I'm Insurance

In the center of the Mansion's spacious bridge, sat the shipmaster.

He was dark-skinned and the only facial hair he had were his eyebrows. Crowler is a General of The Human Federation — an interplanetary military body whose sole purpose is to protect humans and their allies.

A large hologram appeared in front of his seat, and it showed an old man. This elder is to The Federation as a king is to a kingdom: he had the highest authority.

"Why am I here, Chairman?"

"Simply put, for insurance."

The Chairman's reply failed to erase Crowler's confusion.

"That's not enough. I need to know why I'm stationed outside a dwarf dessert planet as backup, in a ship we only use during wars. Who are we fighting down there? SHELL? The Seirian Empire?"

SHELL? Seirians? The Chairman shook his head. Their foe was much worse.

"It's Most Wanted."

The General's face stiffened. The mere mention of that codename was more than enough to ruin his day.

"Xenn and his crew infiltrated a P.A.C. and acquired Planet Gamara, the dwarf planet in front of you. You are to kill him...assuming Elite Forces fails." The Chairman explained, but Crowler didn't like the condition one bit.

"Why wait till they fail again? I could just blast the whole planet to thy kingdom come right now."

"Crowler, I forbid you from doing anything...until he tries to escape. Our soldiers, no, our best soldiers are on that planet trying to neutralize him. Destroying that planet would mean killing them."

"But waiting would only give him a chance to escape. I'm sure by now they've all seen the Mansion in the sky. And everyone knows what comes next."

Sigh. The Chairman couldn't deny that Crowler was right.

"At least, warn their Commander first. That will be all." The Federal Council Chairman said, and the call disconnected.

Crowler turned to the female soldier seated at the logistics station. She was a Lieutenant General that answered directly to him.

"Diane."

"Sir?"

"How many personnels are currently on this ship? And which Force do they belong to?"

"Excluding you, fourteen. And we're all members of the Thirty, sir. We answer directly to you."

The Lieutenant General's reply formed a smile on Crowler's face.

"Interesting. So he wants me to do it despite his warnings."

"I don't understand, sir."

The General turned to the confused soldier. "Aren't you my logistics expert? Shouldn't you understand this kind of things?"

"Forgive me for not understanding, sir."

"It's alright. I'll explain: Usually during special classified missions like this, the Council usually adds an inside man, someone that doesn't directly answer to the squad's Commanding Officer. So when things goes south, they usually have someone that would spill the beans when the others are trying to save their Commander's ass. But in this case; he gave me members of the Thirty, my direct loyal subordinates, soldiers that would attack Axes or Mother Hex on my command as long as they know I'm doing it for the good of humanity. Why would the Chairman send me here with this kind of power and no supervision?"

Diane was quiet.

"Because he knows that I despise Xenn enough to kill him, even when it means I would also be destroying a planet and killing the Elite Forces' Acting Commander along with her best subordinates."

Diane was embarrassed. She hadn't really understood the situation till now.

"Shouldn't you focus on staying in orbit rather than eavesdropping, Leon?" Crowler asked, looking at one of the Lieutenant Generals piloting the ship. He previously caught sight of the pilot's elongated ears and had chosen to keep quiet, but now the pilot had completely rotated his whole seat to listen more clearly.

The pilot quickly turned around to face the cockpit. "It's hard to call it eavesdropping when we are in the same room, sir. Besides I learnt something."

"You learnt something? That's something I never thought was possible." Another Lieutenant General said, in-between laughs, as he pushed back his glasses. He was seated in the weapons station. And though he shares some semblance with a native of Mother Earth, he hails from another Mother planet.

"Shut up, Gon. I'm sure you were listening too."

"At least, he didn't stop doing his job." Leon's co-pilot said.

Leon turned to see the lady beside him. He was clearly hurt she wasn't on his side.

"Lina?...of course, you would take Gon's side. It's because of his glasses, right?"

"Why would I take his side because of his glasses?"

"Because his glasses makes him smart."

"No, I take his side because you are just dumb."

"I know I'm not smart. That's because, I don't wear glasses."

