I am so sorry but my mind hates me.

The alarm went off as a half-destroyed Tia class ship floated into Arcadia's firing range.

'Report scanning result,' Harlock ordered from his throne.

'Life supporting system still working, with twenty-five life forms on board,' Yattaran read, 'communication link requested, but they didn't open a channel after receiving it.'

Interesting. Normal Gaia soldiers would surly accept it. 'Prepare to board that ship. Let's see what they are up to,' Harlock said as he stood up.

Fifteen minutes later, Harlock and ten men were standing in front of the transition tube, wearing breathing gear. They did not know when the life supporting system would turn off. They carried their weapons too. They were Gaia Fleet's most wanted after all.

The gate opened, and they walked in. A new crewman yelped after seeing the scene.

Bodies of teenage girls and armed Gaia soldiers littered all over the blood-stained corridor. Most of the girls died being shot in their head or heart, with scratches on their limbs and pretty faces. Some of them died with their eyes widely opened. The soldiers were much worse than the girls. Their wounds were caused by swords, spears, axes or arrows. Some of them were pinned on the wall by swords or spears. Some of them had half dozens of arrows stuck through the body. Some of them were beheaded. With some of their helmets cracked, Harlock could see their eyes were filled with fear and surprise.

'According to the scanner, twenty-four the life forms are located at the infirmary, the other is at the helm,' a crewman said. 'Where shall we go?'

'The infirmary,' Harlock said, hiding a sigh. If the life forms were the girls but not Gaia soldiers and they were armed…

The door of the infirmary appeared a little bit too soon. Surprisingly, it opened before the pirates finished hacking the system. A girl looked about fourteen was standing right before the door. Apart from the bandaged left forearm, she looked unharmed.

'Hi, sir. What can I help you, sir?' she asked politely. 'Or you may come in if you want to.'

Harlock was not expecting them to be this…polite. It seemed rude to refuse, so he and his crew went in. The older girls, who were wounded harder, were lying on the beds. Some of the younger ones were lying beside the older ones, sleeping. All of them were wounded, but none of them were in danger, at least it seemed.

'Your comrades–' Harlock started, but one of the older girls spoke up.

'We know,' she looked down. 'May Ares and Artemis bless them.'

They had seen too much.

'Captain,' a crewman reported, 'the only other life form is walking towards us.'

'Leave it be,' Harlock said and asked, 'Who is your leader?'

'She's coming,' the same girl answered, 'and do expect some surprises.'

Some young girls stirred. 'I'm hungry,' a girl looked about eight said. 'I'm cold.'

The older girl opened the drawer and took out a muffin. The younger seized it and started to eat. One thing Harlock had to admit: these girls looked good.

The door slid open, and a six-year-old girl stepped in. Harlock would have spat a curse if the older girl had not warned him, because the girl was the youngest among the survivors, and she was the most heavily wounded one – a bandage covered the left part of her face, and a scar similar to his gashed over her right cheek and possibly dug into her left eye. Her black coat and jeans covered the other damages. She wore a belt with a sabres and a bow hanging on up it, a quiver at her back. Her eyes told Harlock she had seen too much. He felt someone had stabbed him through his heart. How could Gaia be this mean to a little girl?

'Welcome on board Pontus,' she said in a casual tone. 'It seems we attracted your attention.'

'It's hard not to pay attention to a floating Gaia ship with twenty-five girls on board with bodies littered all over the floor,' one of the crew said. 'What happened?'

'Short or long version?'

'Tell me the difference first,' Harlock once knew a guy who deleted almost everything of an even and called it a short version.

'The long one contains our origin.'

'Long one, then.'

The girl took a deep breath. 'This ship is to transport some… sex slaves to Mars. The senior girls who… died were already slaves, and the younger ones were slaves-to-be. We… we are tired of hearing the soldiers telling us how female should listen to male, treating them like their master like a servant, and to fulfil their needs. We… we are hymn. We have individual minds. Why should we follow the orders if men just because of our gender? I asked myself.

'I soon found out that many others also have this thought, so we decided to fight for our own freedom, even we could all die, because if we didn't, we would never have the chance, but if we did, things might change. We started to slip out of the ship, steal money from drunks and by weapons for ourselves. By the time we were ready, all of us had joined this plan. We call ourselves Amazons, from the ancient Greek female warriors. The older girls volunteered go first, so – so we let them. '

'We prefer dying than being bound,' the older girl finished. 'And we succeeded, even it cost so many lives.'

'One day,' the leader said, 'we will save all the girls and create out very own unstoppable army and overthrow Gaia. We will do it. But…'

'But?' Harlock asked, sensing something bad.

'Since you are a man,' the six-year-old suddenly unsheathed her sabres suddenly, pointing it at Harlock, 'I do not care who you are. Tell me what you want.'

