"This is real Noukiite spice tea?" Invader asked.
"It is," Shinobu replied as everyone relaxed in Fort Erie's wardroom. The Urusian delegation — joined by Benten and Oyuki — were now relaxing and enjoying tea and snacks (chosen to better satiate the Oni love of spices) prepared by the corvette's staff of stewards as they held their first meeting with the senior Canadian officers and Lum's future tag race opponent. "Tariko — whose brother, I understand, your daughter and her friends know — gets it imported from Tengsei every month; she can't stand a day without a cup of the stuff. While I'm not as addicted to it…"
"It does do a lot to clear the sinuses," Natsuko finished for Fort Erie's captain before sipping her own cup of tea.
"How soon will the interrogation of that creep be done?" Benten asked.
"It should be soon," Nagashima Sachiko replied. The Army captain was both commander of 10th Intelligence Platoon (the intelligence team assigned to support the commander of the 10th Canadian Brigade Group) and G2 Intelligence Operations at the brigade headquarters in Hamilton. She commanded a staff of thirty personnel — save for one, all Avalonians — who supported all elements of JTG 31-3 in their varied missions. "Both my daughter and I had very ugly experiences with our former 'masters,' so Kumiko won't stop at anything to learn what happened to your missing crewman, Captain."
Invader nodded his thanks while Lum, Benten and Oyuki bowed their eyes in sympathy to what their sister Avalonians had gone through. After a moment of silence, the large captain then smiled as he focused on Ranma, moving to bring a sense of joviality to this meeting. "So, son, you feel ready to do this with my daughter?"
Ranma nodded, a flash of his usual cockiness appearing in his eyes. "She should be a challenging opponent. Of course, there's no way in hell that I'll let her win."
A laugh. "That's the spirit, son!" Invader said as he slapped Ranma's shoulder, which barely budged the smaller man. Inwardly impressed by his show of strength, the large Oni then sighed. "Personally, as I'm sure you ladies can all sense, I don't want to do this. But I, like you, must obey my superior officers when it comes to my missions."
"Unless the orders are so outrageous, an act of barratry is warranted," Natsuko noted.
Lum blinked. "'Barratry,' General?"
"When officers on a military warship — either individually or as a group — commit acts of gross misconduct, up to and including what could be seen by superior authorities as treason," the general replied. "Such as the case of the Soviet missile submarine Red October when most of her officers elected to defect en masse to the United States in the mid-1980s. Or when officers of the Niphentaxian armed forces — despite their knowing that if the authorities caught them, they would face execution as heretics — pitched in to assist the authorities of Noukiios in preparation for the attack on Phentax Twelve that finally freed us all. They, of course, were instrumental in the final overthrow of the so-called 'Church of Lum' so that their society could return to what they were like before they discovered the bioroid factory's existence a century ago." She focused on Invader. "We realise that the destruction of Phentax Twelve and Ōgi's overthrow made the leaders of all the other Federation worlds dig their heads in the sand in fears of a possible Iprædies or Seifukusu attack to take advantage of such a display of 'weakness,' so I personally will admit it truly is about time that all of you got back into space again. And I will state that despite what your government is playing this 'invasion' as, I personally hope that relations between the Union and the United Nations will remain peaceful and beneficial, Captain."
Invader chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you realise that, ma'am." He then stared in amusement at his daughter. "And while I only just now realised what my daughter and her friends did in the wake of their sisters' creation five years ago, I hope that there is no hard feelings by your people towards ours because we didn't realise what that twerp Ōgi and his people were doing to yours." A smirk. "We recognise Shogai Dakejinzō as a sentient being. And she's less organic than any of you. If we didn't do that to you people, we would be hypocrites in the eyes of everyone else."
A knock. "Excuse me, Captain," John Landry called out.
"What is it, John?" Shinobu asked as everyone looked at the master seaman.
"Sergeant Tsuzuki's here to give her report."
"Send her in, Master Seaman," Natsuko ordered.
"Aye-aye, General."
An air force sergeant then walked inside, currently dressed in the temperate woodland-pattern CADPAT uniform worn by personnel in the field (as Sachiko was wearing now). She had a PADD in hand. "General, Commander, Captains," Tsuzuki Kozue stated as she straightened herself. "I have the initial report of the prisoner's interrogation."
"Where's Kumiko, Kozue-chan?" Sachiko asked.
"She's recovering right now in Sick Bay, Oba-chan. Misako-obachan's keeping an eye on her," Kozue stated.
