It Starts Again

[Nodoka Hanamura]

---

OCS Abdicant Seraphine Carrier Battlegroup
Unknown System, Deep Space
August 22nd, 825 AS - 20:20 Sirian Mean Time

The fleet of Ouroboros moved ever onward into the deep void of space, having been few months seperated from the Sigmas, and after several jumps, found themselves deep in space, working their way manually to the Taus, under dark cloak of the vast emptiness. Aboard the Seraphine, the crew are preparing to make one of their last jumps, this time, bringing them within visual range of Tau-44, and nearer to the Barrier. The bridge is strangely quiet as Hanamura and her team work to prepare for the jump.

"Kobayashi, status report - how's the Jump Drive looking?" Hanamura asks of the at one time, Diplomatic head of Ouroboros. She thankfully, spent time before joining the GC and later Ouroboros, in school for astronomics, and was somewhat familiar with her duty as head Navigation and Astrometerology officer.

"Solar winds are fair, quantum tunneling conditions are optimal and we're outside of the lagrange point of SIP 932201 and 942101c - we should be safe to begin the jump as planned, ma'am." she answers, the brown haired woman observing and watching for abnormalities. Jae-un, having been bored out of her mind, had been tasked instead with Bridge Engineering and Systems oversight, whilst Alexei was down in Maintenance decks monitoring the situation at hand.

Hanamura's visage stares off into the depths, the barrier faintly visible in the distance. Thoughts of regret about sending Mieko back to Sirius alone manifest in her mind, but she knows that a few months doing Ouroboros a service by finding a safe place for them to call home would be a understandable risk to take.

"Miranov to Bridge - we're detecting slight abnormalities but nothing out of acceptable parameters. Engineering is go for jump." A voice is heard through the bridge intercom, as Alexei gives the go ahead.

Silence resumes over the Bridge, before Setsuna chimes in once more. "Hanamura-sama, you might want to see this." she says, slightly concerned.

Jae-un begins to initialize the jump drive, as Hanamura approaches Kobayashi. "What is it?" she asks of her.

"Unknown Dark matter burst - origin unknown.. specifications are well beyond safe limits, and it's moving at great pace.. Hanamura-sama, we need to abort the Jump!" Setsuna declares somewhat loudly, concerned. Hanamura shifts her gaze to Jae-un. "Bride, Emergency spindown, now!" she orders to her.

Jae-un desperately tries to bring down the jump drive before the storm hits, but to no avail. "Jump drive device file's locked! It's not responding to commands!"

Hanamura runs over to Jae-un's station, and observes her as she tries to reattempt the shutdown. Setsuna chimes in once more. "Storm TTI is 30 seconds! Hanamura-taichou, I strongly advise we move to brace!" she shouts from across the room. The rest of the crew are desperately monitoring the situation, personally bracing themselves for what's about to happen.

"Goddamn it! Come on, you Zoner piece of garbage, spin down!" Jae-un shouts once more, banging at the console, desperately trying to force the system down.

Hanamura patches in to Alexei over a secure local neural net line. "Alexei, We need an emergency shutdown, now! Dark Matter storm is imminent!"

Alexei responds over the net. His unit, the 3rd Maintenance Squadron, moves to the Jump Drive bay to attempt a rapid manual shutdown. "Vas ponyal, komandir! We're on the way."

Hanamura looks back to Jae-un. "Keep trying to bring that damned thing offline." Jae-un simply obliges with a nod, as her finger rapidly type at the keyboard, attempting to negotiate with the ship's syscon software.

The commander runs back to her chair, and begins to strap herself in as she orders the crew to brace. "All hands, brace for dark matter storm, 10 seconds! Brace, Brace, Brace!" Hanamura's voice echoes across the ship, as crew aboard rush to emergency seating for the impending storm.

