Star Blazers Lambda Chapter 27

Story and art by Ryuko Azuma

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Narrative reads right to left

From the control center of the lunar base, Abbey Yan watches the Topness pilots soar away on their incursion into Seireness territory, musing to herself that “The flames will surely come.” From his core ship, Yu tells his four comrades that it’s time to go.

He concentrates, and a wormhole to the enemy opens in front of them. CHAPTER TITLE: Two of Us

Right side: Hugo expresses doubts for the first time, saying this isn’t going to be a quick jump in/jump out. He asks Yu how long it will take, but Yu says Hugo is distracting him from the effort of keeping the wormhole open.

Left side: Nina observes that Hugo was the one who pushed them all to follow Yu on this mission, and to stop whining. “Besides, if the wormhole collapses, we’ll be crushed to subatomic levels.” As Hugo gulps, Yu calls their attention. “Everyone…we’re out.”

Right side: as they revert to normal space, Hugo shouts a challenge to Seireness: “Humanity is fighting back! We’ll show you what we got!” But when nothing but empty void opens up in front of them, his excitement drops.

Left side: Aisha wonders why the wormhole didn’t take them straight to the enemy, but Nina shouts an alarm. They’ve only reached a relay point; the main wormhole is now gaping open directly in front of them.

To their mutual horror, they find themselves suddenly facing an army of Seireness!

“Eight 300-meter class Arias! Forty-six 200-meter class Ensemble!”

“This is too many,” Hugo yells. “And we don’t have Linne!”

Right side: Nina barks orders; if the enemy’s intent is to wear them down with numbers, the response will be brute force. She orders Hugo to activate his Thunderstorm attack at full speed. To take out as many as possible and dive into the main wormhole. She tells Malina to act as rear guard and cut off enemy fire with her Frost Aster shields. With that, Nina deploys her Second Sight drones for support.

Left side: An Aria screams her killing song at the NerfThis fleet. Hugo dodges and scores the first kill.

Right side: Hugo chides the enemy for being careless and tells Malina that the enemy is splitting into two formations. She raises her Frost Aster shield to block their fire.

Left side: The shields take damage, but hold up enough to protect Malina as the enemy turn toward her.

Right side: “Blasting and tracking…of course it’s me they’re after.” Hugo yells to Nina that they’re speeding too far ahead, leaving Malina behind. Malina says it’s better for her to keep Seireness’ attention on her. “I’m more nimble than you! I’ll distract them! Cover me at long range and use the opening to take down the Arias!”

Left side: A timely blast from Yu disintegrates Malina’s closest pursuer. Aisha offers to help, but Malina tells her to stay on course. “Damn,” Hugo thinks to himself, “They’re concentrating all their fire on Malina. Yu and I will take too long to recharge. it’s too dangerous…”

The chase continues with everyone doing their best to help Malina. Nina’s Second Sight drones pepper the enemy while Yu charges up his Wave-Motion Gun for another blast.

Hugo lets fly with another Lightning Burst as the fleet slams forward. But at the rear, one enemy manages to slip through and moves to strike at Malina.

Suddenly, Hugo charges in, impaling the giant on the spear of his ship. He finishes the enemy off with another burst.

Right side: “Hugo! Why did you come back??” “Because it’s too dangerous for you to be alone! Two more!!”

Left side: Hugo tells Nina to keep going into the wormhole. He and Malina will finish off the rest and follow. The others tell him to stay with the plan, but he insists on staying. “I’m not kidding,” he tells Malina, “I told you, I have your future to protect!”

Right side: Nina relents, saying they’ll continue on and will surely return. “Malina,” Hugo says, “Can you get me a ticket next time? I’ve never seen figure skating…”

“I’ll be lucky to get a ticket myself if I qualify, right? Be grateful.”

Left side: Yu concentrates and the main wormhole opens. The remaining enemy watches from the other side of Malina’s Frost Aster shield.

Right side: they charge forward. She raises another shield and Hugo takes a shot.

Left side: some of the Seireness are taken out, but others keep going. Hugo says Yu is vulnerable while he’s concentrating. A Seireness blasts at Hugo with its killing song.

Right side: Hugo struggles under the onslaught. “Damn…this song is really nasty. I can’t fire a Lightning Bolt if I get hit at close range.” More enemies round on him. Malina can only watch as he takes another hit.

Left side: Hugo’s main engine sounds an alarm, and he knows the enemy is gaining ground behind them. Malina cannot stand up to them alone. Aisha calls for Hugo to drop out for emergency repairs from her ship, but Malina demands that she and the others stay on course for the wormhole.

“We’ll stay here and destroy the rest.”

“What are you talking about? That’s impossible! I’ll repair him and-”

“It’s easier to work in pairs. If this keeps up, you’ll be outgunned. Crush Seireness’ home base and join us back here.”

Right side: Malina continues. “Even if we’re thousands of light years away, we’re all here because we have the same courage. So we’ll be okay. Trust in us both. Aisha…Nina…Yu…I’m sorry I can’t go with you. But in the end, we’ll all go back to Earth together.”

Left side: The wormhole closes behind the fleeing ships, leaving Hugo and Malina in their own gauntlet with the enemy right behind them.

“Poor Hugo…I got you into this…”

“Worth it! Not even a lifetime ticket would be enough!”

Right side: Hugo says that as long as he can still fire Lightning Bolt, he can keep them from re-opening the wormhole. He’ll make himself a target and deploy Thunderstorm to hit them all at once. She agrees, raising another Frost Aster shield to block their pursuers.

Left side: The Seireness are boxed in. They shriek at the shields to break them up.

Hugo’s ship, already damaged, takes the full force of their attack. “Right…I’m coming…JUST LIKE WE PLANNED!!!”

He charges in, impaling one of the giants and spinning quickly around to blast at another. “Don’t mess with me, Seireness!!!”

Right side: As Hugo sets up his finishing move, he thinks, “This is Mark 3’s last job!!!”

Left side: His Thunderstorm drones launch. “Malina…let’s go home. Back to Earth. I don’t want to fight any more. I don’t care if I’m not a Topness any more. I don’t care if I’m not number one…”

He imagines her graceful moves on the ice. “I only need you…so…”

Malina watches his ship fall away into empty space, trailing smoke and flame as the drones deactivate.

Right side: She calls out for Hugo, but he’s unresponsive. His bio-sensor indicates cardiac arrest. Her ship flies up next to his.

Left side: Malina leaps across the gulf into his core ship.

She desperately tries to revive him, throwing off her helmet to give him mouth-to-mouth. His ship’s alarm indicates oxygen levels dropping. They must evac to an escape pod.

Right side: “Why are you always so mean,” Malina screams. “You’re coming to see my competition! Stop this stupid prank!” The alarm system repeats the warning and she orders it to shut up.

Left side: All the fight finally goes out of Malina. “Mark 3…play some music.” The system says it’s accessing Hugo’s playlist and a Beatles song begins. “Beatles…you listen to some really old music…”

TO BE CONTINUED

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