We left nothing back at the Duchess’ boobs because I felt that it didn’t matter whether any badgers were left there as a defensive force. Originally, I planned to leave five badgers behind but ditched the idea soon enough because all that mattered was the victory against Kamen’s fleet in the end. Some of the badger pilots were unwilling to listen to command. Thankfully, Ehka publicly announced that I was in charge of the current operation and told everyone to unify under me. Both of us knew what needed to be done. Ego was the last thing we needed.

  “How is the new member, Aktug?” I asked him via a comm from my lounge. I could do almost everything I could do on the bridge here, thus there wasn’t an explicit need for me to be there.

  “Well, he was an experienced escort already, so it was just a matter of getting used to the robin,” he replied. It was a video comm which couldn’t be taken for granted in Rocksea.

  “Good, we will proceed as planned.”

  “Got it.”

  We did have a short meeting between the members of the Copper wing not long after we departed the Duchess’ boobs. It was to set up a basic strategy and whatnot. It was ultimately decided that the Copper wing would not venture too far away from Cleo, acting more like bodyguards instead of being a part of the fleet. And we decided to focus on the Old Lady since it was deemed as the flagship of Kamen’s fleet. There was also a good chance that he could be on the ship even. We also decided on a sphere formation which was basic and defensive. Actually, we didn’t have a choice on the formation because any other formation required some teamwork training, which we had none. In hindsight, I should have pressed for that.

  “Nothing to be done now,” I mumbled.

  To be fair, combat was never my area of expertise. I was a miner in the beginning.

  “God, how my life turned out like this. Life is mysterious.”

  Never in a million years had I expected to lead a small fleet against another. This very situation was unthinkable just a short while ago.

  “I don’t regret this, though.”

  I was just a miner. I was nobody back then. I became somebody now, and that was a good feeling to have. Being someone of importance felt surprisingly nice.

  ‘We have them on radar.’

  Her voice startled me and pulled me out of my swirling thoughts. I could never anticipate the sudden timing rightfully so. I was used to talking to her in my head, though. It was just the sudden start that got me.

  “Already?”

  On second thought, it shouldn’t have been surprising. The distance between the two stations was about ten days, and both fleets were pretty much approaching each other at top speed.

  ‘To be fair, it’s not 100% confirmed. It’s too far but it’s the only big blob on radar and it is on course to the Duchess’ boobs.’

  “We could use an active sensor, though.”

  Doing so would reveal what we needed to know and more. Of course, it was highly discouraged to use it. There was no need to announce our presence to everyone after all.

  ‘I’d rather not. We are at least a few days away at the most. Any orders?’

  “A few days away, huh…”

  Nothing came to my mind other than letting others know the situation.

  “Hang on, I am going to contact Atkug.”

  ‘Okay.’

  Contacting him was as easy as simply saying it out loud. The ship’s computer would do the job for me.

  “You called?” His voice sounded in my lounge.

  “The enemy fleet is on radar. A few days away. I have got a concern.”

  “Oh, what would that be?”

  “Is the sphere formation okay for this encounter?”

  “Well, it’s the most basic as well as defensive formation. It’s never wrong to use it.”

  He knew space combat more than me although his experience was strictly in dog fights. None of us knew how a fleet combat would go down. It was probably the same for Kaman’s side as well. In fact, as far as I knew, this would be the first fleet combat ever in Rocksea.

  “Would you change it if you were in my shoes?”

  “To what?”

  I had no answer. I knew only two formations. The first one was the sphere formation. The other was the arrow formation, which was meant for offense. It was simple to understand how the sphere formation functioned and why it was deemed defensive. In a sphere formation, any damaged ships would be able to fall back into the sphere, potentially saving itself from further damage or even destruction. The downside was that ships not facing enemy ships, essentially half of ships in the formation, would be unable to fire.

  “Like the arrow formation?”

  “As far as I know, the arrow formation is used only when you have captains with good offensive sense and know-how. You are basically entrusting your front line to some select ships that are better.”

  “What’s the point of the rest of the fleet then?”

  “They are to support the front line by keeping fighters away from them or even diverting direct fire.”

  “I see, I see…”

  “There is the wall formation as well. It’s pretty self-explanatory, I think.”

  As far as its shape was concerned, I agreed. For what purpose, it was unclear. And before I could even ask, he added.

  “I am pretty sure that the formations are in the ship’s database.”

