Kei is best. Kei is bae.

The interior of the satellite was nothing too impressive. Most of the offshoot rooms were bedrooms, so we skirted by them in hopes that no one would come out. I would have preferred to avoid any fights. Well, no, that wasn't true. I would have been happy to wail on every man there, but that just wasn't an option. We were outnumbered. Even if a fight were inevitable, our only hope was a scuffle with a handful of the crew. If they all ganged up on us at once, we were screwed. This wasn't our turf. We couldn't play by our rules. And without my armor, I felt naked.

At least we knew several of the bedrooms weren't occupied any longer.

Though we'd memorized the layout and our man back on the Gullwing fed us information as we went, the whole place looked maddeningly similar. The too-white lights against gray tiling and white walls painted the place in a nauseating color. If it weren't for the floor numbers marking our progress, I would have assumed we were running in circles. I almost preferred the ventilation we'd crawled in through, but that grew too thin to use for long.

For now, the place was eerily silent. We'd seen no one and heard no one. It seemed like the lower floors had been abandoned. Regardless, we had to toss jammers on so many cameras, I lost count. The black half-spheres hung from the ceiling every dozen meters or so, staring out at nothing. The whole place left an itch in the back of my skull. It was just wrong – all of it. Empty and cold and wrong.

I couldn't chance breathing too loud, so I didn't sigh when we reached the third floor. It was our best guess as to where they were holding the captives, as one of the larger rooms was locked from the outside. If that wasn't it, then someone was in for a world of hurt. I just would have preferred to not have to capture and interrogate someone in enemy territory.

Even the light tapping of our boots was too loud as we neared the room. At least two people stood outside – hopefully only two. Judging by their shadows, that was the case. We pressed our backs to the inner wall, and my knife slipped into my hand.

"It'd be easier to take them to a different room like the others," one man said. "One at a time, you know. I don't want them all screaming."

"The brothers won't let you separate them. Besides, we need to get this done quickly. It's not like they can put up a fight."

"Then the brothers can go together. This won't take that much longer. It's just better if they don't see it coming, alright?"

I agreed with that much at least, which was why I tried to be quick as we shot around the corner and tore our knives across their throats. But I saw the fear in their eyes, saw them tried to grab their guns. Even so, I felt no remorse as they gargled away their last breaths. As we opened the door in their place, my gut told me I'd done the right thing.

There were four of them, all too young to be there, too young to have done anything wrong. They huddled together on one bed despite more than enough being in the room. The way the older kids clutched the younger ones showed they knew what was coming. I handed off my knife to one of the guys before stepping into the room. I just hoped they couldn't see too much of the bodies.

"Hey there," I breathed, keeping my steps slow as I neared them. "There's no need to be afraid now, alright? Big sister Kei is here, and I'm going to get you out of this place."

In person, I found Yuuki even more troubling. Our heights were a perfect match, and he wore his weapons just as I did – a gun on his right hip, a saber on his left. His visage had softened since entering the hangar. As his eyes swept the room, they lingered on the scars left from our fights. Burns and tears from gunshots marred the metal. With a steadying breath, Yuuki tore his eyes away to meet mine.

"Harlock, is Tadashi's-" Something caught in his throat, making him hesitate. "Is his body still here?"

I nodded. "You came early. We haven't had time…" And Yama hadn't gotten to say goodbye.

"I should have gone before him," Yuuki sighed, though he didn't seem to be talking to me. His eyes drifted once more. "It should have been me at the very beginning, but they wouldn't let me."

"Do you want to see him?" I asked. Perhaps it was a stalling tactic, but I felt I would have offered as much in any other case.

He seemed to consider it for a moment but shook his head. "No," he said. "There's no time. I have to get back."

"You know they'll kill you. That monitoring device has a kill switch. They're likely to activate it as soon as you leave." If we could get that jammer working, we could keep him safe as long as he stayed with us. The moment he was out of our range, they could easily take him out.

