"It looks like everything is coming to a head. Not only is the Third Battle of the Moon beginning, but the personal battles being waged on board the ship are also heating up. It looked like a resolution to my problem was close, but then we got attacked. Oh, and did I mention there is a spy on board?"
Lieutenant Hitoshi Tsumiyagi, Science Officer of the Samayahita
A Destiny Star
Chapter 7: Through Love and Through War
"All Aestivalis have been configured for zero-G. Open the hangar bay and launch all mecha!" the mechanic Doug called throughout the hangar. Everyone without a pilot suit cleared out of the hangar, and those who did have pilot suits grabbed on to something to keep from being sucked out into the vacuum of space when the pressure was let out.
"This is Shin Hiradeki in the Red Aestivalis!" Shin announced. "I'm going to get out of here, so get the hell out of my way!" His Aestivalis was waving its hand through the air to motion everyone to move. The Aestivalis positioned its feet in front of the magnetic catapult and it was soon hurled into space.
"What a showoff," Hitoshi commented as the red streak flew ahead of the ship. It was seconds before the other four Aestivalis and the two Delphiniums were also launched. "Captain, the Jovians are concentrating their fire on our ship and virtually ignoring the Cosmos. What should we do?"
Kato spoke up. "The Cosmos will act soon enough. In the meantime, configure for the Gravity Blast Cannon II." Hitoshi nodded and his hands began to glow. The foils beneath the ship began to extend.
"Look, they're about to do something," Hana said out loud, pointing at the Cosmos on the starboard side of the bridge's window. Five large wells were exposed on the side of the Cosmos facing the crew. Within seconds, five gravity blasts from that side, and five from the other, tore through space and shredded every Jovian they came in contact with.
"That's amazing," Kato said quietly.
"And each of those is an individual gravity blast cannon," Sosuke added. "That ship must be the most powerful flight worthy vessel in the solar system."
"That reminds me, I do hope Shin wasn't in front of it when it went off," Admiral Minamako said.
"It would serve the damn showoff right," Sosuke said under his breath.
"Chulip at 10:00 o'clock!" Hitoshi called out.
"Not for long!" Hana began doing her thing, and the ship turned quickly to the left. When the Chulip was dead center in front of the Samayahita, the Gravity Blast Cannon II fired. The black energy beam shot through space, through a few enemy battleships, and cut through the Chulip like butter, destroying it and the battleship that had been emerging from it.
"Keep an eye on the Aestivalis," Dan ordered. "They're getting too far ahead of themselves. The Delphinium are fine where they are, but make sure they do not go too far out too."
"Wow, look at that," Hitoshi just said quietly. From every direction around the bridge, blue and white streaks came from behind and charged into the battlefield. "It looks like every Aestivalis within a 100,000 kilometer radius is joining the battle." Everyone was fixated on the swarm of Aestivalis flying past the battleship.
"It's going to be impossible to fire off a gravity blast cannon shot now," Kato observed. "We'd kill way too many in friendly fire."
Dan looked up. Space was filled with the lights of exploding robots, both Earthling and Jovian. "It looks like they've reached their limit," he announced. "Here's what we're going to do. If we take point and fly past the Aestivalis line, we'll be able to safely fire off our gravity blast cannon. Looks like the Aestivalis aren't going to advance any farther anyway without our help, so we might as well give it to them."
"Sir, with all due respect," Hana interjected, "the Cosmos has not given us orders to do something like that, and they are technically the ones in charge here."
Dan smiled. "Well, if they don't like it…Full speed ahead, Hana!" She acknowledged this and the ship began to pick up speed.
"Come in, Samayahita!" a voice shouted. Everyone gasped as a communications window opened in front of the bridge with the face of Nagare Akatsuki. "What are you doing? You're not sticking to the battle plan at all, Samayahita."
Everyone looked at Sosuke expectantly. "Yes, it's from the Cosmos," he confirmed.
