WARNING: This story contains stolen quotes, memes and badly translated German quotes.


Ichika was on his way to the cafeteria.

After today's events the only thing he was looking for was rest.

Although the injured student would be able to make it some students still were shocked about the sudden turn of events.

When he entered he could see the Lieutenant sitting at one of the tables in the corner. He was looking directly at the ceiling.

After he got his food he decided to sit down next to the Lieutenant.

When he sat down next to him he expected a cheeky greeting but nothing happened.

It took him a while to realize that the Lieutenant was actually sleeping.

However a light blow into his side put an end to the sweet dreams.

The Lieutenant flinched and his NVG´s slipped off their position and onto his eyes.

"Oh, Hi Ichika. Say, since when do the lamps emit green light?" He asked obviously having no idea what was going on.

At that Ichika had to chuckle making the Lieutenant realize the situation.

He put his NVGs back up so that now only his HDGs prevented Ichika from having a look at his eyes.

"So, what makes you take a nap in our beautiful cafeteria?"

"I didn´t catch much sleep a few days ago and since then haven´t gotten any chances to catch up with my sleeping cycle´s requirements. So, when I came into this cafeteria two hours ago I decided to take a short nap."

After a quick look on the entrance he added:" Though the most painful thing can be waking up sometimes."

Ichika looked into the same direction and saw Laura approaching at the same speed when she was usually trying to attack someone.

She slammed her hands on the table but before she could say anything the Lieutenant raised his voice.

"You´re wrong. And no matter how much you´ll protest I´ll keep insisting on my version of the story."

Laura looked at him in confusion before replying:" You don´t even know what I wanted to say."

"Well, what did you want to say then? Judging from your facial expression and gestures you were about to rant at me for "trying to murder the student"."

At that Laura fell silent and sat down next to Ichika while still retaining an furious expression on her face.

While Ichika was eating his soup, Laura and the Lieutenant were exchanging angry glares, though he couldn´t tell if the latter was really glaring underneath his helmet or just looking back.

After he had finished eating he made his way back to Room 1025 in order to catch some sleep.

When he opened the door he was greeted by a dark interior and no Tatenashi lying on the bed and begging him to do perverted things to her.

He sighed in relief and hopped into the shower hoping that he would be able to fall asleep before Tatenashi came back.

When he came out of the shower Tatenashi still wasn´t back and so he slipped beneath his blanket and almost immediately fell asleep.

It wasn´t for long that he could enjoy the sweetness of sleep, because at around 1 AM he was awoken by his older sister and told to meet her in Arena 5.

It took him a few minutes to even realize his situation before he hastily got dressed and made his way to Arena 5.

It was a cold night and when he arrived in Arena 5 he could see all the other girls except for Tatenashi.

Chifuyu was staning in front of them and, as soon as he joined his friends, raised her voice:" Can you hear anything strange, students?"

"No, Instructor. There´s no one here." Laura replied.

"Well observed Miss Bodewig. Yesterday evening this Arena was filled with tents but now it´s just us. On top of that, Tatenashi went missing. It´s pretty unlikely that she has decided to take a nap somewhere in the meadows of the Academy. Combining this with the fact that our mercenary friends have decided to run for it, they have most likely abducted her. Your orders are to search for the mercenary ship and demand our student as well as the money they have taken with them."

"Got it." They all replied and immediately deployed their suits and ascended into the night sky.

Ichika came to hold a few kilometers in the sky and looked around. Tonight there were absolutely no clouds and the pale moonlight was illuminating the area.

He looked down to see the IS Academy, that had been built on the soil of Oshima Island.

A little further to the east he could see the lights of the city Sasebo, it's houses and streets squeezed in between the mountains.

He raised his head, gazing to the northwest at the gap between the large islands of Nakadori and Hirado.

He was not able to spot anything there, however a bit further out on the ocean he could see the lights of something that looked like a cruise ship.

He used his IS's ability to further zoom in and, as a matter of fact, spotted the mercenary ship.

It didn´t take long before they had reached the ship and Ichika shouted:" Stop that ship right there."

The answer was silence. As he took a closer look he noticed that no one was on deck.

He tried to land on the ship but as he touched the ground the ship began to flicker and he just slipped through the ground and fell into the icy water.

"What the hell?"

"This is just a hologram. We need to get back to the Academy quick."

No one had noticed Tatenashi approaching in her IS.

"Tatenashi, where the hell did they dig you out?" He asked as he noticed that her face was full of dirt.

"There´s no time to explain. We need to head back to the Academy and inform Miss Orimura." Was the casual answer.

After they had rushed back to the Academy and informed Chifuyu who didn´t look happy over the fact, but more likely because she tried to catch some sleep, they needed to get a new plan. They sat there thinking about their possibilities when Ichika decided to continue the topic he had started before.

"So Tatenashi, why´s your face covered with all that dirt?"

"It was that Lieutenant. When I was interrogating him about his plans, he just knocked me out. Then he and his friends covered me with some dirt in order to prevent my body from being found."

"So how does it come that you are here and not underground?" He asked her.

"That was my achievement."

They turned to the source of the voice and were surprised to see a light-blue-haired boy standing in front of them.

"If you´ll allow me to introduce myself I´m Hoseok Sarashiki, Tatenashi´s younger brother and former leader of the Cyber Security Department of the Korean Military or CSD for short. After what happened a few days ago the Sarashiki Family couldn´t ignore the fact that there was an average human who was able to beat an IS so we decided to send some reinforcements in order to contain these information within the walls of the Academy. When I arrived at the Academy at midnight I was searching for Tatenashi. When I couldn´t find her I just hacked her cellphone to determine her position. It took me half an hour to find her and another to get her out of this hole. She was buried to her shoulders and honestly, it looked like she was about to get stoned. After a short explanation of what happened she immediately went after you. While she was gone I took some time to gather intel about the White Star. I don´t think you´re going to like what I found."

