Chapter IV

“Sir,we are arriving.”

Listening this,Kova casted her gaze towards the thick fog outside the porthhole.Following her sight line,through the thick fog in the darkness,the red signal lamp kept flashing.Looking backwards the fuselage of the aircraft,two heavy steel chain extended deep into the dense fog.

“How long is it before dawn?”

“Calculated according to Lonwey time,one hour left.”

“Try to be quick.”

“Yes,sir.”

“Tell the other crane aircrafts,ready for moving up.”

About 15 minutes after, along the long coast,a patrolling soldier stopped his steps.Turning his head slowly towards the vast and foggy sea.Because of blurred view,he took the gun off back,making a aiming stance to get a more clear sight.

At this second,the walkie-talkie made a buzzing sound.He pressed one button on it.Then,the voice became clear: “Alan,could you see them?”

“Emmm……still not…wait.”

Through the telescopic sight,a black shadow came into sight.Then another two ones also emerged.Then another three…

A long sound of siren came to his ears.

“They came,sir.The fleet.”

“And the echelon?”

“No,sir.”

Just finishing the sentence,the terrifying scene appeared.

The slighly bright sky before dawn gradually turned into darkness again.The former black shadows of fleet sink into the darkness again.He put down his gun,lifted his head,towards the darkening sky.The roar also became more and more deafening with the black sky squeezing towards him.Except for the sight and sound,a feeling of coldness and damp also swept across the whole coast.In spite of himself,he took two steps back.In his site,it was just like lifting the whole ocean basin,covering on the ground.

Suddenly,something broke through the fog,crashing towards the land.

It was also a second,the huge thing flied past him all of a sudden.

Momentarily stunned,the soldier turned back,finding the thing integrated into the fog again.

When the sky became slightly bright again,he got his breath.

“Hello?anyone listen?”

“Yes.”

“Yes,the echelon also arrived,with something giant.”

When the plane stopped its roaring,a few wisps of morning light had been polishing the metal fuselage.The hatching were openning slowly while the soldiers unfastened their safety belt.The influxing light and fresh air finally made the troops feel the beauty of life again.

Carrying their bags,the soldiers walked in lines.Karl looked around the surroundings.Different from the The First Fire Supply Base,this place is still in construction.Many tower cranes were still in working condition.The airport was also new from the appearance. The airport were surrounded by the thick wall.Only few planes were parking in it.At the bottom of the fall,many workers were working on their own positions,using the devices to lift something in the shape of big gun up to the top.Some helicopters were in circling flight all the time.A flag which was never seen by Karl was floating in the wind.

“What’s that?”Apparently,Jessica also caught sight of it.

“Maybe some flag used for building work?”

With doubt,Karl turned his head towards the flag again.This time,he clearly saw it.It was totally not the building flag or others.It’s a military flag.On the black flag,it was a inverted triangle in white.A sword was in the midium of it.The other part were surrounding it,like double wings,like a hard shied.

When Karl brought his luggages to the new dormitory,he found it was a spacious double room.The big window attracted breeze mixed with the refreshing air,brushing the curtain.After putting down his luggages,Karl found a paper pressed under a landline.He pulled out the paper,finding it was the registration form distributed by logistics department.To fill in the form,Karl unzipped the luggage bag,trying to find out the pen.At the time,a knock on the door came.

When the people who knocked on the door came,the rising sun just throwed the morning sunshine into the room.Karl turned his head towards the door,seeing the young man owning a dark hair and black eyes.The soldier also caught sight of Karl when just entering here.In his eyes,it was a handsome,free and masculine figure.

“Hi”Almost simultaneously,two young man gave the first greeting.

“I am…”Again,they said at the same time.

Both laughed out.Karl made a gesture,signaling the newcomer to start first.

“Tiancheng Xiao,early from the Central Air Force,now in the breakthrough force of ‘FAK’.”

Seeing the salute,Karl stood up and gave a salute back, “Karl Dawn,early from the Central Land Aviation Corps,now in the same troops as yours.”Then they shook hands to show gladness for meeting.

After finishing cleaning up the room and arranging their articles for daily use,it had been half pasy eight.

“Go for a breakfast?”proposed Xiao.

“Yeah,of course.”

