Topic: Third storyline: No Sympathy for the Devil

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Monday, January 24, 2000 - 07:16:
(RP ON)
Onboard the cruiser in the Omicron Erandi system, a security officer rushed to the launch bay, calling over a flight engineer. He waved his ID card and sternly spoke up.

"I was told officer Ron had left the ship with a few passengers.. where is he?"

The engineer looked around a moment, then turned back to the officer.

"Ah.. he left a few minutes ago, right after we brought in this shuttle.."

"Alright, get flight control to retrieve his vessel ASAP, I need to know something."

The engineer sighed, nodded, then turned and ran to a large control deck at the far end of the bay.

Onboard Ron's ship, in the cargo pod, Megane was discussing his dream.

"And then.. then she bowled over and rushed into the bathroom! It was so funny!" He nearly fell over laughing, while Ataru fumed.

"Yea but who's this Mr. Above Average Size Lum was hanging out with? I thought you were devoted to ME!" He glared at Lum.

"Oh darling I was just teasing, and anyways, I thought you didn't care?" She gave him a sour look.

Ataru was at a loss for words. A few months ago it had been easy to accept Lum, but it was starting to get difficult again.

"But.. but.."

"Oh, so you do care?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean... er, uh..."

"Come on darling, say it!"

"NO! I refuse!"

Ataru turned towards a dark side of the pod and sulked. Lum sighed.

Megane turned to Kintaro, taking off his glasses and cleaning them with a cloth he always had in one of his pockets.

"So what did you dream about? I didn't see much of you.."

Kintaro struck an indignant pose. "I was too busy being a man!"

"Ah, I see. And just what did this 'being a man' entail doing?"

"Uh, well, I stole lots of money!"

"Oh. How interesting." Megane put a bored look on his face that riled Kintaro, who pulled his axe out and began swinging it in Megane's face. He easily dodged each swipe.

In the cockpit, Ron paused to listen a moment to the radio, which caught Cygni's attention. She perked up.

"What the hell is going on?"

"We're being recalled..." he grunted.

"Shit! I guess they finally put 2 and 2 together.."

"I'd assume we're not heading back?"

Cygni cracked a grin. "You're not half as stupid as you look, y'know?"

"I'll take that as a compliment I guess. 1 minute untill jump drives are ready."

"Keep going like this and this cockpit might not be a red smear when we get home."

("You don't need to keep pushing it. You're not a thug, just trying to get home.")

"Yea but if I don't keep him on his toes he'll try something..."

On the bridge of the UNO, Hayes turned to Sergei.

"How are we doing?"

"All systems ready! Our jump will take approximately 5 minutes."

"Alright. Power up sub-space drive and make ready for the jump to Omicron Erandi."

"Aye sir. Jumping....now!"

The viewport exploded into the bright flash of sub-space and the ship began it's journey to a system half way across the galaxy.

Meanwhile, on the stolen shuttle, 3 pairs of eyes watched from a dark corner of the cockpit as various security teams began swarming inside, tearing apart the equipment and attempting to figure out it's origin. The smaller pair of eyes looked upwards.

"Follow me" the invisible form of Cherry whispered. The eyes began slowly moving down a dark hallway. Beavis and Butthead followed, chuckling.

(RP OFF)
By the way, good news, my buddy has plans to join us, he'll be starting the next storyline we do. He's got a great universe of his already going, and has a web site at http://powerpub.net/ so if you're interested in seeing what he's got, go take a look!

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Wednesday, January 26, 2000 - 04:47:
Great news! Just remember this thread has a way to go...

(RP ON)

Megane was busy dodging Kintaro's axe swipes, "Hey man! Calm down, you can steal all the money you want for all I care!"

Kintaro stopped and laughed, "Look who's talking! You couldn't even break into crime without being nabbed by the cops on your first destruction of public property rap."

Lum and Ataru sat shocked, Lum spoke up, "Megane-san? What does he mean?"

Kintaro chuckled, "Megane was shooting up road signs outside of Tomobiki and got busted!"

Ataru shook his head, "I'm speechless..."

"Oh come on!" Megane glared, "I've never done a tenth the bad deeds as you. I was just...cutting lose." Megane sat down in the corner, "Now if you three don't mind, I'm not feeling well and would like to be left alone until we get home, okay?"

Kintaro shook his head, "Okay." He went over to Lum and Ataru. "Lum-chan?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Ten-chan will be made at me?" he nearly wimpered.

Lum shrugged, "Maybe. But if you say you're sorry I'm sure he'll still be your friend."

Kintaro's face brightened up, "oh really?"

Lum nodded, then frowned, "Darling?"

"Hmm?" Ataru turned to her. "Where's Ten-chan?" Lum asked, very serious.

"Oh?" he groaned, "that brat's with Hudson and Nurse Sakura."

"Why?" Lum asked, with an even more serious tinge to her voice.

"Because Hudson wanted Ten to help him track down Kintaro and Megane in Las Vegas."

Lum frowned more, she would have to have a talk with Hudson, she decided. Maybe if he needed a zapping it would be a good idea to make sure Ryouko wasn't in the room...

