The Prime Minister of Japan sat behind his large, 
very official-looking desk and regarded the two 
members of his cabinet who were seated in front of 
him. "Still no movement after several days?" he 
asked, directing his question to the Minister of 
Defense.

	"That's correct, Sir," the Defense Minister 
replied apologetically, looking first at the head 
of state and then at his colleague, the Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, seated across from him.

	"Is it too much to hope that they're not going to 
be able to exploit the girl's power, after all?" 
asked the PM, briefly eyeing both his ministers 
but not really expecting an answer.

	"It's too early to say, Sir."

	"How are the preparations?"

	"We've mobilized our entire force. We are all on 
yellow alert, that is to say, a higher state of 
readiness."

	"And the United States?" This question was 
directed at the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

	"They are in DefCon Three, Sir. It's the highest 
state of readiness they've ever been during 
peacetime."

	The Prime Minister nodded thoughtfully. After a 
while, he faced his Defense Minister. "So, do we 
have a chance against the aliens if they attack?"

	The Defense Minister hesitated. "It's hard to sa--
"

	"I don't want bullshit," the PM said firmly. "Give 
it to me straight."

	He shook his head, a grim expression on his face. 
"Not likely, Sir. We did not stand a chance 
against thirty of their man-sized ships...Sir, 
there are over five hundred spaceships, each the 
size of a small city, just outside our solar 
system."

	"Well, I'm not just going to accept that. There 
must be a wa..." the Prime Minister's eyes 
suddenly narrowed, focusing into the distance. 
"What in the world--?" 

	The two ministers turned to see what had 
distracted the other. They all slowly stood, faces 
registering their astonishment as they saw tiny 
motes of twinkling light begin to gather in the 
middle of the stately office. The Prime Minister 
walked around his table and approached the part of 
his office where the tiny lights seemed to be 
coalescing.

	He raised his hand, attempting to touch them but 
he felt nothing.

	"Sir, I don't think it's wise for you to be 
standing so close to those...things," said the 
Foreign Affairs minister.

	He stepped back, not because of what the other man 
said, but because he began to be aware of the 
gradually quickening movement of the lights.

	The Prime Minister felt a firm grip on his arm, 
pulling him back. He couldn't take his eyes off 
the strange apparition even as he took one 
hesitant step after another away from it. Before 
his very eyes the tiny dots began to take the 
shape of an oval the size of a narrow doorway. It 
then occurred to him that this was the wormhole 
that he was briefed about.

	"Sir, it looks like a worm--"

	"Yes, I know," the PM waved his hand impatiently 
to silence the other. 

	Every head of state around the world had already 
been told by the United States about the now very 
real possibility of the aliens invading Earth 
using wormholes. It already occurred to the 
Japanese leader that this wormhole was going to 
spew out alien invaders. However, after just a few 
seconds of thought, the PM decided this was 
unlikely. But then again, what if the aliens found 
away to open a wormhole in the office of every 
country's leader?

	"Call the guards, quickly!" the PM barked. He 
promptly heard quick steps walking away in 
response to his command. He turned his head to see 
one of his ministers already using the phone on 
his desk.

	In seconds his door burst open admitting several 
members of his security detail.

	"Sir," his head of security said urgently, "we 
need to get you out of here now."

	"No," the PM said firmly, his eyes riveted on the 
sight before him. "But be prepared." Hi-powered 
machine pistols rose as soon as he said that. All 
of them aimed at the slowly forming wormhole just 
a few meters away.

	After what seemed like eternity, the apparition 
took its final shape, growing brighter and 
brighter. Everyone present already knew from the 
briefing what to expect and so they shielded their 
eyes. The men bearing weapons did this with only 
one hand, keeping their guns trained at the center 
of the wormhole, their trigger-fingers quivering.

	As expected, an explosion of light marked the 
completion of the wormhole.

