Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words that I write and the characters that I create. Credit for this series goes to the creator of the Sunrider series: the VN company: Love in Space.

A/N: Just as a bit of a sidenote before I officially start this, I am, and will be in all future chapters of this story, drawing a lot of inspiration from the official novelization created by WS246 but I have no intention of any sort of plagiarizing his/her work. In this respect, I am looking through his/her own chapters but I write my own take on the story and expand it in ways I feel are appropriate with my own skillsets and thoughts in mind. I have every intention of writing this story to where Mask of Arcadius ends and possibly Liberation Day if I have the desire to. With the way the game is layered, I will be visiting the subjects WS has used as chapters and write my own interpretation of it in addition to how I plan on creating an occasional short R&R chapter. And lastly, while I've only briefly talked about it in Neptunia and created a rather 'lackluster' (in my opinion) outcome of it in Life of the Soldier, I will be incorporating a larger focus on romance between my protagonist and a love interest I have picked beforehand.

Also, considering what I have said in chapter 16 of my Life of the Soldier story, I am proud to announce this is the fanfic I've been hinting toward since then. Lastly, I am very much seeking an experienced beta reader to help me develop this story, primarily with the battles in mind. If anyone wants to volunteer or knows anyone who is experienced with this kind of thing, point them out to me. Lastly, I want to hear what you guys think of my first attempt at a sci-fi setting like this.

Humanity has spread to the four corners of this galaxy. With the hardly unexpected side-effect of this development, we have become the dominant species throughout the stars. Yet security is far from assured despite their widespread radius as war is brewing from the northern quadrant of this galaxy as PACT, a faction officially called the People's Alliance for Common Treatment but generally is called by the acronym, has toppled the once mighty and perceived indomitable New Empire which was considered a successor to the ancient Ryuvian Empire, though only by the high class elites of Empire society. This organization: PACT is led by a mysterious individual known only as Veniczar Arcadius whom is sowing the seeds for subjugating the galaxy under PACT's rule as he is rapidly expanding PACT's military with the absorbed Empire fleets and brand new battleships, cruisers, frigates, and Ryders built under the mandates of PACT engineering and expanding their territory by force as the worlds of Rynar (class 10), Minerva (Class 8), Barona (Class 8), and Gerald (Class 6) have been conquered by PACT which has not gone unnoticed by some within the Solar Alliance in the southwest quadrant and the still unconquered worlds within the space called the Neutral Rim, that lies in-between these two factions whom, in theory, enjoy some protection because of the Treaty of Vespa which was signed by the Solar Alliance and the New Empire after the Alliance-Imperial War a hundred years ago which state that the worlds within Neutral Rim will not be conquered in any way by either faction and operate as buffers between them, though the vast entirety of the Neutral Rim is aware that PACT has zero intention of following the treaty considering four worlds have fallen already.

In a system distant from these soon to be approaching clouds of war, the class eleven planet of Cera has enjoyed a brief calm before the storm despite their limited military application, having only five battleships, (with a sixth, classified as a carrier, being under construction at this moment since the expanding military and conquering territory PACT has done has earned a brief spook encouraging this major neutral power to add some numbers to their military, if only one single carrier and a small handful of frigates) twelve cruisers, and thirty frigates making up the entirety of the Ceran Space Force as the Ceran people are heavily opposed to military development since they have a strong isolationist viewpoint and distrust for governments, whom manage military affairs, after their experiences with the tyrannical New Empire a century prior, though even they understand that a lack of military would be an invitation for pirate raids and accepted the presence of military for protection.

In the vast orbital fields surrounding this serene planet, onboard the orbital platform: Tyr acting as both a resting place for the Ceran navy and a conduit for secondary command structure for the military as the primary civilian and military leadership operate from the capital: Cera City, onboard the prototype carrier under production: a ryder pilot named Ryland Evans, wearing the standard red and white ryder uniform of the CSF, sporting jet black hair tied into a small ponytail and blue eyes, walked through the pristine silver hallways of the station as he was called by the residential admiral on site in charge of the garrison, meeting many soldiers along the way rushing forward and behind him to reach the hangers for their ryders or ships to prepare for the possibility of battle, Admiral Bryant Koris who wanted to speak with him in person and met the aging officer in the main command center with several other officers spread out throughout the room, monitoring the immediate airspace in large thanks to surveillance efforts performed by the smaller frigates

"Admiral Koris, you wished to meet with me?" Ryland rapidly and briefly saluted as he began his greeting with the admiral.

