Blood Red Moon Eternity Chapter 10: Crystal Teardrop Disclaimers: All characters belong to their various Copyrights; Reinhart, Rosa, Cain, and Elayne belong to me. Alucard, Carrie, Sheann'a, Drathar, and Dracula belong to Konami. Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka, Mihoshi, Tsunami, Sasami, Yosho, Nobuyuki, Washu, Mayuka, Ryo-Ohki, and Nobuyuki all belong to Pioneer/AIC. Beyond my characters, I claim no rights to any of the characters, beyond their use in this story. Comments, quips, insults, and death threats will only be accepted at Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com Blood Red Moon: Eternity is set one year after the events in Blood Red Moon: Resurrection. Reinhart and Carrie have been married, and their daughter Elayne has been born. Alucard and his familiars have built a small cabin near the rest of the clan. Blood Red Moon: Eternity is the last in a three series story arc. "Here we belong, fighting to survive in the war with the darkest power!" - Queen, Princes of the Universe ***** Lady Tokimi smiled as the Alliance fleet passed by her hidden armada, and opened a communication to her sub commanders. She had given them all their orders; all that remained was to order them forward. Just before she did, though, she heard a scream of pain. She blinked, and looked to the side, reaching out with her magic sense. She recoiled in shock as she saw D3's mangled remains in her mind's eye. Shaking her head, she scowled. He would be difficult to replace. Ah, well. She still had Cain, at the least; he had his uses, though she wondered if she wouldn't have to clear his memory... Questioning her orders to kill the child. Faugh! Tokimi looked back at the tactile display, and blinked. The Alliance was turning around, and shields were going up. She scowled again. "Begin now." Her entire armada dropped out of pseudo-space, opening fire even as they did. Tokimi smiled, as the first line of battleships was destroyed, caught by surprise just before their shields became fully active. Clouds of star fighters swarmed out from the battle fleet, and small flashes began to light the battle field as they began to attack each other in earnest. There was a bright flash, and one of her five super destroyers was suddenly blown apart in a burst of light. She blinked in surprise, and searched the Alliance fleet for the ship that had taken it out with so little trouble. Quickly enough, she found it; the gigantic ship that had been at the head of the fleet. Tokimi scanned it, and scowled. There was no mistaking Washu's handiwork. The giant dragon like ship's maw opened; there was a gathering of energy, and then suddenly a sphere of destructive power blasted away. It slammed into a second of her super destroyers. Energy crackled over it for a moment, and then it exploded, the fireball engulfing several smaller ships nearby it. "Very wise, Tsunami. I cannot attack your ship because you and Washu are both there, while your avatars can attack me." She turned the Shiboo about, destroying several cruisers that were coming after her, and then sent a signal to her sub commanders. "I will draw away their flagship. You have your orders." They nodded, and she opened her thoughts to her Sisters. "Come. I have your rescue party on my scanners." ***** Tenchi frowned, and pointed to the strange looking ship at the far back of Tokimi's fleet. It was turning around, and slowly leaving the main battle. Shaped like a huge dolphin, Tenchi noted idly, it almost seemed to be waiting for something. He looked at Tsunami. "That's her, isn't it? Tokimi is in that ship." She frowned. "I... Yes. That is her." Tsunami's eyes widened suddenly. "She says that she has Ryo-Ohki on her scanners!" Tenchi frowned. "Trying to draw us out of the battle," said Ryoko. Washu, next to her, grinned as the third of five super destroyers was blown apart by the Shukuen's main cannon. "Of course! We're the biggest threat to her forces." Tenchi frowned again, and looked at Ryoko. "It might only be a bluff, but we can't take the chance it is. Open up a line to Sagami." The Juraian council member appeared a moment later before them. "Yes, Emperor?" The image shook, and he glanced to the side, barking orders. "We think that Tokimi may be going after Ayeka's rescue party. Can you handle things here?" He nodded. "Yes, your highness. Good luck." The image shook again, and then was cut. Tenchi looked at Washu. "Take out