Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had ended with a gunshot.

Even though the delicate hand of the princess had never pulled the trigger, Slaine was mentally hit with a bullet the moment when princess Asseylum had landed that specific gaze on him. The gaze of repulsion. Quickly, she had put the gun away, but that expression never left her beautiful face. Disappointment, distress, even anger, even shame, something permanently broken.

A gunshot was, nevertheless, a faulty metaphor and Slaine knew it. He had not met a sudden and intense end. Rather he had been slowly poisoned, refusing to accept that something was not right even when he was lying on the ground, bleeding from his mouth and nose. Of course, his actual body was physically as intact as a well-protected high official of the Versian Empire should be. It did not mean that there would be something left of his shattered personality.

A white hallway after a white hallway, a status report after report, an officer after officer, everything was just a meaningless background. There was no one for Slaine to fight this war. The months he had desperately sat by the comatose body of her princess, he had been simultaneously, intentionally or unintentionally, constructing a beautiful picture of her. The more time passed, the more the picture had expanded. In the end, he could not be sure which one he was waiting for.

Why to go on, why to send a ship after ship to meet its likely end, why to keep giving commands of life and death, commands of gradually declining quality, why to put forth all the effort if there was no graceful ending?

Princess Assyleum Vers Allusia cherished peace and Slaine knew he was himself the only one to provide it for her. He would build a kingdom for her. He would destroy all the obstacles for her. He would let the old states burn in flames and raise something much more beautiful from the ashes. For her.

As if that “her” in that imagination was not just an empty frame. There were still dozens of high-quality warships, hundreds of loyal subordinates and yet a princess sitting alone in her quarters, unwilling to see him, unwilling to talk with him, unwilling to even react towards him with any affection other than hostility. Some stupid short phases of dreams. Nothing actual. Perhaps never.

And yet Slaine fought. Why, for whom, but how to stop, how to ever find anything. A magnificent explosion lit up the view behind the window for a moment, turning likely at least a dozen low-rank soldiers from both sides to clouds of ashes that would slowly diffuse through the vacuum space. For Slaine, it was like a painting on a wall. Pictorial representation, unobtainable.

And perhaps from a corner of his eye he saw something, perhaps only a glimpse of color of some nameless carrier, perhaps a delusion, perhaps a blink of some light, but that was insignificant, the reminder had already filled Slaine’s mind. His posture had changed. His mind has sharpened. Slaine was again located somewhere, both physically and in the network of purposes. It was almost as if he had something actual to do, to achieve. Somewhere there had to be. An orange. An orange Kataphrakt.

**

It had begun with a surprising physical sensation.

The element of surprise was not caused by the presence of sensation itself but the sudden intensity of it. Inaho was forced to alter his course for a few seconds that could have been destructive concerning the objective he was presently executing.

The fight against Ortygia had been challenging but not beyond their capacities. Calculating the estimated locations of manifestations produced by quantum teleportation, which still fought like the original Martian Kataphrakt, because technically they all were the original, required a lot of computation capacity. It was self-evident that the only method for destroying all of them exactly simultaneously required centralized control of all the UFE Kataphrakts.

While waiting for an illustrative light to turn green in his enhanced vision, to signal the successful takeover of the targeting mechanisms of the entire platoon, Inaho felt it. Rather, he became aware that he had felt it all the time. Inaho performed the last coordinate updates almost blindly. He sat inside his Kataphrakt in darkness, in order to execute the plan that was their only chance in less than two seconds, all the targets locked, all firearm of the powerful Kataphrakt platoon ready and only his own, weak and shivering body inside his own unit as something that has almost been about to ruin everything permanently.

It was currently late evening and the side corridor of the ground floor of the base was mostly empty, and therefore an optimal place for Inaho to be alone.

Even though it was not likely, there was still a possibility that the third reviewing of the details of the recent battle gave him more information and thus more capacities to act more efficiently in the forthcoming combat situations. Inaho’s vision was filled with data, that has almost completely suppressed his other senses. He breathed slowly, deliberately not moving an inch, while letting his cognition unravel itself into structured patterns. Attack types, properties of materials, efficiencies of control modes, interactions, millions of data points forming comprehensive structures. Aiming to form comprehensive structures. Somewhere outside of time.

“..aho. Hey, Inaho!”

The sharp female voice interrupted him. Inaho turned his gaze well reserved to the shift that would most likely be increased in its intensity. For a split second, there was a blurred face of a person in front of him. Inko, whose face was unreadable. Because everything was unreadable for that moment that must have been only a blink but felt longer and longer each time. Inaho was careful to keep his face neutral when he dived or rather fell, collapsed. His virtual structures and environments shattered, and his ordinary senses returned far too sharp. He could feel how threads of synthetic impulse inside his head slowed down and sought new routes. From his virtual environment, Inaho had descended on the level of ordinary world inhabited by other people, in theory ready to interact with them.

“Inaho!”

Now his name was clearly spoken by the lips of Inko. She was there in front of him, and behind an ordinary hallway of a UFE base, such hallway that was often undisturbed and therefore a convenient place. That was why he was here. Inaho was on place and time. Inaho was ready to interact if required. Why had the shift been so intense this time? He was able to use his engine to its limits perfectly well, he claimed himself. He was still to be utilized as a most efficient instrument of the resistance, which was unquestionably important because of, because of, because of.

Blankness?

Inko was inquiring if everything was all right, Inaho had no reason to tell her nothing other than the ordinary positive answer, they discussed briefly about different possibilities to the next turns in the war situation, she left, Inaho was almost stunned by his own moment of blankness, the sudden inability to continue the thought.

It was a bit surprising that the shift in the other direction was not so intense. However, there was a really brief but very, very sharp moment of the weirdest, almost stunning sensation somewhere inside his skull, before the microcurrent pulses properly settled, and his perception was once again devoted to the maximum analysis mode. It did not take many seconds to find amongst the data the factions that were most reviewed. The sheer amount of time Inaho had used to analyse them again and again was already a sufficient sign that he was not lost, there was no blankness without purpose, it was not that he had no role or no actual tasks to achieve. He had.

Inaho sharpened the image, forgot his physical body and devoted himself once again to the exact analysis of the movements of the graceful white Martian Kataphrakt, the intriguing behavior of its pilot whose name he could never forget.

**

“… was successful. However, what comes to the southern front, our troops met a surprisingly tough resistance, and the operation could not be executed completely.”

The silence of Harklight entailed that it was his turn to give a statement. Again, Slaine had to show signs of an incompetent leader and ask Harklight to repeat the content of the report.

“Milord. This concerned the operation at the Indian peninsula. The objective of conquering the major cities with a two-front operation succeeded only partially, because…”

Slaine was off again and did not bother to try to catch up. The endless names of cities and places he barely recognized, numbing lists of names of troops and command chains, long ago he had stopped to pretend this was in the realm of his understanding. At first it had made him anxious, how to ever be the great, convincing leader if he could not simultaneously be a competent soldier, deep in the details, hands on the ground, ready to grab the controls of a Kataphrakt himself whenever the call came. But no, he was now the caller.

The shining suit of a count was uncomfortable. It was made for him according to his measures, but still, the collar kept being too tight, pants too long, the entire thing wrong like some miserable party costume. The stupid suit, and the elaborately filtered cold air of the moonbase, even the presence of Harklight, everything was entangled around him so tight that it was hard to breathe. Slaine kept focus on his own physical sensations during the speech of Harklight, as if to avoid starting to comprehend, to comprehend that perhaps there were nothing to comprehend.

“Milord?”

“That is partly positive but simultaneously partly unsettling and clearly requires further observation.”

In the end, Slaine was an automate, had always been. The one making the now even more vacuous comments was a carefully constructed figure, an empty mask. For a fair period of time, it had been relatively easy to drive. In the end, the figure of Count Slaine was not so different from Tharsis or even a regular Martian fighter. In it, he could just approach people and situations as someone else, someone stronger and greater than him, and meet the expected treatment.

“What shall I tell him, Milord?”

Slaine cursed himself, again he had not listened to Harklight’s question, and had to meet the concerned face of his loyal servant again in a short period of time.

“Excuse me, Harklight. I must have been… off again. Could you repeat the question?”

“Count Barouhcruz has asked for your audience. He wishes to meet you in fifteen minutes, to discuss important matters.”

Was it just Slaine’s imagination, or was there a glimpse of reluctance or dislike in a way Harklight uttered the word “important”?

Nevertheless, he had no other options than to go on. To say yes, to meet the passive-aggressive words of his fellow counts, then to proceed, and, to…

To what?

