— Saturday, February 18, AD 2130 —

“…Ngh… *cough* *cough* …ugh… fuck…!”

With a pained grunt, Kate squinted and fluttered her eyes, which were teared up from the smoke that filled the air all around her. She coughed again, her throat raw, before attempting to wave her arm through the air right in front of her. Though she couldn’t see, the giant mech that had been pinning her down earlier was now clearly not on top of her — in its place was heaps of metal debris.

“Ugh… ack—!” Kate grunted with exertion as she attempted to sit up, only to wince as a sharp pain ran up her side. “Fuck… my shields actually went out…?” she muttered, only to scowl and fabricate a small shape charge on top of her chest, pointed upwards. Even without shields, even while injured, she knew that her body was durable enough to withstand smaller explosions; a moment later, she detonated the explosive, blowing open the heap of metal that trapped her against the ground.

Now free, she climbed back to her feet, ignoring the pounding pain that she felt in her head. Instead, she looked around; smoke surrounded her, but was lit well enough for her to tell that she was standing in sunlight — the building that housed the bombardment shield generator had clearly collapsed.

Suddenly, a loud static-y echo resounded through the air, followed immediately by the sound of wrenching metal. Quickly, Kate began jogging in the direction of the sound, coughing and waving her hand in front of her the whole way. Amidst the slowly clearing smoke and her approaching the source of the noise, she began to hear voices.

“Ugh… Jesus Christ… y’all actually fuckin’ did it?!”

“I can hardly believe it, either… but it looks like we’re both alive. So, I’m sorry to say, I’ll have to bring you in.”

“Fuckin’ hell…”

“Mark and EA…” Kate muttered to herself, just as she finally stumbled upon the mangled wreckage that remained of EA’s Rail Wolf, evidently slashed and crushed by Mark. As she began making her way around to the cockpit, she raised her voice to shout to the others, “ha, see, Mark? I fucking told you it’d work!”

“You can’t be serious…” EA turned to glare her way as she approached out of the smoke, finding that Mark was pinning EA to the ground. “What kind of stupid fucking plan was this?!”

“One that defeated your stupid mech, that’s what!” Kate retorted triumphantly, only to wince as pain shot through the side of her chest.

On seeing her wince, EA snorted. “You fuckin’ dumbass,” he snarled. “Did it never occur to you that if the bombardment was strong enough to defeat the shields of my mech, then it would also defeat your own shields?!”

“Bah, we’re fine,” Kate insisted, her eyes momentarily darting to the side as Danielle approached, fully unscathed. “See? We’re the Eximius Vir, bitch! We can take it!”

“Tch. And what about CSF-1, huh?”

“They’ll be fine. The fucking orbital bombardment targeted specific points around the base; CSF-1 would’ve known to avoid those points, so they wouldn’t have suffered the brunt of the blast. They weren’t in constant fucking combat like we were, anyways, so their shields wouldn’t be low, like ours were.”

“Can you really be sure of that?!”

“He has a point, Kate,” Mark said, passing her a wary look. “I really don’t think that this was a good plan, after all…”

“No fucking shit!” EA retorted. “After all, I fucking told you that I was studying the metallic infection, here! Hell, Athena told y’all right when you arrived! And still, you do this idiotic bullshit! Fucking really, blowing the entire base to smithereens? You know that blast could’ve launched a million Nanocreature nanites into the atmosphere, right?!”

“…That sounds bad…” Danielle muttered, quickly using her Transtechnism to create newly-formed sets of energy shielding for Kate and Mark.

“Bah,” Kate snorted dismissively. “We’ll be fine. How the hell would a bunch of tiny-ass nanites survive a bombardment like that, anyways?”

“We did…” Mark pointed out uneasily.

“Exactly,” EA snapped. “What you’ve done here is lunacy—!”

In the middle of his words, the sound of a rapidly-approaching spacecraft engine filled the air. A moment later, the smoke all around was blown away, heralding the arrival of the Corvette Raenaros, hovering in the air just above them all.