Lum lowered her voice to a whisper, Megane appeared to be asleep. "Should we discuss this later?" she asked.

"Yes," Ataru hissed, nodding toward Megane.

Lum nodded back, "how's your parents handling all this?"

Ataru was about to answer when he realized that Sakura had forgotten to let his parents know what was going on.

"Oh no..." Lum groaned.

"Shit! I hope they don't have every cop in Toyko looking for us!"

Meanwhile Back in Tomobiki...

Mr. Moroboshi and Mrs. Moroboshi were enjoying sukiyaki in silence for the fifth time that week. The TV blared delightfully in the background.

"Dear?" Mrs. Moroboshi asked.

"Yes, Dear?" Mr. Moroboshi answered from behind his newspaper.

"I was in the market today, and I met Ran-san..."

"Oh really?" he turned the page.

"She said she was looking for Shinobu-san."

Mr. Moroboshi lowered the paper some, "Oh?"

Mrs. Moroboshi frowned, "Ran-san said she couldn't find her on Earth."

Mr. Moroboshi's hands shook slightly, "that's too bad, Dear. I came home again early today, hoping to find Ataru and Lum."

Mrs. Moroboshi started to cry, "and I tried to call that Warren Hudson and Ryouko Mendou, but a Kuroko said they were 'indisposed' and could not come to the phone."

"That's the seventh time this week!" Mr. Moroboshi wailed, tearing apart the wrestling scores.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, January 28, 2000 - 11:17:
Gah! Sorry for not posting the past day or so, ISP going nuts, been busy with a site, ganking the new Soldier of Fortune demo, etc. Been just a little bit busy >) Geesus, I'm trying to write here and I want to do a blockquote whenever someone speaks..been coding too much HTML, ack ack ack!

(RP ON)
Cygni switched her gun to her other hand to give her right one a rest. Ron spoke up.

"10 seconds untill we jump."

She nodded. "About friggin time."

A few moments later the cockpit exploded into the shimmering and bright view of sub-space. Shortly after the vessel left, the UNO emerged. On the bridge, Hayes and Sergei looked in awe.

"Damn! How did they manage to hide such a cruiser in here?" muttered Sergei.

"We'll worry about that later. My guess would be that our answers are inside."

"Sir, we're being scanned.."

The comm system came online.

"This is Commander Brad, leader of the 294th Omega bomber squadron. You have 20 seconds to evacuate the area, or we will open fire."

"Enemy ships approaching!"

"What kind?" Hayes rubbed his chin in thought.

"I've never seen them before.. a new design. The sensors show some high-powered warheads in their banks, they could pose quite a threat."

"Hmmmm.."

Just then, Hudson and Sakura walked onto the bridge.

"What's going on? I heard alarms." asked Hudson.

"We've got a small problem.." Hayes continued stroking his chin. The comm unit came online again.

"You have 5 seconds, please evacuate, or we will open fire."

Hayes rose from his seat and flicked the reply switch.

"This is Captain Hayes of the Under New Ownership. I surrender my ship, your weapons are too strong for us and our jump drives are offline."

There was a pause at the other end.

"That was a bit hasty.." came the response.

"I'm more worried about my crew than anything else."

"Fine, hold your position UNO."

Hayes turned to the group, as did Sergei. Hudson made a face.

"Have you gone mad?"

Sergei shook his head, grinning.

"We used this same tactic awhile ago down at Barnard's Star..those crazy fools didn't know what hit them!"

Hayes nodded. "Now, if you'll just follow me, I'll show you to the armoury.."

Hayes began walking towards the back of the bridge. Sergei followed, then the rest of the group.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Saturday, January 29, 2000 - 04:30:
(RP ON)

Ran proceeded down Tomobiki Ginza strip, mumbling.

'Damn Ryouko Mendou! Sending me to find Shinobu-san and not being able to find her!'

Just then she passed a TV shop with several televisions televising Chibi screaming something in English. At first, she just grumbled, 'Hi Chibi-san,' then she stopped, and looked closer.

"...We save Cygni-chan!!!! Hudson-sama must help or *I'll* start airing dirty laundry!!! Cantact us immediately!"

An American reporter came back on camera, his voice was translated into Japanese.

"...And well that was *most peculiar*, Ed. I just hope we can make sense of it later. If that kid means 'dirty laundry' as in Ambassador Hudson's relationship with Ryouko Mendou...it won't have much effect."

Ran was astonished, "What the hell is going on here??!?"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Sunday, January 30, 2000 - 01:22:
(RP ON)
Hayes led the group to a large room filled to the brim with powerful weapons and devices. He walked over and picked up a long black rifle with a small tube protruding from the top. He began performing maintenance and loading it. Sergei grinned.

"Mr. Buster. Gotten us out of a lot of hard situations.. the Captain never goes on an assault mission without it!" He looked around the room. "Help yourselves."

Ten minutes later, the group was prepared. Each person was lined with strips of ammo, grenades, and other items that would come in handy. The ship shuddered as it was brought into the cruiser. Hayes nodded and led the group towards the airlock, where they took up firing positions behind the crates lining the area.

