Dawnbringer: The Story of the Machine God

Chapter 4

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A single rotation of the Epiece-2 Planet took 34 hours. Hence, we had to wake up in the middle of the night or the middle of the day, if we were to abide by the Federation’s 24 hours system.

Although, this planet"s 34 hour days were far too long.

“It doesn’t matter, doesn’t it? After all, we can do some night-time exercises during our training period.”

Wearing a pair of night-vision goggles, fibre helmet and a bullet-proof vest, I left the barracks first. Sergeant Aroha, who was doing squats and running beforehand, greeted me with a smile when she saw me.

“My~ who would’ve thought the King of Greenies would come out first?”

“I’m not a King of Greenies, Sergeant.”

Sergeant Aroha looked around then suddenly approached and grabbed both of my hands.

“I… heard that you saved our Platoon Leader. Thank you, greenie.”

“Ah, well… I-I only did what anyone should’ve done.”

It seemed like Sergeant Aroha was quite close to Ensign Meihowa. Did Meihowa speak about what happened that time?

I suppose their positions would be similar as Ensign Meihowa was a Half-Elcro, while Sergeant Aroha was a Half-Asa. Although, there was that difference of Elcros being enslaved by the higher ups of the office as a concubines, while the Asas took male hostages and enslaved them—just like the Amazons.

Hence, if Elcros were the weak race that anyone could have their way with, Asas were the l.u.s.tful and wild race that chased after men.

Sergeant Aroha must have her own fair share of troubles.

“I’m so grateful, I’ll specially drop the ‘King’ from the King of Greenies. I’ll let you off the hook with just ‘Greenie’”

“I suppose things would’ve been worse if you weren’t grateful.”

I smiled bitterly at the cheerful Sergeant Aroha. She suddenly licked her lips and brought her face closer to mine.

“By the way, what’s the deal between you and Luise?”

“Ehh!”

Something came in contact with my ears and tickled me while her breath stimulated my cheeks.

But those physical touches aside, her voice was so enchanting. That sweet voice compelled me to imagine drops of honey sliding down a smooth, golden gla.s.s jug.

“Ah you mean my relationship with M-Miss Luise?”

“That’s right. You treat your Platoon Leader, Sergeant and other officers like dirt, yet you are so respectful to her alone. So what is it? Is Luise some daughter of a billionaire, while you’re her butler? A forbidden relationship between a servant and his mistress? Sort of like a story straight out of a romantic novel?”

“Hmm, you could say that. I cannot go into details.”

“Hmm, is that so? You’re quite a strange one. You don’t show any respect to your seniors, yet you’re respectful to your fellow recruit.”

Sergeant Aroha smirked. It was somewhat mischievous. Was she planning something?

“So he says.”

“Huh?”

When I turned around, I saw a girl who was dressed in the same way as me—wearing the helmet, bullet-proof vest and night-vision goggles. She held up herself tiredly, with her shoulders slumping.

“Ehh?! M-Miss…. Luise?!”

“Umm. H-Hi, Lezirth. I-I finished my gravity adaptation course, so I will be partic.i.p.ating in the training. Since w-we’re part of the same platoon.”

“Ah, really? That’s great. You got used to it fast, didn’t you?”

“Well…. I am a ‘Replicant’ just like you, Lezirth.”

To be precise, she means the ‘Children of Letix’ that possess the medical nano-machines, self-recovery, telekinesis and telepathy.

If an ordinary human or an ordinary Replicant approached me from behind, I would’ve noticed for sure. However, Chief Luise had far superior telepathy and psychological strength to make up for her lack of physical strength. She even had powers that I didn’t, such as clairvoyance.

So that means she approached me unnoticed on purpose, but why? Did she want to hear what I was talking about with Sergeant Aroha?

I would’ve told Chief Luise anything, if she asked me though. She sure is a playful person.

Thinking that, I stood by her side.

“Why don’t you pair up with me? I will pour out my body and soul to help you.”

“Yes, please work with me. I’m so happy. I can finally work with you, after doing all that gravity adaptation therapy by myself.”

