FicWad

"So in exchange for the boy I'll get all that?" Genma
starred at the table laden with food in front of him. The table was
perhaps seven feet long, and was piled with food from around the
world. Genma's stomach growled as he watched it.

Ranma, however, really wasn't paying much attention. He was looking
over the strange tattoo on his right hand. The pattern was rather
interesting to the ten-year-old boy. He still didn't understand why
his father made him get it last year. He had said it was going to
get them more food, but Ranma still only got rice. He wondered what
Ucchan would think if he saw it. He'd probably laugh or something.

"Boy!" Genma had come to a decision..

"Yes papa?" Ranma looked up at his father with complete trust. Of
course, Ranma didn't know what the next training Genma was planning
to put him through. But then, he didn't know he was just sold off
again for food, either.

Genma wasn't really planning on letting the military types keep
Ranma. After all, the boy was his ticket to both food and
retirement. All he had to do was steal the boy back tonight. 'Boy,
you're going to go with these men. They're going to be training
you. You WILL learn from them, understand?!" The men HAD said
something about teaching Ranma. He didn't know what they were going
to teach him, but they said something about fighting. The boy could
stand to learn from them for one day.

When Genma looked up, he suddenly realized that he was alone in the
room. Apparently they had already taken the boy. With a shrug he
sat down and began to eat.

1 Year Later

Ranma stared at the howling pit in front of him. He almost
seemed to shiver in fear. The training he had received in the
Military had been a lot better. And flying those planes had been
fun. This was going to be the third time that his father had thrown
him in the pit. As soon as his father came back to push him in
anyway.

No, he didn't want to go back in. He didn't even want to
consider the fat man to be his father. Ranma had grown up a lot
while training at the UEAF East-Asian Academy. He was the youngest
to ever enter it, but had almost immediately proved himself when
some of the older students decided to pick a fight with him. After
that he'd made a number of friends who helped him grow up.

Then in the middle of the night a week ago he had found
himself tied up and thrown over the shoulder of a stranger. Ranma
had struggled until the stranger called him 'Boy.' He still
recognized the tone of his father's voice.

But now...now he wished Genma had never come for him. He
enjoyed the Academy. He didn't enjoy this...torture. Ranma could
admit it, finally. What his 'father' was putting him through was
torture. And Ranma wasn't going to let it go on.

With Genma still off looking for more fish products, Ranma
pushed himself over to where his pack was. Rifling through it when
it was behind him was hard, but his hands knew what they were
looking for, and pulled out a small black cloth case. Then, as
carefully as he could, he slide the knife out of the case and sawed
through the ropes that tied his hands and then legs together.

Now free, Ranma packed his bag up again, and added all of
the food he could find in his 'father's' and quickly and quietly
left the camp.

2 Years Later

"Ranma Saotome?"

Ranma stopped in the middle of his kata and opened his eyes.
Calmly he turned and looked over his shoulder at the two men.
"Yeah, that's me. What'd ya want me for?"

Ranma was careful around strangers. For the past two years
he had been traveling, searching for home where he'd hoped he'd find
his mother. He never did, however, and was currently living in a
tent in a park in some city whose name he never bothered to get. He
had, however, come across more than one of Genma's non-fiancée
problems. Genma had a large number of debts to pay off, and a lot
of people were more than happy to try to take it from his son.

"Saotome-san, I am Prospector from Nergal Industries. I am
here to offer you a job."

Ranma had to blink at that. Someone was being polite to
him, offering him respect, and offering him a JOB? This was far too
strange for him. His mouth, however, decided to work with his
brain. "A...job?"

Prospector smiled. He wasn't a tall man, nor was he well
built. He was a personnel officer, though. His job was to make
people comfortable, and to make them work for his company. He
pushed his red framed glasses up a bit. "Yes, a job. With the war
going so badly right now Nergl has built a battle cruiser to help
out in the fight. As this is a private vassal we wish to man it
with the best private citizens we can. Your records from the year
that you spent at the East Asian Academy are beyond superb for a
pilot. We wish to offer you a position. You will of course be
paid."

