The V.U.L.T.U.R.E. Directive

A brief drive brought me to the imposing concrete structure of YSOG Headquarters. Posted before the briefing room doors, a sentry in full YGSDF combat fatigues stood at a low ready, an M4A1 cradled expertly in his arms. I presented my identification. He gave it a cursory scan with a handheld device, which chirped its approval. A curt nod was exchanged, and he swung the heavy door inward for me.

I returned the gesture and stepped into the sterile, climate-controlled air of the room. A long conference table dominated the space. Seated at its head was my commanding officer, Colonel Kenji Tanaka, and beside him, a Caucasian man attired in an impeccably tailored black suit. Behind them, a large whiteboard displayed a detailed topographical map of Yamato. The Colonel, a man who possessed a few inches of height on me, with short brown hair and a prominent handlebar mustache that was his trademark, wore his standard-issue YGSDF uniform.

“Lieutenant Arc, reporting for duty!” I announced, my voice sharp, my arm snapping into a crisp salute.

Both men rose and returned it.

“At ease, Lieutenant,” the man in the suit said. A practiced, unnerving smile stretched his lips—the kind of expression perfected by intelligence operatives, all teeth and no warmth. He had short black hair and keen hazel eyes, looking like a carbon copy of James Bond or, more accurately, one of the CIB agents I’d occasionally worked with in the Arid Expanse. “Take a seat.”

I complied, pulling out a chair on the opposite side of the table and settling into it.

“Please, allow me to introduce myself,” he continued smoothly. “I am Marcus Thorne, the Chief Executive Officer of the private military contractor, Task Force V.U.L.T.U.R.E. It is a distinct pleasure to finally meet the ‘Most Lethal Sniper in Yamato’s History.’”

Save the flattery, Mr. CIB, I thought.

“A pleasure to meet you as well, Thorne-san,” I replied, offering a slight, formal bow from my seated position. He stared for a beat, his smile faltering, before attempting a clumsy imitation. So, what is this about? And what in the hell is ‘Task Force V.U.L.T.U.R.E.’? “Are you with the CIB?” I asked, my voice flat and my gaze unwavering. The unspoken challenge hung in the air between us: Answer the question, or I’ll find a way to make you.

Marcus let out a short, controlled laugh. “I served with the CIB for three years before my retirement. I founded my PMC shortly after. Task Force V.U.L.T.U.R.E. is a privately funded entity, but we are currently contracted by and working in conjunction with the Global Concord Security Council. As for the reason you were summoned, Colonel Tanaka will elaborate.”

Colonel Tanaka fixed me with his stern, commanding gaze. “Before this briefing proceeds, I must remind you that the contents of this mission are classified at the highest level. You are not to disclose this information to anyone without the proper authorization. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good,” he affirmed. “First, I assume you saw the morning news regarding our missing transport aircraft?” I nodded, the anchor’s grave voice echoing in my memory. “That aircraft is our objective. The Yamato Meteorological Agency reported a severe and anomalous magnetic storm directly over the Northern Azure Ocean, coinciding with a solar eclipse. We have reason to believe this event contributed to the plane’s disappearance. Professor Shinozaki will explain the rest. Professor, if you please.”

Professor Shinozaki? Wait a minute, does he mean…

My thought was cut short as the briefing room door flew open with the force of a small explosion.

“Hee-ya!” a familiar voice shrieked. A figure sailed through the doorway, landing with practiced agility in a perfect three-point crouch. The intruder, inexplicably clad in a frilly maid outfit partially covered by a scientist’s white lab coat, rose to their full height to reveal a face I knew all too well.

“Hey! Hello! Hello! It’s your favorite idol, Chiyoko Shinozaki!” she belted out, flashing a V-sign and striking a dramatic pose worthy of a J-pop superstar. She had long black hair from which a pair of synthetic white bunny ears twitched with perpetual energy. As the others in the room stared—Colonel Tanaka grinning from ear to ear, Marcus looking utterly bewildered—I could only pinch the bridge of my nose and rub my temples in weary embarrassment.