«There you all are,» came Mote’s voice over a set of loudspeakers as he brought Raenaros down to the ground. «It’s good to see that you’re all alive, but what the hell happened, here?»

Upon hearing Mote’s words, EA clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Oh, great. Now Mote’s here, too.”

“Why don’t you just shut the hell up?” Kate retorted, kicking at EA — only to recoil in surprise as a plane of golden light appeared to protect EA’s body. “Hold up — you still have shields? Why the fuck are you worried, then, huh?!”

“Why, indeed,” EA deadpanned, and then sighed deeply. “Fucking hell. Well, I’ve wasted enough time, here. Someone needs to deal with this god damn mess, and it sure as hell isn’t going to be y’all, now, is it?”

“What are you—?”

“If you’re lucky, the Nanocreature specimens really were obliterated in the impact. But if there are loose nanites around, then know that any further victims of this bullshit are squarely on your heads!”

And with that, EA suddenly disappeared in a flash of white light.

“What the fuck?!” Kate exclaimed in surprise as Mark slowly stood to his feet, and Mote finally approached from the side. “How did he beam way? What happened to the fucking beam jammers?!”

“They were all destroyed in the bombardment, presumably,” Mote reported, and then looked cluelessly between Kate, Mark, and Danielle. “What the hell happened, here? Did EA just decide to let his base get destroyed…?”

“No…” Mark replied, while passing Kate a level glance. “Kate here decided to destroy the bombardment shield generator.”

Mote’s eyes widened — at first in surprise, but then in fury. Turning to Kate, he began to shout, “you fucking WHAT—?!”

“Oh piss off, we still won,” Kate retorted. “The bastard’s mech is destroyed, and so is his base. That’s what SERRCom fucking wanted, isn’t it?!”

“I thought we wanted to capture the base…?” Danielle mused.

“I can’t believe this…” Mote muttered, his hand held to his forehead in incredulous frustration.

“Regardless, we need to check on CSF-1,” Mark insisted. “Especially if what EA said is true.”

Mote leveled a wary glance at Mark. “What did he say?”

“I’ll explain later. We need to prioritize CSF-1, for now. Not to mention that my Overdrive will likely wear off, soon.”

“What—? Ugh… Alright.” Mote nodded and began leading the group to Raenaros’s boarding ramp. “I was actually able to get into contact with the Major and Kirstin on my way here, and both of them seemed fine. But the Colonel and the Captain…”

“…Are they dead…?” Danielle questioned warily.

“Lack of contact doesn’t mean dead,” Kate insisted. “They’re probably fine. I mean, they had fucking shields!”

“So did we…”

“And we’re okay. Listen, they’re fucking fine,” Kate declared, though her gaze conspicuously wandered around the flattened base around them, never once meeting the eyes of Danielle, Mote, or Mark. “…They’re definitely fine. It’s probably just a fucking interference issue, or some shit…”

Mote and Mark both passed Kate uneasy glances. “…I suppose we’ll have to hope that’s the case,” Mark said as the four boarded Raenaros and Mote returned to the Captain’s chair, prepared to bring the Corvette back into the air. “We’ll just have to hope…”

---

*

“…Ugh… fucking hell…”

With a groan, Saito’s eyes fluttered open, revealing only the mass of smoke that swirled around him. Slowly, he began trying to move his body, attempting to verify that he was still in one piece; a feeling of restraint on his legs brought his attention downward, where he found a few pieces of debris — and a lot of dirt — half-burying him in the ground. Nevertheless, he could still feel his legs, and a quick knock on his chest revealed that his energy shields had remained intact — albeit, at dangerously low charge.

Now confident that he had survived in one piece, the Colonel quickly worked to free his legs by shooting away the debris with his gun. Before long, he was able to stand again, at which point he turned his attention skyward — to a sky that was still blocked by smoke. “Did the bombardment shield fail…?” he muttered to himself, and then attempted to activate his comms. “This is Colonel Saito, calling Captain Krick. Genesis, come in.”

Silence.

“…This is Colonel Saito, calling Captain Krick. Genesis, come in. …Come on…”

Silence.

