New York City, underneath Wards Island Park…
"Chief Zed?!"
The elderly Israeli who served as senior director of the United Nations Special Committee on Alien Activities — the "Men In Black" — perked on hearing that call from his secretary, and then he looked over. "What is it?"
"Intergalactic transmission coming from the direction of the Slot, sir," the pretty Avalonian — "Terran-form" as she would be seen by her sisters — woman replied. "It's an Urusian Union military fleet codex. Senior Captain Invader Redet of the Union Defence Force, transmitting from his flagship, the battlewagon Kashin."
Zed blinked, and then he chuckled. "Put it to my station."
"Yes, sir."
He turned to his laptop computer and tapped controls to activate the device's links to the main communications hub. Soon enough, the intimidating image of a very large Oni-Urusian man appeared on his screen, arms crossed and a vicious scowl etched on his massive face. "Chief Zed of the Men In Black, I presume?" Invader growled.
Zed was barely able to hide a grin. "Yes, Captain Invader. I assume you're here to finally challenge us in a game of tag, the consequences of our losing being that you'll invade us and disperse the human population as slaves?"
The giant alien face-faulted, which made Zed laugh as Invader stumbled back to his feet to stare wide-eyed at the leader of the MIBs. "DID LANA CALL AHEAD?!"
Zed waved it off. "No, Captain, he didn't," he declared in his most diplomatic voice. Even if he knew Invader was a moderate when it came to the politics of his world, Zed knew that Invader had to behave to form just in case the Imperials that had a firm grip on elements of the Urusian government decided that the "tag race" approach to "invading" Earth didn't answer their own desires. "We've been predicting your people would be coming by since well before the Avalonians fled Phentax Twelve thanks to Ganzo dai-Louc and the Noukiites. In fact, after this call, I'm going to check the betting pool among the leaders of the nations of the U.N. to see who won the pot as to when you'd be calling." He then relaxed in his chair as Invader grinned. "I assume you've chosen someone to represent us in the tag race?"
A nod. "Yes, we have. Real salt-of-the-soil type kid, too. He's my daughter's age; she'll be our representative in the race. His name's Ranma Saotome." The translation device built into the main communications hub rendered the person's name in the Western "family name-last" order since English was the working language of the MIB in their headquarters complex. "Native of Nerima in Tōkyō, the capital of Japan. Son of a martial artist and great-grandson through his mother of a famous American archaeologist, practices a very eclectic version of kempō. He's been wandering around Japan and several other nations on a training trip. That's what we've got on him."
Zed nodded. "Just a moment." He tapped a control on his console. "Miss Able?"
"Yes, Chief?!" the secretary called back.
"All information on one Ranma Saotome of Japan, martial artist, age 17, native of Nerima Ward in the City of Tōkyō. Quick as you can."
"One minute, Chief!"
Invader gaped. "How much do you people know about us, anyway?!"
A laugh. "Well, we do liaise with the Imperial Central Intelligence Agency on Noukiios as well as various other intelligence groups from other powers. As you probably know, we've always taken a 'neutral' stance when it comes to interactions with non-Terrans, allowing our world to be a place where members of various races can come and live in peace. The Avalonians' arrival in our system five years ago didn't really change that despite there being over two billion of them. However, thanks to them, the Seifukusu were willing to draw back to their current frontier line and let us take possession of thirty class M planets within fifty light years both in-spin and spinward from this solar system." Zed then straightened himself. "Be assured, Captain, regardless of what happens in the tag race, we bear no ill-will towards the Urusian Union or any of its allied planet-states. We have too many problems of our own to deal with; put frankly, we can't afford to start importing problems from other planets."
Invader nodded. "I understand that. What exactly did the Avalonians do that made the Seifukusu of all people give up thirty inhabitable planets?!"
"That, Captain, is…"
A knock at the doorway to his office. "Chief Zed?"
Zed looked over. "Yes, Miss Able?"
"All information on Mr. Saotome, sir," she said as she handed a PADD to him.
Zed took it, nodding thanks to his secretary as she headed out of the room. Glancing at the information there, he hummed. "Isn't that interesting…"
"Something wrong?" Invader asked.
"Well, if we're going to be running this tag race, the Canadians will have to be involved," Zed reported. "Mister Saotome is currently married to a Terran-turned-Avalonian woman named Shinobu Miyake. She's a lieutenant-commander in the Canadian Navy, a reserve officer, currently assigned as officer commanding H.M.C.S. Fort Erie, a Sackville-class escort corvette assigned to the Canadians' Joint Task Group 31-3, based out of Hamilton in the province of Ontario, not far from Niagara Falls."
Invader's eyes brightened, though Zed was quick to detect a flash of disappointment in the alien officer's eyes. "Married a ship captain, eh?!" A nod of approval; given that the Urusians had lived under a military junta for almost two centuries, it was understandable that the senior captain would approve of anyone choosing a career in the armed services. "Good, good! Is he considering joining the military himself?"
"Unknown at this time; he's going to have to catch up on a lot of remedial schooling and there are some odd legal questions concerning his father, Genma Saotome." Zed set the PADD aside. "Look, how far are you from the Ceres orbit-line?"