Dan composed himself quickly. "First of all, Chairman Akatsuki, let me just say what an unexpected pleasure it is to have you directing the battle from the Cosmos." Lying was not Dan's strong suit, but he was confident that he sounded convincing enough. "Second, we have come to a general consensus over here that it would be in the best interest for everyone involved if the Samayahita took point and moved ahead of the Aestivalis line. As you are already aware, we cannot fire the gravity blast cannon with all of these friendlies in front of us. Once we move ahead of the Aestivalis, we can efficiently use the show-stopping number on our ship to put a quick end to this battle."
Akatsuki seemed to roll this comment over in his mind. Finally, he smiled. "Okay, here's the plan. You take the Samayahita and place her directly in front of the Cosmos. We will configure the multi-barrel gravity blast cannon on our ship to spray fire all around you, but not actually at you. Basically, you'll be in the center of a cone of gravity blasts. Together, we shall move our two ships ahead and destroy the Jovians! This is our moon, and we will take it back together!" The window closed and a smaller window appeared in front of Hana containing the vectors that the Cosmos planned on following for this new plan.
Dan let out a long sigh. "Well, I would say that went rather well." Admiral Minamako smiled. The Cosmos slowly faded from view behind the bridge and the ship fell in line in front of the Nadesico's sister ship. "Okay, now begin moving us ahead of those UEAF mecha," Dan commanded. Hana began typing in the information and the battle scene shifted as the ship began to move.
Kadin was busy typing a paper he planned on submitting to the Nergal Scientific Division as the battle got underway. He just finished his thesis when there was a loud, obnoxious knock on the door. Kadin picked up a glass figurine and hefted it in his hand. "Come in!" he shouted. The door slid open and Victor began to walk into the room. As he did, he was greeted with a small figurine impacting his head. Victor shouted in pain and grabbed the point of impact.
"Damn it, what the hell did you do that for?" Victor shouted.
"I don't know, but it sure was funny," Kadin laughed. Victor growled and found a seat next to Kadin.
"Okay, fine, we're past that. Now then, please do tell me everything you know about the Martian ruins."
Kadin saved the document he was working on and closed it. He then opened one of the many saved documents in the same folder, which quickly came up for Victor to read.
"It's been almost ten years now," Kadin explained. "We discovered it completely by accident. Nergal was drilling a mine in Mars's ice cap when a huge cave-in swallowed the drill and twelve workers. A few days later, a team came in and blasted the rest of the ice from the surface of the cavern. The ruins turned out to be a large cone, with its point about 14 kilometers below the surface of the ice cap. Its existence was a complete coup in our belief regarding life in the universe, let alone life in the solar system. However, the most incredible thing was the fact that some parts of the ruins were still active. It was powered by a large phase transition generator, ensuring its survivability throughout the ages. After all of those discoveries, however, that still was not the most amazing thing found there."
Mars, ten years before the present, was a largely uncivilized territory. Only three civilian colonies existed on the planet's surface. The rest were dedicated to research, and were mostly owned by Nergal Heavy Industries. A breathable atmosphere had been established nearly a century ago, but even without the constraints of a non-Earthian atmosphere, life was still difficult. Out in the polar ice cap region, supplies were hard to come by. Anything that the scientists needed had to be airlifted from one of the civilian colonies, and landing in the mountainous polar region was a task in and of itself.
Kadin Ara had left his brother in the Utopia colony when Nergal summoned him to research a "top secret" discovery in the ice cap. As his flight neared its destination, he started wondering what could possibly be so important in a chunk of ice on a planet that has been dead since the solar system was formed. Still, it was a chance to get out of Utopia and the watchful eye of Captain Misumaru. He was glad that the admiral was supposedly heading for Earth within the next year, since he hated having a UEAF captain breathing down his neck.
The steward walked in with a glass of bourbon. "Sir, we will be landing shortly. Because the landing may be a bit bumpy, we ask that you please buckle yourself in securely. It will not be long before you know everything that has taken place here in the ice cap." He left the bourbon for Kadin and walked out.