"Was it bad?" Oyuki asked.
"Yes," Kozue said before she handed the PADD over to Natsuko.
The general scanned the information there, and then she chuckled. "Well, well, well, Captain. Seems we can give you some proof towards some of the senior officers in your government committing acts of barratry if not outright treason." She tapped a control, and then handed the device to Invader. "A pretty can of worms, I think."
Invader scanned what was there, and then his eyes flashed with anger. "Those sons of bitches…!" he hissed out before jolting, and then he blushed. "Sorry!"
"We've heard worse, sir," Shinobu noted.
"What about Ayamari, Dad?" Lum asked.
A sigh. "He's dead. Had to be killed by this bastard so he could take his place onboard ship," Invader said as he placed the PADD down, and then he took up the tea to sip it so he could calm himself. "His plan was to disable your ship, Commander, so that his friends could come along and take you all back into slavery. Of course, those Terrans that were aboard this ship at the time would be handed over to the Niphentaxians — not to mince words, the authorities of the Church of Lum — to be tried as 'thieves' since under Church doctrine, Avalonians are seen as property and not as sentient beings in their own right. And theft on that world…"
"Is punished using something akin to what Muslims are told to do to thieves in the al-Qur'ān," Sachiko finished. "But a lot more fatal in the long term."
"Bastards," Ranma hissed out.
"Don't worry, son," Invader assured him. "With the strength you people have now -- and what you'll SOON have given what we know of the construction projects the nations of Earth are allowing the general's friends to finish up over the next decade or so -- what remains of the Niphentaxian Navy…" — he grinned — "…IF Ōgi's bastards seize control of it again, that is!" As everyone laughed, the large Oni relaxed. "They wouldn't stand a chance. It'd be a space version of the Marianas Turkey Shoot. Too many of the Navy's technical and artisan staff were Avalonians when the Noukiites hit Phentax Twelve. It takes YEARS — unless you have the advantage of telepathic teaching — to rebuild that sort of knowledge base. And by then, all your colonies will be settled and the United Nations and Planets of Earth and New Avalon will be a power to be reckoned with. Sure, there are probably pirates and terrorists out there that'll nip and bite at you when you don't expect it. But you're developing very good defensive skills. And even more so, you've got the MOTIVATION to hunt them down and keep them down. You'll win it if you don't make any really stupid blunders. And the motivation factor will help protect you. Use it and don't lose it."
"Um, Shinobu…?"
Shinobu perked. "What is it, Lum?"
"Could I see the prisoner for a moment?" Lum asked.
Everyone perked. "Why?" Oyuki asked.
The younger Oni smiled. "Because I can do one thing to make sure he doesn't cause any problems before you put him in your brig planet-side."
Everyone blinked…
Later…
"That, I have to admit, was class!"
Lum giggled as she allowed Saitō Mako to finish with the portable regeneration pad over the cut she had made in her hand to reveal the gold-flecked blood that flowed through all Avalonians regardless of physical race ancestry. "Well, seeing how much the 'arch-heretic' had corrupted his so-called 'goddess' would be enough to destroy even Ōgi's 'faith,' Sergeant," she mused as she nodded her thanks to Fort Erie's on-board physician's assistant, one of three medical personnel (the other being the ship's medical officer, navy lieutenant Narusawa Misako; and the junior medical technician, a Terran-born air force corporal named Jim Woodson) assigned aboard ship.
Sergeant Minamikawa Yōko, the senior military policeman from 10th Military Police Company who had come aboard Fort Erie for this trip, laughed as she winked at the Oni; she had just closed and locked down the hatchway into the ship's brig, where a now-insensate Niphentaxian man — cleaned up and stripped of his Urusian uniform by Yôko and her co-workers before he had been psionically probed by Nagashima Sachiko's daughter Kumiko (a petty officer 2nd class intelligence operator assigned now to 10th Intelligence Platoon) to reveal what he knew — was lying semi-conscious on the lone bunk there. "It sure did. I doubt the folks in Edmonton will have problems with him when we transfer him to the CFNIS; I sent a message to Star to get them down from Borden to pick this mutt up when we get back to base." She then tugged the flap of her red beret; Yōko normally wore Air Force blue as witness the blue epaulette slip-ons on the shoulders of her black operational patrol uniform and the Air Force eagle beside her family name on her shirt.
"I hope the people at your brig won't be bothered too much by him," Lum noted.
