●　● Jazira Station, Eden Space Territories

*BA-BAM!! BA-BAM!!*

Pounded the foot modules of an Ap50, boosters firing off in bursts as it snapped directions in and between rapidly approaching wall-like obstacles driven by cables below the ground. Sebastian frantically pulled the controls back and forth in near-rhythm, beads of sweat pouring from behind the soaked visor pads and down his cheeks. Each time his LTAC hit the ground it was time to blast off in the opposite direction to avoid being trucked by the inbound obstacles, having little to no room for error or lapse in timing.

“I can’t hold for much longer!” he grumbled, struggling to keep pace, swearing the speed had been ramped up over the past few seconds.

“You still got more than thirty seconds, hold it!” Danielle’s voice shouted over his radio. “You’re doing great!”

From her position up in the observation tower, the view of Sebastian’s exercise showed him making forward progress down the entirety of the circular station and not just juking in place. She didn’t show any signs of enjoying the display, but she knew how far he had come since his surgery. He’s really come a lot farther than I would’ve ever expected. We’re only fifty percent into the desired progress range, but we may not need two weeks after all. She then let out an exasperated sigh, shaking her head as she leaned back in her chair. If Sly was here I’m sure this would all be a piece of cake, even with his recovery condition. Her mind once again wandered in his direction as it did on what was almost a daily basis. Another day, another round of no news on you. When will I get any kind of sign?

“All clear! Collisions: zero!” chimed an automated voice from the software system, prompting her to snap back to the present and check the vitals display, relieved to see nothing abnormal after pushing himself to the end of the course.

“Returning now,” Sebastian’s voice followed with a tone revealing his stamina was crossing its limits. “I need to stop for a little while. I can’t do target inclusion yet.”

“No, you’ve done plenty. You can take the rest of the evening off.” She then reached over the operations table and to a holographic panel of directives, tapping on “Close Operation.” I wish everyone would have told me earlier what has this boy pushing himself so hard. Letting out a deep breath she headed for the exit, turning off the course software on her way out. I was lucky to have been able to work as a pair before with him, but now I need to just stick to doing what I do best. No one can afford to wait for me to stop living in the past, especially this kid here, poor guy.

▽　▽　▽

Sebastian stepped down from the ladder, wearing a vest over his flight suit that wasn’t issued during his time in Bangladesh, revealing padded armor pockets along with bolstered shoulder harness guides, hinting their maneuvers must demand more out of them physically than before. He slowly removed it as he waited for the ladder to retract, turning to run his last shut down checks before heading for the exit. Halfway down the tarmac he paused to turn and take another look at his borrowed LTAC, eyeing the modified armor and booster fixtures once more. His vision slowly moved away from that and onto the large contraption wrapped around the left wrist’s armor frame. The logo laser-etched onto the side was barely visible but read out “Forerunning Labs”, clearly marking that its creation was not of Hexa’s.

[There are so many people up here helping me get ready to finally end this, everyone,] he thought to himself as he pictured faces that he missed so much gathered around the break room table, listening to stories of that day’s encounters. He then reminisced on the immense relief he felt, arriving to that hospital in Medellin to find his only two blood siblings alive and breathing after the Sonson incident. His focus then began to wander, either from getting lost in thought or perhaps because his tank was running that low. [A stupid cliché… It’s like fate brought me here, but if that’s true, fate sure has me hurting and exhausted as hell.]

“Hey,” the shout along with the abrupt closing of a door shook Sebastian back into focus as he whipped around to see Danielle approaching. “Don’t tell me you are rethinking going back out there!”

“I wasn’t, I am done for now,” he said with a tired smile.

“You really doing OK?” she spoke with a concerned frown as she continued walking towards him. “I know what’s got your motor running nonstop since you got here, but don’t forget sometimes you have to take care of you.”

He let his crossed arms down to his sides, allowing the vest to tiresomely hang from his loose grip. “Yes, I know. I am good enough for now. I just need to sit down… and cool off.”

