Hello everyone, sorry this is a week late again. I got tied up into the new To aru new testament novel and it took up a bit of my time.

Anyway, after having a chat with Andrew regarding his existence he's agreed to stay out of these talks for a while while he calms down-

Will: You mean recovers from the head trauma you caused him.

He struck first, I merely defended myself.

Will: Yeah, with a sledgehammer. How'd you even pick that up anyway, you rarely built up muscles.

I've always been strong, even if I never worked the muscles out. That's why

Will: *shrugs* If you say so.

I do.

At any rate, I'm not gonna take up your time like I did last intro so I'll be ending this here and will see you at the bottom.

Enjoy.

Chapter 11: The chase is on

"Now then, how about you tell us what that was about okay Ranpha?"

We were in the infirmary. After picking up the unconscious tank of mass destruction that was Ranpha we headed to the closest place we could put her down without risk of her just jumping right back up and going into punch-punch mode on Tact again for the probes peeping tendencies that had caused the original scream to break out.

The infirmary in particular had been chosen as it had a bed we could put her on before tying her up with some handcuffs Forte had on her for whatever reason... does she always carry those on her person?

...What am I talking about? This is Forte we're talking about here.

Of course she does.

Anyway, five minutes after we got her nice and settled into her bed Ranpha finally woke up and immediately attempted the following things:

First, she bolted upright in a manner so quick she immediately flew back onto the bed after the cuffs got caught on the sides after being stretched to the max.

Second, after leaning back up she immediately zoomed her vision on Tact and attempted to rip the cuffs off only to receive a slap by Forte who levelled a glare that shook her a little and caused her to stop struggling.

Third, she looked over to me and gave me a glare of her own that wasn't really that intimidating- though that was likely because she was handcuffed and so was unable to actually do anything to me from across the room to her.

This had all happened within the first twenty seconds of her waking up.

Now back to the present.

After hearing my question she looked towards Tact again and sent the same glare she'd sent me at him; only this time, due to the circumstances, Tact actually shook a little and etched a little backwards as if she could somehow still hit him while being strapped to the bed.

"That guy," The glare intensified. "Peeked on me while I was in the shower!"

Silence. The girls (as well as Cera who was watching the whole thing while holding in a laugh) turned towards the falsely accused commander. If looks could kill... he'd had been disintegrated by now; everyone but Milfie (who was looking almost... betrayed, am I reading that right?) shot lasers out their eyes at him.

As for me...

"...You know I was kidding when I said that right?"

I tried to crack a joke.

"N-No I didn't! I'm innocent!" Naturally Tact, rightfully, defended against such a statement.

"Don't lie! When I walked out the shower I saw you standing there!"

"I never even walked into the shower room! I heard you yell, ran into the locker room and saw..." He stopped there and looked away with a soft blush.

"...So you saw her in a towel then?" I asked despite knowing the answer. "That still classifies as peeping there Tact."

"It was an accident!" he retorted. "I only went in there because I heard Ranpha shout."

"And yet she claims she saw you in the locker; something that, if it did happen, couldn't be refutable since we all know what you look like Mr Commander." Forte rejected Tact's rebuttal; something that inwardly surprised me since in the game they all just laughed it off.

I guess the attack on the engines from the heel hounds shook them up more than the game portrayed... which also explains Ranpha's actions when you think about it.

When you're stressed you do tend to lash out in anger over the smallest of things after all; I'd learned that during exam time when I was doing my A-levels.

"...Can you have anyone vouch for you that you weren't in the shower room Tact? Did you talk with anyone before you went over there?" I had to act as the voice of reason here otherwise we'll end up with Tact locked up which won't end well.

"No, I didn't meet with anyone when I was in the corridors." Another change, in the game he met up with Kuromie just before Ranpha screamed. Why didn't he...

Oh right, he'll be watching over animals over himself at the moment since the attack on the deck was worse this time.

There goes that option.

"Hang on, but I saw you earlier Tact and you ignored me." So spoke Mint- I remember her saying that in the game too.

"E-even Mint... I beg for understanding here." Tact slouched over in self-concern. He had no alibi and two accounts of odd behaviour... hang on, this was perfect.

"Hmm... is it possible the enemy sent in some kind of sabotage unit while the fight was taking place?" I offered in Tact's defence. This was perfect, now I could offer the idea of the probe without giving suspicion! "Maybe some kind of automated machine or something; did the military ever have anything like that in their closets?"

