Welland, on the front lawn of the home on Colbeck Drive (local time 7:35 PM)…
"Thanks for getting me off like that, Shinobu."
Shinobu smiled. "It's alright, David," she said after she, Tariko, Lum, Benten, Oyuki and the Texan-born psychokinetic moved towards entering the house after they had beamed down from H.M.C. Spacedock #113. While there were people who lived on the other side of the Welland River from where Shinobu and her friends resided, the Aqueduct Academy students/reserve Canadian Forces officers were fortunately screened from peeping eyes thanks to a grove of trees that effectively blocked their house (and any light that came from it) even in the early part of March, when trees were still pretty bare of any leaves. And there was a golf course on the other side of the road, hence no one could see them from there. "Even if some people would consider you a danger, you're still just fifteen and you've been raised in a situation where you — as some would see it — were effectively brainwashed to believe certain things." She turned to gently grasp his hand, which made him blush and the other girls around him smile knowingly. "Trust has to begin somewhere, David. Even if you did trust your friends, they clearly did NOT trust you to form your own opinions about how you want to live your life. And I choose to trust you, as do my friends."
David gazed at her, and then he blinked as tears formed in his eyes before he reached up to rub them clear with his free hand. "Th-thanks…"
"Hey, Shinobu!"
Shinobu turned as Ranma walked up to them, in female form and drying her hair with a towel. "Um…why?" the former asked as Benten and Oyuki both gaped in disbelief on sensing that this very sexy lady was none other than Shinobu's own husband, while David was blinking in confusion and Tariko and Lum were both grinning.
"Something a very wise elder in China advised me to do," Ranma said as she and her wife kissed, and then they rubbed heads together as Shinobu's telepathic and empathic powers probed into her transformed husband's brain. "I'm gonna be stuck with this curse until we have children, so I might as well get used to having this body around."
"How are you a girl?!"
Both turned to stare at a now-stunned David. "Magical curse I got when I was training in China a couple months ago," Ranma said. "There's this valley there called 'Jusenkyō.' Hundred or so small pools with bamboo poles sticking out from…"
"Ranma, would you please call that place by its proper name!" an annoyed voice with an English accent stated. "It's Zhòuquán-xiāng, not 'Jusenkyō.'"
Ranma gave Hermione Granger an annoyed look. "Hey, this stupid curse is annoying enough as is! I'll call it whatever I want to call it, okay?!"
The smartest witch now attending Hogwarts only huffed…
Approaching Welland from the west and a hundred kilometres up…
"I've got the lady you want."
"Get her up here, now!"
"Alright."
A control was pressed…
"Hey!" Benten said as she began to look around. "You guys hear that?!"
Lum gazed at her best friend. "Hear what, Ben-…?!"
"HEY!"
Everyone spun around to gaze on Tariko…
…and then saw the poor woman being yanked into the evening sky over Welland as something circular and about the size of a Star Flare soared overhead at the speed of a racing military jet doing a bombing run. "DARLING!" Lum screamed as Tariko was yanked away at a speed that was nearly too fast for the Terran-form Avalonian to take, and then she leapt up into the air after her, summoning her lightning to try to strike at the now rapidly-departing spaceship as it began to gain altitude. "YOU KIDNAPPERS! BRING MY WIFE BACK!" she bellowed as a bolt of energy lashed out.
It faded into nothingness well short of the goal. "Oh, my!" Oyuki gasped. "That was a space-taxi! What would one of them be doing HERE?!"
Everyone then jolted on hearing footsteps running for the house, and then spun around to see Shinobu racing for the front door. "I don't know, but I'm going to make sure that thing's going nowhere very fast!" the commander snarled as she ran inside…
Now escaping Earth's atmosphere over south-central New York…
"«Well, well, well, Ataru! Long time, no see!»"
Tariko moaned as her mind locked in on that mocking voice. Glad I did so well during the aeromedical training part of Primary…! she mused as she took in a couple deep breaths of air before her mind then clicked in on what whoever it was that had spoken to her had just called her. Turning slowly around, she tried to tense — being yanked through the air at such a fast speed didn't do her personal sense of balance any good — as she focused her eyes on four grinning Japanese boys dressed in what appeared to be standard winter-weight high school gakuran standing nearby. Also with them was a rather big and quite muscular bald man dressed in what appeared to be some sort of form-fitting wrestling uniform with a short demi-cape wrapped around his neck, looking a lot older than his companions yet probably a high school student himself.
