Part 1.  An isolated stretch of space.
	For all intents and purposes, space is mainly empty.  Except for a few clouds of gas and maybe a hunk of rock here and there, there is normally nothing but pinpricks of light.  That's why the disabled ship hanging motionless against the endless backdrop of space stuck out like to sore thumb to the crew of the Abaremono Buta, well, all except one of them.
	"Where?"
	"Commander, its right head of us, around 300 thousand kilometers," replied the slightly frustrated navigator.
	"Well then, we better check it out.  There might even be some salvage opportunities.  Lt. Tsubasa, lay in a course for 212 mark 4."
	"Commander, that will take us away from it!," the apparently lamp shaped Tsubasa replied.
	"Oh, well, just take us to it, then."
	"Aye, Commander Hibiki."
	The Rebel man-of-war lumbered slowly up next to the wreckage.  This wasn't a normal wreck.  The plating of an entire side of the ship had been ripped of.  All the defense weaponry had been blasted with single shots.  That could mean only one thing, the Empire had just made another victim.
	"Any signs of life on that ship?" inquired Commander Ryouga Hibiki as he stood up from his chair on the bridge and strode forwards towards the view screen to get a better look.
	"Yes, Ryouga-sama, er, Commander Hibiki.  There are two, one male and one female. . . wait, make that two females, sir."
	A slightly embarrassed Hibiki managed to eep out "thank you, ensign Akari" somehow.  In order to save some dignity, he wheeled quickly and pressed the intercom button.  "We better attempt a rescue.  Major, prepare a squadron for a boarding."
	As Hibiki sat down, a crisp "Yes, sir!" responded over the intercom, followed by the sounds of kitchen ware being shuffled around.  Dinner would be late today, but that's the price you pay when your cook is also the head of your ground forces.  At least they might find something good on that ship.
Part 2.  Inside the pile of junk.
	The young man with the black ponytail struggled with the door.  From the amount of swearing and cursing that he was doing, apparently it was shut rather tightly.
	"Damn, I can't believe they locked me in here with you!  There's now way I'm going to be able to break through 100 kps hull!  It's bad enough to be stuck on the same ship with you, but the same room is just too much.  And of course, you have the cooking utensils, so I'll be dead from your food before we can be. . . ."
	At that very moment, the young girl who had been taking the abuse rather nicely decided that she had taken enough of it.  The can of some nameless meat hit the guy square in the back of the head.  "You think _I_ like this any better?" cried the feisty young lass.  "If you'd ever stop looking for that stinking water and just accept who you are we could be nice and comfortable at home right now, Ranma."
	The man looked down, perhaps a little ashamed of himself.  "Hey, you think I like getting stuck as a chick whenever the hot water goes out while I'm taking a shower?  You should know that I don't have any clothes that fit me then, and I sure can't borrow yours, I might as well just wear a tent for the way they fit. .  . ."
	Depending on your point of view, it was fortunate that the young lady was out of canned meat.  However, when she tossed the only available item, a glass of ice water, something very strange happened.  The he became a she, a rather nice looking redheaded she.
	"Akane, what did you do that for!" exclaimed the now female Ranma.  "Do you realize how long I'm going to be stuck like this for?"
	"Just deal with it Ranma, okay, just sit back and deal with . . . "
	A loud crash echoed throughout the ship.  Ranma and Akane both turned to the door, Ranma picking up a long metal tube and crouching besides the door.  "I think they're back.  Get ready, Akane."
	At that very moment, a giant spatula came crashing through the door, knocking it open.  A dark haired vision to behold stepped through the door, dressed in combat fatigues except for a nice white bow in her hair.
	Ranma stepped forward to swing the bar at the intruder with all his/her might, and then stopped, dumbfounded.  "Ucchan?"
	Major Ukyou stepped dropped to the floor as soon as she saw the threat to her left out of the corner of her eye.  She had almost let the small spatula she was holding fly at the opponent before she froze.  "Ranma?  Akane?"
	Almost shyly, Ranma quietly said, "Hiya Ukyou, what are you doing out here in space . . .?"
	Ukyou closed her eyes, then flipped the spatula, pinning Ranma to the wall.  "Oh, the Commander is going to love this."  Ukyou flipped on her intercom with a giant smirk on her face.  "Commander Hibiki, we found the peo. . . ."
	Ranma stopped struggling with the spatula and exclaimed, "Hibiki!!!  You can't mean Ryouga!!  What the hell is he doing out here!!"
	From over the intercom, a choppy voice spoke.  "What, Saotome!!  Damn you Ranma!!  I'll get you back now!!  First you ran off an eloped with Akane before I could even say good bye to her and now you've abandoned her and are gallivanting around the galaxy.  You're gonna wish that the empire had killed you when. . ."
