Year 3724, in the Especkta sector, on the planet Cyrapza, the Origin Familia were getting ready to take off and go back to their zone when the Duke of the Origin Familia noticed that his son wasn't with them. A slight frown formed on his face as he turned to one of the family maids.
"Where is my son?"
This disconcerted the maid, who was busy counting the luggage for the trip back. She quickly bowed to the Duke and stuttered. "Th-The last time I was him sir was ten minutes ago s-sir. H-He was with the young miss Soreen sir, th-they seemed to be very busy w-working on some kind of machine together s-sir."
The Duke considered this before smirking, "That's fine, they've been friends since childhood. In ten more minutes tell him it's time to go." he instructed.
"Ye-Yessir!" The maid stammered before bowing again and shuffling off in a direction.
He continued to watch her go before sighing, "That boy has spent the past month with that girl working on this 'important project'. I'm curious to see what it'll turn out to be…"
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It didn't take the maid that long to search for the Duke's son since he was just as the maid said. The boy was currently working on a new multi-use exosuit with his childhood friend, a child of the Feanine dukedom.
"Soreen, check it out! I think we've done it!" Kid shouted in excitement, his eyes seemed to glow brighter as his smile widened.
"So cute!" Soreen shouted in response and started hugging Kid, fully enveloping him due to his small stature. Kid was short for his age, 16 but only 5'1", but it didn't affect him much since he knew genetic differences happened a lot in his family line. It was also because he believed he got lucky and inherited quite a bit of his mom's good looks. He had bright blue hair with half-white half-black tips, light brown skin, pointed ears, and golden freckles. But the thing that caught most people's attention were his eyes. His glowing violet irises and pitch-black sclera are a unique trademark sign of his family's noble lineage, The Origin Familia.
"GAH! You are killing me!" Kid gasped for air while trying to push Soreen away.
To the Familia, she was just a member of the Feanine Clan, a neighboring precinct to his own Familia's zone. But to Kid, Soreen was a sweet little girl who became his friend through a sequence of unfortunate coincidences.
She had red rose-gold hair, a peach skin tone, and green eyes, all things that were normal for a Primark Valvess. What's abnormal for the species is her silver speckles inside the lime green eyes. This small detail caused a scandal throughout her father, The Corypheus' precinct, leading many to think Soreen's mother had cheated on her father. Despite him believing his partner, to save his image he had to 'banish' Soreen and her mother.
After being sent to a different sector, away from the rest of her family, and accused of being a bastard child, she was lonely. So to compensate, all she did was study and train. Once she reached the age of 6, she was brought to a noble party because of her intelligence and skill. That day, for the first time, someone other than her mother told her that she had pretty eyes. That person happened to be none other than Kid himself, since then they have been friends and hung out with each other.
"Heyyy! Kid! Are you listening!" Soreen's voice snapped Kid out of his thoughts and made him realize he was still stuck between her arms.
"Were you even listening to me at all!" Soreen pouted, still holding him.
"Ah, sorry I was just reminiscing about our past for some reason. Anyway, could you let go I've still gotta do some checkups on the Note*2. We can't have the same incident happening like the first iteration, right?"
Soreen didn't let go if anything she tightened her grip. "Well I would have let you go if you were listening but it seems you need more punishment."
Kid didn't even try to break free, it was true that Primark Valvess was the weaker of the Valvess species but he knew that he wasn't the physical type. If he tried it'd probably just lead to more issues.
"Ok, you win what did you say?"
Seeing his surrender, she smiled, "Well now I have two questions. First was to know when you'd come back?"
Kid thought for a moment, 'I don't really know, I still have to complete the work Dad asked of me. And school starts up again soon, I gotta prepare for that as well.'
"Well?" Soreen asked expectantly, interrupting his train of thought.
"Hopefully soon, I still have important work to do."
"If it's more important than me, then fine. Alright second question, what were you reminiscing about?"
"Oh that's easy, it was you, well about you really."
"Hmmm!?" She squeezed him harder.
"All good things, really!" Kid gasped, 'I guess I should've lied!'
Finally, Soreen let go, leaving Kid gasping for air. The two were going to continue but a maid came into the room.
"Young Master, your father has said it's time to go."
The two looked at each other and began packing the rest of Kid's things. It wasn't much due to most of it already on the ship, just data chips, analyzers, and the exosuit.
