"Stop thinking about her. If you see her again, I want you to flee. No matter what's at stake, okay? I don't want you to ever, ever fight her again."
:”Heh… What about what
I want? If she’s about to hurt those I care about, do you think I can just turn my tail and flee? No matter the stakes? A planet? A system? The whole galaxy? Even if it means my death, if I can just delay her a bit more to possibly save millions, billions, trillions, or even just somebody I love, I would gladly fight her one last time. There may not even be anywhere to flee at that point. So if you want me to do what you want… Then you need to promise me you won’t let her escape. Don’t try to reason with her, don’t try to flirt with her, promise me you’ll put her down for good when the time comes.”
"Eh, maybe keep those images to yourself, okay Aryk?"
: ”Eek, sorry for speaking out of place!”
: "It's unusual that you speak so friendly of me Arotadam when I've just recently meet everyone here. From what I can tell Hugo is an alright person, even if he is a bit odd about how he goes about things. That said, he does feel likely to be villain material... Not withstanding the fact even my own mother is villain material and I'm probably a couple of choices from it myself."
:”Oh, you’ll get tknow Katherine better in the future. Or would. ”
: "Where was I in all that? If I disappeared that probably means I was killed at some time. Or did I get stupid and attack Dark Force by myself?" she stops and looks thoughtful.
: "Was I secretly working with the Fucker of Worlds in the background But what about Teresa? Or my mother and Team Silver for that matter?"
: “Last records we have, you all went out in some secret mission to supposedly deal with the Aether Phantom Fleet, and that was the last I heard or saw any of you, at least with those names and faces. Yet Katherine changed to me, so who knows what actually happened to you. You and your family and Team Silver are officially listed as missing in action as far as DAUGHTER’s archives tells, but then so is my previous persona. You could’ve joined Hugo, Fucker of Worlds, supporting him behind the scenes and we wouldn’t be any the wiser.”
: "Phantom fleet... ghost ships?" Amaterasu muses, looking thoughtful, then snapping her fingers, "Got it! This wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. Every now and then a destroyed or scuttled battleship will start moving. AI malfunctions are common but it's a bit more than that; all those rumours of ships coming for vengeance aren't so far from the truth.
"Anyway, to get an entire fleet of the ships with any sort of co-ordinated intelligence, you would need a massive graveyard--and some sort of equally-massive collection of AIs and computers to help it along. Like, say, the Steel Garden--at the core you have an entire fleet of scuttled but intact ships, AI that know they've been abandoned, and sufficiently out of the way and impassable that nobody would think to check before it was too late.
"Damarius, if I guide you past the gravitational and spatial anomalies, will you take us there? I think we'd be able to stop this Phantom Fleet before it gets going."
: "As expected of Ammy, both brawn and brains!”
: "And, of course, I can call Team Silver."
: “Yay I’ll get to meet the whole gang! I knew it was worth sticking with you!”
: "True, that. It did kinda feel like they just want a place to be accepted... That wouldn't be that hard to do, yeah?"
: ”Finding a place to be accepted
is hard.”
: "Just because mecha have taken the forefront doesn't mean they can't be useful in many other ways. Besides, it seems to me like all they really need is a little bit of love."
: “...That’s what you think of every girl you see, Hugozinho. I bet that Dark Force got Hugo, Fucker of Worlds by taking the shape of a cute girl.”
: "The White Company is always accepting new recruits and has no problems with battleships. Bastion always ends up in the thick of it,"
:”A veteran ship captain may have the best odds of talking things out.”
: "Probably that the Aether Phantom Fleet knows exactly where it's from as much as we do, so if they send anyone else into the past..."
:”...What are you doing standing here and calmly chatting then? HURRY UP!”