Note: Yes I know Izumi is really OOC in this, but since we didn't have one in the club, and I can't do nuts, Izumi is happy now. And personally I kinda like how she and Hiruka go together.



Chapter 3: Friends and Foes

"Koncho! There is someone here to see you!" Megumi called as she stepped onto the bridge with the orange haired pilot following. Unfortunately, the only things to greet the two officers were the Gekiganger 3 dolls that sat at each of the empty stations. "Hmm. Ruri-chan's not here either, I wonder where they went?"

Walking up-to Ruri's station, Megumi tried to get Omoikane, the ships computer system and Ruri's personal friend, to tell her were Ruri and Yurika had gone.

"Omoikane, which section of the ship is the captain on?"

Not much happened for a few seconds as the computer evidently scanned the ship, trying to find the captain. A moment later, the word 'Unknown' popped into the air in front of her. "That's strange." Megumi said as she tried to figure out why Omoikane could not find Yurika.

"Perhaps she was on the shuttle we saw leaving a while back." Tetsu offered. A few minutes earlier, the two had seen the Hinagiku launching, but did not thing much of it.

"Yeah, your probably right." Stepping over to her own station, Megumi moved her Gekiganger over and placed the headphones over her ears. "This is the ND-001 Nadesico to the Shuttle Hinagiku. Please come in."

"Hinagiku to Nadesico, hey Meg! What's up?" Megumi recognized the voice of Commander Aoi, the Nadesico's Executive Officer.

"Hi Jun. Are Ruri the captain with you by any chance?"

There was a slight chuckle over the Comm before Jun spoke again.

"Yeah, they're here. Did Yurika forget to tell you she was leaving?"

"That she did, I'm just surprised Ruri-chan didn't say anything."

Ruri's quiet feminine voice popped up, the annoyance definitely evident in her voice.

"Well, did you asked Omoikane where I was?" Ruri asked sarcastically, the contempt in her voice was obvious. The young controller did not mean to be so mean to Megumi; out of the entire crew, she and Tenkawa were only two who weren't complete idiots, so she actually liked Megumi quite a bit; but her little field trip with Yurika had put her in a bad mood. She had never really liked Yamada much to begin with, and now that he was back she had a feeling her life was about to become a lot worse then it already was.

"Um... w-well no, not really." Megumi stumbled over her words; she had never known Ruri to talk to her like that.

Tetsu was beginning to dislike this little blue haired girl quite a bit. He didn't know much about her other then that she was most likely the Nadesico's controller, the legendary girl everyone called the 'Electronic Fairy.'

Gently taking the headset from Megumi, Tetsu spoke to the young girl as he tried not to show his anger in his voice. "Look little girl; I don't really know who you are, nor do I really care, but you should not talk to Megumi like that. She was one of the only ones on this ship who actually cared enough to look for you."

Ruri was stunned. No one had ever spoken to her like that. She was amazed that this new Lieutenant had said what he had on his first day aboard the ship, perhaps the UEF had "I was not aware that the UEF allowed its people to speak their mind."

"They may not, but it is something that strengthens the bonds between the crew and its commanders." Tetsu replied, refitting the headset over his ears.

"How so?" Ruri asked curiously.

"By bringing any conflicts between two people out before others; and allowing the crew members to confront the captain of anything they may feel is not right; the crew and commanders will eventually begin to think as one." Tetsu told her. It was evident to Ruri that this was not any ordinary pilot, or even officer, for that matter. He truly believed that a ship's crew could become like one single entity.

"This has been shown time and time again though out the history of aerial war." Tetsu said continuing. "Back during the middle days of the 20th century, fighter squadrons of both the British Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force who demonstrated this kind of characteristics showed high amounts of camaraderie and had a sense of situational awareness that was unsurpassed by any other group of pilots yet."

"Perhaps." Ruri said quietly

"Well, anyway, please allow me to welcome you to the Nadesico." Yurika said trying to change the subject. "I'm sure you will be a welcomed addition to our Aestivalis squadron."

"What!" Gai screamed running up to the holodisplay. "You mean to tell me you're a pilot too!"

"Yeah I am." Tetsu replied coldly. "What do you care?"

"Well don't get any ideas about trying to take over as leader. That's my job, and it's not like you could beat the great Gai Daigouji."

Turning to Megumi, Tetsu cocked his head over to Gai's image. "Please tell me he's not the best pilot you've got."

