Tenchi Muyo! Universe #4
Out of Time
by Ewen "Ryoga" Cluney

DISCLAIMER: Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki and the characters, places, 
etc. therein are trademarks of AIC/Pioneer LDC; this work is not 
intended to be a challenge to any such ownership, and may be 
distributed freely, in unmodified form.

     Author's Note: This is the story of one voyage of a Galaxy 
Police Patrol Fleet vessel called the Blue Star, and yes, it IS 
reminiscent of Star Trek; that was the whole idea. This story 
serves to show a ship of the Galaxy Police's Patrol Fleet in 
action, as well as introduce some history. All of the characters 
in this story are new.

     The Blue Star rested in the silent docking bay. Captain 
Ikutsu looked out of the observation window at its silvery hull. 
The ship was a standard light cruiser type, one of around fifty 
used by the GP, but it had become very special to its crew, as it 
had seen them through thick and thin time and again. The repairs 

from the space pirates' attack were nearly completed, and the 
Blue Star would soon be ready to leave headquarters and head out 
into the Big Black.
     Of course, the crew didn't *mind* getting some R&R, espe-
cially considering the ordeal they'd been through, though the 
"eggbeater," Galaxy Police HQ, wouldn't have been the first 
choice for many of them.
     If the repairs went according to schedule, the ship would 
depart at 0800, and head for the Rikani Cluster, so that the 
scientific team they would be taking along could do a study of 
the strange phenomena observed there. Among those scientists, 
from the Galactic Federation's Scientific Corps, was Dr. Aslarin, 
a Draalthi and renowned temporal science specialist.
     The ship's hull was completely patched up, and final repairs 
were being made to the internal system by the Technical Corps 
boys who kept the entire GP on its feet in terms of technology.
     "Um, hello sir."
     Ikutsu turned to see Lieutenant Mora, his first officer and 
a Thurnian. She saluted, and he returned the gesture. "What 
brings you here, Lieutenant?"
     She smiled slightly, just barely revealing a row of razor-
sharp teeth; he knew this wasn't intended to be threatening, but 
couldn't help but be a little intimidated. "I just came to see 
the status of the ship, sir."
     He glanced out the viewport. "It's nearly ready. The Techs 
tell me the internal repairs are nearly completed. We should be 
departing at oh-eight-hundred."
     She looked at the ship, and sighed. "It's a miracle we 
survived at all."
     Ikutsu shrugged. "We've been through worse, but Blue Star 
just keeps coming back for more. Some things never change, I 
suppose."
     "Like you." she said, with a slight grin.
     It was true he wasn't the most dynamic person around. Ikutsu 
had been in the Galaxy Police for more than thirty years, having 
started at the academy when he was sixteen. He had commanded the 
Blue Star for the past six years, and the Valiant for four years 
before that. He hadn't changed much, save in that he had grown 
wiser with the years, though he showed few signs of aging; his 
hair was still the same jet black it was before.
     He looked at his first officer; Mora was a young Thurnian, 
around twenty years old. She was slender, with yellowish fur, a 
mane of black hair, and a long tail. Thurnians usually clipped 
their tails at an early age, as the tail was poorly suited to 
spacesuits and such. He had, on occasion, had personal discus-
sions with Mora, and she informed him that she liked having her 
tail too much to have it cut off. As such, she had to squeeze a 
bit to get into a normal battlesuit, but it didn't seem to bother 
her.
     "True." he said at last.
     The scanner on her wrist beeped. She checked it, and 
frowned. "I have to go, sir." She turned and walked away.
     He watched her go, her tail twitching as she left.

