Yokosuka
Standing on the deck of his designated flagship, Hallelujah watched through the eyes of his forward scouts as they came upon the port city. The wall the human's had created was rather impressive, even if it could never keep the Fog out. He supposed it was probably more to make them feel safe rather than actually accomplish anything. And here he was about to forever break that illusion, and in a way that he doubted any of them would see coming.
"Calypso," he said, getting his scout's attention, "Let's show them how we say hello."
"As you say, Master," she replied. Her main tower split shortly after as she deployed her Graviton cannon, and as it charged she set her sights on their first target. 'It's time to show these fools who the real masters are,' she thought.
Back in the port, Gunzou was in the hanger with many of the staff that would be coordinating things from the rear. Hyuuga had used some of their leftover nano-material to fashion an impressive collection of computers and screens, and they had been in the process of linking that with the 402's systems. Since she was their only submarine, and her specialty was spying, they had decided to use her to image the battlefield and track the enemy. But they hadn't even gotten that far yet, not to mention deploying her and her small crew of four. She had only just accepted the data link while the gate was opening.
"Intense gravity waves detected," she said through several speakers, "The enemy cruiser is powering its Graviton cannon."
"Order all ships to raise their Klein fields," Gunzou told Kongou, who simply nodded, "They're likely going to try and breach the seawall, and we can't risk any losses now."
"Captain, I have eyes on the ship," 402 reported, getting his attention, "Its angle is too high to strike the wall."
"What?"
Before she could explain, Calypso fired. Her Graviton shot brushed over the top of the wall before continuing towards the city behind it. Buildings in its path were cut clean through as the energy continued on its way, smashing into one of the higher hills behind the city. The explosion rocked the ground, and Gunzou had to grab a nearby table to try and stay upright as what felt like an earthquake hit them. Rushing outside, he and Commander Kita both turned before gasping at the sight. Gunzou knew how powerful a cruiser's Graviton cannon could be, but he'd never seen it used on a land target before.
The cloud kicked up from the impact made it look like a small-yield nuke had gone off, and what was left of the hill was blazing red and orange. The blast wave swept over them a moment later, knocking the two men off their feet while blowing out the windows facing where the wave came from. Pushing himself up, Gunzou couldn't help but stare as the smoke continued to rise. He could only imagine the fires that had been ignited from the intense heat, not to mention just how many people were killed in that blast.
Avalon had told him multiple times that this enemy would not hold back. It would use everything it had to break their will before either destroying them or consuming them. While he'd understood that on an intellectual level, it was only when he watched Hallelujah break one of the Fog's core tenants that it really sank in; if they failed now, this city and all of its people would be at his mercy. The revelation shocked him like few things ever had. In fact, he hadn't felt this helpless since the day he'd lost Kotono. Before the stupor could keep him there for another moment, his earpiece crackled.
"Gunzou, what's going on?!" Avalon demanded, having remained inside the Container when he felt the blast, "What did they just do?!"
"They just…" he began as he slowly pushed himself up, "They fired on the city…"
"Hey, get a grip!" Avalon shouted, startling him, "Get to Kongou's ship, and let's get out there! The sooner we engage them, the sooner they stop focusing on the civilians!"
"Right!" he replied before switching channels, "All ships, emergency launch! Hyuuga, have them open the gates when we get close!"
A resounding chorus of "yes, sir," sounded in his ear as both Mental Models and humans moved with a purpose. Lines were cast off and crews made final tentative checks of their systems as the ships slowly moved into formation. What mistakes were made were quickly corrected by the Mental Models, and soon enough they were moving for the gates.
Meanwhile, Commander Kita went back into the make-shift command center while dialing his phone. He might not be sailing into battle, but he still had an important job to do. After several seconds of waiting, he began issuing orders and mobilizing the military. Within minutes, they would begin evacuating the city starting with the areas around the port. He'd only even seen that kind of destruction around the time of World War II, and it had been bad enough then. He wasn't about to let this city become the next Hiroshima.
Walking onto Kongou's bridge, Gunzou noted that the rest of his crew was there except for Iori and Shizuka. Iori had, as usual, stationed herself in the engine room where she could monitor their power output. Shizuka, meanwhile, was aboard the 402 to assist in gathering and interpreting the enemy fleet's movements. Kongou stood to one side of a chair that was obviously meant for him, while Sou and Kyouhei manned two of the many control stations in the room. Sitting down, Gunzou was rather surprised when tactical displays surrounded him, and he glanced at Kongou in mild wonder.
