The Next Day

“Sorry, say that again? You want to what?”

“Uh… go see a vieh?” Danielle uneasily looked at the rest of the Eximius Vir before turning back to Saito. “Or are you asking what a vieh is?”

“No, I know that part. It’s some kind of holographic TV or something,” Saito replied, and then took a bite out of the meat-filled pastry that was his breakfast. While chewing, he glanced around at the table before him: Hackett sat to his left, and Mote to his right, while Kate, Danielle, and Mark sat across from them. All four of the Eximius Vir were dressed just as casually as they had been the previous day, and the two officers had exchanged their uniforms for casual outfits as well: a black baseball cap, purple t-shirt, and jeans for Hackett; and a black leather jacket with jeans for Saito. Further contributing to the casual atmosphere was the soft clinking of dinnerware and muffled conversation of a small breakfast diner, allowing the Earthians to eat their first meal of the day in relative peace while overlooking the vast skyline of Telsinoka.

After idly looking out the window for a second, Saito swallowed his food and returned his attention to Danielle, remarking, “the four of you went to see a vieh yesterday, didn’t you? Why do you want to do it again today?”

“What else is there to do?” Mote questioned.

“What— what else?!” Saito responded incredulously, stopping just short of taking another bite of his pastry. He then lowered his hand as he passed Hackett an exasperated glance, who responded with a resigned shrug of her shoulders. The Colonel then turned back to the Eximius Vir, commenting, “you all realize we’re on an alien planet right now, right? The Homeworld of the Nimalian Union — hell, this city is the capital city of Nimalia’s most technologically advanced nation, and the seat of the Union government! Just think of all there is to see, here! And you want to just go watch a movie, instead?!”

“It’s a ‘vieh’, not a movie,” Kate snarked.

“Truly the most meaningful of distinctions,” Hackett replied dryly.

“…I don’t understand your point, sir,” Mote said while giving Saito an uncertain look. “We’re just visitors, not tourists.”

“I almost can’t believe you said that with a straight face,” Saito responded. “Look, Mote. Our duties on Nimalia are over. We don’t need to go back to Tresnon — for the time being, at least — and the Major and I don’t have any meetings to attend, here. We have three whole days to spend in this city before we have to return to Earth.”

“…So?”

“So we should take advantage of that! Immerse ourselves in an alien culture while we still have the chance!”

“But we did that yesterday…” Danielle replied warily.

Saito stared at Danielle incredulously. “By seeing a single ‘vieh’?!”

“We were a little aimless, yesterday…” Mark admitted.

“You have to be kidding me,” the Colonel responded, looking at each of Mote, Kate, Danielle, and Mark before turning to elbow Hackett. “Major, what we have here is an emergency.”

“I can see that, sir,” Hackett replied with a smirk, though her eyes seemed to be elsewhere — distracted by an AR display that only she could see. “I’ve been looking up local events or sights-to-see while you were talking.”

“Really? We’re actually gonna do the whole fucking tourist thing?” Kate questioned.

“We absolutely are,” Saito declared. “Damn. Just how little free time do you all get that you can’t even imagine being a tourist?! …Don’t answer that,” he quickly amended as everyone at the table gave him a level stare. “Still. Hackett, I think we fucked up somewhere back when we were training and taking care of them.”

“You don’t say,” Hackett drawled.

“You did perfectly well, taking care of us when we were young,” Mote refuted. “We’re only as strong as we are today due to your training.”

“If all you got out of the last twelve years of your life was ‘training’ then I fucked up even worse than I thought!” Saito exclaimed, and then turned towards Hackett again. “Forget emergency, this is a crisis! Major! What did you find?”

“There’s a few spots we could visit,” she replied. “But today, Aldredath 32nd, seems to be special for the Nimalians. For them, it’s the ‘Memorial of Dependence’ — the anniversary of the beginning of the first Chaos Energy Quake.”

“You mean… the one from before we were born?” Danielle asked.

“The very same. The Quake of ‘88. Even I barely remember it.”

“I thought the Quake started in July? It’s only December, right now…”

“We’re on a different planet,” Mark explained. “Nimalia’s year is five days shorter than Earth’s, so our calendars don’t align, and yearly events for them happen more frequently than yearly events on Earth.”

“The anniversary of the first Chaos Quake, though…” Mote muttered. “…What’s significant about it?”

“The Quake was a life-changing event for many people,” Saito pointed out. “On Earth, it mostly manifested as a chain of devastating natural disasters, but everywhere else in the galaxy, it was arguably worse. The galaxy runs on Chaos Energy, after all, so suddenly having to go for a year without — with no warning — was a lot of trouble.”

“That seems to be why it’s called the Memorial of Dependence,” Hackett added. “The Nimalians use today to remember everyone who died during the Quake, as well as think on the fact that our modern galaxy is so heavily dependent on a resource that we barely understand.”

“That’s somber,” Mark observed. “I almost feel that enjoying ourselves today in the face of that would be disrespectful…”

“Not any more than Americans who open up the grill on Memorial Day.”

“The fact that today is a Nimalian holiday is even more reason to go out, not less,” Saito declared. “If they respect their own holiday as much as Hackett’s description suggests, then we’re sure to learn even more about them.” The Colonel then swept his gaze across the Eximius Vir again. “Come on, you all need to learn to think like tourists! It’s never disrespectful to want to learn about another culture! In fact, you guys can even take part — for today only, I bar the four of you from using your Chaotic abilities!”

“What?!” Mote and Kate exclaimed in unison.

“That’s bullshit!” Kate immediately added.

“I think it’s a neat idea, actually,” Mark commented. “It’s a way for us to partake in the Nimalians’ own holiday.”

“Says the guy who can’t turn his powers off.”

“Relax, Kate. You shouldn’t be blowing anything up today, anyways,” Saito pointed out. “Just don’t think about work, and you’re good to go!”

