How to Get an Honorable Discharge? (2)
The officers' meeting room aboard the super-heavy cruiser Valkyrie.
“I apologize, Commander Lora.”
“You, of all people, are a first-class battleship's medical officer?!”
A cold draft filled the room. At the center of the U-shaped table sat Karina, and beside her stood Lora with a demonic glint in her eyes.
“This is outrageous! A patient bolted from the operating room and triggered a Delta-grade alarm?! And then excessive suppression?! I will file a formal protest!”
Lora slammed the desk with a thunderous crack. Every word she spoke was laced with razor-sharp barbs. After carrying Elia to the Valkyrie's command room and laying her to rest, she had immediately called an emergency meeting with all parties involved in the incident.
“T-the medical department can send her to the commander's quarters—
“-Of course! You don't intend to drag the captain to the infirmary again using those damned security guards, do you?! Take her to the most comfortable environment possible, strip away every possible stimulus, and bring only the absolute minimum necessary personnel! Isn't that basic common sense?! And you call yourselves the medical department that manages patients?!”
Lora unleashed a relentless barrage of words, causing the Valkyrie's medical officer to bow his head to the floor in shame.
“My response was also too late. Please do as I say.”
“Commander! A Delta-grade alert? If not handled properly, it could—”
“-Lora.”
Karina stepped forward to defend the medical officer. When Elia had shoved him aside and fled the operating room, the officer, ordered to stop her, had frantically pressed the largest emergency button within reach. It had been, of all things, a Delta-grade intruder suppression alarm. Karina had quickly hacked the module to silence the siren, but deactivating a Delta-grade alert required several formal procedures, and by the time the alarm was finally cut, the damage had already been done.
“They lack any knowledge of ship protection protocols. Please be understanding.”
Karina gently reined in Lora as if calming a wild stallion.
“And, Second Lieutenant.”
“-I will accept any punishment, Commander.”
The second lieutenant who had restrained Elia bowed his head to Karina with a rigid expression. Karina rubbed her weary eyes and swept the strands of hair that had fallen across her forehead.
“I commend you for carrying out your duties to the best of your ability. However…”
The second lieutenant had ruthlessly set aside all personal emotions to execute the Delta-grade intruder alert command and had not hesitated to clash with fellow allies in the name of duty. The order had ultimately been fulfilled. Karina praised the result, yet she could not deny that the suppression process had been far too brutal.
“A disrespectful attitude toward a Colonel-level commander cannot simply be overlooked.”
“-I apologize.”
She leaned against the wall this time, fingers twisting her hair, and stared at Erica with a displeased expression.
“Special Operations Officer Erica. Where is the accompanying Lieutenant Corey?”
“I ordered her to stay by Elia's side.”
Minor conflicts and discord born from incidents like this poisoned the bonds between fleets. Mutual distrust of personnel from other ships eroded cooperation and ultimately invited fatal consequences on the battlefield. Karina had no desire for such outcomes.
“Please do not hate the lieutenant too much, Special Operations Officer. She simply lacks full context.”
“I apologize. Colonel.”
The second lieutenant bowed deeply once more in apology, prompting Erica to whip her head around.
“Ah, damn it. I know, I know. And you, kid, the target of your apology is completely wrong.”
“Have all medical personnel leave. The second lieutenant is to return and await disciplinary action.”
Once everyone had filed out, only Karina, Lora, and Erica remained in the meeting room. After a long silence, Karina finally spoke.
“...I will inform all personnel present here. I have been negligent in personally investigating the background behind the name ‘Elia Edelvine.’ This is entirely my fault for arbitrarily judging and condemning her, and it is inexcusable. Please forgive me.”
“If that’s the case, then I—”
Upon admitting her own wrongdoing, Lora muttered with a self-deprecating tone. Erica said nothing, but her eyes clearly reflected the same bitter realization.
“-Everyone in the 03rd Fleet would have reacted the same way.”
A heavy silence settled over them.
An undeniable truth.
Elia Edelvine. Within the fleet, she was the Aegis’s great disgrace, pointed at and shunned by all. No one approached her. She had been left utterly alone.
