Dawnbringer: The Story of the Machine God

Chapter 8

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My mind was disturbed.

Vice Admiral Lezirth Dawnbringer of the 1st s.p.a.ce Marines, Commander of Dawn Corps; the pillar that will uphold the future of the Federation.

There was a time when I was called that, but it wasn’t now.

…

No, no, what am I thinking!

I should still be called that!

I am the one who shoulders the futures of the government and humanity, and the future of the galaxy to some extent!

However, I am currently an ordinary soldier and my life was on the line because of the Federation’s cruelty.

But what am I doing?

Where am I? Who am I?

“Here comes the ball!”

Suddenly, a multi-colored beach ball flew towards me. I hit the ball away with my hand. Waves splashed against my chest.

“Good job, Lezirth!”

Sergeant Aroha laughed and received the beach ball. Wearing a high-leg, reddish-brown bikini that matched her ardent red hair, her voluptuous b.r.e.a.s.t.s wobbled every time she moved.

They were a threatening pair. And the bikini that was supporting those b.r.e.a.s.t.s was a testimony to the finest synthetic fibre that the Federation had to offer.

But of course, it would be nice if those strings just snapped.

No, that was a mistake. I did not mean that at all. Everyone just skip a line!

When the beach ball fell onto the water, Admiral Luise swam after it and picked it up. In Admiral Luise’s case, she wore a 3-piece swimsuit as well as a T-shirt because she felt embarra.s.sed. As she swam towards the ball, the sight of her white legs, her hips and the pink swimsuit bottoms entered my sight.

I wonder why women felt less embarra.s.sed about wearing swimsuit bottoms rather than underwear, when there wasn’t much of a difference in the area covered by the two.

Maybe they don’t feel as embarra.s.sed because they don’t consider swimsuits as underwear!?

Those meaningless thoughts ran through my head. Durr… what am I even doing?

“Hyah!”

When Admiral Luise threw the ball, Ensign Meihowa caught it this time. She leaped out from the water like a ballerina or an acrobat, and caught the ball.

Although she was slightly smaller than Aroha, her firm b.r.e.a.s.t.s and healthy glow were eye-catching. The tri-coloured racing swimsuit, coloured black, navy and white, matched her wings nicely.

But what am I doing right now?

◊ ◊ ◊

So, Azoran-3 was hot.

And the place where we were located happened to be the area with the most abundant sunlight.

Why did we land in this area, you ask?

That was because we had to land and train in the area near the equator in order to use the planet’s rotation to get the extra boost when leaving this planet.

However, the hot mangrove jungle of Azoran-3 caused us to sweat 2 litres every hour, despite the occasional downpour.

And as we drank more and more water to rehydrate ourselves, we were suffering from the lack of appet.i.te and indigestion.

We originally spent our time shivering in fear inside the quarters. The USVs flew over our heads and many warp gates started to appear, adding to our fear.

The Elcro-Asa-Replicant Alliance returned Azoran-3 to the Elcros and began to reclaim the Azoran system as their own again. Elcros returned to Azoran-3 and began to rework their toils and reconstruct their destroyed cities.

Warp gates were an intergalactic transportation technique used by the Elcro. Hence, the appearance of warp gates signalled the arrival of Elcros on this planet.

And so, we were even more driven by the fear.

◊ ◊ ◊

A day pa.s.sed like that.

Admiral Luise instantly understood the movement patterns of those surveillance vehicles. She a.n.a.lysed the movement patterns of the surveillance vehicles as well as the time frame for a rotation, so we only had to be on our guards during some periods of time.

But even then we all stayed in our quarters and did not bother going outside.

◊ ◊ ◊

And another day pa.s.sed.

We expanded our safety net, securing a larger safe area, and we also returned to the site where the Bravo squad was attacked and recovered some extra goods and equipment. One of the goods recovered was a box that contained some necessities for survival, but not for military use.

We do not know how long this situation will continue for. So we carefully recovered a large amount of goods without being caught by the surveillance vehicles.

