Mind Game

Just as he was about to get into Leona's prison room, Altea's voice stopped him, "Captain, Mr. Arnold has agreed to work for us, he has used the chip," it reported.

Ed checked his watch to find that it was already 57 minute since he left the man's room, "Hmm... took him long enough to decide, I should visit him once more after this," he thought.

With that taken care off, there was only one person left to take care of. He pushed a button on the cell room and the hatch opened to let him in.

The moment he walked in, he found that the prisoner was seated near the door rather than at the far end of the room.

Normally, people would be on the other end of the room so they would feel safer and could see it when the door finally opened, but to his surprise, the prisoner was sitting near the prison door.

He was taken by surprise when the prisoner tackled him with his shoulder. It pushed his back toward the wall.

Even though the man's arm was handcuffed together, he used both of them to smash toward his face.

Ed raised his right arm in defense, he blocked the attack with ease as his body got stronger after the gene modification, while at it, he used the other hand to reach for his gun.

His assailant noticed it and he kicked the gun away from his hand before Ed could point it at him.

"Damn, this person did not give up even after all this time," he was surprised by the man's mental strength.

He purposely waited for hours before talking to them so they would understand the gravity of their situation and give up on any retaliation. He did not expect the man to be so stubborn.

"I miss calculate, he must know that I'm alone. If he takes me down, then he could leave this ship without any hindrance!" he realized why the man could be so brave under such a situation.

Rather than continue to engage him in close quarters, the man jumped toward the gun he had kicked away. It alarmed Ed.

He jumped after the prisoner, trying to reach for the gun, unlucky for him, the gun was closer to the man.

The man's shorter arm got the gun first but Ed did not stop and back away, he was less than a meter from the man, as long as he could get the gun before it was pointed at him, it would be fine.

The man laid on his back and used both hands to point the gun at his face as he was handcuffed, Ed was already upon arm reach and used his superior strength to hold the man's arm and redirect it to the ceiling.

It made the bullet miss him by hair breath; it was so close that he could feel the bullet cut a few strands of his hair.

Ed mounted the man so he could not get away and pushed the man's arms on top of his head against the floor. With a single move, he snatched back the gun and pointed it upward at the man's chin.

The man stopped struggling once the gun was pointed at him, Ed finally got the chance to have a clear look at the man, it startled him.

The man's beautiful face was blushing from struggling and he could see tears welling on his face, he could see fear and anger in his eyes.

'Badump... Badump...' Ed could feel his heart beating fast, he did not know if it was because of the man's beautiful face or because of his near death experience just now.

"What the fuck? This girl is so cute! How could they call her a man? Altea must be joking with me!" he exclaimed in his heart.

"Turn around!" he commanded as he flipped her body so she lay on her stomach and he put her hand behind her back.

While at it, he could feel how small her body is, her hand was also soft like silk, "If this person is a man then I would be a woman," he lamented in his heart as he pointed his gun on the back of her head.

"Don't do anything reckless," he warned the girl as he got off her back. He took a few steps back so she would not get the chance to attack him again.

"Altea, give him a special chair," he commanded the AI as a table and two chairs popped out of the floor.

Ed forced the man supposed to be to her chair, once she sat on it a restrained locked her handcuffed to a chain on the table, and a restrained popped out of the chair and restrained her legs so she could not get up.

After tidying his clothes, Ed went to his own seat across the table. He tried to put a stern face in front of the silent girl before him.

He pulled out a datapad and started to read them, "Leon, 20 years old, graduated from engineering school, lost both parents during the previous war and joined the Star Chaser right after graduation. Is this data correct?" he asked the girl in front of him.

Even though she was using a few layers of clothes, she borrowed from other crew before they got detained, he could still recognize her as a girl. Her small stature and beautiful face was a dead giveaway, she looked cute even with short hair.

"Yes, that's true," she tried to make her voice as heavy as possible while sticking to her guise.

Leona had changed all log and data about herself once they got kidnaped by the black mecha, she tried to disguise as a man.

Womens that got captured by pirates usually only have one ending, either becoming a pleasure slave or being sold as a commodity. She tried her best to avoid such a result.

"You are quite a brave man I see, if I'm not wrong, you are the one who hacked into our system, you are quite a talented young man, aren't you? I would normally not let you live after what you did, but it would be a waste to kill a man like you. Why don't you work for me," he decided to play with her game.

Ed purposely showed that he thought she was a man while offering her the job. It even shocked her as she believed that he would discover her once he saw her.

"Eh? Did he believe me? Is he an idiot? He could not even differentiate between man and woman!" she thought to herself.

"Please don't decline first, I know that you must want revenge since I killed your uncle, so I will give you a chance to do so," he said with a grin.

He gave her the injector and the chip, "This will ensure your loyalty to me, once you inject it on your nape, you will work for me," he started.

"Then how can I get my revenge?" she interrupted him with a frown.

"Don't be impatient, I will program it so every first day of the month, from 11 pm until midnight, it will be inactive. You can do as you please in this hour," he offered her a deal with the devil.

Seeing she was silent in thought, he tried to convince her more, "Do your best to work for me, as long as I see value in you, you will have a lifetime to try to exact revenge from me."

He tried to make it look like he had something to gain from giving her the chance.

"I need to make sure that you keep your word," she finally said.

"Fine. Altea, Reprogram the chip as I said, do it right in front of him," he commanded the AI.

A computer panel popped out of the ground and they could see as the AI reprogram the chip. It startled the girl.

"This ship has such an advance AI?!" she mumbled as it was the first time she met an unrestricted AI that could do things outside its work-frame.

After seeing that the chip was programmed exactly as he had said, she took it upon her hand.

"Uncle, I will definitely get revenge. How dare he take my last family from me!" she promised as he injected the chip to her nape.

"Happy cooperation then," Ed said to her before leaving her alone in the room.

Once he left her, he checked the System notification.

'New Mission, '

'Mission Detail: Make Leona confess her true identity without using force.'

'Mission reward: Random Advance Technology'

"If this advance technology is anything on the level of holocaust engine, then it would help a lot in building my fleet," he thought to himself.

In this era, how big an organization was depended on the amount of advanced technology they have. If Ed wants to pursue the path of a pirate, then he would need more than just a single mecha.

"I will build my own corporation in this world as well! I will let everyone know Edward Everette," he decided his goal.