Yōko and Mako both laughed as the sergeant headed off to the ship's chiefs and petty officer's mess to get some coffee. Watching her go, Mako could only shake her head as she finished with the sealing up of Lum's skin. "Okay, just take it easy and no heavy lifting in the hand for the next twenty-four hours, alright?" the army warrant officer said as she put the portable pad back in her first-aid carryall.
"Thank you," Lum said, and then she sighed as she closed her eyes.
Mako tensed; she was quick to sense the sudden surge of nervousness in the Oni's body. "Is there something wrong?" the physician's assistant asked.
A sigh. "Um…I don't want to impose…"
Mako chuckled. "Sister, there is never an imposition when it comes to the heart," she gently stated, which made Lum's cheeks brighten as she stared at the taller woman. "You seek a bond-mate at this time. And that bond-mate's aboard this ship, right?"
Lum's jaw dropped in shock, and then she sighed. "Tcha…" she breathed out in her native language before she gazed once more at Mako, the nervousness fading as hope began to surge deep within her. "Where's Tariko-san's quarters?"
Mako's eyebrow arched…
"Okay, Tariko-san. Ten more…"
"Easy for you…to say, Narumi-chan!" Tariko spat out as she moved to finish off the repititions; she was currently bench-pressing 650 kilograms on one of the exercise machines in Fort Erie's gymnasium, a very nice space aft of the junior ranks mess. The corvette — as was the case of ALL starships in the Canadian Navy — always had a fully-equipped gym as well as an Olympic-sized long course swimming pool (sighted aft of the gym) and an oval running track around it (which could double up as emergency quarters for infantry troops if required). The whole domain was under the charge of Petty Officer 2nd Class Shinohara Izumi, the chief PERI who also doubled as the ship's regulating petty officer, the lady in charge of administrating the watch system aboard the corvette as well as defaulters (those people being punished for minor infractions of the Code of Service Discipline); she was currently helping Tendō Akane and Saotome Kanami with some bokken drills (she was a third-dan black belt in kendō and a first-dan in iaidō).
As the captain continued to pump the weights, she hadn't taken notice of someone watching her from Izumi's private office at one side of the gym. "Why do they always lift weights all the time?" Lum asked. "I thought piloting was quite easy in zero-G."
"We want our pilots to be as sharp as tacks regardless of the fact that they have inertia dampeners and artificial gravity on the Star Flares and Starfires," Mako explained; she didn't want to take the Oni into the gym while Tariko was busy doing her early morning workout. "What happens if either system fails? Our bodies can take much more abuse than normal Terrans, but accidents can happen, even if the pilot suits have all sorts of redundant lifesaving equipment built into it. Besides, she also wants to qualify as a fighter pilot on the new Arrow IIs, so she'll have to learn how to fly normal planes at Moose Jaw before she goes to Cold Lake and trains with 410 Squadron."
Lum hummed. "I had one pilot interested in me before I met Darling and he told me about Tariko-san. If it happens to us, I'll marry another pilot."
Mako smiled. "I hope it happens…ah! She's done."
Lum watched as Tariko finished with the weights, and then sat up, accepting the offered towel from Narumi as she dried herself off before she moved to complete several dozen push-ups to keep her arm and shoulder muscles loose. Once that was done, the captain nodded thanks to her co-pilot before turning to walk to the doorway so she could head back to her cabin to shower down and relax. As she reached the doorway to Izumi's private office, Tariko then tensed before she gazed inside, her jaw dropping on seeing a heavenly vision dressed in her normal tiger-striped halter-top jumpsuit (Lum had stopped wearing her two-piece bikini about a year before), the blush on the other girl's face just as hot as what was now crossing Tariko's. "Lum…"
"Tariko…" Lum gently breathed out.
Silence.
"Um, hi…"
"Hi…"
More silence.
"Um, want some tea…?"
"Um, s-sure…"
And with that, they both walked out of the gym hand-in-hand. Mako watched them go, a delighted smile on her face before she turned as Izumi came up, followed by Akane and Kanami; the chief PERI/RPO was in her normal gold-trimmed black track pants and white T-shit with the "man in motion" insignia on her chest and her rank bordered in Navy black on her arms while the visitors from Tōkyō were in normal white T-shirts and black track pants. "Now that is definitely the time of the month for them!" Izumi noted with a click of her tongue as she winked knowingly at Mako.
"I'll say," Mako mused as she headed out for her own office while we…
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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