Process of Elimination -- Chapter Thirteen -- Part Two
Disclaimer: The primary colors in this story are from Takahashi, Viz
(Ranma 1/2), Pioneer (Tenchi Muyo!), and Kitty Films, Naoko Takeuchi
(Sailor Moon).
Additional tinting provided by: Takada Yuuzou, and Kodansha (3x3
Eyes), Takada Yuuzou, and A.D.Vision (Bannou Bunka Nekomusume
Nuku-Nuku), and of course, Tatsuya Egawa (Goldenboy). The easel is mine.
That's all.
Notes: Diverges from Ranma after volume 24, continuation for OAV 2
in the Tenchi universe (well, one of them). Nuku Nuku is from the OAVs,
not TV. Sailor Moon occurs, well, at some point in the series, but it's
something of an alt anyway. 3x3 Eyes diverges before OAV2. This fic uses
the bizarrely vague 'Pick One!' scenario. Enjoy.
-----------------------------
"One would be inclined to think that if the Emperor had been told
what was happening on Earth before the Second Wave departed to Juraian
space that the outcome would have been... different. Certainly, the
situation was already dire if [the Ethos array] had been called into
play, but for what was to follow.... There is no way that we can express
adequate sympathy for that, but neither can we hold the Emperor
responsible for the matter."
Laruma Karau of Minor House Laruma, Council Member -- Speech to the
Council in Old Terran Year 1999, July 30th.
Kintaro paced along with Washuu and Nuku, watching them until they
turned towards one of the decks. He trusted that the scientist who could
manufacture the Gate that had saved all the refugees could manage for
herself, and focused on the path to Maintainer Shiname's office. He
remembered the path well enough, though much of the station was
apparently modular. Another blast shook it, and Kintaro backpedaled,
almost colliding with a forcefield as it sprang up, countering the newly
formed hull breach. Pulling itself from the devastated juncture it had
destroyed, a reaver pulled itself from the edge of oblivion, and stalked
towards the man.
Blinking, he quickly examined his surroundings, his hands finding
their way to the emergency controls he had read about in his Galaxy
Police training. Punching a quick sequence of numbers, he was rewarded
with the corridor -- reaver still within -- disengaging from the
station, and spinning into space. "That worked," he allowed, turning his
back to the missing corridor, and marching along an alternate route. If
he could remove the reavers that easily, then maybe there was no reason
to panic at all....
That thought was shaken from his mind as the same reaver he had just
thought vanished leapt through the forcefield, reentering the station
from the vacuum. "That didn't work," Kintaro whimpered, spinning, and
running full bore away from the monster, as it galloped along the
corridor after him, shrieking. "Man, Mihoshi, why couldn't you give me a
weapon!" he wailed, leaping in the lessened gravity, and catching a post
at the next intersection with one hand. He clung to the pole long enough
to change his course, and flew down the next corridor, landing in a
loping run.
"Shiname-san!" he yelled as loudly as he could. "Shiname-san! Where
are you?"
His cry was answered as the woman rounded the next corridor, and he
collided with her, sending the pair sprawling. She squawked something
indignant as he pressed her into the floor, his hand on her chest, but
her complaints ceased the moment that the reaver that had trailed him
soared overhead, scrabbling claws snagging and tearing at Keitaro's
shirt, missing his flesh by only a hair.
Rolling over, Keitaro pushed the woman away, the lessened gravity
allowing him to do so without harming her. "Run!" he ordered, rolling to
his feet. "Detective Kuramitsu's ship should be able to take you to safety!"
The woman scowled, long years of practice allowing her to twist
about in the air and land on her feet, facing him. "That won't be
necessary," she announced, drawing a carved wooden object from her
robes. The object fit in the palm of her hand, like a short rod, and
while Kintaro could guess at its purpose, he felt it would be wiser not to.
Ignoring him, Shiname gestured towards the reaver, and a plane of
blue-white force shimmered into being, separating them from the reaver.
"Shizu-oh and I can manage one of these," she offered, turning her
attention to Kintaro. "We need to hurry, though. I waited until I was
certain that everyone else had evacuated -- you, your partner, and one
other are all that remain on the station. I must see you off."
"No," Kintaro said, shaking his head resolutely. "You're coming with
us."
"Cadet," the woman warned, "I will do as I see fit. I will not
abandon my Ouke-no-ki -- not now."
"Then we'll take it with us," Kintaro offered. "The station's
modular, so we can disengage your tree's section, and then grapple it
with Mihoshi's ship -- but we're really going to have to hurry!"
"What?" the woman asked, taken aback. "But--"
"Hurry!" Kintaro insisted, herding the woman along carefully. "Can
you disengage it remotely?"
"I'm doing it now," she answered distantly, allowing him to lead the
way. "Are you sure this will work?"
"I've read how to do it," Kintaro said confidently. "I know that
ship almost as well as I know my bicycle. What could possibly go wrong?"
***
Seated on a patch of bare dirt -- not in her civilian clothes at the
moment -- Ami stared at the screen of her small computer. Yakumo lurked
nearby, when one of the women hadn't already ordered him to deliver a
message or the like. At the present he was holding an umbrella over her,
since Ami didn't feel the need to protect herself from the rain. Her
computer wouldn't suffer damage from it, after all.
Currently, she was watching the platform that had been put into the
space between the Moon and the Earth, all too aware of the reavers that
had leapt -- somehow -- all the way from Earth, and latched onto the
structure. She was also aware of the reavers that had surrounded what
amounted to the majority of their defensive forces. She had the uncanny
and dismal feeling that she was watching humanity's last defiant
struggle, but quashed that down.
It couldn't possibly be the end -- how could it end like that, after
all? She shook her head, still feeling curiously numb. The screen
flickered occasionally, messages that weren't to her, but still using
some of the same systems that her own computer used passing before her,
until a notice to her specifically appeared. She stared at it listlessly
for a moment, before stabbing a button to open a dialogue with the other
party.
Unsurprisingly, though the woman looked incredibly perturbed, it was
Washuu. "Washuu-sensei," she said. "What's wrong?"
"Ami-chan? We need you to fire the Halcyon array at the orbital
platform -- the reavers have found a way to get up there, and it's
swarming with them," the scientist explained.
"Yes," Ami answered tiredly. "There's about forty more reavers
attacking the scouting party. Should I destroy them, too?"
Washuu blinked, frowning. "Not until the GP evacuate everyone they
can," she said. "They're coming in to pull as many people out as they
can. Did you catch any of what the reavers did to get up here?"
"They have a way to attract one another at incredible velocity while
phasing through everything that's not alive," Ami surmised. "I used the
Ethos array's tracking equipment to monitor it."
