The Gray Phoenix

"My God… Doctor, do you think he will still be able to make it? He has already lost so much blood…"

"He still has his pulse. Although it seemed to get weaker rapidly…"

"Stay with us, Lieutenant Xavier! We are almost there!"

.

"Hey, hey! We are losing him!"

"Christ… there is literally a hole on his left chest! Are we really going to do the CPR on him?!"

"Doctor?"

"The defibrillator, now! We have no choice but to do CPR as well…"

.

"Clear!"

"No pulse! Come on, Lieutenant!"

"Second time! Clear!"

"Still no pulse! Lieutenant, please… do not do this to us…"

"Last time! Clear!"

.

"Gentlemen… we lost a national hero this morning…"

"What time is it now?"

"It is almost six-"

"What the?! Staff Sergeant Ming! You should not be here!"

"Try to resuscitate him one more time! Please!"

"We are very sorry, Sergeant. But-"

"Just give me that defibrillator!"

"W-wait! Sergeant, that amount of electric current can-"

.

"Gerghhh! ARKHHHH!!"

"He is back!"

"Jon!! It is me! Come on, stay with me!"

"Argkkhhh! IT... BURNNSSS!!!"

"Guards! Help us restrain him!"

"Argkkhhh!! ARKHHH!!"

"Stay with me. Jon! It is okay! Calm down! Calm… down…"

"Nurse! Where is the anesthetics!?"

"Here it is, Doc!"

"Well done, Lieutenant! You can rest easy now…"

"Hurghh.. hurghh…"

"Good… good… that is it…"

.

"Huh… He really is one strong warrior… It even took five guards to restrain him…"

"My apologies, doctor… I was too scared to lose him that I-"

"Do not worry about that, Sergeant. In fact, I believe that it was actually you who saved him…"

"But, this means that he is in a coma now, right? When do you think will he…"

"Wake up? I have no idea… if anything I would say that all of that was purely miracle and luck…"

"I was also surprised to find out that his heart was located more to the right side of his chest…"

"Yes, the term for that abnormality is 'dextrocardia'. I just hope that the condition will help him in getting better later on…"

.

.

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"Major Xenov?" called a man from outside the room right after he knocked the door as I immediately woke up from my dream. "The first briefing session is about to be started in five minutes."

"Okay… thanks for the reminder." I replied from inside the room.

I do not know for how long I have been fallen asleep on the table, but apparently it has not been that long since the clock hands right above the door have not moved much. I quickly drink the warm tea on the tea making machine, and throw the empty cup to the small trash bin beside the door before I pick up the document and proceed to go outside the room.

Just like what I have expected, right after I closed the door, I immediately see several other military officers heading in the same direction towards the stairs at the end of the hallway, which is also the nearest access to the second floor where the large briefing room is located. I try to take a guess on what kind of an officer Lieutenant General Diatrich would be since I have yet to meet him in person. The only hint that I have received from Gabe just before my departure here, is that he is a man with 'surprisingly a handful of backup plans even though he really does not look like it'.

When I think about him that way, I can only imagine that he is an officer who is very capable to suggest a practical solution upon encountering unexpected problems. The time to meet him in person finally comes right before me when I arrive in front of the briefing room door.

Even though there are still several other military officers lining up from behind me as I enter the room, there are actually already a number of other officers seated inside the room on their chairs right in front of a large semi-circular table. When we are all finally seated on the available chairs, I counted that there are approximately 10 officers beside me, with all of them clearly coming from various armed forces of the countries in the area of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly 2 Korean officers, of both seemingly from the North, while there is also a Japanese officers.

I have to admit that I am somehow glad to know E.X.T.I.R.T is able to bring together the representatives of multiple countries in the times of a global crisis. For whatever reason however, none of the military officers do not seemed to be willing to converse with each other, even though there is no prior rules that was given to us whatsoever, at least not in my case. At about the same time, a senior general officer then come inside the room, followed by three guards behind him who proceed to close the door and apparently, guard the room from outside.

The three stars on the officer's uniform makes me realize right away that he must be Lieutenant General Uriel Diatrich of the German Army, and also the current Commander General of the E.X.T.I.R.T Northern Hemisphere branch. He is a little pale thin middle-aged man with a silverish gray hair, dressed in his dark brown service uniform. Shortly after he entered, all of us stand up as a gesture of greeting him.

"Please… gentlemen…" said General Diatrich in a rather light voice. "Be at ease…"

He briefly thanked us all for being able to come to the urgent call as we get back on our seats, and he wastes no time before going on to the emergency situation at hand. A small tube-like object then slowly comes down from the center of the room ceiling before it projects three official Russian Armed Forces' footages of abnormalities that are currently happening on a portion of the Northern port city of Naryan-Man, Russia – the blood red aurora, and the continuous spinning on compasses that seemed to be getting more violent with each step closer to where the comets have fallen. As the footages finishes, Lieutenant General Diatrich continues on with his briefing.

