The war raged on.

Arthur and the UFE forces secured the base on the first day, rallying behind the momentum his intervention had created. With the Chimerian mechas disabled and their elite forces shaken, the UFE pushed forward with overwhelming firepower. 

The walls of the base held, reinforced by fresh ammunition supplies and emergency shielding repairs. Plasma cannons roared from the defensive lines, tearing through Chimerian ranks. The ground was littered with the bodies of fallen warriors both human and alien as the battlefield became a graveyard of burnt metal and shattered armor.

Arthur was at the center of it all.

In those first brutal hours, he cut through Chimerian commanders like a reaper in a field of grain. They came at him in waves, determined to crush this unknown warrior who fought as if he were beyond mortal limits. 

His blade never stopped, slashing through exoskeletons, melting through armor. Energy weapons that would have vaporized ordinary soldiers barely scratched him, deflecting off his enhanced armor. Every Chimerian who dared challenge him met the same fate…obliteration.

By the time the siege of the base was over, Arthur had personally slain more than forty-five Chimerian commanders and hundreds of elite warriors. His armor was covered in few battle scratches, streaked with dark violet blood, and yet he stood unshaken.

…

With the base secured, High Command wasted no time in planning the next move. The enemy presence on the planet was still strong, with several major Chimerian forces dug in across multiple locations. If they wanted to reclaim the planet, they needed to eliminate those threats before the Chimerians could regroup and entrench themselves further.

Arthur and several other squadrons were deployed immediately. Their mission: locate and annihilate the enemy forces before they could reinforce their numbers.

Their target was a temporary outpost deep within a mountain range, where thousands of Chimerian warriors had set up a command hub.

The moment they arrived, Arthur wasted no time. Using his technopathy, he disabled the security systems and infiltrated the compound with deadly efficiency. His squad followed, but they barely had time to react before the battle erupted.

The Chimerians fought like cornered beasts, launching counterattacks with relentless aggression. But Arthur was worse. He moved through their ranks like a living storm, carving through their defenses with merciless precision. 

When plasma turrets locked onto him, he overrode their targeting systems and made the shots graze past him, not entirely hitting him. When he engaged with the mechs, he tore them apart with sheer strength after disabling their shields.

Within hours, the outpost was reduced to ruins, its defenders wiped out to the last soldier.

…

By the third day, only scattered resistance remained. The last bastions of Chimerian forces had either fled into hiding or prepared for suicidal last stands. Arthur and his squads hunted them down, eliminating command structures, and dismantling any remaining mechs before they could be repaired.

When the final stronghold fell, silence settled over the battlefield. The war on the planet was over. The UFE had won.

But Arthur knew this was only one battle in a much larger war.

As Arthur and his team regrouped at the secured base, news arrived from High Command. While their victory on this world was significant, three of the eleven territories in the sector had fallen completely to the Chimerians. Those planets had been overrun, and the enemy had already begun constructing strongholds there.

The UFE couldn’t afford to destroy those planets, they were strategic locations, rich in resources and vital for future operations. That meant they would need to launch ground assaults to retake them, a prospect that would be far bloodier and more difficult than a defensive fight.

And then there was the battle in space.

The war in space had not ceased. Massive fleets clashed in the void above, UFE battleships engaging Chimerian warships in a brutal contest of firepower. Explosions bloomed in the darkness, debris fields growing larger with every passing hour. 

The ECHOs were never deployed there, ECHOs were specialized in field battles and their strength were more focused in these battles rather than space fights; space combat was a game of machines, of starships and fighters, where soldiers like Arthur had no place. But he knew that if the UFE lost the space battle, no amount of ground victories would matter.

For now, all they could do was wait for new orders. The high command would soon decide the next course of action.

…

The next order of action came not too long after.

Over the next few weeks, they would prepare for a counteroffensive against the three Chimerian-occupied planets. These were not just arbitrary worlds, their strategic value was undeniable. If the UFE allowed the Chimerians to fortify them further, the war in this sector could spiral out of control.

Arthur and his team received their deployment schedule. Before they could dive into the next battle, they needed to resupply, debrief, and undergo physical and psychological evaluations. Standard protocol after prolonged combat.

With their immediate mission concluded, they boarded a Vanguard-Epsilon class battleship bound for the Dreadnought Mk XI. The journey was uneventful, and upon arrival, they returned to their quarters on the station.

…

Arthur rarely allowed himself the luxury of relaxation, but after three days of non-stop fighting, even he recognized the necessity of a brief respite. His team felt it too, every soldier had their own way of unwinding.

So, after stowing away their gear and taking rest for the night, they headed toward the entertainment sector of the station the next day.

The entertainment sector of Dreadnought Mk XI was a sprawling facility, featuring everything from combat simulations to bars, gyms, and even a zero-gravity lounge. It wasn’t quite as extravagant as Solace Prime, but for soldiers constantly deployed on the front lines, it was a rare slice of normalcy.