"If you are going to be advising me, then you will need more information than your simple senses can gather," she told him before turning her attention to the battle.
Nodding in thanks, he began moving information around and sending out commands. A fast-moving blip caught his attention, and he turned in time to see the Exia fly past the ship. Its rebuilt greatsword glistened in the sun, and the new shield seemed shinier than the rest of the suit. Then he was past them, moving towards the front of their formation. While Gunzou had been against Avalon's insistence to be the lead unit, he'd made a good case for it. His Gundam was far more maneuverable than any of their ships could ever be, making it hard for them to shoot him down. At the same time, it stood a good chance of drawing out any mobile suits Hallelujah might have had, and if they could take those out then their chances would improve a bit.
As for Avalon, he found himself in an uncomfortable situation. When he'd finally boarded the Exia, he set about a rapid deployment. Maybe if he launched fast enough, he could leave Takao behind where she'd be relatively safe. Why she hadn't been in the hanger when he'd come back had slightly puzzled him, but he'd just assumed that she had gone to see what had blown up. But when the Container's hatch opened and the Gundam was moved into a standing position, he found out that he hadn't been that lucky.
"Going somewhere?" he heard as a new window appeared on his right-hand screen. Turning, he saw Takao standing in what could only be described as a data-scape.
"…You didn't," he began.
"Turn around," she told him, and he did. Behind his chair was a new device with a Mental Model's core in its center, and Avalon bit back an explosive curse when he realized that it could only be hers. "We talked about this, remember?" she reminded him.
"As I recall, it was you making a decree that I didn't agree to," he replied.
"Well, that's too bad," she said with a self-satisfied smirk, "I'm here now, so let's get on with this."
"…You're an idiot, you know that?"
"Probably because I've been around you for too long," she shot back as the clamps released, "You're good for launch."
"Thanks," he said sarcastically, "Never would have guessed that."
Then he pushed power into the thrusters, launching the Gundam at its best speed. Takao couldn't help but let out a "whoop!" as she felt the machine fly. She might have separated herself from the main controls, but she still felt what this machine did. And for that one moment, she was flying. Takao rocketed across the sky, staying low over the water as they quickly closed with Kongou's fleet. When they passed her ship, she spared a glance at her Captain, sitting in his command chair next to Kongou. For a moment, she felt a stab of jealousy that he wasn't using her ship, but it quickly faded as they passed by.
Once he'd reached the head of their formation, Avalon took a moment to look at 402's readings. Hallelujah had sent one of his cruisers with an escort ahead simply to probe them, and he was seeing the rest of his forces coming in behind them at rather high speeds. The scouting group was also continuing to sail for the port wall, and Avalon could only assume that he meant to do battle practically on top of the city. If they started trading blows at that distance, any stray shots would have serious consequences. They had to force them further out to sea, but turning and attempting to lead them away would just leave their backs exposed and the city defenseless.
Unknown to him, Gunzou was facing a similar predicament as he observed Hallelujah's deployment. It was very reminiscent of when he'd intruded on his battle with Kongou; blunt and rather obvious, but also effective in giving them very few options. Their only practical option to avoid catastrophic damage to Yokosuka would be to charge right at Hallelujah's forces. If that was the case, then they would need to deal with his forward scouts quickly.
"All ships, target the destroyers with a mixed salvo; one Corrosive missile per ship," he ordered finally, "Nachi, Atago, target the cruiser with your main guns and fire. Ise, follow up on their attack with three Corrosive missiles."
"So, we're hammering them to dust?" Kyouhei asked, even as he brought up Kongou's missiles.
"Brutal and effective," Kongou commented, "But I thought you preferred more refined tactics than this."
"We don't have the time for refined," Gunzou replied as their ships opened fire, "We're backed into a corner, and he knows it. If we spend too much time trying to come up with a plan, he'll either cut us to pieces or focus on the city again to force our hand."
"So our only real option is to meet force with force," Kongou surmised with a smirk, "And here I thought you weren't like us."
Meanwhile, in the sky, Avalon began dodging incoming anti-air fire. It seemed that Hallelujah wasn't about to let him get close so easily.
