A spirit composed of pure, seething discontent is what lights up the yellow irises in shadow of the wavy white hair that breezes backwards, rustling though parted to not cover sight. The eyebrows furled, the man's gaze remained forward, residing in the dark metal cabin of one of his ships, the dim red light strips illuminating the other soldiers seated on the benches. While he is inside, the unmuffled buzzing along with the hollowing of wind suggests he's not enclosed.
That is because the side door of the ship is currently unfolded, allowing a doorway into the open black night skies that the ship soars through, relatively lighter clouds being all that populates the landscape. The winds of the uncontained skies rustle his quilted leather trench coat, his arms crossed over his chest.
Standing right by the open door, he needs not to lean too far forward to peer past the opening and pan behind his craft, providing him witness to the few other ships, those wasp-shaped crafts buzzing from the intensely vibrating wings that emit yellow radiance.
Being at the head of the flock, that one gaze proves just how significantly reduced the fleet shrunk during the failed invasion, for they began their assault covering the skies, their buzzes deafening from the quantity being added into the overall volume. Now, only a few follow, scattered further apart while the overall fleet captures far less area. Their buzzes are pronounced over the winds, but much more complementary as opposed to oppressively, no longer dominant of the aerial field.
Grumbling at that analysis, the Warlord shakes his head while those trailing ships seem to ascend, or rather the platform he stands on begins descending as the clouds below do too pass. Noticing the elevation change, he turns his attention around, facing forward along the path of his ship's travel, watching the clouds rise from below and pass them in brief moments of fog. A few layers of clouds pass as the ship cruises with minimum tilt, descending like a helicopter.
A final layer of clouds are passed, and once the fog lifts –or rather the ship drops beneath– a view far more expansive reveals itself, a true landscape of a city defined by its dense population of buildings lit yellow, certainly not skyscrapers as they're not much taller than those of his enemy. Amongst the city's many structures are taller towers with distinctive bulbous roofs, like hives scattered across the field. Those towers stand above the stream of dots that glide over what would be the streets –webs between the buildings–, as traffic defined by red and yellow lights slogs in comparison to the freely zooming ship.
Lowering his head to glance down at the streets below, Ekitai frowns to himself, standing by the open door of the moving ship whereas the other passengers onboard are seated, most of them on the benches in the cargo compartment, dressed in their striped armor, their firearms stowed against the wall. Many of them have their hands held together on their lap, their heads low in reflection, their defeat fresh in mind.
Frowning in shame, one of those soldiers who looks to be a young man no more than twenty five lets out a soft sigh before raising his head, the roaring of the wind making it difficult to zone into his own thoughts.
Facing the direction of the howling, the man just stares at the leader standing over the exit, standing before the night skies, carving his silhouette in shadow from the city's passive light field. That shadow dances for the trench coat flaps in the winds, the hair also wild. He stands alone, distant from the soldiers who face one another from across their bench, sharing those shameful expressions, for the ride was a long soak in the chagrin of failure, one bathed in the blood of their lost comrades whether captured unconscious or set ablaze in their own transports.
Glaring down at the city, Ekitai grunts to himself before raising his gaze, his yellow eyes sharp to pierce through the currents raging in his ears.
While the city being passed below seems to be structured in a rectangular grid typical of most, the deeper Ekitai is carried, the more those blocks beneath him bend with apparent angles that curve the roads in a bin-like shape. In fact, the further up the city they soar, those bends form a single shape, and the streets ahead bear the same, each one with tighter bends than the last as a center seems to be in approach.
In the cockpit of the ship –the door open which the leader can be seen through before the resting squad of soldiers, the two pilots manage flight as the primary pilot flips various switches while the copilot's gaze leaps between different gauges. While the pilot's focus remains set on the path ahead through the windshield, the copilot's sights drift to the side where he leans towards a green disk and begins speaking to it like an intercom. He then raises his hand with a thumbed up gesture to the pilot who takes a brief glimpse before nodding and pulling a lever.
Subtly, the ship begins a descent as the city below appears to grow at a marginal rate seen from the open side door that the leader views from, the hum of the engine whistling depressively indicative of deceleration.
From the tops of those bulbous towers scattered across the city, the fleet of wasp ships pronounce themselves by their descent, led by the discernible larger vessel, though all of them carry weight as their buzzing overpowers the winds. The top point of the bulbs flicker yellow intermittently, functioning as aviation obstruction lighting, brightening the night sky in brief intervals.
