Chapter 9: Stage Left
Amata was still in a daze as they flew back towards the spot everyone had agreed to meet at once they had completed their tasks. At least his head was now clear of his confusion surrounding Mikono and Kagura; he didn't intend to get in their way anymore if it made Mikono happy being with him. Reliving Apollo's memories had shown him that he still had a lot to learn about what it meant to love someone; he had never felt anything as strong as the passion between him and Silvia within those visions.
What was captivating his thoughts now was what he had said to Zessica. He had meant every word of what he had said; he really did want to be together with her. But again, compared to those memories, he wasn't sure how she fit in. There was a bit of physical attraction, he admitted, and she had been more supportive than he probably deserved, but Amata wished there was someone neutral he could talk to who wouldn't laugh at him about it.
It didn't make matters easier that Kagura kept insisting in his head that they turn around and search for Mikono (Kagura actually said Silvia, but Amata felt that referring to someone by their past identity was odd.) He managed to talk him down; if the "Curse of Eve" was taking effect, the number one priority was to get the girls off Altair. Kagura reluctantly agreed to Amata's course of action; he knew that he would need help in order to wrest Mikono away from Mykage's grasp.
"Heads up, we've got company," Zessica said over the intercom. About three dozen blips lit up on Amata's HUD, showing the location of enemy units.
"What do you think? Should we use the Gepard?" Amata asked.
"Makes sense," Zessica replied, sounding a little strained. "It's probably best suited for this type of work."
"You're not going to leave me out of this, are you?" a new voice said, interrupting their conversation. A second screen opened in Amata's viewport to show Jin.
Moments later, Jin's machine came into view, descending from the cloud cover above them. The unit looked heavily armored; hexagonal patches joined together to give Jin's Radius Gnis a somewhat bulky look. Amata thought that it was an odd machine for Jin to be piloting considering mechs he had used back when he fought against Neo-DEAVA.
"Jin!" Amata exclaimed, "Where were you?"
"I tried scanning for you guys near Mykage's but nothing showed up so I ended up flying out a little further in search of you guys. I didn't actually know where you all disappeared to until my scanners picked up your fight. By that time I was about 40 km away," the boy explained. "Oh yeah, I sent Ein and Zwei ahead of me towards the meeting area; I'm surprised they haven't caught up to you."
"Well, glad you made it in time," Amata replied. "Because we have incoming and we're short on time."
"Acknowledged. I'll handle this one," Jin said. "Time to field test the Akhtar System."
The hexagonal plates that Amata had thought were armor plates scattered off Jin's Radius Gnis like leaves off a tree in a heavy gale. Each one was self-propelled and moved swiftly towards where the enemy formation was approaching from. Without any "armor," Jin's machine looked very slim; an unpainted skeleton frame.
"You're not going to try and negotiate with them?" Amata asked incredulously.
"I hacked into their communication systems," Jin explained. "And believe me when I say that trying to reason with people that deep in Mykage's thrall is not going to work."
The sky suddenly filled with beams of light as the individual drones Jin had sent out began to attack the enemy formation in unison. Scattered explosions rang through the air as the mass produced units began to take hits. On the viewing screen, Jin was looking intently at his own monitor as the battle data came in.
"Response time seems a little slow still. I'll need to tweak that," he muttered. "I'm also getting about 150 milliseconds of lag between targeting and firing, that'll need to be looked into."
The hexagon shaped attack drones removed themselves from the fight and returned to Jin's unit, fitting together snugly to form that heavy looking armor once more. About half the enemy units had been shot down and the rest looked like they had taken at least some damage.
"Um, Jin?" Zessica asked, "Not to nag or anything, but why didn't you finish the job?"
"The drones were running low on energy," he explained, "They can't keep up sustained fire for long without draining their reserves. I need to fix that for the final version, but seeing as how we're on a time limit, that's the best I can do for now."
The rest of the enemy formation was starting to reorganize themselves. Worse yet, a few of the "shot down" units were picking themselves up, having lost their capacity for flight, but not for combat.
