!!! - THIS IS A REWRITTEN VERSION OF THE CHAPTER - 12/30/24
Disclaimer: I don't own Honkai Star Rail and any of their characters. All belonged to their rightful owners - Hoyoverse.
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The two were something, mainly the pink-haired girl. I never knew she was that…hyperactive. She reminds me of an excited kid looking around a toy shop.
"Looky here Dan Heng, that's new and this thing WOW!" Now I get why that red-haired woman told her to behave.
"...." I stood in silence watching as March went around the place with a sparkling look on her face.
"I am so sorry about her."
"I don't think I'm the right person that you should apologize to," I said, smiling a bit "and everyone is unique and I guess she is too."
"Unique would be an understatement," He said. I wonder what made him say that?
"You know, I can hear you guys talking about me."
I fell silent and so did Dan Heng beside me. That went on until we arrived at the lab.
"Mister, Dan Heng, was it?" A researcher named Jen approached us. She was the head of the research institution specializing in analyzing Relics. "We've identified the relic and so far, it's classified as Class D."
Relics were categorized in classes, each class had its own saying whether that particular relic was dangerous or not for the Space Station, if it exceeded Class A, it would be simply put towards the deeper part of the Space Station. Class D meant it was within normal Standards and should be put relatively to the common location inside the storage zone.
"I see. That means we have the clearance to place this in the collection?"
"I'll have to contact Madam Herta for that one, however, she hasn't responded yet to my calls so it might take a while." She responded, almost annoyed at the mention.
"Alright, then I suppose we should wait."
"I apologize for the inconvenience." She bowed her head.
"No need, we're not in a hurry anyway," Dan Heng assured.
"That's good," She lifted her face. "Now, I'll have to excuse myself, thank you for your cooperation"
Almost an hour passed by, and Jen quickly came back and spoke to us about the clearance. Thankfully, she handed it to us and soon we went our way.
"Are we there yet?" If it weren't for the fact of March's annoying, repeating questions. This journey would have been as smooth as butter.
"No" I still kept a professional facade, making sure I didn't break composure. That would be a thing, wouldn't it?
"How about now?"
"No"
"Arghhh how far is it?!"
"Just up ahead."
"You just said that two minutes ago."
"And I said that now, so please bear with me"
"Arghhhh"
Did I mention that this girl March is partly annoying? I was now more inclined to pity Dan Heng if he was to experience this every single day.
Ten minutes passed by as we neared the Gallery of Shadows. March started to grow impatient with every minute that she groaned and her questions started to annoy me. I'm sure I wasn't the only one that was annoyed. "We're almost there" I announced, bringing a happy yell from the pink-haired girl.
"Really?! Yay! All of this walking is getting me so hungry, why don't we get some food to eat after this Dan Heng?"
"Fine with me,"
"Great!"
"But it's your treat"
"Hey!"
Soon we finally made it to the Collection Sector. It was one of Herta's prized areas of the Space Station. However, one would expect tons of security measures and guards to guard it. But no, it was as open as a robber would dream of robbing. However, that was only looking from the outside perspective.
"Give me a second to prepare the vault" With my hands on the keyboard, I started unlocking it, together with the clearance for access. "Okay, that should do it. Alright, Sir Dan Heng, its–
"Dan Heng is fine." He interrupted with a deadpan expression.
Okay, no professionalism. Got that.
"Alright, sorry, a habit." I coughed, "Ahem, so please put the relic here in the container, Dan Heng" I gestured towards the newly opened vault. A pure vintage kellamin magnetic field, as far as I know, this field was specifically made for containing such stuff as these relics. This was invented by researchers in the field of security for security measures against robbers in this sector. "And don't put it in too quickly unless you want to be propelled back heavily"
He gave a short nod as the relic appeared in his hand, floating. The relic was a cube, a dark bland cube with an outline of a red pattern around it. He held the relic, standing still for a moment before making its way over to the vault. In a split second, the vault immediately took hold of the relic, taking it out of his hands and altogether jerking his hand back off.
Dan Heng seemed surprised for a short moment, gazing down at his hand appearing to check for injuries before composing himself as he looked in my direction. "You should have warned me about that."
"It wasn't needed to begin with. This vault is specially designed to hold off containers without taking your hand with it. What you just experienced was a safety measure." I explained. "Unless you force your hand to stay there longer for more than ten seconds, then that would be a problem."
"I see." Dan Heng appeared unconvinced but he seemed to decide to not pursue it further "You sure know your stuff."
"It would be hard not to be after working here for months now."
He nodded, in understanding.
"So are we done yet?" A groan broke through our stance. We turned our heads to see March with slumped shoulders making her way over us "We're done, right? I'm getting hungryyyy."
"Yes, March, We're done here"
"YAY!"
