Nadesico Fan Fiction ❯ Chasing the Darkness ❯ [05] Ambush ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: MBN doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Kia Asamiya, Xebec, TV Tokyo, ADV, and everyone else who can pay for it, but not me.

PART FIVE: Ambush

"It's estimated that the Nadesico C will reach the chulip on the Eden moon colony in two hours thirty-seven minutes." Ruri commented to no one in particular. Another three hours travel time in Earth's orbit since all chulips in the Osaka area had been deactivated--five hours until the battle. That was enough time for the crew to get some rest, but she doubted they would. Akito had just requested permission to board the Nadesico B. He said Yurika had suggested it, and even given a passable explanation for it, but everyone knew it wasn't true.

"A fight already?" Megumi had asked.

"And I thought they'd never have one." Minato commented. Megumi sniffed lightly.

"I've been predicting it for years."

"Bakabaka," Ruri muttered under her breath, and left the bridge to Harry.

Surprisingly, Ryoko was perfectly willing to let Ruri be the first to see Akito. Though she suspected that Saburota and the other two pilots had something to do with it, Ruri chose not to question. So she was alone in the hangar when his Aestivallis glided in.

She wasn't sure what she expected. From what she had seen of Akito's reception to the Nadesico A, he had been reserved and the focus had mainly been on Lapis. But he'd left Lapis behind him. She had resolved not to let herself be affected by his strange, self-torturing attitude; the one that had disturbed her so much before. When he jumped down to stand across from her, she braced herself for the toneless greeting and the painful wrench in her chest when he spoke so lifelessly. But she hadn't prepared herself for the warm embrace that he gave her instead, and so it was almost worse than the blankness she had steeled herself for. He said nothing, and she didn't press him, even though she could feel him trembling slightly when she returned the hug. She could only wonder at the weight he must carry, to allow himself to be pushed further and further away from his loved ones. She felt her vision blur and froze the tears before they left her eyes. She had never been one to cry and she wasn't going to start now.

It was only later, when Hikaru had cautiously poked her head into the hangar quickly followed by the flood of people who wanted to see Akito that Ruri realized they had never said a word to each other.

******

"Lapis!" Yurika exclaimed as she opened the door. She quickly appraised the girl's expression and then drew her inside the room, the door swishing closed behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize..." she said hesitantly, not meeting her eyes. "For-- you know. What he said... I don't think he wants to hurt you, but he feels like he has to. It's my fault he's so mean; so please don't be angry with him for leaving..."

Yurika smiled sadly. So Akito had gone. Maybe it was just as well. She couldn't tell what he was thinking any more-- couldn't even begin to think up an explanation for herself. "It's not your fault." she snapped her focus back to Lapis painfully, hoping that her face wasn't as tear-stained as she thought it was. "Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?"

Lapis hesitated, wanting to explain why it was her fault but not wanting to disobey Yurika. Yurika observed her miserable expression and smiled in spite of herself.

"Would you like to stay here for a while, Lapis?"

Lapis nodded slightly, a small smile touching her face. Yurika matched the smile with a brilliant one of her own. "Come on. I'll read you a story." She pretended not to see how Lapis's entire being lit up when she mentioned a story. What had happened to Akito? He had always read stories to Ruri and spent time with Ruri and loved Ruri but now he was neglecting this poor girl-- for what? The simple crime of existing? On an impulse, she handed Lapis the teddy bear her father had given her for her fifth birthday. Once again, she had to pretend she didn't see the girl's awed surprise, instead focusing on the pages in front of her.

"Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Keiko, who lived with her mother in a bamboo house..." she began when Lapis had settled on her lap. The story only lasted a few minutes, but Lapis interrupted before Yurika could start another one.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Yurika answered. She flipped through her storybook absently-- it had been years since she'd picked it up, and she had only brought it with her because it reminded her of her childhood on Mars. She felt less silly about it now that the book had a practical purpose. "Would you like to hear the Knight's Tale or the Dragon's Daughter now?"

"Okay." The reply was faint. Yurika's face softened to take on a motherly look, strangely out of place on her hyperactive face as she glanced down at the sleepy child--sleepy girl, Yurika realized. Lapis would have to be at least thirteen. Perhaps she was just humoring Yurika by letting her read fairy tales to her.

"Are you comfortable like that?"

