"Finn, get up we're almost back to camp," James says tapping me on the shoulder and waking me up.
"Copy that James, *yawn*," I reply while sitting up in my seat and straightening my back. Across from me, Koko is sleeping soundly with her head leaning against the first aid kit, still wearing the headset that I gave her for the noise.
A few moments pass and I decide to open one of the top hatches to get some fresh air. Standing on top of the seat I was just sitting on; I can feel the breeze as the Stryker moves at considerable speed across the dirt path. Thankfully, the suspension system took most of the bumpiness out of the road, looking around at the countryside surrounding us I feel a strange sense of peace. We soon cross over a ridge line and the royal camp is in sight, Rob starts to slow down as we get nearer to the entrance.
At the entrance, Kat is waiting for us as we stop next to her.
"My father would like to see you," Kat says
"Ok, do you wanna hop on?" I ask as I hold out my hand, "saves you walking all the way."
"Oh, uh, sure I guess," she replies and takes my hand and I pull her on top of the Stryker and tell Rob to drive to the king's tent.
"Enjoying the view?" I ask as she is looking around from on top of the Stryker.
"W-well it is quite different up here," She replies seemingly nervous from the height at which she is sitting.
"Just wait till we have aircraft," I say cheerfully.
"What is an aircraft?" She inquires.
"Nothing you need to worry about right now, we have arrived," I reply as Rob stops the Stryker a few meters away from the tent. I offer to help Kat down but she quickly just jumps off instead, so I drop back through the top hatch and open the rear door. Looking back inside I see Koko still sleeping so I nudge her to wake her up, she jumps startled and I take the headset off her head.
"Who's that?" Kat asks as she sees Koko step out of the Stryker.
"Oh, this is Koko, she was being held captive by our last target," I say as I gesture toward her.
"Oh, you poor thing, come here I'll get you some better clothes," Kat beckons while crouching down with her arms outstretched toward Koko. However, Koko moves behind me scared of Kat.
"Koko, it's ok, you can trust her," I say as she peeks around from behind my leg.
"O-ok, Finn," she whispers in a meek voice and slowly walks toward Kat, who openly embraces her.
"Ok while you get Koko sorted, we going to meet with your father now, see ya," I say and I turn toward the tent and walk inside with the rest of my team following me.
"Ah, good to see you, Sir Hayes, I take it this means you have killed the last of the corrupt nobles then," the king says while looking at my team.
"Yes, we have finished cleaning up the city of the corrupt nobles, it should now be completely under your control again," I reply
"Wonderful, this means we can finally move back into the palace then, I will sort your reward out there," he says while standing up, "would you be able to help us move some of our heavier equipment, our stronger wagons got destroyed by a monster attack."
"Sure, we should be able to carry whatever it is," I reply making him smile.
"Good, it is only several sets of plate mail and weapons we would normally be able to spread it out over several wagons if our heavy-duty one's ever broke, however with the influx of people you rescued the rest of the wagons are completely full," He explains.
"Ok, we should be able to move that easy enough, I assume we're heading to the palace?" I ask while straightening my gear out.
"That is correct, some knights will guide you towards the equipment, we will be leaving in around 5 hours," He replies while sitting back down.
"Got it, see you in 5 hours then," I say as I turn and walk out of the tent back towards the Stryker.
"So, what's the verdict then?" Mark asks me.
"Well, we have got to move some equipment they can't take with them back to the palace, in about 5 hours," I sigh, "For now let's just get the equipment loaded onto a vehicle."
"Sounds like a plan," James replies as a knight walks up to me.
"Are you Finn Hayes?" She asks looking at me.
"Yes, I assume you are showing us where the equipment is, right?" I inquire.
"That is right, follow me," she says promptly turning around and walking off towards a group of big tents. I follow her as do the rest of my team except Rob who is tailing us with the Stryker.
"Here we are," she says then pointing towards several boxes that are full of weapons and armour.
"Ok, we'll take things from here then, thank you," I say as I turn back to my team, "System, summon an LMTV, cargo variant."
[Summoning 1 LMTV(Cargo).]
The magic circle appears in front of me and an LMTV with a flatbed on the back slowly rises out of the ground. I walk to the back of the LMTV and jump on the back of the truck.
