Insertion

 Part 27

 The Federation Strikes Back!

++++++++++++++

 Serena ran through the crowd in the shopping area of the space station.
She knew that she had to hurry, or it would be too late. The senshi had
no idea what they were dealing with. Ranma had given up so easily that
they would think she wasn't much of a threat.

 Briefly she had wondered why he gave up so easily. After a moment it had
dawned on her. Ranma had no idea what they had done with Hanna. After she
found out, she'd probably fight them in an attempt to rescue herself and
the woman.

 Something about that worried her though; Uranus and Neptune were not
Jupiter. They were possibly the third and fourth most powerful senshi,
and were easily the most dangerous. "I've got to hurry, before they kill
each other!"

++++++++++++

 Uranus watched the cloud of super cold mist rise up from the floor as
the freezing chamber roared to life. She stepped forward across the
grated floor with the other two senshi standing behind her. The chamber
slowly rose up from the floor, revealing an empty block of carbonite.

 "What?" muttered Mercury as she walked up beside her fellow senshi.
"Where?"

 "Surprised?" said Ranma as she appeared in front of her face with a wild
looking grin. 

 Mercury staggered back, and the girl struck her with a super hard blow
to her face that sent her sprawling across the ground. Ranma seemed to
vanish from sight and appeared on the other side of the room before the
senshi's companions could react.

 "Take her friend and get back to the ship. Return Serenity to her
mother," said Neptune as she eyed the girl coldly. "We'll handle this."

 Uranus nodded and stepped up beside the woman.

 Mercury shook her head as she rose to her feet and moved over to the
slab of carbonite. She pressed several buttons on the controls on the
sides and it slowly rose from the floor. Without another word, she pushed
it out the door and left the trio alone. They were in a stand off.

 Ranma was putting her belt back on; none of the senshi had even seen her
take it back. She looked up at them and smiled again. "I've tried being
nice about this, but you just had to screw that up. Now we're going to do
this my way."

 "And what way would that be?" said Neptune as she narrowed her eyes at
the girl.

 "I'm gonna kick your scrawny, leggy, little asses, take back my friend,
and then blast out of here on the ship I came in on," she replied.

 "You're not strong enough to beat us," said Neptune with a haughty
looking smirk.

 Ranma vanished and appeared in front of the woman, her fist deep into
her gut. She slumped forward onto his shoulder and coughed as she
attempted to get her breath back. Before Uranus could retaliate, the girl
moved away, causing Neptune to fall to her knees.

 "You'll pay for that," said Uranus as she stalked foreword.

 "I've been hearing a lot of that lately," she replied calmly as she
simply put up her fists and glared.

 Uranus brought up her palm and shot a small blast of power at her
opponent. Ranma didn't move, or so it seemed. The blast seemed to pass
right through her. This caused the senshi to halt her foreword motion
suddenly. "What the?"

 "What's the matter?" said the redhead coldly. "I'd love to stay and play
with you ladies, but I've got to go and catch your friend before she
flies off with my pal there."

 Neptune and Uranus stood side by side, both of them realizing at once
that this girl was much more than they had been expecting.

 "Worlds Shaking!"

 "Deep Submerge!"

 The attacks were never completed. Ranma appeared between the two of them
in a double kick that slammed into both of their guts. After that, the
redhead merely pounded the two women into the ground. She moved too fast
for them to counter, and was far too relentless for them to recover from
the initial attack.

 "Give Jupiter a message for me. The next time I see her, I'm going to
take her hand," said Ranma coldly as she walked out of the room.

 The two senshi slowly rose to their feet and the redhead whirled around
in the doorway. She raised both her hands up and snarled at them. "Stay
down!" 

 Both women were thrown onto the floor again. Sections of it curled up
around them, pinning them both down.

+++++++++++++

 Mercury calmly walked onto the senshi's ship. She was pushing the frozen
woman in front of her calmly and holding the side of her face to ease the
pain that was forming there. She turned and looked down the ramp as it
slowly rose up closing the ship. 

 "I hope they make that bastard suffer," she said with a small frown.

 The ship slowly rose off the landing pad and into the sky, leaving the
planet behind.

+++++++++++

 Serena frowned as she stumbled onto the landing pad that held Hanna's
ship. It was silent, and there were no people running around at all.
"Well, this is it."

 "Serena?" said a familiar voice from behind her.

 "Oh no," said the princess as she slowly turned around and saw him
standing there.

