22 A Familiar Place
Racing through the vacuum world.
One immigrant vessel, approximately ten kilometers in length.
Reducing that span to zero in just three seconds.
A violent acceleration pressing down on every part of the body.
Jin smiled—his whole being seemed to cry out in delight.
This is it. As if every cell in his body shouted.
The battlefield, visited again after about a month and a half, welcomed him.
This world, moving faster than four kilometers per second.
Here, he felt he belonged.
Profoundly, almost painfully, familiar.
But he could not remain overwhelmed by this emotion forever.
"CP! Request the coordinates of the trainees!"
Had there been communication interference, he would have had to circle around Ship 5.
But that concern proved unnecessary.
On the opposite side, far from the main battlefield, interference was negligible.
Clear communication reached Jin.
Coordinates transmitted. Then, bad news. They’ve left three behind— the rest are attempting infiltration into the convoy.
The trainees’ unit appears to be fully overwhelmed by those three.
Jin acknowledges this with a quiet nod.
Given the numbers and quality, even two would be difficult.
Jin does not consider the worm-type units, which attack with instinctive ferocity, on the same level as the humanoid ASIDs.
Their attacks carry clear strategy and tactics.
Thus, this detachment is the primary threat.
No half-measures would be deployed against it.
Their combat effectiveness surpasses that of the humanoids they’ve faced so far.
The issue remains: what is their objective?
It cannot be determined.
Cannot be determined— yet.
“Eliminate them all. Problem solved.”
Jin makes his intent clear: not a single one will be spared.
Infiltration at maximum speed toward designated coordinates.
The ether distribution on the corporal's assigned unit was perfect.
Jin's preference—armor (coating) reduced, mobility (thrusters) maximized, a wild stallion configuration.
Jin's Leopard, streaking like a meteor, draws the ether dagger from the shoulder weapon rack.
Lights from the trainees' units are visible.
The silhouette of a humanoid ASID stands opposite.
Red, yellow, green.
Like a traffic signal, Jin thinks.
Thinks, then abandons the thought.
The mind narrows to combat alone.
The red humanoid detects Jin.
Accelerates, charging straight ahead.
Jin thinks, as expected, the opponent is fast.
Compared to the worm-type, relative velocity is tripled.
The overlap occurs in a single instant.
In that instant, Jin loses the ether dagger he held.
Unarmed, maintaining speed, he veers toward the remaining yellow and green.
The red humanoid appeared to be holding some form of weapon.
It had been the case, but Jin dismissed it as worthless information.
Recalling the armaments of opponents already shot down serves no purpose.
Far behind, a crimson humanoid ASID blooms in the vacuum.
A flower born of crimson ether, the same hue as the armor.
Jin’s fang—Etherdagger—shattered the Reactor in a single strike.
"One"
Muttering softly.
The hues of yellow and green betrayed flickers of disturbance at the sudden fall of their kin.
Like a human when their wingman was lost.
Jin raised an eyebrow at the sight.
"Monsters—don't pretend to be human!"
It possesses intelligence.
So what?
Whatever it may be, if it attacks us, it is an enemy.
If words are not exchanged, only fangs and claws raised, then we have no choice but to point our firearms.
The green humanoid turns what resembles a rifle barrel toward them.
Still dozens of kilometers away, the scene remains distant.
Amplified image.
From limited data, Jin anticipates the timing of its discharge.
The ether dagger swings again.
The flash cuts cleanly through the ether round aimed at him.
Normally, the output difference between a humanoid ASID and a Leopard-class ether reactor is nearly tenfold.
In combat relying entirely on ether for offense and defense, such a gap once seemed insurmountable.
That is history now.
After escaping the homeworld, nearly 150 years have passed.
Human technology, honed over that span, has achieved dramatic advances in ether utilization efficiency.
The difference revealed by analyzing captured ASIDs is now approximately threefold.
A tenfold difference in performance is no longer something to fear for humanity today.
As long as one relies on numbers, it can be countered.
A pure white bullet attempting to pierce the Leopard’s armor.
