Legend of The Grand Mechapolis Chapter 24

THE LEGEND OF GRAND MECHAPOLIS

SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO/GALAXY EXPRESS 999

Founding of the Dual Monarchy and Galaxy Express System

By: Frederick P. Kopetz

Chapter TWENTY-FOUR: Yamato Returns to the Party…

Thanks to Gail Kopetz, Margaret Diviney, Michelle Nutter-Lynd, Shiro Diviney and Andrea Lyon for Advice and inspiration.

Thanks to AkiraDevilman 666 for his artwork of Yuki/Yuki in front of her home.

The Character of Gatlantean High Priest “Var” appears with the permission of “Bells of Nevermore”

PROLOGUE: COSMOS DREAM (Continued)

The Vicinity of Jupiter

Space Pirate Galleon Arcadia

June 21, 2972

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The enigmatic figure known as Captain Harlock, one of several men over the centuries to have borne that name, sat holding an ocarina in his hand as his pirate ship, the Arcadia, sat near one of Jupiter’s moons.

The old vessel had a wood-trimmed Captain’s Cabin at its rear.

The Captain’s Cabin creaked and groaned like a sailing ship as Harlock sat in silence, contemplating many things about the past, and much about the grim future that he, with a dim foreknowledge inherited from his parents, knew was coming at them like an express train.

Someone knocked at the door of his cabin.

“Who is here?” he demanded in a soft but commanding voice. La Mime or Kei never knock, Harlock thought.

“Someone you are overdue for a talk with,” said the soft but equally commanding voice outside.

“Enter,” said Harlock.

The door opened, and Harlock looked up, smiling slightly at the woman in battered clothes as she entered, removing her shades and battered Colorado Rockies cap as she walked up to Harlock’s table and sat down. “Oh, the wine again,” she sighed. “Every time I have seen you lately, you fortify yourself with that stuff…dear Alexander.”

Harlock nodded at his visitor. “Take some if you like…Mother.”

“Tempted as I am, I will have to refuse. We are both renegades in this star system and we must keep our heads clear, correct?” High Queen Yuki Kodai III said as she sat down. “Your father sends his best wishes and regards.”

“How is it you know?” Harlock said. “That message you sent me on Beta Reticuli said you haven’t seen Father for four months.”

“He is in my heart and soul, and we always speak with each other, even when apart…” Yuki said, smiling slightly at the thought of Susumu.

“Just as Maya and I were,” sighed Harlock. “It is almost two hundred years now since the Illumidas came. With our lifespans as they are, I had almost five centuries with Maya, before we were parted, at least for this life. Yet I know she waits my coming in the Presence, where Tochiro will soon be. Unless your leechcraft was able to save him.”

“I tried, believe me, I tried,” Yuki sighed, getting up and staring at Jupiter and her moons from another angle. “I tried what I knew of our medicine; Pellian medicine, even what Gatlantean medicine I was able to learn from Emperor Var before his father Zworder finally went to his long home in battle a century and a half ago. Nothing I knew worked. I even tried my powers on him, and…well…”

“He’s still lying in that bed he built for himself in the wreck of Deathshadow?” Harlock sighed.

Yuki nodded.

“Other than coming to discuss the past, why are you here, Mother? Not that I mind seeing you. Your voice is always a comfort to me,” Harlock said.

“Tetsuro and Maetel’s plans for him. We quarreled yesterday over them. I have to follow her for as long as I can. I know all too well what she did with those other men and women; or boys and girls, that she brought to Defuel before she turned it into Mechanization Planet Maetel and anchored it in the Andromeda Galaxy. A third of that world is now alive, filled with brave men and women who are now bolts, tools, clamps, machinery…waiting to sacrifice their lives. Thrice I tried to stop her.”

“Now, all we, meaning myself, Emeraldas, and Father can do for them with our three vessels is help to set them free to the Realm where there is no darkness at all,” Harlock said.

“Again, Arcadia, Queen Emeraldas, and Yamato will act as liberators,” Yuki sighed. “I hope and pray we can end Promethium’s evil soon. Even though I pity her.”

“Even she had moments of sanity,” said Harlock. “You told me that two times, she had instituted truces in this war…”

“For her own advantage, only, and when I was younger, I was naïve enough to believe her,” Yuki said. “I cannot believe her now.”

“You will be watching over Tetsuro, then?”

“The best I can, until I have to part ways with him and Maetel on Pellias,” Yuki said. “There, your father is waiting…along with Yamato. Yamato. She is as much my home…”

“As Arcadia is mine,” Harlock said with a slight smile.

“You read that right,” Yuki laughed. “I’ve never been comfortable in palaces!”

