Chapter 2: A Second Life Filled with Regrets
The era known as the Western Calendar was said to have ended in the year 2348. The Earth Calendar marked that year as its first. Around that time, Earth plunged into civil war, dragging its colonies—other colonized planets—into the conflict.
Pollution from the wars rendered Earth uninhabitable, forcing humanity to terraform Mars, the Moon, and other colonies to survive. While waiting for Earth’s purification, they fought over hegemony, and the wars continued.
Records from that period are severely fragmented and ambiguous. Many scholars believe civilization temporarily regressed, with interstellar communication cut off for over a thousand years.
Eventually, despite the prolonged warfare, humanity rebuilt, reclaimed its spacefaring technology, and Earth transitioned into an imperial system. A leader was necessary—thus, the political system centered around the Emperor was established.
And just as Earth’s empire was about to reach its zenith…
The Earth Empire—no, humanity itself—was once again on the brink of crisis.
The decisive battle took place in the empire’s controlled sector M-6567, near the resource-mining colony planet Agri.
With Agri at their backs, the Earth Empire’s grand fleet numbered 1,500 ships of all classes combined. Among them were 120 battleships, six carriers, 209 cruisers, and the rest destroyers.
Of course, this wasn’t the empire’s entire fleet—only the most capable ships mobilized for the battle. The total number of onboard fighters exceeded 3,000.
It was an overwhelming, awe-inspiring, undeniably invincible armada—or so everyone believed.
Among the fleet’s right wing was a small squadron,
commanded by a young woman who had just turned twenty-two.
“A-All ships, commence firing! Artillery ships, missile ships, move forward!”
At her command, beams of heavy particle fire erupted from every ship under her.
When one fired, others followed. And since it was an order from their captain, no one dared disobey.
With no real coordination, the rest of the fleet also began attacking—
pushing forward recklessly, as if competing for glory.
It was unmistakably the behavior of green recruits.
“Advance! Advance! Our fleet will strike first!”
Hundreds of flashes of light streaked through the dark void, slamming into the dull-colored circular fleet in the distance. But due to particle diffusion over range, most were easily dispersed by enemy shields.
However, a few lucky shots—particle beams that avoided attenuation or consecutive direct hits—managed to breach the shields. A handful of unlucky enemy ships were destroyed, and the young captain grinned with nervous excitement.
“W-We can do this! The data was right—the defense of the Horsehead Nebula Fleet isn’t that strong! All ships, launch torpedoes in sequence! Keep advancing—burn them to ashes with heavy particles!”
The enemy seemed paralyzed by the ferocity of their assault.
No proper counterattack came. Of course—they had struck first, a surprise attack. The Earth Empire’s ships boasted the strongest defenses. The enemy’s pitiful particle beams would all be repelled!
And in return, they would unleash overwhelming firepower, shatter the enemy’s formation, and cut through them—victory would be the Earth Empire’s!
“Go! Go! Push forward and keep firing!”
Everyone obeyed her voice.
No one stopped them. Or perhaps someone tried—but neither she, nor the young soldiers, would have heard it.
Drunk on the intoxication of crushing the enemy, they gave no thought to the state of the fleets following them.
This was the Earth Empire’s greatest weakness—a chronic shortage of competent personnel.
Decades without large-scale warfare had bred complacency. Even against minor rebel forces, the atmosphere of real battle was unfamiliar.
So when the enemy counterattacked—
They didn’t target the overextended vanguard. Instead, the wolves pounced on the sheep—the fleets in the rear, hesitating, unsure whether to advance or retreat.
Thus, it was over in an instant.
“Huh…?”
The female captain let out a bewildered sound.
Her own ships were mostly unharmed. But when the shockwaves of distant explosions reached her, she couldn’t believe what the bridge displays showed.
The Earth fleet was in ruins.
The reckless charge of her Lillian Fleet had thrown the rest into chaos. Some feared friendly fire and held back. Others, realizing their advance wasn’t ordered, froze in place. Some simply stood dumbfounded, unable to comprehend what was happening.
This was behavior that should never have happened.
But most of these soldiers had only a few years of experience—age didn’t matter. Whether thirty or forty, they had never seen real war.
And the enemy fleet seized the moment.
