Original A/N:

"Eh, this one will count as a double entry. I got carried away and wrote too much, so I just shot for the 2000 mark instead.
The captain is weird... _"

Battleship Yamato, Captain's Quarters

Hongxi was in his room contemplating his next move. He had gathered Yayoi and Sun-Sin to his room for a meeting. A very informal meeting… For the captain was lying on his bed, Sun-Sin sitting with his back to the wall, and Yayoi spinning around in Hongxi's comfy leather chair.

Sun-Sin: "Umm, sir?"

Hongxi: "Yes?"

Sun-Sin: "Is it really okay to be… Like this?"

Yayoi: "What's wrong with this? Wheeeeeeee~"

Hongxi: "I thought this is how you younglings interact on a more intimate level."

Sun-Sin: "You're only three years my senior captain… But it would be bad if the crew catches us like this."

Hongxi: "Nonsense, we have a new crew. And a much bigger one at that. Rumors will stay just that, rumors."

Sun-Sin: "Many of the systems on this ship are not automated and require actual personnel to operate and maintain."

Hongxi: "Oh? Just how large is our crew?"

Sun-Sin: " 8888 exact."

Hongxi: "Ahh, lucky number I see. Yayoi, have you studied up on the Yamato yet?"

Yayoi: "Haaaaaai."

Hongxi: "In the common tongue please."

Yayoi: "Yeeeeees."

Hongxi: "Summarize for me your opinion of the Yamato then."

Yayoi: "Haaai. The Yamato is a really big and clunky battleship, its systems outdated and obsolete."

Upon hearing this, Sun-Sin retorted.

Sun-Sin: "I would hardly call it obsolete."

Yayoi: "But look at it, we have a crew of over 8000. Granted 5,000 of those is a marine detachment, we still need over 3000 just to run the ship."

Sun-Sin: "We need just a thousand to run the ship, the extra hands are simply to run at optimum."

Yayoi: "A thousand is a thousand too many. Remember how many it took to run Alliance ships? Barely a hundred, never a thousand. Also the Type Jiu Shi Si main guns are overly large and not streamlined. The energy it needs and its rate of fire is awful too."

Sun-Sin: "The Type Jiu Shi Si main guns also shoot shells that are over 7 times heavier than the standard Alliance kinetic shells with deadly accuracy. It was built entirely with safety in mind and was to be maintained by a well-disciplined crew. The Type Jiu Shi Si was the first indigenously designed kinetic type weapon for capital class ships designed entirely by the Wa, you should hold more pride in it."

Yayoi: "I don't know how much pride I can hold for a really old gun. Also, no lasers and shields. What's up with that? How do you expect a battleship to fight without lasers in this day and age?"

Sun-Sin: "The Yamato's hull will withstand any lasers the enemy will throw at us just fine. Future upgrades for implementing lasers and shielding have been planned anyway…"

Yayoi: "Oh? What about the Macross Cannon? Will we be upgrading that too?"

Sun-Sin: "The Macross Cannon requires no upgrades, it is good enough as it is."

Yayoi: "The Macross Cannon produces twice the standard output while using five times the energy. Seems a little inefficient doesn't it? It only has one focusing crystal, we can't even get it to concentrate the blast."

Sun-Sin: "Yes, the blast is less concentrated however it covers a much wider area. We should be grateful that such an old ship is still able to provide a competitive age at this age."

Yayoi: "Inefficient armaments you mean, all we did was upscale everything and supersized it."

Sun-Sin: "Tch, captain!"

Sun-Sin annoyingly looked toward the captain, expecting him to resolve the dispute. However there was no response.

Yayoi: "Captain?"

Hongxi: "….."

The captain's silence was broken by a sudden and very loud snore, catching the two by surprise. The two blinked a couple times, bewildered, before looking at each other and stifling a snicker.

Sun-Sin: "Look at us, and we're supposed to be Tianxia's elite of the elite."

Yayoi: "I knooow riight~?"

Sun-Sin: "Yayoi-neesan… Your affection for the captain, is it real? Or…"

Yayoi: "That's a se~cret~*"

Sun-Sin: "How did you manage to put stars in your speech…"

Exasperated, Sun-Sin didn't pursue the topic.

Yayoi: "Oh, weren't we being assigned a squad of ryders?"

Sun-Sin: "Indeed, we are being assigned two ryders from each nation."

Yayoi: "Oh? Tell me, what are we being assigned?"

Sun-Sin: "If I remember correctly… One Qiang-class melee type and Pai-class support type from Tianchao. A Katana-class melee and a Tanegashima range type from Wa. Lastly a Pyeongeon-class sniper type and a Hwacha-class artillery type from Han."

Yayoi: "Qiang-class?! Weren't those banned by the Alliance for being too cruel?"

Sun-Sin: "Yes, and they still are. A remnant from the old wars where Tianchao prioritized taking enemy ryders intact, by killing the pilot inside with a spear…"

Yayoi: "Sounds terrifying, especially for ryder pilots. You know, I almost became a ryder pilot."

Sun-Sin: "Yes, I know. Kudo was visibly disappointed when he learned you weren't enlisting into officer school and in the end you gave in."

Yayoi: "I have to be a dependable big sister right?"

Sun-Sin: "That reminds me, you specifically denied Kudo's request to transfer over to the Yamato didn't you?"

Yayoi: "Like I said… I have to be a dependable big sister right? Where the captain is taking us, where the Alliance ordered us to go to… Cera, this is a one way trip you know? PACT's entire fleet is there. Remember back in history class during intermediate school, about the days of trench warfare? This is exactly that, and we're the first wave."

