With the completion of their first order of business, they had decided to head to Najbaro to receive their orders for the second assignment.
Leaving Universala and heading for Najbaro, Yuri decided to stop into the Joint HQ on Ermeno, to check in with Captain Valso. However, there was so much activity inside the base, that they barely had room to move... or breathe.
Deciding that it wasn't anything overly important, they left.
Meanwhile...
Elsewhere on the planet, Selenia groaned in pain, as her head rested on her hands atop the tavern table.
She hated the light. She hated the noise. She hated leaving her room barely twenty minutes ago...
That had been a mistake.
Now though, she found herself longing for that dark room.
Then, she heard a quick chuckle.
"Ha, ha, you look how I feel."
She groaned again, but not in pain.
Ogar Telegov was the last person she wanted to see after the events of last night.
Just how much did I drink anyway? She found herself wondering.
"How can you be so happy after last night?" She mumbled, her voice barely being heard above the crowd.
Ogar smiled, though she saw none of this... only hearing his gruff voice.
"Well... If I recall." Ogar began. "You said you were going to show me just how young you could make me feel. Trust me. You did that and much more."
She groaned again, and he paused before speaking. "Perhaps I just haven't come down from that high that you made me feel. Perhaps I still feel young after last night..."
She froze, as she had hoped he wouldn't remember much.
She shivered.
Deciding to just face the situation, she lifted her head, meeting Ogar's gaze... who showed nothing of the smile that had been there moments before.
"Look, Ogar." She tried, before stopping to think about how to explain her predicament. "I told you before how the Harrowers used to make us dance for them, among other things."
The man watched her, gaze never leaving the woman as she cocked her head.
"Well, its just that... I've been used and abused by them soo many times. I promised myself that once they were stopped for good, I wouldn't use my... talents, on anyone." She finished, studying his expressionless face.
"I was soo drunk last night that I absolutely humiliated myself." She added. "What happened last night was an accident. A one time thing. Something that can't happen again..."
"Clear." She asked.
Ogar nodded, and then, silence reigned.
Not able to stand it, and not able to come up with anything to say; Selenia stood.
Walking away, and leaving her fellow captain alone at the table, her mind wandered back to the conversation, and she gulped audibly as she thought of how that couldn't happen again...
It wouldn't happen again. She wouldn't let it.
It can't happen. It won't!
Before leaving Ermeno, Yuri had upgraded the FLAKRUNNER's messhall and deflector modules to a messhall MK 2 and deflector room MK 4 respectively. He had done the same with the REVENGE also, changing the ship's Messhall to the new one he had recently acquired.
On their final approach to Najbaro, Yuri, along with the crew, gasped as the planet came into view.
Coming in from the darkened side of Najbaro, they could see the moon orbiting fairly close, littered with small lights. On the planet, was a large circular object, with a big steel structure jutting out on an angle... almost like a switch.
"It doesn't appear to have an atmosphere..." Kira said, consulting with the CTA Database for information.
"There's a large cavity beneath the surface of Najbaro. They've made use of this cavity by filling it with air and setting up a residential area there." Letero added, joining the crew on the bridge.
Ian frowned in reply. "That sounds rather stifling to me."
"It's really not. Geothermal energy makes it warm all year round, and its soil is rich in nutrients. Crops grow really well there." The Nova Nacion explained. "That's why they started large-scale colonization as soon as this planet was discovered. Now there's nearly two million Nova Nacions living there!"
Despite his earlier comment, Ian's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Very impressive!"
It didn't take long for them to pass security: a drop of Captain Valso's name, as well as their own... and they found themselves docked at the spaceport.
After riding the orbital elevators down to the planet, with more oohs and aahs of awe, courtesy of their enormous cave-like surroundings.
Entering the Najbaro base didn't prove to be too difficult at all, though once inside, they found themselves in a very different atmosphere than the previous bases. Many of the people who worked there appeared to be civilians, making it very different than the typical military bases they were use to.
"A lot of these people don't look like military to me." Tatiana commented first, noticing the change almost immediately.
"That's right. This is actually a Project Stelalumo facility, and the military is just using part of it as its base."
"Project what?" Torlo asked, just as confused as everyone else.
Before Ensign Letero even had a chance to reply, a new voice jumped in with an explanation.
"Stelalumo. It's a project to utilize Najbaro's double fixed star for large-scale starlight power generation."
"Huh?" Torlo asked again.
Though this time, Yuri wasn't sure if he was still confused about the explanation, or the new arrival.
She had greyish-black hair that she wore loose and long. Her bangs were short, and curled inwards above her eyebrow line. She had olive coloured skin, and was lithe, of average height... her military bodysuit fitting nicely over her curves and small chest.
"It's been a while, Ensign Letero." She added.
Letero's face had taken on the look of a little lost puppy, before shaking the cobwebs from his head. "Merita! Merita Tajloro! I thought you were assigned to a fleet!"
"I was, but then they brought me onto Project Stelalumo here as a controller. This actually suits me much better than ship life ever did." She replied.
"It sure is great to see you after all this time Merita!" Letero added with a smile.
"Really?" She asked. "You flatter me."
"Ensign Letero, who is this?" Yuri interrupted, hoping to head off what looked like a long conversation.
"Oh! Let me introduce you. Ensign Merita Tajloro, another engineer. We used to work in the same division." He explained.
"How do you do? I've been assigned to be your liaison here." She introduced with a nod.
"Huh? But I thought you were on the project team as a controller!"
Merita smiled, before shrugging "Well, this is basically just a colony planet. It doesn't really have any strategic value. That's why I, and most of us posted here have multiple duties.
"Oh. All right then." The other Ensign said with realization.
Holding up a finger to them, Merita turned away from them, talking with someone on the other end of her headset.
"All of the men in my old engineering division were so taken with Merita... When I found out she was being transferred, I nearly told her just exactly how I –"
He was prattling on, and so, Yuri began to feel a little sorry for him.