what you can to help the fleet, but we have to follow Tokimi before she goes after them." She nodded grimly, and the Shukuen flew after Tokimi's ship - Tsunami abruptly supplied the name the Shiboo. As they barreled through the enemy lines, Washu laughed, and began to type at her control panel. Weapons began to fire from every possible location on the ship, blasting away smaller craft, and the main cannon took out the second to last super destroyer. They broke through the lines, and then went after Tokimi as fast as they could go. "Can we destroy her, if we catch her?" asked Tenchi. Tsunami looked away. "I can not say, Tenchi. Neither myself or Washu may not and could not deal the final blow... it is not permitted, and... she is our sister. I honestly do not know if she can be killed, entirely. When she was defeated before, we did so by taking away her physical body. She has taken a new body; destroy that, and we may defeat her again." "That's an awfully big maybe, Tsunami. What aren't you telling us?" asked Ryoko. She sighed. "So far, almost everything has happened as I once saw in a dream. This dream was always the same, until we finally caught up with Tokimi. Then, it splits into three possible paths. In one, she is defeated by us. In the second, she is killed at the same time that we are by something that can't be seen. The third... was dark, even to my eyes." "Why wouldn't you be able to see it?" asked Tenchi. She shook her head. "It could be many things. It may not yet be written, it may be so unlikely that its image was never formed in the ether." Tenchi looked at Washu, but she shook her head. "Don't ask me Tenchi, she's the one with the fortune telling powers." He sighed. "Alright. Our main priority is to save Ayeka and the others. If we manage to bag Tokimi in the process, all the better. But Ayeka first. We can regroup to take down Tokimi later if we have to." ***** "How did I end up here? The... last I remember clearly is that D3... person locking me into my bed chamber before shai'natoth took me over." Reinhart looked aside as Ayeka groggily sat up from where Alucard had lay her down. The dhampeal himself looked up from where he sat, bandaging his hand. Sheann'a had healed it, but it had been so badly burnt that it would require some time to fully repair itself. Alucard said he was not concerned about losing the use of it - apparently one of the bonuses of being half-vampire was the ability to heal just about any injury, no matter how severe. "Sir-doesn't-speak carried you back to Ryo-Ohki after you passed out," said Sheann'a. Alucard grimaced at her, and she smiled innocently. Ayeka blushed slightly, and Reinhart inwardly sighed. "My apologies if she has offended you, Ayeka. Sheann'a does enjoy hearing herself talk, even when she knows that she should not. At times, I believe a spider's web has caught her good sense." Reinhart blinked in surprise as Sheann'a blushed red as a beet, and apologized to Ayeka. Ayeka chuckled in amusement; he filed it away to ask Alucard about later, and cleared his throat. "We're on our way back to Earth, Aunt. Dad has taken your place until we get back." Ayeka nodded. "I knew as much - 'Lady' Tokimi said that he had launched an attack, which means that they can not be far away from here." Reinhart blinked. "It's a distraction - no wonder we haven't been attacked yet. They're all after Dad," said Rosa from the control chair. Ayeka nodded. "We already signaled them that we're on our way, so they'll be running interference on our way back." "Miya?" Reinhart looked up as Ryo-Ohki opened up a view screen. At first, he thought that he was looking at a dolphin, but then he realized that it was a huge ship. It wasn't much smaller than the Shukuen. He frowned, and looked at Rosa. "Do you recognize it?" She frowned, and shook her head. "It isn't registering on any of the scopes but visual." Reinhart frowned. "A ship of that size? With a major battle less than a parsec away? I got a bad feeling about this, sis. Turn Ryo-Ohki around." Rosa slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think you may be right." She twisted the controls, and Ryo-Ohki reversed her course. Reinhart watched the monitor with a growing sense of dread. The strange ship sped up, and began to gain ground on them. Rosa frowned. "It's fast." "Who do you think that it is?" asked Carrie. Reinhart looked at her. "My guess? We're about to meet Tokimi up close and