	When the Prime Minister and the rest of the men 
opened their eyes, they could see behind the 
bright layer of churning light the silhouettes of 
two girls drawing nearer. The layer seemed to 
stretch outward as the girls casually walked past 
the threshold. It was as if the wormhole did not 
want to release them. When at last the tension was 
too much, the layer burst in a shower of multi-
colored light, revealing the two girls.

	Both were stunningly beautiful; the one with blue 
waist-length hair strikingly so, while the blonde 
in an unassuming way. The girls were similarly 
attired, wearing blue and green capes, 
respectively, clasped at the neck. Underneath that 
they both wore white form-fitting body suits, 
gloves and calve-high boots. The glove that they 
wore on their left hand had a gem-like orb, the 
color of which matched the cape that each donned.

	For two seconds, a dozen wide-eyed, gaping men 
faced two almost equally surprised teenaged girls. 
The silence was broken only when the statuesque 
blue-haired girl shook her head, glanced at her 
companion and muttered, "I did say to open the 
portal *outside* the office, right?"

                    * * * * *

	Fuu used her elbow to nudge her friend sharply in 
the arm. When Umi turned towards her, she quickly 
mouthed the word "bow".

	Umi's eyes widened and she nodded briskly. In a 
seemingly orchestrated fashion, they both faced 
the Prime Minister and bowed formally.

	"Forgive this inappropriate visit, Mr. Prime 
Minister," Fuu began after she completed her bow. 
She had rehearsed three different speeches for 
this but because of the unexpected change in 
circumstance they all seemed so inadequate all of 
a sudden. *I guess it's time for the direct 
approach*, Fuu thought. "We've come to give you 
vital information concerning Earth's defense 
against the aliens."

                    * * * * *

	Col. Scott Biggs watched as one of his lieutenants 
walked out of the Ryuuzaki residence and 
approached him. There was a general wariness in 
the junior officer's gait that spoke volumes about 
the kind of news he bore. What else could it be 
but bad news?

	Unable to mask his displeasure, Biggs' eyes 
narrowed and his lips became thin lines. In his 
nervousness upon seeing the colonel's dangerous 
expression, the lieutenant almost fumbled his 
salute.

	"Sir--"

	"Don't tell me," Biggs said dryly, not bothering 
to return the sloppy salute, "the house is empty."

	"Yes, Sir. It's as if they just vanished into thin 
air."

	The colonel nodded. "Okay. They're bound to return 
from whereever goddamned place they went. I want 
every possible egress watched. I want a man on the 
roof at all times. I want to know the moment 
someone returns. You got that?"

	"Yes, Sir!" the lieutenant executed a smart salute 
this time and did a quick about-face. Biggs, 
however, was no longer paying attention.

	*I have never before failed in any of my missions*, 
the Marine colonel thought bitterly. And yet, here 
now, he had done so twice. The first was to 
neutralize the aliens. Not only did he fail 
miserably, but he also lost majority of his men. 
His second was to take the three girls into 
custody. Well, he was about to do just that only 
to realize that the subjects have disappeared!

	Biggs clenched his fists in frustration. He was 
obviously dealing with powers he had never dealt 
before but in his mind, that was no excuse. At 
this point there was only one recourse. He would 
have to report his inability to accomplish his two 
objectives. This was something he had never had to 
do before.

	He took one last look at the big house, narrowing 
his eyes in determination as he did so. After a 
while, the Colonel walked away. If there was a way 
for him to salvage this mission, he would find it. 
Even if he died trying.

                    * * * * *

	Carl Parsons, Director of the National Security 
Agency, paced nervously around his office, puffing 
incessantly on his cigarette. He had just learned 
that the remaining two girls were very close to 
being kidnapped. It was just by some stroke of a 
miracle that they were able to elude their would-
be captors.

	He raised a hand to rub his temple. He had been 
operating with very little sleep for a couple of 
weeks now. This, he suspected, was the cause for 
the massive headaches he had been having.

	He wished he had never attended that meeting with 
Warner and Masterson then he wouldn't have the 
welfare of three girls on his weary conscience. He 
had to do something. Either warn the President or 
stop that Col. Biggs somehow.

