Nadesico Fan Fiction ❯ Chasing the Darkness ❯ [6] Angsty Stuff and Lots of Gunfire ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the concept of Nadesico or any of its original characters. But Kia Asamiya did sign my art book at Anime Central. That has to count for something.

PART SIX: Angsty Stuff and Lots of Gunfire

******

"Come, my brethren!" Akarui Tsukai, or Yamada Taiko, yelled enthusiastically. "Today we face our deadliest foe; fight with honor and victory will be mine--er, ours!"

"Major Akarui..."

"Don't speak! The moment of battle is upon us!" the hangar doors bean to open, and Tsukai paused to bask cheesily in its radiance. "And it's First Lieutenant!"

There was a sigh. "Yes, sir."

"Very good! Move out!"

"Do you think we should tell him that being a Major is better than being a First Lieutenant?" One of the Aesti pilots asked his friend as Akarui's robot slid out of the hangar at top speed.

"Ah, don't spoil his fun-- he thinks he's some war hero straight out of some anime or another." the other answered. "I don't think he was ever actually in the military, anyway."

******

"It's starting." Shizuka said in a hushed tone. Everyone fell silent, the tension increasing as nothing but the rapid-fire sounds of typing on keyboards and the hum of power from the ship filled the air. Shizuka held off a slight smile. He doubted very much that anyone besides himself had much of an idea of what was actually going on; the thought of Nina's ignorance made him strangely gleeful as he glanced at her face, mouth puckered in grim concentration.

"Beam cannon charged." the sysop reported. "Ready to fire at will."

"First clear shot on the Nadesico B, take it." Shizuka ordered. Nina looked like she wanted to protest again, but kept her mouth shut.

"ISS has reached sector seven." the helmsman looked up. "Moving into position now."

"Message being relayed from the surface-- reinforcements are on the way."

"Excellent." Shizuka sat back in Ruri's chair and waited for the fireworks to start.

******

"First wave coming in." Minato said, glancing at the viewer.

"Launch Aestivallis!" Yurika's face popped up momentarily.

"Roger!" Saburota said.

"Roger!" Ryoko declared simultaneously; she and Saburota had not been able to settle who was the commanding officer.

"Bob!" Izumi added, because she could.

"Go," Akito said to no one in particular.

"On my way." Jun said resignedly. Hikaru's window opened, but before she could crack whatever joke it was she was planning, somebody else broke in.

"Come on, you Nergal bastards!" he yelled. "Today is judgment day!"

"Who the hell are you?" Ryoko switched to direct lines.

"Your worst nightmare! Come and get me!" the pilot signed off.

"He's the one in the stupid looking white Aestivallis down there." Hikaru noted, watching the robots come up through laser fire from the Liatris ships.

"What does he want?" Saburota asked. "Or can we just shoot him?"

"No way, he's mine!" Ryoko shouted. "I hate stupid people--hey! Tenkawa, where the hell do you think you're going?"

Akito didn't answer, but continued to dodge the laser fire until he closed in on the thirty some odd Aestivallis.

"That idiot!" Ryoko snapped, blasting at some drones on her way towards the robots shouting expletives the whole while. "Wait for the rest of us!"

"Watch out." Jun made his only contribution to the conversation. The four remaining pilots scattered and just missed getting blown to bits by the Nadesico C's beam cannon. The Liatris battleship Magnolia and the UE cruiser Poinsettia were not so lucky, caught and destroyed in the explosion. The shot also hit the Nadesico B head on, though not as powerfully as it might have since the two other ships had taken the brunt of the cannon's fire. On Yurika's cue, the Aestivallis--mostly standards with a few customs spread around-- from each of the ships in the fleet came rushing in to back up the Nadesico pilots.

Izumi, Hikaru, Saburota, and Ryoko settled themselves in for a serious fight. Well, as serious as they could make it. Jun busied himself taking out drones and covering the others, preoccupied with the itch in his shoulder from Erina's shot. Watching the fight with a detachment that had taken years of training to develop, he seriously doubted he would have to find out if he could be a B-class jumper. But then again, he'd seriously doubted a lot of things that he now regretted.

Blinking, he steered clear of a random Aestivallis that had snuck up behind him. Then he turned up his radio, letting Izumi's weird jokes and Ryoko's yelling drown out his thoughts. He had to stop getting so sentimental during these fights.

******

"Nadesico B has taken a hit. Distortion field at sixty-eight percent."

"They're going to try to outrun us." Gort said grimly. Yurika turned to Mayumi.

