Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo is the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC. The only character I own is Carvin Kenzaki. Please don't sue me. BTW: This story takes place in the OAV universe before Manatsu no Eve but after Kiyone joins the cast. Time's Vendetta Carvin Kenzaki walked alongside the king of Jurai, swishing the wine in his glass around. The king smiled at him and shook his head. "You've come a long way, Carvin," he commented. "Thank you, Your Majesty. That means a lot coming from you." The king shot him a look. "I told you, Carvin, it's 'Tenchi,' not 'Your Majesty.' We *are* family, after all." Carvin smiled. "As you wish, Tenchi." Tenchi Masaki laughed. He shook his head again. "Director of the new Temporal Security Service. It's a well deserved promotion, Carvin. Congragulations." Carvin's smile became a little more relaxed. "Thanks. There are those who think I got it because of my relationship with...." Tenchi turned to him. "*Never* believe that, Carvin. I watched your career progress. If I didn't think you could do the job, I wouldn't have pushed for your appointment. You *earned* it." "That means even more, Tenchi." Tenchi smiled. "Are you going to exercise your right to lead some missions yourself?" Carvin shook his head. "I made a promise to my wife. The last time, was the *last* time." "You gonna miss it?" Carvin turned to him incredulously. "'Miss it?' Miss what? Being dropped into Tsunami knows where, on a mission I only half understand, to stop an assassin I've never seen from killing a person I've never met, while the local authorities do their damndest to stop me?" He shook his head. "No, I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet desk job." Tenchi smiled. "That's a lie and you know it." "Not really. It'll give me more time to spend with Sasami, which is good...given our situation." Tenchi arched an eyebrow. "Situation?" Carvin threw him a look and smiled slightly. Realization struck Tenchi like a truck. He grinned. "You dog," he said in awe. "Congragulations! How far along?" Carvin's smile got wider. "Three weeks." "And the doctors haven't found anything wrong..." The TSS agent shook his head. "As far as they can tell, the assimilation is having no impact whatsoever. They gave us the green light." Tenchi laughed and slapped his friend on the back. "Now we have something *else* to celebrate!" "Don't let on that you know," Carvin begged him. "Sasami wants to be the one to tell you and Ayeka." "I promise. Not a word." Tenchi shook his head. "I'm happy for you two. And so will Ayeka." "Where is Ayeka? Sasami said she'd meet us at the restauraunt in twenty minutes. We're going to have to leave soon." "She's putting Little Yosho down to bed. She'll be ready to go in a few minutes." Queen Ayeka of Jurai hugged the infant close to her in the dark room as she sang. It was an old lullaby, one that Washu had taught her after Yosho was born. "April roses, tiny sparrows, Comets, bright and new, All belong together, With the mystery, That is you." She continued to sing until she felt that the baby was asleep. Then, carefully, she placed her son in his crib. She stood there a moment, smiling, looking at the little miracle she and Tenchi had created together. It was still a humbling experience. She tensed suddenly. She didn't have to see the shadow moving behind her to know that something was wrong. She felt...cold. There was something wrong here. "Azaka?" she whispered. "Kamidake?" There was no answer. The feeling of dread overcoming her was intensifying. She swallowed nervously and picked Little Yosho up out of his crib. The baby woke up and began to cry. "Shhhhh," she tried to soothe him. "It's okay," she said nervously. "Let's go see Daddy, okay?" She started for the door, looking over her shoulder as she increased her pace. Looking behind her, she failed to see the threat in front of her and bumped right into it. Ayeka took a step back, her eyes going wide in shock. "Ryo..." She didn't get the rest of the name out of her mouth. In a flash, Ryoko's lightsword scythed around, cutting into Ayeka's throat. Blood splattered onto the wall next to them. Ayeka, the baby still in her arms fell to the ground. Ryoko stood over Ayeka's cooling body and the screaming infant. She looked at the blood on the wall and smiled. She knelt down and pulled Ayeka up by the front of her kimono, bringing her face within inches of her own. Ryoko looked into her dead, purple eyes and snarled. With a quick movement, she spit in the dead woman's face. She turned her attention to the wall.... Tenchi and Carvin had stopped in front of a painting of one of Ayeka's ancestors. Carvin examined it, looking for the resemblance to his wife or sister in law, but not finding any. "So, Carvin, what do you have planned for the TSS?" Tenchi asked him. "I've had three defense ministers come to me with worries that you plan to consolidate their offices under yours." Carvin shook his head. "Nothing so grand, Tenchi. There are limits to what time travel can do. Real time still exists, it's still a factor, so we'll have to override the SIS and ISS from time to time for the sake of expediency. But I doubt any of your vaunted nobles are going to lose their jobs." Tenchi grinned and took another sip of wine. "Pity, Ayeka was telling me the other day that maybe what was needed was a good purge. Frighten the nobility a little." Carvin returned the smile. He wasn't a noble Jurain in any respect of the word, that was evident by his lack of a lightsword. He had grown up in the back alleys of the capital of Belegast. As a result, he had a pretty low opinion of arrogant nobles who were only in power because of their birth. That was why he liked and respected King Tenchi. He grew up on a provincial planet working at a shrine. Hardly a life of luxury. He was about to tell Tenchi about his plan for forming a strike arm of the TSS when they heard screaming from down the hall. Their heads whipped around at the sound. They started running. Tenchi had removed the Tenchi-ken from his belt, and Carvin had drawn his sidearm from the underarm holster beneath his gray cloak. They arrived at the nursery to find one of the palace maids screaming in horror at something on the floor. The two men rushed into the room and gasped. Three guards had come in behind them. Their eyes widened in shock. Tenchi fell to his knees. Ayeka's lifeless corpse lay in the middle of the room, the infant still moving around in her arms. On the wall behind her, a word had been scrawled in blood. "TENCHI." Carvin didn't waste time. He turned to the guards. "Seal the palace!" he ordered one. He turned to the other two. "You two with me! Let's go!" They ran down the hall at a quick pace, checking rooms as they went. They came to a four way intersection. Carvin sent each of the guards down a hall and took the last for himself. He ran, his positron pistol up, as he checked each room he came across. Nothing. He gritted his teeth and rested his hand on a stairway banister. It was wet. He blinked and looked at that hand. There was blood on it. He looked up and began running up the stairs two at a time. He reached a roof access and threw the door open. His eyes narrowed as he saw his quarry standing on the edge of the palace roof. The cyan haired woman didn't even turn to him. She was wearing some kind of red and black jumpsuit. He didn't see a weapon. He brought his pistol up and shouted. "ROYAL AGENT! FREEZE!" The woman turned her head and grinned at him. She brought her blood soaked hand up and gave him a friendly wave. Then she stepped off the ledge. "Shit!" Carvin ran to the edge where she had been standing and leaned over the side... Only to be knocked back thirty feet when Ryoko flew back up and punched him. Carvin shook his head and tried to blink the stars out of his eyes. He saw the woman standing ten feet from him, grinning. The TSS agent brought the pistol up as she flew towards him. He fired. The energy beam grazed her right cheek. She didn't even blink. Suddenly, a lightsword was in her hands! She howled and brought the sword down. Carvin rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being scewered. He brought the pistol up again for another shot, but the woman kicked it out of his hand. She followed up with another slash of her sword, but he managed to roll out of the way again, swinging his leg around and striking the back of her knee. The woman stumbled but quickly regained her balance, but it was enough for Carvin to get to his feet. He adopted a Ken-Zi stance, Jurain martial arts, and studied his opponent. The woman saw him do this and laughed. This woman wasn't stable. He could see it in everything she did. The lightsword disappeared. "Okay," she laughed. "The hard way." Carvin struck with three successive punches, all of which she managed to either block or avoid. He lashed out with a fourth punch. She caught it, trapping his arm between her arm and body. She grinned at him for a second then brought her other elbow down on his arm. He cried out as he felt his arm break. She laughed and threw him to the ground. Carvin was fighting for his life and he knew it. He reached around with his left hand and unholstered the tiny laser pistol he kept there. He aimed and fired, but the woman disappeared! He didn't have time to even blink before she appeared next to him and lashed out with her foot, knocking the laser from his hand. She followed up on this with a kick to his midsection. Carvin fell to the ground with a grunt, gasping for air. She didn't give him time to get it. He looked up just in time to see her fist hurtling at his face. The punch connected and he whirled around, landing on his stomach in a prone position. The woman crouched next to him and grabbed a handful of his brown hair. She pulled up, then shoved downward, bashing his head into the plasticrete floor, once, twice, three time, four times.... It was amazing Carvin was still alive, let alone conscious. Blood was pouring from his mouth, his nose was broken along with his arm, and that crunch he was hearing in his mouth could only be the sound of teeth being forcibly separated from his jawbone. The woman lifted his head up and brought her mouth to his ear. "Tell Ayeka Ryoko says 'hi,'" she whispered coarsely. Instead of bashing his head against the floor again, she picked him up and held him over her head. She walked to the edge of the roof and stopped. Carvin was too weak to struggle. A voice from the doorway stopped her. "Ryoko!" The woman, Ryoko, turned to the sound to see Washu standing there. "Don't do it," Washu told her as she shook her head. Ryoko grinned and turned back to her task. She heard Washu cry out from behind her. "He's Sasami's husband!" This made Ryoko pause. Memories of the little, blue haired princess flashed into her mind, her only friend, one of the only *bright* points to her existence. In all the time she had known her, Sasami had never harmed her. Ryoko turned and threw Carvin to the ground. The TSS agent hit the floor, unconscious. Ryoko stared at her mother for a moment. Washu had abandoned her child form years ago, and now appeared as a middle aged woman. She studied her daughter, shocked at how much she had deteriorated. Black circles were under her eyes, eyes that displayed no emotion but abject hatred. Blood marred her face, and her hair was even more scraggly and unkept then when she had lived with the Masaki's. Ryoko nodded to Carvin's unconsious form. "You tell Sasami we're even." With that, she dematerialized. "Ryoko! Wait!" There was no answer. Washu ran to Carvin and checked his injuries. She brought a wrist communicator to her mouth. "I need a trauma team on the roof! Now!" She