Hearing Ryland speak made the admiral turn around to face the man who addressed him who carried his usual stern expression, returning the salute in turn, as he looked toward the young military officer in front of him with a small smile "Indeed Commander Evans. I wanted to congratulate you on your promotion from Lieutenant Commander. Your parents would be proud of your rank."

"Permission to speak freely Admiral?" Ryland's eyebrows subtly twitched at the subject of the promotion even though he kept his facial expression crystal calm.

"Permission granted."

"I appreciate the congratulations Admiral, but you said you had urgent business to confer to me and I want to get it addressed while our status is orange. I wish to return to the Bohemian Princess ASAP."

"Your desire to get into the field is admirable, but I have a different assignment for you this time."

"A different assignment sir?"

"Yes. You will not be rejoining the Bohemian Princess for the time being. I'd like to ask you to temporarily join the crew of our newest ship, the Sunrider and help test their ryder deployment systems before they receive their own Ryders on Wednesday. High Command wants to make sure the ship is ready for deployment before the day ends. The situation of crew complement is a lesser concern at this time since it was designed to operate with a skeleton crew of fifty and it is already at that size though we are planning on tripling the size of the crew within the next four days with priorities on engineering, medical, security, and ryder personnel."

"Understood sir. I'll leave for the Sunrider immediately."

With a final exchange of salutes, Ryland departed the command center to return to the hanger holding the standard issue red and white Ryder he was issued, that he named Destiny, and during the flight to the construction dock holding the new ship he was requested to join and assist, Ryland took to the habit he took when it came to flights to pass time and inspected his military profile once again, which has just recently been updated since he had just gotten a promotion from Lieutenant Commander to Commander

'Name: Ryland Evans

Age: 28

Rank: Commander and ryder pilot aboard Ceran battleship 3: Bohemian Princess

Background Recognitions: Ryland Evans stands as the oldest offspring of the famous Ceran military family Evans which holds great pride on Cera.

Heavily experienced with ryder piloting techniques from Ryuvia, the New Empire, and the Solar Alliance to an even greater extent than Admirals Aria and Lars Evans. This feat heavily comes from his background of beginning ryder combat simulations at the age of 10 and enlisting in the Ceran Military Academy at the age of seventeen after graduating early, at the recommendations of Cera's admirals, from Horizon high school in the capital with top marks in addition to how the Evans family have visited core worlds of New Eden (prior to the uprising of what became PACT eight years ago), Solaris, and Ryuvia among many others.

During his time at the academy, he was praised for his leadership potential, his ability to calmly analyze the battlefield even in the midst of chaos, and low-level ryder maintenance when he was given a simple ryder among the CMA's inventories which was standard protocol for all up and coming ryder pilot trainees as a means of learning how to use them, which was remarkable since most pilots leave any degree of the subject to their partnered engineers but Ryland preferred to handle anything that didn't involve reconstruction on his own but had the sense to defer to his assigned partner and one of his childhood friends who lived in a different part of the capital where he was born and raised: Mei Watari when he found himself overwhelmed or confused on which course of action to take which shows his ability to work with others and even sought engineering lessons from his partner as a means of having independence and the ability to perform anything that is needed, in his own words: 'While I am aware that I will have the support of the entire Ceran Space Force behind me, I want to prepare for the possibility of me being stranded from everyone else for an extended period of time, even if it is unlikely. A good soldier and member of the Evans family prepares for any contingency to the utmost of his or her ability.'

In addition to his engineering knowledge, his performance in simulated ryder combat has earned great favor, particularly noticing his excellent ability of crowd control and evasion in what the teachers call horde mode. In the mode's history of use, a well rehearsed team of six named Slipstream eight years ago set the record of longest survival at a half hour that took all of their effort to pull off but Ryland astoundingly broke that record singlehanded though he has said, and confirmation was proven by the supervisors, that he had to focus extensively on melee combat with a laser sword for over ten minutes and dodging the digitally created versions of Empire and Alliance ryders until he ran out of energy for his ryder outright and was finally defeated though it earned the recognition and envy of his fellow trainees.'

