The dark, cavernous room housing the command staff of the 2nd Jovian Home Defense Fleet erupted into a cacophony of red klaxons and alarm bells. A furious battle was being waged in Jovian territory, and the main screen gave visual representations of the battleships involved in the fray.
The enemy had come out of nowhere, boson jumping on top of the defensive installations of Jupiter; in the first five minutes alone, twenty Yamma-class battleships and countless swarms of Battas had been lost. Even though the defensive fleets had rallied and were fighting back, three out of the five orbiting command/control centers had been completely annihilated.
Essentially the only thing separating Jupiter from annihilation was the 2nd Home Defense Fleet. Or at least, the remnants of it; green triangles denoting Jovian ships were rapidly disappearing from the map. On the other hand, hardly any of the enemy ships (red triangles) had been destroyed. The admiral in command had to admire the strategic artistry of the surprise attack; there was no way his forces could win. But he would be damned before he just gave up and surrendered! He turned to one of his communications officers.
"Send a dispatch warning to the UEC Command Center; tell them we're under attack and are requesting reinforcements!" he ordered. The comm officer quickly complied. "All hands prepare for evacuation; we'll self-detonate the command center in the heart of the enemy fleet!"
Minutes later, the 2nd Defense Fleet's orbiting command center shuddered as booster rockets ignited, slowly pushing it out of its orbit with Jupiter. As it slowly traveled toward the enemy fleet, swarms of silver mecha raced around it, desperately trying to destroy the massive object with salvo after salvo of missiles, to no avail. The command center blew apart spectacularly into a raging fireball, consuming a large part of the enemy fleet with itself.
Tranquility BaseA meeting to decide the outcome of the future was taking place.
The lunar installation Tranquility Base was the new headquarters for United Earth Spacey. Completely remodeled, it was the perfect command/control center from which to direct the immensely powerful battleships of this distinguished service. Currently, at the conference and debriefing center located deep within the bowels of the station, twenty-four captains were attending to a matter of the gravest concern. Seated at the head of the table was Grand Admiral Misumaru Kouichiro, flanked on either side by Admirals Akiyama Genpachiro and Munetake Yoshisada. Together, the three men controlled a fleet 200-ship strong that included the most powerful of all: the Nadesico-C, captained by the young, mysterious, and beautiful Hoshino Ruri.
"As you can see, we have called an emergency meeting of captains to discuss a situation that has occurred in Jovian space," Grand Admiral Misumaru began, pointedly ignoring the small sobs that came out from Akiyama's throat. "About five hours ago, an unknown fleet of ships appeared out of nowhere and caught the Jovian fleet by surprise; in a battle that lasted less than two hours, about 80% of the Jovian fleet was destroyed and we believe that Jupiter is now in the hands of an enemy that we have never yet encountered before."
A holographic screen embedded into the table glowed to life, projecting an image of Jovian space into the air. Several different-sized shapes denoted Jovian and enemy ships alike, while criss-crossing lines denoted various vectors of space.
"Based on the scant communications that has reached us from Jupiter, the enemy has an interesting form of attack," Munetake said. The holographic enemy vessels began moving, while Jovian ships discreetly disappeared from sight. Interestingly enough, the enemy fleet seemed to move as a single organism, identifying threats and eliminating them much as a normal human would; or for that matter, a many-tentacled abomination.
"As of now, this is about all the information we have on these despicable creatures," Akiyama managed to say between sobs. "We will be dispatching a small expeditionary force to reconnoiter and gather as much data as possible before we send an assault force to aid our brethren. Hopefully, we will be able to find a weakness to exploit and send these slimy, no good, cursed, evil bastards back into whatever godforsaken slime hole they crawled out of so help me God…"Akiyama lapsed into a fresh stream of tears for his home planet.
Patting Akiyama's shoulder kindly while the Jovian wailed in misery, the Grand Admiral looked out to the assembled captains sitting quietly in their chairs. "The expeditionary force we will send will consist of one high mobile battleship and two escort frigates. Captains Rutherford and Watanabe, you will be escorting Captain Hoshino and the Nadesico to Jupiter. You'll be given more details when you reach your ships. Good luck."
"Kanchou, will we really be needing
all of this luggage for our mission?" Lieutenant Makibi Haley complained
bitterly. "There are five bags here!
Surely you can get rid of something, right?"
