Beyond the Celestial Cradle

[Akira110]

Disclaimer: This is a sequel to Cosmic Whispers and the sixth story in a series starting with One Girl in All the World, read the series first before reading this if you want the entire story.

Prologue

Two Weeks after the events of Iron Will March

Yoshiro looked around at the newly constructed bridge of his converted vessel, he ran his hand across the paneling on the chair, "They even got the material right." Yoshiro smiled as he sat in the chair and saw Seth sit next to him, "Captain, you look a bit nervous." Yoshiro looked out of the viewport to see all of the stars out there, "I am. I'm not going to lie about that. But you're not my first officer, Seth." Seth looked at him, "Then who is." A Kani spoke up, "Permission to come aboard, Captain?" Yoshiro turned back to see Seija and smiled slightly, "Permission granted." A Mus spoke as well, "I'm not getting any younger, so permission to accompany you on this journey." Yoshiro smiled and stood up and opened his arms, the Mus walking into them and the two of them hugged each other, "It's good to see you, Freja." Freja nodded, brushing her now gray hair out of her eyes, "You're starting to show your age, my old friend." Yoshiro laughed slightly, "I know, Five hundred and eighty-five years since I was born. Since you're here, I assume that your daughter owns the throne."


Freja nodded, "Of course." Yoshiro sighed slightly and straightened his uniform, "Well, there's one guest of honor that needs to be on this vessel, before we get underway." Yoshiro watched the door as a very specific Sea Elf walked onto the bridge, "Yoshiro, my love." Yoshiro walked over to the Sea Elf and hugged her, before kissing her, "Elbereth, it's good to see you again. For once, we can be in the same place at almost any time." Elbereth nodded slightly, "Are you sure about bringing civilians onto this ship, I mean, you have a habit of attracting trouble." Yoshiro nodded, "Yes, I'm sure, my love. This is an exploration ship, not a military ship. Plus, we're not going to be going into or even near Menschilche territory." Elbereth nodded slightly as an adult Neko spoke up, "Geez, Mom and Dad, I swear that the two of you are always worrying about something. Aunt Kasumi, Yoshiko, where do you want to go?"

Yoshiro broke the hug on Elbereth and hugged Krezsentia, before kissing her on the forehead, "It's good to have you aboard, my daughter." Yoshiko looked at him, "So, you're not going to do any war, no killing here." Yoshiro nodded, "I promise, Yoshiko. You have my word." Katsumi shook her head, "I'd believe that a lot more if you didn't have Lilah and the Lupine twins here." Yoshiro sighed, "Excuse me, can I speak to my twin sister, alone." Everyone nodded slightly and Yoshiro walked to his cabin, "Come with me, sis." Yoshiro entered the cabin and sighed slightly as he walked over to his desk and sat down, he looked at his twin, though the two of them were twins, Kasumi had red hair and green eyes. He sighed slightly and clasped his hands together, "Kasumi, what do you know of Walthari's condition?" Kasumi looked at him, "Nothing, in all honesty." Yoshiro looked up at the ceiling, "He's dying."

Kasumi gasped slightly, "I feel bad for mocking him earlier." Yoshiro pointed at the door, which Walthari was standing at, "You can apologize to him yourself." Kasumi looked at him and as soon as she opened her mouth, Walthari looked at her, "Don't bother, I've already forgiven you, sis. Yoshiro, thank you for allowing me to be one of the first Lupines to go into deep space. At least I'll be able to see the stars before I die." Yoshiro nodded, "How long do you have to live?" Walthari sighed, "According to the doctor, the moment I go berserk, I drop dead regardless. But, I have a month or two left in me before I die. So you want to get this journey underway or what?" Yoshiro smiled softly, "Well, we need to get the rest of the people onto the ship and the supplies as well." Walthari nodded slightly, "I just can't believe that this is all happening. I'm going to go stay with Killian and my wife, if you need anything, you know where to reach me."

Yoshiro nodded solemnly, "I know, little brother. Hey bro, it's good to have you here." Walthari nodded slightly, "Brother, I've not said this for a long time, and I don't know if I'll get the chance to again. I love you, you made my life a lot better. Even though I was a berserker, you never gave up on me. When Takeshi blamed me for the death of his wife, you defended me. I want you to know that I'll never forget everything that you've done for me, even in death." Yoshiro nodded, "Walthari, I love you too, you are, and always shall be my little brother." Walthari gave him a thumbs up and walked out of the room as Kasumi looked at him, "So, are you still mad at me?" Yoshiro shook his head slightly, "Just sad in all honesty. I know Mom and Dad are on the ship and I know they want to be near their adoptive child in his last moments." Kasumi sighed, but a beeping interrupted her, Yoshiro pressed a button and a voice spoke over the radio, "Everyone is on board and the ship is fully supplied."

Yoshiro nodded and stood up, "We'll talk later, alright, sis?" Kasumi nodded slightly as Yoshiro walked out onto the bridge and looked at Freja, "Can you patch me into the entire ship?" Freja nodded and opened a channel to the entire ship, "Channel open, sir." Yoshiro sighed slightly, "I'm not going to lie to you all, I'm not good at motivational speeches, so I'm just going to tell you all the truth. We are going to be the first Verbanan ship to go out into deep space and explore previously unexplored parts of our galaxy. Over the past fifty-five years, new alliances have been forged and a once thought extinct species has been found again. All members of this Galactic Alliance have representatives on this vessel. The journey will not be a short one, we expect to be out there for at least a couple of months, though we have supplies for a year and a half. I have no idea what we will find out there in the galaxy, but I do know that every one of us will go down in history for this, I will make sure that no one's name is forgotten."

