~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chronicle Fourteen - you're on my wave ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "You GAVE Lune to them!?" Tomoko bellowed, "Didn't I give you guys specific orders to protect that girl?! Damnit!" Neela, Suzuhara and Skye said nothing in return to Tomoko's loudly argued comments. They knew it wasn't their fault but they also knew that they had to shoulder some of the blame. Nobody wanted to give Lune to Aratia and the Hanuman, but... if they hadn't of done that then that psycho woman would have destroyed the Kamiyashiki for sure. And more importantly; Lune had surrendered herself by her own will. No one would have forced her to leave if she didn't want to. But that wasn't how Tomoko saw it. The group had gathered back together inside the Kamiyashiki. The damaged Bishamon was returned to the hanger for repairs along with the newly re-acquired Oriax. Once Terry had gotten some of his bruises and cuts patched up in the ship infirmary, the party all gathered at the bridge to discuss the current situation. One that was a lot more dangerous and complicated than anyone had been expecting before this mission started. Now there were whole new factors to consider. And Lune was in the middle of all that. Tomoko, Yumi, Geist Fahlem and Terry stood on the high platform of the bridge which overlooked the three helmsmen and women; Neela, Suzuhara and Skye. They maintained their control over the ship and let it go on silent running through the sky. It was heading north. Long gone was the St. Mary's Base. Now the Kamiyashiki was edging its way towards the 'super-city', Aryahm. Yumi placed a hand on Tomoko's shoulder to calm her down. "...It's... okay, Tomoko. Lune gave herself up... but... she did it to protect everyone. We should do... what we can to make that... up to her." Tomoko crossed her arms with a huff. "...Yeah, I guess we don't have time for this now. Lune's in danger and since she was under the care of my crew when it happened... this is my responsibility. But before we get into any of that I have a few questions that need clearing up." All eyes turned to Geist. The slightly older man nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose and exhaled. "...What is it you wish to know?" "Everything," Tomoko stated, point-blank, "I could tell that you and Yumi were something special from the moment I met the two of you. But inside the base that Diana woman was spouting shit that not even SHE understood. I know you're up to speed with what that Diana has planned. So start talking. What's the deal here?" "There are things I simply cannot tell you until we reach Geshem. And it will take some time to explain the things that I can tell you, no matter how I summarize or paraphrase. Do you still want to know?" Fahlem asked them. Terry shrugged. "We're all ears." "...Alright. I shall explain. You see... many years ago... by modern estimations of around 12,000 years; a being came down from space and gave new life to the planet. That being was what the Ashurian Empire will refer to as 'Novus Deus'. Upon its descent on the world, it gave birth to a separate organism. That organism was the Bio-System. A biological entity with all the practical characteristics of a computer. Namely the need and will to assimilate data. Once this Bio-System started to take information into itself and reach a new level of metaphysical understanding; the Bio-System started to divide itself into smaller creatures. Ones forged into the shape and image of the Novus Deus itself. Those beings... those animals... are still alive today. They are the ancestors and precursors of humanity." Aside from Yumi, all others on the bridge gasped at that. Human beings were the descendants of some alien being? Tomoko shook her head with vigour. "...What a load of bull. Didn't mankind evolve from apes or something...?" "It's true, Tomoko." Yumi said. Regardless, Fahlem continued. "As I said, the Bio-System divided itself into smaller beings known now as humanity. But those people did not lose their psychological attachments. They maintained a mental link with which they could share their data between each other and strive to create a greater world for themselves. That correlation is what we know as the Interlink. However a single woman attempted to gather all information to herself. This act is called the Second Sin. I don't think I need to explain the etymological background for such a name. This act provoked a corruption in the Interlink, causing it to break down and thus shatter all connections between humanity. The Novus Deus was equally damaged by the act and was now dying. However the evil of the