The patrons of the Yoshiwara

[ori]

Patrons of the Yoshiwara Monastery


Chapter I




The arrival

“Dodge it! DODGE IT!“ “I can't, I lost both strafe thrusters“ “God damnit. All prepare for impact!”
Captain Sessho Kantan Pito was sitting in his command chair, when the mortar hit his ship bowside. A heavy shock hit the Amaterasu, a Kusari Battleship under his command.

“Status!”, he yelled.
“Still maneuverable, but we lost oxygen on several docks. No answers from docks A5 to A7. Multiple hull breaks.”
“What is happening to my fleet?”
“Seven Battleship still alive, five gone, almost all destroyers are dead, and only some fighters left!”
Kantan looked at the Navmap. “Message to all ships: Fall back to Kepler, now” - “Message sent, Sir.”
The ship quaked under the power of the cruise enginges.

Seven Battleships, the Amaterasu, the Daitenshi, the Satori, the Akarusa, the Furashu, the Kaminari and the Funsai-ki fled from the battle, one heavier damaged than the other. For their surprise, they didn't got disrupted.

“How could this happen. We were winning, but then so many of them appeared out of nowhere, just when our power cores were low.” “I don't know, Sir.” “Seal the damaged and decompressed decks, get everyone injured to the med-decks, and everyone able to move shall help!”
They managed to reach New Tokyo system, but they were not safe yet. “Fly to Kepler. There are too many manipulants and spys out here. We need secure space!”

While he was saying these words, a shockwave hit the ship.
“What the hell was that!”
“The Kaminari, Sir, and the Akarusa! It seems like they crashed into each other! Sir, we got multiple contacts on the screen! Escape pods and small evacuation vessels!”
“What the... To all ships: Pick up these Pods! Immediately!”
Smaller transports and troop carriers launched from the battleships to collect the survivors, and tractorbeams enlightened the dark space as they were collecting what was left. Soon another shockwave hit the ships, and many escape pods were destroyed.
“It's like you can hear them screaming...”, Kantan thought.
“Sir, we were able to collect one hundred and thirty two survivors, most of them not severely injured. No sign of the Captains of the Kaminari and the Akkarusa.”
“They are Shogungs. They deserved an honorably death.”
He closed his eyes for a second, and it felt like an eternity of silence.
“Ensure medical treatment to everybody. And keep that power core running, we have to reach Kepler before it dies!”

While the engines were warming up again, everybody looked at the pieces of the two lost Battleships, full of devotion and sorrow for their lost brothers.
They continued their journey to Kepler. Everything was silent around them, the stations they passed seemed like they were dead. No ships, no light, no exhausts. Like a ghostsystem.
The five left ships made it through the Jump Gate to Shikoku.

“Sir, power core at 15%, descending fast! We won't make it!”
“Full energy on the engines! Bring us to the closest planet!”
“Junyo, sir? Its inhabitated!”
“Then get us there! Now!”

All ships had problems with their power core. Especially the Funsai-ki.
When they reached Junyo orbit, the Furashu drifted in a dangerous slope, but the Funsai-ki went in too fast. Its nose drilled into the left wing of the Furashu, and destroyed it. It bounced away from the Ship, and hit the atmosphere.
“****, what just happened!”
“Sir, the Funsai-ki is out of control! It will hit the planet! She will never survive the entry into the atmosphere in that angle!”
One second after Kantans navigation officer said that, the ship began to burst in two parts, and crashed like a rain of burning stars into the big ocean of the planet.
Captain Kantan watched this spectacle with fear and anger.
“Sir, I need orders!”
“What? Oh yes. Bring us down on that planet. To all ships:” He paused a second. “Prepare for landing on the planets surface, preferably land-side.”




The Amaterasu entered the atmosphere as careful as possible.
“All energy tot he front shields!”, the captain yelled.
“We lost deck 3A, sir!”
“Get that baby down!”
They came in very fast, rather falling than flying through the clouds.
“Landmass ahead, Sir. It looks like some smaller cities and a big jungle!”
“Just get us down there in one piece!!”
The ship shaked, and the captain was thrown from one side to the other. An explosion occurred.
“Report!”
“I don't know sir, I have lost control on the cameras and sensors!”
“1000 meters!”
“We are too fast!”
“Pray!”
“500 meters!”
“Pull up, NOW!”
“300 meters”
“There are trees everywhere!”
“200 meters!”
“PULL UP!”
“100 meters!”

Kantan yelled some last orders, but he wasn't even sure if his crew understood them in that noise of explosion and bending metal. The trees beneath them immediately caught fire.

“0 meters!”

Kantan closed his eyes. It was like the moment the mortars hit the ship. An immense noise went through the whole ship, and he was pulled off his feet. But then there was silence. It lasted only for seconds, but it felt like hours.

“Shut everything down and get out of here! Miko, status!”
“We are in the middle of a jungle sir! The power core is dead, same as the engines. We have lost some decks, and an unknown nuber of crewmembers.”
Kantans crew left the command deck, and as he assured that everyone was either dead or gone, he left too. As he passed deck on fire or completely missing, he finally reached an exit, a hole in the hull with was lucikly leveled with the floor of the jungle around them. He reached a clearence.
The he saw something he could never imagine. About 3 kilometers above their heads, he saw the Daitenshi and the Furashu, partially covered in flames.
“It seems like they will make it!” Kantan thought. “Lets pray for them.”
He closed up to his crew.
“Do we have any information about the Satori?”
“Negative, Sir!”

“We have lost too much lifes today. Everyone available, get as many equipment you can carry! We will try to reach the other ships! All others, care for the injured, we will go for help!”
After a long march through the jungle, they reached a small town. And the inhabitants were already on the move to look for the ships. One of them said that they have sent medivac ships and transports.
They have searched at day and at night, to find survivors or at least something to bury honorably.
After two days, the Commander reported:
“No more survivors or corpses, Sir. I think we got everyone. Yet no number of losses....”
“Better than nothing..”
“The ships seem to be stable.”
“We will leave them here.”

Kantan thought about his life. He has lost his whole family in that war he was fighting, and now he has lost many of his brothers. While after a few weeks, many of the crew members decided to leave the planet with unknown destination, the captain decided to stay.