Disclaimer: I don't own Nadesico or any of the characters appearing in the television anime series or manga. This fanfiction is meant purely to entertain. So please don't sue me, I'm not worth it. I openly admit that I don't own Nadesico, and I'm not trying to pass this off as a completely original story. Also, I don't own Golden Boy or Transformers, but I do use a few lines from both and a lot of mecha from Transformers, but I do own the characters Finn Saotome, Yumi Yoshino, Sanoske/Sakura Hashima, Mr. Noda, Mrs. Noda, and I think that's about it. If you want pictures of the mecha, don't hesitate to e-mail me at soundwave100@hotmail.com Thanks!
-by CdnShockwave
Act 2Finn's Day Off
Finn was sitting on the artificial grass in the observation deck, enjoying the peace and quiet of his day off. Technically he wasn't a crewmember, but no one could seem to think of a good reason to get rid of him. Plus, he was proving himself to be rather useful, even though he had a tendency do disobey orders and nearly killed himself sometimes. But all together things were going pretty well. He sat up and took a deep breath.
"Ahh, nothing like recycled oxygen!" he mused. The door opened behind him, Finn turned his head slightly at the sound.
"Saotome!" Ryoko's voice boomed. Finn wrenched his head backwards at the startling interruption.
"Erk!" was all the only sound he made. His head now facing backwards.
"What are you doing here? Uribatake needs your help in the hangar repairing your T…whatever you call them," Ryoko said.
"I er…ah…"
"Don't just stand there! Move it!"
"Yes Ma'am," he squeaked and got up, head still screwed on the wrong way and fumbled out the door.
"Why are you fooling around, pilot," came an icy voice from in front of him when he had gone a little ways from the observation deck.
"I…what?" Finn asked, turning around. "Oh, its you," he said, narrowing his eyes. "What do you want?"
"Why are you fooling around when there's work to be done? Honestly, someone has to install some order in this crew," Erina said.
'Man, take that broomstick out of your tailpipe,' Finn was tempted to say. Instead, he shrugged it off. "Its my day off. Give me a break,"
"What was that?" Erina demanded.
"Sorry, today I have a cough," Finn replied, a slight smirk on his face, and continued on his way. When he rounded a corner, after having walked into several walls, he stopped and wrenched his head back to its normal, forward facing, position, and took out his little notebook.
"That," Finn said to himself. "was educational," he wrote in his notebook. 'Today I incurred a neck injury. I tried to look backwards, when I was already looking that way. It hurt. Today's lesson, the human head cannot turn 360 degrees!'
On his way to the hangar, he passed through the cafeteria and noticed the girls in the kitchen. He passed Megumi and Minato in the hallway, met Yurika in the lift, and saw the three female pilots hanging around their aestevalises. Finn was struck by a sudden realization. Most of the crew here were women. 'Ahh, the wind that blows through this place.' He thought. 'Is blessed with the sweet scent of spring. And how sweet it is! What a wonderful wonderful place to work,' "So what's this all about?" he asked, walking up to Seiya.
"Blah!" He jumped, holding a plastic model in his hand. "Well, I er…" he hid the model. "Its your hull. It has me stumped."
"How so? I gave you all the relevant data. What's the problem?"
"Its what it's made out of. We can't repair your engines yet because we can't get to them, there are too many broken bits of the hull in the way. And we can't seem to remove the damaged parts. Just what the hell is this thing made of anyway?" Seiya asked, giving the frame a kick.
"Now that," Finn said. "Is a secret,"
"What does that mean?" Sieya asked confused.
"Well, a secret refers to something that is not supposed to be known by…" Finn began.
"I don't mean the definition of the word secret! I mean what are we supposed to do with it?" Seiya was starting to loose his patience.
"Simmer," Finn said. "Hold on a sec," he climbed into the ACF cockpit, and started digging around in search of something. A few minutes later he returned with an odd, gun shaped object. "Here," he said, tossing it to Seiya. "Use that,"
"What is this thing?" Seiya asked, looking over the 'gun'.
"It's a plasma cutter," Finn said simply.
"Plasma cutter?
"A plasma cutter is a gun that can either cut or fuse metal together. Plasma is a term that refers to the super heating of gas particles. In the case of a plasma cutter, it supers heats gas to approximately eleven times their vaporization temperature and blasts it in a controlled beam to cut metal. In order to fuse metal, the gas temperature is lowered to approximately five times its vaporization point so that it will heat the metal to a temperature where it can be fused together with other pieces without completely melting," Inez explained in a vidwindow.
"Uh…yeah," Finn sweatdropped. "I was just about to say that,"
"And in the case of what his ship is made of…" Inez began. Finn closed the window.
"Uh…don't listen to her. She's probably been…" Finn made the drinky drinky motion.
"Riiight," Seiya replied, and moved to a piece of the hull his men were trying to remove. "Alright men. Let me take a whack at it," he put on a pair of dark goggles and walked up to the broken ship. He hit the trigger and a bright blue beam of energy sprouted from the tip, slicing through the armoured plating like a hot knife through butter. "Oh wow!" Seiya hugged the gun. "Just think of the things I could do with this baby!"
Just then, the ship shuddered due to the sound of a loud scream. "What was that?!" Finn darted out of the hangar in the direction of the noise, and followed a trail of smoke that was coming from one of the rooms. There was another scream and Yurika and Megumi came running out of the room.
"Get out!" Akito yelled after having been poisoned twice by their cooking. Finn sweatdropped.
Finn decided to log some time in the simulator. Akatsuki was already there, brushing up on his flawless combat skills.
"Ha! I win again!" Akatsuki said triumphantly as he climbed out of the simulator cockpit. "Oh? What have we here?"
"A pilot who's bored," Finn muttered and walked over to the simulator computer terminal. He produced a disk from his pocket and popped it in.
"Just what are you doing?" Akatsuki asked.
"Just making some fine adjustments to the simulator," Finn replied.
"What kind of 'adjustments'? I thought you couldn't pilot and aestevalis, only your little toy."
"Care to find out?" Finn asked, climbing up into the simulator.
"Fine. If you want to add to my simulator score, be my guest. A proper duel it is then," Akatsuki grinned at the opportunity to put this newcomer pilot in his proper place.
They both climbed into their respected cockpits, closed the hatch, and began the simulation. Finn attached a wire to the IFS interface, which he then plugged into a pair of gloves. Finn slipped the gloves over his hands and sat back.
"3…2…1…GO" the computer screen came into focus. It was a mountain battle scene. Finn chose to use his MAF frame, due to the high peaks and narrow canyons. He could see Akatsuki standing on the edge of a cliff, rifle aimed in his direction.
"You're wide open," Akastuki said. "Just like Tenkawa," and fired a volley. Finn's jets came to life and blasted him high into the air, away from Akasuki's shots. "What?" Akasuki asked in a frustrated tone of voice.
"You're wide open," Finn mocked him. He pulled out his twin cannons and fired at Akatsuki, who barely managed to jump out of the way in his land aestivalis frame. Akatsuki cranked up his jets and leapt high into the air, targeting Finn with his retractable fists. The right fist fired, and flew harmlessly past Finn. However, Finn had to dodge the left fist. "Too slow," he flew straight at Aktasuki and smashed his giant robot's fist into the aestivalis head. Akatsuki stumbled back to regain his footing.
"You're better than I thought,"
"Not so bad yourself," Finn replied. Akatsuki charged, using his gun as a club and began swinging it at the Finn's frame. He scored a solid hit in the chest, Finn's frame fell backwards.
"Gotcha. You're mine!" Akasuki leapt high into the air, and came swung his gun as hard as he could into the Finn's head. He hit nothing but simulated dirt. Finn rolled away from Akatski and kicked the gun out of his hand.
"All talk my friend, all talk," Finn remarked and did a high kick into Akatsuki's chest. Akatsuki stumbled back and threw himself into Finn's frame. Finn was caught off guard and fell back, Akatsiki pinning his arms.
"You still have much to learn," Akatsuki head butted Finn in the face repeatedly.
'Ah, this is getting me nowhere,' Finn thought. He brought his knee up and pushed Akatsuki away. He then ripped a tree right out of the ground and swung it, connecting solidly with Akatsuki's head.
"And what did that accomplish?" on impact the tree literally exploded into a cloud of splinters and bark, temporarily blinding Akatsuki. Capitalizing on his opponent's weakness, Finn flipped the blades under his wrists and ran at Akatsuki, who managed to see through the cloud of splinters and saw him coming. Akatsuki made a desperate leap into the air, and landed behind Finn.
'He's fast,' thought Finn. 'But not fast enough,' he swung around and slashed open the chest of the aestivalis as it landed behind him. He then made a downward slash and opened the head. Akatsuki fell backwards.
"GAME!" the computer's voice sounded. "Winner, Pilot Saotome!"
"I lost?" Akatsuki asked himself. "How could I lose?" 'I'm the top pilot of the UF fleet!' he thought. 'This is impossible!'
"Better luck next time, my friend," Finn said, climbing out of the simulator. "A tip. Know your enemy before you open your mouth," Akatsuki looked ready to blow a gasket, which made Finn's victory even sweeter.
Finn wandered into the cafeteria, in search of a midday bite. There was a strange odour lingering in the room. When investigating further, he saw Yurika in the kitchen, wearing an apron, humming to herself.
"Mmm. Doesn't that smell good?" Yurika asked Miss Howmei, who was leaning on the counter. "I overcooked it the last time, that's what the problem was. But this time it will be perfect," Finn went up to the counter. "Now, all I need is someone to test it on,"
"Excuse me?" Finn asked, knocking on the front counter. Yurika and Miss Howmei looked at him, and a devious grin crept up Yurika's face.
"Oh, Lieutenant. You're just in time. Are you hungry?" Yurika asked.
"Well, yeah, kind of," Finn replied.
"That's great! Here, try some of this then," Yurika shoved a bowl of what Finn presumed to be some kind of ramen.
"You're worried about my nutritional intake? I'm so happy!" little waterfalls fell from his eyes. Finn looked closely at the concoction. "Just what is it anyway?"
"Its my own special miso soup ramen recipe. Go ahead, try some," Yurika said.
"Here goes," Finn said, dipping a spoon into the mixture. "Quite a..um…unique aroma," he raised the spoon to his mouth and ate the soup. Yurika and Miss Howmei just were looking at him as though he had just eaten some kind of potentially poisonous insect.
"Well? How is it?" Yurika asked. Finn stared straight ahead, spoon still in his mouth. "Lieutenant?" she waved her hand in front of his face. Nothing. "Are you alright?" she poked him.
"Did you kill him?" Miss Howme asked.
"I don't know," Yurika replied. "Lieutenant Saotome, answer me!" Finn coughed a little cough, smoke coming out of his mouth. Yurika and Miss Howmei both ducked as he breathed fire and melted a hole in the opposite wall.
"Spicy," he wheezed once the flames had subsided.
"You mean you like it? Oh that's wonderful!" Yurika grabbed the bowl and ran out of the cafeteria humming. The sounds of Akito screaming followed shortly thereafter.
"Saotome. Are you alright?" Miss Howmei asked.
"Just…* wheeze * peachy." Finn said fell backwards in his chair.
"Tenkawa sure is unlucky," Miss Howme mused.
"Miss Howmei." Finn managed to say.
"Yes Lieutenant?"
"Water," was all he said. "Lot's of water,"
After Finn had downed several litres of water, he asked Miss Howmei a question. "Just what was that all about anyway?"
"It's the fatal poison of love," she replied.
"Oh…I see."
"Anything else I can get you?"
