Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and affiliates are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Rifts and Phase World are owned by Palladium. Other references belong to their respective owners.

1-C: Save the World, See the Galaxy, Sign Up Today!

A destiny of glory.

A fate worse then death.

Hero.

Villain.

Savior.

Destroyer.

[Choose.]

{Why me?}

[You are the one.]

{I don't understand!}

[That is why you are the one.]

{Are these images real? Will they happen?}

[Perhaps. The future is never set; always can it change. In your hands lies the way. All things are possible, Ranma. Never forget that.]

{I… I see.}

[The Universe will always need protectors. Will you become one of mine?]

{I don't know… This is so overwhelming. Why didn't you pick someone more suited to this then me?}

[Why would someone else be a better choice?]

{I mean, look at me.  I'm a loudmouthed jerk! I keep getting into trouble and I'm lost in a strange dimension. I'd probably mess up as a CosmoKnight the very first day!}

[So?]

{Huh? Don't you get it?}

[It is your choice. It has always been your choice. If you fear the consequences, then so be it. To accept is to take the greatest challenge you will ever face.  In return, all I can promise is a chance to defend the good and the innocent. The rest is up to you.]

He thought about it carefully; this decision would probably be the most important one he ever made. Was it really worth it?

Then he thought of all he had seen since he had got here: the cruelty, the suffering, and the oppression of countless beings by the forces of evil. Here was his chance to make a difference.

For once he had been given a chance to decide without interference or coercion.

{… Okay, you've convinced me. How do I sign up?}

[You already have.]

Ranma could have sworn that the voice smiled.

{Wha…?}

Then everything went light.

Ranma awoke with a startled gasp. That dream had been so real…

Then he looked down.

No doubt about it. Things were going to be a lot more interesting from now on.

-Two Galactic Standard Years Later

Ranma looked at the canopy of stars that stretched as far as the eye could see from the port in his room. He had changed so very much that he doubted even his own father would recognize him anymore.

He'd grown, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. The Neko-ken was a thing of the past, along with most of his immaturity and boorish attitude. After getting it pounded into his head day after day, he was able to finally admit (grudgingly, mind you) that women did indeed have a place in combat and that fighting was not only a "guy" thing. (1)

The Cosmic Forge had, for all intents and purposes, wiped Ranma's karmic slate clean, giving him the chance for a fresh start; this time without the mistakes of his previous life haunting him.

Ranma had never been one to waste second chances.

He smiled sadly as he took a drink of some distilled Narmah nectar.  The tangy orange syrup was one of the few indulgences he still had. While no longer requiring nourishment in the regular sense, he could still appreciate the taste. There was just something so sinfully delightful about being able to eat and drink just to enjoy the flavors. Now that he had stopped simply gulping it down as fast as humanly possible, a whole new world of flavors and textures had opened up.

{I've seen and done things that I'd never have imagined in my wildest dreams or my worse nightmares. It's amazing how quickly you get used to the unusual, to the point where it seems odd when nothing out of the ordinary happens. But now this.  Just when I thought the Universe had run out of ways to surprise me, it goes and flips upside down on me anyway. Funny, I've never been afraid of going anywhere, be it Rifts Earth, Phaseworld, Wormwood, or any of the hundred or so worlds that I've been to. But now the thought of going home, the one I left behind three years ago, scares me more then all of my past opponents combined.}

Home. It was almost an alien concept to him now. For as long as Ranma could remember he'd been living on the road. Even before he'd arrived in this strange dimension, he'd never stayed for more then a couple of months in any one spot.  His father had always been on the move, to stay one step ahead of all the people he'd swindled or stolen from. The closest thing to a home that he had now was his ship.

His ship.

Ranma never got tired of thinking about her that way.

Free Worlds Starship 119 Untamed Stallion, a Shadowstar class corvette that had been "liberated" from an unnamed source. Originally intended for hit and fade operations and fire support roles, she'd been designed to move fast and hit hard. After Alliance technicians got done with her, she also had a hide thick enough to back up her bite and live to tell about it.

And when Silvia had finished with her modifications…

All the proof needed of how effective she was at what she did was shown at the skirmish off Antares IV. The Untamed Stallion took on two Kreeghor Berserkers attacking a FreeWorld convoy and won. The ship was in dry-dock for repairs for over a month afterwards and over three-quarters of the superstructure had to literally be rebuilt from scratch, but still, it had won.