 "Why did you hit me? What's going on here?" said Endimyon as he walked
up beside her.

 "You were following me?!" snapped the girl in shock.

 "Of course I was! What the heck is this thing?" he turned to look at the
ship for a moment. A disgusted look crossed his face and he stared at it.
"What a piece of junk!"

 Serena blushed and stood between him and the ship. "Look. Just go back
to wherever you came from! I'm fine! I've already got a ride to where I'm
going, and I don't need your help!"

 "I can't do that! I have to stay with you! Come back with me...I..." he
paused and looked up at the sky for a moment. "No! Where the heck are
they going?"

 Serena blinked and noticed that the senshi's ship was taking off
already. "Damn it," she muttered as she looked at the young prince in
frustration.

++++++++++++

 Ranma frowned as she watched the starship rise into the air. She had
made it there just in time to see it spin around in the air and rise into
the sky. After a moment, the ship blasted forward leaving him standing
there dumbly. "Bloody hell. Now I have to go get her!" He sighed and hung
his head, at least he had managed to get rid of Serena safely. 

++++++++++++

 Five minutes later...

 "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

 "Who is this girl?" said Endimyon dumbly as he looked down at the
redhead for a moment.

 "I dunno," replied Serena as she poked at Ranma with her foot. The girl
had screamed at them and then passed out.

 "Maybe she's one of those fan types?" said Endimyon with a cheerful
looking smirk. "You know, we are royalty. Perhaps she recognized us and
was overwhelmed?"

 "I don't think that was the right kind of scream," said Serena as she
looked at him in frustration.

 "What the hell are you two still doing here?" said Ranma as she suddenly
sat up and punched Endimyon in the face.

 "Ouch! Wench! How dare you strike the..." 

 Ranma decked him again and glared at Serena. "What are you still doing
here?"

 "Who the heck are you?" cried the princess fearfully.

 Ranma blinked and seemed to remember something. "I'm...Ranma. It's kind
of a curse..." He had briefly considered lying to the girl, but he didn't
have time to deal with it at the moment. If he lied now, he'd have to
explain everything later. "Come on. We have to go!" she snapped as she
grabbed Serena by her arm and started to drag her towards the ship.

 "Wait! What about him?" said the girl as she looked at Endimyon's prone
form. 

 "What about him?" said Ranma as she continued to pull at her arm.

 "We can't just leave him here!" said the girl in reply.

 "Yeah. We can," said Ranma as she stopped and looked at her for a
moment. 

 "But..."

 "Two of the Senshi are still here, he'll be fine," said Ranma as she
pulled on the princess's arm a little harder. "We have to catch that
ship. They've got Hanna now."

 "Oh," muttered the princess with an uncertain frown. "Okay."

 They moved onboard the ship and the hatch slowly began to rise.

 At that moment, Endimyon woke up. "Serenity!" he cried as he jumped to
his feet and dashed forward.

 "Come on! Close damn you! Close!" cried Ranma as she jammed the button
to close the door repeatedly.

 Endimyon jumped and managed to slide through the crack just in time.

 "Damn," grumbled Ranma irritably.

 "So...you're really Ranma?" said Serena as she ignored the scene and
looked up at the redhead for a moment.

 "Yeah. It's a long story that we don't have time for right now. I just
got cursed, that's all."

 Serena frowned, she could see it. The girl was amazingly cute, but
somehow looked exactly like him. Even her hand was gone. She paused and
blinked. "I thought you fixed that."

 "Had an accident," muttered the redhead as she jumped into the pilot's
seat and started to flip switches.

 Serena nodded and closed her eyes in thought. It was the perfect set up.
Her handsome hero was cursed, surely her virtuous and pure, true love's
kiss would break the horrible spell. She was a princess after all, maybe
he was really a prince and didn't know it? After he saved them all from
certain doom, she would reward him with a kiss of pure love! That was how
it worked after all, then they would get married and live happily ever
after.

 "Where are we going?" muttered Endimyon pathetically as he walked up
behind Ranma and peered over her shoulder.

 Ranma merely raised her hand and backhanded him in the face. "Everyone
sit down and shut the hell up."

 He fumbled for a moment and crawled away on his hands and knees. Serena
watched this and blinked. She was starting to feel sorry for him. "I told
you to stay behind."

 The sky slowly darkened, and a sea of stars appeared before them as they
broke through the atmosphere.

 "Where's that ship?" grumbled Ranma as she looked at one of the screens
and frowned. "There..." she pointed at a large blob that had appeared on
the radar.