"Another bottle of water, please," Finn answered, his mouth still burning. When she returned Finn downed the bottle. "Much better. Thank you," Finn stretched his arms out and leaned back in his chair, his head over the back. His face collided with something. 'Hello, what's this." he thought and looked up and saw a very angry Ryoko, and froze. 'Mom! Dad! I'm coming to meet you!' Finn thought. 'I'm a dead man,'
"If you don't mind." She said. "Could you get your face out of my chest?" Ryoko dug her elbow into his face and he went crashing to the floor. There he lay, his face smashed in, twitching on the floor. Ryoko took a seat, Miss Howmei laughed lightly.
"Do you really think that was necessary?" she asked.
"He's been stalking me pretty much ever since he came on board the Nadesico," Ryoko replied. "What a freak,"
"Hey!" Finn was now standing, a little blood slowly running down his nose.
"What a recovery," Miss Howmei chuckled.
"I haven't been stalking you!" Finn defended himself.
"Yes you have! It's been what, three times we've 'bumped' into each other on the observation deck. And then there was that incident in Uribatake's room. Coincidences, I think not," Ryoko said accusingly.
"Oh, blast you and your estragonical treachery!" said an exasperated Finn. "Just because we've run into each other a few times doesn't mean I'm stalking you. I mean, its not like I've snuck into your room to steal panties or anything!"
"So now you're after my underwear? You disgust me, Saotome,"
"Gah! That's not what I meant and you know it." Finn shot back and left the cafeteria.
"You two make a lovely couple," Miss Howmei remarked, after having sat in silence with a fuming Ryoko for a while.
"Isn't it cute?" the author asks, happy tears welling in his eyes.
"What does that mean?" Ryoko asked.
"You two remind me of a married couple," Miss Howmei replied laughing. "Are you sure you're not interested in him?"
"Of course I'm not interested in that lunatic!" Ryoko shouted.
Elsewhere on the ship, Finn sneezed.
"I must be getting a cold," he said to himself. "What's that old saying? Sneeze three times and someone doesn't like you? Eh, I guess I'll live,"
And Finn went on his way. Later, Finn walked past Akito's door, he noticed that it was open, and someone was talking in there.
"Please teach me Akito," he heard a female voice ask.
"Hello, what have we here?" Finn asked himself, leaning against the wall just outside the door.
"Look Hikaru, I really don't know," Akito said.
"Please Akito. This is very embarrassing to ask," Hikaru pleaded. "But I need someone experienced like you. Please?"
"But I don't know. What if someone saw us?"
"No one will. It will be just the two of us, our little secret. Please teach me," Hikaru begged.
"I don't know. This is something really personal you're asking me to do here, Hikaru,"
"Oh please Akito. Teach me, right here, right now." Hikaru pleaded, a slight tremble in her voice.
'Does she really want him to teach her about riding the love salami?' Finn thought.
"Please teach me everything you know about Gekigengar," Hikaru asked. Outside the door, Finn facefaulted. "Did you just hear something?"
The sounds of footsteps came closer to the door.
'Oh shit,' Finn thought, searching frantically for somewhere to hide. Trying doors at random, he finally found an unlocked one, slid it open, dove in, and closed it behind him. 'Please, please don't let them find me,'
"Hm. Must have been nothing," Finn heard Akito say through the door. The sound of Akito's door sliding closed followed.
"Whew," Finn heaved a sigh of relief and sat with his back against the door. "Close one," 'I wonder whose room this is?' He thought after taking a brief look around. The door to the bathroom slid open.
"Ahh. Nothing like a hot shower," Finn heard a female voice say. It sounded frighteningly familiar. "Arg, I can't believe that jerk,"
He thought about making a move to open the door and run for it, but then whoever this was would surely see him. "Saotome, what a nutcase," Finn's blood ran cold.
Finn looked in the direction of the voice. He spotted something. 'I know those,' he thought. Seeing the girl's barely covered chest. 'Not again. Why Ryoko?!' waterfalls streamed down his face. He turned his back to her, so that if she turned around, he wouldn't be staring. Ryoko hummed as she moved about. There was a mirror running from the base of the floor to the ceiling beside the door, where Finn was hiding. 'I can see her through the mirror!" Finn screamed in his head. 'I mustn't look. I must not. I shouldn't be seeing these things! A woman fully exposed, bearing her sumptuous, heavenly body unknowingly in the presence of a man! Ho, this is much too educational!" his eyes slowly drifted towards the mirror. 'I…I can't stop it!' Ryoko standing in the bathroom with only a towel draped around her body. Finn's eyes wandered.
"Sir, we're being pulled in!" his left eye said.
"All hands, abandon ship! Prepare for collision!" the right eye replied.
"What the?" Ryoko said in a surprised voice. "Hikaru? Is that you?"
'Goodbye cruel world,' Finn thought.
"What are you doing there…" she stopped short. Finn allowed himself a brief look in the mirror, and saw Ryoko standing behind him, clad only in her bra and panties. "Alright, who are you?"
"Erk!" Finn made some kind of squeak like noise and turned around, but kept his face turned away.
"You…" Ryoko started.
"Look, Ryoko. I can explain. You see…" Finn began.
"You son of a…" The next few seconds passed in what seemed like slow motion. Finn was on the ground in the 'crouch of the wild tiger' position, also known as the 'begging for your life' position. He looked up. Ryoko's fist came into view, solidly connecting with Finn's face. Time returned to normal speed and Finn went flying back, right through the door, ricocheted off the opposite wall, and then down the hall, right past Hikaru who had just left Akito's room. Finally coming to rest in a pile of recycling bins and empty cans. Hikaru followed the path of destruction back to Ryoko room.
"What happened here? A love affair took a wrong turn?" she teased.
"That…he…was in here…" Ryoko was choking on her own rage.
"You might not want to stand in the doorway dressed like that, you know." Hikaru suggested. Ryoko turned red and dove back into her room. Hikaru walked down the hall to where Finn's corpse was laying, half buried under a pile of garbage. "Are you alright Lieutenant Saotome? Still alive on us?" She asked, kneeling down in of him. Finn raised a hand out of the garbage and gave a weak thumbs up, and let his hand fall back down.
"Just…peachy," came a muffled voice. "That," he groaned. "Was educational,"
Aqua Sky, White Water
"As you know. There are 2785 chulips scattered around the surface of the Earth," the Admiral began. "Our orders are to investigate a new type of chulip that landed 348 kilometres off the coast of what used to be known as Queen's Land Australia,"
"Just what type of chulip?" asked Yurika.
"We don't know exactly," the Admiral replied. "It is not the standard warpgate chulip that we are all familiar with. We believe that it is some type of transport ship,"
"This isn't going to be another giant spider incident, will it?" Megumi asked worriedly.
"We don't think so. The fact that it landed in the ocean raises possibilities that it is a new type of aquatic attack vessel. Captain, I suggest we set sail at once,"
"Minato, plot a course that takes us 150 kilometres west of the chulip's approximated landing area," Yurika ordered. "There, that's settled,"
"Um, Captain…?" Hikaru began.
"What type of Aestevalis frame are we going to use underwater? The land and air frames won't work. And the space frame only works well in a vacuum, and the heavy artillery frame'll sink like a rock," Ryoko finished.
"What about the other type? The lunar surface frame?" Yurika asked.
"We don't have any onboard,"
"We're bored stiff," Izumi smirked. Everyone sweatdropped.
"So what are we going to do, Captain?" Ryoko demanded.
"I…um…" Yurika opened a vidwindow to Seiya. "Uribatake, what kind of Aestevalis would work underwater?"
"None work particularly well underwater," the mechanic replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Because we're going to be attacking a chulip at the bottom the sea,"
"We're doing what?! But none of our Aestivalis can operate at optimum level underwater!" Seiya was looked a little overly distressed.
"That's your problem now," Yurika said sweetly and closed the window.
"But…"
"That solves that." Yurika said.
"Didn't you just pass your problem off to Uribatake?" Hikaru asked.
"Um…you're all dismissed." Yurika said, pretending not to hear the question.
Within hours, the Nadesico had reached its destination.
"Captain, we've arrived at the site, 150 kilometres west of the chulip. Awaiting orders," Minato informed them. Seiya met them in the briefing area, he was dressed like a pirate.
"Given that we only had a few hours to cobble this little work of art together, I think you all owe me big time," Seiya said, switching his eye patch from his left to his right eye.
"So what exactly did you do?" asked Ryoko, looking over the specs of the aestivalis.
"He didn't do anyone," Izumi snorted. Ryoko slammed her into the floor with anime hammer. "Blow me down!" Izumi was now laughing hysterically.
"Since you'll be operating within the Nadesico's gravitron energy transfer range, we won't have to resort to those external batteries we used when facing the walking stick," Seiya explained.
"So?" Akito asked when Seiya stopped short.
"Ahem. I was just getting to that part. As you know, the jet engines need oxygen, as well as the gravitron energy, in order to generate thrust. The problem facing us is that under water there is no oxygen in a gaseous state. So what we've come up with is an attachment that attaches to the jet intake on your aestevalis. It sucks in sea water, which you all know is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, and separates the oxygen from the hydrogen atoms and then feeds that oxygen into your jet engine. That's pretty cool eh?"
"Gee, this fanfic sure is educational," Finn added.
"You got that right," the author said. "Now get back to work, you're straying from the story here,"
"So that means we can use our engines underwater now?" asked Akito.
"Exactly. It's a good thing you have me along," Seiya gloated.
"Why don't we just use the gravity blast cannon?" asked Megumi.
"Because we've already tried that. The Cosmos was here a few days ago. They were called in first because they were closer. But even their multi barrelled gravity blast cannon couldn't penetrate chulip's distortion field," Inez explained. "However, our aestevalis units at a close range strike will probably be able to get through,"
"So why didn't they launch aestis then?" Hikaru asked.
"Because they don't have pilots experienced enough to take on the challenge of untested undersea combat technology," Inez answered. "The Nadesico has the most experienced pilots in the entire UF fleet. So we were a logical choice for this mission,"
"Either that or we're the most expendable pilots," muttered Finn.
"What about you Lieutenant Saotome? Are either of your ships compatible for these attachments?" Yurika asked.
"No need. My ships are powered by nuclear pulse engines, so they can operate anywhere, anytime." Finn answered.
"Is there a preference as to which fighter you'll use?"
"As far as I know they will both function fine underwater. But I think the MAF frame will be better suited for this mission. The ACF would be kind of slow underwater,"
"Alright then. Akito, Hikaru, you will be in land engagement frames. Your primary mission is to take out the chulip. Ryoko, Izumi. You two are taking air combat frames. Your mission is to cover Akito and Hikaru as well as deal with any resistance. Saotome, you will be backup for both. Help whoever needs it the most. Akatsuki, you'll stay behind on standby," Yurika ordered. "You will go in low, close to the bottom and use the boulders our scans reviled as cover. Understood?"
"Roger," the pilots replied.
"Good. We launch immediately,"
"Ok. This area's clear," Ryoko said over the comlink. "Akito, Hikaru, move in," she hovered with Izumi just above them in their converted air frames.
"Rear's all clear," observed Finn, not really paying attention to what was going on behind them, but rather, what he saw above him, floating in a red aesti. 'Even in an aestivalis…oh this is so educational!'
"Its as quiet as the inside of a drive shaft during rush hour," Akito said as he and Hikaru slowly approached the chulip, running from boulder to boulder as not to be seen. Ryoko and Izumi floated just above their heads while Finn followed a little ways behind. Security around the chulip seemed to be rather slack. A few grasshoppers here and there patrolling the area, and a warpgate chulip a further to the east, but nothing major.
"Its too quiet," Akito said to himself.
