Chapter 2 - 04: Looking Back

"I asked you to stop." The voice was Pandora's. She had somehow gotten a hold of him. Kanya suddenly blanked out for a short while.

"You're not supposed to be on this ship. Moreover, you were heading for places even most crew of the Aegis aren't supposed to go near."

Kanya was speechless.

"Don't you have any excuse for entering when you were unauthorised?"

He had no words to say. He was still in shock of being discovered.

"Your abilities are recovering far quicker than I expected. It looks like I need to bring forward the schedule a little bit. Either way, I can't have you remembering anything within this region of time."

She takes out a syringe and suddenly jabs him with it.

"You don't remember who I am to you yet. You will remember in time. Hopefully, the next time we meet, you will remember who I really am, what I am doing, for what reason I'm doing it. And for your sake, don't go using your abilities unchecked by reason. If you ran into someone other than me, chances are you would have been terminated on the spot. After all, no one on this ship knows you. Not yet at least."

She removes the syringe, and stabs him with what appears to be a needle.

"Unfortunately, I cannot have you recover too quickly. That would ruin my plan and put you in unnecessary danger. You have much to learn before I can allow you to roam freely without supervision."

She removes the needle. Not long after, Kanya falls to the ground. She takes out her PDD.

"I need a medical team at the position I'm calling from. A crew member from the MV2904 somehow wandered in and collapsed here."

"What is this person doing on the Aegis?"

"Who knows? I think he somehow got cleared through the doors. Must have been a glitch or something."

"Why would he come here?"

"Probably got lost. Just hurry up and send a team here. I have things to attend to."

Chapter 2 - 03: Return by Shuttle

Kanya had already returned to his room on the MV2904. His day of shopping was over. At 1. He didn't have the stamina to do it all day. He decided a little change would be good for him, so he went to the orbital station's cafeteria instead. He would try the food on Nakamura tomorrow. They were going to be there for a week anyway. As he was leaving the cafeteria, he saw Cassandra return from the surface. She immediately left in the opposite direction, not noticing Kanya. He followed her to another door. She cleared the security and entered. Kanya was curious. He immediately tried to follow her, but to no avail.

The door rejected his clearance. He thought he should go back. If it was something above his clearance, he probably shouldn't know. He swung his hand past the scanner for the heck of it. It suddenly cleared him. He didn't know what happened, but he continued onward. At each locked door, a mere swing of his hand at the reader was adequate for opening the doors.

An unexplainable phenomena, but Kanya believed someone was leading him to something. He had lost sight of Cassandra. He realised where he was: the Aegis. He continues walking one of the corridors. He could not explain it, but he knew where he had to go. The layout of the ship wasn't foreign to him.

A voice from behind him beckoned. "It's about time you stop." The voice was familiar. He began to run, he knew he shouldn't get caught. He sped forward as fast as he could.

Chapter 2 - 02: On Nakamura

Meanwhile, on the surface, Harrison and Kanya are walking through the shopping district. Advancements in transport technology and efficiency meant that most modern colonised planets only had one main city. Politics are minimal since corporations fund operations and although they do not exercise their influence upon the planet, any major expenditure has to be filed with the corporation. "Where did Cassandra go anyway?" Kanya asked.

"Where else could she go? Deep into the darkest depths of the Nakamura shopping district, to never return until ordered to," Harrison joked.

"Hmph."

"Oh yeah, you haven't gotten a paycheck yet. I'll lend you some money if you need it. I'll just take it out of your paycheck later. I do still have jurisdiction over your money. Heh."

"I'll just borrow some and go off."

"Go ahead. Just remember to keep track of time and come back when your PDD tells you to. We have an important visitor coming onboard the ship later."

With that, Kanya dashes off into one of the stores. He doesn't have much of a wardrobe besides his several sets of uniform. He has plenty of things to buy.

Meanwhile, Cassandra is sitting in a small cafe. Her PDD shows a shopping list, with half of it ticked and coloured green. She then notices that she has a new message.

2:00pm

The message was short, but she had been told of the meaning before this. She had about an hour and a half before it came. It meant that she would have to leave after her short meal at the cafe.

Chapter 2 - 01: What's On Nakamura?