“-Um, Commander.”
Erica hesitated, then slowly continued, palm open.
“I heard the Archæa commander visited.”
“After treating her injuries, Lieutenant Rin immediately departed for Archæa for the next surgery. However, according to the report she left…”
Karina trailed off. She took a deep breath, pressed a hand to her forehead, and continued.
“Let me summarize. Currently, due to runaway mana, over 30% of the heart has collapsed, making normal mana circuit construction impossible—”
“-30%? You said 30%?!”
30%? Even 8% damage was already near-fatal. 30%? Erica cut Karina off, stunned. Karina nodded with a dark expression.
“Nonsense! If it’s 30%, Elia—”
“-I know. It’s a figure so low it’s hard to even call her ‘alive.’ To put it bluntly, she’s nearing the end of her life. If we don’t uncover the cause, another incident will occur, and then there will be another consciousness damage seizure, and after that…”
Karina did not finish the sentence, but everyone in the room could easily guess what would come next.
“C-can’t it be treated? Surely, if it’s Lieutenant Rin—”
Lora interjected, but Karina shook her head and stared at her for a long time.
“Ah, ah, what should I do… How, how…”
More tears welled in Lora’s eyes. Guilt pressed down on her chest like a massive iron weight. All she remembered about Elia were cold, brutal memories that dug into her heart. Her heart ached as if it were being squeezed.
“I, I…”
She forced the words out in a cracked voice.
“What should I do now, what should I do now.”
The tears that had been pooling in Lora’s eyes spilled over. Something she had barely been clinging to inside her snapped. As a terrible sadness spread through her body, she collapsed where she stood.
“Commander Lora, stand up. Elia is still alive. There must be something you can do to help.”
Erica approached the fallen Lora and helped her to her feet.
“Both of you, listen carefully. This is a top-secret matter regarding Commander Elia.”
Top-secret. Lora and Erica looked up at her.
“First, set the security level to N1.”
After declaring the security level N1, Lora and Erica set the F.A.C.T.S system to offline. Several minutes passed, and Karina waited quietly. She had not forgotten that switching to offline mode took up to three minutes.
“...Good. First, we know nothing of her past. However, I do have a clue that may prove useful.”
Karina activated a screen on the hologram in the center of the meeting room.
The ominous title of a knight.
~Serus 4312, December 24~
[‘15th Anniversary of the Sigma Infection Cessation in Sector 09, What Remains There?’]
“This is the clue.”
“...Sector 09?”
Erica, who had never heard such a strange word before, pondered the clue several times, then suddenly remembered something and added, startled.
“Wait, wait. Could it be that she’s a survivor of Sector 09?”
She had heard it when she was still a lieutenant.
A rumor that survivors of Sector 09 actually existed.
But it had been nothing but a rumor.
“Yes. Elia Edelvine is the only survivor of the Biohazard in Sector 09.”
Elia’s inexplicable outburst.
Biohazard in Sector 09.
Only survivor.
And the name she had called out so desperately.
Erica’s eyes sharpened.
This is related.
“I tried to investigate her identity with my authority, but it was impossible. And that means one thing.”
Lora could easily think of the meaning. Aegis’s core XT-level secret that even a Commander-level officer could not access.
“...Commander-level inaccessible secret.”
“Yes. Her past seems far too complex to simply infer.”
Karina connected to the Aegis integrated system to search for information related to Elia, but the connection itself was blocked.
“The fact that she was given the surname ‘Edelvine’ also seems to me like some form of surveillance. Luden Edelvine… It’s suspicious that the sly old man simply accepted her as an adopted daughter. There are more than a few suspicious points.”
“The secret that the commander knows… or perhaps hides… will soon become Elia’s past and the cause of her outburst. But where to start…”
Erica could not continue and quietly calmed her emotions.
“...PTSD.”
Lora unconsciously muttered, causing Karina to flinch slightly and ask. PTSD? For Elia Edelvine?
“PTSD? What does that mean?”
“The reaction I saw before I calmed her. It’s real. My late father also suffered from it, so I know. It was at a serious level, and so far, the captain has been somehow… hiding it.”
