128 Epilogue – Do You Still Feel Lucky, Mick?

It had been ten days after the formal debriefing of the successful E.X.T.I.R.T operation in the regions of Southeast Asia, which had further promoted the global organization's effectiveness in retaliating extraterrestrial attacks on earth. Furthermore, its collaboration with another armed force which was considered as near perfect albeit still with many criticisms, resulted in boosting up its structural finalization, and was expected to be able to fully operate by the beginning of the year 2036.

Meanwhile, elsewhere inside one of the office in the Pentagon, a three-star flag officer was busily taking out countless documents into his briefcase, scattering lots of sheets of papers all across his office both on the table, chair and also floor. He was sweating profusely, and few of his sweat drops fell to some of the scattered papers as he was still looking for a few more documents that he needed to take.

'There you are!' he thought to himself, as he was partially relieved when he finally saw the folder to the documents that he had been looking for in one of the drawers of his black metal cabinet.

He was so much in a hurry that he felt he did not have the time to spare to pull out the documents that he was looking for inside the folder, and instead he just put inside the whole folder into his briefcase before he proceeded to close it and prepared to leave his office. He did not even bother to tidy up the rest of the other scattered papers all over his office before he turned off the lights, and exit in a hurry before he finally locked his office with his keycard.

The whole floor had been such in a stir due to the occurrence of news that few of the men on that floor holding key positions in the Joint Chiefs of Staffs had been involved in various illegal activities, including weapons smuggling, illegal weapons supplying to conflicting regions, maintenance fee corruption, and selling parts of military technology secrets to international terrorist and radical groups. Tense and oppressing atmosphere filled the entire floor, and every single person there was on edge with each other, as they were all scared of getting themselves somehow got dragged into the matter.

The three-star flag officer did not mind them and just walked fast to the elevator, while he also took the advantage of the crowd in order to avoid detection of the cameras installed all over the floor. He managed to get inside the elevator and as he went inside it, there were also two people headed inside in a hurry.

Unlike him, they did not seem to mind if they got themselves recorded by the single camera inside the elevator since they were just standing in the middle of it, while he stood right under the camera to avoid detection. As the elevator was going down, he exchanged quiet but also nervous looks towards the two people and as the elevator arrived at the parking lot, he went outside and walked away in a hurry.

He kept on heading straight into one of the black SUVs, and as he went inside to the middle passenger seats, five other men armed with SG 552 carbines were already waiting for him. There was also another person on the rear passenger seats, with face wrapped in thick black wool cloth and hands tied, who was sitting right next to another armed men.

"Well, Sir?" asked the driver to the flag officer.

"What are you waiting for?! Step on it!" he responded to him with a rather panicked tone.

The black SUV were accompanied by other two similar vehicles – one in the front, and the other in the back. Each of the vehicles contained six fully armed men, and all of them were heading towards the same location, which was an underground parking lot about two miles from the Pentagon.

They were planning to change to other vehicles from there, before they would then proceed to go to a small port by the Rappahannock River and from then on, continued to go to the Chesapeake Bay on his personal stealth medium yacht. Even though he had not planned what else to do after he arrived there, for the moment his mind was only focused on getting away from the Pentagon and also the land as far as he could first.

"If that person talk or move even for an inch, then put a bullet straight into the head." the officer ordered the men sitting beside the person.

There were no problems at all along their way out from the Pentagon to the underground parking lot. Two men from the third SUV immediately went out as soon as the car reached inside and quickly closed the railing door. The rest of the others, including the officer as well as the wrapped person also went out of the SUV and was about to head for a large truck trailer that was already prepared right in the middle of the parking lot. That was, until something they had unexpected happened.

Suddenly, the lights were all turned off, and since none of the men were equipped with a night vision goggle, all of them were completely blinded by the sudden darkness. The officer immediately panicked, and quickly got himself equipped with his magnum handgun, while demanding the wrapped person to be right in front of him.

"The hostage! Give the hostage to me!!" he yelled, echoing his voice to the entire parking lot.

