- Christina’s Mansion, Zaniya Mountain range Forest–

- Around 6.30 am-

“ah… crap… hostile armour…” Jaeger mumbles as he is delirious, the room he was in has quite a dim illumination as he turned off the lights and the curtains are blocking the sunlight. As he was sleeping soundly inside his blanket, a knock was heard at the door of his room. Jaeger didn’t hear it as his fatigue blocked any outer interference of his sleep.

“Hey, Jager! Wake up! You’re going to miss breakfast!” it was Conrad, agitated as he didn’t want to have breakfast alone with Christina. He walks back and forth in front of the door uneasily as he heard Christina start shouting about if Jaeger is already awake or not. As he became more impatient, Conrad opens the door, stomping his way to Jaeger’s bed. He pulled out the blanket that is covering Jaeger and to his surprise, Jaeger was sleeping while hugging his sister tightly, both of their clothes exposing their bodies.

“Hey! You two! I can’t believe you’re already in this phase! Wake up!” he exclaimed as he opened the curtains, the beaming lights from the sun immediately lit up the room. Aurora that reacted to the sunlight, moaned as she woke up.

“2 more minutes, could you please…. My head is still slumberous…” she replies while rubbing her eyes.

“Before you return to that wonderful dream you have, I question what in the world are you doing right now”

“Hmm??”

She noticed something that is hugging her, and her hand felt someone’s skin that she did not recognize. As she slowly open her eyes, Aurora paused as she saw Jaeger’s face very close to her as he was sleeping soundly. His breath sounded soothing and his dense, yet soft hands were holding her gently during his sleep although he frequently mutters something, the sharp yet soft brown hair bangs cover his right eye which also has a thin bristle eyelash just like the other one. The surprised maiden turned beet red and kicked him out of bed out of embarrassment and made him make a huge thud as he impacted the floor.

“Ughhh…what the hell…” the man that is on the floor woke up, rubbing the part that hurt the most due to the impact. He looks around and saw Conrad facepalmed while shaking his head.

“Conrad? Why are you here? Also, what time is it now?”

“it’s around half past six, but anyway… can you explain why she is sleeping in your room?”

“What??”

Conrad pointed toward Aurora that is cowering and hiding in the blanket as she still reddening because of earlier happening. Jaeger took a couple of seconds to think and remembered a flashback from last night.

“Ah that, yeah, I remember. I let her sleep here last night”

“And you went into the intercourse phase that quick? I’m surprised”

“That’s some lewd imagination you got but no, from what I recall from my memories, she asked to be escorted to the toilet since the mansion is so dark that it scared her. But right after she was done, she went lights out. So, I instinctively carry her, and you know the rest”

“So, you didn’t do anything to her?”

“Why would I?” As Conrad stared and doubted Jaeger, someone behind the wall in the mansion hallway muttered “tch, f**king wimpy virgin” slightly too loud and walks away from the scene. Jaeger’s eye twitched as he got irritated by that muttering.

“At least I’m being considerate with my actions in public, miss wild talisman!” He sighed after exclaiming.

“Honestly, I wonder how you could get familiar so fast with your long-lost mother, is it due to your unique work environment trait?”

“You could say it is like that, I’m a mercenary after all” as they were chatting nonchalantly, Aurora that is still in her bed attire, still embarrassed and flushed, felt ignored by them and threw the blanket at Jaeger while using a pillow to hide her chest cleavage

“You two! Would you please get out!! A lady in her night attire is still present in this room!”

“Logically, you’re the one that should move back to your room since this is my room after all” As she opened her mouth to retort back, she didn’t say anything as his remark is very reasonable. “well… that was a fair point,” she said while standing up, tidying herself up before heading out from the room.

“Hey! That’s my pillow!”

“let me borrow this for a minute, it’s not like this is a room you have been staying in for years” Aurora then left them while carrying the pillow back to her room and the sound of her room locking could be heard through the hallway. Jaeger and Conrad then decided to go downstairs as they hear each other’s stomachs grumbles. But before they went past Aurora’s quarters, they knocked on the door of her room to remind her about the breakfast and left as they don’t receive any reply. Behind the door, the previously mentioned girl can’t forget about the earlier scene, leaning on the wall while burying her face in the pillow she borrowed.

