DISCLAIMER:

This story is based off of the Tenchi Muyo! anime series, produced
by AIC and released by Pioneer Anime America.  All characters
from said series are the property of such.  The characters Hikaru
Moriyata, and any Argelians (which will be discussed in a later
chapter) are the product of the imagination of Dennis Carr, and
belong to same. 

The persons and many events in this fanfic are fictitious.  Any
resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any event other
than what has obviously happened, is a coincidence.

Any military or police procedure outlined throughout the fic does
not necessarily depict any real life procedure or scenario.  Any
similarity to real life procedure/scenarios is, again,
coincidental.

Tenchi Muyo!:  Unfinished Business

A fanfic by Dennis Carr and Karmin St. Jean

Chapter 0:2 - Prologue: One Reason

The EVABS, or Extra Vehicular Activity and Battle Suit,
was designed about five years before Mihoshi and Kiyone
found themselves in the academy.  It was infrequently used,
as normally, a first class detective would not have to go out
into the vacuum of space to conduct any sort of exercise.

Very few people liked to use it, also, since its aesthetics...
well, let's just say it wasn't designed to look pretty.  It was,
in fact, quite ugly.  When worn, one looked like a distorted
insect with armor plating, save for the helmet, which was a three-
piece device that, initially, bore a vague resemblance to any
other helmet found on a NASA-issue space suit, including the one-
way view on the visor.  Add to the fact that the suit is black,
and you have one frightening looking piece of armor.

Even when not in use, it wasn't pretty.  The suit itself is a
two-piece unit that folds itself into two vaguely round shapes in
front of and behind the user of one of these suits, in such a way
that the arms stayed joined.  These two packages would sit in a
"rack", a storage unit and charging base for the suit, which
would further carry whatever add-ons one would need for any given
outing.

And yet, when used, it was the most powerful armor available to
anybody for use.  For starters, let's just say the user doesn't
put the suit on, the suit puts itself on to the user.  The right
arm could easily be rearranged to accommodate the standard GP
"glove gun", and the suit could be quickly retrofitted to carry
three F451 pulse rifles, two BG8 arm-bound missile launchers, and
a T3k portable teleporter rack, and had its own on-board
thrusters, navigational system, variable energy-based shielding
components, gravity compensation systems, atmospheric testing
equipment, and long term life support and cryogenic preservation
systems.

One of the more interesting features was the helmet itself. It
was designed to automatically remove itself from around the head
at the request of the wearer, placing the mirrored visor over the
chest, and the rest of the helmet over the suit's control pack,
in two pieces that fit one atop the other. When closed, the visor
further had a HUD viewing system - complete with weapons
targeting/guidance, system diagnostic lights (or "idiot lights",
if you will) and other gauges, and multi-frequency viewing for
those moments when one needs an infra-red or X-ray view.

The second best part of the suit was that it wasn't simply for
battle - the suit could be further used for simple EVA's, and had
its own set of tools that could be attached to the suit for just
about anything that required one to step into the vacuum of
space.  Ironically, for this function, it was the butt of a few
jokes, and discussion of the KS-1 Kitchen Sink attachment could
be heard amongst laughter from anyone who even came in contact
with the suits.

To top it all off, the suit had a neural interface - all but the
entry and exit functions could be controlled by careful thought.  

It was, for all intents and purposes, a helluva marvel of modern
technology that would even make William T. Gates III stand and
take notice - even if he were unable to copy the technology. It
was a mystery as to how all this was crammed into such a relatively
small package, but hey, it worked.
                        
At any rate, when Mihoshi Kurumitsu found herself "behind the
wheel" of one of these suits, it was considered miraculous that
she could maintain the state of mind required to manipulate one
of these suits.

---

Relative earth time:  September 10, 1993

*She's still in the ship.*

This was Kiyone's first thought as she returned to Yagami, half
expecting to find her ditzy partner on board, and not really
surprised that she wasn't.  

Her first reaction was to almost flip out and strangle her - but
this was quickly put to rest as she remembered it wasn't really
her fault she was so scatterbrained.  In fact, nobody knew for
sure why she was this way, but it was more than made up for in
that her sharp eye for detail - not to mention her uncanny luck -
had more than once solved a case, if not rather destructively.

