"We're approaching Helios Station now," the pilot announced.
Through the spaceship's window, I watched as the great floating tower slowly orbited the planetoid below, its structure imposing against the backdrop of space.
"Helios Station, this is escort craft PC-5441. Requesting permission to enter Hangar 6."
"Permission granted, PC-5441. Proceed with caution. The station is in a state of chaos—watch your landing," flight control responded.
"Copy that, Helios."
I frowned slightly, intrigued by the exchange. No news had come out of Helios Station in the last few days. Whatever had happened must have been recent. I'd find out soon enough.
The ship glided through the invisible barrier of the hangar bay, touching down on the sleek metal floor of a landing pad near the wall.
"This is your stop, kid. Take care out there," the pilot said, eyes fixed on the controls.
"Thanks again for the ride," I replied.
The ramp lowered, and as I stepped onto the hangar floor, my breath hitched. The remnants of destruction were everywhere. Scattered metal scraps, bullet casings, and scorch marks marred the floor and walls. Workers moved through the wreckage, sweeping up debris and clearing away damaged turrets. Whatever happened here—it had been brutal.
I caught a passing worker. "What happened here?"
The man pulled off his headphones and glanced at me. "Word hasn't spread yet? The station got taken over by Freihat insurgents a few days ago. We only managed to liberate it yesterday. If you want details, ask one of the soldiers. They're the ones who saved us."
I barely had time to process that before a voice called out.
"Second Lieutenant Samuel Foster?"
I turned to find an officer holding a sign with my name on it.
"Yes, sir," I replied, snapping into a salute.
"The commander is expecting you. Come with me." He discarded the sign and gestured for me to follow.
As we moved through the intersection between hangars, I pressed for more details. "Is it true this place was taken over by rebels?"
"Yeah," the officer replied matter-of-factly. "Haven't heard the full report yet, but rumour has it they infiltrated four days ago with fifteen Knights and a pilot in a Constellation-class mech."
I nearly stopped in my tracks. "They had a Constellation Knight?"
"That's what they're saying." He rubbed the back of his head, looking uneasy. "But they didn't hold the station for long. The general sent in our 'little lady' ahead of time to scout the situation. She ended up rescuing all the hostages, though... well, let's just say they're not exactly happy with how she did it. By the time we arrived, she'd practically reclaimed the whole station on her own."
I glanced around at the destruction again—impact craters, shredded hull plating, collapsed walkways.
"She did this? Alone?" I asked, incredulous.
The officer hesitated as we passed three tanks stacked atop a broken section of flooring. "Well... mostly. The insurgents torched the systems before retreating, so we're still struggling to get communications back online. We had to send a warship for reinforcements. But yeah, from what we saw on the security feeds, she's the reason we're not still fighting right now. And instead of praise, she's taking all the heat for the collateral damage." His lips curled in frustration. "Total bullshit, if you ask me. We were sitting on our asses while she fought like a one-woman army."
I was about to ask for her name when the officer abruptly pointed to another hangar. "The general's over there." Then, as if suddenly remembering he had somewhere better to be, he took a hasty step back. "And, uh... I'm not getting any closer while he's pissed. Good luck, kid."
Before I could question him, he turned and hurried away, vanishing past the remains of a shattered fighter jet.
That's not ominous at all.
I squared my shoulders and walked forward.
General Fenrir stood near a support beam, a cigarette perched between his fingers. His sharp, wolfish features made him look all the more menacing as he watched a dark-skinned woman struggle through a set of push-ups. Sweat dripped from her brow onto the cold metal floor, her arms trembling violently.
I recognized Fenrir instantly from the dossier. "General Fenrir?"
His gaze snapped to me, and I nearly stepped back from the sheer intensity of it. Anger simmered behind his eyes, but after a moment, the sharpness softened. "Ah. Sam. You're here." He took a drag of his cigarette before exhaling. "Apologies for not meeting you personally. I've been dealing with... other matters." His tone carried unmistakable irritation.
"Understandable, sir. Just walking through the station, I can tell a small war broke out here." I glanced down at the struggling woman. "Is this the 'little lady' who took back the station?"
Fenrir scoffed. "No. This one's being punished for letting the insurgents' leader escape."
"General, please!" The woman's voice wavered as she trembled under the strain. "Just kill me already! I have no upper body strength, and you know it!"
Fenrir exhaled slowly, unimpressed. "Twelve more."
"NOOO!!!" she wailed.
Shaking his head, he turned back to me. "Our real 'little lady' has been avoiding me since yesterday. Verwin blamed her for everything, and rather than deal with it, she's been in hiding." He took another drag of his cigarette. "I've organized search teams, but she's evading us pretty damn well. The only reason we know she's still on the station is that eyewitnesses saw her walking around with someone I don't want influencing her." His scowl deepened. "Not that it matters. They already worked together to reclaim the station."
