“You say you want a new reactor?” Astral raised her eyebrows.
“Yup!” Abyssal responded. She was currently sitting down next to the barrier on a large metal box. Next to her humanoid body was a drone, her previous body. Meica was there as well sitting next to Abyssal, swinging her legs. Kuon was not present at the area, as she was busy cleaning up the ship with her newly found body.
“I have all these new components and systems, but I have not enough power going around. My current reactors could only output so much. So I wonder if you could give me a blueprint for a better one or better yet, just give me a new one.”
“Big gun requires big power, nyaa,” Meica added.
“I see. Let me look at what spare ones I could give to you. Is that all?”
“Well, there are missiles and some point defence system that I could use…” Abyssal mentioned softly to Astral.
“Nah, you aren’t going to need those just yet. Go get one by yourself, I ain't going to give you everything, ya know. Anything else?” Astral replied.
“Hmm… Zenatonium?”
Astral let out a small laugh at Abyssal’s request. “Very funny. You are out of luck. I ain’t got a spec of that. Then again, I wouldn’t give it to you even if I do have some spare zenatonium. Those things are expensive.”
“Then the barrier. Turn it off! I’m claustrophobic, you know! I have the rights to freedom of movement!”
Astral replied with a sigh. “Abyssal, I’m sure you are a good kid, but please understand that I can’t risk my tech being leaked into the universe. Fallen into the wrong hands, it could cause quite a stir.”
Abyssal brought both her hands up into the air, her drone, followed as well. “I’m not going to assimilate and steal your tech! I’m not that kind of person.”
“Look at me in the eye and tell me that you haven’t at least thought of it,” Astral said as she brought herself closer to Abyssal, just an inch away from the barrier. Her red eyes glared into Abyssal’s crystal blue eyes.
For a while, Abyssal was able to stand up to the glare, but soon back away and looked elsewhere. “Well… I”
“See?” Astral said to the defeated Abyssal.
As a side note, Meica, who was next to Abyssal, also focused her eyes towards Astral. The two ended up having a small staring contest which was subsequently won by Astral who managed to keep her eyes open indefinitely.
“Astral cheating! Must be fake eye!”
Astral let out a small chuckle before replying. “Well, you aren’t that far from the truth. These ain’t exactly my original eyes,”
Astral opened her eyes wide before pointing at it. Meica, who was rather curious, came closer and inspected Astral’s eyes even further.
“Ah ah ah, “ Astral crossed her arms. “No more staring.”
“Tsk. How Astral even got such scary tech!? Meica wants to know,” Meica demanded.
“Yeah, how and where did you get such tech. So special that you are not willing to share. Where ya get the tech that no one else has?”
“I didn’t say that no one other than me has it, alright,” Astral replied before letting out a sigh.
“Fine. I guess I could at least tell you guys that. Let’s see… where do I even begin.,” the red-haired woman closed her eyes to think.
“Some of the techs I have on me was from my old days in F.U.. I used to be a pilot working for them once. I entered the army near the end of the war and during that one year, I’ve made quite a name for myself as an ace pilot.”
Meica and Abyssal nodded, keeping quiet and paying attention to her story.
“I continued working for them after the war. Super rookie ace pilots like me who stayed in the army were rare, so I quickly got inducted into a secret sect within the army. From there, I got acquainted with a lot of rare prototype technologies. Made more of a name for myself too. I became a bit infamous.”
“So all that tech came from your time in this secret service?” Abyssal asked.
“Some. Not all of it.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“Well, let’s just say that over time, I became jaded. I was no longer the youthful naive me. So I decided that I had enough with Freedom United and left.”
“You left?”
“Yup. Left and never looked back. Though I still do keep in touch with some of my former colleagues. Nowadays I work as a ‘freelancer’ if you may call it that. Some call me a terrorist. Still, regardless of what others call me, with my infamous reputation and my skill, I’ve landed quite a few jobs. Jobs for very powerful people. And working with powerful people has its own rewards. That’s where the rest of my tech came from. Either as a reward or simply stolen from other powerful people.”