The bitter expression that Chief Luise had until now disappeared without a trace and she smiled.

“Oh hoo, Luise-cha~n, I’ll follow you to the ends of the universe~”

I didn’t know he was already out, but Pencolt was huffing and puffing next to us. I let out a sigh.

“Yeah, thinking about it, you’re the only other person I can rely on, now that I’ve been branded as a greenie.”

“Hmm? Have you already given up? A man must not give up so easily, man! I kept on approaching the soldier chicks without givin’ up!”

“Oh really, now.”

Now that he mentioned it, the female recruits were eyeing us coldly. Just what did this guy do?

While wondering that, the Platoon Leader Ensign Meihowa appeared. She wore an Alter-Armour pilot suit with a bullet-proof vest and a groin guard over it.

I suppose it was obvious to wear the bullet-proof vest and the groin guard, because without them the suit was far too revealing—especially in the chest and lower area.

“Are we going to be using Alter-Armours?”

“What? Didn’t the training just kick it up a notch?”

Murmurs resounded throughout the recruits.

Everyone was nervous. Even I thought the training was out of whack. This felt like a mixed martial arts training.

This was training that was far too dangerous for new recruits, and should’ve been practiced only by the trainers near the end of their training period. It was usually only the qualified soldiers who carried out such training.

However, Ensign Meihowa’s expression told us that she was not joking.

“Hmm… I first have to apologize to the entire platoon.”

“What?”

“What is the matter?”

The recruits became curious.

“Our platoon’s… training schedule has been modified. We will be boarding the a.s.sault Cruiser at 0900 Federation standard, receive real military equipment, and then head to the Azoran System. After completing 4 weeks of mixed martial arts training on Azoran-3, we will then be transferred to Azoran-4.”

“N-No way!!!”

Everyone screamed out in despair.

Azoran-3 of the Azoran System originally belonged to the Elcros, but the Federation drove them out and conquered the planet.

While Azoran-3 was under the Federation’s full control, Azoran-4 still belonged to the Elcros. Not only that, the rebel forces of the Federation were cooperating with the Elcros, and they were putting up quite a fight.

In other words, it was not surprising to see the other recruits go pale, when they heard that they were going to be fighting on the front lines after such little training.

Pencolt raised up his hand in surprise.

“Platoon Leader! What about our personal belongings? Doesn’t this mean that we’re being evicted from this training centre?”

“I hear that your personal belongings will be shipped by the officers here.”

“Ugh! That’s no good! All my figures are gonna get smashed! What would they know ‘bout my figures and plastic models! They gotta be carefully packed in cases…”

“I do not know. I do not want to, either.”

Meihowa sighed. Even she must’ve thought that this order came from Lieutenant Imamura out of spite.

Hmm, but a Lieutenant usually doesn’t have the authority to order such a thing.

But for this to happen, it must mean that the discrimination against the Replicants, Asas and Elcros was accepted by the top bra.s.s.

“So now, I am officially Ensign Liu Meihowa. It is a bit embarra.s.sing, but let’s do our best.”

“YES, MA’AM!”

Everyone saluted her.

Although I couldn’t say that this was a proper platoon, I could say that this suicidal platoon accepted Ensign Meihowa as an excellent leader. After all, even I saluted her.

◊ ◊ ◊

In a real battle situation, Platoon Leader Ensign Meihowa would be permitted to use the lowest grade Alter-Armour. The Spider would be provided to the Sub-Platoon Leader; Sergeant Aroha, while the recruits would be equipped with Colion Coil Rifles and M-10 Bayonets.

The Alter-Armour, Spider, and rifles used in the training facility were outdated, but all the equipment handed out at the military airport were brand new.

We are now headed to a battlefield with our lives on the line.

“Whoaa! Colion Coil Rifles, 180 version! Awesome! I always wanted one of these.”

“So it’s not that new then. It’s 189 right now, isn’t it?”

9 years had pa.s.sed, but guns could be used for 100 years without much issue. If these were stored in the storehouse for 9 years after being manufactured, then they certainly were new.

