Disclaimer : Tenchi Muyo! and all the characters thereof are the
property of Pioneer/AIC and such. Star Trek : The Next Generation and
all characters thereof are property of Paramount. None of the characters
in this fanfic are being paid for their appearance here, nor is the
author getting any profit from this work of fiction (as if!).

Futher, if you wish to archive this fanfic on a publicly-accessibly site
(be it Web, FTP, or whatever), I have no objections to that as long as
such does not bring any profit to anyone (if I don't make money off of
it, no one will make money off of it). All I ask is that you contact me
and let me know where the archive location is so I can check it out.

That said, on with the show...





                            THE MIHOSHI INCIDENT

                         Chapter 1 - Off We Go....

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a peaceful scene, one that many people would dream of. A
distinguished home nestled on the shore of a calm lake, surrounded by
thickly forested hills. A mild breeze rustling the leaves. Birds and
insects calling out ceaselessly to whomever was listening. A handful of
white, puffy clouds crawling lazily across the sapphire sky.

Yes, a beautiful scene.

Suddenly, a loud explosion shocks the birds to silence. A cloud of dense
black smoke erupts from several windows on the house's upper floor.
Startled shouts and screams come from inside the house. Another
explosion, and even more smoke belches out of the upper windows. Now,
distinct voices can be made out.

A woman's voice, shrill and deafening. "Ryoko! Look at this mess! How
could you *DO* such a thing?!"

Another woman, her voice defiant. "Hey! Don't you go blaming me for
this! Washu never told me that this thing would backfire at the highest
setting!"

"Don't go trying to shift the blame, Ryoko! You should know better than
to take potentially dangerous items from Washu's lab in the first place!
Um.... what *is* that... device... anyway?"

A harsh laugh. "You mean to tell me that you don't know what this is?" A
barrage of laughter. "Boy, you are an inexperienced one, aren't you?"

"WHAT?! Why, you.... you.... you have no right to speak to me that way!"

"Actually, I consider it more of a priviledge, princess."

A third woman's voice joins the chorus. "Will you two please stop! I
mean, what's done is done, and there's no use arguing about it if it's
already done, right? Unless, of course, you could un-do it, but you
can't, so it's really useless arguing about it. Right?"

The first two women, in unison, "Shut up, Mihoshi!"

Now a man's voice, "What the...? What are you doing to my house now?!"

The defiant woman again, now apologetic. "Tenchi! Why, I.... uh.... I
was doing some.... uh.... redecorating!"

"Redecorating?" the man replied, "You blew up the toilet!"

Yet another female voice, this one noticeably younger in tone. "Dinner's
ready!"

Another normal day in the Masaki household.

---

Mihoshi held a pillow in a close, smothering embrace as she giggled
hysterically. Despite the commotion earlier that day, she hadn't missed
as much of her favorite show as she had feared. In fact, it was getting
really interesting. Marthus had apologized profusely and proclaimed his
undying love, and had even gone so far as to agree to adopt the two
illegitimate hatchlings that he had sired. Janus had taken him back into
her house and it looked like they were going to live happily ever after.

Mihoshi dabbed at the tears that filled her eyes. Life was good.

So enraptured was she in her own joy at that moment that Mihoshi didn't
feel the hand on her shoulder at first. It wasn't until the fifth
"Mihoshi!" that she realized someone was talking to her. She looked up
from the pillow. It was Sasami, Ryo-ohki perched on her head. "Oh!
Sasami! I didn't see you there. What is it?"

Sasami smiled. "You're watch is ringing."

"Huh?" Mihoshi glanced at the multi-purpose communicator/criminal
detector/temporal indicator strapped to her wrist. "Why, you're
absolutely right Sasami! Thank you very much."

"Sure." the young princess replied, her smile broadening.

Mihoshi smiled back and pressed the communications button. "Yes?"

"Mihoshi?" Yukinojo's distraught voice blurted from the communicator.
"I've been trying to contact you for over an hour. Where have you been?"

"What? Oh, I was.... ah.... I was... well..."

"Mihoshi," the computer interrupted, "It's time for us to start our
weekly patrol of the system."

"Already? But we just patrolled it..." Mihoshi tried to count off the
days on her fingers. "Um... one, two, three... um.... last week!"

"Eight days ago, to be exact." the computer clarified. "And we're
supposed to patrol the system once a week - which is seven days. We're
behind schedule!"

Mihoshi absorbed the logic of that and nodded. "You're so very right,
Yukinojo. We'd better get going, then."

"I'll be waiting for your arrival, Mihoshi."

Tossing the pillow aside, Mihoshi jumped to her feet. "I've got to
patrol the solar system now." she explained to Sasami.

"Really?" Sasami asked, her eyes sparkling. "Can I go with you?"
Ryo-Ohki cocked her head to one side and meowed expectantly. "I mean,
can we go with you?"

