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actual life is purely coincidental. Tenchi-Muyo!
material and paraphernalia listed within is Copyright
Pioneer Animation 1997 (c). Kyoto Minamoto, Muriyaki
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Questions? Comments? Even ideas for future episodes?
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We look forward to receiving your responses!







                                 Episode #6

                         No Need For A Blitzkrieg!









"Can we please hurry this up?" asks Kiyone(b) impatiently.
"Kyoto and I are kind of in a hurry." Her left hand is 
clutching her husband’s; the other, as is her entire right
arm, is being held upright and level.

Mitsuki laughs as she continues poking at various places
on Kiyone(b)’s upper body. "Relax, Kiyone. Everyone has to
go through their monthly physicals, and it’s your turn."
She holds out a tongue depressor. "Now, stick out your 
tongue."

Kiyone(b) does so, giving Mitsuki the raspberry. When 
finally done, she responds, "You don’t need to give me a 
physical, Mitsuki." She looks up at Kyoto. "I like the 
physicals Kyoto gives me much better...."

The resistance medic smirks. "That reminds me, only one 
thing left: the pregnancy test."

"Come on, Mitsuki," laughs Kiyone(b). "Kyoto and I have 
only been married six weeks."

"A lot can happen in six weeks," replies Mitsuki. She 
pushes back a misbehaving strand of cherry-red hair. 
"Kyoto, you can wait in the waiting room. I don’t think
you want to see this."

"Hey," protests Kyoto lightly, "there’s nothing I haven’t
seen before!"

"Maybe so, but you won’t be seeing it again right now,"
says Mitsuki firmly. She literally pushes Kyoto out of the
examination room. He stumbles out the door and falls into
the first chair he comes across. This happens just as 
Tenchi and Kiyone(a) walk into the waiting area, and they
stand there staring at him for a moment before speaking.

Kyoto grunts and waves it away. "It’s nothing. Kiyone’s
having a pregnancy test." Kiyone(a)’s expression changes
for a moment, more than enough time for him to pick up on 
it. "What is it?" He laughs. "Are you expecting now?"

Neither Tenchi nor Kiyone(a) respond, and Kyoto raises
an eyebrow. "What?"

Tenchi starts to speak, but Kiyone(a) stops him. "It’s all
right, Tenchi, I’ll tell him." She looks Kyoto right in the
eye. "I can’t have children."

Kyoto’s expression becomes one of empathy. "Oh my....oh,
gods, I’m sorry, I didn’t know...." He pauses for a moment.
"RS syndrome?"

Tenchi’s Kiyone nods, and he sighs. "I was married to a 
girl who had the same problem. She was a GP too, only knew
me as a Fed attached to the President’s office. After a 
long time, we finally decided to adopt, but on her last 
mission out before settling down to be a full-time 
mother...." He shakes his head. "I’m really sorry, Kiyone.
I--we--had no idea...."

Kiyone(a) smiles. "It’s all right. Only Mihoshi knew, and
she can keep a secret quite well when she has to. Tenchi
and I have pretty much come to the same conclusion--when
we decide to have kids, of course. Besides--" She giggles.
"Tenchi said he’ll spoil me, instead." She turns to him,
mischief and affection brimming from her eyes. "Tenchi,
does that mean that...." She whispers in his ear, and 
Tenchi wraps Kiyone(a) up in his arms, grinning even as his
face goes red. "Any time you want, Kiyone."

Kyoto rolls his eyes. "There is such a thing as too much,
you two." He quirks an eyebrow at Tenchi. "If you’ll be 
pampering her like a child.... does that mean she’ll call
you ‘Daddy’ during sex?"

Tenchi has a horrified expression on his face. "Kyoto!
That’s sick! That’s--"

"Actually, I kinda like that," responds Kiyone(a).
She gives Tenchi a long kiss and giggles. "Yeah, ‘Daddy,’
I definitely like that."

Tenchi is saved any further embarrassment by the opening
of the exam room door. Kiyone(b) steps out, glowing with
happiness. "Kyoto, I’m going to have your baby!"

Kyoto’s jaw drops open and it takes him a few minutes
to speak coherently. "I....you....we....baby?"

"That’s right," confirms Mitsuki casually, stripping
off a neo-rubber glove as she comes into the waiting area.
"You must be packing some pretty potent ammo, ‘cause 
there’s no other way this girl could be pregnant this soon.
So, you’re gonna be a daddy in nine months--unless
the gestation period is accelerated too...."

Kyoto still looks dazed. "Daddy....I’m gonna be a 
daddy...."

"That’s right," chirps Kiyone(b), snuggling up to her 
husband. "You’re going to be a daddy, and I’m going to be a
mommy, and...."

"We’re gonna have a baby!" Kyoto yells happily, picking
up his wife and swinging her around. "We’re gonna have a 
baby!"

"Congratulations!" responds Kiyone(a).

"Yeah," agrees Tenchi, his arms going tighter around his 
fianceé. Shifting into mental link mode, he whispers,
Are you all right, love? I’m sorry this had to happen 
now....

I’m all right, Tenchi, she responds. I’m happy for them.
When the time comes, we’ll handle it. She wraps her arms
around him. Thank you for your concern, my Tenchi. Let’s
give them some time alone. Tenchi and Kiyone(a) leave the
waiting room, along with Mitsuki, letting Mr. and Mrs. 
Minamoto revel in their new parenthood.



Preperations for the assault are finally complete. After
two months, the rewritten plans of battle are complete,
the transports are loaded, and final briefing is about to 
start. Gathered in the large assembly room on the base are
the senior commanders of the Resistance, and a few 
high-ranking Galaxy Police officers, representatives
of the Resistance’s secret weapon: a fleet of Galaxy Police
capital ships, having been hopping in and out of lightspace
ever since the fall of Jurai, still loyal to DirGen Tenchi
and his proxy, the Juraian Military Command. Katsuhito(b)
has elected to keep things rather informal, relying more
upon his people’s ability to get the job done than 
exactitude on silly details. "All right, people. Let’s get
down to business." He looks around the long, round table.
"Well, go on, open your folders."

The three dozen people around the table crack open the 
sealed, CLASSIFIED-marked dossiers in front of them. Inside
are is the new assault strategy, and each person’s role in
this pageant of life and death. Katsuhito(b) gives the 
assembled warriors a few minutes to digest the contents.
Finally he asks, "Any questions?"

Tenchi is the first to speak. "Not that I’m complaining,
but why are Grandpa and I staying aboard Chisako?" Tenchi
and Katsuhito(a) had been given the role of combat 
operations coordinators. This basically requires them to 
keep the Resistance fire directed at the enemy.

"That’s easy enough," replies Katsuhito(b). "You and your
grandfather are able to stay extremely calm in situations
like this, and both of you can make on-the-fly tactical
decisions. Next question?"

"Well," responds Kiyone(a), "I have a question. What the 
hell are you thinking?!"

To her--and everyone else’s--surprise, Katsuhito(b)
smiles. "I assume you’re speaking of your target."

"Yes," replies Kiyone(a), trying to control her temper.
"I can appreciate the use of GP powered armor, but only 
three suits?!"

"Keep reading," urges Katsuhito(b). "Those suits are 
heavily modified, built to carry triple the firepower
of a normal suit, and much heavier shields. Besides--"
He sighs. "--all of our qualified suit pilots will be 
flying the fighters and strike craft."

Tenchi opens his mouth to volunteer, but Katsuhito(b)
cuts him off. "I appreciate the offer, but you'll have your
hands full keeping the rest of the assault running 
smoothly. Besides, I think your girlfriend will fight 
better without worrying about you." He turns back to 
Kiyone(a). "Anything else?"

"Just two things," she answers. "One, I can see Mihoshi
flying with me; she's had experience with powered armor.
But Ayeka?"

"Believe it or not, your princess has had flight training
in a PA suit. She's also been doing well on the sims. 
Finally, we can't free up anyone else. And the second 
point?"

"The target." She slides the enclosed inforod into a 
terminal slot in the table, and the table's holoprojector
kicks in. The assigned target manifests itself above the 
table: a gigantic warship, looking somewhat like a mammoth
metal shark. "This so-called 'supercarrier,' code-named
Reich One by your spies. The reports say it's almost a 
fifth the size of Earth's moon and armed to the teeth.
Three PA suits against that?!"

"The reports, which came in just yesterday, say that sucker
is still under construction and won't be complete for at 
least a year. That includes point-defense. You'll still
be flying into a hailstorm, but not nearly as bad as it 
would be if that was up and moving around. Also, your suits
all carry a half-dozen cold fusion and antimatter 
mini-missiles. Just a few of those, in that uncompleted
frame, will knock it out completely. The last thing this
galaxy needs is one of those roaming around free. By 
killing that thing, you help us and you." Katsuhito(b)
fixes Kiyone(b) with a calm but penetrating look until she
nods. "Next round?"

Kyoto is third. "An infiltration group.... into the Fourth
Reich's capital? Fine by me, but who's on it?"

"Well, you're leading it, so your wife would kill me if she
wasn't with you." Kiyone(b) grins at this. "Also, our 
Princess Ayeka--"

"Yes," interjects Ayeka(b). "I have some personal revenge
to exact on Nagi."

"As do we all," agrees Katsuhito(b). "Also, the Ryoko and
Washu from your universe. It's a small group, but the mix
of your talents and powers make you the perfect team to hit
the center while the Resistance is landing on Earth, Luna,
and Mars. Hitting them in so many places they can't get to
all of us is always effective." He turns to Colonel Takuya,
the Juraian ground forces commander. The scarred, 
dark-skinned man has elected to maintain his colonelcy
even though he wields power equivalent to that of the 
now-dead *Lord Marshal of the Army. "Colonel, I need your
troops to land at the exact same time as the infiltration
group. Can you do that?"

The colonel nods sharply, with military preciseness.
"Yessir. As long as the coordinators--" he nods at Tenchi
and Katsuhito(a) "--will keep me up to date."

"You got it," replies Tenchi at the same time that his 
grandfather nods.

"Good," responds Katsuhito(b), now turning to the GP 
officers. The most senior of them is rather young, with 
long, almost shaggy brown hair, but it's obvious he didn't
attain his Detective Captain's bars just with his good 
looks. "Captain Sagami, where are we to rendezvous
with your fleet?"

Sagami straightens up. "We have a task force waiting just
beyond the outer rim of the Jurai system. They'll 
rendezvous with the transports, once we've lifted off, and
they'll escort us to Anopon Prime, where the rest of the 
fleet is waiting for us." Katsuhito(b) nods. "Fine, fine."
His gaze falls upon Commander Yura, his strike craft 
commander. "Commander, is your combat wing ready?"

The young, blue-haired woman nods. "Commander, as of two 
hours ago, all 1430 of our fighters, bombers, and gunships
were combat ready. Most of them are being loaded onto the
Chisako now, along with their pilots."

"Very good, " says Katsuhito(b). "Is there anything else
we need to discuss, or can we just give the 'go' signal?"
Kyoto clears his throat, and Katsuhito(b) turns to look at
him. "Yes?"

"How many civilians on planet?" asks Kyoto.

Colonel Kasumi, the chief of logistics, consults her 
laptop. "About... eleven thousand."

Kyoto nods his thanks to the young lady, and then turns
back to Katsuhito(b). "Shouldn't we get those people off 
planet? Even if we do win this battle, what's left of the
Fourth Reich will undoubtedly effect reprisals."

Katsuhito(b) hesitates for a moment, then nods. "You're
right, I'd almost completely forgotten. The problem is 
transport space."

"I thought you said that you had several dozen transports,
capable of carrying five thousand troops each?"

"We do, and we could certainly spare the transports,
but we need a place to put the troops."

Kyoto sighs. "It'll be cramped, but I think we can fit 
about ten thousand troops aboard Chisako."

"Also," interjects Sagami, "The fleet has a number of large
transports. Once Chisako has rendezvoused with the fleet,
we could simply transfer the troops over to those ships,
freeing up Chisako for it's original assignment as a 
fighter carrier/battlewagon." Katsuhito(b) sighs in 
contentment. "Alright then, I think we can--" His voice
is suddenly cut off by a loud whooping. A holoscreen
pops up in front of his place at the table, and on it is a 
young commo officer.

"Sir, we're reading an incoming high-level energy beam,
registering at one-hundred thousand mega-cycles,
estimated time of impact two minutes!"

Katsuhito(b) curses. "Ch'koff de! Just when we were ready
to go..." He sighs. "Never thought I'd have to use this..."
He flips open a small panel in front of him and presses
the large, turquoise button inside.

In orbit, directly in the path of the beam, a sparkling
image starts to take shape, that of eight glowing blades
of white energy, arranged like an eight-pointed
star. The emerald-white beam slams into the strange sight
like a fast ball into a catcher's mitt. It shimmers for a 
moment, but holds.

Everyone in the briefing room is watching this with 
amazement. Kyoto is the first to find his voice. "What is 
that?" he croaks.

"That," says Katsuhito(b), "is Jurai's last line of 
defense. We call it the Fan of the Star Bird. It can absorb
staggering amounts of destructive energy, but only for a 
limited amount of time."

"How long?" asks Kiyone(a).

Katsuhito(b) studies the computer in front of him. "A beam
of that magnitude... about twenty-four hours."

"Will that be enough time to get everyone off planet?"
asks Kyoto.

"It will be, if we hurry," replies the resistance 
commander. "Kyoto, I want you and your people to get back
to Chisako and make as much room as you can. Lord knows
you're going to need all the space you can muster." He 
turns to Takuya. "Colonel, I want you to off load the 
Fourth and Twelfth Brigades. With those aboard Chisako,
we should have enough room for everyone we can find."

"We may have a problem," responds Takuya. "Those are our 
primary heavy-armor units, and we may not be able to fit 
all their equipment aboard Chisako too."

"Do you still have your assault shuttles?"

"Yes, but--"

"Squeeze everyone aboard Chisako that you can and get the
rest aboard the shuttles." Katsuhito(b) turns back to 
Kyoto. "Can your ship generate a translight field around
those shuttles? They're not capable of going superluminal
on their own."

Kyoto nods. "I think we can. I just need to talk to someone
first." He opens his own com-link, and Washu's face appear
in the center of the table.

"What is it, Kyoto? I'm busy!"

"I know, and I'll make this quick. Can Chisako generate
a translight field big enough to take a number of small
craft with us?"

Washu does some quick calculations, and then grins. "Sure!
Our speed will be somewhat reduced, but we can do it....
as long as their orbit around us is four hundred meters
or more."

"Why?"

"The gravity of the station's rotating saucers would draw
them in like a magnet, and the resulting G-forces would
crush them."

Kyoto chews his lip for a moment. "How big a field?"

"About.... thirty kilometers in every direction. Plenty
of room!"

"Good work, doc. Now, get everything you can stowed away.
We're gonna have about nine or ten thousand guests for 
dinner." He kills the channel before she can protest.
"All taken care of."

Katsuhito(b) shakes his head. "I must say, I still find it
hard to believe that there is a Washu on our side. I have
told you about what the other Washu did for the Nazis,
didn't I?"

Kyoto nods. "Yeah, she built the dimensional cannon that
destroyed Prime Center, designed the bio-weapons that 
turned everyone on *Megami into mutated idiots, and is now
building that damned Reich One. Horrible, but not 
surprising that Nagi would have someone like that in her 
inner circle."

"Indeed," agrees Katsuhito(b). "Nor that she has the 
traitor Mihoshi in there, too."

"Would you please stop calling me a traitor? I didn't do 
anything!" wails Mihoshi, prompting Kiyone(a) to wrap her
arms around her and comfort her. "It's okay, Mihoshi,
they aren't talking about you...."

Kiyone(b) whispers in her husband's ear, "She's not that
smart, but I definitely prefer this one to the other 
Mihoshi. This one's a sweetie."

* * *



Kyoto watches with satisfaction as the last transport
lifts off of Jurai's surface. Of the eleven thousand
civilians left on planet, all of them have been crowed
aboard the transports and sent on to a forest planet in the
sacred place of Jurai. At least that bitch Nagi has never
had the nerve to stick her nose into that sector of 
space.... He feels Kiyone(b)'s hand on his shoulder and he
turns to see her smiling down at him. "It's time to go, 
Kyoto." He nods and turns on the engines. Chisako 
gracefully rises from her hovering position over the base
and sails out of the atmosphere.

As they join the rest of the transports in accelerating
out of system, Kyoto watches the Fan of the Star Bird 
starting to die. One by one, the glowing blades died out 
until only one is left in existence. They have barely 
cleared the projected shock range when the last, lingering
blade winks out. Much to everyone's surprise, so does the
blast.

"What the hell?!" cries Katsuhito(b). "It didn't work! It 
didn't--" His words are suddenly made hollow by the cries
of Hanae, Muriyaki's eldest daughter.

"No! Pain.. death... death... darkness... help me, help 
me... daddy.... " Everyone is shocked by the girl's sudden
appearance, but Kyoto just runs to her and takes her up in
his arms.

"Shhhh... it's alright, it's alright, sweetie... shhh...
I'm here...." He gently strokes the back of her neck. "What
is it, Hanae?"

"Something's coming, daddy, something bad!"

Muriyaki suddenly appears on the bridge and runs to her 
daughter. "My God, Hanae!" She rushes to the young girl and
helps Kyoto hold her up. "Oh, my poor, poor baby, are you
okay?"

Hanae manages a weak smile. "I....I think so, mommy."
She snuggles into her mother’s embrace. "Now I am."

Kiyone(b) has a look of confusion. "‘Mommy?’ ‘Daddy?"
She turns to Kyoto. She had believed that he and Muriyaki
had merely been old friends, but...."Kyoto, what’s going
on?"

Kyoto laughs and hugs Kiyone(b) to him. "Their 
father--Muriyaki’s husband--died a long time ago. For all
intents and purposes, I am their father." After Kyoto had
met Kiyone(b), he and Muriyaki had agreed on this story.
He kisses his wife. "I’m not involved with anyone else,
dear." He turns back to his and Muriyaki’s eldest daughter.
"Honey," he whispers gently, "what did you see?"

"Something big, daddy," she responds. "It’s evil and 
powerful and it’s almost here."

The sudden stillness on the command deck is shattered
by the whirring of the central holoterminal’s printer
spitting out hardcopy. Tenchi, the closest to it, makes
his way over to the sheaf of paper with Kiyone(a) clutching
him. He winces as he reads it.

"Uh, Katsuhito, you’d better read this...."

Katsuhito(b) reads the printout and sucks in a disbelieving
breath. "What the hell? ‘To Resistance Command, Jurai,
from listening post Los Alamos, Phobos, Sol. Reich One 
operational. In fact, it’s been operational for the past
six months. Just found this out yesterday. Reich Two the 
ship being built at Luna. Reich One en route to your 
position now. Get out, repeat, get out of Jurai ASAP, if 
not sooner. Good luck, Big K. You’ll need it. We’re getting
outta he--’" He looks up. "That’s it. End of transmission.
Nagi’s bastards must have got them."