"Sorry, Haley-kun," the
pale-skinned fairy replied. "But the mission is projected to last nearly three
months, according to Omoikane. We will
not be in our regular housing for a prolonged period of time. Besides," she
added, "at least four of these bags are yours."
Haley blushed furiously as he realized the truth of this statement. At the same time, there were several loud knocks on the door behind them.
"Oi! Are you guys ready to go yet or what? I hope you're not doing anything inappropriate to the Kanchou in there, Haley!" an impertinent voice called out.
"Saburouta-san!" Haley yelled, a bright scarlet red. "Don't be such a pervert! I would never do such a thing!"
"Baka," Ruri calmly suggested while opening the door, revealing a tall Jovian with dyed blond hair dressed in slacks and a Hawaiian T-shirt.
"It's about time," Lieutenant Saburouta admonished, poking Haley teasingly in the ribs. "You two must've been having some fun packing together in the Captain's room."
"SABUROUTA-SAN!" The two friends immediately erupted into their usual obnoxiously loud routine, while subconsciously following Ruri down the elevator shaft into the hangar, where the Nadesico-C proudly sat, awaiting launch. Ruri quietly checked her watch while Saburouta and Haley-kun bickered behind her; it was 1500 hours military time. Expected time of departure was in three hours. Turning around, she addressed her two principal officers, who fell silent at the sound of her voice.
"The Nadesico will be departing at 1800 hours. That gives us three hours to stock provisions, store the Aestivalis', their weapons, and their ammunition, and to warm up the phase transition engine. Haley-kun, you will prep the Nadesico for launch and run a diagnostic test on Omoikane and the weapons systems." The short, spiky-haired teenager gulped and nodded uncertainly. "Saburouta-san, you will gather the Aestivalis pilots and arrange transport for their mechas onboard the Nadesico, as well as secure provisions and ammunition." At this, the Jovian saluted smartly and left at a quick jog, while Ruri continued her calm walk towards the Nadesico with a puffing Haley in tow as he struggled to carry all five (of which four were his) pieces of luggage.
"Kanchou! Oi, Kanchou!" rang out Haley's nervous voice.
"Hai, Haley-kun?"
"Do you really think I'm ready to activate Omoikane and prep the Nadesico all by myself? I've never done that before; I'm only backup!"
"You commanded the Nadesico-C while I hacked into the Martian Successor mainframe; you have already shown yourself capable of controlling the ship," Ruri pointed out.
"But…" Haley protested. At this, Ruri turned around and fixed him with her beautiful golden eyes. Haley swallowed nervously and blushed a little. It was hard for anyone to stand up to his Kanchou's stare.
"Lieutenant Haley, you have already shown yourself capable of commanding the Nadesico; your fears of inadequacy simply illogical emotions," the Captain stated. She placed her hand on Haley's shoulder; the young boy jumped. "I have confidence in your ability to handle the Nadesico for the next few hours," she stated quietly, before turning away.
Haley-kun stared after her, his mind slightly numb.
Strange, she never touches anyone, he thought. What just happened?
After a moment, his face turned indignant. "And while Saburouta-san and I slave away over preparations, what is the Kanchou going to do? Probably play some video games; she better not beat my score in Super Kanji Fighters! Took me two months to beat her high score," he muttered as he trudged up to the Nadesico.
As Lieutenants Saburouta and Haley made feverish preparations for Nadesico's launch, Ruri lay in her sparsely decorated room, with her fish mobile hanging over her head. Lying lengthwise on her bed, she intently read a small book, her eyes drinking in every detail as she turned the pages. Next to her was a small notepad, from which she made occasional notes.
As she read, a slight smile crept unto her face.
Author's Notes: In addition to the occasional American translation of a Japanese word, I've decided to also keep the way the names are pronounced. That is, last name followed by first name. So, instead of Ruri Hoshino, it's Hoshino Ruri; it just sounds better that way to me. Also, I'm flattered to have 1 review in 1 day! This is my first fan fic so I'm not expecting a whole shower of praises. My reviewer brought up the subject that Ruri should be 16 during this time, but I'm not so sure. She was 11 during the series, and three years passed (The Blank of 3 Years) until the movie, so she's 14, right? This takes one year after the movie, so she must be 15. But 15 or 16, it makes no difference! Well, hope you enjoy this latest chapter, I stayed up late just to finish writing it in a day!