Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 + Vandread + Tekkaman Blade = Fanfic + No lawsuits

< >: Thoughts

Chapter 3

It's Going to be a Long Trip

Somewhere out in the depths of the galaxy, a group of female pirates and 
their male captives were drifting in the star-studded void. The pirate 
vessel had been completely engulfed by the Ikazuchi's Paksis Pragma and the 
two vessels had become one. Inside the new vessel, the captain of the 
pirates, her second-in-command and the Dread squadron leader were in 
conference.

"Continue with your report, BC." Magno said.

The first officer nodded as she began showing the latest reports on a 
holographic monitor. "Yes, Captain. The entire ship has been completely 
swallowed up by the crystals. The bridge, residential and engineering 
sections have been completely transformed. Fortunately, the Reg systems and 
the Dread Launch platforms were unaffected and we're installing the new 
data. It seems that the Paksis Pragma has finally reached its peak. The 
bridge has stopped sliding and is currently overlooking the ship's garden."

"And our position?" The captain inquired as she used a hand fan to cool 
herself down. The ship's environmental systems were not working properly at 
the moment and the average temperature was thirty degrees Celsius.

The holographic image changed as BC continued. "It's hard to believe, but 
we're in a completely different galaxy from our own. It will take 
approximately 270 days for us to return to our home system."

The aged woman sighed. "What did we do to deserve being swept across space?" 
She then addressed Meia. "And what have you to report?"

The blue-haired female nodded. "The three Dreads that were swallowed up and 
transformed by the Paksis, including mine, no longer fit on the regular 
Dread platforms. We've modified the cargo bay on the men's side of the ship 
and we're storing them there. While doing so, we made a few discoveries. It 
seems that this section of the ship hasn't been used for a long time. The 
circuits and cables are decayed and useless."

"I see. And what of our enemies?"

"I decided to send out a scouting party to the wreckage of that alien craft 
to see if we could get any data. Since we're short-handed, I asked for... 
volunteers."

"Volunteers?"

----------

"Wow! Look at that! It's an Adamsky-type UFO! Did you see it Ms. Gasco?"

Gascogne sighed as she sat behind Dita in her Dread. It was going to be a 
long investigation.

----------

WHOOSH!

Slade winced as he stood in only his boxer shorts, while he was being 
sprayed down. Standing beside him was Duero Mcfile and Bart Garsus, as they 
too were in their underwear and were being put through the decontamination 
process. The fact that the women were using icy water wasn't helping.

Watching them from a monitor on the bridge, Magno and Buzom considered their 
prisoners.

"So these are the only men on board?"

Buzom nodded. "Yes, Captain. It appears that we will have to depend on them 
until we fully understand this ship."

"Yes." The old woman agreed as she recalled back to the time after the 
battle. When the enemy had been destroyed, the ship automatically went into 
standby mode and released Bart from the navigation well. "I had never seen 
anything like it. And that other one..." She shivered a bit as she recalled 
what Slade was capable of. The fact that the Teknoman had let himself be put 
back into his cell indicated that things were stable, for now. However, 
Magno was quite aware that Slade could destroy them all at any time... that 
is, if he had his Tekkacrystal. The object that Buzom had impounded was 
being analyzed at this moment, but the pirate captain was still feeling a 
bit unnerved by all this.

----------

The brig...

"It was so unnerving!" Bart whined as he tried to strike up a conversation 
with his fellow prisoners. Sitting in a corner of their cell, Slade was busy 
gulping down food pellets. Those things tasted awful, but as hungry as he 
was, he couldn't really complain. The last battle and that strange fusion 
with that girl's Dread had taken a lot out of him.

"One after another, my comrades fell all around me, until I was the only one 
left!" Bart Babbled on. "But I knew that I had to go on and retake the ship 
from the women. And now, fate has given me two able allies! What do you 
say?" He gazed upon Slade as he knew that his power would be more than 
enough to conquer the women.

