Here a new chapter. I'm really sorry for my mistakes and I only hope that the work is equally agreeable :)

Were we conscious that we have opened the Hell's doors for the Kiyohime? Presumptuousness has always been my greatest limit. At that time I believed that nothing couldn't avoid my control and take unexpected directions that I hadn't foreseen. Yes, I knew that the easiness of the fight was dubious, but I didn't gave at that thought the proper attention. We have traveled in their pursuit from so many years, moving as a spider on a black and fragile cobweb, that nothing was really important to us as their arrest. But, yet, there were doubts in my mind: could that endless running find a conclusion? And in that simple and banal way? Was it really over, in an unexplored and distant quadrant of the known Universe? No. I couldn't believe that, I wasn't so naive.

Probably, Mai felt in the same way, or maybe she had guessed my worries, and so I saw her put away some diagrams of flight and move towards me. Usually, I was in my seat in the command hall and for a moment I withstood her deep serious gaze with mine. That was a long moment, then I constricted myself to smile, but I felt a deep unease I wasn't able to hide. However, my smile for her was honest, and I knew she was conscious of that. Slowly, she lay down against my seat, at my feet, her knees against her chest and an air of despair in her eyes. And so she sighed:

- Will we go back, Captain?

Could I lie to her? I felt her longing and pain in every words and, behind, something else, maybe fear. There, in the Kiyohime, there were the suns of her life: Mikoto and Tate, one boy from the Haruka's Assault Squad. Kiyohime's unrigging, probably settled after my wedding with Alyssa, meant also the end of Mai's life. But at that time I thought I couldn't help.

I bitterly smiled to her, skimming over her right shoulder for a brief moment. In the gloom interrupted by the lights of the monitors, the sight of the command hall was disturbing, as if there was an odd atmosphere behind the usual quietness, an air of discomfort that we couldn't understand. I knew that the crew members were again at work, that everything was coming back to normal, and however I was afraid. But, what really disturbed me was the consciousness that also Mai felt the same way. So, I made my voice strong and, trying to persuade myself, I answered at her questions. I recalled our... my duties, the debts with the Empire, the people's needs and the necessity to become strong, more strong than ever. Yes, I was giving up at that future I didn't want, but there wasn't nothing to do. In a few hours, the last operations would have tested the strength and resistance of the Sharan's ship and only then I could order our homecoming. For my crew, there was a shining and bright future at the horizon. For me, only the darkness.

Sometimes, I brood over my past. Do I really believe that our homecoming was possible? Was I really persuaded about that? Besides, when Mikoto rushed in the Kiyohime's command hall with her upset expression, with her staring eyes and the panic constricting the muscles of her face, wasn't I excited? Yes, I knew I was. Because from the first time I saw the fear in Mikoto's eyes, I understood that there was something wrong after all and, inevitably, I felt a new upcoming wild hope burn my chest. The darkest part of my soul was running towards Natsuki and I couldn't stop my feelings. Yes, that was hope, my last blind hope, a joy that I felt echoing in my mind and breath, amplified by the power of my Kiyohime, in that tie that only I could share with the pulsing heart of the imperial ship.

- Captain, bad, bad news. We can't afford the Nuranian Jump. I don't know how to put in words, but... err... The Sharan's ship... ehm...

Mikoto's voice broke up into thousand fragments, in words muttered, spitted out one after the other in a kaleidoscope of nervous signs and worried gazes towards Mai, as Mikoto was a soaked kitten in search of comfort. But, yet, I didn't listen her voice, because that darkest part of me knew damned well what was happening. Maybe I was aware of that from the start, even if in an unconscious and subtle way.

That was the moment I realized the truth. The Sharan's ship we have confiscated couldn't withstand a Nuranian Jump: its components and structures weren't suitable for that kind of flight through the Universe, they couldn't afford the nuclear disintegration and following rebuilding that were the base of that king of trip. Behind my usual smile of circumstance, the comforting mask I was wearing, there was a storm of confused thought. I felt as I wasn't able to find the keystone I needed to understand Natsuki plain, even if I knew very well that a plain existed from the beginning. I mean, that wasn't possible: all of us knew that the Sharan's ship had afforded trips more hard, through quadrants more distant of the known Universe, and naturally with the Nuranian technology. So, now, how was possible that it couldn't afford that journey?

I leave my eyes study the command hall and the distant planet I could see at the horizon captured my attention: it was a little green and blue gem, at the distance, blessed by a bright atmosphere. Slowly, I left my seat and walked towards one of the crystal blue slabs that transmitted the images gathered from Kiyohime's exterior. I closed my eyes for a very long and painful instant and, when I opened them, I finally understood everything. We have captured the wrong ship.

And still, there was yet something I wasn't able to manage. Even if it was true that we have captured the wrong ship, what was the purpose lying behind that trap? And, after all, was that a trap? What was that Kuga Natsuki really wanted from us? I slowly left the monitor, turning my backs on Mai and Mikoto and, starting to run, I moved towards the exit of the command hall. I had in my mind the need to find answers at those questions, as soon as possible, because that time the price to pay for my mistakes was our lives.