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!

Act 7

Peace Talks

          "That does it," Finn said as he pulled his hand out of the IFS socket.

          "Captain," a vidwindow displaying Ruri's face appeared. "We have successfully completed boson jump to Europa's former coordinates. I am detecting ten heavy warships and fifteen smaller units presumed to be of dimojin or goliath class."        

          "Alright Ruri," Yurika said. "Mika, Inez, you return to the bridge with me. Ryoko, I want you and all the other pilots on standby incase this is a trap."

          "Which it probably is," Finn said to himself as he and the other pilots left the observation deck.

          "Saotome, wait up," Kumi said as she caught up with Finn and Ryoko. "I just want to ask you one question. What's it like to boson jump?"

          "Well," Finn said. "It's like a new pair of underwear. At first it's strange and confining but then it becomes a part of you." All the pilots sweatdropped.

          "Captain," Ruri said as Yurika came back onto the bridge. "I am detecting more incoming craft. Reading twenty grasshoppers and eighteen spiders."

          "Have they tried to make contact?"

          "No ma'am," The Nadesico shuddered slightly. "We have just been struck by a gravity blast from one of the warships."

          "Should we return fire?" Minato asked.

          "Not yet. Megumi, hail the enemy flagship. Ruri, how strong was the gravity blast?" Yurika asked.

"It was a 50% charge blast, Captain. It does not pose any serious risk to us. However, should we be bombarded with blasts of the same intensity our distortion field will begin to fail," Ruri said as Megumi opened the communication channel.

"Attention, this is Captain Misumaru of the battleship Nadesico hailing all Jovian craft. We are here to conduct peace negotiations, we don't want to fight you." The ship shook slightly again.

"Captain, I'm intercepting a communication signal on 0542 wavelength," Megumi said "Patching communication throught."

"Send the interceptors to the right flank. All dimojin units down the centre. Watch out for their gravitron cannon," a voice said.

"Who is this?" Yurika asked.

"What the…? Who is that?" the voice asked.

"This Captain Misumaru of the Nadesico, we're not here to fight,"

"The Nadesico? Great, as if we didn't have enough to worry about,"

"I'm detecting more ships approaching from starboard. They are of unknown class," Ruri said.

"This is going well," Jun said sarcastically.

"Arm the gravity blast cannon," Yurika ordered. "A low power blast, just enough to blow out their distortion fields. Maybe they'll pull back."

"The unknown ships are engaging the Jovian forces," Ruri said.

"Say what?" Yurika asked, staring at the monitor as the unknown ships opened fire on the Jovians. The crippled ships of the Jovians didn't stand a chance against the new vessels barrage and, soon after that, they were all destroyed. The new ships held their position when they had defeated them. "Stay on alert."

"In coming transmission from unidentified craft, patching it through now."

"Greetings Nadesico. This is Captain Hibiki of the Division Forces. I apologize for that cowardly attack from the SMFs. I am here to officially welcome you to Division space. We will provide escort while we are en route to Division Headquarters on Ganymede," a man dressed in a white uniform said. His uniform was very similar to Shiratori's, but his had a strange emblem on the right breast, which everyone assumed to be the official Division insignia.

          "Coordinates have been received," Minato said.

          "Plot course for Ganymede," Yurika ordered.

          "A small shuttle launched from the Division flagship is requesting boarding clearance," Megumi said. Yurika nodded.

          "I take it there's no fireworks today?" Finn asked, hopping down from the cockpit when he saw Yurika come into the hangar, followed by Hori, Prospector, and Mika. The hangar doors opened and the filtration screen activated. The shuttle passed through the energy screen, designed to keep the air in and maintain pressure in the hangar, and landed in the centre of the massive area. Finn and the other developed cast members made their way to the small reception area that had been hastily prepared. The shuttle's doors slid open and a narrow gangway extended down. Finn drew his gun and aimed at the figures that emerged.

          "Whoa! What's all this about?" Hibiki said, raising his arms.

          "Put it away Lieutenant," Yurika said, irritated. "I apologize. He's been fighting for a long time and gets a little paranoid sometimes."

          "For good reason," Finn said as he returned his gun to its holster under his arm. He remembered the last time they had tried to negotiate with the Jovians. "I apologize, Captain."

          "Shiratori," Hibiki said when he saw Shiratori among the welcoming party. "Been a long time."

          "It has," Shiratori said as the two men shook hands.

          "Please, come this way," Yurika led them away to a conference room. Finn was forced to surrender his sidearm before entering. A 'preventative measure' Yurika called it.

          'I feel naked without my gun,' Finn thought as he took his seat. Yurika sat at the far left side of the oval and Hibiki and the crewmen he'd brought along sat at the opposite end, with the others taking seats between the two.

          "I officially welcome you to the Nadesico, Captain Hibiki," she said when they had all taken their seats around a large, oval shaped table. "My apologies again for the incident in the hangar. I assure you, we wouldn't want to do anything that might jeopardize the peace talks."

          "Thank you. No hard feelings," Hibiki said. "I'd like to start with a piece of good news. Commander Shiratori of the former Superior Male Forces has been assigned as the official ambassador to the Earth. Since he has traveled with you for some time now, Emperor Kanzaka felt that you would be best suited for the position."

          "I'm honoured," Shiratori said. "But can I ask you one question?"

          "Of course," Hibiki said. His smile was somewhat disturbing to some of the more suspicious crewmembers present.

          'My spider sense is tingling,' Finn thought.

          "Just what happened here?" Shiratori said, referring to the status of the Jovian settlements. "Why were we attacked by our own forces?"

          "There have been several small bands that refused to be integrated into the Division," Hibiki explained. "They are the remnants of the SMF. It's nothing to be concerned about. Most of their forces are survivors of the destruction of Central Command, which means they are very badly damaged."

          "Shouldn't you have given them the option of surrender?" Yurika asked. "It was obvious that they didn't stand a chance."

          "We've tried talking to them, but they're very stubborn. We're working to purge our society of these renegades," Hibiki said.

          'I don't like this,' Finn thought. 'Cleansing is always a bad sign.' Ryoko noticed Finn's discontentment, but nodded slightly in agreement.

          "That's unfortunate to hear," Shiratori said. "How did the Division establish itself so quickly? After Central Command was destroyed everything must have been in complete chaos."

          "You have to realize that we had to work very fast in order to prevent an all-out panic," Hibiki said. "That is all you need to know, I assure you."

          'AWOOOOGA! AWOOOOGA!' Finn's brain screamed.

          "Anyway, we're working hard to resolve the situation," Hibiki said. "Now, down to business. I trust that you have approval from the Earth government for conducting peace talks?"

          "More or less," Finn said under his breath.

          "Yes, we have. Although they have expressed some concern over certain issues. I have a list of conditions that they feel must be met before a lasting peace is established. But for the time being they have agreed to a ceasefire," Yurika explained, sliding a palmscreen across the table. Hibiki picked it up and went through the UF conditions.

          "These seem agreeable," he said. "But I must warn you that there are many in our society who have negative feelings towards the Earth. It might be difficult for them to accept some of these terms. But I'm sure we can work something out."

          In the next couple of hours both sides updated one another, more or less, on the state of their societies. Yurika explained that the UF wished to avoid another war, but left out the part about there not being much of a UF to fight one with. Hibiki explained that the Division had established itself quickly in order to prevent chaos after the destruction of Central Command. However, he failed to mention just how they had so many forces already.

          They soon arrived at an orbital colony above the moon Ganymede. Yurika led a diplomatic team consisting of Hori, Prospector, Akito, and Shiratori. Finn insisted on coming along, but Yurika ordered him to stay on standby.

          "I don't need you doing something that might jeopardize our mission," she said.

          "But you don't understand, Captain! They're not interested in peace. They only want the Nadesico. Can't you see that?" Finn protested.

          "I realize that there is a very real danger of that," Yurika said. "But I'm afraid I have more faith in the good in people than our own suspicious speculations."

          "Any luck?" Ryoko asked when she saw Finn emerge from the Captain's readyroom.

          "None," Finn said, and they made their way to the hangar.

"Shiratori, can I ask you a question?" Yurika asked as they took their seats in the shuttle that would take them into the Jovian colony.

"What's that?"

"Just how do you know this Kanzaka person? When you talked to him it seemed like he knew you," Yurika asked.

"He was my instructor at the academy," Shiratori said. "He was in charge of the potential SMF officers at the Jovian Realm Space Academy."

"That's good. Having a personal connection will make things easier," Yurika said cheerfully.

"Maybe," Shiratori said to himself. 'He may have been my instructor, be he's not the same man I knew,' he thought.

"Greetings Ambassador Shiratori!" Kanzaka greeted them when they landed in the colony. A red carpet had been laid out and there were guards dressed in formal reception attire, each holding an old fashioned rifle and saluted Kanzaka, who waited at the end of the carpet. He was dressed as one might think of some kind of Latin-American Dictator. He was wearing a navy blue uniform, from which dozens of medals and decorations hung. The shoulders and cuffs had gold material woven into them. "And greetings to you, Captain Misumaru."

"Thank you," Yurika bowed slightly.

"Please, come this way," Kanzaka led them out of the hangar.

"Yeah, right into a trap," Finn said from Jetstream's cockpit.

"What are you listening to?" Ryoko asked from her seat. Finn doubled the window and threw one over to her.

"I secretly planted a bug on Akito as they were leaving," Finn explained.

"I didn't see you,"

"That's what makes it a secret," Finn opened another window. "Jun, keep the PT engines warm. Don't drop your guard. We're still in enemy territory, don't let them get too chummy."

          "Why?" the ever so ignorant Jun asked.

          "Call it a hunch," Finn closed the window.

"Aren't you being a tad paranoid?" Ryoko asked.

"Remember what happened the last time we tried this?"

"True enough," Ryoko said and they and returned to watching the peace delegation from the bird's eye view of the tiny camera on Akito's shoulder.

          "I trust you have already spoken to Captain Hibiki?" Kanzaka asked when they were seated at a large table in a massive room. It looked a lot like some kind of trophy room, for there were medals, pictures, and various trophylike items along the paneled walls.

          "That's correct," Yurika said taking her seat. "I outlined our peace proposal for him."

          "And did he find it appropriate?" Kanzaka asked.

          "Yes, he seemed to find it quite agreeable,"

          "Then I don't see why these talks shouldn't go smoothly," he said. Yurika placed her documents on the table and passed them across to Kanzaka, who began to read through them. "So your proposal is in a step-by-step process eh?" Interesting."

          "Yes. First I would like to cement the ceasefire until both sides calm down from the chaos this war's brought. The Earth along with its moon and immediate space would be declared a safezone for Earth ships and colonies. The same status would be applied for all territory held by the Division within inhabited space. During this stage, only negotiation ships may move between these areas. No military or civilian ship would be allowed to venture outside its safezone. Mars would be declared a no fly zone. Meaning that neither side would be allowed to lay claim to Mars or start rebuilding. Once both sides had recovered and rebuilt themselves, then Mars would be open to discussion. Under my proposal Mars would be an intermingling zone. Any Division citizens that wished to return to Mars and pick up where their ancestors left off would be welcome to return. However, Earth citizens would also be allowed to return to Mars and rebuild their destroyed colonies. The remains of our existing colonies and would be given to the Earth settlers and untouched land would be given to Division settlers. Each colony would be governed by its own municipal government. The planet would then be run by a board consisting of six Division citizens and six Earth citizens." Yurika explained.

          "What about military activity?" asked Kanzaka.

          "Mars space would be declared neutral. No military presence with exception to a small force on the planet itself in case of civil unrest. Mars would also serve as a boundary. No military vessels would be permitted within one million kilometres of the planet or its orbital path," Yurika explained. Outposts would be built on either side of the border to act as…kind of like a customs and immigration office, to make sure that these laws are enforced."

          The explanations and negotiations continued for several more hours.

          "Finn, wake up." Ryoko nudged him awake. "They're starting to wrap it up."

          "Anything happened? I didn't hear any shots fired yet." Finn said as he came out of his state of semisleep.

          "Not that I've heard. They seem to be getting along."

          "Damn," Finn said and watched as the delegation began to wrap up its first day.

          "Maybe they really are interested in peace?" Ryoko suggested. "You could just be over paranoid."

          "Nu uh. Something's up. It's too good to be true," Finn said.

          "Which means it probably is," Ryoko concluded.

          "Exactly. They're planning something. I just don't have anything to prove it." A few minutes later they saw the shuttle return on their monitors. The cockpit was armoured heavily and was not made of transparent materials. The inside of the cockpit was lined with monitors that gave you a sense of actually floating out in the battle. However, when their minds were linked it didn't really matter what their eyes saw, everything was sent right to the brain. "Now I'll have to rebug Tenkawa next time they go out." They opened the cockpit hatch and climbed out. The brightly lit hangar was an uncomfortable transition from the dim cockpit and they both shielded their eyes. Jun had come down from the bridge to welcome them back.

