2 Days Later

— Wednesday, February 1, AD 2130 —

“Reading those stupid books again, huh?”

“It’s nice to see you, too,” Mote drawled as he glanced up at Kate. She simply made a face at him before dropping her food tray onto the cafeteria table Mote was sitting at and taking a seat across from him.

“You even started and finished lunch without me,” Kate remarked, eying Mote’s empty food tray. “Do you hate my company that much?”

“Do you want the honest answer, or the polite answer?”

“Oh shut up, asshole.”

Mote smirked despite himself, in response to Kate’s harsh comment. He then grabbed a small bookmark and slotted it into his book before closing it and setting it aside, while Kate readily began to dig into the sloppy joes served that day for lunch. “…You really do have the messiest way of eating,” Mote commented.

“Shush,” Kate retorted around a mouthful of food. “I have too much damn work to do to take my time fucking around with lunch.”

“And yet you wanted me to waste my time waiting around for you?”

“C’mon, you could use the break. You’ve somehow managed to be even fuckin’ busier than me, and I’m working 12 hour days! Or more!”

“By force, or by choice?”

“By choice, sure, but it’s still work. I wouldn’t even need to work that much if that Hamasaki bitch would just fucking cooperate.”

“Director Hamasaki is a member of High Command. Don’t refer to her in such a disrespectful manner.”

“Sure, sure, you fucking brown-noser. Doesn’t change the fact that she’s getting in my fucking way. Hell, it even affects you!”

Mote regarded Kate with a doubtful expression, watching as she ate her sandwich so sloppily as to leave sauce all around her mouth. With a frustrated sigh, he grabbed a couple of nearby napkins and placed them next to her before asking, “how does this affect me? I’ve been on and off of the station very frequently, lately.”

“I know,” Kate replied, grabbing the bundle of napkins and wiping her mouth clean — only to take another, equally messy bite. “Something about looking for that EA fucker, right?”

“We’re getting close to finding him. It should only be a matter of weeks before we locate his base, at this point.”

“Cool. Whatever.” Kate paused for a moment to swallow before continuing, “regardless, the fact that you’ve been gone is causing me headaches, because that stupid fucking armor and Corvette only do anything if you’re around. But then, I had a thought: this ‘Raen Technology’ shit responds to a specific gene, right? So if I just had some of your genetic material, then I could activate the armor that way, instead of having to drag your ass around.”

“You want my… genetic material?” Mote echoed incredulously.

“Don’t make it sound dirty, you ass,” Kate shot back. “I tried plucking one of your hairs and using that, but the armor didn’t fucking respond — maybe the hair just wasn’t a large enough sample, or maybe the armor’s gene detection has a way to tell if you’re trying to fool it, I don’t fucking know. But the best way to find out would be to try out a bigger sample, right? So I tried to get some of your blood.”

“My what?”

“Don’t play dumb. We have our bloodwork run every year as part of the annual checkups, right?”

“Ah, right… I’m surprised they insist on it, since they can’t even get a needle through our skin. They always have to use super-precise beaming to get our blood…”

“Yeah, it’s fucking annoying as fuck. But it also means that they’ve got blood samples of all of us. And where there’s blood, there’s genes. So if I could get a vial of your blood, then I can see if your armor responds to it.”

“I thought the shelf life of blood was rather short, and our last checkup was months ago. Are there really any samples left?”

“We live in a galaxy where stasis tech exists, and you doubt that we can keep around a couple vials of fucking blood?”

“…Right. I see. Well, I suppose I can’t complain about this idea. If you got it to work, then you wouldn’t have to bother me so frequently. Sounds like a win/win.”

“Exactly. Except, fucking Hamasaki won’t give me the blood sample!”

“If it’s a matter of permission, you can tell her that you have mine.”

“I thought it was that, but then she wouldn’t even let me get a sample of my own damn blood!”

“…Really?” Mote frowned. “That’s… hmm. Well, I suppose it makes some sense, right? We Eximius Vir are very important to SERRCom, and we’re currently Earth’s most powerful Chaotics. If our genetic material were to leak, then, theoretically, our enemies could devise a bioweapon to target us.”

Kate scoffed. “Bullshit. I mean, that’s what Hamasaki said, but I don’t fucking believe it for a second. The blood samples of High Command are kept all secret, too, but they can still see their own fucking blood whenever they want. So why not us, huh?!”

“Hmm… I’m sure there’s some reason for it…”

“Of course you’d say that, you fucking sycophant.”

“I’m not a sycophant.”

“Then stop blindly defending High Command’s stupid as fuck decisions. Our blood came from our bodies, and yet they’re trying to tell us that we don’t have the right to see it? That’s fucked up!”

