Takara Hakase was born Seta Konoe to Setsuna and Hideki Konoe on Planet Kyushu, Kyushu. He has one elder sister, Hoshi.
Seta's father was an exceptional pilot for the Kusari navy, as well as the next in line for the Konoe house, a family that served the emperor for generations. His mother was the daughter of the Yukihiro conglomerate, a family that could trace its name all the way back to Earth, Sol. Growing up, Seta attended the best schools Kyushu could offer. He excelled in math, had a knack for flying and an interest in cartography.
When Seta turned 19, he joined the Kusari Navy on an expeditionary team to Hokkido at the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. There he proved his skills as a pilot when he, and his 3 wing-men drove off 2 waves of GC assault groups attacking their research vessel until reinforcements arrived. For his heroics, Seta was promoted to a full Lieutenant. Later on, his squadron, the Inzuma 4, was asked to escort Kusari diplomats to New York for the yearly summit on Manhattan. It was there that he would meet his future wife, Eclair Walker, a Bretonian working as a Foreign Service Officer. One year after the summit, Eclair Walker transferred to the Bretonian Consulate on Planet New Tokyo.
At 24, Seta proposed to Eclair and married a year later with permission from his parents and Eclair's. They moved to Planet New Tokyo and 2 years later and had one daughter, Ayaka Konoe. At the age of 31 and after 12 years of service, Seto was promoted to the rank of Commander and was commissioned to the Battleship "Hashira" and assigned to the Fukuoka System on a cartography mission. That same year, his father suffered a stroke and died. Hideki Konoe was posthumously promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral, and Seto inherited the Konoe house.
From the beginning, Seta was firmly against the idea of war. He felt that mankind had best use their energy finally put to rest cancer, and exploring. However, 18 months before the war, while the "Hashira" was underway for restock and refuel, a large unidentified force appeared near the Tau-23 Jump Hole. Having been the closest outfit, the fleet of the "Hishara" engaged the unknown assailants and forced them to retreat to the Tau-29 System. Within several hours, a pursuit team, made up of a cruiser and 3 squadrons of fighters was sent in after the attackers. For his efforts, Seto was promoted to the rank of Captain.
Six months before the war, all Fleet Commanders was asked to meet in New Tokyo to discuss their plan of action. Immediately Seta made his case known and stood firmly against it. But eventually, every fleet commander swayed and motioned for the war. Before leaving New Tokyo, he was issued new orders, and him and his fleet were to sent to Chugoku.
Four days before the Kusari declares war, Seto is on leave and is resigning in Kyushu. Just as they sit for dinner, one of the servants rushes in,
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"Konoe -dono, this just arrived for you, it's from Lieutenant Commander!"
"Eh? Mitsu -kun?"
Seta presses play on the holopad, the miniature image of Takahata Mitsuru fades into view,
"Konoe -sensei, you and Eclair -sama must leave immediately. They think your spies. They've sent the Lotus brigade! Please you must..."
Just then a large explosion took out the west wall.
"Damn, they're here! Okaa-san, take Ayaka -chan to the safe house, Eclair you go too, I'll draw them off," he stood up and turned to one of the servants, "Yoshino! My sword and Eclairs duals, bring them here, then get the others and evacuate."
"We'll protect you untill the end Konoe -dono, we won't leave untill you do!"
"Fine, go to the armory, hand out weapons there. You know where it is, I see you practicing every other day. Eclair! East corridor, then straight to the hangar, I'll take the North Entrance, then cut back."
"Right then, please, be safe..." Eclair turned and rushed out the hall, Ayaka and Setsuna in tow.
No sooner did they leave, two of the assassins come through the dinning room door. Quickly, he and Yoshino dispatched them and left for the hangars.
Through the halls they met and felled the faceless assailants, but Seta knew who they were. They were men he once commanded at one point in time. Instructed them on fighting tactics and lectured them in the code of honor. Now they were here, under orders, to remove him from existence. Each slash grew more and more difficult. He began recognizing the styles of his former comrades before he ran them through, and was terrified to look back on the dying faces of his former students.
