The sun was beginning to set as Atlas and the others began to eat their supper, the air was beginning to cool down a bit and the moons were going to be full tonight.
"Hey Julie, we're back!" Someone called as the sound of the front door burst open.
"Hey Kurt we're in here" She replied to the voice, two men and a woman rounded the corner to the dining room with a happy expression.
Atlas' stomach seemed to drop when he made eye contact with a man wearing glasses, in a flash a pistol was pointed at his face from across the room.
"Woah woah woah, put that thing away Kurt!" Grey yelled while moving himself in front of Atlas.
The other people next to Kurt had their hands on their guns as well but they weren't drawn like Kurt's was.
"Oi what do you mean, he's a Gyrun?" Kurt asked his commander who sighed.
"Dammit, you all need to realize the full picture here" Grey slammed his hands on the table making the food on everyone's plates fall everywhere.
Kurt gave a nervous look while Atlas was frozen in place from fear, Blyke shot out of his seat and rushed over to Atlas.
"Grey calm down, what do you think would happen if you saw someone who looked like the enemy sitting at our dinner table?" Blyke tried to reason with his furious commander.
With a deep breath Grey had seemed to collect some composure, he had sat back down into his chair next to Atlas who had not moved an inch since the others arrived.
"This is the newest Ghost in our squad, Atlas is only half Gyrun and was born in Fendel. You will treat him with the same respect that you do with any one of us, do I make myself clear?" Grey asked his squad members who quickly nodded their heads.
Supper was now ruined as nobody seemed to have an appetite anymore, Atlas was brought to his room where he would sleep with Charlie.
Charlie was a few years older than Atlas and had seemed to be less nervous than any of the others besides the commander and Blyke.
***************************************
It was dark now, everyone was sleeping besides Charlie and Atlas. Tension was so thick in their room that neither of them could sleep anytime soon.
"So… you're half Gyrun ey?" Charlie asked after the long torturous silence that seemed like hours.
"Y-yes sir, my father is from Gyrun but moved here when he was young" Atlas replied, he was nervous. Not because of the fact that he was in an elite squad nor the fact that he was new, but the reason being these soldiers had all seemed to be weary of Atlas.
One of them already pulled a gun on him as the other had admitted that she didn't like him at all, Atlas missed his family and everything he once had before the drafting.
"Huh, then does your father like it here?" He questioned.
"He doesn't like to talk about Gyrun, everytime my sister or brothers ask he'd change the topic" Atlas answered truthfully.
"I can see why" Charlie said to himself, this statement intrigued Atlas.
"What is it like… you know, over in Gyrun?" The awkwardness of each other had seemed to fade away as they continued to talk.
"Besides the war, terrible, civvies are being run by the powerful over there. If you have money then you get a say in society but many people cannot afford the satisfactions as others can" Charlie admitted, Atlas rolled over to his side and stared out of his window where the light from both of the moons shone through.
The dark blue night sky was showing off the most beautiful scene you could imagine, Atlas closed his eyes and imagined both continents becoming one.
He wondered about the friendliness they could share and the different ideas, he never liked the idea of one race being superior to another since he was always being discriminated against.
Atlas and Charlie talked for a while longer before they both succumed to their sleep.
***************************************
"Alright, the general has ordered some of us to go with the Armor Squadron to find and destroy enemy intelligence. We will be heading over the ocean within the next hour so make sure you're packed and ready to go. I want Julie, Charlie, and Atlas to go with the Armor Squad, the rest of us have separate orders to hold down Fort Lewis" Grey said to the squad.
It was just after noon when the commander got back from a meeting with the general, Atlas was surprised about his first mission. He never thought he would be doing it so soon even after the fact he was half Gyrun.
"Why am I paired up with Atlas?" Julie asked, she had her arms folded across her chest and seemed very displeased at the orders.
"Because he needs experience, Atlas has already proven himself in the training grounds that he is great with a rifle so I want him to improve his skills even more. I also want him to see the full picture of what we do" Grey replied bluntly.
