-----Original Message-----
From: Trakal <trakal@map.com>
To: Berk' Watkins <lilin@gnv.fdt.net>
Date: Saturday, January 17, 1998 8:45 AM
Trakal muttered a long unintelligible string of Draalthese
obscenities under his breath while Washu explained the plan. Something
struck his bound muzzle and he looked up angrily in the direction the
offending item had come from.
"Listen up!" Washu commanded.
Trakal growled, but decided not to comment further when Washu
muttered something about the rarity of Draalthi fur and how much it
would fetch on the black market. He was fairly sure that she'd never
do such a thing, but he wasn't about to tempt fate.
"These boosters need to be set up at each of the five temples."
Washu instructed. "Trakal, you and the girls will each take one and
target one of the temples. Tenchi, you'll go to Tokyo Tower and keep an
eye on your mom while setting up the main booster."
Trakal glared at her angrily.
Washu explained the main booster to Tenchi outloud, but in his
mind Trakal heard her addressing him. Was she telepathic, he wondered,
or had she somehow hacked his internal computer.
"Trakal," Washu's voice told him privately, "I cannot let you go
after Kain. I know how badly you want to destroy him, but he's far too
powerful for a single Galaxy Police Operative... even you. You're good.
But you alone can't stop him. A part of you has already accepted that,
that's why you agreed to come here."
"I have to be the one. Kain destroyed the Galaxy Police HQ. He
killed them all."
"Listen to what you're saying, Trakal *HE KILLED THEM *ALL*...*
If you try to face him by yourself, you'll also be killed."
Trakal looked crestfallen.
"Now, any questions?" Washu asked aloud.
"Mmm...mmmph!"
Washu ripped the duct tape off Trakal's muzzle.
Trakal let out a shriek of pain and rubbed his muzzle for a moment.
"Oops." Washu grinned, wickedly.
Ryo-ohki ventured up to Trakal and began rubbing against his
muzzle. The little cabbit playfully pawed the Draalthi's offended muzzle
and nudged the Operative insistantly.
"Miya?" she asked.
Trakal scritched her absently for a moment and she began to purr
contentedly. Trakal, hearing this, suddenly pulled his hand away and
gave everyone a "you did *not* see me petting the notorious space-pirate
Ryo-ohki." look and was rather disturbed by their respondant "Oh, yes
we *did* see that." look in their eyes.
"I think she likes you." Sasami told him.
"Oh joy." Trakal's voice dripped with sarcasm. "There's the perfect
reputation for a member of the Galaxy Police. Loved by Space Pirates
everywhere!"
"Well *I* love Tenchi." Ryoko pointed out, glomping onto Tenchi and
nuzzling him. "And he loves me, isn't that right, Tenchi?"
"What do you think you're doing?!" Ayeka demanded. "You take your
hands off my Tenchi!"
"What do you mean *YOUR* Tenchi?" Ryoko began to charge up her
powers and little blocks of wood appeared circling her, curtesy of Ayeka.
Trakal raised his cyberhand and took a defensive stance, snarling.
"You stay out of this!" Both girls yelled at him.
"If you both don't stop it, I'll arrest the two of you."
"My statute of limitations is up, mister." Ryoko pointed out.
"And I am crown princess of planet jurai." Ayeka added.
"Ryoko, your statute of limitations isn't up for another twenty-
six years and my dear princess, this is *not* Jurai." Trakal pointed out
giving both of them a look that would freeze lava.
"TRAKAL! JUST SHUT UP AND PUT THE GUN AWAY NOW... please?!" came a
frustrated and frightened scream from Detective Mihoshi.
To the surprise of everyone except Washu and Kiyone, Trakal put his
cyberarm down and relaxed.
"Trakal?" Ryoko asked.
Trakal sighed, wordlessly.
Ryoko blinked at Mihoshi. "How did you?"
"Um, well..." Mihoshi offered, unhelpfully.
