4/8

Michael sighed but nodded bringing up a blaster that he had taken from the ship's stores. He wasn't a good shot, having never really practiced with blasters all that much, diplomatic corps crews were not often called upon to fight after all. But from one end of the small room to another he could hardly miss. "Okay, don't say I didn't warn you, and if Master Dooku finds out, this was all your idea."

Ironically as he said that Dooku opened the door behind him. But before the older man could ask what was going on, Michael raised a blaster to his shoulder and fired.

The red pulse of plasma energy shot out, smacking into Ranma's outstretched palm and causing Ranma to wince slightly, wringing his hand out for a moment before opening his palm. As Ranma had expected the blast didn't do much. It had left a small sting and the feeling of heat, as if his palm had touched hot glass, but that was about it.

Dooku paused in mid-shout, mouth agape before his self-control reasserted itself. He strode forward, waving Michael aside when the captain noticed him and made to explain himself. "Another martial arts technique?"

"Endurance training," Ranma said with a nod still wringing out his hand. "A little pain, but that's all."

Dooku opened the youth's hand to stare at the palm where the blaster bolt had hit only to shake his head in astonishment. There was a small burn there, which he noted was already healing, but that was all. "I think that alone my young friend is a technique I would be most interested in learning."

Flashback End

It wasn't only in the realm of martial arts/Force techniques that meant their talk mattered more to the Jedi master.

Ranma had a very odd outside perspective of not only the Jedi Order but the Republic, and indeed simply how things were in the universe that sometimes gave him insight into things that Dooku took for granted. For example, Ranma asked at one point how different star systems communicated with one another. So Dooku had described the Holonet, the vast communications network that allowed every planet in the Republic to talk to one another via hyperspace-based communications.

When he had described it Ranma had asked who ran it, and when told that it was the Republic itself, the central government that ran the HoloNet stations Ranma frowned, and asked "so they be able to hear in on anything they wanted to?"

Dooku spent about twenty minutes trying to reassure the young man that was impossible, but by the end of had convinced himself that it probably was possible. And a major concern if he wanted to keep Ranma's presence a secret which he instinctively did, all of his instincts were telling him to do that, a sure sign of the Force making itself known. Sooner or later that secret would be out of the bag, but until then Dooku wanted Ranma to acclimate himself to this universe and learn what he could from the youth and vice versa.

OOOOOOO

Ranma looked over with a smile on his face as the door to the exercise room opened, absentmindedly ducking his head to one side and reaching out with the flick of a finger to smack a little training ball away when it tried to capitalize on his inattention.

Dooku frowned thoughtfully, looking at the 20 training balls in the air around Ranma, who didn't seem any worse the wear for their attentions. "You know you're supposed to use those when you're blindfolded yes?"

To his surprise Ranma replied. "I did that already today. This is a speed exercise, not a sitachill exercise." He frowned, knowing that word was wrong.

"Situational, or awareness." Dooku enunciated then smiled. "You're getting even better at speaking, good."

Ranma shrugged. "Learning is somewhat easy, but speaking is harder." He looked at Dooku thoughtfully. "You in mood for train, or talk?"

Dooku frowned. He'd been hoping to get to this point with Ranma for a few days now, but honestly after the week he had had Dooku decided he was not in the mood. "Exercise first I think, then talk."

Ranma nodded agreeably, moving over to take his stance as the training balls all scooted back to the small egresses that held them during downtime. Dooku calmly pulled off his robe, setting it aside as well as his normal lightsaber picking up two of the training sabers kept on ships seconded to the Jedi Order, just like the training balls.

He held one out towards Ranma who shook his head. "It interesting, but I'm not ready for it yet." He smirked. "I hurt myself more than you."

Dooku nodded, set it aside then brought his own lightsaber to power before flicking it up in a salute." Might I ask that you refrain from hitting my face?" As the youth opened his mouth to respond he went on smoothly, interrupting any kind of joke the lad might have made. "I have diplomatic meetings to see to this evening and every day for the next few weeks, I can hardly show up to them with bruises on my face."

Shrugging, Ranma bowed, and the battle began.

