Chapter I - Deceased Hunter

- Somewhere in Greenland –

- 2300hrs –

The wind is blowing strong, snow is falling densely, making the view less visible due to the weather. A man with an assault rifle, covered in a white winter operation outfit and camouflage is walking with heavy injuries towards a smoke pilar quite far from his position.

"Sentinel team, this is Taurus lead, give me a sitrep over! Arrgh…"

He shouted with a grunt through his radio, a wound on his left chest and a metal piece that pierces his right shoulder made his stamina decrease exponentially. His breath gets heavier every second as he walks, and the blizzard made it harder for him. The man has no nation flag patch on one of his shoulders, instead, it has an insignia of a certain company, indicating that he's a PMC or a Private Military Contractor, a mercenary.

"I say again, Sentinel team, the operation is compromised! give me a sitrep over!"

He grunted again as the pain came in along with no response at the receiving end, he then came to a stop to open a field medical kit and inject a serum into his right hand. As the pain relieves after a few seconds, he then kept on walking toward the smoke pillar. As it gets bigger and more visible every minute, he saw a silhouette of two Attack Helicopters and one transport Helicopter on the horizon, hovering above the smoke.

"…. Taurus… lead… abort…. Leave…"

the man then shudders, his fear has come true. With regret, he then set his destination in the other direction, a location that was planned if anything happens.

"Copy that, I'm assuming command and aborting the mission. Sentinel team, execute order MXY-7"

With the last remaining breath, the other side responded "Wilco…."

As soon he said that without hesitation, a loud explosion was heard, another smoke was pluming high, and it rocks the ground from the position of the Heli's that hover above it. He saw as one of the attack Heli that he identified as the AH-64 "Apache" was struck by something at its engines and started smoking. Regardless, it's still flying and hastily hovers away from the explosion scene and went west.

"Another one that we lost huh…."

He muttered while kept walking away while patching up his wounds with spare bandages. After a few hours of walking southeast, he arrived at the destination place and waited for his extraction team. It was at the edge of the mouth of the Glacier, the wind is not that strong, but the weather is still cold, and the low humidity made his throat quickly feel dry. Since its location is the north of the earth and is still summer, the sun is not yet down yet. Checking around for anything, he then sat on a nearby rock at the riverbank of the glacier. Seeing an aurora shining above the sky made him smile. he then rested for 15 minutes, regaining his stamina.

The thin part of the glacier cracked and a submarine surfaced not long after. The size is thrice bigger than the Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine or twice the size of the fictional Alicorn class submarine and has a somewhat flat top deck for carrier operation purposes. One of the hull areas opened, and a jet-powered VTOL transport hovered away to his position. It then stretched a steel rope down from one of the sides, the man then attaches himself to it with a harness and was lifted. as soon he was inside, he saw a familiar face, a well-built man with a grey military officer uniform with a 4 star on his shoulder, his face is stern, and his hair is slowly turning grey due to his age.

"General Wolfenford! Reporting!"

The wounded man saluted the man, and the general replied with a salute and set him at ease. He looks at his subordinate from top to bottom and looks behind him. He didn't change his expression even though he knows that the mission is unsuccessful.

"So, where's the rest of the platoon? Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger?"

The general asked, Jaeger, who didn't hesitate about his report of his deceased teammate and subordinate and how the mission was a flaw. The general is quite grim about it and sat across him at the transport's seat.

"You, to my office at 0800hrs, after you close those wounds at the medical bay"

"Yes Sir!"

As soon they landed at the internal hangar of the submarine, they parted ways as Jaeger hurried up and the medical team helped him take off his ceramic plate Armor carrier and chest rig then rushed him through the corridor. The general could only observe from a distance as his 'subordinate' was taken to the sick bay.

"That son of mine never changed his attitude huh…"

General Wolfenford then take a cigarette and lighter out of his pocket and started smoking, his adjutant looked at the General with curiosity at the statement he mentioned.

"Sir, apologize for asking but is that your son? The rumoured one-man hunter? The one that could even ruin a nation single-handedly?"

