.

"Stupid, stupid! Shouldn't have taken my attention off the other arm,"
Samantha thought, coming to the surface to see what damage her idea had
wrecked.

Half of the Attack droid's head was missing, having been blown off in
the blast from the laser, while the other half was horribly pitted and
scarred. It started to tip back and forth, causing the young woman to
swim away, while holding her left arm as still as possible, and then
finally crashed forward onto the lip of the bath, grinding it into
pieces.

Holding her arm, Samantha swam forward and climbed up onto the lip
beside the fallen foe, taking this moment of respite to enjoy the peace
it brought.

"Now all I have to do is knock out the head guy and free Aeka. No
problem," she said aloud, wincing at the pain that breathing even
brought to her shoulder.

"You mean you're not going to leave us anything to do," asked a familiar
voice.

Samantha turned around and saw her friends, Aeka, Washu, Tenchi, and
Ryoko, all gathered in front of the elevator shaft.

"Well if you really want something to do then you could kick Seiryous
butt for dragging me away from my peaceful vacation. As for me, I'll
just lay here and bleed quietly for awhile."

"You're injured," Tenchi said, coming up and inspecting her wound.

"Thanks for the concern but I'll be all right. Just give me some time to
heal up and I'll be as good as new."

"Uh, we have alot of explaining to do and I promise that we'll tell you
everything as soon as we get back to Earth," Tenchi said.

"No problem. Aeka, or should I say Princess Aeka, told me everything, or
at least the basics, and I think I got the gist of it. Geez a prince at
seventeen and soon to be married," Samantha said, standing up with his
help and leaning on the young man for support.

"Getting married," Washu caught that part of the sentence.

"Exactly what *have* you been telling her Princess," Ryoko growled.

"Only the more important parts I assure you. Like WHOM he's going to get
married to. Me, namely," Aeka quickly countered.

Tenchi went to break them up while Washu walked forward with a famaliar
black box in her arms.

"I brought something for you," she said, offering the box to her.

Samantha smiled and gently took the box from her, not even bothering to
ask what was in it since she knew the box's contents already "Thank you.
I've felt that I was missing something since this crazy trip started.
Hey you guys had better get going and get Seriyou before Main power is
restored. I don't know what slip of fate knocked out main power but you
had better take advantage of it while you still can."

"That slip of fate was Mihoshi. Long story, remind me to tell you later.
Are you sure you'll be all right," Washu asked, noting with concern how
Samantha held her left shoulder as still as possible.

"Oh this, don't worry. It's a scratch. Not as bad as the time I had
three bullets through the arm. Remind *me* to tell you about that story
sometime. Now go on! Get going!"

"We can't leave you here like this!" Tenchi protested.

"I assure you that I'll be fine. And besides, I can't help you fight
Seriyou when I'm in this shape. Now get going before he gets main power
back up!"

The four moved to the elevator shaft, casting concerned glances back at
her. Samantha motioned for them to continue on. Then, with Washu hanging
from Ryoko's shoulders and Ryoko carrying Tenchi and Aeka in each arm,
they rocketed up for their battle with Seriyou. As soon as they were
gone, Samantha relaxed and felt the pain of her wound despite the fact
that alot of the nerves had been friend along with muscle and skin.
Sitting down on the floor, she placed the box containing her suit to her
left and went into a healing meditation.

                                *               *               *
As soon as the four companions had reached the top level of the ship,
all the lights came on, silently annoucing that main power had been
restored.

"What are you doing here? And how dare you release Aeka!" Seiryou
demanded.

"I do," Tenchi announced. "You are now no longer in control of this
ship!" The master key glowed blue in his grip as it brought the controls
of the ship to his command.

"Bah! I do not listen to an ignorant savage such as yourself!
Magnificient, open fire on the Ryo-oh-ki and the Galaxy Police cruiser,"
Seiryou commanded.

The ships gun remained silent, not answering to it's former master.

"Oh you shall pay dearly for this intrusion Tenchi," the noble snarled,
energy pulsing in his hands.

"Enough Seriyou! You will surrender yourself and face your punishment,"
Aeka shouted with all the regal authority that she could muster.

"Your brainwashing is so sever, I see, that you are even willing to
fight for Tenchi," Seriyou commented to Aeka, who gazed at him with
anger in her eyes. "But alas it will be all for naught since you cannot
possibly be a match for my-"

"Oh shut up!" his speech was interrupted by Ryoko who unleashed a
barrage of energy bolts at him.