"Beam cannon at fifty percent, Captain." she said, anticipating the question.

"And Ruri's?"

"87 percent." Mayumi answered after a pause.

"The Nadesico B is being blocked, Captain." Admiral Fukube commented. "The ISS will completely cut them off before they can get in a single shot."

Yurika frowned slightly, then hit a button. "Akito, have you still got your psi blade?"

"Yes."

"Use it to bring down the distortion field. All wing Aestivallis, fall in behind the Black Sarena and try to disable the Nadesico when the distortion field comes down."

"What do we do, Captain?" Megumi's plaintive voice startled Yurika, who turned on her in annoyance.

"Try to hit something useful." she snapped, feeling sweat trickle between her skin and her gloves. Megumi, wisely enough, told the crew to aim for the surface and take out some of the larger guns and drones. Minato was trying to maneuver around the space station, which continued to plod along on its preset course and refused to get out of her way. Ruri was aware of this, but felt it best to continue the search for Omoikane and trust Yurika to handle the rest.

Akatsuki entered the bridge and took a place in the back without saying anything. He did, however, shoot Erina an inquiring look. She responded with a quiet nod.

"Beam cannon at seventy percent." Mayumi reported as Akito's Aestivallis darted in towards the C. "Nadesico C is charging beam cannon for a second shot."

******

"Hey!" Yoshio shouted on an open line to all the Successor Aestivallis. "Who's the best pilot in your squadron?"

"Lieutenant Akarui Tsukai, sir!" somebody answered immediately. "What can I do for you?"

"Mark the red Aestivallis-- if that's who I think it is, then he needs to be eliminated."

"Sir!" Akarui grinned maniacally and made a 180-degree turn, making a beeline for the Black Sarena.

"What was that about, Yamasaki?" Shizuka asked calmly. Yoshio turned to face him, an apologetic expression touching his face.

"The knight in shining armor's come back." he said grimly. "To rescue the Princess."

Shizuka raised an eyebrow. "Damn."

******

Akito was rushing at the distortion field, energy blade ready, adrenaline pumping, when he was suddenly checked from behind by the white Aestivallis from before. It was an unspoken but nevertheless clear challenge. Actually, the pilot in the white Aesti was probably all too willing to give a drawn out, banal speech, but Akito had disabled his radio.

******

Lapis opened her eyes, slipped out from under the blanket Yurika had covered her with, and left the room, angry with herself for not being alert to help Akito.

******

"Beam cannon at 100 percent!"

"Fire!" Yurika ordered, and everyone tensed, waiting to see the damage.

But the only thing that met their ears was a grinding noise and the only thing they saw was black space turned red by the warning lights flashing on the bridge. Harry, surprised, paused in his search. Yurika froze, glowing lines appearing around her face.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, Captain!" Mayumi said nervously. "The beam cannon isn't malfunctioning-- it should have worked."

"Then why haven't we got any power behind it?" Erina punched at a few buttons, but to no avail.

"Well..." Akatsuki said rather sheepishly, "This ship was only meant to be a museum piece."

There was a silence as everyone stared at him. "So the beam cannon isn't going to work because the power coils were never replaced." Prospector announced, horrified.

"Akito!" Yurika cried, hitting the pads on her console frantically, "Akito, get away now!"

But Akito seemed to be at a standoff with another Aestivallis and didn't respond.

******

Tsukai raised his scythe. They'd all scoffed at him for carrying such a clunky weapon, but it was perfect for a duel. And duels were how real men fought. One on one. They didn't shoot an unarmed man without any warning.

"Prepare to die." he said to the other pilot, who raised his energy knife and prepared to attack. Akarui smiled. A one hit duel, huh? This pilot was a classic. Too bad in space you couldn't walk ten paces and turn. He lowered his spear and, holding it like a lance in front of him, shot out at his opponent like a bullet from the barrel of a gun. The red Aestivallis responded in like fashion.

******

They would have been evenly matched; in fact, Akito would probably have won hands down, if not for one crucial factor. Akito didn't care. The man he fought had some sort of personal vendetta against Nergal. But Akito-- Akito was just waiting to die.

When they passed each other, his psi blade cut deeply into the white Aestivallis, but the other pilot reacted quickly and spun away, slicing into the leg of the Black Sarena. So much for a one hit duel, Akito decided as both of them came around for another shot.