The one who had been Ranma Saotome continued to ignore him while eating. A 
minute later, he polished off the tray and tossed it away. "Damn! That stuff 
really tastes like crap!"

Deuro nodded. "Indeed, though that didn't stop you from eating enough 
pellets to feed an entire platoon for a week. You have quite an appetite."

Slade nodded. "The Tekkaman Power System makes my body hyper-metabolic and I 
burn up a lot of calories in battle. The transformation alone uses up a lot 
of energy."

"I see. However, that still doesn't explain how you got to be that way. So 
tell me, what kind of man turns himself into a machine? Are you some kind of 
secret weapon of Tarak?"

"No."

"Then what exactly are you?"

"I'm... human and...?"

"And...?"

"And that's all that I am. I'd tell you more, if I could, but I can't 
remember anything past that."

"You're saying that you don't remember how you got to be like that?"

"That's about the size of it."

Bart shrugged as he said, "Well, we can figure it out later. By the way, 
what was it with you fusing with that female ship?"

Slade glared at Bart. "None of your business. Would you mind shutting up 
now? There's enough hot air in here as it is!" He then emphasized his point 
by holding up a fist.

"Whoa! Take it easy!"

"Please try to forgive him." Duero soothed. "He's just uneasy and trying to 
keep calm with conversation."

Bart was impressed. "Hey. You're pretty sharp. No wonder you're one of the 
elite. So how about it? With my talking, your brain and his muscle, we could 
beat these women!"

"Oh really? I'd like to hear how you're going to plan to do it."

Bart stiffened when he heard Buzom's voice. He slowly turned around and saw 
the first officer and two of her subordinates standing in front of the cell. 
He could only guess how long she had been standing there.

----------

"So you haven't been able to find out anything about it?" Magno was speaking 
with the engineer Parfait on the communicator.

The girl with the oversized glasses shook her head as she glanced at the 
crystal that was under a molecular scanner. "The substance of this crystal 
is unidentifiable and it's not emitting any energies at all. I can't figure 
out anything else about it. It's as puzzling as the Paksis Pragma."

Magno thought about it. <Hmmm, it seems that crystal by itself isn't 
anything special, though that male was able to use it somehow to transform 
and destroy the enemy. I've got a feeling that the answer may lie with that 
man, what was his name again? Oh yes, Slade.>

She then told her chief engineer to continue working as she then switched 
over to another line. "Gascogne, how are you coming along with your 
investigation?"

----------

In the engineering section...

"What's with the air conditioning? It's thirty degrees in here!" One of the 
crew complained via the communications.

"Don't complain! It's thirty-six in here!" Parfat replied as she turned to 
ne of her subordinates. "So how's it going?"

The technician was busy struggling with the Navi robot, trying to hook up 
its systems to a console. However, the machine wasn't in a cooperative mood.

"Beep! Don't touch me!"

----------

Meanwhile, in another section of the ship...

"As the valiant crew continued to work, Magno's family suddenly found 
themselves facing a new crisis."

"Hey! Hold that elevator!"

Paiway looked up from her diary and saw Barnette and Jura carrying various 
personal items in their arms. Due to the changes that had been made during 
the initial transformation of the two ships, several of the pirate crew had 
to relocate to new quarters.

"Slacking off again, Paiway?" Barnette said in an irritated tone.

"Instead of just sitting around, why don't you do something more important?" 
Jura said.

"I am doing something!" The apprentice nurse indicated to her diary, then 
held up a hand puppet in the shape of a frog, and spoke in a cartoon-like 
voice. "Barnette and Jura sure have a lot of stuff." She then looked at the 
toy as if she were speaking to it. "It's a good thing that our room wasn't 
changed so we don't have to move, right? Kero!"

"She's really pissing me off." Jura growled.

It was then that Barnette noticed that something was tied to Paiway's waist. 
"Hey, what's that rope for?"

Paiway then answered in her puppet's voice. "This is only a temporary 
elevator, so it won't be my fault if it falls. See you later. Kero!" The 
girl was then hoisted off the lift, leaving two Dread pilots in a state of 
shock.

