Avarice

Chapter 4: Respite.

Velvet got up from the bed, she had no idea what hour it was as nobody woke her up, but it couldn't be late as the sun was only beginning to shine.
She got out of it and looked at the top of the bunk were Jenifer was currently sleeping.
"How long has she stayed up?" – She asked herself as she made her way to the observation room. It was indeed morning, sun was only getting out from the horizon to greet the day.
Things seemed peaceful, the two factions weren't waring anymore, judging from both the quietness and the lack of smoke in the distance.
It appeared that the assassination dealt enough damage to paralyze the war for now, but the other target was still there, probably trying to get more soldiers to fight.

Velvet went to the storage room and picked up two MREs, one for her and the other for Big Brother as she assumed that she'd wake up soon.
She unpacked both her MRE and Big Brother's, setting BB's items on a plate and putting hers into the flameless ration heater for it to heat up.
While waiting for it to heat up she went outside, to catch some fresh air and to do some laps around the outpost as it would take it some time for the ration to heat up.

She ran around it for approximately ten or so minutes so she would make at least three kilometers out of it.
After the run she went to shower and changed into something more... daily.
The ratio was ready exactly for the moment she came back.

Velvet unpacked the food and got ready to eat. This piece was spaghetti Bolognese, which was a rather average in MREs.
She got to eating it and it tasted average at most, the drink for the ration was a isotonic as those are usually expected from those.
As she was finishing up somebody walked into the room.
BB, still half asleep. Her hair unkept and eyes barely open.

"Until what hour did you stay up?" – Velvet asked jokingly.
"3:48, what hour is it?"
"Around 8 I think. Did you see anything interesting out there?"
Big Brother instantly lit up, her stare became much more focused.
"Yes of course. The amount of data that was recorded from that field would be worth millions the case we would want to sell it to a third party. Especially with the soldiers that stayed behind and actually interacted with each other after the fighting was called off. Those are the guys we want."
"And why is that?" – Velvet asked interested why this thing would be important.
"Because we want humans, not robots. I am already mass producing the second. The guys that actually take their time to talk with each other act like humans. Those are the people you want if you want to be liked by your employees at all, not just considered an 'eh' by them because they are mindless drones who follow orders."
"Okay and that's it..?"
"Of course not, them actually showing any more emotion than following orders is also important. They will question what's in front of them, they are less likely to become war criminals and lastly they will fight the hardest to survive." – Big Brother explained with stunning enthusiasm as she put her MRE into the ration heater its always provided with.
"This isn't the info from just yesterday is it Boss?"
"Of course not, this is what I collected by monitoring them by binoculars or sniper scope since we arrived here. Those men will be the very foundation of future missions after we finish this job up... By the way how are you feeling after yesterday?" – BB asked with sincerity in her voice.
"Still kind of beat up, but much better. Managed to go for a ten minute run around the place. I hope I will manage to get back to full strength until tomorrow."
"Oh you certainly will, you've recovered having half your bones broken in two weeks. What would stop you from getting some bruises and grazes healed in a day?"
"Fair enough." – Velvet said, laying back in her chair.

Big Brother took out her ration from the heater and started eating, it was the same one as Velvet ate. She ate it with much more taste than what Velvet experienced, leading Vel to be unsure if she forgot to season it or something.
She quickly finished up her meal and cleaned her face up from the sauce with a napkin.
"You... seem to like those a lot."
"Yeah, one gets used to them when their father keeps them in warzone like conditions since birth to condition them. The spaghetti ones stuck with me the most due to the fact that they are one of the oldest ones currently in service."
"Oh... Sorry to hear about that one."
"No worries, it was a big stepping stone in who I am today. Even with that I am so glad that man is dead. Served him right, especially after what he had lead to with worthless casualties wise."
"And who was your father?"
"The answer is the same as if you would've asked me for my actual name."
"Right..."
"Since we are talking life stories, what are your origins and upbringing? What lead you into mercenary life?"
"Oh, we are starting off hard I see. Welp I'm from Cuba as you probably know already. There my parents were a really traditional values bunch but I somehow managed to convince them to get me a gym. Then we fast forward a bunch of years and I am getting into fights in school and street left and right, coming home with bruises and such. My father, wanting to keep me safe gets me into a MMA club. Now we are at the end of engineering school and I am making my own weapons and power armor. Now we are here."
"Ain't you just the most interesting one eh? Probably one of the most interesting soldiers I've met yet." – BB said with a teasy spark in her voice.
"Thanks." – Vel responded, kind of touched.

Both girls got up and actually changed into some clothes that might be of use while not staying in one place for the whole day.
Then they both packed themselves into a rented car and drove to one of the nearby cities.
Of course, the city wasn't in the best shape compared to one of the ones someone would expect but that's rather usual in a warzone. Even with that most of the stores were open, protected by armed militants but open.
"Want to get something normal to eat for once in a while?" – BB asked while pointing to one of the grocery stores that was nearby.
"Yeah I'd kill to eat some actual meat and 'tates. Haven't ate those since I was out of a job."
"Very well then. Wait here and I'll get us something more usual to eat." – BB explained while going into the store.

Velvet sat down on one of the outside crates and waited. The weather was very hot, easily reaching 40s in the Celsius spectrum now, but compared to Vel who even in rather breathable clothing was sweating bullets, everyone was used to that temperature.
As she was sitting there and wiping her forehead, an armed man came up to her. It was one of the civilian formed militants.
In a rather demanding voice the man spoke.
"Identifications, we need to check if you're one of them."
"One of who? I may be a merc but I'm no harm to anyone here."
"One of the soldiers that constantly fight around the corner... Wait you said you're a merc" – The man asked, turning the safety off his rifle.
"Yeah, what's with that to you. I only shot other mercs. Duh, its my first time in this city. "

The militant wanted to point his rifle at Vel but she grabbed the barrel of his rifle and pointed it while getting up, towering over him.
"Please, I'm on a break day. This isn't anything worth the time for either of us." – Velvet explained, half bored and half ready to cave the man's skull in.
The man did his best to force the rifle back to point at Velvet but failed.
Just as Velvet was about to lose her patience Big Brother exited the store, noticing whatever the hell was happening at that point.
She quickly put down her bags and ran up to the two separating them while gesturing to Velvet for her to stay out of this one.
After that Big Brother explained to the man several things in Arabic, which Velvet didn't understand, but the fact that BB knew the man's native tongue certainly helped to calm him with the fact that Velvet isn't a danger to anybody in the city. Much opposite even.
Following that the man holstered his rifle back on his belt and did a slight bow in an apology to Velvet, before going further on his way of trying to keep the city as safe as he and his comrades could.

"Can't blame them for being on edge. Amount of civilian casualties that happened in the past week or two are thru the roof."
"Thanks for that one. Got the food by any chance?"
"Ah yeah, of course. Let's go back to the outpost."
Both of them went back to the rented car and drove back to their resting point. It was getting well up to dinner time already due to the fact that the city was a good second away from their outpost. There using the flameless ration heaters they had stashed they made themselves some actual food and enjoyed it.
Then the day went rather quiet, mainly reading books from BB's side and working out from Velvet's. Both of them needed to get ready for what was going to happen tomorrow. Especially Velvet.