Here it is, part 2 of "Destiny's Balance."  "Skirting the Balance," 
is divided into three sections, none of which are directly connected 
to the other two.  This means that you can read the sections in any 
order you like.  This is a post TF work, meaning if you haven't seen 
the movie, "Tenchi Forever," you might have a little trouble 
understanding some of the background.
Tenchi Muyo is the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  The author owns 
only the writing and the characters he, himself, creates.  Ssedrey 
and the Asconian people are the property of Daniel Powell and are 
being used with his knowledge and consent for this fic.



Skirting the Balance C:  Agamemnon


	Kiyone woke up and noticed that she wasn't on Earth anymore.  
She blinked, and groaned as pain wracked her body.  What happened?  
She remembered now, some ships had attacked them and shot them with 
a sonic disruptor.  She grimaced.  Disruptors were illegal all 
throughout the galaxy and considered a form of cruel and unusual 
punishment.  It allowed someone to take out multiple targets at 
once at the expense of time.  It was a pretty horrible way to go 
out.  
	But who had used it on them?
	She raised her head and found an answer.  Cavis Darktower was 
checking an unconscious Ryoko's pulse.  She saw that Tenchi was also 
nearby, and also unconscious.  Kiyone growled and stood up, drawing 
her GP blaster as she did.
	"Freeze," she told him, trying to ignore the pain in her head.  
"You are under arrest."
	Cavis didn't stop tending to Ryoko.  "Kiyo-chan, I have more 
important things to worry about right now."
	Kiyone took a step forward and put her blaster at his head.
	"I don't," she told him.
	Cavis took a breath and paused.  He stood up and began to face 
her, but she grabbed his arm and turned him around so that his back 
was to her.  
	"Hands on your head," she growled.  "You know the routine."
	Cavis put his hands on his head while Kiyone fumbled through 
her daze for her handcuffs.  "Kiyo-chan..."
	"Stuff it!"  she bit out.
	Cavis gritted his teeth.  "We don't have time for this," he 
growled.  In a flash he whirled around and knocked Kiyone's gun hand 
aside.  He knelt down and spun in a leg sweep that knocked Kiyone off 
her feet.  The Galaxy Policewoman hit the ground with a thud, the 
pain all over her body intensifying because of the rough treatment 
it was getting.
	The pirate grabbed Kiyone by her legs and flipped her over onto 
her stomach.  He grabbed Kiyone's handcuffs and cuffed her hands 
behind her back.  Then he reached out and took her blaster.  All 
this happened before Kiyone even realized it *was* happening.
	Cavis stuck the GP blaster in his belt.  "Now if you're a 
good girl, I'll let you out later.  Until then, I need to work on 
your friends."
	Kiyone, the last of her strength gone, muttered one last 
phrase before descending into unconsciousness.
	"You bastard..."

	"Um...Cavis...how long are you going to keep her like that?"  
Ryoko asked the pirate slightly worried.
	It had been two hours since their escape into hyperspace.  
Cavis had treated them with a portable med kit, and aside from a 
good, collective headache, the three of them were fine.
	All except Kiyone...who was screaming at them from the 
transport room, still cuffed and very angry.
	Cavis took a sip of tea and answered nonchalantly.  "When 
she learns to behave herself.  Until then, she stays where she is."
	"Um...Mr. Darktower, she's been locked up in there for two 
hours,"  Tenchi pointed out.  "Maybe we really should..."
	Cavis waved the idea aside.  "Stop worrying, Tenchi.  
Kiyo-chan's been in a lot more uncomfortable positions than that for 
a lot longer."  He grinned devilishly.  "Believe me, I know."  He 
listened as Kiyone's rant continued from down the corridor.
	"DARKTOWER, I SWEAR TO ALL THAT'S HOLY, WHEN I GET MY HANDS 
ON YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH, I'LL *KILL YOU*!!!  YOU'RE OWN MOTHER 
WON'T RECOGNIZE YOU WHEN I'M..."
	It went on like that for quite awhile.
	"Besides, I think she needs time to cool down, don't you?"  
Ryoko  and Tenchi nodded.
	"Cavis, what happened?"  Ryoko asked him.  "What's going on?  
Who attacked us, and why?"
	Cavis took a breath and told them the story, how an Assassin 
that owed him a favor warned him of the attack, and how they had 
planned to rescue them.
	"As you can see, the plan had to be...altered slightly."  
	Ryoko nodded.  "So they're after Ayeka, huh?"
	"And Sasami," Cavis added.  "Plus anyone else who might figure 
out what's going on.  That means the members of your little 
revolutionary group."  He smiled.
	Ryoko grinned.  "Heard about that, huh?"
	Cavis grinned and nodded.  "I owe Davner twenty credits.  I was 
sure you'd end up with your head on the block."
	"Cavis!"
	His grin got wider. "I'm just kidding.  As a matter of fact, 
we tried to hook up with you, but every time we got a lead on your 
whereabouts, we'd get there just in time to watch them clean up the 
mess you made as a result of your visit."
	Ryoko smiled.
	"So what do we do now?"  Tenchi asked.
	"We hide, pure and simple.  Just find a nice, cozy place to 
lay low and stay out of the eyes of the Assassin's Guild."
	Tenchi blinked.  "That's it?  Hide?"
	Cavis nodded.  "I don't like complicated plans, there's too 
much that can go wrong."
	"LET ME OUT OF HEEEEERRRRRREEEE!!!!"
	Cavis arched an eyebrow.  "Is it just me, or does Kiyo-chan 
actually sound *meaner* now?"
	"Maybe you oughta let her out, Cav,"  Ryoko told him seriously.
	Cavis sighed.  "Fine, I'll go unlock her."  He got up from the 
kitchen table and went to the transport room.  He could hear Kiyone 
ramming her shoulder against the metal door.
	"LET ME OOOUUUUUTTTTTT!!!!!"
	Cavis leaned against the far wall, crossed his arms over his 
chest, and smiled.  "What's the magic word?"
	"CAVIS, YOU RAT BASTARD, YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!!!"
	"Nope, that's not it.  I'll come back when you remember it."  
He started to go.
	"Cavis, wait!"  He paused, midstep.  From the other side of 
the door, he could hear Kiyone quietly sobbing.  "Please, Cav, 
please.  Let me out of here."  Cavis' smile slipped.  Kiyone sounded 
scared and in pain.  He could hear her crying.  "Please, Cavis.  
I'm begging you.  Let me out, *please*!"
	Cavis sighed and hit the button to open the door.  It slid 
open...
	And Kiyone charged.
	She slammed into him with her shoulder and knocked him back 
into the bulkhead, then she brought her knee up into his stomach, 
knocking the wind out of him.
	Cav gasped and doubled over in pain.  He fell to his knees, 
then made the rest of the trip to the ground, falling on his side, 
trying desperately to breathe.
	Kiyone turned her back to him and knelt down, using her hands 
to reach into his jacket pockets for the keys to the cuffs.  She 
found them and stood up.  Then, she gave him a swift kick in the 
ribs for good measure while she tried to maneuver the cuffs so that 
she could unlock them.
	She gave a cry of triumph as the cuffs fell from her wrists.  
She rubbed them to work the circulation back into them, while Cavis 
lay gasping on the floor.  The GP reached down into Cav's coat and 
pulled his blaster from the holster.
	"Now, you piece of trash, let's try this again," she said 
triumphantly as she leveled the blaster at his head.  "You are under 
arrest.  You have the right to remain silent concerning any facts 
that may have advertant impact on your case.  If you give up this 
right, anything you say can and *will* be used against you in a 
court of Galaxy Law.  You have the right to an attorney.  If you 
cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you by the Galaxy 
Police League of Public Defenders.  Do you understand these rights 
as I have read them to you?"
	Cavis' only reply was a long, drawn out gasp of pain. 
	"I'll take that as a 'yes.'  On your feet, scummer!"
	"Kiyone!"
	Kiyone looked up and saw Tenchi and Ryoko coming down the hall.  
"What do you think you're doing?!"  Ryoko asked her.
	"What does it look like, Ryoko?  This man is going to prison.  
Now."
	Tenchi raised his hand.  "Shouldn't we solve this problem 
with the Assassin's Guild first?"
	Kiyone blinked.  "The Assassin's Guild?"  She looked down at 
Cavis, who was still gasping for breath.

