Beyond the Clestial Cradle(Language, Violence, Blood, Gore)

Chapter 2

Walthari sat down on the bed in his room, he had requested rather spartan living quarters because if he was going to die soon, he didn't want to take the luxury from someone else. He looked at the picture on his table and chuckled, "Well I guess that it's time to take these out." Walthari stuck his finger in his eyes and extracted the colored contacts. He blinked as he looked in the mirror at his naturally brown eyes, he hadn't seen his natural eye color in hundreds of years, "Killian is right, I do resemble Frederick." Killian's voice spoke up, "I know, Walthari, it's good to see that your eyes are back to their natural color again. How are you holding up, brother?" Walthari turned to see Killian leaning against the doorframe, "Honestly, better than I thought I would, I mean I've already gone through depression, anger, bargaining and denial, acceptance is the final phase, but seeing everyone else out there, watching them look sad over me is honestly... depressing."

Killian nodded, and thumbed towards the door, "Come on, bro, we haven't spent any time together in over two hundred years, outside of that one war." Walthari shook his head, "Killian, I'm waiting for Elbereth to get here." Killian folded his arms, "Elbereth and Yoshiro are going to be out on their date for several more hours." Walthari sighed and looked at himself in the mirror, he looked more tired than usual, even though he didn't felt like it, "Killian..." Killian moved from the doorway, "Come on, Walthari, we're twins, yet you and I haven't spent any length of time with each other outside of wars? If I'm going to be losing my twin brother in a matter of months...." Walthari interrupted Killian, "Weeks, Killian, my condition progressed." Killian nodded, "Walthari, that's more the reason you should come and spend some time with me. You're dying and I'm sad and it sucks, but, wouldn't you be more at ease if you knew that you spent some time with me?"

Walthari nodded slightly, and stood up, "So what do you want to do?" Killian thumbed towards the hallway, "Well why don't we do the time honored tradition for Lupines and drink?" Killian shook his head, "Using alcohol as a coping mechanism will prove to be disastrous for you, Killian. Why don't we do something else, huh?" Killian nodded slightly, "Well, want to grab a bite to eat?" Walthari thought about saying no, he wasn't very hungry, but instead he nodded, "Sure, why not?" Killian nodded and the two Lupines walked out of the room, as the two of them walked towards the lift, Killian asked a question, "Hey, bro, why do you have such spartan living quarters?" Walthari sighed, "I wish people would quit asking me that, I'm dying and don't want to rob someone of their luxuries, that and when I trained with Master Erasmus, I didn't have quite the luxuries that I was accustomed to, being the adoptive son of Minako and Akira."

The two Lupines entered a lift and Killian spoke up, "Deck eighteen please." The lift started moving and Killian sighed, "Can't believe this shit..." Walthari placed his hand on Killian's shoulder, "Hey, I'm not dead yet, brother. I'm still here and you still got time to spend with me." Killian nodded slightly, "I know, brother. Believe me, I know." The lift doors opened and the two Lupines stepped out into a large cafeteria, Walthari looked confused, "This isn't the military mess hall." Killian nodded, "You're not military anymore, not officially. So you have to eat in the civilian cafeteria." Walthari nodded and got in line for some food, he grabbed a plate and piled up a lot on his plate, despite the fact that he wasn't hungry. Killian chuckled, "Slow down, brother, you're going to throw up." Walthari shrugged, "I'm dying, remember. I'm going to want to enjoy food as long as I can." Killian nodded and looked around, when he spotted someone he tapped Walthari on the shoulder, "Follow me."

Killian led Walthari to a table where Minako and Akira were sitting, "Mother, Father, are these seats taken?" Minako looked up at him and smiled, "Of course you can sit down..." The moment Minako saw Walthari place his plate down, she stood up and hugged him tightly, "Walthari, I want you to know that you'll always be my son. I love you and I always will and if you need anything, I promise that I'll be there for you." Walthari hugged back, he didn't show any emotion, "Mom, you gave me a chance at a childhood where I wouldn't be a berserker and you even supported my decision when I chose to become a Monk. You and Dad have given me something special, something to treasure with me in my last days. The two of you are great people and I love you both. I would like to eat though."

Minako nodded and let go of Walthari and allowed him to sit down, Walthari immediately started eating slowly, to savor each and every bite, "This is great food, my compliments to the chef." Walthari took a drink of water, Akira looked at him and sighed, "Walthari, how can you be so calm about this?" Walthari shrugged, "Dad, you know that this would be a possibility when you adopted me, Ranulf told you. I remember that much. Master Erasmus gave me the techniques that I would need to dull the pain and keep myself calm. I'm dying and it sucks, I know. But the way I see it, I could spend my final days making things better for other people, or I could spent them throwing a hissy fit. I choose to make the lives of others better, it's what I was taught to do." Akira nodded slightly, "I understand, if you need anything, you know that you can come to your mother and I." Walthari nodded, "I know."