          "How'd it go?" he asked when Yurika came down the gangway.

          "It was great! I really think they're interested in a lasting peace," Yurika said.

          "Just remember, Captain," Finn said from a slight distance. "Don't drop your guard. It's not too late for them to pull something. They could just be waiting for an opportunity."

          "Don't be so suspicious," Yurika said. "This is exactly why I didn't bring you along." Finn slapped Akito on the back and used that distraction to quickly remove the bug for later use. He saw Kumi approaching along with some other crewmembers.

          "We just wouldn't want anything to happen to our wing commander, right?" Finn said in a tone of voice that seemed to grate on Kumi's nerves.

The next few days passed in a similar manner. Yurika and her delegation went over to the colony to talk with Kanzaka, while Finn and Ryoko sat in Jetstream on 'standby' watching what was going on. It wasn't until the fifth day, when these initial talks were beginning to wrap up, that something happened to add to Finn's suspicion. For the past few days a Division shuttle escorted the delegation back to the Nadesico. The first time it stopped when the Nadesico's shuttle returned and flew back to the colony. However, on the second day, it actually entered the hangar. It had been doing so for the past couple of days. So far there had been no incident, but something didn't add up.

          "Are you armed?" Finn asked when both shuttles entered the hangar and landed in their usual places. Ryoko nodded. "It's now or never."

          "Thank you for escorting us back personally, Emperor Kanzaka," Yurika said with a bow. Kanzaka had come back with them this time.

          "It was my pleasure, Captain. I'm sure our paths will cross in the future," Kanzaka said. "Well, I must be off now. Be sure to talk with your superiors and tell them what we've worked out."

          "I'll do that as soon as we disembark," Yurika said as they shook hands. Kanzaka went back into his shuttle and they soon departed.

          "You've gotta be kidding me," Finn said when they blastdoors of the hangar slid shut.

          "You sound like your disappointed," Ryoko said, clicking the safety back on. "I know you don't believe this theory, but maybe they're telling the truth."

          "Maybe," Finn said, returning his gun to its holster. "I don't know. This isn't what I expected. They've totally blown my plan out of the water and now I don't know what to expect," Finn replied. 'This is so unusual,' he thought. 'I was sure they'd try something. It was the perfect opportunity. They could have taken the ship easily. So why didn't they take that chance? Something doesn't add up here.'

          "Remember, the average Jovian isn't all that bad," Ryoko said. "Remember staying with Mr. Noda and Yu? They seemed like decent people."

          "That's true. The average citizen's not half bad. But these cornpops they have for officials…" Finn trailed off. "It reminds me a lot of the communist governments they had back in the 20th century. Officially everything goes hunky-dory, but talk to the average guy and he lives in fear. Human history tends to repeat itself, and so far things seem to have worked out ok. But I wouldn't drop your guard yet."

          "I think you've been in the library too much," Ryoko said. Finn was about to protest, but stopped himself before he said anything stupid. "Come on, let's get out of here." They climbed out of the cockpit and made their way to the bridge. Just as with every other time, they were blinded by the bright lights.

          "Can't…see…must…talk…like…this," Finn said as the intensely bright light poured into his poor retinas.

Conspiracy Theory

          There was a kind of celebration going on the bridge when they arrived. Someone handed Finn a glass of some alcoholic persuasion. Finn took a sip.

          "This coke's gone bad," he said handing it back. He looked over at Ruri and saw a party had on her head. "Not you too."

          "Don't even look to me," Ruri said.

          "We're not celebrating a little prematurely, are we Captain?" Finn asked Yurika.

          "Take that broomstick out of your afterburner, Saotome. Lighten up!" Yurika said.

          "Oh great, she's drunk."

          "Idiots," he, Ryoko, and Ruri said in unison.

          "Kanzaka gave us a few bottles of champagne to celebrate," Yurika said, taking another sip.

          "Let me guess, you think it's poisoned?" Ryoko said.

          "That's the first thing that came to mind," Finn said, grabbing a glass from the table.

"What is it, almond scented or something?"  Ryoko asked.

"Seems ok to me," he said, taking a small taste.

          "Come on, have a drink!" Jun said.

          "I'd rather not," Finn said, remembering his last experience involving alcohol.

          The party continued for some time. It was midnight before things started to wrap up. Ryoko halfheartedly joined in, succumbing slightly to the insistent Hikaru and the undead Izumi. Finn sat by Ruri and they spent the night making the odd comment here and there. 

          "I don't know. Maybe I am being paranoid," Finn said.

          "You're suspicions are well founded. You have every reason to believe Kanzaka is planning something," Ruri said. "I think the Captain has been blinded by the light of what seems like success. She's not taking into consideration what happened the last time."

          "But then why hasn't he made his move? He had the perfect opportunity to try something earlier when the Captain came back. If I were planning something I'd have seized that opportunity." Something in Finn's back popped from having sat there for so long. Just then, he quickly looked to the upper bridge and saw Yurika pestering Akito and Jun asleep in his chair. There were over a dozen empty bottles on the floor. He then looked across to the wide area on the lower bridge, where Izumi was staring off into space while Hikaru and Seiya talked. Then he looked at Ruri's screens and saw a small red ping on the scanner window. "Oh no…oh no, oh no, oh no." He bolted up. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew they'd try something like this. Attention! We've got a problem here, Captain!" he shouted, but was out gunned by the sounds of the party. He ran down and grabbed Hikaru by the shoulders. "Hikaru?"

          "Wazzat?" she asked.

          "Oh…shit…" Finn looked around. "Ruri, see if you can get their attention." Ruri nodded and opened fifty vidwindows around the bridge.

          "Attention. You're attention please," her voice boomed over the speakers. Everyone cheered at seeing cute little Ruri finally say something. Finn spotted Ryoko on the fringe of a small group that had gathered by the lower bridge entrance. He bolted for the door and grabbed her arm on the way by.

          "Something wrong?" Ryoko asked when she finally got to her legs, as opposed to being half dragged down the corridor by Finn.

          "Wrong doesn't even begin to describe it," Finn replied, releasing her as he skidded around a corner. "How much…"

          "Don't worry. I've been nursing the same glass all night," Ryoko interrupted him. "I take it you're conspiracy theory's come true?"

          "You could say that." As they burst into the hangar, the Nadesico shuddered under the advanced barrage of gravity blasts. They were fired from a distance, so they did little more than cause the ship to shake a slightly. There were a few maintenance crewmen loitering by the vending machines.

          "Something wrong, Saotome?" one of them asked.

          "You could say that," Finn said as he leapt up the ladder and into his seat in Jetstream and fastened the restraints. Ryoko followed a second later and they both slipped on their interface gloves and started the PT engine.

"You don't think we're over reacting here, do you?" Finn asked.

          "Nah, I think this is pretty much what any of us would do while sober," Ryoko answered. "Come on, let's get out there. Maybe we can scare them off." They connected themselves to the IFS and activated the dual pilot system. Soon after they had burst from the hangar and flew straight towards the enemy armada. 'Maybe we should try talking to them first?'

          'Good idea,' Finn replied.

          "Division forces, this is Jetstream of the Nadesico, please respond," they said in sync with one another. The man on the receiving end of the transmission wasn't sure if he heard that quite right. It sounded like two people talking in unison. "We just have one question for you, what the hell are you doing?!"

          "Sir, I'm receiving a transmission from somewhere. It's on the Nadesico's wavelength, but I don't have a location," the officer informed his captain.

          "Put it through," the captain said.

          "Just what do you think you're doing?" Finn and Ryoko demanded.

          "Who is this?" the Captain demanded.

          "This is Jetstream. Now you answer my question. What are you doing? We had a ceasefire."

          "On Emperor Kanzaka's orders, we are to seize the battleship Nadesico," the captain replied. "And we will take it by force if we have to."

          'Well, we tried,' Ryoko thought.

          "Any resistance will be considered an act of war," the captain continued. "Surrender your craft."

          'Time for the big guns,' Finn thought and Jetstream's cannons flipped forward.

          'Make it a low power shot. They might just retreat if we rough them up a little,' Ryoko added.

          "We give you one last chance to stop this before we open fire. Stand down and retreat," they said. The cannons glowed slightly as they built up power. "We don't want these past few days to be for nothing."

          "You are an honourable soldier," the captain said. "But I have my orders. Now surrender yourself."

          "No can do."

          'Wait until they make the first move,' Finn thought.

          'Right,' Ryoko answered, hearing his mind.

          "They're resisting. Open fire, but be careful not to hit the Nadesico too badly. We want to take her intact. Ramjet drones advance. Demolisher robots, stay behind the ramjet missile screen. Don't let them lure you out of formation," the captain said and the armada opened fire. Small grasshopperlike robots advanced. They didn't look like grasshoppers, but small, sleek robots roughly the size of a VW Bug that transformed between fighter and robot modes. Some of them even detached from the larger manned robots and joined the others. (Think the air defence team minicons)

          "Fire!" Finn and Ryoko said and a wave of destructive blue energy erupted from cannons. The advanced drone squadrons were vaporized, but the larger robots and the battleships remained intact. The armada's blasts bounced off the small energy hexagons that made up Jetstream's distortion field. They cranked the engines to full and thrust into the cloud of ships. Missiles and gravity blasts buzzed by the sleek fighter as it weaved in and out of formations.

          "They're too fast, Captain. The targeting computer can't get a solid lock on them."

          "Convert the ramjets to robot mode, have them swarm the enemy by holding onto it," the captain ordered. The ramjet drones performed a simple transformation sequence. The engines detached from the fuselage to form the legs, and the nose split in two to form a pair of arms. Hundreds of these small robots formed large swarms and threw themselves at Jetstream and clung to it.

          'What the hell are these things?' Finn asked.

          'Must be some kind of new bug, bank right!' Ryoko answered and they narrowly missed another cloud of drones. 'We can't keep this pace up,'

          'I've got an idea,' Finn sand and they turned the frame around and dove back into the fleet of battleships.

          'Are you nuts!?' Ryoko asked as the frame moved on a collision course with one of the ships. Jetstream slammed into the distortion field of the battleship, but kept on going. They made a clean hole straight through. The frame sparked slightly at the sudden increase of power from the Division ship's distortion field flowing through the exterior frame.

          "Damnit, they're using our own contortion buffers against us," the captain said and watched as the energy from the distortion field surged into the frame. The ramjets were flung off, as though they were holding onto a bug zapper.

          "They're still moving too fast, Captain," Jetstream fired another blast, destroying another group of drones.

          "Fire cannons at their predicted grid points," the captain ordered.

          'Ouch,' Finn thought as they were struck by one of these predicted shots. 'They're onto us. I think it's time to turn it up a notch.' Jetstream transformed into robot mode, the cannons flipping back against the shoulders. The robot pulled off its left wing, which unfolded into a long sword, glowing slightly as it was charged with PT energy. The right wing remained intact, but separated and attached onto the left arm to serve as a shield. The Jovians stared at the sight before them. However, the quiet did not last long as Jetstream sprang forward and severed the head of a demolisher robot. When it leapt off the exploding body of its first victim, Jetsream went for another. However, before it could get there, the target thrust away at an amazing speed.

          'They're faster than they used to be,' Ryoko thought as they slashed at another one, but it flew back, just out of the sword's reach.

          "Ruri, we need some backup. How're things going on your end?" they asked.

          "Most of the crew has gone to bed," Ruri said. "I've tried to wake them but half of them aren't responsive."

          "What about the other half?"

          "They're not combat personnel," Ruri answered.

          "Well, then at least give us some missile cover here!" they cried dodging microgravity blasts from the demolishers, which looked a lot like the old ACF, except they were painted a dark grey and lacked the shoulder cannon. It looked like some dimojin/ACF hybrid. Each one held a pretty intimidating gravity blast gun.

          'They must have copied the outside structural design,' Finn thought as Jetstream was hit by a microgravity blast. They grabbed the demolisher by the head and severed the torso, before flying away. The ramjets seemed to be firing an infinite supply of missiles at them. One narrowly missed Jetstream and ended up hitting a demolisher. The large area suddenly exploded, as though someone had fired the PT cannon.

          "Ruri, was that you?"

          "That wasn't me," Ruri answered. The Nadesico fired a gravity blast into the fleet and destroyed two ships, while damaging another three. Another missile flew towards them and struck the distortion field and, again, the whole area exploded in a blinding flash.

          'They're using nuclear weapons?! At this range?!' Finn asked as the computer fed the information right into his brain.

          'Another one!' Ryoko banked the frame left to avoid another swarm of missiles flew by them. 'Wait a sec,' Ryoko thought, taking a look around. 'Check this out,' she passed the data along to Finn.