This time, the pilot of the white Aestivallis faked with his spear and used the shoulder of his robot to bash Akito's cockpit, sending him careening backwards just as he swung down with his knife and met empty air. The hit caused less damage than expected, but when he stopped spinning, a strange sense of deja-vu swept over him. Akito looked around at the scene in front of him, which had suddenly started moving in slow motion. He glanced up and saw the beam cannon of the Nadesico C facing him with nothing separating them. The Eucharis sat, like a statuesque sentinel, to one side. Out of the corner of his eye he could make out Earth's horizon. On his other side, he saw a white shape moving in to finish him off. It was a scene he had seen before and had been dreading for two years, but it was also a scenario he had had two years to plan for and accept. He took his hand from the control sphere, and the eyes of the Black Sarena went out.

******

"I can take him out." Nina said, turning the ship a few degrees to the left. "First step to winning a war is to eliminate obstacles."

"He'll jump before you hit him-- don't waste a shot!" Shizuka began.

"He's been disabled; he's not going anywhere." Yoshio watched the scene closely.

Shizuka tensed, but there was nothing he could say. Nina wasn't waiting for his permission, anyway.

******

"No!" Yurika wailed as Akito was beaten back. "Hard starboard, Mikako!" If he wasn't answering her, she would just have to go and get him.

"We're being flanked by the space station, Captain!" Mikako objected.

"Crush it with the distortion field."

"There are people in there!" Eri protested. Yurika slammed both fists down on her console.

"I know!" she said despairingly.

"The Nadesico C is turning." Mayumi stated. "They're preparing to fire their beam cannon."

"They're not..." Mikako started, trailing off as she realized that yes, they were.

"Akito, jump!" Yurika yelled across the empty communications line.

"He's not answering--" Eri said uselessly. "But he must be hurt, or he would have jumped already."

"Nadesico C's beam cannon is estimated at eighty percent." Mayumi reported grimly.

"Would he have?" Yurika whispered, head bowed. Briefly, she wondered if she could jump and save Akito. But one look at his battered cockpit and she knew that she couldn't visualize it well enough to make the jump; and even if she could, she doubted there was enough room for two people in there any longer. She looked up. "Harry, have you found Omoikane?"

"No," he replied apologetically. "And even with both the Captain and I using separate IFS systems, we'll only be able to cover two thirds of the remaining files in time. And the personal files are so tangled I doubt we can get to them at all."

"Try your best. And please hurry-- it's Akito's only chance now."

"I can cover him." A small voice said from behind them.

"Lapis..." Everyone turned to stare at the girl, making her hesitate and step back. But, hardening her resolve, she looked Yurika in the eyes and continued.

"I can use the Eucharis to block their cannon."

"But it'll destroy your ship!" Yurika protested. "Akito is hurt; the debris will kill him anyway!"

"It's not my ship," Lapis replied bitterly. "There's nothing I want on it. And Akito's a good pilot; all he needs is a delay so he can pull himself together. Jumping is his only chance. Omoikane did not want to be found by the Successors; where else would it hide but a personal file? Even as fast as they are, Ruri and Harry will never find it in time."

Yurika paused for a moment, then nodded and motioned her to continue. Harry moved aside to let her have free reign of the IFS system. Within a few moments, the Eucharis was moving.

"Cannon estimated at ninety-six percent." Mayumi said anxiously.

"Hurry! It's not going to get there in time!" Harry shouted.

"Maybe a deflection..." Lapis said hopefully, but she and everyone else knew that if the beam cannon caught the underside of the Eucharis, it would blow up in Akito's face and there would be no chance of survival.

"No time!" Erina snapped, wringing her handkerchief.

"Ninety-eight percent!"

"Akito!"

"I'll get him." came a voice-- a completely rational one, in the midst of everyone's panic. Yurika's eyes went wide.

"Jun, what are you doing?!" she yelled, bursting into tears. "There's no time!"

"I'll be fine."

"Jun!"

"The beam cannon is firing!"

"No!!" Yurika cried, watching the Eucharis get blown away backwards, right into the spot where Akito's Aestivallis had been floating.

******

Tsukai felt a strange, transcendent sort of glee as he chased after the red Aestivallis. The adrenaline was incredible; all of a sudden he understood why duels held such appeal in animes. The knowledge of triumph was intoxicating.

"Are you here with me, Niisan?" he asked, and if he squinted hard enough he could convince himself that he saw his brother's hand covering his own, their IFS marks overlapping on the control sphere. "Let's go." He shot off towards his inert nemesis.

