GP Headquarters was no simple police precinct that was
responsible for looking after a small locality. Its area of commitment
was all of interstellar space, and the crimes that were committed there. If
that mammoth task was not daunting enough, they also served as a
liaison between planets when criminals fled from one jurisdiction to
another. The central staging area for an organization with such a
mandate required something special, something out of the ordinary,
something damn big.  GP HQ was all of that.
     Thousands of years old, it was a world onto itself. It had been built
in a system with no inhabitable planets. A tribute to its directive to
police the empty reaches of space. At this current time it had a
permanent residential population of some three hundred thousand
people, and a transitory one, made up of students, teachers, support
staff, and officers serving duty time, of almost five million.
     All those people had lives outside of the daring capture of
desperate criminals. The permanent and long term staff had families.
The students, as students will, had their own groups and interests. And
each and every one of those people demanded entertainment and
recreational facilities.
     It was a need that had been foreseen, and planned for from the
earliest days. The station was well equipped with a wide variety of
diversions. From the mundane neighborhood pub with seating for a
dozen or so, to Center Park, which could offer recreation to several
hundred thousand people at a time, and which frequently did.
     As it named implied, Center Park was located in the middle of the
station. No simple planet-bound green space, restricted to two sparse
dimensions,  it occupied a sphere nearly five miles in diameter. Eight
lakes, each almost two miles across, played double duty as water
reserves and recreational areas. Each lake occupied its own  quadrant of
the sphere and was central to a specific ecosystem. From lush tropical,
to cool temperate desert. Boaters on one lake could look straight up, and
wave to their friends five miles away on the opposite bodies of water.
     Boats and other water-craft dotted the surface of seven of the
lakes.  The eighth was currently having its ecosystem balanced. It was
empty except for a remote sensor from the environmental department.
     A wide variety of ground cover filled the spaces between the lakes,
and offered many different recreational activity from the active to the
passive. Multicolored sand beaches lined significant sections of the
shore line, each with its own direct artificial light sources, designed to
mimic the suns of several different planets. Farther back from the lakes'
shores, lush green lawns, perfect for picnics, were broken into cozy
nooks by tall trees and gardens of blossoming flowers. Craggy rocks, the
displaced carcasses of mined asteroids, offered challenges to people who
craved a little more excitement than wondering if they had a strong
enough sun block.
     The activities were not restricted to the surface area, either. Close
to the ground, hang-gliders and kites danced in the powerful air currents
generated by the air circulation fields. Higher up, where the artificial
gravity was almost nil, non-avian life forms soared, moving and
swooping through the air with the aid of artificial wings.
     It was in the midst of this relaxed and laid back atmosphere that
Ryouga appeared with an explosion of displaced air, sending hundreds
of beings tumbling through the sky.

     Shocked at the chaos his arrival had caused, and fearful of doing
much worse, Ryouga scanned the area for somewhere safe to set down.
He found what looked like a suitable place in the pristine surface of one
of the eight lakes his scanners had spotted. While the other seven bodies
of water were dotted by boats and swimmers, this one was bare of any
activity. Cursing the necessity, but seeing no way out of it, Ryouga
aimed himself at that gleaming body of cool clear water. It wasn't till
just before he hit the cold lake that he remembered Kiyone. Panicking,
and fearful of the consequences, he phased his structure slightly out of
sync with the former castaway.
     As Ryouga felt the familiar tingle of his transformation, his
surprised passenger dropped through his suddenly insubstantial
substance, and fell several feet to land with a loud splash, which was
accompanied by a not very ladylike curse.