          'They're not firing new missiles. The old missiles turn around and keep trying to hit us. Some kind of homing device.' They fired the arm-mounted machine guns and opened fire on the little drones. The first few rounds bounced off their distortion fields, but the continuing onslaught shattered their fields and they blew to pieces. However, for every one they destroyed six more took its place. Jetstream shuddered again and they were both blinded slightly by another flash from a nuclear explosion. 'How long do you think we can keep this up?' Jetstream caught up to another demolisher and sliced it in two, but not without consequence. Just before the blow, the robot overloaded its gravity blast cannon and exploded at point blank.

          'Not much longer at this rate,' Ryoko answered. 'We're outgunned and out numbered. If you're going to pull a victory out of your ass you might want to do it now.'

          "Ruri, how much of the Nadesico can be controlled from your station?" they asked.

          "I have 62% of the ships functions operable to me," Ruri answered.

          "Can you steer it?"

          "Yes."

          "Good, we're bugging out, prepare to fire PT cannon and get ready to pull out of here."

          "Negative. Without the Captain's authorization I cannot fire the PT cannon. The system won't work unless it gets approval from the Captain."

          "Ain't that just prime," they said and transformed back to fighter mode. In this mode they were many times faster and could evade enemy attacks easier. However, they couldn't attack as well as they could in robot mode.

          'The best we can do is keep them busy,' Ryoko thought.

          'True, but we can't keep this pace up forever,' Finn replied. Just then, a massive barrage of gravity blasts flew into the fleet of ships, destroying a few of them, but leaving most of the fleet with minimal damage.

          "Ruri, was that you?"

          "Negative. I am detecting a small group of ships approaching of the port stern," Ruri answered.

          "Reinforcements? There's no way the Cosmos could get out here that fast."

          "It's not the Cosmos, or any of our ships. It appears to be a small group of Jovian rebels. They have launched grasshoppers and have engaged the enemy," Ruri said. "I have received a transmission from the rebel flagship. Patching it through now."

          "Attention Nadesico. We are the Jovian Alliance, remnants of the former Superior Male Forces. We have come to assist you in your escape from Division space," the message said.

          "I guess we don't need to tell you to accept his invitation and get us the hell out of here," Finn and Ryoko said in their somewhat creepy voiceover way. Grasshoppers and ramjets were exchanging missile fire. Unfortunately for them, the ramjets were faster and had little trouble blowing the grasshoppers out of the sky. Ruri moved the Nadesico into position with the Jovian forces and they began to move away from the battle. "Time to go." They transformed back to robot mode and managed to grab one of the enemy missiles out of the sky. "I think a near-miss deserves a near missile!" Quickly, they threw it into the front of the Division armada and it exploded on contact with their distortion field. A blinding flash streamed into the Division ship's command centres. Jetstream transformed back to fighter, cranked up its boosters, and soon joined the Nadesico.

Unusual Allies

          "I give us two minutes before they recover from that one," Finn said as he jumped down from the cockpit and onto the hangar floor. "Ruri, will we be out of their scanner range in time?"

          "Yes. All the Jovian ships escorting us are powered by PT engines. We will be far out of their range by that time," Ruri replied.

          "Just where are we going anyway?" Ryoko asked.

          "We are headed to a rendezvous point somewhere in the asteroid belt. That's all the instruction they gave me," Ruri replied. Finn and Ryoko made their way to the bridge.

          "Open a communication channel to the Jovian flagship," Finn said, standing on the upper bridge at the Captain's consol.

          "Roger, Captain," Ruri said with the faintest sign of a smile.

          "Hello Nadesico. This is Commander Ray of the Jovian Alliance. Greetings, Captain," the man on the other end of the transmission said.

          "I'm not really the Captain," Finn said.

          "Where is he?"

          "She's currently…unavailable. I guess I am the commanding officer at the moment, I think," Finn said. "I am Lt. Saotome. Where are we going?"

          "We're currently headed to join the remainder of my group's forces. After that, we'll receive further orders. Just keep the current course plotted and we'll explain in depth what's going on when we get there."

          "Right." The transmission ended and the window closed. "Not much, but I guess it'll do for now."

          "I think we should try and wake the Captain up now," Ryoko said.

          "Good idea. Ruri, can you handle things up here?"

          "Yes, sir," Ruri said and Finn and Ryoko left in the direction of Yurika's quarters.

          "I guess I should congratulate you on being right," Ryoko said in a somewhat sarcastic voice.

          "Believe me, this is one of those times when I hate being right," Finn replied. "I should have seen this coming. It was so obvious!"

          "If you start blaming yourself for this I'm going to have to rearrange your face," Ryoko said, forming a fist.

          "But at least we made it with our hides in one piece. I guess we owe the Jovians one." They stopped outside a door that had Yurika's name engraved on the nameplate. There was something hanging from it though. "What have we here?" he picked up the object in question. 'A black bra!'

          "Wait a sec…" Ryoko looked up the hall they had just come from. There were miscellaneous articles of clothing in a trail that led to the door. Some belonged to a female crewmember, while others belonged to a certain pilot in a cook's uniform.

          "Wow, she's bigger than I thought," Finn said offhandedly, holding the bra up a little. He soon found his face embedded in the wall opposite the door. "Very…educational," came a muffled voice.

          "Captain!" Ryoko banged on the door. "Captain, wake up!"

          "Want me to take the door out?" Finn asked, not really meaning what he said. Another Finn-shaped impression was made in the wall. "I'll be good."

          "I've got an idea," Ryoko opened a vidwindow inside the Captain's quarters and switched it to audio only. She took a deep breath and… "Captain, wake up!!"

          "One more time, Akito," came the mumbled reply.

          "I hope she's talking in her sleep," they both sweatdropped.

          "Something wrong?" Someone asked from behind them. They both turned around. "What's up?"

          "What the…?" Ryoko asked when she saw Kumi standing there. Finn grabbed his pen from his breast pocket and drew a line down the centre of the floor. He moved Kumi over to one end of the line.

          "Walk down this line while counting to ten," Finn said, giving her a little push.

          "What the hell are you babbling about?"

          "Well, I guess she's not wasted," Finn said.

          "Just what is going on here?" Kumi demanded.

          'Come to think of it,' Finn thought. 'I don't remember seeing her at the party.'

          "Wait a sec, if you're not piss-drunk like the rest of them, why weren't you in the battle like you were supposed to?" Ryoko demanded.

          "I thought it was just people running up and down the halls. It was pretty wild around here," Kumi answered.

          'Oh come on. You could at least try to lie here. Put some effort into it!' Finn bit his tongue and kept quiet. Ryoko was about to give Kumi a taste of what happens when people piss her off, but Finn nudged her and shook his head. "We're trying to get the Captain up."

          "Don't count on it. I was out here at the vending machines getting a pop while those two were at it. It was like listening to a porno movie or something," Kumi said. "But if you want to get her up, stand aside." Kumi moved over to the vidwindow. "Ooohhhh," She said in 'that' kind of way. "Ooohhhh yes. Ooohhh, it feels so good, Akito."

          "WHAT!?" came the shriek from the other end of the window.

          "And there you have it," Kumi said. 

           "An original idea, I'll give you that," Finn said.

          "Are you awake, Captain?" Ryoko asked.

          "Whaz going on?" came another voice from the other side of the window. "What the…uh oh…"

          "Well, I guess that answers that question," Finn said.

          "We need you on the bridge, Captain," Ryoko said.

          "Alright, what's going on?" Yurika asked as she came onto the bridge. Her eyes were red, her hair was in disarray, and her head was beginning to feel the after effects of the party. "This had better be good." Akito was also present and in a similar state. Finn and collected their clothes from the hallway and left them in a pile in front of Yurika's door so the two of them could get dressed.

          "Ruri?" Finn asked and she displayed an image of the battle group they were in.

          "What's going on here? Did I have too many vodka shooters?" Akito asked.

          "It's no joke. During the later half of your little celebration, Division forces attacked the Nadesico. Ryoko and I managed to hold them off for a while, but the Jovian SMF bailed our asses out of the fire," Finn explained.

          "We're currently en route to the asteroid belt, where we will meet up with other SMF, now called Jovian Alliance, ships," Ruri added.

          "Just what does all this mean?" Yurika asked, still not fully regained her senses.

          "Basically Kanzaka tried to blow us out of the sky, and your peace treaty along with it," Ryoko said.

          "But how did we escape? Surely if the Division's technology is that advanced as to give you two in Jetstream trouble, they could easily have caught up with us. I don't get it," Yurika said.

          "We don't know why, but maybe we'll find out when we get to the asteroid belt," Finn said. "When will we arrive, Ruri?"

          "It will take 11 days and four hours at our current speed," Ruri replied.

          "Where are you going?" Ryoko asked as Yurika made her way to the exit.

          "I'm going back to bed," Yurika answered as the doors slid shut behind her. Everyone looked at Akito.

          "What are you all staring at?" Akito demanded. Finn was about to make a smartass comment, but he held it back.

          "Idiots," Ruri said and put the Nadesico on autopilot, giving them the opportunity to head to their respective rooms to get some sleep.

The next few days were spent getting the Nadesico back into a wartime state of readiness, since during the duration of the peace talks the maintenance crew had been somewhat neglectful of their duties.

          "So these are the new fighters?" Akito asked when Finn showed the crewmembers some still images of the Division fighters Jetstream had taken during the battle.

          "The smaller ones are drone fighters called ramjets," Inez explained, appearing out of nowhere. "From the data collected by Jetstream and the Nadesico's sensors during the battle, it would appear that the Division has rebuilt and modified on old technology used by the former Superior Male Forces. The larger robots are called demolishers, which appear to be dimojin based machines using borrowed exterior structural schematics from the ACF."

          "But one thing doesn't add up," Finn said. "Why didn't they come after us? They could have easily destroyed the Nadesico if they wanted to," said Finn.

          "That's because they didn't want to destroy us," Inez answered. "They wanted to take the ship."

          "Why?" Kumi asked.

          "They don't have phase transition engines," Finn concluded.

          "Exactly right," Inez said. "There's no sign of the residual particles generated by phase transition reactions from the readings. But why they don't have PT engines in their ships remains a mystery."

          "I believe I can answer that one," Shiratori said. "The artifact that we used to built phase transition power cores was destroyed along with Central Command. We had no way of manufacturing them until we found that."

          "But didn't you make more PT engine plants?" Finn asked.

          "No, we didn't."

          "Pretty stupid thing to do," Ryoko said. "But I guess it does explain why the Division doesn't have them."

          "Exactly. Their ships must be powered by some kind of fuel cell, or possibly nuclear reactors," Inez explained.

          "Could they have somehow copied the gravitron feed system?" Finn asked. "It would make sense, and might explain why the demolishers didn't get that close to the Nadesico."

          "There isn't enough data to prove or disprove that theory," Inez said.

          "Attention all combat personnel. Report to your designated stations. All pilots report to the bridge for briefing., Megumi's voice said over the comlink.

          "What's going on?" Akito asked when they got to the bridge.

          "We have detected a small fleet of Division vessels blocking our path. We have received instructions from our escorts to hold our current position and take them out," Yurika said. "The Jovians will provide support while our aestivalis wing takes out the Division flagship. Ryoko, you and Lt. Saotome will be on a seek-and-destroy status. You're to maintain spatial supremacy while this mission is carried out."

          "Couldn't we just blow them away with the PT cannon?" Finn asked.

          "Negative. Using the PT cannon would alert the Division where we are and possibly give them the approximate coordinates of our destination. Commander Ray has informed me that in order to avoid detection, we have to make this look like a guerilla attack by the Jovian Alliance," Yurika said.

          "Excuse me," came the meek and timid voice of Mika. "Couldn't we use Jetstream's main cannon? Its energy signature wouldn't match any of the Division's records."

          "Saotome, can it be done?"

          "I don't know. We've never really tested the cannons, only in simulations, and at low power in actual combat. A full charge might cause damage to its systems if we fire." Finn answered. "Personally, I'd like to avoid using it until we have no choice. Remember what happened the last time I tried firing one of those things?"

          "Good point. I'm afraid we're going to have to stick to the original plan," Yurika said. "Dismissed."

          "What was Shiratori talking about, when Central Command was destroyed?" Kumi asked the other pilots as they made their way to the hangar. "Just what happened on Mars anyway?" Everyone looked at Finn.

          "What?" Finn asked. "Well, I guess it is technically my fault. But still."

          "What are you yabbering about?" Kumi asked. Finn looked at Ryoko, who looked back at him, who looked at Akito, who looked at Hikaru, and so on.

          "Is that what Fortress Magnum did?" came Mika's voice. Apparently she had been following them and no one had noticed. "I'm sorry. I was looking up pay records and stumbled across a video log of something by that name."