"Detective Mihoshi has a higher rank than Lt. Trakal." Washu
explained.
Trakal fidgetted uncomfortably.
"You mean Mihoshi is his *superior*?" Ryoko laughed.
Trakal growled.
Kiyone groaned and wondered how if she could get away with
killing both Trakal and Mihoshi.
"Let's not fight anymore." Tenchi decided, firmly. "We all have a
very busy morning ahead of us, so we should *all*" Tenchi shot a glance at
Trakal at this point, "get some sleep tonight."
"Whatever you say," Ryoko yawned and started to climb into the bed.
"Enjoy the floor, Princess."
"RYOKO! HOW DARE YOU?!" Ayeka demanded.
While everyone else was fighting, the Operative shrugged, figured
they could fight well enough by themselves, climbed onto the bed they were
fighting over, curled up, and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the
pillow. He'd meant to simply fake sleeping to annoy Ryoko, but he hadn't
had any sleep since he'd arrived and the lack of sleep had taken its toll.
"Um, Ryoko? Ayeka?" Tenchi tried to attract the attention of the pair.
"You stay out of this!" Ryoko told him.
"Yeah! This is none of your business!" Ayeka informed him as well.
"Well, if you two are fighting over the bed..." Tenchi nodded
toward the bed where Trakal was now sound asleep.
Ryoko and Ayeka stopped their feud with a simultaneous pair of
gasps and looked over at the now-occupied bed and the sleeping Draalthi who
lie upon it.
"Well, *he* certainly has a lot of nerve!" Ayeka stated.
"Well, it's your fault I'm not sleeping there." Ryoko argued.
"Well, what's stopping you?" Ayeka demanded. "There's no crime in a monster
sleeping with a monster is there?"
"You're a better match with him that me, Princess."
"Just what's that supposed to mean?"
"You're both full of hot air." Ryoko laughed.
Trakal felt something pushing him and sat bolt upright, extending his
cyberarm and gripping his wrist. Tenchi jumped back. "Sorry. Reflex."
Trakal apologized, lowering his hand. "I've been under a lot of stress. I
just saw Kain murder the closest thing I've had to a family, spent a week
eating school lunches, and fell in love despite at least a dozen Galaxy
Police rules which specifically forbid an operative from doing so."
"I understand." Tenchi told him. "What are you going to do once
this is over?"
"Assuming Kain is destroyed, I plan to remain here with Tanaka.
She's already agreed to be my wife."
"Despite your being an alien."
Trakal shook his head. "She thinks I'm human."
"Trakal," Kiyone told him, "you *must* tell her the truth. If you really
love her..."
"Kiyone's right." Mihoshi added. "You've got to tell her!"
Trakal sighed and nodded. "You're right."
Trakal took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the hotel room
where Tanaka was staying. The others were already on their way to the Fudo
Temples and Trakal had been assigned the task of delivering one of the
generator parts to the Black Eye Temple. He had decided that since he was
heading to a temple anyhow, he might as well marry Tanaka at the same time.
He loved her and he didn't want to wait if he didn't have to.
But would she still love him when she saw what he really was? He'd been
a special operative for the Galaxy Police for nearly a decade. In truth,
he was a full ten years her elder, but he had figured if he wasn't going to
let something like a difference in species bother him, then something as
relatively trivial as age difference could get stuffed.
Tanaka picked up the scoop for the ice and began to fill the bucket for
her room. She reached down. This time a hand settled down over her own. It
was artificial. A grey metal hand which was somehow warm, not cold as one
might expect.
