“So it really was those SFC bastards?”

«So it would seem,» replied Kievkenalis’s voice through a loudspeaker on the desk in Davídrius’s office. «I was already investigating them, myself, after the incident with the Ayas earlier in the year. Your tip was just what I needed to connect a few dots.»

“That’s good to know,” Davídrius remarked as he leaned back in his office chair. He then glanced up at Colonel Saito, the only other inhabitant of the office at that moment. “Can’t say how much I appreciate your help, here, Colonel.”

“My team and I just try our best, that’s all,” Saito replied. “But, Dean Yumach — just what have you found regarding the SFC? How far up does this go, and have you made any arrests?”

«It seems to go up much further than I’d like…» Kievkenalis responded. «One of the members of SFC High Command is involved, a man named Varifun Lanius. I took the evidence to Archoné Culana, and we managed to convince the Liépen to put Lanius on temporary leave while the SFC is more deeply investigated… but that could take quite some time.»

“These things always do…” Saito lamented.

“Are you fuckin’ serious, though?” Davídrius questioned incredulously. “Bleeder involvement goes all the way up to SFC High Command?”

«I found it just as surprising as you,» replied Kievkenalis. «The SFC is really interested in Treséd, for some reason — or at least, Lanius is. I haven’t found anything saying why they’re interested in Treséd, though.»

“It clearly isn’t to help, if they’re funding the Bleeders,” Saito said.

“I bet the SFC were playin’ the Bleeders to try and wipe out everyone in Treséd,” Davídrius declared. “Or at least, everyone who could resist the SFC. They’ve been tryin’ for years to get control of Compounds across the continent, but they ain’t succeeded. Fundin’ the Bleeders was probably their attempt to get rid of the Compounds. And once that’s done, they could swoop in themselves to wipe out the Bleeders, pretend they’re ‘doin good’ to the rest of the planet, and just take control of the land in the process. Those fuckin’ bastards.”

“That just sounds like speculation,” Saito countered. “Dean Yumach, have you found anything to suggest what the SFC’s actual intentions were?”

«Unfortunately, no,» Kievkenalis replied. «I’ve only been able to determine that Lanius and his command intentionally colluded with the Bleeders to give them technology, as well as let them access the Ayas last month. I don’t know what their long-term plan is, but to be frank, Davídrius’s speculation lines up with what the SFC has done in the past. They’ve always favored achieving their objectives through subterfuge rather than brute force. They don’t have ‘Stealth’ in their name for nothing.»

“Fair enough. It’s a good thing we caught them, then.”

«True, but I’d still urge you to be careful, Davídrius, Colonel. Lanius might be on temporary leave, and the SFC is now under official investigation, but their activities aren’t completely locked down. There’s a chance that Lanius’s people might make one last desperate attempt at whatever their objective is in Treséd, before they can all be found out and locked up.»

“We’ll be ready,” Davídrius declared. “We’ve finally got a leg up on these assholes. We won’t be slippin’ up now, not this late in the game.”

“Although, I feel that something doesn’t add up…” Saito mused. “The SFC knows we’re on to them, now. Wouldn’t it be in their own best interests to turn on the Bleeders, and hope that doing so curries favor with Riverana’s government?”

«I do wonder, myself…» Kievkenalis admitted. «Oddly, it seems that Lanius and his men value the ownership of Treséd quite highly. As I said earlier, I don’t know what they’re looking for… but it can’t be just the land. That wouldn’t be worth losing their whole organization over.»

“I dunno what the hell else it’d be,” Davídrius remarked. “I mean, the land ain’t great ‘round here, but there ain’t nothin’ else of value in Treséd. I should know, I’ve lived here my whole damn life.”

«Hmm… still, be careful, Davídrius. Whatever the SFC is after, they seem to still be teaming up with the Bleeders to get it, and they’ll likely act soon.»

“What kind of time frame are we talking, here?” Saito questioned.

«As I said earlier, these kinds of organization-wide investigations can take quite some time,» Kievkenalis replied. «It might be a year or two before the investigation is complete. In regards to an element of the SFC going rogue, however, I think that’s mostly likely to happen within the next month. Any later than that, and rogue elements won’t be able to escape the eye of investigators.»

“If you speculate a month, then we can extend that estimate to three months, just to be safe… hmm.” Saito nodded. “Being vigilant for three months won’t be pleasant, but it’s certainly doable.”

“I can only assume the Bleeders will act soon, as well,” Davídrius said. “They’re a damned proud lot. After you raidin’ their base last week, and then bustin’ open their connection to the SFC… the Bleeders will be out for blood and vengeance, soon, I’m sure of it.”

«I’d offer to help, but I’m afraid my hands are a little tied dealing with the SFC, right now…» Kievkenalis said.

