Sunrider Part #17 - The Wrong Princess

Part 17: The Wrong Princess

Well, this is new.

The ancient Ryuvian death ships have incredibly powerful shields. Their armor isn’t anything to sneeze at, either.

Unfortunately for them, I’ve been upgrading the Sunrider’s kinetics.

Welcome to the future.

They do, however, seem to have unlimited missiles. We duke it out for a few turns, when ...

Asaga! Are you all right?

Fine ... just ...

Watch it, Black Jack! You’ve got three ryders on your tail!

Ryder! There's just one pilot!

Did I just hear you right? A pilot!?

Captain, two of those three ryders are copies! The superdreadnought appears to be using some kind of holographic emitter!

I don't know what kind of holograms these are though, 'cause the two fake ones are just as deadly as the real thing!

The Ryuvian ryders aren’t, actually, behind Asaga. I’m trying to clear a path for Icari to do the ol’ dash-n’-slash, so I have Chigara disable the cruiser’s shields and then a combination of lasers and rockets clears them.

Uh …

Phew. Now, looking at what these things have for defenses, I think you know where this is going.

Alas, Icari doesn’t even get to do anything this time around.

Ah-hah! We got all of them!

Take it out!

Chigara, watch out! It's targeting you!

Argh ... As if ...!

Chigara! Report! Are you safe!?

Y-yes, captain! A-Asaga deflected the projectile!

A-are you kidding me!? T-that thing was traveling at nearly half the speed of light! That's absolute bullshit! There's no way she did that!!!

You ... are ...

...

There is only one capable of fighting like you. Impossible ... There cannot be another ... And … How is it that I yet live?

You're not makin' any sense!

I yield. The battle has been decided.

Enemy ryder is … powering down.

The rest of the cruisers are still coming online though! We've got more enemies inbound!

My control over the fleet has been lost. But their power shall soon fail.

A-ah! C-captain! I'm reading massive power fluctuations coming from the superdreadnought!

All ryders fall back! We're getting out of here!

The superdreadnought’s power systems have been too badly degraded! It's overloading its main reactor ... At this rate there'll be a total reactor core meltdown! We have to get out of here now!

All units have landed! We're ready here, captain!

Holy sweet---

Spool up the warp drive! WARP! WARP! Get us out of here!!

...

Warp successful, captain. All sections are reporting in.

What happened to the Ryuvian ships?

Final sensor readings before we warped indicated that they were all vaporized by the blast.

Damn! There goes our chance to recover all that lost technology! All right. Go to condition two.

The Ryuvian girl has been taken into custody in the hangar. Your orders?

I’ll go down there. She's the only clue we have at figuring out what happened back there. You have the bridge, Ava.

You ... are the leader?

That’s correct. What's your name?

P-Princess!? Are you the princess who's been missing from Ryuvia?

No ... T-that's impossible! Sola vi Ryuvia's been dead for two thousand years!

...

What were you doing on board that superdreadnought?

… Battle.

Battle? You mean before you were frozen?

Yes.

...

Who were you fighting?

The Fallen.

And who are they?

Imposters to the throne, led by the pretender Crow Harbour.

… okay. Why did you attack us?

The Fallen had overwhelmed our position. They were about to end us. Then ... a flash, followed by utter destruction. To me ... the sleep felt like an instant. I did not even realize that the battle had been interrupted, or that my adversary had changed.

(I'm not sure I follow what she's saying... But it seems like she attacked us by mistake.)

Do you know what destroyed all those Ryuvian ships?

Such is the ultimate weapon of the Sharr'Lac.

(The Sharr'Lac? She must be referring to the superdreadnought. To think that single ship was capable of such destruction ... It could destroy entire systems!)

Well, I don’t know how to say this ...

You've been frozen for over two millennia on board that ship!

...

Er, right. You must be even more shocked than us. Uh, welcome to the future.

I don't know. It happened so long ago. Much of our knowledge of your time has been lost.

... I see.

Uh … we’re seeking a Ryuvian artifact known as the Crown Jewel. Do you know where to find it?

The ... Crown Jewel?

It’s a crystalline device which shows the location of members of the royal family.

You speak of the talbur. It is in my possession. Shall I retrieve it from the Seraphim?

You mean your ryder? Sure, can you go get it?

O-oohh ... It's ... glowing!

Yes. The talbur illuminates in the presence of the royal family. And yet ... It shall never glow for I.

Wait, what does ...

*ALARM*

The hell? What's wrong?

Proximity warning! PACT ships detected! Captain to the bridge!

Damn! Not a moment's peace! C'mon people, return to battle stations!

Multiple PACT ships detected!

How many!?

…

Spool up the warp drive! Get ready to-

It'll take another half hour before we can warp again after our last emergency warp, captain!

Damnit, of course ...

Veniczar Porkchops!

T-tsch! Curse you and your foul ship! You are hopelessly outnumbered! I know you have the Crown Jewel aboard. Why don't you be a good lad and turn it over, eh?

The Crown Jewel? What would PACT want with it?

Hah! It seems that little contraption can help us find our dear leader's runaway bride. I have been tasked with finding it on his behalf!

(Veniczar Arcadius' bride? The princess of Ryuvia's engaged to Arcadius?)

You can take the Crown Jewel from my cold, dead hands.

I was afraid it would come to this. All ships, open fire!

Damage report!

Damage reports coming from all sections! W-we're … there's too many of them, captain! Weapons are inoperative!

(Is this the end...?)

...

C-Captain!? Y-your orders!?

It's all right, Ava.

S-sir?

It’s been an honor.

…

I'M THE ONE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!

Oh?

...

…

WHAT.

Well, I'll be. My scans indicate that you are indeed the princess. Hah! Who would have ever thought that you'd be hiding here, your grace! All ships, cease fire! Retrieve the princess for me, and let us be on our merry way.

Asaga …!? All this time ....?