          "Fortress Magnum? What the hell is she talking about?" Kumi stood in the way with her arms crossed. "Alright, spill it. What's going on around here? Something's up and I want to know what it is." The alarm sounded once, telling them that they were to launch immediately.

          "I'll tell you later," Finn said and they continued on their way and were soon joining the Jovian dimojin and grasshopper units. Akito led the way, with Hikaru and Izumi on his left wing and Kumi on his right. Finn and Ryoko brought up the rear.

          "Remember, you have to completely destroy the Division battle group. Don't leave any stragglers that might give away our position," Yurika said and closed her vidwindow.

          'Do you get the idea that Mika girl's hiding something?' Ryoko asked Finn as they moved towards the battle group, still outside of their detection range.

          'By all appearances, that's what it seems like. Why would Fort Mag show up in a payroll file?'

          'She could be spying for Akatsuki or the UF,' Ryoko suggested.

          'Could be.'

          "We're almost within detection range," A Jovian commander in a dimojin said. "Prepare for high-speed attack. Now!"

The grasshoppers suddenly burst forward and fired a shower of missiles at the Division ships, which consisted of two heavy battleships, four light cruisers, a wing of demolishers and two squadrons of ramjets. "Good hunting," His dimojin fired a gravity blast and lumbered forward as fast as a clunky dimojin would go. Finn and Ryoko hit the boosters and unleashed a torrent of missiles that shattered the distortion field of one of the battleships. The demolishers armed their guns and began to join the ramjets to intercept them. Jetstream blew right by them and made a wide turn back to engage them. Transforming into robot mode, it grabbed one by the leg and tried to slice it in half. However, the blade hit something before making contact with the demolisher's armour.

          "It's not going to be that easy, you two," Inez said. "It appears that these demolishers have upgraded distortion fields. The ones you faced before must have been first production models with weak fields. These ones, however, are projecting a barrier relatively equal to that of an aestivalis."

          'Time for some damage then,' Ryoko thought and they brought the sword down on the demolisher. They fired rounds from the arm's guns at point blank into the robot, which quickly weakened its distortion field enough for the blade to slice through. The demolisher stopped moving and a small explosion blew it apart.

          'These guys aren't so tough,' Finn thought.

          'Yeah, but there's a lot more of them,' Ryoko warned. Jetstream shuddered under the intensity of a gravity blast from one of the Division battleships. Jetstream jumped off the remains of the destroyed demolisher and flew in a complex series of maneuvers to the ships. Their close range guns fired a barrage of fire at them, but with their enhanced reaction time in the dual pilot system, Finn and Ryoko evaded them easily, and whatever hits managed to strike them were deflected of their distortion field. They ran the sword along the side of the ships distortion field, searching for that fatal angle what would interfere with the field. Sparks sprayed from the blade's tip due to the friction between it and the field. There was a slight tug as the blade sank into the field's weak-spot. Quickly, they gouged out a hole in the side and punched both fists through the inner plating and fired their guns until they hit whatever was powering the ship. Bullets ripped through the ship and tore it to pieces. They were engulfed in a bright flash of light when they finally struck the power source. 'Oh…'

          'shit…' Finn finished. They could see nothing but white as the ship erupted in a giant fireball. To Finn and Ryoko it felt as though they were caught in a tidal wave. The force of the blast threw them about and nearly tore them to pieces. Several similar explosions followed, but they were with less intensity. The fighting seemed to stop for a moment as everyone watched the fireworks.

          "Congratulations, you just destroyed half of the grasshopper squadron that was supposed to be assisting us!" Kumi said.

          "What?" Finn and Ryoko asked.

          "And if you're not too busy, we could use some help!" Akito added. Finn and Ryoko looked around and saw that their side wasn't fairing too well. The enemy flagship had been destroyed and several ramjets had blown up in the process, but the grasshopper squadron had been halved. The aestivalis and dimojins would have been destroyed had their distortion fields not been strong enough to weather the blast. However, the other enemy ships only sustained moderate damage and were still firing at Akito's team, which was struggling. "No, Izumi. Not that way. Go right!" Akito tired to organize his wing, but could not do so without getting distracted himself.

          "Here we go," they said and armed the main cannons to fire small blasts to help clear the enemy fighters. Their blasts deflected off the demolishers' fields, but managed to break through the tiny ramjets. "Stay back from those ramjets when they blow. They've got armed nukes on them," they said as several tiny ramjets exploded in giant waves of light. The shockwaves produced by these explosions tossed them about like toys.

          "This isn't getting us anywhere," Akito said, a small dribble of blood running down the side of his face from where it had slammed into the control console.

          "Nadesico fighters, what's wrong?" the dimojin leader asked.

          "It's nothing," Finn and Ryoko , knowing perfectly well what was wrong. But they didn't have time to think of that right now. There were more important things to worry about. "Nadesico, fire a gravity blast at cruiser 2. Its shields are weak." Yurika complied with this suggestion and fired a gravity blast at the weakened ship. "Wait till we get out of the way!!!!!" A moment later, the ship exploded in a similar display of fireworks as the first one had.

          "I'm detecting abnormal radiation levels," Ruri reported.

          "That means that those ships must be powered by nuclear reactors," Yurika concluded. "All pilots, exercise extreme caution. Those ships are nuclear driven."

          "Now you tell us," Finn and Ryoko said, exchanging fire with a demolisher.

          'Wait a sec, I've got an idea. Ryoko, I'm going to drop the distortion field.' Finn said to her.

          'You're going to do what?!'

          'Trust me,' He cranked the distortion field to full and they grabbed onto their opponent. He then dropped the field and they fired their guns into its chest, which burst clean through the other side of its armour.

          'Isn't that a tad risky?

          "It would appear that Jetstream used its own distortion field to act as a cancellation mechanism. By having two distortion fields operate so close together, by adding more force to one field will cancel the other out," Inez explained.

          "Very good, doctor," Finn and Ryoko said.

Ruri's logs:

                    Our first battle did not end as well as we would have liked it to.

We inadvertently caused the destruction of almost half our ally's, forces. Fortunately there were only minor injuries and no deaths. Our aestivalis wing struggled and could not seem to organize into the effective fighting force it had been under Pilot Subaru's command. However, after almost two hours of fighting, we proved victorious and the space was cleared of enemy presence.

"Ugh," Finn said as he grabbed a bottle of water from the vending machine. "That could have gone better."

          "It was pathetic," Ryoko added.

          "What are you complaining about?" Kumi demanded. "At least we didn't blow up or own troops."

          "That was an accident," Finn retorted. "And we managed to get rid of an enemy battleship without causing any serious injuries." Akito was carried off in a stretcher. "Ok, with one injury. What happened to space cook anyway?"

          "He hit his head on the console when the first ship blew," Hikaru said. "I guess that was kind of your fault."

          "But what about you guys?" Ryoko asked. "What was going on? You didn't seem to have any strategy."

          "Um yeah…Akito's not as great a wing commander as you are," Hikaro replied. "I guess we need to spend some time in the simulator."

          "It's all Subaru's fault," Kumi said. "If she were still commander we wouldn't have sucked so badly."

          "We wouldn't have Finn or Jetstream if I did," Ryoko shot back.

          "No loss. You two cause more damage than the enemy."

          "In with the good air, out with the bad air. In with the good air, out with the bad air," Chibi Good Ryoko said, standing on her shoulder.

          "Guys, mellow out," Hikaru said.

          "Stay out of this," Ryoko and Kumi snapped.

          'This isn't going to be pretty,' Finn thought.

          The next few days were passed running combat simulations and training Akito to be a leader instead of a mere soldier. He had recovered from his injury, which required a few stitches and an icepack and tried to avoid Yurika 'nursing him back to health'. They had now entered the outer fringe of the asteroid belt and had to keep the distortion field at full strength to avoid any damage caused by flying space rock.

          "We are approaching our destination, Captain," Ruri said. The combat crew had assembled on the bridge.

          "Nadesico, please dock with the colony at coordinates 452," Commander Ray said from his ship.

          "I don't see a colony," Yurika said, looking at the asteroids.

          "It's right in front of you," One of the larger asteroids rotated slightly, revealing a small section exposed. "The colony is built into that asteroid. Just follow us." They followed the Jovian flagship into the hangar, while the rest of the group stayed outside. When the hangar doors shut, Ray instructed them to come down onto the floor and meet with the other Jovian Alliance commanders that had already assembled.

          "Does the Division know about this place?" Yurika asked as she stepped off the gangway and onto the floor.

          "No. This is an old mining station. The Division thinks it's been abandoned for years," Ray replied. "Now, I'd like you to meet Commander Hashima."

          "Hashima?" Finn asked himself, the bells ringing and the rusty gears started to move.

          "Hello, Captain Misumaru," an all-too familiar voice said. Finn's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

          "What's wrong with you now?" Ryoko asked quietly. Finn shielded his face nudged his head towards Hashima. "Uh oh…"

          "Now I'd like you to meet my crew," Yurika said.

          'Awwwwww shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit,' Finn thought.

          "This is Minato Haruka, helmswoman. Megumi Reinaid , communication officer. Ruri, Hashino, science officer. Akito Tenkawa, wing commander. Hikaru Amano, Izumi Maki, and Kumi Kato, pilots under his command." Yurika said. "And these two are Ryoko Subaru and Lt. Finn Saotome, pilots of our dual fighter," Yurika said.

          "Yes, I am already familiar with you and your crew, Captain," Hashima said. "Isn't that right, Saotome?"

          "Crap," Finn said to himself. "Yeah, hey Sanoske."

          "It's Sakura Hashima now. I don't need to hide anymore now that, if you'll pardon the expression, shit's hit the fan. Although I was detained for a few days after you exposed me. I should like a private word with you sometime soon," Sakura said. Finn made some kind of 'gulp' noise. "Please, all of you come this way." She led Finn, Ryoko, Yurika, Akito, Prospector, Hori, Inez, Shiratori, and Mika (who had appeared out of nowhere) out of the hangar and down a long, narrow corridor. "Please forgive the accommodations. We've had to work quickly and haven't had time to put in any fine touches. Here we are." She led them into a wide room that had been hastily prepared as some kind of base of operations. There were monitors and consoles in every corner and there was cable running all over the floors. "Welcome to our secret command post."

          "Just how did you manage to get this set up so quickly? It's only been about a month since the Mars incident," Yurika said.

          "We've had to work quickly. The Division sprang up the day Central Command was destroyed. We think that it has been in the works for a long time, just waiting for the right moment to seize power," Sakura explained.

          "That would explain a few things," Shiratori muttered.

          "Indeed. Fortunately even though it may appear that all of our forces were destroyed on Mars and at Central Command, this was not the case. We've managed to link up with several battle groups that opposed the Division coming to power. Even though we're outmatched in terms of firepower, they do not seem to have any phase transition powered ships."

          "So just what is going on here then?" Finn asked, braving a question.

          "We're amassing all the forces we can muster and are going to try for a sneak attack and destroy the Division while it's still in its infancy," Sakura said. "They are not very organized yet, which gives us the advantage of surprise."

          "But you'll be destroyed!" Yurika said. "Even with PT engines, they'd win by sheer numerical superiority."

          "We still have to try. Should the Division government be allowed the time to establish itself, most of humanity is at risk."

          "Being a tad exaggerative, aren't we?" Ryoko said.

          "No, we're not. Unlike the SMF, which sought only to conquer Mars and the Earth, the Division has a far more simplistic plan to achieve victory."

          "And just what would that be?" Yurika asked.

          "They plan to wipe every living thing off the face of the Earth and its moon," Sakura said grimly.

          "How's that much different?" Finn asked, sounding somewhat doubtful, which earned him a glare from Yurika.

          "He's just naturally suspicious, don't mind him," she said.

          "I agree with him partially, actually. The original mandate of the SMF government was to restore peace to humanity. It was the individual commanders of certain battle groups who decided this would be achieved by killing millions…"

          "1 550 834 227 by my count," Finn interrupted.

          "We have disposed of those who turned to such extreme measures," Sakura said. "It was never our goal from the start to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. But that is the Division's goal. It was created for that very reason and has vowed to destroy anyone who gets in their way, such as rebels like us. Whether you like it or not, we're in the same boat." Finn's shoulders slumped slightly, signifying his defeat. "We would like the Nadesico to participate in our attack. We need all the firepower we can get to pull this off."

          "Why not join the Earth's defense force and we could come back with even more troops?" Yurika suggested.

          "We don't have time for that. By the time we could do that, the Division would have already firmly established themselves and have built up even more forces. No, we have to stop them right now," Sakura said.

          "What does your fleet consist of?" Yurika asked. Sakura punched a few commands into the computer and a list of ships appeared on the main monitor. "That's it, I suppose."

          "Yes. Our fleet was decimated. This is all that's left."

          "What exactly are we attacking? I know you say the Division is the target, but what do we have to physically destroy in order to achieve victory?" Finn asked.