"No, no." Megumi a slight smile appearing on her face. "He's not bad, but we've got some better pilots."

"Oh good."

Pushing Gai out of the way, Jun took his place back at the radio. "Have fun Nadesico, Hinagiku out."

* * *

Of course, Tetsu wasn't the only pilot aboard the Nadesico. Ryoko, Izumi and Hiruka were still in the mess hall. Ryoko was on her fourth drink already, but since she was still on duty and was only drinking fruit juice she was perfectly fine. "So you guys heard about that new UEF pilot we've got?" Hiruka asked from her place at the bar.

Ever since Tetsu's arrival, the rumor mills had gone into overdrive. Some said he was there to once again force the Nadesico to join the UEF. Others spoke of him trying to destroy the Nadesico. Overall only a small portion of the ship actually believed these rumors, but most people still didn't trust him, or the UEF for that matter.

"I don't know." Izumi answered her long dark hair falling over her shoulders and a weird smirk on her face. "We might just have to keep and eye on him as much as possible.

"Somehow I get the feeling your reasons aren't quite as wholesome as you like us to believe." Hiruka smiled as she watched her friend squirm.

"W-well. I uh. It's not like that!" Izumi began to sweat bullets as she tried to think up a good excuse. Fortunately at that precise moment, Tokashi entered the hall.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the sleeping soldier." Ryoko mocked kicking her feet onto the table in front of her.

"Hey Ryoko." Tokashi greeted the pilots with a short wave. "So what have you three been up to?"

Before Izumi could stop her, Hirkua blurted out "Izumi's been checking out the UEF liason!"

"I have not!" Izumi countered indignantly. "Really, Hirkura's just being mean!"

Trying to ignore the constant bantering of Ryoko's two wingmates, Tokashi shook his head with a smile and turned to Ryoko. "So I hear the UEF guy is supposed to be some hot shit pilot."

"Yeah, and he's got this really tweaked out 'valis too." Ryoko said with equal amounts of jealousy and disgust in her voice. "Apparently the damn things got these huge blades that stick out of its arms."

"No. It can't be."

"Yeah I know." Ryoko said continuing, oblivious to her friend's shock.

".Is he actually alive after all these years?"

"What!" Now Ryoko noticed. "Hey Toka, you ok?"

Tokashi's eyes were wide open, the pupils fully dilated; his and hands were shaking and the skin pale.

"Huh? Oh. Ryoko. Yeah, don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just got get some air." Turning on his heals, Tokashi left the kitchen and headed for the Aestivalis hangers.

* * *

The Aestivalis hanger hadn't changed too much since Tetsu's arrival a few hours ago, except for the fact that the engineers and mechanics were either clear across the ship in their own quarters or in the offices, finishing paperwork. In fact, only one man was in the main hanger. His name was Tokashi Katsuragi. Making his way down to the farther bays, where the newer arrivals would have been stored, Tokashi searched for a frame he knew all too well.

"My god! It's true." Tokashi gasped as he spotted the Sam'valis. "I don't know how he did it, but he survived. Let's see if he ever changed the access codes. Climbing up to the control pit, the black haired commando swung over to and a login panel on the side. After typing in 'Tkatsuragi' and several numerical digits, the control pit open with a hiss. "And now we wait." Tokashi whispered from the pilot's seat encased in the shadows.

* * *

"Dee-deet." The small tone sounded from Tetsu's wrist comm.

"That's strange." The pilot said as he looked at a display that had popped up.

"What happened?" Megumi asked, her forehead wrinkled in concern. She had been giving Tetsu a tour of the ship when the alarm went off.

"Someone just broke into my 'valis." Tetsu told her. "Thing is, they use an access code from three years ago." Placing a hand on Megumi's shoulder, Tetsu told her to stay there. "There are a lot of dangerous people from my past." He warned her. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Nodding her head in silent agreement, Megumi watched Tetsu head towards the hanger. She had only known the pilot for a few hours but he had started to grow on her. Sure he seemed a little arrogant and over confident, but he was a true gentleman, probably one of the last few in the world.

* * *

Finally making it into the hanger, Tetsu approached the bay that contained the Sam'valis. From inside the open control pit, he could see that outline of a man sitting inside.

"Come on out of there!" Tetsu called. "C'mon, show yourself!"

