Nadesico Fan Fiction ❯ Chasing the Darkness ❯ [01] Starting Over ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Mobile Battleship Nadesico and its characters do not belong to me, no matter how many times I write to Santa. I must not be on the "Good" list yet.

PART ONE: Starting Over

Tenkawa Akito was dreaming. Well, actually, Akito was sleeping. Lapis Lazuli picked up his dreams in the back of her mind. She had long since gotten over the disconcerting fact that most of her memories were not really hers and they extended to years before she had been born. Usually Akito's dreams involved a blue-haired woman whose name he would not tell.

Now, though, his subconscious thoughts were focused on a cynical young girl. Lapis had her own memories of Hoshino Ruri-their minds had clashed when they both accessed the computer Omoikane. Lapis had pulled away in that encounter; her conversation with Ruri was endangering her connection with Akito and messing up his concentration.

She hadn't, however, given up on the project. Several times she had linked Akito's Aestivalis to the Nadesico's computer. Once she had assured it that she meant no harm, Omoikane was more than willing to let her in. The computer also honored her wish that no one aboard the Nadesico be alerted to her presence. Omoikane loved Akito; it owed him its very existence. Lapis's thought process was identical to Akito's, and her presence and appearance were so close to Hoshino Ruri's that Omoikane viewed her as a combination of the two.

So Lapis continued her study of the Nadesico and its crew unhindered. She had long since discovered the name of the blue-haired woman, as well as the names of all the faces that appeared in Akito's dreams. But those names were sacred to him, so she never spoke them or even thought them for fear of causing him undue pain.

His dream changed beat abruptly, to a lab in a Successor base somewhere. Lapis flinched-Akito's sleep went on undisturbed. It was time like this, she reflected, that she was glad she dreamed for him. His scream echoed through her head, and Lapis closed her eyes painfully. With a rage she seldom felt, she thrust her conscious to the Nadesico's computer, forgetting to cover her tracks for a few moments once she got inside. Someday, with Omoikane's help, she would find that Successor base. And then she and Akito would blow it up, and then his nightmares would end.

Ruri, already connected to Omoikane's sensitive psyche, picked up the familiar pattern immediately. She barely had time to notice the disturbance, though, before it was gone.

Omoikane. Ruri thought calmly, What are you hiding from me?

I'm hiding nothing. The computer answered, and since Omoikane could not lie, Ruri did not question further. Still, Omoikane could be silent if it did not want to tell the truth, and from that point on, Ruri kept an eye out for Akito's signal.

******

"NO FREAKIN" WAY!!!" a voice yelled angrily. There was a *thwack* followed by a muffled *thump,* and then Ryoko's outraged curses started again.

Hikaru and Izumi, both deeply involved in their mangas, didn't even blink when four security officers dragged the recently black-haired pilot past the open doorway and on down the hall. They were followed closely by two more officers carrying a third one, whom Ryoko had knocked out.

"My, she's up in arms." A very calm Inez remarked as the ruckus faded into the distance. "Dentist appointment?" she asked Hikaru.

Hikaru turned a page and answered without looking up. "Anger Management Seminar."

"Bakabaka." Ruri commented from the bridge. Harry blinked twice and returned to his sysop.

Ryoko was pissed off. Not that anyone was surprised; even Megumi had long since stopped asking her why she punched things randomly: walls, chairs, tables, mechanics… it made no difference to her.

But this time, Ryoko was pissed off for a very specific reason. First of all, she did NOT need Anger Management. She controlled her anger just fine. That's what tables and mechanics were for. And second, there was NOW WAY IN HELL she was going to lie down and spill her guts to some know-it-all psychologist…

"Ryoko. Nice to see you. Please have a seat." Erina Won smiled her usual completely suspicious smile as the doors swished open and the security officers shoved Ryoko inside before making their escape. Erina motioned her to one of three chairs. She herself was seated behind a large desk, hands folded on the desktop. Ryoko, mouth open, sat. "Good. Now, tell me what you've been doing since the war while we wait for the others. You dyed your hair, I see. I liked it better green, personally, but I suppose that's a matter of taste…"

"Hold on just a minute!" Ryoko yelled, gathering her wits. "Erina, you're NOT a psychologist!"

"We've been downsizing recently," the other woman informed her coolly. "And since the President didn't die on one of his ridiculously pointless piloting escapades, I'll have to wait a little longer until I can take over Nergal." She picked up a pen and began to toy with it absently. "I've taken up psychology as a kind of hobby until then."

