With no more words to exchange, the officer and her second began to mobilize the unit to start the mission. The ship of the group was the kind of ship that is used to mobilize many soldiers, which is a little disproportionate to the view of all, since the unit of the officer does not exceed thirty elements under they command; ignoring this, the soldiers and officers began to climb. Without any setbacks or slopes, it rose gently from the ground to begin gradually climbing until it was lost in the great blue sky towards the darkest sea of stars.
Now outside homeworld, the officer informs her colleagues that she has to make an inspection in the "engine room", so she would leave the guys alone again. They didn't pay much attention to Citirne, since she would find something to do in the meantime. Titanite offered the boy a tour of the vehicle, which he agreed to.
The tour begins in the "control room", which did not look very different from those that could be seen in your average ship. As there is nothing relevant to see, the group continues its journey to the living room. The corridors of the ship were a little long and somewhat narrow, so they saw that walking slower to avoid being trapped in these. Arriving, they saw the living room: The room of the ship was bigger than the " control room" and in it there was furniture of very simple construction, besides that, it seemed that there was nothing else there, without adding that there was nobody, leaving a little desolate view.
Titanite expresses her discomfort at such a scene:
-Ahhh~g. At least they could have put in a sound player or something. Whatever.
She signals Steven to come and sit with her, so he listens to the request and takes a seat. The girl takes out from somewhere (maybe from her gem) a little white box, which she opens, and from this she takes a bunch of cards.
-Do you know how to play cards, kid- asks the girl.
-Not really.
-Never mind, it shouldn't be hard for you to learn how to play.
The girl passes the card deck to the boy and he begins to watch them carefully. As he suspect, it was a 52-card deck except for one rather, comical difference: the suits, instead of being the classic clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades… Were diamonds in their entirety. Only differing in color. With nothing else to observe, the deck returns to its partner.
The gem takes the deck and begins to mix the cards. She cuts and mixes the halves without substance or trick, in the simplest way. She passes a deck and takes one, passes another and takes one, and so on until she completes four. The girl leaves the dough aside and takes her cards, her face showing no expression, as if she were concentrating on playing. The boy does the same and takes his
As if it were a joke, he had been dealt a very good hand: "a four of a kind". This situation made him grimace in disbelief, which did not go unnoticed by his partner, who asked:
-Would you like to change a card?
-N-No, I'm fine.
The gem just vocalized an "hmnp" and went back to see her hand. Having found the courage to show her game, the girl warns her that she is going to show her cards:
-Here I go-she says with encouragement as she shows her cards- See, a nice straight
Steven, without saying anything, shows his hand. His partner's expression of joy is completely drained. She tries to say something, but only babbles through the scene:
-but-but how?. And they're all aces.-She mentions hesitating.
-Maybe luck is on my side-Sigh
The girl asks for a rematch, and this is granted. She takes the cards again to cut them and gives up her hands, again, the girl's defeat is repeated:
-Straight flush with a hit of mellow
-Uh... –the boy showed his hand again with some concern- Royal
The girl was already beginning to show some impatience not to win a single hand. And again she took the cards, and again she cut, and again she handed over the hands:
-See, the third try is the final one-Her voice was frantic, as if she really wanted to win.
-Look and cry: Two aces, a four and an eight.
-The boy rolls his eyes, in a gesture of visible desperation, and shows his cards in the hope that he can prevent this game from ending in something possibly unpleasant
-Four ladies.
Titanite's agitated breathing began to be more noticeable. Apparently she was trying not to get angry about the three consecutive losses in the game. The boy proposes something else, to which the girl agrees. To his surprise, the nervous countenance of the girl disappeared, returning to her typical enthusiasm.
-Okay~y, so where are we going?... Ohh~h, I know, we can go to the bedrooms. It's the most likely place we can find people right now.
-Wow, that was fast.
-What?
-Nothing. Let's go where you say.
-Prefect, then let's go to the bedrooms.
