A/N: Even though I'm giving this story the 'Code' title, this one-shot I'm writing is slightly non-canon, as this one-shot is going to be roughly twenty years in the future (not in Gamindustri but on Earth, so it would be in the 2040s), and it stars a character that does not yet officially 'exist' in the current series as she simply has not been born yet. However, I will reference characters who have been introduced in the series thus far, but know that they would have aged about twenty years. Enjoy, read and review.
Warning: I am going to be spoiling the fates/futures of every major character that has, and will be, a part of the Code series, past, present and future. You've been warned here for spoilers near the end game of Karen's Senryaku generation and the people they associated heavily with. However, also be aware that any events that happen during the story could be declared non-canon if I decide to create any more stories in this part in the Code timeline since Hunter is my last planned story in the series, timeline wise, but anything that happened in-between this story and Neptunia is canon. Good and bad. That, and also, I will be including fairly frequent swearing this time round, so you've been warned here.
And lastly, the songs I am using here in this one-shot were performed by the people of Tyerecords, a rather talented group of singers on youtube if I may be honest, and they've given me permission to use the songs here. So check em out. I'm probably going to end up not giving the work poured into the covers they made enough credit through written speech of this caliber since reading off lyrics is drastically different than hearing a singer give his/her all to give it life. Also, this is the first time I've done something of this sort with songs so tell me what you think of them in a review, especially if you guys know better ways for me to format them, please tell me since I will admit: I am rusty with that kind of format.
Real Life Standard Time: [8:00] February 15th, 2043
Location: [Earth - Multiverse Federation HQ Armory, Mediterranean Sea]
'Hunter Twelve's Log 127. The year is 2043. Fifteen years have passed since the establishment of the Multiverse Federation, or the MVF as some like to call it, and three since I joined them in earnest, which transformed the humans here on Earth into a rather different type of civilization than it was a mere twenty years ago. What I particularly enjoy is the special pocket dimension technology and the power plants the Holy Isnian Empire has provided our Terran Alliance with which are so energy efficient and powered through a special resource the Isnians have been mass producing, which the Isnians have been shipping us on a regular basis, that emit so much power that we were able to shut down just about every other power plant we Terrans have built in the past aside from a handful of wind turbines scattered throughout the world, and the new power plants' design provides so much power that a mere ten to twenty, sixty being dispersed throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, can provide enough power for an entire continent and in addition to the power plants, most of our cities have been transformed with near entire application of Isnian pocket dimension technology allowing us to fit mansions in mere apartment complexes, though that's largely the extent of what the Isnians are doing since their stance is establishing a strong foundation and letting each individual species build themselves up with their own capabilities. And then there's the various races who have joined the Federation to help boost Earth's population as roughly half our native population is in cryostasis on route to a habitable planet the Isnians helped us find in the nearby Proxima Centuri system, with a few orbital defense platforms on route in addition to how so many of us began migrating to other worlds through an expansive outreach program, and to help fill the gap in population, and jobs, we've been accepting many 'extradimensionals' in the Isnians helping many of our scientists, the Elbians filling into our hospitals as doctors and nurses with their magic, the Nexirians taking up work as lawyers, judges, and even recently: psychologists because of their calming nature, the Pursalians helping us keep the animal wildlife population in check since we Terrans have all but withdrawn into our cities and not going out into the fields much, and then there's the Illarians who have been helping in both drafting laws for the Federation and working as artists for various companies, primarily video game companies or animation studios, though some have actually started becoming mangaka with help from Earth-based writers, assistants, and editors, like my guardians: Aufisa and Miya, though they've been independent from the start as Aufisa handles all of the illustrations while Miya writes the story and characters; currently they're focusing on three entries they're developing for their publisher, each with a different genre: One is a magical girl harem manga, but I am surprised that they're including a fair amount of shoujo-ai between the girls despite it being a standard harem show, the second features a post-apocalyptic setting where civilization was all but destroyed by fairy magic's hand leading to the survivors hating magic users, though a lone fairy girl is determined to turn that around by showing how useful their magic can be to restore civilization even through all of the resentment she goes through through her travels, and the last is a rather over-the-top action manga based around the concept of the seven samurai but based in space with mechs against a massive corrupt empire. It may just be me, but I find myself liking the first concept since the harem lead isn't a dense idiot like the average series, the reason he's indecisive this time around is because of an inferiority complex since he is near incapable of magic. The lead girls in the series were asked by their village elders to help find out why this main character seems incapable when everyone in this society is capable of magic, yet he cannot, and he interprets this as them pitying him which he dislikes, though I like the character: Ashina Hisasane the most since she is largely an amalgamation of both me and Yami, though I will admit I'm bias. It's also a little funny that Ashina is the outright most 'girl hungry' of the cast despite still having feelings for the harem lead. That's one of the things Aufisa and Miya just tacked onto the character though.
Anyway, because of the Illarians' low population of a couple thousand people compared to our other members whom have hundreds of thousands or a couple million at the bare minimal, a temporary federation law has been implemented to restrict Illarian employment to temporary contracts, with an exception in regards to the mangaka profession, unless the company is willing to buy out the contract but is generally not done since they require exorbitant fees, but a cooperative venture between the Isnians and the Illarians has been made to utilize gene splicing to attempt to increase their fertility and in turn, their population; especially when the Isnians have placed twenty five domed cities scattered about their world to protect them from the deserts of Sonhadra and allow near unlimited growth, and with their pocket dimension technology, overpopulation is no longer a problem, especially with how food and water are continuously produced enough to sustain their population. Because of this large-scale outreach program for all our peoples, the federation has been funding a number of schools across Earth dedicated to teaching our newfound visitors and allies about Earth's history and culture while also maintaining a custom of them teaching us about their own peoples. I myself attend one of the larger ones situated in Tokyo's Toshima ward which is called Willow Academy, named by the Elbian ambassador in the federation: Elise Manakel, who also happens to be a childhood friend of Izumi Mizutani, or rather: Hana Oishi now after she underwent this weird ritual the Elbians have called Zephyr, I wish I could explain it in detail, but the concept of metamorphosis is the closest way I can describe it since I've never seen it in person, who elected to remain on Elbance to represent her people while Elise does the same among the federation, who got the school's name from her mother figure: the water spirit: Aei, who exists as one of Elbance's four elemental guardians, alongside Zakria the Crimson Dragon, Elos the Earth Titan, Mivas the Flippant Cyclone, and herself: Aei the Serene Tempest. Funnily enough, the Elbians, despite their largely pacifistic nature are rapidly becoming one of the strongest races in terms of military might as the Elbians are applying Isnian technology concepts and letting their powerful magicks create and power mighty airships and even massive armored automata. And when you combine these large reaches of technology with the significant Elbian birthrate, they could present a huge threat as they're all magic users from birth and as they grow, their abilities are continuously developed with many fields of magic: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Lightning, Healing, Nature, Summoning; hell even artification nowadays which is how they're creating their aircraft, automata, and even starships in recent months. But they've been focusing solely on defense; one hell of a mighty one that even the Isnians have some semblance of fear over since Elbian magic is capable of replicating these mighty forces within days, and with the pocket dimension and cybernetic technologies allowing unlimited space and their users to greatly reduce their physical needs, the latter being widespread among their people to allow them to work far more with minimal complications in their daily lives, they're able to work around the clock. If they became serious about it, they could create enough ships to outnumber the Isnian armada in only four months, though of course, the Isnians focused on creating massive citadel like ships that are near impossible to sink while the Elbians are creating smaller, more maneuverable, frigate class ships with enough armaments befitting a cruiser or hell, even a battleship. Honestly, if they so desired, they have far than enough power to serve in the Federation's security council alongside the Terrans, Isnians, and the newcomers in the Pursalians.'
As the girl spoke in her mind as she mentally typed up a diary entry through her visor's VR applications, reflecting on how society and Earth itself has drastically changed in the last two decades, she was inspecting the hidden armory in the Federation's headquarters in the Mediterranean Sea, the room dedicated for a secret multinational cadre of operatives, only numbering roughly fifty to maintain secrecy, supplemented with fake identities created to mask these agents, whose goal is similar to the Spectres belonging to the Council of the humans, asari, salarians, and turians, whom agreed to a non-aggression pact since neither party want to get involved in the others' business, but this cadre is far more secretive, yet better equipped with aid from the Scylorian Black Op Initiative with an unusual mixture of heavy and zero oversight over their operations since they are to fight with stealth in their assassinations since their targets are considered so dangerous that even the indomitable Isnian army would hesitate in fighting them, yet they are to remain on standby, living their casual lives, until they are given orders, but she was stopped as a message notification appeared in the corner of her eye, opening it to find new orders given to her
'Agent Junko, we've just received new information from our Scylorian scouts. We have finally uncovered the six outposts the anti-Federation insurrection has been using to launch all of those raids on our worlds. As a way of thanking the Enforcers for uncovering this insurrection in the first place, we are sending you in lieu of our own garrisons. We're sending eight people per site and we're assigning you to our Earth-based team. Express delivery to a small remote artificial island base built by the Isnians hidden in the Pacific Ocean. They've must been hiding there for who knows how long since we had no idea the Isnian armada had a base out there, and trust me, none of our records reported a base out there, particularly since all of our radar systems kept passing over it, they must have jammers installed and perhaps even optical cloaks if they've managed to evade detection from the Terran Alliance Pacific Navy's Japanese and American branches, but a recent energy surge alerted us to their location. In addition to your assignment to quell the insurrection, you are to disable the jammer and download all of their files. We must ascertain just how they have been hiding from us all this time. We must also determine who has been backing this insurrection since the Isnian military would never let one of their prefab bases be installed without records yet one has been planted here without their knowledge, they may have turned one of the captains or even admirals against the Federation. But Asami, if you discover that the military has some involvement in this insurrection, keep the information secret and bring it back to us immediately. We cannot risk this information reaching the public since tensions are already high since many of the Terrans, and even many among the other races, oppose the Federation to some extent, despite our generosity. If they find out that our military is fighting us, the discrimination will only escalate.'
'Figures they don't want the army getting involved in such a dire situation since it'd reveal how powerful these radicals actually are, especially with how our forces are spread incredibly thin protecting our worlds, and the crisis Briekkar spoke of; all hell would break loose if the Isnian armada becomes fractured, and the dude would probably lose his job at best, his life at worst since he's a high-ranking, former to some extent since he was transferred to the federation, admiral in the armada. Best to send in the Enforcers and have them executed outside the public's eye. Understandable logic. But to send in all of the Enforcers...Are they that entrenched? Ugh, I freaking hate working in groups, they're only going to get in my damn way, but then again, I've only had that issue working with 'normies' in this line of work, not my fellow elite agents. Hm, this is going to be interesting. But why address me in such a way when they've always-Ah. They must be fearful that they could have also installed comm interceptors and track our transmissions so they are avoiding calling us by our real names but...Oh no, if that's true, they're going to know we're coming! I can't risk coming with the others if they do know, but I do have to help my team out...god fucking damn it. As risky as these missions can be, they've never been this fucking stressful. It's always been 'get in, kill the target without drawing attention to yourself, and get the hell out of dodge.' A silent groan of irritation followed this bout of concern and anger in Asami's mind as she began to grab a number of collapsable weapons common to the Black Ops since they had to appear inconspicuous yet remain armed enough to take down a small army singlehandedly, and hid each within her uniform, the design housing a miniature pocket dimension that is built around storing small items like the collapsable guns and when she was about to leave the armory, the phone built into her visor rang, showing that someone was trying to contact her, the ID showing it to be one of Asami's friends from her school: Sora Mitsuwa, who is a member of the Pursalian species native to Aegimius, whom operate as a member of the federation's security council alongside the Terrans and Isnians, having temporarily taken over for the Valkenians as they're having internal disputes and such, withdrew themselves from the Federation until they can resolve those issues. Furthermore, although her physical age has only recently reached eleven, her mental/spiritual age is far greater since she has access to a special application which can speed up her brainwaves in a virtual world by nearly a thousand times, making her spiritual age well over a hundred years already, though it is a secret very few know; the specifics being known only to the Isnian representative in the federation: Miyo Hanari and an informal advisor to many of the species in the federation since she played a part in establishing the organization in the first place: Karen Murai, whom incidentally happens to be Asami's mother.
"Hey Hikari; Sui, Maki, Aufisa, Miya, and I are going shopping later, wanna join us?"
"Sorry Sora, I'm busy helping Ambassador Miyo Hanari with her administration. I'm not going to be able to finish any time soon. I'll make it up to you guys when I'm able to come back to school. Oh! There's that brand new five star restaurant that opened near the station. I'll treat you guys to anything you want on their menu next weekend. I should be free then. I'll bring up the matter with Miss Hanari and I'm sure she'll arrange to pay me the necessary funds in exchange for a suitable degree of work." 'Yeah, it's a bit frustrating having to lie to my friends like this, but I'm not exactly going to involve them in my assassin job! That's the worst thing of living a double life. As a regular Terran girl, I am simply Hikari Murai, daughter of the CEO of the Koizumi company: Karen Murai, or as she used to be called: Karen Koizumi, and my father: Hikaru Murai who works as a drill sergeant for the federation's reserve forces to train them into a proper fighting force. But then there's Asami Junko who is one of the federation's secret killers. Heh, it's a tiny bit funny I'm half lying to my friends regarding the whole treating them to dinner. There's no guarantee I'm going to survive this battle, but if I do come back alive, I will have a fine paycheck of ten million at the minimal awaiting me. That's the beauty of high risk, high reward missions like that. I get paid exorbitant sums of cash if I manage to complete my mission, but the risk of death can be remarkably high. It's funny that most people spend their entire lives working and never manage to get such a sum of money in their lives when I can earn such an amount in a single outing.'
"Oh okay then. I'm not liking how often you freaking blow us off when we try hanging out with you, but I know the MVF keeps their people very busy since there are likely thousands of issues happening on a daily basis. But don't you think they could've had these things hammered out after existing for fifteen years now?"
"Haha, you're telling me Sora. I thankfully don't have that great a workload since I'm just eleven, but everyone here has to pull their weight to some extent 'round here. Besides, remember that my father is in charge of the garrison forces here on Earth and my actions weigh on him somewhat. Look, I do want to talk with you, I genuinely do; but I have a ton of work to do okay?"
"Sure sure. But I better expect some Birne Helene and Baked Alaska first opportunity you get. You owe me an apology for you neglecting to hang out with us so frequently and the best apologies are always food among the Pursalians."
"You're insane Sora, those things are crazy difficult to get in Japan! Realize that those recipes are native to France and the United States."
"You really have been away for quite a while Hikari. A few Isnian engineers came by and upgraded our food processors so we can get anything made, well any Earth recipes at least. They're still learning about our recipes so they plan on returning a few more times once they compile a good list."
"If you can make that stuff at will, why can't you just order it yourself if you want it?"
"You really don't understand how the whole apology thing do you? Even if I can order it when I want it, it's meaningless unless you are the one who orders it for me Hikari. Besides, the replicators have that weird quirk of making food taste not that good compared to making it by hand with the synthesized ingredients and you're better at making these things than I am."
"Geez, you're freaking petty Sora! Fine, when I finish my work here, I'll get back to the school and make them for you. But if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you guys could buy me some new clothes if you're going shopping anyway. With all of the growth spurts lately, I'm beginning to outgrow a lot of my clothes and I need to get them replaced. And considering we're about at the time of our lives where we are going to be attending school dances, I'd also appreciate a dress or two; but none of those fairy tale princess gowns. I'd end up tripping over the bloody things too much. And let me be clear, nothing racy. I want something simple yet elegant; refined. Oh, and I'd also like some unmentionables, if ya get what I mean. Aufisa knows my tastes, and current sizes, since she and Miya are the ones who raised me, so refer to them on what I'd like. Furthermore, I have Aufisa as a licensed co-signer on the credit card issued to me by the federation when I accepted the job helping Ambassador Hanari, and since I am usually away from home a lot, I leave it with her, with the condition that she doesn't use it unless I ask her to. Have her use it to pay for the clothes I need. If you do a good enough job in this regard, I'll double the budget available when I treat you guys to dinner."
"Oh boy, that is a great motivator for me! Hope you got a lot of money saved Hikari, because I am going to be draining your wallet dry!"
Hikari couldn't help but inaudibly sigh since she could picture Sora having the most enthusiastic smirk at her mild misfortune at how she's going to have to spend a fortune to make Sora happy, though she knows she deserved at least part of this since she kept 'ignoring' her friends "I swear Sora, you're going to be the death of me, or at the very least, my poor credit card. Look, I can't talk any more right now. I got a ton of work."
"Sure sure. Knock em dead girlfriend."
Hikari simply smiled as she finished talking with Sora, having always considered her a close friend and always enjoyed when she could talk with her, though there were times when she feared she knew more than her carefree persona would show, especially with her job with the Enforcers, but Hikari silenced the thoughts in her mind as she continued grabbing weapons and hiding them within her wardrobe and after she feels like she's sufficiently armed, she pulls out one final tool that is part of her arsenal, which is a special kind of outfit changer made by Miyo which gives her a special disguise by modifying her DNA to make herself taller and her voice deeper as long as she is in the suit because of her age, this being her wish since she felt herself too short to be a professional hunter, she designed around two of her favorite characters from a show she watched as a child: Uchu Sentai Kyuranger and Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, choosing Hebitsukai Silver and ShiroNinger as themes, the former for the helmet and the latter for the suit design, which is equipped with a voice disguiser to maintain the illusion and not give away her identity because of her voice, and with her equipment prepared, she activated the transformer and her appearance was cloaked within the suit of Hacril decorated to fit the combined elements of the two Super Sentai characters, and when she opened the door in the armory, covering her forest green eyes as the bright yellow rays of the sun burst through the reinforced glass windows that ran through the entirety of every hallway within the building, waiting a moment for the light to fade in intensity and walked out into the hallway, she is quickly met with two of the Federation's permanent General Officers, who were born in Gamindustri among the Parthenian Knights: Astona Lalat and Ginham Teivale, the former being heavy with child, who joined Karen and her friends back to Earth once the dimensional portal in Gamindustri was completed, synchronizing time in every world it was connected to and changing people's perception of the flow of time which many have said doesn't even bother them anymore though it did feel highly unusual at the time, and while the pair actually got married during their time on Earth, their status in the federation as representatives of the Parthenian Knights demanded certain protocol so their surnames remained the same, while Lilica Teken chose to live among Rose's Scattered Bones in Glenwood, alongside Arcadia's former Chief of Security Celina Netzen, and Lilon Teivale chose to undergo a journey of self-discovery in Sonhadra since she feels she lacks experience despite being a talented mage and knight among the Parthenians, and when Hikari recognized their presence, she immediately stiffened herself and crossed her arm to salute
"General Lalat, General Teivale, I am honored to be in your presence!"
"No need to be so formal Hikari. We're close friends with your mother. Besides, the federation took a lot of inspiration from the Turians and our Parthenian order. We're rather relaxed with our regs and even fraternization as long as it doesn't interfere with your duties."
"Oh get to the point already you bastard. You keep drawing this crap out ever since you spent that sabbatical in France. And people say women take forever to do stuff."
"Geez Astona, why can't you learn to be more relaxed and lose your temper? I mean, you're pregnant with our soon to be son and daughter. I don't exactly want them to end up traumatized growing up."