"You guys head off to the shuttle. I have to return to the Aegis to do some paper work," Pandora told them before immediately running off to another shuttle bay.

***

Nakamura is a human colonized planet. It is located within the Dekaten System nearby its own trade gate. It has five orbital stations with shuttle services to the main cities on the surface of the planet.

The planet has been used mainly for agricultural and mining purposes, as well as residential areas for those who prefer planet-based settlements. It was found already ready for human habitation. There was no terraforming involved with this planet. Hence, massive amount of care has been taken to ensure that human settlement would not affect the ecosystem too much.

It orbits a small star, roughly the size of the original Earth's sun, from a slightly further distance. Hence, the meteorological system of the planet is slightly different from the original Earth, and this somehow, made it suitable for growing modern crops that have been engineered by the GMTi.

It is currently considered to be under the control of the TRi, although the TRi does not use its influence and allows Nakamura to flourish without corporate control. This, in turn, makes it rather attractive to traders and refugees from other parts of the universe.

***

Pandora is walking down a corridor. The interior of the Aegis is noticeably newer and more advanced than the MV2904. She stops at part of the wall. She removes her PDD and visibly activating a few buttons. A doorway opens in front of her.

All that is ahead of her is darkness. She walks in and the wall section returns to where it was.

"Well, Pandora. What do you have to report?" a hologram in the room appeared and spoke.

"We would also like a status report on the specimen known as Kanya Methodius."

"He must be ready before he is moved onto one of our ships."

"The Kirkor is extremely important. Should the specimen fail to operate as an ordinary pilot, we expect you to take full responsibility."

Pandora, immediately replied, "It wasn't my idea to start this experiment to begin with." She points towards one of 28 holograms in the room.

The hologram immediately replies, "It's true I suggested it, but you carried it out."

"His abilities are still present, so it would follow that his skills should be as well."

"Enough. Pandora, give us your report. We Gifted have no time to continue this pointless banter."

"The pirates we hired to protect the ship and its valuable cargo was being attacked by an unknown fleet. From my analysis of the recordings given to me, I am quite certain the ships were rented from one of the more war oriented colonies in Ryzak Alliance. It will be impossible to determine who ordered who to attack the ship. I have sent some false intelligence through specfic channels. I believe we can expect a massive assault on the Aegis when we enter Arltian space."

"The Kirkor will be ready to assist the Aegis in the battle."

"Thank you, Jon. I can only hope that it will not be necessary," Pandora replied.

"And what of Kanya?" another asked.

"You already know." Jonathan replies. "He will continue to be trained by Cassandra before being transferred over to my ship."

Pandora continues to elaborate, "I have not been able to perform my duties regarding him, but I believe that an opportunity will come within the next 24 hours."

"Good. We await the good news."

"This conversation is to be kept secret from Erse. She will know nothing of this experiment and plan. She was always one to oppose our more radical projects."

Pandora nods in agreement as the entire room darkens as holograms dissipate. She smiles as she leaves the room. Everything is going according to plan.

Chapter 1 - 13: Arrival at Nakamura

It wasn't long before Pandora had destroyed at least double as many drones as anyone else could. And then she decided to say something. "Kanya, what are you doing? Stop holding back."

Everyone's attention got pulled towards Kanya's kill count. It was half one of the rookies.

"I'll stop holding back if you will do the same, Pandora."

"Deal."

It wasn't long before the three experienced pilots began to gain kills many times greater than any of the two rookies. They had finally realised that they had a long way to go before being able to challenge any of these elite pilots.

"How in the world did you guys manage to rack up those kills so quickly?"

"Probably experience in high speed battle combined with plenty of talent," Cassandra replied.

Pandora quickly stated, "We're due to arrive at Nakamura soon. The announcement should come any..."

An announcement interrupted Pandora. "We are due to arrive at Nakamura within the next half hour. We will dock with the orbital station. From there, you will be able to take shuttle services down to the surface. We will be meeting the Aegis later, for which all crew are expected to be on board. A schedule will be downloaded to your PDDs which you will be expected to keep."

"OK, so the announcement beat me to it. Let's get ready to leave for the surface. It's bad to be cooped up in a ship for too long."