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As per voting, Ratai is assigned Radar Chief. His Control may suck now, but it'll get better with a few levels and we have his special skill in the meantime.

Afterwards, our heroes set out for new lands!

: All we gotta do is go through the gate and we'll be in another country!

: That's right. (I wonder what Kalymnos is going to be like.)



And so, we as we pass through the gate--



Oh shit, what happened?

: Ngh...Unh...

: Hey, Yuri! Something's wrong with Kira!

: What?!



: Agh...Gah...!

: Kira! Are you okay?! Kira!



: Gaaagh! (panting)

: Kira...

: I-I'm okay now. Don't worry about me...I'll be okay, as long as I'm by your side, Yuri.

: You're all right now. I want you to rest for a while, okay?

: Okay.

Oh dear.

Well, the moment got kinda ruined, but...



Welcome to Kalymnos Junction!
This place, is, to put it mildly, massive. 10 named sectors, 9 empty sectors, 2 active void gates and one dead gate. That is our eventual target, but right now we have other things to do. The game starts heating up here. There's more to do, more to see, more stuff to blow up.
First however, we need to go to Chios. It's the closest planet to the void gate, and Kira needs rest.

In Kira's room...

: Kira, how are you feeling?

: I'm fine now. I'm sorry, Yuri. I don't want you to have to worry about me.

: Of course I'm going to worry! You're my little sister. You're the only family I've got.

: Thank you, Yuri. I'm fine now, though. Really. Please don't make me get off the ship. I want to stay by your side, no matter what, okay?

: All right, Kira. If that's what you really want to do, I'm glad to have you with me.

: Good.

In the hallway outside...

: So how's she doin'?

: Oh, hi, Nia. She seems all right now. Her color's a lot better.

: Well, as long as it isn't anything serious...

: What? You sound like you have something else you want to say.

: Traveling through space is a rough life. I just wonder how she's gonna hold up, over time.

: I'm worried about her too, of course. But she said herself that she wants to come with me.

: Well, of course that's what she's gonna say, kiddo! Haven't you noticed the way she looks at you? That's not just sisterly love you've got there, shinin' in those eyes of hers.

: What do you mean?!

: I'm goin' to the bridge now, kiddo. The IP communication system is acting up. I'm gonna try to fix it.

: ...(Nia's crazy. I don't think she gets what siblings are all about. She must be an only child.)

Alright, enough of that nonsense. We've got planets to explore! To the tavern!
Yuri starts fussing over Kira again, which leads to this gem of a conversation:

: For a brother and sister, you two sure do get along really well. I'm just sayin'.

: I love my brother too, but we never acted as, uh...close...as you two do.

: Huh?

: Ya know, you guys don't really look alike, now that I think about it. You seem more like boyfriend and girlfriend than brother and sister.

: Boyfriend and--?! What the Grus are you talking about, Torlo?!

: ...

Y'know, with Torlo's bromance towards Ian and Yuri's connection to his sister, not to mention the vast number of single characters that could conceivably be paired, I'm kinda surprised this game wasn't more popular with shippers. Or maybe it was; I try to avoid those discussions :-/

Anyway, the bartender has some information on local politics. Seems two pirates, an old dude named Kreios and a woman called Celina (aka the Merciless Night Queen) have been feuding for years. Nia seems to know Celina, or at least is aware of her. The leader of the Kreios pirates got locked away a year ago, but the rest of them are still active.
He also has a job for us. A mine on Dodecanese is looking for extra workers. The pay is 500G for some honest manual labor. Maybe Ian can put some muscles on his bones.

That's pretty much it for Chios, though. Next stop: Heraklion!



Of course, with new opportunities and planets come new dangers. Back in Elgava, a single-cruiser-two-destroyer fleet would be a miniboss that you couldn't escape from. Here? Par for the course. They're armed with a mix of lasers and missiles, though they aren't very strong.



These Themis K destroyers are reasonably tough. They take two Normal attacks from the fleet, though with enough crits a single round can be enough.
I'm not sure how much damage the Ilithyia K cruiser can take, but a single Barrage was enough, so whatever.

Heralkion is home to a module shop, which I plunder and pillage. They have a crapton of stuff:

• Antiair Control Room Lv1: AA Accuracy + 2, Attack + 5
• Engine Room Lv3: Cruise and Battle Speed + 16
• Sick Bay Lv3: Med Tech + 10, Livability + 8
• Nav Sim Room Lv1: Navigation and Control Exp + 2
• Science Lab Lv1: Science Exp + 2
• Shop Lv1: Livability + 10, Cash Income + 5
• Deflector Lv2: Armor + 12

A good haul, all for 320G. It makes a tiny dent in our wallet.