Silence reigned once again. Looks of realisation came across everyone faces as if the answer had literary slapped everyone in the face.

"An optical camouflage probe!" The answer was yelled out by everyone in the room but me.

"A what now?"

"Its a probe mainly used for recon missions by using 3-D imaging to mimic humans; perfect for infiltrating the ship... as for how it got onboard..."

"The missiles," Mint replied. "The ones that hit the hanger and the ones that hit the engines were of different design; meaning that were used for different objectives."

Tact- "The anti-hull missiles to stop us in our tracks..."

Ranpha- "...And the missiles hiding the probe to get control from the inside."

Forte- "I hate to admit it... but its a good plan."

"But now we know what we're looking for." I pointed out. "Tact, it might be best if you go somewhere, like your office, until we catch this thing. That way, we know we're getting it and not you."

Tact nodded to the request easily. "Alright, I'll explain the situation to the bridge to get the ship on alert about... well, me and then hide away. Everyone, I'll be counting on you to find the probe in the meantime."

"Sir!"

With that, the plan was set into motion.

Andrew was enjoying a well earned coffee when the notice was sent across the ship.

"Attention! All crew members are to keep watch for commander Tact Mayers! He have reason to believe an imposter has boarded the ship and has disguised themselves with his appearance! If any crewmen is to see the commander report immediately through your portable communicators directly to the bridge!"

Such were the words that came from the ships loudspeakers.

'...Won't that give the opposite effect? That broadcast would have been sent across the whole ship; meaning that the enemy will have heard it too... leading them to panic and act in an irregular manner. Ah, so that was it... wait, if the opponent is a infiltration unit it is likely a optic probe; meaning that its best course of action will be to copy the image of a regular crewmen and blend in.'

While Andrew thought this the announcement continued.

"It is advised that crewmen move in groups while searching for the imposter. The enemy has been estimated to be an optical infiltration probe that copies a humans image- any person not found to be in a group... will be immediately quarantined and imprisoned in the Elsior's storage bay. That is all."

With that the speakers switched themselves off.

...Andrew's immediate response was to get up from his seat and head over to where his fellow crewmen were sitting with serious expressions on their faces- a rare thing among the crew if you weren't Andrew.

Upon reaching them his words were sharp and too the point. "You heard the bridge. Let us split into two groups to scour the deck for this impersonator."

A series of nods was his only answer.

As there were six of them they split into two groups of three. While it may have been slightly more practical to split into three groups of two since they were likely dealing with a mechanical opponent it would likely be stronger than two ordinary men; making it so that they would be outclassed in a two v one match.

The possibility it could fight and win a three v one battle was also present but it was a slim chance at most. It was an infiltration unit after all; its goal was to blend in, not to battle.

At any rate, one group, led by a female crew member named Amber Ricefield, headed over to the west side of the deck from the lounge towards the cafeteria before moving towards the convenience store while the second group led by Andrew headed towards the main hall of the deck that contained the elevators that moved between the Elsior's various decks.

B-deck was among the smallest of the Elsior's decks, as such these were the only truly notable landmarks. However, it was an essential one to keep track of. The elevator hall connected the deck to all over ones on the ship; meaning that, if one held the elevators in check, they could limit the movement of their opposition.

Hence why Andrew had chosen to take up that area. While he didn't generally use them outside his work stations he carried a series of tools with them in the off chance he had to repair something- something that had happened once or twice while in the presence of Lieutenant Sakuraba due to her luck.

His plan was simple:

He would call in to the bridge to gain permission to... 'tamper' with the elevators in order to lock them down while the chase was on (roll credits... I'm not apologising ;p) essentially locking them down without risk of deactivating necessary systems as would happen should the crew on the bridge do so...

As to why that would happen, the apparent reason was that the bridge, should the authorisation from the ships commander be given, could lock down an entire deck form the rest of the ship by switching off the fluctuation of power that was sent to that deck to other decks which, in turn, would release the shutters that were strong enough to survive an orbital missile strike and possessed a high enough melting point to avoid being melted by laser or plasma fire across the stair cases to that deck as well as shut off elevator access to that particular deck.

However, that would also massively reduce life support and other mandatory systems that would eventually lead to the death of any organic life still within that deck if not released with three hours.

