When Nagato the five-tailed Sune stepped outside from one of his ships, the sun began to peek out from the horizon. The sea’s breeze flowed through his white fur, which had markings he dyed onto himself that went from his face down to the very tips of his tails. The drawings, dyed in blue and green, would make him look like a cannon from the side and front if one stripped off his purple kimono tied together by a blue sash off him. He walked on all fours, leaning his straw hat back as he turned to the sky, where the moon, with a chunk of it gone and its inners stopped glowing red long ago, still reflected its light to this world. The debris from the cracked moon formed an eerie and thin glowing ring across the sky.

Even as other species, humans and their kin, the mighty S’vharl, spry and clever Larepin, and even more others are still evacuating from Karuna and colonized Akasekai, the fourth planet in the system, the Sune, or more accurately the Luarii, the Moon Kin, many still lived on this damaged shadow of a world. Even as parts of the moon still crashed onto Karuna in the form of small meteorites, the Sune built communities on what few lands remained usable due to meteor bombardment and civilization collapse if not living on a series of ships like Nagato has. Sure, while almost all Sunes, including many Luarii Tribes, left Karuna for the void with the others, the Sune made the majority population of what remained.

Sunes are known to be incredibly stubborn.

“Up early again?” a voice behind Nagato said.

Nagato turned around, where a Sune stood with a visor under her eyes. Her fur, white with a blue torso, tail tips, and paws, wiggled against the breeze even as she wore a brown coat that extended back to her back legs. Her three tails remained still even as Nagato sat down in front of her.

“Of course, Sonya,” Nagato said with a nod, and Sonya sat down. “Even now, I can sense that we’re close. That we’re near our destination.”

“Do you think the Sune battleship will still be functional?” Sonya asked, rubbing her chin with her hand-paw for a moment. “After all, it’s been under the sea until recently.”

“It’s a Battleship,” Nagato said while nodding. “They don’t build things to last like that anymore. Plus, the alloy they used to make the steel is about unparalleled to our own ships since it is made to resist physical shell impacts, and the electronics are extremely rugged, made to last for an eternity. Also, I think the ship might be Mezarii construction...”

“Eternity is a long time,” Sonya said, and Nagato nodded. “And no, it’s definitely Luarii built. Even back then, Mezarii liked their stuff bulky and aggressive. This one’s got an adventurer’s charm to it. You’re losing your touch, Nagato.”

Nagato rolled his eyes and gave a grunt of disapproval at Sonya’s comment, but she raised a paw and pointed at their destination, “Even if this thing’s totaled, there should be plenty of salvage for us to analyze. Then, we can relearn how the Sune built that beast after losing that knowledge during the hypergate disaster.”

Nagato turned to the moon, with its shards orbiting around it. “Everyone lost something during that disaster. Even so, we can rebuild and do it far stronger.”

“Indeed,” Sonya said, and she paused for a moment. “Nagato, if we find it, we will grant it to one of the communities for study, correct?”

Nagato’s eyes turned bright, as though a fire was lit up behind the red eyes, and his fur began to rise on end, puffing his mane and chest fur out. “We will grant the ship, where they will strip and examine it in every detail, learning from the past. But we will take any cannons and guns attached to it and strap them onto our ships. Then, if they are powerful enough, they may be attached to my personal cruiser.”

Sonya sighed and shook her head. “I know that you have a deep love for the big boomers, no matter how big they are. But don’t you think we’re overdoing it, even for just a tiny bit?”

Nagato turned to the other ships, each having at least dozens of cannons on them. Some of them fired out shells, armor-piercing or bursting; others fired out lasers or even volleys of plasma. And each one held a cannon that was only a bit smaller than the ships themselves, with the ships drifting low in the sea.

“Nope. We can attach more cannons.” Nagato’s eyes gleamed with pride. “We can attach them into hull-mounted casemates if we can’t simply stack them onto each other. We can even purchase more ships to install them there instead, especially since turning the Battleship in will give us more than enough credits. So please, don’t question my little wonderful hobby pastime again.”

Nagato stepped away, half rubbing against the black beads around his neck even as Sonya rubbed her face with her palm. The sea’s waves crashed against the ships, with them wobbling for just a bit. The ships then turned course, with them giving out wide turns, searching.

Hours passed by, with the moon’s remains fading into the long horizon and the sun rising above the sea, casting a rose-red carpet across the sky and fading into the deepest of abyss blue of the morning. The breeze became cool, and seawater splashes washed onto the deck. Deckhands of Sunes ran out for their morning duty and mopped the decks of their ships, cleaning up any foul seawater or debris that landed in, and a pair of them on each ship hung from rafters and scaffolds to apply new layers of paint onto the hulls of the ships.

Nagato sat at the front of the lead ship, skimming ahead for miles. Soon, a cold reflection came in the starboard side, and he raised his right hand-paw. The ships changed directions and increased speed at once, turning to the right. Nagato’s eyes burned even brighter, with his left hand-paw gripping onto the railing.

The reflection became brighter, coming into view even as the other crew members dropped their jaws in wonder. Ahead was a Sune Super-Battleship, one whose tonnage weighed as much as the approaching fleet’s entire weight combined. The paint, unscarred by battle, would be pristine if not for the elements are surprisingly intact, with most scarring done by the ship lying on its side beached on a sandbar, its cannons either pointing upwards or ahead at sea. Its surface was flat, for it was designed as a hybrid battleship and aircraft carrier. In its prime, it could send out volleys that could level cities in an hour, and drones would fly out, blasting anything that could come close.

Sonya stepped up to Nagato’s side, her blue eyes wide. “This is amazing. And to think that we could lose the knowledge of building something like this.” But she shook her head. “My eyes must be deceiving me, but the turrets’ proportions seem off, or are those cannons truly that large? That’s bigger than anything we have fitted on our fleet.”