He nodded. "I'd suspected something like that, but I have to try. I have nothing unless I try. But if I die here, in this duel, I ask that you put me to rest alongside Tadashi." His voice wavered. "I just don't want him to be alone."

"I promise."

It was kind of him to consider the possibility that I could win, but I knew better. As the top assassin, he undoubtedly had the ability to take me down even without my injuries getting in the way. I had to fight defensively, or I would die quickly.

But that would be obvious to him and perhaps to those observing him. If I tried to stall too long, they would get suspicious, and he wouldn't put up with it.

"If you'll offer me one curiosity before you kill me," I said as he drew his saber. Luckily, it seemed he was playing down to my handicap. If he had wanted to have a duel of guns, the match wouldn't last long – I wouldn't last long.

"Depends on the question," he said, wary eyes flicking over me.

I had a feeling I knew what I wasn't allowed to ask, which made the question all the more troublesome. If he was so wary of being questioned over why we looked so similar, that meant it was more than mere coincidence.

"Yama said the assassins were ranked based on ability as well as how you would fit in as pirates," I began. "If you were ranked first, they imagined you fitting in well with my crew, but considering the circumstances…"

He nodded. "They put a great deal of work into altering my appearance. It was all for nothing, but had you stopped where I was stationed, my appearance wouldn't have been noteworthy at the time." His brow furrowed. "But you picked that empty desert instead."

The sorrow in his voice gave me pause. "Are you upset that I didn't pick you? Or that I picked Yama?"

"It doesn't matter now." He raised his saber and stepped back into stance. "Many things happened which shouldn't have, but I've wasted too much time. Draw your blade, Harlock."

I hoped my engineers were close to a breakthrough because I doubted I had much time left at all.

"Very well." I drew my saber and took my own stance. His form was more polished than my own, the sort of thing academy instructors drilled into you. I'd gotten out of the habit of being so rigid long ago, but I offered him a quick, lazy salute with my saber, the sort I used to give to every sparring partner.

His eyes softened for a moment as he eased his stance and returned the salute. But any evidence of kindness or concern vanished as he attacked. Zero fought with strength, Helmatier with speed, and Bainas with unpredictability, but Wataru fought with precision. His attack was trained to be perfect, no errors or hesitation. Blocking alone was a challenge, and he caught my parries as though he'd thought of them before I could.

Despite his impressive ability, the fight seemed almost too fair. It seemed he wanted an honest duel despite his rush. He never once tried to use my blind side to his advantage. He didn't attack below the belt, didn't attempt to put pressure on my bad leg. It almost felt like a fencing match, him pressing me back toward the line. My hand numbed from the force of guarding each blow. My only advantage was that he felt too trained, too perfect. There seemed to be no true unpredictability beyond that.

Still, I couldn't bring myself to pull any tricks in return. The match felt too honorable for that. He wanted to win on skill alone, and he would. I could sense the wall closing in at my back. Unless I attempted to attack in return, he would press me into a corner.

I didn't have much of a plan. I just didn't have time to think of one. As the heel of my boot halted against the wall and his saber collided with mine, I pressed back. One-handed sabers weren't made for wrestling, so Yuuki's face screwed up with confusion and surprise as I began trying to physically push him back. Before he could understand that my stupid tactic was truly stupid, I grabbed the front of his shirt with my free hand. "Sorry," I said before I yanked him forward and knocked our skulls together.

He stumbled back several steps, clutching his head. He looked too confused to feel pain or anger. "What in the world?" he muttered.

I wasn't much better off, holding my pounding skull as well. Surely I could have come up with something better than that, but that was the way my head engineer found us when he ran in, gasping for breath.

He and Yuuki looked at each other with equal confusion. "Captain, what did you do?" the boy panted.

"I stalled," I muttered.

He squinted at me as he found the air to respond. "It's jammed. We got it. But, like, all of it is jammed. We couldn't isolate one signal, so we just shut down the whole thing. They're blind and deaf. We figured that was better anyway."

An oncoming storm swam in Yuuki's eyes. "What is he talking about?" he asked, turning his anger on me. "What did you do?"