“You know, you really should…” she paused in hesitation as she stopped in front of him, looking down to the ground in thought.

“I know,” he defeatedly replied to what he assumed she would say. “I have to watch my condition.”

No, that’s not it! She thought as she now looked back up at him, now feeling like she was eyeing one of her old pilot crewmembers. She remembered the determination in their eyes when they had no choice but to depend on each other to survive the next sortie, but Sebastian’s determination wasn’t in his eyes. She could feel it in his aura, behind the eyes that tried to mask or hide anything otherwise.

Coaching him to do what’s technically best for him will only hold him back, making him hurt himself in the long run. I was slow to realize it, but he’s just like so many I knew before. He almost reminds me of that one kid…

She put a hand on his shoulder with a comforting, assuring grip. “If you’re OK with it, kid, so am I. You just tell me what you need and when.”

Something in her actions triggered his urge to speak what was heavy on his mind for the past while as he looked away with a dry, bittersweet grin. “I spoke to my brother. We spoke about our jobs and everything important to do with it. And… the last time I did that was the last time I thought I would hear from him.” He drew in a long breath before continuing, unsure what had him speaking, but it was too late to stop now. Looking back at her with the same determination as earlier, he continued in a hushed but desperate tone: “I didn’t want you to turn off the program just yet. I really… really need to have this finished in two days, Director, not two weeks.”

She knew it. She was now grinning as she patted his shoulder a few times reassuringly. “Take tonight off. I’m going to bring something tomorrow that should help you accomplish just that. It’s going to hurt, and it might even make you lose your mind for a moment, even. But I trust you. And since not exactly legal, don’t say anything- just let me handle it, alright?” She then let out a nasal chuckle as she retracted her hand. “And I told you, I’m not ‘Director’ anymore. Just Danielle Norris, here to help.”

Sebastian was already grateful as it was having the outlet for accelerated training with prototype equipment loaned by his more recent sponsors, including the time Danielle took out of her day to do unpaid work in helping with his rehabilitation training. The neural mesh network installation in itself was also a blessing to him, coming too close to hitting a suffocating ceiling in his potential for development. And now, even with his unrealistic request, he felt he heard words spoken that only his late father-figure had used.

It was understood by now that his exhaustion was a factor in how he was less able than usual to withhold his emotions and reactions, now feeling the onslaught of memory-tied tears heating up under his eyes. It was always a rare occurrence to make pleas to anyone, feeling it was always most important to complete one’s own duties and only did so if things became desperate. And during those few times, only one had understood, accepted, and trusted his intentions. That was up until now.

“Thank you, Ms. Norris,” he finally worked up the response, naturally backing away out of feeling vulnerable before noticing her open arms. And in that moment, it was almost like something inside him was trying to replace those emptied places in his heart for lost family with others who tried to make themselves available for him.

.

.

Across the other end of the tarmac was an incoming group of pilot trainees along with a handful of supervisors and other specialists. One paused to point and smirk, leaning towards her colleague as she commented: “Hey, Daja, isn’t that Sam’s bee-eff over there? Look!”

“Huh?” Daja replied in confusion as her focus was buried in a registration checklist, stopping to see what it was she was being interrupted for. “Wait, isn’t that- hey you’re right,” she now spoke with a frown. “Hold on,” she said as she swiped her mobile screen over to the camera function.

“I wouldn’t have guessed a cute Earthling guy like that would be into the cougar type like her,” she chuckled, moving back to her business.

Daja snapped a picture of the two across the tarmac hugging in what was more than a few seconds, drawing a sigh of mixed emotions. Damn, Sam… hoping this is a real big misunderstanding for your sake, she thought as she continued taking a few more.

.

●　● Manila, The Philippines

The clouds began to break up, heavy rains just missing Quezon Memorial Circle as citizens continued their march towards another of their rally groups at the shrine located in the center of the large-scale traffic circle. Two ranks of Hexa Ai20 units lined the entrance, backs facing the approaching marchers as they kept their shields up to the north and south as if expecting something from those directions.

