Jack Squire

In the beautiful garden, filled with a variety of flowers adorned in red and blue hues, stood a grand white gazebo at its centre. Cheerful chatter echoed from three children, roughly ten years old. Nearby, a tall adult sipped tea, watching them from a distance.

"See, see!" A silver-haired boy exclaimed excitedly, clasping something in his hands. His voice carried a note of innocence.

The little girl with bright red hair leaned in eagerly to watch, her hands instinctively clinging to his arm.

"You ready?" He asked, his dazzling red eyes brimming with joy. The girl nodded vigorously.

As he slowly unclasped his hands, a beautiful butterfly fluttered out, landing delicately on the girl's nose.

"Whoa!? A butterfly!" She gasped softly, awe lighting up her face. For a brief moment, her eyes met the boy's, and a blush dusted her cheeks.

They exchanged a sweet smile, their laughter carrying through the garden.

Watching the pair giggle and flirt, the black-haired boy finally spoke. "Huh? Whatever… Butterflies aren't that cool," He muttered in mock indifference. But behind his façade, he longed to join the fun.

"True… hahaha…" The silver-haired boy replied, then grabbed the black-haired boy's wrist and pulled him into their circle. "How about we practice some arcane together?" he suggested gleefully.

The trio nodded enthusiastically. The silver-haired boy turned to the adult and called out, "Master Ignius! Can we practice arcane today?"

Suddenly, the vivid scene dissolved, and Jack's ears rang with noise...

[Oxygen level low. Low. Low.] Beep! Beep! Beep!

Jack's consciousness gradually returned, jolted by the persistent alarm of the life-support system. His eyes fluttered open and shut, his vision swimming. A numbing ache throbbed through his scalp, and the sharp, metallic scent of blood filled his nostrils.

With a gasp, Jack sat upright, panicking. "Ah!?" He quickly examined his hands — thankfully, nothing was broken. His fingers flexed as he tested them, though the persistent headache throbbed like an unwelcome, nagging presence.

He reached for the emergency bypass switch in the top compartment, flicking it on. The blaring alarms ceased as the backup engine hummed to life, and the oxygen regenerator kicked in. Slowly, the gravity of reality settled over him.

Somewhere deep in his heart, Jack wished all of this was a nightmare. But when he glanced out of the sightport, the truth was undeniable. Two massive bodies floated lifelessly in space, the aftermath of explosions still visible in the distance. Debris, boulders, and sharp shards of metal spiralled outward like a deadly storm.

Jack swallowed hard, forcing himself to process what to do next.

In his peripheral vision, Jack noticed a digital-ink locket displaying the image of a beautiful boy with bright red eyes and silver hair — a younger, childlike version of himself. The sight stirred a sharp pang in his chest, drawing his mind back to the vivid vision he'd just experienced — a dream of his son.

But one question lingered, gnawing at him: "Who were the others in his vivid dream?"

As the terrifying clarity set in, Jack scrambled to the sight port, panic flooding his senses as he desperately searched for Germund from space. The catastrophic scene confirmed his worst fears: the country was in no better state than the Luna base. Black, ominous smoke billowed from multiple cities across Germund, the destruction evident even from orbit.

"M~my family! Holy Gaia!" Jack cursed, his voice laced with a mixture of shock and desperation. His mind raced as he began devising a way to re-enter Earth's atmosphere.

After forming a few plans based on the resources and tools available to him, his initial option seemed straightforward: find a shuttle with Earthfall capabilities. However, as he navigated through the debris field, it became painfully clear that the possibility was slim. Space stations and ports had been obliterated, reduced to nothing more than rubbish and scrap. Jack's thoughts bounced between options until a sudden memory lit up his mind.

"What about the Tool Shed?" He murmured to himself, recalling a standalone floating warehouse that orbited in the middle ring around the globe.

Without hesitation, he directed the P.N.I bot to head toward the Tool Shed. As the flashing marker on his map drew closer, the rectangular structure came into view, its surface emblazoned with the name of his company "DebrisX". A glimmer of hope returned to Jack's face, and his lips tugged into a faint, determined smile.

Next, Jack focused on the arc barrier with its layered protocol — an old strategy he'd used before against the Light of Punishment. Using his datapad, he began calculating the necessary steps. "It's now or never…" He mumbled to himself, his resolve solidifying.

The calculations revealed a grim truth: he would need almost 50 of the puny bots to act as a protective shield for re-entry.

"With that staggering amount, my brain would be scrambled inside my skull before I even reached Earth's surface…" He hissed through gritted teeth, the weight of reality pressing down on him. But giving up wasn't an option — not now, not ever. Taking a deep breath, Jack steadied his nerves and stared into the endless void of space, abstractly clawing his brain for ideas.

After minutes of intense scrutiny and internal deliberation, an idea finally clicked. "A pragmatic one at that," He exclaimed, his voice alight with sudden joy.

Wasting no time, Jack carefully swapped his damaged bot for a functional one, boosting its system and fine-tuning the rest. Then it hit him — he didn't need to control all the bots individually. "I can set up group commands in a one-to-five ratio! That means I only need to control ten in total. Each finger can manage two groups mirroring with the same command!"

With his plan in motion, Jack's fingers danced inside the mechanical glove controls like a conductor orchestrating a symphony. His movements were swift and precise, directing the bots to form five layers of shielding bodies, resembling a swarm of mechanical bees.

Jack's relentless nerves fired like electric currents through his synapses, his wide eyes locked on the scene as his plan began to materialise.

"Activate shield protocol!" He commanded, his voice sharp and authoritative. As the bots moved in perfect unison, executing his design, a confident smirk spread across his lips, pride flickering in his gaze at the brilliance of his own creation.