.
"Well, now what..?", asks Zarya, finding a chair to sit down on, and turning on her phone to type any ideas that may come to plan.
"Well, the Driftspace is getting stronger and stronger over time. I believe we should prepare for a major fight if we want to fight back the entities and slow down the spread of the virus.", says Rain. Vega quickly adds: "I will make sure to contact the UHC and tell them to put all their focus on Almatia and the Driftspace. This virus is a galaxy-level threat."
Vega and Asparion leave, and the Thread crew leaves to their base.
Rain decides to call Xita, and possibly try to work on "nuking the Driftspace".
"Hello? Xita?", says Rain.
"Yeah? What's up?", says Xita through the phone.
"Remember a while ago, when you nuked the machines on Kephar with the Thread's defense system?", asks Rain, hoping that the nuke system may work.
"Yeah. Anything wrong in Almatia? I don't see anything on the systems...", says Xita, checking the data bank and looking at the zoomed in cameras on the Thread.
"There's an inter-dimensional area called the Driftspace, and I want you to nuke it. I'll contact the UHC later to try and force the Driftspace to be accessible on your coordination system.", says Rain.
"...Are you sure..? This is a bad idea, you know.", says Xita, making sure Rain sees her immature side.
"..."
"... I... I do not know.", Rain feels hesitant, holding her chest, thinking about what can go wrong. "We could accidentally nuke Almatia and get the UHC against us..."
"I'll think about it. Take care now, Rain. Tell the rest of the crew they'll do well.", says Xita before hanging up.
".... I'm worried.", says Rain. "This is actually going to get out of hand. This... Driftspace thing. What if it engulfs the entirety of Almatia?".
Zarya hears Rain, and comes to hug her from the back. "Rainy... It'll be fine~"
Rain turns around, hugging Zarya back. "I hope so. This was dealt with before, but this seems very hard to do. If these monsters, which are very strong, are only its small minions, then what is the strength of the force itself???"
Zarya gives Rain a pat on her head. "Will playing a game calm you down? I do not know the answer myself, but you need something to calm you down. Aeternum and Mailen are away in the UHC area right now to prepare for the fight. Since the two of us can't go there due to us being easily prone to the virus, we can spend some alone girl time together!"
Zarya turns on her game station, and opens up a game. She hands Rain the controller, and they play the game together.
"Haha! 5-0! I win!", says Zarya, switching the game to something casual. Rain is smiling, enjoying her time. Zarya looks at Rain and just smiles.
Meanwhile, at the UHC Building, Mailen and Aeternum train their fighting.
Vega notes their fighting skills down, and notes down their weaknesses and strengths.
"Aeternum. Step here for a second.", says Vega, pointing to a lifted surface in the room.
Vega throws a pillow at Aeternum.
"You need to work on your avoiding more. That's your major weakness. For you, Mailen, work on defense. You can avoid attacks, but can't defend direct ones.", says Vega, putting down her notebook.
Mailen keeps fighting the test dummy on the max level, while Aeternum is being trained by Vega herself.
After a few hours, the crew reunites. Mailen and Aeternum are back at the house, and Rain and Zarya are playing games together.
"Hey, boys! Come join us! You know that time spent together increases mental strength, right?", says Zarya, grabbing two more controllers for Mailen and Aeternum.
Aeternum joins, but Mailen denies. "Sorry, Zarya, got to train physically more. I appreciate your invite though; we can play together tomorrow."
"Understood. Enjoy your practice! Take care!", says Zarya while going back to the game, losing to Rain due to her distraction. Zarya stares at Rain with an open mouth, showing shock.
Mailen steps outside, and sits down. "These monsters. They're genuinely strong. And without Zarya's help, we are absolutely cooked. She's much, much stronger than all of us combined, but she is the most prone to the infection. We'll need Xita's nukes for this."
Mailen calls up Xita.
"Xita? We'll need the Thread's nukes to fight against something in Almatia."
"Hmm. Yeah, Rain told me already. It's a really bad idea. However, if you guys have no other choice, we can try. Let's set a plan."
...
Mailen and Xita set a plan, and create a codeword for it that only Mailen can call.
Mailen goes to train his physical strength with his weapons.
