Author’s note: Hey everyone! This chapter will be a short one instead of the usual long one as I planned it to finish up the current story arc before the attack on the Ravens’ main HQ from Chapter 18 onwards. Also, I planned to take a long hiatus after the release of this chapter. Refer to End Note for more details.
Disclaimer: This is a work of original fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Chapter 17 -- Transfer
Chief Raven Officer’s Office, 2nd Floor, 88th Regiment ‘Ravens’ HQ, Fort Drum, New York, USA, 12 December 2020, 0920 hrs
“It is, Sergeant Flannery. I’m giving you a new mission.” Bettino replies. “I’m transferring you to No.1 Base in Nepal to act as a custodian for the human prisoner, Kodey Zander.” .
“Hold on, sir. Why are you transferring me to another military unit?” Sally felt confused after hearing those words. She didn’t expect the Chief Raven Officer to transfer her to the Young Templars’ supreme headquarters base in Nepal so suddenly. “Is it because I’m not good enough to continue as a Raven operator?”
“It’s not because of that.” Bettino denies. “Sergeant Flannery, you are one of the greatest Raven operators of the Young Templars’ military. There’s no way I would transfer you to another unit without consulting your section’s commander. However, things changed after capturing both Kodey and Erika Zander.” .
The Chief Raven Officer paused for a second before continuing. “Given that both of them are in our custody, the higher-ups do not want to make the same mistake ever again, and they want to ensure their plan succeeds this time. To accomplish that, they are training Erika to become one of us completely before reuniting with her human brother one last time. From there, she will accept our common hatred of humanity and kill him. Once done, she will fulfil her true role that her biological mother failed to do. So, your new mission is not only to act as a custodian guarding Kodey Zander but also to act as a mentor in helping future Young Templar Erika Zander to kill him.” .
“Sir, what if she doesn’t want to follow our ideals?” Sally asks out of concern.
“She won’t refuse them,” Bettino confidently turns down her concern. “Ever since we transformed her, Erika can no longer go back to being a normal human again. Her only future lies in the path of a true Young Templar, and she will eventually see humans as mere nuisance pests. Once she accepts this, she will evolve herself into something powerful we can use to finish the humans once and for all. I know she may be hard for you to mentor, but I have strong faith in you that you will succeed in this mission. Don’t forget, you persevere on to become a full-fledged Young Templar despite facing tough situations along the way during your transformation journey. If you can do it, so can she. Do I make myself clear enough, Sergeant Flannery?”
“Yes, sir! I won’t let you down!” Sally exclaims in seriousness before giving him a salute.
“Good,” Bettino smiles before continuing further.
“I know you do not want to leave us just because you are one of us, Sally. However, you will always still be a Raven Young Templar in my eyes. So, as for your next deployment, here’s what is going to happen to you. First, I’m going to promote you to the rank of 2nd-Lieutenant. Why? It’s because you will act as a mentor to Erika and the new military unit you are heading to, which is primarily composed of officers. However, you will only receive the new rank after you complete the new unit’s officer conversion course. You will receive the letter of recommendation from your section commander later on, which you will then pass to the CO (Commanding Officer) in the new military unit.” .
“Second. As you pack up your stuff tonight, you can only take an unloaded main gun and a military knife with you to the new military unit. So, you need to surrender your sidearm pistol and all forms of ammunition and tactical items to our unit’s armory before tonight. Then, on 14 December at 0715 hrs, you will report to Hangar No.2 for a pre-departure briefing before departing with the human prisoner at 0800 hrs via a G5 transport aircraft. Please do not be late. That is all from me, and I wish you a safe journey ahead, travelling to your new military unit, future 2nd-Lieutenant.” Bettino ends his speech with a military salute to her.
“Thank you, sir. It has been a great honour serving under you and your unit as a Raven operator.” Sally salutes back.
Later, while walking back…
“You looked gloomy after speaking to our Chief. Did something bad happen during the conversation just now, Sally?” Aiden looks at her with concern while controlling the wheelchair.
“Nothing bad happened. It’s just that I’m being transferred to the No.1 Base in Nepal with the human prisoner, so I’m leaving this unit by 14 December. This means tomorrow is my last day with all of you.” Sally replies before letting out a sigh.
“You are leaving us?!” Aiden says in disbelief after hearing those words.
“I’m afraid so,” Sally replies with sadness in her voice.
As they continued talking to each other while approaching a building, a CCTV camera turned to face them. Unknown to the Raven Young Templars, the CCTV lens zoomed in to inspect them.
At the same time…
‘Well well well. It looks like I found the treasure they are looking for.’ The unnamed Tri-Sixer drone operator smiles as he looks at the laptop screen. Satisfied that he found the person of interest he’s looking for, he calls out to the unnamed Tri-Sixer Staff Sergeant before saying the following words: “I found him.” .
“You found the human we are looking for?” The unnamed Tri-Sixer Staff Sergeant asks him.
“Affirmative, madam. He’s right here.” The unnamed Tri-Sixer drone operator points at the human prisoner shown on the screen.
‘My god. It’s really him.’ The unnamed Tri-Sixer Staff Sergeant’s thoughts appear in her mind upon confirming the human prisoner is Kodey Zander. “Did you hack into one of their CCTV cameras?” She asks. “Yup, but the undetected hack can only last for a while, so we should be fine, madam.” The unnamed Tri-Sixer drone operator replies. “My God, Whizzer! Your action might get us all exposed and killed by the enemy easily one day.” The unnamed Tri-Sixer Staff Sergeant shakes her head in disappointment. “Anyway, we can finally inform our boss that we found her treasure living inside the Ravens’ nest. Find out where the Ravens held him. Rosey needs those coordinates before commencing the attack.” The unnamed Tri-Sixer Staff Sergeant issues a new order to the drone operator.
“On it, madam.” The unnamed Tri-Sixer drone operator acknowledged his new order as he changed the computer tab to the previous one, displaying the drone camera on the laptop screen. “From our drone orbiting the sky, we can see they are passing nearby buildings at the moment. Now I have to pinpoint which building they are holding him at, so please give me some time to monitor them, madam.” .
“Good kid.” The unnamed Tri-Sixer Staff Sergeant pats his head before pulling his ear to reprimand him. “Next time, ask me for permission before you hack into the enemy’s network. Don’t get us all killed because of your recklessness.” .
End Note: There will be a hiatus episode detailing the root causes of why I’m taking a hiatus from Hellwave for a while and I will talk about the future of the Hellwave series. The hiatus episode will be released on 28 June 2026 at 8pm UTC+8.
To be continued...
End of Chapter 17
Note: All the characters, places and storylines are owned by Jeremy Mountbatten. All rights reserved by the author. Feel free to give some feedback and don't forget to vote for this chapter. If you want to support me, you can tip me on Ko-Fi (link provided below).