got an acknowledgement and set about doing what she could for Carvin. Tears welled up in her eyes. By the time the trauma team got to the roof, she was weeping uncontrollably. Carvin opened his eyes and saw the angel that was his wife looking down at him with worried, pink eyes. He had been in enough hospital rooms to realize instantly that he was lying in a bed in one now. "Hey, Sas," he croaked. "How do you feel?" He groaned. "I wish I didn't." He saw the grief-stricken look on her face. "Ayeka?" Sasami blinked away tears and shook her head. He closed his eyes. "Damn." "Carvin, Washu said Ryoko did this to you. Is it true?" He blinked. "*That* was Ryoko?" He had never met Ryoko, so he really didn't know if it was her or not. Sasami bit her lower lip. "No, I guess you wouldn't know." She leaned forward and took his hand. "The doctors have managed to repair most of the damage, but you'll have to spend the next couple of days in bed." He nodded, and wished he hadn't. Pain shot through his entire body. He winced. "What the hell happened?" he asked. Sasami said nothing. "Sas, tell me. What's going on?" "This wasn't the first attempt Ryoko's made on my sister's life." His eyes narrowed. "She's tried twice before. We thought...we thought she had left, but..." She wiped a tear away. "It's ah...difficult to explain..I..I mean..." "It's okay, Sasami, I'm sorry. This isn't the time." "No," she said firmly. "I should've told you about her when you and I..." she broke off. "I should have told you, and I didn't, and you almost got killed tonight because of it." She looked down into his eyes. "Now, I'll tell you everything." "No you won't, Sasami," A voice called out from the door to Carvin's room. Washu stood there. She approached as she continued. "It was my mistake, I'll tell the story." Washu took a seat next to his bed. "How are you feeling?" "Like shit, you?" "Pretty much the same." "Professor, what the hell is going on?" Washu bit her lip in thought, trying to decide how she was going to word her greatest mistake. Finally, she began. "Fifteen years ago, Sasami, Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka, and I all lived at his place on Earth..." "Washu," the child-like scientist said to herself, "You are *such* a genius!" She regarded her new invention with pride. It was a silver helmet equipped with ciruitry modeled after the Penzatan brain. The Penzatans were a telepathic species, one of the only telepathic species in the universe. Their ability to read thoughts had fascinated Washu for three millenia, and she had been trying to replicate it. Now, she had. She had a telepathic connection with Ryoko, but only Ryoko. With this helmet, she'll be able to read the thoughts of others at will. She cackled. It was one of her greatest achievements. However, it wasn't quite ready. She hmm'ed. She'd have to test it, but how? To simply clap the helmet on her head and go at it with no way to monitor her progress would be dangerous. She searched for a way out. Finding none, she cried out in frustration. "Shit!" "Problem Washu?" Washu turned and saw Ryoko standing there. "Hello, Little Ryoko. Your mom's just realizing what a fool she is." "I could've told you that." Washu frowned. "You may not recognize my genius for what it is, but it's there. You have a piece of it too, ya know, if you ever stopped drinking long enough to realize it." Ryoko blinked. "What?" "Sure," Washu said, grinning. "After all, you are my daughter, I used my ova to create you, that means genetics applies. You could be brilliant," she frowned at her daughter again. "If you wanted to be." Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "I'm smart enough to get by." Washu arched an eyebrow. "Really? You weren't smart enough to avoid being sealed up in a cave for seven hundred years." "You weren't smart enough to avoid being sealed in a crystal for *five thousand*!" Ryoko shot back. Washu blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Very good, Ryoko. You see? You *can* be brilliant." Washu regarded the helmet for a second and grinned. "Wanna help me with an experiment? It'll be like a mother-daughter thing." Ryoko grimaced. "No thanks. I don't feel like being a lab rat today." "Come on, Ryoko," Washu begged in a syrupy sweet voice. "I'd get Tenchi to do it, but I can't find him." Ryoko reacted just like she figured she would. "You leave Tenchi alone! He doesn't want to be your guinea pig!" "Well, if my daughter would help out with the family business, he wouldn't have to be." The demon sighed. "Fine, all right. Whatever." She straightened. "What do you want me to do?" she asked, defeated. Washu clamped the helmet onto Ryoko's head. "Just wear this and let me scan you while it works." Ryoko blinked. "Okay, but are you sure it's safe? I don't want you frying my brain!" "I will *not* fry your brain," Washu told her daughter sternly. "Just fricazee it a little." Ryoko growled. "Fine, fine. Just get it over with, will ya." Washu typed a few commands at her holotop. "Um...Washu....what is this helmet supposed to do, anyway?" "It'll let you read minds." Ryoko considered that. "Heh, this is looking up." "Okay, starting now." Ryoko began to see images in her head. She saw through Sasami's eyes as she cooked in the kitchen, her mind intent on her task. She moved on and found Mihoshi, sleeping on the couch. She was dreaming about Tenchi. Ryoko growled. "What do you see, Ryoko?" "Never mind what I see." Washu arched an eyebrow. "Okay, I'm increasing the power." "Fine." Suddenly, Ryoko blinked. Now she was seeing through both Sasami *and* Mihoshi's perspective. "Ryoko?" "It's a little uncomfortable." "It should pass. I'm incresing the power." It was like her eyes were opening wider and wider. She saw images from Tenchi's mind, Ayeka's, Sasami's, Mihoshi's, Nobuyuki's... "Washu..." "Don't worry, it'll pass." She began to shake. Her perspective widened again. Now she was getting images from farther away. Her perspective changed again, encompassing first the city, then Japan. The memories and thoughts of everyone there flooded into her mind. Ryoko tried to hold the flood back, tried to sift through it, to filter it, but found the tide of memories crashing against the walls of her mind. "Washu! Get this thing off me!" "Relax, Ryoko. It's okay." "It's not okay! Get it off!" "Ryoko," "GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF!!" Washu typed a few commands into her computer. Nothing happened. Washu's eyes went wide. She repeated the command sequence. Still nothing. "Damn!" She jumped off her chair and touched the helmet, intent on pulling it off her daughter's head. She jerked her hand back as a powerful electrical shock coursed through her dimunitive frame. Ryoko's hands went to her head, clawing at the helmet. "WASHU! WASHU! GET IT OFF! PLEASE! GET IT OFF!" "*MOM*! GET IT OFF ME, *PLEASE*!!!" Washu tried the command sequence again. Ryoko's last, flimsy, mental wall collapsed. She was flooded with ideas, memories, experiences, emotions... The emotions. They railed at her mind, but not the positive emotions. Her past experiences left her much more susceptible to the negative. She felt the anger, the sorrow, the hate, the purest most unadulterated hate she had ever felt in her life. She tried to block it out, to stop it the tide, but it was like trying to stop an ocean wave with a teaspoon. She couldn't stop it, couldn't slow it down. Couldn't stop it. She screamed. Washu grabbed hold of the helmet, enduring the electical shocks racking her body. Then, Ryoko's mind shattered. As quickly as it began, it stopped. Washu fell back, exhausted. Her hands were burned. She looked up at her daughter. "Ryoko, are you okay?" Ryoko slowly pulled the helmet off her head. She turned to Washu and grinned. Washu's stomach rose up into her throat. "Ryoko?" Ryoko leveled her hand at Washu. The scientist's eyes went wide. She dove out of the way as a power blast left Ryoko's hand. She dived behind one of her lab tables and gave the command to dim the lights. "Here Washu, Washu, Washu..." Ryoko sang. "Come out, come out, where ever you are..." Washu tried to access Ryoko's mind, but found it closed to her. All she could sense were tendrils of hate that seemed to flow from her. It frightened her more than anything had ever frightened her before. She heard a knock at her door and the sound of the crab bell clonking, signalling that it was open. "Ms. Washu?" Washu tensed as she heard Sasami's voice. "Hello, Sasami," Ryoko said, her voice was...cold, but friendly. "Hi, Ryoko," Sasami said. Washu could practically see the little girl's smile in her mind. "Do you know where Washu is? Dinner is ready." "Oh, I'm sure she's around here, somewhere. Sasami, where's your sister?" Washu got up from behind the table. "Sasami! Get out of here! Run! Tell Ayeka to get out of the house!" She ducked as energy beams began to rake the inside of the lab. She began searching for a way to incapacitate her daughter. Her holotop. It was on the other side of the room, and as long as it was open, she couldn't call it to her. She heard the door close, and footsteps near her. "Nosy little bitch," Ryoko commented. "You just don't know when to quit." She heard the door open again. "Ryoko! Washu!" *Tenchi!* She heard Ryoko's voice. "Hi, Tenchi!" "Ryoko?" "Goodbye, Tenchi!" There was the sound of more explosions. Washu ran to her holotop and hit a few keys. She heard Ryoko cry out in pain behind her. She turned and saw Ryoko encased in a forcefield. Tenchi was unconscious nearby. Ryoko screamed and struggled as the shaft of yellow light fought to contain her. With a final scream of rage, the shaft of light exploded outward, blinding Washu. When she opened her eyes again, Ryoko was gone. Washu wiped a tear from her eye. "We thought she had died, had been phased out of our universe. Then she showed up a year later. She kidnapped Ryo-Ohki and came this close to killing Ayeka." "Why Ayeka?" Carvin asked. Washu sighed. "I think the overload of the helmet destroyed her emotional center. Other emotions, love, happiness, compassion, all ceased to exist for her. As her chief rival, Ayeka became the focus of her hate." "What happened to her?" Carvin asked. "She disappeared," Sasami told him. "Then she showed up again just after Tenchi and Ayeka got married." "We came closer to capturing her, but she managed to get away." Carvin was about to ask another question, but it came out as a low moan as pain ran up and down his body. "Okay, that's enough for now," Sasami said. Washu nodded in agreement. Carvin rested his head against the pillow. The world began to get fuzzy. The last thing he saw was Sasami's face as she gently told him to sleep. It took three days and three dips in a tissue regeneration tank before the doctors told Carvin he could soon be released. Sasami stayed by his side the entire time. He was only two days away from being released when his executive officer, Commander Nandari and another man came to pay him a visit. "Hello, Jez," Carvin told him, sitting up in bed. Nandari gave him a curt nod. "How're you feeling, Carvin?" Carvin smiled slightly. "Almost Belegese." Nandari smiled. "Good." "I'll be back in the office in a couple of days." "That's good to hear, sir," the other man commented. "The Ryo-Ohki was spotted in the Orsini system." Carvin turned to Nandari. "Why in the name of Tokimi's hell wasn't I told?!" He struggled to get out of bed. Sasami's eyes went wide as he stood up, leaning against the bed while he gathered his strength. "We have to move quickly, Jez. As my executive officer, I want you to act as my go-between with the Secret Intelligence Service, coordinate with your opposite number in the SIS." "That's me, Sir," the strange man told him. Sasami stood in front of him. "You're not going anywhere." "Sas, I don't have time for the hospital. Now...where are my clothes?" He was still in the hospital gown the doctors had given him. Sasami arched an eyebrow, her arms folded over her chest. "Sas," Sasami didn't move. "Sas, where are my clothes?" She said nothing. Nandari and the SIS agent looked uncomfortable. Carvin nodded. "Fine, I'll go in this." "*Carvin!