- Newly established Forwards Operating Base, codename: [Hornet Nest]. 8 kilometres away from Ersten, near a village, Kingdom of Apollyon –

- inside the Briefing Barracks -

- 0502hrs, local time -

“you’re not going to tell us to go out of this room?” Conrad asked, raising an eyebrow. the room is silent as Jaeger makes some quick preparation to start the briefing, the hum of the AC could be heard due to the silence. “at least give me a reply would you?”

“Your Highness, you requested to be here during the briefing, and thus I need to comply with your request as you’re currently our client. It would be rude of me if I kick you out just because”

“wha- why are you being too formal with me right now? Aren’t we already friends” Jaeger looked at his squadmates and back at Conrad, hinting at him. “should I even mention why?”

“… alright, I get it.”

The projector lit up and the zoomed-in version of satellite imagery from the deployable satellites was presented. He then swipe the air to make sure the motion sensors of the projector were working correctly. “Alright, listen up! All of you know what our mission is, this is just a recap of what we’ll do on the field.” He then gestured his hand to zoom in to the first location which is marked with a red circle.

“Us, fireteam [Alpha] will be handling PoI D which is located on the outskirts of the Avalon Empire, and PoI A which is located deep inside the Holy Kingdom itself as it’s one of the key cities of this nation. The two of them are located far from each other so we need to set out an encampment 10km away each time we change the AO. During the mission, this fireteam will be split into two groups. group two is led by Point having 60k as its member.”

60k raised his hands to question, gathering the attention of everyone in the room as Jaeger stopped for a moment and allowed him to, “So basically, I’m Alpha 2-2?”

“do I even need to say it?”

“No sir, carry on”

Jaeger then continued the briefing, “Our pilots won’t return back to HQ as our transport has a modified power source, so we might camp with them. remember our Rules of Engagement (RoE). No civilians are to be harmed during this mission unless it’s a collateral damage caused by the enemy, furthermore, stealth is mandatory when using our equipment, I advise not to be even seen with our rifles out. Also, our mission is to investigate whether Count Eoflora’s notes are stating the truth or not, so if the objective isn’t seen to be conducting any human experiments, we are to egress out from the AO and move to the other objective. Any more questions?”

The three are silent, they know what to do, right before they got sent to the FoB, each of the rosters of the teams was given the details by Jeanne herself inside a closed room ensuring to prevent any information leak. That said, it won’t be a surprise if they had some sort of disgust of what within the shadows of the [Church of Light] are conducting just to fulfil someone’s ego. Though, amid the silence, Aurora raised her hand instead, which slightly made Conrad panic.

“what are you doing!? You’re not even part of this mission!”

“but I still could ask something don’t I?”

“we’re supposed to just listen!”

“I don’t mind” the mercenary interjected, making the prince make a look that says, [don’t just agree with her!]. “anyone that’s inside this room is free to ask questions, whether you’re part of it or not.” Jaeger continued.

“well then…” she lowered her arm, changing position so it could suspend her chin. “what if you did find those kinds of aforementioned experiments were conducted. Would you save the captured or…”

“Our mission is to investigate and destroy, if we did find traces, explosive charges will be used and information control will be conducted.”

His reply angered her, “that would just mean you’ll abandon them!” she shrieked, slamming the table. “can’t you take some spare time to save the ones who haven’t got experimented on!?”

“… is that an order your highness?”

“It's…” she’s unable to let her voice out, she does want his mission to be finished without any trouble but hearing the words that came out of him still troubled her. “maybe…”

“then I take it as an order. but will your kingdom take care of those people? We’re still a mercenary group. Example, if we even took refuge the civilians that we rescued, will they adapt to your kingdom’s customs? does your kingdom even have a proper refugee camp? Would they even forgive someone who destroyed their holy grounds? The list could go on if I continue”

“Why would they even hate your people?! You saved them from an upcoming tragedy!”

“look here…” his eyes sternly looked at hers, “Do you know how to make such experiments kept secret from the public?” Aurora shook her head slowly in response. “Brainwashing. Simple, yet effective. People who got brainwashed would be set free from the public yet still be monitored by the people involved in the experiments. Doesn’t your world have that kind of spell or technique too? ”

In realization, her eyes grew wide, knowing the horrors that it could be a possibility. She didn’t ask any more questions after that, knowing that there was an announcement that their transport will leave in 20 minutes and... how Jaeger is slightly bitter at her innocence. “right, that’s all for this briefing, get to the armoury to pick up your Exo and a surprise tool, we’ll meet up in hangar 1”

“ “Surprise tool?” “ the three said in sync, confused and slightly giddy (it was only 60k) about it. “you’ll see,” Jaeger said with a grin, returning to his normal self. “now go! We only got 20 minutes to prep up!”