The ship itself sported a formidable (and in most cases highly illegal) array of energy and solid projectile batteries, along with several missile and torpedo launchers. A pinpoint defense system had been crammed in, along with a revolutionary binary force field. The FTL system was faster then most standard military and commercial drives, easily allowing the ship to catch its intended target or run from larger opponents. Its cutting edge sensor stealth system, along with the latest in electronic countermeasures, gave the ship its nickname "Ghost Horse". Last, but definitely not least, was the launch bay. Holding four fighters and half a dozen power armors, this was where the true strength of the Untamed Stallion lay. The versatility provided by this small but well-armed force had proven to be extremely effective in the various missions carried out by the unconventional ship and her unconventional crew. (2)

Over the past two years several other useful upgrades had been made. Four phase cannons taken from pirates supported by the Kreeghor on Epsilon II now supplemented the ship's already formidable defenses. A true cloaking system from the Dominator ship of Glarg, Devourer of Midsized Planetoids (Although they still hadn't gotten all the bugs out of it yet). Plus several others ranging from "sorta semi-legal" to "so blatantly illegal that you'd better make sure that your ship is never ever boarded by customs" had been installed as well.

But the crowning achievement had been the Universal Codebreaker, a piece of equipment no bigger then a toaster that could crack the most advanced Confed, Kreeghor, or Federation encryption. That one little gadget was worth almost as much as the entire ship; Ranma had chosen wisely not to ask where his chief engineer had gotten it from. The result would have been horrible; she might have actually told him.

The FWS Untamed Stallion had been the terror of the Kreeghor shipping lanes, with over two hundred successful raids credited to it and over a thousand confirmed kills, one hundred and fifty of them capital ships. The daring exploits of Captain Saotome and his heroic female crew had spread far and wide to every bar and dive a ship could reach. There was a remote planet of jelly-like aliens that didn't even know what a human was and even they had heard about Ranma and his legendary luck, both in battle and with the opposite sex.

If the taletellers had bothered to ask Ranma about it, he'd say that they had it backwards. It wasn't luck. It was a curse! Of course along with the truth came hundreds of false or exaggerated rumors and stories of the women the Captain had seduced, what Saotome and his crew really did when they were off duty, and the history of the mysterious man named Ranma.

Popular opinion was that he was a transformed Dragon or a True Atlantian or some other kind of supernatural being in disguise. Others said he was a godling that had been imprisoned by the Kreeghor before being freed by the Alliance. Some speculated that Ranma was a member of a previously unknown humanoid race that had only recently been discovered by the Alliance.

None of them believed that Ranma was just a human.

A human reborn in Cosmic Fire, to become a champion of Justice and the Light.

A human with a billion credit reward for his death, courtesy of the Empire.

A human with a trillion credit reward for his capture, courtesy of a planet of beautiful amorous females that wanted to make Ranma their next Adam and who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

A human that had forever altered the face of the Multiverse and saved it from destruction more then once.

But Destiny wasn't through with Ranma Saotome. Not by a long shot.

Three years ago he would have been ecstatic to find that he was going home. Now all he felt was a bittersweet sense of nostalgia for his planet of origin.

The dream had been crystal clear though.

It was time to go back.

The worst part was he would have to leave his ship, and more importantly his crew, behind. He'd miss them all.  In a way, they'd become like a surrogate family to him.

Ayla and her steady shoulder that he could always count on. Perky Tania with her cheerful smile, no matter what the current crisis was. The challenging chess games with Silvia, as well as the heated and often quite loud arguments the two had had over the tinkering she wanted to do to his ship.

A hundred memories swept over him, good and bad, of the times he and the crew had had together on and off of the ship.

This wasn't the first time he'd left them behind, but this would be the first time he wasn't coming back. They were not going to take this well. If he was lucky, the girls would settle for just maiming him when he told them he was leaving. If he wasn’t… Well, then things were going to be quite painful for him.

With a silent plea, he looked up to the ceiling.

