The Steel Rose

Chapter Six:
“I Always Feel Safe When Things Are Bad”

-- January 16th, 10:38 AM --

Had there been windows, light would have filtered through them. However, there weren’t, so it didn’t. In fact, the room was pitch black, and Hitasa wondered if she had ever even opened her eyes. The warm body draped comfortably over her own reassured her that the previous night had not been a dream.

Remembering Ryoko’s instructions during the tour, Hitasa called out in a half-asleep voice, “Lights, dim.” A soft light flickered down on her from the ceiling, illuminating the room enough that she could see, but not enough to hurt her tired eyes. She blinked blearily, staring out over the room, taking note of the several pounds of candle wax on the tables, the articles of clothing strewn about, and the sharp tang of smoke that was softened by the perfume embedded in the candles. When she propped herself up on her elbows, she felt Narika shift, loosing her hold around the warrioress’s waist. The blonde sat up in bed, her hair ruffled, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light.

“Hitasa?’ she said, still mostly asleep.

The aforesaid redhead stifled a few chuckles at her lover’s mussed up state and said in the other girl’s ear, “Right here, beautiful.”

Narika sighed, leaning back against the warrioress with a content grin. Slowly she dragged herself from the recesses of sleep; the process was very much like hauling a dead ox out of quicksand.

Finally completely conscious, Narika muttered, “Good morning,” tilted her head back and kissed the warrioress full on the lips. However, before the kiss could progress into anything more, a screen popped up in the middle of the room, displaying the smirking face of the space pirate Ryoko.

“I told you,” she said tauntingly.

Hitasa sighed, breaking away from her lover. “Yeah, so you did.”

“You sound disappointed! Lighten up! I set this up so you’d be happy!” Ryoko teased.

“You evil little--” Hitasa began, but was cut off by her mother.

Ryoko looked at the couple in mock hurt. “You should be grateful for what I did,” she reprimanded.

“Somewhere in her dark heart, Hitasa is,” Narika cut in. “And so am I.”

Ryoko nodded. “Right, well. I just wanted to tell you that we’ve decided to take you to Earth.”

“Now?” Hitasa said incredulously.

“Yeah. We’ll probably land in a few hours. So you two might wanna get dressed.” Before Hitasa or Narika could say anything more, the screen flickered out of existence.

The warrioress shook her head slowly, then draped an arm around the blonde. She pulled her back onto the bed, trailing kisses down her shoulders and neck.

“Hitasa...” Narika protested halfheartedly.

“Mmm...?” The redhead looked up from her work with a small chuckle. At Narika’s look of slight confusion, she clucked lightly and pleaded, “C’mon, lemme have a little fun. We’ve got a couple of hours.”

Narika sighed, blowing her bangs out of her face. With a smile, she relented. “Oh, all right.”

Hitasa grinned predatorily, baring her defined canines as she set back to caressing her blonde lover. She wrapped her arms around Narika’s waist, burying her face into the girl’s shoulder. The native Juraian let out a slight purr of content as her warrioress partner nuzzled her, then moved on to trailing kisses farther down Narika’s soft body.

Outside the room, where several mean-looking pirates had their ears pressed to the door, loud moans and gasps could be heard.

-- 12:32 PM --

“Captain Ryoko, we’ll be in range of Earth’s defense system in a few moments,” reported her second-in-command, Griff.

Ryoko nodded. “Very well, start powering up the cloaking systems. I want everything we have on-line. Got that?” Griff’s nod was enough of an answer for the space pirate. Knowing that her men would take care of everything, she settled back in her seat and started praying to Tsunami that it would be enough to get them through alive.

“Ma’am, everything’s ready.” Griff’s voice abruptly interrupted her prayer.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to make it through without Tsunami’s blessing,” she muttered to herself. Louder, she spoke to the navigator, “Bring up a visual of the defense system.”

“Yes ma’am.” Griff punched a few buttons, and in moments a map of the defense satellites orbiting Earth and their courses appeared on the viewscreen in front of her.

“Alright, we’re gonna wanna go in at 27, 38 where we’re least likely to get picked up by the satellites,” she said.

Griff nodded and set the coordinates into the computer, sending the ship rocketing toward that specific spot. In moments they had penetrated the Earth’s defense system uneventfully.

“Alright, now for the fun part,” Ryoko muttered to herself. As predicted in mere seconds they were being hailed by the atmosphere’s patrol. “Put it through,” she commanded to the communications officer.

“Unidentified ship, what is your purpose here?” an officer, a lieutenant by the look of him, appeared on her view screen and voiced his question.

