“Now… how about we have a little talk?”

“A talk, is it…?” Gavon warily questioned, his gaze sweeping across the five soldiers that accompanied Nil’kin at the bottom of the boarding ramp. Each of them wore the signature purple and crimson powered armor of the Chaos Knights, complete with bulky chest plates and massive purple and crimson pauldrons; when coupled with their stiff and impeccable postures, they appeared every bit an elite fighting force. In comparison, Rebehka, Gavon, Pallan, Hackett, Kirstin, and the Keys seemed a dysfunctional group, with the Keys standing warily behind Rebehka and Gavon.

Nevertheless, Pallan joined Rebehka and Gavon at the front, his hands clasped behind himself as he stood up straight and addressed Nil’kin. “The Fog Islands are the exclusive territory of Riverana,” the Archoné declared. “Your trespassing here violates Riveranian and Nimalian law, Chaos Knights. Leave, immediately.”

“Oh? Quite the bold one, aren’t you?” Nil’kin retorted, her arms crossed as she stared haughtily back at Pallan. “Especially for a non-Chaotic.”

Hackett tensed up. “…Are we to assume that all of your soldiers are Chaotics, then?”

“They’re Chaos Knights…” Rebehka responded, side-eying Hackett before looking back at Nil’kin. “They exclusively employ Chaotics in field missions.”

“Quite a narrow-minded view, I’ve always thought,” Gavon remarked.

“But one that works, nonetheless,” Nil’kin countered. “But we’re getting off track. Archoné, you can threaten the Knights with all the legal action that you please — but it won’t stop us from achieving our objective. Nothing will.”

“And your objective is…?” Phoenix questioned.

The Dra’kis glanced toward Phoenix, only to turn her nose up in a dismissive huff. “…You should be well aware, Earthian. Our objective is to wipe out any traces of the metallic infection, and prevent it from getting its hands on information that it could use to strengthen itself.”

“And what makes you think we have anything of the sort here?” Rebehka pressed.

“Oh please, Tchiréon. I wasn’t born yesterday,” Nil’kin scoffed. “When the Archoné here suddenly started contributing to metallic infection research a few years ago, I know that you had doubts about where he got his information — because I had doubts, too. And I know that you got your Chaos Conduit friend to look into the matter… and that his search brought him here, to the Fog Islands. And then, just so suddenly… today, a big group of you suddenly rushes off to the Fog Islands — and find your way to the center, no less!”

“How did you even track us, here?” Twy asked uneasily. “I thought this place was supposed to be untraceably hidden…”

“I have my ways. I’ll admit, this ‘maze’ was a bit of a pain to deal with. But signals can leave easily enough, which meant that we had exact navigation data on the path that you took. We just needed to copy your flight path.”

“They bugged us…?” Hackett questioned, her voice low, so as to only be heard by the group.

“The audacity…” Pallan huffed. “Bugging an Archoné’s personal craft…!”

“I doubt it’s you they were following,” Gavon remarked, and then glanced at Rebehka. “Right?”

“I don’t know what you’re whispering about,” Nil’kin cut in, drawing the group’s attention back to herself. “But I’ll give you something to talk about. An ultimatum: cleanse your infected and destroy this outpost, or let us do it for you. Else, be destroyed.”

“You can’t be serious…!” Sky exclaimed.

“Oh, I’m quite serious,” the Dra’kis replied. “You saw for yourself what I did on Karania. I will do whatever it takes to stop the infection from spreading, or gaining access to advanced tech — and right now, as I see it, you all are standing in the way of that.”

“Oh, bullshit!” Rebehka snapped. “If you really cared about stopping the infection, then you’d actually acknowledge the efforts to find a cure! But all you really want is an excuse to satisfy your murderous urges!”

