Chapter 35 – Wh-Who Are You?! Where Are You Speaking From?!
Countless rock formations and the dull glint of machine wreckage drifted through the black. The vast debris field at the boundary of Seldia's administered sector--this was Letaria Adeniam's workplace today.
"A freelance commission today. I must bring my full attention to bear!"
In Arden's cockpit, Letaria swept her dark purple fringe back and composed herself. This was not a vigilante corps assignment--she had taken this one as a freelancer in her own right. A safety survey and resource assessment of the debris field.
"Hey, miss. Didn't expect to be on the same job again. Saw the Syn-Fibra promotion--you're getting quite famous."
A familiar rough voice through the comm. Zein--the veteran freelancer she had worked alongside during the ore extraction mission and the Serpent incident.
"Fufu. That sort of thing is simply part of a lady's repertoire. Did you find yourself captivated by my beauty, Zein?"
Letaria sounded faintly pleased with herself. Zein laughed without restraint.
"Sure did. You'll sign something for me sometime, yeah?"
"...Boss. Letaria. The social hour is over--we're approaching the operation zone."
A familiar girl's voice, layered over Zein's comm. Fal.
"Oh--Fal is with you as well? The two of you are... in the same machine?"
"Yeah, mine's been converted for dual-seat. Holds up to two. After what happened to her machine last time, this is the arrangement."
"How interesting--riding together."
"We were literally just told to stop talking... Look, boss, we've arrived!"
Chastised by Fal, the group moved into the center of the debris field.
The operation zone was a region where rock formations from a distant sector had drifted in and mixed with unidentified fragments of old machinery. Just a little closer and it would fall under the vigilante corps' jurisdiction--so the civilian side was conducting the advance survey, with recovery rights and hazard assessment fees as the reward.
Several other freelancers had joined alongside Zein, and they too called over to Letaria with interest. "So this is the famous lady--let's see what she can do."
"Please take care not to get in my way, everyone!"
The haughty announcement made, Letaria settled her attention on Arden's sensors and monitored carefully as the group spread through the sector.
Perhaps ten minutes in--a violent wash of static swept across her communication monitor.
"...? What on earth..."
Only noise coming through. Letaria reached for the instrument panel--
And then it came. Not from any speaker. Not through any channel. Something that arrived directly, as though spoken into the space behind her eyes. Clear. Precise. And somehow, without warmth.
"--Can you hear me?"
"--?! Wh-who are you?! Where are you speaking from?!"
Letaria looked around in confusion. Arden's high-performance sensors showed nothing--no figures, no machines.
"...You can respond. ...Listen carefully. Something dangerous is hiding in that sector. Be on your guard. Fall back."
"Something dangerous? Explain yourself properly!"
Her words met nothing. The voice was simply gone--and with it, the noise.
"--Letaria, do you copy?! Answer me, Letaria!"
The comm restored. Zein's voice came through, edged with urgency.
"Zein! There was an unknown transmission just now! Something dangerous is apparently hiding in this sector!"
"Something dangerous...? What, exactly? Sensors show nothing."
Under normal circumstances, Zein might have filed it away. But he remembered--the last time, Letaria had detected the raider approach before anything on his sensors had moved.
"...Understood. I'll take your instincts seriously, miss. Fal--push sensor output to maximum! We're missing something!"
"On it! Maximum output--narrowing the directional scan... Ah--boss!"
Fal's voice spiked.
"Found one... Behind a rock formation, in the debris gaps. A small heat signature. Barely moving. ...This isn't a Makina!"
In that instant, something shot out from between the debris at high speed.