Andre was in an Ai20 of a separate group rolling up Commonwealth Avenue which led directly up to that same entrance, keeping a leisurely pace behind the marchers alongside several police patrol cars. Breathing in and out what seemed to be a relaxed sigh, his eyes casually glanced from sidewalk to sidewalk, each lined with planted trees between them and the buildings behind them. He occasionally noted the plethora of power lines that ran overhead and intersected across poles almost as numerous as the trees, thinking: power lines, power lines, everywhere I go, it seems. I wonder why it’s almost 2200 and so many countries still use them.

“Hey, Nguyen,” a voice spoke over his radio, shaking him from his spacing out.

“Hey, Yanga, right? What’s up?” Andre answered, straightening up in his seat. The notification in the corner of his visor view showed it was over a private channel, coming from Devin Yanga’s Ai20 unit just over to his left as the two lead the front of the six-LTAC formation.

“Yeah, hey, you really didn’t have to come out all this way for patrol so soon after getting here. I heard you gave up your days off for this? Even after that epic disaster they put you through in Dhaka?”

Andre shrugged. “Man, look, I was about to do a whole bunch of nothing. The two girls were about to go off shopping or some shit, and my other squad mate? He’s been too busy up in Space and isn’t due to return for a while.” But I wish I could be honest and tell him the damn truth. This is maybe my only way to stick to normal work-loads. “I’d rather find something productive to do to keep myself sane, especially after what I’ve been through.”

“If I had been through what I read about you, I’d have quit.”

“You ain’t lying,” Andre huffed with a smirk. “I feel it sometimes, but then I turn around and remember why I keep it up. I just need to finish out the year before I can go back home… and this extra job they let me pick up is going to help me that much more, you know what I’m saying?”

“Ah, a man of goals, I can relate,” Devin’s voice answered in apparent higher spirits. “Hey, we should hang out after this exchange, what’cha say?”

The Memorial Circle entrance was now approaching, steadily coming into view. “Sure, but how long are these really? I mean, we really protecting demonstrations out here?”

“Command won’t tell us, but I already got it figured out. P4C has been showing us some weird patterns lately and I bet it’s because their leaders are changing. This one marching group in particular is advocating the removal of the president from office, not just a charter change.”

“Ah, so not as simple as the debriefing had it. This whole P4C thing is looking to split into two factions- kind of thing?”

“That’s what I personally think, or else why are we marching behind them and protecting them? This far-left group is the newer group, and my intuition says the state wants to pay us to protect what might fully disrupt and destabilize the whole damn movement.”

“I see, I think I can make sense of this, now. Simple enough mission for the day, then,” Andre then finished his thoughts as he eased off of the controls, coming to a stop near the main intersection that allows merging of main traffic onto the circle.

“All of Unit 2,” Devin now announced over the main channel. “Post up behind these barriers here in the far-right lane. Watch for any activity to pop in from the south, especially.”

Andre noted his crowd dispersal gas rounds loaded but with the safety still locked, fully feeling the gap in responsibility levels compared to the past few weeks, but it was a comfortable feeling for a change. Riot shield still in hand but at ease and on mount, his wheel units retracted, allowing his Ai20 to stand on flat feet, adjusting posture to provide maximum stability and boost recharging rate. He then looked back to the circle center, seeing what looked to be maybe two to three hundred marching, then looked beyond them to see a much larger gathering at the shrine. Noise was there, but nothing seemed out of control.

During the next few moments, idle hands brought about curiosity once more as he caught sight of the nearest poster signs being carried. One had “Out with Cruz” written in reference to their president, another showed “Return Justice – Return the Confed Era Charter” in reference to the anti-dynastic policies enforced during the International Confederacy era. Several more nearby demanding the abolishing of the entire political party altogether, but it was the next line that had more of his attention: “Stop the violence! Use your votes instead!”

Ah, there’s big reason why we are out here guarding this protest. Simple enough!