The attack was in vain as the barrage of energy hit and dissipated upon
a force field.

"Now behold the full might of a pure Jurai!" he shouted, spreading his
arms wide and releasing a barrage of his own at the companions.

Tenchi tackled everyone to the side and the energy struck the inside of
the elevator shaft, leaving the metal scarred and blackened. Knowing
that the Noble was not as good a swordsman as he was, Tenchi got back to
his feet and raced towards Seriyou, intending to keep him from shooting
everyone by confronting him in sword combat. But however arrogant the
man might be, he was smart and knew what Tenchi intended to do.

Stretching his left arm forward, he shot Tenchi with a blast of energy.
It struck the young man in the chest, knocking him backwards and into
the wall and leaving him unconscious.

"Tenchi!" both Aeka and Ryoko screamed.

As before when they faced Kagato, the two young women faced off against
Seiryou together, Ryoko pelting him with energy bolts to distract him
while Aeka charged at him with her force punch. Realizing the gambit, he
turned all the energy in his force field to stop Aeka's attack and was
barely able to hold it. The two powers grinded against each other, the
Noble's stubbornness and the princesses anger both contesting with each
other to beat the other in a contest of who was stronger. Blazing light
so bright was thrown off by the struggle, blinding both Ryoko and Washu,
who had gone to make sure that Tenchi was all right.

Sensing that this might be their only chance at ending this, Ryoko
shielded her eyes from the light and called forth her energy sword,
launching herself through the air at Seiryou.

But it was not to be.

Seeing this attack, the Noble waited until the last second before
standing back and to the right. Aeka, with nothing more for her force
punch to struggle against, shot forward unexpectedly and slammed into
Ryoko. Fortunately, she was able to recall most of the energy and only
hit Ryoko with only a part of her power. It was still strong enough to
knock both out and carry them across the bridge, where they lay in a
heap on the floor of the bridge.

"Ha ha! It seems my mighty Jurian powers have defeated everyone, leaving
only you *little* Washu. Although what you could do to harm me probably
wouldn't be much," Seiryou claimed.

The genius scientist was gladly thinking up a dozen different ways and a
dozen different weapons with which to scatter the noble's atoms across
the known galaxy when something black flashed out of the elevator and
attacked Seriyou. In all of her long lifetime, and Washu had lived a
*really* long time, the genius scientist had never seen black flash.
Nearly every other color she could think of could achieve a kind of
optical illusion known as elongation whenever it was moving at high
speed, but never black.

Seriyou never had a chance to elaborate as much as Washu had. One moment
he was gloating over his victory and the next a black cladded fist
slammed into his stomach, doubling his over with pain. A second blow
threatened to drop him into dreamland but an energy pulse shot out from
his body and knocked his assailant from him.

"Who dares lay their hands upon an Imperial member of the Jurai Royal
family," he wheezed, sucking in breath forced out of his lungs by the
blow to his midsection.

Twisting in midair, Silhouette landed lightly on her feet and struck a
fighting pose, ready for anything that the man might throw at her. He
looked up and saw a most fearsome sight, the six foot tall muscular
woman resplendent in her firm fitting suit with the red ponytail
trailing from the back of her head and blazing white eyes that seemed to
stare into his soul.

"I don't know who you are but you made a very big mistake," Seriyou
hissed, standing straight.

He took a moment to concentrate and fired a barrage of energy bolts at
her, knowing full well that no one would be able to stand up to such a
release of energy. Silhouette didn't.

Instead she ducked under the blasts of energy and ran straight at
Seriyou. At the last moment, she jumped over him, landed and swung low
with her left leg, knocking him off his feet and onto his back. She
brought her right hand, flat edged, towards his throat in the hope of
stunning him enough to finish it quickly when that force field of his
came up, her hand bouncing off.

He got to his feet and laughed as she threw repeated punches at the
invisible shield, each blow bouncing off with no effects whatsoever.

"Ah! Now I know who you are! You're that barbaric woman who tried to
stop my plans back on Earth. Well no matter. You will fail here as you
did there. HA ha ha ha ha ha!"