"Mm-hmm. You're warm." Lapis whispered faintly, tugging at some wayward locks of blue hair as her eyes fluttered shut. Yurika smiled and pulled the sofa cover up over both of them, and switched the fairy tale book for a mystery novel she had been reading lately. She had gone a few pages when a Lapis's soft, measured breathing indicated she was asleep. Yurika gently moved her to the sofa pillows and slipped off the couch, smoothing her jacket.

As she stretched to turn off the light, Lapis stirred a little. "Yurika..." she breathed lightly, and Yurika went rigid. She recognized that tone, even though it was coming from a young girl. Then, white hair falling down the side of the cushions, Lapis curled up tighter and clutched the teddy bear in her hand as if her life depended on it. Yurika shook her thoughts aside and turned off the lamp. She needed to call Ruri and find out what excuse Akito had used to explain his abrupt departure for the Nadesico B. She'd have to change her plans, too. But with any luck, Lapis would be able to sleep right through the battle.

******

"For someone who was so bound and determined to see him, you don't seem so enthusiastic right..."

"Shut up." Ryoko snapped. "The tension level over there is way too high."

Saburota glanced over at the knot of people a few yards away. Akito was standing with one arm around Ruri and both were surrounded by Megumi, Minato, Yukina, Hikaru, Izumi, and some random other crewmen the author doesn't feel like naming at present. They all seemed pretty much at ease. Akito was even laughing some. He took all this in and turned back questioningly to Ryoko. She anticipated his question.

"You don't know what he used to be like." She could see his anxiety clearly-- Akito's laughter was too quick, almost feverish, with a shallow intensity. Just how bad was that fight? "I don't... hey!"

Saburota looked back over his shoulder. "I'm going to go pay my respects." he said. It looked like he wanted to add something, but closed his mouth and resumed walking. Ryoko was impressed; he had never showed much in the way of discretion before. She looked over at Akito, smoothed her shirt subconsciously, and followed Saburota.

******

Ryoko wasn't the only one who took note of Akito's behavior. In fact, most everyone who talked to him got the sense that he was in some sort of delirium. He neatly sidestepped all questions about what he had been doing all this time, and everyone tactfully didn't mention his fight with Yurika. Instead, most found themselves recounting what they had been doing for the past couple years.

Megumi was one of those people, but she wasn't satisfied with the way Akito's reunion was going. The way he talked sounded like he was ashamed of what he had done, which could in all likelihood have been true, but more importantly, it sounded like he wasn't planning on sticking around long. That bothered her. So when Ruri was summoned to the bridge and Akito insisted that he really had to work on some minor repairs with Seiya, she didn't leave with the rest of the group. She also didn't pretend not to see the pain in his eyes as everyone left the bridge with an uneasy cheerfulness.

"Akito, can I talk to you." It wasn't a question. Akito's smile wavered visibly.

"About what?"

"Oh, it won't take long," she assured him bitterly. Akito hesitated for a moment, but nodded for her to continue. She followed him as he started some routine checks on the Aestivallis, not really noticing what he was doing-- had she been looking she would have seen that while he tugged at a few wires here and there, he wasn't even trying to check them for wear and tear.

Megumi paused, wondering where to begin.

"I'm engaged, you know." she said suddenly. Akito opened a panel on the side of his Aesti, fishing around in his toolbox for a wrench.

"Congratulations. I hope--" he dropped the plate he had opened. "What?! What are you talking about, engaged!?--"

"--I haven't told anyone. I'm not supposed to tell anyone until after my movie comes out--"

"--When was this going on?--"

"-- For publicity's sake." She blushed, slightly ashamed of herself.

"Who to?" Akito demanded with barely a pause for breath.

"His name is Aiden Boucher. He's half French." Megumi looked at her feet, trying to force her way back to the topic she wanted to discuss. "He's the commander of the UE Sunflower."

Akito calmed himself down and sat back against the cool metal of his Aesti before continuing. "Not an actor friend, then? Megumi Reinard Boucher. It sounds nice."

"I think so... that's not the point!" she cried in irritation.

"Yes, well, what is the point?" Akito asked, retreating to safer ground. "I'm happy for you, of course. But..."

"Look, Akito," Megumi sighed, trying not to lose her nerve. "We didn't have a very good break up. But I always thought of you as a close friend."

"You told me I was a bastard and you never wanted to see me again."

"I was drunk. I apologized later."