That wasn't a situation anyone on the ship wanted so Andrew had to come up with a improvised method by possibly disconnecting the power cables to deactivate the elevators altogether or by messing with the door mechanisms to keep them locked.

Either one would do.

With that in mind, when they finally managed to reach the elevator hall, he immediately went to work after getting permission to work on them.

With that, fast travel between decks was shut off.

Meanwhile, the group led by Amber Ricefield moved to the convenience store after leaving the cafeteria upon confirming that the imposter hadn't been sighted there. Amber, like almost all of the female crew members, had been one of the moon priestesses; having been drawn by the idea of working alongside the divine and holy mother Shatoyan as well as discovering whatever other secrets the white moon may have been hiding from the people of Transbaal.

Amber, like her name suggested, had amber coloured hair and eyes. She possessed an average height of a female within the 20-24 age range while also possess a modest chest. Her main characteristic that would be defined as 'sexy'- as some of her male co-workers had called it- was her aforementioned amber hair that flowed down to her middle back like a blazing inferno.

Amber adored her hair. It was the one trait she shared with her mother who she rarely got to see due to her work as a model for the longest lasting clothing lines company that wasn't imported from other worlds in the Empire but was from the capital of Transbaal itself.

As she wasn't much into fashion Amber couldn't recall the exact name of the clothing brand but she knew it was considered popular by most age and gender groups.

Back to the present though, Amber was currently moving cautiously through the hallways of B-deck with her two co-workers (both male) close behind her. All three were moving with their knees slightly bent in order to be slightly crouched in order to reduce the amount of noise they were making as much as possible.

It was also the reason none of them were talking.

While Amber may not have been a member of the military she had always been a quick learner, hence why was she able to become a moon priestess in the first place, and as such had been able to pick up on basic stealth procedures as soon as she was shown them by her two partners who had, before joining the satellite defence fleet, had been part of the Empire's recon division.

That, on top of being one the crewmen that frequently ran through B-deck on a regular base led to her being chosen as the leader of their little group despite having no experience in it.

Anyway, it was just as they were about to turn the bend of the hallway they were in when they spotted their target.

Just as communications officer Almo had reported, an exact duplicate of commander Tact Mayers stood looking at them slightly slack-jawed. Amber had no real opinion on the man but she did think that he at least was a competent leader in terms of crisis.

Regardless of her opinions though, this wasn't the commander but an enemy.

Therefore:

Almost silent 'Bang' sounds flew past her ear as a pair of brilliant vermilion streams of light flew past her ears towards the imposter at the speed of light.

-Laser weapons. More specifically, a standard laser pistol given to every member of the Transbaal as a mandatory part of their training. As a moon priestess Amber did not have a weapon nor was she qualified to carry one but she was aware that most energy weapons ran on energy cells; small battery-like cartridges that held within it a small portion of transferred energy from an electrical device that, when fired through the pistol, was split into streams and released from the muzzle in the form of a 'beam' that caused high level burns and could easily melt skin, bone and metal.

Perhaps it was because the enemy knew this as well that they had already left where the beam would hit before her team had fired. The enemy had dodged to the side approximately 0.3 seconds before the triggers had been pulled and then, the instant after they were pulled, sprang into action but making a mad dash towards its opponents-them- and swinging its arms towards them at a speed faster than most humans.

Amber and the two male crewmen dispersed, the two males jumping to the side while Amber jumped down once before then dodging to the side in order to avoid the enemy swings.

Again, they had no clue just how strong this enemy was physically. For all they knew a singe hit would shatter whatever the blow hit or could release pulses to mess with their nervous systems and cause temporal paralysis to their limbs.

As soon as the crewmen were out of range of the arms they raised their pistols again and fired once more. Surely this time...

'!' Amber released a gasp of shock as the enemy avoided the laser by raising its left arm and reflecting the laser beams back. Quite similar to how a laser would react to hitting a mirror the singular beams dispersed in all directions as they hit the arm. Amber frantically ducked to keep her head down and felt a slight singe and watched a small patch of hair fall from her head.

She saw red; no one touched her hair!

She jumped forward, pulled a screwdriver from her pocket, managed to wrestle the enemy to the floor- noting how heavy it felt, all but confirming it was a form of probe- and rammed the small tool into there the joints in its left arm were. The screwdriver hot nothing but the ground but momentarily caused the 3-d image of the commander fell to reveal a robot with no arms that used gyros to pedal around with a somewhat-oblong type body with red triangles likely acting as what kept the 3-d illusion. This was the true look of an optical camouflage probe.

