Walking across the expansive hangar floor of the space station, I navigated through the rush of workers, stepping around hurried figures hauling crates, barking orders, and making last-minute adjustments to departing vessels. The sheer scale of the hangar was overwhelming—colossal metal beams arched high overhead, reinforcing the station's docking bay, while the distant hum of machinery and overlapping voices filled the air.
Ahead, the massive entrance of the hangar yawned open, revealing the warship docked just beyond. My destination—the Faraway in Winter, General Fenrir's personal vessel.
"Keep it moving! Get the cargo on now! We're already behind schedule!"
In the passage between hangars, the mutant KnightMare—secured within its towering 25-foot freezer container—was being carefully transported across the sleek black floor. Even with specialized gravitational stabilizers, its sheer weight dented the plating beneath it, sending faint tremors through the ground as it moved.
"Firefly!" A voice called my name, pulling my attention away.
I turned just in time to see Harry sprinting toward me, breathless yet grinning. "407—ah, Harry. How'd you know I'd be here?"
"Simple guess," he admitted, straightening and catching his breath. "Had a hunch it's where you'd be. Whew."
Then, with renewed determination in his eyes, he stood taller, his voice steady. "One day, I'm going to turn my Knight into a Constellation Knight. So that I can fight right next to you instead of running away—like on Sorfex. So wait for me. I'll save you when you least expect it!"
His conviction caught me off guard, but a small smile pulled at my lips. "I'll be waiting. May the Empress grace your travels, Harry."
"May the Empress flower your path, Firefly!" With that, he bolted off, disappearing beyond the hangar doors.
"...Hm? That's not—" I started, but he was already gone. "That's not the phrase..."
"Ooh. Looks like someone has a crush on you." I stiffened at the sudden voice behind me. Turning, I found Brigadier Verwin standing there, her arms crossed and a teasing grin on her face.
Not fully understanding what she meant, I frowned. "What do you mean, Brigadier?"
"What that boy said—that—is something only shared between fiancées before going off to war," she explained, an almost amused yet wistful tone in her voice. "It means, 'You're so beautiful, conflict will end with just your presence!' Or something like that. I wouldn't know—I've never had any such proposals."
A brief silence passed between us, a flicker of jealousy and longing flashing in her expression before she scoffed. "How lucky you are, missy."
I rolled my eyes, certain she was just trying to get a reaction out of me. There was no way Harry felt that way. Not about someone like me—a defective AKP. "Did General Fenrir already inform you that I'll be joining the escort?" I changed the subject.
"Tch! You're no fun for how cute you are." Clicking her tongue, Verwin started walking, and I followed. "And yeah, the general told me. The crew will be happy to have another CK on board, but to be honest, there's not much need for a defence force. We'll be leaving the Obscure Quadrant and heading toward the central systems for Helios Station. Nothing major should happen."
That caught my attention. My brow furrowed. "Not even in case insurgents try to capture the mutant KnightMare?"
"Sure, it's a possibility," she admitted, waving a dismissive hand. "But they're all busy a quadrant across the galaxy, fighting off two of the six Knight battalions suppressing them, plus the Noblesse Oblige legions. They wouldn't bother trying to snatch the KnightMare's body—they don't have the proper equipment to process its remains into Knight materials anyway."
I'd only recently learned about this: All Knights, even Constellation Knights, were manufactured using parts of slain KnightMares. They must've taught me this back in training, but it had slipped my mind—probably because no one ever explained what a KnightMare truly was. The higher the magnitude of KnightMare components used, the greater the chance of turning a standard Knight into a Constellation Knight—or constructing a Constellation Drive.
Though, strangely, it had been nearly 800 years since the last Constellation Knight was built... despite the fact that high-magnitude KnightMare slayings had skyrocketed in recent years.
Before I could dwell on it, Verwin grabbed my arm, tugging me along just as the massive hangar doors began sliding shut behind us. "Come on! The general told me to take you to him before dropping you off at your quarters."
We sprinted through the corridors of the Faraway in Winter, and I quickly noticed the ship's interior bore a striking resemblance to the Saint of Paradigm—just on a much grander scale. The corridors stretched longer, additional compartments branched off at every turn, and the general layout seemed expanded to fit its immense 3,000-foot length—three times that of a standard cruiser.
Upon reaching the bridge, Verwin greeted Fenrir with exaggerated enthusiasm. "General! I brought our special guest of honour, just like you asked~!"
Then, in a move that made my eye twitch, she latched onto my arm and nuzzled her head against my cheek.
Suppressing a groan, I struggled to pry her off. "Why do all the women I meet do this to me?" I muttered under my breath.
