'Angelic Pyramid'

Chapter 1 'Look What We Found' or 'Say the Secret Woid'

DISCLAIMER: OK Nami darlin', it's all yours. First I want to thank Haruko Takachiho (Kami bless him) for graciously allowing me to use his creations w/o which there would be no tale to tell.

Likewise a big domo arigatou (thank you very much indeed) to any other creators whose works, characters, creations &c. I may use now or in the future.

As always please feel free to use any of my own myriads of creations in your own works. I ask only that a similar disclaimer be posted with your works giving credit where credit is due.

Well you've all been on tenterhooks wondering about this big Galactic Hunt sequel and nai (no), we are not hunting DragonBalls again well not yet anyway but who knows what the future might bring eh? Here is the first chapter for your perusal.

CHAPTER 1

You will all no doubt recall that we left the 'Liberator' heading back to the 3WA's Takachiho Academy in Furool (Foo-Lon) City on Shimougou with Khan, Helmut, LeSeur and Johnny Berringer in their brig. In its bays, the 'Lib' carried the stolen 3WA prototype star cruiser 'borrowed' by Johnny Boy.

The 'Lib' was 'tractoring' a gigantic pyramid in its wake. This mysterious structure was the secret depository of the most fabulous treasure trove in ll the Universes. It was nothing less than the long lost and all but forgotten treasure of the 'Knights of the Holy Temple' better known as the 'True Knights' or the 'Knights Templar'. That was how things stood at the conclusion of 'Galactic Treasure Hunt'.

Amongst the 'Lib's crew was the sole surviving descendant of this revered and mostly misunderstood holy order- Angela Teresa marie Francoise D'Eon deRoncesvalles. Barely nineteen, she had only recently been commissioned as a sub-ensign second class in the Intergalactic Space Command. She had been assigned as a flight officer trainee aboard the 'Liberator', Zachary Taylor Zero, Fleet Admiral, Commanding.

"Outer markers in sight, sir." trilled Ensign Nami Richards, the ship's assistant navvie or navigator.

"Swell. Be sure and let us know when you spot the inner markers, kid." drawled Han Solo who was the pilot for this shift.

"Roger that, sir." trilled Nami. She yawned and returned to her scanning. An hour later she glanced at her wristchromo (wristwatch) and frowned. 2330 hours (11:30 PM) and Molly Callahan was supposed to have relieved her at 2200 hours (10 PM).

She pulled on her flight jacket and strolled down the back corridor to the qurters she was sharing with Lt Commander Molly Callahan (The senior navvie) and with Lt Sir Integra Winifred Van Helsing, the 'Lib's comm relay officer.

"Hey! Wake up, sleepyhead. You were supposed to spell me an houra and a half ago, ya know." complained Nami in a whisper.

"Gimme a break, will ya. I'm still sore as Hell from that manhandling I got from Helmut (Helmut Van Kleist was one of Khan's henchmen). OK kiddo, I'll be up in five, I promise." mumbled Molly.

"Hurry up. We just reached the outer markers and I'm beat, dammit." snarled Richards.

"Tud, turn the heat up a notch, onegai (please)." begged Molly.

"Gomen (Sorry) but I cannot comply, Miss Callahan. The commander is conserving energy so we can reach Shimougou quickly and safely." replied the GSC's version of the 3WA's 'CC' (Central Computer Control Programming Unit) politely. Molly cursed, then got up, dressed and in less than her allotted five minutes, she walked into the nav room carrying two steaming mugs of mocha java. She handed one to Nami and sent her off to her bunk. Then she sat down to watch blips on the scanning vidscreens until 0600 hours (6 AM).

Meanwhile holding down the fort back at the Academy were- guess who? Correct. It was Kei O'Halloran and Yuri Donovan, the infamous 'Dirty Pair' themselves er I mean the 'Lovely Angels' of course.

Kei (if you recall) had been promoted to the rank of Grand Marshall while Yuri had been bumped all the way up to Wing Commandant (jg). All of this tomfoolery occurred in 'Angel Wings' which tale preceded 'Galactic Treasure Hunt'. Will the big shots never learn? Kei and Yuri are a lot like 'Starfleet's Kirk and Picard. They preferred to remain as Commander of a starship and its executive officer respectively.