Just as quickly as it appeared the image of the commander returned and used its arms to smack her aside. Despite it being made of mere imagery Amber felt herself get hit and was sent flying back a metre or two with a 'thud' when she hit the ground again.

'Do its legs morph to take the place of arms and legs?' Amber thought through a momentary groggy head. Her vision was shaking from the attack but thankfully nothing was broken so she was able to stand back up after seeing another round of laser fire as well as a pair of tongues clicking to indicate they'd missed.

By the time she was fully on her feet the probe was gone.

"After it!" Amber declared this while already moving forward. The two male crewmen were close behind.

Andrew had just finished the tampering of the elevators when he received the notice from the other team.

[The probes heading your way. We're on its tail but its faster than us!]

He replied to Ambers cry with an affirmative and gestured to his two female partners to get into position. While neither had weapons due to being moon priestesses they did have some tools at their disposal that could create a weak EMP wave that could, for but a moment, disable the probe and allow them to capture it.

The attack plan was simple, Andrew would stand out front with his own laser pistol raised while the girls would wait around the two corners. When the probe appeared, for there was only one way to the hall from where the other team had been, they would set off their make-shift grenade to freeze it; giving Andrew the opportunity to fire his pistol and vaporise it.

Or at least, that had been the plan.

[Dammit! It went into a maintenance tunnel!] Sounding as if she were about to curse, Amber gave that news.

"Which one?"

[The one that leads up to A-deck!]

He thanked Amber for the info, said he'd contact the bridge and tell them and then hung up the chrono communicator.

"...Hold on to that grenade ladies, we have some reversing to do."

Meanwhile, as that was going on...

"...And that's pretty much everything." As I stood within the audience chamber of C-deck Shiva gave a concerned look at the news. I'd just given her a full report over everything that was going on within the ship after the order to search for the probe had been given from the bridge.

The reason I'd come down here was simple.

"For those reasons Shiva, I've been told to ask you to remain here until the crisis has been averted. I hope you understand."

"Of course, I understand completely. But Will, where is your partner?"

"I have Fort- Lt Stollen with me as my partner. Lt Sakuraba is with Lt Franboise and Lt Blancmanche has been trusted on her a pair of crewmen that we managed to find after the order came through."

The reason I was giving this report myself instead of just relying on the bridge was because, for a reason I wasn't aware of, the broadcast speaker for the audience chamber was damaged. I'd been given a shrug and a 'I'm not sure' when I asked so I could only give up and run over myself.

"Understood. I take it then that Stollen is waiting outside?"

"Yes- probably with a grumpy expression for being made to wait as well."

A small giggle later and I was sent on my way; mission complete for now.

I exited the large white room into the hallway where Forte was waiting with a slightly grumpy expression on her face.

"Something wrong?"

"...You've quite friendly with the prince huh?"

Ah, so that was it.

"I simply offered to be his friend, that's it. Being royalty, atop of being kept in the white moon for most of his life, would lead to a lack of human contact; especially with people his how gender. With that in mind I offered to spend time with him occasionally- that's it."

"Uh-huh."

I held back the urge to give an annoyed sigh. Can we let our personal greivences slide for now please?

"Is this really the time Forte? We've got a bigger problem to deal with other than my suspicions don't you think?"

"...I guess that's true. Just one question though before we get going."

"Okay...?"

"What's 25x52?"

...Huh? Pulling out a sudden maths question like that? Why would...

Ah.

"...Do you have any paper on you?"

A small smile. "No, but I don't think you need any. Let's get going."

A returned the smile with my own and together to went off.

Well, that's it everyone.

Will: You're kidding. Just this!? This the shortest chap you've ever written for this story!

Not true, the starting chapters were shorter.

Will: My point still stands. Why is this one especially short?

Because, writing in a long ass manner for this would just be a waste of time. This isn't going to be as long as the last arc- as of right now we're only near the halfway point- so I'm going to end this hear so I don't bore people with repetitiveness- like the latest To aru novel did to me

Will: Come on, it wasn't that bad.

Still felt like it was dragging itself out to me.

Will: Whatever, just finishing things up here.

Sure, sure. Anyway everyone, hope you enjoyed this short chapter and please look forward to the next one.

Until then, please R&R and I'll see you next time.

Bye!