"Geez, men are so useless," Yunoha exclaimed, causing Jin to look up in shock. With a predatory grin that did not suit her face at all, she said in her usual cutely quiet voice, "Let me show you who wears the pants in our relationship, Jin-kun!"
Amata was stunned silent, but over on the viewing screen, he noticed Zessica trying hard (and failing) to stifle her laughter. Yunoha flew her Vector ahead of the group.
"Let's do this!" she exclaimed. "Role Reversal Union! Go Aquarion!"
The three Vectors smoothly integrated to form the Aquarion Gepard. Yunoha giggled madly as she pulled the triggers on her controls. Streams of ammunition poured from the Gepard's twin guns and all the missiles fired simultaneously from the Aquarion's shoulder mounted launchers. It was a beautifully devastating sight to behold; shortly followed by a massive explosion that completely obliterated every single enemy machine in one brief, spectacular blast.
"Instant Kill: Bullet Hell," Yunoha declared as the light from the explosion faded away. There was something very, very, disconcerting about that childlike voice making those particular words sound cheerful.
Kagura's voice suddenly filled Amata's head. "Interesting…If all of your allies are this ferocious, perhaps we have a chance against Mykage after all."
"That's just the 'Curse of Eve' acting," Amata thought back. If Kagura heard, he gave no indication of it.
"See that Jin-kun?" Yunoha exclaimed over the communication channel. "That's how you clear the way for a lady." She giggled some more and hugged her doll to her chest.
It took about five minutes for Jin to recover his capacity for speech.
As the four flew towards the designated meeting point, he finally managed to ask, "Will someone please explain to me what just happened?"
Donar Dantes was put in charge of managing the evacuees from Altair. At first, everyone at Neo-DEAVA, with the exception of the Supreme Commander, had been panicking over the dropships appearing through the dimension gate. The academy was simply not equipped to deal with a large-scale invasion; an oversight that would have to be rectified. Many a sigh of relief was breathed when they realized that the troop-carriers were broadcasting the signal that Izumo had established with Neo-DEAVA as a sign that an arrival through the gate was friendly.
The dimension gate had been holding steady for over three hours now; Andy certainly had his work cut out for him. Harsh as he was with the boy for his antics, Donar had to admit that the young man took his responsibilities seriously. He hoped the mission was going well for everyone on the other side; the technicians hadn't figured out how to send a signal through the gate to the other side yet.
The infirmary was already completely packed with wounded soldiers coming in through the dimension gate. They had been forced to set up tents in the school grounds so that enough room was available for people requiring medical assistance. At last count, 315 men from Altair had come in through the portal, almost a third of whom were wounded. It would be hard to find enough room to house everyone within the academy itself, they would probably need to find living quarters within the city itself.
"Get a move on," he shouted at some passing students. "We need more tents set up in the courtyard on the double!"
He followed them into the courtyard where Suomi was busy with overseeing the distribution of medical supplies. She was struggling under the weight of a crate of bandages while simultaneously trying to instruct the nearest group of students on where to go to get more. For the love of—, Donar thought, that woman tries to do too much at the same time. He walked over to her and took the large box out of her hands.
"I can handle it myself," she protested. "No need for you to trouble yourself over it."
"I've got it," Donar insisted. "I was going to head over to the tents to check up on the situation there, so I might as well kill two birds with one stone and bring this over too."
She still looked a little insulted that Donar was helping her out so he added, "Tell you what. Why don't you see if you can get some of the students I'm in charge of to help out with carrying supplies? We don't really need that many to tally and organize the newcomers now that the flow of incoming dropships has slowed and you're better at managing them than I am. The boys I can handle, but the girls seem a bit intimidated by my presence."
She thought it over for a few moments, but finally relented. Donar hefted the crate onto his shoulder and walked off towards the tent, relieved that she didn't try to grab the box away from him. If she had really pushed the issue, he didn't think he would have been able to win that argument.
