AURORA AUSTRALIS

"Let's go," said Clara, and the 4 headed off in the direction of the base.

Little did she realise that due to her fall when retreating from the ambush, there are cracks in her armour, near her left ankle.

After an arduous trek across the dark, barren and cold Antarctica wasteland, the cadets reached a cluster of ice caves, which is just 2km away from the base they are going to strike.

Even though they have no sense of time given the perpetual darkness of Antarctica in April, due to the Earth's rotation keeping it on a side not facing the Sun, the cadets' watches are still working, and the time now is already 9pm of the first day. They decided to sleep in an ice cave to recharge before striking.

Erika and Karl set up an early warning system consisting of a movement sensor and remote controlled claymore bombs, hiding them in a cluster of rocks covered in snow along a path that leads to the cave.

Upon settling down, they deactivated and took off their Exo-suits, wiring fuel cells to the mobile power bank carried by Clara, ensuring that they will be functional tomorrow. Exo-suits' energy consumption are almost tripled in the extreme colds of Antarctica, from heating up their bodies and water flasks.

Sean stirred in his sleep. About 2 hours later Karl awakened him. Sean opened his eyes, yawning, climbing out of his sleeping bag and quickly putting on his snow camouflage winter coat, helmet and body armour, grabbing his guns and heading to the mouth of the cave.

It's now his and Clara's turn to take guard.

Erika tapped Clara on the shoulder, "don't be distracted by the scenery!" she joked. Clara ruffled her cat ears in return.

Soon, Sean and Clara have hidden themselves under snow ghillie suits that have been shielded against thermal imaging, scanning the areas around them using binoculars. Sean also checked the detonator, checking for any movement near their trap.

He looked up at the night sky. Just as Erika said, the scenery is indeed beautiful.

Colourful lights shone through the dark night sky in a myriad of patterns of red, green and purple tones, creating beautiful colour pallets that looked even better when contrasted against the black night and white landscape of Antarctica. While not as famous as its counterpart in the North, the Aurora Australis, or Southern lights, remains one of nature's most dazzling and beautiful works of art.

Clara noticed Sean's admiration, she laughed, also enjoying the scene with him.

"You know, apparently one century ago Antarctica only becomes completely dark in May, the Sun is till setting in April." she mused.

"Earth's rotation changed slightly after WW3 after all," replied Sean. He pointed at the lights. "This is why we fight, don't we? So that the children of this world can see such wonders with there own eyes," he grinned.

Clara bowed her head, sighing. Sean noticed her depressed state, a clear contrast with her usual prideful and determined self. He asked her what's wrong.

"I wish I managed to see this when I was a child," she said, with a slightly crying tone, startling Sean.

Sean is disheartened to see his comrade like this. Even though she, for a period of time, was a jerk towards him, Sean still considered her a friend nonetheless, especially after Hell Month, during which their rapport slowly building up thanks to Sean moving on from his trauma and improving in performance.

Sensing that Clara also has some form of trauma affecting her, Sean encouraged her to speak up, promising to keep it a secret and he will also share his story with her in return.

After some deliberation, Clara agreed. She is curious about the antagonistic attitudes that Instructor Maia, whom now she knows to be from Squad Artemis, has towards this former Tier 1 veteran.

"I am 26 this year," recounted Clara. Both Sean and Clara still focused their attention on their binoculars. "I was born in Pyongyang, to a human-Sellardraxian family. My"dad" is a human , my mom is a Draco subspecies. Mom is a professional model, while "dad" was a retired Special Forces operator of the Korean National Army. When I was born, he had retired for a year, working as a security guard on night shifts at a naval shipyard."

Sean nodded, finding it interesting that Clara Park is a second-generation soldier.

"My "dad" really loved me," she smiled, though there evidently is some bitterness in her voice. "He used to spoil me. He is everything you can ask of a father. My mom was always busy with work and I barely see her most of the time given her odd schedule. My "dad" on the other hand only leaves for work when I am asleep, he is the parent whom I grew up with."

Clara pulled back her helmet, revealing her hair tied into a bun. Her fading headband is Kuromi themed. It is black and pink in colour.

Sean stifled back a laugh. "Kuromi from Hello Kitty combined with the military? This is probably one of the most cursed— Ow," his teasing is interrupted when Clara forcibly pulled his dragon horns in protest.

"This was the first piece of hair accessory I owned, and it was gift from my "dad"," she explained.

"Aww," said Sean in a cute voice.

"Then," she paused, biting her lips, suppressing down the crying voice that started to leak out again. "Everything changed when I was 7."

"I was hit by a bus when walking home from school. I needed a blood transfusion, so my "dad" who rushed me to the hospital signed a document provided to acknowledge."

She pointed to her blood type marker on her body armour, which is B+.

"That was when my "dad" noticed that my blood type is B, while his blood type is A, and my mom's blood type is O. My mom had arranged and appointed all of my medical checks, so he did not know at the time."

"Oh my god..." muttered Sean, realising what this means.