Yes, indeed, what.

Slaine had barely taken a breath until he was in front of Barouhcruz, subjected to the subtle mocking once again, barely another, he was only with Harklight. As if the conversations happening right now carried so little meaning that his mind and body automatically ignored them.

“Harklight”, Slaine began, but unable to continue.

**

The figure of the Moon Base of the Versian Empire was projected as a three-dimensional holograph above a large, horizontal screen. The projection could be moved and zoomed in, and its more precise details could be examined by clicking them. Still, it was only a projection and despite its level of detail, it lacked a considerable amount of crucial data. The faces of platoon commanders and captains were focused as the details of the hypothetical entrances of the base were demonstrated, as well as it could be done with the imperfect data.

Inaho stood three steps behind captain Magbaredge, intentionally not in the same row with the other captains. Nevertheless, he was about to ignore possible questionnaires about his appropriateness to be in that room as a regular soldier. First of all, the others in the room probably lacked crucial parts of knowledge which he was able to provide, so it was only pragmatical for Inaho to be with them. Secondly, there were sections in Inaho’s own plans, which absolutely required the exact information that was communicated to those responsible in the execution of the operation.

Inaho listened carefully, memorizing the details without having to rely on the assistance of his Engine. At least he still reflected having a separable, mostly unenhanced cognition, that appeared primarily in those periods when he had rendered the visual data overlays to the minimum and stared at the world with only a minimal level of additional data, almost as approximately a year ago. This was not the moment to start to contemplate the thought that this was probably a fallacy.

After deciding he had received enough information, Inaho took a few steps back and prepared to link them to his larger blueprint.

“Kaizuka.”

The sharp voice of captain Magbaredge interrupted him. Inaho prepared himself to hear what she would have to say.

“I know that you must also be concerned. The Deucalion is once again used merely as a bait, as if those high-level bast… people didn’t trust us. However, although it is frustrating, I want you to be aware that in this exact operation, your role will be-“

“In the frontline of the Mustang Platoon, alongside with Amifumi, Areash and other Mustang Platoon units, attacking the landing castle just mentioned, ensuring to draw the enemy’s attention to us, in order to provide the infiltration squad a secure entrance to the enemy base.”

Magbaredge stared him for a while, but did not say anything.

Inaho might be forced to soon construct a lie, which was something that still remained one of his weaknesses. That was why, in situations like this, he aimed to stay in the truth as well as possible. Also, just now he had only provided clear facts.

“Kaizuka Inaho”, the captain finally said. “I want to be able to trust you. I hope that you will be worth my trust. Will you?”

This was easy for Inaho. He could speak completely honestly. There was plenty of things neither Magbaredge nor any of the higher officials could see but he understood, and thus the objectively best way to provide his trustworthiness was to maintain his own plans that were constantly to become more and more optimal. There were several important factors whose simultaneous controlling would be challenging but beyond possible. The safety of Asseylum and the possible means to promote a cease of the battles, as some of the objectives. He had also more.

“I will, captain.”

**

The graceful, white frame of Tharsis, one of the most powerful of the Aldnoah-driven Kataphrakts, stood in the hangar clearly waiting. It was still and no one was inside on the controls, but yet it was as if at any moment it could dash into battle, its predictive abilities ensuring that no one or nothing ever gets ahead of it. It was not that Slaine felt safe while sitting inside that massive weaponry, but at least it made him feel somehow, like he was in control.

For some reason, Slaine would gladly have sat there right now, seeing what no one other could see. He was still going to do that at some point and the thought gave him an odd feeling that was almost like a relief. Of course, he would not think about how the fantastic ability to see the future had not helped him at all to not to drive him in that corner where he now clearly was.

Staring yearningly to the hangar, Slaine had almost missed the start of the next meeting. Was there nothing but endless meetings and strategy plans in this thing called a war?

**

Inaho reviewed his premises. At the lowest level, one could list people whose safety needed to be ensured, and that had to be counted as a meaningful factor in whatever actions he was about to perform.

Asseylum. Even after several concrete failures, she still possessed the capacity to truly be a catalyst of peace. She was also a friendly personality and therefore suited perfectly to the larger aims that Inaho was part of, for creating a lasting peace. Inaho was also aware of his own special role for Asseylum herself, as such a person from the UFE side, who could actually help her. For these reasons, it was his responsibility to ensure that she could be safe.

The crew of the Deucalion. Those were Inaho’s trusted companions, and also the operational system that Inaho was currently part of. They needed each other, nowadays even more in that way where the others were on the receiving side. There were also people that called Inaho their friend and so did Inaho also himself. The plans needed to be in such a way that the safety of friends was ensured.

Rayet Areash. She was part of the crew, as well as those that Inaho had labeled as ‘friends’ but still Inaho listed her separately. The Martian girl possessed some capabilities, including psychological, that made her an extraordinary companion for Inaho in conflict situations. Inaho thought she was more prepared to trust him as himself, not through some surplus wall of unnecessary patronizing that tried to stop him doing things actually optimally. Not like Yuki.

And yes, Yuki. Inaho would care about her family no less than before. So nothing unusual about her.

**

A skillful strike had just destroyed a small but important UFE base. How unimportant. They had nevertheless just lost a good number of skycarriers as well as land vehicles. How unimportant.

It is obvious that it should not have been unimportant but the main concern to Slaine, to Count Slaine, to whom this information was addressed to, in the middle of a strategy meeting with several eyes locked on him, waiting for an adequate response.

Slaine looked back and saw emptiness.

Slaine was not to stop.

*

Chapter Text

Asseylum knew the name of the handsome, young man, whose looks still had a hint of something unpleasant and familiar. But only a hint. The man had a concerned look on his face and Asseylum could tell he was serious. Perhaps the looks of this man, and the familiar surname of his, made Asseylum hesitate a brief moment before deciding to trust him. But she did. And she did not regret it.

**

Slaine stared at Harklight, as if he was unable to understand what the other person just said.

“A meeting. Again? We just had a meeting for couple of hours ago.”

“Count Barouhcruz and the other Orbital Knights emphasized the importance of this particular convention.”

Slaine raised his eyebrow.

There was, only briefly, an odd look on Harklight’s face before he continued.

“What I have understood, there is some kind of a new project under planning.”

Slaine could have asked how Harklight would explain his assumption, but he had no energy or even interest. Still, he couldn’t ignore the irony in that, that some actions were called ‘new’, as if everything in this dull war hadn’t been almost the same for weeks and months. He had even complained about this dullness to Harklight once, actually more to himself, but Harklight happened to be in his presence. Harklight had friendly noted how it was mostly Slaine’s own choice to continue the war, and Slaine had angrily called him off for the rest of the day.

“Thank you for the information, Harklight. Tell them that I’m coming soon.”

Why soon? Why not immediately? What did he have to wait for? As if standing here beside the window of his quarters would somehow alter the course of the events. As if he could somehow change things by wishing enough. Nevertheless, now Slaine didn’t even know what to wish for.

Slaine turned his gaze again to Harklight, and for a moment went through such thoughts in his mind, like how the man, as loyal and friendly he was, could never, never truly understand him. How Harklight was still a part of those same facades around Slaine, those that appeared now endless. Slaine was utterly alone.

“Actually, I’m coming right away”, Slaine said, and walked calmly out of the room.

**

Inaho listened to the conversation. It was hard to say how serious his friends were in their arguments, and therefore it was better to stay silent and listen, as always. They sounded rather concerned, but Inaho was used to the fact that his practical proposals of solutions were often overlooked. Occasionally, they even rejected actual information that Inaho could often provide, which he could not understand. Also now, he could have corrected Nina how her estimates were too low, but he remained silent.

“I don’t think they would do so”, said Inko, food in her mouth.

“But you can’t deny there is something going on”, Calm insisted.

“Some of those scenarios just don’t seem realistic at all.”

“How can we know that?”

“Such larger attack would cause at least hundreds of deaths, as I already said”, Nina pointed out.

“And?” Rayet joined the conversation.

Inko put her spoon on the table.

“We all hope that this stupid war would soon be over. We also hope it would end in some other way than some destructive super-attack.”

“We also all know that it is extremely unlikely”, said Rayet in a bored voice.

“Let’s review the scenarios once again”, said Calm.

“But please, let’s make that newest one a bit more realistic”, begged Inko.

It was also puzzling to Inaho, how this almost exactly the same conversation happened at least every third day, and how the others bothered to state the same arguments over and over again. A while ago, probably over a month, Inaho had kept his Engine on its high mode during the lunch break, to learn how this social phenomenon could be categorized as maintaining social cohesion.