The tents were set up in neat rows and columns on the academy grounds. The soldiers that required immediate medical attention were all in the infirmary, but there were plenty of people with minor to moderate wounds to look after. Groans of pain filled the air and students rushed from tent to tent to treat the injured. Donar pushed open the flap to the largest tent, presumably where the supplies would be kept.
"Oh, Instructor Dantes," the male student sitting at the table in front of where the piles of supplies were kept said. "One of the soldiers was asking after you."
"After me?" Donar repeated, puzzled that someone from Altair would know of him.
"Well, not by name," the student admitted. "He wanted to talk to someone with the authority to make military decisions. That would mean either you, Headmistress Crea, or the Supreme Commander, right?"
Technically, that category would include Suomi as well but, seeing as how she probably had a lot on her plate for the time being, Donar figured he should take up this task.
"Where is he now?"
The boy got up from his chair, "I'll walk you there myself. We haven't gotten around to labeling the tents yet, so it'll be hard to find it on your own. Just set your crate down here somewhere, I'll organize it later."
The soldier who was looking for Donar was seated at the edge of a cot inside a large canvas tent. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, but seemed uninjured aside from that. As soon as Donar entered, the man stood up and extended his hand out in greeting.
"I am Lieutenant-Commander Hirata," he introduced himself. "You must be Instructor Donar Dantes."
Donar shook the man's hand. If he was surprised by Donar's prosthetic limbs, he gave no indication of it.
"Yes I am," he replied. "One of my students said you had something to talk to me about?"
The officer nodded. "First, I want to thank you for your hospitality. You've been more than generous to my Commander and my men considering our past relations. As for what I wanted to say, have you given any thought to setting up ground defenses? I noticed as we were coming in that there seems to be very little in the way of military fortifications here."
That was exactly what Donar had been thinking about earlier. "Do you think that there's a threat of a full-scale invasion?"
"I can't think of any other reason why Mykage would bother to foment this rebellion of his unless he wanted additional manpower," the Lieutenant-Commander replied. "He's the type that likes to control things from the background; it isn't like him to take such a direct hand in matters unless the benefits outweigh the risks significantly."
Donar thought over that for a while. Regardless of whether Mykage's intentions were a ground assault on Neo-DEAVA, there was no reason not to fortify the academy. He would have to see how to fit it into the budget, but Donar was more and more convinced as he thought about it that the cost would be well worth it.
"It'll take some time to set those up," Donar answered. "And we'd need quite a lot of manpower to get it done quickly. Would any of your men be willing to help?"
"I'd have to ask Commander Izumo, but I think that most of the men would be willing to help, considering your people are our only hope of reclaiming our home-world from Mykage," he said in reply.
The Lieutenant-Commander got up off his bunk and walked over to where a large rectangular crate was set down on the floor. He rested a hand gingerly on the box, as if it were a holy relic.
"What's in there?" Donar asked. He had noticed the Altair troops carrying it out of the first dropship, but had not had the chance to check the contents.
"Perhaps the greatest symbol of hope for Altair before the events of today," the officer answered sadly. "Alicia Sora, the woman our Commander personally brought back from Vega."
The name sounded familiar to Donar Dantes. After a moment, he realized where he had heard it before. The actress who had played the role of Silvie in "Skies of Aquaria" and also, Amata Sora's mother. She had been reported missing over a decade ago.
"Is she…alive?" Donar asked. He knew that Amata would likely be overjoyed if he was reunited with his mother.
"Yes, but she's in stasis," Lieutenant-Commander Hirata explained. "It was the only way we could think of to prevent the 'Curse of Eve' from affecting her any further. She resisted its effects for almost a full week if I remember correctly. Since then, no Rare Igu— pardon me, no woman had even come close to that."
"Well then, since we're not on Altair, we should see about getting her out. I'll have some people bring her down to the academy where we can run an analysis."
Donar stood up to leave.
The Lieutenant-Commander interrupted him, "Ah, can you wait until the Commander returns? He'll want to be there when it happens; the two of them were rather close despite him being her captor."