                    * * * * *

	Tanaka trailed Lam through the labyrinthine 
corridors of the starship Weret, keeping a few 
meters between them for good measure. It was going 
to be another grueling strategic planning session.

	He glanced at the alien in front of him. He 
couldn't decide which was worse: their foul-
smelling stench or their hideous appearance. If it 
weren't for the device they attached just under 
his left earlobe, he would've fainted from the 
strong and copious pheromones they excreted, just 
like he had that first day Lam brought him to what 
he believed was their "war room."

	On the other hand, he continued to have nightmares 
about the way they looked. Overall, they resembled 
lizards except the aliens had orange eyes; walked 
on two legs and they had scales that were blue-
green in color. Hard ridges lined their foreheads 
and spine. And to think these aliens could very 
well end up ruling Earth. Tanaka gave an 
involuntary shudder.

	Each day he spent in the war room, as he watched 
these hideous creatures plot and scheme the 
downfall of his planet while waiting to be 
consulted upon, he became more and more convinced 
that Earth had simply no defense against the 
military might of the Ramarians. He may not 
understand their language but the highly detailed 
holographic visuals they used to simulate the 
systematic conquest of Earth conveyed what he 
suspected all too clearly. The Ramarians were an 
unstoppable force.

	"Do not be overly concerned, Mr. Tanaka."

	Tanaka stiffened. Lam stopped walking and turned 
to face him. The Japanese cursed his inability to 
read the other's expression.

	"Once we have conquered Earth, you will be given 
authority over your people. Think of the good you 
can achieve then," Lam said evenly.

	The Yakuza bit back a scathing retort. It wouldn't 
do him any good to antagonize them. He did, 
however, recognize the lie in Lam's statement. 
During the several days he was confined to 
quarters, he was given hundreds of electronic 
pages of translated text containing the history of 
the Ramarian race to read. He did not find any 
reference of the Ramarians giving any form of 
leadership to a member of an "inferior" race. No, 
now was not the time to antagonize the aliens. 
There had to be a way...

	Tanaka looked up as he realized that he had not 
responded to the alien's verbal baiting. He gave a 
smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I look 
forward to that time then."

	For several moments, Lam did nothing but eye him. 
"That time, Mr. Tanaka," the alien said, "will 
come sooner than you think." The alien abruptly 
turned and started walking.

	The Japanese let out the breath he didn't realize 
he was holding. He clenched his fists in 
frustration as he followed the other. He had no 
reason to hope and yet, for some reason, something 
in his gut told him that there *was* hope. Well, he 
had survived this long by following his gut. He 
wasn't about to stop now.

                    * * * * *

	A weary Commander Zazu Torque sat in the 
operations console of the starship DSX monitoring 
the various ship systems. Although not as state-
of-the-art as the NSX, the DSX looked every bit as 
menacing with its sleek lines and quicksilver 
hull.

	Zazu stifled a yawn as he noticed a shield 
harmonics anomaly appear on one of his monitors. 
He tapped a few buttons to run the diagnostics. He 
raised a hand to his temple and closed his eyes 
briefly. He had had less than eight hours sleep 
total in the last three weeks.

	Never before had Autozam attempted to overhaul 
close to three hundred and more than double that 
number of mecha fighters simultaneously. For one 
thing, they only had enough qualified engineers to 
do only three starships at once!

	These last three weeks have been pure hell for 
Autozam's top engineer, as Zazu had to dash back 
and forth dozens of starships, troubleshooting the 
work of less experienced engineers they'd had to 
recruit. Many of the mages of Cephiro offered to 
help but there wasn't anything they could do. Zazu 
wasn't about to allow them to use their magic on 
his starships. He couldn't trust what he couldn't 
understand.

	The soft beep on his console broke into his 
reverie and brought him back to reality. "Damn!" 
he muttered loudly.

	This caught the attention of his fellow officer 
and the captain of the DSX, Commander Eko Dodge. 
Dodge was a full head taller than Zazu and twice 
as wide but he had an unusually child-like face. 
Ever since he got promoted, he began to grow a 
full beard, which did little to hide his cherubic 
features. "What did you find?" Dodge asked as he 
approached, his brows furrowing in concern.

