NOTE 14

“I never thought you could smile like that,” said Cakra. The sound of roaring cars occasionally accompanies them.

“Am I smiling?” asked Alanka.

“Well, not right now! I mean, when you meet your family at the party!”

Alanka recalls what happened after she embraced the warmth of her family. That said, she could not fully accept everything as it was. Yani, her mum, advised her to send a message every morning to a group cha that contained only their family, just a simple greeting would suffice. In addition, Yani, her mother, also told her that if there was anything she wanted to talk about, she could talk to her or the group directly. Although her father might spoil her, but that’s alright.

“So the whole serious look on your face earlier was because you were trying to send a message to them?”

Alanka nodded followed by tingles she felt in her heart. “What about you?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“I noticed you left with Thia not long after parents came in.”

Cakra scratched his head. “So you are aware, huh.”

“It doesn’t need a Maidengard to realise that you left the room,” said Dianka. She looked comfortable even though the car was shaking as it hit the bumps every now and then.

“Wait, you too!?”

“I believe the others too.”

“Now this is totally embarrassing. I though no one would notice.”

“Why did you leave?” asked Alanka

“Well, I don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb,” said Cakra. She realised that he was leaning his back more against the seat. “Of course I’ll leave the room. I’d rather spend my time enjoying the buffet with a pretty girl like Thia than being a party pooper by just sticking around.”

“So, you’re the one who snuck out all that veal?” asked Dianka with a resigned look on her face.

“What can I say, it’s bussin’!” But his attention soon returned to Alanka as if he had just remembered something or try to stay on topic. “You always train with Thia after curfew, right? Is it always like that, the training I mean?”

“You practised with her?”

“After eating together. And you have no idea how sorry I would be if I knew what would happen.”

“What happened?” said Dianka.

“It’s beyond brutal, I tell you that!” Cakra sighed as he held his stomach sadly. “She said she wanted to try something and asked me to be her sparring partner. Trying! She just said trying! Yet why did she slaughter me like that!?”

“You didn’t say anything cringeworthy when you accepted her request, right?”

Cakra was silent for a moment as he tried to remember. In an instant, his face turned red and tried to cover it behind his hands. Both of them could hear him screaming behind those hands. Dianka only gave a look like she was looking at someone who could no longer be helped.

However, Alanka’s mind kept wondering about Cakra leaving the room. As she remembered, he left shortly after the parents entered. As the name of class suggests, apart from Shaqe and Dirja, there were only thirteen students in the room and most of the parents were the only ones who came. It was only her and two other students whose younger siblings also came, and even then it was no more than one. And yet, she remembered that the total number in the room was not more than forty, which it should be.

Where are your parents or so she wanted to ask. But somehow she couldn’t bring herself to ask.

To reach their destination, it took approximately three hours. The road they travelled on was not wide, only enough for two cars to pass. They took that route because they could not use the Merak toll road, which had not been repaired since the end of world war.

“Why not just go by air?” asked Cakra.

“That was the original plan,” said Dianka. Her eyes kept moving as she confirmed the data through her Inchi. “But something happened at our destination that made us unable to use the air route. It’s all thanks to the surrounding air defences suddenly malfunctioning.”

“The air defence?” said Alanka.

“Ah, not our air defence. Well, not really, to be more precise it’s the air defences that were supposed to protect the city of Cilegon from becoming a ruin in the first place.”

“How come?”

“That I don’t know. The data they provided only tells us that there was a malfunction that caused the defence system to go berserk. And not only the defence system, but also the factory’s running system.”

[So what exactly happened?] asked Kertanegara through Inchi.

At present most of the class thirteen were inside the armoured vehicle except for Dianka, Cakra, and Alanka who were riding in a light tactical vehicle that followed behind. And behind them was a truck loaded with supplies for them and others in the outskirt where their base was located. And the entire class thirteen has been connected through the class’s private Inchi network.

“At first, I don’t think we will get much resistance since all that’s left is rubble.” Her eyes began to move rapidly again. “But I just got new data, exactly an hour ago, telling me that the patrol just discovered an underground factory that was resuming production at the same time as the defence system went on rampage.”

[Let me help you compile the data.]

“Thank you.”

“Secret factory,” mumbled Cakra. “Somehow it sounds exciting! What can we find there!?”

Dianka sighed. “I wish it was just sentries and automatons.”

[Don’t let your guard down.]

“I know!”

“Why is there a secret factory?” asked Cakra.

“Initially, the factories in Cilegon only processed iron ore into steel. But as the government saw that the international situation worsened, they want to produce weapons and other items that can better help the country’s defence.”

[But the government does not want other countries to know that they’re mass-producing weapons. That is why they built a hidden factory.]

[Kertanegara look! Smoke!] shouted Karangka.

Instantly, Alanka was in alert, so were Dianka and Cakra. It wasn’t long before they could also see the smoke.

“Increase speed!” ordered Dianka quickly.

[Increasing speed.] repeated Kertanegara.

Before long, their cars was speeding away. Without caring about any of those bumps, they continued to drive towards the edge of the city. As they got closer, they could hear gunfire and shouting.

“Take cover and halt!” ordered Dianka.

The armoured vehicle driver expertly parked in the centre of secluded spot, as did the LTV they were travelling in.

“Kerta! Rangka! Connect me with your Inchi vision.”

[Copy that!] said Kertanegara and Karangka at the same time.

After receiving Kertanegara and Karangka’s vision, Dianka continued. “Now I want you two to go out there and confirm the situation. Prioritise people’s safety! I also authorise you to use whatever is available to help. And if you find the source of the problem I want you to capture it if possible and—” For a moment she went silent. “Be careful out there.”

[Loud and clear! Karangka out!]

[Kertanegara out!]

“We have three drones, should we send them now?” asked Alanka.

“A-Ah yes, please dispatch them.” Her eyes moved rapidly once more. “Besides Alanka and Cakra, I want you to help Kerta and Rangka when one of them contacts back to me. Understood?”

[Yes!] said them somewhat in unison.

“So what do you need from us?” asked Cakra.

Dianka opened her hand to signal him to stop.

[This is Kertanegara. We failed to found other source of trouble beside the automatons that keep attacking our military and civilians. Requesting permission to engage.]

“Wait! I haven’t told them about our—”

“This is class thirteen. We came as reinforcement. For those personnel who are still in the proximity of battle, we would like to inform you that we will be joining. Over.” For a moment Dianka and Cakra could only stare at Alanka. “All divisions have received and some already confirm our message. I will send you the channels they are using.”

“O-Oh, thanks.” Dianka shook her head as if it helped her stay focused. “Kerta. This is Dianka. Permission granted. And I want you to focus on helping Karangka. Also I’ll send the others as back up.”

[Point taken.]

After ordering the other class members to help Kertanegara and Karangka, she finally gave her attention to the two of them.

“Cakra, I want you to set clear up and build parameters for our temporary base. Make sure it’s not to near any hot zones.”

“Leave it to me,” said Cakra with a big smile. Soon he was out of the vehicle.

“Alanka,” called her. “H-Help me out. I need you to log the transmission and keep an eye on those drones. I’ll link you up in a second.”

As Dianka said, she was already connected to her. In that instant, her entire sight was filled with panels.