"What is it?" All of them asked simultaneously.

"As you know the White Star has a total manpower of one million members if you count the reservists. A few hours ago a worldwide message was broadcasted to all reservists of the White Star. The message said that they were to mobilize and meet their superiors in a certain area depending on what country they were stationed in. I managed to decode the message that was sent to the reservists in Japan before they locked me out of the network. Their orders are to gather at the beach of the city of Aomori and await further instructions. I don´t know what they are up to, but I´m sure that it can´t be something good."

"That doesn´t sound very good, have you any idea what they could be up to?"

"They are probably preparing to take out another nation or corporation. I don´t see another reason for mobilizing an amount of men that great."

He was interrupted by Tatenashi.

"Yeah, that´s all good but I´m more interested about that Lieutenant."

"I´ve tried to gather intel about him too. From what I´ve heard he´s a German but whether you believe it or not: None of our contacts in Germany have information about him nor about any other member of the White Star that seem to be from Germany. All these people seem to be like ghosts. The only time they are spotted in the public is when they are buying supplies or when they are on a mission. I´ve tried everything: searched neighborhoods, checked governmental records but there´s almost nothing about these men except for their names, ages and occupation. Even their nationality can´t be confirmed to one hundred percent as the countries they claim to come from have no birth certificate for any of them. On the other hand they have many contacts, pretty astonishing for such mysterious men, don´t you think? I did some quick maths and found out that the average mercenary has about 75 friends or contacts outside the organization."

"Okay… that´s big." Tatenashi stuttered.

"Yeah, isn´t it? I don´t know how they managed to keep that hidden from us all this time and what´s even more astonishing is that some of their contacts in return are in connected to the Sarashiki Family."

Tatenashi needed a moment to process all the information that her younger brother had just fed her. After a few more moments Hoseok decided bring up another topic.

"So Tatenashi-Chan, you still haven´t told me what´s so important about that Lieutenant, care to explain?"

Tatenashi just looked at him for a second and went back to her thoughtful expression. After some more time only two words left her mouth.

"It´s Shimo."

Hoseok looked at her in confusion.

"I thought you shot him back then. I even saw the records."

"Well, it seems he has survived somehow. And now he has come once again to take out the rest of the Family. It just doesn´t fit together. That operation back then was conducted by Phantom Task and if he was working for them, why is he working for the White Star now? And I remember him holding a personal grudge against Laura. There are so much secrets he´s keeping from us."

"It could be that all this was staged by the White Star and they are using Phantom Task only to stir our attention away from them."

"Could be possible too, but that still leaves the question why they did this. At this point they were practically unknown to the Sarashiki Family. Unless… they were the ones that took out our leaders in the other parts of the world." She exclaimed.

"I do enjoy your little chat but do I have to remind you that your target is still to find the mercenaries and get back our money. You can talk about this whole conspiracy later." Chifuyu exclaimed from behind. "Right now I´m only interested in getting back our money and maybe the reason why they ran for it."

"I´m sorry, Orimura-Sensei, but at this point we have no possible way of tracking down the mercenaries."

"You little kids still got much to learn. This holographic ship was headed for Korean waters in order to make us believe they were trying to escape the grip of Japanese authorities. Now, if they were not sailing into Korean waters they won´t be sailing into Chinese waters either but they are most likely trying to get east of Japan, out on the sea where international maritime law is imposed. By doing this they are able to avoid whatever authorities are chasing them and as there is no government for the international sea there is no way we could apply for an extradition of these individuals. Also, trying to retrieve them or anything they have by force is considered violation of the IML therefore piracy. Long story short: The international sea is the best place for those mercenaries to hide and prepare for their next moves. I have already contacted the JSDF but to no avail. They´ve been searching the sea east of Japan since you were gone but they couldn´t find anything. That´s because they only got few ships to fulfill this task. If the mercenaries have a smart commander they know how to outmaneuver them and avoid detection. Therefore, I´ll send you out to scout the sea southeast and east of Japan. You are faster than the ships and you will therefore be able to scout out a much larger region in less time."

"Understood." They all replied and ascended into the night sky once more.

Meanwhile Hoseok was about to get his luggage but he was stopped by Chifuyu.

"I think there´s more to this "Shimo" than Tatenashi is willing to tell me. I know this is a mean request but I need to know everything about him in order to prevent the students from getting themselves hurt."

He looked at her in misbelieving for a second before replying laughingly:" The great Chifuyu Orimura needs to know something. And I thought I´ve already seen everything. In this case I´m eager to help. The story is a bit complicated but mostly because there is so much we don´t know yet. And that even though it´s been ten years since the incident." He muttered before continuing.

"After we recovered from that incident we immediately started our investigations. All the evidence we found, all the statements we recorded, it all led to Phantom Task. You have to understand that at this point the Sarashiki Family was still severely weakened by the incident and therefore wasn´t able to conduct proper research. To understand this you have to know the way the Sarashiki Family is organized. The Family was founded by three siblings from Japan in the year 1945 after the two of them were enlisted to serve in the Japanese Intelligence in the Second World War. They saw a lot of atrocities throughout the whole war and after their return agreed that something like that should never happen again. And thus the Sarashiki Family was born. Their plan was to rise in the ranks of the worlds superpowers and influencing their leaders. One of them went to the US while the other "defected" to the Soviet Union and the third stayed in Japan to ensure that nothing bad would happen to their home country. Over time they all got rose in the political structures of their countries, got married and used their political influence to prevent the escalation of the numerous proxy wars during the cold war. This was the first generation of the Sarashiki Family. After that the second generation followed during the 1970´s. They were the descendants of the first generation and mainly focused on de-escalating the Vietnam War and preventing conflict from breaking out in other places. The Sarashiki Family threatened to break up during the dissolvement of the Soviet Union as there were no longer nations that could endanger world peace. Those that shared that opinion quickly changed their mind after the First Chechen War. And so we prevented the breakup of the Sarashiki Family. After that comes the third generation. All 32 members of the third generation were born during the 2020´s and are, at this point, operating in every corner of the world. Then in 2034, something terrible happened. It later became known as the First-Contact Incident."

