Chapter 81: Diplomacy Attempt

Approaching one of Astral's numerous hideouts was a large vessel, a sakura-themed battlecruiser. It was travelling at a low velocity towards one of the landing pads of the hideout— so low that it was almost mocking Astral who was waiting within the cafeteria. She watched the battlecruiser slowly docking to the hideout, slowly ejecting her gangplank towards the hideout. Once the gangplank was deployed, a woman exited from a small bulkhead door and walked downwards— once again, taking her sweet time. It was as if she was taunting Astral with her lackadaisical attitude.

Astral took a good look at the woman who she assumed was the person known to Abyssal as Jinko. She wore eastern style clothing known as a kimono to Astral. She had long black hair tied into a traditional flowing Japanese hairstyle, complete with a pinkish flowery clip. Her dress was pink in theme with a few yellow and black strands. To her sides were two swords, one long and one shorter, ready to be drawn out at a moments notice by her right hand which always seemed to be within distance of the swords. She had a stern and yet, a relaxed face, though most people would rather look at her body which reveals quite a bit of cleavage and her long smooth legs— most probably an attempt to lure eyes away from her expression.

Astral wasn't the only person looking around. Jinko was looking around the platform as well, scanning the environment with interest. As she did so, she took small steps towards a certain door leading towards the cafeteria which Astral was in, seemingly already knowing where to go. It took another few annoying minutes before Jinko finally met face to face with Astral. Astral was just sitting on a steel chair next to a small round table with one of her legs on top of the other. Jinko on the other hand was still looking around the place, though her feet moved towards Astral.

Soon, with elegance and charm, she sat down on a nearby chair a small distance away from Astral before greeting her with a short bow.

"Rising from the ashes is a phoenix of red,

within the tray of ashes,

within the den of dust,

within the encirclement of fire,

a phoenix rise from the ashes,

but can she rise forever?

It's an honour to finally meet the red-chicken in person. I have much to thank you for my numerous painful encounters with you," Jinko said as she made a bird symbol with her hands.

"Mess with the bull and you get the horns lady," Astral replied, ignoring Jinko's blatant attempts at riling her up. She started looking around once more, inside and outside of the hideout through the small wireless console in front of her. "You came here alone?"

"I know a trap when I see one. I am not such a fool to risk my subordinates' safety."

"And yet you risked yourself?"

"You aren't the only one who can rise from the ashes, Astral," Jinko replied with a small smile.

"Right…"

"You call out on me, but I don't see the blue core nor what I am looking for anywhere either.���

"Touche. Well, they are in a safe place right now, kinda."

"How do I know that you aren't lying to me? How do I know if you have what I am looking for?"

Astral didn't reply to the question, only throwing towards Jinko, her mobile console. Within it was an image of Abyssal, Kuon and Meica. Jinko looked towards the image, confirming the existence of Meicanika Libera. She also confirmed the existence of the blue core, albeit different from when she first met her. The blue core was much more expressive and had a large breast size compared to the blue core that she met. She also wore a different dress than the one she met in her virtual realm. There was another person within the picture that she didn't recognize, a woman wearing a victorian maid outfit.

"I could call them up right now if you want."

"No, that won't be necessary," Jinko said before pulling out a device and placing it on the table. She then tapped a button on the device. "This discussion is between you and me anyway."

Astral tilted her head for a moment, not understanding what Jinko meant with that statement.

"Jamming device," Jinko said briefly, having seen Astral's confusion.

"Ah," Astral nodded with an understanding.

"May I ask, what do you know about Meicanika Libera?" Jinko asked, pointing towards Meica in the image.

"Professionally or personally?"

"Both."

"Professionally, I know she's the daughter and current heir of Nipon Steel and I know that you are after her for some reason."

"That is about as correct as a person could be."

"Personally, I think she's a cute girl. A little bit on the naive side, but that's not a bad thing. Kids be kids, ya know. Can't fault her for that. The rest of the crew is rather similar. I may be a little bit mean to them, but hey, they are good people. The galaxy could use more people like them."

"Hoh. That is a rather surprising take from someone as infamous as yourself. I thought you would be more… criminal about the matter."

"How much is she paying you for the girl?" Astral asked, ignoring Jinko's question and cutting straight to the point. Her face went from a relaxed expression to a scowling one, eyes glaring straight onto Jinko's own.

"What else? A lot of money. Technology. Reputation. Power. You would know better than anyone."

Astral brought out the palm of her hands towards Jinko. "I'm not interested in anything other than the credits. How much?"

"Enough to fund a group of retired cores and soldiers for months."

Raising her eyebrows, Astral asked another question. "That woman… is she willing to pay that much?"

"You will be surprised how much a mother is willing to pay for the safety of her own kin. Especially dotingly rich and powerful ones."