Upon his arrival, Kadin was given an artificial fur coat and led to a large tent. Dr. Phillip Behr greeted him and handed him a folder. "Thank you for coming all this way from Utopia. I know that you had a great deal of work to do back there regarding the structure and programming of soil-cultivating nano-machines, and I hope you will forgive us for taking you away from home on such short notice."
"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Kadin shouted with a dismissive and very exaggerated wave. "Here, have some liquor." He tossed the glass of bourbon into the air, spilling it all over Dr. Behr.
Phillip did not say anything, he just took out a handkerchief and began drying himself. "Yes, they told me you had adult ADHD, but I did not think it was quite this bad. Still, a young 22 year old with your credentials is hard to come by, and you are certainly one of the most brilliant scientists on the planet." Phil put away his handkerchief and motioned for Kadin to follow him to the table, where a young woman was sitting. "Please meet Miss Inez Fressange, age 17, likely the most intelligent person on the planet Mars." The young woman stood up and smiled at Kadin.
"It's nice to finally get a chance to meet you, Kadin," she said quickly. "I've read all about your work in the field of nano-technology. It's quite impressive."
Kadin laughed loudly. "Why, it's nothing really, ma'am. It's just all part of keeping life on Mars possible!" Young Miss Fressange laughed nervously.
Phil cleared his throat. "At any rate, I imagine you wonder why you are both here. Mr. Ara, Miss Fressange, if you could follow me, please." He opened the flap of the tent and pulled his coat up around his neck. Inez and Kadin did the same thing and followed the young man out into the cold Martian wind.
"It's nice to see that there's a reason that we're here," Kadin commented. "They wouldn't tell me anything whatsoever on the flight."
Miss Fressange spoke up. "I have to agree with my colleague here. You do know that we are working on something very important at Olympus Mons, and having me away is going to complicate things."
Phil stopped and turned around. "Yes, yes, I know all about your nano-machines and your phase transition engines, but this…well this just overshadows them all." He led them forward again, and stopped in front of a giant hole in the ground.
"Oh my God," Inez whispered in amazement. Before them was a huge city built into the sides of the hole.
"A city, several kilometers deep, trapped in the polar ice cap. It's like something from Gekiganger," Kadin said. "The question is, who built it?"
"Oh, let me explain," Inez said quickly before Phil could speak. "This city is obviously the product of an ancient Martian race that existed long before humans even began to take form on Earth. They are the ones who built the phase transition engines that we found in Olympus Mons. My hypothesis is further supported by the fact that this city is made completely from the same material that the ancient battleship in Olympus."
Phil rubbed his hands together and blew into them. "Yes, that's correct, Miss Fressange. The material, called Chulip Crystal, is found only here on Mars. We are not sure yet what exactly this material is made of chemically, for it is very unstable, and all experiments to determine the molecular structure have met with failure. Every time we run an experiment, the crystal breaks apart into subatomic particles, and even those particles vanish from our plane of reality. We know it defies the laws of physics, but it seems as though the Chulip Crystal teleports away from the lab."
"Sir, if I may," Kadin interrupted, "whose idea was it to call it Chulip Crystal?"
"Please, follow me," Phil said, not answering Kadin's question at all. Soon, Phil, Miss Fressange, and Kadin were descending into the Martian ruins in a lift suspended by a crane at the surface. They could only go down about 600 meters before the crane could go no farther. The trio disembarked from the makeshift lift and began walking through the city on foot. "As you can see, this city is made entirely from Chulip Crystal, and it is equipped with a phase transition generator as its source of power," Phil explained.
Kadin laughed. "You say that as if it still needed power or something!" As if on cue, the hallway that the trio was descending lit up as bright lines of light shot down the hallway. Feeling as though he had made a scientific error, Kadin felt foolish.