My curiosity sharpened. Whoever this pilot was, she sounded incredible. "I can help with the search if you'd like, General."
"That'd be useful." He tapped the ash from his cigarette. "We're stuck here for four more days until the warship returns. Get some rest, grab something from the canteen, and keep an eye out." Then, he added, "She's an old friend of yours. You'll recognize her when you see her."
That caught me off guard. I hadn't expected that.
"Tell her to come find me," Fenrir said. "She's not in trouble anymore."
That was an obvious lie, considering the glower on his face. "Thank you, General. I'll get right on it."
Saluting, I turned on my heel and marched off toward the nearest elevator, leaving behind the sounds of the woman groaning in agony over her push-ups.
Inside the lift, I leaned against the wall, running through possibilities in my head. Fenrir had said it was someone I knew, which likely meant they were from my old pilot training facility. Freya, maybe? She always had a habit of going off and doing her own thing. Firefly, though... I couldn't imagine her pulling off something like this. Then again, I barely knew anything about her outside of training and eating. The pilot graduation tournament had made that clear enough.
The elevator doors slid open, and I barely stepped out before a transporter stacked with crates zoomed past, nearly clipping me.
[This place is a wreck,] Draco muttered in my ear. His sharp draconic voice carried an amused edge as he took in the chaos—shattered walls, gaping holes in the floors, the twisted remains of several insurgent Knights torn apart like scrap metal. [Whoever did this knows how to fight. Let's snap their spine when we find them.]
"Chill out, dude. They're on our side."
I kept moving, shaking my head at Draco's ever-present bloodlust. "I would've thought killing that pack of Titans would've satisfied your thirst for violence—at least a little."
Passing a team of engineers trying to pry open the cockpit of a defeated Knight, I slowed my steps, studying the wreckage. A single blade strike had pierced straight through the chest plating—right where the pilot would have been. A clean, precise kill.
My stomach grumbled.
"Let's grab something to eat," I muttered. "I swear, it's been forever since I last had a warm meal that didn't taste like bacon and broccoli mush."
Reaching the canteen, I was surprised to find it empty. With all the work going on around the station, it wasn't all that shocking, though.
"Hello?"
No answer.
I wandered into the kitchen, glanced around, then swiped a cold tuna sandwich from the fridge.
"At least it's food, I guess."
The sandwich was gone before I even realized I'd finished it.
"That barely counted," I sighed. "Draco, do a scan of the station—let's find this 'little lady' already."
[I'm a combat assault AI, not a tactical support unit. Do your own damn search,] Draco grumbled.
I narrowed my eyes at the tiny draconic beetle latched onto my shirt. "You're absolutely useless, you know that?"
[Fight me, and we'll see if you still say that, meat-bag.]
Shaking my head, I wondered for the hundredth time how we'd survived two and a half months together without murdering each other.
"Fine. Just keep an eye out for anyone familiar."
I worked my way through the station floor by floor.
The deeper I went, the more devastation I found—communications offices reduced to debris, entire sections of the station with gaping holes where something massive had crashed through. And the Knights... a trail of their fallen frames stretched from the 45th floor all the way up to the 51st. Whoever had done this had taken down at least thirteen enemy mechs alone.
The floors above were cleaner, save for a few bloodstains. Hours passed as I searched, following the path of destruction until I finally reached the 99th floor.
"Whoa."
The moment I stepped out of the elevator, I was met with the bodies of several insurgents strewn across the right corridor. A crushed radio lay among them, its wires splayed out like torn veins.
"Guess clean-up hasn't reached this area yet."
A perfect place to hide.
Moving deeper inside, I arrived at the entrance to the vivarium. The glass doors were shattered, and fragments crunched under my boots as I stepped through.
[Constellation Knight energy detected,] Draco announced sharply. [It was that bastard? Might finally get my rematch. Follow the stone path to the right.]
"Are you going to tell me who it is, or just leave me in suspense?" I muttered, following the pathway through the grass.
Draco huffed. [You'll be happy, that's all I'll say, my conceited dick of a pilot.]
The sound of flowing water reached my ears—along with voices.
I quickened my pace, stepping carefully along the stones until I reached a small pond. A waterfall trickled in the background, its gentle noise blending with the soft hum of conversation.
At the water's edge, a black-haired man was handing a steaming sandwich to a girl with silver hair.
Firefly.
"So, this is a 'toastie'?" she asked hesitantly, holding the sandwich between her fingers. "D-do I eat it a special way, or do I just...?"
"You just bite into it," the man replied. He took a bite of his own, the gooey cheese stretching between his lips before he swallowed. "It's hot, so be careful."
Firefly hesitated for only a moment before taking a bite. Her eyes widened, and then—without a shred of hesitation—she took another, chewing slowly.
"It's really tasty for just ham and melted cheese," she said with a small, satisfied hum. Then, glancing over her shoulder, she spotted me. A smile spread across her face, crumbs at the corners of her mouth.
