Miya’s nose scrunched down as her eyelids sat narrowly below her pupils.

“Oh no, they were wrong. You’re definitely useless.”

The room was an endless white void. Miya stood with her arms crossed, watching Orimi handle a TRN-13, a greenish long-nozzle rifle with two scopes and a three-finger trigger. She stood in front of a blue holographic line. A few feet away was a blank blue target with ‘Missed’ holo-signs everywhere but the wide bullseye.

Orimi held the rifle up to her chin, centering the lock-on system with a green light twirling around the rifle’s handle. She clicked the trigger, jolted with the buck of the gun, and another ‘Missed’ holo-mark popped up a meter above the bullseye.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. How are you missing the mark when you have a lock-on system? Are you trying to piss me off?”

Orimi turned around and shook her head. “N-no! Of course not! I-I’ve just never fired an actual gun until, like, right now, so….”

Miya sighed and waved her hand mid-air. A set of black holo-screens pulled up, showing several weapon selections ranging from guns, artillery, and mecha-gear.

“Okay, I guess I can understand your lack of firearm proficiency. Most officers skip firearms training when there are several alternatives.”

She flicked through a few lists and then tapped a drone-mech tab. A white square hatch lifted from the ground beside her revealing several remote robots, UAVs, and autonomous copters.

Miya tapped a few buttons on the keypad atop the drone mechanizer, and a blue six-legged spider drone began skidding across the ground.

“If you aren’t familiar with firearms, you’d had to at least taken a class in RWS.”

Orimi tilted the side of her head with an uneasy smile. “Uh, what’s… RWS stand for…?”

“Remote Weapon Systems,” Yuci’s voice echoed throughout the white-fielded enclosure. “We also have battle suits, nanotech, energized-particle transfigurations… It can be synthesized in this room if it’s Kon Level-3 and militant use.”

“Well yeah, that’s the thing… I’ve never used any remote, weapon-whatever those things are called.”

Miya sighed. “What institute did you graduate from?”

“Ahaha… Yeah… I never really graduated from a Patroller Academy….”

Miya’s eyebrow twitched as she took in a deep breath. “Not only are you not conditioned for field combat, but you don’t even know operative basics?”

Orimi rubbed her forearm and then nodded. “Yeah… I’m sorry…”

“And you’re supposed to be… My first squad mate…?”

“I-I’m a super fast learner! I can totally-“

“Save it.” Miya rubbed down the sides of her hair. “I didn’t think Coordinant Qhiv'ith thought so low of me… I thought I was doing a decent job, but even here, I’m being made a mockery of.”

She then turned around, letting her shoulders droop a little. “I would’ve stayed at Tavaus III if I knew it would be like this. At least they had the courtesy to disrespect me to my face.”

Orimi looked to the side and then clasped her hands together. “You’re right. I’m kind of useless, I guess. I’m sorry.”

“Miya, could you come back to the control room?” Yuci’s voice beckoned once more.

Miya stepped a few feet over to a circular keypad and tapped it once, causing a door to spring up from the ground. She then walked into a room with blue alloy floors, walls, and tables piled with sparkling blue gems, gun components, and half-built battle suits along the walls.

Yuci, now with a long black-lab coat with the words Aquos Rubient inscribed on the sides of their sleeve, sat at a long and transparent orange table that levitated mid-air. Dr. Ashihei began wrapping his long brown hair into a bun atop his head, then smiled as Miya sat across from him at the table.

“Glad to see you again, Miya. They finally let me out of that cell, and it’s a relief to be back in a lab again.”

Miya watched as Dr. Ashihei struggled to take his lab coat off his muscular frame. His long torso and boulder-like biceps act as hills for his fabric to slip over.

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“Ushema gur. I told you, before you put on your clothes, you need to press the decompressor button so that it adjusts to your body.” Yuri pointed out with a sigh.

“Oh, haha! Forgive me. You’re right! Even though it’s been about three months, I still keep forgetting about how you’re ‘one-size fits all’ clothes still work.”

“Month…? Is that a period reflecting the time passed on your home planet?”

“Yeah, it was,” Miya answered. “4056-E was one of the few planets that didn’t use universal time frames.”

“Ah, I see.” Yuri nodded. “But since you’re here, it’s time you learn how to refer to time. Cycles for years, starnets for months, starellas for days, and….”

“Let me see…” Dr. Ashihei tapped his stubbled chin. “Ah! And sidereals for full rotations! Correct?”

“That’s very good!” Yuri clapped a few fingers together. “I feel better that our after-work lessons are starting to stick.”

Dr. Ashihei looked over to Miya, giving him a blank stare. He then coughed into his fist and tapped the black metal briefcase on the table. The case opened in a puff of smoke. He then took the XMS pistol from the enclosure and handed it to Miya.