"Ugh fine, but he better keep his distance and not slow me down" Julie huffed, she stormed out of the room to pack her things leaving the others in the dining room where they placed a map.
Atlas grew a bit uneasy, he wasn't sure that this would be the right time for him to do a mission yet, he just graduated from basic training.
Grey seemed to notice the change in Atlas' expression as he moved around the room to Atlas.
"Hey kid you'll be fine, you just need to be with the Armor Squadron and destroy some intel. They will be doing most of the work so you will get experience by watching" Grey said, Atlas calmed down a bit at his commander's words.
"Y-yeah I'm just going to watch the Armor Squadron do most of the tasks and the rest of us will just destroy some things" Atlas repeated to himself for some inspiration.
After that Blyke had lifted a box to Atlas, he was confused about what was in the box but something told Atlas that everyone already knew what was in there.
Atlas was cautious when he slowly opened the box, it was a wooden crate with a lock on it with the key already placed in the lock. The box itself was medium sized making Atlas more confused.
When Atlas finally undid the lock and swung the top off a helmet and a camouflage uniform were sitting in it, Atlas grew a large grin as Grey and Blyke seemed the most excited about this.
"Welcome to the squad Atlas, we have a uniform so you match us not to mention the custom patch with your name on it" Blyke cheered, Samantha leaned on the counter with a cigarette in hand.
"Oi, come on already, go and put it on. We have extras in case your uniform does rip or get destroyed" Kurt said, everyone laughed and Atlas ran out of the room and into a bathroom.
He quickly changed out of his recruit outfit and into his new squad uniform, it had a patch of a ghost skull on it and his name in big letters reading
*ATLAS*
*Ghost Squadron*
Atlas put on his helmet and walked back into the dining room where everyone was eagerly waiting, when they saw the uniform they saw how great it fit him.
Atlas looked down at his feet and back to the others, he was very excited that they had all seemed to be very friendly with him and had shown support like last night with Charlie.
Charlie was a lot less nervous then some.of the others, Kurt didn't seem nervous to Atlas but more like annoyed. Samantha hasn't even spoken to Atlas since he got here so he was a bit unsure about her thoughts.
"Why are you not getting ready yet, we have to get going soon if we want to make it to the ship" Julie said while walking into the room like she owned the place.
She stopped when her eyes landed on Atlas who was smiling, everyone looked at Julie who's face became red with anger.
"Tch, just hurry up and get your things ready" She spat and walked back out of the room. She was wearing her uniform and she had both a rifle along with a satchel sling over her shoulders.
"We should hurry up before she gets too angry" Charlie said and Atlas followed him out of the dining room and up the stairs.
They quickly packed a canteen and other essential items before they walked out of the house and into a car waiting in the front, an old man bowed to the guys as he spoke.
"It is nice to see you again Mr. Lotus, the general has sent me to bring you to the dock yards" The man said, he was in his late sixties and he wore clothes you would only see on a butler.
"Thanks Walter, this is our newest recruit Atlas" Charlie replied and motioned to the boy next to him, something flashed in the old man's eyes Atlas tried to think about what it meant but it was gone as soon as it appeared.
"Mr. Atlas, your bags please" Walter lifted a hand with a half smile, Atlas and Charlie had both given their items to the butler and it wasn't long before they left down the gravel pathway to their destination.
***************************************
The Ghost's arrived at the dockyards a little over an hour, Atlas watched in awe as four tanks drove onto the large ship through a ramp that was lowered from the ship. People in naval uniforms were walking around everywhere and seemed to be doing some type of task.
The large destroyers were lined up and the tip of a battleship peaked over the boats, Atlas thought about this sight and realized how dangerous this war would be if the Gyrun had the same amount of numbers.
A man came running toward the group who had their bags in hand, Charlie was holding a submachine gun that had its magazine that fed from the side instead of the bottom like most smg's.
Walter drove off once everything was uploaded and the man finally stopped in front of the small group of Ghost's, he was gasping for air like he was drowning making Atlas realize how unfit this young man was.