"To make matters worse, during this last eight hours the military personnel that suffer from dizziness and continuous vomiting began to develop seizures as well, and the violent spinning of the compass needle just keep on getting more violent as we speak." said Lieutenant General Diatrich. "I believe this goes without saying, but it is imperative for us to investigate since this also means that those comets maybe behind all of these…"

Once he is done informing us on what has happened, he moves on to brief us about the specific tasks of each of us as the Commanders of the units we are responsible for. There are a total of 5 units – Bronze Falcon, Dark Bison, Gray Phoenix, Crimson Vulture, and Polar Bear. I am in charge of the Gray Phoenix unit, together with the appointed Vice Field Commander, Captain Park Bum Dong of the Korean People's Army. There are 3 other personnel in my unit, bringing a total number of 5 people.

Since Franz Josef Land itself is actually an archipelago, each of the units is tasked to investigate on different sides. My unit is tasked to head to the islands located on the northeast side of the archipelago. The archipelago does not have any islands on the north, northwest, and west sides, but the east side will be investigated by the Crimson Vulture unit led by Lieutenant Colonel Kim Dae Yeon of the Korean People's Army Air and Anti Air Force. The southeast, south, and southwest sides will be investigated by the Polar Bear, Dark Bison, and Bronze Falcon units respectively.

The investigation mission is divided into 3 procedures. First, the units are to arrive to their own respective designated destination and to search as well as confirm any sorts of extraterrestrial traces or presence such as space debris, rocks, or even signs of life. Second, the units are to capture the said traces, and to capture them if they are indeed signs of life. Third, the leaders of each unit are to report immediately and directly to General Diatrich should they come across anything suspicious enough to be considered as a possible trace of extraterrestrial presence. The 3 procedures are to be followed strictly, but not necessarily have to be in the exact order.

In addition, each unit also has 1 more additional task. Both my unit and Polar Bear unit are to exterminate any presence of extraterrestrial threats should there be any. Crimson Vulture and Dark Bison units are to install an emergency radio communication facility on the east and south sides of the archipelago, in order to enhance the overall radio signal. Bronze Falcon unit is to assist in the treatment of all of the ill personnel inside the Air Base Facility. Therefore, my unit and Polar Bear unit will be equipped with heavy assault firearms while Crimson Vulture and Dark Bison units will bring emergency radio installation equipment with them, and Bronze Falcon unit will carry quite some numbers of emergency medical kits.

Obviously, none of the units will be able to carry out their missions if we are not to travel by a vehicle, and that is why we will all have to first land on the Air Base from this headquarters. Once we arrive there, each unit will then go to our own destinations by using transport vehicles. We will also have to refer to each unit personnel by using our unit names once we depart from the Air Base, for example I will have to call Lieutenant Colonel Kim Dae Yon as Crimson Vulture, and his Vice Field Commander as Vulture 2.

When Lieutenant General Diatrich finally finishes and asks us if we have any questions, Major Hector Gavalas of the Hellenic Air Force from Greece, who is also the Junior Field Commander of the Bronze Falcon unit asks if the transport vehicles will be some sort of helicopters since we will have to travel from 1 island to another. Lieutenant General Diatrich answers by saying that the seawater separating the islands is currently frozen solid and has been like that since the last 3 months, meaning that land transportations are actually possible. Air transportations however, are also available although they are more for emergency and/or extreme situations only.

There are no further questions after that, and Lieutenant General Diatrich told us to wait for further instructions as the briefing for the Field Operatives are currently still on going on another room by Gabe. Among all 5 units, both my unit and Bronze Falcon unit have the least Field Operatives of only 3 personnel. Crimson Vulture and Dark Bison units have 5 Field Operatives, while Polar Bear unit has not 1 but 2 Vice Field Commanders and also 7 Field Operatives. I notice that the higher the rank of the Commanders, the more Vice Commanders and Field Operatives they can hold, and that Field Operatives must be on the ranks of Junior Officers while all Commanders must be on the ranks of Senior Officers.

While all of us are still waiting, two of Lieutenant General Diatrich's assistants bring piles of documents and give it to each of the unit commanders, including me. They are all the background resumes of the Field Operatives that we will be in charge of, and as such I immediately take them as I then approach Captain Park who is sitting on the other side of the room. The rest of the other commanders also do the same just when I stand up.

"Captain Park…" I said to him as I shook his hands and nodded. "It is an honor to meet you… Please just call me Jon…"

"Likewise, Major Xenov." He responded to me while also giving me his firm hand grip. "You can call me Dong as well."