He trailed off for a second.

"I haven´t been there myself but I´ve seen the records. It was truly terrible."

"What happened?" Chifuyu asked him.

"Maybe Tatenashi can give you a much more accurate depiction of the events but I´ll try and summarize it as accurately as possible."

While Hoseok told her what had happened ten years ago Ichika and his friends sped over the sea south of Japan, Tatenashi racing ahead of everyone.

"Why are you making such a mystery of it?" Ichika shouted after Tatenashi while they flew over the black sea at maximum speed.

He was worried about her. Since this night she had an expression of grim on her face. Something he had never seen on her before and was unlikely to appear in the case of a person that hadn´t played an important role in her life.

"I´m not saying I won´t let you know anything about him. Right now, there´s just no time to talk. We need to hurry up and find him before he and his men get into international waters." She replied without looking back.

Ichika wasn´t done with her.

"Listen, one of the first rules of battle is to know your enemy. If we don´t know what we are dealing with, we can hardly assist you should it come to another confrontation with this "Shimo". Given the things he has already achieved he may even be able to defeat you. I´m just telling you that you should explain it to us before you drag us into a fight against whoever he and his men really are."

"We can talk about this as soon as we find them." She answered in a pissed manner.

"And what if they attack us? You´ve seen that warship. It may just be a normal warship but its crew definitely consists of more than these one-hundred mercenaries and we may end up killing more people than is good for our reputation."

Suddenly she turned around and grabbed Ichika´s throat and began squeezing it.

"I don´t know where that sudden rise of acumen comes from and I´ll tell you over and over again until you get it: If these mercenaries stay free, they will do much worse than trying to kill our students."

As she talked she tightened her grip around his throat.

"And in case you haven´t noticed. At this point I give a damn about my reputation."

She released Ichika who was trying to catch some air and continued searching for the mercenaries.

For the next minutes no one said a word and Tatenashi still flew at the top with no one trying to catch up to her until Ichika decided to call out to the others.

"It´s better if we split up. Laura, I trust you can fight the mercenaries yourself without killing them, Charlotte you go with Cecilia, Rin you team up with Houki and I´ll try to get after Tatenashi. If anyone of you encounters the mercenaries, message us immediately

No one had to say anything against the constellation of the teams, especially not Laura, as she sped away in another direction. Ichika was pretty sure, should she encounter the Lieutenant, she would try to kill him, but he also was sure that he could deal with her one more time.

He had to hurry in order to catch up to Tatenashi who seemed to have increased her speed.

He spent the next minutes following her and thinking about everything that had happened. This puzzle was, without any doubt, missing some major parts and he was determined to unveil the cards the mercenaries held before they were able to use them.

While Ichika was trying to keep up with Tatenashi, Captain Haruto Tanaka was standing on the bridge of the Japanese Corvette JDF Kobayashi, looking at the radar, then out on the sea and back on the radar. What he saw there just didn´t seem right.

"Hand me the damn binoculars!" He demanded from his first officer Sora Yamamato.

His second-in-command did as he was told and a few moments later Tanaka held the device in his hands.

Sadly, it didn´t really help him understand what was going on. A few minutes before, a gigantic warship had come into their sights but the radar wasn´t showing anything.

To make sure he wasn´t going insane he had asked the other crew members and they all confirmed what he had seen. Now their ship was following the unknown ship along the south coast of Japan.

They had hailed the ship several times before but hadn´t gotten a response. They were sure that they didn´t got the wrong ship as the description fit exactly on what Chifuyu Orimura had given them, before they headed out to search for said ship.

There were only two ships send on this mission, the other one was the JDF Atago that had been tasked with patrolling the sea north of Japan.

Now he was preparing once again to hail the unknown vessel. On this way they hoped to avoid a confrontation, since their ship was hopelessly inferior to anything bigger than a corvette.

"This is Captain Haruto Tanaka, of the JDS Kobayashi." He spoke and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Unknown vessel, you have been entering Japanese waters without permission or identification. We were also told that you are housing an individual that has been trying to kill students of the IS-Academy. On top of that you have been breaking your contract with the Academy without returning the money. Return to the Academy immediately or we will be forced to take the necessary measures."

To his surprise he actually got an answer.

"And what kind of measures would that be?"

The voice on the other side sounded rather bored.

"That depends on your next actions. If you are going to turn around and sail back to the Academy we will not be forced to resort to force. However, if you refuse to do so we are forced to request reinforcements from the nearest naval base in order to force you to return."

"Are you threatening us?"

"I'm only following my orders."

The person on the other end sighed and replied:" And so are we. Our orders are coming from the SSC-Council in person. Given the amount of times the Council has contacted a commander personally, it seems to be some serious shit that they are worried about. If the guesses I made from the spare information I got before leaving are right, then we are about to head onto a mission that could decide the worlds future."

He didn´t really know what to answer on that. The mercenary seemed to have a point. Orders were orders and you had to follow them, regardless if it was for the money our your country. Nonetheless, his orders had to be followed too, so he didn´t really had a choice.

"That's not the point. We are here to bring you back to your post. Breaking a private security contract is deemed as desertion. Desertion within our countries borders is being penalized with a minimum of seven years in prison and a massive fine. On top of that it will damage your corporation's reputation."

"As soon as this is over, every contract broken by the White Star will be forgotten. We could kill you and your men right now and would get away with it. If you´re wise enough to choose to live then you may even find out why. Let that sink in for a minute."

With that the link was cut and silence filled the bridge.

