She looked down, almost as if she was tired from everything
that had happened. "While on Earth, I found out that in a certain
old book called the Scarlet Letter, it spoke of a character who
was so deep into his desire for revenge... that it ended up
destroying him at the end. Even if his revenge had come to
completion, he was so deep into his desire for vengeance that he
lost all his will to live. Now that I have destroyed your
happiness, there is nothing left for me. It is no different for
me than it was for that character."

     With that, she pulled a small white tablet from the pocket
in her kimono. "Do you know what this is? It is a tablet, made of
a very deadly poison called Cyanide." She took a look at the
tablet and continued, "How ironic that humanity's greatest holy
man gave a sermon on a hill of the same name, and is also named
for a poison that is just as deadly to Juraians as it is to
humans. As  soon as I get to my room, I intend to kill myself to
fulfill my last objective. To die in my complete and total
victory over you."

     Ryoko said incredulously, "Why are you bothering to tell me
then?"

     "Because I know you won't bother to tell anyone. You hate me
and I hate you. So in a way, we both win, but in the end... I am
the only victor... now release me or else you would rather have
the guards escort you to the prison for threatening Juraian
royalty."

     Ryoko reluctantly let the princess go. With the same venom
filled smirk, she sneered, "As the humans say Ryoko... see you in
hell." With that the princess left the pirate alone. When the
platform lifted the princess away. The pirate growled and punched
the wall in agitation. Ayeka had won and there was no way out of
it. Or was there?

*************************************************

     {I'm tired... so tired.} Ayeka thought, walking down the
empty hallway towards her room. Noticing her feet was the only
source of sound, she stood still for a moment and let the silence
prevail in the hall. Yes. She had won. Now with Ryoko beaten, she
could rest in peace at last. 

     She couldn't believe that now. She had just destroyed two
lives because of her own hate. There was no hope for her soul
now. Since there was nothing for her here, death would be the
only real true escape. But for the sins she committed: lying,
subterfuge, and blackmail, Tsunami would most likely banish her
soul to the darkest regions of the wasteland. 

     The wasteland... the only place where souls of the damned
went. Juraians of any and all kinds loved trees. In the
wasteland, there was no trees, no life, no hope. If she was
lucky, a soul eater would put her out of her misery. 

     She looked back and thought, {Lord Tenchi... Lady Kiyone...
may your rule be long and happy. And may you avoid the mistakes I
made.} With that and a sigh, she walked to her room. It would not
be long now. 

     Just then, Azaka and Kamidake, out of their log bodies,
appeared in front of her door. She blinked in surprise, it had
been a while since she saw them both in these forms. 

     Without any words, Azaka extended his staff over Ayeka's
head and created a stasis field over her. "Wait a minute! What
are you doing?!" She yelled. Azaka turned to his partner. 

     "Check her pocket. Then see if there are any others."
Kamidake nodded, and reached through the stasis chamber and into
her kimono, where he pulled out the tablet that would kill her.
Then, he waved his staff in front of her a few times, looked back
to Azaka and shook his head. That was when Azaka spoke again,
"Lady Ayeka Jurai, we are under orders to arrest you and confine
you to your quarters." With that, they both reached for her arms. 

     Of course, she refused, "Under who's authority?!"

     Azaka's face went stern as he opened the door. "Under
Councilman Masaki's and the Emperor himself." With that, they
gently forced her into the room, closed the door, and activated a
lock which would confine her there. 

*************************************************

     An hour later, Ayeka turned to the door as Tenchi and Kiyone
walked in. Apparently, they were confused at the current events
and wanted to know the truth just like anyone else. 

     "Ayeka, what was the meaning of that outburst a hour ago?
You've scared Sasami into thinking that you're not even her
sister now. It was like you were someone else." He stammered, not
at all believing that the Ayeka he heard an hour ago was the real
princess. 

     Looking down, she sighed, looked back up and said, "Do you
wish to hear the whole story? Lady Makabi, you as well?" She
looked to both the representative and his fianc�e. Taking a
second to look at each other, they nodded. 

