Disclamer: I don't own either Tenchi Muyo or Homeworld. They belong to the fine people at Pioneer and Sierra. Don't sue me "The Perfect Gift" Ryoko was incredably worried. Tenchi's birthday was only one day away and she had nothing to give him. On top of that, she was bored (Tenchi was at school and Mihoshi and Kiyone were on patrol) and really pissed off (her fight with Ayeka had not gone well that morning). So she decided to cruise around the galaxy for the rest of the day and see if she could blow off some steam. She and Ryo-ohki had been cruising at full speed for a few hours (along with dodging the occasional GP patrol) when they saw the first ship. It was a simple blue with dark blue stribes scout, based on its size, and it seemed to be out of fuel, but Ryoko had never seen a design like it before. It had 4 wings that looked like they could fold in against the hull, which was wide near the engines then thined out and widened again until it came to the cockpit. Beneath the cockpit were two large chain guns. Just then Ryo-ohki picked up a message: "This is ... elta 5 o ... the Tai ... n Fleet. If an ... ne can he .. me, I n.. ed assis...ce. Mayday Ma....ay." "What do you think Ryo-ohki, should we help him?" Ryoko asked. Ryo-ohki meowed an affirmative. "Alright then, let's help. Maybe there'll be something in it for us" Ryo-ohki moved forward, and slowly the message became clearer. Ryoko sent her own message a few moments later: " Hey, want some help?" Ryoko asked sarcastically, "I think I can push you in the right direction." "Thanks, I need to get back to my fleet," the pilot responded, "I'll transmit the coordinates to your ship" "So where exactly am I taking you?" Ryoko inquired after looking over the data. "The Taiidan Mothership," (author's note: In Homeworld you can either play as the Taiidan or the Kushan. I chose Taiidan because their ships look better) "What?!" "You'll know it when you see it." ******************************************************************************* That, in fact, was true, for it was one of the largest starships Ryoko had ever seen. It was also blue with blue stripes (as was the rest of the fleet as far as she could see). It was rectangular with three points coming out at the front around two of the hangars (there were 3 hangars total, 2 on the front and one on the bottom) and had the full fleet arranged in front of it in a military parade formation. When Ryoko was close enough to start getting sensor data, a female voice began sending a message on all channels: "Attention unidentified vessel, this is Fleet Command please state your bussiness and explain why you are pushing one of our fighters." "This is Ryoko, pilot of Ryo-ohki (Ryo-ohki meowed a protest to this statement), I came across this scout of yours while I was flying around, he looked pretty beat up, so I helped him back." Ryoko stated smugly. Fleet Command seemed slightly stunned at this. "Activating scanners for confirmation, one moment please." Ryoko waited impatiently for the scans to finish, even though they only took a few seconds, and was quite glad to learn that the ship had been reported as a loss when the rest of his squad had been destroyed and that the recon data that command had recieved was invalulabe. Ryoko grinned to herself thinking that she had just made some easy money when the attack came. ******************************************************************************* All Ryoko heard before the explosion rocked her ship was "Kushans, incoming!" She had not been ready for a fight and was subsequently thrown across the inside of Ryo-ohki. Groaning as she got up, she glanced outside to see what was happening. Dozens of fighters and corvettes, which had been identified as "Kushans" were darting from ship to ship, destroying scouts and taking pot shots at the capital ships. The Mothership didn't seem to be harmed yet, a plus if Ryoko was going to get her reward, but the fleet itself seemed to be as unprepared for the attack as Ryoko was. Flying to the ship's controls, Ryoko cursed herself for not being ready and fired on the first Kushan ship that came into range. She scored a direct hit and the interceptor's engines ripped free of the rest of the chassis, which promptly exploded. Smiling to herself, Ryoko decided that this wouldn't be completely worthless, at least she wouldn't be angry when Tenchi got home. The battle continued like this for about three minutes. Then the Kushan capital ships came to play. By this time, Fleet Command had sent Ryoko a sensors list, so she would at least know what she was shooting at, and Ryoko knew that the incoming ships were Destroyers and Ion Cannon Frigates accompanied by a Carrier. Just then Ryoko recieved another message from Fleet Command: "Ryoko, that beam of yours seems incredably powerful and we won't be able to last much longer if that Carrier sends out more fighters, our other ships are busy and you will be greatly rewarded if you destroy it." At the word "reward" all of Ryoko's objections instantly melted away. In the chaos of the battle she slipped behind the enemy Carrier and fired a shot at full power into the engines. At first nothing seemed to happen, but as Ryoko charged up her next shot, sparks began to come out of several of the exhaust ports. Firing again, she was pleased to see a much more immediate effect, jets of flame began to shoot out all across the ship, and one engine was missing. As her final shot slammed into the Carriers hull, It began to tear apart, and a large sphere of pure energy ripped out of what was once the central reactor, the force of it ripped the ship's remains to a molecular size. Stunned at the loss of their flagship, the remaing capital ships entered hyperspace, leaving the fighters to the mercy of the Taiidans. Ryoko began to cheer as the remaining fighters were torn into scrap metal. **************************************************************************** Once the Taiidans had finished salvaging what they could and mopping up the remaining fighters, Fleet Command sent another message to Ryoko: "Ryoko, I must admit that we are in your debt ( Ryoko began to smile once again at those words) and if there is anything we can do to assist you in anyway, just name it." Ryoko began to smile even wider. "Well, there is this one thing you can do for me..." **************************************************************************** The next day, Tenchi found a Taiidan Scout, without the guns, sitting in front of the house. The End So how was that? Not to bad for a 1st try if I'm not mistaken please send me an E-mail if you agree (or if you don't, I really don't care E-mail me anyway I need all the help I can get). I hope to continue writing x- overs for some time to come. MSHARK999@aol.com