The man inside said nothing, but threw a single bullet to the ground. Stepping forward to retrieve the fall ammunition, Tetsu examined the round. On one side a small carving was engraved into the metal. On closer examination, the pilot recognized the initials 'T.K.'.

"Where the hell did you get this?" Tetsu asked in fury. His anger rising by the second. "Show yourself, or I will send this bullet into your skull!"

As the console lights powered up, Tetsu could see the face of the man inside his frame.

"Hey buddy!" Tokashi said from his seat, a huge smile on his face. "Long time no see."

With tears in his eyes, Tetsu waved at his long lost friend. "God damn! Tokashi Katsuragi. I thought you were dead."

"Same here." Tokashi replied as he climbed down to greet his friend. "Luckily for us that other fighter thought the same thing."

* * *

Megumi Rainard was not one to wait around when a friend might be in danger. Contacting the security station, Megumi told Aya what had happened.

"Okay, don't worry Meg, the boss and I 'll head down there back 'im up." Aya said as she sent a message off to Tokashi.

"Thanks Aya." Megumi felt a little better, but she still felt as if she wasn't really contributing to the Nadesico. For most of her time aboard the ship she had felt like this. Even back when she had been dating Akito. That was one of the reasons she had volunteered to go with Akito to search for survivors from the Utopia and had discovered Ines and the others. She hadn't been able to save the refugees then, but she wasn't about to fail Tetsu like she had Akito.

"Hey Aya," Megumi said, her voice a little quieter then usual. "Bring a gun for me as well."

"Ya sure about that?" Aya asked.

"Yeah," Megumi answered. "This is something I've got to do."

"Ya like 'im don 'cha?" Aya asked, a knowing smile on her face.

"Maybe, I don't really know yet."

"I think maybe ya do." Aya told her. "'Specially if ya are goin' t'go fight for him." With a wink and a smile, Aye's image flashed out of existence.

* * *

Tokashi and Tetsu weren't the only ones in the hanger. Off in the corner, a yellow pair of eyes glowing in the shadows. Anyone who saw them would probably assume that it was just Ruri. They would be wrong though as Ruri was still with Yurika and the others on the Hinagiku. Hatred and anger blazed in these eyes as they watched the two friends. From out of the darkness, a voice sounded.

"So it would seem I have finally caught up to my long hunted prey." The voice was young, much like a child's voice.

Stepping from the shadows the young boy showed his face. He was young, probably nearly a year younger then Ruri. His body was covered in black, his clothing blending in perfectly with his environment. A pair of Kodachi blades strapped aross his back. Even as he left the comparative safety of the shadows, the only visible portion of this body were the eyes, the unnaturally colored eyes. Those eyes had ruled the nightmares of Tetsu and Tokashi for the last three years, back when together they had battled the young ninja.

Stepping forward, Tetsu spoke to the one time foe. "Why is it that you hunt us down after all these years?"

The yellow eyes smiled, and the young voice spoke again. "Simple, no one had ever faced me and survived. And until three years ago, my records were flawless."

"So that's it?" Tetsu asked, his anger rising. "You are just a boy! What kind of life is this for on as young as you?"

Drawing his short blades, the ninja sprinted forward, his rage aiding his attack. "AGE IS NOT NEEDED WHEN YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD!"



* * *

"Meg, I don't like this." Aya said, her brow wrinkled in frustration. "Tokashi isn't answering me, I think he might be in trouble."

"Do you think it has anything to do with Tetsu?" Megumi asked.

"It might, let's head down and check on yur boyfriend and then look for the boss."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Megumi said indignantly.

"Sure, sure." Aya replied with a small wave of her hand. "Oh, here." Drawing a small pistol from behind her back, Aya held it out for Megumi. "This here is a Special Edition Needler. Uses a block of plastic for ammo and shoots a cloud of shards towards an enemy. Real useful against unarmored troops. It's light and doesn't have much of a kick so it should suit ya fine."

"Thanks." Make said as she took the gun and balanced it in her hand. "Well, let's get this over with."

"Right behind ya." Aya announced, swinging her own gun over her shoulder. Although they didn't know it, the two girls were walking into the fight of their lives.



Next Chapter: ?????

Tetsu: Damn! He's back! Tokashi and I fought this kid before, and lost badly. Hopefully Megumi will be safe. Maybe the two of us can beat him this time. Stay tuned for Martian Successor Nadesico: Return to the Stars chapter 4.. umm. We'll get back to you on that. Watch it with everyone there!!