"As a matter of fact, a great portion of the ruin is still active," Phil revealed. "As for the name Chulip Crystal…" Phil led them to a large room with a large, cobalt blue chunk of the crystal. The base of the massive structure was solid and firmly rooted into the ground. Above the midsection, however, the structure opened up like a flower in bloom. "And this, my friends is a Chulip."
"Okay, so that's a Chulip, but what's a Chulip?" Kadin asked. He was amazed by the size of the mass of Chulip Crystal. It was much larger than even the largest battleships in the UEAF.
"Chulip is actually an acronym, but it has caught on so well that we just use it as the name for these Chulip Crystal blossoms. C.H.U.L.I.P. stands for Cellular Hangover from Unknown Labyrinthine Intelligence of Prehistoric age. Mostly, though, it came from the Japanese word for tulip." Phil smiled at that trivial fact, and young Inez sighed.
"I hate it when people make up an acronym before they make up what it stands for," she said quietly. "At any rate, what do these things do?"
Phil cleared his throat. "We have been experimenting around with that, actually. It seems as though it facilitates teleportation of some sort, with the process being similar to the teleportation of the small crystals in the lab. The only problem is that we send probes and cameras through, and they never come back. It had become so dangerous that we had to find a way of sealing it off. This Chulip is no longer operational."
"'Kay, well let's go home then," Kadin said. He started to walk away when Phil grabbed his shoulder.
"Wait," Phil said, "don't you want to see the main attraction?" He led them down another corridor, one that seemed to stretch on for many miles. "What we are doing now," he explained, "is traveling through a downward spiraling corridor to the center of the ruins. What lies in wait for us at the bottom is why you are all here."
It took nearly an hour, but they finally made their way to the bottom of the ruin. They entered the center and looked straight up through fourteen kilometers of air and distortion fields. Phil directed their attention to a large cube on a pedestal in the very center of the cone. "This is it, this is the part of the ruin that we cannot explain."
The cube itself was engraved with lines that looked like the connections on a circuit board. It did not seem to be connected to the ground physically, but it must have benn able to receive energy from conduits beneath it. "What is this?" Inez asked.
"God only knows," Phil replied. "It seems to come to life every time we perform one of our experiments with teleportation. We really cannot explain it, unfortunately, so for our purposes we are going to leave it alone for now. What's more intriguing is this room over here. When we found it, it was sealed off from the inside, but we managed to break in. The contents of the room were a real paradigm shift, as you will soon see." He led them to an antechamber off to the side of the ruin unit. "I hope you have good hearts," he joked. The young Miss Fressange and Kadin did not find it all that amusing.
The room was typical of the other chambers inside the ruin. Its walls were made of Chulip Crystal, and there were pieces that seemed to be some sort of Chulip Crystal furniture scattered around the room. Inez was not terribly impressed with the room until someone caught her eye. There was a little man sitting in one of the "chairs" in the far corner. As her eyes adjusted fully to the dark, she let out a scream. That "little man" was an alien being!
"Oh my God, is that what I think it is?" she asked with a shaky voice. Her left hand pointed slowly at the being in the corner of the room, and she slowly backed away. Kadin put his hand over his mouth, completely awestruck
"Yes, that is indeed a Martian. However, you will find that it is quite dead, as are the other seven in this room," Phil explained. He took out a flashlight and shined it in succession on each of the bodies that were in chairs or sprawled on the floor.
"These Martians look just like the stereotypical aliens in movies and alleged idiot farmer abductions that happen in the agricultural areas of Earth," Kadin observed. The Martians were small in stature, and very slim. They also had disproportionately large, teardrop shaped heads and large, almond-shaped black eyes.
Inez was still somewhat in shock, but was quickly regaining her composure. "If the Martians are dead, why haven't they decomposed?"
Phil took out a pocket watch and checked the time. "Sorry, but it is time to go. I will answer your question once we get back to the surface." They quickly left the eerie chamber and the deceased beings within.
Back on the surface, Phil took a deep breath of fresh air. "Look around and tell me what you see." He stretched his arms and emphasized the surroundings.