"Alright people, as soon as that door opens, we open fire and work our way outwords into the ship. We then find Cygni and the others, get back here, and leave. All in one smooth motion" Hayes ordered. Hudson was a bit startled.

"Do you really expect that we can take on the whole ship ourselves?"

"No, but with any luck we'll be able to work our way through without making TOO much of a disturbance."

"Too much of a disturbance? I wouldn't be surprised if the entire ship comes as soon as we start shooting!"

"It'll take em a few minutes to get down here, and by then we'll already be gone. Now get ready, here they come."

Footsteps were heard outside of the door. Hayes tightened his aim on his rifle. Sergei took up a prone position at the back of the room with a large slug launcher. The rest maintained covering positions.

After a moment, the door slid open.

"FIRE!!" yelled Hayes, squeezing down on the trigger. A large yellow blast came out of the rifle, ripping the first soldier in half. The others behind him gaped in surprise, only to get cut down by Sergei's slug launcher. Hudson took careful aim with his plasma launcher and nearly flew backwards from the recoil as a massive green blob emerged from it's barrel and sliced right through 3 soldier's legs, ripping them off. They screamed, bleeding in agony.

The response was quick. Additional soldiers attempted to enter the ship, only to get quickly gunned down. A few took up positions outside of the airlock, firing inside with everything they had, but managing to stay out of the firing radius of the group. Sergei cussed as bullets and small blasts bounced off of the bulkhead directly above him. The soldiers continued firing while the group waited patiently.

After a moment, a large green grenade was flung inside, landing right next to Ryoko. She paused a moment, then picked it up and flung it outside with all her might, hearing a satisfying explosion outside, then turned to Hudson, grinning. He smiled back.

Hayes grunted. "Looks like they've got us pinned in here, luckily I was expecting this.. Sergei, go to plan B."

"Aye skipper!" Sergei pulled a black panel out of his uniform and hit a few buttons. A massive whir of machinery was heard above and below as 2 turrets were brought to bear and began firing. Screaming was heard outside.

"Lets GO!" yelled Hayes, making a run for the hatch. The group hesitated a moment, then followed, with Sergei bringing up the rear.

With the turrets providing covering fire, they rushed across the flight deck mostly unhindered, taking up cover behind an overturned vehicle that had been caught up in the chaos. Hudson looked around a moment, then pointed. "There, that's the runaway ship!"

Hayes nodded, then peered around the side of the vehicle as he watched the soldiers recover and concentrate their fire on the turrets, disabling them with a shower of sparks. He grimaced.

"Spent a good couple of months repairing those by hand.."

Shutaro leaned around the other side and began firing off rounds from his large gattling gun, the spent bullets piling up at his feet. He managed to gun down 2 soldiers before being forced to turn away from the counter-fire.

Sergei was preparing to provide some cover of his own when he spotted the hatch open on the shuttle. Soldiers began piling out of it, in full view of them. He cussed.

"Damn! This is going from bad to worse.."

Shutaro grunted. "I'll give you guys covering fire. Make a run for it!"

Hudson turned to him. "No, you'll be gunned down!"

"The hell I will! Get moving."

He leaned around the side again and began firing. Sergei sighed.

"As much as I would prefer to join you, he's going to need a bit of help. I'll distract the soldiers from the shuttle while you 6 head to the exit to the bay." He pointed to the large door at the far end. Hayes nodded.

"Keep yourself in one piece Sergei. Everyone else, lets go!"

With Sergei taking sniper shots at the soldiers from the shuttle and Shutaro covering the other direction, Hudson, Ryoko, Mujaki, Ten, Sakura, and Hayes made a mad dash for the far side of the bay where the door was located. Surprisingly they weren't shot at once, as the soldiers were too busy firing at Sergei and Shutaro.

Sergei watched as the group reached the door and entered, breaking to the right. He paused his sniping a moment to reload, dropping the old clip and sliding in the new one, then continued sniping.

"We're gonna need a way out of here. Any ideas?" he yelled out. Shutaro stopped firing a moment to brush away the massive pile of spent bullets piling up around him.

"No, I'm making this up as I go along!" he yelled back, then continued firing. Sergei looked around, then spotted a large grating a short distance away from them. He ducked as bullets began exploding around him, then fired again, taking down the soldier that was shooting at him.

Suddenly Shutaro called out in pain, then ducked back behind the vehicle, cussing loudly and holding his shoulder. Blood began pouring out.

Sergei pulled a large flash grenade from his waist and clutched it tightly. He turned to Shutaro.

"We're going to make a run for it towards that grating. Can you still walk?"

Shutaro was about to respond when unconsciousnous overtook him.

"Damn! Alright, here we go."

He chucked the flash grenade towards the shuttle, watching as it went off and blinded the soldiers. He then picked up Shutaro and flung him over his shoulder, then ran as fast as he could towards the grating. Once he got there, he kneeled down and attempted to open it. Surprisingly it popped open easily, and he hopped in, dragging Shutaro in and closing it behind him. He spied a small ladder directly below him, and began descending it without hesitation. Additional gunfire was heard above as the soldiers recovered and began firing again, trying to figure out where they had gone.

Cherry, Beavis, and Butthead watched from a corner of the launch bay, still in their invisible state. Cherry nodded.