*" Sasami took his hand. "Please, the doctors say you still need a couple of days!" "Horsesh.." he broke off. He didn't like to swear in front of his wife. "Nonsense," he began again. "Doctors tend to exaggerate when it comes to things like this." "Carvin...please. This isn't a matter for the TSS. Please." Carvin bit his lip, but nodded. His wife was his only weak point, the only person who could ever convince him to do anything different once he set his mind to something. "One more day." Sasami breathed a sigh of relief. "Jez, watch the store while I'm gone." "No problem." "But this *is* a job for the TSS." Nandari's eyes went wide. "I'm authorizing a mission to prevent this...disgrace...from ever happening. Nandari, get our researchers working on it. Tell them to talk to Professor Washu, then..." "Carvin," Nandari interrupted. "We've already inquired about it. His Majesty has ordered that no effort be made to alter the timeline." "What?!" "Carvin, try to understand. The TSS is supposed to *prevent* changes to the timeline, not create them. The Great Council has made the order, His Majesty has signed off on it." "They're gonna let this go," Carvin concluded in blatant disbelief, shaking his head. "Damn." "Damn." Sasami quietly snuck into the palace labs, being careful not to make any noise that would trigger the acoustic detection system. She got to the door that led to the next set of labs, the ones that held the TSS's Transdim Temporal Accelerator. She studied the code lock and licked her lips. There were nine buttons on the keypad, and the code consisted of of six numbers. She had three chances to input the correct code before the alarms went off. She gasped as the lights came on. She turned, racking her brain for an excuse. Carvin was staring back at her from the doorway. "Did you really thing it would be that easy?" he asked her, shaking his head. "Press a few buttons and travel through time?" "I have to do something," she told him. "Two of the people I care for most in the world, one of them's alive, and the other is dead, but both of them are in pain. I have to do this. Please don't try to stop me." He shook his head. "Go home, Sas." He started toward the door she had been trying to open. She blinked and noticed how he was dressed for the first time. He was wearing blue jeans and a grey shirt. A dirty leather jacket covered his muscular frame. He was dressed in an old Earth style just as she was. Her eyes went wide. "*You're* going!" she concluded. He nodded. "It's been two weeks and the entire kingdom is going down the tubes. It turns out your sister was the legitmizing force to Tenchi's rule. Now that she's gone, Seiryo and some of the other hardliners are talking about assuming power. 'Jurai for the Jurains,' they're calling it." He entered a six digit code into the key pad. "I've had two defense ministers come to me, trying to figure out where I stand. But it gets worse." Sasami looked at him questioningly. "The Ninth Fleet, the ships we sent after Ryoko, they're not answering the King's hails. They're there, they're just not talking to us. I think Seiryo got to them. Riots are already breaking out on Carissia and Orsini, and the way they were formed practically reeks of the Internal Security Service and their 'Hostile Regime Destabilization Techniques.'" He laughed at the irony of the lawful Jurain government coming under attack by the very people most entrusted with its protection. "And you think this is all because of Ayeka's death?" He nodded and opened the door. "The Kingdom's falling apart. In three days we'll be in the middle of a civil war. *Unless* I stop this before it starts. We're talking billions of people, Sas. *Billions.* This can't continue, no matter what the price, this can't be allowed to go on." She followed him into the lab. He hit the light switches. The lab was bathed in sterile, white light, revealing various computer terminals. "So you're going back two weeks to stop Ryoko," she concluded. He shook his head as he opened a steel saftey locker. "No, time travel is a pretty shaky thing. I have to be careful of the temporal wake." He saw her questioning glance. "It's like being on an ocean going vessel. Behind the ship is a wake. The farther back from the ship, the less the disturbance. It's the same with time, the closer to the present you jump, the more interference." He removed an advanced plasma carbine from the locker and checked the action. "If I try jumping any less than ten years, I'm a dead man." "So what are we gonna do?" "We?" he asked, working the action on the rifle. "You're staying here. You're in no condition for this." "Carvin!" "I mean it, Sas. You're going to visit your mother on Carissia and lay low until this is over." He rolled up his jacket sleeve. "I left you a note at the house as well as a list of numbers of people in the TSS you can trust. If you get into trouble you can call them." "And what are you going to do?" "Remember what Washu said about that helmet? I ran it through the computers and talked to Washu. They're both in agreement. If that particular event hadn't occurred, they believe that Tenchi would've married *both* women. I can stop this war before it even starts." Sasami looked down at his bare arm. There was a metal bracelet running along his forearm. LED displays and holographic projectors ran along its length. "Kaeya," A three inch hologram of a young, teenage girl appeared, standing on the bracelet. "Yes, Sir?" it asked in a harmonious, contralto. "Diagnostic," he ordered. "Yes, Sir." there was a slight buzz as the tiny computer ran a diagnostic. The girl in the hologram looked pensive. "It appears, Sir, that you've been in a fist fight recently." "Yeah, ignore that." "All systems check out, I'm linking with the rifle." There was a soft click as the computer established a link with Carvin's rifle. "Rifle checks out. Ninety five rounds remaining, two zip missiles." "Good, stand-by for gate travel." "Yes, Sir." Carvin turned his attention back to his wife. "I'll do what I can to prevent this. Either I'll destroy the helmet or, if worse comes to worse..." He trailed off. Sasami took a breath and nodded. "I'm still coming with you." "Like hell you are," he said. "Carvin. You need me. You've never been to Earth, you'll need a guide." "No," Washu's voice called out from behind them. "Yes, Carvin." They turned to her. "It's not safe for her," Carvin pointed out. "It's no safer here," Washu said sadly. "Seiryo's forces just overran the palace. Tenchi's dead." Sasami gasped, her hand going to her mouth. "Carvin, they're looking for you and Sasami. They know that the TSS is the only thing that can stop them, and they know you're loyal to Tenchi. They're on the way here to take the lab." Carvin said nothing. Washu shook her head. "This is it, Carvin. Either you succeed or fail, but if you leave Sasami here and you *can't* save Ryoko..." she left the statement hanging, an unvoiced threat. He took a breath and nodded. "All right, Washu, but I want you to run the equipment. I trust you more than I do the automated systems." She nodded. Carvin turned to Sasami. "All right, Sas, let's go." Washu went through one door while Carvin led Sasami through another. She looked up and saw a massive chamber. The walls were white, and in the center of the room was a large, circular pool of water. A metal rail ran the length of the circumference of the pool. Five laser emitters sat on the rail. A staircase led to a metal platform that ended ten feet above the center of the pool. Carvin started to climb the stairs. Sasami heard the doorway click shut behind them. She took a quick look around and followed him. "What is this place?" she asked. "It's the Null T room. When the portal opens, time will temporarily stop everwhere in the universe but here. That's when we jump." She looked down at the water below. "I thought..um..'jump,' was a figurative term." Carvin threw her a smile and shook his head. "You two ready?" Washu asked over the intercom. "Affirmative. Standing by." "All right, beginning activation. Laser one is on." Sasami looked down and saw the lasers begin to move around the rail. One of the lasers, a red one, lanced out, ending at a receiver on the other side. "Laser two is activated, event horizon is at forty percent. Rail velocity increasing." A green laser lashed out, criss-crossing with the red. The lasers started spinning faster and faster around the rail. There was a rumble from above them, upstairs. Explosives. Sasami looked up in fear. "Seiryo," Carvin breathed. Washu wasn't rattled. "Laser three is activated. Event horizon at fifty-six percent." Sasami saw a blue laser criss-cross with the green and red. A ball of energy began to build up at the center. "Washu," Carvin called. "Once we go through, get out of here. Take the escape pod and go." "Save them, Carvin," she told him, begged him, over the intercom, "Save them both." He nodded. "Laser four is activated." The emitters were spinning faster now, only a blur. "Laser five is activated. Gate sequence activ.." There was a flash. Sasami looked around, but couldn't see a change, even though she knew that time everywhere in the universe had stopped. Looking down, she saw the vortex, a mix of blues, reds, greens, yellows, and purples lashing against one another in a maelstrom of photonic light. "Carvin," she whisperd. "It's beautiful." She felt Carvin grab her arm. Suddenly, she was falling towards it. She cried out as she hit the event horizon, the barrier between her time and another. Looking back on it, Sasami would call it one of the most horribly frightening and painful experiences of her life. It was if her soul were being torn into small pieces and spread throughout the universe. Her mind began to fold in upon itself. She began to relive memories, things she had thought she had forgotten, not only of her life, but of Tsunami's, and even some of Carvin's as well. For the most part, these memories were happy ones. She relived the day she met Tenchi, the day she died on Jurai, the day Kagato attacked, her sister's wedding to Tenchi, the day she met Carvin, her wedding day, the day she found out she was pregnant... Then she relived the day a man in a Royal Guardsman's uniform told her her sister was dead. Carvin, she knew, must be experiencing the same mental rollercoaster, only she knew that the majority of his trip down memory lane would be a painful one. In the vortex of time, their minds just on the edge of overlapping, she could just make them out. He was reliving his childhood as a small time thief and pick-pocket on the streets of Bel, the capital of Belegast. She saw his entrance into the Jurain Navy, the day he met her, the war against the Danitans, his time in one of their prison camps, the torture that followed, his wedding, another bright spot. She saw his entry into the SIS and later, the day he was chosen as Director of the TSS. Just when she thought she couldn't bear any more, it stopped. She felt her body hit water. Tsunami in heaven, she was freezing! She couldn't breathe! She felt strong hands pull her out of the water. She began to cough. Through the biting cold, over the hacking coughs, she heard him. "Sas! Sas! Breathe! It's okay! It's *okay*! It'll pass! It'll pass!" She continued to cough. When