Yoshiro sat down in his chair, "When I was born, Verbana had just earned our freedom, as I grew up, we reverse engineered Menscilche technology. Thanks to my discoveries fifty-five years ago, we have been able to create our own technology using draconic designs as a basis and under their watchful eyes, we have become a much better group of people." He turned to the helmsman, who was a young Elvish male, "Release the docking clamps and take us out of space dock." The Elvish male nodded slightly, "Yes, sir." Yoshiro stood up and walked over to the viewport, he watched as the ship moved out, "Alright, set a course for the Bardron system. Let's test our new engines." The Helmsman nodded, "Aye, sir." Yoshiro lifted his hand up and pointed towards the star system, "Engage."

[Akira110]

Chapter 1

Yoshiro sat in his ready room, they had been traveling for about a day and he had been hard at work trying to figure things out. He knew that there would be another day of travel left and he sighed as he rubbed his temples. He placed his datapad down and sighed, "I thought I'd be done with all of this [censored] when I joined the expeditionary force, but no. I gotta jump through just as many hoops as the [censored] military!" He stood up and Lilah spoke to him, "Who are you talking to?" Yoshiro looked out of his window, "No one in particular, I'm just frustrated." Lilah nodded slightly, "You should go spend some time with your wife, you know that there's an aquarium on the ship, right?" Yoshiro nodded, "I know, Klaartje." Lilah looked at him, "How do you know my real name?" Yoshiro looked towards her, "Your mother told me your real name. I promise I will not tell anyone if you don't want me to." Klaartje nodded slightly, "Good."

Yoshiro walked to the door, "Perhaps you're right, I need to relax, I mean I'm already starting to go gray." Yoshiro left the room without hesitation and walked to the lift at the back of the bridge, "Seija, you have the bridge." Seija responded, "Alright, Yoshiro, take care." Yoshiro nodded slightly and entered the lift, he spoke on his communicator, "Elbereth, can you meet me in the aquarium on deck seventeen?" Yoshiro didn't get a response, but he set the lift to deck 17. It was a short trip and Yoshiro sighed slightly, as he walked out into the recreation deck. He was still amazed at how much like a city that it looked, there were parks, with artificial sunlight and a slew of other things. However, he walked straight for the aquarium. When he arrived at the door, he realized that he was still in his uniform, "In such a hurry to relax, I forget to change into my civvies... oh well."

Yoshiro stood there for about fifteen minutes, watching people go in and exit as he waited for his wife, before she finally came down, wearing an elegant dress. Elbereth walked over to him and kissed him on the lips, "You need to relax a bit, honey. You're getting overly stressed." Yoshiro wrapped his arm around her shoulder and placed his hand on her opposite shoulder with a smile, "I know. That's why I'm coming down here, Elbereth, so I can relax with you." Elbereth nodded as the two of them walked in, "So... is there a place that I can swim?" Yoshiro nodded, "Fresh water or salt water?" Elbereth leaned her head against him, "You know I'm a saltwater Sea Elf, honey." Yoshiro laughed, "And when has that stopped you from swimming in a fresh water river?" Elbereth smiled, "You have a point, my love. I'm glad this date will be better than our old one."

Yoshiro and Elbereth walked past some tanks, which held some aquatic wildlife in them, the two of them watched closely as the fish swam around, they were beautiful and the whole scene was relaxing, Yoshiro looked at Elbereth, "Remember when we used to sit on the shore during the sunset and just watch the suns go down?" Elbereth nodded slightly and looked up at him, "Of course, my love. I'd love to do that again, someday." Yoshiro smiled, "Why don't we do that on a planet other than Verbana, it'll be just like old times, but on a different world." Elbereth rested her head against his shoulder, "That sounds nice, Yoshiro. Do you think that we'll find life out there?" Yoshiro looked up, "It's a big galaxy, I'm sure we will. I don't think we'll find sapient life, but I'm sure we'll find some sort of life."

Yoshiro nodded slightly, and looked around, "What other fish do you want to see." Elbereth looked to her side, "Walthari's here, Yoshiro." Yoshiro nodded, and the two of them walked over to Walthari, who was staring at an eel found in the oceans near Verbana's equator. Walthari looked at them, "Hey, Yoshiro, can I talk to Elbereth?" Yoshiro nodded, "Of course." Walthari sighed, "Alone, Yoshiro." Yoshiro nodded again, "Alright." Yoshiro let go of Elbereth and kissed her one more time, before leaving the two to talk, Elbereth looked up at Walthari, "What is it?" Walthari folded his arms, "You know that I'm dying, yes?" Elbereth nodded slightly, "I know." Walthari looked down, "The doctors have told me that my condition has worsened." Elbereth nodded, "Why don't you want Yoshiro to know?"