That buzzing can be heard from the interior of the warmly lit apartments from the glassy windows, one of which a man approaches, a towel wrapped around his otherwise bare body which has recently been drenched in water given his hair' wetness. Even with the window shut, the buzzing is imposing, muffled yet in a way that almost feels omnipresent, vibrating the world with no ability of the man to further reduce it. The room's elevated towards the upper end of the city's structures as the rooftops of many can be seen from that view, many of their visible rectangular windows also lit yellow, continuing down for the many blocks that can be seen. The only structures notably exceeding the height of the room are those flashing towers, and as the man's gaze is guided up to them, he can make out the collection of dim yellow lights in the sky drifting across like shooting stars.
It's harder to acquire that view from the fars marooned in traffic, boxed between those buildings and each other, the side windows such as one a child in a gray wool coat stares through only displaying the other automobile-like vehicles neighboring them and the building past. Even then, the surrounding buzzing –even if muffled– is no less quiet as in fact it only grows, approaching ominously.
It evenly reaches a crescendo where the direction of the buzz itself shifts across the vehicle, dragging the child's curious gaze off the window to the supposed ceiling, then arching down over to where the opposite side window would be. Only then does the buzz narrowly soften in volume, climbing down the peak.
At the source of that buzz, the leader's sights remain on the city being passed, block after block. They wander off to the side briefly before centering straight ahead down the path of the ship, requiring him to lean slightly more out of the side door, causing his hairs to ruffle in greater intensity. He squints just enough to peer through the thunderous windows to gaze upon one structure defined from the rest as the tallest unequivocally even in relation to the towers, yet simultaneously wider as it consumes a radius of several city blocks, the surrounding blocks converging into a hexagonal perimeter defining the city's grid structure as that shape ripples beyond to the remainder of the landscape.
The structure itself best resembles a castle in its grand scale, the base being a hexagonal pyramid from which many cylindrical pillars protrude so much that the top of the pyramid is fully obscured, dominated by towers each with bulbous tops and lit peaks. A single definitively largest pillar –in width and height– champions as the tallest point in the surrounding city, slowly growing in relation to the ships that continue to gently descend, passing that peak and continuing down. While the detailing of the building's material isn't as clear in the dim night, the base pyramid seems built from a concrete-like material given its general smoothness, and the towers are of a cobbled composition, the materials all of a light gray material airing on the color of concrete or stone. It's almost oppressively bland in terms of color, more like a fortress than some royal castle. An asphalt field surrounds the fortress to provide spacing from the rest of the city along with ground for a small hangar and other buildings only a couple stories tall at most, and encapsulating that is an additional wall from several stories tall, rows of spires along the top like a fence.
After passing that fortress, the ship begins banking in an orbit around it, continuing its descent as the leader glances back to find the other ships of the fleet mirroring an orbit although choosing not to descend. Acknowledging its divergent behavior as though planning it, Ekitai then reclines back behind the door, for he no longer needs to peer around the door to have a direct view of the castle. In fact, the circling path exposes all sides of the castle, providing a total view including one face of the pyramid which has a wide cutout like a tunnel. Due to the slanted walls, a glimpse of the tunnel's entrance can be seen, revealing a group of people staring forth.
With sharp eyes, Ekitai stares keenly down at that tunnel entrance, though his head remains straight.
Another orbit is completed, the ship lower to the ground, and again that tunnel entrance is visible, closer too, the people standing at the entrance now clearly observable to be in the same armor and bearing the same weapons as the soldiers stationed onboard.
Intently, Ekitai's yellow eyes stare, focused, as if waiting yet not satisfied.
Another orbit is completed, the ship much closer to the ground, and once more the tunnel entrance is exposed in greater definition and magnification, those soldiers clearer than before.
Again, Ekitai's eyes just stare, sharp almost in a glare, peering from the corner of his vision's periphery.
By the edge of the tunnel's slanted entrance, behind many of those soldiers, stands a single figure dressed not in militaristic armor but a black uniform with a cap. Hardly any more details can be determined of the figure as even the soldiers are difficult to identify beyond their armor, but just barely the glimpse of a strand of long brown hair can be seen in a ponytail from under the cap.
Those yellow irises just stare sharp, patient yet intense, cold yet boilingly awake.
One final orbit is needed, and the warship reaches back to the entrance of the tunnel at the fortress's pyramid base, its buzzing still loud enough to overtake all other sounds in the area, although not nearly as ferocious as before. The ship slows to a halt perfectly in front of the tunnel, exactly in position for the side door to be lined up with the exact center of the entrance, placing the leader precisely there. It's also now only a few feet above the floor, below the single story buildings along the fortress's yard, one more step before landing yet it pauses before that.