'Well,' he appreciated the girl's guts. She could be a good warrior. 'Tell me your name first.'

'Not unless you tell yours first.'

Harlock sighed. These girls really had iron guts. 'Harlock,' he muttered.

The girl sheathed her sabre. 'Hippolyta.' The name that suits her most.

'Kylia,' the older girl said. Then the others introduced themselves.

'So, what are we going to do?' Kylia asked.

'What do you want to do next?'

'To bring freedom to all enslaved,' Hippolyta said.

Harlock had already planned what they were going to do. 'First, we need to upgrade your ship.'

Yama downed his third drink when the ground shock. Since the defeat of the space pirates, he had been living on this planet. Without Harlock. The Council pitied him and sent him to this planet to live on his own, which was slightly better than the others, who went to outlying mines only provided with only one meal per day and mine with acids. Harlock was the worst. Rumour said that he was tortured every night after a day of hard work, which Yama hoped it was just a rumour.

Thinking it had to be Arcadia, he rushed out from the bar. As expected, a black, one-kilometre-long space battleship was descending, producing a lot of black smoke, and its destination was –

Holy Gaia, Yama thought. Why does Harlock always land on high places? But it was his only chance. He, together with some other man about the same age of his own, broke off into a dash towards the four-hundred-metre-tall rock. Yama, being an ex-military, climbed the rock quite easily, although he had stepped on some loose rocks a couple of times and nearly fell down. He panted when he reached the top. He remembered he also board Arcadia like that. The black battleship shadowed over the whole surface of the rock. The hangar door opened, and that was when Yama realised he had mistaken another ship as Harlock's.

The crew of about fifty, who wore only chest plates, were all women. Their age range were wide, from the youngest, who looked no more than fifteen, to the oldest, who were in their late thirties. Some of them got two swords or sabre or both hanging from their hips, some of them carried a quiver on their back and a bow in their hands, some of them had double-sided axes or spears in their hands. All of them carried a serious look, the kind which only appeared on the face of warriors who had encountered countless battles. They did not disarm the men, just to let them stand on the teeth.

Yama looked around and found the other men as surprised as he was. They had expected Arcadia, with a crew of thirty-nine men and one woman, not a ship filled with female warriors carrying out-dated weapons like they were still in Prehistoric Times.

'I heard you need some crew, take us!' the man standing at the rightmost tooth said.

A woman who looked a couple of years older than Yama took two steps forward. Taller than him, she had black hair and eye with the same colour but old. Two scars dug into her left eyes, which was covered by her leather eyepatch, one across her right cheek, another from the bottom of the left earlobe and straight into the eye. She was wearing a black, golden-rimmed coat, black jeans, black boots with golden spurs, black leather gloves and a gravity cape very much like Harlock's. Her weapons were arrows, a bow, which was inserted in the quiver and two sabres, which was hung at both sides of her hips. She looked like the leader of the women and the Captain of the ship. 'What do you want to seek on Pontus?' she asked. 'I give you five minutes.'

In the first four and a half minutes, Yama was sure his answer would be 'freedom', but then his mind went further and to Harlock.

'Time's up,' the woman walked towards the man who had asked to take them, shortening their distance to arm's length. 'You first.'

'M…money!' the man's voice shock. With two fingers, the woman pushed him down mercilessly, leaving him screaming and waving his limbs in mid-air. 'Be a businessman if you want money,' she said as she proceeded towards the second man.

'Glory!' the man's answer gave him a free free-fall experience.

'For… For your beauty…'

This time, the Captain and the crew with bows did not spare this guy. Faster than Yama could trace, arrows rained on the guy's body, passing through him as he fell down covered with blood.

'Idiot,' the woman muttered as she put the bow back into the quiver, almost to herself. She looked straight at Yama's eyes.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say 'freedom', just to find his throat dry. 'Freedom' did not seem to be the best answer.

'To reunite with Harlock and his crew on Arcadia.'

He was waiting for the push. Instead, the Captain swung her left hand as if welcoming Yama to take a few steps forward to safety, to which he obeyed. 'You don't mind you are the only man on board?' she asked.

'As soon as I can do what I wish to,' Yama answered.

'We always welcome people who follow their own hearts,' her volume was even smaller now, 'which less and less people do so. Name.'

'Yama,' he wanted to say more, but she had already walked away. He even doubted she had heard his answer.

'This way, male,' a woman looked in her thirties slapped Yama's shoulder and pushed him forward, 'there's a sad story behind it. Look at the people around you,' he did as he said, 'every single person standing here was once slaves or slaves-to-be. I don't need to tell you which kind.'

He knew the answer. He could tell from the fate of the third man. He felt like he had swallowed a cube of ice.

The woman, who introduced herself as Kylia, brought him to the gym. In the middle there was a long table where the practice weapons were put. Disappointingly, Yama saw no guns.

