Wolf was sitting in a random bolt hole, smoking a cigarette while drinking some sort of local alcohol. Blowing out the smoke that had generated in his mouth, he put the stub in the nearby ash tray, and took a drink from his glass. Looking over at the entrance, he noticed someone he hadn’t seen in years sitting next to him, taking a double take to be sure the alcohol wasn’t dulling his senses.
“Aegis?” Wolf looked over at the shipgirl, “Wait… what the fuck are you doing here?”
“I feel like I should be the one saying that.” The Titan murmured. “I did not expect you being like this.”
Stretching out her hand, a flask of water shimmered into existence from thin air. Soon taking a sip from it, Aegis spoke again.
“Fath…the Fleet Admiral…had me try to assess the situation over on your end, since I was able to rig up a temporary gateway with my onboard equipment. When I detected you on my sensors…how could I not visit?”
Another moment of silence, as Aegis drank more water. “After the TD Gate to your universe blew up, we had no way of knowing what was happening on your end. The fact that I even got here at all is a miracle.”
“So…how have things been since we last met? Seems rough from what I see.”
Wolf smiled at her, clearly relieved that at least someone from the GDI didn’t hold stuff against him.
“Well… To say things have been rough is a bit of an understatement.” He said, “But… There’s a silver lining to the clouds. I’m actually a lot happier now that I’m not the sole leader of the Bouzaculan Empire. I actually get to relax now that Astrid’s essentially taken control.”
He sat beside her, and ordered another drink.
“I have a feeling the Scorpion’s Hand had a hand in destroying that gate. More then likely to keep us from getting help from you guys and the rest of the Coalition.” Wolf said, “And then there’s all the bullshit I put the admirals through when they were here… All results of me being essentially done with ruling and being constantly pestered… I’m still mad at Admiral Green, but so long as he never enters Bouzaculan Space… Well, I’ll be happy to let bygones be bygones and move on.”
Wolf looked to her, and then he gave her a bit of a hug.
“I’m glad to see you, Aegis… And I’m happy you didn’t just see red as soon as you saw me….” He said, pulling away, “I need your help in reestablishing more… Peaceful relations between our respective factions. I can’t change the past… But I can let go. I’m ready to cut the issue… Just like several years ago after that farce of a duel I put your father through… I still regret that. God, I wish I could see Platinum and Yellow again… And other Red….”
He looked away at that, a tear rolling down his cheek at the mention of Red(F). No matter what he tried, he was still hung up on her.
Aegis didn’t meet his gaze. “It hasn’t been exactly all smooth sailing on our end either.”
A sigh, as she took more sips from the flask of water. “Not long ago, a full quarter of the entire GDI Navy was wiped off the map. That, and some goddess called Bellatrix appeared before the deed, talking to the public about the stuff GDI did wrong. And then…that happened.”
The Titan closed her eyes, recalling the chaos after the full extent of the destruction had become clear to the wider Initiative. Even now, GDI was limiting its actions sharply to avoid overstepping the bounds imposed by Bellatrix.
“A lot of those destroyed ships…they came back. Most of them…angry. It’s taken the Admiralty a lot of effort to channel their anger elsewhere and avoid…incidents.”
A sad smile. “You won’t have to worry about Admiral Green, Wolf. He and the others have a lot on their hands to deal with, even now. We all do. And as much as I’d like to start helping to mend bridges between our factions…until we finish recovering as a whole and a TD Gate finally finds the frequency again from our end, it’ll be a long time before you see any official contact from us.”
Initiative Archival Network 