Clara chuckled bitterly, seeing that Sean already understood. "Thinking that it was a mistake, my "dad" got a DNA test. It turns out that—"

"He is not my biological father," she said. "I was still hospitalized at the time, I did not know what happened, only faintly hearing my parents arguing and my mom crying apologetically. I still remember asking him if we are still going on that trip to Australia to see the Aurora Australis, all he did was to coldly tell me to get well soon."

"When I got discharged, my parents divorced. My "dad" essentially disappeared from my life abruptly. I later learnt that he had not fought for any entitlement to the married property. He was so quick to get rid of me and my mom, as if we are a worthless stock eating away at his funds."

Sean is stunned. Even though he can understand her "dad" 's feeling at being cheated on and raising someone else's child for 7 years, his actions are nonetheless extremely cruel to Clara, who is innocent. The sheer emotional trauma of a loving parent abruptly "abandoning" a child is unfathomable.

"When I was older I learnt the full story from my mom's lawyer. She had cheated on my "dad" when he was still in the military out of loneliness, only breaking up when my "dad" retired. My biological father is a Kpop idol who killed himself in a drug-driving accident in Busan in 2113," continued Clara.

"My mom regretted her actions, crying and begging for him to change his mind, but to no avail. He even filed a PPO against her. He left Korea when I was 9, all of his relatives and friends cut us out of their social circle."

"Do you hate him?" asked Sean.

"For a few years, but when I knew the full story I no longer did," she smiled.

"I sucked big time at school," she laughed sheepishly. "So I decided to enlist in the military when I turned 18. Kind of ironic, right?" she asked.

Sean nodded.

"My mom was extremely supportive," said Clara. "She said that it's honourable, just like my "dad". So, I enlisted in the Korean army, got selected to UNSSD, posted to the Mecha units. Amethyst detachment was my unit."

"Wow, you were deployed in the Jupiter defence ring," commended Sean. "Then why did you choose to change to Special Forces? I mean due to the scale of the bases and Earth colonies in the Jupiter defence ring, it is the best place to be in the Solar system beside Earth. Certainly the benefits must be good to be stationed there as conventional forces?"

Clara nodded. "True, but thanks to my "dad" sharing his stories with me I developed a fascination with the Special Forces, and longed to be one of them."

"Hence, when the Marine Shock Troopers opened recruitment," she continued, referring to UNSSD Space Force's Tier 2 special operations unit. "I signed up without hesitation."

"My end goal is Tier 1, obviously," she said, determined. "So that I can finally achieve my dream and wrap up my childhood once and for all. I feel that by doing so, I can truly let go of all of the sad things I have encountered."

She then turned to Sean with a smug face. "So, don't you dare to drag me down! I am definitely one of the 28!" she declared.

Sean chuckled. He pointed to the Aurora Australis above them. "I guess this also helps in your progress to wrap up your childhood?"

"Yeah..." she smiled. "15 years late."

"Your turn now," she nudged Sean.

Sean sighed, beginning his story.

"Sean is not my official name," he said.

Clara frowned. Her frown turned into a wide-eyed shock once Sean finished his sentence.

"My official name, is Artemis 9. I was trained as a sniper observer."

"NO F***ING WAY!" exclaimed Clara softly, shocked that she had been interacting with a member of Squad Artemis for the last 4 months. "You're that Squad Artemis soldier who retired!"

"No wonder your physical abilities are superb and you seem to be unfazed by whatever the instructors threw at us!" she exclaimed in realisation.

Sean nodded. "Kept it a secret from you all for obvious reasons. But now that both of us had already broken the rules on classified information, it does not matter now."

Clara whistled sheepishly.

"Then why did you retire?" she asked. "And why couldn't you shoot properly initially? You were shooting like as if it was your first day as a soldier if you don't have an Exo-suit to aim assist."

Sean pursed his lips, telling her the story of his most catastrophic mission.

"In 2131, I was deployed to Canada. Squad Artemis was given the task of killing General Ronald Kristol, the last commander of the Liberty States and destroy their main base at the Alaska-Canada border," Sean continued.

The Liberty States movement emerged from USA during WW3, they colluded with the Veo and almost conquered the Americas. They still remained active as a terrorist organisation after WW3.

"As we were collecting intel, Artemis 14 "Freyja", who had infiltrated into their ranks was discovered and taken prisoner."

Clara recognised that name from the martyr graves, knowing that she is the member of Squad Artemis who was KIA.

"Thus, our mission," continued Sean. "Now also included rescuing her."

"Squad Artemis will infiltrate in and complete the objectives, with a battalion of the US Army acting as QRF to bust us out in the event of trouble. Xiao Tian led another group of Tier 1 operators and UN peacekeepers, acting as back up forces."

"We infiltrated into the base as planned, I was in the sniper nest," continued Sean. "But then it turns out that General Kristol sprang a trap for us using Freyja as a bait. The moment we rescued her we were surrounded."

"In the chaos that followed, the 4 of us in the sniper nest managed to take out General Kristol. We radioed for the QRF, but the US Army never came. Xiao Tian's units were also stalled by Liberty States' reinforcement. All the support we can get are air to surface munitions fired by the 814th Fighter brigade."