“We can get a bigger ship or even expand the ships we have by combining them into one to fit one of those turrets,” Nagato replied, having a small smile. “Remember, we Sunes must always strive for improvement in the name of our goddess.”

“Yes,” Sonya said, her tone hypnotic while she nodded. She blinked afterward before adding, “Even so, we can’t disassemble it here. We have to bring it to a community, which will take at least all of our ships’ power to tow it there.”

“We will manage,” Nagato said.

At that moment, pawsteps came from behind, and Nagato and Sonya turned around. The Sune running towards them had white fur with a cyan underbelly while a pad floated next to him. He stopped in front of them, panting with three tails, white with cyan tips, laying low even as he grabbed the pad.

“Anything wrong, Cyrus?” Sonya asked, waiting until the other Sune regained his breath.

“Status report,” Cyrus said, soon sitting up straight. “The radar detected a fast-moving object coming from the other side of the Battleship. It’s coming this way.”

“A fast-moving object? You sure?” Sonya demanded, and Cyrus handed her the pad. Nagato leaned over her head even as the screen highlighted an object in the air coming this way. She gulped a bit, and when she glanced at Nagato, she realized that his eyes burned darker. “It could be a coincidence.”

“No.” Nagato’s voice deepened, and Cyrus took a step back. “It’s her.”

“Who?” Cyrus asked.

A high pitch whistle-like sound came from above, piercing through. Cyrus flinched even as Nagato and Sonya turned upwards, with her having a resigned look even as he clutched his hand-paw for a moment. Above was a rocket, painted white with a red flamed nose emblazoned upon it, jetting across the sky, and a red fire mech mounted upon it as if it were some kind of riding animal. The rocket changed its course suddenly to veer over the Sune fleet and performed a rapid aileron roll, dropping the mech hanging it from its mount shortly before the vehicle detonated above the fleet, raining debris all across the sea.

The blazing red mech twirled and spun in the air in a show before landing on the deck, shattering the wooden deck and denting the steel beneath the mech’s feet and arms. The armored behemoth stood what appeared to be three meters in height with massive shoulder plates hanging from its shoulders. Suddenly those plates activated and went rigid, connecting with one another and forming a long pair of ‘decks’ over the mech’s shoulders, styled like a pair of aircraft carrier decks complete with drones unfurling onto them. It soon stood straight, and its angular headpiece retracted, exposing a Sune’s head. Her red eyes shined like fire, having a broad grin even as her cap was red with a purple stripe around the center. Her fur was white, with red and purple markings over her exposed face, designed like a tip of a drone.

“So, we meet again, Nagato!” the Sune said, spreading the mech’s arms back in a show even as she laughed.

“Kaga,” Nagato said in a low tone, stepping between Sonya and Cyrus, with Sonya rubbing her palm against her face even as Cyrus blinked. “Thousands of miles of distance since we had last met has not deterred you from running into me again.”

“Oh, silly Sune,” Kaga said, her tone like spiced honey. “Rivals like us are bound to meet again. After all, Tsuchi is far too small a world for both of us.”

“It’s Karuna,” Nagato said while shaking his head. “Must I keep reminding you every time?”

“Karuna is an old name of an old-time and an old language!” Kaga turned around, her mech stomping a bit while shaking her head. “Get with the times, pumpkin. You don’t want to sound like you’re speaking elderly gibberish!”

“Uh-huh,” Nagato said while rolling his eyes. “So, what are you here for?”

“I thought you would never ask,” Kaga said while turning back, a wide grin on her face. “I want that super Battleship, the same as you. The distant Luarii loved to make every Wonder of the Sea special, unique in its own way! Why, this one’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? It’s a treasure beyond anything that I can imagine! A carrier-battleship hybrid that actually worked! And legend has it, the first generation of remote-drone technology. It will be mine!”

“Nice of you to admire that ship,” Nagato said with a sardonic tone. “However, I have already claimed that ship. You have no right to take what is already mine. Besides, you are already up to your muzzle in state-of-the-art drone tech. Why in Solemn’s name do you want obsolete tech?”

“Oh, Nagato,” Kaga said, raising the mech’s palms up as it shrugged. “If only it was that simple. An artist appreciates. Besides, I will contest the claim if you beat me even by a second. Everything here belongs to me because I say it does. What are you going to do about it?”

Nagato bared his teeth once more before he stepped forward. Soon, he approached the mech’s leg, and before Cyrus could say anything, he had already climbed up the contraption like an acrobatic spider. Clamping his paws onto the chest plate of the mech, Nagato climbed up to the head of the mech and slammed his forehead against Kaga’s, where she, in turn, rammed hers against him. Their ruby-red eyes bore into each other.

“If you dare to steal my property,” Nagato said, “I will destroy you and everything you own.”

“That’s a wonderful compliment,” Kaga said, and a pair of drones launched from her shoulder pads down their runways and began hovering above Nagato. Then, two laser dots tracked against Nagato’s back, “Let me repay you in full with interest and say that, if you attempt to, I’ll do the same with you, and then some.”

Cyrus blinked at the drones hovering above Nagato and gulped before taking a step forward. But Sonya placed her hand-paw on his shoulder and pulled him back. He obeyed, but he turned to her with a confused expression.

“Let them be,” Sonya said. “They are more likely to kill you than kill each other. They’re too stubborn to let the other win.” Sonya looked to the portside and noticed Nagato had already tracked another ship’s cannons onto his current position. She shakes her head blithely.

“I-I see,” Cyrus said before he nodded. “Still, who is she? A rival community leader?”

