Thank you so much for all the reviews, follows, and favourites! They keep me going. Apologies for the delay - this chapter required a lot of world- and character- building, and I got pretty stuck for awhile! Thought it would be fun to find out how Kennosuke and the others were doing ;)

Enjoy!

-II-

On the Other Side

"Ken, what is your status?"

Zell's voice crackled over Kennosuke's helmet's speakers as he dodged behind the frame of a hovercraft in the largest scrap-yard on Chi-1, avoiding detection by the battered cactus-bot left to patrol this wasteland on its own. Discarded Chi-1 technology and vehicles lay around him in dirty, dented piles, covered in the fine sand Kennosuke now knew to be characteristic of the land located near the glittering crater-lake of Chi-1. He waited a beat before answering.

"Only one cactus-bot observed patrolling. I am waiting for it to leave this section before I start my search."

"Noted. Do not get too close to the biodome surrounding the lake settlement. It may have more surveillance features installed."

Kennosuke's gaze darted towards the shimmering dome stretching over the crater-lake and the Efi Dolg mothership planted on the opposite shore – barely recognisable as such due to its permanent lodging on this planet. Gleaming extensions had been added under the mainframe, forming a strangely haphazard castle structure with a domed top that appeared hideous to him when compared to the beautiful white walls and slanted rooves of the castle he once served, or the cosy Shirahane home.

There was nothing left of the colourful nomad tents that once occupied the desert lands of Chi-1, described wistfully by Zell. It was close to the Eclipse, but there was no shimmering vapour rising from the lake either, as something in the Efi Dolg biodome interfered with the celestial event. The science had been explained by one of Zell's compatriots in their underground insurgent camp, but well, Kennosuke's head wasn't made for science. He did understand the loss of beauty, though, and the significance of ripping away something people considered important, in demoralizing the enemy.

Kennosuke felt something twist in his chest at that thought. As a warrior, he had understood that concept, but until the moment he had been forced to leave Yukina behind, he had not been able to fathom just how hard the loss would hit him. That he had ever thought he would be able to leave Earth without her was laughable. He would survive, he needed to survive, but there was a light in his life that had dimmed considerably, a warmth that just wasn't there. And the uncertainty that she would ever be able to find him, join him…

Kennosuke shook his head to rid himself of unhelpful thoughts, and returned to the task. The cactus-bot had moved to patrol a section further up. Time to move.

"The area is clear. I will begin the search."

"Copy that. I am leaving the comm link to Voltra," Zell responded, speaking of a cheerful, young insurgent engineer from Base C-1, "he'll assist with identifying the parts. I will be meeting the leaders from C-2 and 3 to get an update on their recon and retrieval activities – if you see anything of note, tell Voltra to pass it on."

"Zell-dono." The samurai acknowledged the instruction with a murmur, dark eyes carefully scanning his surroundings, the warrior part of him on full alert, while the analytical part of him considered the information Zell had imparted.

Chi-1's insurgents, when Kennosuke, Muetta, and Zell had first landed, had been a motely crew of about twenty more concerned about survival than rebellion. But their expressions had changed from utter exhaustion to tentative hope when they set eyes on Zell and their geoframes.

Zell had quietly gathered more allies, ferreted out the pockets of his people who had managed to evade the clutches of the Efi-Dolg's brainwashing nano-machines, until their group had grown into a small force of two hundred, spread out amongst three underground camps with some semblance of organisation. C-1 was based in an old quartz mine near the crater-lake of Zell's memories, his former home; C-2 was a sprawling underground network buried beneath Chi-1's previous metropolis; while C-3 occupied a large cave system in a mountainous area. Now Zell was turning his attention towards rebuilding the technology of his people, discarded and replaced by the Efi Dolg who had not tried to understand systems different from their own.

Kennosuke eyed the barely-distinguishable piles of scraps heaped around him, and glanced at the complex diagrams of components the insurgent engineers required hovering on the left side of his helmet visor. He allowed himself a small sigh, and started his search.

"I remain of the opinion that it is time to make an attempt to breach at least one of the Efi Dolg territories. The resistance is not on their radar – and we need to know more about their numbers, structure, and defenses if we are ever to retake Chi-1," Alia Sonder Vishrai, leader of the C-2 base and one of Zell's contemporaries before the invasion, tapped a long finger on the tabletop as she pushed her point, squarely meeting the gazes of others in the Council of Nine – comprised of the three Base Leaders and a rotation of two members from each base, every meeting.