“What if I don’t want to?” Kate countered.

“Too bad, Lieutenant! Today is vacation day! You guys can do whatever you want tomorrow and the day after, but today, we’re going exploring!” Saito then stood up, prompting Hackett and Mote beside him to do the same. “Major! Give me, oh, the top four or five things to see in Telsinoka! Everyone else, let’s get going! We have a whole day to burn!”

---

*

“It really is true… most of Nimalia’s nations are ruled by monarchs.”

“Well, it isn’t quite that simple,” Mark refuted, passing Mote a quick glance before looking up at the display in front of them, featuring an annotated map of the world of Nimalia. “Nimaliaka, East Nimaliaka, Relédiaka, and Riverana all have Archonés, but their level of power and influence in each nation is drastically different.”

“Hmm…” Mote merely grunted in response as he focused on reading one of the notes on the display in front of him. He was surrounded on all sides by various displays, many featuring maps, models of government buildings, or depictions of old and current rulers of Nimalian nations. Such was the Museum of Nimalian Political History, located in the bottom floors of the Center of Tekdecé — the massive skyscraper standing in the center of Telsinoka.

“Uuuuggggh…” Kate groaned in abject boredom, her hands in her pockets as she glanced impatiently between Mote and the map display. She then passed Major Hackett an irritated look. “Really? A fucking museum?”

“Reviews say that this museum has a pretty comprehensive catalog of all of Nimalia’s different forms of government and ruling leaders,” Hackett replied.

“And I, for one, appreciate this diversion,” Mote interjected, glancing toward Kate out the side of his eye before returning his attention to the display. “Museums are important and valuable institutions, particularly for learning. I regret not thinking of visiting here, myself…”

“Figures that you, the fucking bookworm, would say that,” Kate retorted.

“The information here is still pretty interesting, I’d say,” Mark commented, and then pointed up at the continent-nation of Tekdecé on the world map. “For example, while Tekdecé is the only Nimalian nation not ruled by a monarch, it’s still long been the most technologically advanced. I think that’s interesting.”

“…I don’t get it,” Danielle replied.

“Something something ‘democracy good, monarchy bad’,” Kate snarked.

“Unironically, yes,” Mote insisted as he passed Kate a disapproving look. “The circumstances of one’s birth is hardly enough of a qualification for… well, anything. It’s your own abilities, your own skills that matter — not what’s in your blood.”

“My, I’m so surprised to hear that you think that!” Saito quipped.

“I’m being serious, here…”

“The fact that you think ‘democracy’ is the same thing as ‘meritocracy’ is a pretty fucking serious issue,” Kate deadpanned.

“Ideally, they should be the same,” Mote shot back.

“But… you’re basically saying that Tekdecé is a democracy, then?” Danielle questioned, glancing cluelessly between Mark and Mote. “Like America?”

“There are more forms of democracy than what the United States uses,” Saito quickly pointed out. “Hell, technically, the Emperor of Japan is still our head of state, but they can’t actually do anything; the role is entirely ceremonial. The part of our government that matters is elected.”

“That said, Tekdecé’s government does bear some striking similarities to the U.S.’s,” Mark commented. “The biggest difference seems to be that their Sidonté — the elected head of state, basically their president — has full control over the military at all times, including the ability to declare wars.”

“Really? That’s a lot of power…” Hackett mused.

“I think the rest of Nimalia knows that. When they created the Nimalian Union nine years ago, they split control of the NSD between the Union Sidonté and the Liépen.”

“Liépen…?” Danielle questioned.

“It’s the Nimalian proper noun for a powerful elected legislature,” Mote explained. “Think Congress, or Parliament.”

“And how long has that worked out for them?” Kate challenged.

“The Union has only existed for nine years, it’s too early to say.”

“Tekdecé’s government, however, seems to have existed for over a thousand years…” Mark commented. “Apparently, shortly after the Nimalians opened their Transpace and discovered FTL travel, there were a series of unification wars and deals that created the continent-nations that we know today — that’s when the nation of Tekdecé was formed, and it’s existed ever since. Tekdecé was effectively founded in Nimalian year 6915… for reference, the current Nimalian year is 8054.”

“So… when was 6915, for us?” Danielle questioned.

“Around year 1007,” Kate replied idly.

“Wow… that’s a long time ago!”

“Earth is the newest member of the galactic community,” Saito pointed out. “And before us, the Nimalians were the newest. So you can imagine just how old the Syraus, or the CSA are!”

“Over a thousand years since their unification wars, though… have the nations of Nimalia really not changed at all in that time?” Hackett questioned.

“No,” Mote replied. “East Nimaliaka and Relédiaka both were part of Nimaliaka after the unification wars… they only got their independence several hundred years later, in 7352 and 7395, respectively.”

“That’s still quite some time ago…”

“And a baffling move, to me. They replaced the government of Nimaliaka with something inferior,” Mote declared. “Nimaliaka may have an Archoné, but they have an elected Sidonté, as well, and either one is legally able to depose the other with a super-majority vote of the legislature and the sacrifice of their own position. So there’s recourse for the average Nimaliakian citizen to remove an Archoné they don’t like. East Nimaliaka and Relédiaka, however, modeled their governments after Riverana — a parliamentary monarchy with a powerful Archoné and a Liépen. I don’t understand why their citizens would throw away their rights, like that…”

“Likely has less to do with ‘rights’ and more with the fact that Relédiakian and East Nimaliakian culture is too different from Nimaliaka for them all to be ruled by one federal government,” Mark responded. “Just look — all three nations are the size of continents! I wouldn’t be surprised if a Relédiakian down in Lédia felt that a government based in Nimaliaka Central didn’t represent them. They aren’t even in the same hemisphere!”

