The closing of the door filled Eliza with purpose. Archius was right… What does it matter? It doesn’t matter if she’s an outsider, it’ll just mean she’ll have to work even harder. And working hard is all that she knows.

The steel walls and racks of weapons did nothing to deter her as she pushed forward.

There were whole assembly lines beyond a large window on one of the walls, with seemingly thousands of items being repaired and created… Eliza walked up to it for a moment, mesmerised by the sight… Its scale must have reached for hundreds of metres, reeling up and down with thousands of drones and metallic arms working away - there were even a few hover lifts at work, manned and overseen by a few quartermasters and supervisors.

Noise from behind Eliza twirled her mind back to focus. Rivera rolled up to Eliza on a hover-chair, coming out of the workshop as a highlight of light-blue contrasted her tied up black hair.

“Ah! Eliza!” shouted Rivera, shooting upwards. Soot and dust had gathered on top of her face. Rivera wiped her face with her forearm. She had four lines under one eye painted in white, with an intricate pattern beneath the other. Eliza could barely translate it…

“Rivera…” Eliza said, nodding her head in a polite manner. “Diligence, right?”

She wore a tank-top with her jacket tied around her waist, blotches of gun oil over her tanned skin. A dozen drones were helping maintain weapons in the background on an assembly line of damaged equipment.

One of them was helping in the project Rivera was just working on, slowly assembling small components in the air.

“Is it?” asked Rivera, placing a finger against her tattoos, feeling it up and down. “Yeah! It is! People just think it’s a cool tattoo, I got it back when I was serving in the Theonari Military, you also from Theonar Space?”

Eliza shook her head profusely. “No, I’m from Enga. I have a friend who's from Theonar, so I kinda binged research tattoo meanings.” She chuckled to herself. “Half the guys approached me trying to learn what hers meant, never told them though. So, how’s the armoury holding up?”

“Amazing” She stretched her biological arm with her prosthetic right arm. “Ya know, you really helped out getting some drones for me, but you shouldn’t have, after all you didn’t even owe me.”

Rivera patted one of the drones, the letters G.L.A.D. was on it.

“Making this one for the boss, advanced sensors and computation generation,” Rivera said. She then shrugged as she gently pushed the drone away, the drone making a small series of cute blooping noise. “I can’t always be fixing his gear twenty-four seven, aft’ all.”

Eliza felt warm at the feeling of helping others, helping around in places where she can. After all, it not only helps them, but helps her as well. “Please, pay no mind to it, I just wanted to help around where I can.” Rivera led Eliza deeper into the armoury before she could object, ushering her. She was the complete opposite of Sato… less work and more fun. When compared to the others in Kazuki’s inner circle, Eliza found Rivera to be quite heart-warming. “Ah, Rivera, I need some help.”

“Ah, so what will it be?” asked Rivera, gesturing to the thousands of weapons in this room alone. Several drones hovered by, with dozens of arms holding onto different weapons. SMGs… Machine Guns… Plasma Rifles… Bolt Snipers… Even a Rotary Machine gun! Yeah… Eliza would definitely not be able to withstand the recoil. “If you need a weapon for personal defence, I will never not recommend a WRIST-SHOT. Practically everyone in high command uses them.”

“Actually, no, I need a shipment of equipment. Enough for a whole company,” said Eliza, fervently. Rivera glanced over to a few crates of gear. “And I’m not really one for using guns… I don’t even have a licence.”

“Sure!” Rivera shrugged, standing up as she activated a few crates, wheeling them over. “Whatever floats your boat.”

“No… I don’t need standardised equipment.” Eliza leaned in, whispering, “I need some higher-quality gear. Something that should make people happy if they got it, just something that can set things right.”

“Oh… staging a coup are we? Come on, let me in on the plot!” joked Rivera, having fun with Eliza. The joke sent Eliza’s face pale as she froze. Her red eyes blinked in a panic. “Just kidding with ya… you aren’t staging a coup, right?”