[20:22:19 0822824] CRITICAL: Jump drive failure detected.
[20:22:19 0822824] DETAILS: Jump drive subsystem failed to initialize properly.
[20:22:19 0822824] ACTION: Initiating emergency shutdown procedure to prevent further damage.
[20:22:20 0822824] STATUS: user nhanamura ordered all hands to general quarters.
[20:22:24 0822824] CRITICAL: Jump drive offline. Ship navigation and FTL capabilities compromised.
[20:22:26 0822824] CAUSE: Potential malfunction in the quantum flux regulator. Further investigation required.
[20:22:26 0822824] CRITICAL: Main reactor failure - SCADA access offline, auxiliary SCRAM required..
[20:22:26 0822824] CAUSE: Jump Drive voltage overload from backbuilding power reserves. Initializing MOX auxiliary powerplant..
[20:22:28 0822824] WARNING: High probability of cascading system failures. Extreme caution advised.
[20:22:30 0822824] EMERGENCY: Priority distress signal broadcasted via /dev/comms/ftlrd0 to nearby vessels and stations.

A wave of dark energy strikes the Seraphine and her battlegroup. The ships are all shaken by the burst, but the Seraphine is indoubtetly hit the hardest. Energy from the Jump drive is expended as it back-builds onto the propulsion bus, and starts a cascading series of failures. Hanamura moves out of her seat as soon as the dust settles, rushing to the fore of her station, looking out at the crew on the bridge. Hanamura calls out to Jae-un. "Battle Damage Assessment!"

"Jump drive failure, it discharged all its' power onto the main bus! Attempting to divert to one of our capacitor banks!" Jae-un responds.

"Kobayashi, report!" Hanamura orders, shifting her sights onto Setsuna.

"Dark Matter Wave has passed but its' power is building, on a course for Sirius!" Setsuna answers, unaware of what that wave in its' future may have in store for the sector.

"Shift focus to assisting in DC with Jae-un! Speaking of --" Hanamura says, before stopping herself to switch to the intercom. "ALL Hands, all Hands, general quarters - all members of 3rd Maintenance Squadron, report to Engineering - all damage control teams move to standby!" she says through the intercom, as klaxons begin to blare across the ship, and emergency lights shift the vessel into a modest red tone of light. The ship's lights and other systems shortly thereafter, go out.

Seconds later, they kick back on, terminals resuming as they were. "Reactor's down - The thing just bought the farm! Hanamura, we're dead in the water!"

"Shit.." Hanamura says under her breath. "Bring up the MOX powerplant! Notify the Mendicant Didact we'll need their maintenance teams to come aboard for repairs!"

Kobayashi responds to Hanamura's order. "Yes ma'am, I'll hail them now." she says, moving to initiate a hailing channel with the Democritus-class vessel.

[20:22:46 0822824] ALERT: Primary propulsion bus experiencing critical overload.
[20:22:47 0822825] RESOLUTION: Diverting overvoltage to capacitor bank C1. (/dev/ppl/caps3c0)
[20:22:49 0822825] ACTION: Redirecting power flow to stabilize auxiliary systems (/dev/ppl/rec_aux).
[20:22:52 0822825] WARNING: Life support systems (/dev/lss) operating at reduced capacity. Crew advised to conserve resources.
[20:22:59 0822825] STATUS: Isolation protocols activated. Local group datalink enabled.
[20:22:59 0222825] CRITICAL: Catastrophic capacitor bank C1 failure! (/dev/pps/caps3c0)
[20:22:59 0822825] CAUTION: External hull integrity (/dev/sensr/hullint/deck0s11) compromised in Deck A, Sector 12. Sealant deployment initiated.
[20:23:03 0822825] NOTICE: User kharada disconnected - LIFESIGNS_TERM
[20:23:03 0822825] NOTICE: User npersens disconnected - LIFESIGNS_TERM
[20:23:03 0822825] NOTICE: User ychang disconnected - LIFESIGNS_TERM
[20:23:04 0822825] NOTICE: User msakurada disconnected - LIFESIGNS_TERM
[20:23:04 0822825] NOTICE: User sonoda disconnected - LIFESIGNS_TERM
[20:23:10 0822825] ALERT: Distress signal terminated - reason: INFOSEC/OPSEC override - user: skobayashi
[20:23:15 0822825] NOTICE: User bride executed '/bin/zsh /usr/ops/maint/scram_jd'
[20:23:15 0822825] NOTICE: User bride executed '/bin/zsh /usr/ops/maint/scram_c0'


An explosion rings out on the Seraphine. "We just lost Cap C1! Fire and breach in Sector 12, Deck Alpha!" Jae-un declares to Hanamura.

