Every single Landing Castle has an audience chamber. Including that of the Landing Castle that serves as the Armistice Station that is occupied by both the United Forces of Earth and the Vers Empire. Although the Audience Chamber aboard the Armistice Station is deactivated, its monolithic existence aboard the station, despite it being deactivated has served as a meditation room of sorts for many of those staffers and diplomats aboard the station, as they try, feverishly, to find a lasting peace before the Armistice expires, and the war begins again in earnest. No one really knows how the Audience Chamber works, just that through a quirk of the Aldnoah technology, those who interact with the Audience Chamber have all but their physical body placed on the grounds of the Imperial Palace on Vers.
Slaine, at this very moment, stands motionless inside the audience chamber of Castle Saazbaum. His consciousness transferred, as it has so many times, to the grounds of the Imperial Palace, where he stands at attention beside a young lady in a wheelchair. Her pink hair is cut to a gentle bob around her jawline, and floats gently with every motion she makes here in the lesser gravity of Mars. Before Slaine, several steps above him, placing their feet at eye-level with Slaine, is the Emperor himself. Meaning that Slaine has to look up to give the Emperor the due respect and attention that he deserves as being the rightful ruler of Vers, and veritably the domain of all humanity. It was through the Emperor's grace, did the armistice come about, and it was through the Emperor's trust did Slaine become one of the Orbital Knights, after revealing the treachery of Count Saazbaum. Through the Emperor's will itself had Slaine managed to secure a future for himself, and it was only in these moments where it truly felt like he was deserving of the title of "Count", or the responsibilities that came with it. He's aware of the looks that he is given from some of his staff and officers aboard the Castle, the way some look at him because of his Terran birth, but that has never once stopped him from doing his best to fulfill his duties to his Emperor, despite his status as an expatriate of Terran soil. But the Emperor does not look at him any differently than he does any other of the Knights of Vers, in that respect, he knows that in terms of who the respect and power truly comes from — that he has earned the respect of those from whom it matters the most.
"Count Troyard." The young woman in the wheelchair asks of him.
"Yes, Milady Lemrina?" Slaine asks, turning to give her the attention he was giving her grandfather, who had finished saying what he needed to say.
"You're still searching for my half-sister, correct?" The young princess Lemrina Vers Envers asks of him.
Slaine nods, uncomfortably. "Yes, milady. I have troops all over Terra, searching for where she may be. I also have agents in the various other Castles of the Knights who were closest to Saazbaum, to assure that she isn't hiding right beneath our noses."
"Then why haven't you been able to find her in nearly two years?"
"Yes, Count Troyard, in two years, you've not been able to find her, even with the complete cooperation of the United Forces of Earth." The Emperor interjects. "And yet, nothing."
Slaine bows at this, "Yes, your Highness. It pains me that my search has yet to bear fruit, but please rest assured that my troops and I will expend all the resources, all of our capabilities to try and find her."
"And what of it?"
"Y-your Highness?" Slaine says from the bow. In this moment, he feels as if the respect the Emperor has has wavered if ever so slightly.
"There are barely two weeks left before the expiration of the Armistice, Count Troyard. Earth and its peoples are the only ones to suffer if war comes back to their shores. They have no capability of striking back at us, here on Vers. So what reason would they have to hide her?"
"To destabilize our great Empire in the case of your death, your Highness." Slaine does not break the bow. "In the case where you were to die, and your rightful heir is not apparent, there would be cause for strife among both the Orbital Knights, and the Imperial House to determine the successor."
Slaine doesn't need to see the look that crosses the Emperor's face as he states this fact.
"And what if I made my Heir, Princess Lemrina, Count Troyard? What would your clan do?"
"We would align ourselves with your wishes, your Highness. If it is your wish as Emperor, we shall see ourselves to making it so."
"Can you say the same for those other clans who you have since convinced to be allied with you?"
"Yes, your Highness. We are all loyal to the throne."
"Then see to it that my half-sister is found, Count Troyard. It's imperative that she is returned to us."
"Yes, milady, your Highness." Slaine says, not wavering from his bow.
"In that case, Count Slaine Troyard, you're dismissed. Continue your search."
Slaine's bow turns to a kneel, as he wills his physical body to remove itself from the audience chamber, and his consciousness is whisked away, back to that of his Castle orbiting, hundreds of kilometers above Earth.
