Nadesico – Truth and Consequences by StarFire
rsman_404@yahoo.com

Author's Note: Legal stuff: Nadesico, its plot, and its characters are property of Xebec and I am in no way affiliated with them. This is my first attempt at fanfic so any feedback, even on mechanical and writing issues is appreciated. Please ask permission before distributing.



Ch. 4 Confrontations and Pursuits

Yurika sped across town towards the UEF building were her father worked with Pacific Command. She was torn between which reaction she should give him when they met. Should she explode? What if the words couldn't come out? Will she just break down in tears? Deep down she prayed that Akito's father (oh my God he could be like my father-in-law couldn't he?) was mistaken in his accusations.

Upon arriving she was at first shocked by the number of reporters which had surrounded the building. She showed the MPs her card and they escorted her car through the crowd into the secure area. She parked and entered the building ignoring the saluting guards. She headed straight for his office ignoring friends and acquaintances that greeted her on the way. Entering his office she waved at his secretary and opened his door without even asking for her to call him.

Admiral Misumaru was in deep contemplation over the troubling events of the last few days. He had heard rumors of a disc from Akito's father surfacing and some said it directly implicated him. Now it seems the media had gotten wind of it one way or another and reporters were crawling everywhere asking the craziest questions. He wondered what Yurika thought about all this. As if answering his thought his daughter burst through the door a moment later. He turned to greet her with his normal fatherly warmth. "Ah, how she has grown…" he thought. His paternal glow instantly dimmed though when he saw her expression, a look of anger and fear he had rarely seen in her and one that he was never enthusiastic about confronting.

"Yurika, what's wrong dear…" he started but was cut short. "I'll get straight the point father because I don't have much time," Yurika said stammering and fighting tears. "I have in my possession a disc from the deceased father of my boyfriend, probably soon to be my fiancée, Akito Tenkawa. In it…in it…" Yurika struggled to find the words. Admiral Misumaru knew what was coming next and he felt his bowels turn to jelly. How did she get that disc? What exactly does it say? What could he say to her? Would she believe him? How would she handle it? Yurika also battled her own torrent of emotions. She found resolve in hoping that the truth would bring her closer to being reunited with Akito. "In it there is an accusation by his father that you were part of the forces out to stop his work. Those same forces eventually murdered him." Yurika continued but could not longer contain the tears that were spilling down her face. "Please father, tell me the truth. I'll always love you but Akito's life and possibly the fate of the war hang in the balance. I need to know what happened."
Admiral Misumaru probed his options. With this disc circulating the UEF and possibly Nergal and with the news frenzy was there anyone he could trust to believe him? If anyone could believe his story, his daughter would. "Yurika, I knew of the grave danger Akito's father was in. I even suspected that he might be killed." Yurika couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was he admitting guilt? How could he? Her world rested on three pillars: her family, her love, and her education. Two of those pillars were now gone. What would she do?
"Why father why?!" she screamed. The Admiral continued, shocked as he was by Yurika's outburst, "However, I was not part of the cabal that plotted and carried out his execution. In fact, I saved the life of young Akito. You may remember that the day his parents were killed he was out playing with you at the river. Do you remember why you were there?" Yurika thought, "No, I don't remember but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Yurika, I knew that once the coup had occurred their lives were forfeit. I told you to go play with Akito at the river. I even gave you some money to go to the fair later on that night. Tenkawa's father was right in that many people in the UEF were involved, however, I was not one of them."

"But couldn't you have warned them? Hid them? What kind of admiral are you if you can't protect the innocent?!" she retorted feeling both betrayal and anguish.

"Yurika, I alone could not stop the forces in motion. If I had tried I could have died just like Tenkawa's father and you may have joined me. I'm sorry if those seem like selfish reasons but I didn't know what else to do at the time." He hesitated and then finished, "You don't have to believe me. You don't have to love me. Just realize I never would want to hurt you or any innocents, I just…" he never finished as Yurika turned and ran out the office no longer able to stand the contradiction in her life her father had become.