     For the next fifteen minutes, Ayeka described everything she
could that went from pretending to love Tenchi, to using him, to
blackmailing Yoshou, and planning on killing herself. Both were
shocked, to say the very least. 

     "Lord Tenchi, I have no wish to be shown any mercy. I will
not accept any other punishment, except death. For what I have
done has dishonored my family, dishonored you, and has forfeited
my right to both live as a princess and to live." She said
firmly. 

     Both looked at her with shock. But when Tenchi stepped up
and whispered a few things to Kiyone, he turned to her and said,
"If you'll excuse us, we need to talk about a few things." With
that, they exited the door and whether they knew it or not, Ayeka
sneaked behind them and listened through the door. 

     "So... does that mean that..." Kiyone started, but was
quickly interrupted by Tenchi. 

     "No Kiyone. If there's one thing that I know for sure, is
that I love you. I respect, trust, and honor you. Even if it was
all part of some deception, my feelings for you won't change...
no matter what." 

     "Thanks. I hope you know I feel the same way."

     "That's what I hoped. Now... what are we going to do about
*her*?"

     "Well... I don't know about you, but I got an idea."

     "Really?"

     "Come here, listen..." and with that, Kiyone's voice slowly
faded to the point of a whisper. That when Ayeka knew she could
hear no more and went back to her seat. A few minutes later, the
door opened again and Ayeka's visitors returned. This time, it
was Kiyone who spoke up. 

     "After talking about it, we decided that we can't let you
kill yourself."

     "But why?! I know that..." This time, Kiyone interrupted
her.

     "Wait! Let me finish. I said that we can't let you die
because you actually needed more than you think." Ayeka blinked
in confusion. "We're new here. You know your way around the
system. You can teach us how to be able to take care of ourselves
with the egos of the council and somehow make this part of the
galaxy a better place to live." 

     Ayeka found her words to be more than filled with truth. She
knew when people were lying or not, and Kiyone was not lying.
Then the thought of a new purpose came to mind. It sounded much
more appealing than being eaten in the Wastelands. Another chance
for redemption. She liked that idea. 

     "Very well then. I accept." She said with an extended hand.
Tenchi smiled, took her hand, and shook it. "But if  I may ask a
question..." they both blinked, "...how exactly did you gather
word of my suicide attempt? I did not tell anyone."

     "Oh, but you did, princess." Said a voice from nowhere. Just
then, Ryoko materialized beside Ayeka with a mischievous smirk.
"You guessed wrong about me telling anyone." 

     Ayeka was beyond shocked, not only that, but horrified,
"Why?! You don't have ample reason to do so!"

     Ryoko raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? You think I was just
going to let you die after you won like that? I've been hired as
a bodyguard for you by your dear old man. And as far as I'm
concerned, I'm going to make your life as miserable as possible."

     "Ryoko!" Both Tenchi and Kiyone said simultaneously.

     Ryoko waved them off casually, "Hey, calm down. I was
kidding." With that, she picked up the princess and hugged with
one arm, "So princess. Let's say you and I go into town, get
drunk, tell each other sob stories, and bash a few heads in?"

     "What... why are you acting like this?" Ayeka asked, wanting
to go crazy with all that's been happening. 

     "Well... I've had a little time to think about what you
said. And as much as I hate to admit it... I've had something
like this coming for a LONG time. So, what do you say you and I
try to get off on the right foot this time?" the former pirate
offered. 

     Ayeka sighed, {All this hate, all that planning... and
instead of dying I get another chance and a new friend...It's
like what they call a happy ending... I think, I'm going to be
sick.} "I don't see why not," she replied. 

*************************************************

Date: May 19, 2100/ United Earth Year 71/ Juraian Year 31,586,
Kayern (First Month), Agao (Second Quaromester)

     The day started out as all did before them, until a message
from a relay satellite from the Sol System and the Council was
called into a meeting immediately. 

     "From reports gotten from the satellite, it appears that the
United Government of Earth has been beaten at every turn by an
invading force. During several battle witnessed, there appears to
have been a calm between Earth and the invaders, known only as
the Lahdam. As far as the extent of the damage is, it is unknown
at the present time. We would have to estimate that over twenty
million of the human race have been wiped out. With the Lahdam
spore plant contamination as intense as it is, we would have to
assume that immediate assistance is required." Representative
Tenchi Masaki said to the council. 