"Oh bugger off Frenchie mc French. There, I'm restraining myself. Happy?"
"Slightly." Ginham simply chuckled as he says this, returning his attention toward Hikari immediately after "Anyway, Hikari, your mother asked us to check up on you; she knows you've been taking up a lot of work as an Enforcer lately. She's concerned about your safety so she asked us to find a way of getting you out of the group."
While Hikari does pride herself on being more girly than her mother since she has no qualms about wearing outfits that make herself look girly unlike her mother who tends to prefer dressing like a male, especially after becoming CEO of the Koizumi company, she did inherit her fiery attitude which has a habit of flaring up when she gets confronted in situations like this
"General Teivale, I appreciate the sentiment from dear mother, but next time you talk with her, tell her to stay out of my business unless it somehow violates the law. I was not coerced into joining the Enforcers, I joined them of my free will; They tried their hardest to reject me because of my young age compared to their other agents they have but I showed them how powerful I am and they accepted me into the force. I also trained with the Turians, where I got much of my skill, of my own free will. Also recall that I've been field testing many of the Isnians' recent experimental technology which has given me a significant edge over many others. I've been working with some of their scientists working on creating artificial biotic and magic power that can be removed safely and applied on the fly. And then there's all of the weapons they're creating. But I will admit that being exposed to element zero has been making me nauseous. Same with the crystalised dark matter they're using to design the prototypes for magic gauntlets; the damn thing has been making me bleed in places where a person shouldn't be bleeding naturally, but they're thankfully working on replacing the material with something safer. I am not in any danger from anything I'm doing."
After listening to Hikari speak, Ginham simply threw his arms up in a shrug "Well, we tried. No point in pressing this further; the Murai family is infamous for their rigid nature, not even ol Grand Master Selles, bless his soul, or his replacement: Medea Lisalon could do much to sway a Murai. How about this Hikari? Let me tag along; I want to see some action and I want to be of some help ending the insurrection that's been attacking all of our peoples: Earth, Isnia, Elbance, Iuria, Sonhadra, Gamindustri. These attacks have been affecting us all. But Astona, I want you to go check into the hospital. You're due any day now and I want to make sure we got a doctor keeping you healthy and have a healthy childbirth."
"Yeah yeah. I got it. You want to make sure I don't have any complications with Victoria and Alex here since we've been living in a different world for the past ten so years even though we've undergone a full year's worth of medical treatment making sure we're both properly vaccinated against any and all Earth viruses. Then again, there is the whole matter of dimensional-" Astona sighed in irritation, voicing her grievance toward Ginham as she slowly walked in the direction of the headquarters medical station, aimlessly speaking of other things which has become something of a habit ever since she began spending large amounts of time in the infirmary because of her pregnancy, though she also spends a lot of time in the most popular casual, and oldest still active among its generation, VRMMO: Tirella with the latest in VR technology leaving Hikari and Ginham by themselves outside the armory.
"Well, let's go Hikari. We have to hurry to the space elevator, board our jump pods, and have it send us to the insurrection base."
"General, this mission is for Enforcers only. You may be one of our higher ranked generals, but you don't have the authority to get involved in this Op. Besides, your wife is about to have her kids, don't you think your kids should have a father figure in their lives? There's no guarantee we're even going to survive this battle."
"Oh, but I do. I got permission from the council to accompany your mission. Besides, let me give you a counter-argument. It's expected that children outlive their parents, it's just human nature, but the situation of parents outliving their children is horrific and could break even the hardest shell. Normally she wouldn't want me revealing this, but every time your mother hears you take on a mission for the Enforcers, she gets horrible nightmares at night, she doesn't sleep well in these scenarios. She dreads the possibility that you could end up killed in action." Ginham takes a moment's pause as he crouches to his knee and puts his hand on Hikari's shoulder "Remember that you, Yami, and Hikaru have become Karen's entire world. You in particular mean a lot to Karen; realize that I don't know how she acted when she was your age, but you are so similar to Karen that it's scary. It's not hard to imagine that she sees herself in you. She'll be beyond mortified if you die before her, and don't forget your friends. They care for you deeply. And this is one point I care little for but the general in me requires I make it known, but you are one of the more outspoken members of Terran society that supports the extradimensional cohabitation program, and if you are killed in this way, the program could be placed in danger. Like I said, that last one is absolute garbage in terms of personal feelings, but it does need to be acknowledged."
"I...I never knew that. We've been estranged most of my life so I presumed she didn't care all that much. I've only ever seen her about...three times in my life."
"It's quite the opposite Hikari. She entrusted you and Yami to Aufisa and Miya because she cared about you two. With her job as CEO over the Koizumi Conglomerate, she has very little free time; she'd never be able to raise you two properly, and then there's the fact Hikaru has zero parenting skill, in addition to his job here in the federation. While Aufisa and Miya are Aunshal's daughters, they don't have to get themselves in the politics being the Illarian representative involves. They had the free time needed to raise you two into fine young ladies and Karen trusted them indubitably since Karen spent decades with Aufisa and knew that, despite her eccentric personality, she could trust her and Miya to stick around and raise her future family, with Violet; er Nepgear as a backup; Even after fifteen years, I just can't see her as your aunt, having known her as Planeptune's goddess candidate from the day she was born. Besides, there are times where your mother simply cannot trust herself to remain stable, since she absorbed the dark power that had consumed Rei Ryghts as a bid to make herself strong enough to fight the monsters that had been ravaging her country at the time in addition to help save Rei Ryghts as well, but it's always trying to consume her, in a metaphorical sense. She has been able to fight it with help from her alter-ego in Crimson Heart, but it's not exactly foolproof. She keeps distance from you and Yami because she cares so much about you two. But realize she does want to change that; she spends all of her off-time hours trying to find a way to remove that dark energy so she can actually be with her family without fear of losing control, well, that and sleep when she doesn't restore her connection to HDD since she can freely connect and disconnect thanks to the tech Miyo and Thraaklon made her. It's why she operates through VR and holographic displays so frequently."
Hearing this has actually shaken Hikari, which is rare for her since she is capable of the level of stoicism native to the Illarians, having grew up with two of them, though she knows that kind of upbringing wasn't absolute since her younger twin sister: Yami has the same level of emotional and physical expression as any other Terran, or even moreso since she's already in college for psychology even though she's only 11. While Yami is considered the smart one of the twins, they both know that if she had the drive to apply herself to her studies and the interest since she's more interested in attending school like a normal student whenever possible, Hikari would already be on her way to earning a master's degree in technology since she has a fond favoritism toward developing technology since, when she was a mere four years old, she had actually gotten ahold of one of the old NerveGears, which are near incompatible with modern technology, and was able to modify it enough to remove the old microwave battery, replace it with a miniature VRX energy generator, and even included a, admittedly weak, AI black box to handle monitoring the wearer's vitals and maintain alertness of the outside like the AmuSphere but with the same biological override feature of the NerveGear preventing movement and make it compatible with modern technology "I never knew. Since I've only seen her three times in my life, I've just always presumed she didn't want me or Yami. Ugh, now I feel horrible. I've secretly festered anger toward her since she never had much in the way of involvement in our lives. I never knew she held such dark power within her."
"She simply never wanted you to know. She considers it one of her greatest failures despite the power it gave her which she used to protect the powerless and prayed that ignorance would be bliss in this situation, but you deserve to know why you've rarely, if ever, been able to see your mother in person. She hates that she is unable to spend time with her beloved family and her precious daughters. While I did say before that your family is infamous for being rigid, this is one moment where I'm putting my foot down. I refuse to stand by when the risk of this family being torn apart is disturbingly high. I'm going with you no matter what."
Real Life Standard Time: [12:00] February 15th, 2043
After departing the Federation's HQ armory district, the nine members of this special strike team quickly departed to the hangar, each member of the team being either a Terran, Isnian, Amnis, Undina, or Pursalian, each boarded a different jump pod, Hikari and Ginham sharing one since the pods are spacious enough to fit a single child and adult, but no further and during the wait between the proper calibration of the pods' destination and the launch, Hikari decided to spend the three to four hour long preparation period listening to one of her favorite bands: Kokaria, who was among the first to make a debut on a dimensional stage, who has risen quickly to become a hit classic among the Pursalians, Nexirians, and even the first of the Isnians' servant races: the Amnis, even humming along to one of her favorites which was sung by Sylvia Takara, Miyagawa at the time, with Miharu Yoshikuni acting as background chorus. While Hikari initially stuck to inaudibly singing along with the song playing in her visor, as she began getting into the vibe, her voice began to rise subconsciously, slowly but surely, which caught Ginham's attention as he turned to face her, since he had been inspecting his gear and communicating with various people through his Nexus model omni-tool which he bought through a federation based subsidiary that the Armali Council officially licensed.
"Whatcha listening to?"
After hearing Ginham speak to her, Hikari gave off a tiny shiver of shock before pausing the song and looked toward the general, a mild blush on her cheeks since she has been called an utter fangirl of the band by her friends and it has tended to embarrass her when confronted in such a way "Kokaria. I'm actually enjoying the singles they released outside their label with Miyagawa, I mean Takara-san, the most. I never knew she had such a powerful voice. I mean, I like all of Kokaria's songs, but the ones with Takara-san have such a unique sound that it's hard to not fall in love with it."
"Ah yeah, Sylvia Miyagawa. That girl really is something, it's crazy admirable how she pulled herself from living most her life as lower class, ignoring most of her early education to care for her siblings, and yet managed to both attend and graduate from Harvard Medical School. She wasn't student of the year or salutatorian by any stretch, but she managed to get into the top fifteen. Furthermore, she's driven herself to attend the best medical school in Isnian space as well, having gotten permission to leave Willow Academy's staff to refine her skill, and in her absence, Hana was asked to work as nurse for the school until Sylvia completes her training. Heh, you know Hikari, I, and a lot of others, tend to think of your parents and their close friends as rather extraordinary people. Katsuo Viperia works in the Federation's peace corp, helping many of the council species adjust to their new positions and the tech the Isnians are applying since he said he was sick of fighting and wanted a life away from it all, Kana too is working with all of us to some extent, her being a teacher at Willow Academy and all. I sympathize with how her soul got tampered with by those demons who ended up giving her that weird sense of multiple personality disorder in Flonyard, though we should be thankful Yukikaze and Brioche were able to purify them so they're not malicious...just real freaking annoying since she practically has a hundred and one personalities in her, speaking as legion and all that crap, or how many of them are actually there. Mamoru, that guy must be crazy busy as Earth's representative in the federation, it's just unfortunate he lost his eyesight and partial use of his legs from overusing his Chromatus when it was in such a flawed state because of how diverse his blood was compared to his ancestral ties to the Kresniks, though he has said more than once that he's thankful Erica helps out whenever she can since she works as one of your teachers, he's lucky to have such a caring wife in the heir of the former Rashugal noble family Kurata whom replaced the Banya family when they tried usurping Fenn, and Haruka Nakasone always out looking for new sponsors and races to join us. Honestly, it's because of her that we gained the support of the Pursalians, the Nexirians, and our newest member: the Kraylor. Ophelia Takara; she's one of two people among Senryaku that none of us have seen in years since she left Earth to live among the Isnians as both Earth's residential representative and a fellow scientist because of how much she's learned from Miyo in Gamindustri. No Terran currently alive is as adept with Isnian technology than she is. Madoka and Tsubasa Miyagawa; those two actually went to live among the Nexarians and Illarians respectively; Madoka had wanted to study law and the Nexarians were willing to teach her whatever she wished without having to pay for expensive law schools, and while Madoka has developed a rather mix-mash of skills from acting to computer programming, she wanted to focus on law, while Tsubasa wanted to become an artist and the Illarians are leagues more experienced than any Terran so they would be great teachers. It is a bit sad that Kazuma felt like he was too 'boring' to do anything of note so he got a job at the Dicey Cafe and later became the manager of White Station here in HQ. Though the location is perfect if I may be honest, having picked one of the small border islands the Isnians installed to protect this base here. It's become fairly popular with federation staff in their off-time, especially with the Nexarians; I'm surprised Sylvia isn't jealous since the guy gets hit on a lot by a fair number of women. And like Madoka and Tsubasa, Airi went to live among the Elbians, acting as a de-facto ambassador for the federation though she's not aligned with us since she wants to learn magical theory. Then there's Yuuki Konno; that woman is driven beyond belief and extremely experienced with combat. She's even become one of the Citadel's Spectres after spending five years under Ashley Williams' and Garrus Vakarian's tutelage in addition to enlisting in the System Alliance's N7 program and has reached the rank of N6, N7 soon to come according to her last message to us, and the training has conditioned her to fight as a sniper, often with a M-92 Mantis but keeps a Geth pulse rifle for short to mid range combat. To think that sickly girl who was near death would end up being one of their most decorated agents, behind Saren Arterius, Nihlus Kryik, and Shepard. Though it's funny how she never shows herself on the hunt, anytime she appears, it's likely through a mobile hologram using diplomacy to deal with her target first. She'd probably be leagues away, making sure she has a perfect shot if the need arose."
"The Kraylor? I've never heard of them before." Hikari chose to tune out most of what Ginham talked about, focusing on the matter of the Kraylor since that was the only piece of news that was new to her, having known just about everything regarding her mother's friends when it comes to their work, though Ophelia and Yuuki were oddballs out since their distance kept her from learning much about their current statuses.
"I don't know much about them either. We only formally inducted them a week ago and they're sending their representative later this week; oddly, Haruka informed us that their representative is a girl about your age Hikari, not sure why they're sending someone that young but Miyo, Elize, and our Nexarian representative have asked we appoint her a support team that you'll publicly be a part of, apparently her name is Druuxea. Normally I'd be pretty baffled as to why they accepted them into the federation when they're technically a level 1.5 civilization when we usually require our members to be a level 2 civilization according to the scale created by the Illarians when they joined the federation, but we've learned from our friends among the Time Space Administration Bureau, namely captains Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa, that the individual known as Tybalt interfered in their natural development to accelerate their 'acceptance' into the MVF, for whatever reason. Hearing this spurred us to invest even more manpower into tracking him down; if you want my opinion, that is a huge waste of resources. At least for right now."
"I concur. We're already spread thin as it is; we've had to call for so many ships from the Isnian armada that their defenses are at its weakest it has been in over fifteen thousand years. We need to focus our efforts on this insurrection and once we're sure we are safe from any threat, then we can focus on other matters."
"I'm glad you agree, but unfortunately many of our representatives are determined to follow this through. It's reaching the point where I feel forced to appeal to Grand Master Lisalon and Console Patron Units Caelus and Yukihana for forces from Parthenia and Arcadia."
"It's that bad?"
"Realize that aside from our own native militaries which are exempt from the demilitarization law of the MVF, which can only be used in defense against invaders, we're lucky to have a hundred members of our garrisons on a planet. We're desperately fighting the need to call for a draft since the MVF reserves is for volunteers who want to support our military in the back ranks. We're not about to force people to fight. If this gets any worse, we're going to have to plead help from the Citadel Council as well. Even a battalion of krogan and a fleet of turian ships would be a huge help."
"Wow, the MVF must be really be struggling and keeping a tight lid on the media if they're this desperate to avoid the image that the entire organization is at risk of falling apart."
"You're telling me. The main two problems are the enormous logistical costs our members require and the prejudice at best, racism at worst, plaguing our peoples casting shadow on our every action. We just can't keep up. However, we do know that there are many who support us and it's allowed us to keep going forward, even if slightly. But our ability to expand and strengthen ourselves as a whole is at risk." After Ginham made this heard, the red light above the pair immediately changed to a bright green, indicating that the coordinates have been locked in "Get ready; we're about to launch and then we get to wreck absolute hell. I love it."
Hikari simply flashed a confident smile as she engaged the gravity manipulator meant to keep those within stable as the pods were brought up to the space elevator just above the mesosphere and immediately launched to the insurrection base in the pacific ocean, the pods crashing into each of the eight spheres outside the structure of the main complex and drilled through, giving each team access to the structure and once they hit ground, the pods burst open like eggs, giving them access to the field around them
"The time of reckoning has come you god forsaken bastards! Face the might of a Parthenian!"
Ginham laughed as he jumped toward the ground, using his laser rifle to quickly down many of the enemies around him while Hikari leapt into battle with the sword Lilica Teken was given as a trainee among the Parthenian Knights, but reforged into a conventional one-handed laser sword as she leapt forward before dashing to the left, quickly encountering an enemy in the Isnians' Amnis servant race as she first struck with a spiral slash immediately followed with an upward slash which killed the enemy in one fell swoop but after the shock of exhilaration passed, both he and Hikari quickly noticed the fact the insurrectionists were members of the Isnian species, including two of their servant races: the third in the Scylorians, a race of chrome silver beings resembling demons, their second most distinguishable figure being their biosynthetic wings, each individual being blessed with powerful assassination capabilities, whom were created as a means of defeating the insectoid Varis species which had the ability to infect anyone if they subjected the venom in their blood, which had a near instantaneous conversion speed, born from reverse engineering blood of what few specimens the Isnians were capable of capturing, and breeding the perfect predator to such a virulent parasite which, by large, saved large swathes of their universe, and the first in the Amnis, whom were bred to handle heavy lifting and manual labor, despite being an unusual breed of four-armed humanoid avians, the thought of manual labor betraying their slim physique but is possible because of the way they were designed by the Isnians, since the original Isnians themselves were very frail as they were a purebred scientific species who depended on others to protect them at the time on the ground and relied on their ships in most combat, having been created very early into the Isnians' tenure as a space faring civilization when a galactic war ravaged their worlds as a means of helping the Isnians rebuild their devastated worlds, though nowadays a very large percentage of the Isnian population has ancestry among the Amnis and the Undina, the Scylorians still being new so there are only halflings among Isnian and Scylorian descent, wearing uniforms that carry the crest of one of Isnia's admirals, but neither know enough about the written Isnian language to know whose command they are under.
"Wait, we're fighting members of the Isnian military?! I thought these were rebel insurrectionists, not official soldiers!" Despite her surprise, she did not hesitate in striking against the enemies who charged her position, seeing Ginham respond in kind, blasting them with his rifle.
"You're telling me kid! Intel really dropped the freaking ball on this one! Normally I wouldn't be scared since Isnians and the Amnis aren't overly specialized in combat, but the Scylorians are purebred killers. Keep em off me as best you can and I'll shoot em dead."
Without giving a single sign of a response, Hikari dashed toward the nearest Scylorian hunter, facing him in combat without a hint of hesitation since, although she asked her entourage in Miyo Hanari to keep it a secret, she had actually sparred with a krogan once during her time among the Turians and ended up having nearly every bone in her body shattered, Miyo had quickly committed Hikari through a special type of surgery the Isnians had available which restored them to their ideal condition and reinforced them with a combination of Hacril and various metals the Isnians had created through their various chemistries, the process making her bones and by extension most of her body, indomitable barring extreme meltdown of the metals, with a hidden VI installed within her bones giving her a special system called Mirror Ghost, and after deciding to take the opportunity to test her new biotics in the field directly, she mentally activated the system that maintains the artificial biotics and focuses it into her fist, slamming the ground which flings the enemies around her back, immediately following this repulsion with two rapid bursts of singularity, combining them to draw in all of the enemies in the dome; Ginham thankfully avoiding this fate through the use of his boots' magnetic systems, but even then the pressure is affecting him to some extent since he is seen slightly gliding over the floor and Hikari's biotics creating a field preventing her from getting drawn in as well, toward the singularity, and just as quickly, she charges her biotics into one final flare, sent into the heart of the singularity and all of the bodies floating helplessly around it, a violet flame quickly turned volatile as it made their bodies burst apart, same with the singularity; Hikari immediately covering her face with her arm as she is coated with blue, black, and red colored blood; which come from the now dead Isnians, Scylorians, and Amnis respectively.