Sora stepped up behind him and cleared his throat.

Tanaka turned around and nodded to him and his first office began to speak:" Sir, I have heard to conversation and took the freedom to alert every nearby ship. I hope it complies with your orders."

He sighed and replied:" You should have asked me, Yamamato. But in view of the circumstances there seems to be no other way. How many ships have reported yet?"

"The Shirataka, the Umitaka and the Kumataka."

"Can you tell me anything about these ships?"

"Coastal-Defense-Speedboats, all of them. If we do it correctly we may be able to force the mercenaries into sailing back to our mainland."

"Send them our coordinates. I want all of those ships at yellow alert."

For the next time the Kobayashi followed the mercenary ship without anyone on the bridge saying anything. Despite its size the mercenary ship was able to maintain a speed that was similar to that of the corvette which made keeping up with them quite difficult. One navigation mistake could make them gain a few kilometers in distance. The silence was broken by his navigation officer.

"Sir, Miyake-Jima to starboard!"

He looked at starboard and spotted said island.

"That means they´re not trying to escape into international waters like we predicted." He muttered to himself when the voice of his guard officer came through his communicator.

"Sir, I´m reading four optical contacts at eleven o´clock. They seem to be of the same class as the ship we are pursuing right now. What are your orders?"

He took a look at the radar, which showed the exact same thing it had shown since they had began chasing after the first mercenary ship.

"Continue the pursuit. If they attack us they´ll get more problems than they already have."

Much to his dismay, they were hailed by one of the ships only moments later.

"This is Captain Haruki of the Lotus Blossom. I have received reports of you threatening one of our ships. I hereby order you to immediately stand down and abort the pursuit. If you chose to do otherwise we will be forced to destroy you and your ship."

"Negative, your organization is charged for breaking a contract and trying to murder a student of the IS Academy. If you want us to abort the pursuit you have to hand over these individuals."

"Negative, we won´t hand over these individuals. If you don´t abort the pursuit right now we will open fire. I´ll give you ten fucking seconds to make your choice."

"I don´t even need one. We are still in Japanese waters and also have three more ships at standby."

For a moment the voice on the other side went silent before replying:" I already wondered what those three ships were doing outside their assigned patrolling area. Don´t worry about them, they won´t arrive in time."

Tanaka froze as he realized why their reinforcements hadn´t arrived yet.

"What did you do to them, you son of a bitch?"

They other man laughed and replied:" We didn´t do anything to them. Let´s just say that they had an unlucky encounter with three magnet mines."

"These weapons are illegal. As soon as the government hears of this you´ll be in trouble."

"Who said that they´ll ever hear of this?"

At that the connection was cut and a missile launched from one of the ships, its glowing trace illuminating the dark sky.

"Evasive Maneuver, NOW! I don´t care in which direction as long as that missile don´t hits us." He shouted to the navigator who had been in a state of half-sleep to this point.

He jumped in his seat and grabbed the steering wheel. With one elegant move to the right he spun the wheel and Tanaka had to grab on to his chair in order not to fall.

The missile hit the ocean only meters away from the ship and produced a fountain of water splashing onto the ship´s deck.

"Prepare main batteries! We´re firing back with everything we got." He shouted and watched how the ship´s main battery began to turn into the direction of the warships.

"Turn the ship around and retreat to the nearest naval base! This is a battle we cannot win." He shouted and after a quick look on the map, his navigator did as he was told.

"The nearest base is at Aogashima Island. Any objections?"

"No."

Now the only thing to do was pray that none of the missiles would hit them or they would be done for.

He listened as the first salvo of shells left the main battery of his ship and hit the ocean several hundred meters away from the warships.

"Captain, may I have word with you?"

He turned around and saw his intelligence officer standing in the doorframe.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I´d like to discuss in a more quiet place."

"Sure, where do you want to go?"

"I think the ship´s stern would be an appropriate place."

At the ships stern his officer leaned against the railing and sighed.

"I´ve always liked it here. It´s so quiet and all you can listen to are the engines."

He listened for a moment and had to admit that his officer was right.

"You´re right. But that doesn´t change why we came here."

"I´ve watched that ship for quite a time now and I just realized how dangerous it is. If any of this information leaves the ship we may face a political dilemma so I need your word that you´ll stay silent."

"You have my word. I think it´s about time I return the favor."

"For me saving you back then at Hilo? Yeah, I think it´s about time you do that."

Tanaka had been saved by him during the Silver Gospel Incident when the rouge IS blew up the building Tanaka had been in and was buried beneath the debris.

The young officer had appeared out of nowhere and removed the rubble from Tanaka in order to get him to the nearest hospital.

Since then both of them had become very close friends and the intelligence officer even applied for a transfer to Tanaka´s ship.

He was ripped from his thoughts by the voice of his friend.

"The first thing is the fact that this ship is as big as a battleship and still is able to move as fast as a corvette. Whatever powers that ship must be extremely powerful."

"Do you think it´s an IS-core?"

"Unlikely. We have no records of any cores recently being stolen. It´s also unlikely that they are working for Phantom Task as they are only using IS suits in combat situations. And how likely is it that one country or corporation is in possession of five cores? Maybe it´s some kind of new energy source."

"I don't like that. If they're not working for Phantom Task, then what is their goal?"

A loud hiss interrupted their conversation as another missile left the mercenary ship and made its way through the air and vanished into the clouds

"Hm, that took longer than I expected." His intelligence officer noted.

"What?" Tanaka asked.

"Their rockets. It took them pretty long to reload the second one. From that I can conclude that those rockets are not the ship´s main weapon."

Tanaka looked up and saw a weak orange glow through the clouds, right above the ship.

He was about to run back to the ship when the missile burst through the clouds, headed directly for the ship´s main deck.

He threw himself on the ground trying to avoid being put down by the shockwave the rocket would produce upon impact.