  “Have you looked into it?”

  “A lot of places were restricted for mere crew members, but formations were accessible to me. The wall formation was how I found out.”

  I thought I looked through everything… Apparently, I didn’t. In my defense, though, there were hundreds of folders. There was a decent chance that I overlooked some folders.

  “Thanks, I will look into this.”

  “If you are to make a change, make it ASAP because we haven’t got enough time now.”

  Indeed, we were closing into an enemy fleet at fast speed from both sides.

  “And I think you might be forgetting something.”

  “Ah?” I blurted.

  “The formations are meant for frigates and cruisers. It’s not meant for fighters.”

  I blanked out for a brief moment when he said that.

  “Fighters cannot stay still in a formation,” he added.

  Indeed…. Yeah! Fighters that stayed still would just be a target to be destroyed. Then…, why was I fussing about formations? It didn’t apply to our current situation. Besides, would I ever get in a position high enough to command other frigates? That was very much unlikely. My place was Rocksea. I might command some fighters, and that was as high as I would go most likely.

  “Well, shit, I was thinking hard for nothing.”

  He laughed in response. “Take it easy, bud.”

  As much as I wanted to take it easy, it wasn’t that simple. Casualties were guaranteed to occur. Death would occur. I never had anyone around me dying. I wasn’t sure how I was going to react. But this was something I had to endure to take the next step. Of course, the real world didn’t give me enough time to ponder for long because I was called urgently after just about two days.

  ‘They are almost here,’ said Kalomoira in my head.

  As I flew out of my captain’s lounge, I saw her standing in front of her console further ahead with her attention fully fixed at a screen. I took my spot and cracked my fingers before activating my console. They were indeed here. They weren’t yet in firing range, though. I initiated a very short range message to the public channel frequency.

  “This is Vazken. We are about to face our enemy. If you have something to say, say it now.”

  I didn’t expect anyone to speak out, alas someone did. I had no idea who it was.

  “Can we flee when we are in a pinch?”

  Kalomoira glanced backwards at me for reasons unknown to me. Anyway, I tried to come up with a proper reply.

  “You could, but would that be a wise idea?”

  Perhaps it was better than outright death. But, the implication of fleeing, I wasn’t sure what it would exactly be, but he wouldn’t be welcome back at the Duchess’ boobs. Then it suddenly came to me that all of us owned the ships we flew. Essentially, it wasn’t much of a loss even if anyone deserted. Ehka must have foreseen it by making it the policy that everyone owned their spaceships.

  “Better than dying,” he replied. I wasn’t going to argue with him at the moment.

  “You may flee if you must, but don’t expect to be welcomed back. If you are in a dire situation, you may dock at Cleo for emergency repairs. If you flee, that’s it.”

  The dude spoke no more, and our little discussion ended just like that. He was probably going to flee at the first sign of trouble, I thought.

  “Aktug, get ready.”

  “Got it.”

  The Copper wing was sort of the elite squadron at the moment. Robins were far superior to badgers, and they had a far higher chance of survival in this. Consequently, they were to lead the battle alongside Cleo.

  It took mayhaps about ten minutes before Kamen’s fleet was visibly seen. The fleet formation was virtually identical to ours; it had the Old Lady in the center with robins and badgers forming a sphere formation.

  “The Old Lady… I never thought it’d come to this.”

  Yeah, I never expected that I’d end up destroying it with my own hands. The battle began without further ado. Cleo was the first one to fire shots due to its up-to-date weaponry. In fact, she ended up one-shotting about four badgers before enemy fighters closed in, at which point Aktug led our fighters against theirs, and then chaos rained down upon us. It was literally chaos with so much sensor readings on the console in front of me. Looking at a live battle view on a holographic screen wasn’t helpful, either. But there was one thing I could deduce soon. It was that badgers weren’t great in a fleet battle. With paper thin armors, they just couldn’t take much punishment. Those who tried to flee, a few succeeded although most couldn’t make it far. Within half an hour, we lost about fifteen badgers. Aktug’s robins were standing, primarily thanks to being in close proximity to Cleo.

  “The shield array is holding fine…,” I mumbled. The array power was at 90%. The rad engine output was nearly at 99%. I called Rabinovich in the engine room and asked how it was going.

  “The shield array is holding firm. The rad engine is providing juice to recharge the array. The only issue is that the energy level is fluctuating like a woman’s orgasm,” he explained.

