Tenchi Muyo! Galaxy Police:
The Phoenix Project
By Trakal
----------------------------

-CHAPTER ONE-

        "We can't hold them back much longer!" the desperate voice cried out as
weaponsfire was exchanged between both sides and the owner of the voice, a middle-aged
Ailurian dove for cover,rolled to one side, barely staying ahead of a barrage of shots
which left burning holes in the floor just behind him, and then aimed and fired his own
weapon in retaliation.
        A Lacertan came running around the corner, firing his weapon
back the way he came. He caught his breath a moment, then panted.
        "This was supposed to be easy."
        "We were set up." the Ailurian told him.
        Another barrage of fire passed overhead and they both cringed involuntarily a
moment before remembering they were trained officers and firing back.
        "But who? Why?" The Lacertan wondered.

        The enemy; a number of cold unfeeling drones, platinum blue, eight feet tall, all
with twelve eyes set like the numbers of a clock around their faces. Each eye blinked
individually in a random pattern that was both hideous and hypnotic. They were
robots. Their faces had no other definable features, though a scent detection filter near
the center in the form of a small mesh-covered hole could've been considered as a type of
nose.

        A Galaxy Police scientist studying one of the destroyed drones had concluded that
each eye was programmed to view the surrounding area on a different wavelength; atomic,
subatomic, infrared, and so on. But they had not been able to determine their origin. Were
these robots automated soldiers sent to destroy before some alien species came to claim
this galaxy as their own, or were they a race unto themselves? Without this knowledge, all
the Galaxy Police could do was try to fight off the ever-advancing robotic battalions.

        Cybernetic weapons might have turned the tide in the earlier days of the war, but
they had been outlawed in 3048 and all books and videos having to do with their making
had been burned. Now, in 5025, no one was left alive who knew the forbidden art. Only the
name survived. Passed on generation after generation in hushed whispers behind closed
doors. A phrase with no meaning behind it.

        The last ever constructed Galaxy Police Headquarters had been obliterated in 4019
when one of the pilots in the squadron sent to fly 'overhead' during the Headquarters'
official opening had suddenly fired a weapon that was not of Galaxy Police origin.
Thousands had died and the survivors had simply been transfered to the minor Galaxy
Police station-ships throughout the various Solar Systems.

        "They're breaking through!" the Lacertan cried out unneccessarily as the enemy's
lasers cut a hole in the armored steel door.
        "Try to hold them off!" the Ailurian shouted. "I'm going to see if there's
anything here we can use."
        "This place doesn't look like its been used in centuries." The Lacertan told him.
         "I know. But they may have something here so old that these
things don't have defense against it."
        "You're looking for cyb..."
        The Ailurian shot him a warning glance and he fell silent.
        "Yes, I am." The Ailurian admitted a moment later.
        "What if you find them? No one alive knows how to implan tthem. They could fry
your nervous system. Maybe even kill you."
        The Ailurian looked crestfallen. "I hadn't thought of that." He muttered. He
slammed his fist on a door and theold panel fell in. Caught by surprise, he followed soon
after, landing ontop of the broken door-panel with a pained "Oof!"
        "You okay?" The Lacertan asked.
        "Fine." the Ailurian grumbled. "I always like to drop in unexpectedly."
        The Lacertan smiled at the joke, and the Ailurian soon felt better. But only for a
moment. There was still a war going on.
        A noise returned the Lacertan's attention to the enemy.
They were almost through!
        "We're in sickbay." The Ailurian realized. "You try to hold them off. I'll see if
we can salvage some medical supplies."
        Another barrage of enemy fire came.

        The Ailurian gathered up all the supplies he could carry and placed them in his
Galaxy Police hypercube. He was turning to leave when he saw a rack of cryogenically
preserved bloodsamples:

        Tantei Mihoshi   Tantei Kiyone    Tantei A

        Three detectives. The Ailurian placed all three vials in his hypercube just as
 another barrage of enemy fire struck from behind. He felt a searing pain through him.
He'd been hit! Hespun and returned fire, bringing down a few robots. He stumbled toward
the door. Passing one of two desks, he saw the Lacertan lying prone on the floor,
unmoving. He bent to check his comrade. As he did so, a volley of enemy fire passed
overhead.
        "Thanks." He told his fallen friend. But it was hopeless.

        The enemy had broken though. He dove behind the second desk.

         There was another round of weaponsfire. Then another.
         Then...

         ...silence.

         The Ailurian sat behind the charred remains of the second desk and waited.

        "Hello?" The voice belonged to an organic and the Ailurian wanted to weep with
relief.  "Is anyone there?"
        "I'm back here." The Ailurian called back.
        "Are you alone?" the voice asked.
        "There's another officer here. But he's been killed."

        The owner of the voice walked around the desk. She looke dat his uniform, then
saluted.
        "Sir." She told him. "I am Ensign Taki."
                "At ease, Ensign." the Ailurian coughed. "I'm Colonel Seki. I'm from the
Thirty-Ninth Squadron."
        "I'm from the Sixty-Second Squadron. Fourth Division." the ensign informed him.
"I'm sure my Commanding Officer will be happy to answer any questions you might have. Now
if you'll come with me, we'll get you fixed right up."

        The Sixty-Second Squadron's Fourth Division was a well-organized fleet consisting
of fifteen vessels. The command ship sat the vanguard while the others held formation.

        The patrol shuttle carrying Ensign Taki and his new guest headed not for the
command ship, but for a smaller vessel alongside it.

