A few hours had passed since Sensenmann's attack on the Abyssal and Yoake. That attack was repelled with the arrival of Hikari and Astral on the battlefield. The small fleet quickly reorganized themselves and rendezvoused with Jinko. Once regrouped, everyone involved decided that they should have a small meeting to discuss what they should do moving forward. Sensenmann didn't make a single attack once within that few hours. Kuon theorised that she was probably resupplying on ammunition or waiting for a good opportunity to engage them again.
Currently, within a small run-down hideout in the middle of all the ships involved, was a group of five 'people' standing around a round table. The five people were Abyssal, Astral, Jinko, Hikari and Yoake. Meica and Kuon were told to stay within the ship and was not present. Meica was safer in the ship as Astral and Abyssal did not fully trust the Dawning Star cores. Kuon, on the other hand, had her core in her body which made it very risky for her to meet up with the others should anything bad happen. Everyone else in the place didn't have their real bodies in the small hideout— remotely controlled bodies in the simplest terms. Every single person in that place could have their bodies destroyed without giving the matter much of a thought.
Well, Abyssal would probably care a little bit more as if her new body was destroyed, she would have to go back to being a little drone with robotic claws again. It wasn't like she had a spare, or rather, she used to have one but threw it away into the depths of space. Additionally, Abyssal was shocked to find out that Astral used a fake body in the first place. The thing moved and acted like a human rather than a machine. According to Astral, it was an android body similar to what E and Abyssal were using but controlled from a long distance via a virtual headset of sorts.
'Makes you wonder about all those times we spoke to each other if she was the real Astral or her talking through some android body,��� Abyssal muttered to herself.
"Now that we are all here, let us introduce ourselves. Or rather, reintroduce ourselves. I am Jinkoshijin, the artificial poet in your language. I am the supreme commander of the third fleet, consisting of about forty of so large vessels and many many small ones. I am also the leader of a faction within the Dawning Star known as the…well I don't think it really matters at this point in time," the woman named as Jinko said before looking towards her right. Over there were two women wearing Kimonos, one black and one yellow. Both of them saluted before introducing themselves as well.
"Armoured cruiser Hikari, or rather, Light in your language. Lead ship of my class. I belong to the Seventh Cruiser Division."
"Annihilation cruiser Yoake. Daybreak. Sole ship of the Yoake Class. Seventh Cruiser Division."
Both of the two women did a quick introduction before going back at ease.
Abyssal took this time during their introductions to take a good look at them. She first studied Yoake, the first person she met from this group. She wore an article of clothing called the Kimono, though the most covered of all three of them. Its colour was black, the same as her long hair and she looked very much like a shrine maiden type.
Yoake reminds Abyssal of Abby as she was apathetic and cold. Her face bore no expressions other than the default soulless one. Abyssal had heard her speak a few times before and all the times it reminded Abyssal of how robotic she felt. However, unlike Abby, Abyssal could see that she wasn't as emotionless as that split persona of hers. Although subtle, Abyssal could see that she was fidgeting around in place slightly as she was feeling some sort of discomfort. She was probably still reeling in pain from the previous battle.
Seeing all that she could out of Yoake, Abyssal moved on towards Hikari. She wore a yellowish-orange coloured kimono with many colourful patterns to them. She also had black eyes with fox ears and a large fluffy fox tail. Admittedly, looking at the tails made Abyssal curious about the feeling of hugging said fluffy tail. Abyssal assumed that Hikari was Jinko's direct subordinate as she was standing right next but just a little bit behind her. Her face definitely looked much more expressive than Yoake, but Abyssal could tell if in an interrogation she would get less information from Hikari than Yoake. She looked to be very disciplined and quite capable of handling her emotions.
Last but not least, Abyssal looked towards Jinko, the other woman that has been a thorn in Abyssal's side for as long as she could remember. She wore the same clothing as the others, except pinkish in theme, just like her battlecruiser. She also looked more like a courtesan than the admiral of a whole fleet but that's just Abyssal's thoughts on her looks. She looked to be the most laid back among all three of them and probably the most playful as well. However, despite how she looks and conducts herself, Abyssal could tell at first glance that in an interrogation or a discussion, Jinko would be the hardest to extract information from. It was as if her entire laid back and calm persona was all just an act.
Artificial.
All three of them then started looking towards Abyssal and Astral as if expecting some sort of reply from them.
Astral was the first to do so. She only muttered one word: "Astral."
What came after what a short moment of silence before Astral turned her head around to look at Abyssal, passing the torch to her.
'Oi! At least give something more than just a word, you dummy!' Abyssal yelled internally towards the person, though she did well to hide her emotions.
"I'm! Uh… Abyssal. Of the S.A.S. Abyssal… I am also uh… the sole lead ship of my own class…"
"Hoh? What kind of speciality does your class have to only warrant a single ship of your specifications?" Jinko asked, not waiting for Abyssal to even finish her introductions.
Abyssal tried to think up an answer but found out that she had nothing to tell the women in kimonos. So, she decided to just go the easy route. "I uh… well I… that's a secret,"
"I see. Also S.A.S.? Are you perhaps related to any factions? I've never heard that designation before," Hikari, the person next to Jinko asked next. Jinko gave a nod before staring intently into Abyssal, interested in hearing her answers.
"Well, I guess you could say I am… the leader of a faction… I guess…" Abyssal replied hesitantly. She wasn't lying, though it's quite far from the truth too.
Jinko and Hikari didn't ask any more questions after that, they only nodded in understanding. Abyssal took this time to look at Astral, giving her eye signs of sorts.
'Help me out here!'