Beneath the mask, Samantha gritted her teeth against the pain and an
anger grew at the tone of voice, so similair to the one used by so many
mob bosses and drug dealers who thought they could win. Calm descended
over her and, in a mental image, she saw the chi flowing through her arm
and began to mold it, focusing the inner energy to wrap around her
muscles like bands of steel. This had happened only once before on
Earth, when some crooks had tried to rob a bank in a tank.

She reared back her fist and released it. The Jurai noble, so confident
and smug in his abilities, was shocked to the core when he felt the blow
in his mind. So great was it that it had triggered a feedback of pain to
the one generating the field. Silhouette battered the shield again,
actually rocking Seriyou on his feet without touching him.

Tenchi awoke to the battering of the force field and stared in awe at
who could only be Samantha in disguise.

"Are you all right," Washu asked.

"I'm fine. Just a little bump on the head. That blast he hit me with was
mostly deflected by the Jurain battle suit," he exlpained. "That is
Samantha isn't it?"

"Uh-huh. I'll say she's got some power," Washu shouted over the loud
impacts of enhanced flesh against energy shield.

Again and again her fists descended upon the shield, weakening it
continuously and forcing the Noble back further along the bridge.
Finally, in a blow so great it hurt Washu and Tenchi's ears, Silhouette
shattered Seriyou's force field. He dropped to his knees, a scream of
anger and pain splitting his mouth wide. The vigilante dropped back,
mind weary from the effort of concentration she had put into using the
chi to enhance her arms.

"Give up?" Her voice was tinged with tiredness and a bit of hope.

"Give up? NEVER," he shouted, getting back to his feet and aiming his
hands at her.

Suddenly red energy began to glow about his hands, coalescing into a
blazing red ball which he released at her. The energy came at her, its
path centered on her head like some bizarre harbringer of death.
Reflexes dulled by the effort of concentration made her movements slow
and everything mired into slow motion.  Silhouette dodged to the side,
falling to the deck of the bridge as the energy sizzled right by her
side, burning away the side of her suit with it's intense heat.

But she made it.

The energy ball, unimpeded even by its brush with Silhouette, rushed
through the air and impacted with the tree of the bridge, disintegrating
more then half of it in a huge explosion. After the smoke and sound had
died down, everyone on the bridge stared at where the tree, the heart
and brain of the ship, had been. There was now nothing more then a burnt
and smoking stump.

"This is not good," Washu said.

                                *               *               *
The great and mighty ship, Magnificient, the youngest of the third
generation Jurai trees, listed to the sides and the running lights
flickered on and off with the last surges of power running through the
system. Finally, the power went dead and the ship, which had been able
to stay out of the grip of Jurai's gravity well, started to plummet
downwards. Pulled by gravity, it gained more and more speed, the hull
glowing a fierce red from the heat of reentry and turning the ship into
a falling star.

Ryoko, having recovered frm her blow with Aeka, shouted through her
mental link to Ryo-oh-ki to come and pick them up. The ship listed to
the side even more, throwing the companions off their feet and onto the
wall. As it continued to do a 360 degree rotation, they landed on it's
roof, then the other wall and finally back onto the deck.

Ryoko reached and grabbed onto Tenchi and Aeka while Washu climbed onto
her shoulders. Together the three hovered in the middle of the ship,
watching it spin around them like a drunk man. Meanwhile, Silhouette had
latched onto Seriyou's arm and, at his first sign of protest, promptly
decked him and carried him over her shoulder fireman style.

Finally the tolling decks came to a stop, the once mighty and proud
Magnificent sliding through Jurai's atmosphere upside-down.

"Washu, isn't there anything you can do!" Aeka shouted over the roar of
the ship coming apart piece by piece. Only to herself that she would
admit at being frightened. Going down in this ship reminded her entirely
too much of the time she had crashed to Earth.

"NO there isn't! I don't have any inventions or any ideas as to how to
stop a crashing ship!" the genius scientist shouted back.

"Luckily *I* can do something!" Ryoko announced. She waited a few
moments, eyes closed in mental concentration. Finally she shouted, "Now
Ryo-oh-ki!"

>From the floor, or ceiling, came the sound of metal forcing it's way
through weaker material. Suddenly the benter spike of Ry-oh-ki burst
through the floor in front of them, the cabbit/spaceship giving a mighty
meow.

Ryoko phased her friends through the ship first, depositing them in the
bridge.

"But remember the last time you did this Ryoko? We all ended up crashing
to Earth and barely surviving!" Aeka pointed out.

