“Oh, go fuck yourself.” I muttered as I stared at the projected notice in front of me. It read, ‘Due to the inconvenient timing of your summons, Starlord Alextsrasa is not available. Please take a number, and the Starlord will get back to you at her earliest possible convenience.’
I frowned, and pressed the flashing ‘GET TICKET’ button on the hologram. The sound of a receipt being printed entered my ears briefly, before dying down when a ticket stub with the number ‘1’ on it appeared at the top left of my HUD.
“What the fuck could be taking up so much of her time that she can’t even send me a message?” I groaned. X appeared over my shoulder and sighed.
“I could think of several reasons, but they're pretty much pointless to think about right now. Should I message everyone that the timetable has been moved up?”
X had departed her physical body and returned to my Judgment Panel once more. She said that she could come and go at will, and that when we weren’t out in the field, being a hologram would be the most logical state of existence.
“Please do. We’ll start the debriefing on our rescue of Venus Metron in ten minutes. Can you do something for me in the meantime, X?”
“Of course. What can I do for you?”
“Please stop bullying the new program.” X turned to look at me, revealing a shivering baby in her arms. X was pulling on it’s right cheek so hard, I feared it would permanently deform the malleable cherub.
“But I’m just trying to get Hachi here to learn about why it's wrong to call women ‘broads’ in this day and age. On top of that, I’m explaining why it is even more wrong to say it to their faces.”
Hachi looked up at me, tears in his eyes, but I couldn’t help him here. He had dug his own grave during the team meeting, and was now paying the price for it.
“Fair enough.” I said, as the first of my team entered the debriefing room we had used yesterday for our meeting.
“Good morning.” Winter greeted me, along with 5 faces I had never seen before. Two were women I imagined to be sisters, with one having a shaved head and the other sporting a pixie cut. Three were men whose bulging muscles were barely contained by their clothing.
However, all of them wore combat fatigues and sported the trademark chocolate skin and white hair of the Strafe family, marking them as the soldiers from Winter’s squad she had brought in to help.
“Morning, Winter.” I smiled and gave the slightly shorter woman a hug. “Can you introduce me to the help?”
“Sure thing.” The Strafe leader replied, and gruffy said, “Attention!” The women and men lined up and saluted Winter.
“At ease.” The postures of the five relaxed, and Winter started to go down the row, beginning with the men. “The three men you see before you are James, Adam, and Gavin. They’re all brothers who have been serving the strafe family full time since they turned 18.”
I looked at their features. Although they shared the same physical build, they had enough difference for me to tell them apart. James had a scar running from above his left eye to his chin, and what I could only assume was a mechanical left eye. His short hair was messy, and he wore a red earring on his right ear.
Adam, on the other hand, was bald. Although if his brothers were anything to go by, that was a choice, not a necessity. He had various tattoos encasing his head, things that undeniably held meaning to the man.
Lastly, Gavin, who had surprisingly long hair. The man’s mane reached down to his shoulders, and whereas the other two brothers were clean shaven, Gavin had a full mustache and beard combo going on. His pale blue eyes matched with the rest of his brothers’.
“It is nice to meet the three of you.” I said, shaking the hand of each man in turn. Something happened, and they turned to Winter in confusion.
“What?” I said, and before Winter could reach out a hand to stop them, Gavin said, “Nothing, sir.”
I raised my brows slightly before X floated over to the man and touched his forehead. His gaze transformed into something trancelike until X pulled away. “He’s remembering how Winter called you an asshole before, so he’s wondering if your display of friendliness is genuine or not.”
I looked over to Winter, who, as a former Judgment user, could see and hear everything that X was conveying to me. She gulped, refusing to meet my gaze.
If Gavin saw Winter wind up to hit him, he didn’t show it. Instead, upon receiving the punch, he collapsed into his brother’s arms like a ragdoll. Adam, who had caught Gavin, sighed in disbelief.
He probably thought the man had passed out from fatigue or nerves, which was fine with me. I wasn’t going to correct him, in any case.
I looked at Winter, who was expertly averting her gaze from my own. “Winter, we’ll talk about this later.” I said, to which the former mercenary weakly nodded.
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Turning my gaze to the two women, they introduced themselves. The bald one stepped forward first. “My name is Elise, sir. It's a pleasure to meet you.”
When I looked into her eyes, I saw a fire, a desire for challenge and the will to overcome. “Likewise.” I said with a grin, accepting her offered handshake. The woman was a full head taller than me, with a lithe figure to add to her seemingly impossible build. Her long arms were equipped with gauntlets, and her legs with greaves.
“I think I have a good gauge of your fighting style, although it would definitely be remiss of me not to see your tendencies in battle. I’d love to see any film you might have, Winter.” I turned to the head of my guard, who, by the look on her face, hadn’t been expecting me to address her so suddenly.
“O-oh. Yes, we do have the film.” Winter said, coughing into her fist.
