‘Severe Damage to Probe 2, Probe 3: Purging is Advised’

Soobin ignored the warnings on her HUD as she invested all her focus into the battle.

The fire of the ion knives intensified on the back of the Relentless 05, as more and more of the Daggers focused on taking the Prober down.

Skulmiset redirected his ship’s stabilizing processes onto the left wing, pouring all his efforts to barely keep a straight path off to the left side of the battlefield.

However, a long-range Dagger ship saw his attempt to pull away from the fight, and,

*BOOM*

A well-placed shot from the enemy’s dismantler struck the centre of his fighter, blasting the entire thing into pieces.

“No!”

Soobin called out.

“Stay strong, Dew!” Boreon shouted. “We don’t want to lose you too!”

The Hauler pilot stopped his pursuit of a Dagger’s tail and moved away, giving time for his weapons to cool down.

Surveying the battlefield,

“…Where’s Raven?”

He realized that one of them was missing.

“What?”

Soobin could barely focus on his question as she rolled her ship through a barrage of gunfire.

“Where’s Raven!?”

He repeated his question.

“We need her or else this entire operation will be useless!”

Far away from the battlefield, in one part of space above Venus’s atmosphere, the commanding unit of the Fractured Daggers hovered still with their capture in tow.

“Nailcleavers ready.”

The slower gunships reported their status of their artillery guns to their commander.

Affirming, the voice went on to address the pilot of the Resplendent 02.

“Take a good look at your friends one last time, explorer.” It sneered. “Their deaths will be spectacular.”

Within the captured ship, its pilot lay still, all of her attention entranced by what was happening inside her mind.

Seola was undergoing a change.

---

…!

The metaphysical connection between the Soarer and its pilot completed, and a formless entity shrouded in white appeared in her heart.

Tell me what it is you fight for, descendant.

Seola felt the intention from the ship emerge in her mind, like a wordless voice that told her its true colours.

You have something to protect, do you not?

Her heart shifted in response, an image of twelve people flashing past her eyes.

Then your enemies shall know heavenly brilliance in their demise.

An intense emotion welled up from within her chest.

Before she could lose herself to that rising sensation—

---

In the heat of the battle, another notification popped up on Soobin’s end.

However, it was from the ship’s diagnostics.

Instead, it was from her own system; her chat window.

Seola: Take cover.

What…?

---

The five ships of the artillery force aligned their cannons in the direction of the battlefield, ready to fire.

“Discharge in three, two, one… hmm?”

The Resplendent 02 began to glow a brightening silver.

On the bridge of the commanding ship, several eyes turned their attention onto the Daggers’ haul. Before they could even react,

*SHING*

A platinum radiance swelled out of the Soarer and fractured into a million rays of light.

“The h—”

The brilliant meteor shower was the last thing the commander and her subordinates saw before their untimely deaths.

The countless beams of Heaven’s Demise flew out of the Resplendent 02 like dazzling comets.

Receiving Heaven’s Demise at point-blank range, the silvery lights tore into the larger dusk-coloured ships, ripping through their hulls and reducing all that they held to shreds. Rifts of destruction followed the Winterhymn Drive’s awakening, the Daggers’ extinction a tribute for its return to the world.

The rays pierced through the clouds of smoke and wreckage that followed the resulting explosions, leaving slow-fading trails as they extended out in all directions from Seola’s ship.

A few arced towards the battlefield where Soobin and the rest were, while others traveled far off into the distance towards the conflict between the rest of the Haulers and the bandits raiding the Immerser.

Hundreds of light rays fell around Squad Splinter like rain, precisely seeking out the Daggers’ ships and tearing holes in them.

None of the enemies could escape the shower of platinum as it decimated their fleet into oblivion.

“Was that…?” Boreon drew a breath.

“It’s from Seola unnie!” Soobin answered.

“Unnie?” He paused. “That was from Raven?”

The warning from her partner proved to be groundless, as the radiant beams adeptly struck the dusk-shrouded ships while avoiding her allies.

The platinum array also reached the battlefield of the Immerser, incapacitating every bandit raider it reached, and even blasting gaping holes into the gunships Glutana was engaging with.

