Everyday Stresses of Kazuki - Sci-Fi Action/Intrigue Webserial

Food was already being dished out. Sato and Martinez were bickering over who sat next to Kazuki.

"No... I should sit here," Martinez said. "After all, I do manage operations both national AND international."

Eliza was also seated next to Kazuki. That was a given, and it seems like no one would contest her position.

"Well, I do look after the AGENCY's most valuable asset: it's fleet," Sato retorted, brushing a hand up her messy, short brown bob cut in a boasting manner. "We wouldn't have won Old Terra if we didn't have a fleet."

Both did make good arguments. However, Kazuki chimed in. "Archius will sit next to me. He isn't annoying me with useless chatter."

Chuckling, Archius shrugged at the pair before taking his seat. "You heard the boss."

Sato and Martinez just had to sit close by. Surprisingly to see them bickering, but Archius guessed that this wasn't a common thing. Archius was already digging into the food.

And hell, he knew how to speak Kasté.

Looked real fancy, even the presentation of the steaks and the steamed cali-vegies were on point...

"Good food?" Archius asked, looking to Kazuki and Eliza. Eliza was digging into a salmon dish whilst Kaz chomped down on a skewer. "I can't tell, smells good, though."

Eliza nodded. "Well, I don't think I can say it's the best I've had… ever since the Ball Palace, but it's good. How are you finding the Rauirgesuiae?"

The fuck did she call his dish? Archius tried translating it… to the best of his abilities. Nope, no fucking clue whatsoever.

"Yeah," was all Kazuki said. How impactful! How delightful that the singular word added so much to the conversation.

Kazuki's eating habits were… messy, to say the least. Sato, someone who had brushed shoulders with high society, was eating with pristine manners.

Martinez, on the other hand, was eating quickly, speaking while having his mouth open. Still, Martinez wasn't as messy as Kazuki. That guy had the eating habits of a damn mercenary.

At least the guy seemed to be enjoying himself, at least Archius thinks he's enjoying them. He ate with a straight face, with not a single emotion present.

"The fried crustaceans aren't as good as they are on Lautrasia," Kazuki commented. His head dropped down a singular degree.

That rich upbringing probably gave him a picky diet... Archius, however, was just eating everything he could. Sure, it'll probably not be healthy, but who cares?! His parents are dead! Ain't nobody alive who can tell him what not to eat – victory at last, Archius scoffed to himself.

Archius chuckled beneath the facade. Kazuki noticed, shifting his gaze to him.

"What?" Kazuki asked.

Turning his eyes left and right, Archius feigned confusion. "Sorry? What?" he said.

Kazuki sighed and shrugged, turning back to Elza.

Peering across the table, Archius listened to a conversation a few of the Unit leaders were having. It was strange seeing them all in casual clothes, not in their uniforms or armour. Claire was wearing an obnoxiously nerdy shirt, as well as a long skirt, very different from the rugged leather clothes Lilly wore.

Archius could see that she had a camera attached to her belt, glistening with a small light attached to its end. His uplink connected Krystalinks' program to remotely view Lilly's camera reel.

"Oh…" Archius raised an eyebrow as he saw an image of the decisive engagement at Old Terra – the singular day that Clandestine lost its advantage. But the one that won Archius' attention was a single photo of the original 'team'.

It was the original members of Heimfall and Deltastring, before the Rebellion.

The photo must have had hundreds of people in it. So many casualties... Archius shifted his gaze over the other commanders.

Zym had a buttoned-up shirt with work trousers. Understandable, since it must be hard to wear any normal shirts with his techie-head blocking the way. Hell, even old man Hosea and Persephone were here!

"So strange, isn't it, Kazuki?" Archius leant over. "All of this blossomed from that time you shoved Sato's face into sewage-stinking concrete."

Kazuki glanced over. "Fun days," he sarcastically remarked. He then took a small glance across the room, and then took a deep breath.

"What's going on?" Eliza pried into the conversation.

"Nothing." Kazuki killed whatever thought he had and went back to eating.

