Observers at the Pluto base space observatory continued to watch the water planet Aquarius. As soon as one of them switched the radar to the vicinity of Pluto, he raised his eyebrows.

“This is…”

There were a few points of light representing moving objects, flickering at the edge of the radar. The observer adjusted the radar and pointed it at them. Countless points of light appeared in the center of the screen, moving at considerable speed. The points gradually became larger. Apparently, they were inbound for Pluto.

“It’s a space fleet. I wonder which one it is…”

Another observer, who was fiddling with instruments to the right of him, turned his head.

“What’s wrong, Kameoka?”

“There’s a space fleet coming toward Pluto…”

“A fleet? There was no plan for anything like that.”

Saying this, he rose from his chair and looked at radar from the side.

“It’s true,” he said. “That’s strange…”

“Could it be an evacuation fleet from Earth?” the observer called Kameoka asked the man next to him.

“That’s ridiculous. There’s no way they could get here that fast. But no matter how you look at it, it’s a fleet. A very large one.”

“If it was approaching on such a large scale, radar should have caught it much sooner. It just suddenly appeared.”

“What direction did it come from?”

“The asteroid belt.”

The two looked at each other sharply.

“That’s it!” the second man said. “They were hiding among the asteroids!”

“Hidden? So that means…”

“They didn’t want to be found.”

Kameoka suddenly remembered something. “Yes! I remember receiving a message that Earth’s radar had detected an unknown space fleet. After that, they seemed to vanish. I wonder if this is them.”

“Yes, that’s it! That must be it!” the other man agreed.

“Get me the base commander!”

“Right!”

The second man nodded and ran, returning quickly with the base commander.

“What is it,” the commander said loudly, standing behind Kameoka. His eyes widened as he saw the countless points of light that filled the radar screen.

“What is this?”

“An unknown space fleet is closing in on us,” Kameoka answered.

“Unknown fleet? Who are they? Inform the control room!”

“Yes, sir!”

All the observers were now gathered around the radar displaying the mysterious fleet.

The base commander pointed to radar and said, “Are these guys on our side, or…?”

Lugal II sat in his battleship’s command seat, laughing ominously. The panel in front of him showed outer space with one of the planets gradually getting bigger. It was Pluto.

“The attack will begin shortly,” he snickered. “They just noticed us on the radar. They must be in a panic. But it’s too late now.”

The video panel displayed the fleet ahead of Lugal’s ship. A battle carrier was positioned in the center, fortified by destroyers. Two carriers moved swiftly away from the advance fleet to the left and right, launching one aircraft after another.

“We can leave that planet, which the Earthlings call Pluto, to them,” Lugal II told his helmsman. “we will go further. Our main force will warp to planet six, which Earthlings call Saturn.”

“Yes, sir!” the helmsman answered, quickly checking his instruments.

“Communications officer,” Lugal II said to a man on the right.

“Sir!”

“Tell the destroyers around my battleship to get ready to warp. We’ll warp the whole fleet at the same time!”

“Yes, sir!”

Soon after, the helmsman said, “Ready to warp!”

“Good.”

“All ships in the main fleet, including destroyers, are now ready for warp!”

“All right. Warp!”

The main fleet, including Lugal II’s battleship, warped toward the vicinity of Saturn. One by one, their shapes become hazy and disappeared as if blurring out of space. At the very end, Lugal II’s battleship followed.

Suddenly, several dots began to appear in the sky over Pluto, diving toward the base in a swarm. The control room went into a panic.

“Launch the recon plane!” the base commander ordered.

“A pilot is heading to the hangar now!”

“What is he waiting for? Unknown fighters are coming right at us!”

The approaching fighters were visible to the naked eye, even through the windows of the command center.

“Communications officer!”

“Sir!”

“You should have informed Earth of this!”

“I’m doing it now!”

The base commander paced irritably around the command center. Suddenly, an explosion shook the control room.

“What happened?”

“They’re attacking,” a staff member said. “They are the enemy!”

“All right, let’s launch the fighters!”

Another explosion shook the base violently. Looking in the direction of the explosion, the base commander was speechless. It came from the fighter hangar.

“Damn…who the hell are they?”

Explosions erupted one after another.

“Engage anti-air defenses! All personnel to defense stations!”

Sirens echoed throughout the Pluto base. Numerous Dengil attack planes arced overhead, descending rapidly to begin bombing and attacking. Explosions rippled throughout the base as buildings were destroyed. Smoke and flames rose.