“For Relédiaka, perhaps, but what about East Nimaliaka? If their culture truly was that distinct from Nimaliaka, then surely they’d have picked a different name. I just don’t understand…”

“Surprised to hear you, of all people, care so much about fucking democracy,” Kate retorted. “You love authority!”

“Just because I understand and appreciate the value of the chain of command in a military doesn’t mean that I want to live under an autocrat,” Mote countered.

“It’s all the same, with SERRCom.”

“That aside…” Saito muttered, having stepped up to the display himself to take a closer look at the notations around Riverana. “…It says here that the Riveranian Archoné is considered to be the most powerful of all Nimalian Archonés. But Archoné Culana is always going on about how little power he has…”

“Ah, there’s a caveat, there,” Mark readily explained. “Riverana’s Archoné has full and final say over the government’s activities, but they don’t actually control the military. In fact, by Riverana’s own constitution, their government can’t have a standing military — an amendment added after they got rid of a tyrannical Archoné over a thousand years ago. Instead, Riverana contracts its military activities out to a private military contractor, and that PMC answers entirely to Riverana’s Liépen. So while in theory, Riverana’s Archoné has full say over the government, in practice, the elected legislature and the military they contracted can just ignore the Archoné — and there isn’t anything the Archoné can do about it.”

“That doesn’t sound like it would cause problems at all,” Kate remarked sarcastically.

“Truly a bizarre decision, to constitutionally outsource their military to a PMC,” Mote said. “I don’t understand the Nimalians, sometimes…”

“I don’t really understand any of this…” Danielle muttered, and then gestured toward the beige continent that was Treséd on the world map. “What about Treséd? The map here doesn’t really say anything about them…”

“Yeah, there actually isn’t much on Treséd at all, in this museum…” Mark commented. “What little I could find earlier said that Treséd used to be a valid continental government after the unification wars, something like a confederation of city-states with a weak federal government. But their lack of resources left them poor, and the vastness of the wastelands made them an attractive hideout for international and interstellar smugglers and criminals. Between the rise of crime and the lack of resources, the federal government of Treséd collapsed in 7519… over five hundred years ago. And since Treséd has so little of value to offer, the other Nimalian nations simply didn’t bother to try propping the government up… Many of the Compounds that exist today are remnants of the city-states that used to rule the continent.”

“Wait. You’re saying the entire fucking continent was a wasteland before the government collapsed?” Kate responded incredulously.

“From what I could piece together, yeah. Nothing in this museum explained when Treséd became a wasteland, or if it was always like that…”

“It’s surprisingly hard to find anything on the Relaynet, as well,” Hackett added, her eyes zipping back and forth as she read text off her AR display. “As far as I can tell, it seems like Treséd has always been a wasteland.”

“Weird…” Danielle replied. “…That is weird, right?”

“We are on an alien planet,” Saito pointed out. “Maybe things just work differently on Nimalia. Besides, it isn’t like Earth doesn’t have a continent-sized desert of its own. Just look at Australia!”

“Australia is smaller than Treséd,” Mote countered, “and has much more life. Treséd, meanwhile, seems to be truly a continent-sized desert wasteland, with little life or water outside of the two lakes. It certainly seems odd, to me.”

“What seems odd to me is how much you all are thinking about that shithole,” Kate retorted, turning to look incredulously at each of the other Earthians. “Maybe this shitty museum has really gotten to you guys, huh? Fuckin’ hell.”

“Just because you don’t enjoy it here doesn’t mean that no one can,” Mote argued.

“No, but we have been here for nearly an hour,” Saito pointed out. “As much as I enjoy the occasional museum visit, myself, I’m starting to get restless, too. We still have more places to visit, after all.”

“So we’re leaving?! Fucking finally!” Kate exclaimed as the Colonel turned and began leading the group away from the display. “I was bored out of my fucking mind in here!”

“I’d think that the Intellitechnic among us would be most interested in learning new things,” Mote challenged.

“When those things are interesting, sure. Fucking politics isn’t it.”

“Don’t be ignorant. Politics is very—!”

“Alright, now, let’s cool it off,” Saito interjected, only to pass Hackett a knowing smirk. “…You know, actually, I think I know just the place for the two of you to work out your differences. Major?”

“I know just what you mean, sir,” Hackett replied as she took the lead. “Everyone, follow me!”

---

*

“Ha HA! Suck it, fuckwad!”

“That win was entirely luck,” Mote retorted with a scowl. “If this was anything like real flight, then that shortcut should’ve worked.”

“Which one of us has spent the most time working on SERRCom equipment? And thus knows the most about spacecraft flight profiles? Hmm??” Kate passed Mote a smug grin. “Just suck it up, you fuckin’ lost.”

Mote responded only with an annoyed grunt as he turned back to face the tiny arcade simulator in front of him, featuring a harness and joystick setup not dissimilar from that found in fightercraft and other small space-capable vehicles. All around him were a handful of other such harnesses, all gathered under a colorful orange sign reading “Solar Space Racers” — one of the many games present in Telsinoka’s Prime Union Arcade, considered to be the largest and most advanced arcade on Nimalia. With massive hidden servers, the Prime Union Arcade’s primary selling point was the ability to render lifelike graphical scenes and transmit those graphics to arcade-goers’ AR implants with latency so low that the human mind couldn’t detect it, allowing for far more detailed scenes and games than a typical AR implant could render on its own. The Eximius Vir didn’t have AR implants, so they had to make due with loaner AR glasses from the arcades; Saito and Hackett, on the other hand, were freely able to connect to the arcade’s graphical servers for the full experience.

“…Urgh,” Saito grimaced as he pulled away from one of the harnesses next to Mote, taking a second to disconnect his AR implants from the arcade’s servers. “That is some incredible tech, there’s no doubt about that…” the Colonel commented while eying the harness uneasily, his voice raised to be heard over the general crowd noise of the arcade, “but there’s something supremely disorienting about seeing yourself flying a fightercraft through space at breakneck speeds, and yet feeling your body just sitting comfortably in an unmoving chair…”

“Really? I thought it was a lot of fun!” Danielle remarked from the harness next to Kate.

