Tenchi Muyo? Rye-Ohki! Part 2 of 2 'What happened? Is the battle over?' Rye-Ohki asked Hakubi through their mental link. He received no reply. 'Hakubi?' Still no reply. 'Hondaioh, what's going on, what happened to Hakubi?' 'He is no longer conscious. It seems that we have a traitor.' 'Suno! I'll claw his eyes out!' Rye-Ohki prepared to leap down from the tree, but was smothered by layer of leaves. 'Hide yourself, we are being boarded.' Rye-Ohki looked up as he heard some scraping noises on the hull. He heard someone walk to the hatch and hissing as it opened. "Anyone else on board?" came a gruff voice. "Just the Prince's pet. He doesn't pose a threat to us, but we could ransom him off. We'll search for him later," Suno's voice replied. The men could be heard walking up to the bridge and few minutes later, Rye-Ohki heard them walk slowly back to the hatch, dragging something. The hatch closed and more scraping was heard. Rye-Ohki heard a dull roar and the ship started to move again. 'What happened? Where are we going?' 'I have shut down all engines and controls. Our Mother's son has been taken off ship. The traitor has left as well. We are being towed towards an asteroid belt further in system,' Hondaioh replied. For the first time in his life, Rye-Ohki felt completely alone and abandoned. 'Hakubi, what do I do now?' Rye-Ohki called out through the mental link, hoping for a reply. When a reply still did not come, he curled into a little ball and started to cry. 'Have no fear little one. Our Mother's son will awaken and reap vengeance upon our enemies!' 'You mean, everything will turn out OK?' Rye-Ohki asked, crying a little less. The Juraian trees, especially the older ones, always confused him. 'Yes. Everything will be fine.' Hondaioh shifted some more leaves to cover Rye-Ohki and they waited. Hakubi thought to himself as he came to. Hakubi sat up and a wave a pain flashed across his forehead. Hakubi opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a dirty cell somewhere. It was a standard holding cell, three walls of solid metal and a light blue force field instead of bars. Hakubi stood up and carefully made his way to the force field trying not to fall down. "Did you have a nice nap?" a man with a large laser rifle called out from the other side of the force field. Hakubi didn't answer and stopped when he reached the edge of the force field. He gently touched the field and pulled his finger back when a large spark of electricity shocked him. The man laughed some more and said, "Do that too much and you'll lose your finger." He turned around and spoke into an intercom on the wall, "Tell the General that the prisoner is awake." "Can you tell me where I am?" Hakubi asked the guard. "You are in the brig of the greatest pirate group since the dreaded Space Pirate Ryoko," the guard replied with another laugh. Hakubi looked over the force field and touched it again. It gave off another spark of electricity and flickered for a second. "Liked getting shocked do you?" "No, just making sure I can escape," Hakubi replied coolly. The flicker confirmed his suspicions. The pirates where using a standard containment field to hold him. This meant that it was essentially a very powerful field and that would flicker on and off very rapidly. The strength of the shock told Hakubi about how fast the field was flickering. If the field was turned to it's fastest rate, basically not flickering at all, he would have received a deep burn from touching it. But his one was not cycling that fast, allowing air and other particles to flow through. This also meant that someone could teleport through as well. The guard smiled in amusement and turned to walk away. The second his back was turned, Hakubi teleported through the force field and materialized right behind the guard. A quick chop to the neck, and the guard was out cold. The sudden movement caused a cascade of pain in his throbbing forehead. Hakubi closed his eyes and waited for the pain to subside. When it was a little better, he picked up the guard and dropped him into an empty and cell, and activated the force field. Hakubi thought to himself. 'I'm getting out of here!' Rye-Ohki had been sitting in the tree for over two hours. The ship had been brought into a large hanger, dug out of a huge asteroid. After securing the ship, the pirates left it alone, not being able to enter the locked hatch. 'I advise against that,' Hondaioh spoke to Rye-Ohki. 'We should wait for our Mother's son to return.' 'I can't wait any longer. I'm going.' Rye-Ohki jumped out of the tree and walked to the hatch. 'Open up,' Rye-Ohki spoke to the door. The intricately carved wooden collar around Rye-Ohki's neck glowed blue for a second and the door opened. 'I'll be back,' Rye-Ohki thought back to Hondaioh as he hopped through the open hatch. The moment he was through, the hatch closed and locked itself. Rye-Ohki looked around to make sure no one saw him leave the ship. When satisfied that no one had noticed, he hopped to the nearest doorway and peeked around the corner. Hakubi peeked around the corner of the cellblock; he had no idea where he was. Hakubi thought to himself. 'Rye-Ohki?' Hakubi asked through his mental link, testing to see if it was still working. 'Hakubi!' Rye-Ohki screamed back. 'I'm so glad are all right. That stupid tree wouldn't let me help you. But now your back, we can kick some butt.' 'Not so loud!' Hakubi winced, 'I have a huge headache.' 'Sorry,' Rye-Ohki replied a lot softer. 'That's ok.' A deluge of happiness from Rye-Ohki came through their mental link, making his headache seem not that bad. 'Where are you?' 'I'm in some hanger with Hondaioh.' 'Great. Stay there, I'll get there as fast as I can.' Hakubi concentrated and found the general direction of Rye-Ohki's mind. He took a quick glance around the corner and ran off. In order to get to the hanger, Hakubi had to pass through some of the barracks. To keep the noise to a minimum, Hakubi decided to fly instead of running. He flew passed a partially opened door and screeched to a halt. Hakubi flew back to the door and listened. "Are you sure it is the same person?" a familiar voice asked, apparently through a vidscreen of some sort. "Yes I'm sure," Suno's voice replied. "I was just informed that he woke up. He'll be ready for interrogation when you arrive." Hakubi pushed the door open a little more and peeked inside. Hakubi was correct. The General's image filled the vidscreen and he looked very happy. "Excellent. Did you get the generators intact?" Zove asked. "Yes Sir. They're in perfect condition. They techs are installing them as we speak." "With those generators, the Vengeance will be the most powerful ship ever. Even more powerful than Tsunami!" Zove gave a hearty laugh and cut communications. Hakubi backed away from the door and flew down the hallway at top speed. 'Over here,' Rye-Ohki called. Hakubi had reached the hanger and was looking for their ship. He walked passed another ship and saw the little cabbit sitting behind some crates. Rye-Ohki jumped up, transformed into his humanoid form, and gave Hakubi a hug. "Come on, let's get out of here." Hakubi grabbed Rye-Ohki's hand and led him into up to the ship. The hatch opened automatically as they approached. 'It is good to have you with us again, your Highness,' Hondaioh thought to Hakubi. 'Nice to be back. Are you ready to go?' 'Systems are at full power.' 'Good. Let's go.' Hondaioh lifted off and made it's way to the hanger doors. "Um, Sir? The Juraian vessel has lifted off," a pirate in the traffic control room told his superior. "What? Sound the alarm!" The pirate slammed the alarm and the emergency lock down buttons at the same time. "Sir, the prisoner has escaped!" a voice yelled through the intercom. "What? Sound the alarms. Find him!" Faster than expected, the alarms went off. "What the hell?" "Sir, the Juraian ship has taken off and is trying to escape!" another voiced yelled through the intercom. "What! Stop it or you'll wish you were with him!" Suno yelled at the new voice on the intercom. All of his perfectly laid plans had gone to hell. He slammed his fist against the wall and ran off to the control room. 'I cannot open the doors.' 'Blast them open then,' Hakubi ordered. The Hondaioh's cannons emerged and sent a volley of fire at the doors. The doors quickly blew open and they were free. 