{It's not my fault! I didn't ask them to all fall in love with me!!!} (3)

For a moment he thought he heard a quiet chuckle in response, then dismissed it as his imagination panicking at the thought of what his loyal crew was going to do to him in…

Ranma checked his chrono-unit.

… less then fifteen minutes.

-Fifteen Minutes Later

A brief moment of stunned silence followed the Captain's announcement.

Alas, it wasn't going to last.

"WHAT?!?!"

If anyone had been watching the Untamed Stallion from the outside, they would have been treated to the once in a lifetime sight of a starship doing better then light speed suddenly jumping like a cat with a firecracker up its… tail.

{Well, they're taking this better then I thought they would.}

Somehow that thought wasn't very comforting to Ranma. Perhaps it had to due with the blue glow that was now being emanated by the bridge personnel… an event he suspected was being repeated all over the ship, as the crew got over their shock and went from stunned to "Someone is going to be in a whole world of hurt once we find out who's responsible for this".

{Better think of something fast, Saotome.}

"Uh…that's all I've got to say. It's been an honor serving as your commanding officer. I'll miss you all."

{D’oh! That didn't come out right.}

"RANMA!!!" That would be Lily. The security officer looked like a feral hunter ready to rip her unlucky prey limb from limb— and she wasn't even in her feline form yet. Damn, this wasn't going to be pretty. She was strong enough even as a human to literally hurl him across the bridge and while it wouldn't hurt much it would be rather… awkward.

Of course he might be better off that way…

{Oh, Gods. Please, not the "adorable hurt puppy eyes with shining tears in them" routine!! Anything but that!!!}

*Sniffle*

Ranma decided that the Universe must hate him.

"Y… you're leaving us?" Tania looked like she'd burst into a flood of tears any second.

"Captain?" Ayla sounded shaken. This was the first time he had ever heard her speak with anything but absolute confidence.

The rest of the bridge crew was looking at him, too. What was he supposed to do now?!

Time for the tried and true Saotome Anything Goes Final Attack.

"I'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me. Commander, you have the bridge."

The fearless Captain Saotome fled before anyone could reply.

To be continued.

Author's notes:

(1) This took a bit longer then you'd think, despite all the changes he's undergone he's still Ranma.

(2) Trust me, you have not seen the last of them.

(3) Yes, this will come back to haunt him.

The Mentioned Crew of the FWS Untamed Stallion

Commander Ayla: Chiang Ku Dragon, one of the few remaining in this Dimension. Desperately in love with the Captain but keeps her feelings pretty well hidden. Very, very competent, as well as an accomplished tactician. This is NOT someone you want as an enemy. Normally assumes the form of a stern but devastatingly attractive red-haired green-eyed woman in her mid-twenties.

Communications Officer Tania Sha'isti'a: She's blonde, blue-eyed, and has pointed ears. She's an Elf; handy with sword and bow but hopeless with any weapon more advanced then that. Took to radio and laser link communication like a fish to water. Radiates cheerful cuteness on a level equal to high grade plutonium. Like the rest of the crew she's got a crush on Saotome.

Chief Engineer Silvia: A Phantom, member of a race of intelligent life composed of pure energy although they can take a material form if they choose to. They're known as the TV Otakus of the universe, primarily because they've watched so many old shows that they have a tendency to mimic or imitate their favorite characters. Silvia is one of the more levelheaded ones, although she has a weakness for a syndicated sci-fi show that was very popular a couple millenniums ago. One of the results of this is a fascination with all advanced technology, especially engineering. The other is her insistence on speaking with a pronounced Scottish accent since "all great engineers are Scots". Constantly making improvements to the ship, however her improvements often have a habit of failing at the worst possible moment. On the other hand she's also able to jury-rig repairs on the spot with little more then spit and thread, a talent which has often saved the Untamed Stallion when its chestnuts were roasting in the fire.

Sergeant Lily: During a mission on Rifts Earth Ranma rescued a girl under attack by a Coalition extermination squad. Turned out that the girl was actually a were-panther. Having nowhere else to go, she tagged along with him. Eventually wound up going back with him to the Free Worlds where she joined up. Shortly thereafter she was assigned to the Untamed Stallion at her request. Originally from South America, her human form is much like her panther form, sleek and deadly curves with a temper to match.

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Last revision: May 21, 2007