     The sudden change of situation was rather startling to Kiyone, to
say the least. One second she'd been cuddled up on a comfy lounge,
swaddled in a warm soft towel sipping hot broth, and the next she was
splashing around in the middle of one of the recreational reservoirs at
GP headquarters. She adapted to the change quickly, however. Losing
the towel that was wrapped around her hair, she snugged the one around
her body more firmly in place, and held it closed with her free hand
while using her other arm to tread water. Bobbing in place, she looked
around trying to get her bearings. Happily, she was only a few dozen
meters from shore where several people were already wading into the
water toward her to offer aid.
     A thrashing in near her drew Kiyone's attention, and she turned
her head to see some sort of small furry creature struggling to keep its
head above water. A closer look identified it as a feline, of a particularly
nasty appearance. It possessed a battle-scarred face that sported only one
eye, which had an evil glint to it. A yellow gem was centered in the
middle of its forehead. Its mouth, which was open wide in distress
sported an impressive set of razor sharp teeth.
     Many people would have had very serious reservations about
lending aid to such a creature. Aside from its unprepossessing
appearance, there was the little matter of the claws that such an obvious
predator would be armed with. None of that mattered to the detective
when faced with a being in such obvious distress.
     As a student, Kiyone had ranked very high in Xeno-compatibility.
Her roommate during her second year had possessed an exoskeleton, the
habit of eating its food alive, and a belief that the pun was the greatest
form of humor in the universe. Next to that, the animal struggling in the
water was nothing. The creature was in obvious distress, and despite the
evil cast of its single eye, she was sure she could detect a silent plea in
that yellowish-green orb. She didn't even for a second consider
abandoning it.
     She was left with one problem, however. She needed an arm to
swim, and one arm to hold the towel in place, and yet another to snag
the struggling feline. She was one limb short.
     To some it would have been an easy thing to do, but Kiyone was
from a cold planet. Unlike her partner, Mihoshi, who came from a warm
world, she was more than a bit body shy. In the end she didn't have
much choice, however. Giving into the inevitable, she let go of the
towel. Reaching out, she snagged the cat with her now free hand, and
pulled it in tight to her body, its head nestling neatly between her
buoyant breasts.
     Surprisingly, as soon as she pulled the cat against her body, it went
limp. That was a relief. Kiyone had been afraid it would try to crawl up
on top of her head. Obviously, it was more intelligent than it looked.
     Kiyone was a bit too distracted to notice the small crimson stain
spreading in the water.
     The soggy detective began to stroke slowly toward the people
lining the shore, reaching wading distance in short order. She staggered
out of the water, her legs trembling from the strain. She was, a part of
her mind noted, still a long way from being fully recovered from her
sojourn in the void.
     Kiyone felt more than a touch of annoyance when no one stepped
forward to offer her a hand. She realized that her presence was likely a
complete surprise, but still, you would think that common courtesy
would bring at least one person forward. Keeping a firm grip on her
soggy passenger, she used her other hand to brush her soaked hair away
from her face, in preparation for delivering a scathing stare to the
unhelpful bystanders.
     Kiyone's stare ended up lacking a certain force. It likely had
something to do with the score of high-powered pulsars being pointing
at her by a detachment of security personal.
     "All right, Sister. Hold it right there," ordered a squat, white and
green robot, who was pointing half of the weapons directed at her
personally, each weapon clasped in a separate manipulator. Kiyone
recognized the color scheme on his torso, and the emblem, as that of an
associated police force, the Space Rangers. Incongruously, the robot had
a flower lei around his neck, and one of his many manipulators was
holding a frosty glass of some sort of light weight machine oil.  The
robot was flanked by an attractive blue and yellow skinned girl in a very
brief green swimsuit, and on its other side by a very large, and bulky,
orange being in a pair of blue swim trunks. Both were armed with guns
that matched the ones grasped by the robot.
     "Oh, what a cute, kitty," gushed the orange alien.
     "Would you get a grip, Booster!" the robot exclaimed. "Here we
are facing a threat that  registers withing a few percentage points of one
of the most wanted and dangerous criminals in the galaxy, and you're
gushing over the cute kitty. Besides, it's an ugly kitty." The Robot's
narrow golden head, which hovered under a transparent dome on top of
its body, took another look at the cat hanging from Kiyone's crossed
arms. "Boy, is it an ugly kitty." The robot next ran his eyes up and down
Kiyone's body, and a golden eyelid arched appreciatively.  Leering, he
said, "As for you, sister, drop the cat, and get them up."
     Even if she'd not been tired and angry, it was doubtful if Kiyone
would have complied with the robots request. Her crossed arms, and the
dangling cat were the only thing protecting Kiyone's modesty, and it
was going to take more than a lecherous robot and twenty pulsars to
make her expose herself in front of the crowd facing her. She was saved
from having to make an issue of it when one of the robot's companions
spoke up in her defense.
     "XR!" the blue and yellow girl said in a censorious voice. She
turned and looked apologetically at Kiyone, while saying. "I'm sorry.
His programming is a bit messed up. Please, use this." The last was
accompanied by the girl bending over and snatching up an abandoned
beach towel.
     Kiyone, after her initial shocked reaction, was beginning to
understand what had happened. Obviously, Ryouga had dumped her,
and left, but not before registering on the station's scanners. Now these
visiting officers from the Galactic Federation, one of a half dozen
organizations of the same name,  had mistaken her for the source of that
alert. Disappointment colored Kiyone's thoughts. She'd thought better
of Ryouga, but obviously from the way he had left he was not quite the
innocent he had seemed. Still, he had rescued her, and brought her
home, so there might be hope for him yet. The only thing left for her
was to explain the situation, and to make her report, and then she could
check herself into the med. center for about six months of TLC.
     Meanwhile the robot, XR, was arguing procedure with the blue
and yellow girl, whose name seemed to be Mira. "Mira, Mira, Mira,
kind, gentle, sweet, Mira. Are you nuts!? We're facing a class 'A' felon,
and you're offering her a towel. Get a grip, woman!"
     "Don't give me that XR. I know exactly what you're thinking. And
it has nothing to do with her being an 'A' class criminal."
     "Mira, Mira, Mira. You wound me. Really you do. Sometimes the
lot of a Space Ranger is not an easy one. Sometimes we have to do jobs
that we wish we didn't, and yes, sometimes we have to handle naked
attractive, females. But we can't get soft, we have to bore right in there
and do our job. Why, if Buzz were here, he'd say . . ."