 "That's too big," commented Serena as she looked at it.

 "Say...you're right," muttered Ranma in confusion. He paused as three
more large objects appeared on the radar screens. "What the?" He looked
up and gasped.

 Directly in front of them, was four Federation battle cruisers.

 "Oh shit," said Ranma.

 "Now what?" cried Serena fearfully.

 "Running would seem to be the best option," said Endimyon as he managed
to stand up and looked out the window.

 "Somebody give bright boy a cigar," snorted Ranma as she jammed the
controls foreword.

 "I'll have you know I have attended the best military schools in all
of..."

 "Do you really want me to smack you again?" said Ranma as she turned to
look at the boy for a moment.

 Endimyon fell silent.

 "Okay, here we go," said Ranma as she fixed her eyes foreword. Several
dozen small gray dots had begun to appear from the sides of the large
ship. Ranma looked at the pair. "You two know how to operate laser
turrets?"

 "Of course!" said Endimyon curtly.

 "Get your ass moving then! You take topside!" snapped Ranma as she
smacked him on the side of his head again.

 "Ouch! Stop that!" cried the boy as he scurried away.

 "You, take the bottom turret," said the redhead as she looked at the
princess. 

 "But I don't know how to..."

 "Figure it out!" said Ranma as the first wave of fighters passed by
them. The ship rocked as laser blasts impacted on their shields.

 Endimyon appeared in the doorway and sat down in one of the chairs.

 "What the hell are you doing here?" snapped Ranma.

 "Manning the lasers won't do us any good now," said the boy calmly.

 "Why the hell not?" snapped Ranma. Just then, the ship jerked foreword.
"What was that?"

 Serena pointed at the radar screen with a fearful look in her eyes. The
redhead's gaze turned downward and she blinked. More than half the screen
was covered in a huge green blob. 

 "That would be the federation flagship. It's right over us," said
Endimyon as he rubbed at his temples for a moment. "We're caught in their
tractor beam."

 "Damn it all!" cried Ranma in frustration. 

++++++++++++++++++

 Mercury ground her teeth in frustration. She had barely escaped with her
life. The Federation forces had been waiting in space. As luck would have
it, they had no idea who she was. By the time they had figured it out it
was too late, and she had jumped into lightspeed.

 "Take over the controls," she said to the captain of the ship with a
disgusted snort.

 "Yes Ma'am," replied the man firmly.

 "I'm going to check on the princess, set our course directly to the
Moon."

 "As you wish," said the man placidly.

 She stepped off the bridge and paused, the doorway to the princess's
chambers was open, and the room was empty. There was nothing more than a
shattered vase in the middle of the floor. "What the?"

 Moments later, an anguished scream of frustration would have been heard
hurtling through the cosmos, if sound could travel through the void that
is.

++++++++++++++++++

 The door to the small freighter opened up on the deck of the mighty
starship. Rows of soldiers stood firmly in place just outside as a huge
armored figure strolled down the center isle towards the ship. The armor
looked almost like that of a European Knight, but it was jet black and
made of some material other than metal. A deep booming voice echoed
through the chamber as the figure spoke.

 "So, we have captured them at last," he glanced around for a moment and
surveyed the ship from a short distance outside.

 A few seconds later, several soldiers led the trio of teens out from the
inside of the ship. The group was being held at gunpoint, but the
soldiers weren't carrying any of Ranma's discarded weapons.

 "Ah, we meet at last Princess," said the armored man as he strolled up
to the young Serenity.

 "Keep your hands off of he..."

 The soldiers blinked in surprise as Ranma smacked Endimyon and shut him
up. "Calm down, you'll get us all killed."

 "I had wanted you killed Princess, but I think that you and your friends
might be more valuable alive," said the man coldly.

 "You must be the real Dark Valdis," said the girl as she stood up to him
bravely.

 "Yes. It was thought that a softer, more public persona would go over
well with my people. Thanks to the boy...where is the boy?" Valdis paused
and looked around.

 "These three were the only ones aboard the ship," replied one of the
soldiers calmly as he approached the man and bowed respectfully.

 "No matter," said Valdis as he glanced at the trio. "I'll take the
Silver Imperium Crystal Princess. Your mother is quite foolish. She keeps
sending transmissions across the galaxy to be intercepted by my spies.
Without it, she has no defense against my ultimate weapon."

