The Starlight Lancer

Chapter Sixty-One: Lancer Armor

"Best way to kill a lancer is to make sure they never see you."

—Legendary assassin Gil Donta, in his interview with CID after being arrested

Eva immediately set her cup down and darted about, gathering chunks of metal and placing them in the separate chambers of the lit forge to be melted down. She then went to the computer and began furiously typing.

Garrick turned away and walked toward a nearby table. "I'll get your TAC-suit ready."

He hunched over and touched a small monitor—then, with a hum, a row of machinery lining the nearest wall hummed to life, and slender robotic arms extended from the walls. Garrick fussed with the monitor for a few more moments before walking over to the wall and grabbing a roll of dark blue TAC material and chambering it inside a large feeding machine embedded into the wall. That machine unspooled the fabric, and the robot arms reached out and grabbed it, twisting and folding the odd, extremely thin material.

Garrick sauntered back over. "Once that's ready, we'll just have to fuse the layers. That'll be quick. Then we can see how it fits. Sometimes it glitches out and doesn't use the right measurements, but I think we got it ironed out—just a warning in case we have to do it again."

Zaina shrugged. "You act like I'm in a hurry."

"Oh, you're not? Thank the heavens," Garrick said. "Okay, well, it might take us a little bit to get everything right, but we'll make sure we do. You'll have top-grade lancer armor. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the gamba."

"Hey," Eva said, butting in again. "What color do you want it?"

"Huh?" Zaina asked. "I get to choose the color?"

"With this blend, you do," Eva said. "Gray's too boring. This is the first piece of my design that's going out there in the galaxy, so it has to be special. Come on, what color?"

Zaina thought for a moment. Her favorite color—the one she missed the most from her home—was the green of the trees, the grass, and even the swampland near her home.

"Green," she said.

Eva's eye narrowed. "Green? Are you sure? You'll stick out like a sore thumb if you're in a desert. Or tundra."

"Well, what color were you expecting me to say?"

Eva shrugged. "I don't know—yeah, okay, green it is. What kind of green, now?"

"Huh?"

"Well, do you want neon green, bright green, dark green—"

Zaina knew the answer. "The color of the forest."

Eva smiled. "Yeah, I think I gotcha. All right. Give me a little bit, now. The pot's full of gamba if you want a refill."

Zaina nodded. "Thank you. You've been too kind to me."

Garrick crossed his arms. "It's our duty to make sure all lancers who come into our forge are properly equipped. This forge has been lit for ten thousand years—the weight of that legacy is not lost on us. We won't steer you wrong."

Zaina smiled. Maybe there were some nice people in the Order of Riiva after all—but definitely no normal ones.

Garrick fussed over the TAC-suit for another hour before it was ready to try on. She went behind a wall to change. To her delight, the material was soft and warm and fit her body perfectly—only her hands and above the upper neck weren't covered. It was dark blue and incredibly light. If she closed her eyes, it felt like she was wearing nothing. When she stepped back out, Garrick clapped.