     "Good work! Detective Makibi is it? So pleased to see the rumors
of your death were exaggerated." Kiyone glanced to the side to see a tall
broad-shouldered man in a conservative swimsuit moving through the
crowd to join the circle of people surrounding her. Kiyone suddenly
found herself wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. Buzz
Lightyear had been a guest lecturer during her forth year of training, and
she, like half the female students in the class had developed a severe
crush on him. To find herself now standing if front of him, wearing
nothing but a cat, was not one of her finer moments.
     "Exactly," XR said hastily. "Good work. Couldn't have said it
better myself. You always have a way with words, Buzz."
     Except for very deliberately averting his eyes, Commander
Lightyear seemed to pay no heed to Kiyone's state of dress, or to XR's
sucking up. Instead he addressed the individuals surrounding her.  "You
can put down your guns, people. Looks like Detective Makibi has things
well under control." Still without looked straight at her, he said in a
drawl, "Very good work indeed, Detective, first rate. You returned from
the dead carrying victory in your arms . . .  I like that in a law officer."
     "Huh?" was Kiyone's intelligent reply.
     But the Commander was no longer focusing on her. He was
watching a platoon of very heavily armored troops marching toward
them at double-time, a portable force field generator carried by four of
them. "Ah, here are the proper authorities. I trust you gentleman will be
able to take it from this point? If you would Detective Makibi."
     "Huh?"
     "The cat, if you could give it to these officers."
     Feeling slightly stunned, Kiyone handed the cat to one of the
armored troopers, while Mira slipped a towel around her body. The
trooper lay the cat on the bed of the portable FF unit, and activated it,
sealing the feline behind a glimmering aura of force that nothing short
of a fusion grenade could disrupt. As the field went up, the tension that
had been present in the atmosphere dropped several degrees of
magnitude.
     "Mira," the Commander said, "why don't you get Detective
Makibi to the infirmary.  She looks like she could use a bit of TLC."
     "If I may suggest," the robot started to say in a suggestive voice,
only to be interrupted by Mira.
     "I'll get her right up there, Buzz. Right this way, Detective," She
said to Kiyone, taking her by the elbow, and leading her through the
crowd.
     Kiyone, who'd been a bit baffled by events, asked, "What's going
on? Was that feline a criminal?"
     "You mean you don't know?" Mira said in some surprise. "That
cat registered to withing several percentage points of the notorious space
pirate Ry-oh-ki. Hard to believe such a small creature could be so
dangerous. If I hadn't seen the ship transform with my own eyes, I'd
never have believed it."
     Kiyone stopped and looked at Mira in blank amazement, only to
find that the other girl was becoming blurry. "But, Ryouga's not . . ."
she said trailing off as her recent exertions finally caught up with her
abused body, and she slipped to the sand unconscious.


     For most of his life Ryouga had lived in a fairly constant state of
depression. In order to function, he'd been forced to learn how to cope
with that. Some people afflicted as he was turned to drugs, legal, and
otherwise. Ryouga normally turned to anger, using his rage against the
unfairness of his life to burn away the dark clouds.
     When he'd awakened to find himself sealed inside a cage that was
standing in the middle of some sort of high-tech lab, his first reaction
was to rage over his betrayal by Kiyone. Who else could be at fault for
his presence here? She must have lied about not holding his ancestress'
crimes against him.
     For a little while that thought had kept him angry enough to keep
the depression at bay, but not for long.  For the first time in his life,
Ryouga found himself unable to sustain a state of anger at someone who
had done him wrong. The reason was really very simple.
     Even stuck in a cage, with no idea of how he had come there, and
with no input from his surrounding to allow him to place his location,
he still knew where he was. Not just in general term either, he knew, to
within a fraction of a meter his exact placement in the galaxy. He knew
how fast he was moving in relation to the galactic core. He knew where
he had been five minutes ago, and he knew where he would be in an
hour if he maintained his present course. And he owed all that
knowledge to one person.
     Kiyone had given him that. It was a gift so precious to Ryouga that
he could never hate the giver, no matter what crime she committed
against him. But, that did not stop him from dwelling on her betrayal,
and if he could not hate her for it, he could become depressed over it.
     Ryouga could have escaped his cage anytime he wished. The
shielding surrounding him only dipped into subspace a few percentage
points. It would have been child play to duck under it, and the physical
elements of his cage might as well have been air for all the good they
would have done. But what was the point of escaping? Where would he
go? The universe was a dark and lonely place, and this particular corner
of it was no less, or more, dark and lonely than any other. Why leave?
So, for going on two weeks now, Ryouga had simply laid in his cage,
chin resting on forepaws, refusing to acknowledge the outside world.
Even someone as depressed as Ryouga could not keep that up
indefinitely, however. The sorrow in his heart bubbled and churned, and
he felt compelled to let it out in some form. If Ryouga was not going to
shatter his cage, and wreck havoc, then some other means of expressing
his unhappiness with the situation would have to be found.