"Oh," Ryoko said. There wasn't much else she could say. Well there was, but no way were the US censors going to allow it to be printed. She wouldn't even bother to try.

The doors slid open once again. Ryoko spat out an indignant expletive and Erina's overly-arched eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch. Uribatake Seiya searched the room for pretty young girls, but after finding only a dominatrix and a crazy woman, plopped down in the seat farthest from Ryoko.

"I don't want to do group therapy if there aren't any pretty girls to lend a strong arm and a sympathetic ear to." He sniffed primly. Ryoko groaned and fell on the floor. Erina sweatdropped, but before she could make any scathing comments the door opened a third time.

"I'M NOT CRAZY AND I DON'T NEED A SHRINK!" Yukina announced, hands on hips. There was a silence while crickets chirped in the background. She opened her mouth to speak again, but at the blank looks on everyone's faces, she paused. Then, sufficiently deflated, she trudged to the middle seat and slumped down into it. "Sulk, sulk, sulk…" she whispered, arms crossed over her chest.

Erina sighed again, loudly. Slapping her palms down on the table, she rose and glared at her three patients. "This is an anger management seminar." She said very slowly. "Se-mi-nar. There are no group therapy sessions, no psychoanalyses, and DON'T CALL ME A SHRINK!"

Ryoko, Seiya, and Yukina all sat back, eyes wide. Erina closed her eyes and seemed to compose herself. At least, the vein in her forehead wasn't popping out anymore. "Now that that's settled," she continued in calmer manner, "Let's go over several ways that one can dispel anger. Any suggestions?"

"Kick its ass!" Ryoko yelled.

Erina blinked twice, reached into a desk drawer, and took out a bottle of aspirin.

******

Ruri's face didn't change as she quickly read the screen in front of her, then reread it more slowly. It didn't change as she flicked the window off and hit the communications button on her left arm pad. It didn't change as Yurika's bleary-eyed, pleasantly clueless face popped up on a new window in front of her. It didn't change as she requested the admiral's presence in Conference Room #3. It didn't change as she rose from her seat. But as she left the bridge, heels clacking rhythmically on the hard floor, she bit the corner of her lip.

The only person who noticed the slight change was Harry, and even he couldn't tell whether his captain was holding back a smile or tears.

Yurika wandered into Conference Room #3 a few minutes after Ruri herself, still yawning and decked out the all the splendor of her panda-covered purple pajamas.

"It's too early to be awake." she complained, plunking down in a chair.

"You're beginning to sound like Minato." Ruri remarked tonelessly. "It's almost 9 o'clock." She didn't have to ask to know that Yurika had slept even less than she had herself, and Yurika hadn't even had to deal with the new developments that Ruri had.

Yurika blinked twice and giggled. "So serious today, Rurichan! Even for you. What's happened?" Her laughter didn't hide the nervous sheen in her eyes. A video window appeared in front of Yurika.

"Read this." Ruri said without any further comment. Yurika skimmed the page, stopped, and reread a sentence. And then again. And finally a third time, mouthing the words to herself.

"...Forming a permanent alliance...?" she asked in quiet disbelief. Ruri nodded slightly.

"From now on, we take orders from Nergal UE." she said grimly. Yurika blanched.

"And those orders are different from our previous ones, I take it?" she tried to sound nonchalant, failed miserably, and ducked her head. Ruri nodded again.

"I specifically asked to be assigned the duty of weeding out the remaining Martian Successor strongholds because it would allow a covert search for him as well." There was no need to clarify who the "him" in question was. "But the military has other ideas."

"We were part of the military once, Rurichan." Yurika snapped harshly. "They took my ship, made us all fugitives, carelessly toyed with the lives of my crew, and worst of all, they lied to all of us."

"I'm well aware of that." Ruri replied calmly. "And I have taken that into consideration while going over our options."

"Then what do you need me for?" Yurika cocked her head in her patented "I'm clueless" manner.

"Tell me what you'd do." Ruri gestured to the file containing the Nadesico's new orders, still hovering unassumingly at Yurika's shoulder. "Would you follow orders, go AWOL again out of principle, or neither? The situation applies to you especially."