Several minutes more had passed slowly, completely forgetting that he ever felt the slightest bit nervous about his return to active duty, albeit a few days early.

I remember command mentioning that botched car bomb attempt that happened a few blocks from here having originated from that southward direction. Nothing since. He then began lost once more in thought as he stood there, keeping at the ready. I heard so many horror stories about this place. I see the wacky ups and downs of the rich and the poor here, I see how one side might be hating the other over this political bullshit, but I don’t see why would it die down lately all the sudden? Is it just THAT particularly possible that things are simply fizzling out for a change?

Could I be that lucky for once?

.

.

▽　▽　▽

.

Kerry’s car steadily hummed along the multi-lane street amidst late afternoon traffic, stop’s and go’s clearly working her nerves as Sam turned to ask: “You know, it just hit me, does… no one on Earth use auto-drive?”

“Huh? Auto-drive is a Space thing, didn’t you know that?”

“I thought that was just a broad jab at our preferences and not fact. So, how come?”

“As long as so many cars that aren’t auto-drive exist on the roads, it takes an experienced human’s input to safely get around and predict their stupid ass driving,” she answered just as someone from the right lane abruptly cut in while hitting their brakes. “Like this stupid ass!” she fussed, mashing the brake pedal in frustration.

Sam’s curiosity then carried back over and through what she saw out of the window as newer office buildings passed by. “I also noticed the lack of ramshackle neighborhoods. I think I learned them as slums back in history class. I haven’t seen any, so does that mean Southeast Asia has none?”

“Oh, they’re all over Manila if you go to the right areas. Girl,” Kerry chuckled, “you really haven’t been many places yet, have you?”

“Well, Bogota, Medellin, Singapore, Dhaka, and here,” she counted off on her one hand. “And the other few places in Europe I went to were back when I was in elementary school, so I don’t remember them too well.” She then felt the car slow down once more, hearing the clicking sound of the car’s blinker. “Oh, are we there now?”

“Pulling up in just a minute- wait,” Kerry spoke as the incoming call notification lit up on screen, sending off a chime that caught their attention. The text on screen read “Automated Check-in Service.”

The ensuing programmed voice informed: “Pilot, Devin Yanga, Unit 2, has arrived to destination. Status is active as of 4:33 PM local time. Location, Memorial Circle East. Reporting on standby until 9:00 PM.”

“What?!” Kerry reacted with a frown as they pulled into a large parking garage. “He said he’d be done at 6!”

Sam remembered the suggestion they all go out for dinner that evening, now realizing that plan went out the window. But that means… her mind wandered upon the realization of how much the time on duty was extended. That explosion earlier, does that mean something bad is about to go down?

“Never mind, I got a better idea,” Kerry continued, now with a smile. “Everyone’s been saying it! This has been the most settled down few days in months, so let’s just take it as it is while it lasts, right?”

The calm before the storm? Sam couldn’t help but ponder before quickly extinguishing that flame. Nah. “Yeah, I mean, if who we expect to be kicking up dust was here, we’d know.” The car then came to a stop at a parking spot on the fourth floor as a digital meter above their windshield softly displayed their time and rate. “That was quick. Must be nice to live so close, did you already visit here a bunch?”

“A few times.” Kerry closed the door as she adjusted her purse that she had slung over one shoulder, catching Sam’s eye as she walked around.

“Hey I know that brand!”

“Good! This is the store I wanted to show you- they got this new series of dresses they released- we should get them and go for a pair look!” As the two walked up to the elevator, Kerry showed Sam a screen she pulled up on her mobile. “This club here… this one… would be the perfect place to roll up with what I got in mind. What do you think?”

Oh… thought Sam as the last time she visited one was the night she failed her last exam, leading up to the decision that brought her exactly where she stood, waiting for the next elevator. Maybe this is a pattern… maybe a good one? “We needed new plans, anyway. Show me what they got,” she replied with a wide grin.

“Bet,” Kerry quickly replied, matching attitudes.