"You're kidding right?! Paiway!"

----------

Inside the wreckage of the alien craft...

The head supplier spoke through her suit's communicator. "Progress is pretty 
slow and things look extensive. We've got a lot of things to go through 
here. This doesn't look like any ship I've ever seen. In fact, this thing 
looks more like a factory than a ship."

"Wow! Look at that!" Dita exclaimed as she pointed at something. "Hey, Ms 
Gasco! Can I go take a look around?"

"Absolutely not! We've got a job to do!" The older woman said as she flicked 
with her finger at Dita's helmet. In the vacuum of space, this push sent her 
flying backward.

"Whoa! I can't stop!"

----------

The pirate captain chuckled as she signed off. "Very well then. I'll leave 
the investigation up to you, Gascogne."

She then made her chair turn about and ride down a rail, which lead to the 
main bridge. Waiting for her was Buzom and her captive Bart.

"Heh, heh. I hear that you wanted something from me." Bart said nervously.

The old woman nodded and pointed to the navigation well. "Yes. That thing. 
We haven't been able to operate it, so tell us how you did it."

"Er, yes of course. Given the circumstances, I have no choice." He held up 
his manacled hands, indicating to Buzom that he needed his hands free. The 
first officer complied and used the remote to release them. Bart then walked 
over to the well. "Now listen very carefully. This is a male ship, so 
therefore, only men can operate it. So I suppose it was fortunate that I was 
around. In fact, you could say that I'm indispensable to you and... errk!"

At that moment, the well flared and sucked the hapless man into it again.

Magno sighed and shook her head. "I really don't understand this system at 
all."

Inside the navigation well, Bart was once again surrounded by holographic 
images of the ship's outer environment.

"Okay... let's see here... uh..."

All of a sudden, the ship's systems and main drive came on line and the 
vessel leapt forward and began accelerate away from the alien wreckage. The 
sudden movement caught everyone off guard as the inertia dampeners were 
unable to keep up. Jura and Barnette were thrown off their feet in the 
elevator and their possessions went scattering all over the place.

Back on the bridge, the crew were unable to stop the ship.

"The system just booted up and we're on some unknown heading!"

"What in blazes did you do in there?!" Magno shouted to Bart.

His image appeared on the monitor as he shook his head. "Hold on! I didn't 
do anything!"

----------

At the wreckage...

Gascogne nodded as she took out the data disk, in which she had downloaded 
all the data from a computer. "All right, I've finished copying the data. 
Let's get back to the ship."

"Roger." Dita nodded as she began using her suit's maneuvering thrusters to 
propel her toward the opening. However, when she got to it, she gasped to 
see that the ship was nowhere in sight.

----------

The bridge...

"Ms. Gasco! Can you hear me? Ms. Gasco!" Ezra kept on trying to raise their 
comrades, but with no luck. The young woman was sweating profusely as her 
breathing became a bit more shallow. When Buzom ordered for marker beacons 
to be released, Ezra let off a gasp and collapsed to the floor.

----------

Slade was dreaming again. He had begun to see faint images of those same 
people of his distant past, though he still did not recognize any of them. 
He wondered just why those same people had such meaning to him that he kept 
seeing them over and over again in his sleep. He began mumbling out names 
that he couldn't place. One name in particular was said several times.

"U... U-Ucchan..."

At that moment, he felt something warm press against his forehead and woke 
up. He let off a yelp when he saw that Duero's face was pressed up against 
him. He quickly backed off.

"What the heck are you doing?!"

"Taking your temperature." The physician said. Since his hands were bound by 
the manacles, he had to use other methods of gauging body temperature. "You 
were mumbling in your sleep. Who's Ucchan?"

"Ucchan?" Slade repeated in confusion. The name sounded familiar, but he 
just couldn't place it. "Is that what I said?"

"Several times actually. I thought you were feverish from the heat. So who 
IS this Ucchan?"

Slade could only shrug. "I don't know. Ucchan is... Ucchan, I guess."

