Disclaimers:

- Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

- LOGH belongs to Yoshiki Tanaka and Kitty Films.

- This story is made for fun and is meant for the enjoyment of the fans

- I have to thank Kirra and Patti Peterson for preread this chapter. Thank you very much.

- Please Read Review. I like to know your opinion about my stories and what things I can improve.

- I'm searching for an artist that could draw illustrations of my fics. If anybody is interested, please send me an email. Thanks.

Shampoo woke up, turned around in the bed and watched the luminous digits of the bedside table's clock. It was 6:43 am. She put aside the sheets grumbling, got up and approached slowly to the window walking barefoot by the cold metallic floor. Once there, she stayed looking by the window.

A vast dark veil, upholstered with countless bright diamonds scattered at random, spread at the other side.

Shampoo stretched her arm and covered a handful of these luminous points with her open hand.

'It seems that I could get them only by stretching my arm.' Shampoo thought, while she closed her hand in the air. 'But I know that I can't get them. These little lights are stars; enormous spheres of hot gas, that are very far.'

She slowly lowered her arm and the stars appeared again in the same place. Shampoo sighed and went away from the window.

'Some would say that to realize this is to be mature.'

Shampoo left these thoughts with a shake of her head, and went to the bathroom.

Shampoo was finishing dressing when she heard the buzzing of the intercom. She let it buzz while she tied her shoes. Finally, she pushed a button and the buzz ended.

"Yes?" Her tone of voice was clear, self-confident and calm; it was very different to the one that she used in Nerima, but these times were, literally, very far.

"Ma'am!" A male voice answered respectfully. "We've just contacted with the fleet of Rear-Admiral Akane Tendo."

"All right! I'll head to the bridge right now."

Without waiting for an answer Shampoo turned off the intercom.

The clock was precisely 6:59 A.M.

"She's punctual as ever."

Shampoo smiled and went out of the room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Chapter 01: Reunion:

A small shuttle passed through Shampoo's fleet formation towards the admiral ship.

Shampoo's flagship was a standard battleship named Valkyrie.

Its design was completely functional and it was focused to fulfill its task: transport the cannons and its servants to the battlefield.

The basic form of the ship was a long rectangular parallelepiped with two other parallelepipeds, nearly as tall as long, added at each side on the rear of the main hull. These had three of the four engines of the ship. The last one was in an appendix that projected from the lower part of the main hull. All the ship was painted dark blue with the exception of a few circumferences painted metallic gray. The emblem of the New Reich, a golden lion, was painted in the center of the ship.

The general appearance of the ship was similar to that of a gun.

The three huge doors of the hangar opened when the shuttle came near the side of the Valkyrie. The transport ship entered in and fit in an airlock. Two robotic arms secured the ship while the hangar's doors were closed.

When the moor maneuver ended a guard opened the door of the airlock and moved away. A few seconds later Akane Tendo appeared by the airlock.

Although she'd lived hundreds of years in hibernation, her biological age was only 30 years old. She had turned in a beautiful young lady but her appearance was very similar to that of her adolescence. The most notable differences were a white scar on her chin and a resolute but calm expression. Rivers of blood had killed her youthful impulsivity and had forced her to maturate.

Akane wore the uniform of Flag Officer with the rank of Rear-Admiral. This consisted of black shoes and trousers, and a white shirt hidden under a long black army jacket. The cuffs were made with a light, gray metal and they were encircled by a silver-plate circle with curved ornaments. The T-shape epaulettes were joined with the collar. Both pieces were made with the same material that the cuffs and they had silver borders. Two silver stripes crossed each epaulette vertically showing the rank of rear-admiral. A last metallic piece completed the adornments of the jacket. It was below the collar and had a triangular shape. A semiprecious oval stone was embedded in the center. At each side of the stone two silver lines made curved ornaments. Two vertical white lines came up from the lower edge of the jacket to the edges of this piece. A metallic belt with an elaborated buckle clung the jacket around her waist.

The guard, who wore a simple black army jacket with two rectangular epaulettes without stripes, stood to attention on seeing a flag officer and saluted. Akane returned the salute, with a fast movement, before she went down the stairs of the airlock and got up to the mobile path that crossed the ship.

Less than five minutes later Akane arrived to the Officers' lounge. The door of the room was opened so Akane entered without knocking and closed the door.

The lounge was a rectangular room with a large window that showed the outer side of the ship. A long sofa, a few armchairs, a cocktail cabinet and a rounded table with four chairs were the set of furniture in the room.

Shampoo, which was looking at the space out the window, wasn't surprised when she heard close the door because she had seen Akane's reflection from the window.

Shampoo had matured into a beautiful young woman as Akane had. Her prideful personality had been tempered by the experience. She had turned more sensible and receptive. The most important change in her look was that she had cut her hair. It hardly covered her neck although she had let it as long as the military ordinances allow it.

Her uniform and rank were the same that Akane.

"You are late" Shampoo commented with a smile while she turned towards Akane.

"Excuse me, Mister Gale Wolf." Akane joked knowing that she had arrived right on time, while she fought against the impulse to stick her tongue out to her friend.