"Okay, I'm going to want to look at that data later. Can you plot a
trajectory with the Halcyon array that will pass through the station,
and still hit the reavers below? It should be geared to deflect on
magnetic pulses to let you arrange it."
"I think so," Ami said, frowning. "Will I kill anymore innocents?"
Washuu's eyebrow ticked slightly, and the channel security jumped up
several notches. "Kohito lived, Ami. My daughter rescued him, but if you
don't snap out of it and get to work, a lot of our allies _will_ die,"
she warned.
Ami's eyes flew wide, and Yakumo leant forward, placing a comforting
hand on her shoulder. "That's not so bad, is it?" he asked.
"I... I'll get to work on setting up the shot right away. When
should I fire?"
Washuu glanced at something out of Ami's field of vision for a
moment, then answered, "Once all of the Galaxy Police cruisers clear the
site -- there are about fifty of them, and they're moving at a high
retrieval speed. You need to time this shot carefully. I expect that
once we evacuate our troops, the reavers are going to flee. Do you
understand?"
"Working on it now," Ami said, her fingers flying across the
keyboard quickly. "I'm timing it so that the cruisers should have three
seconds to clear the site, Washuu-sensei, please tell them that. At
their speed that should give them all plenty of time, but they need to
know."
"I'll relay that, Ami-chan. Good work." With that, the connection
shut, and Ami threw herself into the task, concentrating on Washuu's
words. Kohito was alive. Fehdo-oh might be destroyed, but he was alive,
and that, at least, was something.
***
Strapped into his seat, Shiname lurking over his shoulder, and
Mihoshi tending Kohito in the rear section of the ship, Kintaro assumed
the confident role of pilot once more. The ship would have to make the
mission, and with the rapid encroachment of the reavers, it was looking
more and more difficult.
"Do you really think you can do it?" Shiname asked worriedly.
"Um.... I think I might," Kintaro said, his confidence fading. "I...
we're running out of time, but I'm trying."
"If you make it," the woman whispered, "I'd owe you everything.
Shizu-oh means everything to me, Cadet Oe. I'm the only one in my direct
line who was judged worthy of having an Ouke-no-ki, and I cannot afford
to lose it."
"I'll do my best," Kintaro offered, easing the ship out of the
docking berth.
"Warning," Yukinojo announced suddenly. "An energy source was
detected from the lunar surface -- an attack more powerful than this
ship can withstand appears to be headed towards us. I advocate that we
evacuate immediately."
"No!" Shiname whimpered, eyes widening. "I can't afford to lose
Shizu-oh! Cadet Oe, if you can retrieve my Ouke-no-ki before it's too
late, I'll do anything for you! Please don't give up!"
"Anything?" Oe asked quietly.
"I-- Yes." Dropping her voice to a whisper, though Mihoshi wasn't in
hearing range, Shiname pleaded, "If you can rescue her, I'll sleep with
you, Oe-san! Anything you wish that I can provide!"
Kintaro blinked, too stunned to move, and allowing the ship to
drift. He turned a shocked face towards the completely sincere woman --
and she was an attractive woman, too -- and stared, unsure of how to
respond. "Huh?" he asked, bewildered.
"Please!" she insisted. "We're running out of time!"
"We have five seconds before the attack reaches us," Yukinojo warned.
Kintaro jerked his attention back to the screen, barking out, "Strap
yourselves in, everyone brace for collision!" Orienting the ship with
the drifting tree pod, he deployed the grappling apparatus from the
ship's booster section, fingers flying across the control panel with
practiced ease. His other hand gripped the throttle, and carefully
increased it, lining up the grasping claws, and activating some of the
external monitors to align the ship correctly with the pod.
"Three seconds," Yukinojo continued.
Kintaro grimaced, once the clamps began to engage. Releasing the
tree turned what had once been an orbital platform into a veritable sea
of debris, with reavers still clawing through the wreckage. Thankfully,
the tree's section itself was clear of the monsters.
"One second," Yukinojo droned, agitation seeming to creep into the
synthesized voice.
"I can do this," Kintaro breathed. Raising his voice, he shouted,
"Yukinojo, remove all limiters, direct all extra available power to
shields, and disable the inertial dampers!"
"Done. Impact."
Kintaro grimaced, increasing the throttle as much as the
energy-draining shields would allow, and passing the ship, pod in tow,
into the shadow of the central observation dome. The reflective shields
of the automated dome created a massive pocket of reduced energy from
the attack, while the other segments of the platform were simply reduced
to atomic components. The attack itself was a pillar of brilliant
whitish-yellow light, at least a kilometer across.
"Oe-san?" Shiname whimpered, strapped into the auxiliary seat.
"Cadet, shielding is down to less than thirty percent. We have eight
seconds before the dome above us is obliterated. It was a pleasure
working with you," Yukinojo noted sadly.
"Yukinojo," Kintaro ordered, "drop all power from shields, and
transfer it to the booster unit on my mark."
The computer made a sound that might have been a sigh, then chirped
acknowledgement. "Understood. Three seconds remaining."
"Wait for it...."
"Two seconds remaining."
"Mark!"
"One-- All power converted. Goodbye, Oe-san. Any final orders?"
Kintaro ignored Shiname's muffled whimper, removing the physical
safety from the throttle, and slamming it into overdrive. "Pray."
***
Cowering behind Yosho, and cradling Ryu, who was slumped on the
forest floor, Makoto whimpered, "Ryu-chan, are you okay?"
"Been better," the boy said tiredly. "Just hit a tree bad. I'm okay.
What about the battle?"
Yosho grunted, his sword stowed, and all power to the shield as the
defenders retreated before the reaver's onslaught.
"It's not going very well," Makoto said quietly. "I'm sorry."
"Aw, we'll pull through," Ryu said, trying to sit up, but prevented
by Makoto. "Something will come up."
One of the Marines piped up at that moment, exclaiming, "We've got
confirmation on evac! They're going to be here in fifteen seconds!
Everyone hang on tight!"
Ryu smiled, laughing softly. "See?" he asked. "I told you so."
"Hush, Ryu," Makoto chastised, tears welling up in her eyes. "You
need to save your strength."
"Just a scratch," Ryu said. "The reaver... didn't get me."
Makoto's eyes screwed shut, her hand pressing against the compress
that she was holding against the second injury he had taken. While not
deep, the acrid blood from the reavers had entered his system through
it, and because of its location on his torso, no tourniquet could be
applied. "Ryu," she whimpered.
"It burns," he mumbled, eyes drifting closed. "Why does it burn,
Mako-chan?"
"I don't know," she sobbed, tears spilling from her cheeks to strike
Ryu's face. "I'm sorry, Ryu-chan!"
"Ain't dead yet," the boy mumbled again. "Hey, Mako-chan... you know
what?"
"What's that, Ryu-chan," Makoto asked, leaning close, her eyes wide,
and shimmering with more tears.
