Collection 58 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 58

-VB-

Baroness Anna deSalvatore

Egress II, Egress System

3005 October 10

Had it already been half a year since she arrived in the Union? 

She stretched on the beach chair and sighed contently. 

The bright sun shining down on her on this tropical paradise was awesome.

And why was she here? 

The official reason would be that she was following the Fleetmaster of the Arlaoskas Union to make sure that she could maintain constantly communication with him. 

The unofficial reason that the MIIO probably caught onto? She was here on a paid vacation provided by the Fleetmaster himself. While being in the same hotel as him. In the same hotel wing. In the same room. 

At the thought of what she was doing, she let out a sigh of frustration. 

It was clear to herself that she had a divided loyalty. She still loved her nation and people. She was a firm believer in House Davion and patriot of the Federated Suns. 

But being a patriot had nothing to do with who she came to … appreciate. 

Because she did come to appreciate Edward Arlaoskas. 

The man really should not be in charge of any interstellar nation, though. 

“Something on your mind?” 

She glanced to her left and smiled. 

Laying down on his own beach chair with only swim trunks on, Edward looked like the image of muscular and well-built frat boy. Tanned, muscular, chiseled, and wholly unbothered by the crowd gazing upon him like he was a celebrity.

Except he wasn’t a frat boy because he got kicked out of college. Or a celebrity because he  was a warlord. He was also four years younger than her. In her opinion, he should be out there doing things befitting his age instead of … ruling over an empire.

But that was her opinion, and she knew that she was factually wrong about that. 

How did she know that it was factually wrong? 

Because he was doing better at being a warlord and empire builder than she expected. He knew how to delegate. He knew when to step in to mediate between worlds. He set up pretty decent internal trade laws. He didn’t overreach to the point of making anyone truly upset. He secured the borders. Made the people depend on him. So on and so forth. 

In the privacy of her mind, she thought that Edward was a better ruler than First Prince Ian Davion; the latter spent more time trying to get into the cockpit of a battlemech when there wasn’t an emergency to address. If it wasn’t for Prince Hanse Davion, then things could have been uncomfortable if not outright dire for House Davion and the Federated Suns. 

‘But then again,’ she thought with a sip of her mango cocktail. ‘We don’t have half the technology that makes Ed’s life easy.’

House Davion had to worry about sabotage, spies, and selfish bastards. It was simply the nature of large organizations. Sooner or later, there were bad apples that came in and started to rot the good ones. 

Edward? 

He didn’t have to worry about that, because every single person in his growing bureaucracy and military were all loyal to him or of his family. Hell, even stall owners selling candied apples on Victoria Fortress Station were loyal because they weren’t human; they were artificial intelligence. They weren’t scary because they wanted to kill humanity like they were portrayed in so many vid series, but because they integrated so seamlessly into human society. 

No newcomer to any fortress station thought that they talked to artificial intelligence unless the AIs in question deliberately made their inhumane nature clear. 

These AIs didn’t pay tax because they received everything they wanted and needed from Edward. In return, they worked for him loyally and happily. They didn’t accept bribes. They didn’t push agendas that would harm the Union. They acted with his might behind their words, and they made sure to use it. 

It’s why, a month before they came to Egress II for a tropical beach vacation, Renown had been subjugated by the AI fleets. The world of Renown tried to break off from the Union, but by the time they managed to organize their defenses, a full fleet of warships had arrived and, point blank, told the people of Renown that they were about to be sat-bombed (saturation bombardment) if their leaders didn’t give themselves up.

It was a very short rebellion, and one that made the Union’s ability to keep peace and order clear to the rest of the Inner Sphere. 

Hell, some Leaguers and friends from home even praised Edward for putting down a rebellion with “minimal casualties.” 

“What are you thinking about?” 

She blinked and looked back at Edward. “Hmm?”

“You have that thinking face on,” he yawned and then stretched. His lightly sweat-sheened muscles stretched and coiled, drawing her eyes. Of course, she let herself look. Why wouldn’t she? 

She was his girlfriend. 

“... Just thinking about how much changed, and how much better you are at being a leader than most leaders out there.”

He chuckled. “Trying to butter me up again?” he asked as he slightly turned to face her, giving her an eyeful of his entire form. 

Yes, that was hers to ride and be ridden by~.

“I don’t need to butter you up,” she replied with a croon as she turned to face him as well, which did things with her breasts that made his eyes swivel down. “If I remember, wasn’t it you who asked me out?” 

“Well, I did,” he drawled. Then squeezed his chest. 

She remembered her head landing on those muscular chests after their first time together. They were firm and hard like a rock. Yet they were also warm and soft enough for her to keep laying there as she tried to get her breathing under control. 

She shivered. 

Then glared at him when he smirked. He knew exactly what he was doing! 

With a huff, she pulled her own card. 

She went back to laying on her back and then crossed her arms under her breast. That made them look bigger… and her horny dog of a boyfriend immediately looked down. 

“Not going to play coy about staring?” she asked him.

“I’ve seen it all,” he replied with a hum before giving her a boyish grin. “Not that it’s gonna stop me from looking even more.” Then he paused. “So what about me is so great?”

“Are you looking for compliments?” she asked, surprised. “Honey, that’s a woman’s job, not the other way around.”

“Well, I mean, you were complimenting already, weren’t you?” 

She huffed. “You got way too familiar with me after just six months. You know that I am still an ambassador, right? I expect decorum from my boyfriend!” she faux-demanded. 

And then broke into a giggle. 

He laughed. 

God, his laugh. That smile.

Being in love was both a blessing and a curse. Her prior ambitions and loyalties smothered at the edges by the fire that was her newfound love. 

She wouldn’t say that this love was a burning passion like so many people described love. Passionate love was there, too, sure, but it wasn’t … it wasn’t everything. There was non-carnal admiration and respect. 

“Instead of me telling you how cool you look…” she smirked as she gave her abdomen a pinch. Her fingers barely managed to grab any skin. “Does this bikini make me look fat?” 

“No?”

She giggled. 

That was another thing she appreciated about Edward. After both of them let their guards down and didn’t need to speak in circles, he was honest with her. Sometimes too honest, but having come from an environment where even her leisure involved layered intent and speech, such brutal honesty was refreshing. 

“But I’m sure you could inspect me more when you carry me over to bed, right?” she crooned. 

He blinked. 

He cleared his throat and sat up. 

“Well then…” he said as he got up. He easily picked her up. “I guess this is how I can accurately measure if all of those home cooked meals did or didn’t make you put on some -.”

She slapped his shoulder playfully as he walked back to their hotel with her in his arms.

---

Later that day, she learned that warships that didn’t belong to the Union jumped into the Victoria System and engaged the Victoria Fortress Station in battle.