"It's barren and useless, like your mother," Kadin replied. "What's the point?"
Phil ignored Kadin's comment and replied, "Miss Fressange asked me why the Martians had not decomposed although they had been dead for millions of years. But if you will recall, everything on Mars has been dead for millions of years. Based on the discovery of Martian bodies intact, it is not such a leap of logic to assume that whatever killed the Martians caused everything on the planet to die off simultaneously. The question is, what could possibly kill off every organism on the entire planet at the same time?"
"Well," Inez suggested, "it didn't have to be simultaneous for everything. I mean, when a human decomposes, it does not vanish instantly."
"Let me ask you a question myself, Fressange-y," Kadin interrupted. "Why didn't they dehydrate and blow away? I mean, there has not been any water here in millions of years, and they're quite dead in there."
"Perhaps I can explain that one," Phil interjected. "You see, those beings have skin that appeared to be at one time very similar to reptile skin. However, based on the results of the autopsy that we performed on one of the creatures, it seems that whenever they die, their skin hardens instantly since water is no longer pumped into the skin cells, sort of like flash fossilization. This forms a protective shell that is airtight and water tight, keeping the inside structures intact, provided they did not die with their mouths open. They have no other openings to speak of besides the mouth, so it is possible for the liquid organs inside to stay relatively solid. I know what you are wondering, Miss Fressange, and the answer is yes, their anatomy, at least as far as molecular, cellular, and tissue biology are concerned, is quite similar to ours. However, they have a pseudo-circulatory system based on water movement and diffusion." He cracked his neck. "I really do not have the time to go over it with you right now, and the written documents from the autopsy are classified. Why don't I get back to you later about this? You will be here a few days, so there will be plenty of time to go over the discoveries we've made."
Kadin stopped talking and opened a document on his computer. Victor raised an agitated eyebrow and attempted to look Kadin in the eye. "Well, what about the anatomy? Don't tell me you are going to leave me hanging about the Martians!"
Kadin gave Victor an uninterested glance. "Classified," he said. Victor slammed his fist against the wall.
"I am a top ranking executive in Nergal Heavy Industries, goddamn it! I have a right to know about this! You can't keep this a secret forever! If you won't talk, maybe I'll hunt down Inez Fressange or Phillip Behr!"
"Inez Fressange was on Mars when the Jovians attacked, and Phillip Behr was killed in an organic boson jumping accident. Good luck with that." Kadin calmly ignored Victor's fits of anger behind him.
"Fine, I'll just go to the Chairman and get his permission myself. He's on the Cosmos, you know. It won't be long until I know the truth." With that, Victor furiously stormed out of the room. Once Kadin's door closed, he started laughing.
"What a moron. I'm glad I chucked a figurine at him."
The plan was working beautifully. The Cosmos was creating a cone of safety around the Samayahita, while the Samayahita pivoted and turned in order to fire its Gravity Blast Cannon II at the targets of highest priority. All Aestivalis held back to defend the rest of the fleet from grasshoppers.
"Hitoshi, there is a Chulip on the surface of the moon that I do not care for," Dan announced. "By the looks of it, it is the only Chulip remaining in the Sea of Tranquility. Do you think you could sink it?" Hitoshi announced the affirmative, and he linked with the computer to accurately aim the Gravity Blast Cannon II at the offending Chulip. The bow of the ship made a slight dip towards the surface of the moon, and within seconds, a black beam fired from the front and rapidly bore down on its target. A small explosion on the surface of the moon confirmed the success of the shot. Seconds later, an alarm loudly resonated throughout the entire ship.
"What the hell?" Sosuke shouted quickly. "Captain, there's something within our distortion field!" Dan shot a very concerned look at Sosuke and then quickly glanced at Hitoshi.
"It seems as though it is a giant humanoid mecha. I have no honest idea how it…" Hitoshi stopped in mid sentence as the mecha disappeared from the lower left quadrant within the distortion field, and reappeared right in front of the bridge.