Fenrir, who had been dismissing another officer, turned toward us with a chuckle. "I'm surprised you actually made it on time. If Verwin was anything to go by, I half-expected you to oversleep and get left behind."
"General!" Verwin screeched, finally letting go of me in her flustered outrage. "Don't embarrass me in front of the newbie!"
Fenrir simply smirked and turned his attention back to me. "Firefly, your duties during this escort are simple: patrol the ship and check on the mutant KnightMare's containment between 9 PM and 6 AM. The rest of the time, you're free to do as you wish."
Verwin, still fuming, stomped her foot. "Don't just ignore me, either!"
Saluting, I responded, "Understood, General Fenrir. I'll be sure to inspect every crevice of the ship while under your command."
Just then, the bridge gave a faint tremor. Outside the viewing windows, I watched as the warship disengaged from Epsilon Station, beginning its slow departure into open space.
Fenrir glanced back at the navigation crew, his expression briefly sharpening before settling into his usual nonchalance.
Something about it made me pause. "...Is something the matter, General?"
He exhaled, flicking his cigarette. "Nothing big. Just old habits of distrust. Hard to shake, even for an old dog like me." Then, after a moment, his eyes lit up with an idea. "Here's an idea. Why don't you spar against the brigadier, hmm? I'd like to see just what the famed 'Fairy Knight' is capable of myself," Fenrir suggested, his tone unreadable.
"What?! No way!" Verwin scoffed, crossing her arms with a smug grin. "If I do that, I'm just going to end up breaking her spirit! Maybe in another hundred years, she can try once she's matured."
I met her gaze, unflinching. The thought had crossed my mind several times while I was recovering—especially regarding General Fenrir. He was said to be one of the strongest Constellation Knight pilots of this era. If I was to gauge my own standing, testing myself against his subordinates wouldn't be a bad start.
"I'm not opposed to a duel," I stated.
"Hah?!" Verwin reeled back, clearly annoyed. "Listen, cute stuff. You may have gotten lucky taking down those KnightMares, but I could kill a scrub like that with both eyes closed! And I don't want to ruin that adorable marshmallow face of yours. So let's just forget you ever said anything, hehe~."
She was drooling now, eyes gleaming with something unsettling—like she was imagining eating me. The way Freya had, over and over again.
Fenrir sighed, interrupting her strange fixation. "We can just use the VR cabin. No risk of injury, no real consequences. If even that fails to convince you, Brigadier... then I'm afraid I can only tell the crew that you're scared of your junior."
I caught on to his ploy and decided to press the attack. "Rumours like that would spread fast," I mused.
Verwin's posture stiffened. "...What?"
Fenrir continued, feigning concern. "That's right. Imagine how awful that would be for her reputation. A brigadier, backing down from a junior officer? First comes the demotion, then the ridicule from subordinates. Before you know it, they'd strip you of all your benefits. I hear even secret mug collections have been ejected into space for lesser offenses."
"Hah?!"
I delivered the final blow. "I've even heard of pilots being sold into slave contracts for shameful conduct. Refusing a junior's sparring request might just qualify as such. A lot of once-proud pilots ended up homeless that way."
"Seriously?!" Verwin was teetering on the edge.
"Rrr! Fine! After dinner! Seven o'clock in the VR cabin! The fight will be broadcast across the ship for everyone to see!" She stomped out of the bridge, her furious footsteps echoing in her wake. "Mark my words—you'll regret challenging me!"
As the door slammed shut, a sudden wave of nerves hit me. "...Was it alright to rile her up that much, General?"
Fenrir exhaled a cloud of smoke, smirking. "She won't cool off unless you beat her. But that was some good goading there, Lieutenant Firefly. Went right in tune with me. Did Traveler teach you that?"
"Ehe." I looked away, memories resurfacing against my will.
—"An ostrich impression? You're supposed to be a flying bug!"
—"Since when did lazy trees learn to speak? Fight back or get whipped."
—"Winners sprint! Not whatever that ugly dance is!"
I swatted away the echoes of his voice, reluctant to revisit them. "...I guess you could say I picked up some skills from him. Inadvertently."
"Uh-huh." Fenrir clapped me on the shoulder before turning me toward the door. "Go wander for now. Standing here worrying about it won't do you any good."
"Mhm. Y-yes, sir." I stepped out, the door sliding shut behind me. Alone in the corridor, I let out a small breath and murmured, "Andy, why do you think he did that?"