"I think I love you."
"Ryu-chan?" she asked, stunned. "I--" But her words met empty air,
as he vanished in a flash of white light, leaving her clutching empty
air. "Ryu-chan!"
She rose to her feet, whirling, but everywhere, people were
vanishing, one-by-one, until--
--in a flash of the same light, she found herself collapsed on the
floor of a strange craft, a man in a bulky and armored uniform
addressing her firmly. "Are you injured? Do you have any wounds?"
"N... no.... Ryu-chan!"
The man glanced over his shoulder, then back to her. "If your
friend's been recovered, he's going to be getting first aid. Don't worry
about it -- we're going to drop you off at your central defense
location. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Ryu-chan," she whispered brokenly. "I... I...."
"She's in shock," the man stated in annoyance. "Let's get her to her
own medics as quickly as we can."
***
Ranma stared out one of Ran-oh-ki's viewports, watching the column
of energy sweep through the remnants of the observation platform, one
last stray ship emerging from the towering blast of energy, tumbling
past Ran-oh-ki. Ranma spared it a glance, frowning, then turned his
attention to the Earth, where the beam was headed. He wondered briefly
at the effects of the explosion before he turned his attention back
towards the ship that had tumbled past him.
"Ran-oh-ki, Atsuko, can you find out what's going on there?" he asked.
"Okay!" Nuku chirped, summoning a display before one of the
viewscreens. "Here you go!" The display showed a positively dazed image
of Oe Kintaro, a Juraian woman sitting in the seat behind him, and
equally stunned.
"Are you okay?" he asked, raising his voice slightly.
"I think I burnt out the shielding circuit," Oe responded after a
moment. "We're alive, though."
"Oe-san," the Juraian woman offered, recovering her composure
slightly. "I'll try and have Shizu-oh bring us back under control."
"Oh, is that the barrier that helped us through the last bit?"
Kintaro asked, looking over his shoulder at the woman.
She nodded, dazed, and Kintaro relaxed slightly. "It look like we're
good," he surmised. "I've just added to my list of repairs, is all. Um,
Shiname, where can we put your tree, and have it be safe?"
"On the other side of the moon," she mumbled. "She can receive
transmissions through it easily."
"Well, if you've got everything under control, we're heading back to
Earth," Ranma said, shrugging.
"Good luck," Oe said, smiling before the connection shut off.
Turning his attention back to Earth, Ranma asked, "Do we know what
kind of damage that attack did?"
Ran-oh-ki rolled over, reorienting on Earth, and began to accelerate
towards it, as Washuu made a thoughtful noise. "I'm checking that now,"
she said, frowning. "We weren't in an ideal spot to gather data on the
subject, but it looks like that got about fifteen of them from the
platform, and another ten from the battlegrounds below -- the rest used
phase-shifting to slide out of the way."
"Not bad," Ranma allowed. "How many are left, then?"
"Hmm. There should only be two-hundred and three," she answered,
glancing side-long at Ranma. "Why?"
"Something doesn't feel right," he muttered.
"Ranma-papa-san, someone wants to talk to you," Nuku said, breaking
the uneasy silence.
"Who?" he asked, frowning. "There's just the three of us here."
"From Earth," the girl clarified. "Yosho-san."
"Oh. Well, okay, how can I talk to him?"
The screen that had allowed him to speak with Kintaro returned, this
time with Yosho leaning over another Galaxy Police officer. "Ranma?" he
asked, worried. "You're okay?"
"Fine," Ranma answered, scowling. "What happened down there?"
Yosho's expression darkened, and he glanced over his shoulder for a
moment before explaining, "I've got some bad news. We were investigating
the report that someone saw a reaver, but we found something much
worse." Washuu bit her lip, glancing to Ranma, and Tsunami covered her
mouth with her hands worriedly. "Ryu found a nest of reaver eggs."
"Eggs?" Ranma asked quietly. "How long does it take them to hatch?"
"Only about a day," Washuu answered mournfully. "They're smaller and
weaker initially, but it doesn't take them long to gain more mass, even
though they'll be softer than their normal counterparts. They'll breed
at an exponential rate. In a matter of weeks they'll overrun the planet."
"Great," Ranma grumbled. "I guess someone thinks that the job isn't
hard enough yet."
"Well, salvaging the situation, we _do_ have Maintainer Shiname's
Ouke-no-ki, and that will allow us to send a message to Jurai outlining
the situation," Washuu offered. "We need to see what other resources we
can assemble. More Galaxy Police will be arriving between now and... ah,
July twenty-seventh, to help aid in the evacuation process, but we're
still going to be short by millions of innocents."
"Ginraii is on their way," Tsunami said timidly. "I will ask them to
hurry, if they can, and lend what power I have to their Ouke-no-ki, so
that they may complete the journey more swiftly."
"Okay," Yosho said, settling back slightly, and allowing the pilot
in front of him to make some adjustments. "I'll get back to the
Joketsuzoku, and explain what's going on -- they're probably going to
want to have a meeting once everyone's arrived."
"See you there," Ranma said, just before the connection terminated.
"Atsuko, Ran-oh-ki, please take us back quickly." He frowned,
considering something, then turned to regard Tsunami. "It's not at all
safe here, Tsunami. You should probably find a way to go back."
"I'd rather be with you," she protested. "And I can offer my aid to
any wounded innocents in the village."
"I guess," Ranma grumped. "You'll be easier to protect if you're
close by." He paused, considering, as Ran-oh-ki began to sink into the
Earth's atmosphere. "Actually, I don't know what would have happened if
I wasn't there when the reavers attacked," he admitted.
"Things could have probably been much worse," Washuu suggested.
Ranma nodded in silence, sighing. "I'm sorry, Washuu," he said
quietly. "About the limiter, I mean."
Washuu dropped her gaze, staring outside one of Ran-oh-ki's
viewports. "It was a bit much to hope that things would turn out so
neatly," she confessed. "Try... try to be careful about using your
powers, Ranma. Remember that it's not how hard you fight, it's how long
you fight that makes the difference."
"I'll remember that," he said quietly.
***
Trying to ignore the strangeness of the entire situation, Herb
jumped out of the strange craft that had retrieved her, her feet
lighting gently against the soil below. The craft hovered for a moment,
allowing one of the Marines that had been on the battlefield to jump
out, before it lifted off the ground and zipped away, another craft
quickly taking its place to unload another set of passengers.
The next one offloaded was Lime, cradling Ryouga in his arms and
regarding the boy-turned-girl curiously. "He was much tougher last
time," Lime offered, still off balance from the battle.
"I would imagine," Herb muttered, as more of her own warriors were
unloaded, along with the other defenders.
