Incursion Vector

038

[▲] Churaumi, Carina-Sagittarius Arm

Ichiro Yutani rubbed the bridge of his nose, attempting to ward off another migraine as he watched his father rail at the flickering and barely-operational holographic image of Nobuko in their devastated conference room. The man was nearing his hundredth year and age had not favored him, but he still had enough pride and energy to be righteously furious at the woman's suggestion.

"We do not need the assistance of any member of Henkyou-kai! This family has spent five generations separating itself from the worthless bouryoukudan and we shall not owe them any debt!"

"Ojii-sama, our defense forces throughout the city are being slaughtered," repeated Nobuko. "We do not have enough time to evacuate every—"

The walls shuddered and coughed out plumes of dust as another missile struck the defensive ceramic dome overhead. Nobuko's image fragmented into hundreds of blue and red pixels before disappearing, cutting off the brightest source of light in the room. Several seconds later the emergency lighting kicked on, illuminating in dull green the fallen ceiling, shattered conference tables, and the bodies of several unfortunate members of Churaumi's board of directors trapped in collapse of the floor above.

His secretary Ueda shoved open the now-unpowered bulkhead leading into the small round room. The man had donned a military-grade exosuit sometime between being sent to check on their laboratories and returning to the conference room. Though he had retired from the Exoplanetary Infantry after the required ten years of service for dual Alliance and Colonial citizenship, Yutani had no doubt the man still knew what he was doing with the assault rifle now clipped to his chest. With the recent pirate attacks on his interests within the outlying territories he had felt the need to retain an assistant capable of more than shuffling com calls.

"Shachou, the enemy has breached the bunker," he said quickly, bowing as much as his armor would allow. "We must move to the evacuation site immediately."

"Otou-sama, please get in to your exosuit," the man politely ordered his father. For decades now Katsurou Yutani had worn nothing but kimonos and looked absolutely indignant about having to get himself into anything else. Kimonos, however, did not come with life support systems or armor, and the likelihood that they would be shot at before making it to the evacuation rally point was more than enough to override the man's pride.

While his father suited up Yutani turned back to his secretary. "What is the status of the evacuation?"

Ueda inclined his head slightly. "Less than fifty percent of the staff has made it to the shuttles, and nearly a quarter of those are being shot down once they leave the atmosphere. Luckily none of the evacuation sites themselves have been damaged in the orbital bombardment. The civilian zones have taken the heaviest casualties, nearly forty percent from orbital strikes alone. This is likely to change now that a second ship has arrived in-system."

"Another ship?" Yutani resisted the base urge to swear in frustration. "Do we have any idea what they want? Or who they are?"

"They have not sent demands, just one message, that our destruction is willed by their god."

"Then these are the things which attacked my son's vessel." He had to force himself not to laugh at the turn of events which had proved the boy right in his stubborn choice not to leave the military. Originally Yutani had intended him to take over running the very colony now being leveled by metal spikes dropped on it from orbit. As things stood he would be lucky if his daughter was still alive, having impulsively walked out of the board meeting the second they had received word of incoming enemy forces. "How many have landed?"