- Oliver -

  After a few minutes, Oliver could no longer tain his curiosity. He leaned forward, fixing his gaze on An. "Alright," he began, a pyful challenge in his voice. "You mentioned a few things in your messages, but how the hell did you end up in the Mech Division?"

  An scratched the back of his head sheepishly, a hint of embarrassment c his expression. "It wasn't that hard," he replied, his gaze shifting to the floor. "I just needed a little help here and there."

  "How so?" Oliver pressed, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

  "Ah! Now I got it—I had fotten which House you're from," Isabe interjected, a spark of realizatihtening her eyes. She was seated across from them, her dark hair casg over the shoulders of her sleek uniform.

  "That's right," An affirmed with a slight nod.

  "Someone mind expining? I'm still fused," Oliver admitted, gng between them.

  "Aqui," Katherine expined, stepping forward with a knowing smile. "They're responsible for the rgest produ of gravity geors in the Empire. Plus, the current patriarch is one of the pioneers in Mecha design."

  "Oh! I see!" Oliver excimed, the pieces finally clig into pce. He felt a pang of mild embarrassment—sihe Aquis weren't a Great House, he hadn't delved into their record. "That expins why you know so much about the mech models."

  "Exactly..." An sighed softly. "I don't usually talk to my father, but when I mentioned I wao join the Mech Division, he was surprisingly receptive." A traencholy edged his voice. "Especially since he was w on a new design in colboration with the NEA."

  "Impressive," Oliver remarked, genuinely intrigued. "Everyone must have asked you this already, but how was it piloting a mech?"

  "It was... overwhelming," An admitted, his eyes distant as if recalling distant memories. "I had only a few weeks of training. We were hundreds at the operation’s start; by the time the battle against the Titans ended, only a few dozen mechs were left." He spoke deliberately, each word heavy with the weight of what he'd experienced.

  Isabe and Katherine exged brief gheir attention fully captured.

  "But in the end, Hank mao keep me alive," An tinued, g his hand into a tight fist.

  "Have some pride," Isabe enced gently, her gaze steady. "You were important too—you survived and helped save a lot of people."

  An shook his head slowly. "You don't uand. Piloting a mech, every decision is a matter of life ah. There's no sed ce. What they do—what we do—is insane."

  "You 't really call it insane if you're choosing to be part of it," Oliver pointed out with a wry grin.

  An chuckled softly, a hint of self-deprecation in his smile. "Well, I never cimed to be entirely sane." He leaned back, letting out a breath. "But enough about me. You all are gaining firsthand experience as Rangers. What's it like being in a division?"

  The three sat in thoughtful silence for a moment, eapting what to say .

  "To be ho, I still have almost no idea," Isabe finally admitted, breaking the quiet. She leaned back against the plush seating, her gaze drifting to the ceiling. "These past two months have flown by so quickly. In the Yellows, we have to train in a bit of everything to support any fun within the divisions."

  "Even mechs?" Oliver asked, his curiosity piqued. He rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward.

  "Not yet," Isabe replied. "But I know several others who have started mech training. I've been fog on intense physical ditioning and some basic piloting."

  "Do you have any idea when you'll get your first mission?" Oliver inquired, eager to uand how other divisions operated.

  "Not yet," she admitted. "Uher divisions, it takes us longer before we're deployed on field operations. Since our focus is support, we're itted to not jeopardizing missions with inexperience. We must be thhly prepared before we're entrusted with active duty."

  "You're lucky," Oliver muttered under his breath, though loud enough for the others to catch.

  "Not really," Isabe tered with a wry smile. "I'd prefer to be out in the field rather than running endless simutions and circuits around the trainier." She turo Katherine. "I imagihe Reds have already thrown you into the fray?"

  "More or less," Katherine responded, her tone posed yet hinting at underlying tension. "It wasn't as immediate as Oliver's case, but we've had some incursions on distant po reduce Ork strongholds." She folded her arms, her gaze distant. Oliver noticed a subtle shift in her demeanor—a vulnerability peeking through the usually fident facade. It was as though she was l a mask that hid her true feelings.

  "But... imagine being in a pce where about eighty pert of the Rangers are desdants or heirs of some House," Katherine tinued, her voice carrying a hint of anger. "Everyone is stantly training, not just to serve but to outdo one ao prove they're superior. They embark on missions often life-or-death, and the petition is relentless."

  Oliver scratched his head thoughtfully. "Doesn't sound like a very weling enviro."

