Kal'tsit always considered Lin Ye as the successor of the 'late' Doctor. She knew that Lin Ye considered himself a mere tool for Rhodes Island to use anytime if they ever wanted to. That idea did not sit right with her in the slightest.
She needed to make sure Lin Ye thought of himself as more than just a tool or else history will repeat itself.
It was too similar to what she thought of herself.
Kal'tsit will not repeat this ever again.
She failed once; she will not fail again.
Kal'tsit knew that she could not keep Lin Ye on the Landship forever. Lin Ye needed to go outside and interact with people to get partnerships for Rhodes Island. That and for his mental well-being. Warfarin told her that Lin Ye was fascinated with what was on Terra. If she forced him to stay on the Landship, it was like she was treating him like a pet rather than a person.
Although she was conflicted in this decision, she gave Lin Ye a green light to go to Laterano.
This was the best thing she could do for him.
Kal'tsit folded her arms and leaned back on her chair. She stared at the people in the room. Operator Exusiai already left, saying she needed to start packing her things to go to Lungmen.
Amiya was standing next to her. In her hands, there were files on Laterano that they knew about. Although it was not much, it might be able to help Lin Ye who was going there as their representative.
Speaking about Lin Ye, he was now sitting comfortably in front of her desk, waiting for her to start their conversation. She had to say, Lin Ye really knows what to say in tense situations. He managed to deal with Exusiai expertly and calmed her down enough to get valuable information from her. Seems like those rumours about him were actually true after all.
Seeing that he was waiting for her to talk, Kal'tsit placed her arms on the armrest and leaned toward him.
"This meeting is important to us, to Rhodes Island," She started, "If we are successful in gaining a trade relationship with Laterano, it will help Rhodes Island in developing for the future."
Lin Ye hummed at the news.
"That is not the only reason, no? We already got Yan behind us," He asked, "The cure. That is why we are reaching out to them."
Kal'tsit nodded.
"Yes, this is also related to the cure," Kal'tsit confirmed, "If-."
"When," Lin Ye smirked as he cut her off, "There is no if."
Kal'tsit and Amiya raised a brow at this. He was confident in getting that partnership. They looked at each other and smiled. Kal'tsit looked back at him and nodded.
"Yes, my mistake," She hummed, "When we get the partnership with Laterano, it will be much easier and safer for us to export the cure to them."
Nodding to this, Lin Ye smiled.
"Good to hear," Lin Ye looked at Amiya, "Am I to assume those files are for me?"
Amiya smiled at him and handed the document in her hand to him.
"This is all recorded information that we have on Laterano," Amiya said and Lin Ye took the papers away from her, "We gathered them from our past interaction with them and some of our Operators. It may be little but I believe it will come in useful for you, Dokutah."
Lin Ye glanced at the papers in his hands.
The Lateran Church governed the nation.
That was something that he knew already. What caught his interest was who led the Church?
Unsurprisingly it was the Pope. However, he was not the only one that had influence in the Church.
The Church's Curia, a system that assists the pope in the hierarchical government of the Church, was overseen by the Cardinal. They dealt with executive and diplomatic affairs. Meaning, they were the people Lin Ye would interact with the most in Laterano if he wanted to strike a deal with them and Rhodes Island.
That was not all. The Curia was divided into a separate department called the Tribunal.
As he went deeper into the papers, a sentence made him stop.
The Thirteen Rights and The Law.
The papers did in detail on the former. It just mentioned that they were a list of things that Sanktas needed to follow. The latter? It has even less information. It was just ... an entity that physically bound Sanktas under its rules.
A question popped into his head.
What happened to people that broke those rules?
Lin Ye pondered on this question for a while. Then an image of a smiling girl that had horns and a halo appeared in his head.
Lin Ye understood it now.
If a Sankta broke the rules of the Law, they would...
"... Fall," Lin Ye muttered.
The others in the room looked at Lin Ye in interest as he was reading the document and muttering under his breath.
After some time passed, Lin Ye placed all the documents on Kal'tsit's desk. Lin Ye nodded to himself and smiled at the two of them.
"Thank you," Lin Ye said to them, "This will help me a lot."
Amiya smiled at this while Kal'tsit just gave him a nod.
"That is good to hear," Kal'tsit hummed, "And you don't need to worry about taking care of Rhodes Island while you are away," Her hand waved at Amiya, "We will be doing that."
This caught him by surprise.
"Is that really fine with you?" He asked, "I am the Doctor so it's a bit of my job that you are doing."
Kal'tsit let out a sigh at this.
"Did you expect me to push all of the responsibility on one person?" She asked.
Lin Ye thought hard on this. From where he stands, Lin Ye thought that the Doctor was the main person who took care of the affair on Rhodes Island. It seemed that he was wrong.
"Then I might have overestimated myself a little," Lin Ye smiled and nodded his head, "You are right."
Kal'tsit nodded at Lin Ye as her expression softened on him.