It was safe to assume just what he had nearly told her... if his expression had anything to say.
"... uh, Ensign Letero?"
"Huh? Oh, where was I?" He said, head shooting up at Yuri's words.
"Never mind." Yuri said, noticing Merita coming back.
"Now then. Allow me to explain your assignment with us here." She began in a no nonsense tone. "In short, what we'd like for you to do, is help reduce the enemy's military capacity."
"So you'd like us to just bring down as many Kalymnian ships as we can?" The Captain asked.
Merita shook her head. "No. Your mission is more specific than that. We want you to focus on battleships. In other words, Pallas-class and Ianthe-class ships." She explained. "We've confirmed that several enemy battleship units have been deployed in the vicinity of CL-665. We'd like you to help alleviate this problem by defeating three battleship units."
"Three? That's easy for you to say!" Nia added, a bit hesitant.
"I apologize. Those are the orders from General Staff Headquarters I'm afraid. Oh, and by the way, we've also received word that the enemy has hired on the infamous pirate, Michijo Abato. Please use the utmost caution."
"Michijo Abato?!"
"You've heard of him Nia?"
"Heard of him?! He's always up at the top of the rankings, a real old-school pirate. This could get really ugly." She warned.
"Yes, I've heard of his reputation as well. So do be careful."
"That's it? Do be careful? All calm and cool like that? Letero, your friend here isn't exactly the warmest gal in the universe, is she?" Nia asked the newest crewmember in doubt.
"What? I beg to differ! Merita is a kind, sweet girl!"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Nia said, barely listening anymore. She was done with these secretive military types.
"Well, all we can do is give it our best, so let's get ready to go." Yuri told the group, turning to face them.
"And what if we run into this Abato fellow?"
"We fight him, to the best of our ability." Yuri replied to Ian.
"And what if we find out we don't have a chance in Grus against him?"
"Then we run."
Ian cocked his head, a strange look on his face. "Huh? The old Yuri never would've said anything like that..."
Their journey down the starlane towards CL-665 was uneventful, which changed once they hit the next asteroid field.
"Yuri, there's a Kalymnian fleet straight ahead. Three ships, and one of them is a Pallas-class battleship!" Kira announced.
Yuri gritted his teeth, activating the ship's speakers. "All right. All hands, prepare for anti-ship battle! Don't underestimate the enemy's firepower!"
The enemy destroyer managed to get a quick shot right out of the gate, which slammed uselessly against the FLAKRUNNER's hull.
In response, Ogar and Selenia's combined attack took out the Kalliope destroyer, with Yuri's FLAKRUNNER eliminating the cruiser in a ferocious blast of firepower that lit up the battlefield.
The battleship however, while now alone, got off a barrage that they barely missed, before Yuri's fleet pushed forward.
"Get a handle on the enemy tactical patterns and begin consecutive fire." Yuri ordered.
Nia nodded, calling out to the fire control and artillery teams. "Gun crews one and two, begin dispersion patterns and open fire!"
The barrage spewed out of the fleet's guns, slamming into the enemy ship.
Yuri had to give the Pallas-class battleship credit, it didn't go down.
Almost right away, and before many of them could react, the Pallas shot out a massive beam of energy. Before anyone could say anything otherwise, Nia had ordered the ship into a dodge, and they found themselves sighing in relief.
Phew! That was a little too close for comfort. Yuri thought.
He wouldn't let himself be caught off guard like that again.
"Have the artillery teams prepare the guns for another barrage, maximum energy." He called out.
"Diverting 70% of generator power to weapons systems... five seconds to power synchronization."
"Adjusting horizontal angle and firing line to enemy quadrant, all weapons ready for continuous fire." Nia answered.
With another barrage, the enemy Pallas broke apart, leaving behind three piles of useless scrap.
"Whew. Looks like we pulled it off somehow." Yuri said to his bridge crew.
Letero, who had been listening in, spoke up.
"Amazing! Absolutely incredible! You people are even more amazing than I thought you'd be!" He said in surprise. "Now just two more battleships. Let's take care of this quickly!"
"Oh, boy. That's easy for him to say!"
Approaching the planet CL-665, Yuri's fleet were ready when the next battleship-led fleet attacked. The destroyer and the cruiser were disposed of in a matter of minutes, leaving just enough time for the three to dodge the incoming barrage.
With the battleship soon gone, they made it to their destination without a problem.
Inside the tavern, ordering drinks alongside Ian, Torlo, and Johano Sceptro, the bartender made small talk with the foursome as he loaded up the trays.
"Now that the battles around here have died down for a while, maybe I can finally get in touch with my family again. I sure do miss them."
Yuri felt sorry for the man. While the governments and militaries of both nations had wanted this war, it was the innocents that got caught in the crossfire.
The innocents that lost the most.
Leaving the bar, Yuri heard a voice call out from his right.
"Huh? Sceptro? Johano Sceptro, that you?"
Looking over, he spotted an older man sitting on a stool at the bar, nursing a cold beer.
He must have spotted the man with the red jacket behind him and called out, studying him with narrowed eyes, Sceptro looked confused for a moment, before breaking into a smile.
"Hey, is that really you? Delfeno! It's been, like, forever!" Sceptro said in excitement, placing the tray on the bar's benchtop.
The man let out a bark-like laugh. "It has been a long time, hasn't it? Whatcha doing with yourself these days?"
"The Captain here gave me a job on his ship." Sceptro answered. "Captain, this is my old pal, Delfeno. He taught me everything I know about being a zero-G dog!"
Yuri smiled. "Oh did you? You must be very skilled yourself, if that's the case."
"He is. Delfeno's got some serious skills! What are you up to these days old man?"
"Well... Just take a look at this." The old man said, before spinning around in his seat to face them.
"Huh?"