Kyoto groans. "That’s it. We’re leaving." He passes a 
headset over to Katsuhito(b). "Get our people out of here."

Katsuhito(b) nods and sets to passing orders over the commo
channel. After a few minutes he nods. "The transports
have already started moving out." They can see the large,
heavy-bellied but lightly-armed transports shifting into
lightspace for a ten-second leap to the rim of the system,
where Sagami’s task force is waiting.

Kyoto is about to have Chisako join them when Jurai’s
*L4 point lights up with a flash of magenta light. The 
light takes shape, a shape that then solidifies into a 
giant, sharklike form.

"Oh, gods, it’s here," croaks Katsuhito(b). Everyone
on the bridge (which is rather crowded, considering
that there are nearly ten thousand people crammed into 
every centimeter of spare space, even Washu’s lab) sucks
in their breath at the same time.

Kyoto is staring--or rather glaring--at the screen. 
"Katsuhito, do you still have the specs for that sucker?"

Katsuhito(b) responds, "Yes. Why do you ask?" Suddenly
he realizes. "You’re not serious...."

Tenchi had gotten it a moment before Katsuhito(b).
"Yes, he is."

Kyoto looks steadily at Katsuhito(b), who sighs and slaps
a datacard into his hand. "Make it count."

The space pirate grins. "Trust me. You’re about to see how
powerful this thing is." He slips the card into the 
holoterminal. "Chisako, arm all gun batteries. Use the 
datacard to calculate targeting information and feed to 
gunnery computers. Fire at your discretion."

"Yes, Master," answers the computer--in Kiyone’s voice.
Kiyone(b) jerks a surprised look at her husband. "Kyoto?"

He grins at her. "It’s a wedding gift."

"I would have liked a dishwasher better," she quips.

Kiyone(a) looks up at Tenchi. What’s my wedding gift gonna
be, Tenchi?

Whatever you want, but let’s talk about it la-- Both of 
their attention is grabbed by the slight shaking of the 
deck. All of Chisako’s weapon batteries are disgorging
death in fluorescent colors. Reich One’s giant engine pods
start to rupture, spilling coolant fluid and antimatter.
The contact of the neon lances of doom ignites the volatile
material, and the pods start to detonate.... but not before
the mouth of the dying ship splits open and spews out a 
blindingly white spear of force. The beam strikes the sun,
which looks unchanged for a moment, and suddenly explodes
into a multidirectional shock wave.

"Okay, now we go!" cries out Kyoto, wrenching the 
trackball/yoke around and sending Chisako spinning on its
axis and racing at fifty times the speed of light towards
the outer system, the small fleet of assault shuttles
barely managing to hang onto the acceleration field. 
Katsuhito(b), still wearing the headset, screams into the
mike, "Light out for Anopon! Do it now!" Evidently Sagami
believed him, because the transports and warships go 
hyperluminal. Chisako is hot on their tail, staying about
a half-step ahead of the shock wave. It chases them for 
about a parsec and a half before finally starting to 
dissipate. The station skids--literally--to
a stop, for assessment of damage. Mihoshi is the first to 
speak. "Oh, my! What happened?"

"Nothing good," responds Kyoto, his arms wrapped around
Kiyone(b). "That damned Reich One just killed the Jurai
system. Energy output readings suggest.... a dimensional
cannon."

"That would do it," agrees Katsuhito(b) wearily. "My 
gods.... our world.... our home...."

"One more thing to take revenge on Nagi for," hisses 
Ayeka(b).

"Chisako, damage report," says Kyoto.

The computer answers, still in Kiyone’s voice. "No damage.
Multiphased dimensional shields bore the brunt. Shields
regenerating."

Kyoto claps his hands together, starts to turn--and
finds himself trapped. Chisako’s command deck is crammed
with several times more people than it’s really meant to 
hold. "Oh, crap...." He hits a commo link to Washu’s lab.
"How ya holdin’ up down there?"

"My lab!" she shrieks. "My experiments!.... They’re all 
ruined...."

"Sorry about that. We had to outrun a supernova. Can you do
something about living accommodations?"

"We-ell," she replies, "that’s no problem for a 
super-genius like me! I can open portals to enough 
dimensions to hold.... about five thousand people. That 
oughta give the rest of us room to breathe."

"Get on it," he says, closing the link down. He then turns
to Katsuhito(b). "How long to Anopon?"

"At a cruising speed of about 75 c.... say, about two or 
three days."

"Okay, then. Chisako, go hyperluminal. Stabilize speed at 
seventy-five c, lock course 123 by 788 by 090. Engage."
The star-speckled ebony outside the viewport changes to a 
swirling miasma of rainbow light as the space station
kicks herself into faster-than-light speeds.



* * *



Washu comes through, as usual. About half the troopers
aboard have been crowded through Washu-patented
D-portals onto sunny beaches and into cool forests. 
However, that still leaves about sixty-five hundred people
aboard, and even Chisako doesn’t have beds enough for all
of them. So, one has to be very careful when walking,
for you run the risk of tripping over a sleeping pilot or 
mechanic around every turn.

Even the Masaki house is not exempt from this crowding.
Consequently, most of the original group has had to crowd
into Tenchi and Kiyone’s room. Washu has beamed in several
large bunk beds to make sleeping easier. Tenchi is 
watching, dejectedly, as all his free space is taken up. 
"My room....my room....my--oh, sorry, Kiyone....our
room....our room...."

Kiyone looks even less happy. Her favorite part of the day
is bedtime, when she can curl up alone in Tenchi’s arms and
cuddle with him, and now that happy private time is 
snatched away from them. "How much farther to Anopon 
Prime?"

"Kyoto said we’ll only have to do this for another couple
of days," replies Katsuhito(a). He smiles at his grandson
and probable granddaughter-in-law. "At least you two still
get the big bed. It’s only fair, considering that it is 
your room."

"This isn’t so bad," remarks Nobuyuki. "Stuff like this 
brings a family closer."

"Yeah!" giggles Mihoshi. "It’s just like a slumber 
party....except there’re guys here!"

"That’s the best part," murmurs Kiyone, looking up at 
Tenchi. She smiles and pats the spot on the bed next to 
her. "There’s plenty of room, Tenchi...."

Sasami makes a playful face as Tenchi stretches out next
to Kiyone and pulls her on top of him. "Don’t be naughty!
You’re not alone, you know!"

Kiyone sighs and rolls off of Tenchi, but his arms are 
still around her, and she rests her head on his chest.
"Ready for bed, Tenchi?"

Sasami suddenly climbs onto the bed, curling up on Tenchi’s
other side. "Now I know you two won’t be dirty! You 
wouldn’t do anything with a little girl in your bed!"

Both Tenchi and Kiyone sigh. Maybe we should find somewhere
else to sleep, Kiyone? he suggests.

Kiyone nods and smiles. Maybe Sasami’s right, though,
Tenchi. If we’re alone, we might be tempted to 
be....naughty.

Like I’m not now? he quips.

So am I, but Sasami is here. Let’s just go to sleep. Kiyone
leans up and kisses her fiancé. What do you want to dream
about tonight, Tenchi?

What Tenchi would have said quickly becomes academic
as Ryoko suddenly appears over them, glaring at Kiyone.
"What the hell’s goin’ on here, Tenchi?"

"Nothing," retorts Tenchi. "Ryoko, come down and go to 
bed."

"All right, Tenchi." Ryoko drops onto the bed and pushes
Kiyone away from Tenchi. "You wanna cuddle, Tenchi?"

Tenchi glares at her before pushing her away and pulling
Kiyone back onto the bed. "No, Ryoko. There’re plenty of 
bunks over there, you can have one all to yourself."

Before Ryoko can respond to this Ayeka gets out of her bunk
and storms over to the bed. "Lord Tenchi! What are you 
doing with them?"

"Kiyone and I are trying to sleep," responds Tenchi with
not a little surliness.

"No!" protests Ryoko. "You want to sleep with me, don’t
you, Tenchi?"

"Sorry, but no. I just want to sleep." Tenchi rolls over,
sprawling himself across Kiyone, who sighs in contentment.

Ayeka glares at Kiyone. "Don’t enjoy yourself too much,
commoner. You realize Tenchi’s merely having fun with you.
He’s going to marry me."

"No, I’m not." Tenchi holds up Kiyone’s left hand. On the
ring finger is a gold band with a diamond solitaire.
"I’m gonna marry Kiyone."

The entire room is silent, as everyone peers out of their
bunks to see. Mihoshi, still in her bed, breaks the 
silence. "I’m so moved!" she sobs happily. 
"Congratulations, you two! I just know you two will be 
happy together!"

Sasami giggles and cheers. "Yay! Does this mean you’ll
be my aunt, Kiyone?"

Kiyone smiles at Sasami and nods. Ayeka is thunderstruck.
"Lord Tenchi! How can you do this?"

Tenchi looks at her calmly. "It’s my understanding
that an Emperor or Empress of Jurai can choose whoever
they want as their Empress or Emperor."

For the second time in as many minutes, Ayeka is shocked.
When she finally recovers her voice, she stammers, 
"L-L-Lord Tenchi, how....why....when did you change your
mind?"

Tenchi rolls off of Kiyone, who immediately rolls halfway
onto him. "When Kiyone and I became a couple."

"Well done, Tenchi!" exults Nobuyuki. "Finally! I’m going
to have grandchildren!"

"Not for a while," hedges Kiyone, still unwilling to tell
anyone but Tenchi and Kyoto about her condition.

Tenchi looks tenderly at Ayeka and Ryoko. "I’m sorry, you
two. Really. But I love Kiyone, and she loves me. Do you 
expect me to leave her?"

"Well...." they both start.

"Seriously!" he barks, in a tone that shocks everyone
in the room. After a moment, the two girls shake their 
heads.

"All right then," he says quietly. "Let’s get to sleep now.
Grandpa, could you get the lights?"

"Of course," intones Katsuhito. He snaps the switch and the
room is plunged into darkness.

Kiyone sighs and pulls Tenchi back on top of her. "I 
believe you were going to kiss me goodnight?" she whispers
innocently.

Actually, he replies in mindlink, I think you mean I was 
going to kiss you all night. He starts to nibble at her 
collarbone, and she sighs, louder this time. Oh, Tenchi,
that feels good, that feels good. She is about to say more
when she feels him suddenly pressing down on her heavily.
Tenchi! she gasps, feeling a mixture of pleasure and slight
pain. What brought that on?

Someone’s on my back, he manages. Next thing Tenchi knows,
he’s being pulled off of Kiyone. The firmness of the 
breasts pressing into his back tells him that it can only
be Ryoko. "Ryoko! Let go of me!"

"Tenchi, you don’t want that little girl," she chides.
"What you want is a real woman, a woman who can--"

Ayeka suddenly grabs Tenchi’s left arm. "Lord Tenchi,
come with me! It’s me you want to be with don’t you?"

"Shut up, you silly princess," snarls Ryoko. "It’s me he 
wants." She gives Tenchi’s right arm a tug. "Rii-ight,
Tenchi?"

"No, you foul woman!" cries Ayeka. "Lord Tenchi, you want
to be with me, don’t y--"

Both girls yelp and fall back as Tenchi yanks his arms free
of both of them. "Cut it out, you two!" he snaps in a voice
would sound equally appropriate coming from a burning
bush. "Did you not hear me a few minutes ago? I said I love
Kiyone and I’m gonna marry her. This eternal argument
of yours is over." He glares at them. "Everyone off my bed.
Now!" He turns to Kiyone and Sasami. "You two can stay,
but Ryoko and Ayeka....off. Now. Go."

The princess and the pirate meekly crawl off of the bed and
over to their own bunks.

Kiyone sighs and wraps her arms around Tenchi. "I’m sorry
you had to do that," she murmurs.

Tenchi shakes his head and pulls her close. "So am I. What
will it take to get it through their heads that I’m taken?"

"You wanna go and sleep somewhere else?" she asks quietly.

"Yes, Kiyone, I do, but not till everyone else is asleep."
Tenchi gently kisses her forehead. "Just wait awhile,
love, just wait."



Ayeka is in heaven. Finally she has Tenchi all to herself.
She knew his fling with that impertinent Kiyone wouldn’t
last forever. She is nibbling on his neck (He tastes just
like I thought he would, she thinks) and she starts to work
down onto his chest....

His chest.

His breasts.

"When did Tenchi grow breasts?" she wonders. She moves a 
hand up to his chest and squeezes....and her heart grows
cold as she recognizes Ryoko’s voice moaning in delight!
She jerks her hand away and screams.

A few moments before, Ryoko was in heaven. Tenchi was 
kissing her neck and fondling her breasts....and
she is suddenly awakened by Ayeka’s shrill cry. She sits
bolt upright and slams her head into Ayeka’s, and both 
women scream as they realize that Ayeka is straddling
Ryoko. Suddenly they hear Mihoshi say, "Oh, my!"

They turn to see everyone staring, wide-eyed and 
open-mouthed, at them. Mihoshi breaks the silence. "Oh, 
my!" she repeats. "Ayeka, have you and Ryoko gotten so 
desperate that you’re sleeping with each other now?"

Ryoko quickly pushes Ayeka off of her, and the princess
falls unceremoniously to the floor.

Sasami peeks out of the bunk she had appropriated
from Ayeka. "Where’re Kiyone and Tenchi?"

Katsuhito stretches and yawns. "They went out around one.
They were going to find someplace peaceful to sleep."

Both Ayeka and Ryoko are staring blankly at Katsuhito.
Ayeka is the first to find her voice. "And you just let 
them leave, Yosho?"

Katsuhito shrugs expressively. "And why should I have 
stopped them?"

Ryoko is off the bed and halfway to the door. "We’ve gotta
find them before they....they...."

"Start being naughty?" asks Sasami innocently, a wide grin
of amusement on her face.

Ayeka nods in agreement, and she rushes out the door after
Ryoko. Sasami sighs and follows them. "Someone’s gotta keep
those two out of trouble."



Kiyone and Tenchi had indeed left their room around one 
A.M., ship’s time. After wandering the ship for about a 
half-hour, they wandered into one of the smaller arboretum
decks and climbed up into one of the larger trees. Set up 
in the branches was an adult-sized treehouse, furnished
like a tropical cottage. Kyoto had told him that he would
often adapt the larger trees on Chisako for such use. The
couple pulled bottles of juice from the small fridge and 
circled the single hammock for about twenty minutes.
Tenchi was insisting that Kiyone take the hammock while
he slept on the floor, while she was saying that there was
plenty of room for both of them. Finally, she had pushed
him down into it and hopped up on top of him. "See," she 
whispered playfully as she made herself comfortable
on top of him, "I told you it was gonna work, Tenchi!"

Tenchi had grinned. "Yeah, you told me." He hugged Kiyone
close and she sighed in contentment. He had fallen 
half-asleep when he’d heard her murmur something. Gently
brushing his lips across her forehead, he’d asked, "What
is it?"

"Just a saying from my world," she responded, snuggling
in closer to him.

"Funny," he whispered, "I know nothing about your world.
What’s it’s name?"

"Megami," she replied. She suddenly looked up as he 
chuckled. "What’s so funny?"

Tenchi covered his mouth until the laughter stopped.
"Sorry, Kiyone. In Japan, that word means ‘goddess.’
I was thinking that it’s ironic that my fianceé, the girl
who is so perfect she must be a goddess--" this drew a 
delighted giggle from Kiyone "--is from a planet named 
after a goddess." He looked at her intently. "Incidentally,
what does your name mean, anyway? In Japan, there’s an 
almost identical word that means ‘conscience.’"

"On Megami, my name means ‘*cherished love,’" she had 
replied.

"That’s beautiful," whispered Tenchi. "But what was the 
saying?"

"My name leads into it, in a way," Kiyone had answered.
"But for the answer, I will charge you a kiss."

Tenchi had promptly paid with three long kisses. "That 
oughta cover any other charges," he had grinned. "Not that
I mind paying...."

Kiyone had beamed up at her fiancé. "I like the way you 
pay, Tenchi. Anyway, this is a saying said between a 
husband and wife, or very close lovers. It’s very serious;
just murmuring it is tantamount to a proposal and it 
usually accompanies one." She sighed and rested her head
on Tenchi’s shoulder. "Arei tai yone ro komi, Tenchi-yon.
It means, ‘you are the heart of my life, my beloved 
Tenchi.’"

"I like the sound of it," he said softly. "And what do I 
call you?"

"The man calls the woman yoni, and the woman calls the man
yon."

"All right then...." Tenchi looked affectionately
at her. How did you say it....Arei tai yone ro komi, 
Kiyone-yoni. Did I get it right?

Kiyone, tears of happiness starting to fall from her eyes,
nods enthusiastically. Yes, my Tenchi-yon, you got it 
perfect. Tenchi’s arms lock tight around her, and her eyes
start to close. I was so afraid....I never thought I’d find
someone to call me that....to say that to me....

Don’t worry, love, he soothed, I’ll always be here, forever
and ever....



When Ayeka, Ryoko, and Sasami had finally found them, 
around eight A.M., ship’s time, they were fast asleep,
Kiyone curled up in Tenchi’s lap like a little girl 
blissfully asleep with her father watching over her.

"Oh, how sweet!" coos Sasami. "Look at them! They look so 
peaceful and happy!"

Ayeka is still fuming. "How dare she! How dare that....that
policewoman steal my Tenchi away!"

"Ayeka, you never had him," reminds Sasami innocently.

"That’s right, Princess," chortles Ryoko. "Tenchi is mine!"

"I don’t think he chose you either," admonishes Sasami
teasingly.

"Tenchi’s just confused," cries Ayeka. "Once he comes to 
his senses--"

"Would you two please be quiet?" interrupts Tenchi softly.
"Kiyone’s trying to sleep."

"It’s all right, Tenchi," replies Kiyone sleepily. She 
gives him a long kiss that makes Sasami giggle, and Ryoko
and Ayeka go red with fury. Finally she breaks away. "Good
morning, Tenchi." She looks around. "Morning, girls. What’s
up?"

"It’s breakfast time!" replies Sasami brightly.

"Oh, good! I’m starved!" She rises from the hammock.

Tenchi bounces out and to his feet. "Is there any 
particular reason you two went looking for us?" Ryoko and
Ayeka open and close their mouths several times before
sighing and climbing out of the treehouse. Tenchi turns
to look at Sasami. "What are they up to, Sasami?"

"They thought you two were being naughty or something,"
teases Sasami. "Are you gonna have a...." Her voice trails
off at the pained look on Kiyone’s face. "What’s wrong,
Kiyone?"

Kiyone smiles sadly. "Have you heard of RS syndrome,
Sasami?"

Sasami nods, and she suddenly gasps, her eyes as large as 
galaxies. "You mean you can’t have children?"

Kiyone nods, and Sasami’s eyes start to well up with tears.
She abruptly starts sobbing and surges forward, burying
her face in Kiyone’s lower chest (far more substantial
than Ayeka’s.) "I’m sorry, Kiyone," she sniffles. "If I’d
known, I wouldn’t have made all those silly jokes about
being an aunt. I’m sorry, I’m sorry...."

