"Tenchi Muyo and all characters there in are the property of Pioneer LDC, Inc and Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P., as well as any company I may have missed. If so, my apologies to you. Also, the author does not own the Jerry Springer show, nor does he own James Bond, which are the property of network television (I believe) and MGM/UA respectively. The author owns only the writings and any characters he see fit to create himself. However, all chapters prior to chapter twenty of this story are the property of Aubinimity only, as are any characters he has created. Thank you." Still nothing special, thought you'd want to just get to the story as soon as possible, just as I want to get to writing it quickly (just barely finished 23 before I started this one). So, here we go again: Chapter 24 Operation: Moonraker II Sasami ran to Victor, or as much as one can run who has just been drained of all one's energy while trying to reanimate a dead murderer. He didn't look too happy. "Things didn't go as well as you'd hoped with Ryoko?" He shrugged. "It's hard to say. She was very quiet while I told her how I felt, just sat on her bed calmly listening to me. When I finished, she bowwed her head and faded out without saying a word." Sasami dropped her head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have presed you to talk to her." "Don't say that. Most likely, I would be kicking myself if I hadn't. You gave me the confidence I needed. Thank you." Sasami looked up at him and smiled. He smailed back. "Now then, you need to get to bed. We all have some planning to do in the morning. Let's not forget about the situation with Abel and the Earth just because of something as minor as one person's feeling for another." Sasami beckoned him to come down to her level. He knelt down and looked her in the eyes. "Victor, things like this are never minor, least of all to the two people envolved. Trust me, this will be weighing on both your heads tonight. So, go rest up for the meeting in the morning, just don't dismiss this so easily." "Sasami, that has to be the deepest thing I've ever heard. You are truly wise beyond your years. How did you get to be so smart so young? Is it because of your royal blood? Another gift besides your healing powers?" Sasami shook her head. "Nope, it was Jerry Springers final thought last week on his 'You love me, but I think you're just white trash' episode." With that, she made her way back to bed, leaving Victor kneeling in the entry way to the garden. "Jerry who?" In the morning, Ayeka, Sasami, Victor, Kiyone, and Washu were all gathered in the war room in a sub basement of the palace. Ayeka looked around the room. "I'm not saying I'm not glad she's not here, but where *is* Ryoko?" She shot a glance at Victor, and the two shared another of their staring moments. Ayeka frowned and sighed. "I see. I'm sorry." "About what, Ayeka?" All eyes turned to the door, which now had a head stuck in it. The rest of Ryoko's body followed her sky blue spikes, and she seated herself at the conference table. It didn't escape anyone's notice that she tried to sit away from Victor. Kiyone whispered to Washu, who just shrugged. "Well, now that you've *disgraced us* with your presence, purhaps we could begin?" Ryoko dropped her head. Kiyone and Washu still looked a bit confused. "Kiyone, if you could please enlighten us with what you've learned?" Kiyone rose and bowwed slightly. "Thank you, Ayeka. Now, if you'd all look to the view screen, I can begin." The lights in the room dimmed as Kiyone fed her floppy into a computer port set into the table. She opened the single file on the disk and went on with her presentation. "Bear with me, this is kind of rushed. Now, I aquired this disk at Galaxy Police Headquarters while cleaning out my new desk, which hadn't been emptied for who knows what reason. In any case, you'll notice only one file on the disk, labeled 'High Security Profiles'. Nothing too unusal, I admit. But, open this, and you find two subfiles. 'Kain' and 'Abel'. I skimmed the Kain file, didn't tell me much that we didn't already know. 'Abel', however, had so very intriguing information. Such as," she opened the file. "This is our enemy. Now, this is only a sketch, but we must assume it's close to accurate." Everyone flinched at the face that now covered the wall sized view screen. In some ways, it did resemble Kain. Same three eyes in the same patern, similarly shaped faces, similar stripes. However, Abel had more of these stripes, forming M's under his lower lip and coming down the forehead through the central eye before spliting like a serpent's tongue to go on either side of the nose. Also, the stripes were deep red to Kain's black. Still, it was just as unsettling as Kain, if not more so. "Now, other than this sketch, the file has vitals, video of the one failed attempt to interogate him..." The video came up. It showed a young man enter an empty room and look around. In a flash, a hand came from under the wall mounted camera and grabbed the man. It was hard to tell what happened next, it was too fast, but blood covered the camera in less then two seconds. All they saw was red, all they heard was screaming and brittle snaps, all they felt was sick. The video clicked off, thanks to Kiyone. "After that, it's just another maybe half an hour of the bloody lens, and