Sett had been obediently following Vice-Captain Adina when he saw them. Their transport was in front of them. They had talked about them as mere shuttles, but Sett saw them for what they were. They were military-grade corvettes. Although they were the smallest in their category of warships, they were revered by military fanatics for their relatively quick manoeuvrability and versatile workload.
Before Sett had become involved with magic, it had been his dream to be part of the crew of one of these warships. Although he now felt that that dream was not in the cards anymore due to all that had happened in the past day, Sett still felt some animosity towards his saviours for their mislabelling of the warships. Well, he was not going to complain. Not when he was this close to flying free.
Despite it being his dream job, Sett had never actually flown in one of the warships, not even as a passenger. Hell, he had not even flown in one of the shuttle taxis that were getting increasingly popular back on Gliese Prime, but that was mostly because flying ships of any kind were seen as the wealthy’s privileged. In other words, it was something that someone of Sett’s capital would never get to fly in unless they were enlisted.
Thus, despite his best attempt at staying as inconspicuous as possible, Sett could hardly hold in his excitement as they approached the cluster of large warships.
“You will be riding with me in the crusader corvette A. Do try not to get in everyone’s way.”
The vice-captain advised him without looking back. Though her words were still rather harsh, Sett could almost feel as if she were warming up to him, if only ever so slightly. At least she was not giving him the death stare every other second.
Walking beneath the wings of the massive warship, Sett could not help but notice some peculiarities.
Some years past, Sett had been to a public exhibit along with the orphanage where they showed off one of the derelict corvette warships that had been one of the few warships responsible for escorting the colony ships to Gliese Prime. It was said that the ship on display was struck by a meteor shower in defense of the colony ships, but even then, Sett found the difference between the ship he had seen that day and this one to be way too big.
For starters, they seemed to be entirely out of different materials. The one on display had been made out of a titanium alloy giving it a glossy finish. The ones before him, however, were made out of a material that Sett could not possibly place. Even from beneath layers of paint, it looked ethereal and out of this world.
Next was the weaponry. While the display corvette had used the standard missile propulsion weaponry that was coupled with every produced warship within the Intergalactic Human Federation, the crusader’s ship seemed to use something completely different.
The weaponry constantly glowed ominously blue and did not seem to have any sort of ammunition stored anywhere. Perhaps it was some kind of laser weaponry? The research into laser weaponry had long since been abandoned as infeasible, then why was it present here?
Last was the propulsion. On the surface, the difference between the two was negligible. The one before him simply looked far newer than the derelict one, as one would expect. Yet, a single glance with essence in mind revealed a whole new world. Sett saw countless small circuits flowing everywhere on the propulsion, eventually leading to it being converted into some kind of fuel. It was fascinating. Sett had never thought that magic could be used in such a way.
There were many other differences present on the ship, though much smaller than the other, which led to Sett falling into a trance of admiration.
“Hey, young lad!”
The vice-captain yelled at him from behind. Turning around half in fright, Sett expected to find the vice-captain scolding him for stopping but found that she had already walked further away. There was another person in front of him, however. Yet, that someone looked like an exact carbon copy of Adina.
“How do you like my beauty?” The copy of Adina spoke with great enthusiasm. “Just got done upgrading the propulsion with a new experimental magitech device. Did the whole upgrade by myself as well!”
Sett felt kind of flustered, constantly looking from the departing vice-captain to the much livelier and beaming copy that stood in front of him. Their resemblance was simply too big. The only real difference was their clothing and naturally the way they spoke.
The lively version of Adina still wore the crusader’s colours and a few pieces of armour, but it was a far shot from the heavily armoured vice-captain. In addition, the lively copy’s clothes were also tarnished with oil and other bits of debris all over. Much like Adjutant Jackson from earlier, Sett could only assume that she was a non-combatant.
The most discerning feature that differentiated her from the vice-captain was the fact that her face was not twisted into an eternal frown.
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“Excuse me. But who are you?”
Sett was a little on edge, knowing that the vice-captain had only given him a little freedom. A freedom that likely did not extend to stopping randomly and speaking to whichever person he pleased.
“Oh, I didn’t introduce myself? Must have slipped my mind when I saw someone looking at my baby.” The girl laughed. “I am Stella Moore, pilot of the Corvette the Seventh Bulwark and ascendant of the first tier. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Stella Moore introduced herself with great gusto, though she put much more emphasis on the pilot title rather than her ascendant tier.
Sett gaped at the young woman’s words. A pilot of a corvette? Between the vice-captain and Stella, he felt that Stella was much more impressive. The title of pilot was, after all, something that he could relate to so much more.
“I’m Sett.” Sett considered whether or not he should mention any titles. “I reckon you could say that I am a former sacrifice. The pleasure is mine.”
In his stupor, Sett almost forgot to return the greeting.