In irritation, Saito looked down at his communicator. He banged it with his hand and attempted to switch to one of the other SERRCom channels, but the only thing that met him was silence. Great, he mused, putting away his communicator to re-grip his rifle and begin looking around. Well, if this damage really is from orbital bombardment rounds making it through the shields, then there shouldn’t be a second volley. That should give me time to get out of here, at least—

The sound of nearby gunshots snapped Saito out of his thoughts. Quickly, he brought his gun to bear while rushing forward as safely as he could while still surrounded by smoke. Within moments, he heard another volley of gunshots, but this time, they were accompanied by bestial snarling. Is that…? Saito began to wonder, only to double his pace. The smoke all around was beginning to dissipate and settle, after all, allowing him to see farther and farther by the moment.

In the next second, a handful of small rodents suddenly leaped out of the smoke, bearing their feral fangs as they surged toward Saito. Immediately, he snapped his gun to the ground and let loose a volley of bullets, readily killing all of the approaching animals. As soon as they all stopped moving, Saito rushed past, already well aware of where these animals were coming from. “Captain!” he shouted, “where are you?”

“…Over… *cough* over here!”

Upon hearing Travis’s response, Saito released a reflexive sigh of relief; the Captain was alive. Nevertheless, the Colonel quickly rushed in the direction of Travis’s voice, only to hear another volley of gunshots coming from the Captain’s position. “Speak to me, Travis!” Saito shouted, keeping his own gun at the ready as he scanned the horizon. “Where’s the enemy—?”

Just as the question left his mouth, Saito finally laid eyes on Captain Travis, who was laying on the ground a short distance away while holding up his pistol. Just a few meters away from him was a large beast, its eyes bloodshot, and its face utterly raked with silver rashes; without wasting a moment, Saito snapped his rifle to the ready and fired a stream of bullets into the beast, drawing its attention. Even with several bullet wounds, it began to charge at Saito — but the Colonel continued firing. Within seconds, he had unloaded an entire magazine into the beast, and only then did it begin to stumble. Saito quickly moved to reload his gun, but a couple of well-placed shots from Travis’s pistol put the beast down for good.

The Colonel watched the corpse for a second to make sure that the beast really was dead, but as soon as he was certain, he rushed over to Travis’s side. As he did, he kept an ear out for the sounds of any more approaching animals, but for the moment, things appeared to be quiet.

“Oof… thanks, Colonel,” Travis replied, though his voice was strained, as if he were fighting off pain or unconsciousness. “But… think it’s too late, for me…”

Saito glanced down at Travis; indeed, the Captain appeared to be bloody all over — it was quite obvious that his shields had failed. The fact that Travis was still alive suggested that his shields had at least survived the orbital bombardment, which left Saito to assume that it was the attacking beasts that had finally killed the Captain’s shields. This was made evident by the gash-like wounds on Travis’s body…

…as well as the silver rashes that were beginning to spread across his right arm.

“Shit…” Saito muttered, his brow furrowed as he looked down helplessly at the infected wound. “Captain, I…”

“Ha ha… ow…” Travis let out a brief, dry chuckle before wincing in pain, and then lying back down on the ground. “Well… guess our luck… was bound to run out… eventually, huh?”

“Hang in there, Travis. This isn’t over, yet. There’s still a chance…”

“Appreciate the… optimism, sir. Guess I’ll… have to leave that… to… …you…”

The Captain then slumped over, his eyes closed.

Saito’s eyes widened in alarm, and he quickly made to check Travis’s pulse; a second later, the Colonel sighed in relief, as the Captain appeared to still be alive — merely unconscious. After that mere moment of relief, however, Saito was left to look down at Travis with unease.

“UNCLE LUKE!!”

At the sound of a third voice — a familiar voice — Saito immediately snapped his gun to the ready, searching for the source of the shout. As soon as he did, he spotted the third person on the scene: EA, running up through the smoke, with his attention focused squarely on Travis’s unconscious body; that is, until he noticed Colonel Saito, and the gun that was trained on him.