Be that as it may, Kei was now the Academy's new dean while Yuri was her proctor or vice-principal to Kei's principal position. The Academy was where 3WA cadets and trainees learned the ropes of being 'tro cons' or trouble consultants. Think of them as intergalactic cop not unlike ancient Terra's own 'Interpol' the only differences being that 'tro cons' not only administered justice when and where it was needed, in the dozen or so galaxies under 'United Galactica Federation of Galaxies' control, they 'were' the 'law'!

Although at twenty summers, Kei and Yuri seemed a tad young to be police officers, they were, in fact, both hardened veterans of the force, having graduated from this same Academy at the tender age of fourteen. Ever since they had both been fifteen, this 'Deadly Dynamic Duo' had been the 'best damned tro-con team ever, bar none!' according to none other than their then Unit Sector Chief Andre Francis Gooley.

Currently Andy was the 'Aquarian Galaxy's Galactic Commander-in-Chief. In point of fact, he was second in 3WA command to Charles Augustus Garner, the Territorial Sector Chief himself and Charlie reported directly to the 'God Almighty of the 3WA'and founder of the Federation, Vittorio Francisco Xavier Galadriel or 'Uncle Vito' as he was affectionately known. Like an ancient Terran MAFIA godfather, Vito ruled with an iron fist, hence his 'godly' nickname.

Both members of the 'DDD' being direct descendants of ancient Terran Gaelic ancestours, they had hot Irish tempers to match their heritage and in Kei's case she could easily outdrink either a Triceratops or a Klingon!

Keirran Maureen Deirdre O'Shaughnessy O'Halloran had originally hailed from 'Workoh', a tiny world in the far-off and mysterious 'Omega' Quadrant beyond the 'Plutonian Galaxy' while Yuri Bridget Moira Donovan first came into the cosmos on 'Shack-G', an even smaller world near 'Diana' in the 'Phi' Quadrant of the shunned 'Draconian Galaxy'.

Both of these hellsprites lived up to their feared and dreaded nickname- the 'Dirty Pair' of 'Shimougou'. In all fairness, this was owing to Kei rather than Yuri who was two months Kei's junior. Kei's motto tells the story very well indeed.

"Never blow up tomorrow what you can blow up today!"

As you may or may not have already guessed, Kei hated desk jobs with a passion so it was no surprise at all that she was quite pissed off when Garner told her she was to be the new headmistress at the Academy to in her words "a bunch of snot-nosed brats" many of whom were older than she was by a damned good decade or so.

Yuri, on the other hand, loved teaching and was delighted to be made proctor (Like an exec to a dean or a headmistress at a school or a was sort of like a vice-principal) of the Academy.

In Kei's own opinion, the 'vacuumhead'just liked to run her big frigging mouth all the time.

Yuri was seated primly on the edge of her chair glowering at the 'Boss' who was reading her the 'Riot Act' while sitting behind her massive desk with her booted feet on the console atop it. Despite an edict from the 'United Galactica' High Command that all 3WA tro-cons (Including senior tro-cons like Kei and Yuri) were to be in uniform at all times while on duty to set an example for the trainees and cadets, Kei was wearing a rumpled grey 3WA sweatshirt that had seen better days being both torn and quite dirty, black cut-off dungarees and scuffed black ankle boots without socks.

On the desk in front of her lay her huge Mark XIII ion cannon. In her left hand she held a blazing cheroot betwixt index and middle fingers. In her right she clutched a tumbler of 'Jameson's Irish whiskey.

Kei was a fiery redhead with a pair of penetrating emerald aizu (eyes) while Yuri's long mane was a deep violet in colour and hung down to the floor behind her. Yuri's outfit was an old 3WA tro-con uniform resembling Snow White's dress from that ancient Terran fairy tale vidfilm.

The incensed Amazon firebrand Hellcat was staring directly into Yuri's deep aoishi aizu (blue eyes) while she shouted at and harangued her hapless victim.

"Who the Sam Hell told ya to let both Rock (Obajime) and Revy (Roberts) as well as Tomoh (Jordan) to go on leave all at the same time, you air-headed dodobrain! Now who's gonna teach computer basics, Advanced Windows 475, hand to hand combat and firearms usage to our damned cadets?" growled an angry gazed back coolly before crossing her legs and replying.

"If you will just shut the Hell up for a minute I will tell you, dipstick." she replied, honey dripping from her soft sweet voice.

"Well?" demanded the redhead who by now was pacing the floor.

