'Starflow' was forced back into the Human Federation in an extremely high-profile manner.
His wanted warrant was triggered the moment he descended deep into the star system amidst the radiance. The planetary system’s total defense system, which had been on Tier 1 alert, nearly opened fire, but a command from ‘Sky River’ intercepted the program’s automatic response just in time.
In years past, Starflow’s wanted status had been classified, circulating only among a small circle because, to the general public, he had long been dead. Though most high-level espers knew he was not only alive but actively opposing the Federation...
As he fully entered the Capital Planet’s airspace, Evenheiler’s expression was stiff.
He understood completely now. Back on the Ring World, Raetin’s overly soft attitude had actually been a subtle way of offering a new chance. Otherwise... had it been anyone else, they wouldn't have dreamed of walking out of the Ring World alive.
In the days that followed, perhaps other opportunities had been graciously extended, but he had missed them all, one by one.
Because that gentleness and forgiveness, when placed upon ‘Raetin,’ always seemed as natural as if it were meant to be.
—But was it truly ‘meant to be’?
Evenheiler stared expressionlessly at the world submerged in a sea of light. He felt his armor’s movements as it stiffly carried him down in flight, and he suddenly felt like laughing. Even with such power, Raetin almost never manipulated people like puppets. This was ‘Raetin’; this was the ‘Solar Star.’
The young man now looked like a cold iron statue, and indeed, he was not someone gifted with words or skilled in management. He even had a certain psychological tendency toward obsession. When combined with his personality, most people couldn't tell what he was thinking, what he wanted to do, or what his purpose was.
But Evenheiler had seen him at his most relaxed and most indulgent. Naturally, he knew better than anyone that this man’s character actually harbored an intense desire for control and destruction.
It was just that the former was always bound by kindness and morality, while the latter had been transformed into a personality trait bordering on self-destruction: the drive to pay the price on behalf of others.
Just like when he was a rookie and quickly decided he didn't need teammates, from then on doing alone what required an entire company’s worth of manpower...
Raetin had grown accustomed to looking after everything around him, using his own power, time, and energy to pay the price for others. He did this so naturally, just as naturally as he would silently give others new chances, as if he were born to fight for the sake of bearing some burden.
Whatever the reason, his brief life thus far had molded him into a character that could be called a saint. Yet, while being a saint, he was also an orphan, an engineering scholar, a soldier, and even a commander. Consequently, all of this was inevitably infused with loneliness, rationality, internal logic, and a hardness that followed rules without being shackled by them.
Evenheiler knit his brows, mentally tracing through Raetin’s past bit by bit, hoping to analyze the man’s current psychological state.
He could swear that he was the person in this starry sea who understood Raetin best—bar none.
They had once talked and laughed, reading together by a sunlit window, discussing matters unrelated to business in a drawing room. One would speak of his half-true past, while the other returned the favor with a seemingly dull, short story spanning about seventeen years.
At the time, he had listened to those stories very seriously. Now, he was grateful for that seriousness.
He was grateful that he had spent a period of time interacting with this person with genuine emotion, untainted by other motives. Though that purity had failed to endure to the present day due to the changes in their status, positions, and relationship, it remained a unique treasure.
—A treasure that could be used to decipher the ‘Solar Star.’
Amidst the golden radiance, the legendary warrior descending from the sky took a brief look at the ground as his helmet turned. His gaze swept over the corpses in the distant city—some being held tightly by mourners, others completely ignored—and he looked away, unable to bear it.
With his experience, he could naturally tell that those corpses had long had some kind of device implanted in their broken brains, looking like internal neural-link processors.
But would Raetin really kill people for such a reason?
A man like that had begun to consolidate power... and was conducting startling public executions of his own compatriots in such a cold and arbitrary manner.
In the eyes of many, such behavior might just be ‘another Double-S going mad,’ but Evenheiler firmly believed there had to be a deeper, justifiable reason.
—No, it should be said, there *must* be!
If Raetin committed such acts—acts that could very well cause the public to view him with the hostility of *“When will this sun perish? I will perish with you!”*—and the cause lacked any legitimacy... then Evenheiler would be the first to truly draw his blade against the man he was now.
***
Angye suddenly looked up.
He could feel a soul he loathed arriving on this planet. That was his former fellow disciple and his best friend. In his youth, he had undeniably placed great hopes and a certain indefinable cherished regard upon those flickering stardust...
But in the end, facts proved that he was not the other’s best friend, and his expectations had been completely betrayed.
“Angye, sign this,” Wyndell said.
He sent over a document regarding the follow-up handling of this incident and public pacification. It appeared in Angye’s mind, and with a flash of thought, the latter left his electronic signature on it.
But at the same time, Angye ‘saw’ that a small text file had been sent along with the document.
Its content consisted of only eight words: *[Think less, do more. Get to work.]*
Angye suddenly gave a bitter smile.
“Thirty years ago, you said the same thing to me,” he whispered into a temporary voice channel he established, not caring if Raetin, who sat between them reading documents, heard anything. “What fine advice, but I didn't listen. Why didn't I listen?”