The box was taken to the officers’ quarters and opened there so that the other soldiers wouldn’t see the contents. If there were food supplies or important goods inside, a fight might break out amongst the men.

Soldiers fought over anything and everything when they were driven to their limits. The last thing we wanted was exactly that, so it was safer to leave the box in the hands of the officers.

“The box has been damaged from the impact during the landing, Lezirth. Open it for me.”

I left the box in the officers’ quarters for the reason I just explained above, yet Sergeant Aroha still called me into the officers’ quarters. Well, I suppose that just shows how much she trusts me.

Although I was labelled a greenie during the training, I was the one who led the soldiers and set up the quarters when things quickly turned serious. Thanks to that, the way the soldiers treated me was completely different now.

“Well, she could always melt it open with the welding function on the Colion Rifles…”

I walked into the officers’ quarters while muttering, but feeling somewhat happy at the same time. And I picked up the damaged box with my hands.

—Crack.

The metal box broke and cracked open.

Toothpaste, sunscreen, towels, underwear and various other necessities spilled out from the box. Swimsuits and beach b.a.l.l.s also came out.

Why are those there when this is a military necessities box?

“Ah! No way! No, no. Could this be…?”

I showed the swimsuits to Sergeant Aroha with a look of disbelief. She looked at the swimsuits with great interest.

“Hmm? They seem to be brand new. Look, they still have the tags attached to them.”

“Ah, this must be a personal box. I thought something was strange. I thought the military started to put swimsuits in the necessities boxes now. There’s no way these can be for military use.”

“But this is great. Why don’t we try these on since it’s hot outside?”

“Ehhh? Wait, what?”

I couldn’t believe my ears and I looked at her.

Sergeant Aroha started to strip down her uniform slowly before my eyes….

“Whoa! W-What are you doing? Are you out of your mind, Sergeant! We’re stuck in the middle of a war situation here, you know! We have to be prepared for a fight at all times!”

“But we’ll be weakened mentally if we continue to be on the edge. And it’s so hot and stressful.”

“That’s why I set up the cooler.”

“But it’s too boring to stay inside the tents all the time.”

Get over it!

At that moment, Ensign Meihowa and Admiral Luise walked in.

“What’s with the box?”

“Ah, this is…”

When I explained about the box, Admiral Luise peeked at the box and the contents.

“Good.”

Even Ensign Meihowa agreed with Sergeant Aroha. Huh? What did I just hear? I seriously suspected my ears for a moment. What’s so good about it?

◊ ◊ ◊

All of the soldiers cheered.

They were already bored to tears with card games, gambling and simple computer games and they all cheered at the sudden discovery of water-play goods. Not only that, the current situation with the quarters has been continuously improving.

We knew about the enemy’s surveillance vehicle movement patterns. And after making an automatic motion sensor out of mechanical parts scavenged from some vehicles, we could afford to have less people rostered as guards. The purified water tank was at a satisfactory volume and the quarters were air-conditioned well. The only thing missing was suitable recreation to pa.s.s the time.

“Even if we’re in a stalemate, we should maintain our physical and mental health in a good state. We will be playing in the water while standing on guard by a roster.”

Ensign Meihowa gave out her orders while wearing the one-piece racing swimsuit and a pair of sungla.s.ses.

The male soldiers cheered, seeing the long legs, the slim waist line and the curves of her chest.

And the female soldiers glared at them.

“Whew~ it’s so hot. I’m going to get burned even if I stay under the shadow at this rate.”

Sergeant Aroha, dressed in a bikini, walked out behind the Ensign. She was… well, even I couldn’t stop myself looking at her. Hmm, how should I say this?

The bikini was reddish--brown in colour, with an almost leather-like feel. The lower part of the bikini set was a high-leg type that made a sharp V shape on her hips, and the bra part was… a wire-free type.

Will that be okay? What if it just falls apart while she’s moving?

“Now then, everyone into the water!”

When Ensign Meihowa gave her order, soldiers jumped into the water at the same time.

“Uuu.”