Killian picked at his food and Minako looked at him, "Walthari, dear can you let me get to Killian?" Walthari nodded and stood up, moving out of her way, Minako going over to Killian and hugging him, "Killian, what's wrong?" Killian sighed, "It's just all of this that's going on, my own twin brother is going to be taken from me. It's just..." Minako frowned, "Walthari, can Killian stay with you?" Walthari shook his head, "Killian deserves better accommodations than I currently have to offer him. I'm living in very spartan living quarters." Minako frowned, "Walthari?" Walthari looked at her, "Mother, when I first became a monk, I had to learn to live without certain luxuries, but I did manage to learn to do so. Killian, you should stay with Mom and Dad for a while, I promise I'll come visit when I'm not in the recreation deck."

Walthari heard Elbereth walk over, "If you will excuse me, I have to go with Elbereth." Akira nodded slightly and Killian looked at him, crying, "Walthari, why?" Walthari closed his eyes, "Killian, please heed my words. Do not weep for the dying, it makes it harder for us to go peacefully. I love you and I always will, you're my twin brother." Elbereth frowned slightly, "Killian, do you want to come with Walthari and myself, you seem a bit shaken up about all of this." Walthari extended his hand to Killian, "Mom, if it's alright, I'd like Killian to join us." Minako nodded and let Killian go, Killian stood up and took Walthari's hand, "Alright, brother." Killian wiped his tears and the three of them started to walk towards the exit of the cafeteria when Killian looked at Walthari, "Where are we going?" Walthari nodded in acknowledgement, "You'll see when we get there, Killian."

Chapter 4

Yoshiro sat in the gym on the ship and he sighed as he took a look at his spotter, "Hey, you got me?" She nodded and Yoshiro laid down on the table, "Place eighty kilos on the bar and hand it to me, will ya?" The Lupine nodded and did as Yoshiro said, Yoshiro started to bench press the weight, counting with each repetition, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Alright, that was too easy add five more kilos." The Lupine nodded and Yoshiro started bench pressing again, "Alright, that's more like it. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten." The Lupine chuckled, "I never seen a Kitsune exercise like this before." Yoshiro chuckled as he started his third set of ten reps, "Well Erna, as you know, I was raised with a pair of Lupines. Alright, ten. Done with the third set." Erna took the bar from him and Yoshiro shook his arms a bit, "Got to keep myself in shape, you know."

Erna nodded as she watched Yoshiro get up and walk over to the treadmill, "So, how fast do you plan on running this time." Yoshiro looked at the buttons on the machine and turned it on, "I think I'm going to jog today." Yoshiro set the machine to sixteen kilometers and hour and started to jog on the machine, Erna laughed, "Normally you run on these machines, what's wrong?" Yoshiro continued jogging, "I'm getting older, Erna. I need to take things lighter." Erna laughed, "Says the one that did eighty-five kilos back there!" Yoshiro set the machine to twice the speed he was currently going and started to run on the machine, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest to keep him going, "So coach, how long do you want me to keep up this run, huh?" Erna shrugged, "Alright, smartass, go for ten minutes."

Yoshiro closed his eyes and started to meditate as he ran at his normal top speed, he knew that if he went for a full sprint, he could get another sixteen kilometers an hour out of his muscles, but even this was a good strain. He focused on trying to block out any sort of pain or soreness in his muscles. The ten minutes went by quickly and Erna started to slow down the machine gradually so that Yoshiro could slow down to a stop. Once he did stop, he opened his eyes, "Alright, time for the sparring." Yoshiro and Erna walked to the sparring arena and Yoshiro grabbed a practice sword off the wall and put on some practice gear, before walking into the arena where a fellow Kensei was standing.

Yoshiro assumed a defensive stance and the two Kensei moved in a circle, putting each other at a threat, but Yoshiro made the first move with a feint, the younger Kensei moved out of the way, allowing Yoshiro to bring his sword across the side. The training sword hit the other Kensei and the younger one tapped where he got hit and the two of them returned to their neutral positions, this time the Kensei was the one to make the move, the two of them attacking and parrying for a few brief seconds until Yoshiro decided to move back and swing at the same time at the Kensei's arm. The Kensei tapped his arm and sighed slightly, "You're better than me at this." Yoshiro smiled, as they returned to their neutral position and Yoshiro made the first move again, this time leaving himself seemingly open deliberately, as a feint, but the younger Kensei didn't notice this.

Yoshiro smiled slightly under the mask that was protecting his face, but suddenly the intercom crackled to life, "Captain Miyamae." Yoshiro got distracted for a split second, "Yeah?" The younger Kensei saw an opportunity and went to attack Yoshiro who moved out of the way and struck him in the neck with the training blade, "Put down your sword. It's rude to attack someone in a sparring match while they're talking to someone else." The voice spoke up, "You should come to the bridge soon, sir. We've arrived at the system in question, also we have reports from the infirmary, that Walthari is currently in there, after having passed out." Yoshiro sighed and took off his mask, "Sorry, kid, I gotta cut this session short, you almost had me that second round by the way." The younger Kensei nodded, "You can challenge me at any time, Yoshiro." Yoshiro nodded with a smile, "Train harder and you'll be my equal someday."

