This is the first issue of the Dornthant sub-arc, the final sub-arc of the first arc.
We see Capt. Itzak Arrat still wandering in the Enchawah's mining colony, when he suddenly meets a former member of his crew when he still was a member of the EDF, a Rodent (mouse) named Mateoschat. The only reason he came all the way to Enchawah's space is just to speak about the death of his fellow officer, who commited suicide thanks by the pressure of the ConFed's secret services. Obviously enough, this shocks Arrat, and Mateoschat further explains that officer dared to challenged the official truth about the Chishata massacre years ago, and the ConFed quickly make accusations about their mission there, including blaming them for the whole crime, thanks to forged evidence and they forced that officer to confess. Mateoschat's role in the whole trial was just as at witness, albeit luckily for him he wasn't accused for any crime and he has no further restrictions impossed to him, so he could leave the ConFed space and warn the former members about their fellow officer's fate.
Arrat asks if Mateoschat plans to join him, but he declines, as while Mateoschat hates the corruption within the EDF and the ConFed, he still bound by his oath he did when he joined the EDF. Arrat, on the other hand, outright states he is utterly disgusted by the levels of entrenched corruption inside the organization and how they waved off his opinions, and how they planned to assign him to another position, so he could keep his mouth shut. And since they have control of The Net, there's nothing they can do to stop them. Mateoschat replies he still bound by his duty to the EDF and he should return to his post, but he still admires Arrat's devotion to his principles and he thinks he could be basically insignificant for them on regards of anything he could do for stoping them, even if they watch him or not. And when the things change, he will still there at least. Arrat ask Mateoschat if he knew about the whereabouts of Arrat's former crew members when he was in the EDF, something that Mateoschat denies, other than some of them could be in Enchawah's space as well. And Arrat himself decided to show him his new crew, along with his new ship he received from Enchawah.
The new crew, of about thirty people, is staffed by former EDF member like Arrat as well, and he also presented them too: So far the members are Frieda Rangoon, a Canine (Siberian Husky), Dru Clark, another Canine (Terrier), Lees Koschusko, yet another Canine (Pomeranian), being the three of them members of the security team. Ilnya Ludadpik, a Vulpine (Artic fox) and the weapon specialist of the ship, Sakirt Mikmik, an Ursine (Racoon) and a Jack of All Trades, according with Arrat, Tad, a Mustelid (Otter), plus the chief engineer and xenospecialist, Enrico, a Marsupial (Platypus) and the cook of the ship, Chinnah, an female Equine (Zebra), and Arrat's Number Two, plus others.
Meanwhile in the ILR, we see Ipcha Tankannahai trying to fix the spaceship's circuitry as a part of his practices. Besides fixing the circuts, he also did some extra, unauthorized arrangements on them, but by doing so he attracted the wrath of his instructors, as not only he was not authorized to do any change on the vital systems of the ship, he also deviated from the standard procedures on repairing those as well, and he received a verbal beatdown from his instructors.
After expending the rest of the day rewiring the ship's circuitry as a punishment, Tankannahai returns to his bunk, when he's bullied by his roommates, mostly because they think he was trying to show off to his instructors. Later, he went to take a shower, when he laments that he was being punished for every right thing he was doing, not to mention having to tolerate a bunch of retarded, jealous mates with him. And regarding them, they were expecting him with an unpleasant surprise in his bed: His bed was vandalized with trash, and making fun of him as well.
In the next scene, we see Erma, Alfon and Rojigo Felna dressed in civilian clothes and ready for leave Ish-tako for good, but first Toki, via video phone, sends a message for the Felnas before jumping to Dornthant space, assuring them that everything will be well in her hands. She also wishes luck to both Erma and Alfon, especially after a year of both of them being together. Meanwhile, Erma and Alfon finished with the last preparations before jumping, while they also prepared their baby son Rojigo with a baby bag to avoid him to choke with his vomit when they jump to Dornthant space. In that moment, the ship when the Felnas were within it was preparing for jumping and zero-gravity kicked in, causing Alfon to puke. Luckily, he already had his own bag and he mentions he dislikes Zero-G, something that doesn't affect neither Erma nor Rojigo, the latter seems to enjoy it instead despite being a cub baby.
A few minutes later, the ship was ready to jump and Erma asks Alfon to take care of the baby, just in case. In that moment, the ship jumped from Ish-tako to Dornthant space in a single moment. The event cause Rojigo to be scared, but for some reason, Erma was not feeling well after the jump, but Erma dismissed Alfon's worries about the topic, explaining it could be some "jump sickness", something that Alfon doesn't buy at all.