The only exception to the orderly evacuation was when one of the
armored men piloting the strange crafts landed it, opening the hatch and
shouting, "Do we have a medic? We need a medic here!"
Herb's men ignored the cry, and shambled to sit in a rough circle
around the girl, staring at her with glassy eyes. She guessed she knew
why, though she said nothing yet. The instinctive moronic desire to
stare at her chest was overridden with the horrific memory of a battle
that some of their brothers had not been able to walk away from.
But they needed someone strong to look up to, and for the moment,
that would have to be her. Offering a smile, she said, "If we didn't
fight today, together, then likely we would have been caught unaware,
and done far worse. For that, I think we _all_ owe Ranma, and that means
that we're going to need to work together." She bit her lip, hoping the
gesture wouldn't add too much 'cuteness' to her appearance, and
undermine her role as the leader of the Musk. "And for that, while you
remain and fight, my goal lies elsewhere for the moment."
"Where?" Mint asked, piping up, and frowning worriedly. "Where are
you going?"
Herb glanced up, as a number of girls ran towards the landed ship,
and then higher, as another star descended from the heavens, much like
the one that had borne 'Ryouko' to the Musk. "First, I must speak with
Ranma," she said, blinking away a few stray raindrops as they fell into
her eyes.
Like a red spark breaking away from the star, Herb's sharp eyes
caught Ranma, still in the red robes, breaking away from the strange
craft. The other warrior, still too far to discern more detail than the
robe itself rocketed downward, passing the ships, and then vanishing
from sight. Reappearing only a few meters above Herb, Ranma arrived, in
female form, and plummeted towards the earth. She threw her arms out,
catching herself just centimeters from the ground, and bobbing there.
"Herb," she greeted, inclining her head slightly, and glancing
about. "What did I miss?"
"Very little," Herb responded, rising from the ground to float at a
height with Ranma. "But I fear that our powers alone may not suffice for
the coming battle."
"You know something?" Ranma asked, frowning. "Or someone?"
Herb nodded, rising higher, to see over a nearby lodge, and pointed
at a familiar peak. "That mountain," she said. "It is said that atop its
peak, a race of phoenix warriors dwell."
Ranma frowned, glancing around and crossing her arms over her chest.
Behind her, her star bobbed over the ground, a beam of light depositing
three figures on the ground before it collapsed into a small creature
that landed on Washuu's hands. "So they'll help us?" Ranma asked doubtfully.
"Perhaps," Herb allowed. "I cannot know for certain, but...." She
licked her lips nervously. The story was known to all the Musk, though,
and there was no reason to keep Ranma from learning it. "It is said, in
the Musk libraries, that the Musk chose to become the way that they had,
using animals in the springs of Jusenkyou, because the founder of the
tribe saw the phoenix people, and envied their power. If their power is
worthy of envy to a man who wrestled a dragon itself into the springs,
then their power must be great. Surely they can lend some considerable
strength to our battle, can they not?"
"I guess so," Ranma muttered, frowning. "I suppose this means that I
need to fight someone else to get them to help us?"
"Not alone," Herb answered, shaking her head. "I will fight with you
and at your side."
Ranma shifted, uncomfortable, then glanced over his shoulder, seeing
one of the women who had descended from his star placing her hands on a
wounded boy's chest. "Okay," he said quietly. "Let's go do this and get
whatever hope we can."
"I believe if we leave now, we can scale the peak by tomorrow," Herb
offered, turning away from the healers and wounded soldiers, and
glancing at the mountain again.
"I can get us there faster if you don't mind me carrying you," Ranma
offered. "I don't like the idea of leaving this place any longer than we
have to."
"Agreed," Herb allowed, bowing her head. "I must find the old woman,
and give her permission to command my men while I am gone, should the
need arise."
"Right," Ranma mumbled, scratching the back of her head. He turned
around, watching the last of the ships unload its wounded passenger and
rise upwards. "I've got some people to talk to before we do this -- I'll
meet you back here in ten minutes, okay?"
"Of course," Herb said, nodding.
***
No sooner then they had landed, did Washuu find herself confronted
by Cologne. The old woman glanced at Tsunami, frowning, then turned her
attention back to scientist, asking, "What happened?"
"We lost the orbital observation platform," Washuu explained,
pointing to the kilometers distant pillar of smoke rising in the
distance. "That's where Ami-chan fired the Halcyon array. We got some of
the reavers, but I don't know if the tradeoff was worth it."
Cologne frowned. "I don't know anything about orbital platforms,"
she said, "but I know Herb, and if he's here, then Ranma's gotten more
allies for us. That's something I can't complain about." She bit her
lip, glancing at Yosho. "Anything else? Kura-Wan and her partners look
to be fine."
"We've got a lot more reavers to worry about," Yosho grumped. "So
we're going to need a lot of help, and fast."
"We've got Ginraii and the largest wave of Galaxy Police ships
arriving in the next two days, so I think we can make it," Washuu
allowed, frowning. "Moreover, they're probably going to lay low, and try
to build up their numbers before they attack again."
"So we only need to survive for two days?" Cologne asked, furrowing
her brow in concern. "That doesn't sound terribly difficult."
"When we do fight, it's going to be a losing battle," Yosho warned.
"I don't believe they can know how much time we need, so we've got that
going for us."
"Washuu," Ranma warned, drawing near. "Herb wants to go pick up a
friend of his, to help us fight. I'm all for new allies, so I'm going to
go help him." Turning to Cologne, she added, "Herb also wanted to talk
to you about taking care of his men while we're gone."
The woman scowled, but nodded, and walked away. Washuu pursed her
lips thoughtfully, regarding Ranma curiously. "Is this likely to be
dangerous?" she asked quietly.
"Nothing I'd worry about," Ranma said dismissively. "We'll probably
be back tonight. If not," she grinned, and tapped the gem on her ear.
"You know how to get me."
"Very well," Washuu acquiesced, turning her attention back to Yosho.
"Now, let's see what we can finish in the way of planning for the next
few days, especially where it comes to choosing a battlefield.'
***
While Ranma was distracted upon arrival, Tsunami found herself
unable to ignore the healers, hard at work. Two young girls, though
admittedly, one looked to be older than she herself appeared. A girl
with long blonde hair, her face not terribly unlike Amatera Omiki's, was
set in a determined grimace, as she tried to channel healing energies
into the body of the boy before her. Another girl, in a similar dress
with green trim knelt nearby, holding the boy's hand, and whispering
words of encouragement.
Stepping towards them carefully, Tsunami knelt next to the brunette
and asked, "What happened to him?"
Between her words of hopeful encouragement, the brunette offered,
"He got stabbed by a reaver, protecting me."
