Chapter Twelve

"Well, this is the best shot I have, sister."

Washu sighed, dropping down into the empty seat next to Tokimi's bed as she set the ancient book down carefully on the unit beside her. Worn and bound with reeds that had been neatly coated in a tarry substance to make them last longer, the volume had been written on thick sheets of wood-based paper and as she glanced at it, Washu allowed herself a rueful smile.

"This thing is older than me." She realised. "I wonder if it was something Father used, or if it was simply seized when Senichi Tennan and his settlers came to Jurai. I don't remember Father ever reading rituals from paper, but he instructed Tokimi and I to read and write, so he must have had the ability to do so. Perhaps he just knew them so well he didn't need such things as books to remind him. Sadly I'd disgrace him now - I might have a quick memory, but I'm not as confident in my ability to do this as he always was."

She pursed her lips, resting her hand on her sister's still one.

"But I'm the best you have, Tokimi-chan, so I suppose it will just have to do." She added.

"I'm sure she could do a lot worse, Washu-sama."

A voice from the doorway made her turn, a smile crossing her face as she registered her companion. She gestured for him to join her and he did so, shutting the door quietly behind him as he came to stand beside the bed.

"Well, Lord Tennan, what brings you to my sister today?" She asked, and Seiryo offered her a grin.

"Actually, I was seeking you." He admitted, his gaze flitting to the book. "The last time we spoke, I was short with you and not very gracious. I'm sorry...you caught me off guard."

"Ah, I see." Washu's eyes glittered with amusement. "Fine diplomacy is Takeru's tactic, Seiryo-dono, not yours. I prefer it when you speak your mind - and I wasn't offended. But if you insist on apologising, I won't be rude and refuse your gesture. Either way I don't think any the worse of you for our last chat - so dispense with the unecessary social protocol, would you?"

She shrugged carelessly at his startled expression.

"Well, it's really not important. In fact, living with a daughter like mine, I'm well used to taking abuse of a much more venomous nature from time to time."

Seiryo stared at her, then he laughed.

"You are odd, but I rather respect you for it." He reflected. "But I do mean what I say. Unlike Lord Takeru, I don't hide my feelings behind pretty words."

"Then the matter is closed between us - not that I considered it to be any other way." Washu told him with a smile. "And my sister is glad of your visit, I'm sure - you are very attentive to her, and I'm grateful to that."

"Did you manage to find what you were looking for?" Seiryo asked curiously. "That book looks like it was dug up from Jurai's core...does it really have something in it that might help Tokimi heal?"

"I'm hoping so." Washu nodded. "But I haven't had a chance to test it, so it's a bit hit and miss. It won't do her any harm, at least - but it might not help her. I might not be strong enough and I've never been taught to use most of the Kii tricks and spells that the Priests and Priestesses wielded. Really I'm something of a magical neanderthal - groping around in the dark for a solution without fully understanding what I'm looking for."

She lifted the book, setting it gingerly down on her lap as she opened it at a page marked with a thick red ribbon. For a moment she ran her finger down the margin, as if looking for a keyword, then she paused, tapping the papyrus-like page with her nail as she nodded her head.

"My memory is hazy, but I'm sure I heard Father use those words once or twice when I was small." She said absently, more to herself than her companion. "So it's worth a try. At least it's doing something - which is better than sitting about and waiting to see if she'll come out of it on her own. The lingering effects of the magic in both you and Kiyone suggest that Tokimi's exposure has been far too great for her to overcome it naturally. This may be her only chance to resume any kind of a life, so I have to at least give it a shot."

"That's Kii, huh?" Seiryo peered over her shoulder. "It's funny, but some of those symbols I've seen before."

"Inside my old lab on Kihaku, where Tokimi made her base." Washu nodded her head. "Yes, you would have done. Those are the icons for Priest and for the Hakubi tribe. Tokimi wore the Hakubi eagle feather whilst she was doing Kihaku's bidding, so you must have seen it around her throat. It's also the traditional symbol for Kihaku that other planetary systems adopted - a lot of Juraian records have transcribed the Kii eagle feather into more native Old Era scripting. I noticed that while I was doing my research."