"Hallelujah!" Avalon shouted over an open channel, "It's over!"
"On that, we can agree," he replied as the cruiser turned its main gun towards Avalon. If it could snag him in the gravity field, he would be done.
Dropping towards the water's surface, Avalon tried to get out of its field of fire only to have particle beams rip up out of the water. Seconds later, almost a dozen GN-Xs followed suit and swarmed towards him. Bringing his shield up, Avalon reversed course as he tried not to get blasted to pieces. But Hallelujah had just maneuvered him right where he wanted.
"Avalon!" Takao shouted as a warning blared for his attention.
Turning, he saw that one of the cruiser's main cannons had turned towards him. He had just enough time to bring his shield up and curse as it fired, and he privately hoped that Takao and Hyuuga had done a fantastic job with their improvements. Watching the battle through his scouts, Hallelujah smirked as the shells slammed into the Exia. Even its armor could be defeated with enough firepower, and a Fog cruiser could easily deliver such punishment without using the Graviton weapons at its disposal. Forcing the brat down low and giving him no room to maneuver was simple, and he couldn't help but feel satisfied when he got shot.
Said satisfaction vanished when the Exia emerged from the cloud without a scratch on it. While he tried to figure out just what the hell had happened, he sent his mobile suits to tie him down. 'There's no way that suit could have taken that kind of a hit without damage,' he thought, his smile turning into a grimace quickly. He got his answer as one of the GN-Xs tried to spear him. Avalon brought his shield up to stop the thrust, and just before the javelin hit the metal a barrier lit up and stopped the attack cold. Quickly switching to that one suit's sensors, Hallelujah examined the field up close before cursing.
That boy had equipped his suit with a Klein field, something it shouldn't be able to handle. How he'd managed to do it would be something he would ponder later. Right now, he would have to figure out a way to either get past it or overload it. For the time, it appeared to be local considering how he was still using his shield as his defense. Even then, it couldn't have much strength to it. The main processor of a Gundam might have been rather advanced for the realm it came from, but it still wasn't anywhere near what the Fog had. It likely couldn't take too many hits before it maxed out and shut down.
Ducking another swipe, Avalon deployed his greatsword before cutting through the mobile suit. Without even giving it another glance, he began weaving through the sky again as the other machines continued to try and surround him. It was taking all of his training, his new sense and Takao's assistance just to keep pace with the eleven other mobile suits. Even then, some of their attacks were getting uncomfortably close to his Gundam's torso and he was being forced to use his Klein field a lot more than he was comfortable with. Even with Takao aboard to manage it, its strength was still less than what she'd had at her disposal before.
For her part, Takao was finding this terrifying and exciting. This kind of fast-paced combat was so much better than naval combat, even if Avalon wasn't using the same amount of firepower. The way he ducked and weaved while firing and slashing was almost like dancing, and she was experiencing it all through the Exia's systems. She'd known this machine was powerful, but she hadn't fully appreciated it until now. It was amazingly balanced, even with the nano-material parts. Its reaction time was incredible, and she had to guess that was because of the GN drive. Examining the system, she saw that it was a combination of thrusters and places she could only think of as wells where it would concentrate particles. Somehow, when it did that the area would actually become lighter, allowing the machine to move that part of its body more swiftly.
Of course, she also had a new appreciation for just how fragile the entire design was. In order to give this machine the kind of mobility and speed it possessed, it had sacrificed armor. Granted, the armor it did possess was impressive, and it likely could take a considerable amount of fire before failing. But the joints were more exposed than she would have preferred, and the main drive itself was painfully exposed on its back. And yet, Avalon had managed to survive countless battles using it, so the trade must have been worth it.
Her attention was brought back to the fight at hand when Avalon took out another GN-X. Right as he put a whole through its chest, missiles streaked past his Gundam before slamming into Hallelujah's advanced force. Their Klein fields flared to life as the conventional warheads sought to tear them apart, although Takao could see how much strain they were under when the Corrosive missiles joined them. She also watched as a salvo of beams lanced into the single cruiser, further straining its shield. The destroyers survived the onslaught with moderate damage, while the cruiser got away mostly intact. Of course, that was before another wave of Corrosive missiles slammed into it in a perfect spread. They ripped through what was left of the field locally, aided by another salvo of beams from Kongou's ships, and proceeded to eat away at the cruiser's upper decks. The ship itself was still afloat, but severely damaged and likely out of the fight now.