“Don’t be foolish. You’re the one deluding yourself, here,” Nil’kin countered. “What makes you think that you can ever know with complete certainty that a cure has worked? What makes you think that you can ever know that you’ve eliminated every last nanite in a person’s body? Because it only takes one for the infection to come back, and potentially infect even more people, as the ‘cured’ individual goes about their regular life!”

“The infection isn’t airborne. It can only infect by accessing your bloodstream!”

“And all it takes is one nick, one scratch, for them to be able to do that. Face it, Dean. Your aspirations for a ‘cure’ are too risky, when the entire fucking galaxy is on the line!”

“That—!”

“If you would, Major Dralis,” Gavon quickly interjected, cutting short Rebehka’s angry retort, “…we’d like a few moments to discuss your… most generous offer.”

“Your sarcasm isn’t lost on me, Sun,” Nil’kin spat. “Have your chat. But take too long, and my Knights will burn you to the ground, along with the infection you hold so dear!”

“…Well,” Conrad muttered as the group turned inward. “…I’ve set up a muting wall so that they can’t eavesdrop on us, but… what do we do, now?”

“I do not agree with the Knight’s opinions on finding a cure,” Pallan stated, “but I do agree with her other statements.”

“Pallan—!” Rebehka snarled.

“You might agree, but I don’t think the rest of us do,” Hackett said. “I can’t speak for you Nimalians, but on Earth, we never give up one of our own without a fight.”

“I’d agree, but…” Twy muttered, glancing back at the Chaos Knights and their impeccable armor. “…Can we take them? I mean, I know that Gavon and Rebehka have experience, and that you and Kirstin are in CSF-1, Major. But the rest of us…”

“We’ve been in fights, before!” Sky remarked. “We can handle ourselves!”

“We didn’t against the SFC and Rokresians…”

“Nil’kin is an Electrotechnic, too…” Rebehka muttered. “I hate to say it… but in a life-or-death fight, she could easily kill all of us by just shutting down our shields and hitting us with lightning.”

“Shutting down our shields…” Spike echoed, and then glanced at Conrad. “…I have an answer for that, actually. And Conrad, I need your help to do it without the Knights seein’.”

“Your Overdrive, huh…?” Conrad questioned, to which Spike silently nodded.

“Are we really doing this, then?” Phoenix questioned warily.

“If Spike has a way to counter Nil’kin, then we might actually stand a decent chance,” Gavon replied. “But against the Knights, this will be a life-or-death fight — and we don’t know what kind of Chaotics the rest of Nil’kin’s soldiers are. Are you Keys really up for risking your lives?”

“…Not if we don’t have to,” Twy responded. “If we can get Kaoné to use her Overdrive, then that should stun the Knights, right?”

“It would certainly put a damper on the murder, at least…” Rebehka mused.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Hackett stated as she passed Twy a nod. “And as much as I hate to say it, I don’t think MacTavish or I would be much help in this fight. I think what we should do is pretend to play along, to give me, MacTavish, and the Archoné time to move into the outpost and let the Colonel and Dean Densalin know what’s going on.”

“And when we feel the effects from the Dean’s Overdrive, we strike,” Gavon mused. “I like this plan.”

“Time’s up! What’s your decision?”

The group turned back around to face Nil’kin, who was glaring back at them with her hands on her hips. Rebehka and Gavon exchanged an uneasy glance, at which point Rebehka nodded at Hackett, who promptly retreated towards the outpost with Kirstin and Pallan in tow. As the trio left, Spike muttered “Overdrive: Guardian,” under his breath, and worked with Conrad to silently and surreptitiously replace the group’s shields with sturdier copies.

“…We agree to your terms,” Gavon announced, his eyes on Nil’kin. “We’ll bring the victims out to you.”

The Dra’kis regarded Gavon with surprise, and then suspicion. “…I didn’t expect you to agree,” she responded slowly. “What changed? Or have you simply realized that you’re no match for me and my Knights?”

“Tch…!” Rebehka scowled, but bit her tongue to prevent herself from snapping back.