The tavern here is pretty useless, but there is a nice scene here where Larissa reassures Kira that her headaches aren't indicative of a serious problem

Finally, the primary purpose for us being in this sector: Professor Minas! His lab is located here on Heraklion, and we need to go see him.

: Ah, welcome! I am Gavriil Minas. Commander Vladykin of the Interplanetary Union of Elgava told me all about you. He says you're interested in Epitaphs, is that it?

: That's right, sir. We were hoping you could help us find out more about them.

: Hm. Without any specimens to investigate, my Epitaph research has been particularly slow going. What I do know, however, is that Epitaphs are composed of a diamond-like substance, similar to silicon nitride Si3N4.

Fadeout

: And from there, the possibility of structural phase transition, due to composition activation and some other conditions, as well as poly-crystallization growth, can be hypothesized. Therefore, what can be seen through an abstraction test performed according to Izoma's Law...

Another fadeout. Dear god, he's still going

: And that is what is known as this point. Do you have any questions?

: ...

: Um...Let's see...

: You can just put a big question mark over my head, man!

: So, there are some ruins on the planet Mytilene, near a dead gate, that appear to have once held an Epitaph. And so you'd like to go there to investigate the relationship between dead gates and Epitaphs. Is that what you're saying, Professor?

Someone took notes!

: Yes, that's it precisely.

: O-Oh, okay.

: You followed that well, Kira.

: Those were the only parts I understood.

: In that case, we're going to Mytilene. Would you like to come with us, Professor?

: Yes. I would like that very much. Thank you.

Gavriil Minas joined your crew as a temporary crew member!

: However, there is one, slight problem.

: What's that, sir?

: A band of pirates called the Kreios Pirates roam this sector, you see. Because of them, the Kalymnos Sector Security Agency has sealed this sector off. Sadly, I'm afraid we won't get anywhere unless the pirates have been taken care of.

Well, they weren't so tough. What's the big deal? Darn railroading
Well, here are Minas' stats...



HOLY GRUS LOOK AT THAT SCIENCE SKILL

Well, until we have a plan, let's go to Dodecanese to complete that mining job. A little extra G never hurt.



Along the way, we find the Tethys Nebula and earn a whopping 10 fame
Looks pretty, though.

Anyway, Dodecanese has a Ship Blueprint Company! I swing in and grab the blueprints to non-pirated versions of the ships we fought earlier:



The Themis-class destroyer is a weaker, less versatile Orfey; two small missiles that cannot be upgraded, one medium laser. It does have a decent anti-air stat, but since most anti-air weapons are small and the anti-ship missiles cannot be swapped out, that doesn't help much. Probably meant for people who are on a budget, but we have money to spend. Looks pretty cool though.



As far as cruisers go, the Ilithyia is pretty sub-par. It's stats are weaker in every single category than the Askold we got last chapter, and it has no special abilities or tricks to make up for it. A decent amount of module space and two medium weapon slots, but that's about it. And again, it looks pretty cool.

Anyway, enough ship browsing. We have some mining to do! Sadly, we aren't met by any dwarves.

: Ah, thanks for comin'! I'm Loukas Barberis, the foreman of the site. You can just call me Loukas.

Loukas here goes right up to the edge of the bottom screen on the DS

: Now, then. Jezelmite ore is highly magnetic. Because of that, we can't use regular mining equipment. Getting down and dirty is the only way to get the job done here.

: What?! Are you kiddin' me?!

: All right. That's enough chatter for now. Get to your stations, boys! I want you over here. And I want you two over there!

: Yes, sir!

: Got it!

: What, me too?



Fadeout

: All right, then! That's enough for today. Good job, boys!

: (groans) Oh, my back...

: Hey Yuri, you're pretty tough for being such a scrawny little guy.

: I'm used to hard labor, from back in the days when I worked at that repair shop on Ropesk.

: I guess that explains it.

(loucas): All right, boys. Here's your pay. Nothin's better than money you earn by the sweat of your own brow, huh?

500G for us! There's also a tavern here, but I'm guessing Ian just wants to go back to his room to rest. We'll come back later.

Our next stop is Veroia, a major planet in the cluster. This place has a shipyard, Module shop, and a special location called the Security Agency. First, we'll hit the module shop, see if it can compete with the one on Chios.

• Elgava Bridge Lv4: Gauge Speed + 4, Captain Bonus + 2
• Navigating Bridge Lv2: Battle Speed and Mobility + 4
• Antiship Control Room Lv2: Antiship Accuracy + 5, Attack + 15
• Briefing Room Lv1: Fleet Bonus + 3, Captain Bonus + 1
• Study Hall Lv1: Management and Medical Exp + 2
• Shield Generator Lv1: Anti-Beam + 8

The answer is yes. Yes, it can.