  “Like… what?” I mumbled, quite flabbergasted by his remark. Regardless, he continued on.

  “It’s leaking radiation now. It’s at a quite dangerous level. I’ve put on a protection suit for now but I will probably need to undergo some treatments later on.”

  It was possible to die from radiation poisoning if someone wasn’t treated in time. But radiation poisoning was completely curable as long as it was treated properly in time. There was an increased cancer risk associated with it, but cancers were a 100% curable illness. In my memories, no one ever died from it.

  ‘Cleo is doing a very good job, taking care of fighters,’ Kalomoira remarked. ‘The system shows over 70% accuracy.’

  Shield had frequencies which acted like a security code. Since Cleo had laser turrets, it was entirely possible that her own turrets could damage, thus drain, its own shield. By matching up energy frequencies, its own shots would pass right through the shield. This frequency was a series of digits. The ship gave a choice between 10 to 256 digits. Obviously, the higher the number, the more secure it was. At the same time, since shield frequency would alternate every few seconds, it was virtually impossible to match an enemy ship’s frequency and bypass its shield even at its lowest security setting. Anyway, as I scanned the sensor readings, it became clear that perhaps the badger fighters weren’t really needed because they went down really fast. It was a battle between two frigates and robins which were more advanced fighters.

  “This is Aktug, the new member’s robin is heavily damaged. Requesting docking access ASAP.”

  We shouldn’t lose any robins if possible, thus it was no brainer. By synchronizing frequencies, it was also possible for ships with their own shields to be able to enter each other’s shields.

  “Granted. Opening the docking bay.”

  That left just three robins out there. I didn’t even count on badgers at this point.

  “Kalomoira, lock on the Old Lady. We are going after her.”

  The Old Lady was a modified mining frigate with two turrets meant for fighters. In other words, she wouldn’t even be a match for a navy frigate. And, thus far, I saw no meaningful contribution from her whereas Cleo was dominating the battlefield with her ten turrets shooting left and right. As far as I recalled, we did install the turrets but never upgraded its rad engine. That perhaps was the reason for her under performance. It was amusing that we overlooked this, though. Well, even if we wanted to upgrade the Old Lady’s rad engine, we wouldn’t have had the funds to do it. They would have had decent engineers and funds.

  ‘Locked on. Setting on course. Our Cleo is doing fine so far. Everything is green. The shield array energy level is steady at 90% and the rad engine output is at 103%.’

  “103%? That’s overloading, isn’t it?”

  ‘By just three percent. Not a big deal, especially on navy equipment.’

  She had a point. But it did explain what Rabinovich said. If a combat navy frigate was struggling with power, then it was clear that the Old Lady would struggle badly. Anyway, as soon as Cleo made a beeline toward the Old Lady, the frigate reacted in a moment.

  ‘The enemy flagship is starting to turn around. I think it’s retreating!’

  “Can we scan the ship?”

  ‘You’d need an active ping.’

  “That shouldn’t be a problem in this chaos, should it?”

  She nodded. ‘Yeah, no problem. I will scan the ship. Give me a moment.’

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  It took about ten seconds for her to continue.

  ‘Its shield appears to be decent, not failing yet.’

  “Fire at will. Focus on her.”

  ‘Got it.’

  Enemy fighters focused their fire on Cleo as we made a direct approach to the Old Lady. I could see, through an external screen, that bright flares were everywhere. Those were gunfire from badgers and burst laser beams from robins. They really didn’t want us to get closer. Alas, for them, the shield array was holding firm. Within iit, the Copper wing was safe and sound as well.

  “Man, they really cannot stop us, can they.”

  We could have defeated them with just the four robins and Cleo. The badgers did boost the numbers on paper, but that was as far as its usefulness went. It made my eyes open that quality mattered over quantity. As soon as she entered within its range, she started firing all available turrets on the target.

  ‘The target’s shield is draining fast.’

  The Old Lady was firing back with its turret on each side, but it was hardly damaging the shield. Those were meant for fighters after all. If they were frigate-class turrets, it would have been different although the outcome would have been still the same. Cleo had ten turrets after all.

  “Let’s see how long she can endure the punishment.”

  She wouldn’t have had the energy to fire them for long anyway. And, as if confirming my fear, an SOS signal was being broadcast from her.