While showing them his legs, Sceptro didn't notice anything at first, a puzzled look on his face. Between one second and the next, Sceptro's eyes had gone wide, and he recoiled in shock and astonishment.
If he had been holding the tray, he surely would have dropped it.
"What the Grus happened to your legs Delfeno?!" Scpetro practically shrieked, horror and disbelief playing out across his face.
"Well, it's kind of embarrassing really. I had a little accident and lost control of my ship. The next thing I knew, both of my legs were gone from the knees down. I don't have the money to pay for the regeneration treatments. It's been kind of tough to find a good job since then. Heh."
His explanation made it seem like he'd retold the story a hundred times over, and if the look that passed across his face was any indication...
He had.
"I can't believe this! Hey, why don't I give you the money! 500 G or so oughta be enough, don't you think? Let's see..."
Feeling around in his pockets, Sceptro's face looked crestfallen as he stopped, before turning back.
"Sorry. I don't have anything on me. To be honest, I usually drink my salary right up as soon as I get it." He answered sheepishly.
"I'll pay for it Sceptro." Yuri said on the spot.
He felt bad. This man must have meant a lot to Scpetro.
"You mean it?"
"Sure. You can make it up to me by working extra hard." He replied.
"Hey, don't I always work hard?!" Sceptro asked. "Now you can get your regeneration treatments Delfeno! And you'll go back to being a happy zero-G dog in no time!"
The smile on the young man's face wouldn't go down, and Delfeno looked at them gratefully.
"Thank you Sceptro. Thank you, young Captain. I'll never forget this." With his head bowed, Delfeno began to thank them both over and over again.
Leaving the man to it, they returned to the others, with much complaining as to their whereabouts, and if they'd gotten lost.
Sitting around, they all chatted and laughed, shared new gossip and spoke about recent battles, and made small talk in general for a while.
As they were leaving however, Sceptro spotted Delfeno, still in the same corner of the bar, drinking it up.
"Hey, come on Delfeno. Go get your regeneration treatments already. A guy like you belongs out there in the sea of stars, right?"
His question caught Delfeno's attention, who replied quickly.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just gonna have this one more drink, and then I'm going. I swear..."
As if trying to process the words, Sceptro stood there in silence. Beside him, Torlo whispered into his ear... listening in on the exchange.
"Hey Yuri. Now that the guy has his G, it don't seem like he's all that interested in the sea of stars anymore, does it?"
"I was thinking the same thing. He just used poor Sceptro, didn't he?" Ian asked.
Yuri stayed silent, watching Sceptro ahead.
Yuri scoffed. Some friend.
"Yuri, there's an enemy vessel ahead. One of them is a big one."
After leaving CL-665, the small fleet had continued looking for the illusive last battleship-led fleet.
Soon though, they got their wish, with their target descending upon them like a pack of vultures.
"Can you see what kind of ship it is Kira?" He asked.
Consulting with her database for a moment, she soon responded negatively. "No, sorry. I'm looking, but it doesn't come up."
"I bet it's one of Kalymnos' new ships. Wh-What do you want to do here?" Letero asked over the comm.
"Well, it's a battleship, right? In that case, we're going in." Yuri announced.
"But we don't have any intel on that ship!" Letero complained.
"That's nothing new for us. Kira! Have all hands prepare for anti-ship combat!" He ordered.
"Roger!"
The opening minutes of the battle were particularly fast paced, as Yuri's fleet let fly several normal attacks.
"Begin procedures for alternating fire." He found himself ordering at one point.
"Gunnery control, use dispersion pattern C-Gamma minus..." Nia told the artillery crew.
The attack hit home, though didn't seem to bother the enemy.
He gritted his teeth.
Fine then!
"Begin volley firing! Disable gun burst limiters." He told them.
"Energy levels confirmed at maximum for all weapons. Fire!" Kira ordered... more often his go between to the artillery rooms.
The next couple of barrages did nothing either, and Yuri found himself getting frustrated.
Leaving the battleship alone, they turned to focus on the other ships in the fleet, two transport ships and two cruisers. While not much of a problem, this meant that their apparent lack of focus on the leader left them open to attack also.
While sitting back and attacking them from a distance, Yuri's fleet hammered the four other ships, leaving the battleship alone.
Being three on one, Yuri's fleet continued spilling attacks, all of which were turned aside.
"Enemy holding speed and position. Transmitting range data." Kira told her brother, sending him the data for a quick analysis.
"Begin volley firing! Disable gun burst limiters." He ordered quickly.
"Energy levels confirmed at maximum for all weapons. Fire!" The next barrage worked this time, though the ship did explode. It's charred, broken hull a ruin as it lay there like a limp fish.
"Damn it! This new battleship is a monster! I can't believe the defence's it has!" Torlo exclaimed.
"But the funny thing is, its lasers are actually pretty weak." Kira commented.
"That is odd. It's not a very balanced design."
"Maybe because it's just a prototype?" Yuri guessed.
"I don't think they'd send a prototype out to a raging battle zone like this to test it. Definitely something fishy goin' on here." Nia told them.
Barely listening to the conversation behind her, Kira studied her console suspiciously... searching for some sign of what she had seen earlier.
She found it.
"Huh?! Yuri, enemy backup is approaching!"
"Backup huh? What kind of ship is it?" He asked.
"I can't tell... but it's fast!"
In the distance, the only identifiable feature was its tan and brown hull, the same used by the Kalymnian forces.
They didn't even get a chance to try and study it, before the enemy was opening up communications with them.
On the screen, a man with long blond hair, and a long blond beard appeared, deep voice speaking.
"You there! Do you read me? This is Captain Michijo Abato."
"Abato?!"
"So this is him, is it?" Kira asked rhetorically, recognizing the name.
"For reasons of my own, I'm working for the Kalymnians at the moment. Who's the Captain there?" He continued.
