The Third

Squad 5A9 moved back through the shattered corridors of the orbital hub, passing by advancing Alpha-Romeo squads. Their armor was scorched, dented, and stained with streaks of blood and ash. Yet as they walked, heads turned.

Some Knights nodded in silent respect. Others whispered into their comms, hushed voices crackling with disbelief and awe. News of their battle with a Seneschal had already spread like wildfire through the battalion.

At the temporary command post, Lieutenant Edward led them past the perimeter guards and into the heart of the warzone command center. There, a tall figure waited—Major Cade, flanked by two aides. He and Edward exchanged a few quick words before the Major stepped forward.

"You did well," Major Cade said without preamble, his visor reflecting the flickering light of damaged consoles. "Where is the information?"

Anastasia stepped forward, blood still drying along the joints of her new Mechanist suit. She passed the cracked data drive to Gilbert, who offered it to the Major with a firm nod.

"Here it is, sir," Gilbert said.

As Cade took the drive, Gilbert launched into a concise debrief—summarizing the intel they'd glimpsed, the battle within the habitation ring, and the confirmed elimination of the Seneschal.

Cade's expression remained unreadable, but he gave a small nod. "Very well. You did a good job. Get yourselves patched up—then report back. The Federation isn't finished with you yet. There are more battles to fight."

"Sir," Gilbert replied crisply, saluting.

As he turned to lead the squad toward the field hospital, a private line opened on his HUD—Cade's voice filtering directly into his ear.

"You've done well, Gilbert," Cade said, softer now. "General Beckett would be proud."

Gilbert froze mid-step for the briefest moment. His breathing slowed, but he forced himself not to turn as he walked.

The field hospital was a makeshift fortress of med tents and portable repair stations. Squad 5A9 sat in a row of reinforced chairs as their armor was patched and wounds tended. One by one, technicians repaired scorched plating, sealed ruptured servos, and flushed radiation toxins from their bloodstream.

Word of their battle followed them here too. Even amidst the chaos, they became a point of whispered conversation. Some Federation nurses—male and female alike—offered subtle gestures of admiration. A few lingered when treating Gilbert, brushing his arm longer than necessary, their fingers grazing over his cracked breastplate. Similar attention touched others in the squad, though none as much as Gilbert, the knight who had beheaded a Seneschal.

Kean leaned over, grinning faintly through the pain. "Not bad Gil, not bad at all."

But the mood shifted the moment she entered.

Colonel Aniela Eden.

The atmosphere stiffened. The conversation died. The staff snapped to attention as the high-ranking officer swept through the tents. She moved like a blade—graceful, composed, commanding.

First, she checked the more severe injuries, murmuring to medics, adjusting orders. Then her eyes found Gilbert.

Kean let out a low whistle. "Oh boy…"

But his smirk vanished when Aniela turned her sharp gaze on him.

Kean looked away immediately, pretending to examine his wrist display. "…Yup. Still bleeding. Definitely bleeding."

"Coward," Vivian spat and she and the other girls from the squad giggled.

Aniela stood in front of Gilbert, her expression unreadable. Then, without a word, she reached out and tapped the cracked edge of his chest plate with a gloved finger. 

"You look like a Valkyrie in armor," Gilbert said, glancing up and down as Aniela approached.

"You look horrible," she replied flatly, studying him for a moment longer before giving a single nod. "Rumor has it you beheaded a Seneschal. And that your Radion levels spiked—enough to classify you as a High Knight."

Gilbert rubbed the back of his helmet with a gloved hand. "The beheading, yes. The High Knight part? Still not sure."

"A pity we can't perform your Bio-Internal Reforge here," she said with a sigh. "Rest while you can, Knight 141."

And with that, she moved on to check the others.

Gilbert exhaled slowly, leaning back in his chair. Around him, the rest of the squad grinned.

"You look like a valkyrie," Kean teased in a singsong voice, earning a round of laughter.

They were given roughly an hour to recover. Just long enough to lower their guard—before the alert blared across their HUDs:

[Styx vessel has docked with Hub. All active squads: eliminate intruders.]

Gilbert's eyes narrowed. He disconnected the power cables from his armor and stood.

"Well then," he muttered, "break's over."

The others followed suit—grabbing weapons, checking mags, locking helmets in place. They exited the field hospital as a group, gathering at the rally point, as the rest of their platoon continued the mission, they were assigned three other squads. 

The sergeants stared at each other—then, almost in sync, turned their gazes to Gilbert.

One stepped forward. He wore Dragon Knight-class light armor, identifiable by the crimson-gilded pauldrons and drake-scale meshwork across his chestplate. His voice was steady, grounded in field experience.

"You're from a special company," he said. "We'll follow your command."

The other two nodded, with no hesitation.