Mote responded with silence, his arms crossed and brow furrowed as he thought about what Kate had just told him. “…And you’re certain the Director wasn’t just writing you off because you’re… well… you?”

“Rude,” Kate retorted. “I mean, it’s always possible the bitch just wants to spite me, but this is still a whole ‘nother level!”

“Right. I suppose I’ll ask her about it and see if she says the same to me.”

“Urgh, when you say it like that, you make me sound like some useless fucking kid running to her big brother for help. Fuck, this is so stupid…”

“Maybe if you weren’t so brash with the Director, she would hold you in higher esteem.”

“Maybe I’m so brash with her because she hasn’t earned my respect, you ever think of that?”

“She’s the Director of the EIIC. She should have your respect by default.”

“And that is where you and I differ.”

“…Right,” Mote drawled, watching as Kate finished her second sloppy joe and began licking the sauce off her fingers. He shook his head in disapproval before releasing a tired sigh. “I can’t deny that SERRCom has been making some odd decisions, lately, though…”

“Yeah, no fucking kidding,” Kate remarked. “But it isn’t like the rest of the galaxy is much better.”

“If we can find and destroy EA’s base, then we can at least take some steps toward rectifying that,” Mote declared, and then began to stand from his seat at the table. “And speaking of that, I need to be going…”

“Sheesh, more recon?” Kate questioned incredulously. “Take a break, sometime!”

“I could say the same to you,” Mote countered. “…Once there’s no work to do, then I’ll take a break.”

“If you say so. But if you collapse from fucking overworking yourself, then don’t say I didn’t tell you so!”

“Yes, yes… same to you, Kate. Be careful about working 12-hour days nonstop.” Mote then turned to begin leaving the cafeteria. “But I do need to go. I’ll see you later.”

“Sure. And don’t forget to talk to Hamasaki!” Kate shouted after him. He responded with a wave of acknowledgment before disappearing from the cafeteria, leaving Kate to finish up her lunch on her own.

---

— Windia, Colyath 32, 8054 —

Knock knock

“Come in!”

“Pardon my intrusion…” Mark said as he opened the door to Sky’s room. He briefly surveyed the place; afternoon sunlight shone through Sky’s lone window as she and Kestrel huddled over a laptop on the edge of her desk. Phoenix sat on Sky’s bed, seemingly sorting through a pile of fabric, while Twy laid on the ground, managing a stack of sketches.

“Wow, you guys sure look busy!” Danielle remarked, bounding into the room just after Mark.

“You don’t say,” Phoenix drawled, and then dropped her attention to Danielle’s hands — which had currently taken the shape of handles on a cooler that she carried in front of her, attached as it was to her body. “…What’s that?”

“Given how hard everyone’s been working, lately, I figured that people wouldn’t have much time for regular dinners around the table,” Mark commented, at which point the lid to Danielle’s cooler opened upwards, revealing a handful of brown bags inside. Mark reached in to grab one and handed it to Sky as he finished, “so, I thought I’d bring dinner to you.”

“Oh, sweet! Thanks!” Sky exclaimed, readily accepting the bag and unfurling it to look inside. “Sandwiches, huh? You sure like making those.”

“Ha ha, well, they’re quick and easy to make, relatively speaking,” Mark replied as he continued handing out bags to the rest of the women in the room. “Even with foreign ingredients, it isn’t too hard to make a good sandwich.”

“Mm. Thanks,” Kestrel said before readily biting into her own food.

“I really appreciate this,” Twy added as she unwrapped her own sandwich, “but you don’t have to go out of your way for us…”

“It’s no problem,” Mark insisted. “I can’t exactly help much with your schoolwork or your Creators’ Day project, so this is my way of helping out.”

“Ugh, schoolwork, don’t remind me…” Sky muttered.

“What, is it hard?” Danielle questioned as the lid to her cooler closed shut.

“Not if you pay attention in class, it isn’t,” Twy stated while shooting Sky an annoyed glance.

“Regardless, it certainly is a lot of effort to keep up with both that and preparing for Creators’ Day,” Phoenix said, and then joined Twy in giving Sky an annoyed stare. “Especially when a particular someone decides last-minute to change her entire song.”

“Oh c’mon, you were the ones who didn’t want Japanese in the first place!” Sky protested.

“Yes, and I’m glad you actually talked to Saito about this, but…” Twy released a weary sigh. “Switching to an English or American theme this late in the process… I had to scrap all of the progress I made so far on the mural painting, you know.”