“Oh… you are one of the guys we rescued from the vampires? No wonder that I could not recognize you.” Stella looked at Sett in a new light, almost looking like she scanned every inch of his body. “I have never gotten the opinion of a mortal, what do you think of my baby, isn’t she a beauty?”
Stella gestured towards the corvette with excited movements. The baby in question was surely the corvette.
“Frankly, it is one of the most amazing things I have ever laid my eyes on.” Letting his inner love for warships flow free, Sett spoke with a feverish gaze that hardly lost out to Stella’s. “When the day comes that I return to the mortal world, I would no longer be able to look at the warships of Gliese in the same light.”
“Mmm!” The crusader pilot held back a squeal of delight hearing Sett’s praise. “The folks around here really don’t appreciate the work that goes into the girls. It’s great to finally have someone around that appreciates true art.”
The crusader did not care to talk about the warships? Well, it was no wonder. To them, warfare and fighting were probably the greatest art. The pilots and crusaders would likely not mesh all too well in that aspect.
“I have never seen such weaponry on any of the Gliese Prime models, what are these?”
Sett could not help but ask about the mysterious energy weaponry.
“Ohoho… You have a great sight for the finer things, don’t you lil Sett.” Stella immediately brought Sett closer to the weaponry. “This, right here, is the gemstone to my jewellery. The newest generation of magitech laser weaponry imported straight from Earth. It can sustain fire for over thirty minutes on a full charge and blast a five-centimetre radius through a one-meter slab of steel in only ten seconds.”
Sett stared in wonder at the magical piece of weaponry before him. From the facts that Stella had listed for him, it was an absolute behemoth. It was something that he would perhaps expect to find on a capital-grade ship, but not the much smaller corvette.
In comparison to the normal missile weaponry, this could bring more penetrative and far more accurate destruction. Furthermore, missiles were a shoot once kind of deal, while the laser could fire continuously for thirty seconds.
In short, it was absolutely amazing. Sett could not help but stare at it with starry eyes as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
“How does it feel to use it?”
“I have not tried it in combat yet, but it feels great. It is almost like I have the sun at my fingertips.”
“Wow… That sounds unbelievably fun.”
Sett was envious, truly envious. The woman before him was living his dream.
“You bet. Once the admiral back at the base let me try to shoot the order’s only frigate’s main gun. Let me tell you, that really sent shivers riding up my spine.”
A frigate! Sett almost fell on his butt from sheer shock. Unlike the naval ships they were named after, the size proportion was way different. The frigate was at minimum one hundred and fifty meters in length and their weaponry grew in size in response.
Now, Sett was looking at Stella as if looking at a superstar.
“You have flown in a frigate? Holy s…”
“What in the world are you two doing!?”
Sett’s words were interrupted by a very angered voice.
Both Sett and Stella gulped in symphony.
“Why are you standing around here sharing order secrets with an outsider, Pilot Stella?”
The angry vice-captain decided to tear into the pilot first, leaving Sett to breathe a sigh of relief.
“S… sis.”
“Don’t sis me, pilot Stella, while on duty you are to call me vice-captain Adina. Are we clear?”
Adina stared down at Stella, leaving her unable to refuse.
“Yes, s… vice-captain Adina. We were simply talking about the corvette… nothing specific.”
“Hmph.” The vice-captain clearly did not believe her sister. “And why were you talking with the prisoner in the first place?”
“Well… I simply found him standing around without supervision, so I decided it was for the best to keep him company until someone came to claim him.”
Stella directed a slight smirk at her sister, who in turn frowned ever so slightly underneath her helmet.
“I see. You are dismissed, pilot Stella. Go and prepare for take-off, we are departing in two minutes.”
“Yes, vice-captain!”
Stella made a quick half-hearted salute and ran to escape her sister’s wrath.
“And you…” Adina directed her anger at Sett. “Why did you not follow me?”
“This… I… I am sorry.”
Sett, unlike Stella, did not have any excuse that he could use to evade Adina’s piercing eyes. In the end, he could only prematurely apologize for his actions.
“Mortals…”
To Sett’s response, Adina simply sighed and muttered.
“Just come along. No detours this time.”
Sett readily nodded and followed in her footsteps like a loyal dog.
They soon arrived at the back of the massive corvette and entered through an opening.
The first thing Sett noticed was the smell of blood. Almost one hundred crusaders sat along the edges of the massive cargo room, all of them still bathed in the blood of their enemies. On the outside, the smell had not been that bad, but in the stale air inside the smell became almost unbearable.
The two of them travelled through the ranks of crusaders who were bruising themselves with various things and arrived at what Sett imagined to be the helm of the warship.
“You will sit in my spot in consideration that Captain Thomas is gone. Don’t get any grandiose ideas and keep your hands from the buttons.”
Sett nodded, sat in the chair, and did his best not to be too near the countless flashing buttons that were blinking all around him.
“Systems cleared and ready, vice-captain. Permission for take-off?”
Stella’s voice sounded from one of the panels.