[Evaluation concludes: To provide you with experience, Pilot,] Andromeda's voice chimed in my ear. [You have extensive knowledge of fighting wild animals under Traveler's tutelage and have trained against AI simulations. However, your experience against 'real humans' and 'proper Knights' remains limited. The pirates you previously eliminated were unorganized and inadequate as combatants. The mutant KnightMare was your only significant encounter thus far.]
I nodded, processing the logic. "So you think General Fenrir is trying to help me by having me fight Brigadier Verwin?"
[The probability weighs at 94%. The remaining 6% accounts for General Fenrir's potential amusement. Based on his behavioural patterns, this is not outside the realm of possibility.]
That sounded about right.
I walked down the corridor, mulling over Fenrir's reasoning. If he was still trying to recruit me into his battalion, this seemed like a roundabout way to do it. Then again, even if I never joined, we would still be competitors for military achievements in the future.
That man's head must be a strange place to be inside of.
***
"General, the spar between Brigadier Verwin and Second Lieutenant Firefly is about to start," an officer reminded.
My gaze lingered on the frozen corpse of the KnightMare encased in its containment unit, its monstrous form preserved in icy stillness. A mutant... something unheard of.
"Ah, is it?" I finally pried my eyes away. "Let's go, then."
As I stepped out of the vault, the officer who had come to fetch me followed closely. "What were you doing in there for so long, sir?"
"Just admiring our new junior's handiwork." I exhaled a small laugh. "It's rare for a newly released Constellation Knight to take down a KnightMare of magnitude 5.0. And a mutant, no less. Hah! The highest Verwin's ever slain is a 6.0-magnitude. This should be an interesting spectacle."
"The number of KnightMares has increased again this year, but a mutant appearing is unheard of," the officer muttered as we made our way down the iron corridor. "Right now, the battalion's just relieved that most of the ones we've encountered have been lower in grade—manageable enough for an average Knight to handle with some difficulty."
Noticing him absently picking at his nails against his trousers, I sighed. "Relax, George. Your bad habit's showing again. We don't have any combat assignments for another three weeks."
"Sorry, General." He quickly straightened, clasping his hands behind his back.
I let his slip go, my mind turning over his words. Dream Swarm had been behaving strangely these past few years. More KnightMares appearing than ever before, their patterns shifting—it was almost as if they were preparing for another Great War. And that mutant... It was proof they had already begun.
Ahead, a raucous crowd filled the hallway outside the VR cabin.
"Hey, hey! No pushing!"
"Come on, I want to see! Stop being tall!"
"General on the floor!" someone shouted.
The chatter died instantly. The moment I stepped into the packed hall, dozens of officers snapped to attention, saluting as they parted to make way.
"Greetings, General Fenrir, sir!" they bellowed in unison.
"At ease. Take your seats and get comfortable."
Striding to the back of the cinema-like hall, I surveyed the three massive screens displaying different angles of Firefly and Verwin standing off in the virtual arena. Their Constellation Knights had yet to enter combat mode.
"Looks like I made it just in time."
"Yes, sir," a soldier confirmed. "They both just entered the VR cabin."
I sank into my seat with a groan, pulling my cigarette from my lips. For now, I simply watched, considering the match before me.
On paper, Firefly's Andromeda had a clear advantage. Its heat manipulation could burn or freeze an entire area—an adaptable, deadly arsenal. In contrast, Verwin's CK, Lepus, had far more limitations in its weaponry. Less destructive, less versatile. A liability.
But that was if Verwin was still a greenhorn.
She had twelve years of combat experience under her belt, battle-hardened from skirmishes with the insurgents in the Greyrot Quadrant of the galaxy who had somehow excavated old Constellation Knights. Verwin had faced veteran pilots. She wouldn't be caught off guard just because of her pride as a Seraphim-rank operator.
Firefly, on the other hand... was fresh. Very fresh. The only real factor that could keep her from being taken out in the first minute was whatever Traveler had drilled into her during his so-called training.
That man... Even now, two decades later, I could still recall our first meeting during the Empress's rise to power. An unfathomable force. A presence so overwhelming, it had felt like the eye of a leviathan was watching me from the abyss. And yet, all he did was protect the princess from the former emperor's Royal Guard.
To this day I still doubt if he is even human at his core after witnessing what he did next.
The emperor, in his madness, ordered a warship to crash into the capital. I remember it. I remember watching the sky burn, the ship's descent unstoppable. And I remember how Traveler stopped it. Even now, recalling it, it still makes no sense.
So, show me, Firefly. Did Traveler pass on his ability to create miracles? Or did he leave you with nothing at all?
Unless... Could he have let you create something all your own?