"Ugh, disgusting. And here I thought getting turian blood on me was horrible, now I have three different species' blood all over my body. I feel like a disturbed human art piece." Wanting to make sure she could advance without feeling the urge to vomit, she cast a small water spell to wash the blood off her body and remove the smell, using a biotic field to immediately dry the water to prevent it from making her armor rust and or impede her movement since she has to remain mobile in enemy territory.
"All enemy forces in this dome has been neutralized. The path forward is clear, however, the other teams are reporting significant resistance in their domes. They are pinned down but not in danger at this time. Resistance appears organized and focused significantly within the exterior domes, as if they were anticipating your arrival. The likelihood of insurrection infiltration within federation ranks is roughly 43.7 to 72.4 percent."
"Thanks for the update Wolfram. General, let's hurry while things are calm." Because of Wolfram's design, Hikari knows that no one is capable of hearing her particular version of Wolfram since it is only capable of speech through telepathic wavelengths tailored to the individual, though the process was incredibly arduous, Hikari having to spend a full month in a state of the art Isnian laboratory undergoing hundreds of tests, ending with her head being opened to have the implant installed in her brain, once or twice the thought of injecting her with Scylorian or Amnis blood to strengthen her immune system passed through during the process but it was denied both times since they didn't know what sort of effects it could have on a Terran.
As it was not something that carried emotion despite its advanced design, Hikari simply spoke stoically toward the AI that operates through the implant that was installed in her brain when she became an Enforcer. The AI was designed similarly to the Simulated Adaptive Matrix or SAM that had been sent on arks the Andromeda Initiative sent, this information originally being heard from the Systems Alliance by happenstance, but when they refused to give any information on the matter, a team from the Multiverse Federation discreetly worked with the Shadow Broker to acquire the information in exchange for technology to improve the ship the Broker works on. It took two weeks, but the Broker acquired the information on SAM's creation and design, despite its creator being in cryostasis on the ark, and with the information given to the team, they delivered the technology they agreed to give the broker, which are additional self-maintaining drones whose purpose was repair, maintain, and upgrade the ship; the latter being at the Broker's own discretion. Like SAM, Wolfram (its full operating name being Wireless Operational Lifeform Fabricated for Rational Assassination Missions, though Hikari and everyone else prefers to just refer to it as Wolfram for convenience's sake, especially when that full name wasn't a perfect match for the AI.) operates from various nodes, but because of the Isnian's own advanced technology they were able to make the nodes mobile as the implants they installed into each agent of the Enforcers also serves as a node for Wolfram. Furthermore, although its behavioral core was designed to be cold and calculating, it is also designed to grow and evolve alongside its respective partner and in this regard, Hikari's connection to Wolfram is projected to become the strongest since she's still young compared to the average age of twenty to forty of the other members, giving her plenty of chances to experience things to make Wolfram evolve.
"No need to tell me twice, but look, there's an elevated path up there and a ground floor here. I'm going to jump up there and cover you from high above and you fight down here."
"Got it!"
While Hikari did know of the Parthenian Knights being physically superior in most regards because of many generations of magical enhancement, she has never seen one in action before, feeling awed to see him jump nearly twenty yards in the air, but she quickly silenced her surprise and dashed toward the main complex, sheathing her sword and pulling out dual pistols, which was reforged from the bow Mamoru used during his time in Rieze Maxia, encountering opposition appear from hidden doorways, but is quickly mowed down through the laser based ammunition, reaching the main complex but is met with the sight of many armed YMIR and LOKI mecha that must have been bought in bulk from the Eclipse or the Blue Sun mercenaries, though the display simply made Hikari smirk
"Heh, you think this is enough to scare me? Go ahead. Make. My. Day." With this challenge, she activates the Mirror Ghost program as the mechs began to advance on her position and rapidly fire against her, with each projectile simply phasing through her as her figure repeatedly turned into a silhouette.
"What the?! How are our weapons phasing through her?!"
"Best deflection system in the multiverse: Mirror Ghost, which was created through a secret collaboration between the Terran Alliance, a team of Isnian researchers assigned by the emperor himself, and several groups within the Salarian Task Group discreetly hired through Dalatrass Sirajii Jath, all records of this was never revealed to anyone outside those groups, of course, it doesn't matter if I tell you scum since you're going to die anyway. This unity led to that creation in addition to this special pistol." Hikari stops as she pulls out a simple looking pistol colored black throughout the gun but colored violet on the top of the barrel, the frame, and trigger guard and although her face is covered because of the helmet she uses in her disguise of Asami Junko, she is carrying a vicious smile since she is glad she is ridding the universe of criminals who have killed many people she knew in the federation, several she knew remarkably well "This is the Thania V268 pistol. A miniature version of the reverse engineered Turian Thanix Cannon compressed into one tiny pistol. Of course, it's not strong enough to take out starships or shuttles or anything like that, but against targets like you...Well." Hikari simply loaded a single bullet into the pistol and aimed it at the mechs and fired it; causing such a powerful explosion which sent all of the mechs' parts flying all over the vast room, several of the heads landing right next to her
"She just...in one shot, she destroyed fifteen million credits' worth of mechs!"
"Fifteen million? Wow, you guys are crazy stupid, wasting so much money buying such low quality machinery! I would've rented a pair of AK-15 war droids built by the Arcadians. They would've kept tabs on me at all times while I had them in my possession, but they're far superior to these weak-ass mechs. Now General!" Hikari only spoke the last part when she saw Ginham readying himself in a vantage point above and behind the enemies in front of her, picking off each enemy one by one but Hikari felt a tinge of confusion as she saw one of the doors in the distance open and close, but didn't see anyone enter or leave the room 'Strange. Maybe it's some electrical glitch caused by our attack? Routine maintenance perhaps?' While she wanted to continue pondering this, she was stopped as Ginham jumped down from where he was, landing in front of her
"Nice job with the mechs. As strong as I am, they would've probably ended up killing me if I had to fight them."
"Heh, thanks General. Come on, we need to hurry and find a terminal. Brie wants me to disable their jammer, so we can arrange for transportation out of here, and to download all of the files they have so we can find their benefactor."
"Figures they'd have secondary objectives for us to do here. You got any suspicions on who it could be Hikari?"
"Some. Considering that this military-grade base was established without being recognized by the armada, Brie fears a captain or admiral has been turned, but I'm not as fearful. I suspect they're working through a black market, it's hardly new to the Isnians. I'm basing this off the fact they spent fifteen million credits on those LOKIs and YMIRs. If they were able to pull that off, they could surely buy a prefab from a black market. But it is obvious that these guys have financial backers...wait, General, do you believe this could be one of Tybalt's tests for the MVF?"
"It's possible. We know Tybalt is seemingly capable of anything and has access to near unlimited resources. And then there's the fact he's seemingly obsessed with the MVF's existence, but the main hole in your theory is that this insurrection is putting the MVF at risk. I can't bring myself to believe he'd go this far. Especially with what we've heard from Uzume Tennouboshi when we subjected her to that mind upload, which allowed us free reign to interrogate her. Won't say I don't feel guilty manipulating her in such a way; she genuinely cared about Karen and Arcadia and we used them against her, indirectly killing her in the process. Ugh, too many good people died during the early stages of the monster evolution in that world: Filia, Leonard, Eldin, Adelphos, Reiner, Hamil, Uzume, Glerrok, Tirlin; so many other Parthenian Knights and Arcadian soldiers. There was a time where we could end up losing ten thousand knights a month. Look, I'm rambling; we got a mission to complete. Let's hurry and find a computer terminal so Wolfram can get hacking. I noticed one here on this level earlier over to the east but ignored it since I knew you may need the help. I'll lead the-" At the very end, Ginham found himself interrupted at the sound of an Isnian soldier getting thrown off the pathway, crashing into the ground, the sound of the bones in his head breaking at the moment of impact, and when he and Hikari immediately looked upward, drawing pistols and keeping them upward, they quickly notice a Salarian wearing black armor with gold lines along the main chestplate, the collar, and armguard, the individual quickly jumping down, activating a jump jet moments before he landed which reduced the impact of his landing "What gives? This is a Federation Op, why is the Salarian Union involved in our business?"
"I did not come by order of the Salarian Union Parthenian General Ginham Teivale. Jondum Bau, Special Tactics and Recon. There are agents among this insurrection data mining Council archives and several of our Spectres have been attacked by Scylorian assassins. Ashley Williams, Tela Vasir, Lonar Maerun, and Garrus Vakarian, human, asari, salarian, and turian members. Lonar was killed in action but the other three survived to report it to the council. Normally we would consider this an act of war, but we are not hasty. I was sent to ascertain the truth behind this matter since your Federation has kept your end of the non-aggression pact. We also do not wish to start another war since we are still recovering from our fight against the Reapers years ago. Besides, we Salarians would like to continue our technology trading with the Isnians. Their tech has allowed us to increase our life expectancy by an extra twenty to thirty years."
"A Spectre? Aside from Garrus, I never thought I'd see a Spectre in my life. I'm Hikari Murai, agent of the Enforcers." Normally Hikari would be more cautious regarding her identity, but she has had encounters with the Salarians during her time among the Turians, knowing that Jondum likely already knows her identity.
"Yes, I know of you Hikari Murai. One of the first humans to train with the Turians in their boot camp. Normally the Turians are rigid on accepting one's limits, but they think highly of your skill. If you're able to keep this level of skill after you reach adulthood, the council may even consider you eligible to become a Spectre with sufficient training and confirmation through an overseer, though that AI of yours in your head: Wolfram I believe you call it, is concerning. We can discuss the specifics at a later time. Perhaps after this mission. May we meet again. Oh, and if you happen to see a krogan rampaging, try to avoid making him mad and getting in his way. His name is Urdnot Grunt. He's young, but he's as vicious as Urdnot Wrex, or perhaps even Commander Shepard. Wrex sent him to assist me in case this mission required Krogan muscle, but he is proving to be an excellent distraction. With so much attention on him, I've been able to sneak through with minimal complications. Also here. Some of these insurrectionists somehow had access to your peoples' experimental biotic technology. As useful it could be to the Salarian Union in terms of reverse engineering, I do wish to avoid attracting the ire of the Isnian Empire upon my people so I'll surrender it to your possession since you have close relations with the Isnians Hikari Murai. Return to the Isnian representative with the technology and pass along that the Salarians found it and returned it out of the goodness of our own hearts."
After seeing Jondum leave and accepting the gauntlet which were indeed the biotic gauntlet made by the Isnians, though upon further inspection, and comparing it to her own, she noticed it was a lower-tier copycat either because the engineers weren't as experienced or this is the production model compared to her prototype model she's field-testing, Ginham couldn't help but blink in disbelief "These guys are screwing with the Citadel council too? How powerful are these bastards?"
"No idea. But I have no idea how these guys have biotic gauntlets like mine. Mine was only given a physical form two and a half weeks ago; we're supposed to be running tests for six months to find out if there's any potential problems we can hammer out for the production model. If it were the magic gauntlet, I could understand that, Miyo had developed that technology forty years before she completed the dimensional gates so reproducing it would've been far easier, but this…this ain't right." 'Well, I did hear that Uzume once had the capability to travel through time, so perhaps someone leapt back in time from the future and gave these guys a completed gauntlet? Or is this a case of a spy within the project who transmitted the files to an outside source with the means of producing a gauntlet of this kind within days?'
"I know what you mean. C'mon. Let's get the jammer offline and get the files you were sent to steal so we can get out."
Hikari simply nods in acknowledgement as she follows Ginham's lead, entering a side room and finding a lone computer terminal within
"You're the tech expert here. Besides, that Wolfram AI of yours is key to hacking Isnian tech because of their advanced encryptions. You work on this, I'll guard the door."
"Got it General."
With a calm walk, Hikari approached the terminal as she synchronized her customized Bluewire omni-tool from Aldrin Labs with it, knowing that she wants to upgrade to something made by Ariake Tech, or perhaps even a Armali Council model like the one Ginham uses if she decides to go the extra mile, since Aldrin specializes in low to mid level, but affordable, omni-tools while Ariake has some of the best that everyone could figuratively buy even though they're far pricier. While she knows that the Serrice Council sells the absolute best in the market, they require their customers to pass rigorous tests and Hikari simply isn't old enough at 11; it requires her to be sixteen at the very minimal, so she'd have to wait five more years to get a chance at earning their omni-tools "Okay, I've linked Wolfram up to the computer. Now we just have to wait for him to crack through the firewalls, then I can direct him to disable the jammer while I download the files we need."
A ten minute wait of silence followed this, though the moment Wolfram broke through the seals, he responded with a single message directed toward Hikari's telepathic connection with it, this message happening at the same time of the AI disabling the jammer and downloading all of the archived files "Agent Murai, I am detecting all of the Wolfram units going dark one by one. The Enforcers are being killed, be wary, the enemy is employing an unknown means of extermination against you all."
"That's-!"
"Hikari, I heard your omni-tool ping. I'm guessing you've managed to-" Whatever Ginham was going to say, he was interrupted as the sight of a Scylorian deactivating cloak appeared behind him, his right arm transformed into a razor sharp sword with the same black and silver color scheme of their own being being thrust through his chest and the other being used to swiftly sever his head from his body; said head being flung above Hikari's person, landing behind her, and sees his body slowly slump to the ground when the Scylorian withdrew his sword arm
"G-G-G...General...N-NOOOOO!" While Hikari had little issue with killing, it being a part of her job and all, this was one of the first times seeing death actually terrify her as she too slumped to her knees, staring upward toward the enemy assassin who pulled out a high-powered particle laser rifle and slowly aimed it right in-between Hikari's eyes, but blinked as she heard a loud growl come from down the hallway, the sight of a krogan with shiny silver armor came charging through, grabbing the Scylorian and slamming him against the ground repeatedly, ending with the krogan driving an omni-tool blade through the Scylorian's chest and quickly tears his body apart, killing him in one fell swoop.
"Hard to believe these weak aliens posed a threat against Spectres. You must be the human Jondum mentioned. Light Murai or whatever your parents named you. All I know is that she served with my clan chief: Urdnot Wrex."
"Y...Yeah. Hikari Murai. Agent of the Enforcers. You must be...Urdnot Grunt."
"Yep. I originally thought this was going to be a crap assignment, but this is actually somewhat amusing. Though it can't compare to Utukku or the Alliance's Earth." Grunt stopped talking as he looked downward, seeing Ginham's decapitated body shedding a pool of blood since his head was severed from his body "Well that's a pretty sight." Despite his choice of words, Grunt has some degree of uneased seeing the deceased Parthenian general, simply walking pass Hikari, grabs the head and moves it back to Ginham's body, using his omni-tool to dispense some medi-gel to reconnect the two pieces and quickly sealing the hole that was made in his chest "Well there's no bringing this poor sucker back to life, but at least his body is whole."
"Would you be able to help me bring General Ginham and my other dead Enforcers to the docks? We need to give all of these people proper burials per their own customs. I'll call for a shuttle."
"Sure."
With a despondent frown, Hikari left the room and slowly walked toward the dome she and Ginham entered through, activating her omni-tool to study what she recovered from the files, recognizing transmissions straight from the Isnian Armada's flagship: IICF Inigu, short for Isnian Imperial Citadel Flagship, which Hikari briefly knew that it was the name of an ancient Isnian deity, back when they believed in such things, whom was the Isnian goddess of war and victory and the older sister/wife of Hexiron, who was their god of blacksmithing.
'Fleet Admiral Viridius, we've received your deployment of fresh soldiers for our cause. We're thankful for your generosity in this regard; it's allowed us to maintain the fight all this time. With a little more preparation, we will be able to strike against the unholy Multiverse Federation and cleanse it of the corruption the other races have given it. Normally we could easily sway Miyo Hanari with the secret failsafes built into the Scylorians, but unfortunately the old Miyo Hanari discovered that failsafe and erased it from the clone she created in addition to those that have been supporting the federation, so we cannot turn her, and if we make any moves against her before we're ready, we risk angering all of the captains and admirals that support the Emperor since he supports this Federation.'
'Do not be hasty. The worthless sub-beings that comprise this idiotic union will fall to our combined might once we eradicate their Enforcers, in addition to the traitors who support our foolish emperor. We've been wearing them thin through all of our efforts, making them undergo so many missions in short succession, making them fatigued slowly but surely. Why do you think I've been arranging the Isnian forces the way I have? I'm keeping our loyalists united and strong while dividing the traitors. Because of how ambassador Miyo Hanari still trusts me because I am fleet admiral, she has kept me informed on their activities, which is how you were always able to focus your efforts to counter them. Once you kill the Enforcers, notify me immediately and I'll mobilize our army and conquer the Federation. We've been considered an empire for generations so we ought to make ourselves worthy of such a title. It's time we begin establishing vassal states we can maintain dominance over. I'll simply tell the Emperor that I discovered a secret plot to usurp him and mobilized the Isnian armada to quell it and maintain watch over the radicals.'
'Oh my god. Brie was right. The armada is definitely behind this, but to think the Fleet Admiral himself is supporting this insurrection...I've heard this guy dislikes other races, him being one of the stuck-up pureblood Isnians, but to go this far and try to enslave all of the species that joined us…? I need to…need to...DAMN IT! We shouldn't have sent all of the Enforcers on this assignment! We're the Federation's most elite agents and we got wiped out; I'm the only one left. But to save the federation…'
"Your mental state is degrading Agent Murai. As the last remaining member of the Enforcers, you are needed to return to the Federation and depose the rogue Isnian admiral and his followers."
'Wolfram, I am one single girl who was one of around fifty agents. Incidentally, they were all killed despite them being leagues more experienced than I was in the long run. Even if I want to knock this jackass around to avenge my friends and protect the federation, he has armies under his command. I don't. I need to get this information over to Brie and Ambassador Miyo. Wolfram, contact the federation and ask them to send three shuttles on site. And enough body bags for the deceased. Also tell them that all of the other teams have likely suffered casualties or are entirely wiped out.'
"Understood Agent Murai."
Real Life Standard Time: [18:00] February 18th, 2043
Location: [Earth - Multiverse Federation HQ - Garden Plaza]
Three days have passed since the massacre that claimed the lives of the Enforcers, save Hikari by mere luck, and the bodies of the deceased have been returned to their peoples as the Enforcers was a multi-species initiative; Hikari having received an offer of receiving over a hundred million as a compilation payment that they would've split amidst everyone when the mission was completed, though Hikari refused to take anything more than her own share and insisting that all of the money that would've gone to them be sent to their families even though she knew that she'd never have to work a day in her life if she accepted the money and invested well, and when it comes to Ginham, she also insisted that her share be split 70/30 with the majority going to Astona since she herself is not hurting for money, learning from Wolfram that the nanosecond he discovered other Wolframs going dark, he began absorbing all of their processing power to boost himself, becoming extremely powerful with over 320 yottabytes worth of memory storage after combining fifty into one. When the time came for Ginham Teivale's funeral, a good number of people showed up to attend his final rites, many appearing as holograms operating through Isnian projectors that were installed into the wall, allowing them to appear even when they're far away in other worlds. Among those who came in person when the first body was first returned, Hikaru, Mamoru, Erica, Miyo, and Astona were the ones who called for everyone among their friends to come in person, though very few followed through in this regard as they were busy with their own lives, though Katsuo, Kana, Sylvia, and the other members of Senryaku's direct group and close affiliates did make the effort to connect to the networks in the projectors, appearing as static blue images able to walk about the area, though their range was limited to the room because of how they're reliant on the projector.
