After a long travel, Dr. Elaki Kalahahaii returns to her home in Endly, a colonial world owned by the MegaCorp Enchawah Corporation and she salutes Chatti, a relative of hers. Elaki asks about the whereabouts of her mother, who was in the field, as the Kalahahaiis live in the countryside, while Chatti was preparing to go to the school to teach there. Elaki offers to follow Chatti there and Chatti ask what was Elaki doing all that time, but since she is working with classified information, she cannot give Chatti more details.
Meanwhile, a commercial spaceship comes into the Ahan-Tako solar system, and the narration says there's a passenger whose identity is unknown even for the computer of the ship. The only thing the narrator says about the passenger is he is known for one thing he fears, but he prefers no doing anything for the moment until the time comes.
In Ish-tako, at SD 197-07-20 (July 20th, SD 197), Erma is having one hell of a nightmare in her head, as she sees many images from both her past, present and even probably her future. Those images include scenes from her childhood with her parents, her school years, and her job as a soldier. Suddenly, she sees an scene of her father Kanoc in an aerodyne, and how his aerodyne crashes against a building in a fiery fashion. Erma cannot help but waking up scared from her bed after such terrible nightmare. She later went straight to the Net to request a psychological discussion about what she saw in her dreams. The Net ask Erma whatever she saw in her dreams, especially stuff that she couldn't previously know before. Erma describes the last scene of her dream, when she describes an accident her father had in the past (the one which Alliusiz previously described issues ago) from Kanoc's POV, or at least the official story she knew from the EDF. The only difference is not only she felt anything that happened in that dream, she also felt the pain and even smelled whatever odor that happened there. Since she was dreaming from her father's point of view, she couldn't do anything else other than observing the current events. She also felt the aftermath of the accident, including the sounds of the alarms of the vehicle and the screams of death from the passengers of the aerodyne while they're burned to the crisp. The Net recommends Erma to go to see a doctor for a general check-up, while it will try to analyze her dream for a while.
Once within the hospital, the doctor tells Erma she is OK and she is just scared due of such nightmare. The doctor also adds an additional note: He also finds out Erma is pregnant. Erma seems to be silent due to the shock of the notice, and the doctor just ask her if she need some counceling. Later on, Erma tells Toki about her pregnancy, something that not only shocks her Rodent friend, but also pisses her off. Erma doesn't understand why she could get pregnant, albeit she deduce she was very... happy to be with Alfon, and to make matters worse, she was in heat, as she is more cyclic than Toki, due to her Feline biology, something that's not Played for Laughs in her situation. Toki opens a verbal can of whoop-ass on Erma, as she cannot believe that Erma, from all people, could get pregnant, while the resident Lovable Sex Maniac Toki, who came to Ish-tako for the sole reason to have sex with whatever nice guy she could get her hands on, and getting pregnant with a baby, despite Toki is a Rodent and all their lovers were from different species, albeit she also points out if both girl went pregnant at the same time, they would be transfered out from their assigment in Ish-tako. Erma, somewhat scared by Toki's attitude, tries to calm her down by telling her she just found out about her pregnancy a few hours ago and she never planned out having a baby. Toki, at the height of her rant, recommends Erma to abort the baby just for her sake. Erma outright refuse to abort hers just to please her friend so she could had her own, and Toki leaves the scene incredibly pissed. Erma feels really miserable as a result, and the Net tries to cheer her up, and it tries to explain her having a baby could help her to develop her personality much better. Erma ask what's going to happen with her relationship with Toki, Alfon, and above everything else, her own career, and the Net replies her pregnancy should not change the current status quo too much, and for the people who know her, being pregnant will help Erma to mature as an adult woman. Toki will have to wait and Erma herself should tell him about the whole thing.
Surprising enough, Alfon took the news about the baby very well, other than asking Erma how she could got pregnant. Erma quickly pointed the obvious to him from the events of the last issue in the beach. Alfon, for his part, ask Erma if she wants to marry him and having a family, something that she hasn't decided yet, due to the fortuitous nature of her situation. Alfon notes that since he barely knows Erma, he couldn't guarantee he could be with her for life, but he did want to raise a child with Erma and if she allows him to be with her, he doesn't have no further problems with that. Erma cracks a joke regarding Alfon as, despite his flaws, he could be a good parent, despite not being a military officer like her, something that Alfon admits, even if he doesn't like the way Erma said about that. Anyways, Erma's biggest concern right now is finding a "care group" (a group of parents with children who help new parents to raise their own with their help, something like a glorified kindergarten) if she wants to keep her job. Alfon offers himself on taking care of the baby in his job, as he normally works as a Desk Jockey outside his instructor work, but Erma jokely refuses, and he also ask Erma what she thinks about the whole situation. Erma replies she needs to think about it and she doesn't want to rush things, as the whole think is too important for both of them, and that without going into the point Toki will not going to help her, something that sadden Alfon, and Erma then left the scene somewhat sad as well, as she has to deal with the pregnancy by herself, with some help of Alfon.
