"HOLD YOUR FIRE!!!!" Ataru barked.
Weapons went silent as the explosion's echo shook the walls of the chamber, it accompanied with the sounds of several Cylons being crushed by falling masonry. Emerging from that sea of flame is a lone figure in red-and-black, his trademark pigtail announcing who he was to those who knew of a certain manga or anime series. "It's Saotome-san!!!" Sakaki announced.
"Terminate the intruders," the voice of a very foolish Cylon declared.
Ranma spun on the armoured android, his fists launching into an Amaguriken. Said Cylon was instantly squashed by the hurricane of blows, the air pressure from that attack also ripping apart two other Cylons behind him. As the martial artist waylaid into the surviving android warriors, a small group of Cylons emerged from a hallway behind Ranma, their weapons levelling on target. "Oh, HELL!!!" Ataru snapped.
A woman's voice then called out, "Anigimi-sama, cover me!!"
"Go, Haruka!!!"
Leaping out from behind a wrecked storage chamber, a lithe form wearing a pink-and-black hakama lunged at the oncoming Cylons. Before the androids could notice who was charging them, thus move to defend themselves, Haruka's naginata and gunsen lashed out. In a flurry of deep slashes with both her weapons, Ataru's German-raised, traditionally-minded sister instantly ripped the hapless Cylons into shreds. By then, Ranma had used his Mouko Takaibisha attack to destroy the rest of this particular force. Backing away from the dead androids, he jolted on bumping into someone's back. They spun around on each other, then relaxed. "Sorry about that," Ranma apologized.
Gazing on his handsome features, which in their own way were as rugged and as noble as her own brother looked now, Haruka's cheeks started to flame. "It's quite alright, Saotome-sama!" she conceded, then drew her gunsen to hide her face from his gaze. "P-poh..."
By then, the mixed force composing Ataru and several of his sisters, fighters from several separate universes and crewmembers from the starship Voyager have come up to join them. "By the looks of it, Moroboshi-san, your sister has taken a fancy to Saotome-san," Ijuuin Rei commented as she notched a new arrow into her compound bow.
"Ijuuin-san, if any woman is not attracted to Saotome-san on first sight, she is most likely a lesbian," Ayasaki Wakana mused.
"Well, in cases like that, Wakana-san, all we have to do is expose Saotome-san to some cold water," Nanase Yuu added.
Laughter escaped many of the people around a now madly-blushing Ranma. "Now, now, everyone, that's enough!" Haruka scolded them all. "Heaven only know, Saotome-sama has enough women problems to deal with back in his home universe! There's no need to add to it!!"
More laughter responded. "I suggest we proceed immediately to continue to free the other hostages," Tuvok then proposed. "The more we delay, the greater the chances the Cylons will gain in accessing more dimensions to carry out their crusade."
"We should break up into smaller groups, then," Ataru acknowledged that with a nod, then stared at Kathryn Janeway. "If we do that, I'd want one of your crew with communicator in each group. I don't have spare communicators with me to pass onto my sisters."
"Good idea," the Voyager's commander agreed with a nod.
"Chikage-san?"
Chikage turned to gaze on Kurusugawa Serika. "Yes, Serika-san?"
"Perhaps we should team together to rescue your brother's counterpart?" the elder Kurusugawa sister proposed.
"What did she say?" Tom Paris wondered, gazing on B'Elanna Torres.
"I interpreted Miss Kurusugawa's words quite well," Tuvok noted.
"Let's go," Chikage announced.
With a wave of Chikage's white, cross-embossed cape, she and Serika vanish. "WHOA!!!" escaped many in the crowd.
Sakuya gazed on Serika's younger sister Ayaka. "Your sister must be a handful at times."
"Onee-san grows on you," Ayaka acknowledged that comment with a smirk...
"They're breaking up into smaller forces."
"I can see that," Miroku acknowledged Largo's observation with a nod. "Saotome, the other Moroboshi and Janeway are staying together."