Yoshiro put up the training gear and walked to the locker room, before putting on his naval attire, he pressed the button on the intercom, "Bridge." Freja's voice spoke up, "Yes, Yoshiro?" Yoshiro sighed slightly, "I'm going to go to the infirmary, I gotta check up on my little brother, do a system wide scan, let's see if we can't find anything of significance in this system before we move onto the next one. Report to me if you find anything." Freja's voice spoke up, "Alright." Yoshiro nodded slightly and turned off the intercom, before heading out of the gym and down the hall. He was thankful that the infirmary was on the same deck as the gym, because they sometimes used a gym for physical therapy. Once there, he knocked on the door, and the head nurse looked at him, "Captain, you must be here for Walthari." Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah, I'm here to see him." The nurse nodded and led him into a room where Walthari was sleeping on a bed and both Killian and Erasmus were sitting next to him.

The nurse looked at him, "I don't know if you're aware of this, but Walthari only has two weeks left to live, Captain." Yoshiro was slightly surprised, but didn't show it, "I understand." Killian looked up at him, "Yoshiro, you're here." Yoshiro nodded, "Yes, I am, when I heard about this, I came straight here, instead of going to the bridge. When do you think he'll wake up?" Erasmus sighed, "He's always been my best student, but right now, I don't know, the doctors say that he's in the earliest part of the final stage, which means he'll be waking up in about an hour." Yoshiro nodded, "The system scan should be done by then. So, mind if I wait in here, Master Erasmus?" Erasmus shook his head, "Not at all, Yoshiro." Yoshiro sat down in a chair next to Walthari and looked at his adoptive younger brother, it hurt him deeply to see him like this, but, he knew for a fact this wouldn't be the last time he'd see his brother like this.

Chapter 6

Yoshiro walked onto the bridge of the ship and straightened out his uniform, he didn't quite know what was going on, but he knew that the news couldn't exactly all be that good if he was to be called up for it. His security officer looked up at him, and he saw Yoshiko standing next to her, "So what's this I hear about multiple readings in the sector." The security officer looked at the panel in front of her, "Sir, I only told you of two readings." Yoshiro nodded, "With life signs on the second planet from the sun in the system, I remember. This constitutes multiple." Yoshiko nodded and pressed a button on the console in front of her, the image transferred to the main screen and Yoshiro looked at it, Yoshiko frowned, "The Menschilche reading is a bunch of missiles." Yoshiro looked at the reading, "Missiles, how long has it been since the Menshcilche used those!?"

Seth spoke up, "Before I was frozen, I remember learning about Menschilche history, the last time that my people fired missiles was... over fifteen thousand years ago." Yoshiro blinked, "These missiles have been in transit for over fifteen thousand years!?" Seth nodded, "Second law of motion, an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by another force, usually an equal and opposite force. In the vacuum of space, there is no force to act upon them aside from gravitational pull, since these missiles are moving at sublight speed, they were probably fired from a not so distant star system and only recently entered this one." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "So what are you saying?" Seth shrugged, "Well even if they are not on a collision course with any planet in this system, we can not let them go. Since they will keep their momentum and since there is nothing to deteriorate the warheads in the missile, they are not only live, but dangerous. They pose a clear threat to any system in their path."

Yoshiro nodded, "I figured that, but we don't have any point defense weapons on this vessel, which means that anything we fire will become a potential threat to inhabited worlds somewhere down the line." Seth shook his head, "Energy weapons dissipate in space. Sure a minute amount of energy will reach the worlds in question, but it will not be enough to cause any lasting damage or harm." Yoshiko frowned, "I thought that there wasn't going to be any combat." Yoshiro nodded, "There still isn't, all that will happen regardng these missiles will be to prevent them from doing any damage to anything in their path. I'm not about to start up a war with the Menschilche over this, it would be entirely unwise to do so." Yoshiko frowned slightly, but the doors to the lift opened up again, Walthari walked out, "What's this I hear about a bunch of missiles." Yoshiro sighed, "Walthari, go to my ready room, I'll talk to you later."

Walthari nodded and walked to the ready room and Yoshiro pointed to the strange reading on the unknown planet, "What's this?" Yoshiko frowned, "I tried to help cross reference the draconic database, but I only got an answer of what kind of ship role that ship had. It's a destroyer. It's a miracle that it's still relatively intact down there, something must be preserving it. There aren't really any energy readings... Yoshiro, I've never stepped foot on another planet than where I was born besides Verbana. I would like to be part of the team that goes down there." Yoshiro nodded slightly, and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, you said where I was born. I'm proud of you. Listen, there's only one way that I can get you onto the mission to go down there and explore." Yoshiko nodded, "What's that?" Yoshiro smiled and placed his hands behind his back and stood up straight, "Yoshiko Misawa, I hereby as captain of this vessel, give you the rank of Acting Ensign, do you accept?"

