Chapter 76 – A Maiden’s Intuition.

"Let's go!"

At Steshia's decisive call, Letaria gave a firm nod.

"Gladly! Whatever they are, they will be no match for the reborn Arden. Miscellaneous rabble and all comers, prepare yoursel--"

"Wait!"

The instant they moved to launch, Milea's sharp voice cut through the comm line and stopped them cold.

"Both of your machines are top-secret -- they cannot be made public under any circumstances. Grain is already requesting an emergency corps scramble through back channels, so leave it to them."

"Milea! While we stand here doing nothing, innocent civilians could come to harm -- that is something I absolutely cannot permit!"

Letaria declared it with clear conviction, and without a moment's hesitation threw Arden's thrusters to full power.

"We're going, Steshia-san!"

"Ooh, something about the way Letaria-san just said that -- very dashing, like a knight from a fantasy story...! Then I'm going too!"

The white Rasta fell into formation behind the dark-violet Arden as both machines launched into the black of space.

"Oh, those two are impossible -- absolutely impossible...! If any civilians spot them out there, do they have any idea how much clean-up work that creates...!"

In the command room, Milea pressed her fingers to her temples and held her head. Grain, who had just finished the urgent call to the corps, came back into the room.

"Well, nothing to be done about it. There's no universe in which those two sit still. Let's think about how to scrub the records once they're back."

He laughed with the serenity of a man who had come to terms with things. Milea bowed her head in resignation.

◆◆

The sector at Seldia's outer perimeter, where Letaria and Steshia arrived at speed -- the sight that greeted them was deeply strange.

Emerging from between the debris fields, writhing with unsettling intent, was a creature unlike anything either of them had seen. Metallic-shelled, with numerous organs extending from its body like tentacles -- a monstrous native creature of deep space.

"That's -- an Electra Duro!"

Steshia's taut voice came over the speakers. One of this world's more aggressive species of space-native organisms, apparently.

"That thing is constantly emitting powerful electromagnetic waves from inside its body -- it's creating severe jamming over the entire surrounding area...!"

As Steshia continued to explain, violent static began mixing into her voice.

"Can... hear... Letari... Ste... respond... please..."

Milea's voice dissolved entirely into noise and was gone.

"The comm -- I can't hear anything at all...!"

Unlike the battle with Restful, this was interference by raw electromagnetic emission. Letaria's brow furrowed -- and then, a moment later, a different system's indicator on the cockpit console began to flicker.

"-- Can you hear me, Letaria-san!"

"Steshia-san!?"

"Thank goodness! I thought if standard radio was useless, maybe the directional laser comm between machines would still work -- and it does! Laser punches right through the jamming...! Though..."

Brief relief -- and then Letaria turned her eyes to the main monitor. The radar display was entirely smothered in static, no target lock possible, the Electra Duro's location completely unknown.

"This is a problem -- we can't get an accurate fix on the target..."

"Steshia-san -- behind you!"

Letaria's call shot down the laser comm line.

Steshia threw Rasta's thrusters and shifted position on pure reflex.

An instant later, the space they had occupied was crossed by an enormous chunk of debris that the Electra Duro had launched with one of its electromagnetic tentacles -- passing at terrifying speed.

"That was close! Thank goodness this machine responds so fast...! But, Letaria-san -- how did you know? The radar is dead!"

"-- A maiden's intuition."

A faint prickling along the skin. A quality of presence that was wrong.

The magic of Letaria's original world, resonating with Arden's systems -- through the layers of noise on her retinal display, the location of the "alien creature" somewhere close was reaching her directly, transmitted through all five senses at once, like ripples spreading from a disturbance in still water.

"Steshia-san -- behind that cluster of debris, there, the one that is suspiciously still! I will charge directly at it -- suppress it with your rifle and flush it out!"

"I have no idea how you can possibly know that, but -- if Letaria-san says so! Understood!"

Steshia's Rasta opened fire toward the designated debris cluster with rapid photon shots.

Simultaneously, the dark-violet Arden drove forward on explosive acceleration, closing the blind angle behind the debris in an instant.

Forced out by Steshia's suppressing fire, the Electra Duro burst from cover. Letaria had it completely in her sights. She triggered Trace Mode.

"Feel the power of the reborn Arden! -- PHOTON SABER!!"

...Nothing emerged from Arden's manipulators. Not a single blade of light.

"What -- what!? It's not coming out!?"

Letaria's Arden stumbled in momentary confusion -- and the Electra Duro, seizing the opening, drove its sharp electromagnetic tentacles forward in a furious strike.

"You will not hit me!"

The native creature's raw charge was savage -- but against Letaria's heightened senses and the near-excessive responsiveness of the new Arden, evasion was entirely achievable. She swept through the tentacles in a broad arc and came back around to face it.

"In that case, a punch will do the job, I suppose...! Milea is going to scold me frightfully for denting these new arms, but I have no time to deliberate!"

"Take this, you insolent creature!!"

Letaria fired Arden's thrusters in a reverse burst and rode the surge of momentum into the Electra Duro's metallic skull -- a left cross, then a right straight, then carrying the force directly into a sharp kick with the right leg, the whole combination landing in clean succession.

The new Makina's limbs, wielded as blunt instruments, struck with devastating weight. The Electra Duro's massive body lurched violently backward.

Its movements slowed completely -- the creature defenseless and wide open -- and then:

"Got it!!"

The cheerful voice over the laser comm rang out, and in the same instant, a full-output photon blast from Rasta drove through the Electra Duro's core in a straight, clean line.

A crack spread across the creature's metal shell -- it sparked violently -- and then it ceased all movement, dissolving into the dust of space.

"Somehow... we managed."

"That was amazing, Letaria-san! I was absolutely shocked. Electra Duros are quite a handful, normally -- punching and kicking something to create an opening is not how I would have expected this to go...! But I'm so glad it worked!"

Steshia's voice, brimming with genuine relief and delight, carried over the line.

With the creature gone, the powerful electromagnetic jamming that had blanketed the area dispersed. The main comm channel came back online in an instant.

"-- Can you hear me!? Both of you...!? The jamming's cleared -- what happened out there!?"

Milea's voice came through the speaker with the urgency of someone who had spent the past several minutes somewhere between frantic and furious.

Letaria swept her dark-purple hair back with one hand, as composed and self-satisfied as ever.

"Hehe -- it is all over, Milea. We ran into a small difficulty, but the monster has been dealt with. ...Well then, I have worked up quite an appetite, so we shall return to the hangar now."

"...Honestly, you are the most..."

The distinct impression of Milea letting out a long, exasperated breath came through the comm -- and through it, they set course, Letaria and Steshia flying side by side through the stars, headed home toward the bright lights of Seldia's hangar.