"Quiet as a tomb," Izumi said in her odd way.
"Which probably means it's too good to be true," Finn added, finally catching up with the others. "So what now?"
They had gone as far as the field of rocks could take them towards the new chulip while keeping them hidden. However, the rest of the way was a field of gravel and sand. If they were to attack, they would to totally exposed.
"Saotome, are your beam weapons in any condition to be charged up again, like you did above Mars?" Ryoko asked. Finn flipped through some computer files.
"I can get the weapon up to 45% power, any more than that and it would overload. The system's still not fully recovered from that last blast. answered Finn. His frames were only supposed to be prototypes, and the finer bugs had never been fully wrenched out.
"Then what's the point of having those popguns in the first place?" Ryoko demanded.
"Hey, this is a prototype. Not a mass produced tin can," Finn replied.
"You trying to pick a fight with me?"
""What if I am?" Finn grinned.
"Ok, we'll try that first," Ryoko gave up. "Try to remain as concealed as possible. The rest of you, be ready to cover him if need be,"
Finn separated the two cannons from his legs stepped out from behind the rock.
"Here goes," he said to himself, and began to raise the power. Slowly, two yellow balls of energy could be seen glowing at the tips of the cannons. As Finn increased the power, the water around him heated noticeably, for his figure was slightly blurred by the waves of heat. At around 30% power, the gun began to spark a little. "Just a little further," the yellow balls grew brighter. Oddly enough, none of the Jovian craft seemed to notice, or care, about Finn's presence. He was clearly visible in the dim light, even with the dark colour scheme of his frame. 'This just doesn't make sense,' he thought to himself.
"Wait a second. Something's not right here," Izumi began.
Finn's cannons reached the desired charge and he unleashed a brilliant blast of energy straight at the chulip. Any grasshopper units were vaporized, sending bubbles of gas up towards the surface. When the beam hit the chulip, the view exploded into a bright cloud of sand and silt.
"Ha. Looks like we showed them," Hikaru said cheerfully, as she always did.
"Don't celebrate prematurely," Finn warned.
"Look." Akito said, staring at what lay before him. The chulip wasn't even scratched.
"I don't believe this,"
"What the hell?" Ryoko fumed. "Saotome, you did charge up as much as you could, right?"
"Yeah. Whatever this chulip is carrying, it must be important. Otherwise they wouldn't give the thing such a powerful distortion field to protect it," answered Finn. Just as he finished those words, bubbles escaped from the chulip as it began to open.
"Well, whatever's in there, we're about to meet it," Akito floated back a few meters.
The chulip opened all the way, and slowly the Jovian's latest weapon emerged. It was big, very big. Easily as big as the Nadesico.
"What is that think?" Ryoko asked.
"It looks like some kind of giant fish," answered Hikaru. Finn did a heat scan to get a better idea of what they were up against. What his screens showed him did not look good.
"It's a ray," he said simply.
"What?" Ryoko asked.
"Its like a sting ray, only big. Really big." Finn, continued with various scans of the ray, which was circling around the chulip.
"Whatever it is, lets just blow it up and go home," Ryoko said impatiently, taking the safety off her rifle.
"Yeah, lets just shoot the damn thing and be done with it," Izumi added.
"Wait," Finn said, still reading through the date his scanners had gathered.
"Well?" Ryoko demanded.
"If that thing blows, we all loose…" Finn began, but he was interrupted by a vidwindow with Inez's face in it.
"That's right Lieutenant. According to my research on this particular piece of Jovian technology, it is basically a floating bomb," Inez explained.
"So what does that mean?" Ryoko asked.
"I was just getting to that. From the moment the Nadesico entered visual range with the chulip, this ray has been locked onto its energy signature,"
"Which means…" Finn began.
"That the Nadesico is its target," Inez finished.
"So then why don't we just blow it up?" Akito asked.
"Haven't you been paying attention?!" Ryoko whapped the back of his aesti's head.
"If you destroy it with conventional weapons, it would self destruct. The following explosion would vaporize everything within a three hundred-kilometre radius. Whoever, or whatever, designed this thing wanted to make sure its target was destroyed. And in this situation, the enemy has less to lose than we do. All that's lost for them are a few chulips and a few dozen grasshoppers," Inez, the master of explanation, explained.
"Alright, but if we can't blow it up, how do we destroy it?" Akito asked. They all sat in a circle and thought.
"I know," Finn got up and unsheathed his blades.
"Just what are you thinking?" Ryoko demanded.
"If we can't blow it up, why not chop it up?" replied Finn. "Cover me while I make a run at it," he jumped out from behind the rock and ran towards the ray. A few grasshoppers made a move to intercept him, but were blasted out of the water by the other pilots, who had spread out and laid down a cover fire. Finn jumped up and began slashing through the ray's distortion field. However, the field was proving difficult to get through. However, after a few more minutes of slashing the field shattered and fizzled out.
'This is too easy, Ryoko thought. By this time, Finn had landed on the ray, which still circled the chulip.
"Here goes," Finn said to himself and thrust his right blade through the ray's metal hull and deep into its back. A black liquid began to pour out of the hole
"What's going on out there?" asked Inez.
"Saotome's going to try and chop it up," Hikaru answered.
"What? No! Stop him!"
"Too late, looks like he's already started," said Akito.
"Lieutenant Saotome! Do not cut open that ray!" Inez's face popped up in Finn's cockpit.
"Too late, I've already cut it," Finn said. "What's the problem?"
"That ray is filled with a high explosive in and unstable liquid form. Anything could set it off," Inez explained. By now the water surrounding the ray was stained with the dark substance. Finn stood by the open wound, staring at the gash he had made. The ray began to swim erratically through the water. Finn grabbed onto a loose piece of the ray's hull and hung on, for fear that he would be smashed to pieces by its giant tail if he let go. The ray flew through the water at a speed that nearly ripped him off, thrashing as though in agony from the puncture, but Finn hung on for dear life.
"Saotome! What are you doing?" Ryoko shouted over the comlink. "Let go of that thing,"
"Can't!" Finn yelled back. It was obvious by the sound of his voice that hanging on was draining him physically. "If I were to be hit by that thing's tail, you'd be facing this ray, a few grasshoppers, and a large collection of TF bits. Besides, if I were to fire my engines, this thing would go off!"
The ray made a sudden turn and made a beeline right for the Nadesico. Finn's face appeared on the bridge in a vidwindow. "Captain. Listen to me. Take the ship up, way up. FAST!"
"But why? We can't just abandon you out there," Yurika protested.
"Captain, you have to trust me. Do it!" Finn ordered, "This swimming bomb is headed right for you."
"He's correct," Ruri said. "The ray has changed heading and is now on a collision course with the Nadesico," but Yurika still looked indecisive.
"DO IT!" Finn yelled.
"Captain! Do as he says!" came Ryoko's voice in another vidwindow.
"The ray is now 135 kilometres away and closing. Collision in approximately fifteen seconds," reported Ruri.
"Minato. Take us up at full power," Yurika said after a few moments.
"Roger, Captain," Minato fired the engines and the Nadesico shot out of the water and into the sky. The ray tried to follow, but splashed down into the water. However, it followed the Nadesico's energy signature underwater.
"Aestevalis now out of range of the Nadesico's gravitron beam,"
Meanwhile, Finn's strength was fading fast. He held on by one hand unit now, the water was sucking him off the ray.
"Can't, keep this up," Finn grunted to himself. Then he heard a strange sound. It sounded like a bird screeching. Looking up to where he held on, Finn saw a sight that made his blood run cold. The piece of the hull he was hanging onto was tearing away. 'Great, be bashed to pieces of blown up! What a choice!" Finn kept his eyes locked on his lifeline, which at any moment could kill him. The metal twisted and ripped back even further. 'I'll take my chances with the tail,' Finn thought and let go of the torn hull. He bounced down the hull of the ray as he flew back and skidded along its back. "On second thought, this is kind of…scary!"
There was a brilliant white flash of light. Down on the ocean floor, there was an eerie quiet before the shockwave ripped the Aestivlises out from behind the rocks and threw them into the swirling ocean. High above at the edge of space the crew on the bridge of the Nadesico looked on in horror at what they saw below them. It looked as though someone had detonated a stockpile of nuclear weapons. A huge wave, visible from space, moved out from the explosion.
"Minato takes us down!" Yurika ordered. "We have to pick up the pilots!"
"That is not advisable, Captain," Ruri said. "The explosion is still being fed. The Nadesico would be vulnerable if we went down. I suggest, in order to protect the lives of the crew, we maintain this altitude until all of the explosion's fuel has been used up,"
Flying pieces of the ray that had weathered the explosion without vaporizing flew past the Nadesico and bounced off its distortion field, even though the Nadesico was at a safe distance. The Nadesico held its position, but at least made attempts to contact the aestivalis. However, due to the explosion, no messages could be sent too received by the aestivalis team. Finally, after two agonizing hours, the static lifted, and the Nadesico was at last able to contact the aestivalis team.
"We're all ok," Ryoko reported. "Akito, Izumi, Hikaru, and I are a little beat up, but the sestis were able to handle it,"
"What about Lieutenant Saotome?" Yurika asked. A silence engulfed the bridge.
"We don't know," Ryoko said quietly after a long while.
"Megumi, open a communication channel, all frequencies. See if Saotome is out there somewhere,"
Megumi hit a few controls.
"Lieutenant Saotome, come in." Megumi said over the comchannel. "Do you read?"
'Wow, Deja-vu,' most of the crew thought. But there was no response.
"It is possible that his distortion field was not strong enough to withstand that explosion," Ruri said simply. Ryoko's froze.
"He's alive," she said. 'I still have to pay him back'
Izumi's face popped up in her cockpit. "He'll be back," was all she said. Ryoko closed the window.
'I can't feel like this, she thought. 'I'm a soldier. I don't act this way.' The vidwindow that should contain Finn's face continued to crackle and fizz of static. The window blurped and fizzled.
"Lieutenant Saotome? Do you read. Nadesico calling, do you copy?" Megumi asked again.
"Ooooowwwww," came a staticy voice on the other end.
"Saotome, is that you?" Yurika asked.
"What hit me?" Finn groaned, his outline was now recognizable in the static filled vidwindow.
"SAOTOME!" Ryoko shouted at him.
"Hey, could you be a little quieter?" Finn covered his ears as best he could in his metal suit. "I feel like I got hit by a whole Jovian fleet,"
"Idiot," she said softly, and wished she could see his face under that helmet. "If you ever do something that stupid again I'll personally make you one with my shoe! Not that I really care about you one-way or another," she added, hearing Hikaru and Izumi snickering about something.
"Heeey, now that hurts my feelings,"
"Ahem, if I could interrupt here," Yurika broke in. "Just where are you anyway?"
"Hmm…good question," the sound of buttons being hit could be heard. "Most of my monitors were knocked out. But from what I can see, it looks like I'm…" he stopped short.
"Well…?" Yurika pressed.
"On the moon?" Finn said after a while.
"How in the hell did you get there?!" Ryoko asked/shouted. Just then, a vidwindow with a sizzled looking UF admiral appeared.
"Just what the hell was that thing!?" he demanded, his glasses cracked and his face singed.
"Just what are you talking about?" the Nadesico's Admiral Ubatake asked.
"This!" the screen flipped to an outside view of the Delphidium Launch Station in low Earth orbit. Through the middle of the station was a giant hole in the shape of a certain robot. "We tracked whatever that thing was from your location. Just what were you thinking?"
"Calm down Admiral," Yurika said simply.
"That's right Jim. It wasn't our fault. It was that crazy Nergal Special Forces officer!" Ubatake pointed at Finn's vidwindow, still staticy, his image occasionally being replaced with grainy static.
