Chapter 74: Is he waiting for something?

Lorcan nodded slightly and quietly put the stick into his pocket, hiding it with his body.

Oisín’s eyes passed lightly over his wrist, and his brow twitched slightly, but he said nothing.

The cockpit went quiet, and the silence was heavy.

Cathal checked his watch and said softly, "Major General, it is time for us to go."

Oisín murmured, "Hm..."

Lorcan looked away.

"I will go first, then."

A pang of sadness hit him, and he lowered his eyes to hide it.

"Wait, Your Highness."

Oisín’s eyes twinkled with mischief, and he suddenly caught Lorcan and pulled him close.

The move was far from gentlemanly or refined. It went against the Collins Family’s ancestral rules and was certainly unfit for a prince. In his more than twenty years of life, Oisín had never done anything so rude, but he did it anyway.

Oisín apologised.

"Your Highness, I have overstepped. I beg your forgiveness."

Even as he spoke of overstepping, he kept going. He cupped the back of Lorcan’s head, leaned in suddenly, and gave him a long kiss.

Their lips locked. Oisín kissed with a burning, almost wild force, and he did not let up even when Lorcan nipped lightly at his lower lip.

Time seemed to stand still as they kissed, and they lost track of how long it lasted. When the storm of feeling settled, Lorcan stepped back, pulled himself together, and said firmly, "I do not forgive you."

He met Oisín’s eyes steadily.

"Major General, I am not one to forgive easily. An insult like this will not be pardoned lightly."

Oisín smiled.

"What must I do to win your pardon?"

"Come back to me," Lorcan took a deep breath. "Come back to me unharmed."

Oisín’s smile widened.

"You have my word."

With a last look, he turned and walked deeper into the ship.

Lorcan got off the ship. The eastern horizon was just beginning to blush with the first light of dawn. In front of him, the huge iron-grey ship roared to life, and blue-purple flames burst out of its jets in rings.

Oisín went to the glass window and gave Lorcan a wave and a warm smile.

It was not a polite social smile. It was a real, bright smile of pure joy. In that moment, Oisín seemed to throw off all his burdens. He was no longer the polished heir of the Collins Family or the guarded Major General of the Third Army. He was just Oisín.

Oisín silently mouthed, "Goodbye."

The ship slowly shrank in Lorcan’s sight until it was a blurry, unclear dot.

Lorcan watched him vanish into the sky.

He went back to the mansion and shut the study door. 016 spoke up at the right moment.

"The shared feed is ready for you."

The screen unrolled like a scroll. A golden sun appeared at the edge of his view and filled his sight with rose colours, with a sea of clouds rolling along.

016: "They are just passing through the lower atmosphere."

In the shared footage, the ship passed through the lower atmosphere, then the upper atmosphere, and finally broke free of the capital planet’s gravity. They sailed through the endless universe for several days and nights, past Zerg planets that were either thriving or bare, and finally stopped at the border of the 23rd District.

The Third Army’s border troops were stationed here.

Oisín and Cathal stopped here, restocked their supplies, food, water, and fuel, and then stayed on this planet for a night.

This was the empire’s frontier. Beyond it was unexplored, undeveloped space, a breeding ground for black markets and space pirates. Yet the defences here were surprisingly weak, with only the remains of the Third Army stationed there, not even enough for a full company.

The garrison leader was an old man with a limp and one eye. He wore the Third Army uniform and leaned on a cane, and his empty trouser leg was tied up with ragged strips of cloth.

He bowed to Oisín.

"Major General."

Oisín steadied him.

"Abel, how have you been lately?"

Abel smiled.

"Not bad. The phantom pain flares up now and then... It is just that in this remote place, the liquor is all cheap and rough. No merchant ships come and go, so there is hardly a decent drink to be had."

Oisín took a case of whiskey out of the ship, made on the capital planet, rich in flavour and priceless, and handed it to Abel.

"Try this."

Lorcan’s eyes fell on the right side of Abel’s chest, where several medals were pinned. They were rusted and peeling, but you could still faintly see the glory of the past.

016 said, "He is a colonel."

It quickly pulled up Abel’s records.

"Abel, Colonel of the Third Army, graduated from the Empire’s First Military Academy, badly injured in the battle of the 23rd District because of a pheromone disorder. He was supposed to retire but chose to stay in the 23rd District to patrol and guard it."

Lorcan: "Pheromone disorder?"

He had read the related material. During the battle of the 23rd District, the Third Army’s pheromone reserves had mostly been swapped for black-market substitutes, which led straight to a costly victory with heavy losses.

Why the pheromone reserves, which were strategic supplies, had been so easily replaced, and why such a huge mistake had never been followed by anyone being held to account, was still unknown.

The many events behind this tragic battle, like the innocent officers who died, had been completely wiped out.

Oisín and Abel drank together on the barren planet all night.

The barren planet rarely saw the sun and was always dark and gloomy. Strong radiation painted cold-coloured auroras across the sky, and at night the temperature dropped to about minus seventy. By morning, frost had formed on their brows, and the Major General’s blue eyes were chillingly cold, colder than the permafrost of the 23rd District.

Abel drank the last sip from his flask and smiled bitterly.

"Such fine whiskey. What a shame they cannot enjoy it any more."

Oisín patted Abel’s shoulder.

"Do not worry. I will deliver it to them."

He paused, then smiled.

"Along with the offerings."

Early the next morning, Cathal stayed at the base while Oisín left the frontier alone in his ship.

Lorcan’s eyes followed Oisín as he went out into the vast reaches of space.

As he passed a huge planet, Oisín began to slow down.

016: "That is the so-called Planetary Graveyard."

The planet was circled by a huge golden ring, with countless sharp rocks moving with the gravitational tides and forming a natural barrier that warned every ship to come near with care. Even the strong steel of the Zerg was no match for these fast-moving rocks, and a ship could be torn apart at any moment.

Oisín started the ship and turned with the planetary ring.

He switched on automatic mode and stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking hard at the ring.

Within this magnificent colour, countless unreturned bones were buried.

Oisín stayed here for three days.

During those three days he released small ships and let them sail toward the planetary ring, each loaded with whiskey. Now and then he went back to the base for supplies, but most of the time he just stayed here.

Neither going forward nor going back.

Lorcan asked, "Is he waiting for something?"

Oisín really was waiting. He often checked the navigation and cleaned his gun, until one morning Lorcan suddenly froze.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window on the screen, a vast black expanse appeared