“Hoh… so that’s the story.”
“Nyaruhodo…”
Both Abyssal and Meica replied.
“Take a certain job that I took with Lancetech for example. Had to steal for them a certain technology from Nipon Steel.”
Hearing the word Lancetech caused Abyssal a slight discomfort in her stomach, but she continued to listen to Astral’s story. ‘So that damn company still exists in this time and age?’ Abyssal thought to herself.
“Not going to go into the details, but long story short, I managed to sneak into a high-end secured lab and got away with the tech scot-free. As a reward, I get to keep it. It’s a top of the line stealth device. Gives me almost complete invisibility to almost every radar in existence. Probably one of my better equipment overall.”
“Woah…” Abyssal muttered out in amazement.
‘So that’s why I couldn’t detect her at that time, despite having absolute detection… what a cheat! This girl is a hacker! I wonder if I could get my hands on one of these...’
Astral gave a tired glare at Abyssal. “It’s one of a kind. Even if I were to give the blueprints to you right now, you would probably be unable to replicate it. I heard it required a certain type of material only found on a dying planet’s core or something.”
“Ehh… I see…” Abyssal replied, though her mind quickly wandered off to another thought.
‘I wonder if Astral’s ship is full of overpowered tech like that…’
“Yes. And you ain’t getting any of them,” Astral responded to her thoughts.
“Stop reading my mind! It’s scary!” Abyssal yelled out in protest.
Shrugging her shoulders, Astral merely responded: “Hey, I can’t help that you are open like a book alright. You might want to stop wearing your thoughts on your face.”
“Mu mu mu… I should wear a mask the next time I talk to you…” Abyssal murmured while pouting.
“Yeah yeah. You guys talk as if you’ve never stolen tech before. Don’t think I didn’t know about you smuggling some tech from E and those Dawning Star Ships.”
“Geh!” Abyssal had an internal reaction. She looked away, trying to avoid Astral’s gaze.
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“What did you guys do to piss them off, anyway? Those damn Dawning Star ships ain’t no small fries. Did you steal a ship or two? That Sakura-themed battlecruiser, Jinko was it? She’s hell-bent on trying to get to you every time, I can’t help but notice.”
“Well, we kinda ran into Jinko a while back. I did steal one of her ships, I guess?” Abyssal answered with as little information as possible, hiding the fact that Jinko was chasing after Meica.
“Come on now. You expect me to believe that? You owe me three you know that? Would it kill you to just be honest to me about this?” Astral replied, one hand on her hips.
“Well…”
Abyssal kept quiet and looked away concealing the truth from Astral. She didn’t want anybody to know of Meica’s identity, especially towards Astral whom she did not know for that long. She didn’t know if she could fully trust her yet. Who knows what kind of action such a strong-headed person like Astral would take knowing this. However, contrary to her expectations, it was Meica herself who told about her origins towards Astral.
“Meica ran away from home, nyaa. Jinko was probably hired by mother to chase after me.”
“Eh?! Meica?”
‘Oi, what are you doing? You!’
Abyssal yelled out, both physically and mentally.
“It’s okay! Meica feels like she could trust Astral! Cool and beautiful woman!” Meica answered with both her fist up in the air.
It was unfortunate for Meica that she totally miscalculated Astral. Astral’s immediate reaction was to furrow her brows. She took a moment to scan Meica from top to bottom. This time much more intently than the first time she met her. It was as if her eyes were collecting data from her appearance or something.
“No normal family would send a battlecruiser, much less three elite ships from the Dawning Star to chase after a young girl. I can see a powerful core being chased, but not just any ordinary girl. Who and what are you? Ya some sort of wanted criminal?” Astral said with a rough tone, her eyes glared at Meica intimidating her. She spoke with such a pressure that would make lesser people cower in fear— like an older person scolding a child.
Meica, who was relaxed and happy just a moment ago, shirked backwards, afraid of the sudden pressure that the red-haired girl gave. It was as if the Astral in front of them became a totally different person.
“Woah, woah, woah. Calm down! Meica isn’t that kind of person.” Abyssal yelled out in order to cover for Meica.
