Opening Moves Part Three: Queen's Gambit "That Kagato is becoming a real pest. He's destroyed far too many of my trees and killed far too many people. Not to mention the fact that he has both Ryoko and Washu. If he keeps this up, it could seriously jeopardize the defense against Tokimi. I suppose it's about time for me to finish my part of the plan anyway. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone." It was a typical bright sunny day in the Jurai palace. Funaho was debriefing a recently returned spy. Azusa was in a meeting with several advisors. Misaki was holding a voluntary combat training session in front of the palace for Juraian soldiers, many of whom had signed up just to watch her perform the opening calisthenics. The four year old Sasami was supposed to be under supervision of the palace's private daycare, but, as often occurred, she had managed to sneak out and was wandering the palace freely. And Yosho... Yosho was trying to avoid Ayeka. He had just left one of his tutors and was on his way to a swordsmanship class. He thought this somewhat unnecessary, as it was widely known that he was the best swordsman in the palace, but his parents insisted that he still lacked much of the maturity he needed. He was walking cautiously through the palace, trying to avoid the person he knew would be looking for him. "Yosho?" asked a sweet voice from behind. He went rigid, then forced himself to relax and put on a smile. "Yes, Ayeka?" he said, turning to face her. "Where are you going? You are acting like some sort of spy," she said, giggling at him. "Don't be silly. Where are you supposed to be?" "I just got done with another etiquette class," said Ayeka, rolling her eyes. "Ah, you've been learning how to be a 'proper young lady,'" said Yosho, raising the pitch of his voice in mockery of the noblewoman who taught the class. Ayeka laughed at Yosho's skilled imitation. "Yes. I swear, that woman thinks that girls are born in full formal dress." Ayeka hesitated a moment before asking her next question. "Do you know how much longer it will be, Yosho?" He did not have to ask what she meant. "A couple of years, I think. You are still a bit young." "I wish I didn't have to wait that long. But I will, as long as I can be with you in the end." "I have to go, Ayeka." "Oh, I'm sorry!" she said, embarrassed. "Will I see you tonight?" "Perhaps." "Good-bye, my love." "Good-bye." Yosho left hastily. It wasn't that he disliked Ayeka. He loved her like a sister. The problem was that that was all he loved her as. The whole arranged marriage idea bothered him. It worked for some, but he could tell that their parents had convinced his sister to fall in love. She had never decided on her own. Not to mention the fact that anti-alien prejudice virtually guaranteed civil strife if he took the throne. He sighed. No, of course he couldn't do that. He had far too many responsibilities to Jurai. Sighing again, he ran to his class. "Your majesty, you continue to fail to look at the big picture," said the green haired woman across the table. Azusa gripped the edge of the table with white knuckles. This had been going on for two hours already. He looked around the room once more at the other three figures seated there. There was the slim, flat chested green haired woman, an overweight white haired man, and the tall, flat faced pink headed one (in Azusa's opinion, the most annoying of them all). He checked the time again- actually, it was more like an hour and forty-five minutes. Had it really been only that long? It always went like this whenever the heads of the royal families met. "What big picture is that?" he asked, trying hard to remain polite. "Simply put, your son's taking the throne would be a disaster for Jurai." "There would be riots all overthe empire," said the fat one. "You know how people feel about aliens these days. To have someone who's not even a full Juraian take the throne... I don't think you've thought this through." "Is that right?" he asked. "Perhaps it's just that some of you are feeling jealous? You want your own family to get a crack at running things?" "Don't be absurd," said the woman. "We want what's best for Jurai. Civil war is not that." "It will never get that far," Azusa protested. "I know that our people are biased against off-worlders. It's a self-destructive prejudice, and one that's best cured as quickly as possible. What better way than to be ruled by someone who is part alien?" "Are you sure that that will be the result?" asked the pink one. "The law states that the heir to the throne will be 'the oldest child of the first family of Jurai.' Does that count for a child who is not fully of a Juraian family?" "My son is a Juraian as much as any other. His heart is in Jurai. He will never turn his back on her. That is enough to make him the rightful ruler of our empire." "For you, it is," said the woman. "But some may say that your daughter is the rightful heir. You're marrying them together in order to avoid such questions, but it won't be enough. Only one shall take the throne, and the other must be subservient. Which one will it be?" "Azusa, there's a simple solution," said the pink one. The emperor raised one eyebrow at being addressed by his name. "I've suggested this many times before. Allow someone from another family to marry your elder daughter, Ayeka. The full-blooded first princess married to a nobleman from a Juraian family would have an uncontestable claim to the throne. My son, for instance, would be a perfect candidate." "I refuse to allow this empire to be run by paranoid xenophobia!" he shouted. "If you hadn't married that off-worlder, this wouldn't be a problem," muttered the pink one. There was a long pause after that. "Did you just insult my wife?" asked Azusa quietly. "No, of course not, I was simply pointing out-" "Look at me," he said coldly. The man suddenly realized the mistake he'd made. He forced