     Some time before, on one of Ryouga's many journeys, he had
traveled through a very strange land. In that place, in a dimly lit bar, he
had encountered for the first time a sort of music that resonated with his
soul. A music that seemed to express all that was him. For a week he
had stayed, playing every song on the jukebox again and again, working
to earn the quarters he needed. Now in times of strife, when nothing else
would relieve the sorrow in his soul, he would sing those songs.
     For the first time in two weeks, Ryouga sat up. Closing his eyes,
he lifted his muzzle toward the roof of his cage, and yowled out his
sorrow.
     His feline vocal cords were not really up to the task, but in his
mind, the words rang like a bell, and that was enough. He put all his
pain and loneliness into his voice.

   "I hear the train a comin'; it's rollin' 'round the bend,
     And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.
     I'm stuck at Folsom Prison and time keeps draggin' on.
      But that train keeps rollin' on down to San Antone."

     Outside Ryouga's cage, lab technicians, and white coated
supervisors, started in shock as the equipment in the lab went crazy.
Digital readouts flashed conflicting data unable to display the variables
that the various sensors were picking up. Several large pieces of
equipment exploded in sparks as their internal circuitry proved
inadequate to the task at hand.
     "Fields failing!" one technician yelled out in a panicked voice.
"We need more power! Now people!"
     "What the hell is he doing!" another called out frantically, his
fingers flying over his control board, as he glanced toward the small
prison in the center of their work area.
     "I would think that was obvious!" one of the supervisors snapped
out. "He's trying to escape! Well, by hell, not on my watch he won't!
Get those reserves on line, shut him up tight!"
     "The reserves already are on line, and at max output, it's not doing
any good! It's not the power, it the uncontrolled modulations. The
shields can't cope with the fluctuations."
     "Draw from the main lines then!" the supervisor snapped. "Draw
everything short of life support if you have to! That creature is the most
dangerous potential security breech we've ever encountered. I want him
held! Do whatever you have to in order to do that!"

     Inside the cage, Ryouga reached the last verse of his song,

"Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine,
     I bet I'd move on over a little farther down the line,
      Far from Folsom Prison, that's where I want to stay,
     And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away"

     With a sigh, Ryouga slumped back down, feeling a bit better for
having vented slightly.
     Outside, the various technicians froze in place, as every indicator
suddenly dropped back to zero, and calm fell over the area.
     "Good work, man," the relieved supervisor complimented the
technician.
     "But, Sir, I didn't-"
     "Upgrade the equipment, I don't want a repeat of this the next time
that animal tries to escape," the supervisor said, ignoring the other
being's reply.
     Inside his cage, Ryouga ignored the chaos on the other side of his
prison bars. The small release gained by singing had already started to
fade, and he was sliding back down the slippery slope of depression
again. "Why did you betray me, Kiyone?" he murmured sadly to
himself.