'Take a scan of our location and of all ships nearby. Send it directly to Jurai.' Hakubi piloted the Hondaioh around some small asteroids and headed for open space. "Sir, we are detecting a transmission being sent from the Juraian ship," a pirate called out over the confusion in the control room. "Jam them, you idiot!" Suno yelled back. "Send everything we got after them. Stop them at all costs!" Suno yelled at another pirate. 'I am being jammed. Only three fourths of the transmission went out cleanly.' 'That will have to do. What did you detect?' 'There are many ships around us, various fighter and a few cruisers. There is a large mass that is being shielded from my sensors. It is larger than a normal battleship, larger than the pirate base itself.' Hakubi pondered this new mystery when some beeping interrupted him. 'Multiple contacts, closing fast.' A view screen came up showing many small blips of light moving towards a picture of the Hondaioh. "You better strap yourself in Rye-Ohki, we're going to have to fight our way out of this one." Hakubi cleared the asteroid belt and changed course to Syreius. The pursuing vessels changed course as well and closed in on the Hondaioh. Hakubi brought up the light hawk wings and target the nearest attacker and fired. He scored a direct hit, but his victory was short lived as ten pirate vessels opened fire. "Wow!" The Hondaioh shook under the tremendous amount of fire it was taking. Hakubi steadied himself and read the damage report. Their light hawk wings where at 97%, and there was little hull damage. "Send a distress call, maybe there's a Syrean cruiser nearby." Hakubi fired a few more times, but there where too many pirates. He decided it would the energy would be better spent on shielding and transferred the energy from the weapon systems to the shields and engines. This gave the Hondaioh a quick burst of speed, but the pirates soon caught up, firing everything they had. "Damn it. There's got to be a cruiser around here. Never a cop around when you need one." Hakubi scanned the damage report again. The light hawk wings were at 70% and falling fast. "We may have to surrender if this keeps up," Hakubi said out loud to no one in particular. 'No. You must escape and warn Jurai,' Hondaioh spoke to Hakubi. 'Take Rye-Ohki and head for Syreius and get help. I will hold them off here.' 'You'll be destroyed!' Hakubi thought back. 'It is the best option we have. I will survive.' Without Hakubi knowing, a small seed fell from the ceiling and into a pocket of Hakubi's jacket. 'Do not worry for me, I will survive.' Hakubi ran through all his options in his head for a moment. "Fine. Transmit the data you got to Rye-Ohki, we will try to send another message when we cleared the jamming." Rye-Ohki jumped out of his chair and ran to the hatch. Hakubi hit a few more buttons and ran after him. When he got to the hatch, Rye- Ohki phased through it and transformed into his space ship form once he was clear of Hondaioh. Hakubi teleported himself over a second later. "Rye-Ohki, run a scan of your own over the area. Maybe your sensors can detect something new." Hakubi walked to the controls and they zoomed off. A few view screens came up, one showed that the pirate base was just inside of their sensor range and a number counting down the time the scan would take. Another showed Hondaioh battling the pirates. Hondaioh had come to a complete stop and was taking fire from all sides. The pirates had not noticed the black crystalline ship leaving the battleground and were concentrating on the battered Juraian ship. Hondaioh sent out a barrage of fire in every direction. Four more pirate ships burst into flames and exploded. But that was not enough. Twenty more ships arrived as the pirates sent reinforcements. Their combined firepower was too great for Hondaioh to handle. One light hawk wing buckled and the rest soon followed. It's hull split open and a ball of fire engulfed the ship, obliterating it. "Oh no," Hakubi gasped in horror as he watched the ship go. 'Oh no!' Rye-Ohki cried out, watching the ship become nothing more than a mass of dead wood. Half a galaxy away, the Juraian Great Counsel was in session. At the center sat Tenchi, flanked by his wives Ryoko and Ayeka. Sasami and Deven sat to one side with Achika. A Councilman from a prominent family was giving a long-winded speech about the need for a raise in the salaries of the Counsel, when Sasami suddenly stood up. "Is there something you would like to say, your highness?" The Councilmen asked Sasami. "I have to leave for a moment, please continue without me," Sasami replied. Ayeka gave her a questioning glance, but Sasami smiled and gestured that she should stay. She turned to her husband and whispered into his ear, "Something has happened to Hondaioh!" Devon started at the news and got up as well. Together they made their way to a side door as quietly as they could. Ryoko studied them for a few minutes and watched them leave. She whispered something into Tenchi's ear and vanished, glad to get away from the boring Counsel. "What did she say?" asked Ayeka, slightly annoyed that she left so rudely. "She said she was going to find out what was going on," Tenchi replied. "I hope it's not bad news." Hakubi stared in silence, as the last pieces of Hondaioh broke apart. 'The scan is complete,' Rye-Ohki mentioned, shocked as well over the loss of Hondaioh. "Anything new?" Hakubi asked in a flat tone. 'That unknown mass is actually a very large ship of unknown configuration.' Hakubi didn't bother to look at the report and continued to stare into space. 'There are a lot of bots working on it, it looks like it is 90% complete.' A few heavily damaged pirate vessels headed backed to their base, but the rest turned and flew towards them. "Put it on a disk and I'll look at it later. They've spotted us." A small compact disc appeared and Hakubi put it in a pocket in his jacket. He turned the scanners towards Syreius to see what he could find. "Not a single Syrean cruiser. That damn Zove must have sent them somewhere else. We're in this one alone Rye-Ohki." Rye-Ohki mewed in agreement and displayed scan data on their pursuers. Rye-Ohki was fast, but some of the pirate vessels were faster. According to his calculations, they would catch up to them a few minutes after they reached the planet. "See that field?" Hakubi pointed to a grassy field in the forest outside the capital city of Surius. "We'll make a quick landing there and duck into the forest." Rye-Ohki meowed an affirmative. Rye-Ohki came screaming through the atmosphere of Syreius, leaving a tail of superheated gas behind him. Seconds before he would have crashed, Rye-Ohki hit the reverse thruster. Hakubi teleported outside and flew to towards the ground under his own power. He landed with a soft "crunch" and looked up. Rye- Ohki transformed into a cabbit and fell into Hakubi's waiting hands. Hakubi quickly got his bearings and ran into the forest in the direction of the city. Their landing had taken less than a minute. "What's going on?" Ryoko asked Sasami, outside the doors to the Counsel. "I'll tell you when we get to Washu's lab. This is something you both need to hear, I guess," Sasami replied. Together they walked to Washu's lab in silence. Without knocking, they entered. Washu was working on her latest invention and heard them come in. "What do you want? I'm busy." "Hondaioh has been destroyed." Sasami told everyone. Washu stopped what she was doing and looked at Sasami. "Are you sure?" "Yes. I can no longer feel its life force." "Hondaioh is that ship you sent to Syreas, right?" Ryoko asked. "Yes, and Ten-chan was piloting it," Devon replied. Ryoko swore under her breath and said, "Ten-chan will be fine. We'll send the fleet to look for him." "No," Sasami said, shocking the others. "We cannot send the fleet. This was a secret mission and it must remain so. What would it look like if the Juraian fleet entered Syrean space without an official reason? I can't even send Tsunami without it being an act of war." "She right," Washu said to Ryoko. "I'll see what I can find out. I'm sure he's fine." Devon gave his wife a hug and they started to make their way out of the lab. "Hold on! I got a message from the Hondaioh" Washu pressed a few buttons on her computer and a view screen turned on, displaying the message. "It appears to be scan data," Washu noted. The image showed multiple ships and a large object that was out of focus. The image split in half and lists of data streamed down the screen. When it got to the unknown object, it drew a blank. The screen zoomed out to a picture of the Syrean System and started to focus in on the asteroid belt. Before it could get more specific, the transmission grew fuzzy and cut out. "It's an incomplete scan. Hondaioh was cut off or jammed before the whole transmission could be sent." "At least we know here to start looking. We can take Ryo-Ohki and begin the search," Devon told the others with determination. "And do what?" Washu asked him, "Go turn over every rock in the asteroid belt and hope something will be there?" "You're right." Devon sat down on a floating cushion and looked at the floor. "It will take me some time to analyze all the data, so don't make any hasty conclusions. I'll find out what's going on or I'm not the greatest genius scientist in the universe!" Washu struck a pose and cackled. Everyone smiled at her joke and left her alone in the lab to work. "Tenchi and Ayeka will want to hear about this," Ryoko mentioned and she flew back to the Counsel. "You're pretty calm about all this," Devon said to his wife. Sasami replied with a smile, "I have a feeling that Rye-Ohki is still alive and he would not let anything happen to Ten-chan." She hugged Devon again and they slowly walked back to the Counsel. 