Tsunami bit her lip, and raised her eyes to meet the blonde's, worry
shining bright. "Allow me to help," she offered, placing her hands atop
the brunettes, and releasing it to join the blonde's healing powers,
scouring poisons from the boy's body, and reweaving destroyed flesh. The
boy groaned, unable to wake, but breathing more easily. "I think he will
be okay," Tsunami hazarded, removing her hands. "He may not wake for
some time, however."
"He'll live?" the brunette asked, pleading. "He won't die?"
"I don't think so, Mako-chan," the blonde said tiredly. "Thank
you.... Who are you?"
"I am Tsunami," she said, bowing politely to the girl. "Of Jurai."
"Oh?" the blonde answered, frowning slightly. "I think Hakubi-san
mentioned you, once. Didn't you help Ranma rescue a little girl?"
"Ah, yes, the last time I was here. Should we tend the other wounded?"
Another girl approached, this one carrying a tall polearm and
glancing towards Ranma. "The other people weren't hurt very bad," she
said. "I healed them, Usagi."
"Good work, Hotaru-chan!" the blonde enthused. "I guess that wasn't
so bad, was it? Ryu-chan got hurt the worst, right?"
The brunette bit her lip, unable to meet Usagi's eyes. "No," she
said quietly. "But the others... didn't make it, Usagi-chan."
The blonde's joy died a swift death, and she slumped forward,
dejected. "Oh, no," she whispered. "Mako-chan... I'm sorry."
"It's the way wars are supposed to be, aren't they?" Hotaru asked,
suddenly breaking the silence.
"Hotaru?" Usagi asked, confused. "What do you mean?"
"It's not important," Hotaru dismissed suddenly, turning to look at
Ranma again. That Ranma was a girl at the moment didn't seem to
disappoint her in the slightest.
Tsunami frowned, thinking of Hotaru's words. "You may be right,
Hotaru, but we strive to lessen the damages of war, and the burdens that
must be borne from them," she offered. Lips quirking in a smile, she
asked, "Do you like Ranma?"
"Ranma-san is my boyfriend," Hotaru proclaimed, turning her
attention back to Tsunami. "Who are you?"
"Ah..." Tsunami murmured, momentarily at a loss for words. "I am
Tsunami. I am the Goddess of Jurai." She bowed politely to the girl, who
bowed back, frowning.
"What are you going to do with Ranma-san?" Hotaru asked, suddenly
nervous.
"Well, I'd like to spend more time with him, if he's willing,"
Tsunami said, smiling. "But then, the choice is his, isn't it?" She fell
silent, smiling, as the girl in question approached, glancing over her
shoulder. "Ranma, is something wrong?" she asked, once the redhead was
close enough.
"You two look happy," Ranma noted, glancing between Hotaru and
Tsunami for the moment. "Nothing important, just that Herb and me are
going to go round up some more reinforcements. I might not be back for a
while but if you need me, you can ask Washuu."
"I can also ask Shizu-oh to let me speak with you," Tsunami added,
nodding. "Please take care, Ranma. I will wait for your return."
"Um," Hotaru mumbled, staring at her feet. "Ranma-san, you don't
have to be my boyfriend if you don't want to be."
"Uh... I'll get back to you on that. I promise I'll explain before
this is all over," Ranma answered evasively, turning his attention to
Ryu. "Is he going to be okay?"
"With rest," Tsunami answered, frowning at Ranma in consternation.
"Is something wrong, Ranma?"
"Nothing important," Ranma said dismissively, offering a weak smile.
"I need to get going." She nodded to both Tsunami and Hotaru before
turning away, striding towards the Musk warriors.
Both Tsunami and Hotaru stared at Ranma curiously, as she spoke
quietly with a girl with strange blue and white hair, and golden eyes.
Ranma finished her speech, and the other girl nodded before Ranma picked
her up, and vanished. Hotaru sighed sadly, shaking her head, and sat
down next to Usagi.
Yosho approached, bowing low to Tsunami, and asking in a quiet
voice, "Can we move him? We shouldn't leave him in the rain, should we?"
Tsunami smiled softly, and shook her head. Yosho had failed to
notice that the rain wasn't striking near them, but his concern for
Ryu's life was gratifying nonetheless. "Yes, Yosho," she answered.
"Please be careful with him."
"I will," Yosho returned, stooping to gather the boy in his arms.
Sketching the closest approximation to a bow he could manage while
carrying Ryu, he turned and strode towards one of the lodges, Makoto
only a half step behind.
Touching the fingertips of one hand to her lips, Tsunami made a
thoughtful noise, and turned to face the blonde girl. "Your name is
Usagi?" she queried.
"Yes," she answered, climbing to her feet, and smiling at Tsunami
cheerfully. "And I used to be Sailor Moon, but I'm not now, though I
don't know why. But I can still heal people who are hurt, so that's
okay. You can heal people too, but you're a goddess?"
"Something like that," Tsunami allowed, motioning towards an awning
with a few seats set beneath it. "Shall we speak over there? I would be
interested in what you know of the Amatera."
"Okay!" Usagi enthused.
***
Once inside the meeting hall, where it was dry, and safe from the
weak rain, Cologne shook herself, and hopped to her seat at the table.
"Now that we're getting everything in order, and the Musk are going to
be helping us fight, we need to choose where we fight," she advised,
glancing at the other assembled elders, and other assorted representatives.
Nominally, Herb would have been there, but claimed he had some
business to attend to. Cologne wasn't about to press the issue, since it
wasn't likely too important. "Sun Tzu," Norris allowed, nodding. "If you
can choose the time and place of the battle, the advantage is yours."
"I don't think we can choose the time," Washuu countered.
"Admittedly, we've got a narrow range of time to fit the battle into,
but we can't really choose it."
"Can we predict it?" Cologne asked.
"Tomorrow," Yakumo said, shrugging. "Maybe the day after. I can feel
them -- lots more of them, but not as strong. They're scared, now. Very
scared of what happened at the battle today. I suspect that they think
they should have won, and instead they lost dozens, while we lost only a
handful."
"It's not an acceptable loss," Washuu countered. "We can't generate
more allies, they can."
Yakumo bowed his head, sighing. "That's true," he acquiesced. "For
what it's worth, I don't think they'll attack us seriously tomorrow."
"So they won't attack us at all?" Norris asked, furrowing his brow.
"That's hard to know," Washuu explained. "The beacon sends an
intentionally diffuse and hard to pinpoint signal. They shouldn't be
able to tell where it is, and of course we are. But if there are enough
of them, they can slowly narrow down the range where it could be, and
then they'll all know exactly where we are." She turned to Yakumo,
curious, and asked, "If they know where we are, would they attack?"
"Probably," he said, mumbling. "They didn't come here when the ships
landed to drop people off, so either it confused them, or they were too
scared to pay attention. I believe that if they knew where we were,
they'd swarm us in a heartbeat. Since they don't know, they're probably
building up their numbers."