Kiyone hugs Sasami and strokes the back of her head gently.
"It’s all right, Sasami. You didn’t know, and 
this....Tenchi and I can live with this. We’ll probably
end up adopting." Tenchi has an arm wrapped around Kiyone’s
waist, and he places the free arm around Sasami.

Still sniffling a little, Sasami looks up at Tenchi. "So,
you two will adopt a child?"

Tenchi nods. "Someday."

Sasami snuggles in closer to Tenchi and Kiyone. "Would
you two adopt me?"

Tenchi and Kiyone are initially shocked. After a few 
minutes, Tenchi slips into mindlink. What do you think,
Kiyone-yoni?

Kiyone smiles. I think I’d like to have a daughter like 
Sasami. Far better than Ayeka, huh, Tenchi-yon?

There is that. So.... Tenchi hugs Kiyone and Sasami closer
to him and kisses both girls on the forehead. "Yes, Sasami.
Welcome home."

Sasami’s entire form seems to light up. "Yay!!!" She hugs
her new parents tightly. "It’ll be good to have a mommy
and daddy."

Now you’ll have two girls calling you "daddy," huh, Tenchi?
teases Kiyone.

Lucky me, quips Tenchi playfully, holding his new family
in his arms.



Fortunately for the occupants of Chisako, the transit
to Anopon Prime goes off without a hitch, and the next day
the mobile space station is arriving in a system literally
filled with Galaxy Police starships. Many are the huge,
heavily-armed and -armored heavy cruisers; others are the
asteroid-sized superdreadnoughts packing firepower enough
to destroy anything smaller than itself; but most are the
agile, moderately-armed fast-patrol ships like Kiyone and
Mihoshi’s own Yagami.

The final meeting of the senior officers (which includes
Tenchi and company) is on an old space station orbiting
a dirty-brown sphere. Once upon a time, this was a lush 
jade marble called Anopon Center; now it is a dead world.
They are meeting with the GP fleet commander, the last 
surviving Detective Chief, and he is the last person they
expected.

Kagato, a Detective Chief with the Galaxy Police and the 
commander of the Fourth Federated Fleet, stretches and 
yawns. He looks much like the arrogant, green-haired
pretender to the Jurai throne that had caused them so much
trouble, but there is a distinct difference. His bearing
is more relaxed, faint amusement in his eyes instead of 
contempt, and the GP executive’s uniform seems to suit him
better than the dark royal robes than the other Kagato.
Later, Katsuhito(a) would comment that this man was far 
more like the Kagato he knew in his youth.

Right now he is discreetly looking over the new arrivals.
"Well, if I didn’t know better, I’d say I was seeing some
ghosts." He smiles. "Welcome. Anyone who’d help us take 
down the Fourth Reich must be all right."

Kyoto reaches his hand out and shakes Kagato’s. "Thank
you. We’re glad to help." He introduces the rest of his 
group, ending with a gorgeous young lady in an extremely
form-fitting jumpsuit and a fat, light gray Ohki with an 
eyepatch. Kagato squints at the second sight. "An Ohki.
Haven’t seen one since Hitler had the Ohki World pounded
into dust."

The cabbit wrinkles its nose. "Buddy, a tip. Use some 
breath mints."

Kagato yelps and jumps up. "It talks!"

"Yes," smiles Kyoto. "Meet the last two principal members
of our group. Muriyaki Kushiragi, queen-mother of the 
*Sha’yla Sha’yla, or the ship-women, and Chi-ohki, the 
pirate lord of the Ohkis."

Kagato manages a smile. "Pleased to meet you....I 
think....but....not to be rude, but....what do you do?"

"Since you recognized Chi-ohki’s species," answers Muriyaki
sweetly, "You know what his species does. Mine does much
the same. My daughters and I can increase the size of the
fleet by nearly 75%, and with the help of Chi-ohki and his
brood, it will nearly double."

Kagato gulps. "Wow....thank you. Thank you all very much."
He turns to Katsuhito(b). "You got the camera footage
of Jurai’s destruction?"

Katsuhito(b) nods and passes him an inforod. Kagato places
it in a slot on his terminal and views the results. "My 
god....so they actually did it....they’ve actually 
destroyed an entire solar system...."

"We made sure they didn’t get away," says Tenchi quietly.

Kagato smiles sadly at that. "And I thank you for that.
At least our homeworld’s murderers died with their target.
But the ones ultimately responsible are still unharmed."

"Changing that is why we’re here," puts in Kiyone(a).

"Quite right." He taps a sequence into his computer,
and a holo of the Sol system appears. "We will be splitting
the fleet, which will be bolstered by the kind assistance
of Lady Muriyaki and Chi-ohki--" he nods his thanks and 
acknowledgments at them "--into five groups. Three of these
groups will be charged with safely escorting the transports
in to their targets, and providing covering fire for the 
troops and transports once landfall has been made. The 
fourth will take up position between Luna and Mars, to 
forestall any reinforcements from arriving. The fifth will
concentrate on hitting the naval base at Sirius, to 
hopefully divert more of the fleet away from Earth. That
system is their primary deployment center, so they have to
take any assault seriously."

"I could use a slice of cheesecake from Sirius," murmurs
Yura almost inaudibly.

Kagato throws a lopsided smile at her. "We’ll see what we 
can do." His lighthearted tone, and the tongue she sticks
out at him, makes it quite clear that the two of them are
married, or at the very least lovers. His attention
is drawn back to Muriyaki. "Lady Muriyaki, since you and 
Chi-ohki are contributing so much to this, you get to 
choose where your....people are assigned."

"We’ll take the escort and defense positions," she 
responds.

"Good. How many strike craft did you bring with you, hon--I
mean, Commander Yura?"

She smiles sweetly at the near-slip. "About 
fourteen-hundred thirty. Do you still have the two 
thousand?"

"Yes, so that makes....damn near thirty-five hundred.
I assume you’ll be flying lead?"

Yura is about to respond in the affirmative when 
Katsuhito(b) interrupts. "She’ll be staying aboard Chisako
to coordinate fighter ops with Commander Tenchi. I’ll be 
leading the flight wing."

There is an immediate uproar at this, and no one is up and
roaring as loudly as Kiyone(b) and Kagato. "Katsuhito,
you can’t be serious. You’re--"

"Fully aware of what I’m doing. All of you have accepted
the fact that you may well die in the next few days. It’s
my turn. I still owe them for the deaths of my wife and 
daughter, and I’m gonna take my payback with my own hands."
The sheer viciousness of his words shock everyone, and 
shakes himself and smiles. "Relax. I’m not gonna drop the
cause for some personal vengeance. But I can’t ask you to 
go out and die for something I’m not going to."

"And we launch when?" asks Kyoto.

Kagato and Katsuhito(b) speak quietly for a moment, then
look up. "Three days."

After the briefing, Tenchi pulls his grandfather aside to 
talk to him about something. "Go on ahead back to Chisako,"
he tells Kiyone(a). "I’ll be along soon."

Mystified, she does so. She’s walking along the corridor
back to the Masaki house when she hears Ryoko’s voice say,
"Mind if I walk with you?"

"Go right ahead," she responds automatically.

"So," says Ryoko conversationally, "how’re you and Tenchi?"

"We’re fine," replies Kiyone, her defenses kicking in. 
Ryoko hasn’t been too happy with her for the past few 
months. For her to be acting all friendly must mean 
something’s up.

"I, uh, heard about your little problem," says Ryoko, 
almost as an afterthought.

Now Kiyone is on full alert. "What little problem?"

"You know....not being able to give Tenchi any children.
I am so sorry," she adds, in a completely insincere
tone.

"Tenchi and I worked it out," protests Kiyone. She knows
better than to give Ryoko an opening like this, but, 
dammit, she’s hit a nerve.

"Oh, I know that. Believe it or not, Ayeka and I do know
that Tenchi is in love with you, and that he’s never gonna
leave you. We hate it, but we have to accept it. Of course,
if he is becoming the Emperor of Jurai, he may have to 
make....compromises."

"Compromises," repeats Kiyone in an icy tone.

"Well, yeah. An emperor’s gotta have an heir, and....well,
you know it’s an old tradition for emperors to have more
than one wife."

Kiyone suddenly feels anger starting to well up inside
of her.

Ryoko is still talking. "Oh, I’m sure Tenchi will fight
it every step of the way, try everything he can to get out
of it, maybe he actually will. But if he doesn’t...."
Ryoko grins maliciously. "You may have to share Tenchi
with someone else. I am so sorry, Kiyone, I really am...."

Kiyone, by now, is ready to commit murder and damn the 
consequences. She starts to lunge forward at Ryoko, 
intending to go for her throat....

....and is suddenly yanked back by Kyoto. "Calm down, 
Kiyone!" he says in a calm voice.

"Kyoto!" she screams. "Did you hear what--"

"I heard everything," he says in a strangely soothing
tone. "You have every right to be pissed. But you know 
Tenchi. He’d sooner kill himself than look at anyone else.
Think, Kiyone. How much of this is just Ryoko’s jealousy
talking? Let me handle this."

Kiyone, still seething with anger, slumps to the floor,
still glaring at Ryoko. That anger changes to shock when
she sees Kyoto give Ryoko a punch that sends her flying
back down the corridor. However, Ryoko is undamaged,
and she bounces to her feet, looking quite pissed. "What
the hell was that for?!" She glares at Kyoto. "I guess 
you’ll just stand up for anyone who wears your precious
little GP’s face, won’t you?" The sneer is replaced by a 
yelp of surprise as Kyoto lifts her into the air by the 
collar of her tunic-dress and slams her back into the wall.
"Hey!"

"Can’t you and Ayeka get it!" he hisses. "Do you two ever
wonder why Tenchi chose Kiyone?" He glares at Ryoko. "Did
you ever think that maybe he wanted something that he saw
in her but not in you two?" He shakes his head. "No. I 
guess you didn’t." He softens his voice. "Look, I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that Tenchi doesn’t love you. But if you love 
him, shouldn’t you let him go? Don’t you want him to be 
happy, even if you’re not the one making him happy?" He 
gently sets her on the floor and vanishes.

"Are you all right?" Ryoko looks up to see Kiyone offering
her a hand up. The look on her face is one of concern,
not anger or gloating. Tenchi really has worked a change
on her, thinks Ryoko. She accepts the hand. "Thank you, 
Kiyone. Yeah, I’m okay." Once on her feet, she slumps 
against the wall and sighs. After a few moments, she forces
herself to look at Kiyone. "Kiyone, I....I....I’m
sorry. I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve put you through.
It’s just--" she sighs "--when I see you and Tenchi 
together, you two just....fit. The look in his eyes when
he’s with you--he’s happier than I’ve ever seen him." A sad
smile surfaces on her face. "You won. Just--just promise
me that you’ll never hurt him. Promise me that, and I’ll
do my best to control myself."

Kiyone’s face carries a look of surprise, but she quickly
nods. "It’s okay, Ryoko, it’s okay. Of course I’ll never
hurt Tenchi, I promise. I....I wish there was...."

Ryoko shrugs. "So do I. Maybe....maybe the next dimension
will have a Tenchi or Kyoto that needs someone. Maybe....I
could be that someone."

"What about Kyoto?" asks Kiyone gently.

"I...." Ryoko doesn’t answer right away. "I think....soon
after you and Tenchi started getting really serious,
Kyoto....didn’t seem so bad to me. At first, it was ‘cause
there was no one else to chase, but as time wore on....I
was just about to tell him when he and the other Kiyone
fell and married....I hope there’s a dimension out there
for me." She pats Kiyone on the shoulder. "Take care of our
Tenchi." Ryoko then vanishes.



In their room an hour later, Kiyone is telling Tenchi what
happened, and he is totally shocked. Finally he shakes
his head. "I’m sorry Ryoko put you through that, but at 
least she’ll leave you alone now."

"I’m all right," whispers Kiyone. She snuggles closer to 
Tenchi and kisses him. "So, what were you talking to your
grandpa about?"

"About us," he replies.

"I got the impression that he approved of me," comments
Kiyone.

"Oh, he does, he does. I was talking to him about him 
marrying us tonight."

Kiyone looks at Tenchi in shock. "Tonight?"

Tenchi nods. "If that’s okay with you."

"Yes, yes, it is," insists Kiyone. "But why now?"

"Because, quite frankly, we may not live long enough to 
reach home and have a big, fancy wedding. I want you to be
my wife, Kiyone." Tenchi smiles at her. "If I have to die,
I want to know that you were my wife, if only for a couple
of nights. Please?"

Kiyone fakes a pout, then grins. "As if I could deny you 
anything, Tenchi. Do I need to wear anything special?"

How about that little schoolgirl’s outfit? suggests Tenchi
playfully.

Laughing, Kiyone pushes Tenchi down on the bed and curls
up half-on-top of him. I’ll wear that for you after the 
ceremony. Even if it won’t be a long honeymoon, I’ll make
it a good one, Tenchi.



In the Masaki shrine--which Kyoto had been kind enough
to duplicate--Katsuhito(a) is making tea for his two 
visitors. "So. You two want to get married tonight?"

Tenchi nods. "I’ve told you all this before, Grandpa.
We don’t know if we’ll live through the next few days, so 
we want to be married, now, if possible."

Katsuhito(a) continues making tea, finally finishing
and serving it to Tenchi and Kiyone. After they have 
emptied their cups, he says, "All right. I assume that you
two have no witnesses and no formal wear." Tenchi and 
Kiyone are dressed quite nicely --Tenchi in stone-gray
slacks, a light-blue shirt, dark tie, and black *haori
and Kiyone in a knee-length pleated dark gray skirt and her
blue-and-gold GP dress jacket--but not quite in formal
wear by any standards. They both nod.

"Now," continues Katsuhito(a), "There is something I need
to ask you. You don’t have to answer, but I really am 
curious. Are you two still...." He lets the uncompleted
sentence hang in the air.

Tenchi and Kiyone both turn red and start to speak several
times before finally Kiyone finally stammers, "Y-Y-Yes,
Lord Yosho, we’re still virgins."

Katsuhito(a) suddenly slumps in relief. "Oh, good. That’s
good, you two. Believe it or not, Tenchi, I wasn’t....you
know....when I got married. I had been engaged on Jurai,
but she died in an accident a little while before my first
fight with Kagato, and we had been lovers."

Tenchi and Kiyone both look shocked. "Lord Yosho," begins
Kiyone, "we had no--"

"Call me Grandpa," insists Katsuhito(a). "No one else 
knows. Oh, by the way, Tenchi, did you know that your 
parents actually were virgins on their wed--"

"Grandpa!" screams Tenchi. "Kiyone and I didn’t need to 
know that!"

"Oh, sorry." Katsuhito(a) produces a small ceremonial
saucer and pours some saké into it. "We’ll make it quick
and simple. Kneel in front of the altar."

Tenchi and Kiyone immediately obey, and the three of them
quickly go through the condensed version of a Japanese
wedding ceremony, ending with the passing of the saké cup
between the bride and groom. Katsuhito(a) is about to 
declare them married when Tenchi sweeps his new bride up in
his arms and Kiyone presses her lips to his. "I now 
pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Makibi," he says dryly.

"Makibi?" repeats Kiyone.

"In the religion that Grandpa’s a priest in, it’s a custom
for the man to take the woman’s last name," explains
Tenchi.

"But in the rest of the galaxy, the woman takes the man’s
last name," protests Kiyone.

"As is the case on the rest of Earth and on Jurai," agrees
Katsuhito(a). "So, in this case, it’s more a personal
choice than anything. Who wants whose last name?"

"Whatever Kiyone wants is fine with me," replies Tenchi.

"And I want to be Mrs. Masaki," asserts Kiyone.

"Fine, then," chuckles Katsuhito(a). "Tenchi, I now 
pronounce you and Kiyone Mr. and Mrs. Masaki."



The newly-minted Kiyone Masaki can hardly control herself
until she and Tenchi make it back to their room. Once 
inside she pushes Tenchi down on the bed and starts pulling
his clothing off. The haori is the first to come off, and
she has his tie off and his shirt unbuttoned before his 
inertia disappears. Tenchi rolls on top of her and slowly
undoes and removes her jacket, exposing the white 
button-down blouse underneath. The material is somewhat
translucent, and he can see the shape of a pink lace bra 
underneath. He is about to reach for the first button when
he suddenly stops, almost frozen. She is smiling up at him.
"What’s wrong, Tenchi? We’re married now. We can go as far
as we want, as much as we want."

Tenchi has frozen up again. The knowledge that he is on the
threshold of his dreams seems to have paralyzed him. Kiyone
sits up, her hands deftly unbuttoning the blouse. It falls
away, and Tenchi finds himself staring at his wife’s almost
perfect breasts, barely hidden by the flimsy material
of the bra. Sweat starts to trickle down his neck.

"Tenchi...." She is sitting in his lap now, her arms around
his neck, and she’s kissing him. Tenchi, what’s wrong?
We’re all alone, we’re all legal now. There’s nothing
to be afraid of.

Sorry, angel, he responds. I guess I’m just nervous.
This is my first time.

Kiyone smiles lovingly at him. I’ll be gentle, love. We can
go nice and slow, as long as you want, as much as you want.
Tenchi, I’ve been looking forward to this too. She reaches
his hand behind her waist and closes two fingers on the 
zipper. Automatically his hand pulls it down and she 
wriggles out of her skirt. The skimpy lace panties 
underneath match the bra perfectly, and neither is modest
by any stretch of the imagination. Kiyone moves around
till she’s straddling her husband, and she presses her lips
to his until his body responds to hers. She pushes his 
shirt off and undoes his belt, then pushes his pants down,
leaving him in his shorts. He rolls back on top of her, and
her legs are around his waist now. She’s looking up at him,
her eyes sparkling with anticipation. Oooh, daddy, gonna
spend some quality time with your little girl?

Tenchi winces, trying to ignore the uncomfortable
fact that Kiyone playing the little girl who really loves
her Daddy actually....excites him. Kiyone, I--

Please, daddy? Kiyone pushes his right hand up under her 
left bra cup, and his hand starts to squeeze. She arches
her back and starts to whimper. Please, daddy? Your little
girl’s been dreaming about you all day long....

Well, all right.... Giving in at last, Tenchi falls upon
Kiyone and they disappear underneath the covers.



Kagato sighs as he watches the first task force, the one 
bound for Sirius, go hyperluminal. "Wish I was going with
them," he murmurs. "Then I wouldn’t feel so much like I was
sending a quarter million people out to die."

"You’re not the only one feeling guilty," reminds 
Katsuhito(b). "At least you’ll be with the rest of us in 
the thick of it."

"One way or another, tomorrow’ll be a hell of a day," 
comments Kyoto. "So it’s T-minus....what?"