Inside Mailen's heart, a small spark shows. His major setback – his care for friends. His love for Rain, Zarya and Aeternum as he spends time with them only keeps increasing. He does not want to lose them, and he wants to have a successful missions. "What I love is our insane determination. I really love it. But I hope that we survive this mission. I want to come back to Xita. I do not want to leave the Thread empty. I want to contribute to bringing peace and stability into the universe. That is why I joined the UHC and later the Thread. Please."
After a few hours, Mailen finishes and walks back in. He sees the crew asleep, with all of them holding controllers, and the game running. Mailen quietly closes the game, and sets the controllers aside. He puts a blanket over each one of his friends, then goes to make some tea in the kitchen.
He sits down, and opens his phone, reading some news. Then, he spots a new article popping up from the UHC in Almatia.
Without a second thought, he opens the article, and sees it's about the Driftspace. It reads as follows:
"== ALMATIAN NEWS – EARTH MONTH, DAY 1 ==
Driftspace deemed as unsafe by the UHC!
With its secrets discovered a few days ago by the UHC's Health Board, the members Vega, ranked 14, and Asparion, ranked 78, have deemed the Driftspace as unsafe. Mr. Asparion says that the Driftspace is a major mind-controlling memetic virus and that they're trying to get rid of it with the help of the Astral Thread. Whatever the future may bring us, will hopefully be a positive ending. May peace prospers throughout the universe.
== END =="
He thinks and decides to call Vega.
"Miss Vega? Yes, it's Mailen from the Thread. I have talked to a member of ours who's in the Thread, and I'd love to know if the Thread can nuke the inside of the Driftspace, to maybe close it off. ... . Okay. Got it. Thank you."
The next day, the crew wakes up, and decides that it's time for full on training.
"Alright. Is everyone here?", says Rain, looking around her. She sees Zarya and Aeternum here. "...Has anyone seen Mailen?"
"Nope. Maybe he's asleep. He was still training when we were asleep.", says Aeternum. "Let me take a look into his room."
Aeternum goes to check, and doesn't see Mailen there. "Girls! Mailen's missing!"
"What? Where did that goof go?", says Zarya, frantically turning her phone on and calling Mailen. He does not pick up. "Let me access his location. Give me a second."
"The locator shows he's in the UHC building. Let's go!", says Zarya, running into the car. "I'll drive."
"I thought minors couldn't drive...", says Rain.
"Nope. Outside the system, anyone above 16 can drive.", says Zarya, showing Rain her license: "...and I'm also licensed!"
"Alright, alright. Just get to Mailen as fast as possible.", says Rain.
The crew goes to the UHC building.
Aeternum, Zarya and Rain burst into the building, and into the room that Mailen's phone is in. They see Mailen and Vega together, alone. Mailen, completely sweaty, training and moving his sword like crazy. Vega, noting everything down. "Great job, Mailen. Please continue to do so. You and Aeternum are going to do this really well."
"..."
"Speak of the devil, look who's here. Mr. Aeternum, let's go. Chop, chop, quickly to the Driftspace.", says Vega as she leaves the room. Mailen brushes the sweat away with a towel, and starts running, grabbing Aeternum's arm. "Girls, stay here. Go find Asparion and prepare 'Code 12'."
Rain couldn't even spew out a sentence, and is just frozen. "What... the... did he just... no he didn't... Oh my gosh, this guy..."
Zarya calls Asparion and tells him that they'll go towards him to 'prepare Code 12', whatever it is. Asparion confirms and tells them to come.
Aeternum and Mailen, together with Vega, enter the Driftspace. They start fighting off monsters, while in the UHC building, Asparion calls a mysterious man. "I can't tell you who it is, but you two know him well."
"Preparation of Code 12 has begun. It will execute in 20 days. Make sure to recover as many people as possible before that. You have 13 Driftspace hours. Good luck."
Asparion tells Rain to leave, and tells Zarya the plan.
"Why does Rain not get to know the plan?", asks Zarya, worried for Rain, and the rest of the crew inside.
"Because... It will have to cause a sacrifice. One of us is dying soon.", says Asparion, trying to hold back tears. "I won't tell anyone who it is, but to execute the plan, someone needs to be in the Driftspace to transport the item to a coordinate. However, it's nobody from the Thread crew."
"... Got it. Rain will find out once it happens, right?", asks Zarya, trying to guess who it is, but getting no idea.
"Of course.", says Asparion.