And you're back dear reader! Welcome!

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and are ready for more. Lots of things going on here in chapter 2. I always wanted the show to touch more on Yuki and her back story. I don't buy that she just happened to look like Yurisha. Too big of a coincidence, so here we begin on my thoughts with that subject- Enjoy!

Not What She Seems


The announcement of the imminent use of the Wave Core Engine rang out across the Yamato's communication speakers. Each individual began to prepare by putting on space suits and helmets in case of any malfunctions with the ship.

Yuki lay on her bed, already in her gear. Prior to Kodai leaving for the bridge, he assisted in getting her into a suit. Now lying on her back, Yuki held the small video capsule she carried with her since waking up from her comma back on Earth.

Listening to the message from Starsha, Yuki couldn't help but sense something trying to claw its way out of her memories, locked away… forgotten after the crash of two years ago.

Instead of answers, only questions swirled in the depths of her mind. Why did Yurisha act so casual and familial around her? How could so many people mistake her for one of the Iscandarians? And what was Commander Hijikata trying to tell her about a purpose or greater mission that she might find out about on that holo-message? Yuki underwent even deeper confusion when she tried to return the device to Yurisha back on Iscandar. The other woman only smiled and shook her head, stating that it belonged to Yuki, the other 'me' - whatever that meant to the Iscandarian.

Nothing made sense in her world at that moment and she didn't know of many places to get straight answers.

Once they returned to Earth, she could try and get more information from Admiral Hijikata, or even acting Captian Sanada since both of them seemed to know more about her past than others.

If she wasn't a Princess from Iscandar, then exactly what was she? They never really told her much other than she wasn't the alien Princess the crew thought her to be after the mini-coup d'etat. Remembering their words, they never explained how she was chosen to accompany Yurisha on Earth. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she decided to try one source that might tell her more information and now, with some determined inquisition.

Getting out of bed, and placing the message capsule in her suit's belt pouch, she slowly began her trip to the medical wing of the ship.

Thankfully, with the warp underway, not many people ventured out and about. Movement during the warp brought a new sensation - almost a contraction of extra weight in the body, but a light feeling of the mind- the difficulties didn't stop a motivated woman. She pushed onward with a need for answers.

As the ship sounded the alarm for the end of the warp trip, a great pressure hit Yuki in her mind - gone was the light feeling in an instant. Images and feelings rushed her causing her to fall. Yuki bent over, on her knees grabbing at her head as the images and sounds brought a wave of confusion and pain. Crying out, she slumped again the floor, curling herself into a fetal position as best she could with the bulky space suit.

Hearing a sound from outside the doorway, the recently married nurse Harada Makoto, now Mrs. Kato, rushed out of the medical bay. With the medical bay being a specially sealed area, the nurse didn't have the cumbersome suit to maneuver. Instead her pink short dress and tall boots remained her normal attire for the remainder of the journey.

"YUKI!" She screamed kneeling down near her friend. "Doctor!" The short brown haired woman shouted, hoping to get Doctor Sado's attention. Seeing Yuki begin to move, she supported her by rolling her to lay on the floor. The nurse tried to hold Yuki's hands still when she noticed her reaching for her helmet release clip.

"Just wait a minute, lay still." Makoto pleaded as the doctor came out and attempted to help get Yuki to her feet.

"It hurts… stop… please stop them…" Yuki whimpered as the short, pudgy doctor and petite nurse assisted her to her feet and slowly into the doctor's office.

"Makoto, get the sedative injector and the cranial scanner." The doctor moved expertly around his patient once she laid on a bed in a more private examination room.

"Here," the worried woman mumbled handing the doctor the injector as she held the scanner up to a distraught Yuki.

"I don't understand them… what does it mean?" Yuki still cried as the two helped get her helmet off once they checked to see if she had hurt herself in the fall. The pain continued to pound in her head and when she closed her eyes images flashed at alarming speeds.

"Don't worry Yuki. We're here to help. Just calm down. It'll be fine." Makoto tried to console her. Looking up she noticed the doctor over at the medicine cabinet mixing a few items. "Doctor, I don't see anything wrong with her… there was some unusual activity in the limbic system…"

"Her memories may be trying to surface." The doctor nodded expecting this situation would eventually surface. "With the shock of her coma, and whatever happened with the Cosmo Reverse System when she came back to us, looks like it's begun to unlock some of her lost memories."

"But it's causing her pain." Makoto exclaimed not liking to see her friend in pain. "Can't we do anything?"

"I'm mixing a sedative now," He replied moving over to his patient with a vile of liquid now in the injector.