          "The Division's headquarters is on Ganymede, an administrative moon with little civilian presence. Most of the people who live there are involved with the government and military forces so you don't have to worry too much about civilian casualties. If we can destroy the main city, the rest of the government should collapse," Sakura said.

          "Is there any way we can avoid any civilian casualties?" Yurika asked. "I'd like to avoid any, if at all possible."

          "As would we. These are our fellow citizens, we don't want to see them destroyed any more than you do. However, we've thought of everything and still can't find a way to limit casualties. We even contemplated assassination, but someone else would just take Kanzaka's place. This needs to be stopped and soon. The longer we wait the more people will die."

          "I see. Well then, if that's the case we'll help you," Yurika said.

          "Are you sure it's a good idea to jump to this kind of decision so quickly?" Ryoko asked. "I mean, two weeks ago they tried to blow us out of the sky. Not to mention we've already been duped twice." 'Gah, I think Finn's paranoia is rubbing off on me,' she thought.

          "The Division has already proven its guilt. Why would we lie to you? If we wanted to destroy you we could have done so already," Sakura said. "Besides, I think you'll agree that the Division is the greater threat."

          "Then it's settled," Yurika said.

A Brief Interlude

          "You're all free to wander about the colony if you wish," Sakura said when some of the finer points had been worked out. "We picked up some citizens from a resisting colony before Division destroyed it. They've set up camp in the mess hall. They've got soup if you're looking for something to eat."

          "That's alright. We've got enough in our ship's stores. You're all dismissed, until 20-00," Yurika said. "When do we start our attack?"

          "We're still waiting for one more battle group. They should be here in a few hours. After they've rearmed we launch. It'll take about eleven days to reach our objective."

          "I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a look around," Finn said as they left the operations centre.

"No conspiracy theory?" Ryoko asked cynically.

          "No disturbance in the force yet," Finn replied. "Which is more than I can say for the last time we trusted an enemy."

          "I guess if you're going to be that way, it works out for us either way,"

          "I guess. I mean, Division's our enemy, technically the Alliance is still our enemy. So no matter who be shoot out of the sky it works out. Plus, I don't have as much of a grudge against these guys than I do against that snake Kanzaka."

          "A rather cold blooded way of seeing things, don't you think?

          "Maybe. I'm just getting sick of this. We destroy one enemy and another takes its place. Where will it end?"

There were people here and there in the narrow corridors. Most of them looked as though they could have used some sleep. They followed this depressing scene until they came to a set of doors. Finn opened one and felt a rush of warm air blast his face. They entered and looked around the scene. What had once been some kind of mess hall for miners had been transformed into a kind of tent city. Under each hastily prepared shelter there was a small heat lamp that radiated warmth and a dim light. People looked at them with curious and slightly fearful expressions. There were hushed whispers as people guessed what band of rebels Finn and Ryoko belonged to. Some people looked intimidated by Finn's gun, but they waited to stare at them until after they'd passed.

"I've never seen that uniform before," they heard someone say. "You think they're Division traitors, or prisoners?"

"The Alliance is desperate for troops. Who can blame them?" someone else said.

"Come on, Saotome," Ryoko said. "You're not seriously going to turn your back on these people, are you? They've got less than nothing. They're refugees."

"But look what they did to the people on Mars. How's this any different?" Finn asked.

"So an eye for an eye and a tooth or a tooth. Is that the way you see it?"

Finn stopped. "If you're asking me whether or not I'm going to abandon these people, the answer is no," he said. "It's just that, what are we fighting for? We've been at this over a year now and I don't see anything changing. If we blow this chance…then what?"

"Don't lose your resolve just yet, we still need you, whether you like it or not," Ruri said, having followed them without either of them noticing. "Oh, don't listen to what the precocious child has to say. Excuse me." She walked away into the dim light in the direction of the entrance. "Idiot," they heard her mutter to herself. Finn heaved a slightly exasperated breath.

"I guess I can't disagree with her there," he said after a few minutes.

"Good. For a second there I thought you were about to give up on us," said a man sitting under a tentlike structure. He and a few others huddled around a heat lamp. Even though it was well above what he considered warm, it looked as though they couldn't warm themselves up no matter how much they rubbed their hands or sat around the dim lamp. "Nice to see you again, Jiro."

"Have a seat," came another familiar voice.

"Yu? Mr. Noda?" Ryoko asked. "What are you doing here?"

"They brought us here when Division attacked Dusty. Please, Jiro, Reiko, have a seat," Mr. Noda said and they shuffled back a little to make room for them.

"It's Finn, actually. Finn Saotome," Finn said.

"And Ryoko," Ryoko added.

"Mr. and Mrs. Saotome," Yu said. They both blushed a little.

"We're not, actually…" Ryoko said, hastily trying to steer the conversation away from their status. "How'd you know?"

"It wasn't a hard thing to guess. Even back at the shop we could see it. We're old, not blind, you know," Yu said. "I guess you were never suited for waiting tables," she said, noticing Ryoko's gun.

"I guess not,"

"I never expected to see you two again," Finn said. "Let alone in a place like this."

"It beats the Purge," Mr. Noda said. "But then again, I didn't think I'd ever see you kids again either."

"Life's full of surprises," Finn said, looking at the lamp.

"So what brings you here? Didn't know the Earth was helping the Alliance,"

"How'd you know we're from the Earth?" Finn asked.

"Well, it's either that or you're Division traitors or prisoners, and you two don't look like either,"

"We're here with the Nadesico," Ryoko said. Yu nodded.

"We heard she might be coming. They need all the help they can get."

"You're both soldiers then. I suppose that sounds more like you," Mr. Noda said. "I remember how you roughed up a few guys who wouldn't pay their tabs. We sure missed that when you left."

"I know this sounds stupid," Finn said. "but if you knew about us, why didn't you expose us?"

"I don't think I even have to answer that one for you," Mr. Noda chuckled. "But if you want to know, we couldn't believe you two were actually from Earth. At all the speeches and interviews, they said Earthlings were savage beasts, not that I really believed them personally, but having never having met one I couldn't say for sure. Then you two showed up out of nowhere, always looking over your shoulder and having 'lost' all your things. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to put two and two together. Come through a leap gate or something?" Finn nodded.

"Was it really that obvious?" he asked, laughing a little himself.

"Well, we couldn't say for certain at the beginning. But when the police came searching for you that night, it cleared up any doubt. But I'm glad you're here. God knows we need every able body and then some," Mr. Noda said. "I tried to enlist, but they wouldn't let an old man like me do anything 'cept serve instant noodles out of a Styrofoam cup, and I've already seen enough of that in my days. But anyway, enough about us, time for you two to start talking."

"Attention all Nadesico crewmen," came a voice over the colony's intercom a few hours later. "Captain Misumaru has ordered all Nadesico crewmen back to the ship. We are beginning launch preparations."

"I guess it's time for you to go now," Mr. Noda said.

"Yeah," Finn said, looking grimly at the floor.

"Don't start that again. Remember, we're all counting on you. Give 'em hell." They shook hands and started back for the Nadesico.

"Come on, come on," Seiya said impatiently. "We're almost ready to get out of here. About time too, I took one look at this place an needed a drink." They got onboard and Seiya sealed the hatch.

"Feeling better?" Ryoko asked with a slight smirk.

"Yes, I believe my temporary loss of purpose has been resolved,"

"Welcome back, crewmember #0084952-A" the computer beeped at Ryoko when she signed herself in.

"I feel so special, I'm a number."

"Welcome back, crewmember #02394582t The computer beeped at Finn.

"At least you get a letter in yours," he said.

"So this is going to be a joint operation," Yurika explained on the bridge. The captains from other ships had come to the Nadesico for a prebriefing, a few days before their actual attack would commence.

'I sense a recurring pattern here,' Finn thought, thinking about the last time they had teamed up with someone.

"On question, Captain Misumaru," a rather large Jovian man said. "What is the specific attack capability of this ship? Is it possible to fire this PT cannon and destroy the Division while avoiding an all-out battle?"

"We've already considered that," Sakura said. "Unfortunately our only operable spy satellite sent us images if Ganymede's defenses and that's not a very feasible plan. The Division defense line is outside the reach of the Nadesico's PT cannon. The cannon will be used to destroy the moon's primary defense force. After that it will be up to smaller craft, under gravitron cannon cover-fire, to cleanout any remaining forces."

"This doesn't seem like it's going to be much of a battle," a scrawny looking commander said.

"The Division forces are regrouping," Sakura explained. "That is why we are attacking now, while their forces are somewhat scattered. Taking it out in its infancy is our only realistic plan of achieving victory. Now, we will send in interceptor support at these points…" Finn yawned from his spot along the right wall of the lower bridge, where Yurika and the others were presenting the decided strategy. He, of course, had already reviewed the plan and even added a few touches here and there, and was very bored. "We will send our forces in waves. We don't want our entire force to be trapped in a single area. Our objective is to close in on three fronts. Groups 3, 7, and 10 will take the left flank while groups 2, 4, and 8 will take the right flank. The Nadesico and the remaining groups will storm the defense line's centre. Our basic strategy is divide and conquer. We split their forces in two and squeeze in from both sides." The audience murmured some kind of acknowledgment. "You're all dismissed."

"Whew," Finn heaved a sigh of relief when he managed to slip away before anyone noticed him.

"Problem?" someone asked, making Finn jump. "Man, Saotome. Lighten up." It was only Hikaru. Finn was about to reply when the doors clicked, a sign that they were about to open. He dove into a new by garbage can and pulled the lid shut.

"Shhh!" he said from inside and held his breath, for the stench of rotten garbage in the can was almost over powering.

"I think this will work out, Captain Misumaru," the all-too familiar voice of Sakura said.

"I hope so. If this doesn't work…" Yurika trailed off.

"At least we'll know we tried," Sakura put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Finn peaked out from under the lid. "My, what delicate shoulders you have."

"           ?            " Was Finn's general reaction.

"Um…thanks?" Yurika said.

"Would you like to have dinner tonight?"

"Oh, I like to have dinner every night," Yurika answered.

"No, I meant us."

'The mighty pendulum swings both ways, as does she. Very educational,' Finn thought.

"As commanders of our forces it would be only natural for us to dine together," Sakura added quickly, noticing the strange look on Hikaru's face. Finn facefaulted, which is a very hard thing to do when you're stuck inside the narrow confines of a garbage can up to your neck in partially decomposed foodstuffs. "What was that?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Hikaru said, quickly moving to intercept Sakura.

"Alright then," she stuffed a partially eaten, prepackaged lunch wrapper into the can, which ended up in Finn's mouth.

'She's gonna blow! All men, abandon ship!' his stomach said.

'Must…hold…it…' Finn's eyes looked as though they were about to pop out of his blue and purple, oxygen deprived head. There was silence for some time.

"You can come…" Hikaru began. Finn burst out, spit the wrapper out of his mouth, and heaved as much air as he possibly could into his lungs.

"Are you ok?"

"Now if you'll excuse me…I'm going to hurl," Finn replied when he was somewhat recovered from lack of air.

"If you're going to spew, spew into this," She offered a small, partially crushed, paper cup. Finn took off, with one hand over his mouth and the other around his neck, in the direction of the nearest bathroom.

"What the hell happened to you?" Ryoko asked when they finally met up with one another. She picked a banana peel off his shoulder and tossed it away. "And what the hell is that smell?" If Finn had anything left in his stomach, it would have been long gone by now. "Damnit, snap out of it!"

Crossing the Rubicon

          "All ships in position. Attack will commence in t-minus 3:00,"

          "PT cannon fully charged."

          "All aestivalis are ready to launch," Yurika watched the small timer on the main screen count down.

          "Saotome!" Seiya said as Finn and Ryoko strapped themselves in. "We've just attached three extra missiles under your wing,"

          "What's so special about that?" Ryoko asked.

          "They're magpulse torpedoes."

          "What's that?" Finn asked.

          "I've concentrated the necessary frequency from the blades that neutralize distortion fields into a single shot. It should knock out any distortion field you hit with them."

          "That might give us the edge," Ryoko said.

          "But you only have three of them, so don't waste them on the small fries," Seiya said, climbing down a few rungs of the ladder.

          "T-minus 30 seconds and counting. All combat personnel stand by," Megumi's voice boomed.

          "Good hunting," he said and jumped back. They sealed the cockpit and Jetstream was towed to the catapult, where the aestivalis were waiting to launch.

          "Operation commences in 5…" Akito launched. "4…" Hikaru launched. " 3…" Izumi launched. "2…" Kumi launched. "1…" Jetstream launched. "Begin." The Nadesico, which was several hundred kilometers outside of Division's sensor range, suddenly burst forward and fired the PT cannon into the fleet of ships that had gathered around Ganymede's defense line, vaporizing their largest visible formation of ships. The crew on the bridge of the Nadesico watched as the very fabric of space was destroyed and the resulting implosion wiping the Division ships out of existence. "All fighters advance."

