Far above the blue-grey skies of Daizo-Shikigami, on the dark side of one of its three outpost moons, the stars shuddered, and were forced apart by an unseen mass emerging from between the fabric of reality itself. Space bent and twisted, light passing from behind was itself rent into a vicious, unstable ring at its edge, but the expansion stopped as the front of a drive bubble emerged, the ship within seeming deformed when the light of the nearby star glanced off it. As soon as the entire thing crossed the turbulent event horizon and broke free from the shearing space around it, both the singularity and the drive bubble collapsed, the first into a momentary pinprick of a flash, and the latter into the proper, rightful shape of the Conservator. The frigate’s main engines flared to life, and gradually, it built up speed to break free of the satellite’s orbit and enter the planet’s own.

In the hangar located in the belly of the ship, Akiraka Kofuku stood and watched as the inter-atmosphere dropship was progressively being loaded with large heavy metal crates, each one filled to the brim with sealed bags of of offworld dirt and in some, entire libraries of seeds from all over the Empire. The distance of her home from the centre of the UHE seat of power - the various synchronised “Conglomeration of Earths” - was around 3 days’ travel, and with almost a thousand Imperial planets all trips were an opportunity. Before her was fruits of a deal concocted between Geoagris Systems and the sitting Lord Regent almost a whole year prior, minus the guarantee of a dedicated megacorp-sponsored transport; unfair and exploitative perhaps, but it was the reality of what the border worlds got, and she knew firsthand that the Regent was more patient than anyone else in the business.

“Are you sure you don’t need help?” the Commodore asked, as he walked up to her. “We could stay in orbit for a few more days. Run your calculations for you. Ferry you wherever this goes.”

“I appreciate the offer.” Kofuku didn’t take her eyes off the boxes. “But it’s not like I don’t have my own ship. Besides, what if the next stop’s outside the UHE? It’ll be days before you can get approval.”

“We are pre-approved for some frontier worlds, like Desolation, but you’ve got me there. I just don’t enjoy the idea of leaving you with those two.”

“It’s not like I’m going to be alone with them. There’s a whole planet of people who’d kill in my name…okay that just sounds weird when I say it like that. Urgh.”

“I don’t have to tell you to watch your back, do I?”

“If they wanted to make a move they would’ve done it during the trip. They know better now.”

“In that case…good luck with your future endeavours, Miss Kofuku.”

She saluted him, and watched him leave through the security gates. Kofuku turned back to the ship as the last crate was magnetised into place against the other and the floor panels, and glanced at her electronic watch. 0700 was early, even for the disciplinary framework her father had pushed, but it was the time they had agreed on and the other two were still missing. Richard she could understand, given his tendency for not putting real effort into anything whatsoever, but Falano?

It was another five minutes before the cyborg finally showed up, once more with all four limbs, going through the security gate by attempting to wave off the checkpoint personnel, before being manhandled into the scan anyway. She was stowing her backpack underneath her seat when he stepped in and silently took the seat opposite from her, at the very end of the hold without the large crates to separate them. “The UHE engineers think they know everything, don’t they?”

“You didn’t beat anyone up, did you?” She leaned back in her seat.

“No,” he said matter-of-factly. “This one guy kept configuring my arm wrong.” He grabbed his right robotic limb. “How am I supposed to shoot if the calibration doesn’t pick up the smaller signals?”

“Why do you assume you’ll be shooting?”

“There’s not a lot else I’m itching to do, princess. I’ve been stuck in a room with Ritchie for three days, listening to his bullshit. You gonna let me shoot something?”

“I’ll see if we can’t put something together for you.” She felt the fingers of her right hand twitch a little. A week or two for it to fade was what she was told. At the wrong time it would be a problem for casting, but ultimately it had been her choice, and one that had already paid off tremendously.

Her grand prize was marched in moments later by none other than Colburn, who shoved him into the seat beside Falano. His back eye from where she had socked him was beginning to heal, and like her nerve spasms, they would be gone in at most two weeks. Not bad for a draw, especially when the other guy looked like a shivering dog, as if Colburn had just forced him to shower and dragged him out to meet them.