“I’m glad you think that… but I’m with the Colonel,” Hackett responded as she removed herself from the setup as well. “It’s weird, I’ve never had problems with spacecraft movement before, even though all the spacecraft we’ve been on have inertial dampeners…”

“SERRCom’s inertial dampeners — the ones by ship windows, anyways — don’t actually cancel out all g-forces, by design,” Kate readily explained. “We leave behind just enough g-force so you can feel the ship move and not have your brain throw a fucking fit, but not enough to actually make you go splat.”

“How reassuring,” Saito deadpanned.

“It should be. The Nimalians don’t even leave any of the momentum behind, they zero it all out! That shit is fucking sickening.”

“Explains why the seats don’t move at all, then, I guess,” Hackett commented while patting the padded seats. As arcade equipment went, the seat didn’t look cheap at all — it was cushioned all over, and even offered lumbar support. Carefully aligned and calibrated energy shielding completely cleaned each seat after use, allowing them to maintain a pristine state even after a day of heavy use by the public.

“It seems that we’re done here, though…” Mark said as he stood up from his harness. “Are there any other games that—?”

“Speak for yourself,” Kate interjected, and then elbowed Mote while offering him a challenging smirk. “I’ve only won the one race! To really get the fucking win against this asshole, I need one more victory!”

“You’ve already lost to me once — don’t get mad when you lose again,” Mote replied as he re-gripped the joystick.

“Hey, I want in, too!” Danielle quickly grasped her joystick, ready to join the race. “This stuff is really fun! Flying through space like this… I should turn into fightercraft more often!”

“If a mission ever calls for it,” Saito replied.

“Hey, what happened to not thinking about work?” Kate retorted, passing Saito and Danielle both an annoyed look. “Now, any of you other assholes joining this race?”

“Don’t refer to your superior officers as ‘assholes’,” Mote admonished.

“Yeah, yeah, fuckin’, whatever. Are you guys in, or what?”

“No thanks. We’ll… watch,” Hackett answered wearily.

“As will I,” Mark replied with a sheepish smile. “I’ve never really been all that good at these games…”

“Aw,” Danielle responded.

“Don’t worry, Mark,” Mote asserted, “I’ll win this next one for you.”

“Bullshit! I’m about to turn you into a planet-sized smear!” Kate declared. “Eat my fusion torch exhaust!”

“…Right. Good luck, both of you…” Mark commented, watching Mote and Kate with bemused amusement as they started up another race.

---

*

“Aw, c’mon, Mote! It’ll be fun!”

“Fun for you, and Kate, I’m sure,” Mote responded flatly, passing a quick glance toward Kate before turning back to Danielle. “But my answer is the same as yesterday: no, I’m not interested.”

“Just leave the boring bastard alone, Danielle,” Kate insisted as she readily stripped down to her crimson underwear. “We can enjoy the water just fine without him!”

“Well…” Danielle’s attention lingered on Mote for a second, only for him to gesture toward the water’s edge.

“I’ll be fine in the shade,” he insisted. “Don’t worry about me. Go enjoy yourself.”

“…Alright. If you say so,” Danielle replied reluctantly, but then turned around to chase after Kate into the cool waters of Telsinoka’s reservoirs, joining a number of Tekdecénians enjoying themselves in the water under the warm midday sun.

Mote watched the two run off before sitting down on the grassy ground and resting his back against one of the trees in Telsinoka’s southwestern Reservoir Park. Large, old-growth trees with vast branch networks offered expansive shade from the sun, as well as enough of a cover from the surrounding skyscrapers that Mote could almost believe that the park was located in a small suburb. The one obvious visual aspect of the city that remained was the massive reservoir of water not too far from where Mote was sitting, and the line of shining metal and glass buildings that could be seen across the water. In shallow waters themselves were what Mote guessed to be hundreds of people enjoying the water; while Telsinoka’s reservoir’s primary purpose was to store and serve water to the city, certain segments of the reservoir had been purposely designed for swimming, with shallower bottoms and protective gratings to prevent hapless swimmers from getting sucked into the deeper end of the reservoir — where the actual water pipes serving the city were connected.

“Mm… this is actually pretty good!”

Mote glanced to the side, where he spied Saito, Hackett, and Mark sitting at a nearby park table. On the table were Kate’s discarded clothes and a number of brown bags containing the group’s lunches; Saito was readily digging into his own, which appeared to be a fried meat patty wrapped in a sturdy, crunchy leaf, not too visually dissimilar from lettuce.

Upon seeing this, Mote grabbed his own bag and opened it up to peer inside. He found the same meal as Saito’s, accompanied by a bottle of water and package of some kind of silver paste in a long tube that was cool to the touch. With a wary frown, Mote grabbed the wrapped meat and stared at it for a second, contemplating whether or not he really wanted to eat it.

“Go on, Mote. I think you’ll like it!”

Mote glanced toward the table again, only to find that Saito was looking right at him. “…Are you sure?” he questioned warily.

“Yeah. It’s good!” the Colonel readily replied, and then took another large bite out of the leaf-wrapped meat. After chewing and swallowing, he remarked, “the meat tastes kinda like… hmm, what is it…”

“Chicken, sir?” Hackett asked with an amused smirk.

“No. Tastes like beef, actually,” Saito responded. “The leaf itself is a little flavorless, but it adds a good, solid texture. And then there’s some kind of sauce in here… eh, I’m not too good at describing flavors, but it’s kind of sweet and spicy.”