"Any casualties!?" Hanamura responds back, before committing. "Seal the compromised blocks!"

"We lost five of our men just now!" Jae-un retorts.

Hanamura slams the railing with her fist, furious at herself and at this accursed vessel she is aboard. What would have once potentially been a ship to lead a revolt, is now a bucket of bolts, barely holding together - and to boot, it's killing her men in the process. At this point she wonders if she would have been better off leaving the ship behind at Vierques. But in the end, she realizes it's too late for such thinking.

"DC Teams, to Deck A Sector 12!" Hanamura declares over the Intercom, before turning to Kobayashi. "Strangle the distress beacon - we don't need anything with tentacles potentially getting wind that we're down and out!" Hanamura continues, shouting her order. Kobayashi obliges, shutting off the distress beacon, but resuming communications with the rest of the fleet.

Jae-un speaks up. "I've managed to bring down the jump drive.. day late and a credit short, but.."

Hanamura retorts, irritated but understanding. "Better than nothing, I suppose." she says, before a bridge intercom message comes through.

"Bridge - this is Miranov - we're on station at the reactor room - We're dealing with hard radiation in here, and fuel line failures - the containment casing's cracked.."

"Vital information only! Can we fix it!?" Hanamura responds, irritated.

"Nyet, we can't fix it! Not without a shipyard, and by the time we get back to Sirius the ship will be laden to the brim with radiation!"

Setsuna, Jae-un and the rest of the crew stop what they're doing, and turn to Hanamura. She's visibly annoyed, frustrated and disappointed.

"The Reactor, is it going to go critical?" Hanamura inquires, trying to ascertain the situation.

"The powerplant's still stable enough to undergo SCRAM if we hurry. MOX generators will kick on to emergency battleshort to stablize the reactor bus until it completes scram."

"What's the odds of the generators failing?" she says in question, trying to understand the risks at hand.

"Minimal, they're LIvadia generators - things could withstand 50 dark matter storms and still run on all 4."

Hanamura thinks to herself, before resuming. Great, so they give us a reactor that melts down at the sight of a dark matter storm but a MOX generator only good for twiddling our thumbs until the Nomads kill us all - fantastic.

"How long do we have before the radiation spreads and reaches LD50?" Hanamura says, depressed.

Alexei can be heard sighing over the intercom. "Too long to worry if we evacuate. Propulsion's about to die and the MOX generators are only for emergency power, not for propulsion."

"I'm sorry Hanamura. This deep in space, and without proper resources - she's done. The Seraphine's done." he says, as the bridge falls silent save the blaring alarms. "I'm sorry. I advise we move to muster stations, ma'am."

Hanamura moves to issue an order to Setsuna and Bride. "Jae-un, bring down the reactor - Setsuna, monitor the readings on that whole subsystem.

Hanamura is visibly upset at the words said before her. All the hard work she has put in, trying to keep Ouroboros in one piece, and now - the flagship is falling apart at the seams. However, she knows full well they will survive, even with the ship being gone. And that's what matters now, more than ever - survival.

Hanamura's voice blares over the alarms throughout the ship.

"This is Supreme Commander Nodoka Hanamura to all hands. Code Kita. Code Kita. Flight Decks and flight crew begin emergency scramble and transfer of all snubcraft to the Utsunomiya and Tochigi. Logistics teams, prepare removal of all assets. Sanzu DEVGRU, 3rd Maintenance and Hakugyokurou Diplomatic Affairs Directorate personnel, assume secondary evacuation roles. All hands to muster stations. All hands to muster stations. Abandon ship. Abandon ship."