He takes a deep breath, before summoning the computer display in this room.
"Bridge." He commands it, and an immediate line of communication is established between him, and the bridge of the Castle.
"Sir!" One of his officers responds immediately.
"Have my troops quicken their search around Shinawara. Find those interlopers."
"Yes sir. And I do have a report from them as well."
"Report." Slaine commands.
"Gamma team reports two friendlies killed-in-action after a short gunfight with one of those interlopers, sir. They managed to injure one, and lost track of the second."
"They're bound to find one another. Continue the search, in earnest. Deploy additional troops if we have to." Slaine orders.
"Sir, deploying more troops to an area that the UFE has designated as part of a peacekeeping mission may not sit well with the Terran delegation." The officer warns.
"I don't care. We need those two taken care of. And in the meanwhile the UFE won't be able to manage enough troops, and in two weeks it won't matter what the UFE wants anyways."
"Sir!"
Slaine cuts the connection with a flick of his wrist, and sighs once again. He hates this feeling of helplessness. But there's nothing he can do without breaking the Armistice, or without incurring the wrath of the Emperor. So instead, all he can do, is hope.
He moves to the door of the audience chamber, and exits it. The guards on his left and right as he exits, saluting him as he walks past them. He has no entourage of people following him, either guarding him or needing something done from him, he walks by himself, in silence, towards the guest wing of the castle. It doesn't take him long, with how there aren't people asking him to do things that will get done with or without him, meaning that his walk is quick.
He stops in front of a guest room that is guarded by a single guard, who recognizes the Knight and gives him a crisp salute, which Slaine returns.
"Please open the door."
"Yes, sir."
The guard moves to the side, and puts in a code that Slaine doesn't recognize into the pad on the side of the door, and it slides open for him. Slaine steps through the door, into the room beyond, where Rayet Areash is kicked back on her guest bed, reading a book that she had found inside the room. Not something on her data pad, but an actual, physical book. He isn't quite sure where she had found it, as this room contains no bookshelves, or any such implements for storing books, but doesn't pay it much mind.
"Slaine." She says, acknowledging his presence in the room, but not particularly looking up from her book either.
"Rayet. You seem well."
"So you keep saying, every time you visit me in here. This is what, day three or four in a row of you coming to say 'hello' after putting me in here?" Rayet points out, not looking up from her book.
"It's better than solitude, isn't it?"
"Let me get back to you on that."
Slaine smiles and crosses the room, to a cleared table, with two chairs around it. "What do you think happened to the Versian Princess, Rayet?" Slaine asks.
Rayet snorts. "What, you expect me to have an opinion on politics?"
"No, but I expect because of your proximity to her aboard the Deucalion, you'd have some idea."
"If I'm being completely honest, I think that she up and died, and no one wants to admit that maybe she died because of something that the Martians did. It's better for the Martians to have the complete faith that she's dead, or at least never coming back, so that way they can pat themselves on the back when it comes time to knock on Earth's door and meet them with buckshot when they answer."
"So you think she's dead."
"Yeah, numb-nuts, that's what I just said."
"But then how would you explain the UFE Deucalion II? It uses the same Aldnoah Drive as the Deucalion."
"Well this is the first I've heard of a second piece of shit boat. So I'm not sure I give too much of a shit, or have much to think about it. But if that thing still has an Aldnoah Drive, then I guess she's still alive somewhere. Probably in a medical coma or something, because she hasn't deigned to appear, and I doubt the UFE would do a good job hiding her."
"How so?"
"Because she has a tendency to do flashy shit, and that always brings attention to her. Think about Russia, or even the Deucalion at all. She just does flashy shit without thinking about how it affects the rest of us. So yeah, she's probably dead or in a coma somewhere. And since I know you're gonna ask about the UFE comment, no, I don't think they're hiding her at all. Its probably some Martian dipshit who's hiding her. Waiting for the current Emperor to die so they can claim regent in lieu of her waking up."
"That seems awfully well thought out."
"It's also a perfect excuse for the Martians to get the remainder of the war they want, and just kill off the rest of the Terrans." Rayet points out. "Since it seems like this 'peace' completely depends on whether or not she shows back up."