“Don’t mention it. You finally puttin’ a stop to those SFC fucks is more than enough, in my book. Besides, Kaoné’s here. We’ll be fine.”

«True. Now, I’m afraid I have to go. Be careful, Davídrius.»

“Same to you,” Davídrius replied as the comms connection cut out, leaving the Dean and Saito alone in the office. Davídrius then turned to look at Saito. “Like I said earlier… I don’t think I can overstate just how much you’ve helped us out, here.”

“We were just at the right place at the right time, is all,” Saito insisted. “If your own Defense Force had found the lead that we did, then I’m sure they would have managed just fine.”

Davídrius shook his head. “I’m not so sure. Between your gear, trainin’, and attitudes, you did a lot better than most folks I know would’ve. You also had the sense to retreat from fightin’ Strén, and prioritize the hostages… most Tresédians would’ve been like Liask and Obra. Too much skin in the fight to just let Strén go. Honestly, I probably would’ve made that mistake, too.”

“Do you think you’re ready to face the Bleeders if they attack Tresnon, again?”

“Defense, we can handle. Defense is what the ‘Defense Force’ was trained for. We’ll still need to be careful, of course, which leads me to ask…” Davídrius shifted uncomfortably in his chair, as if contemplating whether or not to actually say anything more. Eventually, he continued. “…Colonel, to be blunt, you’ve already done more for Treséd than Nimalia’s own fucking military. And I don’t wanna seem like I’m demandin’ more of you, but, how much longer do you think you can stick around?”

“That’s hard to say,” Saito replied. “I still haven’t heard anything from SERRCom, so we can stay here for the time being. But if we get orders, then we’ll have to leave — and it might be sudden. SERRCom has its own enemies to deal with, after all.”

Davídrius sighed. “Fair enough. We can’t keep relyin’ on outsiders, anyways. That goes for both you and Kaoné, really… damn.”

“Even after all we’ve done, we’re still ‘outsiders’, eh?” Saito questioned with a smirk.

“’Outsider’ ain’t an inherently bad term,” Davídrius insisted. “I’ve met plenty of outsiders more reasonable and pleasant to work with than folks from Treséd, or even Tresnon. And with that said — Colonel, I know it don’t mean much, given the shitheap we got, here. And I’m not exactly in charge of Tresnon, or anything. But as far as I’m concerned, you and your people are welcome to come and go from Tresnon as you please. You’ve more than earned that right.”

“Does that apply to the students, too? Or the ‘Keys’, as I hear Dean Densalin has been calling them?”

“Eesh… I still don’t like that they got shoved onto me, but that ain’t exactly your fault, I suppose. And they’re pretty damn uppity at times, too, but then again, so are most of my Tresédian students. But when it comes down to it… those ‘Keys’ have got spirit, at least, and a surprisin’ level of skill. Don’t tell them I said this, but if not for the boys, I’m not sure if Christeané or I would’ve made it back from Nayasis.”

“I’d heard from Mark that you ran into a Critical Infection, there…” Saito mused. “…And I also heard from him that you were using the recruits as a pretext for your trip. Is that true?”

Davídrius grimaced. “…I’d be lyin’ if I said ‘no’. But it wasn’t the only reason to bring ‘em along, either.”

“Care to explain?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard the reports. The Nanocreatures seem to be comin’ back, and Critical Infections are happenin’ more often. We might have to face ‘em sooner, rather than later. And after what happened on Oriciid’kas, Kaoné and I realized that the Keys need more trainin’ on how to handle the Nanocreatures. That’s part of why we brought ‘em along: so that, if we did run into some of those metallic bastards, we could help teach the Keys better how to handle ‘em.”

“…I can’t deny that the infection is a growing threat. My team actually ran into a Critical Infection ourselves a few months ago, so I know how dangerous they are, too.”

“Wait, really? Damn. It’s even happenin’ in Earth space?”

“Well… we weren’t in SERRCom space at the time. I’m afraid I can’t say much more than that, though.”

“Oh… figures. Still… I can assure you that I didn’t mean to put anyone in danger. That damned Bleeder bitch showin’ up on another planet was completely unexpected, but hopefully we can put an end to that kind of surprise real soon.”

“Right. And about the Keys — do please be more careful with them. Although, at the same time, I’m getting the same impression as you: things are starting to happen very quickly in this galaxy, and we might not have much time before the next crisis. Do what you have to to train the Keys, just… don’t put their lives directly in danger, if you can help it.”

“’Course not. Anyways, I got some stuff to coordinate with Selind and the Defense Force, so I’m gonna have to leave now. Thanks again, Colonel — you really don’t know how much your help means to me. You Earthians seem like a pretty reasonable bunch.”