The only others who know Senryaku and made their presence known who came in person on the day of the funeral according to the reports given were Hana, Nepgear, Lilica, Lilon, a three man detachment of the Parthenian Knights' Obsidian squad, Grand Master Lisalon herself, and the CPUs of Gamindustri: Caelus, Yukihana, Neptune, Noire, Uni, Blanc, Rom, Ram, and Vert, them all having to undergo excessive screenings and even impromptu medical treatments so they're being delayed a good deal because of this; in addition to the federation staff who worked tirelessly to get the funeral proceedings finished though Hikari felt a little despondent that Karen didn't show up, even in hologram form, when everyone else came, even people Hikari didn't expect to come mourn Ginham's death, especially in person like Millhi, Eclair, Brioche, Yukikaze, Leo, Couvert, and the three siblings among the Milletians from Erinn: Alicia, Manasilius, and Aaron Okamura, though a number of messages available in this semi-public network say that they're having issues connecting to the dimensional travel system, saying that they wouldn't be able to arrive until after the funeral is nearly a week over and their distance prevents them from access the projectors allowing holographic display, only these messages; with these groups being the Sparrowfeathers and Jude Mathis' group, among others. Furthermore, the federation staff was surprised when Jondam Bau and Grunt also came to attend the funeral, Jondam expressing that he feels some guilt over how he might have been able to prevent Ginham's death if he stayed with him and Hikari; Grunt saying that Wrex wished for him to remain for a time as a krogan representative, in addition to how the Council wished to propose a venture that is to be kept exclusive in terms of knowledge to the federation's three founding species: Terra, Isnia, and Elbia.
When the Parthenian entourage finally arrived to the funeral grounds, Hikari walked forward with a despondent frown as she faced Medea, who she could easily recognize by the intricacy of the shadowy black armor once worn by Selles, with Medea resizing it with her magic and declaring it to be what every Grand Master of the Knights will wear during their reign, and when Medea reached both her and Astona, she looked downward as her body language suggests she's studying Hikari's self
'Did Karen shrink or something since I last saw her? Wait, I'm not sensing the aura of CPU Aqua Heart or Crimson Heart within her. This must be the daughter Astona and Ginham mentioned: Hikari Murai.' After addressing this confusion in her mind, she relaxed her stance and extended her arm toward Hikari "Well met Hikari Murai, daughter of Karen Murai, or rather, as I know her: Karen Koizumi. I am the Grand Master of the Parthenian Knights: Medea Lisalon. It is an honor to finally meet you. The CPUs and the others are still being 'detained' by the medical staff until all of our treatments are finished. Don't expect any of them to arrive for some time."
"Grand Master Medea Lisalon, I am so sorry that my own incompetence led to General Teivale's death."
"You do not need to apologize Hikari. Ginham was an exceptional knight and although his death is a great loss to the Federation, among us Parthenians, there is no glory lost to him. He died on a battlefield which is worthy of the spirits' attention. But he will be missed by all nonetheless. He fought to protect those he wished to protect and that act alone is commendable." Medea shifted her gaze from Hikari and immediately looked toward Astona "You have our deepest condolences Astona. Losing Ginham must've been horrible for you. Losing one of my students back when I was a mere Vizier; it's the worst feeling despite what I say. But for you, it must be leagues worse since he was your husband."
"Y-Yeah...it was. I'm really going to miss this bastard. We may have bickered since that's just how we are, but we cared about each other. We were both planning on retiring from the federation once these two were born and work more civilian careers. Where we wouldn't have to worry about us dying as much as we did at present. Considering our backgrounds, our options felt limited outside military or law enforcement so we planned on getting work in construction on the new Terran colony in Proxima as soon as these two are born and as soon as I can get a shuttle from the Isnians. The colony will need a lot of help building itself from the ground up, and although I enjoy Earth, I miss the feeling of untouched natural grasslands on my feet. Besides, I feel like I can be of greater use in a new colony. Hopefully I can request a site I can name after him."
"That's your choice to make Astona. Remember that we had formally dismissed your group from the Knights when you all said you wanted to live away from Gamindustri. You're not restricted by our order. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to administer some of our ceremonial rites. It's been years since you've seen or even talked with Lilon and Lilica so go get reacquainted. Catch up and talk about your lives. You know Hikari, I imagine Lilica would want to meet you as well; she was your mother's bodyguard back during her life in Gamindustri." With a formal curtsy, Medea walks forward toward Ginham's body with her entourage, leaving Hikari and Astona by themselves
"Grand Master Lisalon has a bit of a point there. Hikari, I'm going to speak with my sister-in-law for a while. You should take the chance to meet Lilica, she's easily the strongest of us all and the kindest. Even after her time within the Ultradimension, she largely remained the same in terms of personality. If she's the same after all this time, it'll be a huge relief for me. I miss her optimism. Have fun."
After seeing Astona walk toward Lilon, Lilica walked toward Hikari, wearing a black cloak which was obviously covering her armor based on the indentations around her chest, arms, and legs, yet oddly appropriate for funeral attire
"Nice to meetcha. You must be Karen's daughter...I'm sorry I don't know your name, I've been living in Glenwood ever since I left Gamindustri nearly twenty years ago and contact with the outside is fairly limited. Heh, it's funny how similar you look to her. Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! Sorry 'bout that. Name's Lilica Teken, leader and founder of the Teken's Howling Lions, a fairly large mercenary group that works with both Hyland and Rolance in Glenwood." While Lilica had spent much of her life with a formal means of speaking, coming from her upbringing among the Parthenians, her exposure to life among the Darknuts and Wizzrobes planted the seeds to have her throw it away and act far more casually, with her time among the Scattered Bones/Sparrow Feathers only solidifying that kind of development and making it permanent, turning the once stoic warrior into the complete opposite, though she does have a secret reason for her to abandon her stoicness that she, Celina, Karen, and even Caelus suffers after being exposed to Glenwood. After speaking, she began shifting her gaze about the outdoor space "Considering it's Ginham here, I would've thought Karen would be here; he was one of her knights after all. Though...considering that...now that I think about it, I can understand why she's keeping distance from us all." 'Is she still cursed after all this time? I thought she was spending so much time and effort trying to find a way to remove that dark energy she took from Rei without it being dispersed. Could it be that she believes it's impossible and gave up? I hope she's not that bummed out about this.'
"I'm sorry, did I hear you right Lilica? The Teken Howling Lions? I think I can see your ego bloating from Mars, or hell, even from Parthenia!"
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up Astona. You're just jealous that I've maintained my edge as a fighter for the last twenty years while you've gotten rusty and well…" Whatever expression Lilica was showing when she finished speaking was hidden as she was covering her mouth with her hand but a clear sign was evident as her face slightly hung downward, staring at Astona's stomach.
"Yeah right! You're the one who should be jealous. I've actually started a family and you're just going to die alone on some battlefield the way you're living Lilica."
"You can't bait me Astona. We've been working as a pair for nearly a century, I know your tricks. Besides, I've actually received a number of marriage offers from nobility in Glenwood. I may be turning them down granted, but it's not because I'm uninterested. I've just simply decided that I want to live life on Earth when I feel like I'm losing my edge in battle and groom a successor to take over my position, which is very soon if I may be honest; I'm not as strong as I used to be and battles are becoming harder and harder to win by the day. Much like how you're giving up battle and war, I too want to live a civilian's life; I'm planning to become either a botanist or a florist, believe it or not. Hell, I've actually been dating an Elbian online who knows Hana rather well from her childhood: Shinobu Fujiwara. He invited me to a rather quaint bar on one of Elbance's new airships, since I asked him if he wanted to make things more serious and funnily enough, he was thinking the same thing. Elise told me she'd arrange for a guide to show me around. And you know that Gamindustri's special properties when they connect worlds to it, namely biological status regarding different species and all. It was a bit weird granted, but remember when Shiori had that moment with Garrus and uh...well, ended up like you? Funny that a queen of all people decided to conceive a child with an alien soldier." While Lilica had no qualms boasting about how her life had been going for her, she walked over and whispered in Astona's ear to speak the last part regarding Shiori from the dimension Karen, Lilica, and Neptune were flung to when Rei Ryghts struck with a vengeance, referring to her by that name despite knowing her real name, knowing that it is in the past and should remain there, not wanting Hikari to hear the specifics of this part of the conversation since it was a rather adult topic.
'So you plan on marrying into the family of one of Elbance's four guardians Lilica? This some sort of plan or do you genuinely adore him?'
'The latter ya bitch! I had been dating him long before I knew he was a Guardian. We've never truly met in person, but we've really gotten to know each other through our voice chats, we have a lot in common and we enjoy each other's company, now we want to meet up for real.'
'Well congrats, the Elbians are pretty nice folk, even though their pacifism heavily contrasts our military background, though they do have that whole 'breeding like rabbits' problem. I hope, for your health, that your own biology clashes enough with theirs to keep ya alive. Remember that each Elbian family tends to have around eight to twelve children. I'm hoping you don't have to shoulder that kind of burden since I doubt even we Parthenians could handle birthing that many children.' "By the way; during your travels, have you learned anything about our original homeworld? Ya know, the one our ancestors came from before we decided to live in Gamindustri?"
"Unfortunately no. I admit I've been curious about this so I tried asking the TSAB offhand but they said that without more information, they'd have no means of tracking down this individual world and what little knowledge we had of that world died with Selles, even its name. And DNA scans aren't much help since we've altered ourselves so much with our magic, though we have considered trying it with some of our civilians since they've largely the same from their ancestors. It might prove beneficial. But remember that it has been thousands of years since the Parthenian Knights found themselves trapped. Even if we do find this world, the people would consider us monsters to some extent because of our 'inhuman' strength and I doubt they'd even remember us. Remember that the very first generation of Parthenians who came to Gamindustri had no magical enhancements to them, they were ordinary knights; experienced yes, but ordinary. Recall that magic among us was rare and out of the million knights we had at the time, we only had about five to eight thousand mages and well over half of them got wiped out within the first century. Why do you think we were so determined to undergo the magic enhancements which first gave us all magic and over generation and application, strengthened us slowly but surely."
"Oh yeah, I kinda forgot. Even though we do hail from a different world, we've undergone such a drastic change for us to survive in Gamindustri that we'd be utterly unrecognizable to the people we used to live among. Not to be rude Hikari, but we ought to go join Medea in the ceremonial rites Lilica. Even if we were dismissed, we're still Parthenian Knights; we have an obligation to participate."
"I get it. Go on." Hikari simply smiled off the situation at hand regarding the offense Astona implied toward her, quickly walking to a quiet corner when she received a special kind of notification through her AI's Quantum Entanglement Communication system, the tech having been bought by the Federation and improved upon by Isnian engineers, which is reserved for highly confidential communications for the Enforcers
'Hikari Murai, as soon as the funeral proceedings are concluded, report to council chamber six. Ambassadors Miyo Hanari and Mamoru Nakasone, the four Elbian guardians, Tevos, Valern, and Sparatus wish to meet with you. We are focusing attention on the matter of reconstituting the Enforcers and what to do about Fleet Admiral Viridius. We cannot allow him to remain in his position since he has shown himself to be an enemy of us all.'
'I'm a single person Briekkar. I'm going to need some serious back-up if I'm going against Viridius' armies; he's gone rogue but he's still revered by a significant part of the armada; he has plenty of supporters.'
'We're aware Hikari. It's why the Asari, Salarians, Turians, the Systems Alliance, and even the Krogan and Geth, among others, came to offer their help in this matter since they've been affected too. In fact, we've been given access to Krogan Clan Jorgal, the Turian and Asari 6th Fleets, a handful of Spectres, namely Ashley Williams, Garrus Vakarian, Jondum Bau, and Yuuki Konno, and even two hundred and fifty Geth Primes. However, we're keeping them on standby since we're determined to do this on our own with our own forces.'
'Briekkar, pardon my language, but you're being a fucking idiot right now! Remember that the Enforcers, save me, have been entirely eradicated, our forces are spread paper thin, and this is what Viridius wants us to do! He's been deliberately driving us all to the brink of exhaustion while keeping his loyalist forces organized and well-rested so we'd be easier to conquer. WE NEED these allied forces to supplement us right now! Besides, remember that my work as an Enforcer leaned toward assassination; I can't pull something like that off against an experienced admiral with an entire damn army at his beck and call! Besides, remember that Isnian admirals never leave their ships so I can't exactly sneak in since I have to broadcast my arrival or else they'd destroy whatever ship I use to meet him. Either accept those forces from the Citadel, immediately reorganize our local forces, or find some way to anonymously turn Viridius' forces against him to weaken his position. If you don't do any of these, the likelihood of me getting killed will end up rising to eighty, or hell even ONE HUNDRED, percent.'
'Hikari listen, at a time like this, we're trying to show ourselves as a united council who can defend ourselves with our own forces.'
'That only works if we were at full strength Briekkar. We've been suffering from sabotage from the day this insurrection began. We've undergone this betrayal without our knowledge for months and we are out of immediate available forces. Look, I won't deny I know little about politics but when it comes to survival, you ought to take any help you can get. You saw the transmissions between the insurrection and Viridius. If we continue to act this freaking stupid, the entire federation is going to be enthralled.'
Briekkar simply sighs in discontentment before resuming his conversation 'Fine. We'll consider it since you're our last Enforcer, and you proved yourself worthy. You may be young and inexperienced when it came to the others, but you're still one of the few experienced military personnel we have left.'
'Thank you. Don't worry, I'll come meet you guys as soon as things are finished here. Also erm, if this is going to be an immediate deployment, could you contact Aufisa and Miya and tell them I won't be home for a while longer? I planned on going back home after this last mission since I've already been away from home and school for six months. Lastly, I hate to sound brutish and all, but after this, could you try to give me a half-year respite? I want to be able to live a normal life for at least a little while.'
'I'll try to work that out kid. I know you deserve to live as normal a life as you can while you're young. But remember that you are an Enforcer and that requires you to commit anything and everything to the cause. This group is considered our first and last line of defense from the shadows and yet, Viridius' actions have severely damaged you all. While your actions are never revealed to the public, us fabricating that opposition either is dealt with through our militia or simply falls apart through internal dissent, you are unsung heroes to all of our peoples. You've been working alone all this time. Perhaps now we should acknowledge your prowess and your sacrifice for the greater good. I've noticed that Ginham had been making inquiries to some major powers for reinforcements so maybe we should follow through on it to give us some extra hands. Let's see; he contacted the Turian Hierarchy, the Elbian Republic, the Arcadian Theocracy, and the Parthenian Knights. Little surprise he called his people and the Arcadians for help, but I'm surprised he reached out to the Turians and Elbians. Anyway, I need to begin regrouping the forces Viridius had scattered in preparation for this. I know that if I reveal he has betrayed us, they'll flock to aid us and depose him.'
'Hey uh, random question, but when we take Viridius down, that's going to leave a power vacuum in the Isnian Armada. Who's going to fill it?'
'No idea. The rank of admiral, in theory, could be earned by anyone in the armada but the position of fleet admiral can only be done through the emperor's declaration and there can only ever be one. At this time, we can't elect a new fleet admiral until Viridius' death and the emperor has said he refuses to nominate someone until he's sure that only those that allied with him are left. He is drawing up a list of candidates though, and I'm actually one of them since the Stansum family has been model officers for over twenty eight generations, and maintained loyal ties with the emperor for just as long.'
'Heh, Fleet Admiral Briekkar Stansum. Not sure why, but that has a nice ring to it. Look, I really need to return focus here. There are friends of my parents I haven't seen in a long time and I want to try catching up. Don't worry, I won't reveal my connection to the Enforcers to those who don't already know.'
'May Benten show you favor Hikari Murai. Heh, it's funny that many of us Isnians have found ourselves joining your Terran faiths like Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, so on and so forth and showing increased interest in your religions and gods when we've ironically all but turned away from our own concepts of gods from how advanced our people have become. I know it may be tough, but make sure to maintain some composure when you leave the funeral grounds.'
'Yeah yeah, don't act like you're my father or something Brie, it creeps me out.'
'You're such a brat Hikari. I suppose it's what makes you you.'
Hikari simply let out a silent laugh at Briekkar's mild irritation as she shut down her communicator, approaching Ginham's deceased body lying in the ornate coffin situated near the back of this open space, the mere sight of it making Hikari tremble in fear knowing that her own weakness indirectly led this to happen. She hates that she couldn't get Ginham to back down and remain in the federation's base with Astona and everyone else where it's safe. She hates that despite how Ginham himself said that the Murais were infamous for their rigid nature, she was unable to sway him against that course of action
'Wolfram, ya mind activating my music player? Track 15A? Keep it exclusive to this headset. Oh, and play it as an instrumental too.'
'As you wish Agent Murai.'
As she began hearing the music play in her ears, a gentle yet inspiring song that was recorded by Miharu and sung by Katsuo years ago began pouring out, something she is desperate for after the tragedy she witnessed. While she herself has committed murder as an Enforcer, it was never out of malice since she acted to protect those who needed her and she never killed those who weren't her assigned target(s). Funnily enough, Hikari now couldn't help but consider this song strangely fitting in regard to how determined she was in protecting not any one individual but the entire federation and those within it, and with how much she fought to do such a thing as an Enforcer. Normally Hikari would've set the song to play normally, but she wanted to keep this as an instrumental this time and sing the vocals herself as a means of inspiring herself to overcome the grief plaguing her, her fighting to let each word out as she felt the urge to cry throughout the song, along with a tiny bit of laughter at how her name is the same as the song: Hikari.
'~I will hold my head up high. I won't hesitate no more. I will find the strength so I can be the one right by your side.
Don't give up, hope's shining. I won't be afraid. I'm gonna carry on.
I used to think there's no way that I could become someone who you'd look up to. But just know now, I will be there to protect you, no matter what will happen.
All the tears that we have shed. They show us that we have the strength we need. So let's go and face our fears.
Even though it gets so hard to believe in our shared dreams. We can't let the hardships overwhelm and surprise us easily. Just as long as we endure on this journey together. We will find that if we don't give up, we'll get just what we need.