"I'll make note of that," Donar answered. "It shouldn't be long until everyone returns. In the meantime, I need to find the Supreme Commander and talk with him regarding living arrangements for your men. Your sudden arrival in such numbers is stretching our housing capacity. If you'd like, why don't you join me? Unless you need to stay with your men."
Izumo held the last enemy unit's head within the palm of his Ahura Gnis; the fingers slowly digging into the enemy armor with the crunching noise of crumpling steel. All around him lay the wreckage of battle, smoldering machines where the enemy squadron had fallen. Izumo had been careful to minimize casualties. Even if these men had sided with Mykage, he couldn't be sure that they hadn't been coerced or somehow bewitched into doing so. The man before him, however…deserved no such leniency.
"Any last words, Sergeant?" Izumo asked through gritted teeth. There was no response from the other unit, not that Izumo was surprised.
The battle had been decidedly one-sided; most of the enemy pilots had been complete amateurs, barely able to shoot in a straight line. If they had surrounded Izumo, he might have taken some damage, but as it was, they had all fired while in formation, making it very easy for Izumo to deflect the shots. Better yet, over half of the mass-produced units were armed with energy beams, giving Izumo nearly unlimited power for his counterattacks.
For the Sergeant however, there would be no quick exit from the fray. Izumo had made sure that the man was the last enemy standing so he could take his time finishing him off. He had worked over the enemy unit like a surgeon, tearing through each of his systems one by one until there was nothing left. With a look of disdain on his face, he tossed the last machine down to earth and fired a beam through the enemy cockpit. While Izumo was normally a rational man, he could not stand the thought of Altair's people, his people, having to follow the orders of a complete scumbag like that man.
WIth the enemy threat neutralized, he contacted the Citadel.
"How is the evacuation going?" Izumo asked once the operator picked up his signal.
"We're currently boarding the final dropship, Commander," he answered. "I'll be getting on as well in a few moments, so you contacted us at the perfect time."
"Acknowledged. I'll be staying behind for a while longer. We still need to wait for the return of Ein, Zwei, and the three pilots from Vega that went with them."
"Please stay safe sir. Over and out."
There was one final task that Izumo had to see to. He couldn't risk Mykage opening dimension gates to Vega anytime he wanted to. His instincts told him that Mykage's goal was to be found on Vega. That meant that denying him access to the world would be a huge setback. There were two possible ways to achieve this.
The first was to disable the Ianthe, permanently. As the Commander of the Altair forces, Izumo had access to the power grid at a level that no other living person had; he could, in theory, force a meltdown in the system which would spread throughout the entire grid. He had no intention of pursuing this method though. Not only would it mean destroying his mother's legacy to Altair, but Izumo was wary of the collateral damage a meltdown might cause. As Ianthe was a planet-wide system, the results could be devastating on an unheard of magnitude.
That left the second method, which was to destroy or disable the dimension gate generator floating in the sky. It wasn't anywhere near as permanent as destroying the Ianthe would be, but depending on how badly he damaged the generator, Mykage could be set back for months. Izumo didn't want to completely destroy the device though; he planned on recapturing Altair as soon as possible from Mykage.
It took less than five minutes to reach the generator; no enemies stood in Izumo's way. The ring-shaped generator was an easy target to attack. Although Mykage had his loyal thralls manning the anti-air defenses, Izumo easily avoided the horribly aimed shots that came his way. He probably could have just shut down the guns themselves, but it was good to practice avoiding enemy fire even if 80% of it would have missed even if he didn't dodge.
He set to work disabling the dimension gate generator with the same surgical precision he had destroyed "the Sergeant's" mech with. His goal was to make repairs take as long as possible for anyone who did not know precisely which systems within the complex machine were destroyed. Stray anti-air fire continued to fly through the air around him, some of it actually striking the generator itself. Every time that happened, Izumo gave a sharp intake of air through his teeth; the additional damage would make his task of repairing the machine once he regained control of Altair more difficult.