          This was the their queue. All the Nadesico's pilots cranked their thrusters to full and plunged into the chaos, the result of the Nadesico's PT cannon.

          "They're confused. Take out as many as you can," Akito said, drawing his machine gun and opening fire on the nearest, and weakest, demolisher. Having already been weakened by the shockwave from the PT cannon, the demolisher went down without a fight.

          'He's starting to get the hang of it,' Ryoko thought. Hikaru and Izumi took their flanks, while Kumi brought up the rear, destroying the ramjets that had been launched. Akito flew straight into a demolisher and ran it through, using the sharp blade of his bayonet. Gravity blasts from dimojin and goliath units ripped past them, furthering the havoc already underway.

          'Now it's time for us to get to work,' Finn concentrated on the task at hand. Off in the distance, to the left and right, there were the small flashes of explosions as Alliance and Division forces exchanged fire.

          Wasting no time, they transformed Jetstream into robot mode and drew its sword. Division was still organizing itself, which made it all too easy for them to strike down the helpless demolishers. They fell like flower stalks under a pair of scissors. However, after the eleventh easy kill, the enemy began to smarten up. On the twelfth robot, they encountered some resistance. The demolisher raised both its armoured arms and projected a strong field around its front. Sparks flew everywhere as Jetstream's sword hit this barrier and as they tried to push through.

          'At least these guys don't babble on like the Jovians did,' Finn thought. Jetstream shook and they both felt as though they had been hit in the back with a red-hot sludge hammer. They shook their heads and looked over Jetstream's shoulder. There was a demolisher, wielding a massive mace, winding up for another shot. Just before it delivered the blow, Jetstream let go of its sword and caught the monstrous weapon by the spikes protruding from its head. The other demolisher grabbed Jetstream by the waist, pinning it to its spot. Grinning, Finn and Ryoko fired the machine gun, ripping the mace-wielding robot to shreds, its hands still holding onto its weapon's handle. Jetstream grabbed mace, which was a lot heavier than they expected, and swung it around its back, crushing the other demolisher's head between the middle of Jetstream's back and the mace. They ripped free of the damaged robot and, still holding the mace, evaded a missile shower from a cruiser above them. Tools in hand, they flew straight up towards the enemy ship. Three demolishers moved to intercept and flew in reverse, firing their guns. Finn and Ryoko hit the boosters and flew straight towards the enemy. With one hand, they sent the mace flying forward, which ripped the demolisher in the centre in half. They then quickly sliced the other two into shards and continued towards the cruiser. They slashed the sword down, but did little more than make a small indent in the ship's distortion field. Floating above the field, missiles and gunshots flying back, they held the sword in both of Jetstream's hands, flipped it around, and drove the tip of the blade head-on into the field. At first there was nothing but the crackling and hissing of the field exerting an outward pressure, trying to force the blade out. Finally, they felt a little give and the space around the cruiser shimmered as the distortion field collapsed. Jetstream's sword sank into the armoured plating of the ship. They hit the boosters and carved a long opening into it. They replaced the sword back into the wing and rammed Jetstream's arms into the opening. When they opened fire, thousands of tiny bullet holes erupted out the other end. They launched a timed missile into the bowels of the ship and thrust away from the floating time bomb. At a safe distance, they watched as the ships erupted in a giant fireball. A few seconds after, its reactor blew and the explosion doubled in intensity. The resulting fireball vaporized the ramjet and demolisher fighters that had been charged with the ship's protection. However, there was no time to celebrate, for two demolishers grabbed onto Jetstream's legs while two more grabbed it around the waist and by the shoulders. 'Remember this trick?' Finn asked Ryoko as they cranked up the boosters built into the foot components of each leg. The heat was so intense that the upper half of the robots melted away. The problem was, what to do with the other two hitchhikers. A ramjet hovered in front of them and fired a barrage of missiles at them. With all their strength, they managed to twist Jetstream around, and the incoming projectiles sank deep into one of the demolishers. The resulting explosion shot them across the battlefield and into the distortion field of a heavy battleship. The nearby ramjets zeroed in and buzzed around Jetstream as they tried to regain control. 'They're not shooting at us.'

          'That's because they'd blow their own ship up if they did,' Ryoko answered.

          "Akito, guys. Stick close to one of their ships. The ramjets won't fire if you're close to one," they said. The ramjets buzzed around them like a swarm of angry wasps. Then they did something that surprised them. The small robots transformed into their robot mode and grabbed onto whatever piece of exposed armour they could find. Even the distortion field, which was operating at full strength, didn't perturb them. Finn and Ryoko tried to brush them off, but they just kept coming. Soon they had covered the entire frame.

          "You were saying?" Kumi said smugly.

          "Just gem them off!" they said impatiently.

          "Where are you going?"

          "What do you mean. 'where are you going?' We're not doing anything!" The frame was being pushed away from the Division ship by the tiny thrusters on the ramjets' feet.

          'There's a build up of heat and radiation along the outside of the frame. I think they're about to blow,' Ryoko thought, feeling the heat of the ramjets overloading themselves.

          'Think think think think,' the gears were working overtime in Finn's head. 'got it,' They transformed the fighter, shedding a few. 'let's haul some keel!' They fired the boosters and took off, even though they couldn't see where they were going.

          From Kumi's view at the side of the Division battleship, she saw Jetstream fly away, only to explode in a blinding flash of light followed by a giant fireball.

          "HOT HOT HOT HOT!!!!" Finn and Ryoko cried as they burst out of the ever-expanding fireball, which nipped at their heels. However, the frame had been purged of the annoying ramjets.

          'That wasn't one of your brighter moves,' Ryoko thought.

          'Hey, it worked. Go with it,' Finn replied and they flipped the twin cannons forward and fired a shot at Kumi, who floated there in shock staring at the bolts hurtling towards her in slow motion. However, just before they would have hit her, they collided with something and sent it flying off into space.

          "Don't just float there, do something!"

          "Yeah yeah," Kumi said, rearming her railgun and blowing a massive hole in the side of the battleship. "I thought you said this was going to be a challenge."

          Finn and Ryoko weaved in and out of combat. Still in fighter mode, they fired a constant flow of shots at enemy units, most of which hit their targets. When they reached the very centre of the battle, a line of friendly forces that was steadily pushing its way forward, cutting the Division fleet in two, they made a sharp turn and ploughed into the wall of ships blocking the path. Transforming to robot mode, they were soon locked in combat with a demolisher. They seemed to be pretty equally matched in power when it came to shoving one another back. Since they were fighting hand-to-hand in such close proximity to one another, their distortion fields canceled each other out. Quickly, they brought Jetstream's knee up and used the tail fin protruding from the knee to split the demolisher cleanly in two. Another demolisher capitalized on the split second they allowed themselves to relish the victory and fired point blank into Jetstream's back. Shards of armour were sent flying in all directions and Finn and Ryoko felt the blow as though it had been delivered to their own bodies. Their view became grainy for a second as the systems rerouted their functions away from the damaged sections. However, when they spun around to take on the object of their rage, they found nothing but a cloud of steel shards and broken remains of the demolisher. Akito floated not far away, holding his machine gun in one hand and a smoking railgun in the other. They stared at one another for a moment, before Jetstream nodded and they took off.

          "Approximately 63% of the Division forces have been destroyed," Ruri said, a small vidwindow appearing in everyone's cockpit. They heard most of their fellow soldiers cheer and applaud. However, Finn and Ryoko looked grimly at the battle.

          'Something's not right. This is too easy,' Finn thought.

          'Yeah, it's like they're holding back,' Ryoko replied. 'Bank left!' They narrowly avoided an enemy gravity blast.

          "Don't celebrate just yet."

          "We've got them on the run!" Kumi said as the Division lines began to fall further and further back. Ships pulled u-turns and pulled out of the battle. Demolisher and ramjet robots laid down a steady cover fire, protecting their retreat. Kumi held the trigger and fired charge after charge at the withdrawing ships.

"Hold your fire," Finn and Ryoko said and made Jetstream force Kumi's railgun down. "Something's not right here." A week gunshot bounced off their distortion field. The Division forces faded from sight as they moved behind the veil darkness of Ganymede's shadow.

"Shouldn't they fire the PT cannon now? We're all out of the way," Kumi asked.

"That would destroy the colony. We want to limit civilian casualties as best we can," Finn and Ryoko said.

"You're too soft, I thought you were both soldiers. Compassion, ha! I expected more from you two."

"You little…" Jetstream clasped the handle of its sword, daring Kumi to push them just one more inch.

          "We're on a battlefield, not a simulator. There's no room for…"

          "Look out!" Jetstream tackled Kumi's aestivalis and forced them both out of the way as a strong gravity blast.

          "They must be firing from the shadow, we can't seem them there," Hikaru said, joining them.

          "No, they'd have fired more shots than that. Something's going on here," Finn and Ryoko said. "We have a feeling they have some underhanded ploy to gain the advantage."

          "How do you know?" asked Kumi.

          "Experience, you should learn to appreciate it."

          "Attention all pilots. We're receiving an incoming transmission from the colony," Megumi patched them through.

          "Attention all rebels. We've had fun playing with you, but, sadly, our thirst for entertainment has been quenched. If you all surrender now, I promise not to execute you. You have ten minutes to decide," Kanzaka said smugly.

          'Bastard. They can't do much other than take potshots at us. It's nothing we can't handle,' Ryoko thought.

          "Oh, and by the way," Kanzaka's face appeared again.

'And here comes the hostage,' Finn mumbled.

"Shiratori, should you and your forces fail to comply. Well…we can't guarantee the safety of this little troll." The screen switched to a picture of Yukina, tied to a chair with tape over her mouth.

'Bingo!'

'Let me guess, 'think of something more original'?' Ryoko asked.

'That about sums it up. For once I'd like to fight someone who had a unique idea. This whole hostage thing is starting to piss me off.'

"You have 8 minutes. Time's a'wasting," Kanzaka ceased transmission.

"Well?" Kumi asked. "What's it going to be?"

"We can't surrender now, after all this. But what are we going to do about Yukina?" Yurika asked, heaving a sigh. "Shiratori, I'm afraid you're going to have to make this decision. She's your sister. I can't determine what she's worth." Shiratori stared at the screen.

          "We hate to sound cruel, but we need a decision, now," Finn and Ryoko said.

          'Wait just a second here…I've got an idea. Let's get back to the ship. We only have a few minutes,' Finn said. Ryoko could tell what he was planning. They hit the boosters and rocketed back to the ship and skidded to a stop, sending sparks flying from the friction between the frame's metallic feet and the hangar floor.

          "How much time?" Finn asked as he leaped out of the cockpit and bolted for the doors.

          "We've got two minutes," Ryoko said, running beside him.

          "A whole two minutes. I just love these no pressure scenarios." They whipped around a corner and made it to an elevator. The doors closed and light elevator music played. It made the few seconds they were actually in there seem like hours. They stopped at the bridge floor, however, the door refused to open. "Just what we needed." Finn held the door-open button and smacked the panel. The doors opened a crack.

          "Come on," Ryoko said, grabbing his attention away from the shiny buttons. She stuck her fingers through the crack and tried to force her half of the door open. Finn took the other half of the door and they pulled.

          "Come on, a little more," Finn grunted, feeling as though he was about to suffer a hernia any second. "We've only got a minute left,"

          "Hey, I thought you'd have learned by now that the bad guys always make some speech before they shoot a hostage," Ryoko said. The door gave a little. Finn braced his foot on the opposite wall and put all his weight into heaving the door open.

          "This isn't getting us anywhere," he said letting go of the door. "Let's try something else." In her frustration, Ryoko drew her gun and fired several times into the console. This gave him an idea.

          If you were standing outside the elevator doors, there's a good chance you would have been shot about 18 times. They fired a perimeter out of the door and kicked what was left down. Wasting no time, they sprinted onto the bridge.

          "Ryoko? Saotome?" Yurika asked. "What are you doing here?"

          "Inez, you have any CCs on you?" Inez shook her head. "They're all in storage, I could get you some, but it would take a while."

          "Your time is up," Kanzaka said, his face appearing on the main screen. "What is your decision?"

          "Stall them," Finn said, hauling Shiratori out of his seat. "You're coming with us." They ran out the door, dragging poor Shiratori by his collar. 

          "Where are we going?" Shiratori asked, finally getting on his feet and running beside them.

          "Erina's old room," Finn said.

          'I don't even want to know what happened there,' Shiratori thought as they passed the broken remains of the elevator doors. Since the nearest elevator was beyond damaged, they had to use the next best thing. Finn and Ryoko jumped down from landing to landing for a few flights and burst out the door on deck 12. When Shiratori caught up to them, they were standing outside the door to Erina's quarters.