She was busy imagining the delightful scene  when Colburn locked herself into the seal right next to her. “Is it nice to be home? Sorry I don’t really remember what you said about the situation.”

“Anybody that doesn’t like it here has already left. How come you’re coming down though?”

“I need to see the quality of the things I’ve personally requested. Personal project. Don’t worry, I’m not going to hold it against you if it’s not exactly what I want.”

“Personal project?”

“I’m tracking a rare magical event. Not even D4 has enough data to establish a pattern, but if I’m right, there should be one. Very early stages, not too much to say.”

The ship closed up and lifted off, quickly exiting the hangar and causing Kofuku’s stomach to flip again. “Did you buy something nice?”

“Mostly cut precipitate stones. Gonna hop over to Theremis and gave some Aeterna Symphonia guy machine them into paratech processors.” She looked over at Falano. “Surprised you don’t have any of that stuff on you. Or in you.”

Falano shook his head. “Magic’s a crutch. Never needed anything other than my guns to kill those so-called combat mages. You can catch bullets until the other guy decides to use more bullets.”

Kofuku made a face. “How the hell are you one of these anti-magic people? I expect that from him but you? Really?”

“It’s probably jealousy.” Colburn nudged her. “He chopped all his magic potential off so he’s trying to bring us down with him.”

“Flesh is weak. That’s a fact,” Falano said. “Not that you would ever get it.”

Kofuku had nothing to add to that, she just sat there watching the crates wobble, their ship transitioning into atmosphere. The gradual return of gravity, to her, was a lot more palatable than a hurried exit from Corinth Prime. Perhaps it was because she was coming home for the first time in months, but it simply felt…right.

The landing was swift and simple - there was only one place they could at the summer palace, and when the ramp folded open, she took a deep breath in, filling her nose with the scent of light charcoal, carrying with it notes of grilled flour from seasonal snacks, sandalwood incense that blended almost too well with the chilly air, and most prominently, a biting salt. Kofuku unstrapped herself and stood up first, descending to the circular landing pad and immediately spotting the group headed towards them.

There were two rows of ashigaru, one on either side of the precession of automated pallets that glided down the bridge, at its head a man in thick woolen robe that was tried at the waist with a golden sash, holding a tablet and peering over his half-moon glasses at it. The entire parade came to a halt just before the landing pad at the beckoning of his hand, and the soldiers turned to face outwards and look out over the side of the bridge. Down below them, and all around the landing pad spread the centre of old town, a mix of traditional Kōrō walled estates built out to mimic the style of the temple on the other side of the palace, transitioning into brick-and-mortar and cuboidal concrete buildings that got progressively taller as they moved away from the palace. Today the sprawl was further enhanced by the first snowfalls of the year, bringing the people out of their homes with food carts and street performances; even the monks were out in force, some types gathering alms and others simply enjoying the break from their studious routines at the monastery off in the salt marshes.

Colburn stepped up beside her, straightening out the front of her dress uniform and performed a deep bow.

The bespectacled man bowed back. “Rear Admiral Colburn. It is an unusual pleasure to receive someone of your standing. Welcome to Daizo-Shikigami.”

“I wish I could stay.” She glanced around at the settlement below. “But I’m afraid my schedule is rather tight. I’ll have to ask to inspect the product before loading. Aside from that, you can proceed at you leisure.”

The man whistled, and the first soldiers in line mobilised, removing the wooden coffers to place onto the dropship, while others carried the crates down to replace the pallets’ loads. He stepped up to Kofuku. “The Lord Regent has made the necessary arrangements for your two guests, Kofuku-hime.” He leaned slightly, looking past her and at Falano and Richard still sitting inside the ship. “They’ll be assigned quarters under heavy guard.”

“How is she, Shuu?” Kofuku asked quietly.

“Stronger than ever, I’m happy to report.” He also lowered his voice. “These days what occupies her time is the Tidekeepers.”

She frowned. “What do they want?”

“You’ll have to ask her yourself. Preferably when she’s in a better mood.”

“Right. Where’s Adam?”

“Where you want him, Kofuku-hime. In fact, he hasn’t left the maintenance area since your last instruction. We have had to bring his meals down there.”

