“Your marching orders, Sergeant Aziz.”

The brown-skinned man nodded, and took a sealed envelope from the officer in front of him. The children who had undergone training with Sergeant Aziz — who had been promoted recently, after Gaius’ exemplary performance — had graduated two days ago, and were beginning to be integrated into the Congress’ new doctrine of fireteams.

Aziz’s crash course had shown results, but as he opened the envelope, it seemed that the authorities of Ark City wanted him to resume his original vocation. A scout…although the details in his current marching orders were too brief

He was to head to a logistics centre that was outside the camp, somewhere deep within the industrial and political heart of Ark City. It was a guarded place, which most civilians simply called Ark Interior, and although conversation during mealtimes rarely shifted over to Ark Interior, Aziz had heard enough of it to make a guess at what was inside.

A military-industrial complex. Wagons of weapons, armour and artefacts came out from the place everyday, guarded by squads of military police armed with the latest versions of Straight Shot artefacts. Sergeant Aziz himself owned a few artefacts, issued by Scout Command when he became a full-fledged scout all these years ago.

“Sergeant Aziz, you already have new orders?”

The man turned his head. It was Instructor Marie…no, Lieutenant Marie, who had worked with him to get trainees for his special training program. This was an initiative by the higher-ups, but Aziz couldn’t openly recruit, so he’d went to ask around for help.

The lieutenant before him was one of those who responded to his queries, and Aziz was grateful for that.

Sergeant Aziz nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. I’d hoped to teach another batch of trainees, but it seems that the authorities have other plans for me.”

“Your graduates are shaping up nicely, from what I’ve heard.” The lieutenant nodded. “Normally, you should have been sent orders to train another group. It doesn’t make that much sense to me either. Where are you headed to now?”

“Ark Interior, Lieutenant Marie.”

“That’s a coincidence.”

The two blinked, and then exchanged laughs. They left the camp together, making small talk in the process. The inhabitants of Ark City shot looks of respect as the duo headed into Ark Interior. It was clear that the civilians held some sort of respect for the military; something had probably happened recently.

“Looks like a new program has started up,” said Lieutenant Marie.

“Program?”

“Yeah. Did you hear of the rabbit-type soldier who collapsed a week ago?”

“Lance Corporal En, was it?” Sergeant Aziz adjusted his uniform. “Yeah, I did. But what’s that got to do with the civilian populace”

“The authorities disseminated the news about how even a rabbit-type did his duty until the point of collapse,” replied Marie. “I’m not sure how they packaged it, but the corporal’s now something of a minor celebrity in Ark City itself. A lot of civilians are now aware that the army’s still busy defending the World’s End chasm, despite the ceasefire, and are appreciative of that.”

“Trust the government to make the most out of a bad thing, eh?” The sergeant shook his head. “What happened to the corporal?”

“Last I heard, they moved him to a top-secret medical facility.” Lieutenant Marie looked around her, checking for eavesdroppers. “I only heard this from the grapevine, so no guarantees on its veracity.”

She exchanged a salute with a pair of sentries on duty, and after making sure that they were out of earshot, Lieutenant Marie said, “Apparently, he’s recovered or something.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, eh?” The sergeant stopped at a giant metal door, labelled Ark Industries. “It seems like we’ve reached our destination.”

The duo nodded at another pair of sentries, who let them in after they displayed their orders. The metal door closed behind them with a bang.

“Spooky,” Aziz commented. “What do you make of this place?”

The lieutenant looked around interestedly. “Looks like someplace really, really secret.”

“And you’re right about that.” A voice came from behind them, and it was all Aziz and Marie could do to prevent themselves from screaming or beating up the culprit. “Welcome to Ark Industries. I’m Colonel Manhatten, and I’ll be issuing your new orders now.”

There was a moment of shock, and then the two saluted crisply.

“Sir!”

The man stepped into the light, revealing a chiselled face lined with scars. An eyepatch covered his left eye, further intensifying the solemn air around him. He looked at the two, nodded once, and then handed out two new envelopes to the duo.

As the sounds of rustling paper permeated the silent, giant room, the Colonel said, “Your achievements in grooming trainees have been commended by many in Manpower. For that reason, both of you will be part of a larger initiative to modernise our war-fighting doctrine. Specifically, the use of Dynamos. The details of Dynamos are in your orders, so I won’t touch onto it.”

“What makes you two special,” continued the colonel, “are that you are the only two Squire-level instructors here. Therefore, both of you are qualified to use a Dynamo, and given your abilities in training recruits, the Congress figured that you two were the best people to send out.”

Colonel Manhatten took out an envelope and unsealed it. “Your orders are as follows: using the Dynamos, head towards Central Circle, and join the representatives of the East-West Alliance to observe the Northern-Central war, specifically the North’s use of Dynamo-equipped air squads. Present the results to Doctrine Command.”

“Yes, sir!” Sergeant Aziz wasn’t sure a Dynamo was, but if the North was using it and Ark City wanted to explore its use in war, it was probably something rather groundbreaking. He stole a glance at the lieutenant beside him, who was equally confused about the words that the colonel just said, and immediately felt better about his ignorance.

“Good. Now, follow me,” said the colonel. “We’ll get you your personal Dynamo, and then two days from now, you are to return to Orb and head towards the North immediately.”

A passage opened up, at the immediate left of Ark Industries’ entrance, as the colonel spoke these words. With a beckoning motion, the colonel vanished into the darkness, leaving the two alone.

They exchanged looks, and then entered the passage, which closed silently five seconds later. The precursor to one of history’s most important developments had just taken place, and there was no evidence to show it.