“That was…very indecent of me…” she muttered and looked out at the window in her room, remembering how detail Jaeger’s face burned inside her memories, “although… his appearance is rather… enticing up close, Hehe~” she giggled as she recalls it while happily changing her clothing. Soon after, as she was done changing and walked her way downstairs, she was greeted by Conrad and Christina bickering along with the untroubled Jaeger currently enjoying his breakfast amidst the loud pointless debate of two restless people that is agitated about how they were eating each of their respective food incorrectly. Aurora, having her mood plummet exponentially due to the atmosphere of the dining room being very uncivilized, went between the bickering couple of people and pinched each of their ears. Both Christina and Conrad begged her to stop pinching and pulling their ears as it was awfully painful.

“I somehow frequently forgot about both of your shenanigans, now… who should I lecture first on how to be civilized during meal… hmm??” she gave an ominous smile to her brother as she said it

“Wait! Wait! Sis! I’m sorry!! I will refrain from doing such acts again! I swear!” the angered maiden stared at him dubiously but eventually let go of him while sighing.

“Um… Aurora, sweetheart, would you kindly let go of my ears too? It’s starting to feel numb” Aurora looked at the pleading one that is at the fault of the debate for being childishly persistent with an ominous smirk

“I do not see a reason to let go of my perfectly reasonable pinch on your 300-year-old ears ma’am. Or should I remind you of how you’re the oldest yet the most childish between the four of us here? Hmm?? ” she then put more pressure on her pinch on Christina’s ear

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Please Achilles! Tell her to stop! It hurts!” begged Christina with her in pain. Instead of letting out a remark, he let out a small chuckle at the scene in front of him and agreed with Aurora.

“she does have a point tho”

“wha- OW! OW! OW!” It took 15 minutes for Christina to listen to Aurora’s complaint about her immaturity during times when she’s showing her childish, hard-headed yet mischievous side, although most of the times Christina ignored her, she undoubtedly unconditionally liked their company at her house as she knows herself that she lived in the middle of nowhere alone for long periods. As they finished their skit, both Conrad and Christina proceeded to continue their breakfast while Aurora sat beside Jaeger to eat.

“Hey, Achilles, how is the situation over the wall?” the Archmage pulled out a question as she was eating. Jaeger opens hologram footage from the drone that do a recon yesterday and to his surprise, Christina didn’t get awestruck, unlike the siblings.

“hmm… I see, they have been increasing their soldier count”

“It will be approximately around 950 thousand of a mix infantry and cavalry if an alliance was formed between nations, and it doesn’t count their wyvern riders, archers and also their mages on who knows what amount they’ll bring”

“Impressive, to think they have reached this phase…” She remarked while eating another piece of meat slice. But as they were talking, Conrad looked back and forth between his mentor and Jaeger who is somehow calm hearing the number of human soldiers that could gather.

“I wonder how you are both casually doing this conversation like it was nothing, those are 950 thousand soldiers that you were talking about!” Conrad exclaimed, Jaeger still have his stoic expression, let down his cutlery and hummed in agreement.

“Indeed it is a humongous number for a counterattack, the weapon and tactics of this kingdom and era won’t do much as to decrease or even stop their advancing.”

“and then how are we going to survive against them?”

“As I said, it won’t do much if it’s the tactics from this era… unless you have modern combat doctrines and equipment” he grins and chuckles evilly as he stated. “This is why I’m here; I just need to contact my subordinates on the ship that’s currently mooring on the moon of this planet. That’s my main reason for heading to the capital.”