Gavon, however, made a show of casually shrugging. “We have the numbers, but the Keys here are relative novices, so you’re right that this isn’t a favorable match-up.” He then placed his hands on his hips, a challenging smirk playing on his face. “That said, I can’t say that I’m surprised that the Knights would be so tactless as openly challenging a Dean, an Archoné, a Black Sun, and literal students. You really are no better than thugs, aren’t you?”

Nil’kin responded with a haughty snort. “We Knights have pledged to achieve our objectives by any means possible,” she declared. “If protecting the galaxy requires that we become pariahs, then so be it.”

“Oh, please,” Rebehka retorted. “I’ve heard better excuses from Bleeders, and they’re actual criminals!”

“And so the bitch finally barks,” Nil’kin replied with a dangerous smile. “I thought it was odd that you were keeping silent. And that you agreed to this, too. Just what kind of dirt must these idiots have on you to get you to stand down? Or have you been all bark, all this time?”

“I have plenty of bite, you can trust that,” Rebehka snapped back.

“Do you? It took you ages to kick me out of your Academy,” Nil’kin responded. “And the one time you tried to fight me for real, on Karania, you had your precious Materiatechnic friend to protect you. But I see that she isn’t here, now — is that why you’re so docile?”

Rebehka glared at Nil’kin, but otherwise didn’t respond, instead choosing to take several deep breaths in an effort to calm herself. On seeing this, Nil’kin smirked — only to suddenly frown as she looked back to the outpost.

“…Wait…” she muttered, sparks suddenly beginning to cover her arms. “…Densalin is here, isn’t she? Of course, we’re dealing with the infection — why wouldn’t she be! And when you sent the Archoné back, then…!”

“Seems like the jig is up…” Gavon muttered, glancing back at the rest of the group as he backed into a defensive stance.

“We got the shields passed out, at least,” Spike responded quietly. “But those’ll only last for ten minutes, or so…”

“The whispering again! I fucking knew it!” Nil’kin shouted as the Chaos Knights around her each took up offensive postures. “You tricked us!”

Rebehka adopted a bitter smile. “Maybe if you weren’t such a haughty bitch, it wouldn’t be so easy,” she coolly replied.

“I have to say,” Gavon added, “the fact that you actually fell for it is embarrassing. Did you work for the SFC in a past life, perhaps?”

“RAAAGH!! Anyone who opposes the Chaos Knights WILL be cut down!” Nil’kin snarled back, the sparks around her arms expanding to wreath her entire body, followed by pointing straight at Rebehka. “Knights, ATTACK!”

“This is it!” Rebehka shouted, immediately crafting a massive wall of ice between the group and the Knights — a wall that rapidly began to crumble under the Knights’ attacks. “Stop the Knights, and protect Luke and Liask!”

“Got it!!” everyone replied in unison, warily — yet readily — joining Rebehka in fighting against the Chaos Knights.

---

A Few Minutes Earlier

“How’s it looking?”

“Hmm…?” Kaoné half-turned to look behind her, finding the approaching forms of Austin and Pierce. Upon seeing them, she offered a brief smile, only to return to a neutral expression and look back to the center of the room — to the active ancient machine, its mechanical arms whirring and whipping about as they shot tiny surgical lasers down onto Liask’s body. “…Surprisingly, it seems to be working,” the Dean eventually replied, as Austin and Pierce joined her and Saito in looking over the machine, with Luke’s unconscious body resting off to the side. Obra stood off to the other side, barely acknowledging the Earthians as he quietly watched the machine work on Liask. “The machine seemed to adapt to Nimalian physiology like… like it was meant to, almost,” Kaoné continued. “I think it still has a few more hours to go, but as far as I can tell, it really is purging the nanites from Liask’s body, and repairing the damaged tissue…”

Pierce sighed in relief. “That’s good to hear…”

“Yeah, if it actually works…” A small smile appeared on Austin’s face. “…Then Luke should be fine, too, right?”

