ASIS: A Saotome In Space

Summary: Ranma-chan gets malleted into another dimension and must survive all manner of alien threats in order to find her way home.

Disclaimer: Most characters and settings portrayed in this story are the intellectual property of Rumiko Takahashi, Akira Toriyama and affiliated entities. I do this purely for the fun and enjoyment of escapism – not for profit.

Interlude

I stood atop a wall which allowed me a view of both the castle courtyard and the forest floor surrounding the ancient structure where numerous tents were pitched. There had to be hundreds of Solistians camped out there and, from what I was told, they were all either very young or very old - basically the ones not suited for war. With the inside being fairly packed, as well, I estimated the total number of refugees neared a thousand. If not for Loyra, I would've said it was impossible to move so many across thousands of kilometers of war zone. But, of course, she had a magical solution to the problem. That was why they were here at this old castle, actually. Apparently, it had been built on some sort of ley line that amplified magical power. The fact that it was hidden by the overgrowth of forest was just icing on the cake.

I tore my eyes away from the cluster of people moving about below and looked further up the length of the wall. Gine and Raditz, like me, were posted up here to keep watch while Loyra and a select few of her more competent peers worked on constructing a massive spell circle on the floor of the giant hall at the center of the castle. In order to get to Elarya and the Nebula, which were supposedly hidden at a holy site somewhere far north of here, Loyra was going to cast a teleportation gate and have everyone literally walk through it. It was a shame she couldn't just gate everyone to another planet. That would've saved all of us a lot of time and trouble.

As it was, they didn't expect the thing to be ready until tomorrow evening. That was dangerous for many reasons. For one, anything could happen between now and then that might blow up this whole area. There was also the fact that the clock was ticking with respect to getting Jingo his ship back. If we didn't get moving soon, there might not be enough time to drop the Solistians off somewhere safe and still make it back to his asteroid base before the deadline. He definitely seemed like someone that made good on his threats so it could wind up going bad for us if we didn't deliver as promised. Convincing Turles to go along with all of this was also an issue. He was determined to find Elarya and had the means to do it so I knew, one way or another, I'd be seeing him again sooner rather than later.

My line of thought was interrupted when I spotted Gine waving a hand to get my attention. I took off in her direction and she met me halfway. She held up what looked like one of those makeup mirrors that flip open and closed. "What's up?" I asked her.

"Here she is," Gine said, handing me the mirror. She silently mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' as she did so. As soon as I took it, I realized it wasn't a mirror but in fact a communicator with a small video screen on the top half.

My eyes went wide when I saw Turles' face. "Turles?"

"You're a real piece of shit, you know that?" he said, glaring at me. "Amond was my strongest subordinate. He added muscle to this crew. Just so you know, you owe Gine and my cousin your life. If not for them, I would have your fucking head. And, in case you were wondering, you're off my crew. Psycho bitch." He added that last part with a particularly scornful inflection.

I was confused. What did Amond have to do with Turles being mad at me? It was Amond's fault that I went all crazy and ran off. He was the one who gave me the fruit that triggered my... oh no... no, that couldn't be. I'd never... I'd always just gone a little wild is all. "Turles... what happened to Amond?"

"He's a stain on the Javelin's hull now. You're lucky everyone else got off with scratches, otherwise we wouldn't even be having this conversation. I can't fucking believe you would keep something major like a berserker state from me. You're a fucking liability."

I had no words. Turles had just confirmed one of my worst fears. Despite my best efforts to keep it under control, the beast had won out. I felt violated. All that talk about a martial artist's duty to protect others and uphold honor, etcetera, had meant nothing in the end. How could I ever trust myself around other people now that I knew the monster had killed?

"Don't look so fucking sad, girl," Turles said, his voice dripping with venom. "You're about to get exactly what you want. Gine, for some reason, seems to think siding with the Solistians could work out in our favor which, of course, means Bardock is backing her up. If this falls apart, know this; I'll be the one to end you. I guarantee it."

I came back to my senses as Turles' threat sunk in. I wasn't sure if it was shock that I was dealing with or not but, for some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to care. "If that's what it comes to, so be it. I won't stop you," I said, feeling oddly numb.

I saw Turles grimace before disappearing from the screen and being replaced with a man who looked eerily similar. It could only be Gine's mate.

"Ignore him," Bardock said, glancing off screen briefly. "Gine and Raditz might not be safe right now if you hadn't gotten involved. For that, I'm in your debt."

I felt a pair of arms encircle my waist from behind and looked to my left as Gine rested her chin on my shoulder. "Sometimes good people do bad things, Ranma," she said. "And, in your case, you weren't even in control. We've all had to come to terms with our actions whether intentional or not. I'm not saying that the harm we've all caused is okay. But, as long as we survive to fight another day, we'll have a chance to make things right. I think you've already helped a lot in that regard, too. Because of you, we're going to save lives instead of destroy them. And this is just the beginning. Once we succeed here, we can go on to do the same thing in other places. So... please don't give up. Not when you just managed to give me hope again," she added, her voice thick with emotion.

I blinked furiously and succeeded in stopping the sudden burning in my eyes from becoming tears but felt my throat tighten up regardless. A weird choking gasp involuntarily escaped me and, suddenly, my knees felt too weak to keep me upright. Gine caught me, squeezing as she held me up. She didn't let up until I got my breathing back under control and, even then, she remained pressed against me.

Bardock cleared his throat. "Anyway, Marou pinged Gine's private comm so the rest of us are gonna rendezvous with you guys before sunset. You two need to make sure that the group you're with know we're coming."

"We'll get it handled," Gine said. Bardock gave her a two fingered salute in reply and she clapped the communicator shut while it was still in my hand. "Let's go."