Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters, technologies, etc. are property of Pioneer and AIC. All other characters and ideas are property of the author and their use is prohibited except by consent of the author. Any similarities to actual persons, events, etc. are purely coincidental and in no way makes the author liable. To sum up all this legal stuff don't steal my original characters and don't sue me for use of ones that aren't.

Author's note: This is my first attempt at a fanfic so don't expect perfection. If they aren't listed here already I don't have anything else on my mind so this whole fic should be posted shortly. Questions, comments, (good and bad, I will even glance at flames) advice from other writers, or requests on where to send big bags of money to buy a never-ending supply of caffeine (so I can write 24/7) should be directed to: kemanorel_7@yahoo.com

Tenchi Muyo! : Airs of the Past

Prologue: Zerute's Device

It was a quiet and peaceful winter morning on Coregor 7 and Bial Kallia hated every minute of it. He had just made planet fall, a process that always left him feeling sick, and he had not slept in 3 days. On top of his anxiety of the landing and his impending journey, he hated the cold and the Coregor system was always cold, especially the further one got from the pitifully small red sun.

Bial Kallia was clothed in heavy, gray, cotton robes resembling a suit of Juraian armor. "At least they gave me warm attire," he muttered as he trudged across the barren surface of a world that was completely alien to him. "Ah, well may be crappy place but at least this will be an easy fifty thousand credits," he said with as much of an air of satisfaction as he could manage. "Still," he said to himself, "makes me wonder why a powerful Juraian noble had to hire me to go on his little scavenger hunt for him."

At this point he could see his destination off in the distance. It was a huge maze of ruins from a few centuries ago when a band of rebellious Juraians fled here. They had been angered by the government's lack of willingness to change so they came here to try and live away from the empire. They probably could have done it had it not been for Arekon Zerute.

Zerute was a brilliant man before he went mad from an awry experiment on himself and started to make instruments of mass destruction. Zerute's device was a small sphere of radioactive material designed to destroy all life on a planet when activated. Unfortunately the triggering device was very sensitive or at least that's what he had heard. No one had survived the disaster so it was all pretty much speculation.

This very same artifact (or the remains of it) was what Bial was here to find. He had no idea what his employer wanted with the Zerute device. All he knew was he was being paid to get it and not ask questions. That was no problem for him, he thought with a sadistic smile. Being a bounty hunter, one got skilled at slinking around in darkness not trying to be found.

He knew right where the device should be from schematics and stories he had heard. He just hoped his information was reliable so he could get out of here before those anti-radiation shots wore off.

He slowly walked over to the door of a large charred building. Oddly, there were no windows here. He knew it had to be the meeting hall of the revolutionist colony. He pushed with all his might but the doors would not budge. "Figures," he shouted in disgust, "I was hoping to avoid making this much of a racket but here goes." He pulled a small black box off a loop in his belt and slapped it to the door. After punching a couple of switches he ran for cover.

The explosion resounded through the city and he sighed, "Well, if there is anyone else here I think they know I'm here now." He peaked out around the pile of rubble he was hiding behind and to his satisfaction a hole large enough to fit through had been opened in the door. He crept into the building and was looking at a entry hall which had nothing but white marble and a few black doors. Amazingly enough, aside from his rude entrance this area of the building looked to be in fairly good shape.

He knew that Zerute's Device should be in the center of the building, so he went through the door in front of him. Seeing the scene in front of him his jawed dropped wide open. The door opened into a lush atrium that was untouched by radiation and looked to be well tended. The glass of the sunroof wasn't even dirty.

Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw something move. He started to whirl around and was reaching for his plasma rifle when he was rewarded for his efforts with a sharp blow to the back of the head.

Bial Kallia awoke even colder than before on a hard steel table. He shot up from the table and tried to draw his rifle only to find it was missing. Typical, he thought checking the rest of his items. Everything was gone except a short light sword he kept hidden in a compartment in his boot. He checked the only door and it was locked. He tried his light sword on it only to find it had been fortified against it somehow.

"DAMMIT!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, pounding on the door. "Let me OUTTA HERE!" He soon got frustrated and learned pounding on the door was not getting him any attention. He slowly scanned the room for anything that could serve as an exit or something useful. There was nothing, no way out, just the steel table, a similar steel chair and a lamp hanging from the ceiling shedding an eerie light into the room.

He sat there dejected trying to think of what to do when he heard the door behind him open. He wheeled around to see what looked to be two Juraian knights and a man in old clothing but definitely Juraian in origin.

"What have you done to me and where is my equipment?" Bial demanded. The man looked at him and smiled a friendly, perhaps even familiar smile. Bial couldn't place it but it was definitely familiar.

The man laughed a little, which only served to enrage Bial more, "How was your sleep, bounty hunter?" he chuckled again. "I know who you are, Bial Kallia, and I know why you are here."

The now fuming Bial growled out, "How??!!"

"That is for me to know, and you to never find out." the man replied with a satisfied smirk. "As for Zerute's Device you can have the remains as long as you leave here immediately and tell no one of our presence here," he said flatly. This sounded reasonable to Bial and he nodded his agreement.

"What about the items you took of mine?" he glared at the man. This only made the man laugh harder as he threw the belt and rifle to him. Strapping on the belt and holstering his firearm he walked over and the guards took positions on either side of him. The man handed him a small steel container and told him that the guards would escort him to his ship.

Reluctantly Bial accepted the escort back to his ship. He silently made a vow to return someday and explore what he once considered ruins but now knew to be some sort of hidden city.

As he rocketed away from the planet he decided he had better check the container the man had given him. After preparing a special area against the radiation he took a look at the box. "Hmm," he mused, "appears safe enough." As he slid the top off the container he didn't notice the wave of plasma fire closing in on his ship until it was to late...

To be Continued.......