“Figures that’s all you’d care about…” Obra muttered.

“…It would seem that way,” Saito remarked, passing Obra a brief glance before looking back to Austin. “I’m curious how this machine works, but… that research can wait until later.”

“Actually…” Austin passed Kaoné a doubtful glance. “…When you tried curing the infection back on Oriciid’kas, didn’t that cause the nanites everywhere to act up?” He then looked over at Luke. “Isn’t that a risk, now…?”

“Oriciid’kas was already on the verge of a Critical Infection before I attempted a cure,” Kaoné explained. “But here, the infection is only in Liask and Luke. I don’t think there are enough nanites around for them to be able to recognize a threat like this — not in the form of a cure, at least. If a fight breaks out, somehow, then that could aggravate the infection, but aside from that…” She looked up at the mechanical arms, each of them moving with incredible precision, despite their age. “…It seems like this machine is projecting some sort of jamming signal. Presumably to prevent Nanocreature nanites from remotely communicating with each other.”

“…Now that you mention it…” Pierce muttered, “…I can’t really sense the infection in Liask, anymore. I stopped being able to as soon as that machine started, now that I think about it…”

Saito looked at Pierce in surprise. “You can sense the Nanocreatures?”

“It’s a ‘Key’ thing, apparently,” Pierce replied. “It kinda feels like nausea — it’s super uncomfortable, I hate it. And I can still feel it a little bit, since Luke is right there, but… it seems like this machine really can hide nanites, or whatever.”

“That’s really interesting, actually…” Kaoné mused. “If it also blocks your ability to sense the nanites, then… hmm… does your ‘sense’ work by being able to ‘listen in’ on Nanocreature communications…?”

“It would be pretty bad if the Nanocreatures got ahold of this tech, then, wouldn’t it?” Austin pointed out. “’Cause then they could just hide in plain sight?”

“Well, assuming it works the way that I think it does… not really,” Kaoné replied. “The reason the tech works is because it blocks the nanites from communicating; theoretically, they could just do that on their own, and hide their presence that way. Being able to force that disconnection would be incredibly useful to the galaxy, though…”

“Just more research to be done, it would seem,” Saito said. “But, all in all, it looks like finding this outpost was a real boon—“

In the middle of Saito’s words, a low rumbling swept through the facility, and the lights above flickered. The mechanical arms working on Liask continued on uninterrupted, but small bits of dust fell down from the ceiling all the same, indicative of a hefty impact.

“…The hell was that?” Obra questioned, finally turning his attention away from the machine to look warily at the ceiling.

“An earthquake…?” Austin suggested.

“An earthquake would be bad, but I think this is worse,” Saito responded with a scowl. “You don’t get that kind of shudder from an earthquake. That was an impact, and a heavy one.”

Obra turned to look at Saito incredulously. “Are you sayin’ that someone’s attackin’ us?!”

“…Is it the infection?” Kaoné questioned, glancing sidewards at Pierce.

“No…” Pierce muttered, “…at least, I can’t sense anything.”

“Then who the hell is it?” Obra pressed. “The Bleeders?”

“I doubt the Bleeders would be able to follow us here—“ Kaoné began, with Saito already approaching the room’s exit to investigate. But a moment later, the room’s doors flew open and Hackett rushed through, followed closely by MacTavish and Pallan.

“Major—?” Saito began to question, but Hackett cut him off.

“We’re under attack,” she declared. “It’s the Chaos Knights. They want to kill the Captain and the girl.”

“They what?!” Austin exclaimed incredulously.

“Like hell they will!” Obra snarled, already moving towards the door.

“Overdrive: Conflict’s Judge!”

“Ack—!” Obra suddenly winced, his hand snapping to his head as he turned to glare at Kaoné. “The fuck…?!”