"Just a heads up" I began, the two turned to me "If you wanna grab a bite, I think you should go right about now." I paused, turning to the digital clock plastered on the wall. "It's almost rush hour, about twenty minutes tops. Just friendly advice for you"
"You hear that, Dan Heng?! We have to go now, like seriously now" March, in panic, quickly grabbed Dan Heng's arm who showed no resistance as if he already experienced this before. He had my sympathies.
"Thank you, Ethan! for the heads up."
"Also, don't go too far! I'm supposed to be guiding you—and they're gone. Great." Man, do they run fast? Well, whatever, I still go meet them at the food court. I had a feeling they might stay there long enough for me to find them.
Looking at the file report on my hand, I still have one more thing to do.
"He's not here."
"What?" Currently, I am situated in the Security department.
"He's not here."
I blinked, "So where is he then?"
The researcher I was talking to was named Helen, a member of the security department. She looked at me, as if annoyed. "Listen, I don't know, okay. Just find him. I think he went out to take a break."
"You know a clue would be nice." I gave her a flat stare.
She sized me up. "Do I look like I have a clue?" She asked, impatiently.
"Yes."
"Out!"
Well, there is another problem on my plate. Seriously, that bitch is just mean.
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Finding Arlan around the Space Station was tough, considering he could be anywhere from the Space Station when he was not in the Security department.
As I walked across the halls, keeping my eyes for any sight of Arlan, I luckily spotted another member of the Security Department, Edmond on the way.
"Hey, Edmond!" While I wasn't that familiar with him, I had a few conversations with him, meaning that we weren't really strangers to one another but also not friends.
"Ethan, what brings you here?"
"You know, just doing my job." I shrugged "Also, I have a question. Do you know where Sir Arlan is right now?"
"Oh, Arlan? Well, I heard he was going around the station taking that dog on the walk. What was its name again…"
"You mean Peppy?"
He snapped his fingers "Ah, Peppy, yeah that's it. So like I said, he should be around the supply zone, I think."
"I see, thank you very much."
"No problem."
It didn't take me too long to arrive at the supply zone, It was only a few walks from where I was a moment ago. The problem I was facing currently was where in the supply zone Arlan was. He could be anywhere that matters. I should have really specified that question to Edmond.
Regarding the document itself, I can't hand it to the team at the security department without the approval of the Head, which was Arlan himself. It was a tiring process if Arlan wasn't in the department.
Looking around, I might as well try my best. Who knows how long I will be here?
"Woof! Woof!"
"Wait, don't go there!"
Well, not long enough.
Just as I suspected it was a dog, small, light-skinned and its appearance pretty much resembled.
Peppy.
"Peppy!" Yep, that confirms it.
"Woof!" The small dog stopped in front of me, head lifted to meet my gaze "Woof!"
"Peppy ha..ha. Seriously, don't do that again." I heard someone gasping for air.
I saw a short young man with a dark complexion and pink eyes. He has white hair with black tips, with some tied into a small ponytail. He wore a vest with one long sleeve and one sleeveless shoulder, a black, high-collared undershirt, blue trousers, and black boots.
"Sir Arlan!" I greeted.
"Wait, that voice....Ethan?" Arlan lifted his face, showing surprise "What are you doing here?"
"Just looking for you and I'm glad you instead went to me. Saves me a lot of time."
"Oh?"
I gave him the document. He took a hold of it, puzzled for a moment "What's this?"
"It's a clearance document. You see the Astra Express took a hold of a relic and I escorted them to the Gallery of Shadows to secure the Relic. So can you please sign your signature here for confirmation of the assignment?"
"Hmm," Arlan nodded, reading the contents of the paper for a solid minute before signing it "Here."
"Thanks, Sir Arlan" I grabbed a hold of the paper firmly.
"Ethan, I told you. Arlan is fine. You make it sound like I'm old, in fact, you are far older than me."
"But age is incomparable to status," I replied, keeping my face as neutral as possible to emphasize my point.
Arlan crossed his arms, pointing at me with a stern look "Now you're making it sound like I'm abusing my authority" He sighed. "I never thought you thought of me like that Ethan."
"I would never Sir–I mean, Arlan."
He cracked a grin "See, was it that hard?"
"Yeah, you got me." I shook my head, failing to keep a smile off my face "I should really get going then. I have to buy some lunch."
"I see, it was nice talking to you again, Ethan."
"The feeling is mutual"
He nodded and just as we began parting ways. A loud alarm rang out.
"Warning, Red Level Alert! I repeat, a Red Level alert! Antimatter Legion forces detected. All personnel, please proceed to the evacuation zones"
"Is that—" Before I could finish that sentence, I could feel the ground shaking.. However, it wasn't strong enough to keep me out of balance but it successfully struck fear in me. I turned to Arlan who looked alarmed, his hands curled into a fist.
"Arlan, is there any drill today?"
"I don't think this is a drill"
"Oh.." Fuck.