As the three stood up and saluted to him, leaving the briefing barracks, Jaeger sighed and glanced at Aurora and bowed apologetically to her. “sorry I said such cold words, it’s part of our job, it’s not like I don’t care about people’s lives but our mercenary code always take priorities of our mission and lives first then others”

It was rather surprising, she thought that he hated her because she wasn’t experienced enough about these sorts of things, but rather, he just lived up to what his occupation demanded. She shook her head in reply, “No… my apologies too… I should’ve not asked such question and lost my composure… and you are correct, our kingdom might be needed to arrange some more to accept refugees of war, and have them adapt to our customs.” She looked down, still feeling slightly guilty for ruining the atmosphere of the briefing.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

noticing it, Jaeger patted her shoulder, reassuring her, “It’s still my wrong for making you mad though. Well how about this… I’ll take you to fly with the aircraft I brought you here with and you’ll be given the proper equipment to be in the back seat without experiencing G-LOC again. how’s that sound?”

“oh, is that a repayment for yesterday too?~” he took notice of her slightly teasing tone and just shrugged it off with his witty remarks. “you sure know how to tease someone huh? Did my mother taught you that between her classes?”

“make a guess~”

“… honestly, I want to continue your game but…” he shoved the tablet that he use to present the briefing down to his duffle bag, zipping it up, “looks like it’s already time for me to go”

“Aww… I thought you still have time left…”

Conrad wanted to add something to their conversation, but since they were already in their own world, he just leaned on his chin and watched their conversation, “get a room you two” he thought while giving the look

- at the same time, the temporary armoury -

“Relax, this might hurt…”

“Huh? AAARRRGHH” The three are currently waiting in line to wear the Exoskeleton, the ones who shrieked in pain is 60k who volunteered to wear it first. At first, they were rather intrigued and excited (?), but then… when they were informed that the Exoskeleton needed to be connected to their vertebrae to have the maximum output of movement and strength that’s provided by the Exo itself, Point and Coyote slightly felt anxious as they don’t know how it would feel when they’re about to use it. So they let 60k do it first, as he didn’t listen to some of the technician’s explanations.

“Ughh… Damnit you two! You used me as a guinea pig!!” The two smirked while letting out a small ominous laugh, “We thought you like to go ahead first, so we let you~” Coyote retorted mischievously.

“Screw it! Especially you John! It hurts more and weirder than getting my prostate examed!”

“not my fault bro, at le- wait… what the f**k?” Point sighed, rubbing his eyes “You just made it worse mate don’t you know that?”

“I don’t know what else to compare to okay!? Anyway, your turn Coyote!”

Coyote and Point got their turns, and as they expected it was agonizing, just the Neural Vertebrae Connector penetrating the back of their necks made them not just scream in pain, but it also made them get the feel of being decapitated. Later on, after all the procedures are finished, they also got their own personal AI assistant, however, it is inferior to O4NR performance. The two wondered how in the world their squad leader managed to get through that sort of thing, but they came to the conclusion that it’s Jaeger, he’s different.

The three also got injected by something issued by their higher-ups, which when 60k asked, the nurse who was injecting the substance replied; “It’s nanobots or nanomachines, you name it. It’s integrated with your AI and your life support software so you can manage your health, increase the speed of injury recovery, and also prevent any harmful substances from being absorbed by your blood.”

“what about the clear liquid?”

“oh it’s just something that could dissolve quickly”

“riiight…”

Moving on several minutes later, the team is suited up and is on their way to meet up with their leader in Hangar 1, and as they approached the bustling hangar, from a distance they could see their ride slowly move out from the hangar while its hybrid engine screeches. 60k then notices their Squad lead is standing with their guest as the VCAD slowly moves to the tarmac and swivels its thrusters downwards, switching to its VTOL mode. While the ground crew quickly close the hangar doors and loaded up the last batch of supplies to the transport craft, the three pick up their pace as they saw Jaeger seemingly giving goodbyes to Conrad and Aurora.