"Me, Yuri. I'm the Captain!"
Abato studied him for a moment. "Well, well. So this is your ship, is it? Well not for long sonny boy! You're going down!"
Abato closed the channel abruptly, as his ship continued its fast approach towards them.
"Hey!" Yuri shouted.
Too late.
"Here he comes Yuri!"
That was all the warning he got, before the FLAKRUNNER was being rocked already, Abato's guns hammering away in the opening salvo.
Yuri's fleet braced, as they waited out the onslaught, before firing back with one of their own.
"Gunnery crew get ready to bombard the enemy quadrant... lock target on enemy ship... and fire!"
The weapons systems sprung to life, delivering a powerful attack that didn't seem to slow down Abato's ship.
"Gadina! Sceptro! You're clear for anti-air assault." Yuri called out.
"Roger!" Was all the response they received, before the familiar dozen fighters were swarming over the ship in the distance.
Abato seemed to ignore the fighters, focusing desperately to bring down Yuri's FLAKRUNNER, which was barely holding together under the stress from all the attacks.
That would prove to be a bad decision.
"You think you're tough, well try this out! Nia, launch a synchronized attack on Abato." He ordered. "Give it everything we've got!"
And they did, launching an attack so powerful that Abato's ship emerged a scorching wreck, though by some miracle... was still operational.
Inside Abato's severely damaged ship, the man in question found himself staring out across the battlefield.
"Hmph. What was that captain's name? Yuri, was it?" He contemplated. "He's young, but he's good. I'll remember his name now!"
And with that, the infamous Captain spun his ship around, which hurtled back up the starlane from where it came.
"No! Look! Abato is getting away!" Letero cried out over the comm.
"Let him go. We'd never catch up to him anyway, as fast as that ship is." Nia answered, confident in her guess.
Yuri had no reason to doubt her.
"What are you talking about? We can still catch him! Go after him right away!" The Ensign tried again.
"No, I guess we'd better not. We don't want to get too far off track." He tried to calm Letero down, who was obviously so caught up in their victory to listen to reason.
A far cry from his telling them to run from the unknown battleship earlier.
"What? We can still catch him I tell you! Go, go!"
Nia was beginning to get pissed off, who turned around, slapping the captain's console with her hand, and almost shouting into the comm with annoyance.
"Can it Letero! If you don't cut it out, I'll knock ya into Grus!" She growled fiercely.
Letero was so caught off guard by Nia's reply, that he shrieked like a girl, before the communications channel was cut.
Nia clicked her tongue, before turning to the young Captain. "Tsk. Anyway Yuri, I'm borrowin' Professor Minas for a little while."
"Okay, but what for?" He asked.
Already halfway to the doorway, Nia called out over her shoulder with a wave of her hand. "Gonna go check out that new battleship!"
"Whew. All this spacewalking is tough on an old man like me." Minas complained.
Nia let out a laugh, removing her helmet. "Ha Ha Ha! What are you talkin' about Professor? You did great."
"That's very kind of you to say young lady." He replied with a smile.
Just as Yuri was entering the room, Nia let her hair down, having put it up into a bun before donning her spacesuit.
"Welcome back Professor Minas. Did you find anything out?" Yuri asked.
"Yes, that ship was equipped with some extremely powerful deflector units. They were so large, I imagine they required nearly all of the ship's generator output."
"Oh, so that's why the laser output was so weak huh? Just like Kira said." Torlo commented, surprisingly quick on the uptake.
Minas nodded. "That's right. As a battleship design, it's just far too unbalanced. I wonder what in the universe their objective was!"
Yuri wondered the same thing, though shrugged, it didn't really concern him all that much anyway.
Regardless of what their objective was with that ship, all he was concerned about was bringing it down...
And he was pretty good at that...
"E-Excuse me Yuri." Letero interrupted.
"Yes?" He asked, head coming up.
"That makes three battleships. If you go to the Najbaro base, you can get your reward now." He added.
"Oh, okay. Right. Good idea."
The channel cut off, and soon, Torlo frowned.
"Huh. What's with Ensign Letero, all meek and mild all of a sudden?"
Tatiana shrugged. She hadn't really thought about it much. "Maybe Nia scared him when she yelled at him."
"I'd bet my money on that too." Yuri replied.
"Heh. She does have that effect on people!"
Nia looked proud of herself as they all laughed, returning to the bridge, as Minas made his way back to the lab.
Despite their fleet being battered and bruised, they couldn't make it to CL-665 for repairs, and so, were forced to follow the long starlane back to Najbaro.
To make matters worse, it seemed like every Kalymnian ship in the sector was pouncing on them.
Somehow, they managed to make it back into Nova Nacion territory, which saw them safe from attacks... as even they weren't stupid enough to brave the Nova Nacion security net.
With the ships in the spaceport for repairs, Yuri's Circle returned to the base to report upon the successful completion of their mission.
Inside, they spotted Merita Tajloro in the strategy room, studying the navigational charts currently spread out... and in use.
Explaining their success, Merita was soon checking the battle record disk that was being handed to her, before looking back up with an unchanged expression.
"I've checked your data, and I must say, I'm very impressed."
"Didn't he do great? Just like I said! Yuri is an excellent captain!" Letero added with a smile.
Removing a currency card from her pocket, Merita handed it over to him. "Here is your reward of 3,000 G."
"We noticed something weird though." Nia added with a frown.
"What's that?"
"About that new battleship we fought, the one ya just saw in the battle records. I added a note to the report about this too, but it had some unusually powerful deflectors installed." She explained, baffled.
"What do you think it means?" Merita questioned.
"Who knows? But I got a bad feeling about it. Think ya could report it to the higher-ups for us?" She asked, surprisingly kind.
Merita smiled, the first Yuri had ever seen. "All right, fine. I'll send the information to General Staff Headquarters."