Didn’t these recruits understand what this meant? Some recruits were really out of their minds.

Watching the a.s.sault Cruiser outside of the window, I let out a sigh. [I was not familiar with the ship, and compared to a 150m long s.p.a.ceship, the a.s.sault cruiser was far smaller]. Could it be a new model?

“I don’t think I’ve seen that type of a ship before. Is it a new model?”

“As if they would be new; they’ve been around for at least 60 years. It’s a Scorpion-E mid-sized a.s.sault Cruiser.”

Sergeant Aroha laughed as she fiddled around with the Spider she received.

“Even this Spider is a bit more advanced than the version created 130 years ago. And while I can understand you being cool as a cuc.u.mber, Luise is unnervingly calm. She didn’t look the type to be so tough.”

Sergeant Aroha asked me after seeing Chief Luise next to me.

Isn’t that obvious? Although she did appear to be a weak, beautiful girl, she was the Chief of Staff! The s.p.a.ce Federation’s greatest mind who led and oversaw its every mission!

“Because Lezirth is by my side.”

Chief Luise smiled brightly.

Sergeant Aroha squealed and covered her face with both of her hands. She was really into it.

“Ohhh, look at her…. She’s so cute. B-But this isn’t good. Ensign Meihowa is my best friend, but Luise is my roommate. Hmm… whose side should I stick to?”

What was this girl saying? Don’t tell me even Sergeant Aroha went mad from the pressure of stepping onto the battlefield?

“Cut it out, Aroha. Just what are you saying?”

Wearing the Alter-Armour piloting suit and chewing the energy gel between her lips, the silver haired girl was approaching us.

Energy gel had a lot of benefits, such as fast absorption rate, rehydration and electrolyte supplements, so it was supplied as snacks in the military. The one Meihowa was eating was… the crab flavoured energy gel—as written on the package.

Hmm, her taste buds must be quite amazing. No, do those flavours even sell? Aren’t they more of a novelty?

“Ah, Platoon Leader Meihowa!”

Aroha smiled and looked at Meihowa, only to notice that the girl wasn’t wearing the bullet-proof vest or a groin guard. So Aroha shooed me away.

“Could you look the other way?”

“Ah… O-Of course.”

I could see Meihowa’s figure clearly, thanks to the tight suit that accentuated her curves. Usually it was hard to take notice because of her rough personality, but she was quite feminine.

Thinking that my gaze might trouble her, I looked away. However, Meihowa approached us because she had something to say to Chief Luise and I.

“You two… you both achieved cadet level results in the academic placement test, right? Why don’t we measure your Alter-Armour apt.i.tude?”

“Alter-Armour apt.i.tude?”

I ended up smirking. Chief Luise and I were both pilots of Kishin-Cla.s.s Alter-Armours. The ‘Dawnbringer’ of Lezirth Dawnbringer and ‘Tetragrammaton’ of Luise Maynard were the most famous Kishins of the s.p.a.ce Federation.

And yet she’s telling us that she wants to test our apt.i.tude…. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“If I am killed in action, which frees up my Alter-Armour, then someone else has to use it in my place. I am considering you two for that job.”

My smile wiped clean off my face. Why was this lady so determined?

But it was certainly something that should be considered as a leader. Sergeant Aroha interrupted us then.

“Usually, you’d have to be at least a Sergeant or Ensign to pilot an Alter-Armour. But if we register you to control the Alter-Armour after her death, you will be able to temporarily operate it. If you can’t, I can do it, and I will if your apt.i.tudes are lower than mine.”

I glanced at Chief Luise just in case.

“Should we agree to the apt.i.tude test?”

“Of course. We should abide by Platoon Leader Liu’s will.”

“Call me Meihowa. I don’t prefer… being called Liu.”

Saying that, Ensign Meihowa made a bitter expression. It should’ve been obvious to us that she wouldn’t like her father’s surname.

“Ah, yes, Platoon Leader Meihowa.”

We followed after Meihowa and headed to the Alter-Armour warehouse.