“The Chaos Knights are serious and capable opponents,” Kaoné explained, “and in a situation like this, I have no doubt that they’re fighting to kill. I cannot allow that.”

“It sure hampers our ability to fight back, though,” Saito muttered, looking down at the pistol that had been holstered on his hip, and was now in pieces.

“B-but…” MacTavish stuttered out, “w-what about, um, Luke? A-and the machine…?”

“It is likely that the Knights will choose to destroy the entire outpost,” Pallan asserted. “If we want to save the machine, then we must fight them off. Dean Densalin, you… what are you doing?”

Everyone turned to look at Kaoné, who herself had turned away from the room’s entrance to instead approach Luke’s unconscious body. She quickly fabricated a gurney underneath him and then levitated him into the air, saying, “the infection in Luke may not be able to tell that Liask is being cured, but it will absolutely be able to sense the fighting above, and might begin acting up. If we want to save both Liask and Luke, then we — then I — need to start operating on him soon.”

“What about the fighting…?” Austin questioned warily.

“They have Rebehka and Gavon up there — I have full faith that they can take care of themselves,” Kaoné declared. “And the Keys, as well… you all still have a long way to go, that’s true. But with the support of Rebehka, Gavon, and my Overdrive, I believe that your friends will be able to hold against the Knights.”

“How are we… supposed to fight with your… Overdrive…!” Obra growled, clearly in distress.

Kaoné shook her head. “Fight to subdue, not to kill — if you do that, then my Overdrive won’t hinder you. And to help with that…” A handful of small devices suddenly appeared near Obra and Saito. “There. I just made some portable CENT fields for you. Use those to stop the Knights!”

“Got it!” Pierce remarked, zipping over to grab one of the generators.

“Wait!” Kaoné quickly called out, “Austin, Pierce — the two of you should stay down here. Luke and Liask will be vulnerable, and someone needs to watch over them while the machine and I operate!”

“And you want Pierce to do it?!” Obra questioned incredulously.

“It’s either me, or you,” Pierce shot back. “Do you want to be the one sitting on your ass, down here? Because I’d be more than happy to go up there and kick some ass for you!”

“Tch…!” Obra scowled, only to whip around and barge off toward the room’s exit. “I’ll take care of these fuckin’ Knights! But if somethin’ happens to Liask again, Pierce, then I swear to the dirt, you’ll regret it!”

“You think I won’t…?” Pierce muttered under his breath.

“Well, with that out of the way…” Saito said, gesturing for Hackett to join him in grabbing some of the portable CENT field generators. “We’ll take these topside. But, Dean…” He stopped to look Kaoné square in the eyes. “…Are you sure you can cure Luke?”

Kaoné looked back at him. “…I’ll admit, there’s still a possibility that I can’t. But the risk of him falling to the infection now is too great for me to do nothing.”

“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst?” Hackett said.

The Dean nodded. “Something like that. I believe that the Knights can be repelled… but in the event that they can’t, or that something else happens, it’s best to cure Luke and Liask as soon as we can!”

Saito nodded back. “Alright, then. I’ll leave Travis’s life in your hands. And, Austin… watch over him for us.”

“Uh, right!” Austin responded.

“And MacTavish…” The Colonel glanced over at the Researcher. “Take the Archoné and find somewhere to bunker down.”

“Uh, g-got it…!” MacTavish responded.

Pallan heaved a lofty sigh. “What an unfortunate turn of events…” he muttered, “but, in a sense, I suppose I should have expected all of this…”

“What, did your stupid Oraculm not tell you that all of this would happen?” Pierce questioned impatiently.

“We don’t have the time for arguments, not now,” Kaoné insisted as she began moving toward the exit, with Austin and Luke in tow, followed closely by Saito, Hackett, MacTavish, and Pallan. “I’ll move Luke to the other building before working to cure him — that separation should make it easier to deal with the infection if it acts up. Everyone else, be careful, and whatever you do, don’t underestimate the Chaos Knights!”