Unlike my journey from Stuttgart to the Air Base through Panaitan Island and Ujung Kulon National Park which was filled with magnificent and breath-taking sights, the journey from the Air Base to the Army Base seemed to be filled with tense and restless air, as I could see from inside the helicopter that there were so many military personnel posted and standing by at each several distances down at the residential areas with the residents also still there.
Apparently, most of the civilians were being evacuated for some radius away from the nearest assaulted village, and I also happened to witness that few of them were arguing with some of the military personnel. If I were to assume about the possible reason on why they argued, it was probably due to their non-acceptance towards the fact that they had to move away from their homes for a yet unclear reason.
The unpleasant sight made me realized that even when the military were doing their hardest and their best to ensure the safety of the citizens, there would be still several inevitable unpleasant consequences coming straight towards them. What made me felt sorry towards both the military and civilians more was that there were no longer any school activities for children sighted, and not even any ongoing economy activities.
I was pretty much relieved when I remembered that the journey with such dispiriting sights would only took around thirty minutes by helicopter, since I felt like I could barely look at more and more civilians down on the residential areas street kept on arguing with the military personnel. When it was already less than five minutes left before we would arrive at the Army Base, the helicopter pilot notified me to get ready.
If the atmosphere around the Air Base were still somewhat pretty relaxed, the case was the obvious opposite at the Army Base. Even when by then I had technically arrived roughly fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, there were already countless elite personnel standing by, heading to one place and another in a very quick pace, while the others were maintaining various armored land and air vehicles, and the rest seemed to be testing their various firearms and other field equipment. Basically nearly every personnel that I saw there were preparing for everything and seemed to be very busy.
Based from what I saw from the helicopter as it began to descend at the helipad, I had some decent time to look at the overall features of the Army Base. Size-wise, I would assume that the area of the Army Base might be only roughly half or even two-fifth of the size of the Chicago Military Academy Base. If there were three main parts of the main building back in Chicago, there were only two main parts there at the base, with the western wing had three floors and the Red and White National Flag standing tall and still right on top of it, while the eastern wing had two floors and seemed to be a little wider.
However, I had to admit that just by looking at the various vehicles and equipment stationed there, I could guarantee that all of them were completely battle-ready, and most of them also seemed to be of the heavy-duty type. The same case also went for all of the Special Forces Command personnel there, as I could barely notice any of them were not combat-ready, implying that every single men there had had their intense and rigorous training prior to them being stationed at the Army Base.
Just when I got down from the helicopter, a member of Kopassus, Indonesian Army's Special Forces Command greeted me and told me that the response team had been expecting my earlier arrival. The team had been waiting inside the main command room, which was located on the second floor of the Main Building. Without any further waiting, the man guided me to the building which was only ten minutes by walking on foot. Again, both of us walked in a rather quick pace.
The two of us entered through the eastern wing of the main building. As we walked inside it, the Special Forces Command soldier told me that for the time being, the eastern wing of the main building functioned as temporary barracks, as well as armory and portable equipment storage. The barracks was on the first floor of the building, while the armory and equipment storage was on the second floor.
Even though I did not see it with my own eyes, apparently some of the men on the second floor were currently testing fire several Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifles if I were to assume based on the echoed firing sounds. As if my assumptions were confirmed very soon, just as we were about to get to the western wing, I saw four men walking past us from the opposite direction with all of them equipped with the very same assault rifle, as well as the very familiar Browning Hi-Power handgun as their sidearms, indicating that it would be their standard-issued firearms for the whole operation.
Entering the western wing, I could almost immediately notice that there were a huge crowd inside the first floor as it was rather noisy as soon as the two of us entered the wing. Just right after some steps forward, I saw so many men gathered together in groups of either four or five, with most of them seemed to be discussing and explaining various things, and a couple of maps in front of each of the groups shown on a board.
I asked on what they were currently doing to the Special Forces Command soldier, to which he responded that they were currently reviewing the lists of approachable tactics for each of their own tasks. He also mentioned that there would be approximately twelve groups in total that would depart on the operation. So far, I could estimate that the number of the men gathered there had at least nearing fifty, and it would mean there might be two other groups that I had yet to see.
Even though it was indeed crowded, the condition of the first floor were still very neat that both the soldier and I could still walk pass through the crowd and reached the stairs to the second floor. When we had reached the second floor, we walked through a corridor right after we turned left just after the stairs and stopped right in front of a rather large room with a wide door. As the soldier opened the door for me, I instantly realized that my partner and also possibly my direct supervisor had been waiting inside the room.
"Well, Lieutenant Burners," said the soldier, "Please come in."