"And I've seen it on the painting of my ancestor, Senichi." Seiryo agreed. "But as for the rest of it, I wouldn't like to guess. It looks interesting, though. Almost like it's been written in code."

"Yes." Washu's eyes became thoughtful at this, and she nodded. "That's something else I must discuss with you, also."

"Excuse me?"

"Code." Washu folded her hands in her lap, eying him speculatively. "I presume that they still teach encryption and decoding at the Galaxy Police Academy?"

"The Galaxy..?" Seiryo looked nonplussed, and Washu laughed.

"Well?" She asked playfully. "You attended there - I'm told you finished top in your class when you got your Elite pips. Am I wrong?"

"No, but you are confusing me." Seiryo's brow creased as he tried to piece together the logic in his companion's words. "Why do you want to know about the Galaxy Police? Surely there's nothing I can tell you about that that your friends Detective Makibi and Detective Kuramitsu couldn't - and you have to remember, I'm no longer a member of the Elite Force."

"True. A shame, in some respects." Washu reflected. "Since you appear to have been quite good at it."

"You underestimate how popular Detective Makibi is at Headquarters." Seiryo said ruefully. "It would be untenable, once word got out. Besides, as you've realised, being in close proximity to the woman does neither of us any good. Call it a matter of pride if you like - I'd rather say I resigned my commission in order to properly take over my responsibilites as Lord of the Tennan manor. Better that than be dishonourably discharged for abusing my position and assaulting a fellow officer. As it is, I believe Azusa-sama has covered a lot of my tracks at Headquarters. I didn't ask him to, but I suspect he doesn't want the Universe knowing that his noble class go around behaving in such a manner and that situation suits me just fine."

"But it's still a shame." Washu folded her arms across her chest. "As for the encryption question - you were trained?"

"Yes, of course. It's a fundamental part of Elite instruction." Seiryo nodded.

"Were you any good at it? I mean, did you ever use it or did you avoid it like the plague?"

"Why are you so curious about my history all of a sudden?" Seiryo arched an eyebrow, suspicion flickering in his malachite eyes. "These don't sound like innocent conversational enquiries, Washu-sama. What do you really want to know?"

"Ah." Washu's eyes sparkled with humour at his directness. "All right, I'll get to the point. Kiyone brought something with her to Jurai and it strikes me, having seen it, that it's something that could be quite important. Some people were murdered in the vicinity of Kihaku a few days ago, and Kiyone is convinced that whoever did it is also responsible for other incidents - namely the ransacking of her spaceship. She's afraid more people will be hurt, and she asked me to look at it."

"I was under the impression Detective Makibi was discharged." Seiryo observed quietly. Washu nodded.

"Yes, but I don't think the word exists in her vocabulary." She said wryly. "Once Kiyone has an idea in her head it can be hard to shift it. I suppose that's what makes her so good at her job. In any case, the file in question is secured - it's encrypted but not in a style I'm familiar with. I could probably crack it, but it would take me some time. However, someone who'd had proper training..."

"I see." Seiryo's eyes darkened. "In other words, me."

"That's about the size of it, yes."

"This was your idea, or Detective Makibi's?" Seiryo asked.

"Mine, but she agreed to me asking you. I told her I would and that it would mean you didn't have to come into contact with one another directly." Washu said complacently. "She saw the logic behind it. As a regular division officer, Kiyone has never undertaken high level encryption training and it's pretty clear to me that this is high level encryption. It might be beyond you, also - but if you would take a look..."

"It won't be beyond me. I was top of my class, remember - and there are few ciphers that I can't read." Seiryo said levelly. Washu stared at him, then laughed, raising her hand in a mock salute.

"Yes sir." She said playfully. "I'm sorry I questioned your skill."

Seiryo looked sheepish, shaking his head.

"That didn't come out right." He admitted. "But what I mean to say is that I was trained by one of the best experts in the field and I found it an easy discipline to master. That's all. Unless whoever it was invented their style entirely for this file, the chances are I would be able to break it."

"That's what I hoped." Washu's eyes sparkled. "So you'll help?"

"I'm not sure." Seiryo looked thoughtful. "My position is tenuous enough at Jurai's court without dabbling in things I'm supposed to have foresworn. And if Miss Makibi's reaction to me the other day is any indication of her mental state, she might simply be suffering from a persecution complex. It might be nothing at all."