Archius went back to dropping all the eaves.

"Ugh, they better not be serving too much alcohol," Lilly remarked. "I don't want any drunk incidents today, let alone from my unit."

Lilly gave a very clear glare at Quinn, who sat beside her. He peered up in the middle of chowing down on noodles. He was confused.

Claire carried on, "Hey, Clandestine at most gave us what... A few extra ration packs?" She chuckled. "Maybe one factory-sealed stim if we were lucky, plus... we're off the clock, Lil', just eat, we don't ever get anything like this even on our best days, alright?"

"Sorry..." Osmond said. "I should be leaving the wine fine to you guys, right?"

Kiri laughed out loud at his unwillingness to drink. "Please, we have enough alcohol in our blood for the rest of our lives to put us behind bars for… ten odd years?" She clicked her fingers as her drones poured them all wine.

"You're too hard on him!" Quinn burped aloud. "Just like how you're too hard on Eliza."

Lilly grumbled. "She won't learn anything if she doesn't have the right mindset."

Oh... That little thing. Archius turned his head to Kazuki. Acting surprised, he whispered, "You have Lilly of all people training Eliza?"

The bright white lights and marbled walls contrasted with Kazuki's golden gaze. His head slowly turned to him.

He was in the middle of eating an entire plate of fried shrimp… "Not very healthy, is it?" Archius jokingly said.

"Fuck you," Kazuki muttered. "Lilly's good at her job."

"Yeah... shouting at people and making sure they don't do dumb shit," Archius replied. He wasn't really against Lilly training Eliza, just curious as to the reason. Posing this as a question of 'why' would get him an answer.

After all, Eliza DOES need Lilly's special way of training people.

Kazuki sighed. "You disagree?"

Archius shrugged. "Not at all, but I know you'll be eating that muzzle faster than before if you had to train under her."

Kazuki tilted his head, acquiescing on that part.

His eyes skid to Eliza, happily enjoying dinner without a single worry in this whole galaxy; she was probably discussing something with Sato. "So, how's that… investigation going?" asked Sato. "We got some weird reports from the Ball Palace."

Oh shit. A jolt careened down Archius's back.

"Hmm?" Eliza piqued in interest.

"Apparently, the AGENCY's coffers were used to fund… entertainers of the sort," Sato remarked. "Well, I suppose it'll be fine if you got something out of it, right?"

"I don't know much about that," Eliza admitted. "But, we were able to progress things faster, we're waiting up on a testimony from that slug… The Board's probably involved as well…"

"Huh… do they know?"

Eliza shrugged. "Probably not."

Kazuki leaned towards Archius, snatching his attention away from the utter SLANDER Sato was spreading… They weren't entertainers, they were PROSTITUTES! Damn misclassification...

"I want Eliza to learn how to protect herself. When the plasma ram hits the bars, I want her to protect herself."

Oh? Surprisingly, a very simple and easy-to-understand response.

"Why wasn't she taught from the get-go, then?"

A golden pair of eyes narrowed their gaze. Kazuki did not like that!

Silence solidified the idea. Kazuki didn't want to bring Eliza into this part of the galaxy. All the crime and death would be off-putting to anyone, but bringing Elizabeth Mary Celeste-Delmara, a penny noble, into the heart of the industry?

"You need to stop answering me with that. I can get so much with just your eyes, Kaz."

Kazuki stared before turning away. "Sadly," he said, tapping his fingers on the table, before clenching his left hand into a fist.

Turning, Archius saw Osmond and Quinn sitting down at some of the empty seats closer to the command staff. Hmmm? "Hey, Quinn," Archius said.

Quinn nodded back. Osmond gave Archius a worrisome glance. Eliza leaned back on her chair, seeing the pair. "Oh! Quinn and…?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Osmond..." he introduced himself. "You're the... You're the one who ran logistics before, right?"

It sounded judgmental, almost persecuting of her... Eliza slowly smiled, scratching her cheek. "Well, yes, that would be me, I'm... not particularly experienced, so I'm sorry... for having you fix it."

