"Excuse me, Hiromi-sama."
Hiromi and the Sebone cousins tensed on hearing that voice, and then they turned to see Koizumi Hitomi kneeling nearby, her left fist in her right hand. "What is it, Hitomi-san?" the reborn emperor asked as Shimei and Hōsen continued to sip their tea.
"Forgive me for interrupting your private time with Shikuko-sama and Mimōko-sama, but we just received a signal from Michiko-sama aboard Bismarck," the blue-haired bioroid calmly reported, again unnerving the visiting tōshi with her lack of any real emotion. "Richelieu just detected a small fleet of ships now passing the Pluto orbit line, on course for Earth. According to their warp-in point, their point of origin is most likely the Phentax tri-star system. Michiko-sama has ordered Richelieu to approach the coming fleet while cloaked to do a detailed scan."
Shimei and Hōsen both blinked in confusion, and then they tensed as Hiromi stood. "Take Haida out of orbit and set course to rendezvous with Bismarck. Cloak the ship as soon as we pass the Mars orbit line," she ordered.
"Immediately, Hiromi-sama."
Hitomi headed out of the lounge. Almost immediately, Shimei and Hōsen were both quick to sense the starship under their feet moving as Earth seemed to pass away to the rear off the starboard side. "What's happening?" the former demanded.
"Follow me to the bridge and I'll explain," Hiromi said…
Near Colorado Springs, Colorado; underneath NORAD Headquarters…
"One of the ships is leaving orbit?!"
"Affirmative, General," the technical sergeant said as he looked up from his radar screen to gaze on Major General George Hammond. "It's the one the Canadians stated was named after HMCS Haida." As COMUSSGC — Commander, United States Stargate Command — nodded, the young technician turned and pointed to his radar screen. "She just pulled out of orbit and is now heading towards Neptune."
"Has anyone intercepted any signals from these ships?" Colonel Jack O'Neill asked. The other members of Stargate Team One were standing with him.
"No, Colonel. No signals whatsoever, not anything we could pick up. They're still under very strict EMCON," the technician reported before he took a breath. "OBUNIT Tōkyō detected some considerable transporter use between Haida and certain locations in Tomobiki not a couple of hours ago. They promised a follow-up report once their ground teams get back from scouting the area."
Both officers took that in, and then they exchanged a knowing look. "Something's happening," O'Neill warned. "Save for that formation of ship named after old European battleships that headed out of orbit early last week, none of these ships have moved out from orbit."
"Has there been any decision as to opening contact with these people?" Major Samantha Carter then asked. "Given that one of those ships is named after the Arizona, it's clearly obvious that whoever these people are, they mean us no harm."
A sigh. "NCA is still discussing matters with his counterparts elsewhere," Hammond stated, referring to the President of the United States with the initials for "National Command Authority." "And there is still the question of SCAA participation in this, especially since whoever these people are, they're willing to embrace many national and cultural groups with their ships names."
"Has intelligence gotten anything about what's going on in Tomobiki these days?" Daniel Jackson wondered. Ever since the Urusians came, the people in control of Earth's only working Stargate had worked VERY hard to keep its presence in North America secret, especially from those races that often interacted with the citizens of a certain town located in the western suburbs of Japan's capital city.
"The CIA and the SWR are teaming together in this matter, Doctor," Hammond replied as he gazed on the archaeologist. "It's only been a week since that Urusian girl was chased off the planet by those alien dragons and the President authorised us to team with the Canadians to learn what was going on there." A sigh. "We need to wait."
"Waiting may not be a wise thing."
Eyes locked on Teal'c. "What do you mean?" O'Neill asked.
"The dragons were Noukiite in origin," the Jaffa warrior and former First Prime to the Goa'uld overlord Apophis stated. "I recognised them, O'Neill. The System Lords always feared their power. If the Imperial Dominion is gazing in this direction, then the Goa'uld will either run as far as they can away from this part of the galaxy…"
"Or fight," Carter warned.
"Indeed."
Everyone exchanged looks. "Damn!" O'Neill hissed…
Near Neptune, a half-hour later…
"ENJUTSU KŌRO?!"
The spiky black-haired, brown-eyed woman, currently wearing the white VEDF jumpsuit, smiled as she gazed on the bridge of the Haida from her position aboard the bridge of the Bismarck. "Hai, it's me, Ryomō. Nice of you and your cousin to join the party finally," she said with a smirk before gazing on Hiromi, winking. "Hope you didn't mind the surprise there, Hiromi-chan?"