In mere seconds, the “invincible” imperial fleet was annihilated.
The ones devoured were the half-hearted fleets caught in no-man’s-land. Some, in a mix of bravery and foolishness, tried to rescue others—only to be caught in the chain reaction of explosions.
By then, the Earth fleet’s right wing had vanished.
“W-Wait… why?”
Ignoring the Lillian Fleet’s battleship, the enemy’s circular formation advanced.
And then—
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“…What an unpleasant dream.”
Lillian woke without cold sweat, without screams—without anything.
She was on the left observation deck of the battleship Tiberius.
“Did thinking about the past bring that on? And yet, I still can’t remember anything beyond this point.”
The nightmare came from dredging up old memories. But even so, the doubts lingering in her mind remained unanswered. After being seen off by her overprotective parents and servants with hollow smiles, Lillian was sent off to the academy.
An “academy” in name, but closer to a military base. Most students came from military families, though there were plenty of commoners—mostly in maintenance, marines, or infantry courses.
Lillian and her peers, of course, were in the elite track—future commanders, admirals, fighter pilots, communications officers, and artillery specialists.
The name of this prestigious institution? The Akatsuki no Homura (Dawn Blaze) Academy.
An absurd name, but as an Earth Empire-approved school, it reflected the empire’s aristocratic tastes.
The headmaster—a man who bragged about being a fleet commander (though everyone knew it was a ceremonial post in the frontier) with no real combat experience—gave a meaningless speech. Afterward, the graduating students split into groups and filed into the academy’s massive underground dock, each boarding their assigned battleship.
The construction of this underground facility had reportedly caused horrific environmental damage.
Three hundred years ago, when the academy was founded, there had been significant opposition.
By the 4000s of the Earth Calendar, spaceship dock construction had become a major industry. The empire saw no reason to stop it, so even now, they likely kept digging up land to build more bases.
From this underground dock, four battleships soared majestically into space.
The Tiberius and the other ships taking the graduation exam shared the same design: an upper section housing the bridge and command centers, a middle section for living quarters, and a lower section with hangars and storage. Since they were built for space combat, both the upper and lower sections were equipped with main cannons, torpedo launchers, and anti-aircraft guns.
Destroyers and carriers had different layouts, but cruisers and battleships generally followed this structure.
Students, teachers, families, and curious citizens watched the ships depart.
“How carefree. Though I suppose I shouldn’t talk—I was napping just now.”
Lillian, clad in the officer’s uniform given to all graduating students, gazed down from the observation deck, half-dazed.
No one could have known that soon, a space war would begin.
“Then and now, I can’t really judge others. In my past life, I barely thought about exams—just attended tea parties.”
In her previous life, she had spent her days elegantly sipping tea with her entourage of classmates. But now, she couldn’t bring herself to join such gatherings. Politely declining, she had escaped to this deserted deck and dozed off.
“Come to think of it… those girls died in the war too, didn’t they?”
Truthfully, she barely remembered their faces—daughters of military officials.
Most were assigned to safe rear posts, like headquarters or bases. But as the war turned against them, even communications officers and radar operators were dragged to the frontlines.
And of course, the cause was her. The decisive battle had wiped out the empire’s main fleet and its most promising officers. They had no choice but to send even the untrained into battle.
Amateurs with no combat experience died meaningless deaths.
The result? The future imperial military shifted to unmanned drones.
Thinking about it now, she felt a twinge of guilt.
“I only have bad memories of this place…”
With a sigh, Lillian gazed at her nostalgic alma mater fading into the distance.
To begin with, for an institution supposedly dedicated to training soldiers, it was hard to call it a proper environment. Whether you were an officer or not, physical training was essential for any soldier, and a well-rounded education was necessary.
Sure, there were specialized fields, but still…
However, after years of complacency in the Earth Empire, the line between regular schools and military academies had blurred.
Most of the children from powerful noble families—especially the young ladies—never took the grueling physical training seriously.
Even if they excelled in classroom studies, this only bred a generation of armchair theorists.
It was painfully obvious that the empire just wanted to increase the number of soldiers to maintain its expanded territories—yet most citizens didn’t even question it.
A few sharp critics had pointed this out, but…
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