To their surprise, Osmond shook his head. "What?" he sounded confused. "No? Umm... I came to thank you. I don't have many chances to freely go around the place all that often."

Eliza smiled and nodded. "It's not too shabby, I suppose?"

"Well, yeah, having actual dedicated logistic wings that coordinate sounds all easy, but... making it is the hard part. When they told me a university part-timer helped set it up with Rivera… I thought Quinn was just messing with me?" admitted Osmond.

"Hey!" Quinn snorted. He then smirked. "Good investment, ain't he, Arbiter?"
"Kazuki to you," Kazuki replied. "But yes… Good job, Osmond. I made the right choice.. Not putting a bullet in your head."

With that, the drunken pair left and went back to their table. Eliza was happily smiling to herself – revelling in the esteem boost she just got.

Still, Archius knows better than to chastise her for that; she's earned it. Emotional turmoil and the sheer upheaval of her life paved the way for this. For what was to come, she'll need it.

"Martinez. Sato. We have to discuss something." Kazuki turned back.

Martinez and Sato turned to Kazuki, sitting opposite them at the table.

The table had a large embroidered tablecloth, with stacks of hovering plates to allow for more food to be placed down.

Eliza was busy talking to that AI tutor about what a wonderful job she did, Synthia, Archius thinks she's called. Well, it? Synthia, that AI, took note of Archius' gaze. Gently nodding to him. That... annoyingly attracted Eliza's attention.

"Hmm?" Eliza mumbled. She peered at everyone around the table. "What's going on?"

Martinez spoke, "We were just going to go over a few things." He scratched his cheek, just beneath his Yamikoi tattoos. "I think, at least."

Kazuki turned towards Archius. "What?" Archius whispered. "Better get her involved now rather than later." Might as well push her the full mile.

Despite all her glaring flaws and making Kazuki less vicious, she does bring her own set of ideas. That, for whatever it was worth, was good enough for her to be added here. Still, the gap between respect and trust was both small and large.

"The Blood Contractors. The AGENCY. The future. That was what we would be discussing. You don't need to worry about—"

"Oh?" Eliza cut in. "You guys wouldn't mind if I listened in, right?"

As if on signal, Archius shook his head.

"Wouldn't do any harm, right?" he turned to Martinez and Sato.

Sato nodded, finding no fault with it.

Martinez had to glance around, seeing who was against it… No one, it seemed, except Kazuki's blank stare.

"Sure, if you're going to stick around for a bit, might as well get you involved a bit more in a way that doesn't put you in danger."

Archius was outnumbered by the shareholders in the group... Well, Rivera was also a shareholder, but she was busy eating desserts beside Sato, digging into a massive cake all by herself.

Kazuki turned to Rivera. She merely gave a thumbs-up. "Whatever, whatever, just get on with the meeting," Rivera said, looking to them with her simplified Theonar face tattoos. "I'm listening, don't worry."

Eliza peered up at Kazuki with glistening red eyes. It was her version of those damned 'puppy-dog' eyes.

"You can listen," he said. "First... Rivera. Any updates from the Logistics Teams?"

She looked at the rest of them, pausing for a moment. She had already eaten half the cake. She spoke with cake still in her mouth, "Eliza helped the logistics team before, so we've got the basic framework, but the Gunrunners helped massively in actually... doing the work itself. But it's whatever, you know? We got new shipments and gear; we can probably afford to gear everyone up with better equipment."

Surprisingly good news. Archius was so used to Rivera's updates to just be: we're out of ammo… Or, we're out of food.

"Tiran-Prodigy armours, we can roll those out to the rest of the units?" Martinez asked. "The other project commanders saw what Eliza did for Deltastring, so they've been hollering my ass for something better, especially Hosea."

Rivera thought to herself, chomping down on another slice of cake, taking a small moment to carefully lick chocolate off her tanned lips.

She nodded. Martinez heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank Iris."

"Huh?" Rivera raised an eyebrow. "No… thank me!"