Kagato checks his display. "Twenty hours. Most likely 
everyone is doing what they need to get themselves
ready for tomorrow. Which reminds me...." He rises from 
behind his desk. "I promised Yura I’d make her dinner 
tonight."



Kagato is right on the money. Throughout the fleet, as well
as aboard Kagato’s command station and Chisako, nearly
ten million men, women, and nonhumans are making their 
peace with their maker or with each other.



In their room in the Masaki house, Kiyone and Tenchi are 
holding each other in the dark. They have spent the past
two days, when not being briefed or making sure all was 
ready for their own separate roles in the battle, 
passionately making love, as if knowing for sure that this
would be their last night together, and both are delighted
that the experience was as wonderful as they imagined
it would be. Right now they are between sessions of 
lovemaking, gathering strength for the next one.

Was it good for you, Tenchi-yon? asks Kiyone, still quaking
with pleasure.

Always, Mrs. Masaki, always. Tenchi kisses Kiyone on the 
forehead. I wish....I wish there was some way I could get
you and Sasami out of this, keep you two safe.

So do I, but at least aboard Chisako, you’ll be able to 
keep her safe with you. Kiyone snorts gently. Why do I get
the feeling that even good news is bad?

You mean the rewriting of your mission? queries Tenchi.

Exactly. After the incident with Reich One, Kiyone had been
given, in addition to the three PA suits, two hundred
fighters and bombers, as well as a flight of twenty 
Yagami-class fast patrol ships. Unfortunately,
the scope of her raid had been expanded to the entire Lunar
shipyard complex.

You want me to try to get a coupla battlewagons assigned
to you? offers Tenchi.

Thank you, Tenchi-yon, but what I have oughta be enough.
Kiyone looks up at him and smiles lustfully. Enough shop
talk. I believe you were going to give me some special
personal training, Tenchi-sensei?

You’re my favorite student, Miss Kiyone. Tenchi’s desire
has also returned, and pulls his wife down onto the bed.



Chisako’s hull is lined with large viewports. Most are 
connected to the arboretums, but many have small, private
observation rooms, perfect for solitary contemplation.
Nobuyuki is doing just that, with the aid of Suntory 
whiskey. He’s relatively lucky, his duties tomorrow being
limited to assisting Mitsuki in the medical center, but 
he’s still not guzzling the potent liquid, wishing to have
a somewhat clear head in the morning.

Slumped in a large, recliner-type chair, he spends more 
time looking at the faded photo in his hand than at the 
stars. Achika, grinning at the camera. Their twelfth 
wedding anniversary. They had spent it in Tokyo, in the 
same hotel that they had stayed during their senior trip.
This had been taken that night, just before they had fallen
on the bed in each other’s arms.

Some things you can’t help remembering with almost painful
clarity. For Nobuyuki, the most truly painful is that trip.

Her laugh, sounding like tinkling crystal.

Her voice, musical as a flute: "I can’t wait to see 
it....your dream house...." She was talking about their
house, which was being completed while he took her on this
second honeymoon.

The taste of her lips pressing against his.

The rush of relief and satisfaction as he found her 
sleeping soundly next to him, as it should be.

Her sudden spasms of pain in the restaurant, recalling
terrible memories of a similar attack she had had in 
1970....their senior trip....the time when they discovered
that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each
other.

The mad rush back to Okayama and the hospital, aided by a 
blessedly reckless taxi driver who had refused the offered
double fare, even for going nearly a hundred kilometers
out of his way.

Spending the next twenty-four hours sitting next to her 
bed, holding her hand, until she regained consciousness
just long enough to say goodbye.

Her last words: "My darling Nobuyuki....time
has been short....but we lived our lives to the 
fullest....and there is no one else who I would rather
have spent mine with....ai shiteru....ai shi--"

The jolting sound of her heart rate abruptly plummeting.

The harsh whine of a flat line.

The rare falling snow, indelibly etching itself into his 
mind.

Tenchi.

Oh, god, that was the worst of all, he thinks. Walking
up the steps to the shrine, watching his--their--son
playing in the snow, looking happy and carefree. The sudden
change when he told Tenchi broke his heart all over again,
and he hugged him as much for his own need for comfort
as to console his son. Tenchi was never quite so carefree
again. Nobuyuki finds it easy to admit that his son started
growing up too soon for his liking.

The doctors had been unable to pinpoint the cause of her 
death; simply, everything had started failing for no good
reason. Yet somehow, even though Katsuhito was as 
heartbroken as he, he had sensed something from the old 
man, as if he had known....

"Nobuyuki." It’s him, standing in the open doorway.

"Come on in, Dad. Hope you brought some saké." Nobuyuki
squints at the amount of whiskey left. He’s certain that
he would have remembered drinking three-quarters
of the bottle.

Katsuhito(a) drops into a chair next to his son-in-law.
He’s only ever seen him like this during late November
of each year, when he carries a bouquet of gardenias
out to Achika’s grave, or during the rare times that it 
snows in Okayama. He recognizes the picture.

"Dad, tell me something." Nobuyuki pours out his first 
shot--up till now, he’d been taken swigs right from the 
bottle--and slowly swallows it.

"What do you want to know?" Katsuhito(a) has a feeling
he knows what’s coming.

"You know what killed Achika." It’s not a question.

Katsuhito(a) sighs, having expected this since Nobuyuki
found out just who his father-in-law was. "Yes."

"I was married to her for nearly twelve years," says 
Nobuyuki softly. "We dated for four years before that. I 
never loved anyone else. Even the way I act now....it’s
mostly to make sure that no one I might be drawn to comes
near me."

"Why?" asks Katsuhito(a). He had realized that Nobuyuki’s
lechery was mostly an act, but he never knew why his 
son-in-law had put it on.

"Penance."

Katsuhito(a) is almost shocked. That was almost the last
thing he expected to hear Nobuyuki say....but the more he 
thinks about it, the more sense it makes. "Penance?"

The younger of the two widowers swallows another shot, then
nods. "I couldn’t protect her when she needed me. She was
lying there dying and I couldn’t do a damned thing." There
is fury in Nobuyuki’s voice, but more directed at himself
than anyone else. "She....was life to me. I...I almost
killed myself on several occasions. The last one was the 
night before Ryoko and Mihoshi crashed at our doorstep.
I figured that maybe Tenchi would be better off just with
you. And now....he has Kiyone. You married them a couple
nights ago."

Katsuhito(a)’s face carries a rare look of shock, but 
Nobuyuki speaks again. "I was standing right outside.
He doesn’t need me anymore. He has his wife by his side and
a throne waiting for him."

For the first time, Katsuhito(a) notices how much whiskey
his son-in-law has consumed--and he remebers the bottle
of sleeping pills in the bathroom medicine cabinet. He 
grabs Nobuyuki’s shoulders. "Nobuyuki, yes, I do know what
killed Achika. But there wasn’t anything you could have 
done to prevent or stop it."

"Really." Nobuyuki’s voice carries a surprising iciness
as he glares up at Katsuhito(a).

"Nobuyuki, she used the power of Jurai to save you and 
Tenchi."

The ice cracks. "Huh?!"

"You once told me that there was about twelve hours from
that school trip you didn’t remember. Achika reported
the same. But I know what happened. Tenchi and the girls
traveled back in time to stop Kain, a powerful criminal
who had escaped from the Galaxy Police and gone back to 
1970, from killing you two. But the plan failed, and you 
two were sucked into subspace with him. Tenchi, Ayeka,
and Ryoko followed and attempted a rescue, but Kain was too
powerful. He was about to kill all of you when she unlocked
the Jurai power in herself and used Tenchi’s sword to kill
Kain and spirit all of you back home."

Nobuyuki’s face carries a mixture of shock and guilt. 
"What....oh my god, it’s my fault."

"No, it’s not. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Kain’s."

"But...." Nobuyuki’s face looks worried again. "Does that
mean that when Tenchi uses Jurai’s power...."

Katsuhito(a) shakes his head. "Not Tenchi. There is a 
special Jurai power inside of Tenchi, a power that only the
Jurai emperor of a select generation--every
thousand years or so--can wield safely. That was the power
Achika used. She was successful, but the price she paid was
a shorter life. Tenchi can--or will be able to in time--use
this power effectively without any danger to his life."

Nobuyuki looks very shaken, but he nods. "So....it truly
is Tenchi’s destiny to be the Emperor of Jurai?"

Katsuhito(a) replies, "It is. And I believe that your and
Achika’s son will be a good ruler." He looks intently
at Nobuyuki. "But remember, Nobuyuki, it is not your 
fault--or Tenchi’s, as I’m sure he tells himself every 
day--that Achika is dead." He produces a large bottle of 
Anzen. "Here’s that saké you requested."



In another of the observation lounges, Ryoko has taken a 
cue from Nobuyuki. The space pirate has a large bottle
of saké in one hand, and a couple more sitting on a nearby
table. She has just taken a large swig of the powerful
liquor when she hears the door slide open. And then she 
hears Ayeka’s voice ask, "Mind if I join you?"

Ryoko is a bit shocked, but she nods dumbly and motions
to the princess. "C’mon in."

The hatch snicks shut and Ayeka seats herself in the 
recliner next to Ryoko. She breaks open a fresh bottle
of the rice wine and pours herself a drink. "Thank you."
The two sit in a companionable silence for a long moment.
Finally the princess speaks. "We’ve lost, haven’t we, 
Ryoko?"

Ryoko nods and sighs. "Yeah, we’ve lost. Would you believe,
of everyone else....the only other girl I thought was a 
threat was Sasami?"

"As did I," agrees Ayeka. "I suppose....the important
thing is that Tenchi is happy. He does love her, doesn’t
he?"

Ryoko nods and swallows another mouthful of saké. "Yep.
But, strange as this may seem...." She doesn’t quite look
Ayeka in the eye. "....I’m kinda glad one of us didn’t
win, y’know?" She laughs. "I feel....like I would have been
almost sorry to win. Then I would have had to find out how
much of my love for Tenchi was real, and how much was just
trying to keep him away from you. The way things turned
out, I can content myself with the belief that it was 
completely real."

"Strangely enough, I feel the same way," responds Ayeka.
"In fact...." She seems rather reluctant to admit this,
but she plunges forward. "....this feels like how it’s 
supposed to be. It wouldn’t have been fair to Tenchi to 
force him to choose....and it’s comforting to know that if
it were one of us, he would be as firm about staying with
her as he is about staying with Kiyone." The princess
shakes her head. "Did we really expect him to leave her,
Ryoko, and would we really have wanted him if he were 
willing to?"

"If he did that, he wouldn’t be Tenchi," concurs Ryoko.

Both girls take another drink. Ryoko breaks the silence
this time. "Do you realize we’ve been sitting here for the
past five minutes without fighting?"

Ayeka blinks. "You’re right, we have. This 
is....different....but...."

"But it’s not bad," finishes Ryoko. She grins. "You feel
like getting in a fight, Princess?"

"No, actually," replies Ayeka. "The past few 
months....Ryoko, I....I don’t think I....hate you anymore."
She says this last part quickly, almost inaudibly.

Ryoko is stunned speechless. She tries to draw up her 
age-old anger towards the normally-haughty princess--and
she finds it gone. "I don’t believe it."

"No, I’m serious, I don’--"

Ryoko shakes her head. "I believe that. What I can’t 
believe is that....I don’t hate you anymore either."
She says this even faster and softer than Ayeka.

Another long moment passes as the two enemies grapple
with the sudden absence of their mutual hatred. Both start
to speak simultaneously several times, but they quickly
stop. Finally, Ayeka says, "Well, it will save a lot of 
money in repairs."

"And Tenchi won’t be yelling at us to stop fighting 
anymore," agrees Ryoko. "You know, though....this
doesn’t mean I’ll stop teasing you," she adds with a 
mischievous grin.

"And it is still my duty as a princess of Jurai to 
persecute the wicked," retorts Ayeka. The two glare at each
other, yet, for the first time, there is no real hatred
behind it.

Ayeka refills her glass and raises it. "To us?"

Ryoko smiles and shakes her head. "Next one. The first:
‘To Kiyone.’ The lucky one." The enemies-turned-friends
clink glasses.



Mihoshi is playing with the two Sasamis in the Ohki saucer.
Since its discovery Sasami(a) has spent a lot of time in 
there, and Sasami(b) has taken a liking to it too. She has
a teal-colored Ohki sitting on her head, and it’s mi-yaaing
happily. The younger Sasami reaches up and ruffles its fur.
"They’re so adorable! They’re no Ohkis left in our 
universe, Nagi killed them all." She brings the cabbit
down from her head and cuddles it in her arms. "Can I take
this one with me?"

"Sure!" answers Sasami(a). Ryo-ohki is nearby, excitedly
gnawing her way through a giant pile of carrots. She then
looks up at Mihoshi. "Are you all right, Mihoshi?"

"Sure!" answers Mihoshi. Aside from the Sasamis, she is 
probably the least concerned person in the Anopon Prime
system about the upcoming battle.

"But aren’t you scared about tomorrow?" asks Sasami(b)
worriedly. Like the other Sasami, she has developed
an attachment to this "good" Mihoshi.

"No," answers Mihoshi confidently. "Kiyone’s leading the 
mission, and if she runs something, it works right."

Sasami(a) climbs into Mihoshi’s lap and hugs her. "Please
come back safe, Mihoshi. And please look after Kiyone.
She’s gonna be my new mommy, you know."

Mihoshi looks surprised. "She is?"

Sasami(a) nods. "When she and Tenchi get married, they told
me that they’ll adopt me! I’ll have a mommy and daddy 
again!"

"Wow!" says Mihoshi happily. "Will that make me your aunt?"

"I think so."

Sasami(b) runs over and joins the hug. "Congratulation,
Sasami!" Her eyes are sparkling too. "My big brother said
that after this battle, he and Kiyone will adopt me! I’ll
have a mommy and daddy too!"

"I’m so happy!" cries Mihoshi, gathering both young girls
up in her arms and hugging them.



In Chisako’s medical center, Doc Mitsuki has her feet 
propped up on her desk and is slowly drinking a glass of 
Megami ale. Sitting next to the two-liter bottle is a 
packet of Alka-Sober, for she’ll have the least excuse
for being sloshed the next morning. She holds up the 
crysglass tumbler and regards the amethyst liquid floating
inside. The bottle was a birthday gift from her parents
on Megami. They told her to save it for a special occasion.
She received it via space mail two days before the bombing
of Megami.

There’s a knock on the open doorframe and she looks up to 
see Ayeka(b) standing in the doorway, holding a tray of 
food. "Mind if I join you?"

Mitsuki grins at her friend. "Sit down."

Ayeka brings a chair over to the desk and sets down the 
tray. Mitsuki’s mouth starts to water as she sees the two
steak platters. "Which is which?"

"Yours is the Megami prime, of course." Ayeka regards
the bottle. "I hope there’s a spare glass in here." She 
sees one and pours some ale into it. The two women raise
their glasses in a silent toast and start to eat.

"You’re with the infiltration group?" asks Mitsuki.

Ayeka nods. "I have a vendetta against someone down there."

"We all do," reminds Mitsuki.

Ayeka doesn’t answer for a moment. Finally, "Mihoshi."

"I knew it." Mitsuki sighs. "Look, just don’t do anything
stupid. I’ve lost enough friends in this damned war. I 
don’t need to lose you too."

"She didn’t seduce your husband away," growls Ayeka.

"No, she didn’t. But you and Tenchi were already separated.
You could barely be in the same room with each other."
Ayeka opens her mouth to protest but Mitsuki continues.
"Tenchi didn’t want to be Emperor, Ayeka. He was happy just
being a cop. Did you know that he actually fought his 
promotion to DirGen? He was afraid of losing touch with the
average GP. He didn’t want to be trapped in some ivory 
tower--"

"He wouldn’t have lost touch!" argues Ayeka. "I 
know--knew--him. He would never have abused his power as 
Emperor! He was too good a--"

"I know that as well as you do," replies Mitsuki. "But he 
didn’t want to be Emperor. He had his hands full running
the Galaxy Police. And I know you weren’t trying to drive
him away....but you did. The only reason he was able to put
up with it for so long is because he loved you. And 
remember that it was you that insisted on the separation.
And if a girl cuts Tenchi Masaki loose, how many other 
girls do you think are just waiting to pounce? Don’t you 
think that if his adored wife--yes, Ayeka, he still loved
you, he did till he died, I think--kicked him out for no 
good reason, there’d be a million girls--young,
horny GP girls--willing to give him a shoulder to cry on,
or a nice warm bed with a nice warm bedmate? Mihoshi just
moved soonest."

"I’ll admit to everything you just said. I wasn’t a very
good wife, certainly not deserving of the love Tenchi gave
me. But none of that changes the fact that he was my 
husband, and that bitch killed him."

"Hey, hey," says Mitsuki, referring to Ayeka’s 
steadily-growing tone. "I’m sorry, all right? I just want
you to keep it in perspective. You’re my best friend.
If I was a guy, I’d marry you." She grins at the shocked
look on Ayeka’s face. "That caught your attention.
Seriously, though, I’ve seen you like this before, right
after we got the news of Prime Center’s destruction.
Ayeka, you’re about to crack. I’m just afraid that, when
you see Mihoshi, you’re gonna rush her and damn the 
consequences."

Ayeka sighs, then takes another bite of her steak. "I’m 
afraid that I’ll do that, too. But I have to go. I have to
face her and....see what happens. I owe Tenchi that much."

Mitsuki doesn’t look happy, but she nods.



Perhaps the last thing one would expect to see aboard 
Chisako is a chapel. Yet there is one, in one of the 
saucers. When Tenchi steps into it, he suddenly feels like
he’s in one of those American or British films with the 
large, forboding Catholic churches, complete with stone
gargoyles.

Kiyone(a) is somewhat less familiar with such things,
and thus she clings to Tenchi’s left arm tightly enough
to cut off circulation. While Tenchi is flattered that his
wife relies on him for that much protection, his arm is 
going numb. "Kiyone-yoni....my arm....I can’t feel it...."

"I’m scared, Tenchi-yon," she whispers. "I feel like one of
those things is gonna swoop down from the ceiling and steal
me away from you." She tightens her grip, and Tenchi gives
up on that arm. "Can we just go back to our room, Tenchi?
It’s nice and safe...."

Tenchi links his mind to his beloved’s. I know it’s kinda
freaky, my yoni, but I promise you it’s safe, and we’ll
go back to our room soon, I promise.

I’ll hold you to that, Tenchi-yon. But she loosens her grip
enough for feeling to return. She is about to say something
more when she hears a sound behind her, and then a deep,
ghostly voice intone, "I am the Phantom of the Chapel,
and I have come to carry you away."

Kiyone(a) screams like a banshee and leaps about four 
meters into the air before coming down into Tenchi’s
arms. It takes her a moment to regain composure, and she is
glaring openly at Kyoto. "What the hell was that 
for?!?!?!?!"

Kyoto is laughing. "Sorry, you two. You just looked so 
serious, I wanted to try and loosen you up."