Eight days later at Dornthant, we see Tavas Ikalik, Erma's former boyfriend, saluting some coworkers in the local Home Guard. Thanks to some clever manipulating and internal politics, Tavas managed to be promoted to Commander, despite being previously a humble pilot before three years ago. What Tavas's fellow members of the Home Guard doesn't know is the fact he is just manipulating them for his ultimate goal: Destroy Erma's life. Once he is in office, Tavas reveal he was the person responsable of sending Erma to Ekosiak, so he could get rid of her without dirtyning his hands on, and he could be the commander in Erma's homeland, while Erma herself is risking her skin into practically the outer skirts of the universe.
Few days later in the ILR, Colonel Tom Dannahasham is inspecting the ILR's Weapon Research and Development Dept. in the general HQ in the planet Baliannian. He talks with a member of the staff, who wanted to talk with him about a current project the man is working with, named Hassakenall, who is named after its creator. The weapon itself is a cluster kinetic weapon launched from space who takes advantage to the target's atmosphere so its destructive qualities remains, with less cratering and less enviromental damage. Until the creation of the Hassakenall, the ILR relied on nuclear weapons or other kind of kinetic weapons who only caused big craters or radioactive fallout, leaving the target unusable for the ILR to invade it. Col. Tom finds that weapon interesting, and he orders to send the plans of the Hassakenall towards the higher-ups for authorizing it. After that, Col. Tom takes a ride towards his home downtown in a private vehicle. His personal driver ask him if his plans to start a war against the ConFed, something that he denies, but he makes it clear in the case of any war, the Independent Lepine Republic will be the ones winning it at the end.
Once in home, Col. Tom is greeted by his wife and his daughter, named Tahdi, who asked his father to buy a vehicle for her, Tom ask why she wants one if normally the boys are the ones with one, but Tahdi answers him she doesn't want to depend of some poor loser. The reason why she wants one is because Tahdi's Love Interest doesn't have a vehicle, as being from a middle-class family. She only says he belongs to the Tankannahai family, who is also a Tech student, something that annoys Tom, as he considers Tahdi deserves something better. After finishing eating, Tom's wife ask him if he is going to see combat, a fact he denies as the ILR considers him too important for such job, but he comments that if he's lucky, he will not have to go to a war, but, in the case there's one, he will make sure whatever stands in the way of the ILR will pay the price for it.
Back to Ish-tako again at SD 197-07-25 (July 25th), we see Erma again inside a "care center" to inscribe herself there and she meets a Vulpine woman named Keena, who works there. Keena is surprised to see another person from Dornthant, as while her husband hails from there, she never has meet anyone from that planet, and she asks Erma if all the people of Dornthant are serious and rigid with the rules like everyone says in-universe, something that Erma is happy to give to specific details about her culture to Keena, as he also points out how Dornthantiis like her husband are so obssesed with cleanliness. On the other hand, Keena also Erma should hear what the people says about the people who works for Enchawah Corporation like Keena's family. She also surprised to hear Erma is a female pilot, something unusual for her due to the setting. After this, Keena presents Erma to the rest of the families that are there in the moment, a Canine father named Vincent, his son Theo and a Avian (duck) woman named Eni. Eni asks Erma if she is really the woman named Erma Felna that everyone is talking about in mass media, and she says she is a fan of her. Once all the current families are there in a lounge, Erma says she's somewhat nervous, as she hails from a very conservative and nuclear family, then Keena ask if Erma's mate (Alfon) will participate with them. Erma points out the situation is still a bit chaotic in her side, as her pregnancy wasn't planned at all, and the rest of the members expects that Erma could stay with them for a while.
A month earlier in Ekosiak, Col. Onni Hitzok is still dealing with the aftermath of Aito Kho's plans and the uprising he orchestrated, as he is still arresting members of the rebel forces. One of the captured rebels is a Feline named Banchen, who is in the eyes of Col. Hitzok, as he wants him to work for him. Banchen tells Hitzok someone named Dana doesn't like "dead escapees", so Hitzok request his men to keep an eye on the captured rebels and he ask Tehtahno, his right-hand, to take care of the situation in his place. Once he's out of the sight of his own men, he meets with Dea-Htuhok Kho, who is now the current secretary of the Ekosiaki Home Guard, and he mentions about Dana and the Special Services having a disagreement about how to deal with the captured rebels and terrorists. Dea doesn't like the name of Dana for some reason, albeit Col. Hitzok explains about him thanks to Banchen. Hitzok also adds that Tehtahno, his right-hand, seems to be more interested in fixing mistakes, on Hitzok's own words. Meanwhile, Dea checks out in the Net about any information about those men and their connections with the late Aito. For some really bizarre reason, the databases of many of those people are in blank, something that is not possible, at least in a legal way, as like Shato or someone else were tampering with The Net and deleted any incriminating information, so their only thing they can do is trying to talk with him.