"I thought Nergal Special Forces were abolished," the Admiral said suspiciously. Everyone looked in Prospector's direction.
"Um…well, yes. They were this is a…" Prospector's mind raced. 'A nutcase? No, that won't do. A mercenary? Yes that's it,' "special case. He was part of Nergal Special Forces, and when they were abolished he…um…stole aestevalis type technology and modified it. But he's on our side, I can assure you,"
"I see," The Admiral said suspiciously. "We'll expect a full report on this pilot and his aestivalis unit. Plus, we will be shipping Nergal a bill for half the station that was destroyed!" he said and closed the vidwindow. Prospector heaved a sigh of relief.
'The Admiral didn't suspect a thing.' Prospector thought. 'Figures, he's too stupid to know what shoe goes on what foot.' Ubatake was dancing around waving his little fan around. "Now Captain, don't you think we should pick up our pilots and retrieve Lieutenant Saotome from the moon?"
"Oh right. I forgot. Minato…" Yurika began.
"Already done." Minato answered.
"Idiots," Ruri said under her breath.
Luna
Finn woke slowly from a deep sleep. Above him he could hear the whir of the fan in the air duct above his head. 'Where am I?' he thought. Opening his eyes, he saw that the room he was in was very dark. Only a sliver of light entered the room from under the door, but he could make nothing out of the room that held him. Finn sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. 'Think,' he thought, and began going through the last few things he remembered. The sound of Ryoko's voice shouting at him. A bright light. 'Then what?' he asked himself. 'What happened after that?' He got up and walked towards the closed blind of the window. What he saw when he pulled the blind up made him freeze. Outside, there was nothing but gray rocks and dust. The dust began to swirl in a heavy wind. 'Wait, there's no wind on the moon.' Upon looking up, Finn's heart skipped a beat. There was a robot, a big robot, much bigger than any aestivalis or his TF frames. The monster had long metallic claws, and an opening in its chest that spewed fire and destruction everywhere. Finn rushed the to door, only to find it locked. He rammed his shoulder into the door, trying to force it down. It wouldn't budge.
"Come on, damnit!" he said frustrated. The monster, Finn saw after taking another glance out the window, was walking his way; sending clouds dust up into the sky with every step. The gaping cavity in its chest opened, and spit its fire at him. Finn tried the door again.
"No!" Finn shot bolt upright, drenched in a cold sweat. Someone slowly pushed him back down into his futon and placed a cool, moist cloth against his forehead.
"Calm down, you were having a nightmare," said an old woman. Finn opened his eyes. He lay on a futon at the centre of a small, dimly lit room. There was a small TV sitting on a stand opposite a couch at one end and a small table with four chairs seated around it at the other. "Here, drink this." She pressed a bowl containing some hot liquid to his lips. Finn sat up, took the bowl and drank. "There's a good lad. You gave us quite a scare there."
"Where am I?" he asked after a while of silence.
"You're in the city of New Halifax, fourth district of the lunar surface," the old woman answered.
"The moon? How did I get here?" he asked himself.
"I don't know, lad. We found you outside our airlock on the ground. It looked as though you had taken quite a beating. It's a good thing Koji, my husband, was out with an ice collection crew and found you," the old woman explained.
"I see," Finn said quietly. "Thank you. Who are you?"
"I'm Jan," the old woman said. "What were you doing out there all by yourself? I would have thought you'd be old enough to know not to go outside without a partner."
"I…I don't remember." Finn said. 'I remember the ray, the battle, the light. Then what? What happened?! How did I get here?'
"Like I said, it looked as though you had taken quite a beating. Get caught in a rockslide? They happen from time to time. Especially around here." Jan said. Finn pulled back the sheets and slowly got up, but stumbled a few steps until he found a wall to brace himself against. "Not too quickly now there, lad. What's the hurry?" Finn felt for his communicator on his wrist. It wasn't there.
"The band…around my wrist," he was breathing heavily. "Where is it?"
"Oh, that thing? I just put it in the drawer here." She opened the drawer and took out his communicator. Finn took if from her and strapped it back on.
"Thanks," he said, and fiddled with the buttons. However, it refused to open a comchannel to the Nadesico. "What the?"
"If you're trying to make contact with someone outside of the city, I'm afraid it's no good by normal means." Jan said.
"What do you mean?"
"This city was only recently reclaimed from the Jovians. We've only been here a short while, but they have set up some kind of barrier system to protect it from attack."
"You mean like the Big Barrier?" Finn asked.
"I should think it's about the same as the Big Barrier. It was designed by that company the Crimson's own."
"I see. Is there anyway to contact anyone outside the barrier?"
"Yes, you can go down to the public communication centre, they'll let you open a channel through. But I say, lad, why do you want to talk to someone outside the city so badly?" Jan asked, sounding both concerned and confused.
"I've got to contact my ship…I mean…my wife," Finn lied. 'Who knows how people felt about the Nadesico on the moon?' he thought, remembering the boos and rotten fruit thrown at the ship sometimes when it docked to take on supplies. "I was running a transport to the L3 colony and I…um…" Finn fumbled for words. "Hit an uncharted piece of space junk. It must have taken out my engines and forced me to crash."
"Oh, you're married at your age, lad?" Jan giggled. "What's the dear's name?"
"I…er…" Finn frantically searched his mind for a girl's name. Surprisingly enough, even though he served on a ship with half the crew being female, he found it difficult to find one. "Ryoko," he said finally.
"They marry so young nowadays," Jan said to herself, still giggling. However, she asked no more questions regarding his 'marriage'. Finn sat down on the futon.
"How long have you lived here on the Moon?" he asked, trying to make polite conversation.
"For a number of years now. We used to live on Mars, but now that those lizards are around…" she trailed off.
"But I thought there was no successful evacuation of Mars?" Finn said confused.
"Oh, a few of us managed to escape before the Jovians began expanding. We used to live in the South Point colony, close to Mars south pole, the Jovains didn't hit that area, so a few or our shuttles made it off the ground," Jan explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention my name," Finn said, remembering manners as a guest.
"Oh, think nothing of it, lad. I haven't mentioned my last name either. So I won't tell if you won't," she laughed again. "Welcome to the Saotome residence." Finn froze.
"Did you say Saotome?" Finn asked, not believing his ears.
"Yes, does that surprise you?" Jan asked.
"Uh no, its just that I uhh…" Finn was interrupted by the door opening and an old man walked in.
"Ahh, he's awake, is he?" He walked into the little kitchenette and put a kettle on. "How are you feeling?"
"Um…very well sir. Thank you," Finn fumbled for words.
"So, what happened to you out there?" the man, who turned out to be Koji, asked. Finn recited what he had told Mrs. Saotome. They sat in silence for a few moments taking sips of tea, until Finn noticed a picture sitting on a small table. It was of a small boy standing beside the Saotomes, obviously taken many years earlier.
"Excuse me," Finn said, putting down his teacup. "May I ask who that is?" He motioned to the picture.
"Oh, that." Mrs. Saotome seemed somewhat surprised. "That's our boy, Finny. But that was a long time ago." Finn's heart stopped for a moment.
'What the hell is going on here?' he thought. "Where is he now?"
"We don't know exactly. He was sent to us for to be taken care of while the people at Nergal searched for what they called 'suitable accommodations', Even today I don't quite understand what they meant, but we always wanted to child to look after, so we took him in. He was a quiet one, never said a word, but he was still part of the family." Mrs. Saotome's seemed to be enjoying reminiscing. Finn got up and took a closer look at the photograph. The boy was wearing simple cloths, blue shorts and a white tee-shirt, but was his eyes that showed everything. There was no doubt about it now.
'That's me, this has got to be me. But why don't I remember these people?' Finn's mind raced. Then, something struck him, a memory. But from when? He was being led off by a cold woman, and was looking back at a man, who smiled and waved goodbye to him. Finn glanced at Mr. Saotome. 'Its him.' "Excuse me, what was his name again?"
"Finny. I know that may a bit odd. A boy with an English first name and a Japanese surname. Koji here wanted to name him Keitaro, but I was firm in my decision that he had a proper English name. I was born and raised in England, you see, and always wanted children of my own. So when we finally had someone to look after, I made it perfectly clear that we was going to have at least part of an English name." Mrs. Saotome explained.
"Yes you did, dear. Even though the lad looked Japanese, you kept saying 'He'll have a Japanese surname, so he must have an English first name at the very least.' You didn't budge on that. You always were stubborn," Mr. Saotome laughed. "Speaking of names, I don't believe I've heard yours yet."
"Oh, right. Sorry. Its Fi…um…, Jiro Amada," Finn answered, picking the first name that came to mind. He remembered Akito's friend who had been killed from the reports, and he had been watching 8th MS Team with Akito earlier before the mission, so the name seemed to make sense to him, even if it was obvious he was lying. He just hoped it fooled the Saotomes.
They sat around chatting for a while longer. After they finished dinner, Finn thanked them for their hospitality and said he would go find a room to stay in. However, they insisted that he at least spend the night. After a few minutes of polite protesting, Finn finally gave in, and was soon asleep in his futon in the Saotome's living room.
"Captain, beginning approach to the moon," Ruri reported as the Nadesico approached the moon.
"Is Saotome's location beacon still active?" Yurika asked.
"Yes Captain. I am calculating his exact position." Ruri gave some commands to the computer. "I am currently tracking Lieutenant Saotome's frame just outside the lunar city of New Halifax."
"Minato, set course for the fourth district, New Halifax,"
"Roger that, Captain." Minato replied and entered new heading into the computer.
"Reading abnormally high concentration of bose particles. Calculating exact position," Ruri said. "Captain, the reading is coming from 3.58 kilometers lunar west of the New Halifax colony."
"Is it a chulip?"
"No ma'am. It appears to be robot unit of unknown classification."
"Give me a visual," Yurika ordered.
"Negative. Target is beyond the range of the Nadesico's visual sensors." Ruri said. "Target is closing in on the colony."
"See if you can contact Lieutenant Saotome." Yurika said, trying to figure a way out the situation.
"Lieutenant Saotome, come in. Do you read?" Megumi said, trying to open a communication channel. 'Damnit, why doesn't he ever respond to me?' I see a recurring theme in the plot here.'
"Quiet you," the author said. "Get back to work, I'm not paying you to just sit there the whole story."
"Fine," Megumi said. "Captain, I am unable to reach Lieutenant Saotome."
"Its possible he's just sitting there dead in his cockpit." Minato suggested grimly.
"Negative. I am tracking Lieutenant Saotome's communicator's signal from within the colony. The colony's barrier system could be preventing us from making contact," Ruri explained.
"Maintain current speed and heading. Have all aestivalis pilots on standby." Yurika ordered.
Finn woke to a rumbling sound. It felt as if the building was lightly being shaken. 'An earthquake?' he thought, sitting up. Just then, there was a loud crack of thunder, followed by a loud roar and a brilliant flash of light. Bolting out of bed, Finn ran out of the small house and into the outside service tunnel and stopped at the airlock. He pressed his face close against the small portal showing the outside, which was the only window he knew of. What he saw outside filled him with fear and anger. 'Its them,' he thought, remembering the nightmare he had when he first awoke at the Saotome's house. Finn ran back inside the house and flipped on the light. Mrs. Saotome appeared from the bedroom.
"Whats going on, lad? What was that rumbling I just felt?" she asked.
"Listen," Finn said, searching the room. "Where did you put the suit I was wearing when I was found?"