Ryoko puffed out her chest and said with all the pride she could muster, “I am from the planet of Jurai, and by order of Richtigen Almardo III, Emperor of the Galaxy, I am here to deliver a message directly to Tenchi Masaki, the Earth-Jurai liaison.”

“I’m going to need to see some proof, ma’am,” the lieutenant said, seeing the captain’s rack on Ryoko’s stolen Asridian uniform.

Ryoko tapped a few buttons sending over a copy of the Emperors Orders that she had made earlier.

“Alright, that’ll do,” he said after inspecting the document. “You have permission to land. The closest dock to Tenchi Masaki’s residence is at these coordinates.” A set of coordinates appeared on the screen where the lieutenants face previously was.

“Thank you,” she said before ending the conversation. “Griff,” she called, “you know what to do.” And he did.

-- 12:56 PM --

Hitasa stepped out onto the bridge, closing her eyes momentarily to let them adjust to the harsh lighting, which starkly contrasted the darkness of her bedroom. “Ow, man, it’s so friggin’ bright out here...”

“Good morning,” Ryoko said slyly. “Did you sleep well?”

Hitasa shot her mother a look. “Actually, I did. I’ve probably never slept less, and yet slept better in my life. These beds you’ve got are really something.”

“You’re telling me. I searched the galaxy to find the most comfortable beds and put them on this, my flagship. There is only one bed more comfortable than the ones on this ship, and that would be my personal bed back at the hideout,” was Ryoko’s elaborate answer. “And you probably won’t sleep in that one until I’m good and dead.”

“A day which, hopefully, will never come,” Hitasa said with false reverence.

Ryoko laughed. “Do you have any idea how many people are praying that that day will come, and soon at that?” She shook her head. “Thousands. Only seven other people in this galaxy share your hope, not including my crew.”

“I hope you’re counting me,” Narika said as she stepped out of her and Hitasa’s bedroom, which was conveniently right down the hall from the Bridge. She stepped up behind her love and wrapped her arms around the young woman.

Ryoko smiled fondly at her daughter, who had turned her attention to Narika and landed a soft peck on the girl’s cheek. “Well then, that makes nine people, total, in the entire galaxy, who don’t want to see me dead. I’ve never felt so loved before in my life!”

“Ma’am,” Griff broke in, “we’re about to land.”

The space pirate settled back in her seat, then said to Hitasa and Narika, “I suggest that the both of you take a seat and buckle up. Landing on Earth is never a smooth experience.” She turned to Griff. “Warn the crew.” A warning claxon sounded throughout the ship.

The warrioress and her lover each took seats along the wall and fastened their harnesses, preparing for impact.

Griff began the countdown. “Touchdown in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Brace for impact.”

The ship came to a shuddering halt, the entire craft shaking like a leaf and causing any and all loose materials within the ship to go flying about. And then suddenly all of the vibration ceased and the ship went into stand-by mode.

Ryoko’s eyes squinted into slits as she said in a growl, “We’re here...”

-- 3:06 AM Earth Time --

The hike to the Masaki residence was largely uneventful, the only highlight of it being a brief encounter with a very large, very angry guard dog, who Ryoko had rendered unconscious and tied to a nearby tree.

Now that they were actually at Tenchi’s door, they realized that he was still asleep, it being very early in the morning on Earth, and that they’d have to wake him up.

“Tenchi!” Hitasa slammed her fist against the door, rattling the very house it kept closed to her. The darkness in the sky was all that let Hitasa know that it was either very late at night or very early in the morning. But Hitasa didn’t care. She was on a mission and by Tsunami she would see it fulfilled. “Get up and answer your door, you lazy bastard, before I rip it from its hinges!”

Ryoko laid a hand on Hitasa’s shoulder, calming her. “Here, let me try.” She stepped forward and phased through the door, unlocking it from the other side. “Please, come in.”

Hitasa and Narika stepped into the house, squinting in the absence of moonlight. Their space pirate hostess went about the main room, turning all of the lights on. Within moments, a bleary-eyed Tenchi stepped from his bedroom, a gun in one hand and a sword in the other.

Hitasa looked dubiously at the figure dressed in an oversized white shirt and blue boxers. “This is the man I’ve sought out to save my world? This is the great Tenchi Masaki?” she said incredulously.

Ryoko chuckled at her daughter. “Yeah, that’s him alright.”

The half-dressed man glared at his ex-wife. “What are you doing in my house, Ryoko? I kicked you out years ago. And how dare you return with these strangers!”

“These are no strangers, Tenchi.” Ryoko smiled at him, a ruthless smile that showed off her gleaming fangs. “The redhead is your daughter,” she snarled, “and the blonde is her lover.”

“Hey now, don’t drag me into this!” Narika yelped.