As soon as she gazed on them, she then blinked on recognising some details. One of the boys in uniform was a lanky fellow with square-rimmed glasses, the next was short with brown hair, the third stocky with a crew-cut and the fourth tall and athletic with a wavy hairstyle. Oh, crud! It can't be…! Tariko mused before she took the risk of glancing around her, finding herself in the main passenger compartment of a space-taxi — she remembered this type of ship from the odd times when she, Ataru and Negako had been travelling between worlds in the Noukiite Outmarches, not to mention more recent trips to and from Earth after she began to reside in Canada full-time — and then she gazed at the pilot's station to see a white, blob-like being at the controls. The view ports about his central control station were now showing clear space ahead of the ship. Wonderful! How the fuck did THESE idiots get hold of this guy?! And where the hell do they want to go?! she mused before turning back…
…to see that the fellow in the wrestling suit was now standing right atop her, a cackle escaping him as he moved to reach down for her legs. Tariko blinked as her mind — sharpened not only by the thoroughness of pilot's training but also the four years she had studied her family Art under Negako's tutelage — quickly reviewed options, and then she grinned as she gave him a suggestive look. "«Hey, big boy!»" she said in her most seductive voice, remembering to speak Japanese since she didn't know if this bozo understood English. "«If you wanted a date with me, you should've just called!»"
He jolted on hearing that, and then he looked up…
…just as a pair of fingers slammed into his chest, right atop one of his ribs over his heart! He jolted at that contact, and then croaked as a thunderous pain began to flood his body from a heart that had now been ki-boosted to beat at well over six times normal resting speed. As he staggered back, Tariko then back-flipped away from him to get to her feet, fighting a sudden surge of nausea down from such sudden movements as she glared at the four high school students from Tomobiki, an amused smile then crossing her face. As their companion then collapsed to his knees and cried out in agony, the bespectacled student then pointed accusingly at her. "«What the hell did you just do to Sedoyama-kun, Ataru?!»" he thundered. "«How DARE you oppose…?!»"
At that moment, a thunderous CLANG! filled the taxi as the driver yelped in shock. Tariko winced, finding herself glad that these ships came with very good inertia dampener systems so that whatever had just locked on with a tractor beam didn't smear everyone inside against a bulkhead thanks to the sudden combat stop. As the four students from Japan gaped as they focused on the main view screen and the large fellow appeared ready to pass out as the pain from Tariko's attack overwhelmed him, Tariko herself chanced a glance out the viewports…to see the opening doors of the large hangar deck of a Tribal-class star destroyer now looming before the space-taxi. Bless you, Shinobu! she thought as a familiar ringing sound filled the air.
"ALRIGHT, YOU DAMNED KIDNAPPERS! ON THE DECK, FACE DOWN!"
The four boys from Japan cried out as a squad of VERY angry men and women dressed in naval combat dress but with Army green epaulette covers appeared to the port side of the room. Before their leader could demand a thing, he then croaked out as the VERY big muzzles of a half-dozen C-25 pulse-particle battle rifles pointed right at them. As the two other members of the team spun their weapons on the poor taxi driver, Tariko barked, "WAIT!"
The master corporal who led the boarding squad — Tariko was quick to read the CG on the unit identifier patch under his rank insignia, which meant — since Tribal-class ships were based out of either Stadacona or Naden (the Pacific Fleet's main space dock over the capital of British Columbia), he was from either the Third or the Fourth Battalion of the recently-reformed Canadian Guards — turned to her. "You okay, Captain Moroboshi?"
"I'm fine, Master Corporal," Tariko replied before she turned to smile apologetically at the driver, whom she now noted had a patch over his left eye. "«Please forgive my fellow warriors, Honoured Coach Master,»" she then said in Noukiite, which made the driver's lone eye widen in surprise. "«While I know not why is it you took me from my home as I am aware your company does most honourable work, these good warriors feared I was being taken away from my heart-mate and homeworld against my will.»"
He blinked, and then turned to glare intently at the four now-shivering boys at the back of his ship's cabin before he turned to tap controls and shut down his system, plus extend the undercarriage so the ship could properly land. "«No one will ever accuse me of such a barbaric act, good lady,»" he responded the same way.