 Serenity struggled for a moment, but the small pouch that held the two
crystals was easily taken away. Valdis clutched them in his grasp and
turned towards his soldiers. "Take them away!"

+++++++++++++++

 "Hey Red, you got a new cell mate," snorted the guard as he shoved Ranma
into the small holding cell. The handcuffs binding her wrists fell away,
leaving her standing in the middle of the room dumbly for a moment.

 The pigtailed girl turned and grinned dumbly at the woman sitting on a
small metal bench across from her. She looked to be in her mid twenties,
and had long red hair. "Welcome," said the woman somberly.

 "Whoa," muttered Ranma as she looked the woman up and down for a moment.
She was a total babe. "Well, I guess we're stuck together then?"

 "For the rest of our lives," agreed the woman. "Not that it's that long
of a time."

 "So, what are you in for?" said Ranma as she sat down on the bench on
the opposite wall.

 "Being too smart for my own good," said the woman as she turned away.

 "Oh," said the pigtailed girl in confusion.

 "How about you?"

 "I was with Princess Serenity when they caught her," replied Ranma
cheerfully.

 "So. They've gotten that far have they?" said the woman in disgust.

 "Not sure what you mean. It was kind of a fluke, and it's a long and
involved story," replied the pigtailed girl with a slightly embarrassed
flush on her cheeks.

 "Well, all we have is time," said the woman as she sat up. She seemed to
perk up a bit now that she had something to pass the time for a short
while. "Who are you by the way?"

 "Oh. I skipped the introductions didn't I? My name is Ranma, I'm the
greatest fighter in the Universe."

 "Well. I'm impressed. You sure are cheerful for someone who's about to
die. They're going to execute us in a few days you know."

 "What? Me die? No way! These jerks don't realize that I'm just playing
along for the moment."

 "Confident too, I like that. My name is Washuu," replied the woman with
a sly looking smirk on her face.

 "Huh? Washuu? As in the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe
Washuu?" said Ranma dumbly as he stared at the woman. After a moment it
clicked, it was her adult body, but definitely her.

 "What? Who told you that?" asked the woman as she sat up and stared at
her for a moment. 

 "Huh? It's nothing. I've just heard of you, that's all," said the
pigtailed girl with a devious looking smile forming on her face.

 "Well, I guess you could say that," agreed the woman with a slight smile
forming on her face. "I've certainly never met anyone as smart as me."

+++++++++++

 Washuu was looking at Ranma with a shocked expression. "You expect me to
believe that?" The girl had told her everything, starting from her rescue
of Serena in the desert on Earth.

 "Why would I lie?" said the girl with a small shrug of her shoulders.
"I've got no love for the senshi, and I'm about to die. Right?" 

 "Not to hear you talk," countered Washuu.

 "Anyway, it's no big deal. I've got enough problems, I'm gonna bust out
of here pretty soon. I'll take you with me when I go. How's that?"

 "If you can manage it, I'd appreciate it," said Washuu with a smirk
forming on her face for a moment. It was obvious that she thought the
girl was just blowing off steam.

 "Well, what's your story?" said Ranma cheerfully. It was obvious that
she was enjoying this.

 "Huh? Oh, I just built the Planet Smasher," said Washuu with a small
wave of her hand.

 "What's a 'Planet Smasher?'" asked Ranma dumbly.

 "It's a laser beam that was designed to destroy a planet. I was working
on it with one of my students. Valdis found out about it, kidnapped me
and had me design one for this ship. After I was done, he stuck me in
here to kill me. That way it, and its weaknesses are kept secret."

 "That makes sense in an odd way," said Ranma with a small nod.

 "Yeah well...what are you doing?" Washuu blinked and turned her head
away. The girl had just dropped her pants.

 "God this is gross, feels weird too," said Ranma as she made a face and
started to play around with...it.

 "What are you doing!?" cried Washuu in embarrassment.

 "No matter how evil your guards are in the military. There are certain
places they don't check thoroughly when they first find you. They may
check more later on, but at first they're all nervous and just brush it."

 "What?" said Washuu dumbly as she turned to see the girl pulling a six
inch rod out of herself.

 "I told you I was escaping. I've got to go pick up my friends, get back
to my ship, and blast my way out of this place." Ranma flipped her wrist,
and the small rod became about two feet long. The pigtailed girl flipped
several switches along the side and turned it along its axis to adjust a
few things before she pulled her pants back up and turned towards the
door. "You ready to go?"