"Couldn’t you have offered them something to eat instead?"
quips Kiyone(b), coming up from behind her husband and 
smacking him on the back of the head. She smiles 
apologetically. "Sorry about him. He’s just a little 
anxious about tomorrow. Go on in."

Tenchi carries Kiyone(a) into the chapel proper. While 
there is no preacher, the chamber is filled with people
making peace with whatever deities they believe in. They
are quite shocked to see both Ayeka and Ryoko kneeling
at a Juraian prayer tree, not bickering or even making
faces at each other. Mihoshi and the Sasamis are at another
one, solemnly praying. Katsuhito(a) and Nobuyuki are 
kneeling in front of a Shinto altar. Probably talking
to Mom or Grandma, thinks Tenchi. After a few moments,
they find an unoccupied place and kneel themselves.



Kyoto is holding his Kiyone in the dark. Having had their
fill of sex, they are merely talking.

"So, what do you want to do after the battle?" asks Kiyone,
starting to kiss his neck. Kyoto’s drive begins to stir,
but he damps it down. "Whatever you wanna do."

"No...." She props herself up on one elbow and looks him in
the eye. "Are you gonna go with your friends, or...."

"Would you come with us?" says Kyoto.

After a moment, she shakes her head. "This universe is my 
home. The traveling might be fun at first, but....this
is where I’m needed."

"All right then," says Kyoto. "After the battle, I’ll teach
Muriyaki and Tenchi how to run Chisako and they can head
home themselves....and I’ll stay with you." He looks at 
her. "How’s that?"

Kiyone smiles and answers with a kiss.



The harsh buzzing of the alarm jolts Kagato out of a sound
sleep. He reaches out and swats the snooze bar with force
sufficient to dent the clock. He’s about to turn over when
her remembers that Yura is asleep atop him, so he cranes
his neck to look at the display. "0600," he murmurs.

Yura starts to squirm around. "Kagato-chan...."
she says sleepily, her eyes not even fully open, "let’s
stay in bed. I don’t wanna get up."

Kagato groans at the pleasant sensation of her movements.
"Neither do I, love, but we have to." He gently nudges
his girlfriend until she rolls off and stumbles toward
the shower.



0830. Throughout the Anopon Prime system, nearly sixty 
thousand warships are ready for battle. Kagato takes a last
look over the report from Sirius. So far, so good. He 
settles back into his command chair. "All ships, this is 
the Liberator. Commence Operation Blitzkrieg--mark."

And the fleet moves.

Aboard Chisako, Kyoto is at the helm, with the Katsuhitos
are standing next to him. "Let’s move ‘em out. Chisako,
match fleet heading and velocity. We’ve got a dictatorship
to topple."



The young, bored tech at the main sensor console is 
yawning. Only two more days till leave, he thinks. In his
mind, he’s already walking into his favorite brothel in 
Bradbury City on Mars, heading for his favorite whore,
the twelve-year old Juraian girl with big, red eyes and 
long twin blue ponytails. His lips split open in an obscene
smile as he pictures himself pushing her down on the cot 
and....

His screen suddenly starts beeping, and his daydream
is gone. "What the hell? Where did all--" These are the 
last things he says before the orbital gunnery platform
he is stationed on is obliterated.

The last thing that Fuhrer Nagi had expected Sol to be 
threatened by was a fleet of renegade Galaxy Police ships
backed with a giant, mobile space station. And that’s 
exactly what’s dropped in her lap today. The troop carriers
advance toward the planets while the capital ships swing
around into an escort formation or take up a blockading
stance.

On Chisako’s command deck, Katsuhito(b), clad in flight
gear and carrying a helmet, is giving some last-minute
instructions to Katsuhito(a) and Tenchi. "And remember
to check every ninety minutes for a burst signal from 
Sirius. The decoder--"

"The decoder is already in the computer," completes
Tenchi, "and the access code is ‘summer breeze.’"

"Good. And every--"

"And every six hours, pull a task group back to the supply
base near Phobos to resupply and undergo repairs," replies
Katsuhito(a). "We’ve got it. You’d better be getting down
to the main hangar bay."

"On my way." The resistance leader shakes Tenchi and 
Katsuhito(a)’s hands. "Thank you both. For everything.
Good luck." He rushes for the door and disappears.

Tenchi nods. He is clad in his own Juraian combat outfit
(author’s note: this is the combat-mode uniform from the 
OVAs. Much better than the one from the movie.), and he 
heads for the door also. "I’d better get to launch bay 
four."

"Seeing Kiyone off?"

"What kind of husband would I be if I didn’t?" Tenchi steps
through the open doorway.



Down in hangar bay four, several missions--that
is, Kiyone(a)’s and Kyoto’s--are preparing to launch.
As Tenchi walks in, he notices Azaka and Kamidake standing,
complete with their fighting rods. He smiles. "I didn’t
know you guys were going."

Azaka shrugs. "We haven’t done much of anything in a while,
Lord Tenchi. Time for us to earn our keep."

"You guys have earned it a thousand times over, but 
thanks."

"Come to see us off?" asks Ryoko. The anger she’s been 
struggling with for so long seems to be fading.

Tenchi nods. "Yep." He faces everyone in Kyoto’s group.
"Please come back safe. All of you are family, and I don’t
want to lose any family today. God knows enough good people
will die today."

Ayeka wanders over. "Good luck, all of you. Oh, and 
Ryoko....come back alive."

This shocks everyone, and so does Ryoko’s grin in response.
"You too, Ayeka."

Kyoto grins cockily. "As long as I’m running this group,
everyone comes back." He and Tenchi shake hands, and 
Kiyone(b), Ryoko, and Ayeka(b) give him a kiss on the cheek
(Tenchi, that is.). Washu hugs Tenchi, and then he shakes
the knights’ hands. Kyoto gathers everyone in around him 
and an aura of light surrounds them, and suddenly they 
become a white ball of energy and disappear.

After a moment, Tenchi turns and walks over to where his 
Kiyone’s group is prepping. She grins at him. "Tenchi.
You came to see us off?"

"Like I told them," he says, jerking a thumb at the spot
where Kyoto’s group had been a moment before, "you’re
family, and I want you all to come back safe." He hugs 
Ayeka briefly. "Come back safe, Ayeka. It wouldn’t be the
same without you and Ryoko bickering."

"Thank you, Lord Tenchi," she says sweetly, "but I’m afraid
things won’t be quite the same even if we do come back."

Tenchi looks confused.

"I mean, we aren’t fighting anymore. We’ve sort of made 
up." She smiles. "Aren’t you glad, Lord Tenchi? No more 
damage to the house."

Tenchi looks surprised, but happy. "That’s great!" He hugs
her again. "Take care, Ayeka."

She nods, blushing slightly, and scurries to her suit, 
which matches the color of her hair.

He then grins at Mihoshi, who is smiling. "Bye, Tenchi!
Have fun!" She hugs him. "Don’t worry," she whispers
into his ear, "I’ll take care of Kiyone for you."

"You do that, and you come back too," he says. Mihoshi
breaks away and clambers into her own green suit.

Finally, he turns back to Kiyone, who’s faking a pout. 
"Tenchi," she teases, "what were you and Mihoshi talking
about?"

"I was telling her to look after you," he tells her. "Come
back safe. I don’t want to become my father."

"I wouldn’t want that either," responds Kiyone. She 
snuggles into his embrace, and links her mind to Tenchi’s.
My daddy....Arei tai yone ro komi, Tenchi-yon. Forever
and ever.

He pulls his wife closer. Always, my Kiyone-yoni.
They kiss for what seems like an eternity, and then begin
to pull away from each other when Tenchi notices something
sticking out of the side pocket of her GP-issue combat
suit, which looks like a combination of body armor and a 
Las Vegas showgirl’s outfit. "Kiyone, what’s thi--oh,
my god."

He’s looking down....at a picture of 
himself....asleep....completely
undressed. "Kiyone?"

She’s blushing, but just a little, not nearly as much as 
her husband. "I took it while you were asleep. You’re lucky
GP cameras develop the pictures instantly, Tenchi-yon,
or I might have had to have Washu develop it." The very 
thought of that makes Tenchi shiver. She holds it up and 
smiles. "It’s a very good picture, Tenchi-yon. You’re 
very....photogenic."

Tenchi tries to snatch the photo away from Kiyone, but she
pulls it out of reach and waggles a finger at him. "This’ll
be in my cockpit with me, to remind me what I’m fighting
for."

After a moment, he sighs. "All right. Just....get
rid of it after the battle. Please."

"Yes, daddy." She leans up and gives him a long kiss, his
arms automatically wrapping around her again. Finally
she breaks away. "I love you."

"You know I love you," he says simply. She smiles and heads
for her suit, which is the color of Sasami’s hair. At the
last minute, she runs back to him and presses something
into his hands. "These’ll make up for that." She kisses
him again and climbs into her suit.

Tenchi waits and watches the suits leave and hook up with
their planes and patrol ships before opening the package.
What he finds inside makes him break out in a sweat and his
eyes bug out. In his mind, he can hear Kiyone giggling
in delight. You like them, daddy?

He is so engrossed in the package’s contents that he 
doesn’t hear Sasami(a) come up behind him. "Tenchi?"
He is so startled that he jumps a meter up before landing
on his rump. The package’s contents are scattered across
the floor and the young girl is looking at them. When she
looks up, her face is filled with surprise and mischief.
"Tenchi, why do you have all these pictures of Kiyone in 
her underwear?" Her impish grin has grown. "Is this what
mommies and daddies do with each other?"

"Uh....Sasami....give those back..." Tenchi has gathered
up all the rest of the pictures--except the one that Sasami
is holding in her hand....the one picture that has Kiyone
completely in the buff.

Sasami wrinkles her nose. "Is this what grown-ups do, 
Tenchi? If so, then I don’t think I want to grow up."

"Just give the picture back, please, Sasami...." Tenchi
is reaching for the picture, his cheeks burning red.

Sasami looks up at him with the expression of a seasoned
barterer. "Are you and Kiyone gonna be too busy doing this
to be my mommy and daddy, Tenchi?"

"No, no, of course not, now, please just give back the 
picture...." Tenchi is almost on his knees begging.

"Will you two read me stories every night?"

Tenchi nods frantically. "Yes, yes, we’ll read you stories
every night."

"Will you two let me make dinner once a week?"

"Uh huh, uh huh...."

Sasami racks her brains to see if there is anything else
she can extort out of her father-to-be.... "Can I call you
two mommy and daddy?"

He blinks. "Sure, Sasami. I thought you were gonna in the
first place."

Sasami’s face takes on an almost comically serious 
expression as she thinks....finally she nods and hands the
picture over. "Here you go."

Tenchi slumps, relieved, and he stuffs the pictures into
his tunic. "Thank you, Sasami."

"You’re welcome," says Sasami. Tenchi is halfway out the 
door when he hears Sasami call after him, "Hey, Tenchi,
I saw those pictures Kiyone took of you!" He spins around,
a look of horror on his face.

The young princess nods. "Yeah, I snuck a look at them when
she wasn’t looking. She must really like seeing you naked,
Tenchi, ‘cause she took a lot of pictures!" She looks 
curious. "One thing, though. What is...." He’s already
out the door and running.

Kagato is pacing on the bridge of his flagship, the 
superdreadnought Liberator. So far, the battle has been 
going well. The vaunted navy of the Fourth Reich has gone
downhill since the official end of the war, and no 
one--apparently, not even Nagi--was expecting Jurai to 
strike back with this much force, especially not after the
planet was destroyed.

"Chief!" calls out the com officer. "Message from Chisako,
sir; they say that Sagami reported from Sirius: the naval
base--and General Nobuyuki--has been completely destroyed!"

A round of cheers come up from the bridge crew, and Kagato
allows himself a grin. Good job, Sagami. "Good job all 
around. Tell Commander Tenchi that Katsuhito’s strike force
has a green light." The com officer passes on the order,
and a myriad of green blips fan out from the clusters
of blue stars on the holographic tactical display. "Strike
groups away, sir."

Kagato nods, his thoughts on Yura. At least you’re safe,
honey--relatively.



It’s a strange sight, a large fleet of fighter-bombers
surrounding a smaller flotilla of patrol ships flanking
three powered-armor suits,. Still, thinks Kiyone(a),
I could get used to this. She smiles at the picture of 
Tenchi asleep, and leans up and kisses it at the place that
had her husband so red-faced. He is perfect, she thinks
with a giggle. I hope he doesn’t find out about the other
pictures I took....oh, well, I’ll make it up to him. And I 
do mean "up"....

She pushes the pleasant thought away and opens her 
commlink. "All ships, this is Knight One. Our targets
are right ahead." Floating ahead of the strike group is a 
collection of starship construction docks, half-completed
spacecraft, battle platforms, and in the center of it all,
a half-completed monster bearing an uncanny resemblance
to Reich One.

"Look at the size of that sucker!" comments the fighter
commander.

"Alright, people, fire at anything that's not us, and good
luck!" Kiyone(a) arms her own weapon systems and fires her
after-burners. Her suit launches into the fray, with 
Mihoshi(a) and Ayeka(a) close behind.

* * *



"Ahhhhhgh!" Another of Nagi's "elite" shock troopers
collapses to the floor, a baseball mitt-sized hole in the
middle of his chest. Azaka twirls his fighting rod like a 
gunfighter would his six-shooter. "See, you just didn't
deserve to be called a 'knight'."

"Your fighting skills have improved since you started
taking lessons from Princess Sasami," comments Kamidake.

"You might benefit by her training as well, Kamidake,"
quips the older knight.

Everyone in the infiltration team has been racking up their
share of kills and more. Ayeka(b)'s skills in both 
hand-to-hand combat and the wielding of Jurai power, 
alongside the powers of the two legendary knights, has 
easily cleared a path for them to Nagi's throne room. And
to think we landed in the palace garden just ten minutes
ago, thinks Kyoto as he brings Excalibur (the real thing!)
around in an arc that slices off the heads of three guards.

"Hey, leave some for the rest of us!" protests Washu(a).
She has a tiny, snub-nosed .38 in her hand, the kind that
you carry in your purse. However, anyone she fires this 
weapon at ends up with a large crater where they used to 
stand.

"What is that thing, Washu?" asks Kyoto, timidly.

"It's a high-resolution, psyonic, anti-- " She cuts herself
off at the confused looks. "It's a.... mini-dimensional
cannon!"

"Oh..... damn!" He turns his head in time to watch 
Kiyone(b) bending over. She is gathering up the keycards
from the various soldiers and duty-men. She jerks upright
when she feels a warm body pressing up against her. She 
smiles, standing up, and pats him on the face.

"We can do that later." She gives him a long succession
of suffocating kisses, each drawing more airtime than the
last. This leaves Kyoto a sagging shambles of tittering
nerves.

"Man, you two just never get enough!" quips Ryoko, drawing
a glare from the devoted couple. She, however, is 
unperturbed. "What are you, Tenchi and the other Kiyone?"

Washu is glaring at the whole thing. "We don't have all 
day, let's go in!" She motions at the large set of double
doors at the far end of the hallway.

"Ladies first," quips Kyoto, motioning to Washu(a).

"Stick it up your--" Washu(a) is silenced by Ryoko clamping
a hand over her mouth.

Ryoko grins. "The time for insults has passed. Let's go 
kill some bad guys."



* * *



On Chisako's bridge, Tenchi is scrolling through the 
various displays and reports. While he is doing his best
to give full attention to each piece of information,
he can't help focusing on the reports from Kiyone's group.
At least she's safe so far...

"Would you like some tea, Tenchi?" Tenchi turns and smiles
down on his soon-to-be daughter.

"Thank you, Sasami." He takes the cup and kisses her on the
forehead. Sasami giggles and skips off, probably to play
with a few of the young Ohkis who weren't allowed to go 
into battle.

"What was that all about?" asks Katsuhito(a), walking
over from his console.

"We decided to adopt Sasami... if we ever make it back 
home." Tenchi grins. "So, you've already met your 
great-granddaughter, Grandpa." "She'll make a fine 
great-granddaughter," approves Katsuhito(a). "Just one 
question, though. She was walking around, asking questions
about some pictures you had of Kiyone....and some pictures
she had of you...."

Tenchi blushes. "Uh, well, y'see--"

"Oh, don't worry about it," reassures Katsuhito(a).
"But I think she picked up a term that I'm not sure of the
meaning of. Tell me, what does 'well hung' mean?"

Tenchi groans and hangs his head, suddenly becoming very
interested in the battle reports. "Oh, look at that, 
another Fourth Reich ship blown away, how spe--" He 
suddenly hears something disturbing over his headset and he
presses the earpiece flush against his ear. "Oh, my god,
Grandpa,....the other you's....dead...."



"Oh my god, they killed Kenny! Get those bastards!"

The three wingmates of the dead F/A-45 Tigerhawk 
fighter-bomber swung around to take out their partner’s
assassin. Katsuhito(b) would have tried to stop them, but
it wouldn’t have made a difference. The four pilots all 
grew up together in a suburb of the capitol called South
Park, and consequently are--were--like brothers. The old 
pilot sighed as the attack planes salvoed their loads of 
cold-fusion missiles until the fool who killed Kenny and 
the rest of his flight died. Those warheads were earmarked
for the battle station at Earth’s L3 point, but he 
understood the need for vengeance.

Can’t let this happen too much, though, he chided himself.
If all our people decided to take payback now, the battle
would be quickly lost. He snapped on the tac net. "South
Parkers, get back to the main body! We still have to take
out the L3 platform!"

"Roger that, Big K." Katsuhito(b) regarded the 
behind-back-nickname-turned- callsign with a mixture of 
amusement and annoyance. "Sorry ‘bout that. Debt to 
settle."

"Understandable, Kyle," Katsuhito(b) told the flight 
leader, "but I think Kenny would rather have you kill the
battle station. Now, get back in formation." He watched
until the three prodigal fighters returned to the main 
group, then opened the all-channel. "All birds, this is Big
K. Charge!"

Nearly thirty-one hundred fighters surged forward against
the smaller number of Fourth Reich patrol ships--and
the patrol ships died.

Katsuhito(b) heard the thousands of victorious whoops over
the tac net and allowed himself a small smile. "Good job,
people. Now, Hideki, take your wings and kill that array
of missile satellites. Yuki, get those damned interceptors
off our backs. Takeshi, the L5 fighter base is yours. All
other craft, follow me in."

He kicked his afterburners into the white zone and his F-79
Light Hawk IV heavy fighter started to make life difficult
for the inhabitants of the L3 gunnery platform. His 
escorting squadrons joined him in pumping antimatter
warheads and plasma fire into the station’s shields.
Several dozen fighters died, but that only lasted until
the barrier collapsed, and the heavy bombers arrived just
in time to send a thousand antimatter and cold-fusion
missiles--none of them carrying anything less than a 
fifty-megaton warhead--into the station. There weren’t
enough sensors to track all of them, let alone guns to kill
all of them, and what was the cornerstone of the 
upper-Earth/Luna-orbit defense network disintegrated.
Katsuhito’s flight wings continued on into the atmosphere,
popping low-orbit weapons satellites as they went.

