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() Author side note

'Someone Thinking'

Chapter 4.5 Interlude 2: plans and setbacks:

In a dimly lit room, two figures huddle over a map. The first individual dons predominantly white and grey armor, white hair going down to his shoulders, and a white mask with two prominent horns concealing his upper facial features. His counterpart is clad in black armor embellished with gold markings and a chest plate and has short black hair. "You sure it's there? If we miss it we'll be lucky to ever find the damn thing again."

"I'm sure. I've been calculating the current with the cloud sea for the past couple of years, and at this time of year, it should be high enough that we can have the salvager team we recruit go down there and retrieve it without any complications."

Slightly raising his hands in surrender, the black-armored man smirks, amused by the certainty of his ally.

"Alright, alright. I'm not doubting you. I just wanted to ensure we're on the same page here."

His smirk then drops, "Besides, we've only got one shot at doing this. If this operation fails, we'll have all of Alrest on our asses."

To make his point clear the dark-armored man stands in front of the white armored one, arms crossed with an intense look, "It will be impossible for us to try again on this. You do understand this, correct?"

The white armored man nods to reassure his apprehensive ally.

"I do."

With their plans complete, they exit the room and step into a desolate hallway. As they progress, the corridor leads them to a door. Upon entering, they are welcomed by one of their few comrades—a towering figure, tall, grey, and muscular, with a luminous blue glow emanating from intricate lines across the darkened skin. Adorning a helmet featuring tusks and horns with slightly darker grey hair coming out from the back going down to his lower back, with two sections of red hair coming out from the front of the helmet cascading down to his legs, the figure approaches nervously. Only the glowing blue eyes are visible on the mask, and they shift uncertainly toward the black-armored man.

"Da, Uhm, Mr. Malos Sir. weh might have a bit of a problem."

"What is it, Cressidus?" The white one answers in Malo's stead.

"I wes just told to come and get you two guys. Mikhail said he would explain what happened when we get there."

Malos and Jin exchange quick glances. With a nod from Malos, Cressidus leads the way, and they follow. A few minutes later, they enter what is likely the control room, where three people are looking over a map projection of their current surroundings.

The first person, attired in a fashion reminiscent of Jin and Malos, stands out in vibrant red attire, complemented by striking blond hair. The second individual dons a similar style, but in a blue hue, with brown hair and a pair of blocky red glasses.

As for the third figure, their a small female humanoid being with six resplendent gold and silver wings. adorned with intricate gold and silver markings emerging gracefully all over their wings and armor. Laced with the same illuminating blue lines that were on Cressidus. Atop their head, a helmet of matching silver conceals the upper half of her facial features, leaving her nose and mouth exposed.

"Hey, Mikhail! I'm back! And I've brought Malos and Jin."

"Ah, good, thank you. You can go now."

"But I wanna hear what happened too," Cressidus complained.

"Ok, stay then," The red-armored man retorted, slightly exasperated, as he turned around to look at Malos and Jin. "So, I have a question for you two."

Jin narrows his eyes while Malos raises an eyebrow, gesturing for him to continue.

"How far along is the planning phase?" He asked.

"We just finished preparations, Before you called for us we're going to come here anyway to tell you to set course for Mor Ardain to make one final check-up to see how our cargo is coming along, then head to Argentum to begin recruitment," Jin explains.

"Well stop all that, except for the heading to Argentum part," The blonde man said as he waved his hand nonchalantly.

Malos's raised eyebrow turned into a frown at hearing their companion saying to disregard their plan.

"Wah, Whet do you mean by 'stop all that'," Cressidus asks bewildered.

Mikhail sighed, "We lost sight of our prize about three hours ago when our ship picked up several objects sinking into the cloud sea. I think some of the sinking debris hit the ship, causing it to veer off our projected meeting point."

"Wah! How did that happen Mikhail," the masked giant asked, shocked at the news.

Jin frowns while Malos scowls. "How far did this set us back?" Jin asks calmly.

Cressidus is about to repeat Jin's question, but a quick glare from Malos silences him.

"At first, I was worried that this mishap would have set us back by several months if not years. However, it turns out that our prize wasn't displaced too far away. It's still on the same current path where we'd perform our original plan. It was just pushed deeper into the cloud sea. You can thank Akhos and Obrona for finding it again so quickly."

Mikhail gestures toward the two who are looking at the projected map. The blue-armored man, now known as Akhos, turns around with a smirk on his face and a shrug. "Yup. At worst, it's gonna take at least another two weeks to meet up with it. So it's not too bad."

"Yeah, YEAH, it's not soo bad it just means that we'll have to wait a little longer. So why are you guys so grumpy Mr. Grumpy pants?" The silver-armored, six-winged woman asks as she floats around the room quietly giggling to herself.