Slaine frowns at this, and Rayet looks up from her book. "What's wrong, 'your highness'?"
"This is a lot to deal with."
"What, searching an entire planet and thirty-five other castles? Yeah I bet it is."
"No, I mean yes… But also the fact that some of my soldiers got engaged by unknown forces on Earth, in Shinawara."
"So what? They're probably scavs, picking at whatever they can find to survive. Same as the rest of us unlucky sops."
Slaine's frown doesn't waver at the logical conclusion.
"Unless you're hiding something down there, of course."
Slaine's frown subconsciously deepens.
"Hah! Knew it! What're you hiding down there, blondie? Looted treasure? Prisoners?"
"That's enough." Slaine says, standing up.
"Like hell it is…" Rayet puts her book down and crosses her arms at Slaine. "You know what would be hysterical?"
"What?"
"If you were hiding the Princess in the same place that started this whole mess."
"And what makes you think that?"
"Well, you're obviously hiding some shit down there, and you're pretending to not let it bother you, which means no one else aboard this castle knows — nor do they have any idea of how important it is. You're telling me, or at least beating around the bush with me, because you could space me or have me executed at any time and I probably wouldn't realize I'm dead 'till it happens. And this is something that obviously you can't even tell the Emperor, because otherwise you wouldn't have come to see me after meeting with him."
"That's a theory alright, Miss Areash, but that's all it is, really. A theory. By a prisoner, who could very well be under duress."
Rayet snorts. "You kidding me? This is the nicest digs I've had in years… 'Duress' is the last thing I'd call this."
Jessamine had made sure to activate the emergency beacon on her person well before she had passed out.
She had it in hand when she had fallen asleep, and in the in-between of falling asleep and being awake, realized that she was no longer holding it, and woke up in a mild panic, not being sure where she was. She was met with someone gripping her shoulder. And she turned in a flurry to see who it was.
It was Yuki, trying to keep her from freaking out.
"Hey! Hey! You're alright." Yuki whispered to her.
"Where the hell's the—"
"I put it in a window, just to make sure the signal got caught." Yuki explains, and Jessamine relaxes a little at this. "What time is it though? The sun came up a little bit ago."
Jessamine, now relaxed, and no longer being pressed down on by Yuki, glances at her watch, which blinks the time at her.
"Little past seven."
"And how long until that beacon brings the cavalry?"
Jessamine blinks as her groggy head tries to do math with the pain of her leg and the adrenaline of waking up in a panic, both occupying most of her mind. "Uhh, probably about ten hours at the outside?"
"Cool, that gives us plenty of time to move." Yuki comments. "How's your leg?"
"Hurts like hell." Certainly true enough, the pain in her leg had been present the whole time she had slept, and certainly was part of the reason she hadn't fallen into a deeper sleep. "Think I'll be fine to move though."
"You sure?"
"Don't have much of a choice…" Jessamine comments. "The transport isn't gonna be coming here. So we're going to have to go to it."
"That's okay, I gave it some thought, and figured that the back way out is gonna be easier than going out the front door."
"Back way?" Jessamine blinks.
"Yeah, its a bit shallower, less steps, but should get us to the airfield in the same amount of time."
"Alright, cool. Then we should get moving." Jessamine tries to move, but almost cries out in pain.
"Hold on, let me help you up. We're gonna ditch your bag if that's okay?" Jessamine grits her teeth at the pain as Yuki shifts to her feet.
"Yeah, fine by me…" Yuki stands up, and helps Jessamine to her feet, or more accurately one of them, before she gingerly sets it to the ground, grimacing in pain as she does. "Fuck that hurts."
"Need morphine?"
"Nah, would rather not mess up my aim."
Yuki nods, and wraps Jessamine's arm around her shoulders, acting as a crutch on Jessamine's right side. "You ready?" Yuki asks.
Jessamine nods, and shifts her pistol in her hand.
The two begin their trek out of the school. Jessamine limping along, using Yuki as a crutch as she does. They don't follow the blood trail that Jessamine had left, instead taking a different route through the school, leading further into it, before coming to a set of doors that with some gentle pushing, comes free and swings open, flooding sunlight into the hallway. The sight beyond is the northerly field behind the school, where Yuki used to train students in how to use Kataphracts and their weaponry using the KG-6, and training rounds. Such a time felt all that much more detached from the present as they crossed the open field, each of the two scanning either side of the field in case of some kind of ambush. There are no glints of weaponry, no shifting bushes. Just silence that's permeated by bird-call as the natural world starts to awaken in this new day.