The crew of the bridge begin to move out, save Hanamura and Jae-un, the latter of which steps up to the commander's station, stepping behind and placing her hand on Hanamura's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Hanamura. Wish I could have done something."

"It was all a matter of time, anyways. How long until we get to Sirius, without the jump drive? Do you know?" Hanamura responds, before turning to Jae-un. The woman responds with a dire report. "By my estimates.. We should arrive by 834 AS." She answers. Hanamura's face is filled with guilt and regret.

".. So.. Mieko's going to be alone.. for nearly a decade." Hanamura says, requesting a clarification out of trying to realize things. "Look, I'm sure she'll understand. Fuck, we have the Casket protocol for this kinda thing, yeah?"

"Do we have enough for the whole fleet? And is Mercury able to handle controlling the fleet in our absence?" Hanamura asks of her. "Yeah. Fuck, Utsunomiya's Deck G is all cryo. You can thank Alexei finding those second-hand Samura ones. We'll have Mercury datalinked to the rest of the fleet and get the pods off Seraphine onto the others."

Hanamura's clearly dissatisfied with the situation, but she would rather not run the risk of everyone going insane or starving given they were definitely not prepared for a 10 year anything.


[20:23:15 0822825] ALERT: Jump Drive is going down NOW for emergency shutdown - agent bride set bus purge route.
[20:23:15 0822825] ALERT: Reactor is going down NOW for emergency shutdown - SCRAM procedure initiating..
[20:23:19 0822825] ALERT: Navigation system failure, in emergency mode - waiting for user honya for reinit..
[20:23:21 0822825] CRITICAL: Propulsion bus voltage below 19.23GV - Propulsion failure imminent!
[20:23:23 0822825] CRITICAL: Engine Block A failure - insufficient ion propulsion..
[20:23:23 0822825] CRITICAL: Engine Block B failure - insufficient ion propulsion..
[20:23:27 0822825] ACTION: User amiranov reports catastrophic powerplant failure.
[20:24:00 0822825] CRITICAL: non-emergency evacuation order issued by user nhanamura.
[20:24:00 0822825] MESSAGE: ALL HANDS ALL HANDS ALL HANDS - CODE KITA - CODE KITA - CODE KITA - COMMENCE TO MUSTER STATIONS FOR SCUTTLE.



The ship's crew began to scramble across the ship to their muster stations, from every deck, as the Seraphine's fighter and logistics units, with assistance from their aiding robots, begin moving and disassembling belongings and assets from the ship, preparing them for transport to the Utsunomiya.

Hanamura's next words are to Alexei. "Alexei, leave Morisato in charge of your unit - report to the bridge." She says over her neural lace, as she stares out from the bridge into the black.

"Vas ponyal. I'll be there shortly, ma'am." he answers over the secure comm line.

"So.. are we ditching the Seraphine? Towing it?" Jae-un asks of Hanamura.

"Even if we shut down the reactor, there's still going to be leaking and breached hull sections--" Kobayashi answers, before Hanamura places her hand in front of her to stop talking.

"The Seraphine deserves better than to sit here as a husk. She went through heaven and hell with us, as short as it was." Hanamura says wistfully. "We'll scuttle the Seraphine with a Reactor detonation - set it on a timer so we have time to move equipment off and get to minimum safe distance. If you have belongings - get them once we take this to vote."

"Mercury." She calls, to the ship's general AI. The entity is a female form, soft-spoken and reserved, bearing teal hair and a caucasian complexion, as her black and teal bodysuit, modified since her adoption into Ouroboros, manifests itself virtually before them.

"Yes, Commander."

"Initiate Scuttle Plan 19. Wildcat reactor override for critical mass cook-off and detonation, 8 hour delay."

Mercury nods in the affirmative. "Awaiting the following users for quorum before we can begin - Elena Graham. Akira Kiyoshi, Cassiopeia Graham, Mieko Iekahara, Alexei Miranov."

"Mercury, emergency override. Elena, Cassiopeia, Mieko and Akira are in absentia." Hanamura responds.