        "Our medical ship." Taki explained. "It lessens the chance of our medical staff
being killed should the command ship come under fire."

        It made perfect sense, Seki decided as the patrol shuttle docked alongside the
medical ship. A ramp extended from the larger vessel and Seki followed Taki down it.

        "Dr. Hagi," Taki addressed an elderly Ailurian in a long white coat and
spectacles, "this is Colonel Seki."
        "You're from the Thirty-Ninth Squadron." Hagi noted.
        "Yes. That's right." Seki nodded.
        "What were you doing at the ruins of Seventh Headquarters?"
        "My squadron received a message that there was something there which might be of
use during the war. I went to check it out with a small squadron. Most of us were killed
as soon as we got there. My last man died moments before the Ensign here found me."
        "He was in sickbay, sir." Taki informed. Seki might have had a higher rank, but he
was from another Galaxy Police fleet, and until he heard otherwise, there was no reason
to treat Seki as anything more than a guest.
        "Is this true?" Dr. Hagi asked.
        "Yes." Seki replied.
        "Have you found any useful medical supplies you would be
willing to share with us?"
        "Some. The medicines are outdated so I don't think they'll be of much use There
are bandages and other non-perishable supplies, though."
        "Excellent." Dr. Hagi told him.
        "I also found vials of preserved blood belonging to three detectives who worked at
Seventh Headquarters."
        "Which three detectives?" Dr. Hagi asked.
        "Detective Mihoshi...." Seki began.
        "Yes..." Dr. Hagi prompted.
        "Detective Kiyone..." Seki continued.
        "Yes..." Dr. Hagi prompted further.
         "And Tantei A." Seki concluded.
        "The legend." Dr. Hagi muttered. "Could it be..."
        "Doctor?" Seki asked.
        "We have a cloning facility on this ship." Dr. Hagi told him. "We use it to clone
body parts in case a limb is severed in battle or too severely damaged. We've never tried
to clone a full person, but it is possible." He pressed a device against the wound in
Seki's back and the wound sealed itself.
          "Possible." Seki agreed. "But is it feasible? I mean what will the clone be
like? Will he possess the memories of his original?"
        "Not right away." Dr. Hagi admitted. "For the first week or two, we'll be working
with forming a mental base."
        "What do you mean?"
         "Tantei A existed over three thousand years ago," Dr. Hagi explained. "If we
simply implanted his mind on a blank brain, he would be unable to cope with today's world.
We must first imprint facts about the world around us on his mind and then slowly
reintroduce his original memories building on the new foundation we're going to give him."
         "We don't have time for that!" Seki exclaimed. "Every day our enemy grows closer
and closer to destroying us! We can't wait for you to retrain him."
         "Colonel, listen to me, if we don't retrain his mind, then he won't be able to
         properly
communicate with us. Do you understand what that could mean? Imagine shouting an
order for him to throw you a weapon and being tossed a child's toy?"
         "I understand." Seki sympathized. "I also understand that our enemy isn't going
to stand around and wait for us to retrain a new ally. I want him on his feet and ready
for duty by morning."
          "Sir, you don't seem to realize..."
          "That's an order."

-CHAPTER 2-

        The first stage of mental programming, the one that ensured that Tantei-A would
be able to function at an adult level, took three hours and had been done within moments
of his re-creation

        The second stage of mental programming, which dealt with basic language skills
and remedial reading took a full day, the information implanted slowly.

        After the second stage, Tantei-A was awakened.
        "KAIN!!!!!" He cried out. But the word was cried out of instinct and it no longer held
any meaning for him. He blinked in confusion, wondering where he'd heard it and why he,
instinctively, hated it so much. He looked around, growing even more confused. He coudn't
remember where he'd been when he'd last been conscious, but he was certain that it wasn't
where he was now. "Where am I?" He demanded.
         "Relax," a nurse told him. "I'll get the doctor." She left the room and headed to the
doctor's office. When she returned with the doctor in tow, Tantei-A was sitting up, trying
to read his medical chart. He couldn't.
        Frustrated, Tantei-A slammed the chart down. "What the hell is going on here?"
he insisted on knowing.
        "Take it easy, Tantei-A." The doctor suggested, in a soothing voice.
        "How do you know my code name?"  Tantei-A questioned.
        "The name was on the vial of blood that was taken from the sickbay at the
ruins." The doctor told him, in a kindly voice."
        "Vial of blood? What ruins?"
        "I'll tell you when you're ready to know." the doctor explained.
        "And what about right now?"
        "Right now, I suggest you get dressed. You going to school."
        "School?" Tantei-A asked.
        "That's right. You have a high intelligence capacity. However, your mind currently
has only basic remedial knowledge. I'm placing you in a learning cubicle. We'll start with
grade school."
        "Grade school?" Tantei-A looked as offended as he sounded.
        "Please understand, you will not be observed by anyone outside of myself and
your tutor."
        "Why grade school?"
        "It has been hundreds of years since you last took breath." Hagi explained.
"Since then, there have been changes in the world including changes in language. Without
proper training, simple discussions could sound like nonsense to you."
        Tantei-A nodded. "As much as I wish otherwise, you have a point. But I wish there
was another way. I'm going to feel like an idiot."
        "If you think you're going to feel like an idiot in school, just think of how you would
feel if you found yourself in the public eye not knowing how to respond to a simple
question."
        Tantei-A nodded. "But couldn't I start in 5th or 6th grade. Surely..."
        "In order to understand the language, you must first understand our alphabet and
basic grammar."