personal." Ryo-Ohki miyaed nervously, and Rosa nodded. "No kidding - hey, look behind it. It's the Shukuen!" Reinhart blinked. Sure enough, steadily catching up was the dragonship. Ayeka frowned. "Let me guess. One of Washu's latest hobbies?" Reinhart grinned. "Yup." Ayeka winced. "We might have been safer with just Tokimi." Reinhart chuckled, though the dolphin-ship kept drawing closer. The Shukuen looked like it was going as fast as it could, but it was obvious that Tokimi would reach them well before the Shukuen was in range. "-chi to Ryo-Ohki. Tenchi to Ryo-Ohki." A second screen came up with his father on it. "Thank the gods, you're all there. Listen, you have to get out of there. We'll be out of range of Tokimi's ship for another thirty minutes." Rosa shook her head. "Ryo-Ohki is going as fast as she can, Dad." Ryoko appeared next to him. "You're joking. She goes faster than that getting to dinner!" Ryo-Ohki's face appeared on the interface crystal. "Miya mi miya!" Ryoko frowned. "You're going on a diet when we get home." The cabbit sighed. "Miya..." His mother frowned again, her golden eyes flashing. "If you don't get moving, no carrots for an entire year!" she growled. "MIYACK!" Ryo-Ohki burst forward so fast that he actually felt the acceleration even through the ships inertia dampers. "That's more like it." Tenchi sighed, and shook his head. "Just stay as far ahead as you can. We're almost in range." Rosa nodded, and the communication was cut. They looked at each other, and sighed. Even with Ryo-Ohki's speed burst, Tokimi was still catching up. They could do nothing but watch as the ship loomed up behind them. A screen appeared before them; Ayeka scowled as a young woman with green markings around her neck and on her cheeks appeared. "I see you felt the need to leave, and after I took such trouble to have you join me." Ayeka shrugged. "I find that I prefer the company of family to yours." Tokimi's eyes blazed in rage. "Very well! Join them in death!" The communication was cut; Ryo-Ohki suddenly miyaed in alarm, and the deck was shaken violently. Rosa gasped. "The shields are gone! Completely!" They all watched as Tokimi's ship charged its weapons again. Ryo-Ohki miyaed again, as they fired. Carrie and Ayeka gasped, light exploding into being above the dome, blinding them. Reinhart grunted, sweat popping out on his forehead with the effort of projecting the ten Light Hawk Wings outside of Ryo-Ohki's dome to block Tokimi's attack. Ayeka stared at him in shock. "But... Only Tenchi could generate ten, only Tenchi could generate any at all without the help of one of the trees!" Reinhart gritted his teeth, as the attack finally lightened. "Tenchi... and Mother... and now... myself... and Rosa! I... could use some help, sis!" Rosa shook her head. "Right." She stood up, and he sensed her reaching out as their father had taught them just a few months before. She channeled them, and then suddenly gasped in shock. Reinhart felt it too - the Wings started to draw more and more power through them by themselves. He strained to hold onto his control of them. Ayeka pointed suddenly, gasping. "What is that?" ***** Tenchi watched, helplessly out of range, as Tokimi fired on Ryo-Ohki. The tiny ship was rocked, the weapons slamming into her, and Ryoko staggered from the backwash through her link to Ryo-Ohki. She looked at him, fear dancing in her eyes. "No shields left," she breathed. "Washu!" "Ten minutes! She's firing again!" They all looked back at the screen, as Tokimi's ship launched a second volley. The attack slammed into Ryo-Ohki; Tenchi caught Ryoko as she sagged down. "I... can feel it... No! It can not be!" gasped Tsunami suddenly. On the view screen, the explosions faded away to reveal Ryo-Ohki, guarded behind ten Wings of the Light Hawk. And then, as they watched, ten more unfolded along with the first set. The world seemed to lurch, as the wings blazed into light. "They... must not do this!" she breathed in fear. Tenchi turned, and looked at her, noticing that she was suddenly extremely pale. "What? Do what, Tsunami?" She looked at him. "When I integrated the Wings into the Juraian trees, I made them able only to generate three for a reason. Even you were never meant to generate more than five; but the gems threw that off." He frowned. "Why?" "I did not create the Wings, Tenchi - I found them. There was an ancient legend: Ten wings, shall I defend. Twenty feathers, shall