Youri didn't ask for permission this time. He simply bent down, slid one arm beneath Leonora's knees and the other behind her back, and lifted her as though she weighed nothing at all. For a heartbeat she stiffened. Then she let out a breath. Her hand curled lightly against his chest with her fingers gripping the fabric of his uniform, and the tension that had been holding her upright finally let go. She rested her head beneath his collarbone, her silver hair falling across his arm, as he stepped out into the corridor.
The halls of Central Command were always cold — sterile metal, controlled light, disciplined silence — but tonight they felt different. Officers and soldiers stopped in mid-step as the Duke of Kaelthorn walked past them carrying their general in his arms. They had seen her in countless briefings, upright, composed, iron-spined, the Commander of the Royal Knights who never flinched. Now she looked human. Not weak — but unguarded. Some of the younger soldiers quickly looked away out of respect. Others stared in stunned silence. Nobody said a word. Youri didn't acknowledge any of them. He just kept walking, while in his arms her breathing grew steady.
"You didn't have to do this," she murmured.
"I know."
The doors of the medical bay parted with a soft hiss on white light. The staff rushed forward, and he laid her gently on one of the beds. "Run a full scan," he told them calmly. "And make sure she actually rests."
Leonora shot him an irritated look. "I can give my own orders."
"And you will," he said, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "After you sleep." For once, she didn't argue. He turned and left.
The corridor seemed longer on the way back. Word had already spread, and the crew watched him pass with whispers trailing behind him — not gossip, but unease. The Empire had been challenged. And the Duke was moving.
By the time he reached the hangar, mechanics were already crawling over the damaged NOIR, whose dark silver armor carried the scars of the fight — deep plasma scoring across the torso and microfractures through the shoulder joints — so that its once-smooth surface looked like something that had survived a war rather than a prototype trial. Youri stopped in front of it. "Can we strip the main armor," he asked one of the senior mechanics, "and build a new design over the core frame?"
The mechanic blinked. "Sir… this is a prototype. Only the Science Division has clearance to modify NOIR-class frames."
Youri let out a slow breath. "I assume the Science Division is here at Central Command?"
"No, sir. Their headquarters are in the capital."
Youri's eyes traveled up the towering machine. The rogue Orbiton had adapted in the middle of a fight. It had overdriven far beyond any Royal Knight's limits. It had forced them to react instead of plan. That would not happen again. "Prepare a transport. I need to get to the Science Division."
The mechanic hesitated. "Immediately, sir?"
"Immediately."
News travels quickly in any military structure, and faster still when it involves a duke. Leonora was halfway through a forced rest cycle when an officer quietly told her of Youri's plans, and she sat up at once. "What?"
"He's preparing a transport to the capital, my lady."
Her bandaged arm protested as she swung her legs off the bed. "That idiot…" And she stood, ignoring the medic's objections, and marched straight out of the medical bay. The hangar doors were already cycling when she got there, and Youri was standing beside a sleek atmospheric transport with its engines humming on standby, giving his last instructions.
"And where," her voice cut across the bay, "do you think you're going?"
He turned slowly and looked at her for a moment. Her arm was properly treated now, wrapped and held in a sling across her shoulder. The bleeding had stopped, though fatigue still shadowed her face. "You should be in bed," he said evenly.
She smirked. "If you think a scratch like this is enough to knock me down," she said, stepping closer, "you still haven't realized who you married." And without waiting for an answer, she walked past him and boarded the transport.
Youri stood there for a second. Then a faint smile crossed his lips. He shook his head and followed her.
Hours later, the transport came down through the capital's upper atmosphere, and the headquarters of the Science Division rose from the skyline, unlike any military building — bold, aerodynamic, elegant. A wide circular base anchored it, wrapped in angled glass that reflected the sky in pale blues and silvers, its lower levels transparent enough to show researchers moving between holographic displays and suspended components. From its center rose a slender, tapering tower that looked almost weightless for its size, with a column of glass running down its spine through which the elevators glided like veins of light. Midway up, rounded platforms jutted out from it like docking nodes, and at its summit a vast circular dome crowned it, so that the whole thing looked like a spacecraft ready to lift off from the ground at any moment.
