The Calm Before the Storm (Please Keep Reading and Add This to Your Library!)

By the time Amber reached the officers' mess, his head was still spinning.

Only a few hours had passed since his soul had arrived in this body, but he already felt as though he had been on a roller coaster.

One thing after another.

"Fledgling," a double agent, an Imperial surprise attack.

The string of revelations had caught him completely off guard.

With a staff member's guidance, Amber found the private room reserved for them.

Several young Federation officers were already seated.

Their conversation stopped for a moment when Amber walked in.

Then they resumed chatting as if they had not seen him at all.

Amber was used to this. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

As he watched the young officers keep their distance, his thoughts drifted to the wider pattern behind it.

That was right. Shunning Psionics-awakened people had become a social phenomenon.

In both the Federation and the Star Dragon Empire, those who had awakened Psionics occupied an awkward position.

Ordinary people feared their power and envied it, making it hard for them to see such people as their own kind.

Yet their abilities made them indispensable across human society, especially in the military.

That was why the government gave Psionics-awakened people like Amber special treatment.

And that only made ordinary people more jealous of Psions.

Every so often, the news carried a story about a child awakening Psionics and hurting their family, or someone losing control and attacking civilians.

Such incidents only deepened the public's prejudice.

If I can't afford to cross them, I can at least stay away from them.

With that attitude so widespread, Psionics-awakened people were gradually isolated and shunned in society and the military alike.

Clashes between Psychic Agents or psychic assault squads and ordinary soldiers, sometimes ending in casualties, were especially common.

Amber had never cared much. If anything, the isolation spared him a lot of unnecessary socializing.

Before long, the other young officers who had arrived with him trickled into the dining room.

But when choosing seats, they all instinctively avoided Amber.

By the time everyone had sat down, the seats on either side of him were empty.

Sitting there alone, he stood out painfully.

"Wow! I don't want to see that happen again."

Those were the first words Lieutenant Colonel Dallas, Yasin Base's second-in-command, said when he saw them.

He was smiling, but the young officers still jolted.

The hulking lieutenant colonel, built like a bull with a scar beside one eye, dropped into the seat next to Amber and patted his shoulder.

"Take off the visor, son."

Dallas's voice was gentler than his appearance suggested.

"This is the Federation Military. We're all Federation soldiers. I won't have those attitudes from civilian life brought into the ranks."

"You may need to fight alongside one another often. If you can't even talk to each other, how can we commanders trust you with missions?"

The lieutenant colonel's words seemed to work magic. The tension around the table slowly eased.

Besides, he was Yasin Base's second-in-command. A real boss.

The young officers took what he said as an order.

They all turned toward Amber.

They were curious about the Psychic Agent who always wore a Tactical Visor. What kind of person was underneath it?

Amber had no objection. Taking it off made no difference to him.

He would have to remove it to eat anyway.

The neural bundle at the back of the visor disconnected from the port in Amber's neck, followed by a soft series of pressure-release pops.

Amber slowly removed his Tactical Visor.

It revealed a face as finely sculpted as a classical statue.

Several young women at the table caught sight of his face and let out soft gasps.

A few female officers passing through the mess happened to glance over and unconsciously slowed their steps.

Even the men at the table, Lieutenant Colonel Dallas included, stared for a moment.

Amber had expected the reaction.

When he had looked in the mirror earlier, even he had been stunned by how handsome he was.

He had the kind of face that looked designed in a character creator.

If there were a 3D section aimed at women, he might even give Tifa a run for her money as its true "Jerusalem."

Meanwhile, in the commander's office at Yasin Base.

Commander Adam had been forced to leave an interstellar conference because of Major Mars's urgent intelligence report. Now he watched him with open impatience.

"Mars, this intelligence had better be worth my time. Otherwise, I'll have the guards shove your head up a Bro Beast's ass." (Bro Beasts were native to Robert IV and filled an ecological niche similar to domestic pigs.)

"Believe me, Commander Adam. I would never disturb you if this weren't an urgent military matter."

Major Mars seemed accustomed to Commander Adam's crudeness.

Colonel Adam, whom his soldiers privately called "Commander Pig," was a textbook officer who coasted through his career.

Instead of thinking about how to improve his troops' combat readiness, he spent his days tending to his smuggling fleet.

Major Mars even knew that the so-called interstellar conference he had interrupted was merely a meeting between Commander Adam and several smugglers to divide their profits.

Still, he maintained the courtesy due his superior and continued without changing expression:

"Sir, before I give my report, I'd like you to activate this office's highest security lockdown."

"Tch."

Commander Adam frowned in displeasure, then lightly turned the ring on his fourth finger.

Two seconds later, the office had become one of the most secure areas in Yasin Base.

"Can you tell me now?"

Resentment edged Commander Adam's voice. Major Mars's interruption had clearly cost him a fair amount of profit.

"The Empire will very likely launch a surprise attack on Robert IV in three days."

For the first time, Major Mars saw a serious expression on Commander Adam's face.

"Major, where did you get this intelligence?"

You don't really need to focus on the protagonist's looks.

I wrote him that way mainly because I'm not exactly a credit to the human race in the looks department. Every night, I can only fall asleep alone, hugging my AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missile pillow.

So when I write, I like to imagine the protagonist as a handsome guy. If that's not your thing, feel free to ignore it~