When he was satisfied at last with how much of the generator had been damaged, Izumo flew back towards the Citadel as fast as he could. It was odd that Mykage wasn't sending more mass-produced units to slow him down, but in battle, thinking too hard on a stroke of good fortune had the tendency to reverse that luck.
As the citadel came into view, Izumo saw that the only remaining unit in the yard was the machine the people at Neo-DEAVA had called the Aquarion. He sent opened a communication channel with the pilots inside.
"Has everyone gone through the gate yet?"
The dark-haired, serious looking pilot answered him, "Not yet, Amata and the others haven't arrived. Your two guards said that they must have been delayed since our pilots set off for here earlier than they did."
"We're here now," came Jin's voice over the communication channel. Four dots showed up on Izumo's radar, coming in from about a mile away.
"Sorry for the holdup boys," the girl named Zessica apologized. She sounded a little strained, as if she were trying to hide a wound. "We ran into some enemies on the way back."
"Nothin' we couldn't handle," Yunoha remarked. Izumo frowned for a moment. From what he remembered, the girl that Jin liked was much more soft-spoken than that. He then realized that the "Curse of Eve" was probably affecting her more quickly than the typical case; body mass seemed to affect the rate at which the curse took hold.
That was probably why his son, Amata, quickly declared, "Alright, ladies first. Get through to the other side."
Was it his imagination, or did the boy look a little different in his visual feed? It looked as if his hair was a few shades darker and something about the features of his face looked changed. No, it was probably just him, Izumo decided. After all, he hadn't spent much time around the boy yet; it would make sense if he misremembered a few things about his appearance.
The three Vectors flew through the dimension gate, followed closely by Jin's Radius Gnis Zero. Izumo noticed that his former subordinate had installed a very unusual looking armor unit on his machine; he'd have to ask the boy about it later.
"I'll be heading through as well," Izumo told Cayenne. "Thank you all for your assistance today. Without you, many more of my men would have fallen prey to Mykage's machinations."
Returning through the gate to Vega seemed to take less time than the trip to Altair did. Perhaps it was just because Izumo was tired, but it seemed like only minutes had passed before the Ahura Gnis flew through the exit and the now-familiar sight of Neo-DEAVA academy spread out below him, lights all lit up in welcome.
Kagura sat, figuratively speaking, in silence as the lights of the dimension gate swirled across the viewport. He had a lot to mull over, between what Apollo had told him and the situation regarding his body.
"You're being awfully quiet," Amata noted.
"Shut up, weakling," he replied, "I'm trying to think."
Amata just ignored him; the boy had grown a bit of a backbone since the time his mother had left him alone on Vega. Kagura could almost respect that.
"I'm rather surprised that you're not screaming for me to turn the ship around."
"I said, shut up," Kagura growled. Truth be told, he wanted nothing more than to do just that, but instinctively, he knew that facing Mykage alone would not end well. He had been willing to take on Neo-DEAVA alone several times, but that was because they weren't nearly as fear-inspiring as the man who had raised him.
Kagura had fought against Mykage several times during his upbringing; from childish arguments to actual attempts to kill the smug manipulator. He had never managed to come close to anything remotely resembling a victory. Even after he had gained access to his power of Reversal, he had been unable to do so much as make Mykage blink. He knew he had a fiery temperament and a single-minded drive, but that didn't mean that he would run headfirst into certain death just because something he wanted was right in front of him.
"You do realize that the higher-ups are going to want to question you, don't you?" Amata continued. "About your role in previous Abductions?"
"You're damn annoying," Kagura replied. "I'll deal with matters as they come, so shut up already. What's it with you and trying to interrupt my thoughts anyways?"
"Petty revenge for you taking control of the body and blurting that out to Zessica-san, I suppose." With that parting statement, Amata finally left Kagura alone to his pondering.
