Tsunami
A spaceship sped through space at nearly 99% the speed of light. The ship, which had a red core block in the middle and was fitted with a gigantic wooden hull unit, was of an exceedingly unique design; its planet of origin would be instantly recognizable to most races in the galaxy. No matter how vast the universe may be, there was only one planet that made its spaceships from wood.
The ship’s name was Kirito. It was an Imperial Family ship, owned by Planet Jurai, holder of the largest single-country territory in the whole of the Milky Way. Kirito was a ship that could literally only be owned by the Imperial Family of Jurai. As such, the central core block of the ship held a special unit, where a First Generation Royal Tree was planted.
A Royal Tree was the name for a type of tree cultivated only on Planet Jurai (or so the Juraians spun the story) which controlled the power, life support, navigation, and every other system aboard the ship Kirito as it now tore through space. While it appeared no different than an ordinary tree, it produced far more energy than a star and possessed intelligence more developed than a super computer (up until the Third Generation Royal Tree, at least). A combination of a nuclear reactor and a computer, it was truly a tree endowed with omnipotent power.
Of course, it wasn’t all positive. Royal Trees had a low rate of germination and were exceedingly difficult to cultivate. And in order to actually utilize it, a type of ceremony called the Rite of Tree Selection was required, since only one person could form a bond with one tree (although it was the tree that did the choosing). Planet Jurai held the monopoly on Royal Trees because they did not publicize any information on the Unit devices used to cultivate them, and for some reason, these Royal Trees would only open their hearts to members of the Imperial Family or those slated to join it.
Currently, there were several other Units onboard aside from Kirito (the ship Kirito took its name from the Royal Tree Kirito). If Jurai’s Imperial Family could not form contracts with multiple Royal Trees, then why were they there? This was because the other Units were to be cultivated as later generations of Kirito. While it had become customary for the Juraian Imperial Family to cultivate the offspring of a Royal Tree with their parent for a fixed term, that was only when the parent tree had become a Juraian Royal Ship. Nobody, not even those in the Imperial family, knew how the saplings were raised inside the Hall of Royal Trees within Tenju, the Juraian Imperial Palace and the symbol of Jurai. Planet Jurai might have been the exclusive users of the Royal Trees, but even they did not fully understand them.
Even so, when they grew as huge as Kirito, a First Generation Tree with only three past masters, there was a high probability of it producing seeds that could mature into Second Generation Trees. For the sake of the further development of Planet Jurai, they installed a system unit that produced a special environment that encouraged seed germination and cultivation.
But why was Kirito, invaluable among all Juraian ships, traveling on its own? There was a reason for that. The sole person aboard her was currently on a journey of training and self-discovery. His name was Masaki Azusa, the Crown Prince of the Juraian Imperial Family, and next in line for election as Emperor of Jurai.
“Dammit!” On Kirito’s bridge, Azusa was in a very foul mood. Grasping his Master Key (the symbol of his partnership with the Royal Tree, the jewels it was adorned with themselves made from hardened tree sap), he increased the ship’s speed. While nothing changed inside the ship, the stars outside the window suddenly streaked rearward.
“That’s enough, sir!” As the chiding voice made itself heard, the velocity indicator on the main display dropped, and a spinning ball about ten centimeters wide appeared before Azusa. It was the miniature spherical terminal of Jijii, his chaperone and Guardian Unit. His main incarnation was sealed away, as he was only a nuisance to Azusa (in Azusa’s opinion, naturally). While the terminal couldn’t use physical force against him, it always followed him around, ready with a lecture.
Azusa thought that sooner or later, he’d have to seal it away somewhere, too. Azusa scowled sidelong at Jijii.
“Young master, turning them down like that was simply too rude!”
“Hmph! Like I care.” In his mind, he imagined those people swarming around him, grinning and crudely rubbing their hands together in supplication (he’d completely forgotten what their faces looked like). “They’re probably friends of that old bat!”
The “old bat” Azusa was referring to was Kamiki Seto. Her husband’s name was Utsutsumi, the head of House Kamiki, one of the four great houses of the Juraian Imperial Family. With her long hair, gentle gaze, and clear eyes, her beauty took men’s breaths away and made women sigh. But that was only what those fortunate people who did not know her true nature thought. From Azusa’s point of view, she was nothing but a malicious old bat.
This had all started several weeks earlier, a few days after he departed on his journey. Picking up a distress call that the daughter of some galactically prominent somebody or other was being attacked by space pirates, Azusa immediately headed toward the scene.
However, the distress call was odd… in a way that was quite obvious.
DAMSEL: Oh, dear. Somebody, save me, please.
PIRATE: Bwa-ha-ha. It is dangerous to travel in space alone.
DAMSEL: Oh. Please stop.
PIRATE: No gallant man driven by a sense of justice will magically appear in a place like this.
DAMSEL: I won’t believe it.
PIRATE: Though there’s a wimp out there listening, he’s scared to come and will just steer clear. Bwa-ha-ha.
In addition to the wooden audio, the pirate pretending to attack the rich girl sent a real-time image of this, along with her profile. Azusa was 21 years old at the time, and while young, he was not some hot-blooded fool who allowed thoughts of reckless valor carry him away, nor was he crazy enough as to waste time on such an obvious farce. And yet, he had to try to rescue the ship transmitting the distress call, as official galactic law required that he make an attempt. You could say he was being serious to a fault. Blame that on his youth and inexperience.
So, he saved her. Kirito’s power… or rather, Azusa’s power alone was more than a match for some pirate, who, after all, was just acting. A warning shot prompted a quick getaway, with a few pointed, badly-acted, parting threats.
With the reactor destroyed and the ship disabled, he towed it to the nearest star, where he found himself whisked off to meet the girl’s family, who welcomed him with such grand extravagance that it was clear they had prepared the whole thing in advance.
At first, he was glad. He thought of it as a sort of accident on his journey, a type of informal diplomacy. But when it kept happening every three days, he was at wit’s end. After subtracting his detention time, Azusa would only get half a day’s travel before a pirate was attacking some rich daughter.
Azusa would receive a distress call, be obliged to rescue, find himself detained before he would excuse himself and make a run for it… Rinse and repeat, day after day. He disguised his ship’s hull with metal, but this quickly became discovered. He tried ignoring the distress call, only to have the weeping girl curse him out. On one occasion, they even told him that it was “time for today’s rescue.” Meanwhile, their machinations to detain him only grew more radical: they threatened him with guns and then surrounded him with a fleet. At this point, he could not tell who the real pirates were.
Their goal was to wed their daughters to Azusa, the next Emperor of Jurai, which boasted both the most territory in the galaxy and the strongest military. Becoming relatives would mean a huge rise in status for their nation and their family. For most royalty and titled nobility, marrying into Jurai meant getting the golden ticket.
Officially, the only people permitted to have a Royal Tree were members of the Imperial Family. However, Jurai granted trees of the fifth-generation and beyond in strict confidence to non-Juraians, and were used as power sources on planets and colonies in early stages of settlement. Nations who were relatives of the Jurai received preferential treatment. As a result, the routine had now become, “rescue beautiful and desirable girls from cold-blooded pirates, then their fathers try to detain him by military force.”