     "But, Commander," Kiyone protested.
     "No buts, Detective," the golden furred alien replied. "The one you
call Ryouga is not in custody. He is being tested, with his full
cooperation I might add. I wish I could let you see him, but at the
moment the doctors and scientists do not want any outside interference
that might jeopardize their results."
     "When can I see him then?" Kiyone asked, refusing to let the
matter drop.
     The commander's tone was that of one who was running short of
patience as he said, "I can't say, a week, a month, longer. It will take
what time it takes." Looking down at Kiyone's face, still thin even after
two weeks of healthy eating, he took in the determined set of her chin,
and gave a sigh, then said, "Detective, it is laudable that you are so
concerned about this being, and I understand, but you must trust us.
Please, go back to the clinic. The doctors tell me you are still not fully
recovered from your ordeal. You will do your friend little good if you
collapse again. Get some rest. That is not a suggestion, Detective!
Consider it a direct order. Now if you will excuse me, I have important
business to attend to."
     Kiyone saluted smartly, when what she really wanted to do was
take the arrogant so-and-so by his fluffy, carefully coifed, mane and
shake the truth out of the seven foot, four hundred pound, feline
humanoid. She watched, simmering in indignation, as the Head of
Internal Security walked down the hall, and around the corner. "Damn
them," she cursed under her breath. "They're lying.  I just know it."
     How she knew they were lying, Kiyone couldn't have said.
Somehow she knew that Ryouga was not cooperating with the
investigation. That in fact he was utterly miserable. She had spent a
week trying to convince herself that it was merely flashbacks to her own
despair while she'd been trapped in the void, but she couldn't bring
herself to believe it. Something was wrong! Something was very wrong
with the being who had saved her life and sanity and she couldn't do
anything about it.
     "Damn you, Mihoshi! Where are you when I need you!?" Kiyone
said with vehemence, and then blinked as she realized what she'd said.
"No way!" she said. "No way do I want that air-head back!" Despite the
emphasis she put on her words, they lacked conviction, and Kiyone
knew why.
     If Mihoshi had been here, Kiyone would have found herself
participating in a commando raid, thinly disguised as visiting a sick
friend, to free Ryouga from whatever situation he was in. Mihoshi never
gave a single thought toward chain of command, or consequences for
promotion. She acted purely as the inclination to action took her, and
the majority of times the results ended up vindicating her instincts.
     Kiyone thought highly of her own skills, but somehow she had
never possessed Mihoshi's blind faith in her own feelings. Nor, did she
believe for a second that she was blessed with even a fraction of
Mihoshi's uncanny luck. Kiyone was a simple detective, competent and
diligent, but she was no shooting star.
     Kiyone began running through her options, only to find they were
few indeed. The Head of Internal Security took primacy over anything
that might threaten the habitat that housed GP headquarters. There were
very few people who could question his orders, and none that could
override them without strong evidence to back them up.
     "There's nothing I can do," Kiyone's said in a mournful tone. At
that moment the deck under her shuddered, and the lights began to
flicker. Kiyone looked around widely as sirens started to wail, and the
hall filled with people rushing toward wherever they were supposed to
be in a situation like this, whatever that situation was.
     Kiyone backed up against the wall of the corridor, giving the
emergency staff, room to pass her by. As one group passed, pushing a
cart containing shield generators, her ears pricked up at the words they
were shouting back and forth between them. "It's that freakish feline
spaceship. He's trying to overload the force fields with chaotic
modulations again! We have to get these back up units to the lab before
the present ones are fried!"
     Very deliberately not thinking about what she was doing, Kiyone
stepped over to an emergency equipment locker. She opened it and
snatched out a fire suppression device. Lugging the heavy object as a
form of camouflage, Kiyone fell into step behind the group transporting
the shield generators.
     Kiyone was doing everything in her power to avoid thinking about
what she was doing. She knew that if she looked at her action in a
rational light, she'd put down her fire extinguisher and go quietly back
to the clinic, which was the last thing she wanted to do. "I'm just doing
the right thing. There's an emergency. There is likely a fire. I need to
lend a hand," she repeated over and over again in a quiet voice. For just
this moment, in this place, she was Mihoshi. Brainless, well-meaning,
and unstoppable.
     The group in front of Kiyone stopped in front of a heavily armored
door, and one of them pulled a data crystal from around his neck, but
when he went to insert it in the slot beside the door, he saw that the
opening was charred around the edges, with a trickle of smoke
emerging. "Damn!" he cursed. "Give me a hand!" he ordered, hooking
his fingers as best he could into the thin seam that split the door.
     His companions hurried to join him, as did Kiyone, who was
thinking, I'm Mihoshi. Mihoshi would help anyone who asked. To
Kiyone's complete amazement, no one questioned her presence. Instead
everyone remained focused on getting the door open. Thankfully,
whatever had fried the security lock had also disabled the
electromagnetic locking system, so they were able to force the door open
wide enough to squeeze inside.
     The interior of the room was uncontrolled chaos. Dozens of people
ripped charred and damaged equipment from slots, and tossed them into
the nearest corner, while slapping replacement units into the empty
slots. Heavy cables snaked across the floor from portable power sources,
and more were being laid by the moment. For a brief moment Kiyone
was baffled by the activity, but then her eyes focused on the solitary,
heavy mesh cage, that sat in the middle of the room, the center around
which everything else revolved.
     In the middle of that cage, a black furred feline sat, its battle-
scarred muzzle pointing toward the top of its cage as it howled out its
unhappiness at the world.

     The dreadful racket Ryouga was making had no meaning to
anyone but him. In his mind, however, the words echoed clearly and
with great feeling.  Ryouga had gotten a bit original, and placed his own
words in an old standby.

          "You picked a fine time to leave me Kiyone,
        Three empty rooms leave a void in my hull . . ."

