I, shouldn't have even been surprised. The outpost? More like a dump of truly Titanic proportions. I really shouldn't be surprised by the fresh hell level of incomptence it seemed like most of the top brass outside of Anderson seemed to suffer. You might get one or two at least halfway competent ones, but even that was a rare exception. I'd met some of them. Having this place be an in-disrepair dump from the offset was just stupid.

  Even if it was meant to be a punishment assignment, something that could get this close to the enemy should not be in such poor shape. That was just asking for trouble.

  Though asking for trouble was basically my middle name. While the plan had been to tip off the higher-ranking members of the Ark of Syuen's activities, Enikk's involvement, especially how they went about it, seemed to unnerve Anderson. She was bigger than I had realized, and while having their attention wasn't a bad thing, it was not one without risks. If Enikk had become involved, then, well. It was concerning.

  Even more so was the immediate fobbing me off to the Commander. Sure, I knew I had to go somewhere, but that should have been my choice. I'd probably just work for Anderson. The man was competent, which made him a better employer than most. He may have not been the best boss I had, but he was probably in about third place when it came to the people I've worked for in the past. Seemingly not high praise, but given how every boss I'd had was either incompetent or unable to treat their workers like human beings even before this with a single notable expection?

  I would be more than content to work under Anderson. Especially as I would have made that choice for myself, rather than being sold off as cattle. That was far from my intention when making that type of deal. But at the moment, I was kinda screwed. I had no idea how well just going to Anderson would play. Enikk did what they did for a reason, and even if I didn't know what that reason was, I expected that they, or someone else, would be having their eyes on me at this moment.

  Plus, well, I was technically a spy. So I should try to maintain cover for the time being. Which was going to be weird. Then again, if Anderson didn't already have eyes directly involved on the inside, then I would find a hat and eat it.

  It would taste better than the slop we got. Then again, that wasn't exactly what I would consider to be high priase, given everything else.

  "Unfortunately, the only shower that works is the Commanders," I paused at Anis's words, a faint blush appearing on my face in embarrassment, and an even greater flush of anger. Seriously? The accommodations were that shit? Who designed this? I demand to know who designed this! For they deserve at least one good punch to the face for their complete and utter incompetence! No, several punches. I was not in the mood to deal with something like that.

  Things could be worse, and it didn't take much to imagine just how bad things could end up being. But at the same time, what the fresh Sam hell was that bs? A single functioning shower, in the commanding officers' quarters? It didn't take much to imagine just how badly that would normally go. And that it wouldn't happen here wasn't because the Commander was a decent human being. I mean, he was and it was why he wouldn't engage in such behavior, but that wasn't why most of his peers wouldn't be engaging in such behavior.

  "I'll take a poke at them," I frowned, not expecting my efforts to get anywhere, but willing to make those efforts all the same. It was better than nothing. I wanted to make an effort before I decided to do something that desperate. Sure, I knew nothing would come of it, but I'd rather preserve some degree of my dignity. Even if I didn't exactly have a whole lot left of that preserve at this point.

  "Feel free. Not like we've already tried," Anis huffed, heading back to the sleeping area. That was it's own can of worms, and while I could understand the more military baracks like nature of that part of the main building when it came to our quarters, it wasn't exactly something I was used too.

  Though it wasn't without upside, despite the obvious downgrade that even sleeping on a guest couch was, and it was that I didn't have to deal with Yuni and Syuen ever again. Espically the former. Sure, I had less privacy now days, but at least I didn't have to deal with Yuni and Mihara's, activities, going forward. Earbuds were one of the best investments I had ever made, I swear.

  I set my bag down on one of the empty cots. It wasn't like I had my pick of the place. I only had three other people serving as competition, it wasn't as if I wanted for space here.

  "Elen? The commander would like to speak with you," Rapi's voice helped snap me out of my thoughts.