Lora’s fists were clenched so tightly her skin turned white. She thought, you can’t keep getting swayed by emotions, this isn’t for the captain, and when she relaxed her grip, the color slowly returned.
“It’s getting more complicated. There’s only one clue, but I don’t believe it’s enough. I will assign you the top priority task. Trace Elia Edelvine’s past and find out the cause of the outburst.”
The commander approved. Now Lora and Erica could protect Elia with her support.
“Not bad, I’ll do my best. By the way…”
“...I do cherish her, even if I seem like that. I didn’t think forcing a conversation would lead to such a serious situation. I’m sorry.”
The reason Karina had issued Command 21 was simple. If ignoring the attendance recommendation was 1, then the reason she wanted to have a proper conversation with her was 99. But the situation had become inexplicably serious. Guilt squeezed her insides. Chewing her lip, she said,
“She is a hero who shattered the Unknowns’ slanders. When she wakes up, I will treat her with the best courtesy.”
ⴕ
Arekate planet.
Londinium, the nation of the High Elves.
Aegis Supreme Command.
“Commander, are you there?”
“Come in.”
After all communications to Elia had been cut off, Maria Edelvine Brigadier General felt uneasy and went to her father, Luden Edelvine.
“Has the weekly mission report for Elia arrived?”
“Speaking of which, it hasn’t come in for the past two weeks. Maria.”
“Hng-?”
At the too casual reply, Maria looked at Luden gently. And Luden was biting into a sandwich while looking at his daughter. The white armor department’s white uniform contrasted with the long flowing black hair. Completely opposite feeling to Elia.
“You’ve always been like that, don’t worry.”
“No response on the communication terminal for several days.”
“Well, I’m sure she’s doing fine on her own—”
“-Commander Luden.”
Maria cut him off firmly.
“It seems strange? No news coming in on my information network either.”
“You mean no news on my information network? Strange. Hahaha!”
Her eyes curved like a crescent moon at Luden’s sly laugh. When her daughter got angry, she smiled more intensely. To others who didn’t know her, it would be a kind, warm smile, but to Luden, it looked like a ruthless smile when a tiger played with a weak prey.
“Is it possible that the commander is hiding something? Right?”
“Of course, how could that be?”
“If something happens to my cute little sister…”
Maria’s eyes stared into Luden’s for a few seconds, and he felt like he was being sucked into her tiger-like golden eyes. No emotions in them.
“-Won’t you stay still? Commander?”
'At times like this, she really looks like her mother.'
Maria Edelvine.
Eldest daughter of the prestigious Edelvine family.
Central figure of the Aegis armor department.
Administrator of 26 planets.
Nickname, 'Shadow Queen.'
Within the Union Command, or rather, in the entire galaxy, there is no information that can escape her grasp. Where her shadow falls, even if it’s the bottom of hell, there are rumors that she is watching. Major acts of treason or corruption in Aegis are usually concluded with such announcements before they even begin.
[Armor Department Execution Announcement]
- Aegis Union Major Treason Offender
- Target: Restan Luman
- Crime: Inducing Conflict in Weak Nations
- Sentence already executed
Luden stared at his daughter for a long time, then decided something, put down the sandwich he was eating, and pressed the call button for the supersonic orbit transport.
“6 days, I permit a trip to Obelisk.”
“Huhu, thank you, Dad.”
“...Only when it suits you. You should try to resemble Elia more. 'Father,' huh. What a good title that is.”
“Oh~ What a terrible joke.”
As she left Luden’s office, Maria gave him one more faint smile, then checked the communication terminal records again.
XXXX year XX month XX day.
[How are you, little sister?]
[I’m fine.]
XXXX year XX month XX day.
[How are you doing, little sister?]
[No problem.]
XXXX year XX month XX day.
[Is the adaptation going well?]
[I don’t know.]
[Not knowing is okay, right?]
[No problem.]
XXXX year XX month XX day.
[How is it now?]
XXXX year XX month XX day.
[Elia?]
XXXX year XX month XX day.
[Elia? Contact me, okay?]
XXXX year XX month XX day.
[I’m going on a trip to Obelisk today. Wait for me!]