After this curious greeting both of them joined in a friendly hug.

"I missed you" Akane admitted while she moved away.

"Me too."

Any of their old acquaintances had been surprised by these words, but Akane and Shampoo had become good friends after everything that they had endured together. With the many years spent in space, the rivalry between the two had vanished.

Both of them were the only ones that had lived in a time where the Earth was the only occupied planet. The fact that they didn't belong to this age had joined them in a way that hadn't been possible before.

Shampoo went to the cocktail cabinet where she took a bottle of white wine and two glasses while Akane sat down.

"How did the six months patrol go?" Shampoo asked while she put the bottle and the glasses on the table and sat down too.

"They were calm" Akane answered while she watched Shampoo pouring the wine. "The most serious was a grade 8.5 earthquake in the planet Ubuntu."

"It had to be terrible."

Shampoo passed a glass of wine to Akane. She took it with an absent-minded gesture, since her mind was remembering the images of collapsed buildings and squashed corpses.

"We've seen worse things." Akane raised her cup of glass and drank a nip. "Excellent! What vintage is this wine?"

Shampoo accepted the change of topic with a smile.

"It is a 410 vintage."

Akane let out an appreciation whistle.

"You have turned into a wine gourmet."

Shampoo shrugged her shoulders.

"This bottle was a gift from Frederic."

Commodore Frederic Charles Dreyer was Shampoo's chief of staff.

Akane left the glass on the table and leaned towards Shampoo.

"I think that he likes you" she commented confidentially.

"Nonsense" Shampoo replied gruffly. "You must know that it isn't a good idea to get involved with anybody from the work, and less in the navy."

"Sure!" Akane said with a smile in her lips while she watched her friend drank her wine at one gulp.

"What about you? When was your last date?"Shampoo left her glass on the table too and looked at Akane, who awkward averted her eyes.

"You know very well that I haven't had a date." After a short silence Akane continued. "The last night I dreamt that I was with Ranma again. I believe that he is alive."

"Akane, don't do that to yourself!" Shampoo reproved. "It is almost impossible that Ranma is alive. Okay, suppose that he is alive, where are you going to search for him?"

Akane remained looking at the table in silence without know how respond.

'These are a very wise words' Shampoo thought. 'Then why don't I follow my own advice? Accept it, you can't forget Ranma either.' Shampoo sighed. 'We are two stupid romantics and, at that rate, we will turn into two stupid old maids.'

Before either of them could add any more a call rang by the inter-communicator. Shampoo approached the communication device and answered it.

"What's happening?"

"Ma'am" a voice answered with an urgently tone. "We've just detected a fleet of more than six thousands ships that are coming towards us. The signature belongs to imperial ships but they don't answer our calls."

"Six thousands ships!" Akane exclaimed while she met Shampoo at the side of the intercommunicator. "These are four times our combined combat force."

Shampoo didn't make any comment but Akane noticed the worry in her face.

"How far are they?" Shampoo asked.

"We will be within their range in less than fifteen minutes."

"Shit!" Shampoo cried out at the same time that she turned off the communicator so none on the other side could hear her. "The warp engines will take more than thirty minutes to be ready."

"They have caught us with our trousers down."

Shampoo nodded and switched on the communicator again.

"Order to all the ships: Red alert. A six thousand ship fleet is near our position with unknown intentions. Face it up and adopt a defensive wall formation. Position the battleships in the front line to serve as a shield. Get ready the warp engines and inform me when they are ready. Don't fire until you receive the order or are attacked. I repeat it: Don't fire until you receive the order or are attacked."

Shampoo turned towards Akane while they heard by the device how her orders were being sent to the rest of the fleet.

"We can't do anymore now" Shampoo told to Akane.

'Wait for the best and get ready for the worst. That is the only thing that we can do.' Akane thought. 'I don't think that this fleet has come only to greet us. Who can be? With all of humanity united, it is impossible that there is an enemy!'

Akane stopped speculating because she had more pressing matters to atend to at this moment.

"With your permission, may I have contact my ship?" Akane asked.

"Go ahead."

Shampoo moved away allowing that Akane could use the intercommunicator.

"Rear-admiral Akane Tendo speaking."

"Ma'am" was the answer from the other side.

"Send the next message to commodore Reinhard Scheer, of the flagship Mjolnir."

Shampoo observed how her friend gave exactly the same orders in spite of they hadn't the time to agree.

'Anyhow it is the only logic course of action,' Shampoo meditated. 'We have to present a united front to resist the necessary time to put online the warp engines. But will they allow us to make the jump?'

"Until my return on board the fleet will be under rear-admiral Shampoo's orders. That's all. Send it quickly."

"Right away Ma'am!"

After hearing the answer, Akane turned off the intercommunicator and looked at Shampoo.

"Reinhard is very capable," Akane commented. "There won't be any problem."

"Then the arrangements are already under way. The fleets will be in position around ten minutes."

"We have less than five minutes of margin. It isn't bad. Now we will only need a plan of action just in case that we be attacked."

Without lose any more seconds both commanders started to develop their tactic plan in the short time that they had.

Tbc…

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