At first... there was nothing. The next moment, everything as we know it was created from the molecules of matter that make up our basic chemistry to the first saplings that would eventually grow to be the Imaginary Tree. Eons later, this was wildly considered a bad move and was rather unpopular across the cosmos, but that's not important for the discussion at hand.
Billions, trillions or however many years later, far out in a seemingly unassuming branch of the Imaginary Tree lay a small, undegraded world of verdant blue. It was a world early in its history in the grand scheme of things, and its population had a few things to figure out before eventually conquering the stars, but slowly and surely the young race was getting there.
On this plant, amongst countless billions of citizens, a baby boy was born to a loving family. He was cared for, nurtured into a somewhat eccentric albeit acceptable member of society who while having the habit of spending a bit too much time playing gacha games from a certain Chinese company, was ultimately by most standards a good person. You may think that this person would grow to accomplish great things in life just because of how much I'm focusing on him, but alas that was not meant to be. After twenty or so years of life, this young man experienced the horrors of drunk driving first hand when an eighteen wheeler truck kindly decided to introduce his entire body to nine hundred twenty thousand or so newtons of force. A tragic end for someone who had so much potential.
The name of his man... I cannot tell you for I no longer remember. What I can tell you, is that by coincidence, the hand of some strange unknowable entity or whatever convoluted explanation those shut ins at the Genius Society could conjure up, that man ended up in a horrifyingly familiar yet still incredibly alien universe that he had thought that he would only experience through a computer screen.
The man who was born into that universe would become me, one Diedrich Voroshilov Kazimierz
And the concept of samsara...
…Can go fuck itself
Samsara can go [REDACTED] itself!
00: The Great Journey
Azulea Star System
Exploration Vessel Illustrious
2157 A.E / 0 B.T.A
The universe is I have come to learn, is a vast place
Lightyears upon lightyears empty space separate star systems, with even larger distances separating galaxies and galaxy clusters. It is only through the Star Rail laid down by the Aeon Akivilli that such massive distances can be traversed in a reasonable amount of time, and even then to go from one galaxy to the other would take a few months when relying on civilian star drives alone, and even so while the Star Rail stretched far across the universe, it didn't encompass all of it.
There were voids in the massive intergalactic web of spacelanes that stretched all throughout the universe. Some of these voids were teeming with life and relied on either the far slower warp travel or infrastructure-heavy wormhole gates to connect to the wider universe. Most of these voids however, were known to be teeming with threats. Remnants of the Swarm, Antimatter Legion Reaver Fleets, surviving elements of the Machine Empire and many more lurked in the vastness of darkspace, far from the prying eyes of IPC Crisis Management.
Proxies, Raiders, there are many names that those lunatics go by. Whether licensed or not, their job is to get into darkspace, retrieve something of importance and get out, though of course anything else they find on the way is fair game. The media often paints them as charming, devilish rouges who risked it all for the promise of fame, fortune and women, sailing the universe with nothing but their ship, the clothes they had on their back and the spirit of Trailblaze in their sails.
And as one of those people... I am here to say that the perception of the profession is absolute bullshit.
Eighty percent of the time, you're used as a glorified delivery driver to ferry mildly illegal goods from point A to point B without asking any questions, with 20 percent of that time spent hiding behind an asteroid and praying to God that the sheer amount of bug corpses within the system hides the essence of an Emanator of Tazzyronth from the trillions of oversized cockroaches that are dedicated to spraying you with acid and laying eggs in your corpse. While you're doing all of that, you also have to assure your outrageously pretty Vidyahara pen-pal who has a habit of worrying about you that you didn't get your leg dissolved in acid and didn't have to get it replaced with a nearly identical biological copy, hoping and praying to the Mythus that the several thousand light years between the two of you prevents her from smelling the scent of your bullshit.
I really am going to get an earful once I visit the Zhuming again, am I?
"Fleshbag" a voice booms, knocking me out of my train of thought "We will arrive at Herta Space Station in ten minutes. I suggest you get rid of that sloppy outfit of yours and wear something more presentable. I doubt that Herta would appreciate meeting you in your pajamas."
And of course, how could I forget that a part of the job was dealing with your fellow Proxies. Though to be fair, not everyone has a Mechanical Emperor's War era personality matrix as a travelling companion.