Elsewhere, above Ermeno...
"Looks like the enemy is making its move. This is happening sooner than I thought it would." Martiro commented, watching through the bridge's viewport, hands folded behind his back.
"They probably decided it would be wiser to go ahead with the strength they have now, rather than wait on more reinforcements." Ulmo replied. "I expect they'll come at us with every ship they have assembled here at once."
The older man nodded. "It looks like our disturbance tactics have paid off. In any case, the outcome of this battle will decide the entire course of the rest of the war."
"Yes, sir." Ulmo smiled, pleased.
Turning, Martiro began to speak to his direct subordinate, bringing up a more detailed map of the battlefield. And as Martiro explained things to his First Officer, Ulmo listened in.
"As planned, we'll send first-strike fighter units to quickly demoralize the enemy. Send them out as soon as the enemy is within flight range!"
Soon though, those battle plans were being put to the test, As Kalymnos had, in fact, brought everything it had. In the opening stages, Nova Nacio's fighter squadrons were already being deployed, diving through torrents of anti-air fire... and beginning to strafe the enemy warships.
"The enemy fleet has opened fire!"
Martiro grunted at the Operator's words. "Hmph. They won't hit anything at that range."
"Admiral! There's an urgent communication from one of our patrol ships in the Beta Quadrant!" Ulmo interrupted urgently.
Whirling around, he stalked up to the man.
"What does it say?"
"A large number of the enemy's new ships are advancing on Najbaro."
Martiro frowned.
That couldn't be right.
"Najbaro?! Do you suppose they know about Project Stelalumo?!" He wondered.
Ulmo shrugged, unsure. "I don't know yet, but I would say that it is highly likely."
Martiro cursed. "Grus. It's not even finished yet! What ships can we send to counter them?"
Studying the locations of each division for a moment, Ulmo glanced up at the Admiral.
"If we pull any out of this battle now, it could be a debacle. I think our only choice is to send in the mobile units from the back.
"All right. Get me the MAJESTA then!"
Back aboard the FLAKRUNNER, Kira frowned, turning to relay the newly received communication. "Huh?! Yuri, we're getting a communication from Captain Valso."
"All right. Put him on."
Valso sighed in relief. "Ah, Yuri! I caught you."
He found himself frowning. Something was wrong.
"What's going on Captain?"
"We've got an emergency on our hands. A large number of Kalymnian ships are heading for the Najbaro base. We're on our way, but we'd like for you to scramble to intercept them too."
Yuri was confused.
What was the point in attacking an unimportant planet.
It made no sense.
"Hold on. Najbaro isn't a very strategically important position. Why would Kalymnos –"
"I don't know. But now that such a crucial battle is beginning at the front line, I doubt it's just a diversionary tactic." Valso said with a shrug of his shoulders. "In any case, they're starting to position themselves around Najbaro's satellite, Monarho. Please go to Monarho and intercept the enemy."
"All right. We're on our way to Monarho!' Yuri said with a nod.
Cutting the channel, he turned to the crew.
"Set course for Monarho!" He ordered. "And brace yourselves, things are about to get hairy."
Not too long later, and Yuri's fleet found themselves barrelling towards Najbaro's satellite.
"Yuri, I see the enemy fleet! It's those new battleships!"
"I can't believe they've already infiltrated this far." He said in disbelief. "All right, let's do this!"
Knowing that attacking the Thalia battleship with its powerful deflectors was a bad idea, Yuri ordered the fleet to begin taking out the Eudora cruiser first, which he saw as a much bigger threat.
It was awkward, trying to manoeuvre around two simultaneous attacks, but they managed, before taking out the first Eudora in a barrage. With the next, they battered the ship with normal attacks, until it exploded.
With the Thalia now alone, it didn't stand much of a chance, considering its weapons didn't produce much damage.
The second fleet consisted of the exact same ships, and so, they followed the same battle plan, emerging victorious.
However, as they got closer to Monarho, they began to realize just how outnumbered they were.
"Yuri, there's a Kalymnian fleet ahead! There are so many of them!" Kira watched on in shock at how many ships were blocking the way to Najbaro's satellite.
"Damn it. We don't have a chance." Yuri cried through gritted teeth, slamming a fist onto his console.
"Yuri, look! Around the satellite!"
Following Ian's direction, the bridge crew looked up as one.
In orbit around the satellite of Monarho, were the newly designed Thalia-class battleships, deflectors activated and glowing a purple colour.
Then, the ship shook, but Yuri was ready for it, having gotten used to the sudden jolts after being in space for months. "What the Grus?"
The ship continued to shake randomly, as if being hit by something. "Huh? What are these quakes?"
"Professor Minas, what's going on here?!" Nia asked through the comm.
The man in question stroked his chin in thought for a moment.*"Hm. Gravitational waves, generated by the enemy's powerful deflectors!"*
"What the Grus are they up to?"
Nia's face paled, as if suddenly realizing what the enemy was planning to do. "Uh oh. I think I have an idea."
As she was whirling around on the spot, now facing Kira, Yuri's face paled too... having realized where Nia's train of thought was going.
"Kira! Run a computation on Monarho's orbital path for me, would ya?"
"Huh? Oh, roger!" She acknowledged, the
Bridge going silent as she worked.
"Kira hurry!" Nia snapped in urgency, startling the teenager.
"J-Just a second... I've got it! The satellite has strayed from its regular orbit and is slowly approaching Najbaro!"
Despite realizing what Nia was thinking, the news was still shocking, and he cried out. "What?!"
"Damn. So that's what those high-powered deflectors on all those battleships were for!"
"H-Huh? I don't get it." Torlo added.
Yuri wasn't sure if he didn't get it, or didn't want to believe it.
"Their plan is to knock Monarho off its orbit and send it hurtling towards Najbaro." Ian explained for those that weren't up to speed.
