Falling: How to Survive as a Cannon Fodder

HTSCF CH 048 Rebirth of the CP3

Whenever they had time, Niall and Cyrus strived to visit him, most of the time just one of them. Rarely could both meet with him at the same time. It was around then that Skye Lennox was announced as the Crown Prince's, Van Windham's, fiancée. Although he would be officially wedded to Van Windham, his special status as a dominant omega with the highest fertility entitled him to have as many alpha partners as he wanted.

He selected Gale Castor, heir to Duke Castor, and Jack Storm, heir to Prime Minister Storm. Van Windham as the Crown Prince got the short end of the stick as he wouldn't ever be able to mark Skye Lennox. General Atlas and General Albert were also invited by him, but they rejected it with the same excuse: They already had a partner and were planning to marry him.

Some of the more clever netizens guessed the person in question was Rain Linden. After all, it was no secret they requested two weeks of vacation to be with him and often visited him when passing by Capital Star. Most people had no complaints because Rain Linden was an extraordinary beta. It would just be a shame that such strong alpha genes would end with General Atlas and General Albert.

Though there was some opposition, many supported the CP3. However, where there was opposition it was strong, particularly the Atlas and Albert family elders and the Emperor himself. These two were the strongest alphas and if they didn't have any heirs, he didn't feel as secure about the Empire's safety. Nevertheless, no matter how great the opposition, the two generals refused to change their minds.

After all that drama, the size of the target painted on Jun's head grew in size, and he was "randomly selected" for another training mission. The mission was a scouting one with the added purpose of testing the new model of mechas, generation R. Because Jun's spirituality grade was so elevated, he was assigned to be the test pilot for the generation R model during the mission.

The previous model, generation Q, was the one currently being used by all the generals, and only required S grade spirituality to operate. Generation R required SS grade spirituality, so only Jun, the Crown Prince Van Windham, Skye Lennox, the Prime Minister's heir Jack Storm, Marshal Linden, General Atlas, and General Albert would be able to operate them, as they were the only ones in the Empire with SS grade spirituality or higher.

Jun had undergone pilot training in the VR pod and piloted a few basic mechas, but this would be his first time operating a militarized mecha in the field so he was somewhat nervous. Niall and Cyrus "volunteered" (demanded) to be his supervisors during the mission. To attract as little attention as possible, the mission consisted of only them. Their designated location was planet X113, which was not far from the Zerg Hive.

Ever since the discovery of the Parasites, which scientists still hadn't figured out a method of detection other than using Skye Lennox, the Empire was concerned that there may be other new types hiding at the Zerg Hive. They had good reason to believe so, as some of the Parasites' hosts had "let slip" such information.

Despite knowing it was a trap, Jun was unworried. The Zerg Queen was aware the Empire was sending some of their strongest to scout and verify this information, and she wanted to use the opportunity to plant Parasites on whoever was coming. The original mission succeeded, but unfortunately, the strongest of the strongest were sent and Parasites were ineffective against those with SS grade spirituality, so her trap failed.

Jun just didn't account for the failure of his mecha, resulting in him crashing into both Niall and Cyrus's mechas, causing all their mechas to be destroyed and for them to be stranded on planet X113. What luck. He had probably been plotted against by Skye Lennox. As for how he gained access to the mechas, it could only be the Crown Prince. After all, the Third Army was the headquarters of mecha research and development.

The only positive from crashing on X113 was that it was devoid of Zerg, but it seemed to also be devoid of other life forms. Their escape pods had enough nutrition packs to last them maybe a week.

To let the Empire know they were alive, they had to fix the communication terminal of one of the mechas. Niall and Cyrus had some experience in repairing communication terminals, and there was some debris from the crash that could be used, but the crucial replacement parts composed of NE-09 were lacking, making things complicated.

NE-09, which was highly conducive for interspace communication, couldn't be found from the debris of mecha parts, most having been lost in outer space during the collision. The escape pods themselves contained minimal amounts of NE-09.

To obtain enough NE-09, they had to use their spiritual powers to scan the planet for spare NE-09. It just so happened that of all the planets in Zerg territory full of NE-09, X113 was the only one that had a minuscule amount spread out far across the planet.

As a result, they were stuck on the X113 for a month and a half, wasting most of their time exploring and scouring for NE-09. As for how they didn't starve to death, Jun and his SSS+ spirituality were able to scan for edible plants and small wildlife hidden deep beneath the surface. Both Niall and Cyrus's physiques were at SSS grade, enabling them to dig that far down.

The Emperor wanted to send a search and rescue team to X113, but the Parasites became the main concern when their ability to infect others increased at a rate faster than before. This meant that among the Parasites, there was a minor Queen, and they needed to find her before things deteriorated out of control.

During this time, Skye Lennox and Van Windham lamented their decision to sabotage Jun, Niall, and Cyrus. While Skye held resentment towards all three, Van wanted to claim the title of strongest alpha, which would be his once Niall and Cyrus were gone.

Back on X113, Niall and Cyrus were putting together the finishing touches on the communication terminal when that one moment Jun foresaw became true, and he dropped to his hands and knees, gasping at the unexpected rush of his insides burning up.

His first heat, he was succinctly given temporary marks and hadn't been exposed fully to a heat period's symptoms. This time, he felt the full force of what it meant to have a heat period, the intensity increased threefold.

'Itchy... Hot...'

His body was a furnace, and all he could think of was there being a mad need begging to be fulfilled. At the moment he turned to glance at Niall and Atlas with hazy eyes, their eyes dilated as they were overwhelmed by a lack of control, their alpha instincts overriding their rationality. Animalistic thoughts ran rampant.

'Mark him, mark him, mark him!'

'Claim him, swallow him whole!'

'Mine, make him mine!'

'Never let him go!'

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A/N: Yes I'm stopping it there! Because the next chapter is probably gonna be entirely smut lol... My next story will also involve omegaverse/ABO, but it'll be more in-depth than this short arc 😂