Chapter 143 – I Am a Little Tired…

As the smoke cleared from the space around her, Letaria checked the wide-area sensor display and saw two machine signatures receding rapidly into the distance. One was probably the navy-blue heavy machine she had just been locked in a life-or-death fight with.

And then -- separate from that, one more signature, heading straight toward her.

"Are you all right, Letaria?"

Grain's Riese swung around as it approached, his voice coming over the comm.

"Yes. That was a strange opponent... though it got away from me."

Letaria pointed toward the darkness where the enemy machine had fled, frustration seeping into her voice.

"So it seems. Just before I rushed over here, I passed another suspicious machine, and I was about to go after it."

Looking at Grain's face on the monitor, Letaria asked.

"Is the other shadow showing far off on the sensors that one?"

Grain nodded.

"Yes. And its silhouette looked to me like that slender Makina that showed up in the Restful Sector the other day. It seems it forcibly retrieved the heavy machine you were fighting with a wire and escaped."

Grain's sensors had recorded the navy-blue Makina leaving the area, dragged along behind the slender machine.

"So that Makina was also the one that attacked at the very end, setting off a mine from the side. ...It seems the story that those scoundrels and these people are connected was correct, after all."

"Yes. There's no saying they won't regroup and come back. Until the Vigilante Corps' follow-up team arrives, we'll put watching the surrounding area first. ...Also, Letaria, you've worn yourself down quite a bit. You should rest a little."

At Grain's remark, Letaria realized only now that her chest was heaving and she was gasping for breath. The backlash from having kept her senses honed so sharply came crashing down on her body all at once as fatigue.

"I... suppose so. ...I shall leave the rest to you... I am a little tired..."

In Letaria's mind came back the ragged breathing she had felt from that heavy machine -- less eerie than it was anxious.

◆◆◆

By the time the advance team under Grain had secured the surrounding space and cleared most of the floating mines obstructing the flight route, four small craft arrived from far off, along with a dozen-plus Rude squad machines escorting them.

"I've been waiting for you, Ethan."

Grain opened a channel.

"Looks like you had quite the flashy fight. And a fairly close call, too, by the look of it."

Vice-Captain Ethan, having stepped down from the small craft, turned his gaze toward Aland's escape pod, drifting where another Rude had recovered it. Scattered around it floated the shattered, wretched wreckage of enemy machines.

"A strange... no, in any case, an unsettling bunch. They even set off the self-destruct on machines I'd supposedly knocked out of action, with no mercy at all."

Aland added this explanation from inside the recovered pod.

"Looks like this matter isn't going to be a simple one."

At Ethan's murmur, Grain nodded with a serious look.

"Leave the handover of the site from here to us. I've also reached out to the freelancers and reinforced the outer-perimeter watch net."

"That's a help. The inspection of the inside of the structure will be the main event -- be thoroughly careful about leftover traps and automated defense systems."

"Yes, don't worry. You all use the boats and head back first."

Ethan issued his instructions efficiently, guiding the worn-out Grain and the others toward the small craft. Letaria's Arden followed the instructions too, approaching one of the craft gingerly.

"What... on earth is this?"

"They're called 'boats' -- dedicated hangar craft for transporting Makina over long distances. Now, grab onto its frame with Arden."

Doing as she was told, Letaria moved alongside the other Rudes to the side of a boat and gripped the sturdy fixed grips firmly with both arms. Each boat seemed able to secure and tow about six Makina along its sides. Aland's escape pod was also fixed firmly at the center of a boat so it wouldn't fall away on the way.

"I'm counting on you, Ethan."

As Grain called out to the follow-up team, the small craft's thrusters began to give off a pale blue glow.

Taken in tow by the boats, the battered Vigilante Corps members quietly left the sector, heading straight for Seldia.