that finally stopped, she gulped air, desperate for breath. She opened her eyes and found him staring down at her with concerned eyes. She took a quick look around. She was lying under a tree on the shore of a lake, soaking wet. Wait, not just any lake, *the* lake! She looked up across the water and saw the Masaki home, just like she remembered it. She tried to move, but was too weak. "Just lie back, Sas. Give it a few minutes." She nodded and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Is it like that every time?" she whispered. He bit his lip and nodded. "Yeah." "Why do you do it?" He smiled. "It's part of the service." He mentally shoved the question aside. It wasn't the time. "How do you feel?" She nodded. "Better." "Good." He stood up and lifted his arm. "Kaeya," The holographic assistant appeared, her arms behind her back. "Yes, Sir," "Scan the sky and get a star chart. I need an exact date and time." "Yes, Sir." Once again, Kaeya's expression was pensive, as if she were concentrating on a great mental task. She nodded to something out of sight. A date and time appeared on the display. He nodded. "Seven days," he muttered. "We've got seven days before Ryoko loses it." "Will that be enough?" Sasami asked. He thought for a moment. "With the proper plan, yes. I just hope Washu had enough sense to trash the lab before she left. This whole trip will be for nothing if Seiryo sends some of his Internal Security boys after us." "Wouldn't time have been altered the second we left?" She didn't know much about time travel, only bits and pieces Carvin had told her or what she heard in holovids. He shook his head. "No, it's like ripples in the water. We're a stone dropped into the puddle of time, the ripples are the effects of our being here. It'll take time for those ripples to reach the shore, our time. At fifteen years that's about.." He did the math in his head. "Nine days." "So what you're saying is that Seiryo can still stop us?" He nodded. "Not only Seiryo, but you can bet the GP's Temporal Investigations Division won't take kindly to us being here, either. I hope Washu trashed the lab. Better to be stranded here with no way home than to have to deal with the ISS." He looked down at his wife and offerred his hand. "Can you walk? We've got a lot to do." She nodded and let him help her up. Lying on their stomachs on top of a nearby hill, they observed the Masaki household through binoculars. "Tsunami," Sasami whispered in awe. "It's me." Carvin saw a little, blue-haired, girl playing in the front yard with two guardians. "Awww," he commented. "You're so cute," She slapped his arm. "None of that." He grinned under the binoculars. Suddenly, his smile disappeared. A cyan-haired woman just appeared outside the house and was talking with the young Sasami. He gritted his teeth as he remembered the savage beating he had received from the disturbed demon. He remembered Ayeka's blood-soaked body lying on the floor of the nursery. He raised the rifle. "Kaeya, long scope." "Yes, Sir." A compartment on top of the rifle opened up, and a sniper's scope rose from the hidden recess, locking in place with a click. "Set for high velocity," he ordered, raising the weapon to his eye. Sasami's eyes widened. "Yes, Sir." "Carvin?" He looked through the scope and centered the crosshairs on Ryoko's head, aiming for the temple. He took a deep breath and moved the safety switch to the "FIRE," position. "Carvin?!" he told himself. His fingered rested on the trigger. "CARVIN!?" He started to gently squeeze the trigger. Suddenly, Sasami's hand was on the rifle. Ryoko's head disappeared from the sights. Carvin looked up at her and frowned. "Sas..." "No," she said simply. "It's the safest way." "NO!" He flinched. He had never heard his wife speak with such anger. "We'll find another way." He shook his head. "Sas, I know it sucks, but we have to be careful about altering the timeline." "Isn't that why we're here?!" "There's altering and there's destroying. That's the line we're walking now." "We'll find another way," she bit out. He saw the intensity in her gaze. He knew she wouldn't take no for an answer, and if he tried to kill Ryoko anyway... He didn't want to think about it. He nodded. "All right, we'll *try* the soft touch and see where it gets us." Sasami sighed in relief. "Why don't we just warn them?" she asked. Carvin shook his head. "They'd want to know where the information comes from. We won't be able to tell them, and knowing Washu, she'll disregard it." "Why can't we tell them, Carvin? They'll believe me! I'm sure of it!" He licked his lips. "It's more complicated than that, Sas," he took a breath and tried to explain. "We have to be careful of subtle influences." He saw her blank look and continued. "Okay, we know that Tenchi and Ayeka will live on to become rulers of Jurai, right?" She nodded. "Okay, but *they* don't know. If they knew, it would affect their behavior and through that, their actions. Like when those Ruganni pirates come and kidnap you and your sister six months from now. If Tenchi knew he would live to be King, he might be overconfident and make a mistake he might not have when he originally rescued you." Sasami took a breath and nodded when she realized Carvin had a point. "Okay, then we need something else. Anonymous call?" He smiled. "Have you ever known Washu to give up on a great experiment because some wacko calls her and tells her to stop?" Sasami had to shake her head. Carvin thought for a moment. "They need a warning from someone they'll believe and trust implicitly without them having to know who or *when* the information came from." He took a long look at his wife. He blinked and grinned as a plan formed. She saw him studying her and looked back at him quizzically. "What?" "I have a plan. But you're gonna need a new wardrobe." "What?!" "Come on," he helped her up and they started walking down the road. Carvin began to pat his jacket pockets. He found the object of his search and pulled out a large wad of folded bills. "This'll be enough for a week, right?" Her eyes went wide. There had to be several thousand yen in his hands. She nodded. "Yeah, more than enough." "Kaeya, stealth," Carvin ordered as he propped the rifle next to a tree. The rifle seemed to flicker, then disappear. He turned, and the two of them began walking down the road into town. "So this is what it's like to be in the TSS," Sasami commented. Carvin nodded. "It's not always like this, but there are a few instances when you get to walk down a road on a nice day with a pretty girl." She threw him a look. "How many pretty girls?" she asked. He grinned. "That's classified," he joked. She laughed. She knew it was just talk, banter. She trusted Carvin implicitly. "How often have you done this?" "You mean jump?" She nodded. He blew some air between his lips and counted the times in his head. Before the TSS, it was the SIS, the Secret Intelligence Service, that handled temporal investigations, so he had done this before. "Fifteen, maybe sixteen times. Three since we've been married." "Has the timeline ever been changed?" He shook his head. "Not to my knowledge. That's what's so scary about this. If we succeed, almost anything can happen." "What do you mean?" "According to Washu's theories, travelers such as ourselves exist outside of time until the effects of our being here reach the present. If the timeline is unchanged, nothing happens and the jumper comes home via the accelerator. If the timeline *is* changed...well...we don't really know." "But there are theories." "Yeah," he said with a touch of worry, "There are theories." Her hand traveled unbidden to her stomach. "Are there any side effects?" she asked, her voice a haunted whisper. "The baby's fine, Sas. Our experiments with this kind of technology were very thorough." He hoped so anyway. Tsunami in heaven, he hoped so. "But there *are* side effects," he pointed out. She looked up at him. "Like what?" He stopped and turned to her. "Form a forcefield," he told her. Sasami blinked and concentrated on forming a Jurai power forcefield. She blinked in shock when it didn't snap into place. Carvin grinned. "That's why a commoner can be director of the TSS," he said. "It's the only place where noble and common Jurains can compete on equal footing. For some reason even Washu can't explain, gate travel saps Jurai power. You won't be able to use your powers for at least a week." Sasami gaped as he continued. "And I wouldn't try linking with the Tsunami in this time, either. We have no idea what your..I mean, her reaction would be." Sasami nodded. In this time, Tsunami was still a separate entity. Not that being assimilated with her now really helped her. Tsunami's memories and experiences were there, but closed to her, and she really didn't understand why. Tsunami had told her that all would be revealed in time. Fat lot of good it did her now. "Okay, so what's the plan?" He grinned. "It's a surprise." Sasami had no idea what Carvin's plan entailed, but began to get a clue when he found the most luxurious tailor in the town near the Masaki Shrine. "No, no, no," Carvin was telling the sales lady. "Blue." He held up one of Sasami's tresses. "Like this. As a matter of fact, just like this." An hour later, after trying on ten different articles, Sasami stood before Carvin and turned three hundred and sixty degrees. "Well?" she asked with a grin. He smiled. "Absolutely beautiful. It's perfect." Standing in the ornate, blue kimono, Sasami smiled. "You make a perfect Tsunami." "You're sure he takes a walk every night?" Carvin asked for the tenth time. Sasami took an exasperated breath as she struggled to unsnag her kimono from a tree branch. "Yes, Carvin, I've only lived here for five years, I think I'd know." "Sorry," he said. She sighed. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that. It's just that there's a lot riding on this." "Yeah. Don't worry," he was adjusting blue spotlight up in another tree. "Just remember your lines and you'll be fine." She nodded. He climbed down from the tree. "Okay," he said. He gave his wife a concerned look. "I'll be fine," she told him. To back up this statement, she leaned forward and kissed him. "Be careful." She smiled. "What do I have to be worried about, Carvin? Even if something went wrong, it's not as if they would hurt me. We'll just have to think of something else. That's all." He nodded. "Never the less, I'll be right over there." He nodded at a cluster of nearby trees. She nodded. Carvin went to his hiding place, and the two waited for Tenchi to show up. An hour passed. Then, another. Just when they were about to give up for the night, the sound of two sets of footsteps were heard. Sasami tensed and quickly composed herself. She tried to suppress the butterflies in her stomach. Her hand trailed there momentarily, and a smile appeared on her lips as she thought of the baby. Then, it was back to the mission. She adopted a Tsunami-like pose, calm, comfortable, at peace with all existence and waited. Just as Tenchi and Ayeka came up the path within sight of her, Carvin activated the spotlight. Sasami was gently bathed in a column of soft, blue light. Tenchi's eyes went wide. Ayeka gasped. Sasami smiled. "I am Tsunami, the ship of Jurai," "Ms. Tsunami," Tenchi began. "Is everything okay? We haven't seen you in almost a year." Sasami took a deep breath before continuing. "I have something to tell you, Tenchi, a warni..." Suddenly there was loud roar from overhead. Sasami, Tenchi, and Ayeka looked up at the night sky and saw a spotlight hovering overhead. Carvin saw it and recognized it immediately. "SHIT!" He raised the rifle. Suddenly, whatever was creating the light opened fire, raking the ground