     "Ryouga!!!" Kiyone cried out, her voice cutting through the
turmoil filling the room like a knife.
     The unearthly yowling cut off, and Ryouga whipped his head
around, his single eye unerringly finding Kiyone standing in the midst
all the people filling the lab.
     He was not the only person who's attention Kiyone had drawn.
"What is that woman doing here?" the head of security shouted. His fine
mane was no longer looking quite so neat and orderly, being somewhat
charred around the edges. "Take her into custody! Now!"
     Several men in the uniform of internal security obediently started
to move toward Kiyone. Ryouga's eyes narrowed, and he let out a battle
cry that froze every person in the lab in their tracks, cold shivers running
up and down their spines. Ryouga leaped toward the side of his cage,
and passed straight through the sophisticated force field that had been
supplementing the cages physical restraints. Not a single gauge in the
room registered a thing out of the ordinary. There was a black blur, and
Ryouga was positioned between Kiyone and the advancing guards.
     It should have been a ludicrous sight. Ryouga couldn't have
weighed more than twenty-five pounds. Some of the guards facing him
were a dozen times larger, but no one in the room looked inclined to
laugh as he posed there, his mouth open in a snarl of pure rage. His
single yellow eye gleamed madly in the dimness caused by several failed
lighting fixtures, and more than one being felt a wave of superstitious
fear as that eye swept over them.
     Despite what some in the room might have believed, that yellow
eye was not looking for throats to rip out, but something else entirely. A
satisfied snarl ripped from Ryouga's throat as he spotted the beaker of
coffee simmering on a hot plate. Weaving between the legs of the guards
and lab technicians, he made straight for that hot fluid. A jump, a
splash, and the huddle of guards who had surrounded the small feline
were suddenly tossed back as a bipedal figure rose up in their midst. A
five-fingered hand closed on the collar of a guard, and that unfortunate
found himself hauled into the air, and tossed across the room.
     Kiyone boggled at the figure moving toward her, tossing aside any
guard careless enough to come close to him. A couple of inches taller
than herself, the masculine figure was heavy with muscle. He had a
shaggy shock of black hair that flowed down the sides of his hair and
rested on a pair of broad shoulders. A muscular chest tapered down to a
trim waist and a washboard stomach, supported on narrow hips which  .
. . Kiyone suddenly blushed, and averted her gaze.
     Ryouga, seeing Kiyone looking away from him, paused in his
rampage. He caught her eyes flickering back toward him, in a
downward direction. A red flush colored her cheeks, and she hastily
adverted her eyes again. Ryouga's puzzlement lasted only a second, and
then he too blushed madly. A nearby lab technician received the fright
of her life when Ryouga suddenly tore the lab coat literally off her body.
A member of a furred race, she was not wearing anything underneath.
Despite her alien origin, she was most definitely mammalian and it was
Ryouga's turn to blush and look away. That did not stop him from tying
her purloined coat around his waist.
     "Kiyone, are you all right? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
     "Ryouga?" Kiyone said in a questioning voice. She poked a finger
at his chest, as if expecting him to disappear like a soap bubble. When
she touched warm flesh, she quickly withdrew her digit. Giving her head
a shake, she said, "Of course, if you can turn into a cat, why couldn't
you turn into something else."
     A series of clicks and clacks announced the activation of a large
variety of weapons, and Ryouga and Kiyone both looked up to find
themselves surrounded.
     Ryouga snarled at the guards, and his fingers flexed. "No,
Ryouga!" Kiyone said in a firm voice, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Not yet!" At her touch, his body relaxed, but his eyes still stared
daggers at the beings surrounding them.
     The head of security pushed through the line of guards, his eyes
bulging in rage. He was all but snarling, his teeth showing the predatory
nature of his species, before he could say a word, however, Kiyone
spoke up. "Is this what you call willing cooperation?" she said in a voice
that dripped contempt.
     "Now, you listen here, young-"
     "I will not!" Kiyone shouted him down. "I don't know what the
hell is going on here, but I'm betting that the law has nothing to do with
it. I swore an oath to protect the law, and by the seven hells I'm going to
do that!" Kiyone was in a fury. For once in her life she was not worried
about following the company line, of being the good little soldier. To
hell with promotions. They had imprisoned the being who had saved her
from the void. No! They had abused her friend, and someone was going
to pay.
     "You're all under arrest," Kiyone yelled out, glaring at everyone in
the room.
     The head of security looked a bit taken aback by this, and a little
nervous. He stole a glance toward Ryouga, who looked very much the
outraged sentient. It was one thing to lock up and study what appeared
to be a dangerous animal. It was another thing entirely to do so with an
intelligent being.  As a furred alien, he did not have sweat glands, but
his tongue lolled out of his mouth in a nervous gesture.  While he had
certainly skated on thin ice with his actions, the commander was not an
evil being. It was to his credit that the thought of ordering an
'accidental' shooting, and later coverup, never occurred to him. "Look,
could we go somewhere and talk about this."
     "I think that sounds like a very good idea," A voice boomed from
the background.
      All eyes swivelled to take in the tall leonine, but fully human,
figure standing in the door. "Marshall!" the security chief said, in a
voice that almost squeaked as he took in the head of the Galactic Patrol.
Maybe his authority over internal security made him technically the
Marshall's equal in the command structure within the station, but
authority on paper was very different to authority in the field, and no
one in the room was in any doubt as to who was the person to listen to
here.