Walthari sighed and leaned against a wall, "Elbereth, the man has enough on his plate already." Elbereth nodded and Walthari winced as pain shot through him again, Elbereth hugged him, "Are you, alright, Walthari?" Walthari shook his head, "Far from it, I've been in far more pain recently." Elbereth nodded and frowned, looking up at him, "How long do you have to live?" Walthari looked at the eel once more, "Three weeks if I'm lucky, though the doctor says that the more likely scenario is that I'll die in fifteen days." Elbereth sighed, "You seem unusually calm about this?" Walthari closed his eyes and nodded, "I know, I'm using techniques taught to me by Erasmus to keep the pain dulled without relying on my berserker rage. As for why I'm accepting of it? It's an inevitability, we're all going to die someday. It's something Yoshiro is constantly reminded of, day in and day out."

Elbereth nodded slightly and frowned as she looked to the glass, "So, why else did you want to talk to me about?" Walthari hugged her, "Listen, Elbereth, I need you to keep this a secret between us, alright?" Elbereth nodded and Walthari rested his muzzle against her shoulder, "There are many things I know that I will not get to do, many things I want to see. But one thing I want to do is go to a sea elvish music concert and I thought that you would be the best person to set that up in the Hologram Room." Elbereth nodded slightly, "Can we do that later, Walthari? I want to finish my date with Yoshiro." Walthari let go of her and nodded slightly, Elbereth watched the Lupine walk off, amazed that he could walk, despite being in so much pain. She sighed and walked back to Yoshiro, so that the two of them could finish their date.

[Akira110]

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 [censored]..." 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."

[Akira110]

Chapter 3

Walthari, Elbereth and Killian all found themselves in the Hologram Chamber, Elbereth walked over to the computer on the wall, and spoke into it, "Excuse me, can you give us a traditional sea elvish concert?" Suddenly they found themselves on a beach, Walthari was amazed at the fact that he could feel the sand underneath his paws and he could smell the ocean air, but he could also feel that this was being done psionically, rather than by any other means. Killian looked around, "This technology is amazing." Walthari nodded slightly, "Yes, it is." Elbereth nodded, "Yes, we're the only ones here by the way, I didn't want a crowd to be here, oddly enough when my husband tried this room, he couldn't get any other sense than sight and hearing, he could see everything, but couldn't smell, taste or feel it." Walthari nodded, "Yoshiro is immune to all forms of Psionics. He's what is known as a Psionic Void, this chamber works with psionics to make us feel like we're really there, when we're still on a ship."

Killian sighed, "Well, it does a good job of making everything feel real and wondrous, it's an amazing piece of technology." Elbereth placed a finger to her lips, "Shhh, it's starting." Walthari watched as four sea elves walked onto the sand and started to play their instruments, which were apparently made from sea creatures and objects found in the oceans. Walthari listened to the music carefully and one of the band members looked at him in particular, Walthari walked forward and spoke to the computer, "String instrument, something with a bow attached to it." Suddenly a violin appeared in his hands and Walthari walked up to the band and closed his eyes, allowing the tune to flow through him. When he placed the bow to the violin, he started to play it along with the current players.


Walthari didn't open his eyes and only allowed his ears to go through with the tune of the music so that he could continue. The lessons he had taken from a human violinist had been paying off for the past fifty years and he was soon in a meditative trance while playing the violin. Walthari was happy for the first time in a long time, especially ever since he had been told that he was going to die. However the music made him feel like he was at peace and made him forget all of the things that were happening to him, soon, he was in his own little world just playing the violin to his own heart's content, in his mind, he was in front of everyone, playing alongside a sea elvish band, bringing some violin music to the concert. When he opened his eyes, he saw Killian standing there with his mouth hanging open.

Elbereth started to clap, "Walthari, that was amazing!" Walthari bowed slightly, "Thank you." He placed the hard light violin down and it vanished, "I took lessons from a human." A third voice spoke up, "Your music is beautiful, but, I see what lies within you. Please, Walthari will you take a walk with me?" Walthari became defensive at the Mus that he saw standing there, "What do you want with me?" The Mus smiled, "It's not what I want to do with you, Walthari, it's what I can do for you." Walthari nodded slightly, "Elbereth, go to Yoshiro, Killian, I want you to come with me, I don't quite trust this person." Elbereth nodded and left the room, the Mus however stayed, "Alright, I guess this room will work well, Walthari, you are aware of psionics, correct?" Walthari nodded, "Yes, I am. What does that have to do with anything."

The Mus sighed and looked at Killian, "Calm down, boy, I'm not here to harm your twin brother." Killian blinked, "But I wasn't showing any signs of..." The Mus shook his head, "I know the signs of aggression when I see them. Anyhow, Walthari, I'm what is known as a dreamweaver. I know that you don't have a lot of time left in this world, and unfortunately for you, your time is becoming ever shorter, but I can help you do some of the things that you want to do, effectively giving you twice the time." Walthari sighed slightly and leaned against the wall, "I honestly don't know what to say, it sounds too good to be true and there's obviously a catch." The Mus psion shook his head, "There's not a catch, except that for me to help you, I need your permission. I want to help you, personally, you see, I'm getting old myself and I think I'll be able to be at peace knowing I helped you out."