Past the leader's shoulder, the tunnel can be seen in its entirety to reveal two rows of armored soldiers with lowered firearms, lined up along the walls of the tunnel lit red by stripes running down to the end where a large hexagonal door stands shut.
In front of that door are four figures dressed in those black coats, closed with golden buttons, and below were long samely colored skirts reaching to the knees. They stand side by side, although differing in height with one a little below five feet and another about five and a half.
His focus set on those four officers, Ekitai just stares directly forth, the spinning of the ship's wings still building enough current to toss his white hair and black coat, yet his eyes need not to squint any longer.
Those four officers are all women of Russian ethnicity, their coats featuring patches, notably a matching pair on the shoulders, striped with all of them featuring yellow as one color but differing on the other, being the color of their hair for them all but one. They all wear glasses with darkened lenses, though the styles vary. The shortest woman has boyishly short magenta hair no longer than beneath the neck, her figure the most masculine of the group, her stare focused professionally for it can be sensed even behind her sharp, sleek glasses. The second shortest has coral hair, also of similarly short length, bangs though parted away from the face, her gaze relaxed, attentive but casual, matched in her glasses which have more circular lenses and a thicker frame made of a translucent crystallic material. The second tallest has midnight purple hair, much longer as it reaches to her waist, her peer also attentive though with a morbid unease through her elegant, rounded glasses, her figure more feminine as well. Similarly is the last who has umber hair, also long but tied in a ponytail, her glare the sharpest of the group, the shape of her glasses itself slightly more rounded than the shortest woman, with distinctly wooden temples. Whereas the other women's patches match their hair, hers is distinctly green instead.
Catching that glare, Ekitai maintains his own as he takes a step off the ship, his hands by his side as he freely falls a few feet to the ground, the impact hardly prompting him to bend his knees. There's hardly any recovery necessary before he strolls onwards down the tunnel on approach of the four, and as he does the ship behind him begins to ascend directly upwards before dragging itself forward, the buzzing growing louder as the engine is exercised greater. The soldiers standing guard glance at the ship as it turns away from its former orbit and begins flying in the distance away from the tunnel, accelerating after the dropoff.
Most of the soldiers then switch their attention to the leader, watching him nonchalantly amber past them through the tunnel, his hands remaining by his side, his head up, his hair no longer tossing around the same as his coat which only now flaps subtly with the sway of his legs. They keep their arms down in relaxed stances though their arms remain bent enough that they were primed to raise at a moment's notice, their postures friendly but prepared to react defensively in a heartbeat.
All four of the women in uniform just stare at Ekitai as he approaches them, silent with professionally straight postures, their arms at their side in attention.
They watch him reach them, and just before he does they spin around and begin strolling back for the closed door just as he passes them, focused on that same gate.
Having anticipated his swift motion to lead, the four officers follow the Warlord down the tunnel, away from the armed guards who watch; in the distance soars the leading warship which is then accompanied by the other ships who break from their orbit around the fortress to follow, the remaining fleet drifting into the distance, their buzzing dampening with every second.
That shut hexagonal door begins opening as spokes branching off each face of the door begin to recede, reeling back the metal plate composing the door as it functionally splits apart from all directions. The reclination process is steady with the mechanical sound of heavy metal tugging proving use of a simple system, for the door doesn't unravel into tiles like those on the ship but each of those spokes are solid chunks of refined metal.
While it's not the fastest swinging of a door, it does open completely in time for Ekitai to enter through without having to pause or slow down, and behind him follow the four, stepping onto a polished concrete floor, immediately entering a much wider space as though the entire pyramid is hollow given that the far walls are slanted inward, for the room is hardly just a lobby but more like an open warehouse lit white. There are interior rooms along the walls which stick out like boxes, some of their doors open and others closed, and passing between them are many adults dressed in coats similar to those worn by the four women, though green instead of black. Some of them pace alone or in groups, subsets of them accompanied with flat screens like computer monitors though without a physical device displaying it but rather a sheet entirely composed of light seemingly projected, sized like a tablet's display. Few of them take notice of the entrance of the leader, staring for a few moments before casually returning to their own schedules, destinations to approach. All of the interior rooms on the base floor are pushed back along the walls to maintain an open lobby space further populated with stacks of miscellaneous crates by the entrance, occupied by a few officers reading from their own screens.