          "I take it you don't have a key," he huffed and puffed.

          "Don't need one," Finn said and with a swift kick, he tried to bring the door down. However, all the succeeded in doing was making a large foot-shaped dent in it. "Hmm…"

          "Stand aside," Ryoko brought the door down with her foot and sent its broken pieces flying into the room.

          "Wow mama," Shiratori said under his breath.

          "Don't get her mad," Finn ran his finger across his throat and jumped into the room. "Where are they?" he asked himself, digging through drawers and sifting through small boxes. Fortunately for them, all of Erina's stuff was still, more or less, the way it was before Akatsuki's betrayal. Ryoko ripped the night table drawers out and emptied their continents onto the bed. "Any luck?"

          "Not yet."

          "Just what are you two looking for anyway?" Shiratori asked, stepping into the room.

          "A pair of earrings," Finn said, getting down on his hands and knees and searching the space under the bed. Shiratori was about to ask what was so special about earrings when Finn put his hand up. "Shit, they're not here either. Check the dresser." Shiratori went to the dresser and slid one of the drawers open. He turned red when he pulled out one of Erina's bras. "Ruri, how are we doing for time?" Finn asked, opening a vidwindow.

          "Not very well, I'm afraid. But I think you have a few minutes, he's doing one of his speeches. I'd give you about three minutes, tops," Ruri whispered back.

          "Damn, they're not here either. Where are they?" Ryoko said when she had emptied the last drawer. "Shiratori, quite staring at the lingerie and start looking!" Shiratori dropped the undergarments he was holding on the floor and began to sift through the dresser. "I'm checking the bathroom."

          "Is this what you're looking for?" Shiratori asked, picking up a blue, oval shaped object.

          "That's one. We need another," Finn said, taking the earring. He nudged Shiratori out of the way and began to sift through the other drawers.

          "I found one," Ryoko said as she came out of the bathroom.

          "We've got another one right here. Ok, let's do this," Finn took Ryoko's hand and grabbed Shiratori's wrist. "This is going to sound strange, but hear me out. You've been to the room where they're holding your sister, right?"

          "It's Kanzaka's old office. I was in there before I was assigned…"

          "Good. I need you to picture that office," Finn closed his eyes. "Go." Finn and Ryoko felt the strange, tingling sensation of the nanomachines in their bodies getting ready for a boson jump. "Don't worry about the light show. Just keep your mind focused on that room." There was a split second where Shiratori felt himself being shifted from one plain of existence to another and back again, rematerializing in another spot. There was a sudden pain in his chest and he fell to the floor.

          "Big brother!" Yukina screamed, horrified by what she just witnessed.

          "What the hell? Where did you come from?" Ryoko aimed her gun at Kanzaka, the man who held the smoking gun that had pulled the trigger in Shiratori's chest. Finn hauled the fallen Jovian into his lap with one hand and grabbed Yukina's bound hands with the other.

          "Big brother!" Yukina sobbed as blood poured from the wound in his chest, which laboured to take in breaths of air. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Every word that was spoken sounded long and drawn-out. His vision was blurry and he struggled to focus on what was going on around him.

          "Gotta go, see ya," Finn grabbed the other CC from his pocket. Ryoko pulled the trigger as they boson jumped back to the Nadesico.

Down the Trodden Path

          "Wha…where are we? What happened?" Yukina asked, her voice trembling.

          "It's ok, you're on the Nadesico. You're safe here," Finn said.

          "Where is…brother!" Yukina picked up Shiratori's hand. They had boson jumped onto the lower bridge of the Nadesico and everyone stared at what they had just witnessed.

          "Get a med team down here, now!" Yurika ordered.

          "Did you get him?" Finn asked, turning his attention to Ryoko.

          "I don't know. We jumped at the same time I fired. I may have got him, I don't know."

          ""What happened?" Yurika asked as Inez and her med team carried Shiratori off on a stretcher.

          "I'll tell you later," Finn replied. "Man, he wasn't kidding when he said he'd killer her."

          "You two had better get back outside,"

          "Roger that, Captain," Finn and Ryoko made their way back to the hangar.

          "This sucks. How many more tricks does that snake have up his sleeve anyway?" Ryoko asked as they slid down the siderails of the stairs.

          "Let's just hope you got him. At least we'll get out there before they start attacking again,"

          "You sure they weren't actually retreating? Maybe they were just bluffing," The shipped shuddered, causing them to fall and land in a pile of arms and legs on the landing.

          "Anymore questions?" Finn said, pulling himself off the floor.

          Meanwhile…

          "Fire the PT cannon!" Yurika said.

          "We can't, Captain. Our fighters are in too close proximity to the Division forces. We would destroy them if we fired," Ruri said.

          "What about a gravity blast?"

          "Negative. Even a gravity blast would have a high chance of destroying friendly forces."

          "What can we do, Captain?" Prospector asked sounding worried. Yurika stared at the floor.

          "Pray."

          "How about some missile cover here!!!" Akito's face appeared on the main screen. Outside had turned from the eye of the storm to the second wind of the hurricane. It looked like two swarms of wasps colliding with one another. "Where are Ryoko and Saotome?!"

          "Saotome…" Megumi opened the com channel.

          "Launching now," Jetstream rolled onto the catapult and was launched back into the chaotic melee. "Not much breathing room out here." They switched to the main machine guns built into the underside of the nose and the ones mounted on the arm-pontoons. With all the distortion fields operating in such close proximity to one another there was so much interference that not even Jestream's field could stay up for long. Only the fields on the heavy battleships could remain operable.

          "An evaluation of enemy capabilities indicates a distinct tactical deficiency," Ruri said.

          "In other words?" Akito asked.

          "We're outnumbered," Finn and Ryoko answered as they blew several ramjets out of the sky.

          'Damnit, we can't take them out one by one. We need someway to get them together and blow them up with one shot,' Finn thought.

          'I'd like to know how you plan on doing that,' Ryoko shot back. She noticed something strange off in the distance, closing in slowly but surely. 'Where'd that come from?"

          'Who cares, I'm more worried about where it's going,' There was a bright flash of yellow light as a massive wave ripped through the centre of battlefield, blowing a clean line straight through, destroying forces on both sides. The fighting stopped as everyone turned to look at the source of the blast. It fired again, this time cutting a line right through Ganymede, causing the surface to collapse into a cloud of rocks and dust.

          "What is that thing, Ruri?" Yurika asked.

          "Unknown. It is currently out of range of our sensors. However, I can tell you that it is approximately 6470km in diameter at 2 525 000km and closing.

          "What the hell…?" Akito stared at the object as it closed in. It was bigger than Ganymede had been. The sheer size of it was too much for mere words to describe. It was very dark, almost black in colour, and spherical, much like a moon. There was a large opening at the front, which glowed yellow as it fired again, sending Ganymede's fragments spiraling off into space.

          'Wow…I think I had too much Jolt cola,' was Finn's reaction.

          Everyone, the Nadesico's crew, the Jovians, the Division, they all watched as the 'moon' came to a stop where Ganymede had been. No one moved. They were either frozen with fear or in shock.

          'I'm beginning to hate surprises,' Ryoko thought.

          "I don't think that thing's friendly," they said. "Captain? Hello? I don't think it's a great idea to just sit here and gawk at it. Oh boy, I just hope this doesn't start a panic." The moon fired again, blowing a straight line through the swarm of fighters, narrowly missing the Nadesico, but destroying several Alliance ships that were mere meters away. This seemed to break the spell over everyone and forces on both sides scrambled into a frenzied panic.

          'This is exactly what I didn't want to happen!'

          "All pilots, return to the Nadesico. NOW!" Yurika screamed.

          "Captain, we're issuing a retreat," Sakura said from her flagship. "We don't know what that thing is or where it came from, but one thing's for sure, it's not friendly. We're gathering our remaining forces and pulling back to the dark side of Jupiter. We should be able to regroup there undetected."

          "Attention Nadesico!" came a staticy voice. "This is Commander Grange, Division. We assume that thing is not one of yours. We request a ceasefire. Are you getting this, Nadesico?"

          "We read you. Ceasefire accepted, meet us at these coordinates," Yurika sent the necessary information. "Gather up every unit you can. We might have to fight that thing. Tell your troops not to fire at it. We don't want to make it angry."

          "Roger that," the desperate and confused Division commander said.

          "All pilots have returned," Ruri reported.

          "Good, take us around the other side of the planet, but keep track of this thing's position. It came here in a hurry and could leave just as quickly," Yurika ordered.

          "I knew I shouldn't have had those expired noodles," Kumi said as she joined the other pilots on the hanger floor. She noticed Finn and Ryoko's not-so-surprised expressions. "You guys look like you were expecting this,"

          "Not much surprises me anymore," Finn said and they made their way to the bridge.

          "The moon is holding its position in Ganymede's former location," Ruri said.

          "Where are we going?" Ryoko asked.

          "To the dark side of Jupiter to regroup. Then we'll figure out to do about that thing," answered Yurika.

          "And what do we do if and when we have to fight that thing? If it blows up moons it'll make short work of us," Finn said.

          "Does the moon have an energy signature that matches any of our records?" asked Yurika.

          "I don't know. But I can find out," Inez sat down at a spare computer terminal and began her work. "Yes, there is a match. It is on the same wavelength as Fortress Magnum's, and from a preliminary surface scan, it appears to be made from the same material."

          "Will someone please tell me what this Fortress Magnum thing is?!" Kumi screamed. Prospector's glasses shattered. "I don't think that's too much to ask!"

          "Just when you think things can't get any worse," Finn mumbled to himself in the cafeteria lounge, where he and the other pilots were taking a break. "I'd expect this in an episode of Gekigengar, or whatever it's called, but in real life? I've seen some fucked up stuff before, but this…" he trailed off.

          "But we can beat it," Akito said. "As long as we help each other out…"

          "Mindless effort won't get us anywhere," Ryoko interrupted. "I don't like to admit it, but we're pretty much screwed."

          "If we have to fight it," Hikaru said.

          "Which is more than likely,"

          "So you're all just going to give up?" Akito asked.

          "I didn't say that. Look, I'm all for taking this thing on if we have to, but think about it. That thing's the size of a frickin moon! You saw how easily it wiped most of our forces out. We're a little outgunned here."

          "What about Fort Mag?" Kumi asked.

          "Already thought about it. It's a possible solution, but I'm not sure if it would work," Finn said.

          "Why's that?" a vidwindow popped up.

          "Three, two, one, kaboom! It's time to get to know Nadesico!" It said.

          "Welcome to Miss Inez explains. Pilot Kato raises a very interesting possibility. However, I'm afraid that Lt. Saotome's doubts are well founded. As you know, Fortress Magnum destroyed Europa, and the old Superior Male Forces command centre along with it. However, that was against an unprotected moon made of frozen water. The moon, which we have codenamed Zero, is slightly larger than Ganymede was. It's energy signature is very similar to Fort Mag's and is currently projecting a distortion field that is roughly equal to the combined fields we encountered on Mars when we activated Fort Mag. The problem is that we don't know if even the fort's weapons are strong enough to destroy Zero. Also, the cerebral sensor net required to operate the fortress was only able to connect to Lt. Saotome's nanomachine network. However, since his nanomachines have undergone programming and structural network changes, this may no longer be possible. As to what the moon is exactly, we think it might be some kind of first contact by the alien race that built the fortress and discovered boson jumping."

          "All combat personnel, report to the bridge immediately," came Megumi's voice.

          "What now? Don't tell me Jupiter's gone or something," Ryoko said.

          "We've received a signal from Zero. It appears to be some kind of old transmission wavelength. I'm having trouble blocking the old TV signals from the new signal," Megumi said, fiddling with her consol. "Ruri, can you boost the power for me?"

          "Yes," Ruri hit a few controls.

          "There, I've got it. It might be a little garbled, but it's the best I can do," All eyes turned to the grainy window on the main screen. "It appears to be a text only message." Megumi read what was displayed on the screen.

"Greetings. For some time now, we have watched your race's eternal battle with itself with great amusement. However, our appetite for entertainment has been satisfied. Much to our disgust, you seem to be unable to achieve a lasting peace between the many factions of your race. Therefore, we have decided to end your conflict for you. The planet you know as Earth, and its outlaying human colonies will be purged of the conflict as a punishment for your sins. End com."

          "What exactly do they mean by 'purge'?" asked Finn.

"Input received: Specimen 002329457, designated title: Lieutenant Finn Saotome. Answer to received input: you are the specimen we analyzed prior to our physical intervention. The word 'purge' in the context we use it is to cleanse and purify. Therefore, the human race as you know it will be destroyed. End com."

          "And if we resist?"

"Input received: Resistance will not be tolerated. Any resistance will be met with extermination. End com"

          "Just who are you anyway?" asked Yurika.