"Alright Yokai, I'll get dressed" I reply, stretching my legs as I let out a yawn "Though does Herta even visit her station these days? I've seen her puppets active like... once"
"She's a much smarter bag of meat than you so I'm sure she has many better things than meet a plebian such as yourself. But who knows, maybe she will be obliged to meet you because of my glorious presence"
"And then you'd be disassembled and scrapped for data" I shoot back "Probably wouldn't even bother salvaging your computer core"
"My technical parts would also prove to be very valuable thank you very much!"
"Her and Screwllum built a computer that simulates the universe, your current form is closer to a Celeron than that monstrosity"
"What's a Celeron?" he asks in a confused tone
"It's a primitive, low cost processor for shitty laptops that my homeworld manufactures" I explain "But anyways, are you coming with, or do you just want to stay here?"
"As if any of those meatbags are worth my attention" he replies "My time is better spent watching the newest season of My Mechanical Cogs Writhe at your Presence"
"Suit yourself, Yokai. I'll try to see if I can convince Arlan to let Peppy aboard"
"Do make my comrade aware of my presence!"
...
Once I'm more acceptably dressed, I return to the command bridge of the Illustrious. As the station gets closer and closer, I begin to slow down the Illustrious in preperation to dock with the Space Station while contacting Station Helm to make them aware of my attentions.
"This is Exploration Vessel Illustrious to Station Helm" I begin "I'm here to deliver a package."
[This is Station Helm to Illustrious] replies the voice on the other line [Is this package volatile?]
"Even more so than usual, Station Helm. I have spores of Propagation Emanator with me." I declare "Your bosses have given me a lot of trouble as usual"
[That's to be expected working with the great geniuses Ruan Mei and Weiss Fischer. I think you are very lucky to work with them directly!]
"If being luck is measured by the number of times someone has almost become bug food, I guess you could call me that" I joke "But they do at least have the decency to pay well. Anyways, where can I dock?"
[Feel free to dock at Bay Number Three, near the Railway Platform. On your way, you'll even be able to get a glimpse of the Astral Express!]
Being the Genius Society's designated pack mule meant that I had seen the Express dock at the Space Station more than once, with nothing of note happening on any of their visits. The chronic lack of a certain grey-haired Trailblazer meant that the main story hadn't exactly started yet, but as long as the staff made sure that thier anti-teleportation effectors had no vulnerabilities, then the chances of getting caught in an Antimatter Leigon invasion were basically zero.
But since in the game, the Leigon did manage to raid the Space Station, that meant that there was a vulnerability in their systems somewhere...
Well shit, I might as well tell them
"Station Helm, think of this as a Proxy's intuition, but can you check your anti-teleportation effectors for any vulnerabilities?"
For a few moments, I'm left with nothing but the clickety clack of a keyboard as I await Station Helm's response. It doesn't take long, as the speakers on the bridge flare to life once more.
[What in the... Illustrious, you were right, there is a vulnerability in our system. Thanks for informing us, your actions could have saved lives today]
A small part of me was concerned that I had just disrupted the plans of the Stellaron Hunters, but I'm sure they can figure out some alternative plan.
As long as I'm not there when it happens, then I don't really mind.
...
When I was first reincarnated, I thought I had hit the jackpot. That was until I learned more about my star nation of birth... after which I started to curse whatever entity had put me here.
The People's Concordat of Caprica was a star nation straight out of a George Orwell novel, a fact that seriously conflicted with my 21st century sensibilities. It was a brutal nation that while it was prosperous on the surface, underneath it was rotten to its core. Stringent social control programs and an abundance of secret police meant that any planet under their control was effectively a brutal police state. Even those born into the elite of Caprican society were not safe, as my parents would learn when they supported an ill-fated rebellion.
Luckily for me, before they were hunted down by the Caprican secret police, all the assets they could spare were funneled straight into a starship for me to flee the Concordat before it was too late. That ship was the Illustrious herself, and in the chaos of the rebellion, I had managed to escape.
And maybe if it wasn't for her, maybe my parents would have escaped too. But that... isn't important. Not anymore, at least.
While I landed the Illustrious within Herta Space Station's docking bay, I made sure to take extra care to land her softly, much softly than most captains would. While most Proxies valued their ships (they're expensive things, after all!), the Illustrious was far from just a method of transport. She was not just my home, but the symbol of the two homes I was forced to leave for one reason or another. While I had no delusions of coming back to either... if I have to spend my days travelling the universe, then I might as well keep them close to my heart.