Tariko relaxed before nodding to the two guardsmen covering the pilot with their weapons. They nodded as they turned to direct their weapons at the now-unconscious wrestler wanna-be on the deck; fortunately for him, Tariko had not pushed enough ki into his body via the Heart-Blast Touch to kill him. By then, the four students — all of whom now began to smell with expended urine as puddles began to form at their feet — all turned to stare wide-eyed at Tariko. "«A-a-Ataru, wh-what's g-g-going…?!»" the bespectacled boy then stuttered out as he moved to point at the just-arrived infantry squad.
"CORPORAL! YOUR WEAPON, PLEASE!"
The corporal who was second-in-command of the squad tossed his weapon over. Tariko snared it single-handedly and aimed at that boy's face, squeezing the trigger. A bolt of energy slammed into his face, shattering his glasses and sending him flying against the bulkhead before he sank unconsciously to the deck. The other three boys all cried out before they froze as ominous clicks! of weapons being primed echoed through the air.
Tariko then relaxed. "«My name, idiots, is Tariko! Ataru is my brother!»" she snarled in Japanese before rendering the weapon safe and handing it butt-first back to the corporal. "Master Corporal, get these five idiots into the brig right now!" she said as she glared at the squad leader. "What ship are we on, anyway?!"
"Nootka, Captain!"
A nod. H.M.C.S. Nootka was on of the two Tribal-class ships assigned to the battle group that normally worked with the aircraft carrier Bonaventure. "Got a team from FRULANT or Three Int Platoon aboard?!"
"Former, ma'am!"
"My type?!"
"At least half of them, ma'am!"
"Full interrogation procedures, then! And get someone from the Deck Department over here to clean this disgusting mess up! I need to talk to your captain!"
"ROGER THAT, MA'AM!"
A half-hour later (Welland time: 8:11 PM)…
"DARLING! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"
Tariko moaned as a sobbing Oni girl flew into her arms, burying her face as she cried out her relief that her wife hadn't been harmed. "Hey, Lum! Go easy on me, eh?! I'm walking wounded here!" She then gazed on the people who had followed Lum aboard from the shuttle that had just landed aboard Nootka from Kashin. "Sorry about this!"
"Damn, child! You survived THAT?!" Invader laughed as a grinning Narusawa Misako ran a medical scanner over Tariko. "I guess all that country living in the Outmarches when you were a child really did you some good!" He then looked grim. "What's this all about?"
"Fortunately, Captain Invader, the intelligence team I have aboard ship now is interrogating the prisoners as we speak," a voice then declared from nearby as a smiling gentleman with navy captain's rank came up, his baseball cap declaring H.M.C.S. NOOTKA SDD-96 in gold thread. "Captain Bruce Doyle, commander of Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Nootka, sir," he said, offering his hand to the large Oni. "Welcome aboard."
"A pleasure, Captain," Invader said as he gave the other captain's hand a firm shake. "How was it you were able to react so fast when that taxi took my daughter-in-law?"
A chuckle. "Sir, there are early warning sensors laid out in layers throughout this part of the solar system from the Ceres orbit line inward. They're so good, they can even detect all the times Her Highness' people use their warp chamber to send snow to Mars." As Oyuki gaped in surprise on hearing that, Captain Doyle then added, "We're the ready duty ship for the Canadian Atlantic Fleet this week, so when NORAD contacted us about the space-taxi as soon as it crossed into our airspace, we were already moving to intercept. Commander Miyake's emergency call to MARLANT Fleet Ops at Stadacona wasn't necessary." He then gazed on Shinobu, who had dressed in her naval combat dress before she and her party had been brought aboard Kashin. She also carried Tariko's NCDs in her hand. "But that was quick reflexes, Shinobu. Well done, young lady."
She blushed. "Thank you, Captain."
He then turned to gaze in amusement on a smiling Tariko, who was comforting a still-distraught Lum. "Um, Miss Lum, much that I do understand why you don't want to let your fiancée go, but she is currently out of uniform."
Lum jolted, and then she sniffed. "Sorry."