"Understood. Awaiting Alexei Miranov to initiate vote." Mercury answers monotonously.

As she finishes, Alexei comes into the bridge via the main entrance, stepping towards the captain's chair with the rest of the group. "What's this?" He asks.

"We're moving to begin Plan 19." Hanamura responds, somewhat dejectedly.

".. I know how much she means to you, Hanamura. I vote in favor." Alexei answers.

"Vote clarification - the vote for Scuttle Action #19 is postponed pending a quorum override." Mercury answers, leaving Alexei to roll his eyes irritatedly. "For fuck's.. Fine. I approve the override."

"Alexei Miranov votes in favor of quorum override. Awaiting additional votes."

"I vote Yay." Setsuna chimes in.

"Setsuna Kobayashi votes in favor of quorum overr-" Mercury reports again, before Jae-un interrupts.

"Yay." Jae-un answers, before Hanamura does the same.

"Vote is unanimous. Quorum override approved. Commence with vote for-" Mercury reports once more, before she is interrupted bluntly again.

"YES." the four answer in near unison.

Mercury stands there to process the matter. "Acknowledged - unanimous vote recorded, cronjob for Scuttle Action #19 has been flagged to execute in 8 hours."



[20:30:10 0822825] CRITICAL: Hydroponics systems failure, LSS playtime is 7 hours, 22 minutes, 9 seconds.
[20:30:20 0822824] NOTICE: nhanamura requested quorum vote for reactor-based vessel scuttle - arguments : TTC=9h0m0s safe=no rmdata=true
[20:32:21 0822824] VOTE: bride voted yay for scuttle.
[20:32:25 0822824] VOTE: amiranov voted yay for scuttle.
[20:32:28 0822824] VOTE: skobayashi voted yay for scuttle.
[20:32:30 0822824] VOTE-ERROR: egraham absent - waiting 30 seconds for check-in.
[20:32:30 0822824] VOTE-ERROR: akiyoshi absent - waiting 30 seconds for check-in.
[20:32:30 0822824] VOTE-ERROR: cgraham absent - waiting 30 seconds for check-in.
[20:32:30 0822824] VOTE-ERROR: miekahara absent - vital quorum warning..
[20:32:45 0822824] NOTICE: nhanamura requested impromptu quorum override. - reason: users egraham, akiyoshi, cgraham, miekahara in absentia.
[20:32:50 0822824] VOTE: bride voted yay for override.
[20:32:51 0822824] VOTE: amiranov voted yay for override.
[20:32:54 0822824] VOTE: skobayashi voted yay for override.
[20:33:00 0822824] NOTICE: quorum override accepted - reactor-base vessel scuttle initiated.
[20:33:03 0822824] NOTICE: user mercury executed '/bin/zsh /usr/emerg/scut/plan-19 --ttc=9h --safe=no --rmdata=true


Hanamura stands before the door to Mieko's quarters. Guilt washes over her as she cannot look away from the name of the person she saw as a sister in arms.. a friend.. and something more. Her chest swells briefly as she takes a deep breath, and opens the sliding door. It had been just as Mieko had left it, a sparse room with a desk, bed, dresser and other such furniture, the door to her bathroom open. Hanamura notices a picture wall, assorted photos of Mieko, her sister and Hanamura, and countless others - The Harpies, Aiko and Akira, Leviathan and Vex, a picture of Kyle Vaughn, a stray picture of Mia, the Order AI who took residence inside the Sekhet Aaru, even a photo from the date she and Mieko had with Ezrael Vertiga and his partner - as well as a picture of Marisa, kneeled next to Mieko as she stood on the hologram platform she once called home aboard the Navigium Ejus, all those years ago. She held such great appreciation for her friends. And now, all of them are long gone from Mieko - and Hanamura bears the brunt of the guilt for it.