Yurika began to read again, brow furrowed in deep thought. Ruri watched her silently. She had already formulated a rough plan in her mind, but she wanted Yurika's input. Not only because she was her former captain and still commanding officer, but for an assurance that she could not have described if called upon to. No matter how successful she became, Ruri had never been able to shake the fear that her movements were too predictable, too readable, like a computer. Creativity and random genius had never been a weak point for the blue-haired captain, however, and besides that, Yurika would have a vested interested in the outcome of the Nadesico's new mission.

At that moment, Yurika flicked off the window and lifted her head, flashing a smile that was perhaps a trifle too brilliant to be believable. "We can do both," she said simply.

A rare smile twitched at the corners of Ruri's mouth.

Well done. Omoikane chimed in.

"Call a general meeting." Ruri told the computer, which beeped in response. Instantly, an SD Aestivallis was delivering the message to every crewman aboard ship.

Megumi and Minato, chatting as they often did when they were incredibly bored, were surprised by the commotion going on down the medical hallway. Megumi's interest peaked when she saw four crewmen wheeling a cot out into the hall, but Minato was more interested in the person following sheepishly after it.

"Yukina!" she began menacingly, marching over to her surrogate sister. "What did you do?"

"Um... well...I... see... Erina... and then she..."

"Spit it out!"

"She ODed on aspirin." Ryoko remarked casually as she walked by. ("AND GOOD RIDDANCE!" the author interjects.) "Guess that means the seminar is canceled." She paused thoughtfully halfway down the hall. "Too bad." Somehow, she didn't sound all that sorry.

"Is it even possible to overdose on aspirin?" Megumi asked, confused.

"It's possible to overdose on orange juice if you down as much as that woman did." Seiya commented self-righteously as he passed the three women in the same direction as Ryoko. Minato laughed nervously.

"He's joking, right?"

Somehow, he didn't sound like he was joking.

"Poor Erina..." Megumi said, but in all honesty she didn't sound all that sorry.

"Don't worry." Gort Holy* said, appearing unexpectedly from an unknown direction. "It wasn't fatal."

*Damn!* thought Megumi.

"Minato." Holy bowed his head slightly and disappeared into another door a ways down the corridor. Minato blinked and silently wished he wouldn't sneak up on her like that. Then a slight movement caught her attention and she turned back to the matter at hand.

"Yukina..." Minato started again as the girl tried to slink away.

"It's not my fault I only called her a shrink!" Yukina yelled right before a window popped up right in her face.

Please come. The screen read as a bunch of pixilated Aestivallis walked across the bottom. Yukina went crossed-eyed trying to read it up close.

"What's this?" Minato asked.

"A broadcast at 14:00?" Megumi read. "That's in fifteen minutes. What's happened?"

Yukina took the opportunity to escape.

******

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

*POP*

Yurika (clad in bunny suit): Welcome to the "How and Why of Nadesico: Fanfic Version!" I'm Tenkawa Yurika!

Ruri: I'm Hoshino Ruri.

Ines: And I'm Ines Fresange. Today we will be discussing the recent merge of Nergal Heavy Industries and the United Earth Federal Forces....

Yurika: And what that's going to do to our mission!

Ines: Correct. You see, due to recent economic developments stemming from the delays in the Hisago Plan and the destruction of the Amaterasu colony, the United Forces was losing vast amounts of money to rebudgeting. Even though the immediate threat from the Martian Successors has been nullified with the recapture of the Martian Artifact and the surrender of their official leader, several branches of the Successors remain fully active. They are biding their time and looking for a weak place to strike. In light of that knowledge, Nergal and United Earth have joined forces to prevent the impending economic crisis.

Yurika: So, simply put, that means the military will be issuing our paychecks?

Ines: True.

(pause)

Ruri: Bakabaka.

Ines: Also, the information that the Martian Artifact causes cell mutation has been leaked to the general public by an anonymous source...

Ruri: ...Named Akatsuki Nagare...

Ines: ... And the people of Earth have decided to return the Artifact to its native Mars.

Yurika: Generous of them...

Ines: As all of you know, the cell mutation allows ordinary people such as the Admiral, myself...

Yurika: ... And Akito!

Ines: ...And other A-class jumpers to boson jump. While the people of Earth would welcome such jumpers, they are not too eager to become those jumpers themselves, in effect proving that....

******

"I'm confused." Harry said, staring at the colorful screen with a blank expression. "I thought Ines-san wasn't on the Nadesico."

"She is an A-class jumper-- I'm assuming she can go wherever she wants." Saburota answered, sticking his blond head over Harry's shoulder.

