Snippet #2469590

Zechariah was found by Benjamin in the naval barracks of the Seraphim, working on yet another piece of solar technology. Ben sighed in pity; he knew this war would be tough on his little brother. Whereas Ben enlisted to continue the family legacy, Zech wanted no part of it. Ben walked up to him with, "What'cha working on?"

"An Ion Weaponry Core. Metargo already has a head start in that field, with their EMP stuff."

"Isn't that a little small to work with a mech's weapons?'

"This is just part of it. I'll be sure to ask for Olivia to help with finding parts. I already made some of the other parts. This one especially needs some work on now that I have witnessed what Metargo is capable of. Once the entire core is completed, it will be installed into one of the beam rifles."

"Better not lose it."

"I know."

Benjamin looked out the window. "Hey, uh... if it works, do you think it would change how wars are fought."

Zechariah glared at his brother. "I don't care about that. So long as I can prevent even one unnecessary death, that is what matters." Looking out that same window, he asked Benjamin, "You think there's the chance the Shapiro Twins are still alive?"

Ben nodded. "Most likely. I mean, they are a tough pair of gals, so I doubt they'd go down easily."

After a nod of the head, Zechriah contacted the Admiral by on the comm link, "Admiral, this is Zechariah Malachi. Benjamin and I are going to search for Chemda and Adira Shapiro. As I said before, we lost their signals along the shore. I doubt they were killed, since no enemy mech but that downed nuclear one was nearby them when it happened. We'll be back after the results of the search."

With that, the Malachi brothers got into their Eagles, launched, and the search was on. Ben smiled somewhat while telling his brother, "Zech, with how you kept Brown Wing Team together, you ought to be promoted to Sergeant."

"Stay on task, big brother."

---

Kyle ordered a whiskey and waited with Minmei, whom discussed Benjlakk and possibly marrying politician. The thought of her settling down made him laugh and give her a playful punch. "You're not going to go back in your shell once he expresses interest in you, are you?" Calming down a bit and letting go of his mischievous grin, he added, "Seriously, though, you first need to work on not being so shy once it is clear a guy likes you." His face solemn, now, he spoke some more. "Of course, none of that will matter if Benjlakk wins this war."

His whisky now in his hand, he took a sip before saying, "Prime Minister Lopez was an idiot to have challenged the Benjlakki Republic at all, and I'm not saying this to be unpatriotic. There's a reason no other country in this day and age would have dared consider it: all that have attacked or threatened our new enemies in the millennia-long history of Benjlakk's existence lost their sovereignty, with the Benjlakki Armed Forces killing off both military and government. Granted, President Anderson promised to pull away from that dark reputation should war be upon them, which it is, but I doubt he can prevent history from repeating itself. He may end up giving in to the pressure, in the end, should we lose. If that were to be the case, neither you, me, nor that politician your mother introduced you to would live through being hunted down and shot. The civilians will be fine, it is the government and military personnel that would not survive under such a scenario. That is how serious this war is, right now. It's not like any war we fought before; our sovereignty is at stake, now. It matters not whether we grab even a mile of Fertaninn away from the Benjlakki Republic, at this point. If we lose and Howard Anderson fails to uphold his promise that he made upon election into Benjlakk's presidential office, Metargo will fall due to a lust for revenge on our enemy's part. Nothing else matters."

Turning his head sideways in sadness, he added with another sip, "It's just as the King himself said before we left to fight: we may have 'bitten off more than we can chew'. Regardless, we must continue what we started and hopefully hold out long enough that negotiations may begin. We have the offensive now, but once about a fifth of our population starts complaining about a lack of food from the imports we were receiving from Benjlakk, we will be vulnerable to retaliation. We're in a race against time, right now. We've got to beat the crisis before it beats us. It's the only way we can hope to keep our own nation independent, unless Anderson pulls it off and Benjlakk offers to negotiate a treaty, for the first time."