	The younger commander jumped in surprise. He 
turned to look at the other inquisitively.

	Dodge laughed. "Yes, Zazu, you said it aloud. The 
entire bridge heard you."

	Zazu sighed and shook his head slowly. "I must 
really be losing it."

	"Look at the bright side, after the DSX we're all 
set to go, right?"

	"After the DSX," Zazu began, putting up a hand and 
putting a finger for every point he made, "we'll 
be ready to take our entire fleet through an 
*untested* wormhole, clear across the galaxy into an 
*unchartered* region of space, battle against an 
*unknown* enemy to save an alien planet." He looked 
the other commander squarely in the eyes. "It's 
not much of a bright side if you ask me."

	"Well, if you put it that way even I'd be 
depressed too. But think about it, we'd be able to 
engage our entire fleet into an epic battle. We've 
never done that before."

	"That's one more point right there," the younger 
commander shook his head once more. "Anyway, it 
looks like you have a malfunctioning prysmic 
conduit," he said, taking his attention back to 
the console.

	"That doesn't sound so bad."

	"Just a moment," Zazu's fingers danced over the 
buttons of the console as he brought up the parts 
inventory on his monitor. "Just as I thought," he 
said, grimly, "we're out of prysmic conduits." He 
stood up and began walking out the bridge.

	"Hey!" Dodge called after Zazu. "Where are you 
going?"

	"To Engineering, to fix your defective conduit," 
the other said without looking back.

	"Oh, okay. Looks like you've done this before," 
Dodge said, relief visible on his face.

	Zazu turned to face his fellow commander just as 
he reached the exit. There was a smile on his 
face. "Actually, I haven't done this particular 
kind of repair before. But not to worry, I've 
learned quite a bit these last few weeks about 
'making do' with what you have." With a wink and 
whirl of his robes, the youngest commander of 
Autozam disappeared through the hatch.

	Dodge watched him leave with eyebrows raised. 
Casting his eyes around the bridge, he realized 
that the junior officers were all looking at him. 
He stiffened his back and puffed up his chest to 
project a confidence he wasn't sure he felt. "He 
knows what he's doing."

                    * * * * *

	Warner lightly pressed the button on his tiny 
earphone to end the call and then removed the 
device from his ear. *Parsons, you fool!* he thought 
vehemently, shaking his head. He realized that it 
was typical of the NSA Director to react this way. 
Parsons had always been a sentimental bastard.

	The Director of Central Intelligence swivelled his 
high back leather executive chair so that he faced 
the window overlooking the entire complex. It was 
good thing the President was not available to take 
Parsons' call. Otherwise, it would have been a 
complete disaster. Now he was forced to deal with 
him. It was an undertaking he did not relish.

	A discreet knock on his office door intruded into 
his thoughts. "Come," the head of the CIA said. He 
heard the door open and the soft footfalls on the 
thick carpet. He could tell a lot from the sound 
of a person's walk. This person was not likely to 
be able to go the distance. Warner allowed the man 
standing in front of his desk to stew for awhile 
before swivelling around to face him. "Yes," he 
said, finally.

	"Flash report, Sir," the man before him said, 
handing over a single sheet of paper.

	Warner quickly scanned the page, his frown 
deepening with each moment. He looked up slowly. 
"Please get General Masterson on the phone."

	"Right away, Sir," the man said and quickly left 
the room leaving the Director in deep thought. 

                    * * * * *

	"Why have you taken me here?" Tanaka asked as his 
eyes scanned the hallway he was in and the door 
that was before him. He had never been to this 
part of the Weret before. He wasn't quite sure 
whether he was on the top or bottom part of the 
ship. All he knew for certain was he was now 
located towards the forward part. Other than that, 
the door and the hallway were unremarkable.

	Rogo, who was tasked to escort the human this 
time, smiled in amusement as he glanced sideways 
at him. "You've always expressed curiosity as to 
the welfare of the only other human we had in our 
custody."