A while after the soldiers jumped into the water, Admiral Luise poked her head out from the officers’ quarters. The way she held her head out from the entrance, while hiding the rest of her body was… insanely cute.

“L-Lezirth?”

“Yes?”

“Ah! Umm, well… what should I say. I-I’m just a bit embarra.s.sed.”

“R-Really? I-I think you look fine.”

I scratched my cheek while looking in a different direction.

Admiral Luise slowly waddled out… like a child slowly approaching a hot bath, and she slowly extended her foot outside. I nearly stopped breathing the instant I saw her white legs reveal themselves from the quarters.

Admiral Luise turned her head shyly after stepping out. She wore a 3-piece swimsuit: a pink bikini set underneath a sky-blue skirt.

Her chest size was indeed humble compared to Ensign Meihowa or Sergeant Aroha, but she was also definitely cute. And the way she had her face shyly facing a different direction… also made me blush.

“I-It doesn’t look strange?”

“N-No, you look pretty.”

“R-Really? You’re not lying? But I’m, well… a bit lacking in my chest… hmm.”

Admiral Luise muttered under her breath and began to wear a white t-shirt over the top. I tried to stop her in surprise.

“Eh, why are you doing that? You look nice.”

“I-It’s fine if only Lezirth sees me! It’s too embarra.s.sing to let the others see.”

“I-Is that so?”

Although I did not know what she meant… it didn’t feel that bad. Yes, I saw her and that’s good enough for me.

We awkwardly stood in silence and looked elsewhere. Although we weren’t looking at each other… I could hear her breathing.

I could hear some insects and other animals from a distance in the jungle. I felt like we would continue to stand like this while listening to those cries.

“Um… Lezirth?”

Something touched my arm. Startled, I looked to see Admiral Luise carefully grabbing my arm with her hand.

But then, something happened. Sergeant Aroha wolf-whistled and began to approach us.

“Our cute Greenie! Won’t you rub some sunscreen on me?”

“Huh? No, w-why ask me to do that?”

“I’ve always wanted to s.e.xually hara.s.s a co-worker! Come on, hurry up!”

“Eh?”

I was unwillingly dragged away by Sergeant Aroha. Suddenly, I heard someone kicking something behind me. I turned around and saw Admiral Luise with a grumpy expression.

“I see, I have to take care of those thieving cats… Fufufu.”

Admiral Luise started laughing by herself. Will this be okay?

◊ ◊ ◊

“Now then, our Greenie! This way!”

Sergeant Aroha unhooked the bra part of her bikini (it was a front-hook type), laid down on top of a sheet and revealed her back to me. I could only let out a sigh.

“Couldn’t you do this with some other girls?”

“Ensign Meihowa is half-Elcro, so she doesn’t need sunscreen on her back.”

“Ah, because of those wings?”

An Elcro’s wings produced some photons and electromagnetic pulses. Highly trained Elcros could use them as Solar Sails and fly by redirecting solar flares.

But of course, that was only possible because Elcros were able to control the photons and EMP beyond the surface of their wings. They could use the same technique to block off all radiation from reaching their body.

“But wait, I nearly got tricked. You can still ask her to rub the sunscreen on you, can’t you? That’s got nothing to do with it.”

Surely the Ensign would still rub it on her even if she doesn’t need it for herself. They did seem to be close anyway.

As I logically thought about the issue at hand, Sergeant Aroha formed a circle shape with her lips playfully.

“Come on, I’ll also rub it on you when you’re done, Lezirth.”

“……”

That offer just now was… very attractive. It was indeed, but my skin felt extremely p.r.i.c.kly. It wasn’t because of the sun, but because of the other males’ sharp glares.

“d.a.m.n it! Why is it always that Greenie!”

“No, we can’t call him Greenie now!”

“I can’t accept this!”

All those males were glaring at me from the water. They reminded me of those water ghouls who hated the people on land.

Sigh.

I sighed and squeezed out some sunscreen onto my hands.

“I’ll do it as fast as I can.”

I slowly brought my hands onto her back.

Hmm, this feeling is...

Whoa! What is this!