Ahead of them lies many more officers amongst fields of crates and other furniture, though there aren't any visible seating arrangements as everyone is in a state of standing or pacing, a flow of traffic without rest. Towards the center of the pyramid are several colossal pillars in a collection like the jagged peaks of a mountain, yet they aren't in place to maintain the structural integrity of the complex as those pillars aren't fixed themselves, but instead few of them sink straight –clearly not in any catastrophic destruction but intentional mechanical function– while others rise, their movements steady and weighty. One of them is currently nearing the floor in fact, and atop it stands a few officers, seeming to ride the pillars like elevators, the surfaces wide enough to comfortably fit about fifteen or so. Those that rise do to the ceiling, through it in fact as they pass through pipes that lead elsewhere, potentially those towers that were seen from outside. Between the floor and that ceiling are several subfloors, like balconies that hang off the edges of the slanted walls, some of them even expanded along a whole face. They vary in elevation, but don't consume too much of the air, allowing for a largely open view of that ceiling.
In a room as open as this, the one officer exiting the room in the top right corner has a practically open line to the group of officers entering another room in the bottom left corner, as they do with the group occupied by a pile of crates closer to the left middle area, as they do to the officers entering the area at this very moment from the same side as the five who approach the central columns. Sounds of chatter and clanging of equipment echo throughout the expanse, yet there's enough space that they don't flood the room in high volume, for they naturally dampen into mild static, white noise sung by many.
Most of the officers onboard the descending pillar speak amongst themselves, most of them of European descent, primarily of slavic, just like the others throughout the complex. One of them keeps reserved to focus on their tablet-sized screen an arm's length from their face, yet their hands remain by their side. The screen displays a white background and overlaid are blocks of black text, resembling a text document, though that text is animated as those blocks rise upwards and disappear past the tablet's bounds, leaving space for more to rise from below, scrolling through at a brisk pace. The screen's plenty bright and among the blocks of text that rise from below are images, circular pie charts vibrantly colored red and blue, photographs in perfectly sharp resolution displaying a vehicle similar to the wasp gunships though nearly double the height, shaped almost like a double decker bus, sitting in a large gray room. Again, the screen isn't lit from a physical device, but instead floats as if weightless, though it very likely is, yet it's bound not against a physical board or any visible barrier.
Approaching the ground, a few of the officers glance over to notice the five walking past them, and they fall silent upon recognition, not in awe exactly as their expressions aren't too exaggerated but a professional show of respect through reduction of volume in their presence. Their heights reach that of the five just as they're passed, and their descent concludes with a mellow, mechanical hum which prompts them to begin strolling towards the greater floor.
While those officers walk off the platform now only a minor step off the ground, the five keep pace to the very center of the room where another platform stands, similarly low for they don't need to additionally exercise their legs to board it. As the leader boards first, a stream of chromatic light rises from the center of the platform with a uniquely bubbly texture like fizzy soda, and after rising several feet it sprouts into a flat rectangular sheet made of silver light that colorizes into a column of darker, rounded buttons.
After the manifestation of the screen, the stream thins out, and at the same time the other four board the platform, the woman with the brown ponytail approaching the leader's side. Just as the woman with the short, coral hair steps onto the platform, the woman in the ponytail presses on the top button before then placing her hands behind her back and stepping beside the leader. She turns around to face the other officers as a deep, mechanical whir emanates beneath them, and a moment later the platform they stand on begins to steadily rise. The ascension is initially slow, climbing at a snail's pace but one that begins accelerating, the whir transitioning into a hum that rises in pitch whilst simultaneously softening in volume, a soothing static that the five listen to silently for a few moments, surrounded by other pillars that are currently rising or sinking.
Aimlessly forwards, Ekitai stares at the slanting wall with a mellow expression, perhaps ruminating in his head as beside him stands the woman in the ponytail, who lowers her head and sighs with shut eyes, to which Ekitai's face subtly tenses as a slight grimace creeps on his mouth. It's in anticipation as the woman's dark lenses suddenly lighten to full transparency before she speaks in a maturely deep voice with a Russian accent: "You are welcome I spared you from being made a fool openly, but I expected you to begin speaking now, or do you intend to stay silent for the whole day?"
Now it's Ekitai who sighs with a lowered head, but he doesn't verbally respond immediately, prompting the woman to further prod, "For one, I do believe it is important that I'm aware of any military operations conducted, even if done by you. Especially if done by you."
She sighs and folds her arms over her chest, chuffing before continuously reprimanding, "But instead I wake up to the news that you ordered a fleet from Mason and flew off back to the same place you love dumping our ships into. I'm sure the fleet you brought was much larger than the one I saw returning, and I'm sure I'll be called about it later today, and I'm sure I'll have to deal with it. You know, if you keep jumping from base to base asking for fleets, eventually we're going to run out."