The Alter-Armour provided to Meihowa was a small ground-combat type, measuring 10 meters in height with a humanoid shape—fitted with two arms, two legs and a head.

However, this Alter-Armour’s essence was similar to a Letix. It’s inside was muscular, while a special protective layer covered its surface; somewhat like a crustacean.

The Federation equipped Alter-Armours of this type with weapons and armour, using them as standard weapons. Ensign Meihowa’s Alter-Armour was equipped with a giant coil rifle, Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas (EMP) pathway generator, Power Fist and a giant sword.

I could tell by its undecorated and plain black paintjob, that this was a young Alter-Armour. Since it belonged to an Ensign, it was obviously a Minion-cla.s.s; the lowest level machine.

Just for reference, Alter-Armours are ranked as such: Kishin > Dominion > Master > Senior > Major > Juvenile > Minor > Minion.

“It’s a Minion type, but it’s equipped similarly to Dawnbringer.”

Chief Luise commented on Meihowa’s Alter-Armour.

“This Alter-Armour… is sp.a.w.ned off from Dawnbringer, isn’t it?”

In other words, this Alter-Armour was like a child of Dawnbringer, since it was created by using Dawnbringer’s cells. Although it was incomparable to the real Dawnbringer, I felt pleased seeing a sp.a.w.nling of Dawnbringer.

“Then do you want to try the suit on?”

Sergeant Aroha brought the suits while smirking. However, I shook my head.

“Miss… Luise and I cannot ride the Alter-Armour while wearing the suits.”

“What are you saying?”

Kishin-Cla.s.s pilots possessed strength on a completely different level from other pilots. So, if we were to pilot a non-Kishin Cla.s.s Alter-Armour, we might overclock the machine and break it.

Especially for a Minion; the lowest cla.s.s. It wouldn’t be able to handle our power levels.

The apt.i.tude test machine shouldn’t go haywire, but we still had to be careful.

“We’ll just try the test. We just need to hold on to this, right?”

I placed my hand on the tester in front of the Alter-Armour. Then the graph displayed on the maintenance machine rose at an incredible speed and the machine restarted.

“Huh? That’s strange. Why did the machine restart?”

Meihowa wondered out loud at the unusual occurrence.

When the machine rebooted, Chief Luise grabbed it—only for the graph to shoot up and crash.

“So it’s an error. That’s strange, I’ve never seen something like this before.”

“Is it saying that their Greenie Level (is there such thing?!) is too high for them to pilot an Alter-Armour? Try it again after wearing the suit.”

Ensign Meihowa and Sergeant Aroha thought the maintenance machine was broken and demanded us to wear the suit and try it out for real.

However, Chief Luise and I refused. The moment we step into the newly created Alter-Armour with the suit, it would either die or go haywire.

The actual reason as to why the maintenance restarted was because the safety device sensed our power and restarted to stop something like that happening.

One could consider the Alter-Armour as the body, and its pilot as the brain. If the pilot was exerting too much energy into the body, then the body would naturally shut down.

This was why the maintenance equipment automatically shut itself down when it sensed levels it wouldn’t be able to handle.

However, if we were to reveal that fact, then that would be the same as revealing our ident.i.ties to the Federation as the real Lezirth Dawnbringer and Luise Maynard.

That would be problematic.

With us declared deceased by the Government, there is the possibility of us being purged yet again if we were to reveal our ident.i.ties. We had to somehow let this pa.s.s without causing a scene.

“There’s no need to go that far. And don’t worry about the back-up pilot, Ensign Meihowa. There wouldn’t be a need to choose a pilot as long as you don’t die, right?”

“Are you going against your leader’s orders? Well, I wonder what the problem was. People with high intellect or academics tend to score high results.”

Platoon Leader Meihowa played with her hair with her finger as she looked at the machine in wonder.

Geez, can’t you tell that we scored high? We scored so high, and that’s why the machine rebooted itself.

◊ ◊ ◊

The medium-sized a.s.sault Cruiser was not equipped with a hypers.p.a.ce travel engine. That was the case 120 years ago, and that didn’t seem to have changed. However, giga-sized destroyers seemed to have been equipped with hypers.p.a.ce travel engines starting from the year 184.