"Nami (Richards) can teach Rock's classes. 'Cowgirl' Ed can handle Tomoh's students and Chief Gazelle can instruct Revy's students in both hand to hand combat and firearms usage." she explained with quiet 's fist crashed heavily onto the desk.

"Are you bloody nuts, you baka dumbass! Nami's been assigned to Zach (Zero) aboard his 'Liberator'. I don't want Ed (Cowboy Bebop's waif) anywhere near our computers. Gazelle's with Kome (Sawaguchi) and Mar (Marlene Angel) aboard their 'Lovely Angel 3' as their advisor!" yelled the redhead angrily. Yuri looked the same way she had during her 'Southern Exposure' incident.

"Oops, I guess I must have kinda forgot all that stuff, Boss but maybe-" began the violet-maned minx vixen.

"Maybe shit! Wait. Blackfire (Starfire of Tamaran's sister) has a black belt in almost every martial art there is so she can do the hand to hand. Nobody knows more about guns than Naomi Armitage except for yours truly and she'll welcome a break from her housing duties.

"She can teach firearms usage. Rukie (Rukia Kutschski the soul reaper kid from Squad 13) is a whiz at Windows and Word so she can do the computer basics classes. Genjo (Sanzo from SaiYuki) has been working his ass of with Tomoh revamping 'Artok'(Another 'CC' computer programming unit) so Windows 475 will be a piece of cake for that crazy (Shinto/Buddhist) priest. Rukie and Genjo can handle Rock's classes. You get all that, kiddo?" said a suddenly happy Kei.

Yuri nodded wearily and tapped her PDO keypad. The wall chromo (Clock) was reading 1155 hours or 5 minutes until it was time to fill her tummy with lunch and she was famished.

"Make those schedule changes and make sure everyone knows about 'em. C'mon. Time for chow." said a now exuberant Red Marshall and Yuri had to jog to catch up with her at the lift.

Lunch was half over when 'WOOHP' (World Organization of Human Protection) spygirl Alex trilled Kei that the 'Liberator' had just reached the planet's inner markers. Kei thanked Alex and then listened some more. Then she promised Alex that she would see her in the dean's office at 1600 hours which as we all know is four PM. Alex's scanning shift ended at 1500 hours or 3 PM when 'Teen Titan' Robin relieved her.

Secretly (Or so she thought) Alex had a crush on the caped crusader leader of the Terran heroes group.

Kei wondered vaguely why Alex wanted an appointment to see her at 1600 hours. Hadn't that brunette kid been in the 3WA and on Shimougou enough by now to know that kei never stood on protocol for Kami's sake? Everyone was on a first name basis regardless of rank and appointments were never necessary even to see the commanding officer. Then she thought of something else Alex had said.

"So Zachie's at the inner markers huh? Wait one Dragonian minute! Wasn't he supposed to be ferryin' that smacked ass Federation prezzie Servalot (Servalan) home to 'Minerva' or some such place?

"Come to think of it now hadn't Angie (deRoncesvalles aka the 'Templar'girl) found some old starmap in her uncle's attic before they left? And Alex had just told her that Zach was 'tractoring' something and it was 'humungous'? Where did these kids get these words! Would these spykids ever learn how to ask for complete data when a ship's comin' in?

"Ah Hell! I think I'll drop in on a few classes before I start that shimatta (damned) bloody paperwork." she said to herself. These thought were uppermost in her mind when the klaxons started screeching!

"Intruder alert! Code Grey! West Wing! All security units to their posts! Security Unit Alpha to Sector 12-Bravo! Prepare for isolation lockdown! That is all!"

As the announcement died away, Kei bellowed for someone to 'shut off those friggin' klaxons!' Then she headed for the West wing.

At 1400 hours or 2 PM the 'Liberator'safely touched down in the Academy's central pavilion opposite the West wing.

"Why did you land here, Admiral, sir?" asked Lt Sheska Morton, Yuri's new secretary.

"Sorry princess but we had to land here so we'd have room for that thing." drawled Han Solo, indicating a pyramid ten times the size of Terra's 'Great Pyramid' at Giza in Egypt's Valley of the Kings that had just been 'tractored' onto the esplanade. Already students were gathering around it.

"Nothing to see here. Back to class please. Hurry now. Thank you." shouted Chief Don Poporo while flailing his arms about in front of this newest monstrosity. Then Anton pointed behind Don's shoulder and Don saw it for the first time.