Tiran-Genesis, that armour set Eliza and Kazuki gave to Heimfall and Deltastring. It was quality armour, better than the light-vest-plate rigs that Clandestine gave out.

Archius peered at his ICAPAD, seeing a 3D scale of the Tiran-Prodigy armour set. It was thick, but not heavy. Light, but strong. Compared to the previous Genesis rigs, it was an improvement, as if Archius would even wear one of the damned things.

Too big for covert operations, Archius surmised.

It's a little on the pricey end, but it'll reduce casualties. Tiran-Genesis was the first generation, but Prodigy's line was better in almost every way. The Genesis gear Eliza got for Deltastring was nothing but old stockpiles Rivera was hoarding…

"Good," Kazuki stated. "Let's wait before straining ourselves further. I want the AGENCY to be sufficient on its own. No outsider investors. No matter what Delia says…"

"Is it wise to piss off our political ally?" Sato asked.

"What's there to be pissed off about?" Archius chimed in. "There's nothing to reject, plus… We're a sunk cost. Delia wants to break even."

"I see…"

Archius had to kick this conversation to the topic that's been bugging him. "But with everything going on, I'm more worried about the Shadow War we started."

"You… started…" Martinez remarked. "The first ended on a truce, but you opened that wound."
"That moves me onto my second point. The AGENCY must add more fuel to the fire."

That alone left the rest of them all speechless. Rivera was still eating cake, whilst Eliza had her red eyes wide open. Sato and Martinez listened intently.

"The Blood Contractors. They weren't a coincidence. We'll be under attack soon enough."

Sato interjected, "So why don't we have Archius try and sniff them now? Kill these Contractors before we have to… slug it out." Oh... Such an obvious power play, a questioning of Archius's abilities as the AGENCY's spymaster. It was obvious, so obvious that even Kazuki noticed.

"Hey, we need to focus on what truly matters now, just getting the Contracts signed again. We have more bargaining power. This threat... It's not isolated to just the Bloodies, right?" Martinez played the balancing act.

"I don't know," Kazuki said. "Things simply line up too well. The Loyalists were led by Svenn - mindsnared. Then the Gunrunners. Leon had a contact, Osmond said so. Still, Leon didn't trust Osmond – so that's a dead end."

"Literally…" Archius added on.

Martinez sighed. "Svenn was a good man," he said. "I know what happened… You, Svenn… James…" Kazuki stared forward, silencing Martinez.

It was an open secret between the high command that Kazuki had his life saved by a Director of Clandestine… James Frio-Janstein, brother of Svenn, even after his brother died fighting alongside Kazuki… And then against Kazuki again.

A lull came in the conversation. Kazuki merely nodded, closing his eyes for a moment. Things were strange… Conspiracy and treachery all around, but now they're the overcats.

Kazuki continued, "Then Obadiah. I see it differently. Others would have me believe I won. No. I was outplayed… I was used as a tool."

"Outplayed?!" Eliza interjected; she had a confused face. "But... we got what we wanted, right? All of us benefited from that. How were we outplayed?"

"Later." Kazuki calmly put Eliza down. He turned back to the rest.

"It just so happens that beating each player benefits us," Martinez added on.

Now that Martinez said it... Yeah. Could it be some mysterious benefactor? No... There are better ways of helping the AGENCY.

Self-interest? Most likely? Shadow Departmento? BCA? Mischief Board? Loyalists? Imperial Loyalists? EZRA Agents? Belsaran Sleeper Cells?

"Maybe the Blood Contractors are just after us because they don't like us?" Eliza suggested. "I mean… we're strong, and strength invites challenge. Hell, Kazuki's intellectual capacity was why I studied so hard…"

"Memory… not capacity," Kazuki groaned. "Well… same thing."

Sato nodded, thinking about it. Martinez seemed to be on the fence. Archius, however, was not having it at all. Strength invites challenge, yes, that was rather out-of-the-box compared to the counter-insurgent Martinez, a naval commodore Sato, the blood thirsty Contractor Kazuki and Archius himself…

Rivera then chimed in, reminding everyone she existed, "Eliza's right, you know? Back in the Theonar Engineering Corps, we had to build bridges… Helps trade and transport. Before that, the region was calm. But the moment we started building, insurgents began attacking us."