“We’re too much alike, you and I,” Harlock said. “You like to be in the action as much as I do.”

“True, all too true,” Yuki said as she got up. She motioned up Harlock, in truth her and Susumu’s eldest son, Alexander Kodai III, and they embraced before Yuki turned away, put on her disguise, and vanished in silence.

“You are a living ghost from the past,” said Harlock. “Just like myself. And, like me, you are looking for a meet and suitable place to die.”

I. AN AWAKENING…

Planet Earth

The Kodai Residence

April 3, 2236

A close-up of a person

Description automatically generated with low confidence In the “present”, in the twenty-third century, that is, Yuki Kodai awoke in bed beside Susumu.

She groaned and looked at the bedroom. Our home in Philadelphia, she thought, looking up at a chronometer on the wall. 0612 in the morning, April 3^rd, 2236. Sun’s in my eyes. Why did we forget to shut the blinds?

Yuki saw Susumu sleeping beside her; like her, he was only in his skin, with very messed-up hair. Well, given what we were up to last night, no wonder we forgot to shut the blind. Good thing this is the second floor, Yuki thought.

Susumu then woke up and yawned. “You smell like romance times twelve, Yuki.”

She blushed at that, and said, “Well, it’s better to get home behind closed doors and be with you…than to hear Zain Valas singing in rather gross, clinical detail, how nasty he wants to get with a dirty, drunken woman…who is also high on weed. That’s why I had to get off-stage last night. I was not going to sing “Ya Wanna Get Nasty and Funky With Me, You…expletive deleted.” So what if they called me stuck-up? I would not sing along with that nor play along with that stupid song! Who called us at three AM, anyway?”

“Zworder,” Susumu said. “He was…well….”

“On something?” Yuki sighed. “Weed? Wine? Rikashan Spice? Sixer?”

“He was actually laughing, whatever he was on,” Susumu said. “And it wasn’t a crazy, sadistic laugh, either! He asked if I was having as much fun with you as he was having with Msiba!”

“Oh, my God. I hope you didn’t answer him, Susumu!”

“No, I didn’t! Unlike him…I am a gentleman. Even though he advised me how I could make you happy…his advice….”

“Hope you didn’t take it…”

“I know what you like; he doesn’t,” Susumu said.

“Good. Every time he’s touched minds with me, I made it clear to him he can’t get into that part of my mind.”

“The…funky part?” Susumu teased.

“Yes, the funky part,” Yuki said with a deep blush.

They both laughed at that.

Then, Yuki said seriously, “I had a few strange dreams again.”

“About what?”

“The future, maybe,” Yuki said. “These visions hit me the hardest when I’m dreaming.”

“Just like they did with a lot of the ancient prophets,” Susumu said. “Hey…what are you doing?”

“Trying to find my dream journal,” Yuki said as she got up. Susumu truly appreciated the view for a moment until Yuki threw on a yukata and fished around in a drawer. “Here it is. I was on a pirate ship in this dream.”

“Pirate ship?”

“Alex’s. Or Harlock’s. It doesn’t exist yet.” Yuki wrote furiously. “We were getting closer to defeating Promethium…in a long quest that may go on for…centuries. A lot of it made very little sense, honestly.”

“Was I still with you?”

“Oh, heavens, yes,” Yuki said. “You and Yamato. You and the ship are always in my dreams.”

Then, the phone rang.

Susumu picked up, slamming the phone on speaker. “Kodai residence. Who the bloody heck is this?”

“Me,” said a familiar voice.

“Oh, Shiro!” Susumu said, recognizing Sanada’s voice. “How are you?”

“Doing great. Can you and Yuki get to the Tokyo Megalopolis today? I have a surprise for you guys,” Sanada said. “Or am I disrupting something?”

“You just woke us up,” Susumu lied. “Don’t worry. We’ve had quite a few kids and we’re used to it.”

“I used to get the worst of it,” Yuki sang from across the room. “You and Diane have had kids. You get it.”

“Will there be any more?” Shiro teased.

“None of your business,” laughed Susumu. “I swear, all of you have been nosy about Yuki and I ever since 2200…”

“Hey, you two have a great record,” Sanada said. “See you later.”

“Later!” Yuki sang. “Well, we were at Mass yesterday, so I guess we can miss it today,” she added.

“I’d say that’s a good idea. We need showers. Let’s share,” Susumu said with a smile.

“I thought you’d say that” Yuki said with a wink as she slipped her yukata off. “You look like you need to wake up.”

“I do,” Susumu yawned.

A picture containing clipart

Description automatically generated “I’ll take care of that,” Yuki said with a wink.

