Denied Exit

Kita woke up the next day, fresh, rested and ready to start the day.

After finishing his morning routine, He played with Noir for a bit before coming out of his room.

He headed over to his office to finish his morning duties. It was located close to the Bridge for better accessibility.

Kita had a lot to do. He had been away from his office for a few days and a lot of work had piled up.

He spent the better half of the morning completing these tasks.

After that, he headed over to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast.

"Can I even call it breakfast though?" Kita asked himself. It was already noon by the time he had finished his work. So it should probably be called lunch.

As Kita entered the cafeteria, he found that not many people were in right now. Only a few were busy eating.

The Brightly lit cafeteria was filled with rows of chair and table. This was where the crew got their meals from.

Kita made sure to make adequate accommodations for everyone. Nobody should have any shortage of anything while in his service.

Kita believed in treating his friends good. That's why he had made sure that the Supply officer made appropriate preparations.

Kita's entrance turned a few eyes. but it wasn't some uncommon occurrence. Kita ate at the cafeteria from time to time or whenever he didn't want to cook anything himself.

As Kita walked to the counter, the person behind the counter greeted him.

"Welcome Boss. What can I get for you today?" The man spoke. He had a friendly demeanor and spoke in a clear voice.

"I'll take the usually. Ask Jeff to make it extra spicy today. I'm feeling like it."

"Woah. Extra spicy huh? Be careful though. Hehe" The guy said before going inside to relay the message to the chef.

Meanwhile, Kita took a seat at one of the empty tables. He was the only one sitting at the table. The metal table felt cold to the touch. But it had some quite high-tech features. Like keeping food warm at a comfortable 39 Degree Celsius. Obviously the person sitting at the table won't feel anything. It only targeted and warmed up the food on the plate and nothing else.

It was quite a handy feature. One could enjoy the food and savor the flavor without having to worry about it going cold.

Kita looked around. Some of the crew who were also eating glanced his ways from time to time.

The bright lights, The cold table, The smell in the air, All of them made him feel like he had gone back in time back to his university days.

The atmosphere in his university cafeteria was quite similar.

As he reminisced about the past, A fat middle aged man approached the table with a plate in his hands. He was wearing a clean chef's suit with a mustache adorning his chubby face.

"Here ya go Boss. I've made it extra spicy, Just like you asked." Jeff said while putting down the plate in front of Kita.

Kita took a look at the beef curry in front of him. It smelled quite nice and looked appetizing.

"Smell great!" Kita said as he picked up the spoon.

Kita scooped up some curry and rice and put it in his mouth.

As he began chewing it, A sharp spicy flavor spread throughout his mouth.

The Spicy an savory flavor went quite well together.

Jeff was quite a good cook. Nova had hired him to serve as the head chef for the ship cafeteria, And he had hired someone really good.

"How is it boss?" Jeff asked as he watched Kita enjoying the meal.

"Great!" Kita gave a thumbs up as he went in for another mouthful.

"Enjoy your meal!" Jeff said as he left Kita alone to enjoy his meal.

Kita took his time enjoying the meal.

After the meal, As he was about to leave the cafeteria, he got a notification from the bridge. His presence was required.

So, instead of the Lab, Kita headed over to the bridge.

As he entered the bridge, He was approached by Nova.

"What's the matter?" Kita asked.

"Sir, It seems that Border control is refusing to let us pass."

"Huh? Border control? Why?" Kita asked surprised.

The Jeager was almost at the borders of the Empire. To go further, They would need the permission from the Border control. Otherwise, they could face some penalties when returning.

But they usually didn't make any fuss for civilian vessels who were headed out of the empire. Instead they focused on vessels that were inbound.

As the first line of defense, It was their job to make sure nothing suspicious got in.

But It was unusual for them to try to stop someone from going out of the border. So Kita asked.

"Why are they denying us permission to leave the empire? Have you sent them necessary paperwork for it?"

"I've sent them everything well in advance."

"Then? What's wrong?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"They aren't giving me any solid answers on why they are denying us permission. Instead they just say that The Jeager isn't authorized to leave the empire borders."

"Huh. That's weird." Kita put a hand to his chin.

Normally there was no reason for them to deny the Jeager permission. But them doing so in this case could mean that there was some problems.

"Let me talk to them. I'll see what's wrong"

"We can't."

"Huh? We can't?"

"Yeah, We can't talk to them. They're refusing to communicate with us for the moment. They put us on hold every time I try to talk with them!"

"What the hell?!?"

Now Kita was really curious about what was going on. Why would they not only deny their exit permission but also refuse to communicate?

That was highly uncharacteristic of them.

What there any specific reason for this? Or had they received orders and were just following them?

Kita wondered.