The very second he got the report, he was in near hysterics to
try and help his home world. Though he came to accept Jurai as
his home, seeing his dad age and inevitably pass on was rather
hard for him, and Earth was still his home, no matter what.  

     Now, he was making an appeal to the council to assemble a
strike force and relief workers back to Earth. To not only stop
the Lahdam, but to help his home planet once more. He was already
in trouble with the council for making this same appeal nearly a
century ago, but for his home world, he would do nearly anything.
No other Juraian would do any less if they were in his shoes. 

     For the next several minutes, the council was discussing
what to do. Tenchi was beginning to get apprehensive. Whenever
they took more than five minutes discussing what to do, it
usually was not good. 

     Taking his gavel, the Emperor announced, "Have you all made
your decisions?" They all nodded. "Very well, all who vote in
favor for the appeal?" Nearly half of the council members raised
their hands. "And against?" Tenchi couldn't tell if there were
more or less than the same number of votes he got. Yet, his hopes
for his home world were dashed when the Emperor spoke, "By a 76
to 74 vote, the appeal has been revoked."

     "What?!" Tenchi cried. He was only one vote from tying and
another from getting his appeal passed. "You can't be serious!
The people of my home are in danger and you don't even have the
decency to send out a small strike force and relief workers?"

     Azusa began to stand, "The council has made its choice. The
Earthen people will have no choice but to..." he turned back to
the pad that had the results. The numbers appeared to have
changed. "It appears that my announcement was rather premature.
By a 77 to 73 vote, the appeal has passed." He looked up to his
great-grandson. "Do as you need with the men you need. Try to
keep losses to a minimum."

     Tenchi smiled, sighed, and bowed with respect towards the
Emperor. "Thank you, your highness."

     Azusa paused for a minute, almost as if he was about to say
something. But he just shook his head and walked out of the room.
Tenchi blinked at the near positive reaction he got from Azusa.
The emperor never really showed that much respect for Tenchi.
Maybe there was a chance that he was beginning to mellow out. One
could always hope. 

     Walking out of the council room, Tenchi met his wife, Kiyone
Masaki. She was leaning against the wall, wearing a more unisexed
version of Juraian robes, waiting patiently. 

     "The appeal got passed?" she asked with a confused look.
When her husband nodded she asked again, "I heard that they
revoked it? What happened?"
     
     Tenchi shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. But I'm not
complaining. Come on, we need to get the strike force and relief
workers together. We don't have time to waste." He said running
down to his office. Nodding, his wife ran alongside him and knew
that there was much to be done. 

     From the shadows, Ayeka stepped forth and smiled at her
'nephew'. She didn't love him the way she pretended, but loved
him for being family. Family that treated her the way she wanted
to. That was how she loved him. And that was one of the reason
why she helped Tenchi get that appeal passed. 

It was amazing when you could blackmail a few of the members for
knowing about illegal activities that would easily get them in
jail. Then, the idea of becoming a Council member came along. She
could keep an even closer eye on those select few who did not
behave themselves. {Ah... politics. Such a lovely game to control
the players with.}

     With that, she walked calmly to her father's quarters to
request being in the council. There were members of the council
of both genders and there was nothing in royal protocol that said
a member of the royal family could join the council. {Yes... a
very entertaining game to say the least.}

*************************************************

Location: Former Southeastern United States, Earth

     A shrill cry awoke a farmer from his sleep. With his heavily
accented voice he grumbled, "Great! Right 'n 'he middle o' my
heart attack!" As quick as he could, he got dressed, got his high
powered rifle and ran downstairs. And outside, his suspicions
were confirmed as three giant spidercrabs were chasing his
livestock around. 

     Loading the rhino bullets into the chamber, he complained,
"Last week a badger, last night a raccoon, and now this!" With
that, he aimed at the head of the giant crab that was nearest to
him. 