“No arguments, dear,” Susumu said with a smile.

They began to kiss before they got into the shower.

Yuki made doubly sure she woke Susumu up.

FOUR HOURS LATER….

They got dressed in uniform, drove to Willow Grove NAS, and got into Susumu’s Cosmo-Zero and enjoyed a quick suborbital flight across the United States and the Pacific before landing on Great Island.

A Staff Car and enlisted driver were waiting along with a security detail as they drove south to Yokosuka Base.

They drove to the Base in silence, wondering where Sanada was.

He greeted them above one of the underground docks, and he smiled warmly as he saw them, giving Susumu a salute and a handshake, and Yuki a salute and a warm hug.

“You’re wearing your old Star Force uniform, Shiro,” Susumu said. “I haven’t seen you in that in ages.”

“That’s because even though I’m your Defense Forces Commander, I’m coming out on some trials with you,” he said as he ushered Susumu and Yuki into an elevator.

The elevator went down deep into the ground at Yokosuka, and it stopped, and the doors slid open. “Dock Number Three,” he said. “Here is our newest, and oldest Fleet space battleship.”

The doors slid open, and they looked out at Yamato.

She looked brand-new, and was shining and somehow looked bigger.

“She looks…much larger?” Yuki said.

“Now, she’s over three hundred and sixty meters long,” Sanada said. “Like to take the grand tour? We’ve done a lot to her.”

“Sure,” Susumu said. “Who’s going to be her skipper?”

“I’m leaving that for you two to work out,” Shiro said with a laugh.

“We’ll work it out eventually,” Susumu said. He held Yuki’s hand and walked on.

On a deck below the Third Bridge, in the Third Bridge structure, the Kodais noticed a great deal of new machinery.

“What’s this?” Yuki said. “You’ll pardon me, but I’m not…”

“…entirely up on your engineering miracles,” Susumu said, completing Yuki’s thought.

“An experimental system we tested on a few small corvettes. It is called a Wave Motion Shield system. It works by channeling wave motion energy to shield the hull with an energy field that can repel enemy fire,” Sanada said. “Yamato is the largest ship we have installed this new system in, and she will be the testbed for the system. Next stop will the wave motion gun firing room, where we made some major changes. In a good way, of course.”

They went up a lift and then walked through the ship towards the wave motion gun firing room.

The structure looked similar, but different.

“Six firing cylinders?” Susumu said.

Sanada nodded, with a smile. “Yes. The output of the wave motion engine and supercharger have been increased, and they now feed into this reservoir when the order is given to fire the wave motion gun. The reservoir holds enough energy for six shots of the wave motion gun in a row, without having to recharge it again.”

“It reminds me of a six-shooter revolver from the old American West,” Yuki said. “I own one as an antique. It’s an old Ruger .22…it’s chrome plated.”

“I once had a dream about you riding a horse in cowboy getup with that thing,” Susumu teased.

“You have odd dreams,” Yuki said with a smile.

“I have some more items to show you,” Sanada said. “This way?”

A few moments later, they were in the Yamato’s keel. “Another new addition to the ship. Two pop-up gun turrets. This one is near the bow. The other one is in the Third Bridge structure,” Sanada said. “They are six point one inches in diameter, or 15.4 centimeters; similar to our auxiliary turrets topside.”

“We’ll finally have a good defense for the keel,” Susumu said.

Yuki whistled. “No seats for the gunners?” she said.

“Automated. They’re controlled from the appropriate bridge,” Shiro said. “They actually respond pretty quickly. I have one more system to show you.”

Susumu and Yuki followed Sanada to the bow. “A new variant of the SMITE system,” he said. “These projectors come out of the waterline torpedo ports. They are strong enough to warp a destroyer now.”

“That will help us a lot from a tactical standpoint,” Susumu said. Then, his comm unit went off. “Yes? Lord Admiral Kodai speaking.”

A familiar, mellifluous voices spoke as a handsome, blue-skinned face came up on the screen. “Kodai. Something is telling me that you have just inspected my gift to the Yamato.”

“Leader Desslar. It’s been a while. How have you been?”

“We recently survived a heavy battle, thanks to Talan, Shasta, and my dearest Atirangi,” he said as they saw Ati cuddling against his arm, smiling with a strange light in her eyes. “Ati has shown me some new talents that she has learned to use.”

“How are you doing, Ati?” Yuki said.

“Pretty Goddamn good,” she said. “How’s it hanging with you two fuckers?”

“Great, Ati,” Susumu said, long used to Empress Atirangi’s use of the language. “Yuki-chan here also taught me some new talents, and I am now a fully-qualified R’jkharraz warrior myself.”