Captain Park Bum Dong is a quite tall man who looks to be in his early 30s with a medium and slick black hair, dressed in his light brown service uniform. He also seems to be quite a decorated officer since I noticed that there are 2 medals and 2 ribbons on his uniform. His prominent physical appearance is perhaps the little vertical scar just beside his right eye which he probably received as a wound some time during his earlier service years.

We then talk a little about how his armed forces have been training rigorously ever since the first invasions of the aliens from 5 years ago, and even more so when another similar incident that took place in Indonesia happened 3 years after that. When it is my turn to share, I tell him more or less about the struggles and the chaos that I had to face in Chicago, but I say nothing about my injuries since I believe those are not necessary to mention. By the time we are absorbed with our discussions, the rest of the other unit commanders seem to also be immersed with their own conversations. The two of us continue on by looking at the documents of the 3 field operatives that we will command later on the field – Lieutenant Junior Grade Maeda Takeshi of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, 2nd Lieutenant Alek Ganzov of the Russian Air Force, and 2nd Lieutenant Flint Sawyer of the Canadian Army.

"It seems that the two of them had their countries experienced the similar invasions just like yours." Dong commented.

"Yeah… Russia, and Japan." I responded as I am still looking at their documents. "I wonder if they have already entered service by the time the invasion took place, though…"

Contrary to what the two of us are expecting, we shortly find out as we glance though the documents that the Lieutenants Maeda and Ganzov have yet to actually see real combat since they have just entered military service 2 years ago. On a side note however, Lieutenant Sawyer has served the Canadian Army for almost exactly 10 years. I somehow feel like the presence of the 2 Lieutenants may prove to be a hindrance for my unit, but nevertheless I should not let that thoughts cloud my perception on them.

"So we are going to both lead and mentor them through this operation. Heh, why not…" I chuckled.

"I guess we will see how well they can keep up within our unit." Dong nodded. "But, maybe there will be some language barrier between us. I can only speak a very limited Russian, and Japanese… well, not at all."

"Do not worry about that, I think I can speak both languages pretty okay." I quickly assured him.

Just a moment after that, one of Lieutenant General Diatrich's assistants informed all of us that the briefing for the Field Operatives have finished. We are then to meet with all of the Field Operatives in another room in order to plan further necessary actions for each unit in carrying out their tasks. The assistant guides us outside the briefing room and to a larger room on the next floor where twenties of field operatives have been waiting for us, grouped up upon several crowds according to their units and are all standing beside a round table. For both me and Dong, it is not difficult at all to find a group of 3 people comprised of a Russian, Japanese, and Canadian.

"We are ready for your orders, Major Xenov." said Lieutenant Maeda, somewhat with a stern gesture.

"Please, be at ease, Lieutenant." I said as I smiled at him a little.

I firstly mention that even though we are commanders and officers inside a global military installation and that we have to call other personnel from other units using their codenames later on the field, there is no need for such formality in my own unit. I do not tell them any further, but the reason for that is because that I do not want to make things between us to get tenser, especially since there are 2 people in my unit that still need to learn more.

Dong, Takeshi, and Alek seem to be glad to what I have just said, except for Flint who strangely seems to be quite displeased. I know that he probably thinks that things should have just been left as it is between superiors and subordinates, especially since he looks like he is at least 10 years older than both me and Dong – he even looks like he is hesitating to look at Dong, who is most likely still 3 to 4 years older than me. Luckily for us, Flint does not show his displeasure that much and immediately requested me to continue on with the planning for further actions once we arrive at the Air Base by first showing us all 2 maps – the overall map of the Franz Josef Land, and the more detailed map of the northeast section of the archipelago.

The detailed map showed us that there are 8 main islands on the northeast section of the archipelago, with one of the islands distancing less than 20 kilos from one of the islands under the authority of Crimson Vulture unit. Since an establishment of a better means of communication is also necessary for us, Dong suggested to my unit that we are to first head to that island in order to assist the Crimson Vulture unit once we arrive at the Air Base. Takeshi also adds that the whole operation is expected to be done on the 4th day, and that all of the units are expected to return to the Northern Hemisphere branch headquarters on the 5th day.

Upon realizing that we will supposedly still have enough time to investigate after we are done assisting them, everyone agrees and no one suggests any other possible options, and Flint also seems to be fine with it. I look at the overall map and find out that there is actually an island on the southeast section that is closer to another island on the eastern section. Naturally, the Crimson Vulture unit will ask the Polar Bear unit, who is tasked to investigate that part of the archipelago to come and assist them. However, just as I am about to address that fact to my unit, Lieutenant Colonel Kim Dae Yeon appears to be already heading towards us. It is then when I somehow have a feeling that he or perhaps even his whole unit share the same thoughts as the rest of my unit do, even though I also feel like it will be quite odd if that is to happen.