     Ikutsu sat in the command chair on the bridge of the Blue 
Star. All was quiet, save for the hum of the engines and power 
plant, and the entire crew waited for something to happen.
     "Kinur, plot a course for the Rikani Cluster, and head 
through the gate."
     Kinur, the Kotami navigator nodded. "Yes sir." He was only 
54, just barely an adult by Kotami standards, but was quite 
experienced, even if he had only reached physical maturity some 
two years ago. Kinur was short, less than 140 centimeters tall, 
and had thick purple hair, to match his eyes.
     The ship slid out of the dock, and approached the jump gate, 
which was just beyond the station. Passing through it would allow 
the ship to shift partway into subspace, and thus travel many 
times faster than would otherwise be possible. For a ship of this 
size, however, doing so required the use of a subspace point-
guide system, rather than the subspace inversion drive used on 
smaller ships. Consequently, it needed such a gate to be able to 
go FTL.
     The triangular portal opened wide, its glowing blue maw 
welcoming them into another level of spacetime.

     The Blue Star had been traveling for nearly an hour when 
they passed through the Rikani jump gate. The facility that 
maintained it was nothing more than a tiny research facility, 
with no more than a dozen people on it at any given time. The 
Blue Star passed by with no more than a cursory confirmation of 
their arrival, and continued towards the area that was to be 
studied.
     Captain Ikutsu drummed his fingers on the arm rests of his 
chair. He had grown accustomed to waiting; it came with the job.
     Dr. Aslarin stepped onto the bridge. He wore a standard 
Science Corps uniform, and generally had a sort of Mad Scientist 
look to him, which was further enhanced by the fact that he was a 
Draalthi. "I see we've arrived, captain."
     Ikutsu nodded. "Yes, doctor. I trust your team has already 
gotten started?"
     The scientist nodded. "Yes, I just wanted to get a better 
view."
     "Of what?"
     He looked out the front viewport. "Based on the readings 
we've gotten so far, we'll be seeing quite a bit."
     "What do you mean by that?" asked Moraku, the Kizakan 
science officer. He was stocky and had short brown hair.
     "Well," said the scientist, "it looks like there's some sort 
of active temporal anomaly at the center of the Rikani Cluster."
     The captain frowned. "What can you tell me about it?"
     Aslarin shrugged. "Not much right now. But one thing's for 
certain; we cannot afford to go in there. I recommend that you 
stay outside of a two million kilometer radius of the center of 
the Cluster, in any case."
     "Excuse me, sir." It was Mora. "You should take a look at 
this."
     Everyone on the bridge looked where she pointed -- out the 
viewport. A reddish-purple gas nebula floated there, even though 
it had not been present a few moments ago.

     "It just appeared suddenly." she added.
     Aslarin looked at the nebula, and frowned. "Can you identify 
that nebula? It's type and, possibly origin."
     Moraku worked at his console for a moment, then the results 
came up on his readout. "It appears to be a type 6A nebula. It's 
very similar to the one near the Katai system."
     Aslarin tapped at his communicator handset. "Aslarin to 
Karik." he said, and waited for a reply. "I want you to launch a 
type 24-C probe into the nebula. Feed the readings into the 
ship's computer."
     They waited.

     "Damn." he muttered. "Contact was lost with the probe once 
it got within five hundred thousand."
     "It would seem," said Ikutsu, "that this place is more 
dangerous than we first thought. Continue your study, doctor, but 
from this distance."
     The scientist frowned, but nodded and left the bridge.

     Things moved very slowly; such was the nature of scientific 
missions. Ikutsu would've been against using armed ships for 
this, except that many of the scientific missions he'd been on 
proved to be some of the most danger-fraught of all. Regardless, 
they were to stay here until either the scientists decided it was 
time to go, or the captain decided it was too dangerous to stay.
     The scientists determined that the nebula was, in fact, 
virtually identical to the one in the Katai system, which was in 
Planet Jurai's territory. Just what this meant was a mystery, but 
the vigil continued. After about a day, the nebula vanished, but 
it wasn't until three days later that something else happened.

     "Sir," said Jurris, the Kizakan tactical officer, "I'm 
picking up something emerging from the center of the cluster."
     Moraku nodded. "I concur. It appears to be..." he looked up 
from his readout. "A ship?"
     "Bring it up on the screen." Ikutsu ordered.
     A moment later, the ship appeared; it was undoubtedly a 
Jurai ship. The wooden thing consisted of a central hub with 
three spires sticking out of the sides and a ring going around 
the whole thing.
     He took a deep breath.