“Ha! That would be torture for someone like her.” Sonya pressed her hand-paw against her chest and laughed some more. “She is a bandit leader, or scavenger looking to hijack technology, Sune or otherwise. She is wanted by pretty much anything still living on Karuna, but she is too stubborn to go down easily, especially with a crew like hers. Kaga and Nagato have butted heads for a long time, attempting to steal whatever we find. More specifically, whatever he finds at this rate.”

“And she is pretty fun to watch, getting into all this mischief and skullduggery,” a stranger’s voice said.

Cyrus nodded in blind agreement before realizing and turned around, noticing a Sune wearing a smaller mech, more Sune size. The newcomer’s exposed face was white with red and green markings shaping as a sword and a pair of guns, and his three tails, armored, swayed behind him. Cyrus stumbled back even as Sonya and the newcomer laughed. “Sorry. I’m just here to take Kaga back once she is done with her ‘meeting’.”

“Who are you?” Cyrus asked, getting back up. “Why weren’t our detectors and lookouts alerted?”

“I am Toshiro, a second in command of sorts to Kaga,” Toshiro said with a bow, and Cyrus flinched. “You can accomplish many things with a remote drone and a few glider wings.”

“Hey there, Toshiro,” Sonya said, somewhat pushing Cyrus back before she shook her hand-paw with his. “How is life treating you? Haven’t ended up at the bottom of the sea yet?”

“It’s a hard life, being a scavenger,” Toshiro answered with a nod. “But it’s never boring, especially with someone like Kaga around. Anything that catches her fancy drives her into a frenzy, which means more work for us.”

“That sounds good,” Sonya said while grinning at him. “Say, do you think we should continue that bet? Double or nothing?”

“If you lose, you’ll be in debt for life,” Toshiro replied, though he grinned at her. “But of course. Double or nothing.”

Cyrus blinked at them for a moment, and Sonya turned to him with an apologetic grin. “Sorry. We have known each other for a while now, especially because of how those two stubborn Sunes,” she gestured to Nagato and Kaga arguing above them, “kept on crossing paths. So much so that we kept escalating the bets on who will win in this conflict, Nagato or Kaga.”

“I-I can get that much, but.” Cyrus shook his head. “Since he is with Kaga, doesn’t that make him the enemy?”

“From a technical perspective, yes,” Toshiro replied with a shrug. “But we’ve been watching those two fighting for so long that it’s more fun to see who will finally win, even if it’ll take a century.”

“Uh-huh,” Cyrus said even as Nagato and Kaga pressed their heads against each other harder.

“Loathsome thief.”

“Icy sailor!”

“Suicidal nut.”

“Boring Sune!”

“Cowardly drone-pilot!”

“Stupid cannon-lover!”

The two growled at each other until Toshiro yelled out, “OK, that’s enough! Save it for the battle!”

“Oh, I will,” Kaga said with a grin, and she picked Nagato up and off her mech, his eyes never leaving hers. She then stepped towards Toshiro, with Sonya and Cyrus stepping back from the larger mech even as Toshiro clenched the mech’s fists. At once, drones fired out from it, combining into a larger one, which Kaga leaped on and sat on top. Toshiro also hopped on, leaning against one of the carrier’s ‘wings’ even as Kaga turned to Nagato and shook her fist at him. “I swear on God’s name that, when you die, the last thing you will see will be my face!”

“If by Karuna’s luck, that will be your end as well,” Nagato replied, and Kaga flew out into the air, with Toshiro in tow. He shook his head before he sighed, walking over to Sonya. “Alert all of the ships of these orders: Red alert and get all weapons on standby. Get all sensors of all kinds to track down Kaga and her carrier. It shouldn’t be hard. Also, set up our fortifications for this war away from the Battle-Carrier. We can’t risk damaging it. Understood?”

“Yes,” Sonya said with a nod, and Nagato nodded back before he walked away. Sonya sighed a bit before she turned to Cyrus, who turned pale. “Open channels to all our ships.”

Nagato sat in a dark room, a blue glow against his face. Various Sunes walked around the room, sometimes interacting with the holographic screens and three-dimensional videos. A number of them talked to the microphones, transmitting information between ships. Yet Nagato’s red eyes remained focused on one three-dimensional image, the lights behind his eyes burning.

The image displayed a group of ships, spaced 450 meters away from each other, with many cannons, a great deal of them massive, on one end of it. They all faced forward, with the Sune super battleship at the center, twenty kilometers away from his ships. At the opposite end, around the same distance, were another series of ships, fewer than his own ships but more massive as aircraft carriers, with a couple of them floating above the sea.

Nagato sat on a cushion, trying to focus on the models of the Carriers across the sea. The scout wings haven’t yet got a visual look at the ships, but they got a radar scan. Nagato focuses his eyes on the shapes the scans have taken. The Carriers appeared to be bog-standard Luarii mass-produced models, but the ship in the lead had distinctive, highly angular shapes to the scan. Correlating the size and shape, it’s a Mezarii Raptor-Class with 75% certainty to the records.

“Where did she get one of those?” Nagato muttered silently.

Sonya stepped to his side, her focus on the three-dimensional map. “It’s odd. I would’ve thought that Kaga would’ve updated her ships so they would be harder to track, not easier.”

“It’s not her style,” Nagato said while shaking his head. “Not to mention, they can’t exactly hide anything with a Raptor under their wing.”

“You’re expecting her to strike soon, correct?” Sonya said but suddenly stammered and paused. “A Raptor? Mezarii doesn’t sell capital ships to outsiders. How did she get one of those? If I may be so bold as to ask, should we contact the nearest Sune settlement? It would be a win for us all. We would get reinforcement, Kaga would likely have her band dismantled and her capture, and we would claim the Battleship. Not to mention help dealing with a Raptor.”

