Part Fourteen
The crystalline black and red starship wobbled back and forth a bit as it carefully approached the much larger Washu's Revenge. Ryouko's parents Washu and Yume, her sister Minagi, Ayeka's mothers Funaho and Misaki, her sister Sasami, Kiyone and Mitsuki were all watching it's return and wondering if it would land in one piece.
Minagi made a face, "Looks like Ryouko got poor Ryo-Ohki drunk again."
Sasami looked up at her in alarm, "Drunk? How can you get a spaceship drunk?"
Washu sighed, "Remember, Ryo-Ohki is organic, too." She looked over at Kiyone, "We'd better clear the landing deck. I seem to remember from the last time she did this that a tanked Ryo-Ohki doesn't land too well."
"They do this often?" Mitsuki raised her eyebrow. It looked like being the liason between the Galaxy Police and Manticore was going to be an interesting job.
With a deep sigh of her own Kiyone activated the communication system, "Clear the landing deck, please. Emergency teams, to your stations."
They watched from a safe distance as Ryo-Ohki missed the dock completely, the first try. It backed up, wobbling all the way, then managed to line up properly and go in. Bouncing off the doors, it dinged the ceiling, then dribbled it's way to a stop.
"At least nothing blew up or caught on fire this time," Minagi sighed hopefully.
Just then a fire broke out on the deck.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Kiyone sighed.
It only took them a few moments to reach the docks, and already a transport sphere had formed to drop off Ryo-Ohki's passengers to the floor. The massive crystal ship shrank, becoming a small, brown furred cabbit.
Ryo-Ohki looked around blearily, it's fur rumpled and sticking up oddly. "Myah-hic!" it managed, then flopped right over.
The transport sphere quickly dissipated away, revealing both Ryouko and Ayeka leaning up against each other unsteadily. "Hi, guys," Ryouko called out while she waved a large bottle of sake around cheerfully, her cheeks glowing red.
"Big sister," Sasami cried, running over to their side.
Ayeka smiled down at her weakly, "Hi, Sasami."
With a slight smile on her face Misaki said, "It certainly didn't take Ryouko very long to loosen her up."
Funaho raised an eyebrow, "Considering what happened on our honeymoon, I don't think we're in a position to criticize."
Misaki didn't say anything, but she blushed charmingly.
Ignoring that conversation Washu looked over at the two clearly intoxicated women and one very drunk cabbit and sighed softly to herself. "Let's just get them to bed," she pushed her red hair back wearily, "we can find out what happened to them tomorrow."
Minagi picked up Ryouko, Kiyone grabbed Ayeka, and Washu and Sasami supervised the dropping off the drunkards in their new suite together. "You smell like they poured the booze on you," Minagi scowled down at Ryo-Ohki.
"Myah," Ryo-Ohki agreed cheerfully, then, "hic!"
Mitsuki shook her head as she headed back to her quarters. 'Galaxy Police headquarters was never like this,' she thought, but she was smiling. She remembered something, and stopped at a suite near her own, activating the chime.
Rhione opened the door, "Yes, Miss..?" she trailed off, obviously not remembering.
"Mitsuki," she smiled. "Your friend Ayeka and Ryouko are back," she waved and headed off.
"Wait a moment," Rhione called. Mitsuki turned, and the Jurai noble woman smiled at her gently, "Thanks for telling me."
Mitsuki nodded respectfully, "You're welcome."
'At least they're back home again,' Kiyone thought to herself as she returned to the bridge. "I relieve you," she nodded to Honor.
Honor Harrington saluted, "No changes since the watch began."
"In other words," Kiyone smiled back as she returned the salute, "it's been quiet." Honor nodded, and Kiyone smirked, "Better get back to your girlfriend Michelle before she comes after me for pulling you away."
Honor blushed, "Thank you, ma'am!"
Honor left the bridge quietly, and Kiyone took a moment to note who was standing watch with her tonight. Kei and Yuri were at the communications and security posts, an odd but compatible couple. Nicole manned the tactical station, the pink haired young man studying his readouts diligently. And sitting over at the science station Yume was gazing off into space with that distracted way she had when working on a difficult problem.
"What's going on?" Kiyone asked her quietly.
"Those cloaked ships," Yume sighed softly.
Kiyone made a face upon hearing that. The three cloaked vessels had attacked the Washu's Revenge during Ryouko and Ayeka's wedding, releasing boarding parties within the ship while firing from outside. They had handled them fairly easily, but the question of where those ships had come from remained a unresolved problem.
"Making any progress?" Kiyone asked Yume quietly.