"And if it is something?"

"Then she'd do well to stay away from it." Seiryo said grimly. "Encryption is a subtle message to ward people away. If you need to know, you know. If you don't, you shouldn't get involved without fully understanding what you might be involving yourself in. It could be dangerous - for her, for me, and for you."

"I think that she knows that. And me, I don't mind a little danger." Washu shrugged her shoulders. "If you won't help, Seiryo-dono, I will look at it and take however long it takes to crack into it - because I think Kiyone might have something important. But it would be quicker if you did help. And people's lives may be saved as a result."

"Detective Makibi is that convinced, huh?"

"Yes, and she's too good an officer for me to doubt her conviction."

"Me, also. That's what worries me." Seiryo admitted. "She could be walking right into a danger zone."

"But...?"

"You don't give up, do you?" Seiryo eyed her ruefully. Washu shook her head.

"Not usually, no." She agreed cheerfully. "Well? Will you join us in the risk taking and have a look?"

Seiryo sighed, then he nodded his head slowly.

"I suppose I owe you enough for your continued protection of Suki's secret, and besides, I don't think that I can do enough penance in the eyes of the world where Kiyone Makibi is concerned." He said heavily. "All right...if that's really what you want. But don't blame me if it's something you don't want to read. Pandora's box only opens one way, you know."

"Yes, I know." Washu agreed solemnly. "Thank you, Lord Tennan. Your assistance is appreciated."

She glanced back towards the bed, biting her lip as she did so.

"And now my mind has to be on Tokimi." She added. "So we'll discuss Kiyone's file further later, if you're willing to trust in a mad scientist and meet me in my temporary lab. I can't focus on anything else now if this is going to have any chance of working...I have to concentrate on my sister and her needs."

She set the book aside, getting to her feet as she grasped Tokimi's hands in hers. Her sister's skin was cool to the touch, and there was no responding movement as Washu tightened her grip, glancing down at the rows of characters then setting her teeth. Her brow creased in concentration, she carefully read out the blessing exactly as it had been written in the ancient text, willing her sister to open her eyes, but it was to no avail. Tokimi lay as still and silent as ever, stuck in her deep coma, and Washu bit her lip, dropping her sister's hands back onto the blanket with a murmur of frustration.

"I guess I was wrong." She observed quietly. "I guess Kii prayers can't help her, either."

"You seem remarkably keen to give up." Seiryo remarked, leaning back against the window of the brightly lit infirmary room as he folded his arms across his chest. "Almost as if you expected it to fail."

"I suppose that I did." Washu admitted. "My magic has very few successful outcomes, on the whole. Father might have used these spells to help new mothers or the victims of accidents when I was a girl, but I never paid enough attention to know exactly how he did it. I only got frustrated because he would only help those he felt the World had chosen to save, and that didn't seem logical or right to me. I suppose I didn't try to understand - and now Tokimi is probably paying for it."

"Maybe you're sabotaging yourself. And perhaps my being here is distracting you." Seiryo mused. Washu stared at him.

"Pardon me?"

"Well, you expect to fail, so you have failed." Seiryo said frankly. "If I'd had that kind of attitude after my hearing, I'd probably have hanged myself from one of these blessed royal trees by now. I don't know about you, but there are a lot of things I believe the mind can overcome if it's allowed the chance to do so. It's just a case of choosing to succeed, not choosing to fail."

Washu stared at him as if seeing him for the first time, then she began to laugh.

"Oh, and to think one as old and experienced as me would be getting a lecture from an ambitious young nobleman who's barely even begun to see the things the universe might hold." She said softly. "And yet, Seiryo-dono, I believe you may be right."

"Well, it might surprise you, but it isn't the first time in my life that I've said something that makes good sense." Seiryo said astutely. "It seems to me that, if you want to help Tokimi, you're going to have to do more than read her poetry - or whatever that is. I'm afraid I don't much believe in actual spells and incantations - even if I do believe in the application of magic. That was rather forced on me, but I don't think that words on a page are going to heal Tokimi. If they were able to, then everyone would be doing it. Wouldn't they?"

