(2) My Stories - Wattpad

Three minutes later they were in a largish room with five other people, all of whom (minus the only girl) completely in armor, all of whom looked at him as he and Lake entered.

"Oh, hi guys" said Lake as if this was completely normal before gesturing at Ace "this is our boss"

"That's, our boss" Asked one of them who was sitting in a chair, legs crossed and in a nice suit, Ace wondered which one he was.

"Yeah" Lake turned to Ace "this is Mac" he pointed at the largest person in the room, who was in Army mark four support heavy armor, a giant 55mm cannon on his left shoulder and leaning against the wall, he grunted in reply.

"James" lake pointed at the second largest person in the room, he was in jetpack corps demo armor and was reading some book while sitting on a bunk.

"The jerk in the chair is Richard" said Lake and Richard stood up and held out a hand "charmed im sure."

Ace shook his hand for a second before Richard let go and sat back down in the seat.

"Aron is.... oh hi."

Ace glanced to his left side as Lake waved in that direction. and involuntarily pulled out one of his pistols as he saw a white haired guy standing right next to him.

"Whoa, settle down, im on your side ok?" said Aron, raising his arms "I come in peace."

"Where on earth did you come from?" asked Ace, holstering his pistol.

"The hospital"

Ace sighed and turned to Lake.

"That's Tyson" continued Lake, pointing at some guy in rogue corps badger armor and helmet, who was staring at a wall.

"He, doesn't speak" said Lake quietly "hasn't in his entire career."

Ace looked at Tyson with curiosity, wondering whether he was mute, which could be fixed unless it was mental, or if he just didn't speak.

"And Elizabeth, your second in command."

Ace looked at the final person, a girl in pilot armor with long silky smooth black hair, she didn't have her helmet on unlike all the others.

Ace held out his hand for a handshake "nice meeting you"

There was a moment of silence that Ace could nearly feel tick bye before she replied curtly "pass."

Ace withdrew his arm and Aron piped up saying "oh come on, just cause he beat you out as squad leader doesn't mean you don't have to be friends"

"Did I ask your opinion? lieutenant commander aron?" She kept a cold stare on Ace's helmet and Ace felt like shrinking under it, so far every girl he'd met had a stare that could make you feel a different way "or do you have something to say to your lieutenant colonel?"

This sentence created the type of tension that was nearly unavoidable for everyone in earshot, the type of tension that made it feel like any word would make a disagreement into a full out verbal fight, and possibly evolve into a real hand to hand fight.

If they all got promotions, and Ace had been a lieutenant colonel before, he was a commander now, meaning he had ranked superiority over Elizabeth, and being her squad leader, he had even more of a advantage over her.

Luckily before Ace could consider trying to order Elizabeth to do anything They got a communal ping on there watches.

This time the holo didn't wait for any of them to tap on it, it just popped up a holo of the assistant director.

"You all have had time to introduce yourself to your squad mates, your squad has now been transferred ten million mints for only your squad leader to use or your second in command if the squad leader isn't present or doesn't want to be in charge of your funds. I hope you all are compatible with your team mates, we shall be arriving at the station in eleven hours" the holo ended.

Ace glanced at his new teammates, definitely not compatible with Elizabeth, she was still giving him the eye despite the fact that the holo had only just ended.

"Wow, ten million, that's a lot of cash" said Aron, looking up at the ceiling in a thinking way.

"Yeah, it is, so how are you going to spend it boss" asked Lake, looking back at Ace with a raised eyebrow.

Ace had never had his hands on that much money at once, his salary was... impressive with his high rank yes, and he just got promoted so it must be slightly larger yes, but still, he had never managed to actually accumulate a very large amount of money at once.

Ace shrugged, he had thought of what he would do with a large amount of money, but most of the time it was only for himself, now he had to think about seven other people with entirely different personalities. one of whom already hated him for reasons Ace could guess.

"Ive never really thought about what I'd do with that much money" replied Ace, it was much easier then saying 'I never thought I'd have to share it with seven other people.'

Ace noticed Elizabeth rolling her eyes in the corner of his vision, and he turned to her "and what would you do with that money?"

Elizabeth barely hesitated before saying "buying us equipment."

"What kind of equipment?"

"Tanks, mechs, beast mechs, even a frigate or some other vessel."

"And what happens when we run out of money? tanks, mechs, frigates, require ammunition, repairs, and fuel, and ten million isn't limitless."

Ace was... ok at thinking ahead, he, was prepared to cut cost and such in order to prepare for future events.

"So you want us to do nothing with it?"

"No, im saying that we need a way to preserve that ten million, make it last."

"So you want us to what? hunt some bounties maybe? in case you didn't know our schedule wont exactly be loose."

"Im not a idiot, I know there's a reason we're here that isn't just 'we're giving you a ride' but in case you haven't noticed, there are other ways to make money then hunting bounties"

"Like what?"

During the argument the two had been advancing towards each other and now they were barely two inches apart.

The argument had attracted the attention of everyone including Tyson surprisingly who was looking at them while leaning forward on the couch in the corner.

"Theres mining" said Lake under his breath, he seem thoroughly disinterested in fighting.

Ace nodded in his general direction before turning back to Elizabeth "theres one."

Elizabeth scowled "so what, you want to buy a mining company? forget preserving It lets throw it all away instantly."

Ace thought about it, buying a mining company was bleeding expensive, it cost several million to buy a reasonable company, and a reasonable company usually managed to make the deal unfair and make you lose money while coming out with less then you agreed to.

Starting up one was even harder though, it was cheaper, much cheaper, but your chances of buying a moon which had materials which could cover those cost in a couple years. wasn't good.

"I didn't say we would-"

"Well then what do we do boss?"

Ace thought about it for a second before finally shrugging and saying "i dont know, we'll figure out later"

"Ah yes, the perfect plan, nice going boss." said Elizabeth extremely sarcastically.

That, ticked Ace off, he didn't expect Elizabeth to like him or be nice to him, but even if he shouldn't have been commander, he was commander, and she was going to treat him as her commanding officer.

"There was one word in there that was correct, boss, i am the boss, you are the second in command, remember that."

This sentence seemed to remind Elizabeth that at that moment she was being insubordinate which could be punished with a court martial.

She took a step back and growled a reluctant "yes, sir"

Ace grinned behind his helmet, at least now he wouldn't seem weak at least.

"good, now excuse me while I take a look around the ship"

Lake gave him a slow clap before stopping suddenly, probably because Elizabeth was giving him the eye, and this boosted his confidendce slightly as he vacated the room.

As he turned down the corridor he heard Aron say "well that was fun."