Rescue Mission

Shane looked up from the report that was placed right in front of him, with Zekser sitting right in front of him. The man was the vice-captain of his specially curated team, that was responsible for getting the Rune Knight General the latest information regarding anything at all. The captain of Team Alpha, Ethan was away on a reconnaissance mission along with two other members of the five-man squad, Wright and Baer. Despite the information that was being presented to his superior, Zekser was quite relaxed, leaning back into his chair and going through his iLac while waiting for Shane to give him a response.

His superior, on the other hand, was poring through the information within the folder, and after ten more minutes, he finally closed the file, fingertips resting on the closed folder. The fingers on his left hand rhythmically tapped on the table, as he looked down at the folder as though he could peer through the cover.

“What’s your call, Cap?” Zekser asked as he turned his iLac and slipped it back into the pant pocket of his uniform, looking at Shane. His expression was indifferent. Gregory Zekser was one of the oddballs in the Rune Knights. He was not a social person, keeping to himself, but when one could crack past the layer of indifference, he was actually a person of many talents. And the one talent that Shane had noticed was his ability to adapt rapidly regardless of where he was deployed. It was for this reason that he had often sent this man to the wilder countries where their cultures differed from Fiore far too much for a normal soldier to get acclimated.

“Chess and Bravo are both out. I’ll take this up myself. There was this young one that just joined us recently, right?” Shane spoke up after being prompted by his subordinate. There was a sharp glint in his eye as he began to make up a plan of sorts, wondering if he could use this situation as a test. He wasn’t really worried that the situation would get out of hand since he would be handling it personally.

“The one the Director brought in? Temero,” Zekser replied after one short second of going through the information in his mind. Like the rest of Team Alpha, he was also required to know the ins and outs of the Rune Knights as clearly as the back of their hand. Information was what they specialized in, and it was also the only thing that Shane had tasked them with. If they couldn’t even have a full grasp of what was happening within their own organization, they would have failed.

“Yes. That boy. The Director trusts him, and while I trust the Director’s judgement, it still wouldn’t hurt to give the boy a test. Send for him. Tell him to meet me in the barracks. He’ll be going on this job with me. Tell him nothing. I will brief him later,” Shane instructed. The two men stood up from their chair at the same time, with Zekser nodding and then moving out of the room while Shane shook off his black uniform coat and hung it in his cupboard before moving towards the barracks.

[540 words]

Of all the places one could've gone and searched for a new recruit, the last one would expect to find one would be a distant flower patch, somewhere in a corner of the Rune Knight headquarters. Yet that was exactly where Albafica spent most of his days, tending and even growing a specific type of flower that one normally wouldn't even find within Fiore. Perhaps the young boy had missed his calling as a gardener or florist, but that had never been his true reason for growing these roses. Surely, he loved these plants, but they weren't grown for his entertainment. Rather, for his salvation. Meant to be ingredients for Vera, whom he'd become a partner-in-crime of, if so to speak. A shred of many, but also of nothing, a base for several concoctions that the woman had made for him, to lessen the poison held within his being, so he too could manage to walk among others without them meeting their doom. He'd taken many lives in such a way already, most of the times unwillingly, yet sometimes purposely.

Yet now he'd become part of the Rune Knights again, quite literally having gotten some sense beaten into him, he tried to avoid all of that. First by secluding himself, but upon meeting a of fate had stumbled across Vera Walden, just as curious a person as he was, but also someone who seemed to be mostly resistant to his otherwise deadly poison. To him she'd become a kindred spirit, like the mother he'd never had, although he'd not yet told her as such. Albafica just didn't know how to express that feeling just yet. Instead he tried to show her through different means; making sure to bring her food whenever she was holed up inside her lab for days on end, because Vera for one forgot all when she was working. Among many other things were these flowers, prime ingredients now they'd finally gotten a step closer to subduing the otherwise lethal scent. The concoction had been turned into pills and smaller-veiled portions for the youth to bring along on missions, if he ever were to be taken on any. For the time being he was just being watched by many, not truly given much time outside unless it was something only he could do. And aside from infiltrating illegal or dodgy organisations, there were little other things he was allowed to do on his own.