"AHHH!" Harry shrieked, all the windows in his dome vanishing with his loss of concentration. "Don't DO that!"

"Jeez, Harry, you act like you have something to hide." Saburota said slyly. "Besides, I thought you knew Ines pretty well."

"NOT LIKE THAT YOU PERVERT!" Harry yelled.

"Sure, whatever." Saburota answered, completely unimpressed, and returned to his seat while Harry fumed and everyone on the bridge stared. On the screens, Ines cleared her throat.

******

Ines: Now that I have your attention again, I will let the captain explain our new mission.

Ruri: Thank you. In short, our new mission is to bring the Artifact back to Mars.

"Waah???" was the collective response from the crew of the Nadesico. Ruri paused to allow the information to sink in.

Yurika (in an utterly scripted manner): Could you explain in more detail?

Ruri: Certainly. The general idea is that using a chulip from the Serandala colony, the Nadesico will boson jump back to Earth. Since the Artifact cannot be transported, we will manually guide it to Mars. Once there, we will continue to guard and study the Artifact under the guidance of a selected scientific team-- of which Ines-san is the head-- while we await further orders.

******

"So that's why she's on the Nadesico!" Harry announced triumphantly. Saburota shot him a look and Harry stuck his tongue out at him.

Precisely at that moment, red lights began flashing overhead and the alarms sounded throughout the entire ship.

******

* Gort Holy: I realize his name is most often spelled Goat Hory but I like Gort Holy better. Even though Gort is still a stupid name at least it's not as bad as Goat and Holy is an infinite improvement over Hory. So sue me. Besides, in Japanese "l" and "r" are interchangeable, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch. And if you come right down to it, it's my fanfic and I'll call him what I want.

******

"What's going on?" Yurika asked as she followed Ruri onto the bridge.

"We're being attacked from all sides!" Harry reported, frantically typing commands in several different windows.

"But who is it?" Megumi slid into her seat, wincing slightly as the siren blared directly over her head.

"Unknown." Harry said shortly, raising a new window.

"Bring up a data analysis." Ruri's calm voice broke through the tension building around Harry. "Distortion field up. And please put a picture on the main screen."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded, his fingers rapidly moving over his keyboard. What came up on the screen revealed a fleet so vast that it practically filled the window. A silence settled on the bridge as everyone waited tensely for Ruri's orders. Everyone but Yurika, that is, who seemed preoccupied.

"Aestivallis, stand by." Ruri commanded, magnifying the window until she could make out the ships clearly.

"Ready." Ryoko's window popped up next to Ruri's left arm.

"All set and ready to fly!!" Hikaru chirped, her face appearing on the captain's right.

"'When the time to perform is present, the time to prepare is past.'" Izumi quoted. Ruri paid little attention to them as Harry's analysis opened in front of her just as the main screen finished zooming in.

"That's a Jovian ship, isn't it?" Minato asked, exchanging looks with Megumi.

"Well, that doesn't seem right." Saburota's window appeared obnoxiously in the center of the main window. "The Jovian government has no reason to want to stop the Nadesico."

"It's not just Jovian ships." Ruri ignored Saburota's placement and addressed everyone who could hear her, turning the main window's view a few degrees to the left.

"That's the Sunflower!" Megumi cried unexpectedly. "What's a United Earth battle cruiser doing here?" she sounded frantic.

"I thought they wanted us to take the Artifact to Mars." Minato said. "Why are they trying to blow us up?"

"That's not the only question." Prospector added as he entered the bridge. "According to my data, the Sunflower is currently undergoing repairs in the New York spaceport."

"Megumi, try to establish contact with them," Ruri ordered. "Find out what they want."

"All I'm getting is static!!!" Megumi was near tears as she watched the Sunflower try to break through the Nadesico's distortion field.

"Minato..." Ruri began, but Yurika chose that moment to break out of her paralysis, practically diving across Harry to reach Ruri's console and giving him a rather interesting view in the process. Not that he was looking or anything.

"LAUNCH AESTIVALLIS!" she screamed. "NOW!"

"Yurika-san..." Ruri began in shock, but the blue-haired woman was already pressing the launch buttons and the Aesti pilots were only too eager to do their jobs.

"Roger!" Ryoko's window vanished.

"It's a go!" Saburota also disappeared.

"Go-go-go!" Hikaru recited cheerily.

"Go-go-Boots!" That from Izumi, who then promptly began humming "These Boots Were Made For Walking."