“The leaf wrap holds everything together much better than I expected, I must admit,” Mark commented. “Almost like a tortilla… but with the texture profile somewhere between lettuce and tomato. Actually, now that I say that…” Mark passed Mote a glance. “This… ‘Leaf-Wrap’, as it’s called, is actually a little similar to a taco, or a burrito. I know you like those.”

Mote eyed Mark warily, but then returned his attention to the Leaf-Wrap in his hands. He held it up to his nose and took a quick sniff; a fresh, beef-like smell reached his nostrils — a safe enough smell, in his book. With nothing else to it, he finally took a bite, chewing slowly to investigate the taste… and after a second, he offered a slight nod of approval. “I have to admit… it isn’t bad,” he remarked after swallowing. “It could do with being a little spicier, though.”

“If it were up to you, everything would rank over 20 thousand on the Scoville scale,” Saito retorted. “Sometimes, Mote, the best way to spice things up is to not use any spice at all!”

“Hmm, I’m not so sure,” Mark commented. “Even just a little salt and pepper can—“

“Oi, oi, don’t take me so literally!” the Colonel shook his head in disbelief.

“It really is a good thing we decided to take it easy today, isn’t it?” Hackett said, glancing between Mote and Mark as she did. “You both really need to rest.”

“’Taking it easy’ would be spending the day inside, reading a good book,” Mote countered.

“Ah, classic Mote,” Saito replied. “Why don’t you join Kate and Danielle in the water? I think it could do you some good.”

“…Maybe if I had brought a swimsuit.”

“Sheesh. Figures you’d say that. Oh well, I won’t force you. Still, though…” The Colonel shifted his attention to the waters, which were filled like a popular beach during summer break. He then remarked, “there sure are a lot of people in the water. Isn’t today supposed to be a weekday, on the Nimalian calendar?”

“Maybe Tekdecénians like to take a dip during their lunch break,” Hackett suggested.

“I think it’s because of the Fall Break,” Mark answered. “If regular schools follow the same schedule as the Schools of Chaos, then students won’t have any classes until the beginning of next week.”

“I was wondering why all the swimmers looked so damn young…” Saito muttered.

“Feeling old, sir?” Hackett cheekily prodded.

“Please. I’m not even 50.”

“You will be next year, though.”

“Oi… don’t remind me.”

Mote blankly watched the two officers banter before shifting his attention back to the reservoir. A few dozen meters back from the waters as he was, he couldn’t quite pick out Kate or Danielle from the crowd. “…So everyone in the water is around our age, then? Now I’m concerned…”

“Mote? Showing concern for Kate? Damn, hell must have frozen over when we weren’t looking!” Saito remarked.

“I’m not concerned for Kate, she’s more than capable of handling herself. Danielle, as well. I’m more concerned about anyone who accidentally pisses her off…”

“Relax, Mote. Kate may be brash, but she still has more restraint than you seem to think—“

The Colonel’s words were interrupted as a massive burst of water exploded from the side of the swimmable part of the reservoir, followed swiftly by excited shouts from the crowd. As the water settled, Mote turned to give Saito a level stare; the Colonel responded only with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, sir,” Hackett declared as she stood up from the bench, “I’ll go check on them.”

“Yes, please…” Saito replied.

“Well… at least it looks like no one was hurt?” Mark commented with a hopeful smile as Hackett left to check on Kate and Danielle.

“Yes…” Mote muttered in reply, taking another bite out of his Leaf-Wrap as he attempted to put the situation in the reservoir out of mind and focus on relaxing under the peaceful tree shade.

---

*

“Aw, look at this one! It’s so cute!!”

“…Hmm, you’re right,” Mark replied with a smile as he watched Danielle grab a white summer dress off of a nearby rack and hold it up to her body. Silver frills lined the ruffled bottom hem, while silver fishnet covered the upper chest and the right sleeve. After watching Danielle pose with the dress into a mirror, Mark added, “I think it would look good on you, Danielle. It’s a good pick.”

“The asymmetry on the sleeve is certainly an interesting touch…” Hackett mused, stepping up to the dress rack to take a look at the dresses herself. “Hmm… they come in the right sizes, too. Maybe I should get one.”

“You wear dresses?” Kate questioned incredulously. “I’ve never seen you in one.”

“You should’ve seen me at my wedding,” the Major replied with a wink, and then turned back to the dress rack. “But no, I was thinking about getting one for my wife… she likes fashion and dresses a lot more than I do.”

“Well, there’s certainly plenty of fashion to see here!” Saito exclaimed as he swept his gaze across the vast clothing store the group now found themselves in. Stretching from wall to wall, covering as much space as a typical department store on Earth — not including the additional four floors above — were all manner of clothing for all manner of occasion and style. Mens’, womens’; childrens’, adults’; casual, formal; summer, winter; the store seemed to have it all, even further subdivided by nation or world of origin.

The Earthians presently found themselves in the clearance corner. While few of the price tags throughout the store appeared too expensive at first glance, it nonetheless remained that Earthian currency was worth significantly less than those used in the Nimalian Union. And given that the group was working with a budget granted by SERRCom — an inherently Earthian organization — their latitude for extraneous spending was slim at best. Even so, Danielle had insisted on checking the store out, and Saito was more than happy to let her browse… much to Kate and Mote’s chagrin.

“…I can’t fuckin’ believe we’re wasting time in a damn clothing store,” Kate muttered, sitting on a bench off to the side, with Mote just beside her. “This shit’s boring as fuck…”

“Agreed…” Mote added with a bored sigh. “At least Danielle seems to like it. I don’t know how, but she does…”

“That’s because she’s a freak of nature,” Kate snorted. “Why does she even want to buy this shit? Can’t she just fucking shapeshift herself into wearing a new outfit?”

“Just let her have her fun…”

“What about my fun, huh?”