	"You could've told me,"  Kiyone growled.
	"You weren't exactly in the mood to listen,"  Cavis pointed 
out.  They were back in the dining room again, and had just filled 
Kiyone in on what was happening.  He shook his head.  "I can't 
believe I fell for the waterworks routine.  I've been hanging out 
with Achi too long."
	Kiyone didn't spare him a glance.  "Fine, we'll deal with the 
Assassin's Guild first, but after that," she glared at him now, 
"Your ass belongs to me."
	Cavis smiled.  "It always has, Kiyo-chan,"
	Kiyone started for him, but Ryoko stopped her.  "Not now."
	Before the fight could go any further, the entire ship began 
to shudder.  Cavis jumped out of his chair.  "Damn!"  He started 
for the bridge.  The others followed him.  He jumped into the command 
chair and began working the panels as quickly as he could.  "Come on, 
Aggy, o'l girl," he muttered.  Suddenly, the starlines coalesced 
into stars as the Agamemnon fell back into normal space.
	"What's happening?!"  Tenchi asked.
	"We lost the motivator,"  Cavis told him.  "Must have been 
damaged in the fight.  We're trapped in normal space."
	Ryoko and Kiyone both realized the significance of this.  
"But..we're in the middle of nowhere,"  Kiyone pointed out.  
"Without hyperdrive..."
	"Without hyperdrive," Cavis finished for her, "It'll take us 
about seventy years to get to the nearest inhabited planet.  Give 
or take a decade."
	"Can we fix the motivator?"  Ryoko asked.
	Cavis checked the panel and shook his head.  "The entire unit 
is fused into the ship, we'll need to drydock."
	Ryoko looked out at the sea of stars around them.  "Then we're 
not going anywhere."

	In space, there's nothing to transmit sound.  No air, no 
liquid.  That means that no matter how loud someone screams, or 
intense a star goes nova, there is never a sound to accompany it.
	No matter how loud you play your stereo.
	That was one problem Meg Kaizuko never had to deal with.  
Alone, aboard her tiny cargo ship, the Megami, she was the final word 
on whatever happened aboard her ship.
	And if she wanted to play something loud on the stereo while 
she was lying on her back in a jeffries tube, repairing the latest 
thing to break down on her ship, she could.
	And she could tap her foot to the beat and even sing along if 
she liked.
	That's what she was doing when her onboard computer started 
beeping, trying to get her attention.
	"Passion isn't really happiness...!"  she sang.  She kicked 
the bulkhead of her ship twice, adding her own percussion to the 
song while she worked on the worn out power distribution node with 
her hands.  She paused a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow.  
She came to a point in the repairs where she needed total 
concentration, so she stopped singing and made do with humming.
	She examined the circuitry and shook her head.  "Damn," she 
muttered.  "I'm gonna need a coupling modulator."  She turned her 
head slightly.  "Penni!  Penni!  Where's the coupling modulator?!"  
She waited for her onboard computer to respond, but didn't hear 
it.  "I said, 'where's the coupling modulator?'"  She suddenly 
realized that maybe she couldn't hear his reply over the music, so 
she reached up and turned it off.  Once she did, she heard the 
urgent beeping.  "Damn!" 
	She crawled out of the tube and started for the cockpit, 
grabbing a rag from the floor and using it to wipe her face.  She 
sat in the pilot's chair and brushed aside a few errant, black 
hairs from over her eyes.  Her black hair was pulled back behind 
her, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep a few 
hairs from plopping down in front of her eyes.  She had long since 
stopped trying.  She looked at the message board and found what 
Penni was trying to warn her about.
	"A ship, huh?" she muttered.  "How 'bout that?"  She thought 
*she* was the only one who ever hid out in this sector.  Her eyes 
narrowed.  It could be the GP.  She growled.  If this turned out 
to be that damn Mitsuki woman again...
	She scanned the ship and whistled.  It'd been through Hell.  
That much she was sure of.  It looked like a small cargo ship, 
similar to her own, designed for speed rather than payload.  
Penni's scanners roamed over the ship and detected power 
fluctuations as well as radiation leaks from their hyperdrive 
motivator.  She sat back in her chair and thought.  
	She turned to the empty copilot's chair.  "Well, Sis, how 
ya wanna handle it?"  The chair didn't respond.  Meg blinked in 
puzzlement, then sighed when realization set in.  Three years, 
and she was still doing that.
	She sighed again and ordered Penni to set a course.

	Sudorin watched the stars race by on board the Vendetta's 
bridge.  This was one of the times in the hunt he relished most.  
Watching space hurtle by, it was almost as if he, himself, were 
running toward his prey, ready to kill.
	Warshan walked up to where he was standing and handed him a 
report.  "I.D. came in on those ships that attacked us," he told 
Sudorin.
	The leader of the Assassin's Guild looked at the report and 
smiled.  "The Agamemnon," he read, "Cavis Darktower's ship, well, 
well.  I wonder how *he* found out about this."
	"Blind luck?"  Warshan asked.
	"No such thing," Sudorin told him.  He turned to Warshan as 
a thought came to him.  "Didn't we serve a contract against 
Darktower?"
	Warshan nodded.  "Yes, Lord Sudorin.  However, the Assassin 
was killed and the contract voided."
	Sudorin thought on this.  "For someone to kill an 
Assassin...Cavis Darktower must be exceptional prey."  He thought 
in silence for another moment.  "We are on the hyperspace 
trajectory the Agamemnon was on, aren't we?"
	"Yes, Lord Sudorin."
	"Good.  I will lead the hunt against Darktower myself."

	"It just goes from bad to worse," Tenchi complained.
	Ryoko, Cavis, and Kiyone couldn't argue with that.  Shortly 
after the hyperdrive had given out, the power had started fluctuating.  
Now, Cavis had told them that radiation leaks were beginning to form 
all over the engine compartment.
	"How long?"  Ryoko asked.
	Cavis and Kiyone, wearing radiation suits, plopped down into 
a pair of chairs before answering.
	"The leaks are getting worse," Kiyone told them, matter of 
factly.  "If the ship doesn't explode first, we'll start feeling 
the effects in about a day and a half."
	Cavis looked up at the ceiling.  "Thanks, Aggy," he said, 
then muttered, "Scheming bitch."
	"What about the escape pods?"  Ryoko asked.
	Kiyone shook her head.  "They were all near the engine 
compartment, so they're already flooded with radiation."
	"So, what do we do?"  Tenchi asked.
	Cavis took a deep breath and stood up.  He walked to the 
refrigerator and opened it, removing four cans of Aynarian lager.  
He tossed a can to each of them.
	"Anyone up for a game of cards?"

