Deep Space Observatory Raid
> An unexpected situation has occurred.
The chief contacted the analyst the next day.
"What?"
The analyst didn't hide his bewilderment, furrowing his brow in disbelief. Wasn't the request clearly a Fallen Angel test?
"It was the last day."
"How the hell does something like that even happen out of nowhere?"
The chief spoke in a grim tone.
"So why?"
The analyst had already considered that possibility, but hearing it confirmed drew a wry chuckle from him. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.
"So, to sum it up: Gabriel, humiliated after losing with all his Seraphim in the test match, set up a fake request to lure out Rabe for personal revenge… only to get wrecked instead?"
"Wait, Rabe took out the Fallen Angel?"
The chief nodded.
"What kind of confidence was that guy riding on?"
"…I see."
Adam getting caught up and dying alongside him was a bit bothersome. The analyst wondered if this subtle unease was some kind of warning sign.
"You said Adam tried to intervene."
"Was there any need to kill a guy like that?"
So Rabe went all out too, and the clash led to this unforeseen outcome. That's what the chief surmised.
"Can I see the combat data?"
As soon as the chief tapped his pad, an email notification popped up under the analyst's monitor. He opened the data without hesitation and scrolled through it rapidly.
"No comms data."
"No, this looks like deliberate deletion."
The gaps between data segments were too clean for mere damage—like it had been sliced with a knife or scissors rather than torn apart.
"And these maneuvers… Looking at the Fallen Angel's mobility and system traces, Rabe went in assuming a Nexus fight from the start. With intent to kill."
"You said Gabriel tricked her with a fake request. Doesn't make sense that she'd know the details going in."
He might've stubbornly demanded she ride the Fallen Angel, but asking her to come fully prepared without grasping the reality? Unless Gabriel was insane, it was an unreasonable demand by any logic.
'And there's something else suspicious.'
The chief said Adam's skill forced Rabe into a desperate fight that took him down too.
'Would that guy really struggle against Adam?'
The analyst examined the combat data. Actuators firing madly, output spiking wildly—all compressed into hyper-accelerated thought speeds that made him question if this was even real.
But that didn't mean a close fight.
"Data's missing in spots all over."
"This is deliberate gaps too. To obscure the real fight details."
So cleanly excised.
The analyst erased the deceptions, piecing together an approximate flow of the battle.
'Busy movements, but that's just Rabe being a monster with insane control speed. Overall….'
She toyed with the sluggish enemy machine like a grub compared to the Fallen Angel, pounding it one-sidedly.
'Those intermittent damage messages….'
The Fallen Angel's mobility wasn't as monstrous as shown. Under normal operation, maybe 70% of this speed.
'But Rabe….'
She'd barely piloted it once before, yet she'd already mastered it, pushing mobility to the extreme. Even overboosting thrusters to gain more speed.
'So the "fierce combat" damage signals the chief mistook were just the Fallen Angel creaking under the strain.'
He narrowed his eyes, staring through his glasses at the monitor for a long while before closing them.
Seeing that, the chief asked cautiously. The analyst twisted his lips into a bitter smile.
"Only the parties involved know the full story, but the dead don't speak, and Rabe's left—who's notoriously tight-lipped anyway."
But, he added softly.
"Rabe… she might be way more dangerous than I thought."
Like a beast swinging wildly, not caring about direction, just to unleash whatever's inside. Was Rabe merely a beast howling in grief?
This is just my personal opinion.
As I was leaving Eden after finishing the request, piloting my main unit after a long time, Rinne spoke up in my head.
Yesterday went too far. There was no need to kill both of them.
'They came at me ready to fight. They knew the risks.'
What about Adam?
I fiddled awkwardly with the auxiliary device on my back. For some reason, I didn't feel like answering Rinne's question.
Did you even think before fighting?
'You're chatty today, Rinne.'
Adam was good to you. You gonna do the same to Hermann?
"…?"
Something felt off here, and I tilted my head.
'You know Hermann? You were activated after we left the Nest.'
…….
Rinne fell silent for a moment.
I checked the hangar logs… Found entries on Hermann. That's how I know.
'Hmm.'
Suspicious, but no real urge to pry. And she probably wouldn't answer anyway. Honestly, she was a shady auxiliary program, but I couldn't just rip her out and analyze her.
'Guess she'll stay as some mysterious nagging voice in my head….'
With that thought, I checked the piled-up notifications.
System boot brought up the account balance first.
'Whoa.'
The string of zeros… The sheer length hit home how much credit I'd made from that one gig. Felt a bit unreal, like floating.
Still, thinking of Nexus parts prices, it wasn't that much. Enough for maybe five top-tier frames.
"……."
Checking transactions, I saw the pay split into two.
One for the test Nexus request from AAE.
The other…
'They actually paid.'
Half a bit more than the main request, but for less than a day's fight, it was overkill. Adam must've meant it.
'Pay if you kill us… Is he sane?'
Hard to lie and say my heart wasn't a little unsettled. Like Rinne said, Adam only showed weakness around me.
But no huge emotional wave either.
'They jumped in on their own terms, died on their own terms.'
I quickly moved on, checking other alerts.
I paused.
One message caught my eye.
'This….'
Not the content—the sender.
Hermann's name.
'Hmm….'
I debated skimming others first but just opened it.
Hermann's message started with that clichéd greeting.