"The risk is still too high," Zell frowned, looking thoughtfully at the holo-map of the Chi-1 territories floating above the table, with its glowing info-bubbles containing the most up-to-date intel the insurgents had of the Efi Dolg territories. The invaders had conquered Chi-1 and left three of their motherships to hold their territory within separate biodomes across the planet, confining the infected natives within them to run the day-to-day operations. Cactus-bots ran surveillance outside the biodomes, but the insurgents had become so skilled at hiding that surveillance had gradually decreased to rudimentary levels, the Efi Dolg likely believing that all resistance had been crushed. But there was still too little information on the Efi Dolg command structure and territory within the biodomes – and research into the biodomes' structure and the possibility of breaching them was ongoing.

Alia turned towards the leader of C-3, a younger, yet charismatic, strategist during the pre-invasion era, named Hanrel Zusak Manrai, with a questioning look. "Hanrel? Your thoughts?"

The strategist met her piercing gaze calmly. "I think we should not proceed until we are reasonably certain of success. As Zelleager Vishrai said, the risk far outweighs the rewards. We are not ready. At the very least, we need a way to breach the biodomes without bringing the Efi Dolg fleet down on us. And as you pointed out, Alia Vishrai, our resistance is not on their radar. That gives us time that we would otherwise not have, to ensure we are prepared before we make any moves that are likely to gain us unwanted attention."

"We also need allies," Zell weighed in, his tone heavy. "We cannot hope for any victories unless we have a force to counter the Efi Dolg's retaliation, once we are exposed." Zell thought wistfully of his Earthen allies, before turning to his assistants for this meeting: "Do we have any more leads on Zara Myundef's whereabouts?"

"We know that she left Sagittarius, Zelleager Vishrai, but we have nothing more concrete beyond that."

"What about other communications?" Alia turned to her own assistants.

"We have sent out tentative probes, Alia Vishrai, but our signals are affected by the Efi Dolg satellite scramblers."

Alia's expression was grim. "We are at an impasse, then," she addressed the Council.

"I suggest we focus efforts on supporting our engineers in developing ways to breach the biodomes and make contact with potential allies. Any plans beyond that would be based on conjecture," Hanrel responded, and Zell nodded.

Alia sighed. "Very well, then. Now, on to the question of supplies…"

"To your left, Ken-san, under the set of black prongs – I see a crystal-powered generator," Voltra's cheerful voice sounded over Kennosuke's comm as he attempted to extract his left arm, which was elbow-deep in one pile of scrap metal in an attempt to reach what Voltra had thought was a radio antenna, but turned out to be a tent pole.

The samurai was hot, tired, and ready to toss Voltra and his cheerful voice into the lake at the next opportunity. An hour of fruitless searching had reinforced Kennosuke's initial opinion of this excursion – it was absurd to send him looking for technology, of all things, even if he was the strongest combatant in their base.

Swallowing the snarky retort forming on the tip of his tongue, Kennosuke turned to look in the direction Voltra had indicated. Helpfully, a red outline superimposed itself over the image of aforementioned piece on Kennosuke's visor as he turned his head. The outline matched perfectly. This might just work, after all, Kennosuke thought as he reached out.

"I have it," Kennosuke carefully extracted the generator from the pile and turned it over in his hands so that Voltra could confirm it was what they needed.

"We found it! I hope it's operational," Voltra's glee could be heard through the crackly comm line. "Ken-san – I think I see a particle distorter under that frame to your right. You'll have to dig, though."

Kennosuke stowed the generator safely inside the bag he had been given, and proceeded towards the object outlined in red on his visor. It was under a pile close to the shimmering biodome, and he considered if the metal frame above the piece they wanted would support the weight of everything above it, if he pulled the particle distorter out of the pile.

"I'll have to pull it out," Kennosuke informed Voltra as he gripped the object, and eased it out carefully, watching the movement of the scraps above it. "… I think I have it." The frame supporting the rest of the pile held as Kennosuke pulled the particle distorter free.

"We're good!" Voltra crowed. "And if that particle distorter works, we might just make a breakthrough on the biodome breach research –"

Kennosuke was in the process of shoving the particle distorter into the bag, but he was no longer listening to Voltra, and was instead staring, wide-eyed, at the frame that was supposed to support the weight of the pile, buckling slowly inwards, and only recovered sufficiently to leap back as the entire heap of scraps collapsed in a thunderous crash, sending debris flying and smashing into the biodome, which rippled red from the point of contact – some sort of alarm? – and brought the unwelcome whirring of cactus-bots headed in the direction of the crash.

Allowing himself a second to swear, Kennosuke snatched up his bag and ran.

Notes:

- I took some liberties in making part of Zell's full name (Zelleager Myundef Vishrai) a title to indicate some sort of rank... so that I could invent new ones too!

- The insurgent bases are located near Efi Dolg holdings. I'm going to assume Chi-1 is a relatively small planet, because it makes world building marginally easier.

Tell me what you think - I love getting feedback!

Until next time,

Rave-chan