The general could only let out a small laugh, his adjutant remain silent, waiting for the general give an answer. The smoke fumes as he exhales, while still with the expression as stern, as usual, he let out a short sigh.

"Since you're newly promoted, I assume you may have questions about why we're here and fighting the world's superpowers, but I didn't expect you to be asking such rumours. Well then… he is my son, earning his callsign Jaeger or Hunter in his 2nd covert deployment on Kyrgyzstan, about the mission is classified but what I could tell you is that he did not just complete it singlehandedly but also 'somehow' eliminated more than 15 high-value targets that's mostly weapon dealers and corruptors with such extreme prejudice. Thanks to that, their government is slowly normalized, and their economy is rising steadily"

His adjutant could only awe at the Lieutenant Colonel's history from his father and the General's own words himself. The achievements of a single man executing such length are still outstanding to hear for a rookie like him.

"Although myself still wondered where that rumour about Achilles did could destroy a whole country came from, even though he's somewhat a one-man army, he's still human and encountered many near-death situations himself"

- Prometheus class submersible carrier, sickbay-

- 52˚35'30" N, 34˚22'15" W –

- 0710hrs –

"Lieutenant Colonel, could you please rest… FOR LIKE THREE DAMN HOURS!!"

Shouted one of the nurses, Jaeger who is nonchalantly typing his report, shrugs at her screech. her eyebrows twitched for a second, she then forcefully pulls him out from his chair and tried to handcuff the Lieutenant to the sickbed, nevertheless, he could just casually slip out of her grip with ease and continued typing.

"Umm… Sir, would you kindly please take a short rest"

One of the nurses tried to convince him nicely with a sweet voice, Jaeger looked at her for a moment and gave a smile, and the nurses finally sigh in relief as they saw his expression. Unfortunately for them, the lieutenant bluntly said no with an awfully serious face. One of the nurses is filled with rage, cursed at him, and tried to commit violence while the others are holding her hard enough from rampaging toward him, calming her down. A few moments later, the sickbay compressed doors slide open, a man enters as the chaos there still unfolds.

"What the hell happened here?"

The nurses stopped and returned to their professional characters when they noticed someone entered, Jaeger let out a small chuckle at their attitude change. One of the nurses explains the chronology to the man while the others clean up the mess. Soon after the explanation, the man walks toward Jaeger and gave a salute.

"Sheesh, drop the formality, please. Also, what's with your visit to the infirmary, Major?"

The man then hands down the file to Jaeger, as soon as he reads the cover, Jaeger then ordered the nurses to leave the room and restrict them from entering under any circumstances.

"The General is waiting for you at his office ASAP since he knows that nanomaterials would do well on recovering your wounds faster"

Jaeger asked if the major smoke. The major is curious why then he asked back about it. Jaeger could only say it's confidential, the major knows what it means and handed a lighter to him. It's a small pocket lighter with Dupont's logo on its side, with a striking metallic silver paint that reflects the light from the ceiling lamps. The Lieutenant set the lighter up and burns the report file from the bottom edge, the fire slowly turns to ashes as the fire incinerates it. The remains were swept and thrown into the nearby bin. The Lieutenant then quickly wears his uniform and along with the Major went to the General's office.

"So, Major Donner Kebab, how's your experience as my father's Adjutant?"

As Jager said the major's funny nickname, the personnel that coincidentally passed by them had a little laugh, the man could only let out a little sigh at the Lt. Colonel's little gag.

"Sir, please don't use that nickname, my name is Donny"

"Sorry for the joke, I'm a bit hungry, also can I call you Donn?"

"As you please sir"

Soon enough, they arrived at the General's office, it was right across the Submarine's Bridge compressed door. Jaeger knocked at the door and requested permission to go inside, the General allowed him to enter and Jager entered alone, leaving Donn outside. the office is not that big since it was needed to save more space, simple decoration along with medals and pictures were hung on the wall and along with the corners of the room, a small table is positioned between two sofas and an armchair, nevertheless, it has a quite comfy atmosphere. Meanwhile, the general is checking the reports on his laptop at his desk.