Several hours later the two of them met up once again in the training room after having taken showers. Dooku was as he had thought, bruised and battered somewhat, though Ranma had thankfully refrained from hitting his face as Dooku had requested.

Ranma on the other hand was severely singed in places from the lightsaber. He had wanted to see what the lightsaber would be able to do to them without a ki shields in the way, and now knew: if that lightsaber had been at full power, Dooku would've eventually been chopping off limbs. The extra endurance and durability that he had learned after reconstructing the Amazon's Breaking Point training did not avail him long against a lightsaber, unlike the blasters.

With a weary chuckle, Dooku moved over, pressing the button which raised the seats and the rest of the furniture once more. Sitting down, he motioned Ranma into a chair across from him. "Ahh, I think I needed that. Now, I believe we were talking about meditation, and the differences between your type of meditation and that the Jedi use."

OOOOOOO

"And so this mission will conclude most satisfactorily, though some of the Senators allied to the Protectorate will have egg on their collective faces since the Gran senator was hip-deep in the expansion project, as well as the slavery that was mandated by it. Unfortunately, I will still be here for a while to make certain that the lesson sticks."

Several days later Dooku sat once more at his desk, though this time he was not talking to any local minor functionary, or writing up notes for the Senate, he was talking via Hypercom to several members of the Jedi Council. These were some of the most respected and experienced Jedi Masters of the Order, though not all of them fell under that category in Dooku's opinion. The two main members Grandmaster Yoda and Master Windu did however and it was to these two that he addressed his words.

Throughout the discussion of his mission Grandmaster Yoda sat silent, his ancient eyes closed as he took in his former padawan's words. Now, as the other Masters talked amongst themselves about how the fall of a sector senator could possibly open a power vacuum in the Senate, Yoda opened his eyes. "Something else on your mind you have my former padawan. Connected but not part of your mission, to do with the saved miners, it does. Share this you should."

Dooku smiled thinly. "I do have something else on my mind Master yes, but with respect, I prefer not to share it over the Hypercom. I would like to share it in person, primarily because I have recently learned something that makes me distrust the sanctity of messages such as this."

Mace Windu stared at him in surprise. "What do you mean? Why would anyone want to listen in on Jedi communications?"

"For thousands of reasons." Dooku said shaking his head. "Surely you know that Master Windu. The Senate has factions, factions which will of course be following the movements of Jedi as a matter of course, and it is the Senate and the Republic itself which run the Hypercom."

"Nonsense." Said Adi Gallia, a master Dooku felt was too young and untried to be on the council, despite her skills in diplomacy. "The Senate doesn't control the entirety of the Hypercom, only a few select bands."

"Yet it does control the Hypercom stations, and the underlying software." Dooku countered. "Those we cannot be certain of."

"Enemy you see when none there is ." Yoda said frowning heavily, but there was no censure in his voice. Rather his eyes were locked on Dooku's face, a thin but actually quite warm smile on his ancient face. "On this matter, your concerns we will understand. Looking forward I am, to seeing you in person. Know what is on your mind, I would."

Dooku nodded his head wondering how that meeting would go. Ironically he was looking forward to it too. Ranma had no respect for anyone who didn't earn it from him personally. And his last discussion with the youth had been rather amusing, filled with tales of his adventures back in his own dimension having to do with the 'grandmaster' of his martial arts style. And Dooku, showing a bit of mischief that was not in keeping with his normal personality, had decided not to give Ranma any kind of description of Yoda or the other Jedi Masters. It would be… interesting to see his reaction to them, especially the diminutive Yoda, considering his past with this Happosai creature.

"I look forward to that as well Master." Then Dooku sobered. "I have heard whispers and seen several news reports about violent attacks by the Yinchorri against other Republic worlds? What is the Senate doing about it?"

"The Senate is not going to be doing anything, there is no clear consensus, and none of the world's so far attacked have powerful enough backers or senators to Force the Senate into action, indeed most of the attacks have occurred against pirate or known smuggler's dens, which have won the Yinchorri some goodwill from the Senate. Despite this, there's no doubt their depredations will escalate in time. If so, it will be up to us to keep the peace," Mace said. "I have assigned Naeshahn and his padawan Ebor Taulk to look into it."