The pilots ran to the fighter hangar in as if in a panic. They climbed into the cockpits of their fighters, and two at a time performed emergency launches. But only a third had managed to lift off before the hangar was bombed. One fighter, on the verge of launching, slammed headlong into a wall. The pilot, who was about to board, was thrown off by the shock wave. One after another, the fighters in the hangar were destroyed before they could launch.

The guns of the dome-shaped turrets located in various parts of the base all spit fire at the enemy. Attack planes were shot down in flames. But the number of enemies was too great to be overcome. They swooped down like flies on food, destroying the defenses in the process.

A turret near the space observation room was struck by a direct hit from an attack aircraft that came directly at it, tossing and spattering the crew with blood.

“Hey! Hold on!”

Kameoka rushed to the scene, but the turret crew had been killed instantly.

“Damn!” He took over for a dead gunner and raised his eyes the sky. The attack plane had circled back around and was coming straight at the turret again. Kameoka opened fire.

“Damn it! I’ll shoot you down!”

The turret spit fire at a tremendous rate, but all the bullets were deflected away from the incoming enemy. Kameoka lost his nerve and leapt away from the weapon, then lost his life when an enemy laser beam reduced the entire turret to burning dust.

The Pluto base was completely destroyed just twenty minutes after the attack commenced. Enemy craft aborted their attacks and made their way back to the carriers at leisure. Most of the people on the Pluto base died without knowing who the enemy was.

The Earth Defense Forces control room was in an uproar over the emergency communication from Pluto, which was being broadcast throughout the large chamber.

“This is Pluto Base,” the speaker’s voice echoed through the crackling noise. “An unknown space fleet is invading the solar system! Pluto base is under attack, on the verge of destruction!”

“You have no idea what fleet it is?” the communications officer asked. His voice was also heard throughout the control room.

“Totally unknown! Countless aircraft are attacking Pluto base! Waaaah!”

Suddenly, the signal from Pluto went dead.

“What’s wrong? Pluto Station, come in!”

However, all communications from the Pluto base were cut off. Everyone who had been listening in the control room fell silent. The commander was stunned. The chief of staff approached him.

“Commander! What’s going on here?”

The Commander looked at him blankly.

“I don’t know. All we heard is that something has attacked our solar system. At this difficult time…Aquarius alone has already caused a state of panic…”

The chief clenched his fists as another staff officer ran up to them.

“Commander! We’ve lost contact with Neptune and Uranus bases!”

“What?”

“We believe they were attacked by the same fleet!”

The chief of staff finally spoke up.

“The Neptune and Uranus bases only had the same defensive capability as Pluto. If Pluto base has already been destroyed…”

“We don’t know what the situation is, because we’ve lost all communication,” the staff officer said through clenched teeth.

The Commander opened his mouth to speak. “Apparently, the enemy is advancing to the inner solar system. Chief of Staff…”

“Yes.”

“The evacuation plan is now temporarily suspended.”

“Huh? But if we don’t evacuate now, we won’t be ready for the approach of Aquarius!”

“There’s no choice. If an evacuation ship with no defensive capability is attacked in space, it wouldn’t stand a chance. Evacuating them now would be more dangerous.”

“I understand. But part of the first evacuation convoy is already en route to the vicinity of Saturn.”

“What!? Launch the escort fleet immediately! Direct them to the nearest space colony, it doesn’t matter where!”

“Yes, sir!”

“And launch the Earth fleet immediately,” the commander continued. “At the very least, don’t let the enemy get past Mars orbit. Intercept them as soon as possible!”

“Sir!”

The chief of staff ran out of the room, followed by the staff officer. The commander folded his hands behind his back and paced back and forth irritably.

“I hope this works in our favor somehow. Nevertheless, the unusual approach of the water planet Aquarius and now a surprise attack of an unknown space fleet…could the two be related?”

As he was lost in thought, everyone else in the control room scrambled to carry out his orders. Soon after, an escort for the first evacuation fleet was launched from a nearby planet. The Earth fleet also launched as the Earth Defense Forces entered into an emergency combat situation.

The commander was in his office with his chiefs of staff, formulating a battle plan based on the scant information available.

“In any case,” the commander said, “unless the unknown fleet’s attacks stop, no evacuation ships can be launched. But Aquarius is getting closer to Earth every second…”

He looked around the room at pale, silent faces.