Walthari folded his arms, "I've already accepted the fact that I'm going to die." The Mus smirked, "But you are going to die with regrets. You have many right now, but not the time necessary to make amends for all of them." Walthari nodded, "I know that much, it sucks, but that's part of life. With all due respect, I don't quite trust psionics that much." The Mus sighed, "Very well, if you need me, I'll be around the recreational deck, it's sort of where I live these days." The Mus walked out and Killian looked at Walthari, "You should've taken him up on his offer." Walthari shook his head, "Other people didn't get the same offer, why should I be any different. I'm no more special than any of the countless trillions of have died thus far in known history." Another voice spoke up, "Wise words from my pupil, but, Killian is right, I don't want to see my student die with regrets that weigh you down as much as they do."

Walthari turned to see Erasmus standing there in his humanoid form, "Master Erasmus." Erasmus smiled softly, "Walthari, you were always my best pupil, out of everyone who has come to me, I've never seen anyone so dedicated to my teachings. You went from being a berserker, to the man you are now. How are the techniques that I taught you?" Walthari started to open his mouth, but a massive spike of pain tore through his body and he dropped to his hands and knees, breathing heavily, he felt like he was dying right now. Killian however rushed to his side, "Walthari!? Walthari!?" Walthari looked at Killian, he tried to speak, tried to tell him that everything was okay, but darkness started to eat away at Walthari's vision and no sound would come out. He felt Erasmus' hand on his neck and just before he lost consciousness, he heard Erasmus speak to Killian, "He's still got a pulse, it wasn't his heart. Help me get him to the infirmary."

[Akira110]

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.

[Akira110]

Chapter 5

Walthari awoke to see Erasmus and Killian at his bedside, "Brother, Master Erasmus. Where am I... this doesn't feel like the Hologram Room." Erasmus frowned slightly, "Walthari, you passed out, we had to bring you to the infirmary." Walthari nodded, his body was in pain at the moment, but he didn't care all that much, "Thank you, Master Erasmus." Killian looked at Walthari, holding a bottle with a clear liquid, "Hey, bro..." Walthari reached for Killian's face, "Killian, my twin, you need to relax and save your tears for when I'm dead. Like I said before, you're making it harder on me, not just yourself. Please, stop crying and for the love of all that is holy, stop drinking booze." Killian looked at the bottle, "Yoshiro said that he would beat me unconscious if I were to drink alcohol." Erasmus nodded, "It's just water, Walthari."

Walthari nodded slightly, "Alright, where is Yoshiro by the way, I can smell him." Killian sighed slightly and pointed to the other side of the room, where the window was, Walthari looked over, "Yoshiro, you seem upset." Yoshiro nodded, "Killian, Master Erasmus, can I have some time alone with Walthari?" Erasmus nodded and go up and left, Yoshiro looked at Walthari, "Now, Killian." Killian nodded slightly and walked out of the room to leave Walthari alone with Yoshiro. When both Erasmus and Killian were out of the room, Walthari tried to get out of bed, Yoshiro speaking to him about that, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Walthari sighed, "I have a limited amount of time to live." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "I know." Walthari recognized that there was bitterness in Yoshiro's tone, "Alright, why are you mad at me?" Yoshiro turned around, "Walthari, all you had to do was tell me that your time had shortened further. That's all you had to do."

Walthari sighed, "You have so much to do and so much on your plate already, I didn't want to burden you with all of this." Yoshiro shook his head, "You assume things. Walthari, how often do you think that I get warning about my friends dying, huh?" Walthari looked out the window, "Never." Yoshiro nodded, "Never, so do you think it would be nice if you were to tell me that you were dying faster, so that I wouldn't be wondering what happened when you died earlier than expected." Walthari nodded and sighed, "I never though of it that way, I'm..." Yoshiro interrupted and walked over to the bed, placing his hand on Walthari's shoulder, "No, I'm sorry, my brother. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, but you do know that having to find out like this hurts me a lot more than if you had just come to me and said, 'hey, I'm dying faster.' You know this, right?" Walthari nodded slightly, "I understand, bro."

The intercom crackled to life, "Sir, you might want to come to the bridge, we found two signatures in this system, one is Menschilche out near the third planet in this system, and the other is... unknown with life forms on the second planet in this system." Yoshiro nodded, and pressed the button on the wall, "Understood, thank you for telling me." He let go of the button and looked at Walthari, "You stay in bed until the doctor gives you the okay to get up, understand?" Walthari nodded slightly, "I understand, Yoshiro." Walthari was a bit upset, but knew that Yoshiro cared about him, he watched as the Kitsune walked out of the room and a Kitsune nurse walked into the room. The nurse looked at a datapad and at him, "The latest victim of the Berserker's curse, huh?" Walthari sighed, "I wish people would just call it adrenaline poisoning."

The nurse nodded slightly, "Walthari, I got some good news and some bad news." Walthari sighed, "Give it to me straight, ma'am." She sighed slightly, "The pain that shot through your body was muscular in nature, your muscles are starting to tear. In about a week, you'll be completely paralyzed, a week after that, your heart will give out and you'll die. Most berserkers generally have a grand battle to die before they..." Walthari lifted his hand, "I know about berserkers, I may have been raised by Kitsune, but I know about Lupine culture, thank you. Unfortunately there are no grand battles, all I want to know is if I have clearance to stand up and move about the ship." The kitsune sighed, "Listen, normally we wouldn't allow it, but being a Lupine Berserker, you get an exemption due to cultural reasons."