“No! Kaz’s is my friend! Why would I want to stage a coup against him?!” replied Eliza, “I just… don’t ask, alright?”

“Sounds like you’re staging a coup!” reiterated Rivera, sitting down on her chair as she activated her a glove attached to her bionic arm, grabbing hold of a small WRIST-SHOT in her workshop. Rivera flicked her wrist, watching the device.

“But I’m not!” Eliza exclaimed, angrily, “I just need some high-quality gear, alright?”

“Sure…” Rivera got closer, grabbing hold of Eliza’s left wrist as she strapped the WRIST-SHOT under her sleeves. Eliza watched as its nanobot structure and frame tightened around her forearm and wrist. “That’s a First Rate WRIST-SHOT, they say that the ladies back in the Imperial age used these for personal protection.”

“Huh? No, not this type of high quality.” Eliza started panicking as she tried to pry the device off her arm, yet it stayed on - much to her worry. “I just need some good equipment, alright?”

“Are you doubting the quality of my goods?” snapped Rivera, leaning in towards her whilst making an offended face, teasing her.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“N—Absolutely not,” said Eliza, raising her hands in denial as she accidentally activated the WRIST-SHOT. A loud bolt crashed across the room into one of the racks, with several drones rushing to fix the mess he caused.

“Actually, on second thought… I don’t think you should have a WRIST-SHOT,” said Rivera, scooting the chair over as she unstrapped the device. Where Eliza couldn’t even unstrap it within ten seconds, Rivera unscrewed it off in under a second. “So, what exactly do you need?”

“High-quality equipment!” shouted Eliza. “Just… something that would make people in the AGENCY happy, alright?”

"But are you sure? You sure you really really don't want something for yourself?" asked Rivera. "If fighting's not your style, then I can get you an ANCHOR watch for escaping; even Kaz uses one. Sure, it’s a bit hard to calculate everything on the spot, but you seem clever enough to do it!"

Eliza shook her head. “Sorry… I’d prefer not to take the risks…”

Rivera continued, "Oh, come on! Anyone else would throw themselves at this deal, it's a bargain! Sure, it half-relies on Annie but—"

"Wait... Annie?" Eliza asked, her face contorting to confusion. Was Kazuki reliant on someone else? Eliza’s eyes slowly grew to a hint of jealousy.

Rivera groaned, rolling her eyes. "Analyspec, Anispec, Anyspec, Analspec or whatever people call it, ANCHOR watches require a lot of energy and processing power, gotta use a supercomputer for those," she said, as if all of this was merely elementary for her. It piqued Eliza’s curiosity, but she stopped her mind from wandering onwards… She couldn’t help herself.

“You’re taking… the bloody mick,” Eliza said quietly. “But this machine, what is it exactly?”

“A supercomputer?” Rivera repeated herself, rolling her eyes. “You know the Phoenix Fury hasn’t been the flagship of the AGENCY for like… the entire time, right?”

Eliza shook her head. “Well, I doubt I’d know, Ulysses had a ‘military’ phase where he learnt everything about war vessels… Even then, I scant remember this vessel in those videos…”

“It’s a dreadnought, come on! Take a guess,” goaded Rivera, grinning with a warm face.

“Well…” Eliza took a deep breath in.

The Phoenix’s Fury has been a bit of a mystery to Eliza, it seemed really old, retrofitted. It’s powerful and large, but what else?! Eliza didn’t understand. But there was one ship… One ship that her dad would always talk of in fear… The ship he saw in high orbit, a mere moment’s away from bombarding his position to smithereens.

“It’s an Imperator One?” guessed Eliza.

To her amazement, Rivera nodded. “Ark of the Empress itself, the flagship of the Imperial Fleet, stolen by Antonious Marc at the end of the Siege, it’s what bought him his position on Clandestine’s council!”

“Then… this place that we are in…” Eliza glanced around, feeling a moment of dread seep in. Just what happened within these halls?