"It's fate."

"Huh huh, this is cool." said Butthead. Cherry began walking towards the door, and the 2 followed, laughing as usual.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Sunday, January 30, 2000 - 23:16:
(RP ON)

Hudson's group found themselves in a long deserted corridor. He checked the life sign indicator at his wrist, "Great, everyone's still with us," he said with relief.

Mujaki shrugged with Ten, "Y'know son, I just don't like fighting with guns; its just too messy. I've always prefered power bursts."

Ten nodded, "Fire bursts and ultra-sonic hammers for me."

Ryouko looked around, "what now?"

Hayes indicated a tricorder on his wrist, "It's found Cygni...but no sign of the others yet. Let's go."

They started down the corridor, led by Hudson and Hayes, occasionally shooting someone who tried to stop them.

"Y'know," Warren hissed to Hayes beside him, "I really think this ship has the worst surveillance and alarm systems in the galaxy."

"Amen, as you Americans say," Hayes murmured.

"Not me," Hudson snorted. In his youth, his Uncle had forever soured his view of Christianity. It was his wife who had enabled him to hold some amount of spirituality in his later years.

"This way," Hayes said, and they started down another corridor. Ryouko spoke up behind Hayes, "are you sure Cygni's signal cannot be artificial?"

"Positive," Hayes said shortly.

One minute later, the group was stuck in a fire fight in a galley near the place where Cygni was being held.

Hudson, Ryouko, and Hayes were both stuck behind a buffet table.

"Hey, I hope they're just screwing with us," Hudson shouted to Hayes, "I'm not ready for this kind of shit now!"

"Damn straight," Hayes chucked a granade over to the enemy.

BOOM!

The shooting stopped, replaced by screams of agony and silence.

"I hope they didn't suffer too much," Hudson said as he scanned the room. All clear.

As they neared Cygni's location, more fighting began.

Hayes grunted as he put another clip into his gun, "take Ryouko and Sakura; free Cygni!"

Hudson nodded, he, Ryouko and Sakura moved while everyone else provided cover fire.

When they arrived at the door, Hudson turned to Ryouko. "Are those Kuroko outside the ship?"

"Yes, proceeding across the hull to the bridge," she grinned, "they'll be ready."

Sakura glanced at the door. "We don't have time to overide the door controls. Stand back," they did so as the Shinto Priestess/School Nurse raised her spirit wand and uttered a long incantation.

A red glow appeared around her and then a single blast obliterated the door.

They ran inside and stopped frozen, "oh my word..." Hudson stammered.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Wednesday, February 2, 2000 - 02:06:

(RP ON)
The sight that greeted the group was one worthy of the front page on a pornographic magizine. A green-haired girl was being forced into an awkward position while another girl nearby did...

Hudson felt his face turn a deep shade of red and he quickly backed out of the room. Ryoko and Sakura stumbled after him, and they palmed the door shut as soon as they were out. Hudson steadied himself against the wall, breathing hard. Sakura made a face.

"I doubt that was Cygni.." she said. Hudson nodded.

"Unless there's some deep secret we don't know about anyways.. but it looks like they didn't see us..."

Hayes walked over.

"You look like you've seen a ghost Hudson, what happened?"

Hudson stumbled for a response, but couldn't find anything to say. Ryoko covered for him.

"Lets just say that wasn't Cygni. Are you SURE that scanner of yours is working correctly?"

Hayes pressed a few buttons on the panel on his wrist and nodded. "I've got it fine-tuned to search for any girl with Cygni's attributes. It couldn't be wrong.. and the warranty expired yesterday."

Hudson winced. "Ouch, I don't even want to imagine how much that'll cost to repair or replace." He paused a moment to think.

"Didn't that thing go off a moment before we exited sub-space?" he asked.

"Yea, but all of our instruments do that, it's because they have to be automatically rebooted before we return to normal space.. why?"

Sakura gasped in surprise. "Hudson, you wouldn't mean that..."

Hudson shook his head. "We've gone through too much trouble already to back down, so I'm definately not saying that she could have already left. She MUST still be here, somewhere!"

Just then another squad of soldiers came running around the corner, guns blazing. The group took cover and began firing back. Ten looked behind the group, then yelled out in surprise when another group of soldiers came running up behind them.

"Uh, guys, we've got more trouble!"

Hayes stopped firing a moment and turned around, then cussed.

"Damn! We need some cover, fast!"

He looked to the right and spotted a closed door right next to him. He reached up and punched the panel, sending the door whooshing open. He waved to the group.

"In here guys!"

Sakura rushed in first, followed by the rest of the group, with Hudson bringing up the rear. When everyone was in, Hayes shot the panel, sending it exploding in a shower of sparks, then rushed inside as the door closed.

They looked around. The room appeared to be a massive luxury bedroom, with a low blue light coming from the far end where the bed was, and there was a massive kitchen nearby, followed by a den, and a bathroom.

A loud pounding was heard from the door as the soldiers outside began attempting to break their way in. Hudson looked around a moment, then pointed to a large desk. "There, use that to block the door!"

Hayes, Hudson, Ryoko and Sakura rushed over and began shoving against the desk. Surpringly it didn't budge. Hayes looked at it a moment, then crouched down and snapped his fingers.