Ranma blinked and looked down at his right hand. The mark
had been important at the Academy, but afterwards he had mostly

forgotten it. Here on Earth only pilots needed it. And...that was
what he was being offered. A chance to pilot. And a chance to
protect people as a Martial Artist should.

Ranma looked at Prospector for a moment more and then
shrugged. "Sure, why not."


An Aestivalis for a Saotome
A Ranma ½ & Martin Successor Nadesico X-over
By Tomas Megarson
Email me NighthawkTM@yahoo.com
Visit me http://www.geocities.com/nighthawktm/index.htm

Disclaimer: I do not own either Ranma or Nadesico. I do this for
fun and without profit. That doesn't mean I'll refuse money if you
want to send me any. ^_^

Chapter 1

Ranma stared at the ship in front of him. It was big. It
was really big. Perhaps it was even bigger than that. And it was...
white. Lots of white. He had to admit though; here in the
underground cavern with the lights reflecting off of its hull, it
definitely looked cool. "So...what's her name?" Something Ranma
recalled from his days at the Academy was that all ships were
female. Why that was he'd never found out, but that's what the
other recruits had told him.

"Her name is Nadesico. She's going to be the first civilian
battleship to enter the war against the Jovian Lizards."

Ranma smiled slightly. For some reason the name struck
something in him. It was almost like when he had perfected a new
kata. It felt so right. As the two started for the open ramp to
board the ship. "So, what are we flying and which one's my bird?"
He was already beginning to revert to the language used while in
flight school. He was a Saotome and that meant he was supposed to
fly.

Prospector sweat dropped ever so slightly. It seemed that
he had forgotten to mention something. "Hmm...well you might not be
flying. You see," the two entered the hanger where a pair of giant
robots stood, "the Nadesico is armed with the latest of the
Aestivalis. That is what you will be flying."

Ranma's eyes took in the pair of giant robots before him.
Aestivalises. That's what he was supposed to pilot? He was being
given the chance that everyone in the academy had talked about. And
he was being ASKED to pilot one of them. Slowly he walked over to a
giant blue one and put his hand on it. From the design he could
tell that it was a flight model. "This one is mine Prospector, and
nobody else's."

Prospector smiled a bit. It seemed they had just secured a
pilot who had all the makings of a top ace. He just hoped that
Ranma would live long enough to reach that status. "Hmm...that
reminds me Ranma, how old are you? The records at the," his phone
began to ring "academy, hold on just a moment." Prospector
listened for a few moments while Ranma continued to inspect the
Aestivalis before him. "Hmm...alright, I'll be right there." Closing
the phone, Prospector walked over and placed a hand on Ranma's
shoulder. "Ranma, I've got to go see to something. Pilots aren't
supposed to report until tomorrow and the mechanics said that this
Aestivalis would need another two days to bring it to combat
readiness. Why don't you go take a tour of the ship instead?"

Ranma looked slightly disappointed but nodded. "Why not?
If this is gonna be my home, I guess I should look 'round some,
huh?" Ranma gave Prospector a crisp salute and then headed into the
ship.

An hour later...

Ranma stepped through the door and looked around. From his
vantage point, Ranma's eyes tracked the bridge crew. The first
thing he wondered about was why the entire crew was female. That
was shrugged off as this being a civilian craft. After all, the
military probably had all of the good male crews.

Seeing an empty seat toward the front of the bridge, Ranma
calmly walked over to it and sat down, leaning back. He ignored the
stares he was getting as he allowed his gaze to wander the inside
of the underground docking facility that the Nadesico was currently
in.He could see the work crews moving along the outer hull making
final inspections before the scheduled lift off in two days.
Shifting his gaze, he could see a large supply truck approach.

He was still watching the crews unload large crates of
supplies when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his head and
was forced to lean back some to gaze into the eyes of the huge man in
front of him. The man had that veteran look that he'd seen in his
instructors at the Academy, as well as had a stern glare. "Yeah,
what is it?"

At the sound of his voice the bridge grew quiet, only the
sounds of the machines running could be heard. Everyone's eyes and
ears were on the confrontation that had just begun. "This ship is no
place for children." The monotone voice from the man said. "Leave
now and you won't be arrested."

` "Arrest me? Yeah, right." Ranma scoffed. "Who do you think
you are saying you can arrest me?"