"It is far too often up to us to keep the peace." said Dooku sharply. "Either the Republic needs to start building up a larger military force of its own rather than continually relying on us, or we need to start training our Jedi to a higher degree for combat missions, Masters."

"That thinking is premature, there are flare-ups like this every hundred years or so." Said Oppo Ranisicis. Yoda and Mace however were both silent, standing back from the debate.

Dooku shook his head. "The corruption within the Senate is becoming more and more obvious my fellow masters, and we are more and more being seen as a tool of the Senate rather than the people! I have talked to Gran here, to people who espouse views that they wanted to move against the corruption in the government here. But they were afraid that the Senate would not stand for it, that they would face us at the conference table against any such move."

"We are on the side of stability, that is what we must hold paramount." Said one of the Masters, named Koth if Dooku's memory served, a friend of Windu's and another one who Dooku felt should not be serving on the council. "Nor is it our task to police the Senate itself. We are servants of the Republic. Where the Senate needs us, we will go and keep order."

"No!" said Dooku sharply. "We are servants of the Light side of the Force, and we are supposed to be servants of justice and the people. In nowhere in there is the Senate or its members and their various demands mentioned. Even the Republic itself isn't mentioned, it's just that the Republic has been the best way to serve justice and law for so long that we have blinded ourselves to the creeping corruption at the highest echelons of its government!"

"A discussion for another time, this is." Yoda said suddenly. "Too much emotions there are tied into this. Too close to this issue you have become my former padawan. The greater good and the larger picture you must start to see."

Dooku frowned, but sighed. This was a conversation he had Yoda had had several times since the disastrous Battle of Galidraan which had started Dooku's thoughts in this direction. "You are right master, my emotions do carry me away, but that does not negate anything that I have said."

"On the contrary it does." said the Lannik Master Piell sharply. "Remember your oath to the Order master Dooku. We are not the leaders of the Republic, merely its guardians."

Dooku drew himself up staring hard at the other master. "I do not need to be reminded of my duty or my oaths. I do not think…" he said looking over at Yoda. "That I am the only one whose emotions are running high on this issue, perhaps I have brought it up too often. We will leave it for now. What did you mean when you said would that the Jedi were going to have to handle the insurrection?"

Mace spoke up, from where he had been silent watching the other Masters talk. "As Grand master I sent two of our Jedi in to arbitrate matters, once they report we will consider further."

For a moment Dooku had a premonition, so strong that he thought at first it had come from the Force, but no it had only come from his own mind, and his understanding of the Yinchorri mentality. Those two Jedi will never return. Looking at Yoda now he saw that his master was tired age and authority weighing on him heavily. And I think Yoda suspects that.

"I cannot say that was a good idea Masters, the Republic has its own diplomatic corps to handle things if talk at all can solve the issue. At least without involving the larger factions the senate has begun to split into. In any event Masters I should be here for a few more weeks, unless you wish to send someone to relieve me?" He added hopefully, hoping to lighten the mood of the meeting.

It worked, and there were more than a few chuckles, including from his old Master. "Stay on station you will." said Yoda shaking his head. "More knowledge of the situation you have, contacts you have made. Foolish we would be to remove you at this point." He then gained a very sharp look indeed as he stared at Dooku. "Talk in the future we will in person about many things my former padawan."

OOOOOOO

At the same time Dooku was talking to the Jedi council, Ranma was out and about the spaceport for the first time since they arrived. He actually wouldn't have ventured out now, except that Michael and Duncan had invited him out with them, first insisting that he needed new clothing, and second that he needed to get away from the ship for a while.

Between them the two Corellians had paid for several new t-shirts for Ranma, along with a leather jacket, the sort that many spacers seemed to wear. They also bought him some new pants and a hoodie, though Ranma thought they were rather ridiculous, and it would've taken an army to part him from his silk pants. They also tried to buy him a set of bra and panties as a gag gift, but after Ranma threatened to break their legs, that stopped.