Hiromi's eyebrow arched. "Michiko-san, you knew of Shimei-dono's real name?"
A snort. "Wouldn't be much of a school leader if I didn't know something like that, My Emperor," Kōro stated with a smirk, and then she looked over. "Miwa-chan, pass on the information we just obtained from Richelieu to Haida."
"Hai, Michiko-sama," a woman replied.
On the bridge of Hiromi's flagship, Kagawa Kyōko tensed as information flashed across her personal view screen. "Received." She then scanned over the information before looking back at her leader. "Hiromi-sama, the approaching fleet is confirmed to be Niphentaxian. Composition: Six Tsubusu-class destroyers, no other vessels accompanying them. Current amount of people aboard all ships combined: 1860 people. That is far much more than what six vessels of that class would carry."
"Unless they have passengers," Kōro stated. "Looks like all of Ōgi's spies feel it's safe enough to return back to Earth so they can steal copies of your friends' diaries."
"And that, I no longer will allow," Hiromi stated. "Michiko-san, do you feel that Bismarck alone can cripple these ships to prevent them from moving on Earth?"
A sigh. "I know both Tsukihana-chan and Ayami-chan guarantee that any of these ships can fight under the control of two trainees and a chimpanzee, but I don't like the idea of taking green people into a space fight." She then gazed on Shimei and Hôsen. "I assume both of you have just been let in on all this?!"
"Pretty much so," Hōsen stated before she gazed on the reborn emperor who now led the Volunteer Earth Defence Force. "What would be your approach to all this?"
"Cripple them and leave them drifting in space," Hiromi answered. "Ayumi-san, have you detected anything from Triton or any Neptunian ships that are reacting to the presence of the Niphentaxians now approaching us?"
A strawberry blonde with blue eyes looked over from her station. "Negative, Hiromi-sama. But it is clearly obvious that the Niphentaxians have been detected by command elements of the Royal Neptunian Navy in Kōri City."
A snort. "A Federation of lies."
Kōro nodded. "'Federation of lies?'" Shimei asked.
"Indeed, Mimōko-san. There is an agreement between the member-states of the Galactic Federation which specifically states that the military forces of any of the members can't enter another member's sovereign space without permission. Michiko-san's group would have detected any sort of communication between Kōri City and Lumukyō…"
"And we didn't," Kōro cut in.
"…which might have told us that His Majesty, King Fuyu, was inviting Ōgi to deploy his forces into Neptunian sovereign space," Hiromi finished. "And under that treaty, all of this solar system is considered Neptunian sovereign space."
"It's all appeasement, you mean?"
Eyes locked on Hōsen. "Indeed it is," Hiromi stated. "Despite their proclaiming themselves as a 'democratic society,' the so-called 'union of Phentax Two' is nothing more than a quasi-religious dictatorship. Almost like Germany was under the National Socialists to some extent. The masses are brainwashed with a good economy and given many incentives not to question a thing, thus allowing the leaders to carry on without any sort of proper mandate from Heaven or the people as a whole." A sigh. "And what is worse, the other leaders of the Federation are so afraid of losing Niphentaxian support that they'll permit any sort of outrage to happen."
"Like what these people plan to do to your friends?" Shimei snarled.
"Well, that's as good of a cause to brawl as I've heard in ALL my lifetimes," Hōsen said before she looked at Kōro's image on the main view screen. "Bring us over," she bade. "The sooner we've stomped these idiots to the ground, the sooner I can go to bed and get a good night's sleep so I can do that mock exam tomorrow!"
Laughter escaped all save the bioroids on the bridges of both ships…
Several million kilometres away…
"We are passing the Neptune orbit line, Admiral."
"Excellent," the handsome young man in the dapper version of the Tomobiki High School gakuran uniform, military rank on his shoulders, acknowledged the sensory officer's words with a nod, and then he turned to gaze on the handsome middle-aged man, dressed in a normal gakuran uniform, standing beside him. "I envy you, you know."
"We all do our duty to the Goddess, even those such as yourself, Admiral," the other man said as he tried to hide his grin. The crews of these vessels had gone out of their way to make all the 360 observers of the Church of Lum feel like visiting kings and queens when they had come aboard for their return trip to the Holy City and its environs. "A pity you weren't there when the Great Evil called upon those accursed dragons of Noukiios to chase Lum-sama and Her Holy Company away from the Holy City."
