Chapter 25 - The Hunter vs The Hunted: A Battle of Wits

November 13th 2204 - Makira System - Neu Lambea

Inside the Neu Lambea's dimly lit CIC, Colonel Vale frowned with his arms crossed as he stood above the crew manning consoles all around him.

"Status report!" he barked.

"Engines are operating at thirty-five percent output!" exclaimed one of the crewmen. "We just brought up shields but we can only sustain them at twenty percent strength with the power we have!"

"That last hit took out two of our auxiliary engines as well!" called out another crewman next to him. "We cannot maintain combat speed!"

"Ignore that for now! Tell engineering to continue focusing on repairing our Geschtum jump drive first!" ordered Colonel Vale before turning to the radar officer. "Any visuals on the enemy yet?"

"None sir!" one of the radar operators quickly replied. "But It's definitely like the last encounter with those damn Gatlantean stealth ships!"

"Colonel! The Barnhardt is currently signalling us!" interjected the communications officer. "They have already prepared for anti-stealth combat and want to move in to flush the area out with torpedoes."

"Negative! We will wait for their next salvo before we counterattack! Tell the fleet to assume defensive positions around us and prepare to fire on my command," replied the bearded colonel firmly as he glanced at him.

"Aye sir!"

"EMP warheads have been loaded sir!" exclaimed the tactical officer from behind his console. "Awaiting your orders!"

"Good! What's the status of Major Friebel?" asked Colonel Vale as he turned to another officer.

Just then, the door of the CIC opened to reveal the major.

"Right here sir!" he replied quickly. "Apologies for the delay!"

"Anything useful from the meeting with our guests?" asked Vale as he narrowed his eyes.

"None sir." replied Fribel curtly as he took his place next to the Colonel.

"I see," replied Colonel Vale in a low voice as he lowered his head briefly before turning back to the front with an ironclad fist. "Then we will proceed as planned! Flight command, prepare to scramble the 22nd Astro Fighter Squadron to intercept bogey missiles and torpedoes!"

Meanwhile in the ship's main hangar, Konno watched from her open cockpit as one of the Garmillan mechanics helped mount two sensor pods onto the Tiger IIB's wings. Thankfully, they were compatible with the earth-made spacecraft and with a few select details omitted in the explanation of their situation, they were able to get the assistance of a few hangar mechanics.

Behind her, Otto was busy typing away with his laptop wired into the spacecraft's internal computer. However, she could barely hear the clicks of his keyboard which were too soft to hear over the loud Garmillan announcements and the engine sounds of fighters that were echoing around them. At the same time, rows of pilots were running past them to their spacecraft, but unfortunately Konno could not spot any familiar faces among them.

"We might have a problem," said Otto as his fingers continued moving. "The sensor pods' internal processors were not designed to handle this amount of information, so to compensate we will only have a limited range for enhanced detection."

"How limited are we talking about?" asked Josiah from the radio.

"We only have the sensor resolution needed to detect the stealth vessel within a radius of fifteen space kilometers," replied Otto. "Or about ten percent of the sensor pod's normal range."

"Damn, we're really going to have to get in close to find them huh?" muttered Josiah. "That probably means we'll have to fly around in a search pattern, hopefully we won't catch the attention of the major."

"Don't worry, I have a plan for dealing with that," said Konno before standing up from her seat to get a better look of her surroundings.

"Terron pilot!" called out the mechanic from under their wing. "I've mounted the sensor pods, but you'll only be able to carry two of the anti-ship EMP missiles!"

"No problem!" replied Konno as she smiled at him. "We just need to hit them once anyway!"

The mechanic gave her a thumbs up and called to his colleagues to start mounting the missiles.

"Wait- Young Miss you're sortieing with us?" exclaimed a familiar voice.

Konno widened her eyes and glanced to the right of the aircraft to see Hübner, Bolz along with a few other pilots looking at them with their helmets in hand.

"Y-Yeah well-" replied Konno as she quickly jumped down the ladder from her cockpit to meet them while Bolz gestured to the other pilots to go ahead first. "My friend in the back was able to find a way to detect the Gatlantean stealth vessel. So we're scrambling to get it working now."

"What?" the two Garmillon pilots let out in unison.

"Why haven't we heard of this?" asked Lieutenant Hübner as he folded his arms. "If that's the case we could have the whole squadron out there finding the bastard."

"Well," said Konno as she let out a nervous smile and shrugged. "We- weren't exactly authorized…"

"Ah," sighed Hübner dryly as he winced and rubbed his forehead.

Bolz let out a laugh.

"Your group is really quite fearless isn't it?" Bolz added as he shook his head.

Konno could only smile sheepishly in response before she turned back to Hübner and pulled out a slip of paper from her pocket.

"I- know this might be a bit much to ask, but do you think you could convince your captain to give us authorization to fly under your squadron's orders?" she asked before handing him the slip of paper. "This is my flight registration information. I promise we'll stay out of the way but we need to make the commanders think we are only-"

"Alright alright I get what you're trying to say," sighed Hübner as he held his hand out to stop Konno from saying anything else and picked the note from her hands. "I'll let Captain Houth know Osprey Two will be temporarily joining the squadron."

Konno's eyes lit up upon hearing his words and quickly bowed in response.

"Really? Thank you so much!" she exclaimed.

However, she was met with a quick gentle chop on the back of her head causing her to wince and look up.

"But you'll owe me one for this." said Hübner as he smiled. "And you know I don't take favors lightly."

"Right!" nodded Konno.

Letting out a chuckle in response, the messy haired Garmillan took in a breath and turned around back in the direction they were heading.

"Let's go Bolz!" exclaimed Hübner as briskly walked away with his helmet held over his shoulder. "Captain Houth's gonna be mad if we delay any longer! We've got no time to lose!"

"Right!" replied Bolz as he briefly turned back to Konno.

"Well, see you later then," he said with a quick wave before heading to catch up with Hübner.

"Oh yeah," he suddenly added as he paused to turn to Konno. "About your question earlier"

"H-Huh?" asked Konno before opening her mouth in recognition. "Oh."

"I had actually prepared something to say to you after our conversation, but since you're willing to stick your neck out for your companion like this, I guess that's not needed huh?" he said with a smile.

The young pilot widened her eyes.

"W-What do you mean?" asked Konno.

Seeing her response, the shaved headed Garmillan closed his eyes knowingly as he turned back away.

"Never mind!" shouted Bolz as he started running off and waved with his helmet. "Forget I ever said anything! As I said, I don't think you're the type that needs to think that hard about these sorts of things! I'll see you later!"

Konno narrowed her eyes at the Garmillan pilot's odd behavior and pondered to herself quietly about his statement as she glanced to the ground.

But when she did, she noticed a small rounded piece of equipment on the ground. Tilting her head in curiosity, she bent down to pick it up and accidentally pressed a button on its side. With a flash, a holographic group photo of three young Garmillans suddenly appeared above the disk in her hand.

Widening her eyes, she recognized two of them as younger versions of Hübner and Bolz and realised one of them must have dropped it. She glanced up quickly to call out to them but unfortunately the two were long gone. Letting out a sigh, she glanced down at the photo again and realized the last Garmillan must've been Klein.

He had red hair along with a stubbled chin, and had a wide warm smile as he posed hugging in between the other two.

Konno narrowed her eyes as she thought about Bolz's words, and couldn't help but be reminded of Genta, Mitsuhiko and Kaito when she looked at the three pilots together.

"Lady! You're ready for launch!" came the voice of one of the mechanics from behind.

Closing the hologram, the young pilot lowered her head as she clenched the emitter tightly.

I guess he's right, there's no point worrying about it now, she smiled lightly to herself. Regardless of the uncertainties she had, the one thing she knew for sure was that her friends were still waiting for her back home.

"Right! I'll be right there!" exclaimed the young pilot as she tucked the emitter into her pocket.

Soon, Konno was back in her cockpit with her helmet on and preparing for launch. Flicking a few switches, she began moving her flightstick and glanced out of the cockpit to see the Tiger IIB's maneuvering thrusters twist and twitch in every direction.

Behind her, Otto glanced down at the computer in front of him as the display glowed with life.

"Everything's set Ms Yashiro," he said as he looked at the young pilot.

"Nice," she replied before glancing at the intercom "What about you Anton?"

The rear bubble turret articulated itself left and right in response as Josiah did his final checks.

"Same, ready to go," he said before turning to the intercom. "Let's just hope your request to the pilots was successful."

Just then, the radio crackled to life causing Konno to turn to it in anticipation.

"Osprey Two, this is Neu Lambea flight command," came a calm voice. "We have been informed of your arrangement, please proceed to taxi to launch bay four."

"Copy," replied Konno who beamed from ear to ear. "Powering engines up now."

Pushing on her throttle, the twin engines of the Cosmo Tiger IIB roared to life, glowing with a dim orange as they gently pushed the spacecraft forward. Otto gulped to himself as he watched Konno turn according to the directions of a marshal on the ground and followed the other fighters heading towards the launch bays pointing diagonally outwards from the hangar.

"Um, I know this might be a little late to ask," said Otto meekly. "But are you guys sure we should be doing this?"

"You don't say it's a bit late to ask that," muttered Josiah sarcastically.