Now Ranma glanced around the somewhat dingy bar that Michael and Duncan had dragged him too. It was a large place, Ranma estimated the cruiser could have fit in here comfortably. It had three stories, the topmost of which Michael had said was devoted to inhalers and other recreational drugs, the idea of which made Ranma shiver. He had seen the destruction a martial artist could do while drunk, what one could do on the equivalent of LSD was horrifying. The second floor had a large open area in the floor which allowed the people up there to watch what was going on down below.

The first floor was dominated by several bars along its walls, though one of them seemed to be somewhat special, since it didn't have any stools in front of it. The upper body of a droid with six arms and two heads was stuck on a conveyor belt of some kind, moving it along the bar while it took orders, its arms a blur behind it. There were several dozen speakers sticking out of walls from where Ranma was sitting, providing a musical background to the horrible din of hundreds, possibly a thousand or more voices.

It was interesting, but not really Ranma's scene. That and the music sucks here! What the hell is that stuff, techno-pop babble crap… ugh… So glad I have my CD-player with me. Pity Michael made me leave it behind damn it, my ears will have their revenge!

At first Ranma had thought they were just going out to see the sights, maybe get out past the city limits into the wilderness Ranma had spotted a time or two. Ranma had never liked cities, not even Tokyo, which Nerima was technically a part of, and this city was no better. Instead, here they were in a place that was so like yet unlike many such establishments Ranma had been in with his father it gave him an odd feeling of nostalgia and irritation from those memories.

Irritation because many of those memories ended badly, with Ranma dragging back Genma to their hotel. Nostalgia from some other memories of the places: his first pit fight, which was damn fun at the time, and the few times his old man had taught him things in places like this, such as how to spot concealed weapons. Not that I need that now, Ranma thought as he sat alongside Michael, drinking a glass of water. Everyone here's armed!

That was very true. Most of the men here went about with blasters, a few carried large knives as well, even the dozen or so women among the patrons carried weapons. Michael had told him that this was a spacer's hangout, where offworlders came to burn off some energy while in port.

And of course most spacers carried weapons these days. There were dozens of star systems that didn't have some kind of danger, be it from oppressive governments, smugglers, pirates, criminal gangs and so on, but they were in the minority. So it simply made good sense to most spacers to be armed whenever they could. Even Michael and Duncan had weapons, though Ranma didn't honestly think they knew what to do with them.

Here and there through the crowd droids moved. Most of them were designed to look like human women in body type, their metal casing and faces giving the lie, and Ranma wondered why someone had designed androids that looked like that. Actually come ta think of it, I don't want ta know. Nor do I want ta think too hard on why they look like human women on a planet where humans ain't the majority. Ugh…

Through the throng however Ranma saw a commotion occur around a droid that was definitely not like the others, something that thankfully took his attention away from such thoughts. It was one of those little short dome-shaped ones called astromech droids. Though this one wasn't like the two that made up the majority of the cruiser's maintenance crew along with the Verpine.

The color scheme on this one was red, gold and black swirled in a chaotic pattern, making it stand out. On its dome it carried a tray on a holder welded into place and on the side it had a small slot that was apparently for money, given that people were dropping bits of the local currency into it before they grabbed a drink from the tray.

As Ranma watched, a human patron reached over grabbing up several drinks and turning away seemingly without paying. The droid danced in place, the lights around its top blinking while it possibly said something in those beeps his type used to speak, which Ranma couldn't hear over the sound of the crowd. It moved forward, banging into the legs and rear of the human, who turned, snarling.

The man reared back for a kick, but the droid dodged to one side on its little wheels, then, while the man was trying to regain his balance a small door on its side opened up. A mechanical device of some kind popped out on the end of a servo-arm, and an electrical charge jumped from it to the man's thigh, causing him to bellow in pain and tumble to the floor.

One of the locals moved through the crowd, gesticulating angrily at the droid, helping the human to his feet and then waving an angry finger at the droid for some reason as the human looked vindicated. Ranma didn't know why the human wasn't getting in trouble for not paying and didn't care. He was more interested the local.

