At night, in the bar of the military fortress inside Shishapangma Peak. Lin Ao, Edward, Natasha and Luke were playing billiards, while Lieutenant Anton, who was regarded as their "parent", and Colonel Billy of the new EU were sitting on the bar clinking glasses and chatting.
Billy said under the influence of wine: "To be honest, after the last battle of Yalta, I thought that the lonely ship Osiris would definitely crash because you were too nosy."
Anton smiled and said: "It's a pity that we are very lucky. Not only have we survived until now, we have also recaptured Mycenae."
The two clinked glasses again. After Billy took a sip of rum, he asked Anton in a low voice: "So, can you tell me about the princess of HER? You came back to Earth just to see her off?"
"Why, it's not like Luke hasn't seen her on our ship before."
"Luke told me, what I want to know is how you caught her."
Anton almost choked on his wine, wiped his mouth and waved his hands and said: "No, no, no, we didn't kidnap her. She fell in love with our Lin Ao, and she did it voluntarily. I didn't believe her at first."
"I don't believe it" was clearly written on Billy's face. He looked back at Lin Ao and asked, "You don't have to lie to me. I'm not here to ask for information. I'm just curious."
"No, I didn't lie to you."
"This is so weird. Where are you going to take that princess after the meeting? HER will hunt you down."
Anton nodded: "Yes, even Mycenae will be unsafe, so we will immediately go back to defend Mycenae in the next step. If there is a princess in HER, we should not dare to do anything to Mycenae."
"You want to use her as a shield?"
"We risked our lives to send her to Earth, and she must repay us somehow."
The two clinked glasses again and drank their wine. Everyone in the bar heard noisy laughter coming from outside the door. A hunk with tanned skin pushed open the door and walked in, followed by a fat Latin American man and a beautiful Latin American woman.
"They are soldiers of the New Republic of Gran Colombia (RC)." Billy whispered to Anton.
After entering the bar, the bronze man raised his hand to signal the two people behind him to be quiet. He first looked at the four people playing billiards, then at the bar, and walked to Lieutenant Anton's side with meteoric strides.
"A Cuba Libre, bartender."
The bronze man ordered a drink and suddenly raised his hand to slap Anton on the shoulder, but Anton raised his hand to stop him. Anton smiled and asked him: "This handsome guy, we are not so familiar, are we?"
"Hehehe..."
The bronze man retracted his arm and asked with a smile: "If I guess correctly, you are Lieutenant Anton of the Osiris, right?"
"Many people know me, do you?"
"Haha, we fought in Copper Valley. I was the commander of RC at that time."
"What?!"
When Edward, who was playing billiards, heard this, his expression changed suddenly. He picked up the cue and was about to hit the bronze man, but the Latin American beauty grabbed the cue. Edward tried to pull the club out of her hands, but found that he couldn't.
The bronze man waved his hand: "Jenny! Let go of that stick."
The Latin American woman nodded, and the bronzed man drank the cocktail in one gulp and slowly walked towards Edward. Edward picked up the cue and started hitting without saying a word. Anton didn't expect that Edward would dare to take action, so he quickly shouted: "Stop! Edward!"
"This bastard got our people killed!"
Edward swung the club hard, and the bronze man used his hand to make a knife and struck hard at the club, breaking it in one blow. Edward was about to take action, but was already held back by Luke and Lin Ao.
The bronze man smiled and said to the bartender: "I will pay for this club." He turned to Edward and said: "It is inevitable that people will die in war. We used to be enemies, but now we are an alliance, right?"
After saying that, he took the initiative to extend a hand. Edward broke away from Lin Ao and Luke, sneered and held the man's hand and said, "Then you have to watch your back!"
The bronze man laughed loudly: "Hahahaha! I like you boy! My name is Yake Wagra, and I am the strongest man in the world! Jenny, Amin, let's come back another day!"
The three of them left the bar, and Edward cursed: "Coward! Leave now!"
