Chapter Three: Discoveries

When the Arcadia arrived in the area where the meeting would take place, Harlock was rather pleased to find that three battleships waited there.

"Seems as though one of them was able to reach Young Harlock's ship." Tochiro's voice stated, as Harlock took in the sight.

"Indeed. Though there seems to be something familiar about it…." Harlock mused, then glanced down at Kei.

"Kei, as you know, we must keep radio silence through here. This means the radio must also be kept quiet on board as well." Harlock said, getting what could only be described as a disgusted look from Kei as a response.

"And you want me to go and get Young Harlock's butt out of bed, correct?" Kei asked, her left eye twitching as she said that.

"You could say that. Tell him that we're in the vicinity of the base." Harlock ordered, getting a rather blasé 'Okay, whatever' type of reply from Kei before she left the bridge.

"She really doesn't like this task, does she?" Tadashi asked, with a slight smirk of his own.

"Nope. Has never liked it, as far back as I can recall." One of the other crewmembers stated, as all on the bridge gazed at what looked like a normal asteroid field.

"But what could possibly be out here that would be of any interest to pirates?" Tadashi wondered, as the Arcadia continued to move farther into the field.

……………………………

Kei grumbled angrily under her breath as she made her way to the sickbay. Once again she was reprising her role as a babysitter for the unruly son of her beloved captain. And, once again, she found herself hating it.

"Why do I, of all people, have to keep doing this? He's old enough to get himself out of bed!" Kei fumed, as she marched up to the doors of the sickbay. She was a little surprised when she entered, however; the bed was empty (yet apparently had been slept in), and the younger space pirate was standing in front of one of the windows, quietly watching the asteroids drift past. It was then that Kei noticed that the top part of his flight suit had been lowered, exposing his top half….and its' multitude of scars….to her.

"What the….! What the hell happened to him! How did he get all of those scars?" Kei's mind shouted, as horror and some anger emerged in her soul. All over his back and shoulders (and undoubtedly across his chest and stomach as well) there were deep scars, the remains of blaster bolts that had etched themselves into his skin.

"Oh, Young Harlock….." Kei thought, as tears came to her eyes. She'd had no idea that he'd been scarred so badly…..

"Young Harlock?" Kei asked, softly. He jumped slightly, and turned to face her.

"Kei….what's wrong? Why're you crying?" Young Harlock asked, in turn, having noticed her tears and becoming concerned for her.

"What happened to you? How did you get so many wounds?" Kei questioned, her voice wavering as she took in the sight of the healed-over wounds on the young man's body.

"I got these trying to rescue a friend…..Unfortunately, I couldn't reach her and I almost died for my efforts….. Found her again on the satellite, but she'd been 'converted'. She had no memory of who I was…. And even watched as I was being beaten….Kei, what could people possibly be thinking when they choose such a fate? What goes through their minds as they throw away their humanity?" Young Harlock asked, as an overwhelming sadness permeated the air between them.

"I don't know….Heck, I don't even know what goes through normal people's minds, much less people who choose to have such a thing done to them. But, I'm sure that her soul was set free when that satellite was destroyed." Kei murmured, as she stood alongside the younger man and looked out the window as well.

"You think so?" Young Harlock again asked; sounding very uncertain.

"Yeah. Absolutely. I have the feeling that, as you were being tortured, her soul was screaming at them to stop; but there was nothing she could do, since her body was so detached from what was going on in front of it…..And it must have been her spirit that protected your ship when you were trying to escape from there." Kei said.

"Maybe….." Young Harlock mused, aloud, as he continued to look out the window at the asteroids that were drifting past.

"Seems like the Galaxy Railways are starting to go through here now…." Young Harlock murmured, after a few moments of silence; watching as a distant space train flew through the asteroid field.

"Yeah….and it's even more necessary now than ever to silence the radio frequencies the Arcadia emits while we're in this area….We can't afford having the SDF or the Terrestrial Military finding out where the SSX Base is." Kei said, thoughtfully.

"That's true." Young Harlock agreed, then added, "So much has changed since my two years on board…..To be quite honest with you, I never thought I would actually find myself back here, aboard the Arcadia…….A part of me wishes to stay on board, and the other part knows that I am now a captain in my own right…..that I have my own crew and ship to consider."

"You've grown up so much……I never thought I'd hear you say something like that." Kei whispered, shocked and, at the same time, saddened, to hear those words from the son of her captain. Young Harlock then gave her a ghost of a smile.

"With all that has happened to me, Kei, I've had to grow up….and quickly. The real world is no place for the naïve or the inexperienced. If one is not careful, it would eat them alive, body and soul, before the person is even aware that something is wrong…..I should know….I've seen it happen. And I'm sure Dad has seen that sort of thing happen, too. It was the decadence of the politicians in control that prevented us from being prepared for the Machine Men when they attacked….and it was because of them that men like Zero lost their families and friends in the bombings that followed." Young Harlock said, his voice soft and his eyes distant; almost as though he was reviewing the events of his all-too-recent past in his mind. Yet, he was startled back to the present when Kei gently embraced him; wrapping her arms around his waist and placing her head on his scarred chest.

"I wish I could have been there to protect you from all that…..The way you look now is the exact same way the Captain looks when he thinks of what happened during the Illumidas Occupation….Haunted and deeply scarred in his heart…." Kei murmured, then added, "I hate seeing that in you…."