Tenchi leapt down from the landing, holstering his gun and making his sword dissipate. “That isn’t possible, Ryoko.” His voice was low and dangerous. “I disowned the child along with you. Now take her and her lover,” here he sneered, and Narika sneered back, “and leave this place.”

“Wait, Tenchi!” Hitasa finally cut in. “You may not acknowledge that you are my father, but will you at least admit that you are the Tenchi of the legends?” At this he nodded. “Then you must help me. Asridians have taken over Jurai, and I have traveled here to enlist your help.”

The sole man in the room looked at what would have been his daughter, had he not disowned her before she was even born. She’s a piece of work, he mused, taking in her athletic build and sharp gaze. Takes after her mother, he smiled lecherously as his gaze shifted to take in Narika, in many different ways.

“You want me to, what, save Jurai from the terrible Asridians?” He laughed. “No way! If I take out the Asridians, every piece of technology on this planet goes nuts. Besides, they make life so easy. Why would I want to go back to harder times?”

Hitasa blinked at the man she had idolized for years. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No, I’m not. Now get out of my house! Never come back!” He roughly shoved Ryoko through the wall and ushered Hitasa and Narika out the door. “Get out of here before I call the Galaxy Police on you!”

Hitasa fumed. “You’re right about one thing, Tenchi Masaki. You are not my father,” she spat.

Ryoko laid her hand on her daughter’s shoulder and said in a quiet voice, “No, he’s definitely not your father. You’re a far better person than he ever was.”

The door slammed shut, and their connection to Tenchi was shattered, along with Hitasa’s hope of saving Jurai.

“I can’t believe him! That can’t be the Tenchi I’ve read so much about! Tenchi would never just stand by and let this happen!” Narika raged. “I’m burning every book that portrays him as some noble savior!” she concluded.

Ryoko glanced at Narika. “Tenchi... changed greatly after he saved Jurai so many years ago. He was corrupted by the technology introduced by the Asridians. They bribed him with everything they had to keep him from interfering in their takeover of Jurai. He agreed, preferring the life of ease to the thankless life of a farmer.” She shook her head sadly. “He also managed to get me banished from Earth forever. To have a space pirate like me as a lover would have been terrible to the Asridians, and he couldn’t risk them taking away any of his privileges.”

Hitasa sighed and slumped her shoulders. “Well, it’s obvious that we’re not gonna get any help from him. I guess we may as well just go home.”

Her mother was not as easily dissuaded. “No, it’s just up to us now.” She smiled. “And a few friends in various places.”

Narika looked curiously at the space pirate. “What do you have in mind?”

“First, let’s get back to my ship,” Ryoko said, “and away from this Hellhole.”

-- 5:27 PM --

Comfortably seated in Ryoko’s finely furnished war room with the ship safely en route to her hideout, the three compatriots began to plot.

“I have a few favors to call in, including two in the Galaxy Police.” The space pirate called one of her men to her. “Open a channel to GP headquarters,” she ordered.

A screen flickered to life in the middle of the war room table, and a dark-haired man in a green uniform appeared on it.

“Unidentified ship, this is Lieutenant Montgomery speaking. Identify yourself,” the man said.

“I am the Captain of this ship, the Violet Princess. My name is Captain Mara Janus. I need to contact two of your operatives.”

The Lieutenant began typing on his computer. “Their names?”

“Operatives Mihoshi and Kiyone,” Ryoko/Mara Janus replied.

Lt. Montgomery typed their names into his computer, then scanned the information that it gave him. “I’m sorry, these operatives are no longer a part of the Galaxy Police.”

The space pirate leaned forward., concern creasing her forehead. “What happened to them?”

“I’m afraid they’ve been arrested for treason against the Asridian government. They have been sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of pardon,” Lt. Montgomery answered.

“Damn,” Ryoko hissed, slamming her fist onto the table. “Can you tell me where they’re being held?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I am not at liberty to release that information--”

Suddenly, Narika began bawling her eyes out. “No, mama...” she cried.

Ryoko turned sad eyes to the man on the other end of the channel. “She just wants to know where they’re keeping her mother. The girl’s sick with grief.”

The man’s eyes slitted. “Kiyone and Mihoshi both never had any dependents.”

Ryoko looked both ways, then leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “She’s Kiyone’s illegitimate child.”

“Oh, geez, I’m sorry ma’am.” Now his eyes were wide. “She’s being held at the top-security prison on Xethar, very hospitable place.”

Narika began crying even louder, and Hitasa moved to pat her on the back comfortingly.

“Thank you, sir. You won’t regret this.” Ryoko cut the transmission off.

To be continued...