“So, how did my thruster katana do in the field? Did you have any problems with the propellant or quantum surges?” Dr. Ashihei inquired.

Miya nodded. Using her finger, she twirled the pistol by the trigger guard, causing the barrel to elongate until forming a 3-foot jet-black blade. The bottom of the gun then straightened out into a long black handle with a metal chassis housing blue spiraling energized particles.

“The first model of the gun used a responsive material called Stethil to break down and reconstruct its shape and size. However, the metal was limited as it could not gain energy to merge its atoms further for bigger or more complex gun types and ammunition.” Dr. Ashihei explained.

“With the help of Dr. Ashihei, we’ve been able to appropriate the energy using a method he’s named quantum emission. This mode of the Xacto-Macto can absorb both kinetic and electromagnetic energy and resource it to fuel its bio-fusion process.” Yuri finished.

They then tapped the blade’s chassis, causing the blue particles inside the hold to spiral. “This is the purest form of Stethil. Even in this plasmic state, it can produce its hot propellant to generate thrust.”

“I still don’t understand the make of this weapon, though.” Miya tilted the blade to the side, looking at her grooved reflection. “I don’t mind that I have to get close to my opponent, but its shape and size is something I’ve never seen before.”

“It’s a katana—a Japanese sword used by the late humans of 4056-E. They were used by warriors called samurai, military nobles of their late-modern era.”

Miya turned around in her chair to Orimi, standing a few feet away.

“You know your history. I decided to construct the blade in this style as I felt a little homesick. But in the end, it came out possibly even better than I imagined.” Dr. Ashihei nodded.

“But welcome Aquous Rubient, Orimi. We’re the Valcro Unit’s personal research and defense department. If you do get trained in any RWS, then please come back to us, and we’ll get you set up with some gear.” Yuri added. “And don’t mind Miya. It may seem like she’s hard on you, but that’s only because she wants you to be safe on missions.”

Miya rolled her eyes as her Xacto-Macto reversed back into a black-blocky pistol. “Whatever. I just don’t want to be blamed when something goes wrong.”

“I wasn’t aware that you two knew each other. How did you two meet?” Dr. Ashihei asked.

“Hm. Well, we were scheduled to go to a briefing for new recruits of Aestero Pol’s main divisions but got lost on the same route. A bano’n named Xylantra also got lost and coaxed us into ditching and having a meal with her friend. Ever since then, we’ve kind of been inseparable.” Yuri said. “B-but please, don’t think lower of me.”

“I didn’t want to go to the stupid thing anyway. If she didn’t find me, I definitely would’ve found something else to do.” Miya commented.

“Aw, that’s so nice. I hope I’m able to meet some nice friends here.” Orimi smiled.

“Though, I am curious. How did you end up becoming a Patroller?” Yuri inquired.

Orimi laughed nervously. “Well, it’s a weird story, actually…”

Miya's white-collared communicator buzzed, prompting her to quickly stand up, walk to a corner of the room, and tap it once to reveal a holographic map with coordinates on a blank space.

She then flicked open another screen and pressed a vibrating red button on a communications tab. The screen blinked onto a young woman with long black hair wearing a black-camo military uniform. Her blueberry pupils widened as she inched closer to the screen and then laughed.

“What? One call every few weeks isn’t enough for you? I know Kyamyo calls every few days, so I don’t want to make her jealous.”

“Oh, please. I’m calling for something important, not because I want to.” Miya sighed. “I got a beacon transmission from the badge I gave you. Why’d you use it?”

“Beacon… Trouble…?” Loliel looked to the side. Her eyes then widened as she put a hand up to her face.

“Kyamyo told me that one of our vehicle hangars was opened, but since everyone was in their quarters, I shrugged it off as a malfunction and said that we’d look at it later. But, now that I’m looking at the last hours of footage, I can see that Kyamyo and Maxim must’ve taken your gifted ship on a little joy ride.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Me and Adalae kind of got into this argument. It’s best if we don’t get into it now. But if they used the beacon, they might be in trouble. Could you send me their coordinates, and we could rendezvous there-“

“Unfortunately, I can’t do that. Same explanation as when Koko tried to intervene here. It’s Federation jurisdiction once that beacon was pressed. I can’t have any civilians making my job harder.”

Loliel opened her mouth, then bit her lip with a nod.

“But, assuming the vessel they took was linked with its mother ship, one could locate it using its ping-array system. But it’s only to be used to find lost cargo in emergencies.”

Loliel looked to the side. A smile then curled onto her lips.

“I see. Thanks for the tip.”

“What tip? I’m just stating the obvious. Anyways, I’ve got to figure out what mess your friends are in. If I find anything, I’ll be sure to contact you.”

Loliel nodded. “Thanks again.”

The transmission ended as Miya flicked all of the screens away. She then snapped her fingers, making Orimi turn around mid-sentence.

“Enough gossip. We have work to do, troopie.”