"Holy shit! Where the Hell'd that thing come from, Willy?" he asked in a low voice and Gustav shrugged his shoulders.

"Well they can't blame us for this one kiddo. This time it really and truly ain't our fault. Guess this thing was why Alex wanted that conflab with me at 1600." observed the redhead.

Zach and Han and friends hadn't been due to make planetfall at Furool (Foo-Lon) City until at least 1630 or 1700 (4:30 or 5 PM) at the earliest.

"C'mon Yuri. I just can't wait to hear this damned explanation. It'll be a doozie, that it surely will." chuckled O'Halloran. Donovan nodded and yanked out her tricorder scanner while dashing across to the 'Templar Pyramid'. Yuri trilled for security to send a team out here stat!

"Where did ye ever find that piece of crap, laddie?" asked an astounded Captain Jonathan Harlock, skipper of the 'Botany Bay 2'. Khan had stolen his first 'Botany Bay' and wrecked it some years back in the 'Andorrian System'.

"Don't ask." mumbled Molly Callahan. Her face and body were swathed in so many bandages that the former Angel (Molly's partner Iris McMarley aka Lady Flair had been 'roshii' (Dead) for many years. This duo had been the very first 'Lovely Angels' team and their Unit Chief had been Chuck Garner) resembled an ancient Terran mummy such as had once been interred in these strange pyramids.

Molly had a broken maxilla (Jawbone), several lava burns and sundry cuts and bruises. The jaw came courtesy of Khan's chief lieutenant Helmut von Kleist while the cuts, bruises and lava burns had come later during the team's harrowing escape when she almost fell off the 'floating' getaway rock before being yanked to safety by Servie and Angie. All of that stuff is chronicled in 'Galactic Treasure Hunt' and trust me, Molly would just as soon forget all about it.

"Yust a little something dot Fraulein Angela found for us und ve brought it home mit us. Das ist der 'Knights Templar's long lost treasure trove depository." explained Fritz von Dekker, the 'Green Baron'. Han Solo nodded his agreement.

"Don't ask me how the 'True Knights' got this blasted thing all the way from Terra to some Kami-forsaken system hidden within a black hole anomaly much less drew an accurate vid star chart map of the place. They accomplished this miracle way back in 14th Century Terra too! By the way has anyone heard from Leia?" said the ex-smuggler.

Leia Skywalker Organa Solo was prez of the 'New Republic' at Kurestan and han's wife of almost a year.

"At some conference on 'Ruger Blackhawk 5' but she's due back in a fortnight, old buddy." replied his old compadre in crime Gene Starwind, master of the 'Outlaw Star'. Gene had put into Furool (Foo-Lon) City for repairs and Yuri had shanghaied the poor soul to teach piloting skills to her cadets and trainees. Edna Jordan who was Tomoh's sister and her new pal Rio DelCroix had been the first cadets to enroll in his class. Since Gene had been stuck there for a few weeks anyway he had graciously agreed to 'tutor the young bucks for awhile'.

Along for the ride was his crew of Villa, Jamie and Goat, the last two being affectionately known as the 'Jersey Jerks'were on an extended vacation with Gene, Villa and the 'Star'. Villa had been one of the 'Liberator's original crewmen when Blake had been its skipper. That tale is told in the old Terran TV series 'Blake's 7' and is worth a gander. Now Villa's Gene's gunner while the other two were his cooks. Mostly they just 'replicated' victuals. His prize chef was the former 'KASP' (Kaguran Air & Space Patrol) lieutenant Tracey Edwards. He'd promoted him to Lieutenant Commander and had allowed Tracey's bride of almost a year, Subaltern Naturle Badgiruel Edwards to become Gene's lead strategy officer. The 'Outlaw Star' was just one big happy family.

InuYasha and Kouga led their security detail back from the West wing with a surly kid, a strange woman and a bewildered Terran schoolgirl in tow.

"They claimed they escaped from a 'TARDIS' (Time and Relative Dimensions In Space) only it looked like a log cabin. The old broad's name is Lorraine Higurashi and the brat's her kid Soto. The spaced out brat's named Yuki Kazamaki. The first two claim to be related to-"reported the big hanyou (Half dog demon and half human teenaged boy of 15 summers).