“It was no longer a secret anymore,isn’t it?”Seeing many people went by,Karl asked,on the way to dining hall.

“You mean our troops?”

“Yes.”

“In this place,it looks like it does.”

When they got to the dining hall,Karl found it was a big room with crowded and noisy people all in dark blue.Many people were never seen by him before.In addition,there were many television playing the news program.But nothing special could be found,the program was still talking about the news related with people’s livelihood and fiscal.The fresh air influxing from windows on the wall made the hall vibrant.

“The same feeling came back.”said Xiao.

“Completely agree with you,I was really not in the habit of eating in an airtight box.”

During the process of picking up food,Karl and Xiao could hear many words like “To be honest,this place’s food is not up to the former.” “Why it is always rainy here?Too damp for me.”They both realized that they were not the only newcomers.

Just sitting down,a familiar voice came: “Hey,Karl.”

Even no need for turning head,Karl could know it was Jessica now,“Hi,Jessica.”

Jessica saw Xiao when he put down his dining plate: “Hi,I’m Jessica,I guess you are Karl’s friend,right?Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,Jessica.I’m Tiancheng Xiao.”

“You are from the air force?”

“How could you know?”

“From your physiognomy.All the friends I had in air force had a similar unique spirit.Just like the eagles.”

“Really?What about yourself?”Asked Karl.

“Me?I think the tiger?”Guessed Jessica.

“Why?”

“Tiger has a handsome appearance,a strong body……”

Karl stopped him at once: “Well well well,stop your bull shit.”

Listening this,laughing Xiao shook his head slightly.

“Hey,Landu!Come here!”Jessica stood up,greeting to distance.

No for a moment,Jessica introduced: “Xiao,here is my roommate,your colleage of air force,Landu.”

“Xiao?”Landu asked first.

“You know him?”

“Sure,even old acquaintance.”

Just then,a deafening roar of airplanes influxed the dining hall,making any words unclear.

They looked out of the window,discovering that it was three transport planes ready for landing.

“Seriously,where are we now?I think it have been more than ten hours since we took off from base.”Asked Karl.

“In my experience,we are beside sea.”said Jessica.

“Nonsesne,my friend.”

“I mean,taking such a long time,it is unlikely to be the continental coastal,it’s more likely to be some island.And the weather and air is closer to that in north hemisphere…Put it this way,here is Lonway.”

“So,the east is…”said Landu.

“Yes,undoubtedly Ditarem.”

Listening this,All fell into silence for seconds.

“The military base is expanding,as of now.”Xiao broke the silence.

“Yes,really a big change has been made since we met together.The country seems to be that one forty years ago.”said Landu.

“Hey,guys,do you think there will be the ‘Sky Tree’plus?”Jessica whispered in a low voice.

“Aim at the big one?”

“Truly,what hell is that?mountain?alien creature?prehistoric monster?”

At this time,Karl made a gesture trying to make Jessica shut up.He had noticed it seemed that the surrounding ones still know nothing about what they were talking about.

It had been several hours since “FAK” ’s arrival.But the transport was kept all the time.Countless of planes and military trucks came to the base,put down the goods and left.All the work were going continuously,tight and quick.

Looking all this,one men stood with a bow body on an engineering staircase.Another man,Miller Stone, came next to him,leaning against the railing.

The man took out a pack of cigarettes from the inside pocket of coat and took out one from it,said: “Get one?”

Miller smiled for a moment: “Alright.”

The man took out a lighter and light the cigarette,continued: “After smoking,don’t litter cigarette butt,throw it to dustbin.”

Miller sucked on cigarette,squinting at the man,nodded.The man also got a smoke.

“How much,the troops here in the future?”asked the man.

“Totally about two group army.”

“Won’t Ditarem have suspicion?so many troops?”

“It’s said that seniors had some movement last night,they daren’t.”

“How much do you know about this mission?”

“Message blocked,only something apparent.I don’t know why the details are locked so tight this time.What about the situation in mainland?”

The man shook the cigarette cash,said: “Still not good,but a little easy because of the reform.But the voice of doubt is louder,the society seems to know something is hiden.Especially some arms dealers and radicals in army.”

“Yes,own cake is being robbed by Central Hall.Of course They got mad.”

“Superiors asked what will happen.”