A few hours later and since Erma and Rojigo were sleeping, the Net wakes Erma up from her sleep, since she needs to talk to her. The Net (or at least, whoever controlling it at the moment) explains to Erma that the main Net was hacked and that a group of corrupt EDF officials have in their possession the means to alter the network information at will. It also turns out that Erma's assignment in Dornthant was a plan by Tavas Ikalik to make life difficult for her in her own turf. Erma can't help but be enraged to hear his name again, but her expression of anger caused Rojigo to be frightened of her, causing her to have to quiet him. She also asked if the Net could protect her and her family from Tavas, but for some reason, the Net changed the subject and it talked about Erma's dreams she had in Ish-tako months ago, not to mention about the incident she had when the ship jumped to Dornthant space and the fact Rojigo reacted to her fear and rage after she heard Tavas's name a moment ago.
The Net reached the conclusion Erma couldn't be a Talent (at least, not a classical one) but she had some sensitivity, and the same goes for Rojigo as well. The Net explained later that there are some medications that can control sensitivity caused by the Psychic Powers of both without causing adverse side effects. In the same way, the computer explained that there are other Talents as well and that taking these medications could calm the symptoms during the jump. Erma asked why until now she is having problems at the time of the jump, something that the net responded that her pregnancy and her dreams were causing her psychic sensitivity to increase exponentially. The Net also explains to her what powers she has. Her main power is being able to be aware of the physical space she has around her without the need for electronic instruments, which is very useful to her since she is a combat pilot. Since her powers depend on her having to be present in one dimension continuously, jumping from one place to another causes her perception of the current dimension to be abruptly interrupted and causing adverse side effects, not to mention that it can alter Rojigo as well.
Erma asks the Net if she and the baby will become more sensitive to all that, especially Rojigo in the near or distant future, something that the computer answers there are different variables to take into account, since the powers of some Talents are manifested early, but in the case of her, their powers were manifested later, but the Net does not expect that their powers will increase later, and the best thing she could do now that she knows about her powers is at least trying to refine them.
Meanwhile in Tankannahai's spaceship, he and the rest of the students packed into astronaut suits immediately and prepared for their battle stations. He noticed that something big was about to happen, taking into account the demands of wearing the suits, something that even the instructors were also wearing. Due to the extremely stressful situation, several of Tankannahai's classmates began to get nervous and start babbling. On the other hand, he tried to calm them down by pointing out that they were too far away from a combat zone and that even if they jumped onto a battlefield, they would be too far away to get involved. Hours later, the spacecraft jumped into ConFed space, causing Tankannahai's classmates to panic. After that, one of Tankannhai's superiors asked him to report to the ship's bridge for a briefing as his division representative, because he was the smartest of them, in their own words. He can't help cursing his luck, since it seemed that he was becoming the scapegoat of all the ILR, and asked himself why he couldn't be like everyone else.
Once in the briefing room of the spaceship's bridge, Tankannahai learned of the ILR's plans in ConFed space: The plan was to enter enemy territory and make a coordinated strike in the center of ConFed space. He decides to ask a question regarding the technical aspects of the mission, since according to the course plot, they would have to do many fringe jumps in very unusual angles. As fringe jumps means a low accuracy, it would take a few screw ups to put them off-course. The senior officer pointed out this is only an example course, and as Tankannahai said, it would be many risks, so they will have to change the plot on the fly. The arrival time and not the route is the only thing that mattered at all. They also noticed Tanlannahai was from the engineering division and they ask him a way to reduce their fuel intake for the ship.
The officers noticed who was the instructor of Tankannahai, whose name was Lieutenant Barkalahaia. Suddenly, the superior officer of the mission aggressively asks him what the lieutenant's whereabouts were, what he thought about the mission, and why he was carrying what appeared to be a diaper bag. He politely explained that the lieutenant had decided that Tankannahai was the right person to represent him in his place. And as for what he thought of the mission, he thought it was a bold and aggressive attack, and that there was no sure way to secure the target once they got there. And last but not least, what looked like a diaper bag was actually an emergency kit bag with its helmet, since they were on level three alert. The officer also replies the the specifics of their mission once they reach the target are not their concern and he also promoted Tankannahai to "Lieutenant of Engineers", basically being a Field Promotion. While this could sound like a good thing for Tankannahai, actually his promotion was nothing more than a Cool and Unusual Punishment for saying too much, since it means that now Tankannhai will have more work than he now has, and the after a hard day, the only thing our Lepine Deuteragonist wants is to sleep.
After arriving at his quarters, his roommates made a military salute, as Tankannahai was promoted to lieutenant. He also noticed that all his belongings were packed, since his peers thought he would move from quarters to those that were for high-ranking officers, something he denied and he explained that although he was promoted to lieutenant, he only had the responsibilities, but not the privileges that bestowed the rank and his pay remained the same. One of the roommates mentioned that all members would be transferred to a new space frigate and that Tankannahai would be the new engineering officer on that ship after reading the news on a posting list.