“Congratulations!” said Desslar. “We are calling because we have picked up intel that our enemies may soon attempt another attack…”

“Where?” Susumu asked.

A Galactic Map of the Great Magellenic Cloud came up. “Right here, at the Renval Gap. Bannockburn may be the target, in maybe thirty or sixty days.”

“We share a base there!” Yuki said. “As you can guess, Your Majesty, the Yamato has just been refitted. She’s almost ready to go.”

“Those mechanoid motherfuckers will stop at nothing to ruin our fucking day,” Ati said.

Desslar nodded at that.

“Shiro, when will she be ready for space trials?” Susumu asked.

“Give me ten days.”

“It’ll take us that long to close up the house in Philadelphia and gather up the Star Force,” Susumu said. “We are about to close on a new home here in the Megalopolis in a few days. Then, we’ll cast off.”

“I will probably see you before we gather at Bannockburn,” Desslar said. “I would love to see how well the new SMITE system works.” He smiled slightly at that.

“Thank you, Desslar. We are most grateful,” Susumu said.

Desslar saluted him, and Ati grinned at them. Then, the screen went blank.

Susumu clapped his hands. “With Yuki’s consent, which she just whispered into my mind, we have our marching orders. Shiro, get the ship ready. Yuki, you will be the ship’s doctor this time out; please gather yourself a medical staff and help me call up a crew. I will be in command. Any questions?”

Both Shiro and Yuki shook their heads. They saluted their skipper once again.

The famed Yamato would soon be casting off again for the stars.

II. A CEREMONY…

The Edge of the Andromeda Galaxy

Mechanization Planet Maetel

April 5, 2236

Maetel had reached the end of the Galaxy Express Andromeda Route at a mechanized planet once named Defuel.

To her shock, she found guards there addressing her and the Conductor of Three-Nine as “Princess Maetel and her Bodyguard.”

Maetel found herself herded into a limousine and taken through a vast city on the surface.

A city filled with cyborgs of all sorts, with endless towers, spires, and transport tubes.

“Tell me, what is this place?” she asked.

The military officer who answered, a cyborg known as Duke Hazar, said, “The beginning of the perfection of your mother’s scheme of eternal life. Behold your mother’s Heaven, the true New Jerusalem, which she built by pulling herself up by her own bootstraps. Don’t you want to see this glory extending throughout the Cosmos?”

Maetel gritted her teeth but did not answer.

“I don’t like this place,” said the Conductor.

“Why should you be frightened?” said Hazar. “This is a place of glory; of honor.”

“I wish my mother would explain more to me,” Maetel said.

Then, a flash of light appeared in the car.

“Why don’t you ask her?” said the familiar voice of Maetel’s mother, Queen Promethium…who was sitting right beside Maetel!

“Mother?” gasped Maetel. “In a pleasing form?”

“One of many of my forms,” said Promethium as shadows fell on her face. “Why are you committing treason against me?”

“Mother…what you are creating…it is…utterly soulless.”

“It is the next step in human evolution,” Promethium said softly. “The bewitched Lord Ekogaru was so close to attaining this goal before his unfortunate insanity and death. I have stepped forward to complete his work. What do you think? You are second in command of this realm of mine, Maetel. Remain here. With me.”

“I am not sure I can remain,” Maetel said.

“I am not sure I can permit you to ever leave again,” Promethium said in that maddeningly smooth voice. “I have foreseen something. Listen closely. The so-called Alliance you serve will soon face a major reverse in battle. I am throwing a great fleet against them. The survivors will be eager to join with us and accept my offer of eternal life. Think about that.”

“Do you expect me to aid this…effort of yours?”

“I expect only that you…not actively thwart it,” Promethium said.

Maetel was silent at that.

“Are you still entertaining thoughts of rebellion, daughter?” said Promethium.

Maetel remained silent.

“Then, we shall leave this for later. Come and dine with me. Then, I shall find you suitable accommodations,” Promethium said, with a dark smile.

On Earth, it was now April the sixth.

The Kodais were closing up their Philadelphia home for the Yamato’s space trials, which, as they thought at the time, would take about thirty to sixty days.

Var and Teresa came over to their home that afternoon to find Yuki outside in her garden, in a grungy outfit of coveralls, a t-shirt and high-top sneakers, weeding her tomatoes.

A person in a garment

Description automatically generated with low confidence “I am guessing that you’re working on your garden?” Var said. He was clad in black; Teresa had on a white dress with black boots.

“Yes, I am,” Yuki replied. “How are the two of you?”

“I’m so happy, Mum,” Teresa said, putting her head on Var’s shoulder.

“She is happy. My videos drive her crazy, though,” Var said with a grin.