Such sweet memories felt like so long ago now. "I'm sorry, Mieko-chan. I failed to keep you safe.. I hope.. you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Wherever you are." She says, tears in her eyes, as she tries to retain her composure. But after all, she breaks down on her knees, and lets her heart give way, crying audible. Jae-un and Amelie - one of Ouroboros' few Gallic members are seen in the outside hallway, carrying belongings together, before Jae-un stops, Amelie following suit.

"Go on without me." Jae-un says. Amelie, understanding the hardship from when she has chased down Noel from Gallia to the Sigmas to reunite with her - nods, and moves on towards the hangar with her belongings. Bride meanwhile, steps into her sister's quarters, seeing Hanamura on her knees, in tears, bawling. Sympathy overwhelms her code, the empathy for Hanamura predominant.

As the woman starts to calm down, Jae-un approaches, her hand on Hanamura's shoulder, gently. Jae-un deep down, knows why she is upset.

".. You can't keep beating yourself up over it, Nodoka." Jae-un comments. "So we got ourselves in a bad spot. We're still alive at the end of the day. It's gonna take us time.. but we'll get back to her sooner or later."

Hanamura calms down a bit more, able to retort. "And.. and what if she's dead.. when we get there..?"

".. Then we mourn her.. and try to move on. I remember what you said once.. we can't stop to mourn forever. We have to move on - for us and for them." Jae-un answers, stoically. The once emotional woman now trying to control the situation.

"She's my sister. And you love her. I do too. Different ways, yes.. But she'll find a way back to us. One way or another." she continues. Hanamura turns and stands before Bride, her eyes red as beets and tears welling up again as she looks at Mieko's sister. The woman rushes to hug her tightly, crying once more. Jae-un is unfazed by it, only to in short form after, hold her friend and superior tightly, consoling her.

"We've been through a lot, Hanamura. No sense in stopping now. I didn't give up in Auxesia, did I?" Jae-un says, calling back to her brief time in Auxesia. Whilst she left with the Harpies, she never truly 'gave up'. She fought, kicked and screamed.. but eventually willed herself almost to the goal of completing her trials. Were it not for the Harpies' departure - she definitely would have earned it.

Hanamura moments later, calms down. "Yes.. you're right.. Mieko.. she would have wanted us to keep fighting. For her."

Jae-un nods, a smile on her face forming. "That's right Miss tits. Now let's get her stuff put up so we can get off this melting shitshow. We've got a long way to go, and I don't want to get home late for dinner."

Normally, Hanamura would be angered by Jae-un's callousness, but now? She laughed a bit, at Jae-un, and at herself.

"Yeah. Come help me with these, will you?" Hanamura asks, as Jae-un nods in affirmation, helping take down the photos gently.

---

Some time has passed, and the Seraphine is left in a state of abandonment. The once decorated mess hall, barren - the quarters, devoid of personal belongings, the armory, cleaned out. Hanamura stands before the sigil of the Abdicant Seraphine on the bridge. Giving it one last glance before she gives her a final send off. She holds a AI QPU adaptor card in her hand, with the word MERCURY written on tan tape in black marker on the back of the card. Hanamura steps out of the bridge, disabling the lights remotely, before heading towards the command escape pod. the ship minutes away from beginning the scuttling procedure. Bride, Kobayashi, Miranov and others of the command team await Hanamura's arrival inside the pod. She walks around the corner, and into the escape pod, sealing the door behind her.

She finds a seat next to Jae-un, who remotely activates the pod, firing it. A jolt upward sends the saucer-like pod out into space, firing towards the Utsunomiya in the distance with extreme precision, aiming to be tractored aboard. As it closes in, it fires off retrothrusters, zeroing out its' velocity to match the Utsunomiya.

As the escape pods are tractored in one by one, Hanamura and Bride link in remotely to the ship's standard output, to monitor the scuttling procedure.


