"Abyssal ok, nyaa?" Meica asked Abyssal as the two were on the way to the hideout.
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"
"...nothing. Just that Abyssal very quiet, nyaa."
"Well… it may not look like it, but I'm actually feeling all sorts of pain right now. The ship is damaged and all. So yeah, do forgive me if I'm a little bit silent," Abyssal replied.
"...sorry, nyaa."
"Hmm? Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault. Kinda theirs when you think about it. Bloody people attacking me out of nowhere… Why can't they just leave me alone," Abyssal let out a sigh. "I just wanna explore space in peace!"
"..."
"So yeah, don't worry about it. Though, I do worry about your safety. Who knows when is the next time I'll get attacked. I'm not sure if I can even protect you from future dangers. Heck, I'm worried about my own safety. This place hasn't been kind to me ever since I came..."
"That's…"
"Well, I can understand Astral, I guess. As tough as she is, she did help me out there. Would like it if she didn't damage me all the time. It really hurts," Abyssal said as she looked at her damaged hull with a pensive look. As pensive as a drone can look like, that is. The hull itself was currently being repaired by the nanites, but it was too much to be repaired in one day.
"Yeah…"
"That damn Japanese core though! All I did was look at her wrong at Ashen port and now she's all bloodthirsty. I know I'm stupid and all, but I can't seem to think of anything that I did to warrant her to attack me like that," Abyssal raised her voice in anger at the thought of Jinko and her unprovoked attacks.
"Um, yeah…" Meica said with a low voice.
"There isn't a universe where I can go up against that battlecruiser and that many fighters… Not unless I get some serious upgrades. Upgrades that'll allow me to go toe to toe with them," Abyssal let out a sigh as she rambled on.
"Um… Abyssal, about Jinko…" Meica said again, trying to get Abyssal's attention. Though her words were so soft that Abyssal couldn't hear her amidst her rant.
"Where am I going to get the blueprints and resources to do such a thing? Or do I just invest into super stealthy tech and just run away if I ever see her again. Something tells me that this will not be the last time we meet both of them… What about other ships? Will there be another super ship that I'll encounter in the future?" Abyssal said as she held her two robotic arms over her forehead. She then tried to think of future possible ways that she could do to avoid them.
"Um, Abyssal!"
It was too bad that her thoughts were disturbed by Meica who suddenly yelled out.
"Uwah?! What, what?" Abyssal replied before going into alert mode. She quickly scanned her immediate surroundings to check for danger. That alertness went down when Meica spoke up.
"Actually… I think I know Jinko-shan. I think she attacked Abyssal because of me, nyaa," Meica said as she stared to her right, avoiding eye contact with Abyssal. Her ears stopped low, her tail swinging wildly right and left.
"Huh?"
"You see… Meica has a big family at Nipon Steel industries..." Meica brought her arms out wide.
'Nipon Steel…? Isn't that… the company that made the technology I've taken from the Tsubame class?'
"I've heard of her name, but I've never seen her before. You see… I think Jinko is one of mother's bigger investors… so… " Meica said as she fiddled her thumbs.
Abyssal paused for a while as she heard the revelation from Meica. She tried to compute the sudden knowledge from Meica but failed to do so as she gave a blank stare to Meica.
"WHAT?!" Screamed Abyssal once she registered the information in her mind.
The next thing that happened was Abby sending out a small notification to Abyssal as if trying to defuse the situation.
[Arriving at destination, proceeding auto docking protocol.]
"..."
"..."
"Sorry, nyaa…"
"...Just for the sake of knowledge… how big exactly is Nipon Steel Industries in the Dawning Star Empire?" Abyssal asked, still shocked at the revelation.
Meica brought the palm of her hands to the back of her head before letting out a small sheepish laugh. "Nipon Steel is biggest supplier of weapons for the Dawn Star Empire. Mother is the current owner, nyaa."
Abyssal was speechless. She always thought Meica to be some small runaway kid in her rebellious age. Like those kids who disagree with their parents and are on some small journey of finding themselves. Abyssal knew Meica was hiding a secret, but she always thought it was something small, not something big like being the daughter of the owner of a big company. Who would have thought that harbouring Meica would come to bite her in the butt like this? What would she even do now? Does she just travel to Dawning Star and drop her off at Nipon headquarters?
'Hey! I've found your daughter! No way that's happening!' yelled Abyssal internally. She then let out a big sigh.
"Abyssal...?"
"Sometimes I wonder… was I born with negative luck or am I simply making bad decisions in life? Or is it both? Ah god, why do you forsake me so."
"...Nyaa?"
* * * * *
"Things have become a little bit troublesome…" Abyssal said as she steered the ship into the still-under-construction Shark Class.
Clouds of nanomachine swirled around the ship, adding bits and pieces of metal onto the ship. The clouds which formed a full sphere around the ship, soon gave way to a small hole, just big enough to allow Abyssal to go through. Once Abyssal passed the nanite barrier, the sliding metal door to the bay opened up. There, she spotted a very familiar green translucent barrier that prevents air from leaking out of the Shark Class.
Abyssal steered the ship through the green barrier before finding a place to land within the cargo hold. Soon, she spotted Kuon just idling near a block of resources— surrounding her were several other drones. Immediately, Abyssal brought her ship to land near her.
"Sorry, nyaa… Meica… just wanted to explore space. Family is really strict, no freedom," Meica said to Abyssal during the landing.