"Glad you understand," She stated, "Focus on Laterano for now. Leave the rest to us."
Amiya nodded and smiled at him.
"Yes, Dokutah." She said, "Put faith in us."
... Faith?
Lin Ye's mind stopped when he heard this. However, before they could realise his sudden change, Lin Ye schooled his expression back to normal and smiled at them.
"Thank you," He nodded at them.
Seeing how both of them nodded back without asking anything, Lin Ye was relieved that they did not notice that.
Kal'tsit placed her arms on the table and crossed her fingers.
"Speaking about your trip to Laterano," Kal'tist hummed, "Do you have anyone you want to bring along with you on this trip to protect?"
This made Lin Ye think. He really needs to consider this. The person that he will bring was the one that will protect him. So, this was an important thing that he needed to think about. His mind listed the people that he trusted and were strong.
There were many strong people on the Landship; however, the people that he trusted his life with were not that much.
Skadi was not in the Landship now. The same went for Shining, she went on a mission with Liz and Nearl now. Messiah was gone, she was now back at Kjerag.
Then a name popped up.
"Nian," He nodded and raised his head to look at Kal'tsit, "I want Nian to go with me."
This made Kal'tsit raise a brow.
"Nian? I think we can let her join you," Kal'tist nodded, "With her... background, I believe that she is able to protect you."
Just as Lin Ye was about to thank her, Kal'tist continued.
"However, just in case, I will assign another group to join you," Kal'tist said, "We cannot take this trip lightly. You are the Doctor and we need to protect you."
Lin Ye hummed. This was not an unreasonable thing for Kal'tsit to do. He understands that he was one of the most important people on this ship, so his protection was something Kal'tsit did not make light of.
"I see," He nodded, "So who will be on this team? Do I know them?"
Rather than answering him, Kal'tsit pulled out something under her drawer. A file. She placed it on the table facing him.
"Reserve Op Team A4," Kal'tsit said to him, "This is the group I will be assigning to come with you."
Lin Ye took the files and read them.
On them was the list of Operators that were on the team. Their leader was a boy named Steward and from the ears that were on his head, he must be a Vulpo. As he continued to read through the file a name caught his attention.
"Ansel?" He muttered his old roommate's name, "He will come along too?"
Kal'tist slightly narrowed at him.
"Is that a problem?" She asked, "Although he is a medic, he is an excellent combat operator in the field."
Lin Ye raised a brow at how she was acting. There might be a bit of a misunderstanding here.
"You are quite mistaken, Dr. Kal'tsit," Lin Ye chuckled, "I am not saying Ansel will be of any burden to me. I was surprised that he was on this file."
Kal'tsit realised her mistake and widened her eyes, before composing herself once more.
"My apologies," She said, "I just thought-."
"It's fine," Lin Ye cut her by putting the file back on the table, "I am fine with this. Do they all need to go with me?"
Lin Ye managed to change the subject so easily. Kal'tsit took a second to recover from this.
"No, only the three. Steward, their leader, Ansel, their medic and Adnachiel, a sniper. The latter was a citizen of Laterano so he will be acting as your guide as well." Kal'tsit explained, "Although they may seem young, I can reassure you that they are experienced enough to protect you."
Lin Ye nodded at this.
"I put my trust in your words then," Lin Ye hummed, "So is that all I need to know? I think we already discussed all that was important about my upcoming trip."
Amiya answered for Kal'tsit.
"One more thing, Dokutah," She smiled and handed him the other file that she was holding on to, "Here."
Before reading he glanced back at Kal'tist.
"What is this?" He asked her.
The medic hummed.
"That is what being the Doctor gives you."
That was not much help.
So rather than thinking about it anymore, Lin Ye opened the files and read them.
His eyes widened at what was on them.
There was a list of names of people that Lin Ye knew were elite operators on Rhodes Island.
Their names, code names and every single detail about them were what Lin Ye was reading now. Even their personal phone number.
He even saw Skadi's name on this list.
Lin Ye raised his head to see Kal'tsit staring deep into his eyes.
"Rhodes Island's Elite Operators," She calmly said, "Most of them are not on the Landship at this moment, However, if you are in danger and call any number on that list, they will stop what they are doing and immediately rush to your side."
Lin Ye was speechless at what he was hearing now.
"That is one of many things you can do as the Doctor," Kal'tsit leaned back on her chair as she kept her eyes on him, "Use it wisely."
Lin Ye was about to say something when a loud bang echoed behind him.
"Ye!"
Lin Ye's body froze when he noticed how familiar the voice shouting his name was.
Slowly he turned around from his seat and looked at who was behind him.
His black eyes saw two bright blue orbs staring coldly at him.
"We have a lot to talk about," The cold glare intensified as Yelena said to him, "Alone."
"..."
Lin Ye had only one thing to say to all of this,
"Shit."
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
draft: Jaq
Proofread: Discord
Edit: Jaq