"I am the commander of this vessel, that's who I am." The
huge man growled.

The words had an effect on Ranma. He spun out of the chair,
coming to his feet on across from the man and snapped to perfect
military attention. "Saotome Ranma, Aestivalis pilot, sir. Forgive
my ignorance sir, I was not briefed on who the Nadesico's commander
was." From the right hand that offered salute to his superior
officer, everyone on the bridge could see the nano-bot marking in his
skin proving he was exactly what he said.

Respect for one's commander had been drilled into Ranma at
the Academy. While he was normally arrogant and showed little
respect to others, when faced with a superior officer his Academy
drilled mindset came to the front. It was a side of Ranma that his
father had never seen, nor had anyone else since he'd left the
academy.

As for Ranma's announcement, it had taken most of the people
on the bridge aback. Being a pilot wasn't something that just
happened every day to young teens. Even as people grew older only a
select few could become pilots simply due to the stress that it
placed on the body. To find a kid who was probably barely in his
teens a pilot meant there had to be something special about him.

Of course, that didn't faze Goat Hory a bit. "A child like
you couldn't be suited for being a pilot. Now get off this bridge or
I'll have you arrested." Goat's square jaw face remained passive and
his tone was almost Stoic as he spoke. His eyes, however, showed the
irritation he was feeling for the boy in front of him.

Ranma could feel his jaw muscles ripple as he bit back the
reply he wanted so desperately to say. He was taught better than to
talk back to his commanding officer, however. With a sharp "Yes sir."
Ranma dropped his salute and began to make his way toward the exit.

However, as he walked, a voice reached his ear. "Baka."
Ranma's head turned to glare at the girl seated behind one of the
stations. He took in her white hair and pale skin. He was surprised
that she looked about his age, and yet she hadn't gotten any grief
about it. He wanted desperately to reply to her insult, but something
told him that now wasn't the right time. So he settled for a glare
and continued towards the door.

He was perhaps a dozen feet from it when it opened and a figure
walked in. Ranma recognized the uniform and immediately snapped to
attention. After all, the captain just came on deck. This was also
the moment he began to worry about his life. The captain was nothing
like he expected her to be.

"Wow, this must be it!" Ranma focuses on the woman in the
Captain's uniform. Her long hair was interesting shade of blue, and
her green eyes spoke of a general joy to the world. Already Ranma
was gritting his teeth. "Hello everyone! I'm your new Captain!
V!" And her fingers gave the crew a victory sign.

Everyone, Ranma included, mimicked her in disbelieving voices.
"V!?" The young girl, who insulted Ranma before, had something to
add, however. "Another idiot?" At those words Ranma's open mouth
closed and his face again took on an angry cast. As the Captain
walked past him to speak to the man in charge, Ranma dropped his
salute and left the bridge. As he walked down the halls towards the
hangar he tossed around her name in his mind. Misumaru Yurika. Now
where had he heard that family name before?

*

Ranma rolled his eyes as some idiot of a pilot put one of the
Aestivalis through some very poor martial arts moves. It made him
wonder about who had decided to hire the guy. All the while the guy
was talking like he was in some anime. It was a bit of a surprise
that he found himself mimicking the girl from earlier. "Baka."

His eyes then turned to gaze at the young man standing a few
yards from him, gazing at the Aestivalis. His gaze went over the
cook's uniform and a smile came to his lips. If he could become
friends with one of the cooks then he might be able to get extra
helpings. More food was always a good thing. Walking over to the
young man, Ranma tossed him an idle salute which was sloppily
returned. "Hey, I'm Ranma. Who're you?"

"Umm, I'm Tenkawa Akito." Akito's eyes drifted over Ranma's
young form. "What do you do here?"

"Me?" Ranma smiled. "I'm the best pilot on this ship. How
about you?"

"You're a...pilot?" Tenkawa blinked at Ranma's nod. It was just
too strange to think about. What type of people would have a kid
pilot a war machine? No one on Mars would have sent children into
war.

"So, what do you do on the ship Akito?"

Akito shook himself out of his thoughts and opened his mouth to
reply when a the voice from the Aestivalis finally broke into there
conversation.

"GAI SUPER UPPER!"