"Yes, I suppose they would." Washu looked thoughtful, her eyes narrowing as she digested his words. "All right, Lord Tennan who doesn't believe in spells and incantations. What do you believe in, that might help my sister recover? I'm no true blue witch myself, and I'd much rather look for a solution somewhere else. But I've exhausted all scientific avenues and this is my last hope. What do you think will help Tokimi recover?"

"That should be obvious, if you really are a genius." Seiryo's eyes danced with amusement as he regarded her. "The same thing Suki gave me, when I first came back to Jurai. She's the reason I fought through it all, you know. Her support, her being there...I suppose the fact that she loved me as much as she did. It was something to hold onto - and it kept me away from the edge more times than I can recall. I wasn't alone."

He gestured to Tokimi.

"She's alone and she has been for a very long time." He added. "She commandeered Clay and I but not in the same way as you might call on a relative or someone close to you. She was fixated with you even when she was acting for Kihaku, Washu-sama. She was anxious to keep you out of things, and yet it was obvious you were always in her thoughts, too. She lost her world just as surely as you lost yours, didn't she? And she lost her sister too."

"Yes. Perhaps she did." Washu bit her lip. "I think I see what you're saying. It isn't magic spells that might bring her back - not on their own, not unless I mean the words I say and put my heart and soul into saying them. The truth is I feel a little bit strange, speaking words in a tongue I've barely acknowledged for centuries and acting in a way I always condemned when I was younger. I feel like a hypocrite even doing this. Maybe I've become too self conscious."

"Shall I step outside?" Seiryo asked quietly. "I will, if you like."

"No...you've given me some sound advice and I'm glad of it." Washu shook her head. "And besides, you gave me your assurance that you would take care of my sister, whatever the outcome of my experiments. You should be here."

She hesitated, then put her hand against Tokimi's cheek, brushing stray wisps of long brown hair out of her sister's face as she did so.

"I do want to help you, Tokimi." She murmured. "And I have to stop making excuses for myself, don't I? I've always been a scientist, I've never really practiced this kind of magic, Kihaku was destroyed so it affected me...bah. All of those things are irrelevant. If I can forgive you for the bad things you did under Kihaku's influence, then I need to forgive myself for not studying harder when Father wanted me to, and for destroying our planet because it was the only thing I could do at the time. And now none of those things should matter, because it's what Seiryo-dono said. You're my sister and you need my support. So...so that's what I'll give you. As much of it as I can, and more."

She placed her other hand across Tokimi's brow, closing her eyes as she willed all her strength into her sister's pale, motionless body. As she did so, colours and lights seemed to flash and flicker through her head, startling and disorientating her, but she persisted, not releasing her grip as she redoubled her strength and determination. As dizziness threatened to claim her, she muttered the words from the Kii text under her breath, more to steady her mind than for any other reason, but as she did so, something flared up inside of her, teasing and dancing at her senses as she felt a prickle of electricity spread across her body, darting through each of her fingers and into the still form that lay before her. She let out a faint gasp as the energy seared through her but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone, and as giddiness washed over her, she opened her eyes, blinking once or twice as she removed shaking hands from her sister's skin.

She drew a deep breath into her body, gripping hold of the edge of the bed as she struggled to realign her thoughts into some semblance of normality. At length the room steadied itself and she sighed, reaching a hand up to her head as a sudden wave of exhaustion began to seep through every inch of her body.

"Washu-sama?" Seiryo's voice was a long way away, and for a moment Washu could not focus on it. Instead she sank down into her seat, reaching for Tokimi's cool fingers and clasping them loosely in her own as she glanced anxiously at her sister's face.

"Tokimi?" She murmured gently. "Can you hear me? It's time to wake up."

She spoke in Kii, and somehow doing so seemed to settle her jumping heart. For a moment the room around her seemed peaceful and still, and Washu held her breath, almost unwilling to break the strange spell that seemed to have pervaded the room. Then, as if aware of her sister's touch, the figure in the bed let out a faint murmur, eyelids trembling and then flickering open to reveal confused sapphire eyes that stared all around her in fear and alarm.

"Tokimi!" Seiryo let out an exclamation, and Tokimi's eyes became bigger at the suddenness of the sound, her grip on Washu's hand tightening as the scientist bit her lip, gazing down on her sister with tears on her own lashes.