"Ok then, I guess we can do this another day." Kid slowly got up. He was tempted to ask for some more time, but he knew his father well enough that he was certain that he already had his mother on the ship. If not she would have stayed another week planning even more so-called 'business-related' things with Soreen's mother.
"Reminisce huh…"
*Flsshhhh!!*
Just as he was going to leave, he caught a silver light from the corner of his eye. Kid quickly looked over to see if his friend was all right, but when he turned around, she tackled him.
"Wha-" Kid tried to say before Soreen interrupted by kissing him directly on the lips. Just as quickly as it happened she stopped, helped him back up, and leaned into his ear.
"Good luck Note..." she whispered
Kid looked at her and noticed that there were slight tears in her eyes.
"Ar-" Soreen covered his lips with a finger. "I'm fine, just please promise me you'll be alright?"
With his lips still covered, he could only nod.
"Good, now go! I'm sure your father is waiting, hey Nyx. Could you help him out?"
"Of course miss Soreen." The maid bowed and began helping Kid.
"And make sure to take care of him while you're at it. I've now got some important work to do." Soreen said as she walked away, waving as she went.
"O-of course." The maid repeated.
Kid could only watch on as his friend walked away. 'Is she alright? It makes sense she memorized Nyx's name since she's my personal maid and all, but why did she say that?'
"Please hurry young master, the Duke is waiting on us."
"R-right!" Kid lifted Note*2 and began catching up. He then realized something.
'Did her eyes have more silver in them than normal?'
While Kid and the maid were walking to the ship, Kid realized something. He then stopped Nyx and stared her down, blushing purple, but in a serious tone.
"Please don't tell Mother, if she knows this she'll make a big deal about this."
"Yes Young Master, as long as I'm not asked I won't mention it."
Kid sighed 'Good enough I guess…' he thought and continued their walk towards the ship.
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Standing next to the ship was the duke and the head butler "What took you two so long?" The Duke asked. "Soreen and I were tweaking the suit which took longer than expected." Kid responded.
"Is mom already on the ship?" He quickly looked at the butler hoping he would change the subject.
The Duke squinted at his son but didn't keep the matter going.
"Ehem, well young master, the Duchess is currently in her room if you want to talk to her, although I recommend after we go into hyperdrive." The butler answered him.
"Of course and thanks Mr. Beem!" Kid then shot off into the ship, The Familiar, and to his room to finish dropping his things off, the maid Nyx quickly running after him.
Once hyperdrive activated, Kid went to his mother's room with Note*2 in tow and knocked
"Come in my son."
A soothing voice spoke from behind the door. Entering Kid felt warmth when he heard her voice "How are you doing Mom?" Kid's mother was a beautiful Undine who was, in fact, the princess of the Undine Dinesty, when she met his father it was during their [Player Awakening]. It was said to be love at first sight and unlike some of the duke's friends at the time, she was the only person he married and was loyal to a fault. When asked, the Duke would say "She's the only one I need, she gives me everything I could ever need or want. Other than my child of course." While the Duchess would say "He is my love, why would I need anything else? Wellll… maybe more children, Fufufu."
The Duchess had bluish skin and golden freckles. She also had dark blue hair color and although her irises were a very bright blue, almost pale, they still gave off a similar glow as her son's. Blue skin was a signature look for undines with her golden freckles being something distinct only to her within the whole Dinesty, and now it was passed down to her son.
"I'm doing fine why do you ask?" The Duchess questioned with a tilt of her head.
"Well, we were on this trip for a month, but I didn't see you a single time. So I wanted to see if you were doing alright." Kid answered in a fake casual tone, 'Should I ask her now?'
"When did my son become such a caring young man huh? *Sigh* How will I deal with all the women you will seduce..." The Duchess teased her son with a smirk.
"M-mother!! I won't be like that!" Kid said flustered with purple bleeding through his ears.
"Anywho, your mother is doing fine. So what did you really have to ask me? You didn't just come here purely to ask me if I was trying to set you up with your little girlfriend did you?"
This caught Kid off guard " O-Of course not! And we're just f-friends, really! I-I just wanted to show you the new suit Soreen and I finished! We call it Note *2, it is the first of its kind with many stock features of the medium to small mechs but also a lightweight build like a fusion suit! We still need to field test it but I think it is ready." Kid excitedly while taking out the Note *2 suit.
"Oh! What a fantastic exosuit! Is it vacuum-resistant? Does it have a reentry system? Is it able to exit a planet's gravitational pull?"