“What the hell was that!?” A Hauler fighter raised their voice.

“Wait, it’s not hitting any of us!” Another replied.

“The light’s coming from Deken’s direction!” A third added, “…Squad Splinter?”

“Do you know anything about this, Superior Glutana?”

Hearing the questions from the members of Team Venturer, Glutana changed the transmission on her fighter and connected to the rest of her squad.

On the bridge of the Immerser,

“What’s going on?”

The Oxley Haulers’ command control was overwhelmed by reports from the frontline Haulers concerning the phenomenon that happened just now.

All the board operators had also seen the lights rain around the cruiser, but none of them, despite their wealth of experience fighting in systemwide conflicts, had ever seen anything like it.

However, a single point of information stood out among all the communications they received: All the platinum lights originated from a location close to Deken.

“All fighters, regroup on board as soon as it’s safe to do so; all hands, perform diagnostics for all damage and losses, as well as scan for any parts we can salvage from the raiders’ ships.”

Standing in the middle of the bridge, Clare Langan gave her orders out, wasting as little of the opportunity the silver lights provided as possible.

In between discussions with her fellow commanders as Indera, she shot a single glance at Manicom, who was still operating the board and talking to the team she was assigned to.

At the centre of the entire phenomenon, Squad Splinter stared speechless at whatever it was that unfolded in front of them.

---

“Come in, Squad Splinter!”

“Are you guys okay!?”

Manicom and Glutana’s voice blared through the transmission at the same time.

Correcting the course of his fighter, it was Boreon who responded first.

“Yes, we’re fine.”

After a pause.

“We lost Skulmiset, though, and Raven is out of contact.”

“…Damn it!” Manicom cursed.

“…That is unfortunate.” Glutana lamented.

Boreon flew his ship close to the Relentless 05, indicating it to follow his lead. Returning from her end of the conflict, Glutana accelerated her fighter on the way to join back up with them.

After a few moments of silence,

“Locating Callsign Raven’s position is your topmost priority, Squad Splinter.”

Manicom continued without hesitation.

“The mission cannot continue without her.”

“I’m deploying the search beacon now. We should find her soon, Dew.” Boreon reassured her.

“I’ll look around on my way as well.” Glutana added.

Soobin was taken aback by their words. As much as she worried for Seola’s safety,

“…You’re still thinking about the mission at this time?”

She raised her voice in the transmission channel.

Manicom and the rest of the team paused their discussion at Soobin’s sudden outburst.

Hearing the Haulers treat Seola and her as precious individuals and making them centerpieces of the whole operation ticked her off. More than that,

“Skulmiset is dead and all you can think about is your unmanned base!?”

Seeing them ignore their fallen comrade irritated her the most.

As those words left , Soobin herself was surprised at how agitated she was about her teammate’s death, despite being an NPC she has never met in person. The ‘reality’ of the situation was the strongest reason behind her anger.

“Dead…?” Glutana asked, seemingly confused.

At this point,

*SSSSKKKTTT*

A loud static noise flooded the transmission channel. Against the deathly quietness that veiled the transmission channel, its sharp volume took everyone aback in their pilot seats.

As it cleared away,

“…The ‘unmanned base’ is our last source of income, Dew.”

A ghostly voice emerged.

“No one in the Haulers will survive without it.”

Soobin’s heart jumped into .

“You’re alive!?”

She yelled.

“But I saw your ship blow up!”

“You are correct: My ship was completely destroyed by a Dagger.”

The one that should have fallen answered.

“A mistake I’m not proud to make.”

“Then how did you…”

Boreon interrupted her before she finished her words.

“Skulmiset is a Nebula Specter, Dew. His people will only die buried in the centre of the sun.”

Letting out a short sigh,

“My mineral constitution will also let me survive in deep space for weeks as well; we were fortunate that it was not you or Glutana who fell in battle.”

“We’ve seen your SOS signal, Callsign Skulmiset. The Immerser will send someone to pick you up.”

Manicom explained.

“As for the fighter’s compensation… that will be for the debriefing.”

“That it shall.”