"Right before you told me we shouldn't see each other anymore."

"Why are we fighting about this?"

"I don't know!"

Megumi paused, smiling. "No matter what I said, I've always thought I could trust you with anything. That's why I told you about Aiden."

Akito blinked. "Thank you." Megumi shook her head angrily.

"Akito, whatever's wrong, you can tell me! You can trust me! That's what I wanted to say."

"I do trust you." Akito returned, surprised.

"Then why are you being so distant with me?" she asked. "With everyone?"

"If I told you, you'd die."

"Akito I'm trying to have a serious conversation here so if you'd kindly grow up then..."

"I am serious!" Akito said, slamming both fists down against the plating, the wrench making a clanging noise that echoed across the room. "If anyone knew what was happening, they'd get themselves killed trying to stop it." He turned on her with a ferocity that scared her. "I won't let that happen. That's why I'm so distant."

"Akito, that's not a good enough explanation!"

"It's going to have to do!" he shouted at her. Megumi backed away in silence, tears stinging her eyes. So much for that-- apparently he didn't want her help. But if it was his fault, why did she feel like such a failure? "Dammit." Akito muttered, rubbing on arm across his forehead. "Megumi, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." she answered sullenly. "I understand." With that, she turned and fled the hangar. Akito debated going after her, but apologies would probably also require the explanations that had caused this fight in the first place.

"Oh, sweet heaven have mercy!" a scream came from behind him. "What have you done to my precious Aestivallis?!"

Akito looked down at the dents he had made with the wrench during Megumi's outburst and sighed. Apparently, there was going to be hell to pay with Seiya, too.

******

The four Aestivallis pilots sat quietly around the table in the girls' room. They'd been discussing something-- Ryoko wasn't sure of everything that had been said. She was only half listening.

"...So..." Hikaru's chatter faltered and she stopped, winded. "So."

"Do." Izumi giggled. "Re mi fa sol!" But even her laughter faded away abruptly.

"Well, I guess there's nothing left to do but mind our own business." Hikaru recovered brightly.

"And wait." Saburota yawned. "Got anything to drink?"

"He'll be his old self again sooner or later." Ryoko muttered, staring at the table. There was a silence. She looked up to see two blank looking woman and a rather amused Jovian. "What?"

"I was talking about the battle with the Successors." Hikaru blinked, pulling a six pack of root beer out from an unspecified location.

"So was I," Saburota added. "I guess we know where your mind's been for the past hour. Tenkawa, Tenkawa, Tenkawa!"

"Akito, Akito, Akito." Hikaru corrected with a laugh. Ryoko glared at them all and took a can of soda, finishing it in one swipe. She slammed the now empty can back on the table and glared some more, ignoring the hot spots that rose in her cheeks.

"Why so blue?" Saburota asked suddenly, tucking his arms behind his head and rocking back on his chair. "So he's got a little culture shock. He'll get out of it. After all, he's spent years out of the loop with only that Lapis chick for company. I'm sure he'll go 'back to normal' again sooner or later, Ryoko."

"That idiot was never normal." Ryoko sniffed disdainfully.

"Yeah, I'd have to agree that any normal guy would be back on the other Nadesico with the hot admiral."

"Okay, so it is really early for them to be fighting, but it's not like they're the first couple to have an argument," Hikaru admonished between sips of root beer.

"That's something that people who have real relationships do." Ryoko informed Saburota coldly.

"Then I guess our relationship is exceptionally real."

"Real stupid, you mean."

"Our arguments or our relationship?"

"What relationship?"

"Whichever one you're talking about."

Ryoko glowered at him and the two stopped tossing answers around like footballs. Amusing as that scene had been, Hikaru was kind of glad it had ended. Her neck hurt from looking back and forth between them.

"At least he's back." the green-haired pilot said at last, primly changing the topic.

"Back in the sack!" Izumi began to giggle.

"Not likely." Saburota quipped. Ryoko grew bright red and turned on them with righteous anger.

"Oh, shut up, all of you! It's none of our business!"

She didn't know why she was so surprised when they all stopped talking.

******

"Ruri is calling. You're going to have to renegotiate battle plans." Jun told Yurika when she found him.

"Thanks. I'll take it in the conference room."

"Yurika..."

"No time, must go!" she chirped, plastering a sloppy smile across her face and making a quick exit before he could ask the question.

