Chapter 296: an evolved pendragon mercenary group

In the Terran Federation, a group of mercenaries was currently residing in a large hotel apartment. The hotel was taken by them exclusively for their duration of stay here so no other person was there with them.

The atmosphere in the hotel was boisterous as the mercenaries walked about, lifting heavy machines and loading them into the big military vehicles that were parked at the side.

Some of them carried boxes housing guns and bullets, others were busy dismantling heavy exotic turrets and A. I controlled artillery guns, while the remaining mercenaries did a myriad of other things.

From the mechanical manner in which they loaded their goods without an exception into the pick-truck military vehicles, it could be deduced that they were planning to leave this hotel after staying here for the past few days.

Just taking a glance around the hotel ground, hundreds of mercenaries could be seen who were all hard at work.

This hotel was the hired temporary base of the Pendragon mercenary group.

The mercenaries were originally prepared to stay here for a few more days after completing their recent mission, but an order came directly from their temporary Commander a day ago that they were leaving.

This was an order from above so none of them complained, setting out immediately to prepare on how they would move.

As all the bustle and hustle of the mercenaries’ movements continued unabashedly, a female mercenary stood on a balcony at the vantage point of the hotel building, looking down at this scene calmly.

From time to time, the mercenaries working below would greet her, prompting her to nod politely back at them in acknowledgment.

Emily felt like she was in a fantasy dream. It started just a few months ago, just because of an encounter with some mischievous mercenaries she decided to jump into the mercenary business.

When she just decided to create the Pendragon mercenary group, she was not really confident in herself but she was sure that the mercenary group would go places with Clark as the Commander.

From that time till now, apart from the first few months after it was created Clark barely had any other impact on the mercenary group but its growth was still out of the world.

From the first month of its creation when it had only about a dozen mercenaries, it already snowballed to an organization of over 1400 mercenaries and this was just in a few months.

Not only did the mercenary organization had an increase in quantity, but it also had a slight increase in quality.

Now, apart from herself, the organization had 12 high-grade mercenaries. Though they were all just 1st rank high-grade mercenaries except Jack, the growth was still substantial.

Then, they didn’t even have their own transportation vessel.

Now, not only did they have dozens of military vehicles, but they also had lots of exotic gadgets that aided them a lot in all of the recent missions that they took on.

The Pendragon mercenary group was now renowned among the big-name mercenary groups. Their power, fame, and appeal for mercenaries were now on a completely different level compared to when they started.

About a week ago, Emily got a call from her sister who informed her about Clark’s return.

Hearing the name Clark again, she felt complicated. She wanted to call him as soon as she heard but in the end, she held herself back, she knew that Clark would contact her due to the series of happenings during his absence.

When Vatican City was attacked by the Persian tigers terrorists, it was not hidden. Almost every part of the Spartan republic knew of it, and she also heard of it.

She wanted to help then, but after thinking about it more she hesitated and stopped herself.

The Pendragon mercenary group was not what it was again during its inception, it was now a big organization sheltering thousands of mercenary lives.

The mercenaries were not her property, she could not throw their lives away without reason. They were humans with intellect, they could think and of course, they could evaluate the feasibility of the plans taken by the organization.

Despite the mercenary group’s rapid growth, it was still in a juvenile state. No real loyalty and brotherhood was bred among the mercenaries yet, most of them were here entirely because of the money.

To build a military doctrine and a sense of camaraderie in them, it needs years and lots of effort on her part.

Yesterday evening, Clark finally called her. When he told her of his reason for calling, she badly wanted to argue but stopped herself at the last moment. She didn’t know why; she just had an unconditional soft spot for Clark.

After all the experiences that she had with Clark, he was already kind of like an idol in her heart. She loved him, she admired him, she respected him, she practically felt every good emotion towards him.

Her only heartache was that she could never get as close as she wanted to him. Well, she already got over this though so it was much less painful now.

Even though Clark did not elaborate much on his message, she knew that this summon was likely related to the terrorist’s attack on Vatican City.

As all these went through her mind, the sound of a door opening suddenly reverberated, jolting her from her dazed state.

Footsteps coming towards her position sounded before she felt a body enveloping her from behind, with a pair of hands wrapping around her abdomen.

She blushed a bit on feeling this as she hastily pressed a button that made a one-way screen cover the balcony, removing them from the sight of the mercenaries who were working below.