Invader glanced off screen as he barked out a command in Oni. A minute later, someone responded back, and then he turned back to gaze on the image of the MIB chief on the main view screen on 'Kashin's' bridge. "We're about eight of your hours out."
"Excellent," Zed replied. "I'll pass this on first to the chief of the Canadian military. He'll pass it on through the chain of command to Commander Miyake to give her a heads-up. I've no idea where Mister Saotome is right now, so as soon as the commander is brought into this, we'll have him tracked down."
A nod. "Appreciated."
Aboard Fort Erie, an hour later…
"Ranma…"
Ranma moaned. "Sleepy…"
"Get up. I've got some tea for you."
His eyes snapped open, and then he looked up to see Shinobu standing beside his bed, a smile on her face and two cups of hot tea in her hands. "What is it?" he wondered as he moved to sit up, reaching over to take one of the cups in hand. A quick glance to the bulkhead LED clock indicated it was one o'clock in the morning, which made it three o'clock in the afternoon Japan time. "Aren't you supposed to be asleep?"
"We got flash traffic from NDHQ," she reported as she sipped her tea. "I'm going to be in a conference call with the CDS, CMS, COMCANCOM, COMCEFCOM, COND and COM JTG 31-3. We've about to make open contact with one of our neighbouring alien races and for some weird reason, Fort Erie's been named as forward contact ship!"
Ranma blinked as his mind rolled through what his wife had just said. "Wait a sec'! The big boss of the military, the Navy boss, the boss of Canada Command, the chief of Expeditionary Forces Command, your own senior boss and Natsuko-chan?! What the…?" He then blinked. "First contact?!"
A nod. "Yeah. And you're part of it, too!"
The martial artist gaped…
Later, in the corvette's secure communications room…
"Good morning, Commander. Sorry to get you up so early in the day."
"Even if we're reservists, General, we're always ready for a call-out."
Laughter from all the people on the screens in front of Shinobu and Ranma. "Wonderful, Commander," the Chief of the Maritime Staff — he was Shinobu's senior-most administrative commander in the Navy hierarchy, currently based at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa — said with an approving nod. "Before we begin with the brief, let me announce right now that Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Fort Erie — along with the support elements of 119 Starship Support Squadron of Air Command and the Lincoln and Welland Regiment of Land Forces Command — are hereby activated on Class 'C' service for an unspecified period of time given the current situation."
Shinobu nodded. As of now, Fort Erie and her crew were seen as being on active duty. "I will so note same and inform the crew of this as soon as possible, Admiral."
"Good. General?"
"Thank you, Admiral," the CDS said with a nod. "Commander, at 0220 hours this morning, the United Nations Special Committee on Alien Activities received a deep-space call from the Urusian Union concerning a potential tag race between the Union and the United Nations, this of course determining whether or not the Urusians may consider invading our planet or simply extending open diplomatic ties with our world."
"Operation Plan Black Trident, you mean?" Shinobu asked.
"That's right." The Army general then gazed on Ranma. "And it turns out, Mister Saotome, that you've been chosen to represent Earth in this tag race."
Ranma blinked. "Um…what do I have to do, sir? I won't refuse the challenge, but even if I'm married to Shinobu here, I don't know much about what's going on between Earth and other planets 'cept for the Noukiites since Tariko's -- um, Captain Moroboshi, I mean! -- brother currently lives on some planet named Okusei…"
"Relax, Ranma," the Commander of the Naval Reserve Divisions stated from her office at the Pointe-à-Carcy Naval Complex on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River in Québec City. "All you'll have to do is play a game of tag against Captain Invader's daughter, Lum. Your job is to physically tag the horns on Miss Lum's head. You'll have a ten-day period from eight o'clock in the morning to sundown — about six o'clock in the evening — to do this." The commodore then sighed. "You are aware…"
"She can fly," Ranma finished. "Yeah, Tariko told me about that, ma'am."
"You feel ready for this, Ranma?"
Ranma's eyes fell on the image of Masaki Natsuko. The raven-haired, brown-eyed woman, appearing to be in her twenties, was a Terran-form Avalonian who served as a general's aide in the Niphentaxian Marines before she was rescued along with everyone else by the Noukiites five years before. Having just graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, she had been given the brevet rank of brigadier-general in the Canadian Army and had been assigned as Commander Joint Task Group 31-3 when it was decided to allow Avalonians with time served in the Niphentaxian armed forces to become force and unit commanders in the military, especially when it concerned units that were manned by over 75% Avalonian volunteers. When it came to all the reserve units in the Canadian military, that meant pretty much ALL of them. Natsuko's rank would be considered substantiated when she had taken all the necessary courses in the Canadian Forces that would be taken by an equivalent Terran-born officer in the Army.
"Yeah, I'm ready, Natsuko-chan," he replied as he gave her a wink, which made her — she had been the senior military officer present at Ranma's and Shinobu's wedding — blush and the other flag officers laugh. "So when do I meet this girl?"
"Within the next few hours, Mister Saotome," the Commander of Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command then said. "Commander Miyake, here are your orders…"
So now…
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:19)
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.