16 Guilt

"Welcome everyone, I'm sure you are confused with your current condition so I would like to brief you about it," Ed looked at his new subordinates her get by hook and crook.

He had gathered them to Alpha-Charlie's hangar bay. They could see robots that were transporting materials and mecha to be repaired all around them.

"This is Alpha-Charlie where you will work for the foreseeable future, you being here means you have taken my offers and decided to work with me," he told them with a pleased tone.

"Everyone here has chosen to work for me with their own free will as I never force anyone to work for me, so expect that you do your best in your job." He looked from left to right at everyone's eyes.

They could see cunningness glinting from his eyes as they retorted in their heart, "As if we have a choice, the choice you gave us was either die or work for you!"

"Hmm? Why is everyone silent? Have the crow eat your tongue?" he looked at them teasingly.

"We will do our best, Sir!" they said in unison while deep down they thought he was being too overbearing.

"Good, I will make sure you guys work up to my standards. I'm a good superior so I don't mind giving you a reward to motivate you but don't expect to not get punished if you make mistakes, Understood?" he briefs them.

"Sir, yes Sir!" they replied like they were some kind of soldiers or something it amused Ed.

He could see that they are starting to look like a loyal subordinate. He expected to have their full loyalty before the month ends.

"For now, let me introduce you to who you are working for, I am Edward Everette, the captain of Alpha-Charlie and your superior. From now on you will work for me and Everette Corporation." He introduced.

"Everette Corporation, Sir?" Arnold got confused by his word.

"Yes, you did not hear me wrong, I'm starting a corporation on top of being a pirate, one day we will get a place in civilized space and become a giant organization in this galaxy, you will get to walk under the light with your head raised high!" he inspired them with dreams and hope.

As a pirate they become a pirate when they decide to take his offer, they lose the right to live in the human space and become the scum of society, having hope to return to their old life was a great thing even though it was just a dream.

"Are you serious, Sir?" Arnold got taken aback by his word.

"It's one of our goals, we will need to be stronger than just a small pirate group to do that, but I promise you that we will get there, eventually." He promised.

"I know some of you hate me because if you did not meet me you would not become a pirate but don't be mistaken, it was your fault to be weak, to be beaten by a single man. If it was not today, then might be in a few months or week. As long as you are weak, you will lose anyway!" he continued his propaganda.

"I was kind enough to let you live and gave you a chance to try again. Your life would not be much different than before, you just work from different people!" he pointed out. He made it like he was being generous to them.

A mercenary on their level was barely better than a pirate, the only difference was they work in the gray rather than outright outlaw, civilized space welcomes them but still looked down upon them.

"Your life might not change, but will you let your fate be the same? Will you let your life be in the hands of others? Will you be weak or seek to be strong?!" ended it with a strong question.

"We will be strong!" they replied in unison.

"I can't hear you. Will you become a loser? Will you hide in the shadow?!" he asked again.

"WE WILL BE STRONG!!!" they replied with their all.

It made Ed smile. He has reached his goal in gathering them; he pushed away their hatred for him and gave them a goal to attain. Given some time, they will completely forget who they were.

He dismissed them and let them familiarise themselves with their new work. Of course, he noticed the hatred in Leona's eyes that never dimmed no matter what he said.

"That girl is a hard nut to crack," he mused.

"I will take care of her later, now I have another girl to care about," he thought as he called Dea to his workroom.

The black-haired girl came into the room with a displeased face. She seemed to forget her fear for him after what Aya had told her about him.

He could see that she was displeased just by looking at her eyes behind her glasses. She seems to like using glasses, even though she didn't have any eye problems.

Her previous glasses got broken when the original Ed capture her, now that she got the chance for replacement from Alpha-Charlie, she decided to get one, of course, it was not normal glasses but some kind of smart glasses in the form of glasses; he seems to be accustomed to them rather than a normal smartwatch.

Seeing her in glasses, he could feel some special charm in it. She looked perfect for a secretary or something.

"What do you want?" she asked bluntly.

"You still seem to be pissed about me killing them. Don't you see that I spare the life of the others? I would not kill them if I could help it," he tried to placate the girl as he signed her to sit before him.

Of course, he could see the girl was still pissed from his system screen, he was ten points away from neutral favorability with her, he would need to convince her himself as Aya's persuasion was not working once it reached that point.

"You think I did not know that you only let them live because you want them to work for you? You even killed those who refuse," she pointed out.

He could see the anger in her eyes grew with each word, but he could also see another emotion there, it was guilt.

"She is blaming herself for their death, she thought they end up that way because of her luring them here," he read her mind.

"I did not kill them, they chose to die by their own hand even though I gave them a way out," he replied like it was not a big deal.

She was about to explode once more but he interrupted her, "It's not your fault they died, you did not know what will happen and I was the one who killed them, everything is my fault," he said.

She wanted to talk but her throat became dry and she felt choked that she could not talk. She could feel tears starting to well in her eyes as she tried to talk but failed.

Deep down, she really wanted to hear such a word, that it was not her fault, that it got nothing to do with her, and she should not feel guilty about it, but she never expected to hear those words from him.

Ed got up from his seat, he went beside her and gave her a handkerchief from his pocket, "Here, don't cry, it's not your fault," he told her again.

Rather than taking the handkerchief, she tried to wipe the tears with her hand, "Yes, It's your fault, It's your fault, It's your fault!" she said while she hit him repeatedly with the little strength that she had, he tears started to flow like a river.

Ed did not dodge. He let her do as she pleased, as he wanted her to let everything go.

But she did not stop her bawling. She kept repeating the same word over and over again that he had no choice but to stop her.

He bent down and hugged her close to his body, trapping her hand between their body so she could not continue to hit him.

She protested, but he did not let her go. In the end, she got tired of struggling and could only cry her heart out in his arms.

After five minutes she finally calmed down a bit, Ed whispered at her, "Whatever happen or going to happen, I will take responsibility, I will bear the sins and guilt, you don't need to feel bad about it."

Hering his strange but gentle word, she replied, "You bad guy!" but he could not hear maliciousness in her words.

"Yes, I am, I'm a pirate after all," He said cheekily.

They stayed silent for a few minutes before Dea pushed him back, "I'm fine now, you can let me go" she said with a blush.

He did not know if it was because of the hug or because she just finished crying, but he thought she looked cute with such an expression.

"That should be enough to finish the mission," he thought with a smile.