“Rollo, did you read over the report Lucy sent?” Leo said as soon as I picked up his call.

“I just received it. I’m going over it right now.”

“Well, you better do so quickly and go speak with our allies. This is getting a lot bigger than we had thought. It’s way out of our hands now.”

I went over the latest intelligence report, which was honestly a mix of second-hand sources, conjectures, and circumstantial evidence. My employees believe a particular corporation recently became a backer of the High Gate Group, and not just any corporation at that. They were a company based in a space station they owned, far above us, a spacer corp.

That meant they were a huge entity that was at least an A-Class corporation. The only saving grace was that they had little interest in our war and only supported monetarily. That part was conjecture, but it was likely true seeing the level of our current adversaries didn’t stray from what our alliance had expected.

For now, it was still manageable. However, if that corporation decided to get more involved at any point, we would struggle to survive that kind of onslaught. I could then only go into hiding and abandon much of my business, as it was a stationary target that I wouldn’t be able to protect.

“We have to find out more about what kind of deal this mysterious corporation made with the High Gate people. How have we not found out which corporation it was?” I complained as I finished going over the file.

“All their meetings took place in the spaceport, where the security is too high. Few people who frequent that place use our communication apps, too, so little information is flowing from first-hand sources.”

“Keep trying. I’ll go meet with our allies as you’ve suggested,” I said, and immediately ended the call.

This matter was too urgent to wait any longer. A single decision from the mysterious big corporation would pull the rug from right under me. All the work we’ve put into the company would easily get destroyed, as we would have to go into hiding until they stopped paying attention.

I quickly connected to the channel our alliance used for meetings and sent out urgent alerts. As expected from corpos, not only were they punctual, they responded quickly when it pertained to important matters that affected their interests.

Everyone was silent as they assembled around the virtual meeting table, with the spotlight being on me. They all urged me with their eyes to quickly speak, and I could tell they wouldn’t be happy if they judged that I had wasted their time. Thankfully, with the stakes at play, I didn’t have to worry about that.

I cleared my throat once everyone was here, and stood up before sending a file to everyone present.

“I just received information about the main instigator that prompted the High Gate Group to launch their attack—”

“How is it important how it started right now? We’re still in the thick of it. We can care about the reason later once we’ve won. It’s too late to stop the fight now that it has started.” One of the corpos impatiently interjected.

I recognized his corporation’s logo as the one who had it really bad from the reports I’ve seen. Their forces were being decimated at a high pace and even their contribution to the strike team had taken serious casualties, according to Andrew.

“Let him finish, Tavin.” The old man, who usually acted as our speaker, said in a reprimanding tone, as he glared at the man who spoke out.

I cleared my throat before continuing. “I believe they had been prompted by a corporation they had come in contact with during the expos in Elevate City, by a spacer corp no less.”

The room suddenly descended into chaos as the members took in the implication of the matter. They didn’t even bother to whisper, as they voiced their astonishment at full volume. Even the speaker was at a loss for words and blankly sat there.

“Silence!” A voice rang out that silenced the room. Joey then stood up from his seat and continued. “The info Rollo had sent out isn’t conclusive. We must first gather as much information as we can before we panic.”

Joey had kept a calm and cool-headed demeanor the entire time and it visibly helped calm down some of the members, but hearing him calling by my name in an official setting betrayed how unsettled the news had made him.

“I had already tasked my intelligence department to learn more, but it’d be good to have everyone perform their own investigation as well. We need to find out the extent of their deal and prevent this spacer corp from interfering further. Do any of you have any suggestions on that front?” I glanced over at my more experienced seniors for their insight in dealing with the bigger corps.

They all exchanged glances or crossed their arms and closed their eyes. No one seemed to want to voice anything until the old speaker spoke up.

“It’s hard to say without knowing which corporation we are dealing with specifically, but I doubt there’s anything we can do alone if they are really targeting us. Either way, the power gap is too large. Only a corporation with similar power can influence their decisions and hold them back.”

“Then we need to find an ally with one of the bigger corps…” I muttered.

“The High Gate Group should have the foresight to already be on the lookout for any signs of us reaching out to any notable corp. It’s too late to start buttering up to any of them now. They’d demand us to be all but vassals in name.” The old man replied while shaking his head.

Joey suddenly shot up from his seat. “We have to find out which corporation it is first. We have a chance if we reach out to their rivals! It may be costly, but it’s our only option.”