At that moment, the first officer and two guards came up to the men's 
holding cell and addressed the young doctor.

"You're name is Duero, correct? It's your turn now."

As the guards shut down the energy grid, the second-in-command of the women 
glanced at where Slade was. At present, he was just sitting down and looking 
at nothing in particular. It appeared to all that he was totally harmless, 
but appearances can be deceiving. After seeing his transformation and the 
power he possessed in that state, Buzom was very cautious. However, she was 
certain that without his crystal, Slade presented no danger, or so she 
hoped.

----------

In the navigation well, Bart shouted out as he saw just where was the ship 
was heading, which happened to be a nebula.

"We're going in there?! How do I stop?!"

The vessel dove headlong into the gaseous envelope of the nebula's outer 
ring. Various chunks of ice and debris smacked into the hull of the ship. 
Unfortunately for Bart, due to his link to the ship, whatever hit the hull 
would register as pain to him. A stray chunk of ice slammed into the top 
near the bow, which caused him to yelp out in pain. The hit was felt as a 
hit to his head and he was thrown back a bit.

"Will somebody raise the shields, please?!"

----------

Bart wasn't the only one with problems. More than ninety percent of the 
ship's systems went offline. Jura and Barnette found themselves trapped 
inside the elevator, buried underneath their own possessions. They were in a 
precarious position as they were crowded with not only clothing and personal 
items, but also some firearms and live ammunition. Meia found out to her 
dismay that the Dread platforms were shut down, so she couldn't send out 
anyone to retrieve Dita and Gascogne.

In the sick bay, Duero looked over Ezra as she lay on the bed. Just then, 
the lights went off as power to the medical instruments was cut. With one 
lightning fast movement, he plucked the communicator out of an aide's 
holster, much to her displeasure.

"I'm trying to work on a patient here! Make power to the sick bay a top 
priority!"

In the engineering section, Parfat was exasperated. "I'd love to do that, 
but we've got our own problems here! I can't do much since I can't read 
men's language!"

Duero looked up at Buzom, who was standing nearby. "If I were there, I could 
read it."

The first officer shrugged. "Go right ahead."

----------

Engineering...

"It's a man!" One of the engineering staff screamed.

Parfat simply glanced at Duero and nodded. "Oh, you're here. Good." She led 
the doctor over to the worktable where the Navi Robot was hooked up. "I 
can't do much with this data if I can't read it."

"It's just a Hi-type #6." Duero replied as he began reading the data. "So 
what were you trying to do here?"

Parfat began explaining to the physician that the Navi robot and the ship's 
Paksis were somehow linked. She had thought that the robot might make a good 
sensor. However, she hadn't been able to figure out the reason behind the 
ship's current condition.

Duero nodded. "According to this readout, there's a lot of built-up 
impurities, possibly due to the merging of the two ships."

"Maybe. So can you fix it?"

"I'm sorry but I'm a doctor, not an engineer."

"That's no excuse! Everything that moves is alive! It's a doctor's job to 
fix all living things, right? That's what I always believe!"

The male doctor considered the feisty female before him. "You have a very 
interesting view about things."

----------

As the vessel's lower half immersed itself into the nebula's outer rings, 
the engines shut themselves down. The ship was now moving forward on 
momentum alone.

"Engines have shut down, captain." The crew member said.

Magno sighed as she was currently being cooled by a portable fan and had a 
bag of ice over her head. "Just when I get the good news that we've stopped, 
we end up in a nebula." It was then that her fan suddenly shut itself off.

"Captain! Sensors indicate that a section of the ship is transforming 
again."

Outside of the hull, new crystal formations began to appear as the ship once 
again started to reshape itself.

----------

"Curious." Deuro remarked as he read the information on the Navi robot's 
screen. "It seems that the ship is reacting to the nebula's composition."

Parfat considered the situation, then slammed one fist into the palm of her 
other hand. "That's it! The ship must be using the nebula to neutralize all 
the impurities!"