"I- I know," said Otto as he lowered his head. "But if something goes wrong, we could get court martialed for disobeying Major Friebel's orders. I don't want you guys to get caught up in that because of me"

"If something goes wrong then a court martial would be the least of our worries," replied Josiah. "But regardless, once we take out the stealth vessel using your detection system and prove your worth, I highly doubt he'd be able to hold you to such an order."

"Don't worry Giezler," said Konno as she glanced back and gave him a reassuring smile. "If it really comes down to it, we'll have your back."

The bespectacled officer smiled in response and glanced back down at his computer.

"T-Thanks guys," he said quietly.

As he said this, the Tiger IIB jolted briefly as its front landing gear rolled onto a catapult rail attachment. Locking into place with a satisfying mechanical clamp, the brown spacecraft began to be towed into the bunker-like launch bay in front of it. As the doors hissed close behind them and pumps began to depressurize the bay, the radio in the cockpit sparked to life once again, but this time with a familiar voice.

"Osprey Two, this is Captain Houth, do you read?"

The captain's booming voice was unmistakable.

"Yes sir!" replied Konno.

"I heard that you'll be joining us today," he said sternly. "In the future, please inform me of these things beforehand."

"S-Sorry sir," said the young pilot as she shrunk in her seat.

The captain let out a sigh.

"Lieutenant Hübner informed me that you will need to patrol the area for your task," said Captain Houth. "I'll assign him to look after you as there are a few things that you need to take note of."

"Hello! We meet again!" came Hübner's chipper voice. "I shall be your guide for today."

"Please listen to him carefully," stressed Captain Houth. "We may not be in the direct line of fire this time, but that doesn't make the situation any less dangerous."

"Roger!" replied Konno quickly.

As she said this, three red lights started to flash from the ceiling in front of them as an alarm blared from outside the cockpit.

"Osprey Two you're clear for launch," came flight command.

At the same time, the doors in front of them started opening inward to reveal the starry open space outside.

"Copy, engaging launch sequence," replied Konno as she flipped a series of switches on her dashboard and gripped her throttle tightly.

Slowly, the engines of the brown spacecraft began to glow brighter and brighter as they increased thrust, lighting up with a loud rumble.

Glancing up, Konno took in a deep breath as the red lights turned off one by one, signaling the status of the doors. At the same time, Otto and Josiah closed their eyes, bracing themselves for the battle that was about to come.

Three, two, one-

Just as the doors locked in place, the lights in the ceiling switched to a bright green as a beep sounded in the cockpit.

"Osprey Two, launching!" she exclaimed.

With a loud swoosh, the catapult rails accelerated the Tiger IIB to takeoff speed instantaneously, shooting it out of the Neu Lambea's hangar superstructure past a group of red Debake fighters and into the fray.

Meanwhile back in the Neu Lambea's CIC, Colonel Vale narrowed his eyes as he watched their forces form up on the large tactical display in front of him.

"What are you waiting for?" he pondered under his breath.

"Major, our fighter squadrons have successfully launched and are now patrolling the area," said one of the officers behind him.

"Good," replied Major Friebel. "Make sure they're ready to avoid our line of fire when the stealth vessel fires again."

"Aye sir!"

As Major Friebel turned back to the tactical view, he couldn't help but notice that Colonel Vale seemed concerned about something.

"Sir what's wrong?" he asked quietly. "Everything is in position, we are ready as planned."

Back out on the battlefield, Josiah narrowed his eyes as their brown Tiger IIB and Hübner's red Debake hovered around the fleet. The Neu Lambea's escorts had slowed down and formed a defensive fleet formation around the limping crimson carrier, who was moving at a snail's pace due to the first torpedo attack and had a trail of debris behind it signaling its damage. In addition, the launched fighters were circling the area around the fleet in flights of threes, ready to react at a moment's notice to any potential attack. If one thing was for sure, the fleet was definitely not going to get caught with its pants down like the last ambush.

But despite all that, something felt very off to the tactical officer. Unlike the previous relentless assault that he had briefly seen and heard about, the fleet was given ample time to prepare itself after the first strike.

Why was that?

As Josiah pondered this, the two spacecraft banked slightly as they continued on their patrol route.

"Anything on your scopes Young Miss?" asked Hübner's voice on the radio.

Konno glanced at Otto, but the bespectacled Garmillan shook his head.

"No, not yet," she replied.

The Garmillan Lieutenant let out a sigh.

"I guess it wasn't going to be that easy huh?" he lamented as he put his arms behind his head.

The young pilot let out a sheepish laugh.

"Well- unfortunately until the Gatlanteans decide to attack again, this is all we can do with the sensor pods' reduced range," replied Konno. "But once the stealth vessel fires again, we'll be able to know roughly where they are and we can rush over to comb that area. I don't think they'll be as fast as us so we should be able to catch a glimpse of them."

"Oh," replied Hübner as he lifted his head in surprise. "That's interesting, but unfortunately I'm not going to be able to let you do that."

Konno raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? Why?" she asked.

"Because if we do that, we'll be incinerated," he replied.

His statement caught the attention of Josiah, who glared at his radio in response.

"Speaking of which, Captain Houth said that there were a few things to take note of," the young tactical officer stated. "But you haven't told us anything yet, is this related to one of them?"

The pilot replied with a chuckle.

"You'll see," said Hübner. "Sorry, I wanted to see what you had in store first to see whether you could come up with an alternative to the fleet's plan. But let's just say, the command staff has already gone through this conversation."

Josiah narrowed his eyes at the Garmillan pilot's comment. But before he could say anything else, an alarm suddenly blared throughout the cockpit.

"Three enemy torpedoes bearing 065!" yelled the radar officer.

Colonel Vale gripped his sleeve in response as he watched three triangles approaching the fleet on the tactical view.

"Trajectory of enemy torpedoes have been identified!" exclaimed the tactical officer to his left. "Weapon timers have been adjusted to hit their estimated point of origin!"

Without missing a beat, Colonel Vale gritted his teeth and announced his command.

"Neu Lambea to all ships, Fire at will!"

In an instant, the torpedo bay doors on all eleven Garmillan warships slammed open and streaks of white smoke shot out sequentially from each ship as the fleet launched a massive spread of torpedoes and missiles toward the incoming ordinance. The Garmillan warheads streaked past the Gatlantean torpedoes and let them pass by uncontested. But as they approached the fleet, the Debake fighters around the Neu Lambea swiftly sprung into action and shredded them to pieces with bursts of gunfire before they could even enter the fleet's AA range.

At the same time, the trio in the Tiger IIB watched as the salvos of Garmillan torpedoes continued straight on to their target coordinates. Realizing what was about to happen, the young officers immediately shut their eyes and braced themselves as they shielded their faces.

Within seconds, the entire area of space in front of them disappeared into a blinding cloud of orange and white balls, illuminating the entire right flank of the fleet as the combination of EMP and conventional warheads went off in a spectacular series of explosions that dwarfed the brown torpedo bomber.

"All torpedoes have detonated on target sir!" reported one of the radar officers.

"Give me visuals," said Vale flatly as he frowned at the multiple radar and video screens which showed the combat zone that was blanketed by their massive torpedo strike. "I want confirmation of the enemy's demise. Radar, is there any sign of wreckage?"

"Working on it sir," replied the tactical officer. "We're sending a destroyer to the impact zone. It will take a while for them to confirm if anything was caught in the blast."

Back in the cockpit of the Tiger IIB, Konno slowly peeked through the cracks in her fingers at the giant cloud as she began to hear the cheers of the Neu Lambea's pilots coming through the radio.

"A-Amazing," she couldn't help but let out as the glow in the distance began to die down.

"Hoo, they put a lot more into that than I expected," chuckled Hübner. "But that's the Colonel for you, he doesn't pull his punches."

"I-I guess that's one way to deal with it," replied Josiah, who couldn't help but smile at the efficiency and coordination of the counterattack. "Damn, a cross-counter to knock the enemy out the moment they revealed themselves. The Gatlanteans wouldn't have stood a chance even if they saw it coming, there's no way they could have avoided an attack of that size."

"Y-Yeah," mumbled Otto, who stared blankly at the remnants of the explosion alongside Konno.

"How long did the command staff have this in mind?" the young pilot asked.

"Since the last attack," replied Hübner, causing Konno to widen her eyes. "They were pretty pissed off by how easily the Gatlantean stealth vessel picked apart our fleet."

"I see…" replied Konno as she glanced at Otto and lowered her head. "So that's why they were so uptight with their sensors. If they already had a plan they couldn't risk us screwing it up."

The Garmillan pilot let out a gentle sigh.

"Apologies, I know they're quite prickly, but you have to understand that they do have the experience to back up their opinions," he smiled quietly. "They wouldn't have gotten to that rank otherwise."

Realizing that Hübner was lightly reprimanding them for breaking orders, Konno let out a nervous laugh and glanced away.

"G-Got it," she said sheepishly. "Message received, we won't make this a habit."

However back in the ball turret, Josiah let out a sigh in response to the Garmillan pilot's comment and leaned back in his seat.

"If only that were always the case," he murmured under his breath.

"Good work everyone, but save your cheers for later," came Captain Houth's voice over the radio. "We still haven't been given the all clear yet. Continue securing the perimeter until we receive confirmation to return."

"Yes sir~" replied the rest of the pilots.

