Chapter 25: Aftermath

After the rest of the Xenon fleet had transitioned out of the system, the humans quickly mopped up what was left of the stragglers. Seeing that the battle had come to an end, Moses finally let out a heavy breath, feeling a wave of mental exhaustion wash over his mind. His chest felt stuffy, and his mind was foggy, a sign of the strain he had to shoulder throughout this fight.

He controlled his mech to turn around and head back to the dreadnaught. Anthony and Bethany had already entered the hangar bay, leaving Richard, Manuel, and himself still outside. Manuel was busy helping the other mech pilots mop up the battlefield in the distance.

The change from the empty vacuum, into the sealed and controlled space of the hangar bay was palpable on Moses' mind and body. The tiredness from his exertion during the battle was beginning to wear down on him.

Popping open the cockpit, Moses hopped out and floated down to the deck. There was already a dedicated medic team waiting for him at the foot of his mech by the time he touched down, and they immediately came over. He did not even try to resist, only laying down on the floating stretcher with a sigh before being whisked off to the medic bay on the ship

On the way to the medic bay, he could feel his consciousness wavering, drifting between a conscious and unconscious state as the gray ceiling passed overhead. After an unknown amount of time, he could feel himself being moved onto a proper bed where various medical personnel fretted over him. It was at that point that he finally lost his consciousness.

"How is he looking, doc?" William asked the head doctor that had been assigned to take care of Moses, his arms folded over his chest as he stood to the side.

"Mm, he's good. Just overdid it a bit on the battlefield. With all the extraordinary things he did today, it's more of a surprise he did not faint while still fighting. All of that needed a lot of energy and mental strength to perform, and for a new Paladin, he performed remarkably well above the standard set for him." The doctor replied casually, speaking as if he had worked a lot on Paladins in this kind of situation.

"That's a relief to hear. Rebecca was quite worried when the Xenon fleet suddenly appeared. But it seems her worries did not come to pass, and not only that, but we found out we have quite the talent under us." William grinned widely as he thought of the stunning battle footage of Moses butchering the Xenon like pigs in a slaughter.

"Watch over him for me. I will go and talk to his peers now." William bid the doctor goodbye and turned around to leave the medical bay, stepping on a floating platform that quickly brought him to a small meeting room where the other Paladins were waiting for him.

Upon stepping into the room, he could immediately tell that the air inside was a bit tense. The others looked to him, and he could already seen the questions in their eyes. He immediately raised a hand to silence them, speaking with a sigh.

"Before you ask, let me just tell you that Moses is fine. Just exhausted. You should know why yourselves." He told them, sharing a knowing look with Manuel.

"I have already explained it to them. They understand part of it." Manuel nodded his head. As he had been a Paladin for years, he was much more knowledgeable about all this than them who had just been introduced to this new aspect of reality.

"Well, since Manuel has already explained the basics to you all, I will skip all of that. My main reason for coming here was to tell you all that you can see Moses now. He is still unconscious, but he will be fine in a couple of hours." William nodded his head. He truly did not have anything to tell them other than that.

"Hold up." As William turned to leave, Richard suddenly spoke up.

"Yes?" William raised a brow in question.

"I was just wondering. Is this how it always is here? Random attacks from the Xenon?" He asked with a deep frown. His cheerful and playful smile was nowhere to be found right now.

"Yes. This is how it has been for a long time." William's voice did not waver in his reply at all. He had seen this happen many times and was no longer sensitive to the sight of hundreds of soldiers dying in each battle.

"..." Richard said nothing more, and William took that as his cue to leave. Nodding at Manuel, he turned and left the room without saying anything more, leaving the four pilots to speak amongst themselves.

Beep beep!

As he was about to board a floater platform, his communicator suddenly started ringing. Bringing it up, he saw that it was Rebecca who was calling him. She probably wanted to find out about how the new Paladins were doing after the battle.

He picked up the incoming call and a small projection of the base commander shimmered into view above his wrist. As he picked up the call, he climbed onto the floater platform and the platform zipped away, heading back to the bridge.

"William." Rebecca nodded her head as the call went through. "Reports are streaming into the base. How was the battle from your perspective?" She asked.

"Ah, from my perspective? Well, I would say I got a similar vibe to the last time. They are probing us. Playing with us. They want to slowly eat into our defenses. Well, that is what I think, anyway. I might be wrong." William presented a wry smile and shrugged his shoulders.

Rebecca had a thoughtful look on her face as she went over William's words. After a couple of seconds, she nodded and put the matter aside, bringing up another question.

"I heard Moses Magair performed above and beyond. What do you think?"

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