But something stopped him. At first he thought it was his inner sense of honor-- from closer up he could see that the lights of the other robot had gone out, and he would not kill someone when they were unconscious. But what had really stopped him was the fact that his battleground had suddenly moved directly in the path of the Nadesico C's beam cannon. Oh, yeah, the fact that they were preparing to fire a gravity blast might have had something to do with it, too.

"What the hell are you doing?" he shouted into his radio, vaguely aware that the small ship off to the side was moving in, trying to block the cannon. As if that was going to do any good. "That's not the way real men fight!"

"I'm a woman." a tart voice snapped at him. "Get out of the way unless you want to get killed as well."

Tsukai grit his teeth. "Hey, you!" he tried to call the red Aestivallis, but the radio was apparently off-line. He would have gone and retrieved the other robot, but that damned ship was in the way. Taking a deep breath, Tsukai switched to a method that had never failed him before (probably because he had never tried it): telepathic communication.

Wake up. He ordered. You can't die like this-- I have to kill you for what you did to my brother. You're not allowed to take my revenge away!

In a sort of morbid way, he was pleased. He was understanding more and more all the time why his brother had loved anime so much. Saving the enemy so he could wreak his vengeance upon him later gave him chills.

Hey! Hey, you're not supposed to die here, you idiot! You're messing up the plotline...!

At that moment, Tsukai felt something he'd never felt before. For just a second, it seemed like the entire universe had been ripped apart and then clumsily glued back together by a preschooler. At first he thought that he had accidentally been caught in the gravity blast and was now proceeding to join his brother in heaven, but the Nadesico hadn't fired yet. Then a very disturbing sight met his eyes. A rather nondescript gray Aestivallis appeared out of nowhere just as the gravity blast was sweeping out towards them, completely engulfing the small spaceship that had moved directly into the line of fire. Engaging its thrusters, the new robot slammed into the red Aestivallis with more force than Tsukai thought necessary (but then again, he wasn't about to be demolished by the energy wave). Once the two robots were in contact with each other, the gray Aesti did that universe ripping thing and both it and the red Aestivallis vanished in the wake of the small ship's destruction. Amazing, it had not been disintegrated. The blast had caught the underside of the ship, causing internal explosions that ripped the ship apart. The amount of debris was incredible.

Tsukai floundered around for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then he thought he heard a voice-- a very familiar one.

Baka. It said. This way.

"Thanks, Niisan." Tsukai answered, turning and shooting off in the direction his brother had indicated.

******

"I think we got him!" Nina said happily. Yoshio shivered; Nina's saccharine smile made her seem very crazy to him. After all, she'd just destroyed someone who even he believed was deserving of a little more dignity than that in death.

"Who cares?" Shizuka snapped. "That was a stupid waste of a shot."

"What else were we going to shoot at?" she muttered in annoyance.

"We were going to use it to cover our tail when we passed sector three." Shizuka informed her. "Which is now. Porter, take us in."

"Yes, Sir."

******

Everyone on the bridges of both Nadesicos froze in stunned horror for what seemed like a lifetime before the debris scattered enough to see clearly again. Yurika stood rigidly, staring at the empty space; her eyes flicked across the larger sections of the Eucharis' hull, whether trying to identify pieces of Akito's Aestivallis or trying desperately not to was anyone's guess. No one wanted to think about Jun-- if they didn't ask, they could believe he was all right somewhere else. There was no point in scanning, either: any piece of sizable debris from the Eucharis could be picked up as an Aestivallis-- or, heaven forbid, a part of one.

On the Nadesico B, things were much the same. Ruri had yet to decide whether Akito's death had been her fault or not. But he had been killed trying to stop the Nadesico from reaching Osaka. More specifically, he had been trying to keep Yamasaki Yoshio from reaching the Artifact. There was no telling what havoc that man could cause if he got his hands on it again. And Ruri was not about to let him go anywhere.

"Fire beam cannon." her lips mouthed out the words, but no sound came out. Which was just as well, because at that moment she remembered that she was perfectly capable of firing the gravity blast. And currently the beam cannon was only at 94% of its full power. "Bakabaka." she whispered to herself, and told Omoikane to fire the second it could. If she had been hooked up to the IFS on the Nadesico C, she wouldn't even have had to wait for it to charge up like this. But she wasn't on the Nadesico C. How stupid of her to forget.

******

Fukube finally broke the silence on the Nadesico A. "They're making their move." And the Nadesico C was, in fact, heading straight for Earth at top speed. Yurika clenched her hands at her sides.

"Fire the beam cannon." she said.

