Kaizu continued leafing through the files with a practiced, mechanical pace. War. Piracy. Trade disputes. All the usual filth. But then something caught his eye one line, buried within a report from Sector 9.
A one-handed man sighted days before the riots.
He didn't flinch. Sector 9 of the 2nd Universe had always been volatile its systems overflowing with smugglers, war criminals, and backdoor tech traders. The Federation barely held a presence there. It was considered a grey zone an unspoken haven for illegal weaponoids and banned biotics. Strange figures were common.
But what made Kaizu pause was that he saw the same one-handed man again. A second mention. Another incident, another location. The timestamp was from an entirely different planet.
He blinked.
His eyes sharpened as he flipped between the two files. The man's presence overlapped with two riots, unrelated in surface motive, but now perhaps not in origin.
And then, Kaizu's gaze wandered slowly, unwillingly toward a file he hadn't touched since it arrived.
The Jaya Incident.
He hadn't opened it. Not fully, not since the image burned too deep, the clash between two beings whose power felt ancient and cruel. One, a dark cloaked destroyer whose very arrival fractured the Jaya moon's core. The other, something or someone equally strange, standing alone, defiant in the flames.
"Eternity Federation claims he's Butcher," Skye said quietly, without lifting her gaze.
The room felt colder.
Kaizu didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the Jaya file, not reading it, but staring at it, as if it might open on its own. As if some part of him already knew what was inside.
He leaned back and opened his internal mail terminal. Dozens of messages streamed in. Standard Federation reports, high priority alerts, interplanetary conference calls.
But one caught his attention.
Subject: Urgent Recall
Sender: Eternity Federation – Prime Tower
He read it silently. And then again.
Without a word, Kaizu turned the screen toward Skye.
"They've summoned me."
"Why now?" she asked. "What's changed?"
Kaizu didn't respond. He simply stood and muttered, "I'm leaving tonight."
Skye furrowed her brow. Something wasn't right. The way he avoided her eyes… it wasn't just urgency. It was fear, masked beneath command.
As Kaizu scrolled down the inbox again, a forgotten mail glared at him, two months old. Still unopened. He hesitated. Then tapped it.
It was from Aruky. The legendary scientist. Genius. The mind behind half of the Federation's weaponry and surveillance systems. Declared lost during Earth's Destruction.
This… was his last message, the file opened.
Skye noticed Kaizu's body freeze. His breathing slowed. She couldn't see the content, but whatever was in that message, it struck deep. His hands trembled slightly as he gripped the edge of the table.
The images, the writing, the final paragraph.
It shook him to his core.
Skye stepped forward, concerned. But before she could speak, Kaizu shut the screen and turned to her.
"I'm leaving immediately."
"You said tonight, what changed?"
Kaizu's eyes darkened. "Don't tell anyone I'm going to EF, not even command."
Skye stiffened. "You're not authorized to disappear without reporting. This could get us both"
"As you wish," she said softly, stopping herself. She understood the look in his eyes. He wasn't afraid for himself. He was afraid of what this meant for everyone else.
She turned to arrange a covert departure, her boots echoing against the cold floor.
Kaizu remained still. His eyes drifted to the mirror on the far wall. He stood, slowly, as if pulled by a gravity not his own, and approached it.
In the reflection, he didn't see the man he had become.
He saw a boy.
Young. Wide eyed, innocent. Staring back at him through decades of regret.
"Why..." Kaizu whispered. "Why are you back?"
His gaze dropped to the Jaya file now lying open on the table. The battle, the unknown figure and the destroyer. It was all returning.
And Kaizu didn't know if the universe was ready.
Later.,
The metallic corridors of the Federation outpost echoed with Kaizu's footsteps. He walked with the quiet authority that needed no announcement his coat swaying behind him like a banner of unshaken will.
A heavy rumble shook the floor. The landing platform ahead hissed with steam as a Federation shuttle touched down. Its surface was scorched from cosmic dust, but otherwise intact. The side hatch opened, and a small unit of soldiers stepped out, each one moving with the heavy fatigue of long-range survey duty.
"We found nothing, sir. Area's clear," one of them reported. His face was tight with exhaustion.
Kaizu gave them a slow nod, his gaze sweeping over the returning team. This was the third examination team sent to the Earth's remains. All they ever brought back were silence and the cold truth, there was nothing left to recover.
"Good work," Kaizu said, his voice calm but heavy with understanding. "Debrief and rest up. You've done enough."
The soldiers saluted in unison, then began dispersing down the hallway toward the barracks. All except one.
Kaizu's eyes caught it before he even turned fully around. A soldier, still as a statue. Helmet tucked under one arm, head bowed low. Syrus.
Kaizu paused.
He didn't need to ask. He already knew.
He walked toward him, each step echoing between them. Then, without a word, he placed a firm hand on Syrus' shoulder, a rare gesture of respect from the Captain.
"Good job," Kaizu said simply, then stepped past him, intending to leave it at that.
But behind him came the quiet voice.
"Can I request something?"
Kaizu halted.
Syrus didn't raise his head. "I want to be assigned to Operation Red Sun."
The hallway seemed to grow colder. Kaizu didn't turn. He simply stood there, his back to the young soldier. He understood everything behind the request. He understood the weight in Syrus' voice. The desperation. The shame. The reason, But he walked away.
A silent rejection.
Syrus didn't follow. He stood alone in the hallway, motionless, his request swallowed by silence. His grip on the helmet in his hand tightened. He didn't curse, didn't cry. He simply stood there, as if hoping the walls themselves would understand what the people around him didn't.
Operation Red Sun wasn't just a mission. It was the elite task force dedicated to locating and capturing Borarah. And no one had forgotten what Borarah was, what race he came from.
Syrus was Broxy.
To assign him to the operation meant placing a Broxy in the one division tasked with eliminating the galaxy's most feared Broxy. It didn't matter that Syrus had served with honor. That he had bled for the Federation. To them, his blood would always be the same as the enemy's.
He wanted to clean the black mark on his people. To show they were more than Borarah's shadow. But for now, the Federation's silence was louder than any denial.
Kaizu walked away, never once turning back.
And Syrus remained behind in the long, empty corridor just another soldier burdened by a legacy he didn't choose.