"Scratch one popgun!" yelped a young pilot just before
his cries of victory changed to those of pain. His blue 
triangle vanished off Katsuhito(b)’s command display a 
moment later. He shook his head in sorrow. Too many dead
today, on both sides. Isn’t there another way....?

That line of thought was interrupted by the shrill tracking
tone of an inbound seeker. "Oh, crap," he groaned. "Just
what I needed." Into his helmet mike, "All craft activate
tailguns, switch to autotrack, all craft continue on 
course!"

As if an afterthought, he added, "If I buy it, Hiroyuki’s
in charge," referring to his--actually, 
Yura’s--second-in-command, who was leading a bomber wing
over the Mongolian missile silos.

Pushing his throttle as far forward as it would go, he 
heaved back on the stick and begun to climb back out of the
troposphere.

The missile stayed on his tail.

"Persistent, isn’t it," he muttered. "Well, if I can’t lose
it, maybe I can hit something with it...." He looked around
for a probable target, and smiled as he sighted a large
navy spacedock at Earth’s L2 point. They had ignored it 
thus far, since it had launched all its ships before they
arrived, but he didn’t feel like leaving it for any Fourth
Reich survivors to limp to. Hanging on for dear life, he 
streaked towards an open hangar bay, praying that he would
hit it before the missile caught up with him.

His prayer was answered.



Yura is reading the report from Hiroyuki with shaking
hands. "That old fool....I knew he would do something
like this...." Her voice is angry, but her eyes are 
brimming with tears. "I just knew...." Abruptly she jumps
up from the console from which she had been coordinating
fighter ops and starts to run for the door. However,
she is suddenly jerked back by Tenchi. "Lemme go!" she 
snarls.

"No," Tenchi says calmly but firmly.

"But I hafta get out there! I--"

"Is Hiroyuki a good leader?" asks Tenchi all of a sudden.

Yura is confused, but she nods. "Yes...."

"Are the other squadron and wing commanders competent?"

Again Yura has to nod.

"Then you have no excuse to go," states Tenchi blandly.

Yura starts to protest again, but the sudden hard look in 
Tenchi’s eyes stops her. He speaks. "I don’t blame you for
wanting revenge. But the best way to get that revenge
is to keep your people focused and fighting. Hiroyuki
can do that; all they need from you is running things from
behind the scenes." His expression softens. "Believe
me, Yura, you’ll do your pilots a lot more good here than
you will out there."

Yura finds herself nodding. Damn him, he’s right, she 
thinks. This is exactly what Big K himself would have told
me if he were here.

Off to one side, Katsuhito(a) nods. He has known all along
that his grandson had the ability to make the tough 
decisions that a leader has to--and that he himself ran 
away from. He is the one, he thinks.



The doors to the throne room swing open. Kyoto and company
are at the ready, poised to lay waste to the legions of 
guards likely to be inside the large chamber.

That is not what they find inside.

Instead, the throne room is almost completely empty, except
for a small cluster of people around the dais.

Immediately recognizable is Nagi, lounging indolently
in her throne and wearing a more feminine cut version
of a Nazi general’s uniform.

Standing off to one side of the throne is the traitorous
Commander Mihoshi, who has risen to the position of Nagi’s
supreme military commander. Clad in a form-flattering
dress with a uniform jacket draped over her shoulders
and carrying an ornate scabbard belted to her waist, she 
has a haughty smirk on her face. The light of intelligence
sparkles in her eyes, but there is none of the warmth and
kindness that makes the other Mihoshi’s bumbling bearable.
Kiyone’s right, thinks Kyoto. The other Mihoshi is far 
preferable to this.

On Nagi’s other side is Washu, also looking far more evil
than her counterpart from their home dimension. Her Science
Academy uniform has a red armband with a swastika on it. 
Most frightening of all, however, is the two naked girls
chained to both of the throne’s armrests. They are 
whimpering and sobbing, and Nagi is looking at them with
amusement and lust.

This seems to snap something in Ayeka(b), who snaps off two
Jurai energy blasts that destroy the chains restraining
the girls. The slave/concubines, now free, run up to 
Ayeka(b) and throw their arms around her, still sobbing
loudly. "Thank you," manages one of them.

Nagi looks with surprise at Kyoto. "Kyoto. I thought you 
were dead."

"You thought wrong." Kyoto looks quite pissed right now.
"All right, ladies, we can make it fast or we can make it 
slow. How do you wanna die?"

"Not at all," replies Nagi languidly. "I must applaud
your efforts. You fight as if you actually had a chance
of winning."

"We actually do," retorts Ryoko. "Wonder why your fleet,
your space fortresses, aren’t responding? They’re all 
either dead or dying, and there’s nothing you can do to 
stop that."

"Do you really think I wasn’t prepared for this?" responds
the Fuhrer, almost lying. In reality, she had never 
expected this large an assault, having believed that all 
serious resistance had been wiped out when Reich One 
destroyed Jurai. There had been no report from Reich One 
following that, but she had assumed the captain was taking
it on a long shakedown cruise. She knows that her forces
are more than likely dying right now. They do hold the 
upper hand, she thinks. But, I have a last card to play....
"Tell you what. We’ll have a duel between two of our 
warriors. If your fighter wins, I surrender. If mine wins,
you let us go."

"And what’s to keep us from killing you anyway?" asks 
Washu(a), glaring up at herself.

"This!" responds Washu(b), clicking a switch on a hand 
unit. A holo of the Lunar shipyards appears and focuses
in on a large shape, looking almost identical to Reich One.
"This is Reich Two," says Washu(b). "It is nowhere near 
complete. I assume that your forces are attacking the 
shipyards right now. Doubtless your people will cause it 
heavy damage. But there are two things you don’t know about
it. One, its point defense is operational. Granted, less
than 25% of the guns are working, but that ought to be 
sufficient to keep them from getting too close, too soon.
Which brings us to point number two: its dimensional
cannon is also working. Try to rush us--" She holds the 
remote over her head. "--This entire system dies."

Before anyone else can speak, Mihoshi steps forward,
a cruel smile on her face. "My dear Ayeka! How are you 
doing?"

Ayeka(b)’s face starts to darken, and both Kiyone(b)
and Ryoko place a restraining hand on her shoulder.
"Go to hell."

Mihoshi recoils in fake sadness. "That’s so mean! I’d 
rather go to heaven...." She smiles again. "....so I could
be with Tenchi."

This time, Ryoko and Kiyone(b) literally have to hold 
Ayeka(b) back. "Damn you damn you DAMN YOU!!! Damn you for
seducing my husband away and killing him!"

Mihoshi shrugs. "Girl, you’d already pushed him away. He 
didn’t want to be the Emperor, and you just couldn’t
handle it." She seems to delight in the growing anger in 
Ayeka(b)’s expression. "Do you want to know what we did?"

Her smile takes on a lustful cast. "That night that you’d
told him you wanted to separate, he was working late. He 
said he didn’t want to go back to his quarters, said he 
would think about you too much. Do you know how lucky you
were, Ayeka? He was completely devoted to you. He had so 
many chances for one-night stands. Every single girl on 
Prime Center--and not a few of the married ones--would
have spread their legs for him in a heartbeat. But he 
wouldn’t. You were the only one he wanted. And then you 
threw him away. That night I saw what he needed, so I 
offered it to him." Mihoshi is actually flushed at the 
memory. "He bent me over the desk and took me right there.
Several times. Then he took me home and made me dinner
and ate it off of me. And after that...." Ayeka(b) fists
are clenching, and the two knights have joined Kiyone(b)
and Ryoko in holding her back.

Mihoshi is still recalling in intimate detail. "I moved
in with him the next day. I remember the look on your face
when he called you and told you what happened. I 
was....well, let’s just say it brought new meaning to the
phrase ‘head of the GP.’ And that night, I brought in some
friends. Young recruits, only eighteen years old, 
starry-eyed and Tenchi was their hero....we did that a lot.
I remember their screams of pleasure as he had them--and
me--on the couch, in his bed, on the floor, in the shower,
in every conceivable position, over and over and 
over....those were good times." She grins again. "Did you
ever fake it? I never had to.

"When the Fourth Reich contacted me and asked me to join
them, I almost asked him to join me. But I couldn’t.
One, he was to dedicated to the GP and the GF, and he was
polar opposite to Hitler’s policies. I could have lived
with that, but not the second part." She actually glares
at Ayeka(b). "He still loved you. Oh, he tried to pretend,
sometimes he actually thought that he loved me. But we both
knew the truth. Most of the time in bed, I overwhelmed
him so I was all he could think about. But there were 
times....the last time he cried out your name as he 
finished me, I knew he had to die."

Ayeka(b) has heard enough. Roaring, she breaks free of her
detainers and lunges at Mihoshi, intending to rip her 
smirking face off. But she is pulled back by Kyoto. "Don’t
let her get to you, Ayeka!" he yells. "She’s just trying
to piss you off!"

"It’s working!" screams back Ayeka(b).

"Don’t let it!" he responds. "Remember what she said! 
Tenchi loved you! Remember that! Tenchi loved you!"

After a long moment of seething, Ayeka(b) slumps in Kyoto’s
arms and starts sobbing. Kyoto pulls her close and holds
her. "It’s all right, baby, it’s all right, let it out...."

Mihoshi is trying to think of what to say next when she 
sees another old acquaintance. "Kiyone! What a pleasant
surprise! So, are you and Kyoto married now?"

"Yes, and we have a child on the way," hisses Kiyone(b).
"Mihoshi, can’t you find pleasure in something other than
destroying people’s lives?"

"I did once," responds the Nazi officer, "but I had to kill
him. Is Ayeka gonna fight me or not?"

"No," answers Kiyone(b). "I am."

Mihoshi looks surprised. "Why? Did you want Tenchi?"
She smiles cruelly. "I know you were all hot for him when
you first came to Prime Center...."

"Maybe a little bit, maybe a schoolgirl’s crush," snarls
Kiyone(b), "but he was my sponsor at the Academy. He was my
second father. He was my friend and the man who brought
Kyoto and I together. He was a loyal son of Jurai and the
GF and if he’d seen exactly what you were capable of he 
never would have touched you." She draws her long-unused
GP ceremonial sword from its scabbard. In spite of its 
almost ornamental beauty, it is fully functional.
"This is the least I can do for him, and for Ayeka." She 
presses in on one of the grooves in the handle, and the 
blade starts to glow faintly blue. "Draw your sword."

Mihoshi just laughs. "You actually equipped that thing with
a *monofilament pulse blade! I’m impressed; you’re finally
learning to fight dirty." She draws a rapier of similar
design from its sheath. The long, slender blade starts
to radiate a crimson light. "Think you’re up to it?"

In response, Kiyone(b) slips into a Juraian *ta’i-ko
chya first strike stance. "Come and get me."

The two adversaries circle each other for a long moment,
occasionally clashing the tips of their blades together.
Kiyone(b)’s carriage seems to carry cool, calm skill, while
Mihoshi exudes an almost frantically violent air. Finally,
Mihoshi’s patience is at an end, and she charges Kiyone(b).

Kyoto’s wife holds her ground till the last possible
instant, then sidesteps and brings her blade around, 
swinging for Mihoshi’s head. Mihoshi barely throws herself
out of the way, and the tip of the blade slices past her 
jugular with less than a centimeter to spare. She flips
through the air and lands in a crouch, her sword pointed
outward.

Kiyone(b) nods in approval. "I see you still know how to 
use a sword. I’m impressed; I thought the only weapon you
knew how to use was your body."

"As the saying goes, make love, not war," quips the evil
Mihoshi. "Sex is so much more fun than cleaning up the 
remains of a suspect." She rises to her feet. "Ready for 
round two?" Without waiting for an answer, she rushes 
Kiyone(b) again.

Her opponent brings her blade up just in time to deflect
the blow. She is buckling just a little bit under the 
pressure.

Mihoshi grins. "You’re still good....but not as good as me.
There’s a reason I was always ahead of you at the Academy,
why I always got the guys. You just aren’t willing to push
it all the way."

"Sometimes," grunts Kiyone(b), "all the way is too far."
With a sudden and surprising burst of energy, she pushes
her blade up hard enough to throw Mihoshi back. It takes
Mihoshi a moment to regain her equilibrium. That’s enough
time for Kiyone(b) to regain the offensive. Mihoshi sees
what’s coming and she knows that she has no time to get out
of the way. She raises her sword in a last-ditch 
defense....

....and falls backwards as Kiyone(b)’s rapier pierces
her through the heart. Coughing up blood, she collapses
to the floor, still shaking.

Kiyone(b) turns her pulse blade off, wipes it on the sleeve
of her fatigue jacket, and sheaths her sword. "Goodbye,
Mihoshi. I’m sorry." She walks back to Kyoto and grins.
"What’d you think, honey?"

Her husband smiles and takes her in his arms. "Wonderful,
Kiyone, wonderful." He is about to lean down and touch his
lips to hers when she suddenly pitches forward against
him, her eyes wide. She looks up at him and starts to 
speak, but instead starts coughing up blood. Abruptly
she falls from his arms onto the floor, still coughing
and moaning. He sees a large hole in her chest, and he 
looks across to the dying Mihoshi, a previously-unnoticed
laser pistol still smoking in her shaky hands.

The dying villainess laughs painfully. "Stupid 
bitch....first thing....they teach....at the 
Academy....never....turn....your....back...."
Her wounds catch up with her, and the gun clatters to the
floor as she expires.

Kyoto kneels down next to his wife, horror-stricken.
"Kiyone!" He picks her up in his arms. "Washu! Get over 
here, do something!"

The good Washu is by his side in an instant. She produces
a holo-laptop over Kiyone(b) and starts running scans.
After a moment she sighs and shakes her head. "I’m sorry,
Kyoto. It’s....bad. Really bad."

"Can’t you do something?" he howls.

"I’m sorry. If we could get her back to Chisako, maybe,
but I can’t do anything now. And I don’t think she’d last
long enough to get back to Chisako." Her eyes are closed
in sympathy. "I’m sorry, Kyoto."

Kiyone(b), having stopped coughing for the moment, looks
up at her husband, her eyes barely able to focus. 
"K....Kyoto?"

Kyoto holds her as close as he dares. "I’m right here, 
darling, I’m right here."

She manages a smile. "I know." She starts coughing again
and Kyoto wipes as much blood away from her mouth as he 
can. Finally, she starts talking again, weakly. "I’ve been
so happy with you, my Kyoto....I....I...."

"Shh," he says quietly. "We’re gonna get you back to 
Chisako, we’re gonna fix you up good as new...."

"No," she whispers. "I know. It’s....it’s all right....I’ll
wait....for you....I....love....you...."

"Kiyone!" he howls. She smiles as the light goes slowly
out of her eyes. He presses his lips to hers, hoping he can
supply her with breath, as he did once before, but all he 
can do is feel her expel her dying breath into his mouth.
He finally pulls his mouth away from hers and looks at her.
She looks almost peaceful, as if merely asleep. This is the
last straw for him, and he buries his face in her chest.
Ryoko moves to his side, about to reach out and place a 
hand on his shoulder, but thinking better of it at the last
moment.

He spends what feels like an eternity weeping, a long time
that even Nagi and the evil Washu seem loath to interrupt.
Finally, he pulls away from his wife’s lifeless body and 
rises to his feet. He looks right at Nagi and Washu(b),
and the glare he gives them packs at least as much force
as a dimensional cannon. Gradually, almost unnoticed
at first, swirls of green-white energy start to encircle
him, slowly but surely ensconcing him in a cocoon of power.

"Oh, no!" yells Washu(a). "We gotta get out of here!"

"Why?" asks Ryoko.

"I’ve only seen him like this once before. That time, it 
cost a planet its moon. Move!" Ryoko, Washu(a), Ayeka(b),
Azaka, Kamidake, and the two slave girls run. They rush out
of the throne room and run till they reach a stairwell
heading to the palace’s subterranean levels. Running down
until they hit the door, Washu pulls out her holo-laptop
and starts feeding in a sequence while everyone else sits
or kneels.

"What are you doing?" demands Ryoko.

"After the other time he did this, I started developing
a shield capable of withstanding such an outpouring
of energy. Problem is, I’ve never been able to test it!

I--" She stops speaking as the two knights stand up. "Hey,
where are you two going?"

The two knights raise their rods. "If your shield cannot
withstand the energy, perhaps we can augment it," explains
Azaka.

"Thank you both, we may--there we go." Washu punches in the
last sequence, and everyone (including the two knights)
is surrounded by a large bubble of force. "We’ll find out
if this thing works soon."

Topside, in the throne room, Kyoto has almost finished
gathering his energy. His task is made much easier by Nagi
and Washu(b) standing still, looking almost transfixed,
but even if they tried to run, this instant karma would
still get them.... Somewhere in his head a "fully charged"
light goes on, and, screaming the name of his dead wife,
whose body he is still holding, he releases.

A giant wave of energy ripples outward from Kyoto, growing
exponentially larger with each second. By the time it 
shreds the throne room’s walls it packs the punch of a 
five-hundred megaton nuke. By the time it passes through
the Berlin city limits, it is as powerful as the 
cold-fusion bomb that blew up the GF regional capitol
of Freeport Center. And then it gets really powerful.

Observers in orbit and in nearby Earthspace would later
remember a large succession of mushroom clouds stitching
their way across the entire Eurasian supercontinent.
When it was over, almost 98% of all life between Lyons,
France and Vladisvostok, Russia (East-West), as well as 
between Oslo, Norway and Ulan Bator, Mongolia (North-South)
was gone, as if never having existed. Let’s here about it 
from some people who were right in the thick of it....

"It’s starting to buckle!" yells Washu, feeding sequence
after sequence into her holo-laptop.

In response to this, Azaka and Kamidake raise their rods
and start to slowly turn them. Washu grins. "Thank you! The
shield is stabilizing!"

"How much longer is this gonna last?" demands Ryoko. "We’ve
been trapped in this thing for almost twenty minutes!"

"Shut up or we’ll push you out," growls Washu. "If I 
remember right, this wave can’t last much longer. In fact,
it oughta be ending right....about....now."
And, just like that, the tsunami of energy pummeling
the shield disappears, as if never there.

Washu taps her laptop’s screen. "Right on the tick!" 
Another sequence is tapped in, and the shield fades from
existence. Rods at the ready, the knights take point as the
small group cautiously climbs out of the stairwell.
What they find shocks everyone but Washu, who merely closes
his eyes and shakes his head. There is nothing but wreckage
as far as the eye can see. Well, actually, nothing but 
wreckage and a single, standing figure. As they cautiously
approach the person, they are relieved to see that it is 
Kyoto. He manages a sad smile. "Sorry ‘bout that. I guess
I should have warned you."

"What happened?" asks Ayeka(b).