As the three ships approached the rendezvous point above the location of their base,

“Back to the issue at hand…” Boreon tried to move on, but in the midst of his sentence—

“Not like you to care about other people so much, is it, Soobin?”

Another voice joined the channel, a softer and quieter tone than Skulmiset’s.

“Seola unnie!!” Soobin lurched towards the communications speaker, almost hitting her head on the roof of the Relentless 05.

“Raven!” Manicom also exclaimed.

“Are you fine?” Glutana asked .

“Yes, I am,”

Soobin’s partner replied.

“I’m coming over to you now. Wait for me.”

The news of Seola’s safety relieved everyone, especially the fact that they no longer had to spend hours looking for her now.

Recalling Soobin’s words,

“The rain of light was from you, right, Raven?”

Boreon brought the topic up straight away.

“…Yes, it was.” Making eye contact with the existence connected to her, Seola gave her answer.

“I have never seen something like that in the decades of fighting I’ve been in.” Skulmiset said. “…That is not a power of the Frontier.”

“What happened, Raven? Did the Daggers do something to you?” Glutana asked.

“No, not really.” Seola brushed it off.

Explaining to them would take up time, and she was still not convinced that the Haulers were completely trustworthy.

“Must have been an old treasure the Daggers’ commander was holding; I did shoot down her ship after all.”

She ended up telling them a lie.

“An artifact, huh.” Glutana trailed off.

“Well, even if it was not destroyed in the explosion, looking for it will have to wait until the Deken base is ours again.”

Boreon wrapped the discussion up.

“Once all of us are together, we’ll breach Venus and start sieging the base.”

Above the rendezvous point, Boreon and Soobin aligned their ships to geostationary orbit and waited for the rest of the squad to arrive.

---

As expected, the first one to show up to the rendezvous point was Seola’s ship. The Resplendent 02 pinged in Boreon and Soobin’s radars, before the wide-winged Soarer flew into observable distance from southwards of Venus.

As she approached their position, Seola could see the extent of damage both her teammates have accrued from the Daggers; Boreon’s cyan, prim fighter sported significant burns on either wing and under the cockpit, while two auxiliary probes were noticeably absent from the Relentless 05, ripped from their links to the main body.

In contrast, hers was practically untouched, having been taken hostage by the commanding unit the whole time.

“Glad to see you’re fine, Boreon… Dew.” She said, reporting herself back to the team.

“You too, Raven.” Boreon acknowledged.

“Mm.” Soobin only gave a slight nod. However,

“Oh.”

As Seola set her ers to the geostationary state, a notification buzzed from her personal system, coming from the chat window.

Opening the screen,

Soobin: What really happened, unnie?

That’s Soobin all right.

It wouldn’t be her if she didn’t see through the lie she made.

Still, how should I put it…

You: My ship woke up and linked with me.

You: That’s the best way to explain it, I think.

Soobin: ‘Woke up’?

Soobin: Your ship was already working before, right?

You: You’re right, the ship was already fully functional when we started this morning.

You: It’s just… Something in my ship activated on its own.

You: Some sort of soul.

Soobin: Huh.

You: I don’t know how to make sense of everything yet.

Soobin: Are you sure you want to continue doing this mission?

Soobin: You don’t sound very stable, unnie.

…

Inside the Relentless 05, Soobin read the message in the chat window that came a moment later.

Seola: I’m fine, let’s do this.

She let out a sigh.

It’s not like you to try so hard.

You: Don’t regret it, okay?

Seola: 👌

Just as she closed the chat window, the fourth ship finally arrived at the meeting place, accompanied by a dulcet voice with a worried tone.

“Are none of you hurt!? I flew here as fast as possible!”

A trace of panic could be heard from the short breaths she took in between her words.

“We’re okay, Glutana.” Soobin answered her. “Our ships… could be better, but still spaceworthy.”

“None of our vessels need critical attention.” Boreon reported. “I’m relieved to see you in good shape, as well.”

“Fit as a fiddle,” She replied, “Raven did all the work for us after all.”

“…Yeah.” Seola gave an awkward reply.

“It’s a fortunate turn of events in our favour.”

Manicom stated.

“Begin your descent once you’re ready, Squad Splinter. The control board will guide you as much as possible.”