Yoshiko frowned, "What do I have to do?" Yoshiro shrugged, "Just a formality really, you don't have to do much of anything that you're not already doing. I mean... it's really up to you." Yoshiko smiled slightly, "So I'll get to explore the alien planet and observe the life on it and see what's on that ship with the rest of the team?" Yoshiro nodded, "I'll be going to. Freja, Killian, yourself and a few others will be tagged to explore that ship alongside me. It'd be a lot easier and we'd cover more ground as a few groups exploring the ship and finding out everything about it, than we would as just a small group on our own, so I'll have a couple of other groups exploring it." Yoshiko hugged him, "Thank you, Cousin." Yoshiro returned the hug and pat her on the head, "You're welcome, cousin. Now go get ready." He looked to the communcations officer, "Contact, Killian and Freja as well as security teams two and three and tell them to meet up in the hangar bay, I have to go talk to Walthari for a moment."

Yoshiro broke the hug with Yoshiko and walked into his ready room where he saw Walthari playing with a puzzle that the humans came up with, Yoshiro chuckled a bit, "So this is how you spend the remainder of your time, playing with puzzles." Walthari sighed, "I'm not going to bullshit, my condition got even worse and now, I'm looking for my final grand battle. These missiles aren't exactly a great achievement in Lupine history, but... it'd be better than nothing." Yoshiro walked over to his chair and sat down, "Walthari, what are you proposing?" Walthari sighed, "I remember how you had Zero-G Mechanized Armored Combat Vehicles created." Yoshiro sighed, "You mean the bipedal variant?" Walthari nodded, "I figured that you would lead a group of men into battle using those so that we could stop the missiles, I'd go with you of course." Yoshiro nodded, "Walthari, we're already planning on taking out the missiles, but, before you go, I would like you to come with me."

Walthari blinked slightly, "What do you mean?" Yoshiro stood up and turned around to look outside his window, "You cannot tell me that you would die satisfied if you did so without seeing what the sky looks like on an alien world." Walthari sighed, "You got me there, Yoshiro, so when do we leave?" Yoshiro sighed, "There's going to be a briefing today in the hangar bay, tomorrow, we'll be over the second planet of this system, we'll be leaving in the morning." Walthari nodded, "So you want me to go to the hangar bay?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Alone, no, I would like you to accompany me there, brother." Walthari nodded and stood up from his chair, "Alright, I think I can do that for you, older brother." Yoshiro turned around and smiled, "Thank you." He walked by Walthari and wrapped his arm around his brother's shoulder, "So shall we get underway?" Walthari nodded and the two of them walked out of the room.

Chapter 8

As the shuttles landed on the surface of the planet, Yoshiro sighed as he wore the hyrdo armor. He closed his eyes slightly as he stood up and placed his hand on the door. He looked back, "You all know your jobs, right?" Elbereth and Walthari nodded as Killian placed his helmet on, "Right, I'll be going with the second group, making sure that they're alright, Walthari, would you like to come with me?" Walthari nodded slightly as he walked over to his brother. Yoshiro opened the door and was shocked slightly to notice that the grass was entirely blue, he heard of bluegrass before, but this was something entirely different. He went to go touch it, half expecting something bad to happen, but it acted like normal grass, so he picked a blade up and sniffed it, it smelled like much of any other grass that he had encountered.

Elbereth chuckled, "It should be alright, Yoshiro, I know this is your first time on an uncharted world, but we don't have a lot of time." Yoshiro laughed at that, "I know, my love. Yoshiko, are you going to come with us or go with the Lupines?" Yoshiko frowned, "I'll come with you, if that's alright." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "That's good to hear." He walked over towards the body of water that held the ship that they were going to go into and explore, but curiosity got the better of him. He took his gloved hand and dipped it into the water, it immediately felt cold, but he brought some water up to his nose and sniffed it, it smelled exactly like water. He sighed and laughed, "It feels good to be out here, exploring an uncharted planet. It's the little things in life that give me hope. Anyhow, honey are you sure that you'll be fine with only that wetsuit?"

Elbereth nodded slightly and walked into the water, her fins started to grow out of her body, this process still amazed Yoshiro, despite the fact that he too could shapeshift, he watched as gills formed on his wife's neck and smiled, "I guess I have my answer." Yoshiro placed his helmet on and when he heard the seal form, he smiled and walked into the water, diving into it when he was deep enough. He reached behind him and grabbed the controls for his hydropack. Though the armor was heavy enough for him to withstand a few blows, it wasn't quite heavy enough to cause him to fall to the floor of the lake, so he started swimming and looked back as he heard several splashes behind him. The communicator in his helmet crackled to life, "Yoshiro, can you read me?" Yoshiro looked forward, "Loud and clear, Killian, what's up?"