himself to meet the emperor's eyes. Azusa glared at the offender silently for a long minute. "I'm sorry, your majesty," he mumbled, bowing his head. "Good. Now get out." "But we still have to-" "OUT! All of you! I've got more important things to do than argue with the lot of ya!" The three got up and hustled out of the room. "So your position was not compromised?" asked Funaho to the spy on the other side of her desk. "It was compromised, but I was able to neutralize the threat." "I see. Then-" She was cut off by a knock on the door. "Come in." A third person entered the room. "What is it?" "There's a message for you from the outer system scanning crew," said the young messenger, handing the queen a small, sealed envelope. "They tried to contact you on your personal communicator-" "I turned it off," she said, opening the envelope and scanning its contents. "Standard procedure during confidential activities- you wouldn't want to get tapped. I'm afraid we'll have to cut this meeting short. My presence is required elsewhere." She rose from her desk and took the two outside, pushing the autolocking door shut behind her. Funaho walked swiftly out to the front of the palace where her sister wife was watching the many soldiers engage in sparring matches. "Hello sister!" called Misaki cheerily. Funaho forced herself to smile for the sake of those watching. No sense getting them overly worried. She walked forward and the two queens spoke softly. "Hey," said one of the soldiers to his sparring partner. "You ever wonder about those two?" "What do you mean?" he asked, pausing. "Well, you know. The rumors about them-" "Oh, please. Don't believe everything you read." "I know, I know, but you gotta figure if they share the same man, they must get along pretty well." "Personally, I feel sorry for the man. Two women? Think of the lash marks." "I hear that." Misaki turned to face the troops and raised her left hand to call for attention, which they quickly granted her. "This training session is now over," she called out in an unexpectedly serious tone. "All who are involved with extra-planetary defense report to your stations and remain on code orange until further notice. That is all." The soldiers quickly went to their posts, all of them speculating on what the danger was. "Let's go, Funaho." "Are you coming with me? This doesn't really involve you." "I disagree. As supreme commander of the imperial guard, I have both the authority and the responsibility to oversee anything that may threaten our home planet." "I suppose you're right." The two queens left and made their way to the scanning room. It was a room with rows of desks, each occupied by a person working on a holocomputer. At the front of the room was a large screen that detailed the locations of all major objects in the Jurai system. It was a black background with the star and planets in white and Juraian ships in green. The system followed the pattern of rocky planets near the star and gas giants away from it that was almost mandatory in a system bearing organic life. The map was circular and the planets were all represented by white dots of similar size, as it would be impossible to draw them to scale and fit both gas giants and rocky planets on the same map. There were also a few yellow dots in the outer system. "Commander Hayao, what exactly is the situation?" asked Funaho. "Oh, you're here, Lady Funaho," answered Hayao, an unimposing blond man just over five feet tall. He spoke in a quiet, nervous voice. "Approximately seventy minutes ago, a small shuttle was detected by our satellites on the outer rim of the system. It managed to breach our outer defenses, destroying a second-generation patrol ship and a group of stationary weapon emplacements. We diverted some of our forces towards the location, but just before they arrived, the shuttle made an imaginary space jump to another part of the outer system." "It jumped within a system?" asked Funaho, awed. "It clearly has unprecedented accuracy. The ship made several other hit and run attacks, each lasting only a couple of minutes. Each attacked position is marked by a yellow dot on the map. We sent reinforcements to each position with weakened defenses. Now it has disappeared from our scanners altogether." "It seems like it's trying to draw our forces away from the inner system. Could it be preparing for an attack?" "Not by itself, certainly. There's no way a ship that size could pose a serious threat to us. Either it's trying to weaken our external defenses for a larger force to enter or it's just piracy or an information raid. The latter seems more likely; I can't imagine anyone trying to attack us, but we've left extra forces in the breached positions just in case." "And we have no idea where the ship is now?" "No, but we're running nonstop scans. If it appears in the inner system, I suggest we go to code red." "Agreed," said Misaki. "Commander," said a headphone-wearing man at a desk, "we're getting a distress signal from one of the ships assigned to the perimeter." He listened for a moment and his eyes widened. "By Tsunami, what is going on?" Ryo-ohki was in the midst of an imaginary space jump, essentially running laps around the Jurai system. Ryoko was hovering casually on the bridge waiting until she felt like continuing her attack. At least, that's what she thought she was doing. In reality, it would be more correct to say that she was waiting for orders. Her orders never arrived in words. It was like an urge. She didn't know that someone was making her feel that urge. She just felt the desire to do something else. About eighty-five minutes after her first appearance in the system, she got a new desire. It focused her thoughts on one thing only: Tsunami. She had already figured out how to get Tsunami, she had just been waiting for the will to do so. Now it had arrived, and she knew what to do. Go to Jurai. Destroy the tree and it