Act XVIII: The Siege The group is allowed to rest the entire day as the resistance army organizes itself. The resistance has successfully cut off ship activity going in and out of the emperor's palace. Also, it seems that the resistance has commandeered some of the empire's ships. Such as the gigantic M class transporter, probably bigger than the palace itself. It is the morning of the attack and the group is completely energized for it. They all could hardly sleep, but are lively nonetheless. There will be three waves of ships sent out. Naitsuu and his friends are on the third wave. Once the enemy has been broken down by the previous two, they will finish them off. They watch as the first fleet leaves the moon towards Earth. The group recognizes the fact that the Europan militia, including Quintus are on that fleet. They all whisper their silent prayers for him and hope he can survive. It is not long until the second wave is unleashed. They watch it as they break through Earth's atmosphere to push the revolt further. Awhile after that, the third wave is ordered to depart. Naitsuu fires up the engines and their ship charges up in formation with the others. Naitsuu feels lucky that the M class ship went with the first wave. For two reasons, one there is more men with the M class ship to help Quintus, and two because it moves rather slow and would have slowed them down. The group watches the common fiery glow increase around the ship's windows as it breaks through Earth's atmosphere. Soon they are flying over the green grass of the Imperial fortress's gardens on their way towards the palace. Not all of the guard ships have been shot down yet and they struggle against them. Naitsuu and his crew get into a dogfight with one. Naitsuu grabs hold of the manual controls and steers the ship straight upwards, blasting the engines. He then makes a big loop, and with the ship's speed he ends up right behind the guard ship. With laser all charged, Naitsuu lets it rip through the guard ship, sending pieces everywhere as the guard ship combusts. The crew cheers for Naitsuu's stunning capability to control the ship. Naitsuu sets his sights on the palace. He lets the engines roar towards it. Their plan if for their ship to land on top of the palace. A path should be cleared from the previous two waves for him to enter. Naitsuu realizes this may not end up being the case as he is suppose to have two ships by his side helping him and they are already gone. Still, he keeps heading towards the palace. He notices the M class ship on the ground and a lot of fighting going on around. It is just at that moment, within a couple hundred feet of the palace, that their ship gets rocked by an anti- ship missile. Naitsuu does his best with a rough crash landing. Red emergency lights flash on and off within the cockpit. It is completely dark since the ship crashed nose first and the cockpit windows are completely submerged beneath the ground. "Are you okay?" Naitsuu asks his various friends who have knocked around by the force. They each prepare to break out of the ship. They get to the end off the ship and exit through an emergency hatch. They jump from the tail of the ship which is in the air, to the ground. Naitsuu goes first, followed by Munenori. The two guys catch Aritsune and Akari as they jump. The haburi kedemonos follow last. The group looks around them. There is nothing going on directly around them, but it is clear fighting has taken place where they are and that there is some taking place nearby them all around. "Naitsuu?" a voice calls out. A heavily armored man runs towards them. As he gets closer they recognize him to be Quintus. "Quintus! You're still alive!" "What happened!? You are suppose to be on top of the palace!" "We were shot down," Naitsuu answers. The fighting is getting closer to them, and archers are starting to have arrows landing near them. They take cover by the crashed ship. "What happened to your militia?" Naitsuu asks. "Being one of the first that landed, most have been wiped out. A couple others and myself have survived so far," Quintus answers. "Do you have any idea of what you will do now?" The group shakes their heads, except for Naitsuu. They look at him as he stares towards the M class ship. Naitsuu asks, "Do you think I can fly that ship?" The group turns and stares at the M class ship before looking back at Naitsuu. Naitsuu orders them, "You guys stay here with this ship. Get inside of it so you are safe. Quintus, help me reach the M class." Before the others can argue with the orders, Naitsuu and Quintus run off towards the M class ship. Quintus covers Naitsuu along the way. Once inside the humongous transport bay, Quintus points up a stairwell. "At the top, you will find the door to the cockpit. Are you sure you can do this?" "Yes." "Good luck my friend. I will protect the others." Naitsuu starts running up the stairwell. He only gets to the first level of the ship, when he hears a familiar voice let out a harsh shout. Naitsuu runs a couple steps down the stairs to see Quintus lying half in and half out of the huge transport bay doors. Naitsuu runs to his side. An arrow sticks out from Quintus's chest. "No." "I can feel the point...agh..." Quintus struggles with the words. "I can feel it within my lungs. I am not going to make it Naitsuu, but you must." "I can't leave you now." "You must, finish your mission. Do it now." "Quintus..." Naitsuu says nothing more as his friend closes his eyes and surrenders himself to death. Naitsuu is greatly saddened, but holds back any tears. He stands up irate and staring at the palace. He wishes deeply that his destructive power was still with him as he raises his arm towards the palace. He then says to himself, "I don't need any destructive force. Other than this big piece of metal to fly in." Naitsuu runs as quickly as he can up the stairs until he reaches the cockpit of the M class. He gets in and starts up the ship's engines. Slowly the ship lifts off from the ground. Naitsuu sees two guard ships chasing a resistance ship. They all collide with the M class and explode. In respect for the resistance pilot that just died, he laughs and says, "It will take more than that to stop this ship." A hundred feet off the ground, Naitsuu sets the engines forward and heads to the palace. He can feel the M class's humongous motors running from within the cockpit. He almost feels through the vibration as if he is becoming part of the ship. Almost like the cold steel is coarsing through his veins. He feels his father's spirit within him. Drawing from his father's spirit, he wills the ship to move faster, and it does. He feels the spirits of the past princes of the Kintei. Drawing from them, he wills the ship to move even faster, and it does. He feels Akari's spirit joined with him. Drawing from her spirit, he wills the ship to move even more faster, and it begins tearing through the sky. The M class ship, moving more than three times faster than it normally would, smashes into the emperor's palace. Naitsuu slams the control stick down and the ship crushes every piece of the great structure beneath him. Even through all this, the gigantic M class ship remains without being destroyed. Settling on the ground, Naitsuu stops the ship's engines. He can hear cheers from the warring resistance soldiers as they see the emperor's demise. Naitsuu also watches as the guards drop their weapons, most apparently not fully loyal to the emperor. To the few guards that are, they resign to the fact the his reign is over. All the guards have surrendered and are arrested. Naitsuu climbs out of the M class ship's cockpit windows and climbs to the top. The people below him can barely make out the figure of their new emperor. The man who killed the evil emperor. Naitsuu Hachimonguu.