     "It's moving closer." Jurris added.
     "Establish contact."
     A moment later, the face of a Juraian warrior appeared on 
the viewscreen. He was clothed in the manner of a Juraian noble-
man, and had a shock of green hair, which was slicked back and 
went down past his shoulders, an unusual style for a Juraian. He 
glared at the captain. "So, the Empire is being bold today!" The 
warrior grinned. "I will not allow you to enter the sacred terri-
tory of Planet Jurai! Prepare to do battle!" And with that, 
communications were cut off.
     Ikutsu eyed the ship. Weapon turrets were forming out of the 
wooden hull. Despite the fact that the Federation had been in 
place for thousands of years, and had peaceful relations with 
Planet Jurai, the man had mentioned the Empire. If the anomalies 
here were indeed temporal, that could only mean one thing.
     "Battlestations." Ikutsu growled. "I want that ship disa-
bled, but NOT destroyed."
     The lights dimmed and took on a red hue, and a battle alert 
was sounded throughout the ship. Every gun port on the ship came 
online and was ready to fire.
     A glow appeared on the side of the Jurai ship; Ikutsu had 
read about the devastating effectiveness of Juraian weapon sys-
tems, and did not hesitate.
     "FIRE!"
     Proton cannon turrets sprayed the wooden ship with deadly 
yellow energy, even as a barrage of similar, but more powerful, 
blasts shook the Blue Star, piercing its protective armor.
     "Sir! Loss of power on decks six and nine!" Mora called out.
     Ikutsu frowned. That had been a single volley; a couple more 
and they'd be in trouble. "Jurris, destroy the spires on the 
ship."
     The Kizakan nodded as his hands played across the control 
panel. Another barrage of proton blasts was fired, and severed 
one of the three spires of the Jurai ship.
     Another light came from it, but this time it was not for an 
attack; three blades of radiant energy formed, and began inter-
cepting the incoming blasts.
     "Damn," Ikutsu muttered, "he's deployed the Light Hawk 
Wings." They'd all heard about this; the Wings of the Light Hawk 
were a very powerful defensive weapon, and could potentially be 
an even more powerful offensive one. There was a good reason the 
space pirates avoided Jurai like the plague. "Kinur," he said at 
last, "take us back."
     The Jurai ship waited, then suddenly, the three Light Hawk 
Wings expanded, forming a complete circle.
     Ikutsu's eyes narrowed. This was bad. "Evasive maneuvers! 
Fire missiles!"
     The Blue Star tried to spin out of the way as the glow of 
the Light Hawk Wings intensified, and dark energy gathered at 
their center. As this happened, dozens of missiles were loosed 
from each of the ports in Blue Star's sides. Energy crackled 
around the Jurai ship, and a sphere of yellowish orange energy 
sped forth, colliding with the missile volleys. A fantastic burst 
of energy followed, blinding all observers. When at last it 
faded, the Blue Star was intact, and the Jurai ship's Light Hawk 
Wings were down.
     "Quickly, fire proton cannons."
     Before the warrior knew what had happened, his ship was 
being hit by proton bursts again. A moment later only the central 
hub of the ship and fragments of broken wood remained.
     The Blue Star crew collectively heaved a sigh of relief. 
They knew full well that the blast from the Wings of the Light 
Hawk could've badly damaged, or possibly even destroyed the ship. 
Jurai warriors tend to shoot first and don't bother to ask ques-
tions, so decisive action was definitely needed.
     "Establish contact again."
     The Juraian warrior appeared on the monitor once again. His 
defeat appeared to have made him bitter and angry.
     Ikutsu regarded the warrior. In the background, he could see 
the interior of the ship, which was badly damaged. "What is your 
name?"
     The Juraian scowled. "I am Jinou, of House Ranai."
     The captain nodded. "Do you know where you are?"
     Jinou glanced at the readouts, and slowly shook his head.
     "This is the Rikani cluster -- territory not controlled by 
anyone. Not that anyone could." Ikutsu paused for a moment, to 