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  "You wished to see me, Sir?" I popped my head in through the door. The Commander, while there was a slight grin on his face, looked as if he were in a bit of pain. "Sorry about the body check during the mission."

  It saved his life, but with his arm in a sling, it wasn't as if he got off scot-free, either.

  "It's quite alright. I'm happy that everyone else largely made it out unharmed," he said, gesturing toward a seat across from his desk. I slipped into it, the frame groaning under my weight. "As for why I asked to speak with you? You don't have to stay here if you don't want to."

  I blinked. Straight up. I had expected a check-up, to see how I was doing emotionally. Not a, yeah, you're free to go if you want to. If nothing else, it was a sign that he was at least one to follow.

  "Thank you, for such a generous offer, Sir. But the fact you're willing to make such an offer is more a sign I should stay if anything else," I spoke calmly. "The number of Commanders I have met that would be willing to make such an offer is small."

  Small enough to be counted on a single hand. One that has many missing fingers. Well, all but two missing fingers, because that's the number of Commanders that would make such an offer. Aiges may have also had one of the better ones generally in charge, but there was something about him in particular that rubbed me the wrong way when I'd met him.

  The Commander himself seemed to be surprised as well, blinking a bit.

  "Very well, then," he sighed, appearing to have gained several years in a moment, before picking himself back up. "I'm guessing the reason you turned against Syuen like that is because she didn't treat you well?"

  "I had what amounted to a kill switch in my body for some time, Sir. Syuen's actions gave me no reason to be loyal to someone such as herself. Given the situation and the fact her actions surrounding Chatterbox are a danger to the Ark and the safety of everyone inside?" I paused for a moment. "Tipping my hand about her activities at the moment felt like the best play I had long term, as this mess is entirely Syuen's fault, and she should be the one to suffer the consequences of her actions, rather than anyone else."

  And that was the thing. Syuen, under most normal circumstances, would not be punished. Not traditionally. Not by my standards. When erasing someone else's memory is what passed off as a punishment for the higher-ups? It made my stomach turn. Disgusting and foul was what that practice was. How was it considered a punishment when most people viewed Nikke's less favorably than they did a stray dog?

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  Oh, wait, it wasn't.

  The look on the man's face was completely aghast. "A kill switch?"

  I nodded. Syuen was a psycho, and it shouldn't have been a surprise. Given her behavoir towards him, where she had shown to be completely willing to abuse and kill him? Was it really a surprise that Syuen would be willing to go even further with something she didn't even consider human in the first place?

  Yeah, no. If she was willing to have the blood of a human Commander's blood on her hands, then she could easily kill a Nikke just simply for the fun of it. Her willingness to go even that far just simply for her own power made her a threat. She was going to get people killed, and Syuen didn't care one bit. Kneecapping her now could save who knows how many people.

  Why, was I being hugged?

  It took a moment for my brain to restart. To process the feeling of a strong arm wrapping around me, as if from nowhere. I forced my eyes to open, to process the scene before me. To confirm the feeling was not just a feeling, but something that was well and truely happeneing. And it was.

  Yes, it was a single arm, rather than two. But it was a hug.

  It was a hug.

  I blinked, my eyes growing misty as I did so. Where, these tears? Was I, crying? Why was I crying? I was. I was crying.

  "Why?" My voice rattled out of my chest, sounding more like a small child, rather than the young woman my body was. Why? Why was he even bothering with this?

  "Because you look like you need it."

  It was simple. Just a few words. Nothing majorly important. And yet? Those six words. Those six, simple, words. Were enough to make me break down completely. I let out a sob, my body quaking in his grip, tears from a month worth of just, everything that I had experienced washed over me like a tidal wave, threatening to drown me completely.

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  "Thank you," I rubbed the tears out of my eyes. "I needed that."