"Input received: Specimen 002329480, designated title: Captain Yurika Misumaru. Answer to received input: who and what we are is not relevant. The result will be the same. End com."

          "Do you enjoy watching the news?" Finn asked.

          "What are you doing?" Yurika asked in a hushed voice.

          "Trust me," Finn replied.

                    "Input received: Input irrelevant. End com."

          "Oh it's very relevant, I assure you. Now, it seems to me that you guys are very up to speed on recent human history, is that correct?"

                    "Input received: Input irrelevant. End com."

          "But if this is indeed first contact with an alien race, why didn't we pick up any probes? I mean, if you guys really are aliens, you must have sent some kind of observation satellite into human controlled space. Problem is that we don't have any record of that. So how did you manage to eavesdrop on human events for so long?

                    "Input received: Input irrelevant. End com."

          "Answer my question."

                    "Request denied."

          "Why's that?"

                    "Input received: Input irrelevant. End com."

          "Answer me."

          "I am reading a high energy build up from Zero's location. Its energy signature matches that of its first attack," Ruri said.

          "Getting frustrated? Grating on your nerves? If you're some higher form of life than us then you wouldn't take out your frustrations through violence."

          "Are you sure it's a great idea to get them mad?" Megumi asked.

          "Nothing to say for yourself? Come on, I'd expect more than this from you."

                    "You are trying our patience."

          "Good. That proves that you're actually some kind of thinking life form. Now, here's how I figure it. You are the ones who discovered boson jumping, right? But when the early Jovians came along, you realized they might find out about your little discovery. So in order to prevent your technology from falling into the wrong hands, you buried what you and fled to Jupiter. But then the Jovians ended up having to flee to Jupiter as well. So my guess is that you went a little further out. Maybe Saturn. There're enough moons out there for you guys to live on. And over the decades of isolation, you think you're some higher level of life. Am I right? Or am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong and I'll apologize right now. Just keep in mind that 'superior' life forms have to practice what they preach. It's a sin to lie, is it not?" There was no response for some time.

"It is only a sin if it is committed against those who are pure of heart."

          "Don't give me that crap. Should I also mention that killing a sin?" No response. "Should I also mention that ethnic cleansing has already been tried?" Still response. "Maybe I should start down the little nuclear pathway as well? Let's see…you've killed; you watched others be killed without raising a finger to help them. Last time I checked, those weren't exactly things you get merit badges for. Unless I was sick the week they passed out that one."

"Your race has sinned, therefore you must be cleansed of your evil."

          "You know what's always killed me about people like you? It's just the same, sad repetition. Almost every war ever fought has been in the name of religion to some degree, and you're just repeating history's sad pattern. Granted I'm not the best guy to ask about this kind of stuff, but I seem to recall something that says you're not supposed to kill. Maybe I'm not remembering right, am I?"

          "The signal's gone," Megumi said.

          "Ladies and gentlemen, this programme has been brought to you by 'religious nutbar', flakey and totally nuts!" Finn took a bow.

          "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Yurika asked. "I mean, you just..."

          "Pissed off a group of highly technologically advanced people who have the ability to destroy life as we know it and reduce the human race to little piles of dust? Yeah, I think so."

          "Ok, just making sure."

          "How do you know they're really humans?" Akito asked.

          "Think about it. Have you ever seen an alien? Don't you think that this is a much better explanation for what we've found on Mars than just saying 'oh well, aliens must have made it'? I don't know about you, but I think finding a working DVD player along with a bunch of disks that showed the Jovian Martian colony being nuked inside Fort Mag is proof enough for me And besides, these people said they were going to destroy us all anyway, why not try and use their own beliefs against them?"

          "What disks? You never told us about any disks," Yurika said.

          "Um…woops?" Everyone facefaulted, except for Ryoko.

          "Idiots," said everyone's favourite science officer.

Plan A

          "So what's the game plan?" asked Akito. "We're not seriously going to fight that thing, are we?"

          "We don't know what we're going to do yet. Right now we're trying to get every Division ship we can and the Jovian Alliance is still gathering its forces," answered Yurika. "They were pretty scattered."

          "Some of the Division ships are refusing to join and have already launched frontal assaults at Zero, so far with no success," Sakura explained. "But most of whatever's left of the Division has joined us. Is there anyway we can take out its contortion…sorry, distortion field?"

          "Our aestivalis might be able to. Only problem is, they'd have to get right up to Zero in order to do it. It also took Akito and Ryoko quite a while to hack their way through the fields protecting Fort Mag. We'd have to give them at least twenty minutes, and that's with all four aestivalis," Yurika said. "Fortunately, Zero has been pretty quiet since we left. It's only acted in self-defense."

          "Not that that's going to last for long." added Finn. 'Maybe they're just waiting to recharge their batteries or something. Either way, I wouldn't give us much longer till we have to make a decision."

          "Could we call in reinforcements from Earth?" asked Sakura.

          "Whatever's left of them," Finn mumbled.

          "Most of the UF was destroyed en route to Mars," Yurika explained. "But we could ask the Cosmos and the Skylinx for help. That would give us two more gravity blast cannons and two wings of aestivalis."

          "How are we going to get them here in time? It'd take at least six months for them to even get here," Finn said. "And I doubt they'll give us that much time."

          "We could all make a break for Earth and set up a final defense line there! By that time, the UF will have rebuilt some of its forces." Yurika beamed with hope.

          "With all due respect, Captain, this is our home. We can't wait for it to come to Earth. All our colonies would probably be wiped out before that thing headed for Earth. We have to make our stand here," Sakura said.

          "What about a boson jump?" asked Yurika. "Could we jump to Earth and then jump back with the Cosmos and Skylinx?"

          "I'm afraid that's not a very likely scenario," Inez explained. "Our recent boson jumps have brought our CC supply down to nearly zero. We might have enough to jump the Nadesico to Earth, but not enough to make the return trip."

          "How many do we have?" asked Finn.

          "From our original stock of five hundred, we have fifty-four left. Each CC has enough bose particle matter to jump approximately ten people. It would take roughly fifty to jump the Nadesico one way."

          "I've got an idea," Ryoko said, finally saying something. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about her, leaning against Minato's consol. "Don't look so surprised," she added, noticing a few people eyeing her strangely. "Saotome and I could use one CC to jump to the Earth, pick up a fresh stock, and then jump back with the Cosmos, Skylinx, and anything else the UF is willing to give up."

          "Would that work?" Yurika asked, turning to Inez.

          "I don't see why not. But could you and Lt. Saotome handle the jump back? You won't have the Captain or Akito to act as alternate routes for the bose particles,"

          "Hey, I think it's worth the risk to get eight more aestis and two more Nadesico class ships."

          "If it works. The UF isn't exactly on friendly terms with us," Finn said doubtfully.

          "Do ever look on the positive side?" Yurika asked. "And more importantly, do you have any better ideas?" Finn's shoulders sagged in defeat.

          "Ok, let's do this. We'll need to disconnect the jump regulator in the observation deck so we can take it with us. We'll need it to bring the Cosmos and the Skylinx here," he said.

          "Now you'll both need to carry a small stock of CCs, in case you need to get out of any…situations," Inez said, looking at Finn.

          "What? It's not my fault they ended up with a few broken noses," Finn defended himself.

          "It's just you have a habit of getting into trouble," Yurika said. "Keep at least one hidden on you, incase of emergency,"

          "Why don't we take the boson phone thingy with us? That way you could talk to the UF to negotiate, if necessary," Ryoko asked.

          "We did manage to build another one. But only Shiratori knows how to operate it," Yurika said.

          "How's he doing anyway?" Finn asked, looking at Inez, who stared at the floor.

          "Inez?" Yurika asked.

          "He's alive, but he's currently depending on life support. I don't see him recovering any time soon," she said. "If ever."

          "Great," Finn said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

          "What about his sister?" Yurika asked. "She might know how to operate it." Once again, everyone looked at Inez.

          "It's possible," she said. "But…"

          "But what?" demanded Ryoko. Inez opened a vidwindow, showing sickbay, where Shiratori was connected to several beeping machines. There, at his side, was Yukina. She looked as though she had cried herself to sleep. "What about Sakura or any of her troops?"

          "Sorry, that whole boson communication thing was pretty new. It's still only in the civilian testing stage. I doubt if any of my troops know how to work that thing," Sakura said. Everyone looked at the vidwindow.

          "What the hell?" Ryoko asked, seeing Finn on the other side of the screen. Apparently he had slipped out at some point during the conversation.

          "When did he…?"

          "Wait a sec, just watch," Ryoko interrupted Yurika.

          Finn silently stepped into sickbay and stood beside the chair Yukina was sitting in. She was asleep. Her head rested on the side of the bed and she hung onto Shiratori's hand. He took her hand from her brother's and gave it a slight squeeze. Yukina stirred.

          "Big brother?" she asked sleepily.

          "I'm sorry," Finn said.

          "You're the man who…"

          "Yep, that's me," Finn said quietly.

          "Did you get Kanzaka? Is everyone over now?"

          "Kind of."

          "What do you mean?"

          "Look, I don't want to bug you right now, I'm sure you've got enough on your plate, but we need you for something."

          "What?"

          "I'm not going to sugar coat it for you. We're in pretty deep shi…trouble. You're brother knew…"

          "Knows. He's not dead!" Yukina said emotionally, wrenching her hand away from him.

          "Sorry. He knows how to work something that we need. But none of us know how it works. We think you might know how."

          "Why should I help you? It's your fault my brother's like this. Savage earthling!"

          "That's not exactly accurate, but if blame has to be laid is might as well be on me. Just remember, he came with us to save you. He didn't want you to get hurt. In a way, he put his life in danger to save yours." Yukina stared at the floor. "We need your help. Without you, there's a good chance many millions of lives will be lost." Yukina still didn't answer. "I'll probably end up sounding like a real son of a bitch, but look; what's more important, your brother's health, which is, granted, questionable, or the lives of every one you know and then some?" Still, no answer. He opened a vidwindow that showed a picture of Zero on it. "Take a look at this,"

          "He'd better know what he's doing," Ryoko said from the bridge.

          "What is that?" asked Yukina.

          "That," Finn said. "is our enemy."

          "The Division?"

          "No. We're not exactly sure who they are. But what we do know is that they want us, all of us, dead. That includes everyone you've ever known and more. They're out for extermination, and believe me, they've got the power to do it."

          "What do you need me to do?" Yukina asked.

          "We need you to show us how to use the long distance boson communicator."

          "The leap phone?"

          "Yeah, I guess that's what you'd call it."

          "Alright," she said quietly. "I'll help you."

          "Nice going," Ryoko said as Finn led Yukina onto the observation deck. "Did you have to tell her we were all going to die if she didn't help us?"

          "Let's just say it was better than plan B," Finn replied.

"Just what was plan B?"

"Um…no time for that now," Finn said, plan B being to pull a gun on Shiratori and threaten to kill him if Yukina didn't cooperate. 'Not one of my better ideas,' he mentally sweatdropped. "Now, how do you work this thing? I still don't understand how Seiya was able to build one without even knowing how to operate it."

"He followed design plans Shiratori downloaded from a satellite," Inez said.

"It's pretty simple to use. All you do is punch the code into the key pad and hit this button," Yukina said, doing a demonstration. "For this one the code is…" She hit some buttons on the keypad. "284-600-382-95288."

"Let me try something," Finn said and he opened up the other leap phone. He punched in some numbers and his face appeared on the small screen. "Is this coming through?"

"Yeah, but it's all fuzzy and staticy. I can't see your face very well," Yukina said. Ruri walked up to the leap phone and kicked it. "What was that for?" Ruri pointed at the screen, which was now displaying Finn's face clearly.

Finn wrote down the number and stuck it, along with a handful of CCs into his pocket. He and Ryoko wore their pilot suits in case they ended up boson jumping somewhere outside the UF's lunar base. He had a backpack on his back, which contained even more CCs, two guns, extra oxygen, and the second leap phone, which was about the size of a fire extinguisher and just barely fit in the backpack.

"Ok, we'll see you in bit," Finn said.

"Have a safe trip!" Yurika chirped.

"You think she was seeing us off on our honeymoon or something," Ryoko mumbled. They grabbed each other's hands, closed their eyes and pictured their destination. Within a split second, they had disappeared.

"What the? Waaa!" Finn cried as he fell, having materialized several meters above the hangar floor. "Ow!" Ryoko landed, feet first, on his stomach. "I'm going to be feeling that one in the morning." They heard the familiar clicking of the safety being taken off machine guns.

"Stop right there!" someone yelled.

"Um…hi?" Finn said, hauling himself up off the floor. "We come in peace."

"You're about to leave in pieces," one of the gun wielding men said.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Finn asked himself.

…to be continued in Act 8

                             End of Act 7