Kaizer opened his eyes and gazed out the plasma plane of his quarters as the coupled suns of Solysium rose over the base. The shattered moon had disappeared over the horizon now, but the perpetually orbiting debris ring trailed behind visibly in the orange-hued sky. In the distance, he could make out the city of Solaria with its skyscrapers stretching high into the stratosphere. The gleaming beauty outside was in stark contrast to the bland and boring plaster gray walls of his living quarters. However, at the right angle, the sunlight shone through Kaizer's quarters and washed over everything touched by the suns' rays in a coat of gold. 

An internal ugliness hidden underneath superficial layer of beauty, thought Kaizer glumly. He was not in a very good mood.

He gazed out into the busy skyline surrounding the base and wondered why practically everything in the Republic had to be named after a sun. Particularly, a sun from a solar system that doesn't even belong in any known Republic territory. Apparently, per the Solis Republic Archives, the etymology of their name comes from an ancient human language that has long since become extinct and an even older sun. Most people doubted that explanation, and to be completely honest, barely anyone even really knows where they really came from at all.  All the information contained in the Archives regarding the origin of the Solites were either too convoluted to understand, or redacted. Everything just sort of faded into time after the Great Exodus, and no one found it pertinent to, frankly, question the Republic about it.

If Kaizer remembered correctly, it was something along the lines of escaping a dying world a couple thousand years ago that was drained of its resources and was turning to ice. 

Ice... mused Kaizer as he shielded his eyes, how nice it would be to live in a land of ice without the burning fury of not one, but two suns. 

So much for the legend about Hearth and its beautiful warm scenery. There were also rumors that say that the Akari came from the same place as they did. Some people even go so far as to claim that the Eternal War began on that long-forsaken planet, but no one really knows for sure. Only the Elites in society knew the entire story. 

Everyone else just needed to do their part in either protecting the Republic or in making sure that it ran smoothly. Anyone else incapable of being of service to the Republic was... "recycled."

Recycled, scoffed Kaizer, as if you could really 'recycle' someone. The least the Medical Authority could do was choose a better euphemism for what they do to them. 

But alas, efficiency was the priority; all in order to ensure "peace and glory upon the Solis Republic." Anyone who couldn't serve their proper function would only drag Society down.

Kaizer took a look around his living quarters and found an unexpected sight. On the opposite side of Kaizer's already cramped room, Xeleon laid sprawled out on the floating couch and snored like it was the first time he has slept in ages. Kaizer wrinkled his nose disapprovingly at the sight of Xeleon's shapeless form and wondered how he ended up in his room like this, intoxicated to oblivion. The alcohol bottles scattered across the table gave it away.

A race as advanced as ours, but leave it to Xeleon to still be able to find a place that sells prehistoric intoxicants.

Kaizer shook his head and chuckled to himself as he pushed a button that turned the plasma plane opaque to keep out the blinding gold rays. He put his arms behind his head, turned onto his back, and went back to staring at the most interesting charcoal gray ceiling in existence.

Maybe they should recycle his kidneys before he takes the liberty of destroying them.

Perhaps it really was the first time Xeleon has had a chance to unwind and sleep. After all, Efinqore-Seven was on the front lines in the war, and fighting was a daily routine. It was a miracle that Xeleon was able to come out of all of that and still be like the same man he was three years ago. Meanwhile, Kaizer had been stuck on the Pantheon battle cruiser for an eon and a day doing nothing but recon missions. It was fortunate that the Military Authority allowed the Pantheon to return to base and resupply. This stop also served the most delightful purpose of allowing Kaizer see his ridiculously intoxicated friend again.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Kaizer had laid awake all night trying to recall that voice, to no avail. But Kaizer allowed his mind to wander back to that moment again for the thousandth time. It was as if something was blocking off access to that specific point in his memory. He swore that the answer he sought was on the tip of his tongue; he could practically taste it. However, every time he thought he finally got it, it would just slip away again into the hazy realm of half broken dreams. It infuriated Kaizer, and he decided to pull up the medical file the doctor had sent Artimus yesterday. Maybe he would find his answer there. He blinked twice and the heads up display of his Processor came online in his retina.