Sergeant Aroha appeared to be quite muscular, but on the contrary, she was quite soft. It was like I was touching a bouncy, but firm, rubber ball. My hand sank slightly into her back, but it was firm and felt pleasant to touch.

And her skin was so soft! The way my hand spread the sunscreen on her back felt unbelievably good.

Can a human hand feel this much pleasure?!

Why was my breath becoming coa.r.s.e?

I couldn’t handle it and took my hands off. The soldiers were glaring daggers at me, but this should be fine, right?

I used my psychokinesis to thinly apply the rest of the sunscreen and literally layered a coat of sunscreen on her in one go. My hand felt so good… but I feel like I would die at this rate, so I should end it here.

“Whoa, what was that?”

“What do you mean, what? It’s just sunscreen. There, I’m done.”

“Tsk. What a bore. And I was just about to feel good.”

Sergeant Aroha grumbled and hooked her bra back on while still lying down.

I tried my hardest not to look… but my eyes couldn’t help but to drift towards her. However, she skillfully fixed herself up and stood up.

“Now, you lay down here, dear customer. Now it’s my turn, isn’t it?”

“What? What did you say?”

Holding the sunscreen tube between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the Sergeant looked down at me and smiled.

Whoa! W-What? What’s going to happen!?

“Now, now! Don’t chicken out.”

Sergeant Aroha smiled widely and dumped me on the sheet she was just lying on.

“Kugh!”

“Dayum!”

“What’s with this discrimination?!”

I could hear the male soldiers growling from everywhere.

“Sergeant Aroha! My back is itchy!”

“Please rub sunscreen on me as well!”

Sergeant Aroha turned around and looked at them with an indifferent expression and pointed at the sunscreen box next to her.

“Just rub it on with each other.”

“No! T-That’s!”

Hmm, she wasn’t wrong on a logical level. Everyone clicked their tongues and retreated while sighing.

Hey guys? Didn’t you say that your back was itchy?

“Now then Lezirth, are you prepared?”

Sergeant Aroha was coming closer to me, bit by bit. Ah… so scary! I was scared, but at the same time, I was unable to get up.

Is this what a frog feels like when petrified by a snake? I see! This must be what they call a fear of predators!

As I thought about those things,

—Splat!

Sunscreen was applied on my back instantly. It was applied by psychokinesis though. Who could it be?

“Ah, you’re here, Luise.”

“Hmph! Why don’t you let Lezirth go? Can’t you see he dislikes it?”

“Ah, L-Lezirth, did you dislike it?”

Sergeant Aroha asked with a sorrowful expression. I knew she was just kidding, but… I can’t say I disliked it, because that would be lying. Yes, I was actually looking forward to it, I apologize.

But Admiral Luise’s glare was too painful for me to confess that! What a dilemma! What should I do?

“Um, no, you see… I-I would like to call a friend!”

This question was too difficult for me to answer by myself!

However, Admiral Luise shook her head.

“Fufufu, call a friend you say? Do you really think you will be given that chance for every situation in life?”

T-Terrifying!

Have I ever seen Admiral Luise this angry before?

However, Sergeant Aroha didn’t appear to be affected at all, because she started to rub her cheeks against the angry Admiral Luise.

“Awww! Our cute Luise! You’re so adorable!”

“Let go of me.”

“Come on, don’t be like that…”

There was an uneasy mental war going on between Sergeant Aroha and Admiral Luise. Hmm, nothing happened physically, but I feel like I can make out a plasma storm between the two. It’s tactical retreat time for me.

I tip-toed away from the two and quietly dove into the water near a mangrove tree’s roots, without being noticed.

◊ ◊ ◊

“Whew!”

Wearing a snorkel on her head, Ensign Meihowa resurfaced from the water. She turned to look at me while smiling.

“It is so much fun under the water. There are so many species of aquatic life, I wonder if it’s because this is a planet abundant in nature.”

“Hmm, really?”

I cheered up seeing her smile. Actually, now was not the time to be smiling giddily like this, since we were stuck in the middle of a battlefield.

