X40: Deltastring

"Make it quick." snapped Lilly, sitting along the barrack's central table as the other members of her unit sat in chairs, stood against the walls or were laying down on their bunk beds, even off-duty they still wore their uniforms, or what was akin to one.

The walls were adorned with decoration, from posters to even a picture with rows upon rows of what seemed to be soldiers, too far away to be distinct. And alongside one of the walls was a rack of cybernetic spines, supposed to be overlayed on top of armour. 

"Thank you," started Eliza, standing in front of the crate against the sharp eyes that stared at her. "First of all, I'd like to say that you were right, Lilly."

Quinn was playing holo-cards with himself as Lilly glared at him, causing him to stop. He slowly nodded at Lilly, before sneaking a drink from a beer can, avoiding Eliza's glance. Lilly nodded in turn to Eliza.

"You were right. I never should have accepted the responsibilities of an aide." She kept her eyes forward, looking directly at Lilly, the one she had to convince the hardest, "If I wasn't there… Riharia would be alive."

"Yeah." Lilly uttered one word, she was making slow progress - but progress is progress.

"Which is why I'm sorry. Even then… I knew what I did wasn't suited. My excessive worrying, distracting and stupidity not only cost you all so much… but it has also cost the lives of your men." 

Lilly was about to say something. But Eliza's eyes lit up with her heart. Out of all of them, she can be the one to carry their burdens… Even if she doesn't have the memory for it, she'll carry their dreams on either way.

"But you're all far from the mercenaries that the Webinet News shows… You're people. People with dreams… Hopes and aspirations that will never be seen to." Eliza's eyes glistened as she felt in her element, speaking publicly with her heart to them all. She let her emotions bear the brunt of the speaking for her. "I never took that into account… I know it must have been hell working with me, having someone who never understood what any of you felt. Though now it makes sense, your hate and anger is understandable, and fully justified."

Quinn's unmoving eyes looked towards Lilly, then at another woman in the room with dirty blonde hair. Lilly's eyes were unmoving, still unconvinced at her apology. But the sparks of some moved faster than others. Eliza was still not done.

"My actions are… irredeemable. All the lives lost with me overwatching will never come back." said Eliza.

"So?" asked Lilly, "If you're out of words, then get the hell out." Every syllable whispered off her lips held enough malice to overdose, each word filled with spite and the voice of anger.

Eliza slowly nodded. "But… I just can't give up. You're right, I didn't know Riharia… But if given the chance to get to know you guys, I'd take it; a thousand times over. Which is why I commit to you a pledge: From this second forward, I will give you my all. So I can make up for the damages I've caused. I have no right to ask you of this, but allow me to give you all my best. Not only for the next mission, or the mission after that, but until the galaxy sees us split."

The fire in her soul lit alight as she stuck her chest out, speaking clearly as her eyes flared up. Placing a hand on her chest, she took a deep breath. "I'll give you all the overwatch that you deserve, whether it be on the field, in the mess halls or in your own barracks. You give your all, to complete the mission, it's time for me to give mine."

She knelt down on one knee, slowly taking something out of her pocket. It was her brooch. Lilly's face soured at the sight of it, but stopped as Eliza shot her hand out, presenting it as if it was a gift.

"According to the Tablets of the Ball Palace, I offer to pledge my assistance to Deltastring and the AGENCY, lest I shatter my own solar brooch," Eliza said. 

The room fell silent. She felt her heart sink as Lilly stood up, slowly walking to Eliza. Her face said nothing. But as she approached, instead of slapping or hitting Eliza, she slowly placed her right hand on her shoulder. Eliza felt as if a boulder was lifted off her back with acknowledgement as her heart breathed. 

"Well then, you have a long way to go, New-gen," said Lilly, maintaining a high posture with an air of strict discipline. But Eliza looked behind all that. "Come on, stand up, we don't do that… aristocracy shit here."

The tension was slit with a knife as Quinn jumped up, slapping his hands together as if he finished something tedious. "Alright! Now that that's done with… can we finally get back to drinking? And Liz! Wanna play some holo-cards with me?" He wasn't smiling, but Eliza ignored that detail.