The distortion field flickered as the robots broke the barrier; luckily, the Nadesico did not take any crucial hits at that time. The four pilots then began to chatter easily amongst themselves while they gleefully went about the task of destroying enemy drones. Though no vital damage had been done, Ruri could not understand why Yurika had endangered the ship like that. She turned back to the admiral, who was still punching buttons.

"We're about to be boarded!" she cried frantically. "Clear the hangar!"

Ruri and the others had little time to wonder if their third admiral had gone crazy like the last one before Harry cried out, "Boson jump detected, deck twelve! It's inside the ship!"

"Clear the hangar!" Yurika yelled once more before she vanished. Ruri, though startled, was quite positive she had seen Yurika's face glowing long before she had jumped.

The sirens went off once more.

Deck Twelve damaged. Omoikane reported. The main window switched scenes just in time to show a way-too-familiar Aestivallis blow a hole through the side of the ship and launch itself at the distortion field, debris and spare parts from the hangar floating off after it into space.

"Seal off the Aestivallis hangar!" Ruri told Harry shortly, her IFS beginning to glow as she connected with Omoikane. "Preparing to drop the distortion field."

"What?" Minato, Megumi, and Harry all shouted.

"Captain, if you drop the distortion field..." Harry began.

"No time to explain." Ruri cut in as the field dropped. Instantly the ship was bombarded with laser fire. Ruri hit the communications button on her arm pad. Immediately, Ines appeared in a small window to her left. "Ines-san, prepare to jump the Nadesico to Earth's moon."

"To Earth's moon?" Eyebrows raised, she regarded the silver-haired captain curiously.

"Yes." was Ruri's only reply.

"All right..." Ines' window went down. Ruri hit a second button without another moment's hesitation.

"Admiral, please report to the observation deck for a class three emergency." Since she didn't know Yurika's location, her announcement blared over the intercom, temporarily silencing the sirens that were giving Megumi a headache. The Aestivallis that had blown a hole in the hangar was busy wreaking havoc on other parts of the ship. Miraculously (perhaps), it had not yet damaged any of the Nadesico's vital systems. However, smaller systems were going out all over the ship and the robot was making a dreadful nuisance of itself.

"What are we going to do about that Aestivallis?" Harry asked, completely oblivious to his companions' confusion. "We could take it out with one blast from the starboard thruster cannons."

"No." Ruri replied calmly. She watched silently as her ship was pummeled, waiting for Omoikane's scans to tell her how many ships they were up against. She knew she was taking a risk by leaving the distortion field down, but it would cut the scan time almost in half. If Yurika could still bring herself to jump the Nadesico, they only had three minutes until they would be gone. "Pilots, return to the ship." she ordered, and shut off the communications system so that she couldn't hear their exclamations when they saw the alien Aestivallis destroying the Nadesico's exterior.

******

"Akito..." Lapis's blank eyes stared at the nothingness in front of her, but her mind was thousands of miles away.

"I know." Akito answered tonelessly.

"Should we go?"

"Not yet." Akito paused, letting his nanomachines boost the original power of the Aestivallis. The IFS in his hand glowed much brighter than it had when he had first begun his reluctant piloting, in part because of the strong waves of bitterness, anger, and despair sweeping over him. Lapis automatically adjusted to accommodate for his mental state, but was surprised that he did not order her to go even after his robot had reached full power.

"They're preparing to jump." she commented cautiously. "If we don't go now, you'll miss them."

"Not yet." Akito said again, softer this time. He pressed his lips together until they showed white around the edges. This isn't me, he wanted to yell at Lapis. You sit there and plan for my moods like it's nothing. But it's not me. I'm not like this!

And still he waited. His hand clenched around the control sphere in his Aestivallis until the knuckles turned white and shook with the pressure, but he still waited. Lapis sat still and said nothing.

******

Yurika jumped into the hangar just as the intruder appeared. As she observed the situation, her thoughts were focused on one thing: No more funerals.

"I won't let Ruri do all those services!" she yelled passionately, rushing towards the blue and black throng gathered in a corner. The engineers, all attempting to flee for their lives, were crowded around the far door. At the moment Yurika reached Seiya's side, the Aestivallis ripped a hole through the Nadesico's exterior and vanished out into space.

The setup was actually as close to perfect as if she had planned it herself. Men can survive for 13.5 seconds in the vacuum of space, and since all the engineers had latched on to other engineers to keep from being swept into space after the Aestivallis, Yurika only had to grab one of them and jump to save them all.