“Your idea of ‘fun’ is setting off a firecracker in the middle of a crowded pool,” Mote retorted. “It’s no wonder the Colonel isn’t listening to you. You even ignored his suggestion to not use your powers, today.”

“Bitch please, that was a stupid rule from the start,” Kate declared. “Besides, I was perfectly careful with that firecracker! It was a fucking shape charge, okay? And a safe distance from other people, too! There was zero shrapnel risk, zero shockwave risk! No one got hurt—!”

“Hey, Kate!!”

Kate and Mote both looked up to see Danielle skip over to them, dress in tow. While still holding it in her hands, she looked down at Kate with a massive grin as she continued, “hey, you should get one of these dresses, too! Then we could match— no, wait! You should get one of the black ones, then we could have a whole theme going!”

“Blegh.” Kate made a face. “I’d sooner run around in the nude than wear that girly shit.”

“Truly, the very picture of decorum,” Mote commented flatly.

“Oh shut up, asshole. Actually…” Kate elbowed Mote as she addressed Danielle, “hey, if you can get this stick-in-the-mud bastard here to wear a dress, then I’ll wear one, too!”

“Not happening,” Mote immediately refuted.

“Welp, there you have it.” Kate made a show out of shrugging, just as Mark, Saito, and Hackett approached. “Sorry, Danielle. No dresses.”

“Aw…” Danielle pouted. “But… what if it’s just once?”

“What did we miss?” Saito questioned, glancing between Danielle and Kate.

“Danielle’s trying to get us to wear dresses,” Kate replied.

“And naturally, I said ‘no’,” Mote commented.

“Didn’t even consider it, huh?” Mark responded with a resigned smile.

“Of course not. Why would I? I’m not a woman…”

“You hardly need to be a woman to enjoy dresses, or skirts. Hell, the Scotts wear kilts, don’t they? That’s pretty skirt-like,” Saito pointed out. “Besides, don’t knock it ‘til you try it. It’s actually kind of nice, how liberated your legs feel while wearing a dress.”

A moment of silence came over the group as they all passed the Colonel level stares.

“…What?” He shrugged. “I was in college.”

“You sure are full of surprises, sir,” Hackett remarked cheekily.

“Well, even so… there are still some dress-like clothing articles around here that even Nimalian men wear,” Mark commented, slowly sweeping his gaze across the vast store. “Maybe you should try out one of those waist-cloaks, Mote, Kate. Maybe you’d like them.”

“You mean those things that look like someone took a fucking skirt, cut out the front part, and called it a fuckin’ day?” Kate snorted.

“Hey, they look cool!” Danielle refuted. “I wear one all the time!”

“As part of your uniform, yeah.”

“But I like it, too…”

“I still don’t understand how you get away with that uniform of yours,” Mote pointed out as he looked over at Danielle. “Mark, Kate, and I all have the standard uniform — green jacket, collared white undershirt, gray pants, green chaps. So why does no one complain when you walk around in basically a sports bra?”

“The jacket and the shirt just get in the way when I transform into something…” Danielle answered.

“And your pants don’t? You still wear those.”

“Aren’t all of your outfits specially tailored?” Hackett pointed out. “If I recall correctly, the Eximius Vir uniform was actually given to us by the NSD. It’s a modified version of their combat uniform, made to enhance a Chaotic’s combat abilities by… infusing Chaos Energy into the fabric, or something. Right, Colonel?”

“That’s the core of it,” Saito replied. “Which is why you guys sport green and black, instead of the SERRCom blue. And it’s also true that the Chaos Energy infusion can’t seem to be replicated by Transtechnic shapeshifting.”

“So you’re saying that Danielle fuckin’ destroyed her uniform as soon as she got it,” Kate deadpanned, while staring straight at Danielle.

“Ah ha ha… yep!” Danielle laughed sheepishly.

“You could still make a new uniform that looks like ours,” Mote pointed out.

“Believe me, Mote, I tried getting her to remember,” Saito commented with a resigned sigh. “But, in light of the good work she and the Eximius Vir have done for SERRCom, I got permission from the General to, ah, look the other way when it comes to Danielle’s uniform.”

“See! It’s perfectly fine!” Danielle declared.

“What?! I want an outfit exemption, too!” Kate exclaimed.

“Get back to me when you can go a year without getting into any trouble,” Saito countered.

“Tch… ungrateful bastards…”

“Hmm, is that where the idea for Danielle’s waist cloak came from, then?” Mark questioned, turning to glance between Saito and Danielle. “Since our uniforms were already Nimalian in design?”

“It was Hackett’s idea, actually,” Saito replied, “but I think you got it right.”

“The Nimalians do seem to like adding flowing parts to their outfits,” Hackett pointed out. “The waist-cloak is a ubiquitous example, but there are others. Nimaliakian style seems to include a lot of shawls, capes, or cloaks, and Tekdecénian style has a lot of scarves.”

“That’s something I think I could get behind, personally,” Saito remarked.

“Personally, I think all this talk about goddamn fashion is fucking exhausting,” Kate said.

“For someone who shit-talks fashion so much, you certainly have a dedicated style of your own,” Hackett remarked while gesturing toward Kate’s red bandanna, covering her blond hair.

“…Meh. It keeps my hair out of my eyes.”

“The hair that, I should note,” Hackett replied while glancing at the black hair atop Mote, Mark, and Danielle’s heads, “you dye regularly.”

“So?” Kate passed Hackett the stink-eye. “You trying to say something?”

“If only you put even half the effort you put into your hair into keeping your clothes clean…” Mote muttered.

“Hair dye nowadays takes an entire thirty fucking minutes once every half year to apply, that’s nothing!” Kate shot back. “Like you have any right to talk, you fucking t-shirt and jeans wearing lame-o loser.”

“At least mine are clean,” Mote retorted. “If you had gone swimming while wearing that tank top, you would’ve contaminated the entire reservoir!”

