Ball To Banquet VIII : Incompetence

Nizael carried Lulu over to the med-bay while speaking to Sol. – "Is it safe?" She inquired from him.

– "Temporarily," He enunciated.

Even though there was slight worry hidden behind his eyes, Sol continued to keep his eyes on the screen, mapping out the entire situation. The screen displayed the Kritol ships moving around the estate as red specks. Next to that screen was a smaller screen that showed a large virtual globe, around that globe were a mass amount of red specks and a particularly large speck in the center of them; This globe was a model of the planet and the specks were symbolizing the presence of a Kritol fleet.

Understanding the two screens Sol was very upset, he was holding himself back from punching the men and women sitting in front of him – but he could only sigh in disappointment. Disappointment in themselves and lack of foresight, they should have seen this coming, no, they knew this was coming but they weren't prepared for it.

"Report. Why didn't the Towers notify us of the Kritol presence, and why didn't you report it to us?" Sol questioned the people typing away at the screens.

– "Sir, the Towers are reported to not have scanned anything out of the ordinary in the last three hours." One of the people spoke out, not even turning away from her screen. Hearing her, Sol could only sigh as he massaged the area between his eyebrows, this entire situation could have given him a migraine.

– "It seems that the many years of peace have dulled our senses and instincts," Sol let out a sigh before turning to Nizael, who was moving the locks of hair from in front of Lulu's face, observing her pained expression, Nizael spoke up, not turning her head away from Lulu.

– "Indeed... I want all Towers to charge their anti-space cannons and aim them at that fleet, they have permission to eliminate or subdue any who try to slow down the charging. I will not take this attack lying down." Acknowledging their incompetence Nizael posed before speaking again – every word she uttered soaked her words in unconstrained anger.

Hearing the anger in her voice brought a great smile to Sol's face, he stomped on the body that lay on the floor as he was filled with vigor.

– "You heard the General! Send out the orders to every Tower, right now!! Do not forget to get rid of all the rats." Sol commanded at the top of his lungs, inciting the workers to swipe and type on their screens, keyboards, and other machinery even more hastily. Their voices rang out in the room as they began contacting various people and the various Towers.

Taking his eyes off the screen for a moment Sol turned his eyes to Tavella, Helia, and Karma, who was wandering around the control room with stars in her eyes. He chuckled and took a few steps to the med-bay taking place behind the sitting Nizael, who was wiping the blood off of Lulu, observing Lulu's pale complexion.

Feeling the presence by her side, Lulu forced her eyes slightly open, even though her vision was blurry she could make out who the two people were by her side. Tears nearly threatened to expel themselves from her eyes but she forced them down as she couldn't help but think of someone else. 'Where is mother?'. Slowly looking to her other side she noticed it was empty.

– "Are you looking for Lati? She had work today, so she should be busy at Bavel Tower, especially with the current situation. Don't worry about her, okay, just worry about yourself for now." Nizael explained to her. She guessed what Nizael was looking for, she always saw how Lulu and Lati were together, their love and care for each other was truly heartwarming, and even though Lati was commonly busy she always made time for Lulu.

Lulu was glad that her mother was at least out of direct harm's way. She didn't know what she would do if something happened to her mother.

After she finished ridding Lulu's body of blood and changing her clothing to more clean and comfortable ones, Nizael put the machine over the bed in place and activated it as she took a step back and watched over her.

– "What do you plan to do next dear?" Sol questioned her – not removing his eyes from the recovering Lulu.

– "After we deal with the fleet, I'll have to prepare my Flight Shifter and reorganize the armies. They wanted war so that's exactly what I'll give." She responded resolutely, she turned her gaze to Karma and a certain thought popped into her head.

"We must also contact Malto, tell him we will sponsor the skill and any talented students, we must raise our people's overall power and ability, whether they be child or adult, man or woman, we must strengthen all our people. After all, they have the "Ring"."

Hearing her short speech Sol nodded to himself, he clicked his tongue at just the mention of the ring annoyed him to no end, how could such a nonsensically powerful weapon exist — and he remembered how they sent out an exhibition to Asora's Rift yet Marshal Muller still failed to locate its parallel. Even if they do descend within the rift it's entirely impossible to map the place, it shifts around every so often as if it was one giant machine; The entire situation is just nerve-wracking.

– "Lord Sol!" Being called on by the tech workers Sol sighed, ridding himself of his thoughts, and went back to look over the situation.

There was the sound of a tick as the machine over Lulu"s bed powered off, with the tick she opened her eyes, at least opened as much as her sleep-deprived body would allow. Nizael moved the machine from over the bed and was about to sit back down before stopping herself when seeing Karma in her peripheral vision. Digging in a nearby cabinet she pulled out two basins, a tube cleaner, and a small jar filled with an assortment of vials filled with clear liquid.

She filled one of the basins with water afterward she went into the process of disconnecting the tubes from Lulu's neck, cleaning them, pouring the clear liquid into them, and reconnecting them with her neck – Lulu was slightly testing her eyes while wincing from the process; As Nizael was doing so, Karma came over and sat in the open chair, watching the process with curious eyes.

– "Are you wondering what I'm doing to her right now?" She spoke to the curious child, wiping off the tube cleaner with a nearby towel she dumped the dark pink basin of water as she waited for a reply.

– "Yes. It seemed to hurt her when you did that, why did you do something that hurt her?" Karma questioned, openly upset that Lulu had to experience even the slightest of pain once more.

– "The pain is temporary, but it is indeed unfortunate she has to be slightly hurt for this... You see she can't even attempt to talk without suffering burning pain in her throat and lungs — so if she even wants to speak to us she has to have these attached to her neck." Nizael answered her in a slightly bitter tone

– "Is it related to what happened to her... er legs." She awkwardly paused as she eyed Lulu's legs.

– "Yes, it happened in the same incident where she ruined her legs." She responded to her while chuckling at the girl being awkward about Lulu's condition.

Stirring awake the first thing Lulu did was clutch at her neck, feeling no pain she eased her grip as relief washed over her face, she was still slightly lightheaded but at least she was no longer in pain at the moment. She looked up at the smiling face of her grandmother as she heard her question.

– "How are you feeling now, Lulu?"

– " Considerably better... It's not like I almost got snatched or anything..." Letting out a response loaded with sarcasm she rubbed her head.

Hearing how she spoke to Nizael Karma was slightly surprised, if compared to the way Lulu was conversing with her earlier she thought she was shy and awkward right now she was speaking calmly and sarcastically. While Karma was surprised by her manner of speaking Nizael, on the other hand, was annoyed.

– "Lulu..." Slowly speaking out her name Nizael was on the verge of letting out her annoyance at her lovely granddaughter.

– "Ah! Sorry... I always forget you don't like me talking like that. Heh," Gasping with her hand covering her mouth, Lulu giggled at her "mistake", hardly an actual apology.

Sighing at Lulu's behavior Nizael massaged her temples before turning around to head over and join Sol in commanding the situation. – "I'll leave you two girls to yourselves," She uttered.

Karma chortled as she watched their short but entertaining conversation. She watched as Lulu sat up and faced her, slight nervousness in her gaze.

– "Uh, so... I, uh, we're still friends right? If you don't want to be pals a-anymore because I'm er, constantly in danger — I'd t-totally understand..." Even though Lulu wasn't stuttering as much as she was earlier she continued to do so, displaying her nervousness.

– "Don't say that, ok? I'll stay as your friend for however long you want me to be, deal?" She was laughing at what Lulu just said.

She faced her and smiled brightly as she affirmed their friendship.