It was now Sunday morning and the eight sergeants had all gathered inside the portal hall. Four of the second year sergeants stood on one side and four of the first year sergeants stood on the opposite side, forming two lines in front of the portal.
Each of them had straightened postures and were unmoveable, assuming their best attitude before the single portal. The said portal had been pulled out and placed in the centre of the room. Although the colour of this portal was neither green, orange, nor red, it was hued in the purity of white, making it look like a blank canvas.
Just like the travelling stations, the white colour indicated that the destination of the portal was Earth.
The doors to the training hall soon opened and every one of the sergeants immediately gave a salute to the four men who had entered the room.
Duke - The head of the second-year students, Nathan - The head of the first-year students, and Mike stood in the centre. Out of all the generals there, Mike was the oldest and was well respected. Even though he didn't hold the highest rank, he was still in charge of the communications that would transpire in between military bases.
Then, finally, standing behind the three of them was a man in a black and white tailored suit. The others had never seen him wear anything else other than that. It was the head general Paul.
"Duke, I hope you already have everything prepared, yes?" Paul asked.
"Yes, everything is proceeding well and we should reach the quota as usual. All the students will gather in the assembly hall this afternoon. We shall advance with everything else right after." Duke replied.
"Good." Said Paul, looking at another comrade next. "Mike, how are the preparations for the upcoming event going?"
"Not to worry, we still have a leeway of a month before the event. Students will be able to choose which events they want to participate in soon. I'm sure that we'll come out on top this year - I know we will." Mike said as he laughed loudly.
"Nathan, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you." Said Paul. "The upcoming portal outing for the first-year students, it will not be a green portal like how we originally planned it, but it will be an orange portal instead."
Hearing this, Nathans's eyes widened. "Sir, this is crazy! They're only first-year students. Why do we need to push them so fast?"
"There are reports that the Dalki are becoming more aggressive with their exploration. We must compete with them. This order has been made by all of us, so we must push more and at the same time, we can not willingly lose our regular men. Earth is the number one priority and we must protect it at all cost."
"So they chose to sacrifice the children instead!" Nathan complained back, utterly distraught by the news.
"War will soon be waged and the Dalki do not discriminate, whether they are children or not. Age will not matter to them when that time comes. It's better that they get the experience now. I will give you permission to send a couple of sergeants with them for their safeguarding rather than the regular teachers, but that's it. This is an order and it's final. I don't want to welcome any opposition."
Usually, green portals would be used for first years. They were the safest, containing basic and intermediate beasts. Once the student reached the second year stage, they would then, though only once, go out on an orange portal expedition.
Orange portals posed a heightened risk. There were shelters on the planet, but the whole planet had yet to be explored. The moment that the military arrived on that planet, the goal would be to expand and explore the areas of the planet that had yet to be explored.
If they were lucky and finished their exploration, it would get the go-ahead and the portal colour would change to green. If they discovered high-level beasts, then the portal would retain its orange colour.
Nathan felt like the first years were way too inexperienced to do such a task. The main difference when travelling to an orange portal planet was that they would travel as a single unit instead of in teams. Furthermore, the school had yet to enlighten the students about the importance of working together.
The generals now stood a few feet away from the circular teleporter. Paul lifted his wrist to look at his watch, checking the time - It was currently 8:59.
9:00
As soon as the watch displayed 9:00, the portal started to warp slightly, and three figures could be seen coming through. Standing in the centre was a bald-headed man who wore sunglasses and he had also donned a suit.
"Jack!" Greeted Paul. "It's been a while." He said as he went to the others and gave them a hug.
"That's him?" Fay whispered to Hayley who was standing next to her. "I can't believe that two of the strongest people on our planet look like shady businessmen."
Although Jack Truedream didn't look impressive by himself, the two men who came out of the portal beside him did. One of them was a large fellow whose height was nearly seven feet. He was completely covered in a grey coloured beast equipment, which looked similar to a rhino, while he carried a large two-handed axe on his back.
By his side was an individual who was the complete opposite, a small skinny fellow. This person was wearing beast equipment that was dark green in hue and had a mask covering his face. Although, instead of a heavy armour like the other person, he wore light armour.
However, just from gazing at both of their equipment, Fay could tell that they were high-level beast gear, way beyond that of the advanced tier. Jack truly had brought his strongest guards along.
It reminded Fay that even though they were allies. Still, at the same time, they weren't. The fact that Jack felt the need to bring these two was to remind them of the power that his family had.
Right now, there was an odd balance between the ability users in the world that caused small-scaled skirmishes to happen. The military's strongest force was the 8 head generals that were in charge of each of the military bases. The leader of this group was the head general in military base one.
In addition to them was the big four from the four families. They were the current decision-makers in the affairs concerning the world, and whenever there was a serious matter to be decided, a meeting would be called in their midst. Once in a while though, the families or the military would have to show their strength just to make sure that the others wouldn't get the idea of rebelling.
"How about some breakfast together? My chiefs have prepared a great meal." Paul asked.
"No thanks, I ate before I came here," Jack replied. "I was actually hoping to speak to your sergeants who discovered one of our family members. I believe that when his body was discovered, it was found along with two other students, is that correct? I wish to investigate this matter before I do anything else. If you don't mind, that is."
"Oh, honestly I'm not sure of the details myself," Paul replied. "I surmised that Hayley was the one who wrote the report and sent it off to you. Hayley!" Paul called her and she immediately rushed over, giving a salute to both Paul and Jack.
"Please, if you can, help Jack in any way possible."
"Of course, sir!" Hayley replied.
This was the real reason why Jack had decided to visit the military base. His original plan was to visit the particular place later. However, when he learnt that one of his men had died in the same way as one of his previous guys, he felt the need to investigate. Perhaps, whatever had killed Ian was the same thing that killed one of his top men. He was hoping that he could find answers from the two students who were found with the body at the time.
****
Mass release end.
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