Though he heard a loud explosion right above him he didn´t feel the ship shake or anything.

When he got up again he could see a lone IS circling around the four mercenary ships and intercepting any launching missiles.

He also noticed that the mercenary ships were still following them although they initially went off into a completely different direction.

He ran back onto the bridge and shouted:" Put everything you´ve got into the engines. We´re getting out of here!"

The ship´s engines began to roar so loud, it could be heard on the other side of the ship.

The fierce battle behind them began distancing itself and soon they could only see the flashes of the four ships trying to hold of the IS in vain.

"Wait… four ships? Where did the one we were pursuing go?" he thought to himself when he got his answer.

"Sir, one contact to portside. Collision imminent!" The guarding officer shouted.

Before Tanaka could say anything the ship was shaken and was thrown off his feet, landing face-on on the ground.

When he got up again he could see the damage the impact had caused: The mercenary ship had completely embedded in the ship´s nose section and didn´t look like it remove itself from that position.

At the top of the mercenary ship stood several mercenaries which shoot everything on the ship´s deck that moved.

After the were sure that no one was left on the deck they threw a few ropes over the railing of their ship and began climb down on the ropes.

After the first few of them had reached the Kobayashi´s deck their comrades on the mercenary ships threw things that looked like metal plates on their comrades.

The mercenaries cached the heavy plates without any problems and it took Tanaka a few moments to realize that these were bullet shields.

He grabbed the microphone and shouted:" This is Captain Tanaka. We´re being boarded. All hands prepare to defend the ship! Intruders are located at the nose section."

He looked at the advancing mercenaries, who meanwhile had formed a shield wall in order to secure their following comrades.

After a respectable number of mercenaries had made their way onto the Kobayashi, one of them detonated a bomb behind the others which blew a hole into the ground. The mercenaries jumped in and it seemed like they were going into the direction of the engine room.

As Tanaka saw this he shouted:" No time to waste guys. Let´s get down there and defend our ship."

In the armory they all had to choose their weapons.

Tanaka decided for an SAR-29 Assault Rifle. It was the main weapon of the Japanese Navy. Though it was small, it had an automatic fire-mode which severely reduced its accuracy and was therefore perfect to be used inside of a ship.

When he entered the corridor that lead to the canteen he could already hear the gunfire and after the next corner he faced an advancing shield wall.

The other soldiers had to use the doors at the sides of the corridors as cover but even then, they weren´t able to stop the mercenaries´ advance.

It was always the same: Whenever the mercenaries had reached another room the soldiers had to retreat to the inside in order not to get hit. As soon as the room was behind the line of the mercenaries a few of them separated from the main group and went into the room to kill any soldiers that were left inside.

Their tactics reminded him of the ancient Romans and from history lessons he knew that the Romans left almost every skirmish as victors.

"Everyone, retreat to the ladders. They can´t use their tactics there but if they want to take any crucial areas they have to go through there."

The soldiers that were left quickly followed his orders and soon they were standing at the ladder that led up to the main deck.

Tanaka had agreed to watch their back while retreating.

"Fuck. The hatch is locked." The soldier standing on top of the ladder exclaimed.

"You better unlock it then. I can already hear the mercenaries approaching." Tanaka replied.

When the soldier finally unlocked the hatch and opened it all he could say was:" Shit." Then a loud bang occurred.

When Tanaka turned around all that was left of the soldier´s face was a bloody, misshapen lump of flesh.

Through the hatch he saw a laughing mercenary still holding a shotgun.

Suddenly, a barrel was pressed into his back and someone behind him shouted:" If you want your captain to stay alive, out down your weapons."

The mercenary that had spoken turned to the one standing at the hatch and said:" You´re a genius, Lieutenant. A whole squad can´t bypass there defenses but one man can."

"And one man is all it takes to distract them long enough. Say, are the magnet mines in position?"

"Yup, all of them are deployed. If that German Uber-Soldier makes one wrong move everything here will blow up."

"Good then let´s take their weapons and get the fuck outta here." The mercenary lieutenant replied while the others took the weapons from the Japanese.

After they were done the mercenaries went back to their own ship and Tanaka decided that it was good to get back onto the bridge.

From there he saw that the mercenaries had laid down a bunch of explosives around the place their ships had merged.

"Are those miners or what?" Yamamato asked in order to soften up the atmosphere.

"No, they´re trained physicists. If those bombs damage our hull enough they are able to free themselves, plus these bombs are going to create a remarkable amount of knockback. If that isn´t enough to separate our ships, then I don´t know what´ll do."

Tanaka wasn't sure if he was mocking them or if he was being serious.

At that a massive explosion shook the ship and only a few moments later he could see the mercenary ship slowly distancing itself.

In the sky Tanaka could see an IS. Though it was dark he was able to see that the IS had a giant railgun mounted on its shoulder.

"Let´s just hope that this ends well." He muttered.

Meanwhile Laura was looking down on the mercenary ship that was slowly moving away from the Japanese ship.

She had managed to locate the source of the rocket attack and had been able to hold off the following strikes.

After a time, the ships had stopped firing and she was about to attack them when she received a threat from the Lieutenant that he would kill the crew of the Japanese ship if she wasn´t to hold her fire.

It was a typical mercenary tactic. As much as she hated him she couldn´t just let the soldiers die, so she "agreed" to his terms.

When the mercenary ship had finally emerged from the gap it had caused in the hull of the Japanese ship, Laura could see the whole damage.

About a quarter of the ship´s nose was missing while the mercenary ship had taken next to no damage.

She was already wondering what kind of technology the mercenaries were using when she spotted a certain subject of hate on the right side of the ship.

He was waving at her.

She put on her grumpy expression and descended until she was only meters above the ship´s deck.

"Good to see you. How you´re doing so far?" He greeted her in German.

She was completely startled at this behavior.