******

So far her luck had held out, but when she reappeared on the observation deck with a bunch of engineers bawling like babies in tow, only to find Ines waiting for her with space jumping equipment, Yurika quailed. Memories flickered through her mind; bittersweet ones of when she had tried to turn back time and Akito had stopped her and then he had kissed her for the first time and then the war had ended and they went back to Earth and watched Gekigangar and then they got married except all of that was gone because the Successors had shot Akito down and kidnapped him and done horrible terrible things to him... Before she knew it, she was hyperventilating.

"Yurika." Ines said, as if sensing her inner turmoil. The change from subconscious psychobabble to that rational voice was so much for Yurika that she almost didn't notice that Ines had called her by name. She couldn't remember that happening ever before. Surprisingly, that thought calmed her down considerably. Still...

"I can't... I can't concentrate that much. I can't jump the Nadesico." Yurika stammered, but Ines took her hand and looked her straight in the eyes while she hooked the jump-boosting equipment to her head, brushing the blue hair away in a motherly fashion.

"You need to do this, Yurika." she said in a calm, soothing voice. "You need it to help you get over the trauma of the past three years." Seeing that her explanation was still unconvincing, Ines added, "The captain has taken down the distortion field. If you don't help me then Ruri and Megumi and Minato and everyone else will die."

In actuality, Ines had jumped the Nadesico before and was quite capable of doing it again-- but it would tax her strength to such a degree that she would be of absolutely no use should an emergency arise in the next few weeks. And besides, what she had said was true. Yurika needed an outlet for all her fears and pent-up emotions or she may end up doing something she would deeply regret.

Taking a deep breath, Yurika nodded her assent and clasped Ines' other hand. The glow already surrounding Yurika grew to encase Ines as well.

The engineers went back to cowering in the corner.

******

"Lapis... go." Akito said. Lapis leapt into action immediately, but knew that it was too late to rendezvous with the Nadesico C. She was tempted to scold him for his cowardice, but suspected from his mood that there was a purpose in the delay in his bosom jump. So she hid her disappointment from him and let him have his way.

******

Harry had had about enough. First new orders that he didn't understand had come in, and then they had been randomly attacked by the biggest fleet he had ever seen, the admiral that everyone on the ship emulated so much had apparently lost her mind right before his eyes, the communications officer Megumi was crying bitterly at her console, some strange Aestivallis that could have been easily destroyed was being allowed to have playtime with the Nadesico's hull, and the Captain was watching the enemy destroy her ship as if she were playing solitaire. And then, as if that wasn't enough, the universe had to go throwing in yet another factor that everyone seemed to understand but him.

"Captain!" Ryoko cried, her window popping up two inches over Harry's head. "Look at this!"

For the first time since Harry had known her, the Captain looked truly stunned. She had been surprised before, and even shocked, but this was the very first time he had ever seen her looking like she had no idea what to do. Quickly, he turned to the main window to see what was so surprising that even the Captain didn't know what to make of it.

All he saw was a ship that looked slightly familiar in a sort of deja-vu sense. Harry cursed the universe. The true implications of what was happening only hit him when Minato whispered, almost in awe, "That's the..."

And Ryoko answered in an irritated, confused shout. "That's the original Nadesico, dammit! You know, the one that's supposed to be in dry dock indefinitely?"

And then Harry recognized it. Still, the full impact of the legendary ship's appearance was lost on him until he saw energy gathering in its center.

"They're firing their beam cannon at us?!" he yelled incredulously. A red emergency window popped up in front of him. Great, more unexpected twists. "Boson jump, three o'clock!" he announced.

Ruri opened her mouth to speak, but before any sound came out the bridge began to glow.

******

On the observation deck, the jump was going as planned. Then Ines felt a familiar presence jumping into a space nearby. Yurika felt it too; her eyes snapped open, widening so much that the white showed all the way around.

"Akito!" she exclaimed softly, losing her concentration.

Had Ines not have kept the image of Earth's moon in her mind and her grip on Yurika's hands so she could draw from her energy, the Nadesico C would have failed to make the jump.

But even though the jump was a complete success, as was Ruri's plan, almost everyone was left in the depths of depression. Especially Yurika, who cried because she had missed Akito by a fraction of a second, Megumi, who cried for a reason yet unknown to everyone, and Prospector, who cried because the damage the Nadesico had sustained was going to make a major dent in his budget.

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