Ranma rolled his eyes as the Aestivalis attempted a fancy
looking upper cut, and then fell down on its back. "Baka." A vision
of the girl once more entered his minds eye. He gave a small sigh
wondering how that one damn phrase was sticking to him.

"Gekigangar, huh?" Akito was giving a small disbelieving
smile.

Ranma turned to face him. "Huh?"

"Gekigangar, it's a really old anime. We had it on Mars. I
guess the pilot down there is a fan too."

"AAAUUUUGGHHH!!"

Both turned to the scream of pain below. The pilot of the
Aestivalis was being laid out on a stretcher, his face distorted in
pain. It was obvious that he had injured himself attempting the
upper cut. "Hey, you two boys up there! Something special to me is
in the cockpit. Would you get it for me?

Ranma and Akito turned to each other and shrugged. Akito
called back "Sure, no problem."

As the pilot was carried off to medical, Ranma and Akito walked
over to the Aestivalis. As they walked down, they continued their
conversation, Ranma finally getting Akito to tell him that he was an
assistant cook.

They had just made it to the Aestivalis when the Nadesico began
to shake and alarms began to go off.

*

On the bridge a map of the current battlefield had been brought
up on the floor monitor. On the map there were three circles of red
near the harbor to the south indicating where the Jovians were
concentrating their attacks. Goat was briefing the bridge crew on the
situation. "The enemy is concentrating their attack directly over
our position. As can be seen the UEAF has responded but are loosing
the battle."

Among the crew now stood two admirals. The elder of the two,
Admiral Fukube, pressed a button change the map to one of the
Nadesico's underground dock. "Is the Nadesico their target?"

"If that's the case," said the younger, Admiral Munetake
Sadaaki, "We'll hit them back!" He sounded slightly hysterical about
the current situation. It was clear that he didn't like being in a
ship that wasn't flying.

"How?" Goat inquired. It was already clear that the man wasn't
one to waste words in a situation like the one they found themselves
in.

"We'll use the Nadesico's anti-aircraft fire to burn them to a
crisp." Sadaaki was clearly proud with his plan.

The members of the crew, however, didn't find it all that
thrilling. It was the helmswoman, Minato Haruka, who spoke first.
"Do you propose to destroy our own men fighting above our heads too?"
Her voice was steady and her brown eyes calm.

Admiral Sadaaki's voice was shaky as he replied. "They're going
to be annihilated one way or another.

Reinard Megumi, ex-voice actress and current communication's
officer, looked up at the taller Haruka. Her purple hair wasn't as
long as Haruka's brown hair, and was tied in a ponytail as opposed to
the loose, wavy hair of the helmswoman. "Wouldn't you call that
being cold-blooded?"

As Admiral Munetake freaked out over that comment, older Fukube
looked across the map to Yurika. His white bearded face was grave as
he spoke. "Captain, do you have any suggestions?"

Yurika's soft features were firm, and her voice was clear and
sharp as she gave the crew her orders. "We will launch through the
underwater dock into the ocean. Once there we'll emerge behind the
enemy and neutralize them!"

Off to the side, the pilot that Ranma and Akito had met earlier,
with his leg now in a cast and being supported by two of the
engineers, was grinning as he finally contributed to the planning.
"Here's where I come in! I'll deploy the robot against the enemy and
lure them inland. In the meantime, the Nadesico can launch." The
pilot, who called himself Daigouji Gai, broke free of one of the
engineers and raised a clenched fist into the air. "Oh, I'd kill for
a situation like this!"

The man he let go, chief engineer Uribatake Seiya, decided to
break Gai's excitement. In a monotone voice, "You've got a broken
leg, remember?"

"Oh damn!" Gai's face turned from one of excitement to one of
disappointment.

From her station, Hoshino Ruri, the girl who had called Ranma
an idiot, spoke up. "A decoy has already reached the launching
elevator. There is a communications request coming from the
Aestivalis."

Above everyone's head on a floating view screen, Ranma's face
appeared. Around him the crew could see the cockpit of the
Aestivalis. "Captain, I'm ready to launch. What are my orders?"

It was Gai who spoke first though. "Hey! That's my robot!
Get out of it!"

