The aftermath left Chimera in a tired state, overuse of her P.E.Gs often did that to her in the past. Yet even as she agreed to help her former captors, she couldn’t seem to relax just yet.

  The Empress gave her word that Chimera would receive the Harrier’s assistance as well as coordinate with the army for any help she might require in their war against the Verdant Hood.

  That didn’t mean that she liked them though, or that she trusted them to help or keep up with her. Which meant that there needed to be some… exercises.

  Chimera was still fighting to keep her energy levels up, but the boring class she happened to be made that difficult.

  “Okay runts! Your mission is to bring down the alien, coordinate between yourselves and bring her here!”

  Chimera sighed as she and about three grunts were moving along a simulated battlefield, where the ground morphed to turn into an obstacle course that the recruits were required to run through.

  In truth, Chimera didn’t need to participate in these exercises, but the Empress asked her to, as a way to bring hope to the newer recruits. A propaganda campaign she called it.

  “Is that?”

  “What’s a little girl doing here?”

  “Idiot! That’s the Empress’ Chosen. She’s here to evaluate us!”

  “”Ohhh.”

  I’m not though? Chimera thought as she ran behind cover, pulling one of her slower squad mates as they tripped over a root of all things.

  In the center of the course they were on was a dryad, which Chimera found out was another type of resident in this Empire besides the Elfari. These people were ship engineers who worked on the ‘branches’ of the starships that the Empire used in their exploration and war.

  This one was a war dryad though, a caste of battle warriors that fought using their own trees as clubs and spears. Right now she was trying her damndest to take out the recruits that Chimera was in charge of, using her tree to make javelins to toss at anyone not in cover.

  Chimera noticed that despite this being an exercise, that didn’t stop a few of her recruits from getting hammered by splinters, some even having full twigs in their arms and legs from the war dryad’s assault.

  “Come out and fight you cowards!” The dryad laughed maniacally over the din of other recruits being peppered by her stick assault.

  Normally, Chimera would rush forward and just take out the problem, but this was supposed to be a training exercise. It would do nothing for these people around her if she just took out the target herself.

  “She’s got a scrunched up face, I think she’s thinking about something.”

  “It's pretty cute honestly, that face of hers.”

  “Reminds me of my niece back home on Ergos.”

  “”Hmm.””

  Chimera opened her eyes as she noticed her group was ogling her.

  “H-Hey! We got to move! This place is getting peppered and its only a matter of time before the dryad destroys our cover!”

  They all made d’aww faces at her, and it was clear Chimera lost them to battle hysteria. It certainly wasn’t because they thought she was cute giving out orders.

  She took out a crystal with a red center, pressing it once on the top.

  “Bayleaf, I can’t work like this! I’m a one man commando, an army unto myself! This isn’t how I do things!”

  “That's Lieutenant General to you soldier, and you only have to do this one exercise . It's a requirement of anyone in our navy to have at least some boot camp training. Unless you pass, you're not going to be able to get any of the stuff the Empress is offering.”

  Chimera groaned, “copy that.”

  “That’s ‘copy that Lieu-,”

  Chimera tapped the top of the communication crystal before her ‘general’ got too big of a head.

  “Alright guys and girls, I need you all to get a grip and put the baby faces to bed! You two run for the next cover.”

  “Why us?” One of the recruits stated, a younger woman with pink hair and a ribbon in one of her braids. The other was lined with vines of all things.

  “Because I’m going to draw its fire, so you two can make it over safely. Once your there, go for her tree on her back. All you guys have to do is touch it to win right?”

  They all nodded, except the braided girl, “I’m not a runner, let me stay behind and send these two fools.”

  “Hey!”

  “I’m not a fool! If anything I’d prefer a jester!”

  Everyone turned to stare at the clown as he chuckled nervously, “tough crowd.”

  “Fine, you two make a run while I lay down covering fire. Once I got her attention, it should be easier for you to sneak around and grab her tree. You, Braids, you’re helping me with the distraction.”

  The woman scoffed, “I’ll have you know that I am already trained in the martial arts of my forefathers and I’ve gotten at least three separate-.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Chimera turned and pushed the two male recruits out as she made a gun out of her arm that she referred to as the Spine Gun.

  It was more or less the same as her tendril version, only this one was smaller and launched out acid spines along with a few other types, like her knockout darts.

  Taking two of the Spine Guns out, she started launching a salvo of the tiny needles at the dryad, who turned on her immediately once a few hundred of the needle darts smacked into her wooden shield on her left arm.

  Her recruits were already working their way around, the circular battlefield littered with sticks and twigs of various sizes, creating a bit of noise as they moved around.

  Chimera turned to the woman with the braids, “alright, take to the side opposite, and start throwing some magic or flying fists or whatever. Keep her eyes off of the others.”

  “Don’t boss me around, alien, I know what to do.”

  Chimera ignored her comment as she returned fire to the dryad, which starting cackling at her as the spines sunk into the wood.

  “Is that all you got?” She barked at Chimera.

  “Nope!” Chimera answered back as she lobbed a ball of blobby slime overhead, causing the Dryad to shift her shield to block the motar shot.

