Disclaimer: All the characters used herin are used without permission 
and copyrighted by their original owners

Author's note: Finally figured out where I want this to go. So here we 
go...
****
The Past...

  Tears flowed freely,  soundlessly.

"Ryoko...is all...ready?"

"Y-yes. Everything's ready."

"Then, my work is done." An age infirmed hand stretched out, towards 
something only its owner could see. "Uuuusaaaagiiii..."

Then there was only silence, and the sound of weeping.

*****************
The present...

Ever since that damn Jusenkyoin had smacked him with that damn virus,
Ranma Saotome had spent half his life as a woman and as he did now 
whenever he thought about them, took a moment to curse the entire 
genomancers guild.

Still, he was something of a positive thinker. Yes, it was disorienting
to change gender when hit with water, but it also meant could finally 
achieve
his dream, and like his mother before him, join the Senshi, Empress 
Serenity's own  bodyguard.

But first, he had bisinuess to take care of and he shoved the left 
control rod forward, increasing the horse's speed, the ruins growing 
ever closer. This really was a good horse, he decided as he steered it 
over the stone blocked road with his palm on the right rod, the single 
wheel humming as it passed over the cracks. Gentle pressure was all he 
needed to steer and Saotome decided that when he returned to Tokyo, he 
would buy the horse.

The sunlight suddenly dimmed and Saotome made a face as he revalueated 
the light conditions. Overhead, he could see the green and whites of 
Midway, one of Japan's several moons as it passed between Japan and the 
sun. That meant that he would be fighting the first duel in the dim 
twilight. Still, his female form, which he was currently in, had better 
night vision.

'Man,' he thought to himself, 'how the hell did I wind up havin three 
duels
in one day?'

Twisting the lever, he parked the horse by the tree and stared at the 
young
lady standing by the wall, chewing on a blade of grass. Her bright red 
hair
was tied back from her face in a long pigtail and she wore a long red 
cloak. She looked much like his female self, but smaller and more 
slender.

"Your manners need more refinement," she said, giving him a cute smile 
as she
stepped away from the wall. "Our bisinuess was to commence five minutes 
ago."

"Is dying that important to you?" Saotome asked as he heard the howl of 
two
more horses as they approached. The rounded the corner and stopped and
Saotome felt his heart sink as he recognized his other two appointments.

One of them was tall, with spiky cyan hair and wore a dark blue cloak. 
The
other appeared to be male at first glance, and it was only by the planes 
of
her face that you realized that he was a she. She wore a dark purple 
cloak and her pink hair spilled down her back in straight waves.

"Shidou, you can't fight her," said the cyan haired woman. "I'm dueling 
her
in an hour."

"I'm fighting her as well," said the third woman. "We were to meet at the
meadow in two hours."

Shidou started chuckling as she began to remove her cloak, the other two
climbing out of their horses and doing the same. "Well, it seems you 
have a
busy afternoon ahead of you," she said to Saotome. "Let's get on with it
then." Her cloak hit the ground and Saotome stared at the tunic.

"You're one of the Senshi?" he asked Shidou. The cloaks of Shidou's
friends also hit the ground, revealing that they wore identical tunics.
"You're all Senshi? I've been looking all over Japan for you."

"And now you've found us," Shidou said. "I believe we have your lack of
manners to discuss, unless you'd like to reschedule."

Saotome sighed and removed from his belt Nerima, the blade handed down
through the generations of his mother's family. A single thought, and the
blade flickered to life, an energy beam a meter long, ten centimeters 
wide,
and an edge of one molecule. "No," he said. "I do not reschedule matters 
of
honor. But I will take no pleasure in this victory." He slipped into a
guarding stance as Shidou produced a blade of her own seemingly out of 
thin
air. "I'll be with you ladies in a moment."

"Ooh," the cyan haired one said, "she's a feisty one." The other redhead
nodded agreement.

At that point, there was the sound of multiple horses approaching and
Shidou's expression became one of disgust. "She wouldn't, not twice in 
one
day."

Around the corner of the ruins came five men and women in the tunics of 
the
Church's soldiers. "You'll all under arrest," said a woman with the 
epaulets
and silver braid of a captain. "Will you come peacefully, or resist 
arrest?"

"She would," the other two Senshi said in unison.

"I'll ask again," said the captain levelly. "Will you come peacefully or 
will
you resist arrest?"

"What are you, stupid?" demanded the cyan haired Senshi. "Of course
we're going to resist. Just give us a moment." The three Senshi went
into a huddle. Saotome tried to join them, but was shoved away.