“Whoa, you’re making a whole mural?” Danielle remarked. “That’s cool! Can I help?”

“No, I should be fine on my own…”

“What she really means is she hates other people getting in the way of her art,” Sky commented in a loud whisper.

“I can hardly blame someone who’s skilled at their craft for being picky about who they work with,” Mark said. “You said that you asked the Colonel about all of this, though? Why him?”

“Sky wanted to write and sing a song in Japanese,” Phoenix replied. “But none of us know the language, so we convinced her to speak with Saito about it. Apparently, he could instantly tell her song was machine-translated, which is a bad look.”

“Oh yeah, he is Japanese, isn’t he?” Danielle commented. “Though he did take us to Japan a little bit ago, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised!”

“I don’t remember this…” Mark responded with a frown. “Was this while I’ve been away from Earth?”

“Oh yeah… you weren’t there. The Colonel took us to his favorite ramen place in Tokyo, or something. It was really cool!”

“You have the free time for that?” Phoenix questioned incredulously.

“Not really,” Danielle said.

“The Opportunity space station has beaming tech, though,” Mark pointed out. “If you’re a high enough rank, they sometimes let you use the beaming systems to go wherever on Earth you want. Within reason, of course. So a lunch outing to Japan or something isn’t out of the question.”

“I sure wish we had beaming tech around here,” Sky remarked. “Instead of having to drive or fly everywhere…”

Kestrel nodded. “Annoying.”

“At least they have cars and planes, here,” Phoenix said. “It could be worse — we could have to walk everywhere.”

“That wouldn’t be very feasible, given the size of the wastelands…” Twy commented. “But either way… Mark, Danielle, I’m really glad for the dinner, but we need to get back to work.”

“Ah, c’mon, we have over a week,” Sky insisted.

“That’s a hell of a way to say that we only have a week,” Phoenix countered. “You might have your lyrics set in stone, now, but you still need to actually make the song with Kestrel, and then rehearse the damn thing!”

“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine.”

“Ha ha, well, we’ll get out of your hair, then,” Mark said with a smile as he and Danielle stepped out of the room. “Good luck with your project, everyone!”

“Thanks,” replied Twy and Phoenix in unison before Mark closed the door behind him.

He looked over at Danielle, whose arms were still attached to the cooler she held in front of her. “You sure you have that?” he asked.

“I might not be as strong as you, but that doesn’t mean I’m weak!” Danielle remarked, already approaching the stairs to the second floor of the dorms.

“True, true. Sorry,” Mark apologized as he followed Danielle up the stairs.

“I’m just happy to see how you’ve been living life over the past few months,” Danielle said. “Even after I got here with CSF-1, we haven’t had much time to hang out, you know? With all of the guard duty and travel and stuff.”

“Also true,” Mark replied. “But from what I hear, the Tresédians finally have a leg up over the Bleeders, so hopefully their alert state will end soon. I should have more time to show you around, then.”

“Looking forward to it!” Danielle declared as she and Mark approached the rooms of Pierce, Phoenix, Conrad, and Kestrel. All but one of the doors were shut; the door to Conrad’s room was wide-open, with Pierce leaning against the door jamb, an amused smirk on his face as he focused on something within the room. He soon noticed Mark and Danielle approaching.

“What are you two doing here?” he questioned.

“Just handing out dinner,” Mark replied, moving up next to Pierce to look into Conrad’s room. Conrad himself laid casually atop his bed while Austin sat in his desk chair, a laptop resting on his lap; Spike stood in the corner, leaning on the wall much like how Pierce was leaning on the open door. “…Well, this is an unexpected gathering,” Mark commented.

“Huh—? Oh, hey, Mark.” Austin nodded toward him, and then shot an annoyed glance at Pierce. “Three of us are actually doing something productive, for the record.”

“Productive?” Pierce scoffed. “You’re talking about a stupid game.”

“Yeah, and you’re still here, listening to us talk about it!”

“Don’t mind Pierce,” Conrad remarked. “There’s a lot of things he likes that he refuses to admit that he likes, because he thinks it’s lame.”

“This tabletop make-believe shit is lame,” Pierce insisted.

“If you really thought that, then you wouldn’t be here.”

“Wait, tabletop what?” Danielle questioned, glancing cluelessly between Pierce, Conrad, and Austin. She then peered into the room, noting that the only furniture within was the bed, a small desk, a desk chair, and a couple of dressers. “I don’t see any table in here…”

“It’s figurative,” Austin explained. “Tabletop RPGs are usually played on a table, though you don’t really need one. The ‘tabletop’ part is mostly there to distinguish it from video games and stuff like that.”