     By the time they reached the Marshall's office  Kiyone had pretty
much lost the mind-set that had carried her this far. She was feeling just
a touch nauseous, and wished for nothing more than to go back to her
nice safe clinic bed. But matters had come too far for that, and she had
little choice but to see matters through to the end. It was not an unusual
situation for Kiyone, but all the previous times she'd been in this
situation, it had been at the instigation of Mihoshi. This time she had no
one to blame but herself.
     Swallowing a mouthful of bile Kiyone pointed an accusing finger
at the head of security. "He imprisoned a sentient being without cause,
and without legal representation."
     "Oh now," the chief said. "I would hardly say without cause, and
we did not know it, he, was a sentient being at the time."
     "What was the cause?" the Marshall asked in his rumbling voice, a
light brown finger stroking his blond beard.
     The security chief, on more comfortable grounds settled back in
his chair. "Two weeks ago, our shields were breached when this being,"
he pointed at Ryouga, "appeared inside the central hub of the habitat."
     The Marshall lifted a golden eyebrow, and looked at Ryouga with
curiosity in his gentle gold eyes. "Really, I thought that was
impossible."
     "So did we all, sir. But he did it none the less. But, that is the least
of it. He didn't just penetrate them.  He bypassed them entirely. The first
warning we had was when he appeared inside the station. The experts
can only conclude that he came in under the stations shields."
     "Well, yes," Ryouga said apologetically. "But I didn't mean to. I
wasn't even aware of them until I phased in, and by then I was already
past them."
     The Marshal sat up straight in his chair, his calm exterior fading as
he stared at Ryouga with wide eyes. "Young man," He said. "Our
shields penetrate the dimensional levels deeper than any known ship is
capable of traveling. If you can dive that deep, then I can understand
why the tech people were so eager to study you. Even if I don't approve
of their methods."
     The Marshal was not the only one who had sat up and taken notice
at Ryouga's words. Kiyone also was staring wide eyed at him. She had
not stopped to consider the implications of Ryouga's actions before, but
now listening to the Marshall, she couldn't help but do so.

      While just about every race used a different means of achieving it,
nearly all forms of faster-than-light travel relied on a certain
phenomenon, the onion theorem. If you applied just the right sort of
force to a physical object, you could project it into a sub-dimension, or
sub-space as it was more frequently called. This was an environment
that corresponded exactly with the normal universe, except that it was
smaller. Submerge, travel a mile, and surface, and you would find that
you had traveled a dozen miles. Complicated as that was, it was only the
beginning. For there were levels within levels. You could push deeper,
to realms that were even smaller, and where the travel differential was
even greater.
     Theoretically, if you could dive deep enough, you could emerge
anywhere in the universe at the same time as you left your previous
location. This was the Holy Grail of space drive engineers, which they
had named the blink drive.  No one had ever developed a drive that
could even come close.
     The shields around GP headquarters projected deep into subspace,
farther then any other similar shield. In fact, they extended 75 percent
deeper then any registered ship had ever dived, and Ryouga had slipped
under them without even noticing them.