"Are you dense talking to your enemy like that?"

"I wouldn´t exactly consider you my enemy. Only a person I´ve had problems with."

"Well, I consider you my enemy. You tried to kill a student at our Academy."

He sighed and frowned at her. "If I had a bullet for every time I heard that I would have enough ammo to kill every single student at this fucking academy. Remember who pulled the trigger? In case you haven´t noticed: It wasn´t me."

"Well, yes. But you tricked her into shooting the student."

"She simply copied the movement I told you perform in order to enable you to fire that gun."

"But you knew she would try to do it, didn´t you?"

"Yes, I did. But hold on for a sec. Do you understand the point of this discussion?"

"I don´t see a point in any conversation I had or will have with you."

"Well then, let me explain. The point is to show you that the truth is often more complex than you think."

"How could all the things you just said be about truth?"

"Well, to put it simply your statement is correct but it´s not the whole truth. While it is true that my initial goal was to kill the student, I didn´t achieve it alone and so you can´t frame only me for trying. See what I´m trying to say?"

She hesitated for a moment before muttering:" I guess you´re right. But that doesn´t make it the right thing to do."

"Yeah, I know that. By the way did you know that one-hundred percent of our mercenaries are deemed psychopaths based on their actions?"

"What´s that all about?"

"Just another example of how the truth is more complicated than it seems at first. You see, we are dividing our members not into ethnical groups based on where they come from but rather into ethical groups based on what they believe. From these one-million mercenaries only about 4,9999% are deemed psychopaths while we have about 0,0001% philosophical psychopaths, 50% nihilists, 12% sociopaths and 33% percent people who are just doing their jobs."

"Ah, I see. What´s the difference between the two psychopath groups?"

"These 0,0001% mean that there´s only one person out of one million that is classified as such. Me!" He said and sounded almost a little proud.

"What makes you so different from the other psychopaths?"

"Philosophy. While it is true that both groups find pleasure in things like, manipulating, seducing and killing, people like me often take it to the philosophical level. That means we´re thinking about what we´re doing, try to distinguish between right or wrong, all that stuff. We only take it to the physical level when we feel like it. You could call us philosophers on the battlefield."

"I don´t think that such people have lost anything on the battlefield."

"Then how about philosophers with a hang to violence? I heard that things like this do exist. Also, that statistic was made up."

He clapped his hands and changed the subject.

"Now that you´re already here, why don´t I give you a little tour of our ship?"

Laura just gazed at him in misbelieving.

"Is it just me or have gone completely insane?"

"Is it just me or have completely lost your sense for unique opportunities?"

"How do you mean?"

"I do not consider you my enemy yet. Therefore, I´m inviting you on a friendly little tour of our ship. This is THE chance to learn something about the people you consider your enemy."

She hesitated a little bit but eventually her brain gave in to the twisted logic of the Lieutenant and she landed in front of him.

Before stowing away her IS, she asked him:" How can I be sure that none of your mercenary friends will shot me as soon as they see me?"

"Well, for one most of them are drinking right now, so we can avoid the ships canteen if you want. I also intend to make use of my position as Lieutenant should it come this far. But in case the other lieutenants or, which I highly doubt, the commander are drunk, I´ll hand you my gun."

He took a little pistol out of his holster and handed it to her.

She held the little gun in her hands and viewed it from every side.

The pistol was small and could be fit in almost any holster if it wasn´t for the rifle-like magazine between the grip and the trigger.

"Interesting." She noted. "What kind of weapon is this?"

The Lieutenant who had already began to walk into the direction of the ship´s nose turned around and replied:" It´s an ATAF-MP-G1. MP stands for machine- pistol and G1 for Generation 1. An important note in this matter is, that the White Star distinguishes between machine pistols and sub-machine guns. The difference is easy: machine pistols are just pistols with a full-automatic fire mechanism that fires with incredible inaccuracy and is therefore often used for battles inside of buildings while sub-machine guns are machine guns that fire pistol ammunition. I carry this one because it's small and fits in every pocket. Ideal if I can't reach out with my hands to kill someone."

"I see." She replied.

When the both of them made their way to the ship´s nose she didn´t holster the gun but rather took a pose where her hands covered the gun whenever the Lieutenant held to tell her something about the ship.

On this way she learned that the ship´s name was Battlefront due to the many battles she had already seen in her seven years of duty, making it a fairly young ship. It was classified as a destroyer of the Spitzbergen-class and had been launched in September of 2036. Since then it had undergone may refits and modifications, most of them being ordered by the captain on behalf of his crew.

When they arrived at the ship´s nose she noticed the gigantic main batteries of the ship.

They looked bigger than most guns she would expect on something called a destroyer.

Out of pure curiosity she asked:" What caliber do these cannons have?"

He took a quick look at the cannon and replied without looking at her:" These cannons have a caliber of 200. That's all I can say."

Laura decided to continue looking at the guns, trying to figure out anything related to the looks

"Gorgeous guns, aren't they?"

The voice was near her ear and Laura flinched when she realized that.

"Come on, let´s continue the tour." The Lieutenant said laughingly. "We´ll continue with the bridge. I´ll have to pay Friedrich a little visit in order to know why the ship´s still standing and not moving."

After a quick look over the railing she realized that he was right. The ship hadn´t moved on its own since they had blown themselves free.

To her surprise the bridge was a pretty comfortable place. The walls were painted in pretty warm colors and there even was a carpet in the captain´s ready room.

The Lieutenant explained that this was to keep the crew calm during heated battle situations.

What surprised her even more was that the bridge had only one occupant at the time, namely the ship´s pilot whom the Lieutenant greeted hearty.

"N´abend, Friedrich. Care to explain why we´re still standing in the middle of nowhere and not moving into the direction of the rendezvous."

The pilot looked up from his console and smiled at the sight.