Killian's voice spoke over the communicator, "Just checking to see if these things work. Would suck to have them not work when we need them." Yoshiro laughed slightly, "Isn't that the honest to our grandmother truth." Killian and Walthari laughed over the communicator, Yoshiro watched as he caught up with Elbereth who was pointing towards a metallic object, Yoshiro nodded and the two of them swam towards it. Elbereth swam straight up to the object and placed her hand on it, Yoshiro could see her try to figure out what it was, and he swam up beside her, placing his hand on her shoulder and shaking his head. Elbereth's cheek fins started to twitch slightly and Yoshiro nodded, looking towards metal. As he ran his hand along it, he felt the seam of an airlock, he wondered how he was going to get it open.

He started to look for anything that would get it open, but suddenly something opened up and he backed off, a bit apprehensive. However, he watched as he was scanned, however, he heard an unknown language speak from whatever it was. Elbereth pushed him aside slightly and let it scan her instead, when it did, it spoke in perfect common, "Unknown species detected, brainwaves do not match Menschilche patterns. Draconic and Menschilche technology as well as unknown technology detected, tell me, why do you want access to this vessel." Yoshiro spoke up through his helmet, "We're explorers from a world called Verbana." The voice spoke up, "Your brain is unscannable, cannot tell if lying or being honest." Killian swam up to it, "Listen, what he says is true, we're explorers from a distant world, we came here to see what was on the planet." The voice was quiet, "You are honest, Verbanan. I will let your group into this vessel."

Killian and Elbereth swam out of the way as the airlock opened up, all thirty people climbed into the surprisingly spacious airlock. They were amazed that the water was being drained and when it reached chest level for them, they removed their helmets and Yoshiro watched as Elbereth's fins started to go away as did her gills. When the water was completely drained, the airlock's other exit opened into the ship and they noticed that it was running on emergency lighting. Yoshiro walked into it first and suddenly an orb appeared, reminding him of the draconic base back on Verbana, "You are the unscannable one, you will not be out of this unit's sight." Yoshiro shrugged, "Killian, you take your group and explore the lower decks of the ship, see what you can find out about how the people of this species lived on these ships."

Killian nodded, "Alright brother, anything else?" Yoshiro shook his head, "We're already not trusted, if we were to try something funny, whatever is running the ship would have us killed quickly." Killian nodded again and motioned forth, "Alright guys, let's go below this deck and see what we can learn." The orb scanned Killian, "He is going to do as you ordered to do, I am curious, why this ship?" Elbereth spoke up, "Because it's the first of its kind that we've ever encountered, is there anything that you can tell us about this ship?" The orb started moving down a hallway, "If you will all follow me, I can show you to where you can get all of those answers and more." Yoshiro looked at Elbereth and shrugged, "Alright, let's move out and follow this orb." Though he wasn't thrilled to do so, he led his men in the direction the orb went.

Chapter 10

Killian descended into the completely flooded sections of the strange ship, he had no idea what Yoshiro had gone to do or what Yoshiro had found out, all he knew is that it was hard to see down here, so he turned on his lights and what he saw gave him a surprise, there was a skeleton in the water, floating. It seemed to have been perfectly preserved, this made him even more curious about what was going on, but he felt Walthari's hand on his shoulder, and heard Walthari's voice, "I know that you're thinking about me right now." Killian shook his head and touched the Skeleton, "This corpse's flesh didn't deteriorate, the flesh was stripped from the bone, something ate the flesh of whoever this was." Walthari nodded as he saw the familiar marks of a person's corpse being eaten and sighed slightly, "Alright, let's move on."

Killian continued onward through the corridor of the ship, however he came to a partially open double door, he sighed slightly as he noticed there was an incomplete skeleton in between the doors, "These people didn't have any time to get out of here, the doors became deathtraps to them. What's odd is that they look like stockier human skeletons. Hey, Walthari, help me open this door, will ya?" Killian grabbed one door as Walthari grabbed the other and they pulled the doors open, Walthari looked into the room there, what he saw turned his stomach upside down, there were little skeletons floating in the water. Killian placed his hand on the visor of his helmet, "I think I'm gonna be sick." Walthari nodded, "I concur, this isn't a sight that you ever get used to. If children were here, then this means that this was a colony ship that was only armed for self defense purposes. Whoever these people are, they were trying to set up a colony in this galaxy."

Killian walked over to the table in the middle of the room, "I can't believe this, how many people were on this ship... how many lost their lives, whether to whatever brought the ship down, the collision, or by drowning to death." A seemingly random soldier spoke up, "This is what they get for picking a fight in the first place." Walthari looked at the soldier and walked over to him, "What's your name, kid." The soldier looked up at him, "I'm not a kid! I'm a full fledged Kitsune Soldier." Killian nodded, "I suspected as much, you were here to keep an eye on Yoshiro, be the liaison for the Kitsune Military. It's why I dragged you along with my group. Why did you join the military?" The soldier frowned, "My name is Kazuki, and I joined because the original wanted me to defend the planet, be a hero like Yoshiro." Killian shook his head and pointed to the skeletons of all sizes floating in the water, a tiny one floating as he pointed, "See that?"