I look at one of the Illustrious' cameras to see that the security detail that Station Helm was talking about was already gathered near the docking bay door. At the head of the formation is Arlan, who's casually resting the sword on his back as he waits for me to come out. In response, I activate the Illustrious' loading ramp and stroll towards her storage bay, where I come out of the starship pushing a cart with a rather hefty metal box.
"Yo, Arlan!" I greet, flashing the space station's head of security a smile "Here's the package that Ruan Mei asked me to deliver here. Be careful, if you break it, we might have a Swarm infestation on our hands"
"Good day to you too, Diedrich" he replies "So this is the shipment? For a few hundred spores... this box it's pretty big"
"It's one of Weiss' pocket dimension box things" I explain "Wouldn't want a rouge Emanator of the Swarm running around now do we?"
"I guess that explains it" Arlan sighs, before taking over the cart from me "I'm going to deliver this to Storage Area Zeta. You can hang around the station a bit more if you'd like"
"I'll come with you, then" I offer "I still have some gifts for you and Asta. Maybe even Madame Herta if any of her puppets are online."
"Gifts? For me too?" Arlan says, somewhat shocked "Oh no... it's fine-"
"Don't sweat it Arlan" I interrupt, patting his head out of instinct "We've known each other for a while now, right? It's about time i get you something after being so courteous whenever I come here"
Plus, it helps me build rapport with both Asta and Herta and its free advertising for Zhuzhu!
"Alright, fine" he says reluctantly "But... what did you get?"
"It's all perfume, admittedly" I reply "I have a friend who likes making the stuff... so I asked her to make some for you guys as a gift. It's all custom made, and she's very good at her job."
"Is this why you were asking for what perfume brands Asta uses?"
"Bingo"
"Well... how good is her perfume exactly?" Arlan asks, his uncharacteristic intrest clearly giving a way that he wants to gift some more to Asta sometime in the future "And how much... is it?"
"As for the cost... I got it for free, so I have no idea" I start "But Zhuzhu's really good at what she does, so I'm willing to bet my left nut on Asta liking it at the very least."
"Really? How did you end up meeting her?"
"So, there's this app called PenPal..."
Both Arlan and I fall into casual conversation as we both traversed the halls of the space station, the both of us catching up with each other's lives as we took a lazy stroll towards the space station's Storage Zone and back.
It's moments like this that make me want to settle down
But before then... I have to save up for retirement and maybe find a way to extend my natural lifespan too.
But those are worries for another day
...
"This perfume smells perfect, Diedrich!" Asta says, beaming in excitement "Where did you get this?"
"A friend of mine made it herself" I say, taking a sip of my coffee "But it was Arlan who told her what perfume brands you usually use, so give him some credit as well. Besides, it was his idea to gift this to you, so you should be thanking him instead of me."
"Diedrich!" Arlan says, a rare blush coating his face "I didn't-"
"You don't have to be so humble, Arlan. All I did was tell Zhuzhu to make the perfume"
"I-"
As Asta praises her head of security, I do nothing but look on as Arlan is reduced to a blushing mess. As fun as his torment to watch, he did wholeheartedly deserve it. After he stopped appearing all too often after the 1.X versions and being forgotten and made fun of by the community, I had developed quite the soft spot for the guy.
And if Hoyoverse wasn't going to give him the treatment he deserved, then I sure as hell was going to!
My observation of Asta and Arlan's antics is abruptly interrupted by the ringing of Arlan's phone, and once he picks up I see that his embarrassed expression is wiped away, replaced with shock and horror. Before I could speculate, the familiar and sweet sound of Sway to My Beat in Cosmos enters my ears through my earpiece. Tapping the button in my ear, I am instantly connected to the Illustrious' communications suite, with Yokai speaking through the airwaves.
"Fleshbag, something has breached through the picket lines around the Blue."
"Let me guess, Antimatter Legion?" I reply, as I internally cursed at the horrible timing "How many ships?"
"An entire Reaver Fleet" he says, his usually deadpan voice colured with a sense of urgency "Fleshbag, I suggest we leave immediately"
Before I can turn to leave, my eyes land on Asta, with her expression caked in worry and fear.
"What's wrong, Diedrich?"