I attack." Tenchi frowned, and then looked back at the monitor. He gasped in surprise at what was now there. The Wings had changed; spread out. He realized suddenly that they were now in such an arrangement that they resembled the feathers of two wings, ten to each. Slowly, a shining form began to appear; the two huge wings, long tail feathers, talon-tipped claws, and a sharp beak. Tsunami spoke, a fearful chill to her voice. "The true owner of the wings. This is the Light Hawk." They watched in awe, as the bird stretched out, and then looked at the Shiboo. It swept a huge wing over the gigantic ship... and it simply fell apart. There were no explosions; no blasts. The titanic ship just came to pieces. The hawk screeched, and then disappeared. All that was left of Tokimi's ship was a floating waste of debris and one huge section that appeared to have survived intact. They looked at each other, and then jumped as a signal indicator flashed. Washu brought it up; Ayeka appeared on the screen. Behind her, Reinhart and Rosa lay on the floor unconscious, Carrie and Alucard kneeling at their sides. "What just happened?" she asked, appearing shaken. Tenchi shook his head. "We'll explain later - if we can. I'm not too sure myself. Are they alright?" Behind her, Carrie looked up and nodded. "Just exhausted." "Stay there. We're coming to pick you up, and then we'll see if anything is still alive in the section that survived." Ayeka nodded, and Tenchi turned to Tsunami. "Is this what you saw happening?" She looked at him, face still pale. "No, Tenchi. It is as far from it as could be." ***** Sagami scowled, as yet another swarm of starfighters destroyed a Falarin cruiser. He turned to look at the tactile display; at least there was some good news. Half of the Alliance fleet had been destroyed, but Tokimi's fleet was starting to break up. It wouldn't be long, before - "Sir! New contacts! It's the Galactic Thieves Guild!" He shook his head. "Just in time to take credit for helping us. That figures." Suddenly, he frowned, as the fleet of star thieves began to appear on the screen; their entire force was coming in behind them. Sagami's eyes widened. "Signal the fleet to brace for attack! It's a double-cross!" Even as he spoke, the new threat opened fire. Sagami frowned. With the addition of them, Tokimi now had more than enough ships to crush them. He scowled again. "Tell the fleet to pull out. We can't hold up to these odds!" His crew quickly began to relay his orders, and the Alliance fleet started to pull away from the battle zone. "Sir! Another group of Guild ships have entered the area! They've surrounded us completely!" Sagami stared at the screen. Their final escape route was closed off even as he spotted it. He frowned, quickly coming up with a plan. "Order the treeships to form up into a wedge, and open a path for the rest of the Alliance. Once they have cleared a corridor, have them hold position until we've all gotten out." "Yes, sir." On the screen, the treeship indicators formed up, blasted out a corridor and then held their ground as the Alliance fleet began to slide out. He nodded, and then turned to his crew. "We have to buy them some time. All remaining Juraian ships, start destroying the capital ships." The few remaining Juraian ships started bearing down on the heavy cruisers from both Tokimi and the Guild fleets. Sagami stumbled as some laser fire slid through his own ship's defenses. "Aft energizer hit! We've lost power to the weapons and thrusters. Main engines are still online!" He scowled, and pointed to the Guild flagship. "Do you think that we could hit them?" The navigational officer nodded. "Yes, sir." He sighed. "Then cycle the engines up to full power, and evacuate the ship." The crew stared at him. "Well? Move it!" "Sir... No, sir! I will not abandon my post." Sagami frowned, as the nav officers stood, shaking her head. He looked around at the rest of his crew. "I suppose that the rest of you are all experiencing a burst of foolish heroism?" Slowly, they nodded, and he sighed. "Bloody hell... alright, we can't steer, and we can't shoot. Any suggestions?" "We may be able to get back a little control by using the port and starboard cargo bays." He nodded, starting to get a plan as he looked up at the tactile display again. "Do what you can. If we can't shoot, maybe we can get them to shoot for us." They slowly grinned, understanding, as he pointed between two