A silver door shoots open in a secluded bridge hallway on one of the opposing gray walls. Miya walks out of the room but stops a few paces to turn her head to the side.
In the dimly lit space behind her, Ashihei sits with his head turned down to the picture frame facing him on his desk. He then clenches onto the sides of his head and curls down with a miserable snivel.
The door then slides close in front of her face, her ruby-glow swiveling around her eyes mirror in the door's reflection. She grins and licks her pointed canine teeth with a snarl.
"… Oh, so you were with Dr. Yamaguchi."
Miya turns to Loliel making her way down the hallway. She blinks, and her eyes return back to their brownish tint.
"I can't remember the last time he let anyone inside. He's completely secluded in his study nowadays, hard to get him out even for dinner. But it was like that even when I was younger, so I'm used to it."
"Yes, he invited me in so I took the chance to talk about somethings with him..." Miya puts a hand up to her head and squints with a nod. "Or something…"
Loliel eyebrow raises an inch. "Or something… Right… Anyways, do you know a Kamilla by chance?"
"Why the hell would I?"
"Ah, I guess Adalae's assumption was correct. Guess all you needed was a bit a rest and here you are."
Miya shoots her a glare with an irritant curl of her lips. "I don't care what that miscreant-girl has to say about me. Why would you bring up this 'Kamilla' person?"
Loliel digs into her pocket and takes out Miya's patroller badge. Miya searches her breast pocket, then catches the silver badge mid-air and looks back at Loliel.
"Some woman talked to me through… Telepathy, or something. Said she worked with Coordinant Emelia and that they wanted you back at their base or whatever."
Miya puts a hand up to her chin with a thoughtful gaze.
If they want me back at headquarters, then that means either they need to debrief, or something happened to further the events of the current mission's investigation. Either way, I've never been to Aesteropol-1, so it's an excellent chance to meet other patrollers of this quadrant to scout for my team.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Miya places her hands on both her hips with a benevolent sneer. "Alright, since I am your guest of honor, you may transport me to my headquarters at once. Be on with it. "
Loliel cocks her head to the side. "Do you even know where that is?"
“Ah… Um…”
GAAAH! How could I forget where my stupid command post is located? I must've grazed over it in the files Coordinant Emelia gave me, and they've already expired since they were time locked… And there's no way I'm asking her for them. I can already hear her snarky and irritable remarks! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!
"I-I… Of course I do!" Miya blurts.
Loliel walks past her with a grin. "Good. You can relay it to me on the bridge. Let's go there now."
Miya ruffles through her hair with a silent scream then slams her foot before following Loliel down the hall. They reach a long hatch door at the end of the corridor. Loliel places her hand in the middle, and the lock twists open. The two doors then separate themselves with a wash of smoke.
They step into an elevator lift with a single panel on the right-hand side. Loliel presses the pad, and the elevator door closes and starts to move upward with a shift and creak of its inner mechanisms.
"What is this? I know this place is big but it even has a captain's bridge?" Miya murmurs.
The elevator halts, and the door opens again, revealing a moderately sized captain's bridge with info panels along the walls, giving miscellaneous data and graphs. Several hexagonal-shaped mirrors allow great views of the deep space outside, with three swiveling pilot chairs sitting in front.
Miya looks at her sides, two small metal doors named Shield and Computer, and Gravity Gen and Jump Cooler to her other side. The room is illuminated by dark-blue light streams on the edge of the floors, but with each step Loliel takes, white light fixtures emit from both her sides as if giving her a grand entrance.
Loliel taps her foot in the middle of the bridge, and a small cylinder base shoots up from the floor with a glass top. The glass then lights up, causing a hologram to appear mid-air of a swiveling spacecraft with wide engines and long acute wings.
"This is Stelios 87; 210 meters, beam around 80 meters and height around 40 meters." Loliel enlarges the image of the ship with her fingers.
Miya scrunches her eyebrows then nods her head. "Wait, wait, wait. You're saying this fat ship was stuck in the ground? I don't believe you."
"Believe it. This was a medium-sized explorer vessel able to hold a crew of up to forty personnel. Equipped with a medical bay with BiotilBeds able to treat trauma and perform minor surgeries, several reinforced fuel tanks, and mapping sensors capable of advanced hyper-travel if need be."
"And here I thought you were just some group of nomads." Miya smirks, along with her attempt at a compliment. "Where'd you find it?"
"My parents were very important preservers in the Stellar Security Union way back when. This was one of the special escape vessels supposed to be used in case government officials needed to be rushed off the planet but it was never used, for obvious reasons. We've been using it as a place to live, and now it's finally come to use."
"… Pwaachu!"