The elfin scientist smiled back at her grimly. "I was able to plot their course from data we acquired when we downloaded the captive ships' computers," Yume said, "and they came from a colony world out on the rim."
"But they don't have that kind of technology," Kiyone murmured.
"Not that we know of," Yume agreed.
"Ryouko isn't going to like hearing that piece of news," Kiyone sighed. A slight smile quirked her lips, "Once she sobers up, anyway."
Yume snickered quietly before asking Kiyone, "I take it that they both had a good time on their honeymoon?"
"They were certainly," Kiyone looked thoughtful, "cheerful, when they landed."
The next morning according to ship's time and the group of them were in the captain's mess-hall for some breakfast. Ryouko ate hers hungrily, showing no signs of having an hangover, but Ayeka was looking just a bit more fragile as she cautiously ate. Ryo-Ohki, on the other hand, was fine as she demolished a big pile of carrots. The rest of them dug in happily, the table a chaotic but friendly free for all to grab at dishes of food.
"So what happened?" Minagi asked curiously.
"Since we had already seen my home of Jurai together," Ayeka drank some coffee, "we decided to visit Manticore."
"After having a bit of fun in orbit," Ryouko ignored Ayeka's fierce blush, "we went down to the forests so I could show Ayeka around." She drank some of her coffee, "The only problem was we ran right into Fluffy."
Washu nearly choked on her coffee, while both Minagi and Kiyone looked at the two of them in awe. Only Sasami looked confused as she asked, "Who's Fluffy?"
"Well over one ton of soft and furry destructive capability," Minagi shook her head in awe. "You didn't have to kill it, did you?" she asked them. "I think it's still an endangered species, not to mention that it would upset Mihoshi," she added.
"We just drove it off," Ayeka said quietly, still blushing faintly.
"And then what happened?" Misaki asked eagerly.
"We went back up in Ryo-Ohki, and Ryouko suggested we have a celebratory drink," Ayeka sighed. She winced slightly, "To be honest I don't remember very much after that."
"Myah," Ryo-Ohki agreed sheepishly.
"Too bad," Ryouko murmured as she drank more coffee.
Ayeka blushed again under Ryouko's amused gaze, looking as if she had remembered something else that had happened that night. "Seems I'm going to have to practice a bit before I can keep up with you," she murmured quietly, so only Ryouko could hear.
"You're keeping up fine," Ryouko answered quietly, "and you don't need any practice." She smirked, "Believe me."
Watching them Sasami blushed faintly before looking down into her plate. "Ick," she muttered to herself softly.
Ryouko shook her head, noting the amused glances of those gathered around the table. "Back to work," she sighed. "Did Mitsuki accept?" she asked Kiyone.
"You were right, she did," Kiyone nodded. "She's on board now, I believe she's setting up her quarters," she reported.
"Good," Ryouko sighed, "we might just need her." She turned to Yume, "Any luck with those cloaked ships?"
Yume blinked at her in surprise, shaking her head. "I swear, sometimes I wonder if you don't read minds," she muttered.
"No, I just know you and Washu pretty well," Ryouko smiled at both her mothers, "neither one of you can let go of a problem until you solve it."
Washu laughed softly, "You've got a point."
"Using the cloaked ships' computer systems and navigational logs," Yume reported, "I've back tracked them back to a world out on the rim." She called up a file, "Colony world number 0315, called by it's natives Earth."
Ayeka leaned forward, "A Jurai colony? I haven't heard of it."
Ryouko had an odd expression on her face as she quietly said, "I have." She looked over at Ayeka, Masaki and Funaho, "After we beat Kagato, we raided his files, and he claimed to have fought and killed Yosho out there."
Funaho's face went visibly pale, her eyes wide as she remembered her long lost son. "That's ...quite a coincidence," she managed to get out.
"I'll agree with that," Masaki put her arm gently on her co-wife's arm.
"Oh, no," Ryouko groaned suddenly.
"What?" Ayeka looked over at her worriedly.
"That planet's right beside the Moon Kingdom," Ryouko moaned, "that means we'll have to deal with Usagi and her harem if we want to investigate."
"I thought you liked them," Minagi smirked, "at least, that's what the stories say."
Trying to muster some dignity Ryouko said, "Those stories are greatly exagerated."
"That's not what Lady Mercury said," Washu smirked, drinking some juice.
"Or Uranus and Neptune," Kiyone pointed out.
"I get no respect," Ryouko sighed.
Ayeka lay her hand gently on Ryouko's arm, smiling at her warmly when she turned to look. "If it helps, I've always respected you," she said quietly.
"It helps," Ryouko laughed softly.
"Myah," Ryo-Ohki added seriously.
To be continued...
Deviant Hearts Archive | Back to main index