As we see the source of light of our future shining bright. We will find that tears and hardships start to fade for you and me. I won't hesitate no more and I'll hold my head up high. All the wonders of this world I see when you're here next to me.~'
After reminding herself just why she has been fighting all this time, fighting to preserve the federation whose goal has been protecting and enriching their members, it helped pull herself up from the funk she was in. With her mood somewhat risen, Hikari walked back to the crowd, talking to many of those who came as holograms, learning what they have done in recent history and during her talk with Haruka, who works with the federation's first contact team, indirectly nudging Hikari with her body gestures to look toward the entrance to the open space as she noticed a brief sight of silver and a metallic earpiece vanish as if the person fled the moment their presence was noticed
"That might be our newest representative Hikari: Druuxea of the Kraylor. I've been in talks with them and they seem to specialize in economics after first contact with Tybalt, so we're contracting them to join the Multiverse Federation and receive a technological uplift in exchange for them helping us establish a standardized currency. We're hoping that after this is done, our logistical complications will largely go out the window. Until now we've been solely using our own national currencies and that's been a logistical nightmare trying to work a stable system with so many forms of money. But if we can establish a single system of currency exclusive to the federation, coupled with how Isnia is able to mass produce anything and everything, we can finally present the utopia we promised our first few members in the Terran Alliance, the Elbian Republic, the Illarian Tribes, the Nexarian Plutocracy, and the Pursalian Monarchy. Go on, the people here seem to have things under control here and I can tell this is hurting you. I'll come meet you part way to talk with our newest representative. She knows me so hopefully she'll be calmer."
With a nod, Hikari walked toward the entrance of the grounds with Haruka following her, stopping at the door as a girl resembling the Terrans with shiny teal blue hair and eyes, yet drastically different as the girl's body resembled a feathered harpy, a dull green shirt covering her upper torso though based on the color of her skin, it appeared that it was the only sort of attire she was wearing, perhaps a cultural preference of the Kraylor, though Hikari quickly noticed that in terms of arms and legs, they're entirely avian oriented which would be a challenge for them to adjust to when it comes to standard operation in the Federation as every other species, save the Nexarians to some extent since they are largely mermaid in physique which required a sizeable adjustment of the federation facilities and even civilian ones outside the Mediterranean to accommodate them when they joined the Federation in earnest, but even then, they held fairly similar physical biology to the other members, they only needed aid with movement.
"Ambassador Druuxea, welcome to the Federation headquarters. While she won't be around full-time, I'd like to introduce your new assistant: Hikari Murai. She'll be here to help you acclimate to Earth and the responsibilities you have. Ambassador Miyo Hanari of the Isnians is working on building a support team to handle paperwork and all of that busy-body work on your behalf. All you really have to do is bring forth issues and concerns from your people to our attention and we'll do our utmost to address it. Normally we'd ask you to remain here full-time, but considering your young age, I actually made a request of my own to have you study and live in Willow Academy where you can learn about our peoples in a casual setting. But I do wish to ask, when can we expect your economic teams to arrive and help us?"
"Erm...y-yeah...we're hesitant to leave Numina until we are sure we can survive. We've tried your food when you established first contact with us Haruka Nakasone and it was near lethal to us. This was still rather short notice for us so we're still trying to compile lists of our culinary creations and submit them to your databanks. That and well...after this Tybalt you say he's called; we're nervous of people not native to our world. He overturned many of our customs and even our civilization practically overnight. After having so much robbed of us, we're afraid of losing what little of the old ways we have left. We're a very traditional people." Befitting Druuxea's physiology, her quiet voice resembled that of a cockatiel, though it was obvious she was rather frightened based on her expression and her head rapidly shifting in all directions as if she doesn't want anyone else around.
"I understand your plight Druuxea; remember that I have seen what your people have gone through because of Tybalt's actions. Your people have every right to be afraid of change after having it forced upon you, but we want to establish and maintain cordial relations with your people."
"Er, some of your words are coming out as gibberish to me Miss Nakasone. I think the translator you gave me is faulty."
"That shouldn't be the case. Our translators are top of the line Isnian technology; they've never failed when it came to the Nexarians, Pursalians, Valkenians, Elbians, and the Illarians. Maybe...maybe Numina's not connected to Gamindustri yet since we're using Ophelia's model of the dimensional transporter system so we're reaching worlds it hasn't connected to yet? So the subtle 'changes' weren't made to help accommodate this sort of thing? Fascinating. Anyway, I'll be focusing as much of my attention on this as possible on my end here in Numina. It's why I unfortunately couldn't come to the funeral in person. As close as I was to Ginham, it just wasn't exactly strong enough that I risk delaying federation operations. Besides, I'm stuck here since I gave you my gauntlet which interfaced with the network. As an ambassador, you have higher clearance than I do Druuxea; your presence is required among your fellow council members. But ask the council to dispatch a team later with extra gauntlets so I won't be stuck here all the time. I want to believe they wouldn't leave one of their top agents in first contact stranded."
"Don't worry Nakasone-san, I have a meeting with the council founders upcoming. I'll talk to them about getting you back to Earth."
"Thank you Hikari. But if you've been summoned, you ought to go see them straightaway; they wouldn't go to such lengths unless it's urgent. Don't worry, a fair number of us plan on coming back to Earth for a while so you can meet up with us later. Go on now."
"Well...okay I guess. I want to stay and try to catch up with all of you but I guess you have a point."
Real Life Standard Time: [21:00] February 18th, 2043
Location: [Earth - Multiverse Federation HQ - Commercial District]
As she walked through some of the empty storefronts, noting that the entire district was shut down in regards to the Enforcers' funerals, Lilica couldn't help but ponder what she had talked about with Astona regarding the Parthenian's original homeworld, feeling guilty that she lied to Astona since she did learn a fair bit of knowledge of their old home: Vokar from the TSAB but one particular truth horrified her, which was that the individual known as Tybalt was the Parthenian Knights' very first grand master and the one who established the very order, though his true name was lost to history. Lilica could only suspect that because of how Selles was actually born in Gamindustri despite what he would imply to all of the knights who would ask him, not even he knew all that much about their home; the ones who did either died very early into their reign as Tarian security, died to Rei Ryghts' genocide, or simply died of old age. But the moment when the lights of the district suddenly died, casting everything around her into pitch blackness, the only illumination coming from the far off windows which barely pierce through the buildings that comprise this merchant district and flickering remains of the ceiling's lighting system, Lilica immediately stiffened herself and began looking all over the immediate area
"What the?!" Lilica immediately summoned her sword as she felt shivers run down her spine, followed by the sensation of her being tackled and pinned to one of the nearby building walls, her sword being tossed aside to keep her disarmed, but was able to tilt her head to see a cloaked figure with a distinct spiral emblem covering his or her face
"Impressive work young Parthenian. You were able to sense my presence even when I blinded your senses through darkness." Even though he spoke so little, it was enough for Lilica to recognize who is keeping her restrained.
"Tybalt! How did you penetrate our defenses without any of our alarms going off?!" While Lilica fully intended on keeping a stoic facade, her playful nature began to emerge as a cat-like smile appeared on her face "Hehe, get it? Penetrate?"
"You're disgusting. But I will admit, despite your vulgar attitude, your abilities are exceptional. Not only did you sense me, you uncovered my identity. Perhaps it is time I induct you into my cadre."
"Not a chance!"
Knowing that she has to take action quickly, she tapped her right foot against the nearby wall, releasing a hidden blade kept within her boots as a means of keeping emergency weapons taught to her by Celina and Rose, driving it backwards with every intention of driving the blade through Tybalt's leg as the impact drove him backwards, freeing Lilica from her captive state, Lilica repeating the process to sheath the blade.
"You bitch!"
Not waiting for him to recover from this stupor of shock, Lilica dove into a forward roll toward her sword, grabbing it midroll as she immediately postured herself into a strong sword stance, staring at Tybalt with a fire in her eyes contrasting with her prior carefree persona.
"You're going to regret coming here Tybalt. I'm incredibly pissed off because of how I lost a brother and how I had to lie to my sister and one way or another, you're going to help me vent my frustrations! While I've been told to keep myself from killing you since the TSAB wants you alive, they never said I couldn't break each and every bone in your body, so I intend to do just that. Make you wish I had killed you."
"Bring it. I've been alive for eons and I'm the strongest warrior in the entire multiverse. You cannot defeat me."
"We'll see about that. Give up the cloak and fight me like the warrior you claim to be!"
"As you wish. This will be fun, the very first Parthenian Grand Master, who founded the very organization versus the previous leader of Obsidian Squad who are the strongest members of an already super powered cadre. Who will win in this bloodbath?"
With no more words exchanged, Tybalt surprisingly obliged as he tossed his robe aside, revealing the dark ivory colored armor with little sense of ornament though Lilica noticed a mixture of plate, scale, and black cloak layered underneath the entirety of the armor, and a helmet with a small spear-like indentation which would show a part of his mouth and the middle of his face, with sight being focused through the crystal red eye pieces, similar in build to those of Japan's ancient ninja but metallic instead of cloth; Lilica charged toward Tybalt, her sword quickly intercepted by Tybalt's own and quickly finds herself flung toward one of the nearby buildings, landing to the ground in a rough manner as he had grabbed her arm and tossed her like a ragdoll. However, she was adamant on not letting Tybalt claim victory and although it took her a moment to recover, she picked herself up and was met with Tybalt this time charging into the fray and although her skill had indeed declined a great deal over the last fifteen years since Glenwood is a more peaceful world compared to say Gamindustri, Lilica was still an experienced fighter, able to dance about this impromptu battlefield with the grace of an acrobat who spent a lifetime training their craft and even though she knew that Tybalt indeed was a superior fighter as he was maintaining an unbreakable lead over her that she was not able to match, despite her desire to succeed, knowing that idealism cannot take precedence over reality
'Well fuck. Even with all of my training, I can't beat this guy! I...need...to...GAHHHH!' Lilica was desperate to find some way to overcome her enemy, but as the darkness in her heart, borne from anger over Ginham's death and her fight with Tybalt in addition to sadness of her lying to Astona, began to grow exponentially; a dark orange and brown mist began to envelop her, enveloping her in all directions as it began infecting her, making her scream in pain, and although it is rapidly fading, Lilica had enough cognitive function to recognize what is surrounding her, having seen it plenty of times from her time among the Scattered Bones, particularly when she had pledged herself as a squire to Karen 'Oh no! Malevolence! It's-It's too much for me to handle! But how?! I thought it was impossible for people outside Glenwood to actually contract such a thing! I don't believe it's a disease so...that means that Celina, Caelus and even Karen could succumb to this if they fall prey to their negative emotions! F-Forgive me everyone... So even I'm too weak to fight this. I actually did want to give all this up to try living more normally and start a family like Astona, but it looks like fate wants me dying as a beast. Sorry Shinobu, I really wanted to give this a try.' This was the last thing Lilica was able to communicate with her human psyche, two rivers of tears flowing down her face as the malevolence completely overtook her, transforming her into a werewolf hellion with white fur, strands of red embedded throughout coming from her own red hair prior to malevolence transforming her, wearing some armor coming from what she was wearing moments prior, the transformed Lilica gave off light pants, each one letting out condensation as if she were in the middle of a snowfield.
"What the hell?!" Tybalt stepped backward in shock, his sword stance losing much of its stability as he stared in Lilica's direction, clearly shocked at the rather sudden transformation the former Parthenian underwent.
Because of Tybalt being caught off-guard by Lilica's descent into malevolence, he was unable to prepare a defense when Lilica leapt toward him, her razor sharp claws and fangs making short work of tearing through the metal of his armor and with a loud roar, Lilica tightened her fangs around Tybalt's leg and tossed him toward one of the nearby buildings, instinctively desiring payback for what he inflicted onto her, but because of her status as a hellion blinding her better judgement, when she leapt for one final attack, it was met when Tybalt had extended his sword, driving it through her chest, making her give out weak roars in retaliation as she is flung aside, her breathing immediately going silent once she hit the ground as Tybalt slowly approached the dead wolf that was once Lilica Teken
"What a waste of such a powerful warrior. Her life so casually tossed aside by the hidden presence of malevolence within her heart. Even when she attempted to fight the malevolence, she still accumulated it to the point where a single release of anger ran the risk of her falling. Such a shame." Even though he fought her willingly, he had wanted to make her one of his acolytes and bar that, he did respect her as a warrior and thought this fall into malevolence a great tragedy; a waste of a talented fighter.
After walking away from Lilica, grabbing his robe and putting it back on his person to avoid leaving evidence of his presence here, he sensed another individual slowly approach, a woman with long black hair flowing all the way down to her chest and eyes colored forest green in the left, and crimson red in her right, with the same kind of iris befitting Console Patron Units from Gamindustri, wearing a full-body leotard colored black with red cloth underneath straps scattered throughout the outfit, a pair of metallic cube shaped wings floating behind her, stopping when the newcomer reached Lilica's deceased body, slowly inspecting it before looking up toward Tybalt.
"Bad fucking move bastard. You just killed my friend and I have every intention of returning the favor."
"Ah, so you decided to show up: Dark CPU Obsidian Heart, whom is a corrupted manifestation of Crimson Heart after being exposed to Rei Ryghts' darkness and Glenwood's malevolence. You're either brave or-"
Obsidian hardly cared to let Tybalt continue his monologue as she charged a burst of unholy fire magic in her hand and charged it toward him, the fire having an immediate effect of melting through the parts of armor that Lilica had damaged through her bite and completely disintegrated the robe, sending him flying backward and making him slump to his knees
"You talk too fucking much. Burn and die in all seven levels of hell!" As she quickly tightened her stance, she directly the fire to expand all over Tybalt's body, rapidly consuming all of his armor as he screamed in agony from the fire burning him alive, but at the last moment, he was able to chuckle amusedly.
"You honestly think I would come in person fool? This is a mere phantom copy."
"Yeah, don't give a single damn. Real or phantom, I am going to consume you!" Obsidian spoke with an evil gravelly tone in her voice, as she slowly approached Tybalt's phantom, her right arm bursting into one similar in design to the one she was told of in Velvet Crowe since she read legends about the woman during her time in Glenwood and it formed a concept when malevolence had established a hold on her when she came into contact with a gauntlet used by Velvet during one of the rare Scarlet Nights which infected her with malevolence, and grabbed him with said arm, tightening her grip and making it burst into violent shadow which is absorbed into her "Tasteless. While I could consider myself lucky that this is not permanent, I am unable to distinguish taste while I am in this form, aside from blood if I'm the same as Velvet. I am starving." Obsidian briefly looked toward Lilica's dead body and had to fight the urge to lick her lips "No...she is a friend. I will not consume her. But I need blood...sustenance…I must...cons-no...fight it...Karen. This power does not control me...I...control...it. I must...keep control over this power befitting the...Lord of Calamity. Heh...funny that a divine being like a Console Patron Unit...would end up also being one of the most corrupted beings in our known section of the multiverse. A lower tier lord of Calamity. Hard to compare to Velvet after all."
Moments after this was said, Karen heard voices ring out throughout the district
"I want recon teams spread out in teams of six immediately! Find out who or what shut down the power grid here! We've locked down every other entrance and activated the dimensional barriers so no one is going to escape our attention."
'Fuck! I'm in a mouse trap and considering that I'm as bloodthirsty as a Banshee in this form, if I encounter anyone, it's going to take everything I have not to kill and consume them! I NEED to shut this form down before it's too late. If I'm as Karen, I could at least reason that work has been keeping me extremely busy so I couldn't arrive until just now. I'm the CEO of three divisions: Game development, Aerospace, and even property management since we've recently expanded, buying a number of apartment complexes throughout Tokyo, Ibaraki, and Saitama prefectures and renting them out for tenants for more of a regular monthly income. Of course, that last one began when we rented out an apartment complex for the thirty Illarians we contracted, which we bought out thanks to Aunshal's cooperation.' Knowing that she has to act fast, Karen poured all of her strength into restoring the suppression she fought to maintain over the negative energy and malevolence that infected her long ago, the first sign being her demonic arm vanishing and the being known as Obsidian Heart slowly revert back into her human form, though the speed of this was angering her 'COME ON! I need to change back into human! MOVE faster!' With her forcing the process to accelerate, she did see the corrupted Obsidian Heart vanish that much faster, but at the end, the pressure of this speed-up became too much to bear as it burst into energy which sent her flying against a building though moments later, a hole in the dimensional veil was torn in the ground in front of her, with a familiar coarse voice ringing out in Karen's mind.
"Hurry and flee into the gate Console Patron Unit. I can sense the darkness in your heart from the dimensional void where I reside. Even if you are a being similar to the Lord of Calamity, you cannot afford to manifest unlimited darkness in your heart. Come to me and I will absorb it, and buy you time. Hurry, I cannot maintain this gate long with the barriers fighting me."
"Thank you Shimure." Karen uttered this weak thanks as she slowly pulled herself up and limped towards the gate, falling through to escape the teams that were scouring through the commercial district to meet with the demon she met the day she encountered the Darknuts and Wizzrobes in Gamindustri, learning early on through dialogues that he referred to himself as Shimure, to have him absorb the dark energies of the power Rei Ryghts was consumed by in addition to the dark malevolence she acquired from her time in Glenwood. She does sometimes have unease collaborating with a creature that admitted it was evil to the core and even providing it with two sources of power on a fairly regular basis, worrying that Shimure is acting the part of a bad samaritan since her two corruptive elements in her soul are being converted into power he is being given, though she simply convinces herself this could be considered a situation similar to rent since, although she made the place, it is Shimure that owns it. Despite her fear, she still goes to meet with him in a secret pocket dimension she created for him to reside in, with him using his immense strength to cloak the entire dimension in shadow, even from the outside, in addition to when she exits Earth in this way.
Moments later, the teams began to converge on the spot where Karen and Tybalt's phantom once stood as the power grid was reactivated segment by segment, the leaders of two of the impromptu teams being Jondam Bau and Astona, inspected the scene and quickly saw Lilica's dead body
"N...No...LILICA! NOT YOU TOO!" After the events that had already transpired this week alone, Astona was outright distraught that not only has she lost her husband but has now lost a person she considered a close sister, making her scream in despair and bawl her eyes out as her sight was frozen on the bloodied Lilica, though because none of them have been to Glenwood, they are incapable of seeing the fact that she has transformed into a hellion, only seeing her human form.
Even though Jondam wanted to speak to try calming down Astona, he knew that trying would only aggravate Astona more since she lost two people very dear to her heart in such a short span of time and when Medea arrived on site, having joined the teams when she overheard the energy shut down in the area, and gasped in horror at Lilica's bloodied body
"Oh god…" Medea was left with few words to say at the sight, deciding to focus her attention on the omni tool she bought years prior and activated its communication system, contacting the council members through an internal monologue mode since she doesn't want her words heard by those around her 'You fucking councilors need to improve your fucking security here in this place! I just lost another one of my students because of your damned lack of preparation! If I lose another in this sort of way with any hint of affiliation to the Federation, I AM GOING TO BE CLAIMING YOUR FUCKING HEADS!'
'W-Woah, take it easy Medea. Tell us what the heck got you riled up.'
'Mamoru Nakasone, Lilica Teken has just been murdered in YOUR OWN HEADQUARTERS and we have NO IDEA how! As things stand, I am oh so tempted of severing Parthenian relations with your Federation, but I am remaining cordial because Yukihana wants to maintain our link to your organization. And trust me Nakasone, not even your Chromatus would be enough to save you from my anger!'
'We...just...please understand we'll commit as many resources as possible to avenge her death, but we need to find out who her killer is. She should still have an omni-tool from her time in Gamindustri, there should be an audio recording since it's designed to automatically record when the user's heart rate increases above a pre-set limit.'
'Oh trust me Nakasone. That salarian: Jondam is analyzing the scene, he promises he'll share his findings with us. But know you are on thin ice and I am seriously contemplating murdering you in retaliation for the loss of my students.'