	Tenchi heard the knock and saw Ryoko phase through the door.  
	"Hey, Ryoko," he said with a slight smile.
	"Hi, Tenchi,"  Ryoko answered, her hands behind her back.  She 
started for the small cabinet in the cabin.  Cavis' ship was designed 
for a crew of four, so there was plenty of space.  They each had 
their own rooms.
	Tenchi sighed and stared at the floor.  "You know, Ryoko, 
after all we've been through, Kagato, Kain, being on the run from 
the Galaxy Police and the Jurains, I never thought it'd end like 
this."
	From behind him.  He heard the gentle clinking of glass and 
Ryoko say, "Uh huh,"
	"You know, after missing out on six months of my life, I was 
going to turn my life around, make some changes."
	"Change is always good, Tenchi."  He heard the hiss of a 
bottle of something carbonated being opened.
	Tenchi shook his head and smiled.  "I guess it doesn't matter 
now, huh?"
	He looked up and saw Ryoko putting a tray down on the table.  
Two glasses of some amber liquid and a wine bottle were sitting on 
it.  She turned to him and began unbuttoning her shirt.
	Tenchi blinked.  "Um...Ryoko?  What are you doing?"
	She smiled, approached him, and rested her hands on his chest.  
"What I should have done the second I first laid eyes on you."  She 
leaned forward and kissed him.
	"Ryoko?"  At least, that's what he *tried* to say.  With her 
mouth firmly clamped over his, it came out more like "Ryummum?"
	She gently pulled away, and looked into his eyes.  "Tenchi, 
you're right.  It *doesn't* matter anymore.  There's no more time 
to be self conscious or nervous.  The carnival we thought would last 
forever is coming to an end, but before it does, I want you to know 
that I love you.  I've always loved you, and I always *will* love 
you.  And if all we have left is a day together, than I want to 
spend that day showing you just how much I love you."
	Tenchi didn't know what to say.
	Ryoko's face turned sad.  "But if you don't want to, if you 
want me to leave.  Tell me now, and I'll go."
	Tenchi gulped nervously and blinked.  Ryoko nodded sadly and 
began to turn from him.
	"Please stay," he whispered.  She turned to him, genuinely 
surprised.  "I.." he continued.  "I *want* you to stay."  He smiled 
up at her.  Ryoko grinned and leapt on him, knocking him back onto 
the bed, kissing him all over his face in joy.  Tenchi, taken by 
surprise, was helpless to do anything but lie there.  Suddenly, Ryoko 
stopped.
	"Tenchi," she said.  "Are you saying that because we only 
have a day left, or are you saying that because you love me?"  Her 
voice held a twinge of fear in it.
	"Ryoko," he said softly,  "I love you, *that's* why I want you 
to stay."
	Ryoko beamed.  "You mean it?!"
	He nodded.  "Yeah, I really mean it.  I love you, and I want 
you to stay with me."
	She kissed him again, this time even more passionately than 
before.  Tenchi found himself kissing back.  He wrapped his arms 
around her and held her tightly to him.  She began to nuzzle his 
neck.
	"Say it again, Tenchi," she begged him as she kissed his neck.
	"I love you, Ryoko."
	"That's all I've ever wanted since the day I first met you, 
Tenchi," she whispered in his ear.  "Just to hear you say that.  
Please say it again."
	Tenchi smiled and kissed her.  "I love you, Ryoko."
	She nibbled his ear.  "Say it louder, Tenchi.  I want the whole 
galaxy to hear it!"
	Tenchi laughed.  "I LOVE YOU, RYOKO!" he shouted up at the 
ceiling.
	Ryoko laughed in joy and kissed him again.  She giggled as he 
rolled over on top of her.

	Out in the hall, a bottle of wine and two glasses in his hands, 
Cavis heard them through the metal bulkheads.  He sighed and looked 
down at the bottle.
	"So much for seizing the day," he muttered sadly.  He opened 
the bottle and began to drink.

	She found him on the bridge.
	"Hey, Kiyone," he said in greeting, bringing the half empty 
wine bottle to his lips.  
	Kiyone blinked in surprise.  "What?" she asked sarcastically.  
"No 'Kiyo-chan?'"
	He didn't answer.
	"I'm glad you're taking the situation so seriously," she 
commented acidly.  "Cavis, send the damn distress signal."
	He paused and shook his head.  "The hell I will.  There's a 
better chance of the Guild finding us than a GP cruiser, and I'd 
rather die here on my own ship than have the Assassins come and get 
me."
	She shook her head.  "You are such an asshole."
	"Yeah," he said.  "I really am."  He took another swig.
	She noticed his sad tone for the first time.  "Cavis, are you 
okay?"
	Once again he paused.  "Yeah, Kiyone, I'm fine."
	"You don't look fine," she pointed out.  "How much have you 
been drinking?"
	"Not as much as I should," he commented.
	Kiyone growled and shook her head.  "You know, instead of 
getting wasted, you should be helping me find a way out of this..."  
She broke off as the computer console began to beep.
	Cavis looked over at it curiously.  He slowly tapped the 
control key and saw a holopanel flash into the air in front of him.  
He read the information.
	"Ship coming," he said.
	Kiyone hopped into the copilot's chair and began working some 
controls.  "What kind?"
	"Can't make it out yet," Cavis told her nonchalantly.  "Better 
fire up the plasma guns.  If the bastards want to take the Aggy, 
they're gonna work for it, dammit!  They caught Cavis Darktower in 
the wrong mood today!" 
	Kiyone brought the Agamemnon's defense grid online and 
targeted the blip on their screen.  Suddenly the communicator came 
to life.
	"Ahoy, and all that navy shit!"  a distinctly feminine voice 
said.  Cavis blinked in puzzlement.  "This is the merchant vessel, 
Megami to the crippled piece of trash off my port bow.  How the 
hell are ya?!"
	Cavis and Kiyone looked to one another.  "Huh?"  they said 
as one. 

	It didn't take long for Cavis to explain the problem.  The 
freighter captain, Meg, as she identified herself, scanned their 
ship and gave them some more bad news.
	"Well, I can't transport you aboard.  The radiation is 
interfering with the transport sensors, but I can give you a tow."
	"We don't have much time, Megami."
	"I know," Meg told them.  "But there's an abandoned starbase 
not far from here.  We can dock you and go on from there."
	Cavis gave Kiyone a questioning looks.  Kiyone shrugged as if 
to say, "You got a better idea?"
	"Okay, Megami.  Take me, I'm yours."
	Meg laughed.  "I'll hold you to that, Agamemnon.  Megami out."
	Cavis sat back in his chair in thought.  "Well...we're rescued," 
he said solemnly.  He smiled.  "Hope springs eternal," he whispered.
	"Huh?" 
	Cavis turned to Kiyone.  "Kiyo-chan, why don't you go back 
and tell Ryoko and Tenchi that the funeral's been postponed while 
I make the neccessary preparations to be towed?"
	Kiyone shrugged, nodded and went to the back cabin.
	She stopped in front of Tenchi's room.  She could hear the 
both of them in there.  She knocked and opened the door without 
waiting for a reply.  
	"Hey, you guys, we've been resc...OH JEEZ!  I'M SORRY!"  She 
slammed the door shut and stood outside the room for a moment.  
Her face was very red.  She gritted her teeth and walked back up 
to the bridge.  
	Cavis was working at one of the panels when she entered.  
Without a second's thought, she reached out and smacked him in the 
back of the head.
	"You could've warned me!"  she shot at him.  She sat back in 
the co-pilot's chair and muttered, "Asshole."
	Cavis laughed.

	Meg activated the magnetic tractors and throttled the engine 
up.  The Agamemnon, nestled safely between four magnetic tractor 
beams, followed close behind.  She sat back in her chair and sighed.  
	"Well, Dee," she said, "Another good deed."
	This time, the co-pilot's chair answered her.  "He sounds 
cute."
	Meg turned to see a woman who looked just like her, except 
her hair was worn short, sitting in the chair, looking at a data 
pad and twirling a pen between her fingers.
	"Well,"  Meg said sadly, "Looks like you finally decided to 
show up.  I was wondering if maybe you had decided to leave me 
alone."
	Dee Kaizuko looked up from the pad.  "You know, Sis, I'm only 
here because a part of you *wants* me to stay."
	"I don't want you here!"
	Dee looked hurt.  "Meg..."
	"I'm sorry,"  Meg said quickly, turning away from her.  "I 
didn't mean it like that."
	Dee smiled.  "I know."
	Meg turned.  "Dee, I..."
	Dee was gone.  Meg blinked.  She shook her head and turned 
back to the controls.