"Me! Mom! Soto! Yuki! Where in all the Universes did you guys come from? InuYasha! Kouga! Don't you recognize them? It's my mom, brother and Yuki's my best pal at school. How'd ya get here? Kouga! InuYasha! Release them at once! That's an order, Dog Boy!" cried an angry Kagome who was indeed Lorraine's daughter and Soto's older sister. Yuki was one of Kaggie's classmates from 21st Century Terran Japan.

"We were all out picking berries in the woods when we came across this quaint log cabin. It looked deserted. Being curious Yuki and Soto went inside and I followed them was an odious little man who called himself 'Master' and he told me he was eloping with me. He looked vaguely familiar now that I come to think of it and he claimed to be a time lord from some place called 'Gallifrey'.

"He took his 'cabin' down our old bone eaters' well only instead of 16th Century Tokyo we ended up in outer space! Yuki bit his hand and Soto played with the cabin's 'controls' until he found a thing called a 'life pod'. We jumped in and we were dropped off by these big 'dormitories.

"I'm confused. Honey, pardon my French but just where in the Sam Hell are we?" whimpered the terrified woman. Soto's aizu (eyes) were as big as saucers while Yuki was on the verge of tears when a stout matronly woman came rushing across the square as fast as her spindly legs would allow.

She clucked her tongue several times and then looked daggers at InuYasha and Kouga the wolf youkai demon. They both looked as scared as Hell and were wishing they were somewhere else.

"Glory be! Ye poor lambs must be tired and verra hungry. Come with me and I'll get ye something to eat. Then we'll get ye all settled in. Me name's Bridget Mary Deirdre O'Casey but around here I'm just plain old 'Mom'.

"Ye have landed at 'Takachiho Academy', a training school for 3WA cadets and trainees. Here they learn how to be galactic policemen and ladies. This is Furool (Foo-Lon) City on Shimougou, dearie. We are verra far away from Mother Earth 'tis true but we are not too verra far away from Mars. I'll billet ye in with Kagome and her brood." explained the kindly woman.

Since Naomi Armitage was teaching classes, her housing duties were being handled by Mrs O'Casey whose son Robert was an instructor at the Academy.

"Come along now. You too, Miss Kaggie, Mr Wolfie and Mr Dog Boy." said Mom. The newbies looked a question.

"Ye dinna have to ask, lambie. I'm afeared ye canna get back home unless one o' the Doctors takes ye. Ye must understand that this is not AD 2012 but rather AD 2251, lambie." explained the woman whom Yuri always felt reminded her of the fictional landlady Mrs Hudson whose most famous lodgers at 221-B Baker Street in Terra's 19th Century London, England were Mr Sherlock Holmes, the famous consulting detective and his confidante, biographer and lifelong friend Dr John H Watson, MD.

Kei and Yuri shook hands all around and then excused themselves. Kei told 'Mom' to bring her three newbies to her office after they had all eaten but no later than 1600. Then she followed Yuri and the othersover to the gigantic trianglular 'thing' in her courtyard.

On further reflection, Kei asked that all Academy department heads be present at her 1600 hours meeting with the three newbies and Alex. In addition she requested that Bulma Brief, the other two 'WOOHP' spygirls Sammy and Clover, Goku Son, Vegeta Brief and Neko Olson also attend.

Kei's new yeoman, Gina Phillips, now a Subaltern/Acting Captain was busily tapping data into her PDO or Personal data Organizer while first jogging and then double-timing to keep up with her new Boss.

Zach and Han were jabbering some nonsense about booby traps in the structure.

Finally Kei told the two soul reapers Rukie and Ichigo to remain on guard outside of their new building until further notice.

"Nobody goes anywhere near that piece of shit without my direct authorization. Is that order clearly understood, kiddies?" said the Boss.

"Yes, ma'am." replied the two reapers. With a curt nod, Kei strode off to deal with Academy 'red tape' paperwork until 1600 hours.

Sharp at 4 PM all those folks who had been ordered to attend the conference were present in the dean's office. For this austere occasion, the redhead had changed into grey 3WA sweats and short black ankle boots. And Kei's cover job is a fashion buyer for a big department store too! Style is something O'Halloran never heard of yet Donovan fairly reeked of fashion and trendiness!

"First things first. Domo arigatou (Thank you very much) for coming so promptly. Alex? May we assume that your request for this meeting with me was to inform me of that monstrosity that Zach and Han brought home? (The brunette nodded) Fine. We'll deal with that mater later.

