Pairs of eyes are following her, making her feel uneasy and wondering what right did she do this time that for them is wrong. But what is more intriguing for her is her desk name plate placed on the space at the front, on the seat next to the boss’.
She can’t blame the uppers for piercingly eyeing on her. Those two seats next to Lux’s, for the times that they have used the meeting hall, have always been vacant. She doesn’t know if it has always been like that and if so, she has no idea why.
“Good day, Sir!” she greeted as soon as she gets near the seat provided for her.
The man just nodded, but his orbs are wandering around the others. As expected, no one of those boastful men will dare to blab nonsense in front of him.
‘Disgusting!’ she thought.
“Officers, Captains, I called you here today not to raised commotions.” He stood up and gave everyone a warning look.
Eve remained firm on her seat, realized that not all Captains are as good as the few ones she knows.
“Captain Eve.” Lux smiled at her.
She stood up as he mentioned her name and faced the people around her—the more she felt the belittling presences.
“Everyone, to those who don’t know her yet, this is Captain Eve! The new appointed Captain of Echo Group First Generation Team One, successor of Captain Eulysis!”
Upon hearing the name, she saw how others feel proud; some looked upset; mostly, a lot sneered. She chinned up to let them know that she is no less reliable than her late Captain.
“Greetings, Officers, Captains!” She saluted.
“So, as most of you here knows that whoever I allow to seat on these spaces…” He eyed on the one she’s on and to the one on his left side.
“Has either given a mission or have done an accomplishment.” He then turned to her, making her stiffened.
“Captain Eve, I never thought that I’d be seeing another Captain from your team seating in that space. Captain Eulysis is just one of those few who did and so far, he was the only one who had seated there for a couple of times.”
She wanted to celebrate that, but she has to behave like one. She’s no longer wondering why they are so pissed on her presence.
“It is an honor to my team, Sir. Thank you for having me here, too.” The humbleness she has shown is of course still part of pissing them more.
‘There is no way that I won’t give you satisfaction!’ she talked inside her head. She can feel those who are supporting her. Thus, there is no way that she’ll be sued without any backups!
“It is our pleasure to have another competent and reliable Captain, Eve. The pleasure is ours.” He motioned her to sit down.
Again, his praises made them even more furious. Why wouldn’t they? He rarely does that.
“I and Eve had agreed that they will stay here for another more days. Officially a deal but unofficially declared since there is no renewal of contract involved. Question her not. It wasn’t her who asked the plea. It was I.”
Murmurs started to fill the room. Obviously, it came from those who have grudges to them and envies her team’s success.
“Silence!” the voice roared. In just a millisecond, everyone’s eyes are on Lux.
“What manners do you think you have?” he then asked calmly. So calm that it sounded even more terrifying.
Surprisingly, not even one answered. Supposedly, that should piss him off but instead of making him mad, he was pleased.
Eve gulped as she realized that no one in the meeting hall has really the right to speak up for himself except for him.
“To be honest, asking them to stay for just few days have already cost the organization millions of wealth,” he stated that made them gazed at him in so much disbelief.
“Sir, isn’t it too much for just three days of staying?!” an upper query.
“How many more embarrassments are you planning to give me?! In our Rules and Regulations, it’s stated there the consequences of asking a scholar to stay in the organization without a contract! Officer, what a disgrace to have you as an upper.” He looked at the man with full of disgust.
“And one more thing! I have given you no permission yet to raise your questions! Who gave you the right to meddle without waiting for my signal?! You?! You?!” he yelled, eyeing each of the uppers.
Again, no one speak up. Instead, they bowed. And so is she, though she wonders why they are acting weird. She felt ashamed and privileged to have given a chance to talk to the man casually during their private meetings.
He furiously sighed before composing himself.
“I have asked Captain Eve to present to us their mission report; what happened all throughout it. Aside from that, I want the two programs as well to inform us of what happened to the system themselves.”
She refrained herself not to glanced at the man. She’s sure Program Anne will side them. Might as well Program Jasper. But if they are to be sabotaged, tables might get turned. So close to confront him for not telling her earlier, she gripped her hands to calm down herself.
“Who knows if this might happen again, right? During the mission, only few Space Administrations had teamed up with us—no, no one did. Only few of them have decided to deal with the asteroids. If not for their team, we might have already dead now.” Lux clasped his palms and rest his chin on top of it.
“We don’t know if it will happen again, either in the near or far future. No longer having their team by that time will surely make us assign another team to do the mission. That will be like we’ll be starting from nothing again. Letting them share their struggles and the plans they came up with will surely save us the time to prepare.”
She gritted her teeth as she remembered how inconsiderate they had been that time for insisting them to stick with Plan A. If only not because of that, things might happen differently from what the mission had turned out to.
“And most of all, before I forget, the team had already requested their first favor.”
Gasped is all she heard from the men, while the Captains are just silently listening. Agreeing or not, no one of them dared to stood up and raise his voice, making it look like they weren’t there.
“Their first favor is that I can’t say no to any of their favors. Thus, that goes the same for you all. But, worry not. It is fair and clean that they will not ask for something against the organization. I repeat, the organization—I. That means, if they are going to request to dispose anyone of you, even at this very moment, no one of us can decline.”
“That is absurd, Boss! Please, do consider assessing the favor again.”
“Officer, it is already agreed and decided between the two of us. Since when did you ever hear that I go against my sworn words?”
“Never, Sir.”
“Indeed.”
He turned to her and raised his brow. “Captain, do the honor. Make a request.”
She rubbed her hands before glancing at everyone, thinking what made the boss ask her to request.
“Firstly, I want to have a meeting with the other Captains, Sir. If I may. Secondly, no uppers can interfere to any of my team’s preparation for the presentation,” she pled, looking straight to the man.
“Is that all?”
All of them got their eyes wide open upon hearing his response. As a man who has an image of being inconsiderate, it was so easy for him to just give her a permission to do whatever she please.
“I object, Sir! If without your supervision, uppers should be present in their meeting at least!”
“Don’t you trust our Captains, Officers?” Lux query.
“W-We do, Sir.”
“That is not what I see, Officer,” he opposed.
She was about to soothe down the commotion when he spoke.
“I allow your request, Captain. But, you’ll be using this hall to conduct the meeting. Are we clear?”
“Yes, Sir!” she replied quickly, as she knows she can’t say no at the moment.
“When are you conducting the meeting then?”
She glanced at the Captains to see who’s up to doing it that day and who preferred next time. She breathes in relief as she has confirmed that there are only few who seems to be not in good terms with their team. Whatever their reason is, that is what she has to know.
“Majority is today, Captain.” Lux stood up and left his seat. “Proceed to your discussion. We’ll be leaving now.” He marched away.