“I have a slight uncertainty about it honestly,” Conrad remarks, but his doubt instantly vanishes as Christina jumped into their conversation

“Trust him, Conrad, he’s telling the truth”

“How are you certain? You just have a reunion with him yesterday, he is most likely different from what you imagine”

“I could assume that, but then again, that grin is like how August had back then when he has a sly strategy.” Conrad didn’t say a word as he trust what Christina says and continue finishing his meal. As they were nearing finishing their food, Aurora hummed as she tries to remember something.

“hmm… Jaeger, you did mention that you’re a mercenary earlier right?”

“Yeah, I did”

“what if the Kingdom hired you to lead the troops or to the bare minimum, train them?” Jaeger took several seconds to think about a reasonable answer as he swallowed the food that he finished munching. He wiped any crumbs from his mouth and drank, clearing his throat after it.

“Well, I’m not that sure I would accept it since I’ve been reenlisted as a special operations operator in the company that contracted me a few years back then. nevertheless, there’s a chance that my comrades may lend a handful of troops and equipment if this kingdom accepted this alliance”

“Special operations operator??”

“what it means is that I was tasked with classified and covert missions in unknown territories or behind enemy lines, just like spies but we do more than just gather information. Usually, my mission goes between sabotage, seek, and destroy, but sometimes we also do counter-terrorism and hostage rescue. But my mission most of the time is assassination” he then ate another slice of the sunny side egg that he just sliced while he was talking.

“Well, about me being involved in this could be talked between me and the higher-ups and… damn! Mmmmh! thesesh eggs and bacon are ghood!”

“Achilles, don’t talk while eating, you sounded like a muffled child”

“okeih” soon enough, they finished their food and cleaned up everything in the dining room. Later, Aurora told Christina that they wanted to return to the capital using her teleportation magic since it is more convenient rather than taking a carriage ride for four days straight. Christina agrees, although, she wanted to see what her son’s fighting style looks like and invited Jaeger to spar with her and went to call him that’s currently upstairs. As Jaeger is currently being carefree in his room talking to Ofnir in secret after he was done cleaning up, Christina cheerfully breaks into his room and scared the life out of him.

“Achilles!! Follow me this instant!”

“Whoa what-“ he was dragged by her downstairs towards the wide front yard. The puzzled mercenary was looking back and forth to Christina and Aurora, asking them what is going on. Christina then materialized a wooden sword from her pocket dimension spell and throw one of them at him that catching it with one hand.

“You, Me, sparring, now”

“.. okay??”

“I’m serious, give me all you got! If you’re a soldier, then I wanted to see how strong you are and don’t worry, the sword won't break easily as it was imbued with magic” Jaeger playfully swing his sword with a flat expression while hearing her and instantly put a stance.

“If you say so,”

His stance now is different than back then on the colosseum, he holds the sword like a shortsword, he has a lower stance from a martial art they have never seen before and his gaze gives some shivers down to Aurora that had never been in a fight before, unlike Christina who grins in excitement. She then jumps backwards several meters to give space for the duel.

“Aurora, would you kindly be our referee? Also, you may stop us if it started to get out of hand or if either one of us nearly decapitates each other”

“aren’t you exaggerating the details miss?” The Archmage shook her head as she recognizes that same stare from 300 years ago.

“No, I know that stare before, a stare that’s born to fight… no… to kill, and I assure you that he is deadlier than he looks”

“If you say so…”

Aurora took several steps back to a safe distance as she don’t want to get caught in the clash, She then look left and right, looking at the son and mother that were dead serious about the duel.

“both participants ready??” they nodded to her, saying that they were ready. Both clenched their grips firmly to their swords, their eyes lock onto each other, and didn’t even blink even though there was a gust of wind just blowing by, eager to know each other’s prowess. Aurora then raises her hand and swings it down while exclaiming.

“fight!”

The two didn’t move for several seconds, as they were waiting for either one of their first strikes. Christina, noticing how she and Jaeger are not making any progress in the duel launches her first attack at speeds that an untrained eye couldn’t keep up. She swiftly went to Jaeger’s left flank and does a fast swing towards his left torso. The mercenary knew and evaded quickly by activating his hip thrusters, making her strike near miss his left abdomen. As Jaeger came to a halt after evading, Christina chuckled and sighed.