"For now I've posted a guard on it with orders not to let anyone get near it. Since our four resident 'time jockeys' (Doctors 2, 4, 5 and 6) all seem to be away at the moment, I'm sending our 'time wizardess'(Bulma who ship the 'Lady Foucault'could travel through both space and time) to inform the High Council of Time Lords and Acting Lord Prez Barusa that the 'Master's loose again and that he has violated his parole.

"He left 21st Century Terra and kidnapped two of Kagome's family and one of her school chums. Last seen as a log cabin, his 'TARDIS' could now resemble anything. He's apparently repaired his 'chameleon circuit'.

"Bulma will take Goku, Vegeta, Starfire, Arkton (Star and Blackfire's older brother was Emma's second officer aboard her 'Emerald Queen'), Neko Olson and Queen Emma Emeraldas with her. However, Emma is in charge of the mission. Tell Barusa and the Council that the 'Master' has a bounty on his head of ten K (10,000) credits or 150 million woolongs.

"He's wanted by the 3WA for kidnapping, illegal intergalactic and intertime flight as well as whatever the Hell else I can think of and furthermore, if we get to him first, there will be no extradition back home to 'Gallifrey' for him.

"Instead he'll face trial on 'Alderaan' before the 'Galactic Command High Council'. Questions? Nai (No)? Bulma, you and your crew are dismissed and- Wait for it. Better take Legato Bluesummers along too because he knows how to get to 'Gallifrey' and none of you do. Dismissed. Bon voyage.

Bulma and her party quickly filed out of the room.

"Ashita (Tomorrow) we'll set up an away team to explore that damned thing down in my bloody esplanade. Dog Boy? You and Wolfie will replace Ichi and Rukie on guard duty at midnight. At 0800 (8 AM) Rio DelCroix and Edna Jordan will relieve you. At ten hundred hours or 10 AM tomorrow morning we'll have a general meeting to pick the away team. We'll use the dining hall and rec room for that. Everyone will attend. This meeting is mandatory and anyone who don't show up will spend a month in the brig.

"Yuri, you're with me. You too, Ro (Ro Laren was files officer and Academy historian too). The rest of ya are dismissed. Dinner's at 1700 (5 PM) or ya can rep up your own anytime. Go." said Kei, a tad impatiently.

The department chiefs saluted her but as per usual the redhead ignored them and with Gina, Ro and Yuri in tow, she entered the lift to take them all up to the rooftop docking bays where final flight checks were in progress on the 'Lady Foucault', Bulma's time ship.

Unlike other spacecraft which can only travel through space, Bulma's ship could pierce the fabric of the time continuum's wall and travel through time as well. Her ship sounds a Helluva lot better than those Type 40 'TARDIS'es of the time lords, doesn't it?

Kei stepped onto the roof and plucked a vidmike off the wall.

"O'Halloran here. This craft is cleared for immediate liftoff on my authority. That's an order." barked the Red Marshall to the spaceport control tower a quarter of a mile above the Academy's roof.

"Roger that, mum and willco. Tower out." replied Lt (jg) Freddie Foxglove, the Academy's tower officer. Actually Freddie had only been promoted a week ago and being addressed by 'She Who WILL Be Obeyed' was a rare and singular honour for one of his lowly status.

His partner, Ensign William Valdez was an old 3WA vet of several years. He was 21 years old.

Bill clapped his new superior on the back.

"Congratulations Freddie, me old boyo. You have just spoken to the 'Demon o' Dublin' herself." he chuckled. The 'DDD' (Deadly Dynamic Duo) were affectionately known to the cadets and trainees as well as Academy staff as the 'Rose o' Tralee' and the 'Demon o' Dublin' although not even the most senior officer on the force would ever dare to address them as such.

Nobody would ever address the 'Boss Lady' as 'katie' and nobody had better ever let them hear 'That Name' (Dirty Pair) spoken in their presence, that is, if they valued their lives!

Bulma gave the tower boys the 'thumbs up' sign and Legato lifted off. Going immediately to hyperspace speed the 'Lady Foucault' disappeared through an anomaly it had just created in the very atmosphere!

Next stop for Kei was the 'Bebop' pad where Kei asked Jett Black to put out a a ten K credit/150 million woolongs bounty on the 'Master' and she assured the big guy that she'd cover it out of her own account if the 3WA refused to pay the bounty.