This person… this is Chiyoko Shinozaki, my older sister. Despite her profoundly immature and eccentric demeanor, she is legitimately one of the most brilliant engineers and scientists in Yamato, if not the entire world. A full scholarship recipient to Harvard University, she blazed through accelerated courses her entire academic career. She was also, unfortunately, one of the primary catalysts for my induction into otaku culture. Into it, not in love with it.

She then charged directly at me, coming to an abrupt halt just inches from my chair. She leaned in, invading my personal space with zero hesitation, peering intently at my face, which I had partially shielded with my hand. “Hi! Hi!”

I sighed in resignation. “Hi, Nee-chan. It’s been a while.” I lowered my hand, doing my best to avoid her intense, violet-eyed stare.

“Yeah, how long has it been?” she pondered aloud, rubbing her cheek thoughtfully. Before I could even formulate an answer, she interrupted herself. “Ooh, you’ve really grown into a man, Haru-kun!” she exclaimed, raising her hands above her head in a gesture that mimicked a rabbit’s ears. To my profound discomfort, she then crept behind my chair, wrapped her arms around my neck, and began sniffing the back of my head. “And you smell like—”

“Ahem…” The Colonel cleared his throat loudly, the sound cutting through the absurdity. “Sorry to interrupt this touching family reunion, but if we could continue with the briefing?”

Much obliged, Colonel. I owe you one.

Chiyoko released me with a loud, theatrical sigh and slumped into the chair beside me. “Hmph, what a pain…”

“Miss Shinozaki has posited a theory regarding the existence of a parallel universe,” the man from the CIB stated, his composure remarkably regained. He reached into a briefcase on the table and produced a set of glossy images. “These are some of the photographs we have managed to acquire of said universe. The world, or planet, is indeed remarkably similar to our own. Its atmosphere is nearly identical, composed primarily of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and one as-of-yet unidentified gas.”

I took the pictures and studied them. They depicted an ocean world, much like Earth, dominated by a massive, central supercontinent. The images themselves looked strange, as though they were captured through some kind of shimmering hole or aperture.

“How did you get these?” I asked, looking up from the photographs.

“They were captured by an ASTRA observation and surveillance satellite during a solar eclipse one year ago,” he explained, before turning to my sister. “Miss Shinozaki, please.”

Nee-chan cleared her throat dramatically. “So, I’m now going to explain how this other universe was created,” she began, her voice still possessing a remarkably juvenile quality that defied her intellect. “A long, long, long time ago, before life, before the Earth, even before the Big Bang, there was nothingness—just an endless hyperspace. Then, according to the fundamental laws of physics, another big clump of gas formed and exploded, just like in our own genesis story. This event created a universe existing in parallel to our own.”

God, my head hurts. Why does theoretical physics have to be so damn confusing?

“Alright, Professor, the remainder of the details are highly classified. You’re dismissed,” Marcus declared curtly. My sister simply nodded and started for the door.

Before she could leave, however, she suddenly pivoted on her heel and launched herself directly onto my lap, looking me straight in the eye. Her own eyes began to well up with moisture, taking on a pleading, puppy-dog quality. “Please be safe, Haru-kun,” she whispered. I could only manage a slow nod.

Then, in a display that was equal parts tragic and comedic, she began to wail, hugging me with a constricting force that threatened to squeeze the very air from my lungs.

“Haru-kun, please don’t leave me! I’ll miss you so much!”

At this spectacle, both Colonel Tanaka and Marcus began to sweat visibly. A moment later, a pair of guards had to enter the room and gently but firmly pry Nee-chan off of me and escort her out.

Once the door had closed behind her, I asked again, “So, what does any of this have to do with me?”

“As I said, there is a distinct possibility that our transport aircraft passed through a portal and ended up in this other world,” Tanaka-san explained, his tone all business once more. “During a solar eclipse, a portal, or wormhole, opens in the space between the Earth and the Moon, creating a temporary connection between our universe and that one. It is, however, completely invisible to the naked eye.”