Even now, he could feel eyes gazing upon him from a distance. And then suddenly, a presence emerged before him. "Private Temero." Albafica stopped fumbling with the plant, his hands still protectively around the broken stem as he looked up at Zekser. Cautious at first, letting seconds pass by before he sighed, carefully releasing the plant from his palms, and rose to his feet, saluting the man shortly. "Yessir. How may I be of service?" For a moment Albafica praised the moment he'd decided to take the pills Vera had prepared for him as a precautionary measure, for he wouldn't have wanted to affect his superior. "General Stern asks for you. He wants you to meet him at the barracks."

Azure eyes stared at the man in silent questioning, but he was given no reply, solely a nod to make haste. And so the boy did, leaving his small place of Heaven within these walls behind to find his way towards the barracks, to meet the General he'd only seen from afar. Wondering what it was that the man needed of him. He could think of little, especially since General Stern wasn't even the General of his own division. Had he done something wrong again? Was he to be questioned about his past yet again? Maybe he was just beating himself up over nothing, but the youth actually wanted to do good now he'd turned a new leaf. Having his past drag his current name through the mud over and over again wouldn't help him one bit. And that, now that made the child look grim as he walked into the barracks. Keen eyes scanned the room for blonde hair-- the only feature most notable that he'd managed to remember about the Spec Ops General.




[702 | 702 | TTW: 1242]

Shane stood by his airship, watching the three Engineering Corps soldiers doing the final check on his vessel. The Rune Knight General would glow with pride every time he looked at the Boltreaver, a spoil of war that he had obtained from one of his previous missions. Originally an assault plane, Shane had had it modified, toning down the offensive capabilities while increasing room for transporting small squads. The most frequent passengers he had had on board was his strike teams, namely Chess Team and Team Bravo.

While it was made for speed, the airship could also hover in mid-air and was equipped with thrusters that could be adjusted in any direction to enable vertical take off and landing, especially useful for his high-stakes missions where entrance and exit windows were relatively short. When the inspection was finally completed, one of the Engineering Corps members walked over to Shane, clipboard in one hand while the other hand held a pen as he ticked off items on a list.

“General Stern, everything’s okay with the Boltreaver,” the soldier said with a satisfied smile on his face, handing the clipboard and pen to Shane. The Rune Knight General nodded and accepted the clipboard and pen, eyes scanning down the list from top to bottom and when he was satisfied with what he saw, he signed at the bottom right of the piece of paper.

“Thank you, soldier,” Shane replied with a grin as he passed back the clipboard, watching as the soldier moved away to approach his colleagues and then leaving the hangar. The General took his leave from the hangar as well, making his way towards the barracks in large strides to meet the new recruit that the Director had brought in. He had skimmed through Albafica Temero’s file. While the recruit’s background was sketchy, Shane trusted the former Special Ops General, currently the Director. Shane’s idea wasn’t to test the boy’s loyalty to the Rune Knights. Instead, he wanted to know how well the boy could use his former experience in his current situation. The boy was from the Combat Corps but Shane’s job required him to know about every soldier possible in the Rune Knights and how they could be used.

As he approached the entrance to the barracks, Shane spotted the turquoise hair of the boy in question and he hastened his pace, tapping Albafica on the shoulder from the back.

“I’m Shane,” the blonde Rune Knight introduced himself, before nudging his head in the direction of the hangar. “Let’s talk as we walk.”

As they retraced the path back towards the hangar, Shane began speaking, making sure to keep his pace smaller for the younger Rune Knight to follow.

“Three months back, I inserted a Rune Knight into a dark guild called Laughless Grin. Not a very major or ambitious dark guild, but still an existence that needs to be eradicated. The undercover Rune Knight’s job was to find evidence of their human trafficking activities, using Lavanitir Port to smuggle kidnapped people out of the country and into Desierto. Somehow, they found out about an undercover agent in their midst and they have sent in a ransom to the Rune Knights. Our objective is currently being held in an abandoned shipping yard, and we will need to sneak in and rescue the undercover agent. Maybe kill some baddies on the way,” Shane spoke of the mission they would be undertaking casually.

“I have read up on your background, and I hope you don’t misunderstand that I’m bringing you along to test your loyalty. You have experience, and hopefully skills, that not many other Rune Knights possess. Let’s see if you can put those to use,” Shane grinned as they finally stepped into the hangar and towards the airship. “This shall be how we get to Lavanitir.”

[639 words]
[Total WC: 1881]