Missing In Action

Arthur climbed out of the cockpit of his ship and took off his helmet. He approached Zaya who handed him a tablet and a canned drink.

"We have a total of twenty destroyed and two heavily damaged. I've also lost Captain Hilt on radar. His last know location was right before he entered the debris field." Zaya explained.

"I don't have time to babysit Bernard. Forward the information to Gerard and have Heling squadron escort me upon entering the battlefield." Arthur ordered before handing his unfinished drink to Zaya and returning to his ship.

Kjēl took a deep breath and pulled the gun back up to aim at Bernard. Her hands trembled and her body felt so heavy. She knows that she's taken many lives before but it was different now that she could see who's on the other end of the barrel.

"You don't have a reason to fight. You don't belong in a battlefield, you're just a child." Bernard stated as he pulled himself off the rail and propelled himself towards Kjēl.

"N-no! Don't come near me!" Kjēl shouted before closing her eyes and firing a shot.

Bernard didn't flinch as the bullet grazed the side of his helmet. He grabbed a hold of the gun and pulled it out of Kjēl's shaking hands.

"This is unnecessary, I don't have any intentions of hurting a child." Bernard explained as he removed the magazine and the chambered round in the gun.

"B-but you're my enemy..." Kjēl mumbled as she backed away from Bernard.

"I'm not your enemy. I want to help you. I don't want children to be involved in any of this mess." Bernard stated as he took Kjēl's hand and pulled her along.

"Wait, what are you doing? Where are we going?" Kjēl asked as she gets pulled along.

"I've scanned this shipwreck, there should still be a portion of the ship that's operational. Our suit's oxygen supply won't hold until help arrives to rescue us." Bernard replied as he navigated through the empty halls.

Kjēl couldn't understand why she hesitated to pull the trigger. Maybe it was because of her first encounter with Bernard and how he acted kindly towards her. No, maybe it was because she didn't have the resolve she thought she originally had. It was only then that she noticed Bernard's hand was also trembling. He's just as scared as she was but he ignored it.

"I never was able to ask for your name." Bernard stated as he stopped in front of a door.

"I-it's Kjēl..." She mumbled in response.

"I'm guessing that your sister, Veronica, is the Veronica Schwitz. How am I gonna explain this to Viktor?" Bernard drew a sigh before chuckling.

Bernard opened a control panel and hotwired the door to open. He then went in and told Kjēl to close the door on her way in. Bernard began rebooting the power and redirecting all the remaining power to the ventilation system.

"Most of the systems are down but I can still restore the oxygen and boot up the ventilation. There won't be enough power to heat up the room so I guess we'll make due with what we have." Bernard explained as he finished setting up the systems.

"Why didn't you just force me out of the way and take Asterion?" Kjēl asked as she looked at Bernard.

"From my deduction of the situation, you're also low on fuel. It would've been useless to try and steal your ship. I'm also aware of the biometric security installed on that ship, I wouldn't be able to operate it even if I wanted to." Bernard replied as he rummaged around the room.

"You know Asterion?" Kjēl asked once more.

"I've known about it ever since I was little. I've dug up as much information about it in the archives when I first saw you." Bernard added as he handed a blanket to Kjēl.

Kjēl was surprised to hear what Bernard said. If he knew then it would only be safe to assume that XenoMars knows more about Asterion than they do. Kjēl watched as Bernard removed his helmet and sat down on the floor. Despite not having made any suspicious moves, she still can't completely trust him.

"I'm actually quite obsessed with Asterion. You see, I've been told the story about how Asterion and a few more ships like it ended the bloodiest conflict humanity has faced." Bernard stated as he fixed his hair.

"The Exo-wars. The war that left Earth uninhabitable." Kjēl added before sitting a few feet in front of Bernard and wrapping the blanket around herself.

"Right, the same reason we moved to Mars. It was said that Asterion and it's pilot was lost after the battle so I never expected that it would suddenly show up now after so many centuries have passed." Bernard explained.

Bernard began explaining the events of the Exo-wars in great detail to Kjēl who silently listened. He told her that there were four other ships beside Asterion and that only one was recovered after the final battle. Kjēl, despite being cautious of Bernard, still listened as if she was a child in bed being told a bedtime story. Bernard on the other hand was immersed in telling the story to Kjēl.

"This technology, despite being outdated by half a millennia, is the most advance piece of technology we have." Bernard explained with an enthusiastic tone in his voice.

"I never expected you to become a completely different person when talking about Asterion." Kjēl commented.

"That's- Did I go too fast? I can explain a few more things further if you didn't quite understand." Bernard replied as his cheeks flushed pink.

Kjēl let out a small giggle then shook her head.

"I completely understand. Who wouldn't be obsessed with something so pretty?" Kjēl asked.

"You're right about that. It's beauty captivated even the darkest of hearts. That's why you need to promise me that you'll never let anyone else pilot Asterion." Bernard took Kjēl's hand and held it firmly within his.

"Of course, I never intended to. That also means I won't let you get your hands on Asterion." Kjēl replied before flashing a smirk.