Inaho returned to his thoughts. He had tasks to perform today, mostly preparing for tomorrow. As the operation commenced, he would have to know precisely what to do. He already knew. Or, perhaps not precisely enough. He would need to review again.

“What do you think, Inaho”

“mmh”

“Which one of our scenarios is more likely, mine or Inko’s? Would the Martians rather invade Tokyo or some other large city, taking all the citizens as hostages or directly blow it up, to scare us to surrender?”

Inaho was not sure what kind of answer would satisfy Calm, or others that now looked at him. The question had nevertheless been faulty and Inaho pointed it out. One should define more precisely what was meant by ‘blowing up’. Traditional missiles, including those equipped with nuclear warheads, could be blocked by their defense technology. Aldnoah-driven special weapons could be a more difficult case, but right now they did not have knowledge about them. Besides, they had already managed to destroy some of the most powerful Aldnoah-driven Kataphrakts, and even those did not possess the ability to destroy an entire city. Inaho informed his comrades all this.

After returning the dishes, Inaho went once more to meet Magbaredge. They were already so far that Inaho did not want to ask anything directly. He could, however, detect that her speech showed no signs of falsehoods. The information about the operation that Inaho currently had was correct. The captain did ask, though, why his hand was shaking as he grabbed the doorhandle to exit the room. Inaho failed to provide an answer.

**

“I refuse. The plan is ridiculous. Come on.”

This was not what Slaine Troyard said. Instead, he had sat silent already for at least half an hour. His thoughts had moved from inventing sarcastic comments to present genuine concerns and eventually almost to provide suggestions to improve. When the small circle of Orbital Knights was finally silent and the eyes were locked on Slaine, he almost forgot what to say. And he was almost surprised how from all the thoughts of anger, disbelief and boredom, his lips formed only some ordinary technical question.

Slaine also got his answer, a female count whose name Slaine did not remember replied to him properly. And without even noticing it, Slaine found himself in the middle of calm and matter-of-fact conversation, as properly as a high official should be. The persistent but small desire to protest the absurdity of everything cooled off and remained only as a barely noticeable feeling of weight in his throat. Still noticeable.

“Could we return to the question about the optimal number of the operative team on site once again?” asked Count number two, next to Slaine.

“I am also afraid that the suggested number of twenty is underestimated”, said Count number three, the female one.

“Would a team of thirty do better?” asked Slaine.

“Remember, that we also need to consider the capacity of the material – division to too small fractions would not be effective enough”, reminded Barouhcruz.

“Could you show the chart about the properties of the material once again?” asked Slaine.

The holographic screen in the middle of them lit up. Before anyone spoke, Slaine had already done a preliminary calculation in his head. Twenty should be as sufficient as thirty, but numbers after that would cross the line which was said to be uncertain. Which entailed that instead of the functionality of the materials, the question was more about-

“What are our current human resources in terms of quantity?”

Yes, that was the question. The conversation went on, moved into some rather tedious details about former deals and arrangements between the counts and who should have the major responsibility for providing their resources.

Slaine watched the model image and found himself trailed off by his thoughts. For a moment he considered, how it would be like to sit in one of those small carriers, with a bag full of stuff to literally rock the world, on a trip that would literally be his last. For a moment, Slaine also stayed in the odd wave of something like relief, when thinking that one word, last.

“Count Troyard? I inquired your view.”

“Excuse me, Count… Liberta”. Shit. Slaine hoped he got it right. “Could you repeat the question?”

Based on the looks on her face, the name was not exactly right, but perhaps close enough.

“The overall plan about the composition of the operational crew is suggested to be following. We also would like to have your agreement.”

Slaine could see who was smiling and who was not, and therefore easily infer who would have to suffer the biggest loss of their personal resources. Slaine had nothing to lose and therefore no reason to not agree. Apparently, his agreement still mattered. This was not a briefing from higher-ups, not a place to receive orders. This was a meeting between equals, and Slaine was an active participant.

Slaine was part of this. Time passed, Slaine watched chart after chart about the estimated numbers of the intended outcome. Thousands, millions, why was Slaine not able to feel? He kept on participating, kept on playing his role, kept saying words after words. He still was not feeling enough or at least not properly, even though the weight in his throat had grown so heavy towards the end of the meeting that it started to be hard to speak and when the others finally had left the room, hard to even breathe.

**

The operation would be launched after four hours. Time to review the facts. Inaho took a deep breath, covered his left eye once again with a black cover that would maximize the undisturbedness of the visual data, and prepared.

Inaho could not track the exact date for the beginning of the decay, and that was frustrating. His data would always be incomplete and therefore predictions based on that would always appear faulty. Of course, the constant attempt to ignore had prevented the data collection. And that was also what Inaho kept doing. As if he had some other rational choices.

Some larger remarks could nevertheless be recognized. His adaptation to the Analytical Engine, after it was attached to his cranial nerves, had proceeded surprisingly well. It was only a matter of days that Inaho was almost one with the data, the enhanced perception as something that was always been there, just waiting for behind some unnecessary curtain. Information flooded, not chaotically but with a structure. Vector trajectories, probability trees, logic chains, as intuition made visible.

Moreover, he was finally able to explore and understand the vast and previously so unreachable area of social interaction. He could finally see how emotion is just another data set. Facial expressions and vocal tones could be mapped and analysed, and Inaho could finally see the underlying information behind them. The feature was so astonishing that Inaho had spent the first days with the Engine engaging conversations with different people more than he had probably done during all his previous school years. That did not matter that the others had at some point started to show signs of irritation and even worry.

After his first consistent period of eleven hours of almost constant active analysis Dr Yagarai had reminded Inaho how he should be careful not to overwork it, reminded as Inaho was laying on his sofa with no memory of collapsing or something like that, at any point. The first usage and adaptation challenges were a natural reason to not to worry about it, as Inaho did not, and as it was good so. Relatively.

Sitting inside his Kataphrakt, Inaho was well aware of how the tactical data link that enhanced the perception and performing ability of not only his but his entire battle vehicle, made him even more irreplaceable. As the weeks turned into months, Inaho was constantly learning how to utilize his ability even more effectively and did not retreat even from the smaller and easier operations, that could have required only an ordinary Kataphrakt or two. He could always collect data.

Nevertheless, the data would be insufficient, as he already knew, and what he still could do almost nothing about. Perhaps the decay had always been there? Even that alternative could not be excluded, and that was really frustrating. Perhaps he had always felt the slight discomfort inside his head but chose to ignore it. The Engine could provide different kinds of persistent data layers to enhance his everyday vision, but its full analytical abilities were employed either on a battlefield or in a higher-level analysis mode, which required closing his ordinary vision and immerse himself completely in the structure of information.

Inaho would have liked to name the first time, but he could not. At some point, Inko had caught him from falling on the floor, when his legs suddenly did not carry him, after exiting the Kataphrakt. At some point, he could not crab the controls properly because his hand was shaking too much. Instead of disappearing by not thinking them, the symptoms had turned from occasional to almost regular. Simultaneously, the battles had been harder, and at one point, Inaho almost had change to face Troyard. Slaine Troyard.

Now Inaho did not have many choices. His change was after three hours and thirty-six minutes, and there it was. Even with the insufficient data, Inaho could luckily be aware how the constant periods of high-level usage of the enhanced system of himself would go smoothly. Nowadays, it was mostly the swifts – as if the thirty minutes of intense battling of his own limits in the battlefield would condense into those long seconds of silence, when it was finally over and he unplugged himself.

Inside Inaho was the decay, he was himself in the process of decay and he was aware of that. He was also a hundred percent sure that his weak body would still endure this one extremely important operation.

When there were only forty-five minutes remaining, and the convening of the troops had begun, Ihano was ready to action. First, it would be an asset and a friend that the entire earth needed. First, it would be princess Asseylum.

**

Their gazes met. It took only a few seconds, but there was something such in those seconds that felt heavy and dramatical. Slaine was climbing the stairs towards the broadcast room. He had ignored the sounds that were almost like gunshots. Or exactly like. Take this place, make a revolution, whatever. He ignored the footsteps and shouting voices as well. They were still somewhere far away enough from his position. So much Slaine could ignore but this one he could not.

A determined march of a man who resembled his father way too much, and next to him, literally clinging from his hand, a princess. Those few seconds that Asseylum Vers Allusia looked at Slaine, her expression was a mix of fear and desperation, and obviously a load of disappointment. They were in a hurry so none of them had time to say a word. Slaine could only stare and then continue his way towards the door and the microphones behind it, as if he was pulled from the strings. That man, Crutheo junior, had also briefly glanced at Slaine. His expression was serious but when he met Slaine’s gaze, Slaine could recognize a hint of something like, satisfaction?