******

"He told me you wanted to have Seiya upgrade his robot before it went into another fight." Ruri announced by way of greeting. Her cold gaze was steady and expressionless, but Yurika knew her well enough to sense her confusion.

"Of course!" she laughed. "I can't have my Akito getting destroyed 'cause of old, faulty wiring!" Still my Akito, she assured herself, though she almost choked on the sentence.

Ruri blinked twice, just to prove that her story wasn't fooling anyone, and changed the subject. "Our scanners indicate that the Nadesico C is approximately forty minutes from our current location."

"What?" Yurika, puzzled, glanced at her own statistics. "Ours places it at seventeen."

"If they were using their thrusters, yes." Ruri flipped another screen up in front of Yurika. "But they appear to be content to let the Earth's gravity pull them towards Osaka in a natural orbit."

"Why in the world..."

"Because of this." A red light began to blink on a gray spot on Yurika's map. "The ISS."

"The International Space Station." Yurika said in tones of dawning comprehension. "They're waiting for it to fly over Osaka to give them some cover."

"Right. On top of that, the Successors in the city will undoubtedly be sending up reinforcements. But we don't know how much of the UE equipment they have under their control."

"I see." Yurika mused, tracing the orbits of the space station with her fingertips.

"Should we attack them now, instead of waiting?"

"No. The C is faster than my ship and more powerful than yours. It could easily evade us if we left our post."

"We could send half of the fleet..."

"But as long as we don't pose a threat to them, the Successors will use the beam cannon against the other ships."

"So of course, the only logical thing to do would be to send one of our ships and keep one here." Ruri stated. "Only that's exactly what they expect us to do. They'll probably use whatever they've got down on the surface to take out the weakened fleet."

"And they've got the Artifact." Yurika reminded her. "I may be able to access it, but I can't stop them from using it, and while they have it they've got an automatic shield against us. Whoever stayed here wouldn't be able to retaliate."

"Then we wait?" Ruri asked, understanding that it was the only possibility but uncomfortable with it all the same.

"We wait and look for something they don't expect." Yurika nodded. "Call me back if you get any ideas. I'll do the same."

She signed out and began reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of her small fleet. The Successors considered the twin Nadesicos to be their only threat, but if she could find a ship capable of sizable damage, they would have the advantage of surprise as well as location.

******

Ruri signed out and began reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of the small fleet. The Successors considered the twin Nadesicos to be their only threat, but if she could find a ship capable of sizable damage, they would have the advantage of surprise as well as location.

******

"Sir, we're coming up on Osaka, right on schedule." Nina reported. Shizuka ignored her saccharine smile and continued to trace the ISS's orbit. "Sir?" she persisted, until Shizuka finally sighed and looked up. "What's the battle plan, Sir? We're hopelessly outnumbered."

"We'll wait for the space station to come in and cover our front and block the Nadesico B." he explained shortly. "If we keep the station between us and the B, then once we're past sector three we can outrun the Nadesico A and land safely."

"Sir, with our force in the front we'll be at point blank from the Nadesico A's beam cannon." Yoshio commented, observing Shizuka's color-coded map. "The distortion field will hold up for one hit from the cannon, but the Nadesico can easily build up for two shots before we'll pass sector three. And if we continue at that trajectory, the space station will be blocking one ship and the other will be out of range."

"And what about the other ships?" Nina demanded. "After a hit from the beam cannon the laser fire could just as easily wipe us out."

"Don't worry about the A. Just keep the station between us and the B, and everything will be fine."

"Don't worry about the A?" Nina snapped. "That's the more powerful of the two cannons!"

"I said don't worry." Shizuka hissed. "We've got two top agents over there. The cannon will never fire."

Yoshio shrugged, looking at Nina. "And if it does Aritomo can juice up the Artifact and incapacitate all the jumpers; Ms. Misumaru most of all. Without her, half of Nergal's defense will fall apart."

"So will half of our agents." Nina muttered, but moved back to her position without causing any more ruckus.

******

Erina sighed, watching Akatsuki's unconscious form. His jump had knocked him out pretty good-- ah, well, back to the drawing board. Maybe she could concoct a non-drowsy nano-injection. She wasn't even sure he'd wake up in time for the battle. But speaking of the battle...

She fished a small slip of paper out of her breast pocket, holding it up to the light so she could read the invisible lettering stained on it. Then she tucked the paper away again and headed down towards the bowels of the ship, a thin smile on her lips. She enjoyed playing with classified information entirely too much.

