The Witch of the Neuroi
Chapter 12: The Moon Base in the Middle of Space (Flashback Arc Part 2)
"Why did you retreat?" Erica asked.
"Yeah... why?" Trude asked too.
"Well... I'm just reluctant to kill." Yoshika answered. "I don't want casualties on both sides, so I retreated." She said.
"What about the higher command?" Minna asked.
"They... did not take it too well." She replied. "I was charged with failure and loss of personnel, so I was to be sentenced."
Everyone was tense about that.
"Don't worry… Tyr helped me out." Yoshika assured them.
Flashback
Yoshika was standing in front of three screens.
The three judges; they were the advisors of the Queen.
They are the second highest rank below the Queen's chosen ones.
They will be sentencing Yoshika for her failure.
She's heard of them from Axion but she never knew their names.
If she's not mistaken, then those three have the same name.
They discussed between themselves.
Since she was a human, they discussed for quite a long time.
Yoshika couldn't really listen to their discussion.
She only heard bits and pieces, like being taken to Trinity, or being experimented upon.
But due to ethics issue, they chose for encampment.
Rehabilitation, they say.
Before the Verdict was done, Tyr barged into the place.
"I'll take care of the kid!" He said.
"The judgment is being carried out... it's not a place for you to intervene." The left judge spoke.
"Veteran rank... Quite high, and is of an acceptable voice." The right judge spoke.
Just like above, the left and right judges are the balance, weights, 2 sides which were always parallel.
The middle judge decides.
"He is allowed to voice his mind." Middle judge said.
"Thank you for the allowance." Tyr said "I'll be in charge of this human kid."
"Take charge... please elaborate." Middle judge spoke.
"I am soon moving to the Moon HQ and it wouldn't be bad to have an apprentice." He said.
"Preposterous!" Left judge said.
"That... is a human." Right judge said.
"This kid got my interest... there are no rules anywhere I couldn't right? She's an official, after all." He said.
The judges went for a discussion again.
Left was always against.
Right was always with.
Middle has to make the decision yet again.
"I accept you proposition." Middle judge said.
"I thank you for you magnanimous pardon." Tyr thanked them.
"Make sure to watch it." Left judge warned.
"Take care." Right judge said.
"We shall meet soon again... human..." Middle judge said.
As fast as it begins, the three screens popped out of existence.
Yoshika, who was stiff from the beginning, exhaled a sigh of relief.
"Hey, kid... not the time to feel relieved... come with me." Tyr said.
Yoshika followed him off and out of the Hive.
As the two flew, he said, "We're going to space."
"What?" I asked, confused.
"The moon... it's in space, kid." He said.
"Space?" I asked yet again.
"This will be a long talk..." He sighed.
He explained to me about outer space.
No air, no water, no nothing.
Yoshika thought for a moment that she would die if she didn't breathe.
Tyr said that she doesn't really need to because of her Core.
The two will leave in a month so Tyr will train her to feel as if in space.
He told her that space flight is just the same... "Rely on the Core." he said.
He brought Yoshika to a trench somewhere and dunked her there.
Yoshika was surprised that she survived that.
Flashback Pause
"Where were you dunked?" Minna asked, with a hint of amusement in her voice.
"In the deepest part of the Marianas Trench… and the deepest part in Earth's oceans… that spot is known as "Challenger's Deep"." Yoshika replied. "It was 10,924 meters under the sea surface... the pressure was huge. It feels like being crushed, but strangely enough, I don't get crushed. It feels strange but I don't need to breathe either. I still breathe because I'm used to it, but I don't need air or food in my Neuroi form."
"You don't need to breathe!?" Luchinni thought out loud surprised and so is everyone.
"Well, yea~ I don't really need air in my Neuroi form." Yoshika clarified.
"Interesting body condition." Ursula muttered.
"If you want to know, ask me later, Ursula." Yoshika said. "So as I said... I am going to the moon…"
Flashback Resume
Yoshika managed to tell those three about this thing.
