War Bringer

Training mission

Ethan grudgingly walked to his "youth barracks" to meet two of his superiors who already waited for his arrival. He hoped those two training maniacs wouldn't grant him a new training plan as his congratulation reward on the day when he was finally recognized as a recruit in the military camp.

Ethan: *What the heck they've been treating me these past four months as?*

He kept his pace steady even when his thoughts raced everywhere else. He didn't even trust what he heard from Rakovic even though he told him what the nano-machine antibody is. He barely had any confidence in believing in someone again after the orphanage incident.

Soon after that, he arrived in the barracks lounge where the two of them chatted happily when waiting for him.

Rolf: "Finally you're here, huh. Drop your formality and take a seat."

Regas: "How did you feel when you know that you came out as the first one?"

Ethan moved towards them warily. He certainly had no idea how to reply to Regas's question so he take a seat first then he said.

Ethan: "Uh... I have no idea how to describe my feeling at the moment since I have mixed feelings."

Rolf and Regas laughed almost at the same time when they heard his reply. It confused Ethan even further because he has no idea why these two devils are waiting for him there.

Ethan: "Are you coming to this place to award me with another training formula like when you both came here together last time?"

Regas: "I don't mind giving you a new training program if you're willing to do it so readily like this.":

Ethan's face turned slightly pale the moment he heard Regas's statement.

Regas: "I was just joking around with you, son!"

Rolf: "He truly got you!"

Both of them laughed together seeing Ethan's naive response.

Ethan: "You really love to mess around with people's feelings, huh?" *Sigh*

Rolf: "Now you sound way older than us."

They both laughed at Rolf's reply.

Regas: "Alright, I think we have to start talking about our purpose from going here. As you guessed before, we came here to inform you of your first trial mission. It's not a big mission since we consider it as your training but you can lose your life if you're doing poorly at the mission site."

Ethan: "May I get the further details about the mission, Sir?"

Rolf: "Here's the file. Read it yourself."

He received the mission document from Rolf and started to read its content.

[Training Mission]

Description:

Churciev, a small town near the western border, is constantly being disrupted by the Western Republic through never-ending small scales skirmishes that they started a month ago. You and your recruit's squadron will be sent there to analyze as well as put an end to those continuous invasions.

Objective:

Solve the situation on Churciev as fast as possible. Any method can be used as long as it doesn't destroy the town.

Additional condition:

Battlefield strategy will be explained further by your superior as you will not participate in the full-scale war yet.

Ethan turned his eyes to his superiors in front of him.

Ethan: "Sir, please tell me that both of you just tried your best in order to tease me further."

Regas: "Well, you don't have to worry about it because this mission is as real as it can get."

He shifted hir eyes to Rolf. His eyes are full of expectations that Regas information is completely a made-up joke.

Rolf: *Sigh* "Don't look at me that way. It's a real mission which going to be your first official mission as a recruit. Don't worry too much about it because you'll be accompanied by the other recruits as the mission stated."

Regas: "Your mission will start as soon as other recruits regain their consciousness. You can take a rest and make sure to keep your training in order to stay fit."

Ethan: "Yes, Sir."

Rolf: "We'll take our leave if you have no other questions."

Rolf and Regas went outside of the building while Ethan walked slowly into his room. He could tell how ragged his body has become after he underwent the last immunization. He went to bed and slept as soon as he hit his bed.

A week later

One after another recruits kept waking up from their slumber after getting a nanomachine injection. Today finally the last of them had already woken up and entered their barrack alongside Rolf and Regas. They sent the same mission notice to other recruits which were identical to what Ethan received previously. Those recruits' faces looked pretty grim when they got that piece of information.

Regas: "You have a week to rest up before we initiate your training mission. You better rest up and reconditioned your body before we go to the battlefield. Try to familiarize yourself with your body after the injection as well as improving yourself."

Rolf: "We'll meet you again on Monday next week at 04.00. All soldiers dismissed."

They went out of the barrack immediately after they announced the mission. Some recruits retreated into their room while Ethan and the others are continuing their training routine. They all felt anxious after they got their first mission.

Mission day 04.00

All recruits who participated in today's mission already prepared themselves to ease their anxiety. A sergeant went into their barrack and asked them to move out into the main building hall. As soon as they entered the facility, Regas and Rolf are ready in their battle suits.

Regas: "Before we head out into the site, I'll give you the mission details. According to Intel's that we received two days ago, our spies spotted the enemy near the abandoned buildings located in the fish market area on northeast of Churciev. Our mission will focus on tracking those invaders' location within that premise."

Rolf: "Our main objective is locating their current whereabout. Our army got a lot of challenges finding their place since they're constantly moving after a certain period of time."

Regas: "You lot will be divided into five different teams consisting of eight recruits per team. We will bring the sixth team which is our sniper's team. Here are the team composition details."

Ethan took a look at the strategic hologram to search for his name. He got into the third team.

Rolf: "Team One will go from the far west to flank the market from the north. Team Two will block the eastern bar areas. Team Three will go together with Team One but you will stay on the west side of the fish market where it connects to the abandoned train station. Team Four will block the connection point between the fish market and the warehouse area in the south. The last team will mainly guard the eight snipers on team six. You will block the entrance of the building where each sniper resides. Basically, each one of you will guard a professional sniper. Do you have any questions?"

They wait for some seconds but no one asked for further explanation.

Regas: "Follow the sergeant in front of you. They will guide you into your team transport."

Ethan went with the crowd into the transport hub in the base. The sergeant started to yell each team number while stoping in the back of trucks that were available there. Ethan went into the third first truck which will transport his team together with the first team.

Amon: "I'm Amon. May I ask which one of you join the first team?"

One after the other raises their hand to confirm their teammate. It's better to know your colleague before you get into the battlefield to avoid friendly fire after all.

Amon: "Good. The first team members go to this side of the seat while the third team members go to the other side."

Both teams divided themselves then they took a seat on their own assigned side. Ethan kept quiet at the corner because he has no interest or whatnot in the current situation.

Erica: "Hi my name is Erica. While we're on our way there, why don't we choose the leader of our team as well? We'll need someone to take charge as team commander, isn't it?

Amon: "That's an amazing idea! Anyone volunteer, to take our team commander position?"

His teammates stayed quiet because they are rather anxious about their future on the battlefield rather than caring about childish leader voting that's going on. They just stared back at Amon who stood there with full anticipation of his colleague's suggestions.

His teammate: "Why don't you just volunteer yourself then. Everyone is currently trying to focus themselves on the mission. You can decide it if you want to."

Ethan: "Our superior will be in charge of full command of this operation. It's just adding comfort to have a field commander but yeah with our experience right now it's gonna be doubtful that one of us can give a good insight on the battleground. I would like to suggest that you calm your mind and bring your focus on what we gonna do."

They all fell into silence when they heard Ethan's statement. They realized how anxious they were actually is and tried to distract themselves with any other thought. Their journey to the battlefield has no more chat but a long awkward silence.