“Videos?” Yuki said.

“I send them to Father, too,” Var said with a big smile. “He doesn’t like them much. May I have a tomato?”

“Sure,” Yuki said as she plucked a tomato and tossed it to Var. “We’re leaving Terra in about three days.”

“Space trials?” said Var as he ate the tomato.

“How did you know that?” Yuki asked as Susumu came out. Susumu had on a t-shirt, jeans, and running shoes.

“I know all sorts of things,” Var said enigmatically as Teresa giggled. “Teresa, your Mom has short socks on. They’re white, trimmed in pink.”

“How did you know that?” Susumu said.

“He figures things out,” Yuki added.

“Promethium is really up to no good,” Var said quietly. “Both of you, keep your eyes open. She’s going to…try all sorts of rude things while you’re out in space.”

Susumu and Yuki looked at each other hard. Yuki shut her eyes and nodded.

“She’s planning something,” Yuki said. “But…what?”

“Can’t you see it?” Var asked.

“No,” Yuki replied.

“I can’t see it either,” Var said. “But it is not going to be good.”

“I’d better keep my eyes open,” Susumu said.

“We’d better keep our eyes open,” Yuki added.

On Earth, two more days passed.

The Kodais, with two attorneys, were inside Foxworth Manor signing a large sheaf of papers as Savela’s long-time home was at last being transferred to them as a new home base for them in the Tokyo Megalopolis.

With the last of the papers signed. Savela stood up and weakly shook hands with Yuki and Susumu, who were a bit more formally dressed in, respectively, a dress and pumps and a sport jacket, cords, and boots.

Savela had on one of her blue gowns.

She went to sit down, and almost collapsed.

“My God!” Susumu whispered as he and Yuki zipped across the conference table to Savela’s aid. She didn’t have to vacate the house for thirty days under the terms of the transfer of ownership, but she had asked her servants and staff to pack many of her things anyway for her move to the Gatlantean Embassy on Pellias.

“It’s…all right,” Savela whispered.

Yuki gently took Savela’s hand. “Your hemoglobin is low…I can feel it.”

“The cancer’s been advancing,” Savela whispered.

“Then why aren’t you in a hospital?” Susumu barked.

“Susumu…please,” Yuki said. Yuki sat there and stroked Savela’s shoulders. “It’s in your lungs and close to your heart. You have only a few weeks left. We have two choices. I can admit you to the hospital…”

“I do not want that. You know how I feel about hospital. I hate it.”

“I thought so,” Yuki said. “The other choice is…I work on you here and now…with the Matrix. It’s not my power, though. It is, at best…unpredictable.”

“Would that work?” Savela said.

Yuki took Susumu’s hand, shut her eyes, and began to murmur words under her breath. Her hands began to gleam slightly.

Savela began to moan softly.

Two of her Gatlantean aides drew weapons and pointed them at Yuki and Susumu.

“No,” said Susumu. “Stand down, please! She’s trying to help your Princess!”

Yuki continued to murmur words that Susumu just made out through their Bond. “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion…use me, please, as Your instrument of healing to aid this woman…” Susumu smiled as he felt, rather than heard, Yuki reciting more of the one hundred and third Psalm in her mind.

Yuki’s hands glowed very brightly and then faded as a sudden warmth passed through Savela’s body. Her color grew less pale, and she sat up straighter.

Yuki looked on, smiled, and kissed Savela on the cheek. “Don’t push yourself too hard, and remember to be grateful. I believe your cancer is now gone, and you will have a few more decades of life remaining to you. Be at…peace.”

Savela smiled. “Why are you so kind to me? This is the second time you have saved my life, Majesty.”

“Isn’t that what a physician is supposed to do?” Yuki said. The High Queen stood up, but she was a little woozy from her healing effort. “Be sure to let your father know when you arrive at the Embassy. There is no need to be ashamed.”

“I will be sure to let Father know,” Savela said. “Please stay for a bit. I did have my aides prepare a lunch for you.”

“Thank you, Princess Savela,” Susumu said. “We will be pleased to stay.”

They sat down to eat.

In the meantime, Maetel found her current accommodations…a little less, one could say…than accommodating.

She was chained up in a dank, dripping cell underground.

It was dark.

Rats gnawed at her boots.

Occassionally, the screams of someone being tormented rang down the corridor.

“Mother, you have me in such a lovely place,” Maetel whispered sarcastically as a tear ran down her cheek. “Why are you so full of hatred? If anything, you have gotten…worse.”

All that Maetel heard in her mind was her mother’s sick laughter.

And, at that, she knew she had to escape.

The question was…how?

TO BE CONTINUED….