"Thank you, Sergeant Major." I responded to him as I smiled a little and entered the room.
I walked into what seemed to be a meeting room for top-priority operations that only high-ranking officers would be able to attend to. The room was dominant in white and brown motif color, with large – sized checkered granite floor. The meeting room must be around ten to eleven feet of height, and if I were to estimate the area of the room I would say that it could be close to five hundred and fifty feet square, which was more than one and a half times bigger than the meeting room in Stuttgart.
Right in the middle of the room was a large and sturdy teak rectangular table with five chairs on each of the longer sides of the table, as well as one chair on each of the shorter sides of the table. There were already three men waiting for me inside the room, and all of them were seated on the chairs. As I approached them, one of the men, a young man perhaps in his twenty two or twenty three years-old stood up and greeted me.
"We have been expecting you, Lieutenant Burners." said the young man as he stood up and gave me his hand to shake mine with a fresh and excited expression drawn on his face, "My name is Billy Mubarak."
"Travis Burners." I responded to him as I smiled and shook his hand, "Please, just call me Travis for the rest of the operation, if I may."
"I see you both already have the pleasure of getting introduced to each other…" one of the other men, a high ranking military officer said, "Billy here, is a second lieutenant in the Special Forces Command of the Indonesian Army. A brilliant officer if I may say, despite his young age."
"Travis, this is Major General Gillian Girsang, the current Commander General for our Special Forces Command. And this is Brigadier General Firdaus Marwani, our current Vice Commander General of the Special Forces Command." Billy continued.
I smiled at both of them as I shook their hands briefly and firmly before I seated down at the chair right next to Billy's left side.
If I were to describe Billy's physical traits, he is a young man with height of probably more than 5'6", but not reaching 5'7", and perhaps close to 140 pounds in weight. Despite his rather small figure, I had the feeling that he somehow had a pretty much built body, especially judging by how firm he shook my hand earlier. Aside from that, I also had the feeling that he is indeed an ingenious young man as I always believed that one's intelligence will often be accompanied by one's humility, which was exactly what he just showed to me when I first entered the room.
The four of us, once seated again did not spend any second discussing openings and small talks, and instead we jumped right into the main topic of the urgent meeting. Major General Girsang opened our discussion by mentioning a couple of documents that I was supposed to bring and deliver to the meeting. I confirmed it by saying that it was handed to me by a Lieutenant General of the German Army and handed it to him.
"So, Major General Girsang will be our direct supervisor for this operation?" I asked to the three of them right after I handed him the documents.
"Oh, no I will not, Lieutenant." He responded, "We are currently still waiting for him to come to this meeting, virtually."
"Virtually? Through online meeting then, Sir?" I asked him again.
Just then, some sort of holographic ray dropped from a small machine installed right above the ceiling to the table surface. In a very short time, the ray widened and an image began to appear. As the image resolution sharpened very quickly, it turned out that the image was a figure of a person, and a very familiar one to me.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen…" said a very familiar hoarse voice.
"Commodore Quentin, it has been some while!" I responded spontaneously in reflex, delighted to see a familiar face after three years.
"Heh, enthusiastic as always huh, son?" he responded to me as he smiled through the hologram.
Everyone in the room appreciated my very brief reunion with my former direct commanding officer. Nevertheless, the atmosphere turned to serious again in an almost immediate time. With Commodore Quentin had then joined the meeting, Major General Girsang proceeded to review of what was inside the two documents that I had brought.
The thing that he discussed about once the documents reviewing had been finished was none other than the mechanism of the bladed weapon itself. Since it was a topic which both Commodore Quentin and I had directly witnessed back in Chicago three years before, the two of us were the ones who filled in about the weapon in more details.
I was the first one to speak to the rest of the personnel inside the room. I mentioned that basically we had found out that the weakness of the aliens' weapons was their direct and violent contact with bullets fired from obsolete firearms. I also mentioned that during our encounter with the alien commander, the obsolete firearms could no longer damage the staff-based weapon that it used then, thus I affirmed the fact that in order to survive such encounter in the future there had still yet any alternative way to be found other than taking the alien down directly by force.
When I had finished, Commodore Quentin added another thing that were not mentioned, or at least emphasized in the documents. He explained that while it had not yet been confirmed officially, the aliens seemed to be very sensitive when their fin-ears were damaged. The reason it had not been confirmed was due to the fact that it had only been seen once, which was during the decisive fight with the alien commander. The possible cause about the weakness was also still unknown, although there was actually one probability where it might be due to the lack of any natural protection on their ears.
"I am very sorry if I interrupted, Commodore. There is one thing that I would like to ask, if I may." Billy said, just as Commodore Quentin had finished explaining.