“Oh, a tabletop RPG!” Danielle’s eyes lit up with excitement. “I’ve always wanted to try one of those!”

“Oh no, another dweeb,” Pierce groaned.

“Now, now, let’s not judge people for their interests,” Mark responded.

“Anyways, why’re you here?” Spike questioned, looking toward Mark and Danielle before nodding toward the cooler attached to Danielle’s hands. “Have anythin’ to do with that cooler?”

“Yep!” Danielle readily popped the lid on the cooler, exposing the remaining brown bags stored within. “Mark made dinner for everyone!”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You helped,” Mark said.

“Dinner? Sounds great,” Conrad remarked as he held his right hand up and gestured toward Danielle. “Toss one over.”

“Okay!” Danielle replied, using her shapeshifting ability to grow an arm out of the cooler attached to her normal arms and use the new appendage to fling one of the bags toward Conrad.

“Well that was… weird,” Austin muttered as the newly-made arm melted back into the cooler as though it had never existed.

“Still, thanks for the dinner,” Spike said, readily grabbing one of the bags for himself and tearing into the sandwich within. After chewing for a few seconds, he passed Mark an approving nod. “Man, Mark, how are you so good with food?”

“Ah, they’re just sandwiches,” Mark replied. “What about you guys, though — are you all meeting for a Creators’ Day project, like the girls are?”

“Sorta,” Austin replied. “I’m trying to find a tabletop RPG that Conrad’s willing to learn so he can help me out with a one-shot.”

“Oh, cool. …What’s a one-shot?”

“A gateway drug to dweebery,” Pierce replied.

“Only if it’s done right. Bad one-shots can turn people off of the game entirely,” Austin countered. “…And it isn’t ‘dweebery’! It’s cool!”

“If you have to say that something is cool, then it isn’t.”

“But, to the point…” Spike interjected, cutting the argument short before turning to look at Mark. “A one-shot is basically when you sit down and play through a whole ‘story’ in one sittin’.”

“Ah, I see…” Mark nodded in understanding. “So you want to do this for Creators’ Day? As a way of showing off the game?”

“It isn’t just showing off the game,” Austin insisted. “There’s a lot of creativity that goes into planning and playing a session, both on the GM and the player side. I think it’s really fitting for Creators’ Day, personally.”

“You only say that because you want to pretend to be a dragon, or some shit,” Pierce retorted.

“Hey, dragons are cool!” Danielle protested.

“See? She gets me!” Austin remarked.

“Wait, does that mean you get to be a dragon in the game?!” Danielle asked excitedly.

“Uh…” Austin passed her a doubtful look. “Well… as a player, no, not usually.”

“Aw…”

“Wait, wasn’t there a dragonborn thing that you can be?” Conrad questioned. “Is that not a dragon?”

“Well, no. Dragonborn are a humanoid player race, sometimes said to be descended from dragons, but they aren’t dragons themselves,” Austin explained.

“…And you wonder why I call you a dweeb, you fucking dweeb,” Pierce remarked.

“Now, now, let’s not antagonize each other,” Mark said, and then passed Pierce a glance. “I take it you aren’t actually helping out with this?”

Pierce shook his head. “Nah. I’m just here because I have nothing better to do.”

“What, did you get dumped, again?” Austin shot back.

“That would be pretty impressive, wouldn’t it.”

“Who…?” Mark and Danielle both turned towards a newcomer approaching down the hallway, a young woman with pale skin and long, black, oily hair that obscured half of her face.

“Oh, hey, Minilas,” Pierce greeted her with a casual nod. “What’re you doing here?”

“Just checking in…” Minilas responded in a deadpan tone. She stopped next to Pierce and peeked into the room, taking quick note of everyone standing inside.

Upon seeing her, Conrad offered her a casual wave. “Yo,” he said, his mouth full with sandwich.

“Yo,” she responded flatly, and then looked back to Pierce. “So Liask ain’t with you, huh.”

“She and Obra have detention, or something like that,” Pierce replied. “You know, since they apparently ran off from Tresnon without permission.”

“That was today?”

“It’s every day for the next month, the way I hear it. Detention from the end of the school day until after sunset.”

“With the summer solstice comin’ up soon? That’s rough.”

“Who got detention?” Austin questioned in confusion.

“Liask,” Spike answered. “We met her on Hunger’s Bane, remember?”

“She’s the girl goin’ out with Pierce,” Conrad remarked, all while chewing.

“Oh… right,” Austin responded. “Yeah, I remember her…”

“I’d heard from the Colonel that two WCU students interfered with CSF-1’s activities last week…” Mark mused. “So was that Liask and Obra, then?”

