3 Days Later

— Mondia, Colyath 20, 8054 —

“Ugh… another boring day in class…”

“That’s just how it is,” Spike responded, only to yawn broadly a second later. “…Sure sucks, though.”

“No kidding…” Austin muttered, his head resting on his desk as he attempted to get just a little more sleep before the day’s classes. Mid-morning light shone through the classroom’s windows, brightly illuminating the room and the eight Earthian students sitting within.

“Not to mention, all we’re learning today is boring stuff,” Sky grumbled from her seat in front of Spike. “It’s all day, too…”

“Physics isn’t boring. There’s ‘physics’ in everything we do. It’s all around us,” Phoenix countered. “…But these all-day classes, every day, are definitely a bit much. It feels like we’re back in high school, not college…”

“Guess that’s just how Nimalians do things,” Conrad responded flatly while deeply slouched in his chair.

“At least this regular stuff is a walk in the park,” Pierce declared. “Physics, chem, math — this is easy. Last week’s test was a piece of cake!”

“Awww…” Austin groaned with displeasure. “Don’t remind me of the weekly tests…”

“If you actually paid attention in class and took notes, the tests wouldn’t be a problem,” Twy pointed out while tapping the open notebook on her desk. “Just face it, Austin — these tests are here to stay. The sooner you get used to them, the better.”

“And if you keep doing as poorly as you did last week, you’ll start having to do make-up classes,” Pierce said while passing Austin a taunting glance. “Do you really want to waste all your time in the classroom, dweeb?”

“No better motivation to do well on a test than the threat of more class time,” Conrad remarked.

“It’s also the kind of threat you give to high schoolers,” Phoenix insisted. “Where the hell is the college autonomy?!”

“You could just skip class,” Conrad suggested. “…Actually, why don’t I do that—“

Just as he moved to stand up, Kestrel placed her hand on his shoulder, gently holding him in his seat while giving him a level stare. Conrad responded with a sheepish laugh before laying his head on his desk in resignation.

“Skipping aside, I agree with Phoenix!” Sky exclaimed, jumping out of her seat to address the rest of the group. “If we’re going to be in class all day, then we should at least be doing Chaotic stuff!”

“I’ll be sure to take your complaint into consideration.”

“You finally showed up, teach,” Pierce remarked as Kaoné entered the room and approached the teaching pedestal.

“Yes, I apologize for my tardiness,” Kaoné replied, setting a small tablet down on the pedestal before glancing toward Sky and gesturing for her to sit down. “From what I’ve just heard, I understand that our schooling here seems more strict than what you have on Earth?”

“This is all pretty similar to our high school,” Twy said, “but students our age are usually in college, instead…”

“Which wastes a lot less time on classes,” Austin interjected.

“Maybe your dinky little school does,” Pierce countered, “but mine makes up for the ‘missing’ class time with a hell of a lot of coursework. That shit is a full-time job! Not even joking, they expect you spend 45 hours a week or more on that shit. Unless you’re a math major, I guess.”

“The hell?” Spike regarded Pierce with horrified confusion. “Why would you put up with that?”

“And you wonder why your grades were always so bad…” Twy muttered, shaking her head in disbelief at Spike’s remark.

“U.T. never had that much coursework, though!” Sky exclaimed.

Pierce made a show of shrugging dismissively. “What can I say? It’s the price of high-tier education.”

“That doesn’t sound condescending at all,” Conrad deadpanned.

“Says the guy who went to Berkeley,” Pierce shot back.

“Still a state school.”

“Ahem, anyways…” Kaoné loudly interjected, drawing the Earthians’ attentions back to her. “…I acknowledge that we’ve recently moved onto subjects that many of you don’t find as interesting as your Chaotic abilities, but again, you have to understand that this knowledge can still be incredibly helpful, both as you go about your personal lives and when you use your abilities. All Chaotics can benefit from a better understanding of the world around them and the laws that govern it — both physical, and otherwise.”

“I know, I know…” Austin grumbled. “Doesn’t mean it isn’t boring…”

“Unfortunately, you’ll just have to put up with that,” Kaoné replied, though she wore an apologetic smile as she did. “As is, I’m already running you all through an accelerated version of core. Normal students would cover in an entire two years what I’m teaching you this and next term. After that, we can move onto more interesting things!”

“Like Chaotic stuff?” Sky questioned.

“Well, we’re not ignoring your Chaotic training during all of this,” Kaoné pointed out. “You’ll still have those classes every term, as well as training with your weapons once a week. But we can discuss the details of the curriculum after class; for now, I’m afraid, we’re just wasting time. We should get started on today’s lesson…” Kaoné tapped the screen of her tablet a couple times, causing the artificial lights in the room to dim and a holographic whiteboard to be projected against the wall behind her. As she did, the Earthians — with varying levels of enthusiasm — flipped open their textbooks to the page indicated on the holographic whiteboard, prepared to begin yet another day of classes.