	"Uh, sir, Akane is with him, er, her.  She's right over there."
	Akane quickly chuckled out, "Oh, hi Ryouga, how have you been?"
	There was a slight pause.  "Oh, Akane, its nice to hear you.  Um, Major Ukyou, why don't you bring them over here where we can talk.  Oh, and bind up Saotome good and tight."
	"With pleasure, over and out," replied Ukyou over the intercom as she walked over to Ranma.
	"Oh, come on Ucchan, you're not really going to do that?"
	"Sorry Ranma, orders are orders.  Besides, " she said and she fastened the binders rather firmly, "I don't mind this order.  I would have done it anyway.  Come on Akane, you can come freely."
	In a few minutes they were all on the bridge of the Abaremono Buta.  Commander Hibiki was sitting rather smugly in his chair.  He invited Akane to a nice chair next to him and proceeded to talk.
	"Well, Saotome, we finally meet again.  That was really rotten what you did.  Running off with Akane like that in the middle of the night like that, leaving us to deal with Soun.  For five years I've been waiting for this.  A lot has happened since you ran off, a lot has happened."
	"Uh, Ryouga, it wasn't like that," Akane said quickly meekly.  "We just decided to elope.  I mean, we should have told you but everyone would have tried to stop us."
	Ryouga turned and put his hands on Akane's shoulders.  "I don't blame you at all Akane, I know how persuasive he can be.  But you don't realize what your actions did."
	Commander Hibiki leaned back.  "The day after you left, the Empire came.  Just a few of us managed to get out.  I still don't know what became of Soun or Gemna.  They were probably in no shape to fight; how could you expect anyone to fight after their kids had just run off?  The dojo was razed when we got back there, so those of us left and joined the rebellion.
	"I managed to become the Commander of this ship, Akari and Tsubasa are part of my bridge crew, Ukyou heads the ground forces, and Mousse is part of the fighter wing we have here."
	Ranma sadly looked down.  "If Mousse left without Shampoo, it must have been really bad.  I mean we knew the Empire had come, but we didn't have time to worry about you.  Akane and I just tried to make it on our own."
	There was silence on the bridge at the mention of Shampoo's name.  Finally, Ukyou spoke up.  "Shampoo got out with us.  She was our chief cook.  But, around a year ago, when the ship needed repairs Commander Hibiki decided to sell her off into slavery to get some money.  Mousse still hasn't figured it out yet.  Half the time he thinks I'm Shampoo, half the time he thinks my husband is.  Ever since then we've had nothing but okonomiyaki to eat. . . ."
	"HUSBAND!!!" Akane and Ranma both shouted at the exact same time.
	Ukyou held up her hand showing the ring on her finger, smiling.  "I'm now Ukyou Antilles.  You'll probably get to meet my husband in a little bit.  He's a really great guy.  But what I want to know is what you two were doing in that pile of junk out there."
	Akane's eyes narrowed as she looked at Ranma.  "We never did get married, the Empire came too quickly for that to happen.  But we were able to get away and set up a nice little home."  Akane jerked a finger over at Ranma.  "He heard that there was some scientist who knew the chemical formula for Nannichuan so we've been searching for her for the past two years.  We were almost to her planet when the empire attacked our ship."
	Hibiki leaned forward.  "Yes, we thought that it was the Empire.  But why would they leave survivors?  That doesn't sound like the Empire. . ."
Part 3.  Elsewhere. . . .
	Inside the mammoth Imperial Star Destroyer, there was a flurry of activity.  Having just successfully executed a hit and run attack on a ship will cause that activity.  But the Captain was just waiting.  He didn't have to wait long.
	On the bridge, a Giant Panda held up a sign that read, "Sir, I've picked up and second ship on the long range scanners, Rebel S-class."
	The attractive young communications officer piped in quickly, "Sir, shall I open a channel between us and them.  I'm sure that they'd be great friends with us. . . ."
	The number two of the Kinu Zubonsh cut the girl off rather quickly with a tear in his eye.  "Sir, what are your orders?"
	The wizened Captain of the ship pressed a button on his console.  "Commander Kuno, launch your Tie Squadrons. . . ."  He then leaned back.  "Keep the Zubonsh here, we'll give this kill to our fighters."  His trap had worked exactly as he had planned.  Plus, he had gotten some interesting data tapes off that ship about the location of a certain scientist, not to mention the unmentionables he had raided.
	The view screen showed three squadrons of TIE's exiting the hanger.  It would just be a matter of time now.