"Well, Ivo and the boys went down to the canteen to drink something. Before he left he told me to stay on the bridge and monitor our journey, which I can´t do because he didn´t give me the coordinates before leaving. I don´t want to go down and have to be yelled at by a drunken commander for half an hour in order to explain him the issue."

"Really? Did Ivo just leave? Without anything? This doesn´t really sounds like him."

"You´re missing the fact that Ricardo was able to get him into drinking at least one bottle before heading down."

The Lieutenant just shrugged before replying:" Well, I guess in this case it´s completely understandable. In this case, I´ll help you."

"Do you even know where we´re going?"

"As I already said: I have the bad habit of putting my nose into other people´s business."

He stepped beside the pilot and activated the holographic map. Then he pointed at a place somewhere in the Pacific.

"See? This is where we´ll meet with Battlegroup Leviathan and the Adlerhorst."

"Hm, I´ve heard about her. She´s said to be a beautiful helicopter carrier."

"She indeed is. I´ve seen the blueprints before I left the mainland five years ago."

"Sounds reassuring. But how do we get all those five-thousand mercenaries aboard of one helicopter carrier?"

"Easy, we don´t. You see, once Operation LV is complete we´ll have all hands full to do. And I doubt that they´ll stop, once they are done in Western Europe, so it´s better to have a few men at standby in every region."

"Wait, does that mean you´re planning to go to Europe?" Laura interrupted the both.

The Lieutenant turned around and replied:" Yeah, we do. Got a problem with that?"

"I don´t like the thought of people like you coming into my home country and doing what mercenaries normally do."

"Like what? Raping little girls and stealing the supplies from the peasants? Come on Laura, this is not the Thirty Years War. As a modern-day corporation we need to have some sort of trustworthiness too. And besides, Western Europe does not necessarily mean Germany. Think of it as some kind of a vacation. We go in, have some fun, and by fun I mean work hard, and leave again."

"Interesting, how this stands in contrast to what you said a few moments ago."

"That lady has some bite. Sure you can handle that much?" The pilot began teasing the Lieutenant.

He just turned around and hissed:" Zatknis', ty malen'kaya pizda."

The pilot just laughed and said:" Whatever, I´ll leave you to it." With that he began readdressing is work as navigator.

The Lieutenant turned back to Laura and spoke in Japanese:" I would appreciate it if we could discuss that matter outside. It´s none of his business." He said while pointing at the pilot.

"Very well." She replied in Japanese. "But I expect serious answers."

The Lieutenant didn´t reply and just went out the side door, while she had to hurry on order not to lose him.

She found him leaning against the railing and looking out onto the black ocean. The moon threw a pale light on the whole scene and reflected weak from the water.

Though he noticed her he didn´t turn his head and instead waited until she began to speak in German:" So, what´s all this about? Operation LV? The Adlerhorst? What are you really planning?"

He sighed and shook his head while looking out onto the ocean.

"Maybe I should have never come to the Academy. It wouldn´t have changed the results but I was eager to see you again, though I didn´t expect to meet Katana again."

"Just what are you talking about? We didn´t meet before and who the hell is Katana?"

"You still have so much to learn. For example, did you know that every leader of the Sarashiki Family takes on the name of Tatenashi if he or she becomes leader? I bet you didn´t."

"She´s not interested in such information. Who would be? It´s just a bunch of letters you use to identify persons."

The Lieutenant didn´t bother looking at the source of the voice but just continued looking out on the sea while letting out a small chuckle.

"I already wondered if you´d reach this place within the next 24 hours. Good to see you made it. How was your flight?"

"You may be able to fool Laura with that, but not me." Tatenashi said in a voice that didn´t seem to belong to her. All the playfulness was gone and she sounded more like Rin when she was reminded of her flat chest. The Lieutenant didn´t seem to bother about the fact.

"Who said that I did fool her? She took my offer and at this point has learned more than my superiors are willing to reveal."

"Contrary to Laura I´m not here to chat with you. I am here to make you pay."

"Then go ahead. I won´t be the one to fire the first shot in this war."

"Just wait a moment. You´re having a trick up you sleeve, don´t you?"

"Took you long enough to figure out. So, what are you going to do about it, hm?"

"I´m going to show you that you´re not the only playing unfair." Tatenashi said before her figure turned into water and splashed all over the place.

Laura watched in shock as the Lieutenant just shook his head and muttered:" It was so damn clear that she´d do this." He raised his voice but this time he sounded a bit anxious.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are. I´m not going to hurt you unless you hurt me."

Suddenly Tatenashi landed behind him and before he could react she had rammed her spear into his thigh.

The Lieutenant sunk to his knees and gaspingly let out the worst German curses he could find in order to distract himself and the others from the pain in his thigh and the fact that blood was pouring all over his leg.

"Does it hurt? Are you feeling guilty?." Tatenashi whispered. The Lieutenant tried to say something but she cut him off.

"Shhh, I already know the answer. You´re not feeling guilty. But I can change that right now."

"Then bring it, sirota!" The Lieutenant snarled.

Tatenashi pulled a wire out of her pocket and slung it around the Lieutenant´s neck.

The boy began to choke as the wire slowly drained all the air from his lungs, while Tatenashi stood behind him and pulled at the wire.

Laura stepped near to Tatenashi and took a closer look. She looked down at the Lieutenant and said:" You´re really pathetic, even for a mercenary."

He tried to say something but Tatenashi cut him off once again

"Did I say you could talk?" She hissed.

"Let him talk. I heard that mercenaries would do anything in order to save their own lives even if they have to betray their own comrades. Let´s see how much of a mercenary he is."

"Hmph, whatever he can give us, it won´t be enough. The only way he can pay for what he´s done is with his death."

"You gotta see the beneficial part in this situation: I can squeeze everything I want to know out of him and if we are done you can still kill him. It´s a win-win situation."