see the warrior's reaction. Surprise. "Next, do you know who we 
are?"
     "Are you not from the Kizakan Empire?"
     The rest of the bridge crew looked at the screen in sur-
prise. Ikutsu shook his head. "The war between the Kizakan Empire 
and Planet Jurai ended over eight thousand years ago. The Empire 
was dissolved, and that area of space is now governed by the 
Galactic Federation, a group of peaceful races of which the 
Kizakans are but one."
     Jinou shook his head. "You are lying to me. This is a trap, 
and I fell right into it."
     This was going to be difficult. "Jinou, look at my crew." He 
pointed to Mora. "My first officer, Lieutenant Mora, is a Thurni-
an." He pointed to Kinur. "Detective Kinur, the Navigator, is 
Kotami." The captain folded his arms. "None of these races were 
known to Jurai or Kazak in imperial times."
     "I will not be lulled by your deceptions."
     Ikutsu clenched his fist. "Damn you! Do you want help or 
not? We're willing to take you back to Juraian territory! It's 
not as though you could make it in a crippled ship like that."
     "And who caused it to be in such a state?"
     "You did, by attacking without provocation."
     Jinou looked down, and yelled something in Juraian at one of 
the ship's Guardians. "All right." he said at last. "I will 
accept your aid, as it seems I have no choice."