"Hello, Tokimi-chan." She murmured. "I told you you'd slept enough. Time to wake up, now. Time to wake up."

Tokimi blinked, as if bringing her companion into focus, and then a tiny, faint smile touched her lips.

"Onee-sama." She whispered.

------------

"I thought we were never going to get through Headquarters' security check."

The tall, middle-aged man folded his arms across his stomach, gazing out at the stars with a heavy sigh of relief as he observed the flashing signals that indicated his craft had clearance to leave the dock. "What with the delay we'd already suffered and the problem with assigning us escort officers - you'd almost think Jurai paid them to keep us here a few days more while they finished preparing their side of the negotiations."

"That's a touch cynical, sir, if I may say so." The young man at his side looked amused, shaking his head. "Emperor Azusa has been very good about hearing our various questions and pleas in recent weeks and months. You surely aren't going to go into this encounter expecting him to have a devil up his sleeve?"

"Imperial will has always come at a price to the colonies. You know that - or do you not remember what happened on Kihaku?" The middle aged man reminded his companion. "No, Toyonaga, I've played this game for too many years not to expect the worst and hope for the best when entering Juraian space."

"Perhaps you're right." Toyonaga inclined his head slightly. "But the Galaxy Police escort should at least help provide us with some support and neutrality, should Jurai's intentions be other than what we expect. Kumashiro-sama, that was a stroke of genius."

"Maybe." The diplomat allowed himself a wry smile. "At least I feel I can trust the Galaxy Police."

"Sir...may I ask you a question?" Toyonaga looked inquisitive, eying his master uncertainly. Kumashiro nodded his head.

"Of course." He said, surprised. "What's bothering you?"

"Why did you bring Miss Sakuya aboard this ship? If you're so sure of hostility from the planet Jurai, why would you put your daughter so much at risk?"

"Ah, I see." Kumashiro's expression became a broad smile. "Well, cunning a fox as I believe Azusa-heika to be, I don't think that he'd hurt a child. That being the case, I think Sakuya will be quite safe on our arrival. More to the point, however, Azusa's own younger niece, Lady Sasami, is about the same age as Sakuya is. It might be nice for her to have a little playmate."

"Or a spy?" Toyonaga raised an eyebrow. Kumashiro laughed.

"Must you be so blunt?" He reproached his assistant playfully. "Yes, if you must put it like that...a spy. Lady Sasami is young and innocent and if memory serves, always eager to make new friends. She is also held in extremely high esteem by her family and the courtiers alike. My daughter understands how important this trip is to the planet Jurai - and what I'm asking of her to do. It's not as though it's anything particularly bad. After all, if the Emperor is on the level about granting us the majority of our requests, I will be well satisfied with the outcome. Sakuya is my backup plan, however. There are many things she might discover which could prove advantageous to us, if negotiations are not as swiftly settled as they should be."

"My Lord Diplomat, do you intend to resort to blackmailing the Emperor?" Toyonaga's eyes widened in surprise, and Kumashiro let out an amused chuckle.

"Again, so crude!" He admonished. "But gentle persuasion can be helpful in situations such as this. There are many things which Jurai's crown manages to bury before people outside hear about them. I don't know whether any of these things are relevant to what we want to do, or whether they can be used to our advantage. However, I like to be prepared. As I told you, Toyonaga, I have been in this game too long."

"If Jurai only cut us free from it's shackles, then there'd be none of this." Toyonaga said absently. "This isn't the age of Jurai's empire building any longer - and we wouldn't be the first colony to hope for freedom. But Azusa is far too fond of our mineral reserves and the fabric exports we plough into his world to consider that. It's a shame, really."

"One step at a time. Small specks of dust can build a mountain." Kumashiro said quietly. "This is at least progress. We should be thankful for that."

"Kumashiro-sama!"

At that moment the door of the chamber slid open to reveal a Galaxy Police officer, clad in regulation blue and white as he gave the diplomat a harried, sharp salute. There was agitation in his grey eyes, and Kumashiro frowned, getting to his feet.

"Whatever is the matter, Agent Kuzaka?" He asked softly. "Is there something I should know about?"