with energy blasts. Sasami screamed as the ground around her began to explode from energy impacts. The tree she was standing next to collapsed almost on top of her. She fell to the ground, unconscious or dead. "SASAMI!!" Carvin raised the rifle just as the spotlight stopped over him. He grunted and rolled out of the way. Energy blasts struck the area where he had been. He brought the rifle up and opened fire. Plasma rounds tore into the attacking Galaxy Police hardsuit. The suit wavered, then a piece of its arm exploded. The hardsuit crashed to the ground. Kaeya appeared in front of him, standing on one of the holopads installed on top of the rifle. "Commander, there are three more targets approaching from the north east." "Kaeya! What are Sasami's vitals?!" "She is stable, but unconscious. Commander, we must withdraw." "Not without her!" "Sir, those hardsuits will be here in seven seconds." He looked over and saw Tenchi and Ayeka kneeling next to Sasami. He heard the sound of hardsuits approaching. He had to draw them away. Sasami would be safe with them *if* he could draw the GP away! He turned to the sound of the hardsuits. "Kaeya, Zip." "Loaded." He raised the rifle to his shoulders and waited for the steady beep that signified a lock on. A GP hardsuit cleared the tree line. He heard the beep. The tiny, four inch zip missile streaked from the rifle and right into the hardsuit, exploding on impact. The burning wreckage fell from the sky, spinning out of control as it landed in the trees. The sound of blaster fire from the sky gave him no time to celebrate his victory. He turned and opened fire on the second hardsuit. The plasma rounds tore into it, smoke began to billow out the back. He had to draw them away. He started running further into the forest, turning and firing back at them at steady intervals so that they knew where to follow him. One of them, the damaged one, seemed all too eager to hunt the TSS agent down. He couldn't see the other one. The hardsuit fired on him. The ground exploded around Carvin as he ran. He tripped on an exposed root and fell. He twisted and fired at the GP which ducked and weaved to avoid the plasma blasts. He could hear Kaeya's contralto over the weapon's report. "Twenty rounds.....fifteen....ten.....five...." He heard the electronic click that told him the weapon was dry just as Kaeya was notifying him. "Ammunition depleted." "ZIP!" he shouted. "Loaded." He heard the tone and fired. The missile hit the armor suit dead on, exploding against the armor, but it was enough. The hard suit began to fall to the ground. Carvin's eyes went wide as he realized it was falling directly at *him*! He scrambled to get out of the way. The hardsuit crashed directly in front of him, bits of rock, metal, and debris tore into his flesh, hurled at him by the force of the impact. The ground beneath his feet fell out from under him as the floor opened up. Carvin and the hardsuit fell through the hole, landing hard on the cold, stone floor below. Carvin heard a sickening crunch and felt a brief flash of pain before his leg began to grow numb. He lay there for a moment, his breath came in painful, labored gasps. He rolled over onto his back and studied his surroundings. He was in a cave of some kind. There was a pond, or lake nearby. He looked up and saw the starry sky stare back at him through the hole in the roof. Then he looked over to his left and saw the hardsuit, still mostly intact. He grimaced and started crawling toward it. The rifle was gone, but it didn't matter. With the last Zip missile gone, it was dead weight. He reached down and pulled the serrated combat knife from it's sheath on his boot. He crawled on. He was just coming to the hardsuit when the chest plate opened up, revealing a dazed GP officer in a flightsuit trying to blink the shock out of his eyes. He noticed Carvin and reached for his sidearm, but Carvin was too quick. He lunged forward with his good leg, landing on top of the man. Pinning the man's gunhand away from him with one hand, he jabbed the knife into the GP's throat with the other. The man struggled, making wet, gurgling sounds as the blood flowed freely from his neck, soaking Carvin's hand and shirt-sleeve. Carvin held the knife there as the man struggled. The pilot brought his other hand up, grasping Carvin by the throat in a last ditch effort to fight back, but it was too late, and he was too weak for it to make any difference. His hand fell from Carvin's throat. The TSS agent let the knife go and rolled over on his back, breathing harder than he honestly should. "Kaeya," he gasped. Kaeya obediently appeared on his arm. "Sir?" "Med scan." He waited as Kaeya compiled the data. "Your left leg is broken in two places. You have a punctured lung..." Well that explained that. "And you are bleeding internally." That was bad. "Oh," he said groggily. "Is that...is that why I feel so weak..." His eyes began to shut of their own accord. Finally, he couldn't keep them open a second longer. His eyes closed. "Commander Kenzaki?" Kaeya's worried voice asked. "Commander Kenzaki?" "Commander Kenzaki, please respond!" "Commander Kenzaki!?" "Carvin! Please! Wake up!" "Commander Kenzaki!" "COMMANDER KENZAKI!" Tenchi touched Tsunami's neck and found a steady pulse. She was just unconscious then. He looked up as the roar returned. He could just make out the sillouhette of a Galaxy Police hardsuit in the night sky. He pulled the Tenchi-ken and ignited it as the hardsuit landed in front of him. The GP raised it's weapons arm. Tenchi lashed out, slicing the arm off at the elbow. The hardsuit took a step back to regroup. Suddenly, power logs appeared on either side of it. The head on the hardsuit looked from side to side just before a current of electricity coursed between the logs and through the suit. The suit exploded, showering them with burning debris. Tenchi hit the ground, covering Tsunami's body with his own. He got up and found Ayeka getting to her feet beside him. "Thanks," he said. She smiled. "You're very welcome, Lord Tenchi." He knelt next to Tsunami and checked her for injuries. He paused as he realized how stupid that was. Tsunami? The great ship of Jurai? Injured? How can such a thing be? Yet there she was, unconscious. "Ayeka, help me get Ms. Tsunami into the house." An hour later, Washu had Tsunami lying on one the stasis beds in her lab. Tenchi, Ayeka, and Sasami were there, listening as Washu told them what she had found out. Ryoko had gone out searching for more hardsuits, while Mihoshi and Kiyone were investigating the one Tenchi and Ayeka had destroyed. "Well, Tenchi, you've got a whopper here, let me tell ya." "What is it, Little Washu?" Tenchi asked. "Will Ms. Tsunami be okay?" Washu nodded. "Mmm hmm. But strictly speaking, this isn't Tsunami." They all blinked. "What?" Washu nodded and looked down at Sasami. "It's Sasami." Tenchi and Ayeka looked at the little girl in shock. "But, Ms. Washu, how can that be?" "I ran a few tests and came up with a psycho-wave patter that matches, for the most part, with Sasami's. There's some other odd patterns in there as well. I think *that's* Tsunami's influence, but physically and mentally she's Sasami." Tenchi's eyes went wide as the obvious answer occurred to him. "Sasami...from the future?" "It's the only thing that makes sense," Washu told him. "She *might* be a clone, but I seriously doubt that." "Why?" Ayeka asked. "Because," Washu said with a grin. "She's pregnant." "WHAT!?" "Yup." Ayeka blinked, then her eyes went wide as a rather disturbing thought occurred to her. She threw a look at Tenchi. "Ms. Washu, who's the father?" Tenchi gulped as the implication of her question sunk in. Washu grinned. "Now, now, Princess, don't you know it's ethically wrong for a doctor release that kind of information without the patient's consent?" Ayeka grabbed her by the front of her Science Academy uniform and lifted her three feet into the air. "WHO IS THE FATHER?!" Washu gulped. "It's not Tenchi." "You're sure?" "Positive, I did a genetic scan. I don't have a name, but I know for a fact that the father is Belegese." Ayeka put Washu down. Tenchi sighed. Sasami was staring at her future self oddly. "Okay," Tenchi asked, "So why is she here?" "That's an excellent question." "So how do we find an answer?" Ayeka asked. "Wait until she wakes up?" "That might take time, she took a very severe blow. She could be out for days." "She said something about a warning, I think," Tenchi remarked. "We may not have days. Washu, is there anything you can do now?" Washu hmmm'd in thought. "I can extract her memory engrams. It's like a list of her memories. I have the equipment necessary and already set up for another experiment I'm working on so it should be a snap." Tenchi nodded. "Okay. Find out what's happening." "Mihoshi, over here." Mihoshi picked up the severed weapons arm of the downed hardsuit and trotted over to where Kiyone was examining the suit itself. Pointing her flashlight downward, Mihoshi saw that Kiyone had mangaged to get the chest plate off, exposing the pilot's body. She was an older woman, about thirty or so, with Lieutenant-Commander's insignia. There was no name tag, only an odd patch on her flightsuit in the shape of an infinite symbol. Mihoshi hmm'd in thought. "No name tag, but that's definitely a Galaxy Police flightsuit." Kiyone nodded. "She's GP all right," she agreed. "I know this woman." Mihoshi blinked. "You do?" Kiyone took a breath and nodded again. "I was her sponsor at the Galaxy Police Academy." The blonde GP looked down at the woman in shock. "Wow! And she's already a Lieutenant-Commander! That's pretty good!" Kiyone bit back a growl. "That *would* be impressive except for the fact that I got a letter from her the other day telling me how excited she is to be entering her Sophomore year." Mihoshi blinked in confusion. "But...but...that would mean...That would mean that...." The teal-haired detective nodded. "That would mean....." Mihoshi brightened. "That would mean she was skipped three grades! That *is* impressive." Kiyone facefaulted and grabbed her partner by the front of her shirt. "No, you idiot! It means that she's not supposed to be here! As a matter of fact," she said seriously, looking down at the GP's body, "I don't think she's supposed to be here for another twenty years." Ryoko flew above the treetops, searching for the other hardsuits that attacked Tenchi. She had no idea why Galaxy Police would be attacking the Masaki's, but you can bet that when she caught up with them, she wasn't going to waste time asking. She saw something just off to the side of where Tenchi and Ayeka were attacked. It was difficult to make out, but it was near her cave. And she knew that place well enough to know when something was different. She started down and found a very large hole in the ground. She flew into it and ignited her lightsword, using it as a lamp. She knew this place. It was a cavern that connected to her cave, where she had hibernated for seven hundred years. She heard something to her right, something she couldn't identify. She moved toward it. A man was lying there, unconscious or dead. Next to him was a GP hardsuit, a knife jutting out of the pilot's throat. There was nothing she could do for him. She moved to the other man and knelt down next to him. His breathing was slow and labored. Suddenly, a light appeared on his arm. She flinched and looked at it. A tiny hologram of a girl appeared. "Oh, thank Tsunami!" the girl said. "Are you by any chance a doctor or a paramedic?" Ryoko, confused by the events that had just occurred, shook her head. "Well, then let's go! Commander Kenzaki is need of medical attention!" Ryoko finally blinked the confusion out of