"The admirals really have that fixation on focusing on my successes when I've had my fair share of failures because of my family history. Embarrassingly simple ones too, like those times in the continuous mode sims where I forgot to restock ammunition or fuel for my ryder inbetween takes. I may be more skilled than the average soldier granted, but I'm still a human being and prone to make mistakes just as much as anyone else." Ryland stopped speaking to himself for a moment as he just received a memo from Koris with the list of Sunrider's current personnel "I'm actually a little surprised that Mei wasn't asked to transfer to this ship as an engineer since I like to think she's acceptable for the role, if not exemplary."

To his mild shock, the interior of his ryder began to light up as the built-in communication system activated and a small holographic image of a girl's face, the individual having a blue colored tint because of the low level display system because it was installed onto a ryder since starship type systems are far more detailed, noticing her usual pair of glasses on her face and all but the bottom tips of her shoulder-length hair are visible in the display

"Speak of the hypothetical devil Mei. I just had you in my thoughts a little bit."

"Really now? May I ask what you're thinking, or is it something I would need to bleach my brain over considering your perverse nature?" Mei clearly had been pulling another one of her jests considering she's covering her mouth and carrying the tone easily recognizable belonging to a jokester.

"Once again you make claims of me that are utterly illogical. I do not succumb to physical desires like that. I am temporarily being transferred to our newest warship, the Sunrider to help test their systems and I'm surprised you were not assigned to the crew. I just received a record of the crew and didn't see your name in the list since you have a very good record with engineering among the others from the Academy."

"Oh that? I actually have been Ryland. I was handpicked as the chief engineer for the Sunrider. I'm due to set up shop the day after tomorrow. I'm just packing up my lab here in the polar region in preparation for the move. By the way, how's Destiny there treating ya? Any defects or anything I need to hammer out?"

"I've had no complications with this ryder Mei. Though I will say I'm not exactly fond of how low-speced these real ryders are compared to the ones I use in the simulator."

"Of course, of course. Your standards are spoiled because of your history. Look Ryland, I really need to get these things packed. Can we please talk later?"

"Sure. Later Mei."

With this holocall ended, Ryland reached the dock that is holding the completed Sunrider and stopped as his ryder reached the exterior of the docks holding the ship, having noticed a shuttle approach minutes before him and enter the ship's hangar "Sunrider, this is Ceran ryder Destiny from the Bohemian Princess. Requesting permission to board per request of High Command."

"This is Sunrider bridge control. Your request is approved Destiny; opening our hangar doors now."

When Ryland sees the doors open, he slowly approaches with his ryder, enters the hangar of the carrier ship, docks at slot 00, and exits the ryder as he climbs down to the ground floor below the catwalk as he bares witness to two individuals he recognizes from his past before he left to attend the academy's polar division.

"Kayto, Ava, you two are members of the crew here too?" Ryland was surprised seeing his childhood friends for the first time in a decade since he had been training in Cera's polar military outpost dedicated for the training of their most elite operatives for a number of years. Normally he keeps a good deal of professionalism in his speech when he speaks with just about anyone, but he does carry his soft spots when it comes to those he declares close friends or members of his family.

"Ryland!" Kayto was the only one of the pair who had an expressive desire over their reunion as both exchanged friendly handshakes while Ava retained her usual professional and stoic mindset as she moved with calm purpose.

"So you were the one High Command sent to help test our systems? At least it's someone we know and someone I trust to be competent. It's good to see you Lieutenant Commander Evans."

"Actually Ava, I've just been promoted to Commander. I've been told that I would be at a higher rank by now if I wasn't so fixated on being a ryder pilot. I was recently teased over how I could've been given command over one of the smaller frigates to start my stint as a Captain."

"Well congratulations then Commander. I am the executive officer for the Sunrider: Ava Crescentia. I'll be acting as a much needed advisor to Captain Kayto Shields here. I plan on giving our new captain here a tour of the ship under his command, do you wish to accompany us?"

"I may as well, but the admirals will likely want to keep this brief since they want me helping test my ability to launch into battle. But you're the XO here, so lead the way Ava."

With a simple nod in acknowledgement, the trio took to exploring the ship's five decks, though they ignored two decks since they were entirely dedicated as crew's quarters since the Sunrider was made to be able to house up to two hundred crew members though it is easily operable with a skeleton crew of fifty, as they visited the CIC (Combat Information Center), the engineering platform, the ship's medbay, the mess hall, the ship's holo ryder simulator similar to the ones used in the Academy, a secondary simulator room meant for non-ryder practices like training regimes for the security personnel and lastly an observation deck for more casual relaxation purposes and while Kayto wanted to see more, the normally pristine shiny silver colors quickly changed to a dark crimson red in addition to the ship's klaxon ringing out throughout the halls and through one of the nearby intercoms, the source of the distress was made clear

"Commander Crescentia, long range scanners have detected unknown signatures about to exit warp at the edge of Exar 4!"