"That's our problem, it's bolted to the ground to prevent it from flying all over the room when the ship is under fire."

He pulled out his rifle and fired a few small accurate shots at the 4 legs, disintegrating them and sending the desk crashing to the floor. He nodded again to the group and they began to slowly push the desk towards the door, which was beginning to crack and groan from the pressure.

After what seemed like minutes of pushing, they finally managed to position the desk in front of the door. Much to the group's dismay, however, the desk was only high enough to cover half of the door. Hayes sighed and looked around for more objects.

After another minute of pushing, they finally finished blocking the door entirely, using an overturned bed, a T.V. (much to Ten's dismay), 4 large steel blocks that were found in the closet, and a few various other objects. Hudson rubbed the sweat from his brow and let loose a sigh of relief as he heard the soldiers give up trying to break in and began dispersing. Hayes grunted.

"If they don't get in this way, they'll find another. I'll imagine we only have a few minutes to ourselves in here, an hour if we're lucky."

Sakura nodded. "Of course we don't expect to be here that long, do we?"

"I'm working on that... for now, lets get a bit of rest while I figure out what we're going to do."

The group nodded and began moving around the room, checking out the details.

Deep within the bowels of the ship, Sergei pulled himself up against the side of the tunnel he was in and took a moment to rest, breathing heavily. He looked over at Shutaro. The bleeding in his shoulder had stopped, but he was still unconscious, and the small make-shift bandage torn from Sergei's uniform probably wasn't helping much. He cussed.

"Damn, I should have payed a bit more attention during medical training.. how ironic, never thought I would need it.."

He glanced down the tunnel. Up ahead was the engineering section of the vessel, or so his personal mapping unit told him. There were bound to be some medical supplies in there.

He propped Shutaro against the other side of the tunnel, making him as comfortable as possible, then began slowly making his way forward, keeping a low profile.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Wednesday, February 2, 2000 - 03:22:
I want to extend my congratulations to Bill Bradley and John McCain for kicking ass in New Hampshire!

Hmm, maybe someday I'll write a filler fanfic about Hudson's political life in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. This would also include his wife as Governor of Nebraska, her death, and Hudson's unsuccessful but triumphant 1976 campaign.

(RP ON)

Ryouko knelt down and adjusted her boots; she winced. Definitely bruised, she thought. "What's wrong?" Hudson asked very near to her.

"Nothing," Ryouko tried to smile.

"You sure? Maybe you should have Sakura look at it later." Warren squeezed her shoulder.

"Yes, maybe," she smiled at him.

Hudson glanced around the room, everyone was either resting or plotting their next move. "Do you think the Kuroko can help us?" Warren asked quietly.

Ryouko sighed unhappily, "I don't know...no, they're much too far away to help us. They can knock out the bridge, that'll help us in the long run but not if we have one hundred soldiers hunting us now."

Hudson nodded. He leaned in close to her, "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

Warren Hudson smiled serenely, got to his feet, and went over to Hayes and Mujaki.

"Any ideas, gentlemen?"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Saturday, February 5, 2000 - 03:42:
Just to let you know, I AM still alive, I've been HELLISHLY busy for the past few days with HardNews, and my brains been on the fritz leaving not much for creativity >)

Jocko, you can continue on for a bit if you want, I'll probably join back in soon, I just need a bit of a breather here to get my stuff done. The fact that we're gonna be doing an overhaul soon doesn't help much either >P I'll be checking the forum daily, even if I don't post.

Thanks, and like I said, I'll start contributing again soon, just need to clear my head.

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Saturday, February 5, 2000 - 08:08:
Okay, I'll try to ask more questions.

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Sunday, February 6, 2000 - 05:03:
(RP ON)

Mujaki shrugged, "I can't seem to get a fix on Cygni with my powers."

Hudson looked down at him, "I thought your powers exclusively dealt with dreams."

"I know sir," Mujaki took his tophat off to wipe the sweat from his brow, "but I do have a few tricks in the, uh, 'real world,' as you humans call it and I still can't find her."

Warren groaned, he glanced to Hayes, "any sign of the others?"

Hayes angrily smacked the side of his locater insturment, "no..."

Ten floated over just then with Sakura, Hudson glanced over at Ryouko worried.

"I see three possible scenarios at work here," Warren said with grim conviction, "one, this is an elaborate trap by Ginkobot or persons unknown in order to majorly screw with the people of Tomobiki. I personally feel that if Ginkobot is involved (which I doubt for some reason), that he's obviously an idiot for thinking he could defeat us with ease, or a master illusionist in that we are currently right where he wants us."

Hudson motioned toward the hull, "two, and currently the most likely explanation, is that we simply missed the real Cygni and she's far away from here and safe. It would also make sense that if she was abducted to this ship then the same would've happened to Lum, Ataru, Megane, and Kintaro."

"Then that means they're all safe?" Ten interjected hopefully.

Hudson nodded, "hopefully," he motioned around the room, "the third, and most terrible scenario, is that all the leads we've had up to getting on this ship were false and Cygni along with the others are dead and we soon will be too."