"Artimus, pull up my latest medical file."

"Of course, Warrant Officer Hiraeth. Pulling up medical file SMA-H2345K." replied Artimus immediately as a box popped into Kaizer's field of vision.

Kaizer used his eyes to scroll through the file until he reached the tab called "Recorded Memories." His Processor recorded every little thing he saw or thought and routinely uploaded it all to the Republic archives through his neurolink. He wanted to see if it had recorded that voice he had heard and browsed to the memories of that day on the Akari Barisuguro warship. Kaizer felt a pang of guilt and sadness wash over him again, but all the recorded memories played out in his vision as he remembered it. Until of course, the part where he was supposed to have remembered hearing a voice.

The memory display suddenly went dark and was instead replaced by a restriction statement.

"Warrant Officer Hiraeth, you are attempting to access information to which you do not have access," warned Artimus.

That's strange.

Kaizer got off his bunk and walked to the table, which was only a couple steps away. He threw all the bottles into the incinerator bin and sat down at the desk as he heard the whirl of the incinerator completing its function. He pulled a data holomonitor and attached a data syncer into his nuerolink port. Maybe there was a bug and a fresh connection would resolve the issue. The memory bank came alive on the screen, but the angry red warning continued to flash on the blacked-out memory slot.

"That can't be correct, Artimus. There must be some mistake," laughed Kaizer incredulously, "These are my memories. I am allowed full access to them for review and analysis. I order you to grant me access to these restricted memories immediately."

"I'm sorry Warrant Officer Hiraeth, I cannot do that," echoed Artimus in his head, "The restriction order comes from high up the chain of command. Per Solis Military Authority Protocol mandate number fifteen fifty-three, I am not allowed to rescind that order unless you become the highest-ranking officer available and order me to do so. What you are requesting is currently beyond my capacity as a Pilot Enhancement Interface."

Kaizer gritted his teeth as he tried to think of a way to circumvent this suspicious turn of events.

So I was right. I knew it. There is something more at play here. Someone doesn't want me to remember who this voice belongs to. But why would they want to do that? 

Could there be more memories which Kaizer does not have access to?

"Very well, Artimus. In that case, is this the only memory slot that has been restricted to me?"

"No, Warrant Officer Hiraeth. Would you like me to pull up all instances of memory restriction orders for your file?"

"Yes. How many of these restriction orders are there?" 

This is getting stranger by the second.

"From what I can gather in the Archives, there is a total of three high-level restriction orders in your file."

The warning messaged continued to flash on the monitor before him and illuminated Kaizer's face in an unfriendly red hue.

Three? What have I seen that would require three restriction orders on my memories from up high up the chain of command? 

What don't they want him to remember, and more importantly, why?

"Artimus, can you acquire the names and ranks of the officials that gave these orders?"

"I am sorry, Warrant Officer Hiraeth, I do not have the authorization to obtain this information."

"What about the dates of the orders?"

"I can obtain that information for you. The first order was placed almost six years ago, with the second order placed nearly three months after the first. The last order was placed as of yesterday while you were under resuscitation by the Solis Medical Authority."

Kaizer slammed his fists onto the desk like his commanding officer did the day before, and felt a boiling anger rise in his chest. Why wouldn't they give him access to his own memories? He didn't even know they could do that. He was always told that the purpose of downloading his memory into the Archives was so that he could pull them up at a moment's notice without corrupting the memories themselves. Then what the hell is this? What else has the Republic been keeping from him? Six years ago... that was right after he had joined the Academis. What reason would they have to restrict his memory then?

Kaizer snapped out of his turbulent daze when he heard a rustle coming from behind the holomonitor.

"Hiraeth... now, now, now. Why the long face, mate? You looked like you are constipated," clucked Xeleon as he stuck a ridiculous pose usually reserved for the Pink pleasure-servants. "I got it. Draw me like one of your Akari girls, why don't you?" giggled Xeleon as he tried to unsuccessfully give a seductive grin.  He also batted his essentially nonexistent eyelashes innocently at Kaizer. Unfortunately, he only succeeded in looking like a bumbling idiot as he fell off the sofa and faceplanted onto the hard terasteel floor with a groan.

