Funeral

08:46

Bravo Squad House, New Eden

Sohel parked the car in the driveway and knocked on the door. A moment later, Naomi came and opened the door. She asked as Sohel came inside, "What took you so long?"

Sohel replied, "Nothing. Just gossiped with Uncle Rahat. Did Ann return yet?"

"Yeah. She returned a while back and is sleeping right now."

"I'll get some sleep too. You should too."

"Yeah, I was waiting for you. Now I'll go to sleep. Good night. "

Naomi left Sohel and headed towards her room. Sohel went to the kitchen and took a glass of water before he too headed to his room. 

13:58

SNA Parade Grounds, New Eden

Bravo Squad's Subaru stopped just outside the parade grounds. All members of the Bravo squad except Mitali got out of the car. Mitali hadn't returned from the hospital. All four of them were wearing their full ceremonial uniform.

It was a bright sunny day, and as the parade ground was right on the edge of the island, there was a nice ocean breeze. If not for the situation in hand, it would be a pretty nice day to hang around there.

There were many people gathered in one place. Sohel and everyone else reached there. Most of the people there were SNA soldiers. All of them were wearing their ceremonial Uniforms. And there were a few people just wearing normal funeral clothes. All of them were standing on one side. On the other side there was a small podium with the parade ground march road in the middle. On the road were kept two coffins, wrapped in Russian and British flags.

The Bravo squad went ahead and stood on one side of the podium. On the other side, there stood eight people. Sohel could tell by their uniform that all of them were colonels.

Soon, a car fleet came and stopped just outside the parade ground. From which General Overlord got down along with many other high-ranking officers.

They went straight to the podium and stood there.

Just as the general stood there, the funeral ceremony began. It started with a march. Led by a march commander, followed by band ending with normal soldiers. The band was playing their trumpets and flutes, creating a solemn yet prideful melody.

Once the march ended, the parade commander broke out of his file and marched to the coffins. He folded the flags that were wrapping the coffins in a tactful way and marched to Sohel. The parade commander then extended his hands, urging Sohel to take the flag.

Sohel was not ready for this and got a little uncomfortable. He looked at General Overlord and saw that the general too was indicating towards him, urging him to take the flag.

Sohel reluctantly took the flag and went to the group that looked like it was the family of Lt. Reaper.

He kneeled down in front of an elderly British woman who was sitting in a wheelchair. The woman was wiping.

Sohel slowly put down the flag on the woman's lap and said, "I'm sorry."

The words made the woman start crying a river. Sohel tried to console her, but as he saw that nothing he did would calm the woman down, he got back to his position, leaving the woman to her family.

On the other side, FLt. Maverick's flag was handed over to Leon. There was no one on his side. He was standing alone with the flag in his hands.

Next, the general gave a short speech, expressing grief over the deaths, and that ended the funeral ceremony. The coffins were loaded in an ambulance and moved away.

The crowd dissipated soon too. But Leon still stood there. Not even the slightest movement in his body. It was almost as if he were a statue.

The Bravo Squad noticed this and Naomi and Jacob went to console him. Annabeele followed but she couldn't advance as Sohel suddenly grabbed her hand. Annabelle looked back with shock, but before she could say anything, Sohel said, "Come with me."

Sohel let go of Annabelle's hand and started walking. Annabelle stood there trying to figure out what happened, but as she saw Sohel walking away, she decided to ditch the thought and follow him.

Sohel got in the driving seat of the Subaru, and Annabelle sat beside him. He started driving silently. Annabelle wanted to ask questions but decided not to, looking at Sohel's serious expressions.

15:35

Runway-07, New Eden

Sohel ordered ARIA tolower the back ramp of Artemis as he drove towards it. And smoothly drove inside. Once inside Artemis, Sohel got out of the car as he ordered ARIA to close the back ramp and turn on the lights and ACs.

Sohel then headed straight to the briefing room after gesturing at Annabelle to follow him. Both of them entered the briefing room. Sohel asked Annabelle to sit down. She did.

Sohel said, "Ann, what I'm about to tell you, you can't reveal it to anyone else. Not even our squadmates. Especially Naomi."

Annabelle gulped and said, "Uhm... Ok."

Sohel said, "I've been assignean a espionage mission, and I've decided to take you with me as my partner. Will you come?"

"Sohel, why? You know I'm a non-combatant. I can't fight. Why would you choose me of all people?"

"Considering the sensitivity and confidentiality of the mission, you were my best choice. Now, will you come with me? I need your help."

Annabelle stayed silent for a while and said, "Ok. What is the mission?"

Sohel smiled and started explaining the mission to her. After almost an hour, Sohel was done.

Annabelle said, "That's a lot to take in at once. Project Spectre? Super soldiers? Child experiments? What was SNA doing during the war?"

Sohel replied, "I don't know. But what we do know is that if it gets out that one of our specialists is going on a killing spree without authorization, it'll be really bad."

Annabelle put her hand on her chin and said, "Hmm. This will be complicated but not impossible. When do we leave?"

"Tonight."

Annabelle freaked out a little and screamed, "What? There's literally no time to prepare. Leaving on a mission like this without proper Intel can be deadly."

"I know, but time is of essence here."

Annabelle sighed and said, "Ahhhhhh. Shite. OK. Let's see what we can do with the time we have."

Sohel smiled and said, "ARIA, open every single file you got on Project Spectre and Major Naoki Kobayashi."

Aria said after a brief moment of silence, "Command execution failed. Access denied."

Sohel said, "Request access with the reference code: SCBD19."

"Requesting access… Access granted. Opening files with the tag 'Project Spectre' and 'Major Naoki Kobayashi'"

In a moment, both the screens on the wall and on the table were flooded with documents. Sohel and Annabelle looked at the documents stunned for a moment. Sohel said, "You know what to do, Ann. Let's get to reading."

13:25

SM Zazz Mall, Makati, Philippines

A bustling local Wendy's. People are crowding the place, eating, working, or hanging out. A young Filipino lady in her mid-20s entered the Wendy's. She had long red hair and emerald green eyes and was wearing a navy blue suit. She went ahead and sat down at a table just opposite another woman. 

This woman too was in her mid-20s. But she was American. She had dark gray hair, havel eyes and a sharp jawline. She was wearing casual clothes.

The first woman smiled at the other woman and said, "Hello, Mimi. Didn't see you in a long time."

Mimi smiled back and retaliated in a cheerful manner, "And is that my fault? You're the one who stays cooped up in that office of yours all day every day."

The first woman chuckled shyly and said, "That's true. Sorry. It's just that the office has been pretty busy lately. Buuuuut, I've managed to get myself a long vacation. It's time for a sister's trip."

Just as she said that, Mimi's face turned serious. But only for a moment. Her expressions returned back to smiling in a moment. She said, "Where are we going this time?"

"I'm thinking of Japan. What do you think? We can meet Naoki there. Didn't get to meet him in a long time."

"Yeah, it will be fun. I'll call Ida tonight."

"Cool. Anyway, I should go back to office now. Vacation hasn't started yet."

"Bye, Lola."

"Bye. Tell Ida, I've said hi."

Lola left the restaurant as Mimi called a waiter and started ordering some food.