That didn't deter Kongou, who put another volley into the ship's center and cracked it in half with the resulting explosion. Glancing at her, Gunzou briefly wondered at the ruthlessness she had just displayed. While he would have liked to actually ask her about that decision, now was not the time as the destroyers began returning fire. However, without the cruiser to support them, they were easy pickings for the heavier ships and quickly sank. Without them to act as a distraction, several of the ships turned their lighter guns skyward and began taking shots at the other mobile suits. As good as Avalon was, even he would need help with that many enemies.
After blowing two of them from the sky, the others got the message and scattered with several of them returning fire. Their particle beams weren't nearly strong enough to be dangerous to their barriers, but that wasn't what concerned Gunzou. He knew that these things could shift and change, and he was honestly surprised that Hallelujah wasn't utilizing that ability more often. Maybe it was limited to his personal machine? Possibly, but he couldn't rely on that.
"Gunzou, push up!" Avalon shouted as he turned the Exia to pursue one of the larger groups of enemy units, "We need to get Hallelujah into the open!"
"Agreed," he replied before addressing the rest of the fleet, "All ships, weapons free. Try to conserve your Corrosive missiles for the bigger ships, but do what you need to. Today, we show them we won't back down."
The other ships replied with their actions, unleashing a torrent of energy beams and missiles towards their enemies. Hallelujah's fleet responded in kind, while also directing some of his fire to intercept as many missiles as they could. Now that they were close enough, and with the 402 giving them a clear picture, Gunzou could get a good read on what Hallelujah had at his disposal. Three cruisers and about a dozen destroyers made up his fleet, but that was only what they could clearly see. The 402 was also getting some ghost contacts below the waves, which was strange since it should be able to detect whatever was down there.
He got his answer sooner than he would have liked as the water parted in four trenches, revealing a more advanced version of the support ships Iona had possessed. But instead of working in pairs, the four ships were operating separately.
"…He didn't," Kyouhei muttered, looking at the new ships.
"All ships, evasive action!" Gunzou shouted, even as Kongou began veering away.
The other ships quickly followed suit, but two of their cruisers weren't quick enough. Firing her engines at their maximum output, Nachi struggled to get out of the gravity field while Haguro redirected everything she had towards the Klein field. Ashigara was in a similar situation, although she had the luck of being near the edge of the field when it grabbed her. Within moments, she'd clawed her way back to open water and was steaming away from the trench. The two that had missed completely vanished moments later as their ships disappeared back beneath the waves. Nachi could only assume they were taking up new positions to try and snipe them again.
"Nachi!" Haguro shouted in panic.
Her attention thoroughly brought back to their current problem, she watched in horror as the ship fired its Graviton cannon. The chances of a ship of that size possessing full-powered Graviton weapons were slim, but she wasn't taking any chances. She quickly shut her engines down and directed all of her processing power to the Klein field just as the blast slammed into her in a full broadside. The two Models cringed as the deck shook beneath their feet, and several plates of armor were stripped off in the blast as it struggled to pierce their defenses. Nachi watched the rapidly rising saturation level for their field with dread, and she quickly calculated the seconds it would take to breach the field and kill them both.
But just before it reached that point, the blast weakened before stopping completely. Collapsing to her knees, Nachi breathed a sigh of relief as the water closed around her again. As a result, she didn't see the torpedoes streaking towards her.
"Nachi, below you!" Kongou shouted too late. The torpedoes slammed into her weakened barrier, ripping through it with their Corrosive fields before tearing her hull apart. The two Models had enough time to glance at each other before the energy consumed them, and then they were gone.
Roaring in outrage, Kongou deployed her own Graviton cannon and locked onto the leading cruiser. Gunzou tried talking her down, but she wouldn't be deterred. This bastard, this creature, had just taken two more of her sisters from her. He would not take another. Grimacing in frustration, Gunzou turned his attention to the rest of the fleet.
"Ise, Hiei, lock-down two of those support ships with your Graviton cannons," he ordered as the two fleets drew closer, "Atago, Haguro, target the third. Ashigara and Myoukou will take out the fourth. We cannot let those things run free."