“Do you have any ideas?” he asked in a sad voice.

“We’ll have to go in full force and destroy the enemy fleet as soon as possible,” one of the chief strategists said.

“Obviously. But the bases on Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus have already been lost. We’re at an extreme disadvantage, just days away from the approach of Aquarius.”

Everyone fell silent again until one of the chiefs brightened, as if something suddenly occurred to him.

“What about Yamato? What’s going on with Yamato!?”

“Yamato is currently in dock and undergoing repairs,” another officer replied. “She’ll be launched as soon as she’s ready. Until then, I wonder how the earth fleet will fare. This is an enemy that easily destroyed the Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus bases. They must have some serious offensive capabilities.”

The commander listened to everyone’s exchange, his arms folded in thought. The door opened after a small knock. The commander looked up to see Yuki Mori enter and walk toward him.

“What’s wrong, Yuki? I’m in a meeting.”

“Captain Kodai gave me this.”

Yuki hesitantly held out a white envelope in her hand, looking as if she were about to cry.

“Kodai? How is he doing?”

“Physically, he’s almost completely recovered. But he remains in his hospital room, refusing to speak. He’s deep in thought…”

Yuki dropped her gaze. The commander raised his eyebrows quizzically, then took a letter out of the white envelope and read it.

“What–it’s a letter of resignation!”

The officers who were watching the two looked at each other.

“He’s stepping down as captain?” The commander’s voice rose as he looked up at Yuki. “I can’t accept this!”

Yuki replied in a small voice, as if she were about to disappear. “Yes…he’s convinced that because his command and judgment were deficient, he caused the loss of many crew members’ lives. He wants to take responsibility for that.”

“That idiot!”

Yuki’s shoulders shook with fear at the commander’s loud voice.

“I’m sorry I can’t help yelling about this, Yuki. This is a stupid thing to say in such a difficult time! Yamato will launch as soon as repairs are complete.”

Irritated, the commander returned the resignation letter to its envelope. He then stared at it for a while before putting it in his pocket. Yuki only watched sadly.

“Yuki, you can go now,” he told her angrily. “Tell Kodai I received his letter of resignation.”

“Yes, sir.”

Yuki bowed her head and walked out of the office as if to escape from the situation. The officers returned to their combat conference. Yuki hurried down the corridor, shouting in her mind.

“Kodai-kun, an idiot? That’s not possible!”

The first evacuation fleet was near Saturn, guided by an escort fleet that soon caught up with them. They were on a heading toward a space colony near Saturn. Surrounded by escorts, the evacuated vessels huddled together as they sailed onward.

There was a great variety of ships, seemingly every type of spacecraft used on Earth ranging from large ones to smaller ones for civilian use. Each was packed with people, not only in the seats, but also in the aisles between them and in front of the restrooms.

Those on ships built to carry passengers were in good hands. Those who could only board cargo ships were in terrible shape.

In the hold of a cargo spacecraft, people sat on the floor with their backs hunched over, holding their knees, enduring discomfort in silence. Children start crying here and there, and old people complained of pain. There wasn’t even enough space to lie down, but there was nothing to be done for it.

Outside was nothing but dark space. No one could leave. Still, these people were the first to escape from Earth and felt a little relieved. At least they had avoided danger from the water planet Aquarius. Of course, they were aware of the unknown space fleet invading the solar system, but had not been informed of the attack. People would panic if they were informed of such a thing now.

Nevertheless, being crammed into a windowless hold made them increasingly frustrated and fearful.

“Hey, Mom,” a little boy asked his mother. “Aren’t we there yet?”

The mother held her knees, a bag sitting beside her.

“It won’t be long now, Hiroyuki-chan,” she said as she gently stroked the boy’s cheek. “You just have to be patient for a little while longer.”

“Why isn’t Daddy with us?”

“He’s on another spaceship,” she said. “We were unlucky, weren’t we? I can’t believe we got separated.”

The mother stroked her frayed hair and sighed wearily.

“It’s okay, kid,” said a smiling man nearby. The boy looks at him.

“As soon as we get to the space colony, you’ll be with your dad.”

“Really? ”

“Oh, yes. I’m sure the spaceship he’s on is sailing right next to us.”

“But I don’t want to go to a space colony.”

All the people around him heard the boy’s voice.

“Quiet down now,” his mother scolded.

Boys never wanted to go to a space colony. She didn’t want his complaints getting on everyone’s nerves.