"A boson jumping robot?" Kato said incredulously. "There's just no way in hell we can deal with something like that."
"It's going to fire!" Hana shouted. She was right. The giant mecha raised its right hand towards the bridge, and in its palm it had a missile tube that must have extended up inside the robot's arm.
Just as the goliath was about to fire, a blue land-type Aestivalis flew in from the left and tackled it. The missile just barely missed the bridge and slammed against the back of their distortion field.
"Sosuke, who is in that Aestivalis?" Dan asked demandingly. Sosuke listened for a second.
"It's Sasha," he finally said. Hitoshi's eyes went wide.
"Is she absolutely out of her mind?" he shouted at no one in particular. "She's going to get killed! That thing is twice as big as an Aestivalis, and it has a much more powerful distortion field. Captain, you have to do something!" Dan looked helplessly down at Hitoshi, and then out the window to see the Aestivalis trying to crack the giant robot's distortion field.
Unfortunately for Sasha, the giant robot also had a miniature gravity blast cannon. Every time she got near it, it would fire the scaled down cannon and force her to either evade or die. Not only that, but it also seemed to have the ability to boson jump away from danger. "This sucks, this sucks, this sucks!" she shouted as she tried in vain to engage the huge machine.
Hitoshi tore Sosuke's headset off of his ear and started shouting into it. "Sasha, what the hell are you doing? You're not a pilot, get out of there and leave it to someone who knows how to fly an Aestivalis! For that matter, you're in a land frame, you idiot! Get out of there!" Quickly, Sosuke stood up and began walking towards the door.
"Captain," he said, "do I have permission to take an Aestivalis?" He showed Dan his IFS implant. "I am a qualified pilot, after all."
Dan did not reply, he just motioned for Sosuke to make a quick exit. Once, he had gone, Dan told Hitoshi, "You will act as our communications officer for the time being. It makes little difference, since you are holding Sosuke's headset." It did not look as though Hitoshi had heard, however. He was fixated on the fight in front of them.
"She must be suicidal to take a land frame into combat in a zero-G environment!" Sosuke muttered loudly as he got his pilot suit on and climbed into an aerial flight type Aestivalis. "This isn't exactly the best choice in space either, but it's not quite as insane." He motioned for Douglas, the chief mechanic. "I'm going out now. Wish me luck." Douglas gave the thumbs up, and everyone evacuated the staging area. The room depressurized and the Aestivalis was rapidly fired from the electromagnetic catapult.
The giant mecha began slamming its fists into Sasha's Aestivalis, causing major damage to the much smaller machine. After the first hit, the legs were no longer mobile. After the second hit, the circuits controlling the body outside the assault pit were damaged beyond repair. Thinking quickly, Sasha jettisoned the assault pit from the Aestivalis just before the third hit, which destroyed the torso.
Hitoshi shouted one more time into the headset. "Sasha, are you still alive?"
"Yes, more or less," she replied shakily. The giant enemy started chasing after the assault pit, until it noticed Sosuke's Aestivalis bearing down on it. It paused temporarily to decide which target to pursue. "Hitoshi, if I die, I think there's something I should tell you."
"Sasha, please, you're not going to die," Hitoshi said, his throat instantly drying.
Sasha whimpered over the communication channel. A visible window was not open, so the only person who could hear her was the one wearing the communications officer's headset: Hitoshi. "The verniers on my assault pit aren't functioning. My oxygen is leaking. If that thing isn't destroyed soon, it is going to destroy the Samayahita. Hitoshi, this may be it, and I have on last thing to say. Hitoshi Tsumiyagi, you are the one that I love."
Hitoshi dropped the headset in shock. "Sasha," he said quietly, "I love you too. Please come back to me." He looked straight ahead at the fight between Sosuke and the giant Jovian mecha. "Sosuke, kick his ass!"