"Hence, because the reinforcements were delayed and our siblings were pinned down in the heavy gunfire, the 4 of us stole an enemy gunboat, blasting open a path across the river, intending to evacuate out of the warzone, But then..."

(Flashback, Canada, June 2131)

"Big Sis, we need to land to reload, please hold on! Reinforcements' ETA is 10 minutes!" radioed Vasily on his fighter, firing his last ARM missile.

"Copy that!" replied Aya. "Reinforcements inbound! Hold on tight!" she radioed the 13 members of Squad Artemis on the ground.

"Go!" yelled Liu Zhong, reloading his last ammo belt for his QJY-201 machine gun, covering Aya, who is dragging a badly wounded Nanami with her. Nanami's right leg had been blown off by a mortar, even so she still fired her FN 5-7 pistol in the direction of the enemies. Squad Artemis had retreated to the river bank as instructed by Cameron.

Maia and Electra are holding on to a badly beaten up Freyja, the 3 limping behind Aya and Nanami, while Walter, Ethan and Atsumi covered them. During the shootout that followed, Ethan is shot, falling.

"Reload, hurry!" yelled Cameron. Sean immediately loaded in another belt of high-explosive auto-cannon rounds into the 30mm auto-cannon turret of the gunboat. Cameron manned the weapon, shooting at the terrorists chasing their siblings. Meari manned the gunboat, sailing it rapidly towards the bank, while Frederica picked off the heavy weapon operators among the terrorists using her sniper rifle.

They suddenly slowed down. Meari looked at the battery levels. "F***!" she cursed. The batteries had depleted, and now they are moving with inertia.

"New plan!" she radioed, stirring the gunboat towards a bridge. "Go by the bridge, we will cover you!" The gunboat stopped beside the bridge, just as a group of terrorists rushed onto the bridge. They figured out the evacuation plan, trying to stop them.

"AVENGE THE GENERAL! KILL THEM ALL!" the terrorists roared in unison.

Sean disembarked onto the bridge, shooting the terrorists, emptying his SCAR-H's 20 round magazine, gunning down all of them before they can even turn to him. He wiped off the dirt on his Exo-suit visor, flipping it up. 

"QUICK!' yelled Sean, firing incendiary rifle grenades, forming a wall of flames that separated the terrorists from Squad Artemis. At Aya's orders, they also generated and threw fireballs into the wall of flames to keep the fire burning.

Sean went to help Maia and Electra with carrying Freyja.

"It's good to see you, Sean," Freyja smiled weakly.

Suddenly, a terrorist that Sean had put down stood up again. He had in fact missed his shot and had not hit the terrorist in his vitals. The terrorist aimed his XM7 rifle at Sean.

All of this happened in a flash, Sean had no time to dodge it once he saw the gun.

The man pulled the trigger.

Freyja pushed her body into Sean instinctively and moving him out of harm's way, while Maia and Electra aimed their X95 rifle and CZ BREN 2 rifle respectively, finishing off the terrorist.

A warm liquid dripped on to Sean's face. He saw a fresh bullet exit wound in her forehead. Boiling, crimson blood spurted out onto Sean's face.

"FREYJA!!!!' Sean screamed, shaking her lifeless body. The entirety of Squad Artemis stared in shock and anguish at the death of one of their siblings.

A suicide drone landed beside Sean, blowing off his legs.

"SEAN!" yelled Frederica, who jumped off the gunboat and rushed over to him, futilely trying to stem his bleeding.

"AHHHH!" screamed Sean in pain, anguish and rage. Freyja's lifeless eyes dug at his heart as he passed out from the blood loss...

(Present time)

Clara placed her hand comfortingly on Sean's shoulder, knowing how difficult it is to lose a comrade on a battlefield, especially someone whom he had grown up with.

"After I passed out, Xiao Tian and his units finally arrived, rescuing us. I got my legs replaced," said Sean.

"My siblings, with the exception of 4, blamed me for Freyja's death and shunned me. Maia was the most enthusiastic in doing so. I blamed myself too, I did not have the courage to face them, so I chose to retire, and had a phobia of shooting ever since."

"No wonder..." muttered Clara, feeling extremely awful for her attitude towards him previously.

"Sorry," she apologised. "For everything."

Sean assured her that it's alright, "then, out of the blue, I got an re-enlistment notice, and I met you guys," he finished.

"Did you want to come back?" asked Clara.

"50-50 frankly," replied Sean. "On one hand I cannot face my siblings, on the other hand I feel that I am most comfortable in UNSSD. I always felt that stopping hell from reaching the people is my responsibility."

"I tried to lie to myself that I am ok as a civilian, even resorting to smoking, it did not work, obviously."

"Due to this inner conflict, I was probably the least determined among the cadets, simply wanting to do my best and see how it goes."

"But then I met you all. I want to advance together as comrades," he blushed, embarrassed. "After getting some help from Xiao Tian I moved on from my trauma and gradually got back my shooting skills."

Clara smiled. She curled her right hand into a fist, extending it towards Sean.

"Let's become one of the 28 together!"

Sean nodded, fist-pumping her, determined to pass tomorrow's operation.