'Here,' Kylia picked up a bow,' see if this suits you.'

Yama took it, and it fit perfectly in his right hand. 'Not that hand if your right eye is covered,' she said as she took the bow away and replaced it with another one. That fit into his left hand. ''Tis good,' he said. Kylia disappeared into the storage room and reappeared with a quiver in her hand. Yama swung it over his shoulder, and got it in the wrong direction. He was forced to put down the bow and did it again. He bet Kylia chuckled.

'Shoot the nearest target,' she ordered.

A bow was nothing like a gun. It was bigger. It was heavier. Yama's hands kept shaking, making it hard to aim. Finally he could stand anymore. He fired, the arrow landing on the ground. He blushed.

'It's very normal, male. Everyone except Captain started like this,' Kylia offered a spear which was taller than him. 'Same target.'

Yama took a deep breath. The spear sliced a cut on the left shoulder of the dummy and landed on the floor with a loud clang.

'I think you will be the Captain of Arcadia in case Harlock dies,' she gave him a sabre. She unsheathed hers and immediately attacked him with her free hand. He blocked the first few ones, but soon she got him pinned on the floor without swinging her weapon. Holy Gaia… Yama thought as Kylia offered her hand. These women…

'Too weak,' she shook her head and

walked towards the door. 'Go back to your cabin first.'

Yama had no choice but to follow. Suddenly he realised the Captain (he assumed) had not introduced herself yet. 'May I ask a question, Kylia?'

'What?'

'The Captain…'

'Oh, she was like that,' Kylia answered, her tone a little bit sad, 'she is the Captain, of course. Hippolyta is her name.'

'Hippolyta…some kind of Greek name?'

'Queen of Amazons,' Kylia smiled, 'like who she is.'

'You call yourselves Amazons?' Yama could not believe it. Weren't they a little bit too proud? Then he remembered Hippolyta saying she rebelled against Gaia when she was a six-year-old. If she was not lying…

'There,' they ended up in the corridor which looked like the one which lead to the crew's quarters on Arcadia. The door beside them slid open, revealing a room looked so much like Yama's on Arcadia. He would not be surprised if this ship was one of the Deathshadows. 'This will be your room. There are private bathrooms, so no worries.' Then she turned.

'Wait,' he stopped her, 'is this ship a Deathshadow? It looks so much like Arcadia.'

'She wasn't,' Kylia gave him a mysterious smile, 'but she is.'

The room was simple, with a bed, a wardrobe and a desk. Perhaps because he was a male, there were no symbols on the furniture. The clothes prepared for Yama looked like the ones on Arcadia, and what surprised him most was he actually saw a dim outline of Jolly Roger on the left chest on the jacket, like the insignia was removed on purpose, like someone wanted to hide a secret. Nevertheless, he put the clothes on after having a quick shower. He checked the tablet on the desk and found a timetable about his job and training sections, which he had for two hours half an hour after each meal. He actually did not have much to do, just five basic watches every week, three at daytime and two at night. Perhaps he was weak compare to the others. He could not see a thing except black smoke outside, so Pontus was definitely in a wrap. Exhausted, he dropped on the bed and passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Three months had passed. Yama felt himself getting physically stronger, although he was still the weakest. Hippolyta rarely showed up even in the central computer room. One day, when Yama woke up in the morning and went to the bridge, everyone was there, looking exhausted like they had just fought the Main Fleet themselves, with Hippolyta at the helm. The black cape flew behind her, making her looked more like Harlock than ever.

'What happened?' he asked. He had a feeling he would not like the answer.

'You missed a good game,' Kylia answered. 'We've just blown up nearly all Gaia ships.'

'Nearly all?' neither Yama nor Harlock had did it before, at least…according to Yama's memory and Gaia's record. 'How's that possible?'

'Feminism,' Hippolyta said, voice deep as Harlock's. She turned to face Yama. 'It seems Harlock turned and is now working for Gaia.'

'NO!' Yama exclaimed before he could stop. 'THAT CAN NEVER HAPPEN!'

'He talked to me, and that's not a hologram.'

'Why didn't you wake me up?'

'You will lose your mind!' Hippolyta was standing in front of Yama. 'You know how stubborn he is. He will never change his mind until something happens to Gaia Fleet!'

'I can convince him!' he felt tears pouring out from his eyes. 'He will listen to me!'

'I have tried,' she said as if she was sorry for it. 'But I couldn't make him change his mind, which meant whatever relationship is between you and him, it has come to an end.'

She smacked Yama's shoulder. If he had not received the trainings from Kylia, his bones would have shattered under his skin. 'We will get Arcadia back,' she said in a calm voice, 'and so do her Captain.'

'Captain…' Yama could not believe it. She had not given up.

'Do not call me Captain,' she walked towards the door, her cape flying behind, 'your Captain is Harlock.'

