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Epilogue
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"Pilot Helt, return to the ship, do not further engage with the enemy, understood?"
"I mean, you say that, but the enemy won't leave me alone! What the hell is this red one even? It just won't stop attacking-- Crap!!"
"Pilot?! Pilot report!"
"Am good, am good - That friggin sniper clipped me is all - Permission to return fire?"
"...Granted."
"Captain, is that you ma'am?"
"Return fire, but continue moving. We have to vacate this combat zone now."
"Er, right, Captain Synapse, ma’am. Roger that."
----
"Oh, come on! Some random Neo got in the way. Don't think I fully destroyed it, even! One more shot, and I could have them both."
"Time's up, Helty, get your ass back in here."
"Major, you're on this line too? Jeez, fine, fine, returning to the flight deck now - Talk about an annoying bunch of enemies; they really scratched my paint job."
****
"Una, Una, please say something!" The woman asks desperately, clinging to the side of the medical cot.
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"......Miss Hoki? Where am I?" The girl says back, stirring from her dazed slumber.
"Oh, thank goodness you're awake. Oh, Una, you silly girl."
"Ummm, what happened?"
The woman, eyes moist as she clutches the bed, stares surprised at her former student, "You don't remember? You took a shot meant for me. It was just inches from your cockpit. You could have died! And Scarlet, that idiot had a stroke or a seizure or something. The doctor won't even let me see her. Oh, Una, you could have both died!"
The girl simply smiles back at her, "But sounds like I didn't, right? And Miss Scarlet got back too, ya? The boys as well? Then it seems like everything went ok in the end."
"Y-you ido-- I-- I suppose, you're right, it got a bit close at times but, but yes, I suppose we did make it through in the end - All of us together."
Finally, Hoki smiled back as the two young women laughed.
The NTME, a device humanity discovered that shows the life of seemingly ordinary people within a solar system known as UnderCurrent. These people it shows, are not legendary heroes, nor are their lives peaceful or filled with happiness.
They are valued cheaply by those above them and expected to fall unremarkably in battle against foes of unimaginable strength. And yet, these simple people may yet prove to be harbingers of a new cycle if given the chance. Their story has begun, but it is far from over. The fate of the UnderCurrent may yet lie in their hands.
Volume 1 End - Thank you for Reading.
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