 Washuu nodded numbly as two blades of energy suddenly came to life on
either side of the weapon. "Wait. Can you get these off of me?" She held
up her hands and smirked. There was a strange set of handcuffs over her
wrists. Both of her hands were encased in a pinkish energy field. "I'll
be able to help more if you do."

 Ranma sliced them off neatly and they fell away, freeing the woman's
hands.

 "Great! Now I can hotwire this baby and get us..."

 Ranma just looked at her for a moment and hacked the doorway in half. It
fell to the ground and the girl walked out into the hallway.

 "Or we could just do that..." muttered Washuu as she followed.

 A moment later, Ranma walked back into the cell and over to the small
sink in the wall. "Just a second!" she said as she saw Washuu poke her
head back in with a confused look on her face.

 Ranma turned on the water and waited for a moment before dunking her
head under the flow. He emerged a moment later as a man and smirked.
"This'll confuse the hell out of 'em."

 "Hey. That's a neat trick," said Washuu as she stared at the scene for a
moment.

++++++++++++++

 Endimyon woke up in his cell with a throbbing pain in his head. The last
thing he remembered happening was a memory he'd treasure for the rest of
his life. The cute redhead, took one of the weapons off of her belt and
folded it up into its most compact form. She then dropped her pants and
inserted it inside herself while they were being pulled on board the
enemy ship. He'd gotten a nosebleed and nearly passed out. He could
vaguely remember Serena screaming at him and then a lot of pain on top of
his head. Everything after that was just a fuzzy blur.

 "Where the heck am I?" he muttered as he slowly opened his eyes. He
looked around at his surroundings and wondered why he felt so warm.

 "Tiny like," said the huge man who had his arms wrapped around the boy's
naked torso.

 "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

++++++++++++++++

 Serena frowned as she sat in her cell. She knew her prince would come
and save her soon. It was the wait that was the worst part. "How long are
you going to make me sit here Ranma?" she groused angrily as she folded
her arms and held her breath in frustration.

 She cocked her head and heard Endimyon crying again. "That dope. Why is
he such a crybaby? I sure am glad Ranma came along, or I'd never have
known what true love was!" She posed dramatically in the middle of the
room and swooned. "Oh! Come and rescue me my prince! I await your gallant
rescue!"

 At that moment, the door in front of her erupted in sparks and she
screeched as she jumped away. It fell away in two parts and clanged to
the ground rather loudly.

 Ranma stuck his head into the room and frowned at her. "Come on Meatball
Head! Are you coming or not?"

 Serena rushed after him and pouted. "You're screwing up your lines
again!"

 He looked at her and started down the hallway towards the exit.

 "Wait! We're forgetting Endimyon!" said Serenity as he passed by the
boy's cell door.

 "We are?" said Ranma as he scratched his head and looked at her dumbly.

 Serena held her breath and tapped her foot on the ground as she pointed
at the door.

 Ranma sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh all right. Fine, we'll save him
too. I guess..."

+++++++++++++++

 Ranma Saotome was standing in the middle of a room full of dead guards
and broken security equipment. The battle with the guards had been
remarkably short and would have been shorter if Ranma had not been
laughing through the entire fight. 

 As it was, he was hunched over one of the consoles with tears in his
eyes and beating his stump against the side of it.

 "It's not funny damn it!" cried Endimyon with a huge flush on his face.

 "Hee hee! Please! Help me please!" cried Ranma as he grabbed the boy's
leg and mimicked the pleas he had received upon entering the room. He
hadn't mentioned exactly the scene he had found the boy in to Washuu or
Serena. As much as he disliked the boy, even he wasn't that cruel.

 "What happened to you in there?" said Serena as he looked at the prince
for a moment in confusion.

 "It's...nothing..." stammered the boy as he blushed heavily and turned
away from her.

 "We're wasting time. It won't take them long to figure out that
something is wrong here," said Washuu impatiently as she glared at him.

 Ranma looked up at her and smiled. "You know. You're right. We can't
just walk around the ship dressed like this you know. We need disguises."
He managed to fight back his giggles long enough to say that and promptly
fell into another fit.

 "Where are we going to get disguises?" asked Endimyon dumbly.

 Ranma stopped laughing and raised his eyebrow at the boy. "Look around
on the floor."

 Serena paused and suddenly realized what the boy was talking about. "You
mean we have to wear dead people's clothes?!"

 "That's right," said Washuu with a small disgusted looking frown. "Come
on, we'd best start getting dressed."

+++++++++++++++++

 TBC...
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