Instead of crying, running after, shouting and screaming Slaine shut his mind and kept his role. Soon he would surely cry and shout and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on.

**

A specific noise interrupted Inaho. He would have to run the tests with his Kataphrakt again from the beginning, because the sequence should not be interrupted. Twenty-five minutes to start, so he should still have time, if the interruption were not long. Nevertheless, when walking towards the area where the others were already gathered, Inaho doubted he would be wrong.

A large holographic screen had lit up, and even though some of the others were still confused what they would be showed, Inaho was certain. They would be receiving an official broadcast from Vers. No wiretapping, but an intentional message directed at them. Last time, the one who had spoken in the broadcast had been a person that was not princess Asseylum although looking exactly like her. That is why Inaho had associated the alarm with her immediately when hearing it. However, when after a few seconds the broadcast actually started, Inaho felt his senses sharpened so suddenly that he was not reserved for it.

The figure that looked directly into the camera was Slaine Troyard. His blue eyes were deadly serious, but actually, instead of hostility or anger, the expression on his face were more something like tiredness. Perhaps irritation. Desperation? Perhaps a hint of fear? Inaho had not even noticed how he had stepped on Inko’s feet, she made a sharp sound; had not even noticed how he had amplified his analysis level so quickly that he was about to lose his sense of balance.

Troyard was about to say something. Inaho needed to sit down, he felt dizzy but he could not stop trying to interpret the microexpressions of the other one behind the screen. Inaho sat on a box, and pushed the hand of Yuki, appeared from somewhere, away. Troyard’s lips were already moving.

“Citizens of Earth. In the name of the Empire of Vers, I shall announce. This is the final warning, the Unified Forces of Earth have a last chance to retreat.”

There was a delay of about a second, which made the sound a bit unsynchronized with the movement of the lips. That did not bother Inaho.

Troyard began to enumerate the latest events in the war, the unifying theme being how the UFE still kept fighting, even though significant losses were suffered. Troyard looked directly at the camera but uttered the text like reading it from a manual. The weight he added to the words seemed artificial.

“… and thus, the Empire of Vers presents an ultimatum. If the commander of the UFE has not surrendered and our demands of cessions of territory are not met within the next forty-eight hours…”

Instead of threatening, Troyard’s voice still sounded the same.

“… the earth will face a destruction that has never been seen. Instead of your Trident Base on the Satellite Belt, and instead the continent you call North America, there will be only a massive crater after an asteroid impact that is strong enough to sweep your civilization off your planet. I repeat, if our demands are not met within the next forty-eight hours, the Empire of Vers shall activate the technology that will change the course of an asteroid. Trident Base will be dropped from the orbit.”

Inaho would have liked to hear the last few words of Troyard before the screen turned black again and the broadcast stopped, but the shouting voices of people around him had made it impossible.

It hurt him. The noise felt suffocating. It was obvious that all the elaborate planning, both of him and of everyone, should now be remade. Calculation of minutes to the start of the operation was now unnecessary, the entire operation would have to be reconsidered.

People were panicked. Inaho tried to think simultaneously Troyard’s distressing appearance, the absurdly powerful ultimatum they were given, the most optimal ways to reconsider everything, the noise that still did not stop. A cacophony. An intensifying cacophony.

“Inaho! Inaho!”

*

Chapter Text

Count Klancain Crutheo was unlike his father. He had a righteous mind and genuine concern about the future of the empire and its princess. After several action-filled sequences, not without blood and suspension, he had changed the course of the events and accomplished what Slaine Troyard apparently was not able to, to provide a new chance for the princess Asseylum Vers Allusia. Troyard and other officials could only stare when Klancain’s Hadriacus drove the princess to safety.

**

The gray box on Slaine’s lap looked like a toolbox and was surprisingly light. Slaine had wrapped his arms around it at that moment he had got it and had not let go since. Slaine didn’t move, didn’t even turn his head to look out the window, just sat there thinking how he had just thirty minutes ago made perhaps the worst decision in his life. Or the best. It was very hard to judge.

A ship or a shuttle passed by and made Slaine turn his gaze. For a moment he played with the thought that it was Hadriacus, and their shuttle would collide with it, and lead to a fierce explosion and finally an erasure of everything.

A voice of an unknown man started giving them last instructions via communication channels, and Slaine really tried to listen. How refreshing to finally sit in a row with a dozen similar nameless, meaningless bodies, merely as a fraction of quantitative resource. Something to be used and then finally disposed.

A simple task, a final task. For some reason, Slaine thought the face of Harklight and it made him feel something. There had been an actual concern on the man’s face, clearly visible for a few seconds when he realized what Slaine was doing. He had been the last familiar face Slaine saw before running. Not only concern but almost a terror when his face disappeared behind the closing airlock.

Slaine would never see him again. And that exact thought felt uncomfortably heavy inside him.

No one in the damn moonbase would see Slaine again.

**

“I am fine, Dr Yagarai. Would you please stop holding my arm and let us continue the conversation that is the most urgent.”

“Kaizuka, it is true that the matter is urgent, but you need to understand your own condition.”

“Come on, Inaho, you just passed out in the middle of the crowd.”

“Thank you for your concern, Nina, but I did not. As you could see, I had sat down to listen the broadcast and then decided to lie down to better process its crucial content in my mind.”

“You fell on the ground. From that box.”

“I did not.”

“You did.”

“As I said, I did not.”

“You are sitting on the floor next to it right now.”

“I.. oh.”

Inaho was sitting on the floor. The box was behind him. Nina looked into his eyes and Yagarai was crouching next to him.’

Inaho would have liked to be such person who has something socially clever to say in situations like that, but he was not. He would have liked to even drop a little lie, but he was not able to. Therefore, he chose to do the usual, he remained silent. He would remain silent until those two would stop noticing him and everyone were back in the urgent conversation that was absolutely required.

After a few moments of noise that was still ongoing, it was time to make the first conclusions. Inaho let Magbaredge speak, she was the highest official in the room at the moment. Let’s revise the facts. That was a proper way to meet a challenging situation, the captain acted correctly and Inaho appreciated that. The facts were needed as starting points, and only after that could one begin to derive plans and procedures.

Trident base, the place they were currently located, was under a potential attack. Technology powerful enough to alter a course of an entire asteroid was nothing natural, which entailed they would face again Aldnoah-driven weapons. No one knew, what they would be like, but nevertheless, in the next hours the base would face an attack with unfamiliar superweapons.

The potential success of the attack would not be permitted. The captain was particularly strict in that. Destruction of the base would not be a big problem compared to the literal mass genocide that would happen if an asteroid of that size would actually fall. The victims would be counted in millions.

On the other hand, the captain emphasized how the demand to surrender would as well be not complied. But it would not be in her power of decision.

“Deucalion crew!” Magbaredge announced, when people had already started moving.

There had not been several others listening the broadcast in that particular location. Currently there were three larger ships, including Deucalion, docked within the base. The crew of them plus those already in the base would make a total of less than a hundred people. Less than a hundred people who could in theory act immediately.

“The planned operation has been dismissed. It is likely that we are soon assigned to new tasks but I’m not yet aware of them. I shall inform you immediately when I can, please stay in the same location and wait for my orders.”

“Should we get back to Deucalion and see if we could help somehow from there? Defending the base from a distance?” asked Marito.

“It’s likely that it will be our assigned task, but let’s not do anything yet”, the captain answered.

**

It was soon time to dock. Slaine checked his box with identical, robotic movements as the men on both sides of him. Everything was in order.

Slaine couldn’t help but he had started to feel something intense again. There was a clear, prickling sensation in his limbs. He wasn’t scared of death like some of the others perhaps were, judging from the amount of sweat they emitted. Meaningless.

But there must have been something reasonable in Slaine’s sudden escape. And now he was almost thrilled because there in the middle of a suicide operation, he still had the faintest glimpse of hope.

**

“Nao, where are you going?”

“Sister, please let go off my hand.”

“Not until you tell me, and besides, the captain told us to wait here as you know.”

“There is something I need to check.”

“I doubt it. Nao, we should really stay here, there is nothing we can do in the moment.”

Inaho shook his sister’s hand away.

“There is. Please, sister. I won’t be long. I just need to check something.”

Before Yuki had time to protest, Inaho had left. He had not dropped a lie. There was still something to do. Even though all the plans should now be remade.