"Don't worry about that. I've got an idea. Just hang on and I'll be
right back," she shouted teleporting away.

As soon as she had appeared beside her, Silhouette thrusted Seiryou at
her.

"You want me to save him?" she asked, amazed.

"Yes!"

"And why should I?"

Suddenly there was a huge explosion on the ceiling, which was actually
the floor of the bridge, above them and a black, burnt and battered
humanoid form dropped in between the two. Sparks flew from the
dismantled and malformed head and it raised it's arms towards Ryoko,
cannons charging for a massive blasts. A loud clang sounded when
Silhouette brought a double fisted punch down on the Attack Droid's
back, shifting its attention from Ryoko onto her.

"Go on! Get him out of here and destroy the ship before it crashes and
hurts any innocents," Silhouette shouted, ducking beneath the dual
blasts meant for her and slamming her left fists into the droids chest.

Ryoko, torn between helping her friend and helping the noble hesitated
before Silhouette waved her off in-between fending off the Droid's
attacks. She waited a second more, watching as the brave Canadian fought
the droid to a stand still, and dove in through the surface of her ship,
phasing through it and reappearing in the bridge with Seiryou draped
over one shoulder.

"Where's Samantha," Tenchi asked, more concerned about her then the
Jurai Noble laying unconscious at their feet.

"She's still on his ship, Tenchi, fighting his metallic flunky," Ryoko
explained. "She kept it busy so that I could get away."

"We must go back for her," Aeka said.

Even as she did, the shaking became more intense as vibrations swept
through both ships.

"No don't! She told me to blow up the ship!"

Everyone stared at her in horror but a large vibration rocked the ship
and sent them to their knees.

"Look Princess I don't like the idea of this much but if we don't break
free now, Ry-oh-ki will become hopelessly jammed with the Magnificent
and we'll all crash, taking out a whole lot of people," Ryoko argued.

"She's right Aeka, Tenchi. Silhouette has made her sacrifice. Don't put
it in vain," Washu said and, at the sight of the young man's anguish,
tried to place her hand on his shoulder.

                                *               *               *
"The Magnificent is crashing, Emperor Azusa!" reported the Admiral.

The Emperor watched the hologram screen quietly, his sharp eyes never
missing a single detail as the Magnificent, with Ryo-oh-ki jammed into
its top, made an awkward approach towards the surface of Jurai. Suddenly
there was a flash of white light and a large explosion as the cabbit
fired its main gun point blank into the bigger vessel. The cloud of
debris quickly dissipated and Ryo-oh-ki flew clear, albeit a bit shaky,
heading towards an empty parking spot along side the Imperial Palace.

"Did everyone get off safe and sound," Funaho asked and, despite her
mask of calmness, Azusa thought he could detect a hint of concern in her
voice.

"A moment Queen Funaho, we are opening up a comlink to the Ryo-oh-ki
now," the Admiral said.

A moment later, the sad faces of Aeka, Tenchi, Washu and Ryoko appeared.
Aeka leaned on Tenchi while Ryoko appeared to be near tears, either not
knowing or not caring that Aeka was hanging onto her man in such a way.

"Aeka," Misaki shrieked, a wide smile on her face at seeing her child
again. The smile waned and faded when she noticed that her daughter did
not return the greeting with her usual enthusium

"What's wrong Great Grandson," Funaho, her calm voice a soothing comfort
in the recent tragedy.

"She's dead," Tenchi muttered and choked up, unable to say anymore.

"Who's dead? Seiryou?" Azusa asked, not catching the young man's first
word.

The Emperor was shocked. All along he had thought that his oldest
daughter was in love with Tenchi, not the suitor he has chosen for her.
But where his words were lost on her, they made a most profound effect
on the former space pirate.

"Dead? Seiryou?" She repeated his words. "He's not the one who's dead!
Samantha is! Here's your stupid Seiryou!" Ryoko picked up the Jurai
noble and shook him like a rag doll before dumping him unceremoniously
on the deck of the bridge. "She's gone and it's all because of him."

"Who's Samantha," both Queens of Jurai asked, confused as to the new
name.
______________________________________________________________________
This will be the last chapter with any major action in it for awhile.
>From here on things will settle down for a bit and we'll get to
see......Ah! Almost told. Read the next few chapters to find out.

Send e-mail of comments and criticisms to: xwing@perf.bc.ca