Alban was the proud unanimously elected democratic leader of his team. He was ecstatic about it, he’d never taken on any leadership position before the feeling of eyes on his back, people looking up to him truly and relying on his skills and expertise, his knowledge and intuition. His bravery.If he was being completely honest, he never expected his teammates to actually take his self-nomination seriously. They’d even listed out all good traits backing why they truly thought he would serve as a good leader.But sitting here on a toilet seat, tired and thoroughly scared, Alban realized his teammates knew that the true weight of leadership was one not easily carried, especially when you had to report to someone else. When you were truly held responsible, and in the poorly masked military government that ruled the nation he was loyal to, failure was not appreciated as a learning experience, even when the tasks given were near impossible.He let out a sigh, pulling on a hand full of his h
“Jesus, your heart is beating so fast. Please try and relax.”Daniel was currently seated shirtless on a metal bench that also served as a bed if you threw some cloth over it.“I know you must be nervous or even excited but you need to relax for me to complete your physical evaluation.” The doctor looked more annoyed than concerned as he spoke, “Maybe just take a seat at the side and when you’re ready you tell me.”“Ah no. I’m ready, just give me a minute please.”Daniel was certainly nervous and he had all right to be more nervous than the usual army recruit. He wasn’t just going to fight the enemy; he WAS the enemy. The slightest slip up and he was done for. He didn’t even hold much worth as a hostage, not to his government, not to the damn Fatah brothers. He and his companions were all alone in the deepest parts of enemy territory.It wasn’t all doom and gloom for him though. If he did his job well and everything went smoothly enough that he escapes with his life, he’d be a legend
To say things were difficult would be a severe understatement.Over the past ten days I had been overwhelmed quite thoroughly by the war. In all my past lives I’d never actually been the one giving out the orders in a war, I’d been captain once, back in the Maldives fighting Verdantians expansionism. But I’d never been the active chief commanding officer in an ongoing war, I simply never lived long enough to be one.Finally seeing the story from both sides I quickly developed an appreciation for the work the Commanders in my past lives did. How they did it without completely breaking down? I hadn’t the slightest clue.But then again, these ARE the same people that would initiate a war in the first place, perhaps I just wasn’t cut out for the job. The only thing keeping me remotely competent would be the War Tab on the intel-ii.The little page that allowed me to navigate everything that had the slightest relation to the War in three-dimension. The war page had allowed me to avoid com
The sun had risen. I found it surprising and rather annoying how quickly the moved passed my needs. I’d fallen asleep on the phone with Aina, I couldn’t help the grin that crawled onto my face; the call was still going on.I picked up the phone and listened closely, I couldn’t hear her snores or anything of the sort, maybe she didn’t snore? I whispered her name lightly into the phone, listening if my voice transmitted kilometres away was loud enough to get her to stir.Nothing.I she was awake; I didn’t have much means of finding out. Perhaps her phone currently lay on her kitchen counter whilst she cooked, or in her bag as she journeyed to her workplace.She might have gone through this exact train of thought with me had she woken up earlier. I didn’t know what to do really. Should I end the call? Keep it going whilst periodically checking in on it? What if she had other calls coming in? I’d be getting in the way.I shook my head and ended the call, instead, quickly sending a text of
He’d never felt the sun so hot against his skin. He was soaked in his own sweat and the dunes of sand he drove on slapped against his wet skin. He felt rather uncomfortable with the whole thing. But there were these moments where he didn’t feel like he was speeding across a desert, racing away from a horde of armed men and vehicles that sought to capture he and his companions. Companions that screamed at the top of their lungs as they continuously chucked grenades at their pursuers and fired their rifles blindly.He was in one of those blissful moments now. His mind was clear, without fear, and completely at ease and at peace with his predicament. He didn’t know how long the calming feeling would last before he went on to screaming his lungs out with his companions, so he was sure to appreciate it while it did.Whoosh. BOOOM.And that was a rocket launcher.“They’re firing rockets, ALBAN!! I told you we should have taken one!” Marina spat out.“They aren’t looking like they’re taking
Alban woke up with a splitting headache, if the red in his eyes and the ringing in his ears was anything to go about, his head had been injured. He also found through trial that his hands were bound.He looked down as he felt something heavy on his legs. It was Marina, they’d bound her broken arms together and thrown her into the vehicle they were in right now. Seems they went for capturing them alive anyway.He could hear them speak to each other, obviously pissed about all it took to capture them. Alban couldn’t help but feel a bit good about himself, they’d managed to fend off five military vehicles for over two hours in a rapid chase to the border.Suddenly, he noticed something was off. He didn’t see Daniel anywhere. He looked out the window and sure enough there were the other beaten up cars driving beside them. He couldn’t see into them from the left side of the backseat, so he went on and asked his captors.“What happened to my other teammate? Where is he?”His captors in the
They’d flown fast and high, everyone with two working eyes kept a look out for the Jeep Alban had mentioned. Meanwhile he only pretended to do search, his mind was clouded with so many conflicting thoughts. Thoughts of the state of his last surviving companion, Marina.Despite the both of them receiving the best first-aid treatment the troops could provide, she hadn’t woken up all the while thy flew, and it’d been a minute. He was also worried for his saviours; they’d spent some time searching for the vehicle behind enemy lines, he didn’t know how they could afford such at all, so he asked.“How are we still behind enemy lines? The Verdantians will surely be on our tail by now.” He questioned the Captain.The man shrugged, taking a moment to give Alban a look before answering, “It’s all on the President’s orders apparently. Some minister had us drop some large device at the frontlines before we left. It rendered all sensors and communication devices dark, except for these archaic Noki
It’d been a long day. Not unlike any of my previous days, I’d always be subjected to long hours, the position came with it. But today had an extra slap of stress set onto it.I’d spent an uncomfortable amount of time on the phone with Matthias, assuring him that everything was fine here and Luciano was completely safe. I’d beefed up his security several times and only authorized myself and a few doctors after running a background on them with the intel-ii.I’d taken to the idea that perhaps Luciano was in fact the target of an assassination. The explosion seemed too convenient for it to simply be an accident. The Verdantians may have found a way to get behind our lines, a spy of their own, an inside man, a traitor within the ranks even. Anything was plausible at this point.I then spent over twelve hours testing the War tab on its ability to coordinate my forces. It was a delicate mission and the simple part was rendering everyone blind.Nizar had long developed a bomb that not only d