"Exar 4? That's only two planets away from Cera. We need to return to the bridge Captain. Commander, hurry to your ryder and get ready for deployment. You have it outfitted with lasers am I right?"

"Only so. I'll need help to take on anything bigger than ryders or small frigates, but I'm prepped for combat." With this being explained by the pilot regarding his ryder's armaments, he then quickly dashed in the direction of the elevator to return to the hangar and get ready to test the ryder deployment system under duress.

It took only minutes for Ryland to reach the hangar from how quickly he was running as he climbed the ladder to the catwalk, running toward and dove into his ryder as soon as he had opened it and quickly activated it, making sure all systems are optimal as he was quickly ejected out into the expanse of space through the Sunrider's sliding bulkhead near the fore. As soon as the Destiny was dispatched, it caused the ryder to rattle since the launch was not optimal because this was the first time being used and it gave him a fair amount of discomfort

"Agh, that was a rough launch Ava. The system needs tweaking. I don't want your future pilots getting sick when they have to go into battle after all." Ryland gripped his forehead as he developed a mild headache from how he was launched with an untested system in addition to how rushed he had to be sent out to battle.

"Remember that you were told that you were to test our systems commander, so you had to find these flaws and help us correct them so no one else suffers them in the future." Ava spoke with a fatally critical tone through a vocal only transmission vector and made it clear she would hear no complaints.

"Damn it Ava. You're treating me like a test dummy and I won't-" Although Ryland knew that this was part of Ava's nature because of her dedication to authority and the chain of command, he genuinely wished she would have some degree of concern over his safety but he was forced to stop this train of thought as the source of the signal made itself clear: PACT missile frigates rapidly approaching the largely inert from construction Sunrider "We've got PACT frigates on an intercept course! Sunrider, pull out of port fast!" After readjusting his position to face the direction the frigates are coming from, he extended the laser that comprises the left arm of the ryder and as soon as he locked onto one of the frigates in the navicomputer, he charged the laser and let it fire true against the frigate though it changed its coordinates just as quickly and it earned him their attention as a full salvo from the frigate he targeted and the other target, he quickly realized, was the Sunrider "You have a missile salvo incoming! Get out of there Sunrider!"

Despite his drive to protect his new (even if temporary because of this transfer to test their systems) ship, he still had to keep himself alive and did his utmost to repulse the missiles with the pulse configuration of his laser weaponry to shoot against the missiles rapidly advancing on his position since his ryder was not equipped with any sort of manual or automatic defensive measures against rockets or missiles but he quickly saw the missiles fired by the other frigate hit the dock holding the Sunrider and explode into a huge burst of fire, blinding any and all sight of the newly finished ship "NO! Sunrider, what's your status?! Sunrider!" Despite his repeated transmissions to the private frequency owned by the Sunrider which is dedicated for its carrier ryders, he was unable to pick up an answer from the carrier.

To his relief however, the ship quickly sailed out of the small inferno with no hint of damage to the hull whatsoever and quickly moved to unite with the Destiny and with his composure regained, both fighters unleashed a barrage of trinities against the two frigates, quickly destroying them both with their laser weapons.

"Sorry for not responding Ryland. That blast knocked out comms for a second. Anyway, it looks like we've annihilated the force PACT sent our way."

"Don't get cocky Kayto. Trust me, that was likely just a scouting party meant to gauge our defenses. We need to regroup with the rest of the fleet before the others arrive. We're too exposed out here, we need support from the others."

Recognizing that this is a good call, the two figures went to regroup with the rest of the Ceran Space Force, and just in time as the radar systems of the fleet combined picked up nearly a hundred different ships began dropping out of warp outside orbit of Exar 4 nearing the defensive garrison assembled around Tyr, recognizing nearly forty to five more missile frigates the same number of cruisers and a handful of battleships and carriers among the vast force facing down the Ceran navy which is outnumbering the defenders three to one, though in a small way, the PACT invaders are focusing on a quantity over quality mindset since they seem deadset on overwhelming Cera with numbers while Cera has been known to take a different approach with their military since the public had an aversion for oppressive governments and expansive approaches so they decided to focus on quality of its soldiers, officers, pilots, and ships to compensate.