The world really has become a better place.

Anyhow, getting to the Azoran star system via medium sized a.s.sault Cruiser was impossible, so we were hitching a ride on the t.i.tanic Archimedes, which was headed to that system, and travel to Azoran-4, then to Azoran-3.

To sum it up, we were getting a lift to the battlefield by a carrier.

While we were on the t.i.tanic-sized, carrier-type s.p.a.ce ship, we weren’t allowed to leave our a.s.sault Cruiser while docked onto the Archimedes. Despite being a part of the Federation forces, we were not permitted to set foot inside the Archimedes ship.

So we were wasting our time in the tight a.s.sault Cruiser.

I was obviously bored. We had to stick with our roommates in the a.s.sault Cruiser, but Pencolt abandoned me, giggling, to play around with his other friends.

“Uh fu fu fu. I shall now go watch a war film with my friends.”

With those words, Pencolt left me and waited for his other friends on the docking deck, as if he wanted me to see.

Strangely enough, I envied him. Even someone like Pencolt actually had Replicant friends who shared the same hobbies he did.

d.a.m.n it, does that mean I’m less popular and have less of a future than him? No way! How could this happen?

After a while, a few Replicant soldiers came. Since they were all dressed in military uniform, they all looked the same and didn’t seem to be any different. However, they all let off an atmosphere similar to Pencolt’s, which couldn’t be masked by their uniforms.

“Yoo!”

Pencolt raised his hand and greeted them. However, they didn’t recognise who Pencolt was and walked past him.

For a moment, I shouted ‘I knew it!’ gleefully in my heart, but that made me feel even more sad about myself.

“Hey, it’s me! Pencolt Lim!” (Lim seems to be his family name)

Pencolt quickly extended his arm out to the group who just pa.s.sed him and grabbed their shoulders. The soldiers turned around in surprise.

“Huh? T-That voice.”

“Could it be Pencolt?”

They recognised Pencolt and had their socks blown off.

“N-No way!”

“We also went through the same training, you know? What happened to you?! Did you catch a fat burning illness or something?”

“Y-You lost so much weight!”

“Y-Y-You look completely different!”

The soldiers overreacted at the sight of Pencolt. Considering that Pencolt lost so much weight and looked a lot sharper than before, that reaction wasn’t very surprising. They must’ve thought that the instructors starved Pencolt, if he was that thin.

Just now, they didn’t recognise Pencolt because of his appearance, but they’re still his friends?

Argghh! To think that I don’t have as many friends as him!

“Then please do excuse me, my dear roommate, as I have a special viewing to attend! Protect the base, man! Ha ha ha!”

Pencolt waved his hand at me.

Hmm, I feel irked for some reason. Am I a stingy person if I feel the irresistible urge to punch him? Is that how it is? Is it?

I returned to my quarters and looked at the wall in a daze.

I get treated like a greenie by everyone, I don’t know anyone here, and I’m feeling ‘resentment’ at Pencolt’s ‘connections’. Sigh… this is the end for me.

Then, the door opened.

“M-May I come in, Lezirth?”

The brown haired girl, dressed in the bullet-proof vest and a helmet, stood before my door while twiddling her fingers. In this windowless interior, where all sides were simply welded together, her presence lit up the room.

“Ah, M-Miss… Luise.

“Please don’t use the Miss! I’ve asked you call me by my name.”

Chief Luise Maynard. The President of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Excluding the Minister of the Federation, she held the top position, with everyone under her lead 120 years ago! Not only that, she was the pilot of Tetragrammaton, as well as an Admiral, and she was giving me an order. I was obviously going to obey.

“Ah… yes. T-Then, Luise?”

“That’s right. You should have done so earlier.”

“It is not easy to change the way I have addressed you, for such a long time.”

“Then you need some practice. Keep calling me Luise.”

Chief Luise sat next to me as she said that. Since she walked in, the automatic door closed itself.