"But Captain..." Mayumi began. Yurika hissed something unintelligible and typed a code into her station. The red lights stopped flashing.

Safety disabled. Omoikane's screen popped up.

"Fire!" Yurika said again, louder.

"Captain, you can't do that!" Erina protested.

Yurika didn't move. "I just did." Her voice was cold and merciless, which was so surprising that even Erina's arguments died on her lips.

"Firing." Mayumi confirmed. The ball of energy began to gather rapidly while everyone on the bridge wondered if their ship would crash into Osaka or just blow up where it was. Then the lights went out.

******

Akito swore as fervently as he knew how. What damn good did it do to know the future when you couldn't do a damn thing to make it better? How the hell had Jun been able to boson jump, anyway? He almost put his hand to the control sphere to ask him, but figured that if he let on that he was conscious he'd have a lot more explaining to do than he was comfortable with. Besides, maybe if he was lucky that Successor pilot would blow up the Black Sarena and solve his problem for him. Fortunately, from what he could make out through the twisted wreckage of his cockpit, it seemed that Jun was picking up the duel where Akito left off. A quick look at his oxygen gauge told him that he was leaking pretty badly. With any luck he would suffocate before he could get rescued. Not the most pleasant way to die, but it got the job done.

So he lay back and faked being unconscious. In the silence, memories began to surface and he was forced to live out his past one more time; a process so painful that he sighed in relief when he finally blacked out, choking on stale air.

******

Tsukai was pretty disappointed with the new pilot's performance so far-- she hadn't sworn eternal vengeance or anything like that. What kind of woman suffered from unrequited love and didn't swear to defend the object of her affections to the death? And the absence of a soundtrack for the occasion left Tsukai embittered and disillusioned.

"Who are you?"

Tsukai grimaced. Definitely a male voice. That wasn't right. The bad guys could have unfailingly loyal love struck female followers, but best friends? That was for the good guys! And what a stupid line. What about the speech about hurting his friend? But he might as well humor the man. "First Lieutenant Akarui Tsukai of the Brotherhood of Liberty..."

"I thought you were a Martian Successor."

Tsukai rolled his eyes. Could the man be any more dense? "I'm against Nergal and the Federation. That makes the Successors my allies."

"I'm against the Successors." the man answered. Tsukai perked up. This was getting more interesting. "So I guess that makes us enemies by default."

"My fight isn't with you."

"If you must fight, I'll take his place."

Tsukai grinned. This guy wasn't so bad, after all. "I will have revenge for my brother."

******

"And I will have it for my Captain and my friend." Oh, for the love of... Jun thought. Where the hell had that line popped up from? He really had to stop getting so sentimental about these battles. "Oh, what the hell." Jun sighed. "You didn't hurt Yurika. I don't want to fight you."

There was a pause. "You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Was he actually disappointed? That was too weird. Jun glanced nervously back at Akito's Aestivallis. He had a feeling time was running out.

"But I meant what I said. If killing you is the only way to get my friend back to my ship, then I will."

This time the man sounded considerably happier. "Your devotion is admirable. I'll let you go for now. But tell your friend that Akarui Tsukai will be waiting for him."

"I will." This guy's a total nutcase. Oh well. At least Erina would be happy her serum worked. In fact, he yawned, I'm really not *yawn* tired at *yawn*... damn it.

Hooking a towline to the arm of Akito's Aestivallis, he started to drag him back towards the nearest Nadesico-- looked like the A-- but promptly passed out.

******

Yurika was not prepared for such a disaster, which probably made it worse for her. Since Ruri's gravity blast had shot the Nadesico C full on, the added power of a simultaneous shot from the Nadesico A could have completely destroyed the ship. But the hope she had for justice had been extinguished along with the lights overhead. The gravity blast from the cannon, released prematurely, shot off at a strange trajectory. The Nadesico C lost what little distortion field it had left and the laser fire from the ships in the fleet slammed against the starboard side, but the damage was really only enough to force the ship into an emergency landing.

Yurika turned to face Akatsuki, anger heightened by sorrow clearly written on her face. The rest of the bridge was still, waiting for something, anything. They didn't know or care what, as long as someone broke the choking death-hold silence had on them. Akatsuki held the master key in his left hand.

Yurika's lips moved, but nothing came out. Then her jaw line hardened, and, reaching back, she slapped him. Perhaps he expected the blow, for his head barely moved. This only seemed to infuriate Yurika more; in the same fluid motion her arm swept down the way it had come and she backhanded him neatly across the cheek, fist closed and shaking with rage or sorrow or shock, it didn't matter which. This he hadn't expected, and he fell back against Erina, who stood rigidly with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth and did not look at him.

