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[Camp Benetus, North East Province, Smaya Sovereignty - Esmond Empire colonial district - 16:47]
"All we want is glass of mead!"
"All we want is glass of mead!"
"Go to war and bleed for it!"
"Go to war and bleed for it!"
As a company of infantrymen starts jogging over Titus Thanatos's tent, while singing the made up song among the soldier 'Glass of Mead', Titus himself is enjoying a nice cup of bitter black coffee. There is nothing better than a cup of coffee, a high quality cigar from southern Islands and a comfortable office chair that comes together with an ergonomic office table. He puts his legs on the table just right next to a file report and a Laptop that shows a face of two male individuals.
This is boring, he thought. But what is he supposed to do at the time of peace as a soldier? As a major of what is supposed to be an elite force of the Esmond Empire? Sinking is empty thought, he blows out a light grey smoke toward the tent's ceiling.
As light steps are coming toward the tents, Major Thanatos asked himself, "Am I crazy or is the smoke kind of look like a hot single mom from Oscington?"
"You're cleary insane, sir," said a young, cold female voice, "Smoking and drinking coffee at the same time while lazy around? Looks like you're living a good life."
"Living good life? I wished!," he turns around and look at the female operator. His eyebrows are raised up to his wrinkled forehead. He didn't smile, in fact he rarely does and sometime it does go well and looked intimidating with his short buzzed cut, "So what brings you here?"
"Sergeant Laura Sanders, here to report about the suspicious Elvian activity, Sir!," she salutes him formally. It wasn't really necessary but rules in the army requires them to.
Titus rolls up the eyes, "Ugh cut the crap out, Laura. You don't have to salute me when we're alone."
"But rules are rules, Major," Her voice seems as cold as her look. Beautiful short raven black hair that was styled to an elegant looking bob cut.
"Fuck the rules, I know you since you're five. I'm surprised you haven't called me dad yet," he turns around and sips his coffee and uses the ash tray. Not that he likes being called Daddy by a girl almost twenty years younger than him, in fact that would weirded him out in a great measure.
Laura giggles while covering her mouth. There is nothing weird there, it's just her habit. It's true that Titus knows her since her young age. Her father was one of his friend and Titus used to visited them from time to time. Titus is like a father figure to her and he inspires her so much so that she signed up for the military herself. She is not your average girl but surprisingly agile and has a talent for marksmanship and leading competency. After intensive training, she was assigned to Thanatos's Elite Squad, also known as the "BWS" - Black Wolves Squad, as a designated marksman.
Titus himself was an expert in infiltration mission. He himself was a veteran of the intercontinental war with the elves and the blessed human that ended as current truce between both East and West. To him it wasn't even a war but a senseless massacre. He remembers how he gunned down fleeing Elves and elvian children before he ordered the airforce to throw napalm on their forest village on the land of Afrea - the land of the Elves. If it wasn't for the social activists back to the hometown then the elves would probably be extinct by now. That's how the exiled Human in the West is like anyway and it still doesn't change the fact that he was one of the most important figure during that said event.
"So you're just gonna stand there and watch me enjoy my coffee?," Titus said as he disables the laptop screen saver.
"HQ wants you, said they found something that they want BWS to investigate later," Laura answered as she steps toward the office table while opening the file that she brought with her. It's a map of the forest west of the Camp Benetus.
"Did the damn Elves try to turn water into wine again?," he asks as he goes through the documents, "I'd be happier if it's actually freshly roasted coffee beans."
"Geez you and your coffee. Do you even sleep?," she makes the expression of someone who witnesses something out of the world. "That was a rhetorical question by the way, I honestly don't want to know."
"If coffee is what kept me awake, then the booze is what kept me in bed!," He laughs loudly. Laura otherwise just makes a poker face.
"Yeah... Whatever but I think you should hurry. We got a job to do," she said as she starts packing up the files and head out. Titus finished his coffee and throw away the cigar. He stands and slaps his head gently to sort of waking himself up. 'Ah shit, here we go again', he thought to himself.