"You didn't think I'd let you take all of the fun, did you?" A window popped up in front of the bridge with the face of Shin Hiradeki. "How about dropping your distortion field for a second so I can make it through?" Ahead of the Samayahita, everyone could see the red Aestivalis flying directly towards the battleship.
"Yes, we can comply with that," Dan said. "Hitoshi, can you…" Dan trailed off when he realized Hitoshi was already one step ahead of him. Just as Shin's red Aestivalis was about to slam headfirst into the distortion field, it dropped for a split second, allowing him inside. It then immediately came back up to prevent the Jovian fleet from doing any further damage to the Samayahita.
Hitoshi opened a communications window displaying Sosuke. "Sosuke, could you please, I mean, now that Shin is there, could you drop Sasha's assault pit off in the Aestivalis staging area? You can go right back out after you finish."
"Hell, I'm not a full time pilot anymore anyway. I'd rather leave it to someone who knows what the hell they're doing," Sosuke replied. "I might come back out after to back up the idiot, though." As soon as he said that, another window popped up displaying Shin's face.
"Hey, I heard that, and I completely resent it!" he shouted. "I don't care what you think, I'm a damn good pilot, and I'm going to prove it to all present right now!" The red Aestivalis slammed into the Jovian mecha with its distortion field, throwing the Jovian off balance, and throwing Shin's Aestivalis in a completely opposite direction. "Kuso, that wasn't part of my plan!"
Meanwhile, Sosuke quickly grabbed the assault pit containing the co-science officer. "Are you still okay, Sasha?" Sosuke asked. A small, distorted communications window appeared with her face.
"I'm fine, thank you. Could you please get me out of here before I have a panic attack or something?" she said, laughing nervously. Sosuke quickly boosted towards the entrance to the Aestivalis hangar. Fortunately, the Jovian no longer seemed to perceive him or his cargo a threat any longer and began focusing on the red Aestivalis. Shin looked like a gnat flying around the goliath Jovian unit, and the illusion was completed when the Jovian mech began swatting at him.
"Captain, I am turning over all functions of the ship to you," Hitoshi said as he quickly stood up. He planned on rushing down to the hangar to find out how Sasha was doing, but Dan stopped him.
"I realize how this must feel for you, and I would love nothing more than to be allowed to let you go down there," he said. "However, as the science officer, you perform many of the ship's most vital functions. During a battle situation, we cannot do without you." Dan lowered his head sympathetically. To the others on the bridge, it looked as though Dan felt as badly as Hitoshi. "Please don't hold this against me. You can go as soon as the battle ceases."
Hitoshi turned and looked straight into Dan's eye. "Captain, I understand. I will not hold it against you." He smiled before turning and sitting down. "Take good care of her, Sosuke," he whispered to himself. To his right, Hana smiled.
"I just hope she is there for him to go to after the battle," she thought to herself.
Shin started firing his assault rifle at the gargantuan machine, and it in turn boson jumped away from the rounds. "Hey guys, watch this!" he shouted to the bridge crew. He waited two seconds and then fired his right arm in what seemed to everyone to be a random direction. Just as the arm got about 30 meters away from the Aestivalis, the Jovian machine reappeared right in the direct path of the flying fist. Before it had a chance to raise its distortion field again, the arm of the Aestivalis penetrated deeply into the housing for the gravity blast cannon. After a few seconds, the Jovian machine exploded in a brilliant ball of light. "Not bad, eh?" Shin asked cockily. Everyone on the bridge rolled their eyes.
"Captain, look at that!" Admiral Minamako said suddenly. It appeared to everyone as if the Jovians were retreating. "I guess they decided they had lost enough. After all, we did manage to sink 65 of their vessels while only losing 20 of our own. It's all thanks to the Samayahita and the Cosmos. We should be very proud of ourselves."
Dan did not care at all, he was more concerned about his science officer. "Hitoshi, turn over control of the Samayahita to me, and then you can go down and see her." Before he knew it, the manual controls for the battleship activated in front of him, and Hitoshi was rapidly up the steps and out the door. "That was fast," Dan said. "Kato, please maintain distortion field integrity while the Jovians continue their retreat. Who knows what they could do on their way out."