“See the mercenaries to their quarters. I’ll probably be resting today, but tomorrow we’re taking a boat north. There’s a cabin father used to own up there, deep in yokai territory. I’m hoping it’s untouched.”

“Seems rather unwise, if I’m honest.”

“I’ll have two very dangerous assassins with me, it’ll be fine.” She patted him in the shoulder and continued on her way, pausing to let some ashigaru through to detain the two rascals behind them. Partway over the bridge she waved goodbye to Colburn who was busy turning around a chunk of large dodecahedral purple stone in her hands. She reached the front courtyard, flanked by trees with twisting trunks, their metallic silver leaves retained even as the coldest months of the year encroached. She had once read that in a bygone era, they were the result of a bioengineering by a previous shogun’s court, a vain attempt in to display their steadfastness and mastery over nature, but in the time since they had instead become symbols of wealth, gifted to each retainer as a blessing of material fortune.

In the middle of the courtyard, however, towered the red gate, or at least the name fit for the top half of it. It stretched tall over the leaves of the first roof and the narrow tops of the walls bordering the plateau, and upon its two trunk-like legs that had faded away over the years, hundreds or thousands of characters were inscribed. Some were talismans just like she used, holding blessings and wishes of those long dead, but there were also smatterings of inked phrases, a mix of auspicious and ominous bodings; and yet nothing compared to what remained underneath, visible in some places: deep knife-scars in the very wood of the gate, spelling only curses. She never liked the gate. It would hardly be a surprise if rumours of it being haunted were true.

Kofuku pushed on, circumventing the gate and entering through the large front doors that moved open for her. She ignored the display case in the centre of the square-shaped foyer containing her father’s ceremonial armour and his old blade, walked straight past the wide mural that covered the back wall of Susano-o slaying the dragon, and headed directly for one of the side passages. The only sound was the light buzzing of radiators underneath the wooden floors. She descended a long, winding staircase, down to where the walls became rock and the steps turned to carved stones. The cavern it opened into, but into the rock by great boring machines before the construction of the palace, was in her opinion the last unseen wonder of Daizo-Shikigami. Few eyes were ever laid on the gargantuan brass boilers that pumped mineral-infused water to the west wing’s hot springs, or the great basins and troughs through which each floor drained excess rainwater that would flow into the lake up north, or the magnificent lattice of alloyed pillars capable of withstanding even the strongest of torrents the grudges could produce. And then there was the matter of the transmitter. To penetrate the worst of the constant storms, the palace had been built with a unique substructure, allowing for the use of the entire central building as a booster for transmission, cleaving their way into space despite any conditions. Since the pacification, what remained had ended up as the most powerful relay in the sector, broadcasting into the frontier and beyond. Such a contraption required exceptional maintenance, and luckily for them, there was the one known as Atzhalmaquayotlzin.

Kofuku hopped over the railing and into the lower middle part of the cave. She poured over the metal table and the complicated sketches and designs splayed out across it, envisioned by a mind far beyond her own in more ways than one. “Adam!?” she called.

A hatch in the nearby rock sprung open, and a lizard in a filthy lab coat crawled out, his eyes covered with goggles, and stood up on his hind legs, bent differently than a human’s. With a clawed hand, he excitedly pointed at her, hopped up and down in place, and then remembered to bow.

“You really don’t have to do that. How’s it going?”

Adam nodded. “Very well, indeed. If you are right then the experiment will work. Do you have equations? I want equations.”

“Not yet. We’ll go get data tomorrow, and hopefully you can turn them into what you need.”

“I am also missing parts!” He practically sprinted over to the table, grabbing her a piece of paper.

She took it, unable to read his Saurian handwriting. Rather than try, she went back up the slope. “I’ll have Shuu get everything in this. You good?”

“Very good!” He gave her a big thumbs up.

“Don’t forget to go outside and get some sun!” She chuckled as she ascended back up the tunnel. In a way, he was the only truly honest person in the building. When she reached the top of the stairs, however, something was different. The light from the large second floor window was cut by a shadow on the landing in front of it, directly above the entrance, casting a black shape over the foyer. The dress, the hair, the posture…

When the Lord Regent spoke, her voice was curt and devoid of flair. “Welcome home.”

Kofuku sighed as she looked up. “Good morning to you too, mother.”