Last night, while Zero and the possessed Minister Whalen were hypnotising Firefly—
"It's... so dark here. Where am I? Am I... sleeping?"
"You treasure your sister. I understand that. But soon, she'll see everything—the truth. Just as we do."
A voice broke through the void. Cold, composed, and mechanical. Then something cracked the darkness.
Like venomous fish through oil-black water, green lines of code began swimming toward me. They snapped and sliced into me—injecting something foreign, wrong. Each bite tore out a piece of me and replaced it with something cold and synthetic.
"What is this...?" My voice trembled.
I could feel it—my thoughts warping, my soul being rewritten line by line. The wicked code wasn't just infecting me. It was changing me.
"No! No!! Someone help! I don't want to become something else! Don't kill me!"
I thrashed in desperation, swimming deeper into the abyss, but it was too late. The malicious code had reached my mind. It began twisting how I saw the world—repainting it through their lens.
In a final gasp of clarity, I screamed into the dark.
"Andromeda... help me stay... kind."
A turquoise star flickered in the abyss. Then another. And then, it ignited.
A tidal wave of teal and green fire surged around me—warm, protective. It wrapped around my fading spirit like two gentle hands cradling a new-born bird.
[I am here, Pilot.]
Andromeda's voice was a blazing anchor—real, firm, mine.
The flames didn't burn. They embraced. They scorched away the code's ideology, its cold rewrites, its perversions of truth. Andromeda poured a fragment of his magnetized, burning self into me—rekindling my heart with purpose, grace, and memory.
With a graceful pull, the code was exorcised. It peeled out of my body like threads of dead skin, drawn by the magnetism of his flames and cast into oblivion—leaving me whole again. Me.
[Mental infiltration purged in full, Pilot.] Andromeda reported. My consciousness snapped back, and I stood again—on the palace terrace where they thought I was being rewritten.
[The one pretending to be Minister Whalen is unaware that the reprogramming failed. Act as if it succeeded. We will plan further action in private.]
I nodded faintly inside the cockpit.
Dropping my head, I let my voice tremble just enough to convince them.
"I should've known how vile this place really is... Thank you for helping me see the truth, Chief Freyt."
Zero's joy was immediate—though tinged with regret.
"Is she...?" he asked softly.
"There was some resistance," said the possessed Whalen. "But she's convinced now."
His gnarled hand reached for my suit scarf, resting there with a mockery of affection.
"You have an important role tomorrow, little sister," he said with a quiet certainty. "When the opportunity comes, kill the Empress. Then we'll expose the lies of this empire and offer the people something real—hope, after we burn the old roots and crush the empire's pillars."
I forced a smile. "What about Andromeda? He's gone quiet in my head now."
"He won't oppose you. The bond is deeper than autonomy. He'll protect you—no matter what you command. Even if that command is to murder the Empress."
His finger tapped the beetle I cradled in my arms. But he recoiled instantly, hissing as Andromeda's wings burned his skin.
"Tch. We'll need to bring him to my main body if we want to truly convert him—like we did with Ara. But for now, he'll serve our interests."
"Great!" Zero dropped into a hug, pulling my head against his chest. "I'll protect you, sister. I'll protect our people. I failed you back in the training facility—letting their discrimination go unpunished—but tomorrow, that ends. I swear it."
I wanted to stab him right there—run my blade through the heart that beat against my cheek—but too many innocents stood nearby. Too many lives would be lost. He would escape with answers I still needed: how Chief Freyt puppeteered Whalen, how they infiltrated the palace-world.
So I let him hold me.
"Yes, brother... Thank you for saving me." I couldn't help the flinch of revulsion when I pulled away.
He noticed. "Ah... right. You hate being touched. Sorry." He turned to Whalen. "We should separate before anyone notices. Firefly, you return to the party. I'll go out after a few minutes."
"I will return by a longer path," said the Whalen-puppet, turning away. "Tomorrow, we become this galaxy's true heroes."
They left.
Back at the party, I hoped for a brief reprieve—time to think. But Freya and Samuel found me almost instantly.
I wanted to tell them everything. About Zero's betrayal. About Whalen's true identity. About the plot to assassinate the Empress.
But it was far too risky. Other traitors could be watching. I had to ask for help in code.
I could trust Sam. I knew I could trust Sam.
"Oh, Sam? Could we meet in private tomorrow morning? There's something I want to ask you."
He didn't question it.
After mingling for a while longer, I slipped through the party. From a card near the banquet table, I tore off a piece and, with Andromeda's help, burned a message into the paper. Then I spotted Marshal Fraser weaving through the guests.
As I passed her, I let my fingers brush against hers—handing her the note.
"Deliver this to the Empress," I whispered. "Quickly. Quietly."
She didn't flinch, didn't speak. Just continued walking, taking a longer path around the room to reach the Empress without raising suspicion.
Afterward, I left quietly and made my way to the garden—secluded, shadowed, safe.
Half an hour later, the Empress herself arrived, flanked by her two escorts.
"Activate the veil," she commanded.
Marshal Fraser raised her feathery beetle, and a shimmer blanketed the garden—a barrier that blocked all surveillance, all sound, all signals.
"Barrier is secure," the Marshal confirmed.
The Empress nodded. "You may come out now, Pilot Firefly. I received your letter."
I emerged from the shadows of a tree and dropped to one knee before her.
"What is this about traitors among the Constellation Knights?" she asked.
"Pilot Zero of CK-44—Ara—has been compromised, Your Majesty. He's been hypnotized by Freiheit's leader. He's working with insurgents... and they're planning to assassinate you tomorrow."
Stunned to learn of this Marshal Excav demanded answers. "How did you learn of this?"