'This sucks!' Rye-Ohki complained to Hakubi. He was sitting on his shoulder as he made his way through the forest to the city. 'First we get attacked by pirates, Hondaioh gets killed, and now we're being chased through a forest in the middle of some conspiracy or something!' 'You said you were bored,' Hakubi replied. He suddenly stopped walking and looked up. Rye-Ohki perked up his ears and said, 'Some ships are coming this way.' 'I know.' Hakubi walked under the branches of a tree and scanned the sky. Two pirate ships zoomed by, heading to the field they had landed in. They made a few circles and boosted out to space. A second later, three police vessels flew overhead, chasing after the pirates. 'Looks like the local police aren't in on the secret as well. Maybe we can get some help from them.' A few minutes after the ships had pasted, Hakubi continued towards the city. They walked for a few more hours till it started to get dark. Hakubi risked being seen and flew above the canopy to have a look around. He saw the lights of the city only a few miles away. There was still a mile of deep forest before they would reach the edge of town and farmland. Satisfied, Hakubi flew back under the cover of the trees and landed on a large branch. 'It's getting dark, and the path ahead doesn't look too good. We better spend the night here.' A cold wind blew through the branches and both Hakubi and Rye-Ohki shivered. Hakubi picked Rye-Ohki off his shoulder and set him on the branch. He took of his jacket and touched the ring on his finger. In an instant he was dressed in his Juraian battle armor. Washu had specially designed their armor to be breathable and cool in the hottest deserts yet insulated enough to keep warm in subzero temperatures. He put his jacket back on and jumped to another branch and sat down, leaning against the trunk. He zipped up his jacket part way and Rye-Ohki hopped inside. 'Warm enough?' Hakubi asked his little companion. 'Yup,' mewed Rye-Ohki. Hakubi reached into a pocket to get the data disc. His fingers touched a round bumpy object and he pulled it out. "This is Hondaioh's seed!" Hakubi said out loud, startling Rye-Ohki. 'You mean Hondaioh can be regrown?' "That's right. Hondaioh is not dead after all." Hakubi opened one of his subspace pockets and tossed the seed inside for safekeeping. 'That's great,' Rye-Ohki thought back as he yawned. He curled into a ball and closed his eyes. Hakubi reached into another subspace pocket and drew out a data pad. He inserted the data disc and started to read the data that Rye- Ohki's scanners had recorded. Hakubi thought to himself. He scrolled through the data and stopped when it was about that unknown ship. A shiver went down Hakubi's spine as he thought about it. Hakubi continued to study the data far into the night, as Rye-Ohki slept calmly inside his jacket. The night had passed peacefully and it was a new day. Rye-Ohki opened his eyes and yawned. Hakubi was still asleep. Rye-Ohki carefully climbed out of the jacket and hopped to the end of the branch and looked over the forest. "Morning already?" Hakubi got up and stretched his sore muscles. He could never see why his grandmother liked to sleep on a beam in her younger years. "First thing we do once we reach the city is call home." Hakubi was cut off by a growl from his stomach. "I guess we'll start after we eat breakfast." Hakubi opened a subspace pocket and reached inside. "Let's see, we have some carrots for you," Hakubi pulled out a few carrots from the pocket, "and some carrots for me I guess." Rye-Ohki mewed in rapture and pounced on the nearest carrot. Hakubi thought to himself as he munched on a carrot. Since carrots are only native to Earth, Hakubi had a store of them in a subspace pocket so Rye-Ohki could have carrots away from Earth. And since it was subspace, the carrots were preserved perfectly. After they had finished their breakfast, they jumped out of the tree and continued their journey to the city. Once they cleared the forest, walking became a lot easier. They made it into the city in only a few hours. Surius was a busy metropolitan, much like the cities of Jurai. People were walking everywhere, busy about their own things. Hakubi walked up to the first vid-payphone he saw. "Remember the plan?" 'Yes, I'm ready.' Hakubi dialed a few numbers and got the operator. "How can I help you?" a robotic voice answered. "I would like to place a call to the planet Jurai." "Please deposit 500 credits." Hakubi took out a card from a subspace pocket that read "Washu Express: Don't leave the dimension without it!" and fed it into a slot on the machine. A click later, he heard a dial tone. Hakubi punched in a series of number and waited. A few clicks later, most likely caused by Zove and his men monitoring all outgoing transmissions, the phone started to ring. The phone rang a few times and the answering machine picked it up. An image of a crab appeared on the screen and Washu's voice said, "You've reached the greatest genius scientist in the universe. I'm too busy working on the greatest invention of all time right now to listen to your inane banter, so leave a message and I'll get back to you whenever I feel like it. Ha, ha, ha, ha... BEEP..." "Hi everyone, it's me!" Hakubi shouted into the phone, smiling like he was happy to be there. "It was a bumpy flight, but we got here in one piece. Some bad news to report. They lost my luggage. Seems like pirates stole it for all they know. I wish you guys where here. I'm sending you some pictures that I took." Hakubi put the CD of the data Rye-Ohki had collected into another slot and push the "Transmit" button. Rye-Ohki filled in the silence with very loud meowing. "Damn it Carry-Ohki I'm trying to talk, can't you be quiet!" Rye-Ohki responded with even louder meowing and started to jump up and down on Hakubi's head. "I'll call you later." Hakubi hung up and phone and sighed. 'Think they will get the hint?' "I hope so, I really hope so." "Sir, we have a transmission to Jurai from a pay phone," A Syrean office told his commander. "Anything special about it?" "Just some tourist, but some data was also transmitted." "What was it?" "Decoding now." The pictures came up on their monitor and it was not what they expected. They were pictured of carrots. One had Rye-Ohki hugging a carrot, and another had him eating one. "Nothing but this strange orange root." "Forget about it then." It was one o'clock Juraian standard time, and that meant that all the women were gathered around the television watching the soap opera, As the Planets Orbit. "Did you find anything about Ten-chan?" Sasami asked Washu during a commercial break. "Not much. The data he sent us was basically about the pirates. There was nothing that our intelligence couldn't have figured out with our resources, but the scan was incomplete, so who knows what else he found," Washu replied. "I see." Sasami turned back to the television, lost in her own thoughts. "What did the Syreans say?" "General Zove said that they will keep and eye out for them, and would contact us the moment they found something," Sasami replied. "No news yet," she added. The show ended with one of the main characters finding out that she is the twin of her sister's cousin's ex-roommate's sister-in-law's adopted daughter. Everyone went their separate ways, with Washu going to her lab. She sat down on a cushion and summoned her computer. A little crab with a letter in one claw flashed on the bottom of her screen. She clicked on the crab and Hakubi's message started to