	Ryoko was in heaven.
	That's how she saw it.  Tenchi loved her, therefore she must 
be in heaven.  Hell was the place where Tenchi didn't love her, and 
she wasn't in Hell, therefore, Heaven.
	Tenchi had been startled when Kiyone had barged in, but Ryoko 
had managed to convince him to stay instead of rushing up to the 
bridge to see what was happening.  She smiled to herself.  Kiyone 
had only managed to get half of her message out, but it was 
understood.
	They were rescued.
	That meant she and Tenchi were going to be together for a 
long time.  
	She rolled over and began kissing him again, working her way 
down his bare chest.
	"Um...Ryoko?"
	"Yes, Tenchi?"  she whispered.
	"Um....maybe we should go up to the bridge."
	Ryoko smiled.  He had tried this before.  "Why?"  she asked.
	"Well, something seems to be happening.  We should go check 
it out."
	"Cavis and Kiyone can take care of it,"  She replied.
	"Ryoko..."
	"Tenchi,"  Ryoko said, her voice holding just a tinge of 
sadness in it, "Don't you want to stay with me?"
	"Of course I do,"
	"Good!"  Ryoko began kissing his neck.
	"But, Ryoko..."
	She sighed.
	"We really should see what's happening."
	She rolled off him and sighed again.  "I know, I know."  
There it was.  They weren't going to die, and now Tenchi had reverted 
to his old, reluctant self.  
	Well, it had been nice for awhile.
	She closed her eyes as she lay there.  She felt Tenchi moving 
next to her.  She felt his breath against her ear as he moved closer.  
"As soon as we know what's going on though," he began.  He didn't 
have to finish.  Ryoko was grinning ear to ear.
	"Well," she said, turning back to him.  "I think I can drag 
myself out of bed,"  she smiled and kissed him.  "Now that I have 
something to look forward to."
	Tenchi smiled at her.  "We have a lot to look forward to."

	Warshan approached Sudorin warily.  There were times when 
Lord Sudorin was so thoroughly enmeshed in a hunt, that it was 
sometimes dangerous to distract him from it.  
	They were in orbit around a planet that lay on the last known 
trajectory of the Agamemnon.  Ships had been sent after the Azure 
Cloud, and NeSster had gone in pursuit of the Talon of the Blood 
Mist.  Sudorin, however, was becoming anxious.  The search of this 
planet was turning up nothing.  Hopefully, the good news Warshan 
bore would do something to soothe his lord.
	"My Lord."  Sudorin turned to him.  Warshan held out a pad.  
"We've received a communication, My Lord....from the Death-Ohki."
	Sudorin snatched the pad out of his hand and activated it 
hurriedly.  The leader of the Guild smiled and took a content breath.  
"My Lady Charis was successful.  She has taken the head of Count 
Valuro and she will be joining us within the week."
	"Excellent news, My Lord."
	Sudorin nodded.  His expression was wistful.  He was like 
this whenever he thought about his second in command, the Lady 
Lezell Charis.  By all rights, *she* should be leading the Guild, 
but she stepped aside because she felt it would impair her ability 
to hunt.  Even Sudorin feared her, and with good reason.
	"I want the royals' heads on the ends of pikes before she 
arrives,"  Sudorin intoned.  
	Warshan bowed.  "Yes My Lord."
	"Start backtracking along our original vector, stopping at 
every twenty parsecs to perform sensor sweeps.  It's possible they 
were damaged and had to make repairs."
	"Yes, My Lord."
	Sudorin took another cleansing breath and waited for the hunt 
to resume.

	When Tenchi and Ryoko finally showed up on the bridge, they 
were met by an embarrassed smile from Kiyone and the back of Cavis' 
head.  Ryoko was too happy to be embarrassed.  Tenchi was beet red 
and wouldn't meet Kiyone's gaze.
	"Well, we've been rescued,"  Cavis told them seriously.  
"With any luck, we'll be at this space station in a few hours."
	"That's great!"  Tenchi replied.
	Cavis nodded.  "But what to do once we get there, is the 
question."
	Kiyone shrugged.  "Repair what we can, I guess.  Maybe we 
can score parts from the station."
	Cavis nodded at this, but didn't really think it likely.
	"Or maybe she'll give us a lift."
	"I don't like the idea of being dependent on a total stranger 
for help, particularly now."
	"Not like we have much of a choice,"  Ryoko piped in.  
	Cavis could only nod at this.
	"How long until we get there?"  Tenchi asked.
	"Four hours,"  Kiyone said.  She sat back in her chair.  She 
half turned to Cavis and grimaced.  "Four hours, and then you belong 
to me,"  she said seriously.
	Cavis only nodded, not particularly caring at the moment.
	"What should we do until then?"  Tenchi asked.  Ryoko looked 
at him and grinned.  He blushed.  He hadn't meant to imply *that*.
	"Well, if Detective Kiyone is willing to allow it, I'm gonna 
grab something to eat,"  Cavis told them.  "Unless of course, 
Detective First Class Kiyone wants to make an issue of it."
	Kiyone turned to him.  "What is your problem!?"
	"I don't have a problem,"  Cavis told her irritably.  "Aside 
from being chased by the Assassin's Guild *and* you."
	Ryoko and Tenchi blinked, unsure as to what had set Cavis off, 
and not really wanting to know either.
	"It's not my fault you're a wanted criminal!"  Kiyone shot 
back.
	"I never said it was!"  Cavis replied hotly.  "But for a person 
who claims to want nothing to do with me, you sure spend enough 
time chasing me around!"
	"You chose your life!  Now you have to deal with it!"
	"My life is exactly that, *my life*!"  He shook his head.  
"You never could accept that, could you, Kiyone!?"
	"Um, guys?"  Ryoko began.
	"Okay!  Fine!  It's your life!"  She was getting angrier by 
the second now.  "I can live with that.  What pisses me off is Achi!"
	"Achi?!"
	"Yes!  You took her and turned her into a criminal before she 
even reached purberty!"
	Cavis started laughing.
	"I don't see what's so damn funny about it!"
	Cavis shook his head and stared at her.  When he spoke, his 
voice was just above a whisper.  "I'd rather see her as a criminal 
than as what she was *before* she met us."  He didn't look angry 
anymore, just sad.  "And if you had been there, you'd think so too."