"Okay, so they won't attack us today, they might attack us tomorrow,
and they will attack us the day after," Norris grumbled. "We need to
pick a battleground that gives us the advantage, if we can find one. The
way they move, I have a hard time imagining a good one."
"Jusenkyou," Cologne hazarded. "The cursed springs will be dangerous
to us, but any reaver that falls into them should suffer the same
consequences."
"That's not a good idea," another of the elders complained.
"Jusenkyou is dangerous for a reason."
"It's not hopeless," Cologne countered. "If we use waterproof soap,
the danger should be minimal, and it gives us the advantage of having at
least one direction that the reavers cannot attack us from."
"Waterproof soap?" Washuu asked skeptically. "If you need something
to keep you from getting wet, I might be able to make something for you.
They'd be small, and they wouldn't last long before they burnt out their
own charges, but it would do the trick for a minute or so."
"I don't know about this cursed spring stuff, but if it gives us any
advantage, that's something, isn't it?" Norris opined. "Eric and Jim
said that the new weapons didn't work so well -- it looks like the
reavers learned to make a layer of armor from cold for themselves."
"Oh, lovely," Washuu mumbled, furrowing her brow in thought. "It was
bound to happen eventually. Hopefully the newer reavers won't mass
enough to make themselves armor, but we can't depend on that."
"So, what kind of self-defense time-frame are we looking at?" Norris
asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"If we can survive until July twenty-seventh -- the day after
tomorrow -- then we should have done well enough to see all of the
refugees that the remaining GP fleet and Ginraii can carry away," Washuu
explained.
"That doesn't sound very hard," Norris said, glancing about the room.
"If we don't put up enough of a fight, the reavers might wander
off," Yakumo warned. "Right now they're scared of us, but if they beat
us too quickly, they could wander off and start attacking areas where
there are still refugees."
"Hmm," Cologne noised. "They can't move that quickly. When I think
about it, we might have already won."
"Not if the reavers have a way to catapult themselves into orbit,"
Washuu objected, shaking her head. "They got onto the orbital platform
earlier today, they could easily use that to launch themselves towards
Australia, or anywhere else where there are still refugees, not to
mention at the ships that are here to evacuate people."
"Point taken," Norris acquiesced, bowing his head. "So we've got to
put up the best damned fight we have. Tell me, honestly -- what are the
chances that we make it out of here alive?"
Washuu bit her lip, unsure. "I don't know," she admitted. "Before
Ranma found the Musk, I would have said we had no chance. Now, I would
guess our chances are slim, at best. We lost six of the Musk, according
to Yosho, and then three of our existing forces were rendered
unconscious in the battle. While there will be more of us at the next
battle, Norris, there will be proportionately more of them, and we've
used the one shot that the Halcyon array has left already."
"No chance at all, then?" Norris asked, unfolding his arm and
rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. "Well, the only cause worth fighting
is a lost cause. Unless we've got another ace up our sleeves? Maybe
someone else like Ranma, or his vicious friend?"
"He did say he was collecting another friend of Herb's to help him
fight. Who knows?"
"Feh," Cologne grumbled. "Herb is powerful, but I doubt any friend
of his would be enough to turn the tide if it's as bad as you say. We'd
need a god to help us out at this point." Her complaints were
interrupted by a knock at the door, which Cologne turned to regard
curiously. The wooden door swung open a moment later, Kura-Wan stepping
in, a little girl clinging to the hem of her shirt and staring around
with wide eyes. "Yes?" Cologne asked, frowning.
Ignoring the other attendants of the meeting, Kura-Wan explained in
Chinese, "This child wandered in, and said she needed to speak with your
son."
"My son?" Cologne asked, looking at the child in confusion.
"Ranma!" the girl said, frowning. "Father said to look for Ranma!"
"Who's your father, Child?" Cologne queried, hopping from her seat
to stand before the little girl.
She disengaged her hand from Kura-Wan's shirt, and said, "My father
is the Jusenkyou guide. He sent me to look for Ranma, because Ranma
knows about the springs from the pantyhose monster." She nodded
knowingly, then added, "The springs of Jusenkyou dried up, and father
said that he would investigate, but I needed to get Ranma, because
someone stole his secret map."
"She must be delusional," Kura-Wan suggested, frowning. "Probably
hasn't eaten in days -- our spear-sisters retrieved water from Jusenkyou
just yesterday, Elder."
Cologne nodded, then asked the girl, "How long did it take you to
get here?"
"I'm not sure," the girl admitted. "I got lost a lot, and I got
tired and slept a few times.... I'm very hungry."
"It could have been days," Cologne murmured. "But why would the
springs dry up?"
"Father says that it's because the bird-people are planning
something," the girl answered. "But he didn't say that they'd come back...."
Paling, Cologne managed to whisper, "Kura-Wan, see that she's fed
and given a place to rest, then ask Norris's men to ask someone to fetch
her away from here -- this is no place for a child." She trudged back to
the table, the other members of the meeting staring at her with frank
curiosity.
"What was that about?" Norris asked in his accented Japanese,
frowning curiously. "Bad news?"
"It could be," Cologne answered. "Ancient powers best left alone are
being called into play -- I wish I knew what Ranma was up to right now."
***
Holding Herb carefully, and remaining female in deference to her,
Ranma scanned the mountain before him. "Looks harmless," she assessed to
the Prince of the Musk. "How do we do this?"
"I suppose we could fly in," the girl answered slowly, staring down
with great trepidation. "I do not know that we would be welcomed if we
were to do so, however."
"How else do we do it?" Ranma asked, frowning. "One way or another,
we do need to do this, after all."
"I'll not contest that," Herb muttered. "It is simply that the
phoenix warriors who live on this peak are said to follow a god-emperor,
a living phoenix. His flames are the lifeblood of his people, and his
power is... immeasurable. I would not want to cross him, should we be
able to help it."
Ranma grunted, narrowing her eyes. Her keen sight was able to pick
out miniscule figures, far away, but beyond them only a short distance
was a formation that could only be a building. "I see something," she
notified Herb. "So, do you just want to go to it and walk in, or do you
think they'd be happier if we climbed the mountain the hard way?"
"I would guess that approach to be less offensive," Herb suggested.
"We should do that -- neither of us should have any real difficulty
claiming the peak."
"Well, I can fly, and you can at least float, so I don't think it's
going to take long," Ranma drawled. "But are you sure it's necessary?"
"I feel it is."
Sighing, Ranma teleported them to the base of the mountain, setting
Herb down after landing. To her credit, Herb seemed immune to the
disorientation that the shifting through space caused. "Well, we don't
have all day, let's get to work," Ranma mumbled, leaping up towards a
moss-covered and rain-slicked ledge. "As stupid as I think this is."
