Crystal Raven and the Sisters' Call
F-33 Farm Planet's remote wasteland. The area around the Night Raven Ship was filled with deafening noises reminiscent of a massive construction site—zzing! Crunch! Clang! Clang!
"Hey! Nahibi! Not there! Right side! Right side—fill that pipe gap!"
I bellowed at the top of my lungs, wrench in hand.
[No, this lowly human really! Am I a welder or what?!]
Nahibi yelped back, but its body was honest. It shifted into a white liquid state and squeezed into the torn gash on the ship's hull. Then it hardened itself to temporarily seal the hole, propping it up so I could weld over it.
"Quit yapping. Pay back what you broke with your body."
[Grr, this ship thing is inefficient from the start! It doesn't regenerate when damaged, it's all rigid! Compared to our living ships, it's inferior in every way!]
I glanced at the grumbling Nahibi and said,
"Then get out."
[......Grr.]
Nahibi trembled in frustration but couldn't bring itself to leave. It let out a deep sigh, heated the tip of a tentacle, and started melting the metal plate onto the hull with a sizzle.
[Damn it. A queen's guard reduced to a patching iron. This is a historic humiliation.]
"Less griping, crank up the output. This plate's too thick; it's not sticking right."
[Fine! Take this!]
Whoosh! Nahibi ramped up the heat so fiercely my eyebrows nearly singed off.
"Hey! Wanna die?!"
We snarled at each other while pouring our efforts into repairing the ship. It wasn't really a repair—it was borderline reconstruction. Apex had punched dozens of holes through it, and the floors and walls Nahibi had melted with acid needed full replacement too.
Luckily, Apex's ships were docked nearby, so we left the internal core components intact—they were pricey enough to make my mouth water, but company security and trackers made them too risky. We stripped the outer hull and other parts clean, though.
That's when it happened.
"Kal! Squishy! I wanna help too!"
Eve came scampering out from inside the ship. I'd told her to rest inside since she hadn't fully recovered yet, but she must've gotten bored.
I held a tool in one hand, spread the other wide as she ran up, and—
"Yup!"
—hoisted her up into my arm with ease.
"Uh... Eve? You can just rest inside, y'know."
"No more lying down! Wanna help Kal!"
What a good kid. Eve watched Nahibi and me work from my arms, then declared,
"This part's too drab! I'll make it pretty!"
Shiiiine—.
It was that matter reconfiguration ability she'd shown before. The mangled flesh bits gathered at the ship's battered prow, warping shapes as if that section existed in another dimension. Soon, it was coated in smooth, transparent purple crystal.
The difference from last time? It wasn't just covered—it was intricately carved like a massive gemstone, etched with ornate, geometric patterns.
"Ta-da! Whaddya think?"
Eve beamed proudly.
I couldn't comprehend the miracle, so instead of gawking, I set down my tools and ruffled her hair vigorously.
"Hehe."
It definitely looked sturdy. If it was the same material as before, tougher than most ship alloys—no issue there. The problem was the design.
A rusty, clunky scrapheap of a ship suddenly studded with noble, iridescent purple gems? It was jarring.
"Uh... um... pre... pretty."
I stammered awkwardly, and Eve lit up, bounding off to another spot.
"That too! That too—there's a hole there!"
She dashed to the side thruster nozzles.
"Wait! Eve! Not there! That's where the fire comes out—if you block it, it'll blow!"
"It's fine! Won't block the hole, just decorate around it!"
Humming a tune, Eve started adorning the thrusters with crystalline floral patterns.
[Ooh! Excellent work, Lady Eve!]
Nahibi clapped from its crevice.
[That perfect symmetry! That shimmering hue! As expected of a queen's aesthetic sense—on another level entirely!]
Nahibi's reaction was a bit over the top, but... after seeing Eve bedridden and in pain, watching her move so vigorously felt good. I'd read that drawing was developmentally beneficial for kids. Canvas was the ship and crayons were flesh, but given Eve's uniqueness, it seemed normal enough. Nahibi and I decided to praise and encourage her artistic soul.
The result?
Three hours later.
"Pretty! So sparkly!"
"......"
I stood before the fully repaired Night Raven, speechless.
This was no longer the battered transport I knew. Black iron plates were patched haphazardly across the body, but critical areas—engines, cockpit, weapon ports—glinted with embedded purple crystals. Even the canopy sported a gem statue of Nahibi that Eve had made "out of boredom," jutting up like a horn.
It looked like a junkyard smash-up with a jewelry store—grotesque yet uniquely eye-catching.
Eve, having poured out her artistic inspiration, retreated to her room claiming fatigue. Nahibi nodded in satisfaction and tried to slip away.
[Eh. Um. It's quite pretty now. Looks like my repairs are done, so I'll head to Lady Eve...]