Back inside the CIC of the Neu Lambea, the radar operators and tactical officers were all looking at their displays for any sign of the wreckage of the stealth vessel.

"Grid 12 is clear," reported a radar officer.

"Our scouting destroyer reports nothing at grid 13," added the comms officer who was maintaining communications with the rest of the fleet.

"Looks like the job is done sir," commented Friebel as he turned to Colonel Vale with a small smirk on his face. "We must have blasted them into atoms."

Vale twisted his face into an uncertain scowl in response. As much as he hoped that the battle had ended, something in his gut told him otherwise.

"Get the engineers to accelerate their repairs on our Geschtum jump drive," muttered the bearded Colonel. "I want us out of here as soon as possible. The stealth vessel didn't come alone last time-"

"Alert! Alert!" screamed out one of the radar operators. "Enemy torpedoes spotted bearing 257! They're heading for the Branhardt!"

Sure enough, five fast dark colored torpedoes raced towards the port side of the Branhardt, which was just a kilometer forward off the port bow of the Neu Lambea.

"Crap we've got incoming on the Branhardt!" yelled one of the pilots over the radio causing Konno to widen her eyes.

"What?!" the young trio cried.

Instinctively, Konno slammed her throttle to full despite knowing she was too far and sped towards the direction of the Gaiderol-class battleship.

"Wha- Osprey Two wait!" cried Hübner, but his voice fell on deaf ears and the Garmillan quickly jetted his red Debake to follow suit.

"Tch! They must've moved while we were waiting!" came another voice over the radio.

"But how did they escape?!" cried another pilot. "Can anyone reach it?"

"I see it! Leave it to us!" answered a familiar rough voice.

"Bolz?" let out Konno as she was snapped out of her crazed tunnel vision.

The young pilot watched as three other red Debakes swooped in from the side of the incoming torpedoes. The lead fighter quickly lined up his sights and opened up with his machine guns. But just as they got within range, the first torpedo suddenly burst open and launched six smaller missiles at the pilots.

"Wha- evasive maneuvers!" cried Bolz.

The three Debakes split in all directions in an attempt to dodge, but the anti-air missiles had too good of a lock and tracked them all down.

"Argh!" cried the three pilots as all three Debake fighters were hit with small explosions.

"Bolz!" screamed Konno as she reached out instinctively to the flaming Debakes.

"Bolz! Ein!" exclaimed Hübner as he winced. "Crap the rest of them are still going!"

"We're not going to make it!"

As the other red fighters scrambled desperately towards the remaining four torpedoes, the Branhardt opened up her point defense guns in a last ditch attempt to try and intercept the salvo, blowing up one in the process. But despite the thick curtain of red lasers, it was too little too late to shoot down the other three.

The first torpedo slammed into the port midsection of the ship, tearing through the armor cowling off the Gaiderol's 'eyeball'. The other two proceeded to slam into the rear half of the Branhardt's hull just moments later, smacking the side of the poor Gaiderol with one explosion after another which blew through into the engineering section.

Inside the Tiger IIB bomber, the young trio watched in muted horror as massive flames and trails of smoke poured out from the three massive gashes in the Barnhardt's port side.

"Wha- What just-"

Konno felt her body freeze as she watched the Gaiderol-class battleship begin to slowly roll over to port as she lost its lateral control. Escape pods soon began ejecting from the Branhardt as the crew of the doomed vessel tried to save themselves, but smaller explosions began to erupt all over the midsection of the ship causing some of them to be torn to shreds by the rogue shrapnel. Then as the vessel was almost completely inverted, a massive explosion amidship tore the Gaiderol-class battleship into two, enveloping the once proud Garmillan capital ship into a massive fireball.

"The Branhardt… She's gone," muttered the voice of one of the pilots.

"Bolz! Ein! Are you there?" exclaimed Hübner. "Were you able to eject?"

The young pilot's eyes flickered in shock as the flames of the ship's destruction reflected off her red irises, and found herself struggling to breathe as she tried to process what just happened.

"Yashiro! I'm detecting a small life sign near the fighter's wreckage!" exclaimed Otto as he grabbed her shoulder.

Feeling his hand, Konno widened her eyes as her senses slowly returned.

"Hübner! Someone's floating near the wreckage!" she exclaimed.

"Alright!" the Garmillon quickly replied before he dove his Debake down towards what remained of the three other red fighters.

Suddenly, the same alarms went off in the cockpit again, causing Konno to look at her radar as another pilot yelled through the radio.

"Five more torpedoes bearing 265!" he cried.

"Calm down!" Captain Houth boomed. "We can still try to hold them off. Fighters, try to use your missiles to intercept from range and buy us some time! I know we have limited ammo, but we'll have a plan by then!"

"Yes sir!"

Konno winced to herself as the squadron continued to try and fend the next torpedo salvo off and slowly flew their Tiger IIB to Hübner's Debake.

However as they got closer, Konno's face went pale as she saw a floating body with a piece of debris stuck in its abdomen. But slowly coming into view, she saw another pilot with a compressed air jet pack making his way to the body and realized that it was Hübner.

The Garmillan pilot quietly examined the body, and checked a small device that was tied to his wrist.

"He's alive," mumbled Hübner.

The young pilot gulped in response as her eyes went wide. She wanted to know whether the person in his arms was Bolz, but didn't have the heart to ask who it was.

"I- I can-"

"Don't worry about us," Hübner stated in a low voice, cutting Konno off as he turned his head to look at the Tiger IIB.

"Find them," he ordered. "That's what you can do."

Konno didn't need to see his face. His words were determined and concise, but she could hear the tremors in his voice that hinted at the anguish he was trying to hold behind them.

"Roger," she nodded as she clenched her flightstick.

Meanwhile on the Neu Lambea's CIC, Colonel Vale clicked his tongue as he watched their fleet fall out of formation to avoid the remaining chunks of the Brandhart.

"Five more torpedoes bearing 195!" exclaimed the radar officer."

"Bring us about hard to starboard! Get those AA guns firing!" boomed Colonel Vale.

"How are retrieval efforts?" asked Major Friebel as he turned to the communications officer.

"We could only find three escape pods sir," he replied grimly.

Upon hearing the number, the major gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath.

"Damn it! They got us again," he hissed as he tried to keep his balance while the whole bridge rocked to the left.

"But how did they survive that attack?" asked one of the officers to his side. "There was barely any time to react."

"Unless- could it be possible we've been attacked by a pack of them?" exclaimed the tactical officer.

"There's no sign of wreckage," countered another officer. "If we had knocked out one, we should have still been able to see some remnants of it."

"Then… are they attacking from a sub dimension?"

The bridge went silent at the thought, with many of the lower level officers wincing in response as they thought about the possibility.

"But there's no dimensional wake from their torpedo attacks," said the radar officer slowly. "If that really was the case then-"

Unfortunately, the radar officer's sentence was cut short as another series of alarms blared out from his console.

"Tsk, another four torpedoes approaching bearing 234!"

"Fighters are intercepting!" exclaimed the communications officer, gripping his headset as he turned to Colonel Vale.

"Sir, Captain Houth asks if there's any change in orders," he stated quickly. "The fighters are making do with missiles for now, but they'll run out soon and will have to risk being taken out by those cluster torpedoes."

"No change," the Colonel curtly replied. "Keep the fighters out until they need to refuel."

"R-Roger."

"Radar!" called Colonel Vale suddenly. "What was the length of time between our detection of the enemy salvo and the time of impact of our own torpedoes?"

The crew widened their eyes in surprise.

"About twenty seconds," the radar officer replied.

Major Friebel lifted his head in recognition and looked at the Colonel.

"Sir, you're not suggesting that they dodged-"

"Can you confirm that there's nothing on the dimensional sonar?" the bearded commander continued, still looking at the radar officer.

"Yes sir!" he replied. "Not even the faintest trace."

"Affirmative," the Colonel responded as he turned his head to the front.

"We cannot afford to be second guessing our sensors now," he boomed. "Our allies are all familiar with our dimensional submarines. If the enemy were truly using our own technology against us, then they would have noticed it in their own encounters."

The officers around the tall commander flinched as their fears were called out by him.

"Right now, we will work with the information we have," Vale continued. "Not on baseless fears. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" the crew exclaimed in unison.

Friebel let out a smile as he watched the crew's concentration return. If there was one thing he admired about his commander, it was the tenacity that he promoted through his no-nonsense attitude.

"Sir, if we fire upon receiving the coordinates, we might be able to halve our reaction time by skipping the commands." the major added.

"Make it so," nodded Colonel Vale before turning to the communications officer. "Inform the rest of the ships to do the same!"

Back in the brown Tiger IIB, Konno narrowed her eyes as she watched a pair of Debake fighters attempt to intercept another wave of torpedoes. However, in their hesitation to not get too close, they were only able to shoot down two out of the five in the wave, though thankfully the escort ships were able to stop the salvo with their own AA missiles.

"Is there really no way to boost our sensor range?" she asked as she glanced nervously to Otto.

"I'm afraid not." the bespectacled officer replied glumly.

The young pilot clenched her teeth in response and turned back to the front as she lowered her head.

"Then there's no other choice, I'll dive towards the enemy the next time they fire their torpedoes." she muttered. "We can't continue flying around aimlessly like this."