"That was an level-50 energy wave," explains Washu. 
"Anything in its path dies." She looks up at Kyoto and the
corpse in his arms, and winces. "Sorry. Wrong choice of 
words."

Kyoto doesn’t seem to have heard. "Let’s go. Let’s go 
home." He seems to be talking to Kiyone(b).

Several of the people start to speak, but stop themselves.
Finally, Ryoko places a hand on his shoulder. "You’re
the boss, Kyoto." The group, plus the two naked slave 
girls, pull in close around Kyoto and they vanish in a 
flash of light.



"Dammit!" Kiyone spins her suit around and pours a 
sustained burst of plasma fire into her assailant’s
cockpit, and the light interceptor explodes. "Don’t these
people know they’ve lost?"

They have indeed. Most of the ships in the yard, plus all
of the spacedocks and battle platforms, have been 
destroyed. The impressive sight of Reich Two has been 
slashed to drifting wreckage. They had not anticipated
the volume of point-defense fire that had poured forth from
the incomplete ship, but it had only taken a few minutes
to get their range, and only a few minutes after that to 
concentrate fire on the exposed drive core. In spite of 
their obvious defeat, however, the Fourth Reichers still
dove into the fray, screaming war cries, as if that would
save them from the massed fire of over two thousand laser
and plasma guns.

Still, as matters stood now, this battle was over. And, 
according to the updates she got from Tenchi, so was the 
rest of it. She opens her commlink to Chisako. "Tenchi-yon?
Are you there, Tenchi-yon?"

There is a loud, long exhale, and then Tenchi’s voice 
answers, sounding almost giddy with relief. "Kiyone-yoni!
You’re all right!"

She feels a rush of joy at the sound of his voice, and she
answers in her little girl’s voice. "That’s right, daddy,
your little girl’s coming home! And I just can’t wait to 
see my daddy...."

She can sense in Tenchi’s mind a combination of arousal
and embarrassment, and then she hears his voice respond
shakily. "K-K-Kiyone-yoni, please....this is an open 
carrier....people can hear you...."

"Yes, we can," cuts in Katsuhito. "Keep it short....and
clean." His signal clicks off, and Tenchi returns. "So, is
everything okay?"

"Mission accomplished," she answers. "We’re coming home.
See you soon." Kiyone is about to sign off when she 
remembers something. "Oh, by the way, what did you think
of my package?" She can hear him gulp and she knows that
he’s probably blushing right now. Finally he stammers,
"Very nice....very, very nice....just let me take the 
pictures next time, okay, angel?"

"All right, Tenchi-yon. We should be back in about thirty
minutes. Love you."

"I love you too, Kiyone," Tenchi’s voice says softly.
There is a click on his end of the connection, and Kiyone
switches to her task force net. "Good job, people. I think
we can call this a wrap. Set course for the rest of the 
fleet and let’s head home." She waits until the ships and
fighters have started moving before firing her own 
afterburners. In her mind, she and Tenchi are having a 
private celebration of their own. He has her on their bed,
is kissing her neck while his hands are undoing the fly of
her shorts, pushing them down, one hand moving up to probe
under her shirt while the other starts to toy with the 
waistband of her panties, to gently tug them down, to....

A sudden crash of pain jolts Kiyone out of her fantasy.
She suddenly realizes that her suit is not moving, and that
a Fourth Reich interceptor is floating in front of her, its
nose-mounted pulse gun aimed at her suit’s head. She closes
her eyes, berating herself for letting her mind wander
at such a time. She remembers a lesson from the Academy,
the first one they taught: "Never turn your back unless
the adversary is restrained, sedated, or in pieces. Any 
other condition, and you’ll have a loaded gun pointed
at your back." I’m sorry, Tenchi-yon. I’m so, so sorry....
She checks her loadout to see what’s still working and 
finds her primary photon gun. Only one shot.... She waits
until the fighter has drifted into optimal range and 
squeezes the trigger.

The interceptor explodes, slamming burning wreckage into
Kiyone’s suit. She is rocked and buffeted, yet she is 
laughing, knowing that if she has to die, she will be 
taking this guy with her.... Wait a minute, she realizes.
That explosion came from the back, not the front. Who--And
then she hears a very welcome voice. "Ki-yo-ne! There you
are!" A forest-green PA suit jets into view, and Kiyone
laughs. "Mihoshi! Am I glad to see you!"

"Tenchi told me to take care of you, and I will!" says 
Mihoshi triumphantly. "I don’t think any of us would want
to face him if we’d lef--" She suddenly gasps. "Kiyone,
your suit!"

"What are you talking about? The only thing damaged is the
engines! I--" She finally looks at the damage control
screen and gasps herself. "A....a slow oxygen leak...."

She hadn’t felt lightheaded before, but the feeling slams
home quickly and disorientation follows soon after. 
"Mihoshi....I’m....leaking....oxygen...."

"Oh no!" wails Mihoshi. Instinct kicks in, and her suit 
produces an emergency patch. A repair waldo unfolds from
under the left arm and applies the patch to the source
of the leak. She sighs in relief. "There. Now we need to 
get you home."

Kiyone’s disorientation has given way to quickly-descending
unconsciousness. As the darkness takes her, she manages,
"Mihoshi....thank you for trying....get 
home....and....please tell Tenchi....I love...." The world
goes black.

"Kiyone!" sobs Mihoshi. Her suit turns to face Ayeka’s,
which has just floated up. "Ayeka, help me! We need to get
Kiyone back to Chisako!"

Ayeka is finding herself in a dilemma. Of the three suits,
hers is the one with the least damage; Mihoshi’s long-range
commo gear is out, and Kiyone is drifting, almost dead in 
space. It would be so easy to take them both out now; the
rest of the strike force is already en route back to the 
main body of the fleet....

"Ayeka!" howls Mihoshi. "Get over here! Kiyone’s dying!"

The princess seems not to have heard. She can see herself
now, comforting a grief-stricken Tenchi. I’m so sorry,
Lord Tenchi, the stragglers came out of nowhere, I couldn’t
get to them in time! She pulls close to him and gently
kisses his cheek. I’m sure her last thoughts were of you,
Lord Tenchi. I really don’t think you should be alone 
tonight, would you like me to stay with you?

"Ayeka!" screams Mihoshi, fear giving way to anger. "What
are you waiting for? D’ya want Kiyone to die?!"

The first time, he would probably cry out Kiyone’s name.
That might even last for a while. But, thinks Ayeka, sooner
or later I will prove to Tenchi that I will make a much 
better wife than Kiyone ever could be. She starts to arm 
her particle gun....

"He wouldn’t, Ayeka," says Mihoshi gently. That somehow
catches Ayeka’s attention. "Mihoshi? What are you--"

"If Kiyone died, Tenchi would be so heartbroken that he’d
never be able to look at anyone else, let alone touch."
There are rare times when Mihoshi is actually logical
and intelligent. Usually it happens just when it’s 
needed--like right now. "And if he found out that you 
deliberately left her here--or killed her--he would hate
you forever. Do you want that, Ayeka?"

Ayeka realizes with a start that Mihoshi’s guns are primed
and aimed in her direction.

Mihoshi has still more to say. "And don’t think I wouldn’t
tell him, either. He made me promise to look after Kiyone,
and the least I would owe him would be to explain how she
died."

Ayeka almost pulls her trigger, thinking that maybe she can
kill Kiyone before Mihoshi’s beams hit her. But she 
doesn’t. Mihoshi’s right. Tenchi would never touch anyone
else. And I don’t want him to hate me.... She disarms
her particle gun and fires her jets. "I’ll take the right
side, you get her left."

Tenchi is pacing back and forth on Chisako’s command deck.
The battle is, for all intents and purposes, over, and most
everyone is celebrating the victory....or mourning the 
deaths of loved ones. For his part, he’s not quite sure 
which he should be doing.

He re-checks the digiclock on the central holoterminal.
Fifty minutes. Fifty minutes ago Kiyone called and said 
she’d be home in thirty. "Where the hell is she?" he 
mutters.

Katsuhito watches him with a worried expression. "Tenchi,"
he begins, "I can handle things up here. If you--"

"Thanks, Grandpa," he says curtly, "but I’ll wait until
Kiyone gets back."

Katsuhito is about to respond to this when Tenchi hears
a signal in his headset. He presses the earphone flush 
against his left ear. "Kiyone?"

"No, Tenchi, it’s Mihoshi," comes back Mihoshi’s voice.

"Oh, sorry, Mihoshi. I was expecting Kiyone to be back a 
while ago, and she’s not here. You seen her?"

There’s a hesitation on the other end, just long enough
to add fuel to Tenchi’s fears. "What happened?" he croaks.

"Tenchi....Kiyone’s been hurt."

"What?!" cries Tenchi. "Is she...."

"She’s okay, Tenchi, she’s stable, but she’s badly hurt and
she needs medical attention as soon as we land. Can you--"

"Yes! Yes, of course." Now that he knows that his wife is 
still more or less okay, Tenchi is calmer. "Which bay are
you landing at?"

"Twelve-delta," responds Mihoshi.

"All righty, twelve-delta," acknowledges Tenchi. "And 
Mihoshi? Good job. On both the raid....and taking care of 
Kiyone."

Mihoshi’s voice giggles. "Well, Tenchi, we would have been
to afraid to come back without Kiyone. See you!" She signs
off, and Tenchi turns to another channel, this one linked
to Chisako’s medical center. His father’s face appears.
"What is it, Tenchi?"

"Dad, Kiyone’s been badly hurt. She’s coming in at bay 
twelve-delta; could you have a med team down there?"

"You got it, Tenchi." His father’s face disappears.
Tenchi starts to run for the door, but stops and looks at 
Katsuhito, who shrugs and motions toward the corridor.
"Go to her, Tenchi. Things are quiet enough that you won't
be needed." Grinning in thanks, Tenchi rushes from the 
command deck.



Tenchi gets down to bay twelve-delta just as the three PA 
suits fly in. He is shocked by the condition the powered
armor is in. As they ground on the plexisteel deck, he 
feels immense relief that his Kiyone is safe, as well as 
immense guilt that her death would hit him harder than any
of the tens of thousands of other casualties. While he had
certainly felt saddened by the deaths of the people he and
his grandfather had coordinated, they had all been largely
abstract, as if not really....real.

Pushing those thoughts aside for another time, he gets to 
Kiyone's suit just ahead of the medical team rushing in. 
Fortunately, casualties had been light enough that most 
were being handled aboard the GP ships. He climbs up the 
suit's back, pops open the hatch, and gently pulls Kiyone
out. She looks very dazed, and seems to have lost some 
blood, but appears to be otherwise all right. He picks her
up in his arms, and her eyes flutter open. She smiles with
surprising brightness up at him. "Tenchi-yon....you're
all right...."

Mitsuki is at the head of the medical team. "Tenchi,
put her on the gurney." Almost reluctantly, Tenchi places
his wife on the hovergurney. He starts to follow the 
medical team, but Mitsuki raises a hand. "She'll be out for
at least a few hours, Tenchi. We'll call you when she wakes
up." The head doctor and her assistants gently move Kiyone
from the staging bay. Tenchi then turns to look at Mihoshi
and Ayeka, who have disembarked under their own power.
"Thank you for saving Kiyone."

"It's no problem, Tenchi," chirps Mihoshi cheerily.
"We're glad to help!" Ayeka tenses for the Galaxy Police
officer to tell Tenchi what almost happened, but is 
relieved when she doesn't. Apparently she can and will keep
a secret.

Tenchi then takes Ayeka's hands in his. "I especially
want to thank you, Ayeka. I....I know that couldn't have
been easy for you."

Ayeka blushes and again waits for Mihoshi to spill the 
story, but she remains silent. The princess just smiles
and nods. She and Mihoshi also walk out of the chamber
just as Chisako rocks slightly. Both turn back to him with
a worried expression. Tenchi remembers the headset he's 
still wearing and flips the link to the command deck on. 
"Grandpa? What the hell just happened?!"

"Mushroom clouds," responds Katsuhito. "Lots of them. 
They're stitching their way across Europe. headed for 
Russia and North Africa."

"Radiation?"

"Checking...." Tenchi is amazed, more than ever, at how his
grandfather can stay so calm. "No radiation readings.
It's more like someone dropped a tankerful of antimatter
on the Earth....It's starting to dissipate now, but I don't
think anyone's left alive from Russia to Egypt to France."

Tenchi opens his mouth to reply, to ask about the 
infiltration team which had been all the resistance
had sent against the entire Eurasian continent, when a 
white light fills the small launch/recovery bay. At the 
center of the light a group of figures start to take 
cohesive form. The light suddenly flares beyond the visible
range....and fades, leaving the infiltration group standing
unharmed in the middle of the bay.

Almost unharmed. The first thing that Tenchi notices is the
other Kiyone's body lying in Kyoto's arms. "Oh my....what
happened?"

Ryoko, who is standing protectively next to Kyoto, shakes
her head. "She and Mihoshi had a duel. Kiyone won, but when
she turned her back....Mihoshi had a gun on her."

Ayeka(b) starts to speak, but Ryoko shushs her. "It's not
your fault," she says gently. "It's the evil Mihoshi's."

Tenchi gulps. "My god....I'm sorry, Kyoto, I--"

"Don't worry," interrupts Kyoto. "It's all taken care of.
Nagi and Washu are dead." He looks around. "Where's 
Katsuhito?"

"He's also....gone," replies Tenchi quietly. "He died 
destroying an orbital station with a missile he couldn't
shake."

Kyoto nods absently. Without another word he walks out of 
the launch bay, leaving everyone staring after him.



The first place Kyoto goes after placing Kiyone’s body in a
stasis chamber (Mitsuki had been about to object, but the
look on his face convinced her otherwise) is to his 
personal weapons chamber. He walks up to the case that had
contained Excalibur, and is about to replace Arthur’s
sword when a thought hits him. The boy would have wanted
it this way, he thinks. In Excalibur’s place, he puts his
wife’s sword. "There," he says, feeling that it’s somehow
appropriate. He hears a noise behind him, and turns to see
Muriyaki. "Oh, it’s you," he responds, not quite knowing
what to say. "You okay? Our girls okay?"

"All our girls and all the Ohkis came out fine," she 
reassures. Her expression tells him that she’s heard what
happened. "I’m sorry."

Kyoto opens his mouth to speak, but tears start to flow 
from his eyes instead.

Muriyaki walks over to him and enfolds him in her arms.
He starts to sob into her shoulder, and she starts to 
murmur reassuring words into his ear. "It’s all right,
darling, it’s all right, let it out, let it out...."

She ends up having to comfort him for over an hour before
his tears finally subside. The first coherent words he’s
able to whisper are, "I’ve had enough."

She pulls back, looking at him in shock. "What?"

"I’ve had enough of having to watch the woman I love die.
I’ve had to do that hundreds and hundreds of times and I 
can’t take it anymore and I just wanna die....help
me, Muriyaki, please, help me...." He dissolves again into
incoherency for another twenty minutes.

Muriyaki hugs him again until the babbling starts to 
recede. "Do you want me to be with you tonight?"

After a moment, Kyoto nods. "Please. I....I don’t know what
I’d do without you, Muriyaki. Thank you for everything."

She nods.

The night comes, and everyone goes to sleep. As expected,
Kyoto is too overcome by grief to be in the mood for sex,
even with Muriyaki lying next to him, and so he cries 
himself to sleep quite quickly.

About 2:30 A.M., *GMT, Muriyaki is half-asleep when she 
hears the door to the command deck, where Kyoto usually
sleeps, being drawn open. She sits up and sighs with relief
as she sees Ryoko. "Oh, Ryoko, it’s you. What can I do for
you?"

"How’s he doing?" she asks without preamble.

"As well as can be expected, I guess," replies Muriyaki
quietly. "What’s up?"

Ryoko sighs. "Nothing, I was just....could I stay with him
tonight?"

Muriyaki looks surprised at first, but then she smiles.
"So you did fall...."

Ryoko glares at her at first, but then slumps and nods.
"Why don’t you let me take over, get yourself some rest?"

Muriyaki nods and gets out of the bed, pulling on her 
jumpsuit. As she approaches the door, she tells Ryoko,
"Be gentle."

And Ryoko is.

It shocks Kyoto to wake up next to her. At first he thinks
things are like before and starts to reach for her, but he
stops himself. "What are you doing here?"

"I sent Muriyaki to bed," answers Ryoko. "She wasn’t 
getting any sleep, and I couldn’t get any sleep. Now that
you’re awake--" She bounces out of the bed. "--I’ll be on 
my way." She is halfway out the door when she hears his 
voice say, "Thank you."

Somewhat shocked, she turns around and looks at him. The 
expression on his face is too somber to be insincere.
And then she hears herself say, "No problem." She starts
out the door again, but turns back one more time. "If you
need anything, tell me." Ryoko disappears before either
of them can quite process the words.



The first thing Kiyone sees as consciousness returns is a 
white, sterile light hanging overhead. What the hell has 
Tenchi done to our room? she thinks at first. Then 
realization hits and she sits up, suddenly aware that she’s
dressed in a med-center gown and has an IV tube fed into
her wrist. This is Chisako’s med center, she thinks.

Her sudden movement also awakens Tenchi, who had been 
dozing off with his head resting just below her chest.
He flies up and back, almost sending his chair toppling
backwards. Once equilibrium has been restored, he gives
her a loving smile. "Kiyone-yoni! Good, you’re awake!"

And suddenly everything is all right. Kiyone grins a silly
grin and wraps her arms around Tenchi’s neck, who almost
fearfully pulls her close. After a moment she murmurs
in his ear, "Good morning, Mr. Masaki. Sleep okay?"

"I’ve had better nights, but yeah, actually," he tells her.
"You feeling all right, Mrs. Masaki?"

Kiyone nods. "Now I am. How long have I been out?"

"Only about eighteen hours," answers Tenchi. "The war’s
over, and we won. The Palace in Berlin--along with the rest
of Europe, most of Russia, some of Mongolia and the 
Himalayas, and all of North Africa down to the Sahara--has
been destroyed."

Kiyone has a shocked expression floating across her 
countenance. "What?! We did that?" Tenchi has taught her a 
lot about his world, and she knows that these places were
home to literally tens of millions of people. "I thought
tha--"

Tenchi kisses her on the lips until she relaxes, and then
pulls back. "Let me explain. In this universe, those places
were mostly military bases--in fact, most of this solar
system is a giant military base. No one died that wouldn’t
have done the same to us if given the chance. Besides,
it wasn’t us that did this. It was Kyoto."

"Kyoto?" repeats Kiyone. "How is that possible?"

"Well," replies Tenchi, "when they were down there....the
other Kiyone died." He nods at the horrified gasp from his
Kiyone. "I know. This pissed him off so much that he let 
loose an energy wave that did this. Ryoko, Washu, and the
rest barely survived; Washu had built a shield for such a 
contingency, but it almost collapsed and the knights had to
step in and help keep it up."

"Kyoto....did....that?" she repeats quietly.

Tenchi nods. "Don’t be too hard on him." He pulls Kiyone
closer to him. "I might have done the same, if I lost you
like that."