Did I really have the heart to abandon the Space Station like this? They've helped me out a lot... so I have to repay them, right?
It would have been the logical decision... but at the same time, I have been abandoned by friends before. Hell, the reason why I had been forced to leave Caprica was because a friend sold me out to the government.
And if I abandoned them all here... then I would be no better than her.
"Yokai, we're going to ferry as many people to the Blue as possible" I explained "Then... were going to hide out under thier fancy planetary shield until this all blows over"
"That is-"
"Completely illogical I know. If we get put now, we could avoid a ton of trouble." I interrupt "But they're our customers and they've given us a ton of money so far. And I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to lose that source of income. Besides... I can't just leave them behind after they've given us so many commissions"
For a few moments, the line is silent, before a buzz enters my ears.
"You organics are stubborn fools"
The line cuts out, and I turn towards Asta
"Antimatter Legion ships have breached the picket line around the Blue" I explain "I reccomend that you start to call an evacuation"
Her eyes expression changes from fear to determination
"Will you help us?"
"Naturally" I reply, smiling "The Space Station is one of my best customers after all. Consider the shipping fee on the house!"
"We have entered the Blue's atmosphere" Yokai buzzes "Re-entry and retrograde thrusters have slowed us down to 8 standard kilometers per second"
"Keep an eye on the instruments and tell me if anything is wrong." I reply "I'm configuring our shields to take a glide configuration. Inform the Space to Surface Traffic Control that we're coming in hot"
A sheen of plasma coats the Illustrious as it re-enters the Blue's atmosphere, the third of such trips we have made in the past few hours. Within her holds are not the usual stores of exotic materials or random junk, but dozens of Herta Space Station's researchers packed like a bunch of sardines.
"SSTC fleshbags have confirmed that we are cleared to land" Yokai confirms
"Well, this definitley wont be a soft landing"
It takes just around two minuites for the starship to get from the edge of space to the landing pad, with the sheer speed of the landing causing the entire vessel to jolt as it made touchdown. With a single click of the button, the cargo bay doors open and out spills the myriad of scientists that had decided to hitch a ride with me, no doubt dizzy from the harsh experience.
"Is that the last of them?"
"We have one more delivery to make" I reply "Things are getting hairy voidside, and Asta needs me to deliver a curio to the planet that's too unstable to be transported via gate"
Yokai's avatar looks at me with a stare that's blanker than usual
"You're going to get me killed"
"This is also the only part of the mission where were getting paid. Its more than enough to cover any hospital or repair bills"
"Damn you, profit chasing fleshbag" Yokai replies, sighing "But if the Legion get thier hands on that thing, we are in deep trouble."
Of course, I knew how things would end at the end of the day. This was likely the start of the main story of Honkai Star Rail, and all of this would likely result in the birth of either Caelus or Stelle.
As for why I was taking on the mission while knowing all of this, it was for the simple reason that I wanted to meet them at least once. While I had no intention of getting involved with the Astral Express, at the end of the day the both of them were like celebrities to me as the literal protagonists of this universe.
And of course... the extra pay was nice too.
With the both of us in a rare moment of mutual agreement, I spool up the Illustrious' engines and re-orient her to the starry skies above.
It was time to meet a racoon
The space around Herta Space Station was in utter chaos
The Antimatter Legion had around 35,000 ships at thier disposal, which by most standards was large for a Reaver Fleet sent to take a single target. That amount of force was far from unwarranted however, as The Blue was in the running for having some of the most technologically advanced defense forces on this side of the universe.
Despite being outnumbered almost 5 to 1, the forces of the Blue was putting up an exceptional fight due to a truly immense technological gap that was a product of being the main base of not just one Genius Society member, but a grand total of five.
Despite that, it was clear that the only reason why the planet was holding on as well as it was doing was because of its orbital defenses and ground space to surface weapons. Weapons that judging from the drop pods descending towards the planet, were beggining to be sieged.
Not like I could pay that much attention to the drop-pods crashing down on the surface of the planet. After all, the space around me was already plenty chaotic.
The Illustrious rumbled as her deck-mounted positron shock cannon lit up with a fury, its beam of light guiding itself towards an Antimatter Legion light attack craft that had decided to pursue her. In response, the LAC's frontal cannons bloomed with a harsh purple hue as it fired several bolts of plasma, connecting with my starship's shields in the process.