Walthari climbed out of the bed and used the table beside him to prop himself up, he felt slightly weakened, but also quite tired, "So when is my fatigue going to wear off?" The Nurse sighed, "When you finally get a good night's rest, when was the last time you slept?" Walthari looked up at the lights on the ceiling and closed his eyes, "Before passing out, I woke up last fifty-three hours ago." The nurse shook her head, "Mister Jaeger, you need to get some sleep or you'll not be awake enough to actually have a final fight." Walthari nodded slightly, "I'll sleep tonight, I just need to help my brother out with what he's going to be doing in this star system." The nurse sighed, "You remind me of Yoshiro, the two of you are the most stubborn people I've ever met in my entire life." Walthari chuckled, "Well, he is my older brother."

The nurse sighed, exasperated, "Just... just leave." Walthari nodded and walked towards the door, when next to the nurse, he placed his hand on her shoulder, "As a Lupine raised by Kitsune, I know how frustrating it can be when people do not cooperate. I'm sorry that I'm not the greatest person in the world, but I'm trying to get all of my affairs in order before I die. That's why I've not been sleeping." The nurse nodded, "That's admirable and understandable, but you really need to sleep, your body is already being pushed past its limits and you're harming yourself even further." Walthari nodded, "How about this, I promise that the moment I get to my quarters, I'll go to sleep." The nurse nodded, Alright then." Walthari let go of her shoulder, and walked out of the room, determined to head up to the bridge.

[Akira110]

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 [censored], 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.

[Akira110]

Chapter 7

Yoshiro stood in the middle of a briefing room with everyone that he had chosen to go down to the planet with him, including his wife. He hit a few buttons and a holographic projection of the planet showed up in the air thanks to multiple projectors, however, another signature showed up just beyond the moon of the planet, "Alright, everyone. Most of you who are here have been around since before we made it up to the stars, before we started to reverse engineer Menschilche technology. But aside from the human homeworld and perhaps a few colonies that are close to our own star system, this is the first time any of us will be on an alien planet. This one is truly alien." Killian nodded slightly, "I know we know little about it, but what makes it truly alien, brother?" Yoshiro pressed a few more buttons on the pad in front of him and a visual image of the planet appeared, "According to our scans, it has a breathable atmosphere."

Freja frowned slightly, this didn't really tell them anything, but she kept silent as she knew that he was going to continue. Yoshiro sighed slightly, "However, the grass on this planet is blue, the planets that we are used to, it also is unknown what substances make the grass have the color. However, life that seems at least somewhat similar to humanity lies down there, so feasibly, the planet should be able to sustain us. Anyhow, that is not our target." Yoshiro pressed a few more buttons and placed his hands behind his back as the image zoomed in on one of the oceans of the planet, "We do not have a visual confirmation of what this is, but we do believe that this is a ship that belongs to the race that had fought the Dragons and the Menschilche all of those years ago. Since this is a non-military operation, civilians will be able to come down to the planet with us if they so choose. Which is why I've invited my wife to come down here with me."

Everyone turned to look at Elbereth, who looked straight at Yoshiro, "According to these scans, it's at too deep a depth for me to swim down to on my own." Walthari nodded slightly and leaned against the table, "That's why we're taking the hydro armors down there, so that we'll actually be able to survive the pressure and be able to move in case one of the indigenous wildlife tries to want to eat something exotic." Killian shook his head, and Yoshiko started hitting buttons on her console, "Living creatures generally avoid the area that we're going to be operating in. I don't know why, but for some reason the only thing that is alive in this area are plants..." Seth walked in, "It's because of an energy signature that we didn't notice before, something is actively repelling the creatures, it seems to be similar to the technology that I've noticed in the draconic database, but is neither Menschilche or Draconic technology."

Yoshiro nodded slightly, as Killian spoke up, "So will we be able to get through this barrier?" Walthari felt a surge of pain go through his body and hissed as he gripped the table, his claws digging into it, everyone looked at him, but as the pain subsided he looked up, "I'm okay. Anyhow, if this is anything like theoretical technologies that we have talked about a hundred years ago, this basically operates on a psionic wavelength that affects non sapient creatures, it basically makes it so that instinctively avoid that area entirely." Everyone, except Yoshiro looked at him surprised and Walthari shrugged, "Did you people forget that I was trained by a Dragon? I know a lot about draconic technology, magic and how psionics work." Everyone nodded and looked up at the projection as it zoomed back out and focused on the missiles, Seth sighed slightly as Yoshiro looked at the report that appeared on his console.

Yoshiro closed his eyes, "The missiles that you see here were launched during the very temporary Draconic-Menschilche alliance. We've got an accurate reading on their course and unfortunately until they get within range of the planet will be difficult to destroy without posing a threat everything around us, including the planet down there. These missiles will not arrive in this planet's region of space for another three days, but I'm planning on dealing with these things personally in our new Space Combat Exoskeletal Vehicles. It'll pose a lot less danger to anything else in the system so long as we use them. Their warheads are still very much live and ready to go and unfortunately, they're on a collision course with the planet. Seth can give you more details than I can, so if you will please turn your attention to Seth."