Nagato thought for a long second, then that second became a disquieting half a minute before he answered, “No. I will be the one who defeats her. She deserves a head smashing, but no ship is invincible even then. A Raptor is just a big, arrow-shaped go-piece of intent. One with two-hundred and fifty strike drones granted.”

“We got a heat spike!” One Sune behind them said. “Transferring sensors onto the main display!”

At once, the map in front of Nagato and Sonya flickered to life with the updated information. A swarm of heat signatures appeared over the opposing fleet, hundreds of combat drones. They swooped above the Battlecarrier in a long, arching path. Nagato held his straw hat and made a stern nod.

“Calculate the arc of those drones and set up the anti-air aegis. Then, I want our directors to look over in that direction and prepare flak ammunition and any missiles on hand.”

The cannons on each ship clicked on and turned to their assigned bearing, locking onto the approaching drones with mechanical whirring gears. Sunes ran around the deck carrying ammunition boxes before sealing them in storage containers behind the weapon emplacements. When the drones came within range, the larger cannons fired first with a loud explosion from their barrels, larger than a tank’s cannon. Each one rang out in quick succession, dumping a large shell from under the turret and its automatic loader. Soon the Sune manning smaller rapid-fire cannons let loose on the drones, and a rapid klak klak klak of heavy rounds and tracers zoom into the sky to intercept the drones.

The tracers zoomed onwards until they reached the drones, where they exploded against the opposing attack. Some projectiles were loaded with a special payload such as a plasma explosive, causing it to vaporize several drones before dissipating. The sky between them was a shower of black smoke and orange flames and by the end of approximately six minutes, no shells or drones remained in the air.

“The drones have been successfully shot down. The sky is clear.” Sonya reported.

“Spectacular,” Nagato said, though he rubbed his chin for a moment, his eyes shifting. “They made the first move. It is time for our reply. Contact the Haruna to fire the battle group’s main guns at Kaga’s carriers. One shell each.”

A loud clang signaled a locked breach as the Sune of Haruna loaded armor-piercing shells into the cannons of their mighty ship. The shells, easily as heavy as a vehicle and the size of a Sune, were primed and ready to be unleashed. The cannons groaned, raising their barrels at a higher arc for range, and opened fire. As soon as the breach recoiled back to its standing position, the Sune loaded another massive round and its propellant. After the cannons reoriented, they opened fire once more with a great bang and flash across the sea.

The projectiles flew into the air at high speed, arching over the Super Battleship and descending on their targets.

But then, a thin blue energy sphere around each of the carriers, each one looking like an individual hexagon, manifested. The armor-piercing shells impacted the spheres, with them glowing white-hot from impact and showering sparks across the sea. The high explosive shells followed, each one exploding without breaking through the energy shield.

“When had Kaga installed energy shields in her ships?” Sonya asked, tilting her head at the screen, with Kaga’s ships having a blue bubble around each of them on the map. “She didn’t have them last time. That’s starship grade equipment.”

“She must have found them or stole them from a starship,” Nagato said, rubbing his chin. “Still, we can drain them through more volleys. Projection shields are not invincible and prone to overloading. A few more, and they’ll be down to recharge.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Sonya said, nodding. “Should we set up the cannons to fire at will?” Nagato remained silent; his focus remained on the three-dimensional map. “Um, Nagato? Anything on your mind?”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Nagato replied while shaking his head. “That initial attack from her was too tame, almost like a Solarii, no offense.” Sonya shrugged. “This isn’t like her to use safe tactics.”

“You two are Luarii,” Sonya said, and Nagato nodded in response. “So, as a Luarii, why would you pull out a safe tactic like that?”

“Well, that should be plainly obvious,” Nagato replied with a small smile. “Tease your mark and come in at a different angle, basic mercantile—” He then blinked at his words, cutting himself off before he turned back and shouted, “Direct radar and IR search to our sides!”

“But sir, we have been,” one Sune replied, leaning away from the projected screen. “Our detectors didn’t find any marks or heat energy.”

“What about visuals?!”

“Er, no.”

“Then search the sides, even with mark-one eyeballs and ears!”

The Sunes typed into the computers, with a few of them speaking to mics before one of them gasped. “We got visuals, five kilometers away from port and starboard sides! A series of gliders coming towards us!”

“Put them on screen!” Nagato demanded and, a second later, two video streams displayed on top of the map, where twenty gliders on each side flew. Each glider carried a drone, with the drones doing little but helping guide the glider to their destination by adjusting the path a bit. “Get every gun we have to fire th—”

The drones came to life and zoomed out from the carrying gliders. The cannons fired at them seconds later, knocking a few drones out of the sky. Yet, the remaining ones fired out rockets.

Soon, the entire room shook, with the holographic images and videos becoming fuzzy. Sonya stumbled against the floor with a yelp even as Nagato remained where he stood, his hand-paw clutching against the large holographic desk. The shaking stopped several seconds later, and the Sunes went to work repairing the systems.

“Damage?” Nagato said, his voice calm.

The Sunes behind him soon recovered the holographic screens and videos, with the dry drones fired upon before they had a chance to return to base. They chatted into their mics, typing into their computers even as a couple of them sweated. Soon, the holographic map expanded onto their ships, with several spots on them glowing red.

“Four ships have hull breaches on the deck and sides. We got Sunes patching them up right now,” Sonya said, though somewhat nervous. “Seven ships got their cannons damaged, with one blown in half.”

Nagato remained silent even as he clutched the holographic table tighter. He narrowed his eyes and folded his ears back even as Sonya took a step back. He soon let go of the table, with it twisted and bent where he gripped it. He turned to the rest of the Sunes, who winced at his cold yet burning stare.