She and I sat facing each other in that tight place. I was supposed to say her name in a place like this?

“Pardon?”

I gulped. I became thirsty. I wonder why, I drank enough water already.

“Hurry.”

“Ah… yes…. Luise.”

“Yes. A bit more.”

“Luise?”

“Yes, one more time.”

“Luise…”

Every time I repeated her name, she enjoyed it. The way that she giggled was like a cat having its sides tickled.

After enjoying it like that, she stood up with a stony expression.

“Ah, this wasn’t what I came here to do…. There is something that concerns me.”

“Something that concerns you?”

“I find it strange that Archimedes is traveling to Azoran-4.”

I wasn’t sure where she was going with this, so I goggled my eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“Archimedes… is an anti-Letix s.p.a.ceship in this era. The Federation currently holds the Letix as the greatest threat, then the Asa, and finally, the Elcros. But it doesn’t make sense to send the weapon used to fight the greatest foes, to attack weak Elcros.”

“Maybe they are aiming for an intensive surprise attack?”

“But according to the information that I gathered, it would be more profitable for the Federation to stretch out the war against the Elcros. Rather than driving the Elcros to extinction or conquest, the Federation would make more money by leaving them just barely standing.”

“Then maybe it’s a routine rotation of battleships?”

“I suppose there is that possibility. Maybe it was unwise of me… to question every action they take.”

She clicked her tongue as she said that.

But she really was amazing. Despite being a recruit, she was able to come to those possible conclusions, with that limited amount of information. Even when our knowledge was almost useless in this world 120 years into the future.

“Ah, and I… started to hack into the Federation’s military computer.”

“What?”

The Federation’s military computer was a giant Quantum computer, that our terminal was able to access by hypers.p.a.ce communication.

The CPU was a huge Mother-Frame on the Epiece System.

And the terminals, owned by every soldier of the Federation military, accessed the Mother-Frame levels according to their rank and authority, to share information.

The computers of the olden civilization were built using its own CPU, but Quantum computers increase in functionality proportional to their size, so this method of relaying back to the Mother-Frame was much more effective with the correct communication method.

However, that meant that hacking into that military computer could cause horrendous implications. What she just declared was no different than saying, she will take all authority of the Federation with her own hands.

The issue is, for her, such a thing would actually be possible.

This was because she was the one who built the Federation’s military computer, Chief Luise Maynard. The system went through updates and firewall improvements over the past 120 years, of course.

So that was why she declared ‘I’m hacking into the computer’. 120 years ago,she would’ve said, ‘I’ve hacked into the computer’.

“So Lezirth, please don’t hold back and ask me any questions that may trouble you. And we must be careful. We don’t know what might happen in the Azoran system.”

“I see. And I will be fine. I will protect you, Admiral Luise.”

“You called me Admiral again, didn’t you.”

“Ah… L-Luise? Then please be informal with me as well, Luise. If you… Luise is formal with me, then it would be harder for me to….”

When I addressed her without any formalities, she smiled brightly.

“Yes, Lezirth. I’ll also protect you. With all of my strength.”

She took off her helmet and placed her forehead on top of mine. I was taken back and froze in surprise. I could feel her warmth through my forehead.

“Then please do your best, Lezirth.”

“Yes, Luise.”

Luise smiled gently, put on her helmet again, and left the sh.e.l.l.

When she left, I could finally calm down. The ‘resentment’ that has been boiling away inside me disappeared, and I felt like talking with her healed my heart.

When I should’ve been the one who heals her instead!

“Arghh!”

I suddenly felt a head splitting pain. It was an excruciating pain. It felt like my eyes were being gouged out from the inside of my skull. I could only close my eyes firmly, endure the eye-popping pressure, and wait for it to pa.s.s.

◊ ◊ ◊

It is an old memory of my childhood days.

Despite being born from the Letix Uberlord, I still had a childhood. Born in a laboratory and raised by the researchers there, I was simply named ‘Replicant Sample B’.

They were striving for and researching the completeness not found in the other weak clones, yet they told me that I wasn’t born by the wills of the researchers, but by the Letix Uberlord. They were not as cruel to me, compared to the others.

