Lieutenant Colonel Hrub Grills

The Environment aboard the Jeager was quite tense. They were supposed to leave this star system and thereby leave the Empire a few days ago. But for some reason, The Jeager still hadn't transitioned into FTL.

Rumors began to spread within the rank and file. Everyone had their own theories on what was going on. Some speculated that there was change in plans and the people responsible was busy figuring out the best plan.

Other speculated that they were simply waiting for something or someone to reach them before continuing their journey.

Although some of these rumors were quite outlandish. Nobody did anything to stop these.

Nova had asked everyone who knew about the situation to keep the information to themselves. Although Kita didn't know why, But Noel assured him that it was the best course of action.

Nova and Kita had spent the last few days going back and forth with the border control representatives regarding their access denial.

The Representatives kept their mouths shut on their reasons for this action. All they were willing to tell was that something wasn't in order and they were checking into it. But till then they couldn't leave this star system.

As Nova and Kita ended the call, They both looked kind of exhausted. They had been talking with the guy for almost 2 hours. But the conversation didn't go anywhere.

The guy just spoke in formal repetitive terms and the spewed the same bullshit about how they needed to wait until everything go sorted out.

Kita was fed up of hearing this answer. He wanted to talk with their captain. But was denied a meeting time and time again.

Kita turned towards the side to look towards Nova.

"What the Hell is going on? Why are they denying us permission to leave? This isn't making any sense." Kita said sounding frustrated. He had enough of this bullshit. He had many things to do. He couldn't waste his time on such bureaucratic bullshit.

"Sir. I think there might be more behind the scenes than what meets the eye. Everything about their demeanor and the way they respond to our questions leads me to believe that they are merely following the orders. They are merely the puppet tied to someone else's string in this show." Nova said in a concerning tone. It seemed that he had made his deductions.

That caused Kita to pause his thoughts and think about the implications of Nova's words.

It was true that their actions were really suspicious. They hadn't provided any valid reason for their denial. Instead just kept going in circles.

This lead him to believe that either they were waiting for something or they were stalling for time.

Either of this situation didn't sit right with Kita.

He had a really bad feeling about all this.

"I'm gonna see if I can find out anything about this. Let me know if anything comes up." With that said, Kita got up for his seat and strode out of the room.

He headed straight for Elena's office. If anyone could get more info about what was going on, It would be her.

As soon as He entered her room. Elena looked at him in anticipation. It seemed that she was expecting him to visit.

"What took you so long?" She said as she pushed back on her chair.

"You know about what's going on?"

"Isn't that a given?" She asked playfully.

"What do you know?" Kita didn't bother to say anything about her demeanor. Instead, he took a seat.

"Well, For starters. I hacked into their internal Network an..."

"You did what?!?" Kita exclaimed.

"I hacked into their network. How else am I supposed to get information? Mind you it took Julia over 3 hours to hack into their network security. It has been updated quite a few time since I lasted accessed it. But Julia didn't let me down." Elena said like a proud mother.

Julia was her brainchild and she was really proud of her creation. Kita doubted that there was any other more powerful hacking machine than Julia.

"And? What did you find?" Kita brought the conversation back on track.

"Well, For starters. Their internal situation is a complete mess. It seems that the officers in charge are just as puzzled on why we are being denied permission to leave."

"Huh? They are? Why would they care?"

"Well, I think it has something to do with Nova. His background is.... Interesting. Anyway. He seemed to have done something that has caused everyone aboard to go into panic. They are practically waiting to give us permission. Afterall everything is in order."

"Then? What's wrong? What's stopping them? "

"Well. As you might've guessed. The commander in chief of this battalion has give explicit orders to not let us depart this system."

The commander in chief was the person who was in total control of the battalion. No matter what. His orders were absolute. If he were to order everyone to go on a suicide mission, They were bound by oath to do so.

No matter what, They couldn't defy him.

"Who's the commander of this battalion?"

"This guy." Elena said before pressing a button.

A projection of a dignified looking old man popped up. He had a face full of gray beard and a pair of sharp eyes that spoke of the years of experience behind them.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hrub Grills. Over 3 decades of service in the Arcorn empire. Known for being a dignified man with strong moral values. I already looked him up. He doesn't do any back hand dealings and is a strong loyalist." Elena said with a impressed tone.

"Why is a person like that stopping us from going outwards?"

"Why indeed." Elena asked as she looked at Kita. She had a playful smile.

Kita looked at her smile. He knew what was going on.

"You've already hacked his comm and found out why did you?" Kita said as he rolled his eyes.

Elena's grin got wider at his words. It seemed to have hit the mark.