Duero couldn't help but agree. "It seems to be reacting just like a living 
thing."

----------

Back at the alien wreckage...

"All I see are markers." Dita said as she looked through her binoculars.

"Something must have happened." Gascogne thought for a moment, then said, 
"Well, we're finished here, so let's get going."

"Roger."

Just as the two women began making their way back to Dita's Dread, the 
entire structure suddenly became alive as metal tendrils snaked out from its 
center and reached out for the nearest living thing, which happened to be 
the chief supplier. Before she knew it, Gascogne found herself being 
ensnared like a fly in a spider's web.

"Ms Gasco, look out!"

----------

ON the pirate vessel...

"Captain, I have an idea." Buzom said as she spoke to her superior through 
the communications systems. She was currently in the sub-bridge of the 
former Ikazuchi.

"Go ahead." Magno sighed as she continued to sit in the sweltering heat of 
the control room.

"Since we can't launch any Dreads, we are unable send any of our own crew to 
go look for Dita and Gascone. However..."

"However?" Magno inquired.

"However, the airlocks are still operational. It's a potential risk, but we 
could have that man go look for them." She then held up Slade's 
Tekkacrystal.

"Hmmm... not a bad idea, BC. All right. Explain the situation to him and see 
if he agrees to it."

"Thank you, Captain."

"By the way, BC. What are you doing in the men's section of the ship?"

"Just... fulfilling my duty as your first mate, Captain. Over."

----------

The brig...

Slade sighed as he lay in the cell. Currently, he was wearing only his 
boxers and muscle shirt. It had gotten very hot. His hands were behind his 
head, which was resting on his jacket, which he was using as a makeshift 
pillow. As he lay on the floor of the cell, he wondered just what he was 
going to do.

It wasn't as if he couldn't get out. He had more than enough power to smash 
out of his prison and escape the ship. It was just that he didn't know where 
to go. He was in unfamiliar and decidedly hostile territory. Even a Tekkaman 
had his limits. So where did that leave him? For the time being, he had 
decided to stay on the ship since it was a source of food and a place for 
him to rest, at least until they got back to Mejele or Tarak territory. 
Until then, he'd bide his time. In any case, the females didn't really have 
anything that could harm him. They may have his crystal, but he could 
retrieve that at any time.

It was then that he sensed the presence of someone approaching and looked 
toward the door. Buzom walked into the detention area and smirked as she saw 
Slade in his undergarments.

"Nice outfit."

"Whatever." Slade said nonchalantly as he began putting on his clothes. "So 
what do you want?"

"I've come... to ask a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"Two of our crew were left behind when this ship took off and came to this 
nebula. I would like you to go out and look for them."

"Is there something wrong with you sending out your own pilots for that?"

"Unfortunately, yes. We can't launch any of our Dreads. However, with your 
abilities, you could easily use one of our airlocks and go retrieve our two 
crew members." She then held up Slade's crystal. "I know that you need this 
to transform. We haven't been able to analyze it, but this is the source of 
your power, isn't it? Without it, you can't really do anything, can you?"

Slade chuckled a bit as he finished putting on his clothes. "You're 
half-right. I need it to transform." He then held up his right hand and 
focused his will. Buzom let off a startled gasp as the Teknocrystal 
disappeared from her hand and reappeared in Slade's.

"However, that doesn't mean that I'm powerless without it." The cosmic 
warrior then aimed his other hand with palm spread out. He let loose with a 
small, but focused bolt of ki and quantum energy at the cell's lock, causing 
the bars to short-circuit. Slade casually stepped out and faced off against 
the pirate first officer.

Buzom's usual cool attitude was a bit shaken from the display. It was 
obvious that Slade could have reclaimed his property and escaped at any 
time. She now found herself facing off against a very irritated individual 
that could destroy the ship and everyone aboard in a heartbeat. Her instinct 
for self-preservation came to the fore as she raised her right hand to aim 
her laser-ring at him. However, Slade moved with far more speed and had her 
wrist in a viselike grip before she bring her weapon to bear. She winced as 
he applied more pressure as a warning. Any tighter and her wrist would be 
pulped.