However, people were not accustomed to being on the edge for extended periods of time. So it was refreshing to take a break like this rather than go mad from being on the edge. Even I felt happy for no reason.

“But to think you could set up the quarters that quickly. I’m impressed, Greenie. You have earned my respect.”

“Then I wonder when that ‘Greenie’ nickname will wear off.”

“Fufufu, so you were concerned about it after all?”

“How could I not, Ensign?”

I sighed and turned around. Then Ensign Meihowa started to panic.

“Are you angry? S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to get you angry.”

“No, I’m not angry, but…”

“Hmm, calling you a Greenie has become a bit of a habit for me. Sorry. But I’m… actually very grateful towards you.”

“No, like I said, I’m not angry, but rather…”

I wasn’t angry, I was actually checking her out sneakily by looking at her reflection on the water. I could see her approaching me, blushing slightly and looking slightly concerned. Heh heh, maybe I should surprise her when she gets a little bit closer.

As I harboured those thoughts, she pushed my back out of the blue.

Whoa! The h.e.l.l?

I jumped around in surprise and saw her a fair distance away from me, because of the rebound. She had her back turned to me, pretending not to notice and she was bright red around her ears.

And why was there a beach ball causing ripples between us? You’re telling me she was that far away after pushing me away from that? It’s not like it’s a grenade, right?

“Hi~! Could you guys pa.s.s the ball to us?”

Sergeant Aroha smiled brightly and waved to us as she walked across a bridge that was made from entangled mangrove-roots. Admiral Luise was following closely after her but... huh? She appeared to be in a better mood now.

I wonder what kind of magic Sergeant Aroha performed.

“I-It’s not like I was playing around with Lezirth!”

“Yes, yes, we understand. So let’s play together now.”

Sergeant Aroha smiled from ear to ear as she walked into the water. I could hear some male soldiers complaining somewhere.

Those soldiers also suggested to Ensign Meihowa to play with them, but she shot them down, saying she wanted to study the ecology, and kept on diving. They were all worn out from all that diving, since it was difficult for humans to dive for extended periods of time, without proper diving equipment.

“It seems like the soldiers are all worn out from trying to keep up with you, Ensign.”

“Really? I didn’t notice.”

“You really have the stamina, don’t you. How many men did you leave gasping for breath, Ensign?”

“... Why you!”

Ensign Meihowa blushed after hearing Sergeant Aroha. She raised her voice and threw the beach ball, but instead of hitting Sergeant Aroha it hit me on the head, and then rebounded towards Admiral Luise.

“What are you doing, Ensign!”

“I-I just…”

“Why did you hit Lezirth!?”

Admiral Luise became angry in my place and jumped into the water with the beach ball in her hand.

And we began to throw the ball at each other…

Oh yes, so that’s how we’re in this situation.

Hmm.

It was enjoyable.

◊ ◊ ◊

I headed towards the water tank after leaving the water. The water tank, or the practice sh.e.l.l to be exact, was also being used for the showers by attaching a pump and a water pipe to it. We had to shower frequently because of the mineral-rich water and the heat that made us sweat 2 litres an hour.

Pencolt and Charlie Squad male members shot daggers at me as they came out of the showers. They could really kill with their glares alone.

I thought we reconciled? Why were they like that?

“You traitor!”

Pencolt yelled at me as soon as he saw me. Huh? What did I do?

The Charlie squad leader wordlessly grabbed a deck of cards and began to play with his mates. They did not go diving with Ensign Meihowa and retired to their quarters early on and were busying themselves with gambling.

Someone of them were watching TV via the military computer. Although the Ensign was able to block off the military hypers.p.a.ce channels, she was not able to restrict them on viewing commercial hypers.p.a.ce TV channels.

The news channel was heavily focusing on the events of the Azoran system. And to my surprise, they were broadcasting about the fact that there were survivors in the Azoran system.

The thought of the enemy using the information to track us down crossed my mind, but that was quickly proved to be wrong.

