E-UNIT: The Blue Angels of Death.

Chapter 135: Veridian Application.

V O L U M E . S I X : C O D E_R E S E T

Chapter 135: Veridian Application"Captain." 12 saluted. "The trucks are fully charged and ready to move. All cargo loaded, engineers, E-Medics at roughly ninety-two percent capacity, charging stations, weapons and their blueprints, hard drives, SSDs, and the G-Bot parts."

02 was in the main office, working through the Hope Bubble's system files, pulling everything she could access, stripping the facility down to half operational capacity. "Good. Did you verify the stolen vehicles can cover five thousand kilometers?"

"05 modified them to run to the end of charge. No mileage restrictions anymore."

As 12 finished, Dave and 19 came through the door carrying boxes between them. Dave spoke first, with the energy of someone who had been holding a complaint for hours. "I will never take G-Bot assembly for granted again. Getting Delta's parts back together was the kind of experience I would pay significant money to avoid repeating."

19 smiled. "Past me would have told you to stop complaining. But Delta's frame was a genuine mechanical problem, and I couldn't give it the same focus you did when you were at the table."

02 looked past them. "Where is she?"

They stepped aside. Delta was standing in the doorway, head down. She pulled herself forward and raised her eyes partway to meet 02's. "Captain. Repairs complete."

"Tau told me about you," 02 said. Her voice came out warmer than her usual register. "Don't push yourself. Go find a seat in one of the vehicles, take the one beside mine. We have things to talk about, and Tau left something for you."

Delta's eyes lit. "Where is she?"

02 said nothing.

The light went out. "I should stop expecting good news from this world." Delta turned and left, her voice trailing into the corridor. "Father sacrificed us. My sisters were destroyed one by one. 02 lost herself—" The words faded.

02 watched the empty doorway. "The fact that she's still functional after everything she's been through is its own kind of achievement."

19 stepped closer. "What do you mean?"

"From what Tau told me, Reaper destroyed her sisters individually. The worst part is that Delta fought back. What she managed to do with what she had bought Tau and me the time we needed. It wasn't enough, but she gave everything she had."

12's expression shifted. "Thinking about him now helps nothing. We're ready to move, Captain."

Dave pulled up a holographic screen. "Current situation, I have a confirmed hangar in the Veridian Coast ready for us to set up in. The problem is how long we last there without legal standing. We won't be able to operate indefinitely without some kind of arrangement."

02 tilted her head. "Legally standing. What do you mean? We have a meeting with President Salaska in person. You'll represent the E-UNIT from the human side. I'll be there, leave the talking to me."

The room went quiet. 19 walked to 02's desk, sat on the edge of it, and looked at her with the expression of someone who has decided to be very patient. "Captain. Start explaining."

"Of course." 02 cleared her screens. Every eye in the room moved to her. "While 04 was showing me the Hope Bubble, I was also going through the internet. I came across a post about the Veridian Coast, apparently robot-aligned groups had been causing significant problems there in the wake of Elysium's rise, and their Ministry of Internal Affairs was actively looking to hire other robots to counter what they were calling Mecha-Terrorists. There was even a contact email at the bottom."

She moved toward the door. "That post was what gave me the idea to leave in the first place. I sent them our application and—"

"Our?" 12's tone dropped a full register.

"Yes." 02 reached the doorway. "They didn't respond immediately. Then they did, at length. It turns out the E-UNIT contacting their ministry directly caused something of a reaction. Salaska requested a private meeting at his office to negotiate terms himself." She looked at Dave. "What do you think?"

Dave exhaled. "I'm too surprised to have an opinion. But the logic holds, why stay somewhere we're unwanted and under threat when someone is actively asking for us?" He shook his head. "And you're more alert than I expected."

The group moved into the corridor behind her. "It wasn't a choice made out of desperation either," 02 continued. "The crystal technology is generations ahead of anything available. If Elysium's Golden Circle decided to treat us as a real threat, we wouldn't last long. The fact that their spy mission succeeded as cleanly as it did may have convinced them we're not worth the attention."

19 caught up and waved to get her focus. "What about the people we're leaving behind? We're taking maybe a thousand. There are still fourteen thousand here, plus the remaining E-Medics."

They reached the main garden. 02 stopped at the spot where Tau's sphere had been sitting when she first arrived at the bubble. She pressed her fingers into the surface and forced it open. The vault Nick had left beside her was still inside. She reached in and handed a wireless drive to Dave. "Once we're established in the Veridian Coast, I'll push Salaska for temporary transport to bring the rest out. We can't move everyone at once and we need the deal secured first."

She met his eyes. "Their country is stretched thin. Building a budget that lets us grow and eventually field something that can match Elysium, that's the first problem. And if we can do that—" She held up the drive. "This is how we make our own crystals. Elysium hasn't worked that out yet."

Dave looked at the drive for a long moment. "Do we really want more androids with that level of power? Nick tried that approach and it ended badly for everyone involved."

"That's not accurate." Delta's voice came from behind the group. She had caught up, holding Tau's sphere against her chest. "We weren't ready, and the captain said so clearly. We chose not to listen, and Father pushed forward knowing that himself. The failure wasn't the idea."

02 smiled at the vault in her hands. "If my former self said it, I'll trust it without needing the context."

The expressions on the faces around her went uniformly flat.

19 leaned toward Dave and dropped her voice. "Is that a new category of narcissism?"

"Cross-personality narcissism," Dave said, keeping his face straight. "Technically unprecedented. I'd study it if we weren't leaving."

The trucks were lined up in the sewage tunnel, engines running, formation tight. The team spread through the vehicles and took their seats, Dave and 19 in the back of the overloaded E-Medic truck, which had clearly lost an argument with the concept of capacity. Delta settled into the cabin beside 02 and 03.

02 took the wheel of the lead transport herself, unwilling to trust the crystal drive or Delta to anyone else's reflexes. She looked back at the garden through the rear window, the artificial light, the white corridors, the space they'd been living inside for longer than felt real. Then she turned to face the dark of the tunnel ahead and opened the comm.

"Team. The hardest part is behind us. Deciding—"

"Not like we had much of a choice," 03 said, from the seat beside her.

02 closed her eyes for one second. "—whether to go or stay is behind us. Follow the vehicle ahead. If anyone gets separated, the route is in your HUD, multiple paths to the destination, all confirmed." She put the truck into gear. "E-UNIT. 02 said, her voice echoing across the secure channel. "Move out."