Besides, that was still her partner on that ship.

Her friend.

Kiyone Makabi paused for a moment longer, and looked out at the
three Argelian battle cruisers poised out in front, which were
still unaware of Yagami's presence.

*I have to get her out of there,* she thought.  Then she sat,
resigned.  *But I can't get her out of there without her key.
DAMMIT!*

She thought a moment longer, and decided that she should have no
problem getting out.  If not her luck, she has a way with these
things.

Having little else in the way of options, she pressed a button on
the left arm of her EVABS armor, causing it to unfold from her
body and refold into two packages in front of and behind her onto
its storage rack, sat down in her pilot's chair, and mumbled a
brief prayer to whatever god might be listening.

---

Mihoshi, at this moment, was trying desperately to recover from
being lost, and having very little luck at such.  She was,
however, remembering details about the ship that most people
would overlook.

Finally, after several passes through the corridors, she found
what she was looking for.  

That damned elusive elevator shaft.

Mihoshi guided the suit over to the shaft, and drifted down five
levels in the ship's lunar gravity to where she recalled the
Engineering department being.

*Or was it six*? she further thought idly.

She then heard something resembling a child crying.  Upon turning
in the general direction of the sound, she immediately learned
she was on the imprisonment level - staring right at the back of
the guard.

Mihoshi immediately compensated by grabbing a nearby handhold and
stopping herself, nearly pulling her right arm out of its socket
in the process.  The detective winced, and somehow managed to not
cry out in pain, as she unsuccessfully attempted to massage the
strained muscles through the suit.

*OK.  Possible hostage situation, and they probably don't know
I'm in here.*

She then noticed the cries getting louder.  The warden on duty,
in reaction, quelled the child by pressing a button on his
console, which, if Mihoshi were to correctly judge the blue-white
light that then emanated from a cell down the block for nary a
tenth of a second, sent an electrical arc through the cell.  It
wasn't enough to kill the child, but enough to elicit a scream
from him (her?), and reduce the cries to a low whimper.

*Fifteenth one down on the right side*, she thought, shortly
before she let her rage take over briefly.  Mihoshi pushed
herself up from her handhold with her still-fully-functional left
arm, and allowed the low gravity in the ship to bring her back
down to a location behind the guard.  Miraculously, she landed
without making so much as a sound.

The guard, sensing a minor shift in the air despite the lack of
noise, swiveled around in his chair, and found himself staring
straight into what could be best described as a blond-haired blue-
eyed fire of utter hatred.  Only on catching sight of this did an
emergency thought process catch on - hit the panic button, and
*now*.

It was too late though.  Mihoshi caught this, and with one swift
motion, unclipped her pulse rifle from her back, and slammed the
butt of it into the back of the Argelian's head just after he
turned around to find the emergency backup call, but before his
hand could reach any of the controls of his board.  The guard,
now unconscious, bounced out of his seat and over the control
panel, landing in front of the hallway.

Mihoshi surveyed her surroundings, and noted a data pad on the
console in front of her.  Upon picking it up and manipulating it,
she learned three things: there had previously been about four
hundred hostages, they were all from her home planet, Kazaki, and
all but one - the child in this ship - had been executed by being
blown out of an airlock.  

Mihoshi packed the data pad into "hammerspace" with her control
cube, releasing a coffee maker in the process (I could never
find that thing when I needed it!), put the coffee maker back
into hammerspace, and proceeded down the corridor with a bound,
letting the suit's thrusters propel her forward, and touching
down only twice - once, on the still unconscious warden's face,
and a second time in front of the cell, which she opened
immediately upon landing.

The child inside, upon seeing the insectile being come in after,
screamed, and realized he couldn't move due to electrically-
induced paralysis.

Mihoshi, being in a stable mindset for the moment, opened the
helmet.  "Mihoshi," she opened, "GP.  I'm here to get you out of
here and send you home."

The dark haired child stopped screaming upon seeing a face he
recognized as one of his own race, but was still frightened.  The
blonde detective picked him up nonetheless, whispering something
in an attempt to calm him down.  It seemed to be working.

