"Here we are" Sebastian bangs on the black metal door, as he banged, the black metal doors open. Inside the room, 3 people stood around a table. Sebastian enters the room.
"Ah Sebastian, you're here with Damon I presume?" One of the people on the table spoke, unsure of who it was as their backs were turned to us, all of them facing the table.
"Damon I heard you're the only member of your team without a fixed spot in the academy aside from being a mercenary, is that true?" One of the men asked.
"Damon, speak." Sebastian nudged my arm, whispering.
"Yes, apart from helping Alina, yes." I replied to the man.
"Excellent, I heard from Sebastian that he was told by Lennox and Alina about something you keep experiencing. Come closer to the table." The man ordered.
I walked to the table, nearing the 3 men. One of the men looked up from the table.
"Do you mind explaining more about these, "Visions" you have?"
"Well," I gathered my thoughts and prepared to explain all I can think of about these visions.
"They happened when I was asleep and when I was knocked out, I don't feel anything as I'm in the vision. But I can hear and see what's happening."
"Hmmm, what's the most recent time it happened?"
"This morning, a guy called Max. I saw a large mountain, and he was with a girl, a mercenary like us." I explained to the man.
The man whispered something unintelligible to the other two.
"Damon, if this is true. You may help us more, but for now you can just sit down on one of the chairs behind you, turning back I didn't realize that there were a set of empty chairs.
Looking at the table, it was a holographic map of Aregalia, on the eastern side of the nation, there were multiple red circles drawn and sitting on those circles are small minifigures of what appears to be ships.
I guess I will listen to them first then rest after whatever this is.
"So Noah, the policy set us back, but may help us amass more mercenaries to help against the invasion, if it would happen during this set time." The man explained.
Invasion? By what? The Empire?
"Since the enemy is east of us, we should prioritize the defense of the east. Were a big island. We can deploy costal defense ships on possible locations they may invade, mostly the open beaches."
"Why won't they attack the other island nations, why just us?"
"Were a good starting place for the invasion, just at the belly of the main continent, most of the battle fought will be naval. If they manage to take over us, then they can have a constant stream of air support or reinforcement coming in. The other coastal nations may not be suitable because they are too near to the main continents, the man in front of us placed his hand on a circle situated at the middle right of the map, the man proceeded to magnify the map, now showing a scale version of the beach. The light emanating from the map giving off some light, illuminating the man's face for a brief moment.
"We will get extra support from other nations on this beach, the longest beach we have. They will provide manpower and armored support and artillery so we don't have to spend our main manpower on it, our main manpower will then be placed mostly on the other smaller beaches, a chunk of them will stay behind the front lines in case of a breakthrough of the main beach. The fallback line will stall them long enough to either wait for reinforcements or to push them back." The man on the front explained.
"And that's the defense plan for a possible invasion on Aregalian soil. We may not know when it will happen, but supporting the military in defense, and defense in scenarios like this are the exception we have to the restrictions.
The man on the front removed the scale of the map and switches to.... A tank, a tank that doesn't look Aregalian or even a tank of any alliance nations.
"We found this at a large Burnwick base. Deep in the Hotenam jungle. We consulted all the governments about this tank, none of them said it was theirs." The man moved the holographic tank, rotating from side to side. The tank doesn't have any treads, but instead had armor skirts that covered jets underneath the tank, the armor skirts stretched to possibly the ground under it. Is this a prototype of sorts? Who gave it to Burnwick?
While i listened, i realized that Sebastian wasn't beside me, but instead sitting on a chair behind me. As i looked at him, he gestured to me to sit down alongside him. I proceeded to sit next to Sebastian, resting my legs as i watch the men continue to discuss about the tank.
"The man on the front is a defense strategist advisor of Parabellum. Despite us no longer allowed to go on missions that help the military, the tacticians became an exception, but must be constantly monitored 24/7. Those other two are military tacticians from the Aregalian army." Sebastian explained, resting comfortably on the steel metal chair.
"Damon, where do you think the tank came from." Sebastian asked me.
"I don't know." I replied.
As the 3 men talked, one of them pulled out a tablet.
"Perhaps either they got help from a nation in the alliance secretly, or possibly gained help from the empire somehow." The man holding the tablet spoke.
"That may be the case, but why would they want to help Burnwick. That's the question." The man in the front spoke.
"But for now, we can't help you and the other nation's militaries. None of us can, all we can give you is strategic advisors like myself, and for now i advise that you scout any deep areas, and note any signs that those Burnwick or any other insurgent group are hiding in that location."
"Very well, thank you for your help. Shame we can no longer ask for your help in the form of mercenaries." The man holding the tablet replied, after speaking the two men made their way to the exit leaving just the strategist looking at the same holographic tank.
"Damon, come here." Strategist ordered. I stood up from my chair then approached the table, now standing opposite of him.
"Do you know how to control these visions?" He asked
"No, I don't know how."
"Any other odd experiences?"
"I do feel like I'm in a trance whenever I shoot at a target, feels like i don't have control and something is shooting for me."
"Hmm, fascinating, fascinating. We would want to test on you, to see if it would work. I would have to check though if what you said earlier is true, if we had a huntsman team on a mission that is close to a mountain." The man stepped to the side of the table. "Sebastian thank you for helping, you may leave." Sebastian stands up from his seat, leaving the room.
"Damon, your virus trait may help us in a way. Follow me." The strategist walked outside of the room, outside he started walking deeper into the hallway, walking farther from the elevator and the room.
"If you can gain control of this trait you may help us greatly, hell maybe you can earn so much more money." The man stopped walking, he stood in front of another elevator, but this one had no buttons. But a scanner. The strategist places his hand on the scanner, the doors open after placing his hand on the scanner for a few seconds. Inside, the elevator looked more luxurious and big than the elevators we use. Inside, the walls were lined with thin panels on the walls giving light with a large mirror built into the elevator above us, small black cushions rested on the walls, walls made of a dark brown wood. As the doors close I await where the Strategist is taking me.
"Luxurious isn't it, the elevator aside. I'm taking you to a department of the academy only a select few can enter. You have a trait that nobody to my knowledge in this academy has."
"What is the department?"
"Our spy agency. Were tasked with scouting and helping the military in locating any hideouts of insurgent groups, we can do tasks from espionage and informants, to even sabotaging the hideouts themselves."
The doors open to a massive room, the ceiling was high, on the right wall were large screens. and rows upon rows of desks with computers with people working.
"The restriction would have slammed on the spy agency hard, but we managed to convince the government and the alliance to continue our operations. They will watch over us though, the massive room was dark with the illuminated computer screens combined with the larger screens perched on the wall giving the only light.
Looking to the right was a room full of servers. Along with a breakroom that seems to be the only room with a light not coming from the screens. What will I do now?