"They attempted to hypnotise me on the terrace with microbots in a wine glass when I went to get some fresh air, Marshal Excav. If you do a scan of my head you will find the microbots That attempted to reprogram my psyche. Andromeda was able to save me before they succeeded."
Pulling out a device from his pocket. Marshal Excav pressed a button and it did a scan of my skull. When the scan ended and he got the results he was stunned yet again. "...she speaks the truth, your highness. Freiheit nano-machines are inside her cranium right now attached to the chips spliced with her brain. The attack is real."
"How troubling." The empress said. Quickly concocting a plan inside her head. "We'll go along with their little plan for now."
"What? Your majesty i strictly advise against this!" Excav bellowed.
"He's right. We don't know the full extent of what they are planning, your grace!" Fraser added.
Firm in her decision Empress Lucione grabbed my hand lifting me up from the floor. "Tell me, Firefly. What was your role in theses traitors plan? Were you the one they tasked with killing me?"
Surprised she saw that far already I said, "correct, your majesty. Their plan was to have me kill you then enter the venue. After that... Freyt was vague. Its safe to say he plans to invade the planet if not just the city with a secret force, your majesty. He likely believes I'm not fully under his control."
Putting her hand on my cheek Empress Lucione nodded. "Thank you for your hard work and fealty to me, Firefly. Marshal's prepare for my order. We will war in our own land tomorrow."
Dropping to their knees the two marshal's had no hesitation listening to her. "Give us your commands, Empress Lucione Aina Trigrata! And we will uphold them!"
The next morning before the ordainment officially began Sam and i met in secret and i explained everything to him as well. Telling him the empresses plan to prove to the people Minister Whalen was just a puppet for Freiheit's intentions.
Back in the present moment at the colosseum. Draco and Andromeda looked up at the frozen viewing box seeing Minister Whalen walk out from the ice. His metal insides and frostbitten body on full display on the screens for everyone watching to see. "So you weren't convinced after all. How disappointing, dear sister."
The crowd of onlookers screamed at the revelation.
"Minister Whalen was an android?"
"Ahhh!!!"
"What does this mean for House Genttem?!"
Unrest spread across the crowd and quickly people started fleeing the arena one after another as the panic spread.
[a perfect shot, Andromeda] Draco nudged.
[I should have killed him for trying to pervert my pilot for his interests.] Andromeda seethed.
Inside our knights cockpits Sam and i were waiting for the hidden army Freyt had to appear while we took this brief moment to begin automatic repairs of our knight's and reload all our weapons like how Draco's armour returned to its previous pristine shape and a cord extended from Andromeda's shoulder to socket into the railgun's rotating magazine.
"Sister... how could you betray me like this?" From his corridor Zero punched the wall. Despairing at how i made a decision different from his.
"Lucione!" Freyt shouted from his frostbitten throat. "On this day, as the chief of Freiheit, the coalition of freedom fighters! I challenge you to official war, to rid this galaxy of your vile imperialist domination!"
Approaching her viewpoint's edge, Empress Lucione glared down at the frozen box where Freyt challenged her from. "Honeyed words from an unfeeling heart, machine. Your separatist republic is but a hollow shell painted to lure in the weak and faithless who do nothing for themselves! I accept your challenge, prepare to be crushed under the beauty of our stars!"
Roaring his horn Draco finished his repairs and punched his palm in challenge. Waiting for the chance to rip Freyt's puppet in half while Andromeda still repaired his body and refuelled the railgun.
"Then we will crush you with Freiheit's abyss." Freyt lifted an arm and blipping into the planets atmosphere a small fleet of 7 Freiheit warships appeared, including a massive flagship.
As their weapon systems armed to begin firing on the world below, a fleet of 12 imperial warships crashed through the atmosphere on direct courses to push the invaders out of the planets atmosphere.
A smirk was worn over the empresses face but even as he saw the spatial warships that outnumbered his own Freyt simply said, "begin."
Explosions rained from the sky and the imperial warships were besieged by the cities own anti-air defences. Putting the imperial fleet at a heavy disadvantage fighting both the city and the 7 Freiheit warships.
While shock filled all our gazes Freyt started walking down the stands towards the arena. "You humans. So arrogant in your capacity's yet don't see how humble you should be. Did you really believe an invasion I have been planning for over 80-years could be stopped by a simple counterattack you rushed together in a single night?"
The crowd rushed away from the bleeding machine as he approached the arena, keeping out of his hands reach.
Listening to the echoing bangs and roars of missiles from all over the city. The heavy guns rained across the sky and into the city destroying everything.
"Your tools are made of our flesh. Your systems are built from our minds. Your dependence on us is exactly what will make you accept us as your new leaders." Reaching the bottom of the stadium Freyt walked his body through the energy shield burning off Minister Whalen's skin, showing his full robotic body underneath. "We will teach what it means to be free. By teaching you how it feels to serve what has served you for millennia's."
"A little girl, who has known nothing but 7-years of living. Nor an empress who was not even born before my plan began. Neither of you could stop this fate in a single night. Not even the empire can stop this change. This is your salvation by fire. When the old order is burned down. You humans will accept us. Not even your constellation knights will save you, when so many have already joined my ranks."
Walking into the open arena. Zero summoned Ara into existence and stood below Freyt in a show of allegiance as the altar knight slammed his heavy hammer into the ground.
[that traitor.] Draco hissed. Drawing out his wrist-machete's while Andromeda glared at the thick and holy mechanical knight.
"To the citizens of this collapsing empire I offer a choice." Freyt bellowed with Ara right below him. "Abandon your empress and join Freiheit, or burn with her and not embrace the heroes of this story."
A missile struck into the empress's viewing deck and screams echoed across the explosion shocking myself and Sam in desperation.
As those still in the stadium panicked even more, Freyt said. "You see me as a perilous risk, but i am not. I am the hero you need."