Shinobu handed Tariko her uniform, and then a helpful boatswain guided her to the nearest bathroom so she could get changed. As she went, Benten took a look around. Unlike Fort Erie, the 800-metre long Nootka had a hangar deck big enough to take in not just two Star Flares (the ship's normal support detachment), but the space-taxi and the shuttle from Kashin (and still had room!). "Pretty hot ship you got here, Skipper! You guys all part-timers like Shinobu and Tariko or are you full-timers?!"
"We're full time, Miss Shigaten," the captain replied, and then he perked on hearing footsteps walking his way. "What's the news, Lieutenant?!"
The female Avalonian air force lieutenant with the North Star insignia of the Canadian Forces Intelligence Branch — the symbol surrounded by the words FLEET RECONNAISSANCE UNIT ATLANTIC in gold thread on her baseball cap — saluted. "We just finished with the preliminary mind scans, Captain," she reported. "It appears these four boys were influenced by a Niphentaxian agent that may still be in hiding somewhere in Japan." As Lum's breath caught in her throat and Invader growled, she added, "The fifth fellow is a so-called 'torture specialist' from a school club at a high school in Nishitōkyō. Tomobiki Ward to be exact." On hearing Shinobu gasp, the lieutenant looked over, a more than sympathetic smile on her face. "I take it, Commander, you know of these fellows: Aisuru Satoshi, Daremo Hiroyuki, Shitto Kōsuke and Urayamu Akira?"
Shinobu blinked in confusion. "Who…?"
"Megane, Kakugari, Perm and Chibi! Your old classmates from Tomobiki Elementary!"
Everyone turned as Tariko came up, adjusting her baseball cap with her current ship assignment on it, her civilian clothes in her hands. "THEM?!" Shinobu screeched out, and then she growled. "I'M GOING TO SKIN THEM ALIVE!"
Everyone ducked the angry commander's outburst…
Sometime later (Welland time: 9:04 PM)…
"DO YOU FOUR FUCKIN' MORONS HAVE ANY GODDAMNED IDEA WHAT YOU ALMOST STARTED?!"
Megane jolted on hearing Tariko's thunderous shout, and then he shuddered before yelping in fright as a male corporal from the platoon of Canadian Guards that was currently assigned to Nootka threateningly raised a VERY sharp axe. Noting that, Tariko then realised he was normally part of 17 Company of that regiment, which was the combat support element of the Third Battalion (which contained a pioneer platoon atop a mortal platoon, anti-armour platoon, sniper teams and reconnaissance platoon). Fortunately for all involved, the interrogation cell they all stood in had a universal translation field built into it, so that everyone could speak their native language and be understood by all.
Gulping as he gave the corporal a wary look, Megane then turned to stare wide-eyed at Tariko. "W-we wanted to s-s-see L-l-Lum-san, Ataru!" he sputtered out…
…before screaming as a bolt of bio-electricity burned into him. "Are you deaf or are you just a pathetic tailless monkey, idiot?!" Lum, who stood beside her wife, snapped as Megane collapsed to the deck, his whole body twitching from the voltage. "HER name is TARIKO! She's a totally separate person from her brother!"
"As a matter of fact, Mrs. Moroboshi, these four little dweebs need to learn some damned respect," the corporal then said as he smiled mirthlessly at the shivering high school students from Tomobiki. "That is a CAPTAIN in the Canadian Air Force, jerks!" he said as he pointed to Tariko's rank slip-ons. "You address her as 'Captain Moroboshi' or 'Ma'am.' Call her by her given name or her brother's name, I get to carve something out of your bodies! And you address Commander Miyake the same way! UNDERSTOOD?!"
"H-H-HAI!" the four boys yelped.
"Um…excuse me."
Shinobu looked over to the fifth prisoner, who appeared to be recovering well from Tariko's near-attempt at blowing up his heart. "Yes, Sedoyama-san?!"
Sedoyama Keizō blushed before nodding thanks as a steward handed him a cup of coffee. "Well, not that I don't want to deny my being part of this, but since they don't seem to care that Moroboshi-taii IS a separate person from her brother, I'll explain this."
Megane yelped as he bolted up. "SEDOYAMA! DON'T…!"
"QUIET, RUNT!"
He screamed as the sharp end of the corporal's axe nearly made him a head shorter. "Megane, haven't you got a damned clue YET?!" the leader of the Tomobiki High School Torture Studies Club — both Shinobu and Tariko had been shocked to learn that their old hometown's main public high school had something like THAT! — then snarled as he waved around. "Look around you, fool! We're aboard a STARSHIP! And this starship belongs to CANADA! How the hell do you think they got something like this?!"