     One thing that could be said for Jurai ships was that they 
were space-efficient. Of course, the fact that they were organic, 
and  didn't take up much of any room with propulsion or life 
support systems helped. As a result, Jinou's ship (what was left 
of it) easily fit into the spare cargo bay of Blue Star.
     Captain Ikutsu stood in front of the scarred ship, some six 
meters away from it. Jinou materialized two meters away from the 
captain, and waited.
     "Welcome aboard." the captain said flatly, offering a hand.
     Jinou stepped forward, and shook the captain's hand stiffly. 
"I never imagined I would shake hands with a Kizakan."
     Ikutsu shrugged. "The cosmos works in strange ways." he 
said, walking towards the exit.
     "I must say," said Jinou as he followed, "you seem to be a 
highly skilled leader and tactician."
     "Thank you." Ikutsu smiled indulgently. "I've been with the 
Galaxy Police for over thirty years; you don't stay that long 
without getting some experience."
     Jinou looked around thoughtfully. They were passing though a 
series of corridors. "Do you... know how it is that I ended up 
here?"
     "Not exactly, but we have a good idea." They stepped into a 
lift; he pressed the button for the bridge. "We are in this area 
of space on a scientific mission, and as such we have a team of 
scientists on board. They have told me that this space has a 
number of temporal anomalies operating within it. It is likely 
that you were pulled through a wormhole of some sort."
     "What... does that mean? Couldn't I go back through?"
     The captain shook his head. "Not likely. If you head back 
into the Cluster, you could come out just about anywhere. And, 
for that matter, anywhen."
     "I see." Jinou looked downward. "I expect Jurai will have 
changed much in nine thousand years."
     Ikutsu shrugged. "I wouldn't know. If there's one thing that 
I can say for sure hasn't changed, it's how reclusive Planet 
Jurai is. We still know relatively little about Jurai's history 
and culture."
     "Indeed." Jinou leaned against the wall of the lift. "Tell 
me, captain, how many member races are there in the Galactic 
Federation?"
     "Fourteen, though only Kizakans and Thurnians are particu-
larly common throughout." The lift stopped, and the door opened 
to the bridge. Ikutsu stepped out, and was followed by Jinou.
     The reactions of the bridge crew varied vastly, but Jinou in 
particular saw anger, awe, and indifference in many of their 
faces. The latter was, to him, the most shocking; after what had 
happened, how could they be so... nonplused?
     A humanoid reptilian of some sort tapped him on the shoul-
der. "It's easy, when you've been facing the unknown for as long 
as many of us have."
     Jinou blinked.
     The captain smiled. "This is S'lln, Blue Star's chief engi-
neer. A Valturis."
     The engineer grinned eerily. "And a telepath."
     Seeing that Jinou was becoming uncomfortable (probably 
because it was the first time he had had face-to-face contact 
with members of other races), the captain interrupted. "Anyhow, 
Jinou, I wanted you to see the bridge."
     Jinou looked around. "Impressive." he said at last.
     "Captain, may I have a word with you?" It was Aslarin, over 
the intercom.
     Even though the scientist was on an audio only channel, 
Ikutsu nodded. "Go ahead."
     "Bring up scanner twenty-two on your viewscreen. You'd 
better see this for yourself."
     Ikutsu nodded to Moraku, who brought it up. On the screen 
was what appeared to be a spacecraft. Or rather, glowing blue 
pieces thereof, hanging in space. Every few seconds, it would 
shift to another formation, and then another, and then cycle 
back.
     "Doctor, what are we looking at?"
     There was a pause. "I'm not sure captain, but it seems that 
this is some sort of craft that exists in more than one point in 
time simultaneously. It may be the cause of the distortions in 
this area."
     The craft on the screen began to move. Towards Blue Star. 
"Doctor?"
     "Hmm..." It continued to move closer. "I think it would be 
best if we pulled back."
     "Kinur."
     The Kotami nodded, and the ship began to move away from the 
cluster. "Sir, it's following us, matching speed."
     The captain nodded, and took his seat. "Bring us about, and 
head for the jump gate."
     "Aye sir."
     The Blue Star did a 180 degree turn, and accelerated towards 
the tiny station that held the jump gate.
     "Sir," said Mora, "if I may point out, if we leave, there is 
the possibility that it will attack the station."
     "Damn."
     "Sir, we're being surrounded." Jurris reported.
     A tactical display came up on the monitor; the Blue Star was 
being flanked by a trio of the strange ships. Or maybe the same 
ship three times over.
     "What are they doing?" muttered Ikutsu.
     Jinou looked at the readout, transfixed. "I-It can't be..."
     "You've seen these before?" asked the captain.
     He shook his head. "Only rumors. Legends. It's said that 
these ships attack without mercy, and that if you attack the 
right one of the three, the others will be hurt as well."
     "It would make sense." said Moraku. "If they are the same 
ship at different times, then attacking the first ship would 
affect the others. They call this a temporal fugue."
     "But if you attack the wrong one," said Jinou, "the others 
will destroy you."
     Ikutsu weighed the options carefully. "And what if you don't 
attack? What if you leave them alone?"
     "I don't know."
     He looked around the bridge, as he did when he wanted sug-
gestions. A course of action was needed soon, but the question 
was, what?
     "I believe," said S'lln, "that there is danger in any path 
you might take."

     "The problem here is that we don't know what motives are at 
work." said Mora. "And that's assuming they have motives that we 
could comprehend at all. But it *is* possible that they won't 
attack unless provoked, but that doesn't explain why they sur-
rounded us."
     "That could be aggression," Moraku added, "or just their way 
of saying hello. Or they might be evaluating us, choosing a 
course of action just as we are now."
     "All right," said the captain, "for now, we wait."