After a second of silence,

“Ready?” Boreon called out.

“Ready.” Everyone else responded.

Leading the charge,

“Breaching Venus’s atmosphere now.”

---

Venus’s arid brown atmosphere grazed against Squad Splinters’ ships as they rapidly descended through its layers.

The Deken base would come into view soon enough, and all four pilots were on edge.

Seeing the fighters match their speeds to the Soarer, Seola broke the silence between them.

“Why do you need us if your ships are faster? Surely you’ll fare better than we do against the base’s defenses?”

After a few seconds,

“Our fighters can’t even begin to take as much firepower as yours do, Raven.”

It was Glutana that answered.

“Also…” She trailed off.

“Also?”

“Also, we want to keep as much of our firepower around as possible.”

Boreon took over her to explain.

“None of us have any intent to leave you two for dead, but if the mission fails it won’t be our ships that get destroyed.”

“…Are you saying we’re just dispensables for your cause?” Soobin accused.

“You are our hired guns.” Manicom interjected. “The Haulers specified in our recruitment call that seasoned, proficient explorers were needed; you were the ones that signed up at your own discretion.”

The risk was already mentioned in the job, she stated.

“That doesn’t mean…!!” She retorted, but couldn’t come up with a good response to Manicom’s argument. It was them who accepted the job after all.

“You are one of us for the duration of this entire mission, Explorer.”

Through the static, Skulmiset included.

“The entirety of the Haulers wishes for you to succeed. Even as the Daggers took me down, I thought the same.”

The weight of their expectations felt heavy on Seola’s shoulders. It was natural for the fate of people to rest on game protagonists, but having it said directly to her was a different feeling entirely.

“Don’t worry, you two.”

At the end, Glutana encouraged them. As the surface of Venus came into view,

“We’ll be there with you every step of the way.”

The Deken base, a large compound situated at the edge of a mountainous region, appeared before them.

“Beginning operation.” Boreon ordered.

---

At Boreon’s call, the four spaceships descended towards the base grounds with incredible speed, receiving the assistance of Venus’s gravity to pull themselves towards the ground.

As Squad Splinter came within range of their detection perimeter, hundreds of spikes scattered on the barren spaces surrounding the base spread open, revealing a cluster of antennas within each of them.

Within a few milliseconds, the antennas glowed bright orange and discharged intense rounds of plasma laser, directed towards the group.

Having anticipated the response, the Hauler pilots skillfully dodged the irregular trajectories of the incoming fire, and Seola and Soobin followed behind them the best they could.

The antennas fired every two seconds, and the shower of rounds looked like a rain of fire falling upwards to the sky. Each discharge was almost half the size of the Relentless 05, and there was sufficient space between them that evasion posed little issue the trained pilots.

“Woah.” Seola exclaimed as she steered the Soarer out of the way.

Even the Resplendent 02, slow as it was, could avoid them with ease.

Nevertheless,

“The difficult part begins now.” Glutana advised the two of them.

“Once we leave the detection field of the long-range defenses, the airspace firecrackers will engage next.”

As soon as she finished her message, the antennas stopped firing the laser rounds at them; the team had already passed its sensors’ minimum range.

According to Glutana’s words, then—

*CRACKLE*

The flaps of the spikes that gave way to the antennas blazed a searing red, then fired out numerous sparks of lightning that surged forth towards the entire airspace.

“Get ready!” Manicom ordered. “The lightning’s paths are unpredictable, so don’t let down your guard!”

“This is no joke!”

Soobin gritted her teeth as she steered her Prober to avoid the red sparks lighting up the entire area.

As she and the other ships maneuvered through the domain of lightning the best they could, the Soarer suffered a worse fate.

Holding on to her seat, Seola braced herself as the Resplendent 02 suffered countless strikes of lightning on its hull shields. The awakening of the Winterhymn Drive was able to reinforce the barrier matrix beyond their usual capabilities, but even that wasn’t going to last.

Through the sustained assault,

“I won’t reach the base at this rate, guys! Do something!”

She called out to her teammates.

“Give us time, Raven!” Glutana answered her.