Second Sin was manifest in a physical form. That form is called the 'Astaroth'. We do not know much about either entity but what we do know is that they met. The Astaroth and the Novus Deus did not battle each other. But they did meet. And it caused the complete deaths of both. The Astaroth split itself asunder and its corpse was left buried under the ice of what is now known as South Shidou. But its spirit remained. In a desperate bid to resurrect its force in the future, the Astaroth produced a wave of spores called the Seed of the Astaroth. Those seeds were then implanted within select people across the globe and nurtured in their bloodlines until the modern era. Descendants of those people infected by the Seed of the Astaroth are called Ashtars. I myself am an Ashtar. Or at least I was." Terry kept up with that much so far. "What about the Novus Deus?" "The Novus Deus divided itself into two forms," Fahlem continued, "one was is the Eros. The other was the Thanatos. Every 148 years they are destined to mate and produce a child. One that will be a potential candidate for the new Novus Deus. The Eros-Thanatos Cycle is a method of giving a resurrection to the Novus Deus in a new form. However if the bloodline is still impure by the Second Sin... then... all that will be born is an imperfect Vulnus Deus. That creature will then split itself into two embryonic forms which shall grow and evolve into the Eros and Thanatos of the next generation. So far there has never been a successful mating between the two. If Lune does produce a Novus Deus then she will be the first to do so. Ever." Tomoko blinked. "Eros and Thanatos, huh? Say, Yumi... didn't that Diana woman say that you were once an Eros?" "...Yeah..." She replied, "back in my own time." "What's that mean?" Terry asked. Fahlem crossed his arms. "...Yumi was not born in this era. She was born before the Divine Cataclysm. That is why she has no understanding of the world she is currently in." "But hold on a minute," Terry said, "how is that possible? Cryogenics?" "That is not the reason. Which helps me explain a further point. Yumi and myself are symbiotic with the Heart of the Astaroth. That is the outcome of the soul of Astaroth. Its very spirit. Ashtars have the ability to fuse their own souls with that force and become stronger. When an Ashtar achieves symbiosis he or she undergoes something known as Divine Hibernation. It seals the user inside a sphere of their own Qi. Those who emerge from that attain a state called Demi-Gnosis. When an Ashtar goes through a second Divine Hibernation they reach the highest level. They become Ishtars. And both Yumi and myself are now Ishtars. Because Yumi was sealed inside her Qi sphere for so long, her body was preserved until she was excavated from the Qi sphere no more than three days ago. Both Yumi and I come from the same time period. Though I was able to keep myself alive because I injected restorative nanomachines into my own blood. That retains my youth and looks." Tomoko's eyebrow ticked. "...So you're both... 6000 years old?" "In a manner of speaking," Fahlem put ahead, "but that is the least of your worries. We have to do what we can to stop the Novus Deus from being born into the world. We must find a way." The blonde pilot of the Bishamon shrugged again. "But why? According to you the Novus Deus was a pretty benevolent creature. What damage could it really do to us?" "It's not quite as simple as that. Under the ushering of the Triad of the Inquisition, the Novus Deus will attempt to fuse all of humankind into a solid form, the Bio-System form. If it is allowed to re-spawn itself then everyone including yourself will merge into one being." Tomoko shivered. "Eeew...! Now that I think about it... that does sound a little creepy. So what can we do about it?" "Right now..." Fahlem started, "There seem to be only two ways to stop a birth of a new Novus Deus. But neither of them seems completely feasible. One would be to remove the nano-molecular capsules that contain the Thanatos semen. But to do that we would first need to retrieve Lune and then take her to Meshezabel for treatment. Then we would need to find a way to convince a Meshezablian surgeon to do this for us. Doing all of that is more or less impossible; as I do not see that we have enough time for it." Yumi shook her head. "...But the other way is..." "...Yes," Geist shared her anxiety, "the only other way to stop the process would be to find Lune... and kill her." Terry scratched the back of his head. "...It's kind of obvious then isn't it?" "...A-are you... kidding me?!" Yumi said defensively, "we can't kill her! She's an innocent girl!" "Would you rather