“Vacation, vacation.” Marie hummed lightly, tapping her fingers on Aziz’s back with a cadence that matched the tempo of her little song.

“It’s not a vacation, ma’am.” Aziz glanced at two huge contingents of soldiers, who were all staring daggers at him. The colonel had the feeling that if he got closer to Stardust and Thunderbolt, he would hear lots of curses directed at him from under their back.

Forcing himself to not flinch, he turned to look at the company commanders of both battalions, who were looking at their troops silently…and at the giant ship that had shuttled them from the Republic of Francois to the Mortal Light Dynasty.

Those things had become more and more prevalent in the past few months. The Conference of the Four had ended nine months ago, and with its end, a great wave of changes had swept the Five Lands. The self-sufficiency each nation had originally fought for was destroyed with the conference’s conclusion, turning into an incredible net of interdependency that culminated in a hyper-efficient war machine.

“Oh, but to us, it might as well be,” Marie replied. “You got your lesson material ready?”

“I say ready, but all I’m really going to do is to unleash Stardust and Thunderbolt on the North’s airborne forces,” Aziz replied. “I’m not sure how the word ‘ready’ is really applicable here.”

He looked around at the metallic structure beneath him. This was a port of call for all flying ships…or as they were called now, “Locomotives”. The exact term used to refer to the Unity and the other Ark-class transport vessels had been disputed by the other nations, and after some wrangling, the world settled with Locomotives. But none of that was all that important, compared to the fact that the port of call for Locomotives was actually half a kilometre aboveground.

Aziz knew that Marie, like him, was incredibly curious about this special place. She had been staring at it ever since they disembarked, and the colonel was already praying for their hosts to arrive. Apparently, a minor accident near the relevant air lanes had caused a delay, and the small orderly at the side was already twitchy.

After a few minutes of waiting, a small floating carriage descended from the skies, landing on the steely landing strip. The carriage belched out a whole bunch of smoke as it touched down, and three military officers threw themselves out of it.

Their transport blossomed into a ball of flames a moment later.

“That’s…an interesting sight,” Aziz remarked dryly.

“I guess there’s a reason why squad-level high mobility tactics aren’t all that sustainable yet,” Marie replied. “If those carriages were safer, we would be using them too.”

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“Well, they are safe for civilian use, if nothing else,” the colonel replied.

“You overestimate civilians,” Marie replied, walking towards the three coughing soldiers. Aziz followed suit, matching her steps and cadence to approach the welcome staff from the North.

“My apologies for this display,” one of them said. A name tag sat on his right chest, which read K. Vasily. Aziz glanced at his rank, and then raised an eyebrow slightly. He didn’t recognise the epaulette and the rank depicted on it. It was probably a new system, but letting his ignorance show this publicly could be a minor diplomatic slur.

“What happened?” Marie asked.

“Some extremists held an entire building hostage to force the Mortal Light Dynasty to release some of the Holy Temple’s bishops,” he replied. “The hostage incident failed, and the extremists were forced to escape. We just got affected by the chase.”

“I thought the Holy Temple was completely eradicated,” Aziz said.

“Most of them chose to kill themselves or died in battle, but there have some who were told to flee the Central Circle,” Marie explained. “They didn’t get far, though.”

Aziz rubbed his nose and turned to the three soldiers. “We thank the North for its hospitality.”

“Not at all,” Vasily replied. “We should be the ones thanking you for bringing your experienced troops over. With your guidance, the First and Second Airborne Divisions will be able to perform better during the real deal.”

“We’re just helping ourselves,” Marie replied. “No need to be this courteous.”

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the three soldiers took out an artefact and began talking on it. Before long, a Locomotive, one that was half the size of the Unity that had appeared during the Conference of the Four. Marie turned to the two battalions that were standing utterly still, and said, “Stardust, Thunderbolt, board the new…Locomotive. We’ll be using it to get to our new home for the next year or so.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

A chorus made from two words rang out throughout the port, turning the heads of the staff present. Like the ebbing tide, the crowd of soldiers flooded into the new Locomotive in an orderly manner. Escorted by the three soldiers, Aziz and Marie hopped onto the nameless Locomotive, where they were brought to the bridge. Once they were strapped in, the Locomotive began to shake, and the view from the bridge began to blur.

“Why can’t the Ark-class Locomotive take us there directly?” Marie asked, curious. “I don’t think there should be large differences in security clearances from the captain of that earlier Locomotive and this one, right?”

“It’s more about creating a routine, really,” Vasily replied, his eyes on the two soldiers who were busily talking to the artefact in their hands. “The Ark-class Locomotives are an aging design, compared to what we’re currently building. We’ll be using the newer Locomotives for our training exercises, which should provide a greater advantage for the upcoming war.”

“I see.”

An announcement stopped their conversation for a moment. “We are now at cruising speed. You may now release your seatbelts.”

Vasily got up at that. “If there are no other questions, please excuse me for a moment. I have to report something.”

The two of them nodded. Unfastening their seatbelts too, they approached the windows, watching the scenery.

“Where are we heading to?” Aziz asked.

“Someplace near the Northern Capital, Elysium.” Marie drew her finger across the glass window. “Better put on our best behaviour.”