“Oh, we’ve got our own problems,” Saito remarked as Davídrius stood up and rounded his desk to approach the office door. “Given everything I’ve heard and seen on Nimalia, I think the only real difference between Nimalians and Earthians is what planet we were born on.”

“And yet, where you were born can determine a whole damn lot about you,” Davídrius replied as the two men stepped out of the office. The Dean stopped for a second to lock the door behind him before offering the Colonel a nod. “Anyways, I’m off. Talk to ya later.”

“Mmhmm,” Saito replied, though Davídrius had dashed off almost as soon as he finished his farewell, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Saito simply shook his head and softly chuckled to himself; from what the Colonel had heard, Davídrius had been incredibly prickly towards the Earthians since the moment they set foot in Compound Tresnon. For the Dean to now be thanking and welcoming him into Tresnon, Saito couldn’t help but be amused by Davídrius’s apparent about-face in opinion.

He’s the kind of guy who appreciates people who can get the job done, it would seem, the Colonel mused as he began walking down the corridors of WCU’s administrative building. Him defaulting to disliking us at first wasn’t pleasant, but given how things seem to be here in Treséd, I can’t fault him too much for disliking ‘outsiders’. It sure seems that most outsiders are perfectly content to ignore Treséd’s problems, or abuse Tresédians for their own goals…

Saito’s thoughts turned to the meeting he had had with the NSD Commander a month ago. In that meeting, Commander Komman had made it clear that the NSD would only help Treséd if Treséd gave something up in return — despite clearly not having much to give. If even the NSD Commander was so dismissive of the problems of the Tresédians, then Saito could scarcely imagine just how little the average Nimalian cared. The people of Treséd really did appear to be alone in dealing with all of the problems of the wasteland.

However, what was truly concerning in Saito’s mind was that the Bleeders had proved themselves multiple times over to be a threat to not just Treséd. Over two months ago, they attacked the Wanléon-Tchiréon Academy of Chaotics in Relédiaka; a month and a half ago, they attacked the Yumach Chaotic University of Riverana; and now, just the last week, a Bleeder showed up on an entirely different planet to sabotage Davídrius’s travel group. Clearly the Bleeders are a threat to more than just Treséd, but the Nimalians still refuse to take them seriously… Saito thought bitterly. Do the Nimalians just look down on Tresédians THAT much? At least Riverana is finally taking action against the SFC for working with the Bleeders, though even that seems to only be because a Bleeder attacked Dean Yumach’s school…

As the Colonel finally exited the administrative building and stepped into the evening light outside, his thoughts drifted to other issues. While dealing with the Bleeders was a priority in his eyes, the fact still remained that SERRCom had several problems of its own, ranging from the Drakkars to EA’s actions against the PMCs of the galaxy — all on top of the political issues between Lead and Shepherd, and the many secrets in the organization’s closet.

Like Earth’s old Gate coordinate… Saito mused. As soon as Mark had returned to Compound Tresnon the previous day, he had discreetly filled Saito in on the results of the tests with the Gate coordinates — and lo and behold, both Earth’s current coordinate and the supposed old coordinate formed valid Gate connections. I honestly didn’t expect it to work… is that old coordinate REALLY supposed to connect to Earth? That doesn’t make any sense. The Gateport in New York logs every Gate activation, at least, so when I get back to Earth I can check to see if there was an activation at the same time that Mark dialed the old coordinate. If there was, then that would mean that two different coordinates can reach the same Gate, which would be confusing as all hell. But if there wasn’t, then where, exactly, does the old coordinate lead…?

“There you are!”

“Hmm…?” Saito glanced off to the side, where he spotted none other than Sky running across the campus grounds in his direction, all while waving a piece of paper at him. In bemusement, he stopped walking and turned to face her just as she stopped in front of him. “…One of the Chao twins, right?” he remarked. “Do you need something?”

“You don’t even remember my name?” Sky responded with a pout.

“Is your name not Chao?”

“Well, my last name is, but— that’s beside the point. You’re Japanese, right?”

Saito looked down at Sky in mild surprise. “Uh… I am, yes. Why do you ask?”

“Perfect!” Sky promptly shoved her paper in the Colonel’s face. “Can you take a look at this and see if it makes sense to you?”

“Hold on, what…?” Saito waved her back before grabbing the piece of paper and looking it over. “…Are these… song lyrics? In Japanese?”

“Yep!” Sky replied.

“Hmm…” Saito briefly glanced at Sky before returning his attention to the paper. “…Nihon-go o hanasemasu ka?”

“Uuuhhh…” Sky stared back at the Colonel with a clueless look. “Ko…konnichiwa??”

Saito responded with a resigned sigh. “You don’t know Japanese, do you?”