"Well, I don't know..." Mihoshi began.

"Please? I've always wanted to see what a Galaxy Policeperson does."

Mihoshi paused. "Well, I suppose you could, but don't you have to
prepare dinner for everyone? We could be gone for a while."

The Juraian princess shook her head. "No, Aeka's cooking dinner tonight.
She said she wanted to fix something special for Tenchi. To apologize
for what Ryoko did, I think."

"Ah." Mihoshi pulled a white puff-ball from her belt, compressed it, and
smiled as the fluffy ball turned into a pink cube. "Well, I guess it's
alright then. Are you ready?"

"Just a second." Sasami said, running over and poking her head into the
kitchen. "Aeka, Ryo-Ohki and I are going out with Mihoshi! Be back
soon!" Aeka, whose head was buried beneath the sink, gave a muffled
reply. Running back over to where Mihoshi was standing, Sasami nodded
once. "Ready."

"Mrrow!" Ryo-Ohki agreed.

"Okay, here we go!" Mihoshi gave the cube a twist, and the trio
vanished.

Aeka walked out of the kitchen, bits of carrot and potato peelings
dotting her hair and clothing. "Sasami? Going where?" She looked around.
"Sasami? Hmph. Now where did she get off too?"

There was a brief roar outside. By the time Aeka reached the large
sliding doors, Mihoshi's ship was but a tiny speck of light climbing
into the mid-day sky. Hand over her mouth, all Aeka could bring herself
to say was, "Oh, my."

---

Contrary to what many science-fiction shows would have one believe,
space is basically a vast expanse of absolutely nothing. Mighty planets,
blazing stars, glowing galaxies, beautiful to the last - but all were
separated from one another by unimaginable distances of emptiness. Even
ships journeying at superluminal speeds must travel for long periods of
time before coming upon anything at all. Long periods of time that often
lead to intense boredom.

What's a person to do?

Some species put their spaceship crews in suspended animation for the
duration. Others use computer generated virtual reality simulations to
keep crews alert. One species went so far as to use collectable card
games smuggled off of the off-limits planet known as Earth to keep it's
starship staffers from going insane during the long journeys. There were
as many methods as there were space-faring races. And, contrary to over
three dozen GP regulations, if you were a certain Galaxy Policeperson,
you watched soap operas.

"Mihoshi? What are they doing?"

Mihoshi's face gained a faint pinkish shade. "Ummm.... they're kissing."

"They are?" Sasami leaned closer to the screen. "I've never seen anyone
kiss like that before."

Ryo-Ohki nodded in agreement. "Meow-ow!"

Mihoshi's blush deepened. "Well, you see... they're Octarians, and
Octarians don't have.... um, well..... they don't..." Mihoshi buried her
face in her hands, her blush intensifying to a crimson glow. "Oh, this
is so embarrassing!" She stammered for a few more minutes before finally
stating "That's just the way they do it."

Sasami seemed satisfied with the answer, and turned back to watch the
show some more.

Glad to have passed that hurdle, Mihoshi leaned back on the couch and
sighed... only to shriek as a loud alarm blared out of a nearby speaker.
She jumped to her feet, knocking over a table and several chairs in the
process.

Yukinojo's voice rang out from the command center. "Mihoshi!"

Mihoshi stumbled into the cockpit, stubbing her toes against an
overturned chair. "Ouch! My foot!" She began leaping around, her injured
foot in her hands. "Ow!Ow!Ow!Ow!"

"Mihoshi? Mihoshi? MIHOSHI?" the computer was almost shouting now,
bobbing up and down in agitation.

"What's happening, Mihoshi?" Sasami inquired, stepping carefully around
the overturned chair. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Looking up from her foot, Mihoshi noticed that several alarms
were ringing. She turned towards the cockpit. "What's going on,
Yukinojo?"

"Mihoshi, sensors are picking up an anomalous energy vortex ahead of
us." Yukinojo moved closer to the door and peered inside. "Regulation
167 sub-paragraph 4 states that all anomalous energy readings should be
investigated."

"Oh, okay." Mihoshi turned to the young princess. "Sasami, strap
yourself into a chair and hang on! I've got some Police work to do!"

"All right!" Sasami squealed in delight, running into the cockpit and
jumping into a nearby seat. "Finally we get to see some action! Ready,
Ryo-Ohki?"

The cabbit's ears perked up. "Mrreow-ow!"

Dropping herself in the command chair, Mihoshi paused a moment to adjust
the blue GP-issue cap that sat on her head. "Okay, Yukinojo... let's go
see what's up with that anona... amona... amolama... that energy thingie
you mentioned."

"Right away, Mihoshi!"

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------


Comments? Criticisms? Write me at : doppleganger@pipeline.com