"If we had known the Accursed One would have done something like that to Lum-sama, we would have ALL been there!" the admiral declared. "To believe…"
"ADMIRAL!"
Both men's heads snapped over. "What?!" the admiral demanded…
…before his voice choked in his throat.
Like most Urusian-designed vessels, the Tsubusu-class destroyer was designed with a command centre on a lowered superstructure jutting down from the keel, which gave the captain and senior crew a panoramic view of anything below them; Urusian ships were normally designed for surface-attack missions against planets. That ensured that the whole bridge crew and their guest could now see the kilometre-long, pale blue starship now de-cloaking well off to their port side. A starship of a design no one had ever seen before, but currently bore the wreathed globe emblem of the United Nations of the planet Earth on her flanks aft of amidships. Also bearing the white number 215 right under what clearly was the main bridge structure, the name HAIDA written close to the large exhaust ports for her main engines at the fantail.
And a starship whose huge battery of anti-ship guns were now pointed right at them!
"Impossible…" the admiral gasped.
"Sir."
Eyes locked on the signals officer. "The commander of the Earth Defence Force Ship Haida is signalling," she stated. Female members of the Niphentaxian Navy wore a more militarised version of the Tomobiki High School dark blue seifuku. "She is demanding we turn immediately around and return to Phentax Two. And…"
Silence.
"And?!" the chief observer in Tomobiki demanded.
The signal officer gulped. "Forever abandon all observation missions in the Holy City."
More silence.
"WHAT?!" the admiral bellowed. "Who is this heretic?! Put her on screen!"
The signal officer complied immediately, switching the image on the main view screen to show the head and upper shoulders of a teenage Terran girl in a white nightshirt, an armband around her left arm declaring her to be a member of a "volunteer Earth defence force." Staring at her for a moment, the chief observer was quick to see the white magatama earring, and then he focused on her face before a gasp escaped him. "M-m-Moroboshi…!" he stammered as he made a warding sign with his hands.
Horrified gasps escaped everyone there as people also made warding signs. Noting this, the woman's eyes narrowed contemptuously, and then she crossed her arms as she gave them a pitying look. "What seems to be the problem, sir?" she asked, her voice dripping with scorn. "My demands are quite simple. Why don't you acknowledge them?"
The admiral shuddered. "We will NEVER acknowledge demands from the likes of YOU, Moroboshi!" He shakily pointed at her. "Even if you somehow turned yourself into a woman, we can see you for the Great Evil you truthfully are! How DARE you…?!"
A snap of the fingers. "Kōro-dono, now."
"ADMIRAL!"
The admiral jolted on hearing the first officer cry out, and then he spun right to see ANOTHER ship — the very same design, size and colour scheme as Haida, though she possessed the number 48 under her bridge and BISMARCK near her fantail — appear, weapons trained on target. As he took that in, he then jolted on seeing FOUR more ships of the same type appear, they now moving to form a box around his small squadron of destroyers, all of them presenting their broadsides to him, guns trained on target. As he took that in, his mind nearly crashing from the thought of Moroboshi Ataru (even if "he" was now a "she") now commanding a powerful force of STARSHIPS, all visibly loyal to EARTH of all places in the universe, the woman on the screen then smiled as she sat back in her command chair.
"I trust I don't need to explain what will happen now," she calmly stated.
As the admiral sank to his knees on the deck, the chief observer looked at Hiromi's image. "Wh-wh-what do y-y-you w-want…?" he sputtered out.
A hum. "Well, other than for people to stop constantly mistaking me for Onii-san all the time, not much," she stated, and then her eyes narrowed dangerously. "The thing you should be more concerned about is what the PEOPLE OF EARTH will want once they fully learn of your so-called 'church's' actions in and around Tomobiki this last year or so." Back to a mocking look. "I believe I can spare you the attempt at speculating what that will be and tell you directly. So listen well." Her eyes narrowed. "As of this moment, any attempt by any agent of the so-called 'church of Lum' to do ANYTHING that hurts ANYONE — physically, spiritually OR emotionally — living on Earth will be seen as an act of war against the Terran people by the Niphentaxian people. And since — as you'll no doubt realise now — Onii-san and I have made quite considerable inroads with the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios, you can guess that they are now taking a VERY profound interest in events in this solar system." A smirk then crossed her face. "While I personally would prefer that Earth sees to its own defence against alien BARBARIANS like yourself, any help from any truly CIVILISED race would be more than welcome." The smile vanished. "Well?"
The chief observer…
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Tue, 11 May 2010 04:16)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.