“Great.” I replied, giving Winter a look as I turned to the final member of my squad. The woman with the pixie cut was desperately trying not to meet my gaze, and kept flicking glances to the woman I had just spoken to.
“This is Alicia.” Elise said, a warmness creeping into her formerly intense gaze. She’s my twin sister. I hope you don’t mind putting us on missions together. Don’t worry about her, she just gets shy around complete strangers. I’m sure she’ll warm up to you after being around you for a few months.”
Alicia, the woman in question nodded, and held out her hand. Whereas Elise’s standout trait was her slim yet athletic build, Alicia was slightly shorter than Elise, and was defined by her muscular body. She looked as though she would be right at home as an American Football offensive lineman.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Alicia.” I took her hand and shook it as well, before quickly letting go and stepping back so as to address the five newcomers.
“I truly do appreciate all of you coming on short notice,” I said, while X took Winter aside and gave her the message I truly wanted to convey about Starlord Alexstasia’s sudden absence.
“I have to let you know that we will be going into a den full of malicious code, including those that have the ability to take control of or overwrite your personality.”
“Brain Jackers…” I heard one of the men whisper, and nodded.
“Yes, among other things. We’re storming a decommissioned wartime bunker that has been hidden for years to try to rescue the princess. I asked Winter to bring anyone here who she thought could be of help, but if you feel the risks are too big, I won’t be forcing any of you to come along.”
The people looked at one another, and then Gavin, the man with the longest hair of the three, stepped forwards. “I am fine with going on this mission, but in the case that I perish, or my consciousness is overwritten, I would like you to take care of my wife and daughter financially until she comes of age.”
I nodded, and looked at the others. “Does anyone else have the same concerns?” There was a slight murmur, but no one else spoke up. Either they hadn’t had a family like Gavin, or they didn’t care as much about the aftermath of things.
“Good.” I said. X, if you may. The Judgment program snapped her fingers, and simultaneously sent a debrief to everyone present in the room. “This is what we know of the location, as well as a video the princess took intending to capture her final moments. Please review it as soon as you return to your rooms. The ship will be finished loading in a few hours, and after that we’ll depart to the north. Any questions?”
There were none, and as soon as the five new Strafes left the room, Lucina entered, along with Akahime and Viina. The former Luong Empress bowed to me.
“Hello Joshua. Unfortunately the King wishes to have an audience with me, so I must go now.” I raised my brow at her polite language, but didn’t give it a second thought as she quickly left.
Viina and Lucina each took a chair at a nearby table, while Winter and I sat down on the couch opposite it.
“So, we have a few hours to kill before we go off to rescue your sister.” I said, looking into the eyes of my girlfriend. Is there anything else we need to review of the plan, or do you just want to blow off some steam?” I asked, and Viina’s cheeks flush red at my bluntness.
“My, you know me so well.” Lucina replied in her husky tones, and shifted in her chair, giving me a glance at her thighs. “Unfortunately, I want to know which Judgment will be assigned to who.”
I nodded, and Viina noticeably sighed in relief. “I’ll be taking Cin, to try and work on our teamwork some more. I’ll be leaving Hachi to Viina, so please try to figure each other out in the meantime.”
Viina looked over at the program that previously contained her father’s will within it, and Hachi, for his part, looked back. He gave Viina a warm smile and said, “Just leave it to me, broad. Ol’ Hachi here will-”
He barely avoided the clawed grasp of X before disappearing into the Judgment panel of the former princess. “Sharp tongued bastard.” X muttered, sighing that the foul-mouthed cherub had avoided her grasp.”
“I suppose Un is with Winter, and I’m with Lucina?” X said, turning to me.
“Got it in one.” I said, although it really wasn’t so surprising that my own program read my thoughts.
“What about me?” Three asked from her place inside my Judgment panel. “Unfortunately, this mission doesn’t require stealth. The programs aren;t connected to the network, so we can’t use the same tactics that we would require if we were up against a human opponent. In a fight where we can’t use deceit, You would just end up becoming a liability. I’m sorry.”
Three sighed in resignation, but followed it up with, “I understand. What of my former master?”
I shook my head. Was the rift between them so vast that she now refused to even speak Lilian’s name? “Lilian has been dealing with her own things in the aftermath of what occurred in the Primal Kingdom. We can’t count on him this time.”
A feeling of discontent pulsed in through my Judgment Panel, but it faded so quickly I was left briefly wondering if it was my imagination.
“No matter.” X said, and drifted over to float next to Lucina. Joshua’s bond with Cin is weaker than that of yours. If his powers fail him, it will be up to you to protect him until we can arrive. Am I understood?”
“Clearly, Ma’am.” Three said, with a bit of sarcasm lacing her tone. X smiled despite the seeming lack of respect, before disappearing into Lucina. “As long as you understand.”
I cleared my throat, and took control of the attention in the room once more. “Until we depart, I want everyone to familiarize themselves with their partners, and learn their abilities. Who knows, your partner may have picked up something or two since you’ve last seen them.”