“I want to go home. Come on, Mom, let’s go!”

“Enough!”

The boy shuddered, then looked around. He got up walked out among the people as only a small child could.

“Wait, Hiroyuki!”

When the mother called out to him, the boy went on ahead. He stopped, his eyes wide. He gazed in surprise at a fat, middle-aged man who was holding a large trunk with great care. He looked nervous.

“Get away from me, boy.”

“Old man, why aren’t you wearing clothes?”

The man wore only a pair of underwear. Not even shoes. He had traded his clothing for an extra kilo of baggage to get his trunk on board. The people around him were also staring.

“If you’re naked, you’ll catch a cold,” the boy said. “My mom is always telling me that.”

“You’re a noisy little one, aren’t you? I don’t catch colds even if I am naked. I like to be naked. Hurry back to your mama now.”

When the man tried to pat him on the head, the boy quickly backed off.

“You’re a nasty little boy.” The man got angry and then sneezed loudly.

“Look you caught a cold!”

People around them laughed. The boy returned to his mother while the naked man rubbed his nose. He tightened his grip on the trunk again with great care.

The evacuation fleet traveled in a straight line toward the space colony. It was supposed to arrive soon. The pilots of each spacecraft were in constant contact with the escorts.

At that moment, far behind the convoy, a number of fuzzy, blue-white lights began to appear. The pale light flickered like a shimmering flame and eventually took shape. The space fleet commanded by Lugal II appeared, one ship after another. It had warped here from outer space near Pluto, heading for Saturn.

On the bridge of Lugal II’s flagship, a radar observer looked at the radar and shouted, “Ahead, countless spaceships! It looks like a fleet and a lot of small spacecraft!”

Lugal II raised his right eyebrow in interest from his command seat.

“Can it be displayed on the video panel?”

“I’ll try.”

The observer flipped a switched on his console. A large video panel spread out in front of Lugal II, showing outer space. Indeed, countless spacecraft sailing ahead were shown on the screen.

“Those are escort ships on the perimeter. And what’s inside are apparently ordinary spaceship with no combat capability…”

Lugal II laughed. “I see, they’re the ones who fled Earth as fast as they could. But they’re not going to escape.”

He pointed a finger at the video panel and gave the order. “Destroy every last one of them!”

Lugal II’s fleet split up to surround the evacuation convoy and the escorts sailing around it. Like a predator that had found its prey, it swooped in. Although surrounded by escorts, the evacuation fleet was like a baby, with absolutely no defensive capability. It could very easily be destroyed in the slightest motion. Mother Earth was far away, and there was nowhere to escape.

Compared to Lugal II’s fleet, the number of escort ships was insignificant. The radar officer on the flagship of the convoy noticed the enemy approaching from the rear.

“An unknown fleet appeared behind us! They’re coming this way!”

The flagship’s captain rose from his command seat.

“They’re here…” and then immediately barked commands. “Inform all the escorts and evac ships! Prep for battle!”

The communications officer immediately sent the message.

“We will divide into two groups: those that protect the evacuation fleet and those that intercept the enemy!”

All escort vessels were notified of the emergency.

“First and foremost, we must protect the evacuation ships!”

Half of the escorts made a U-turn away from the evacuation fleet.

Lugal II looked at them on his video panel and chuckled. “Idiots. You’re coming to us…”

The video panel showed an escort charging forward.

“Begin attack!”

The Lugal II fleet fired their guns in unison at the first line of incoming escorts. A turret on the bow of Lugal II’s battleship opened fire and laser beams flashed through space. Compared to Earth’s battleships, which were uniformly elongated in shape, Dengil’s battleships were rather flat, shaped like triangles.

The turrets on the escorts also opened fire. The two fleets approached each other in a straight line. But there was an overwhelming difference in their number and power. One by one, the escorts were destroyed.

Lugal II’s battleship ignored the oncoming convoy, instead following the evacuation fleet that was on its way to the space colony.

“I won’t let you get away. Destroy them all, even if there are women and children on board!”

Soon the evacuation convoy, protected by the few remaining escorts, was visible outside the window.

“Destroy every single ship!”

Again, the turret belched fire. The rest of the escorts were destroyed immediately, and the evacuation ships, which had no defensive capability at all, were brutally attacked.

The people inside had no idea what was happening as they were thrown to the walls and floors by the shock of the attack. They screamed. Some children and others died simply by being crushed under flailing people. The mother cried out, but was blown away soon after. The ships were destroyed like toys. It took less than ten minutes.