Slade glared at her and said in a low voice, "I could crush every bone in 
your wrist to powder, without even trying. I could destroy this entire ship 
and everyone on board without breaking a sweat, and I don't need to 
transform to do it. I could do all that, and there wouldn't be a thing that 
you or anyone else here could do to stop me." Slade paused for a long time, 
giving his words a chance to sink in. "However, I'm not going to do any of 
that. Instead, I'll go look for your comrades, because you asked so NICELY." 
He gave her a smirk before releasing her wrist and turning to exit the 
detention center.

Buzom rubbed her sore wrist, then raised her arm to aim her ring at him. 
However, that was when she noticed that something was absent from her index 
finger.

"Looking for this?" Slade did not even look back as he held up her ring, 
then used his thumb to flick it back toward her. The jewelry piece made a 
couple of light bounces on the floor before coming to a stop at the woman's 
feet.

Buzom could only stare at the ring for a long while. She had not even seen 
him remove her ring.

<He's good. Could he be one of the elite? >

----------

At the alien wreckage...

"It's no use, Ms. Gasco!"

At the moment, the head supplier of the pirates was too concerned with her 
current predicament to remind Dita that her name was Gascogne. She was 
trapped in a kind of metal cage that kept her from moving. The young pilot 
had tried to cut her free, using the blasters on her suit, but the metal was 
too dense.

"Ill get the tools from the Dread!"

Gascogne shook her head. "Don't bother. Have you forgotten our mission? 
Someone has to get back to the ship with that data!"

"I can't just leave you here!" The young girl shook her head.

"Who said that you're leaving me here to rot? This isn't some third-rate 
soap opera! You can come back for me with more help, right? Now get going!"

Dita nodded reluctantly as she turned around and headed for her waiting 
fighter.

However, no sooner was she gone, then the insides of the wreckage became 
alive again. Panels opened up, revealing more alien units. Gascogne began to 
have that sinking feeling.

----------

In the nebula...

"Sensors are picking up a large object heading on a collision course with 
us. It appears to be an asteroid-sized chunk of ice."

"Did you hear that? Do something!" Magno cried out to the man who was in the 
navigational well.

However, Bart screamed out hysterically as he saw it and was of no help 
whatsoever.

----------

In the engineering section...

"The input/output ratio is off." Duero remarked as he read the readouts.

"That's because there aren't enough link routes!" Parfat declared.

"But the existing ones can't take the strain."

"Don't give up! There HAS to be an answer!"

The physician thought for a moment, then decided to approach this problem in 
the way Parfat thought of it. If it was behaving like a living being, then 
perhaps his medical training would apply.

"How about a bypass? When there's a blocked artery, you simply need to make 
an alternate route to relieve congestion."

Parfat nodded. "A detour huh? Great idea!" She patted his shoulder in 
agreement. "You know... you wouldn't make a bad engineer!" She turned to her 
co-workers and began giving new orders. "Listen up, everybody! We're going 
to get busy!"

Duero looked down at his shoulder and contemplated her touch.

----------

Back at the alien wreckage, Gascogne was quite amazed to see the alien units 
begin repairing their damaged mother ship, which confirmed her hypothesis 
that the vessel was actually one giant factory.

"They can regenerate under these conditions?"

It was then that she noticed something large and ominous making its way 
toward her. The machine looked like some gigantic bug, with many clawed 
appendages, and two large green eyes glaring right at her. It was a sure bet 
that the thing wasn't there to chat.

The chief supplier laughed nervously as she said, "Well... I guess I know 
what you want for dinner."

----------

Out in space...

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH! NO!"

Dita was running for her life as several enemy units were in hot pursuit of 
her Dread. She had been using every evasion tactic that she could think of, 
but the alien fighters kept on chasing her.

"I REALLY HATE ALIENS WHO DON'T KNOW WHEN TO GIVE UP!"

