Later that afternoon, Alex, Jack, and Mina were eating in the main operations tent. After a while, the radio made some static and someone from one of the patrols was saying, “Captain Alex, Captain Alex, can you read me?” Alex reached over and picked up the receiver microphone.

“Alex here.”

“Captain, we came across three people on our patrol, they claim they are lost travelers. Shall I bring them to base, in order for them to be questioned?”

“Affirmative. Bring them here, but be weary of their actions.” He placed the microphone back in its place. He looked over to Jack and sarcastically said, “Maybe these guys are the raiders Chief Lobo sensed.”

“Well, we’ll soon find out once they come back to base.”

…..

15 minutes later, the patrol finally arrived. Once the group was in sight, all three of them walked over to meet the patrol.

“These are the travelers captain.”

“Good work” Alex then turns to the travelers, “I am squad captain Alex, this is my first lieutenant Jack, and Mina from my support team. Would you mind if we asked you some questions?”

The man who was looked like he was in his mid-20’s responded, “Sure, we don’t mind, but don’t you seem kind of young to be a squad captain?”

Alex clearly offended by this, responded with, “I guess that speaks about my abilities as a leader and the strength of my Sophia.”

“Prideful much, huh? I have seen many people trust in their pride too much, only for them to choke on it when they least expect it.”

Clearly aggravated, he led them to the main operations tent, and asked them to sit down. Once they all sat down, Alex looked over to Jack and said, “If you please?” Jack then nodded.

“SOPHIA: EYES OF ALLIES”

The man faced Jack, “That sounds interesting. Can you explain your Sophia to me?”

Jack responded, “Well, if you grew up where I grew up in, let’s just say one would like to know who is out there to hurt you and who is out there to help you.”

“Seems useful. Is that all it can do?” the man asked in an inquisitive manner.

“I can also see how potentially powerful one’s Sophia is, but nothing about what their focus is…. Hmm, and by the looks of it, all three of you have class C Sophias. They check out Captain.”

“For all that talk, you’re not all that powerful yourselves” Alex responded snidely.

“Even so, I think giving valid advice is important.”

“Besides all that advice, can you tell me about yourselves?”

The man answered, “I am Emmet, this teen boy to my left, is Conroy, and this young girl to my right is Sora.”

“Can I ask where you travelers are going?”

“We planned to sight see on the way to the capital, but we got lost in the woods.”

“I see. Well, as soon as we are finished here, we wouldn’t mind escorting you to the capital.”

“Thank you. Oh, by the way, can I ask what is your mission is?”

“Our mission is to find and get rid of some raiders”

“Wow, that’s scary. No wonder you wanted to question us.”

“Don’t worry this is a simple mission, and if something does happen, we’ll protect you.”

“Then, until we reach the capital we are completely in your care.”

****

“I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.”

- Marie Currie