Nonaggression Zone

Chirico recovers after all and join Fyana in another attempt to hold off the enemy. The battle is fierce, but this time Chirico is not up to it. He is hit again, and Fyana pulls him inside as the Balarant Fatties swarm the ship. Their disappearance is reported to the Balarant patrol fleet captain, who orders his men inside to capture their mysterious opponents. Fyana evades the Fatties as they comb the inside of the ship for her and Chirico. She finds her way to the infirmary for medication, and Battleship X makes a move of its own, firing its engines and moving off in a new direction. While some of the invading Balarant ATs attempt to disable the engines, Fyana returns to Chirico and revives him with the medicine she obtained. He laments his own helplessness, saying that Ypsilon would never fail her...and he slips back into unconsciousness as she prepares to face the approaching enemy. Fyana now fights alone, both on foot and in a Scopedog, pausing only to wonder again who placed her in this situation. Not far away, the Secret Society follows the battle in their own ship, the Teltain. Captain Futtor keeps watch as Arron and Gurran put Ypsilon through a battery of emotional tests and discuss the prospect of a rematch between him and Chirico. Far ahead, a planet looms in the distance, and Fyana cares for a sleeping Chirico. They have faced much already, but the worst is yet to come. "I've wandered the depths of hell. Its hot, suffocating depths. And in the distance, a light. Our ship, as though following a beckoning beacon in the night, drew us ever closer to the planet that lay before us."