There was a slight pause, before Letero spoke up... having joined them on the bridge now.
"Wh-What?! But that would mean Najbaro –"
Minas let out a deep breath, before speaking. "As soon as Monarho crosses the Roche limit, in other words: gets too close to Najbaro; it will disintegrate. The fragments of the satellite will hurtle down on Najbaro, causing untold destruction."
"No! That can't be!" Letero exclaimed. "Merita is on Najbaro! And two million other people!"
"Grus! All right." Yuri said, kicking himself into gear with a long breath. "We'd better start trying to get rid of as many enemy ships from around Monarho as we can!"
"Yuri, there's a ship heading our way!" Kira informed him. "It's Michijo Abato!"
"No! This is the worst possible timing!" Yuri cursed.
They couldn't afford to be wasting time on Michijo Abato, when they had Monarho to deal with as well.
During the pause, Abato had opened up a direct link to the FLAKRUNNER.
"Yuri was it? You won't stand in my way this time!" He began.
"Abato! Do you have any idea what Kalymnos is trying to do?!" He tried telling the zero-G dog. "They plan on slaughtering every last person on this planet! How can you get behind this?!"
Abato barked out a mocking laugh. "I could say the exact same thing to the leaders of Nova Nacio."
"Huh?! What are you talking about?!" Yuri asked... confused.
"They use their own people on the ground as shields while they sharpen their swords. It's their own brutality that's forcing us to do this!"
"Oh, my..." Letero breathed out in shock.
"Huh?"
"Anyway, I'm not wasting my breath on you anymore! Prepare to die!"
That was all the warning they got, before the fleet shook.
"Hey! Wait!"
"Yuri! Here he comes!"
After the initial attack, Yuri's fleet jumped forward, but were quickly pummelled by another barrage from Abato, which almost destroyed the JUSTICE completely.
Ogar's ship held together surprisingly, though couldn't move much... and he told them as such.
"Yuri, we've lost control of the JUSTICE." Ogar announced. "We'll try and use our momentum to guide ourselves towards Najbaro."
"All right, just be careful." Yuri warned, before turning to speak to the Captain of the REVENGE. "Selenia, stay back and support the FLAKRUNNER. We'll push forward and open up an avenue of attack for you!"
"Roger."
"All guns, prepare to fire. Five seconds to full barrage" Yuri said, turning back to push his crew into action.
"Battle area gravity radiometry checked. Laser deflections corrected." Kira said, before the fire control room transmitted the data to the artillery team.
"Roger. Disable burst limiters."
Rhea's acknowledgement was punctuated by bursts from the main guns, which hurtled towards Abato's heavily modified Thalia. Dodging out of the way of the incoming attack, he responded in kind.
For the next few minutes, the opposing sides traded shots and long-range attacks, dodging and tanking attacks randomly.
After two more barrages, Abato's ship was still, barely holding on, and Yuri could feel like one more attack would finish things.
After spending months in space, he'd begun to develop a sixth sense for these things, having a feeling when a ship, or enemy was on the verge of defeat.
"We need to win this! All guns, prepare for an all out barrage!" He ordered.
"Roger! Disabling gun limiters. Diverting 70% of generator power to weapons." She called out, inputting data into her console. "Adjust horizontal angle of fire to all enemy quadrants!"
The next barrage that Yuri's fleet delivered, was devastating.
Abato's ship rocked and cracked as the hull was peppered by laserfire, streaking across the ship, and leaving deep scorch marks. Plating from the hull fell away, exposing the electrical systems beneath, which began to spark wildly.
Inside the ship's bridge, Michijo Abato spat in anger.
"Bah. I'm done for... but you're too late. Now you'll see the evil you've been a part of." He spoke to the unknowing Yuri. "May the image of this wretched planet be forever burned in your memory!"
And then, the ship exploded, taking Abato and his crew with it.
Back aboard the FLAKRUNNER, Yuri's surprise at having defeated Michijo Abato, one of the top zero-G dogs in the universe... was quickly setting in.
"We... got him? But what's happening with Monarho?!"
"This is not good! It's starting to accelerate... It's being drawn into Najbaro's gravitational pull!" Minas answered, having been running calculations during the battle, and monitoring the situation.
"So it's going to come down?"
"Nothing can stop it now, I'm afraid."
"No..." He sounded almost defeated. "There has got to be a way."
Yuri's mind raced as he wondered just what to do to stop the death of two million people. He glanced at Nia briefly, before shaking his head.
There wasn't anything she could do.
His eyes briefly flickered down to the comm, Professor Minas on the other end... no doubt listening.
For all his knowledge, and his reputation for being the best in the Small Magellanic Cloud, even he wouldn't be able to stop this.
Bar the complete annihilation of Monarho in one go, there wouldn't be any way for them to stop this.
Yuri's shoulders sagged in defeat, his crew watching him, before something sparked his brain to life, and he whirled on the Nova Nacion crewmember.
"Ensign Letero, what did Abato mean by what he said? They use their own people on the ground as shields while they sharpen their swords."
"I-I don't know... I don't know anything!" Letero said.
Yuri could tell he was lying through his teeth.
He had no time for this.
"Don't lie to us. I saw your face when Abato said that." Nia interrupted.
"There's some kind of secret about Najbaro, isn't there?" He prodded. "You've got to tell us!"
The man in question looked around at the group staring at him, and he gulped audibly... nerves settling in. "Well, you have to understand that what I'm about to tell you is all just rumours."
"Just spit it out!" Tatiana cried out in frustration.
"All right. Fine! They say that there's a secret agenda behind Project Stelalumo."
"What kind of secret agenda?"
"The starlight power generator is supposedly just a smokescreen. When, in fact, they're actually building a super long-range laser on the ground, designed to take control of this sector."
