Chapter 77: 74. Introductions

“So there really are just the three of you, huh?” Astral asked as she viewed the two drones and one half-cat, half-human. She was currently behind the stasis field, her back on a pillar of sorts. Behind the barrier was Abyssal, Kuon and Meica, who stood next to each other.

“For a ship of this size, I kinda expected more honestly,” Astral added.  “So, I know you are Abyssal,” she pointed towards Abyssal, somehow being able to tell the difference between the two identical drones, Kaon, and Kuon.

“Who are the other two? I know I heard other voices, must have been you two, huh?”

“Kuon,” the maid drone said as she gave a bow.

“Meica,” the Nekomi said casually.

“I see. Pretty simple for introductions… And I’m going to assume that you are a core too?” Astral asked, looking towards Kuon.

“Yes. Your assumption would be correct.”

“Two cores, one ship. Yet…” Astral let out a sigh, her hand covering her face.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean,” Abyssal remarked, giving her an angry look. It was a sentiment shared by Kuon and Meica, as well. The two were rather proud of their designs on the ship, so it would make sense that they were angry.

“No, I’m not talking about your ship, it’s about….”Astral paused for a moment. “Anyway, we should be safe here for the time being. Are you damaged in any way?”

“Other than some slight burn marks, the ship’s fully functional. Why?”

“Nothing really. Just because we are safe, doesn’t mean we should stay here for too long. Ideally, we will be heading out again in the next few days. I’ve got another hideout more secure than this one. If you don’t require repairs then we could cut our days here short.”

“Another hideout? Just how many do you have?”

“More than one, that’s for sure. Anyways, enough about me. What’s your deal? How the hell did the three of you end up in that hellhole anyway?”

“Well… it’s a long story…”

“We got the time. And I don’t need to know all seventy chapters of your life story. Just give me the gist of it.”

“Well alright, here it goes. Long story short, I flew around aimlessly, looted a dead cruiser, found Kuon, got shot by you, assimilated a freighter, met Meica, went asteroid mining, got shot by Jinko, went into hiding, upgraded my ship, got shot by you again, and—” 

“Wait, wait, wait, pause for a moment,” Astral said, cutting Abyssal off while showing her the palm of her hand.

Abyssal did as she asked, keeping quiet for a moment. Astral’s head looked towards different directions as she tried to digest what Abyssal just told her. On her face was the look of confusion. The awkward silence continued for almost a minute when Astral asked another question.

“You were flying around aimlessly?”

“Yeah… aimlessly.”

“In the Lawless Maw Zone? You thought that was a good idea?”

“I was just a tin can back then, alright. Don’t judge me! Plus I didn’t know I was in such a dangerous place until much later!”

Astral gave Abyssal a dry look before looking towards the other two, Kuon and Meica. Both of them nodded towards Astral. “You know what. Forget about it.”

“That’s fine by me.”

“Wait a minute,” Astral put her fingers under her chin. She then glanced towards Kuon. “You said you found her?”

“Hmm? Kuon? Yeah, we met each other in some space hulk derelict, somewhere in the sector.”

“That derelict from before I met you for the first time? A victory-class cruiser?”

“Um? Yeah, yeah, that cruiser. What about it?”

Astral didn’t answer, only keeping quiet for a moment. Her brows furled as she did so. “I visited that same cruiser ages ago but found nothing. How exactly did you find her?”

“I hid in a construct specifically made to fool most devices. At the very least of my time. It is possible that you just didn’t look hard enough,” Kuon answered in place of Abyssal.

“I didn’t look hard enough, huh,” Astral let out a chuckle before letting out a sigh.  “No, I Don’t think so. My scanners are most likely faulty. Dammit, I wonder how many more cores did I miss…” she muttered.

“Were you looking for cores, nyaa?” Meica asked.

Astral nodded, “Yeah, that was the whole point of it in the first place. But seeing as I couldn’t even detect the fact that the ship contained not only one but two cores… Let’s just say I wasn’t doing a really good job at it.”

“I see…”

Astral let out another sigh before looking towards the ceiling. “I knew it. Having a Living Core is the best way to find another.”

“...”

“...”

“Actually, can we forget about us for a moment? What about E? Will she be fine? She looked like she took some massive damage from the ramming,” Abyssal asked.

“Big chance that she’ll be okay. It’ll take more than some battleship to take her down.”

“What about the civilians living inside the carrier? Aren’t you worried about them?”

“Civilians?” Astral raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean? There are no civilians on that ship.”

“Huh?” 

It was then that Astral perked up. Her face made an expression as if she realised something. “Ahh… I see. Of course, nobody told you. Welp, I guess I better start explaining then. I did promise to do so.”

Astral then massaged her throat before letting out a few “Ahem.”

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“Listen here closely. I don’t know what E showed you to make you think that way… but no one on that ship is a civilian.”

“What?” 

“I expected as much when I was there. But what of the children? And all those shop owners and Doctor Julia?” Kuon asked.