The old man closed his eyes and sighed. “But then we’ll need someone to go speak with this rival spacer corp. One of us will have to go up to Aegis to speak with them in person if we want them to take us seriously. If High Gate Corp had half a brain, they’d set up ambushes and have hit squads waiting for us. Even our best men may not survive that, not to talk about us. It’d be suicide for us to go…”

I quickly looked up Aegis to refresh my memory of the name of the space station city located at the top of the space elevator. It appeared to be like any other metropolis I’d seen except with the background of pure metal walls and located in space.

“Maybe for most of us, but there is one individual among us here who is more combat-trained than the others, making them suitable for the job.”

I have a bad feeling about this

I looked up toward the speaker at the bald man who I had thought was my friend. He had just thrown me under the bus and was staring at me with a smile.

“The CEO of the Halls Corporation here frequently participated in battle, and even in the heart of it. He had personally led the mission to assassinate Benjamin Links recently, so I believe he is our best bet for an envoy.”

“Joey! As much as I want to help, this task is beyond me. I’ve only fought other small corps similar in strength to my own. I’m not equipped to fight off spec-op teams from large spacer corps!” I quickly interjected in a desperate attempt to avoid being sent into the frying pan.

“Fear not. Only the High Gate Group would target you, not the spacers. I’m willing to donate some of the gear from my company to level the field between you and their forces.”

“That still—”

“I agree with Mr. Moretti. I will also donate any equipment you need. Please, Mr. Halls, you are the most suitable candidate among us.” Another corpo jumped in and soon many others followed.

I was drowned in the voice of support that it became clear that declining was no longer an option. Declaring I would leave the alliance would only make us fend for ourselves, and High Gate may just clean me up anyway if they won the war.

I glanced around the meeting room in a gambit to find another suitable candidate, but the room consisted of owners and CEOs who all seemed ill-fit for any combat scenario.

I am starting to regret not acting like the typical corpo now. I should’ve left all the work to my goons as they do and only make use of personas like Cloak.

The meeting soon came to an end as they all agreed that I would be named their envoy to the corporation we hadn’t even decided on yet. We still had to hash out the concession we were willing to make during any future negotiations and the specific support they would give me.

I made sure they offered me their power armors right away, though. If I were to fight against medium-sized corporations, I would need nothing less. I had them send it over to my head office in Elevate City, as Joey had arranged for his private jet to take me back. At least they all moved quickly, having decided that I would be the one to go to Aegis.

The next morning, I boarded the jet with Thorne and arrived back in Elevate City in just two hours.

The trip was purposely set to be spontaneous without a set schedule to avoid being targeted, so we surprised Claire when arrived at our head office.

Sections of the building were under construction, but the main areas where we operated out of remained untouched. I sat back in the chair as people started to fill into the meeting room. Each person who entered and saw me was instantly surprised.

“Now that everyone is here, I’ll go ahead and ask our intel department first if they have found anything about the spacer corporation we’re looking for.” I turn my gaze to Lucy.

She shook her head. “We have narrowed it down to several candidates, but we’re still investigating. We’ve been making good progress since our allies joined the search, but it’ll take a few more days.”

“Okay, keep up the good work. The reason I asked that first was because it had to do with my sudden return. I’m sure many of you are wondering, but I’ve come back because I was chosen to be the envoy between the West Coast Agroindustry Alliance and the rival corporation of our spacer corp we’re looking for.”

Thorne was the first one to shoot up from his seat, followed by several others who understood what that implied. Thorne’s reaction hadn’t surprised me, as I chose to disclose it to everyone all at once.

“That’s too dangerous!”

“Unfortunately, I was the most suitable person for the job, as those other owners aren’t that most combat savvy, to say the least. Sending anyone of less importance will have whichever corp we’ll be talking to, not take us seriously.”

“Just because those fatsos can’t fight doesn’t mean they can’t rely on their own security to deal with all the potential hitmen targeting whoever is the envoy!” Claire yelled. “In fact, they can just use their loads of cash and chrome themselves up!”

“Claire, you should know the difference between a team having to play bodyguard for their charge, and a team that doesn’t is night and day in terms of combat effectiveness. They can get all the fancy gear they want, but it won’t change the fact that they’ll easily become a liability in a fight.”

I glanced around the room to see our security team all staying silent, as they couldn’t refute my words before continuing.

“There is something good to take away from this, though. I had our allies each transfer their latest power armors to me. They should keep me safe.”

“I’ll help you comb through their software to catch any backdoors they had put.” Leo perked up at hearing about the new tech coming into our hands.

“No need. We’ll go a step further. We’ll analyze every single model they send me and create our own.”