Once Seth finished helping Dolyer out, he headed towards Jacks’s office, the place that where Jacks old squad would be according to Doyler.

Several voices could be heard as Seth approached the office. Just as Seth was about to knock on Jacks office door, his body instantly tensed up and he immediately retreated a few step backwards.

“Come in,” Jacks voice rang out from the door.

Seth’s body instantly relaxed at the voice and pushed through.

What was that about? How did Jacks know that I was right outside the door? Those thoughts went through Seth’s mind as he pushed the door and entered the room. What greeted was the sight of four strangers along with Jacks at his desk.

There was two people sitting on the sofa. One was the largest red hair women that Seth had ever encounter before in his life. The person sitting next to her was dwarfed by her size, but was wearing a helmet that completely covered their face and was tapping away on a device. It was difficult to tell what their gender was just by looks, but Seth guessed that the person was a male based off their body structure. Sitting across from them on the guest chair was a blonde hair blue eye man.

“ Hey Seth, good timing. Let me introduce you to my old squad. They just returned to stock up and will be setting out tomorrow. The women sitting on the sofa is Bertha. She’s the weapon specialist on the squad. ”

The red hair women waved her right hand at Seth as a greeting.

The one sitting next to her is Echor. He’s the technology expert on the squad.”

The helmet wearing person merely nodded at Jacks words and continued typing away on his device.

“This one sitting in front of me is Dan, the squad captain. In other words, my replacement when the Federation thought I was getting too old for missions.”

This earned a chuckle from the blond hair man. “It had nothing to do with age. The higher ups felt that it was time to promote you after all your achievements. I was just conveniently deployed here when they were in the process of deciding how to implement that decision. My leadership skills is nothing compared to yours.”

“Hah! Enough flattery. I swear that’s half the reason you were promoted as my replacement.” Jacks pointed at Seth. Then Seth realized Jacks wasn’t pointing at him, but rather at the space behind Seth. “That one is Hunter, the scout of the team.”

Seth whipped his head around to find a person leaning by the wall. He hadn’t even realized the person was there when he entered the room! Hunter’s head was bald with a black line going around the eyeline. Multiple scars covered his face. Hunter dipped his head in acknowledgement to Jacks’s words, and then continue to stand there and stare at Seth.

Had he been doing that the whole time since he had entered the room? Certainly not creepy at all, Seth thought. The scariest thing was that Seth had not been able to sense Hunter’s presence at all. Even with the person right in front of his face, it felt as if there was only air.

“ So this is the new intern? I thought you say that there were two? Does that mean we have our very own coffee fetchers now? Please tell me we do,” Bertha implored.

“No, the interns are not your personal coffee fetchers. Even if they were, you would have to get in line since you just returned. They were hired as extra help, mostly for me, because of a certain group that always give me headaches and more paperwork. That and provide extra help to those who need it here at the base. They were not hired to fetch and provide caffeinated drinks for your leisure. Sheila would never hire people for that sole reason. She has the other intern right now and is giving him some personal training. I think you would know what that’s like.”

The large women shuddered. Bertha said “ Yeah, I do. Personal training by her is never pretty.”

Jacks explain to Seth. “Some industries hired interns just to get coffee for them. There were times when the interns aren’t even paid. It's a source of free and easy labor with the excuse of potential hiring if the job is done well. The Federation would never swoop that low. We have integrity here unlike some people.” Jacks stared at Bertha who innocently looked away and began to whistle.

Jacks continued “Anyways, these guys just came back from a survey expedition. They’re going to be staying for a day before setting out again. Echor is writing a report of the survey results so far.”

“Am I allowed to ask what were they surveying? Or was it some secret Federation mission?” ask Seth.

“Don’t worry about it. The information is supposed to be a secret, but it’s not information that needs to be highly classified. Just don’t go blabbing it to everyone and we’re good.” Jacks answered. “ Their survey target this time was a potential threat to the city. Dan why don’t you give the low down for Seth?”

“Hey! Why do you want Dan to explain? Why didn’t you ask anyone else to explain?” Bertha exclaimed.

A vein could be seen pulsing on Jacks’s head. “ That’s because he’s the only one who can! Echor is busy with the current results. Hunter would only give me a very brief explanation that would hardly be understandable. And you! It’s a miracle if your explanation makes any sense. I still have your reports from last time and even the intern here called them completely incomprehensible!”

The reports of gibberish came to Seth’s mind when Jacks statement. The movie-like script report had been difficult to read as Seth to this day had not been able to figure out what the objective of the at mission report was.

Dan cough just as Bertha said anything. “Ahem, Seth do you know what is a Fortress Tortoise?”

“Um yeah, ... is that the survey target?”

Fortress Tortoise was when nature decide to have a tortoise evolve into a animal that had near impossible defenses. These creatures could be classified as a class 3 threat depending on how large they were. If they grew too big their threat level would be upgraded to class four. It was said that a large enough fortress tortoise could walk through a city unscathed if they were large enough. Fortunately they were slow and therefore could be seen from a distance before they become a threat.

Dan looked impress as Seth stated a few of the facts that he had learned from browsing the Federation Database in his free time.

“Yes, our mission objective was to observe a Fortress Tortoise coming from the North and determine the threat level. If necessary, either destroy or drive it off towards a different direction.”

“Is there a need to destroy it?” Jacks asked. He addressed Seth. “We were just about to have a mission briefing when you came in, so I don’t know what current results of the survey are.”

“No, thankfully it got distracted by a swarm of metal eaters and veered off, making it’s way west. There’s no need to take any actions towards it.“

“ Understood. If you determine it wasn’t a threat, then I’ll trust your judgement. “ Jacks nodded his head, and then stopped. He looked at Seth and said “ Hey Seth, how would you like to go out on an expedition?”