As Ranma watched, he smacked a small silver disk onto the side of the droid, then used a remote control of some kind. The droid's lights dimmed noticeably, and it seemed to sag almost on its treads. It moved off docilely, and the local turned back to the customer, saying something that again Ranma couldn't make out.

Hmm… interesting. Little guy had spirit in him, it, whatever, but that thing on its side seems to've taken the wind out of his sails. Wonder what it is and what an astromech's doing here at all. Aren't they supposed to be used on spaceships? Can't understand why one'd be used here.

"Earth to Ranma, you listening?"

Ranma turned back to the table, looking over at Michael. "What?"

"I was saying are you interested in making a little money?"

Ranma shrugged. "Depends on what you have in mind."

"'This place may be one of the higher-end establishments that cater to spacers, but it's still got a few gambling opportunities. One of them's an arm wrestling competition held here every night at the same time. You go 12 rounds against other spacers, then you go against a Wookie, and then if you beat him, you go against the owner of the bar. Of course, few people get past the Wookie. Each round is worth more money, you follow?"

"I follow now why you wanted me along." Ranma said dryly. He shrugged. He'd done pit fighting and some underground street-fighting with his old man when he was younger, it was a quick and easy way to earn some cash so he had no issue with that. "We split 50-50?"

"Come on, Ranma I'm the one that knew of this place 70-30."

"I'm the one doing the work." Ranma replied firmly. "50-50."

"60-40." Michael's smirking. "Consider the 10% you paying us back for the clothing, and you said you owe us a favor."

"50-50, and I not tell master Dooku. I think the Jedi not care for gambling yes?"

"That's dirty." Michael said growling a little. "Didn't think you had it in you."

"Been manipulated and used my whole life over." Ranma said with a grim smile. "I don't mind you taking some, but I take half."

"50-50." Michael nodded. He did not want to know what the younger man meant by saying he'd been manipulated and used all his life. Ranma was remarkably silent about his past most of the time, but the flashes he let out were sometimes humorous, sometimes bizarre, and sometimes worrying, like that last hint.

"I'll go sign you up for tonight." He winked and Ranma and Duncan. "We might even get a little bit of local company, you know? Like that Twila girl."

Ranma blushed hotly at the memory, while Duncan rolled his eyes. "Why you turned her down is beyond me, kiddo." Duncan turned back to his meal as Michael got up and headed towards the bar at the far end of the smoke stained and darkly lit room, while Ranma went back to crowd watching, with a purpose now.

A few minutes later, just as the droid he noticed a few moments ago passed behind him Ranma leaned back nonchalantly. His head smacked into its side, knocking the odd cylinder stuck to its side off slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma watched as its lights started to light back up to the level they had been before then stopped before dimming back quickly. It rocked in place, making a light warbling sound, as if questioning what was happening.

It's amazing how alive the little critters can make those noises sound, Ranma thought. Aloud he asked, "So, what you in for? You not like the other serving droids yeah?"

The droid beeped at him low but irritable now, and if the droid could snarl with beeps, Ranma somehow felt it would be. Ranma's smirk widened a little. "Would that be something like 'what you think I'm here for stupid human, my stupid owner sold me'?"

The droid beeped again this time slightly more conciliatory. "Nah it cool, I be called lot worse than that. What's your name?"

The droid played some of the local music then some Ranma recognized from the background music of the bar and Ranma frowned. "Music? Song? Tune?"

As he said the word 'Tune' the droid played something like a gong sounding off. "So Tune, that's cool name. Definitely better than making a name out of yer line or whatever. You happy here?"

The droid beeped again this time going back to its other more growl tones. "Thought not. I'll see what I can do about that, lay low about being free for now, and we'll see."

The droid beeped as if it was trying to sniff in disdain and moved off through the crowd but Ranma simply shrugged that off. "What are you up to kid?" Duncan asked, having watched all this in silence.

"Most ships need astromech droids right? Eventually I want own ship, so droid."

"That's putting the hyperdrive before the ship you know." Duncan said, amused. "Ships cost a lot, especially if you want one with its own hyperdrive, and especially if you want one large enough to live on comfortably that isn't so old it'll fall apart on you the moment you turn your back on it."