---

*

“Hey, Colonel. Long time, no see!”

“Missed us that much, eh, Captain?” Saito replied as he passed Captain Travis a smirk. The two men were standing upon the open fields of Compound Tresnon’s airport, with Travis flanked by Mark and Selind, and Saito backed by Hackett, Kirstin, and Danielle — all four of them with packed bags containing their clothes, weapons, and armor for a potentially extended stay.

“But…” Danielle glanced between Saito and Travis in confusion. “It’s been less than a month since we were last here?”

“That’s the joke, Danielle,” Hackett remarked.

“Oh…”

“Can’t say I expected to see y’all back so soon, though!” Selind exclaimed, stepping forward to give Saito a hearty slap on the back. “And the way y’all appeared in a flash of light, like that — that’s that beamin’ tech I’ve heard about, ain’t it?”

“That it is,” Saito replied.

“Must’ve come here by spacecraft, then, right?”

“We did, but it’s leaving orbit as we speak. SERRCom can’t afford to commit even a single Frigate, at the moment…” Saito glanced back at Hackett, Kirstin, and Danielle behind him. “To be perfectly honest, even the four of us are only here because the General doesn’t have anything for us to do.”

“Nothing? Really?” Travis questioned incredulously.

“Well, nothing until we find EA’s base. But I can fill you in more on that later.”

“So no spaceship to back us up, huh…” Selind mused. “That’s a damn shame. Or, I guess — I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. What’re you doin’ back, Colonel?”

“You were right with your assumption,” Saito replied. “We’re here to help out with the Bleeder problem, however we can.”

“I almost can’t believe what I’m hearin’. Outsiders, actually volunteerin’ their time to help?” Selind eyed Saito, her expression unreadable — as if she couldn’t decide to settle on joy, or suspicion. “I gotta ask. Are y’all expectin’ anythin’ back, for this?”

“Admittedly, if our recruits weren’t here, then we probably wouldn’t be, either,” Saito said. “Otherwise, SERRCom doesn’t really have any interest in Treséd. So our aid is no-strings-attached.”

“You’re gonna meet a lot of Tresédians who’re surprised by that, I’m sure! But I’m not about to complain,” Selind remarked.

“Is it really just the four of you, though…?” Mark questioned.

“Afraid it is,” Hackett replied.

“I tried to convince Mote and Kate to come along, but…” Danielle offered Mark an apologetic shrug. “…Well, you know how they are.”

“That’s a shame,” Travis remarked. “The two of them could’ve been incredibly useful, here. Honestly, though, I’m surprised Kate didn’t come along. Isn’t she always looking for fights?”

“Sh-she’s, um, d-doing research…” Kirstin replied.

“Yeah, Kate often overstates her desire for fights,” Hackett pointed out. “She always complains, so it’s hard to tell, but she really does like to spend a lot of her time in the lab.”

“I think she also thinks that the Bleeders aren’t an enemy worth her time,” Saito stated, only to pass Selind a wary glance. “Not to say that they aren’t a concern, of course.”

“Ha, no offense taken, here,” Selind said. “With a trained, modern military squad to help us — complete with all your gear, too, wow — the Bleeders might as well be yesterday’s concern!”

“I think you’re underselling the threat, a little…” Travis responded uneasily.

“Oh, I ain’t sayin’ that dealin’ with the Bleeders will be easy,” Selind countered. “But with y’all here, and Gavon, and Kaoné, too… this is the most aid Tresnon’s ever had from military-trained outsiders. Davídrius’s friends all have military backgrounds, too, but they’re all so busy, and never stick around for long. Aside from Kaoné, I guess.”

“I can’t promise that we’ll be around for long, either,” Saito replied. “As soon as SERRCom finds the base of one of our enemies, we’re pulling out. That could be in two months, or it could be in two weeks… either way, in the meantime, we’re here to help as much as we can.”

“In that case, let’s not waste any time,” Selind declared as she turned around and began leading the group out of the airport. “I’ll get y’all up to speed with the Defense Force’s activities here in Tresnon and the surrounding region, and we can work out how y’all fit into the guard schedule.”

“What about proactively going after the Bleeders?” Hackett asked.