“Oi, oi... don’t tell me you have been depending on that thing in combat, huh” Jaeger didn’t respond to her and instinctively initiated a counterattack and this time, he deactivated his exoskeleton, making his movement less agile but still on par when it is still activated, Christina attempted to repel his strikes but was pushed back by his powerful and rapid swings. The fight was fierce even though they weren’t hitting each other yet, swing after swing, blow after blow, both of their attacks didn’t go through each other’s defences as they were on par with each other’s speed and reflexes. And as it takes quite some time, Christina decided to raise her advantage by using magic, releasing different spells on each attack, from low-grade spells like fireball and Ice lance to high-grade spells like Sturm Schwert (Sword storm) that releases a relentless hail of swords coming from the skies and hellfire, that burn the targeted area with magma and streams of fire pillars to create an encirclement.

“Let us see how you will evade this!!” Christina exclaimed as she cast multiple spells that rained down hell on her son. Nevertheless, even though Jaeger still didn’t activate his exoskeleton yet, he could swiftly move his body efficiently through her attack and slowly close their gap. And as the duel continues, Aurora was very concerned as it is going out of hand badly and decided to end it, but as she tried to stop them, Conrad tapped her shoulder while shaking his head.

“not yet, they’re still enjoying this duel.”

“how in the world do you even know that? If this continues, they could kill each other!” Conrad looked at the grinning Christina that is rapidly chanting spells, the mentor he admired and loved was happily doing this for the sake of her son, either for him to stop getting involved in the conflict of the current world or just be the carefree woman he knew to satisfy her urge to get into a battle again after stopping a conflict in the past and living peacefully in the outskirts of the kingdom.

“Trust me, she won’t kill her own so-“

As Conrad was trying to reassure her, unanticipatedly, another huge explosion happened in front of them. Christina is starting to waver as she was hesitating to do another attack as Jaeger ignores his injuries, the mercenary that has burn marks and cuts did even averted his now lifeless eyes to her as he was dead set on being victorious. She stopped her chants and took a breath as she noticed that he somehow could drain a quarter of her mana from her full capacity.

“Achilles, let us end this duel, I think it is enough for today,” she said as she slightly sighed in exhaustion, Jaeger didn’t respond to her and put up another stance while twirling and gripping firmly the wooden sword he was holding and dashed to her at inhuman speeds. Christina while caught by surprise again, quickly jumps to evade a horizontal slash at her, but Jaeger didn’t stop there as he exploits his momentum from his sword to kick her to the side. Christina was thrown off and crashed into the outer wall of her mansion, making a crater on the wall. Christina grunted as she dropped to the ground, spewing some blood from her mouth.

“Miss Christina!” Conrad exclaimed in concern for his teacher while his sister gasp at the current situation Christina is in. although she received a very heavy blow, she healed herself with magic quickly and jumped away far enough from Jaeger, stopping her momentum, and dropped to her knees. The siblings rushed to her position and helped her get up.

“You two… get out of here…” Christina said while wiping the remaining blood from her mouth.

“How could you say that when you’re clearly injured! Also, his physical abilities are just unnatural, I did not see him fight like this before” Conrad had a shiver felt down to his spine as he look at Jaeger and his heartless stare.

“Achilles… isn’t just an easy-going yet reasonable person, by looking at him now, he has been trained to be a living weapon following any dire situation, just like how ‘he’ was back then. I needed half of my power, even if I could go all out if I intended to kill him”

“half of your power?! That’s insane!” Christina looked grim as she now knows her son’s true capability during combat.

“I know… to put him on the edge with compressed yet concentrated magic and seeing him make it out, put me in disbelief on his will to complete his objective, all we need is to do something to make him snap out of his current state” As they were wary of any of Jaeger’s movements, Aurora took the initiative and stood in front of her brother and his mentor, activating her ‘demonic’ power and transforming into her form, her body didn’t change much but her ears altered from normal human ears into something like an elf ear, her emerald eyes glow as the magic inscription was activated, along with a white aura blanketing her whole body.