"Sure, son. Go ahead." Commodore Quentin responded as he nodded once.
"Based on the documents, the size of the alien commander was considerably larger than the rest of its counterparts, right?" Billy asked, "If so, then would you say that its movement at one or some points were quite sluggish compared to the others?"
"Good point." Commodore Quentin replied, with somewhat a little impressed expression on his face.
"Yes, I did notice that the alien commander never made any fast or sudden movement except when Major Jonathan Xavier had partially destroyed its right ear. It was only then, when it started to constantly rushed towards each of us. The beam spear also did not go off unless when it was not held by the alien." Commodore Quentin answered to Billy.
"If that is the case, Commodore…" Billy responded to Commodore Quentin, "Judging by how quick the beam blades shown in the videos were turned on and off, and emerged from one point to another, can we somehow guarantee that if it is in fact done by aliens, they are completely different from that huge behemoth, even with the chance if it somehow has a stealth technology?"
Commodore Quentin went silent for a little moment, as he seemed to smile a little, before he responded to Billy's analysis.
"Personally, I would say yes. But we will also need to hear both Major General Girsang's and Brigadier General Marwani's opinions on this matter…" Commodore Quentin answered Billy as he turned to both of the Generals.
Both of the Generals at first showed their doubts regarding Billy's analysis, especially Brigadier General Marwani. However, as soon as Commodore Quentin mentioned the absence of gravity balancer on the alien commander's feet as it had been written inside one of the two documents, the two of them agreed with the analysis soon after. Apparently, the fact that the aliens' gravity balancer could boost their movements on earth and its absence on the behemoth's feet ensured them that whatever caused the assault on the village would be definitely not it.
Just then, something occurred on my mind. If I were to assume that the assault was done by aliens, and it was not the same kind as the alien commander, then what would it be? I was so caught up and stuck at the words 'gravity balancer' and 'booster' that I had a hard time on presuming any other possibilities for what might had caused it.
It was at that moment that I suddenly thought of a possibility of a new variant of the aliens – a flying counterpart, where they had wings that enable them to fly, but not necessarily had their bodies protected enough that they had to resort to use camouflage. I also immediately realized that there were no reports of any unidentifiable footsteps whatsoever in any of the locations, making my analysis could be all the more valid.
"Gentlemen, I think I have one more possibility regarding the matter." I said to the rest of the others.
"Please, share with us about what is your mind, Lieutenant." Major General Girsang responded.
"There were no reports of unidentifiable footsteps on the scene, were there? At least up until this very moment. Therefore, I have a suggestion that if the assault was done by aliens, then there is a good chance that we are about to encounter a new variant of them, a flying variant." I explained to them.
I continued by explaining that of all the aliens that the rest of the world had encountered, they all either had a well-built figure, or armored hides and skins, and a direct and frontal approach. Had they decided that they were to come to earth again, it would be completely natural for them to opt for a whole different approach. That would mean a completely stealthy approach, from the aliens themselves and could even to the mothership that they had arrived with. It would also mean that their presence would be undetectable by our current space foreign objects detection technology.
When I had finished, both of the Generals seemed to be deep in their thoughts. Commodore Quentin also seemed to be rather not sure about my analysis, and Billy looked like he had a slightly different perspective based on his expression.
"So we have no other choice than to go directly to the location and see it with our own eyes." Billy responded to me, as he looked straight at me.
"Precisely." I replied to him shortly as I nodded twice.
"We cannot guarantee anything about it just yet." Major General Girsang said, "But it is indeed one very important thing to seriously consider at. Right, I can agree with your suggestion for the moment."
With that, we had then a couple of new leads for us. The meeting was then immediately ended right after Commodore Quentin told both Billy and I that he would directly contact us again once we had received our equipment for the operation, and both of the Generals told us that they would assemble the rest of the other Special Forces Command Personnel for an updated direct briefing.
I asked if both Billy and I were also to attend the briefing, to which Brigadier General Marwani said that we were to go to the second floor of the eastern wing in order to get prepared with our equipment, since ours would be different from the standard-issued equipment. Once we had done, we were to head to the western parking lot, where several armored pickup trucks would have been waiting for us by then.
Both of the Generals then went out of the meeting room and seemed to be heading straight downstairs for the direct briefing with the whole Special Forces Command. Billy and I also began to head for the second floor of the eastern wing. I was about to go back to the first floor and used the exact same route earlier to head to there, when Billy told me that there was actually another route on the second floor of the western wing that connected it with the eastern wing, and thus I followed him in heading there. Yet another step had been taken by me in getting deeper into the case that had been going on…