The Duchess showed just as much excitement as Kid. He knew that she realized that what her son made could be revolutionary.
Mechs were extremely powerful and could do a lot of things, especially when [linked] to a [Player]. The problem was that they were massive, even the smallest one could be as big as an A-class Piercer! They were also expensive, so even if a [Player] could connect to it if it got destroyed it was their livelihood on the line.
There was also a fusion suit, a garment that when worn permanently fuses with the person and gives a consistent supply of energy and a boost to strength. The downsides were pretty obvious though, unless a [Player linked] to it then it could only give the person a limited amount of strength with the cost of it being a permanent attachment. Not to mention they offered little to no defensive protection, just the flat stat boost unless connected.
"Yes, kinda, and maybe? Currently, I'm working on the speed and what kind of material could undertake the possible hazards of entering and exiting planets with light gravity and more but good metals are rare and /or expensive. Which would defeat the purpose of them being more affordable than mechs." Kid spoke and drifted off thinking of ideas until the Duchess gave her own.
"What if it's biological, plenty of species shed. Take the Thradopans for example. They have plenty of shed material and don't know what to do with it other than eat it. If not that then there is also dungeon material, not all material has to be rare natural minerals."
Kid listened to his mother carefully. He then tapped his wrist and a hologram formed above said wrist. He swiped the hologram a few times until a blank screen showed, and began furiously typing, "You are right Mom, that was very narrow-minded of me! I'll have to discuss this with Soreen when I get in contact with her again."
The Duchess then looked at her son with a playful smirk "So... Is Soreen your first harem member~ I noticed you talk about her a lot, are you two a thing now?~" The Duchess always seemed to know what to say to embarrass her son.
"Wha- No! W-We are just work partners and best friends! And why do you think I'll have a harem!" A purple Kid blundered. 'Do I look like I'll have one or something?' Kid thought.
"Let's just call it a mother's intuition. Don't think I didn't notice the intimate scent of a girl on you, particularly your lips~. Haaa~, you remind me of your grandpa. Unlike your father, he had many partners. And when I asked them, they told me it was unintentional and how love goes. So like your grandpa, I'll have to set up many unions. I can't wait!~"
"M-mom, why are we on about this!? It was just a kiss, I didn't even know why it happened, she just did it and spoke as if eluding to something. Oh, and I think her eyes were more silver than normal…"
The Duchess raised a brow, now seemingly even more invested. "Really now? Well, tell me more."
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While a mother was teasing her son, the Duke was in the command deck. There wasn't anything to do since most of the hyperdrive functions were automated and if they weren't, he had an experienced crew also in the command doing that for him. So all he could do was sit and watch the hollowscreen showing his wife and son.
'Should I join them? I would love to see that suit in action, maybe when we get home I'll ask him if we could test it out together.'
While all this was going on in his head a small alarm went off in one of the crew's screens. The crew member immediately spoke up "Sir, we have an unidentified ship coming right in front of us, it's blocking our exit path, sir."
The Duke immediately gave the order to slow the ship down. "Put me in communication with that ship"
"I'm trying sir but the ship is unresponsive. If it doesn't move in the next few minutes, when we exit hyperdrive we could very well crash into it due to latent deceleration."
'This is odd. We are in a secured part of the zone, there shouldn't be any threats in this surrounding sector…' The Duke thought to himself.
A short deliberation later, he came to a decision.
"Ok then take it out, it's possible they could be a bandit or foreign threat. If not, they couldn't respond to a noble ship, they shouldn't have gotten in the way." The Duke instructed firmly.
The crew immediately began aiming the ship's weapons towards the unidentified ship. Outside the ship, a laser-looking weapon was aimed at the ship. A bright ball-like object began glowing within the weapon, steadily getting brighter and brighter. Once it reached its peak it fired.
*FWOOOM*
*BICSSSSS*
The massive ball of plasma hit the stern of the unidentified ship. This caused it to careen off and crash into the outer ends of the warp and slowly dissolve into nothingness. If there were any living things on the ship, they were forever gone now.
"Ok, Stenza, scan our surroundings for more possible threats. If that is all, let's continue on home shall we?" The Duke announced. The crew all agreed and were preparing to decelerate from hyperdrive when even more alarms went off!
"Sir! We have ten more ships also exiting hyperdrive! They all seem armed and are preparing to board! They must have had some kind of cloaking! Sir what do we do!?" A crew member yelled in distress.