“Sis, what are you doing?”

“If strength can’t stop him, I’ll try my ‘charm’ ability or other spells that I have at my disposal to end the current situation”

“How are you sure about that?” She looked back at her shoulder towards her brother with a peal of awkward laughter.

“I… might not be sure either…”

“Are you seri- SIS! WATCH OUT!” Conrad exclaimed; Aurora quickly glanced back at the running Jaeger that targeted the wounded Christina. As he was getting close, she then chanted a certain spell which conjures a layer of small magic circles in the air right before her eyes. But as she finished her chant, unknowingly to her, the magic didn’t give much of an effect followed by the shatter of the magic circles. Although stunned, the unprecedented prodigy maiden did not give up and tried another way to stop him that is still rapidly closing the gap. She then enhanced herself with physical enhancement magic and rushed towards Jaeger. As Jaeger was going to swing his wooden sword towards her as she was deemed to be ‘hindering’, Aurora, instead of attacking him, swiftly embraced him warmly and tightly as everything was done in mere seconds.

“It’s okay… let your emotions out slowly…” Although Jaeger did try to force his way out along with a lot of grunts and screeches while also giving some punches to her back just to break from her embrace as it was reinforced with physical enhancement magic but still in a bearable pressure to humans along with a sedative spell to calm him down, although it wasn’t very effective. Nonetheless, his senses slowly returned, and sobbing was heard.

“I’m sorry…. I…I can’t…” he subconsciously muttered loud enough for her to hear between his cries. Not long after he stopped any revolting movement as he cried, Jaeger passed out as the fatigue took over. Conrad and Christina watch the scene in astonishment, the girl they knew as someone with an obsession with knowledge, was very reserved around other people or even relatives and was very careful with her safety, could even do something that would be considered suicidal. Aurora then laid the mercenary that’s asleep slowly on the ground and have his head laid on her lap.

“I… am honestly speechless at the current you, sis… you changed way too fast…” Conrad said while arm carrying Christina

“Do I?”

“yeah, but cast your character development aside, why did you come up with that dangerous idea? Or did you see something within his heart?” Aurora’s eyes aren’t just merely imbued with magic that could use the passive skill ‘charm’ as people know, the charm only works if it could determine whether the opposing person has any hostility towards her or if she thinks of that person as someone that is useable as her pawn. But there’s additional magic that’s imbued inside it, ‘insight’, that could understand someone’s true intentions and feelings, along with the memories that affected their actions.

“I…” Aurora paused, glancing at the resting Jaeger. Her eyes filled with empathy for him as she continues her statement “I could see his regret in his eyes, and his past that…”

“that what?”

“he…” Christina that has healed herself with a high-level healing spell patted Aurora’s shoulder to reassure her.

“we’ll talk about it later as we don’t know his past before he came here, right now, let’s just prepare the teleportation sigil before noon” the maiden nodded, as she knew how heavy it was to talk about Jaeger’s past since she saw it herself even though in a brief amount of second. The fear and emotions she felt when she saw his memories are very unsettling and no human could be sane if they have his experience first-hand.

“I’ll stay here until he wakes up, both of you could just go ahead” Conrad nodded whilst Christina hummed in agreement. Christina fixed the damages that occur to her mansion and the yard that got burnt by her spells with her restoration magic and then they finally walked to the other entrance door of the mansion, But before they turned around the corner of the building, Christina stopped her tracks and shouted to aurora with a cheeky grin.

“I almost forgot! don’t violate my son while he’s sleeping~ I know you have some succubus trait and all” with that, Aurora that is looking at Jaeger’s face has her face gone beet red and glanced at her brother’s teasing mentor with a flushed expression.

“MISS CHRISTINA!! I AM NOT GOING TO DO SUCH A SHAMEFUL THING!!”