Meanwhile in Ekosiak, we can see several news programs that mention various events that are happening at that time on the aforementioned planet regarding Colonel Hitzok, Dea and Governor Genyanaka:
- The first one, with a much liberal slant, spoke about the demonstrations in favor of Hitzok, who was unjustly accused of conspiring against the governor and, at the same time, several demonstrators also protested in favor of the government, demanding a response about how the information on the Net was falsified and why Genyanaka has swallowed all that history.
- The second one, with a neutral tone, commented on Aito Kho's conspiracy and how it still continues as a group of centralists and their allies who appeared to be concerned nationalists who were part of rickety demonstrations. At the same time, it was commented on how Hitzok's liberation was demanded in these demonstrations, and how Hitzok could have been "seduced" by centralist agents in favor of the ConFed and at the same time deceived by the governor, who is also being manipulated by the aforementioned centralists.
- And the last program, pro-government in nature, mentioned that the entire planet was being victimized by a group of rioters, defying the governor's calls to public order, and that as attempts to bring order have been sabotaged by "alleged" Home Guard members who swore allegiance to the "traitor" Hitzok and Dea, which the reporter does not hesitate to call her a "Dornthantii harlot" in live streaming, and how the accusations that the Net was altered are just distractions to attack the government. The reporter also mentions that citizens should avoid travel, avoiding dangerous groups of people, and not using the Net so that it can be used in emergencies.
Later on, one of Hitzok's aides realized that many people took to the streets to show their support for him, and he commented that the only way to stop him and his followers would be if the governor ordered an air strike against them, although Hitzok said he would not doubt that the governor could do such a vile thing and he feared that something might happen to them. Fortunately, the planet's government had not done anything so far. Hitzok thought it was time to stop the whole situation before it became worse, and asked if the legislature has agreed to an interim government to replace governor Genyanaka in her office. The aide said they would only do so if Genyanaka resigned first, and then Hitzok makes a video call to her. He offered a peaceful way to resolve the conflict, but she interpreted it as Hitzok's intention to quit. Instead, the colonel thought of the creation of a temporary committee to govern the planet instead of her and conduct new elections. Obviously enough, she doesn't like the idea at all, and she considers him and his followers as a small nuisance.
While Hitzok agrees with her, strangely enough, on the other hand he accused her that her plans caused the people of Ekosiak to distrust the Net and the authorities as a result. He also explained that the protesters are not really worried about him or even the governor, but about the level of corruption that exists in the authorities of the planet, causing the Ekosiakis to lose faith in their rulers. Genyanaka rapidly considers what Hitzok said as truly pathetic on his part, and does not hesitate to consider him as naïve, and that his threats do not frighten her at all, and Genyanaka quickly ordered the computer program that controls the Net to execute the secret plan she had in store for that setback.
Genyanaka's secret plan was to disable the Net and take control of communication lines around Ekosiak, as well as destroy any secret files that might involve her. But there was one detail that even she didn't take into account: By disabling the Net, she also lost control of the whole situation and half the planet mutinied against her. Obviously enough, Genyanaka was pissed as never before in her life, because she considered it impossible for her to lose control of the planet, and she ordered the computer to give her displays of what was happening at the time. The computer told her that the Net was no longer available, on her orders, something that left her speechless. Genyanaka demands an explanation from the computer about why she was never warned beforehand about that possibility, something the computer explains that she was very paranoid in restricting the computer's initiative in an attempt to protect it from any hostile activity.
Meanwhile at Colonel Hitzok's house, one of his aides warned him that the Net was unavailable for everyone, something he supposed to be a prelude to some attack attempt by the governor, not fully knowing that she couldn't do anything either, and ordered to keep the other channels open for any eventuality. When another aide asked if the governor would attempt to attack him directly, Hitzok did not doubt that she could have disabled the Net to keep them in the dark. Now Hitzok and his followers have to find a way to restore order on the planet without the help from the Net.
While all this was going on in Ekosiak, no one noticed that an ILR ship jumped into the planet's space and since all the systems that would have detected that enemy spacecraft were deactivated, the incident went unnoticed.
- Driven to Suicide: One of Arrat's fellow officers commited suicide after being pressured by the ConFed
- Fantastic Racism: Assuming that she is not the only one with the same opinion and that she was not manipulating the media to spread her opinion, some pro-government media seems to loathe the people of Dornthant like Dea. And they don't doubt on calling her a harlot as well.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Genyanaka ordered the computer program she was using to control the Net to disable it in order to leave Hitzok and her followers without any means of communication between them, without considering that this would affect her in the same way.
- Kicked Upstairs: Tankannahai is promoted and transferred to another new ship as punishment for giving his opinion about the mission. And it is also implied that his former superior officer would also be punished off-screen for sending Tankannahai instead of going him.
- Propaganda Machine: Genyanaka does not hesitate to use the media to tarnish the reputation of Hitzok and Dea.
