"I understand."
"What? I expected you to put up a fight."
Shikikan was in the Deputy Chief's room with Anderson. After waking up, he asked Rapi if she could fill in today's paperwork for him today. Surprisingly, Anderson was fine with a reduction in frequency.
"I'm fine moving your reports to fortnightly. To be honest, it's almost as much of a hassle for me as it is for you."
"Thanks."
That went better than I hoped. Not weekly, but fortnightly? Anderson must be in a good mood.
"Now, I wanted to also inform you that you will be tasked with overseeing another commander's first few missions. As a sort of mentor."
"I didn't get a mentor."
"The situation was vastly different when you came out of training. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you have the best survival rate of any commander, per mission. You've completed hundreds of missions, but you've only lost one Nikke."
Shikikan's heart grew heavy. The one loss he still held deep in his soul.
"Marian."
"Yes."
"You still didn't answer my question."
"We just never had the commanders or experience to lend to the new squads back then."
"Okay then, why weren't we sent on joint operations?"
"Too many operations to do at once. Look, the point is I want you to teach him how you complete your missions with such flawlessness. Only the Legendary Commander has a better rate than you, and he's, well, legendary for a reason."
"Fine."
Anderson's comm buzzed urgently. He picked it up.
"Oh shit. Commander, get to surface lift 12 now! I'll tell you why on the way!"
"Wha-"
"GO!"
Shikikan ran out of the room. His Blabla started buzzing as well.
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Shikikan had made it to the station. Brid was already there, leaning out of the driver's window on a single carriage ride.
"Come on!"
He jumped on and the doors slid shut. Brid's voice came over the PA.
"Strap in. I've disabled some of the safety systems to go faster."
The train rocketed forwards and Shikikan quickly got on a seat and strapped in. As it went around a corner, he had to tuck his head in to avoid it hitting anything. The train accelerated, pushing him further back in his seat. After a few minutes, it screeched to a stop, just outside the surface lift.
"Thanks Brid!"
He jumped out the now open doors. Counters and Matis were waiting in the lift already so he ran in. The heavy doors slid shut and the lift started to rise.
"Hey, everyone." he panted.
Rapi and Neon helped him to his feet.
"Maxwell, weren't we waiting for the others?"
"Suyen said they would be here in twenty minutes, Drake. That's long enough for the lift to reach the surface and go back down again. Plus, Cutey's here, and I don't want him to wait."
"Who else is coming?" asked Shikikan.
"I don't think you've met them yet. They're Suyen's newest pet projects. Chemos. You've just got to meet them, I can't really explain much. They use chemicals apparently."
Anis looked like she was about to speak up, but the lift doors opened before she could say anything. The scene outside was surprisingly, calm?
The heat of the outside hit him like a wall. This lift exited outside near a desert. As a result, it was rather hot. But there wasn't any Raptures in sight.