Natasha sighed: "Just so you know, if I had hit you in the throat with the knife just now, you would be dead now."
Edward cursed dissatisfiedly, and Billy looked at them and said to Anton: "Thankfully there was no blood in the conflict between us last time, otherwise we wouldn't be able to sit down and drink together."
"Yes, this is war."
Anton shook the ice in the glass.
…
In a lounge inside the fortress, Major General Carter of the Star Alliance was smoking a cigar lit by the secretary next to him. He watched Li Youde take out the AR communicator from his wallet and put it on the table. After a simple adjustment, Major General Shepard's pale face was projected by the machine. .
Major General Carter said to Li Youde: "Young man, this is none of your business."
Shepard shook his head slightly and said, "No, let him stay."
Carter took a puff of cigarette and nodded, and Li Youde sat opposite him. Carter puffed out smoke and said, "I'll get right to the point, Shepard, how long will Mycenae remain independent?"
"What does this mean? Mycenae is an independent colonial satellite and only briefly joined the Star Alliance."
"Don't be stupid, old man. After the war, independent colonial satellites cannot survive. You still have to return to the Covenant."
Shepard paused for a few seconds and said, "You are implying that the Covenant will sanction colonial satellites that are unwilling to join after the war."
Carter took a deep breath from his cigar, coughed a few times and said, "I didn't say that, but you should be clear. After the war, the alliance will only be a cover, and the Earth's sphere will become a wrestling field for major forces. Independent Life on the colonial satellite will be very difficult, so you can rest against a big tree to get some shade. Besides, you still owe the Covenant a favor."
"You're talking about the Covenant reinforcements when I recaptured Mycenae. It was Major Dias who wanted to repay my favor."
Carter smiled and said: "Now that the resources of the Covenant are tight, do you think that Dias alone can mobilize a few battleships? I approved it because we are old friends."
"I will make up for this favor in other ways in the future. But if you want me to consider Mycenae returning to the Star Alliance after the war, favors alone are not enough."
Carter pinched off his cigar and said, "Finally you're willing to make an offer."
Shepard held out five fingers: "I want Mycenae to have five seats in the Covenant Council."
"Hahaha, I have never found you so greedy before. Now the colonial satellites with the highest seats in the parliament only have 3 seats, and you actually want 5? If Mycenae has always stood with the Star Alliance, it has contributed a lot It can be considered, but you went out independently at the beginning of the war."
Shepard shook his head: "The ones who broke away from the Star Alliance are the former Mycenaean Council, and I have already sanctioned them. You should think about the seats carefully, and I will think about it carefully here. Who knows how long the war will last?"
Carter nodded, his eyes suddenly became sharp, and asked: "Actually, I can convince the council to give you five seats now, and I can also give you time to prepare for your return. However, we need the eldest princess of HER."
Shepard stopped talking. Li Youde frowned and looked at the teacher in the projection. Shepard was silent for nearly a minute and then said: "Mycenae will not force Princess Elizabeth to stay in Mycenae and will send her back to HER. Only she can control the chaotic HER after the war."
Carter said: "To put it nicely, even if the major forces divided HER's resources after the war, the share left for the princess would still be very tempting. Mycenae is so diligent in helping her now, isn't it because of the thought of the war? Profit from the remaining HER cake through her?"
Shepard closed his eyes and said: "Carter, do you know why I don't want to return to the Star Alliance? It's because of this that the Star Alliance was originally established to get rid of the exploitation of the major forces. As a result, he soon became The exploiters...the so-called mutual benefits among the colonial satellites have turned into intrigues and mutual suppression. I still want five seats, princess of HER, don’t even think about it."
Shepard closed the comm and Carter lit another cigar. Li Youde put away the AR communication device wordlessly, saluted Carter and left.
On the way back, Li Youde thought to himself: "Even if this war ends, the struggle between humans will never stop. It's really sad..."