As they crossed the court yard, they heard a short scream, followed by the sound of gunfire, they turned the corner to find Eclair on the ground with one of the servants attending to her. Not too far, an assassin lay dead, shot several times.
"Oh God... Eclair?..." he ran over to her, he could see the wound in her abdomen, blood pooling around her.
Slowly, her eyes opened and looked up at Seta and made a feeble smile, "That bastard over there came out of nowhere... Ayaka and Setsuna got away with Sayo, saw the ship take off... Got behind me... unloaded a clip into him before he could finish the deed, still... looks like that wanker got what he came for..."
"shhh... It'll be alright," Seta gently took her into his arms, "Just hold on a bit we'll..." Eclair cut him off. Seto could feel her warmth leaving her,
"Looks I'll be going ahead... sorry. I'd better not see you till your grey, or I'll never forgive you."
"I... I promise..."
"Good. There's a case of ammo in the Hangar. The manufacturer is on the box. One more favor... could you hold my hands... I'm feeling a bit cold... so col..." her eyes clouded over, staring through to the stars.
Seta held her body close to his, pleading for her to wake up from eternal slumber, the roar of an engine over head reminded them of the situation.
"Shishou..." Yoshino offered Eclair's guns to Seta
Seta laid Eclair down gently and stood up and turned to the remaining aid, "Tend to her..." he wiped his eyes, "Yoshino, Lets go..." took the guns, and they bolted for the hangar.
While the remaining engineer made final checks on his Wyrm fighter, he issued his last orders to Yoshino,
"There's a hidden compartment below my father's urn, there, you'll find a will stating that Ayaka inherits this house. There is also some money, use the money too..."
"I know..."
"After that, 3 days from now, a messenger pigeon should arrive with coordinates to the safe house. Take 2 of your most trusted servants and my engineer, meet up with them there, leave the rest to care for the house."
"Yes Konoe -dono, and what about you?"
"I'll draw them off and head for Liberty, maybe the Rheinland."
"The ship's ready sir!"
"You'd best be off Konoe -dono..."
"Please, I am no longer the head of this house. Yoshino," Seta extends one of Eclair's pistols, "Take it, there are only two of it's kind in this universe, one day I'll return, so that they may be a pair once again."
Seta gets in the cockpit. As he makes preflight checks, the ship lifts off from the ground. Outside, Yoshino bows low to the launching ship, and the "death" of Seta Konoe.
Seta looked up at the sky and noticed something peculiar. There was a new star in one of the constellations, it could only mean one thing, a Capitol Ship.
He knew he was in trouble. The Kusari Naval Force had dispatched an entire carrier group after him. As he approached the docking ring he weighed his options. There was no point in negotiating, they wanted him and his family dead, he had to make it to the asteroid fields. Closer and closer, his scanners began to ping in the locations of nearby ships; a total of two heavy fighter wings, one reserve light squadron, and the Carrier Ship that loomed ahead. They were in a reversed V-formation facing the docking rings. Seta had to act quickly, his cruise engines would be useless in the atmosphere, but he would need them operational the instant he is free from it. Quickly, he disabled the auto-pilot, bypassed the docking rings, and charged up the cruise engines, using his own thrusters to reach escape velocity.
10 seconds before breaching the atmosphere, Seta adjusted his heading directly towards the right flank-
5 seconds, his cruise engines are at 96%
2 seconds...
Seta breaches the atmosphere, the first heavy fighter squadron moves to close on him, Seta breaks left and lets loose his cruise engines. He makes an arks around the docking ring as he moves closer the second group of heavy fighters. The first squadron is forced to slow down to avoid entering the atmosphere. Suddenly, warning lights go off in Seta's cockpit, his left wing is grazing the atmosphere, threatening to pull him back in. The second wing begins to bear down on top of him, and the first wing will have his cruise engines in lock any moment. The Carrier begins to strife his ship, Seta finally brings the Wyrm around and banks hard to the right. The turrets can't keep up with the light fighter, and the heavy fighters are again forced to avoid the planet. Seta begins to line himself up for a high speed pass in front of the carrier. The carrier captain calls in the more agile reserve to attempt to intercept. Seta makes his pass port side and cuts left at the bow and out maneuvering the light fighters. Safely out of range, he makes for the Shikoku Jump Hole.