They hadn't announced their arrival, which made the reaction at the entrance all the more dramatic. The security staff snapped straight as the Duke and Duchess of Kaelthorn stepped onto the platform, and bowed — "My lord. My lady." Inside, researchers froze in mid-conversation, assistants hurried out of the corridors to catch a glimpse of them, and whispers followed in their wake. A woman in a gray, close-fitting uniform came toward them with composed efficiency, her hair tied neatly back, and bowed deeply. "I am honored to be in your presence, my lord, my lady. I am Diana, senior research coordinator. The Director is on his way. If you'll allow me, I'll show you around in the meantime."
Leonora nodded once, and Diana led them through the facility — past development chambers where Orbiton frames floated in magnetic suspension, holographic schematics turning in the air and peeling away layer by layer to reveal the mechanical musculature beneath the armor, and engineers calibrating energy cores the size of small vehicles. "This sector focuses on adaptive plating," Diana explained. "We've been experimenting with layered composite alloys that can redistribute kinetic impact."
Youri's eyes narrowed slightly. "Redistribute," he repeated quietly.
"Yes, my lord. Instead of absorbing force directly, the plating disperses it across multiple structural channels." Interesting. He thought of the rogue unit taking a Royal Knight's full counter-blast on its chest and holding.
They had passed through the propulsion labs, the neural interface rooms and the experimental weapons sectors when a man came briskly down the corridor toward them — in his mid to late forties, with dark curly hair slightly disheveled and a silver lab coat hanging loosely from his shoulders with its sleeves rolled to the elbow, and eyes that were sharp, analytical, restless.
"This is Director Makali," Diana said. "Head scientist of the Division, and one of the original researchers behind Orbiton core architecture."
Makali stopped and gave them a respectful nod. "My lord. My lady." His voice was low and measured. When Youri offered his hand, he took it firmly. "I hope Diana's tour has been satisfactory."
"Impressive," Leonora said.
His office overlooked the central research atrium, its transparent walls alive with feeds of energy outputs, structural stress tests and prototype metrics. They sat down across the desk from him while he folded his hands. "How may the Science Division assist the Empire's finest?"
Youri didn't waste any time. "Director Makali — is there any chance there has been a leak from the projects under your authority?"
The room went still, and Makali's face didn't change at first. "A leak?"
"We encountered an unidentified Orbiton on the Outer Rim," Leonora said. "Its architecture matches no registered foreign power. Its output exceeded Royal Knight limits. And its adaptability suggests it knows our systems."
Makali's eyes sharpened. "That is a serious implication."
"I'm aware," Youri said calmly. "Which is why I'm asking you directly."
Makali leaned slowly back in his chair. "Every NOIR-class and Royal Knight specification is compartmentalized. Access requires triple authorization. The core architecture is stored offline on isolated quantum servers."
"And yet," Leonora said quietly, "something out there mirrors our advances."
Makali looked from one of them to the other. "Describe this unit."
Youri activated the interface on his wrist, and the rogue Orbiton took shape above the desk — matte-black armor, the amber slit of its visor, the twin vertical cannons. Makali leaned forward, and his expression changed. Not to shock. To recognition.
"Impossible," he murmured.
Youri saw it at once. "You've seen something like this."
Makali hesitated. "There was a concept," he admitted slowly. "An early design proposal, years ago. It was rejected. Judged too unstable — too aggressive in its amplification of core output."
Leonora's eyes narrowed. "Who proposed it?"
Makali met her gaze. "A researcher who left the Division shortly afterward."
The silence settled like a weight on the room, and Youri's voice was calm, but colder now. "Name."
Makali let out a long breath, and his fingers hovered over the console on his desk. "If this design has resurfaced, then we may not be facing a random enemy at all." He paused. "The name is Doctor Serin Valis."