Next AM the away team was finally chosen. Zach, Han, Angie, Servie, the Boss, the 'Duchess' (Yuri) and Gina Phillips who'd been included because she knew more than 200 languages and scripts. She was also a walking encyclopedia on anient Terran civilizations and their histories. As files officer and ship's historian (more like a librarian) Ro Laren was along for the jaunt. InuYasha, Kagome and Kouga were included as well. The hanyou and the demon for protection and the schoolgirl as peacemaker. Lt Commander Allison Kurtz was going along in place of battle-scarred Molly Callahan who was confined to sick bay on Yuri's orders.

Seeing no way of breaching the pyramid's door, Kei prepared to fire a long-barreled Mark XXXIII ion cannon at it. Angie quickly yelled 'Open Sesame'in a clear ringing voice.

"Enter ye seekers of truth and wisdom." boomed out the same stentorian voice as had before.

Unslinging the huge Mark, she handed it to Dog Boy who almost dropped the 900 kilo (about 500 pounds) weapon. Of course Kei handled it like a paperweight. Instead she drew her side arm, an immense hand held Mark XIII ion cannon. Kei doesn't have any little toys it seems while Yuri prefers tiny ones.

"Who wants to be first to go down the big dark hole?" asked a nervous Allie Kurtz.

"We'll lead the way. C'mon Han." said Zach Zero.

"Right behind ya, old buddy." drawled Han and both guys drew laser swords and ignited them. Han's burned with a brilliant green fire while Zach's blazed with a piercing azure flame. The Boss and the others followed with Yuri bringing up the rear.

The 'Duchess' was terrified. Why? Because her only exposure to mummies had been ancient Terran vidfilms like 'The Mummy' starring some guy named Boris Karloff!

After the same summary warning like they got the last time from the voice, Han confidently strode forward and dropped to his knees.

"The penitent man kneels." he explained and promptly fell through the floor!

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Did ye think that ye would be facing the same challenges as ye did before? Ye hath chosen poorly, my pilgrim." admonished the voice of thunder.

When the last echo had died away, Zach flashed his sword below the opened floor to which Han was still clinging for dear life.

"Can't hold on! Be careful, old buddy. Say goodbye to Duchess for me." drawled Han and let go.

"Han! You OK, old pal?" yelled Zero.

"Fine and dandy. It's only a two metre drop. This place looks to be a tunnel and it must be the way we gotta go this time around only we get no hints this time, gang." drawled Solo. Zach Zero looked at the little group and grinned.

"OK folks, let's all follow Han. Light 'em up if ya got 'em." said Zero.

"Laser swords that is." he added when Servalan stuck a cheroot betwixt her teeth.

"Wait up, old buddy. We're coming." called Zero and dropped to a stone floor in a stone-walled corridor beneath the temple. Up ahead Han had stopped. His blade was illuminating a wall covered with weird hyroglyphic symbols.

"Angie! Front and centre!" he called and the young redhead ran up to him.

"Oro (What) is that?" he drawled and pointed at the wall. Slowly the Templar lass shook her head.

"Dunno. It's Greek to me, sir." she replied.

"Gina! Get up here now!" yelled Han Solo.

"Yes, sir? You bellowed?" said the young Subaltern. Angie pointed a gloved finger at the wall.

"Old Kingdom. Early Old Kingdom it looks like. The Khufu Era I think." she mused aloud.

"Yeah but what does it say, Kitten?" asked Fleet Admiral Zachary Taylor Zero, a tad impatiently.

"Enter here if ye truly seek enlightenment. If 2 plus 2 is 4, what is 4 plus 8. Trust in Him always. That's all, sir but I will tell you this. No Old Kingdom Egyptian drew these symbols. The ancients believed in many gods, a whole pantheon of 'em, not just one and they firmly believed that Pharaoh was a god on Earth and that he was immortal.

"Who's our math whiz? Man, we could sure use Molly about now. Hey Allie! How about taking a crack at this thing?" called Gina Phillips. Allie reluctantly strolled over and then chuckled.

"Child's play, man. Twelve is thrice four so it's every twelfth character in every fourth row so what does it say, Gina?" said Allison.

"Remember the word of the tomb. That's it, sir." apologized Zach's former gunner's mate.

END of Chapter 1. Chapter 2 really soon I hope. Why not try and solve the riddle of the pyramid? Trust me, there are more riddles ahead for our intrepid explorers and none of the challenges they braved and bested in 'GT Hunt' will be repeated. All new challenges await the Academy gang- K&K