With a resounding *BOOM* the rifle kicked with such power that he
was thrown off his feet. The bullet did plenty of damage to the
spidercrab, it the farmer only succeeded in making the monster
even more angry. So, turning its attention to the farmer, the
crab was ready to eat its next meal raw.

     "VENUS DARK LOVE SCYTHE!"

     "MERCURY ICE LANCE!"

     From nowhere, a glowing yellow heart split in half and one
line grew longer than the other, turning into a blade, where as
the other half turned into a handle. The blade started to spin,
as if thrown. The crab did not have a chance to react as the
scythe chopped its head off. Like the scythe, a 15 meter lance
made of absolute zero ice flew at the other two crabs and pierced
them both through the heads from nowhere. 

With the crabs dead, the farmer looked about to see his rescuers.
There were two women, both covered with full plate armor, yet one
was colored yellow and the other one blue. The one in blue was
noticeably different than her companion, for the fact that her
left hand, side of her face, and leg were covered in mechanics.
There were the Soldiers Mercury and Venus.

     "Not bad, eh Mercury?" the one in yellow said clenching her
fist and smiling darkly. The one in blue remained passive and
turned to the farmer. 

     "Is there anyone else here sir?"

     Stupefied, the farmer shook his head. "Jus me and Dutch."

     Looking to the general direction that the spider crabs came
from, she said, "There is a herd of more of those things coming.
I recommend you take Dutch and head east to Newport City until
these things can be properly disposed of."

     The farmer stood up and took off his hat, "I thank ya much
fer saving my life." Mercury nodded once back to him, "I can be
much more 'preciative for saving my life ya know. I'm not such a
bad guy and..." Before he said another word, Venus stepped in
front of Mercury and growled,

     "Just get going, you cracker! Or else would you rather be
making this proposal as the crabs are all over us?! Besides,
she's already got a boyfriend." 

     Gripped in fear, the farmer ran back to the house, carried
out an old dog into his truck and drove off as quickly as he
could. When the truck was out of hearing range, Mercury turned to
her companion. 

     "I do not understand the point of scaring him off like
that... and I don't have a boyfriend."

     Sighing, Venus put her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Ames... trust me on this one. With what I've seen of these
people, it makes you wonder how they're still around after both
the Second Impact and the First Lahdam War.."

     "Still, that was rather rude of you."

     "Well, I guess I was a little rough on the guy. I mean, he's
only poor in money... and spirit... and dignity... moral fiber...
hygiene." Mercury interrupted as Venus was about to go into
another one of her fits. 

     "I see, I see. There's no need to do that. Either way," she
turned to the east, "Nephlyte was correct about the herd. They
are advancing this way." From one of the plates on her cheek, a
small microphone emerged, within seconds, a connection was made
between her and the base, "Hello? Serena? Yes, this is Mercury.
Turns out that Nephlyte was correct about the herd. I'm sending
you the coordinates of our position now. Where should we meet
you? Understood." With that, the microphone retracted back into
the plates and she turned to a waiting Mina. 

     "The herd is going to be here in less than fifteen minutes,
we are to meet the others in the 'Silver Nova' along the way back
to the base. Let's go."

     Nodding, a yellow glow began to develop about Mina and a
blue one about Amy. From an explosion, from where they were, they
flew at a greater speed than before to rendezvous with their
companions. 

*************************************************

     On the moon, in the wreckage of the Lahdam cruiser developed
by Darkon, something began to stir. In the darkness, a
consciousness awoken to find itself much different that before.
The time to strike would be soon.

*************************************************

     Being unable to fly, a herd of spider crabs traversed over
the plains and to the undefended Newport City. Most of them
simply crawling unorganized towards the city, while a few seemed
to argue about something that humanity could not understand. The
crab in front suddenly stopped and looked up to see a glowing
shape flying at them at an incredible speed. Whatever it was,
they could smell a distinctly bad thing about it and began to run
the other way. 

     The shape soon came into view and it turned out to be a
modified B-52 Bomber, colored silver  and with the hard edges
smoother and on the front, a silver twin crescent over a yellow
circle. The symbol of the Solar Moon. 