"She'll be ok, right?" The worried nurse fought back tears. They had experienced a miracle to see the woman before them up and alive again. And now, it looked like that miracle contained some setbacks.


The Yamato came successfully out of the warp around the planet Mars. The long-range sensors shut off, no longer needed to see the Earth. Thankfully, no enemy forces had been spotted either.

"Set course for the UNCF Space Command Base near the 9th Division," Sanada said standing near his old spot and not the captain's chair – it felt odd for anyone but their former leader occupying that seat.

"Sir! I'm picking up multiple ships lining up. UNCF fleet ships sir." Miki, the dark haired woman sitting in Yuki's usual console called.

"We're receiving multiple transmissions." Lieutenant Niimi, the blue suited officer reported. "All are welcoming the victorious Yamato back home."

"Open a channel to the central command. Ask for permission to land."

A loud cheer echoed in the bridge at this order and it was carried out with with great pleasure.

"Sir, we've been granted permission to enter the Earth's orbit. The UNCF brass awaits us. Arrival estimated in 4 hours."

"We're home." Sanada sighed lightly as he couldn't help but remember all they lost along the way.

"Permission to announce this to the crew?" The woman glanced at her longtime colleague knowing exactly how he felt about the loss of their friend for real this time.

"Go ahead." Sanada nodded and the ship's counselor and science officer opened the communications line within the Yamato to relay the good news.

"I repeat, all crew are to prepare for landing sequence. All personnel, please report to battle stations for docking sequence. Disembarkation will commence shortly after the Yamato's dead are securely delivered and the ship moored." As the dark haired woman continued to instruct the ship in the final steps before they could fully relax with a complete mission, the brown haired officer in the red uniform looked up at the screen.

"So Kodai, you taking Yuki with you back to your hometown once Earth is clean again?" Shima smirked as he looked over at his best friend.

"I guess we haven't discussed where we'll settle just yet." Kodai scratched his nose a bit embarrassed. "The doctor wanted Yuki to head to the central hospital once we're off the ship. He says it's just routine... but I'm not so sure..."

"You're worried about her, but didn't she wake up from her coma just fine?" Daisuke Shima, like the rest of the crew minus a select few, didn't know the full truth behind Yuki Mori's miraculous recovery.

"I can't help but worry." The worried man shrugged.

"So this means the awkward bachelor days of Susumu Kodai are gone." Shima chuckled remembering Kodai never womanized much in their academy days. In fact, the man often tensed up when it came to interacting with the opposite sex. No matter how many times his fellow cadets would set him up, the inevitable dumping would occur shortly after. "Do you think Yuki will let you come out from time to time for guy's night?"

"I'm sure she will, but the question is will he want to leave her," joked another of the crew getting a few more catcalls in.

"She's an only child, right?" Another asked. "Too bad she doesn't have a sister."

Kodai blinked. She had told him she didn't have anyone on Earth and with the memory loss, she didn't have many family stories to share other than her interactions with the older military man, and his academy mentor, Hijikata. Looking over to their acting captain for clarification- the science officer seemed to know more about Yuki but didn't answer.

Instead of continuing on with the light teasing, Kodai's concern for Yuki grew as he noticed the man dressed in blue avoiding his gaze entirely. Something the other man knew about the woman he loved appeared to still be classified and withheld from them.

"She's one in a million I guess," Kodai responded, knowing for a fact that she was and that Sanada didn't want to broach the topic of exactly how special she may be.

"And by that smile on Kodai's face earlier, completely taken." Shima laughed as Kodai's attention came back to the group.

"Gentlemen, I would remind you that we aren't at boy's night out yet," Niimi said adjusting her glasses. "And I would think that Kodai and Miss Mori would not wish to be the topic of conversations at such a critical time. Our mission remains incomplete."

"Sorry Ma'am." Many of the male crew members who had been razzing Kodai apologized quickly. The woman's point that they should not relax quite yet clearly reached the crew.


"Yuki, how do you feel?" Makoto asked tucking the other woman into the bed, trying to make her comfortable.

"I'm much better. Thank you." She sighed, her hand on her forehead trying to rub the remaining headache away.

"What were you doing out of bed in the first place? I would have come to your quarters if you needed anything." Concern evident in her voice.

"I needed to talk to Doctor Sado…" She explained, her eyes told of a serious nature to the visit. "I need some answers."

The pink-suited medical officer looked over to the doctor sitting in the corner with his bottle of sake; as usual when things got quiet the doctor enjoyed a little relaxing with his favorite bottle.

"About what?"