     We're doomed, Kiyone thought to herself, not even thinking about
the fact that she was linking her fate with Ryouga's. There was no way
in hell that the Patrol could let someone like Ryouga run free. Every
planetary system and alliance would quietly put a price on his head. The
ability to do what he had done was of such military importance that it
could start wars. Simply by being what he was, Ryouga could end a
thousand years of mostly peace.
     Two other faces in the room reflected Kiyone's thoughts. The
exception was Ryouga himself, who was looking ill at ease in his
surroundings, but other than that seemed to have no concept of the
bombshell he had just dropped. The poor kid, Kiyone thought with pity.
He has no idea at all.
     Once again Kiyone found herself wishing for Mihoshi's presence.
Kiyone had no idea how this could work out in a way that would not
hurt Ryouga, but somehow, if Mihoshi were here, that way would have
turned up. She would have said something ridiculous, and . . ."
     "I guess we are fortunate that Ryouga is owned by a distinguished
member of the GP," the Marshal said.
     Kiyone blinked at the golden haired man, and a thought crossed
her mind. He's Mihoshi's grandfather.
     "What!?" Ryouga said in a startled voice. "No one owns me!"
     "I agree, Marshal," The leonine Chief of IS said. "He's not
registered on any data base we have accessed. He's a complete
unknown. We have no idea who owns him."
     "Hey, no one owns me," Ryouga protested again, but no one
seemed to be paying attention to him.
     "Really?" the Marshal said, blinking his eyes. "I was sure I . . ." he
fumbled with the stack of paper work on his desk. Most of it slid off
onto the floor, but he held onto one specific page. "Ah, here it is. Silly
me, I forgot to have it entered after I approved it. Here you go my dear,"
he said, handing the sheet across to Kiyone. "It was presumptive of me I
know, but I had my offer file this for you while you were in sick bay."
     Kiyone looked at the sheet of paper in her hand in bafflement.
When the Marshall was not forthcoming with more information, she
began to read. The sheet was covered in fine print and it took her a
while to wade through the first few paragraphs of legalese. "This is a
salvage claim!" she said in a startled voice.
     "That's right, for the derelict space ship you discovered while
trapped in the void."
     "Huh," Ryouga said in surprise. "There was another ship in there?
They don't mean that pile of junk I blew up for you," he said in a
worried tone. "I didn't know it was worth something."
     "Not that, silly," Kiyone said in a distracted voice as she continued
to read. "He means you."
     "Me?" Ryouga said in a startled voice.
     "Commander, I must protest," the internal security chief objected.
     "Well, if you insist, go ahead," the Marshal said in a bemused
tone. He then waited.
     The security chief big-sweated. "Ah, I protest," he finally said.
     "Noted," the Marshal said. Turning to Kiyone, he asked, "Would
you be willing to lease your new ship the GP, with you as captain of
course?"
     "Captain?" Ryouga exclaimed. Suddenly remembering Help-
chan's final words. "But Kiyone can't be a captain!"
     Kiyone, who had finished reading the paper in front of her, and
was slightly stunned, looked over at Ryouga and asked, "Don't you
want me to be your captain, Ryouga-chan?"
     "Huh? Well, I, I guess it would be ok, but you're, I mean, a girl. I
thought only guys could be captains."
     The other three people in the room blinked, and looked at each
other. The Marshal spoke for all of them when he addressed Ryouga. "I
assure you Ryouga-kun, Detective Kiyone is perfectly able to assume
that roll. Of course, if you don't want her . . ."
     "Yes!" Ryouga shouted. "I want her!" He blushed as his words
echoed in the room. He directed a bashful look at Kiyone, "That is, if
she wants me to be her ship," he added.
     "Well, Detective, it looks like it's up to you.  Will you take
command of the GP patrol craft, Ryouga?"



     Ryouga stood in the air lock, looking out at the empty space of the
massive ship dock. Beyond the open end of the enormous room he could
see the stars gleaming. His heart ached at the sight. That was his home
now, the place where he belonged. An unlimited range for him to
wonder through. All he needed was a purpose to his journey to make
himself complete, and he had that now. Thanks to Kiyone, his captain.
     Captain! Once he had detested the thought of some person walking
his hull, telling him what to do, and how to do it, but not now. Kiyone
had earned his trust, and confidence. All his life he had longed for
direction, a purpose to his life. Thanks to Kiyone, who had rescued him
from the void as much as he had rescued her, he now had that.
     Ryouga would go where she said, do what she asked, not because
it was ordered by her superiors. Not because he was now a space ship,
and she was his owner, on paper, but because she was his lord, and he
was her servitor, her samurai.
     Taking a breath, Ryouga dove through the shield into the vacuum
on the other side. His body shuddered, and he felt an incredible sense of
release as he exploded into his crystalline space going form.
     Ryouga turned his attention to a small feminine figure standing on
a gang way that projected out into the vastness of the docking port. A
tractor beam snagged the lady, and drew her up and into his main
habitat. Kiyone materialized on the bridge, and shut off her suit's
shields.
     "Report!" she snapped out, her official sounding voice at odds
with the almost giddy grin on her face.
     "All systems ready," Ryouga replied, suppressed eagerness in
voice. Then, with a voice that fairly quivered, he continued. "Where to .
. . Captain."
     "Out there," Kiyone declaimed, pointing toward the open door of
the dock. "Somewhere out there is a criminal called Kagato. We are
going to find him. You have the coordinates for his last known
location?"
     "Yes, Kiyone, I mean, Captain," Ryouga said, and paused, waiting
for the next order, the one that would send him soaring into the welcome
embrace of the universe.
     "Then, take us out, Mr. Ryouga," Kiyone ordered in a ringing
voice.

     And he did.


End

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