When they arrived at Neo-DEAVA, it seemed like the whole school was waiting for them; awaiting the news of what had happened on the other world. It was a relief, then, that Amata and the other Vector pilots went directly to the hangar where there weren't as many people; Kagura hated crowds, too many smells mixing together in a confusing jumble.
"Amata Sora, come with us," one man in the greeting party said as soon as he disembarked. This could be none other than Donar Dantes, based on Amata's memories.
Kagura felt a bit of confusion from his other half, but the boy complied. They were led to a small room, furnished only with a single desk, two chairs, and a lamp. Kagura recognized it as an interrogation chamber, but Amata seemed to have no clue what was going on.
"Have a seat," Donar Dantes said. "And if you'd be so kind, let the other person inside of you take control for a bit."
"H-how did you know?" Amata exclaimed, sounding a little fearful.
The man gave a mysterious smile, "We do have access to the Vector's communication logs, you know. The Headmistress informed us that you were talking to 'Kagura,' but he was nowhere to be found in the pilot logs. From there, it was putting two and two together, with a little, or rather, a lot of prompting from the Supreme Commander. Speaking of which, he should be here shortly, so if you would—"
Kagura found himself in control of the body again. It was an odd feeling, suddenly gaining use of his senses after a period of detachment; when Amata was in control, he only had access to sight, hearing, and smell.
The single door to the room opened with a creak of poorly oiled hinges. In stepped an elegantly dressed man with an eye-patch and a young girl with silvery-blue hair. The girl thanked Donar for his work, but Kagura found his attention focused solely on the man in red. His every instinct was screaming that he should attack the man before him.
Kagura leapt forwards aggressively, prompting Donar to stand protectively before the sharply dressed gentleman. The man with the eye-patch just smiled and pushed the instructor out of the way. Inside his head, Amata was screaming something at him, but over the rush of blood pounding in his temples, Kagura couldn't understand the words. The foolish man wasn't even taking a defensive stance, this would be too easy…
That thought was why, when he first felt the solid blow to his gut, Kagura couldn't understand what had happened. One moment he was on the offensive, and in the next, he was lifted off his feet. He tried a flurry of kicks, but the man easily dodged them, occasionally striking back with unerring precision.
"Rev—"
Kagura couldn't even get the word out before the man disappeared from his field of view and he felt a strong blow to his back. In short order, he found himself thrown to the ground, the man with the eye-patch stomping him on the back until he was flat on the ground before planting a boot on his head to keep him prone.
"Who the hell are you?" Kagura found himself asking. For some reason, the words seemed very nostalgic to him.
The man with the eye-patch grinned as if he found the situation amusing. He replied, "Before asking someone their name…proper etiquette demands that you give yours first. Young man—what is your name?"
Kagura glared at the older man before answering truthfully in a resentful tone.
Notes: This chapter took a little longer than I thought it would to complete, but it's done now. I had to rewrite the ending a little since I wasn't satisfied with how it went at first. For those of you who watched the original series, you may recognize the scene I ended this chapter with. Naming-wise, I figured Akhtar was an appropriate name for Jin's new weapon system since most of the Altair machines have ties to Zoroastrian terms and Akhtar refers to "stars" or more specifically, "constellations." Operation Altair has drawn to a close and, like the rescue arc in Evol, they did not manage to save the person they were trying to, although here we have the seemingly permanent return of Alicia and Kagura to Vega. Unfortunately, as much fun as "kill-em-all" tough Yunoha was to write, I have to say farewell to that side of her (probably to Jin's relief.)
If any of you were wondering about the status of Amata's relationship with Mikono and Zessica, he's basically given up on Mikono in favor of letting Kagura pursue her (who he thinks will make her happier in the long run) but hasn't quite worked out what his feelings for Zessica yet, although he admits that he wants to be with her. The boy just needs a good mentor for his love life, because between the aggressively persistent boy sharing his body, Apollo's time-defying love for Silvia, and his own lack of experience in the field, he doesn't have anyone who's experienced a "normal" relationship to talk with. Next up, Dr. Phil, starring Andy as the host! (just kidding.)