Real Life Standard Time: [19:30] February 18th, 2043
Location: [Earth - Multiverse Federation HQ - Council Chamber 6]
After being told to leave the funeral grounds to meet the federation council leaders in the Terrans, Elbians, and Isnians alongside the newcomers to this Earth in the Asari, Salarians, and Turians; Hikari entered the small meeting chamber, largely comprised of a single long table to find Miyo, Mamoru, three wisps colored red, green, and blue, Hikari suspecting those being three of four of the Elbian guardians: Zakria, Mivas, and Aei respectively, though because of how they are beings of mana and Earth is a manaless world so they'd never be able to sustain life here, and three of the four leaders of the Citadel council: Tevos, Valern, and Sparatus.
"Good to see you Hikari. First of all, I feel the need to apologize for all this. I've been sending Viridius reports about our activities against the insurrection from day one since I thought we could trust him, him being the fleet admiral of the Isnian armada and all. To think he was our enemy from the start...I deserve to be imprisoned and deposed from my position as ambassador of the Isnian people for supporting the insurrection, even if indirectly. I'm the reason we've lost so many good people, especially the Enforcers."
"Miyo, this isn't your fault. You couldn't have known that Viridius was our enemy. Let's simply focus on taking this bastard down. I'd try to help in the field but I'm crippled because of the Chromatus. My eyesight is magically sealed and my leg was rendered numb, but it beats being turned into a divergence catalyst any day. And while I can't see naturally anymore, I do have one of your VI programs helping me in addition to lessons that Celina has been giving me regarding how to live with blindness. Go figure that a person who has lived with blindness for centuries would be a great teacher in the field, even though the woman scares the living fuck outta me."
"Enough of this idle banter Ambassador Hanari, Ambassador Nakasone. We came here to remove Fleet Admiral Viridius Ruxut from power since he has been attacking our people in addition to yours. We've prepared a multi-species fleet from several of our members who want to stop this once and for all. Thanks to the STG and information you have given us, we know how far your ship sensors can reach and we've already launched our fleet outside their range, they are awaiting our orders. The Asari, Salarians, Turians, Krogan, Geth, even the Batarians have expressed interest in joining our fight. We're all prepared to do whatever it takes to end this threat."
"As are we Valern. The Arcadians are mobilizing their spacecraft to aid us, and although the Elbians are a peaceful civilization, they too agreed to lend us their navy, and we've been discreetly informing the scattered segments of the Isnian armada of Viridius' betrayal, the data Hikari recovered has been a great help, especially since the encryptions have his family emblem imbued within it. To little surprise, they're beyond pissed. It took me a fair amount of rank to stop them from going off half-cocked. Individually, they'd get their asses kicked since the Inigu is a citadel rivaling all others. Although it's been decommissioned and rebuilt many times across our long history, the Inigu is the one ship in Isnian history that has never been sunk. Ever. Trust me when I say I want to maintain that long-standing legacy. It'd damage Isnian morale knowing that the Inigu is destroyed or hell, even damaged to a significant extent. The Inigu is older than most civilizations. I don't want it to disappear."
"I understand your unease Ambassador Hanari, it's similar to our fear of losing the Destiny Ascension, the flagship of the citadel fleet. But with this in mind, how do you plan on removing Viridius if you don't want us using our fleet militarily?"
"I don't know Tevos. I...I need to ponder a-"
"If I may interrupt, I can think of an idea that may work with the compromises already set in place. Based on what I have learned by studying your peoples, the defenses for all Isnian spacecraft are maintained by a minimal of two Artificial Intelligences designed to overlap each other. I admit I know little about the matter, but I sincerely doubt that it is infallible. Would it be possible to overwhelm them with self-replicating garbage data and follow up with a series of advancing hacking through Geth units?" While Miyo was feeling uneasy, knowing that she had to think of a more peaceful approach to deposing Viridius without taking the ship with him, she was soon interrupted by the crimson red wisp belonging to Zakria repeatedly glowed as he spoke.
"That...might be possible in theory, but Zakria, remember that our ship-borne AIs are extremely advanced. They can crunch numbers in nanoseconds so to even consider this, we'd need to counter it with an even more powerful AI."
"What about Wolfram Ambassador Hanari? When the Enforcers fell, he absorbed the processing power of all those units into himself. If you can get me onboard the Inigu with some Spectres as backup hiding in storage crates which are always brought to a storage room adjacent to the bridge, which I know since I've accompanied three cargo runs during my time as an Enforcer since you guys were afraid the insurrection would attempt to hit our supply lines, and if we can also get geth units as well, we should be able to take down the defenses and launch a powerful surgical strike. If we can maintain the element of surprise, we can take down Viridius in one fell swoop. Once he is dead, I would recommend we attempt to apprehend everyone working with him and determine how guilty or innocent they truly are. If it's the former, we keep them imprisoned for however long the emperor declares is enough, the latter; we subject them to supervised community labor for association with the insurrection. But I will need aid in this regard to pull forces away from Viridius. If you can arrange a two-front attack with the Citadel forces on one side and our federation forces in the Arcadians, Elbians, and loyalist Isnians on the other, we can further weaken his position, even if slightly. Remember that their defenses are at their weakest. Spread them thin even further and they should break."
"That might actually work young Murai. Devious but quite tactical. No wonder you've excelled in boot camp and attracted attention from Castis Vakarian, the Corinthus and Kandros families and even Primarch Victus. I'd exercise caution Murai, each one of them have been contesting the concept of informally adopting you into their families. However, there is the fact that Isnian warships are leagues stronger than anything we can muster. Even with the weapons and defenses we've been using based off the Normandy SR-2 and all the Reaper technology we recovered over a decade ago, I'm not sure if it can pierce through Isnian armor. But if the intent is geared toward diversion, that can be done."
"That it is Councilor Sparatus."
"Are we in agreement then everyone?"
A minute of silence passed after Miyo asked this question, with nods of confirmation from the Citadel council, Miyo, and Mamoru while the three wisps bounce up and down, which suggest that they are in support of the plan
"Okay then. Then here's what we're going to do. Tevos, Valern, Sparatus; return to your dimension quickly and assemble your chosen Spectres and enough Geth to help hack through the Inigu's systems while I focus on assembling all of the crates the armada sent us last week. I'll gather our support staff tomorrow and have enough transport canisters ready within three days time. Hikari, I'd take this chance to return home for some brief R&R. Spend some time with Aufisa and Miya, and perhaps even Yami; I'll call her and tell her you're going back home for a while. I imagine she's dying to see her sister for the first time in a long time. Though I imagine you'll be busy the first night working on Cardinal and XANA; Miya told me that their mechanical bodies suddenly stopped working, and since neither of them are all that good with engineering, they asked me if I could stop by, but considering the business at hand, I need to stay here. Go to my office and grab the tools I keep in the storage cabinet. It's DNA locked sure, but I authorized your DNA because of your Enforcer work, yada yada. You get the basic idea; I need to get to work in taking down Viridius. Just go." As Hikari began to walk away, having been dismissed, she immediately stopped when Miyo's voice call out to her "Oh wait, there's one more thing. Regarding the Enforcers, we've been in talks with the three Pursalian representatives and while they're peeved they lost some of their best hunters, they're all on-board with us creating the force that will be replacing the Enforcers: Special Tactics and Advanced Independent Reconnaissance, or shortened to what the Citadel Council uses for their group: Spectres. Hikari, in light of your service as an Enforcer, you are to be the first of our own Spectres. Much like theirs, you'll be given superlegal authority over both individual members' and federation laws so long as it goes toward maintaining safety for us all. Abuse your position and you will be forcibly dismissed and your equipment confiscated. It's our means of preventing potential corruption in the ranks. However, unlike the Citadel's Spectres, you will have little in the way of independence since your missions will be assigned by us, but if you uncover crises outside our network, much like how you all discovered the insurrection since we presumed it was just random attacks at the time, you are allowed to act without our counsel, but we will expect a detailed report."
"I humbly accept the honor and responsibility of this Ambassador Hanari. Like my time among the Enforcers, I will serve with the utmost dedication. Duty and service to the group before the individual, I've had that mindset trained into me from boot camp. Look, I want to stay and chat everyone, but I had better get going. Best of luck everyone."
With a respectful bow, Hikari turned and walked out of the room, stopping by Miyo's office first to grab the tools needed to repair Cardinal's and XANA's mechanical bodies after Miyo had transferred them into two AI cores she built herself and built the bodies around it to make them truly independent Artificial Intelligences and as she walked toward the hangar to take one of the shuttles back to Tokyo, she came across a person she never expected to see in the Federation's headquarters: Sora wearing her usual white and red colored kimono, with a purple obi keeping the wardrobe together, her bright yellow hair and blue eyes coming from her origins as a member of the Pursalian homeworld's tropical region: Anisa as individuals from their race born in such climates tend to have warm themed colors in their hair and fur on their tails
"Sora, what are you doing here?" For whatever reason, Hikari's battle-honed instincts are silently making her shiver and telling her that she is in danger though she fails to understand just why at this time.
"Ah. Hikari. Well, I suppose you can say I've come to say hi to an old friend of sorts."
"An old friend? What's his or her name?"
"It's a girl we both happen to know, very well if I may be honest, since she's you: Asami Junko."
Hikari immediately felt stiff at the mention of that name since it shouldn't have been public knowledge, and even if Sora was her friend, there was no way she could've learned of her alias because of how much knowledge the federation had kept classified, especially with the Enforcers in addition to the safety nets she was guaranteed.
"How do you know that name Sora?" Whatever friendliness Hikari had mustered toward her friend before now faded in an instant as her expression turned vicious and her voice deepened into utter accusation as she readied herself to summon her weapon 'Civilians aren't supposed to have this level of information. Even if you're my friend Sora, I can't let this leak.'
"Simple really." Sora frowned as she opened her own miniature pocket dimension, pulled out what seemed to be a small violet cube and pressed a button on the top, quickly enveloping her body with a small pillar of violet cloth, quickly imploding as her body is now covered with a full black cloak, similar to Japan's feudal ninjas, and her body enlarged to match that of an adult's in term of height, which was clearly enchanted as the ears above her head and her tail were hidden perfectly underneath the robe, with no hint of it clashing against her wardrobe "I never gave you my name then, but you should remember me as the one who tried to kill you when you first visited Aegimius."
With her now knowing why her senses were tingling, danger officially running down her spine as she remembered this figure, having met during her first mission as an Enforcer, as Asami Junko; the mission in question was preventing another, albeit smaller in scale, potential uprising that threatened federation interests in establishing relations with the Pursalians, which ended in several rogue Isnian scientists and Pursalian hunters dying by the hands of the Enforcers, Hikari summoned her sword and equipped her armor
"Sora, I defeated you in battle once before and I warned you that if I ever saw you again, I would not hesitate in taking you down. Even if you're my friend. I'm sorry, but I have to kill you."
"Hold up. Despite this saying otherwise, I have no interest in killing you; anymore."
Hikari loosened her stance very lightly as her posture suggested she was confused about her words, which she absolutely was "Er...Anymore?"
"Trust me Hikari. I wanted Asami dead since her actions ruined my family since we invested heavily in that uprising. We were against the federation involving themselves in our people. We believed in self-determination. I was furious and took one of the dead Isnians' data nodes and discreetly hacked into federation records to find out just who Asami was. If there's anything being a good hunter teaches you, it's being resourceful and thinking outside the box. I used those experiences and discovered a connection between you and Asami. I originally presumed you were just an informant for her so I sought you out to manipulate that connection. But after getting to know you and being your friend, it was horrifying when I learned you were Asami. One of my best friends was also my greatest enemy."
"Sora. Are you a supporter of this new insurrection trying to enslave the federation?" Completely gone is the compassion Hikari would normally show Sora since she discovered this dark truth and she has little interest in maintaining false pretenses right now.
"NO! If anything, I'm on your side on this one! The hidden Pursalian rebellion was just us wanting to maintain independence from the federation, this one is way worse than what we desired!" Taking a brief pause in her speaking, Sora pulled down the cloth covering her mouth, not wanting what she says next to be hidden behind a mask "Hikari, you're my best friend and I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Remember that day when I first came to Willow Academy? I was one of the first extradimensionals to enroll and nearly every Terran, save the teachers, there had ostracized me as a 'freak of nature'. You didn't. You came right up to me and offered to be my friend when you could have so easily joined the masses. When I learned you were Asami, I genuinely felt confused. When I met Asami Junko, she seemed like an emotionless killer devoid of hesitation toward killing anyone she was contracted to hunt or anyone who fought to protect those she was hunting, but Hikari Murai was such a stubborn but kind soul who knew exactly she wanted to do and wouldn't let opinions stop her. Even when the chance of being rejected by others was present. Ya remember when you told me about that song sung by Lily Reizo of Kokaria? I've always thought of our friendship in that way: Despite all the grief and pain and all that stuff. I think I can remember the lyrics. I'm no singer but I think I can make it work. I'm more of a hunter than a chanter so my singing isn't really developed."
"~This eternal bond that you had kindly given me. There's no way that I can tell myself it's just a memory. You're the reason why I let a gentleness reside. In my heart, I found courage thanks to you. it's burning inside.
Fooled by an empty threat, I locked myself in my own nightmare. Compassion don't exist, I watch as light is drowned in darkness. The day you pulled me up, I can't forget the warmth around you. That was the moment I found meaning to this life I'm living
Mistrust and grief, fear that had risen. But despite all the pain, all our bonds are still there!
This eternal bond that you had kindly given me. There's no way that I can tell myself it's just a memory. You're the reason why I know that happiness can hurt. In my heart, I found kindness that I don't deserve.
This eternal bond that you had kindly given me. There's no way that I can tell myself it's just a memory. You're the reason why I let a gentleness reside. In my heart, I found courage thanks to you, it's burning inside~"
Even though Hikari flashed a small smile at the gesture, she was hardly in the mood to actively socialize with her "Sora, I appreciate the gesture but I have to go. I need to get home and fix Cardinal and XANA. Then spend some precious time with Aufisa, Miya, and Yami before my next mission."
"Sure. See you at school Hikari?" In face of Hikari's low desire to continue the conversation at hand since events have soured her mood, Sora spoke with an uncharacteristically quiet, almost apologetic, tone when she was normally the life of the party and a genuine mood booster for those around her.
"Yeah. Next week. I'll get you what you asked for then too."
Hikari simply waved as she walked away, dismissing her weapon and armor before leaving Sora's immediate presence, leaving Sora where she stood as she walked toward the shuttle bay, quickly taking one of their public shuttles back to Tokyo, summoning her double treaded hoverbike colored white and green with a cerulean blue seat when she got off the shuttle. After getting on the bike proper, an energy shield manifested over her which serves as both environmental protection and safety for the pilot as it absorbs the full impact of anything that would hit it in addition to keeping the rider onboard it, and with her safety secured, she revved the engine several times to warm it up since it has been inactive for a fairly long time, wanting to make sure it's still in peak condition
"Glad to know good ol Orion here is still operating in peak efficiency."
Real Life Standard Time: [22:00] February 18th, 2043
Location: [Earth - Tokyo's Toshima Ward - Hikari's Residence]
After finally returning to her home for the first time in nearly half a year, Hikari simply smiled at the fact she is in comfortable ground as she parked her bike in the apartment complex's underground garage, walking toward the circular elevator at the heart of the structure and rides it up to the fifth floor where her respective apartment is, smiling at the sight of a full moon through the stainless glass window and finally reached the ornate door made of synthesized redwood with metallic additions, the most prominent being a DNA and password encryption system, access requiring both to let anyone in without someone on the inside opening the door but when Hikari attempted to enter, she was refused, quickly noticing that the system has received an upgrade so her DNA signature was erased, making Hikari groan in irritation
"God damn it. Is it too hard to send me an email or something about this happening Aufisa?! Miya?!" With her already soured mood made even worse, Hikari pulled out her cellphone and dialed Miya's number, receiving a quick response, to her relief "Miya, it's Hikari. Ya mind opening the door? The new update erased my DNA so I can't enter."
"Hikari, you're actually here? Let me get to the door; Aufisa's finishing the few last illustrations for her current chapter and I just finished writing the 8th volume of the harem manga. Good thing too; it's being made into an anime in April, same with the post-apocalyptic light novel with the fairies I showed you before you left. I'll tell you the details inside."
A minute passed as the door opened, revealing the youthful looking, despite being 235 years among the Illarians (though she's still considered a young child compared to other Illarians, same with Aufisa at 382 since Aunshal, their mother, is 882 years old, which is closer to a common age among the ageless Illarians, though some of their elders are thousands of years old; those ages compared to Terran lifespans make Miya, Aufisa, and Aunshal around 13, 16, and 40 respectively) pinkette, green eyed Illarian girl wearing a dull green colored casual dress, beckoning Hikari to enter, closing the door behind her
"Hikari, it's good to see you. I haven't seen you in over half a year. Aufisa and I have been making a lot of strides in our manga work. Aufisa's magical girl harem manga is getting a twelve episode anime in the summer season with a possibility of a second season when she can get enough content built up, provided people are still interested in it by then and my post-apocalyptic light novel regarding the fairies is getting a full twenty five episode run starting in summer too. In that regard, I've been asked of a list of Seiyuus for the main characters and among them are Miharu-san and Lily-san, among a few other people who I know would be perfect for the characters. Guess we know who the better artist in the family is Aufisa!" While Miya spoke with a calm tone as she walked with Hikari toward the kitchen, pouring a cup of chamomile tea since Hikari just returned for the first time in a long while, but quickly became condescending as she rose her voice to make sure Aufisa heard her boast, Miya being a rare outlier among the Illarians since she actually possesses the ability to display emotions when most cannot. While it is unrelated in this regard, Miya had always lacked an aptitude for drawing pictures, but she discovered that her artistic talents existed in writing which didn't exist since they themselves don't have a system of writing but after learning the japanese kanji, Miya proved herself to be an exceptional writer able to work at nearly double the speed of the average mangaka.
"Oh please. Anyone can write words Miya, but only a true artist can create such extravagant images like I can. Don't presume for a second you're better than me when you're clearly not."
Miya simply let her eyes close all so slightly and stuck her tongue out in an accusatory manner as she let her attention return back to Hikari "I've been working on that whole japanese tea ceremony thing and I think I've got this down. But before you start drinking it, I want to add a little something to sweeten it up." After saying this, she walked toward a cabinet and pulled out a small orange-tinted canister and uncorked the lid, poured a little bit of what looked like honey into a teaspoon and added it to the tea as she mixed it thoroughly "It was tough to get this particular spice but this is fireweed honey. It should compound the calming effect of chamomile tea with helping boost your condition considering your work in the federation and all."
"Thank you Miya." With a gentle smile, the first Hikari felt sincere about since before the skirmish in the insurrection base in the Pacific Ocean, she slowly drank the tea prepared by Miya "Mm, great as always. While I do know how to cook myself, I always miss yours when I'm deployed. Guessing it comes from how you primarily were the one who raised me and Yami growing up. Anyway, Ambassador Miyo asked me to handle repairing Cardinal and XANA's mechanical bodies since she had something sudden come up."