"Sir, your captain requests your company in the drive room as soon as possible. Mr Toyonaga, also." The agent said quietly. "There seems to be something wrong with the ship's navigation system - it looks like we've managed to stray off course somehow since leaving Headquarters, and try as he might, he can't bring up anything on the radar."

"I see." Kumashiro's eyes narrowed. "Then we'll come there directly. Tell me, Agent Kuzaka, there are no magnetic fields in this part of space, I think?"

"No, sir. We've passed two Juraian outposts and they've signalled us clear to go through without having to disembark for the checkpoint." The Agent shook his head. "Since we're aboard your ship, and since you're travelling under the diplomatic white flag, it should have been smooth sailing. But the radar readings aren't making sense and the captain wants to know how we should act."

"I think I should see for myself, before I make any judgement." Kumashiro pulled his cape more tightly around his body, following the agent briskly up the steps to the drive room. As the door slid back, he stepped inside, stopping with an exclamation as he registered the scene before him. The Agent swore profusely, then clapped his hand over his mouth as he realised whose company he was in, bowing apologetically in the diplomat's direction. Kumashiro was paying him no attention, however, as he hurried toward the captain's chair, placing a tentative finger against the pale white skin of the man's neck. Blood gushed across his uniform from a wound at his throat, staining the pale cloth in an ever growing red motif. A small pool of the crimson liquid was beginning to gather on the control panel, seeping slowly inbetween the buttons as it spread further and further towards the ship's main monitor.

"What the hell?" Toyonaga exclaimed, a stricken look entering his expression. "Agent Kuzaka, this man was alive when you brought us his message?"

"I assure you that he was, Toyonaga-san." The Agent nodded his head. He looked grim, crouching at the captain's side as he methodically examined the body. "Very much alive. However..."

"However, someone else got here before we did." Kumashiro said quietly. "I thought we'd been careful to select delegates who were entirely loyal to our cause. Is it possible that a spy has entered our midst somehow? That someone on Azusa's payroll has slid in here undercover, to keep us from ever reaching his planet?"

"Such things are considered treason in these parts, sir." The Agent glanced up, eying the man seriously.

"Not if they prove to be true." Kumashiro's eyes narrowed. "Toyonaga, go to Sakuya's room and stay with her, please. I won't have her disturbed by any of this business and you're the only one of us not covered in blood. Meanwhile, Agent Kuzaka, I want you to assemble your people and ours in the bay below. I wish to speak to them...all of them. If there is a traitor among them, I want to get rid of them before we get any closer to Jurai. I won't let anyone have the satisfaction of seeing us rattled."

"Yes sir." The Agent nodded his head, as Toyonaga hurried off to do his master's bidding. "At once."

He saluted again, following Toyonaga from the drive room and Kumashiro found himself once more alone, running his fingers hesitantly across the navigation panel as he scanned over the coordinates the ship had been following. He frowned, shaking his head.

"It seems all over the place, and yet that can't be right. We've scarce changed course since we left Headquarters and the speed that this craft travels - it wouldn't be able to make such sharp turns without people being aware of it." He murmured. "So something has interfered with the radar. I wonder if it was the same thing that interfered with the captain."

His gaze rested briefly on the corpse of his companion, and he sighed.

"Poor man." He murmured. "And it will be on my head to relay the news to his family. If this is a game of Azusa's..."

He shook his head, turning his back on the mess and heading slowly out of the drive room, making his way along the corridor towards the main ship's bay. As he did so, the lights around him flickered and danced as if power to the ship was being flipped on and on, disorientating him and making him feel dizzy. He grimaced, setting his teeth as the overhead lights blew out one at a time, plunging him into complete darkness as he manoevred his way carefully along the narrow walkway, groping ahead of him for the catch that would release the door to the bay. As he did so, he heard a grating noise, followed by a whoosh of air and a whistling sound echoed along the passage as the ship shunted forward suddenly. At that moment the engines began to sputter, and his heart in his throat, the diplomat realised what the noises meant.

"The cargo doors." He whispered. "Someone released...but there was noone there! That's impossible. There was noone in the drive room of this ship. Nobody!"