The risk of having her fighter destroyed was far too great, from even two or three strikes. All that’s left is…

“We’ll do our best to confuse the sensors and stun some of the turrets, Raven.”

Boreon stated.

“The rest is up to you.”

“Wait—” Soobin interjected.

The Hauler pilots leaving was the last thing she wanted; splitting up from them meant losing their guidance to effectively dodge the sparks of lightning chasing her down.

Before she could continue her sentence, however,

These dismal sparklers?

An intention communicated those words from inside Soobin’s heart.

“What was—”

Along with that mysterious existence… Soobin could also feel Seola’s presence within her.

Dissipate.

It commanded.

“What the—”

From out of nowhere, a lustrous flash filled the heavens and the earth, giving the split-second illusion of an endless space of white around them.

As it receded,

“What…?”

The scenery of Venus returned, the four spaceships still speeding towards Deken as fast as they could. However,

“The firecrackers, all of them are stunned!”

The red sparks on the spikes indicated that they were still working, but none could target the group any longer.

“What happened!?” Manicom’s voice entered the transmission, requesting the status of the team.

“I have no idea, but everyone’s fine.” Boreon responded. “We’ll take this chance to get closer to the base while we still can.”

“Affirmative.” His comrade added.

“…We’ll do our best.”

As if recovering from a trance, Seola and Soobin belatedly answered.

“Are you okay, you two?” Glutana asked. “The flash came out of nowhere, even I was surprised!”

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Seola replied on their behalf.

Moving away from the transmission input, she returned her attention to the space within her heart; Seola could still feel Soobin’s existence there, as well as the sentient soul of the Winterhymn Drive.

Soobin!

She called out to her.

Seola unnie?

Her partner’s thoughts responded.

What’s going on?

Just she tried to respond, the entity spoke, directing its words towards herself.

A link to one of your twelve, descendant; all of them will inevitably know of me.

As Seola received its message, she could also feel Soobin’s presence shift; intuitively, Seola knew that she had also heard and understood its words.

“The turrets are recovering, girls!” Glutana’s voice could be heard from outside the inner space.

The soul retreated into the void, and,

!!!

The telepathic connection between the two people broke abruptly.

As either of them returned to their senses, they saw the red lightning begin to intensify around the spikes again.

“Neither of us will survive the combined strike of a hundred firecrackers on ourselves, explorer.”

Boreon detailed.

“We’ll have to pull out if none of you have any plans.”

It would not be more than a few seconds before the base defenses regain their full function again.

“The Option Probes, then, unnie?” Soobin piped up.

“Option Probes…?” He repeated her words.

“…Callsign Dew’s auxiliary drones!” Manicom interjected, having seen her type of spaceship before. “They’ll solve the Soarer’s speed problem!”

“Won’t it take away from the Prober’s speed?” Glutana argued.

“…It’s your call, Soobin.”

Ignoring the callsign naming convention between the Haulers, Seola left the choice up to her.

Even before a second could pass,

“Ready, Seola unnie?” The Relentless 05 slowed down, as Soobin prepared herself.

In response, the Resplendent 02 dipped an altitude below the rest of the team.

“Do it.” She answered.

“Here it comes!”

Pressing a sequence of buttons, the links attached to the Prober’s main body released, and,

‘Jettisoning Probe 1, Probe 4’

‘Engaging Target Ship’

The ship system messages appeared on Soobin’s HUD.

The rocket-shaped pods attached to two of her ship’s four wings separated from the main ship, activating their independent ers and flying toward Seola’s ship.

As soon as they got close, the modules extended latches from their front part and grabbed onto each of its wide wings. As soon as the grip secured,

‘Attachment Success’

‘Firing ers’

The option probes clamped onto the Resplendent 02 activated their overrun boosters, pushing the Soarer faster than ever.

“Aaaah!” Seola yelled, trying to keep her ship under control.

As it accelerated in the direction of the base, Soobin fired own her ers to catch up to it.

As she chased after her partner,

*CRACK* *SNAP*

The spikes fully recovered from their stun and began firing at the team again. At their current velocity, it was difficult for the base defenses to aim at them effectively. Still,

*ZAP* *SIZZLE*

A few stray arcs of red lightning struck both of their ships, causing the hulls to shudder.

