Planet Alias.

This planet, the former Barkley territory, was a place rich in nature.

Untouched by human hands, the place had not been properly surveyed, and it couldn't be determined if it was suitable for settlement.

The Lemea, classified as a light carrier, was prized for its sturdiness and could operate within a planet's atmosphere.

As the planetary survey team aboard the Lemea disembarked, they immediately began their investigation.

The squad led by Emma was tasked with escorting the survey team.

The cockpit of the Moheib was cramped and far from comfortable.

Dozens of pilots must have used it before.

The smell of other people and unfamiliar odors made just sitting in it an ordeal.

"It smells weird..."

As Emma muttered her complaint, a communication channel opened with a Moheib from another squad.

Emma's command unit had a visor-like ornament on its head, as did this one.

"Hey, I heard. You're that failure of a D-rank knight, aren't you, missy?"

A female pilot with slicked-back hair appeared on the monitor.

She had taken off her pilot suit and brought alcohol into the cockpit.

"We're on a mission right now."

"Such a serious knight. But I hear you can't even pilot a Mobile Knight properly, right? How about you take me on?"

The person speaking was the leader of another squad in the same company—the Fourth Squad.

Her two wingmen, just like their leader's unit, pointed their lances at Emma's Moheib.

"Hey!"

As Emma was about to reprimand them for their outrageous behavior, she glanced at her subordinates.

But both Doug and Larry feigned indifference.

—They're treating me like an outsider, not a comrade?!

Both Doug and Larry seemed to feel more camaraderie with the other squad than with Emma.

The Fourth Squad's leader, sensing Emma's panic from her expression, sneered.

"Even your own subordinates have abandoned you? A weak little knight is just pathetic! —Looking at someone like you, all weak but spouting ideals, just pisses me off!"

As the female squad leader's Moheib closed the distance, Emma instinctively grabbed the control stick and moved it quickly.

It was almost a reflex.

However, it was the same with the Moheib.

Just like in her first battle, the machine was terribly sluggish, creating a disconnect with her own senses.

"Tch!"

Emma reacted swiftly and tried to back the unit up, but the Moheib, which was frighteningly slow compared to the Nevan, had an even duller response time.

No! It's going to fall?!

She fell, taking care not to harm the survey team, but a Mobile Knight was a massive machine.

The ground shook slightly, and a cloud of dust billowed up, causing a commotion.

Seeing Emma's Moheib fall so pathetically, the members of the Fourth Squad burst out laughing.

"No way, did you just trip?!"

"As expected of a knight. Even the way you fall has class."

"To fall apart after a little threat... D-rank knights really are failures."

The Fourth Squad seemed intent on leaving before things got complicated.

They left Emma behind and headed off somewhere.

Inside the cockpit, Emma clenched her teeth.

Her subordinates, fellow members of the Third Squad, slowly approached and helped Emma's Moheib back up.

With the contact, a line opened, and Larry's exasperated face appeared on a part of the monitor.

"Can you really not do anything?"

"I-I'm sorry."

When Emma instinctively apologized, Larry clicked his tongue overtly.

"Knights don't apologize. A knight should be more—"

He started to say something, but Larry just shook his head and moved away.

Doug was more matter-of-fact.

"I can't understand how a little girl who can't even handle a mission like this can become a knight."

"—!"

When she fell silent out of frustration, Doug adopted a cold attitude.

"It's fine to try hard, but at least don't drag us down. I don't want any trouble. And by the way, don't expect anything from us. Both Larry and I are more on the side of the Fourth Squad's 'Princess'."

Surprisingly, the female squad leader of the Fourth Squad was treated like a princess.

She was considerably older than Emma, but that didn't seem to matter.

"Princess?"

"She's cute, isn't she? She used to be an honest and serious soldier, you know."

But even that "Princess" had her spirit broken.

He didn't say it directly, but Emma understood what Doug was implying.

A communication channel opened with the Lemea's operator.

"Second Lieutenant Emma Rodman. Return to the hangar immediately. Damn, what a troublesome knight."

A complaint directed at Emma for creating more work.

Emma hung her head in the cockpit.

I failed right from the start.

Coming right after she had renewed her resolve, it felt like a huge failure to Emma.

◇

The Lemea's hangar.

Molly, who had been punched by her superior, approached Emma as she returned.

"You really messed up. We're busy with maintenance today, too."

"S-Sorry."

"Silly. Of course I'm kidding."

"Huh?"

"This little one has a simple structure, so maintenance is easy."

It seemed Molly had told a joke to cheer up the dejected Emma.

Emma let out a sigh of relief.

"That's a relief."

"But you won't be able to move it for a while. I've disabled the assist functions."

"Huh? W-Why?"

"I'm recalibrating it. Mobile Knights for knights are difficult to adjust. Besides, in your case, Emma-chan, it seems to need even more adjustments."

"I see."

If she had broken it, she would have had to write dozens of apology reports.

Relieved that it hadn't come to that, Emma looked up at her Moheib.

"I'm glad it's not broken. It would be a pity to destroy it over a screw-up like that."

At Emma's words, Molly beamed with a huge smile.

"You like Mobile Knights too, Emma-chan? I love them! The reason I became a mechanic was so I could work on these guys."

"Oh, really?"

Hearing Molly's unexpected story, Emma was both surprised and happy.

Emma asked Molly.

"In that case, what kind of unit do you like? I'm definitely a fan of the Avi—"

Just as they were getting excited talking about Mobile Knights, a loud explosion echoed.

The Lemea's hangar hatch was open, and a large plume of smoke could be seen rising from outside.