Sun-Sin: "… He won't do it…"

Yayoi: "Hm? Won't do what?"

Sun-Sin: "The captain, he's not sending us there."

Yayoi: "What do you mean? How do you know?"

Sun-Sin: "No, he has something much bigger planned. Think about it, he's part of our generation and yet if you try to talk about anything popular with him he'll draw blanks. Back during the Academy, he never hung out with the other cadets and instead only chatted with the top brass from both Tianxia and Alliance. About the only conversations I was able to hold him with were ones about history, and alternative histories…"

Yayoi: "Alternative… History?"

Sun-Sin: "Where one discusses if key events in history had happened differently and what the outcome would be instead. He mentions the Century of Humiliation frequently in our conversations, and it makes me wonder what he intends to do. It's like he has something to prove."

Yayoi: "Century of Humiliation… I don't remember a topic like that. But if it's modernization, aren't we caught up with the Alliance now? We've even been allowed entry into the Alliance as a member world despite being so far out. We're listed as an advanced economy you know."

Sun-Sin: "We are, but that is the point. We are part of the Alliance and there's more to the Century of Humiliation and the captain than you think.

This part of history isn't taught in compulsory education as mandated by the Alliance, and is only accessible in special courses at the Academy. Throughout history, Tianchao had been the dominant power in the region. There is no denying that, it was the center of biodiversity and housed the majority of the world's population. Even when our planet reached the space age, this fact had not change. Many of the colonies in our solar system are predominantly Huaxia.
However everything changed when the Fire Nati- *cough* ahem. I mean when the Alliance arrived. The Alliance's push for democratization and bill of rights challenged Tianchao's monarchial authority and the intergalactic corporations that came here seeking business ventures exploited its people.

Tianchao's delegates tried to appeal to the Alliance many times, but the corporations' lobbyist had too much influence. Nobody believed them.

Han, who was a loyal tributary state of Tianchao's for hundreds of years was the first to modernize under the guidance of the Alliance and broke away. Wa was the second to modernize and upon seeing Tianchao's weakness and incompetency, started a series of wars that would strip Tianchao of their island and a couple key coastal provinces.

The Huaxia, a prideful people, was suddenly eclipsed by those whom they've long considered to be mere barbarians. For a century, Tianchao would be repeatedly challenged. They became known as the Sick Man of All Under Heaven. Finally, the people's anger could no longer be contained and civil war ensued… The bloodiest civil war our planet has ever seen, eclipsed in death count only by the recent World War.

You know the rest. After 100 years, Tianchao finally caught up only to be embroiled in another war with the Wa and Han. Upon the end of this war, the Council of the Three Elders was established and Tianxia was formally inaugurated as a member world of the Alliance."

Yayoi: "Hmmmm? And what does that have to do with the captain's decision making?"

Sun-Sin: "The captain is a deeply traditional and cultural man and does not easily forgive those who wronged him or his people. To put it bluntly, I don't think he likes the Alliance due to an almost, cultural vendetta. Although he was raised with the open-mindedness and tolerance taught to all of us at the Academy, I sometimes do not think he even acknowledges me as a human."

Hongxi: "Nonsense, of course I acknowledge you as human."

Sun-Sin nearly jumped right out of his skin at that moment. Blood left his face as he turned to face Hongxi.

Sun-Sin: "C-c-captain?! Forgive me for speaking freely si-"

Hongxi waved him off and sat up in his bed.

Hongxi: "Don't take it too hard, I do not mind my subordinates gossiping about me. However…"

He slid off the bed and walked over to his table.

Yayoi: "Hm? W-whoaa!"

Hongxi grabbed the chair she was spinning around in and pulled her over to Sun-Sin. He then put one arm around her shoulder and pit his other arm around Sun-Sin's shoulder and pulled them in.

Hongxi: "I do view you two as my adorable ethnic little sister and little brother. I'll never, ever let anything harm you two. Treasure this moment well because you'll never see another sign of affection from me again."

Sun-Sin: "Ethnic little brother huh… Just like when Han was tributary state?"

Yayoi: "Aaah, the captain is putting his arm around me!"

Hongxi let them both go and sat down with his back against the bed. Both Yayoi and Sun-Sin smoothed out their clothes and fixed their collars with flushed faces.

Hongxi: "We're family. All three of us. Each of us here represents the three civilizations of Tianxia. That makes both of you precious to me.
People precious to one another forms a family.
Many families form a town.
Many, many towns form a country.
And three countries form our planet.
Tianxia… All Under Heaven is filled with groups of precious people like that."

Hongxi: "And anybody who harmed those people will be personally repaid in the name of personal self-satisfaction… Or what the masses would call it, justice."

Sun-Sin: "Huh…. I understand, sir."

Hongxi: "Hm. We are the Emperor's servants, remember that. Hold your head high and let nothing bring you down. "

Yayoi & Sun-Sin: "Sir..?"

Hongxi: "These Alliance… They have forgotten the sweet overwhelming feeling of devoting oneself completely to a single ideal, to a single person or body. To be free of doubt and fear. Some call it enlightenment while others call it fanaticism. They are all the same.
PACT has discovered it, their rallying cause. However, these Alliance. Have they discovered their purpose? Their reason to be?
As long as PACT follows the path they have set out to follow, they will never be defeated. As long as the Alliance continues to not follow the path they had set out to follow, they are doomed to fail. They may win by miraculous luck, but they will not last."

Yayoi: "Hey, captain. You speak as if we're not a part of the Alliance."

Hongxi looked at her and cracked a grin.

Hongxi: "Soon, the sleeping dragon will awaken."