As soon as they reached the transport’s cargo bay door/ramp, Jaeger is already waiting for them, he made a hand gesture to them to turn on their radio from the ear protection they were wearing so that he could hear them talking, a static went through their ear protection and Jaeger’s voice could be heard, “testing… one, two… are comms are clear?” he said, testing the connection.

“Yeah, it’s somewhat clear enough,” Coyote remarked, from all of the equipment they were given, only some are new tech, which that is their exoskeleton, the MFD that’s also integrated into it, a cloak with integrated cloaking abilities, weapons that are fitted to their role in the team, a Multi-Role Visor alongside a new ballistic helmet that could use Thermal, Night or Hybrid vision mode depending on the user’s needs. The rest of it is just an ordinary chest rig/plate carrier and combat uniform, alongside the typical standard-issue mil-spec radio and ear protection. All of these are coloured in either drab or dark green multicam excluding the rifle which is still good old classic metal black.

“Alright, I’ll tell the pilot we’re all here, change the channel to the one O4NR sent to your HUD”

Jaeger then went inside the aircraft while the three followed him from behind while changing the frequency of their radio to the frequency that his AI sent. The three then sit on the seats on the side of the hull after they put on their duffle bag on top of the metal boxes in front of their seats, buckling up after. As they were doing a final check on their weapons, the ground crew stated that all of the cargo has been loaded and they could take off any time, and as he turned around, the cargo bay doors slowly closes and the three could hear the engine started to spool up.

Jaeger came back from the cockpit section, and quickly took a seat near the narrow staircase leading towards the aforementioned section. “you guys strapped up?” he asked as he buckles himself up.

“yeah! We’re good!” replied Coyote. “nice! The ride will be a smooth one up until we’re trying to break into the barrier of the [World gate] even in supersonic, it’s still shaky as hell. brace yourselves later on”

“Yes sir!” the three shouted in sync again, since the engine sound is slightly getting louder. In the cockpit, the pilots were making the final checks. The co-pilot/gunnery officer gave a thumbs up to his captain, giving the green light to take off as all systems are nominal. The pilot then flicks up a switch that activates the airtight system to be activated, sealing doors that lead to the outside and closing their windshield, activating the monitors of the now enclosed flight system in the process.

“Tower, this is Astra flight, requesting permission to take off”

“Granted Astra, good luck on your mission.” With that said the engines of the aircraft started to screech louder as it slowly hovers away from the ground. And as it reached a certain altitude, the engine slowly swivels to its original position as the aircraft slowly speeds up into a conventional flight. The aircraft was being waved good luck by everyone from the ground on the tarmac, including the royalty siblings themselves. As the aircraft flew beyond the horizon, unable to be seen anymore, Conrad, who already wanted to return as he was very tired from everything since he woke up all night, notices his sister who still looks towards the way the flight flew away with a troubled look on her face.

“you’re concerned about him?” he tapped her shoulder, snapping her back to reality. “ah- Connie… I… I do”

“he did say he’ll return right? Though, I’m still questioning how can you fall for him even though you two only met for like… I don’t know… a week or so?”

Her troubled face quickly changed into an uncontrolled fluster, “I-I-I… I don’t know okay! It’s just… every time I spent my time having a conversation with him, I feel comfortable and somewhat safe…” In her stutters, her brother just shook his head with a small smile on his face.

“I won’t stop you since you’ve been rejecting every single marriage proposal that was given by the sons of the nobles around us, if he is indeed your fated one, even though our encounter with him were rather… unique I might say… then I won’t stop you. But for now…” he yawned, it was one of the biggest yawns she had ever seen and it made her giggle, “Can we go back home? I’m quite tired already…”

“I’m quite surprised that you’re not intrigued by the amount of technological advancements they have”

“Hey! I do am interested in it! It’s just… I’ve been helping Father with paperwork all night you know?”

“hehe~ I do know that, sorry for having you accompany me with my selfish wish”

He didn’t answer and just walked away, tired. The two then were guided to the gate where their carriage is waiting. During their ride back to the castle, Aurora is still slightly restless, as she didn’t want her first love die somewhere in a place that she doesn’t know. Though, remembering back how Jaeger reassured her before he left and also the promise he made, a small smile was painted on her face. Who knows that he could fulfil those words he said.