Part 4.  The Abaremono Buta
	Commander Hibiki leaned forward thoughtfully.  "You did say Nannichuan, didn't you?  Maybe the Empire was after that.  I've heard of that formula.  It was supposed to be to a special Nannichuan, one of a rather good fighter.  This breed of Nannichua could turn any female they find into a fighting machine.  We had better stop them before. . . . "
	He was cut short by the ringing of alarm klaxons sounding throughout the ship.  Ensign Akari quickly shouted, "Ryouga-sama!!  I've picked up around 18 TIE fighters coming in at high speeds!"
	Hibiki slammed his fist onto the arm of his chair.  "Damn, a trap!  I should have known.  Commander Antilles, scramble Rogue Squadron and engage!"
	Inside the hangar Wedge Antilles, the only pilot to live through both Death Star battles, the leader of Rogue Squadron, the husband of Ukyou sprang to his feet.  "You heard Hibiki, let's go!" Wedge bellowed as he sprinted off to his X-Wing.
	"Damn, where'd my ship go?"
	Wedge took a brief detour over to Mousse's side, who was standing feeling the hangar wall.  "Mousse, it's over here," Wedge said as he lead Rogue 3 to his ship.
	As he climbed in to the cockpit, Mousse politely said, "Oh, thank you Shampoo."
	Within 30 seconds, six objects streaked out of the Buta's hangar.  Wedge looked down at his scanners.  "Three to one," he thought, "this will almost be a fair fight."
	All the people on the bridge watched nervously as the green rebel blips moved ever closer to the red, Imperial blips.  None watched more nervously than Ukyou, though. . . .  Then, a voice boomed over the intercom.  "Rebel scum, I accept your offer of surrender.  Have your fighters return to their hangars and power down."
	Six heads turned towards the intercom at the same time, all thinking, "Nah, it couldn't be."  Commander Hibiki slammed down the transmit button and shouted, "Don't count on it!!"
	"Very well, prepare to taste the wrath of the Blue Thunder of the Imperial Navy!!"
	At that moment six of the TIEs dove toward Rogue squadron while the other twelve angled off towards the Buta.  
	"Here they come!!" shouted Rogue leader, who swung his X-Wing around behind the lead TIE.
	"I can't see them!!  Where are they," came Mousse's voice over the intercom as his X-Wing angled off back towards the Buta.
	"Never mind, Rogue 3, you cover the Buta, you've got to be able to see that.  Rouge Group, pair up and take them out."
	The six splinter TIEs were finished off rather quickly, however, while they were occupying Rouge Squadron, the twelve other TIEs had closed in on the Buta, lead by an unusually shaped TIE with a giant wooden sword sticking out of it's front.
	Akane cried out, "That's Kuno leading them!!"  Fortunately for the doomed Buta, which only had two guns to fight off the TIEs with, the intercom was still on.
	Kuno's TIE peeled off from his attack vector.  Inside his craft, Kuno said, "Me thinks that was Akane Tendo.  She has come all this way searching for me.  Lightning Squadron, the orders have changed, do not destroy the ship, just disable it!"
	Despite the best efforts of Akari and Tsubasa on the Buta's guns and Mousse who actually managed to pick off a TIE or two, the Buta was severely damaged before the rest of Rouge Squadron could chase off the rest of the TIEs.
	Smoke poured throughout the bridge.  Coughing, Commander Hibiki asked for a Damage report.  Tsubasa, this time in the guise of a lawn chair, replied, "We've lost our starboard engine, we need to take her down somewhere, sir."
	At that moment, the ships sprinklers turned on.  Fortunately, Ryouga isn't as dumb as you might think.  His ships had warm watered sprinklers, much to Ranma's delight.
	Ranma pointed at the large, reddish planet they were by.  "There, that's Allegro, that's where Akane and I were heading.  We could set down there!"
	Hibiki asked Tsubasa, "Can you get us down?"
	"I think so sir," Tsubasa replied as he started to turn the ship towards the planet.  The Buta was going down.
Chapter 2
Part 1.  Allegro
	The ship was still in one piece.  The bulkhead was still intact.  However, that was where the good news about the Buta stopped.  In landing the ship, Tsubasa had completely fried both engines, stranding them on the planet.  Fortunately, they had landed near the largest town on the planet, which still wasn't very large.  However, if there was someone who could fix the ship, he or she'd be there.
	Ryouga, now no longer in his Uniform but the more comfortable and familiar outfit of his youth, even down to the bandanna and umbrella, stepped out of his ruined ship.  After him followed Ukyou, Akari, Ranma, Akane, and Mousse.  The six of them stood and looked over the damage.
	"Wedge," shouted Ryouga, "you stay with the ship and defend it.  We'll try to be back here as soon as we can with someone to repair the ship."  Thankfully, all six X-Wings had survived the attack and landing.
