1 - Inspection x Retrieval

“Hey hey, you know how I said a transfer student was coming today? Wanna go see them?”

The multi-purpose experimental colony, Mixture.

You could hear such voices here and there from the facility that accounted for more than 40% of the station, Schola Sanctus, the Federation Space Force’s training facility.

For the time being, this is a facility for training personnel for the military, and although there are strict rules, most of the students who belong to it are young people who have not yet reached adulthood.

Youthful curiosity is irresistible.

Even more so, if there’s not only a new student but a transfer student, they’re easy prey for those hungry for something to talk about.

Furthermore, now is their free time after finishing classes.

“Uh, I was thinking of going to the simulator. Was that today?”

“Yeah, it is! I got the information from my friend who’s an operator in the Port Department, so there’s no doubt about it! Their ship’s about to dock soon!”

Hearing those words, the students who were still in the classroom swarmed in and made a fuss.

In the midst of that, one student stood up from her seat without showing any interest and walked towards the door.

“Also! She even has a dedicated unit!”

The student stops dead in her tracks and then jerks back around.

Her silver-thread-like hair flutters before it rests again by her shoulders.

“Hey, was that true?”

The intimidating sound of her voice silences the classroom.

Mixture’s Port Block is a constantly busy place where people never cease to come and go.

The station is a giant megastructure made of interconnected blocks, and in order to maintain it, gigantic amounts of repair and replacement parts are required, and the materials for the experiments and operations inside it are also needed, and above all else, you needed daily necessities like food and water that the citizens needed to survive, and even luxury goods beyond that, as the colony isn’t just for surviving day-to-day, but a place where people can live comfortably and build communities.

Colonies are inconvenient places to live in.

Today, more and more young people are flocking to where the sound of humans and machines working never ceases.

Of course, they had heard rumors of a transfer student from somewhere and rushed to see them as soon as possible.

But they are just outsiders.

Only full-time personnel are allowed in the docks where ships enter the Port Block.

So they’re in a passage with a tempered glass window for visitors, but,

“Hey, what are you doing here?” one of the Port Division personnel asked.

“Kind of weird for you all to be here, isn’t it?” another asked.

The students were being shooed away by the Port personnel.

The students who didn’t care about things are waiting impatiently for the ship carrying the transfer student while making a fuss.

“…”

Among those students, there was a student with beautiful silver hair—the girl who silenced the students in the classroom earlier with her intimidating voice.

She narrowed her slit eyes and stared at the bulkhead.

“What’s this? Her Majesty is here, too?” a voice full of mockery calls out to her.

But, there’s no reaction.

The one who called out to the silver-haired girl was a tall brown-haired student in a disheveled uniform. She was surrounded by five other students and they all looked down at the small silver-haired girl.

The students who were around the scene kept their distance, not wanting to get involved.

“Heey, don’t ignore me, Your Majesty,” the brown-haired student says, so loudly she can be heard clearly.

“… Can you stop? Calling me that, that is,” the silver-haired student reluctantly replied with a frown.

“Ha, you’re arrogant, aren’t ya? That’s what I don’t like about you, Regina Glawis,” the brown-haired student said.

“I see,” Regina said. “I feel much the same. I don’t particularly like you either, Iniuria Joculatus.”

The two glare at each other with open hostility.

“Oo-ooh, think you’re being real cute, huh?” Iniuria said. “You’re all alone…”

Iniuria was about to ridicule her even more but a siren blocks her.

It signaled the arrival of a ship.

The silver-haired girl──Regina quietly returned her gaze to the bulkhead that had begun to open.

While clicking her tongue, the brown-haired girl――Iniuiria clicked her tongue then also turned her attention to the bulkhead.

A ship carrying the transfer student, their subject of interest, comes in to dock.

The ship isn’t that big. It’s about 100 meters at most. As a spacecraft, it falls into the “Small” category.

It is characterized by a large cylindrical unit in the center of the hull, but otherwise, it is a normal small transport ship.

The ship is slowly carried onto an orbital device for guiding the hull toward the station, and when it reaches a specified position, landing gear extends from the ship.

The students who had come to see this had hearts filled with anticipation.

──What kind of girl is the transfer student?

What came down was a girl with short black hair in a bob and glasses, the latter of which is rare these days.

You can tell at a glance that she is a transfer student because she’s wearing the Schola Sanctus uniform.

“Is that girl her…?”

“Huh, is that the transfer student? And she even has a dedicated unit… that’s frustrating.”

Those two lines were lost in the commotion of the surrounding students.

The transfer student was chatting with faculty members who had come to the Port area to welcome her, and behind them, the ship’s crew was also on the dock, moving to unload a large container from the ship.

“… I can’t see it?” Regina asked, disappointed.

The container that would be transporting the transfer student’s dedicated unit was unloaded and transported as it was by the orbital device.

She would have loved to see but it can’t be helped.

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With no more business here, she turned on her heel to leave, but someone blocked her path.

“Hold up, I’m not done with you just yet,” Iniuria said.

“…… You’re in my way,” Regina huffed.

“Come on, you’re going to fight me, ‘Your Majesty,'” Iniuria taunted.