     The face-off continued for almost an hour. Then, just as 
suddenly as they had appeared, the mysterious craft vanished. But 
before Blue Star could get under way, the area of space around it 
suddenly began to pulsate with energy.
     The ship was quickly swallowed up by... something, and 
quickly found itself in some sort of void. Energy pulsated around 
them, and rings of energy darted about.
     "So much for waiting." growled Jinou.
     The lift door open, and Dr. Aslarin stepped onto the bridge. 
The captain turned to face him.
     "Can you explain our situation, Doctor?"
     The scientist sighed. "As near as I can tell, we've been 
pulled sideways in time, to a place which is outside of the 
normal timestream."
     "Meaning?"
     "There is no simple way to explain this." Aslarin replied. 
"I have yet to determine how this place could exist, its basic 
nature, and so on, to say nothing of how to get out." He looked 
out the viewport, at the swirling energies outside. "According to 
the sensors, time itself behaves very strangely here. It's as 
though the timestream twists around itself over and over again, 
effectively creating a loop, so that although we are experiencing 
time normally, we are not moving in time at all."
     "It's like some strange vid." said Kinur.
     "Doctor," said Moraku, "what did the sensors say at the time 
of our... 'slide?'"
     The doctor tilted his head to one side. "Well, I've already 
told you most of the information we've derived from the sensor 
readings."
     "What about subspace?"
     Aslarin scratched his chin. "Subspace was generally a mess 
at that point; readings on all subspace indicators went crazy, 
either nonexistent or off the scale."
     Moraku looked at his console. "And they're still fluctuating 
a bit now. It's as if..."
     "The interior of a wormhole. But without any exits."
     "But if that's the case," Mora interjected, "then..."
     The doctor's eyes narrowed. He nodded. "At this point, we 
would have to force our way out by producing enough energy to 
counteract the forces present, or remain trapped here." He 
glanced back at the viewport. "The only question is how."
     "What sort of energy are we talking about?" asked Ikutsu.
     "There are a number of possibilities, but..." replied Asla-
rin. He looked around the bridge, until his eyes settled on 
Jinou.
     The warrior returned the gaze. "Jurai energy."
     He nodded. "Either that or we try to use the subspace point-
guide system, which could be dangerous. But attempting to use 
your power, and what remains of your ship, could be dangerous. 
The operation would have to be performed outside of Blue Star, 
and there's no guarantee that we'd be able to pull you out with 
us. Not only that, but there's the sheer amount of energy to 
consider."
     "I will do it." Jinou said firmly.
     Silence prevailed on the bridge.
     "I come from a different Jurai than that you know today. I 
am sworn to help those in need."
     No one could argue with that.

     The energies of the place were having an unnerving effect on 
the crew. Everyone was on edge, and in a few instances, brawls 
had broken out. S'lln complained of headaches, for which the 
medical staff couldn't find any explanation, but continued his 
work anyway.
     The main problem with Jinou breaking Blue Star out of the 
void was getting him out with them. As any engineer will attest, 
sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones; S'lln and his 
staff prepared an extremely strong tether line, by which Kara-Oh, 
Jinou's spaceship tree, could be pulled along physically.
     Everything would require perfect timing though, since Asla-
rin and his staff estimated that they would have less than ten 
seconds to get out before any hole made collapsed. This meant 
that they would have to start accelerating *before* Jinou even 
began. And once they did get out, there was no way to tell when 
or where they would emerge. It was likely that they would find 
themselves where they had been before, but there was no way to be 
certain of this, and they could just as easily end up at another 
point in time, a far-flung corner of space, or simply in yet 
another void.
     But, as Captain Ikutsu pointed out, they had to try, espe-
cially given the alternative.
     When the necessary plans and construction were more or less 
completed, the Captain went to see Jinou, who had gone to his 
ship to prepare.
     He was admitted into the ship, by means of the teleportation 
technique usually used by Jurai ships. Ikutsu found himself in 
the midst of a tiny glen, with green grass and a few trees, and a 
large wooden structure at its heart. In the very center of the 
structure was Jinou, who sat in what looked like a small throne.
     "Hello, captain." said Jinou. "What news?"
     Ikutsu glanced around, taking in the organic ambiance of the 
Jurai ship's interior, which was quite a contrast from the steri-
lized, artificial feel of Galactic vessels. "The preparations are 
nearly complete."
     Jinou nodded. "Good. I am ready."

