"Well, Hodges, what do you think?" asked the President of CorSec from behind him. Turning, Hodges kept an eye on both him and the HoloVid.
"Astonding power those aliens have. As you know, in The Battle of CorSec, we lost more than half of Earth's fleet. Then, when we left EarthGov, we took half of the fleet and the other half EarthGov took. So, that leaves us rather weak also, like the Hunters. More importantly, I believe that was the smaller portion of the Fleet that is coming, and we have bigger worries coming around the corner. I see the idea unavoidable, really..." Hodges told him.
"To work together with the Hunters or to use the Ultimate Weapon we've been working on
so hard...starting with Alber*?" he asked.
* - See Missions 4-6 about the chip for the Ultimate Weapon.
"Both, sir. The Ultimate Weapon is almost complete, however. We only need a few more componets to it. I believe we should use it against the aliens, but we both know the incredible drain it causes. We would need the Hunters help, I'm afraid, no matter what the scenario. And even with their help, I doubt we could beat the aliens' advancements," Hodges told him frankly.
"Ah, but to ask for the Hunter's help would ruin your little scheme to make yourself their friends and weasle in. They would know you work for CorSec then."
"True, it would cause me to reveal myself early. But somethings are necessary, sir." Hodges turned to look at him completely now. "We must act now. The alien's fleet is only a few hours away from jumping in here and attacking."
"Correct. I want you to head to a military outpost in Africa where you can steal the final componets for the Ultimate Weapon. Undoubtly you will meet up with the Hunters. You will enlist their help, understood?"
"Perfectly," Hodges said.
"Like what we've seen so far isn't enough?" asked Shadow Knight.
"I know. But that's probably nothing. This next battle should be the last one, with the aliens that is. I've had my agents watching them mass up in the Quad 7 area. They will undoubtly hyperspace there way over to Pluto in the next few hours and began to head for Earth like they did last time. In our weakened state, even with the ship you managed to capture, Shadow, it isn't enough...." Death Star told them slowly.
"So, what now? We team up with CorSec?" asked Dominator.
"You said so yourself before."
"But how can we trust them? The second the aliens are dealt with..." Dominator continued, his voice trailing off.
"Right, Death Star. We would have to keep guard around them too, and that could take our performance rate down some," pointed out Shadow Knight.
"Correct again..." muttered Death Star. "Right now I got Monty running through scenarios that could possibly happen in a battle with CorSec. He's also strengthing our ships as best as he can with X1. In other news, most our injured, including Blackjack, are healed now. So, having him back on the field instead of the sidelines will be good."
"That's good to hear," Dominator spoke up. "Sorry I missed the last mission with Crux and all, but I had to stay here at Hunter Towers and help over see the ships repairs. My vessel in the space battle took alot of damage. I wish I could have done more," Dominator continued.
"No problem, just be ready next time. Now, I'm going to continue to run along the channel for anymore disturbances. I'll take the Red Alert off for now and let the Hunters get some rest. We've been keeping them on end for the last few hours and they probably can't take much more of it," Death Star concluded.
When EarthGov learned that the Mavericks had killed 111 innocent people at a hospital, that changed their decisions rapidly and now it looked like the new era would be forgotten. But, they also heard about the Hunters recent struggles in space too.
"Commander Death Star was right about one thing: We need to build more ships for him and we need to lead an assualt team against CorSec to get their ships back. But his 'disband the first rule of robotics' cannot be considered at this time."
Kyle nodded his head slowly. They were going to put it off. Think about it. But for how long? And would it even be worth being there when they did decide.
Standing up, he left the building feeling numb inside. His own feelings were raging about. Reploids were dangerous, but so could humans. Would disbanding the first rule of robotics and placing them under the law that he and his kind followed right? Only time would tell....
"[Are you sure, Elder, that you wish me to stay here?]" he asked.
"[Of course, Xevil. Why bother going out there and possibly dying by some stray shot when you
can be of more use to me here, than out here? I mean, your brother died in vain, didn't he? I'm sure
we already had this conversation...*]" said the Elder.
* - The Aftermath story of Mission 18
"[Yes, Elder.]"
"[Trust me, one day your time will come to extract your revenge,]" the Elder said, a grin almost in his voice, though Xevil dared not to turn around to see if it was true. "[I'm sure the commander, Xi'tra, can handle them perfectly. I'd like to see his face in victory...]" the Elder continued. Xevil frowned. He knew the Elder perfered Xi'tra over him. That's why he would get the victory, not Xevil. But while Xi'tra would get the victory, he would get his revenge.
"[Yes, Elder.]"