[05:30:00 0823824] NOTICE: Intentional scuttling protocol initiated by prior quorum.
[05:30:15 0823824] ACTION: Main reactor initialization sequence initiated.
[05:30:30 0823824] ALERT: Power surge detected, reaching 4.5 GW.
[05:31:00 0823824] WARNING: Reactor coolant flow rate dropping, core temperature rising.
[05:31:30 0823824] ALERT: Reactor core temperature exceeding safe limits, reaching 6100 Kelvin.
[05:32:30 0823824] ALERT: Hull breaches detected in Engine Room, Sectors A and B.
[05:32:33 0823824] ALERT: Hull breaches detected in Ammunition Store Block C.
[05:33:00 0823824] ALERT: Critical systems offline in Engineering Bay.
[05:32:33 0823824] ALERT: Hull breaches detected in Ammunition Store Block C.
[05:33:30 0823824] WARNING: Radiation levels rising, reaching 1500 microsieverts per hour.
[05:32:33 0823824] ALERT: Radiation leak detected in Main Mess Hall.
[05:32:33 0823824] ALERT: Radiation leak detected in Flight Deck 1..
[05:32:33 0823824] ALERT: Shield failure - reinitializing in 30 seconds..
[05:34:00 0823824] CAUTION: Structural integrity compromised in Command Deck, Hull Section C.
[05:34:30 0823824] ALERT: Reactor containment breach detected. Radioactive material leaking into surrounding areas.
[05:35:00 0823824] ALERT: Secondary explosions reported in Engineering Bay.
[05:35:30 0823824] WARNING: Critical radiation levels detected throughout the ship.
[05:36:00 0823824] ALERT: Atmospheric pressure dropping in breached sections.
[05:36:33 0823824] CRITICAL: Coolant line fires detected in Decks A, C, F, G, and R. Critical meltdown imminent.
[05:36:30 0823824] CRITICAL: Main reactor core breach imminent. Power surge detected at 8.5 GW. Energy expenditure expected to be 495GN. Total vessel loss imminent.


The Seraphine started to glow, as fires spilled out along her decks, venting into deep space. The ship's reactor running wild and uncontrolled, the last cry of Livadia's child turned the flagship of a once ambitious cause beyond that of the Zoner's banner. Explosions rang out along the ship as fuel lines and ammunition stores cooked off, failing - radiation bellowing through the ship as it begins to reach its' final glory. The glow grew brighter and brighter - until finally - the end.

She would be engulfed in a burst of light, the force shattering the hull into hundreds of millions of fragments, leaving only scrap parts of the superstructure intact. As the light dims from the now obliterated reactor, the crew of the Utsunomiya, and all of the other surviving ships of Ouroboros, would stop, and stare at the now fallen ship. The crews collectively, slowly raise their arms in salute.

Hanamura, watching from the pod, along with the others does the same.

"In sacrifice to Kusari. To the future of Mankind. The Seraphine gave her all for us, in the bitter end. Glory forever, to the Abdicant Seraphine." Hanamura speaks, over the factional net. Staring down at the place she once called home - now a burnt and irradiated husk.

---

The Utsunomiya's huge cargo hold had been retrofitted and modified to serve as a long-term cryostasis bay - made for just such an occasion, where rapid travel back to Sirius would no longer be an option. The crew of the various ships of the fleet had amassed aboard the ship, the AI aboard being given directives and oversight by Mercury, who would oversee the flight back to Sirius due to their AI-based nature.

Hanamura stares into her pod. Much like centuries ago, she must now again, step foot into the same device that took her life from her - the life with her family - and hope that on the other side of the freeze, she would be reunited with Mieko. She opens the pod, and steps inside. Jae-un comes around, to seal her in, and activate the pod. Stoic and reserved, Jae-un salutes to Hanamura, before speaking one last time to her. "See you later, Hanamura."

The pod initializes, the temperature inside rapidly dropping, as nanites inside begin to regulate Hanamura's body and mind to a stable temperature, ensuring that no brain or body damage occurs in the process. Eventually, she is put to sleep, as are the countless others.

Mercury stands at the helm of the Utsunomiya, replicas of her visible at the various stations, thanks to the hardlight hologram technology that Birdie had created quite some time ago.

"Forward, to home." she utters softly, as the ships of the fleet move forward in formation with the Utsunomiya, towards the Barrier, well far into the distant depths of space.