Even if those ships couldn't breach their fields, the threat they represented was too great to ignore. Especially since the lead destroyers were now coming into close range. They would need to change their course and split the fleet at this rate, since the bigger guns would have trouble hitting them this close in. Hallelujah seemed to understand this, since his destroyers were continuing their charge while the cruisers split up. Just as Kongou finally fired, her target accelerated suddenly and caused the beam to miss.
Growling in frustration, she realized she'd neglected to project a gravity field to stop it from moving. Before she could prepare another shot, the cruisers opened fire on her with all of their conventional weapons. Their rounds were focused on the field protecting her cannon, their intention obvious. Retracting the weapon, she returned her attention to the humans on her bridge.
"Tell me you have a plan to deal with that thing," she said, practically spitting the last word.
"At the moment, that's not my primary concern," Gunzou said, clutching the chair as the ship rocked from a rather intense blast, "We need to deal with Hallelujah's escorts first."
"Agreed," she replied as her missile hatches opened.
Just before she fired, the other ships finally locked onto the support ships and deployed their cannons. With the battleships, it was laughably easy to ensnare them in the gravity fields, but the cruisers needed to bracket their targets to ensure they got them. In the end, though, they managed to grab all four ships, and in a synchronized blast they tore all of them to shreds. As the explosions threw water and metal into the air, Kongou fired a full volley of Corrosive missiles. They arched downward almost immediately, homing in on Hallelujah's lead destroyers and ripping them apart without mercy.
Watching a third of his ships get torn apart, Hallelujah decided he'd had enough. His cruisers opened their own main towers and deployed their cannons as they continued to spread out. As entertaining as it was to watch them continue to lash out, he needed to wrap this up. Setting his sights on one of their battleships, he smiled as the weapons began charging.
In the skies above, Avalon found himself only facing five GN-Xs now. The rest had either been shot down by him or his allies below. Deflecting a burst from one, he had just enough time to duck under the slash from another before bringing his greatsword into its midsection in a back-handed slash. Accelerating away from the explosion, he switched the sword to its blaster mode before unleashing particle beams as fast as it could cycle. But now that he wasn't as pressured as before, he found that his mind was starting to wander.
This didn't make sense; Hallelujah had possessed hidden weapons that he could have used to rip one of their battleships apart, but he'd wasted them on pot-shots at the cruisers. More importantly, as he watched the tactical display on the small console in front of him, he saw that Hallelujah was also sending his destroyers into close-range. Even though they were small and fast, they couldn't last for long against Kongou's heavier ships. Meanwhile, his cruisers were spreading out and circling around the battle from both sides. If he was going to fight at point-blank, why wouldn't he go all-in with everything?
Then he saw the charging Graviton cannons, and he realized something. A single cruiser didn't have much of a chance at beating a battleship's Klein field, even if you brought the Graviton cannon into play. But if three of them focused their fire on one target, then he doubted even Yamato would be able to come out of it unscathed. If he could keep the others tied down dealing with his smaller ships, then he could possibly cripple them with a few well-placed shots. Especially if he took out Kongou; if she went down, then the entire fleet's coordination would start to fall apart.
"Takao, hold on!" he shouted as he suddenly rushed towards the water.
"What are you doing?!" she demanded as he charged one of the cruisers.
Ignoring her, he focused on his target while prepping the missiles in his shield. He had a one in three chance of picking the right ship, and he desperately hopped that he had as he veered so he was between it and Kongou's fleet. Bringing the shield up, he emptied the upper cells of their missiles before accelerating away. They spread out before detonating, scattering smoke and high-density particles in the ship's field of fire. Even with Hallelujah's upgrades, he knew that if the density was high enough then he'd be blind.
"Gunzou, they're trying to pick us off!" he shouted, hoping the kid would understand what he meant.
He didn't get to elaborate as the remaining GN-Xs finally caught up with him, forcing him onto the defensive once again. He was really getting tired of this as he brought his shield up and began dodging again. But using his Trans-Am against what were essentially grunts wouldn't just be a waste; it could get him killed if it ran down right as Hallelujah attacked him. He had no doubt that the former Meister was hoping to do just that, and he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.
Blasting a hole in one of them, he decided to try and challenge him again. "Is this all you can do, Hallelujah?" he demanded, "Are you just a coward hiding behind your puppets?!"