Keeping his head low, Ekitai lets out another sigh with shut eyes before he simply asks in a low murmur, "Can we wait until we're in the secured space to discuss this, Alina?"
That beseech for no more than a pause is met with gritted teeth from the woman in the ponytail identified as Alina, and upon noticing her reaction, the woman with the coral hair steps towards her and begins extending her arm to reach her shoulder, but is caught by the taller woman with the purple hair, both of their lenses clearing up same as the shortest of the group. The two exchange glances, the coral-haired woman anxious and the midnight-haired one calmer, her actions meant protectively.
Unstopped, Alina continues to lecture in a bolder tone, "Again and again you do this, but it'd be one thing if you never changed, at least I could try adapting to it, but you somehow manage to get worse. I don't get the insanity, you do the same exact plan and get the same exact outcome, and then you do it again. Is this some ploy to reduce our fleet count, because while I appreciate the budget considerations, this is certainly a more extreme solution to what isn't much of a problem."
Just then, the open area around them is cut off as they're encased in a shiny concrete tube, not much wider than the pillar itself, for they've surpassed the ceiling of the base floor. Two opposite vertical strips of red light illuminate the channel from total darkness, radiating that hue onto all five of the passengers onboard, soaking their bodies in red.
Frowning at those verbal strikes, Ekitai can't help but mutter almost to himself, "I had a different plan…and it would've worked…."
While meant to be an inner thought, those words are received by the four women as told by three of their apprehensive winces and one of their tightening glares, that one being Alina who snaps back, "Oh please, you cannot be using this excuse again, you've made it so many times. It does not matter what time of day, what port, what fleet size, you keep swapping around these insignificant variables expecting a change and it never happens, how could you think this would be any different? You know it'll be up to me to explain this away right? I'll need to give a statement today, likely in a couple hours. But I found out as soon as most of them did, and you're not giving me useful insight at all to use. If I echo what you said, we'll have a revolution on our hands."
Behind her, the woman in midnight hair winces harder at that last statement, an awkward expression washing over her. She drops both arms and her head before timidly accounting, "About that…we've already been reporting rises in protests all over the country. I do worry they'll ramp up from there…but that's not to say that you didn't-."
"Exactly as Eva said," Alina interrupts with the roll of her wrist, "You're causing a mess that's becoming a headache for us all, and we have to be able to explain it away. What was this plan of yours anyways? An extra few ships? A different port you swore was less protected, further from 'her-?'"
All the sudden, the claustrophobic red pipe vanishes to reveal another significantly open area, so much in fact that in the distance behind them seems to be the open night sky where the city can be seen until the horizon.
While the area that the pillar has risen to isn't nearly as vast as the pyramid base, it's about the width of a hollowed skyscraper, though the walls aren't straight nor slanted but curved in a bulbous shape, made of transparent windows separated by thin hexagonal frames in a pattern which permeate a gentle yellow radiance.
The interior isn't empty, for the pillar passes through several holes just wide enough for it, holes in floors that consume the cross section, furnished with desks like an office populated with other officers, some hidden in enclosed rooms with doors some open and others shut. The passing of every floor triggers a whoosh from the travel of the pillar elevator, at the rate of a steam train's chugging.
Glancing around at the new area, Ekitai echoes through a rougher tone, "I said we'll talk in the secured space," rebuking now, his irises darted to his side where Alina stands though he doesn't turn his head.
Placing both of her hands in front of her waist formally and bowing her head, the woman in the midnight purple hair, Eva, apologizes gently: "I'm sorry, I'll refrain until-," only for Alina to interject argumentatively, "At this point, I think everyone in this building knows to an extent what happened: you swung by another base, rode their fleet into one of the ports you believed in, had most of the fleet obliterated by the one you continuously claim won't be an issue, and has been an issue for god knows how long now. How badly your days must be blending together for you to repeat the exact same process and witness the exact same result and continue without a second thought."
She then points back to the other three women though her glare remains on him as she berates, "And it's not just her, it's not fun asking Lara to fork over even more budget and Nina's focus shouldn't be on this, you're capsizing this country! I was beginning to think you were done with this, but you usually don't even take fleets that large!"
Ekitai grunts and glances at Alina before lecturing pessimistically, "You're enjoying this exploit of yours for the sake of winning this argument knowing I can't properly debate you at this moment."
The pillar's hum begins to dampen as he releases a heavy sigh before lifting his head directly up and murmuring, "You forget how open these floors are…but at least we're here now."