Akatsuki sat on the bridge of the Excalibur deeply disturbed by the most recent turn of events. He thought that a 6 hour delay in his pursuit of Erina would have been no problem since Erina would have to fight through the UEF orbiting defenses to get into space. However, she had passed without any interference. What was more was that the UEF was now not going to let him follow her without a fight. Finally, if matters could not possibly get any worse, the truth regarding the death of Akito's father was breaking into the media. Who leaked it was not known but the press and the politicians were now breathing down his neck calling for enquiries and hearings. He had resolved some tough situations before but this would call for an expert strategy.
First though, he couldn't lose Erina. He did not have time to waste on bribing and negotiating with UEF officials. His helmsman reported that their latest request for travel had again been denied. "Fine," he said. "If the Nadesico being ND-001 could break through, so can we. Open fire and get us out of here." All hands manned battle stations as a gravity blast ripped through a column of menacing defense satellites.
Erina smiled as she witnessed the perfection of her plan in motion. Akatsuki was bogged down getting through the Earth defenses, she had Akito in her grasp, and she would soon be head of Nergal. Mr. Prospector had suspected a plot and a plot it was. Erina realized that even if she thought herself wily enough to defeat Akatsuki for the leadership of Nergal, an alliance between him and his UEF allies (though fair weather allies they were) would be indomitable. Therefore she undertook a brilliant maneuver both to undercut the support the UEF would have for Akatsuki and his power at Nergal.
A few days ago when she had obtained a copy of the disc, she knew the time to act was now and she boldly accelerated her plans. She met with sympathetic officers in both the UEF and Nergal and made a deal. Many high-ranking officials had been involved in the assassination of the Tenkawas and were now quaking in their boots that the disc would destroy them. She assured them that she would make sure Nergal would not release any evidence that would incriminate them if they helped her achieve leadership of Nergal.
Akito Tenkawa thought the release of the evidence regarding his parents was part of a deal for his cooperation. He was wrong. It had been planned all along. However, the evidence Erina had released had a slant to it. It fully implicated both Nergal and the UEF. However, on the Nergal side she made sure all evidence pointed to Akatsuki's father and by association, Akatsuki. Finally, on the UEF side as part of her deal with the officers they found a convenient scapegoat: Admiral Misumaru. Soon a heavily edited version of the disc would be released implicating him (and him alone). The politicians and media out for blood would crucify Misumaru and Akatsuki. The UEF officers responsible would remain unscathed and they would arrange for the government to appoint Erina Won as transition CEO and Chairwoman of Nergal Heavy Industries. Then victory would be completely hers.
First officer Suzuki interrupted her train of thought with a mission report. "Captain, we are ready to leave Earth orbit and proceed to our destination, whatever that may be." Erina nodded, "Bring in Tenkawa. His father intimated he would know where to look, now is the time to make him talk." Suzuki bowed and went to fetch Tenkawa from his quarters.
Akito lay in his bed staring at the ceiling trying to plan his next move. He had finally deciphered his father's cryptic comment. The summer before his death Akito had asked him to take him fishing at Mons lake—the huge manmade lake on the summit of Olympus Mons. His father, however, had been "too busy", a word Akito had often heard from him during the short time he knew him. This time the "busy" was putting the finishing touches on a space probe Nergal was sending to the sun. They were using it to test new spacecraft materials and the probe was destined for the solar corona. The corona was a region where the temperature was over 1 million degrees C despite the fact that the surface of the sun was only about 6000 C. It was maintained this way through an interplay of magnetic and plasma forces from the sun. As far as he knew, the probe was still there, if not, all was lost. But why put it in a probe which had a low probability of survival and may have crashed into the burning orb? The only thing Akito could think of was the possibility his father was ambivalent about giving the data to anyone and might have thought it a relief if it disappeared forever.
His doorbell rang and he beckoned in his visitor with a laconic, "Come in." Miaka Suzuki walked in and presented herself in a salute. "Tenkawa-san, your presence has been requested on the bridge by Captain Won. Please come with me." Akito, still needing to come up with a sure plan and tired of being ordered around turned and told her, "You can tell Erina that I will be up there shortly. I'm not ready yet." He then waved his hand at her in a gesture meant to mean she was dismissed. However, instead Suzuki sat down next to him on the bed where he was lying.
"Is there something wrong I can help you with, Tenkawa-san?" she asked never losing her smile. Akito didn't like the way she was looking at him. "Geez, why does this always happen to me?" Best to let her off hard so she won't get any future ideas. "Suzuki, if this is some lame attempt to seduce me to loosen my tongue I'm sorry but it's kind of pitiful. In any case, I'm taken as it is." That ought to hurt her feelings enough to leave him the hell alone. She was persistent, however. "Tenkawa-san I have been researching you for a very long time and I know of your relationship with the daughter of Admiral Misumaru…"

"Her name is Yurika," he interrupted her.