  I really had. After everything that had happened to me, it was nice to finally cry it out. I still wasn't fine, not by any stretch of the imagination or definition of the term. If anything, it allowed me to regain just how ethically fucked the past month of my life had been. Forced into a war against abominations that sought the extinction of mankind. Forced into a completely different body that was likely their own damn person before I ended up in the pilot seat, something I wasn't looking forward too at all when it came down to seeing how that would be collected.

  And it would collect. There was no way in hell the way my life was right now that someone had lost someone important to them, and I was going to be up shit creek. Well, more up shit creek without a paddle than I was before.

  "I understand. It sounds like you've been through a lot," the Commander said, handing me a kleenex for my efforts. A lot may have been an understatement. It felt like I'd gone through an entire life in about a month. The time felt like it had washed over me like a wave. The crying had left me exhausted but if this was the full effect of working under someone who didn't intent on denying your humanity every chance they got, then I would take it in a heartbeat.

  Even Anderson, for everything I liked about the man, was definitely a bit more emotionally distant. He wasn't the type of hand out a hug just simply because someone looked like they needed a hug. Then again, there was a bit more than Anderson just being much more guarded which explained why he didn't want to be handing out hugs.

  He had very good reasons as to why he was not handing out free hugs. I'd seen it. That stuff was yet another reason why the Ark, if it weren't the last sanctuary of the human species, should have been condemned to a pit.

  The saddest part of this whole mess was that humanity was fighting a war for its very existence. And was committing human rights violations against it's own damn side. Seriously, just how stupid do you have to be? There was a dirth of targets that wouldn't even know what the Geneva Convention was. They wouldn't be complaining if we did such things to our enemy. But no, we had to do it to ourselves.

  "Still, I must thank you all the same," I smiled slightly. "It's healthy to cry it all out sometimes. And it's helpful to have a shoulder to lean on during those times."

  I paused, dabbing around my eyes to clean up all the moisture. If I'd been wearing make-up, it would have been ruined, but I usually didn't waste my time with that sort of thing.

  "Still, if that is all, I would like to prepare to rest. It has been a long day," it had been a long month, truthfully. It felt a lot longer. But rest would do me good right now. Rest would do me a lot of good.

  "I understand completely. If you want to use the shower, it is open for you whenever you want it," the words were specific. Not when I needed it. When I wanted it. My opinion of the man could only seem to grow. Which was good, given everything I went through.

  "Thank you for your offer," I nodded. The prospect was still embarrassing, no matter how one tried to spin it, but at the same time, it was better than nothing. And it wasn't as if I could just bring my pajamas to change into after I finished drying off. I begin to push myself up, before coming to a pause. "I don't think I've gotten your name, Sir."

  I usually didn't. Outside of high ranking brass I've met explicitly outside of missions, the position of Commander was a revolving door. One person went in, a different one came out. I had a hard enough time with names and faces as was. Given how there was a new Commander each mission? Dedicating the time to remembering a specific name was a waste of time. Why should I care who this guy was if I was never going to see again? I had far more important things to be using that brainspace on. Like spite. Or remembering actually relevant details about my life. It was just, the Commander. Nothing else needed to be added. No more, no less.

  A messed up system by design. The reason it was the way it was had to be intentional. You could not design a worse system on accident. Even if you tried.

  "Johnson," the Commander said. Commander Johnson. I liked the sound of that name.

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  "You know, I still think we've seen her before," Neon's words caused Annis's eye to twitch.

  "How many times do I have to tell you that she's a mass produced model? We've all seen her before!" Annis shouted, the two starting to bicker. Rapi decided to ignore it as Elen slipped into the room, grabbing her nightclothes, before quickly escaping again.

  Rapi was unsure of what to think of the mass produced model. She had far more of a personality than most Nikke's of her type tended to have. Especially when one was so young.

  And she was willing to betray Syuen. While Rapi didn't doubt that the young CEO was far from a good boss if her meetings with Matis were any indication, but it was still unnerving how Elen's seemingly first instinct was to stab Syuen in the back.

  She was going to have to keep an eye on Elen, that was for certain.