everyone turn into some giant computer-blob?" Geist shook his head. "Arguing will do us no good now. I think we should focus on getting Lune back and seeing how she feels about it before we go making any plans about her fate. We do not know where she is but we do know that she is with Aratia. And Aratia is heading for Aryahm. We will have to follow them into the city and then escape with her." Tomoko held a hand to her chin. "Okay, I get that much. It shouldn't be a problem. But I suppose this time we'll have to go maverick. Charging in all guns blazing won't work on the defences that Aryahm has. But it'll be a bit tough in finding out just where she'll be. I can't picture it myself. Terry. You know a fair bit about Aryahm since your time there. Where do you think they'll be holding Lune?" Terry put some thought into it. "...That depends. If she's that important of a captive then they'll probably take her to Meshezabel after processing. But until then the most likely place she'll be kept is Control Central, the base of the Schutzenreich. But it's one of the most heavily guarded fortress on Earth so... getting in there will be hard. Seriously hard." Then Yumi suddenly thought of something. "...Hold on. There's still one thing that's bothering me. Doctor Fahlem, I know you're not telling me everything. When we spoke to Diana in the St. Mary's Base she talked of something called Seraphiel. What is that? What's the connection?" "...I cannot say." He replied. "Oh, that's bull!" Tomoko remarked, "If you really know something extra about all this then cough it up, doc!" Fahlem sighed. "...I made a promise to Caliph Bahaman, leader of the nation of Geshem. I swore an oath that forbids me to speak of that being and its connection to Geshem. I can only tell you these things when we get there. That is one of the reasons I want you to come with me to Geshem, Yumi." "Fair enough..." Yumi said slowly, "...I understand." Geist nodded to her. "Okay then. But now, Yumi. There is something you must promise me." "...What's that?" "From now on, no matter what you do, no matter what the circumstances are, you CANNOT use the Transmutation ability of the Oriax. Promise me that you will not attempt to use it." Yumi blinked. "But why not?" "I cannot say as yet. But grave danger will befall the world if you use the Transmutation skill of the Oriax. For now just trust me. I know best in this situation." "Okay..." The hacker replied, "I promise." "Okay then, so how do we figure out where they'll be keeping Lune? Not even I can be sure of that." Terry stated. Geist took a second and thought about it. "Hmm. The Central Data Banks of Aryahm's supercomputer, Metatron, usually update its data files on prisoners, weapons and such every three hours. Aratia should arrive in Aryahm by this evening. In which case the records made of where Lune is being held should be uploaded into the network by tomorrow morning at the latest. Yumi. You're a computer hacker, are you not? Could you enter into the Central Data Banks of Metatron from an external terminal and discover the location of Lune's intended holding point?" "...Well, I probably could..." She admitted, "...but I would need to work from a computer operating inside the network to do that." "What about the Ragnarok System?" Tomoko asked, "Metatron is a big part of the Gospel Template. There is no way you could just hack into something on that scale now that the Ragnarok System's online again. It'd be impossible." Yumi looked over at the captain of the ship. "I could create a certain software to momentarily override control programs of that size. I used to use them a lot back home. I called them Counter Demon Walls. If I put one of those up it could block the random codes used to program and apply the Security Demons of that Rag-thing for at least three minutes. That should be enough time to hack into the Central Data Banks and find out where they're going to be keeping Lune." "But this'll need to be split second stuff," Terry said, "You'd need to tell someone straight away so we can pick Lune up." "That means we should divide ourselves into teams of two," Claimed Fahlem, "someone will have to go with Yumi and discover where Lune is. Then another team will be on standby to wait for the news. When that team gets the location from Yumi; they will have to rescue her." Terry pressed his hands into his hips. "Yeah, but there's also a problem of security. You can't just walk into the nerve centre of the Ashurian Empire's surface-based affairs. We'd need something big as a distraction for the brunt of their guards at Control Central. That way we could get in easier." "I'll be the distraction," Yumi