"Sensors indicate UEAF battleships are landing in the Sea of Tranquility," Kato informed him. "It seems as though Tranquility Base is still intact after all of this time. I wonder if anyone survived the Jovian occupation."
Hitoshi was running as quickly as he could down towards the hangar to see if Sasha was okay. He was just entering a lift when he slammed into someone trying to get out. "Oh! I'm so sorry, ma'am," he said quickly, reaching down to help her pick up the papers that had spilled from her folder.
She stood up and pushed her glasses up. "That's no problem, sir. Thank you for your help." Hitoshi kept an eye on her as she walked away. The young woman was very beautiful, with very long brunette hair and a slim build.
"I've seen her somewhere before, not on the Samayahita. The question is, where?" Hitoshi thought for a second, and then remembered where he was going. He quickly got into the lift and headed for the hangar.
"Are you okay?" Sosuke asked as he quickly opened the hatch to Sasha's assault pit. She climbed out, shaken but in one piece.
"I'm fine, but I feel a little woozy. The pressure was getting kind of low in there at the end. Thank you for saving me."
Hitoshi ran into the room just in time to see her float out the door with Sosuke close behind. Sosuke caught sight of him and waved him over as the two of them exited. Catching himself on the corner of the door he had just exited, Hitoshi changed the direction he was floating and managed to enter the hallway after them. Unfortunately, he lost sight of them once they rounded the corner. "They must have gone to sick bay," he said to himself.
"The Jovians have all pulled back to the Ptolemaeus Crater," Kato informed the captain. "It looks as though they have joined with their main forces and are most likely going to start a counterattack within the next 48 to 72 hours." He paused. "Oh, an incoming message from the Cosmos, captain."
Nagare Akatsuki's face appeared in a communications window in the front of the bridge. "Hey guys, you did a wonderful job," he said. He began to laugh, but then stopped and looked at the crew. "Aren't you missing a few people?"
"It's a long story," Dan explained. "You can read about it in the debriefing file later. Right now, we need to focus on preparing for the Jovian counterattack."
"Yes, that's right," Akatsuki stated calmly. "Fortunately, it looks like the base was left completely unharmed. I don't think the Jovian Lizards even bothered to go inside. Several of our ships are landing there already and getting refueled. Because we were both in the front lines, they are reserving a place for both of our ships. If you are ready, go ahead down and have them work on the Samayahita."
"Thank you, Chairman. I'll do that." The communications window closed, and Dan looked directly at Hana. "Do you think you can handle landing on the moon?" he asked. She cracked her knuckles and smiled.
"Are you kidding? I could land on a penny if I had to."
Meanwhile, Hitoshi made his way down to sick bay. He stopped short of opening the door and waited for a second. "If I go in there, what will I say? What can someone say after a situation like this?" Thinking carefully, he wondered if maybe he should see if Unmeihoshi could find some data files regarding a similar situation. Just before he spoke up, however, the door opened and Sosuke stepped out.
"Oh, hey there. What are you doing?" he asked. Hitoshi smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "You know she's waiting for you. You'd better get in there and say hi." And with that, Sosuke walked away.
"Okay, here goes," Hitoshi said. He quietly opened the door and walked into sick bay. It was a large room lined with many beds for those who were injured in battle: the curse of a battleship in time of war. Most of the beds were empty, although one of the crewmembers had contracted appendicitis earlier in the week and was recovering in the corner. Finally, he caught sight of the patient he was looking for. She was lying in the corner, looking as if she was already asleep.
"Excuse me, but you're Lieutenant Hitoshi Tsumiyagi, aren't you?" the on-duty nurse asked as he walked towards Sasha's bed.
"Yes, why?"
"The bridge asked me to tell you that there's an important message for you."
"Important message? From who?"
"From the Nadesico."
TO BE CONTINUED…