play. As soon as the message ended, Washu ran out of her lab to look for Sasami. She found her fifteen minutes later with Ryo-Ohki in the garden. "Sasami...Ten- chan...message...lab...now!" Washu managed to say, panting after running through the whole palace looking for her. "Ten-chan sent a message? Let's go!" Sasami grabbed Washu's hand and ran to the lab, half carrying Washu with her. "Miya!" Ryo-Ohki cried as she ran after them. Washu played them the message and waited for a reaction. "That was weird," was all Sasami could say. "I'll say, look at the pictures he sent." Washu pressed a button and images of carrots filled the screen. Ryo-Ohki meowed to herself few times and ran back the message in her head. As if a light bulb hand turned on above her, Ryo-Ohki jumped up and meowed, 'That's it!' "What was that?" Washu asked. Ryo-Ohki asked for her to play the message again, and they all listened carefully. As soon as the message ended, Ryo-Ohki burst into a fury of meows. "Slow down, your not making sense." Washu listened for a few seconds and typed a few commands into the computer. "She says that Rye-Ohki had said something to her in the background, but she could not understand it because of all the background noise," Washu explained for the benefit of Sasami. She played the message again, this time will all the sound turned off except for Rye-Ohki. "Miya, miya!" Ryo-Ohki cried out in joy, and mentally spoke to Washu. "I knew something was up when he called him Carry-Ohki. The last time he used that name was when he went back in time to stop Kain." Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she explained what had happened to Sasami. "Ryo-Ohki says that Rye-Ohki told her that the pirates have the generators and had destroyed Hondaioh. They're in Surius right now trying to get help. He also mentioned that General Zove is some how affiliated with the pirates and that he took another sensor scan of their base and Hakubi had sent it to us using a special cabbit encryption. Those were the pictures of carrots we got." She finished typing and a new image filled the screen. This time it was the scan data that Rye-Ohki had taken. The images focused on various ships and gave a readout on each one. When it got the Vengeance, both Washu and Sasami gasped. "Is that the Soja?" Sasami asked. Washu looked at the data and brought up some more information on the ship. "No it's not the Soja. It just looks similar to it." Washu brought up the schematics of the Soja and compared the two. "As you can clearly see, my ship is still far more superior. It just looks the same because that is the most functional shape for a ship of its class." "And what class is that?" "Planet destroyer of course," Washu replied proudly. "Did you say planet destroyer?" Sasami asked, hoping that she misheard her. "Of course I did. See the big cannon in the center?" And arrow appeared on the screen pointing to the central cannon on the Vengeance and the Soja. "The Soja used gems for power, but this ship uses something more primitive." Washu scanned the notes that Hakubi had added to the data, and confirmed her theory. "It looks like the pirates are going to use the planetary shield generators to power the cannon. That's a lot of re-wiring to do, but it can easily be done if you have to right equipment, which they have been stealing from Juraian shipping." "I think I should go prepare the fleet. Who knows what is going to happen if Zove is involved with the pirates." "That's a good idea. I'll look over this data some more and see what else I can find." 'What do we do now Hakubi?' asked Rye-Ohki. A few hours had passed since they called home and they where sitting in an outdoor caf‚ across from the Imperial Palace. 'As soon as it gets dark, we're going to pay the King a visit,' Hakubi thought back. 'Why can't we just go to the Galaxy Police?' 'Well, for one thing, the Galaxy Police do not have any jurisdiction on Syreius. Even if they believe us, they can't do anything about it. And we don't know how deep this conspiracy goes. We need to find out if the King is also involved with the pirates. If he's not, then he can help us.' 'OK,' Rye-Ohki replied. He finished his bowl of carrot juice and asked Hakubi, 'Can I have another one?' 'Sure,' Hakubi answered with a smile and called out for the waiter. Surius had a busy nightlife. Citizens and tourists walked the sidewalks chatting and window-shopping. No one noticed a particular Juraian with a cat- like creature on his shoulder slip into a dark alleyway near the palace. When he was sure no one was looking, Hakubi teleported onto the roof of the building he was next to. It was not tall enough to see over the walls of the palace, but he could see the roof of a large building in the center of the compound that had many skylights in it. A patrol car passed overhead and Hakubi hid in the shadows. As soon as it was gone, he jumped in to the air and flew over the wall and onto the roof of the large building. Hakubi didn't bother to land, and floated to the nearest skylight and looked inside. He saw a soldier talking to a woman dressed like a secretary and he floated over to the next one. This one was on top of a large staircase and no one was inside. Hakubi floated to the next one. He had hit the jackpot. Underneath was King Creyass himself, working at his desk. "Perfect," Hakubi said quietly as he landed. Rye-Ohki jumped off his shoulder and onto the glass and pressed his ear to it. Hakubi did the same. He could barely make out some whistling. He was about to phase through it and talk to the King when the door of the office opened and General Zove stepped through. Hakubi stopped with only his head phased through the glass. "You wanted to see me Sire?" Zove asked his king. "Yes I did General," Zove replied and sat up in his chair. "Where are my generators?" "I do not know Sire. The Juraian freighter has not arrived yet." "It should have arrived yesterday. Did you contact Jurai?" Hakubi thought to himself. "Yes your Majesty, and they said that the ship may take a few more days." "Then why did Princess Sasami contact me personally to ask about the progress of the search for the missing generators?" Creyass yelled at Zove. "I do not know your Majesty," Zove replied, starting to fluster. "I was never notified that they where missing." 'Stay here,' Hakubi ordered Rye-Ohki and phased completely through the glass. He landed softly behind Zove. "I can tell you what happened to the generator," Hakubi spoke up. Zove spun around and gasped in surprise. "Who the devil are you, and how did you get in here?" Creyass yelled at Hakubi. Zove pulled out his communicator and tried to turn it on before Hakubi shot it out of his hand with an energy blast. "I prefer we keep this meeting private," Hakubi icily said to Zove. Zove rubbed his gloved hand and drew his blaster. "Put that away Zove," Creyass ordered. Zove lowered his blaster, but did not holster it. "Now who are you?" "I am the pilot of the Juraian freighter that was carrying your generators. The freighter that Zove and his pirates raided with the help of a traitor." Hakubi looked Zove straight in the eye. "Zove and his pirates? You mean to tell me that my highest ranking general is in league with the pirates?" Creyass asked, even more surprised. "That's right. Why don't you tell him yourself Zove?" Zove slowly turned around and looked at the king. "He's right. I am the leader of the pirates and I stole those generators." "But why?" Creyass leaned back into his chair, still not believing what he was hearing. "Because you are a pathetic leader!" Zove spit back. "Syreas should be the most powerful empire in the universe, second to no one. Under your rule we have become weak and subservient to the damn Juraians. But with those generators, Syreas will become the greatest empire once again. And we no longer need you." Zove raised his blaster and shot Creyass through the heart. Creyass flinched and slumped in his chair, dead. "You bastard! You're not getting away with this!" Hakubi yelled at Zove. "Catch," was Zove's reply and he tossed Hakubi his blaster, which he caught without thinking. Zove drew another blaster and pointed it at Hakubi. "Guards!" Zove yelled over his shoulder to the door. Hakubi dropped the gun in disgust once he realized what was going on. Two guards burst through the door and froze when they saw their dead king. "He killed the king! Don't let him get away!" "Oh shit!" Hakubi cursed as the guards advanced, blasters ready. "You will not get away with this Zove. I'll be back for you." Hakubi jumped up into the air and teleported outside to the roof. 