At that moment, the top of the pillar slips through one more hole, though it passes only a few inches before halting entirely, raising the five into a new room that's not as wide as the open floors they've been passing as it's the size of a decently large office space, though much of it is elevated as they stand at the base of a circular staircase, leading up to a ring of five chairs scattered evenly, four of them in tall executive styles with tall, sleek leather backs. The fifth one however differs in that it's decently wider and has a grander shape with a dark wood frame, resembling more of a throne.
Above it, the walls curve inward as the top of the bulb for there seems to be no floor above, the very ceiling made of the hexagonal windows that pattern over the office's walls, the cloudy crimson night sky observable.
Ekitai spins around and begins to casually pace up the stairs towards the throne, watched by the four officers, and it's Alina who steps forward and immediately circulates, "We're safe here, so go on, give us your grand vindications. Don't make some excuse to push this talk later, I just learned about your attack hours ago and I have been waiting for an explanation every second since, I won't wait any longer."
Upon reaching the left side of the throne, Ekitai places his hand on the armrest and frowns in contemplation, his gaze away from the four officers at the bottom of the stairs, all staring up at him. He grunts before turning his head halfway to them as he answers, "I did not just run the same plan again, I combed through it over months first, it was not some impulsive decision. I worked directly with the generals and had their approval, we knew the risks of course but the logic was one we hadn't tested before and one that could theoretically work."
He fully turns to face them, remaining standing beside the throne, needing to tilt his head down to direct his gaze to Alina as he briefs, "The plan was that we'd enter as a single fleet from one direction, and once we encounter Kokei, half of the fleet would join me in engaging against her as the other half would break off and make a dash for the capital. We've attempted diversions and flanks in the past but the only compliment I can give to Japan's defense is that they're keen on stealth strikes, splitting our fronts would only lead in being handled by several groups. Only by focusing our fleet on a single front could we realistically aim to have Kokei as the sole obstruction, so by me holding her off for as long as possible, it'd allow the other half fleet to advance without the same defenses, it'd have given us the best chance at least to reach the palace. And I was right, she didn't bother to chase after the second half of the fleet when I administered the command to advance without me, and I held my own against her for a decent length of time, potentially enough for a successful strike."
Her glare unchanged as though that expression hasn't softened her perspective in the slightest, Alina folds her arms over her chest and sneers, "And then what, she defeated you faster than you hoped for and stopped the full fleet? Japan's defenses were up and shot them down? What 'little, insignificant mistake' was made that led you to crawl back with a fraction of the fleet with nothing to show for it?"
"She wasn't alone," Ekitai bluntly answers before simply adding, "And I don't mean the imperial defense."
That answer does spark a shift in Alina's face, her eyebrow raising with a glint of curiosity, but her arms stay folded as she demands, "Then who?"
Briefly glancing down at the floor, Ekitai grunts before admitting shamefully, "I…don't know." He then raises his head to clarify, "I don't know his name at least, or who he is, but it was a man in a blue suit. He wasn't of their ethnicity so he could not have been a member of their own defense, more so he had a conduit far different any that I've seen of their forces. He was…conjuring these weapons and structures from flames, it could be some form of manifestation conduit yet they were structures technologically advanced far beyond anything I've witnessed from any Earth, so I'm unsure if there's an additional proponent, I can't make sense of it."
He taps the armrest of the throne a few times before then confessing after a heavy sigh, "He singlehandedly defeated the advancing half of the fleet…I don't believe they managed very far either…. Kokei never bothered to chase after them, he did, and after he dismantled my forces, he came for me. He aided her in pinning me down and it nearly resulted in my execution."
Alina contemplates silently to herself, her demeanor shifted inquisitively now that her awaited answers have arisen, and it's first the woman with coral hair who raises her hands held together to fret, "And?! What happened?! That sounds terrifying, I'd never think there'd be another one so strong!"
Scoffing beside her, Eva folds her arms over her chest before reminding, "He's right here, isn't he Nina? He clearly used his unparalleled tactics and might to free himself, at least enough to safely retreat. Perhaps landed a few devious hits himself to keep them from chasing after him."
Such a generous praise is met by Ekitai strangely spinning the other way, averting his gaze and leaning more heavily on the throne's armrest, hiding his gritted teeth in awkward tension. He doesn't speak, instead lowering his head almost in shame, perplexing the four women down at the base of the stairs.
Alina rocks her head to the side contemplatively before fixing it with a sharp glare as if in realization, and with a huff she begins slowly strolling up the stairs as she alleges sternly, "You didn't surrender and make some deal to get out, did you? I swear if you handed them our ships-," to which Ekitai's eyes widen and he spins around and interjects hastily, "Of course not!"