“All enemy ships and starships have been eliminated!”

“Very well,” Lugal II said to a controller, sitting comfortably in his command seat. “What about damage to our fleet?”

“Our ship has sustained zero damage!”

“Naturally,” Lugal II said flatly.

“Approaching space colony ahead!”

“Good. Destroy that, too!” Lugal II ordered.

Far behind his ships, another fleet was emerging from warp. It was the Dengil carrier group that had attacked and destroyed Pluto, Neptune and Uranus. Thus, Dengil’s entire task force was now back in place.

The space colony was quickly destroyed. The Dengil fleet advanced through the wreckage, littered across space with thousands of human bodies, destined to drift there for eternity.

The Dengil task force moved on toward Mars.

The Earth Fleet received word that the evacuation ships, their escorts, and an entire space colony had been destroyed. The enemy was now poised near Mars, waiting. Standing on the bridge of the Earth Fleet flagship, the fleet commander was shaking with anger.

“Even innocent women and children…knowing that the evacuation ships were not capable of attacking…unforgivable!”

Hands folded behind his back, he stared out the window into space. The radar operator, seated at an instrument panel in front of him, started to speak.

“Enemy fleet detected ahead!”

“What? It’s already here? Inform all ships to prepare for battle!”

“Yes, sir,” the communications officer replied.

“Find out the exact location of the enemy task force!”

“Sir!”

The radar operator read out the location.

“Good. That distance will work. All ships, prepare to fire Wave-Motion Guns!” The commander ordered.

Lugal II’s flagship also confirmed the Earth fleet. After a moment of contemplation, Lugal II snickered.

“All ships, prepare to warp!”

“Wave-Motion Guns, ready to fire!”

“All right,” the commander exclaimed, “fire on the enemy fleet!”

“Eight, seven, six, five…”

The countdown began. The commander stared intently out the forward window into space. The enemy was not yet close enough to see with the naked eye. But they were certainly within reach of a Wave-Motion Gun.

“…four, three, two, one, zero! Fire!”

Brilliant pillars of pure white light were fired from several Earth battleships similar in shape to Yamato.

The Dengil task force, under the command of Lugal II, engaged a small warp. The fleet distorted, blurred, and disappeared all at once. A split second later, the space they had occupied was filled with transcendent Wave-Motion energy, which scattered and dissipated uselessly.

“Wave-Motion Guns failed!”

“What?”

The commander looked astonished.

“All the enemy ships disappeared just before impact!”

“What the…”

“It looks like they warped!”

The commander was stunned.

Suddenly, the radar officer shouted, “Enemy ships to port and starboard! Fifty space kilometers!”

“Damn! All ships, go to close combat mode!”

The Earth fleet moved to regroup against the enemy approaching from the left and right.

Lugal II remained smirking the whole time. “You must have been surprised to see us suddenly appear on either side of you. But the attack is just beginning.”

From the catapults of Dengil’s two carriers, torpedo boats were launched one after another. They rapidly closed the distance to the Earth fleet, which was still regaining its formation. They were already close enough to be visible to the naked eye.

The turrets of Earth’s battleships all fired at once, and the attack began. The Dengil ships launched the same hyper thermonuclear missiles that had taken down Yamato. The Earth ships quickly launched interceptor missiles, but the torpedo boats fired their weapons continuously.

The missiles that escaped interception hit Earth’s vessels in quick succession. They did not explode immediately, but melted their way through a ship’s armor first. Then they exploded from within. Everyone on board fell as they were overcome by searing cosmic radiation.

The commander aboard the Earth flagship turned pale. “What in the world is that missile…?”

The captains of the other ships were also stunned. The bridge of the flagship swayed and the commander fell to the floor.

“Enemy missile strike just below the bridge!” the helmsman shouted.

“Why didn’t it explode right away…?”

That’s all the commander had time to say. The missile that breached the flagship’s armor plating exploded. Everyone on the bridge was thrown by the shock and slammed against the bulkheads. The floor was ripped apart in a crisscross pattern. The cosmic radiation hit the commander and the rest of the crew as a shock wave. They all died in agony, clawing at their chests and throats. Of course, no one was wearing a space suit.

The Earth fleet was destroyed ship by ship by hyper thermonuclear missiles. Dengil’s battleship group opened all of its main guns and relentlessly attacked the burning Earth fleet.

Continue to Act 10

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