Chapter 69 (Nice)

It was a hot afternoon and everyone had finished their practice and were discussing what they would wear and who would get to shower first, when Alana showed up unannounced, catching them all by surprise.

"Hey, why are... why are you here? You dropped by unannounced, were your classes canceled?" Ajax, who was shirtless and had sweat gleaming on his body, asked Alana as he wiped the sweat from his face with a towel.

"I got in!" Alana said very energetically. She wore a long blue sundress and had her hair done in a simple ponytail.

"You got in to what?" Ajax questioned, confused by her remarks or what she got into.

"The Law Enforcement Academy dummy, I'm pretty sure I had told you about it before." Alana took out Vox and projected a picture with the words admission notice.

"Oh really? Nice! Well done! We ought to celebrate tonight!" Ajax said with a smile as he waved Al and the rest over. After all these days, Ajax and Alana have grown closer and talked more and more, allowing Ajax to obtain a certain understanding of Alana's family.

Starting from her grandparents, her family were all Interstellar Law Enforcers. Her father is the commander of a fleet of the Space Police Department (SPD) and her two elder brothers are also in important positions.

(Changing from Law Enforcers to LEO or LEOs, means Law Enforcement Officer)

The LEOs were all part of the SPD, which is the largest moral, ethical, and virtuous organization that patrolled the galaxies. Each galaxy had laws of its own, so different fleets were assigned to different sectors, ensuring that order remained in each galaxy and that the laws were enforced.

The average person only had about 4 choices if they wanted to venture out into space.

The first was to join the SPD and uphold justice by enforcing the law, but the requirements were very high. They needed to go through multiple assessments and could not have a criminal record. Every LEO was one in a million.

The second was to join the Galactic Mercenary Alliance. They were the largest morally gray organization of outer space, mainly plundering small fleets or caravans, taking up jobs, just about anything they could do for money. There were certain requirements for joining the alliance, but nothing too demanding. They were also opposed to the SPD.

The third was to join the United Chamber of Commerce, an organization of interstellar merchants, which was neutral, like the Ashlin Group. Whoever belonged to the United Chamber of Commerce was protected by the SPD.

The fourth was to join the Predator Legion. There were no conditions for joining and just about anyone was able to join. These were the truly lawless individuals of the Galaxies, bottom feeders of society that would kill for fun. They were notorious, their morals knew no bottom line and they were public enemy number one with most of them having bounties on their heads.

Although Alana seemed like a sheltered girl who had no right to be in a line of work that often put their lives at risk, she wanted to follow the path her father and siblings had paved. After all, this was a very convenient path to take since she already had connections in high places.

It had been a few days since Alana had told Ajax about her choice of applying to the Law Enforcer Academy, and that she was going to study there for a few months before moving on to take the LEO examination and then join the SPD. When she had told Ajax this, he wasn't paying much attention to it and was instead thinking of the training he had been doing. However, he did not expect her acceptance to have been expedited. It sure is good to have connections in high places.

"Hell yeah! Don't worry about a thing, I'll handle it." Al, who was also happy for Alana, promptly took out his Vox and planned to reserve a location. Ajax had never wanted to go out at night with him, not to mention Erica who was invested in games, and Lily who only had eyes for food.

Alana's smile was slowly dissolved, replaced by a frown. She then said something that pretty much threw a brick at the glass that was the plans being made: "I'm...I have to leave though."

"Huh? Wait what?" Ajax was shocked for a second, "When are you leaving?"

Alana sighed and looked down at the ground as she said "I'm leaving tonight at eight. I have to go to the Space Elevator that will take me to the spaceport, and then I'll be leaving the planet on a transport ship."

"Do you really have to leave so soon? What's the rush?" Ajax's confused expression turned into one of concern. Al and the others also stopped talking as they took into account that it was already four o'clock.

"Yeah, I do. I have to stop by at home before I go off to the Law Enforcement Academy to report. I'm afraid I don't have the time for a party or a dinner."

"Well then... it seems that we won't be able to celebrate... your success," Ajax said as he scratched the back of his head and gave a wry smile.

"You know..." Alana hesitated for a moment before looking into Ajax's eyes, "if you want you can come with me. I can get you a ticket, and no one will trouble you when you leave this planet."

Ajax chuckled, "I know that you're asking me to tag along with you for my own good, but what am I supposed to do once I get to the other planet? Go home with you? Go to the academy with you? With my wanted status? Yeah, no shot I can do that..." Ajax's expression started to become serious as he stated these things.

