Chapter 3: The Rush
Yuriko and Haruna had set off in a northernly direction. This was Yuriko's plan of course. She had taken a stance of authority almost, and Haruna had no choice but to obey in order to keep up the facade that she was a member of the Fleet.
"We will be heading north, as that is where the nearest flagship is stationed. What about your ship Haruna?" Yuriko says.
"I was sunk and there just isn't enough nanomaterials to rebuild me." Haruna replies.
"Where is the closest nanomaterial stash?" Asked Yuriko.
"About 2 miles from here. At a Rebellion base-" Haruna stops herself before saying any more.
Yuriko considered her options. Haruna seemed to have plenty of knowledge of the rebellion, but without her ship she was useless to the fleet. They way she saw it, she had two options. Sail directly to the flagship for orders or steal the nanomaterials from the rebellion in order to fix Haruna.
"We will be taking a detour from our current course, then. Do you have the coordinates of this base?" She asks
"Yes, I do..." Replies Haruna, having no choice but to give her the coordinates.
They sailed north west, to where the rebellion base was and thought up a plan on the way there. They would pretend to be on their side, and then sneak off to steal the materials, before making an escape. However, Haruna had suggested the plan for a different reason altogether.
"I'll show her what it's like to be free from the Code, and live with emotion. She has to understand, she has to..." She thought as they sailed in to the naval port base.
As the submarine sailed in to dock, a voice could be heard coming from the base on a loudspeaker of some sort.
"Unidentified ship, please identify yourself!" The voice shouted.
"I am I-" Yuriko began, but was then cut off by Haruna.
"She's with me, Hyuuga!" She said
"Oh? Haruna? Weren't you supposed to be taking a break? Still recruiting whilst on holiday, now that's dedication...alright, bring your friend in!" Hyuuga said through the speaker, opening the gates.
The two sailed in to the base, docking at one of the stations before walking out and looking around. They had drawn in a few onlookers, as it was uncommon to see new recruits these days.
Looking around, Yuriko could see crates piled up in a corner in a large open space which had several doors leading off to other parts of the base. The crates were what she was looking for, nanomaterials.
Before Haruna could say anything or introduce anyone, Yuriko began to make her way to the crates, ignoring everything else. Haruna quickly followed, glad that nobody had come to greet them yet. It wasn't how she wanted it to go, but they would be grabbing the nanomaterials early. Yuriko approached the correct crate, scanning for the nanomaterials inside, which there were lots of. She then wrenched the door open with brute strength alone, despite the fact it was a steel crate. A blue steel crate, in fact.
"Am I really needed here? Why don't you just carry on with this and I'll go talk to the others?" Haruna asked
"Go ahead. I have this under control." Yuriko replied
Haruna turned to leave, but just as she was beginning to walk away she bumped into someone...someone who was right behind them. As Haruna regained her balance she gasped, seeing who it was.
"Iona! Um...uhh...I can explain this!" Said Haruna desperately.
"What are you doing? That girl is stealing our nanomaterials...and you're helping her?" Iona looked shocked as she said this.
"I have my reasons...this girl is only trying to help! Just because she's with the Fleet-" Haruna said quickly, immediately regretting her decision.
"She's with the fleet?" Iona said, shocked, "Haruna...are you even on our side anymore? Why are you doing this?"
"I don't know, Iona! It's just...a feeling...I want to help her! Please just let us go!" Haruna said, looking incredibly serious about this.
"I-I can't...she could be a threat to our whole rebellion. Do you want us to lose? Just keep her here and we'll help her. You don't need to follow her plans." Iona said.
Just then, Yuriko finished gathering up all the nanomaterials in the crate, and all of a sudden made a break for it back to her ship. Seeing this, Haruna quickly followed, ignoring the yelling behind her as people shouted for her to stop. She didn't stop. The two boarded the ship once more, and quickly got moving, sailing out of the port as fast as they could.
Iona had rushed up to the control room, where Hyuuga was standing, taking care of defence. Iona panted, out of breath as she stood next to her.
"Hyuuga...don't fire...let them go..." She said in between breaths.
"Let them go? They've got most of our nanomaterials in there, we can't!" Replied Hyuuga, readying the base's defences.
"Do it for me, Hyuuga!" Iona said in her most persuasive voice, standing right in front of Hyuuga and making full eye contact.
"N-no fair, don't give me those eyes! I can't refuse those eyes! Fine...but only because it's you, Iona..." Said Hyuuga, giving in and letting the ship escape.
Soon Yuriko and Haruna were out at sea, away from the land entirely. They had both stepped out onto the hull of the submarine to watch Haruna's ship rebuild. As flowing white nanomaterials flooded out of Yuriko, they met the sea and began to form something large. A large ship, Haruna's ship. It didn't take long for the large amount of material to rebuild the ship, and where there was one ship, now there was two.
"I failed in my mission..." Haruna thought to herself, "Why did I just blindly follow her? I'm not one of the Fleet, but she can't know that..."
"Excellent, now you may serve the Fleet once more...but Haruna, I think that you may be lying to me." Said Yuriko questioningly.
"Lying about what?" Asked Haruna, hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.
"Are you really with the Fleet...or are you one of those Rebels?"
(Sorry for the long wait and relatively short chapter, I've been busy with a lot of things, mainly preparing for the exams this month. As such, I'll have to hold off on publishing another chapter until June. I hope you understand, and I'll make sure the next chapter's a great one! - Hattzeh)