"Quite a cosy place here sir"

"Danke (Thanks), I do like these kinds of atmosphere, also, take a seat"

Jaeger walked towards a couple of chairs that are in front of the General's desk and sit at one of them, the General then close the laptop and grabs a file folder from one of his desk drawers and place it on the table. Jaeger opened the pages of the file, and one by one he read in detail the next task that he was assigned. The general halted him and pressed a hidden button under his desk when he wanted to ask a further question.

"Alright, drop the formality, we're cleared, and I suppose the EMP will disable any comm device installed here for 15 minutes"

"The ship's compromised?" Jaeger asked with a serious tone, the General could only let out a sigh and nodded

"How? Isn't this ship redacted from any reports worldwide?" at that question, the General then turn on the projector and starts explaining.

"I suppose so, but since there's more of our men getting promoted fast due to the loss we took in this past couple of years, the HRD isn't that wary of possible infiltrators between them, it might be cliché, but our recruit list is raising exponentially every month and more investors interested in our projects, we sort of lowered our guard" Jaeger nodded, the general then opened a slide where the important part begins.

"Now, this is probably your last mission assigned in my Corp, you'll be transferred back where ABEL will launch their first expedition towards a planet that's suspected to have a civilisation. This is a major leap for humankind since we could finally find a planet that is inhabited by an intelligent being but beware, between the ranks on that expedition, there will be a spy among their ranks."

ABEL, in short: Advanced Biological Enhancement Lab is a private company that is working on enhancing human capabilities from their physical strength to their ESP capabilities, upfront on the surface of their research, they use animals as their test subjects to bypass the UN law of Human rights and earn the vote of the people worldwide, although their test on human already finished as the company publicize themselves. Jaeger twitched a bit when he heard the name ABEL since he was part of the volunteers that became the test subject and made him remember the harsh treatment of one of the researchers fuelled up his years of suppressed anger.

"I know going back there made you feel unpleasant but bear with it, that guy is already in confinement"

"Yeah, you're right, seems I can't get over it a hundred percent, nevertheless, it's much less painful than getting shot by an AWOL teammate that I trust most" the general could only stand there, seeing his son that he raised grown stronger than when he left the house to do his mission, it made him let out a little chuckle.

"you know Achilles, I might be biased but ABEL is one of the companies that I have known for quite a long time, they select their researchers thoroughly to prevent acci-"

"I know, I know… but still what happened to me already happened. Also, dad, any further instructions for this mission?"

As the general wanted to answer, the lights dim out and the red light/night light was switched on, the announcers blaring reports of an incoming assault of 2 squadrons of several unidentified craft from the west and south, and since the sub is currently resupplying at the middle of the storm of the Atlantic Ocean, it was unable to submerge to its operational depth. Jaeger stood up with his instincts telling him to get to a fighter jet to intercept them but was halted by the General that tightly hold his hand when he was about to rush to the hangar.

"don't, it's your ride to ABEL, we need to fake your death to convince the other company head members"

"I need to what now?"

The sub suddenly rocks and shook heavily as an explosion was heard; the blast made a huge hole in the bridge along with gunshots above the explosions. Donny suddenly forcefully enters the room with his handgun drawn out and rushed the General.

"General! Colonel! We need to evacuate to one of the docked subs ASAP" Jaeger and the General looked at each other and nodded, the General ordered Jaeger to hold his position at the doorway as the General seemingly searched for something to take with him.

"Alright, let's go, but first…"

At point-blank range, Jaeger rapidly shot his 9mm calibre pistol at both of Donny's shoulders and hips. Donny fell to the ground as the wound from the hollow point bullet dealt massive damage to his limb joints. He tried to grab his gun that fall short but was taken by Jaeger.

"Damnit! arrghh" Jaeger grab his collars and jabbed some punches to Donny's abdomen.

"Nobody knows about the docking capabilities of this sub except the upper echelons and logistic crew, you sure are quite loose for a guy that just got promoted yesterday"

the general has a stern look on his face while cocking his prized Silver Walther PPK pistol, he pointed the gun toward the forehead of the wounded man. Knowing Donny's situation, he has no way to run.