Ok, that worked well. Shame that there's nothing going on in the Tavern or the Security Agency yet. However, we do learn one interesting fact: While the Security Agency battles pirates, the military spends its time preparing for a possible war with another nation called Nova Nacio. Remember that name, we'll be seeing a lot of it before long.

One more planet to go to tonight, because it's a fun one featuring a character we haven't seen lately: Volos, which is sadly not inhabited by mercantile short guys in environment suits. Volos is home to a defense post, which we'll be visiting next time. Today, however, we go to the tavern.

Cheers and whistles can be heard as we step inside...

Bar Patron: Yeah, Otis! Get 'im!

*Sounds of fighting*

Bar Patron: Kick him good! Kick him low, Otis!

*Two men are fighting on a stage at the back of the tavern. The fist of the larger man connects with his opponent's chin, and the smaller man crumbles to the floor, knocked out cold*

Bar Patron: Wow! Did you see that?! He didn't stand a chance!

Bar Patron: Aw, Grus! I shoulda bet on Otis! Man, I never learn.

: Wow. Who is that guy?

: Just some random barbarian, I'm sure.

: ...

Bartender: That guy Otis is famous around here. Never been beat, they say. How about you guys? Want to try your luck against him? There's prize money involved.

: No, we're not--

: Sounds like fun. I'll give it a try. I can win us that prize money, Captain.

: G-Gadina?!

: You're seriously gonna do this?!

: Just you watch me!

*Gadina strolls casually onto the stage, as if she doesn't have a care in the world. The large man bellows derisively*

: Hey, wait a minute! What's with this gorilla lady?!

: Gorilla lady?!

*With Otis's words, Gadina's expression suddenly darkens.

Nice knowing you, Otis

: Raaaaagh!

: *PUNCH!* Gah! *SMACK!* Oof! *BAM!* Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

*In a flash, Gadina knocks the large man out with only three swift blows*

: Who's a gorilla lady now, huh?! How do you like that?!

: Wow...

: (She really is a gorilla lady!)

: (She really is a gorilla lady!)

: (She really is a gorilla lady!)

*Gadina accepts the prize money from the bartender and triumphantly hands it over to Yuri. The party welcomes Gadina back with strained smiles*

You got 500G in prize money!

I remember busting a rib over that scene first time I saw it

One last thing before calling it a night. The bartender has another mining job for us, this time on a world called Zante. Huzzah, manual labor!

Alright y'all, no more subtle hints. We've got almost 26kG in the bank, a Ropesk ship that's past its expiration date, and a whole bunch of new mods to upgrade everything with, plus weapons to upgrade. Time to spend some major dough. There won't be any more updates until I get some input on this.
First, we must decide what ship to replace the LOTUS with. We can either sell the LOTUS, or keep it as a memento. Either way, its time in the fleet is done. Here are the stats of every ship (aside from the ones we own) up to this point:


The Perekop destroyer. Older and worse than the LOTUS. No, just no.


The Derzky destroyer. Better than the LOTUS, inferior to the PANSY. Probably not the best choice, but would be an acceptable ship for a little while.


The Rurik cruiser. Not a bad choice, but it's average. It does have great anti-air stats. Remember, cruisers are a middle ground between a destroyer's mobility and a battleship's tankiness.


The Novik destroyer. Lots of anti-ship firepower, not much else.


The Gnevny destroyer. Sub-par in most stats, but can carry fighters. If you're really desperate for fighters (ignoring the fact that we won't have access to them until later in this chapter), this might be the choice for you.


The Skoryy destroyer. If you want to stick to having two destroyers, this might be your best bet. Heavily armed and armored, but a little slow.


The Askold cruiser. Probably our best choice as far as cruisers go for now, it has decent stats and fighter capacity. It's only real weakness is a lack of module space.


The Themis destroyer. It has decent anti-air capability, but other than that it's not great. In particular, it's attack range is the lowest of any ship we have so far. Yes, even the LOTUS. Hell, even the DAISY has better attack range.


And finally, the Ilithyia cruiser. If you want a cruiser, this might not be your best bet. Like the Themis, it has crappy attack range and downright horrible speed. It does look pretty awesome and futuristic, which is good if you want a break from the flying bricks we have.

---

Secondly, I'll probably have some money left over after purchasing and outfitting the new ship. What should it primarily be used for; upgrading our weapons, or upgrading modules? I'll be doing both if cash permits, but I'm looking for something to concentrate on.

Alright, enough lecture/infodump from me. Get to deciding!