Seta emerges from the jump hole to find it quiet. He sighs in relief, "at least I avoided them for now... but it won't take them too long."
Avoiding the trade lanes, Seta flew by cruise engines to the Kepler Jump Gate. He had made it to the clouds without incident. At approximately 3K from the Jump Gate a warning light went off, "Warning! Incoming missle."
"what the...!" the cruise disruptor hit the ship at full force, spinning him around.
"Konoe!" yelled the pilot over the com, "You're not getting out of here alive!"
"Bastard, I'm already dead!" Seta turned his weapons online and charged.
Guns blazing he took out one of the wingmen, sending his ship into one of the asteroids. Killing his engines, he turned, drifting backwards towards the gate, he opened up on the flight lead. One of the other pilots took the fire and ejected before his ship exploded.
"Lucky shots Konoe, but try this!" he launced two of his stalker missiles simultaneously. Seta took out one of the missiles but the second managed knock out his shields. The third fighter pulled up along Seta's ship and lit him up. His ship now in flames, it bumps against the Kepler Jump Gate. The ship begins to fall into the gravity of the Jump Gate. As the ship goes through, an explosion is seen from the crippled fighter, then disappears.
"Command? This is Onii 7, we've taken 2 losses but he's dead, we're heading back to base."
a note to those reading: Please send me PMs of what you think. And if you like what you read, please pass it on.
Untill I finish my final draft, a quick bio for Eclair and Ayaka:
Eclair Konoe, born Eclair Walker
Grew up on Planet New London where she attended school throughout her life.
Captain of the Girl's Archery Team at her secondary school.
Excelled in marksmanship and proficient in a number of small firearms.
Her favorite weapon, a pair of custom .45 Caliber Walther P99s. Reproduced by a gunsmith company on Leeds.
Graduated valedictorian from New Cambridge University on Planet Cambridge.
Worked as a Bretonian Foreign Service Officer for the Bretonian Embassy in New Tokyo.
Married to Seta Konoe at age 23 and moved to Kyushu permanently.
At 25 she gave birth to Ayaka Konoe.
At the age of 30, Eclair was killed in the raid on the Konoe compound to assassinate herself and her husband Seta.
Ayaka Konoe
Born to Eclair and Seta Konoe.
At age 5, the family compound was attacked. She escaped to the safe house with her grandmother.
Under her father's will, Ayaka will inherit the Konoe estate. However, until she reaches the age of 16, she will be under the guidance of her grandmother, Setsuna and her aunt, Hoshi Takahata (her husband is Mitsuru Takahata, Seta's Lieutenant Commander)
"Liberty Navy Ship: Arkansas, this is Galileo Patrol: BRAVO, seems quiet out here."
"Roger that Galileo Patrol, Cleared through to New York."
"Affirmative, setting new... something is coming up on our scanners... a ship just came through the jump gate! Looks like it's taken heavy damage. Attention Pilot, This is Liberty Navy Patrol, please identify yourself."
There was no response from the crippled ship.
"Any idea on who's flying it?"
"The ship's IFF is scrambled up, by the looks of it, a KNF fighter, moving to investigate."
"Roger, proceed with caution."
Slowly, the patrol group approached the disabled craft.
"Launching nanoprobes. Arkansas, making visual observations. Visible hull breaches towards the aft and port side of the ship. Ship is venting atmosphere and coolant. No signs of an escape pod launch. Probe data uploading now..."
The ship's schematics and status appeared on screen.
"Initializing bio Scanners. Data confirms that there is an escape pod malfunction. Cockpit compartment has been sealed off. Life support systems are damaged, but still operational. Sending data now..."
"Received Galileo Patrol, any signs of life?"
"Scanners retrieving data now, Readout: No Nomad life forms detected, No cardimine contamination detected. One bio-form detected, Heart Rate: 55 BPM, Satus: Unconscious/Sleep. Arkansas, requesting a rescue unit to this location."
"Confirmed, launching utility craft now, BRAVO monitor the ship and surrounding area."