     Blue Star began accelerating; it was hard to tell, since the 
ship didn't seem to move, though the sensors registered normal 
acceleration. Kara-Oh was tethered to the front of Blue Star, and 
hovered above the cruiser.
     As the engines heated up more and more, a glow surrounded 
the broken Jurai ship, which intensified more and more every 
second, until it became painful to look at it directly. As the 
two ships streaked through the void, the glow became more intense 
still, and finally, was released. A burst of orangeish-yellow 
luminescence streaked into the void, piercing the swirling energy 
and making a gaping hole, through which normal space was visible.
     Blue Star accelerated more and more, until finally it 
reached the edge of the rapidly closing portal.
     As it passed through, the entire ship rocked violently, 
throwing the crew around and into walls, consoles, and each 
other. The shaking became more intense, and the ship was sent 
spinning sideways. The front half soared through the gateway, 
while the back half was quickly swinging towards the edge of the 
portal.
     "Fire starboard thrusters! Overdrive!" barked the captain.
     Blue Star swung back in the other direction, so that it 
would pass though the portal straight, but as it went through, 
the ship was wracked by energy, and sent tumbling forward. Look-
ing out the viewport, Ikutsu could see that what they had feared 
would soon come to pass; Kara-Oh was just inside the portal, and 
it had nearly closed. If he didn't act very quickly, Jinou would 
be lost, possibly forever.
     "Kinur, activate main thrusters, overdrive."
     It was a definite risk; putting maneuvering thrusters on 
overdrive was rarely a problem, but doing so with the main ones 
could destroy the ship. Kinur did not hesitate, however, and hit 
the controls.
     The main engines of Blue Star went beyond safety limits, 
producing three times as much thrust as they normally would. The 
ship sped forward, and Kara-Oh made it out of the portal by mere 
centimeters.


Captain's Log:
     We have determined that the Rikani Cluster is an area of 
space that is temporally very unstable. While we were there (at a 
safe distance), a Jurai ship emerged from the cluster, having 
traveled forward in time some nine thousand years. Convinced that 
Blue Star was a warship from the Kizakan Empire (I suppose our 
basic designs haven't changed all that much since then), and 
attacked. Fortunately, we were able to survive the attack and 
disable his ship.
     I was quick to offer an olive branch, and offered to return 
the warrior (Jinou of House Ranai) to Jurai, and he finally 
accepted. Not too much later, some sort of temporal craft emerged 
from the cluster (see Dr. Aslarin's notes), split into three, and 
surrounded us. A short while later, we found ourselves in the 

midst of a void of some sort (again, see Dr. Aslarin's notes). As 
we saw no other means of escape, Jinou used his power and that of 
the ship to channel an incredible amount of Jurai energy into a 
blast, which in turn created an opening into normal space and 
time. Although doing so nearly burned out the engines, both Blue 
Star and Kara-Oh (Jinou's spaceship tree) made it out safely.

Captain's Log, Addendum:
     Although he was concerned about how much his home would have 

changed (and whether or not House Ranai still existed), Jinou 
appeared to be glad to be among his own people when he was taken 
to the Juraian embassy.
     I feel I should note that Jinou now has considerable respect 
for me. Although I wouldn't be the first one to say so, I was 
actually able to counter his use of the Wings of the Light Hawk 
(see Encyclopedia Galaxia, Jurai for more details), and was able 
to defeat him in ship-to-ship combat (though I wouldn't put any 
money on my chances in hand-to-hand). I have no idea what might 
result from this, since Jinou is not only Juraian, but from a 
very different time in Jurai's history, and seems to believe 
rather firmly in concepts of honor, certainly more so than any 
other Juraian I've encountered.
     I expect he will encounter some considerable difficulty. He 
is, after all, a living anachronism. Even so, he is also very 
powerful, and his ship (which he tells me is nearly regrown) is 
an ancient and powerful one, though not very large.

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by Ewen "Ryoga" Cluney (ryoga_hibiki@hotmail.com)
Tenchi Muyo! Universe Home Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/6127/tenchi.html

Beware of pandas carrying signs.----------------------------------------------------------------
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