Cut it.
Only Jin’s superior foresight allows him to sever an ether round fired at near-light speed.
Words that could be dismissed as delusion from the ace pilots who speak of seeing one second ahead.
Jin has internalized this more deeply than anyone else.
Literally, he sees the future one second ahead.
And if he sees it, he simply aligns his blade with the trajectory.
As the distance closes, the time until impact shortens.
The necessity of abandoning the target becomes increasingly difficult—but Jin advances along the shortest possible path.
Not a second is wasted.
The enemy—Leopard—charging straight at the barrage, head-on, appeared to some like a ghost.
Jin does not discard one of the shots—instead, he adjusts its angle and fires it back.
As if striking a ball with a bat.
The green humanoid ASID, having anticipated only close-combat weaponry from Jin, fails to dodge the unexpected counterattack.
The returned round pierces its weapon.
It fumbles for backup arms—too late.
—!
The acceleration is beyond the inertia controls’ capacity.
The unspent velocity lacerates Jin’s body.
Flesh screams—but even that cry is left behind.
An instant.
In the instant Jin redirects his focus to the gun, Leopard closes in.
Like a trick of the hand.
Even the trainees watching from afar fail to detect the misdirection.
The humanoid, the one who experienced it, likely never understood what had happened in its final moment.
A blade of light thrust beneath the jaw.
At the same moment, the green head spun through the pitch-black void.
"Two."
The remaining yellow.
The last unit that had been holding back the trainees made a miscalculation.
If even the slightest chance of survival had been desired, Jin should have been surrounded by three units the moment he approached.
And now, once again.
Dozens ahead, and one approaching.
A hesitation in focus.
A hesitation.
That hesitation is fatal from Jin’s perspective now.
Withdrawing the ether rifle from the weapon rack.
The distance between them is 100 kilometers and a little more.
Few weapons on the Leopard’s armament can breach that range.
At this range, only a gunship with added reactors—or naval-grade weaponry—can respond.
Which is precisely why Jin considered it the ideal target.
"Disable the ether rifle’s limiter. Maximize convergence rate."
Compress ether beyond limit, maximize penetration to the extreme.
Long-range sniper strike.
Pierce the yellow figure—already deemed unreachable.
The yellow humanoid ASID exploded after looking down at the massive hole formed in its abdomen.
"Three down."
All obstacles blocking Jin's path had vanished.
Discarding the ether rifle, now at its limit, in a single shot, Jin approached the trainee unit, the explosion behind him.
"Are you all right?"
Counting the number of units as he asked.
No casualties. That fact brought him greater relief than anything else.
『Thank you, Lieutenant Tōkō. We were on the verge of losing the trainees under our care...』
The temporary unit commander spoke, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Three humanoid units would have been a formidable opponent for a trainee-only force.
The fact that they held their ground without losing a single interceptor until Jin arrived was more than sufficient.
"No, you did well. There were supposed to be more humanoid units. Where are the others?"
"Entered the city... I apologize. They were completely overpowered by those three."
Jin clicks his tongue again at the reply.
Nine remaining units had breached the convoy.
"CP! This is Jiekgfleit Two. They've breached the convoy! I'm entering now!"
Jin uses the call sign of his former unit without waiting for a response, heading straight for the airlock.
Though rarely used, emergency airlocks are located throughout the passenger vessel.
"CP here. Transmitting airlock release code."
The nearest airlock unlocks.
As Jin mounts his unit, he turns back and calls out.
"Stay here! Follow CP's orders!"
The trainee squad, intending to follow, halted at the voice.
『Instructor! We’re coming too!』
"Return when you’ve earned your zero-gravity combat license!"
The airlock seals shut.
As air fills the chamber, Jin licks his dry lips.
"Zero-gravity combat... it’s been since I earned my license, same as you."
The convoy is not in zero-gravity.
To Jin, accustomed to combat in vacuum, this was a harsh battlefield.
But there is no option to retreat.
The Leopard sheds its space combat package, lightens its frame, and steps forward into the convoy.