******

"Well, that should do it," Seiya announced, brushing her hands off on his coveralls and streaking them with oil. "The only hitch is that the battery source you've been using for the past few years just isn't going to cut it."

"What did you do?" Akito asked, slightly suspicious.

"Well, you're going to have to depend on the Nadesico for power again. Either one will do-- this Aesti is 100% compatible to any Nadesico class ship we've got in the skies."

"Make it compatible with the Eucharis, too, and I'll thank you." Akito said shortly.

Seiya shook his head. "I could do that, given six or seven hours. Wait till after this fight, okay? Jeez, you'd think a man on a ship full of beautiful women would want to stay a little longer..." he muttered as he disappeared into Akito's cockpit to reroute some new IFS monitor systems. Akito pretended he hadn't heard.

******

"Erina, can I talk to you?"

"Kyaaah!" the woman shrieked, jumping as she whirled around. Then, seeing it was only Jun, she took a deep breath, tugged at the hem of her uniform in annoyance, and fixed a glare on her face, eyebrows slightly raised. "If you want something you shouldn't go around jumping people in the dark."

Jun glanced up at the well- lighted hallway and chose not to continue that conversation further. "I want one of your nano-injections."

Erina's eyebrows snapped up higher. "Why?"

"Because the Successors don't know that we can make B-class jumpers without permanent gene manipulation. It occurred to me when Akito used his boson jump to distract Yurika-- we can use unknown factors like that to our benefit." Jun explained. "It would give us an advantage. And we need all we can get-- we're going blind into this."

"You realize that it knocks you out for a considerable amount of time afterwards." Erina said. "I haven't had a chance to test the improved serum to see if the effects are any different. It could react badly with your bloodstream."

"I'll take my chances-- I don't even know if I'll need to use it, but I want that extra insurance." Jun returned coldly. "Since when are you so concerned with safety when it comes to your experiments, anyway?"

Oops, Erina thought. Well, what harm could adding just one little unknown factor to the battle do? It couldn't change the outcome to have one extra boson jump, could it? And now that he mentioned it, the opportunity to test her new serum was a hard one to pass up. And Akatsuki probably wouldn't be so willing to let her experiment on him anymore, since he had already gotten the distinction of the first natural born human to make an unaided boson jump.

"Come with me." she ordered Jun, starting off down the hall.

******

Yurika knew about the boson jump long before the knock came on the briefing room door-- she just hadn't known what Ines was doing over on the Nadesico B.

"Come in," she said absently, examining a particularly promising Jovian style Quadra Cylinder Battlecruiser on a 3-D viewer. Prospector peeked his head in the door, and Yurika looked up in surprise. She hadn't seen much of Prospector lately-- she had assumed he was locked in a room somewhere trying to figure out the exact profit margin for time travel in boson jumps.

Ines walked in from behind him, guiding a smaller figure in front of her.

"Ruri wants him here." the blonde explained, gesturing to Harry, who looked around moodily. "So I went and got him."

"He's going to use the IFS here to try and find Omoikane's presence on the Nadesico C." Prospector said. "With Ruri on the B and Harry here, they should be able to cover twice the ground in half the time. If we can use Omoikane to take the ship back from under the Successors' noses, there will be considerable less damage done on both sides."

Yurika nodded. That explained Prospector's vested interest in the situation. Less damage meant less money spent on repairs. "Welcome to the first Nadesico, Harry." she said brightly. "I'd give you a tour, but there isn't enough time right now."

"Let's just go to the bridge so I can get this over with." Harry muttered, shuffling his feet in irritation.

"This is your captain, Harry, you might want to be a little more respectful." Ines admonished gently. Harry stared up at her, then back at his shoes.

"She's not my captain."

Yurika pretended not to hear. "Ruri must have a lot of confidence in you if she sent you to help find Omoikane." she told him, putting her hand on his shoulder and drawing him towards the bridge. A backwards glance at Ines and Prospector made sure that the two followed at a safe distance. "That's quite an honor."

"I don't think so." Harry said softly. Yurika glanced down quickly. She'd hit the problem right on the nose.

"Oh, it is!" she laughed. "Ruri usually thinks of everyone as idiots and doesn't trust them to do anything. She obviously trusts you very much if she sent you here to help."