will turn into a seed. Grab the seed and go. Do it quickly while the diversion lasts. She grinned ferally and turned her lime green eyes to Ryo-ohki's navigation crystal. "We're being attacked by four squadrons of unmarked fighters," called the captain of one of the perimeter guards. "Four squadrons?" repeated Misaki. "As in forty-eight ships?" "Affirmative. And we have only one first-gen and one second-gen tree ship cruisers and their accompanying third-gen fighters. We are outnumbered and we will be defeated." "How long can you hold out for reinforcements?" asked Funaho. "An hour if we're lucky." Misaki looked at the map. "Can we send any of the other perimeter ships as reinforcements?" "All of those ships are on the other side of the system, more than two radians away," answered Hayao. "It'll take too long. The only way we could reinforce them is to divert more of our core forces to the rim." "And pull some of the other rim forces back to replace them," added Misaki. Funaho was quiet for a moment. "You realize that we're walking into a trap." "Of course I do," agreed Misaki. "But it's just a pirate raid, right?" "No, I don't think so. Pirate gangs are too proud to use unmarked ships. Moreover, this is too coordinated to be a simple raid. They're after something else. Something big." "Should we sacrifice the attacked ships?" "I'd considered it, but it could be just as dangerous to leave these fighters in the system, as well as the missing ship. Not to mention the political disaster it would be if we left them. This empire's unsteady enough as it is." "All right, then. How long will it take for our forces to make it there?" "Around forty-five minutes," answered Hayao. "And fifty-five for the others to make it back here." "Well, the captain had better be lucky," said Funaho. Hayao delivered the order to the appropriate ships while Misaki sent out a code red alert. "Yosho, are you even listening to me?" said his master angrily. Yosho stopped the routine he was performing and sighed. "What is it this time?" "What were you thinking as you acted out those moves?" "Thinking? What does it matter?" "You are distracted. How can you hope to win when you never have your mind on your actions?" "I'm a better swordsman than anyone else on Jurai, including you." "You are more skilled. But I have told you time and time again that a warrior is not built of technique alone. He must have a mind at peace and a strong heart to guide it. A true warrior's strength flows from a soul free of doubts." Yosho resisted rolling his eyes. "Try it one more time, Yosho." He got ready to start again but was interrupted by an announcement over the intercom. "This is Queen Misaki," it said. "As of this moment, the palace is on code red. All military personnel report to your assigned posts and prepare for battle. All civilians remain on lockdown unti-" She stopped and drew in a sharp breath. "Um, th-that is all." The voice went silent. "All right, Yosho, you heard the lady. I'll take you to your room. You can wait there until the lockdown's over." "What? The palace is under attack and you're not going to let me fight?" "You're a good fighter, Yosho, but you're no warrior. If you go into battle now, your recklessness may very well be your undoing." "All right," he said, disappointed. "After you." His master walked past and then Yosho hit him in the back of the neck, dropping him instantly. "Sorry, old man, but what kind of person would I be if I hid in my room while my people were under attack? That's hardly the heart of a warrior." He exited the room, leaving the unconscious body. "What is it, sister?" asked Funaho worriedly after Misaki turned off the intercom. Without answering, Misaki pulled out her personal communicator and opened a line. "Hello?" said the voice on the other end. "Suzuka, thank Tsunami I got through to you. Is Sasami still in the nursery?" There was a terrible pause on the other end. "No, she snuck out again." The blood drained from Misaki's face. The room suddenly felt very cold. "Should I go look for her?" "No, stay with the others. I'll find her." She switched off her communicator with shaking hands and ran to the door. "Misaki," called Funaho, running behind her. "Do you think it's wise-" "Dammit, Funaho, this is my daughter we're talking about!" she screamed, spinning around to face her. The room went silent at that. "All right. Go find her. And be careful." "Thank you." The worried mother ran from the room. She didn't notice as she ran out that her husband was in a fierce argument with a pair of guards, only one of whom was talking. "For the last time, let me in now!" Azusa shouted. "I'm sorry, your majesty, but we are under full lockdown. We have strict orders that only military personnel-" "I'M THE EMPEROR OF JURAI!" "Which is a civilian position," he said tersely. "Please, your majesty, it would look very bad if we had to restrain the emperor." They stood there quietly, Azusa staring at him with the look he was so fond of. The guard did not flinch. "Very well," Azusa acquiesed. "But tell them to call me the moment anything happens." He then turned away. Once the emperor was out of sight, the guard fell back against the wall, gasping for breath. "I can't believe I just did that." "Either you're off your rocker," said his partner, "or you got the biggest setta balls I ever seen." Ryo-ohki shifted back into real space just outside the planet Jurai. She found herself between two large orbital battle stations. The stations began firing on the cabbit ship as soon as she appeared, but it easily avoided their blasts. Ryo-ohki began firing on one of the battle stations. It was many times larger than the cabbit, but its weapons were slow-moving. The other station was too far out of range to fire accurately. Ryo-ohki danced around the station, firing her surprisingly powerful weapons. They had to disable it or there would be no way for them to enter