her eyes. "Just who the hell are you, anyway?!" Kaeya sighed in resignation. "I am Kaeya, Commander Kenzaki's personal data assistant, and if you don't get off your lazy ass and get him to a doctor, I'm gonna be out of a job!" Ryoko growled. "Now you listen to me... "Quickly, please! We don't have much time!" The demon looked down at the handsome face of Commander Kenzaki and sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay. Jeez. I'm going, I'm going." She picked up Kenzaki as gently as possible. She knew you weren't supposed to move injured people, but if Kaeya was right, then they didn't have time to wait for someone to bring a doctor down here. She'd just have to be careful. Once she had a firm hold on him, she dematerialized. Ayeka entered the lab and saw Washu sitting in front of a big-screen TV as seemingly random images flashed on the screen. "Ms. Washu?" "Hey, Ayeka." "Any luck?" Washu nodded and gestured to Sasami's future self, lying on a stasis bed nearby. "She's definitely Sasami," she said. "The memory engrams are coming out jumbled and in random patterns, but I found out enough to know that she's your sister." Ayeka took a breath. A future Sasami. It was hard to believe. "I also found out the name of the father," Washu said wickedly. She tapped a few buttons on her holotop. Ayeka turned a deep crimson at the images that appeared on the screen. She heard Sasami's voice and turned an even deeper shade of red. An older Sasami on the screen giggled. Then, "Carvin..." followed by a short gasp and a moan. Washu nodded appreciatively. "It's good to know she'll have a healthy love life." "That's quite enough, Ms. Washu," Ayeka growled. Washu pretended not to hear her. "'Carvin,' is a Belegese given name. It means, 'broken sword.'" She put her finger to her lips in thought and looked at the screen. "Funny, his sword doesn't *look* broken..." Suddenly, Ayeka was holding her by the front of her uniform again. "I said that was enough, Ms. Washu! I don't think we should be digging around in my sister's private affairs!" Washu grinned. "Jealous?" Ayeka growled. "Look, this is what you *asked* me to do, remember? Retrieving memory engrams is tedious work, and I'm not about to overlook a potential source of data just because it offends your delicate, Jurain sensibilities." Ayeka began to calm down as these words set in. "Could you at least turn it off, please?" Washu nodded. "Okay, then." Ayeka let her down, and she typed on her holotop. The screen went dark. "Do you have any idea what she was trying to warn us about?" Washu turned serious. "This is what I know. Whatever it was that prompted her to come back here, it was important. Important enough to risk death. I've been seeing some disturbing things, Ayeka. I can't make sense of it yet. Like I said, the images are coming in random jumbles, but I think your life might be in danger." Ayeka took another breath. "Thank you, Ms. Washu. Please...please keep me informed." Washu nodded. "If my damn Penzatan helmet were ready, this would be a snap. I could go in myself and pick and choose whatever memories I wanted." She hmm'd in thought. "Maybe I should try it. It's almost ready, anyway." "Would it harm Sasami?" "Hmmm. I don't think so, but you're right. We shouldn't risk it." "Is that it over there?" Ayeka asked, pointing to a metallic helmet on a nearby workbench. Washu nodded and smiled with pride. "Yup, my greatest invention yet." Near the spaceship tree, Funaho, beneath the branches of what was once a great Jurain warship, a doorway of light opened. It erupted from thin air, a hole in reality hovering several feet off the ground. From that hole something dropped to the surface, but stopped itself bare inches above the ground, her foot hovered their, seemingly of its own accord. The doorway closed above her. Ryoko looked around and grinned. "Home sweet home!" She laughed and touched the ground. Suddenly, the metal band on her arm began to beep. She grimaced and brought it up to her face. A tiny, holographic image of Count Seiryo appeared there. Ryoko growled. "You are such an annoying bastard!" she said, shaking her head. The holo-Seiryo frowned. "I'm here to keep your mind on the mission, Ryoko. Remember, you *owe* me. I made it possible for you to infiltrate the palace so you could have your revenge, now you're going to make me king." Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "We had a deal," he reminded her. "Fine, fine," Ryoko said. "You'll get your crown. Besides," she said with a smile, "I get to kill Ayeka again." Holo-Seiryo frowned again. "Just remember, the boy's the real target." Ryoko hissed between her teeth. "Losing your nerve, Ryoko?" "Of course not." Holo-Seiryo grinned. "If it makes you feel better, Ryoko, you don't *have* to kill him. You could simply castrate him. A man who can't produce an heir is automatically disqualified from the line of succession." Ryoko thought on this. "Well...I *did* want his balls..." She laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound. Holo-Seiryo grinned. "One more thing," he began. Ryoko returned her attention to him. "Commander Kenzaki and his wife are missing. Kenzaki might already be there. As a matter of fact, I'm almost certain of it." Ryoko furrowed her brow. "Kenzaki...Kenzaki.." she whispered to herself. Holo-Seiryo sighed. "The TSS agent you almost killed on the palace roof," he supplied. Ryoko brightened. "Oh, yeah, him! Heals fast for a mortal, doesn't he?" "If he warns them..." "Relax, they won't have time to do anything about it." She grinned. "In nine days the man your program is based on will be the rightful, *legal* king of Jurai." Holo-Seiryo smiled. "Just don't screw up, and don't leave Kenzaki at your back this time." She smiled. "He had his chance." Holo-Seiryo disappeared with a nod. "He won't get another," she finished. Washu turned as Ryoko entered her lab carrying something bulky in her arms. "Washu!" The scientist saw that it was a body and acted. She hopped out of her chair and lead Ryoko to a stasis bed next to Saasmi's. Ryoko gently placed Carvin's body on the bed. Washu took out a handheld scanner and shook her head as she heard Carvin's breathing become more erratic. She jumped back as the holographic image of a young girl appeared on his arm. "Are you a doctor?!" Washu blinked. "Er....sort of." Kaeya sighed. "I guess you'll just have to do." She cleared her throat. "Commander Kenzaki's med report is as follows. His left leg is broken in two places," Washu began to scan as Kaeya went on. "He has a punctured lung and is bleeding internally near his pancreas. There is shrapnel embedded there as well as near his aorta." Washu nodded as her own scans confirmed what the hologram was saying. "Okay, Ryoko, get out. I need open him up." She turned her attention to the hologram, "Um..." "Kaeya," the hologram supplied. "Kaeya, can I assume that you can keep a running tab on his vitals?" "That is so." "Good, then hang around." "Yes, Ma'am." Washu shoo'd Ryoko out of her lab and turned to start working on Carvin. "So, who are they, Kiyone?" Tenchi asked. Gathered together in the living room, the Masaki family, minus Washu, listened raptly as Kiyone began. "They're definitely GP," she said. "I didn't recognize the rating insignia, so I sent it to GP HQ for analysis." "What did they say, Kiyone?" Ayeka asked. Kiyone took a breath. "They sent me a message ordering me to forget I ever saw it and that if I brought up the subject again I would be stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged." They all stared at her in disbelief. "So," she continued, "I called in a few favors and found a few interesting things out. It turns out that that symbol belongs to a top-secret element of the Galaxy Police, the Temporal Investigations Division. Right now, they primarily investigate temporal anomlies, they can't travel back in time themselves...yet." "Kiyone," Ryoko began confused, "Are you saying that those hardsuits were Galaxy Police from the *future*?" Kiyone nodded. "It looks like it." She looked out the window. They had piled the downed hardsuits in the backyard until they figured out what to do with them, and Ryoko had incinerated the bodies. "I saw a woman out there who is supposed to be getting her butt kicked by GP drill sergeants. Instead, she's out there, dead, and twenty years older than she's supposed to be." "That makes it certain," Tenchi said. "It would appear so," Ayeka agreed. They heard the lab door open and shut, then Washu's voice. "Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka. You'd better all come to my lab." As one, the entire group got up and went to Washu's lab. She stood outside the door and stopped them. She faced Sasami. "Sasami, it's getting late, and I'm starving. Do you think you could start dinner?" Sasami looked at her and blinked. "Well, okay, Ms. Washu." She threw the others one last look and went into the kitchen to start dinner. Washu opened the lab and beckoned the others inside. "I didn't want Sasami in here for two reasons," she explained. "First, it's not a good idea for her to know too much about her future. Two..." she paused and took an unsettled breath. "There's something...disturbing...I have to show you." She led them to a tank of water. A nude Carvin was floating in it, electrodes were attached to his skull. "I've been extracting his memory engrams while I healed him, hoping to get some information." She took another breath. "And then I stumbled onto this." She hit a button on her keyboard. The others watched as the viewscreen came to life, showing a scene from Carvin's perspective. They watched for several minutes. Ayeka had been sickened and ended up vomitting into Washu's trash basket. Ryoko watched on in horrid fascination as the woman on the screen picked Carvin up. "*Tell Ayeka Ryoko says hi.*" After that, the memory ended. Ryoko turned to the others, who were staring at her. She had seen that expression on people's faces before. Fear. She shook her head. "It's not me," she whispered in disbelief. "It can't be me. It *can't*!" "So, that's why they came back," Ayeka whispered. Washu nodded. "For some reason, they think the cause of...of this...is here, in this time." "It can't be me," Ryoko whispered again. She turned to Tenchi. "Tenchi! You have to believe me! It can't be me! I'm not fond of Ayeka, but...but I don't want to *kill* her!" The others watched as Ryoko pleaded with Tenchi. While their attention was focused elsewhere, they didn't notice Sasami's eyes open. She turned her head to the sounds of their voices and saw them grouped around the viewscreen. She gasped as she saw Carvin's body floating in a stasis tank. "Carvin," she whispered. She turned her head, her eyes rested on a workbench. On that workbench sat a helmet. A very familiar helmet. She winced as she climbed out of the bed. She was still wearing the blue kimono she had been wearing before...what had happened to them, anyway? It wasn't important. Right now, what was important was that the plan had failed, she had no idea how much time they had left, and her target was *right there*! She heard the others talking as she approached the helmet. She hurt all over, her head was pounding. The delicate cloth of the kimono rustled as she walked. She stopped in front of the bench and leaned against it, breathing hard. She looked down at the helmet. And picked it up. "What the hell?" she heard Washu say as the scientist noticed her. Sasami screamed and smashed the helmet on the workbench. "MY EXPERIMENT!" She smashed the helmet repeatedly, pieces of metal broke off the contraption, clinking on the ground. Other shards of metal and glass cut into her skin. She slammed it against the table one more time