     From below the bomber, several bombs were dropped. Yet, what
made these ones much more different than the others was the
inclusion of a toxin developed that would make the blasts more
deadly to the spidercrabs. More and more bombs were dropped and
the herd scattered in every direction to try and escape. 

     With the first few blasts, the number of hits only increased
as parts of the monsters flew from their bodies and were soon
incinerated. Despite their attempt to either fly or escape, the
blasts were too big and the bombs too numerous. Within seconds,
all the spidercrabs were in disarray, too confused to fight or
fly.

     Within the bomber, the pilot raised the visor on his helmet
and smirked. Nephlyte was a better pilot than he gave himself
credit for. He turned to his back and said to a young woman with
blond hair, garbed in a business woman's suit, "Turns out they
worked. Just like you said."

     Nodding, Serena Shields brought up the visual display from
the bombing earlier. Turns out the bombs took out 20% of the
herd. And that was just what she wanted to know. Now the fun
would begin.  "Turn us around and make another run. After that,
take the plane to a safe distance and wait until we call for you.
The others and I haven't had any fun ever since that ordeal with
Rapier."

     Nehplyte chuckled and began to turn the bomber around. When
the pilot began to ready the second set of bombs, Serena walked
back into the passenger area, where several others waited for
her. She looked to her fellow Soldiers and the two Teknos that
had joined them. "Ok people, this has been our first day off ever
since this war began. So... who's hungry for seafood?"

     One by one, they voiced their readiness and eagerness to get
into the fray. They heard the sound of the bombs exploding below
them and Venus started to cackle. "Man, I love the smell of 
burning flesh and the sound of exploding bombs."

     Pluto turned to her and said sagely, "I believe you should
stop watching those old war movies. They affecting your mind for
the worse."

     Venus cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, look who's talking? They're
YOUR vids! You're just as guilty as I am for having them in the
first place."

     Pluto huffed and crossed her arms.  She hated being wrong.

     As Venus jumped, they all could hear her battle call, "I
LOVE THIS JOB!" They all wondered if she had been hitting the
sugar a bit much.

     Mars turned to Chad. He had come back during the attack with
Rapier and had continued to help them ever since. Not only that,
she was grateful that he was there. Someone whom she really could
talk to and stand her occasional explosions of temperament.
Before jumping out, she gave him a good luck kiss and jumped out
before the others could ridicule her about it. Chad blushed for a
second, shook his head and jumped after her. 

     Serena turned to Molly, who looked the most apprehensive out
of all of them. So, walking up to her friend, she wrapped her
arms around Molly's shoulders and hugged her reassuringly. Molly
looked up to Serena for a minute, smiled, and whispered, "Thank
you." She nodded as Molly stood up and went to the drop door. 

     Alex sat with her arms akimbo and more lost in thought than
the others. When it was her turn, she went to the door, and
jumped without a word to her companions. She often wondered why
she never said much, but she figured it was just a phase.

     Amy was about to stand up, but a sharp pain in her shoulder
appeared and she winced and held the aching part of her body. She
forced herself to calm down and clear her mind. Ever since she
found a way to escape the drugs, she had not taken another shot
of them. But there were withdrawal pains from time to time
without the constant intake of dope. Mercury was more than
determined to overcome the need for the drugs and she would
succeed. 

     Just as Mercury jumped out, something rocked the bomber.
Serena, being the only one left, ran to the cockpit. "What
happened?!"

     "That! That's what happened!" Nephlyte said pointing to what
appeared to be a much different Lahdam from all others. From what
Serena could remember, it was the same Lahdam that Saber once
rode. 

"Ok Nephlyte, change in orders. Take that thing down, we give you
hand if we take out the crabs before you take this thing out."
The pilot nodded and Serena ran to the drop door and jumped out
to catch up with her companions and join the slaughter. 

*************************************************

Location: Outskirts of Tokyo-2

     Nodoka Saotome, looked down at the grave of her husband. She
sighed and knelt in front of the stone, where she took out a
single rose and placed it on his grave. 

