A sprinted non-stop the 10-minute distance and arrived in front of the hangar to see his comrades guarding the closed door, armed.
“A…”
Klugger, who first noticed him, approached and bowed his head.
“Sorry. Ati…”
“She’s still alive.”
A, who had no news and thought Ati had died flying off into space with the ejection port, informed Klugger that Ati was still alive.
“Stay here and guard it. I’m going to the emergency exit.”
“The emergency exit? Where?!”
Siera, who was at the hangar entrance with the team, raised her voice and stopped A, who was heading to the emergency exit instead of the main gate.
“Ati’s still out there. I have to bring her back.”
“But there are Predators out there, right?!”
The team at Hangar 1, unaware of Ati’s status and only knowing that there was a swarm of Predators outside, was guarding the door in case there were Predators inside the hangar. However, Siera was shocked when A, who arrived late, decided to enter the potentially dangerous hangar and then head outside where the Predators were.
“Right now, Ati’s robot is broken in the driving unit and can’t move. Even if she breaks through the outer wall and comes out with the emergency escape device, it’s impossible to escape the Predator swarm with a cockpit that has no power.”
“So? Are you going to save her?”
Siera, who had been silently watching A, raised her voice to hold him back.
“Then what?! You want me to just watch you go outside where there are Predators everywhere?!”
“Then what about Ati?! Should we just leave her alone in space where there are Predators?!”
When A shouted back, Siera was left speechless. Despite her quarrels with Ati, she also considered Ati a comrade and cared about how Ati treated herself as expendable.
“Guard this place well.”
After saying that, A ran toward the emergency exit. Klugger, who had been alternating between looking at Siera standing still and A moving away, chased after A.
When A reached the emergency exit and was about to open the door, Klugger, who had followed him, grabbed A’s wrist.
“Wait. Are you really going?”
“I have to.”
“Is there a reason you really have to go?”
Klugger, who had been A’s comrade for a long time, couldn’t let A go easily in a situation where A might die trying to save Ati.
“Responsibility.”
“Huh?”
A gave a short answer and looked at Klugger with determination in his eyes.
“Tech officer. Do I need more reasons?”
The guilt of leaving Ati alone in this situation was driving A. Seeing A’s eyes, Klugger released his wrist, sighed, and opened the emergency exit.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
Klugger, who thought there was no way to stop A in his current state and also felt guilty for not bringing Ati back despite being close to her, decided to join the rescue operation.
After entering the emergency exit near the locker room, the two checked for Predators and surveyed their surroundings when a communication came to Klugger.
“Hey! What are you two doing?!”
The urgent voice came through the portable communication panel from Theo, who had noticed the two entering the hangar through the control room window and quickly contacted them.
“Ati’s still outside, and this idiot’s going to save her.”
“What?!… Ugh… You idiots.”
Theo sighed, forgetting to scold them as he watched A run toward Siera’s fighter. Understanding the situation, Theo made no attempt to stop them.
“This isn’t going to end with just disciplinary action.”
“Theo! Open the emergency ejection port when I signal. Klugger, check the fighter externally.”
“Huh?! If I open it now, it’ll lead straight into space!”
“Doesn’t matter. Klugger! You can survive, right?”
Klugger, who was checking the fighter’s propulsion outside, manipulated his suit at A’s loud voice, and his helmet covered his face.
“I won’t die.”
Theo, who had been with Klugger, was the first to know that Ati had ejected into space in her robot. The three’s thoughts aligned on the regret of not being able to protect their crewmate in such a short time, and the situation progressed swiftly.
“External check complete! It’s safe to go out!”
“Theo, open the emergency ejection port!”
Klugger, outside the fighter, grabbed a cable attached to the wall and connected it to his suit, while Theo shouted, “Alright! Let’s all screw up together!” and opened the emergency ejection port of the hangar.
In an instant, space appeared before them, and as the internal air rushed out, numerous equipment in the hangar flew into space.
A’s fighter rose into the air and flew swiftly into space.
After the fighter left, the emergency ejection port closed, and A, keeping his eyes forward, flew toward the area filled with Predators. The separated ejection port, which was now much farther away, got dangerously close to the Predator swarm, and A accelerated his fighter as he approached.
“Just try to self-destruct. Just try!”
A muttered to himself as he spotted his fighter approaching and poured lasers and missiles at the advancing Predators. Suddenly, circular explosions occurred in space, and A broke through the Predator swarm toward the ejection port.
Some Predator chunks, much smaller than the fighter, shattered upon impact, while others clung to the fighter, but A paid no attention as he flew toward the ejection port.
Predators had already attached themselves to the ejection port where Ati was, and A slammed straight into the large ejection port.
Ati, who had been hesitant to press the self-destruct button despite multiple near calls, didn’t press it because A’s voice kept ringing in her ears telling her not to. She felt the Predators gradually tightening around her cockpit.
“He said he was coming.”
Believing A’s promise, Ati activated the emergency escape device from inside and, along with the cockpit, crashed into the ejection port wall. She grabbed the laser rifle kept in the cockpit for emergencies and came out.
Upon exiting the ejection port, she saw meat chunks infiltrating the gaps and quickly moved to a corner, shooting at approaching Predators with the laser rifle while waiting for A.