"Holo-cards… Well, sure! If we have time for it." Eliza's face melted into a wide grin. But as she let off a small giggle, embarrassment smashed into her as she went red. She stood up, hand curling the brooch back into her pocket, hidden.

But then, Lilly let off a small, out of place chuckle. "Oh come on! You're embarrassed about that?! You weren't bloody embarrassed sucking up to Kazuki all the time!"

"I—I do not!" shouted Eliza, her cheeks the same shade as her eyes.

"Oh! Then why are you Kazuki's personal aide, huh?" teased Quinn. He took a step forward, touching the crate as he sat on top of it. "If you play cards with me I'll stop pressing you."

Something was wrong with his voice, Eliza thought.

"We might as well get to know each other if you want to continue working with us… Quinn, our residential hot-headed drunk and thief," said Lilly, her coldness snapping in place, introducing members of her team to Eliza, "There's me… Guess I like taking photographs?"

"Oh come on!" shouted the woman out of the blue, she had a sweet-face. Standing up, a small team of drones activated with her. "You love it! Otherwise you wouldn't have snapped photos of half the battles we fought in."

The woman flicked up a holographic photograph, showing a large space battle, with tens of vessels and a billion lights and munitions.

"Old Terra," Lilly said. She pointed at two large vessels in the background. "Martinez and Kaz were boarding Clandestine's flagship… Wait a minute…" Lilly glanced back at Kiri, throwing a water bottle at her. She caught it immediately as she looked towards the crate.

"You really should take pictures of our ground battles," the woman said snarkily.

Lilly shook her head. "Hey, I had limited drone frames and cameras, only wanted to spend it on the large battles," she said. Her face contorted into one akin to a drill sergeant's as Lilly glared the woman down. "High chance that they'd get destroyed, so it only makes sense to conserve the ones I have right now."

"What? Till Arbiter gives you a blank cheque to buy a thousand more?" Quinn jeered. 

Eliza glanced at the woman and smiled. "I…"

"Kiri," she said. "Name's Kiri, don't sweat the details, please, but this is the first time that we've had an outsider with us…"

"Maybe an outsider can provide a new set of ideas?" Eliza asked. Lilly raised an eyebrow, but dismissed any notions of smacking her down, it seems. Eliza noticed more glances at the crate, she said, "Ah, well you see… I wanted to give you something, as a commitment to my promise, my contract to you all." 

"Well then, what do we have here?" asked Lilly, prying the crate open with her hands. Peering in, Kiri took out a vest-plate set of armour, with a few of her drones picking some up. Kiri's glasses glinted at the sight of the name 'Tirax-Genesis'.

"Tirax-Genesis? Why, you shouldn't!" exclaimed Kiri. "How the hell did you get these?"

Eliza scratched her cheek, smiling, "Great, I'm just happy that you like it…"

Lilly was silent as she kept her head looking down at the crate. Quinn shook Lilly's shoulder. Eliza's face bore worried anxiety as Lilly shook for a moment. Then, she grabbed her own vest-plate and twisted to Eliza. Her face was alight with a cold enthusiasm. 

"I've been demanding this from Kazuki for the better part of a year. Maybe you DO know how to play military politics." Everyone glanced at Lilly as she made weird noises, smirking. Lilly noticed, sliding back into her commissar persona. Her lips fell. "Smirk again and I'll have you all take reactor cleaning-duties."

But before Eliza could answer, blaring alarms sounded across the vessel as the alert lights activated. Eliza felt a sudden shock overcome her. 

Quinn rolled his eyes, saying, "For fuck sake… Did a drone smash into the fire alarms again?" He ignored the alarms, looking more annoyed than anything on the surface. "Anyone down for some dullie after this?"

An image was slowly forming in Eliza's head… It wasn't exactly apparent earlier, but she dared herself to conclude such now. Without Riharia, Quinn was acting differently…

'ALL FORCES MAKE READY. I REPEAT. ALL FORCES GEAR UP FOR DEPLOYMENT. ALL AVAILABLE HICOMM MEMBERS RALLY THEMSELVES AT THE COMMAND BRIDGE AT THIS INSTANT.' said a voice. 'I REPEAT—"