Reluctantly pulling herself away from the tea, Hikari walked toward the mechanical bodies belonging to the two AIs laid against a wall, inspecting their frames thoroughly as she noticed no obvious physical defects "Hm, must be something internal." She then activated her omni-tool's scanner to analyze the bodies underneath from top to bottom, once again finding no electronic failure which would cause the issue of preventing their actions "What the hell?! I can't detect any problems which would make them like this! Oh screw this, I'm syncing their black boxes with my omni-tool. I'm going to have them tell me what the problem is." With this plan of action decided, Hikari connected the two AIs to her communication system.
"Oh thank every star in the sky that I'm finally able to talk." Cardinal spoke very quickly as soon it was connected to Hikari's omni-tool and while she had maintained a masculine personality prior to her being uploaded into an independent Artificial Intelligence, the conversion process Miyo committed the two AIs too strangely changed Cardinal into a feminine type personality with a voice to boot though Cardinal hardly minded it since the Seed program in its original state was planning on being dismantled in the mid 2030s which would've deleted both her and XANA, to her, changing from as masculine type AI to feminine was a minor trifle compared to outright 'death'. Miyo's intervention saved both of them and gave them new life. What primarily brought forth this course of action was the fact the creators of some of the top tier games at the time, like say Alfheim and Tirella, made the executive decision of separating their games from the Seed and maintain their own servers because of their vast popularity; Alfheim with gamers and Tirella garnering a surprising amount of support from companies of all sizes while also appealing to casual gamers who wanted a non-combat game, the creator likening it to an advanced MMO version of the Sims or Minecraft being two of the more prominent games among them. Although it was a good move on their parts since that freedom would give them much more accessibility to expand, but it did come at the fate of nearly dooming the Seed since people were slowly beginning to avoid it at the time, it now being only in history books.
"Cardinal, I need to know what the problem is. I can't detect any electrical problems with your bodies."
"Right, right. Look, the circuits in these bodies Miyo Hanari made us are breaking down. It was in a bit of desperation on her part since the Seed's dismantling would've erased us, so she built us bodies a little haphazardly, yet it was still sturdy enough to last years but we've reached the limit. We need replacements."
"Noted. I'll call an Isnian engineering firm set up here on Earth in the morning and ask them to bring you to their shop and craft you two new bodies. I'll ask them to keep superficial appearances the same but improve the hardware significantly." With a mild yawn coming from exhaustion, Hikari looked toward Miya "Say, is Yami here?"
"Unfortunately no. She wanted to come when she got the call from Miyo but it's too late in the night. She just finished a major exam period and the university is giving the students a week's mini vacation for relaxation since the exams had been ongoing for a week and a half. But she is going to be coming first thing in the morning. She's dying to see you."
"Yeah, same here. It's been over a year since I saw my little twin. Mmm...good night."
"We've kept your room clean and organized just how you left it. Good night little Hikari."
Real Life Standard Time: [10:00] February 19th, 2043
Location: [Earth - Tokyo's Toshima Ward - Hikari's Residence]
Giving a weak nod toward Miya, she walked toward her room, entering and felt a tinge of nostalgia and comfort at how it has remained unchanged, yet kept clean, like Miya had said, quickly seeing the old pink teddy bear Aufisa made for her when she was a toddler in a corner of the room, Yami having gotten her own as well
"Huh. Aufisa even kept Soli in good condition? Even after all these years and I've outgrown him? Hmm...it has been years and I do want to get as much comfort before I go out on the most dangerous mission in my life. May be the last time I'm able to enjoy these creature comforts."
With this in mind, she gently grabbed the bear and walked toward her bed, falling asleep the moment she hit her pillow, tightly holding onto her old security item from her infant years and when the morning came, Hikari groaned as she felt her weary body being oh so slightly moved
"Ugh...let me sleep. I'm tired…"
"Since when did you turn into such a sloth sis? You normally are alert and awake by this time of day."
"Hm?" Half mumbled as she was exhausted from all the trials lately, Hikari blinked as she turned her head toward the source of the voice; her dulled sense of sight showing a girl with snow white hair kept in braids, normally a chestnut brown but has been dyed in a special way that is near perfectly safe, and forest green eyes wearing japan's unchanged denim blue school uniform "Oh. Hey Yami. Geez, why can't you just let me sleep in?"
"You can't just sleep the day away! Remember that I haven't seen you in a year!"
"Ugh, fine. Get out and let me get dressed. We may be twins, but I still expect some degree of privacy. Especially since you know my sleeping patterns." While it is rarely shown since she is usually working with the federation but when she's able to get away, she has a tendency of becoming far more slothful than her normal efficient mindset would normally allow.
"Urk, are you seriously…? For years I question how exactly you turned into an exhibitionist when we had the exact same upbringing. I'll go, but please don't walk out until you're dressed. I've been scarred enough by you in the past; I don't want any repeats."
After seeing Yami leave, she pushed her bed sheet aside and got dressed as she exited her room and found Yami waiting for her in the living room
"Oh thank goodness sis, I was horrified after what you told me back there. Come on, Sui and Maki are waiting for us outside. Strangely Sora didn't feel like coming this time around. Maybe's she's feeling under the weather? Anyway, they want to go to Yaesu Chikagai and pick up some stuff they ordered and take a look at a few manga that recently came out." Although Hikari couldn't talk about the matter regarding Sora since it involved the Enforcers/newly christened Spectres, she had a very good idea as to why Sora would rather stay away for the time being since an awkward note has been introduced into their friendship which only time can soothe over.
"Ah, I love going there, especially Kuemon-san's cafe. It's interesting that Mills-san was willing to merge the Dicey Cafe with her own family's business since he had established himself as a strong independent face in the neighborhood. Having those two businesses, coupled with her keen business sense and good grace from the federation as they asked to have one around their HQ, which Takara Kazuma-san runs, really helped her business thrive. I hope Kuemon-san is there; I like it when she's around since it makes the environment a whole lot friendlier. Just, let me call the local engineer outfit run by the Isnians since XANA and Cardinal need new bodies. I'm actually kinda glad they work for free but that does mean they tend to be swarmed with work. I wouldn't expect Cardinal and XANA back for some time."
Real Life Standard Time: [10:00] February 21th, 2043
Location: [Earth - Multiverse Federation HQ - Hangar]
With the preparation period now complete, Hikari found herself in one of the transport shuttles used by the federation with two hundred empty crates, thirty of them being used to store Hikari's secret allies in the Spectres: Garrus, Ashley, Jondum, and Yuuki, and the inactive Geth Primes and Hoppers, all cloaked with state of the art Isnian stealth technology and per the plan, Hikari shed any sense of a connection between her and the Enforcers, or rather the rechristened Spectres, since Hikari Murai officially is a simple assistant to Miyo per Federation records and while Miyo has shared records of Enforcer missions, she has never given their identities per federation desire to keep those agents secret; and since this operation requires secrecy, Hikari had to work the shuttle solo as her usual self as it underwent the necessary preparations through the automated deployment systems
"Huh. While I've acted as security for this kind of transport, I've never been in the bridge, but Isnian technology is surprisingly easy when you get the hang of it. The quote 'Plug and go' can be considered a good comparison to the situation." As she stared at the glass-like screen with holographic interfaces, Hikari hovered her hands above it as the ship began to rise above the launch pad it was docked in "Ugh, not a fan of how this works. Feels like a driving simulator up to eleven if you were overdosed with medicine that makes you feel drunk. Wolfram, I need you to handle the navigation controls; this is going to give me motion sickness."
"As you wish Agent Murai."
Real Life Standard Time: [12:40] February 21th, 2043
Location: [Isnian Space - Sector Ara IJM-59J]
After spending two hours in the shuttle, Hikari had finally entered the proximity of the armada's range, immediately being contacted through audio-only transmission
"Present your identification code or we will open fire."
"This is Federation transport Xaarus 382-LTRX. I'm here on behalf of the Multiverse Federation to acquire our new shipment of materials and supplies."
"Acknowledged Xaarus. Report to the Inigu and we'll get your ship restocked. Ambassador Miyo Hanari forwarded a list of what the federation needs three days ago and we've had our fabrication and engineering teams creating it all. It'll take the rest of the day to unload your cargo and refill it."
"Acknowledged Inigu control." After ending the transmission with the Isnian insurrection fleet, she activated dual-screen communication to contact the two leaders of the fleets assigned to help her in this assignment "Briekkar, Admiral Corinthus, I'm set to dock with the Inigu in a half hour. Get ready to spool up your warp drives to get close enough to draw ships away. They shouldn't be able to suspect my involvement at this time so feel free to take any approach you wish but be sure that you reveal Viridius' betrayal of the Emperor to rattle morale. And obviously do not reveal my involvement before I'm ready."
"Got it kid. Trust me, my fellow Isnians are outraged at this betrayal and want to see Viridius deposed. The Arcadian and Elbian fleets are standing by alongside my forces. The traitors will likely attempt usual standard Isnian military tactics of overtaking enemy ships with boarding parties so we're keeping Parthenian Knights and Elbian automata on standby scattered throughout each ship."
"And Urdnot Wrex has provided us the best fighters of each krogan clan to help defend our own ships in that potential situation. If the situation permits it, we'll try sending additional reinforcements but it's very likely your forces will be restricted to what few Geth and the Spectres we already sent with you. You'll have to act strategically since your likelihood of aid is remote."
"I know Corinthus. I'm not exactly a newcomer to battle. I'm not as experienced as professional soldiers since I've only done this for about three or four years, with my real body at least since I've been spent decades in a virtual world sped up by nearly 1000 times though that's something I've kept from everyone since the world is a pretty tightly kept secret to a handful of people, but I know how to fight just as well as they can." Hikari spoke rather calmly, with a small monologue in her mind as she reminiscences about the source of her training.
"Noted Hikari Murai. Results speak for themselves and you've achieved them. I'm relaying orders to the citadel coalition fleet now. It'll take about a half hour for our forces to arrive."
"Same here for the federation fleet. Corinthius, let our forces handle the brunt of this assault since this was our fault to begin with. Besides, we've all built our ships to be able to operate independently with minimal to no crew. We like to delegate most tasks to our AIs. We want to minimize your casualties."
"As you wish Briekkar. If that's the way you want to go, we'll let you draw away insurrection forces while our forces close in and send in boarding parties through UT-47 Kodiaks."
"Be careful Corinthus. The Inigu's defenses are vicious and if you launch before the Geth and Wolfram are able to render them inert, they will be torn to shreds. Our ships are designed to crunch numbers and locate targets in nanoseconds. That and remember that our ships are capable of housing hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. Trying to take over an Isnian ship, especially the Inigu, has always been declared impossible because of our advanced defenses and all of the military personnel kept within these citadels."
"Don't worry about us Briekkar. We Turians are accustomed to war. We will not falter."
As she wants to return her focus on the mission at hand, Hikari severed her side of the communication, fearing that the pair would endlessly banter on and didn't want that distracting her from her goal of assassinating Viridius.
"To think this immense responsibility falls onto my shoulders. I can only imagine that the Federation would've preferred sending a more experienced agent on this mission but no changing that now. Geez. I've never felt this nervous on an Enforc- no a Spectre mission before. Guess the stakes are higher since I'm the first member of a much higher stakes organization working in the public this time round."
"No need to be so nervous little Hikari. I've got your back." Hikari nearly jumped in shock when she felt her shoulder being tapped, hearing Yukki Konno's voice coming from behind her but not her visible presence since she was being hidden with powerful stealth masking her body's natural heat generation.
"Konno-san?"
"Yeah. While Garrus, Ashley, and Jondum are working as a trio to help protect the Geth once we get on board, I'm choosing to stick to you like glue in case something goes awry since you've been given the...fortune of going after Viridius directly. If you feel nervous when the moment comes, I'll do it. I want this asshole to die."
"Konno-san, I appreciate the offer. I genuinely do, but this is something I need to do myself. I've lost my brothers and sisters-in-arms in the Enforcers because of this insurrection; because of Viridius. I very much agree with your stance that Viridius is a jackass who must be taken down. But it will be by my hand."
"Hikari, I need to ask you a serious question. Are you sure about this? I'm accustomed to the whole killing business since I'm a Council Spectre and while you're certainly more mature for your age, you're still a child. Children really shouldn't be exposed to this kind of lifestyle."
"Konno-san, I didn't decide to do this on a random whim. I knew perfectly well what I was getting myself into when I joined the Federation proper as an Enforcer. Listen, we can't risk the insurrection discovering you guys too soon. Get back into the storage crate and hide until I give the all-clear. If you want to stay close to me, fine. But do not jeopardize my safety."
"Heh, like the sass. Shows a real fire in your eyes. Seeing ya act like this reminds me of a fellow N7 I've trained with: James Vega. Guy was a hardass and a piss poor leader but a damn good soldier and a good friend to have. Though I will admit I'm not fond of all the flirting he does. Anyway, see you inside."
Real Life Standard Time: [14:00] February 21th, 2043
Location: [Isnian Space - Isnian Citadel Fleet Flagship: Inigu]
After boarding the massive Isnian flagship of the armada: Inigu, and although a proper comparison has never been done, several consultants have roughly compared the size to around 300,000 Terran kilometers which is a little over twice the size of Jupiter which is already the largest planet in the Sol system, being 11 times the size of Earth; naturally this discovery had rattled Terran support in the federation when they discovered the Isnians had access to spacecraft that could theoretically blot out the skies of any world they wished though the Isnians firmly stated that the Inigu would remain in their territory only and their other vessels would be used solely for peacekeeping purposes, though that didn't mean they decided to neglect their allies as the Isnians had been either been helping their fellow federation members construct their own spacecraft or in the case of their 'younger' pre-space age members, lending members of their navy to protect their air-space in hidden compounds, often in shelled out asteroids, Hikari entered the Inigu's shuttle bay, opening every crate holding the four Spectre agents and the Geth, telling them to exercise extreme caution as they are in enemy territory where even a single sound of their movement could lead to death and with the warning given, Hikari left the shuttle first as she sensed Garrus, Ashley, Jondum, and the Geth walking past her as she felt Yuuki gently put her hand on her shoulder to reassure her that she's going to stay by her side in this conflict.
'The Geth are on route to the Inigu's AI mainframe with their Spectre entourage. Each Spectre is ready to lay down suppressing fire for them. As soon as you give the signal, they are ready to hack into the Isnian AIs as long as you can provide aid from Wolfram. They may be able to break through, but only Wolfram is able to overwhelm the AIs with replicating garbage data.'
'Got it. I'm ready to do this.'
After silently talking with Yuuki through Isnian QEC communication, Hikari was met with the sight of six Amnis soldiers armed with particle based weaponry, it slightly making her nervous as she can't help but feel like her plan has been revealed, though it was quickly unfounded when the leader, a female Amnis with black scales and ivory green colored feathers stepped forward, and gave a small bow toward Hikari
"It's a pleasure young assistant to Ambassador Miyo Hanari. My name is Skruti Eayea, the new supervisor of logistical affairs here on the Inigu. My predecessor was reassigned to help the Illarians learn how to handle and repair their replication technology since we Isnians value independence in our allies. We may provide advanced technology to our friends but we don't want them becoming dependent on us; it's irritating to be frank, having them always pleading for us to help them. Anyway, my team here will transport the crates here to our storage bay for resupplyment. I've been asked to bring you to the bridge."
Along the way, feeling Yuuki's presence at her side which does give her some relief, Skruti sheathed her rifle in a holster and walked with Hikari through the ship hallways
"Say, are you related to Ghiaye Eayea? I've been acquainted with her when I was off-the-clock. She spent a lot of time relaxing in White Station in the main complex; it's a fairly popular cafe for Federation staff."
"Yeah, Ghiaye is my older twin. She never told me exactly what she was doing with the Federation but she would say it's very important for everyone. They won't even tell me how she died. I always looked up to her as an idol and it's hard to accept she's gone. I seriously want to find the person responsible for her death and tear him or her apart piece by piece."
'Fuck. This is a bit of a dilemma. If Skruti's playing me, I'd be giving myself away as a former Enforcer, jeopardizing my mission here; but if she's legitimately saying this, revealing the truth would net me another ally. But I don't think I can afford to take this kind of gamble. Wait, if Briekkar plays it right, I won't have to completely reveal myself since he's likely to reveal Viridius' betrayal of Emperor Ulpius Marcallas. But this feels disturbingly similar to the situation between me and Yami. She doesn't know about my work as an Enforcer, only that I work for the federation. Would she be like this if I were among the dead from that last battle?...Shit, this is making me so uneasy now; thinking of poor Yami. And of course, Sora, Sui, Maki, and everyone else. Ugh.'
After finally arriving in the bridge, she is met with the overwhelming presence in Viridius Ruxut, him being one of the few pure-blood Isnians remaining, them nearly always having dark blue colored skin because of their biology, four eyes, two partially hidden under curves and tan brown hair kept in a small tuft on the center of his skull and forming a small goatee underneath his curved ears, his thick three-fingered hands covered with a military grade exoskeleton designed to help boost Isnian physical capabilities for those who either refuse to 'sully' the blood purity of the original Isnians, those who were born with weaker physiques, or those who simply want to boost their strength to achieve matters of a physical nature; the same embedded on his feet and presumably legs which are hidden underneath the white and red armor he is wearing.
'Oh jesus, this guy is huge. I'm suddenly regretting the whole 'I'll handle this for you if you're nervous' remark Hikari. This guy is as big as a Yahg; those bastards are vicious, nearly as much as the krogan; had to fight some that escaped the STG on Sur'Kesh and held Admiral Shala'Rann hostage since she was meeting the Salarians to discuss a potential technology trading deal between the quarians, geth, and the salarians. I wasn't sent to help or anything, I just happened to be on-world since I was seeking some medical recommendations because of some annoying disease I caught on Omega. Even with a three hour shower and decontamination when I got back on my ship, it refused to go away. Hence why I went to Sur'Kesh.'
After finally approaching the fleet admiral, the holographic display comprising a sizeable portion of the far wall changed from a tron-like blue to the appearance of Briekkar's face silver haired, red eyed figure, him being descended from the Undina, whom resemble fantasy water spirits but with metallic additions proportioned and given a temperament in such a way to make them the perfect species to handle public relations since the Isnians, until then, had been very reclusive which was considered unacceptable since they spearheaded the creation of their galactic council, however neither the Isnians or the Amnis were qualified to handle such a responsibility on that grand a scale since they were built around science or physical labor and as she slowly approached the admiral, she contacted the Geth and told them to begin hacking into the mainframe within the next two minutes
"To what do we owe this unexpected meeting Briekkar? I thought you had resigned to join the Federation."
"Don't you even pretend to be on my side Viridius! You betrayed our emperor! He's been shown the proof of your own insubordination against the Isnian Empire in your backing the insurrection and he has demanded your execution."
"W-What? Fleet Admiral, what is this? Are you really the one behind the insurrection?!" Hikari somehow had zero difficulty believing that Skruti was angry since she lost her sister because of the man.
"Admiral, our scanners are picking up forty five hundred ships jumping out of hyperspace in three different directions! ID signatures marked as Isnian, Elbian, and Arcadian! Wait, there's nearly five thousand more belonging to the Citadel Council forces against our exposed flank!"
"This is your last chance to stand down Briekkar while I am still amicable. Right now I am tempted to let you off with only a single demotion."
