In the wee hours of the night.

A deafening alarm rang out in the middle of one of the army camps.

Soldiers in deep slumber were shaken from their sleep as they instinctively hurled themselves out of bed and began dressing up in military attire while throwing curses around.

“Fucking hell whose idea is this!”

“Jenny must have done a terrible job tonight and lost her favour with that old fag!”

“Haha! If she were with us, she’d be moaning in pleasure all night!”

The doors were kicked open and a voluptuous woman came marching in. She was none other than the infamous Jenny that they were badmouthing just a moment ago, along with the equally disdained ‘old fag’ Thompson. Ranked Lieutenant, she was in charge of the anti-airstrike practice drill.

Upon her appearance, the entire military accommodation immediately kept their silence. They know well enough not to get on her bad side, despite how much they irked at her mere presence.

Jenny took a quick glance at the military-grade watch on her wrist, before she ordered, “Everyone gather outside in a minute for departure. The drill will be led by the General himself. Codename: Lone Ranger.

For the mock scenario of this military drill, we shall assume our friendly troops have been destroyed by the enemy and we’re the only ones left. Right in front of us is the range of Russian missile assault on our troops. We must steer our missile vehicle to the designated spot on the map, fire intercepting missiles and defend Area 51.”

The American soldiers could not believe the words coming out from her mouth. Everyone was dead silent, but they all shared an almost identical thought. Did the general lose his minds from burying his head in Jenny’s tits too long, or did Jenny blow her brains off from all that sex with the general?

Regardless, the missile defence drill went as planned and a minute later, all selected troops were gathered at the same spot. And without surprise, the Lone Ranger mission was actually designed and led by General Thompson himself.

Thompson quickly briefed a little before he hopped onto a military all-terrain vehicle and made his departure. Jenny personally drove an SA-12 missile vehicle tailing his and behind her were several radar vehicles, a few military-grade cross country vehicles and an infantry fighting vehicle.

Leaving the military base, the army involved in the drill headed towards the empty desert.

After about half an hour of driving, Thompson gave his orders through a mouthpiece, “Once we arrive at the drill location, all troops disembark their vehicles and prepare for battle.”

A radar infantry abruptly interrupted, “We caught an invading target, heading our way.”

“That’s a Russian assault missile. Shoot it down!” Thompson ordered.

“General, sir…” The soldiers were perplexed.

“That’s a commercial drone, sir.”

“Shoot it down, that’s an order!” Thompson howled into the mouthpiece.

Under the commander’s orders, set aside a commercial drone, even the likes of a mosquito would have to be put down with the SA-12 if told! And now that Thompson had called it, Jenny flipped the cover off the vehicle and in a mere ten seconds, a tracking missile was discharged, aimed right at the target.

Over in Las Vegas, in a control room for drone enthusiasts, a blond teen was controlling a fixed-wing drone headed towards the agreed spot.

Beside him was his peer, a young African American. Just about half an hour ago, he received a call with an odd request, requesting for them to prepare their best drone and put it up into the sky. Once it arrived at the intended position, they would airdrop a box of Durex condoms.

The client had generously offered a hundred grand American dollars, nevertheless with specific timing and a fixed position.

“I wonder who the hell would be this romantic, spending a hundred thousand dollars to airdrop a box of Durex.” The blond kid on the remote snarkily remarked.

“My guess is he is an Arabian prince. Who else could possibly look for a booty call in the middle of a freaking desert,” the black teen replied.

“Once it gets to the intended spot, let’s snap a few quick shots.”

“Almost there,” the first teen replied.

“Bro, you think they’d be doing it on camel’s back? Haha!”

Pop! All of a sudden, the built-in camera went blank.

“What happened?” The blond kid was dumbfounded.

The black teen shrugged. “No idea, but we’ve got a hundred grand so I guess we could buy ten new ones if we wanted to.”

“But we didn’t bring the box of Durex to the designated spot.”

“We gotta go and hide for the moment then.”

“Let’s head back, pack our stuff and head to Hawaii on the next flight.”

Meanwhile, Jenny held her fist up high. “Strike!”

Right next to her was the assistant in command, staring bizarrely at her. The missile was worth a million dollars. We just used it to shoot down a commercial drone. Was that really the appropriate response?

Regardless, there was no explosion as the SA-12 assault missile merely crashed onto the commercial drone and brought it down to the ground.

“What’s happening?” Thompson’s voice came immediately after through the speaker.

Jenny dickishly responded, “Might be a technical mishap.”

“A technical mishap? If this was a real battle, we would all have been dead! Lead the men over and take a look. I want all personnel on the drill to proceed to the landing site. I need all of you to see for yourselves how under-maintained our equipment is, now!” Thompson exploded.

“Yes sir!” Jenny then turned and began ordering her troops. “To the missile landing site, now!”

Jenny led her parade of the military vehicles towards the missile crash landing site, leaving only Thompson at the firing site. Immediately after Jenny led the troops away from the scene, Thompson got out of his vehicle and took a quick look around but did not find who he was expecting to meet.

“I am here.” A familiar voice resonated from a distance.