"Yes, Laura´s right." The Lieutenant choked out.

Both girls glared at him for a moment, before Laura said:" Maybe you should release him. I don´t think he can provide us with any valuable information in this pitiful state."

"Alright, but if he starts pissing me off, I´ll have this thing around his neck in next to no time." Tatenashi replied and released the Lieutenant. He fell to the ground, gasping for air.

After he had finally regained his breath, he raised up while still holding the bleeding on his inured thigh.

He just stood there, looking the two girls into the eyes before shrugging as if he wanted to say:" What do you expect from me?"

Since he and Tatenshi seemed to share some psychological bond she lifted the wire up to make him understand why he was still on the ship and not in the ocean.

"Ah, yes. Well, where do I begin? I dunno. Gimme some directions."

"Let´s begin with something simple." Laura said. "Who are you really?."

"Trust me. You don´t wanna know." He replied.

"Why not?"

"It would destroy our perception of the world and all those you love and cherish, including Ichika."

"Go to hell." Tatenashi exclaimed when she jumped forward and punched him in his face.

The Lieutenant stumbled and fell on his back. Tatenashi went after him and jumped on his chest.

She punched him several times in his face but eventually decided to stop, due to the metallic sound occurring every time she hit him.

"You will answer our questions or this is the least you´ll experience." She hissed at him while standing up.

He decided to stay on the ground and just replied:" I´d like to discuss this question at the end. Please, I´ll tell you anything you want to know, just wait to the end."

"He´s beginning to beg." Laura noted. "Still, I´m not sure if this is a good or a bad sign."

"In my eyes it doesn´t matter as long as he spits out what he knows." Tatenashi replied.

"Yeah, but first you spit out where you left Ichika and the others. Shouldn´t they be around too?" The Lieutenant interfered.

Tatenashi grabbed him at his collar and lifted him up until he was face to face with her.

"If you don´t shut the fuck up I´ll make you regret ever being born. And I´m not making empty threats like Laura." She said and threw him against the wall.

"But to answer your question: I told Ichika and the others to scout out some other locations while I went to the place I knew I´d find you. Sadly Laura seemed to have been faster than me. If it wasn´t for her I would have just killed you. If you survive this, which I highly doubt, you are in her debt."

"I already am." He replied without caring if anyone understood what he said.

"For what?" Laura asked a bit confused.

"For opening my eyes."

The both girls looked at him in confusion. He noticed this and tried to explain himself:" You see, Laura. Before I met you I was exactly the same kind of person you are in my eyes right now. A follower of the regime. Not questioning anything my superiors were doing. Until one fateful day." He trailed off only for Laura to take the word.

"Are you always talking nonsense like that? Because if you do I wouldn´t wonder how you landed on the streets."

The Lieutenant chuckled only to be kicked in his face by Tatenashi who once again hissed at him:" Cut that stupid laugh of yours and begin thinking about how much I agree with Laura!"

The Lieutenant just groaned at the hit he had just taken and got up but his injured thigh didn´t made it easy to keep standing.

"Since that conversation is leading nowhere I demand a change of topic." He said.

"You´re in no position to demand. Maybe try asking nicely next time." Tatenashi replied.

"Well, that depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Whatever your roditeli have taught you about such things."

Tatenashi snarled at him and her fist went up, but he managed to dodge it, just as his injured thigh made its presence known once more by sending a little pain through his body. He held the bleeding spot while letting out several more German curses.

"Ah, Fuck. I´ll have to pay a visit to the doctor after that. Anyway, you wanted to know what Operation LV is, right? It will help us destroy the White Star and with it the first line of defense of our weak government - and also its last. All the White Stars are headed to Europe right now in order to repel a massive terror attack that we have planned… As soon as they arrive they´ll be wiped out." He laughed maniacal before being interrupted by his injured thigh once more.

Tatenashi meanwhile had shifted into a more pensive pose and muttered:" A traitor among traitors. You´re superiors are going to be so pissed when they hear about you this. Too sad, they won´t have a chance to punish you."

With that she materialized her lance and tried to pierce him but the Lieutenant just performed a ten-meter jump and grabbed onto a metal rod hanging above them.

"Seriously? How can you perform such tricks in your pitiful condition?" Tatenashi shouted after him.

The Lieutenant didn´t reply but just moved his hanging legs forward while letting go of the rod.

He flew through the air and landed behind Laura who had in the meantime activated her Beam Saber.

When he landed behind her he immediately extended his sword and it their blades clashed against each other. Their faces moved closer as each of them tried to outdo his opponent.

"Keep out of this!" The Lieutenant began to speak. "This is between me and Tatenashi, not me and you, though we will come to that later."

"Tatenashi is my ally. And allies have each other´s back whenever the situation requires it." She said in response

"Indeed." Tatenashi quoted in from behind the boy before a metal-on-metal sound could be heard and the Lieutenant collapsed.

"Good work." Laura said to Tatenashi, looking at the limp body of the Lieutenant.

"Actually, I tried to kill him, but it seems his helmet is just as thick as his skull." Tatenashi admitted, sounding equally happy and disappointed.

Laura turned to the Lieutenant only to witness how he managed to pull the pin of a grenade, that had suddenly appeared in his hands.

Suddenly, the whole area was enveloped in yellow clouds and the Lieutenant began to cough with Laura and Tatenashi not feeling that much better.

"What is this?" The silver-haired girl coughed out before sinking to her knees.

"Oh, it´s just chlorine gas. It won´t do anything bad to you (cough) but if no one finds us within the next three minutes we´re dead." The Lieutenant replied laughingly.

Laura and Tatenashi couldn´t do anything than bombard him with angry glares when their knees went limp as well and they fell to the ground.

There they were, lying next to the Lieutenant who let out another hysterical laugh.

As her vision slowly faded away, Laura noticed a shadow rushing through the yellow clouds.