Holt

Time: 7:40 PM
Horologion Tower, Cyrrestes District, Minerva Quarter
Thursday, June 16, 2011

The 42nd floor of Horologion Tower is crowded, many of the participants came from not just commonly seen people. Badges upon their coats, scarfs that color what family they belong to. While there is no strict dress code, there is a silent agreement among them that certain colors can be restricted to chosen names.

Amidst them is a man who appears to be in thirties with neatly brushed white hair, wearing a white coat, with dark navy gloves hiding his hands.

He is known as the current Mayor of Eridu in his first term, Tesni Mayflower.

As he stares, carefully, like a spider who has caught their prey, to each of the subjects within this room. Golden rings, silver necklaces, pearls that may have come from the other city-state, dresses made with the finest fabrics and silk, and presences that can be its own orbit—or black hole. Tesni Mayflower recognizes them, the glittering jewels, yet bears dark dots in the midst of their hearts.

As the gathering is in their silent celebration without a conspicuous reason, someone approaches him.

A red necktie with rhinoceros beetle crest in its blade.

Tennoji Clan, in charge of excavating ruins in the Hollows. Under the TOPS Alliance. As far as the mayor is concerned, the past leader has been involved in a scandal and has gained a less favorable position with the cutthroat competition in the alliance.

Now stands before him is Tennoji Hirojin, nephew of late Tennoji Hiroshi.

“Greetings, Mayor,” Hirojin greets, right hand upon his chest.

Tesni also returns the gesture and smiles.

“Greetings as well, Sir Tennoji. Is there anything I can help you with?” Tesni asks.

“Oh, none at all!” Hirojin says. “I just only want to check on you, Sir Mayflower.”

Tesni maintains his smile.

“You’re thoughtful, Sir Tennoji.”

“I heard that the issues in Faunus Quarter have been progressing well lately, for years, that area has been a place that even the ruler of universe would avoid.”

Straight to the point, with a slight roundabout.

“I think that’s too much of an analogy, Sir Tennoji,” Tesni muses. “I would be grateful for some of the chieftains who begin to seek mutuality to our state. I am just doing what a head state would have done.”

Hirojin chuckles. “You’re too modest, Sir Mayflower. Perhaps, you are the leader that everyone has been looking for all this time.”

“I think what you’re getting at, Mayflower is one of the influential founders of Old Hazem. ”

Another voice joins in. Tesni finds a silhouette approaching them, a striking shape coming forth to the light. A young man with a lean body, wearing a long dark coat and a cunning smile of a fox in his face. His hair is down with quite a length, but not too long, as it colors the same as the mayor.

Hirojin recognizes him and bows a bit.

“Sir Elio.”

Elio tilts his head a bit. “No need to be formal sir, I’m significantly younger than you to warrant such a greeting.” Then he looks at the mayor. “I hope I don’t bother your conversation, but Mother wants to see Sir Mayor.”

Hirojin laughs nervously. “I see. Sir Mayflower, if you excuse me.”

Elio watches the Tennoji man leave.

“What does Yalda want, my nephew?” Tesni asks.

Elio cackles. “My Uncle, can’t you see that he’s trying to seek some approval from you? Good thing I managed to catch on you immediately.”

“Come with me, Elio.”

They start walking alongside each other as they head towards the outside of the party room. Upon the hallways, Elio speaks again.

“Rina said that Tennoji excavated an old civilization tablet, so they want to get permission to go to a Pursenas Hollow where it was found. But we both know that the properties of that Great Hollow are way more volatile than the others,” Elio says.

“Then how’s the other investigation going then?” Tesni asks.

“Sir Faulkner said he found a new facility within the Ballet Twins Hollow. And the Tennoji’s are possibly involved again.”

Tesni stops. “They are up to the same thing again. They didn’t learn.”

Elio walks in front of him and kneels down at one knee.

“What’s your order?”

“Collect more evidence. We need to know the origins of that tablet as well.”

Elio stands up. “Yes, Uncle.”

Tesni notices a bright light trailing the sky through the window at his side.

“I hope they brought some umbrellas.”

Time: 8:33 PM
Within the jungle of Plutarch Mountains, approximately 4822 meters away from the eastern entrance to Hadrian Hollow
Thursday, June 16, 2011

“You have to hurry up! We can’t take them on at night!”

An exasperated soldier says, while pulling a wounded soldier to escape. With the rain not exactly helping in their predicament, what they need to make sure is to return alive.

They are aware of the insurgents within the mountains with reports laying out their situation. While this operation has not bred any deaths yet, no one has the certainty of the next second. Even their superiors know that the enemies merely harass them so they will leave, however they cannot base anything on luck.

Like this very moment.

“How are we sure we can escape them, Mond?!” The wounded soldier says. “Just get on the nearest unit—” He stops, coughing out blood. The wound on his right shoulder sprouts more blood before he falls to his knees.