the atmosphere without being shot down on the way. It took seven minutes and forty-six seconds to disable the battle station enough so that it was safe to enter. She marked that time off the thirty minute count she'd given herself for the mission. It was imperative that she complete it before the reinforcements arrived. This ship was tough, but far from invincible. Ryoko saw what remained of Jurai's core fleet of tree ships coming after her. Not wasting a second, she turned the ship down towards the surface. Three first-gen cruisers, a few second-gen patrol ships, and a dozen or so fighters followed her down. Ryoko reached the surface with the tree ships close behind. She was on the opposite side of the planet from her goal and had twenty-one minutes left. Exactly as planned. It would cost her several minutes to come down on the wrong side of the planet, but it was necessary to deal with the pursuers. There was no way she could take on those first-gen ships in a pitched battle. She pulled up and skimmed along the surface, only a few hundred feet off the ground. The pursuing ships turned to follow. They had to use their maximum safe atmosphere speed to keep up. Ryoko had very carefully selected that speed. She waited a moment until the ships began firing on her. Then, retracting her spikes to reduce air friction, Ryo-ohki sped up slightly. As expected, the ships lost no ground. They were trying to shoot her, which, in a chase, meant that the ship computers were set to automatically maintain a constant distance from the target. She continued to speed up gradually, forcing the others to do the same. All of the ships were going at hundreds of times the speed of sound, collapsing buildings with immense sonic booms and tornado force winds as well as setting off every infrared sensor on the planet. The chase continued three-fourths of the way to the other side of the planet, but at that point, the excessive heat became too much for the first-gen tree ships and they were forced to crash land. Regular as clockwork, noted Ryoko. Ryo-ohki, being smaller than a fully formed first-generation tree ship, felt considerably less air friction and kept going until she arrived above the palace. Ryoko noted 16:22 as the remaining time. Flying around the palace area, Ryo-ohki found a ground-to-air weapons platform and blew it up. Others started firing, especially with heat seeking weapons, which had an easy target in a ship that had just been going over mach 300 in atmosphere. The enemy fighters were having more trouble, as they were still recovering from the friction damage. Ryo-ohki took some hits, but that was to be expected, and she did a fair job fighting back as well. Once all the weapons were focused on the cabbit, Ryoko had her make another pass over the palace, then allowed Ryo-ohki to pilot herself as she quietly phased out into the open air. 15:02. Tsunami watched all of the occurrences on Jurai, feeling a mix of horror, satisfaction, and guilt at being satisfied. Kagato thought things were going by his plan, but really they were going by hers. Now for the last step. As much as she regretted it, it was necessary. "There she is." Sasami was walking by the tree room and suddenly felt herself compelled to enter. "That's it," said Tsunami into the young girl's mind. "Come to me, little one." Ryoko floated down and phased through the wooden wall into the upper floor of the palace to avoid the mass of guards at the entrance. There were two present in front of her. "What- who are you?" demanded one of the soldiers, facing the intruder. Ryoko fired an energy ball at them. They each quickly drew their keys and one of them deflected the blast. Ryoko teleported behind them and stabbed her energy sword through one, then slashed at the other. He spun around and blocked her sword. She slashed at him high, and as he moved to block it she flew forward faster than he could see to shove her foot through his abdomen. 14:17. It was very little trouble to make her way to the center of the palace where she knew the tree would be. Quite a few soldiers got in the way, but none of them were much of a problem, although one of the fights took longer than she'd planned when she was thrown off balance by a ship crashing into the palace. Sasami walked up to the door of the tree room. She put her small hands on it and pushed. The door was supposed to open for anyone with Juraian blood. Recognizing her, it swung in. The huge, column-shaped room had a myriad of trees floating in it. This was where all trees that were not bonded to a host were kept. Sasami stepped onto a glowing blue platform and felt herself teleported to another tree. "How do you do?" asked Sasami, bowing politely. The tree lit up in response. Suddenly, the whole room shook violently. Sasami struggled to keep her balance, but failed and slipped off the sheer platform, falling for what seemed like miles. She was wailing all the way until she hit the ground at the base of Tsunami with a sickening crunch. "It's time," said Tsunami as the girl hit the ground. She braced herself for the ultimate sacrifice she was about to make. The girl's life started to ebb, and at the moment when she straddled the line between life and death, Tsunami made the final push. Sasami stood up and looked around. How did she get here? She thought that she'd fallen of the platform, something her mother had warned her countless times about. It didn't make sense, but who knows what makes sense to a four year old? All she knew was that she had been scared before, and she wasn't now. Maybe she had imagined the whole thing. That was her thought as she found herself teleported back to the top. Her concern passed, she pushed her way back out the door. "Sasami!" called Misaki. "Mama!" "Oh, there you are, Sasami," she said, leaning down and embracing her daughter fiercely. In the midst of this, Tsunami felt the presence of just the one she was