“Now now, lovebirds, let’s not argue in public,” Saito remarked cheekily, drawing irate glares from both Mote and Kate.

“We are not—!” they both began to respond, but stopped as soon as they realized they were speaking in unison and settled on glaring at each other.

“…Well, we have spent nearly an hour, here,” Mark pointed out. “I suppose we shouldn’t blame people for being bored if they aren’t interested in clothing…”

“Aw, but I still wanna look around some more!” Danielle insisted. “We can’t leave until I find the dress I wanna get!”

“Then you’d better get to it,” Saito declared, prompting Danielle to race back to the clothing racks. He watched her go before turning back to the others and sighing in resignation. “I shouldn’t have promised to buy her something…”

“So we can blame you for wasting our time, here?” Kate questioned.

“—! …” Mote opened his mouth to comment, only to close it without saying anything as he simply eyed Saito.

“Oof! Mote didn’t even reprimand Kate for that!” Saito remarked while placing his hand over his heart and feigning great injury. “Never have I seen a stronger condemnation of my actions!”

“…I’d just like to know when we’re going to leave… sir,” Mote muttered.

“Ha! Don’t worry, Mote, Kate. We won’t spend much longer, here,” the Colonel insisted. “Once Danielle’s picked something out, then we can leave. And I think that today’s final stop should interest all of you…”

---

*

“Alright, I gotta admit… that was pretty fucking cool.”

“Wasn’t it?!” Danielle exclaimed excitedly, practically skipping in her steps as she led the group down a long walkway, her previous attire replaced by the white and silver dress Saito had bought her earlier. “The way they were flying around was awesome!”

“The way they incorporated the environment around them was particularly impressive,” Mark commented. “Flying so low to the ground that tall trees and the crevices of the mountains became intentional obstacles… it’s creative use of the terrain. I’ve never seen any aircraft fly that low on Earth, that’s for sure.”

“Because Earth is over a fucking century behind the rest of the galaxy, that’s why,” Kate retorted. “Those aircraft we watched definitely had energy shielding, you could see it when they collided. Still, the turning radius and accelerative power on those things were something else — especially for not using any Chaos Energy! Damn! Even you have to be impressed by a show like that, huh, Mote?”

“The energy shielding dramatically lowers the stakes,” Mote countered. “…But I can at least appreciate the skill required of the pilots. The shields may have been a protective cushion, but the fact that we rarely saw any flare-ups shows that the pilots know how to handle their craft well.”

“I wanna see something like that again, some day!” Danielle remarked. “Maybe even on Earth! That’d be so cool!”

“We’ll get there, one day, I’m sure,” Saito replied, smiling in satisfaction as he looked at each of the Eximius Vir, taking note of the fact that they all seemed to have enjoyed themselves — even Mote was smiling. After all, the group had just finished watching a special exhibition race of the Tekdecénian Aerospace Grand Prix, a sport dedicated to dozens of pilots and their highly customized aircraft racing through and around landmarks on the continent of Tekdecé. Today’s race was a circuit through the equatorial jungle surrounding Tekdecé’s Cedecé Mountains, located just north of the equator and several hundred kilometers due south of Telsinoka and featuring dense vegetation, towering mountain peaks, and a handful of plants that appeared to be invasive cross-breeds of the local jungle flora and Relédiaka’s massive sky-scraping trees.

Normally, the Tekdecénian Aerospace Grand Prix — often shortened to just “Air GP” by the locals — was a showcase of all of Nimalia’s latest and greatest aircraft-related technologies, and as such made frequent use of energy shielding, inertial dampeners, and anti-gravity. Such technology allowed for fantastically inhuman feats of flying and maneuverability, but today’s race was different; in accordance with the Memorial of Dependence, none of the racers had used any Chaos Energy. With significantly weaker shielding and no anti-gravity or inertial dampening, the flying looked much more similar to that of Earth’s air-breathing fighter jets — but the Nimalians were still able to showcase the superiority of their engines and flight technology by performing dozens of breathtaking aerial maneuvers through the landscape, pulling turns that would have sheered any Earthian aircraft in half, and skimming closer to the ground, rocky cliffs, and foliage than any sane pilot without energy shields would ever consider. The end result was a magnificent display, one which the Earthians had gotten to witness through specially recorded cameras and simulation technology that let them see the race through their AR displays as a proper virtual reality experience.

Three hours had passed in the blink of an eye, and now, as late afternoon light shone upon Telsinoka, the Earthians were in high spirits and prepared to round out their day.

“It really was quite interesting,” Mark commented as the group stepped onto one of the skybridges linking the towers of Tekdecé together. “I’m not usually one for races, but the Air GP sucked me in more than I expected…”

“That’s just because you Americans poisoned the well with NASCAR,” Saito quipped, stopping along the massive window of the skybridge to look out over the city of Telsinoka below. “If you watch any other kind of race, you’ll understand how neat it can really get.”

“And adding a third dimension certainly spices things up,” Hackett added as she and the rest of the group stopped next to Saito.

“It definitely raises the skill requirement,” Mote replied. “And the racers were flying with weaker sensors, and no inertial tech. To maintain form as well as they all did, and not crash… I suppose it is rather admirable.”

“Sure, they fucking shot themselves in the foot with that ‘no Chaos Energy’ rule, but it was still fucking tech that saved their asses at the end of the day,” Kate refuted. “No amount of piloting skill is going to stop a plane from sheering in half; that’s all materials science, bitch! And did you see how quickly they could throttle up to full speed after a maneuver?! Damn, I wish SERRCom’s shit was even half as good!”

“That may be so, but it still takes skill to know the limits of your craft, to know how far you can push it without it breaking,” Mote pointed out.