Rivera chuckled. “You’re too imaginative! The place’s been retrofitted by a huge margin! There ain’t no Imperial bodies hiding in some corner. Its guns and hide isn’t all that this ship has to offer. It has the most powerful computer systems, it’s the flagship of the Impy Fleet, after all!”

Rivera definitely seemed to be covering something up, Eliza thought, as Rivera glanced away, her eyes skidding off into the distance. Rivera sniggered, patting Eliza on the shoulder as she cradled the WRIST-SHOT. “Anyways, ‘bout the armour, I have some Tirax-Genesis armour, surely that fits the bill?”

“It… does?” Eliza questioned herself. She had no clue on whether the brand was known for its reliability, this knowledge was far beyond her reach. She could list the whole periodic table by heart but wouldn’t know if a gun was cleaned or not. “Am I correct in believing Tirax-Genesis are high quality?”

“The highest quality out there!” Rivera burst out, almost as if such information was common knowledge within the industry. “You won’t find anything better than theirs on the open market.”

Eliza nodded. “I’ll take it, then, thanks. Oh, and give me the bill for it, I’ll pay for replacements.”

“Hey, I owe you so this shipment’s on me, for helping me all the time,” Rivera smirked as she pointed towards one of the crates, it had clear DO NOT TOUCH vibes with it. “And don’t worry, it’ll be off the books. And by off the books, I mean that Kaz will be paying for it, but don’t worry, better we use it than not.”

Eliza walked over to it, activating the crate’s hover functions as she started to push it. She looked down at her clothes. Instead of her casual clothes, she wore handler fatigues with a hoodie over them for added warmth - she had left her brooch behind. She needed to be in the right mindset because Lilly was right, she was an outsider, but if she gives them a reason to forgive her, maybe she can get along with them.

As she was about to hover the crate out of the dreadnought’s armoury, the doors slid open as Amyé clambered into the room, her augmented arm brace latching onto the doorframe. To Eliza, she could clearly see that she was hammered drunk. Looking up at her, her ginger hair hid her red face. It was the same face she had when they went drinking with Claire. Amyé reeked of booze, causing Eliza to shiver a bit.

“Hey, what’s up, light-weight?” asked Amyé, turning to Rivera, “Oi! Is my sniper fixed yet?”

“I told you… I’LL MESSAGE YOU.” spat Rivera, angrily. An argument brewed as Eliza took a step back. A hand extended out, dragging Amyé out from the room.

Claire poked her head in, “Sorry, Rivera. I had to bring her back, otherwise she’d start a bar-fight with the ENFORCERs.”

Rivera sighed. “Fine… Just get her outta here. And make sure she isn’t storing any contractor-grade alcohol with Quinn.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to give her a good talking to,” Claire nodded as she twisted to look at Eliza - all the while Amyé was begging for mercy, grasping against Claire. Eliza understood exactly what Claire meant, and she wished the best of luck to Amyé to survive another one of her rants… “Ah, Lizzie, it’s been a while… I hope Rivera didn’t drown you in gear, she does it all the time.”

“Yeah… I can see.” Eliza scratched her head.

“So, you finally caught up on the show?” asked Claire.

“Hey…” Eliza trailed off, wondering if Claire knew. “I—uh… I have been quite busy.”

Claire nodded. “So… you going to Del-string’s command barracks?” she asked. Eliza slowly nodded in turn, her face slowly glancing downwards. “Good, keep your chin up, Liz.”

“Thanks…”

Claire looked at the crate of equipment that Eliza was pushing. “Best of luck, then. She’s a hard ‘nade to crack, but once you get to know her, she’s a lot nicer… Well, as nice as an ex-marine officer can be.”

“Appreciate it…” Eliza trailed off as Claire turned and walked off, the sound of a grumbling Amyé could be heard out in the halls. Eliza took in a deep breath as she pressed her cheeks up, psyching herself up in preparation; her heartbeat pumped higher.