“hahaha! Yeah, I do certain of that, I just love to tease people that’s in lovestruck, regardless, wake him up in 20 minutes, the spell should be ready at that time.” They left Aurora and the sleeping mercenary in the yard alone. Everything is calm now; Aurora could hear the breeze of the wind along with the birds returning to chirp in the aftermath of the duel. After looking back at her shoulder again, making sure that both Christina and her brother has left her and Jaeger, she then looked closer at the sleeping man on her lap. He does look like he’s sleeping soundly, but frankly, he is breathing heavily along with some muttering. She then gently stroked his hair, along with some humming of a song following the tranquil moment. “His fortress of isolation… is it?” she muttered before also falling asleep herself

Moments passed; Jaeger finally woke up with a big silent yawn, he noticed that his eyes have some dried tears marks on his eyelid and proceeded to wipe them off, he also noticed that he was sleeping on top of something soft and to his surprise when he opened his eyes fully, Aurora’s sleeping face was very close to him and his head is laying down on her lap, her soothing breathing could be heard clearly, and her hand is still in the position where she was caressing her hair a few moments back. In his bashfulness, he jerks away from Aurora but inevitably collided both their foreheads instead. Aurora woke up in shock and shout in pain while simultaneously, Jaeger himself held his forehead while grunting in pain.

“That hurt you know! Could you just move away slowly!” she complained while casting a healing spell to herself

“I’m sorry! Okay?! I wasn’t prepared for this kind of situation!!” he replied while still in his flustered yet bashful condition, along with his forehead pain that is still stinging. Although his pain from the impact isn’t that much, Aurora cast a healing spell on him, soothing his pain down. She sighed as the ordeal passed.

“So… let me guess… did I go berserk?” he asked with a heavy tone while looking up to the sky

“Assuming you know what the reason for you went on an uncontrolled state earlier, what did happen on ‘June 6th’? I could only see- “, unexpected to her before she finished her sentence, Jaeger suddenly pinned her down to the ground, with an expression that looks distressful yet full of anger. “How did you know that” with a low dreaded voice, he pressed that question to her. Aurora explained about the certain magic that she could utilize to see through someone’s memories, although it was not that effective to see every detail thoroughly as it would put some stress on her brain. during the moment she used the spell, she stated that the word June 6th kept getting mentioned. Albeit her current condition could be harmed by him, her empathy and curiosity took over, thus she asked him again about what happened during that time. Jaeger somehow can’t refuse, he then let go of her and sat across her, sighing heavily.

“I honestly don’t want to talk about it but considering that you have known some of the events partially, I’ll tell you… it’s the date of a certain massacre” he then took a deep breath, looking up to the skies and reminiscing the dreaded past he experienced. “It was a bright day at the Hangars of our Base in the middle of the desert…” with sorrow in his tone, he started to tell his story.

- June 6th, 2037 –

- Sahara Desert, 30°29'28.2"N 26°22'18.5"E, 0900hrs–

“At the ease” the Briefer ordered; twelve fully geared men stood across the briefer in 3 column line. it was inside the hangar that has its doors closed, a pair of modified V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft is being prepped. The atmosphere is tense as they were still in their ‘peacekeeping’ deployment in Libya, even though their base is on Egyptian lands.

“Orders from HQ are now to send you all out immediately, as they suddenly received information from a source that the Libyan guerrilla rebels obtained some package from an unknown group.” The briefer then opens up live imagery from the satellite that’s currently orbiting above them. The image zoomed in immensely and finally reached a point around a certain area. “Image from coordinate code 34RCU3281120050 has revealed some major military activities during nighttime, as such, their activities were dormant during the day” he then changes the imagery setting to thermal and it revealed a massive amount of heavy weaponry such as tanks, mobile artillery & Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft vehicles hidden below camouflage tents, and to their surprise, between of those were ICBM trucks.

“Whoa, whoa! Are they serious?!” exclaimed one of the men in horror.

