We're in a bad spot now. The Rudianos is gone, and our fleet is down a ship. Furthermore, we have no realistic way to kill the enemy ships in the area. We have to run from every fight.Eventually...

Kira: We managed to get past the Vasta area.

Yuri: Deploy all heat-radiation plates. Return shield output to normal.

Kira: Roger.

Yuri: Ow...

Kira: Are you okay? Did Cico really hurt you?

Yuri: No, I'm fine. Just keep an eye out for debris. We don't want those heat plates to get damaged.

Kira: All right.
Meanwhile...
The Trader's Guild, Kashtano

Cico: ...

Pipra: What's this? You couldn't stay away, could you?

Cico: I'm going on to the Large Magellanic Cloud. By myself. I gotta pick up a few things first though.

Pipra: Oh, really? Well, this ought to get interesting! Heh heh heh!

Cico: Huh?

Pipra: Don't know if you know this or not, but ther'es a certain fellow that has it in for you.

Cico: Huh? Oh, don't tell me you're talkin' about that slithering creep, Oisin!

Pipra: Yes, yes. That's the one. He came here. Wanted me to tell him where you were. I told him you were headed for Nova Nacio.

Cico: What?! What did you do that for?!

Pipra: Heh heh heh. Now, don't get your feathers all in a ruffle. He offered me a good chunk of G. Who was I to say no to that? Besides, how was I supposed to know you were coming back alone? He's probably chasing after that Yuri kid's ship as we speak. Heh heh heh heh heh!

Cico: You stupid old hag!
Agreeing with Cico for once.He punchs Pipra to the floor.

Pipra: Aaagh!

Cico: If you weren't an old woman, I'd cut you right now!

Pipra: Eeeeeeek!
We cut back to Yuri and crew as they continue towards the void gate in the first sector, which heads straight to Nova Nacio.

Kira: Huh?

Torlo: What's the matter, Kira?

Kira: It was just a flash, but I thought I got a guide beacon reading. Here, take a look, Nia.

Nia: Yup, you're right. I see it here on the record, too. Maybe there's a port nearby.

Torlo: There's nothing like that on the charts, though.

Nia: Those charts aren't very reliable when it comes to the frontier like this. You're better off believin' what ya actually see.

Yuri: If there is a port, that would be great. We've been traveling for a while, and everybody's tired.

Kira: I can get a general read on the direction. Should we look for it?

Yuri: Hm...
>>Yeah, let's look for it.
>>
No, I guess we'd better not.Why would you even think to choose this?The screen fades and returns while they look.

Yuri: I can't find it.

Torlo: Should we really be spending all this time looking for it?

Yuri: ...
>>Keep looking.
>>
Quit looking.
Kira: Yuri!

Yuri: Did you find it?

Kira: Yes. It's a little planet out towards Z-224. And I'm definitely getting a guide beacon reading.

Nia: Huh. Hey, Kira, look up that sector in the old chart data.

Kira: All right. Oh, look at this!

Nia: That's the one. Colonization planet L-33376. It was abandoned 120 years ago when the contagious disease emprus broke out there and spread like wildfire.

Yuri: Do you think the spaceport still works?

Nia: Well, the CTA is all run on AI. Once a spaceport is set up, it can pretty much just keep running on its own forever.

Yuri: Then I guess we ought to be able to land and check it out.
>>Abandoned
The planet has a full working shipyard in case you need to rebuild a ship.
If you try to take the Elevator down...

Torlo: It's pretty run-down, but it looks like the facilties here are still running on AI.

Tatiana: Huh? The orbital elevator doesn't work.

Torlo: That's just fine by me! I mean, who wants to visit a place chock full of contagious disease?

Ian: But they found a cure for the disease that broke out here a long time ago. Emprus, it was called.

Torlo: But that doesn't change the fact that it's just plain creepy. Besides, now it's just a ghost town, right?

Ian: Yes, that is true.
We edit the fleet and the
Sharanga rejoins us as our frontline warship. With nothing else to do, we depart the abandoned base and continue towards the void gate.
We still run from every fight that comes to us.
As we approach the Void Gate, alarms go off.

Yuri: Huh?!

Kira: Yuri, there's a large ship ahead! It's preparing to attack!

Yuri: What type of ship is it?

Kira: I don't know. I'm not getting any data on it.
We're hailed, and Oisin appears on the screen.

Oisin: Hee hee hee! Looks like I found you at last, Cico, my dear.

Yuri: Huh?! You!

Oisin: Oh my! You aren't Cico, are you? So he's working for you now, is he?

Torlo: Huh? What are you talking about? Cico is--

Yuri: Torlo!

Torlo: Huh?

Oisin: Whatever. In any case, Cico is somewhere on your ship, I'm sure of it. It's too much of a bother to look for him, so I'll just wipe you all out instead.
He cuts the connection.

Kira: He cut us off.

Torlo: Yuri, why didn't you just tell him Cico's not here, man?

Yuri: That guy came all this way from Zefiro looking for Cico. We can't just let him go. We have to take care of him here!

Kira: Yuri, the enemy has launched something!
The enemy ship starts spitting out missiles.
Each missile splits to reveal that it's a cluster warhead, and the smaller missiles scatter towards us, exploding to reveal that they too are cluster warheads...
deploying a mine array around us.
The
Bugbear is quickly caught in the middle of the minefield.

Ian: What in the...?!

Nia: Tsk! Mobile mines!

Yuri: Mobile mines?

Nia: Yeah, they took unmanned fighters and remade 'em into mines that attack by seeking out the enemy's inflaton emissions. And if we bump into one of 'em by accident, it'll blow that way, too. Nasty little buggers.

Ian: So we can't even move?

Nia: That's right. We just gotta shoot them down!

Yuri: Got it. All hands, prepare for anti-air combat!
We lost about 40% of our fighters clearing the minefield, but we're quickly free of it.

Yuri: Good! We'll have all the mines cleared away in just a little while!

Kira: Yuri! The enemy is getting ready to fire again. More mines!

Torlo: There's no end to 'em!

Yuri: Damn! He's just going to keep at it!
Another wave of mine missiles fly towards us, only to be intercepted by energy weapons. The explosion is satisfying as they annihilate themselves.

Oisin: Hm? What's this?!
His ship shakes under the first attack.

Oisin: Eeek!
To noone's surprise, it's Cico, who dropped everything to keep Yuri safe.
Oisin: I've been hit? So, he has backup, does he?!
Cico sends out a signal.

Cico: hey, I'm the one you want, right, you slime?!

Oisin: Cico?! You were hiding on me, you naughty thing!

Cico: You put my friends in danger! And now you're gonna pay for it!

Oisin: Damn you, you foolish boy!
Meanwhile, on the
Bugbear...

Kira: Yuri! It's the
Rudianos!

Yuri: I see it. The mines are all taken care of it. Now we're ready to do some real battle!
We're at close range to the enemy ship, who we immediately swarm with our fighters. For those asking what are damage is like against enemies that aren't overarmored...
Small weapons : 70-90 damage.
Medium weapons: 100-120.
Large weapon: (crit)210.
It doesn't take too much to knock the enemy ship out.

Oisin: Inconceivable!
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
Oisin: I lost?! It can't be!
He doesn't even get a chance to escape as his ship comes apart under the steady pounding.

Yuri: Looks like we did it somehow.

Kira: Yuri, Cico is going to leave.
We watch as Cico leaves without a word, having saved his friends.

Torlo: hey, there he goes.

Kira: Yuri, don't you want to talk to him?

Yuri: ... Nah. It'd just be words.
We reach the Void Gate and make the jump to Nova Nacio.