299 Citadel mop up operation 2

Having called the Juggernaut to his current location at the bottom of the underground drydock, Dax used it to contact the 3rd strike group and 14th fast battle group in orbit.

[This is fleet admiral Simmons, confirming that communications have been restored with fleet and Hellwalker command, good job taking out that nerve cluster, the remaining Emergence forces have been rendered combat ineffective, it appears that the one you took out was the only one in the system. We're proceeding with mop up operations, this system should be clear in a few weeks time.]

"That's good to hear, I'm calling over some Lazarus specialists to take a look at the destroyed nerve cluster, they should be able to piece something together from its wreck, hopefully coming up with a counter to the jamming."

"... Is this really for the best?"

As Dax finished up his report to Simmons, Lux finally voiced her scepticism. Although she understood the logic in not alerting the Empire in full about the discovery of a functioning artefact, she saw no issue in telling Simmons who both she and Dax trusted.

"Yeah, it is. If any of this blows back in the future I don't want Simmons caught up in it too. On that note I am sorry for implicating you in my decision Lux, I hope you'll forgive me for that."

Dax had realized as soon as he chose to hide the existence of the artefact that he was doing something which could lead to a death sentence, therefore he absolutely wouldn't permit anyone to be dragged down with him if his insubordination was discovered.

"It's fine, if we one day find ourselves in some sort of indictment, I'll just tell the truth and pin everything on you."

"As I would expect, I've trained you well."

Sharing mutual warm smiles for a moment, Dax surprised Lux with his next words.

"Want to break the news to Ra and Mu? I bet they'll be ecstatic."

"Eh? Can I really?"

"Yeah, I'll go spend some time with the girls in the meanwhile."

Leaving Lux in the command room of the Jug, Dax and addressed the others who had been waiting outside.

"The navy is going to mop up the remaining Emergence forces in this system, while they do that we're going to make sure this relic remains a secret, which is something I'll handle together with Phillipa and Lux. Otherwise, you guys can think of these coming weeks as downtime, feel free to do whatever as long as you're ready for emergency deployment."

-

"Ah!~ Don't do that please!"

"Why not? This is what the game is all about, you agreed on this before Alice."

With a teasing grin on his face, Dax continued his merciless assault even as Alice started tearing up.

Of course, they weren't doing anything lewd, the pair were merely playing a qiton children's game.

"And that's 20, I win again~"

With a triumphant grin on his face, Dax patted Alice's head as she had started sulking.

"Again."

"Are you sure, your hands look-"

"Again!"

"... Okay then, you start on the offensive this time."

Leaning back in his chair, Dax presented both his hands placed palm to palm with his fingers pointing towards Alice who sat on the other side of the small table with both her slightly reddened hands palm side down on the table.

"Ready whenever~"

The game the two of them were playing was fairly simple, the 'attacker' who had their hands palm side down on the table had the simple job of slapping either one of the defender's hands before they could react, doing so would earn a point. The 'defender' was not to move before the attacker struck, and could only move out of the way of the slap by splitting their hands and moving them horizontally, successfully evading an attack would flip the offence and defence of the players, but flinching if there wasn't an attack happening, or moving to defend before the attacker had gotten their hands off the table would cost them a point.

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Shut up." 

Projecting an entirely casual air about him, Dax didn't even seem to be focusing on Alice's hands, instead, he looked her straight in the eyes as he waited for the attack to come while casually provoking her at the same time. As any qiton 'game', this one was an exercise in strategy and reading/manipulating one's opponent, tools which were valuable in combat, but of course, Alice hadn't yet realized that as she fruitlessly struck air after Dax had flawlessly evaded her strike, switching the offence and defensive roles in the game and putting her on the defensive.

"Now when sho-"

"Aw!"

"-uld I strike I wonder~"

Without a hit of buildup Dax mercilessly slapped Alice's already red right hand in the middle of his own sentence, quickly earning him Alice's ire and his first point of the game. The next few points came easily to Dax too, as he struck Alice's hands the second she had joined them together, exploiting the small gap in her awareness which occurred just after she had lost a point and was getting ready for the next round.

"3 to 0 already, I'm sensing a pattern~"

Although Dax continued to absolutely floor Alice, the tricks he had been using when they first started playing the game a few hours ago didn't work anymore, leaving Dax to become ever more creative in his attacks, striking whenever one of Alice's heartbeats lined up with her blinking, for example.

"... I want you to know that I genuinely despise your entire existence."

As Alice evidently continued losing every game without even getting to land an attack on Dax a single time, she eventually started pouting, puffing out her cheeks like a child as she refused to meet Dax's eye as he attempted to soothe her deteriorated mood.

"Oh come on Alice, you don't mean that do you?"

"I do."

"... You understand why you lost don't you? I think you've improved a lot since we started."

"And now you're just making fun of me too."

"He's speaking the truth Alice, stop being so stubborn and try to actually listen to what he has to say."

Getting tired of listening to the entire ordeal while she attempted to nap, Lilly, filled Alice in on what she had observed by intermittently glancing over at her and Dax's games.

"That game of his is about more than just speed, it is training on how to read and manipulate your opponent while seeing through their deceptions. While Dax has been flooring you the entire time, he only succeeded in doing so by drastically stepping up his own game."

"Exactly what she said."

Following Lilly's helpful explanation by starting to pat Alice's head, Dax eventually succeeded in soothing Alice over before Rin paid a visit.

"Commander Dax, the Lazarus executives you call-"

[Christmas has come early!~ Lilly, come celebrate with me!]

but even before Rin could finish her sentence a particularly excited woman covered from head to toe in Lazarus proprietary armour burst into the room, making Lilly panic as she hurriedly attempted to distance herself from that woman.

"I would rather not, in fact just stay away from me you obnoxious woman!"

[Awww~ Don't be so shy Lilly, come on here and give me a hug!~]

"I said piss off woman! Dax, do something!.. DAX!?"

Quickly finding herself cornered, Lilly turned to Dax in a desperate request for aid, only to find that he had somehow disappeared while she hadn't paid attention to him, choosing to abandon Lilly to Mu while he caught up with Ra and the two homunculus twins outside.

"How is it going, Ling, Ying? Are they proving useful to you, 01?"

[Yeah, these two are really fast learners, not to mention reliable assistants.]

"I've learned so much since the last time we met."

"This world truly is heaven, so many new things to learn."

In the time Dax hadn't seen Ling and Ying it seemed like they had grown attached to Ra, who in turn seemed to view the two twins as her little sisters.

[We came as fast as we could after hearing the news, let's move to the site immediately. Care to peel 02 off of Lilly so we can get a move on?]

"... Sure."

Glancing back to find an extremely peeved looking Lilly trapped in an iron vice like hug from Mu, Dax started to regret abandoning Lilly, but only because the elver absolutely wasn't going to forgive him for it.