Kazuki nodded, "Yes, I do." Killian growled, "Do you understand what it means, Kazuki!?" Kazuki nodded, "These people picked a fight that they cannot win." Killian shook his head and Walthari coughed a bit, before looking at the Kitsune, "This is what war does, war kills innocent people. This as far as we know was a colony ship and it was blown to hell because their leaders wanted a war, do you honestly believe that these civilians wanted this!?" Kazuki looked down, "No, not really." Walthari sighed, "There may be hope for you yet, kiddo. Anyhow, before Killian and I or any of us start throwing up in our helmets, I think we should go rendezvous with the others." Killian chuckled and placed his hand on Kazuki's shoulder, "Look, you're not a bad person, just all you knew about is growing up and joining the military under the tutelage of someone that wanted you to be part of the military."

Killian turned back around, "You guys can go back if you want, I'm going to keep pushing on ahead, there's something that I want to know." Walthari nodded and Kazuki frowned, "I'll come with you, Killian." Killian nodded, "You may not like some of the things that you will see." Kazuki nodded, "I understand, but I can learn and though it's never too late to start, I should start now, right?" Killian nodded and used the hydropack to move to the far door, however it had been sealed shut completely by something he couldn't tell, "You got a plasma torch?" Kazuki looked around, "What do you mean?" Killian sighed, "Nevermind." He placed his hand on the door and closed his eyes, he concentrated on what he desired to do and Kazuki watched as bubbles formed violently around Killian's hand, without causing harm. Killian slowly moved his hand around the frame of the door and sighed as he opened his eyes, "Hopefully, there isn't another like that, I'm out of mana." Kazuki blinked, "That was magic!?"

Killian laughed and pushed the door open, the door effortlessly fell to the floor, "Forgeblood, myself. Walthari there is a Warblood, and the person you were tasked to watch is a Sunblood." Kazuki nodded slightly, and Killian swam through the door with Kazuki close behind him. After about what felt like twelve minutes of swimming, Killian reached a surprisingly open room. Something in the middle of it seemed like it was heavily damaged, he flipped on his communicator, "Hey, Bro, can you hear me." Walthari and Yoshiro both replied with an affirmative, and Killian sighed, "I want to talk with Walthari." Yoshiro apologized and shut off his link, Walthari chuckling a bit, "What'd you find, brother?" Killian looked around with the lights on his helmet, "Well, from the looks of it, I found the reactor core of the ship. It's a lot bigger than most reactors."

Walthari's voice spoke over the communicator, "Killian, you shouldn't worry yourself too much about what it was for. This was a colony ship, remember? Colony ships require massive reactors to make the colony work long enough for it to become self-sustaining. We're one of the oddballs in that we don't set up far reaching colonies. Come on back, brother." Killian nodded and sighed slightly as he swam back towards the entrance, "Well, Kazuki, I hope you learned something." Kazuki nodded, "That the horrors of war cannot be truly measured until we see it for ourselves." Killian blinked, "That was good, but not quite the one I'm looking for. What I was mentioning is that no matter how old you get, you always seem to find something new and you're always learning about things." Walthari cleared his throat, "Killian, your communicator is still on." Killian sighed and turned off his communicator, "Alright, Kazuki, let's go meet up with the others." Kazuki nodded and followed Killian as they swam back towards the corridor they used to get down here.

Chapter 12

Yoshiro stood outside of the shuttles, he was several dozen meters away, wearing his formal uniform so that he would look the part of a captain. He grabbed the pendant that he always wore around his neck through his clothing and sighed, "Katriina, I wish to speak with you." Katriina appeared before him, her ethereal form shimmering slightly, "You know, it's awkward seeing you like this, you're living the dream you've always had, you're exploring new worlds and you're meeting with new civilizations. Yet here you are, the saddest person around." Yoshiro arched a brow, "You kidding me?" He thumbed towards the shuttles, "Killian over there can't stop crying his eyes out, I've never seen him so down in his entire life." Katriina nodded slightly and looked around, "So, the grass is blue, huh? Sorry I wasn't with you down there. I could tell that they were psionics."

Yoshiro nodded and looked at the blue plains, he sighed slightly, and turned away from her, "Being a psionic void, I'm immune to their probing, but no one else was and I'm sure that they would be able to sense you." Yoshiro placed his hands behind his back and stood up straight with a slight smile, "You never appreciate the beauty of a sunset until you see it on another world..." Katriina nodded her head, "Well, to be fair, being dead has become a lot less boring with being able to speak to you and all." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "That I can agree with, I cannot possibly imagine how you felt for around four hundred years, constantly trying to contact people, but not being able to do so." Katriina nodded, "Yes, but I saw that you and your family were happy, and that made me happy, even during the times you fought, I was there, with my hand on your shoulder, trying to comfort you."