"You would be well to be cautious of the phoenix people's emperor,
Ranma," Herb warned, jumping up after Ranma.
***
Her efforts at asking for a small room where she could be afforded
some privacy had finally yielded results, and she was shown to a small
house near the outer edge of the village. The dirt floor was free of
furniture, and the poorly maintained walls and thatched roof suggested
that the house had been abandoned for some time.
For her purposes, however, it was adequate.
She was seated on the floor, her staff across her knees, and stared
intently at a pair of cats. One bluish black, the other white, each with
faintly golden crescents on their foreheads. "What seems to be the
problem?" the black cat asked, her tail lashing with repressed worry.
"Well, things have changed since Shanghai," Setsuna said, shaking
her head, and resting one hand atop the staff in her lap. "I am...
concerned, and wanted to know what insight you two might have."
"Us?" Artemis asked, surprised. "Why are you asking us, when you
could just check the Time Gate?"
"Well, that would be a small problem," Setsuna muttered, grimacing.
"The Time Gate isn't there anymore."
Both of the moon-cats stared at her, surprised, then exchanged a
confused glance, before eyeing her with worry. "How can it be gone?"
Setsuna twisted her face into a grimace. "I'm not entirely sure,"
she admitted. "I'm guessing it's linked to the destruction of the
Ginzuishou, but if that's true, then why haven't any other problems
shown up?"
"Other problems?" Luna asked. "Like what?"
"Well, the other girls can all transform, except for Usagi." Setsuna
sighed, and rubbed at the bridge of her nose wearily. "And that doesn't
make much sense either. I would have thought that the process would have
been all-or-nothing, not just most of her abilities, and the Time Gate."
Sighing mournfully, she added, "I wasn't sure before, but I'm certain
now that the future is entirely beyond our ability to know. Events have
been set into motion which carry us father and father from any path that
I've ever known."
"Well, that's not all bad," Artemis encouraged. "We're all still
alive, right?"
"With my primary role declared null, void, and useless," Setsuna
grumbled. "There's no gate for me to watch over, and my one goal has
been removed, since Usagi decided that we can make a better future than
the one that was already set."
The cats were silent, not knowing what to say.
"I suppose you wouldn't know anything about this, would you?"
Setsuna asked skeptically.
"I'm afraid not," Luna answered apologetically. "This is most
strange...."
"Well, for what it's worth, we can still fight," the woman stated,
climbing to her feet. "And that's what we'll do. I also get the sense
that sooner or later -- sooner than later, really -- it's not going to
be important."
"What do you mean?" Artemis asked, worried.
Setsuna sighed, tapping her foot thoughtfully. "If we have to leave
this planet, and we might, then Yosho said that his empire called us
rebels. I don't know what the history there is supposed to be, but I
imagine that it's a great way to start off on the wrong foot. So that
worries me, too."
Luna looked up at Setsuna anxiously, and asked, "Well... what can we
do?"
"Our best," the woman stated simply, opening the door, and stepping
out into the rain.
***
Humming tunelessly to himself, and with his hands buried in one of
the consoles behind the access panel designed for the task, Kintaro
studiously swapped burnt-out modules for some of the spare parts that
the ship was carrying. There weren't many, and the life support couldn't
sustain four people for an extended length of time in the ship's
slightly damaged condition, but nothing was broken -- merely severely worn.
The burnt-out modules could be refurbished with time and effort, and
while not as good as new, the parts were designed with the intent of
lasting. Standing on the seat in the weak gravity as he was, Kintaro
wasn't worried. The section of the station -- once they had removed the
remains of the reaver they found there -- provided enough air for all of
them.
Shiname had explained that the Ouke-no-ki created a self-sustaining
ecosystem in the area that housed it, and it gathered power from
subspace. Kintaro didn't understand how all of that worked, but it meant
after Shiname had moved the tree's dome into the shadow of the moon that
the ship was able to land on the deck next to the tree itself, and from
there, he was able to maintenance it.
"How much longer will it take to repair?" Shiname asked tentatively
from somewhere behind him.
Kintaro frowned, considering. "I think there are another few modules
to replace, then Yukinojo wants me to look at the booster's plating,
since the blast might have hurt it. Yukinojo?"
"The shielding circuits will only provide minimal protection at this
point," the computer advised. "Even after replacement. The system was
simply taxed too far by recent missions. The hyperspace drive and
booster section were not intended to be exposed to that kind of damage,
however, so an external inspection will be required."
"I guess that means I need to get outside and look," Kintaro said,
shrugging. "What do you suppose killed the reaver that was here before?"
"Shizu-oh said that it was Tsunami-sama's guardian," Shiname said
quietly.
"Who's that?" Kintaro asked, popping out another module, eyeing it,
and then setting it aside to put in the replacement.
"Ranma, I believe," Shiname said, somewhat nervously.
Kintaro frowned, eyeing some burn marks on the interior of the panel
he was examining. "Something wrong?" he asked absently.
"There is more, but I feel it's not my place to speak of it,"
Shiname explained. "Ah, regardless, Oe-san, Mihoshi is currently using
Shizu-oh to give her report, and Kohito, while recovered, is resting."
Kintaro frowned, gathering the modules he had removed into a small
box and sealing the panel before climbing down into the seat, then
turning it so he could face the incredibly nervous woman. "Well, that's
some good news, isn't it?" he asked, smiling.
The woman bit her lip, bowing her head. "Regardless, Cadet Oe, I
made you a promise, didn't I?"
"Oh yeah!" he said, brightening. "I forgot about that!"
Jumping slightly, the woman gestured to the closed door leading into
the rear section, and asked, "We are... we are alone, Cadet Oe. What...
what would you have of me?"
Kintaro glanced at one of the information screens as Yukinojo
activated it, and frowned. "Oh, you don't need to do anything for me,"
he replied, staring at the readout. "It's just my job, after all."
"Ah," Shiname said, relaxing instantly. "You are too gracious, Oe-san."
***
Herb sat on another of the seemingly limitless moss-covered boulders
that covered the nearly vertical mountain face they were attempting to
scale, catching her breath. "I hate rain," she muttered darkly to Ranma,
who perched nearby, staring at something in the distance. "This is more
difficult than I had originally thought."
Ranma grunted, turning to face Herb. "Are you sure it wouldn't be
better to just fly up? Or teleport there? This seems kind of... well...
stupid, Herb," Ranma grumbled.
"Deference is preferable in this matter, Ranma," Herb countered.
"For all that we can do, you underestimate the ruler of this peak, and
that could be a mistake."
Ranma frowned, glancing upward and squinting. "Phoenix warriors, huh?"