Thompson turned his head around towards the source of the voice. Under the dim moonlight, a biracial teen was standing on the missile launcher, stoically staring back at him.

Thompson then retrieved a full military uniform from his vehicle and made his way towards Xia Lei and handed it to him. “Mister James, this is a phenomenal plan.”

Xia Lei put on the military uniform that Thompson had provided, carried his equipment backpack and snuck into the missile canister.

That was his plan. He would order an airdrop a box of Durex, and Thompson would lead his troops to ‘stroke the bird’, and right at that split second, he would crawl into the empty canister of the missile launcher. No matter how advanced the technology in Area 51 was, there was no way they could see through their own equipment.

After Xia Lei was well hidden, the communicator broadcasted Jenny’s voice. “General, we have successfully shot down the FPV commercial drone, but it…”

“What about it?”

“It had a box of Durex tied to it.” Jenny sounded completely baffled.

Thompson was dumbfounded. “A box of Durex?”

“Yes, General.”

“Bring it to me,” Thompson ordered.

Next to the crash-landed drone, the soldiers were trying their best to hold in their laughter, but they all knew that one thing was for sure. The condoms would be used on their Lieutenant eventually after all. And the one who wields them would be none other than their own general.

After several minutes, Thompson led the troops back to Area 51.

“This is an awful drill, what a mess,” Thompson remarked. “After we return, get someone to drag the faulty missile back to base. Destroy the drone in the process. We wouldn’t want anyone in the Pentagon to know about this. Nobody shall disclose the events here tonight, that’s an order, understood?”

“Yes sir!” The replies were in complete unison.

Back in the missile vehicle, Jenny opened the box of Durex and stared at it blankly. She had so many questions that she did not know where to begin.

Right before Area 51 headquarters was a dome-shaped building.

Kestin and his two gorgeous bodyguards halted their footsteps and stared towards the dome-shaped building from ground level. It was a structure with no signs or symbols, not even a single written letter.

There were no windows. Even the outer walls were made of metal alloy, while simultaneously coated by a thick layer of radar insulating materials to hide their presence from satellites.

The dome structure had an alloy door and by the entrance stood four fully armed military guards.

“This is the AE research centre?” Kestin noted, “Looks pretty mysterious.”

Charlotte and Eva were quiet. The two blonde women were as cold as ice.

Once the alloy door was opened, a weary old man emerged. He was the head of the AE research centre, Eric.

Behind him were two other people, one was Sylvia’s ex-boyfriend Adolf Hillman, the other was an Israeli Mossad high ranking intelligence officer Kerns.

His appearance at the site was rather surprising for the guests, but with all things considered, however, given Israel’s relationship with the US as its closest middle eastern ally, it was only normal that the Israeli government sent Kerns for the Shepherd project.

“Mister Kestin, here you are. I've been expecting you.” Eric kept a bright smile on his face. Alongside his warm words, he went ahead and gave Kestin a welcoming hug.

Kestin continued, “Mister Eric, take me to the six statues of faceless samurais, we have no time to lose.”

“Everything is ready for your arrival, come with me,” Eric said.

Adolf Hillman wanted to make a self-introduction after Eric and Kestin finished talking and after maybe offering to shake Kestin’s hand or something. But Kestin did not even spare that man a glance. Albeit slightly aggravated by his intentional ignorance, he rebuked, “Mister Eric, I have no issue with Mister Kestin entering, but his bodyguards too?”

Charlotte and Eva shifted their gazes towards Adolf Hillman, their glances stone cold.

“This is...?” Kestin took to asking.

“My handy assistant, Adolf Hillman,” Eric introduced.

“Oh,” Kestin acknowledged. “Mister Eric, I’ll get you a new personal assistant by daybreak tomorrow. Mister Adolf Hillman, your work is done here. You may proceed to pack your things.”

“What?” Adolf could not believe his ears. He could barely contain his rage but suppressed it nonetheless. His opposition was the CEO of Lockheed Martin, a man with a pivotal position in US affairs.

Kestin continued, “If you want reasons, I’m going to list some for you. AE research centre has been researching for how long now? But as far as I’ve heard there has been no notable progress and the Pentagon is running low on patience. From today onwards, the AE research centre will be taken over by Lockheed Martin. We will offer finance and equipment support and funding, and fresh manpower. With that said, do you think the reasons are sufficient enough for me to layoff ‘unproductive’ employees?”

“You…” Adolf Hillman shifted his sight towards Eric, “Mister Eric, let me get this straight. I have always been your trusty assistant all this while. I gave my all for the research centre and you know it. Now you’re letting him fire me because I have my personal code? That’s unfair.”

“Well…” Eric’s tongue was tied. He’s now presented with a choice between his modest assistant and the CEO of Lockheed Martin. The decision was a no brainer.

Kestin continued, “Mister Adolf Hillman, the world isn’t fair. Alright, let’s get going Mister Eric.”

“Alright, this way please.”

Charlotte and Eva brushed past poor Adolf Hillman, both unwilling to even bother to lift their heads to spare him a look.

Adolf Hillman stood at his spot for what felt like an eternity.

Why me?