looking for. Sasami's two forehead dots turned to triangles as Tsunami willed away the last of her Light Hawk Energy. Yosho ran through the halls toward the sound of explosions. He passed a number of fallen but forced himself not to stop. he repeated in his mind like a mantra. The prince followed the trail of carnage, but it inexplicably stopped in the middle of a hall. Then he heard another blast from directly below. "It went through the floor!" He pulled out the Master Key and sliced a hole in the floor. It was a long drop, but a body softened his landing. As he hit the ground, a figure turned a corner to his right. He chased after it. Yosho rounded the corner and got his first look at the attacker. He saw the young woman push on the door to the tree room and laughed to himself. He stopped laughing when her gems began to glow and the door pushed open. He rushed forward to stop her from entering, but as soon as the door cracked open, she phased through. As she disappeared, Yosho noticed his stepmother and half-sister huddled further down the hall past the door. Sasami looked over and a strange feeling washed across him. "Are you two all right?" he asked. "Yosho! What are you doing here?" "I've been chasing the intruder. She went into the tree room. There's no telling what sort of damage she could do in there. I have to stop her." "You? Look around, Yosho! You'll be killed!" "I can stop her," he said. Looking into Sasami's eyes, he felt a quiet resolve grow within him. "Let me deal with her," said Misaki. "And leave your daughter?" She was quiet at that. "Mother Misaki, trust me. I can defeat her." Misaki saw the resolution in his eyes. "All right. Good luck." The prince turned to the door and pushed it open. The whole room seemed to be vibrating as he entered. All of the trees were shaking. That meant the master was under attack. Flashes of light from far below confirmed his suspicion. Trying to restrain his excitement, he stepped up to the entry tree and teleported down to Tsunami. He appeared face-to-face with the invader. She stopped her attack momentarily and studied the new arrival. Just by looking at him standing there she could tell that he was tougher than the others she had dispatched. This person could be a serious delay, and she was already almost down to ten minutes. Yosho circled her so that he could see Tsunami without breaking eye contact with his foe. The tree had scorch marks and a couple of fallen branches but was still in reasonably good shape. Yosho drew the Tenchi-ken and charged Ryoko. The pirate summoned a sword and blocked him, then swung high. He ducked easily and thrust at her midsection, which she dodged by floating backwards. She flew up to be able to fire on Tsunami without having to deal with this knight. Yosho jumped back and touched Tsunami, then teleported up to a tree platform. He jumped down towards Ryoko, who was looking for her vanished foe. She heard the wind from the falling form just before he reached her, and she teleported away when his blade was millimeters from her. Yosho fell the two story height and rolled across the soft dirt floor. The prince ran back to Tsunami and teleported up again, farther this time since Ryoko had gone farther up. She was scanning for him, so he hid behind a tree until her eyes were turned away, then jumped at her, making sure that he was aimed at another platform. Again she saw him and floated up, swinging her own sword at him. He twisted his body downwards to avoid the strike and fell onto another tree platform. He stepped onto the glowing blue circle and disappeared again. Yosho continued this pattern of teleporting between platforms and lunging at a midair Ryoko. He fell towards his floating foe and she swung her crimson blade to clash with his. The impact killed most of his horizontal momentum and he found himself falling with no tree below. Ryoko aimed down to fire a blast at him. Yosho raised his sword and deflected it at an angle that pushed him sideways to fall on one of the blue teleporters. He was falling fast but disappeared before making impact. The prince appeared right below the pirate and swung his sword up instantly. Finally, he made contact, slicing through her leg just above the ankle. She jumped back as the sword bit into her flesh. Ryoko glared at her nemesis as her foot reformed. She was not angry, of course. Thanks to Kagato's control, she felt no emotion at all. Yet her calculating mind was concerned. She was down to 9:12. She could go a few minutes over the limit, but if she didn't get out of the planet's atmosphere before those reinforcements arrived, it was unlikely she ever would. Yosho could afford to be patient, but she could not, and he knew it. He held his sword up in a ready stance. Ryoko looked at the weapon... and her eyes lit up as, for the first time, she realized what it was. Time for plan B. She shot her way up to the exit, firing blasts at Yosho so that he wouldn't be able to give chase right away. He mustn't cut off her escape. Ryoko pushed open the doors and saw a mob of soldiers in the hallway. They all leveled small arms or rifles at the pirate. Behind her, she heard Yosho running out of the tree room. She waited until he had a good view of the scene, then teleported into the center of the mass of soldiers and started cutting them apart. Their guns were useless, as they would be more likely to hit their allies than their enemy. They pulled out keys and began attacking with their swords. Ryoko sliced open a few, being sure to make it extra gory, but there were too many for her to beat in time. She looked over at Yosho's face and saw it had turned bright red and his body was shaking. Having verified the effect it was having on him, she teleported back outside. From a bird's eye view, it was easy to see the chaos overrunning the palace. A number of fighters had collided with it or crashed in the surrounding city. Parts of buildings