	"Cavis, I need fifty credits."
	Cavis looked up at Davner in surprise.  "You're out of 
money?!"  He looked around, expecting to see a gun at Davner's head, 
but no, Davner was standing at Cavis' Goola table with an angry 
expression on his face.  "How did you run out of money?"  Cavis 
couldn't figure it out.  They were in a casino, one of the places 
where Davner felt most at home.  He had seen Davner go for days 
without stopping, and coming out with more money than when he went 
in.
	"I'm being cheated, Cavis,"  Davner told him seriously.  "Over 
there at the redjack table.  I know.  I can feel it.  But for the 
life of me I can't figure out how."
	Cavis looked over his shoulder at the dirty little casino's 
redjack table.  There was only one other gambler there and the 
dealer.  The gambler was a hatchet-faced man with a scar that ran 
from his left ear to his left eye.  There was only stubble on top 
of his bald head, and an earing hung from his right ear.  Standing 
behind this man...
	Was a little girl.
	She was thin, dirty, and wore an expression that could only 
be resigned despair.  Her light violet hair was unkept and dirty, 
and the dress she wore had seen better days.  Cavis wondered who 
she was to the man.
	Ssedrey stepped up beside them and followed their gaze.  He 
hmm'd in thought.  "A Penzatan," he commented.  "Rare for this 
area."
	The two men turned to him.  "What?"  Davner asked.
	Ssedrey gestured to the girl.  "She is a Penzatan."
	Cavis took another look at the girl and whistled.  "I thought 
they were just a myth."
	"You're kidding, right, Scales?"  Davner asked.
	Ssedrey hissed and shook his head.  "No, they are not myth.  
Penzatan space borders the territory of my race."
	"And their powers?"  Davner asked, anger beginning to creep 
into his Mollidoni drawl.
	"True also.  They are telepathic."
	"Is that so?"  Davner hissed.  He threw a look back at the 
gambler, and the pieces fell into place.  Little movements or 
comments the girl had made, comments that seemed ordinary, were 
suddenly shown to be cues and tells.  Davner took a minute to 
think.  Then,
	"Cav, that money."
	Cavis shook his head as he reached into his pocket.  "You're 
gonna try to bluff a mind reader?"
	Davner shook his head.  "Nope.  I'm not gonna bluff at all.  
Scales, come with me and look intimidating, would you?  It might 
throw her off."
	Ssedrey nodded his head once.  Davner, Ssedrey in tow, made 
their way to the redjack table.  The scarred gambler smiled and 
greeted him.
	"Ah, Mr. Davner.  Here for another round of humiliation?"
	"Humiliation's my middle name,"  Davner drawled with a smile.  
He placed his chips in front of him and smiled as the dealer dealt 
the two men four cards apiece.  He looked up and saw the little 
girl staring at him, concentrating.  The gambler picked up his cards 
and looked at them.  He threw two chips into the pot.
	Davner, the cards still on the table in front of him, did the 
same.
	The gambler's smile slipped.  "Aren't you going to check your 
cards?"
	Davner smiled.  "No need."  He threw a look at the girl and 
winked.  The girl blinked in astonishment.  
	"Achi,"  the man said.  The girl didn't answer.  "Achi!"
	The girl blinked and faced him.  "Yes, Uncle?"
	"Would you like a soda, Achi?"  the man asked.
	"Um..."  Davner watched this unfold.  He recalled that the 
little girl, Achi, had been asked if she wanted a soda a lot in the 
past couple of hours.
	"Achi, I said do you want a soda?"
	Achi stared at Davner and bit her lip.  Davner sat there, his 
cards in front of him, untouched and unseen.  The girl's expression 
made Davner's smile slip out of sympathy.
	"Um...yes, Uncle, I would."
	The gambler smiled.  "Right after this hand then, okay?"
	"Yes, Uncle."
	The gambler threw a few more chips into the pot.  Davner 
threw in his remaining chips and called.  The gambler put his cards 
down.  "Red sixes."  A pair of red sixes were there.
	Davner reached out and flipped his cards over one by one.  
Everyone's eyes went wide as Davner announced, "Red jacks over 
black tens."
	"Mr. Davner wins,"  the dealer announced.  The gamblers's 
eyes went wide at that statement.  The dealer dealt another round 
of cards.
	That's how it progressed for another hour.  Davner would get 
a hand, not look at it, and thereby neutralize the threat the girl 
presented.  Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost, but he was doing 
better now than when the girl could tell whether or not he was 
bluffing or elated by his hand.  In the end, Davner's intuitive 
luck won out, and the gambler was cursing him as he threw his cards 
into the pot which had held the last of his money.  Davner smiled 
at him.
	"I almost feel humiliated for you,"  he commented.  The 
gambler's face turned red in anger.  The girl's face was fearful.  
The gambler got up and grabbed the girl by the arm, roughly leading 
her away from the table.  Ssedrey and Davner watched them go.
	They saw the man stop in a corner of the casino and turn to 
Achi.  He began yelling, but they couldn't make out what it was 
over the sounds of the gambling going on around them.  He shook 
the girl, who was shaking her head and pleading with him.  The 
gambler slapped her across the face.
	Something in Davner snapped.
	"Scales, would you care to join me?"
	Ssedrey, who had seen the same thing Davner had, hissed in 
disgust.   "Delighted."
	The two made their way to the corner where the man was still 
berating Achi.  The girl sensed their approach and looked up.  The 
man noticed this and began to turn.
	Davner grabbed hold of the front of his shirt with his right 
hand and belted him in the nose with his left.  The gambler fell 
to the ground.
	"Uncle!"  the girl cried.  She tried to run to him, but 
Ssedrey held onto her.
	The gambler blinked in pain and confusion as he lay on the 
floor.  He reached into his jacket and pulled a pistol, but Davner 
was on him in  a second.  He lashed out with his foot and stomped 
on the man's wrist, pinning his hand to the ground.  The gambler 
cried out in pain, the gun dropped from his fingers.  Davner's 
foot quickly kicked the gun away and resumed its place on the 
man's broken wrist.  He reached into his jacket and pulled his 
AM gun.  The man's eyes shot wide as Davner placed the end of the 
barrels at the man's forehead.  Davner shoved forward, pushing the 
man's head back against the floor with the end of the gun.
	Ssedrey held the crying Penzatan and watched this happen.  
He knew why Davner was doing this, knew why he *had* to do this, 
and as much as the Asconian wanted to tear the man's heart out 
himself, he knew Davner had to do this alone.
	Davner growled and pulled the hammer back on the rifle, arming 
it.  "Nasty little cuss," he spat.  "I was content to let you get 
away with cheating me, then you had to go and do *that*..."
	The man swallowed in fear, sweat broke out on his forehead.
	"You cheated me,"  Davner told him, "And I think you owe me 
something for that.  Don't you agree?"  He jabbed the barrels into 
the man's forehead.  The man cried out, doubly pained as the 
barrels hit his head, and his head hit the floor.  "So, what do 
you say?"  Davner asked.  He gave the man another jab.
	"You cleaned me out, remember?"  the gambler snarled at him.
	Davner arched an eyebrow and nodded.  "Well, I guess I'll 
have to just take my compensation in trade then."  He threw a nod 
towards Achi.  "I'll take your Penzatan as payment.  How'd that 
be?"  He gave him another jab.
	The man cried out in pain again.  "Fine!  Take the little 
witch!"
	"Uncle!"
	Davner nodded.  "Good man."  Davner lowered the hammer on 
the rifle.  Then, in a lightning quick move, swung the barrel 
around and struck the man in the side of the head, knocking him 
out.  
	Davner spat on the man.  "Better than you deserve," he 
commented.
	Achi screamed and struggled in Ssedrey's grip.  "Uncle!" 
she cried.  Ssedrey reached down and pinched the back of her neck.  
Achi went limp.
	"Sleep, little one," he whispered.

	"So you kidnapped her,"  Kiyone said.  "That doesn't surprise 
me."
	Cavis shook his head in disbelief.  "Haven't you listened to 
a word I've said?!"  He rubbed his temples with his fingertips.  
"That man wasn't her uncle!  He was some space pirate who found 
Achi stowed away aboard his ship and decided to use her to make 
some easy cash!  She wasn't a person to him!"
	"So why didn't you take her back to her family instead of 
using her as a lookout, huh?!"  Kiyone spat.
	"Because she has no family,"  Cavis told her acidly.  "Achi's 
parents died in a fire when she was five hundred years old."  His 
voice was low, sad.  "You want to know a little fact that the 
average person doesn't know about Penzatans?"  he asked her 
dangerously.  "Until they reach a thousand years old, Penzatans 
share a telepathic link with their parents.  It's how they learn 
to develop their abilities.  Without those abilities, a Penzatan 
can't realize their full potential.  Those who can't can never be 
a part of their society, a society which is *based* on those skills.  
Achi will never be a *tenth* of what she could be, and other 
Penzatans will shun her for it!"  He shook his head.  "Achi is a 
stranger on her own planet,"  he finished sadly.
	Kiyone glared at him, but said nothing.
	"*We're* her family."
	No one said anything for a long time.  When someone did speak 
up, it came from the radio.
	"Okay," Meg's voice told them.  "We're here.  I'm towing you 
inside the repair facility, then I'll use the tractors to wedge you 
into a docking bay."
	They looked out the window and saw an old lookout station 
getting larger as they approached.  Cavis spoke into the radio.  
"That's a rog, Megami."
	Kiyone continued to glare at him.