  “What?” I blurted. Naturally, I agreed to listen to the SOS message.

  “It’s gonna blow! It’s gonna blow!” A desperate voice was heard.

  “What’s going on there?!” I demanded.

  “It’s gonna blow! Help us!”

  “Tell me what is going on first!”

  “The rad engine! We lost control of it! It’s been overloaded for 500%”

  “The fuck?” Aktug, who had been listening to the message, blurted and asked, “Is that even possible?

  If the desperation in their voice was anything to go by, it was possible apparently.

  “How many of you are there? Is Kamen with you?”

  If he was there, this would end quickly.

  “There are twenty of us! Help us!”

  ‘That’s too many. We cannot let them in. We don’t have the manpower to keep an eye on them.’

  She had a point indeed. There were four people aboard Cleo. Kalomoira and I were on the bridge. Rabinovich and Juno were in the engine room. Even if I put those two people to keep an eye on them, it was too little. If Aktug and others joined in, it seemed doable, but I did not want the Copper wing to withdraw from the battlefield just yet.

  “Tell me one thing, and I will consider,” I demanded. “Is Kamen there?”

  If he was there, it was worth the risk taking them in. If not, as unfortunate as it sounded, their lives had no value to me.

  “He …” Whoever it was over there hesitated to answer. “He fled some time ago.”

  “Damn.” I shrugged. Their lives were forfeit at this point. Muting the channel, I told Kalomoira. “Turn away from the Old Lady. We don’t want to stay too close to shockwaves.”

  I indirectly told her to abandon them. She froze up a bit but responded soon enough.

  ‘Got it.’

  She probably knew that I was right. This was not the time for emotions.

  ‘Besides, there won’t be enough time to rescue them. If the reading is correct, the ship is going to blow in a minute or so.’

  “Right…” Then I blinked my eyes. “What?! In a minute? Turn around now!”

  I didn’t know what kind of shockwave its explosion would create but I knew, for sure, that being this close to the Old Lady was going to be damaging.

  “Aktug, make sure that you stay within the shield. The frigate is going to blow.”

  “Well, shit. Got it.”

  Then I opened a short range public channel to everyone.

  “Badgers that are still alive and on my side, listen. The frigate is going to blow. Its shockwave could potentially destroy you. Form in front of Cleo. I repeat, use Cleo as a physical wall to shield yourself from shockwaves!”

  Badgers didn’t have the necessary system to be able to synchronize shield frequencies and enter inside of Cleo’s shield like robins. Therefore, the next best solution was using the frigate as a wall. Meanwhile, upon hearing my public announcement, the enemy badger and robins that were still alive began to scatter away at once. If they stayed, they’d be dead for sure. Shockwaves were no joke in space after they exceeded a certain size. Shockwaves from a mass as large as a frigate was big enough to be very concerned, especially for those that were smaller than the exploding mass. Not long after we began to make our run, the bridge jolted slightly once and then it shook up and down hard a few times. I actually had to hold onto the console in front of me.

  “Oooph,” I groaned. “That was pretty hard.”

  I was positive that unprotected badgers wouldn’t make it. Robins had an armor layer, so they were likely to survive. The reason I claimed this was because of how badger hulls were manufactured. Four steel sheets were glued shut and then reinforced with rivets. This created airtight connections but it was weak against crushing forces such as shockwaves. The glue would break and leak air pretty much immediately. With no stations in the area, they would run out of air before anything else. I took a deep breath and exhaled. It was over regardless.

  “I will be in my lounge.”

  ‘Okay.’

  It was anticlimactic. It was really anticlimactic. I expected something more … fierce from this battle. Those were my first lines of thoughts as soon as I entered my lounge and let myself go loose in zero gravity after detaching myself from the floor. I had some booze in a mini fridge and drank some like a madman. I rarely drank on my own volition but I really felt like drinking some at that time. Not long after emptying a bottle, which was floating around because I couldn’t care less about properly disposing of it, I eventually passed out from drowsiness. When I opened my eyes, I noticed that there was a call from none other than Juno.

  “Yes?” I replied lazily.

  “About damned fucking time you replied. Rabinovich is in the sick bay. You might want to check him out.”

  “He is in what? Why?”

  I could hear her growling. “Have you forgotten? He was showered with heavy doses of radiation. Get your fucking ass down here!”

  “Y, yes, ma’am!”