"Its here, in the closet. Why? Are you going out?" she seemed confused. Finn opened the closet and, sure enough, there was his piloting suit. He grabbed it and suited up. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going out," Finn said, holding his helmet under his arm. "Thank you for your hospitality. I'm sorry, but I can't stay any longer." And he bolted out the door. Mrs. Saotome watched him go.
"Poor lad." She said, and the colony shuddered again.
Outside the airlock, Finn clipped his helmet on and went out into the vacuum that was the lunar surface. He looked around until he said what he was looking for. Tracks. More specifically, tracks the led the way to his ship.
"Please, please let it still be there." Finn said as he sprinted as best he could in the low gravity. A little way off, Finn could see the gigantic robot that was hammering the colony's barrier with gravity blasts. Finn followed the tracks he had made when he had crawled across the Moon's surface looking for the colony. Not too much later, Finn found his ship, jumped into the open cockpit.
"Come on baby, come on," he said to himself as he brought the main systems online. However, a few of his monitors refused to cooperate. "Damnit!" he shouted and punched a misbehaving monitor, which fizzled and came to life. A good number of the frame's systems were still knocked out, but it could still move and, hopefully, still fight. He made his frame stand up, brought the engines online and flew towards the unidentified robot. Whatever it was, it was huge, much larger than an aestivalis, and even bigger than his ACF frame. Four long, claw like appendages were at the end of each of the robot's arms. From its chest, came a brilliant flash of light. 'It's the same. Exactly the same as in that dream.' The barrier system was almost gone. The robot raised one of its mammoth arms and slashed through the remaining energy in the barrier. It was just about to trample a part of the city, when a bolt of energy from Finn's rifle knocked it away. The robot seemed to look at him, before it slashed its claws at him. Finn jumped back, then thrust forward, slamming his frame's fist into its chest. However, his fist was stopped by a distortion field surrounding the enemy robot. "Little bugger," he said to himself and unsheathed his wrist blades. However, before Finn could launch another attack, the robot lunged forward, slashing its claws across Finn's left shoulder. "AHH!! Au secours Grandmama!" he stopped for a moment. "Wait a sec, why am I crying in French?" The robot hammered him with another blow to the should strut. "Scary!"
"Lieutenant Saotome. Do you read?" Megumi's vidwindow appeared in his cockpit.
"About time you guys got here," Finn said, dodging another swing from his opponent's claws.
"Status report," Yurika's face now appeared.
"Left arm's busted. I can't use it. Currently engaged in combat with a new type of Jovain unit. Sending visual," Finn sent the video feed to the bridge of the Nadesico. Finn's window flickered with static. "A little help would be prime!"
"Launching aestivialis units. However, you are outside of the gravitron beam energy feed. It will be a few minutes longer before we can assist you. Pull back until our arrival," Yurika ordered.
"Can't," Finn said as he leapt high into the sky, over the enemy's head. "It'll destroy the colony. The best I can do is keep it distracted until you get here." Finn's window suddenly closed.
"Lieutenant Saotome's radio transmitter has been destroyed by the enemy robot, code named Goliath." Ruri reported.
"Damnit, hold on just a little while longer." Ryoko said to herself in her aesti cockpit.
Meanwhile, Finn was not faring so well. His left arm was immobile, his communications were gone, half is visual monitors weren't working, and many other systems were down.
"At least I can still fly, sort of," he muttered as he landed behind the goliath robot. Spinning around he ran his right blade in a long slash across its back. The goliath paused momentarily before swinging around and unleashing a gravity blast right in Finn's face. However, because of the gash in its back, it was unable to fully charge the gravity blast. All but one monitor was knocked out and Finn could no longer move. He felt his frame being grabbed around the middle and lifted into the air.
"Captain, I am receiving an incoming transmission from the Jovian Goliath," Megumi said. "Opening communications link."
"Attention Earthlings. This is Commander Sanoske Hashima of the Jovain Forces." The crew stood shocked.
"Why are you working for the lizards?" Yurika demanded. "You traitor."
"Lizards? I have no time for your childish questions. I demand that you and your humanoid fighters retreat from the Moon now. If you do not comply I will destroy the robot I have here," the Jovian known as Sanoske said. He squeezed Finn's frame, and sound of bending metal could faintly be heard. "Come any closer and I will destroy it. You have fifteen minutes to comply," And he closed the channel. The crew stood in silence.
"Captain?" Prospector asked. Yurika's face turned from one of shock to one of determination.
"Ruri, how long until the goliath unit is within the range of the Nadesico's gravitron beam?" She asked.
"One minute if we hold present speed and heading," answered Ruri.
"What's the range of the aestivalis's rifles?" Yurika asked.
"153.5 kilometres."
"Good. Minato full stop. Attention all pilots," she opened a comlink to the five aestivalis pilots. "Ryoko, Izumi, Hikaru. I need you three to take up sniper positions at these three positions," She gave the pilots three positions, from behind large boulders scattered on top of lunar hills. "Your objective here is to distract the goliath and, hopefully, inflict some damage on the thing. Akito, Akatsuki, you two will take up position at the very edge of the gravitron beam's range. As soon as Ryoko and her squad complete their objectives, The Nadesico will move far enough towards so that you can engage the enemy robot without using your internal battery reserves. I want you two to charge the goliath. Your primary objective here is to recover Saotome's frame. Understood?"
"Roger," came the reply. Ryoko, Hikaru, and Izumi took their positions. Hikaru took the left flank, which was behind a large lunar boulder, Ryoko took the centre position, which was on the top of a large hill, and Izumi took the right flank, which was inside a shallow crater.
"In position, Captain," Ryoko said.
"Tenkawa and I are also ready," Akatsuki added.
"Good. Commence operation," Yurika ordered. Ryoko and her team aimed their rifles at the goliath's head, which was the only part of the robot to shoot without running the risk of hitting Finn.
"Fire!" Ryoko ordered, and the three fired from their sniper positions. Puffs of smoke erupted off the goliath's head.
"I warned you." Sanoske's voice once again sounded on the bridge.
"Goliath unit is crushing the MAF frame, Captain," Ruri said.
"Minato, ahead full speed until the goliath is in range," Yurika ordered.
"Roger, Captain." Minato said, and moved the ship forward.
"Akito, Akatsuki, Go now!" Yurika ordered.
"Roger!" they both said and charged the goliath unit. They both slammed their shoulders into the goliath, causing it to stumble stumbled and dropped Finn. Akito grabbed the battered frame under both arms and dragged it back.
"Ryoko, you're all clear, no need to worry about hitting Saotome," Akatsuki said as he grabbed the MAF's legs.
"Alright girls, let him have it!" Ryoko shouted and they fired without any hesitation. The goliath stood up, bullets puncturing its hull. The air around it shimmered and it disappeared. "What the hell? Where did it go?"
"It would appear that the Jovians are now able to successfully boson jump life forms. The goliath unit jumped beyond the Nadesico's sensor range." Inez explained. All the pilots returned to the hangar. Finn's frame was not in good shape. Most of the outer part of the left shoulder and arm had been ripped away, the middle area and cockpit looked like it had been run through a trash compactor, and there were dozens of cracks, dents, and tears all over.
"Oh sweet merciful crap! My baby!! Not again! What the in the hell does this guy do to this thing?!" Seiya looked pissed. "Every time he goes out, this happens?! Why does he always have to be the hero?"
"Just get him out of there." Yurika said in a not-too-worried tone of voice. The crew began their work, trying to open the cockpit. However, before they could get very far, a banging noise came from inside and the cockpit lifted a few millimetres and closed again. This continued for a while until the hatch finally burst open and Finn jumped out. He ripped his helmet and was breathing heavily.
"Air! Sweet, cold, recycled, but air!" he heaved. Seiya ran over to him, took his shoulders, and began to shake him.
"What the hell were you thinking? Look what you've done?! Do you really expect us to fix that after all that?!" the vein in Seiya's forehead looked ready to blow. But Finn just laughed. Ryoko, Izumi, and Hikaru stood off to the side.
"He's back," Hikaru said, poking Ryoko.
"Beat it," Ryoko said.
"Beat it. Just beat it," Izumi snickered, and they wandered off. Except for Ryoko, who walked up to Finn after Seiya had finished beating the crap out of him.
"Ya did good, Saotome" she said and extended her hand. Finn looked flabbergasted.
'She called me by my first name. Oh happy day! She's not going to kill me!' he thought. "Thanks," he said, and shook her hand. When they let go, Ryoko punched him hard in the stomach. "Why…why…why…" Finn stammered, the wind knocked out of him.
"I warned you, if you ever pulled another stunt like that I'd kick the crap out of you. Consider yourself lucky," Ryoko said. She permitted herself a small smile and laugh, then walked away.
They're WHAT?!
"Why are you still in your room, Lieutenant?" asked the bitch queen, also known was Erina Wan. "The Captain wants to debrief you on that last battle."
"Finn tired, go sleepy," Finn moaned and pulled his sheets tighter around him.
"Two hours is plenty of time to rest."
"Maybe to undead snakewomen like you," Finn muttered.
"I beg your pardon?" Erina asked, sounding slightly more pissed off than she usually does.
"Nothing," Finn said and closed the vidwindow. "Sleep, rest, at last." And he closed his eyes and began to drift back into sleep.
"SAOTOME!!!" Finn jumped several feet in the air and clung to the ceiling. "Where the hell are you? We want to get this debriefing over with. Get your ass up here now!"
"Fine, fine," Finn moaned and got up. "Be there in two." He began to change out of his sleepwear, boxers and undershirt.
"Pervert," Ryoko said. Finn slowly looked back and saw that the window was still open.
"You don't have to stare you know," Finn said and closed the window, but not before seeing Ryoko's face turn red, and hearing a few snickers in the background. When he finally arrived at the bridge, Ryoko was still a slight shade of red.
"There you are. What took you so long?" Erina demanded.
"Hey, I've had about three hours sleep these past few days. Give me a break," Finn snapped, sounding slightly irritated. "Snake," he added under his breath.
"Saotome, there you are." Yurika was standing in the middle of the giant screen that made up most of the lower bridge's floor. "As most of you know, our recent discovery about the Jovians confirms our worst nightmares."
"You mean a pregnant spider crawled up your nose while you were asleep and laid eggs in your skull?" Finn asked.
"Ok, our second worst nightmare," Yurika said. "How did he know about that?" she added to herself. "From what we understand, the Jovian Lizards, are, or at least have, human beings, just like us. And they have now succeeded in boson jumping life forms."
"Excuse me?" Finn asked. "Where are you getting this from?"
"Playing audio record 2n639." Ruri said and a staticy recording played. Most of the crew recognized the voice belonging to the man who called himself Sanoske.
"When did you get this?" Finn demanded.
"During the battle while your radio was knocked out," Ruri answered.
"So you're telling me that the Jovians are human?"
"Uh hu." Yurika nodded.
"Well ain't that just prime." Finn said. "So all this time we've been fighting other people?"
"That's correct Lieutenant," Inez said in her special explanation way. "However, if you take that statement literally, then the answer is no. Up to this point in time all Jovian units we have encountered were unmanned robot fighters, such as the grasshoppers, spiders, hacker crabs, and chulips. This means that we have technically been fighting unmanned robots and not other people. However, if you look into the deeper meaning of you're question, then yes, the Jovian Lizards that control the robot fighters are human and therefore we have been fighting other humans all along," There was a collective sweatdrop.
"It was a rhetorical question," Finn said quietly.
"Well, setting that aside, I think we have more important questions to answer, such as how you made it to the Moon," Inez said.
"What's so complicated about that? You saw how that ray blew; I don't think it's that hard to understand what happened. Ray goes boom, I go flying off into space, and leave a robot imprint on the Moon's surface," Finn said.