"We shut down the receiver," I said, straightening myself. "Gaia can't monitor you anymore."

Horror and anger fought for control of his expression, but neither won. "No!" he roared, storming up to me. "You can't do this! They'll kill my sons! Turn it back on!" He dropped his saber just to grab me by my collar. His grip was so strong, my heels left the ground. "Turn it back!"

"They'll kill you," I answered, firm as any order. "Even if you go back to them with my head, they'll kill you and your sons."

"I know!" he screamed, his voice cracking. "But at the very least I can die with them. They're just little boys." His grip loosened, and I slipped to the ground. "I can't let them die alone," he choked, tears in his eyes. "At the very least I can hold them, so they're not too scared." He took a slow step back as his tears fell.

I had to pray Kei wouldn't be too late because we would be. "Nazca," I snapped.

The boy jolted to attention. "Yeah?"

Reaching out, I grabbed Yuuki by the arm and dragged him toward the door. "We're going to jump. We need to get to that base. Find Kei's location."

"What?" Nazca squawked. "But if we track the ship, the enemy will see its location too."

"If they don't already know she's there, they're about to."

"But the breach in the hull hasn't been tested!"

"I trust your repairs."

"Ah jeez," Nazca whined as he tailed us out into the hall. "Alright, guys! Prepare for a warp!"

Yuuki looked too stunned to comprehend or argue.

As it turned out, Gaia wasn't too happy about us stealing the kids back. It didn't take long for someone to notice the corpses, and within minutes we were pinned down on the second floor. The guys stood on either side of me as I guarded an armful of kids. We kept the enemy back by firing around the corners, but they were closing in to our little space of wall. We had no cover in the area otherwise. We had to make a run for the stairs, or we were all dead, and I couldn't exactly carry all four kids.

I knew the two smaller ones would have to be carried for sure. The little girl, no more than seven, was a trembling mess, clinging to me as she gasped for air. The youngest boy looked too scared to do much of anything but stare wide-eyed. The older one, who I assumed to be his brother, held him close and frantically watched the edges of our cover. The oldest one, maybe 13 or so, held something silver to his chest and tried to stay steady. They all looked close to passing out, and I didn't trust any of their legs.

"Everyone's going to have to get a kid in one hand and a gun in the other," I hissed. "We have to go."

The guys glanced uneasily my way, but each gave a nod of understanding.

"I've got the girl," I said.

"I can give you an opening."

"I can get the brothers. Don't look too heavy."

"Then I've got the last one."

"Guess I'm covering the rear then." Despite the exasperation in his face, he seemed to be smiling. Maybe this was all too crazy to respond any other way.

"Ready?" I asked myself and them. "Now!"

The little girl gave a squeak of surprise as I yanked her against my chest and dashed toward oncoming fire after our lead. Luckily, there were fewer men on this side, only the ones who had been in their bunks when the alarm went off. I took out one as I turned the corner. Our lead took a hit to the shoulder before slamming the butt of his gun into the face of the guy responsible. I heard someone shout curses behind me, but all I could do was run and hope. There was no time to look back.

My head swam with adrenaline as we ran. Gunfire followed our tail, but no one impeded our path beyond the ones we took out. We couldn't go back out through the vents quickly, but they were our only option. The door to the hangar had jammed as soon as the alarm went off. We just had to shove the kids in the vents and hope for the best.

"How many more of them do you think there are?" I yelled back.

"At least ten!" our rear responded. It was good to know we still had him.

As we rounded the corner on the final staircase toward the base engine room, our lead spat a curse. I collided with his back just as he stopped. In front of us, a bulkhead sealed the path.

"Oh," I felt myself say. My legs went cold.

Before we could even turn around, a hail of gunfire rained down on us. I dropped to the ground, curling around the girl and firing half-blind up the stairs. Her scream mixed with the other childrens'.

Something drowned all of it out – all the gunfire, all the screaming. It sounded like a roar, deafening in the metal hall. The room, or perhaps the entire station, shook like the Arcadia did when it took a hit. Another scream followed, too high to have come from a human. The roof above us shattered as though made of glass.

