Showdown

"Commander," Lieutenant Campbell's voice came through the other line, "I'm sending a data report from my investigation."

Upon hearing this, Vasquez stood up from his seat and made his way to an E-Tech's station, standing behind the crew, while peering at the projected screen.

"It seems the Union favor mobility over firepower. The lack of a heavy mech in their arsenal is an indication to this." Campbell started explaining. When a light mech appeared on the screen, she continued, "This is the Mathilda 400. 3rd Gen, 3rd Tier, land-based light mech. However, I found that some was equipped with flight modules here in the girl scouts' camp. I believe that its next generations would be fully designed for flight."

"You're probably not wrong, Lieutenant." Vasquez replied, caressing his chin while studying the Mathilda 400 on the screen, "The Union is known for their aviators. It's one of their senior military branch."

After a moment, Campbell stated, "That's it for now, commander. I'll be making my way to take a quick look on the 4th Gen medium the boys had taken down in the vicinity of a PDF Base."

With that, the call ended.

The commander did not went back to his seat, but, instead, gave the E-Tech another task, "Patch me through the mayor's office of Logria. We'll need to make an independent negotiation before we let the representative talk with the PDF."

Before that, another E-Tech fetch some documents and presented it to the commander, who skimmed through it for a few minutes.

When the E-Tech responsible for establishing a connection turned and nodded, Vasquez went to the comm and waited.

"This is Administrative Emma Losac answering from the mayor's office." The voice of a woman stated from the other end.

The commander's brows creased, as the person was not the one he was expecting to speak with. He quietly signalled an E-Tech to make a quick data search on the individual's background, before responding, "This is Commander Vasquez. I would like to speak with the mayor."

"The mayor is not available right now. I am now in charge of this office for the time being."

The voice was firm and steady. Not the edgy one that Vasquez was expecting. It unnerved him. For a moment, he did not speak, and waited for the data. When the E-Tech finally stood up from the suite, he hurriedly took the data report.

"Holyshit!" Vasquez slammed the data projector on the chest of the E-Tech, right after studying it for some time with an increasing frown on his face, and beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

He then spoke on the comm, trying to portray a cheerful voice, "Ms. Losac, I'm very thrilled to be speaking with someone from the great houses of the Union. I would like to hear your offers of accomodation."

With the person coming from a silver-tongued family, Vasquez decided to play it safe. The Losacs were not only known in the Union, but also in the surrounding factions. They once held a sit on the summit regarding the new treaty between mech factions of weapons prohibition.

"I want to make it clear first. Any vandalism in the city will be paid in full in the near future. Reparations and compensations would be accounted to your guild. As such, I expect that nothing will be taken forcefully from my people. If your men need supplies, they can purchase materials but at a 500% higher rate than the normal price. Your unlawful occupation had made a sudden backslash to our economy, and the revenues had come to a halt.."

"Ms. Losac, we will negotiate with the Union's Mech Association and trade will resu--" Vasquez cut off the woman after hearing her sentencing them with many things he was not even aware of.

However, she was not discouraged as she resumed, cutting the commander off in turn.

"Until then, you and your men, I hope, will behave accordingly. I will take charge of the negotiation with your guild master, and I'm very much looking forward to it."

Vasquez and his men could only flinch in the bridge, as Emma Losac continued her barrage of condemnation, the pointy edges directed at them.

-----

Sy quietly cleaned the garage, before fixing the scattered beer bottles into their cases. All of his accomplices of heavy drinking during the night were still unconscious.

"My body.. is broken." Theon murmured while asleep, on the bottom of a neatly piled number of mech specialists.

"Sy.. Verdin." Andreas muttered, also asleep, soloing a corner.

"Mama!" A mercenary on the floor, unconsciously called out with a high pitch voice.

One thing was sure when they woke up, an unknown number of body pain will attack them as soon as they finally came to their senses.

Thankfully, Sy did not feel any lasting damage from last night's endeavour. Now that he thought about it, before he reached the Union, he was drinking with someone. When the memory did not want to surface, he climbed up to the second floor.

Upon reaching his apartment, his hand hesitated for a brief moment, before he swung open the door.

The girls were there, sleeping on the bed with Laira. Genevieve was on the couch, laying on her side, purposely putting herself between the young ones and the door.

Sy softly smiled. He carefully walked passed the Runerie to check on the girls, but his hand was snatched halfway, causing him to nervously glance at her direction.

Her touch was tender, but her grip was strong. She was still on her side, eyes closed, with an arm extended - holding him in place. Knowing that he was not going anywhere, he knelt on one knee.

With that, Genevieve pulled his hand closer to her chest. One of her eyes opened, and a smile adorned her beautiful face. She weakly uttered, "I told you not to get drunk. Been waiting all night."

Sy could only chuckle. He did not resist the urge to caress her silky light-blue hair, its sweet scent permeating in the air.

"Should I concoct you milk or coffee?" He said, trying to find a way to escape her iron grip.

"No." She firmly answered, fixing her head on the pillow with a slight shuffle, stifling a smile on her face. "I want you to stay with me."

Heaving a sigh, Sy sat down. He knew Genevieve did not have much sleep and he only needed to wait. After a few minutes, her expression started to relax as her grip began to waver. Her hand was still clenched and he needed to gently and carefully stretched each of her fingers in order not to wake her until his hand was his again.

Seeing that all of the girls in the room needed more rest, he went to the door and exited. Perhaps, there were other things that needed his attention downstairs.

-----

Pyr Prime,

[This is small transport IO to control tower. We are taking off.]

[Control tower to IO, you are green to go.]

Mina stared at the glass viewport as the transport ship slowly lifted from the ground. When they were at a certain altitude, she could see the massive city in its entirety, sporting its industrial might. Lights flickered everywhere, and countless number of crafts hovered above it.

Dressed with a white void suit on top of a black skinsuit, the radiant light of the system star illuminated the background, her light brown hair strapped on her nape turning yellow as the transport ship exited into orbit.

Some people from numerous shuttle ships they encountered on the way had a glimpse of her stunning figure. Most might have assumed that she was on her way to a distant star system far away from Pyr Prime. An exaggerated imagination would be a good distant that would take a whole year to achieve. But that can only be true if the trip was cut into a few segments. After all, FTL lanes were divided between star system for safety. There was no certainty that no obstacle was on the way. Crashing directly into an asteroid field or cosmic dusts was a long learned lesson.

Everything was boundless nowadays. People's imagination reached a certain degree, mystifying on distant star systems - thinking that they were a paradise that needed to be explored, causing a boom in exploration.

However, in the Union where starships production every ten years can be counted by the finger, its citizens' line of thought shifted at another angle. Going out into the void and exploring the far fringes of the galaxy was a fantasy to them.

"Lining up to FTL. Five minutes before warp." The captain of the ship stated, steering the vessel into the right angle.

Niel joined his sister on the viewport. After smiling at the sight, he said, "The directors are now in contact with their branch in The Empire of Durn. Simulations will begin once we reach the next star system."

After a moment, he added, "Commander Derton will pilot the Straggler in the simulation. You might not want to miss it."

Mina raised a brow at her brother, retorting, "Why would I even miss it? That will be a good time to see a showdown between a commander of the Union against the Empire's."