Yoshiro nodded, "So, what's next?" Katriina blinked, "Excuse me?" Yoshiro chuckled slightly, "You were always the one with the plan, Katriina. You were always a step ahead, even when you were killed, you had known what Fumio was going to do." Katriina nodded slightly, "I know, but it still got me killed. But I've already seen your plan, which is a good plan, however..." Yoshiro arched a brow, "However?" Katriina sighed a little, "Yoshiro, there is no scenario in which you both save this world and come out unscathed, you have to pick one." Yoshiro looked up at the sky, "There are five point seven million people on this planet, an unknown number of indigenous lifeforms and all of these plants. Their need is to survive the day after tomorrow, what I need doesn't matter, but what I want coincides with their need." Katriina nodded, "When you walked down a new path, I was afraid that you had changed completely, but it is good to see that in a way you are the same Yoshiro that I met all those years ago."

Yoshiro nodded slightly, "I vowed to stop killing when I could, I'm tired of it. I don't want Alvina to have a great-grandfather that's a killer and I don't want my half-dragon granddaughter to grow up looking at her grandpa as a killer. It's why I've been modifying my weapons to be non-lethal, so that I won't have to kill anyone anymore." Katriina smiled slightly, she placed a hand on Yoshiro's shoulder, Yoshiro didn't feel it though, "Yoshiro, I've always loved you like you were my little brother, but now you're growing into something that none of us had foreseen, perhaps Yoshiko and Reiko have had an influence on you?" Yoshiro nodded slightly, "To be fair, the blood of my Mom and my Grandmom flowing through my veins helps as well. It's just... I don't know how to explain it, but I've always had an aversion to killing. I've heard stories about my Dad, but the only time I saw him in action was during the civil war."

Katriina nodded slightly, and Yoshiro's ears twitched as he heard someone walk towards him, the scent of a sea elf reaching his nose. He started to loosen his grip on his pendant, but Katriina shook her head, Elbereth's voice spoke up, "Yoshiro, this is where you've been, I've been worried about you." Yoshiro turned and nodded, trying to hide the ghost of Katriina from her so as not to scare her, but Katriina revealed herself anyhow. Elbereth blinked, "Katriina?" Katriina nodded, "So long as Yoshiro is holding onto that pendant, his natural mana flow will flow into it and reveal me to others. It's finally good for you to be able to see me again, Elbereth." Elbereth nodded slightly, this was a bit to take in, "Yoshiro, Killian and Walthari are on their way, we figured that we'd all have one final picture together." Yoshiro nodded, "That sounds good, Elbereth. That sounds very good, something to remember Walthari by that isn't a weapon or a keepsake."

Katriina smiled slightly, "The sight of you two makes me very happy. The two of you have always been perfect for each other." Elbereth blushed, "Katriina!" Yoshiro laughed slightly, but a sorrow started to creep its way into his heart, he felt sad, though he tried to hide it. Both Elbereth and Katriina noticed it. The two of them frowned at him, however before either of them spoke, Killian's voice spoke up, "Yo! Yoshiro!" Yoshiro instinctively let go of his pendant, because he didn't want Walthari to see a ghost and be worse off than he already was. He turned around to look at Killian, "I'm here, brother!" Yoshiro tried to mask the sadness that he felt from appearing in his voice, but he wasn't exactly the best at doing it. Walthari walked out from behind Killian, "Hey, Yoshiro, thank you for sharing a drink with me."

Yoshiro nodded as the four of them lined up, facing towards the shuttles, where the guy that was going to take their picture was. Yoshiro folded his arms and tried to look determined, but his tail and ears betrayed his true feelings. Walthari stood to his left, and tried to stand up straight, but he was too tired to do so. Elbereth, though standing on Yoshiro's right, grabbed onto his left arm and looked into his eyes, looking worried, knowing that Yoshiro was truly and deeply saddened at the fact that Walthari was going to die. Killian stood to the right of her, and held onto his helmet while looking away, wearing the plated under armor of the hydro armor. The picture taker pressed a button and four hologram emitters popped out. He handed them to all four of them and Yoshiro sighed slightly, "Let's enjoy this sunset, come nightfall, we return to the ship..."

Chapter 14

The day of the operation had arrived and Yoshiro ran into the hangar bay without hesitation. Those that had volunteered were with him, in the locker room as they were putting on their Extravehicular suits. Yoshiro's was personalized for a reason and he placed the helmet on his head, hearing the hermetic seal form. He looked at those that were gathered here, his own son, Bjarni, Basilio, Seth, Elbereth, Lilah, Walthari and a few dozen others. Yoshiro nodded silently and all of them understood, the lot of them walked out and separated as ladders were moved towards the cockpits of the Space Combat Exoskeletal Vehicles. Yoshiro gave a thumbs up to Walthari and climbed into his personalized mech which was modeled after a Fennikkusu. As he climbed into the cockpit, it closed and formed a seal around him and the displays came to life.

