Even from a distance, the heated discussion was heard clearly. Two voices – male and female – were on the brink of shouting at each other. The tent partly muffled the sound, making the topic unknown to outsiders. And there were quite a few as a whole Robert’s group, led by the major, was approaching the place, where they had to meet their last two members and finally get the details of the mission.
“Nice teaming,” Mason commented, exchanging glances with Rob.
“Maybe it is not that bad,” Raphael disagreed, “Everyone can…”
“Don’t you dare to come near me, you, stupid blockhead!”
Entering the tent, they all saw a young woman was already in throwing motion, aiming the bottle directly at the head of a smiling man. The latter easily avoided the projectile, raising his empty palms and speaking with a resentful tone.
“Hey, lady, calm down, both of you, please! You were the first who was literally eyeing my ass, barely holding yourself from drooling over it, but the moment I praised your own… asset… with, worth mentioning, quite flattering wording, you decided to show your bad temper. I haven’t done anything!”
“You would regret it if you did!” she shouted instantly while searching for another thing to throw.
“I am already regretting... A truly beautiful woman has not only an appearance but elegance and exquisiteness in her character. And while you have plenty of former, the lack of the latter puts a huge no, like real huge, to any possibilities…”, the man demonstratively sighed.
“Possibilities? There is none as no sane woman can see you as anything but a filthy and rude barbarian without manners!”
“Oh, you would be surprised by the real number… not that you have a chance to experience it yourself,” the man smirked, leading to another roar from the woman. She immediately grabbed the nearest cup and threw it. This time the man wasn’t so lucky. Distracted by the appearance of the major, he missed it completely, getting hit directly into his forehead.
“Calm down, both!” the command from the major was ignored as they started to talk simultaneously.
“Sir, you must put her in the cage – she is too wild…”
“Mister Krybor, I don’t want his presence in our mission!”
“SHUT UP, both of you and sit down. That is an ORDER!”
This time the shout from the major was not only loud but had a metal tone in it, warning of the dire consequences of possible disobeying. That finally led to the silence. Nodding to himself, their commander went in deeper inside the tent before stopping near the huge table. That allowed Rob and others to sit on the chairs while looking at the pair, which created such a commotion. Being the last to enter, Robert only saw the part of the show.
Surprisingly, both could boast about their appearance as if they were professional models. The woman had long blonde hair, currently tied in a braid; big sapphire-like eyes; cherry lips and cute dimples. Dressed in some kind of traveler's outfit with leather boots, light brown tight pants, and a white blouse under the jacket, she was indeed beautiful. However, this fact only reminded Rob about Beth. The latter didn’t have such classic beauty, but, nevertheless, her cuteness was much more attractive to him.
The man, on the other hand, was athletic and tall for an ordinary human, maybe even reaching the level of Rob’s lips. Wearing an officer uniform, he had left several last buttons of his shirt unfastened, showing off with muscular chest. The same deliberate action was made with rolled-up sleeves, which opened his thick forearms. His black short hair was combed back, leaving only a few strands to drop back on the forehead. The facial features almost cried about noble lineage. Thin long nose, square jaw, and brown eyes that were shining with boldness and confidence.
“I need to make myself clear – I will not change the squad composition. And you, Miss Carrey, you were the one who wanted to join and agreed to my terms. Captain Jack Wolly, with whom you were arguing, has enough experience in leading deep recon missions in woodlands… And he will be in charge of the operation to get you to the object and back. And yes, your requests on the object will be the priority and he will have to obey, but otherwise, you have to stay silent. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” the man nodded without a pause.
“Yes… if mister Cucumber will keep his own mini version inside his pants,” the woman answered, not managing to keep her remark to herself.
“Hey, it is my family name that I had no option to choose!”
“I agree. Wolly isn’t that bad when my full name is Roberto Diadkoleborshviz,” Rob didn’t know why he intervened, but such stupid bickering looked directly from the comedy when nobody took seriously the future mission. The command work would be crucial for it, and he was even sure if they had any ability to train together to go through combat coordination.
“What? No way!”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“How do even pronounce it?”
“Diadk…lorbsh… what was it again?”
“Robert, that is not your real name. Captain Ironspike just helped you to get an identity,” Major sighed, looking at the chaos that was emerging instead of proper briefing.
“How the fuck did you remember this gibberish? It is sounds like a total bullshit,” Alice asked, lightly hitting Rob’s shoulder.
“Took a while… Okay, I am Robert Flop… And Flop doesn’t sound any better than Wolly,” he admitted.
“Thank you, man, I knew that someone could finally understand how hard it is for the child to have such a family name,” standing up, Jack went for a handshake while smiling widely.
“Now hug each other and cry in the corner,” Miss Carrey could resist again not to add her comment.
“Your tongue is too poisonous, woman. No one will kiss you properly,” Jack shrugged it off, placing his butt on the next chair near Rob.
“Miss Carrey, do you know that there is just one step from hatred to love? You are approaching too fast to the edge,” Robert added, making the woman finally stop verbally attacking their future leader and pretend that she didn’t care about the presence of others.