People were running back and forth in the corridors. It was likely that some of them had already been assigned new tasks. Inaho needed information of the nature and contents of the tasks to adapt his own actions in the optimal way, moreover he needed information of the current location of princess Asseylum who had not been mentioned in Troyard’s speech, and moreover he needed information of the current location, plan, actions, thoughts and motives of Troyard himself, and moreover-

“Inaho, is everything okay?”

Inaho did not notice that he had stopped. Rayet was now behind him, but she did not sound like Yuki.

“For me, everything is normal, but the situation is severe and something needs to be done”, Inaho answered truthfully.

Rayet’s gaze was determined.

Gathering information. Yes, of course. Inaho should have noticed before.

“Rayet, what can you say about the technological capabilities of the Martians, concerning powerful, gravity-affecting technology?”

The girl seemed to be thinking.

“I don’t have a lot such information, you know. But I’m quite sure there are at least not any ships that could do something like that.”

“What about Kataphrakts?”

“It is possible, thinking what kind of opponents we have already met.”

“I have naturally the information what kind of opponents we have met, thank you. But you do not have any extra knowledge?”

“I’m sorry, Inaho.”

Rayet looked down.

“It is okay. We need to find it out by ourselves.”

“Wait, who do you mean by ‘we’?”

Inaho thought for a while before answering, because he was actually simultaneously formatting a satisfactory answer himself.

“In a larger picture, the entire UFE, including those in the headquarters at the moment. More precisely, those in the Trident Base at the moment, because this is where the threat will actually be met. The higher-ups will be delaying orders to captains such as Magbaredge, based on the information they currently have.”

“But?” Rayed asked, anticipating the next words.

“But, their information is most likely insufficient. Therefore, we, meaning now me, you and other crew of Deucalion, are in danger to be forced to act on the basis of insufficient information, and therefore the threat cannot be stopped.”

“And that is why you think that we need to figure it out by ourselves.”

“I think that at least I have the responsibility to do so”, Inaho stated honestly. “My reasoning capacity is objectively superior and therefore it is only reasonable for me to do as much as I can.”

Rayed looked at him for a while. Inaho was not sure, what to anticipate her saying. He already started to consider how complex it would be to arrange all the pieces together. He would need more time to think where to start. And time passed and the locations of both Asseylum and-

“Right. Let’s start by gathering information about what they already know”, Rayet answered suddenly.

“Ah. Yes.”

“Inaho, do you come? Before the captain is back.”

**

Slaine was walking on the solid ground. Only for a while in a group, then the group would disperse and then he would be finally alone. The prickling sensation was more intense now. It was something he hadn’t felt for a long time. It was anticipation.

They reached a stairway. As it had been agreed upon, two of the men continued forwards on the same floor, one of them went down and Slaine went up. When he closed the door behind himself, he was finally alone. The corridor was empty and brightly lit. Even though Slaine could hear voices and footsteps from somewhere else, he saw no one here.

Carefully, Slaine continued forward. He tried to remind himself to walk as normally as possible, as anyone, but he knew it was no use.

**

“Damn, I cannot make sense of the words properly. Can you? With that implant of yours, perhaps?”

“Unfortunately, the auditive capabilities of it are limited. Practically I require also a visual signal.”

They crouched behind the room of one of the meeting rooms. Rayet was right behind it and Inaho tried to survey the corridor. Even though it was hard to make sense of the actual content of the conversation, the tones of the voices revealed how it was tensed. Instead of an official meeting, it sounded like a mildly chaotic dispute.

“Is that Magbaredge?” Rayet asked, after a loud yell of a female voice.

“Likely.”

Inaho was frustrated. The fact that the threat they were facing caused controversies was only apparent, and this was not a sufficient method to gain actually useful information. He suggested Rayet how they should move, and they did. They had just reached around the corner when someone slammed the door open, and judging from the sound of the angry footsteps, the dispute was only ongoing.

“Next idea?” Rayet whispered.

Inaho considered his answer. He was out of ideas, and he needed time to think, but he also needed to know what was happening. Before he could say anything, Rayet has already posed another question.

“Say, Inaho. Do you have any actual ideas how you are going to stop them?”

“It depends on what their exact actions are”, Inaho sighed.

“I would like to help you, but is difficult if-“

“Shh”

Inaho saw movement. Even though it was likely only a regular worker and they had no order to not be there from anyone else but Magbaredge, it seemed still to be a good idea to act cautiously. Rayet turned and started walking normally towards the other end of the corridor, as anyone passing by, and Inaho followed him. They passed the man in silence, he seemed to be a maintenance staff, not interested about them at all.

“Okay, to go on-“, Rayet started when they had passed the worker, but stopped suddenly.

The corridor had been dimly lit, but now there was unnaturally bright light coming from somewhere. It did not resemble any ordinary light source. Instead, it made him think-.

Rayet was probably thinking same, because she had stopped and wore a frightened expression. The man had crouched on the floor and opened his toolbox, and the light was coming precisely there. Before Inaho had time to act, Rayet had dashed towards the man, grabbed him from behind and pressed on the floor.

“What do you have there? Where did you get it? Who you are?”

“Rayet, I suggest it would be more effective to ask one question at time”

“...fine”

Rayet gazed the man furiously.

“Could you also make him face my eyes? Directly.”

“I’m afraid that’s not… possible.”

“Okay.”

Inaho crouched next to Rayet, who was now pointing her pistol to the man’s head. He was not anyone that Inaho knew. Light brown hair, perhaps in his thirties, coveralls of maintenance staff.

“What is your name?” Inaho asked.

“My name… is not important” the man hissed.

“Answer you bastard!” Rayet yelled, bending his arm more. The man groaned.

“Okay. What do you have in your box?”

No answer. Instead, the man’s head has started to tremble, as if he was laughing. Rayet pressed the pistol to his cheek, but he did not stop.

“Rayet, wait! He is…”

It was too late. The man went suddenly totally stiff and then limp. Inaho turned him on his back quickly, already aware how nothing could be done. The man was dead. A trail of mixture of blood and saliva could be seen running from the corner of his mouth.

“We should have known how he had likely hided a poison ampoule either inside his mouth or somewhere else in his body. Nevertheless, this only confirms that he was indeed an enemy.”

Rayet breathed rapidly and looked at the sudden outsider. She did not put her gun away. The glow that had firs drawn their attention was now only dim.

Inaho sighed and looked around. It was likely they had raised someone’s attention, but there were yet no one else around. However, there were now several crucial things they already knew, and acting upon them was way more urgent than considering whether they followed someone’s temporary directions. Directions were nevertheless only guidelines, usually far from what was actually the most rational way.

“So?”

“There are at least two things we can now be sure of, and more things we can deduce from them. First of all, there are Martian enemies already in this base. They are dressed as the staff, so they are not easily recognizable. And second, they have something Aldnoah-powered with them.”

“Yes”, Rayet confirmed.

“Nevertheless. Judging from how willing this man was to die, they are likely sent here for a suicide mission. Which entails they are supposed to be here when the asteroid is affected. Therefore, they are probably the ones who are at least partly in charge of that. We can speak of ‘them’ in plural because it is unlikely that this guy works alone. What remains still open, is how many of them there are, and what is their exact method to perform the almost impossible task to alter the course of an asteroid.”

“It must be that Aldnoah… stuff”, Rayet speculated and looked at the box, whose insides could now be seen clearly.

There was a regular, slightly glowing cube, as if made from glass or plastic.

“Don’t touch it”, Inaho warned. “It needs to be analyzed.”

Inaho breathed slowly in and began.

**

A woman and another woman and a man after them had looked at Slaine for a too long time, even if Slaine had his hood on. It was his luck that they seemed to be in a hurry and didn’t bother to stop to consider if that weird figure among them was actually their greatest enemy.

It was only a matter of time before Slaine would get caught and therefore he needed to act fast.

To “act”. Of course, Slaine had not some actual plan of action. He just needed to face someone for a last time. He didn’t want to die in the hands of some unknown Terran, he was now sure of it. His minutes were limited, and he only needed to see that one particular person.

Slaine went through the next door and faced suddenly himself. His own eyes were gazing him and he was speaking, although the voice could not be heard properly. It took a while to realize how Slaine was looking at a monitor, that played his speech on repeat, the speech he or an empty figure wearing his face gave eons ago. There were a few people looking at the screen and discussing with each other. Slaine decided it would be a good time to slowly retreat where he had come from.

“Excuse me.”

There was someone right behind him. Slaine did not want to gamble if the stranger recognized him or not. He chose to run. Now he had drawn the attention of all of them.