Shortly after, one by one, his men were wiped out but not killed as he could clearly hear their groans and agonizing screams. He wanted to aim at the attackers, but all he could see were only the muzzle flashes resulted by the ongoing fire. It was not that long before he was suddenly shot out of nowhere on his right arm and right leg, dropping him down hard to the ground and forced to drop his handgun. Right after that, someone turned on the lights again, revealing the attackers.

He thought that there were numbers of men doing the assault, but on the contrary, there were only four, and among them, was 1st Lieutenant Ryan Ming of the U.S. Army, who was also leading the assault and had himself equipped with only a suppressed tactical Browning Hi-Power handgun with optics as well as a night vision goggle on his head. He quickly picked up the magnum pistol belonged to the officer, as the rest of the other three men kicked away the carbines belonging to all of his bodyguards.

"Y-you!" the officer said, recognizing Ryan's face as he had seen his photo about a couple years earlier not too long after the first extraterrestrial invasion. "I know you!"

"So do I, Vice Admiral Stone." Ryan responded quickly, with a rather satisfied tone before he then proceeded to approach the wrapped person and immediately cut off the binding cable tie before he then took off the wrapping on the person's face.

"I am glad that you are still alive, Fiora..." he said to the person, who was revealed to be someone that he had known back three years prior.

"All thanks to that Navy Captain-" she quickly replied, but was almost immediately cut off by him.

"Commodore…" he clarified. "That man is now a Navy Commodore."

Ryan had been informed by Commodore Quentin that something had been going on from inside the Pentagon prior to his departure to Indonesia to assist U.S. Navy Lieutenant, and also E.X.T.I.R.T temporary operative agent Travis Verelli Burners. It had not taken Ryan that long to be able to trace where the first Morse code transmission had been sent from once Commodore Quentin told him that a communication system hacking and blackmailing had most likely been in progress when neither him or Commander General Girsang of the Indonesian Special Forces Command could get in touch with their respective officers.

Once Ryan found out that the transmission had in fact been conducted right from inside the Pentagon, he immediately informed in person an uncorrupted U.S. Army General Officer mentioned by Commodore Quentin to temporarily disable all access to the Direct Energy Weapon (DEW) technology for the duration of approximately twelve hours. Just like Commodore Quentin had predicted, the three-star flag officer, Vice Admiral Mickey Stone, had forced Travis to give what he demanded under the threat of a DEW attack.

When he found out that all accesses to the technology had been disabled, and that Travis had instead obtained a clear evidence in the form of a recording regarding his accidental confession about his illegal actions on the weapon, he became scared and thus decided to destroy all documents that might lead to his traces.

At the same time, he also had to bring the last person he could take as a hostage – Fiora Mallory, which was also the direct witness to all of his corrupt actions and blackmailing attempts. Commodore Quentin only needed her other than the recording, in order to finally seal the possible death sentence that might fell upon Vice Admiral Stone later during his trial.

"Commodore Quentin is on the phone." Ryan proceeded to crouch and showed him his phone, showing Commodore Quentin's face on a live video call. "He has something very important to tell you."

"How does it feel to be on the other receiving end of the guns, Mick?" Commodore Quentin said through the screen, as he grinned with satisfaction.

"You ungrateful shark!!" Vice Admiral Stone yelled. "Is this how you will repay what I have done to you all this time for these twenty five years, huh!?"

"Oh, so you were also behind that thing about forcing me to switch from the Marines to the Navy back in 2009 in Gaza?" Commodore Quentin quickly replied by spilling another fact as he had his eyes looking upwards and remembering his past. "I guess that can also be added on the secondary list of your crimes later on during your trial, then."

"Is that what this is all about!? Your dissatisfaction in the Navy!?" Vice Admiral Stone continued to yell, still could not accept the fact he had just lost in his own dirty game. "For all I cared, you would have been buried together with that miserable clay building had I not urged the other fat old farts to change their minds!!"

"Wow, and yet you confessed just now that there were also others involved in your dirty actions." Commodore Quentin chuckled, a little bit satisfied with his own cunningness. "I wonder how many general and flag officers who were and are still involved in your… business…"

Vice Admiral Stone finally went silent, realizing that he had absolutely nothing left that could help him in his situation. Commodore Quentin then proceeded to reveal something that he had kept to himself, and also three other soldiers that survived the harsh ordeal twenty five years prior in Gaza.