	Meg watched the blast door hesitantly roll aside before 
stepping onto the abandoned space station.  She wasn't sure what 
this station had been for exactly, but the lights still worked.  
She used it as a hiding place from time to time, whenever the GP 
decided to buckle down against smugglers.
	Not that Meg was a criminal.  She was an entrepeneur.
	She looked down and checked the blaster she strapped onto 
her thigh.  Sure, they *sounded* friendly, but one was never too 
sure.  She started down the hall for the docking bay where she had 
left the Agamemnon, ducking under loose wires and stepping over 
debris as she went.  She finally got there and pressed the button 
to cycle open the door.  The blast door jerked a little and opened 
about half way before it stopped.
	The first one to come out was a blonde man in a black trench 
coat.  Meg smiled appreciatively.  Perhaps this wouldn't be such a 
drag after all.  
	A teal-haired woman in a T-shirt and beige slacks followed a 
second later.  A cyan-haired woman was next, followed by a dark-
haired boy with brown eyes.
	The blonde man turned to her and nodded in greeting.  "Meg, 
I presume."
	"You presume right," she told him, "Mr...."
	"Cavis will do," he told her. 
	"I see."
	"This is Kiyone, Ryoko, and Tenchi."
	Meg nodded to them.  "How do you do?"
	Kiyone smiled at her.  "We owe you our lives,"
	Meg grinned.  "I'll take five thousand credits instead."
	"Huh?"
	Meg continued to grin and handed Cavis a piece of paper.  
"My bill."  Cavis arched an eyebrow at the amount.  "If it's a 
little high for you, I'm sure we could come to an agreement somehow."  
She gave Cavis a smile.
	Cavis cleared his throat.  "Be right back."  He stepped back 
onto the Agamemnon, Meg blinking in confusion as he did.  He 
returned a few minutes later with a stack of bills in his hand.  
He reached out and took Meg's hand.  "One, two, three..."  He 
continued counting out thousand credit bills until he reached five 
thousand.  Then he stopped, smiled, and gave the freighter captain 
a short bow.  Meg coughed nervously.
	"Your way would've been more fun,"  a voice from behind Cavis 
piped up.  Meg saw Dee standing behind the unknowing Cavis, 
examining his features.  Dee smiled and caressed his face.  Cavis 
didn't notice.
	Meg coughed loudly.
	Dee looked up at her and smiled.  Cavis seemed to sense 
something amiss and frowned.
	Dee gave him a quick peck on the cheek before addressing 
her sister.  "He's cute, you should go for it, Meg."  She winked.
	"Um...are you okay?"  
	Meg blinked and turned.  Kiyone was staring at her, concern 
in her eyes.
	"Huh?  Oh, nothing, just lost myself for a second."
	Kiyone blinked.  "Oh, okay."
	Meg looked up, but Dee was gone again.  "Um, well, I got some 
food aboard my ship.  If you want, we can break it out and have 
dinner here.  Then we can talk."  She shot Cavis another look.
	"Sounds good,"  Ryoko said.  "I'm starved."  She elbowed 
Tenchi and winked.  "Must've been the exercise."  Tenchi turned 
beet red and cleared his throat.
	Meg smiled.  It didn't take a genius to figure out that the 
two were a couple.
	"Well, come on.  Ship's this way."

	Warshan walked up to Sudorin, who was standing, as ever, on 
the command deck.
	"My Lord, the Death's Head has picked something up on their 
long range scanners."
	Sudorin turned to face the Assassin.  Warshan stood at the 
same height as Sudorin, but was also broader.  His short brown 
hair constantly had the appearance of being unkept, and had a 
tendency to stand out in different directions.  The dark blue 
headband he wore added to the effect.  The positron rifle he wore 
on his back was old, but reliable, which was why he had never 
traded it in for a new one.  
	Sudorin arched an eyebrow.  "Indeed?  Description?"
	"Faint sensor sillouhette,"  he told his leader.  "They 
couldn't get much more, there appeared to be interference from an 
odd radiation source."
	Sudorin smiled and turned back to the window.  "Make for 
this sillouhette.  Maximum speed.  And prepare a boarding party."  
He turned back to Warshan.  "The Death's Head has found the 
Agamemnon."

	"So you're a smuggler, huh?"  Ryoko asked as she bit into a 
class C ration bar.
	"Never said that,"  Meg commented from her end of the table.  
"Just that I can get anything, anywhere."
	They were sitting in a cafeteria of some kind, one where the 
lights still worked and was reasonably clean.  Meg had suggested 
they eat here, but didn't tell them that her main reason for doing 
so was that she still didn't trust them and didn't want them 
snooping around her ship.
	Kiyone gave Meg a hard stare, trying to remember if she ever 
saw her face in the GP's wanted lists.
	"Sure,"  Ryoko said.  "Whatever you say."
	"She's a cocky little one, isn't she?"  
	Meg looked up to see Dee standing between Ryoko and Tenchi 
on the left side of the table.  She looked away from the apparition.
	<She isn't here.  She isn't here...>
	"You know, ignoring me isn't going to make me go away,"  Dee 
said sternly.  The others went about eating, not noticing the 
byplay.  Dee turned and looked down at Tenchi, who was eating a 
ration bar of his own.  She draped an arm around him and put her 
face within inches of his.  "You can have the blonde one, Meg," 
she told her sister, "But there's something about this one, that 
makes me just wanna...."
	"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!?!?"
	Everyone's head shot toward Meg, who seemed to be staring 
at Tenchi.
	"Um...I'm sorry....what?"  Tenchi babbled in surprise.  
Ryoko gave Meg a hard glare.
	Meg blinked and turned red in embarrassment.  "I'm...sorry, 
Tenchi.  I...."  She swallowed nervously.  "Will you excuse me 
for a moment?"  
	Without waiting for a reply, she got up and walked quickly 
out of the cafeteria.
	"What the hell was that?!"  Ryoko asked.
	"Don't know,"  Cavis said as he rose from his chair.  "But 
I think it's time to find out."

	He found her pacing back and forth in the corridor outside 
the cafeteria.
	"Captain?"
	She looked, startled.  "Captain," she greeted.
	"Are you okay?"
	"Yeah, yeah.  I'm fine."
	Cavis arched an eyebrow.  "Funny, you don't *look* fine."
	"Yeah, well, who asked you?"
	Cavis smiled.  "You gave Tenchi quite a scare."
	Meg flinched.  "I'm sorry about that."
	"You know, Captain..."
	"Could you leave me alone, please?"  she asked.
	He took a breath and nodded.  "Okay."  He turned to walk away.
	"Wait!"
	He turned back with an arched eyebrow.
	"Um...Could you stay?  It's been awhile since I talked to an 
actual person."
	Cavis blinked and nodded.  "What do you want to talk about?"

	Warshan turned to his lord.  "We have detected a faint ion 
trail.  It's enough to extrapolate a course."
	Sudorin nodded.  "Excellent."
	"It appears to lead to a space station not far from here."
	"Have you prepared a boarding party?"
	Warshan nodded.  "Yes, Lord Sudorin."
	"Excellent.  I will lead them myself."
	Warshan blinked.  "Is that wise, Lord Sudorin?"  Sudorin 
turned on him and glared through narrowed eyes.  "I mean....given 
the risks involved.  If you were to fall..."  
	Sudorin's eyes narrowed even further.  "If I fall, Warshan, 
you will follow the Assassin's Code."
	Warshan gulped nervously.  "Void the contract?"
	"The Code demands it.  The Jurains contracted me, I contracted 
you.  You *will* follow the Code as we have for generations."
	"Yes, Lord Sudorin."
	"Warshan,"
	"Yes, Lord Sudorin?"
	Sudorin turned to him.  "If you ever imply that I will fall 
in battle again, I will cut your throat.  Do you understand?"
	Warshan paled and tried to hide it without success.  "Yes, 
Lord Sudorin."