before Tenchi and Kiyone grabbed her. The last of her energy spent, Sasami fell back into unconsciousness. Sasami's eyes opened again, only this time, Ayeka's purple eyes looked back at her worriedly. "Ayeka?" Sasami croaked. Ayeka turned her head. "Ms. Washu, she's awake!" Sasami could hear an irate Washu, but couldn't see her. "Good, she has a lot of explaining to do!" "Are you okay?" Ayeka asked. "How are you feeling?" Sasami smiled. "I'm okay." She blinked as the memories came back to her. "Carvin! Where his he!? Is he okay!?" She tried to sit up, but Ayeka rested her hands on her shoulders and guided her back to the bed. "Your...husband?" she asked, hopefully. Sasami nodded. Ayeka seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "He's okay. Washu has him in a tissue regeneration tank. He'll be good as new in less than a day." Sasami closed her eyes and took a relieved breath. "What about my baby?" she asked. Ayeka smiled. "She's fine." Sasami moaned in despair. "What!? Sasami, what's wrong!?" Sasami shook her head. "We didn't want to know the sex! We wanted to be surprised!" Ayeka laughed in amused relief. Sasami smiled. "I'm sorry, Sasami. I didn't know." "It's okay." Ayeka bit her lip. "Sasami, why are you here?" She shook her head. "I can't tell you, Ayeka." "What does it have to do with Washu's helmet?" "I can't tell you that either," she said, "But don't let Washu rebuild it, whatever you do," she added hurriedly. She reached out and took her sister's hand. "Please, Ayeka, promise me you won't let her rebuild it!" Ayeka nodded hurriedly. "Okay, Sasami. I won't let her." Sasami closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. "That's good. That's good," she repeated. Then, she fell asleep again. "So what do we do with them?" Kiyone asked. The entire family, minus Sasami and Nobuyuki, who had gone to the park, sat in the Masaki living room once again. They felt that it would be better if Sasami had no knowledge of what was going to happen to her in the future, and felt better knowing she was away. Washu hmm'd in thought. "Well, it's not as if I can send them back. Perhaps they have their own ride home." "How are they feeling, anyway?" Mihoshi asked with concern. "Sasami's still asleep," Ayeka told her, staring out the window, "And Commander Kenzaki is still in the tissue regenerator." Washu nodded. "He should be fully healed in another hour or so." "So what do we do?" Tenchi repeated Kiyone's earlier question. "Whatever they're here to do, it's important," Washu pointed out. "I think we should probably help them out." "How?" Mihoshi asked. "By staying out of their way and not asking a lot of questions," Washu told them. Tenchi and the others nodded. "What if more Galaxy Police show up?" Ayeka asked. "You leave them to me," Ryoko told her with a vicious smile. Her smile disappeared when she saw the look of fear on Ayeka's face. "What?" Ayeka blinked and shook her head. "Nothing, it's just that..." "What?" Ayeka looked at her feet. "For a second, you sounded just like *her*." Ryoko hissed between her teeth as her meaning was made clear. "Ayeka, I'm not gonna..." Ayeka raised her hand to cut her off. "We still don't know that," she said quietly. The demon took a nervous breath. "I see," she said sadly. "You don't trust me, is that it?" The princess turned and looked her straight in the eye. "After what I saw," she said, "No, I don't trust you." Ryoko growled in anger. "Fine, but if the GP *does* come looking for Sasami, you let *me* handle them. Got it?" Ayeka nodded. "*We'll* handle them," Tenchi told them both firmly. Ryoko and Ayeka stared at the floor and nodded. When Tenchi was sure they understood that, he nodded. "Okay. Washu, is there any way we can prepare?" Carvin woke up surrounded by liquid. His eyes flashed open. He didn't panic. He recognized the green liquid he was floating in, and he also knew it was oxygenated. He was in a regenerator tank. He was naked, and Kaeya had been removed. He looked out and could see he was in a lab of some sort, but was it a TSS lab, one of Seiryo's... Or was this the lab of the infamous Washu? Either way, he wasn't hanging out here. He kicked with his legs and floated to the top of the tank. He reached up with his hands and keyed the emergency release. With a hiss of compressed gas, the top hatch swung open. Carvin climbed out and fell to the lab floor in a heap. He opened his mouth and vomitted green regenator fluid all over the floor, coughing as he expelled the liquid from his lungs. He laid there a moment, until he was breathing normally, then got up and started studying his surroundings. He gasped when he saw Sasami lying on a stasis bed nearby. He quickly made his way to her. He checked her pulse, steady. She was breathing normally. They had to get out of here. No matter where they were, they couldn't take the risks. He padded over to another workbench and started searching through drawers. He found his clothes. Washu had repaired them. He quickly dressed, and smiled when he found his sidearm, the tiny back up laser, and holster among the articles of clothing. Kaeya was missing, but he didn't have time for a more extensive search. He went back to Sasami and picked her up in a fireman's carry. Drawing his pistol with his free hand, he made for the door. He listened at the door and quietly turned the knob, straining his ears for the sounds of alert. Hearing none, he carried Sasami out the door and down the hall. He heard the sound of voices and paused. They were coming from behind him. He stole into a doorway and found himself in a kitchen. Luckily, it was empty. He saw a doorway leading out of the house and made for it. It was bright outside. He squinted at the light of Earth's sun and continued to run, Sasami sleeping quietly over his shoulder. Floating above the trees, Ryoko watched Carvin carry his wife away from the house. She grinned. Hopefully that meant they hadn't warned them. It was time to go to work. "Don't need this," she sang as she tore the metallic bracelet from her left arm and dropped it to the ground. She vanished. Sasami woke up with the warm sun on her face. She looked up and saw Carvin smiling down at her. "Carvin?" "Hey, Sas," he said with a smile. "Wonderful party, huh?" She smiled and sat up. "Where are we?" "Other side of the lake from the house, near where we arrived." "What happened?" "I woke up in a regen tank and decided it was time to check out. How are you feeling?" She moaned. "Okay, I guess. Carvin, I did it. I destroyed the helmet and I told Ayeka not to let Washu rebuild it." Carvin bit his lip. A part of him had wanted them to fail this mission, but this wasn't the time to worry about that. Now he had to worry about clean up. "Sas, I have to go back. I couldn't find Kaeya, and if I know Washu, she's been collecting data on us since she got us into that lab. I have to erase it all. Otherwise we risk a paradox." Sasami climbed to her feet. "I'm ready." "You're staying," he told her. "No arguments, you'll need a lookout or someone to negotiate with them if things get too hot. I'm coming along." He bit his lip. She was right. It was dangerous, but now that the timeline was altered, what did it matter? he thought bitterly. He nodded. "Okay, let's go." Washu shook her head. "They're gone." Tenchi bit his lip in thought. "We should go look for them. They're hurt, they could die." The others agreed. Within minutes, they were spreading across the forest near Masaki shrine looking for them. They didn't realize that Carvin and Sasami had found *them*. Carvin and Sasami watched from the edge of the forest. "Okay, it's clear," Carvin told her. "Let's go." They ran across the yard, into the house. Carvin tried to remember where Washu's lab was, but he didn't have to. Sasami led him straight to it. She opened the door, but he stopped her from going inside. He handed her the small back up laser. "Stay here and shoot anyone who tries to get through this door," he told her. Her eyes went wide. She started to protest. "You don't have to kill them, but make sure they know you mean business. We can't let the information Washu has in her computers to remain here. No matter what. We've altered the timeline, now all we have to do is make sure it doesn't destroy Jurai." She swallowed nervously and nodded. He stepped into the lab and began searching. Five minutes later, he found her. "Kaeya, wake up." The metal band lit up. Kaeya's holographic form appeared and yawned. The bracelet had been on standby to conserve energy, and Kaeya had a bad habit of mimicking human practices and expressions. "Carvin!" she exclaimed in delight. "You're okay!" "Yes, I'm okay!" he hissed. "Why did you let them take me?" Kaeya flinched and looked at her feet in embarrassment. "You were hurt, Carvin. You needed help." "Kaeya," he began dangerously. "SOP dictates that assistants undergo memory wipes every six months to prevent sentience. I've never done it with you, because I happen to like you the way you are, but if you ever pull a stunt like that again I'll wipe you myself, do you get me?" Kaeya nodded pitifully. "Next time you activate the self destruct and you finish me off, got it?" Kaeya nodded again. Carvin sighed. He shouldn't be beating up on Kaeya. Especially now. Now it didn't matter. "Okay, Kaeya," he said more softly. "We're in the home stretch. We just have to do clean up. Think you can work your way into Professor Washu's computer and delete everything recorded in the last..." He trailed off. He had no idea how long he was out. "How long have we been here, Kaeya?" "Three days, Sir." "Okay, everything in the last three days." Kaeya nodded. Carvin carried her to the main terminal and placed her on top of it. There was an electronic "click," then Kaeya said, "I'm in. Beginning search." "How long?" "Fourteen minutes." Carvin stood back and waited. Sasami stood outside the lab door and waited. Suddenly, there was a disturbance behind her. She turned... Just in time for Ryoko's fist to slam into her face. Sasami hit the floor, unconscious. Ryoko stood above her and regarded her for a moment. she thought to herself. She opened the door to the lab and stepped inside. Ryoko flew above the treetops, searching for Carvin and Sasami. That's when she noticed movement to her right. She blinked. She could've swore she saw someone floating in the air nearby only a second ago. She blinked. There was something wrong here. She started back to the house. Carvin heard footsteps behind him and turned. "Sas, I told you..." He reeled from the punch to the face and shook his head. He regained his senses just in time to grab Ryoko's hand as it shot toward him. He pulled it past him as she let loose with an energy blast. The shot hit a wall and exploded. Carvin punched her in the jaw, then, still holding her by the wrist, twisted around and flipped her over his shoulder. She dematerialized on the way down and reappeared before him. She grinned and gave him another wave. "Hello, Mr. Royal Agent. Ready for a rematch?" "What did you do to Sasami?" he whispered in fear. Ryoko grinned. "She's right outside that door. Poor little thing. Didn't even scream." Carvin snarled, drew his sidearm, and aimed. In a flash, Ryoko was on him, kicking the gun out of his hands. She followed up with a shot to the jaw. Carvin hit the ground and rolled right, just as Ryoko brought her foot down on where he was standing. He got to his feet and attacked. Ryoko dodged his punch and grabbed his arm. With barely a passing effort, she flipped him into a wall. He got to his knees and shook the stars out of his eyes. He looked up and saw his gun lying on the floor just past Ryoko. She stood ten feet from him and beckoned to him with a crooked