"let's get this stuff loaded then," I say cheerfully as my team starts picking up the crates and passing them up to me.
It wasn't long before we finished loading the last of the crates and I hop off the back of the truck, walk round to the side and start tightening the ratchet straps, I check my watch, it only took 30 minutes.
"All done, let's take a break, anyone hungry?" I ask as I look around at my tired team.
"Bloody starving," Mark shouts as he slumps down against the truck.
"Same here," Rob says leaning against the Stryker.
"Been hungry since we came back," James groans while sitting on top of the crates in the back of the truck.
"Affirmative," Fabian mutters while standing next to the Stryker.
"Ok, ok. System, summon 5 American MREs," I chuckle and sit down against the truck.
[Copy that, Summoning 5 American MREs]
The magic circle appears and 5 MREs drop in front of me, I pick them up and throw one at everyone. They all start opening them and start heating them.
After a few minutes, we all dig into our meals, eating in silence. I look up to see Kat walking towards us with Koko, who is now wearing a one-piece light blue dress.
"Hi Koko, you look much better in that dress," I say while standing up still holding my MRE.
"Thank you, what are you eating?" Koko inquires curiously while looking at the MRE in my hand.
"I am eating an MRE, it stands for Meal Ready to Eat," I reply to Koko while smiling.
"Does it taste nice?" She asks, tilting her head.
"How about you tell me," I say as I crouch down and hand her the MRE, she promptly tries to bite the plastic. I chuckle at her antics and tell her to use the spoon, she tentatively picks up the spoon with some of the food on it and takes a bite. After a few moments, her face lights up with happiness.
"It's sooooo gooooth," she says while chewing on it, I smile and stand up again.
"So, anything new you need to tell us?" I ask Kat, who is still looking at Koko.
"Oh, not really, Koko wanted to see where you were," She replies looking up and smiling.
"Are we able to relax here or will we be in the way?" I ask.
"I believe so, you may have to move that though," She responds while pointing at the Stryker.
"Ok, easy enough. System! Unsummon, the Stryker." I say.
[Affirmative, unsummoning Stryker.]
A magic circle appeared beneath the Stryker and it sunk through it into nothingness, I turn back to Kat and smile.
"Well, I better get some shut-eye now," I say as I sit down against the wheel of the truck.
"Ok, we will see you later then," kat says as she pulls Koko along who is still savouring the taste of the MRE.
I turn around and walk back to the LMTV, climbing into the cabin I sit down on the comfortable seat and shut my eyes.
I wake slowly the sun blinding me as I open my eyes, squinting for a moment. I check my watch, 30 minutes till we have to leave. I get out of the truck and wake up the rest of my team and we saddle up on the LMTV and a newly summoned MATV.
The drive to the capital so far has been uneventful apart from the odd stuck carriage, but it wasn't anything that the MATV wasn't able to handle. I look out the window of the MATV and see the green hills rolling past as we draw closer to the capital.
"Shit, we got another stuck carriage here," Mark says pulling in front the carriage stuck in deep mud.
"At least they have already pulled the horse out," I sigh getting out the MATV and heading round the back to help James attach the tow hook to the axle.
"Ok, Mark! We clear," I shout and the MATV eases forward pulling the heavy carriage out of the mud.
"Hold!" I shout again and I step forward to disconnect the MATV from the carriage and throw the cable to James who promptly secures it in place.
Hopping back in the MATV we begin to move again toward the front of the convoy. Reaching the front of the convoy I quickly spot the east gate coming up, it still has damage from our last mission.
Pulling in as lead in the convoy we pass under through the east gate and take the main roads towards the palace in the centre of the city. Looking out at the street at people taking in the large convoy now entering the city, now beginning to cheer as they see carriages with the royal crest on. I smile to my self and look towards the palace gates.
Mark pulls the MATV into a spot on the palace grounds and shuts off the purring engine. Getting out of the MATV as Rob parks the LMTV next to us.
"Okay, Bravo team form up behind the MATV!" I yell and my team quickly moves to the MATV.
"Right, soon we will be meeting the king, he wants to give us a reward for our hard work," I explain seriously, "However, this also means that we must decide what our next course of action is, I am sure the king will give us a few options, but we should consider everything beforehand. Any Ideas?"