After a few seconds, he finally spoke.  "Ev...  Ev...  Everyone
else is dead."

"I know, and I wish we would've known sooner.  We'll get you out
of here alive though."  She exited the cell with the child still
attached to her, pausing only momentarily to survey outside.

It was still empty.  But the warden was gone.

Mihoshi put up a force field around the recovered hostage, and
stepped outside, checking all directions - including up - for any
sign of the warden.  She then bounced down the hallway into the
open.

"FREEZE!"

Mihoshi was still on one though - get out of the ship, and now! 
Needless to say, she didn't stop - partly due to the lack of
gravity, partly due to an animalistic instinct to recover the
hostage.  Whatever she figured it was, she spun around, once
again unclipped her pulse rifle, and sent a spray of fire through
the room, killing the three security officers in the process. 
She then bumped against the prison warden's console, sending her
tumbling into the shaft with a surprised yelp.

As soon as she was in the shaft, she used the suit's thrusters to
give her a push down to the next level, and pushed herself out.

It was engineering.  Only a few turns, and she would be at the
airlock She and Kiyone had discussed.

Then the alarms went off.

---

Kiyone looked at her watch.  It had been six minutes.

A series of bleeps announced a radio hail from her partner.  She
knocked the mess of junk food wrappers aside and answered. 
"Mihoshi, is that you?"

"Kiyone... hostage situation... one recovered... in trouble... 
gotta get-!"

*Hostage situation?!* "Mihoshi, how many are still in there?"

"None, they're all dead-" The link went dead as the Argelians put
up an interference field.

"Mihoshi?"

*Oh, man, why the HELL are we doing this?!*

---

Mihoshi was quick to pick up on the dead link, and proceeded to
where she remembered engineering to be.  She then realized she
had no idea how to get out.

And her charge had started to hyperventilate due to carbon
dioxide build-up.  She released the field, allowing fresh air
into his lungs, and resealed it.  He would need it for what they
were about to do. 

Mihoshi ran over to the airlock, noted the outside door was still
open, and started pressing several buttons at once, setting off
the last thing she wanted to hear - a computerized monotone
voice, preceded by an urgent bleep of the alarm.

"Warning.  Engine cooling system off line.  Core breach in one
minute.  Warning.  Core dump mechanisms locked.  Unable to eject
core.  Abandon ship now."

"NO!"  She tried desperately to reverse the process she had
inadvertently started - and popped open a small panel next to the
airlock in the process.

*OK, forget it.  I gotta get us out of here.*

Inside the panel was a handle attached to what appeared to be a
hydraulic arm.  She pulled this out, turned it 90 degrees to the
right, and pushed it back in.  This caused a red "paddle" to pop
out from next to the plunger, accompanied by an explosive bolt
warning light.

Mihoshi re-helmeted, made *damn* sure the air shield around the
boy was still functional, moved in front of the airlock door, and
hit the paddle with her laser rifle just as several armed troops
made their way around the corner.

As several sparks punctuated the ejection of the hatch, Mihoshi
opened fire on the troops before they could even think of
grabbing something to keep from being pulled out with the
atmosphere.

The boy screamed as they were blown out into the void, and was
surprised to find himself breathing, let alone intact, as they
cleared the ship.

---

A burst of light caught Kiyone's attention, and she watched as
she saw an armored body fly out of the hole left as the hatch was
blown clear of the ship.

She watched the body turn toward Yagami to fly toward the ship,
and noticed an unsuited humanoid attached to the front of her
partner.  She ran to the back of the ship to open the airlock for
them just as three Argelian bodies were blown into space.

---

Mihoshi slowed slightly, and guided herself into the open door.
As soon as she was in, the outer door closed, and the
repressurization cycle began.  Meanwhile, she continued to
absentmindedly stroke the now hyperventilating boy behind the
ears to calm him - and perhaps herself.

After about fifteen seconds, the inner door opened.  Mihoshi
quickly ran out of the room, popped her helmet, inhaled, and
somehow crammed all Kiyone need to know into one word before she
could even speak as she ran toward the bridge, the child still
holding her.