had fallen off, trapping people underneath the rubble. Ryoko perched on a tall pile of rock and overlooked the carnage. Ahead of her was a station where paramedics were attending to the many wounded. An ideal target. Yosho ran out of the palace and saw the demon smirking atop her refuse throne. She met his eyes and then fired down at the station she'd just noticed. It exploded, killing all within instantly. For good measure, she let out a loud cackle. She checked the prince again, reading his emotions. Yes, he would follow her to the ends of the universe. She flew back up to the spined ship which hung low in the burning sky. The prince ran to his ship. He didn't care what powers the pirate or her ship had; there was no way in the world or in whatever hell this demon had risen from that he would let her escape. "Take me with you Yosho! Take me with you! Yosho!" He kept running, pretending not to hear the distant voice. For a brief instant, he felt pleased that the incident allowed him an escape, but he quickly and guiltily forced that thought down. He ran to the landing area near the palace where the ships were parked. Most of them had already been scrambled, but his proud first-generation cruiser, Funaho, still rested on the ground. He ran up to it and sent a mental command to teleport him up. The invading ship shot upward through the atmosphere. Funaho chased up after it, opening its Light Hawk Wings, with a number of fighters following. One of the battle stations was nearby and began firing at the cabbit. A group of ships closed in from all directions to cut off her escape. Excluding Funaho, there were only two cruisers in combat range, one first-gen and one second, as well as numerous fighters. The second-gen cruiser stopped, facing Ryo-ohki, and deployed its wings in a pattern Yosho recognized as preventing ships in its path from entering imaginary space. Ryo-ohki made an attack run on the nearest group of fighters, but before entering firing range, she shot right toward the space station. She skimmed around the surface of the station, taking a fair amount of flak in the process. The fighters followed, also firing. She swung around until she was on the far side from the cruiser that was holding her and then shot away. The cruiser could still project its holding field through the station, of course, and it was still in the same place doing so. She flew away from the station, making sure that it still blocked the cruiser's line of sight. She kept going until she was far away from the cruiser. An anti-jumping field had to be pointed directly at the target to be effective, and from this range that was near impossible. It was probably being fed her position via satellite. Ryo-ohki stopped abruptly, then turned up and performed a classic drunkard's walk through the space to confuse the ship. Ryo- ohki could feel the edge of the field approaching. As soon as she broke free of it, she slipped into imaginary space. Instantly, the adrenaline drained from the warriors in space and they were hit with the horror of what they had faced. The communication channels were filled with chatter without hesitation. Speculation about the foe flew between pilots, as well as concern for those below. The frequencies may as well have been jammed with the amount of use they were getting. "Come to attention!" shouted the leader of the force- the pilot of the first-gen cruiser- on a channel that overrode all others. "All those still flying: Sound off!" The voices of the pilots responded in their preset order, pausing whenever someone did not respond. About one third of the pilots did not call in. "Those are some heavy casualties," said the leader sadly. "I ask that we observe a moment of silence for them." The crew did that. Then, the chatter started again. "I don't believe it- one ship, and we were helpless!" "It was barely shuttle size!" "At least she didn't get what she was after," said Yosho. The pilots all went quiet. "Who said that? Pilot, identify yourself." "You idiot, that's Prince Yosho!" "Your highness," said the leader, "with all due respect, how do you know what that monster was after?" "She was after Tsunami. We stopped her." "So sure of yourself, are you, prince?" said a mocking female voice. Yosho turned around and saw a visual screen with a smirking face on it. "What do you want, demon?" asked Yosho with a snarl. "Name-calling? And I thought you Juraians were supposed to be polite. My name is Ryoko, and I have an offer to make for you and you alone." "I am interested in no bargain with you." "Oh, I think you are. We started a duel earlier, and I want to finish it. You people are big on honor, and I know you won't pass up a chance to end this yourself." Yosho was quiet for a moment as he stared into the foul green eyes. "I'm listening," he said finally. "I know you'd expect an ambush, so I'll let you choose the battle field. Any system in the galaxy. I'll hail you again over a private channel soon to ask for the location." "I know it's not an ambush, but how do I know this isn't a decoy to get me away from Jurai?" Ryoko laughed lightly. "Jurai will be doubling it's security soon. Your ship won't make a difference." "I suppose not. Then I'll be waiting to hear from you." "Good. Oh, and come alone, or I won't show up." "I wouldn't have it any other way." Smiling, Ryoko waved good-bye and disappeared. "That monster makes a mockery of our grief," said Yosho darkly. "I'll show her." "Yosho, are you there?" It was the voice of his mother. "Yosho, answer me. We intercepted Ryoko's message. Do not do this. She's far too dangerous. She has a record a mile long. Trust me, she'll think nothing of killing you. Leave this to the official-" Yosho flipped off the communications station. His mother meant well, but this was his fight. And after he won, after he did his duty to his people, he would be done with Juraian life forever. He would find some planet