"Its not as simple as you make it out to be. Due to the explosion, it is difficult to determine exactly what happened. While the sensor data does concur with your somewhat basic explanation, there are a few things that still don't make sense," Explained Inez.
"Such as…?" Finn asked.
"Well, it's difficult to say for certain due to the interference caused by the explosion, but it would seem that you were not holding onto the ray when it exploded. A blast of that intensity and magnitude would surely have vaporized your ship, even with the distortion field at full power. From what data could be collected, it appears that you're ship appeared several thousand meters above the ray the instant it exploded." Inez explained.
"But that doesn't make sense. I don't remember flying away like that. I'm pretty sure I was holding onto that thing until a few seconds before it blue," Finn said, puzzled.
"I can't say for certain because not enough data could be collected in that split second,"
"We get the idea," Finn interrupted Inez apology for lack of data.
"It's possible you did fly there and don't remember it due to the stress put on your mind and body. It is not uncommon for such things to happen when the mind is under a great deal of stress."
"Inez not knowing what's going on?" Akito asked. "That's just great. If she can't figure it out then no one will." From her post at the helm, Erina smiled her evil little smile. Akatsuki also smirked.
'What are those two so happy about?" Finn asked himself. 'I'll have to keep an eye on those two.'
"The Nadesico will land at the Nergal research facility in district four to take on supplies. We will arrive there in two hours, I suggest you all get some rest, I think we've all had a pretty exhausting day. You are all dismissed." Yurika said and the crew dispersed.
In a dark room, the only light came from a computer screen. At the controls sat Erina going over what appeared to be video logs and sensor readings.
"So what's this?" a voice from behind asked. Erina jumped slightly.
"Oh, its you," she said. "What are you doing here, Akatsuki?"
"Just seeing what you're up to." Akatsuki said with a slight chuckle. "What is this?"
"The sensor readings and video logs from when Saotome fought that Jovian ray," Erina said, typing in a few more commands.
"What's so special about that?"
"Watch." The data played, showing the position of the MAF during the last moments before the ray exploded. A red light blinked at the point where the ray exploded and Finn was lost to the Nadesico's sensors.
"What's that red light mean?" Akatsuki asked.
"It means that there was a brief, but high concentration of bose particles around Saotome when he disappeared from the Nadesico's sensors," Erina explained. The screen showed the MAF's tracking signal suddenly disappear, then reappear away from the ray.
"What's that other file open?" Akatsuki pointed to an open file.
"Akito Tenkawa, the moment the Nadesico jumped from Mars." Erin said, and played the video file. It showed Akito in his room watching Gekigengar. After a few seconds he disappeared, and the video switched to a view of the observation deck, where he suddenly rematerialized. Akatsuki grinned.
"Interesting," he said.
"Yes. Very interesting indeed," Erina said with a slight grin. She closed the file and encrypted it in her personal logs.
Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, Finn was busy pacing and close to just ripping the hair off his head.
"Agh! I can't believe this! All this time we thought we were fighting to save the human race. But instead it just turns out to be a war just like any other," Finn said, and sat down.
"Yeah, just when you think you're fighting for a good cause, it turns out to be no more noble than any other war," Ryoko said, her head in her arms against a table.
"So what are you guys going to do now?" Akito asked.
"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked.
"Well, are you going to quit fighting? Or are you going to keep going, knowing you're killing other people?"
"I don't know," Hikaru said, sounding somewhat hesitant to answer.
"I'm not quitting," Finn said. "I'm committed to seeing this thing through. We're all in too deep to just walk away."
"Yeah. We all joined to fight, we can't just walk away because or personal feelings conflict with our duty," Ryoko said. "But still, I don't have to like it."
"And you can't quit. That's second 252 of your contract," Izumi said, wearing a mask of Prospector's face.
"So what are your plans for when the war's over?" Akito asked after a long, silent, while.
"I dunno. Continuing to be a pilot I guess." Ryoko answered. "Not that I'm much good at anything else," she added to herself. "What about you?
"Well, I still haven't given up on my dream of being a chef. What about you, Hikaru?" Akito asked.
"Well, I used to work drawing mangas. So I guess I could always return to that," Hikaru answered. "What about you, Izumi?"
"I never wanted to be a pilot," Izumi said in a very serious voice. "I wanted to be…" she let her words hang for a moment. "a lumberjack!" Everyone facefaulted. "Leaping from tree too tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia. The larch! The fir! The mighty scotch pine!"
"I should have seen this coming." Akito said, a sweatdrop on his head. Hikaru put tape over Izumi's mouth while Ryoko tied her to a chair.
"That'll hold her," Hikaru said, but Izumi kept singing, or trying to under the tape. "What about you, Finn?"
"Hm?" Finn looked up.
"Well, what did you do before the war?" Akito asked. Finn had a resentful and grim expression on his face. The room fell silent.
"Me?" Finn got up from his seat. "I don't know," he said quietly.
"I wouldn't mind knowing either." Akatsuki said, leaning against the doorway to the cafeteria.
"That's none of your business," Finn replied coldly.
"Hey, why so glum? I'd have thought learning the true identity of our enemies would've cheered you guys up. I mean, at least now we know who we're fighting." Finn glared at him, while the most of the other pilots looked as though they were thinking about what he had just said. "But I didn't come here as a motivational speaker. I just came by to tell you that the UF has decided to classify this information as top secret, so you're not allowed to tell anyone off this ship. If the public ever found out, we're dead meat."
"There's no point in saying 'dead meat', 'meat' would do just fine. Once something is classified as 'meat' it rarely ever comes back." Akito said trying to lighten the mood a little.
"There's a pork chop in the freezer I'm optimistic about," Finn said. "He's a fighter." There was a collective sweatdrop. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm heading back to sleep," He said with a yawn. "G'night all."
"Its 11:30 in the morning." Hikaru pointed out.
"Good morning then. I don't know, see ya," Finn began to walk out of the room, but stopped when he was right beside Akatsuki. "I know about you," he said quietly, just loud enough from Akatsuki to hear, then walked out of the room, the echo from his footsteps could faintly be heard as we went down the hallway. Akatsuki stood still, his eyes open a little wider than normal.
"Yo, you alright?" Ryoko asked.
"I'm fine," Akatsuki said, regaining his composure.
A while later, Akatsuki found Erina in the dark room again, sitting at her computer terminal.
"Have you found anything yet?" He asked.
"Nothing yet. All I have are records from after he joined the ship, and even those are pretty vague. Whoever this guy is…" Erina trailed off.
"We know nothing about him," Akatsuki finished.
"The only mention of his name prior to him joining the Nadesico is in a brief report about a Project Starlight." Erina said. "Do you know anything about that?"
"Project Starlight? All I know about that is that my father started that project, but I thought it had been scrapped years go." Akatsuki answered.
"The plot thickens," Erina said.
Battle For the Moon
The Nadesico arrived at the Nergal facility about two hours later, or two hours, three minutes, and fifty-two seconds, according to Inez's watch. When the ship had landed, ammunition, food, another supplies were loaded.
"What's that thing?" Hikaru asked from the bridge's starboard side window.
"What's what?" Finn asked, coming over from his seat to investigate.
"That thing." Hikaru pointed again. What she was pointing at puzzled Finn. It was obviously another Nadesico class ship, still under construction.
Opposite of it, on the other side of the underground hangar there was a large section still to be attached.
"Hey, Mr. Prospector," Finn called across the bridge to Prospector, who looked up from the papers he was going through. "Can you come over here for a minute? I want to ask you something." Prospector got up and joined them by the window.
"Yes? What would you like to know? I'm in a bit of a hurry here so I'd appreciate it if we kept this brief," Prospector said, still shuffling through some documents in his hands.
"What is that?" Hikaru asked, pointing out to the unfinished ship. "It looks like the Nadesico."
"It's another PT core ship, right?" added Finn.
"Yes," Prospector answered, and looked around.
"What is it?" asked Finn, following Prospector's gaze around the bridge.
"Oh nothing, just making sure the Admiral was still absent. You see, that ship isn't supposed to exist. That is Nadesico class vessel number four, the Shakuyaku. Nergal has been building her secretly as part of our plans to return to Mars. We don't want the UF to know about her just yet," Prospector explained.
"That's correct," came a voice from behind them. It was Mr. Yuy, Nergal's lunar supervisor. "It's design is many times more powerful than that of the Nadesico, and will be equipped with four phase transition engines. Two will be build into the ship's primary structure, and the other two are housed in the Y unit."
"The Y unit?" Hikaru asked, puzzled.
"Yes, the Y unit. Its that section of the ship other there," Yuy said, gesturing towards the large section still to be attached. "The main structure is nearing completion, and the Y unit will be attached later on."
"I see," Finn said, gazing out the window. "Just one more question."
"Go on," Yuy said.
"Just why are you telling us this? I thought Nergal liked to keep people in the dark."
"Well, since you've already seen the ship with your own two eyes, we might as well explain a few things. Besides, now that you know this is supposed to be a secret, you will know to keep this information to yourselves. Is that clear?" Yuy asked.
"Yes sir," Finn and Hikaru replied in dull unison.
"Any staff that sees the Shakuyaku is being informed that what they see here is classified," explained Yuy.
"Nergal being somewhat honest for once. You're slipping there,"
"Yes. Very amusing," Prospector said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to deliver more documents to the Admiral before finishes the last stack I gave him." And he left, picking up a very thick binder from his seat as we left.
Finn was awakened by a loud boom. He opened his eyes and stared sleepily at the dark ceiling of his room.
'Three…two…one…' He counted backwards in his head. 'And…now.'
"Attention all combat personnel," Megumi's voice sounded throughout the ship.
'Right on time,' Finn laughed to himself.
"We have a priority one emergency. All pilots report to the hangar immediately." Megumi announced. Finn groaned and got out of bed, still in his uniform. He quickly got into his piloting suit and ran down to the hangar. He found Ryoko and her squad already down there. However, Akito and Akatsuki were nowhere to be seen.
"Where are the other two?" Finn asked as he run up to them.
"Tenkawa and Akatsuki are launching out of the colony hangar in lunar surface frames. There are only two so the rest of you will be in zero-g frames," Seiya explained. "Now get moving!" The pilots made their way to their aesti's, and Finn climbed into the ACF frame.
'The other one's too small to handle those giant goliath units,' he thought as he brought all the systems online. Within seconds, they were catapulted up to the surface, where Akito and Akatsuki were already engaging enemy units.
There were several small cruisers launching grasshoppers. However, what caught Finn's attention was the goliath a little way off. It seemed to be watching the battle. Akito started to make his way over there, but Finn stopped him.
"You take some grasshoppers, pal. I've got a personal score to settle with this monster," Finn said, clenching his fists.
"You sure?" Akito asked, remembering how the goliath had totally overpowered the smaller MAF frame.
"Very sure," replied Finn as he charged towards the goliath. The goliath struck first, firing a gravity blast at Finn, who rolled to the side and dodged the blast. "You'll have to do better than that!" he yelled as he punched the goliath in the chest, or at least, would have if he had been able to get through its distortion field. The goliath slashed at Finn with its claws, and shattered his distortion field. Backing up a few steps, Finn then dove at his opponent, tackling it and bringing them both to the ground. The sudden shock from hitting the ground caused the goliath's distortion field to weaken momentarily. Capitalizing on this split second of weakness, Finn thrust his frame's hands into the field and ripped through it as though it were paper.
"I swear you'll pay for that, Earth scum!" A vidwindow appeared in Finn's cockpit.
