Okay, here's the revised version with better spellchecking. Hope
it goes over a little better... By the way, he isn't selected
to seal Chaos, or even negotiate. He is there because... well,
you'll see.
Disclaimer: The trolls in Great Britain at Games Workshop
own Warhammer 40,000; I don't. I don't own the Ranma
characters, either.
The Emperor's Hand
The Emperor's body sat in the Golden Throne, the
arcane technological construct that sustained it beyond
physical death, and his spirit soared through the cosmos.
It had barely been a century since the battle with the
Warmaster, Horus, that had marked the end of the worst
civil war that had rent his fledgling Imperium, and now
the form that had housed his immortal essence for thirty
thousand years lay rotting there.
His soul free, the Emperor began to grow aghast at
the actions of his children. They began to fall to cultural
barbarism, regarding technology as a mystical or religious
secret, even as they grew more brutal and cold. They opened
themselves up to the very force of Chaos that had taken
his friend, the Warmaster, and made of him an enemy, all
the while actively fighting that force's manifestations,
the daemons, mutants, and deadly Champions of Chaos. The
Eye of Terror, where Realspace and the Warp, home of the
Gods of Chaos, overlap, grew each coming year.
Chaos was not the only problem for his children. The
barbaric Orks, and their Gretchin slaves, would stage
frequent raids on whatever world they came across, to
pillage and destroy for no other reason for its own sake.
The insectoid Tyranids, and their bioengineered slave
races, such as the Genestealers, swarmed over world after
world to claim new genetic material. And the Eldar, who
should be Man's closest ally against the darkness far too
prevalent in the galaxy, was in an almost constant state of
war with the sons of Earth.
Reaching out, he found those among Humanity in whom
his own bloodline was strong. Raising them to be his own
Champions, and naming them the Sensei, he sought to have
them lead his people to the way of enlightenment, so
that they would have the strength to simply reject Chaos,
and by doing so seal it away for all eternity. But the
humans perceived the Sensei to be just another form of the
Chaos Champions, and hunted them. The Emperor's soul wept
as, one by one, the Sensei were slain by those they were
sent to save, with no martyrhood to further their cause.
Now, nearly ten thousand years after the Horus Heresy,
and forty thousand years since the start of Human
civilization, the Emperor sought a different way. He would
send a Human among the Eldar, the ancient and graceful
race that once commanded the galaxy. They would sway the
Eldar into allying with Humanity instead of warring
against them. And, with the cessation of hostility, they
could help guide his children away from their barbarity,
and into that state which no force of Chaos could touch.
But no one who lived who would trust the Eldar, now, and
no one could impress them enough to sway them. He would
have to reach through time and space, to the past. He
stretched forth his hand, reaching back ten, twenty, and
then thirty thousand years.
Ah, yes. He will do. He will do nicely. I hope.
****************************
Ranma Saotome decided that he _really_ didn't like
the taste of a bicycle tire. After all, he had tasted it
enough, with the number of times Shampoo's bike had
landed on his face. Before he had a chance to express his
hard-earned decision, he found himself pulled to his feet,
and face to face with the overexcited Chinese Amazon.
Most people who found themselves in such close proximity
to the gorgeous girl would simply relax, and enjoy the
intimacy. Instead, he felt the panic begin to rise.
"RRRAAANNMMAA!" growled Akane. They had been on their
way home from school when the incident happened, and she
wasn't too happy with him to begin with. During lunch, he
had made a lame excuse to escape the unknown contents of a
bento box she offered him, then gleefully accepted the meal
that Ukyou had prepared for him. Admittedly, he had then
tried Akane's meal, then had the gall to spend most of the
next two class periods at the Nurse's station.
'Oh no. Not again.' thought Ranma, more out of resig-
nation than fear. He knew what was coming next, and decided
to go with the flow.
BLAM! A shoe rose, connected with his chin, and shot
him out of Shampoo's grasp like toothpaste squirting from
a tube. Akane lowered her foot, and glared at him as he
flew out of sight. "I don't believe him!"
Shampoo stood next to her for a second, also keeping
an eye on the beautiful ballistic arc he traced in the
sky. "Why Violent Girl do that to Airen?"
Akane turned on her. "Get it through your head,
Shampoo, he's not your husband! I don't care what your
laws are, you aren't married!"
Shampoo kept her eyes on Ranma, then her jaw dropped.
"Eeep!" was all she managed to squeak out, pointing to the
sky.
"What?" asked Akane, then followed the pointing finger.
Directly in her fiancee's path, a hole had opened up in
the sky. A huge, ephemeral hand reached out, and gently
arrested his headlong flight. Closing around the pigtailed
martial artist, it drew itself back in to the rip in time
and space, and it was gone. The only traces of the bizarre
phenomenon were the shocked expressions of two teenaged girls.
"Oh, no," whispered Akane, "what have I done?"
Despite common perception, Shampoo was not an airhead.
She knew that a Ranma removed from this reality was no good
to anyone, especially her. Akane was here, and she had also
seen what had happened. "Come on, Violent Girl. We go see
Great Grandmother."
The Japanese girl glared at her for a second, then came
to the same realization. Mutely, and somewhat in shock, she
nodded. 'Oh, Ranma,' she thought. 'I hope you're okay...'
- Valandar the Red of the Empty Tankard
=====
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