“Chuck!” Mond yells. “Damn it!”

Mond has no choice but to carry his comrade on his shoulders. The mud annoys him. The rain has no plans to subside, and the droplets are so big.

And then there is a gunshot.

“Just go on by yourself, Mond… I just can…play dead…”

“You’ll lose blood before I get back to you! Just shut up and let me handle this!”

Mond begins to hate this situation furthermore. Not knowing where the enemy can appear, or the trajectory of any projectile—Mond resolves to reach the camp, and he has freaking to.

While treading the dense forest—even with the danger of wildlife around—Mond spots three flashes of light from the distance. His eyes widen and he quickly grabs his flashlight and returns four signal flashes.

Mond runs where the light came from, and he finds a soldier waiting for them. He crouches down.

“This is Foxtrot-3 over, we have found…” The soldier speaks.

Mond continues the sentence. “Grabber of Echo Unit, Coalsack Platoon.”

“…Grabber of Echo Unit, Coalsack Platoon.” The rescuer informs the radio.

“Immediately bring them to the nearest camp,” the voice on the radio commands.

“Roger.” The rescuer turns to Mond and his companion. “This path is clear. How many soldiers are left there?”

They start walking in the mud.

“Five. We accidentally activated a landmine, thankfully no one was severely hurt. But then, we get surrounded too soon. My sergeant told me to bring the wounded to safety,” Mond informs.

“I see. We’ll meet my squad on the way. Thank goodness you’re safe, Grabber.”

Mond follows his rescuer until they stop a bit and crouch down. His rescuer activates five flashes.

Two flashes as a reply.

“Okay, come on Grabber.”

“Sergeant Klovern!” A call from the waiting soldier, addressing Mond’s rescuer.

“Guide them back. I had to rescue the remaining five,” Judd says. “I’m counting on you, Elly. Ask for Corporal Ewing to follow me.”

Elly nods and pats his back. “Alright.” She turns to Mond. “Let’s go.”

The adrenaline is still not going down; however, it relieves Mond a bit that there are people on standby and quick to respond. Chrysoberyl will not be called the Golden Thread if they are not prepared for situations like them. Their paradigm focuses a lot on damage control, rescue, and knowing how to foil the enemy lines. Even for a mild case like this one, they have to be thoroughly prepared.

“How’s your pal? What happened to him?” Elly asks.

“Shot on the shoulder,” Mond replies. “It isn’t fatal, but he’s losing a lot of blood.”

“Then we should hurry up more then.”

Reaching a steeper road, Mond catches a small light from a distance. It seems someone is waiting for them as they arrive.

“Corporal, sarge said you should follow him. You still have five soldiers to rescue,” Elly says.

A red haired soldier nods, seemingly the one addressed as Corporal Conleth Ewing.

“Thanks Elly, bring the wounded now to Corporal Crane,” Conleth instructs.

Elly nods and leads the two soldiers to a nearby cave. Finally, they escape the cold droplets of the rain, yet the drench is too much for the two rescued soldiers. There are two soldiers inside the cave, as Mond sees the medic patting a makeshift bed on the ground, then looks at him.

“I’ll just stay in the post outside,” Elly says before leaving the cave.

“Place him here, please,” Corporal Phoebe Crane instructs Mond.

Mond places his partner down the makeshift bed. Phoebe wastes no time and checks Chuck’s condition. Mond finally relaxes down while staring at Chuck’s wounded shoulder.

“Water?”

Mond sees the other soldier, who only wears a tank top and pants, handing him a bottle of water.

“Thanks man,” Mond says and uncaps it. He feels to be trembling a bit, when the tank-top soldier pats him on the shoulder.

“Great job in bringing him here,” he says. “I’m Private First Class Cheng Jinhai of Red Sparrow Platoon. You?”

“I’m Private Mond Trenvie, Scout of Gallo Squad of Coalsack Platoon…”

“Nice to meet you, Trenvie,” Jinhai says. “Here have some food, I bet you’re hungry. Also take off your clothes too, we have blankets here to keep you warm.”

Mond removes his upper uniform. Jinhai hands him an MRE food packet and a blanket.

“T-Thank you…” Mond says.

“What’s your comrade’s name?” Jinhai asks.

“Private Chuck Guzman, he’s our Assault Specialist. I met him when we were both in Camp Aquinas last November before getting transferred to Fort Maraga.”

“Ohh…” Jinhai nods. “Alright, just go on with your meal.”

Mond opens the food packet and smells of some seasoned chicken.

“Jinhai, can you help me?” Phoebe calls and Jinhai approaches her.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Get me a tourniquet and extra gauze. The bag’s there,” Phoebe instructs calmly. Jinhai complies.

Chuck groans then looks at the medic. “A-Am I gonna die…?” he asks when Phoebe continues to put pressure on the wound, preventing more blood from being lost.