"Your robot?" Ranma snorted. "You injured yourself playing
around. I'll show you how a real pilot controls an Aestivalis."

As Gai was spluttering to Ranma's response Goat growled at the
screen. "Kid I told you to get off this ship! Now you're
endangering our craft! Get out now and wait to be arrested!"

Just then Prospector walked onto the bridge. He looked at the
screen and smiled. "Ah, I see pilot Saotome is ready for combat.
It'll be good to see his skill."

Yurika turned to the man. "You mean this boy really is a
pilot?"

"Hey I'm a man!" Ranma's angry face cried out.

Prospector smiled and nodded. "Actually Captain, he's your
lead pilot. His Academy scores were some of the highest ever. The
only reason he's not flying for the UEAF is his age. He is 13,
however, and that places him as only a single year before being
considered an adult by the current Military Regulations."

"I see." Yurika face was grave as she turned to the screen.
What she saw caused her to look on in wonder. Ranma and Ruri were
busy trading insults. Though it was more of a 'are to, are not'
argument then anything else. Of course Ruri was calling Ranma 'Baka'
while Ranma replied with 'Uncute Tomboy.' Just when Ranma was
reaching up to give Ruri the 'Red-eye' Yurika broke out of her trance
and interrupted. "Pilot Saotome, you're to lead the Jovian forces
inland in a decoy action. The Nadesico will then surface and
eliminate them. You need to keep them occupied for 10 minutes."

At the Captain's voice, Ranma quit his name war with Ruri. It
hurt him slightly that she got the last name in, but he'd find
someway to get back at her. He just wasn't sure how yet. But a
Saotome never looses, so Ranma wasn't too worried. "Affirmative.
Ranma out." The communications screen closed down and the elevator
began its accent.

*

"A decoy huh?" Ranma spoke to himself out loud. "They want me
to run away? I'm not going to run away. I'm a martial artist and a
pilot; I'm going to defend my ship." As the elevator continued to
climb Ranma brought up two screens. One was a listing of his onboard
weapons. A knife and his fists. That was all he had. Not exactly
what he wanted to get into a fight with, but it would have to do.

The other was a radar image of a 5 mile radius, with the IFF
signals coming from the various craft above him. He gulped slightly
and the mass of red dots the cluttered the screen. There had to be
almost a hundred Jovians attacking the Nadesico's dock. "Umm...heh,
nothing I can't handle. I'm the best after all."

A screen popped up to his right with Megumi's face on it. "15
seconds until you reach the surface. Remember that you must hold
them for 10 minutes." Then the screen vanished.

Ranma's right hand reached out and grabbed the spherical control
grip. On the back of his hand the nano-bot marking began to glow,
and the Aestivalis came to life. "This is it, here I go. My first
real combat; don't choke."

And then he was there. The elevator came to a stop on the
surface, and Ranma found himself facing a small army of Jovians. He
didn't hesitate at all, one of the arms of his Aestivalis came up and
the fist rocketed off, slamming into and through a Jovian. The cable
that kept the fist connected to the Aestivalis went tight and suddenly
wound up, pulling the Jovian into Ranma's waiting arms. Spinning
quickly he launched the Jovian he held into a second that had been
behind him. The two went up in a ball of fire even as Ranma jumped
into the air. A smirk came to his lips as he watched the Jovians
shoot each other in their attempt to kill him.

Flying over the insect like yellow aliens, Ranma spun and
launched both his fists, destroying another two of the creatures.
Ranma came down on the edge of the creatures in a flying kick, his
foot going through a third even as his Aestivalis's fists locked back
into place.

Hopping off of the dead Jovian, Ranma spun and engaged the
wheels on the feet of his Aestivalis, and took off down the road,
leading the enemy inland.

*

"Flooding 80% complete," Megumi's voice informed Yurika.
"Opening the underwater gate." Her hands darted over the controls
switching from section to section and receiving the green light signal
from all decks. Every third channel she checked was Ranma's combat
channel.

Down the bridge control from Megumi, Haruka looked up and over
her shoulder to her Captain. "Engines are ready."

Yurika's face was calm. "Nadesico, launch!"

Placing her pale hands on her control panel, Ruri's nano-bot
markings began to glow. "Nadesico, launching." Everyone felt the
ship shudder slightly as the engines fired and the ship began to
move.

