I looked up at the window of the space station to take a look at my very own space shuttle, yes that's right, I have my own space shuttle and I didn't have to pay for it… technically. Then afterwards I glanced at Earth below and for some coincidence, the station is overlooking Japan and I take my time looking at my home country, taking some occasional screenshots and storing them to my brain's virtual memory. Then my virtual senses four people approaching me and I sighed as two hands touched opposite sides of my shoulder.

“We're really gonna miss you Cassie-chan” a woman with a very seductive voice.

“Don't worry Cassandra, it's the same engineers who created the first working prototype FTL drive who helped make that space shuttle of yours” a different male voice, although the high pitch of his voice could sometimes be mistaken as a woman if you don't take a single glance at him.

“You both really think I'm worried huh? I'll let you know I have more balls than Commander Park!” I said with utmost confidence and a smug grin, although I continued looking towards the window.

“First of all, I do believe most people would have more balls than Commander Park, and second…” another voice, this time a very masculine voice, paused as I felt someone brush the top of my head as he continued “We're all aware that you're worried about a million things that could go wrong… but hey, you could boast of to become the first person to explore an interdimensional space.”

“If-” I was interrupted before I could say more by the hands of my female friend.

“You will Cassie-chan” she said with confidence as she continued tapping my shoulders. We continued our little last small talk for over 2 hours before one of the mission commanders, a petite short blue haired woman with glasses, appeared to inform me that everything is set and all they are waiting for is for her to board the shuttle. My friends all hugged me, with the self-proclaimed most masculine man in the world, even bursting into tears. Then after 5 minutes of just sobbing, my seductive female friend decided that it was enough and they all have my things so that I wouldn't forget about them.

As I walked forward towards one of the mission commanders, I decided to turn my back and with a wide grin and beaming with confidence, I declared “Once I come back, let's all visit that Subterranean Tunnel in Palawan! And it's gonna be at the expense of Amie-san!” I waited for a few seconds so I could savour their reactions, with everyone but Amie laughing but she decided to reply with a thumbs up.

I'm not crying, there's just somehow an onion that managed to find itself in the space station's ventilation system… yeah that's definitely the reason. I decided to activate the tears wiping function before I turned back to the petite mission commander and nodded when she asked if I'm ready. She then contacted the higher ups and I was then escorted towards the launch bay.

I was nervous, as people saluted me as I passed by them. Some of those who I knew either gave me a thumbs up, or a hug. I don't really get it, I'm definitely coming back in the next wave anyways. It's not like the chance of me not coming back is that high… just somewhere 25% so it's not that bad… statistically speaking.

I shoved the thoughts away as I entered the launch bay, seeing from the window the space shuttle I would be using for my exploration. Its name is [ Insert Name ] and although I call it a spade shuttle, it would make more sense to call it something else as it's powered by a fusion reactor, even its engines use nuclear fusion or something. It even has this thing called an RTG as its auxiliary power system.

I guess I could call it its own mobile headquarters as it supposedly has everything I would need for my 4 month mission exploring the waves and even extra supplies to last me a year just in case. It also has for some reason two prototype antimatter missiles on it, a warship rated railgun, and missiles that are for better or worse, all fitted with tactical nuclear warheads.

Regardless, I feel like if it wasn't going to the waves this would have caused some sort of uproar for a ship… plane to be armed with so many explosives that could flatten Tokyo in one boom. There were lots of complaints but in the end they relented as there's a possibility it isn't enough and for some reason many agreed to it. In the end, it felt like I'm manning a cruiser worth of armaments at the hull of a corvette.

“Corporal Cassandra Ivystone”

“Commander Park In”

“Do you wish to continue or not? You will not be held liable if you wish to turn back as once you enter that shuttle, there's a chance you'll never get back here on Earth" Commander Park said as he looked at me with his rare serious look. I almost flinched as I never saw Commander Park look that serious and for a moment I started doubting my decision but I scratched that thought and reminded myself of why I chose this mission.

“I am not the type to give up at the very last moment, sir” I said to him with a look to reassure him that I am more than ready for the risks of this mission and that nothing else that he would say could convince me to run my tail from this mission. I have trained after all for six whole years for this damn mission and I’ll see it through to the end even if it means taking the risk… the risk of being stuck in the same dimension as those monsters that ravaged the planet for decades. Maybe that’s why they added so much nuclear weapons…

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“I see, good luck Corporal”

“Thank you sir”

We said no more and I continued heading towards the shuttle. I would enter a room that seemed to be a dressing room and two women and a robotic attire fabricator would await me. One of the women would guide me to sit down adjacent to the attire fabricator as they asked me to remove all my clothes, reassured that there were no peeping eyes by showing one of the stationed “Peeper” autonomous drones, designed specifically against peeping eyes, either biological or not. The fabricator set to work and in a few seconds, I am now wearing what looks like a blue jumpsuit with hexagon patterns around it. Despite looking tight to my body in a mirror, I feel surprisingly light and it seemed to be outfitted with a temperature regulation system.

The woman then briefly explained that the suit is made of newly developed nanabots that are specifically developed for the mission. It could accept various sources of power from magicules to ambient radiation, although magicules and non-ionizing radiation from a star are the most efficient and preferred. The jumpsuit could shove dozens of DU APFSDS fired from your average 155mm Naval Railgun fired at half a kilometre without affecting me… much according to the woman and has various modes, which can automatically engage but can be manually activated. The jumpsuit is also a new generation of exoskeletons and the first of its kind to be able to handle weights of up to 5 tonnes.