“I just thought it was all really cool! Like, in general!” Danielle exclaimed, “I don’t really know about all that technical stuff, I just liked watching them fly! Like that part near the end, when the lead plane was going over the mountain peak toward the checkpoint in the air, only for that black and gold plane to zoom up from beneath and get the checkpoint first and then do a big loop and shoot down along the slopes!”

“It definitely was an impressive use of the terrain,” Mark said. “There was a deep, but narrow crevice in the side of the mountain peak. The black and gold one dove down into the crevice to gain speed before sharply pulling up to pass the leader. If you weren’t looking, it was easy to miss.”

“Which is another thing that’s pretty fucking cool — how they set up the spectator system!” Kate remarked. “Combining a bunch of tiny-ass hovering drones over the entire damn race area with high-tech simulators and graphics rendering to let you watch from any fucking angle that you wanted, in real-time! And they’re using this shit as recreational tech!”

“It did seem fairly similar to piloting the Raenaros,” Mote commented. “It would certainly be nice for SERRCom to be able to reproduce that.”

“Bitch please, we can do that! It’s just, you know… really fucking expensive.”

“You all sure seem to have enjoyed yourselves,” Saito finally spoke up again, drawing the attention of the Eximius Vir. Mote and Kate quickly diverted their gazes, as if embarrassed, while Danielle bounced up and down in excitement.

“It was really fun!” she declared, “and not just the race, either. All of today was! Thanks for taking us out!”

“Agreed,” Mark affirmed with a nod. “I have to admit, if it was just me, I probably would have done a little grocery shopping and called it a day. But thanks to you, Colonel, Major, we got to see a little more of Tekdecé.”

“As long as you had fun, that’s good enough for me,” Hackett replied with a smile.

“Thanks especially to your quick research,” Saito pointed out. “You’re the one who looked up all of our stops today, Major. I have to say, good work on that.”

“Don’t flatter me, sir. I just looked up a list of spots to visit on the Relaynet, that’s all.”

“It’s more than we had thought to do,” Mark replied.

“So it was,” Saito said, and then passed a knowing glance toward Mote and Kate. “Now, to get the verdict from our resident contrarians. What did you think of today?”

“I’m not a—!” Mote began to reply, only to realize the flaw in his response and stop, settling into a disgruntled scowl.

“You’re pretty fuckin’ bad at showing appreciation, you know,” Kate declared as she smirked at Mote.

“You’ve a ways to go in that regard, as well,” Mote shot back, and then turned to face Saito. “…I still think today was… frivolous, but I won’t deny that some parts were… interesting.”

The Colonel chuckled in response. “Coming from you, that might as well be a glowing recommendation,” he remarked.

“Personally, I still would’ve preferred going to a parts shop or somewhere I can blow shit up,” Kate commented, “but if I had to do stupid tourist shit, then I guess today was the least stupid shit of all.”

“Awww!” Danielle cooed as she skipped over to Mote and Kate and tightly hugged them, catching them both by surprise. “I knew you guys would come around!”

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Kate retorted, though her cheeks were tinged a slight red. She then shoved Danielle off of her and crossed her arms, declaring, “I still hold that boring-ass clothing stop against you, you know.”

“Certainly would’ve preferred to skip that, myself…” Mote muttered.

“You both said you liked my dress once I put it on, though!” Danielle protested.

“Ha ha… sorry, Danielle. Being overly blunt is just too much of who Mote and Kate are,” Mark stated with a grin.

“And even then, they can’t be honest with themselves, sometimes,” Saito commented cheekily.

“What? Why the hell am I being grouped with this bastard?!” Kate exclaimed.

“Yes, I fail to see what similarities we share,” Mote asserted.

“Maybe one day, you’ll see,” Mark replied, and then shifted his gaze to look out the skybridge windows. Golden-orange light bathed the shiny, metallic city, heralding the closing of yet another day; as he observed this, Mark couldn’t help but release a deep sigh. “But after today… everything’s going back to normal, huh?”

“Well, you still have two more days before we pack up and leave,” Saito replied, joining Mark and looking out over the city. “I’m afraid I broke the bank a little today, so you’ll have to make do with more mundane activities tomorrow and the day after. After that, though… yes. It’s back to work.”

“Back to work…” Mote muttered idly.

“Yep. Mark, you’ll be returning to Tresnon to keep watching over the recruits with Travis, but the rest of us are headed back to Earth for more of the daily grind. Isn’t it great?”

“Already, huh…?” Danielle sighed dejectedly. “It feels like we got barely any vacation…”

“And what little we did get sucked,” Kate declared. “We spent half our time here in a shitty desert wasteland, and even got involved in fighting off a fucking invasion. Sure doesn’t sound like a ‘vacation’ to me.”

“I’m with you, there,” Hackett commented as she passed Saito a glance. “It’s ultimately the fate of a spec ops team like ours to be worked to the bone, but still. Colonel, do you think we’ll be getting an actual break anytime soon?”

“Well… that’s the thing,” Saito replied with a bitter smile. “In the General’s eyes, I think this was supposed to be our break.”

“You’re shitting me,” Kate retorted.

“Well, we did just spend a day as tourists in a foreign land; it’s hard to argue that that’s not a break. But don’t worry, all. I’ll talk to the General. Still…” Saito sighed warily. “…You can’t deny that things are starting to pick up around here, and I’m not just talking about Nimalia. Our future is likely to get a lot busier before things get any lighter.”

“That sucks…” Danielle muttered.

“It may, but at the end of the day, it’s our job to handle the dangerous tasks we’ve been given,” Mote declared.

“But until then, we still have a couple of days to relax,” Mark pointed out. “Not to mention the rest of today. How about we close things out with dinner?”

“You know just how to speak my language, Mark!” Saito responded with a grin. He finally pushed away from the skybridge window and began walking down its length, with the rest of the group following suit. “Never fear, everyone. We’ll get more days like this in future — of that, I can guarantee. But for now… to dinner!”