As Major Thanatos steps outside, he was greeted with somewhat moist and cold air. It's typically for this area in this country. It's autumn and Titus really wants to go back home to Athium, he has enough of this moist and cold weather. Why stays here in the camp when chilling at the Athium beach is much better? Maybe he'll retire from this job and open a café or something right next to the beach, that'd be nice. If the general would actually let him go, that is.
For Laura, he feels a little bit guilty as she signed up for the military. He knows damn well that this job is not a game and it can completely change yourself to the better or worse. Since her mother figure died in a car accident and her father went MIA on a mission, there wasn't much choice for Laura but to live with her Grandma at the north of Oscington. Back then Titus luckily was transfered to the Empire Defense force as field instructor, so visiting her now and then wasn't a problem.
Walking through the camp full of young men in Uniform who have nothing to do but playing cards or wrestling reminds him of when he was still in High School. More than half of them probably have never been in a fire fight before, after all they were probably just after money since the army paid pretty well for voluntees who willingly to station in a foreign land like Smaya. Titus can't really blame them, he was like that once too.
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The HQ building barely looks like an actual HQ building. It's just a 2 story building made of ugly grey concrete with machine gunners and snipers stand by on the roof. The armistice contracts determined that the Edmond Empire should only have certain amount of combat force and the financial support over here in this colonial district was not that great after the war. Sometimes Titus wonder if these young men actually got paid at all, not like they could know since there are pretty much no ATMs nearby and the only way you can get the cash is by asking assigned Company Manager for the allowance, in which in will be cut out of your income after tons of paperworks. The equipments are not frontline ready and are pretty much left over from the great war, after all the higher ups would like to focus more on In Lands defense than actual men and women at the fronts.
"Guess we're just statistics in the end," Titus mutters to himself.
The hall way is badly lit up, it wouldn't surprise Titus if some Smayan Terrorists or local Rebels manage to steal the Intel successfully. For the Emperor's sake somebody please fix this lamp. The annoying blinking could theoretically give a man an epileptic attack. The stair way itself is lit up with cold blue neon light. On the way up he was accidentally bumped into a rather small teenager. Gosh how old he is even? Sixteen? Titus thought to himself. With the badly lit stairway he couldn't recognize the young man neither the name on his uniform.
"Excuse me," the teenage boy said. Thanatos ignores him and went up the stair. It's nothing new to bump into someone here on the way up.
"Oh look who's here! If this ain't the war hero himself!," the man who appears to be a higher rank than Titus greets him with a rough handshake. His name is Tivadar Thanatos, a long distant relative of Titus. Surprised, Titus asked him what's he doing here. Last thing he knew was that Tivadar wanted to leave the Military for good - and now he's here playing a commander and acts like nothing happened.
"I thought you wanted to retire for good, Tivadar?"
"Yeah.. about that, I've been tangled up with the higher up ,again, you know? To repay some 'debts' for them. They wouldn't let me go easily. Sometimes I thought they have better memories than the mysterious sky people," Tivadar laughs nervously. This isn't the Tivadar Titus used to know. Tivadar was more like a cold hearted killer. In fact he was active as a hired muscle and hitman during the continental war. He used to be an external operative who went rogue after the Empire could not keep their end of the deal with him.
"Mysterious sky people? Don't tell me you still belive in that fairy tale?," Titus was never a fan of a fictional story and of course not a story about a mysterious folk who lives in the land above the earth and such. Titus is a total atheist and does not believe in the story of the Exiles and the Blessed, that his folk was the outcast of the holy kingdom.
"I actually saw them! They were soooo beautiful like the snow mountain in the Ryss Enclave!," Tivadar has never been like this, it's like he completely changed. Titus gives him a judgmental look at Tivadar and realize there are other people in the room too. He recognize Laura instantly and the camp leader Riley Orwell. There are other two individuals whom he did not know before. A clean looking young adult already equipped in battle gear and a rather feminine looking boy with freckles on his face also dressed ready for the mission.
Laura who's been there the whole time in the corner finally speaks up. "Well I values a friendly family meet up, but no offense, can we start speaking about the mission now?" She is right though, the other guys look worried, but the feminine boy still forces a smile on his face.