"Me…" Yuki let her hand drop and turned her face to look at the doctor. Mid sake gulp, the older man sat frozen, not making eye contact.

"Doctor… I need to know. What do you and the others know that I don't?"

Both women looked at the doctor as he took a long draw on the sake bottle itself. The severe look from him as he turned around confirmed Yuki's suspicion that something was going on.

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you much. Even with disregarding orders like we did when we told the crew about Yurisha being on board the ship, I wasn't privy to much of the information you seem to want…to deserve." He sighed as he walked over to Yuki's bedside and took her hand. "I was the doctor called to assist in the aftermath of the attack that cost you your memories and put Yurisha into a coma. That's part of the reason I found a place on the Yamato. They would have assigned a younger doc, but I had the most experience with both of you if something happened on the trip."

"But what does that mean?"

"Yuki, my dear… I don't know if now is such a good time to talk about this." He stated, worry still evident in his voice. "We're about to land back on Earth… I think after you've had some rest, and we get the others here…. the story might finally all fall into place."

"What am I doctor?" Her voice demanded as she pulled her hand out of his- it was so unlike the normal Yuki Mori they all knew.

"What I say here does not go beyond this room. Makoto must have already suspected something. I wasn't able to adjust all the machines before she used them on you… Yuki, you're not exactly human."

A deafening silence filled the room after those last four words echoed around them. Yuki's eyes closed and the sting of tears hit.

"I never had all the information and what I did, was sworn to secrecy. What I ... You see..." The doctor struggled trying to find the right words. "I knew you weren't exactly human; your outward appearance is more human in coloring, but inside, you have a lot of commonalities with Yurisha's genetic makeup… not an exact match, but closer than you are to normal Earthlings."

"What does that mean?" Makoto asked reaching for Yuki's hand. While she tried to comfort the woman on the bed with a reassuring squeeze, the recipient didn't return the gesture and just lay on the bed unmoving.

A pained sob escaped Yuki's lips as her whole body began to shake. She didn't want to break down here, she tried to keep it bottled inside, but the force of the revelation brought back the feelings of pain and anxiety she felt when the mutinous Ito first confronted her.

'Not Human… NOT HUMAN!' her mind whirled and she felt as if she would faint.

"Should we call Kodai down here?" Makoto asked seeing Yuki's reaction to the doctor's words.

"NO!" came the first response from the woman on the bed. Her eyes instantly opened and went wide. Her shaking worsened at the thought of Kodai finding out… he tried so hard to make her think she was an ordinary human, she had no idea how he would react to proof that she indeed wasn't…

"Doctor, she's going into shock," the nurse looked at the heart monitors and quickly left Yuki's side to get other sedatives. "Yuki, you need to breathe… Yuki! Yuki, can you hear me?"


After several tense minutes, Yuki was asleep; her heartbeat and breathing returned back to normal levels. Makoto sighed in relief, looking from her patient to the doctor.

"Why did you keep this from her? Why didn't you tell her during the whole Yurisha waking up time? I wondered why she latched on to Yuki so much, it felt more than they were friends for a short time on Earth... but I guess if they both came from Iscandar… it makes more sense."

"I don't know all the details." The doctor uttered moving back to sit and take another drink of sake. "And it wasn't my secret to tell. You saw how people acted towards her when they suspected she was the cause for the sightings near the capsule. The captain wanted to spare her this until we returned."

"If she mirrors the Iscandar genetic makeups, why didn't you tell her so she could choose to stay there?" Makoto probed walking up tot eh doctor and getting in his face. Putting her hand on the cup of sake, for the first time she stopped the man from drinking.

"I suggested that to Captain Okita and Officer Sanada… but apparently there is another purpose for her. One that even I don't know about… I'm merely here to take care of her and the rest of the crew's medical needs." The newly married woman looked at the doctor with disbelieving eyes for a time before accepting his words as truth. Removing her hand from the sake, she returned to their still fitfully sleeping patient.

"Poor thing. Her reaction to just Kodai's name... do you think…" The romantic in her felt her heart breaking thinking about the possibility of Kodai reacting badly. Makoto's hands went to her chest, feeling the ache.

"That boy loves her. I don't think he'll care much about her past." The doctor smiled looking back at his patient, the one he felt a heavy burden of guilt and sorrow towards. Yuki Mori deserved better than what she found in the journey and even prior to the start of the Yamato plan. Her selflessness and kind nature made her easy prey to the militaristic minds back on Earth. The same could almost be said about her now lover; Susumu Kodai too faced hardships beyond his years. Between the both of them, they were a tragic couple.