“Yup,” Minilas replied. “Pretty stupid of them, huh?”

“Weren’t they trying to rescue you?” Pierce questioned incredulously.

“Do you never call your friends stupid?”

“Ha! Point taken.”

“I don’t know if that’s the correct response, there…” Austin muttered.

“That seems kinda messed up, though, to give someone detention for trying to rescue their friend!” Danielle said.

Minilas shook her head. “They aren’t bein’ punished for tryin’ to rescue me, they’re bein’ punished for underestimatin’ the Bleeders. Which is fair. They could’ve died. Or worse.”

“You were with the Bleeders for a month or so, though, right?” Austin pointed out. “And you look fine!”

Minilas turned to give Austin a deadpan stare.

“Austin…” Spike muttered, his hand on his face in frustration. “You can’t just say shit like that.”

“O-oh, right…” Austin adopted an uneasy smile. “Uh, sorry…”

“You guys really are outsiders, huh,” Minilas remarked with a wry smile.

“On another topic, though…” Mark quickly interjected, and then glanced down at Minilas. “Are you doing anything for Creators’ Day?”

Minilas shrugged. “Mm. Maybe. Liask said I should do a food stall, or somethin’ like that.”

“You can summon food out of thin air, can’t you?” Conrad remarked. “A food stall sounds like a good fit.”

“Wait, really?!” Austin exclaimed. “What kind of food?”

“Basic, uncooked stuff,” Minilas replied, and then nodded towards the half-eaten sandwich in Austin’s hands. “Kinda like what you’re eatin’, now.”

“Whoa, that’s really cool!” Danielle said.

“If I hadn’t just gotten dinner from Mark, I’d ask if I could try whatever food you can make,” Spike added.

“Eh. It isn’t that good,” Minilas replied.

“I remember your sandwiches tasting pretty good, actually,” Pierce refuted. He then looked thoughtfully at the sandwich in his hands, prepared and provided by Mark. “Actually… what if you and Mark had a cook-off, or something?”

“Now that’s an idea I can get behind,” Conrad quickly affirmed.

“You aren’t even the one participating,” Austin countered.

“I don’t really ‘cook’ my food, anyways,” Minilas commented, and then fabricated a sandwich into her right hand. “This isn’t cooking.”

“Don’t be a pedant, you know what I mean,” Pierce insisted, glancing between Minilas and Mark as he did. “Just make a bunch of food and see who gets the most people to eat their stuff. Cooking is one of the things celebrated for Creators’ Day, so it isn’t even a stretch!”

“I don’t know…” Mark responded uneasily. “I cook as a hobby. I’ve never tried setting up a food stall or anything like that, before…”

“You could totally do it!” Danielle replied. “Your food is really good, Mark!”

“You know how to make a well-balanced sandwich, that’s for sure,” Conrad remarked. “There’s some quality cold cuts in here, along with some good cheese, but not so much cheese that it overpowers the meat, you know? There’s some lettuce, and tomato, too, for texture… or, something that kinda tastes like tomato, at least. The texture’s a little sandy, gonna be honest, but I assume that’s just a local produce thing, so I won’t dock points for that.”

“We’re grading the sandwiches, now?” Austin responded incredulously.

“That’s Conrad, for you,” Pierce said with a smirk. “When he isn’t napping or slacking off, he’s pigging out on food. It’s a wonder he’s so thin.”

“I just sleep off the calories,” Conrad declared.

“That really isn’t a thing.”

“Ha ha, well, if you like my sandwiches that much, then…” Mark paused in thought before continuing, “well… I guess I could consider making food for Creators’ Day.”

“Oooh, now that I think about it, there’s an interesting angle to this competition, too,” Austin remarked as he glanced between Mark and Minilas. “We can see what’s better: hand-made food, or something that’s fabricated on the spot by a Chaotic!”

“Well, I don’t know about a competition…” Mark responded uneasily.

“Some people really do love their competitions, huh,” Minilas said while passing Pierce a glance.

“There’s nothin’ wrong with a little friendly competition,” Spike replied. “So long as everyone’s havin’ fun.”

“That sounds like something Saito would say,” Danielle remarked.

“Yes, and speaking of the Colonel…” Mark offered a quick wave to everyone in the room. “I made dinner for CSF-1, as well, so we should probably make sure they get their food, soon.”

“See ya later, then,” Spike replied.

“And thanks for the food!” Conrad called after them.

“I’m glad you like it. We’ll see you all later!” Mark responded with a smile before he and Danielle left down the dorm hallway, ready to distribute the rest of their dinners.