Ranma shrugged. "I see a chance, I take it. Droid still come in handy whatever happens."

A few minutes later as Ranma continued to drink his water slowly, Michael came back. "All right," he said wringing his hands together in delight. It's all set up, and I even got good because you're a mere human, and…" He trailed off, glancing at the water in Ranma's hand. "And I said we were signing up a female friend of ours, since that got me the best odds of all. So…"

Ranma growled a little, staring around at the mass of aliens and humans, and having no desire to deal with wandering hands or anything of that nature, having seen more than a few women in the crowd having to deal with such. Still, the payoff will be worth it. "I go and change, but I take seventy instead of half."

Michael winced, but given the odds he'd gotten, he and Duncan would actually still make more money if Ranma entered the contest in his female form. "Alright kriff it, just get outta here and change the contest's gonna start up in five minutes."

"Good, there something I want to buy anyway." Ranma smirked then moved away through the crowd, exiting the bar for a moment before coming back in his female body.

A few moments later a tinny robotic voice rang out from the speakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is nine o'clock local time, and that means one thing, the arm wrestling competition is about to begin! Will the contestants please line up to the right of the bar-droid?"

Ranma got up, nodding at Michael and Duncan who both wished her luck. Ranma simply smirked, moving over to take her place in line. The line formed along the bar with the droid's body stuck into a conveyor belt. It began to repeat itself as each contestant filed by. "Please remove all outer clothing to make certain that no devices have been used to enhance strength forearms must be bare."

In response Ranma shrugged off her jacket, tossing it back towards Michael. She ignored a few whistles of appreciation from a few human males nearby as they gawked at the formfitting nature of her undershirt. Then he laughed as he heard a few loud smacks as some nearby women took exception to the noises.

As Ranma waited for his name to be called, she thought about the glass of water he had been drinking earlier. Now, if this place was back on Earth it wouldn't have mattered how long I spent in female form, that would've splashed on me somehow triggering the change. Here the water attraction portion of the curse doesn't seem to be active. Interesting, I wonder if it would come back if I tried to stay in male form for too long.

A few seconds later Ranma heard her name called, and moved out to the table designated while the crowd of onlookers to her right facing the four tables set out for the competition and the bar behind them began to pass bets between them. Ranma noticed Duncan and Michael both working the crowd a little and groaned aloud.

If they make too much money on me, Murphy 's Law is gonna kick us all in the ass and something's gonna happen. I wonder if it'd just happen to them and not me since they're the ones doing the betting. She scoffed at that shaking her head. Yeah right, since when does Lady Luck ever miss an opportunity to kick me in the balls?

He sat across from some strange werewolf looking alien. It had bluish fur, a full mane of hair, and wore pretty much the ubiquitous spacers outfit, jacket, pants and undershirt. "A human female!?" The werewolf growled. "Really? How drunk were you when your friends signed you up for this?"

"I'm not drunk." Ranma said with a smile. "Don't worry about me doggy."

The werewolf growled in laughter at what he thought was false bravado, set his arm on the table and waited for the signal. Ranma did the same, gripping her opponent's hand firmly, not even noticing as the werewolf tried to tighten his grip at an attempt at pre-contest intimidation.

As soon as the watching droid said "Contestants, start! The werewolf growled in shock and pain as the back of his hand slammed into the table.

The droid moved over on its axles along the bar. "Contestant Rico Zeis is out in a new record for swiftest first round victory!"

"I wasn't ready!" Rico growled, setting his hand again on the table. "Again!"

Ranma shrugged put her own arm back on the table and as the werewolf growled "go!" once again slammed his palm down onto the table with barely any appreciable effort.

"Contestant Zeis, this contest is over. Please vacate the table."

Since there were four other matches going on at the same time Ranma's quick victory hadn't actually been noticed by many of the crowd. Most of those that had seen it assumed that his second victory had been the only one. A few of the onlookers noticed, including one or two humans who frowned wondering how the young woman had done that, but all of them eventually put it down to the Shistavanen being drunk.

