Unsolicited (Part 1)
Posted on Fri Apr 29th, 2022 @ 7:55am by Kyarah Moreau & Damien McGinnis
Edited on on Tue May 10th, 2022 @ 3:48pm
1,123 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
The Invasion
Location: The Bento Box Restaurant: Angel Grove, CA
Timeline: November 14, 2050 @ ~1800 hrs
“Oh, and by the way,” GPF Scout First Class Kyarah Moreau initiated, eyes locked onto her brother’s as she directed a piece of sashimi into his mouth, “no.”
Surprise at his sister's pronouncement was only part of the reason Bertane Moreau didn’t immediately chew; her acclaim of the garlic ponzu drizzle was legitimate. Once it had dissipated into the vestiges of his memory, he bit into the morsel, finding it agreeably tender despite his aversion to raw meat.
“No, what?” he finally asked through a quizzical expression.
“No to whatever it is you’re buttering me up for,” Kyarah simply replied.
Bertane glared at her. “How do you know I’m buttering you up?" Initially unfamiliar with the phrase, his sound capacity for contextual interpretation made light of it. "How do you know that I’m not just trying to spend time with my darling sister since I haven’t seen her in two years?”
Kyarah grunted in resignation of her brother’s choice to engage in whataboutery. “You’re still paying?” she asked, indicating their collective meal with her chopsticks.
“Yes.”
“Telltale two,” she muttered, reengaging her utensils in corralling another piece of sashimi.
Poised to refute, Bertane instead sought clarification.
“Two? What was one?”
Kyarah regarded her brother with practiced disappointment. “Darling sister?" she repeated with muted incredulity, as if he shouldn't have needed reminding of how uncharacteristic endearment was of him. Even if it weren't, that choice of word was given his indifference to reading. He was articulate on account of their upbringing, but not particularly eloquent.
Those points were lost on him, however. Shrugging as he rose his Kobe beef burger, he merely uttered, “Well, you are,” before taking a bite.
“Right,” she chuckled, shaking her head. “So how long am I going to have to wait for your pitch?”
“There’s no pitch, Yara,” Bertane answered on the back of chewing.
“Bertane, this is too nice a place to serve baloney in,” Kyarah strafed, her patience waning. Her brother was capable of magnanimity, yet any circumstance other than a special occasion usually came with strings. While true that she’d been away from Earth for a while, they’d been in touch enough for her to feel that her return didn’t qualify. By her estimation, it was unfortunate that the extent of their correspondence wasn’t such that she could discern what those strings might be.
“Agreed,” Bertane laughingly said of her quip, “but I’m serious. I'm not in trouble, sis. I don't need anything. All’s well.”
Kyarah peered at him. “You sure?”
“Positive.”
Kyarah relented, weariness with the futility of her probing having supplanted her wariness. Whether she believed the premise of her brother’s invitation, she was otherwise enjoying the evening. The Bento Box was a favorite wind-down spot that dated back to her academy days; the food was always excellent, the ambience tranquil public access notwithstanding. Plus, Bertane represented good company. He may've been hardheaded, but his presence didn’t inspire the social or political pressure of a classmate or—given the progression of her career since—a colleague.
He broke the momentary silence between them with, “I do have something to tell you, though.”
“I knew it,” Kyarah huffed exasperatedly, setting her green tea onto the table more firmly than intended. “Come on, out with it already!”
Before her grinning sibling could comply, the heavy cacophony of shattering glass burst from the foyer.
The drones moved throughout the complex. In the centre of the armoured masses, a red and black clad Ranger holding a shield with a sword docked in it walked through the room.
"No civilian casualties!" The Ranger barked the order in a mechanically modulated voice. "Anyone attempts to stop you finding the crystal, restrain them but do not kill anyone unless it is necessary or without my order. Anyone in breach of this edict will be destroyed with extreme prejudice."
The Ranger jumped up onto a table, looking around the room. He pulled his sword from the sheath in his shield, gripping the handle tightly.
"We are officers of the Kaldore Imperium. We have reason to believe an artefact we're searching for is in this establishment. Stay out of our way and no one gets hurt," he spoke. "Once we have what we seek, we will leave peacefully. You have my word. Now, we are looking for a spherical crystal in a metal frame, like the one you see in my sword's guard. Has anyone seen such an object? Anyone who contributes information that leads to its discovery will be rewarded!"
"This crystal sounds valuable, even powerful. What leads you to believe that it resides in such an unguarded location?" queried the owner, a middle-aged Asian man who'd emerged from the back.
A buxom, short-haired young woman of apparent relation quickly interrupted the question's purchase. Her initial pursuit of her elder advanced into quietly superseding his position, yet her comportment exuded too much jauntiness to be solely defensive.
"And what makes your claim to it such that you can vandalize our business?"
"Elyssa!" The man snipped, seizing her by an arm.
"Dial it back, Elyssa," murmured Kyarah, mutual curiosity notwithstanding. Poised along the nearside wall of the latitudinal corridor that led to her table, the GPF scout had a vantage point from which to surreptitiously observe the raid. She activated her wristation's distress beacon immediately after initiating its data recorders; intrigue about their mission aside, she had no delusions about her ability to handle a group of Kaldore warriors alone. If anything, Kyarah hoped Elyssa cooled her bravado before it became a provocation.
"It's our mission. As Humans would say, nothing personal. Just business," The Ranger remarked coolly. "Now, if anyone knows where the crystal is, tell us now and we will leave peacefully. I do not wish to harm anyone but if we have to, we will."
"Well, it's not here," Elyssa spat, still under restraint. "Hope you've got time to waste. And insurance."
The corridor from which Kyarah watched also had an access point for the kitchen, the thereabouts of which she subconsciously felt a presence. A toward flick of her head revealed a face both familiar and expected; Sako Haru was the son and cousin respectively of the duo that'd met the intruders as well as an EDF officer, a fact reinforced by his uniform.
"That was quick," she breathed despite the restaurant's proximity to the base or Sako's knowledge of alternate entrances. "Squad of Imperium troops in the lobby," she then reported, vaguely aware that apart from some sort of hard case, he wasn't equipped for rapid response.
He shook his head. "I'm not here for them."
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