Astral only replied with a shrug. On her face was a small smile, signs that she was slightly enjoying Abyssal's fumbling.
"Blue eyes, blue hair, blue blue blue...
So you are Abyssal? It's good to finally meet you in person. You certainly look more expressive than the first time we met. When you first defeated me in battle I could have sworn you were more emotionless than my subordinate," Jinko said as she had her eyes on Abyssal. It was clear to Abyssal that Jinko was studying her.
"Defeated you? You're exaggerating," Abyssal let out a wry laugh. "I just got lucky really. If you had brought out that big battlecruiser on me I would have probably surrendered on the spot instead of trying to fight…"
"Well, that's obvious, of course. But that wouldn't be a fair fight now, would it?"
"..."
"You should discount your achievement no matter how small. Most people that I've met didn't give me the first impression of 'I've underestimated this fool', you know? It is an insult to my honour that you would see yourself so low," Jinko said with a sneer.
Abyssal didn't say anything back only replying with a wry laugh and one hand behind her head. She didn't know what to respond with as she was quite unsure whether Jinko was insulting her or complimenting her. Towards her left, she could hear Astral letting out a sigh.
"Alright, we are done with the introductions. What are we going to do about this new enemy of ours? I thought this was supposed to be an easy trip towards the Dawning Star at first... but now some random core chasing after us. If I knew this would be the case, I wouldn't have agreed to this deal in the first place," Astral said as she gave a vexed look towards Jinko.
"Previously, during the battle behind the star, we made a deal with the Reaper to find the girl in blue," Jinko said as she pointed towards Abyssal. "Let's just say things went sour between us and that she probably takes her bout of resentment too far."
Astral slammed the table in front of her. "So? What the hell are you guys going to do about it? This is your liability you know."
"Why? Isn't it obvious? We move forward, of course. Towards Dawning Star. The Reaper is going to come for us regardless, nothing we can do about it. I suggest we keep a tight formation to scare away the reaper with the package as the core. Once we reach Dawning Star, she would have no choice but to back away."
"Really? That's the plan? Oh my god, I shouldn't have taken this dumb deal."
"It doesn't matter, does it? We are probably going to team up regardless. I have heard from my subordinate that she was saved by Abyssal during the communication breakdown. Sensenmann would have come for you guys as well. We might as well work together. Unless, of course, that you think you can fend off the Reaper alone?" Jinko said to Astral before turning around to look at Abyssal. She then gave a small bow towards Abyssal.
"You have my gratitude regarding the matter of my subordinate by the way."
"You-your welcome," Abyssal replied awkwardly.
Astral, on the other hand, buried her face in her hands. A loud sigh could be heard followed by a small mutter. "It's as if the cosmic universe is out to get me here���"
"Believe me, I know that feeling as well," Jinko said letting out her own sigh.
"Yeah. It's like one bad thing after another, " Abyssal replied with a sigh as well.
"You don't get to say that," Astral muttered as she shook her head before putting down a tablet on the table. She then asked: "Whatever. How are we going to get out of here?"
She pressed a button on the tablet revealing a holographic map of the current sector. Within the map were their locations alongside the locations of all the mines that Abyssal and Astral laid earlier— ships in blue and mines in green. The mines were placed in very specific patterns with a few gaps in between that allowed one to travel through the sector without triggering a single mine— safe locations. However, there were also red dots on the map, displaying the location of something else. These red dots were scattered all over the safe gap.
"That damn woman laid mines all over our safe spots. She effectively sealed us in here,�� Astral said as she clicked her tongue.
"Aren't we in this situation because of your plan? Tens of thousands of har miniature mines? You shouldn't have laid that many mines in the first place. All she needed to do was close the gaps. You valuably made her job much easier."
"..." Astral didn't reply at all, only throwing a deadpan look towards Jinko. It was as if her expression was saying, "Really?"
"Fighting amongst ourselves won't do us any good, Astral, Jinko-senpai…" Hikari, Jinko's direct subordinate saw this and quickly acted to defuse the situation. She stepped forward and pointed towards the holographic tablet. "There is nothing much that we can do. I propose we just pick a direction, preferably the locations where the mines are at their least dense and start making a path, clearing the minefield. This z-angle seemed like a good choice."
"That would take us a while and we will be vulnerable to attacks while we cleared the mines."
"That result is almost a certainty."
"It's a matter of fact, of course. Why do you feel the need to state the obvious?"
Both Yoake and Jinko replied in turn.
Astral let out a grunt before covering her face with her hands again. "I can't deal with this…" She then let out a sigh and walked away from the meeting table. "I'll get started with the process."
'Oi? Are you just leaving me!?' Abyssal thought to herself. Not knowing what to do, Abyssal immediately followed Astral, not wanting to stay with the Dawning Star cores.
But before she could move that far away, Jinko called Abyssal from behind. Abyssal turned around to see Jinko walking towards Abyssal with her hands on Yoake's shoulders. Hikari was walking right behind them.
"This girl will be boarding your ship from today onwards until we've reached our destination of Dawning Star," Jinko said to Abyssal.
"Eh?" Abyssal let out a confused tone.
"I've already discussed this with Astral about the terms and she agreed. She would act as a form of communication between ourselves and your side. She would also act as a bodyguard towards Meicanika Libera. Of course, she is unarmed and you are free to dispose of her body or put her within a contained environment. I do not think that she would pose a threat to a powerful core such as you."
"She may be a little bit inexperienced, but I'm sure that both of you would learn something from each other. I am looking forward to a prolonged relationship with you," Jinko said before letting out a cunning smile.
"Ehhh?!"