"What do you believe?" Sakura asked.

"I think," Hudson thought for a moment, "that number two is what's what. But all the signals we've gotten from tricorders should be taken with a grain of salt."

"But of course," Hayes said slowly, "you're just thinking positive, right?"

Hudson glanced at him, "someone has to besides Ten-chan."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Sunday, February 6, 2000 - 10:30:
I think I managed to get enough sleep to make a contribution here.. >)

(RP ON)
Cygni watched out of the cockpit as the glimmering stream of sub-space exploded back into normal space, and Earth came into view a distance ahead. She grinned.

"About damn time.. good to be back home.."

"So are you taking me hostage or just gonna let me waltz back home?" asked Ron while he brought the engines online and began moving towards Earth at a good pace.

"It's up to you, I was just looking for a way to get me and my friends home. This 'holdup' thing is just a side-effect, sort of speak, like I said, I didn't want to do it unless I had to."

"Well that's a relief, since most of the other people who take me hostage usually want quite a bit before letting me walk out.."

Cygni looked surprised. "You've been taken hostage before? I thought you were a damn guard!"

"Yup, it used to happen quite a bit when I was a freighter captain.. I barely managed to make the ranks for security detail because of it."

"Interesting.." Cygni had a thought.

"By the way, what does MSS stand for again? You were telling me earlier, but.."

"Oh, right. It stands for 'Mistress Shinobu's Services'."

Cygni gasped. "Shinobu?! As in, the same Shinobu from Tomobiki?"

"Yep, why?"

"Shit! We're gonna have to have a little chat once we get back..." she said, growling. The ship continued it's course towards earth.

Deep inside of the cruiser, Sergei cautiously poked his head out of the ventilation hatch into the main engineering area. Aside from the steam blowing in his face, the place seemed to be clear. He cautiously pulled his way out and replaced the grate onto the hatch, then crouched down and checked his surroundings.

The vast majority of the room was shrowded in a thick fog from various pipes and exhausts all over the place, revealing that the ship was run on an older reactor. Just when he was about to make a move forward, a hand grabbed his shoulder. He whipped around, gun at the ready, only to see 3 pairs of eyes floating in the air staring back at him. He gaped in shock.

"Going in that direction is very unlucky!" said the lowest pair of eyes. Sergei gave a shrewd expression.

"Cherry? What in hell are you doing here?"

"There isn't much time, for the unlucky boy has doomed us all. We must hurry and leave."

The left pair of eyes, revealing itself to be Butthead, spoke.

"Uhhh, we like, just got here and stuff, dillhole. And we haven't seen any chicks!"

Cherry nodded, or rather his eyes did, if that was possible.

"He is the one. We must return him quickly so the marriage can take place and he can become the power."

Sergei once again made a face. "What the hell? I get more confused every time I talk to you! Well, anyways, Shutaro is in the tunnel behind you, and I'm not leaving without him, or the rest of the group on this ship for that matter. Can't you do something for him?"

Cherry shook his head. "There is no time. We must leave, now."

Before Sergei could protest, the pair of eyes that was Cherry pulled out a large staff from somewhere and waved it in the air. He suddenly found himself, Cherry, and the rest of the group, along with Hudson and HIS group together on the bridge of the UNO, right in the middle of a surprised group of soldiers. Before they could raise their weapons or call for help, Cherry waved his wand again and they vanished into thin air. He noted that Cherry, Beavis, and Butthead were no longer semi-invisible. Beavis bit his lip.

"Um, couldn't you have like, done that from the start, or something? This is stupid. Heh heh."

Cherry simply bowed his head down and mumbled "It's fate" in reply. Hudson looked around in surprise.

"How the hell did we get here??" He spied Cherry and glared at him, letting out a sigh.

Sergei rushed over to his console and began stabbing away at the controls, preparing the ship to lift off before the troops could retaliate, while Hayes joined Hudson in glaring at Cherry.

"I'm going to have a long talk with him when we get back..." he muttered. Hudson grunted in agreement. After a moment, the ship quickly lifted out of the launch bay and took off into space without incident, entering sub-space a few seconds later.

In the conference room of the cruiser, the lead scientist stared into a large viewer as the words "Establishing Connection" flashed by. He mopped his forehead with a small rag from his pocket and sighed in frustration.

After a moment, the glaring face of Shinobu appeared on the screen.

"I told you I was busy!" she yelled. "What do you need?"

The leader sighed. "Bad news mistress. It appears Cygni, Lum, and their respective comrades have gotten away.. furthermore, so has Hudson and HIS group..."

"WHAT?????" Shinbou's retort was so loud that the entire ship was nearly rocked from the sound. The leader was thrown from his chair, and he scrambled back to his feet and attempted to regain his composure.

"I tried mistress, but these soldiers are so incompetent.."

"I want them found, NOW! Do you hear me? I will have my revenge on Lum and all of her helpers!!!"

Zard's voice drifted in from off-screen. "Please quiet down dear, I'm trying to listen to the holoviewer.."

She looked to her right and yelled out in reply. "Shut up! I'm busy commanding this crappy cruiser you gave me!" She returned to looking at the leader.