“Hah! That piece of literal cannon fodder should’ve known better than to mess with me!” Kaga said, leaning back against her massive command couch, wagging her four tails.

Around and ahead the couch was a series of tables, where crew Sune typed into their computers, rapidly poking and sliding their paws over the touch screens. A video streamed from a drone high above Nagato’s fleet, smoke rising from damaged ships. This victory elicited a round of cheers from the Sune surrounding the command station. Kaga held a wide grin, straightening her buttoned red uniform while the white beads around her neck wiggled to her movements as if to affirm the Sune’s cheers around Kaga.

“Must say, even I’m surprised that he didn’t expect a flank attack,” Toshiro said, sitting on a chair next to Kaga.

Obviously not,” Kaga said, pressing her hand-paw against her chest. “He’s too safe for a Luarii to think of such a strategy. Moreover, such straightforward thinking is unbecoming of our heritage.”

“Even so,” Toshiro said while shaking his head, “we shouldn’t celebrate just yet. He will respond to such an attack.”

“Of course, he will,” Kaga said, though she leaned back more and beamed with a grin. “Keep a visual on his ships. In the meantime, set up our next series of drones. Set coordinates to—”

“We got an attack response!” one of the Sunes behind her shouted, and the video ahead of them showed hundreds of white streaks from the opposing ships. “Calculating travel path of the shells!” The screen then displayed a series of green squares over the shells along with curved green lines. “This-this doesn’t make any sense!”

Kaga leaned forward and blinked, the calculated curved lines going over her carriers. “There must be a mistake. Have the computer recalculate the travel path.”

“Aye!” The Sune typed on the computer, and the green lines and squares flickered for a moment. Yet, the details remained the same. “Huh?”

“Hmm.” Kaga said while shaking her head. “What do you think, Toshiro?”

“I can think of a few reasons,” Toshiro said, rubbing the back of his head even as his three tails remained still. “Perhaps we damaged all of their fire control directors, unlikely though. Another is that—”

“Nani?!” the Sune behind them said, leaning forward against the screen. “Projectile pre-detonation, what happened!?”

Kaga blinked at the screen with the incoming projectiles exploding three-fourths of the distance to their impact point. She slipped off the command couch and took several steps forward, rubbing her chin for a moment while she hummed. Her ears flattened back while she tilted her head, with Toshiro walking to her side.

“Complete your thought, Toshiro,” Kaga said, the fire behind her eyes cooled.

“As I was about to say,” Toshiro said, the screen ahead of them displaying debris, “that this was a trick, like what we did to him. Perhaps he intended to mislead us by firing shells over us before firing the real attack.”

“Too basic,” Kaga said, her eyes skimming on the screen, with no incoming follow-up attack. “I think he meant to attack like that, but why? Unless he meant to—” she paused, and her eyes became fiery once more. “Zoom in on those shell ‘debris!’”

“Right!” the Sune behind them said, typing in, and the screen expanded that part of the video. Soon, it showed the debris were propellers carrying a pair of cannons, helping to keep it in the air as long as they could. “W-what?! Those aren’t debris at all!”

“Power on the shields!” Kaga yelled, and the room became dim.

Kaga’s carrier fleet glimmered for a moment as a faint projection began to charge and then form a coherent dome around them, hexagons lacing the field. Crew Sune aboard the lookout decks of the carrier used binoculars and searched ahead of them, waving out to the Sune on the deck of the approaching danger. The Crew Sune on the deck scrambled to relocate the attack drones below, but it was a slow process.

The hovering cannons above, held in the air by propellers, glowed red before firing a thin red line from each barrel. The beams lashed and struck the shields, glowing bright hot white where they impacted. The shields shifted colors from blue to green as the laser kept damaging them. In time, they turned red before the lasers pierced through, ripping through the armored deck.

Several Crew Sune leaped out of the way, with many drones exploding from the lasers slicing through and detonating fuel or armaments. Several others yelled out, with a couple of them scorched by the heat even as the pavement exploded from the heat. The lasers then hit the sides of the floating aircraft carriers, with sparks and explosions coming from them. Soon, the floating ones fell, impacting the sea as the lasers stopped firing, out of power, and fell into the sea.

“That-that SUNE!” Kaga said, cracking her knuckles before slamming against the floor, with it buckling against the floor. “I have worked SO HARD to find functional hovering carriers! I destroyed several mechs guarding them with my drones! AND HE RUINED THEM!” She slammed her fists against the floor once more, ripping through. “I will never forgive him for it!”

Toshiro took a few steps back, his ears flattened to the sides even as Kaga growled, her eyes fiery enough to melt through steel. Pawsteps came from behind, and when he turned around, he spotted one of the Sunes coming down, her expression nervous. He tilted his head even as she stood beside him, her fur white with purple markings around her fur, legs, and three tails in the shape of swords.

“Kaga,” the Sune said and paused when Kaga turned her glaring eyes at her. “We received a message. They were asking—”

“—for a surrender?” Kaga said, and the other Sune took a step back. “Let me tell you this, I will NEVER surrender to Nagato as long as I am alive, even if it’s only as a speck of fur left! Send THAT as a response!”

“But Kaga,” The Sune said, her ears flattened back. “It came fr—”

“Did I stutter?” Kaga demanded, and the Sune shook her head. “Good, Kanna. So please, send him that response!”

Kanna gulped before walking back, her ears back and tails low even as Toshiro tilted his head.

“That will teach her not to give a scratch to even the smallest of my cannons,” Nagato said, his voice calm yet cold.

The other Sunes remained silent, staring at the large holographic map. The floating aircraft carriers fell to the sea, with multiple red spots on all opposing ships. Even so, Nagato clutched his hand-paw tight, his eyes burning at the other ships.