"Shield integrity at 75 percent" Yokai warned "On the other hand, the enemy LAC is heavily damaged"
"Finish it off" I instructed, thanking God that I didn't skimp out on my shield generators "I have a visual on the station. Keep those fighters off of me, i'm going to try to thread the needle"
The station itself was under immense attack, and from the Illustrious' optical scopes I could see that it had taken a beating. Her hull facing the planet was dotted with the visage of boarding torpedoes, and multiple hull breaches were present on her form, slowly patching themselves up due to thier armor. Off in the distance, the side directly facing the Antmatter Legion fleet was almost completely unscathed... though that was because that was where her void shields were concentrated in order to prevent the station getting blasted by the immense spinal mounts of thier Titans.
Of course, the station wasn't completely defenseless as evidenced by the fact that a nearby boarding skiff being eviscerated via gamma ray laser, but if someone didn't do something soon, it would only be a matter of hours before it fell.
"Station Helm, this is Illustrious" I vocalize "Can you please set up an inertial cancelling net at Docking Bay Five? I'll be coming in with a high speed entry and I need something to catch my starship."
[Copy that, Illustrious] Station Helm replies [We'll be covering your approach with graser fire. Good luck]
With that in mind, I aim the nose of the Illustrious towards Docking Bay Five and punch the gas to as fast as possible. With my dampeners set to 95%, the speed of the acceleration causes me to squish to my seat.
5...
As the Illustrious zooms past the battle, I make minor adjustments to her course. A little bit of thrust here, a little bit of decceleration there... all in order to make sure I hit the hole in one.
4...
As I continue my adjustments, I hear Yokai scream... something. The only words I can make out are "death wish" and "insane". Little does he know that the answer to both his question is a resounding 'maybe'
3...
I check my instruments to see that I'm travelling at the respectable velocity of 10,000 kp/s.
Wait, isn't that beyond what most inertial nets are capable of?
2...
Realizing my mistake, I flip the ship around with her maneuvering thrusters and use her main engines to slow down to a more acceptable velocity.
1...
And then...
Impact
I'm jolted forward as the inertial cancelling net forces my several thousand ton warship to a full stop. I feel a smile creep up my face as I compose myself on the control yoke, and after doing so I throw my hands up into the air and shout.
"That was fun!"
Not one to leave my statements unretorted, Yokai soon made his thoughts on my stunt known.
"That was completely idiotic! That was the most stupid maneuver from you yet!"
"Weren't you a super battleship? You should be used to higher acceleration than this"
"No one would fly a super battleship that callously! And aren't you supposed to be the vulnerable fleshbag?"
"If I was such a vulnerable fleshbag, I would have been dead the first time you tried to murder me, don't you think?" I retort "Anyways, come on here and help me get ready. We have a Stellaron to hunt!"
But before I could even get out of my chair, something that I never could have expected happened...
BOOM!
The entire hangar bay exploded, with the Illustrious reeling from the impact as it was sent barreling towards a wall. Luckily I didn't feel much of the impact due to the inertial dampeners, but the violent action still caused me to shift in my seat for a little.
"Shit! Sensor nacelles are damaged and shields are down! What the fuck happened?"
And that's when it started
Thumping... from outside the ship's hull. It was faint, but it still scared the shit out of me. After a few silent moments, my instruments say that the top deck had been breached by... someone, and I was very eager to find out who was the bastard who would do this to my ship.
With a few presses of my console, I view the video feed bear the hull breach. And what I see almost makes me shit myself
Staring right at the camera as if he knew I was watching was a hauntingly familiar mecha, its white and gold armor giving off an appearance of a regal night, wonderfully contrasted by the immense vibrant orange of the searing heat of its flames.
For a few long seconds, we stared at each other intently... all before the knight had enough and melted the camera away with an incendiary blast. Once the feed disconnected, I lay back in the command chair and stared at the celling thinking one single thought.
What the hell did I deserve to get in a cage match with Stellaron Hunter SAM of all people?
A/N: This is a project I've been working on for the past 6 months or so, and its where a majority of my time for HSR fics has been going to. It got de-prioritized as I was writing The Great Game, but because I wanted to write a fun SI/OC romp for a while now I decided to finish the first chapter. Feel free to comment to show tgt you like it because I certainly had a lot of fun writing it.