"Yes," Herb said quietly, rising to her feet, and staring down at
the treacherous fall that awaited should she slip. Her floating wouldn't
help much over such a great distance, though she hadn't said anything of
it to Ranma. The truth of the matter was that her confidence in the
scalability of the mountain was flagging, but she wasn't about to let
that slip to Ranma. "We should go on."
"Yeah," Ranma said, still looking upwards. "I think I saw one of them."
"Good," Herb pronounced, leaping to a higher ledge, and grabbing
onto a jagged stone to keep from slipping on the moss covering it. "If
they see us, then hopefully they won't think we're trying to sneak up on
them." She paused for a moment, thinking she glimpsed a trio of black
specks in the far-off distance streaking upwards. Dismissing it, she
vaulted to the next ledge, her foot slipping again on the slick moss.
Cursing loudly, she flailed about, grasping for another stone
outcropping, but none provided her smaller fingers enough purchase to
stop her descent. She tapped into her ki reserves, trying to float above
the moss-covered stone, but reluctant to use her abilities to their
fullest. Ranma might have a way to float about without allowing her ki
to become a visible force to everyone who know how to sense it, but Herb
had no such abilities. Drifting past the ledge she had fallen from, she
scrabbled at it, pulling off the moss to reveal only smooth stone beneath.
She cursed again, until a pair of arms seized her about the waist,
and hoisted her upward, setting her on the stone. Turning, she saw Ranma
looking away, drifting nearby. "Thank you," she said grudgingly. It was
_her_ choice to climb the cliffs in the rain, after all, not Ranma's.
"Having second thoughts yet?" Ranma asked, turning to look at Herb
directly.
She shook her head, leaping to the next rock. "My worries of falling
are less than my fears of arriving and angering Saffron, Ranma. I cannot
make it clearer than that."
"Well, let's hurry up," Ranma grumped, flitting up and landing a few
ledges higher than Herb. "Don't worry about it too much -- if you fall,
I'll catch you."
***
Composed, in a much better mood after finding that Kohito had lived,
and left largely alone, Ami sat beneath a thatched awning near the
central courtyard. Yakumo was away, in the meeting with the other
coordinators of the defense effort.
Her computer sat in her lap, closed for the time being. Instead she
tried to relax, watching the rain trickle to the dirt below. Straw
scattered across the ground prevented it from becoming excessively
muddy, dripping off of the strange log in the middle of the courtyard.
The motion of the water, and the decidedly relaxed air of the village --
with all of the Musk put up in a lodge near the Marines -- was deceptive.
If she didn't already know, Ami might not have believed that the
last defenders of Earth were all gathered there. The quiet air, the
rain, and the smoke emerging from the chimneys of the far lodges, but
still in her sight, was too relaxing. Usagi, still dressed in her casual
clothing, sat next to Hotaru and a very regal girl that Ami didn't know.
She couldn't hear their conversation, but for the moment, she wasn't
concerned. Whatever the new girl spoke of fascinated Usagi, but Ami
enjoyed her moment of quiet contemplation alone.
As if to spite her, her computer chirped, notifying her of some
theoretically important event. Sighing, she set the device in her lap,
and opened it, blinking as the image of somewhat tired looking young man
appeared. He was dressed, from what she could see, in just a T-shirt and
a baseball cap. "Heya," he greeted, raising a hand. "You're with the
defense force?"
"Of course," Ami said raising her finger to her lower lip and
staring at the man curiously. "Is something wrong?"
The man nodded unhappily, and glanced at something out of her view.
"According to some of the other ships in orbit, three reavers just
launched themselves from Earth towards the Moon," he explained.
"What?" Ami asked, perplexed. "Why would they do that?"
"Currently, we've got Maintainer Shiname-san's Ouke-no-ki here," the
man said. "Mihoshi's using it to send a report to the Galaxy Police
headquarters, but if the reavers get here and destroy it, we loose our
communication link with Jurai." He bit his lip, worried. "Um, Washuu-san
had someone on Earth use the weapon last time.... Can you use that again?"
"The Halcyon array is too old to stand being fired," Ami said,
shaking her head. "I can try using the Ethos array." She tapped a few
keys, and frowned. "Yes, Washuu-sensei said that the Ethos array was
designed to work on things like the reavers. I will take care of them
for you." She offered the man a hopeful smile. "I don't suppose that you
know of, um, someone named Tatsuki Kohito?"
***
The winds that caressed the mountain-top that was her home were
always cold, but she had long since grown accustomed to that. Aside from
which, the weather should be turning towards warmer winds, soon.
She kept her eyes closed, enjoying the stillness, and wishing that
events hadn't needed to be rushed. They had been rushed before, and a
mere six months wasn't nearly as bad as some previous instances, but it
was still an uncomfortable thing to have had to do.
"Kiima! Kiima!" The shout broke her moment of contemplation, and she
sighed, opening her eyes.
"Yes?" she asked tiredly. "What is it now?"
"There's someone climbing the mountain! We saw them!"
Turning about, she faced the speaker, a younger boy, and frowned.
There was a subtle resonance... there. "I know this one," she said tiredly.
"Kiima?"
Sighing, the woman shook her head, her wings rustling slightly,
uncomfortable. "Nothing. Wait here. I must speak with Saffron-sama."
"Okay," the boy said in a subdued voice.
Not paying him any more heed, Kiima strode away. The emperor's
quarters were only a short distance away, not far enough to require the
use of flight by any stretch of imagination. The platform she had been
standing on was one of the lower parts of the emperor's palace, a
platform for receiving warriors as they returned, in days gone past.
Now, it was merely an observation deck, if that. The phoenix people had
no need for rails, so the platform was merely cobbles, lined in green tile.
Passing across a walkway, into the interior of the mountain itself,
she marched up the stairs leading to the chamber that currently housed
the emperor himself. They could survive without his light for periods of
time, and Kiima expected that this period would be a long one.
"Your lordship," she said, entering the hall that the emperor and
his advisors were seated in. She bowed low, waiting for his
acknowledgment before rising.
"We know," he said distantly, prompting her to raise her head and
look at him in alarm.
He was not seated, as she had thought, but standing in his
resplendent robes, hands clasped behind his back, beneath his wings. "It
is of little concern to us," he said, still looking away, gazing out a
distant window. "There are things that we must deal with that are much
more important than foolish mortals with time to waste. They will perish
in the climb, and if they do not, then I will deal with the matter
personally once they get here."
Kiima blinked, and bowed her head again. "As you wish," she replied
quietly.
[End, Process of Elimination Chapter Thirteen, Part One]
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Author's Notes:
Special thanks to the Grum for pre-reading.
And this week's special offer: Want a reaver plushie?
Quote:
----------------
Reaver Plushies!
There is a project underway to produce reaver plushies. The web site for
this project is at http://www.plover.net/~skip/plushies.html
----------------
Which I think is kinda cool....