Chapter 143 What Is Fairness?



BSTV decided to cover the first hours of the move because it would show the others what to do and what procedures to follow. This would save time for those whose jobs could not be left for more than an hour or two. Scarlet was inclusive among these people and instead of languishing in a relaxed manner in the castle, she briefly inspected it before rushing out to resume work. But it was not before she and Esong took an official picture in front of the governor's castle which was shared on the official communications page of the Blue star. You can trace the roots of this content at n0v@lbin

People were encouraged to pay visits to the outer areas of the castle but the inside ones were strictly out of bounds. Mecha warriors assigned to guard the castle were among the first to move with their families into the buildings in the outer areas, they had to live here because it was where they were posted. Tion did not spend much time unpacking, leaving it to Grace, his wife and their daughter. He was quick to return to his position, two feet behind the governor at all times. When Esong was around it would be four or six feet, depending on what the couple was discussing. Right now, they were discussing his trip back to the capital. She was mentioning all the things that he could take with him when he stunned her into silence with his next words.

"I am taking Hachiko," he said.

Scarlet could not fathom what possibly made Esong want to take one of the dog with him. She had personally named the playful dog which always followed and waited for Esong by the space ship Hachiko, after the dog in a movie she never watched but heard so much about on earth. Esong and Hachiko bonded so much that they went for running together and when he saw her training him to sit, roll and greet, he took to teaching the dog some fighting and evasion skills. Scarlet fed some of the dogs purifying water which made them smarter, Hachiko was the smartest so far. With Esong's training he had become faster and brutal. She did not think that Esong would love the dog so much to the extent of wanting to take it along with him to the capital.

"You are going to be busy, you might not even have time to tend to him." She reminded him. "What if he is killed by a mutated beast?"

"I won't let it happen, If I am going out to fight I will leave him at home with my brother Elon or on the space ship.." He assured her, "Don't worry much, just give me enough dog food to last me at least six months."

"Six months!!, you will not be back here for six months, I will not be seeing you until what, April next year? You are going miss Justin's birthday and mine too." A three month winter kept mecha warriors away from their families for six months a year. This job was not as glorious as it appeared to be on the surface.

Scarlet's eyes rolled from left to right as she thought, this had actually not crossed her mind. Would other star planets be left defenseless? Was that even possible? No way_.

"You are right when you say that the capital has thousands, no it's actually millions of mecha warriors that are born, raised and trained from there just as I was. But the green star has only ten, the yellow star has three, the red star is always okay because it has to be protected since it's a mining planet. Mecha warriors are assigned there through out the year. The grey star has one mecha warrior, our blue star now has.....if you count the brothers that moved here and myself, three." he continued to explain to her. "Do you think three mecha warriors are enough to protect the thousands of people here against an invasion of thousands of mutated beasts? From the millions of mecha warriors in the capital, thousands are dispatched to different star planets to protect them. It does not matter where each mecha warrior was born, what matters is their duty as long as they are still active and that they fulfil it."

She had forgotten that the ex mecha warriors that moved here were not active anymore, they were retired and their mental strength had regressed. They could not be assigned fighting mechas, ships, armor or weapons the active warriors had. Come to think of it, her words were incredibly foolish. A thousand active mediocre mecha warriors protecting them was better than three since they could not be everywhere at the same time. Her words were indeed stupid!!

"I am glad that I am the only one you have discussed these thoughts with, I hope." he gave a stern glance, "If people were to know about this, you would be publicly condemned. The emperor would be displeased, you could even lose your governorship.

"Sorry," she looked down, wanting to hide her embarrassment. "I should not have spoken so foolishly."

Esong sighed and held her hand again, they continued walking to the corn fields. He surprised her by saying, "You are not the first to see things this way, many nobles whose children are mecha warriors once thought this way. They did not want their precious sons dying on what they consider to be unworthy and backward star planets and they asked the emperor why they did not stay behind and defend their homes. The old emperor thought for days and then he called for a meeting and he said he was going to redistribute the noble houses among the star planets to create some balance of power. That was the end of the murmurings, the nobles were unwilling to move and they kept their noses out of mecha warrior business. This news was not made public of course, so don't tell others about it."

"Who would I even tell?" she muttered.

"Your family is awfully close and cozy, everyday Fey updates on you on everything you missed at the dinner table in the house. Who said what and who reacted in what way. You, in turn tell her about our dates, training and all the funny things that you encountered. I can only hope that you do not discuss our sex life with your sisters." He gasped and looked at her, "And your mother!!!"