'What's going on?' Rye-Ohki asked. He had seen everything, but did not hear it all. 'I'll explain later, we have to go." Hakubi scooped up Rye-Ohki and put him on his shoulder as alarms went off all around them. A hover car appeared above them and turned on its spotlights. "Stop right there you scum!" a voice ordered from the car. Hakubi didn't bother to listen and took off, flying low over the roof to the outer wall. "Stop or we will fire!" Hakubi cleared the wall and flew into the heart of the city, hoping to loose them in the traffic above the downtown area. The hover car opened fire and followed them. Rye-Ohki hung on for dear life has Hakubi weaved between the buildings and dodged laser blasts. They flew over the center of town and towards an abandoned area. Hakubi thought to himself. The hover car got closer and fired more rapidly. Hakubi took a quick look over his shoulder and teleported. He materialized right behind the hover car and shot out its engines with a small energy blast. The car spiraled down into an abandoned building, with smoke trailing out its back. Hakubi quickly flew another block and teleported into an abandoned warehouse. A few minutes later some more hover cars shot overhead, thinking that he had flown on. They waited a few more minutes in silence. When the hover cars could no longer be heard, Hakubi went outside and started to walk back to the center of the city. 'So what is going on?' Rye-Ohki asked impatiently. Hakubi sighed and started to explain what had happened as they made their way back to the city. They reached a busy street and Hakubi looked around, the police were everywhere. He teleported onto the nearest building and stood under an overhang to hide himself from the hover cars. Suddenly a large view screen came to life on a building that everyone could see. It was Zove. "I have some sad news to report." The imaged changed from Zove's face to a still shot of Hakubi and Zove standing in front of the King. Zove had his blaster pointed at Hakubi, who had a blaster lying on the floor at his feet. A smoking hole could be seen in the King's chest. "Our beloved King has been assassinated." Hakubi could hear a collective gasp rise from the crowd below him. "He was killed by a known Juraian agent." The imaged changed to a picture of Hakubi. "He has escaped our attempts to capture him. If you see this man, notify the authorities immediately." Hakubi thought to himself. The image changed back to Zove. "As second in command and general of all the armies, I am assuming command of the Syrean Empire and declaring marshal law until this crisis is over. This cowardly deed by the Juraian Empire is an act of war, and will be dealt with as such. As of two minutes ago, we are now at war with the Juraian Empire. Remember our slain Sovereign and know that we did not start this fight, but we will end it with our victory!" Zove's face disappeared, replaced by a wanted poster of Hakubi. "I think we better get someplace to hide, till some of this blows over," Hakubi said out loud. Rye-Ohki meowed in agreement. What had taken them only a few minutes before now took a few hours to reach the edge of the city. Hakubi had to use back alleyways and the rooftops to avoid the police and pedestrians. He came to an abandoned building and phased through the boarded up door. "I guess this is going to be home for a while," Hakubi told Rye-Ohki. They walked into a medium sized room near the back of the building. Hakubi broke up some empty crates that were lying around and a weak energy blast set them on fire. Ryo-Ohki jumped off Hakubi's shoulder and changed to his humanoid form in front of the fire. 'I'm hungry. Can I have a carrot?' "Sure." Hakubi opened a subspace pocket and pulled out a carrot. He tossed it to Rye-Ohki and reached in for another one. His hand felt something strange and he pulled it out. It was a small red cellular phone. Stuck to the back was a note that had a number on it and a message that read, "Call for a good time!" Hakubi recognized the number and smiled. He turned on the phone and dialed. A few rings later, someone answered. "I see you found my latest invention. I knew you would get to it sooner or later if I put it in your carrot pocket," said Washu. "A cell phone is hardly a new invention," Hakubi replied. "This is not a cell phone. It is a subspace communicator with triple encryption and a data port for sending information. Hang on, I'll call you back as soon as I can round up the others." With that Washu hung up. Hakubi put the phone down and pulled out some more carrots from the subspace pocket. Rye-Ohki had already finished the first one greedily grabbed another. A few minutes later the phone rang. Hakubi picked it up and answered it. "Ten-chan, are you all right?" Sasami's voice came from the speaker. "What's going on over there?" Tenchi's voice also came over the speaker. "Did you really have to kill him?" this was Ryoko, "I mean, I understand if you had to, but..." "Miya! Miya!" Ryo-Ohki added. "Ah!" Hakubi yelled as he held the phone away from his ear. They were using a speakerphone and had spoken at the same time very loudly. He put the phone back to his ear and heard Washu try to get control over the group. "Now then, why don't you start at the beginning, Ten-chan," Washu calmly asked over the phone. Hakubi sighed and explained what had happened, starting with the pirate attack. An hour later he finished. "That explains a lot," Said Devon. "It sure does," Tenchi agreed. "Ten-chan, do you know what has happened since Zove killed Creyass?" "No. I had to avoid everyone, my picture is all over the place," Hakubi answered. "Zove wasn't bluffing when he said he declared war. We received a formal declaration a couple of hours ago with an added clause that states that all Juraians have 72 hours to leave the system or they will be taken as prisoners of war. It's a good thing the Kiyone and Mihoshi are near by. They're heading towards you right now to try to smooth things over. They should arrive by tomorrow. You should try to contact them and give them your side of the story." "Finally some good news!" Hakubi shouted with joy. "And I can take of this silly disguise now." "No, don't do that," Ayeka suddenly said over the phone. "If they find out that the Prince is in Surius, it will only raise more suspicions that we orchestrated the King's assassination. And the police and army will try even harder to capture you for leverage in the war." "I understand. Is there anything else?" "No, nothing right now. We'll call if we need to talk to you," Sasami replied. Rye-Ohki mewed a goodbye and Hakubi hung up the phone. "We better start heading to the Galaxy Police Embassy. It's on the other side of the city." Rye-Ohki finished his carrot and changed into his cabbit form and hopped onto Hakubi's shoulder. Hakubi stamped out the fire and headed out. They had made good time traveling to the embassy and reached it late in the next morning. Hakubi had teleported them to the roof of a nearby building that overlooked the embassy. "I'm going to take a nap," Hakubi said with a yawn. "Wake me if anything happens." He found a shaded spot and laid down. Rye-Ohki hopped to the edge of the roof and looked around, watching the people below walk around. "Damn the Galaxy Police," Zove said to Suno, who had just arrived on planet. "When will the Vengeance be ready?" "Engines and life support are already functional. The main cannon will take another day to bring online," Suno replied. "That's too long. The Galaxy Police ambassador from Jurai will arrive today. If that damn Juraian agent contacts her, our plans will be ruined." "What do you propose we do?" Suno asked, knowing what the answer would be. "Don't let him contact her, or her contact him for that matter. I can't be involved with this, so don't tell me anything. But you can do whatever it takes to stop them." "Yes sir." Suno bowed and left Zove's office. Suno thought to himself as he made his way to the armory. 'Hakubi wake up, they're coming!' Rye-Ohki mewed loudly. "How long have I been asleep?" Hakubi asked as he sat up. 'Only a few hours, look down the road.' Hakubi got up and looked to where Rye-Ohki was pointing. He saw two hover cars come down the street. They where painted black and the windows where heavily tinted. Both cars had the Galaxy Police flag attached to the front. 