"Yes, her. I know of your relationship and a lot more about your life. I can try to make this journey as comfortable as it can be under the conditions. Besides, who else right now can protect you from any future scheming by Erina or Nergal?" Akito sat up at this suggestion. He was still wary though. "It could be a trap. Like the good cop, bad cop routine. I still have to be careful," he thought.

"Suzuki-san can I ask you a question? Do you feel like you are doing the right thing?" She paused at this question and then smiled. "Given humanity's choices at this time I believe I am taking the best path we have. It also pays very well. I can clearly see you do not believe Captain Won has humanity's best interests at heart? If so, ask yourself this. Who should control boson jumping? Should every man and woman on the street be able to jump at wish, wherever they wish? Would humanity be any better if the technology proliferated?"

"There must be protections but it's better than being only at the discretion of a small and corrupt elite," Akito replied. "You should know this if you are intimating I need protection." Suzuki just continued smiling. "We'll talk more on this subject later Tenkawa-san. Now you must come to the bridge and guide us to the true location of your father's message. I warn you that Captain Won may act favorably towards you but she knows how to get what she wants so if you're considering lying…."

"I know, I know my girlfriend is toast. Let's get this over with." Akito got up and followed her to the door. "Oh yeah one more thing," she said turning around. "Captain Won was right, you are a cutie." Akito went beet red and collapsed.

Back on Earth the Nadesico crew had finally assembled at the restaurant. Yuri did some of her computer wizardry and finally found Jun, Goat, and Urbitake. As they sit chattering, Mr. Prospector called their attention with his whiny voice and began their briefing. "I know you all are perplexed on why you have been brought here but I assure you it is important."

"It better be, I'm about to wreck my marriage over this! Hey we can't start, where the hell is Akito?" Urbitake yelled. He was obviously still not recovered from the drunken state he was in when Ruri traced his movements to his favorite bar. Everyone else replied in agreement.

"I assure you, that your marriage and even your lives could be destroyed if we don't successfully complete our mission. First, I'm sure many of you have discovered that the truth about Akito's parents is beginning to leak to the news media. Seen the broadcasts?" Many heads nodded. "This occurrence, I believe, is part of a larger and more convoluted plot which has begun with the recovery of this on Mars." Mr. Prospector held up the shiny video disc for all to see. "With the captain's permission, I will play it for you all. Please close the blinds and turn on the countersurveillance Ruri." Ruri complied while Yurika weakly nodded her head giving her consent to show the disc. "Yurika, are you alright?" a concerned Jun asked. Though he knew she was now completely beyond his reach, he still cared for her and had noticed her dejected and disheveled state since he arrived at the restaurant. Yurika gave no reply and he watched as a single tear fell from her right eye. "Geez, this is serious," he thought.