“But why not just send a SAR team and a group of scientists?” I countered. “With all due respect, sir, I’m a soldier, not a geologist.”

“Lieutenant Arc, do you have any idea what was on that aircraft’s cargo manifest?” I shook my head. “It was transporting several disarmed nuclear ICBM warheads and a stockpile of chemical weapons we had recently recovered from the primary facility of a rogue state.”

The weight of his words settled in the pit of my stomach, cold and heavy as lead.

“If we can recover those WMDs, or even just the data from the plane’s recorders, we will have the irrefutable proof we need to show the world the threat this rogue state poses. It might even provide the political leverage needed to amend Clause 9 and strengthen our Defense Force. Furthermore, the Behemoth is one of the YDF’s newest strategic assets; we cannot simply abandon it. Most importantly, there are Yamato citizens on that plane.”

“Not to mention,” Marcus added, his voice low, “we can see clear signs of settlements on the planet’s surface. The atmosphere is habitable and it supports life. We have no way of knowing if they are friendly or hostile, so we cannot risk sending in a civilian team.”

Oh, wonderful. So I’ll be making first contact with aliens?

“How do I get there?” I asked, my tone growing more solemn.

“You will be deployed from a specially upgraded C-130J Atlas. You will perform a HALO jump from an altitude of over 35,000 feet. A container the size of a small table will be dropped alongside you, containing your weapons, ammunition, food, clothing, a medical kit, and other mission-essential supplies,” Tanaka-san retorted. “Your primary objective is to locate and secure the aircraft. Your secondary objectives are to locate any survivors and provide us with intelligence on the region, including any indigenous lifeforms you encounter.”

“Aside from the nukes, what other weapons was the bird carrying?”

Marcus consulted a document from his briefcase. “CBRN suits, gas masks, mortars, a variety of foreign-made rifles like the AK-series, howitzers, and chemical agents including white phosphorus and mustard gas. The nuclear devices themselves are roughly the size of a single bed.”

“And how am I supposed to find the aircraft in an unknown world?”

“Three ways. First, the aircraft’s flight recorder is equipped with a beacon. You will be issued a prototype sensor—still in its experimental phase—that is capable of detecting both the black box signal and organic heartbeats at range. Second, you are authorized to request information from the local populace, but you are not to reveal your identity, affiliation, or objectives under any circumstances. And finally,” Tanaka-san said, leaning back in his chair, “if our surveillance satellites acquire any actionable information, we will relay it to you. Of course, you will not be going in alone. You will be accompanied by two other operators: one from the Royal Army’s Special Projects Group, and one from the Orion Special Navy’s Sea Dragons Unit Six. This is a joint operation.”

So I’m working with a Brit and an Orion. Alright.

“Unfortunately, we cannot send reinforcements. We know of no other way to reach that universe without the aid of a solar eclipse. The operation is also completely black; inserting armor or air support would draw far too much unwanted attention. If this mission goes sideways, Lieutenant, you are on your own.”

“Task Force V.U.L.T.U.R.E. will assist with exfiltration during the next solar eclipse, however,” Marcus remarked. “If that opportunity is missed, we will have to wait for the subsequent one.”

“So I could be there for months? Or even years?” I asked, the reality of the situation settling in.

“Yes. However, government-funded experiments to create a stable, artificial wormhole are ongoing. Due to the nature of the connection, you will only be able to contact us when we initiate a request for a report. Do you understand all of this?”

“Ryokai!” I exclaimed.

“Good,” he said with a grim smile. “You will continue your advanced training for this operation until a few weeks before the next solar eclipse, which is in approximately one year. You will then be transferred to Horizon Airbase in Restricted Area 4808N, Veridia, to prepare for launch.” Both men rose to their feet. “Alright, you’re dismissed.”

“Hai!” I stood, bowed once more, and saluted them before turning and exiting the room.