"You know, Mick…" Commodore Quentin sighed, as he was struggling to contain the anger that he had buried deep for such a long time. "Actually, on that day, I had been on the other house all along when the B-1 Lancer strategic bomber had arrived on the site to bomb the hell out what was left of that house complex. In other words, your actions back then barely had anything to do with my advantage, if any…"

Vice Admiral Stone only groaned, and could not stop to sweat profusely as he had then knew full well he would stand very little to no chance in getting out of the death penalty that awaited him after the military trial. Commodore Quentin then said his closing statement, one that made Vice Admiral Stone so angry that he could stand up and tried to fight Ryan back.

"You have a habit of never listening to the sincere advices and warnings from your own subordinates, Mick, even the crucial and vital ones, believing that somehow your luck will always help you to slip out." Commodore Quentin scoffed and finally, laughed. "Well? With how things turned out, do you still feel lucky, Mick?"

As soon as he finished saying his last words, and turned off the video call, Vice Admiral Stone could not contain his anger anymore and he immediately tried to snatch his magnum handgun back to his own hands. Unfortunately it only resulted in him receiving an upward kick from Ryan, who sent him flying towards one of the black SUVs' door window, breaking the glass as soon as his body was thrown right towards it.

"Whew, good thing I had begun practicing Jeet Kune Do since last year…" Ryan said as he smiled and put his left leg on the ground again before he proceeded to approach Vice Admiral Stone, then with a bleeding right forehead.

"D-damn… dwarf…" he said, as he held the injury on his head.

"Vice Admiral Stone," Ryan responded, as he was about to mention few of his warning according to the military law and restrained Vice Admiral Stone. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. As for the rest, I guess I still have to memorize it again…"

One of the men then proceeded to take him away outside, just as the other opened up the parking lot railing door again. Several military soldiers had already been waiting outside the parking lot and quickly stormed in to restrain all of the Vice Admiral's bodyguards as well as confiscating all of their carbines.

"Ryan… once again… thank you so much…" Fiora quickly approached Ryan, right after one of the soldiers from outside handed her a thick blanket.

"You are welcome, Fiora." Ryan nodded and smiled cheerfully. "I am also relieved to know that the old man did not do anything to you anymore after Commodore Quentin's warning three years ago…"

"I guess that means I cannot help but to accept the fact that all of you have now known the things I had done, then…" she sighed with a sad tone.

"Look, you are now free, Fiora." Ryan continued as he held both her shoulder with his hands. "However, based on how things have turned out, and… considering what you had done… I hate to say it but… you cannot stay here anymore…"

"I am basically the enemy of the whole country too, huh? If not the passive one…" she looked down, her eyes seemed to be distant.

Ryan revealed to her that Commodore Quentin had secretly prepared for everything she needed in order to move out of the country, to a small town in the western part of Canada where she could start over with her life again there. As long as she abided by the law and did not even try any form of a petty crime there, she would be okay.

Realizing that she had actually been assisted by the man she had tried to harm in the past, she could only think of an absolute guilt at that moment. Fortunately, Ryan was sensitive enough to know what she might be thinking and feeling. Thus, he offered her for a meeting with him at lunchtime in a diner on the next day for about a couple of hours in order to fill her in with the summary of what the others had been doing during the last three years since she still had three more days before she had to move out. She was not sure if she should be happy, but at least that made her smiled again a little.

"Well, I do think that I need a friend for now…" she said as she laughed a little.

"Now that is more like it." Ryan responded as he smiled and walked with her and went outside of the parking lot.

Just then, he remembered that he had to take out something from the briefcase of the Vice Admiral, which was a personal favor from Commodore Quentin himself. He told Fiora to wait a moment for him as he rushed back and reached the briefcase before he took out the specific document that he had been asked for. Fortunately, the document had in fact been stored inside the last folder that the Vice Admiral had hurriedly put inside.