"Nah, it's alright. We are already in this mess, no point regretting our decisions now," said Abyssal as she continued to land the ship.
"Abyssal, not angry? Not going to throw Meica out?"
"Well, I won't say that I'm not a little bit angry, but it is what it is. You can keep staying with us, we'll figure something out, hopefully. I wish you told me earlier though."
"Abyssal…" Meica said with teary eyes before hugging Abyssal with full-force. "Haha, Abyssal truly good person!"
Abyssal let out a small imaginary smile towards the Nekomi before letting out a small sigh. "I wonder how am I going to explain this to Kuon though…"
"No need to. Stupid Maid Drone already knows. Abyssal last to know, nyaa."
Abyssal gave Meica a deadpan stare. A stare which Meica only responded with sheepish laugh with one hand on the back of her head. Seeing this, Abyssal couldn't help but let out a sigh.
'Figures that I would be the last to know…'
"So, how did you get here in the first place? All the way in the Lawless Maw Zone, I mean. Did you get yourself caught on purpose or something?" Abyssal asked, changing the topic.
"Hmm… It all started when—," Meica said before getting interrupted.
"Actually, explain to us later, we need to get out of this place first," Abyssal said before starting to glide away from the seat. She had just landed successfully near Kuon.
With a pout, Meica answered Abyssal with an "Okay."
Controlling the entrance to her ship and opening it, Abyssal glided outwards towards the Shark Class bay to meet up with Kuon. Meica followed right behind Abyssal. Kuon, who noticed Abyssal coming out of the ship, immediately gave a bow.
"Welcome back, Master. How was your trip?" Kuon greeted Abyssal. "I hope she didn't cause much problems for you," said Kuon while giving Meica a glance.
Abyssal gave her a shook before responding: "...All sorts of wrong. I'll explain later. What's the status of the ship? What's our situation?"
"Everything is proceeding smoothly as you can see. The construction is almost done. I estimate that we will reach one hundred percent completion in another sixteen hours. Once done, I'm sure we can truly make waves within the galaxy," Kuon said as she turned to look around at the place.
"It feels pretty good when you've created something from scratch. I never knew this feeling could feel so… satisfying. I hope you are looking forward to my creation, Master," Kuon continued.
"It's not one hundred per cent your creation, nyaa," Meica let out a remark which was ignored by Kuon.
"I see… well that's great and all, but I don't think we got sixteen hours. How fast can we get this thing running? Can we lift off now?" Abyssal asked in a hurry.
Kuon seemed rather confused at the Abyssal's questions but answered them nonetheless. "The thrusters and the directional propulsions are online and ready to go. We may leave at any time. But the other… components are not quite ready yet. Like the installation of the main gun and the reactor. We aren't at max capacity."
"We'll care about that later. What about the warp drive? Is that functional?" Abyssal asked another question.
"Yes, the warp drive is functional. Why are you asking this? Is something the matter?" Kuon asked all sorts of questions before realising that the Fierca class was moderately damaged with burns and holes all over it. "Wait, why is the Fierca so battered up?"
"Well… you see…"
….
…
..
.
There was only so much expression a drone can show, but Abyssal and Meica could somehow tell that Kuon's eyes, or rather cameras, were wide open. One of her robotic arms were held in front of the drone's body, probably to indicate that she was hiding her imaginary gaping wide mouth.
"Maid drone okay, nyaa?" Meica asked as she waved her hand in front of Kuon.
Kuon, who was unpleased, swatted her hand away. "Yes, I'm quite fine, thank you for asking."
"Buuu," pouted Meica as she rubbed her sore hand.
"To think that such a big thing was happening outside while I was doing this. More importantly, are you alright, Master?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a little scratch. I've already started the repairs, it will heal up. Anyway, we've gotta get out of here. I don't want to get caught in whatever is going to happen to this place," Abyssal said as she quickly gained control of the Shark Class. A plethora of knowledge entered her mind about the ship. The nanites outside the ship started to seep back into the ship as Abyssal did that.
"Can this Astral person be trusted? Her words about this place becoming more dangerous could have various meanings."
"True, but I have no intention of staying and finding out. Besides, that crazy Japanese core is still out there. I don't want to have to deal with her at all. There is also the fact that their battle could be seen from far away, it'll probably attract some undesired people no doubt," Abyssal said as she started to take control of the ship's function, one by one.
"But why must we leave the hideout? Can't we just hide in here until everything passes over? This place is pretty well hidden. We can hide our energy signatures until then," Kuon suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea, but I don't think the asteroid is as safe as you think it is."
"Is it not?"
"Just now… Astral was able to get so close to me despite me having absolute detection over that range. With technology like that, there was the possibility that Astral or Jinko or people like them could have the capability to detect us within the asteroid," Abyssal explained.
Meica, who was listening up to that point, nodded before saying: "Also, no point, nyaa. Jinko already knows we are here. She'll find us eventually, even if she has to destroy all the asteroids in place. Dawning Star Cores are very thorough!"
"Jinko? Who may that be?" Kuon asked. She's seen and heard of Astral before but Jinko was a very foreign name to her.
"The crazy Japanese lady that attacked us. Either way, start packing up, people. It's a shame that we have to do it when we are so close to completion, but we are leaving this place. I'm warming up the warp drive,"
"Understood. I'll make the necessary preparations to depart the place. Come on, we need to get to the bridge," Kuon gave a bow before taking Meica's hand and heading to the new bridge. Abyssal followed behind.
It was time for them to leave this quadrant.