'Can we go meet them?' Rye-Ohki asked excitedly. "You go ahead, I'll come down in a few minutes." Rye-Ohki gave Hakubi a puzzled look and dismissed it. He jumped off the building and used his own flying powers to break his fall. He raced across the street and up to the cars. Four Galaxy Police officers emerged from the first car and one of them opened the door of the second car. Mihoshi stepped out first followed by Kiyone. Rye-Ohki zigzagged around the legs of the guards and changed into his humanoid form with a "Meow!" "Rye-Ohki! What a nice surprise!" Mihoshi squealed in delight as she scooped up the cabbit-child in a hug. Despite their awkward first meeting, Rye- Ohki found that Mihoshi was actually fun to be with and hugged her back. "Rye-Ohki! Where is Ten-chan?" Kiyone asked. Rye-Ohki pointed over Mihoshi's shoulder to a building and saw a flash of light. Hakubi saw Mihoshi hug Rye-Ohki and smiled at the scene. He stepped closer to the edge when a small explosion and a flash of light erupted from the building next to him. He turned his head to see a rocket fly through the window and streak towards his friends. 'Rye-Ohki! Shield, now!' Hakubi yelled to his cabbit through his mental link and flew towards the building. Rye-Ohki got the message and closed his eyes. A split second later a force field formed around the group. "What the?" Kiyone gasped as the rocket struck the shield and exploded. The blast knocked all of them off their feet, but they were uninjured. Kiyone opened her eyes and saw Rye-Ohki standing with his eyes closed and his arms spread. "Rye-Ohki what happened?" Suddenly the building across the street started to shake. Kiyone looked over and saw a series of explosion go off inside. It looked like there was a war going on. Only on the fifth floor though. Familiar beams of purple energy lanced through the walls and windows as the explosions rolled across the fifth floor, approaching the wall nearest to them. A second later, a battered hard-suit tore through the wall and landed on its back with a crunch on top of a car. Kiyone looked at the suit and recognized a rocket launcher on one arm that had been cleanly cut in half. She looked up at the hole and saw a figure standing there with smoke billowing out behind him. He had glowing purple eyes and a ball of purple energy in one hand. The hard-suit suddenly lurched to its feet and pointed a laser cannon on its other arm at Kiyone. Kiyone yelled out in surprise, as a large beam of purple energy slammed into the hard-suit's shoulder, knocking it of its feet again. In a blink of an eye, Hakubi was on top of it. He used his energy sword and cut the other arm off and with both his hands, he ripped off the chest plate. "You!" Hakubi gasped, looking at Suno inside the hard-suit. "It's the assassin!" a bystander shouted and pointed to Hakubi. "Get him!" Hakubi looked around and saw a mob of angry Syreans heading towards him. He reached inside the hard-suit and pulled Suno out. He threw him at the feet of the Galaxy Police guards and said, "Book him!" and took off. 'Stay with Kiyone, I'll be back once I loose this mob,' Hakubi thought to Rye-Ohki. "Hakubi, come back here!" Kiyone yelled at him as he flew away. She got up and started to follow but Rye-Ohki grabbed her arm and shook his head with a small meow. "He better have a good explanation for all this!" Kiyone said to Rye-Ohki. Rye-Ohki replied with a happy meow and jumped up to give her a hug. "I'm glad to see you too," Kiyone said with a sigh. "Wow! What happened?" Mihoshi asked in her usual clueless tone. Kiyone looked at the damage. One car was crushed by the hard-suit and the other was completely destroyed, except for the portion that Rye-Ohki's shield had overlapped. The building across the street was on fire and fire crews were already on scene to put it out. "Just like Ryoko. Everywhere he goes, destruction follows," Kiyone said under her breath. Rye-Ohki just smiled, as if nothing had happened at all. Hakubi easily got a way from the angry mob and made his way back to the Galaxy Police Embassy. He could feel that Rye-Ohki was somewhere in the building on an upper floor. He walked through the front door and through a hidden scanner imbedded in the door jam. A light blinked on the front desk and Hakubi could see the guard working the desk push some buttons. "Where can I find Ambassador Makibi?" Hakubi calmly asked the guard. "Just one moment," the guard replied nervously. He pushed some more buttons and Hakubi thought he heard the door behind him lock. Two policemen walked up from behind and drew their blasters. "Put your hands up, you're under arrest!" a policeman shouted to Hakubi. Hakubi sighed and complied with their orders. Another policeman rushed up to him and cuffed him. They led him to a room and pushed him inside. "Look, just contact the Ambassador and everything will be cleared up," Hakubi tried to tell the policemen. "Be quiet!" a policeman ordered and pushed Hakubi into a chair next to the table in the room. Two more policemen walked in, one had brown hair, the other black. "I'm Detective First Class Lunes and this is my partner Detective First Class Vernes," the policeman with brown hair told him. "Good for you. Now can I please talk to the Ambassador?" Hakubi asked. "You are under arrest for the murder of King Creyass and other crimes of conspiracy against the Syrean Government," Lunes answered, ignoring Hakubi's question. "Hello? Is anyone home? Let me speak with the Ambassador!" "We'll never let murdering scum like you get near the ambassador," Vernes spoke up. Hakubi decided that reasoning would not work and another method was needed. He tried to phase through his cuffs and got a shock in return. He looked at them carefully and noticed that they were energy handcuffs. Apparently the police thought he was a real threat and made the extra effort to use the special handcuffs. He put his hands under the table and made a small energy knife. He flipped the knife so it pointed inwards and stabbed the lock of his handcuffs. "I was the one who saved the Ambassador remember?" Hakubi tried again. "That may be, but the pilot of the hard suit indicated that you were the one who hired him to kill the ambassador," said Lunes. "That is a bunch of B.S. Suno is a Juraian traitor who works for General Zove. Contact the Ambassador and everything will be cleared up." "Why don't you pipe down, the Syrean Police are already on their way to pick you up, you can complain all you want to them," said Vernes. "That's it! I'm going to see her myself!" Hakubi stood up and threw his handcuffs and the surprised detectives. 'Rye-Ohki! Where are you?' Hakubi asked mentally as he flew through the ceiling leaving the detectives in a panic. "Damn that Ten-chan!" Kiyone yelled out loud as she paced the floor of her quarters. "He is always running off somewhere leaving us in the lurch. Why can't he be more responsible like his father?" "Stop worrying Kiyone," said Mihoshi. She and Rye-Ohki were playing patty-cake on the sofa. "Or you're going to have another nervous breakdown." "And who was it that caused it?" Kiyone asked angrily and she stormed up to Mihoshi. Rye-Ohki let out a laugh and jumped up to Kiyone and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Rye-Ohki, do you know where Hakubi is?" Rye-Ohki nodded and pointed at the floor. "What?" Hakubi phased through the ceiling to the second floor, and kept rising. He saw the police tumble out of the stairwell just before he phased through the next ceiling. He kept on rising for two more levels, with the police running up the stair following him. He ended his assent on the fifth floor and flew down the hall. He stopped in the middle of a hallway and looked up. 'Rye-Ohki, you're on the sixth floor not the fifth,' Hakubi thought to his cabbit. 