“You know she won’t let it go without a fight,” Sonya said, rubbing the back of her head. “Especially after the damages you left her with.”

“If she had learned not to mess with me long ago, she wouldn’t have her fleet crippled like this,” Nagato said before turning back to the other Sunes. “Get all Sunes to repair anything that can be fixed, even temporary. Then, fire at will with any ammunition we got, no matter how big or small.”

The other Sunes nodded before speaking with their mics and typed into their computers, relaying the order to the other ships. Yet, Cyrus listened to his headphones, with him blinking at the words spoken to him. He gulped and put down the headphones before stepping from the desk and walking over to Nagato and Sonya. Nagato had already turned back to the holographic map, his expression frozen, yet Sonya turned to the newcomer with a confused expression.

“Is there anything wrong?” Sonya asked, and Cyrus rubbed the back of his head.

“Just earlier, I’ve received a transmission,” Cyrus answered before standing straight. “They said that they—”

“Is it Kaga and her little band?” Nagato asked, not staring away even as Cyrus stammered. “Has she finally learned that the risks she’s been pulling off will bite her tails off?”

“No,” Cyrus answered. “They have nothing to do with the current conflict. What they wanted—”

“Then it isn’t important, Cyrus,” Nagato said, and Cyrus blinked. “All I care about is getting Kaga out from here and finalizing my claim to the super Battleship. Any third party will be declined.”

“You know,” Sonya said, raising her hand-paw to Nagato before putting it down, “it wouldn’t hurt to call upon some allies. After all, Kaga is wanted by several tribes and governments. If we can ask for assistance—”

“No,” Nagato said in a firm tone, and Sonya stopped. “I won’t let any other Sune claim victory over her. One after another, she escapes, and we end up on the receiving end of her wretched plans. Every single time we ended up facing the consequences of leniency. It is time for the final victory.” He then turned to Cyrus. “Call my cruiser.”

The entire room paused, all typing stopped, all talk and exchange of orders halted, and all eyes were on Nagato. Sonya took a step back, blinking in horror even as Cyrus’ ears flattened back. Yet, Nagato sighed, and he stepped away from the holographic screen for a moment.

“I did not stutter,” Nagato said, stepping towards Cyrus even as the other stepped back. “I will be ending this. It will take until tomorrow morning for the cruiser to come in, but when it does, I will personally blast apart their ships with my cannons, shoot down any drones and mechs that come to me, and I will continue to do so until Kaga is nothing more than roadkill for my ship. Now, call for my cruiser.”

Nagato turned back to the holographic screen, gripping against the bent part, even as murmurs and whispers returned to the room. Sonya’s ears flattened to the sides even as she turned to Cyrus. But he remained standing there, conflicted with one back leg towards the desk and the other towards Nagato. But Sonya went over and patted his shoulder, and he calmed down.

“You have your orders,” Sonya said, though her tone indicated exhaustion. “Call for it.”

Cyrus nodded and as though he dragged an entire battleship by himself, he walked up to his desk.

The sun had moved from its apex all the way down below the horizon, with barely even a glimmer of sunlight reaching over it. Instead, countless stars pierced through the sky, with the moon and its ring reflecting its light onto the sea. Yet, the sea was anything but peaceful, with the sky polluted with black smoke and orange flames illuminating the horizon and explosions once every few seconds.

The ships, Nagato’s battleships and Kaga’s aircraft carriers, endured multiple hits, whether drones with rockers or gliders, or cannons with armor-piercing shells. And yet, despite the increasing scraps to patch up the holes on the ships and the amount of smoke coming from them, not a single one of their ships retreated even for repairs. Armor and energy shield wore thin, yet they would remain like stubborn beasts fighting for an increasingly rotting prey.

Or, more accurately, a prey that disappeared.

Kaga glared at the huge screen, with it displaying nothing more than Nagato’s fleet. She stood upon bent steel, some of them patched with wooden boards. Her face throughout the battle became just as ragged as her uniform, her hand-paws a bit bruised. The command couch had deep gashes in them, with a couple of Sunes patching them up behind her.

Toshiro stood by her side, his eyes half-closed with some wrinkles underneath them. He chugged down a soda can before putting it down with four others even as he held up a tablet. He skimmed through the report, and he sighed.

“Damage report,” Toshiro said, with her not changing her view. “Despite attempts at repairing the antigravity engines, the Raptor remains far too crippled to fly without intense repairs. Four of our carriers are barely held together. Incapacitations have reached between 5 to 20 percent of the crew, depending on the ship. The shield systems are barely functional. At this rate, it’ll take between three months to a year to repair or replace the ships.”

“But all of our ships are still floating,” Kaga replied, and she grinned. Toshiro blinked, and he took a step back. “As long as even one of our ships is functional, we will not surrender that super Battleship with its aircraft carrier designs and drones. Once we have it, all of our current worries will be gone.”

Toshiro nodded, his eyes turned to the side before pawsteps came from behind. He turned back, where Kanna walked towards them. Her face was pale, with her ears back and stomach tight. Toshiro blinked at her, with him patting her shoulder only to find it cold.

“Anything wrong, Kanna?” Toshiro asked, and she nodded. “How bad is it?”

“The worst that happened yet,” Kanna replied, her tone fearful. “Everything we’ve done, it was all for nothing.”

“What do you mean?” Kaga asked, not turning away from the screen. “Have they brought in their little cruiser? Don’t they know I’ve already called for my super mech as well?”

“It’s the— It’s the—” Kanna said, struggling to answer. “It’s the super Battleship we’ve been battling for. It’s gone!”

“WHAT?!” Kaga twisted to Kanna, her eyes flaming even as Kanna winced away. “Put it on screen!”