The grating sound resumed, and as suddenly as it had begun, the whistling stopped dead, leaving the man in eerie silence. Swallowing hard, the diplomat felt his way feverishly along the hallway, finally finding the catch he was looking for and flipping it across. The door to the storage bay swung back, and he stepped inside, half expecting to find a scene of similar chaos as the one he had witnessed in the ship's main control centre.

But the room was empty.

Frowning, Kumashiro hurried to the window, putting his hands to the glass as he gazed out into the surrounding space. An exclamation passed his lips as he made out shapes in the blackness, and a cold chill touched his heart as he recognised some of them as men who had boarded his ship in good faith. Numbly he counted them one at a time, the flash of blue on one or two of them marking them out as officers of the Galaxy Police. His hands drifted towards the release lever for the rescue capsules, but then faltered as he realised there was nothing he could do for them. His impulse had been right, he realised grimly. Someone had released the bay doors - and sucked the vast majority of the crew into space.

"Sakuya!"

Alarm flooded his thoughts as he remembered his daughter was aboard this craft and he turned on his heel, hurrying back the way he had come as he made his way cautiously up the steps towards the top floor and Sakuya's chamber. Here, the lights remained on, and somehow Kumashiro was comforted by this fact as he counted his way along the corridor towards the small room that had been given over as Sakuya's sleeping quarters. He knocked on the door sharply.

"Sakuya?" He called. "Toyonaga?"

Deathly silence greeted his words, and, his heart in his throat, Kumashiro ran his fingers over the outside lock, overriding the door code and waiting impatiently for the door to open. At length it did so, and a horrified gasp escaped his lips as he registered the prone body of his faithful aide sprawled at his feet, blood pooling in an arc around his head. Feeling sick inside, Kumashiro stepped gingerly over the fallen man, averting his gaze from the wide glassy eyes and the evil gash that had spoken for a man who had become more like a friend than an inferior colleague.

"Sakuya?" He whispered. "Sakuya-chan...are you here?"

"Daddy?"

The uncertain words of a little girl sparked him into action and he hurried forward, flinging his arms protectively around the child as he did so.

"Sakuya." He murmured. "It's all right. You're safe now. We'll be fine."

Sakuya just stared at him with blank, confused eyes, and Kumashiro stroked her dark hair absently.

"We have to get out of here. To the escape pods." He said quietly. "Can you come with me, sweetheart? It's all right - so long as you stay close to Father, everything will be fine."

"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong, Honoured Kumashiro-san."

A voice echoed across the room at that moment, and as Kumashiro glanced up in horror he saw a form flicker and take shape before him, offering him a faint, amused smile as she took in his expression. She bowed her head mockingly in his direction.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience." She whispered. "But your ship is going to Jurai, and so am I."

"Who are you?" The diplomat's grip around his daughter tightened as he glared at the intruder angrily. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Nothing that will concern you." The apparition shook her head. "Or did you not see what happened to your colleagues? The same fate awaits you."

"You? But how? And why?" Kumashiro demanded, fear flickering in his eyes. "What did we do to you?"

"Nothing at all." The intruder admitted. "Except that you are in my way. Nothing must stop me from getting to planet Jurai...and your people were beginning to ask questions about my changes to the navigation system. Curiosity got the better of your captain and I can't have that. Just as it might get back to the Galaxy Police Elite that I was here, It might get back to the Emperor and his family, that I want to pay them a visit. That is a risk I cannot take."

"But..."

Kumashiro swallowed, then,

"I won't tell. We won't tell. Please, let us go...or at the very least, let my daughter go. Let her go!"

"Your daughter?" The apparition's eyes flickered thoughtfully, her gaze resting on the frightened girl that clung to her father in fear. She let out an amused chuckle, a strange light entering her gaze as the girl gave a gasp, falling limply against the diplomat's shoulder.

"What did you do!"

"Put her to sleep." The intruder's eyes narrowed angrily. "Or did you not know that this is how Jurai treats the children of those they do not trust?"

"You are Juraian! You are from Azusa!"

"No." The apparition shook her head, reaching out ghostly fingers as she looped them around his arm, pulling him forcibly away from his daughter. "I have no love for Jurai. But I have an old score to settle and I will settle it. I killed your crew and I will kill you too, you stupid man. After all, nobody can prevent me from taking my revenge on that planet for what they did to me all those years ago!"