It was then that her sensors were picking up another blip heading toward 
her.

"From the front too?!"

At that moment, her ship was rocked by a near-miss, which caused her to 
accidentally fire her Dread's blasters. Twin beams lanced out and caused a 
small explosion some distance away when they struck their target. However, 
when the burst of light faded away, a large blast of energy was fired back 
in return. This beam however, passed over Dita's Dread and destroyed her 
pursuers. It was at that moment that Dita was close enough to see who was 
out in front of her.

Slade was pissed. The shoulder-mounted Voltekker units lowered down as he 
angrily said, "HEY! IS THAT ANY WAY TO THANK A PERSON WHO CAME TO GET YOU?!" 
Even though Dita's weapons had no effect on his armor, it still ticked him 
off.

Dita however, was overjoyed to see Slade. "Mr. Alien! You came for me!" She 
then made her Dread speed toward him.

"Hold on! Wait a minute!" The Tekkaman put on his braking thrusters to 
decelerate, but as soon as the Dread was in close proximity, there was a 
bright flare of light. Tekkaman and Dread once again became the Tekkadread.

"Wow! What is all this?" Dita looked about in delight as she sat on Slade's 
lap in the cockpit.

"Hey! Will you stop moving around so much?" Slade did not like the way she 
was squirming around in his lap, which made a certain part of anatomy become 
stimulated.

The young Dread pilot smiled warmly as she turned her head to face him. "I 
want you to know that I believed in you and I knew that you'd come to rescue 
me."

"I didn't come to save you!" Slade retorted angrily. "I... just went to look 
for you... that's all."

"Well thank you."

----------

Gascogne definitely did not like her situation. The machine was cutting away 
at her restraints with absolute efficiency, but she knew that it was only 
doing so to get at her.

"You guys work pretty efficiently. I don't suppose you'd consider joining 
us?"

The automaton's response was to extend a wicked-looking claw appendage.

By now, the chief supplier was sweating. "So it's finally my turn, eh?"

However, before the arm could touch her, the machine was suddenly engulfed 
by something huge and metallic. It was instantly crushed as Gascogne looked 
up to see the Tekkadread.

"You guys put off saving me until the last instant, but I guess I couldn't 
have asked for a better screenplay ending."

----------

The pirate ship's engineering room...

"We've managed to secure up to thirty-six bypasses!" Parfat declared. "How 
are things on your end?"

Duero closed up the Navi robot's panel. "I can't do any more back here. 
We'll have to make do with what we have now."

"The balance will be thrown completely off if there aren't enough link 
routes!"

"Do you know what doctors do in situations like this? We believe in the 
patient's will to live."

The female engineer smiled and nodded.

----------

The gigantic mass of ice tumbled its way closer to the ship as the crew 
frantically worked to prevent disaster.

On the bridge, Magno mouth became a straight line as her aides continued to 
report.

"Distance is twelve hundred kilometers and closing..."

It looked like the end. Then the fan beside her turned itself back on.

"Huh?"

The aide cried out with joy. "The system just rebooted itself!"

Down in the engineering section, the Navi robot became active again, stood 
up and smartly saluted Duero and Parfat.

"Beep! I'm back in service!"

"Yes! We did it! We make a great team!" Parfat grasped Duero's hand, then 
suddenly blushed as she looked down at it.

Duero was also feeling somewhat... odd.

----------

"HARD TO STARBOARD, THIRTY DEGREES!" Magno Vivian barked.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! IT'S TOO LATE!" Bart screamed as he braced himself for 
the end.

There was massive explosion in front of the ship but it wasn't the ice chunk 
colliding into the hull. When Bart opened his eyes, he saw that the asteroid 
had been vaporized. In its place, flying ahead of them was the Tekkadread.

"Hmpf! So he saves the day again!" Bart said with disdain.

----------

Inside the Tekkadread's cockpit...

<Man! Am I tired!> Slade sighed as he lay back in the seat.