Arthur found himself at a small tactical simulation hall, running a mental exercise against AI-controlled enemy units. It was nothing compared to real combat, but it kept his mind sharp. His squad, meanwhile, had scattered, some opting for a drink, others engaging in sparring matches or resting in the VR suites.

There was a difference in engaging in these simulation games than on the battlefield, on the battlefield there was a chance of someone dying, but here they can enjoy the thrill of fights without any fear of dying.

Elena and Finn had tried to convince Arthur to join them at the bar, but he had declined as he does not consume alcohol, but he gave them company.

Despite not drinking himself, Arthur found a brief moment of calm amid the noise of soldiers talking, laughing, and temporarily forgetting the weight of war.

…

The next morning, Arthur was still in his quarters when a knock sounded at their quarter door.

He opened it to find a uniformed UFE soldier standing at attention.

“Lt. Arthur, you’re requested to please follow me.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask questions. He had expected this.

The new alloy he submitted had undoubtedly raised suspicions. The UFE would want to know where he had gotten the knowledge to create it, especially given how advanced and resilient the material was compared to anything in their current arsenal.

He followed the soldier through the station’s corridors. They were heading toward the interrogation wing.

Arthur’s mind worked quickly. He wasn’t concerned, but he wasn’t naïve either. He knew how the UFE operated. They wouldn’t openly accuse him of anything, but they would probe, looking for inconsistencies.

By the time they arrived, he had already formulated his approach.

The soldier led him into a small, sterile room with a single metal table, two chairs, and a large reinforced glass wall on one side. Arthur knew how these rooms worked, there were people on the other side of that glass, watching, analyzing his every move.

He took a seat without being prompted, his expression unreadable.

A few moments later, the door opened, and a UFE intelligence officer stepped in.

The man was tall, with sharp features and the kind of posture that screamed military intelligence. He set a data pad on the table and met Arthur’s gaze with a neutral expression.

“Lt. Arthur,” he began, his tone measured. “I appreciate your cooperation.”

Arthur inclined his head slightly but said nothing.

The officer took a seat and tapped the screen of his data pad. “This is a routine follow-up regarding your operations in the Chimerian conflict. Standard debriefing protocol.”

Arthur’s lips twitched. Standard, my ass.

Still, he nodded. “Understood.”

The questioning began as expected, he was first asked some general questions. Like what were the conditions of the ruins when they arrived. How did they manage to secure the damaged technology etc.

Arthur answered each question with precision, offering just enough detail to satisfy them without giving away anything more than necessary.

But then, the questions shifted.

The officer leaned forward slightly. “During your time at the ruins, did you happen to come across any technology that was… unique?”

Arthur kept his expression neutral. “Nothing that wasn’t already documented in my reports.”

The officer nodded slowly, tapping his data pad again.

“And you’re certain of that? No undisclosed findings?”

Arthur’s gaze didn’t waver. “I wouldn’t withhold valuable intel from the UFE.”

The officer’s expression didn’t change, but Arthur could tell the real questions were about to begin.

“Lieutenant, as you know, all recovered technology is analyzed and categorized. However, some of our scans indicate that certain relics from the ruins were… unaccounted for.”

Arthur feigned mild confusion. “Are you suggesting something was stolen?”

The officer’s eyes narrowed slightly. “We’re simply being thorough.”

Arthur was already using his technopathic influence on the room’s equipment. He could feel the subtle hum of the lie detection systems, bio-readers, stress monitors, micro-tension analyzers. All advanced pieces of tech, but not immune to manipulation.

With a simple override, he had already tweaked the algorithms, just enough to ensure that any fluctuations in his responses would appear normal.

He leaned back and met the officer’s gaze. He and his team had already documented the disappearance of the Obelisk and they, being teleported to that unknown space. So the UFE should not have gotten something that they were not supposed to so Arthur figured they were just bluffing.

“I am not aware of anything like that happening. Everything that I saw was already included in the report.” His voice was calm, measured.

The lie detectors, already compromised, confirmed his statement as truth.

The officer studied him for a moment longer, then glanced at his data pad, checking the readings. After a pause, he gave a slow nod.

“Very well,” he said finally. “That will be all for now.”

Arthur nodded and stood, his posture relaxed as if the interrogation had been nothing more than a casual conversation. He knew this wasn’t the end of their scrutiny, but for now, he had deflected suspicion.

As he left the room, escorted once again by the soldier, he kept his expression impassive.

They suspected him. But suspicion alone wasn’t enough.

He just had to make sure it stayed that way.

It was not like they could win this war against the Chimerians if he gave the Obelisk and even the Spear of Heaven to the UFE. First of all they could not even use them as they do not have technopathy. He figured it would be better for him to slowly introduce new techs.

And there’s the matter of the unknown entity, Arthur thought it was better for him to get stronger by hopping worlds and finding something that can be used by everyone here from other worlds. 

Although the physiology of humans in this universe is fundamentally different from the humans of Thyrandel, and cannot use magic like them. But he will find a way to make the soldiers here stronger either through scientific or through supernatural means.

***

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