  There was no designated doctor on the ship. But all of us knew the basic know-how in treatment, and there was an encyclopedia of digitized medical knowledge stored as well. In short, unless one required physical surgery, we really didn’t need a doctor although we should seek one out if possible.

  “5,000 mSv,” she said as soon as she saw me enter the sick bay which was nothing more than an empty room with two hospital beds and a regen pod which was a vertically standing pod filled with green goo. “Even with a hazmat suit.” She had her arms folded and looked pissed.

  “I see,” I replied to her stoically. He was currently inside of the regen pod. I assumed that the radiation was too much and his internal tissues were damaged. In other words, he was regenerating his whole body to get rid of radiation-affected flesh. Such a method would be a lot faster than treating the poisoning. He was unconscious in the pod with an oxygen mask attached to his mouth and nose.

  “This is why I am against violence,” she pressed as if wanting to prove a point. Normally, I would brush her off but I, too, wanted to make a point.

  “If kind words would get us anywhere, this wouldn’t have been necessary.”

  She doesn’t want violence. I get it. I get that. But there was time and place for such an ideology, and this wasn’t it. If the other party was itching for blood, trying to talk our ways out of it would only weaken our position. Besides, we didn’t start this. They did. Would I be able to get my point across to her? I doubted that because she has always been a pacifist as long as I have known her. I wanted to change the subject and explained to her the circumstances of how the Old Lady exploded.

  “What? Seriously?” She blurted with her eyes open wide. “Are you saying we were sailing a ticking time bomb back then?”

  Now that she said it, it was indeed a ticking time bomb. And oddly it was us who handed Kaman the bomb. This whole event was interesting. I was the one who started it by meeting with Kaman, and we were the ones who handed him the bomb to finish him off. Yeah, he fled, but so what? He no longer had a fleet. He may still have some badgers and robins but against Cleo? They were nothing. Of course, I didn’t believe that a single navy frigate was sufficient to take on a whole station and I wasn’t going to. It was time to call for the big guns. I was going to call Wemer, report the progress, and call for proper reinforcements. Now that Kamen’s faction was no longer a threat, I felt that I could do this. Anyway, he was going to make it although it’d take a few days for the regeneration to complete. Apparently, he forced Juno to stay outside while he was dealing with the rad engine, so she was relatively unharmed.

  When we returned to the Duchess’ boobs, the whole world was turned upside down. Navy frigates were present, having surrounded the station. I counted at least ten.

  “What the hell?” I blurted. It was considered a safe zone. Therefore, I didn’t even bother checking sensors while approaching. Kalomoira didn’t either. None of us saw this coming. “What’s going on?” Then I received a call. It was from Ehka.

  “Ehka, what is going on?” I demanded.

  “Vazken, stand down. I made this happen. I made the call.”

  “But why?”

  “This is for both you and me. Just stand down and dock. The navy frigates will not bother you. We are …” She made a pause. “We are almost there.”

  I wasn’t sure whether I was included in the “we” but I had no other choice. Like she said, the navy frigates did not react at all to our arrival. We were allowed to dock as usual. Armed soldiers were everywhere as we made our way into a nearby lobby. Aktug and Kalomoira were accompanying me.

  I saw Wemer who was flanked by a single man in … a pure white suit? He looked like a gentleman with black gelled hair swept backwards. He had a very … ominous aura and had what appeared like a sword on his waist. The two men were confronting a … girl? A pre-teen girl? The hell?

  “What the fuck is going on here?” Aktug whispered and I fully agreed.

  ‘Could … that girl be…?’

  “Kalomoira, do you know her?”

  ‘I am sensing a monstrous aura from that girl … She can’t be … the little Witch, can she? And that man in white …, he is a monster as well.’

  “Oh, Wemer, my boy ~” The pre-teen girl whistled gleefully. She had ocean blue eyes and shoulder length straight brown hair with light brown hooded sweater with a red and black checkered short skirt and a pair of brown thigh socks. If it wasn’t for her small physique, she would have been a very hot woman. She looked to be ten years old at the most.

  “I see that you’ve finally revealed your hidden card,” she continued, pointing at the man in white.

  “I couldn’t let you keep getting away with crimes, could I?” he replied. A short distance behind him, there were tens of armed soldiers who were ready to shoot. Likewise, there was Duke, Ehka, and their son a short distance behind the little girl. Wemer glanced sideways, noticing us finally.