"Go fuck yourself traitor! I'm going to make sure you and your secret Scylorian guard are dead. Yuuki, Skruti, take em down for Hikari! Make sure she has no obstacles in killing Viridius!" Hikari was surprised to hear Briekkar label Skruti as an ally since she had considered the woman as a potential enemy, not a double agent working with Briekkar.
With this formal declaration, Briekkar cut communication as the three factions' ships began spreading out in preparation to attack the Inigu's escorts, as the citadel council's ships began launching a barrage of shuttles clearly dedicated for their landing parties and the revelation revealed to Viridius, Yuuki deactivated her cloaking device and both women flashed venomous glares wanting to kill as they put on silver goggles, dashing about the room with their rifles in hand, seemingly shooting at mere air but quickly revealed each blast having struck against a cloaked Scylorian and moments later, power within the room and seemingly the entire ship as well as the lights repeatedly flickers, the officers in the room running in panic out of the room; Hikari maintaining a grim seriousness as she summoned her sword and tightened her stance
"You're dead Viridius. You're responsible for the deaths of so many federation personnel and my brothers and sisters in the Enforcers. I'm going to make you regret it all!"
Despite her attempting to still her anger, Hikari's memory of the funeral and the fact the Enforcers fell, having considered them all surrogate brothers and sisters, she quickly picked up speed in a charge served to be one of her momentary mishaps as she quickly finds herself grabbed by Viridius by the throat and lifted into the air with such power that she is unable to free herself
"My agents did tell me that there was a lone survivor of the Enforcers but to think she would actually bring herself to me on a silver platter. How ironic but I find this oh so effective. Now I can eliminate all of my enemies in one fell swoop." Viridius gave an evil smile at the sights in front of him: Hikari locked in his grasp and Yuuki and Skruti pinned down by Scylorian assassins who swarmed into the room when the fighting began "Time to die Enforce-" Viridius stopped speaking as he witnessed another lone figure slowly enter the room, sporting silky black hair and heterochromia, forest green in the left and crimson red in her right, with the power symbol of the CPUs branded in her irides and her right arm being completely covered with wrap bandages "Who the hell are you? How did you even get onboard this ship without anyone knowing?"
The woman stayed quiet as she slowly approached Viridius and pointed a sword at him "If you value your life, release her. Otherwise your life is forfeit."
"Oh please, you honestly think I'm going to listen to some stupid woman who-?"
This remark only served to anger the CPU as she unleashed a barrage of wind magic which quickly separated the pair; Hikari being sent against a wall while Viridius is suspended within a small tornado preventing him from moving as Karen moved forward until she was right in front of him, altering the spell's gravity to force him toward the ground, grabbing his face with her left arm to make him look up at her "Now who exactly is stupid?"
"You can't scare me with such cheap tricks; I am the fleet admiral of the indomitable Isnian arm-!"
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Karen truly had enough as she pulled her right arm back, releasing the seal that had kept the malevolence from manifesting itself in its demonic form "I am going to ENJOY consuming you; especially since you attacked my DAUGHTER!" With this villainous growl, she immediately moved her bright red and black colored malevolence tainted arm to pierce through his body outright, making Viridius scream in pain as his body began undergoing a slow dissolution through unholy fire which is followed by his essence being absorbed into Karen's own body through her arm as a catalyst "Yes...yes...how exquisite! Finally getting to experience blood after fighting myself for so long. I was a fool to deny myself this!" Giving into the ecstatic sensation her mind is feeling in addition to how long the process of absorbing Viridius is taking, she lets the malevolence take a deeper hold of her heart as her other arm transforms from the malevolence and the right side of her face becoming scarred resembling a tattoo of sorts based on the shape of what manifested; and with her other arm transformed, she thrust it through his chest as well to speed up the absorption "Scream for me! I want to hear you plead for your life as I take every drop of blood pouring through your veins!"
Because of how she was sent against the wall, Hikari was freed from the pain being grabbed by Viridius but grimaced in horror at the sight in front of her as this newcomer, her using the word daughter in that suggesting that this individual, warped as she is, is actually Karen Murai and although she has killed people in the past for the Enforcers, Hikari has never added pleasure to it; it being only cold business and this only served to shake her to the core as Viridius slowly dies by Karen's hands. Once the absorption is complete and Viridius' body missing from sight, bones, and all, Karen licked her lips with an evil smile
"Oh that was divine~. But...once just isn't enough with how much I've resisted the need for blood." Karen slowly turned her attention about the room before training it onto Hikari and slowly approached her with evil intention oozing out of her facial expressions "You'll do." Those two words alone made Hikari utterly shiver in fear since that was a confirmation that Karen had just lost her way and is willing to kill the daughter that, mere moments ago, she was willing to kill to protect.
"I don't think so Karen!" Yuuki screamed as she headbutted the Scylorian keeping her pinned to the floor and charged toward Karen with swords drawn, every intention to protect Hikari from danger but the moment where her sword would've connected to block her arms, Karen's body phased out of existence making Yuuki blink in surprise, wondering where she went; her eyes immediately going toward Hikari, a small sigh of relief at how Karen is not at her side but gasped in shock as she felt something being driven through her stomach, looking down to reveal that Karen had driven her arm through her much like Viridius "K...Karen...you just…"
A moment passed as Karen seemingly studied Yuuki and frowned profusely "You're not worth absorbing." With this declaration, Karen decided to simply throw Yuuki across the room and fired a burst of magic from her hand, hitting Yuuki in mid-air which killed her before she even hit the floor, returning her attention toward Hikari who was struggling to regain her composure from the sight she was borne to
"MOM! You need to stop this! I thought you came here to protect me! Not kill me!"
"But I am. You're such a troublemaker that I have little option but to absorb you in order to keep you safe."
'So I guess Ginham was right. Mom really was worried about my safety. But to think she was so worried that she turned into a daemon.' As she fought to calm her nerves, she faced the monster that was once her mother "I see. So this is a fight to the death. Your mind has been warped by the darkness within to where you think non-existence is the same as protecting. I'm not going to let you kill me." Hikari frowned as she summoned a wing-shaped launcher and put it on her arm, inserting a scarlet red disc "This is something I've been hiding since I needed to acclimate to it; that and I didn't want people to view me differently. Access!"
After activating the launcher, Hikari was enveloped by a bright light which transformed her into a CPU proper, her dark brown hair changing to a bright scarlet red, her eyes an ocean blue and equipped with a bodysuit similar in design to the ones used by CPU Candidates Rom and Ram but colored white and red
"So you're able to become a CPU as well little Hikari. Always believed you could since I was still a goddess when I gave birth to you, same with Yami too I suspect. Heh, I wonder what a goddess' blood will taste like."
"It's clear you can't be swayed or even saved mother. It's unsettling but I guess I will have to become a kin-slayer to protect those I love. To kill whom I love to protect whom I love. How paradoxical. Please...forgive me mother. Yami."
Hikari quickly tightened her stance as Karen charged toward her, activating her Mirror Ghost system as she repeatedly attempts to consume her to no avail as she continously phases through her daemonic arms, keeping her sword trained low as she waits for an opportune moment which quickly comes since Karen is fighting erratically, and with a silent apology, she was met with a perfect moment as she quickly enchanted her sword with fire magic and drove it through Karen's heart, every desire to set her aflame from the inside out, one of the only surefire ways she knows of to deal with a being of such power coupled with the divine protection CPUs possess
"Forgive me mother, but this has to be done!" With tears running down her face, Hikari unleashed enough fire magic that it began bursting from various parts of Karen's body, some streams hitting Hikari as well, introducing burn marks on her face though she pushed through the pain; hearing Karen howl in pain similar to a wounded beast as her body slowly slumped down to her knees, her head slowly turned toward Hikari
"I really fucked up...didn't I? All this time...I tried sheltering you from this chaos and tried oh so badly to cleanse this corruption I had been suffering from for years and of all things, you are the one who kills me. Histoire did everything she could to divide me from this but not even she could find a way to remove the dark power I had first absorbed from Rei Ryghts and ensure it would be destroyed in the process; a separation would cause that power to end up somewhere random in Gamindustri. I refused to take that gamble where someone else could find it and become corrupted like I am now. And it only got worse after succumbing to malevolence. Shimure did what he could but no matter much how he took, it kept leaving marks that accelerated the growth of evil in my heart. It started mild where I could go over a year without feeling the temptation but it quickly turned into months, and then weeks. I couldn't stand it; knowing I'd fall that often. Even I couldn't fight it off forever. It's why I had suspected that going after Viridius would be an easy way to die, and I was right; just, not in the way I had thought of. I'm...I'm sorry I had to put you through this Hikari. To think that a Goddess' holy fire would be enough to destroy the darkness in me. At least no one else will suffer what I had to endure." With a hint of hesitation, Karen gently moved her transformed hand, pouring all of her remaining strength to materialize it in human form as she wiped the tears running down Hikari's eyes "Don't cry Hikari. It doesn't suit you. As much as I separated myself from your lives to protect you, it was also to minimize an emotional connection so you wouldn't be so heartbroken over my death, but I guess that backfired. I guess I failed at the whole 'worst parent of the year' thing. At least the company won't take too much of a hit; my board of directors are experienced with the company and keep it running without me. Please...tell Yami and Hikaru I said goodbye. Tell them to remember me as a woman who cared about her family to the absolute last moment despite everything."
"Mom…"
After giving one last smile, her head fell and her breathing stopped; Hikari sniffling at the sight of her deceased mother as she hears someone approach her, a brief glance revealing it's Skruti
"Sorry about your mother and your friend there."
"Tell me. How long did you know of this whole thing? Briekkar called you an agent."
"The whole time, so basically, six months. I was actually the one who informed the federation of the insurrection in the first place. I used to act as the Inigu's communication liaison before being reassigned to logistics, monitoring all communication in and out of the Inigu, though I never read those messages; only confirm the sender and sendee. What I said was the truth though, I was reassigned since my predecessor got moved to Sonhadra and I was considered the best person for the job. Thing is, I had noticed a pretty sizeable amount of bandwidth being 'stolen' from our usual allocation. It made me suspicious since we had to allocate enough for our crew to contact their families on a regular, monthly basis at predetermined periods, but that change prevented many from doing so and they were angry. I investigated and discovered the admiral having a direct connection to an uprising. I was too afraid to act upon the information directly so I forwarded a small summary to my older twin since she had told me she was working with the Enforcers, well; indirectly. She told me she was part of a secret project. That was what began your armed retaliation against them. That and the apparent start of my acting career since I had to keep this quiet while also trying to work with Briekkar; him being a close confidant of mine since our families have been close for over fifteen generations."
"Why keep this from us? We could've ended this so much faster!"
"First of all, I was afraid for my life because of Viridius' influence in the military. Secondly, it was crucial that the emperor was made aware of this in action and Viridius' connection to them crystal clear. While I could have saved a couple dozen or hundred lives by alerting you early, it would've come at the cost of the Isnians withdrawing from the Federation outright at best or war at worst. Think about it Hikari Murai, how would it look if a squad of Federation soldiers assassinated the Fleet Admiral without prior provocation?"
"That's…-"
"It'd be horrible. The Emperor would side with the martyr in this situation and the vast majority of our population would join in concert. My inaction led to the deaths of no more than five hundred people; my sister, your mother, and many of your colleagues, yes. But I had to think of the greater good in this situation. Good people lost their lives but it at least ensured that the Isnians will remain affiliated with the Federation. You guys wouldn't be able to maintain your promised standard of living for your members without our aid, our technology is simply too advanced. Of course, that's minor compared to your lives as the Isnians would be determined to enslave or exterminate the federation races, leading to thousands or potentially even millions of deaths if Viridius' wasn't marked for death by the Emperor. By withholding this information and making Viridius overconfident of his anonymity, he let himself slip up and let information regarding his connection leak. That allowed you all to discover the source yourselves and linked it with a solid, indisputable source. That evidence would be able to convince the emperor of Viridius' betrayal and thus mobilize a vast majority of Isnian support from the populace. They will not see the federation as enemies in this; the admiral will be the enemy. I do wish I was able to save my sister but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Hikari, hurry back to the shuttle; the citadel council forces are overtaking the ship's core rooms, they'll be safe to traverse through. I'll report Karen Murai's death to the federation and Yuuki Konno's to the Citadel. They'll both be dearly missed."
"Make sure they are given due respect."
"Of course."
Real Life Standard Time: [17:00] February 21th, 2043
Location: [Earth - Multiverse Federation HQ - Council Chamber 6]
After departing the Inigu with heavy feet with the knowledge that she had killed her mother lingering in her heart and mind, Hikari slowly walked through the familiar hallways of the artificial island toward the council chambers when she heard that the core leaders wished to speak with her, though this time around, it was just Miyo, Mamoru, and the guardians of the Elbians.
"Hikari, first of all, we must give congratulations in you finally quelling the insurrection. Briekkar, Skruti, and Corinthus are rounding up Viridius' supporters and are planning to have them judged in the courts. Many are likely to face prison time. I still want to hold my stance of resigning for allowing this to prosper despite the others telling me I'm blaming myself too much."
"Yeah...sure."
With this despondent remark, she quickly looked upward as she saw that Mamoru had placed a hand on her shoulder, with a calm sense of sorrow fixed on his face
"Karen wouldn't want you blaming yourself for this Hikari. She didn't say this often, but there were times when she genuinely wanted to die because of what she was suffering from. But there were only two things keeping her from thinking like that despite distancing herself from all of her friends; and that was you and Yami, her daughters. It may be something of a blessing in disguise for her to have finally died, her now being freed from the evil within her. But it is unfortunate nonetheless for us all. She was a great friend who touched many lives. So many good people, members and friends of Senryaku even, have been lost to this insurrection: Karen herself, Lilica, Ginham, too many others. Karen herself was a major reason we're all here, in the Multiverse Federation as she was its uncredited founder, having inspired Miyo and Hana to go through with it in the first place and take full credit for it. This is one funeral where I'm going to practically force Katsuo, Kana, Sylvia, Hikaru, Haruka, and all of our close friends to come in person. I'm going to need to create a pocket dimension to make this one work because of how many people we know who'll want to attend."
"Yeah, this is too important for us to miss. I'll call for Hana, Rose, Wil, Yuela, Emelita, Serawi, Hillary, Shiori, Filia, Athena, and anyone else I can think of who'd want to attend her funeral."
"Hikari Murai, in light of your service, it should be unanimous that your appointment into the Spectres be made official."
"Erm, about that Zakria...I'm resigning from active service. My interest in the whole Enforcer/Spectre thing has been extinguished."
"But why? You're one of our best soldiers."
"Zakria, I've been shown what happens to family when you're a soldier, especially siblings. Yami and I have already lost our mother to this insurrection and I don't want her losing me too. Even though Aufisa and Miya raised us and our father's still alive, we only really have ourselves. Much like Viperia-san, I want to give up this kind of lifestyle and enjoy my time with my friends like any other young pre-teen. I'll keep myself fit through conventional exercise but I'm turning my back on battle, at least, for now. Maybe. I'll relinquish my weapons that belonged to the Federation." Hikari stopped speaking for a moment as she scratched the back of her head "Well, aside from Wolfram since it's attached to my brain and all. I suffered a month's worth of surgery and tests to have this implant installed and I just know having it removed would be leagues worse."
"I understand. We'll do a sweep of your equipment and disconnect your access to our storage. Normally I'd object to you keeping Wolfram but the circumstances are unavoidable since trying to remove it from your brain would indeed cripple you to some extent. But we'd like to introduce behavioral blocks upon his AI core. While we don't mind it being unshackled while in our service, the fact it's being released to the public without federation oversight makes us nervous to put it mildly. I'll call the doctors who installed the implant and ask them to prepare and install the necessary limiter. I don't know how long it'll take, so please; keep Wolfram hidden."
"Ambassador Miyo, you don't need to worry about that. I've always kept everything regarding the federation secret. As far as my sister, my guardians, and my friends know, I was just an administrative assistant to you. But while I don't want to be a part of your armed forces, I am willing to remain to help Druuxea with her job here."
"Well that's a relief at least. Well at least your new job won't be just a cover up. We'll call for you when we have finished our preparations. But before you leave, you have some pretty deep scars from your magic which likely won't be going away, so let me cover them up with some tattoos." As she approached Hikari, she pulled out a small bottle labeled as a numbing solution, rubbing it over the scars, the sensation making Hikari squirm in unease, quickly followed by Miyo then pulling out a small laser built around painlessly applying tattoos and drew what Hikari suspected was a united double line Y pattern around her face in addition to a number of connected horizontal lines based on the shapes she was seeing Miyo drawn, meant to look like she had gotten a small makeover, semi hoping the tattoos are the same design most Scylorians have since she always found them intriguing "There you go Hikari. I've hidden your scars enough with those tattoos that they should be indistinguishable. If anyone asks, just say it's an unspoken Scylorian custom you grew interested about from your time working with me. None of our children attend school here so no one should be able to challenge it."
"Until then." Hikari bowed as she turned heel and walked back toward the shuttle bay, writing up one final log in the way she had always done from the day she started them
'Hunter's Log 128. Final Entry. Well the time has come for me to cease being a soldier and creating these entries. Although I have proved myself skilled in combat, I've finally come to realize the dark side of all this; particularly having experienced the death of my fellow Enforcers, General Ginham, Yuuki Konno, and my own mother. Of course, I learned not long after Ginham's funeral that Lilica Teken had been killed by Tybalt's hand. Learning of this perspective was traumatizing and something I'm eager to separate myself from. Of course, I can imagine Yami and the others hassling me even more to focus on my studies since she's in college and them expecting me to follow her example...ugh. I feel like I'm suddenly regretting my decision to refocus on my normal life. Well, I'll guess have to get as much help from my friends as possible. What to put next. Geez, I am too mentally exhausted to write anything from my life further in this chronicle. It may be ceremonial to make a final entry grand and whatnot but this chapter of my life ought to end. Well, farewell Asami Junko, proud Enforcer of the Federation. It's time for Hikari Murai to regain her own life.'
A/N: Regarding the bulk of text regarding who came to the funeral and the characters' ultimate fate, I'll make a simpler list regarding the three groups I had 'created' for the funeral and their fates.
Came to the funeral in person - Hikaru Murai, Mamoru Nakasone, Erica Nakasone, Miyo Hanari, Astona Lalat, Hana Oishi (Izumi Mizutani as an adult after undergoing an Elbian ritual known as Zephyr), Nepgear/Violet Murai, Lilica Teken, Lilon Teivale, 3 members of Obsidian squad, Grandmaster Medea Lisalon, Caelus, Yukihana, Neptune, Noire, Uni, Blanc, Rom, Ram, Vert, Alicia, Manasilius, and Aaron Okamura, Millhi, Eclair, Brioche, Yukikaze, Leo, Couvert, Grunt, and Jondum Bau.
Came to the funeral as holograms - Katsuo Viperia, Kana Viperia, Haruka Viperia, Sylvia Takara, Kazuto Kirigaya, Asuna Kirigaya, Keiko Ayano, Rika Shinozaki, Shino Asada, Madoka Miyagawa, and Tsubasa Miyagawa
Didn't come to the funeral - Karen Murai, Rose Menkalinan (the surname being given to her by Karen, who based it off a star in the Auriga constellation), the Sparrowfeathers, Celina, Jude Mathis and his group from Rieze Maxia, Shiori Mitsui, Hillary Crampton, Athena, and everyone else not listed.