“Indeed, they are, those MAZ-7917 are significant threats, regardless of where and when the rebels have obtained those mobile ICBM launchers, your mission is to sabotage or to destroy them to restrain their ability to use any chemical or nuclear weapons. Failure is not an option!” the briefer sternly announces, the MAZ-7917 is a mobile ballistic missile launching platform, capable of being equipped with Nuclear or chemical Ballistic missiles, it was manufactured by the Russian military and has been in their inventory for decades. The fact that the rebels have those vehicles would be indicating that they have a massive backup from someone that has a connection to obtain those, but either way, the briefer can’t disclose the information yet as it was deemed to be highly classified, and it was given to another branch similar to theirs but with more leeway on obtaining classified files. He then explained to his men about the mission waypoint details along with the rules of engagement during their mission and a new rifle that has arrived for them to use, which took about 4 minutes “you’re all dismissed. Get ready for sortie”

“HOOAH!” the men shout out their battle cry and scrambled, grabbing their equipment while some open up the hangar door so that the V-22 could taxi up to the tarmac. As the Ospreys are in position outside, the pilots proceeded with the cold start-up, and the engines spool up sounds could be heard. The rotor slowly rotates faster to a point it was ready to take off.

“Move! Move! Transports are leaving in 2 minutes!” one of the ground crew shouted as the men rushed themselves inside the aircraft. the team is divided into two, and each of them consists of 6 members; the squad leader, 2 riflemen, one marksman, one machine gunner and one CQB specialist that’s equipped with a Submachinegun and a shotgun. As they were inside their respective aircraft, each of the squad leaders do a head count and after making sure their team is present, he gave a thumbs up to the Pilot that was looking back at them. The pilot gave back a thumbs up and increase the collective and moved the aircraft from the taxiway to the runway.

“Calibre 1-1, this is Tower speaking, permission to take off granted. Godspeed”

Both each aircraft’s pilots then pushes the throttle and the Ospreys started to hover, yawed 90 degrees in a pivoted position up in the air and headed northwest. During the flight, the main team leader opens up the channel on the radio and briefed his team again.

“Alright gents, listen up, as you all know, our mission is the neutralization of potential nuclear ICBM threats. Our insertion is approximately around 22 miles from the objective and the initiation of the operation will start at 1200hrs, maintain radio silence with HQ until the operation starts, how copy?”

“Yes sir!” everyone exclaimed in agreement. inside the second Osprey of the flight formation, the leader of the 2nd team turned his comm radio into the channel that they were told, followed by his subordinate, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes along with a lighter. As he started smoking, one of his subordinates sitting far from him talks to his fellow teammate beside him.

“Hey, how do you feel about your first mission with the Deltas, Sergeant Achiles?” the young man looked at his senior, raising an eyebrow below the balaclava mask. “Not too shabby sir, I guess…” Delta or more known as Delta Force or the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment is part of the US SOCOM’s special operations group. Jaeger accomplished to climb his way to be with the best of the best through harsh and gruesome training and here he is now, on his first mission in the middle of the desert, unknown to him.

“Relax man, this might be one of the unprecedented missions we got, but we’ll get through this. We go in, and out. Just like the simulations!” he reassured the nervous abnormal one, as the rumours of Jaeger could reach the rank of Sergeant in under 1 year is just impossible, unless there’s someone that is working behind the curtains for his fast promotions. “Besides, isn’t your childhood friend our team lead? Have you talked to him yet before?” Jaeger shook his head as he answers “No sir, we haven’t talked for years. the last time I saw him is before he went into the academy when I was twelve”

“Too bad, I was wondering what he looks like outside of work, he never shows some hospitality on his face" the man then patted Achiles’s shoulder with his smile below his balaclava that has a skull drawn on it. “Would you drop the formalities? Even if I have the rank of Master Sergeant, I wanted to know my subordinates more”

“But sir…”

“No buts’, that’s an order” Achiles went silent for several seconds and answered, “Understood, Logan”. MSgt. Logan happily patted his shoulders as he was pleased with his subordinate’s answer. “By the way, what is your age currently??”

“It’s 19 this year”

“Holy crap! You’re young!” Achiles chuckled at Logan’s very normal reaction. “What is it?”