"KiyoneIaccidentallykilledthecoolingsystemontheargelianshipit's
gonnablowinfifteensecondsandtakethesectorwithitit'samatterantimatter
drivesystemIhaveahostagewithmeGETUSTHEHELL OUT OF HERE!"

"You WHAT?!"

"JUST GO OR WE'RE DEAD!" she cried, as she planted herself at her
station, rescuee still attached, and started frantically working
controls.

Kiyone took one good look at the three ships, one of which was
discharging escape pods, and followed suit.

The Yagami entered hyperspace with no time to spare.  The second
the wormhole opened, all hell broke loose.  One cruiser
violently exploded into a ball of white light, which sent a
shockwave out that would cover an entire sector.  The adjacent
ships, sturdy though they were, couldn't take the shock in
stride, and collided with each other.  Several more of the life
boats discharged themselves from the two ships before they
started to disintegrate in short-lived flames, as oxygen seeped
out through newly found breaches.

The shockwave passed the former location of the Yagami the second
the portal closed.

---

Once the course was set, Mihoshi sat back for a moment with her
eyes closed, and after a minute, proceeded to explain what she
saw to Kiyone. 

"There were four hundred eight hostages.  All but the one I had
recovered were blown out of the airlock as to be executed.  All
of them were from my home planet."  She paused, grabbed her cube,
brought out the data pad she collected and the coffee maker, and
handed the pad to Kiyone.  "All of them were orphaned children."
She then looked at the coffee maker, which had fallen on the
floor, and decided to take some adhesive and attach it to her
console somewhere

Kiyone looked at her in disbelief, then looked at the pad - and
nearly dropped it as she confirmed what Mihoshi had said.

While Mihoshi placed the now sleeping child in her seat and left
the bridge to de-suit, Kiyone read on the pad of the details of
this. 

One of the three Kazakian moons was to become a mining colony at
the hands of the Argelians - however, something in the deal went
wrong.  The Argelians had picked up 408 children off of the
surface of her partner's home planet as what they referred to as
a "bargaining chip" to lower the sale price of the satellite. 
The Kazakian government, in turn, refused to lower their demands.

And yet, the miners were very quiet in their operation - they
collected the children from three orphanages scattered about the
northern continent of the planet.  They had killed the attendants
at each orphanage, taken the children, and methodically
discharged them from an airlock.  

And despite all of this, Kazaki would not budge.

All this over a rock orbiting that planet.

Kiyone sat a moment, sipped on some cold tea that was sitting at
her console, and stared out the window in disbelief.

*Sometimes*, she thought, *life brought on such misfortune.  But
if something could have been done, why was nothing done?*

As Kiyone looked over at the restlessly sleeping child, Mihoshi
returned to the bridge, wearing her standard uniform, wet hair
from her brief shower, and a very pained expression.  At this
point, Kiyone realized she was still not in uniform - she hadn't
bothered changing out of the bodysuit one was required to wear
under the EVABS if they intended to keep from getting friction
burns - or for that matter, if they wanted to interface with the
suit.

Kiyone traded places with her partner, walked to the back of the
ship, stripped, and showered for about two minutes.  It did much
from what stress she had acquired from worrying about her
partner, not to mention cleaning the residue of dried
perspiration from her body, but did little to dissipate her rage
toward her partner's home planet's government.

Kiyone further reflected that her own home planet was in
partnership with these monsters, as she climbed into her own
uniform.  

After dressing, she turned off the water recovery unit, and
returned to the bridge of the ship, where she found both the boy,
who couldn't be any older than what a human would consider
fourteen, and her partner, embracing and weeping.

Kiyone knelt down next to the chair and put her arms around both
of them, and did something that would normally be considered very
out of character for her.

Kiyone Makabi wept.  Bitterly.

---

Five hours later....

Kiyone finally stood up, hands on the desk in front of her, and
looked at Saarnd incredulously.  "WHAT?!"

The leonid looked back at her.  "Makabi, I'm sorry, but there's
nothing I can do.  There is one ship remaining, and it, in
theory, contains the last of this race.  To destroy this ship
would be genocide, and further, we have no evidence that what
Argelians are on this ship-"

"-have committed any crimes," she completed dejectedly, sitting
down with a scowl on her face.