The other Sunes gasped before they typed into their computers, and the drone zoomed out from Nagato’s fleet, with it displaying both hers and Nagato’s ships. Yet, there wasn’t any super battleship anywhere on the video. The entire room became quiet, with Toshiro somewhat pulling Kanna back even as Kaga’s fur bristled. Soon, she slammed both her hand-paws against the screen, with it cracked upon impact.

“That SNEAK!” Kaga said, slamming her fists against it again. “He got me to remain so focused on his fleet that I never noticed that he took the Battleship under my nose! How unbecoming of a Luarii of him!” She turned to Kanna. “Double the speed of my incoming super mech. I’m ending this myself!”

“That thief!” Nagato glared at the holographic screen, which had just expanded to view the sea, with the super Battleship missing. “I knew she was a sneaking one, but this?” He cracked his knuckles even as Sonya and Cyrus stepped away from him. “She has finally gone too far! She won’t survive tomorrow!”

“Uh, Nagato?” Cyrus asked and winced when Nagato’s burning glare turned to him. “I—”

Sonya raised her hand-paw at Cyrus as Nagato said, “Get my cruiser here as fast as possible! Tomorrow, we will finally end our little war!”

Nagato walked away, his pawsteps thundering with every step, his fur bristling. Cyrus extended his hand-paw, only for Sonya to shake her head at him, so he lowered it. Nagato walked out from the room, the door opening and shutting with a slide by that point. Cyrus’ ears flattened to the sides, with him walking away in shame even as Sonya followed.

“Tell me,” Sonya asked when the two went outside. “That transmission you got hours ago. Who were they, and what did they want?”

“They were another Sune community, with much of the same mission as us: finding relics from our past before the disaster and trying to relearn how to build them.” Cyrus lowered his head. “They were asking about the super battleship’s claim and if we were fighting about it.”

“From the sound of it, they took our silence that we didn’t, so they decided to take it for themselves,” Sonya said, with Cyrus nodding. “And I’m willing to bet that they tried to contact Kaga and her ships as well, and she brushed them off too.”

“Yeah.” Cyrus turned to Sonya, and he sighed. “Will I get disciplined for this?”

“Normally you would since, though you were following orders from Nagato, the responsibility lies with you.” Sonya then shook her head. “But you won’t.”

Cyrus blinked. “But what if Nagato finds out? And why didn’t you let me explain it to him then? He’s going to get himself killed over a ship that neither he nor Kaga has.”

“Oh, I doubt he will die as long as Kaga lives, even if it’s only for a second.” Sonya turned to the stars shining above, with black smoke and explosions somewhat blocking it. “Nagato won’t find out. He’s too blinded by his hate to realize that she didn’t have it, and I’m willing to bet the same with her. As for why I didn’t let you explain?” She couldn’t help but smile. “I want to see the two fight once more.” She patted Cyrus on his head. “Get yourself some sleep because it’ll be an awesome event.”

Morning came to the ocean once more, with nothing more than the swaying sea breaking the silence. Shards of drones, shells, and other remains of the battle floated on the surface, going up and down along with the water before sinking. Even so, the air became thick, with smoke coming from the two opposing fleets as they approached each other.

Soon, one cruiser, painted blue and lavished with ornamental patterns and colors on its hull, came to view as though it had just appeared, its cloaking device turned off. While not as massive as the battleships it cruised by, it was tremendous for a cruiser. The superstructure was littered with turrets with cannons, and the primary guns themselves were those meant to be fitted for battleships themselves. But the true prize of the ship was an awe-inspiring energy weapon running the length of the nose to the front turret.

At the other end, a massive mech at about twenty meters tall came into view, floating above the aircraft carriers with its cloaking device off as well. Its skin was painted red, with purple glowing trace lines around the joints. Its head was vulpine in shape, with triangular ears and three pairs of ‘wings’ in the form of an aircraft carrier’s deck.

The blazing red mech held out an arm and held a triumphant flourish as if to mock its opponent. Suddenly, massive thrusters in the rear of the machine ignited, sending it barreling towards Nagato’s cruiser. The wings of the mech unfurled around its shoulders, deploying launch ramps for drones and firing off a dozen of the machines, taking flight into the air. At once, the cruiser fired out its main cannons at the mech while smaller turrets on the hull fired out blazing white lasers. The lasers ripped through the drones in seconds, though the mech emitted an energy shield that glowed blue upon impact. Finally, the mech pulled its arm back and threw a punch, only for its energy shield to slam against the cruiser’s own energy shield, with the shields emitting waves in a hexagonal shape.

The mech flew up and extended its arm out, and dozens of drones came out. Then, before the cannons turned upwards, the drones fired out their rockets, with them flying out and exploding against the cruiser’s shield as it turned green. But the cannons turned upwards, and they fired massive shells that exploded partway, with hundreds of smaller shells ripping through the drones and slamming against the mech’s shield, already turning green and reddening.

The mech flew over and behind the cruiser, changing course as the mech’s ‘wings’ flexed a bit. Twelve drones, far larger than the ones from before, came out, and they spun above and below the mech in the circle. They spun around faster as electricity emitted from them, and by the time the cruiser went halfway around, they fired out, with the beams meeting and impacting the cruiser’s shield, with it turning red before it broke. The beam slammed against the cruiser for a few seconds before dissipating, with it scorched, and several of the cannons melted even as the drones fell down, melting as well with the sea bubbling upon impact.

The mech’s arms were somewhat scorched before it zoomed forward, with the cruiser completing its turn as its massive cannon glowed from within. It then fired out a massive beam, which broke through the mech’s energy shield in seconds and slammed against the mech itself. But the mech, with its limbs and chest exploding, kept on flying forward even as its wings’ were vaporized. Then, finally, it swung its fist at the cruiser, and the entire ship shuttered, with cracks from all over, and the massive cannon stopped firing.