"Can you track the two witches?" the boomer "god" wondered.
"Trying now," the humanoid Cylon announced, tapping controls. "I believe it is time that we dealt with this other version of Moroboshi in a more terminal fashion. Do you agree?"
"That should have been done sometime ago," Largo mused, then blinked on seeing which chambers Miroku was now accessing. "Oh, my..."
"Given his counterpart's interest in the 33-S's, it seems logical that Moroboshi would also hold some interest in them."
Both gazed on each other, then grinned. "Agreed," Largo said. "I suggest you summon your friends in orbit to deal with those starships."
"Done," Miroku confirmed...
"Greetings, Sylvie-san, Anri-san."
Sylvie and Anri screamed out on hearing that voice, then spun around as two caped women emerged from shadow. Recognizing the one with the lovely dark purple hair in the high bun on the back on her head, both Sexaroids relaxed. "Chikage-sama, you scared us!" Anri protested.
"We apologize for frightening you, but time is now of the essence," Serika apologized, she giving the green-haired Genom-built cyberdroid a friendly smile. "I must confess, I never believed I would ever meet either of you. I did see both of the OVAs that depicted your adventures with the Knight Sabres when I was a child." She stared on Sylvie. "I must confess that I cried when I witnessed what happened to you because of the battlemover you were forced to use to keep Anri-san whole and healthy, Sylvie-san."
"I...!" Sylvie's voice stuttered to a halt on heading that, then she bowed respectfully to the raven-haired sorceress. "I wish I could reciprocate what you just said to me, Serika-sama. And I thank you for your compliment." She straightened herself. "So..."
"We need to know where Ani-kun's other-self -- the one you're loyal to -- is right now," Chikage stated.
"In the main control room at the apex of the base," Anri reported. "But he's not alone there. Miroku is normally with him."
"Cylon?"
"Hai. Humanoid Cylon to be specific," Anri answered, then she sighed. "There's something else you need to know..."
"Largo is here as well?"
Everyone looked at Serika, then Sylvie nodded. "Hai."
"Makes for an interesting game," Chikage mused, a wry smile crossing her face...
"So why is it that you all address your brother with different versions of 'big brother?'"
"It's to make sure Onii-chan knows who's talking to him, Janeway-taisa," Karen replied as she walked alongside Kathryn Janeway down a corridor. The amateur pianist, fifth oldest of Ataru's sisters (after Sakuya, Chikage, Marie and Haruka), was serving as both the first aid kit carrier for Ataru's group, plus also carried several spare magazines for those using Range Hunters on this trip.
"'S funny that you'd do that given what Ataru-kun's memory skill when it comes to women is like," Tatebayashi Miharu, walking ahead of Karen and Kathryn -- and staying close to Ataru, as was Nagaoka Shiho and Nanase Yuu -- mused.
"Well, Onii-chan's beyond that sort of thing these days," Karen confessed. "Still..."
Sharp explosions echoed from a side corridor ahead of Ranma and Haruka (they were on point). Ataru held up a fist to make everyone stop and go to one knee as the two martial artists went to see what was going on. Turning the corner to look, Ranma spat out, "Shit!!"
He raced off down that hallway, Haruka right behind him. Ataru raced off after his sister, followed by Karen. "Onii-chan, wait!!"
In orbit...
"Commander, I'm detecting a very large starship coming towards us from the direction of the planet's north pole," a technician reported, looking up from the operations console. "It doesn't appear to be shielded in any way, but it's arming weapons."
"On screen," Chakotay ordered.
The viewscreen wavered, then solidified, displaying an image of an X-shaped starcraft which seemed to radiate menace from every point on its surface. "Damn," Chakotay whispered. "Internal scan? Any lifeforms aboard?"
"Scanning now, sir," the technician replied as he tapped controls, then he blinked. "Signal from the Windrider."