"You've killed a Seneschal," another added. "That makes you the highest kill-count Knight on this field. Orders are yours to give."

Gilbert's eyes swept over them, then to his squadmates—each offering him a firm nod of support. Kean gave him a thumbs-up. Anastasia adjusted her braced arm. William stood like a stone wall, silent but solid.

Gilbert stepped forward.

"Bay B. A Stygian ship has docked. The path is mostly clear—with light resistance until we reach the docking perimeter. Once we're in, we kill anything that moves or makes noise."

His voice hardened.

"No quarter. No hesitation."

"Questions?"

Silence.

"Then move out."

They moved at a fast march, boots thudding on steel. Weapons primed, comms synchronized, nerves ironed sharp. The outer corridor hummed as they neared Bay B—an open chamber overlooking the void of space, sealed by a half-crippled blast door. Sparks showered from an exposed console, and the artificial gravity trembled every few steps.

Kean's voice crackled through the private squad channel.

"So… how's it feel, Commander Kruger?" he asked, a sly grin in his tone. "Oooh, that has a nice ring to it."

Gilbert didn't reply. Instead, he drew one blade mid-stride and cleaved a Stygian beast that lunged from a ceiling vent. Its body hit the floor in two neat pieces.

"Okay. Fair," Kean muttered.

Bay B's massive chamber loomed ahead—open to the stars, barely held together by kinetic shields. Through the flickering barrier, they saw it: the Stygian vessel docked like a parasite. Sloped and black like volcanic glass, its obsidian hull glowed with pulsing veins of red.

On the floor of the bay stood the welcoming party: a wall of Servants, their shifting orbs forming halberds, blade-hands, and crescent axes. In front of them crouched the Beast-class—doglike quadrupeds with armored hides and exposed spinal cores glowing a sickly green.

Gilbert raised his hand.

"Positions!"

The Knights spread out, taking cover behind fallen cargo crates, slagged vehicles, and broken scaffolds. Gilbert's squad stayed tight—flanking left.

"Fire!"

The chamber exploded into violence.

Railguns snapped and pulsed, scattering Beast-class in gory arcs. Kean's precise sidearm shots dropped Servants mid-charge, while William launched himself forward, his spear a storm of arcs and shattered skulls.

The servants retaliated. Blades and rods whirled through the air. A Knight from the supporting squads was caught mid-run and bisected—his upper body trailing sparks as it spiraled into the void.

Vivian's scattergun roared. Even Chen Mei and Anastasia joined the fight lobbing grenades that flattened three Servants in a wave of searing radions.

Gilbert stayed back firing from a distance as he commanded all squads. At the beginning, it was complicated for him to command multiple squads while also being in control of his. Commands started hesitant or some were mistimed at first but as he fell into tempo his orders got more precise and efficient orchestrating the battlefield like a choir.

Eventually, he joined William and other knights on the front lines swords drawn, blood and gore spilling along the bay floor. 

But then… the temperature dropped.

The stars outside flickered.

The airlock shield buzzed with distorted energy.

Then, he arrived.

From the Stygian vessel floated a new figure, tall, robed in silvery-grey fabrics, metal plates with flowing lines of circuitry covered its arms and chest, its face hidden behind a reflective chitinous helm. A black metallic ring with several small silver orbs hanging from it orbited his head. 

A Noble.

Gilbert felt his heart drop. "William and I are the only ones here who won't die too quickly facing him, but I doubt even we can last very long." he thought as sweat slid down his armored face.

"William! Take over command," he said over the wide comms. "I'll handle him."

"Wait, what?" Kean hissed. "Gil, are you out of your—"

Gilbert leapt.

His flight unit flared, carrying him into the upper stratosphere of the open bay. The Noble rose to meet him, arms crossed, unimpressed.

"You stand in the presence of Naelixx V Sinclairei, third in line to the Barony of Sinclairei," the noble's voice echoed in his skull. "Bow your head, let me show you how your kind breaks before their betters."

Gilbert aimed his swords at him as his serpent rifle twitched, "I hope you are not as worthless as that head servant of yours, his head shall make a great bed stool," he replied. 

Nealixx cocked his head to the side. 

"Oh, so you are the one responsible for Zigarax's demise," he shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, that old thing never respected me anyway good riddance."

As he finished speaking an orb disconnected from his halo transforming into a bident eight feet tall swinging it in a large arc. 

"Still you will have to pay for your transgressions." As his words finished he took a single step in the air appearing before Gilbert clasping onto his armor hurling him through the airlock out into dark space. He took another step following Gilbert into open space. 

"GIL!" Kean shouted as William, Adam and he tried to follow him but they were intercepted by the Stygian in the bay. 

"Vermin shall not intervene in the affairs of the third masters," they said blocking their path.