“The Elcro-Asa-Replicant Alliance is currently holding the soldiers and the miners stationed on Azoran-3 hostage.”

Visuals switched to the Federation soldiers and miners from the 1st and 2nd Mine bases being locked up inside cells. Surprisingly, I caught a glimpse of Commander Donna’s face. The one who recorded the video seemed to be a soldier from the Alliance.

[These Federation hostages will only be set free when the Azoran Solar System is liberated and the entire Federation force withdraws from the system, as well as the freedom of 2000 political prisoners.]

The Federation never agreed to hostage exchanges. This was a tradition that traced back to the days of the old Earth governments. The only solution to hostages was to rescue them.

“There’s no mention of us.”

“Well isn’t that because the enemy will try to look for us if they become aware of our existence?”

Some soldiers muttered that among themselves while watching the broadcast.

Yes, that was obvious. However, I felt a sense of unease building inside me while watching the news.

◊ ◊ ◊

“Lezirth.”

I heard Sergeant Aroha calling me. When I exited the cool, air-conditioned quarters, a blast of hot air embraced me.

However, I couldn’t feel the heat’s intensity all that much. That was because Sergeant Aroha was beckoning me with only a single towel covering her body.

“Come this way.”

“No, but I…”

“Quick! I’m embarra.s.sed as well.”

She lowered her head. Although I couldn’t see her expression very well, I could tell her pointy ears were blushing. Eh… what could she want?

“Ah, OK. I don’t know what you want though.”

I, Lezirth Dawnbringer, the Commander of Dawn Corps, cannot allow a lady to be embarra.s.sed.

I followed Sergeant Aroha as she led me to the officers’ quarters.

I walked into the makeshift quarters tent first, but there wasn’t anyone inside. There were just 3 camping beds set up. The tent itself was the same size as the soldiers’ tents, so it felt s.p.a.cious compared to ours, due of the lack of beds.

“Hmm, no-one’s inside?”

“Lezirth, could you sit down on the bed first?”

“Eh?”

I turned around in surprise. Sergeant Aroha came closer to me while blushing. She was so close that her chest was touching mine. I could feel her tender b.r.e.a.s.t.s behind that single towel layer.

“N-No… that’s!”

I backed away from her in panic and tumbled onto the bed, after tripping over the bed legs. Then she slowly approached me and lifted away the hand that was holding the towel in place.

“I don’t do this to anyone, even if I have Asa blood running through me. Trust me on that at least.”

“No wait! Sergeant! S-Stop it! If you do something that cannot be undone…”

But it was too late. As soon as her hand let go of the towel, it slid off her slender body and dropped onto the floor.

And underneath was the reddish-brown bikini swimsuit that she was wearing before.

‘d.a.m.n it!’

Huh? N-No, that was just out of reflex. I wasn’t disappointed or anything.

Sergeant Aroha sneakily smiled and came closer.

“Pfft. Hahaha, sorry. Were you expecting something?”

“…”

I wore an exasperated expression. This woman, d.a.m.n it. Shouldn’t I sue her for s.e.xual hara.s.sment or something?

As I thought about those possibilities, the tent door opened and Admiral Luise and Ensign Meihowa walked in, flushed bright red. They cleared their throats and pretended to look elsewhere.

The two girls took out a note each and handed it to Sergeant Aroha.

“What! Luise! I believed in you! Were you betting on me?!”

“Ah, s-sorry Lezirth. I was caught up in the moment. I’m sorry.”

Admiral Luise’s face was as red as a well ripened tomato. The sight of the brown-haired girl being embarra.s.sed and apologizing sincerely was so cute.

And she was still dressed in the same 3-piece swimsuit that she wore before. Every time she moved, water droplets ran down her thighs and dropped onto the floor.

However, that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t get angry just because she was cute. d.a.m.n it… you let me down, Admiral Luise. I trusted you!

Sergeant Aroha laughed and sneakily brought her face closer to mine and whispered into my ear.

“Sorry Lezirth, but we weren’t doing it out of fun. We just did this so that we could fix a little argument they had before.”

“Eh?”