“...” Wyndell closed his eyes. Across that figure whose presence was like a celestial ridge, he turned to look at Angye.
“You never listen to anyone’s advice,” he said. “You should be the one who understands best why you can’t beat me.”
When he said this, he likewise did not avoid Raetin, because he knew that before he even sent that message, the ‘Double-S’ surely knew everything.
But their awe-inspiring Acting Speaker gave no reaction, tacitly allowing the communication between the two Vice Speakers.
“You are too arrogant, Upton,” Wyndell said softly. “If wisdom and power can only exist high above, that is the second most foolish thing in the universe.”
“What’s the first?” Raetin asked casually while signing a legion reorganization plan submitted by a certain councilor—he was genuinely a bit curious.
“Thinking oneself invincible,” Wyndell replied. “The last one to make that mistake was the Emperor of the Galactic Empire.”
“Arrogance,” Raetin commented, even though he knew he might not be in any position to say so.
Wyndell sighed—young people always ignored certain advice... or even if they understood the logic, they still chose to persist in their own ways.
What a vibrant way to live.
“Alright,” he said. “I see the notification of ‘Starflow’ approaching. Speaker... is this a lone-hero style negotiation?”
“No,” Raetin said, standing up from his seat. “This is just me receiving a captive.”
“Your power is worthy of all praise.” Amidst a sudden silence, Wyndell’s flattery was remarkably humble.
“You overpraise me.”
Even today, Raetin habitually offered a modest deflection.
Then, without any formal gesture to signal the start of a dialogue, he addressed the crowd in the assembly hall: “The cleaning of the communication network, the control of Star-Net information, and some commercial matters—I, an outsider, won't interfere too much with those.”
He said it so lightly, as if he hadn't written papers back in school on communication technology, Star-Net architecture, and the links between commerce and the military.
Incidentally, while that last paper maintained his usual rigorous and polite style, its content was actually a thorough roasting of the Federation officialdom’s idiotic practice of allowing a large number of commercial institutions to coexist with military academies.
“I also shouldn't interfere too much with the internal corrections of the various legions and military academies.” Raetin nodded to several military councilors. These words were practically saying out loud: *‘But if the correction results don't meet the standard, I’ll have to interfere appropriately.’* “Also, regarding the communications department...”
He looked into the chaotic darkness within his visor.
“...I hope you will provide the answers I need soon.”
He said.
“Meeting adjourned. I will see you next time.”
He vanished into a flash of golden light.
Even after he left, a heavy silence persisted in the assembly hall. It was actually inertia—from the moment he stood up, a terrifying pressure from a ‘Double-S’ rank esper had forced nearly all the councilors to lower their heads.
This was an overt attitude: Raetin did not need these people, who were now the hubs of the Federation’s operation, to have their own will. He certainly didn't need them to watch him, understand him, or speculate about him.
He only needed them to obey orders and then execute them.
“...I feel like I’m practically a wrench,” one councilor whispered, looking up cautiously. “Used to tighten a bolt when needed, and tossed into the toolbox when not...”
The people in the ‘toolbox’ felt a lump in their throats and looked at each other.
...
Evenheiler’s identity was quickly re-registered.
His former information files and citizen code were reactivated. ‘Sky River’ also linked to the neural-link processor he was currently using. The identity that had been perfectly clean due to his faked death merged with him once more, bringing with it Starflow’s great reputation as a guardian and martyr, along with all the benefits he deserved.
Money, assets, reinstatement into the Federation military officer corps...
When Starflow’s ID reappeared in the information databases of various departments, countless people cried out in shock.
Of course, at the same time, some people crushed their cups or smashed their desks.
Fair treatment, due compensation... all of it felt like a sudden dream.
But Evenheiler didn't care about them. He had long since ceased to care about anything obtained within the political entity of the ‘Federation.’ He only wanted to know if he could still return to his kind and reliable comrades, and what negative impact his sudden fall into enemy hands would have on the Resistance.
“...‘Sky River’.” Beneath the planetary atmosphere, Evenheiler, whose flight speed had been slowed, spoke softly. “You’re listening, right?”
“Yes, honored user ‘Starflow’,” Sky River’s emotionless mechanical voice responded.
“Tell me, where am I going?” Evenheiler asked.
“Your flight trajectory is controlled by Administrator ‘Solar Star.’ The variables are too great; I cannot determine it,” Sky River answered.
“After all these years, you’re still the same...” Evenheiler gave a long sigh. “Give me a probability?”
Sky River was silent for a moment. Presumably, under such circumstances, the computing power it could allocate to a non-administrator user wasn't very much.
But even so, it quickly submitted a conclusion: “According to calculations, there is an 81% probability that your destination is: [Waterdrop Garden, Floor 22, No. 2202].”
Simultaneously, a notification suddenly popped up on Evenheiler’s neural-link visor:
[Your friend [Everest Infinite Communication] has shared with you: [Waterdrop Garden Floor 22 No. 2202 Secondary Access Permissions].]
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