Saarnd leaned forward in his seat and looked at the two
detectives.  "Listen.  We all know that the Argelians are all for
slave labor, not to mention terrorism, but we have no evidence
against them."

It was Mihoshi's turn to interject.  "What about my partner's
home planet?  What about Praxis?  What about this latest
incident?"

"Kurumitsu, when our guys get to the site, they've already
cleared out.  We just have no evidence against them."

Mihoshi stood up, now enraged, spilling her coffee on the
floor.  "Four hundred seven innocent children are now dead
because we had no evidence against them!" she hollered, now
drawing the attention of other officers milling about nearby.
"Each of these arrests attempts we make result in the loss of
I don't know how many civilian lives, and it's because we have no
evidence against them!"  She pointed at the brief report her
partner made, and the adjacent pilfered data pad, now sealed in
an evidence bag, tears once again welling up in her eyes.  "Just
what the hell do you call this?"

"DETECTIVE, SIT DOWN NOW!"

Mihoshi caught herself, and took two deep breaths.  "I'm sorry,
sir," she said, slowly sitting, and forcing herself to be calm. 
"I was out of line."

Saarnd continued to wait a moment, and allow his detective to
cool off.  As he stared at the material before him, he realized
that Mihoshi was never known to be like this.  

After a minute, Saarnd had concluded that Mihoshi had calmed down
enough.  "Kurumitsu, what we have here is evidence enough to
convict the Argelians that were on the T'sunor of slave labor,
and attempted genocide.  But note that I said `were' on the
T'sunor.  Might I remind you that, somehow, you managed to
destroy T'sunor, along with two other ships - with most of the
respective crew."  He stood up, and proceeded to close the blinds
that were on the windows of his office.  "Their computer core was
very possibly destroyed, and even our best hackers could not have
cracked that thing without being inside.  And, to get inside, we
need a warrant.  If we serve them with a warrant, they can simply
blot out evidence."

The commander finished closing the blinds, and sat back down at
his desk.  "Mihoshi, Kiyone, considering what happened, I
would've done the same thing.  I've had friends killed at the
hands of the Argelians.  I've seen entire worlds ravaged by these
people - and I say `people' reluctantly."  

He paused a moment, thinking, and continued.  "Under the
circumstances, I cannot officially commend you for your actions
in this matter.  However, I can unofficially do so.  You both did
well under the circumstances.  Nevertheless, I have no choice.  

"Detective Kurumitsu, Detective Makabi, I am ordering both of you
off of this case.  I'm certain you know my reasons."

The two detectives nodded their acknowledgement.

"The two of you will be on separate traffic details for the next
year.  Do you have any questions?"

Silence.

"Very well.  Makabi, you're dismissed.  Kurumitsu, remain
seated."

Kiyone stood and left the room.

When the door closed, Saarnd continued.  "Mihoshi, you know damn
well that your actions could very easily have gotten you canned. 
But, I can't."  He stood up, and peered out through the blinds. 
"Much as I hate to admit it, you're one of the better officers I
have on the force.  Besides," he added, with a note of cynicism,
"the commissioner would kill me."

Mihoshi let off a quick half-smile, despite her anger.

The commander turned to face her, a *very* rare soft look on his
face.  "At any rate, let me be the first to say that I am sorry
for what happened.  I'm putting some of my best out there, and
we're posting guards at the sanctuaries."  He sat down.  "I want
these jackasses behind bars as much as you do, but we still have
to get something on them.  Either way, you are forbidden to work
on this case for the next five years.  I want to give you time to
cool off because of this.  Is this understood?"

She managed a weak smile.  "Yes, sir."

"Good.  Dispatch will have your next assignment.  Dismissed."

Mihoshi walked out of the office, a little perplexed.  She wasn't
sure if this was a punishment or not.

---

The next day, Mihoshi was back to her normal self, and showed no
evidence that she even remembered the incident.   

The Kazakian boy she rescued, Soize Sabishii, on the other
hand, did remember, and would remember as he went into a special
training group with the Galaxy Police.