That was because there was a ‘Replicant Sample C’.

She was chosen as a control sample, like me.

C was far more obedient than I ever was, making it easier for them to gather data. But her powers were growing to dangerous levels. With a gla.s.s wall between us, I used to look at her all the time.

“I will save you.”

I promised so, in my boyish days. The girl only nodded her head. Her long hair swayed in the gla.s.s cylinder, filled to the brim with water, which resembled a lake.

I was only lying to the girl.

Because she freed herself from that place, while I was just barely developing my strength.

I… dreamt of the past of my childhood.

◊ ◊ ◊

It was a little over 7 hours since our departure from the Epiece system, when the Archimedes arrived in the Azoran system.

Azoran-4 often displayed sparks of light, which could be seen from distant s.p.a.ce. So it was quite clear that the Federation hasn’t quite taken the planet under its rule. However, with the arrival of Archimedes, and the overwhelming tide of the war, this planet would soon be under the Federation’s control.

Although I knew little about the Elcro race, thinking about Ensign Meihowa (she is now officially a commissioned officer, after being put on the front lines) pained my heart. If only I wasn’t purged, I could’ve prevented the war with the Elcros.

As I was deep in my thoughts, a siren started to wail inside the ship. Our medium-sized a.s.sault Cruiser was released from Archimedes, and started to set course for Azoran-3.

◊ ◊ ◊

“As you all know, our training will be held in a similar manner to the real battles. After landing on Azoran-3, Southern Sphere 35-120, we will install a beacon at a designated location after a tactical aim is set. Azoran-3 is habitable for humans, but our landing area is volcanic, so there is a possibility of toxic gas being present. Link up the oxygen tank to your helmets, and squad leaders, put on your Power-Armour according to your squad number. The details of the training are available on your terminals, so refer to that. We will now be organising the squads.”

They were inside the storage area where the Spider and Alter-Armour were kept—which happened to be the largest area available on the a.s.sault Cruiser. The Suicidal Platoon was listening to Ensign Meihowa’s mission briefing there.

As directed by Ensign Meihowa, the recruit squad leaders stepped out, and started to equip themselves with the Power-Armour. These Power-Armours were mechanical armour that measured 250cm in height when equipped. When a nuclear battery is attached, it fuels the motor within—bringing out tremendous strength, and it is pre-equipped with Movement Sensitive Body Bunker ,as well as Power Fist.

They acted as the crowd-control to protect their squad.

But before that, there were squad leaders amongst the recruits? How come I didn’t know?

“Ehmm… Lezirth. Sorry, but we’d like you to leave our squad.”

“We don’t want you in our squad either.”

“It would be really problematic if you join us.”

The three squad leaders who stepped out in front of us, refused to take me into their squads. I wasn’t the only one who was rejected, because Chief Luise, who joined later because of gravity adaptation therapy, and Pencolt were both rejected.

“H-Hold on a minute! Now this isn’t fair, isn’t it? We are all comrades in this platoon! Does it even make sense to split up the squads depending on personal preference? We’re not trying to split ourselves up into the red and blue teams, right!”

I voiced my arguments out loud, but I only realised how sad that was as I listened to myself.

To think that I would be treated as an unstable bomb, that could go off at any time, when I used to be hailed as the Hero of the Federation, the saviour of thousands of people, just weeks ago! I became sorrowful about myself for even complaining like this.

It was then when Sergeant Aroha patted my back.

“There, there, did our little Lezirth get bullied?”

“…….”

“You, Luise and Pencolt will be acting as the guards for the Spider. So you’ll be working with me. Got it?”

“*Cough* O-OK.”

I could feel the warm generosity of the Platoon Leader and the Platoon Sergeant. And because of that, I couldn’t help but feel even more sorry about myself.

To think… that I would be a soldier that needs special attention!

I’m doomed. I’m so ashamed. This pitch black stain on the legend of Vice Admiral Lezirth Dawnbringer’s life! I was lost for words because of the shame.

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