Somehow, that seemed to work as the three GN-Xs fell back. At the same time, a new machine took off from the cruiser he'd blinded just as it fired its main weapon. Thanks to his interference, its shot missed while the other two slammed into Hiei. Her barrier held, but only just. Her hull didn't fare much better as smoke began billowing from her, and Avalon hoped her small crew hadn't been in any of the damaged areas. Bringing his attention back to his own fight, he watched the Arios join the other mobile suits as they faced off against Avalon.
"Well, if you insist," Hallelujah said in amusement as held his arms out, "I'll just have to show you what you're really fighting against."
With that, the three GN-Xs grabbed onto the Gundam; one on each arm and the third on its back. The three mobile suits then seemed to melt before flowing into the Gundam, changing it drastically. Its size nearly doubled, with the feet growing wicked claws and pointed spines on the knees. The arms sprouted a pair of particle rifle barrels on the forearms, while the hands grew more serrated. The folded armor on its shoulders, which had been the nose of its fighter mode, grew longer before sprouting more spines. Finally, the fins on the head grew longer as well while the entire face took a more twisted look to it. Staring at the new machine, Avalon had no doubts that he was facing a kind of mechanical devil.
"…What… What the hell are you?!" Avalon demanded, already feeling his understanding of the ELS slipping away. They'd never done something like this before, even when al-Saachez had been directing them.
"I'm the end of all things," Hallelujah declared as he drew a beam sword, "I'm the death of this world, and I will be the death of you, brat!"
Bringing the blaster up, Avalon unloaded as many shots as he could only to watch them deflect off this new machine's chest. Then it was on him, and he just barely brought his shield up in time as its beam sword came down towards his head. But it didn't stop there, instead opting to continue to accelerate and take them both away from the raging battle. Twisting to the side, Avalon tried to gain some distance only to barely dodge a back-handed swipe from the Arios as it turned to pursue him.
"You think I'm going to let you get away that easily?!" Hallelujah demanded as he brought his other arm up. The beam rifle barrels glowed menacingly as they charged up to fire, and Avalon felt a trickle of fear even as he brought his shield up. "He might not consider you a threat, but I'm not about to let you leave this realm alive!" Hallelujah declared as he opened fire.
The torrent of particle beams slammed into Avalon's Klein field, steadily saturating it with their energy. He couldn't take much more of this fire before the field failed completely, and he wasn't confident in his armor's ability to take that kind of fire. Collapsing the blaster down and returning it to the gauntlet, he reached down for his rifle before dodging to the side. Bringing his gun up in assault mode, he unloaded his own stream of blasts and forced this new Gundam to evade or be ripped apart.
Meanwhile, Hallelujah's ships were beginning to focus their fire on Kongou specifically. Grimacing as the tower rocked from another wave of missiles, Gunzou looked at the tactical plot again. The enemy cruisers were almost behind their position, while their own fleet had been painfully slow to turn to face them.
"Kongou, we need to come about!" he shouted so he would be heard over the explosions.
"I'm well aware of that, human!" she replied as she fought to turn her ship. Her efforts were interrupted as one of the destroyers actually rammed her bow, stopping her turn as it unloaded into her forward field.
"What the hell is this guy thinking?!" Kyouhei demanded, even as he directed fire on the smaller ship, "He's throwing his ships away!"
"Remember, he has other allies across the globe now," Sou reminded him, "Even if he can't beat us now, he probably as a larger fleet gathering further out to sea."
"We can't worry about that now," Gunzou decided, "Hiei, Ise, focus on the cruisers to our-"
He was cut off as a wave of Corrosive missiles penetrated Kongou's defenses, slamming into her field and putting considerable strain on it. The blasts eventually subsided, but they were only replaced by an increase in conventional fire.
"We can't take much more of this!" Kyouhei said, fear starting to creep into his voice.
Grimacing, Gunzou returned his attention to the tactical map. There had to be a way they could get out of this. But the longer he looked, the less he saw. Despite their weight advantage, Hallelujah had managed to disrupt them and was now bogging them down in a point-blank fight. Even if they did win here, it would be at a considerable cost. There was now good way this could end, not unless something changed quickly.
Fortunately, something did.
Energy beams began raining from the sky, slamming into the remaining destroyers with surprising force and actually succeeding in damaging several of them. Pushing himself out of the chair, Gunzou looked up at the sky only to gasp in surprise. At the same time, their communications crackled to life with a new voice.
"Sorry for being late, Captain," Iona said.
To be continued…