Ultima Ratio

Chapter 51: Divine Intervention

The events in Québécois set their camaraderie back over two months, and as the Aegis Squad rejoined Sergeant Sam's tour, the following week revealed their growth in Europe wasn't as permanent as Akira would've liked.

When they were off duty, it was impossible to see Jivan and Navin in the same room, and Elodie sightings were on par with that of an actual swan. With Jivan's extroversion requiring another outlet, they frequently turned to Akira or Quyen as recipients for their rambling; whereas Akira was willing to quietly listen, Quyen shifted her workouts from weights to outdoor cardio so Jivan wouldn't have the breath to say much.

On duty, there was no way the Gupta siblings could avoid each other, and Elodie couldn't bury herself in her gloom as the team trekked down the east coast of North America. As a result, half their team was either begrudgingly communicating with each other, if at all, or being one second away from throwing punches. With their next infiltration assignment growing closer by the day, Akira needed to fix things fast.

"You want me to do what?" Quyen exclaimed when she heard Akira's request, but she didn't slow her pace as she ran around the Crusader's topside deck.

"I need us to intervene," Akira repeated as she jogged alongside her. "At this rate, this dysfunction is going to get one of us killed, or maybe even a civilian."

"And then that grumpy hedgehog will have another reason to lecture us all for an hour," Danya added, turning around to casually run backwards ahead of them. "I'm in. But only because I have nothing else to do."

Quyen scoffed. "What, did the mess run out of food again?"

"Not since they assigned someone to be a 'Danya Watch,' no."

Eventually, Quyen agreed to their unofficial mission, if only to get Danya to stop pausing in the middle of her running route. But as Akira and Danya left her to finish her workout in peace, Akira still wasn't sure if her plan would be enough to save their team.

She found Jivan snooping around one of the ship's weapons storerooms, likely looking for supplies that were conveniently left unsecured.

"I'm doing them a favor, if you think of it," Jivan said when Akira questioned them about it. "I'm hiding some poor bloke's botch-up before the roving watch comes along and gets them in real trouble."

Akira sighed. "Nevermind, don't tell me anything else. I'd rather have plausible deniability."

Jivan shrugged before going back to fiddling with the dial on a storage locker. "So what's going on? Rare to see you about these parts, especially without our resident loony playing your tour guide."

"She's not crazy, okay?" Akira said, suddenly having a new priority for why she was there. "She may think differently and be a little volatile, but she's not crazy."

For a few seconds, Jivan stopped their work to stare at Akira with raised eyebrows.

"Right you are," Jivan eventually said. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Akira paused to remember her original lines. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Navin."

Jivan's brows pinched, and they turned back to their safe cracking. "It's a family matter."

"And your family makes up a third of our team."

"So you're just concerned about the team?"

Akira hesitated. "And my friends."

Jivan's following huff hinted that they didn't believe her.

"Is it because he kept a secret from you?" Akira asked. "I know you two are close, so finding that out must've hurt."