Preface

27th February 2031

17:44

Unknown Location

A dimly lit office room. File cabinets on both sides, the floor covered in designer carpet, a window on the left side of the room, a big secretariat table, and a revolving chair in front. A white man in his early 40s with dark brown hair, wearing a navy suit, and closely trimmed facial hair was leaning in the chair while puffing on a cigar. He just finished a meeting with his boss who ordered him to get started with his plans as Naser had done his part of the job. He puffs on the cigar a few more times before pressing the intercom's button. A man wearing a navy blue suit entered the room. He put down his cigar on an ashtray and sat up. He looked at the man who just entered the room and said, "Get ready. It's time to start."

31st December 2031

23:30

Bravo Squad House, New Eden

Annabelle was sitting on the couch in the living room, doing something on her tablet when Mitali called out from the kitchen, "Ann, I'm making coffee. Do you want a cup?"

Annabelle replied, "Of course."

Mitali makes two cups of coffee and comes to the living room. She hands one cup to Annabelle and sits on the couch on the other side of the tea table. Annabelle puts down the tablet and commands ARIA, "ARIA, close up the lab for today. We'll continue tomorrow."

ARIA's robotic voice comes from a speaker fitted with the ceiling, "Yes, ma'am."

Mitali comments on ARIA, "Ann, no matter how many times you try to convince me, I don't think I'll ever be able to get rid of the creepy vibes I get from ARIA."

Annabelle shrugs, "Why? I think you'll get cozy with it too. Just give it some time."

Mitali sways her hand in the air, "No. No. No. It's never going to happen. I mean just think about it. A body-less thing that responds to you, talks to you when you can't even see it. It's super creepy. If that wasn't creepy enough, you even upgraded her. Now she has become super duper creepy."

ARIA's robotic voice comes from the same speaker, "That's rude, sergeant. I can get hurt too."

"See. When Sohel comes back and sees this, I'm sure He'll find it creepy too."

Annabelle finally talks after listening through all of Mitali's yapping, "No. I don't think he will. Speaking of Sohel, I wonder what they're doing right now. ARIA, tell me the location of Captain Ghost, Lt. Medusa, and Sgt. Blast."

 "Searching for the location of active duty Bravo team. Found them. They're together, in Moscow."

31st December 2031

23:44

Khamovniki District, Moscow, Russia

A lot of people were partying on a huge rooftop. Naomi was casually talking with different people, trying to blend in. She was wearing a red one-piece dress with a pair of small earrings and a weird-looking bracelet on her right hand. While talking she kept looking towards the staircase that went downstairs. After a few moments, she notices the area around the staircase to be a little empty. She took that chance and went downstairs. After coming down the stairs she found herself in a long corridor with doors on both sides of it. She kept going through the doors, reading the nameplates on them. She stopped in front of the door with the nameplate saying, 'M.D'. She looks around for a moment and goes inside. It was a generic office room filled with shelves and file cabinets. She took a pair of gloves from a hidden pocket on her dress and put them on.

In the middle of the room, a PC was kept on the main table. She went straight towards the PC and tried to turn it on. The PC was already running. She took off her bracelet and pressed on one of the stones embedded in it and a USB came out. She plugged the USB into the PC and started copying all of the files on the PC. She waited till all of the files were copied and left the room. She carefully went back up and went straight for the elevator. While on the elevator she pressed on her earrings and said, "Job done on this site. You're OK to go."

Sohel was aiming at the rooftop from the roof of a building a few blocks away with a silenced Cheytac M200 sniper rifle. A black metal bionic arm was substituted as Sohel's missing left arm. Jacob was sitting beside him on the ground with a Laptop on his lap. Sohel aimed at a 30-32-year-old guy wearing a silver-colored suit and holding a glass of wine. He was talking to someone while enjoying his wine. Sohel started talking, "Distance 967 meters, wind speed 27.6 km/h, bullet velocity 0.9 km/s." As Sohel said the info, Jacob was inputting it on the laptop to calculate the Coriolis effect. Jacob tells him the result and Sohel re-adjusts his scope. After a few moments, he shoots. The bullet hits the man straight in his chest killing him on the spot. Sohel gets up and says, "Tango down." He quickly takes the rifle, disassembles it, and puts it in its case. Jacob had already gone downstairs and was waiting in the car. Sohel gets to the car, puts the rifle in the trunk, and sits next to the driver's seat. They drive a few blocks and stop the car. Naomi was waiting for them there. Naomi gets in the car and Jacob starts driving again. Sohel says, "Good job today, Everyone. Naomi, you were great today."

Naomi replies, "Thanks. You did good too."

Jacob eagerly asks, "What about me? Isn't anyone going to say anything about my performance?"

Naomi says, "Looks like you didn't mess up today. Good job, your idiocracy is decreasing by the day."

Jacob yells, "HEY….. That's not nice."

"What? I'm just stating the obvious. Sohel also agrees with me. Right, Sohel?"

Sohel gives a small smile, "Don't bully him too much. Anyway, rest up tonight, tomorrow we're returning to New Eden."

"How many months has it been?"

"5-6 months. Let's just go and get together again. Mitali's training camp ended today. Ann's work should be done too. The next mission we'll be on. It's going to be with the full Bravo Squad."