Everyone looked at Seth who sighed, "The number of missiles and their payload would be sufficient to destroy a full sized Draconic Battleship. For those of you who are unaware, those ships are the largest ships this galaxy has ever seen. If the missiles are allowed to crash into the surface of the planet, well, a full impact would ignite the atmosphere and cause a class 6 apocalyptic event. In other words, it'll be a total extinction event on a planetary scale. Even only half of the missiles impacting will have enough force to cause a nuclear winter, which is basically where they throw enough material into the sky to block out the sun for the entire planet for an extended period of time. Best case scenario, this will be a class 4 apocalyptic event, worst case scenario would be a class 5. In short, either a good chunk of multi cellular life will be killed or all of it will. Even a single missile hitting the planet could cause an apocalyptic event as low as a class 0, which is merely a regional catastrophe."

Everyone at the table nodded, they understood how high the stakes were, but Yoshiro opened his eyes and looked at everyone there, before placing his hand on the table, "We were uplifted by the Menschilche thanks to our enslavement, some of you might have even been born before we were liberated. For the past sixteen centuries, we have been dealing with the [censored] the Menschilche have caused us, now is our chance to prevent a planet from having to do the same. Though this might have not been intentional this threat is very real, we have two days to explore that ship down there, on the third day, we need to be back on this ship so that we can actually deal with the threat of those missiles. Am I understood?" Everyone nodded their head and as they started leaving, Yoshiro sighed, and Elbereth looked at him, "So I guess you're ready now?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Not really, honey. But, this is something we have to do, here and now, I don't want us to become like the Menschilche..."

[Akira110]

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.

[Akira110]

Chapter 9

The orb led Yoshiro and his group into what seemed to be a waiting room, the orb hovered in the middle of the room and the voice spoke, "Sit down." Yoshiro sat down, and placed his helmet on the ground, he watched the others do the same and looked at one in particular, "I didn't expect you to come here, son." Elbereth frowned slightly, "I asked him to come." Tsuyoshi nodded, "To be honest, I was half expecting us to make contact with the indigenous people of this place, see if they were on a technological level that would warrant us making some sort of diplomatic agreement like a trade deal or an alliance." Yoshiro nodded and looked at the door, "I get the feeling that we'll be needing you soon."

Yoshiko looked at him, "What do you mean?" Yoshiro pointed around, "This is too well maintained to be natural. Someone is keeping this ship in this condition. Have you noticed that things that we've passed by continue to be working despite the fact that this thing is potentially tens of thousands of years old, someone is maintaining this ship." A voice spoke up behind him, "Very astute, newcomer, this vessel is around sixteen thousand years old." Yoshiro turned to see something that looked very much like a human, except the proportions were off, the chest was wider, the chin was smaller, and the nose was longer and wider. He also noticed that the limbs were shorter. Yoshiro became slightly defensive as a reaction, but the person shook his head, "You are ex-military, correct?" Yoshiro looked at him, "How could you tell?"

The man laughed, "You reacted like a soldier, reaching for your weapon. Relax, if we wanted you dead, you wouldn't have reached this chamber. Though you bear the technology of our uplifters, you are not their servants as you also bear technology of the Dragons. What species are you." Yoshiro relaxed slightly, "It is polite for one to introduce themselves before asking the identity of another." The man nodded, "Very well, I am Bjarni, I'm the leader of a sect of the Neanderthal race, known as the keepers. We keep our technology in this condition and ensure that our species isn't wiped out. You are unable to be reached psionically, so we cannot share the full impact of our knowledge with you." Tsuyoshi stepped forward, "I'll represent the Verbanan people, the man you are speaking to is my father."

Bjarni nodded, "Very well, what is your name?" Tsuyoshi kept a professional look about him, "My name is Tsuyoshi, sir. I'm an ambassador, and since this is a first contact of our peoples, it is only fitting that I fill this role here." Bjarni nodded and looked at Yoshiro, "Do you have any objections to your son coming with me?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Not really, I mean he's a grown man, that can make his own decisions." Bjarni nodded and walked towards the door, "Tsuyoshi, come with me." Tsuyoshi followed Bjarni down a hallway into another chamber, he didn't recognize the technology, but a female voice spoke to him, "So you are the chosen representative of the Verbanan People. Very well, let us begin." Suddenly it went dark and Tsuyoshi felt a pressure inside of his head, and the voice spoke up, "Do not resist as we are only showing you our history."

Tsuyoshi let go and he found himself floating above a snow covered planet, he saw the Neanderthals down below, doing their day to day tasks. However very soon, the Menschilche arrived and landed on the planet, Tsuyoshi knew about their deeds to the Verbanans, but he let the events play out. He watched as the Menschilche representative offered technology and knowledge to the Neanderthals, and showed them what he could do, it was almost an entirely different sight to what he had previously heard about these people. Time rapidly passed, he found himself wondering what was going on, as the Neanderthals quickly learned how to use the Menschilche technology and became a spacefaring race. Eventually though, the dragons attacked and then, the Neanderthals were pressed into service. Upon suffering massive losses to their numbers, the Menschilche leaders decided to exile them outside of the galaxy.

Tsuyoshi found himself floating among the ships, outside of the galaxy, he looked around himself. It felt cold, but he was confused at how he was breathing, but he didn't care.He watched as the ships eventually drifted into a wandering star system, insectoid creatures recovering the Neanderthal ships and the survivors. The two species forming an agreement and then working together. Time fast forwarded again, however this time, they were building a massive fleet. Suddenly though, Tsuyoshi found himself above the planet that he was currently on, the ship that he was on engaged the combined Draconic-Menschilche fleet, suffering massive damage in the process to the engines and it started to drift towards the planet. He noticed escape pods eject from the ship and land onto the planet, and then he turned to see a draconic ship pass by him to confirm the kill.