“I was paid to keep you alive, and no, you’re not gonna die,” Phoebe says.

“Here, Corporal,” Jinhai says, arriving with the medical kit, and then looks at Mond. “You should be checked out later, too.”

Mond jolts. “I think I-I’m fine…”

Mond watches his friend being tended to. Everyone seems alert, but a sense of safety falls on his shoulders. However, he cannot stop thinking about the comrades he has left. The survival rate of this one is 90 percent, and the remaining will be just having someone injured. But it still does not settle properly, and with the days of boredom, dirt, and constant high alertness is beginning to hurt his nervous system.

Phoebe carefully but swiftly put the tourniquet, three inches above the wound. Then cover the bleeding area with a gauze after cleaning it. She sighs right after then grabs a paper, writing something then looks at her watch. Chuck looks relieved a bit and gets some sleep.

“I kinda wish Hestrich was here since he’s also a combat medic,” Phoebe mumbles.

Jinhai glances at her. “We don’t have much problem right now, and we’re just a small team. If ever, they may need Hestrich with Sergeant Comb’s team. But I know Ed knows some basics, even Charity.”

Phoebe sighs. “Yeah. But Ed is already their engineer, multiple roles at one person.” She looks at Mond. “Let me check on you.”

Mond almost chokes on his food. “I’m fine—”

However, Phoebe is already in front of him with glaring eyes.

“There’s no one fine here… Let me do my job…”

Jinhai meddles in. “I think you need some rest, too, Corporal.”

Phoebe glares at Jinhai. “Then I’ll check on you after this guy.”

Elly, who hears anything from inside the cave, just laughs.

Sergeant First Class Jake Jannsen is writing some notes, while inside the tent within the Hadrian Hollow Operation Outpost. Receiving intel from the squads dispatched to the forest, Jake turns to where the lieutenant is.

“LT, Sergeant Klovern said they managed to rescue two soldiers from an encounter, here at the coordinates stated in the report. On the other hand, the Lupus Squad keeps their monitoring diligently, but so far, no movements again from the enemy.”

First Lieutenant Stewart Mace nods while on his chair then grabs another notebook.

“Alright, please coordinate with Lieutenant Pax from Maxim Company. He said that we’ll go with them in another recon mission tomorrow, concerning the area where the insurgents are seen three hours ago,” Mace instructs, “but inform Captain Gilo first.”

Jake nods. “Aye, sir.”

Jake leaves the tent. With other communication soldiers also busy with their own job and squads, Mace grabs a nearby radio and turns it on.

“Crow-Two, status,” Mace says.

The line is picked up. “Crow-Two on standby, our friend said that the bagman is meeting someone from the Black Heart.”

Mace frowns. “Alright, out.”

The radio is turned off.

Mace sighs.

“Sir Mace, Lieutenant Chao sent a message concerning the operation in the eastern parameter,” a sergeant soldier says, who is also from the same company as them, under the Blue Jay Platoon—Sergeant Yew Egarr.

Why not directly go to Captain Gilo?

“Isn’t this something to be forwarded to the Captain?” Mace inquires.

“I already did, Lieutenant Mace, but Lieutenant Chao told me to also inform you directly on this,” Sergeant Egarr says. “Our squad found a grotto 300 meters away from where your Fornax Squad is currently assigned.”

Mace scowls.

“I see. Thank you for informing me, Sergeant Egarr.”

Sergeant Egarr salutes then walks off. Mace grabs his radio again and contacts the Fornax Squad.

“Foxtrot-3, there is a nearby grotto 300 meters in your perimeter. Proceed to Operation Hanover after you rescue the remaining soldiers, over.”

“10-4.”

Judd puts the radio back to his jacket. With the rain covering their tracks, the duo of Fornax Squad goes en route to where the firefight is.

“We must hurry up to reach the soldiers. LT gave the go signal for Operation Hanover,” Judd says.

“I see,” Conleth replies—when she senses something different.

And a thud.

Conleth widens her eyes.

“Judd!” She crouches down, but before she does, a lightning strikes and finds a silhouette in a tree above them. The shape of a human—no, this one has slender legs, a tail, and a beastlike face. It is a mere flash, but Conleth catches a glimpse of dot marks on their skin, and the eyes of a hunter towards her.

“A Cheetah Thiren!”

Conleth draws her rifle—only for a neck chop neutralizing her down.

The Cheetah Thiren jumps down and meets the man who knocked Conleth down.

“Operation Hanover, huh,” the Cheetah Thiren says. “That’s our signal, too.”

“Then let’s bring these two now to the base,” the man says. “You should carry your weight, too, Starling.”

The Cheetah Thiren—Starling lifts Judd from the ground to his shoulder. “Don’t need to tell me, Asol.”

Lightning strikes once again.