	"You mean the girl? Hikaru? She's in there?" The 
Japanese asked pointing towards the entrance.

	In response, the alien stretched out his scaly 
hand to touch the equally scaly and slimy wall to 
the left of the door. The barrier to the room 
began to move as if alive, sliding noisily to the 
side to reveal a cavernous chamber, the proportion 
of which took Tanaka's breath away.

	The human stepped forward, his eyes sweeping 
through the expanse. It was then that he noticed a 
silver sphere that was about ten meters across. It 
hung suspended about 25 meters up on the chamber 
connected to several tubes. The tubes themselves 
reminded Tanaka of human arteries except that they 
were huge; each of them pulsating rhythmically 
with energy as if they were sucking something out 
of the sphere.

	"Impressive, isn't it?" Rogo asked, his eyes also 
taking in the magnificence of the chamber.

	"What is it?"

	"We call it the Amplification Chamber. Come, this 
way," Rogo said abruptly and began walking towards 
the far end.

	*Amplification Chamber?* Tanaka scowled. *What did 
they want to amplify?* He noticed that Rogo was 
already several steps ahead of him. He hurried to 
follow. He allowed his eyes to continue to roam. 
Overhead, the silver sphere passed above them. 
When he looked forward he noticed that there was a 
room high up the chamber, at about the same height 
of the sphere. Rogo was leading him to what looked 
like a lift that would take them to the room.

	As the lift ascended it afforded the Japanese with 
a closer view of the sphere. There was a door that 
marred its otherwise perfectly smooth and round 
exterior. Inside, Tanaka glimpsed the red-haired 
girl completely covered from the neck down with a 
gray form-fitting suit, sitting on a metal chair. 
She seemed unconscious. But before he could ask 
about it, he found himself already in what 
appeared to be the control room, filled with other 
aliens busy manning equally alien-looking 
consoles.

	Rogo stepped commandingly forward and was met with 
another alien. This one was smaller than Rogo and 
seemed to defer to him. They spoke briefly. To 
Tanaka, it was all clicks, whistles and hoots. The 
smaller alien glanced his way, its expression 
unreadable as always. This alien seemed to shrug 
resignedly, looked away and returned to its 
console. The human turned to Rogo.

	"Come, Mr. Tanaka, don't be shy."

	Tanaka gave the other a smirk in reply. He was 
called many things in his life but never "shy." 
"So, let me guess, this is the room where you 
control the 'Amplification Chamber'," he made 
little quotes with his fingers in the air.

	"Have a care, Mr. Tanaka. It was you who wanted to 
see this," Rogo said, shaking his head in a 
patronizing way. It was unnerving to see such a 
human gesture on such an alien face.

	"I was curious about the girl."

	"Well, step forward then," the alien said as he 
stepped backward as he kept an eye at the other, 
leading him towards the transparent material that 
separated the room from the rest of the chamber.

	Tanaka stepped forward and true enough, he could 
see the sphere just slightly below the room. His 
initial height assessment was off by a few meters. 
Looking down, he could see the girl...what was her 
name? Hikaru Shidou, unconscious and strapped 
securely to the metallic chair she was sitting on. 
"What are you going to do to her?"

	"She is the key to our salvation, Mr. Tanaka. 
Through her, we will be able to open a wormhole 
that will lead to your world."

	Tanaka's throat constricted at that and suddenly 
had a hard time swallowing the sudden build up of 
saliva in his mouth. "Wouldn't you need a much 
larger wormhole than the one she opened for us?"

	"Hence, the Amplification Chamber," Rogo said 
expansively, his arms and hands spread out.

	"So, this whole thing is going to amplify the 
girl's power to create, what? A wormhole large 
enough to move your entire fleet all the way 
across the solar system to Earth?"