Miller removed the cigarette from mouth,vomitting smoke,turning his head towards the man slightly.

“I probably know what they want,tell them,keep calm these months.Waiting the change is the best choice.”

“Give me your cigarette case,it’s not easy to get this baby here.”Miller continued.

After Miller gave back the case,the man patted Miller on the back,then turned around and walked away.

Miller stood there,smoking for some time,and walked away.When he went indoors,he snuffed out his cigarette by hands.In a corner,Miller went straight to a toilet.Sitting on a toilet,Miller opened the cigarettes butts,took out a little paper tape.

“1 C,S/C;1 T,S;1 E,L.”

This is what’s written on the paper.

After knowing the message,Miller throw the rest cigarette butts to the toilet,activated flushing key.Then he ate the tape.

Just getting out of the toilet,Miller met Jessica.They were stunned ai first.No more than seconds,Jessica stood at attention quickly and saluted to Miller.

“Hello,Sir!”

Miller glanced at Jessica,made a salute slightly and went away,saying nothing.

In the evening,the ‘FAK’ had their squad meeting after restructure.The squad Karl belonged to had 16 persons in all.Xiao,Jessica,Landu…were also at here,sitting on either side of the long table.The roaring of planes outdoors is still present,but only dull sound in the room.They are keeping in order,waiting for their team leader.

After minutes,he came.

It was a officer in dark blue military uniform.On his arms was the same logo Karl saw on the flag in the morning.The leader had the same heroic and singular spirit as Kova’s in his eyes.

The officer went to the central front of projection screen,saluted to the soldiers with his eyes glancing around them.“Gentlemen,From now on,I’m your direct squad leader——Kay Cruise.The mission assignment and detailed command will be in the charge of me.Hope we have a good time together.”

“Yes,sir!”Apparently,answering “Yes,sir!” in time was the tradition of Kepler’s army.

When the leader took off his army cap,the soldiers found he had a long hair!It was the rule that the hair of male couldn’t be longer than 3 centimeters.But in no time,the soldiers turned their attenion on the topic of what he said.

“Well,come straight to the point.The function of ‘FAK’,I think nobody told you before,right?”

Looking at their blank expressions,Kay went on: “Let’s take a look on something first.”

Kay pressed on the handset,a photo was shown on the screen.

It was exactly the thing they met through planes’ windows.In the photo,it was put in a sealed transparent box,many conduits were inserted into it with something white at the point of connection.This time,the big one was lighted by the floodlight,almost every detail could be observed clearly.Its body inside was shinng white light regularly.In the photo,the trucks at the corner seemed so small that they lookes like ants.In the box,many detectors and devices were constantly operating.And at the lower right corner of the giant container,it marked the same logos Karl saw in the first base and on the flag today.

“As you see,this is our target,or enemy,in some extent.”

“According to the file of CBS,the giant one is called ‘TER’.This is just one form of it.Our main task is getting something special of it.You can also call it heart.The heart has special value for scientific research,threatening people’s safety and property in the same time.What’s more,it may be got by Ditarem or Kommuny first.If that happened,we will go to the whirlpool of war again,the nuclear war. ”

The soldiers were shocked by the news,Jessica’s eyes almost popped out.But two men of them still kept the common calm,Xiao and Telus.

“In our future actions,we will face with kinds of situations.And many people may get hurt heavily or,sacrifice because of it.But I believe you have the power to finish the mission,protect the homeland and people here.Based on predictions,next one will appear in one or two months.The front troops of Anterior Defence Army will fight together with ‘FAK’ all the time.And the country’s advanced technology will be used for your future actions.Right,I could imagine that someone wanna ask why not use unmanned equipment.I think I have told at first,the variability.Your brains are better to deal with the complex condition.And,I think someone once worked in missile army,you should know cost and feasibility is also significant factor in military mission.”

Seeing their shocked and confused expressions,Kay stopped.At all,These soldiers got too much useful information for the first time.The leader was like the priest who teaches the god’s idea in the church.

“About the detailed preparations and training,I will tell you in tomorrow morning’s training.And,from today on,our mission’s name is confirmed by Central Military Commission.”

Kay pressed the button again.

“Code Name.”

“Deicide.”

“Clear?over.”Kay put on his cap again.

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