"Yashiro calm down," said Josiah quietly in a low voice. "We don't need to-"

"I am calm!" Konno snapped.

However, the pilot widened her eyes in realization the moment her words left her mouth and bit her tongue in response.

"Sorry." she mumbled as she closed her eyes and took a breath.

In the back turret, Josiah lowered his head as he heard Konno go silent.

"Rushing in now won't do us any good," he continued slowly. "I suspect Colonel Vale isn't done trying to flush out the enemy. If we go in and get in the line of fire, it'll only give them an excuse to take us out of the fight. Anyway you don't expect us to get there faster than a missile do you? If they could avoid an attack like that, what chance would we have of catching them?"

"I get that," the young pilot muttered in response. "But they won't be able to do that forever. We have to do something. The longer we wait, the weaker their defenses will be."

Josiah narrowed his eyes at her statement and let out a sigh as he slowly turned his head to look at the fleet.

"Yashiro, do you think we're actually on the backfoot right now?" he asked sarcastically.

Konno widened her eyes at his tone, and turned to the radio in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"By counter attacking so dramatically, the enemy vessel was forced to reveal yet another card in their hand," explained Josiah. "Yes, they did get in a good hit, and the damage to the fleet isn't small."

"However," he added with a sly smile. "We're two steps closer to understanding the enemy's tools. We know now that they're confident in their ability to dodge attacks meant to flush them out, and that they're watching the fleet's actions closely enough to counter them well."

"But- how is that a good thing?" asked Konno. "Doesn't that just give us more problems to deal with?"

"Think about it in a different way," said Josiah. "The enemy now believes they were able to dodge our best attack, and are only focused on Colonel Vale's movements."

Behind Konno, Otto widened his eyes and jumped in his seat when he realized what Josiah was talking about.

"So that means they have no reason to pay attention to us!" he exclaimed.

"Correct," smiled Josiah as a devious look formed on his face. "With that cluster missile, it looks like the enemy is only concerned about fighters stopping them from getting in their torpedo strikes. If they were really concerned about the fighters bringing in intelligence, they would have blanketed us with more of those anti-air missiles to thin us out."

The tactical officer felt his hands tighten on the controls in front of him as excitement built within him.

"But unfortunately for them," he continued. "They have no idea that one of those fighters actually has the ability to reveal them to the fleet. And while they continue to pressure the fleet into making a mistake, we have free reign to keep observing their movements, analyze their actions and catch them where they least expect it. Our trump card is still hidden, and most of the enemy's hand is out in the open. It's the perfect setup for an ambush."

As she listened to his words, Konno's eyes began to dart around as the pilot thought about them.

"I see," she started quietly. "But- if we can't react to the enemy's position by where they fire from, how are we supposed to narrow down our search area? That's the only time we know for sure where they are. Not to mention that if they can reposition so quickly, how are we supposed to catch them with our limited sensor range?"

"That's simple…" let out Josiah as he turned to the fleet.

At the same time, another salvo of torpedoes appeared prompting the fleet to launch another series of missiles immediately.

"If we can't catch them after firing," the tactical officer smirked as his face was silhouetted by the explosions. "Then we'll predict where they'll want to fire from and get there first. After all, all we need is one short glimpse to take their cloak out with our EMP missiles."

Konno widened her eyes briefly in response to his words, stunned momentarily by his analysis but soon closed them knowingly.

"Got it," she replied with a gentle smile. "Sounds like a plan."

"Then let's get to it!" Josiah exclaimed. "Gieszler! Give me a tactical plot of the battlefield!"

For the next few minutes, the fleet continued to slug it out with their invisible foe, firing back with as much ferocity as they could while attempting to mitigate the damage that was being taken by maneuvering their ships to give the best anti-air coverage. But as much as they tried, the stealth vessel was not letting up and continued to slowly whittle the fleet down. The occasional cluster missiles were devastating, almost always catching the timing when the fighters were out of missiles and forced to intercept with guns.

As all this was happening, the brown Tiger IIB scuttled around in the background, taking in every action and projecting it onto a 3D map on the young trio's screens. Thanks to some quick work from Otto, not only were they able to have a live tactical view of the whole battle, but they were also able to see where the stealth vessel had fired from and the fleet's path from the start of the battle.

In the bubble turret, Josiah keenly observed the display in front of him. His eyes were unflinching, almost like a hawk observing its prey. Distance, timing, movement, the tactical officer was absorbing every last detail he could see and forming a virtual image of the battlefield in his head. What were the fighters doing? Where were the fleet's defenses the weakest? Which ships were affected by their damage?

With every second, each shot from the stealth vessel began to make more sense to him, and the image of the invisible Gatlantean ship's actions became clearer and clearer in his mind.

Meanwhile in front, Konno took a glance at the tactical view in front of her. From her view, the stealth vessel's firing points almost lined up like a semi-circle around the left side of the fleet.

Although the ships were turning away in response to their shots, so perhaps that was why the stealth submarine had to move like that, she thought to herself.

However, the young pilot could not help but get distracted by the explosions happening near the fleet. She bit her tongue nervously as she watched another flight of red Debakes intercept another salvo with their guns. Thankfully, there was no cluster missile in that one and the fighters were able to get away cleanly after their pass.

"Anton, what do you think?" asked Konno as she held in her worry and glanced to the intercom.

The tactical officer was being awfully quiet, which meant he was probably thinking. Konno knew she shouldn't feel pressured since they weren't being fired at, but seeing the fleet fight so desperately was making her feel uncomfortable.

"It looks like the Gatlanteans are trying to keep the Neu Lambea and her fleet boxed in," Josiah let out.

"By constantly firing at them from one side?" asked Otto.

"Yeah," replied the tactical officer as he glanced at the fleet with a frown. "At first I was confused as to why they needed to do that when the Neu Lambea was stuck at a low speed, but I'm starting to think that it's to mess up their formation."

"In what way?" asked Konno.

"Look at the escorts." said Josiah.

Konno raised an eyebrow, and glanced at the destroyers surrounding the Neu Lambea. Initially, the fleet was arranged in an almost elongated diamond like shape, with destroyers and cruisers covering the Neu Lambea from all sides. She watched as a salvo of torpedoes approached from the long side of the diamond, and got shredded by AA from almost every ship from left to right.

However, another salvo suddenly appeared diagonally ahead of them. This time, the front ships turned to the right to expose more of their AA guns. However, because of their quick movements, the shape of their formation began to deform as the rear ships tried to follow them.

"Oh I get it!" let out Konno as she saw what Josiah was talking about. "They're trying to find angles that have to deal with the least AA."

"Yeah," replied Josiah as he narrowed his eyes in thought. "It seems like they're limited to about four or five torpedoes per salvo. Even if the Neu Lambea and her fleet don't know where they'll be firing from, their defenses are no pushover to get past. So they're getting around that by firing from annoying angles and at a range that doesn't give enough time for the whole fleet to come around. Colonel Vale is doing well in responding to that, but the rest of the ships are definitely struggling to react."

However, as he finished his sentence, Josiah glanced down to the tactical view in front of him and clasped his hands together in thought.

But even so, he thought to himself. There's no reason to only attack from one side. The only thing that would accomplish was forcing the fleet to go around in a circle. We already know that they're not limited by speed, so why was that? Not to mention that they haven't tried targeting the tailing escorts which were more vulne-

Just as he finished the sentence in his head, Josiah noticed one of the rear Kelkapia cruisers accidentally falling out of formation as they narrowly avoided colliding into a destroyer which had moved too early. Widening his eyes, a sudden bolt of realization hit him.

"Yashiro! The rear cruiser!" he exclaimed.

Jolting in response, Konno immediately glanced at the rear of the fleet and saw what he was talking about.

"Right!" she cried before slamming her throttle to full.

The Tiger IIB burst forth from its patrolling perch, diving down with its engines ablaze towards the lone Kelkapia as it tried to get back to the fleet.

"They'll probably fire from around the bearing of 80 degrees of the fleet!" Josiah exclaimed. "Fly us at least twenty five space kilometres in that direction!"

"Roger!"

"The right side?" let out Otto in surprise as he winced from the acceleration. "But I thought-"

"The enemy commander seems to have a flair for the dramatic!" replied Josiah. "Earlier when they fired the first salvo after we thought they were dead, they didn't just simply fire from the most efficient angle to kill the Brandhart. Instead, they chose to fire from directly opposite where we thought they had perished, and purposely had fighters in the way to show off their cluster missile! It wasn't just a counterattack, it was a message to declare how inferior we were to them!"

"So they were just misleading us by firing only from the left?" asked Otto.

"Not just that!" continued Josiah as he clenched his fists. "They're waiting to use that bait in the most impactful way possible. They could have created much more chaos if they had begun firing from all directions at once, but instead they chose to condition us to favor defending one side. If my hunch is right, they intend to use that to make the fleet's first mistake as painful as possible!"

"Oh!" let out the bespectacled officer as he opened his mouth in realization.

"We're here!" said Konno, prompting Josiah to turn to the intercom.

"Gieszler!" he shouted immediately.

"On it!"

For a moment, the trio went dead silent in anticipation as their brown spacecraft circled the point. All they could hear was the quiet beeps that came from the computer. Josiah felt himself beginning to hold his breath, and his body tensed up in anticipation for Otto's response.

"There's... nothing here!" cried Otto.