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PERSONAL INFORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS PERSONNEL

Name: Gabe Callahan Quentin

D.O.B: April 22nd 1988, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A

Height: 5'11.7" (182 cm)

Weight: 172 lbs (78 kg)

Blood type: B (-)

Spoken Language(s): English, Arabic

Rank: 2nd Lieutenant (2009 – present)

Notable Military Services: Operation Tiger Shark in Gaza (2009)

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He looked at a glance the first page of the document as he quickly took them out, before another soldier then asked him for the briefcase. Ryan immediately told the soldier that Commodore Quentin needed the taken old document, to which the soldier said that the whole backup team had been informed about it as well.

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Meanwhile, in Stuttgart, Germany, both Commodore Quentin and Major General Girsang had gathered for an important meeting with the Lieutenant General that had both briefed and debriefed Travis regarding the operation that had succeeded. The two of them were then still waiting for the Lieutenant General, sitting on a comfortable dark blue couch

"Did you hear that just now?" Commodore Quentin said to him as he laughed and still holding his phone.

"Heheh… even if he wanted to try and say that you were accusing him of something unjustly, he apparently forgot that four out of six of us back then managed to survive that dusty inferno together…" Major General Girsang chuckled satisfyingly as he crossed both of his arms.

"But really, when I knew that it was you all along who would directly supervise that sharp young man, I knew right from the start that either things will go very right, or will go terribly wrong…" Commodore Quentin continued as he leaned against the couch.

"Well, from my point of view, if it was not for that old bastard we would not have to directly go to the field and aid those young bloods." Major General Girsang sighed but also smiled.

Commodore Quentin then asked him what his opinion was about Travis, to which he said that he deeply admired the young Navy Lieutenant's attention to the details around him, and that his tendency to always try to calculate nearly everything on the battlefield did make him suitable to be a battle tactician.

However, he was a little concerned on his indecisiveness once in a while, which according to him had been clearly noticed especially when he had arrived on the mountain peak. He also noted that Travis seemed to have a particularly good hearing, something that Billy mentioned to him when they had met again with each other during the fourth day of the operation.

When he finished, he asked Commodore Quentin back about his opinion on Billy. The first thing that he noted was that the sharp 1st Lieutenant had absolutely no second thoughts on holding back when it comes to surprise attacks, something that he witnessed through his own eyes when he had personally led five men to climb to the treetop and jumped first to the deck of the hover boat as he immediately proceeded to attack several of the aliens there using only a pickaxe at such a close range, and succeeded. If that had not been a bold and daring move, then he would not know what was.

Although bold, he was also concerned that he could be even more reckless than Travis. He also witnessed through his own eyes when Billy suddenly emerged out of nowhere on the mothership debris and stabbed the pickaxe which had been taped together with his dynamite on the chain sickled blue alien. Indeed that turned out to be a necessary move and again, also bold. However, no men in their careful minds would dare to do that since it was far too risky for their own lives. As it turned out, Billy would indeed lose his live at the hands of the alien had he not worn the special body armor.

"In conclusion, they were both still young, but nonetheless have a deep potential within themselves and therefore they would still need years of more experience. The end?" Major General Girsang concluded.

"That, and the fact that the combination of their actions slightly reminded me of our earliest days back then…" Commodore Quentin added.

"Oh, that is right…" Major General Girsang suddenly sat straight. "Is not the name of the Lieutenant General-"

"Exactly, another four of us who survived that operation, his name is-" Commodore Quentin was about to reveal the Lieutenant General's name, before suddenly the man came into the room and cut his words off.

The atmosphere then turned into what could be described as fun and reminiscing, instead of serious and mind-running.

"Well, well, well…" the Lieutenant General smiled as he entered the waiting room. "I expected to see a couple of experienced and veteran military leaders, but instead all I see here is a couple of grown-up boys in decorated uniforms."

"Uriel Diatrich!" Commodore Quentin said with a loud tone as he stood up and opened up his arms widely.

"Hey, just skip the formalities, Uriel!" Major General Girsang said as he laughed whole heartedly. "What is it about us that you wanted to talk about for E.X.T.I.R.T?"

"Ah… what else can I say upon hearing those words from you both?" the Lieutenant General said as he smiled and swiped his hair backwards with his right hand as he sat down on the couch across them.