offered, "...I can do it." Tomoko stared at her. "...Yumi...?" "I'll be fine," She assured semi-confidently, "my powers aren't held back anymore. All I'd have to do is get back into the Oriax and cause some panic by the front gates of their headquarters, right? I might not be the best pilot but my Oriax can handle anything." "...You're maturing, Yumi..." Fahlem said, smiling at her. "Hold up!" Tomoko said, piping up, "Yumi can't just take on the Aryahm defences and security alone! That's like suicide!" Geist gave Tomoko a hard stare. "Don't underestimate the Oriax. Even at its weakest, it can generate Qi Levels of over 9,600. That Meta Suit is more powerful than you can imagine. Truth be told... there would be no safer place than inside of that machine in a battle. Yumi will be fine as long as we waste no time in rescuing Lune. Are we all agreed?" Terry nodded. "I think it's pretty much our only shot." "I agree," Yumi said, "I'm in." Tomoko took a last lingering look from Yumi before throwing her hand into the hat. "Alright, alright. I suppose I don't wanna buck the trend. I still don't like the idea though." "Very well," Fahlem adjusted his glasses again, "so let us clarify the plan. We shall sneak into the city of Aryahm and then split up into teams of two. One of those teams will be Yumi's team. Those two will use a computer terminal inside the city to hack into Metatron. Then once they get that information they will supply it to Terry's team by a receiver. Then Yumi will return to the Oriax and attack Control Central frontally. While she is doing this, Terry's team will get into the building and free Lune. Then we will escape with her. Understood? Now all we need to do is decide who is going with who." Tomoko was the first to speak. "I'll go with Yumi. You can go with Terry. That sounds fair, right? You two have the fighting experience needed to get the job done if you run into any guards." Fahlem bobbed his head. "Okay then. That's the plan." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ North Horan was the only point at which Horan climate could start to become colder. For most cases it was the winter part of Earth's climates. But in South Horan and the like; it could still be quite hot. That was all different when it came to this place. North Horan was the only point on this country where it could get cold. Especially at night. And the night had fallen all too soon. The Hanuman stood unmanned next to a tall rock formation. They were some slabs of stone crushed together to form a small cave-like structure. The Hanuman had stopped there once night came down on the grass fields. Travelling any further would be dangerous. The on thing that Hanuman did not have was great vision at night. Thus it was important that Aratia stopped before moving on to Aryahm. The blonde vixen herself stood outside of the cave-formation. With a few logs in her hand she tossed them onto the floor. Then kneeled down and grabbed a pair of rocks. Aratia picked them both up and knocked them against each other. It took a little while but the sparks of friction soon set the firewood below alight. The flames shot up soon afterwards. Aratia's shadow was widened when that happened. And that shadow was cast over Lune. The green-haired girl, ignorant of her destiny as the Eros, sat in the cave with handcuffs across her wrists. The expression on her face showed that she was still worried about what might happen to her. But she took everything at face value. Which was why she knew it was a futile effort to try and run away. Aratia looked over her shoulder at the girl. "Hey, you. Get over here." Lune stood up from grassy floor under the large rocks, and then walked over to Aratia. The older girl crossed her arms and watched Lune emerge from the rock formation, her face and bodily mannerisms maintained her overall modest image. Aratia eyed her up and down. "...Hmm. You're a cute one, aren't ya? Dah well. A woman can't mix business with pleasure. Just sit here and try to keep warm. Old Commander K”hler will have my hide if I let something happen to you." "Okay..." The girl crouched down before the fire and spread out her hands to get some more of the heat. She was just doing as Aratia had told her, but Lune did have to admit that she felt cold. When Aratia walked around the campfire and looked out unto the presence of Northern Horan grasslands, Lune wondered something. "Miss Toscana?" Aratia pressed a hand to her waist. "...What is it?" "Aren't you cold too?" Asked Lune, "Don't you want some of this?" "...I don't get cold. That's just the way it is. And don't think you can pull any shit with me. Going out of your way to befriend me will do you