"You want one too, Sam?"
She still looked exactly as I remembered her.
I shook my head in mild disbelief. "To find a fairy, go to the forest, huh?"
I couldn't believe it had taken me this long to track her down.
"Yeah, I could use something warm in my stomach." I stepped forward, taking a seat beside her on the grass. "How'd you know I was here?"
Firefly handed me the toastie she had just bitten into without hesitation.
"Andy is linked to the station's security. He saw you coming in on the cameras." She moved to prepare another sandwich in the heat press next to the black-haired man. "Oh, Sam, this is Evan. He helped me liberate the station. Evan, this is Sam—another cadet I knew in pilot training."
Evan clicked his tongue, and I could already tell—this guy didn't like me.
"What's this dirty brat doing here, interrupting our date—"
Before he could finish, Firefly's hand came down on his head with a sharp *thwack*.
"Ow~." Evan winced, rubbing the spot where she'd struck him.
"You invited yourself to sit with me and interrupted my nap," she said flatly. "The toastie has earned you forgiveness, but don't push it."
She turned to me, smiling as if she hadn't just assaulted him.
"Do you like it, Sam?"
Taking another bite, I let the warmth of the food settle in my stomach. It had been too long since I'd eaten anything that felt even remotely satisfying.
"Warmest meal I've had in months," I admitted. "Tastiest, too. You use any spices?"
"Don't have any," Evan answered before Firefly could. "Toasties taste better without them, if you ask me. Besides, lugging around a heat press is already a pain—I don't have space for extra stuff in my ship." He leaned back on his hands before fixing me with an unimpressed look. "But aren't you a little *too* comfortable after crashing our date?"
He made a move to put his arm around Firefly, but the second her fist clenched, he thought better of it and put his arm right back on the grass.
Some things never change.
"Does Firefly even know what a date is?" I asked casually.
"O-Of course she does!" Evan stammered. "Why else would she have agreed to date me? What, are you jealous you missed your chance or something?"
"Maybe you swindled her with the toastie," I mused, grinning evilly. "But who can say? I'm just a brat who wanted to see his friend again, after all."
Evan bristled. I could tell winding him up was *way* too easy.
Meanwhile, Firefly happily ignored us, nibbling away at her toastie, fully absorbed in its warm, cheesy, meaty goodness. She was utterly oblivious to the tension building between Evan and me as sparks practically flew.
"You say that like she's stupid," Evan shot back.
"She has no common sense," I defended. "Being *made* and raised in a military installation doesn't exactly give you worldly experience. All she was ever taught was how to fight and who not to fight."
Evan's expression shifted into something smug. "Then maybe I could teach her—if you'd just mind your business. You're not responsible for her. She's an amazing, independent woman who can make her own choices!" Then, with a little too much enthusiasm, he added, "She also has incredibly thick thighs!"
The second the words left his mouth, Firefly's leg shot out.
With terrifying precision, she kicked Evan straight into the pond.
A sharp splash filled the air as he flailed in the shallow water, limbs floundering.
Firefly turned to me as if nothing had happened.
"Sam, you came here to join General Fenrir's battalion for the next half of the initiation missions, right?"
I watched Evan struggle for a moment before deciding to ignore him.
"That's right," I answered. "I'm guessing Fenrir already told you I joined his battalion?"
"That's right." Firefly absentmindedly brushed her silver hair behind her ear, her gaze drifting toward the pond as its surface rippled from Evan's thrashing. "I'm happy for you—finding a path you want to follow already."
"You know which battalion you're going to join?" I asked, but she didn't answer right away.
I waited as she mulled it over.
"I've heard Vibrio Hawk and Viper Horn battalions will be arriving in a few days," I continued. "Is it one of them?"
Still, she remained quiet.
Then, after a moment of contemplation, she finally spoke.
"Maybe... I might join Rogue Raven Battalion. The same one Evan is in."
That caught me off guard. I stared at her, waiting for an explanation.
"I don't want to live my life just surviving on the warfront," she admitted. "I want to... live and see the beauty of this galaxy. Not just be the weapon I was designed to be. I want to go across the stars and witness all their wonders while I can."
Rogue Raven Battalion...
There were plenty of rumours about them, and not all of them were great. None of their members were known as heroes of justice, but it was true that Rogue Raven had the largest mission range, traveling to places all across the Nymphana Galaxy. If Firefly wanted to see more of the universe, there was no better battalion to do it with.
I was worried.
But if this was what Firefly wanted, then I'd support her.
"Okay," I said. "Just make sure to look after yourself. This choice... it's oddly fitting for you, don't you think?"
She chuckled, a soft, almost bittersweet sound.
"Yeah, I guess." Her gaze lingered on the water. "Rogue Raven is where the defective soldiers go. As a defect myself... I'll probably fit right in."
I had no doubt about that.
Still, I had a feeling this wasn't just about where she *fit*.
This was about freedom.