“Nothing, it’s just that you said the same thing the academy instructor yelled at me when I somehow got accepted when I was 16, they called me a prodigy or something” Logan had his mind thinking about how his subordinate could be accepted that young, but he shrugs it off as the co-pilot announced that they were nearing the insertion point. The squad leader then opens up the strap of his seat and walks to the end of the cargo bay, turns around and gave another speech. “Remember, this mission may be your first and last as the Pentagon has just stated DEFCON 2 right after we left and due to the fact, those rebels could obtain such weaponry and that many personnel are unthinkable if they successfully launched one missile. our journey there will be harsh, no, it’ll be hell when the operation started but we must succeed no matter what the cost, for your families... for freedom… and the peace of the world! Understood??!” he looks left and right at his men sitting opposite each other in the cargo bay seats.

“Sir, yes sir!” They exclaimed in unison on the radio, while having some little cheers afterwards

As the squad leader turns around waiting for the Ospreys to land, Logan that has finished his chuckle looks at Achiles that is staring at the cargo bay door blankly. He then snapped his fingers multiple times in front of Achiles’s face. The young man in deep thought snapped back to reality as Logan’s finger-snapping is annoying him. “Daydreaming about someone eh?? Who is it??” he playfully teases him while nagging his elbow onto Achiles’s waist. “Ah- no, it’s just… Agung is kind of different from back then…” said Achiles shrugging off the matter while double-checking his weapon and provisions inside his chest rig and small backpack.

“Ah I see, I thought if you have a relationship with one of the ladies back home.” Achiles then zipped back his backpack and looked at Logan while tilting his head slightly. “Do I look like someone that has a girl, sir?” Logan is slightly surprised by him as with Achiles’s look and calm attitude, he could’ve won many girls’ hearts.

“Welp, I’m not going to force onto your private life. But anyway, after every war end, you need to have a happier life. guys like you should’ve enjoyed their teenage life to the fullest. Get a girlfriend or something, have fun with your pals, or even do stupid things. Ye’ know, the normal way people do?” Achiles could only nod at his superior’s statement and Logan continued, “also, I have my girlfriend back at base, ye’ know, one of the flyboys? she’s also going to provide air support for this mission. I’m going propose to her when we return from our deployment, romantic isn’t it?”.

“Damn… this guy just said the death flag, what the hell…” Achiles thought to himself while having his mouth resting his chin on his hands. He could feel Logan’s happy grin below the balaclava even though he felt anxious about the mission just like Achiles himself. No long, the cargo bay door opens, and the ground could be seen as they were descending to land the aircraft. the Tiltrotor aircraft rocks as it landed in the rough terrain of the desert, all of the Delta Force members present rushed themselves out and crouch 15 meters away from the aircraft, checking left and right to make sure the landing zone isn’t ambushed. As the squad leader gave a thumbs up to the door gunner that’s waiting for them to affirm that they could be left out, the man that is still holding the M240 mounted machine gun radioed them “we’ll be back at LZ alpha or gamma at 1400hrs, air asset is also available if it is necessary. Good luck Major” the door gunner gave a quick salute, and the cargo door of the Ospreys then closes and the gale from the rotors increased as it slowly lifts off to the air, heading back to base. As those aircraft were out of their sight, the Major then stood up and order them to follow his lead.

“hey, should I sing a song for our journey?” Logan carefreely asked without hesitation, and in an instant, everyone in the team groaned in disagreement. “Ah c’mon guys, I have a beautiful voice ye’ know” he said with his deep southern accent.

“beautiful in your ass! The club once kick us out ‘cuz of you, Logan!” complained one of the members of the team. “plus, we got banned if we brought you back! The damn waitress got some trauma or something” Logan chuckled nervously as he was slapped by the truth, they did once get kicked out since Logan’s voice isn’t even suited for singing, especially when he’s drunk. “This might be a long mission huh…” Achiles thought to himself while looking over the horizon to monitor the situation with his annoyed sigh and a sullen face. “Is logan always like this?”

“Cut the chatter, time is our essence, let’s get moving gents”