Alina halts in place, one foot up the next stair halfway up the case, and she watches as do the other three as Ekitai chuffs from the ridicule and shakes his head, clarifying as his hand slips off the armrest: "I would never commit such a cowardly act of betrayal to my own people, that's a step too far. And even if I did, Kokei wouldn't have spared me no matter what I could offer, she intended to kill me, the shot she took proved it."
Horror strikes Nina's face, and she lunges forward while crying: "She shot you?! Oh my god, are you okay??" Beside her, Eva can only sigh in disappointment before then offering her own deduction: "Of course not, his conduit is prime to shatter any restraints, he must've freed himself at the last moment and dealt a devastating blow in retaliation before taking his leave."
Next to her, the woman with magenta hair chuffs before simply stating, "He saved you, didn't he?"
At once, all three of the other officers turn to her including Alina, all with utterly shocked expressions. A similar expression overtakes Ekitai, who can only utter defeat, "Wait, how could you tell?"
"What absurd nonsense Lara, the solution is obvious- wait what?" Eva initially attempts to defend Ekitai only to lag on processing his response; upon realization she turns her head to Ekitai with a tilt to ask dumbfounded, "Huh?"
Sighing in disappointment, Lara keeps her gaze fixated on Ekitai as she explains, "It's admittedly a bizarre phenomenon for her to gain another ally after all this time, yet you're struggling to label him as an enemy, aren't you?"
Eva's head spins from Lara to Ekitai only to find him wincing, uneasy about the direct allegation, his facial expression signaling guilt on full display. He chuffs and bows his head, diverting that gaze as he throws his arm over the rim of the throne's back, able to not only lean against it more but bend his arm to support his forehead with his hand, deep in troubled contemplation.
That lack of an immediate verbal response opens the floor for Alina to take another step forward, demanding sternly: "Explain."
Holding his head up with his hand, Ekitai releases a heavy sigh. His gaze remains not to the four officers but the distant windows that form a dome over the room, which is larger than this one ring of chairs, as there's a few tables against the walls with cabinets below and above. A collection of couches surrounds a coffee table, the furniture scattered around the rim of the room miscellaneously.
Among them is a grouping of long white tables, one of which has a small pit looming above which is a silver faucet, a sink of sorts. Supporting those tables are tall cabinets, and between two of the tables is a tall, silver box resembling a fridge albeit without handles, for the whole space resembles a kitchen.
Aimlessly gazing at this furniture that resides in front of the window walls that surround him in a view of the nightly city, Ekitai huffs before recounting, "He did chase after me after the second squad was put out of action, and his conduit binded me in place for a killshot. I've been in that position many times before, and those many times I've dodged at the last moment, freed myself, unveiled a hidden force, and perhaps I had utilities at my disposal to do the same but…I don't know…there was a chance it wouldn't work. Against the both of them…I wasn't sure how to react, and maybe I would have or maybe I wouldn't, it didn't matter because either way at the last moment he escorted me away from her."
Alina stares in shock as the other three are left stunned, though Lara's expression is more of a muted interest. Regardless, they listen to him unpack, "None of it made sense, I've pondered over it over the course of this returning flight but I'll need to ruminate some more, as right now I cannot come to a justification for such a bizarre act. Either way, I managed to repel him off me and make my escape. He had no words, he just stared at me with this strange look…I don't know what to make of it."
Pushing up with his arm, Ekitai knocks himself back to his feet, turning to reestablish his gaze with the officers to conclude, "He was responsible for the failure of my invasion, and therefore he is an enemy, it's simple. Yet…he may have secured my life…so I…don't know…. Again, I'll need to ruminate deeper on it, it just happened, I need time."
Alina lets out a sigh, half up the staircase above the other three as she crosses her arms over her chest and judges, "So…the failure of the mission and the fruitless waste of that fleet was due to a single stranger who also happened to save your life…splendid…I'd have considered this to be a fantastical lie but then it'd make sense. Of the material you've left me to write up a report to excuse your impulses, this may be the most challenging, I can't tell if you find joy in this. Either way, I'll begin on a draft, I'll need to make the rounds today if I don't want the streets to boil. At least…not more than they already have."
Ekitai raises his head upon the reminder of Eva's previous comment, and he then lowers it with a solemn frown, understanding the plight they're all in.
Placing her hands in front of her in a formal posture, Eva simply suggests, "If you wish, I can extinguish the next demonstration swiftly-."
"That'll be alright, Eva," Ekitai just as swiftly shuts down just before Alina could explode, her eyes already popped wide, glaring back at Eva who just flashes back an innocent smile.