  It landed with a splat, covering the area around the Dryad with a stick glue.

  “Ugh! What is this stuff?”

  “Plant resin, thought you would appreciate it,” Chimera taunted back as she saw her other recruits start to make their way over.

  Only for the girl from her group to take out both of them with a few javelins off of the battleground. Both of them succumbed to the blows, which instantly teleported them out of the battleground, leaving Chimera and the braided girl alone.

  Chimera was trying to piece together why the braided girl did that, only for her to launch another couple of javalins.

  “Why?”

  It was all Chimera could say as she dodged what she realized were wooden stakes meant to kill her, not incapacitate like her two recruits.

  The girl snarled, “Die monster!”

  With a burst of magic, the ground lit up in flames that traveled around the makeshift barriers of the battlefield, setting things alight and destroying most of the cover.

  Chimera realized now wasn't the time to figure out why's and how's, and instead pushed her body to increase her biomass as quickly as she could.

  Energy she might be low on, but deep within her was a ton of her full sized body, which she could pull out along with objects that were stored within.

  She rolled over the girl as she screamed something at Chimera, who was too busy making sure she had the young woman contained before she would even think of releasing her.

  Landing in the center, which the Dryad was still stuck in, Chimera shrunk down and tapped the back of the tree woman’s bark, thus ending the exercise and sending everyone back to the barracks.

  Chimera landed with a thump as she rushed over to her two fallen recruits.

  “Are you guys fine? Took those spears right to the knees.”

  One of the recruits smiled and gave her a thumbs up, “No problems sir, just a bit stiff from the healing. We’ll be fine in a few days.”

  “Yeah, thanks for checking on us.”

  Chimera nodded, fist bumping the two as she moved over to her quarry, the third recruit and the one who betrayed them.

  “Care to explain why you sabotaged our exercise?” Chimera glared at the woman as she spat at her face.

  “Go suck space rock monster, you and those damned Hoods took my sister from me.” the woman spoke in anger, but Chimera didn’t really care.

  “I’m on your side moron, not the Hoods.”

  “All aliens should be put under heel, you even more so. My father and the other councilors won’t let you destroy the empire freak!”

  Chimera heard enough, “I’m not here to destroy anything, but I wouldn’t mind destroying your house and everyone in it. I do have the Empress on speed-dial after all.”

  “Speed-dial?” That seemed to confuse the woman for a bit.

  Which only made Chimera sigh, “never mind xenophobe, it would be too long to explain to your primitive mind.”

  This only seemed to enrage the girl more, “I am a noble of House Greyheart! A mere beast like you has no business in this war!”

  “And I don’t care if you were the Empress herself, you and I are still allies whether you like it or not. Get used to it sweety, or don’t. I honestly don’t care.” Chimera shook her head and left, to the screaming of the young bitch of a woman. It didn’t really bother her, but it did make something known to her at least.

  Seemed she would have to keep an eye out for enemies within their ranks as well as without.

  …

  “Congratulations for passing your boot camp exercise, Archduchess.” Bayleaf smirked at Chimera as she presented her a piece of paper, written in gold no less, cementing her noble status for all to see in the small council chamber.

  The Empress was there as well, her eyes following Chimera’s as if she was trying to figure out what she was thinking about.

  Joke was on her though, she wasn’t thinking about anything other than to get off this rock.

  “Great, can I go now?”

  “Not just yet, Archduchess.” One of the robed councilor’s, a greying Elfari by the name of Rasen, smiled down warmly at Chimera as he moved a ball next to his desk, showing a screen.

  “Please select a vessel for your warship, Hero.” the councilor spoke, a smile on his face as he pulled up the list.

  Taking a moment to thank him, Chimera gazed up at the monitor.

  On the screen was a list of ships that were highlighted, showing the interiors as well as the various components, decks, and quarters. They were small and delicate in appearance, giving off a sort of form over function feel to them.

  Chimera didn’t really like most of them, as their designs made them feel like a stray breeze would take them out, much more than a cannon or a laser battery.

  Still, she browsed through them until she stopped on a familiar ship, one she knew a lot better than the rest of the deck.

  It was a bit bulky, clearly made for something like exploration, but the three guns on the two wings and the underbelly made Chimera fall in love with it, The Vessel was by far the only one that reminded her of the older ships back on Asta, the bulky birds who still went strong hundreds of years later.

  Her choice made, she turned to look up at the name, and to her surprise, the name read Meras-102-C.

  “So, this ship is one that I will be captaining?”

  She looked over at the Empress and the councilmen.

  The Empress was the first to respond, “I have confirmed that Meras stated she would be willing to go through a refit if she could, ahem, ‘meet up with her alien friend.’ The Holy Treemother agreed to allow her a change, and thus, I wished to see if you wanted to-.”

  “Of course I will, Meras is an awesome ship, and probably the only decent person I met in this whole mess.”

  The Empress nodded, “then the Meras is yours for the length of this campaign. May the daughter of Yggdrasil watch over you well, Hero.”

  Chimera grinned as she imagined what her old friend would say at seeing her again.

  She’s gonna flip out, I bet.

  …