Her amused demeanor causes Malos to rub his temples and growl in frustration.

"Because Obrona... two more weeks means two extra weeks to give The Pretouriam, Mor Ardain, and Uraya's forces more time to find us or find out about our operation. We have been planning this for the past four almost five hundred years. We can't afford to have this many delays before we even start." Looking up at Obrona, he begins to scowl at her flippant behavior.

"Not to mention that I'll have to return to the damn trade guild to reschedule our arrangements. I was nearly caught the last time we went up there. It certainly didn't help when you kept getting people's attention with your complete disregard for staying calm, in one place, and getting into trouble."

"Malos," Jin calls him over to calm him down. "It will be fine, You guys can just send me over there to deal with-"

"No." Malos cuts him off, dropping his scowl into a concerned frown as he looks back at Jin. "You will remain here in the Minoceros, resting in the healing pod until those two weeks pass."

This, in turn, causes Jin to frown and try to argue. "But-"

"But nothing," Malos cuts him off again with a glare, "I'll have one of the others come along with me instead," His glare drops into a stern look,

"And I'll be sure to be more careful. Two weeks may not seem much, but with your condition getting worse we'll need you at your best when the time comes. You got that?"

Jin wants to disagree with Malos's plan but doesn't find anything to refute. So with a small sigh, he nods in capitulation and walks back into the hallway. However, before he can reach the door, Malos stops him with a hand on his shoulder, his face softening his face into a reassuring grin.

"Hey, don't worry too much. I'll make sure to update you when you wake up."

"Ok," Jin says while not looking back and continues to go get some rest. As for Cressidus, he quietly leaves the room as well. As the door closes behind Cressidus, Malos's grin drops into a blank look and walks to stand next to Akhos as the two look back to the projected map. The two men are silent for a bit before Akhos decides to break the silence.

"So? Who's the lucky one that gets to come along?"

"I'm contemplating just bringing Nia along. She's still relatively new to our operations, and I figured this could be a way for her to acclimate to my methods. She's adept at steering clear of trouble, and not drawing too much attention. She's not on too many people's radars yet, making it easier to stay covert. Plus, being our resident healer, she'll come in handy if things take a violent turn. With any luck, this will quell her constant desire to dive headfirst into action."

Akhos raises a brow at his friends/leader's decision. "You not taking Sever with you? But he's your blade?"

Crossing his arms and leaning on one leg, Malos explains.

"No, he won't be accompanying me to Argentum. It's unnecessary; the guy draws too much attention. Moreover, the bastard's got even less patience than I do. If anyone spots him, they'll instantly recognize him and, by extension, us. Whether it's his distinctive appearance or his penchant for outbursts, he's a walking attention magnet. Speaking of keeping a low profile, where's your sister?"

"Hehehe, bastard." Obrona mumbles while snickering.

Malos shoots the silver-winged blade a dirty glare that she ignores while flying around the room continuing to have a giggle fit.

Akhos snorts at Malos's response as he takes his glasses off to clean them. "Oh her, she's out hunting on Gormott at the moment. Told me she wanted us to get her by the end of the week."

"But it's Monday, and why the end of the week?"

Ahkos shrugs nonchalantly, "Wanted to stay out longer before we began our mission."

"And why didn't you or anyone else try to stop her?" Malos quires as he turns his scowl over to him.

With a continued disregard for Malos, Akhos continues to rub his glasses.

"You're fully aware, just as I am, that she pays no heed to my words. It's even more pronounced when dealing with our resident skirt chaser. Often resulting in her attacking him."

"OI! I resent that." Mikhail protests. "She just fails to notice my romantic charm and irresistible smile that she can only hide her blush by getting violent" He retorts while puffing out his chest.

Both Akhos and Malos roll their eyes at Mikhail's behavior.

Putting his glasses back on Akhos continues. "And as for Nia, my sister doesn't as much as spare her a glance without shooting her the stink eye, particularly so when it involves something she desires. And at this moment, what she desires most is to revel in every moment of free time before our impending mission."

Malos, frustration etched across his face, uncrosses his arms and strides toward the room's exit.

"I hope she enjoys her current locale because she's staying put until we're through with this delay. Depending on how extensive the rescheduling goes, she might be stuck there for another month at the very least. I'm heading off to fetch Nia. Mikhail, I want you to set a course for Argentum. There's a fat greedy Nopon whose schedule needs rearranging."

"Yes, sir. We're already on our way. We'll be there by morning." Mikhail gives a lazy salute.

"Oh! And Malos, see if you can find anything about those giant pieces of debris that were sinking earlier. I'm sure the entirety of Alrest is freaking out over what that was."

Malos doesn't show any signs that he heard Mikhial's request as the door closes behind him.