	Rogo nodded confidently, a feral smile on his 
hideous blue-green lips, showing off some pretty 
nasty fangs. "As a matter of fact, Mr. Tanaka, we 
should be ready to do just that in..." he turned 
to the alien that greeted him at the door and 
spoke briefly. "Well, according to our esteemed 
scientist, Lezle, we should be ready to start in 
exactly one minute."

	Tanaka's eyes widened. *One minute?* Just then, the 
door of the sphere disappeared, the fate of its 
sole occupant now hidden from his eyes. He looked 
at the alien standing beside him who seemed to be 
studying his reaction with amusement. Rogo cocked 
his head towards something over his shoulder. The 
human turned around and was surprised to see a 
holographic image that showed the nose of the 
Weret and the emptiness of space beyond.

	He heard the scientist, Lezle, utter something to 
Rogo. Rogo, in turn, nodded and began counting 
down: "Ten...nine...eight..."

	Tanaka's heart began to beat faster. He stole a 
glance over his shoulder at the sphere. It was 
beginning to glow brightly. "...five...four..."

	He faced forward once more to the holograph. A dim 
but gradually brightening light was also beginning 
to form just under the nose of the starship. 
"...two...one-"

	A deafening, bloodcurdling scream came out from 
the sphere. "Jesus!" Tanaka breathed as he turned 
to look at the sphere. He had to immediately 
shield his eyes with his hands as the globe burst 
into a blinding flash of crimson light. Peeking 
through his hands to look at the holograph, he saw 
a beam of light shot forward from the starship 
into a point in space. Amidst the continuous 
screaming of the little girl, he saw, to his 
horror, the point grow bigger and bigger, until it 
covered the entire image.

	It looked like the beam was cutting a path through 
space. A rift.

	The beam finally stopped and so did the screams. 
What remained was a swirling whirlpool of light. 
It was the wormhole.

	Chills ran up and down Tanaka's spine as he stood 
erect to behold the path to his world's 
destruction. "God," he began to pray, "if you do 
exist, save us all..."

                    * * * * *

	Mr. and Mrs. Ryuuzaki looked out the view port of 
the starship DSX. They could see the bright planet 
of Cephiro in the distance, suspended in space 
amid the stars. Everything looked serene. The 
configuration of the stars and the planet itself 
was alien to them but they hardly noticed. 
Instead, their thoughts were on their headstrong 
daughter, Umi.

	She was their baby, their only child. That she was 
now endowed with great power was of little 
consequence to them. Right now, all they knew was 
that their child was in harm's way. To Mr. 
Ryuuzaki, nothing could be more unnatural than 
that.

	And yet, in their hearts, they knew they were 
being selfish. Mrs. Ryuuzaki stole a glance 
towards the Shidou brothers. They were standing a 
few meters from them, also looking out the view 
port. Their little sister, Hikaru, was taken 
hostage by the aliens. What could be worse than 
that?

	The opening of the door to the ship's lounge 
interrupted everyone's thoughts. A woman in 
uniform came in. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she 
said in a pleasant voice. "Command Dodge requests 
that you all find your seats and strap yourself 
securely. We are about to get underway."

	Umi's father looked down at his wife and took a 
deep breath. "This is it."

	Mrs. Ryuuzaki smiled gently at her husband and 
held his hand. "Everything will be okay."

	Mr. Ryuuzaki nodded, giving a brief reassuring 
smile of his own. *I hope you're right.*

                    * * * * *

	Fuu surreptitiously glanced at Umi whose body 
language still clearly indicated that she was mad 
and completely irritated with her. The blonde 
teenager's shoulders slumped in dismay. She could 
not remember a time when she had been the object 
of someone else's anger. And yet here, now, one of 
her best friends seemed to think she was to blame 
for their predicament.

	All she wanted to do was warn the Japanese Prime 
Minister of the aliens' attack and the arrival of 
the Autozamian fleet. Now here they were in a 
limousine, which was going to take them to the 
helicopter, which in turn would take them to the 
plane that would fly them all the way to the 
United Nations building in New York. Nice going, 
Hououji.