"What do we do now?" Makoto quietly asked, deep down knowing Kodai not the type to run from this burden.

"We do our jobs and see to getting the wounded transferred to the UNCF main hospital the moment we land." Doctor Sado replied setting his bottle away. Please, he thought, let them find peace... somehow.


The bridge crew cheered once again as the Yamato effortlessly docked into the underground hangar where it had taken off a year ago.

From within the walls of the battle worn ship, the voices and shouts filled with euphoria reverberated from bow to stern. It could easily be assumed that once the engines began shutting down, those outside could easily hear those within- except the people waiting in the hangar erupted in cries of joy rivaling the Yamato crew.

All engineering staff and anyone without a specific job, under the watchful eye of the veteran engineer Tokugawa and Doctor Sado, assisted in off-loading the injured and deceased yet to be burred in space.

Shima and Kodai relaxed into their chairs as the Yamato began its power down sequences. Their jobs indeed felt over as far as they liked to believe. It was up to the acting Captain Sanada and his science team to get the Cosmos Reverse System up and running for the Earth to recover. Not many knew exactly how that was to take place, but the faith and hope of the species rested in their hands.

"I leave the rest of the ship's power down and disembarkation of the crew to you Kodai," Sanada said as he saluted the younger man. "I will see you at the ramp to help with the late captain's remains shortly."

"Good luck with the Cosmo Reverse System sir." Kodai stood and returned the salute.

"If there are any issues with the ship or crew, you know how to contact me."

"We can handle it, sir." Kodai nodded and looked over at the team as they began communications to different sectors of the vessel.

"Good," and with that the pair of researchers - both Niimi and Sanada- left the bridge.

"So 'captain,' where are we going to celebrate?" Shima asked standing up and stretching.

"Well, we docked successfully, but this old ship needs a few things done before we get to take off the uniform," Kodai rubbed his face with his hands, trying to find more energy to complete their tasks. Hitting a few buttons on the control panel, the highest ranking official on the bridge continued making adjustments so they could finally leave the ship.

Stopping for a brief moment, a look of confusion crossed his features.

"Aihara, are ship communications turned off?" Kodai asked the short-haired communications officer.

"No sir. All are functioning correctly."

"Weird," Kodai mumbled as he tried the button sequence again.

"Something wrong boss?" Shima asked looking over Kodai's shoulders to see what caused that perplexed tone.

"I can't seem to contact Yuki in her room… or she isn't answering…" He explained, showing his friend the screen.

"Could she be asleep and turned off the tracker?"

"No, the computer indicates no one in the room." Kodai felt worry creeping into his heart once more. "Analyzer, can you locate Yuki on the ship?"

"Officer Yuki Mori currently resides in the medical bay, under the supervision of Nurse Makoto Kato." The red robot replied from its docked spot on the bridge.

"Med bay?" Kodai asked. "Medical bay, please come in." Punching up the location's communication link, he waited for some answers. The video link came to life, and Kodai's worries seemed to lessen with the bright smile on Makoto's face.

"This is Nurse Makoto. Doctor Sado is busy transferring the injured off the ship." She added to the enthusiasm in an attempt to hide her uneasiness seeing a worried Kodai on the video screen. "Is there an emergency?"

"No, I mean, I hope not. Um, Yuki, is she there? She didn't answer her communicator."

"Yuki's here. She stumbled down to us a little before the end of the warp jump. She's resting… the doctor wants her transferred to the main hospital in a bit…"

"Is she ok?" Kodai instantly feared the worst. "I'll be right there!"

"Wait!" Makoto stopped him. "She's fine. Just a bit of shock to the system with the warp jump and all. She's sleeping now."

Shima placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, easing Kodai back into his seat.

"I'll send you her room assignment in the hospital and you can see her there. She won't be awake for another few hours. The doctor said not to worry."

"She's resting. And this gives you a chance to tie up a few ends here before heading to the hospital." Shima advised his friend as the communication channel closed.

"I hate not knowing what's wrong." Kodai admitted and looked up at his friend.

"Once things settle down and Yuki is feeling better, you should come to my mom's place. She makes the best Japanese food. We could all use some good home cooking."

"Sounds like a plan." Kodai appreciated his friend trying his best to distract him.

"Sir, Chief Engineer Tokugawa confirms that the dead are returned to their families." Aihara chimed in.

"Mission complete all!" Kodai smiled and high-fived his best friend. "Now we can give the general signal for joining the welcome party!"

"Aye aye!"


Thanks again for stopping by, hope you enjoy things so far and are ready to continue the journey the next we meet!