	"Okay, Commander.  You better hurry, the Empire's sure to come after us," replied Wedge from the hatch.  He smiled at his wife, waved, then went back inside.
	Ryouga stood and looked around.  "Okay, we better be off.  Now where was that city?"
	Gently Akari took Ryouga's hand.  "It's this way, Ryouga-sam, I mean Commander Hibiki."  The group started trudging off to the nearby city following Akari's lead.
	As they were walking, Ranma leaned over to Akane and whispered, "Once we get to the city, we can break off and try to find that scientist, old what's her name."  Akane looked at the rest of the people in the group, all her old friends, then nodded hesitantly.
	When they got there, the city wasn't much of one.  Dust covered the somewhat paved streets.  The dull, white walled buildings were all covered with years of impacted sand and dirt.  Things were not looking good.
	Akari stopped in the middle of the street.  "Well, where to now, sir?"  Ryouga paused, looking about the city.  "There doesn't seem to be much here, but this is Imperial territory.  Ukyou, see if you can find the local Alliance group.  Take the others with you.  They ought to be warned that a bunch of Imperial goons are going to be rammed down their throats.  Ensign Akari and I will try to find a mechanic."
	"Wouldn't the Alliance have the best mechanics?" asked Ukyou.
	Ryouga shook his head.  "I've heard of this place before, there's just a small, surface only contingent here, they don't have any space vehicles.  We'll contact you in two hours."
	With that, Ryouga and Akari started off down the street in search of someone who could do a quick patch job on the ship.  Or at least had the materials.  The crew could probably fix the ship, but not without any supplies.
	"Uh, do you think Shampoo will be okay back on the ship, Ukyou?" asked Mousse after the pair had gone a ways down the street.
	After humming and homing around a bit, Ukyou finally replied, "I'm sure that she's fine, Mousse, I mean, what could. . . ."  Ukyou stopped mid-sentence and flicked a spatula right in front of Ranma's feet.  "Just where do you think you're heading off to?"
	Ranma, who had been starting to sneak off, stopped dead in this tracks.  "Ucchan, I just figured that Akane and I could go and find that scientist and see if. . . they'd help us, yeah, if they'd help us." 
	"No, you can come off with us, we'll need the help finding the base here," Ukyou replied as she waved the two back next to her and Mousse.  The four of them started off down another street.
Part 2.  Another part of town.
	It's quite amazing that Akari was able to pay any attention to where they were going at all.  Ryouga, well, he was off in some spiel about what was needed for the ship or something like that.  But Akari wasn't really hearing a word he was saying.  Here she was, holding Ryouga-sama's hand, leading him around peacefully.  As far as she was concerned, who cared if the ship got fixed?
	Ryuoga-sama did, so it wasn't surprising when Akari finally found a mechanic's shop that she lead Ryouga into it, even though she was sorely tempted to walk right on by it.  
	It was a rather large building, maybe in years past it had been a factory of some type, but now it was home to a simple repair shop.  Out in the middle of the vast empty space of the shop was a single you boy working on a fairly complex looking motorbike.
	"Is this a repair shop?" echoed Ryouga's voice throughout the open bay.
	The young man looked up from the bike he was toying with.  Work was always a good thing.  "Sure is, what's broken?"  There wasn't much around here to fix on Allegro.  
	"A kind of large spacecraft.  We could probably fix it ourselves, but we need supplies and some help would be nice, too."
	The guy let out a long, slow whistle.  "I'd love to work on a spaceship, but I'll have to check with the boss to see if we have that much material."  He turned his back on them and shouted towards a room at the back of the bay, "Hey Boss!!  We got some people who want a spaceship fixed!!!"
	"Who the hell would be dumb enough to try and get a ship fixed here?" came back to the three in the hangar as a door at the other end of the bay opened.  "It will cost them, whoever they are. . ."
	Out of the door stepped someone who definitely didn't belong on a planet like this.  Dressed in am impossibly clean (for this planet, at any rate) blazer was a short, brown haired woman.  In fact, the woman looked incredibly like. . . .
	"Nabiki?!" shouted Ryouga as soon as he saw the woman step out of the office.  Nabiki froze in her place.
	"You know these people, boss?"
	"Yes Mackie, I sure do," said Nabiki as she resumed her confidant stride across the floor towards the potential customers.  "In fact, I'm sure that I've told you about the mighty Ryouga before."
	"What, the pig-boy?" responded Mackie.
	Nabiki walked right up to Ryouga and Akari.  "The very one.  The very one who skipped town without me after the Empire hit."
	Ryouga put a hand nervously behind his head.  "Uh, hello Nabiki, it's good to see you.  We could use a little help.  We kind of broke both the engines on our ship."  He gave a quiet little chuckle to hide how ill at  ease he was.