Josiah widened his eyes.

"What?" let out Josiah and Konno simultaneously.

The tactical officer immediately glanced down in hesitation for a moment before glancing back to the intercom.

"Check again!" he exclaimed.

In the front of the cockpit, Konno watched as Otto's eyes nervously darted around his screen.

"There's no reading within fifteen space kilometers that matches the research station's reading!" pressed the bespectacled officer in panic.

As he said this, the Tiger IIB slowed down and a crease formed between Josiah's eyebrows as he lowered his head again in thought.

"Then- if that wasn't it. Then why?" he mumbled as he eyed the blue display in front of him.

The tactical officer glanced up and took a look around.

Perhaps they're further up ahead? He thought to himself as he turned his turret to face the front. No, the AA defences are much stronger there. Maybe they're looking to snipe the Neu-

Suddenly, a small flash caught the tactical officer's eye just a few hundred meters in front of them. Following the flash, the distinct trail of a torpedo launch appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Josiah's eyes went wide, his mouth frozen as his brain processed the weight of what he had just witnessed.

"IN FRONT! IN FRONT!" The tactical officer yelled.

"W-What?" let out Otto and Konno as they turned back to the front.

The two were met with another torpedo launch seemingly appearing out of nowhere in front of them.

Widening her eyes, Konno immediately went to her throttle control.

"H-How?!" she cried.

But then the realization hit her. In an instant, the surprise on her face vanished and in its place one of dread. Slowly, she turned around, and took a look at Otto with confusion in her eyes.

On the bespectacled officer's face, she saw a look of terror that she had never seen before. He wasn't breathing, his body was frozen. He wasn't even trying to hide. All he could see was the failure of his work right in front of him.

"Yashiro! Timed fuses! Now!" screamed Josiah through the intercom.

Prying herself away from Otto, Konno moved her hands to the dashboard as she began arming their EMP missile. But her fingers felt heavy, and every button press sent a shudder up her body.

"Yashiro what are you doing?!" cried Josiah as two more torpedo launches went past. "Shoot!"

Wincing, the young pilot put her hand on the trigger. And with one last moment of hesitation, fired.

The large missile under the Tiger IIB's right wing detached itself and ignited its engines just as one more torpedo launch happened in front of them. Launching off with a white trail, the EMP missile soared off to the origin point of the torpedoes and disappeared into a white ball.

Josiah watched with a bated breath as he watched the EMP explosion dissipate, his fists clenched tightly in his lap while he held in his emotions. However, when the white light eventually disappeared, there was no vessel to be found.

Slowly, the young earth officer lowered his head without a word. In front, Konno felt regret surge through her face, and clenched her teeth to hold it in. She couldn't even bear to give any encouragement to Otto, anything she could think of saying simply fell flat in the face of their reality.

Slamming his fist into the side of the cabin, Josiah opened his mouth as he turned to the intercom.

"Why did you hesitate?"

His voice was solemn, a deadly silent rumble.

"We only have two missiles. Firing off one without a lock would have little chance of hitting the target." Konno replied flatly. It was a blatant lie, and her voice had no intent of hiding that fact.

"Why did you hesitate Yashiro?" he asked again.

Her dead eyes glanced away.

"WHY DID YOU HESITATE YASHIRO?!" shouted Josiah.

"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHY!" Konno snapped.

The young pilot clenched her teeth and quickly covered her mouth with her shaking hand as her head dipped to the floor.

Behind, Josiah leaned his head back, hitting the backrest of his seat in frustration as his bangs covered his eyes.

"Gieszler…" he slowly let out.

The bespectacled officer didn't respond, and simply tapped his computer aimlessly in a daze.

Looking up into the inky black above, Josiah's eyes shook as he reevaluated the events of the past few hours. Where was the mistake he made? Which inference was wrong? Could they have been barking up the wrong tree? However, all thoughts led to the same image. Otto.

A dark aura entered the tactical officer's eyes.

If you want something done right, I guess you'll have to do it yourself. He thought.

The tactical officer slowly leaned forward, his head slumping down like that of a zombie.

That's right, how could I have forgotten something so simple.

Images of Konno fooling around laughing, Jonathan yelling at him, the cold eyes of the Garmillan pilots staring at him all flashed through his head. Each memory getting more scratched up than the last. Eventually, he arrived at one last fuzzy image, an image of an older man and woman looking down at him, smiling while they forced a wad of cash into his hand.

The tactical officer opened his mouth. But before he could say anything, he was suddenly stopped by the feeling of a warm, large hand on his shoulder.

You have a great head on your shoulders! Just don't limit your thinking and you'll do fine!

Josiah flinched as he was pushed back into reality by the words Captain Houth had said to him. He opened his mouth instinctively to retaliate, but found himself clenching his teeth and looking down again.

Seconds continued to pass as the brown Tiger IIB slowly drifted aimlessly along its path.

"There… There has to be something else." the tactical officer let out quietly.

Upon hearing his words, Konno glanced at the intercom and widened her eyes slowly.

"A-Anton?" she asked in confusion.

The tactical officer's hand twitched.

"I- I don't know what I'm missing," stuttered Josiah through the radio. "But we all looked at the theory Otto had and agreed that it made sense."

As his voice echoed throughout the front cockpit while Konno listened to him, Otto's eyes began to come back to life behind her.

"If- we assume that his system doesn't work at all, then we have no way to fight," continued the tactical officer, his voice still slow and hesitant. "But we can't afford to do that or at least- I'm not willing to. There has to be something we're missing if Gieszler's system didn't pick the stealth vessel up even if they fired from right in front of us."

Konno's mouth twisted itself as she thought about his words.

"But… what?" she half haphazardly let out.

"I- I don't know!" strained Josiah. "Just look around- at all the data we have. Just something- anything! Gieszler, while we do that just double check you have everything set correctly."

As he heard his words, the bespectacled officer lowered his head slowly as he gripped his computer with his shaky hands. Taking in a sharp breath, he opened his mouth to reply.

"R-Right!" he said with all the enthusiasm he could muster.

Konno gulped to herself as she heard the desperation in Otto's voice, but forced herself to ignore him for now and turned to her radar in front of her.

But what? She and Josiah repeated simultaneously in their heads. What were they missing?

The young pilot narrowed her eyes as she looked at the rounded screen, and turned instead out of the cockpit to look around her. At a glance, all she could see was inky black speckled with stars. That was to be expected, after all they were in space.

But as she continued to move her head around, she noticed a small black spot in her vision that covered the stars behind it. Raising an eyebrow, she sat up to make sure it wasn't a spot of dirt on her window.

"Uh guys? What is that?" she asked as she squinted at the object.

"Where?"

"Two o'clock high." she replied.

The three officers glanced in the direction of the shadow and squinted to look at what Konno had noticed. Slowly, they began to notice the dark object adrift a distance off to their right.

"Is that debris?" Konno asked.

"Maybe, it looks too perfectly geometrical to be a piece of debris," said Josiah. "It looks like an arrow of sorts actually. Almost like-"

Suddenly, the rear of the object flashed with a familiar light, propelling it forward briefly before something ignited from its rear.

"I-Is that?"

The trio widened their eyes as the object soared off towards the fleet with an all too familiar white trail behind it. As he watched the object fly, Josiah's eyes immediately darted down to his tactical map to confirm their suspicions and watched as the object was indeed classified as a torpedo.

"What?" let out Konno as she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. "Wait- no, why would there be…"

"Yashiro! Get us closer!" exclaimed Josiah suddenly, breaking her of her stupor.

"R-Right!" she replied quickly.

In response, the pilot gently pushed their spacecraft closer to where the object had been lying. The tactical officer leaned forward in his seat, squinting as he looked for any sign of other shadowy objects. If what he was thinking was right, then-

"Anton! One o'clock under us! There's a group of three!" exclaimed Konno.

"Where? I can't see from here!" replied the tactical officer.

Upon hearing his words, Konno rolled their spacecraft over to give him a better view. However it was only when another flash caught the tactical officer's eye that he noticed where she was referring to. Sure enough, there was another group of torpedoes.

"W-What does this mean?" asked Konno as her head spun around. "How could there be-"

"The torpedoes are automated?" let out Otto as he frowned and looked down in thought.

Josiah's eyes darted back and forth as he formulated the possibilities with this new information.

"Then- Does that mean the fleet simply ran into a minefield?" Otto's voice came through the intercom. "So we were never fighting anyone to begin with?"

"No, I don't think that's right," said Josiah as he put his hand on his chin. "Remember, the enemy was clearly reacting to the fleet's strategies."

"But more importantly! If the stealth vessel wasn't actually in front of us, that means your sensors are working aren't they?" added Konno excitedly as she turned to Otto.

"Y-Yeah!" replied the bespectacled officer, who couldn't help but smile bashfully in the face of her cheerfulness.

"But Gieszler, why couldn't we detect them earlier?" asked Josiah. "Shouldn't your enhanced scanners be able to spot them?"

Otto widened his eyes and glanced briefly at the remaining torpedoes as they shot off one by one and glanced down at his display.

"I'm… not sure," he said as he tilted his head before taking another look at the last torpedo. "For some reason their signature is nearly indistinguishable until they ignite their engines."