And regarding Shato, he is already in Arras Chanka in a "special facility" resting naked, when he receives a call from The Net warning him that the files about his actions in Ekosiak were opened and thanks to that, Shato will further incriminated in the whole deal regarding his "business" of killing Aito. Shato points out he already knew this is going to be a dangerous job when he accepted do to it. The Net add that the crew of Itzak Arrat's ship will be brought to an investigation as well since they were witness of the whole Chishata massacre, and to complicate matter more, it turns out the whole Chishata colony was under Aito's payroll and the there's other people involved, besides Aito, including members of the EDF and the ConFed, leading to a giant conspiration involving corrupt higher-ups. The Net asks Shato his help, as his abilities could be needed later.
Back to Ish-tako again, Erma is having another weird, this time is a flashback dream about the past of Erma and Itzak's parents Kanoc and Joseph in their days in the EDF academy and how Kanoc meet Eda, Erma's mother. According with Erma, since she was told about this previously by both men, Joseph arranged both Eda and Kanoc to be together by pulling out a simple prank, taking advantage of Kanoc's stoic personality when he was young, and meanwhile Erma wonders what happened with Itzak.
In the next scene, we see the aforementioned Equine in his way to Arras Chanka, while being also warned by The Net that the whole Chisata incident and the Ekosiaki uprising are related to each other thanks to Aito and to complicated matter more, the data issued by the EDF members in the space station he was before trying to smear his name wasn't deflected out, making his travel to Arras Chanka completely moot, a fact pointed by him. The Net further explain to him that he will become more important as he have important information that could reveal how much corrupt and inefficent the EDF has become, while also explaining about the mining operations in Chishata and its relation with the Aito-created Ekosiaki uprising and how the events from Chishata motivated the people from Ekosiak to rebel against the EDF and the ConFed, while the EDF's Intelligence Division seems to try to smear his name or many eliminate him, so the Net suggests Arrat to find another ship to head towards other planet instead. Meanwhile Itzak Arrat is having a... nice moment with the girls the Net brought out previously.
Returning to Ish-tako yet again, we see Toki completely depressed and ashamed asking for forgiveness from Erma for asking her to get rid of the baby, as she wonders in a horrorized tone why she said that, as she is an EDF officer and above all, a Danetti, whose people are know for being very nice, albeit hedonistic, people, but in that moment, Toki acted like a bitch towards Erma, as she wanted that baby dead just for her own amusement. Toki also wondered if she needs some psychiatrical help after such event, since she feels incredibly scared for having such murderous thoughts. Not only Erma forgives her, she also explains to her no one, even Toki, can be perfect and the whole thing is a very emotional moment for everyone involved on it, and how anyone shouldn't make any further plans while being in a very emotional state and the best thing both girls can do is to work together, so Erma's pregnancy can come to good terms.
Tropes
- Alternative Calendar: This issue is notable for being the first one when the dates of the current events in the Standard Calendar (SD) are used for the first time hereafter.
- Breather Episode: Somewhat, compared with the previous two issues, but there's still more emphasis on the regular life of many of the main characters rather than the actual political intrigue that befalls both the EDF and the ILR.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Sort of, since he doesn't appear physically, but Ipcha Tankannahai, who is Tahdi's boyfriend and one of the many deuteragonists of the story, is mentioned by at least his surname in this issue.
- Flashback Nightmare: Many of the nightmares Erma has are flashback involving her father Kanoc. The creepiest part of this is the fact she is dreaming from her father's POV and also experimenting her father's pain as well.
- Named Weapons: The ILR kinetic cluster weapon is named Hassakenall, after the person who develop it.
- Surprise Pregnancy: Erma didn't know she was pregnant until she went to a doctor after having many unexplained nightmares.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Tavas calls Erma a "Dornthantii bitch" for having the nerve of breaking off with him, and now he is trying to ruining her life from the shadows, now that he managed to became a commander of the local Home Guard.
- Yandere: Discussed by Toki at the end of the issue, as she really wanted the baby dead, but after figuring what kind of stuff she said, she was naturally horrorized by the sole thought of murdering an innocent child and she asked for forgiveness from Erma.