Lina wanted to facepalm so hard, she might fracture her skull. It was absurd how clueless he was. Her frustration clearly showed on her face.

"Uh Lina, what's wrong with you? Why are your eyes twitching? And what's with that wierd face? Don't tell me you're having a stroke? Or even worse, an orgasm—"

"I swear, I'm really going to kill you this time!! You idiot!!" She said, strangling Leon and he gradually turned purple.

Gon turned away from the arguing couple and faced his General. He saw Crowler deep in thoughts.

"What are your orders, General?"

"Let's give Acting Commander Edith Long and her subordinates a chance to save themselves. Patch me through to her."

An hologram popped up. A moment later the call got through and the two Commanding Officers exchanged greetings.

"I recognized the Mansion in the sky, but the Council didn't tell me anything about reinforcements. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...in fact, I would actually appreciate the air support. Most Wanted is proving hard to handle. When are you going to deploy the fighter jets?"

"I wasn't sent here as support, Acting Commander Long."

"Then why—"

"I'm insurance."

Edith paused to take a breath. She instantly understood what he meant. She looked up at the clear sky to take another look at the massive spacecraft.

"You want to destroy this planet with Special Elite Forces on it?"

"I would rather not. That's why I'm giving you heads up. Gather your subordinates into your ships and get out of

there now."

"But we are currently engaging Most Wanted. We've never cornered him like this before. If we fall back now, we might lose him. And who knows? He might finally join the Seirians if he survives this time."

"If you don't get out of there now, you and your subordinates will die along with him."

"He has seen the Mansion too. He knows what it's capable of. The moment he sees us retreating, he will do the same."

"Then leave a couple of brave volunteers to keep him occupied. Their sacrifice would be greatly appreciated."

"Wouldn't it be much better to trust us and send some air support?"

"I'm sorry, I can't even if I wanted to. Myself included, there are only fifteen personnels on this ship, the least recommended number needed to make a Mansion fully operational. I don't have anyone to man the jets."

"There's only fifteen of you in a Mansion?!! And the Council approved of this?!!"

"Of course. How else would I have gotten my hands on a Mansion? So what do you say, Acting Commander? I think a minute is enough to get out of the blast radius, assuming you have a great pilot. Be careful though, not to make Xenn suspicious, if not I would be forced to fire the APD immediately."

Edith looked at Crowler, with a straight face. Was she sad, angry or tired? He couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry General, I would have to refuse your kindness. To get away without him noticing is to abandon the soldiers who are currently engaging him. And even with that, the moment he sees our ship leaving Gamara, he would understand what's about to happen and might still manage to escape."

"So you're staying?"

"Yes. I would try and kill Most Wanted. And if I can't, I hope that I would be a great distraction for you to insure his death."

"Your deaths wouldn't be in vain, that I can promise you. That will be—"

Edith's poker face finally revealed a smile. "But there's something you should know before you press the button."

"What is it?"

"Iris is currently detained on my ship."

The General's eyebrows showed he was shocked by the news, but he quickly regained his composure. "That's a lie. She is undergoing rehabilitation in Kaly."

"I can assure you, it's very much the truth, General. She snuck onto my ship to try and convince Xenn to surrender. Even she believes he is going to die here. You are free to believe me or not, General. That will be all."

The call ended and his subordinates turned to him. He didn't have a panicked looked on his face, but they knew he had been moved by Edith's revelation.

"She could be lying, right?" Leon suggested.

"She isn't, but she isn't telling the complete truth either." The General said. "The only reason why the Council hasn't given Iris her position, even though she is done with her treatment and rehabilitation, is because Most Wanted isn't dead. They know if she takes her position as the Elite Forces' Commander and Xenn is still alive, there's no way he would die without an internal conflict between the Council and the Elite Forces."

"Are you talking about a Civil war?" Diane questioned.

"Yes. We would've had to kill her and her subordinates before we would get to him. That's the kind of determination she has. That's why I believe she has already escaped from the Elite Force's ship and have run off to find Xenn by now. But I can't let that her meet him."

Crowler turned to his weapons' expert. "Gon, fire up the APD."

"Yes Sir."