"So you must be this Sanoske guy, eh? Nice to meet you. Too bad you won't be around long enough for me to enjoy your company!" Finn grabbed the goliath by the arm and started to swing the machine around and around in circles, before finally letting go, sending it flying into a solid rock wall and sending an avalanche of rocks down on it. Itappeared to be buried under a pile of moon rocks. However, it was difficult to be sure with all the dust floating around. "Did I get him?" He was answered by a blast of energy exploding from the pile of fallen boulders.
"Not quite!" Sanoske as he ran at Finn. They locked hands, trying to force each other to the ground. Both robots seemed to be equally matched in power.
"Not bad," Finn grunted as he pushed forward. "At least this time I have enough brute strength to fight back."
"This time? Oh, so you must be the pilot of that other micro mini meatball of a robot I defeated the other day," Sanoske said. "This time I'll have to finish the job."
"Defeat nuts. That was just round one," Finn said as he twisted around, grasping his enemy's arm and threw him over his shoulder. He then tried to punch the robot's head, but Sanoske rolled away and Finn's robotic fist hit nothing but rock. "Slippery little bugger," he said to himself as he swung his leg around, trying to land a kick. Sanoske caught it, threw Finn to the ground, and pinned him.
"You put up a good fight, my friend. But playtime's over," Sanoske said, sounding out of breath. The mouth on the goliath's chest opened, and Finn could see the gravitron waves charging.
'Only have one chance at this,' Finn thought, bringing his shoulder cannon online and set it to fire a single beam, instead of hundreds of small ones.
"Die!" Sanoske yelled as the fired the gravity blast. Finn fired his blast and intercepted the wave of gravitron energy in the few meters between the two robots, sending the blast wave flying out in every direction. Finn took a few small hits, as did Sanoske, but they inflicted minor damage. Then, the goliath disappeared.
"What the hell?" Finn cried. "Where'd he go?"
"Right here!" Sanoske said as he grabbed Finn's frame from behind. "You're like a roach. No matter how many times I step on you, you still manage to keep on crawling,"
"Life's funny that way," Finn grunted. He could feel his frame slowly being crushed and Sanoske squeezed
"Any last words?" Sanoske asked, more in cruel humour than an actual question.
"None you'd wanna hear." Finn said as he brought his rear engines online and fired them. The intense heat partially melted the goliath's chest armor. Sanoske's grip loosened just enough for Finn to break free. He spun around and landed a solid punch in the goliath face. The goliath stumbled back a fell backwards onto the ground. Finn heard what seemed to be a girl scream. He shook it off and stepped on the goliath's chest, and aimed his shoulder cannon at its face.
"You…you won't get away with this," A girl said. Finn looked at the window. Sanoske's hair fell down his shoulders, and his voice seemed to be rather…feminine.
"That the hell?" Finn asked. "You…you're a girl?"
"So, you figured it out, hmm? No matter, just get this over with," the girl, who called herself Sanoske said. Finn hesitated.
"What are you waiting for?!" Ryoko screamed at him. "Destroy it!" Finn bit his lower lip.
"I…I can't," he said quietly. "I can't do it."
"What?" Ryoko asked baffled. "Why not?"
"I don't know…" Finn hesitated.
"If he won't do it, I will." Akatsuki said, landing beside the fallen goliath.
"No, don't," Finn protested. "Its not right."
"What are you talking about? Why not?" Akatsuki demanded.
"I don't know. He's…she's female." Finn replied.
"That Jovian's about as female as a piston!" Ryoko yelled at him.
"This is war, Saotome. There is no place for softhearted sentimental mush here," Akatsuki said, resting the tip of his rifle on the goliath's head. "Goodbye, Jovian."
"No!" Finn knocked the rifle away just before Akatsumi fired.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Akatuski shouted.
"You're compassion will be your downfall," Sanoske said as and used the distraction to knock Finn and Akatsuki away. Before either of them could react, boson jumped away.
"Aren't you going after her?" Akatuski asked angrily.
"Why bother?" Finn replied.
"All pilots, return to the Nadesico, they Jovian forces are bugging out," came Megumi's voice. Just then, the Nadesico burst out of the underground hangar, or at least, what looked like the Nadesico.
"What's going on here? What happened to the ship?" Finn asked confused.
"The Shakuyaku was crushed when a section of the hangar collapsed. We have attached the Y unit to the Nadesico since its such a shame to leave it right here," Yurkia said. "Anyway, you'd better make your way back to the ship."
"What the hell were you thinking?" Akatsuki shouted at Finn, once they were both out of their frames and on the hangar floor.
"Hey look, I didn't join the Nadesico so I could kill women. Killing men is bad enough, I don't need the deaths of women leaning on my conscience on top of that," Finn replied.
"Look, I don't care how you feel. This is war! Got it? We destroy who and what our captain tells us to destroy. There's no place for compassion here. Its survival of the fittest, kill or be killed," Akatsuki went on.
"I joined the Nadesico under the impression that I was fighting an alien force bent on destroying humanity. I believed that our cause was noble. I could have always flown to Earth and chosen not fight, but I'm here. I'll continue fighting, but if you expect me to sacrifice my moral beliefs just so you can add another kill to the Nadesico's combat record, you are sadly mistaken, my friend," Finn said.
"Well, I can see there's no talking sense into you. I guess I'll just have to let the Captain chew you out, maybe then you'll see reason." Akatsuki said and walked away. "Moral beliefs have been the alkalis heal of all great men,"
"We'll see," Finn replied, and made his way to the bridge, thinking about what the girl who called herself Sanoske had said before she boson jumped " 'Your compassion will be your downfall.' " he smirked. "Man, that sounds like something out of Gekigengar."
When he arrived at the bridge, Finn put on a determined face.
"Lieutenant, you have some explaining to do," Yurika stated.
'Oohh boy, here it comes,' thought Finn. "Yes, Captain? What is it?"
"In my ready room. Now," she answered and walked into small, office like room just outside the bridge. Finn made some kind of gulp-like noise and followed her. As he walked by Akatuski, he saw him grinning in an I-told-you-so fashion. It was tempting for Finn to 'accidentally' step on his foot, but decided not to make any more trouble for himself.
"Dead man walking," Akatsuki said just loud enough for the bridge to hear, but not Yurika.
"Yes, Captain? What did you want to speak to me about?" asked Finn.
"Saotome, I realize that you are a man with certain moral principals," Yurika began. "Is that correct?"
"Yes, Captain." Finn answered.
"You don't like to hurt other people and try to avoid causing pain if at all possible. So, bearing that in mind. Allow me to ask you just one question."
"What's that, Captain?"
"Do you think Akito would like me better if I wore a black kimono or a green on?" she answered, holding up two kimonos. Finn facefaulted, hitting his face on a corner of the desk on his way down to the floor.
"You mean that's what you wanted to ask me?" Finn was laughing hysterically. From on the bridge, the crew could hear Finn, but interpreted it as screaming.
"Poor guy," Hikaru said.
"She must really be pissed," Ryoko added.
"Either that or she's giving him the best…" Izumi began. However, she was soon laying unconscious on the floor, thanks to a quick whack in the head by Ryoko.
"Thanks Ryoko. I wanted to keep this fic at least somewhat clean," the author said.
"No problem," Ryoko made a V.
Meanwhile, in the Captain's ready room.
"What's so funny?" Yurika asked, sounding puzzled.
"Its just that," Finn began, picking himself up off the floor. His left eye was beginning to swell because of its impact on the desk, but Finn was still laughing a little and didn't feel it. "I thought you were going to ask me why I didn't finish off that Jovian robot earlier."
"That? Oh, you don't need to worry about that. I heard what you said in the hangar because your communicator was on. Didn't you know that?" Yurika replied.
"Nu uh."
"Don't worry about it. I agree with you. Taking another's life should only be done if there's no other path to follow. I'll have to talk to Mr. Akatsuki about that. But setting that aside, which one do you think Akito would like better? I need an unbiased opinion here, that is, unless you have something for me as well," she asked, taking a sexy pose.
"No, nothing like that Captain." Finn sweatdropped.
"Then which one?" Yurika pressed.
"Uhhh…the black one." Finn said, still finding it difficult to believe what was happening here.
"Are you sure?" Yurika asked, looking at the black kimono.
"You wanted an unbiased opinion. I think the black one would look better," Finn replied.
"Oh, ok. Thank you, Lieutenant," Yurika said and sat down, looking over the kimonos.
"Is that all?" Finn asked after standing there for a few minutes in silence.
"What? Oh, that's all. You're dismissed," Yurika replied.
Finn thanked her and left the ready room, and as he returned to the bridge, most of the crew gawked at his black eye.
"It was that bad, was it?" Akito said.
"What? Oh, this?" he said, feeling the swollen part of his face. "Uh…yeah. She really taught me a lesson. You bet!" Finn tried to go along with it.
"Are you ok?" Ryoko asked Finn as they walked down a corridor with Hikaru and Izumi.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," Finn replied.
"That's good," Ryoko said as they stopped at a door.
"Anyway, this is my room. See ya," Finn disappeared into the room. As the door closed, the teasing began.
"Oh my precious Saotome, is thou hurt?" Izumi teased.
"What? What are you guys talking about?!" Ryoko turned red.
"Oh come on Ryoko, we all know what you want," Hikaru said.
"And where you want it," Izumi added. Ryoko was now very red.
"It's…it's not like that!" Ryoko defended herself.
"Oh Finn. Let me nurse you back to health with my womanly touch," Izumi said.
A few minutes later Ryoko was seen walking down the hall. Behind her, two people could be seen with legs hanging out of garbage cans.
In a Tear, a Girl's Past
"Look Daddy, I see the first star!" a little girl sitting on her father's shoulders said excitedly, pointing at the darkening sky.
"Very good Ryoko. Now I want you to find that special star that shines inside yourself." They were standing just outside an open hangar in an air base. Jets were being wheeled in and out of the hangar, and as the sky darkened, lights began to turn on. Across several landing strips, there was a large building that served as a main control centre, as well as a tower, with blinking red lights on top.
"My special star?" Ryoko asked.
"Yes. Your special star, something that you, and only you, can do," her father answered.
"My special star," Ryoko said to herself. They stood there looking as the stars came into view one by one.
"Come on hun, lets go see Mommy," he said and he began walking towards a large building on the other side of the airstrip. All around them jets were landing and taking off. No matter how hard she covered her ears, Ryoko could not block out the tremendous roar of the engines. Finally, they made it to the control centre and the noise subsided. Her father put her down in a chair and walked over to a desk, and talked to a few people. After a few minutes, the man her father was talking too handed him a binder that was thick with papers, as well as a phone. He took the binder and held it under his arm while he dialed. After a few minutes, he came back and took Ryoko's hand. "Mommy's not home right now, she might have gone out to grab a few things," he said and ruffled the hair on his daughter's head. "Ok hun, lets go," And they walked outside into the parking lot. The warm desert air was cooling rapidly now that the sun had gone down. Ryoko was shivering by the time they got to the car.
"I can't wait to get out of here," her father said, more too himself than Ryoko, as they drove down the side streets of a residential area. "This neighbourhood is no place to have a family." Outside the streets were littered with garbage, a few drunk men stumbled down the sidewalks carrying bottles in paper bags, and every few seconds a siren from would sound. "The Earth is not the future. It's so dirty and crowded. The stars are where the future is."
"Up there?" Ryoko asked pointing at the sky.
"Yes hun. That's where we're going. Tomorrow we're going to the stars," he said. They pulled into their drive way and the car stopped. However, there was a second car sitting beside them. "That's strange. Maybe she just got back." They got out and walked up the front steps. The door was open.
"Mommy?" Ryoko asked.