Yama turned. This Captain was even colder than Harlock. 'What is your relationship?'

Hippolyta stopped. She wanted to say something, but she eventually continued walking and finally disappeared, leaving everyone deep in thoughts.

'How did he react?' the dark figure at the corner asked.

Hippolyta searched for the suitable word. 'Heartbroken.'

'They use my ship.'

'It'll soon become history.'

They both smiled.

Three days later, Pontus emerged in Arcadia's orbit. Arcadia fired at her enemy at once, to which Pontus concentrate fire at her cannons in return.

'They requested a communication line,' Yama read from the console. The fact Harlock was firing at Yama made him feel sick.

'Accept it,' Hippolyta ordered.

Harlock's hologram was projected on the big screen.

'I am here to fulfil my promise,' the Amazon said. 'Let's finish it.'

'What if I refuse to deal with my daughter?' he smirked.

'First,' she answered calmly, 'I'm not you daughter. Second,' Yama's only warning was the sound of someone pulling the trigger behind him, 'if you refuse, I cannot guarantee your crewmember's safety.'

Harlock's smirk faded. 'You have grown nastier.'

'It's not important,' Hippolyta said as Kylia bound Yama's hands at his back, 'as soon as I can get you into the fight.'

'Very well. Where shall we fight?'

'Hangar of Arcadia,' Hippolyta grabbed Yama from his collar (*chock*) and dragged him directly into a fighter. She locked his seat belt. 'You watch from here,' she ordered. 'No exception.'

During the short flight, Yama's heart pounded hard. They acted as though they were sworn rivals, which meant the fight was to death. He wanted Harlock to survive, but Hippolyta was an Amazon, and he had seen her fought. She could slay a ship of Gaia soldiers without breaking any sweat. Also, she was the person who gave Yama the chance to find Harlock. If she pushed him down that day, he was long dead. She was not a bad woman after all. She fought for her comrades, believing that one day there would be no more slaves. The thought of either of them dying nauseated him.

The familiar hangar of Arcadia wrapped around the fighter. After pushing Yama back into his place, Hippolyta leapt out and landed on the floor foot first. A moment later, Harlock came in.

'Do you have any new rules?' he asked, putting his gravity sabre parallel to his body.

'Once the person is touched, the battle ends,' she mirrored Harlock's move. The fight was about to begin. One of them would die soon, but Yama could only watch.

With a deep breath, the two Captains leapt towards each other, shortened the distance between them, the loud clang of metal against metal echoing in the large room. The sabres were like shadow: fast, almost invisible. Two capes flapped behind the two tall warriors. Yama could see sparks between the sabres and in the eyes of the two Captains, the sparks of anger and hatred. They seemed to have forgotten the presence of Yama.

The movements suddenly stopped, followed by Harlock's sabre falling onto the floor, his eyes filled with terror. His body flickered. Wait, flickered? Hippolyta had stabbed him in the right side of his guts in an upwards angle. The hologram which covered the newest Admiral of Gaia Fleet disappeared. It was he who had been controlling Arcadia.

'Give Arcadia back to his friend,' the Amazon said as she sliced her sabre through her opponent's chest and left shoulder. The body dropped onto the floor, staining it with blood.

The metal floor of the fighter shuttered, flew into mid-air, and Hippolyta hopped out.

'What–' Yama's eye was as big as an egg, but when the hologram around the person outside faded, everything went clear.

Of course 'Hippolyta' could beat 'Harlock'.

If 'Hippolyta' was Harlock.

'How could–'

'Bloody Ares,' the real Hippolyta untied Yama. Yama pushed her away, ignoring the consequences, ran straight to Harlock and kissed him, exploring his mouth thoroughly with his tongue. It was even more awesome when Harlock kissed him equally as deep. But still…

Yama bit Harlock's tongue, and the older man pushed him away. 'What are you doing?' he asked, covering his mouth.

'Why don't you tell me that you're on Pontus?' he cupped Harlock's cheek. 'The rumours–'

'They just woke me up at midnight pouring cold water all over me,' the pirate Captain smiled. 'But Hippolyta broke me out soon enough.'

'Why. Didn't. You. Tell. Me?'

'That–' Hippolyta spoke up – 'is because you are a terrible lair.'

'Can't you trust me?' he was mad.

'Well,' Harlock managed to pull his successor away, 'yes, but to make things look more real–'

'Keeping you in secret is better,' Kei's voice sounded clear. Yama tore his gaze away from Harlock and found the crew of Arcadia had been watching them arguing like kids. He felt blood rush into his cheek.

'I'm mad at you all,' he pretended to be angry.

Someone out of Yama's sight laughed. When the crew all started laughing, the two Captains joined in too. Even Yama broke into a big grin.

Everyone was safe now, so there was nothing to worry about, at least…until Arcadia and Pontus finished their repairs.