As the fleet begins to branch off in preparation of minimizing potential damage from the missiles, the five core battleships: Bohemian Princess, Praetor, Elysium, Gallant, and Fearless each play host to one of five Cera's leading admirals: Bryant Koris (whom has quickly departed Tyr when the signatures of the two initial missile frigates were detected to return to his flagship), Aria Evans, Lars Evans, Ise Ariteru, and Hirano Noriyasu respectively, take the charge and move in front of the smaller cruisers and frigates while also maintaining distance from PACT and showing that they are not afraid to stand their ground against these invaders but Ryland began seeing the PACT fleet shattering their strong formation as radar picks up one more ship dropping out of warp, all appearances showing it's nearly four times bigger than any of the battleships belonging to Cera and took its place in the middle of the dispersing fleet

"Oh dear Ryuvian lords." Ryland was struck with fear at the sight of the massive ship facing them all down as a message is quickly seen, being transmitted from Fleet Admiral Koris, to his ryder and the rest of all their forces based on the contents, telling him to shut down his weapons and fall back with the revelation that the massive juggernaut is PACT's super-dreadnought class warship: Legion being made clear, though Ryland slammed part of the chair he is sitting on in anger when he sees that the five admirals are urging the prime minister to unconditionally surrender in order to preserve the CSF and the civilians on the ground though he was quickly regained sense when nearly a hundred lasers was sent from the Legion which quickly began to convene into a single wide arc which quickly advanced toward the fleet

"Ryland, that beam is going to hit you! Get out of there!"

This distressed cry from Kayto brought the pilot back to reality as he had only moments to analyze the field and realized that even if he attempted to flee, there were no available vectors for him to run to and knew there was only way to survive the blast

"Sorry Mei." Ryland groaned as he swiftly worked the controls of the ryder Mei had built for him which released a hidden trigger switch and he pulled it, with a blast seal being closed around him as a small segment of the ryder's head was released and sent flying as, while it is very weak since it was never meant for extensive use, most common ryders have a basic engine and automatic tracking system that allows for pilots who have lost their ryder to return to the nearest friendly ship, and as soon as he found himself freed from the main frame, he witnessed the main body of the ryder destroyed and the beam hit nearly every ship in the CSF aside from Sunrider, Elysium, Praetor, five cruisers, and ten frigates who just barely avoided getting hit or having overloaded their electronic shielding systems to survive the Legion's laser assault; recognizing the Fearless venting atmosphere and the lifeboat chutes opening showing that the crew is evacuating the ship, and to his dismay, he witnessed the destruction of the Bohemian Princess and Gallant, that loss showing that Koris and Ariteru are KIA, alongside nearly every other ship the Cerans had "No way...that juggernaut just about destroyed our entire naval military! One single salvo? Impossible..."

With the automatic return system in full effect, Ryland could only stare aimlessly at the damaged wrecks of the still surviving ships and the wide open fields where the proud Ceran vessels before their destruction stood in defiance toward PACT, though one of the worst losses he witnessed was the destruction of the orbital platform Tyr which was always something of a second home for the men and women in the Ceran military. After successfully reaching the exterior of the hangar doors, he saw the Legion charging its primary laser cannon blasted through the remnants of the fleet, destroying three cruisers and seven frigates in the process, leaving only Sunrider, Elysium, Praetor, two cruisers, and three frigates intact; filling Ryland with dread seeing that the Legion has singlehanded wiped out forty of Cera's ships and worse of all, the target of the blast was not any of the ships of the CSF but the capital: Cera City, and when the bright red dissipated, Ryland lost what composure he had when he saw that the entire peninsula the capital was built upon was nuked by the blast which easily claimed the lives of at least ten million people, the proud metropolis that served as a proud representation of one of the Neutral Rim's strongest powers, which was built and maintained over the course of centuries, being exterminated in mere moments "No way...all these people. Why would PACT go that far to conquer Cera?! It's one thing to attack military targets resisting with their lives, but nuking civilians?! That's extremely unethical!" Ryland truly wished he had not paid witness to this horror when the hangar doors opened and pulled the remnant of his ryder inside after seeing this tragedy, letting it land on the ground in front of the slots meant for the ryders, feeling the pressure of the warp drive as he did his best to exit the remains of his ryder, being shaken to the core as he struggled to maintain his balance.