"BECAUSE A BUNCH OF MACHINES STOLE TECHNOLOGY FROM A VALIANT GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO CARED FOR AND LOVED LUM-SAN, YOU DOLT!" Megane screeched back.
Silence.
"I am ashamed of my part of this."
Eyes then turned to the taxi driver, who was seated in a chair and enjoying some spice tea. He had a regretful look on his face. Tariko smiled at him. "Honoured Coach Master, you are innocent of this affair. This 'ventora' summons these four clueless fools used to bring you to them IS a way by which those who work with your honourable organization can be summoned to conduct business," she said in a kind and diplomatic voice, which had Oyuki staring in admiration at her. "But before we discuss the proper payment for your services, may I humbly ask you this: If these four traitors to the human race…" — she ignored the outraged screams from Megane and his friends, which was instantly silenced by Lum zapping all four of them into a dazed heap on the deck — "…did succeed in getting us transported to Onishuto from Tomobiki via Welland, what would be the equivalent Earth currency to pay for such a trip?"
The driver blinked, and then he smiled. "The entirety of Earth's crude oil supplies."
More silence.
"Wh-wh-what…?" Chibi sputtered, his eyes wide.
"That's right," Lum stated before she moved to literally mould herself on Tariko's side as she gave them all a look that had no mercy for them in it. "And if I wasn't married to my beautiful wife here, I might actually have been inclined to ALLOW the good driver's company to TAKE all of Earth's oil in payment for what you TRICKED him to do! After all, I have NEVER cared one bit for what that monster Ōgi did supposedly in MY name! He has the blood of five million innocent Vosians on his hands, atop the murder of thousands of his own people and years of suffering on all MY SISTERS!" As Megane and his friends all gasped, the Oni smiled. "That's right! I'm an Avalonian, too! I became this because of how much I felt ashamed that I never did a thing to learn about a suffering race of sentient beings being held as sex-slaves by my so-called 'devout worshippers' before my own sister was created five years ago!" She shook her head. "And while I know there are fools still following Ōgi's path out there somewhere, I know they'll be tracked down and killed like the MONSTERS they are!" Her body then sparked, though she made sure Tariko wasn't touched by the arcs of bio-electricity her body was now producing. "And just like the monsters YOU are!"
"Hey, Corporal, what's going to happen to these dweebs, anyway?!" Benten asked.
"Don't know, ma'am," he replied before he glared intently at Shinobu's old elementary school classmates. "But I'll guarantee that some memory-wiping will be part of it!"
The four boys cried out, "MEMORY-WIPING?!"
Before anyone could say anything else, a knock was heard at the door, and then the door opened to reveal Nootka's captain, a small silk bag in hand. "Are we almost ready to make sure these idiots don't cause any more problems again, Commander?" he asked.
"Almost ready, sir," Shinobu stated.
He nodded as Megane and his friends all collapsed, wailing as they moaned out pleas for mercy. Sedoyama remained quite calm as he sipped his tea. Tariko then smiled as Captain Doyle handed her the bag. She then walked over to present the bag to the driver with both hands and a bow. "For your troubles, Honoured Coach Master."
He took the bag and opened it to look inside. One look made his jaw drop. "Lady Captain Moroboshi! Even just a fraction of one of these…?!"
Tariko gazed at him. "We have two requests, sir."
He paused, and then nodded in understanding. "Name them."
"Number One: NEVER respond to call from Earth for the next five years."
A nod. "Agreed."
"And Number Two: Whichever of my wife's idiot 'worshippers' that tricked these four fools into moving to 'protect' Lum's innocence from me MIGHT have come to my planet using one of your co-worker's ships when we were still yet not really capable of looking out for ourselves. I KNOW how good you and your co-workers are, sir!" As the driver seemed to grow tall with pride at her compliment, she added, "So before you leave, could you contact your dispatcher on Kimpalsei to go over your dispatch records for the last five years and give us information about all trips made to Earth?"
He nodded. "Lady Captain, I am sure my leader will be more than pleased to help you find these monsters that seek once more to enslave your kind!"
Tariko smiled as we now…
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(Posted Fri, 21 Jan 2011 03:32)
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