	Nabiki started to look over Akari.  "I see you gave up on my sister after she left and finally ran off with Akari.  Hmm.  How big is the ship?"
	Before Ryouga could start to dispute the "ran off with Akari" statement, Akari quickly chimed in, "It's a Rebel S-Class!"
	Mackie leaned back and whistled quietly to himself.  "I'd love to get my hands on an engine that big.  Why, I could boost the. . . " and he went into some technical diatribe that probably would have lasted an hour if Nabiki hadn't cut him off.
	"What the hell are you doing with a Rebel warship, Ryouga?"
	"That's Commander Hibiki, if you must know.  The ship is my command, the Abaremono Buta.  We were attacked by Imperial forces and forced to land.  Lots of the Nermia gang are with us, including Ranma and your sister."
	"What!  Akane is here?  Let me see her!" bellowed Nabiki.
	Ryouga decided that it was time to play a little hardball.  "Not unless you agree to fix our ship.  Do we have a deal?"
	Nabiki wasn't impressed.  "If I don't fix your ship you're stuck here and I'll see my sister sooner or later.  Nice try, Ryouga."
	"Oh, yeah, I guess you're right.  Well, can you help us?"
	Nabiki took a small slip of paper, wrote something on it and handed it over to Ryouga.  "Here's my price."
	The human eye ball is an amazing thing.  The fact that a little ball of jelly can impart sight to a being is really rather impressive.  However, there are somethings that the eyes were not meant to see.  Nabiki's price was one of these, or at least Ryouga's eyes seemed to think so, being as they almost jumped out of his skull.
	"You've got to be kidding," stammered Ryouga.  "I don't carry that type of cash around!!"
	Nabiki smiled.  "I'm sure that the Rebellion is good for it.  Mackie and I will just have to come off planet with you to make sure we collect, at your expense, you realize."
	Akari was starting to get worried about Ryouga.  She didn't think that turning that shade of red was that good for anyone, much less Ryouga-sama.  She was relieved when Ryouga quit crushing the slip that Nabiki had given him and nodded his head in agreement.
	"Good. Come on Mackie, let's get started taking some stuff out there."
	As Ryouga stood in the middle of the bay, Mackie sprang of giddily toward the massive supply room.  A Rebel Warship's engines.  This was going to be fun!.
Part 3.  The bridge of the Kinu Zubonsh
	The guards carried the body of Commander Kuno into the bridge rather roughly and tossed him to the ground.
	"Do not raise my ire, philistine!" Kuno shouted after the guards.
	"Do not raise mine, Commander," calmly said the Captain from his chair.  "They may be peons, but they do follow orders.  That is something that you fail to do.  Explain to me why the Rebel ship wasn't destroyed as I commanded."
	Kuno came to his feet.  "A very simple reason.  The Rebels have taken Akane Tendo captive and I can not destroy my love.  Is this reason enough?  Also, If she had been killed, I believe," Kuno said as he looked over the dumbfounded bridge crew, "that a mutiny might have occurred."
	The Captain sighed.  "Not that it matters much.  The data tapes ended up being even more important than I thought.  Helm, lay in a course for Allegro.  I believe I have business with a certain doctor there."
Part 4.  The Alegron city.
	Ukyou wasn't having Akari's luck finding any Rebels.  That was probably a good sign.  Rebels that are easy to find, even for a skilled tracer like Ukyou, probably weren't very good Rebels.  However, this did give the group a chance to catch up on what had happened in their lives.
	The first thing that Ukyou did was to pull Akane and Ranma aside and give them the whole story about Shampoo.  
	"You see," began Ukyou, "when we cut out of Nermia, Shampoo was with us, but she had been injured.  She took a blow to the head in the first attack and it had really messed her up.  She was basically senile.  All she could do was cook.
	"She kept getting worse and worse.  Finally, Commander Hibiki had a chance to get rid of her.  He basically sold her, but it isn't really that bad.  She was taken to a hospital where they do experimental work on head trauma patients.  Hibiki was hoping that they might be able to cure her.
	"Needless to say, Mousse wasn't very happy when we did this, especially when we told him only after three days at lightspeed.  That was Ryouga's idea, not mine.  However, we gave Mousse a sedative to calm him down.  It had a nasty little side effect.  He's back to normally except for the fact that he still thinks Shampoo is on the ship.  Everyone of that ship has been Shampoo to him at one time or another.  Right now it's Wedge."
	Silnece went amongst the group for a while after that as they wandered down the streets, Ukyou looking for any sign of a Rebel Base.  After a few minutes, Mousse, who had been thinking quietly to himself asked, "So, why, if you both are still together, aren't you married?"