**

“That sounds crazy.”

“Yes, no ordinary material is capable of that. But it is already known how the Aldnoah devices can affect forces like gravity in unnatural ways. Which means that what they are basically doing is”

“Inaho, watch out!”

There was a person again, a woman this time. She was already on the floor with her box, slowly opening it. Inaho considered different actions. There was no time. Rayet next to him seemed hesitant. Inaho calculated. He pulled his pistol. He calculated. This was the only choice. Suddenly, the woman had noticed them and was already reaching for a possible weapon. She did not have time. A loud shot right on her forehead had dropped her on the floor.

Rayet was looking at the gun in Inaho’s hand.

“She was on her way to die, Rayet. Actions like this should be avoided but there are also situations where nothing else is possible.”

“I’m aware of that”, Rayet mumbled.

They went on. On the one hand, they should warn everyone. But on the other hand, exactly that would make the infiltrators aware that they had been discovered and soon they would be impossible to find. Inaho grabbed Rayet’s arm, demanding how they should not proceed what they were currently doing. That there were other, more effective ways to act.

“Get off me! We report at least to the captain, now!”

Inaho complied, but was still aware how dangerous the situation was. The short way back to the room where their crew was waiting felt for some reason extended. The few people they saw on the way appeared now in different light for Inaho. They were potentially hostile, and their hostility radiated from them. Just a young man who had done some maintenance work with Calm just a couple of days ago, he would not be dangerous, would he? Or was it the same man? Inaho had always been poor recognizing faces – he could naturally go through the visual data from last days, but it would take time, and they were already moving forward. What about that woman there? Was she a lieutenant at another ship, or not? Now it was Rayet who was pulling Inaho’s arm.

“Move, we cannot stop at every fucking person to suspect them!”

“Actually, that would be advisable, considering the potential harms if we let someone from the enemy slip through”

“What would you do, then?”

What would he do? Inaho realized that he actually needed to consider optimal actions. There was enormously at stake. No amount of injured or even dead UFE soldiers in the base would ever surpass the amount of literal mass destruction that would occur after an asteroid impact. There were no possibilities to interpret the numbers in any other way. That entailed that the courses of action should have been clear.

“I- oh, watch out!”

There was a woman on the floor and the case was absolutely clear. She had opened one of the floor panels, there were boxes of tools next to the hole. The floor panel was leaning on the wall, and the woman was either putting to or taking something from beneath the floor. They were now at the ground floor, there should have been only solid rock underneath them.

The course of action was already familiar to Inaho. Whatever the enemy was doing, was to be stopped before the larger catastrophe would occur. So just pull the gun. Just pull the trigger. Just pull it and act upon the greater good.

They did not bother to try to dispose or even hide the body, as they had not at the two other cases. It was more important to hurry up, all kind of confusions could be explained later. If there still was someone to explain to.

**

This was their ship. Waiting here at the hangar. Red and gorgeous Martian ship, Deucalion. Although Slaine could see no one here, at least no one familiar. Some insignificant technicians. Time to sit down and wait, perhaps? Or keep wandering around? Slaine did both.”

**

“Captain, I suggest that you would not do that. I am serious, that would have undesirable consequences.”

Magbaredge was not pleased with them not sitting down while she had asked, but that was insignificant compared to the threat they could now report to her.

Marito was also in favour of telling everyone. Even though it would likely be too late already. Deucalion, besides the two other ships, had been assigned to defend the station from distance. In ten minutes, they should already be departing. The captain insisted how the fact that the enemy was already there in the base did not reduce the need to still block further attacks. What if what was going on inside the base was only bluff? What if there would be not only a few but a few thousand infiltrators?

All this would have to be considered. It was true how the bluff case could not be outnumbered. However, it was a really high probability that unknown Aldnoah devices would entail something. Moreover, where was Asseylum right now? Inaho had almost forget to think about her, and now she was already in danger in the Moon Base when Inaho was stuck in here, unable to leave. Inaho had to think. Likely, right now someone was planting an Aldnoah device to destroy the base somewhere just next to them, or pretending to plant one when the real threat was still coming in terms of Kataphrakt-filled ships, or perhaps the battles on the earth had really ceased and some of their troops already surrendered, perhaps destroyed, perhaps thousands already killed. Inaho had to think.

“Hey, Inaho, are you alright?”

“My status is not a concern here, Inko”

“Hey, you look really pale”

Stay silent.

There were dozens of people. Or just ten? Nevertheless, a crowd waiting in an indeterminate formation inside the hangar. When did they move to the hangar? Right, they were themselves a group waiting, waiting for boarding their ship. And that had to be the crew of another one. What was happening?

Inaho still needed to think. Someone was perhaps speaking to him.

Anyone of those could be an enemy. Anyone of them could carry a weapon that would contribute destroying the base. And the death of millions.

There were already numbers running in Inaho’s vision. A voice calling him was now sharper, but Inaho could still not detect words.

Should he move? Move his feet. Climb on board. Forget the base.

Estimations. There was no other way of doing the calculations. He would still try. It did not help. The inference remained as clear as a day.

“Let me go”, Inaho heard his own voice saying, when he was taking steps away from the ship, to the other direction.

Still, calculations. The amount of estimated utility.

Inaho’s head ached. Judging from the sound of the motors and the shout, he was the last one still outside. He should go. He should step in. He should… act upon.

The world was fuzzy. People were now everywhere, even though that could not be technically true.

Inaho felt his shirt tighten. Right, someone pulled him from the shirt. Yuki. Right. Now he was moving towards Deucalion’s entrance again. He had no ability to fight against.

And suddenly. The world became clear. His number-filled vision shifted, his augmented senses detected only a glimpse of certain figure, but even that made him to concentrate all his perception, both naturally and with help of visual aids that pointed towards the target like alert symbols.

Inaho twitched himself free and ran. He did not even stumble, he did not care the voice of her sister shouting after him. He ran, across the hangar, towards the section where he had noticed the figure.

A large container. Inaho took a deep breath. Now, just go around the container. You saw him, he is hiding there, just go. Inaho closed his eyes and opened them again, took again a deep breath. And another. Then he took the steps. Around the corner.

And there was-

No one.

Inaho was confused and needed to lean against the wall. Had he made a mistake?

Impossible. His vision was aided, he could not, he had probably only seconds before Yuki or someone other would come after him. There must be something for him, something to find, anything.

The container was falling on him, or perhaps it was only illusion because the walls did also, perhaps the plan of the enemy had already succeeded, and the base was really collapsing.

And Inaho was falling. He was stumbling, falling on the floor, collapsing, but not alone, because he had been attacked. He had been attacked from behind and now he was pinned on the floor, staring at the bright blue eyes full of emotions. His attacker panted and stared at him as well, not like an animal watching his prey but like… Inaho did not know? And he could not move. But he could utter the words.

“Slaine. Troyard”

“Kaizuka Inaho. Orange.”

*

Chapter Text

His face was exactly as Slaine remembered, only more intense from this minimal distance. His dark brown eyes stared at Slaine, and Slaine could not help but noticing how those eyes were remarkably mismatched. Unlike the last time. And the last time-

Oh. Right.

His right eye was ordinary, but the left one moved rapidly and totally unnaturally, it was like Slaine was facing a camera lens or rather a more advanced scanning device. That was definitely not a human eye.

Before Slaine had time to think further, Kaizuka had moved his body, and with a few rapid movements, twitched himself free. And before Slaine had time to react, a pistol was pointed to his forehead. Kaizuka’s back was against the wall of the container and both his eyes and his gun were locked at Slaine.

Slaine almost laughed, didn’t really know why.

“Where is she?”

Kaizuka’s voice was sharp, but Slaine could sense a hint of insecurity in it.

“You know who I am talking about. Princess Asseylum. Where is she now?”

Slaine’s eyes widened, and he heard himself actually laughing.

“Answer me, Troyard. Bat.”

“What do you think, Orange? Where could she be? Where could her highness be?”

Kaizuka did not answer, did not even blink.

“She is away and she’s not coming back, she has been permanently seduced by him, and they fly away from us and especially from you and all you filthy Terrans, you will never, never, never, never see her again!”

“Who is this ‘him’ you are referring to?”

Slaine didn’t even bother to lie.

“His perfectness, count Klancain fucking Crutheo.”

“I see”, Kaizuka said, after a brief pause.

Before either one could continue, an unknown female voice interrupted them. Someone was calling Kaizuka by his first name, probably on the other side of the container.