more of those sounds. At one point, others come in, probably security, and you hear them snap and scream. Thought it best to spare you and save a little time as well." Ryoko kept her head down, but her eye rolled towards Kiyone and a thick layer of tension filled the room. "Does or disk say how to capture this thing, or are you just gonna waste our time with more of your technical crap, *Captain*?" "Actually, no, it doesn't. Only that he was locked in the same form of cell as Kain was, so presumeably we could catch him in the same way as we did Kain." With that, and taking a cue from Ryoko's glare, she sat down and nodded to Washu. Washu stood up, not that she gained any more height then if she were still sitting. "Now, much as I hate to rain on our thin beam of hope, may I point out that in this fight, we *can not* use the same tactic as with Kain. Any of you know why?" Ayeka's voice came out just baely audible. "No Tenchi, nor Mother, so I will have to attempt to produce the Light Hawk Wings myself if we are to repeat our previous victory." Washu shook her head. "Right, and yet so wrong. With Lords Tenchi *and* Yosho trapped on Earth, you and Sasami are all this universe has. You can't be placed in any danger. So, I will go to operate my new subspace cannon as there's no time to train anyone else, especially should it malfunction in anyway when we need it. I haven't tested it yet, you know. I will take with me only two people, who will try and weaken Abel while I lock onto him." "Who are these two people, Little Washu?" "Well, princess, I thought it would be best to send at least one of the people who was there to fight Kain, so Ryoko has agreed to go. With her, I was hoping to persuade another powerful member of our inner-circle. So, will you do it Victor?" "Me?!" Ryoko's head came up at last. "Him?! Oh no, anyone but him. Do not make me go after this creature with him." "We need his power of divine intervention, as well as your inherent skills in combat. Besides, why are you pushing so hard to keep him from helping you with this mission?" Ryoko sighed. "No, no reason." "All right then. Now, I've scanned the solar system area and found abnormally high energy readings around Earth's moon. Given the proximity to Earth, I figured it would do to cross referance these energy paterns against those of Kain. While I did find slightly more erratic peaks and valleys on the scans I picked up from the moon, indicating greater potentional for the entity to-" "Cut the scientific bull and get on with it! Is it, or is it not Abel on the moon?" "Yes, Ryoko, I believe it is. That is where we should head. Also, as we are going into the space around the Earth to fight a villain who is a threat to life as we know it, I am hence forth calling this mission; Operation Moonraker II!" "Good lord, we didn't get her away from Earth culture soon enough, did we Miss Ryoko? Ryoko?" "Hmm? Oh, right Ayeka." "Ryoko, you seem rather tired this morning. Are you quite alright?" "Yeah, great, lets just get on with this mission." "You don't look well. Are you sure that you're up for going against thi-" "I said I'm fine, okay? I have to prepare, so if you'll excuse me, princess." She vanished instantly, leaving Ayeka with a less then brilliant look on her face. "Washu, Kiyone, perhaps you should get should get prepared as well." "Ayeka, I'm not going with them on this trip, what-" "Then you can help Washu, can't you Kiyone?" She indicated Victor with her head, and Kiyone finally got the message. "Right, well, I'll just go give the professor a hand in the lab. We don't have much time to get this weapon ready." The two walked out, leaving Ayeka alone with Victor. "There's something I need to tell you, Sir, if I may speak freely?" "Always. What is it, Ayeka?" "Get over it! Nobody is worth getting so depressed over, least of all Ryoko. Even less when the fate of an empire is at stake! If Tenchi and Yosho can't get off the planet, odds are good the House of Jurai will fall, which is exactly what I believe Abel wants, if he's at all like Kain. You need to shape up, and get over it. Besides, you were never together, and she may not have even cared about you, so drop the weight from your shoulders-" "Like you did when Tenchi left for Earth?" Ayeka glared at him. After a brief moment, she slapped him across the face and back the other way. Without a word, she stormed out, fuming to herself the whole way. Victor was alone with his thoughts. . He was right. He didn't even shut his eyes before Washu came to get him for the flight to the moon. Author's notes: People, there is only one real chapter left, and it's gonna be big! Please excuse my brief referances to Springer and James Bond, they have nothing to do with the plot at large, just in for comic relief. Thanks go out to the usual people, you the reader most of all. Thank you for staying with the story this long, assuming anyone is reading this. Also, side note, every chapter I've writen so far was writen in a span of six days. Just to give you an idea how fast I'm getting this all out there. I hope to finish chapter 25 tomorrow (wait, it's 1:17 AM). Guess I meant later today. Then, I can say, "Yes, I wrote it all in a one week period." Fingers crossed. As always, here's hoping you stick it out and finish the story. Oh yeah, minor formality, write me at VM Toumbes@AOL.com. ~V.M. Toumbes