“What?” Not even Alex could hide his shock upon hearing Shahid's words.

“Yes. Before this moment, the information I’m going to share with you was and still is highly classified but I feel as though you should know because of what is soon to come.” The Professor said before tapping on his table once which brought up a holographic display next to him.

The display showed the creature which we recovered from the Kilopede only it was on an operating table and surrounded by doctors all of whom had their faces blurred out.

“To begin with, the first half of any of the information I share with you was first discovered by 44-Ghoul’s previous commander, Kruin, during Operation Abyssal Deluge.”

“Wait- what?” Jenette gasped.

[So they weren’t just dreams.] Bulkkoch muttered.

“Yes. On that terrible day, 44-Ghoul was sucked into one of the gates the Hayulâ use to appear in our before it closed and this seemingly took you all to one of their planets. While you and Redacted were unconscious, Commander Kruin saw a world of biomechanical structures that seemingly assembled the Hayulâ like fleshly cars in an assembly line. He was then sucked back into the gate which returned him to the ocean floor where you were all recovered.” Professor Shahid explained.

“Why didn’t he tell us- why didn’t you share this information with the world?” Jenette gnashed her teeth.

“To be completely honest, we didn’t believe him. We could not replicate the circumstances that allowed our travel to their worlds and so could not verify his findings. It was also very inconvenient that the Ghoul’s sensors and monitors all seemingly froze as soon as he entered the gate. Our conclusion at the time was that 44-Ghoul just malfunctioned and Kruin had hallucinated the rest. I apologize for the lack of transparency and our callous disregard.” The Professor lowered his head but this just made Jenette click her tongue.

But something was bothering me.

I knew exactly what the Professor was talking about.

I glanced at Chocolate and gasped internally after seeing that he was looking right at me.

He then gave me a nod and this gave me the confidence I needed to face the Professor and raise my hand.

“Sir?”

“Speak freely.” The Professor permitted.

“That wasn’t all that Commander Kruin saw.”

Everyone turned to me.

“Go on.”

“When I first synchronized with the Ghoul and Chocolate, I saw… visions. I dismissed them as stress induced hallucinations but what I’ve learnt today tells me that they were a significantly more than that. I saw… I felt Kruin in those moments when he slipped into their world. He fell all the way to the world’s surface and knelt before… a galaxy.” I explained.

“And?”

“That was all I saw before Chocolate pulled me out of that vision, sir.”

“I see.” The Professor tapped his chin.

“I’ll need you to document your experience and send it to me. We may have stumbled a little closer towards the grand truth of this cursed war but I guess that’s where our friend comes in. After learning as much as we can from it, I think it may be time to share the truth with mankind although only God knows what will be revealed once or if that thing even recovers. Time will tell but for now, dismissed!”

We all gave the Professor sharp salutes and promptly left the office.

I noticed that everyone was staring at me.

“We’re gonna give y’all some space.” Alex awkwardly smiled while tiptoeing towards the elevator with his crew in tow.

“Good luck.” Tomino waved as she and her crew followed Alex into the elevator.

I couldn’t help but feel as though I had been betrayed but I cast aside those feelings and turned to my crew but before I could address their concerned eyes, a yell came from within the office.

“You can interrogate your commander anywhere but in front my office!”

The Professor’s words gave me hope that Jenette’s glare would soften but that wasn’t the case.

I let out a defeated sigh and it wasn’t long before we were back in our barracks and the crew had me sit in front of them in the living room.

With drooped shoulders, I explained to them what I experienced and, strangely enough, I wasn’t met by their usual snarky remarks or anything.

Instead, their looks made it seem like they were deeply mourning.

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Their heads hung low and it looked like Jenette was holding back some tears.

“Yep. That sounds like something he would do.” She wiped the single tear that fell.

"Yeah. Always trying to carry everyone’s weight even if we didn’t ask." Bulkkoch reminisced aloud while Chocolate nodded.

A moment of silence then passed and the sombre atmosphere was enough to drown out the muffled construction noises from beyond our quarters.

It was Jenette who finally broke the silence after looking at me with a pained expression.

“Look, I’ll give you the respect you want. Just don’t go and try to be a hero. Don’t carry more than you can because Alex was right. A Sayaad isn’t just one person, it’s the whole crew so promise me you won’t try to do everything by yourself and I’m not only talking about combat.”

Her earnest plea shook me.

I had tried my best not to think about the death of 44-Ghoul’s previous commander since it brought about only negative feelings and thought it would be best to avoid the subject when talking to the crew but I guess the levees had finally broken.

“Alright-“

“Say you promise.” Jenette pleaded again. The sharpness of her eyes was long gone, replaced by a near palpable sorrow.

This was the same for the others and so, to reply their sincerity in kind, I sat up straight and looked them each in the eye.

“I promise not to carry more than I can and to rely on my crew.” My teeth gnashing with determination and this earned me a warm smile from Jenette who ultimately ended up scoffing.