With the might of his Warlock-Level mech and his own piloting proficiency, he could be considered invincible in the border, only above average in the Blauth Empire, but when it came to other planets and empires or in the vastness of space, he might not even qualify to be considered as cannon fodder.

"Oh, I..." Alana lowered her head and looked at the ground as she fiddled with her fingers, she hadn't thought about these things.

"Hey, you know you can't protect me the rest of your life. I can't escape trouble, you know I'm a magnet for it." Ajax gently moved some hair out of Alana's face and tucked it behind her ear, "Don't worry about me, I have friends here and I have goals and something to do every day."

After he was done talking, Ajax glanced back and saw Al, who was leaning on the sofa, still holding his Vox in his hand, and Erica, who was trying to keep Lily sitting down as she watched him without saying a word.

Alana, seemingly disappointed at Ajax's reaction, asked him: "Why haven't you tried to say something to stop me from leaving?"

Ajax grinned as he looked at Alana, "I haven't tried to convince you to do otherwise and stay because it is your dream life that you're chasing. Didn't you always want to be a LEO on a battleship as you streaked across the stars? Now you are one step closer to achieving that dream. Who am I to stop you from being happy?"

Just like the reason why he didn't want to go to other planets at the moment, even if Alana could be persuaded to stay, what should Alana do in the future? Go back to the border with him to fight and kill others? Help him manage the border? Or find a job in the Blauth Empire? Maybe even join the Guard? None of these were good enough for Alana, who had a bright future ahead of her, one that should not be These stages are too small to accommodate Alana. She had a bright future ahead of her, and he had no right to hinder it. Her future did not belong here.

"Well... If you will really be happy with your life, then I'll be leaving. I know you'll be fine." Alana also had a little smile on her face, yet one could see the loneliness and sadness in her eyes. She then turned to walk back to the convoy of magnetic energy SUVs without looking back.

Ajax could only watch as the convoy disappeared on the horizon. Perplexed by Alana's reaction, Ajax just stood there for a while longer, in a trance.

"You know, it's still not too late to go and catch up with her. And who knows, if you don't act now then you may never see her again." Erica put her hand on Ajax's shoulder as she said this, snapping him out of his trance. The corners of the universe were infinite, and the separation of two people from a planet would almost always mean a goodbye, fated to never cross paths again.

"Yeah, big brother Ajax, go, I will take care of myself." Lily walked up next to Ajax as she made a flexing pose, the seriousness adorning her face contrasting with the goofiness of her stance.

"I'll take good care of this knucklehead," Erica added as she pulled Lily closer to her in a manner that pushed Lily's head to her hip.

"Yeah man, go chase your dreams, I'll make sure these two are financially stable. I'll take good care of them for you." Al also came up to the trio and tried putting his hand on Erica's head only to receive a punch to his gut.

As a partner, Al hoped that Ajax would stay so that he could help him more. But as a friend, as a brother, he hoped that Ajax would be happy and pursue what he truly wanted.

However, Ajax only shook his head as he looked up at the afternoon sky: "No, that's not my lifestyle, not a life I see myself having... but, did I say something wrong?"

"You're really a dumbass, aren't you? You like her, she likes you. She wants to leave and but she wants to stay with you, yet you are happy to watch her leave because she'll be happy. That's what's wrong, you didn't say or do anything wrong, but that's what's wrong." Erica tried to explain to Ajax. She is a woman as well, so she understood Alana's psychology and what drove her actions.

"Then what should I do?" Ajax asked, having been single his whole life and not having received love from anyone, the feeling was foreign to him and he felt confused.

"You stop wasting time and run to her, go tell her what you truly feel in your heart. You do what you want to do, Mr. Ajax, just make sure you don't have any regrets because that's something that will haunt you for the rest of your life." Al patted Ajax on the shoulder, "There's still time, so go get ready quickly, I'll drive you to the Space Elevator before she leaves for the Spaceport."

Ajax didn't hesitate as he quickly showered and got dressed. He grabbed his peaked cap and got in one of the Magnetic SUVs as they drove in a convoy for three hours under the leadership of Al. They arrived at the only Space Elevator in Boirdale at 7:10 in the evening.

Ten minutes after his arrival, Alana entered the Space Elevator station alone with just a duffle bag and travel suitcase.