  “Welcome back, Cadet,” he said to me. “You’ve done a good job, so far.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Cadet, do you wish to keep your title?” He asked with an ominous smile. I knew what he was trying to say.

  “Cadet is a training rank, no? With all due respect, if I were to be employed properly, I’d like a rank that is not a cadet.”

  He beamed a smile at me. “You studied, meaning you are interested.”

  “I do.”

  “I assume you had no idea what Ehka was doing behind your back because your expression tells me that you didn’t expect this.”

  “I had no idea and have no idea what is going on. Do you mind telling me?”

  He let out a sigh and glanced back at the little girl.

  “Go on. Tell him. We’ve got time,” she said, looking uninterested.

  I was soon told that Ehka sent a message to him directly pretty much as soon as our fleet departed to confront Kamen’s fleet. She must have made a bet that I would emerge victorious. She told him that the job was done but wanted to change some details of the deal.

  “She and her family were to be relocated to Creg after the job was done. However, she does not want that. She wants to go to the Freedom colony.”

  Honestly, I didn't see a problem with that. Obviously, he did, however. Hence the commotion that was happening right in front of my eyes. I had to choose my words carefully.

  “I see,” I told him. “As I said earlier, I had nothing to do with this.”

  “Fear not. It’s easy to see that. Besides, you’ve kept your end of your bargain, so far. Your position is safe. Besides, it was you who did everything anyway. Agent Ehka had done very little.”

  “Wemer boy, let them go,” the little girl said. “Haven’t they had enough? Let them live however they see fit.”

  He slowly turned his attention toward the girl. “I would very much like to. She has suffered enough at the hands of politicians. Alas, I have my orders to carry out.”

  The girl snickered. “Fine by me. I just need to give you a reason to give up on her, righto?” She, then, posed to charge forward. Her left arm, below her elbow, started to envelop in white flame. Her right arm was enveloped in black flame.

  ‘Order and Chaos…, that is it. SHE IS SAE THE LITTLE WITCH!’ Kalomoira’s scream rang my head hard.

  “She is the little Witch?” I blurted unintentionally.

  Sae the little Witch had her eyes open wide and slowly turned her head to my direction. “Oh, my. Someone finally didn’t forget to include ‘little’ at last. I will remember you.”

  “Ehm, it was her.” I pointed back at Kalomira. “A big fan of yours, I think?”

  Sae smiled. “Is that so? I am glad. We will talk after this.” Then her body simply vanished.

  “Huh?”

  Then a strong gust of wind struck me which knocked me off the ground almost. It wasn’t for the magnetic boots, I would have. She and the man in white were exchanging blows. Their arms were moving about so fast that I wasn’t seeing them at all. Shockwaves from their blows were the only indications that they were fighting.

  “The fuck…, I can’t see anything.”

  “That man in white… He hasn’t died yet. Does that mean he is a class S esper as well?” Aktug said.

  ‘Probably.’

  Either way, the shockwaves were getting too much. I had my arm covering my eyes, and the others behind did the same. The two eventually stopped after a minute or so. The girl had a bright grin on her face, and the man in white was emotionless.

  “Pretty good,” she said, proudly for some reasons.

  “Your reputation precedes you,” the man in white replied. “Mr Wemer, I am unable to defeat her.”

  Wemer shrugged with a crooked smile. “Oh, well. Lads, prepare to withdraw. We’ve failed to arrest Ehka and her family.”

  “What, is that it?” Aktug blurted, surprised.

  ‘They needed a reason. They had their orders. They couldn’t just defy their orders,’ Kalomoira explained.

  It felt comical because the whole situation looked so artificial.

  “Cadet.”

  Wemer’s calling startled me a bit.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Your position is safe as far as I can tell. Those on the upstairs are pleased with your performance.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “I am also personally pleased that you looked into the database on how to behave like a proper cadet. Here, take this.”

  By using telekinesis, he casually sent a card toward me.

  “It’s your ID card. You never had one.”

  True, I never had an ID card. I didn’t need one in Rocksea.

  “With your ID card, you now have a legally registered and protected email account. I will be communicating with you via that account. We will talk soon, officer.”

  Huh, I am an officer now. With that, Wemer took away the soldiers and the man in white with him, leaving just Sae the little Witch, Ehka’s family, and us. When I tried to approach Ehka to talk, Sae stopped me.