“We’ll see if your words are worth a damn but for now, I guess you can call me Hawk.” Her nose was high but the atmosphere was gradually softening so I didn’t mind the return of her previous attitude.

"Ugh, you can call me Redacted too although I wish I had a different call sign-"

“Redacted it is!” I declared while pumping my fist in the air but this just made Bulkkoch roll over and feign death.

“Chocolate is still Chocolate.” Jenette joyfully ruffled hair which visibly disgruntled him but he chose not to move away.

“And what will my call sign be?” I raised a brow and, to my surprise, the three stood up and for the first time since I got on base, they gave me sharp salutes.

“””sir!”””

My eyes widened.

Is this… what it feels like to be respected by your crew?

I stood up, saluted them in kind and nodded towards the door.

“Alright, Ghouls. Let’s get some lunch!”

.

..

Our arrival in the mess hall was met by a sea of applause and while I was never the shy type, I definitely felt a little embarrassed as everyone watched us fetch our nutrition bars.

Everyone from technicians working on repairing the Alsayaadin to the crews themselves were cheering for us as we sat by one of the many steel benches that lined the fairly lit space that was as big as a high-school assembly hall.

It was one of many and this one was reserved for Sayaad crews and the Bird’s Nest’s highest ranking workers.

I glanced at my crew and saw that they were acting like we were just having a normal lunch.

I guess it wasn’t strange for the crews of Alsayaadin to be famous.

“So, where do your nicknames come from?” I asked as a means of distracting myself from the stares. I knew that we could have just eaten in our quarters but I had been taught that keeping in touch with as many members of your base of operations was key to fluid cooperation.

Jenette, who sat in front of me, was first to explain and while her words expressed some vague idea of humility, her face was smug.

“Hawks are known for their speed and precision as am I. I have a 90% accuracy rating and I am qualified to operate e every armament available to the Alsayaadin. Not that it’s anything special.”

All I could do was look to Redacted for help but he was still sad after I didn’t even bother giving him a nickname.

“And you?”

"Someone thought my surname sounded funny and the rest is history." He sighed and while I wanted to know exactly how he got his name, I chose to drop it.

“And Chocolate? I know be likes the flavour but why did that become his name?”

It wasn’t uncommon for Core Controllers to be given names that were different to their designated serial codes.

Each year came with it a new generation of C-cons with the first generation being created when the Ring War began, during the development of the Alsayaadin.

Chocolate was of the eighteenth generation and his number was CC-G18-M2-4. The four came from the fact that each Core Controller was assigned to a specific Sayaad although instead of being indicated by a generational designation, the Sayaad would be identified by an “M” for “Mark”.

“The very first thing Kruin did when they met was give him something quite rare. Matter fact, I’ve never seen one since.” Jenette said before leaning forward to whisper.

“He gave him an actual bar of chocolate. Made from cocoa and everything!”

My eyes widened their limits.

“Damn! How did he manage to get hands on one of those?” I gasped.

"Kruin was the son of some rich folks in Northern Europe or something and while he liked acting humble, he couldn’t help but spoil our lovely Chocolate." Redacted teased with a wistful smile.

"But enough about us. Tell us something about yourself… sir." Redacted added the last part as if he’d forgotten he was talking to his commander.

“Well, there’s not much to me. Like the Professor said, my story and motives are not all too imaginative. I was orphaned back in 2083 when the G-Class Mad Mheni almost annihilated most of Southern Africa and, after growing to be old enough to enlist, I joined Mankind United and trained to be the one thing that could offer me a means to exact my revenge on the Hayulâ. Now I sit before you, a child of Vengeance.” I wearily smiled while trying to recall the faces of parents I had no memories of.

"You know, if you had said all that, maybe the Admiral’s appraisal of you would have been different." Redacted scoffed.

“Yeah. I heard that no single attack has yet to match the devastating caused by that gigantic fucker.” Hawk bit her teeth.

The atmosphere got a little tense again but before it could settle, someone started yelling several things over a megaphone.

[Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to ask that you applaud the crew of the 44-Ghoul once more for their bravery alongside that of Storm Bane and the weasel!]

Everyone turned their heads to find Alex leaning against a pillar in the centre of the space with a megaphone in hand.

Everyone clapped upon hearing his words.

[But… every battle, even those won, come at a cost and we have a tradition around here jn the Bird’s Nest! The person who costs the base the most money has to brandish the cursed Wrench of Shame!”

The room was then filled with cheers and other such spirited cries.

[Now, I managed to get my hands on a copy of the bills the Professor is gonna have to pay and, woo boy, it’s a big one!]

Alex pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper.

[Ahem! For wrecking 44-Ghoul’s arm, burning a shit ton of its Glass pathways and paying for my therapy bill, Sayaad Commander Mudziyo and the crew of 44-Ghoul are to hold the Wrench until I inevitably take it from you again!]

A wave of cheers filled the air as a grease covered technician offered me a large, slightly rusted Wrench.

I bashful accepted it before glaring at Alex for making even more people look at me and all the idiot did was shoot me a wink!