"See! I told you it was amazing!" Dita said excitedly as she bounced up and 
down on Slade's lap, incidentally making him even more agitated.

Beside them, in obvious discomfort was Gascogne. "Yeah, yeah. So how about 
getting me out of here?"

----------

Later that day, Magno and her first mate made a special announcement to 
everyone aboard the ship.

"We have deciphered the data that was salvaged from the alien ship. I want 
you all to look at this." Buzom turned on the main data feed to all the 
monitors on the ship, which depicted a strange-looking planet. "This is the 
enemy's home world. We don't know its exact location, but apparently, they 
possess some serious firepower. They seem to perceive our presence in their 
territory as an invasion and therefore, we expect more battles on our return 
flight to Mejele space."

The first officer continued with her briefing. "We have also learned that 
the enemy is planning a major operation, which calls for the total 
obliteration of our home world Mejele and the male planet of Tarak. For some 
unknown reason, a hostile force is intent on wiping out our two worlds."

Then the captain took over. "We are pirates and therefore are not bound to 
Mejele or Tarak. However, it would not be in our best interests for an 
unknown force to wipe out our potential 'customers.' Therefore, I intend to 
reach our home system before the enemy and inform both worlds of this 
crisis. In order for this mission to be successful, we must incorporate the 
men we have captured into our crew."

The bridge crew were the first to be shocked as Bart smiled smugly as he lay 
on the floor of the bridge.

"Heh. So you finally see it my way."

The old woman continued. "There are many things that we don't understand, 
such as this ship and that large machine." <Plus our 'friend' Slade.> Magno 
silently added before finishing her announcement. "However, I expect we 
shall learn more, one day at a time. That is all."

Just as she switched off the comlink, Ezra and Duero appeared on the bridge.

"I'm sorry about before." Ezra apologized. "I'll be returning to my station 
now."

"Did you find out the cause of her fever?" Buzom asked Duero.

"There seems to be some kind of parasitic organism feeding on my patient's 
body."

This immediately made Magno alarmed, but Ezra quickly shook her head while 
blushing.

"No! No! It's not that! You're wrong! It seems... I'm going to have a baby."

The bridge crew became very excited as they crowded around the mother-to-be.

"When in the world did you become a fahma?"

"So who's the ohma?"

Bart became very confused. "But I thought that babies were made in a 
factory."

The doctor pondered it for a moment. "Come to think of it, I have heard the 
rumor that females reproduced internally."

Ezra bowed to her captain. "Forgive me, Captain. I had been planning to tell 
you after the last raid on the men, but..."

Magno waved it off. "There's nothing to forgive, Ezra. I hope you have a 
healthy baby."

"C'mon Ezara! Who's the ohma?" A bridge member asked.

"What is that, exactly?" Duero asked with genuine interest. One of the 
reasons why he became a doctor, was because he had always been fascinated 
with the mysteries of female physiologies.

"The ohma is one who donates an egg and the fahma nurtures it in her womb. 
Don't you know anything?"

"This is the first time I've ever heard of it."

As they continued to converse, no one noticed Buzom as she edged her way 
toward a console and removed a small data disk.

"We certainly have our share of surprises, right BC?"

The first officer quickly turned her attention to her captain. "Er, yes 
Captain!"

"The whole crew better work as hard as they can, especially for the new life 
that will be joining us soon."

"This will indeed be a long trip." Buzom added.

----------

Meanwhile...

"Jura?"

"Hmmm?"

"When do you think they'll get us out of this elevator?" Barnette sobbed.

"Somebody help us!"

To be continued...


Author's notes

Well, now that I've seen the second DVD of Vandread, I've got a pretty good 
idea as to where this series is going to go. There will be more plot changes 
and such as I move forward with this fic. There will be more divergences as 
I write about Slade/Ranma's interactions with the all-female crew as well as 
the mysterious enemy.

The revisions so far are just to fill in a few gaps and so on, as well as 
correct a few spelling errors. The fourth chapter will have the most changes 
by far so stay tuned!
