Continued from previous message

    "Look, " Meiru said, putting a hand on the young GPO's shoulder, "I
    know you miss Trakal. He was a good man, but he's gone now and no amount
    of daydreaming or delusion is going to bring him back from... " she
    stopped, seeing a movement out of the corner of her eye. A distraught
    operative, another member of Special Section, aimed his weapon and Saarnd
    and fired. Knowing she'd never get to the assassin in time, Meiru dove
    between Saarnd and the bullet. She felt the hot pain as it imbedded,
    relatively harmlessly, in her left shoulder. For a moment, she looked
    up at Saarnd, feeling a sense of relief that she'd been able to deter
    his demise, then blackness filled her field of vision and she felt herself
    spinning to the ground only to be caughht in Saarnd's strong arms.

    Saarnd looked up at the assassin and growled, dangerously, in his throat.
    Dropping Meiru to the ground, he raised his own weapon and aimed it at
    the would-be killer.
    "Arrest him!" He shouted.
    Several Galaxy Police officers dragged the would-be assasin off to
    jail.

    A doctor arrived and began examining Meiru.
    "Will she live?" Saarnd asked.
    The doctor nodded. "I'd like to keep her in the infirmiry overnight,
    however, for observation. At this stage, there's always the possibiity
    the shock would cause a miscarriage."

    Washuu pushed a few vegetables idly around her plate.
    "Is something wrong?" Sasami asked.
    "Oh no, Sasami." Washuu ate a mouthful. "I'm just hoping Meiru is okay.
    Her experiences will  have some impact on that implant she's got in her
    head, but I had to implant it in her to keep the DNA patterns as close
    to the child's as possible."
    "Wh-wh-what child?" Tenchi asked.
    "Oh didn't I tell you guys?" Washuu asked cheerful. "Meiru's pregnant."
    Tenchi fell over.
    Sasami rushed over and started fanning Tenchi.
    "Relax, its not yours." Washuu told him. "In fact, its not even human.
    Meiru's pregnant with a replica of her original body."
    "But why not just clone the original in the first place?"
    "There is a chemical imbalance in Draalthi which makes it impossible
    for one to be cloned. "I created a male embryo which was half-human
    and half-Draalthi using a specimen of Trakal's I swiped from the Galaxy
    Police, then  I took  semen sample from that embryo which I froze and
    created another. It took me six times to get an embryo that was 100%
    Draalthi, then, I replaced the dna in that embryo with a dna sample
    from Lt.Trakal. Then, I implanted the embryo within Meiru an hour before
    she woke up."

    "Miscarriage?" Saarnd asked, once Meiru was resting.
    "She's in her first trimester. Assuming it will go that far." The
    doctor replied. "Question is, who is doing this and why?"
    "What do you mean?" Saarnd asked.
    "The child she's carrying is a Draalthi." the doctor explained. "In
    fact, its an exact replica of Lt. Trakal."
    "And exact replica?"
    "Someone went out of their way to bring Trakal back." The doctor
    nodded. "The question is why."


 * SLMR 2.1a * "He's the one!!! He's been spying on us!!!"  ... Ryoko