“Is that so? Why don’t you tell me then?” Astral asked Abyssal, shifting the bulk of the pressure towards her instead.
Abyssal would lie if she said that she wasn’t a bit disturbed but pushed through the pressure. “Well, it’s a long story… Meica you see is actually…”
….
…
..
.
“Hmm… I see. Everything suddenly makes more sense now…” Astral muttered to herself. Her eyes darting towards a wall, though her sight seemed to be beyond that. It wasn’t long before her red eyes gazed at Abyssal.
“You sure pick up quite the luggage. The next heir for Nipon Steel and her overbearing mother which sent bounty hunters after her...”
Abyssal scratched the back of her head before giving out a wry laugh.
“Stop laughing. This isn’t funny. I understand your intentions but you are basically kidnapping the girl. She doesn’t belong out here. What if she got killed in one of your stupid battles?”
“...” Abyssal looked away, unable to answer.
Astral let out a sigh,” Dammit, so that’s why that damn ship is so crazy after you all. I was wondering why is she hellbent on capturing you instead of just outright blowing you guys up… what a mess… She must have been offered a crap ton of money for retrieving the girl.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
The room went silent for a while, no one knowing what to say to each other. Astral took this time to put one of her hands under her chin, thinking deeply about something. A good minute or so passed and she turned towards Abyssal.
“Hey, Abyssal. Have you considered actually making contact with this Jinko person and try making a deal with her?”
“Nyaa?!” Meica responded to that question with a sudden yell.
“Yeah, you heard me. You are going back, kid.”
“No way! Don’t wanna!”
“Look, I don’t know what came over you and your mother, but I know your mother. I’ve personally met her before. She’s a powerful woman and is not the type who would give up so easily. I’m afraid she’ll get even more involved as time passes. You are just causing trouble for Abyssal and the others who got involved in all this,” Astral said sternly.
“And me if I keep hanging around with ya guys… who knows what kind of mess I’ll be involved in...” she muttered afterwards. Her voice was silent enough to only be heard as mumbles.
“Meica doesn’t want to go back,” the Nekomi replied, her gaze looking downwards towards the floor.
“Listen to me, children shouldn’t be running away from home and causing such a mess, especially one who has no idea what they are doing.”
Abyssal who couldn’t get a word in until this moment, turned to look at Astral before looking at the depressed Nekomi. “Even if we contact Jinko, how sure are you that she'll respond well?”
“We won’t. But it’s a shot worth taking. Worst case scenario we just go to Dawning Star and send her home ourselves. If she was indeed being paid to do so, I don’t see why she wouldn’t cooperate with us. Heck, we might make a deal, split the profit in half.”
“Eww.. you are quite shrewd, ya know that.”
“Money is money. It’s what makes the world go round. Or galaxy. Whatever. Semantics,”
“...”
Again the place went silent. This time with Meica looking at the floor with a displeased expression. She had a face looking as if she just got betrayed.
‘You should choose who you trust better, Meica. I knew Astral wasn’t going to let this slide so easily…’ Abyssal thought to herself.
Astral, seeing the young Nekomi, making such a face made a small smile and said to Meica: “Listen to me kid, running away ain’t gonna solve your problem. You gotta face your mother or whatever if you want to actually make a real change. If you are going to run away, at least don’t make trouble for others.”
“But didn’t Astral run away from Freedom united? Same thing, nyaa!” Meica shouted before getting on her fours and running away from the location.
“Wha?! You little ca—” Astral yelled out a little before stopping herself. She then took a deep breath, calming herself down. By the time she calmed down enough to have a proper conversation again, Meica was long gone. The only person left there was Abyssal, her drone and Astral.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit cruel to force her to go back when she clearly doesn’t want to?” Abyssal asked, trying to persuade Astral to not go with the plan.
“You owe me three, Abyssal. This is happening. I don’t care.”
“Geh…” Abyssal voiced out, having felt a small blow towards her chest.
It looked like Abyssal needed to level up her charisma and diplomacy skills even further. As it was, her skills of persuading were far below Astral.