“Stop right there,” Saito ordered, keeping his gun trained on EA.

Frustration flashed across EA’s face, but he nonetheless stopped in his tracks. “I fucking knew something would go wrong…” he muttered, and then held his left palm out toward Travis. A second later, he fired some kind of device out of his palm; the object flew through the air toward Captain Travis before landing on his chest, at which point it lifted slightly into the air and projected an energy shield all around Travis’s body.

Saito eyed the device warily before glancing back at EA. “What the hell did you do?”

“Didn’t the NSD give SERRCom tech like this?” EA retorted. “It’s an Infection Capture Device. I made my own. This one has some stasis effects, so the infection should be slowed down… that’ll give you time to deal with it.”

“And why should I trust your word on that?”

“What?!” EA turned to glare indignantly at Saito. “Don’t fucking make me the villain, here! I warned y’all multiple times that I was studyin’ the infection, here, and Athena even told me that you found the fucking lab! But noooo, you still decide to press the attack! And then that stupid bitch just had to destroy the bombardment shield, too!” He extended an accusatory finger toward Saito. “If Luke dies, it’s no one’s fault but your own!”

“You can’t be serious,” the Colonel retorted. “Don’t ignore your own part, here. You had to have known that someone would come knocking after you attacked SERRCom and the PMCs. In light of that, keeping Nanocreatures in the same place as other valid military targets is just asking for trouble!”

“Sure, but you’re ignorin’ the part where I fucking warned you about the Nanocreatures!”

“And you’re ignoring the part where your explanations of your own motives have been suspect at best since you first appeared. Did you really expect us to take you for your word?”

Silence followed, with EA glaring at Saito, and the Colonel staring right back, keeping his gun trained on EA the whole time. Eventually, EA snapped his attention to Travis; the Captain’s labored breathing was slow, as if moving in slow motion, but it was clear that he was in distress all the same.

“…Now,” Saito spoke up, breaking the silence. “With your base destroyed, I’m going to need you to come with us.”

“Oh piss off,” EA retorted, his arms crossed. “And don’t think your gun scares me, either. I still have my shields.” He knocked on his chest, producing the slight flaring of energy shields to prove his own point.

“Then what do you gain by sticking around?”

“I was hoping to help Luke… but someone is stopping me from doing that!”

Saito eyed EA warily. “…Are you saying that you have a cure for the infection?”

EA stared back, only to sigh. “…No. But I have a lead. And if you insist on keepin’ Luke to yourself, then I guess I’ll tell you. You should go to Nimalia, and talk to that Archoné with the Oraculm. Pallan Culana.”

“Why?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, now, would you,” EA responded dryly. “Just, you should know that Pallan knows way more than he lets on. If you talk to him, fast, then Luke might have a chance.”

“Even if you’re right,” Saito responded, “why do you think the Archoné would tell us anything?”

“…Tell him that I know about the Fog Islands. That should get him talkin’,” EA replied.

“What…?”

“Look, we don’t have much time. I bet you wanted to go to Nimalia, anyways, to talk to Kaoné Densalin, right? Just talk to Pallan while you’re there. Trust me, it’s your best lead.” EA then turned his eyes up to the sky, as Raenaros flew overhead. “…Now, I need to get goin’. With the infected animals free, this entire base is compromised, so I’m gonna destroy the Interstellar Gate and thoroughly scrub the continent from orbit. I would suggest that you leave before I do.”

And with a flash of light, EA disappeared, yet again.

Now alone again with Travis, Saito slowly lowered his gun, his eyes turned up to watch Raenaros land nearby. His gaze then drifted down to the unconscious Captain, and the Infection Capture Device that EA had planted on him. …I still don’t know if I trust EA’s words… Saito mused, …but he was right on one point. He then stooped over to scoop Travis’s unconscious body into his arms and begin walking toward the landed Corvette, as Hackett, Mote, and Mark all rushed toward him. The raid on EA’s base had clearly come to an end, but the clock was still running.

It was time for CSF-1, once again, to return to Nimalia.