Justice contacted the other members of the OSI. Holy, Feather, Eraser, and Cure, and informed them of the situation that just took place on Mercurius and beyond. "...And that is the turn of events that happened mere moments ago."
"I see...so that's what that shaking was." Eraser rubbed the back of his neck.
"So the Black Moon Star has been recreated. This is a troubling state of affairs." Feather frowned. They tried so hard to stop the Galactic Fleet from getting a single shard, but they were unable to do so.
"So, what do we do next?" Cure asked.
"This isn't something a single one of us can attempt to stop." Holy said calmly. It was clear that trying to tackle this problem alone didn't work for anyone. Justice and Feather weren't able to stop Alexei, and even Elsie, the Eden's Zero and Eclipse Ark suffered the same fate. It was painfully obvious that nobody was capable of stopping the Galactic Fleet on their own.
"What are you about to imply?" Justice lifted a brow.
"I know you dislike the idea of playing nice with the 'enemy' but you should think about what it is we need to do right now." Holy crossed one leg over the other. "The fate of the entire universe is at stake. We must determine what is more important."
"..." To that, Justice was silent. But he knew Holy was right.
"Uh, Justice...?" Jesse said with a quiet voice. "Elsie's just entered the space..."
"Elsie..." Justice had a very grim expression on his face. Her, showing up now, of all times? The cosmos was surely at risk of coming to an end at this point.
.
.
Elsie had her arms crossed, standing at the bridge of the Skull Fairy. She was very well aware of Justice's presence, but the fact he was here only saved her time. She was establishing a communication with all ships. The Eden's Zero and Eclipse Ark responded...and eventually, so did Justice as well. Just what she was hoping for. "So, I see everyone's here..."
"What do you want?" Casey asked. It was far from a common occurrence for him to be talking to Elsie of all people.
"Elsie!" Shiki greeted Elsie with a smile. Considering the events of Blue Garden, it was nice to see her.
"..." Justice didn't say anything, but he could assume the reason for this communication to begin with. So he would listen, with the circumstances as they are.
"We don't have a lot of time. When I got here, I could already see Alexei gathering the Black Moon Star together." Elsie said with a frown. She wasn't going to ask for the specifics, because those didn't matter. What mattered was that the most dangerous human in the galaxy was slowly achieving his goal. "So...I'm going to propose something, I'm sure you all know what it is."
"You want us to work together, don't you?" Justice knew what Elsie was going to say.
"Surely you understand, James. We have to hold hands and play nice for a little bit if we want the cosmos to continue existing." Elsie said with a smile. To Justice, it was mildly annoying. But the others completely understood where she was coming from.
"I think we need a better conversation than spread out across some screens." Casey suggested. "If we are truly going to talk about this...this has to be a face to face deal. I need the OSI to swear he won't try anything funny. I know he contacted the rest of them."
"I am aware of the situation." Justice replied to Casey. The tension in the air was already high.
"This feels risky." Gowen remarked.
"But it's our only option..." Hyoga replied.
.
.
For the sake of a neutral ground, all parties elected to temporarily board the Eden's Zero. A ceasefire was stated between all parties, and to show good faith, several members from each ship boarded. Elsie, Justice, Victory, Casey, Percival, and G made their way onto the Eden's Zero, whereas the others simply waited on their ships, keeping the communication channel open to hear the conversation. They all gathered in the control center so they could discuss. Justice held a slight glare at both Elsie and Homura, although the latter didn't seem to notice. Jesse opted to stay away for...obvious reasons.
"Can we all play nice?" Rebecca could sense the tension in the air and began to sweat. She didn't want a fight to break out.
"There are more pressing matters to deal with than your arrests." Justice crossed his arms. He didn't like being in the same room as everyone here, but it had to be done.
"Sorry about him." Victory said with a small nod. "You understand, I'm sure. But as far as I'm concerned, you guys have been doing good work in liberating planets from Ziggy's forces. I have to at least extend my thanks to you for that." Victory told the crew of the Eden's Zero. He also looked to Blair, who was standing quietly in the furthest corner of the room...
"Thanks." Shiki nodded. He could accept that. But he still looked towards Casey and Justice. "So...what are we going to do?"
"I said before we didn't need your help. I...can see that I was incorrect." Casey said through gritted teeth. "But not because we are inadequate. It's very clear that the threat of the Galactic Fleet is far more than anyone could have predicted. They used an entire planet as cover to ambush us. Now, they have the Black Moon Star and are quickly making their way to the Black Moon. At this rate...they will reach Mother."
"If that happens, the cosmos as we know it will be erased." Elsie stated. "I'm not sure if you know this or not, but he plans to erase the concept of emotion throughout the entire cosmos. If that happens, we'll be living in an empty void of a universe. Humans, androids, and everything in between will just be lifeless husks."
"We can't allow that!" Rebecca slammed her hands down on the ground. "I don't understand why Alexei is like this...but this is wrong!"
"...I think I may have an idea." Hermit spoke up from her laptop. Her typing was a little slower than usual, but she forged ahead. "I did some research on Alexei Alexandrite. It took me a while to find, probably because Vanessa or Hubert were hiding as much information as they could."
"What did you find?" Geno leaned over to see what she was reading.
"He was born on a planet called Tellius...that planet erupted into a violent civil war between humans and androids. In the end, they both destroyed each other and left very few survivors." Hermit reported. "The planet hasn't exactly been the same since. This took place about 20 years ago...he must have been very young then."
"Something like that would destroy a young boy's heart, but..." G stroked his chin. "Surely not enough for him to want to erase everything? There's something else we're not getting here."