Sky laughed uneasily. “That easy to tell, huh?”

“You handed me a bunch of Japanese lyrics… written in romaji,” Saito retorted. “No one who actually understands the language writes in romaji. Not to mention that this looks like an edited machine translation.”

“Really? You can tell? I thought translation tech was supposed to be super advanced…”

“It is, for normal conversation. But the moment you start trying to make things rhyme, the auto-translators have a bad time.” The Colonel then passed Sky a questioning look. “Why are you trying to write a song in Japanese, anyways? Aren’t you American?”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t try to get in touch with my roots!” Sky protested.

“Your… roots. Right…” Saito deadpanned. “You Americans… do you even have any Japanese blood in you? Your last name is Chinese.”

“That’s because my mom took my dad’s name when they got married, and my dad is Chinese. My mom is Japanese, though. She was even born in Japan!”

“I see… and why can’t you ask her about this?”

“Have you met my mom? If I tried to ask her about a song, then she’d just get mad at me for not focusing on schoolwork, or something.”

“Hmm, I suppose I’m not surprised. Still…” Saito looked down at the piece of paper in his hands again. “…I’m no songwriter or language teacher, so I don’t know if I can give you any tips on writing a song in Japanese. But, why this language? Aside from some random mentions of Mount Fuji, I don’t see anything actually ‘Japanese’ about the contents of this song. It seems like it’s more about Earth, in general.”

“It’s for Creators’ Day,” Sky replied. “I wanted to sing a song, you know? But all of the students here at WCU have those translation implants, so if I sing in English, then my words will get translated into the Nimalian language for them, and that’ll ruin the song!”

“But Japanese won’t get translated, since we’re in a Nimalian translation region… right, I see.” Saito nodded in understanding. “If that’s the reason you chose Japanese, though, then why do you even care if the lyrics are perfect? As far as I know, I’m the only person on this entire planet who knows the language. No one else would be able to tell that there’s mistakes.”

“That’s what I said! But then Twy and Phoenix said that it would be ‘disrespectful’ to use Japanese if we can’t get it right.”

“You Americans… …I suppose I can understand where they’re coming from, though. If I can hazard a guess, you’re trying to do a performance that will show off some things about Earth, right?”

“Uh, yeah! How’d you know?!”

“Your song’s all about Earth, it wasn’t hard to guess. Well, if your goal is to show the locals here a piece of Earth, then I can understand why your friends would want your song lyrics to be as accurate as possible. If I’m completely honest, I’d be more than happy to show you or your friends more about Japanese culture and the language in the future — but I don’t have the time to do so right now, and certainly not in the two weeks before Creators’ Day. So I can’t help you with this song.”

“Oh…” Sky responded dejectedly.

“Why not just write the song in English, anyways?” Saito suggested. “You can try telling the audience to turn their translators off for just a couple minutes. If they refuse, then they aren’t likely to appreciate your song about Earth, anyways.”

“I guess that’s true…” Sky mused. “Writing and singing the song in English would be a lot easier for me, too… alright, I’ll just do that, then!”

“Glad to hear it, and sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

“No, it’s fine. Thanks!” Sky replied and turned to run off back to the dorms.

“Oi, while you’re here,” Saito called after her, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn back to face him. “I haven’t seen much of you ‘Keys’ since you left for Nimalia. Has everything been fine, around here?”

“Uh, well…” Sky’s face fell, as though she had just remembered that Saito was a Colonel in SERRCom. “…Some things could be better, I guess, but we’ve seen a lot here that we wouldn’t have if we stayed on Earth.”

“I see. And what do you make of everything you’ve learned, so far?”

“Ugh, this feels like a pop quiz, or something… well, some of it is pretty crazy. I don’t know what the hell we’re supposed to do against the Nanocreatures, even though that Pallan guy thinks we’re really important for that, and everyone else seems to listen to him…”

“With any luck, we won’t have to find out.”

“Ha ha, yeah, I guess… …though I like all the chances I’ve had to actually use my flames! That part’s kind of cool.”

“I also heard that you and several of the others ran off to fight Bleeders a month ago, and that you got injured in the process.”

“…Ah ha ha…!” Sky laughed uneasily. “Well I’m fine now, so it’s fine, right?”

“Just be careful,” Saito insisted. “Never be reckless in a fight — it’s the fastest path to an early grave.”

“R-right…”

“Anyways, I’ll let you get back to what you were doing,” Saito said. “Good luck with your performance.”

“Uh, yeah! Thanks!” Sky awkwardly waved farewell to Saito before turning around and rushing back to the dorms, leaving the Colonel to return to the tavern where CSF-1 was staying — with little but the orange-tinted evening skies to accompany him and his thoughts.