Forgetting what happened, they both leave the living room and head for the bedrooms. The narrow, labyrinthine corridors of the ship made navigation difficult, but it had a reason. After getting almost lost, they arrive at the bedrooms.
When they entered they saw the soldiers of their unit: Some were sleeping, others were doing casual activities like talking, dancing... playing cards, it doesn't matter. The presence of the duo did not pass over the soldiers, some turned to look and others approached the group while the rest seemed to be more interested in their activities before the visit of the "officers". The guys were surrounded by their fellow soldiers, who had a very casual and carefree attitude, something very common in their class... Of course, with their exceptions.
From the crowd one of them came out, who recognized the boy's companion, extended his arm and addressed her partner, who she had not seen for some time.
-Titanite, you magnificent bastard.
The girl responds and hits her partner's palm with hers, squeezing it in the greeting. The soldiers are pressed for a few seconds to release themselves.
-Wow, you're still the same old idiot, but you're our idiot.
-And you're our dummy.
The exchange was pleasant between the two, who began to talk about their mission in the colony.
-Good to see you, Titanite. I guess the job of chief hasn't been easy.
-I think you're wrong. I'm not a chief of anything, just an officer called me up to fill the ranks and now I'm looking after a diamond, that's all.
-The soldier watches his partner in silence to answer again-Strange. Although I don't intend to dwell on the matter. I don't want to sound annoying, but what do you know about our mission? I still don't understand why we're deploying one more time.
-The girl sighs-I can't tell you much, and not because I know, but because we don't know anything about what happened either. As far as I know, there have been unusual movements within the colonies outside the "periphery", so from what little we know, we suspect that some opposing groups have mobilized, possibly, to start another war.
The soldier only observes her partner in silence, having said that, her look shows some agitation for the news, which Titanite and her partner noticed, that he observed the girl waiting for her to do something to undo the tension. I didn't know whether to continue talking, since the rest of the unit would already know... or not. Without time to describe it, Titanite omits the disappearance of the previous group and continues with her story.
-And that's all. Our mission is more of a reconnaissance, we are going to make observations, and if we find something relevant, we will withdraw and our officers and generals (in theory) will have to plan something.
The girl is speechless. You could still feel the tension between the two of them, but before you could even think of anything, a voice came into the room through the speaker system that spread throughout the ship.
-Officer Citrine speaking. All units are ordered to prepare and line up for landing. A second officer will be arriving with you as soon as possible. Officer Citrine out.
The voice disappeared as it had arrived, and the call was enough for the soldiers to come to their senses and prepare to begin their mission: From one side to the other, and without losing attention, the group of soldiers began to leave the dormitory and march down the narrow corridor without piling up.
The "bay" of the ship, the place where the tools and other equipment are available, in addition to being the main entrance and exit of the vehicle, began to fill up little by little. Rows of soldiers appeared and took their position in the small square in the bay, where they waited patiently for orders from their superiors. The second of the officer was the first to make an appearance by doing a small, accelerated march. She began to inspect the lines, verifying that all were in order and that nothing was out of place. Failing to find anything out of the ordinary, she positioned herself in front of the unit and began to speak.
-Well, soldiers, as you may know, this is a reconnaissance mission in the "3W" colony outside the periphery. The units are going to be divided into three groups to maximize the "sweep" of the area. Any anomaly you find, report it to your pair partner, who has to inform her Quartet partner, so that I or Citrine or that Titanite can do something about it. Any doubts?
-No, ma'am!
-Understood, soldiers. The royal guard will go with Titanite and. Me and Citrine are going in separate groups.
When I finished communicating the orders, Citrine appeared.
-I'm very sorry for the delay, officer. Some things got a little complicated, but they're all taken care of. Here we are, I think it's time to start the show.
The ship shook a little, this is the sign that they were already on that planet. The hatch of the ship opened, revealing a night landscape in which a small city could be seen in darkness. The officer took the initiative and declaimed:
-All units. March, now!