"The worst next step would be to prove they're right," Ekitai contemplates, slipping his hand entirely off the throne and placing it beneath his chin, pacing side to side while verbally thinking, "I know they'll intensify, there'll likely be demonstrations today, leave them be. I can only regain their trust through proper persuasion in action."
Nina sighs in relief and scratches her head with an admission, "Well, I'm glad, Alina's blowing up over just a few internal meetings where worst case some servicemen are a little more disgruntled at work, if I don't excuse you right then much worse can happen so it'll help for you to shift back to deal with-,"
"The next attack needs to be the last," Ekitai's voice interrupts her, and immediately shatters her soul as her face is just left frozen, Lara beside her simply rubbing her forehead in silent disappointment. Further up the stairs, Alina shakes her head and refutes, "There's no way you're coming back from this and the very first thing you want to do is plan to do it again."
Behind her, Lara whispers under her breath, "Etoy strane pizdets," as Nina's posture slumps in defeat.
Dropping his arms to wave them, Ekitai hastily amends: "Alright, alright I hear you…I'll put it on hold."
Alina drops her chin in a depressed slump as Lara spins around and strolls up the staircase to one of the chairs in the ring, broaching with her body facing the other way: "It's okay Alina, we have him here, I'll make him go program to program deciding how he's going to find the funds for another expedition."
Both Eva and Nina also turn and begin ambling up the stairs though at different angles, each approaching other seats as Alina just sighs in defeat and acknowledges, "That's the bad part…I know he'll find a way…. He always does…."
First to reach her seat, Lara turns around again and gently places herself down, fixing her posture against the chair as Nina makes her way to her own seat but turns her head to request earnestly, "Can we at least get to the cases right after that? While I appreciate your trust in me, you going off on your own to do as you please and leaving me an excuse for you will only work so well for so long, it's especially hard when you won't build your own defense."
"You're all entrenching me, aren't you?" Ekitai observes inquisitively as he strolls towards his throne, placing his hand upon the arm rest once more but to swing himself in front.
"You seeing it as entrenchment itself is a concern," Alina retorts as she takes her own seat while Nina does across from her. She raises her right hand forward as a stream of bubbly particles suddenly releases from the edge of her glasses' frame, that chromatic fizzy light which is beamed towards her hand but stops short to instead expand out to shape itself into a thin, flat slab of projected light just like the device-less tablets. She briefly glances to her right, allowing that beam to reach next to her armrest before expanding into additional slabs, several stacked over each other as she admits, "I'm…a little more hesitant to bring your attention to the documents I have, but ultimately it's for the best, we'll save it for last so you don't derail this meeting entirely."
Watching Eva take her own seat on the last available chair, Ekitai's head perks in immediate curiosity, aiming at Alina to which he nudges, "Are the Thunderstorms beginning production? They'd be most useful, especially with the efforts in-."
"Budget planning first," Lara interjects sharply, a stack of light tablets at her side reaching nearly as tall as herself before the bubbly stream terminates from her glasses, indicating completion of the summon. She raises her hand as the topmost tablet begins to move like paper, gliding in space and rotating to be brought over her hand, nearly to the touch though she keeps her fingers just subtly distant from the film of light itself. She fixes her gaze on that first window and sharpens before summarizing, "A bridge across the Valgo is being requested from Kazon, they've been seeking funding for some time now." She then rolls her wrist in a throwing gesture, and the screen before her hands soars across the room.
That light-constructed tablet reaches Ekitai, stopping at his extended left hand as he plants himself on his throne as the last to do so, his posture straight and professional, though his right arm rests on the armrest raised up to allow his hand to support his chin as he briefly analyzes the screen.
He sighs after the initial briefing to contend, "Why do they need bridges? They have fars, just drive over the river."
Waving her hand casually to the sudden dismissal, Lara explains candidly, "Some people take pleasure to walks, and while yes fars can bypass the need, having that safety layer is a benefit."
Ekitai breathes an irate sigh and raises his head to the ceiling, clicking his tongue before judging, "They ask for so much just for…what…a manmade trail to walk on? There's far better ways to spend this, ways that'd have a functional and notable contribution to, well, anything. I just don't see the need for this."
"You'd get it if you spent more time home rather than out on your conquests," Alina coldly retorts, raising the same criticism regardless of the topic of conversation.
Across from her, Nina even waves her hand and recalls, "Now now, don't start him down that path, let him read."
On the other side, Eva hums as she raises her gaze to the window ahead of her, watching the city from its highest view as she reminds, "It is beautiful this time of year, the evenings have been especially vibrant….."