"Five against three," said the cyan haired woman. "Hardly seems fair. 
Should
we offer them a chance to surrender?"

"There's four of us," Saotome said.

"This isn't your fight," Shidou snarled. "This is between us and High 
Priest
Kagato. You're not one of us."

"I may not wear a Senshi's tunic," Saotome shot back, "But I believe 
that I have
the heart of a Senshi, like my mother before me."

"A warrior and a poet," observed the second redhead.

"You got a name?" Shidou demanded.

"Saotome."

Shidou exchanged looks with her comrades. "Shidou," she said and 
indicated
the others. "Ryoko and Utena." Saotome shook everyone's hand.

"So that's it?" asked Ryoko. "Everyone aqauinted?" They spun to face the
Church soldiers, Ryoko's energy blade manifesting in her hand and Utena 
took
hers from her belt. "Okay," Ryoko said with a smile. "We're ready to 
resist."

The soldiers clambered out of their horses and drew their own swords, 
shouting a battle cry as they rushed forwards. For a moment, there was a 
flurry of swords as everyone jockeyed for position and then they all 
flowed in different directions.

Though he was at a loss to explain how, he had been going for one of the 
lower ranks, Saotome wound up with the captain, who proved to be well 
skilled with her sword. Put on the defensive, Saotome could only 
retreat, fending off her snakelike blows as he searched for an opening, 
any opening to use for his offense.


Shidou cleaned off her blade and stared disgustedly at the man in the 
dirt before her. "Amateur," she growled as Ryoko and Utena joined her. 
"So much for being strengthened by Serenity's will." Ryoko made a 
strange noise and Shidou winced. "Right. Sorry, Ryoko. Forgot."


Saotome stared as Nerima's hilt bounced from the top of the wall, and 
fell to the ground far below. 'Far enough to kill someone,' part of him 
dispassionetly noted and he looked back at the captain, and smiled as he 
moved into a guarding stance. After all, swords were only an extension 
of the body, which was the true weapon.


"Look," Utena said quietly, causing the other two to look up from their 
looting of the soldiers. That was to say that Shidou was looting, and 
Ryoko was watching. "She's still alive." She pointed at the high wall at 
the south end of the ruins. At the top, they could see two figures, and 
only one of them had a sword. The other was dodging the orange blade as 
it swept through the air.

"Unarmed combat against a blade?" Ryoko asked. "Is she nuts?"

"Its only bad if they get you," Utena replied.

"Utena's got a point," Shidou said as she ripped the platinum braid from 
the body of the soldier at her feet. "Unless they make contact, a 
sword's just a nifty light beam." She scowled at the solider's's purse. 
"Only fifty banum?" She slapped the body. "How the hell are we supposed 
to stick it to Kagato if the church pays its dopes crap?"

"We got paid in standard creds," Utena said. "Banum's only good if 
you're buying Arcian Draught, remember?"

Shidou's eyes lit up and she started digging through the fallen 
soldier's tunic more enthusiastically,


When one is armed and their oppenent is not, one generally believes that 
the advantage is theirs. This belief had made the captain overconfident 
and provided Saotome with the opening he had been looking for. As she 
lunged, he twisted and leaned to the left, and then lashed out twice 
with his foot, catching the captain in the stomach and then again in the 
face. Groaning in pain, she toppled forward and then fell off the wall, 
plunging down to hit the ground below with a sickening thump that he 
could hear even from atop the wall. Concentrating, he reached out to 
Nerima and called it to him. A second later, the hilt was hovering 
before him. Grabbing it, he hooked it to his belt and turned to make his 
way back, only to stop as his foot brushed something.

Looking down, he saw a data link embossed with the Church's symbol; A 
tree under crescent moon. As he picked it up, Midway finished its 
passage and the world began to brighten, the sunlight reflecting off the 
link's black casing and the embossed moon. In that brief, glaring flash, 
he thought he saw the silvery moon of the insignia go transparent, 
revealing the face of a rabbit. And then the moment passed, leaving him 
blinking rapidly. He studied the case again, but there was nothing 
remarkable. Shrugging, he tucked the link into his belt pouch and began 
making his way back down the wall.

By the time he got back to the horses, Ryoko and Shidou were leaning 
against one of the walls, watching Utena pile the bodies of the soldiers.

"What's Utena doing?" Saotome asked.

"Revenge," Shidou replied. "She likes to get creative with Kagato's 
lackeys." Saotome turned away as Utena took out a knife and began to 
hack at the bodies.