"Ughhh...shiet."

Kaizer couldn't help but feel the anger fade away and burst out laughing at the ridiculous scene before him as Xeleon got back up. Xeleon wasted no time and continued to strike every scandalous pose he could have possibly come up with over his many "adventures" on tour with the straightest face he could muster.

Needless to say, he didn't last long before he too fell into a fit of laughter. This is what Kaizer had missed for the past three years. Had Xeleon ended up in a female soldier's quarters in his drunken stupor, god knows what questionable sounds one might hear this morning as one walked down the hall. Practically every woman on base wants him and his ridiculously sized muscles anyways, though Kaizer suspected that they wanted him more for his muscles than his perpetually intoxicating and intoxicated personality.

"Nothing, don't worry about it, Xel. I was just going my medical report again, that's all," replied Kaizer as he swiped away the data monitor out of view. He didn't want to give anything away yet, especially as it seemed like Xeleon might be involved in whatever is going on. Plus, Kaizer didn't really know what was going on anyway and wanted to take his time to independently look into this matter. Although he loved Xeleon like a brother, this was one thing he couldn't share with him. At least not until he was sure.

"Alright Hiraeth, but I'm just saying... maybe you should take some laxatives, mate. You taking care of your business at least twice a day?" mocked Xeleon as he took Kaizer's pillow and smacked him right in the face with it.

"You just don't grow up do you?" asked Kaizer as he chucked the pillow back at Xel, "By the way, how exactly did you get into my room again? Also, why in the world are you dressed as a Messenger? Where's your NueroArmor?"

"Oh, I asked the janitor to open your quarters for me. I told him that I had an urgent message for you, and it couldn't wait! Sorry about that, by the way. You fell right asleep after you came back from the mess hall, and I didn't want to wake you so I took the liberty of drinking all your urgent messages," grinned Xeleon with a wink as he reverted the plasma plane back to its original clear form.  Somehow, Kaizer wasn't the least bit surprised at this explanation. 

"Woah, look at this view! Hiraeth, what say you on the prospect of embarking on a grand quest into the glorious city of Solaria with me?" asked Xel as he pressed his forehead against the plane.

"Is that a question, or an order?" sighed Kaizer as he slipped on his NueroArmor. A notification popped up in his HUD saying that a connection has been established, and Kaizer blinked it out of view.

"Would it help if it was an order?"

"No, it really wouldn't, Xeleon. But I appreciate the thought," laughed Kaizer.

"Then an order it is, Warrant Officer Hiraeth! About face and forward march your ass out of this dainty little cubicle and follow me to the hangar bay!" shouted Captain Xeleon at the top of his lungs as he marched out of Kaizer's room in a Messenger's uniform that was a little too tight for his huge frame.

Kaizer wondered how in the hell Xeleon even became a Captain in the first place and followed him out of his quarters. However, amidst all the excitement, Kaizers forgot his communications device on his desk.

One would think that with all their sophisticated Processors and neurolinks, Pilots wouldn't need an old-fashioned hand held communications device. While they were obsolete in nearly all the other branches, communication devices were still favored by the Reconnaissance teams due to their reliability in the field. Recon Pilots were always required to carry theirs on them in cases of emergency, for both on and off-duty Pilots.

As the door slid back into place, a tone chimed on his comm device and a red alert flashed for the first time on the screen of his device. This was one such day where he should have remembered to take it with him. Kaiser wouldn't recall as he was still in the Academis, but a red alert was only issued once before by the Reconnaissance Corps.

The last time a red alert was issued for the Recon teams was approximately six years ago, and shortly after the Akari tried to invade Solysium and obliterated their moon into a million pieces. The lunar debris ring that still orbits the Core Planet of the Solis Republic remains as a permanent warning against the dangers of being unprepared.

A warning that Kaizer failed to heed.