The Aether, Flight Launch Deck

Freyja sat next to the hangar where the fighters were stored, gazing at the sky which, was normally clear, was cluttered with various aircraft, most of which were standard NUNS VF-171s, although there were some of Chaos' fighters flying around. Only one of which grabbed her attention as she easily found a certain VF-31 adorned with the Grim Reaper's insignia, with one noticeable difference: it didn't have the standard black wing trim like most other VF-31s, its trim was a blue, or rather, she thought, teal. It was a similar color to his hair and eyes, she thought. She quickly became immersed in thought as she thought about their current relationship status.

"I would love to have a long, happy life with him, but I doubt the universe has time for that." She thought to herself.

She then remembered the pale gray blight, as they referred to it, that sat on her hand. It hadn't gotten any bigger since the battle of Ragna, but she tried desperately not to think of it, but whenever the future became a topic in her mind, her thoughts always drifted to the ugly thing. She wondered if there was a way to stop it, if not, reverse it. No solution had been discovered yet, but she remained hopeful, despite the knowledge that she only had half a life left. She was determined to make the most of it, even more so with the man she decided to claim as her lover.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't even notice Hayate's Siegfried fly up to her in its half fighter, half battleroid form and land a couple meters away from her.

"Hey, Freyja! What's wrong?!"

The sudden jolt of his voice, in addition to a five-meter Siegfried appearing right of her made jump, literally, causing her to fall off the angled launch deck of the Aether. She screamed in a mix of surprise and horror, as she found herself plummeting off the Aether and towards the ocean below. The fear was short-lived, as she felt a metallic surface materialize below her, as she turned to see the Siegfried that surprised her had its arm out and was holding her.

"H-Hayate! What was that for?!"

"What, me saving you from hitting the ocean too hard?"

Freyja's cheeks flushed and her rune immediately pulsed brightly.

"N-No, you idiot! You scared me half to death and that's why I fell off in the first place!"

Hayate chuckled as he brought the arm that held Freyja closer to his cockpit.

"Why were you sitting so close to the edge to begin with, anyway?"

Freyja's rune stopped glowing as brightly as it did, however, her cheeks remained as flushed as they were.

"I wanna talk to you, after you're done with whatever it is that you're doing..."

"What's that supposed to mean, you can't tell me right now?" Hayate asked, his mind piecing together what Freyja might want with him.

"I want to be alone with you when I say this."

All traces of humor left Hayate's voice and thoughts.

"What's wrong, Freyja?"

Freyja, seeing that he was getting concerned, quickly responded, "Nothing, Hayate, I just want to talk without the others around to hear it, it's kinda a personal thing, I guess."

"Alright, but honestly, if anything's wrong, let me know, okay?" Hayate responds, not quite convinced by Freyja's answer.

"Of course. Can you meet me down by the usual spot?"

The "usual" spot was what the two called the patch of beach by Chuck's restaurant, and although they hadn't visited it recently, it was still their favorite spot due to its proximity to both the restaurant and the tram that took them to the Elysion's standard docking area.

"Yeah, I'll meet you there as soon as I finish repairing my section on the Elysion's bridge. Although, I might have to stay longer if Mirage or the Captain gets mad at me."

As if on cue, Mirage's voice comes on through Hayate's cockpit.

"Delta 4, you're not done repairing the bridge yet! Stop slacking off and get back here!"

Hayate sighs before responding, "Yes ma'am, just let me put down Freyja before I come back."

"What the- Why are you holding Freyja?! She's supposed to be practicing with the rest of Walkure today! Did you really fly over and grab her just so you could mess with her?!"

"Calm down, Mirage, she doesn't have practice, Mikumo didn't feel well, so they canceled."

Mirage, satisfied with his answer, simply cuts off and resumes her work.

"Alright, Freyja, take it easy if you're gonna be up here, I'll be back in a couple of hours, okay?"

Freyja hops off and simply gives her signature smile and laugh as she waves him off. As soon as she's certain that he couldn't see her, her smile is replaced with an uncharacteristically serious face. She mentally steels herself for what she plans to tell him.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Elysion...

Kaname is sitting at one of the computers, looking over a series of personnel files. Reina is sitting next to her, her fingers a flurry as she types on a holographic keyboard. Captain Arad and Captain Ernest Johnson are sitting in a corner, looking at the images of the personnel files Kaname and Reina are sorting out. After ten minutes of typing and scrolling, Reina displays a set of personnel files on a large holographic screen.

Kaname stands up and hands a data pad to Captain Arad before going back to her seat and saying, "These are the pilots that match your criteria, Captain."

Arad and Ernest scroll through various images of the aforementioned people for a couple minutes. Arad looks up and asks, "Are there any others?"

Reina responds by saying, "You said you wanted talented pilots, err combatants, and that's all I could find."

Arad, knowing just how proficient Reina was, simply shakes his head, saying, "I know, but these guys aren't exactly very special, Hayate as a first-year pilot could outperform these guys."

Captain Ernest lifts his head slightly to level his gaze at Kaname and Reina. "Are you sure there aren't any others? I understand we're looking for pilots primarily, but if you've found a skilled soldier or agent, I'd at least like to review his profile."

Kaname and Reina glance at each other, both of them nodding before Reina types something on her data pad and hands it to Kaname, who also types something on it, bringing up an image of a man who looks to be in his early twenties with straight middle length, black hair that almost perfectly matches his slightly lighter eyes. The profile notes that the man mentioned is not well known in any database and is highly dangerous but doesn't explain what makes him dangerous. Arad and Ernest look at the image, before looking back at the list of pilots. After a minute, Ernest asks neither of the two girls in particular, "Is there a reason that this man wasn't included in the personnel list?"

Kaname responds, "Well, as the profile mentions, as well as the data Reina scrapped together, this guy is really dangerous, but no one knows why. Also, it appears that he's more of a rogue mercenary than a soldier, which for us, could be either better or worse."

"What makes him worse?" Arad asks, not quite understanding what the point is.

"Well," Reina says, "he doesn't have any flight records, not even a flight school certificate, which normally wouldn't be unordinary, considering Hayate didn't have one when he joined Chaos, this guy is definitely a skilled fighter, if not anything else. But, something about this guy is definitely different from the others, and I don't just mean that he's not a pilot."

"That might be what we need," Ernest says as he stands up, "because I received a request from Lady M to find a way or a person to better protect Mikumo. Given that we normally pair a pilot with each member of Walkure, I understand why we might want another pilot, but given how unstable NUNS is right now, in addition to the top brass in NUNS being primarily composed of power-hungry, selfish idiots, it's entirely possible that NUNS might end up pursuing Mikumo as our enemy."

"In which case another pilot wouldn't matter." Arad notes, finishing Ernest's thoughts. "If NUNS wanted Mikumo, they'd have to capture her alive, in which case they'd most likely to board the vessel that she's on."

"So, we might actually want someone who's not a pilot if he/she is an expert marksman or close quarters expert?" Kaname asks, somewhat skeptical about the whole situation.

"Well," Arad says, "I guess we just bring the guy in and we see what he's made of."

"Does anyone have any better ideas?" Ernest asks to no one in particular.

Seeing that no one spoke up, he confirms to the group, "Alright, we'll bring in this Shiro Okumura, and see what he can do."

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