They said they had heard of it and wished her luck.
She was sure they are really worried for her.
Little did she know... that this will possibly be her biggest misfortune and at the same time her most fortunate event.
The first several days at the moon were strange.
It took some time to travel to the moon.
At speed of averagely 21,000mph, the two reached the moon base in around 3 days.
Control in space is much harder.
There is neither pressure nor resistance.
It took quite some time to get the feeling.
It took Yoshika a week to get used to it before she could fly freely in space.
Of course, Tyr was always teaching her things.
He said she's quite a fast learner for a first timer.
He then began teaching her battle techniques that she got used to, taught her strategic thinking and critical thinking, as well as different ways of thinking for different situations.
Other than that, Yoshika had almost nothing to do.
For field training, he took her to hunt space pirates and sometimes through the warp portal into Abyssius, the borderline planet.
Flashback Pause
"Abyssius!?" Ursula exclaimed. "What's with the strange name?"
"It's the translation from their native language. Elves live there in seclusion after all... I pity them to be forced to fight." I said to them. "Ah..! About the universe and the other races I will have to stay silent. It is against the Inter-Universal Information Law that forbids beings lower than Class 3 to have knowledge of other beings, so I am sorry that I can't say anything anymore and can only tell my own experience." Yoshika explained to them as they nod for her to continue her story.
Flashback Resume
It was fine and all till around a year ago when Yoshika was halfway done with her sentence.
That time Tyr was about to go on a vacation. He said he needs to return to his real body in the outskirts of Gramarye.
Flashback Pause
"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted at the same time in shock.
"Real body?" Trude asked.
"The Neuroi that we've been fighting weren't in their real bodies?!" Ursula asked.
"Then what are they?" Mio asked
"Calm down!" I told them as they breathed air to calm themselves.
"I guess that I can explain... Neuroi that we have fought with is their army not citizens... using a neurotic channel through their Core, they operate these frames... to act as their temporal body. Their real body is in a frozen state stored some cryogenic tank." I explained what I learnt. "If their Core is destroyed, they will die."
"How about the original body?"
"It'll stay frozen till a new Core is made for it... or it will be disposed of"
"What do they look like? What are their features? What can they do?" Ursula starts asking torrents of questions.
"That I cannot say... can I get on with things?" I asked to which the others nod again.
Flashback Resume
"Yo kid~ you've been doing well!" Tyr called out to Yoshika that day.
"Ah! Veteran-sama! I thank you for your compliments!" she replied as respectfully as possible.
"... Don't need the formalities with me, kiddo... it feels strange." He said.
"Then it's fine with me." she replied happily. "So what is it?"
"I'm going on a leave quite a while." He said, which surprised her.
"But... you're supposed to take charge of me... what can I do while you're gone?" Yoshika asked.
"Don't worry kid~ we got a replacement... some higher up kinda interested in you." He said.
"What race is he?" she asked, in case the person coming is not a Neuroi which she's gotten used to.
"Don't worry kid, the man coming to see you is not a Neuroi. He's a Klarentine much similar to you humans." He said.
"Klarentine... Kalrent... The desert planet? The one in alliance with the Queen?" she asked, remembering the facts.
"Yea... it's the prince himself." He said.
"P...P... P... Prince!?" Yoshika stuttered, utterly shocked.
"Oops... not supposed to say that~" He said in a cheerful tone.
"You're just putting more pressure on me right? Hey, Tyr?" she said to him as he gone all quiet.
Now that Yoshika heard it... It's too quiet... but it soon changed as an explosion shook the whole base. She barely got her footing as not to fall since the Hive is now at 45 degree tilt.
Alarms blare as everyone rushed outside. Yoshika and Tyr too rushed out in silence. The two are too tense to neither speak nor joke.
When the two got outside... all they see is the King's fleet. Said to be his 583rd Squadron. The 'Purple Gramm'. With three hives at their back they started to assault the moon base.
This was the beginning of the war.
The war on the dark side of the moon... the hopeless battle...
Flashback End