"don't even try to make an explanation, you also did already reveal yourself when you said my son has a rumour that he could destroy a single nation. Only the CIA would give that exaggeration."

The General pulled the trigger without hesitation, Jaeger instantly checked Donny's life sign and made sure that he was dead by shooting three more rounds to his head. The General shook his head at his son's action.

"You know that's too excessive right?"

"Hey, you gotta make sure he's totally dead you know? Pulse check, right?"

The General could only let out a sigh from his son's retort. As they were in a small tension break, the sound of something knocking hard was heard behind the door that is currently still full of gunfights. The general and Colonel stacked up at the side of the doorway and Jaeger opened the door slightly. A man with full-on combat gear gave a hand gesture indicating that he was friendly. Jaeger opened the door as the man and his team of 4 entered the room while the other 4 guards the outer perimeter.

"I'm sorry for our harsh intrusion sir, we're ABEL's 6th Special ops squad, here to extract Lt. Col Jaeger and counterfeiting his death." Said the team lead while saluting the General.

"I'm fine with that Captain and nevertheless, the bridge crew isn't my trusted crew, they're the list of suspected ones that compromised this ship, so I'll thank your superior for assisting their annihilation. Well then, proceed to continue your mission" the captain nodded and ordered one of his men to relay the order to prepare for extraction. The captain then cocks an odd-looking pistol while his men restrain Jaeger that is fighting the restraint.

"Wait a minute, General! What do you mean by cou-"

The captain shot Jaeger with something like a soporific injection, he then begins to drop down and lose consciousness, the only thing that he remembers before lights out is that he saw the General talking about something towards the captain, but then again, he couldn't hear it. Moments pass from the storm, lightning ceases to strike down…

Several men entered the General's office, they started inspecting the burnt corpses that lie down on the floor. The room was heavily scorched, and the ceiling was torn apart, revealing the wiring of the ship. One of the men then reach out his earpiece and commanded the others to recover the remains

"Overlord, we confirmed the death of both Lt. Col Achiles Wolfenford and Major Donny Callaghan. We're retrieving the remains of their bodies for further autopsy."

"Solid copy Spearhead, standby for extraction. Your next mission is to hunt down the leader of Grunner Defence Corp, General August Wolfenford, coordinates have been sent. Happy hunting"

Fast-forwarding several hours, General August's division has already arrived at their Headquarters for their final defence on their arctic Base as multiple underwater missile launch systems, and heavily fortified bunkers with many naval guns are prepared for the upcoming assault. Soon enough, they picked up a massive surface and air contacts at their radars and thus, his final stand with his team begins.

"Sweetheart, I've made my promise… I'll be there soon"

- Somewhere in the Antarctic –

- 77˚47'22" S, 41˚29'08" W-

- 0300hrs -

Jaeger slowly regains his consciousness, checking his finger movement one by one and slowly lifting his right arm to block the bright light from the ceiling. After he looked left and right, he then rise to sit, at the same time the door of the quarters opened while a girl walks in. she was wearing a white lab coat that hides her officer uniform, she has short brown hair with a ponytail, her eyes sparkled when she noticed Jaeger was awake

"Archie!!" she said as she jumps and tightly embraced him. Jaeger that just sat a moment ago got irritated by her action.

"Sis, could you please stop calling me that? We're not kids anymore, at least call me Achilles or Jaeger." The girl pouted at Jaeger; she then sits beside him with her arms crossed.

"Tch, now my own brother hates the pet name I gave"

"Alright, fine, call me whatever you want, Commander Jeanne Himmelsdorf" Jeanne became more upset while Jaeger is being completely clueless. Nevertheless, she didn't hate it whatsoever, Jeanne could sigh and then patted Jaeger's head.

"Yep, this is my brother that never changed, Hehe~. also, welcome to the 2nd Trailblazer Class Interstellar Aircraft Carrier, CVI-020 or ICS Yukikaze!