She finally tried to turn but the person behind her held her in place.

“Jack, we’re in a public place”. She moaned and protested softly.

“It doesn’t matter, you’ve brought down the screen already. And who cares, if you want, I can shout it out to the whole world that you’re mine”. Jack grinned before planting a soft kiss on her neck.

Noting that Jack was not in the mood of stopping, she finally relented, letting all her mass rest on the masculine frame that was supporting her from behind.

Yes, she and Jack were now engaged.

After being there when the annoying Leo and her sister had a public display of affection in front of her, she finally felt the last resistance enabling her to wait patiently for Clark to shatter.

This was when reality finally hit her fully, Clark had no love interest in her. She was just wasting her time. Of course, it was a harsh realization that crushed her heart but this was what opened her heart to others.

After that day, she decided to take a more casual approach to other boys to see if another person would get her attention.

To her surprise, she didn’t have to wait long. In just a month, the spark was lit up between herself and Jack. After he broke through to become a 2nd rank high-grade soldier, his charisma seemed to have experienced an increase.

As the only 2 current vice-commanders of the mercenary group, they spent a lot of time together which acted as the catalyst to drive their relationship forward.

In just a few months into their relationship, they did it and to her shock she got pregnant. She only knew of this 2 weeks ago after going to have a medical check-up due to having experienced some strange signs.

As soon as Jack heard of the news, he no longer hesitated and proposed to her on the same day. Boom! That’s it, they were now fiancées.

After cuddling in each other’s arms for a few minutes, they finally separated and sat opposite each other on the chairs that were provided on the balcony.

“Are you prepared to meet the Commander?” Emily finally asked while flashing a bright smile at her fiancée.

This question made Jack frown a bit. “I hate to break it to you, but I’m baffled why you take Major Clark to such a high pedestal. He’s hardly done a thing for the mercenary group yet you praise him like he’s our savior”.

“To be sincere, if it’s possible, I don’t want to meet him at all. He’s a 2nd rank high-grade soldier, the same rank as I am, so what makes him so special?”

“I know I’m not as strong as him currently, but it’ll only take a matter of time before I surpass him”.

Emily sighed. “Stop this, Jack. We’ve already had this conversation”.

“If you want, I can stop it. I just want you to know that I’m not happy with it, and so are most of the mercenaries here”. Jack raised his hands as a sign of surrender.

Emily curled her lips, shook her head, and stood up before turning to face outside the balcony, down at the working mercenaries.

“You don’t know Clark, Jack. He means a lot to me; I don’t know how I should phrase this before you can get it. Without him, I don’t think I would have been alive to meet you”.

“I know that what I’m saying has some bias in it, but he also brings a lot of importance to the mercenary group”.

“Perhaps, he may not have done any significant thing for now but I know what he’s capable of. With him staying with us, I believe that no matter the situation will find ourselves, we’ll always find a breakthrough”.

“Here you go again!”

Emily didn’t stop despite the interruption. “He’s someone that miracles follow everywhere he goes, Jack. I’m not sure but my intuition tells me that when we meet him later in the day, we’ll probably hear about another miracle”.

Jack finally commented again. “You know the reason why he’s calling us right? You promised the mercenaries that you will safeguard their lives when they joined us, is this safeguarding their lives now?”

“You know as much as I do how strong the Persian tigers terrorists are. If we go to battle with him, we’ll probably lose a significant portion of the mercenaries who we painstakingly invited to join us”.

As Emily wanted to say something, a knock sounded from the door.

“Good morning vice-commanders, we are ready to move”. A young mercenary’s voice sounded out.

“Good! Tell the others to prepare, we’ll be there in a moment”.

Emily turned to her fiancée again. “Don’t worry about that. If the plan is too unfavorable for us, I promise you that I’ll reject him”.

“Ok”.

Jack finally stood up as they both went down the next moment.

After getting down, the hotel experienced a huge stir again. With them in the lead, the other military vehicles in the hotel compound ignited their engines and followed after them.

After a few months of staying far away, the mercenary group was finally returning to its home where it was created.

The entourage of vehicles first went to the airport where they booked a mega-sized jet for themselves. After they loaded all their vehicles into the jet, they finally took off to the Spartan republic.

[Thanks for reading, here's the second chapter for today.]