"That's true, I guess…"

"I know what you are after, Astral. I am no fool. And considering the amount of pain you have caused me, I am willing to negotiate. As I do not think making a foe out of you would be beneficial."

"..."

"How about we cut the credits, fifty-fifty. But all the other rewards are mine. I don't see what use you have for technology that you most probably already have."

"To be honest with you. I don't really need the money either. There is only so much one person can use."

For the first time in the entire discussion, Jinko let out a frown. "Then what is it that you want."

"I'll be honest with you. I actually called you here to judge your character. This whole meeting was to see if you could be trusted. I could use more friends in high places, you see."

"Hoh… Well, what is your assessment?"

"You are pretty shady."

"I could say the same to you, red-chicken."

Astral let out a chuckle. "Touche. So, the deal… you just bring the kid to her mom?"

"Pretty much. If nothing bad happens then we travel straight to Nipon Steel Headquarters and deliver her straight to Libera."

"What's going to happen to her after that?"

"It is not of my concern."

"I see."

"Does it bother you what happens to the child? I expected you to have the same outlook as me. A mercenary shouldn't care too much about the end result of their package."

"You do your own thing and I'll do my own," Astral stood up from her seat. She then made her way towards the docking area.

"Do we have a deal?" Jinko asked, not bothering to look at Astral.

"Yeah, we have a deal. We deliver the girl to Nipon Steel, stay out of each other's way on the way there and after the job is done, we go our separate ways. Oh, and she stays in the blue shark throughout the whole journey. No negotiations on that matter."

"Noted. I'll contact my subordinates about the matter."

"Alright then. I'll send you a feed about the locations of the mines later on."

"Understood. Just… one more question for you, red-chicken," Jinko asked in a curious tone.

"What?"

Jinko shifted her head to look around the area. All she could see was a torn down cafeteria with holes and missing panels everywhere. There were only one table and a few chairs in the whole place. As a matter of fact, Jinko was currently sitting down on one of the only two chairs in the place.

"Why is this place so run-downed? The great Astral couldn't afford a place to stay?" Jinko asked with a smirk.

Astral rolled her eyes before letting out a sigh. "Let's just say, I kinda underestimate Abyssal and her capabilities… She's quite cunning when she needs to be, I can tell you that."

"Abyssal?" Jinko tilted her head.

"You'll meet her soon enough. For some reason, I think you two will really get along with each other really well. Your attitude kinda compliments each other," Astral said before finally leaving the place.

She jumped off the platform and disappeared before Jinko's vision. Soon after, a red jet came and streamed out of the area at high velocity. The fighter jet manoeuvre left and right in weird patterns as if avoiding something. Jinko assumed it to be the various mines laid by the girl in the location.

…

..

.

"Interesting," Jinko muttered after a few moments had passed. She took back her device and took another look at the holographic console displaying the three crew members of the blue shark. Taking one last stare towards the girl in blue, Jinko smiled with a slight glee on her face.

"I'm looking forward to meeting you, Abyssal."

Moving away from the platform and towards her vessel, she called up towards her two direct subordinates, Hikari and Yoake. Before meeting up with Astral, Hikari and Yoake were ordered to move into separate locations to monitor the area and contain the blue shark and the phoenix in case things went awry. Now that the negotiations have been concluded without much problem, there wasn't any need for them to do that anymore.

"Hikari, Yoake, I have made contact with the phoenix. Rendezvous with me at coordinate H213. Take it slow and avoid any traps. They have put a lot of ship mines in the area."

"Roger that," Hikari replied.

Jinko expected a reply to come from Yoake as well and waited for a while for her response. However, no matter how long she waited, only the noise of space was heard.

"Yoake?" Jinko asked again. Again Jinko waited for a few moments, but to her dismay, there was no reply.

"It seems that there is a very powerful communications disruptor in the area, Jinko-senpai."

A frown came onto Jinko's face as she heard that. She realised that Hikari could hear her because of her more advanced communications specs. The same cannot be said for Yoake who was more focussed on raw destructive firepower. However, Jinko was not dumb enough to have been fooled by the simple communication disruptor deployed by Astral.

"I've accounted for that possibility, she shouldn't be that far enough for us to lose comms like this. There must be a third party interference with a powerful jamming device," Jinko surmised.

"A third party interference? From who? Why?"

Jinko took a split second to think of a plan before asking Hikari: "How far are you from Yoake's previous location? We need to close our distance and reestablish communications."

"I could probably reach there in about half an hour."

"Meet up with her, and tell her what I just told you. Do not engage with the Phoenix or the Blue Shark. The minefield in this area will delay me for quite a bit, so you will be in charge of the situation there."

"Yes Ma'am!"

Communication was cut and Jinko felt the need to let out a sigh of her own. "Bad luck after another… It is like a curse," Jinko muttered.