"Audio," the first officer ordered.
"Chakotay-chuusa?" a young woman's voice called out over the speakers.
"Yes, Marie. What's wrong?"
"I just got told by Rinrin-chan," Marie announced. As she was now the eldest of the sisters currently aboard her Aniue-sama's starship, she now relaxed in the central chair on the Windrider. "That's a Cylon basestar coming our way now!"
"Sir, the approaching ship is now launching fighter craft!" the technician announced.
"Red alert!!" Chakotay barked.
The klaxons sounded off as the first of the deadly fighters lept off the oncoming basestar's hangar decks. "Sir, sensors indicate a massive amount of neutrino particles emerging from a spacial rift off our starboard quarter!" the technician manning Tuvok's station then announced before he added. "Sir, there's a ship coming through!! It's roughly the same size as the Cylon craft!!"
"On screen!"
The viewscreen wavered again, this time showing an explosion of energy similar to the wormhole in the Bajoran system near Starbase Deep Space Nine. Emerging from that was a starship almost a kilometre and a half long, it shaped like some metal crocodile with a huge engine assembly aft in lieu of a tail and twin landing bays mated to the legs. Watching this from her position on the Windrider's bridge, Marie could only scream out with delight, especially on seeing the name printed on the landing bay hulls.
"It's the Galactica!!!"
"The cavalry just arrived," Chikage mused as she, Serika, Sylvie and Anri watched the Galactica's arrival via her crystal ball.
"This will most likely agitate the Cylons to an extreme, Chikage-san," Serika warned.
"True. If it goes on far enough, we'll be able to take great advantage of...!"
The others perked on noting that Chikage's voice had stopped dead still, then they turned to see a shocked look cross her face. "Chikage-sama, are you alright?!" Anri wondered, reaching over to nudge the sorceress' shoulder.
"Ani-kun..."
"Ran-chan!!"
"Ranma-sama!!"
"Airen!!"
Ranma awked as three of his would-be fiancees lunged at him, ready to give them their own "special" greeting in thanks to his taking out yet another platoon of Cylon warriors thanks to a well-applied Mouko Takaibisha. Before he could wind up smashed into the ground thanks to Ukyou, Shampoo and Kodachi, a hand snared his, then yanked him clear. Ranma quickly recovered, finding himself beside Haruka as his fiancees landed most ungracefully where he had just stood. "I don't think Ranma-sama needs to experience that in the wake of what he's been through," Haruka announced as she drew her hand back from his, a shy smile crossing her face.
Ranma blinked several times, surprised that a woman had just pulled him away from his fiancees' show of "affection" without demanding anything of him in return, then he flustered. "Um, th-thanks, Haruka-san."
"You're welcome..."
"RANMA!!!!"
He winced on hearing Akane's shout, then turned to try to defend himself when he noticed the all-too familiar sight of a mallet rocketing at his head. Before it could come close to him, his fist rocketed up to slam into it, knocking it clear of Akane's hand. The youngest Tendou stumbled as the loss of weight in her arms made her balance go haywire, then she staggered back up, the anger in her face replaced by stunned shock. Watching this from nearby, Ataru whistled. "Well, well, well! I guess getting your neurons fixed up definitely did you a lot of good, Ranma-san," he mused, gazing out of the corner of his eye to ensure Haruka wasn't attacked by Ranma's other fiancees.
Silence.
Ukyou: "Ran-chan...!"
Kodachi: "Ranma-sama just...!"
Shampoo: "Airen just stopped Violent Girl from hurting him?"
Akane blinked, her mind nearly crashing as what just happened rolled through her mind again and again at warp speed. Staring at Haruka, who now looked at her with barely-veiled disgust, she then spun on Ranma's other fiancees, who were now just as speechless as she was. Turning back to Ranma, she felt her heart nearly stop on seeing the neutral look on his face, then she...
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(Posted Thu, 19 Feb 2004 06:12)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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