“Ow, ow!” Soobin exclaimed.

“We’ll leave the airspace and support you from above.” Boreon stated through the transmission channel, and the two Hauler pilots pulled away from the firecrackers’ effective range.

Support, huh? Seola grimaced.

Manicom had explicitly prohibited them from laying a hand on the base’s weapons, and none of them seemed like they would defy her order.

“You’ll reach the base in less than a minute at that speed,” Glutana relayed. “Tell us if you manage to land!”

“Wait, Glutana!” Soobin panicked.

As the base headquarter grounds came to occupy their field of view,

“Land where!?”

“Just use any flat space you see; no one else is using the base after all!”

Her teammate’s reply sent her mind out of control.

---

“Can’t you control the boosters on my wings, Soobin!?”

Barely avoiding a collision with an outpost by a last-minute raising maneuver, Seola asked while her ship continued to take fire from the base’s defenses.

“They should be connected to your system, unnie!”

“You’re in the final approach, Raven, Dew!”

Manicom interjected, trying to bring their focus back onto the mission.

“Your IDs should work with the security systems in HQ! Get inside and you’ll be safe!”

Right after that,

“We’ll land behind the south wing, unnie! There’s a space over there!”

Soobin pointed out, and a marking appeared on Seola’s HUD corresponding to the landing area.

In the midst of the chaos,

There’s no way I can land like this…!

Seola’s multiple attempts to connect her ship systems to Soobin’s option probes have all failed.

If the boosters keep running wild like this, she’ll miss the landing point and fly straight into the base of the mountain!

As her stress peaked,

“DO SOMETHING, SEORI!!”

She screamed towards the console.

…Seo-ri.

For the first time, the Winterhymn Drive responded to her call.

An elegant name; I like it.

Within the span of a heartbeat, misty, silver waves expanded out of the pods attached to her ship, bringing them under the entity’s control while deflecting any spark of red lightning that tried to get close.

“Was that…?”

I’ll humour myself with your toys, descendant.

An identical phenomenon emanated from the Relentless 05’s fuselage, and the red lightning seemed, for one second, afraid to touch it.

Before she could look for Seola, Soobin saw the Resplendent 02 fly ahead, zooming towards the landing point she indicated. With a skillful turn, it detracted the majority of its , slowly descended onto the ground, and,

*THUMP*

The Soarer touched down with a resounding thud.

“Seola unnie!”

Soobin followed suit, curving around the clearing and initiating the landing process for her own ship. The Prober was well known for its quick vertical take-off and landing technology, and it set itself down on the concrete-floored area in record time.

Feeling the impact of her ship against the floor, Seola quickly stood up from her pilot seat and headed for the exit hatch. Making sure the Haulers’ uniform fit well on her body, she opened the hatch and jumped out of the Soarer.

Soobin also rushed to the exit of the Prober and sild down one of its landing supports, which also served as the accessway to her ship.

Meeting up with each other, the two explorers wasted no time and ran towards the main building of the Deken base as quickly as possible.

For some reason, none of the firecrackers aimed at their landed ships. The red lightning sparks arced over, and—

*BOOM!*

“Really!?” Soobin groaned.

“We’re still taking fire, team!”

Seola scrambled to connect to Squad Splinter’s communications and relayed the situation; the firecrackers were firing at themselves instead.

“We’ll do something about it, Raven!” Boreon responded in the channel.

Above the airspace, the Hauler pilot lifted his ship upwards, climbing higher up in the sky. After a certain height, it began to stall and turn back, and he let it turn back towards the ground.

Seeing her comrade’s actions,

“Scatter fire, Boreon?” Glutana asked.

“That’s the least we can do.” He responded.

“Affirmative.”

Trailing after him, she also pointed her fighter straight down on the base grounds.

“Here it comes, you two!” Boreon warned.

Sprinting on the ground, dodging the red lightning the best they could,

“What’s coming!?” Seola practically heaved.

“Support fire!”

“Support fire!?”

A second later, blue and red laser rounds rained down on them, aimed towards the numerous spikes defending the base.

A generous amount of gunfire also sprayed onto their path, each optical round twice as large as their bodies.