Yet, even as the cruiser fell apart, the smaller forward cannons fired at the mech, with its plasma ripping through the mech, and it fell apart as well. Finally, it fell onto the cruiser’s bow, with its ripping in half. Then, the mech’s lines stopped glowing, and a far smaller mech zoomed out from its head, hovering above it before landing on the cruiser, with the bow and massive mech falling into the sea.

“That. Nasty. Sune.” Kaga said, her voice digitized through the small mech as she turned back at the sinking mech. “It’ll take months to repair that mech if I cannot get a new one!”

“And it’ll take me the same amount of time repairing my ship.” Kaga twisted around, with Nagato standing on the gun deck above her, carrying multiple massive guns on his back. “You have messed with me far too many times, you dog. Now, you will die.”

“You die first!” Kaga fired out two smaller drones from the mech’s back even as Nagato pulled out one of his guns and fired out. Its laser blast slammed against one of the drones, only for the other to fire its own plasma shot at Nagato, with it impacting his gun, and he tossed the melted remains. He rolled around, pulling another gun off his back and firing at the drone, with its large bullets knocking it off the air. But Kaga leaped into the air and fired out six more drones, with them exploding around him. “Just die!”

“Never!” A yellow plasma bolt came out from the smoke and impacted the mech’s head, ripping it off and exposing Kaga’s scorched face. She landed and charged at Nagato, firing a pair of hovering drones from its ‘wings’, and they fired out several beams at the smoke. But he ran out, his clothes and hat on fire and carrying a small yet wide gun. He fired it, and its explosive round impacted Kaga mech’s chest, exploding with shards going everywhere. “I got you now!”

The drones hovered a second longer, firing a thin laser at Nagato’s final gun before deactivating. He tossed it aside before he sprinted forward at Kaga, who ripped the melting mech off her body, her clothes on fire. She turned up, only for Nagato to pounce on her and pin her on her back. He balled his fists and slammed down against her face.

“Just! Give! Up! And! Die!” Nagato yelled, punching her face every two words.

But Kaga snarled and grabbed onto an incoming punch. She flipped him off her before biting his shoulder. “You die first!”

Nagato grunted even as a fire formed from the somewhat melted mech and their clothes, and he punched her sides several times. He then extended his feet claws and slashed against her belly, ripping through the uniform even as she yelped. But her bite only tightened even as she swung her feet claws at him and sliced through his kimono.

Nagato extended his hand-paws’ claws and slashed through Kaga’s face, with her wincing, letting go of his shoulder. The two remove what remained of their shredded and burning clothes, with burnt marks all over their bodies, before they leap at each other once more. They sweated, punching and clawing at each other even as the flames surrounded them, with only their shadows visible to the outside. The shadows bit and slashed at each over even as the cruiser’s remains burned and sank.

Then, at once, both shadows fell into the sea.

A minute later, a battleship and a large drone came to the battlefield, where Sunes poked their heads out. They turned to each other, the enemy Sune, and the wrecked cruiser until both Nagato and Kaga came to view, floating on a few lumber and unconscious. Then, a lifeboat was lowered from the Battleship, with Sonya rowing over to Nagato even as Toshiro lowered himself in his own small mech to Kaga.

“Looks like it’s a draw once more,” Sonya said, picking Nagato up and setting him on the boat.

“Yeah,” Toshiro said, firing out a few drones that carried Kaga out of the sea. “So, truce?”

“Truce,” Sonya said, though she couldn’t help but smile at Toshiro. “Think they’ll stop fighting?”

“Karuna, I hope so,” Toshiro said, the drones putting Kaga on the larger drone. “We’ll need a year to recover everything we lost from this battle alone. This conflict has done nothing but cost us instead of improving like Karuna demands.”

“I agree,” Sonya said, more to herself even as she rowed the lifeboat back to the Battleship. “Regardless, until we meet again?”

“Yeah. Farewell.”

“I swear to Karuna,” Nagato said, strapped onto a hospital bed, wrapped in blankets and a few IVs through his veins, “I will take my revenge on her. She has done nothing but hinders me time and time again, crippling my ships, cannons, and guns. I will rip out her heart and squeeze it until it bursts.”

“Has he done nothing but said that since he woke up?” Sonya asked, standing behind a window, her hand-paws pressed to the glass.

“Yeah,” Cyrus answered, dark bags under his eyes and his fur ragged. “Can we knock him out again?”

“That’s very unbecoming of a crewmember like you,” Sonya said, shaking her head. “Even if I do agree with your assessment.”

“Sorry, but we haven’t gotten a full assessment of damages and casualties from that fruitless battle.” Cyrus’s ears flattened low enough to touch his shoulders. “We’re estimating that it’s at least 60%, and he’s still ragging on Kaga. It’s as if the ghost of Lysander cursed him with this obsession.”

“I agree,” Sonya said, sliding her paws from the glass and sighing at Cyrus. “I agree, at least not as obsessed as that legend.”

“That Sune will pay for this!” Kaga yelled out, strapped against her bed with several IVs inserted into her body. “I will find him and destroy him and everything he knows and loves! In fact, while dreaming, I already thought of hundreds of plans! When I see him again, I’ll use them all at once!”

“I thought you gave the chemicals that are supposed to knock her out,” Kanna said from behind a door, rubbing her ears.

“I did,” Toshiro said while rubbing the back of his head. “I gave her triple the dose that would’ve knocked a S’vharl boxer out.”

“Oh, Karuna, help me,” Kanna said more to herself while rubbing her face.

Sunes are known to be incredibly stubborn. And this remains the truth.