"Titus, may I introduce your new team members for this task? Corporal Daniel Wolf and Private Adam Zimmer." Riley Orwell introduces the two men who now salute Titus.
"I'm here for the explosives," said Daniel, the clean looking dude, "I'm from the 404th Infantry Battailions of Ospium Marine Corps Sir."
"I'm.. uh Adam Zimmer. Uhm I'm uhhh a dolmetsher and culture specialist," the little feminine guy seems nervous. Actually he starts shaking a little bit.
"Nice to meet you two, have you had any field experience before?," asked Titus while he crossed his arms.
Daniel and Adam looks at each other. Daniel starts answering first.
"Not directly Sir, I've been stationed at the capital city before I was transfered here," Daniel licks his lips. He is probably insecured about it.
"I'm transfered directly here right after the University graduation, Sir.." Adam sounds like he's about to cry.
Titus facepalmed himself, he doesn't know what he was expecting in the first place. A lot of good men died in the war so it's just logical to work with newbies. He sighs and said it's okay to be new. Personally Titus wished that the furthest front of operation like this camp should be at least filled with more experienced soldiers. Peace time doesn't mean humanity should let their guard down.
Riley Orwell looks at everyone before he continues on the mission's detail.
"Major Thanatos, I gathered you here to assign you to a somewhat classified mission," he opens the projector and lays a foil printed with a picture of something that looks like a crash sites in the middle of the forest, "This picture was taken by the airforce stationed in the city this afternoon. The crash sites is about 40 kilometers west from here."
"Yeah I saw that in the report, what's this about? Accident?," Titus wants to know the details, surely if it was an accident, Riley could have just sent the rescue team instead of assigns the BWS member like Titus to this kind mission.
"It's not an accident. It was an unknown aircraft. We shot it down." Riley Orwells says it like it's nothing new.
"What do you mean by unknown aircraft? And you shot it down? Are you crazy?! It could have been civilians-" Titus is shocked by the short and cold answer.
"We tried to contact the pilots like it is written in the air space regulation but there is not response and no sign of the pilot's attempts of landing. Since this is our aerial territory, we are obliged to shoot down any unknown air craft," Riley explains calmly, surely this is not the first time he experienced events like this, "Your job is to secure the pilots and the aircraft itself."
"And you couldn't have just sent any inspection team to secure the crash site?," Things make no sense for Titus. Why send a special force on a mission like this? Anyone could have done it?
"In fact, we did," after a short pause Riley continues, "But the team went MIA."
"Miss in action? Don't tell me you suspect the rebels and the terrorists to be behind the scene?," Anything but the Elves, Titus thought. The thought of killing Elf children still haunts him until these days. Without booze and cigarette he probably wouldn't know if he can still keep himself sane.
"Just a hypothesis, and if it turns out to be the Elves. You know what that mean for the armistice contract of the continental war. Also who does have more experience with the Elvian Tactics than you? Sounds perfect right?," Riley insists that Titus goes on this mission. "Also is the not me asking a favor, but a command."
Riley comes closer to Titus and touches his shoulder before he stars whispering, "Look, see it as an opportunity for these newbies to gain some experience will you? Do it for me as a friend please."
"Why doesn't he go?," Titus looks at Tivadar, he was also there when Titus burnt down the Elvian village. Unlike Titus, Tivadar seemed to enjoy it every minute of that atrocity.
"I'm in charge of something else. Even more classified than this stuff. Kinda feels like I'm a top secret agent myself. Haha!," he gives Titus a big punchable smile. Titus couldn't do anything but to accept it.
"The mission should starts ASAP, Titus," Riley adds to it. Titus nods acceptably, Riley did in fact helps him several times when it comes to work places. Beside what could go wrong? All he had to do is make a nice walk through the forest and look at the crashed plane and come back right?
"Alright boys and girls, get yourself done. We're gonna go in 10 minutes," Titus breaths in deeply and said, "Semper Fidelis. Loyalty until death!"
Everyone else in the room repeats.
"Semper Fidelis! Loyalty until death!," At last the four operators starts heading out.
Major Titus Thanatos [https://i.imgur.com/q82PBSb.png]