"G-Ghost Squad, we… we are loading the... the tanks into the destroyer, Ar-Armor Squad is ready to see you come… come aboard" The man said between breaths.
"Alright, take us there" Julie ordered the man who quickly nodded, Atlas had positioned himself behind his squadmates with his helmet tilted down slightly so nobody could see his eyes as they watched the Ghost's walk to the ship.
Once they reached the ship the man left to do whatever task he was doing before they arrived. The four tanks were lined up facing the large ramp that was lowered, men and women were talking to each other as some sat on the tanks and others stood around the folding tables.
When everyone looked at Atlas, Julie, and Charlie they all stopped talking. If the noise from outside wasn't going you could've heard a pin drop.
Everyone in the Armor Squad had saluted to Atlas and his squadmates, Atlas was confused but didn't want to say anything as he was too uncomfortable to ask why they were doing this.
"Ah Ghost Squad, 'bout time y'all showed up" A woman said from within the crowd, Julie grew a large grin as she laid eyes on the woman.
She was wearing a leather vest over her uniform and had an officers cap on, the woman also had a grin on her face and had the same red hair as Julie.
"Amanda you should show some respect to my squad" Julie said with a bit of cockyness, the woman started to walk over to them and Atlas lowered his head a bit more to hide his face.
"Why should I show respect to my younger cousin?" Amanda asked and hugged Julie, Atlas' eyes widened as he looked back up in shock.
"How long has it been since we had a mission together?" Julie replied, Amanda was about to answer when she saw Atlas.
"When did ya pick this guy up?" Amanda questioned and walked over to Atlas, "An' he's a Gyrun too" She added with distaste in her tone.
Everyone's eyes were now on Atlas, he knew that things would be bad if he stayed quiet but he also knew that he was walking on thin ice just by looking like an enemy.
"I-I'm half Gyrun ma'am" As if his mouth moved on it's own Atlas corrected her, he knew right away that he made a big mistake as her expression darkened.
Just when she was close enough she slapped Atlas with full force making his cheek burn in pain, he didn't react to it though since he wanted to stay strong for the name of his squad.
"Amanda why did you do that ey, he didn't do anything!" Charlie raised his voice to the officer.
"He did something wrong alright, I don't take any type of sass from any Gyrun. Even if you're a half breed" She spat.
"Amanda how about we go and catch up on things we've missed" Julie suggested, Amanda nodded her head and walked off with her cousin.
Charlie put a hand on Atlas' shoulder when they were out of earshot, the other soldiers from the Armor Squadron kept an eye on Atlas as they continued their conversations.
"You alright?" Charlie asked, Atlas stayed silent so Charlie asked again.
"Yeah, let's go" Atlas replied after the second question, he walked to one side of the room where he leaned on a wall. Charlie felt a bit uneasy with this side of Atlas he hasn't seen yet. They did only meet a day ago but their conversation last night brought them closer than either of them had thought.
Atlas reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture of his family, he closed his eyes and began to mumble to himself.
"Father, you told me not to go because you knew this would happen but here I am, I'm not going to give up or show weakness though since you taught me to love myself" Atlas said, Charlie sighed and leaned on the wall next to Atlas.
"Is that your family?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, they are the only people in the world who care for me, they are my only friends since nobody wants a Gyrun as one" Atlas replied with a small chuckle.
Charlie's stomach sunk at his words, he felt guilty about his reaction when he saw Atlas for the first time. Charlie made a note to have a chat with the other squad members.
"Well how about we be friends ey?" Charlie smiled, Atlas quickly looked at his squad mate with confusion.
"Why, I thought you're uncomfortable around me?" Atlas replied.
"Well I was at first but you're not the enemy, you're my squad member so we need to have each other's backs. After all, the Ghost squad is family" Charlie said, Atlas felt happy with his words. He knew Charlie was being genuine with his words so Atlas nodded his head.
"Yeah, I guess we are like a family" Atlas repeated with a smile, Charlie and Atlas talked for a long time as the ship started to head across the Basurie Ocean to Gyrun, Atlas took a deep breath as he left Fendel for the first time.