"Please, Tenchi-yon," whispers Kiyone, "don’t ever do that.
Not even for my sake."

"I’ll try not to," he tells her. He kisses her again, and
this time the kiss lasts longer, is deeper. When they 
finally break away, doing so only because of a need for 
oxygen, both are breathing heavily, their hearts thudding
like piledrivers. They stare at each other for a long 
moment before Kiyone starts to speak, her voice almost
sounding scared. "What’re we gonna do now, Tenchi?"

"What do you mean?" he asks, sitting on the bed next to 
her.

"I mean....how are we gonna handle this, now that we’re
married?" she clarifies. "Your grandfather’s the only one
who knows, since we didn’t have any witnesses, and I don’t
know how legal this is."

"As far as I’m concerned, we’re legal," says Tenchi, "and
the same with Grandpa. If we asked him, he’d even get us a 
marriage license and make it really official."

"I know, but I don’t know if other people would call it 
legal," responds Kiyone. "We both want the large wedding,
Tenchi, and....on the one hand, I want to wait till our 
wedding night--that is, our ‘official’ wedding night--but,
after the past few days...." She rests her head on his left
shoulder, feeling content as he hugs her tight. 
"....Tenchi, you’re....you’re as wonderful as you were in 
my fantasies, more so, in fact, and I don’t know if I can
go back."

"I feel the same on all counts, my avenging angel of 
space," he tells her, relaxing at the slight giggle this
produces. "And I’ve been thinking about it, too, and I 
think I have a solution. Let’s try--and I mean really 
try--to wait....but if we can’t, no big deal, we’re already
married anyway."

"I like it," agrees Kiyone. "Just two questions. One, how
often do you think these lapses might occur?"

"Let’s try to keep to maybe once or twice a month," replies
Tenchi. "Otherwise, I’d be on top of you day and night."

"That sounds like fun, Tenchi-yon," coos Kiyone, her eyes
sparkling with affection and craving.

"Yes, it does," concurs Tenchi. "What was the other 
question?"

"Do we have to start right now? Can’t we wait until we 
leave Earth?’

"Actually, they’re calling it New Jurai now," rejoins
Tenchi, trying to ignore the fact that his wife’s 
med-center gown is slowly hiking its way up her thighs.

"You know what I mean, Tenchi," says Kiyone. She is tracing
a finger around in a circle over the center of her 
husband’s chest. The circle is going ever lower. "Can’t
we play some more, daddy?"

Tenchi gulps, trying not to let himself give in too easily.
"Are you sure you’re up to it, Kiyone-yoni?"

"I need some of my daddy’s special tender loving care,"
she responds coyly.

"Well, we’ll have to be discreet...."

"Can we play if I promise to be discreet?" chirps Kiyone
liltingly. She can see the answer in his eyes before he 
nods.

Tenchi gently pulls the IV out of Kiyone’s wrist, picks
her up, and carries her towards the door. On the way out 
they run into Doc Mitsuki, who just rolls her eyes and 
waves at the door. "Go on, you two, before you make a mess
all over the place."



A week passes while the GP/Jurai forces take time to assess
the damage and to set up housekeeping on New Jurai. One of
the most shocking things is how welcome the natives make
them feel. Evidently, just because Earth was the capital
of the Fourth Reich, that didn’t mean that they liked it;
just that the people in power did. One of the first things
the natives did was set aside a large, grassy hillside
in China for a memorial cemetery. And that’s where our 
friends are now.

Most of the surviving senior officers of the battle and a 
lot of the troopers and pilots are present, making for a 
large assemblage. Sitting in the front row are Tenchi,
Kiyone, Mihoshi, the two Ayekas, the two Sasamis, Nobuyuki,
Ryoko, and Kyoto. Katsuhito, being the only priest present
(the chaplain having died in his fighter’s cockpit),
gives a mass eulogy for the fallen warriors. While focusing
on the major players, he gives the impression of having
known each dead soldier personally.

Everyone is dressed nicely, but somberly. Tenchi is in a 
black suit with matching tie. Kiyone and Mihoshi are both
in full GP dress uniforms with black mourning bands on the
left sleeve. All the princesses are in formal mourning
wear. Even Ryoko has found an understated heather-gray
number. She appears to be watching Kyoto very carefully,
as if having appointed herself his unofficial guardian.
Kiyone and Tenchi exchange brief glances, but decide not to
pry into the matter.

Finally, Katsuhito steps back from the podium and Kagato,
dressed similarly to Kiyone and Mihoshi, raises a small
comlink and whispers some words into it. An instant later
the rumble of multiple sonic booms fills the air as a 
twelve-plane squadron of Light Hawks shoots over the 
cemetery at Mach 3. As they pass over the gathered 
assembly, four of the fighters fall out of formation,
trailing red smoke, and shoot upward in a high-velocity
climb. At the same time, an honor guard of seven GP 
troopers, carrying laser rifles, step to attention,
raise their weapons, and each one snaps off three shots
at precise intervals.

"This is like a GP funeral," murmurs Kiyone. "That maneuver
the planes just did? It’s called a Broken Wing." Tenchi
nods and wraps an arm around her shoulders, and she 
snuggles in closer as a bugler starts to play "Taps."



Later that same day, when the crowd has gone home to 
celebrate life, Kyoto and his friends are standing alone
around his wife’s grave. He kneels in front of it, places
a bouquet of white roses in the flower receptacle mounted
on the headstone, and gently kisses the top of it. As a 
last gesture, he produces Excalibur (shocking everyone)
and slams it into the stone. Instead of breaking as it hits
rock, the legendary sword pierces the headstone, and Kyoto
sinks it in about halfway up to the hilt. As everyone
is blinking and recovering composure, Kyoto grunts. "Let’s
see someone try to get the sword out of that stone."

Tenchi and company are standing awkwardly by, not sure what
to do. Chi-ohki has just finished playing "Taps" on his 
cornet (did I mention that Ohkis make great musicians?),
and is about to launch into something rather less somber
when Kyoto shoots him a glare. Normally, this would just
get a rude gesture from the Ohki, but for once the fat old
cabbit holds his peace.

Kyoto seems not to notice anyone around him. This mood has
lasted since four days before, when he held Kiyone’s
limp body in his hands and leveled most of northern 
Eurasia. The only person whose presence he even seems to 
semi-acknowledge is Ryoko, who hovers around him 
protectively. After a long moment of staring at his 
handiwork, he spins on his heel and stalks up the hill.

"Poor Kyoto," whispers Ayeka(b). Since she and Sasami(b)
are the only survivors of this dimension’s Jurai Royal 
Family, she has just been crowned Empress of New Jurai.
"Is he going to be all right?"

"I really don’t know," answers Tenchi. He is holding his 
Kiyone’s hand very tightly.



The answer comes at a small wake that evening, held in a 
large beach house that Ayeka(b) rented for them. They have
also been invited to spend a while on New Jurai 
vacationing, and the consensus is to stay for a month or 
so.

The conversation, as is to be expected, is somewhat 
subdued, and everyone is trying hard not to disturb Kyoto,
who is sitting alone in the kitchen. Before the wake, Kyoto
had carried all the food and drinks, along with a large
ice chest, onto the deck, so he could brood alone. Several
times Tenchi or Katsuhito have tried to talk to him, to get
him to join the party, but he has always declined with a 
sad smile, only appearing occasionally to get more food or
drink.

Right now, he’s on his fifth Supernova (two parts Megami
ale, one part Jurai whiskey, three parts saké, mix well,
best taken stirred--not shaken), and slightly annoyed
that he’s not drunk yet. He is about to add more saké when
he looks up to see Ryoko looking down at him, a worried
expression on her face.

"Ryoko. What a pleasant surprise." He kicks the other chair
out. "Wanna sit down?"

"I think I’d better," she responds, seating herself.
The first thing she notices is the .357 Magnum sitting
on the table, and her eyes go wide. "Kyoto! What the 
hell--"

"I’ve had enough of watching my loved ones die," he says
quietly. Picking up the gun, he opens the cylinder and 
shows it to Ryoko. "There’s a game on Earth. It’s called
Russian roulette. You take a gun like this, put only one 
bullet in--"

He holds up a bullet for her to see, and she gasps. "Kyoto!
That’s an antimatter round! That’ll--"

"That’s the point. Anyway...." He inserts the bullet into
the cylinder, gives it a healthy spin, and snaps it shut.
He then pulls back on the hammer, and the sound of one of 
the six chambers clicking into place is unusually loud.

He presses the muzzle against his head. "One chance outta
six my head gets blown open. Yes, Ryoko, this is an 
antimatter round. It will cause even me irreparable
damage. If by some chance I survive this, would you tell
the doctors I wanted to just die, no life support or any of
that crap?"

Ryoko tries to pry the gun away from his hand. "Kyoto,
don’t do this. Please! What about us? What about Tenchi
and the rest of us?"

"If you go through my personal effects, you’ll find a 
datacard with detailed instructions on how to operate
Chisako’s fold drive. My only request is that you take 
Muriyaki and her daughters anywhere they want to--"

"No, Kyoto, you’ll do that." Her hand is starting to pry 
the gun away, but it would only take a flip of his wrist
to retrieve it fully. "Please don’t do this, Kyoto, you 
have stuff to do, you have things to live fo--"

"Do I?" His voice is quiet, but the acid in it would chill
a hatemonger. "What do I have to live for? Can you tell me
one thing, one single, solitary thing, that I have to live
for?"

Ryoko is silent for a long moment, then finally, she says
quietly, "Me."

"Huh?" Kyoto looks confused and--is that hope in his eyes?
"What did you say, Ryoko?"

"I said," repeats Ryoko, putting all of her hope into it,
"you’ve got me."

That is hope in his eyes. But he’s trying hard to control
it. "Ryoko, you’d better not be messing with my mind or 
anyth--" She sits down in his lap, and he is only mildly
surprised to see that she’s pried the gun away.

"I mean it, Kyoto. Somewhere during this crazy ride, you 
started meaning everything to me." She sets the gun down
on the table and wraps her arms around his neck, and when
his arms go around her, she finds she’s never felt so good
in her life. "Is....is there any room left in your heart
for me?"

"Yes," he whispers, his voice choked with emotion. "There’s
plenty of room for you. I....I’ll just need a little time,
all right?"

"Of course," she murmurs. "But....can I hear you say it 
now? Hear you say it and mean it?"

After a moment, she hears his voice say, "I love you, 
Ryoko. Now and for always, I love you."

"I love you," she tells him, letting her tears of joy flow
unchecked. They remain like this for a long moment. Finally
one of their stomachs rumbles, and both of them look at 
each other before suddenly bursting into laughter. When the
hilarity subsides, they look at each other again. Ryoko
reaches up and wipes the tears away from her beloved’s
eyes. "You gonna be okay?" she asks.

Kyoto nods, and for the first time in most of a week, a 
true smile graces his face. "Yes, I will be. Thank you, 
Ryoko." She gets out of his lap and helps him to his feet.
He takes a last look at the gun on the table, picks it up,
and tosses it out the open window. "I don’t think I’ll be 
needing that."

Ryoko smiles and is about to agree when they suddenly
hear a loud explosion outside. They rush out onto the deck
to see what happened--and see a large crater in the sand
right next to the house. Everyone else follows them out and
joins them in staring at the hole-in-ground.

As always, Tenchi is the first to speak. "What the hell?"

"Nothing important," says Kyoto. "Right, Ryoko?"

"Definitely," agrees Ryoko. "Not important."

Everyone looks at them in surprise....and notice that Kyoto
is really smiling for the first time in days. Kiyone 
snuggles closer to Tenchi. "I think he’s gonna be okay 
now," she whispers.

A month passes on New Jurai, and Tenchi and company enjoy
their vacation. Washu joins a scientific expedition
to what’s left of the military laboratories near Athens
and helps uncover a large chunk of information from the 
ruined mainframe. "It’s easy when you start thinking
sixth-dimensionally!" she later gushed.

Nobuyuki and Katsuhito visit Japan and pay a visit to a 
Shinto shrine that, ironically enough, is on the exact same
spot where Katsuhito's shrine is in their dimension.

Ayeka and Sasami spend time visiting their counterparts
from this universe. Soon there are Ohkis running free 
throughout the grounds of the new Palace outside of Kyoto,
and Ayeka makes a decree declaring all Ohkis off-limits
for hunters. The Sasamis are both glad, because Sasami(b)
has plans to take in at least a dozen Ohkis (and they all
sleep on her bed, too!).

Mihoshi stays at the beach house in Yokohama, sleeping
all day and eating all night.

Kyoto and Ryoko take a trip sightseeing in Nagano, just in
time for the Galaxy Winter Olympics. At the last minute,
Kyoto volunteers to fill in for a sick Rigellian 
turbo-skier, and ends up winning the gold medal.

Muriyaki and her daughters go vacationing in Hawaii. Their
choice in swimwear tends toward bikinis that make the stuff
in Victoria's Secret catalogs look modest, so a lot of guys
are walking into trees and losing their girlfriends
over this. In addition, a lot of Muriyaki's daughters
come back with bulging tummies. They would have stayed,
but Muriyaki wouldn't let them.

And Tenchi and Kiyone, who have been more-or-less
behaving themselves, take the last two weeks and fly off to
Pattaya in Thailand, to spend the rest of their vacation
sunbathing and, as Sasami puts it, "being naughty."

Finally, the time comes to leave. Everything is loaded
aboard Chisako, and she's ready to fold. Kagato, Ayeka(b),
and Sasami(b) are seeing them off.

"We owe you a debt we can never repay," says Kagato 
earnestly, shaking everyone's hands. "Thank you."

"It was our pleasure," responds Tenchi, holding Kiyone
close to him. "Oh, and congratulations to you on becoming
the new DirGen of the Galaxy Police....and on Yura!" he 
adds, referring to their wedding a couple of days before.

Kagato grins. "Thank you for making that possible."
Waving, he steps back through the airlock to the Liberator.

"You're sure you don't want to stay?" asks Ayeka(b).

"Kind offer, but we can't," replies Kyoto. "I have to get
Tenchi and company home, and....too many memories for me."
He gives Ayeka(b) a hug, drawing a mild glare from Ryoko.
"Bye, li'l sis." He picks up Sasami(b). "Bye, little 
Sasami."

"You'll always have a home here," says Ayeka(b), waving
before she disappears through the airlock.

"Will I ever see you again?" asks Sasami(b).

Kyoto smiles tenderly at her. "I hope so, Sasami. 
Good-bye." He gives her one last hug and, waving, she 
scurries through the airlock. The hatch slams home and 
Kagato's dreadnought gently pulls away from Chisako,
heading for the new orbital spaceport.

Kyoto sighs. "Time to go."

"Oh, I forgot to ask," says Katsuhito. "Tenchi, how was 
your and Kiyone's beach trip?"

Both of them flush blood-red for an instant, and then 
composure returns. "It was great!" gushes Kiyone. Tenchi
just smiles and nods.

Sasami looks at the two of them. "You two were naughty,
weren't you?"

"And what would give you that idea, Sasami?" asks Tenchi
smoothly.

"These pictures!" cries out their soon-to-be adopted 
daughter triumphantly. Tenchi mentally curses. Those were
the roll they had developed secretly, the one full of 
pictures of Kiyone posing for him in tiny bikinis.

Ryoko is the first to get them, and she smiles and holds
up a picture of Kiyone lying on a towel, wearing nothing
but a microscopic bikini bottom, and blowing Tenchi (behind
the camera) a kiss. She's lying on her back, bearing her 
impressive chest to the world. "Tenchi! You sly fox, you!
I didn't know you had it in you!" She then turns to Kiyone.
"And you! You're just the little sex kitten, aren't you,
Kiyone?"

The future Emperor and Empress of Jurai are clutching
each other and blushing.

Nobuyuki looks at the photos. "You have a good eye for 
photography, Tenchi. You know, your mom and I used to take
pictures like that a lot."

"Dad!!" cries out Tenchi. "I didn't need to know that!"

Mihoshi is now looking at some of the photos. "Oh, my! 
Kiyone, don't you have any swimwear but bikinis?"

Tenchi sighs. "Can we please go home now?"

Kyoto grins. "Yeah, let's get outta here."

Can we do that again, Tenchi-yon? asks Kiyone, sighing
as Tenchi hugs her close to him.

I promise, Kiyone-yoni, he tells her as Kyoto begins the 
fold. I promise....



The End







 Footnotes:



*Lord Marshal of the Army. The supreme commander of Jurai's
ground and marine forces. The Lord Marshal and his naval
equivalent, the Lord Admiral of the Fleet, both hold 
permanent positions on Jurai's Supreme Council.

*

*L4: The fourth of a planet's LaGrange points. Each planet
has five of these orbital points, where the gravities
of the planet, the star, and any natural satellites
the planet may have cancel each other out. These points
are ideal for permanent orbital structures. See, we not 
only entertain, we educate as well!

*

*Megami: Japanese for "goddess (full term is usually 
"megami-sama")." The capital of the second-largest
contingent of inhabited worlds in the Galaxy Federation,
the Megami Alliance, as well as the site of a large GP 
Regional Headquarters station. In our characters'
home dimension, Kiyone's homeworld. In the current 
dimension, same role, but destroyed by the Fourth Reich
when the system declared independence and allegiance
to Jurai. Incidentally, the largest contingent of worlds
in the GF is, of course, the Republic of Jurai. On Megami,
70% of the population is female, and Kiyone is a 
slightly-above-average-looking
girl. 'Course, Tenchi ain't complaining....

*

*Kiyone: (Megami) "Cherished love." Taken from Ki, which
means "special" or "cherished," and Yone, which means,
"love," "heart," or "soul." In the phrase Kiyone and Tenchi
share, the "heart" meaning for Yone is the meaning used.

*

*Sha'yla Sha'yla: The species name of the beings known as 
the ship-women. Quite an obvious El-Hazard reference,
isn't it? Well, what did you expect me to use? The f***ing
Zentraedi? Or maybe the Invid?

*

*Haori: The Japanese equivalent of a letterman's jacket,
also a long tunic-like garment worn for semiformal
or formal occaisions. Fans will recognize it as the black
jacket Tenchi often wore with a button-down shirt in the 
OVAs.

*This was our longest episode yet! Better hope we don't
write one that's a hundred pages long! OR you may never
get it!

*Monofilament pulse blade: a specially-developed
blade for the Jurai Special Forces. The monofilament
in the center of the blade surrounds it with a pulsing
energy field, enabling it to cut through up to fifteen
meters' worth of plexisteel. This makes this weapon more
powerful than any other conventional sword, although
it is still a poor substitute for a light sword.

*

*Ta'i-ko chya: The Juraian art of swordfighting,
renowned as the deadliest form of swordfighting
in the universe. Chya means "sword," ta'i means "fighting,"
and ko means "way of."

*

*GMT: Greenwich Mean Time. Also called "Zulu." Allegedly
the most accurate time on Earth.





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