“Don’t worry, we’re workin’ on that,” Selind remarked. “Davídrius is the one plannin’ our offensive strategies, but he’s been a bit busy with that, lately. I’ll try and setup a meeting with him to get y’all up to date on everythin’ we’re plannin’ against the Bleeders. After that…” Her gaze shifted to the hefty cases that Saito and Hackett carried, bearing their weapons and armor inside. “…Well, y’all certainly look like you can handle yourselves, so anythin’ you can do to hurt the Bleeders would be more than fine by me.”

“What about that girl the Bleeders kidnapped?” Danielle questioned.

Selind’s gaze lingered on Danielle for a second before she turned forward again, focusing on leading the group through Tresnon’s streets. “…We still don’t know for sure where the Bleeders took her. Or what they did with her… We’ve got a couple leads, but nothin’ concrete, yet. But we’re tryin’ our damn hardest to find her, you better believe.”

“We’re not about to doubt you, or your efforts,” Saito replied. “Let’s get on with that meeting, though, shall we?”

“Of course, Colonel,” Selind replied, continuing to lead the group to the Defense Force headquarters to prepare them for their time in Treséd.

---

— Friday, January 20, AD 2130 —

BOOM!

“Ngh—!” Mote grunted as he tumbled to the ground after being thrown across the room by an explosion’s shockwave. He quickly rolled back to his feet, his arms and legs wreathed in blue sparks as he carefully maintained his protective energy shielding — only to immediately dive to the left as a rocket emerged from the explosion’s smokescreen. Having missed Mote, the rocket sailed onward to slam into the shielded walls of one of Opportunity’s training rooms, exploding with a thundering rumble.

When the rocket hit the wall, however, Mote was already charging forward into the smoke. As soon as he did, he launched a fierce lightning strike toward the rocket’s source. He could sense his strike connect, but in that same moment, another explosion rocked the room, clearing out the smokescreen and launching Mote back across the room — and Kate toward the other side.

Both Chaotics easily caught themselves on the ground and instantly made to attack each other, with Kate fabricating a rocket launcher and firing at Mote while he blasted her with lightning. With lightning’s significantly faster travel time, Kate was forced to stagger backwards just as she launched her rocket, causing it to go wide; Kate then leaned into her stagger, though, whirling halfway around before transforming her rocket launcher into an explosive itself and detonating it, sending her flying across the room towards Mote. While a dangerous move that most opponents would likely double-take upon seeing, Mote remained unfazed by Kate’s actions, instead steadily watching her trajectory to dodge out of the way — all while blasting her with lightning strikes.

Three of the strikes found their mark on Kate’s shielded torso, but before Mote could fire off a fourth, Kate fabricated another set of explosives to her side and immediately detonated them, instantly altering her trajectory. This time, she caught Mote off-guard; before he could dive out of the way, she brought her foot down on his head, slamming into him with her crimson and golden greaves. The force of her kick floored him, but he quickly rolled to the side and summoned his battlehammer into hand just in time to bat away a grenade Kate had thrown at him. He then jumped to his feet — only for Kate to tackle him back to the ground, planting a massive chunk of C-4 explosive on his back while also attempting to pin him to the ground. In an attempt to free himself, Mote directed a burst of electricity into the C-4, detonating it and launching Kate off of him — though the explosion right on his back staggered him, as the force that would have created a crater in the ground was instead blocked by the room’s energy shields, and therefore had no where to go except Mote’s own protective shielding.

Nevertheless, Mote staggered back to his feet, once more wreathing his body in sparks in an attempt to keep Kate from planting any more explosives on him. Just as he went to search for Kate, however, she chucked a massive bomb at him, larger than a basketball. Mote immediately magnetically launched himself away from the bomb, but not before Kate detonated it from afar.

KRA-KOOOOMM

Blinding light and a deafening, thundering roar filled the room as Kate’s explosive blasted both herself and Mote against the far walls of the room, instantly overloading both of their protective energy shields. As the light from the explosion died down and Mote dropped to his knees, he could see that all of the energy shields covering the room’s walls were brightly flared — a sign of just how powerful Kate’s bomb had been. Mote released an annoyed sigh, and then called out, “alright, I’m calling it! That’s it!”

“Ha! Finally had enough?” Kate taunted from across the room, though even she was huffing and out of breath after the incredible explosive she had just detonated.

“More like I want to make sure this training room escapes intact,” Mote responded. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and then climbed back to his feet. “I knew us sparring was a bad idea…”

“Ah, don’t be a bitch about it,” Kate retorted. “Fighting is a great way to kill time!”

“If our fights didn’t present such a risk to the structural integrity of the space station, then I might agree with you. As is, if I wasn’t reinforcing my own energy shields, as well as the shields of the room, then that last bomb could very well have blown a hole in the Opportunity!”

“But it fucking didn’t. I only made a bomb that fucking powerful because I knew you could handle it, anyways, you whiny bastard.”