"But why?"

"She used to be one of the Church Soldiers," Ryoko shrugged. "Then 
something happened involving someone called the Rose Bride. She won't 
talk about it much."

"She takes her revenge pretty seriously though," Shidou said.

"Shit," Ryoko said, staring down the road. "Horses."

"I don't see anything," Saotome said.

"Ryoko's got better hearing then we do," Shidou said and then raised her 
voice. "Utena! Company!" Utena gave no sign of acknowledgment, but she 
did rise to her feet and walk to retrieve her cloak.

"What about Saotome?" Shidou asked as the Senshi gathered their cloaks.

Ryoko's green eyes were unreadable as she studied Saotome. "She comes 
with us," Ryoko declared. "She's too full of idealisim for me to feel 
comfortable leaving her here with Church soldiers coming."
idealism
Saotome bowed his head in thanks and headed for his horse.

****
As they moved north, the terrain turned rocky and the road bad, and the 
quartet was forced to slow down to a snail's pace or risk crashing. They 
stopped only late at night and moved out at dawn. They had taken the 
news of his gender changing ability with minimal concern, but Saotome 
couldn't help feeling like they knew something he didn't and often 
caught them looking at him oddly, speculatively, almost.

But he welcomed it. While maybe not a Senshi yet, he had found them, and 
for that, he was thankful, if a bit troubled. For as long as he could 
remember, Nodaka Saotome had regaled her son with tales of the Senshi, 
painting them as unflawed guardians of love, justice, and peace. Saotome 
could still hear her ringing tones as she told him tales of heroism and 
sacrifice. Of the Lady of Heart, one of the original nine Senshi (when 
there had been only nine) who sacrificed her only shot at love for Queen 
Serenity's safety. His father, however, had spoken of them as human 
beings, with all the good and bad that came with it.

If the trio he had fallen in with was any indication however, then 
Emperor Tenchi and Empress Usagi entrusted their safety to borderline 
psychopath and Shidou seemed to be the worst of the lot. She fought the 
few bandit ambushes they encountered with a zeal that seemed almost 
suicidal, was perhaps a bit to fond of ale, and companship with people 
who made a living out that sort of thing did not overly offend her 
sensibilities. She was occasionally careless about the truth, and 
indifferent about the rights of the dead when it came to property 
ownership...or the rights of some of the living for that matter.

Utena quite obviously had a feud with the Church. They encountered 
patrols of Church Soldiers quite frequently, and Utena always took time 
to butcher them even though it forced them at times to slow down.

It was Ryoko who drew his attention though. Unlike the others, she 
seemed to have no particular beef with the Church, in fact she scowled, 
when the other two joked about the tenents of the Church and yet was 
indifferent to her companion's bloodthirsty excesses. She was often 
silent as she led them down backroads and main roads alike. It was as 
though she was following something.

It was on one cold and clear morning as they traveled a narrow road 
along a mountain face, that suddenly the sun seemed to wink out, Saotome 
looked up just in time to see what almost looked like some kind of hand 
descend upon them.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in a chamber fashioned out of 
some kind of metal. The floor lurched and there was a strained sound, as 
though some aged voice was calling out "Miya!".

Saotome somehow managed to perch on Shidou's head as the scream of sheer 
terror bellowed forth from his lips. "CAAAAAAAT!"

"What the hell?" Shidou demanded, shoving Saotome to the floor. Saotome 
immeditly dashed to the wall and pressed himself against it, eyes 
darting everywhere.

"Family thing," Ryoko said. "I'll talk to him later."

Once it was explained that the ship only made those noises because its 
builder thought it was cute and there were in fact no felines on board, 
Saotome calmed down. Though whenever the ship, which he soon learned was 
called the Ryo-Oki, made a noise, he jumped.

The Ryo-Oki was an old ship, but fast, and they were soon in the 
system's outer reaches, out among the asteroids. Ryoko, who sat in the 
room's only chair, a hand on each of the crystal spheres that seemed to 
be the controls, slowed the ship, apparently searching for something. 
Finally, they dipped inside one of the great rocks and after manuevering 
through a crevice, came to a large cavern. Clinging to one of the walls 
by means of a bottom mouted grasping claw was a medium size freighter. 
It was disc shaped and obviously very old. It appeared to be a single 
deck and the cockpit was mounted on the side, rather then center on in 
the front.

"That's a Republic ship, isn't it?" Saotome asked.