	Akane looked over at Ranma, who, as soon as the question was asked had put his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky, and started whistling.  "Because I listened to Mister Cheap-o over there.  Here's what happened.
	"He came over to my room one night, all sad and depressed.  He must have been really upset over something.  He actually told me that he loved me for some reason."
	Ranma stopped whistling and put in, "Hey, I d. .. . " but Akane cut him off and continued her story.
	"He said that he couldn't wait for a "real" marriage.  That he wanted us to be together now, and he said we should run off and elope.  He said that with our families and how they interfer, we'd be in our fourties before we actually got married.
	"I thought about it for a while.  I wanted to instantaneously, but I didn't really want to leave my family, not even for a year or so.  So I told him, 'I want to, but I'd be giving up my family.  Then, when I only had you, you'd probably go off on some damn fool training mission and get yourself killed.'  He took my hand, kneeled on the ground, and vowed to give up the any type of journeying if I would only come with him.  I believed him.  We quietly packed and left within an hour. 
	"We were hardly five miles away when the drop ships started landing.  I'm sure you can remember the chaos.  We were luck just not to get separated.  In the rush, we got completely lost.  We decided to head back to the dojo.  In around two weeks we got there.  It was gone.  Completely."
	Ranma moved silently behind Akane and put his hands gently on her shoulder, as she put her hands on his and smiled gently.  Here, he picked up the story.
	"The Empire was running the government by then.  Everything was in shambles.  The government was starting to take censuses to run drafts.  That's why we couldn't actually marry.  They'd get my name on their rolls and I'd get drafted.  So we headed off into the country.
	"We set up a nice little house off in the woods.  I'd run into town every once in a while to get supplies and news.  The first news I got was that all the springs were completely destroyed in the Empire's attack.  This didn't make me very happy.  After four years, I did get some news that I thought was good."
	Ranma dropped his arm around Akane's waist and pulled her close to him.  "I heard a rumor that some scientist had isolated the formula for a version of Nannichuan, a special version that would not only work as normal Nannichuan, but also increase a person's fighting abilities at the same time.  I came home and decided to go off after this scientist, but Akane wouldn't let me go off by myself.
	"We stole that ship there and followed the one lead I had.  It was easy because the Empire didn't have that much security on a backwater planet like Earth anymore.  We eventually found some data tapes that gave the scientist's name and the planet she was hiding on, this one.  You pretty much know the rest."
	Akane turned and looked at Ranma.  "So even though we were never married, he is my husband, and I love him."  She gave him a nice and gentle kiss on the lips.
	Ukyou looked towards where the ship and her husband were sitting helpless in the wastelands.  "I understand, I understand completely."  She let out a soft sigh.  "We better keep looking."
	It was Mousse who noticed it.  There was a dingy shop that seemed to be doing very little business called "Rudy's Electric, Body, Eatery, and Luggage Shop."  "You'd think that a place that diverse would be doing a lot of business, wouldn't you, Ukyou?" asked Mousse.
	"Not really, when the name spells out Rebels.  Let's take a looksy."  Ukyou stepped through the door first, then the others came.
	Inside was a large empty room, completely dark.  None of the group could see across to the other side.  Naturally, they couldn't see the four people who snuck up behind them and quickly stunned them all.
Part 5.  Inside the Dark Building.
	"What do you make of them, Leon?  Imperial Agents normally have some type of fake ID's on them, but they don't have any."
	"Beats me, Daley.  What do you say we wake them up?" replied Leon.  
	Ukyou was the first one to get the water tossed in her face.  As she blinked open her eyes, before her stood two men, one wearing a ridiculous looking pink shirt and the other carrying one of biggest guns she had ever seen.  The Pink one took another glass of water and splashed Akane, then before she could say anything splashed some on Mousse.
	Needless to say, the pair were both taken aback when one of their captives turned into a flailing duck.
	"Quick, get some hot water and pour it on him," commanded Ukyou to whoever would listen.  The guy carrying the behemoth gun dumped his coffee on the duck, who turned back into Mousse.
	He put his gun down and went down to help Mousse to his feet.  "My God, you're Lt. Mousse, aren't you?  Sorry about this sir, but what are you doing here?"
	The pair quickly snapped to attention once Mousse was back to his feet.  "Lt. Leon and Lt. Daley, at your service."  Daley, the pink one, quickly went to get Mousse's companions out the ropes that bound them.
	"It's a pleasure to have you here sir, we've heard all about you.  But you should have told us you were coming, we wouldn't have jumped your entourage," explained Daley who was just finishing the bindings on Ranma.
