Graduation

5th March 2031

10:00

CMH, Dhaka

Sohel, Naomi, Jacob, and Mitali were standing in front of a helipad. Mitali had a luggage bag behind her. As they were talking to each other, they heard a faint sound of a helicopter. They looked up and searched for the helicopter. Slowly the whirling sound of the helicopter blades increased and a black, blue, and white painted helicopter appeared from behind the buildings. The helicopter came closer and landed at the helipad. The door next to the pilot's seat opened and a skinny blonde man came out. Sohel smiled seeing him. The blonde guy came close to them and Sohel and the guy hugged each other. The guy freed himself from Sohel's hug and held both shoulders.

"How do you damage yourself this much on your 1st mission?"

"Like you're the one to talk. Always doing these types of odd jobs while you should be on the frontlines with us."

"Unlike you, I love my life and will not throw it away this easily. I'm not joining the frontlines as I have nothing to do there."

Sohel laughed but he looked a little disappointed. Mitali was looking at them as she didn't know the man. The blonde guy noticed that and turned to Mitali. He said, "Allow me to introduce myself. Flight lieutenant Leonord Petrov. You can call me Leon"

Mitali awkwardly smiles and nods. Naomi points at Mitali and says, "Meet our squad's last member, combat medic Sergeant Mitali Roy."

Leon says, "Welcome to SNA." he turns to Sohel and says, "Let's go or we'll be late."

Sohel nods and both of them start walking towards the helicopter. Others follow behind.

14:09

SNA HQ, Tokyo, Japan

The helicopter lands on a helipad on top of a 53-story building. One by one all of them get out of the helicopter. The moment Sohel gets out a girl runs to him and hugs him. The girl had light blue long hair, and a soft but sharp face, and wore the same glasses as Sohel.

The girl started sobbing, "I was really worried you know. If I had known you had to fight in those situations I would've sent more tech."

"It's alright. We're okay."

Naomi comes to them and puts a hand on the girl's shoulder. She says, "You can calm down Anne. It's okay, all of us survived. "

Sohel pointed to his left side with his right hand and said, "But as you can see I could use a hand"

Annabelle laughs while wiping her tears, "Of course. I'll start working on it as fast as I can."

Leon hurries them, "Come on folks. Move your asses. Get down to the 27th floor and go to room 171. You'll find your ceremonial uniform there. Fresh up, get ready, and come to the conference hall on the 40th floor by 1750."

Sohel replies sarcastically, "Yes, boss."

All of them get on the lift and get down to the 27th floor. They find and enter room 171. They find 5 different rooms with each of their names written over each of the rooms. They nod to each other and get into their respective rooms. Sohel enters his room and puts down his duffle bag. The room was nicely designed like a hotel room. He found his SNA ceremonial uniform on the bed. He entered the washroom and found a set of towels too. He felt happy. He gets out of his clothes and dives into the bathtub. After taking an hour-long bath he gets out. He puts on his uniform and stands in front of the mirror. He looks at his missing arm through the mirror and lets out a big sigh. He puts on his hat and gets out. All of the other squad members were already there. He smiled and joined them.

18:00

The conference hall was empty as they had missed the graduation ceremony two days prior. All of the bravo squad members were waiting in front of the stage. A man in his 50s with red hair, an eye patch on her left eye, and a cold look on the other entered the room. He didn't even look at them and straight climbed up to the stage. A man and woman were behind him. The woman moved to the podium and started talking into the mic, "Congratulations Bravo squad on completing your mission successfully and graduating. The General will now present you with your graduation medals. It is also has been decided that due to the increased difficulty of the mission, all of you shall also be promoted." All of them were overjoyed upon hearing this. One by one they came up to the stage and received a medal from the General. While Sohel was receiving his the general said to him, "I'm sorry for your arm but good job." Sohel kept calm and whispered, "You're in for a lecture old man."

The general chuckled and whispered back, "I'll meet you at your squad house tomorrow. Keep a beer for me, will you?"

All of them stand in a horizontal line in front of the General. The woman again says on the mic, "Congratulations. Now one by one introduce yourselves with your new callsigns and ranks."

All five of them do that one by one.

"Squad Leader: Captain Sohel Chowdhury. Callsign: Ghost; Bangladesh Army"

"2nd in command:1st lieutenant Naomi Kobayashi. Callsign: Medusa; Japan Self Defence Force"

"Engineer: 2nd lieutenant Annabelle Josephina Watson. Callsign: Princess; British Royal Army(Non-combatant)"

"Demolitions specialist: Sergeant Jacob Williams. Callsign: Blast; Italian Army"

"Medic: Sergeant Mitali Roy. Callsign:N/A; Bangladesh army"

The woman again says, "Good job soldiers. Go to New Eden and stay on standby at your squad house for your next mission. Dismissed"