They cross the firing range, where no Kataphracts stand tall, ready to be used in firing drills, just the remnants of rusted casings and the deep-dug prints that indicated that they once stood proud. If it weren't for the fact that she was helping Jessamine cross this field, it almost felt like a morning before a drill.
"You hear that?" Jessamine asks.
"No. What is it?"
"Its just quiet. You'd expect for two girls getting hunted by Martians, there'd be a lot more noise."
"Please don't say that, we aren't even at the airfield yet."
Jessamine motions ahead of them. "Those the Kataphract hangars?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Let's stop there. Let me take a load off my leg."
"Okay, sounds good. Gives me time to search for extra ammo."
Jessamine gives Yuki a look, "You guys used live-fire rounds?"
"In small arms training, yeah. Never for the Kataphracts though."
The two continue to cross the field, eventually coming across the paved area that led to the hangar. There are no gunshots, no echoing footsteps approaching them, just the two as they move across, towards one of the Kataphract hangars. They step inside the open hangar, and Jessamine motions to the side, just behind the door where she can sit down. Yuki helps her sit down, and Jessamine sits on the ground with a groan. Yuki takes this time to check on her bandage, making sure that things are okay, and that the bleeding seemed to stop. This second application of a bandage seemed to have done the work that it needed to, and she wasn't bleeding anymore, at least not as bad that the bandage couldn't pick up itself.
In the silence between breaths, they both hear something, bringing both of their actions to a halt.
"You—" Jessamine says, but Yuki raises a hand to cut her off. Raising her rifle and pointing it deeper into the hangar. There's a humming sound, distant, but present. Jessamine keeps her hand hovering over her pistol in its holster, as Yuki stands up into a half-crouch, and starts moving, slowly, deeper into the hangar. She flicks on the laser-light attachment on her rifle, and it illuminates the hangar. In the middle of it, there is what looks like a chamber, made of black material, and seems to be the source of the humming. From the top of the chamber, leads several pipes, looping back in and back on themselves, looking almost like heat-sinks, rather than pipes at all. Along the ceiling of the hangar, there is some kind of insulation, blanketing the entire ceiling of the hangar.
"What the fuck is this?" Jessamine asks as Yuki clears the hangar, making sure that this isn't some kind of ambush.
"I…"
"This sure as shit isn't UFE, Yuki."
Yuki crosses the few meters to one of the sides of the hangar. It's cool to the touch, but through her very bones she can feel a type of vibration, coming from inside the chamber.
"What the hell is this thing?" Yuki moves to one of the sides, and then around to the far side of the chamber. There are no discernible control panels, or anything indicating at all what this chamber is here for, what it does, or how to access its insides. She rounds to the final side, and finds just as much of nothing. She runs her hand along it, feeling for some kind of seam, or some indication, that there's an opening at all. There's nothing.
"Beats me. But whatever it is, someone's trying to hide it, and doing a damn good job of it." Yuki responds. She crosses back across the hangar to where Jessamine is. "You good to move? I don't want to sit next to the creepy Martian box any longer than I have to."
"Yeah, I'm good. Don't blame you at all." Jessamine starts to shift, and winces in pain before Yuki finishes helping Jessamine to her feet.
They exit the hangar, leaving the thrumming and the strange chamber behind as they move across to a ruined fence, and start to descend the hill, leading back towards the city proper. Their trek through the forest is quiet, their footsteps muffled by the undergrowth, and Jessamine's occasional groaning hidden by the sounds of the woods that they move through to get back to the city. This part of the trek takes no more than a couple hours, and it is the easiest part of their journey so far. Jessamine's wound does not bleed anymore, and as she moves, she grows more used to the pain that she has to undergo to get this far, and it doesn't bother her as much anymore.
The entire time, Yuki's rifle never leaves her shoulder, constantly at the ready should some sort of trouble make itself known. Nothing happens.