'Whoops,' came a reply. Hakubi flew upwards and phased through the ceiling. He popped up right next to Rye-Ohki, startling Kiyone. "Tenchi Masaki! You have a lot of explaining to do!" Kiyone yelled at him. Hakubi winced slightly; he knew that she was really mad at him when she used his proper name. Mihoshi jumped off the sofa and gave him a big hug, yelling out "Ten- chan!" "Hi Mihoshi," Hakubi replied. "Look Kiyone, I can explain everything, but I need you to clear something up for me first." At that moment, the police burst through the door. "Get him!" one of the policemen yelled. "Get who?" Mihoshi asked, still hugging Hakubi. "The guy you're holding, Ma'am!" Mihoshi gave Hakubi a puzzled look and asked, "Are you playing hide and seek with the police?" "Don't be stupid Mihoshi!" yelled Kiyone. "You guys get out of here. There's been a mistake, this is a friend of ours," Kiyone ordered the police. "Yes Ma'am," the police replied and left the room, with some scratching their heads. "Did I win?" Mihoshi asked, still oblivious to what the real situation was. "Yes you won. Now tell us what is going on?" Kiyone asked. Hakubi started at the beginning and told them everything. He pulled a data pad out of a subspace pocket and showed them the data on the Vengeance. "And that's about all of it," said Hakubi. "So Zove killed the king and assumed power, and with this new ship he can stay in power and try to conquer the rest of the universe," Kiyone summed up. "That's right. And now he declared war on Jurai." Hakubi was about to continue but was interrupted by a knocking at the door. "Come in," Kiyone yelled. A policewoman entered and handed Kiyone a data disc. "This just came from Jurai over the super-interspace hotline. And the Syrean police is here and want custody of the assassin and the hard suit pilot," said the woman. "Tell them that we made a mistake and do not have the assassin, and about the pilot," Kiyone looked over to Hakubi who shook his head, "don't let them have him. Tell them that he attacked the Galaxy Police and that gives us jurisdiction." The woman saluted and left. Kiyone picked up a data pad and inserted the disc. Images of Ryo-Ohki and carrots came up. "Let me try," Hakubi said with a laugh. He ejected the disc and put it in his data pad. "The message was cabbit encrypted and this data pad can decode it," Hakubi explained. He pushed play and an image of Washu in her professor uniform appeared. "Hello everyone, and welcome to Starship Anatomy 101." Washu smiled and a screen came down out of nowhere. "This is the Vengeance." A picture of the ship appeared. "Not a very original name, but it's not a very original design anyways." The imaged transformed into a cross-section of the ship. "Unlike my perfect Soja, this ship requires massive amounts of energy to power its main cannon. So every cubic meter of free space is used in generating this power. That means that there is a very small crew compliment, most likely just a commander, a pilot, and a weapons officer. Everything else is automated. The two shield generators that they stole are the key components in powering this ship." Washu pulled out a pointer and pointed to a wing of the ship. "According to the data that you provided, I can say with a moderate amount of certainty that there will a generator in each wing of the ship. All you have to do is find these generators and destroy them. This will cause a chain reaction that will destroy the whole ship. A single standard Galaxy Police high explosive charge attached to each generator ought to do it. Or you can just work your way up to the bridge and take over control of the ship, but where's the fun in that?" "You can't be serious?" Kiyone asked. "You want to take that ship on by yourself?" "Why should you destroy or take over this ship you may ask," Washu continued. "Because if the pirates wired everything correctly and can convert 100% of the maximum shield potential energy to cannon energy, it will so powerful that even Tsunami may not be able to stop it. This ship is a major threat to the whole universe and it first target is Jurai. I'm sure your mother will be very annoyed if her home planet got turned into a pile of component atoms." "Great," Kiyone said under her breath. "Rye-Ohki should be able to fly you back to the pirate's asteroid base, but I'm pretty sure they moved the ship by now. Your homework assignment is to find the new position of the Vengeance. Send it back to us and the fleet will be able to help you. That is all for today, class is dismissed." The message ended and Hakubi tossed the data pad into a subspace pocket. "I know where we can find the location of the Vengeance," Hakubi said to Kiyone. "But first, can I use your shower?" Kiyone face-faulted. Suno sat in a small white room with only a metal table and a few chairs as decoration. There was a large mirror covering one wall and a camera in the corner. Kiyone walked in and sat down in the chair across from Suno. "I know who you are," Kiyone said to Suno, "And I know what you did." Suno gave Kiyone an amused look. "Is that so? Then what do you want?" "I want to know where the Vengeance is." Suno gave a small laugh. "Do you really think I will tell you that? Don't play me as a fool!" "If that ship gets to Jurai, millions will die! Don't you care about your home planet?" Kiyone pleaded. "Home planet?" Suno spit back, starting to get angry. "Once that pathetic weakly became emperor, Jurai no longer held any meaning for me. Jurai needs a strong, noble leader, not a backwater, farm boy who got lucky with the Emperor's daughter. Jurai will be better off under the rule of General Zove. With the combined strength of Syreas and Jurai, no one would dare appose us!" "You have no idea what Tenchi went through for Ayeka!" Kiyone yelled back. "He's more noble than any Juraian I know and he would do anything to protect the ones he loves and Jurai!" Kiyone stood up and grabbed Suno's shirt, pulling him out of his chair. "And I pity those who would dare cross swords with him," Kiyone said icily as she looked directly into Suno's eyes. "Kiyone, this is going no where. Let me take a crack at him," Hakubi's voice came over the intercom. "Fine." Kiyone pushed Suno back into his chair. The door opened and Rye- Ohki, in his humanoid form, waked in. He grabbed Kiyone's hand and led her outside. "Misaki is that you? Or should I call you Masaki?" Suno called out, smiling into the mirror. "So you finally figured it out," Hakubi replied as he phased through the mirror. He had washed out the dye in his hair and removed the contact lenses. "Not everyone can tear apart a hard suit by himself." Hakubi closed the door and unplugged the camera before he walked up to Suno. "Now that we have some privacy, we can talk." "Oh, I'm so scared!" Suno cried in mock fear. "You know what your crimes are," Suno smiled, "and you know what the punishment for high treason and spying is." "You can't touch me," said Suno confidently. "Really? You see, we have this understanding with the Galaxy Police where we get to prosecute anyone who breaks Juraian law. And because of the nature of your crimes, the extradition process has been sped up. And you are on Galaxy Police territory right now, so the Syreans can't help you. The bottom line is, your head is already mine!" Suno stopped smiling, "I want my lawyer." "And don't think it will be a quick death. I'm sure my Grandmother and Aunt wouldn't want that," Hakubi continued, ignoring Suno. "Ah, I know the perfect way." Hakubi looked at Suno and gave him an evil smile. "You think that we're pretty weak huh?" Suno only stared. In a flash of light, Hakubi changed into his light hawk armor, with five wings in front of him. "First goes your right leg." Hakubi grabbed a wing, forming the light hawk sword and stabbed it through the table, leaving only the handle sticking up. Suno flinched. "And then your other leg." Hakubi formed another sword and slammed into through the table next to the other sword. "And then each of your arms." Hakubi formed a sword in each hand and stuck both of them in the table. "And I'll go real slow, to make sure to burn close the wound. So you will be quite alive for the last one." Hakubi formed a sword with his last wing and placed the tip under Suno's chin. A bead of sweat ran down the side of Suno's face. "Or you can tell me what I want to know, and we'll let the Galaxy Police handle you." Hakubi let go of his sword and all five light hawk swords disappeared. Suno gulped and fidgeted in his chair. Hakubi leaned forward and placed both hands on the table and asked, "What do you have to say?" He gave Suno another evil smile with his eyes glowing an eerie yellow. "All right! I'll tell you everything." Suno yelled out. The mighty Syrean Space Armada rocketed through space, bolstered by the pirate ships and the Vengeance. A lone Galaxy Police cruiser appeared and approached the fleet. "This is the Galaxy Police! All Pirate vessels are ordered to cut their engines and are under arrest," Hakubi's voice came over the communicator. "Get rid of that annoyance," Zove ordered from the bridge of the Vengeance. A few of the ships nearest to the police cruise opened fire. The cruiser dodged the first volley and returned fire. One Syrean ship was hit and veered away. Soon, more ships entered the fracas and the Galaxy Police cruiser was quickly destroyed. "Damage report," Zove called out. "Minimal damage to three Syrean destroyers," a soldier reported. "How soon till we reach Juraian space?" "Approximately one hour." 