Farewell

"Hello."

"Hello, Ghost. This is Overlord. Where are you?"

"I'm in Dhaka, at my home."

"And your squad?"

"Mitali and Medusa are here with me. Princess and Blast have gone back to their respective countries."

"Call them back and get ready. You're going on an operation."

Sohel thinks, "Old man, it's time to get back at you."

He says out loud, "But sir, aren't we suspended right now? Our suspension shouldn't be over until March 7th."

"Your suspension is lifted. Go to the SNA regional headquarters in Dhaka and contact me through a secured line from there. Then I'll brief you on the mission."

Sohel senses the urgency in Overlord's voice and says, "Yes, sir."

Sohel cuts the call and puts the phone back on the table. He thinks about what he should do now. After a few minutes, he picks up his phone again and calls a number.

"Hello, Ann?"

"Hello, Sohel. How's it going?"

"It was going fine until a few minutes ago."

"Why? What happened?"

"Our suspension is lifted. We've got a mission. Leave for New Eden as soon as you can and ready the Artemis."

"Will do."

Sohel cuts the call and dials another number.

"Hello, Jacob."

"Ayyyyy, hello, boss."

"Get on the next flight and come to BD. Use your SNA visa. Our suspension is lifted. We have a mission."

"Yes, boss. Meet you soon."

Sohel cuts the call and puts the phone down. After a while, he suddenly thinks, "Wait. If the suspension has been lifted, then"

He opens a drawer under the table and brings out a pair of glasses. He wears it and says, "ARIA, wake up."

"Good morning, Captain."

"Yeah, good morning. ARIA, search, Project Spectre."

"Searching... found a match."

"Show me."

A window pops up on Sohel's glasses. He starts looking through it. After almost an hour of searching, all he could make out was that Project Spectre was a military research and training project conducted by the SNA during the Third World War. The research conducted on the project is locked under the highest level of security, and the project was shut down a year after the war ended as it failed to show results.

Sohel then says, "Search Specialist, Shadow."

"Searching.... one match found."

"Show me."

"You do not have clearance for this information."

Sohel clicks his tongue and a second later, says, "Search Operator, Naoki Kobayashi."

"Searching...…one match found. Relaying the information on the screen."

Sohel sees a bunch of information showing up in front of his eyes and starts reading through it. Between all of this information, only one sentence stuck with him.

'At 29 September 2025, Naoki Kobayashi was killed in action.'

All this information had put Sohel more in the dark than he was before.

He shakes his head and decides to leave it be for now. He goes downstairs and sees Sarah, Tanisha, Naomi and Mitali gossiping in the living room.

He calls out to Naomi and Mitali and says, "Naomi, Mitali, get ready. We're moving in 30 minutes. Vacation's over."

Before they could ask him anything, Sohel got back to his room. He packs his stuff up in two bags and leaves it next to the door. He then gets ready. He wears a navy blue suit with a white shirt and a blue tie. He changes his leather gloves for a pair of black linen gloves. He also wears ARIA glasses.

Once he gets back down, he sees Naomi and Mitali all ready and waiting for him in the living room.

Sarah and Tanisha were there, too. He says to Sarah, "Someone should come to pick up our luggage later today."

Sarah looked visibly upset. She says, "You promised to spend two months with me. Now you're suddenly going away."

Sohel puts a hand on Sarah's head and says, "I'm sorry, Sarah."

Sarah suddenly hugs Sohel and starts crying. All Sohel could do was console her by patting her back.

A few moments later, Sarah lets go of Sohel and wipes her tears. She says, "Don't die, okay?"

Sohel chuckles and says in a mischievous tone, "Even if I do, the insurance money should be enough for you to finish college."

Sarah pouts and starts punching Sohel's chest as she says, "You know that's not what I meant. Stay safe, Bhaiya."

"Yes. Take care of yourself too." Sohel knew deep inside that what he said could turn true any day.

Sohel, Naomi and Mitali get out of the house and start walking along the road while looking for a taxi. Naomi says, "Luna will be pretty sad when she comes back from school and finds out that you're gone."

Sohel's face gets serious as he says, "There's nothing I can do about that."

He stops a taxi and the three of them get in. The driver asks, "Where to, sir?"

"Dhaka cantonment."

12:19

SNA Regional HQ, Dhaka

They get out of the taxi and get inside the building. It was a tall, 47-story skyscraper. Just inside the front door is the reception area. It's a big room with two elevators on the opposite side of the front door, a waiting area on the left side, and the reception desk on the right side. A young woman, wearing a blue suit with a white shirt, is standing behind the reception desk.

Sohel goes to the reception desk and says, "I'm Captain Ghost."

He shows the woman his ID.

"I need a secure connection with New Eden."

"Please wait a minute, sir."

The woman starts browsing on the computer kept at the reception desk. After a few moments, she says, "Sir, conference room no. 4 is available. It's on the 31st floor, left side."

Sohel thanks the receptionist and gets back to the two. He says, "Let's go."

They get on the elevator and go to the 31st floor. Upon getting down to the 31st floor, they find themselves in a long corridor.

They go to the left side.

The left side of the 31st floor had a big server room on the right side and a bunch of conference halls on the left side. At the end of the corridor, there was a large window.

They find and enter conference room no. 4.

The conference room was a rectangular room with a big glass table in the middle, chairs on both sides of it, and a large screen on the right. Next to the screen was a small podium with a laptop on top. The walls were soundproofed. The wall on the opposite side of the door was made of glass.

All three of them stand in front of the screen. Mitali goes to the podium and starts using the laptop. A few seconds later, the glass wall suddenly turns black and the screen lights up. The SNA logo shows up on the screen with text under it saying, "Awaiting connection..."