"They killed them!" Yurika cried, releasing the tension that silence had built. But as it turned out, tension seemed to be the only thing holding her together. She slumped to the floor, crying brokenly and cradling her face between her hands. "They killed him again. Why won't they leave me alone?" she whispered between sobs. Akatsuki didn't answer; he just placed the master key on the ground next to Yurika, turned and left the bridge without a word. And even Erina, still stiff and pale with shock, didn't try to stop him.

The Nadesico C safely cleared Earth's atmosphere, but Mayumi couldn't bring herself to care. She hadn't even liked this Akito, but he was obviously very special to everyone else, and so his death hurt her as well. And Jun, though distant, had always been kind to her.

******

Tsukai ended up taking both of the pilots back to their ship. By then, his entire squadron had returned to the surface and so had the Nadesico C, it appeared. Well, mission accomplished, at any rate. He sent a message to his enemies, just for good measure, before heading back to Osaka.

******

"Incoming transmission." Eri said grudgingly, not wanting the outside world to intrude on their sorrow but not having much choice in the matter.

"We'll finish this another day," a strangely familiar voice intoned, a window rising to show an even more familiar face. "I, Akarui Tsukai, will avenge my brother."

"Who the hell was that?" Harry asked.

"It's that stupid idiot from before!" Ryoko's window popped up. She and the others were in a semi-subdued state because of the failure of the ambush, but were obviously clueless as to the extent of the loss felt on the bridges of the Nadesico.

"Captain!" Mikako cried, turning the screen to show the retreating Successor pilot. "That's Mr. Aoi's Aestivallis!"

"How can you tell?" Saburota remarked. "It looks the same as everyone else's."

"What's that behind him?" Eri asked anxiously.

"What the hell happened to you, Tenkawa?" Ryoko asked irritably. "I told you to wait for the rest of us but..."

"Well I'll be damned." Fukube commented dryly. Yurika's head snapped up. Sniffling, she wiped away her tears so she could see what was going on.

"What...?"

"Hey!" Ryoko yelled suddenly. "Tenkawa! Akito!"

"Jun, what happened to him?" Hikaru's worried voice joined in. "Jun?"

"What, they're both unconscious?" Saburota asked incredulously. "Who saved who?"

"Save the owls." Izumi answered.

"He must have jumped." Erina said suddenly, shaking herself free of her statuesque stupor. "It worked!"

"Jumped? But why..." Yurika looked around in confusion. "Why couldn't I feel it?"

Suddenly, Erina was at her side, hoisting her to her feet. "You couldn't sense the jump?" she asked with a fervor that was completely lost on the captain. Yurika's elation was infectious. In a single instant she seemed to forget the Nadesico C entirely and dragged everyone out of the depths of depression with her.

"Are they alive? Is Akito okay? Mikako, get them back here!" she ordered, shoving the master key back in its place and running out the door at top speed.

******

"Don't worry, the cannon will never fire." Nina drawled sarcastically as the starboard engine went out. "Sure, chief."

"Miss Cavoresso," Shizuka said cheerfully, "Shut up or I'll shoot you."

Nina glared, but she did stop talking. Yoshio hid a smile.

******

Ruri blinked twice at the turmoil on the Nadesico A and her own ship and began to smile. And this time she didn't care who saw it. Then she slipped back into the IFS and resumed her search. If she couldn't stop Yoshio and Shizuka, then she'd at least make sure they couldn't use the Nadesico any more.

******

Harry glanced around the bridge. Everyone seemed to be absorbed in their own worlds, talking very quickly and very loudly and not listening to anyone else. No one seemed to be in charge-- the admirals were having a conference in one corner. Harry frowned. Ruri would never have let things get this out of hand.

But then he noticed that a good portion of the noise ringing in his ears was coming from the uplink to the Nadesico B. His scowl deepened.

A small hand touched his arm. He looked up to see Lapis smiling shyly at him, offering him his laptop back.

"Thanks," he said sharply, snatching it away from her and typing with renewed passion. The world could go crazy, but he still had a job to do... Glancing up, he saw Lapis's eyes watering and sighed. "Thanks," he said again, more nicely. "Really."

Lapis blinked and nodded, eyes downcast. Every now and again she would look up quickly before returning her gaze to the floor. Harry found it extremely uncomfortable, and turned his focus back to Omoikane with some difficulty.

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