"She does?" Harry looked up, eyes wide, but quickly snapped his head down again. "I don't care."

"Of course not." Yurika answered blithely. "Here's the bridge. The IFS console is over to your left. Tell Mayumi she can take a long break now, just as long as she's back before the battle starts."

"All right, Admiral."

"What?" Fukube asked, looking up from his coffee.

"Huh?" Harry said.

"You should call her 'Captain' while you're here." Prospector said, joining Fukube. "It's less confusing."

"But she's an admiral." Harry protested.

"On this ship, she's the captain." Ines explained. "It's always been that way, and it's hard for us old people to change."

"Ms. Misumaru was the original Captain of the Nadesico." Prospector smiled down at Harry, who refused to look at any of them.

"Ruri is the Captain of the Nadesico." he said sullenly, risking a guilty glance at Yurika. "To me, you're just the admiral. I can't call you Captain because to me, you're not."

Erina, from her position across the room, looked like she wanted to peg the boy with her shoe, but Yurika only smiled. "Then call me what you like, Harry, if it will make you feel more comfortable. We aren't such sticklers for protocol here."

Harry glanced up and her and quickly looked away. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Nadesico C will be in sensor range in three minutes." Mayumi reported, standing. "I'm just going to get a snack in the kitchen really fast."

"You'd better get ready, Harry-kun." Yurika said after nodding to Mayumi. Harry frowned, but decided he didn't mind her calling him Harry-kun so much, and sat down at the small desk in front of Mayumi's chair. The IFS wasn't so different than the one on the Nadesico B, except it lacked the protective dome of windows he was used to having. He raised a couple of useless ones just to make himself more comfortable, then uplinked into Omoikane and established contact with Ruri.

Ready?

I guess so.

******

"Prepare for contact." Shizuka announced, bouncing the signal off the ISS and straight into Osaka's closed communications lines. "Raise distortion field. Get the beam cannon ready. Porter, keep the space station in between us and the B!"

"Aye, Sir." Porter pressed the controls forward with slight hesitation. He had never piloted during a battle before.

******

"Check that, Tower, we have audio confirmation from the Nadesico C."

"Send out the drones." Aritomo ordered. "Aestivallis, stand by for my order."

"Aye, Sir, Left Wing standing by."

"Sir, Right Wing standing by."

"The Brotherhood of Liberty is valiantly standing by and eagerly awaiting your command, Sir!"

Aritomo sighed. "Check, Center Squad."

"Akarui Tsukai, Second Lieutenant, Sir!"

"I asked for confirmation, not your name and rank!" Aritomo thundered.

"Sorry," the voice continued, unabashed.

"Wait a minute," Miki the intern said, looking at her lists. "It says here that the commander of the Center Squad is a Major Yamada Taiko."

"Ah, that's just the boring name my mother gave me. And it's First Lieutenant!"

"Aestivallis, launch!" Aritomo shouted, cutting of the transmission. "Well, that's one way to shut him up."

Miki sighed. "You'd think so."

******

Start. Ruri thought to Harry. She glanced up at the bridge; Minato met her eyes squarely. "Follow orders from the Nadesico A until we can locate Omoikane."

Minato nodded and turned back to the main screen as Ruri's bubble became completely surrounded with glowing lights.

"Hello, everyone!" Yurika's face appeared. "We don't know what to expect from the surface, but we do know that the Successors will try to use the ISS to their advantage. Aestivallis pilots and all Liatris style battleships, take care of any drones or enemy craft coming up from Osaka. Destroyers, try to take out the guns from the surface. Nadesicos A and B will use the beam cannon simultaneously to take out the C's distortion field. After the field is down, all remaining ships open fire on the Nadesico C." She smiled and flashed a victory sign. "Those are the preliminary orders; please keep open communication lines throughout the battle for any changes and remember not to let the ISS get caught in the crossfire. Nadesico out!"

Yurika sat back in her chair and turned on a 3D model of the battle layout. She looked over her fleet and wished she had a couple of twin battle carriers or a Yumemiduki style battle cruiser at her command. As it was now, there wasn't much in her force that could help take out the Nadesico C. But it wasn't her style to give in to despair, so she forced herself to focus and spent the last few moments scanning the bridge for something out of place. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and she wasn't sure what was causing it. She was never allowed to give voice to her fears, however, as things started happening very quickly after that.

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