“When will I ever need to lift something heavier than my best friend’s pick-up truck?” I asked one of the women and she simply laughed it off as they continued the so-called brief discussion regarding the suit. It also has its own self-repair system and expecting she’d find herself in a place with abundance if not excess of magicules, it has an automatic “healing magic” system that could keep her alive no matter what injury she sustained… as long as her head remains intact. It has so many features that I dozed off five minutes later and the woman realised it, decided to inform me that it comes with an assistant Artificial Intelligence and she could simply ask for the manual and other technical aspects of the jumpsuit.

As I entered the last room just before the decompression chamber, I was greeted by the current General-Secretary, with five guards behind her.

“Greetings Corporal Cassandra, are you ready?”

“I was born ready for this, ma’am.” I said in such a serious voice and it only took me a few moments after I said it to cringe and wish to hole myself up in one of the quantum computer rooms until I freeze myself to death. My only saving grace is that I’ll be sent straight to where all the monsters come from. I expected some lashing, or worse be given a slip for disciplinary action when I come back but she simply burst into laughter, with her guards following suit. I had to remain respectful towards my superior and kept my stoic demeanour and I think it might have made her laugh more.

“That’s the spirit!” she said as she tapped my shoulders as she whispered to my left ears “If you ever get the chance to meet whoever is or are behind the waves; Show them what us humanity can do and make them regret ever bringing the waves to our planet. Make them feel pain and show them the amuse-bouche for the full-course meal we are about to serve them” she said with fervour but it brought a chill to the bottom of my spine but I can’t deny…

I let out a grin as I whispered to make sure only the General-Secretary could hear “I’ll make sure to give them a glimpse of the power of the sun” and the General-Secretary tapped my shoulders again as she told me to continue on my way as the 200th wave is about to begin in half an hour. I entered the decompression chamber, although I have zero clue why they’d have to do it and it didn’t even do anything. It seemed that the other docking terminals were busy and they had to make use of one of the decompression chambers. The moment I entered the shuttle, the suit automatically activated me to be in a spacesuit and guided me to what I have to do. As I walked my way towards the cockpit, I noticed a really cool looking power armour that apparently is designed for me to be able to take on at least a hundred [ Giant Class ] on its own and even one [ Behemoth Class ] if proper measures are made.

I arrived at the cockpit and I couldn’t stop my heart from beating fast as the view of one side of Earth appeared at the window of the shuttle’s cockpit. I found my resolve getting stronger in fulfilling my mission. For the sake of Earth, for the sake of all those who died because of the waves, and for my sake… I must succeed. The A.I. guided me with what I have to do although I have already trained on a simulator based on the shuttle’s cockpit so I managed to do the startup checkup without looking much at the guide, although I did use it to double check to make sure. I managed to finish everything off in less than ten minutes and now I just have to wait five more minutes for the wave to start.

Then I received a request for telepathic communications and after checking its source, I accepted it and I was greeted by the launch director.

“Sarah Collins, Launch Director for this expedition.”

“Corporal Cassandra Ivystone.”

We then talked for a good while and I noticed that the Wave had started for the first time in my life; I saw the waves from above and I couldn't help but feel something eerie about it. The Launch Director told me that she too found it very creepy and even felt goosebumps when she first saw the waves from space. Then immediately it was followed by endless streams of explosions that covered every wave and from time to time, she noticed beams of light from most likely part of the “Excalibur Orbital Laser Platform” hit the waves as well. Then after half an hour, the countdown timer starts and I start to feel the sweat in my forehead increase.

“Take deep breaths Corporal, it would be bad for you to have a clouded mind as you enter the realm of those monsters” one of the people in the launch room said and I followed what he said, as I really don’t want to doom myself the moment I entered the waves. I’m part of a hundred billion dollar project after all and the world is watching me right now. After another half an hour, the launch countdown commenced:

“10

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The Space Shuttle Pioneer has cleared the docking bay… Lift Off… Glory to Humanity!”

The Shuttle descended from orbit, aiming for the waves that’s just above New York City. This was chosen due to numerous factors but for one, it is where the first wave appeared and the upper brass found it both symbolic and good propaganda to boost the spirits of the population to continue the fight against the waves. The other major reason is that out of all the waves, it has been detected to have the most magicules and by a huge magnitude.

Communication continued as the shuttle reentered the atmosphere and despite all the videos showing violent shaking, this one was surprisingly smooth. As the Space Shuttle approaches the target wave, the surrounding sky started turning dark, which means it has entered the wave’s sphere of influence and although the initial ground bombardment would most likely extinguished a majority of the monsters coming from it, with even a dozen missiles fires inside it, I was still advised to be cautious as no one could ever predict what could happen.

Then suddenly my vision for a split second, showed me a woman with blondish hair appear in front me, with an aura that makes me think an angel has descended. I could make out her face as it was only a split second but for some reason, she looked shocked. Then she woke up from her trance as some sort of medicine was injected in her left shoulders.

“---BORT! ABORT MISSION!” I heard from my telepathic communications, but before the space shuttle’s own artificial intelligence could respond, the communications suddenly got cut off as I passed out as the wave extended itself to swallow the space shuttle and in a blink of an eye, every wave occurring the world disappeared all at once and everyone was simply left with their mouths hanging and those close to her weeping in tears.

Not even a wreckage of the Space Shuttle nor anything from it would ever be found despite extensive search efforts.