	The Wind Knight decided to stop stealing glances 
at her friend and look out her window. She was 
surprised to see that they had already arrived. 
She could see the helicopter in the distance. Her 
door was opened for her and she got down. She 
turned to see that Umi had also gotten down and 
was, in fact, already walking towards their 
transport with an escort by her side. Fuu sighed 
once more as she and her escort followed.

	Just as they were approaching, the door to the 
helicopter burst open, revealing two soldiers 
pointing automatic weapons at them; red beams 
streaking out of a tube atop each rifle, painting 
a dot on each of their escort's foreheads. Fuu 
suppressed a gasp as several more armed men 
streamed from behind the aircraft, their guns and 
beams this time aimed at her and Umi. "All of you, 
hands up!" It was in English.

	The escorts of the girls complied immediately.

	"What is the meaning of this?" Umi demanded, her 
fists clenched at her sides, ignoring the red dots 
that danced on her chest and the couple that were 
on her forehead.

	"Don't try anything funny, miss," came the harsh 
answer. "I've got guns aimed at your head. If you 
even so much as move a finger the wrong way, we're 
dropping you. Understand?"

	Fuu saw Umi's body stiffen as terror suddenly took 
over. The Wind Knight stepped closer to her 
friend.

	"Freeze!"

	Fuu gasped and stood stock still as she heard the 
command. "W-what do you want?"

	Instead of an answer, the two soldiers that were 
in the helicopter dropped down and herded the 
escorts away. One soldier came forward and grasped 
Fuu's arm, leading her inside the helicopter. She 
glanced to her side and saw that another soldier 
was also dragging her friend.

	Once inside, Fuu glanced forward. Seated in front 
of them was a big, burly man, wearing a black 
beret. He was armed with a single pistol, which 
was strapped in place at his waist.

	The man smiled benignly. "Don't be afraid--"

	"Easy for you to say, Mister Whoever-You-Are. You 
have your soldiers and guns pointing at us!" Umi 
snarled.

	Fuu shook her head. *Here we go again...*

	"Shut up, Miss Ryuuzaki," the man snapped, all 
gentility gone from his face. "You are now in the 
custody of the United States government."

	Umi and Fuu exchanged worried glances. Their eyes 
communicated with each other. There was no way 
they were going to be taken hostage. Both braced 
themselves as they mentally prepared their own 
assault when suddenly images of a burning and 
screaming Hikaru plowed through their minds!

	Fuu's last thoughts as she lost consciousness were 
of her parents and how everything seemed to have 
taken a turn for the worse.

                    * * * * *

	Onboard the NSX, Zazu tapped a few buttons as he 
made a few adjustments on his scanners. "The 
portal seems to be stable," he announced.

	"Have all the ships reported in?" seated in the 
Commander's chair, Geo asked as he stared at the 
anomaly several hundred meters in front of his 
battleship. *This is crazy*, he thought to himself 
over and over again.

	"All ships have reported in. Everything is a go. 
We're just waiting for your signal, Commander. 
And, yes, we are crazy," Zazu said before turning 
to look at his old friend, giving him a quirky 
smile.

	Geo raised his eyebrows in surprised and then 
realized that he must have said out his thoughts 
out loud. "Well, I guess there's no turning back 
now. Proceed."

	All eyes on the bridge stared ahead. Every 
crewmember of every ship in the fleet held on 
tightly to their respective seats as they braced 
for what could only be a bumpy ride to the other 
side of the galaxy.

	"And so the battle for Earth begins," Geo 
whispered to himself as the swirling lights of the 
portal engulfed the bridge.

-----------------
NEXT: Chapter 14 - Fighting Fire with Fire


AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, this chapter certainly took
me the longest to write. I don't know what it is
but I had to rewrite virtually every section at
least twice!

Anyway, thanks to those who have given reviews
and C&C. They were all appreciated. Please do let
me know what you think of this chapter. E-mail
comments to darkhrse0714@yahoo.com.

Ciao!


DISCLAIMER: Magic Knight Rayearth and all the characters in
that anime/manga are properties of CLAMP.  These are used
here without permission.

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