Ranma's anonymity ended with the next match, when he was matched up with a Gran who looked like he did construction work for a living, bulging muscles on his arms to go with his bulging stomach. Despite this, Ranma dealt with him easily smacking his hand against the table within a few seconds of the match starting.

As she was walking to the semi-finals, Ranma heard some mutters about him, causing her to chuckle internally. "Maybe she's from a high-grav world, human just on the surface you know?"

"Or maybe she's got a robot arm under synth-skin."

Ignoring these speculations, she sat down from across his opponent, some kind of lizard creature that stood taller than most humans by a foot, dwarfing Ranma slightly. The creature hissed, shaking his head. "I know not what you offered the Shistavanen, but you have nothing to offer me. I wish to rip that Wookie's arm off, and you are standing between him and me."

Behind him, were several other lizards, hissing and whistling to one another in their own language. They sort of reminded Ranma of newts with their faces, but not quite, sort of a cross between newts and alligators. But that didn't matter right now. "Don't even know what a Wookie is," Ranma said cheerfully stretching her shoulders a little before placing her elbow on the table. "Sorry you not going to face it."

The alien, a Trandoshan, glared at him angrily thinking the human female was making fun of him with her accent and not knowing what Wookie was. They were rather distinctive after all, much like his own people. And the hatred between their races was also well known.

Before the droid had sounded the start, the Trandoshan began to push against Ranma's arm, trying to twist and grip Ranma's hand in such a way as to cause pain, but Ranma simply bore it stoically. He's definitely stronger than the others, but I would say he's not even as strong as Kuno back home, and he was the weakest physically of all of us. Akane'd rip his arms off for him like he wants ta do to this Wookie, whoever that is.

Ranma twitched her arm slightly, and the Trandoshan's arm noticeably dipped before he got control of himself and tried to push back. Ranma held their hands there grinning into the Trandoshan's eyes for a few moments before slamming his hand down on the table causing cheers and cries of consternation and howls of shock to reverberate throughout the crowd.

The Trandoshan roared, getting to its feet reaching across the table with both of his arms towards Ranma, who kicked out of her own chair and leapt into the air above its arms. A kick smashed into the lizard's face, flinging him backwards, his nose and jaw shattered.

Ranma stood balancing on the table for a moment looking around at the crowd and shrugged her shoulders. "Sore loser?"

For a moment the crowd had been shocked into silence by the sudden outbreak and cessation of violence, but now there were roars of laughter and cheers of approval. Ranma ignored it all, dropping to the floor as the lizard aliens took their compatriot and dragged him off. From where he was sitting nearby Michael cocked his head at Ranma who shrugged. "He live, I pull my kick."

A few moments passed, and Ranma was then ushered to the finalist's table, where a huge furry creature was already waiting for her. Ranma cocked her head and asked, "You a Wookie? That lizard guy not like you."

The massive furry beast made loud growling noises, though it didn't sound angry, more amused if Ranma was reading it right, and she shook her head. "Sorry I not understand your language. I'm learning Basic, it enough?"

The Wookie chuffed, nodding his head and reaching out to pat Ranma with a hand that would've driven most humans to grunt at least while Ranma simply smiled. "Still not getting it."

"I think he's saying he liked the way you dealt with the Trandoshan kid," said an older voice. Ranma turned slightly to see a large, middle-aged human male coming through the crowd from a back room. "You beat the Wookie, you have to face me next, but you've already given a damn good show."

Ranma shrugged. "I martial artist, I a lot stronger than I look."

"Truer words I've never heard." The man laughed then nodded at the droid set into the bar. "Start the match."

Ranma was surprised by his opponent's strength but not really impressed. The Wookie was far stronger than the 'Trandoshan' had been, possibly through training or possibly through body type. Yet compared to Ranma, he was only almost up to Akane's level. "Sorry furry dude," said Ranma in her own language, shaking her head before switching to Basic. "But you lose."

With that Ranma began to exert his own strength, slowly but surely bringing the Wookie's arm down despite his best efforts. It took Ranma a few moments mostly because she didn't want humiliate the Wookie as she had the Trandoshan alien.