“Okay, everyone SHUT UP! I knew I was picking real freaks, but do not test my patience,” the major roared from anger, freezing everyone present. The moment later they were sitting with a look of innocent children, who were filled with anticipation before the lecture from their favorite teacher.
“Fucking circus… Okay, to the business. But I warn you – any sign of unnecessary movement, any unwanted comment, anything that I will not like, and you will be sent to prison for disobedience in wartime… And yes, that is an abuse of my power, but so what? You don’t have any means to protect your asses from me. Does everyone understand what I am saying? Good. I don’t need stupid kindergarten here.”
Taking a pause to observe the expression of the squad members with heavy and threatening gaze, Major finally nodded before starting his briefing.
“From the information that we’ve got from Miss Carrey, there is a huge possibility that our enemies are currently developing a new weapon. I will not go into detail about how we found out… but all indirect signs confirm this process. After some analysis, we managed to point out a possible location of the development center. It is located in an underground facility that previously was a mine but during the war was turned into a tank production center. Moreover, it is not that far from the frontlines, barely fifty miles (80 km). Such position helps a quick delivery of new equipment, while the thick layer of earth prevents bombing from above.”
“Is it a new tank, sir?” Mason asked, using the moment, when Major paused to take a breath.
“Quite possibly, but we are not sure. That is the main reason for Miss Carrey’s presence. She can identify the target, analyze its capabilities, and estimate its value for us. If it is nothing special or dangerous, then the goal would be to destroy the facility from the inside, using the explosives from ammunition storage and the sergeant’s Berkley skills… If its threat level is big, then you have to capture the schematics before blowing up everything.”
“Sir, I assume I am responsible for the delivery of our group?” Mason followed with another question.
“Yes, Senior Lieutenant Brown will pilot the scouting dirigible. The command had planned an attack on the enemy’s position not far from the facility and we will use it as distraction…”
“A full-scale attack just to cover up our mission? Wow,” Jack whistled in surprise.
“Do not overestimate your value. The attack was planned half a year ago at a bare minimum. Weakening our defense lines for some time, we deliberately provoked our enemy to intensify his attacks, thus burning all his reserves in unsuccessful assaults. That gave us the ability to gather unused force for our own operation, which has to goal of cutting deep into occupied territory to… No, you don’t need to know all the details. Just remember that is me who asked for permission to use this possibility. That is the reason why you don’t have time to get to know each other properly – I can’t let such opportunity slide through my fingers,” stressed the major, adding a metal in his tone.
That explains a lot why we were constantly on the brink of collapsing… So many deaths just for the sake of the future attack… I guess that is how the wars are won.
“How will we go back, sir?”
It was the first time Rob heard when the older Olos brother spoke. In comparison to Raphael, who was barely holding himself from throwing another sentence, he behaved as mute. However, taking into account his expression about the loss of two members of his family, it wasn’t surprising that he was the one to voice out the most important question for all present.
“Preferably with the same dirigible. If you are not able to, then you can try to capture a truck or something similar and simply drive toward our attacking troops… Maybe you can even use a captured weapon – it would be the best scenario…”
“So, basically, we need to rely on ourselves and our luck. Sir,” Jack directly interrupted the major, making the latter sigh.
“Yes. And I warned you all about the chances before getting your agreement. No stepping back.”
“Nothing new, taking into account my experience… Maybe only less shelling and more shooting,” Robert’s calm tone had broken a short silence, which had enveloped the tent after this revelation from the high-rank officer.
“You’ve seen some shit,” turning his head to Rob, Jack spoke, before winking, “I need to study the maps, but I am sure we can find few possible routes to get back our asses in safety… Oh, sorry, I meant our asses and Miss Carrey’s sacred, untouchable asset.”
“Are you starting it again?” she shouted immediately, rising from her sit. “Do you think I am so fragile that can’t beat your idiotic ass?”
“Oh, I am sure you can… and want,” Jack smirked, and demonstrative licked his lips. That led to another outburst. The woman instantly rushed to him, obviously trying to hit him with her fist. Rob managed to notice a pretty good stance, before standing up and stopping both with his palms by grabbing their shoulders. Squeezing lightly, he made them to focus their attention to him. And if Miss Carrey calmed down in a few moments, Jack tried to push Robert’s hand with all his force. Unfortunately for him, the grab felt like metal tongs and didn’t even move despite his enormous effort and usage of the second arm.
“What the fuck with you? Are made from steel?” he muttered in disbelief, looking at towering Rob.
“I am vegan… You, both, get a tent, please. You are becoming too annoying while being the leader of our group. Just release some steam with each other and move on. No one will judge… Or just stop behaving like stupid teenagers under hormones!”
However, before Rob got his answer, the piercing sound of alarm had captured the attention of everyone. Noticing the major’s facial expression, Robert immediately understood that it wasn’t the sound the former had expected to hear during the briefing, crossing out the possibility of a simple announcement.