finger. Carvin summoned his strength and charged. Ryoko swung out with a right, but Carvin blocked it. He brought his knee up into Ryoko's side, then followed up with a punch to the face. Ryoko fell to one side. Carvin dived for the gun. He felt it's familiar weight in his hand. He brought it around to where Ryoko had fallen... But she was gone. Suddenly, there was the sound of a lightsword to his right. He turned and saw a flash of red as Ryoko's lightsword arced down and lopped off his gun hand at the wrist. Carvin screamed and fell back to the ground, holding a cauterized stump with his left hand. Ryoko had managed to catch his gun, the hand still attached, and waved to him with it. She laughed. "Well, give the man a hand!" Carvin gritted his teeth and tried to banish the pain. Ryoko laughed at him. "You know, Mr. Agent Man," she said, "I haven't had this much fun since I cut Ayeka's throat open." "Laugh while you can, BITCH!" he hurled at her. "The helmet's gone! Time's been altered! In six days you won't exist anymore!" Ryoko's smile turned into a grimace. "NEITHER WILL YOU!" Carvin smiled grimly. "Part of the service," he growled. "Go ahead and kill me, Ryoko. It don't mean shit, now!" Ryoko screamed at him in rage. "Fine! But I can still make you hurt you pompous, Jurain piece of shit!" She started toward him. Suddenly, there was the sound of another lightsword. Ryoko turned just in time to block another Ryoko's slash. The two women stared at each other over crossed swords. The future Ryoko grinned. "Hello, little sister. Here to help out?" Ryoko stared at her future self in shock. She shoved her sword forward, throwing her future self back. She attacked, slashing at her future self with everything she had. The future Ryoko was strong, but unstable. Ryoko, with a clear head not weighted down by insanity, had the edge. And she made good use of it. Future Ryoko swung around to take Ryoko's head off, but Ryoko vanished and reappeared behind her. Future Ryoko barely made the block. Ryoko pressed her attack, continuing to slash at herself. Suddenly Ryoko delivered a snap kick to Future Ryoko's jaw. Future Ryoko's head snapped back, a stream of blood shot from her mouth, splattering on Ryoko's face. Before Future Ryoko could recover, Ryoko reached out with her sword and cut her left hand off at the wrist. Future Ryoko screamed. The gem that was on her wrist hit the ground with a gentle "clack." Ryoko growled and reached out with her hand, grabbing her future self by the neck. Her right foot snaked around and tripped her. Future Ryoko hit the ground with a grunt. Ryoko appeared on top of her, straddling her, pinning her to the ground. Ryoko placed her sword at her enemy's throat. Future Ryoko looked up in fear. Ryoko leaned forward and growled at her. "Tell Ayeka Ryoko says, 'hi!'" she spat, then pressed her blade through Future Ryoko's throat, not stopping until she felt her knuckles hit the floor below. Ryoko stood up and regarded her decapitated double with contempt. Carvin got to his feet and approached her. "If she's me," Ryoko began, "Does this mean I just committed suicide?" Carvin looked down at the future Ryoko's body. "No, Ryoko," he said softly. "I think I'd call it euthenasia." He stumbled slightly. Ryoko caught him and gently guided him to the floor. "Are you okay?" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he said. He shut his eyes. "Sasami," he whispered. "She's right outside, unconscious." He looked at her. "Alive?" She nodded. He took a breath. She looked over at her double's body again. "Is it over?" she asked. He nodded. "It's over." From the command console, Kaeya beeped. "Deletion complete, Sir." Ryoko looked at him, worriedly. "Is there anything I can do?" He nodded. "You can fly me and Sasami out of here and forget you ever saw us." She nodded. "But you should wait awhile. You need a doctor." He laughed. "A doctor won't do me any good six days from now." "What happens in six days?" He looked at her. "No point in keeping it a secret, I guess. In six days, the temporal wake will catch up to my time. With the timeline altered, we no longer exist. Our temporal patterns will shift out of phase when the timeline realigns itself." Ryoko's eyes went wide. "You'll die?" "I don't know," he told her seriously. "I'm not sure 'death' is the right thing to call it. It's never happened before." Ryoko shook her head in disbelief. "Do me a favor?" She nodded. "Live your life to the fullest, Ryoko." He smiled. "It's costing me and Sasami quite a bit." She bit her lip and nodded. "Now, please," he said, "Get us out of here. Before the others come back." "It's almost been six days," Tenchi mused, looking out the window. "I wonder what happened to them." Ryoko stood next to him and sighed. She had shared what had happened in the lab with Tenchi and Ayeka, and told them about Carvin's favor. She looked out there and wondered what the future would be like. At least now she could be hopeful. Carvin and Sasami sat on the hill top and watched the sunrise. Carvin's right arm was swathed in bandages, his face was bruised. Sasami, herself, had a black eye. But these injuries were nothing compared to what Carvin told her lay ahead. She took a breath and mentally nodded to herself. A princess was expected to sacrifice herself for the kingdom. "Kaeya, time," Carvin ordered. "Three minutes, twenty seconds." "I hope that we're together in the other timeline," Sasami whispered, her hand trailing to her stomach. Carvin held her with his good arm. The two had managed to remain unnoticed in a small motel in town for six days. They had talked, and tried to enjoy what could be their last days together. "I think we will be," Carvin told her. "I hope they're happy." "They will be, Sas, they will be." They watched the sun rise higher into the sky. "Ten seconds," Kaeya's voice intoned. Sasami blinked back tears as she desperately embraced Carvin. "I love you, Carvin," she sobbed. He held her tighter and blinked back tears of his own. "I love you, Sas." "Temporal wake has reached Point Z." Light began to consume their bodies. It was a pure white light that seemed to come from everywhere. Carvin and Sasami held each other tighter as the light consumed them. A second later, there was nothing. Carvin Kenzaki walked alongside the king of Jurai, swishing the wine in his glass around. The king smiled at him and shook his head. "You've come a long way, Carvin," he commented. "Thank you, Your Majesty. That means a lot coming from you." The king shot him a look. "I told you, Carvin, it's 'Tenchi,' not 'Your Majesty.' We *are* family after all." Carvin smiled. "As you wish, Tenchi." Tenchi Masaki laughed. He shook his head again. "Director of the new Temporal Security Service. It's a well deserved promotion, Carvin. Congragulations." Carvin's smile became a little more relaxed. "Thanks. There are those who think I got it because of my relationship with...." Tenchi turned to him. "*Never* believe that, Carvin. I watched your career progress. If I didn't think you could do the job, I wouldn't have pushed for your appointment. You *earned* it." "That means even more, Tenchi." Tenchi smiled. "Are you going to exercise your right to lead some missions yourself?" Carvin shook his head. "I made a promise to my wife. The last time, was the *last* time." "You gonna miss it?" Carvin turned to him incredulously. "'Miss it?' Miss what? Being dropped into Tsunami knows where, on a mission I only half understand, to stop an assassin I've never seen from killing a person I've never met, while the local authorities do their damndest to stop me?" He shook his head. "No, I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet desk job." Tenchi smiled. "That's a lie and you know it." "Not really. It'll give me more time to spend with Sasami, which is good...given our situation." Tenchi arched an eyebrow. "Situation?" Carvin threw him a look and smiled slightly. Realization struck Tenchi like a truck. He grinned. "You dog," he said in awe. "Congragulations! How far along?" Carvin's smile got wider. "Three weeks." "And the doctors haven't found anything wrong..." The TSS agent shook his head. "As far as they can tell, the assimilation is having no impact whatsoever. They gave us the green light." Tenchi laughed and slapped his friend on the back. "Now we have something *else* to celebrate!" "Don't let on that you know," Carvin begged. "Sasami wants to be the one to tell you, Ayeka, and Ryoko." "I promise, not a word," Tenchi promised. "So what are you gonna name her?" Carvin arched an eyebrow. "'Her?'" he asked with a smile. "You know something I don't?" Tenchi faltered for a moment. "Call it royal premonition." Carvin smiled. "Well, if it *is* a girl, we're thinking of, 'Ryoko.'" Tenchi arched an eyebrow. "I hope Ayeka won't be too offended, but on Belegast, it's considered bad luck to name a child after a sibling." Tenchi shook his head. "I think it's very appropriate." Carvin took a look around. "Where are Ryoko and Ayeka, anyway? Sasami said she'd meet us at the restauraunt in twenty minutes, we have to leave soon." Tenchi nodded. "Ayeka is putting little Yosho down to bed, and Ryoko is reading Kazeko a story." It only took another minute before Ayeka and Ryoko appeared, dressed in elegant gowns. Ayeka saw Carvin and kissed him on the cheek. Ryoko dematerialized and reappeared next to him, embracing him in a hug. When they arrived at the restauraunt, Sasami met them at the door. She hugged Carvin and kissed him. Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko watched and smiled. The maitre'd quickly seated the King, his Queens, and his guests and told them a waiter would be sent immediately. "Tell him to take his time," Sasami told him. "I want to dance with my husband." Carvin grinned. "Why, Mrs. Kenzaki, I would love to." He took her hand and swept her out onto the dance floor. Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko watched them, smiling at them the entire time. Ayeka sighed. "I feel so relieved," she said. "I was so afraid that by helping us, that we had somehow..." "Cheated them of their future?" Ryoko supplied. Ayeka nodded. "Yes. Today is the day, you know. The one we saw in Carvin's mind all those years ago." She looked out onto the dance floor, where Sasami and Carvin were laughing and trying to dance without tripping over each other's feet. Tenchi nodded. "It worked out in the end. I shudder whenever I think about how it *might* have turned out." Ryoko sighed. Ayeka looked a little guilty. "I never apologized to you, Ryoko. I should've trusted you back then." "After what I saw, Ayeka, I don't blame you. For the longest time after seeing what I had become, I didn't trust myself, either." Tenchi smiled at them. "But everything turned out all right. We're together, we're happy, *they're together*, and they're happy." He stood up. "Now, who wants to dance?" Ayeka and Ryoko both stood up. They glared at each other. Tenchi's face fell as panic began to set in. "Ryoko," Ayeka said in warning, "You got to dance with him at Count Volara's wedding." "But you danced with him at the Military Ball!" "That doesn't count! You weren't there! Who was he *supposed* to dance with?! The Commandant?!" On the dance floor, Sasami and Carvin watched the exchange and smiled. "They're at it again," Sasami commented. Carvin nodded. "You know, I think they actually enjoy fighting like that." Sasami laughed. "I sometimes wonder how it would've turned out if poor Tenchi had married one and not the other." Carvin pulled his wife close and gave her a quick kiss. "I guess we'll never know." She smiled. Together, they danced well into the night. Thanks for reading. Thomas "009" Doscher doscher009@hotmail.com