"You heard me, get them back, and soon. You won't like it if they get away!"

The leader stumbled. "Y-y-y-y-yes mistress, I'll have the bridge set a course for Earth immediately!"

The display winked out. The leader madly mopped his brow with his now soaking wet rag and turned to his console.

"Patch me into the bridge..

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Tuesday, February 8, 2000 - 06:13:
(RP ON)

The Miyake household in Tomobiki...

Everything was dark and dusty except for a flashlight beam peering in from a window. The beam panned around the room a bit then stopped, a figure at the window shut off the flashlight and went away from the window. A few moments later the figure returned struggling with something. A few more moments later a fairly big rock crashed through the window and the figure climbed in.

Ran sighed angrily, "I'm gonna pound Mendou AND Shinobu when I see 'em!"

She began snooping around, the house seemed to have been empty for at least two weeks.

"Anyone home?" Ran shouted. No answer.

She proceeded up the stairs to Shinobu's room; she found it empty, of course. But something caught her eye on the desk. Shinobu's Diary.

Ran picked the book up, broke the lock open, and flipped through it.

"Gods below..." she gasped. She shut the book and immediately left the house. 'I have to get this to somebody who can help,' Ran thought frantically. The safety of Tomobiki depended on it.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, February 11, 2000 - 04:21:
(RP ON)
Seconds after the UNO left the Omicron Erandi system, the massive engines at the rear of the cruiser roared as additional power was pumped to them. Slowly the cruiser came about and began heading in the direction of Earth, many systems away.

On the bridge, the lead scientist watched over the navigation officer's shoulder at his console and nodded.

"10 minutes untill sub-space drives are ready.. excellent. Keep me informed."

The officer nodded, and the scientist returned his gaze to the front viewscreen, watching as the craft moved through space.

Over near Earth, Ron suddenly looked up in surprise. Cygni noticed.

"What the hell is it now?"

"Sensors are picking up an incoming jump signature.. pretty big too. Looks like they sent someone after us.."

Cygni cussed. "Screw them, just get us on the ground and we'll worry about them later."

"You mean _I_ will worry about them later. You're the one who's scuttling remember?"

Cygni frowned. "Don't give me that bullshit, we got this far, and I'll be damned if I'm letting you die on me now."

"Of course, that explains why you had me at gun-point.."

"What? Hey listen here, I-"

Ron cut her off. "Here it comes!"

Cygni turned around in her chair and glanced behind the small craft as a massive white flash appeared a distance behind them. Her scowl changed to a grin when the familiar scarred form of the Under New Ownership emerged and began heading in their general direction. She turned back to face Ron.

"Hold up."

"Huh?!"

"I said hold up. These are friends of mine."

Ron glanced over a sensor readout of the UNO. "For 'friends' of yours, they sure are heavily armed. Then again, I guess it runs.."

"Cut the wise cracks and give me the comm."

"Yes ma'am, would you like coffee with that too?"

Cygni was considering clubbing Ron on the head with the butt of her pistol when she suddenly cracked a grin and burst out laughing.

"You're alright Ron, hah hah hah!"

Ron, looking confused, slowly brought the ship around to face the UNO.

On the bridge of the destroyer, Hayes and Hudson glanced out of the viewport as the small ship in front came about to face them. Behind them, Sergei scratched his head.

"It's another unknown design.. probably from that cruiser."

"Any weapons?" asked Hayes.

"A few point defense lasers, nothing we can't handle. It's also got a large cargo pod.. hold on, it's beginning to move towards us."

"Could be a bomb.. charge up the main guns."

"Aye s-"

The comm unit crackled to life.

"Cygni here, damn what a sight for sore eyes!"

Sergei blinked in surprise, then grinned fiendishly. "That little devil, she could work her way out of hell and back again!"

Hayes nodded and picked up the mic. "Good to hear you again Cygni! You wouldn't have happened to have seen Lum and the rest of the missing group, have you?"

"What a co-incidence, they happen to be sitting in the pod right below me!"

"Excellent! We'll dock with you immediately, I'm sure Sergei is looking forward to seeing you again."

"Damn straight." Sergei said from behind him.

"Alright, we'll be waiting for you guys. Cygni out."

A few minutes later, Cygni and the rest of the group waited in the docking bay of the UNO while the group on the bridge made their way downwards. Sergei was the first to enter the area. As soon as he saw Cygni, he rushed towards her and they embraced.

"I thought you were gone for good.." he said, running his hand through her hair.

"Psh, takes more than some damn psychos to stop me!"

"Always my little hellcat."

"Hellcat.. I like the sound of that.."

Lum glanced on at the group, then turned to Ataru, who scowled.

"Don't even think of it!"

Lum was apalled. "But darling.. what about before?"

"That's because I was worried, and bored! More bored than anything else though..."

"You... used me?!" Lightning began to crackled through Lum's hands. Ataru, who had avoided being shocked for so long, had forgotten about Lum's powers, and he began to shake in fear.

"NO! I, uh, that is.."