'Kiyone is not going to be happy,' Rye-Ohki thought to Hakubi. "I know," Hakubi replied as he tossed the remote control for the police cruiser into a subspace pocket. "I'll write her a check. Did they detect us?" 'Not yet, your plan is working.' Rye-Ohki stealthily made his way closer to the fleet from the rear. The police cruiser had been a diversion so that they could board the Vengeance without being noticed. Rye-Ohki flew right behind the Vengeance and matched its speed. Hakubi concentrated for a few seconds and teleported himself on board. A second later, Rye-Ohki in his cabbit form phased through the hull and hopped onto Hakubi's shoulder. 'Let's go!' Hakubi quickly got his bearings and flew off in the direction of the nearest generator. The ship was a maze of piping and wires. Hakubi thought to himself as he flew on. He came to a large cylindrical machine and stopped. 'Is this it?' Rye-Ohki asked. Hakubi looked it over and replied, 'It sure is.' He pulled a fat, circular disk from a subspace pocket and set it against the machine. He heard a faint click and the disk was secured. He set it for remote detonation and armed it. 'One down, one more to go.' Washu was correct and there were only three officers aboard. "Sir, we are detecting an unusual energy reading from below," the weapons officer reported to Zove. "Let me see." Zove looked at the monitor and saw a faint peak rise and fall in the energy spectrum. "Run an internal thermal scan." A second later the scan completed and Zove read the various readings. "Activate security systems. We have an intruder!" "That's the last one," Hakubi told Rye-Ohki as he armed the explosive. Suddenly an alarm went off. "What now?" "Whoever you are, you're going to regret ever coming here!" a voice yelled over the intercom. 'That's Zove!' Rye-Ohki thought to Hakubi. 'Let's blow this ship and him with it.' "No, not yet. I have a better idea." Rye-Ohki hung tightly as Hakubi flew through the hallway at top speed. Automated security measures where being brought online and soon, they were facing a gauntlet of laser cannons and security robots. 'Where are we going?' Rye-Ohki asked as he desperately hung on as Hakubi weaved between laser blasts. 'We're going to the bridge,' Hakubi replied as he blasted some turrets. Hakubi sliced a few robots in half with his energy sword and continued down the hall. 'There's too many of them!' The hallway was now completely clogged with robots. Hakubi let out a yell and created a force field around him and flew right into the middle of the mess. Robots and laser blasts bounced off his force field and Hakubi flew down the hall unhindered, leaving a pile of twisted metal in his wake. "The intruder is make his way to the bridge," an officer reported. "Seal the bridge, and get more security bots up here," Zove ordered. "Too late!" They heard a loud explosion outside the bridge doors and then a purple beam of light poked through the thick metal door. It made a large circle and the door fell open, with Hakubi standing on the other side. "I said I'd be back," Hakubi told Zove and he pointed his energy sword at him. The pilot immediately went for his blaster, only to have it shot away by Hakubi with his other hand. "Time for you to surrender." "You must be joking?" Zove asked in disbelief. "Why should I surrender when I have the most powerful fleet in existence under my command?" "Because I'm going to make you!" Hakubi jumped towards Zove, and reached out to punch him. He swung and hit a force field instead. The field gave of a large shock and Hakubi was pushed back. "You can't get near me." Zove smiled and looked out the view screen. "Why don't you sit down and enjoy the show." At that moment the Juraian fleet appeared. Sasami's image appeared on the view screen, "To all incoming vessels. You have entered Juraian space without proper authorization. Either turn back and go home or surrender." "We will do neither," Zove sneered at the screen. "Even the great Tsunami can't withstand the power of this ship. Either you surrender or you will be destroyed!" "Sir! Approximately fifty Galaxy Police cruisers are approaching," an officer reported. "You stay out of this," Zove told the Galaxy Police. "This is war and you have no right to interfere." "You are correct General," Kiyone replied as her image appeared on another view screen. "We are not here for you, but for the pirates. Unless they are under your protection, in which case, you'll be under arrest as well." Zove motioned to have communications put on hold and swore. "Damn the Galaxy Police. We can take them all on. Lieutenant, prepare the main cannon for firing. The target is Tsunami." "I don't think so," Hakubi spoke up. He pulled a small remote from a pocket in his armor and pressed the button. Instantly, two small explosions could be felt through the floor. The lights dimmed and soon more explosions could be felt. "You didn't!" Zove yelled at Hakubi. "Damage report now!" "Sir, the generators have been destroyed. We're loosing power fast. All systems are failing, we're going under!" the weapons officer reported. "No! This can't be happening! I was so close," Zove wailed and slumped to his knees. The other soldiers ran for the escape pods and abandoned the ship. With the power gone, the force field disappeared. Hakubi walked up to Zove and picked him up by the front of his shirt. "Now you are going to surrender." "Never. We will fight to the last man!" Zove spit back. "Then we'll have to do this the hard way. Rye-Ohki." Rye-Ohki transformed into his ship form while still on the bridge. He smashed all the consoles and punched a hole in the ceiling. Hakubi teleported himself and Zove inside once Rye-Ohki had finished transforming. They blasted through the rest of the ceiling and flew away as the ship exploded behind them. Rye-Ohki's light hawk wings went up to protect them from the blast, but the shock wave sent them tumbling. They spun out of control for a few seconds and suddenly stopped. Hakubi looked out a viewport and saw Tsunami next to them. She had caught them in her tractor beams. Hakubi thought as he picked himself off the floor. Rye-Ohki had imprisoned Zove in a large crystal the second he came aboard and it was now upside down, leaning against a wall. "To all Syrean warships," Hakubi said into an open channel, "We have your general." Hakubi moved so the camera could see Zove trapped inside the crystal. "It is time for you to surrender." "If you surrender now, no harm will come to you. General Zove will be brought to Jurai for trial," Sasami added onboard Tsunami. "One vessel will be allowed to come with us, but the rest will be escorted back across the border. If you do not surrender peacefully, we will open fire. You have ten minutes to decide." The pirate vessels immediate turned around and raced back home, with the Galaxy Police hot on their tails. The other ships powered down their weapons and engines. "This Commander Cruise of the Syrean Space Force," an older man with a gray beard replied. "Being the highest ranking officer remaining, I officially surrender the Syrean Fleet. My ship will accompany you to Jurai and I have ordered the remaining fleet back home." "That is acceptable, Commander," said Sasami. She closed the channel and opened another. "Why don't you two come aboard and say hello to your mother?" Sasami told Hakubi. The End Epilogue: To the public's surprise, General Zove was not only charged with crimes against Jurai but also for the assignation of King Creyass. Washu had hacked into the Syrean security system and found the security camera footage of that night. Once Zove saw the recording, he confessed to the crime and Hakubi was exonerated. With their king gone, the Empirical Counsel assumed control of the Syrean Empire until a new king could be found. Zove was sent back to Syreius to be punished for his crimes and faces a few hundred years of imprisonment on Jurai as well. Lt. Suno was court-martialed and imprisoned, a Lt. Hakubi Misaki received a promotion and a medal for excellence beyond the call of duty, and of course, Rye-Ohki got a large basket of fresh carrots from Earth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well that ends my second story. I hope you like it. I know it is more about Hakubi than Tenchi and crew. If you hate it, love it, or are just plain confused, please send all questions and comments to tm_fan1023@hotmail.com. I would really like some feedback. I have a few more ideas for other fics, so look for another one in the future.