I grabbed its body and hoisted it up.
[Kyaa! Where're you grabbing?!]
"What? It's all the same squishy body."
[Heartless brute—that's why you're single.]
"Watch that mouth, slimeball. I've had people who liked me! Anyway, quit changing the subject. Help to the bitter end."
I hauled Nahibi over to a can of black paint.
[What's this?]
"You can make tons of tentacles, right?"
I dumped dozens of paintbrushes in front of it and grinned.
Apex Industries headquarters, strategy conference room. A massive round table hummed with cold metallic air. At its center, a holographic map of the entire galaxy glowed blue.
Amid countless stars, a single red dot blinked in the galactic fringe—Outer Rim sector.
> [CLASS: Out of Spec]
> [PATTERN: 99.8% Match to ID Code EVE]
The man receiving the report slowly swirled the wine glass in his hand. Neatly combed white hair. Wrinkle-free designer suit. A sharp-featured middle-aged man—Victor, Apex Industries' head of security.
"Hmm."
He gazed at the red liquid in his glass, lips curling in intrigue.
"Thought it was dead... but it devoured a star instead."
The black-suited agent beside him bowed deeply, sweating bullets.
"Report, Director. Pursuit Code Teams... Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and four others—contact lost. Last signal near F-33 Farm. All presumed... KIA."
The agent squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for punishment. Training one code team cost as much as a destroyer. Five gone? This wasn't a reprimand—it was execution territory.
But Victor's response was unexpected.
"Doesn't matter."
He sipped his wine indifferently.
"A few pawns dying changes nothing."
Victor rose and approached the holographic map, staring at the blinking red dot on F-33.
"This is proof. That child... Project EVE has finally hatched."
Madness glinted in his eyes. An escaped subject advancing the project? It signaled the evolution key we'd craved was breaking its own lock, nearing completion.
"Weak failures are expendable. Alpha? They served their purpose as Eve's fodder."
Victor reached out, as if clutching the red dot in midair.
"Trackers?"
"That's... the signal from the embedded tracker vanished during the high-energy burst. Position tracking impossible now."
"Hmm. Figures."
Victor clicked his tongue.
They'd slink into the shadows now. Galaxy's vast, hiding spots aplenty.
"Then flush 'em out."
He pointed to the map's Outer Rim fringe.
"Spend money. Bounty on Outer Rim scum—pirates, mercs, criminals. Buy every eye and ear that might spot them. No breathing room, no foothold—hunt 'em relentlessly."
"Understood. And... HQ response teams?"
A cruel smile spread across Victor's lips.
"Unleash more hounds. Not the small fry this time."
He manipulated the holo-panel, opening a red file. It displayed chained, snarling beasts with profiles and symbols.
"Bring her back alive. Our cute little queen."
Victor drained his glass, murmuring,
"It's the only way to complete this project."
The repaired ship sailed smoothly through space. I sat at the lounge table, sipping coffee. Across from me, Nahibi floated in slime form.
"Hey, Nahibi."
I spoke first.
[What, lowly human?]
Still sulking from the rough handling? Yeah, Nahibi was definitely female.
"Eve's condition. She really okay?"
Nahibi's wobbling body paused at my question. I set down my mug, serious.
"Sure, her body's reinforced like you said, but isn't it just a band-aid?"
Nahibi fell silent, then answered honestly.
[You're right. She's stable now—the energy she absorbed before balances her body. But...]
Its red eyes narrowed.
[Lady Eve is a queen, but incomplete. That won't survive this war. Absorbing star energy like this will just restart the collapse.]
"Then what?"
[One way: Elevate her tier.]
"Tier?"
[Mental transcendence—control energy without relying on the flesh vessel. And only another queen can teach it.]
Nahibi projected a star map into the air. Outer Rim's edge. Where Federation maps ended. Unknown territory—the xenoforms' domain.
[Find her sisters. A completed xenoform queen to guide Lady Eve.]
"A xenoform queen..."
It meant walking right into humanity's enemy, the source of cosmic calamity. Insane from a human view, but I'd already turned from mankind's path. I'd go to hell's end if needed.
"You know one who can help?"
[Mm... one my mother was close with. Temperamental, but powerful.]
"Next stop decided. Mark the coords."
Nahibi plotted it on the map.
"Gotta cross the whole Outer Rim."
[So?]
"Lawless zone crawling with outlaws and pirates."
[Ignore the bugs.]
"Some are dangerous, and trouble always finds us."
But with Apex pursuit teams on us, time was gold. I plotted the fastest route and stood.
"Alright. Let's move fast."
I headed to the cockpit. Nahibi followed.
"Target: Beyond Outer Rim, unknown sector."
[Heh. Finally smells like home.]
Leaving F-33 behind, we plunged into deeper, darker space.