"I guess that's the only route a Harlock can go…..and yet, tragedy seems to strengthen instead of weaken us. I mean, look at my father; he could have given up when the Illumidas killed my mother, but, despite the sorrow, he fought on. We wouldn't even be here discussing this if he'd allowed them to break his spirit like that." Young Harlock stated, quietly.

"True. But my memory of you has always been that of the boy you once were; happy, carefree,….innocent. It kills me inside when I see so much pain in your eyes." Kei admitted, then added, "Even when you smile, I can see it." She was a bit surprised when Young Harlock slowly wrapped his arms around her and gave her a gentle hug in return.

"I'm sorry to have worried you and everyone else on board. It wasn't my intention. You, my father, and the crew of the Arcadia are my family….and I need to remember that before I make any more rash decisions……I don't want the only family I have ever known to grieve." Young Harlock murmured, as he rested his chin on top of Kei's head; unknowingly comforting her when he did that.

"You certainly have become a man your father can be proud of…..that the crew of the Arcadia can be proud of. It's hard to believe that you're the same kid that used to play all of those crazy pranks on us." Kei said, as she removed her head from his chest and gave him a smile. Young Harlock answered that with a very slight smirk.

"If you really want to know, it was Tochiro Sr. that I learned a lot of that stuff from." Young Harlock stated, to his own defense. Kei arched an eyebrow.

"You don't say? That would explain all those times that whoopee cushions would be found in our positions but almost never in your father's chair." Kei said, grinning when she heard some laughter escape from the younger pirate captain.

"Well, Dad always seemed to know when we'd try to put one in his seat, and usually moved it to yours' before anyone else was on deck." Young Harlock commented, as a deep red blush sneaked across Kei's face.

"You mean the Captain was the one who did that! And to think I'd always assumed that it was Tochiro's doing!" Kei yelped, shocked that the stoic captain she'd thought she'd known so well had done such a thing.

"You'd be surprised. I think, when he had a mind for it, Dad could be even worse than Tochiro Sr. had been." Young Harlock said, as he pulled the top part of his flight suit back up, covering his top half and hiding its scars once again.

"I think I'll take your word for it." Kei muttered, then added, "By the way, the Captain told me to tell you that we're in the vicinity of the base, and that he wants you on deck before we get there."

"Let's not keep him waiting, then." Young Harlock replied, when he'd finished fastening the hidden buttons in the flight suit's top part, and started walking towards the sickbay door.

………………………………………

Harlock didn't even look when he heard his son and Kei arrive on deck. From what he could tell, the two were in better spirits than what they had been earlier.

"Are you feeling better, Young Harlock?" Harlock asked.

"Yeah." Young Harlock replied, then looked out at the asteroid field.

"It's been awhile since we were last here…..Wonder if any of the booze is still good?" one of the crewmen murmured, getting a confused look from Tadashi while he was at it.

"We'll soon find out. Send the signal to the base." Harlock ordered, quietly. This got an immediate flurry of activity in response to the order, and Tadashi watched in awe as one of the asteroids opened up; revealing a hidden, manmade base.

"Captain, it looks like someone is already here." Kei stated, from her position at the communications controls.

"See if you can raise them on the comm." Harlock replied, coolly.

"Will do!" Kei complied, as she started trying to hail the smaller vessel that was already within the base.

"Miss Kei…..it's your ship! It's the Flourite! What's it doing here?" Sabu asked, when he recognized the ship sitting there.

"I'm trying to find out. There! I've found the signal…now let's see who has taken over…." Kei murmured, as the visual scanners picked up the signal.

"Greetings to all on the Arcadia! It has been a while, Harlock." a woman's voice said, as a familiar, flame-haired woman appeared on the screen before them.

"Lady Emeraldas!" Young Harlock yelped, as a genuine look of joy replaced the somber look on the elder Harlock's face.

"Young Harlock! You have certainly grown up on me! And from the looks of things, so has my own son." Lady Emeraldas said, smiling when the faces of those on the other ships appeared on her screen.

"How long have you been waiting, Emeraldas?" Harlock asked.

"Not long, actually. I emerged from hiding a short time before you did and came here when things got too hot. If you would believe it, we were actually neighbors on the Planet of Rubbish Heaps." Emeraldas said, smiling when a somewhat surprised look appeared on her old friend's face.

"And I never even knew…..Sorry to keep you waiting." Harlock apologized, managing to look abashed by his actions.

"Don't worry about it. I knew you were still grieving, and that my presence wouldn't have helped matters much." Emeraldas amended, then added, "Might as well come on in. We can't very well continue this conversation like this, can we?"

"No, we can't. The risk of being seen in this area is too great." Harlock said, as he directed the Arcadia into the brightly lit bay; giving the unspoken signal to the other three ships for them to follow.

"I think it's a little late for that precaution, since one of the SDF trains is now hailing us." the captain of the Karyu muttered.

"Let them land as well. If anything, they're probably about as confused as the rest of space about the disappearance of earth." Harlock stated, as the Arcadia settled into its' long unused dock, and as the Karyu, Queen Emeraldas, and Young Harlock's ship came to rest alongside it.

Author's Note!

Yeah, this chapter was a bit odd, But I am trying to get past writer's block! Hope this was okay otherwise!

Gemini14