“And since there are people watching us… we’ll do it next time when we’re by ourselves… okay?”

Saying that, she snickered and distanced herself.

d.a.m.n it! They’re making a fool out of me! T-That was how I should be reacting, but I was grinning from ear to ear. Curses! This woman was too skilled at playing with other people!

“Gee, you’re so cute, Lezirth. Heh heh.”

And she winked at me.

Although I did not understand the whole situation, it sounded like I was teased to resolve a little argument that Ensign Meihowa and Admiral Luise had.

‘As if something like that is okay!’

I was angry that they had an argument! No, I should be angry, but…. Ha… haa. My heart was beating furiously. What did this woman just do to me?

“Hmm. S-Sorry about that, Lezirth. It was our fault.”

Ensign Meihowa spoke with her arms crossed and without even facing me. Pulling off the tri-coloured racing swimsuit well with her model-like proportions… her chest looked a lot larger when she had her arms crossed like that.

Although she wasn’t usually as large as Aroha, when she had her arms crossed like that… hmm, I’m worried the swimsuit might burst.

Ah… I should be telling them off, but I couldn’t help but to notice them. Ensign Meihowa’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s and her smooth legs… and that zone where her two legs met, slightly covered by the swimsuit….

It’s somewhere that would be impossible to see in a normal situation, but I could look as much as I wanted because she was averting my gaze.

No, what do I mean, ‘look as much as I want’? Come on! You mustn’t fall to the dark side, Lezirth Dawnbringer! I straightened up myself.

After continuously averting my gaze, Ensign Meihowa bowed her head in surrender. With a teary-eyed expression, she held my hand with both of her hands.

“Sorry… I’m really sorry. Apprentice Lezirth, can you accept my apology?”

“Are you sincerely sorry?”

I glanced at Ensign Meihowa and she nodded her head.

“Of course!”

“Then I will forgive you, on a condition!”

“Huh? W-What is it?”

“Can I touch your wings for a bit?”

“Eh?”

Those wings have been bothering me for a while—what do they do when she sleeps? If they were anything like bird wings, then they might fracture easily, but that doesn’t seem to happen. And she sat down fine on chairs and rested on her back seemingly without any discomfort. I wanted to know how they functioned.

So that was why I asked, but Ensign Meihowa was being so embarra.s.sed.

“Ah… t-that’s a bit…”

“Eh? Is that how it is? I see. So you’re sorry, but not sorry enough to let me do that? Then again, I suppose it would be rude for an Apprentice to talk like this to the almighty Ensign, right?”

She looked like she was about to burst into tears, but she must’ve worked up her resolve, because she bit down on her lower lip.

“Whew! It can’t be helped. Fine, you may touch them. But! Not just now.”

Did she hate it that much? Or maybe she didn’t like people seeing them? But that won’t stop me from still touching them because I was angry. I will touch them even if she begs me not to! I’m going to fully study every nook and corners of your Elcro wings! Keh heh heh, uhahahahahahaha!

I laughed like an evil villain inside my heart.

“Hmm, anyhow, the reason why I called you here is not to tease you.”

Admiral Luise turned on the terminal on the computer. A hologram visual popped up.

“We have not relayed this order to the soldiers just yet thanks to Ensign Meihowa’s a.s.sistance.”

“Oh, finally.”

“But the order is a bit…”

Smartly dressed in a green suit, a middle-aged Mongolian Earthling, whose hair was greying here and there, was sitting down at a table. A star on both sides of his shoulder indicated his rank as a Commodore.

He was a low-ranking junior compared to a three-stared Vice-Admiral like myself, but the one giving the order was surprisingly high considering that we were only an incomplete platoon at the moment. What was going on?

[My name is Commodore Dae-Sik Park of the 2nd s.p.a.ce Marines, Commander of the Ursa Major Brigade.]

Although the Ursa Major Brigade did not exist while I was an officer, I could guess what kind of brigade it was.

One of the 8 Kishins of the Federation: Ursa Major.

This man must be the pilot of the Ursa Major, also nicknamed the Emperor.