Yoshiro started to run a diagnostic as he strapped himself into the cockpit, he found that all of the weapon systems, from his dual Galantine Twin Blasters, to the experimental Laevatein laser installed on his mech were working fine, in addition to all other systems. He spoke on the radio as an exterior view came up in front of him, "Are diagnostics complete?" Everyone spoke an affirmative and Yoshiro worked the controls of his mech to make it leave the hangar, "This is Phoenix, I'm taking off!" Yoshiro's mech darted out of the hangar and he turned to see the barrage of missiles that were hurtling towards the planet as he heard everyone else report that they were taking off as well, Walthari and Lilah stayed close to him as the others spread out a bit, Yoshiro speaking into his radio, "Helm, give us a status update, how long do we have before critical failure?"

Twenty minutes appeared on the display and started counting down, Yoshiro pushed his mech towards the missiles, "Open up with the Galantines, if you have to get in close and use your Alondite Close Combat system, be extra careful." Yoshiro watched as a crosshair appeared on his screen and he gripped the trigger as he started to take aim at one of the missiles. When he had a full lock, he squeezed the trigger and the missile broke apart. Suddenly, his vision was obscured partially by weapons fire from everyone else. Several dozen missiles quickly broke apart, Yoshiro knew that the small fragments entering the atmosphere were harmless. Seth's voice spoke over the radio, "At our current rate of acceleration, we're going to have to engage the missiles at close range."

Yoshiro sighed slightly, he knew this to be true and he set up his mech's controls to follow that of his left arm. He snapped his fingers and then he grabbed the Alondite's blade off his mech's belt and ignited the energy field around it. He smiled slightly and took aim at the first missile, slashing clear through the warhead and causing it to break apart. He caused his mech to move under another missile and slashed at another one as his radar alerted him to the fact that someone had been hit by one of the missiles and both they and the missile were now gone. Yoshiro closed his eyes slightly and sighed, he never got used to this, but they had a job to do. Yoshiro continued the assault until they exited the other side, unfortunately losing nine mechs in the process. Basilio spoke over the radio, "Dammit, this is something that hasn't changed!"

Yoshiro turned his mech and switched back to the Galantine blasters, flipping a switch and opening up the chest lens as the solar panel wings opened up. He started to fire at the Missiles, along with the others, they destroyed more and more of the missiles, but it seemed like they would keep going. He looked at his mission clock and his heart sank deep into his chest, they still had many more missiles to go, but had spent the last fifteen minutes trying to destroy them. He was scared, but was also determined. When the solar energy hit a full one hundred percent, he switched over to his Laevatein laser and pulled the trigger, turning his mech slowly as he destroyed missile after missile, as the others fired and destroyed all of them, but one. Yoshiro sighed, "I need time to recharge, everyone else?"

He got nothing but affirmatives and relegated himself to watching the timer count down, however Walthari's voice spoke up, "I got just enough power to do this, limiters disengage! DISREGARD THAT! OVERRIDE DAMMIT!" Yoshiro turned his head back, "Walthari!? What are you doing!?" The readout from his mech stated that Walthari had grabbed onto him, "I'm giving you and your mech a much needed charge." Walthari howled and Yoshiro closed his eyes, "Thank you, Walthari." Walthari chuckled, "Don't thank me, just yet!" Walthari's mana flowed into Yoshiro's mech and Yoshiro felt it flow into him, suddenly Walthari's mech let go and Yoshiro hit the overboost on his mech, pushing it beyond the max acceleration, as he sped towards the missile, seconds counting down, he heard Walthari's voice speak up, "I traded my future to give all of those people a future... don't let me down, big brother."

Yoshiro's mech sped past the missile and he turned the mech, forcing it to accelerate towards it, "Disengage Mana limiters." The AI in his mech spoke up, "You do know that." Yoshiro yelled into it, "Disregard and override!" The AI spoke up, "Limiters disengaged." Yoshiro closed his eyes and started to flood every drop of his mana and the mana that Walthari had given him, through his suit and into the mech itself, "Maximum amplification. Override any safety protocols." The AI didn't speak and Yoshiro opened his eyes, extending his arm, which extended the mech's arm, he formed a barrier of light in front of his mech, and the missile slammed into it, detonating. The missile broke apart, and Yoshiro dropped the barrier, feeling drained. He figured his mech's shielding would be sufficient for a trip through the debris.

He spoke tiredly, "We won, we..." Tsuyoshi's voice spoke up, "Dad! Look out!" Tsuyoshi's warning was too late, immediately there was a damage readout to his mech, but that wasn't the worst part. The shock of the impact sent Yoshiro's face into the panel, causing a sharp pain in his left eye socket. However, that wasn't the worst of it as he didn't even get enough time to yell out in pain from the first one, as he felt a sharp pain go through his right shoulder. He screamed loudly in pain and felt the fabric of his EV suit form a seal over something, which caused him more pain. He grabbed at where his arm was, and found nothing but the fabric of the EV suit sealed over the stump, and he felt his own blood. He hissed in pain, "This is Phoenix, I need... I need an... immediate... medivac..." The darkness ate away at his vision and soon it overtook him.