“You heard me. They asked specifically for you. Especially Lord Ares.” Graciela crossed her arms with a soft sigh. “They are expecting your reports… They are hoping that your reports are better than last time.”

“But that’s…” Akane did not finish her sentence as she frowned at the thought of returning to Mars. She picked up her sword and walked back to the Lieutenant Colonel.

“Akane…” Graciela placed her arm around Akane’s shoulders and started walking with her. “I’m helping you out here. I brought my samurais here so that you could keep Ceres under your control. But first, you will need to report back to Lord Ares as soon as possible.”

“About what? There is no change here, no matter how much and how hard I try. Cereans just… they refused to make peace with us. Five centuries ago, the Martians were the first people to land on this dwarf planet!”

Graciela glanced back at the shouting Cereans trying to fight the Europan and Martian samurais who kept trying to push them back. “There are five hundred years worth of the Cereans’ history with so much hatred for Mars. You know that you can’t change their minds overnight.”

Akane just carelessly shrugged her shoulders. “What am I supposed to do? Turn soft for them? I have the reputation!”

Graciela chuckled softly as she and Akane walked into one of the tents. “That’s just how it is. Sometimes you can’t do anything about it.”

“That’s pretty dumb.” Akane was pouting.

“So, who was that guy you were fighting against?” Graciela smiled when she noticed a growing blush on Akane’s face cheeks. She sat down at the table, followed by Akane.

Kawa. Akane remembered his name but did not say it at all. Instead she lied, “I don’t know. He claimed to be an Europan samurai, but obviously that was a lie, of course.”

“And, he beat you, didn’t he?”

Akane squinted. She shook her fist in the air, clenching it in anger. “No, if he hasn’t killed me, then he hasn’t won just yet. He will get to witness my true power the next time we run into each other.”

“I can see that, but why did you let him go?” Graciela was tapping one of her fingers on the table.

“He was trying to protect the Cereans.” Akane crossed her long legs. “He is no threat to us unless it comes to harming the innocents.”

“I see,” Graciela said softly. “So, that’s why you went easy on him. But…” She got up and walked around the table to Akane. She put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Please don’t forget who started the war ten years ago. It was Earth.”

“How’d you know if he is an Earthling?” Akane snapped at her, shrugging Graciela’s hand off her shoulder.

“Either Earthling or Lunan.. He is still an enemy to us. You shouldn’t have let such silly emotion cloud your judgment. Have you forgotten what we learned in the military academy?”

“I know, but… it was my feelings that saved your life!” Akane got up, all getting into Graciela’s face. “They tried to kidnap you because you came from a wealthy family.”

The Europan samurai shook her head. “Yes, you saved my life, so I thank you very much, and I am very grateful for what you have done. But that doesn’t give you the right to blackmail me like this. Why are you getting upset like that? You weren’t usually like this.”

Akane scowled. She knew that Graciela was right. She allowed her feelings to get in her way as the First Lieutenant of Mars. “You’re right, Gracie.  I shouldn’t let him go. Earth and Moon have always been our enemies. After all, it was one of the Earthlings who killed Lord Ares’s beloved wife first. They thought they could declare war on us just because their Lord’s wife was killed a few days later as well? They did this on purpose!”

Graciela sat back at the table and leaned forward with her head on her hand, with her elbow on the table. “Millions of innocents were killed. Are you going to allow Earth and Moon to get away without getting any punishment?”

The Martian samurai gave her a hard stare. “No.”

~EARTHxMARS~

“You could have gotten yourself killed!” James slammed his hands on the wooden table, nearly breaking it. “Are you fucking crazy?!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Kawa laughed almost heartily. He was lying on the old smelly couch but he did not even care a little bit. “I had too much fun! Tiger Samurai with the lightning-type katana? Now, that was quite challenging! I would like to face her one more time.”

James rubbed his face. “Oh, god. You’re so fucking lucky that she let you go… especially with that damn Ox girl! We are in serious trouble! That Tiger Samurai may have let us go… But, sooner or later they will come looking for us!”

“Oh, you’re still alive?” Dr. Nelson asked right after he closed the front door. He breathed a loud sigh of relief. “I was so worried about you guys.”

“It’s okay. We’re strong, so it won’t be easy for death to take us.” James smiled brightly at him. “At least Kawa got the Martian samurais to leave the Cereans alone… for now. Europan samurais are already here.”

The doctor froze at the mention of Europan samurais. “A-are you serious? Is… the Ox here?”

James almost laughed out loud but stifled a chuckle instead. “Yes, she is. I’m seriously considering getting off this dwarf planet as soon as possible. We have to go to Mars one or another way.”

“Mars?...” After saying that, Dr. Nelson just left his mouth open for a few seconds.

“Yes, we are going to Mars,” Kawa said seriously. “As soon as possible… no, actually… Now.”

“Are you really serious about going to Mars? What are you going to do once you get there?” The doctor asked.

“We are going to get rid of the Mars Lord once and for all.” The Dragon Samurai smiled at him. “Then, the war will definitely end.”

“And then, you will finally get your freedom! Your planet won’t be under Mars’s control anymore!” James exclaimed.

“Oh god.” Dr. Nelson was rubbing his face, sighing in frustration. “You are the craziest patients I’ve ever had in the last twenty years!” He looked back up at the samurais. “Fine, but before you go… I have a surprise for you.”

~EARTHxMARS~

“Wow!” said James in amazement.

“Are you sure you are giving this to us, doc?” Kawa could not take his eyes off such a wonderful thing. It was a small spaceship that could hold up to ten people, which was absolutely perfect. Due to the fact that it was smaller and lighter than regular military spaceships, it was much faster.

“Yes, I haven’t used it in years.” Dr. Nelson smiled, running his hand across the cold surface of the small spaceship. “I came from Mars… No, I ran away. I was not happy because I was always overworking. They… The Martian samurais treated us as if we were inferior to them. So, I took one of their passenger spaceships and came here. I was planning to go to Venus, but then I found the love of my life. My family is right here.”

“I see… Thank you so much, doc!” James took the doctor’s hand and shook it excitedly. “We would never survive nor get off this planet without your help! We won’t ever forget you!”

“Yeah, thank you!” Kawa bowed his head out of his old polite habit that he got stuck with growing up in Japan back on Earth.

“Mars, here we come!” James slammed his fist on his other palm with the biggest grin on his face.