"Battle stations everyone! We are being ambushed!" The Duke then turned to the head butler. "Beem! Inform my family we have been ambushed and to assemble defensive measures!" The butler saluted and ran off to the other Origin family members.
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Kid and his mother were joking and playing around with the maid Nyx following close behind in the hallway heading for the workshop when all of a sudden a hard jerk was sent below them, causing many of the crew to fall. The Duchess quickly steadied herself and held onto Kid to keep him from falling.
The two began helping others when alarms began ringing all throughout the ship. It was then that the head butler ran to them.
"Madam! Young master! When need to head to the evac stations immediately! It seems we are being ambushed by pirates!"
Knowing his father wouldn't leave the command until the threat had been dealt with, he just nodded and followed the Duchess, Nyx, and the head butler to the evacs.
'That's odd. I thought that this is a secured zone, is it not?' But Kid didn't think too much of it because he could have been wrong, space security wasn't on his list of things to learn.
Most pirates were ruthless killers who would steal from almost anyone, while some were just unfortunate folk who were forced into piracy or agreed for the money.
To Kid, the Familia's zone was one of the most secure districts within the U.G.S. But even then, space was still a massive, well space, so protecting everywhere was virtually impossible.
*Shrrktick!*
As both the son and mother were running towards the evacs, a hexagonal gonosis appeared from behind the Duchess, catching a blade that was soon to hit her. She then stopped and turned around, the head butler looked at her surprised before raising his hand and a circular gonosis began forming. The Duchess simply waved her hand and the spell shattered.
This startled the head butler, fear showed on his face once more as swung his blade again to try and attack the Duchess. "How did you do that!? Aren't you-!"
"Traitorous pests do not talk."
She then disappeared No noise, no magic, nothing.
"Wha-"
*wirmm*
He couldn't even react before the butler's head was gone. The body dropped as the Duchess then reappeared next to her son, in her now mechanical gloved hand was a holographic switchblade. Her face scrunched in displeasure, "It seems we may need to clean house. This is more serious than a pirate invasion."
"It would seem so mother." Kid agreed as he looked at his similarly gloved hand, albeit far less technical, with glowing blue static coming off it. On the floor next to Kid was his maid, Nyx, she wasn't dead just knocked out.
"Do you want me to finish her for you my son?"
"No. I… I think I know why she did it, and may be possible that we can help her. Right?"
The Duchess looked at her son before sighing, "Alright fine, but if she tries this again. She'll wish she was dead." She smiled devilishly.
Kid picked up the unconscious Nyx and the two began running to the evacs. Once they reached the Kid quickly activated the evac shuttle, the shuttle was a small ship with no serious weapon systems. Instead, the shuttle was equipped with camouflage and enough defensive capabilities to crash into a planet and be just shy of undamaged.
The Duchess was the first to get on but just as she turned around the hatch closed in front of her. She tried to open the hatch but Kid had already zapped the locking mechanism.
"Son! What are you doing!" The Duchess looked out the hollowscreen which showed the front of the hatch. The first thing she saw was the unconscious maid in front of the door, she looked at her son in surprise as he held the control panel with his mechanic glove.
"I realized that it was the butler who had told us to get to the evac. If it was he who wanted it, wouldn't that mean that these so-called pirates may have a way to capture us? If this mysterious group wanted us dead then they would have destroyed the ship, but instead had sent spies to capture us. Why would they do this if they didn't want us alive? Ransom? But they tried this in a safety zone." Kid said calmly.
The Duchess was slightly surprised but quickly covered it up. "Son, that doesn't explai-" she began to talk but was interrupted.
"I also noticed that you weren't as fast as usual, you could have killed the head butler before he even swung at you. Given the seriousness of our situation, I don't think you would hold back at all. There is also the fact that you joined in on my vacation so suddenly, we both know you and Dad have important matters during this time of year." Kid spoke in a matter-of-fact tone with a tinge of curiosity.
He paused and took a deep breath, 'Unfortunate timing but it's now or never.'
"So tell me how long has it been?"
The Duchess could only smile wryly, this time not even hiding her shock. "Always my insightful young one aren't you? *Hah* Around two months, that's how long I have been pregnant. But now is not the time for an interrogation my son, let me out so we can deal with our current circumstances.''
"No can do Mom! You are weakened by the [System] aren't you?! What if something happens, no, I'll go and get Dad. I'll be back, I promise!" He then ran off towards his father's direction, the command deck.