third time’s a charm

“Now that all the important questions are behind us, let’s get to the mission itself.” Captain Ward asked commander Wolf after some time and many glasses of tea.

“I was wandering when you will ask.” Bastian said brushing his white mustache.

“This is a search and destroy mission. You and a small team will infiltrate Old Paris from a government building and exit near Notre Dame Cathedral, the building goes all the way to your entry point at the lower levels of New Paris” Commander Wolf said while pointing at a map of Paris that was now spread on the table where the chess board used to be.

“A month ago, a ship crashed into the harbor of Paris.

Reports say this was some sort of ghost ship or cruise ship that got lost at sea close to fifty years ago.

We know the ship had almost two thousand Fallen that spilled out in a fast attack on all military targets.

They were older and more powerful than we expected, and the worst thing about it was that they were coordinated.

Your mission is to find what coordinates them and destroy it.” He said with a Grimace

“We sent two missions so far. Both died.

The first mission gave us the knowledge that the Fallen seemed to be turning the people of Old Paris into more Fallen using Compound Y2K and now number around three thousand.

The second mission found many of the people that were trapped in the city, before giving their life to let said people escape”

As he said the words, the Commander’s face might have been calm but his hand was crushing his chair’s armrest, turning the knuckles white and making the wood cry and squeak.

“Ok... this is bad. How much of this will be available to the public?” William asked carefully as he was standing by the window looking at the clouds, taking a break from sitting down for a few moments.

“This depends entirely on the success of this mission. If we can use the Mechs to avoid indiscriminate damage to Paris and its people, they can know most of it. Eventually…”

Bastian admitted

“Maybe third time’s a charm?” Captain Ward said jokingly

“I hope so kid. I would very much like to go to the Louvre again. Plus, all five types of Fallen are present at Old Paris. This is a whole mess and a half!” Bastian said with a sigh

“All five? It’s rare to see even three in one spot, aside from the front lines. And they were already a nuisance individually, together they are surprisingly versatile.” William said while turning his head towards Bastian, checking if the man was bluffing.

Sadly, William’s mentor had an expression that gave him a chill.

“Why me sir? don’t get me wrong, I will do it. But saving Old Paris… is a big deal” William asked while starting sweat, his senses sharpen in preparation for what is to come.

“I trust you. You have the lowest deaths per mission of all other captains in the vicinity. And lastly, when you transferred from the USA to Germany to get into the Global Mech Initiative and trained under me, the other soldiers trusted you the most. You are the best fit for the job. Plus, we are short-staffed. I gave you all available Mech fighters in Paris, the rest are on the front lines” Bastian said with a warmth that surprised William.

“How many enemies are we facing of each type.“ Captain Ward said as he walked back to the table with renewed vigor and looked at a page with a pentagram describing the different types of fallen.

“About one thousand Devourers. They are old and adapted to speed and water breathing. So far.” Bastian said pointing at the yellow dot on the pentagram.

“Just below three hundred Giants, all in different sizes ranging from five meters to thirty meters”

Bastian said while moving his finger to the green dot.

“We know there were one thousand Hivemind that are as old as the devourers. Some of them died so we don’t know their precise number.” The Commander once again moved his finger, this time to the purple dot.

“They raised a thousand or so relentless from the citizens of Paris and their pets but half of them died so far in previous missions.” The commander said while he moved his finger to the red dot in a counterclockwise motion.

“We do know of at least one Majesty, but he is the one who personally killed the last two mission captains and most of the team members.” Bastian's finger moved to the blue dot as he spoke, finishing the circle.

Captain ward memorized the information as it was spoken

“What about my Mech?” he replied

“That ugly thing ? its arriving in another aircraft behind us.” Bastian said, as if it was obvious to move an entire Mech suit that is nine meters tall over the Mediterranean Sea.

“It’s not THAT ugly” William said defensively as he fixed his red hat, so it sits higher on his head.

“You only say that because you’re American” Bastian replied as they both chuckled.

“Ok. I will admit that the fifty stars are a bit much, but they serve a practical purpose” William said while trying hard not to smile.

“Last question sir. When am I to authorize the men to not hold back, even if terrain is destroyed” Captain Ward asked after a moment of joyful silence.

“This is up to your decision but do try not to piss off the French.” Commander Wolf answered surprisingly fast, as if he saw the question coming. “As you wish.” William said.

William’s body felt as if it was filled with lightning. His senses sharpened and every fiber of his being wanted to move but Captain Ward already knew not to get overwhelmed by the feeling and to channel it to something positive.

He let his mind search for what to do for the rest of the time, William’s senses seemed to heighten in anticipation intermingled with fear and excitement, though he remained calm and honestly was already having fun.

William could smell the mint on the breath of the suited guard a few meters away and hear the electricity running in the cables all over the ground and walls, as well as every murmur or breath in the room he was in. his eyes closed as he began to pull from the memory of every fight he ever had, in order to build a new strategy and then another and another.

“Chess?” Bastian said after a while. Completely disrupting William’s train of thought.

“Chess!” Captain ward said excitedly.