	Tenchi hit the ground with a thud, Ryoko landing on top of 
him.
	"Ryoko!"
	Ryoko kissed him, silencing another possible outburst.  When 
their lips parted, she gestured out the window next to them.  The 
two had decided to go exploring, searching for parts they could 
use to repair the Agamemnon.  They had found what appeared to be a 
lounge of some kind.  Small tables and comfortable chairs were 
spaced around the darkened room, and a bar ran along the back wall.
	The room's best feature, however, was the long window that 
ran along the outer hull, displaying a wonderful view of the stars 
outside the station.  It was at this window that Ryoko was gesturing 
now.
	"Come on, Tenchi," she whispered.  "Don't you think that's 
one of the most beautiful and romantic sights you've ever seen?"
	Tenchi gulped while Ryoko began kissing his neck as she 
simultaneously began undoing the buttons on his shirt.  "Well...it 
*is* nice,"  he said.
	"Mmmm hmmm,"  Ryoko replied as she made her way down his 
chest.  "Very nice."
	Tenchi reached up and ran his fingers through her hair.  He 
hadn't expected it to be so soft.  He closed his eyes as Ryoko 
moved up and kissed him again.  He opened them and looked out the 
window...  
	His eyes went wide in fear.
	"Kami sama!"

	"So, you're a Geminite, huh?"
	Meg nodded.  "Yeah," she whispered.
	Finally, Cavis began to understand.  He reached for the 
bottle of Belegese rum he had found aboard his ship and poured 
another glass.  He held out the bottle and watched as Meg held out 
her own glass.  He poured as he asked, 
	"How long has she been dead?"
	Meg turned to him in obvious surprise.  The dim light of the 
small cargo bay played across her features, giving her an almost 
eerie appearance.  "Three years," she told him.  "How did you..."
	Cavis smiled.  "I used to work with a couple of Geminites," 
he told her.  "The Anskari brothers," he took a swig of rum, "The 
bastards..."
	Meg stifled a laugh.
	"I learned a few things.  I know that Geminites are all born 
with a twin.  I know that they usually spend their lives near one 
another..." he trailed off and looked at her.  "And I know what can 
happen when one dies and the other doesn't,"  he finished.
	Meg took a nervous breath.  
	"You see her, don't you?"  He asked.
	She nodded sadly.
	"So, I guess all that stuff the Anskari's told me was true,"  
Cavis commented.  "You have a...connection...to your twin.  When 
that connection is severed suddenly..."
	Meg turned to him angrily, "What!?  Huh?!  Say it!"
	Cavis paused.  "It causes a deep rooted psychosis in the 
surviving twin," he finished quietly.
	She turned away and downed the rum in her glass with a single 
swallow.
	"Is that why you're out here alone?"  he asked seriously.
	She turned to him and laughed in disgust.  "What?  You think 
I'm scared I might hurt someone?"  She shook her head.  "Get 
real..."
	*Is* that the reason?"  he asked.
	She said nothing for a long time.  Then she whispered, "I 
tried to kill her once..."
	Cavis arched an eyebrow at this.
	"About a year after she died.  She had started coming to me 
in my dreams.  Sometimes I'd see her in the street.  Then she 
started appearing out of thin air and talking to me.  I tried to 
kill her."  She held out her glass and watched Cavis as he poured 
her another round.  She threw back her head and gulped the rum down.  
She took a breath and continued.  "Ended up shooting a window out 
of the Megami, opened the cargo bay to space.  Almost killed a man.  
Since then, I haven't operated with a crew."
	"How long have you been alone?"
	"Two years.  It's funny.  Three years ago I would've killed 
to be rid of her.  Now she's my only company."
	Before she could continue, Kiyone came running into the cargo 
bay.
	"Kiyone?"
	"We've got trouble!"

	"How many?!"
	"Two ships!"  Kiyone replied as the three of them ran down 
the corridor.  "Tenchi and Ryoko spotted them as they came in."
	"Where are they now?"
	"Tenchi and Ryoko or the ships?"
	"Both,"  Cavis replied.
	"Tenchi and Ryoko are waiting for us up here."  She pointed 
at an old lift tube, it's doors were open but there was no lift car 
there.  He saw Ryoko and Tenchi running up from another corridor.
	"You found them!  Great!"  Tenchi said.
	Kiyone nodded and stopped in front of them, panting for breath.  
Cavis and Meg were panting too.
	"What about the ships?"  Cavis asked.
	"It looks like one landed below us and another above us,"  
Ryoko told him.
	"Okay,"  Meg told them, "Let's get to the Megami and get the 
hell out of here!"  She didn't know exactly what was going on, but 
she knew it couldn't be coincidence that had two heavily armed ships 
docking here just after they had.
	"Which way?"  Tenchi asked.
	Meg looked around and tried to get her bearings.  The Megami 
was docked nine decks up.  She and Cavis had taken one of the only 
working lifts down here which was over...
	She pointed down the corridor.  "That way."
	Her eyes widened when she saw shadows moving down the corridor 
she was pointing down.  "Uh oh..."
	They ducked as an energy blast struck the bulkhead next to 
them.  Cavis and Kiyone drew their blasters and kneeled down on 
either side of the corridor.  Meg ducked into an open doorway and 
drew her own weapon.  Ryoko dragged Tenchi into another doorway and 
activated her sword.  Tenchi, unarmed as he was, stayed down.
	They returned fire, but it wasn't enough.  The blaster bolts 
from down the corridor forced them to keep their heads down.
	"Who the hell are they?!"  Meg shouted.  "I haven't pissed 
anyone off lately!  Why would they..."  Her eyes went wide.  She 
turned to Cavis.  "THEY'RE AFTER YOU!"
	Cavis shrugged.  "Yeah...did we forget to mention that?"  He 
ducked as another blaster bolt struck the bulkhead in front of him.
	Meg shook her head.  "Asshole," she muttered.  Kiyone stifled 
a laugh.
	Cavis sent another few shots down the corridor.  "Any other 
way out of here?!"
	Meg flinched as a blaster bolt nearly singed her ear.  "The 
only working lift is down there, past them!"
	"Great,"  Cavis muttered.
	"What about this tube!?"  Kiyone asked as she fired twice more 
down the corridor.
	Meg risked a glance back at the tube.  Its doors were open, 
but the lift car had long since fallen into the bowels of the 
station.  "It's busted!"  She called out.  "The car's gone!"
	Cavis turned.  "Ryoko,"
	She nodded and grabbed Tenchi's wrist.  "Come on, Tenchi, 
we're outta here!"
	She dragged Tenchi to the open doorway and looked up.  The 
tube seemed to go up forever.  She looked across the tube and saw 
a ladder running up the far side.
	"Cavis!  There's a ladder here!"
	Cavis didn't turn back as he answered.  "Great!  Get moving, 
then come back for the rest of us!"
	"Here they come!"  Kiyone shouted.  Cavis ducked as a blaster 
bolt nearly took his head off.  He returned fire.
	Ryoko grabbed Tenchi by the underarms and took off, flying 
him up the lift tube.
	"There's too many!"  Meg cried.
	Cavis bit his lip.  "Okay!  Into the tube and up the ladder!  
Kiyone, get moving!"
	Kiyone didn't argue.  She went to lift door, took a breath, 
and jumped.  She hit the ladder with a grunt and grabbed hold of 
one of the rungs.  She began climbing.
	"Get going, blondie!"  Meg told him.  "I got 'em here!"
	Cavis paused for a second but obeyed.  Soon, he was climbing 
up the ladder after Kiyone.
	Meg fired a few more blasts down the corridor.  They were 
getting closer.  
	Suddenly, Dee was standing next to her.  "Are you fucking 
crazy, Meg!  Get out of here!  Go!"
	Meg decided it was sound advice, even if the source didn't 
*really* exist.  She jumped across the tube and started climbing.
	