     "Genma, I was cruel to you... I was beyond nasty how I
treated you while you were living. And even at your death, I was
mean to your memory. Not only that, I was cruel to our son, a sin
that I think I can never forgive myself for. Only now do I
realize how wrong I was." Slowly, she moved forward and leaned
against the tombstone. "Please... forgive me..." Nodoka tried to
stop the tears from coming, but it was futile. 

*************************************************

Location: Space Knight Command Center

     Salian awoke from her meditation. She walked to the window
to stare at the moon. Her eyes narrowed. Something powerful was
emerging. But what? She had a very bad feeling about all of this.
It reminded her of when she last came to the Solar System in the
Silver Millenium. A powerful force that was just out of sight.
She disliked such things.

     In the loading bay, Merril Matheson rubbed the oil off his
hands as another job was completed. He shook his head and wiped
the sweat onto his arms. "Man, what a day."

     What he did not expect was that a very female body suddenly
embraced him from behind. It was not the presence of the woman
that scared him, but the fact that she had just put her hands in
dry ice. He jumped as high as he could from the adrenaline that
was suddenly pumped through his veins. 

     He turned to see Atsuko Natsume, in her lab coat and
uniform, was laughing her head off. "That wasn't funny Atsuko!"
He said frowning. She could not help but continue to laugh at the
reaction she hoped. 

     "You... you should have seen yourself! It was priceless!"
she said between giggles, holding her stomach. In response,
Merril just threw his dirtied oil rag at her. The laughter
continued nonetheless. 

     On the platform outside of Ringo Richards' room, Megumi
Morisato, Mediator Deity, stared at the moon. She had been
getting bad feelings about it ever since she looked at it earlier
that morning. Now, those uneasy feelings were just getting
progressively worse.

     "Megumi?" asked the man she had fallen in love with over a
decade ago as he walked out of the doorway. "You ok?" Ringo said,
walking up behind her. 

     She turned to him and blinked, "To be honest... no." She
turned her head to the moon. "Ever since this morning, I've just
got this bad feeling... I can't really explain it, but it's
scaring me." She went to the one she loved and held him close. 

     As his arms went around her, he looked up at the moon and
went over what she said. He never doubted her hunches and
whenever she was scared, it frightened him. For she had seen
infinitely more than he ever would and when something scared her,
it was most likely something he would not have a chance of
beating.
     
     So, doing his best for the one he loved, he held her firmly,
but gently. He felt her relax a bit under his embrace and found a
little confidence in the fact that she had confidence in him.

     On the roof, a pair of Japanese people appeared to be
immersed in a board game. Teknos Bo and Kanazuchi stared at the
chess board, racking their brains to figure out the best way to
defeat their opponent. Ranma then blinked, and the moved his
black bishop, right into Akane's king.

     "Gotcha." He said simply and with a large smirk.

     Akane jumped up and started to stomp around and scream in
frustration. She had lost three straight times in a row and she
was not happy in the least. Though she had been able to defeat
Ranma when it came of physical prowess, but with his power a as a
healer, his intelligence had literally soared above hers. When it
came to chess, shogi, checkers, any kind of game that required
strategic thinking, he had excelled at. 

     When she had finished stomping, she sighed and went back to
her husband. 

     "Feeling better?" he asked. She nodded and started to pack
up the board. 

     "I guess I just wasn't meant to play these kind of games."
She sighed. She never liked them, but she had insisted that they
play this for a while. 

     "Ah, don't worry about Akane. It's not that big a deal
anyway." He said, waving off her self-inflicted insult.

     After a pause, she turned to him and smiled, "You feel like
arguing tonight?"

     He looked up in deliberation. It had certainly been a while
since they argued. "Well... let's do it tomorrow. Fending off
that spider crab herd took more out of me than I thought." He
said looking back to her and putting the pieces inside the bag
they brought. 

     She shrugged, "Ok. But let's make sure we pick the right
subject and keep to it. I don't want to go through what happened
last time."

     Ranma chuckled. The last time they 'argued' both of them had
accidentally went off topic, resulting in making them both look
like morons. Their arguments had gotten more and more controlled
and were now simply used to remind them of the old days and to
amuse themselves. "And after we're done, you want to go out to
town? My treat." He offered.

     She nodded, "Sure."

*************************************************

End Section 4 

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