Debris filled the room, too much to see, but I could have recognized the humming above us from anywhere.

"Whose idea was it to crash through a wall?" one of the guys said though coughs of dust. "Those idiots."

More gunfire sounded from above us, but none of the blasts headed our way. "Is everyone alright?" I asked.

The guys hissed and grumbled their affirmations, but none of the kids said a word. The girl looked alright, at least physically. She still hiccupped between her tears, but I didn't see any scratches. The brothers were still in the arms of one of our strongest men, and they looked dusty, but breathing.

"Kid, did you get shot?" I heard as I turned toward the last boy.

He looked as though he hadn't noticed, as though he didn't know what the gaping hole in his side could be. He reached toward it as though curious, but I dove for him. Clamping my hand down over the wound, I ignored his cry of pain and pulled him up into my arms.

"It's okay," I gasped, rushing up the stairs. "Just stay awake. We'll get you to a doctor."

"Susumu?" a small voice called from behind me. It was the first I'd heard any of them speak.

"Susumu?" I asked. "Is that your name?"

He tried to look at me, but he kept blinking, kept trying to find focus. "Yeah," he breathed after a moment. "Susumu Kodai."

"Alright," I gasped, trying to see through the haze of dust on the first floor. People were still firing, but I couldn't tell enemy from ally, and I couldn't draw attention to myself until the area was safe. I had to keep the kid awake. His blood felt too warm as it seeped through my fingers. No matter how I tried to hold the wound, he just seemed to bleed and bleed.

"Alright, Susumu, what's that you're holding?"

"Hmm?" He seemed as though he'd forgotten. He looked down to the silver thing in his hand. "It's my brother's harmonica," he whispered. His eyes looked so heavy. This wasn't right. It was happening too fast.

"Medic!" I yelled. I didn't care if I got shot. I needed to help him.

"Are we going to see my brother?" he asked as I sank to my knees. His eyes looked too dull to see any longer. "He said he was going to talk to the pirates. You're pirates, right? So he's with you?"

All I knew for sure was that if the Arcadia was here, then his brother was dead. I sank my teeth into my bottom lip trying to hold it steady. "Yeah, Susumu," I whispered. "He's with us, so I'll take you to him, okay? So you just stay awake for me."

He tried to say something. His mouth moved, but no words left him.

Then he stopped moving altogether.

The captain found me first, trying to convince a dead boy to speak. I couldn't tell much through my tears, the smoke, and dust, but I knew the captain by his voice. "It's alright, Miss," he said. "I've got him."

"I tried," I choked as Susumu slipped from my arms. "I tried to help him. I'm so sorry."

The harmonica fell into my lap, and my hands curled around it.

A hand latched onto my shoulder. "Kei," the captain said, his breaths suddenly quick. "Where are the others?"

"Downstairs," I said. "They're protecting the rest of the kids."

"So they're okay?" the captain asked, his voice more even once again.

I looked up from my hands in confusion, and there were two of him. "Yeah," I said. "Everyone else is safe."

One of the captains yelled at someone to get me back on the ship, and I felt myself led until I was in the infirmary. "I'm fine," I felt myself say over and over. "Where's Susumu? Where is he? He's hurt. I… I have to get him to his brother." My hands tightened around the harmonica, the metal warm from his hands and his blood. I knew he was dead, but I couldn't control my voice. People kept trying to talk to me, but I didn't want to hear it.

Then I felt a hand over mine. "Kei," Yama called, his voice broken by tears like mine. "It's okay. They're together now. It's alright."

It wasn't, but of all people, I couldn't tell him that. He was the one it needed to be alright for. He put his arms around me, and I cried on his shoulder. It wasn't right. I was supposed to come back with everything solved so he wouldn't have to cry anymore, so he and the captain could just be alright. He wasn't supposed to be comforting me.

"It's alright," he murmured. "It's over now. Let yourself rest."

Sleep well, Kei.