At Letero's explanation, Minas spoke up suddenly in recognition.*"Ah, now it makes sense why they never tried to create an atmosphere on Najbaro. That would have only reduced the power of any laser being fired through it."*
"But would they really build something like that on a planet full of ordinary people? That sure sounds like using their own people as shields to me." Torlo asked.
"But that's still no excuse for trying to drop a satellite on Najbaro!" Tatiana added.
"You got no argument from me there."
"They're both equally in the wrong. There's a foreign threat about to invade, they're warring with each other, and worst of all, they're both about to involve innocent civilians in all this mess. It's inexcusable, on both sides!" Yuri's frustration and pent up anger was beginning to bubble to the surface.
"Yuri..."
"All right Yuri. We all feel the same way, but freakin' out about it right now just isn't gonna help anyone.
"But what can we possibly do about any of it now?!"
Nia's head cocked in thought. "If this super long-range laser really does exist... how about if we use it to wipe out the satellite before it comes down on Najbaro?
"Oh..."
His mind stopped, stunned by how audacious Nia's plan was. Not that he should have been surprised however.
Nia turned to speak into the comm. "Whaddya think Professor Minas?"
"Hm... well, it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility."
"And Ensign Tajloro is a member of the project team, right?" She asked Letero. "She might be able to help."
"Hey, maybe you're right."
"Yuri, make a decision!" Kira told.
Yuri steeled his eyes, and turned to the command crew. "Yes, let's get to Najbaro!"
On the way, not too long afterwards, they found themselves answering an urgent communication from Captain Valso.
"Yuri! I'm glad to see you're all right! We just arrived. We'll be right behind you!" He sighed in relief.
"Captain Valso, you're just in time. Please order a complete evacuation of Najbaro!" He told him urgently.
He didn't have time to mince words.
"A complete evacuation? What's this now?" Valso asked, baffled.
"The satellite Monarho is going to drop down on Najbaro! We're going down to the surface, so we're going to leave the enemy up here to you!" He explained quickly.
Nodding at Kira, she ended the feed, and they all heard Valso's last words to them.
"H-Hey, wait! Yuri –"
"On to Najbaro! Full speed ahead!"
Making their way to Najbaro, they caught up with Ogar's JUSTICE, which they towed into port... Selenia following behind in a severely damaged, but still operational REVENGE.
Once the three ships had found side-by-side slips, the group found themselves exiting into the spaceport corridor... warning sirens blaring overhead.
As the sirens sounded overhead, people rushed about in a hurry, scrambling to clamber onto any ship they could.
"It looks like Captain Valso ordered that evacuation for us." Ian noted.
"That's fine, but how are all of these people gonna fit onto ships." Torlo asked rhetorically.
"Exactly. I mean, we're talkin' about evacuatin' two million people here." Nia added.
Yuri shook his head. It definitely wouldn't end well.
"Come on!"
Grabbing an aircar to the nearby Najbaro base, they made their way inside. The strategy room was surprisingly quiet, with most people having already evacuated.
At the back, sitting at a table alone, was Merita Tajloro.
"Merita! What are you doing?! You have to get out of here!" Letero said, running over to check on her.
"Get out of here and go where? To the spaceport? I'd never get on a ship." She said logically, still calm and stoic as ever.
"What? But can't you get on a military ship?" He asked her in confusion.
Merita stayed silent, before Nia jumped in.
"Oh, I get it. She knew the truth about what was goin' on here, and so now she feels guilty and can't bring herself to run with the others."
"Huh?!"
"Project Stelalumo... It's really just a plot to develop a super long-range laser to bring the entire sector under Nova Nacion control, isn't it?"
Seeing the Ensign's silence, and knowing that they didn't have much time left, Yuri stepped forward.
"Please, Ensign Tajloro! If it's really true, then you've got to show us where that laser is! If we can use it on Monarho, maybe we can keep it from crashing down on Najbaro!"
"It'll never work."
"What do you mean by that?! Why not?"
Merita sighed. "Yes, there is a super long-range laser here. That much is true. But it's not finished yet. It can only reach about fifty percent output right now."
"But fifty percent is still better than nothing! It's still worth trying! If there's any chance at all we can even reduce the damage that's coming, we have to at least try!" He tried telling her but it didn't look like she would budge.
"Please, Merita. I can't let all these people die. I can't let you die!" Letero pleaded.
The two held each others eyes for a moment, before Merita sighed.
"All right. Stelalumo's underground control bunker is just behind this base. Let's see what we can do." She motioned for them to follow her deeper into the base, as Letero ran after them, excited and happy.
"Atta girl Merita! Thank you!"
Another Kalymnian ship was blasted to pieces by the Nova Nacion fleet, as Captain Valso stood at the top of the bridge.
His eyes were firmly fixed on Monarho, which was slowly inching its way closer to Najbaro.
He tensed, teeth gritted.
"Captain, Monarho's getting closer by the minute." An operator called out. "What are your orders?"
"Nothing."
The man looked at him strangely.
"Nothing? But sir, what about all those people on Najbaro? What do we do about Monarho?"
Valso watched in silence for a moment.
"It's too late to do anything about the people on Monarho. But we've ordered an evacuation, that'll have to be enough." He told him, before turning back around. "As for Monarho, there's really nothing much we can do about that. Though we do have a team working on the situation planetside."
"Is it that Captain Yuri sir?" He asked.
Valso nodded in reply, and the operator stayed silent as he contemplated the situation.
"Then godspeed to them."
Following Merita into the Stelalumo Control Bunker, they soon came face-to-face with the Nova Nacion security team, still standing guard.
Spotting Yuri's incoming group, they quickly trained their guns on them.
"Stop right there! Identify yourselves!"
'I-I'm with the Nova Nacion Space Force. Let us through." Letero stepped forward and answered.
"Nobody gets by without a pass. Now beat it!" They said forcefully.
"Hey, there's a giant satellite about to drop on this planet! We ain't got time for games!" Torlo tried telling them.
