The Solution (2nd Edition)

Olaf

Despite the mutilation of my only child, I had to remain calm.

    I just had to.

    Angry emotions only ever gave rise to the loss of focus, and even though Aurora, my commander-in-chief, did not want to leave my weary side - I insisted that she did.

    Madame President Lebedev was not a soldier.

    Nor was Yan, Anho or Lee, who were also locked down in their freighter sectors.

    From her panic room in the Solaris sector, my ask of Aurora was that she comforted my wife and damaged daughter over holoscreen, who along with the other traumatized victims, were now receiving emergency help from amputee specialists in the Dynasty sector.

It was the evening now, and as I waited for the others to arrive, solitude allowed me to embrace discipline; channel my previous life; and meditate over what I had retrained for... But annoyingly, flashing and beeping from a multitude of mind-messages eventually forced me to withdraw from my self-induced state and acknowledge the initial condolences. A few were from my Base Team One family members down on the steppe, while some respects were paid to me from my grounded and orbital countrymen - both military and civilian. However, the most messages were repeats - villainous - and had come from none other than The Pink Witch who was now beset on trying to taunt me.

    'Olaf, just so you know, Dinara's infant ichor was to diiie for!!!'

    In response, I made a vow to myself.

    Not only was this to, 'Dance With The Devil in the Pale Moonlight...'

    But to, 'Stand Over The Witch at the Bright Dawn of Day...'

    A short while later, my A.I.D.A announced that our founding father and his, chaperone, were requesting access to my panic room. Naturally, I'd authorized its decryption with a clench of my fist. Upon entering, Xen did not know where to put his eyes and I could feel that he struggled to meet mine. Luckily, the awkward silence was broken by his minder, Emo, who was keen to get revisions underway. "Gentlemen, forgive my haste," the senior clansman began, "but as we know, time is of the essence..." The burly brutes' statement was a worthwhile reminder that The Pink Witch was expecting us, and that the element of surprise was hers, not ours.

    Nevertheless, we pressed on.

    "...We are all ready to proceed," Emo continued, "and just as we've been told, she is waiting for us in her Night Garden. Also, our decoy is still in place..."

    "...Good," Xen nodded. "Good..."

    To follow, Xen continued to speak once looking in my direction. "Olaf, on another note, I've spoken to both the General and the Admiral for a third time, and nothing's changed. Harris and Stephen wish us luck but remain adamant - using A.I.S.U's or firearms to try and take O-Kenai down is out of the question."

    To my frustration, this simply meant that so was the use of my Makarov pistol.

    With regards to freighter hulls and potential exocasing breaches - blunt trauma and ballistic fire carried too much risk.

    While I stewed, Emo revisited two notions that we had contemplated before.

    The first was regarding our decoy... "Olaf. Xen. Do you really think he can pull it off?"

    "Look," Xen battled back, "the ex-editor has been reminded of the distraction he needs to provide."

    "But can he even survive it?-"

"-Emo, who cares," I swiftly said with a shrug of my shoulders. "Dieng Pae's desire to align himself with the winning side of any conflict will backfire on him one day. And maybe today is that day. Respectfully so, if he dies - he dies." As coldhearted as it was, my response was truthful and realistic. Moreover, I did not wish death on any one of us who were about to embark upon the impossible. However, the stories of how formidable Ashii was could not be ignored, and sadly, my old life told me that in such conflicting situations, it was impossible that everyone going in would make it back out.

    This led us onto the second notion, which Emo was keen to reinforce. "Gentlemen, to conclude, I remind you of the past," he breathed. "Despite being her senior clansman, O-Kenai is beyond elusive. It has meant that I've only ever seen her kill, once... And, if what I witnessed is still anything to go by, then her attack will come in three waves-"

    "-We remember," I said dismissively. Instead, my focus was on adjusting the various harnesses attached to my body...

    Thereafter, the three of us nodded a final time, then I decrypted the holo-door.

    But before I ushered Emo and Xen out through the static fuzz, I checked my weaponry again...

    Under my left arm, my empty gun was concealed nicely in its leather pouch.

    More importantly, my set of DV-2's were sharp, sheathed, and securely fastened to my outer thighs.

    When the right time presented itself, I would show off.