As he said this, the last torpedo began its launch sequence. But thanks to the light of its thruster, the trio were able to get a better look at the mysterious weapon. The torpedo was oddly geometrical, with sharp angles along its midsection instead of the usual curved body. In addition, it was painted with a matte black substance that made it hard to see even with the light from its bright thruster.

"Those shapes almost make it look like an old stealth fighter from earth," commented Konno. "Could that have something to do with it?"

The bespectacled officer looked down in thought.

"Perhaps," he replied. "If I remember my earth history correctly, stealth fighters at that time were designed with shaping that dissipated radar signals. Although our current generation sensors should already have multiple workarounds to make that tech obsolete."

"But then again," Otto added as he looked up. "An object as small as a dormant torpedo isn't easy to detect normally. Without any power signatures, it could be possible to diminish our sensor sweeps just enough to avoid detection of its inbuilt explosives. And if they have a special material or coating to help with that… "

"Gieszler- sorry back to the topic," said Josiah quickly. "Do you think you could make some quick adjustments to account for whatever it is that's hiding the torpedoes?"

"I- I don't think so," said Otto. "If the configuration we have now can't detect them, there's not much I can do."

"Damn," let out Josiah as he clicked his tongue. "That's going to make things tricky. But I guess that explains why the Gatlanteans are forcing the fleet into a circle."

Konno narrowed her eyes at his statement, but soon realized what he was talking about.

"Oh crap yeah," said the young pilot. "If they're laying the torpedoes around us instead of directly firing them, then we have no way to narrow down their position."

"Right, and without any real way of detecting the torpedoes we can't use that to search for a trail." replied Josiah as he frowned in thought.

Glancing at the fleet for a moment as the trio thought about their options, Konno watched as the straggling cruiser narrowly avoided another wave of torpedoes thanks to interception by the Debake fighters. Widening her eyes, an idea popped into her head.

"If we can't use our sensors, then we'll use our eyes instead!" Konno exclaimed as she turned to the intercom. "We might not be able to find enough to search for the stealth vessel, but we can search for its torpedoes and take them out to give the fleet some breathing room. With the help of the other fighters, I'm sure we'll be able to-"

"No! Whatever you do, do not attack the stealth vessel's torpedoes!" stressed Josiah suddenly causing Konno to flinch.

"What? Why? If we take out the torpedoes the enemy's attacks will be-"

"If we start taking out the enemy's torpedoes now, they'll know that we're on to them and change up their strategy," explained Josiah quickly as he cut Konno off. "We don't know how many of these things could be around the fleet or how well they can manipulate them. For all we know they've been playing with us this whole time and could activate dozens of them at once to wipe us out."

"R-Right," said Konno as she winced and glanced away.

"But regardless, we should inform the fleet of this new information," she added as the fleet blanketed another area in the distance with explosions. "We can't let them continue wasting their ammo any further. Plus, even if we can't take them out immediately, maybe we could scout out the locations of the torpedoes to give the defending fighters a heads up for where the attacks might come from. We should be able to do that discreetly ourselves since we've already been flying all over the place."

However, the tactical officer didn't respond.

"Uh, Anton?" Konno asked before double checking her intercom. "Did you hear me-"

"We can't do that," stated Josiah.

Konno raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked.

"We can't tell the fleet about the torpedoes," said Josiah. "It's too risky."

The young pilot blinked in disbelief when she heard his words.

"W- What?" she let out. "Why?"

"Think about it," replied Josiah. "Right now, the enemy has zero clue that we know about their trick. The fleet is dancing in the palm of their hand and because of that they have nothing to fear. If we tell the fleet now, they're definitely going to react differently somehow and put the enemy on guard. We're grasping at straws as is, we can't let this opportunity slip by when they're still oblivious to us."

"But if we do that, we're going to be intentionally putting the fleet at risk," said Konno, who couldn't help but begin to feel uneasy. "Colonel Vale knows his stuff, if you tell him that I'm sure he'll-"

"Do you really think he'll listen to us?" asked Josiah, causing Konno to widen her eyes.

"He may be a good commander, but look at his strategy." the tactical officer continued. "The man doesn't pull his punches, even when things might not be ideal. Plus, you've seen the kind of no-nonsense attitude he has when he did our briefing. He won't give us any time to speak if he doesn't want anything from us. Don't you remember how he didn't even find our detection theory important enough to hear us out in person?"

"So- you're saying you want to use all of them as bait?" let out Konno.

When Josiah heard her words, he immediately recognized what the young pilot was getting at and turned to the intercom.

"Right now, getting the Neu Lambea out to reach the Audacious is our number one objective," the young officer explained carefully. "We're fighting an enemy who by all accounts has the advantage on their side. To even have a chance against them, we have to extrapolate every small bit of weakness they show. And right now, the fact that we know they're laying torpedoes instead of firing directly is the only advantage we have. The moment we lose that element of surprise, we're done. So even if it means losing a few escorts, if withholding our information from the fleet will retain our one advantage, then we have to do that if we're going to win this-"

"I know!" said Konno suddenly. "I get that Anton, I really do! You're not the only one who knows how important it is to get back to the Audacious. But what you're suggesting- it's-"

"Necessary," Josiah finished, frowning slightly at her reaction. "I thought you would have understood that by now."

Konno widened her eyes.

"No! This- this is different!" she let out, her voice cracking as she tried to stay calm. "What you're suggesting is different from leaving a single spacecraft! That's a whole fleet of people!"

"How is that any different from what we've been doing?" stated Josiah. "We aren't abandoning them. Again, Colonel Vale is doing well in negating most of the damage. And as long as the stealth vessel doesn't get forced to change tactics, the fleet will only at most lose a couple more escorts if we-"

"Only a few- Are the lives of all those people really just a number to you?" Konno winced, barely holding in her disbelief.

Josiah glanced down for a moment before answering her.

"Yes. If I were worried about saving every single soul aboard every ship then I'd be forced into depression every time we fight a battle." stated Josiah calmly. "Losses are a fundamental part of war, if we want to do our jobs properly we have to adapt to that norm."

The young pilot's eyes went wide, her red pupils shaking in disbelief.

"No! What you're doing is accepting those losses too quickly!" she finally blurted out. "How do you know that it's necessary to let those escorts be killed? How can you be so sure that Colonel Vale or anyone in the fleet won't be able to come up with a better solution than you? How can you be so sure that your tactical sense is better than his?"

Josiah flinched upon hearing her words and clenched his teeth as he tried to defend himself. However, Konno wasn't finished and continued to cut him off.

"Why do you get to decide whether those people's lives are necessary or not?" the young pilot asked. "You're just cutting off any possibility for them to figure out a better solution! Isn't this exactly the same thing Major Friebel did? Cutting off potentially invaluable information to the rest of the fleet because he thought it was for the best?"

When he heard the comparison, Josiah widened his eyes in horror and froze in his seat.

"T-That's not…" he let out under his breath as he lowered his head.

Clenching his teeth, he couldn't help but remember the fact that Captain Houth had said the same thing to him.

In front, Konno gulped as she tried to catch her breath, waiting patiently for the tactical officer's answer. However, when Josiah didn't respond, she curled her fist and turned to the intercom in frustration.

"You're right!" said Josiah suddenly, causing Konno to freeze.

"You are… right," he repeated softly. "I- There's no reason for you to listen to me. What I'm saying is questionable and I can't argue against you for trying to follow protocol."

The tactical officer's eyes darted from side to side as he desperately thought about what to say.

"But… even so," the young officer slowly let out through clenched teeth. "Even if you don't agree with that analysis, every cell in my body is screaming that if we tell Colonel Vale about the torpedoes he's going to react strongly. You've met him as well! I- I can't give you any evidence, it's just-"

"Instinct?" Konno finished.

Josiah widened his eyes. However, he did not respond to her statement and simply lowered his head.

"I can't- judge or argue with the decision you make," he said quietly. "But all I can do is ask for your trust this one time. This…"

The young pilot's eyes went wide. His voice was meek, it lacked any of the usual snark the tactical officer loved to add. But most of all, it was an honest plea. Something Konno never would have guessed she would hear from Josiah's mouth.

However, that did not change the problem at hand and Konno knew that. She lowered her head silently, and looked down at her feet as she pondered what to do. Behind her, Otto gulped to himself as he felt the tense atmosphere build within the cockpit.

"How about Captain Houth?" Konno finally asked.

Josiah flinched, and glanced up in surprise.

"He seems to trust us, and since he's been under Colonel Vale's command for a while he should know how the commander will act," the young pilot reasoned.

The tactical officer took in a sharp breath as he listened to her suggestion and glanced downward.

In the seat of his red Debake, Captain Houth clenched his teeth as he watched a single torpedo get through their squadron's defences and hit one of the Kripitera-class destroyers. Thankfully, the ship seemed to still be able to move but it was clearly limping.

Unfortunately most of his squadron were down to their guns, it wouldn't be long before they began losing more people to cluster missiles. To add to his stress, command seemed to be intent on keeping them out as long as possible until they had to refuel. He knew it was probably to limit where the stealth vessel could fire from, but knowing that didn't help him ease his worries.

"Captain! Reporting for duty!" came Hübner's voice suddenly as another Debake flew up next to him.

"Lieutenant?" let out Captain Houth in surprise. "Weren't you supposed to be supervising Osprey Two?"