	Ryoko floated in front of the closed lift door and bit her lip.  
"Tenchi, hold onto me.  I need to use my hands."
	Tenchi shifted his position, hanging onto Ryoko's shoulders 
from behind her so that she could generate a light sword.  Her sword 
flashed into existence with a snap-hiss.  With a few deft cuts, the 
door crashed inward.  Ryoko laughed.  
	"Whaddya think of that, Tenchi?!"  she asked, craning her 
neck around to get a look at his face.  She saw the defeated look 
on his face and frowned.  "Tenchi?"
	She turned to the doorway and found a broad-shouldered man 
standing in the doorway with a positron rifle pointed at them.
	Ryoko sighed.  "Damn,"

	Cavis continued to climb.  Above him, Kiyone was already a 
deck ahead of him.  Meg was almost two decks below.  She was 
stopping every couple of meters to shoot back at the Assassins to 
discourage them from following.  He grinned when he heard her 
complaining from below.
	"That is *IT*!  No more of this good samaritan shit!  From now 
on, let the GP handle it!"  This was followed by a few more blaster 
shots.
	Cavis stopped grinning when he heard one of the lift doors 
below him open.  He stopped and looked down...
	Just in time to see a black-clad man leap across the tube and 
land on the ladder beneath him, right above Meg.  She screamed and 
brought her blaster up, but the man kicked it out of her hand.  The 
blaster clattered down the lift tube.
	"MEG!"
	Cavis grabbed onto to either side of the ladder and stepped 
off with his feet.  He loosened his hands and slid down the ladder 
in a controlled drop.  The black-clad man looked up and snarled just 
before Cavis hit him.  The man grunted as the pirate's boots slammed 
into his shoulders.  The black-clad man, none other than Sudorin 
himself, fell backwards off the ladder.
	With agility Cavis had not even seen in Ssedrey, Sudorin's 
hand darted out and caught another rung on the ladder, but not 
before his feet slammed into Meg's face.  Meg, knocked unconscious, 
fell backwards.  Fortunately for her, her foot had slipped forward, 
not backward, and she was now hanging upside down by the knees on a 
ladder rung.
	Sudorin glared up at Cavis and grinned.  Cavis drew his pistol, 
but Sudorin acted.  In less than a second, a slender assassin's 
knife was in his hand.  As Cavis aimed the blaster downward, 
Sudorin stabbed upward into the back of Cavis' knee.  With a cry of 
shock and pain, Cavis' fired and missed.  Sudorin released the 
knife, letting it remain sticking out of Cavis' flesh.  He reached 
up and grabbed the pirate's leg and gave it a sharp tug.  
	Reflexively, Cavis reached out to grab the ladder and keep 
from falling...
	And dropped his gun.
	With a snarl, Cavis lashed out with his good leg and kicked 
Sudorin in the jaw.  Dazed, one of Sudorin's hands lost its grip on 
the ladder.  Cavis saw this and lashed out again, this time at 
Sudorin's other hand.
	With a cry, Sudorin let go of the ladder, but once again, his 
reflexes saved him.  His hand shot out...
	And grabbed hold of the assassin's knife sticking out of 
Cavis' leg.  Cavis screamed in pain and tried desperately to hold 
onto the ladder.  Sudorin was still dazed.  In a second, he'd have 
hold of the ladder again.  Cavis looked downward and tried to 
ignore the agony in his leg.  He reached down with one hand and 
found Sudorin's, which was holding onto the knife's hilt as if his 
life depended on it.
	It did depend on it.
	Cavis screamed again and gritted his teeth.  Then, he gave 
the knife a sharp tug, pulling it out of his leg.
	Sudorin screamed and fell down the lift tube.  Cavis took a 
few deep breaths and rested against the ladder.  He could feel the 
blood dribbling down his leg.  Below him, Meg continued to hang by 
the back of her knees, unconscious.
	From above, he heard someone call out to him.
	"Cavis!?  Cavis!?"  
	His eyes opened.  He looked up and saw Kiyone climbing down 
the ladder towards him.
	"Hi...Kiyo...chan..."
	That's when he lost consciousness.

	Warshan raised the positron gun to his shoulder and aimed.  
The cyan haired woman gritted her teeth and raised the sword.  
Suddenly, through the receiver in his right ear, he heard something 
that made him pause.
	"Sudorin's dead!  Repeat!  Sudorin's dead!"  The Assassin on 
the other end of the line seemed frightened.  Warshan paused. 
	The Guild had been contracted *through* Sudorin.  That meant 
that the contract was his.  *He* was the hired Assassin, the rest 
of the Guild was working under *his* orders which meant...
	Warshan lowered the rifle.  The man and woman blinked in 
surprise.  He regarded them a moment, then said,
	"You are reprieved."  He spoke into his wrist communicator.  
"The contract is voided.  Withdraw."  With that, he turned from 
them and started marching down the corridor, leaving a flabbergasted 
Tenchi and Ryoko behind.

	"I don't get it."
	"Neither do I,"  Ryoko threw in, agreeing with Tenchi's 
comment.
	Kiyone tightened a bandage around Cavis' leg.  He cried out 
in pain and tried to explain again.  Ryoko was applying a bandage 
to Meg's forehead.
	Cavis had woken up in the station's old infirmary with Meg 
lying in the next bed over.  Kiyone and Ryoko had explained that 
the Assassins had just up and left.  Cavis didn't believe it at 
first.  It wasn't until Ryoko told him what the Assassin said that 
it clicked.
	"The contract was voided," he told them.  "One of us must've 
nailed the head bastard.  It's happened before.  When Yanto came 
after *my* head, he had an apprentice, but after Yanto was dead, 
the contract was voided and the apprentice couldn't touch me."
	"Wait a sec,"  Kiyone spoke up.  "One guy dies, and the rest 
just *leave*?"
	"It's a part of their code of honor.  You can't have more 
than one Assassin on a contract, but that Assassin can sublet his 
contract out.  Even so, the rule remains one contract, one Assassin.  
If he dies, the contract is voided."
	"This shit actually flies?!"  Meg asked incredulously.
	Cav nodded.  "The Assassin's Guild goes back for thousands of 
years.  It was originally a religious order, and over the millenia 
it has clung to its honor code.  It's the only thing separating it 
from the thousands of other hit squads in the galaxy."
	"Well...that's great!"  Kiyone said.  "Isn't it?"
	"If the others are still alive, yeah, it's damn good,"  Cavis 
told them.  "If not..."
	"So how do we find out?"  Ryoko asked.
	"We search,"  Tenchi answered her.
	Kiyone nodded in agreement.  "They're out there, somewhere.  
We have to find them."
	Cavis checked the dressing on his leg before looking up at 
them.  "And how are we going to do that?"  he asked.  "The Aggy's 
wasted."
	As one, they all turned to Meg.
	The smuggler captain crossed her arms over her chest and 
grinned.  "It'll cost you,"  she warned.

	Far out in the depths of space, a lone ship, blacker than 
midnight itself, cut through space like a sharpened dagger.  So dark 
was the ship, that making out its exact shape was nearly impossible.  
Black crystalline spikes reached out in all directions, two spikes, 
the largest on the ship, pointed forward, like a forked spear.  A 
small, white dome at the center of the ship was the only change in 
color, the only way to differentiate it from the blackness of space 
surrounding it.
	Aboard this ship, in the single command chair, sat a woman.
	Her red hair was worn in a short, tight braid behind her.  
Her eyes, a dark blue that was nearly as black as the pupils, moved 
over the message displayed on the screen in front of her.  As she 
read, a tear fell, landing on the deck of her ship.
	"Miyhaassshhhh?"
	The woman didn't respond in words, only a choked sob.  With 
a scream of rage and fury, her fist slammed down onto the arm of 
her command chair.
	The woman quickly stood up, unable or unwilling to look at 
the message Warshan had sent her.  
	"Death-Ohki,"
	"Miyhash?"
	Lady Lezell Charis, acknowledged as the finest Assassin in 
the Guild, spat on the floor in front of her in fury before 
growling,
	"Take us home.  We are needed."


Author's Notes:

Well, that's it for this part.  I'd like to thank my prereaders, 
Cav and Meg for giving me badly needed help in the course of this 
series, as well as War-Ouki and Lesell Charis for agreeing to be 
villains in this fic.  Thanks guys! 

Any and all C&C is welcome.  Please send your comments to:

Thomas "009" Doscher
doscher009@hotmail.com