Hmm, Ursa Major the Violet Emperor, huh. The Ursa Major certainly could put up a good fight against Diablo the Black Tyrant, or even beat him.

Even if the Alliance had the Kishin Diablo, the Federation also had Kishin-cla.s.s Alter-Armours as well as experienced pilots. Hence, that gave the Federation the upper hand when a fight between two Kishin-cla.s.s Alter-Armours broke out.

Also, the Ursa Major was a mid-ranged Alter-Armour, so it held the advantage over the close-ranged Diablo. The Federation had the upper hand in all aspects.

‘But that’s a.s.suming the Tetragrammaton does not interfere. But victory should be certain if a Kishin-based brigade enters the fight.’

Although I did not know how capable the pilots for Diablo and Ursa Major are, this a.s.sumption is still correct even if the Diablo pilot was slightly stronger. As long as the Tetragrammaton does not launch an attack as soon as the Ursa Major Brigade enters the Azoran system, the victory was certain.

Then suddenly, Commodore Dae-Sik Park smiled—a sinister one at that. Although I didn’t notice because he was wearing a poker face till now, his smile instantly made him look like a villain from some action movie.

He spoke while stroking his beard.

[I understand that the Kishin Diablo is currently on Azoran-3. But you see, my daughter became a heroine in her school play. So I cannot possibly take the Ursa Major there, so I will be sending 4 Master-Cla.s.s Alter-Armours accompanied by the Air Force and the Navy.]

Eh? What did he just say?

I thought I was watching some comedy movie for a moment. He just gave out his orders based around his personal life, and he calls himself a Commodore? Are you kidding me?

[And the ones we must rescue are the Federation soldiers and the miners being held hostage at the mining base. You will stay hidden on Azoran-3 and distract the enemy on foot, nine hours from now: at 1200 Standard Federation Time. The meeting point and the mission details will be available on your military computer terminals.]

“…”

I could feel my anger raging inside me. This was another suicidal mission! The same thing happened with Commander Donna before, but how can a Commodore give a mission like this. Ordering an injured platoon to suicidally distract the enemy in an Alter-Armour infested area.

But wait, we’re not even the ones being rescued? He’s ordering us to distract the enemy for the others to escape?

“d.a.m.n it! How is someone like him a Commodore! People are risking their lives here, and what did he say? His daughter’s school play is more important? How rotten is the Federation if someone as brainless as him is a Commodore? And he’s not even going to bring the Kishin here when he knows the enemy has one!”

Sure, Master-cla.s.s Alter-Armours were powerful, but they were two ranks below a Kishin-cla.s.s. Victory against the Diablo even with four of them was uncertain.

“The problem is, this is a formal order.”

Ensign Meihowa spoke with a depressed expression.

Wait, so this b.a.s.t.a.r.d just gave the orders while talking about his daughter’s play as a formal order?

“The Federation has really lowered their standards.”

“Yes, I agree.”

Admiral Luise agreed to my remark.

“And I found this out by hacking, but… the Tetragrammaton started moving again about an hour ago. It seems like it attacked the Oden Solar System with the Punishing Wail, but the damage was not as severe as the last time.”

50 hours had pa.s.sed since the last attack by the Tetragrammaton.

Tetragrammaton’s Punishing Wail attack was a powerful one, but that power itself came at a great cost of cooldown time.

Admiral Luise needed 36 hours between each Punishing Wail.

Then we can a.s.sume that the enemy pilot required 50 hours of recharging to use the attack again, because they could not possibly have a pilot as great as Admiral Luise.

“But I did not realize how severe the issue was. The Federation has really decided to kill us. Do they hate us Replicants this much?”

Admiral Luise wore a worried expression. However, Sergeant Aroha shook her head.

“No, it’s not just Replicants. They hate anyone with even a drop of Asa or Elcro blood. Oh, what a tragedy~ our platoon has only those types of people?! Ah, what a coincidence! d.a.m.n it!”

And Sergeant Aroha tried in vain to lift up our moods with those sarcastic remarks.

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