"Kasumi? We're back!" He called out, closing the door. "Hello?" He quickened his pace and began to search the rooms. He disappeared up the stairs and Ryoko slowely followed him. She found him in the his bedroom, he was kneeling over something.
"Daddy?" she asked timidly. "Where's Mommy?" She looked around the room. All the drawers had been ripped out and rooted through, there was an empty jewelry box on the floor, and the window leading had been smashed. Ryoko walked slowly into the room and saw her mother laying on the floor, a red substance covered her upper body, she was also not moving. "Is Mommy sleeping?" Her father looked at her, clutching his wife's hand.
"Yes Ryoko. She's sleeping," he said, his eyes filled with tears. He let go of the limp hand and picked up Ryoko, hugging her tight. "But she won't wake up." Ryoko looked at her mother's body as she was carried from the room too her own.
Ryoko hugged her bag as she stepped off the shuttle and into the military hangar on the L2 Colony. She glanced around nervously. Beside her were other cadets that had passed the first stages of training on Earth. Now they were going to be trained in space for zero-g combat. All the cadets stood in a line facing a short, but very rough looking man.
"Listen up!" he shouted. "You have all passed land and air combat training, and will now be trained in zero-g combat. I am Commander. Never mind what my name is, all you need to know is that I am Commander and I run this place. Does anyone have a problem with that?"
"Sir, no, sir!" they all said together. The Commander walked from one end of the line to the other, looking over this new victims. He stopped at Ryoko.
"Name," He demanded.
"Me?" Ryoko said, looking to either side of her.
"Yes you. Name. Now!" he shouted. Ryoko tensed.
"Ryoko Subaru," she said quietly.
"What? I can't hear you?" he demanded, sounding irritated.
"Sir, Cadet Ryoko Subaru. Sir!" she said as confidently as she could, however there was a slight tremble in her voice.
"That's better. That is how you properly introduce yourself to a commanding officer. Now, drop and give me twenty for making me ask twice," he said. "Come on, now!" Ryoko dropped to the floor and began her pushups. "Faster!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" she said, biting her lip and focusing on the task at hand. 'This is so humiliating,' she thought. 'Everyone is watching me. I should just give up now and spare myself this kind of humiliation.' Then she remembered her father's words to her as she boarded the shuttle. Most able bodies were already recruited by the UF for some reason that was not known. But everyone assumed it wasn't good and considered joining the UF pretty much a death sentence if you looked at the death rate among pilots. So an opportunity to join Nergal was not an opportunity you passed up. Ryoko considered herself lucky to accepted.
"Make me proud," her father's voice sounded in her head. She finished and stood up.
"Feeling tired?" the Commander asked.
"Sir, no, sir!" Ryoko shouted.
"That's better. You're all dismissed. Training starts in one hour, so don't doddle." he said and walked away. Ryoko picked up her bag and followed the crowed. In the hallway there was a large bulletin board with names and room numbers. She searched the list for her name, and founding near the bottom the list.
'Room 252.' She thought. There were two other names up there. Maki Izumi and Amano Hikaru. Ryoko gulped. The name Maki sounded familiar. Ryoko searched her memory for anything on his Maki person. The hallway fell silent and people moved back, creating a pathway down the hall. Ryoko looked away from the board to see what was going on. There was a woman coming down the hall. She was very pale, had dark hair over half of her face, and was wearing a pilot's uniform and some kind of odd hat. She seemed to have this very eerie aura around her, Ryoko tried to shrink back and disappear into the walls with the rest of the novices, but found herself fascinated by this person, but in a frightening way. The woman stopped at the board and looked at it, then she looked at Ryoko.
"You must be Ryoko. I'm the cat in the hat," she said, and began laughing. Ryoko suddenly remembered something.
'Miss Death Maki,' Ryoko thought. "Excuse me," she said, interrupting the woman's hysterical laughter. "You must be Death…I mean Izumi Maki, is that right?"
"That's right."
"I'm Ryoko Subaru, it says we'll be sharing quarters along with someone named Hikaru Amano," She bowed a little. "Pleased to meet you,"
"Thrilled to meet you too. I can't contain myself." Izumi said in her dead tone of voice. Ryoko couldn't tell whether Izumi was being sarcastic or just plain insane. While they had been talking, another girl, with reddish brown hair and glasses had shown up by the bulletin board without them noticing. She looked over and saw Ryoko's name tag hanging off her bag.
"Hello! My name's Hikaru Amano and I'll be staying I room 252 just like you are! I make tea, my blood type is B, and my favourite foods are pizza crusts and salty rice crackers. It's so nice to be working with you! I've heard so much about you," the somewhat hyper Hikaru burst.
"You have?" Ryoko asked. She didn't consider herself as a pilot that people talked about.
"Of course! I'm your biggest fan. The way you aced the land combat live fire exercise with only a 5% miss ratio is amazing! Its such an honour to be working with such a great pilot!" Hikaru blew her little whistle a few times.
"She's been into the crack. She'll be fine," Izumi snorted and started laughing again. Ryoko sweatdropped.
"And to think I gave up a UF public relations job for this," she muttered and went in search of her designated room. Hikaru followed and kept on gushing praise. Izumi trailed behind. Whenever someone saw Izumi come into view, they would get out of the way. The trio found their quarters. Izumi looked like she had been living there for a few months already. The pictures and letters pinned to the wall by the bottom bunk were a dead giveaway. There was already a small bag, like Ryoko's, sitting on the top bunk, which she assumed to belong to Hikaru. She dropped her bag on the bunk bolted to the adjacent wall and packed what few things she had into the drawers built into the lower half of the bed. "Here we go," she said, and changed into her pilot suit.
Ryoko checked her systems and brought the main power grid online. Her aestivalis hummed and came to life. Today was the day. The Nadesico would be arriving shortly to take on supplies, and a few new pilots. Ryoko didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing to be chosen as one of the pilots to join the Nadesico along with undead Izumi and the overly excited Hikaru. One the one hand, it offered an escape away from the dull L2 Colony, and on the other, the ship already had a nasty reputation for getting itself into trouble. But all in all, Ryoko was glad to finally be getting away from the Commander. He had pretty much destroyed the sensitive little girl Ryoko used to be and turned her into, what he called, a 'true soldier'.
"A soldier cannot act on his emotions." She remembered him saying a long time ago. "You have to act without thinking. If you don't kill the enemy, the enemy will kill you first. Understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" the line of pilots in training sounded Of course, at the time none of them even knew who 'the enemy' was, and no one ever suspected it might be an alien force from Jupiter. If you even asked such a question before the war, you probably would have been considered some crazy lunatic and locked up.
'But that's what really happened.' Ryoko thought. She attached a large case containing things she had gathered over her years of living on L2 and attached it to a tow cable in the aesti's back. There was still an hour or two to kill before the Nadesico arrived, and Ryoko had already completed her pre-flight checklists, so she sat back in the cool, air conditioned cockpit and closed her eyes. The hangar was noisy outside, but only a few muffled sounds penetrated the frame. She let her mind wander. First to what life on the Nadesico would be like, then to what she had been doing yesterday, and then further back. She remembered a day a year and a half ago. It was by no means a happy memory. It was a routine exercise of evasive manoeuvres. They had to dodge space mines containing a small charges, the reason for this being to make the pilots take the exercise seriously. It was a pretty simple drill, one that all pilots had completed many times without running into any trouble. The most damage any ships had sustained were minor dents and scratches. However, that day was not to be a simple exercise.
"You know the drill Subaru, you too Tendo. Just don't get hit by any mines," the Commander said. He was strangely calm today.
'Must be from lack of sleep.' Ryoko thought. The past week had been a live fire exercise, so they all were working on about two hours sleep, even the maintenance crew were sluggish. Ryoko and Tendo, her partner for this exercise, entered the minefield, and began their manoeuvres. The mines would target one ship and release compressed gas and shoot across the sky towards them. Ryoko gracefully weaved this way and that, dodging mines as they went by.
"You have one above you, Tendo. Watch it," Ryoko called.
"Thanks. I see it," Tendo called back and made a quick turn to the starboard. "Uh oh." Ryoko heard. She looked over to see what was going on. Tendo had gone further into a densely packed area of the minefield. Mines began coming at her.
"I'm coming," Ryoko said, bringing her weapons systems online with the intent of clearing a section of the minefield.
"Negative, Subaru," the Commander said. "This is evasive manoeuvres not target practice." Ryoko powered down her systems and continued the exercise, but kept an eye on her partner.
"Two more above you and three behind you," Ryoko informed Tendo. "You might want to get out of there.
"I'm trying!" Tendo shouted back. "They're all around me."
"I'm coming," Ryoko said and steered her fighter deeper into the minefield to serve as a distraction. However, it was getting hopeless. About twenty or so mines were already following Tendo, along with several more heading straight for her. Ryoko laughed. "I think you're screwed there."
"Yeah, I think so. But I'm not giving up." Tendo replied. And made another sharp turn, loosing a few mines behind her. Ryoko flew a few loops around Tendo's ship before breaking off, distracting a few mines from Tendo, and boosting her thrust and pulling out.
"Look out, there's one right in front of you." Said Ryoko.
"Huh? Ohh shit." Tendo said as the mine smashed into her ship.
"Looks like I win this one," Ryoko laughed. "What the hell?!" She stared in horror at the sight before her. A giant blast erupted from Tendo's ship.
"You ok?" Ryoko called.
"I think so," Tendo called back. Just then, the sky exploded in a giant flash of light. Ryoko stared in horror as the mines surrounding Tendo's ship blew, trapping her inside a raging inferno. The shockwave from the blast nearly ripped Ryoko's ship apart.
"Tendo? Tendo? Answer me, damnit!" Ryoko screamed into her
radio. She received nothing but static. She kept trying to get through, but received no response. When the flames finally subsided, Ryoko could see the full extent of the damage. Both wings of the ship had been torn apart, the rear of the ship had melted under the heat, and pieces were falling off left, right, and centre.
"Subaru. Get Tendo's ship and bring it inside!" the Commander ordered. Ryoko fired a magnetic tow cable into Tendo's crippled fighter and flew it inside the hangar. Maintenance crews were standing by, and as soon as the ship hit the hangar floor, they began to rip the cockpit open. Most of the glass had melted under intense heat of the explosion. When they finally ripped the hatch open, Ryoko shoved her way through the crowd. She shoved the workers out of the way and looked inside the broken ship. The glass in Tendo's mask was cracked, and a small hole could be seen in the side of the helmet. Ryoko undid Tendo's restraints and shook her.
"Come on, Tendo! Speak to me! Please!" Ryoko shook Tendo, but without luck. The body was limp, the head hanging to one side. Someone finally managed to pull Ryoko off Tendo and restrained her as they carried the body away.
Ryoko shook her head, trying to force the memory out of her mind. 'That was a long time ago,' she thought, and looked around her. Most of the hangar personnel were on their lunch break, so it was pretty quiet. Ryoko sat back. However, something was wrong. The colony began to shake. Pieces of the roof fell to the floor and fire exploded just outside the hangar doors. She looked around, and it became apparent that she was the only pilot there. Looking around, she quickly closed her case that, for some reason, had been opened, and grabbed another tow cable and attached it to three of the remaining zero-g space frames and dragged them towards the door. There she waited for a few minutes, to see if any of her fellow pilots would show up. However, when grasshoppers began blasting their way through the hangar doors, she decided that she would have to go out alone. A small compartment on the aestivalis' leg opened, and a large suction mine became visible. Ryoko grabbed it, attached it to the doors, and stood back as it blew them open, taking a few grasshoppers along with it. She hit the throttle and headed for the blip on her scanner screens that she took to be the Nadesico.
…To be continued in Act 3
End of Act 2