	Mousse turned and stammered to Ukyou, "Uh, Major Ukyou, maybe you ought to do the talking."  He seemed rather embarrassed by the attention.
	Ranma and Akane, now freed, sat back and watched as their friends quickly and with an efficiency that was almost unbelievable explained the entire situation to Daley and Leon in under three minutes.
	Ranma and Akane were quickly hurried around to a room where they could clean themselves up.  This they did gladly.  When they got back it became apparent that Ukyou had kept talking to Leon while they were cleaning up.
	"So you don't have any Spacecraft material whatsoever?"
	"I'm sorry, Major.  We don't bother with that.  There is one overpriced repair shop in town that deals with the drop ships that bring in supplies, but that's it."
	Ukyou was nodding her acceptance of that fact when all of a sudden one of the many doors of the around the room burst open with a small metallic ball bounding out of it.
	"No no no no!  You did it wrong again!!" came a high pitched voice from inside, a voice which caused Ranma to look over there with a start.  "I swear, you'd think you'd be able to do that drill right after 700 years of training."
	" Well maybe I could if you weren't constantly threatening to turn me into a guy, mom!" replied another female voice.
	Ranma took one look at Akane and then they both flew off at a sprint towards the open door.  Daley looked down and shook his head, yelling, "Hey, Leon!  They're at it again!"
	Inside the door was a nicely lighted room, with a short lady with spiked red-pink hair yelling with her hands on her hips at another girl, this one with cyan-green spiky hair yelling back in the exact same position.
	Ranma stopped, grabbing the door frame with one hand, wide eyed.  "Dr. Washuu?  Is that you?"
	The feisty red head turned to the pair who had so rudely interrupted her training session.  "Yes, what do you want?  I don't have all day you know."  Washuu pointed at the girl across from her.  "I'm surprised that she can even add, much less try to learn the ways of the force. . . ."
	Ranma and Akane both let out a sigh of relief.  After a year of searching, they had found Dr. Washuu.
Chapter 3
Part 1.  At the Buta
	"Would you look at the size of that?"  Aparently the Buta looked rather impressive to those who had never seen a warship, even if it was an imobile heap of metal right now.  "And here I thought we had brought too much stuff.  I guess not."
	Commander Hibiki patted the side of the ship.  "Yeah, she's a good one.  Wedge, would you show Mackie here to the engine bays and then get some work crews organized to help him?"
	Wedge gave a quick nod to Hibiki and lead the amazed Mackie into the ship.  After the two disappeared down inside the massive hulk, Ryouga let out a sigh of relief.  At least the repairs were underway.
	He turned to Nabiki, who, conviently enough had brought four packed cases with her.  "Passage off this planet and that cash on top of it.  You certainly are asking a lot."
	Nabiki walked up to Ryouga and patted him on the head.  "I know it is, but after being stuck on this planet as long as I have, you'd know that it is worth every credit.  But right now, I want to see Akane."  She started to walk into the ship.  "What, aren't you going to get my bags?"
	Relcutantly, Commander Hibiki of the Rebel Alliance nodded and picked up two of the large cases.  "Yes, Nabiki.  This way," and Ryouga reluctantly went into the ship with Nabiki following.
Part 2.  Washuu's Room
	Ranma and Akane both half stumbled into Dr. Washuu's room.  Here, right before them was the scientist who solved the mystery of the Nannichuan.  Ranma somehow managed to speak.  "Dr. Washuu, I need your formula for Nannichuan."
	"Oh, sure, I give it to you, you give it to your friends, and the next thing you know everyone in the galaxy is male.  I don't think so.  I hope thats not why you're here."
	Akane quickly spoke up.  "But you don't understand, he NEEDS it."  As if to prove her point, Akane took a class of water from Washuu's table and tossed it onto Ranma.
	The now distinctly female Ranma turned and said with her eyes blazing at Akane, "You could have just told her, you know."
	Upon seeing the interesting change Washuu stepped forward, rather interested.  "Well, I should say you do need my Nannichuan, now don't you?"
	"Does that mean you'll give it to me?" asked a hopeful Ranma.
	Washuu shook her head.  "I would, but I don't have any made.  And I just can't give you the formula, that wouldn't do at all.  You see, Nannichuan is just a little side project.  That," she said, pointing towards the as of yet nameless girl, "has been my major project, and probally a failure at that."
	"Have you ever thought that you might be a bad teacher?" retorted the young girl in self defense.
	"700 years, Ryouko, 700 years!  I could have taught a cricket the ways of the force given 700 years, but you still have trouble taking out a training ball.  And you have so much potential, you don't even need to carry a lightsaber."