to retire on... His mother's planet! From everything she'd told him, it was a beautiful place. He'd have Ryoko meet him there- Earth, it was called. Before he left, he had to say goodbye. He'd send Ayeka a message assuring her that he'd return. When he didn't they would all assume he was dead. If they thought otherwise, they'd come searching for him. It would, unfortunately, hurt Ayeka terribly, but not as much as knowing that he didn't want to marry her. She would get over him, in time. She was stronger than many people thought. He sent off a message to her and then left the system. Having lived his whole life in the capital of one of the universe's largest empires, Yosho found it somewhat unsettling to be in such a sparsely populated system. This Earth was certainly not the world he had come from. The radio receiver picked up nothing but the background noise of ambient radiation. Yosho was in meditation preparing for the greatest battle of his life. The ship appeared without any fanfare. It simply popped into real space and shot towards Funaho. Yosho hopped up and took the controls. Ryo-ohki was heading straight for him with guns blazing. Yosho concentrated on opening the ship's three Light Hawk Wings. They appeared in front of the ship and dispersed the incoming energy. Ryo-ohki flew past and Funaho turned to follow. Funaho fired on Ryo-ohki, but it teleported out of the way. Ryo-ohki was having no more luck penetrating the Light Hawk shield. She tried to teleport behind Funaho, but Yosho was too fast. Yosho had an idea of how to take out Ryo-ohki, but it was a risky one. Still, he didn't see any other options. "Oh, well," he said wryly. "I never wanted to live forever." Yosho killed Funaho's velocity and waited for the other ship to make another pass. Ryo-ohki came charging at him again. He turned Funaho to face the rapidly approaching ship and, when it was about two seconds away, dropped the Light Hawk Wings and pushed his ship to maximum acceleration. The two collided with a force that shook them both and sent one of Ryo-ohki's spikes through the hull of Funaho. Yosho was thrown to the floor but maintained control of the ship and reopened the Wings, wrapping them around Ryo- ohki. Now the two were stuck together. Yosho burned the engines to set them on a crash course for the planet Earth. He drove forward with Ryo-ohki in front, the two ships hurtling towards the planet. Ryo-ohki tried to burn sideways and take the upper position, but Yosho reached out with the Wings and neutralized the engines, as well as preventing her from teleporting. Yosho turned Funaho's engines to maximum force and plunged into Earth's atmosphere at much higher than safe reentry speed. Fortunately, Funaho had another ship to shield it from the unbearable air friction. Had Ryo-ohki's design not been so superb, she probably would have been destroyed on the way down. As it was, she was already suffering immense damage from the friction. The hull was hot enough to melt carbon. Pieces of the ship were being jettisoned as they became useless in an attempt to reduce surface area and thus friction. Yosho looked out at the large archipelago that they were approaching. He knew that the collision would kill him, without a doubt. He did not want to allow that. Once the ships reached the troposphere, he released Ryo-ohki and exploded the exterior wall unit of Funaho to separate them. He burned Funaho's engines to slow his downward velocity while still following Ryo-ohki. "Please crash," he prayed softly. The pirate ship pulled itself up just before impact. "Not a chance, demon!" He fired blasts that hit the crippled ship easily, dropping it to the ground. Ryoko bailed out just before impact and felt herself almost burn up at the speed she was moving through the open atmosphere. The ship crashed into the mountains, leveling them and forming a large crater in their stead. Funaho limped along from the damage of the ramming and Yosho executed a skilled crash landing near Ryo-ohki's crash site. Yosho opened the hatch and stepped out onto the new planet. His ship was totaled and would have to be regrown from scratch, but, as they say, any landing you can walk away from... "So much for the easy part," muttered Yosho grimly as his eyes hit upon Ryoko. She was hovering up in the air and turned her eyes down to meet his, smirking. Yosho felt rage boil up within him. he thought, forcing his emotions down. "I hope you know that you don't stand a chance against me," said Ryoko. "I think I do. As I recall, I was doing pretty well in the tree room." "I was in a hurry. You can't win this one. No Juraian could. But I'll make you a deal. Give me that sword, and I'll let you live." "This sword?" asked Yosho, holding up the unlit hilt. "Here, catch." He threw it into the air. Ryoko swooped down and grabbed it in her right hand. A huge surge of electricity ran through her body and she fell to the ground. Yosho ran forward as she fell and grabbed the key from her hand just before she hit. Igniting the blade, he stabbed down at her, but she phased into the ground to avoid it. Ryoko appeared behind him and lunged forward with her sword. Yosho spun around just in time to block it but was pushed backwards by the impact and fell into the crater. Ryoko fired a hail of blasts at the downed Yosho, but he flipped over and dodged or deflected them effortlessly. Ryoko ceased her firing and Yosho considered what had just happened. He had never been able to move that fast before. He should not have been able to do that. Yet he just had. "How did you do that?" asked a baffled Ryoko. Yosho did not answer. He felt a surge of energy within him. He breathed deeply and focused on bringing it forth. In time with his breath, a soft white glow in his eyes brightened and faded. Ryoko didn't dare to attack him until she knew what he was doing. After a couple dozen breaths, Yosho inhaled again and held it. He