"Shut up! We're defending this place to the death, for our country!"
"Tsk! We ain't gettin' through to 'em Yuri!"
"We're just going to have to fight our way through. Everybody, set your guns to paralyse!" Yuri ordered.
The battle started, and Yuri pulled out his maser blaster, shooting any guards he could sight down.
The others were pretty much in the same boat, and Torlo had been ordering the security team in organized and synchronized volleys, which were taking down dozens of the enemy at once.
It had taken a while to get through the control bunker's security, but soon, more reinforcements were showing up.
"You aren't going any further!" One ordered.
Yuri gritted his teeth. "We're running out of time! Just let us through!"
Just then, the ground began to shudder, and the same man spoke up again.
"Are you trying to betray Nova Nacio?!" He asked.
Despite the desperate nature of their situation, Yuri had to admire the Nova Nacion security team. Continuing to stand guard, even when a satellite was about to come down on top of them was dedication...
Yuri had to give them credit where it was due.
Not long afterwards, and two paralysed security teams later, and Merita was leading them inside.
"Here it is! This is the Stelalumo control room!"
"There's nobody here. Did they all run away?" Tatiana asked the group, taking a look around.
"So all those guards we met were desperately defendin' an empty control room eh? I feel kinda sorry for 'em."
Nia stalked into the room behind Yuri, her reply and tone one of no nonsense. "There's nothing we can do about it. Right now, we gotta figure out what to do with this computer."
As she spoke, she made her way up to the room's main computer, pushing buttons as she went.
"Let an expert handle that."
"Huh?" Nia's surprise was evident as she turned to face him.
"I-I'll handle that! I'm an elite engineer after all. I'll figure something out."
"Letero..."
"Now, everybody leave. I need to be alone and concentrate here." He ordered, voice firm and full of conviction.
"But we can't just leave you here Ensign Letero!" Yuri told him.
"Look, you'll just get in my way. You can't help, so you might as well just leave and get as far away from this planet as you can." He replied logically.
Yuri's silence almost answered the question, as he stared at the man... the Ensign not backing down.
"All right. You got it Ensign Letero. Just be careful."
"But Yuri..." Kira prodded quietly from beside him.
The ground shook again, prompting Yuri into action. "Let's go, everybody. We're leaving the planet."
"But..."
The shaking increased, and Letero raised his voice too. "Hurry up and go! There isn't much time!"
"A-All right!" Tatiana relented, following the others out the door.
"You'd better not die on us Letero!" Nia told him with a stone faced look.
As they entered the bridge, Yuri climbed to the top of the dais, the others scrambling to their seats. Minutes later, the ship shook again as they made ready to clear the docking area.
"Yikes. That was a big wave!"
Tatiana's eyes went wide as she looked out into orbit. "Oh no! Look how close Monarho is now!"
"What about the evacuees?" Yuri asked.
"We're all filled up! I put as many of 'em as I could on board!" Torlo responded, electing to stay in the docking tube to direct the traffic.
"All right. We're shipping out! Engine room, maximum power!" He began to order. "Chief Navigator, steer clear of those two gravitation fields!"
Yianni Pavlou answered positively, as the FLAKRUNNER pulled out of the spaceport
"Why isn't this working? The power just isn't coming up... Grus, I'm an elite engineer!" Letero muttered to himself, before barking out a quick laugh. "Ha, ha, ha! And here I thought I was going to save everybody and be a big hero...
"Yeah, yeah. Some big hero you are!"
The voice startled him, almost making him jump... but he relaxed as he watched Merita appear.
"Huh?!"
Merita smiled, and a beautiful smile it was. "This is just about what I expected. I'm glad I came back."
"Merita! What are you –"
Her eyes rolled as she cut him off. "When I thought about it logically, I realized that you'd never be able to handle this on your own. Anyway, to get to the point..."
She joined him at the console, typing frantically in the tense moment of the situation.
"Yes?" He prodded, the ground shaking beneath their feet again.
"You didn't cut off the electricity supply to the residential area. That's why the power wasn't coming up." She replied with another grin.
He looked down, doing just as she'd said, before the power indicator flashed to life.
How could I have missed that? He wondered.
"Oh, you're right! There, it's coming up now."
"I believe we can launch when the power gets to about fifty percent." She said.
His mouth suddenly went dry, and he found himself gasping for air as he answered...
Fear and nerves suddenly creeping up.
"A-All right!"
They watched the screen above, showing both the planet Najbaro, and the moon Monarho, as the gravitational forces started ripping both apart.
"Counting down. 5... 4..."
I hope the Stelalumo laser is still intact. He thought suddenly... before Merita's countdown broke him from his thoughts.
"3... 2... 1..." She watched th digital indicator hit fifty, before turning to her companion. "Go!"
"Stelalumo, fiiiiiiire!"
In that moment, there was a flash of light, and the bunker began to cave, knocking them both backwards from the control console as they cried out.
"AAAGH!"
Meanwhile, Yuri's ship began to shake, feeling the impact of the laser at their backs, and around the bridge, he heard various shouts and shrieks.
Kira screamed as she fell from her chair, and Yuri himself was swept off his feet, unprepared for the force of the shockwave.
He smacked his head on the floor, knocking himself out.
In the distance, standing on the MAJESTA's bridge, Captain Valso watched Najbaro and Monarho as they got closer and closer.
He could barely make out the artificial city, and the steel structure jutting out from the planet's surface... not that it remained that way for much longer.
He watched as great chunks of the planet were hurled up, disintegrating into nothing as the moon was almost kissing its neighbour...
Almost.
Suddenly, a great white light burst out of nowhere, and rings of energy were released outwards from the point of contact. He watched the Stelalumo laser ignite, firing a great blast into Monarho which began to crack and crumble, massive chunks and portions of debris being flung in all directions.
"LOOK OUT!"