"Tanaka," a familiar voice told her, "Don't turn around yet. Listen to
me first. I love you, Tanaka. I always will no matter what happens. Now,
what you are about to see will probably frighten you, and you might even
be angry with me, but I want you to know that I didn't hide this from you
to be cruel, but because I had to. Tanaka, I'm a member of an organization
known as the Galaxy Police and we have a non-interference mandate. I'm not
even supposed to be here. Truth is, I should have killed myself as soon as
I arrived. But I couldn't. There's someone here. Someone evil. That someone
killed the rest of the Galaxy Police except for two other officers who are
also here. I have been given a chance to help destroy that evil being and
I have every intention of taking it. If you decide you still love me after
you've seen who I really am, I am going to the Black Eye Fudo Temple and
I'd like to marry you there. It won't be an official ceremony, we'll have
that one later, but..." he couldn't say anything else. Surely she'd reject
him once she saw him. Still, best to get it over with. "Look at me, Tanaka."
He half-sobbed.
Tanaka turned and her eyes went wide.
Trakal swallowed a sob and waited for the inevitable shriek of horror or
look of disgust. Perhaps even a slap across his muzzle and a lot of yelling
about how cruel he was to lead her on.
"What... what are you?" She whispered.
She sounded afraid and that nearly broke Trakal's heart.
He turned away and started to leave.
"Wait." She told him. Her heart was racing with excitement
and terror at what she was seeing before her. An alien being,
humanoid but not human, gazing at her with a softness in its
eyes that a moment ago she was sure was love.
But was it? Could such a being, who was clearly at least part
machine, actually love someone.
"How can you love me?" She asked him. There were other questions,
of course, ones that most people would've asked first. But if he
couldn't give her an answer for this one, there'd be no point in asking
the others. She was on a trip to study Japan's culture, not alien beings.
"You're a machine."
"I am a living being, just like you." Trakal explained. "Normally a
Galaxy Police operative is given a glove to wear over their hand which
has an array of weapons built in, however, I was injured on duty and lost
my right arm. The Galaxy Police just happened to have a prototype cyberarm
they wanted to try out, and I agreed to be the test subject."
Tanaka decided that remarks about him being a 'lab rat' would be in
poor taste and might offend the creature, so she kept silent, though a
tiny hint of a smirk failed to not cross her lips.
Trakal noticed and scowled. He'd heard the jokes before, though in truth
he was more like a bat than a rat. He placed a metal finger on her lips and
grinned darkly. "Don't even *think* of saying it." he warned her.
"Did it ever occur to you," she asked instead, "that the Galaxy Police
might have set you up so you'd have to get the implant?"
Trakal smiled. "I *know* they did." He told her.
"Naoki?" Tanaka asked.
"Actually, my name is Trakal." He told her.
"Trakal?" She asked.
"It's Draalthese." He explained.
"That doesn't help." She sighed. "What are you? Where are you from?
What are these Galaxy Police you spoke of?"
"I am a Draalthi." He told her matter-of-factly. "I was born on the
planet Ratala IV but was taken in by a Thurnian named Saarnd who..."
"Thurnian?"
"A race of humanoids resembling the earthen species known as the Lion."
Trakal explained. "I was only five when my family was killed and Saarnd
took me in."
Tanaka listened to his tale. The idea of an alien rat, or maybe a ba5:02AM
1/16/98
"Saarnd must have cared a lot about you." She said, at last.
Trakal nodded, silently. "I would have died if it hadn't been for him."
he told her. "That's why I cannot let his death go unpunished."
"Are you sure he died?" Tanaka asked. "Maybe he was sent to another
time like you were?"
Trakal blinked. He hadn't considered that, but now that she'd said it,
he realized it was a possibility. Maybe Saarnd and the others had survived
the destruction of headquarters in the same way he had. But no... he could
not allow himself such flights of fancy. No, they were dead. He was the
only survivor except for Kiyone and Mihoshi. He hoped they would be able
to find and train new Galaxy Police officers and operatives in the future.
He had made up his mind when Tanaka had accepted his proposal. He
would not be going back to the future with them when they returned. This
was where he belonged. With Tanaka. And if she rejected him, he wouldn't
have any reason to live in any time or place.
//\\ /\
|| PER^TIVE
\\// // \\