“The hell!?”

Soobin screamed.

“Now you’re trying to kill us too!?”

“Get moving!” Glutana ordered.

It was a risky tactic: Firing near the turrets to distract them without causing any damage. The Hauler pilots had to account for the deviation in each and every one of their shots.

Nonetheless,

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Goaded by the fighters, the spike turrets activated their antennas, and plasma rounds rained upon them again.

“Yes!” She exclaimed.

The turrets were capable of operating in long-range and short-range modes at the same time. However, due to the overwhelming energy demand of the tandem mode, the targeting system would be weakened during this state.

“Keep firing, Glutana!” Boreon commanded.

The two ships turned around and returned to the effective range of the plasma rounds, painting themselves as targets to lighten the gunfire on the two explorers.

Seeing the antennas firing at her teammates, Seola couldn’t help worrying about them. Even if Boreon said that he could survive deep space, she still didn’t know if he’d live through a ship crash onto Venus;

…To say nothing of Glutana herself!

Even so,

“Keep running, unnie!” Soobin brought her back to her senses.

The impact of the lasers scattered parts of the surrounding area into fragments, and the two of them climbed and ducked through the rubble. Tirelessly running towards the nearest gate of the main HQ building, the only thought on their mind was to survive.

Just as they could reach the edge of the walkway leading to the south entrance,

*BOOM* *CRASH*

An explosion erupted a distance away to their left, and they saw a turret fall to the ground in flames.

“Ah.” Glutana exclaimed.

A stray round from her fighter had struck the activated spike, destroying it.

A second later, loud sirens blared throughout the base.

“Did you activate Code Amber, Squad Splinter!?” Manicom’s voice turned rough in alarm.

“Apologies, Manicom.”

Boreon stated.

“We’re prepared for this.”

Directing his next words to Glutana,

“Get ready, Glutana; I’ll see you on the other side.”

Down on the base grounds, Seola and Soobin felt the ground around them shudder, before sounds of machinery whirred from inside the building.

!!!

A moment later, hundreds of unmanned drones appeared, flying out of dozens of shutters on the upper part of the building.

“Is that Code Amber?” Seola frantically asked.

“Don’t worry about us and get inside, Raven!” Glutana ordered.

“Damn it!” She cursed.

Sprinting in the direction of the gate, the two of them saw the swarm of searing metal rise towards the sky, converging onto the Hauler pilots.

“Keep going, Raven, Dew.”

Boreon followed up.

“Our success in this operation hinges entirely on your actions.”

“Got it.” Turning to look at the girl beside her, “We can do this, right?”

“Absolutely!” Soobin answered her.

Then, directing her next words towards their teammates,

“…And you better stay alive until we’re done!”

Heh, a chuckle could be heard from the transmission channel. It was from Boreon.

“We’ve survived countless battles as a mercenary group, Dew,”

Through a crack in his glacial voice, the Hauler pilot warmly reassured them.

“We can survive a fight with one of our own.”

“Take Deken back for us, you two.”

Skulmiset left them his last words, before his communicator cut off.

---

Reaching the building, the two of them faced the sensor cameras positioned by the south entrance.

‘Access Granted’

Using the temporary identities granted to them by the Immerser, they passed the identification process, and the gates swung open to reveal the corridor inside.

“Let’s go, unnie.” Soobin nodded to her partner.

“Let’s do this, Soobin.” Seola affirmed back.

They ran past the gates and entered the gloomy, dark corridor of the HQ building.

The south entrance slammed shut once again, isolating the two explorers within the dimly lit interior of the Deken base.

---

“…Hum?”

A gangly voice stirred from slumber underneath a mound of sludge and decayed chemicals.

Hundreds of slimy creatures stopped feeding on the pile of scrap and refuse, moving away in fear.

The pile parted away to reveal a single lifeform, much like the ones that trembled in sight of it.

“…Who dares trespass onto my dominion?” It grouched.

Seeing the figures of the two people entering the building through the security cameras,

“Ignorant cretins,”

Two parts of its body split apart, forming a mouth below its eye.

“I shall show them the difference in our standing.”

A foul grin spread across its face.