It was odd. The face Kaizuka made. Not immediately after hearing the voice. He did not even react it. But a few seconds after it, he acted like he was seeing something horrible. He lowered his gun, stood up, turned his back to Slaine and walked away.

**

Sometimes, in order to achieve an optimal outcome, such actions are required that would be in other contexts considered unacceptable. Inaho’s head was swinging, his sensation of his physical body and the physical space around him had been fuzzy for several minutes now. He could absolutely not stop the calculations, he needed to rerun them once more to be confirmed that this was the optimal way to act.

Every temporary adverse outcome would be outnumbered in the future.

Troyard was a key and a cornerstone, never to be wasted.

And lives of millions were in Inaho’s hands.

And there were actions that only he was able to perform, never his sister, as skilled and reliable she was.

The next actions happened in a blur, and much faster than Inaho had expected. Mahito running out from the still open door of the ship, after Inaho’s call, Mahito carrying the limp body of his sister and not looking back, Inaho promising to board directly after Mahito, watching the doors closing, staying back, refusing to hear his name called, granting a brief thought to Yuki being all right, she would be all right, this would not be the first time for her being hit by a stunning gun, perhaps the first with one in hands of his own brother, but all this were temporary, all this were just drops in the ocean, ultimately totally insignificant.

Inaho almost sighed from a relief seeing how Troyard had not escaped but kept sitting on the floor in the same place, as if waiting for him to continue.

**

“What is the exact objective of the Versian soldiers inside this faculty?”

The question was surprisingly comprehensive, considering how remarkably pale Kaizuka was looking. When he had returned from doing some weird stuff with his crew members, Slaine thought he was going to either faint or throw up on the floor in front of him, which would have been extremely unpleasant.

Would Slaine tell the truth? Why? Why not? And how comprehensive truth? Only the goal? Details of the mission? Details of who had launched the mission?

“How many soldiers there are and what are they ordered to do?”

A slightly different question. Slaine could answer. Or he could not.

“Answer me, Troyard.”

“Why would I?”, Slaine heard himself saying.

“Because otherwise, I…”

“Kill me, right? No need to bother. My life is worth nothing. Any time… I could…”

While saying those words, Slaine was feeling the back of his upper teeth with his tongue, just to be sure that his secret weapon was still in place.

And before he could say more, Kaizuka had dropped both the pistol and the stunning gun from his hands and dashed towards him. Slaine had no time to react as he was grabbed firmly from behind. Kaizuka’s hand reached his face, his fingers grabbed his nose and held tightly. Slaine tried to fight back but he was partly locked by Kaizuka’s another arm.

Only then Slaine realized what Kaizuka was doing. His other hand was now in front of his mouth, fingers pressed against his lips, and almost as a reflex, Slaine absolutely refused to open his mouth. His airways were blocked, but he would not let the Terran boy to enter his mouth and remove the secret weapon, even though he was sure he would never use it. That would be giving up. Slaine would have liked to bite Kaizuka’s hand, but he could not risk biting the capsule simultaneously.

Slaine was well aware how in this position he would soon suffocate. His nostrils were sealed under Kaizuka’s tight grip, and he refused to open his mouth, he would not budge so he would not breathe, then. His head was fizzy. He felt how his lungs were about to explode, and the fingers against his lips were anticipating the right moment. Then Slaine would gladly suffocate, rather than give up. What a simple end.

Still, after just a few seconds, the survival instincts in Slaine’s body apparently taken over, because now he was panting on the floor, and the notorious small white capsule was between Kaizuka’s fingers.

“You… bastard. You dirty bastard. You motherfucker. You will… pay.”

Kaizuka put the capsule in his front pocket.

“You must understand that the removal of a significant imponderable was necessary.”

Slaine could still feel those hands on his face. What an absolutely nasty move. The precision and confidence with the Terran bastard had acted signalled that either this was not his first time or then he was exceptionally skilled inventing dirty tactics in the middle of combat. Which made him dangerous, even when he was not inside his Kataphrakt.

“Now. What is the objective of the operation?”

Slaine didn’t have the energy to resist anymore. He was out of reasons to do so. As soon as he would invent one, he would indeed… well…

What the hell he was doing here in the first place?

Slaine didn’t look Kaizuka at the eyes but began to talk.

“The operation was a necessary response to the fact that the Terran bastards still keep fighting like stubborn insects, we just needed to come up with something so drastic that they would finally understand to surrender.”

Uh, why so damn hostile?

“That is what one can infer from public communication anyway”, Kaizuka said blankly. “I ask you to tell the details of the operation; the exact objective of the Versian inside this faculty.”

“Why would I tell you?” Slaine found himself blurting.

“Because otherwise I will-“ Kaizuka began but did not finish. His gaze moved just a few centimeters, to the stunning gun that laid on the floor next to him.

Before neither said a word, Slaine had dashed towards the gun, but Kaizuka was only a bit faster. Or was he?

“Okay, okay, I was only joking”, Slaine noted, finding himself under Kaizuka’s grip, with a gun pointed to his face.

They parted and were again seated face to face, calmly and orderly. Slaine could not help noticing how Kaizuka’s hand was trembling. And how, despite the hostility he tried to convey, he was still pale and sweating.

“The team of twenty low-rank soldiers were sent on a suicide mission. We had only one simple objective, to place a piece of GS somewhere on this asteroid and then die.”

Look on Kaizuka’s face displayed intense listening, but not surprisal.

“’GS’. I assume it is an abbreviation of-“

“It is some sort of prototype, not named properly yet. Just called Gravity-influencing Substance. When activated, those pieces of it would form a sort of layer, or network, or something like that, that would alter the gravity of the target. The target being this asteroid.”

“I see”, Kaizuka said. “I appreciate your honesty. It will be crucial.”

Slaine had to laugh again.

“Crucial for what? Could you finally kill me or even stun me or something?”

“I will not do that, Troyard.”

Slaine raised an eyebrow.

“You are now to assist me eliminating the threat before it is too late”, Kaizuka stated.

“Assist you? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I am serious, and I need you to act now because otherwise it will be too late.”

“Don’t you have a shipful of nice friends to help you, why the hell you would use me?”

“I need a person to identify the infiltrators among the other people, so we can detonate them. My allies are not able to do that, and neither am I.”

“Okay I’ll be your loyal guard dog then.”

“Thank you, I appreciate your ability to cooperation.”

“Like the hell would I!”

“You just said that you would be”

Slaine was about to lose his mind.

“I. Am. Not. Gonna. Assist. You.”

“Could you give reasons to that?”

“Ah, how gladly I would help such a simpleton”

“I do not ask you to assist anyone that could be described as simpleton. I ask you to assist me. And if you dislike the status of assistant. I can also call you my-“

“Shut up, just shut up!”

“In my opinion, your behaviour is irrational”

“…”

“And therefore, I suggest that you-“

“Shutupshutupshutuuuuup”

**

The situation demanded a reversion to more crude tactics. Time was running out. Two of the larger ships had departed, one of them Deucalion. That did not help, he was still standing on a ticking bomb, that would end up in the worst massacre in the history of humankind. There was still not a tactic whose adverse outcomes would not be outnumbered by the literal end of civilization. Which meant Inaho was free to act.

Troyard was still sitting on the corner, and Inaho was back in the corridors. Alone.

The world turned around just as Inaho had anticipated. He was kneeling on the floor, for a moment seeing both everything and nothing. The intensity was still surprising. As the waves of pain travelled through his head, behind his eyes, Inaho realised how intense the recent situation had been. He tried to reach his pocket, but his hands were covered with sweat and shaking. His burning nerves reminded him how he was possibly seriously mistaken. Inaho was deeply unsatisfied with his own fragility. Currently, his body was useless.

Just wait here.

Like always. Just wait.

One, two, three.

Unable to think clearly, Inaho waited.

Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight.

Eight hundred thirty-two.

Movement.

Inaho did know how to act. It was unimportant how he was feeling. He was doing right, he knew that. And moreover, this was now Troyard’s fault. With him, he would have the information, and he could do the identifying. A random person in maintenance staff uniform could still walk freely and not become listed as collateral damage.

Inaho felt his stomach hurting.

He kept going.

He just did what was optimal. What was according to the calculations. He performed his necessary role in a larger chain of actions.

An efficient tool.

**

“Man, what the hell are you doing?”

Kaizuka was standing in front of a closed door, pointing his gun towards it. He stood still but looked terrible, as if he had just had a fight with a monster.

“There is only one effective way to eliminate the threat”, Kaizuka said in a voice that sounded exactly as a robot. A cheap robot, not the one with hundreds of layers of tone and emotion adjustments that had long since been widespread.