*

Glance down at the timer by his right hand Ranma frowned.
"Another 6 minutes huh? That's still a long time." With a glance to
the map he had brought up, Ranma decided that he was far enough in
land. It was time to do the Jovians some more damage.

Spinning, he engaged the boosters of his craft and launched into
the air. Repeating his opening attack but with two fists this time,
Ranma took out another 6 of the Jovian craft. As more of the craft
took to the air in pursuit of him, a set of panels along his
Aestivalis's leg opened, and he drew his combat knife.

One of the Jovians attempted to ram him while he was still
climbing on his jump. However, even in a giant robot, midair combat
was still the Saotome Specialty. Ranma seemed to drop just before he
was hit, and the knife came up, cutting open the underside of the
craft, causing a series of explosions.

Ranma's fall continued and he landed on another Jovian,
destroying this one as well. Warning alarms went off as Ranma's radar
picked up incoming missiles. Bringing up a view of his rear, Ranma
began to run backwards, evading the missiles. He sweated slightly as
a number of the missiles came close to impacting with him. With a
jump, a flip, and a twist, Ranma avoided the last of them, his
Aestivalis facing the direction he had been running. Taking off
again, Ranma glanced over to his display clock. He needed to buy the
Nadesico another two minutes.

Checking his radar, he saw that he was still vastly out
numbered. He was so intently studying it that he barely looked up in
time to see the building in front of him. His reflexes kicked in and
he fired the jumping boosters. "Oh, damn." He swore as he looked
over his shoulder and saw a pair of Jovians crash into the building.
"I hope no one was living there."

He turned to face forward again only to see that he was out
over the bay. "Shit, I was supposed to keep them away from here."
Turning in mid-air, Ranma launched his fists once more, taking out
another two Jovians. Suddenly his radar lit up with a friendly IFF
code directly below him. Ranma couldn't help but smile as he landed
directly on top of the Nadesico.

A view screen popped up with Yurika's face on it. "Sorry to
keep you waiting."

Ranma glanced at his clock. "What do you mean waiting? You're
here early. I've still got another two and a half minutes to kill
these things."

"We rushed the launch for you."

*

On the bridge of the Nadesico, a screen was up with a radar
pattern displaying the battlefield. From her seat on the bridge,
"The enemy forces are almost within our range of effective fire,
Captain." Ruri spoke.

"Target all the enemy with in range," came Yurika's reply. The
large main canon of the Nadesico began to glow with energy as it
charged up. "Fire!" What seemed to be a beam of shadow launched
outward from the Nadesico. Everything that it hit instantly
exploded.

Outside the Nadesico, Ranma could only stare in awe at the
damage the blast had done.

*

Ranma yawned as he opened the cockpit of the Aestivalis.
Piloting in combat had been a lot harder than he had thought it would
be. It had also been so much more a rush. It was even better than
the fights he got in while living on the street. He could still feel
his blood pumping through his veins as his body let go of all the
stress it had built up.

Not even waiting for the engineering crews to get a ladder to
him, Ranma hopped out of the cockpit and dropped the 15 feet to the
deck. He ignored the looks of surprise as he stretched. The only
problem he had with piloting was that he didn't get to use his own
body in the fight. He'd have to go to the gym later and get in a
solid work out. For now though, he needed a meal.

He was almost at the door when it opened, allowing Goat into
the hanger. Ranma stopped and came to attention. He was surprised
when Hory returned the salute. "You're a good pilot Saotome. Keep
it up." With that Goat turned and left.

Ranma stared at the older man's back, a small smile beginning
to form on his lips. It seemed he'd earned at least one person's
respect.


Author's Notes:

Well, its done, the first chapter of the fic. This chapter and the
next are going to be the two that most closely follow the series,
simply because I don't see certain things changing with Ranma there
(such as the planning of the battle in this chapter). Chapter Three
is when things will really start to deviate though.

As for this Ranma, yes he's more mature than normal canon. Part of
that was his training at the military, and the other part was from
living on his own for 2 years even though he was so young.

Next chapter we learn more about the crew of the Nadesico, as well as
have a few family squabbles.