By the time rescue arrived, in the form of the First Army’s battleship Mars and the Second Army’s battleship Saturn, the champion of jinxing himself, Jun, was still fighting the Zergs, running purely on adrenaline and survival instincts. The moment Niall and Cyrus approached him, he attacked without deliberation, but was effortlessly subdued by them and collapsed into their arms, unconscious. 

This entire 5-hour long battle had been broadcast for all of the Empire to observe. The third wave took longer to handle than the first two combined because Jun was running and fighting, his actions becoming slower over time. At least the world was considerate enough to not send a fourth wave while he was dealing with the third wave…

Since the battle persisted that long, if someone missed the beginning of the live broadcast, then they saw the middle or end. As for Niall and Cyrus, they only caught the first minute before jumping through several warp gates without authorization to reach planet X44, but everyone else was too dumbfounded to care. For the return trip, Niall and Cyrus didn’t fight over which ship would bring Jun back, more concerned with his well-being.

Back at Capital Star, Jun slept for an entire day in the military academy’s hospital. While he rested, the doctors did a physical assessment and discovered to their surprise that Jun’s physique had risen from A grade to S grade! When the netizens learned of this, Jun’s fame rose again and the decision the captain and vice-captain made was promptly brought into question.

Yet, when Jun woke up to learn that the captain and vice-captain were facing potential military discipline, he implored Niall and Cyrus to help him relay to the higher-ups that he believed their decision to be the right one. Though it was discriminatory against a “beta,” they wouldn’t have had to make such a decision if it weren’t for his most tenacious suitor, Death. Not to mention he wasn’t a real “beta.” 

Regardless, the captain and vice-captain were suspended for 60 days without pay as an example and a means to appease the dissatisfaction of the netizens. After being discharged from the hospital, the academy granted him two weeks of break from combat training, which included training missions, but he still had to attend his theoretical classes. General Atlas and General Albert requested time off, two weeks worth, for the first time in their military career, shocking everyone under their command to undergo an existential crisis.

That time was used to spend with Jun, helping him to recuperate while preparing for his impending heat period. Except, it never came. Even though his omega genes were active, maybe because he was a recessive omega, his heat periods seemed to be irregular.

“It’ll be alright.” Niall comforted Jun with a light kiss on the cheek.

“Sure...” As if Jun believed that. With his luck, his heat would probably occur at the most inconvenient moment, whenever that was.

Cyrus held Jun’s hand and laid a kiss on top of his knuckles, thoughtful. Both he and Niall were generals stationed on opposing outskirts of the Empire’s territory to patrol and be the first line of defense against large-scale Zerg attacks, making it difficult for them to return to Capital Star regularly. With the recent increase in the number of attacks, it was certain war would be heading their way soon. 

For Jun’s sake, perhaps it was best they didn’t mark him until after things became more stable. Niall was thinking the same. This was all because of their selfishness—it was meaningless to accept anything other than a lifemate mark.

Another month passed and four months remained for the Main Mission. During the past month, Jun was “randomly selected” for two more similarly dangerous training missions, but he was better at handling them after the upgrade of his physique. Having this many training missions in such a short amount of time wasn't the result of his luck but that the military was short of people, the number of small fights with Zergs having increased yet again. 

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!’

—

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 😂