enemy ships. "Think that we can make it?" "Yes, sir!" The Yagami started forward. "Decompressing bay... Now!" The ship shuddered slightly, and slowly, the view screen showed them turning, until their nose was aimed between the destroyers. "Go!" They shot forward, approaching the enemy ships and picking up speed. The destroyers began to pelt them with fire, as they slipped in between them. The Yagami shuddered, caught in the cross fire, but as he had hoped, they were going so fast that most of the blasts missed them entirely, slamming into the opposite ships. As they flashed out from between them, the destroyers shuddered, and were blown apart. "Sir! I think we've got a little magic happening here! Engineering reports that one of those blasts shook something, and it reestablished the connection to the aft energizer. Thruster control back online in ten seconds, partial weapons charge half a minute!" Sagami grinned. "Alright! Let's see what else we can do here - how is the fleet evacuation going?" His first officer looked up at him, grinning. "You're not going to believe this, but after they slide through the passage, they're turning around and pelting the armada from the outside. We've almost got them half surrounded now!" His monitor beeped, and he stared in shock. "The Guild has been attacked from behind! It's the Galaxy Police!" "Weapons back online sir!" Sagami looked around. "Well? What are we waiting for? We've got a battle to finish!" ***** "Mihoshi, they've already had to rebuild me once, please try to be more careful!" Mihoshi winced as a guild fighter exploded just in front of them, and altered course to bring her weapons to bear against a destroyer. "Well, I'm sorry that happened Yukinojo, but I really don't think that I could have done anything to stop that Tokimi lady from firing." "There are several fighters dropping in behind us, Mihoshi!" said Yukinojo, sounding alarmed. Mihoshi just didn't understand why he was so worried, as she activated the battle ship's rear cluster bomb. He readouts registered it as firing; a moment later, the ship shuddered as it exploded, destroying a small squadron of Guild craft, and catching two missiles that had been inbound in its explosion. "Honestly, Yukinojo, I'd think that you didn't believe I could pilot you into battle!" The AI unit sighed; had he been human, she was certain that he would have been shaking his head. Ahead of them, a destroyer opened fire. She frowned. "Hey! You don't need to do that to get my attention. You could just call me on the radio!" She thumbed the controls for her main blasters, and fired on the ship. The lasers crashed into it, and it started a lumbering turn away. Yukinojo shuddered as something fired on them from behind; she looked up to see a second destroyer bearing down on them weapons blazing. "Geeze, everybody is so pushy today! I wonder-" "Mihoshi, look out!" cried the ship AI. She looked back to the fore view screen to see she was just about to crash into the turning destroyer. "AAAEEEEEE!!!" she screamed, pushing the control stick down hard. Yukinojo's nose turned down at a ninety degree angle, and they shot away as the destroyer behind her slammed into the one that had been in front of her. She felt her teeth rattle as they exploded all but on top of her. "I wonder if I could file for hazard pay because of my pilot," sighed Yukinojo. She giggled, partly in relief. "Oh relax! I'm sure that they really don't mean to hurt you - or me! They probably just don't know who we are." Yukinojo sighed again, and then blinked. "Incoming message, Mihoshi." A screen appeared with a handsome brown-haired Juraian. "Commander Mihoshi, I presume?" She nodded. "Hi! Can I help you?" she asked cheerfully. He blinked, but nodded. "I am Sagami, commander of the Alliance fleet for the time being. We're rounding up the last of Tokimi's forces. Do you need any help with the Guild?" She looked at her tactile monitor, and noticed that her fleet was just finishing off the last of the Guild members. "Uh... Nope! Thanks for the offer though! Say, do you know where Tenchi and the others went?" He blinked again. "I believe that they were on heading seven-four-seven." "Ok, thanks! Bye now!" He blinked in surprise, as she cut the communication. "Seven four seven, Yukinojo." The AI sighed. "Yes, Mihoshi." He paused, and then sighed again. "I wonder if the Marshall would accept a request for transfer to the toaster division."