Mr. Prospector showed the disc. By the end there was a long silence and then bedlam. Everyone was speculating on what this meant, especially the part about Yurika's father. Jun, trying to be supportive, put his arm around her and said, "I'm sure he must be mistaken your father would never do such a thing." To his surprise she pushed his arm off her and stared at him with a face full of tears. "Do you think I can believe this? But talking to him earlier I, I couldn't get a straight answer. I don't know what to believe anymore." She put her face into her hands and continued weeping. Ryoko quietly went up to Mr. Prospector and asked, "Given Yurika's current state and the possible complicity of her father in these events, do you think it is wise that we give her command?" Mr. Prospector thought a moment and then replied, "I think her love for Akito and her passion for justice can outweigh the factor of her father's possible treachery. However, I think that when we take off Jun should have the helm until she is completely up to the task." Ryoko nodded in silent agreement.
Just then, to everyone's surprise, Ruri jumped up on a table and let off a loud noisemaker. Everyone screamed and grabbed their ears. Jun fainted from the shock. "Everyone, we do not have much time. The main segment of the Nadesico will boson jump here within 3 hours. We must get spaceborne immediately. To the Nergal docks!" A huge concurring cheer erupted and everyone piled into their vehicles heading for the docks. "Uh, Mr. Prospector?" a revived Jun asked. "How are we going to get past security into the docks?" Mr. Prospector smiled, "I have heard that certain events have transpired their in the last view hours that will make our infiltration quite easy."
Indeed the Nergal docks were in chaos when they arrived. Most were too busy putting out fires, finding new bombs, handling captured mercenaries, and tending to the wounded to pay much mind to the newcomers. They quickly made their way to the Nadescio bridge section which still remained at the docks. Ruri typed in the access codes and Mr. Prospector pulled out the key for the Nadesico. "I still have many friends," he said chuckling. He gave it to Yurika who turned the key and started the ship. Right at liftoff they were hailed by Nergal ordering them to immediately halt but they ignored the order and headed skyward.
Another added bonus to the current situation was in his frantic charge to escape the Earth and UEF fire, Akatsuki and the Excalibur had pretty much wrecked a good part of the Earth defense system allowing the Nadesico to follow their same path without any aggravation from the now shattered defense forces. As they became spaceborne they could see the exhaust glow from the Excalibur in the distance as it pursued the Cosmos.
"How can we catch them in this?!" Megumi exclaimed. As if to answer her Ruri reported an increase in the space-time warp 100 km in front of them. In a flash, the main part of the Nadesico appeared out of boson jump, ready and waiting for them to dock onto it.
"Wow, I can't believe it's back," Hikaru spoke to herself. But it was back and ready for action. The two sections docked and a system check revealed everything was ready. The old Aestevalis units, minus Akito's, were still in the hangar waiting for the trio. The ancient boson jump computer was also there, still emitting a steady glow after facilitating the Nadesico's transport. Everyone quickly went back to their old routines and positions. The only thing changed was everyone was wearing casual clothes instead of uniforms.
After everyone was settled in, Yurika gave her first order. "Ruri, find the traces of both the Cosmos and Excalibur."

"It is already done Captain. The Excalibur is in hot pursuit of the Cosmos which seems to be heading towards the inner solar system to an unknown destination."

"Very well, lock in a course of pursuit at max speed," Yurika commanded trying to put an authoritarian façade over her still shaky state of emotions. Mr. Prospector approached her and put his arm on her shoulder. "Yurika, I think we need to talk privately." Yurika nodded and gave Jun the bridge. They then walked into the hall. Yurika asked, "What's up? We're on a mission now and I'm captain again." Mr. Prospector frowned. "Yurika, you must be honest with me when I ask you this. Are you up to this mission? I will not think any lesser of you if you admit you aren't. You've been hit with a lifetime of emotional punches in the last 24 hours. I don't want you to push yourself too hard."
Yurika stood shocked at the question for nearly a minute. She then came alive again with a fire and look of resolve in her eyes. "Mr. Prospector, I will follow this to find where the truth leads and to rescue Akito who I love more than anything else. Even if it means destroying my father's honor." Mr. Prospector nodded and they went back to the bridge where a new development awaited them. "We are receiving a distress signal from a shuttle coming out of Earth's atmosphere and pursuing us right now," Megumi said. "It seems to be a request for asylum…it's from your father."
Yurika bit her lip. She had hoped that her confrontation with him had ended that complication for the time being but it seemed that developments decided otherwise. "Very well, let him into the hangar. I will meet him when he arrives." Megumi nodded and relayed the message.
Yurika left Jun in charge once more as she walked to the hangar. With each step she became more infuriated. This time there was no question what her response would be. The shuttle docked and her father emerged. Before he could even utter a word or give him an embrace she exploded. "What the hell are you doing here? What right do you have to come in interfere in this mission!? Don't you see it's going to be hard enough without you?" The admiral was ready with his own volley though after recovering from the initial shock of being berated by his daughter. "They are trying to scapegoat me on Earth! I can see it coming. I told you I had no involvement in the murder. Damn it Yurika, sometimes you can be so irrational and airheaded especially when romance is involved. This goes deeper than you can handle alone. What are you going to do? Take on both factions of Nergal and the UEF? You were successful last time but what makes you so sure that you can repeat that feat?!" Yurika, speechless turned and asked one of the guards to escort the Admiral to empty quarters.