Suddenly he found himself back on the ship, in the present, the female voice speaking, "Your brain scans show that all is normal, you have adapted to the new knowledge quite well." Tsuyoshi took off his glasses and placed a hand against his head, it was hurting quite severely, "That's good to know. Is there a medical bay or something near here?" The female voice spoke up, "All facilities are available to the Verbanan peoples. The medical bay is just down the hall, if you would like to go there and sleep, you may." Tsuyoshi nodded and leaned against the wall, walking slowly and weakly towards the medical bay. When he reached a door that had a medical sign above it, he opened it up to see a female Neanderthal standing there, she grabbed him immediately and helped him onto the bed, "Don't worry, having that much information psionically transmitted to you hurts everyone the first time." Tsuyoshi nodded and placed his glasses on the desk near the bed, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

[Akira110]

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.

[Akira110]

Chapter 11

Walthari sighed as he sat within the waiting room, everyone was talking around him. He was glad that everyone wasn't giving him attention, but at the same time, he also knew that this was quite temporary. He stood up and tapped Yoshiro on the shoulder, "Hey, I think I'm going to go to another room, get a little bit of rest, alright?" Yoshiro looked at him and nodded, "Alright, brother." Walthari walked down the corridor until he reached one of the side rooms, he saw a female Neanderthal in the room, the female instinctively went to grab him and Walthari moved his arm as if to try to swat her away, "I'm not an invalid, not yet, at any rate." The woman nodded, "I know, but I can sense that you're dying." Walthari chuckled as he sat down in a corner, pain shooting through his body once more, the techniques that Erasmus had taught him were getting less effective at blocking it out.

Walthari sighed a bit and leaned his head against the corner, he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing down, concentrating on his center and focusing on reaching his inner sanctum. He felt himself become less and less aware of his surroundings, as he did so, the pain seemed to go away as he retreated into his mind. In his mind, he saw his family, they were standing there, back in centaur territory. He was happy to see them, but even here, he couldn't escape the reality of his situation. He opened his eyes to see Yoshiko standing there at the door and he sighed at her, "You should be with the others, Yoshiko. Do not worry about me." Yoshiko shook her head, "Walthari, I know what's going on and you shouldn't isolate yourself from the others just because you are dying, you're causing more pain for yourself and for others by doing this."

Walthari stood up and folded his arms, "So you've come to mourn my loss as well, before I'm even dead. I just want to die knowing that you guys weren't always sad during my last days, but you're always hounding me about this kind of thing." Yoshiko started to speak, but Walthari placed his hand up, "Save it, Yoshiko, you're much like Yoshiro was, when he was a kid." Yoshiko frowned, this struck a nerve, "I'm not Yoshiro." Walthari nodded, "I know, which is why I called you by your name and not his name. You're your own person and that's not going to change, not now, not any time soon. You've taken your own path, but some of his mannerisms still live on within you." Yoshiko nodded slightly, "I guess I understand, Cousin." Walthari nodded slightly, "I hope so. Look, Yoshiko, you need to relax a bit and let me do what I'm going to do. Okay?"

Yoshiko nodded and Bjarni walked into the room, the Neanderthal tossed him a bottle, "Here ya go, normally we don't serve this to ill people, but considering your circumstances?" Walthari chuckled and sat back down against the wall, "Ya got some more of this?" Bjarni chuckled and smiled, "What are you?" Walthari chuckled, "I'm a Lupine, boyo. We drink more heavily than this. So yer Neanderthals, eh?" Bjarni nodded and popped open a bottle of his own, he started drinking out of it, "This is some good mead." Walthari popped open the bottle and started to drink from it, "It's not bad, boyo. Tell me, why are you here?" Bjarni smiled, "I noticed your desire to die in battle. All Neanderthals are psionic as an effect of our uplifting." Walthari nodded slightly, "That's pretty neat, if I do say so myself, though it sounds like it could be a pain in the [censored]."

Bjarni nodded, "I can sense the surface thoughts of every one of you, except for the male Kitsune. He's a blank to all of our psionic senses and abilities." Walthari nodded slightly and tossed the empty bottle aside, Bjarni pushed a cooler towards him and Yoshiko walked out, Yoshiro walked in with a bottle, "Been a while since we shared a drink, eh little brother?" Walthari nodded slightly with a laugh, "That it has been. Think you can hold your liquor, bro?" Yoshiro nodded and tossed his empty bottle, "This is some good mead." Walthari opened the cooler and tossed Yoshiro a bottle and pulled one out for himself, Bjarni pulled one out for himself and smiled slightly, "So, it's good to see that you two are bonding here." Walthari nodded slightly, "I remember when you and I first met." Yoshiro smiled, "That was so long ago, you and I were scared of each other and here we are, two days before your final battle, and drinking."

Walthari nodded and sipped at the mead, looking up at the ceiling, "I guess it's fitting huh? You and I were raised together and we've been fighting for most of our lives alongside each other." Yoshiro nodded with a smile, taking a swig of his mead, "And I'll be there for your final battle, and if you don't fall against that enemy, I'll be sure to fight you to the death before you are paralyzed by this." Walthari laughed, "That's a bold statement to make for a Kitsune, but since it's from you, I know that it's true." Bjarni tapped Yoshiro on the shoulder and Walthari watched them talk to each other, sipping at his mead with a sense of calmness, he had a feeling that this would be the last time he'd be able to drink before his final battle, so as the two of them walked out of the room, he started to drink the rest of the mead in the cooler.