"Sort of," Ryoko replied as they slowed. "She was built during the fifty 
or so years between the First and Second Republic, when the Empire was 
decorating systems with the burnt out hulls of Alliance ships. After the 
second Republic was founded, this design became popular with independent 
haulers because of the increased cargo capacity and low operating 
costs." On the viewscreen, the hull of the freighter closed with 
frightening speed--

--Saotome blinked and found himself standing in an empty cargo bay. At 
his feet was a small brown creature with thin brownish-gray fur. Saotome 
jumped back, instinctively distancing himself from the creature's 
catlike appearance. The creature, however, looked at him with dim yellow 
eyes and made a pitiful squeaking noise. It was then that he noticed 
that the air in the room was stale and smelled bad. It was thin, and 
barely breathable. Saotome tried not to breathe too deep.

"I'll put Ryo-Oki in her chamber," Utena said, scooping the creature up.

"Fine. Saotome, come with us." Ryoko and Shidou led Saotome through a 
cooridoor to a small conical cockpit. before him was two seats set into 
the floor before a console. To his right, another console set into the 
wall, and an ordinary chair at some kind of desk. "Flip every switch on 
that console with a red light," Ryoko said to him as she took the left 
seat at the front. Saotome did as instructed as Shidou squeezed past him 
and took the right hand seat.

"Seven percent systems failure," Shidou said. "Not bad considering its 
been here for what? Ten years?" Her fingers danced across keys, and 
Saotome could hear the hum-whirr of stasis fields spinning down. The air 
began to freshen as the scrubbers started working and the deckplates 
started vibrating as the engines came online.

"Closer to twelve," Ryoko said absently as she she manipulated the 
controls, detaching the ship from the wall and guiding it out of the 
cave. "Anything vital?"

"Nah, at least nothing the auto-repair can't handle. So where are we 
headed?"

"Dunno. Its a pretty safe bet Kagato knows we're here, so we need to get 
out of this system. Any suggestions?"

"Jump Gate then hyperdrive," Utena said as she entered the cockpit and 
sat at the third console. With nowhere else to go, Saotome sat at the 
desk and began fiddling with the data link.

"No. He's going to be watching the jump grid." Ryoko said and reached 
for the console set between the two front seats just below the 
hyperdrive controls, slouching a little to see the screen. "I'd rather 
just hyper out of here." Long fingers tapped keys. "Some out of the way 
system where Kagato doesn't have a reach." She muttered a curse to 
herself. "Or at least where the Church has other things on its mind." 
Then a moment later. "Shidou, you owe me fifty."

"Huh?"

Ryoko jabbed a finger at the screen. "Manticore and Haven are at war. 
Again." The cyan haired woman resumed tapping keys, stopping only to 
take a cred chip from Shidou, who was half leaning over her shoulder.

Foe the most part, the next hour passed without incident, the Senshi 
speaking together in hushed voices.

"Ryoko?" Saotome asked, breaking the silence. "Can I ask you something."

"Sure."

"What was the Helios project?"

"Helios?" Ryoko's head came up, the spikes of her hair smacking Utena in 
the face. "What's that?"

"Its on this link."

Ryoko snatched the link from his hand and studied it. "This is a Church 
link...where did you get this?"

"The captain dropped it."

Ryoko held it out to Utena.

"A memo to all units from Kagato," Utena said after a moment's glance at 
the link's screen. "They're to gather any and all references to Helios, 
no matter how passing or the context. Its tagged as High Priority."

Ryoko muttered an oath and turned back to the screen. "Helios, Helios, 
why does that name sound familiar?"

"Nothing in the ship library," Shidou said as they gathered behind Ryoko.

"I can see that," Ryoko muttered and swore to herself. "All right, where 
can we go both to hide and find out what Kagato is up to?" She began to 
page through the computer.

"Hey wait," Shidou said after Ryoko paged through several entries. "Go 
back. No. One more. There. Nabiki."

"Nabiki system?" Saotome asked.

"Nabiki's not a system," Shidou said. "She's a woman."

"More like a cult," Ryoko groused, even as she called up system cords on 
the navigational controls. "Whatever you need, Nabiki can get it's hands 
on it, and it has no particular love for the Church."

"So we can trust them?" Saotome asked.

"It. Nabiki has no gender. And yeah, we can...as long as our money holds 
out." Ryoko said, and pushed the lever forward. Outside the cockpit, 
space became the molted sky of hyperspace.

-Steve "Komodo" T.
http://livejournal.com/users/pandoras_closet
http://livejournal.com/community/aberdawnknights



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