no good whatsoever." Lune silenced herself. "...I'm sorry." "So you should be," Aratia claimed, "those are the acts of a coward. I don't keep company with cowards. I'm a soldier. And no matter what that bitch white-coat Diana says, this world will always rely on my kind. Therefore I am untouchable. You should be glad you had the luck to be captured by me, girl." Of course, Lune wasn't really interested in Aratia's self-indulgent speeches right about now. What she was focusing on was that thing Aratia had said about herself. "...Miss Toscana... why do you not get cold?" "...What did I JUST say? It's no use. Acting all cute and innocent won't work on someone of my standing." "But I just want to know." Aratia exhaled and then turned back around from the edge of the camp. The Aryahm soldier walked back to the campfire and crouched down before it, breathing idly. "...I dunno why I don't get cold. It's been that way since I was a kid. But it's one of my powers and I feel great about it. There, are you happy? You know a little more about me now so knock off the girly-girl routine. Aratia de Toscana will not fall for such stupid tricks." Lune stared silently at Aratia. Then started giggling. The moment Aratia heard those giggles she turned red in the face, pounding her fist against the ground. "What the hell is so funny?!" Lune held her fist against her mouth. "Ha, ha, ha! I'm... sorry..." "Hmph!" Aratia crossed her arms with a pout, "You're pretty damn calm. I just captured you, locked you in handcuffs and now I'm taking you to Aryahm. Yet all you can do is laugh? Are you stupid or something?" The green-haired teen muffled her laughing into light giggles. "I don't get worried about things I can't change. What's... the point in that? I like to take life as it comes at me. That's the way it is." "That's the way it is for you. I don't live like that. I believe that the only way to get ahead now is to fight for what you want. You take what's yours without restraint or worry. Money, booze, women, success. Everything you get you have to take." "Isn't that stealing?" "Are you kidding me?" Aratia chuckled, "is THAT the kind of thing you get worried about? Oh, getting captured is okay, but having someone else steal, that's the thing that takes the piss, eh?" Lune nodded. "That's right." "Oh man, you are so na‹ve." "Am I?" She wondered, "...You said that everything you want in life you have to take, didn't you?" Aratia nodded. "Correct." "Well what about love? You can't 'take' love from someone. And you can't take trust from someone either. And without those things... what are you? Really? I've never had parents to love me because I don't know who they are. But I was raised by my adoptive grandparents. They were killed by the Ashurian Empire but I can rest easy about their deaths because I know that they loved me and that they'll always be in my heart. You can't take that sort of thing from someone. Stealing is enough to get you by... taking things that are not yours might even give you a shallow happiness. But are you really content to live like that? What is happiness worth if it's only hollow?" Aratia was left wordless when she heard that one. The blonde stared at the Eros with confusion. Lune White was definitely more than she appeared to be. Even now she had this... gentle aura about herself. Almost as if she were... a definition of purity, or something. Still that was a fact that Aratia didn't want to trouble herself with. Lune was to be shipped to Aryahm. It may have broken the orders she got from Diana at the St. Mary's Base, but this was more important than protecting some 6000 year old Meta Suit. Still, Aratia couldn't help but be curious about this girl. "...Who are you?" "My name is Lune White," She said with a smile, "that's who I am." Aratia scoffed at that and stood up from her seated position on the ground. The blonde haired soldier walked over to the leg of her Meta Suit and pulled something out of her pocket. It was a transmitter. Aratia placed the button-sized tool on her Hanuman's leg. Lune saw that and asked, "What are you doing?" "It's a homing beacon, genius," Aratia quipped, "it'll let my superiors at Aryahm know that I'm coming their way. The sooner I drop you off the better." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ One of the twenty-three sections of the Kamiyashiki happened to be a bar. It was small really. Just a moderately-sized room with a bar-surface and a some tables to sit by. The drinks on offer were numerous. Some of the old vintage wines dated back over 35 years. It was one of the more recreational places on the ship. And it happened to be Tomoko's favourite on-ship hangout. It was just where she was now. With Neela and Suzuhara on deck she didn't need to be up there to give any orders. Right now Tomoko just wanted to relax and enjoy what little drinking time she could gather for herself right now. Tomoko sat alone by the side of the bar, on a tall wooden stool fixed into the carpeted floor. At that point the only other one there was the bartender, another of the few crewmembers of the ship. Once Tomoko's glass went down he came over and gave her a re-fill. Then went about cleaning his own shot glass with a towel. It was the kind of thing that became a habit for that particular guy (amongst others). Tomoko swiftly gulped down the contents of that glass; an Irish Cream by the name of Ricker's. She liked drinks like this. Apparently this was a drink created in the Sermo Period. It went to show that there still were a good few things that could be appreciated about it. While Tomoko sat and drank alone by the bar, the automatic door to the far right opened. And Yumi stood in its path. The hacker walked through the doorway and into the bar, looking over at a calm and rested Tomoko. "Hey, Tomoko," She said, "...What are you doing?" Tomoko smiled at Yumi. "...Well what does it look like? C'mon, sit down and have a drink with me, eh? It's been ages since I had a drinking partner on this ship." "I don't drink." Tomoko stared at Yumi blankly. "...I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Now sit down and have a drink with me before I start bitching about it." Yumi sighed and sat down on the stool that Tomoko had pointed at. The one next to her. Once she did that, Tomoko widened her grin. "There you go. Yo, barkeep! Bring down some of that Ricker's for my friend here!" Yumi blinked. "...I said I don't drink." "Yeah, and I said I'm going to pretend I didn't hear it. Now. Can I ask? What did you come down here for? You were looking for me, right?" "...I did," She started, "...I was wondering... why did you agree to hack into the Metatron supercomputer with me? I mean... I'm perfectly fine by doing it on my own, so..." Tomoko said nothing. Then the bartender came by with a glass of the Irish Cream that she had been drinking. He placed it to the surface of the bar and slid it into Tomoko's grip. She then slid the glass over to Yumi. "Drink that." She said simplistically. Yumi sulked around it. She didn't like to drink at all. Back in her days with Chrysalis she had often turned down Terry when he asked her if he wanted to come with him to the bars and pubs of EDEN. But Tomoko was the kind of woman who had a way of worming you into something without even trying. So Yumi steeled herself and gulped it down. Seconds later she was coughing. Tomoko chuckled lazily. "Heh, heh, heh. There you go. You just popped your alcohol cherry. It wasn't so bad now was it?" "...F-forget it..." Yumi moved the glass away, "...so... why are you...?" Tomoko stopped smiling and sighed. "...Did I ever tell you about how I got the Kamiyashiki?" "...Um... no..." "The Kamiyashiki is one of four powerful battleships that my Father had commissioned when the Xu-Canaan War ended. The other three were the Sakugami, the Yagatakagami, and the Hanaratachi. I guess he was afraid that the Ashurian Empire's battleships outclassed Jaankang's own and so... he wanted to build ones that could rock hard with the best of them. It was pretty obvious that the Ashurians would have taken development of them as a declaration of intent rather than a simple defence strategy. But my Dad didn't see it like that. All he wanted was for Jaankang to be safe from them. Of course it didn't work like that. It was one of the reasons that Parliament turned on him. Right after his assassination... I was forced to go on the run with the one person still loyal to my family, Suzuhara. But the only way out of the capital was by air. Hence the Kamiyashiki. The fact that it was an extension of my Dad's will to protect his nation means something to me. Even if it represents the fact that he neglected his family to do it. For me... this ship has always stood for protection. I think that's why I feel so... romantic about it. Being here helps me to remember why I do things. Why I am who I am. Why I want to protect the things that are important to me. As stupid as it all sounds... I feel like those aspects of myself are made somewhat clearer by being inside this ship. Those are my feelings towards it... I suppose." Yumi was still confused. "...Why are you telling me this?" "...I don't know the reason..." Tomoko gazed softly at Yumi, "...but I know that there is a reason." "...I still... don't understand..." Said Yumi Tomoko sighed. "Oh God, isn't obvious from the way I'm acting?" "But I-" Yumi said no more. Tomoko didn't waste any time in trying to say what she was feeling through words. Instantly the short-haired woman reached out and held Yumi by the cheek. Then swiftly thrust her softened lips up against those of the hacker, pulling her close. Yumi emitted a gasp that dissolved itself into a lingering moan, so stunned by what Tomoko had just done. And so she didn't fight it. At that point there would have seemed little reason to do so. Yumi's eyes slipped shut as Tomoko kissed her, briefly tasting the hint of alcohol left on her tongue. The bartender just smiled at the sight, whispering, "Way to go, boss." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Command Central was the nerve centre of the Ashurian Empire's affairs on Earth. A large and heavily guarded structure hidden deep within the heartland of the Aryahm City. This itself was the first large-scale building to be constructed by the Ashurians when they came down from Meshezabel to mark their marks on the world. Aryahm had been built around it. But Command Central stood out amongst all those buildings because of the authority that it was intended to inject. From the smog-like clouds of smoke that wafted from the grey metal chimneys around each of the locals, nothing could undo the sight that was Command Central. Its core form was shaped in the image of cross-like crest; a thick outer wall surrounding each of the four points or 'sectors' of the building. Some had argued to the people that the shape of Command Central stood for the Ashurian Empire's intended crucifixion of the world. In one of the highest points of Command Central lay the office of the city's leader. And that same man was also the leader of the Schutzenreich. The grandfather of Skye K”hler. That man was called Gustav Fredric K”hler. The highest authority in the Ashurian Empire below Queen Ashura and the Triad of the Inquisition. The fifty-seven year old soldier sat at the desk of his office room, his hands interlocked by the fingers and his elbows propped up on the desk's surface. Standing across from him in equally authoritative Schutzenreich dress were two of his subordinates. Those two men were the other members of the Shinjinkai. The man to the right was Onaba Soren. A cold and uncaring man born and raised in Aryahm. The man to the left was Ryoufei Tachibana. An Aryahmite born with Jaankangese descent. These two soldiers were the backbone of the Meta Suit pilots in Aryahm. When working to their fullest, with Aratia at their side, the Shinjinkai were considered to be invincible. Thus is could come to no great surprise that the Shinjinkai Combat Team was the most feared team in all of the Schutzenreich. Gustav held a phone to his ear while his two followers waited for him to finish. After a brief conversation he put the phone down. Ryoufei saw his expression. "...Is something wrong, sir?" "...It seems that the damage done to the St. Mary's Base," He began, "has grown in price to a level I had not expected. That coordinated attack from those interlopers seems to have caused more than 2.4 million credits worth of damage. If I do decide to repair it... the effort will set me back by no small amount. Idiots. How hard is it to guard one Meta Suit?" "Wasn't Aratia posted there?" Onaba asked. Gustav nodded. "Yes. And she was the only one we could have relied on in the end. Thankfully she managed to re-capture the Eros. She is on her way to Aryahm now. At least one thing, the most important thing of all, has gone right in this case. I suppose it could be worse." "But what of the attackers?" Ryoufei commented, "They have the Oriax now, do they not? I have been told that that suit is quite impressive for an ancient relic. Just image what it could now that it has the Wechselhaft Zerst”rung Klinge Gewehr in its hands." Onaba crossed his arms with a snort. "Forget not our rank. If such a suit should rear its head once again we shall destroy it in the name of the Schutzenreich and our sacred patron, Queen Ashura. All other factors mean nothing." Gustav smiled, his crown-balding head glowing in the moonlight. "That is exactly right. I think we need to make an example out of them. But first. We must take care of Doctor Katrianna's project. The Counter Kaiser Halberd has already been prepared for it. And the word of the Empire is wracked with questions about who it is that will be able to use its power. So the coming days to its completion will test us. Be ready. And maybe one of you will be given the honour of piloting it." "The Ultimate Meta Suit..." Ryoufei remarked with a smirk, "I can't wait."
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