Rebecca looked at Sister, who was doing some thinking. The two exchanged looks, and Rebecca gestured to her ankle. Sister was able to pick up on what Rebecca was trying to say... "I think I understand what happened." Sister said while crossing one leg over the other. She was sitting on top of Moscoy, and Percival was poking him, curious about his button. But a glare from Sister told her to back off. "It's possible that he experienced that event more than once."
"More than once?" Percival blinked. "But it only happened once..."
"As far as we know." Rebecca said. "It's possible...that something happened for him to be pulled back into that experience more than once, over and over. Time doesn't seem to effect him like it does to most everyone else." She would know. She went back in time, and Alexei was able to retain information. It was as if he was pulled along with her. "If that was the case..."
A heavy silence filled the air.
"That doesn't excuse what he's trying to do." Weisz spoke up. "He's selfishly putting the entire universe at risk, thinking he's going to make it a better place!"
"It is not something I can abide by either!" Homura exclaimed. "The human heart is a beautiful thing, and I will continue to cherish it. Wounds and all."
"Time heals all wounds, but perhaps time only made his worse." Elsie crossed her arms. "Either way...he's strong. And he has an entire fleet backing him up. Even James and I weren't able to properly deal with him..."
"So obviously we gotta...work together, right?" Percival said it flatly. "If we don't...everything's completely done. I don't want that. I like this cosmos the way it is. The planets that give it life, the people, the androids...everything. I don't want to lose it..." And even though she was a bit of an airhead, her words resonated true with everyone. The cosmos was their home; the good, and the bad...
"She's right." Victory stated. "This is a matter that goes beyond the law. I want to protect everything in this universe with my own hands. I have no problems doing whatever needs to be done for the best chance. Justice?"
Working with the Eden's Zero, Elsie, and the Eclipse Ark...truly, the last thing that Justice would've wanted to do. But he knew what was more important. "I will bring Alexei and the Galactic Fleet to justice."
"Captain?" G looked to Casey.
"You know my stance on this." Casey said with a firm nod. "I'm not trying to be some grand savior...but anything that gets in the way of my goals must be eliminated."
"So we're all on the same page!" Shiki held a grin. "That means we're going to work together to stop Alexei! If we can't stop him, then we don't have a chance at stopping Ziggy." The battles up ahead were not going to be easy, but for the sake of the cosmos, they had to win. They simply had no other option.
"Even with all of us together, are we going to be enough?" Laguna asked a good question. "Their forces still outnumber ours 5 to 1. They have so many ships and plenty of firepower. Their foot soldiers are tough as well."
"It won't be just us." As Justice said this, the ships of Feather, Holy, Cure, and Eraser, flew into the cosmos to join them. "The entire Oracion Seis Interstellar will be apart of this operation as well."
"The whole government!" Rebecca was surprised to see them all in the same place.
"And don't forget..." Elsie had a large fleet of her own as well. It was strange to see such powers of Elsie and Justice working together, but in this case, it was exactly what they needed. "I have my own trump cards as well."
"...Where is Amira?" Homura questioned. "It is not as if I want to see her, but I am worried...I will not say that part aloud, however..."
"She went to sneak aboard Alexei's ship. However, we haven't had contact with her since the Battle of Blue Garden ended." Justice responded. It was a good question, because he was now worried about Amira as well. Either she was deep undercover, or...
"I see..." Homura frowned. "I do worry for her safety, even if she is a thorn to me. Although..."
"You should really learn to stop talking." Jinn pointed out. Homura immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment.
"Um..." Cynthia raised her hand meekly, causing all eyes to turn to her. "I think this is pretty awesome and all. But there's one thing that doesn't quite sit right with me. Or rather, um...something I have a question about?"
"What's that?" Elsie quirked a brow.
"...How are we going to find them?" Cynthia asked. That question made everyone's eyes go wide. "After all, they're heading to the Black Moon. But wasn't the whole point of collecting the Black Moon Star to find the path? We don't have anything like that now. So...how can we find where they're going?"
"...Shit." Weisz cursed.
"...Are we already at a dead end!?" Kleene panicked.
Hermit frowned. "I was trying to find a way to replicate the Black Moon Star's signal, but since we don't actually have a shard anymore, I can't. I don't think I can..." Hermit grumbled. It felt like there were inexplicable gaps in her memory banks! But that should be impossible, so why was this happening!?
"...I think I can find them." Blair spoke up. This was the first time she decided to speak, so everyone was quick to turn their gaze to her.
"What do you mean you think?" Weisz blinked. "It's either you can or you can't...! But, like...how?"
Blair let out a quiet sigh. It was time to unveil secret number 2 she'd been hiding from everyone. "When I first got on this ship, I was hungry. So I went to the shard you guys had and used my arm to eat some of its Ether. Couchpo caught me, but I made her stay quiet about it."
"...Is that all your secrets?" Hermit turned.
"Yes." Blair nodded. "Now, as you know...whatever I consume becomes a part of me. Or rather, in this case...I became a part of it." Her arm turned into the Therion state and she walked forward to the bridge controls, placing it on the panel. "Ever since the Black Moon Star formed a little while ago, I could feel something trying to tug me in a certain direction. Because of that, I think I can point everyone in the direction where Alexei and his fleet went."
"I think we can excuse her rogue action considering how much it's helping right now." Omega stated.
Blair was focusing the essence she felt from the Black Moon. It was difficult to feel out, but she was able to pull it off. "North of Mercurius. That's where they went. It continues on for a while, but...I'm certain the Black Moon is in that direction."
"Blair..." Rebecca gave her friend a slight smile.
"Alright! You hear that, everyone!" Shiki said while slamming his fist into his palm with a grin. They had the location, the allies, and now, a plan of action. "We're going to the Black Moon, and we're going to stop Alexei once and for all!"