The Plan

One month later

William took a long sip of his coffee as he walked towards the airport of Cairo, changing the direction of his red baseball cap to block out the sun.

On that same hat, with bold letters, was written “I became a military captain and all I got was this lousy hat”.

The sky was painted with shades of blue and orange with dashes of pink thrown in for good measure. William thought it was beautiful. To him the clouds that obscured the sun directly seemed to intensify the radiance of the rising sun, while the shape of earths new planetary ring looked like a streak of color from where he stood, filling the morning sky with a cold glow of silver, yellow with some purple strings.

The ring itself stretched over central Africa and continued onwards to Asia and was the center of all of earths struggles since the year 2000

‘I know we’re short staffed but damn. I just finished a mission abroad, and the USA is already sending me to another. at least this one is under the man who taught me how to drive these war machines to begin with.‘ the huge man thought as he straightened his black shirt and closed the last of its white buttons, all the way to his neck, to appear slightly more presentable.

“Hold! no one can ente-“ a soldier armed with electromagnetic assault rifle began to say in an Arabic accent as William raised his hand with his ID.

“Right this way captain Ward. Commander Wolf (pronounce Volf) is waiting for you” the soldier replied, immediately lowering his weapon and gesturing with his arm to follow him into the large building.

“The commanders plane arrived not long ago. It is still waiting on the runway to take off the moment you get on. Its good you arrived so quickly; we need to clear that runway” the guard said after what seemed like ten minutes of walking.

“Thank you for taking on this inconvenience.” Captain ward answered with a slightly stiff voice, wishing for the awkward small talk to stop.

The airport was huge, with loads of people moving like a swarm. But instead of walking towards the lines of people going through security, Wiliam was lead to a small maintenance door for staff only.

After a few more moments of walking, the small dark corridor ended with an asphalt road in the open air. There was only one plane in sight.

The plane’s stairs were lowered with four huge bodyguards in black suits and sunglasses stood on top of the stairs. Each had the build of a sarcophagus and faces with stone cold expressions.

William knew they were using their glasses to scan him for threats, but he was used to things like this by now.

“William! Its good to see you. Hope I did not cost you your night’s sleep” a slightly old and monotone voice emerged from the metallic construct

“Bastian. It’s been too long! I slept just fine on the way here. Still off the hooch?” William answered as he climbed the stairs to the plane.

“Clean as a whistle for the past year, I stick to tea now. It helps.” Bastian replied calmly with a smile as he stepped on the stairs to greet an old friend.

Commander Bastian Wolf was almost as big as William with very short white hair.

He wore a three-piece brown suit with a blue shirt and black tie while his white mustache twirled upwards, almost poking him in the eye.

laughing lines and frowning wrinkles adorned the commanders face along with a smile as he reached out with his hand to shake Williams hand firmly.

“Come in! we have much to discuss on the way to your new mission” Bastian said

“From the fact you came all this way, personally, to take me I guess this mission is no joke huh?” Captain ward said while getting into the airplane and sitting down at a white sofa next to a small coffee table adorned with two glasses and a pitcher of water.

As soon as William sat down, the staff closed all doors.

The plane then straitened its wings, releasing a huge gust of air downwards as gained attitude almost completely vertically. It always impressed William that even in liftoff the water in the pitcher barely shook, he wandered for a moment if this was to the merit of the engineer or the pilot but nevertheless William admired that.

A few seconds later the plane was already accelerating towards its destination.

“Would you like a drink? I can offer you whisky or tea. We also have some potato salad sandwiches if you want” Bastian said while sitting down in front of William and gesturing to one of the suited individuals.

“Are you sure its ok if I drink whisky?” William asked confused.

“The fact I do NOT drink, should not prevent you from enjoying what you want. This plane has whisky and also tea. I will be having tea since whisky gets the worst out of me. What will you want?” the commander replied placing his hand on his chest.

“I respect your resolve. I think I will take tea as well. We are on the way to a mission after all.” Wiliam said, almost immediately regretting his decision but strengthening his resolve in the face of his teacher.

“Oh! and also six of those sandwiches ” he added with a smile.

“I am sorry once more we called you on such short notice. You were the closest captain I trust in the area and the last team we sent to Paris died twenty-four hours ago. This was the second mission so far.” Bastian started to explain as a whole tea set was carried into the room by one of the suits.

“The UN is thinking of escalation. I asked for one more chance to try the Mech approach without leveling the whole city with carpet bombings. They authorized my plan.” Bastian said as he poured the tea and though there was sugar both men elected to enjoy their tea without it.

“I see that is where I come in.” Captain Ward said with a smile to his teacher.

“Precisely. “ The commander said, sipping from his tea and seeming to calm down.

“Chess?” Bastian asked, gesturing with his chin towards the bottom of the coffee table.

“Chess!” William replied with one eyebrow raised as he pulled out the board and they began to play.

“What should I know about my team” Captain ward asked as he started to build his gambit on the board.

“Their Mechs are functioning as a Scout, Heavy and Support. They cover each other pretty w-“

Bastian said with confidence as he was cut off by William who raised a hand.

“I meant the people Bastian. Not the machines.” he said with a sigh.

“ I gotta know who I am working with” He continued, finally sipping from his tea once it cooled enough. “This is good stuff!” the captain exclaimed

“of course. “ Bastian replied, trying to figure out what to do about Wards attack on the board.

“let’s start with Louis Lambert, he is a local and really knows his way around Paris. From what I gather he does what he does out of a sense of national pride. He wants to reclaim Old Paris.”

“Sounds lovely. it’s good to have someone motivated on the team.” Captain ward said happily.

They both talked and played leisurely while talking when the sandwiches arrived.

“The next one is Anya Aslanova she has been in even more fights than you. From what I know she fights for revenge. The fallen took her husband and now she takes their heads”

“I am happy she is on our side then. I have been in many… MANY fights. Why is she not a captain yet?” William asked as he stuffed half a sandwich I his mouth.

“She does not want to lead. She said she would be a bad leader but is a good soldier.” Bastian said with a shrug.

“The last one on the team is Kaya Katayama she came from Japan to Paris for vacation and volunteered. And if I may be honest her resume seems unreal. But I double checked. She is both an engineer and a doctor. How she found time to do both while being a soldier is beyond me. She just got her A rank mech license and have not been in many fights till now.”

Bastian said finishing his tea. Captain Ward nodded with a focused expression while he already started to develop strategies in his head for the upcoming fight.

“Do you have a file on their Mechs?” Captain Ward asked while finishing another sandwich and the preparation for his chess gambit, the Intercontinental ballistic missile.

“Right here “ Bastian said giving a brown file to Captain Ward as he understood with a frown that he lost the game and completely fell for his students trap.

“Good game.” They both said simultaneously, shaking hands with a smile.