"I ended up having to help recover some of the wounded," replied Hübner with a hint of hesitation in his voice. "They're fine on their own, helping the rest is more important right now."

Captain Houth paused at his statement before quickly giving a nod.

"Affirmative, lend Elias' squad a hand on the left flank. They've taken a lot of casualties." he replied.

"Roger," said Hübner before he promptly banked away.

As the rough faced captain turned back to his radar, his radio suddenly chattered to life again but this time with a female voice.

"Captain Houth, this is Osprey Two," Konno's voice sounded. "May I please speak to you in private?"

The flight leader widened his eyes before quickly narrowing them in suspicion as he switched his radio frequency.

"I read you," he replied slowly. "Can you explain the secrecy?"

"Apologies," said Konno. "But the situation is… complicated. My- rear gunner will explain."

Rear gunner? Captain Houth wondered as he raised an eyebrow before widening his eyes in recognition.

"This is Lieutenant Josiah Anton," came the tactical officer's voice over the radio. "Sir we've… uncovered some new information."

Over the next few minutes, Josiah explained what and how they had found out about the enemy's torpedoes as well as his worries about sharing the information. Initially, Captain Houth frowned at his plan. But as the tactical officer continued to give his reasoning, the flight leader remained silent.

"Do you understand what it is you're asking me to do?" Captain Houth finally asked after Josiah finished speaking.

"Keeping information as important as this from the Colonel is an offence that is both punishable by court-martial… and death." his voice echoed through the radio.

Every word sent a chill down Josiah's spine, causing him to lower his head further and further. The tactical officer bit his tongue in response, and forced himself to keep up his formal tone.

"Yes sir," he replied.

His reply was followed by a long silence. A deadly atmosphere that none of the three young officers wanted to question.

"Do you have a plan?"

Josiah widened his eyes at the flight leader's question and glanced down immediately. Slowly, his eyes flared with determination, and he looked back up.

"Yes sir," he stated.

Konno and Otto gulped.

His reply was again followed by silence.

"Six strikes," the flight leader quietly stated after a long pause.

Josiah froze.

"You have the length of six torpedo strikes before the Colonel is informed," repeated Captain Houth. "But if a single pilot loses their lives at any point during that period, he will be informed immediately and I will personally hold you accountable for any of the following consequences. Knowing that, do you still wish to continue?"

Upon hearing his words, Josiah widened his eyes in horror and clenched his fists as he considered his options. Flinching, Konno and Otto exchanged nervous looks as they waited through the long, deafening silence.

"Yes," the tactical officer answered finally, his face hardened with resolve.

"I see," replied Captain Houth. "Then I wish you good luck."

As the commander left the radio channel, his words continued to linger over Josiah as the Tiger IIB ignited its engines and flew over the fleet.

"So? What's your plan?" came Konno's voice through the intercom.

The tactical officer narrowed his eyes.

"Gieszler, have you double checked your sensor settings?" he asked slowly.

"Y-Yes," stuttered Otto. "Assuming our theories are correct, the sensor pods should be working."

As he said this, a small beep sounded from Josiah's computer signaling another incoming torpedo strike. In the distance, a big orange ball appeared on the horizon again as the Neu Lambea's fleet tried yet another counterattack. That was strike one.

"If we capture a dormant torpedo," began Josiah as he lowered his head. "Do you think it would be possible to dissect it for a transmitter?"

Widening his eyes, Otto clenched his teeth.

"W-Well…" he let out slowly.

"Considering the precision of their attacks, they have to be able to control these torpedoes to a certain degree," Josiah continued. "Which would mean there should be a signal connected between the stealth vessel and each torpedo."

"Potentially," said the bespectacled officer. "I- presume you would like me to try tracing that signal."

"Yes," Josiah answered quietly.

Konno narrowed her eyes and turned to look at Otto who clearly wanted to say something.

"Anton," she said after a pause. "If the enemy could control the torpedoes like you say, wouldn't there be a high possibility that they'd notice any tampering with their torpedoes?"

Josiah winced.

"Not to mention," the pilot added. "What if they have the ability to self-destruct their torpedoes as a precaution for such a scenario? We can't risk that."

The tactical officer gritted his teeth and grasped the side of his helmet.

"Yeah… you're right," he admitted as his mouth twisted in frustration.

As she listened to him, Konno couldn't help but sigh in concern.

"Anton-"

"The only other place we know for sure the stealth vessel will be is when it drops off its torpedoes," Josiah let out slowly through clenched teeth. "But- in order to predict where that will be we'd have to figure out how they plan to attack and how far they are into that plan…"

"Anton-"

"To do that would be like predicting a chess opponent's next twenty moves without seeing their pieces," Josiah continued to think aloud as he shut his eyes. "But other than that, we really have no other option-"

"Anton!"

"You're going to ask why I took up that ultimatum aren't you?" snapped the tactical officer.

Konno flinched.

"Maybe it's strange to you because you're surrounded by people who constantly give you support regardless of how badly you screw up," Josiah muttered as his fringe fell over his eyes. "But not everyone has that privilege…"

Otto widened his eyes.

"On the bridge, you're expected to follow orders to a T," he hissed. "If you disagree with any of them you have to fight for the right to have an opinion. Regardless of how good of a point you have or regardless of how wrong you feel your superiors are, if someone of a higher rank than you decides to disregard your words, you're forced to obey them like a slave."

"But that's-"

"So to find someone who's willing to believe in me, to put their reputation on the line for me, to send me out without even questioning my ability!" he let out through his clenched teeth. "I can't let someone like that down…"

Upon hearing his words, Konno widened her eyes and found herself unable to say anything as she lowered her head.

"I… completely get that," said Otto softly.

Josiah froze, his mouth flinching in recognition.

Konno spun around in surprise, and found the bespectacled officer sitting quietly with a gentle smile on his face.

"If you need me to go out in a space suit to defuse a torpedo," he smiled slowly. "I'll do my best."

His lips quivering slightly, the tactical officer leaned his head back slowly into his headrest as he heard Otto's simple words.

"If it came down to that, I'd be the one who'd go out," replied Josiah as a smile crept into his face. "You're far too important to be put into danger like that."

As Konno listened to them, she couldn't help but lower her head in quiet admiration.

"I'll think of something," said Josiah as he regained his composure, turning to look at the fleet.

What they needed was a guaranteed location the stealth vessel would head to to restock its deadly field. That way, they could catch the enemy as they were dropping off their torpedoes. In order to keep up their attacks from all angles, the Gatlanteans would inevitably need to keep placing down torpedoes all around the fleet.

But was there any place the stealth vessel would prioritize restocking? Josiah thought to himself. A gap in the field that would form quickly? A spot that was risk free of being caught?

However, his thoughts were cut short when a beep sounded from his computer, signaling that they had detected another incoming enemy salvo. Turning to the fleet, the tactical officer watched as four more torpedoes flew in towards the left flank of the fleet. Thankfully, there were no cluster missiles within that salvo and the fighters were able to intercept them as the fleet fired off another series of missiles as a counterattack.

That was strike two, Josiah grimaced as the horizon was covered yet again with a mix of white and orange balls. Considering the possibility of another cluster missile strike, it won't be long now till-

But as the glow of the explosion embedded itself into the tactical officer's eyes, a slow realization began to hit him as the cogs in his head furiously processed what he was watching.

"Guys…" his voice came slowly through the intercom. "The fleet would never fire in the same place twice would they?"

Konno and Otto titled their heads.

"No? Why do you ask that?" asked Konno.

"If there were any torpedoes caught in the blast, the enemy would not be able to fire from that angle again unless they replenished them," Josiah let out. "And since there'd be no risk of the fleet blanketing that area again after they saw nothing there, wouldn't that be the best time to sneak back there and put back those torpedoes?"

The two in the front lowered their heads in thought as they deciphered what he was saying. But as the realization slowly hit them, their eyes opened with elation.

"Oh… OH!" the two exclaimed simultaneously.

"But- there's no way right?" chuckled Konno as she grabbed her throttle. "That would be really petty."

"There's only one way to find out isn't there?" smirked Josiah as he braced himself. "We wait for the next counterattack. Gieszler, keep your eyes on those sensor readouts."

"Roger," replied Konno and Otto in unison as two nervous smiles wriggled their way into their faces.

The trio held in their breaths as they eyed the battlefield with anticipation. Where are you strike three? Each of their hands twitched slightly as they prepared to act on reaction, their teeth clenched as the inky blackness taunted them.

Beep.

Their eyes flashed to the outside of their cockpit and watched as five lights in the distance sped towards the Neu Lambea's left flank.

"Go!" exclaimed Josiah.

Without missing a beat, Konno slammed her throttle to full and blasted the Tiger IIB to full power. The brown torpedo bomber left a trail of light as its blindingly bright thrust sped it towards the source of the enemy torpedoes.

Clenching her flightstick in determination, Konno watched as a swarm of friendly torpedoes flew past under them and quickly soared ahead to their destination far in front.

In an instance, their entire field of view was filled with orange light. The Tiger IIB almost being enveloped in the glow of the explosions as they continued to charge forward.

But as the light slowly dissipated, and the Tiger IIB got closer to the explosions, Josiah immediately turned his turret to the front and called out through the intercom.

"Yashiro! Gieszler!"

The young pilot's fingers swiftly moved across her control panel to prepare their last missile and immediately turned to Otto.