"W-What was that?!"

Molly, who had been shielded by Emma, was confused about what had just happened.

Emma, who had instinctively shielded Molly, immediately climbed into her Moheib.

"I'm taking my unit out now. Molly, you get to safety, quick."

"S-Safety?"

Emma quickly explained the situation to the bewildered Molly.

"—Enemies."

◇

Warrant Officer Larry Kramer was breaking out in a cold sweat in his Moheib's cockpit.

"Even space pirates are using Type-4 bases!"

The Moheib fired a beam from its rifle, but the enemy's movements were too fast to hit.

The Mobile Knight the enemy was piloting was commonly known as the "Zork."

It was a space pirate-spec Mobile Knight, an improved version based on the Moheib, built on the currently mainstream Type-4 frame.

Therefore, it had higher performance than the Type-2 Larry was piloting.

To make matters worse.

"You think you can beat us, with our units specialized for ground combat?!"

The enemy pilot's voice came through.

The enemy Zorks had been modified for ground warfare.

Whether it was because they knew the surrounding terrain inside and out, Larry and Doug were being pushed back.

Doug's Moheib, armed with a machine gun, managed to destroy a fallen enemy unit, but the situation was still two against three, with the enemy having the numerical advantage.

"Larry, this is the worst. The Princess's squad got wiped out."

"Is that so! And now it looks like we're about to be wiped out!"

From Larry's perspective, the "Princess" was a middle-aged woman.

He couldn't understand Doug fawning over such a woman, calling her "Princess," and it irritated him that Doug was worried about her even in this situation.

The enemy Zorks, using their hover drives, brought out bazookas and aimed at the survey team behind Larry and the others.

"This is bad!"

Just as Larry raised his shield to protect the survey team, a unit shot past them at an incredible speed.

"The command unit?!"

By the time Larry noticed, it was already charging toward the enemy aiming a bazooka.

As it charged with its verniers firing, the panicked enemy pulled the trigger.

A direct hit?!

He expected to see the Moheib get blown away by the bazooka, but the shell, fired at point-blank range, passed right by Emma's Moheib.

The two units then collided, shattering into pieces as they were sent flying.

Did it miss? No, did she dodge it?

Impossible. Was something like that really possible?

While Larry was confused, Doug rushed over to Emma's Moheib.

"Is that the little lady?!"

He probably never expected their unreliable squad leader to ram an enemy. Larry felt the same way as Doug.

"That idiot, what kind of reckless stunt was that!"

Larry and Doug pushed forward forcefully to help Emma.

The space pirates, finding themselves outnumbered, abandoned their comrades and retreated.

From their movements, Doug sensed that the enemy was formidable.

"Good judgment. These enemies might be a troublesome bunch."

Larry refuted Doug's assessment.

"They just ran because they were at a disadvantage. They're heartless bastards, abandoning their own allies."

"That's what makes them tough."

As Larry and Doug approached Emma's Moheib, they saw that the impact had been severe, with parts from both units scattered everywhere.

"Hey, are you okay?!"

Larry called out desperately, and Emma answered.

"S-Somehow, I'm okay."

"Thank goodness—hey! More importantly, what the hell were you thinking! You could have been killed!"

Larry was relieved that Emma was safe, but not wanting to show it, he immediately berated her for her earlier actions.

Emma was also remorseful.

"I'm sorry. I broke this little one."

"This 'little one'? Don't worry about an old Moheib."

As Larry sighed in exasperation, Doug relayed the commander's orders.

"We're retreating to space immediately. Larry, you retrieve the little lady and return to the Lemea."

Larry glanced at the survey team and saw they were already boarding the Lemea.

"We're retreating just like that?"

"No, it seems this is going to be more troublesome than expected."

"Huh?"

◇

The Lemea's medical bay.

"You idiot! Do you have any idea how much I doted on that little one?!"

"Ow, ow, that hurts!"

Emma, whose cheeks were being pinched by Molly, had bandages wrapped around her head and arms.

The doctor had told her to rest for a while, but Emma felt fine to move.

Molly, knowing this, was punishing Emma.

"Do you know how much trouble I went through to get that thing to move properly! How hard it was to adjust it for a knight!"

Molly was furious that the Moheib she had adjusted for Emma had been destroyed.

"S-Sorry."

When Emma was released, she apologized, and Molly let out a deep sigh.

"Well, you made it back alive, so I guess it's fine. But I never thought you'd successfully ram an enemy in a unit with its assist functions turned off."

"Ahahaha."

Emma, who had been acting on pure instinct, hadn't expected it to succeed either.

Molly changed the subject.

"More importantly, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"The Fourth Squad was completely wiped out."

"—No way?"

The Fourth Squad, the very people who had mocked her, had been annihilated in the space pirates' attack.

Emma couldn't believe it.

Just a few hours ago, they had been alive.

But now, they were gone from this world.

"The First Squad also lost two members. The only squad left mostly intact is ours, the Third Squad. The other companies that didn't deploy are fine, though."

Most of the First Company, which had been assigned as escorts, had been destroyed, leaving only Emma's Third Squad operational.

"I-I see."

It wasn't as if she had known them for long.

But the situation, seeing people she knew die, made Emma's chest tighten.

Molly delivered the next piece of news.

"Also. I don't know the reason, but it seems the higher-ups are in a panic."

"Did something happen?"

"They said reinforcements are coming. But it's strange. They're sending a special forces unit."

"Special forces? Not a regular unit?"

Why would a special forces unit be sent to a remote frontier like this?

The two of them tilted their heads in confusion, but no answer came to mind.