  "Weling isly the word I'd use," Katherine agreed, a sardonic smile tugging at her lips. "It's more like a of vipers sitting atop a pile of gunpowder. Someone could strike a spark at any moment, and everything would explode."

  "We've already witwo of those explosions," An interjected, his voice tinged with weariness and insight.

  Isabe turo him with a curious look. "What do you mean?"

  "The Lot and the Children of the Past," An expined. "I'm not saying their as were justified, but their emergence is undeniably a result of the system as it exists today."

  The others nodded in solemn agreement. A heavy siletled over the group as they pondered his words, the reality of their society's fractures id bare.

  "Mordred... he's strange," Katherine expined. "I had a different view of him before he decred independence. Especially sio this day, we still owe him a 'marriage.' Yet, he hasn't pressured us anymore."

  "He may be crazy, but he’s also undeniably strong," An remarked, resting his elbows on his knees. "He mao face hundreds of mechs and still e out alive."

  A ptive siletled over the trio. The gravity of their versation weighed heavily, each lost in their own thoughts about alliances and the shifting tides of the empire.

  Suddenly, Oliver's face lit up as a memory surfaced. "Oh! I had fotten," he excimed, nearly causing the others to jump. "The one who came to rescue me on Olympus was Astrid!"

  He unched into reting his experiehe harrowing moments on Olympus, how Astrid had found him amidst the chaos, and how she had stayed by his side in the hospital until he recovered. Isabe listened with genuine delight, her eyes sparkling at the mention of their mutual friend.

  But Oliver sensed something amiss. Throughout his narration, Katherine's expression remained guarded, her gaze hard. An unspoken tension tightehe air whenever Oliver mentioned Astrid's name.

  It's just my imagination,’ Oliver thought, slightly shaking his head to clear away the unease.

  "Even the Pinks are already going on missions!" Isabe interjected with a dramatic sigh. "I want to get off the base so bad."

  The trio chuckled as of all the things Oliver spoke, Isabe's focus on field deployment was both endearing and expected.

  Oliver also shared his experience from his first mission aiohat, after some training, he would soon head out on his sed.

  "This one is going to be a bit more tricky. I'll have morous training for it, and it might be hard to keep in touch with you," Oliver admitted.

  "No worries," An replied with an encing grin. "I think we'll all be pretty absorbed in our training as well."

  They spent several more hours exging stories and ughter, a wele respite from their demanding lives. As the artificial twilight of the tower shifted to emute te evening, signaling the end of their gathering, they began to part ways.

  An stood up, stretg his arms. "Time for me to head back to the Mech Division," he announced. "Teleportation waits for no one."

  Isabe nodded, rising from her seat. "And Katherine and I o return to our bases. More training awaits."

  They shared farewells, embraces, and promises to reunite soon. One by ohey departed, leaving Oliver behind.

  With a few days of leave remaining, Oliver decided to make the most of his dowilizing the York family's private teleportatiowork, he returo Earth. The familiar sights of New San Francisco greeted him. Skyscrapers reached toward the heavens, their surfaces refleg the golden hues of the setting sun.

  Oliver spent the few days resting, strolling through the city's familiar and chaotic districts while mentally preparing for his uping mission. The urban buzz was a stark trast to the isoted training facilities and battlegrounds he frequented, and he relished the normalcy.

  When Monday m arrived, Oliver made his way to the Teleport Hub he'd used several times before. Despite the early hours, the station was abuzz with activity. Streams of travelers flowed through the grand hall, their footsteps merging into a rhythmic ce against the metallic floors.

  Navigating through the crowd was a challehe sheer number of people made it difficult to move without brushing against someone else. As Oliver maneuvered toward his teleportation gate, someone bumped sharply into his shoulder.

  "Hey!" Oliver excimed, more out of surprise than irritation.

  The stranger mumbled an apology and hurried past, disappearing into the sea of faces. Gng down, Oliver noticed a wallet lying on the ground—a sleek, dark g that gleamed subtly uhe station's lights.

  "Sir! Your wallet!" Oliver called out, but his voice was lost in the cacophony. Clutg the wallet, he swiftly weaved through the crowd, trying to catch up.

  He asded the grand staircase two steps at a time, emerging onto the street. Sing the area, he searched for any sign of the man. Hundreds of people swarmed everywhere, but the one he sought was o be found.

  ‘Maybe there's some identification inside,’ Oliver thought.

  However, when he looked at the wallet again, it was no longer in his hand. Instead, a sleek, metallic card with an hss marking and some words was in his palm.

  "See you soon."

  GCLopes