The bespectacled officer held his breath as he stared at his screen intently. Slowly, a new signature came into range, coming in closer and closer to them before his computer flashed with a tone.

"I have a lock! I have a lock!" he cried.

Smirking, Josiah exclaimed his order.

"Fire!"

With a clunk, the clamps under their right wing holding the EMP missile opened. Lighting up its engines, the large warhead dropped out and shot ahead of the Tiger IIB into the nothingness ahead. The white projectile wiggled as it followed it's tracking, veering to the left seemingly for no reason before it detonated suddenly.

Slowly, the space around its explosion began to almost warp inexplicably, and out of the distortion formed the shape of a cylindrical hull.

"Colonel! Enemy vessel detected bearing 305!" cried the Neu Lambea's radar operator.

"What?!" erupted Colonel Vale and Major Friebel in sync. "Did we get them?"

"No! It looks like they were hit by a second warhead from an earth spacecraft in the area and just appeared out of nowhere!"

"Earth spacecraft-"

Colonel Vale widened his eyes in recognition and immediately glanced at Major Friebel who shrunk under his gaze.

"S-Sir I-"

Seeing his reaction, the colonel let out a chuckle.

"I see," the bearded commander smiled as he closed his eyes and turned to the front. "So that's what happened, we will talk about that later. First things first,"

Clenching his fist, he swung it forward and outstretched it as his voice boomed throughout the CIC.

"Neu Lambea to all ships! Target that disabled enemy vessel! Open fire on my-"

The image of the Gatlantean stealth vessel reflected off Josiah's green irises as they retreated away to a safe distance. It almost looked like a ballistic submarine from the 21st century of Earth's history, complete with a long tapered cylinder as its body and a sail on top with a few fins mounted both forward and aft of the hull. The only thing that looked out of place was the red built-in circular sensor dish inside the bow of the vessel. Considering its size, it was no wonder they were able to dump out that many torpedoes. It's purple hull looked almost like the length of an old Kongo class battleship, and had at least two dozen missile tubes on its dorsal side in addition to the six forward torpedo tubes located on its bow.

But that didn't matter now, smirked Josiah as the Gatlantean terror shrunk in the distance, its hull sparking with blue arcs of electricity. It was over.

Smiling, the tactical officer formed a finger gun with his hand and slowly pointed it at the vessel.

"Bang."

In that instant, every type of weaponry was discharged from the remaining ships of the Neu Lambea's fleet. Positron and shock beams along with every type of missiles and torpedoes the fleet still had streaked towards the helpless Gatlantean submarine. The combined barrage of heavy energy beams punched through the cylindrical hull, cutting it into two before its remaining halves ballooned and burst into a gigantic, satisfying ball of flames. However, the fleet wasn't done as their slower torpedoes and missiles continued to pelt the orange ball with even more explosions that expanded it into an even larger cloud of death.

When the smoke finally cleared, all that remained was a few lucky pieces of debris that were shot away from the initial explosion.

"Enemy vessel destroyed!" cried the Neu Lambea's radar officer.

In response, the entire crew erupted into a roaring cheer, filling the entire CIC with the sounds of applause and cries of joy. Letting out a smile, Colonel Vale turned to their communications officer and watched as they desperately sent out the message to all their allies.

Throughout the entire fleet, cheers could be heard on all frequencies as the news spread like a wildfire. In the Tiger IIB, the young trio clenched their fists as they heard the victorious cries of all the pilots around them.

"Hooray!" cried Konno, almost jumping out of her seat to hug Otto. "We did it! We actually did it!"

"Yeah," let out Otto, his voice cracking in disbelief as he processed the situation. "I- I can't believe that it worked!"

But the one person who was the most overjoyed of all was the tactical officer in the rear bubble turret, who had clenched his fists so hard that his hands were going red.

"Yes! Yes yes yes!" he whispered as he shook his fist with all his might.

Hearing the joy in his voice, Konno couldn't help but grin stupidly as the radio came to life.

"Osprey Two can you hear me?" Captain Houth's unmistakable voice played over the cheers.

"Yes sir!" exclaimed Konno as she pressed a button on the radio. "Loud and clear sir!"

"Well done," he smiled. "Send my regards to your rear-gunner as well, he did well."

Josiah widened his eyes.

"You can tell him yourself," replied Konno. "He's on the line."

"Oh? Is that so?" laughed Captain Houth before returning to his normal voice. "Then if that's the case… Congratulations young man, you've done a great job."

Upon hearing his words, the young officer shut his eyes as he felt droplets of warmth slowly streaming down his face.

"Yes! Thank you sir!" cried Josiah as he bowed to hold in his tears. "Thank you for letting us fight!"

Konno and Otto widened their eyes.

"It was a pleasure, I'll see you all next time," replied Captain Houth before he disconnected from their channel and left them to celebrate.

As Josiah continued to weep silently with joy, Konno smiled gently to herself and muted the intercom. But as she did that, a small beep sounded from Otto's computer causing her to raise an eyebrow.

"What's that?" she asked as she turned to the bespectacled officer who was checking it out.

"Someone's warping in next to us," he replied, causing the pilot to widen her eyes in horror.

"W-What?" she gasped, worried that another Gatlantean fleet had arrived to finish them off.

"Don't worry," smiled Otto as he turned to look out of the cockpit and caught a glimpse of seven rippled of blue energy forming near their spacecraft. "They're friendly signatures."

Blinking in response, Konno turned to where he was looking and watched as seven very familiar ships burst out of their wormholes revealing four Fubuki-class frigates, a Kongo-class battleship, an Edinburgh-class cruiser and finally a familiar red and grey Andromeda-class battleship with white markings on her outer cowling of her double WMG and turrets. The Audacious and her flotilla had arrived.

Widening their eyes, the two officers let out a sigh of relief and slumped into their seats.

Finally, their journey was over.

A/N: YES! We've finally gotten to this point of the arc at last! The long awaited battle and reveal of the (unofficial) remake Gatlantean space submarine has finally been done! It feels like a year since we started this long arc but damn I hope it was worth the wait for you guys because we really pulled all the stops to make this the most engaging and unique space battle against a stealth ship in sci-fi that hasn't exactly been done before.
When I first started working on this arc, my proofreader pointed out to me that we couldn't just imitate or simply modernize the standard Gatlantis submarine battle seen in either the Farewell to Yamato movie or the one seen in the Original Series 2 of the Comet Empire arc. The reason for which is that as a stealth vessel, the old Gatlantean submarine fared very poorly in comparison to other famous stealth or cloaked ships from other sci-fi franchises, such as the iconic Klingon Bird of Prey from Star Trek or even the dimensional submarine in Yamato 2199 and the old Series 3: Bolar Wars. I mean it was just simply a ship painted with some dark camo that tried to hide in the darkness which wasn't really effective against the Yamato or the Andromeda's countermeasures.

Even after equipping my envisioned Gatlantean submarine with it's own cloaking device, I knew it couldn't just also be a regular cloaked ship that we typically see from those said other famous franchises and we had to add a new spin to this new Gatlantean secret weapon so that it couldn't just be easily tracked by it's engine signature or the point of origin every time it fire a torpedo like how submarine warfare was usually conducted. Thus, a new twist was needed to how it performed in combat and hid itself from its prey and predators.
Looking into some books that I have regarding submarines, I came across a topic regarding about mines that were used in the modern era (in this case Tom Clancy's Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Submarine) while I was doing research for this battle. What caught my attention is that some old torpedoes were actually modified to be used as advanced homing seeking mines. The concept was that the submarine would launch these modified older torpedoes, either a Mk 67 mobile mine or the Mk 60 Captor mine, let them settle near the bottom and would wait still till an enemy ship or submarine came close enough to be detected, arming itself and swim to hit the target. It was a novel idea to use that weapon system for the Gatlantean subs as using those weapons would make it harder to track the mothersub as the supposedly 'launch point of origin' wouldn't have the sub in the surrounding area following the launch of a conventional torpedo as it would have been long gone since it laid it's warheads. Pretty neat don't you think?

As for the design of the Gatlantean submarine itself, while I imagine it still has most of the design ques from the original, the size has been extended to about nearly 200 meters long. This makes it bigger than the largest SSBN in the world, the Russian Typhoon/Akula-class of Red October fame by nearly twenty meters. And unlike the original submarine which was designed to be an attack submarine, this incarnation of the Gatlantean submarine, named the Hupia-class after a spooky ghost of Costa Rican origin, is a pure missile platform boat as it needs to be able to deploy it's smart missiles in large numbers. The design layout of the vessel was inspired by both the British Vanguard-class but most particularly the SSGN conversion of the Ohio-class SSBNs which have their old ballistic missile tubes retrofitted to carry five smaller cruise missiles in each tube. However, it can still fight like a conventional attack submarine with it's torpedo tubes at the bow, but for this battle, it wasn't used because it's more sneakier to use those smart torps instead. If only that submarine captain learned not to play with his food... XD

Phew, that was massive mech elaboration dump there... But this arc is not done just yet! We've one more chapter to finally tie this long arc in a nice neat bow... Also it would be great to see reviews on this particular chapter. Was the build-up to this epic showdown between sub and carrier battle group worth the wait? We would love to hear your opinions on this matter and whether you would like to see more battles in this style.