	Insenced, Ryouko held forth her hand, suddenly, a glowing rod formed in her palm.  Ryouko lept at Washuu and swung down at her with a mighty blow.  Washuu simply dodged it and then watched Ryouko fall into a heap on the ground.
	Washuu pointed her hand at Ryouko and shook her head in disbelief.  "You see that?  You see that?  700 years and that's the best she can do."
	Ranma meekly raised a hand.  "Uh, what is this 'force' thing that is more important than Nannichuan?  I've never heard of it.  I'm a relatively well trained Martial Artist, but I've never heard of the force before."
	"The force?  Oh, well, here's what it is.  Okay, take all the binding powers in the galaxy, gravity, atomic bonds, intellect, exectera, and add them up into one giant 'force' that assists in any mental skill, including fighting, healing, so on and so forth."
	Ranma then let out a loud eep as Washuu gave his/her breast a quick pinch right at the end of her statement.  "Hmm.  Yep, you would need Nannichuan.  I've never actually seen anyone with one of the actually curses before.  Interesting."
	While Washuu was over chatting with Ranma, Akane quietly went over to Ryouko who was still lying on the floor.  "Are you alright?  You took a hard fall."
	Ryouko grabbed the hand that was offered her and stood up.  "Yes, I'll be fine.  Look at that!  One little distraction and she's off and about.  That's why my training is taking so long.  Oh, I'm Ryouko.  You are?"
	"I'm Akane Saotome.  That's my husband, Ranma."
	"Well, nice to meet you.  Better make yourself comfortable.  He'll intrigue her for a week at least, so you'll be here a while.  Don't worry, there are worse places to be."
	"Well why not?" echoed Washuu's voice throughout the room.  "I thought you said you were a martial artist.  You ought to be really interested, and need a good student."
	Ranma stammered a bit before answering and glanced over at his wife.  "Hey, I just can't okay?  I have other comitments."  Ranma walked over next to Akane and put his arm around her.  "Come on, let's go find Ukyou and get out of here."  Ranma and Akane started to walk towards the door.
	"Wait, if you come with me and learn the ways of the force, I'll give you the Nannichuan.  How about that?" Washuu shouted after the leaving pair.
	Upon hearing the offer, Akane paused and looked up at her husband.  There he was, red hair and all, looking very pathetic.  However, he just kept on walking until he was out of the room without a single pause when the offer was given.  Akane turned and looked at Washuu quickly before running off to catch up with her husband.
	Niether of them noticed Mousse standing up against the wall watching them as they exited.  Mousse got up and walked across the room.  "I'd be interested in learning the ways of the force in excahnge for some Nannichuan, Dr. Washuu."
	Ryouko gave Mousse a rather strange look.  "Shouldn't you be talking to her?"
	Mousse Adjusted his glasses.  "My, you are right."  He turned and address Washuu.  "Miss, I would like to learn the ways of the force."
	Washuu sighed.  "I guess it's better than her.  Tell me a bit about yourself."
Part 3.  The Main Rebel Hall
	Major Ukyou was both amazed and disgusted with this rebel post.  This was one of the most well organized companies she had ever seen, and yet it was as if space travel was something completely forgien to them.
	She was just about ready to go off on a tirade abotu being prepared on all fronts when a rather upset Ranma stormed up to her with Akane following behind.
	"Hey Ukyou, when can we get out of here?"
	"Well, Ranma, I don't know.  That all depends on how Commander Hibiki and Ensign Akari are doing in their. . . "  Ukyou was cut off by a beeping on her wrist.  She lifted the wrist communicator and said, "Antilles here."
	Ryouga's voice came very staticy over the communicator.  "I've found an old friend to help us fix the ship.  You guys can rest up, it will be a while before we get it fixed."
	"What do you mean by 'old friend', sir?" asked Ukyou.
	Suddenly, a very staticy scream of "What do you mean my sister is back in town???  You dragged me all the way out here and my sister is back there!!  Ryouga!!!!"
	Akane started up.  "That's Nabiki!"
	Ryouga's voice came back again.  "Just stay out there, I got a hand full back on the ship.  Hibiki out." 
	"Well, let's get back to the ship.  Come on, everyone," Akane excitedly chimed.
	Leon shook his head.  "I'm afraid you aren't going to be going anywhere.  The major over there told us that you two didn't have any military training.  She said that Daley and I were supose to give it to you.  Follow me, if you would."
	Akane looked at Ukyou flat out shocked.  "What!"
	"If we get into a firefight, you'll need it.  You too Ranma, head on over with Leon.  I have some stuff that I can do here to help with organization."
	Ranma looked at Akane, shrugged and followed Leon.  You couldn't help but follow a person that commanding.  Shaking her head in disbelief, Akane trailed after her husband and the two rebels.
Part 4