“Eh? Kuon you knew?!” Abyssal asked in surprise but was ignored by Astral who tried to explain.

“Everyone there is either an engineer, a soldier, a scientist or a worker of some kind working with the government. Even the traders are handpicked for the project that E and Julia are working on. The kids are…. How to say this…” Astral scratched the back of her head.

“I’m not supposed to be telling this to anyone but screw it, shit has gone out of the window the moment you got involved with me anyways. They are, so to say, child soldiers.”

Abyssal gave out a flabbergasted look, a sentiment shared by Kuon and Meica.

“What?” Each of them asked.

“Super secret supersoldiers. Genetically engineered to withstand even the harshest of conditions of space. Brainwashed by their government to fight for them. The whole civilian dome is just a disguise for some propaganda about warships taking care of orphans and refugees. In reality, half the ship is basically a mobile research station, meant to test genetic mutation in humans and to develop new prototype weapons. You know, for those fighters that E shits out in the thousands. Doctor Julia is the lead scientist of the whole thing.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“You guys looked like you just got dumped by your spouse,” Astral remarked upon seeing Abyssal, Kuon and Meica’s reaction.

“The doctor… Julia, nyaa. She lead scientist, right? Meaning she doing experiments on the children?” Meica asked, noticing something with the way Astral described the place.

Astral looked away, not willing to answer. Though that action only gave Meica the answer she needed.

“No way, nyaa…” Meica backed a step, her tail and ears swooped downwards. “I thought she was kinda lady…”

“Kind people are not always the good guys. Don’t hate her for it. Trust me. It’s the last thing she wanted to do. But better her doing it than some random mad scientist. She’s protecting them in her own way.”

“Why don’t you just take the kids away? You got a bunch of hideouts here, surely you can—” Abyssal asked.

“They’ll just get new ones. Plus, it’s another thing altogether asking them to come with me. Keyword: brainwashed.”

“...” Abyssal couldn’t find the words to say back at Astral.

“Such a mad place. Why even sent us there in the first place? Surely there were other better ways to escort us out of the Lawless Maw Zone if you really wanted to.”

“I was busy with the search alright. My thought was that they needed to keep up their facade even if it's just some random strangers. I thought that the best way for you guys to leave the Lawless Maw Zone was to be with her. E and Julia have some good connections in Freedom United that can help you get started. The place may be bad, but it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t know anyways. Or that's what I thought at first. The whole thing changes if you are a core. You see… cores in Freedom United aren’t exactly ‘free’, anybody finds out that you are a core and you… well, you get what I mean.”

“Unbelievable,” Kuon said in a mocking tone.

“Yep, unbelievable. It’s best to not believe it actually,” Astral said as she shrugged her shoulders. 

“So? What’s going to happen to us now? What are you going to do? We are out of the Lawless Maw Zone,” Abyssal asked.

“I don’t know. Been working hard these past few months. I’m thinking of hanging out with you guys for a while. You guys look like an interesting bunch.”

“Ehh…”

“Haah?! What is with that response? You don’t want me around ya or something?” Astral glared at Abyssal’s lacklustre response.

“Eh? No no, I didn’t say anything of the sorts,” Abyssal straightened up her imaginary body.

“Astral not looking for the relic anymore, nyaa? Spend months on it?”

“Nah. There is a big chance that it’s just rumours and the relic probably doesn't exist. I’ve even scanned the whole damn sector. Well, my scanner is faulty so I may have missed it, but there is nothing I can do about it now. Freedom United is mobilizing in droves to secure the sector. They are planning to take the place for themselves. Nothing much I can do now.”

“So this relic is a bunch of cores, right? Some sort of vault?” Abyssal asked.

“Yup. At least that’s what the rumours say.”

“Hmm. Why are you looking for the relic? If you don’t mind me asking,” Kuon asked.

“It’s because I don’t want them to get their hands on more cores.”

“Why is that? Aren’t you from Freedom United, as well? Don’t you think helping them get the relics would help your nation?”

Astral let out a sigh as a response to that question. “It’s a long story really. Let’s just say that Freedom United is corrupted to the core and they kinda betrayed me. Such a shitty country, I have no hope for it. As a matter of fact, I rather it not exist. Julia and E… they are too patriotic to open their eyes to all the B.S. They just keep their eyes closed and trudge along.”

“For Freedom United!” Astral saluted and struck a pose before spitting on the ground. “Meh.”

Clicking her tongue, Astral stretched out her arms and started to walk towards her ship. “Arghh, you got me in a bad mood. I’ll talk to you guys later. I need to service my ship.” 

“Wait,” Abyssal called out to Astral before she left.

“What?” Astral said, turning around slightly to face Abyssal.

“Can you at least turn off this barrier? I promise I won’t do anything suspicious.”

Astral let out a small chuckle before turning her back on Abyssal. “Nope. Trust is earned,  Abyssal. Trust is earned.”

As Astral walked away, Abyssal put her drone arm towards the camera, mimicking a person sticking out her tongue. “Blearhhh.”

Kotohood

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