They come across the insideo f the city again, by crossing a road, each one of them scanning their respective sides to make sure that there's no Martians, and no indication that they'd be spotted by anyone or anything as they cross the street into the ruins of the city once again. There are no indications of anything at all, just the quiet ruins of the city. They trek on for another few hours, the terrain and ruins becoming increasingly familiar as they had been there in the days prior, there was no sign of anything amiss.
They were just about to cross into the airfield proper, when Yuki took a look behind them, and spotted something moving, quite a distance away. She wasn't sure she spotted it at first, instead turning back forwards to make sure her footing was secure, before stopping and turning around once again.
"What is it?" Jessamine pants through pain and exertion of moving with just one leg.
"I swear to god I just saw something moving back there."
"Back wh—" Jessamine is cut off by a whizzing sound passing over their heads, causing them both instinctively to duck, and Jessamine to swear in pain at the sudden movement that she just had to do with both her legs.
They don't need to say anything as a distant crack rings out over the ruined terrain of Shinawara. They know what the sound is, and that they need to move for cover. As best as they can, Yuki half-dragging Jessamine until they're inside the airfield grounds, huddled behind an abandoned tug cart, before they say anything between one another. Jessamine groans as she shifts to draw her sidearm from its holster. "Did you see how many?" More rounds whiz overhead.
Yuki shakes her head, and takes off the safety from her rifle, switching it from safe to 'single-fire'. "How many rounds you have in there?" Yuki asks, referring to Jessamine's pistol.
"About eight of twelve. Not the best at this range either." Jessamine points out, also sliding the safety off of her pistol.
A plink happens behind them against the tug, the sound of a round impacting it, but not piercing through it.
"How long until the transport gets here, would you say?" Yuki asks.
"About an hour at the outside. Maybe sooner if the transport was fueled?"
"Here's hoping then."
Yuki swings her rifle around the side of the tug, and squints, trying to find a target. She finds one, a Martian moving just beyond the fence they had entered from. She squeezes the trigger of her rifle, and it bucks against her shoulder sending a round down-range. The soldier ducks, and she adjusts the rifle if ever so slightly down, and squeezes the trigger again. This time the round finds its mark, and the soldier tumbles over mid stride. Neither Jessamine or Yuki can determine if the soldier is dead or not, he doesn't get up and move, but neither can hear any cries of pain at this distance, not with the ringing in their ears from the sounds of Yuki's rifle, accompanied by the lighter, but still loud report of Jessamine's pistol as she too rolls to the side, and fires a couple shots at the soldiers moving closer to them.
Neither hear the sound of the transport as it rumbles through the sky towards Shinawara. Not until the wheels screech against the runway, and Jessamine rolls back into cover behind the tug.
She pulls at Yuki, which inadvertently sends a round wide of where Yuki was aiming, but she points out the transport anyways. "Look!" She shouts over the increasing sounds of gunfire and the rumbling of the engines of the transport.
A couple soldiers pour out of the back of the transport almost as soon as it comes to a halt, and start running towards Yuki and Jessamine. They wear UFE combat fatigues, and brandish rifles that spew out rounds at the Martians that are firing at Jessamine and Yuki. The first of the two make it to the tug, and he crouches down behind it between them.
"Intelligence Officer Ainzel?"
"Present!" Jessamine groans.
"Warrant Officer Kaizuka?"
"Yeah!"
"We're to get you out of here."
"Thank god."
The soldier notices the bandage on Jessamine's leg. "Can you move, Ainzel?"
"Yeah, I can, I just need help."
"I can carry you."
"I don't need to be carried."
"You want out of here?"
"…Fuck, fine, sure."
"Warrant Officer, you cover, and I'll run. Torres will also give cover."
Yuki nods at this
Jessamine unceremoniously is pulled onto the back of the soldier, who fireman carries her away from the tug, and breaks out in a run towards the transport, which has only taken a few rounds, but nothing threatening to its space-borne capabilities.
Yuki slides out from behind the tug, and does her best to run backwards, following the soldier and Jessamine. They're followed then by the other soldier, the one identified as Torres, as they all make a retreat towards the transport.
It takes less than five minutes for the process of the soldiers disembarking, to reembarking with Yuki and Jessamine, to occur. And at the end of those five minutes, the two are aboard the transport, as it rumbles down the runway again, burning skywards, and back towards safety.