looked up to stare directly at Ryoko and felt that he was going to beat her. It wasn't that he thought he could win or that he was going to try his best. Somehow, he knew that he was going to emerge victorious. Feeling the purposeful pounding of his heart, as though every beat was performed with intent, he exhaled slowly and forcefully. A bright wall of light illuminated in front of him as he exhaled. This light wrapped around him like a suit of armor and soaked into every pore of his body. thought Ryoko. "It's time for your end, demon," said Yosho simply. Ryoko put her hands close together and summoned a number of small spirits. Yosho ran for her, ignoring all of them. The white wraiths dove at the charging prince and vaporized as shields of light blocked their approach. Yosho ran up a hill of debris and leapt at Ryoko. She was too high for him to reach and thus unconcerned, so it was a very surprised Ryoko who saw Yosho concentrate his energy into his legs and soar up at her. She dodged backwards and flew down, drawing her sword. The two of them were lost in their melee for hours. For both of them, the time seemed to pass more quickly than that, but it seemed longer for Yosho than for Ryoko. The fact that Yosho could not fly was not proving to be much of a disadvantage, but what he had noticed was that his enemy did not seem to be tiring. He could feel fatigue in some of his muscles. It was not stopping him, but he could feel it. She, on the other hand, seemed to be fighting as well now as she had at the start. he said to himself, thrusting at her again. he mused as their swords chafed against each other at close quarters. She raised her sword to block his again and he got a clear view of her wrist. A memory came back... Ryoko pushing on the tree door... the door miraculously opening... And her gems glowing as she did so. If he could get those gems, then it would all be over. Ryoko dove at him again, and Yosho jumped back into the crater. He ran down towards the center and the wreckage of Ryo-ohki. He picked up a piece of the metal, shielding his hand with a piece of the Wing. Still hot. Perfect. He ran back up towards Ryoko and threw the metal at her torso. She caught it in her right hand easily and felt that hand burned. She recoiled quickly and Yosho, taking advantage of the momentary shock, lunged forward and cut off that hand just above the wrist. For the first time in the battle, Ryoko really seemed harmed, yelping in pain. The gem fell downward but lifted itself up and shot back towards its master. Yosho swung his sword in the path to prevent this. The gem flew right into the beam and stopped in place at that. It shuddered, but Yosho concentrated and pulled it to the hilt, where it embedded itself. Two more to go. The next gem seemed much easier. He assumed they supplemented each other, as the first one had clearly taken more than a third of her strength. With only one gem left, in the base of her neck, Ryoko dove at the prince once more. He raised the sword and stabbed it through the throat. She flailed wildly but Yosho held her in place with his Wing. The gem progressed slowly down the beam. With the last of her consciousness, she pulled a gem on her ear off and tossed it at Yosho's feet. The gem from her neck sealed its place on the hilt and Ryoko's eyes turned from lime green to white and gold. Yosho relaxed and his Light Hawk Wing faded. Meanwhile, the gem at Yosho's feet, no longer connected to Ryoko, brightened and exploded. Yosho was thrown into the air and fell back down hard. He was bleeding from all across his chest. He had trouble standing up, but he had to end this. He got ready to kill the demon... and then thought of her eyes. The gems weren't just powering her, they were controlling her. He couldn't let her go, though- who knew what she might do? Yosho looked up and saw a cave in the distance. He leaned over and, aching, picked up the limp body. Yosho walked up the path as quickly as he could. It took him about ten minutes. "Just finish this, Yosho, and you can rest. Yes, rest." He walked into the mouth of the cave, down a passageway, and found a hole in the back leading deeper. He could travel no farther. He picked her up and tossed her into the hole, hearing her body fall to the ground. "Now... to seal it." There was a rock standing up. He plunged the sword within it. The blade of energy forced its way in. With Yosho holding it in place, the blade slowly turned to solid metal so that the stone would hold it firm. A pair of rocks slid to seal the gap. The sword would keep this prisoner safe. Yosho staggered out into the late morning sunlight. He looked up at the blue sky. It was a beautiful morning. He stumbled and fell to the ground, lying on his back. His eyes followed the clouds in the sky. "So... this is how it ends," he said sadly. "I suppose this is the price I pay for running from my people. I guess I shouldn't feel bad about this. After all, nothing can live forever, not even Juraians. But there's still so much I wanted to do with my life." Yosho looked behind him and saw the crashed remains of his ship. Funaho... "Mother..." he moaned. Funaho's smiling face was the last thing on his mind as his life slipped away from him. Mama, hey Mama, come lookin' for me, I'm here in the meadow by the red maple tree. Mama, hey Mama, look sharp, here I be, Hey, hey, Mama, look sharp. Them soldiers, they fired, oh Ma, did we run, But then we turned 'round, and the battle begun, Then I went under, oh Ma, am I done? Hey, hey, Mama, look sharp. My eyes are wide open, my face to the sky, Is that you I'm hearin' in the tall grass nearby? Mama, come find me, before I do die! Hey, hey, Mama, look sharp. I'll close your eyes, my Billy, Them eyes, that cannot see, And I'll bury ya, my Billy, Beneath the maple tree. And never again will you whisper to me Hey, hey, oh Mama, look sharp. -From the musical *1776* End Prologue Jurgan