Slaine wondered why he was surprised. He shouldn’t have.

“I saw a dead body there, your own staff”, Slaine noted. “Are you seriously saying that you decided to go running around and heedlessly shooting everyone who-“

Kaizuka faced him and his expression was one of suffering.

Slaine hated this. Somehow, it would have been easier if they just could have a plain old fight. Even with fists, if nothing else. Naturally, it would still be easy to start one. But the situation was odd, and Slaine did not felt like that at all.

“There is only one effective way…” Kaizuka started again, as if he was stuck on autoplay.

Slaine marched next to Kaizuka, grabbed his arm and pulled it down. Surprisingly, he did not resist. Actually, the pistol slipped from his fingers and fell onto the floor with an unpleasantly loud clunk.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Like, seriously?”

Kaizuka acted weirdly. As if his whole body was somehow trembling. His eyes were still locked on the closed door that didn’t even seem a proper door, more like some cabinet. Slaine had an unpleasant feeling that if he would let go the other’s arm, he would fall on the floor.

Why not to try?

“WOAH, hey!”

Kaizuka was indeed on the floor, covering his eyes with his hand.

“Hey, I’m sorry, no, I mean that, hey… um…”

“Could you assist me with my task?” Kaizuka asked, not looking at him.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“As I already told you, I only lack information”

He uttered those words slowly, as if speaking to someone who does not properly understand.

Slaine still felt the situation deeply uncomfortable. He didn’t know what to do. Still, it didn’t feel right to leave the Terran boy here, also for some another reason than that he had nothing else to do.

“Were you seriously going to just shoot everyone here?”

“With the lack of proper information, there are measures that…”

“Just stop the jargon. Yes or no?”

“…”

Slaine sighed heavily.

“I. Assist. You.”

Three words. Was it so damn difficult?

Kaizuka’s entire appearance seemed to lighten up. He was on his feet again, and his expression was determined. Still pale, but determined.

What am I doing, Slaine pondered.

And why am I doing what I’m doing?

They began walking forward, to the corridor. Neither of them said anything for a while. Slaine felt something strange that he couldn’t understand.

Kaizuka was odd to work with. There was absolutely something dangerous in him, and Slaine could not help sensing it. His movements tended to be remarkably determined, as if he was exceedingly aware of everything around him. Still, there was something oddly fragile in him. Perhaps something that reminded him of those rookie soldiers, who actively present self-confidence but are constantly on their toes, and go crazy and forget everything immediately when something unexpected happens. However, it was not fear that Slaine sensed. Actually, Kaizuka hardly blinked an eye as the floor suddenly trembled heavily. Just stated, with his annoying monotonic voice, how that was a sign that they should hurry up.

They succeeded to meet only two of those men who Slaine had been accompanied with in the shuttle for only a couple of hours ago. Slaine could not look them in the eyes. Only one of them saw him. It was a youngish man with a brown hair, unfamiliar to Slaine, had been sitting two benches in front of him in the shuttle. Insignificant and Slaine would eventually forget him as he had already forgot everyone from his high count-seat. Still, the gaze that the man set on him would stay in his mind at least for a while. It was utter surprisal. Total confusion, mixed with fear that something is happening that he does not understand and cannot stop. For him, Slaine was an anomaly, someone who should not be there in that exact position. Next to, side by side, with a Terran anomaly, who, before the man had time to say anything had pulled the trigger. The expression of confusion stayed on the man’s face as blood ran on his face from a fresh bullet hole. Kaizuka was still. Slaine was afraid that only a little touch and he would collapse on the ground.

Was the threat already properly eliminated? Slaine could hardly keep with Inaho’s explanation of the different scenarios of the possibility to set up with a gravity-altering net with limited amount of their Aldnoah-substance. Probability of success: 8,27 per cent.

“How did you come up with such a precise number?”

“As I just explained, the calculation included estimating the probability of having more members than the twenty you had been with, which instead needed to be estimated on the basis of…”

“Yes, but the precision, I mean.”

Kaizuka stared him blankly for a while.

“I just rounded to two decimal places.”

Slaine didn’t understand this Terran boy and was not sure if he would like to.

He felt a wave of something like a shame roll over him. Had he really ended up to nearly finishing an operation of sabotaging the original operation that he had himself volunteered?

This should have been an end for him. Now, this looked dangerously like an end of something that he really didn’t know. And yet, the odd urge to do what he originally had planned to do in the first place, was still there.

“For now, I suggest that we…”

“Hey, watch yourself!”

Kaizuka had begun walking but stumbled almost immediately. Slaine could feel the level of discomfort rising. He just couldn't help.

Slaine grabbed Kaizuka’s arm, again. He was breathing heavily, not facing Slaine.

Slaine resisted for a second and then blurted it out.

“Hey, what are you, I mean, are you okay, Kaizuka?”

Now he faced him. His expression was still blank but there might have been something behind it.

“Please, refer me with my first name, that is Inaho. And thank you for asking, but my condition is not a concern.”

Slaine could only stare. Kaiz-, no, Inaho’s eyes were still locked on him, and the pupil of his left eye vibrated oddly, giving his face a somewhat inhuman look.

**

“The first thing that I’ll do when we are landed is to punch his face.”

“Don’t we have to, like, perhaps, find him first?”

“Moreover, keep in mind what I have already said, he is very likely in danger.”

“Yes, and that’s the reason why he acted so in a first place,”

“Are you sure?”

“What else could it be? There was something really nasty going on and you know it. We’ll just wait until he can brief us.”

“And then punch his face.”

“…Right.”

Rayet sighed. She was glad Yuki was not part of this conversation, Rayet didn’t mind seeing her face right now. The stress level of the crew was enough without her complaining.

She and Inko had just climbed out from the Kataphrakt controls, after nearly an hour of tedious waiting for a command that never came. Now Deucalion was back on its course, back to the base, which Rayet thought should have been done immediately. Likely some classical bureaucratical reasons had prevented it. Nothing new in armies, and nothing different between Vers and Earth. Rayet had even forgot to be frustrated.

“I really hope he is alright.”

“So you can punch his face properly?”

Inko snorted, and Calm expressed a smile.

**

Inaho needed to rest. But he also needed to have the conversation. Moreover, he needed time to think. The amount of new and significant variables was overwhelming. The change that they really had succeeded to eliminate a sufficient amount of Versians and therefore render the gravity-altering system inoperable, was high. But even the smallest probability for the successful asteroid impact could not be overlooked. Inaho was well aware, how intentional this tactic was. The UFE forces were meant to keep concerned, unable to focus anything else but guarding their base. That would raise the probability of Versian success in other fronts.

And moreover, now he would continue with Slaine Troyard. Inaho considered justifications for making Troyard working for him and therefore compensating the undeniable harm he had already caused. Justifications for anything they would be going to perform. Or try to perform. Systems of rules that would make sense.

It was frustrating how Inaho still could not understand Troyard. He was an odd attractor, both illogical and extremely significant. And just looking at him made Inaho’s head hurt.

And now they had almost succeeded. Or had they? Inaho needed to rest. Moreover, he needed time to think. At least he would have to get some precise measure of probabilities that would be sufficient. And plan.

And moreover, now with Slaine Troyard. He was an odd attractor.

Calculate again.

And then present the calculations to the conference.

On the surface of the earth, there would be so much more to do. Perhaps the war would finally stop if the orbital knights…

But why a conference? Why would Inaho be in a conference?

No, there was just a conference room. But why he would be in a conference room?

Calculate again.

Before Inaho had formed a conscious thought, his own hand has grabbed another hand, that tried to attack him in front of his eyes.

“Hey, let me go!”

The voice belonged to Slaine Troyard. An odd attractor!

“Can you finally speak?”

“What do you want me to speak about?” Inaho heard himself saying.

“That what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“There is nothing wrong with me.”

Inaho felt being grabbed by the shoulders and shaken. He was sitting, no, laying, on a bench. On a bench next to the wall in an empty conference room.

“Cut that bullshit already.”

“I am perfectly capable of…”

Inaho was not actually sure how to finish the sentence.

“A person is not okay if he is about to faint on me when talking with me! Or unable to walk properly by himself.”

“That is…”

Again, Inaho was not unable to finish the sentence. He considered different alternatives how he had ended up on the bench, but they all seemed… peculiar.

“Please, don’t be concerned about me, Troyard. There are more important issues, and I want to discuss with you about them.”

Troyard stared at him.

“And I already told to call me by my first name. Like, two times, Orange.”

*