  “Don’t. We are leaving now,” she said.

  “I’d like to talk to her, even if it’s just for a minute.”

  She glanced back. “Your choice, woman.”

  Duke held Ehka’s shoulder firmly. “Vazken,” he said instead of her. “Thank you. If it wasn’t you, it wouldn’t have been this easy.”

  “Was this your plan all along? If so, why?”

  “We, the both of us, are victims of those in power. We did not want their resolution on us like that. They wanted to dump us on Creg and be done with us. We wanted a better solution. It was for our son, Chatur, as well.”

  “Had they allowed us to live on New Earth, we wouldn’t have done this,” she added.

  I failed to see why that was such a big deal.

  “Why is that important?”

  “You should not conceive unless it’s 1.0G, Vazken,” Duke added. “We are not allowed to step onto New Earth no matter what. It’s an exile. Do you think we deserve that? Even our son cannot enter New Earth.”

  Ah, I see. That made sense. Indeed, that was not what I’d call a reward. It looked more like a punishment than anything else.

  “So, you are leaving right now? Where does that leave me?”

  Ehka built a small empire here. How am I supposed to run her business?

  “I’ve left the system unprotected. You can look into it now and learn how I used to run the business side. Well, it’s true that you won’t be able to run the whole business alone, but you do look like you have some people with you now, no?”

  True, I had Rabinovich, Aktug, and a few others although I had no idea how much I could trust them.

  “I suppose I don’t have a choice now. It’s just very sudden.”

  She beamed a smile. “True, it is sudden. You were a nobody and now suddenly the ruler of Rocksea.”

  “Kamen isn’t taken care of yet, though.”

  “Do you think he stands a chance now?” Duke chimed in. “You now have the navy’s backing. I am sure they will help you clean up.”

  “True.” I took a deep breath after having said so. “I guess this is really good-bye then. We won’t be seeing each other, yeah?”

  “This is it for us,” Ehka said. “We are going to the Freedom colony and settle down there.”

  “I do have a question. How will you get there? Doesn’t it require using the subspace portal gate? I am not sure whether they will let you pass.”

  “That’s exactly why I am here,” Sae said as she pointed at herself. “I am going to teleport them instantly.”

  Narrowing my eyes, I tilted my head a bit. “But isn’t it like 1,000 light years away?”

  ‘She is Sae the little Witch. She can do it. The Asperger has done it,’ Kalomoira said.

  This is good-bye then. I tried to approach them, but Sae stood in my way to stop me. The white flame on her left arm was gone although the black flame on her right arm lingered still.

  “Sorry, boy. I have got a job to do to escort them to safety.”

  It was quite awkward to be called “boy” by a girl who was so much smaller than me, but she was hundreds of years old if my memory was correct.

  “I cannot trust you enough that you won’t harm them.”

  “Well, point taken.”

  Duke and Ehka beamed smiles at me. Their son, Chatur, looked somewhat clueless as to what was happening, but he must have known that his life was going to change a lot.

  “Good bye, dude,” he said.

  “Farewell,” she added.

  Turning around, Sae told me, “Always include ‘little’ when addressing me by my nickname. I will never kill you then, although you will never see me again.”

  “You’ve said that to me before,” Ehka countered.

  “Have I? Oh, well, whatever.” As soon as Sae was with Duke and his family, their bodies started to turn transparent progressively. In a matter of a few seconds, they were gone. I smiled bitterly.

  “I think I am going to miss them,” I said to myself.

  Aktug said, “I’ve been working under Ehka for so many years… It feels a bit surreal but you are now the boss now, Vazken.”

  Then I felt someone grabbing my left arm. Looking back it was Kalomoira.

  “What?”

  ‘You are someone now.’

  “... So?”

  ‘I am willing to consider.’

  I was quite confused. “Consider what?”

  ‘Remember that I wouldn’t blow you off? I take that back.’

  I vaguely recalled the joke. I never expected it, so it didn’t matter. But it looked like she gave it some thoughts. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind having her as a girlfriend. Being a mute was a bit of a downer, but she had the look with blue eyes, blond hair, and a nice body. Therefore, I didn’t shake her off my arm and I could feel the soft matter pressing against my arm. It wasn’t a bad feeling. Of course, I had to keep in mind that she was doing this only because I became someone.

  “Got lots to do, I guess,” I mumbled. I was about to get really, really, busy for a while.