“Ugh…” Mote groaned in annoyance. “I’m still wary of your bombs. You tend to get carried away in fights.”

“You’re the one who detonated a bunch of fucking C-4 in my face,” Kate countered.

“After you put it on my back!”

“C’mon, I knew you could handle it.”

“Tch. I suppose this is why the Colonel bars us from sparring with each other. I’d almost forgotten…”

“Yeah, well that fucker isn’t here right now, so he can’t stop us!”

“You know that the Colonel isn’t the only person we answer to, right?”

Kate made a show of shrugging dismissively. “What-fucking-ever.”

Mote shook his head in disbelief. He then looked himself over, followed by glancing at Kate; the both of them were wearing workout gear — as well as her crimson and golden greaves, for Kate — which clearly demonstrated their toned musculatures, normally hidden by their thick outfits. And after sparring with each other for over an hour straight, they had both clearly worked up a sweat. “…Let’s call it here,” Mote declared, turning toward the room’s exit.

“Oh c’mon, it’s only been, what, an hour?” Kate remarked, but quickly chased after Mote anyways. “You tired already?”

“An hour of sparring like what we just did would tire anyone,” Mote countered. He then sniffed at the air before grimacing. “Not to mention that you really need a shower.”

“As if you don’t need one, too, you asshole. But you don’t see me talking about how much you fucking stink.”

“A rare show of restraint, from you.”

“Oh piss off, asshole.”

Mote side-eyed Kate, who had fallen into step beside him as they headed towards the locker rooms. “…I have to ask, though,” he commented, turning forward again while Kate began fanning herself with the collar of her shirt. “If you wanted to fight so badly… why didn’t you just go with the Colonel to Nimalia?”

“What, to that dusty shithole?” Kate scoffed. “Bitch, please. The last place I want to be is a fucking desert. Not to mention the Relaynet access there is shitty at best. And even if it was good, it’s fucking impossible to get clearance to remotely work on any of my projects while staying in that shitheap.”

“I see… so you really did remain here so you could work on your research?”

“Well, yeah, duh. Fighting isn’t the only thing I like doing, you know. Not that those Bleeder punks would’ve been much of a fight, anyways.”

“Mm…”

“What about you, though?” Kate turned to look at Mote straight-on, just as the two arrived at the locker rooms. Mote stopped as well, giving Kate a questioning look before she continued, “oh, don’t give me that, you daft asshole. I’m asking why you stuck around here. After all, you’re always whining about how the team got split up, and shit.”

“…Right…” Mote turned away from Kate, his brow furrowed. “…You are right. I don’t like how CSF-1 and the Eximius Vir were split up. I really would prefer if we went on missions together, as usual — we’re most effective, that way. But…”

“…But?” Kate prompted after a second of silence. “Don’t tell me you just hate Nimalians, or something.”

“Don’t be absurd. I don’t hate the Nimalians, or even dislike them. But… I just don’t understand why SERRCom keeps giving them things. We still have plenty of problems of our own. So why aren’t we focusing on them?”

“’Giving’? We don’t give the Nimalians shit. We ‘gave’ them Subspace Drives, sure, but that was in exchange for time at their fucking spacecraft foundries. You might think SERRCom’s fleet is tiny as shit now, but it’d be a tenth of the fucking size without that deal.”

“Okay… but what about the recruits? Or whatever the hell the Colonel is doing now?”

Kate shrugged. “I don’t fucking know. I couldn’t really give two shits about the recruits, anyways. As for this Bleeder thing… well, it’s all fucking stupid, but what else is new?”

Mote passed her a blank glance, only to then shake his head. “…Right. Still, nothing about this sits right with me. SERRCom needs to be able to do things on its own — it needs to be able to deal with its own problems before it starts worrying about others.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure thing, mister fucking nationalist,” Kate retorted.

“I’m not a nationalist,” Mote countered. “SERRCom isn’t even a nation—!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, what you need is a fucking distraction, something to take your mind off of this heavy shit. Something to cut loose with. Hell, if you let that stick up your ass work its way any deeper, then you’ll fucking impale yourself!”

“I don’t need to ‘cut loose’. That’s irresponsible.”

“That attitude is exactly why you need to cut loose. Damn. When did you turn into such a fucking stick in the mud?” Kate looked Mote up and down, only to shrug again and turn to enter the locker room. “Well, I’m going for a nice, hot shower, now. You should do the same, before your stinky ass smells up the whole fucking station!”

“I—! That’s my line…” Mote responded, though he lost steam halfway through. With an irritated sigh, he entered the locker room himself, ready to wash himself off and face whatever else the day might bring.