Lum screamed and sent a lightning bolt his way, barely missing his head. He yelled out and began running for the door. Cygni spotted this and took a moment from embracing Sergei to stick her leg out and catch Ataru in the feet, tripping him and sending him crashing down in a pile of crates. Lum ran by and leapt after him, and the entire docking bay was bathed in a blue light as lightning was flashed all over the place. Ataru continued wailing in agony.

Hudson and Hayes finally came onto the deck, followed by the rest of the group. Hudson sighed.

"Looks like things are starting to get back to normal.."

He turned to Megane. They stood and stared at each other for a few moments. Megane shifted unconfortably and was about to speak, when alarms began blaring all over the ship. A digitized female voice came on the P.A.

"Warning: Massive incoming jump signature detected! Hostile configuation, armanent size and capacity exceeds all known specifications! Contact in 30 seconds!"

All activity on the bay ceased, apart from Ataru, who simply lay in a smoking heap, groaning. The silence was pierced by Cygni's cussing.

"Godamnit, when the hell do I get a freaking BREAK?"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Saturday, February 12, 2000 - 07:59:
Parias, I just hope Ataru doesn't go back to his old ways. But it would be fun to examine Ataru dealing with his feelings in an honest manner with Lum in a more in-depth fashion.

(RP ON)

Hudson, Hayes, Sergei, and Cygni ran out into the corridor.

"How well are we equiped?" Hudson barked to Hayes.

"Pretty well, considering..." Hayes broke off as Ryouko and Ten joined them. Hudson spared a moment to tell the two to take charge of the people in the shuttle bay.

"And don't let Ron outta your sight!" Cygni shouted after them.

The group was now in a turbolift to the bridge. Hudson looked to Hayes, "...you were saying?" he prompted.

"Considering that whoever's after us didn't manage to screw with the ship while we were there." Hayes finished.

"Shinobu." Cygni stated out of the blue.

"WHAT?!?" everyone shouted.

"The MSS," Cygni frowned, "Mistress Shinobu's Service."

"Oh Jesus H God!" Hudson declared, "tell me this is only a friggin' nightmare!"

"I thought you didn't believe in God," Hayes snorted.

Warren composed himself, "I only stated that I was not a Christian...but the matter at hand is why Shinobu is doing this and who's helping her!"

"And how to stop her from blasting us to atoms..." Sergei trailed off as the lift opened to the bridge.

"Well they won't get us without a fight," Hudson sneered, "I can have ten cruisers here in five minutes."

Sakura walked up to Hudson, "There's a ship breaking Earth orbit now...it's Ran's scout."

Hudson groaned, "this better be good."

Back down in the shuttle bay...

Megane was sitting on a couple of crates minding his own business, when he heard a muffled voice coming from a duffle bag beside him. Megane shrugged and opened the bag to find Kintaro waking up from his nap.

"Are we there yet?" he yawned and spied Jariten hovering above Ryouko's shoulder while she talked to Ron, Ataru and Lum.

"Ten!" Kintaro shouted.

"Kintaro!" Ten beamed and flew over.

The two friends now reunited began talking about various things, like where Kintaro's bear had gone.

"Last I saw him he was flying around Tomobiki looking for you," Jariten said.

"Really? Then we have to get him and start the underground gang up again!" Kintaro declared gleefully, bringing anger to Ten's face. "You still haven't givin' up that stupid idea yet, have you?!?"

Megane huffed and starting minding his own business again but was interrupted when Ryouko walked over. From the look on her face, Megane felt she wasn't in the mood to playfully shoot the shit, as it were.

Ryouko locked eyes in silence with Megane for a few moments just as Hudson had done before.

'They really are a lot alike,' Megane thought. Ryouko's fondness for practical jokes coincided with a young United States Occupation officers' fondness for wild goose chases in the "wild west" of Japan between 1945 and 1952. Only difference between the two, Megane decided, was that Ryouko Mendou did it for shits and giggles while Warren Hudson had done it to maintain his sanity and faith in humanity during his more than depressing stint as chief US occupation officer of Tomobiki and a liberal slice of Shinjuku.

As was generally known, because of his language skills Hudson had personally been charged by his superiors with carrying out the death sentences of nearly one hundred convicted Japanese war criminals after the conclusion of World War II.

Megane regarded Ryouko with awe, 'imagine her courage,' he thought, 'even most modern Japanese would have problems dealing with a man who had that on his shoulders directly.' Even Megane had trouble keeping that out of his mind sometimes when he talked to Hudson, to think that this generally good humored man once held life or death power over his grandparents and nearly 200,000 of their countrymen in the Tomobiki/Shinjuku area. And yet he had dealt with everyone in a just, fair, and benevolent manner. Warren Hudson seemed to live his life as if he was just a character in a satire on the evils of war only punctuated with moments of happiness and despair. Megane remembered a statement a reporter had made after interviewing Hudson in the late 1970s.

"When that man dies, he'll probably go to hell. But he'll make sure he dies with a song from Perry Como's Irish Christmas in the background even if he's being cut down by machine gun fire; and some Frank Sinatra when he meets the Devil."

This gave Megane one hell of an odd image when he read it two months ago. But he was soon shook out his contemplations.

Ryouko Mendou sighed, "I hope you can appreciate all the trouble Warren-kun has gone through over the past week for you, Megane."

(RP OFF)