It was true, Archius thought, but it seemed that something was dragging on his mind.

There were some things Archius knew for sure. The BCA and Board had peace... A ceasefire for any true actions. If that breaks... Then hell may break loose in crime.

There were too many moving parts, Archius thought. Departmento? Board? BCA? Senate?

"What do we do, then?" asked Sato. "Surely the investigation and our problems are linked, right?"

"Likely not," Archius interjected. He hated to admit it, but Eliza may have some merit. "The Blood Contractors are deranged beasts… without a thought to their strategy, they go to slaughter, that's all… At least that's what all the seniors in the CRIS say."

Even if it irked him, he needed proof to support his hypothesis. Until then, he needs to approach this with more tact.

"Well… they did have to deal with the New Terra Massacre… I think it's reasonable to think that," Martinez said with a shudder down his spine.

Sato grabbed her short hair, ruffling it. "Then what do we do?"

Kazuki shrugged. "Nothing. Archius will handle it. For now, we'll get our contract back and inform the rest of the Judiciary."

Archius smiled. "I'll look into it," he said. "Unless something crazy happens, we'll be fine, I think."

"Frederick may be…" Kazuki paused, his eyes glanced at Eliza.

Eliza sighed. "Just say it… I probably have much worse reservations about my father than anyone here… well, my brother probably has worse, but… he's not here."
"Frederick isn't a good ally, but he's steadfast. Damn unbreakable. He won't bend. Against the Blood Contractors and potential foes, we need that."

"So… we're going with strength, inviting challenge?" Eliza asked.

Everyone agreed that it was a possibility, some more than others. Archius had to say yes, even if he was… less leaning towards that answer.

"For now, at least."

Her wording was lacklustre, Archius thought. Still, the message got through. "Let's... Let's just stop talking about this," Sato said. "This hurts my fucking head."

"Same here," Martinez said. "We'll let Archius handle this, keep up the notion that we don't know."

Kazuki nodded, noticing something strange on his wrist. Archius took note of Kazuki's ANCHOR-watch. It was lighting up? The fuck was going on? Archius slid a hand beneath his thin jacket, placing a hand on his pistol as light ejected from the watch.

Someone... Something? No, a person appeared, standing right beside Kazuki. Archius knew who it was just by Kazuki's incurious glare.

"Yukino Izumi Geminorum-Ryzaku," he bit off the name. "What the fuck are you doing here? How did... What?"

Yuki bowed to the people sitting at the table, with Nathan right beside her?! "Oh! I just reverse-engineered that old ANCHOR-watch father and mother had!"

Kazuki took in a deep breath. He snatched the watch from Yuki's wrist. "Those are not toys."

Rivera chimed in, "Well, they can be toys! Theonar scientists made toys outta them before!"

"For the royal family," Kazuki snarled, shutting Rivera up.

"Erm… yeah, that's ME!" Yuki rolled her eyes and placed a finger to her head, spinning it around as if Kazuki was the crazy one here.

Eliza gave Yuki a small wave. "Umm... What are you two doing here?" she asked.

Yuki shrugged, placing her hands on her waist and looking around. Nathan was hiding behind her, crouched behind Yuki's floral dress.

"You were eating all this... good food. WITHOUT ME?!" she raised her voice.

That attracted nearly everyone's attention on this layer of the dining venue. Everyone peered at the strange blonde girl with rainbow highlights by their boss's side.

"Nathan. Can you get Gabriel to pick you up?" Kazuki asked. Nathan meekly shrugged. "Actually… Just sit down. I'm sorry that my sister brought you into this mess."

Archius chuckled. "You should be more like that to me, you know? All courteous and shit," he jeered quietly.

Sato nodded to Yuki. "Your sister?"

"Sadly," Kazuki said. "And adopted."

"The one and only!" Yuki replied, placing up a peace sign.