[Akira110]

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..."

[Akira110]

Chapter 13

Morning had come the next day and Walthari found that he couldn't sleep the previous night, but he didn't care. At this point, he was tired all of the time and it no longer bothered him, he looked outside the window of his sparse quarters. He sighed as he saw the planet, but suddenly a scent that he didn't want to pick up was at his door, and this caused him to growl, "Go away, Great-grandmother." Emiko entered the room anyhow, Walthari noticed her jet black hair and ice blue eyes, traits that she had passed down to Yoshiro. Emiko sighed, "Walthari, you and I both know that your time in the world of the living is coming to an end, and even if I'm your adoptive great-grandmother, I want to be able to help you in some way or another." Walthari sighed and shook his head, "There's nothing you can do, unless you can put me to sleep."

Emiko chuckled, "You're not scheduled to sleep the big sleep, yet." Walthari nodded, "I have things that I want to do." Emiko frowned, "I know, many people do, it's why they die with regrets, but you have things that you need to do." Walthari nodded slightly, "This much I know. But I can't do them until we go out there tomorrow." Emiko frowned, "I know, that's what I wanted to talk to you about, Walthari." Walthari stood up and leaned against the wall, with his arms folded across his chest, "Oh?" Emiko walked over to another window, "There are millions of people down there, thousands here. You're planning on protecting them all, aren't you?" Walthari nodded, "Of course, why wouldn't I?" Emiko sighed, "Walthari, what if I were to tell you that you will die tomorrow?" Walthari just shrugged at the idea, "I will have died at least making an attempt at protecting people."

Emiko nodded, "That's a good answer. Now answer this question, would you go out there if you knew that you being out there would doom the mission tomorrow?" Walthari shook his head, "I would ask Yoshiro to fight me after the operation. Why, will this come to pass?" Emiko smiled softly, "No, Walthari, in fact, you being out there is integral to the timelines where he survives this. There are many paths that the future can take, and in many of them, he dies because you don't go out there with him. Those that you do, he has a chance at survival, and the times he survives, he doesn't escape unscathed." Walthari nodded, "No matter what, I die tomorrow?" Emiko nodded slightly, "Either to a heart attack brought upon by the grief of losing Yoshiro, or by being out there." Walthari nodded, "I'm going to go out there anyhow..."

Emiko placed her hand on his shoulder, "Walthari, you're a good man. Is there honestly anything that I can do for you?" Walthari nodded slightly, "When I reincarnate, I want to be able to see my family again. I don't care if I'm part of it or not, but I want to at least be able to be around them." Emiko nodded, "I can talk to Kimiko about that, Walthari. In fact, I promise you that I will." Walthari placed his hand on her shoulder, "Thank you, so much, Emiko. But I suspect that you didn't come here just to ask me those questions and tell me about that. Tell me, why did you come here for real." Emiko smiled slightly, "I came to ask you another question, but got caught up in the moment. I ask a lot of dying people what time is to them."

Walthari nodded, "To some people, time is a predator, it's stalking them until their end. To others it's a companion. To me though..." Walthari looked up at the ceiling, "I guess time is a teacher in my opinion. It's always teaching us with new experiences and always showing us new things, whether they be good or bad, it doesn't matter. We're supposed to learn from what time shows us." Emiko chuckled, "That's a good answer, Walthari, a very good answer." Walthari nodded slightly, "Thank you, great-grandmother. So... what's going to happen next?" Emiko sighed, "Walthari, enjoy your last full day alive. That's all the advice I can give you." Walthari nodded sadly and turned towards the door to see Lilah of all people standing there, "So you've come as well."

Lilah nodded slightly, "I heard that you're dying, I'm sorry that I haven't been around lately, I didn't want to stress you out." Walthari nodded, "I honestly just want to be left alone, Lilah." Emiko kissed Walthari on the forehead, "I'll see you tomorrow, great-grandson." As Emiko left the room, Lilah walked in closer, causing Walthari to turn around, "Lilah, I want to be alone..." Lilah nodded slightly and frowned a bit, "I've never told anyone, except Yoshiro this, but Walthari, the reason why I'm here right now with you, is that you're my friend." Walthari blinked and sat down, leaning his head against the wall, "Tell me the real reason that you're here, Lilah, there's no reason for a charade." Lilah sighed, "This is the real reason." Walthari nodded and reached into his nightstand, he pulled out a data pad and started to write on it.

As Walthari wrote on the datapad, Lilah looked out the window, "Walthari, thank you for always being there for Yoshiro, it means a lot to him and it means a lot to me." Walthari nodded and put the finishing touches on the document he had been writing up. He handed the datapad over to Lilah, "Deliver that to Yoshiro for me, I'm going to spend the rest of the day relaxing." Lilah nodded and took it, walking out of the room with it without a shred of hesitation. Walthari sighed as he stood up and slowly walked towards the door, he looked at his room and sighed, "I'm going to miss this place, I'm going to miss all of this." He turned the lights off and exited his room with a sigh and headed towards the lift in order to go to the recreational deck to relax for the rest of the day.

[Akira110]

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.