The laser rifle, meant only for emergencies, didn’t have much ammunition. Ati carefully aimed each shot at the Predator chunks, securing safety, when a massive impact came from the ejection port wall, and a fighter’s head broke through.
Immediately, the cockpit cover opened, and A jumped out.
“Senior?!”
Ati, surprised by his more violent than expected entrance, called out to A, who confirmed her location as he landed and ran toward her.
The Predator chunks approaching Ati detected A and turned toward him. Ati, watching A approach from her position, pulled the rifle’s trigger and shot at the Predators coming for him.
“This is all I’ve got for you!”
While running toward Ati, he threw something backward, and in an instant, an explosion spread electricity in all directions, burning the Predator chunks.
The moment the two met, Ati felt a complex mix of emotions at seeing A coming to save her, but A headbutted her forehead.
“!!!”
“Gah!”
A, who had headbutted her, felt more pain and held his head. Ati silently watched A, who was rubbing his forehead, and A locked eyes with her.
“You really came to save me?”
“Why… Why did you come to save me? Unlike me, you could’ve…”
“What? So I should’ve died instead of you?”
A, narrowing his eyebrows, raised his hand as if to strike Ati, and when she flinched, he merely stroked her head.
“You idiot!”
Then, with the same hand, he pressed on her head hard.
“If you died and came back, and I became your supervisor again! Do you think it would really be you?”
Ati couldn’t understand A’s words. In her knowledge, a biroid that dies and is reborn is the same entity number. However, A appeared to suggest otherwise.
“Would a biroid that’s remade and returns be the Ati who lived with me?”
“…Wouldn’t it be?”
“How could it be?!”
A clenched his fist and punched Ati’s head, making her flinch and tear up. Even when A headbutted her, it hurt, but she was just too shocked to react properly.
“How could it be the same?! The biroid that comes back wouldn’t be the one who watched dramas with me, ate ramen after duty!”
Then A pressed her forehead with his finger.
“Listen carefully! You’re the only one in this world that I know. The one I’m responsible for training isn’t Entity 86 (Ati Six)! It’s you! Got it?!”
Ati looked at A silently. Shocked, she knew she hadn’t fully grasped A’s words, but she could understand his intention: that she was unique in this world, and if she died and was remade, it wouldn’t be her.
She had always thought the name ‘Ati’ was just for convenience. Only now did Ati realize that the name ‘Ati,’ which others said was carelessly given, was a name that proved her existence.
Here now wasn’t Biroid Entity 86 (Ati Six), it was Ati of the 54th Air Wing’s Hangar 1.
“Let’s go home.”
“……Alright.”
A, who had turned back energetically to the fighter to escape, stopped at the swarm of Predator chunks before him.
“Big trouble.”
Without proper weapons to fight, there seemed no way to break through, and A’s portable communication panel received a signal.
“Siera?”
“Had a moving reunion, huh?”
As soon as her voice came through, a massive vibration shook the ejection port.
“If you don’t want to die, put on your helmets first.”
Before answering, the two hastily adjusted their suits and put on their helmets.
Soon, the ejection port shook again, and one wall was torn off.
“Ugh!”
As the wall tore off, the external atmosphere flowed out, and A and Ati, unable to resist the force, floated into the air and were carried out by the escaping air, only to be caught by a massive hand.
“Huh?! Hey! That’s still in testing!”
Beside the ejection port was a robot of the same model as Ati’s. It was a test unit adjusted for a biroid, prepared for ordinary pilots, and Siera was inside.
“Smashing my fighter and still talking?”
A was lost for words at Siera’s voice over the communication panel.
Soon, the robot’s hand holding the two moved toward the cockpit. The cockpit opened, and they faced Siera in a pilot suit, A avoiding her gaze.
“Get inside. We don’t have time to chill here.”
Remembering they were still surrounded by Predator chunks, A quickly entered the cockpit, which instantly became cramped. After they got in, Siera closed the cockpit.
“We’re about to warp. We need to get back fast.”
The robot, which the three were in, headed toward a ship emitting bright particles, preparing for warp. Siera flew toward the ship as fast as possible.
“But are you sure it’s alright for you to pilot this?”
A cautiously asked if it was okay for Siera to be out in the test unit, and Siera snorted.
“Unlike someone, I’m under orders to be out here.”
At that point, Esmeralda appeared on the monitor above the cockpit, her worried expression brightening upon seeing A and Ati aboard.
“I’m so relieved. Siera, can you get back?”
“Heading back as fast as possible!”
Pushing the propulsion further, they flew swiftly toward the ship.
The monitoring displays in the Command Info Room showed the countdown to Warp Drive activation, with only seconds left.
“Wait, aren’t we going to crash?!”
The emergency ejection port was tightly shut, but Siera didn’t slow down.
“Now’s the time!”
Klugger, who had set up a net inside the hangar for an emergency landing, connected his suit’s cable to a hook on the wall and signaled Theo in the control room. Theo, watching Siera’s robot rapidly approaching through the monitor, opened the emergency ejection port.
And as Warp Drive began compressing space for rapid movement, the three massive ships of the Spacystro 6th Fleet disappeared from the spot.
