8 CHAPTER 6: SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

There was a commotion at the entrance. Visitors had gathered around the entrance to see The Secretary of Defense. Reporters had also come to speak with the Secretary.

    The Secretary of Defense entered the lobby and people started yelling to ask the Secretary some questions. His bodyguards pushed the reporters away so they couldn't get to him. 

The Secretary was a man in his forties. He had some white hair mixed with his black hair. Surprisingly there were not a lot of wrinkles on his face.

The Secretary headed to the main hall and several other people greeted him. There were two-, wait, three people greeting him and one of them looks familiar.

He was sitting on a wheelchair..

It was Mr Warren. 

"Huh, I didn't know Mr Warren was on good terms with The secretary? Did you know about this Clara?" I asked to Clara who was standing next to me.

"Mr Warren met with The Secretary of Defense on several occassions before, all of them was related to the development of The Exoskeletons."

The more you know huh. Now, what is Mr Warren doing here actually? Is there some sort of event they're doing?

After having a short chat with the people who greeted him, The Secretary then went up onto the podium after the host announce his arrival and handed the mic to him.

    "Hello and a very good morning to you all. I am Mr Farouq, your Secretary of Defense. Now before I'm going to the main topic, there are some things I want to talk about first."

He stops for a moment for his words to sink.

 "Firstly, it's about the rate of crime in this country. Just this month, the crime rate increased from an average of 100 case a month to 130 cases a month. It may sound like a small number but in the future it's going to be a big problem if not handled now. So I want to remind every citizenz to be aware at all times and don't walk by yourself during the night or even during the day."

"Then, we have some rumours that our neighbouring country that you all must know, is doubling it's military power last week. It is expected that their active military personnel is 150, 000 men, a large number if compared to their 75,000 personnel last month. We don't know why and how they are preparing this large number of forces but we are 50% sure that we are at the brink of war."

"Therefore, I'm going to go to the main topic which is related to the topic I've given earlier. The government has issued competition to all citizens above 16 years of age to contribute to contribute to our country in any way possible. Be it in the form of inventions that would help the upcoming war or anything to enlisting as a soldier. That is all. Now I am open to several questions that you would like to ask."

Several reporters raised their hands and started shouting to get the Secretary's attention.

The Secretary pointed to a woman wearing a blouse at middle of the crowd.

"If the war broke out as expected, who do you think will win? Us or them?"

The Secretary thought for a moment before answering. 

"We don't know for sure. As of now, we have an amount of 127,400 active military personnel, while we have 15,000 in reserve. Furthermore, we mustn't forget that they have war technologies that are a little bit advanced than us, but they don't have one thing that we have which is the exoskeleton that have been helped our soldiers on the battlefield before. In 1253, when the rebellion happened, a soldier by the name of Colonel Glenn wiped out an entire ambush party using her own strength alone while being under-equipped. She saved the lives of five other personnel and lived to tell the tale. So to simply put it, we might have a fifty-fifty chance of winning."

Damien heard what the Secretary said and he smiled without himself knowing.

"This is going to be fun."