"Sir, the commander asks for your presence." A teen, about the age of eighteen, stood straight and called out to a man wearing an all-black military-style uniform with white trimmings. Although the man had a domineering air around him, the teen seem to be unaware, or rather, unaffected.
"Mhm." The man just grunted, staring at a screen monitor--a video taken by a satellite. In the video, two humanoid figures can be seen floating outside the atmosphere. That in itself is unusual, but what was weirder, however, is that they bolted down towards Earth at a speed that cannot be compared even to the most high-end spacecraft that humanity currently has.
The man turned his back to the monitor and faced the teenager. "Lead the way." Said him.
"Right this way, sir." Said the teen. Compared to how gloomy and serious the guise around the technical sergeant, the teen seemed joyous, for he had a smile on his face. Unlike the sergeant, the boy was wearing a camo uniform embroidered with an insignia with four lines, two on either side of a star. He was a specialist 3 in the space force.
Only the sound of their boots could be heard throughout the hallway. Every single one of the space force, some researchers from NASA, and other government figures were gathering on this base for an emergency meeting.
The rank E-3 boy opened a double door as he let the sergeant in.
"Ah, right on time Ross--khueem--Technical Sergeant Ross." The man on the podium of a large circular meeting room referred to the sergeant by just his last name but quickly corrected himself.
"Am I needed in this meeting, commander?" Said the sergeant, unbothered by the gaze of more than a hundred people staring at him. Others wore military uniforms, others wore formal suits. Regardless, they were all tense as never before they have received an emergency call from the space force.
The commander sighed through his nose, "While I know how you hate meetings like this, it's an urgent matter. I need you here."
"Understood, commander." Sergeant Ross then took a seat close to the podium.
"Khueem. Khueem." The commander cleared his throat, silencing the lingering murmurs of the crowd.
"...As you all know...the space force has a rather...infamous reputation among the branches." He said, pausing from time to time while making eye contact with the more important people in the room.
"We don't face the threats that the other branches have...but we have been observing, training, and studying. And quite recently, one of our satellites captured something...something rather ominous for us all." He said, not a hint of glamour and humor on his face.
"The satellite that captured this, however, was one of the few that is old--it is clear as day, however, what the cameras captured." As he said that, he signaled to his right and the lights dimmed, and a projector illuminated the previously empty white space right behind him.
The video displayed two humanoid figures floating around space, one of them had both his arms behind his head--he seemed to be relaxing, while the other one was pointing to the satellite. The first figure then looked panicked, for he flailed his arms around. More bewildering though, was that his figure was flickering in and out of existence like a broken lightbulb.
The crowd gasped as both the figures bolted to the Earth's surface faster than they could react. The video ended.
The previously quiet room was filled with murmurs, talking, questions, and other noises alike. One would've expected that the commander would silence them. But no, he let them continue.
Not long after, the noises subsided. All of them looked towards the commander, expecting an explanation.
He tapped the mic, making a high-pitched ring. "...Well...as much as I'd like to explain...I do not know what that is, or even know if it's human or not."
A man wearing a suit raised his hand, and the commander pointed at him. "Were you able to track where they landed?"
"Actually, yes, we were able to. They landed on the Atlantic Ocean along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge."
"Then--"
Cutting him off was the voice of Sergeant Ross. "We already asked the Marines to take a look, they didn't see anything."
The whole room then went to utter silence.
A voice of a woman rang, however, "Is there any tourist cruise that goes that way?"
"Good thinking, madam, we will look." Said the commander, gesturing towards someone on his right.
"Are there any questions?" With that, a lot of hands went up.
He pointed towards an older fellow, one of the senators. "What do you intend to do have you found them?" He asked.
The commander pondered. "We will...try to communicate." He said, but his face was still the expression of thinking.
"Next."
"I know you will try your best to be peaceful, but what would you do if they were hostile?" Asked a blonde woman wearing a red formal dress.
"Then...I hate to say it, but we will need to eliminate them if it ever comes to such a point." The commander sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Next." He then said.
"Are you still tracking them?"
"Yes, we are currently tracking them. From their garments to their astute...it's still not guaranteed that we will able to find them with just this, however. Don't get your hopes up."
"Next."
"What would you do when..."
"Next."
"What if it was..."
"Next."
"Is it possible--"
The teen earlier suddenly barged into the room. "Commander, they were able to confirm that there were two cruise ships that went along that part at that exact time."
"Alright. Tell them to contact the owner or captain of those ships." Said the commander.
"Sergeant Munoz is currently on the phone with Mr. Rufina of the Lily cruise." George, the rank E-3 teenager, answered.
"Good. Any more questions?" He looked around the crowd, but none of them, except for one raised their hand.
"Should we inform NATO?" The head of defense asked.
"I believe we should further think this through before that...with the president." The commander said.
The head of defense squinted but didn't add anything further.
"If there is nothing else, this meeting is dismissed. We will await further instructions from the president for any more meetings." He said.
...
"Commander." Sergeant Munoz called out, saluting.
"Sergeant." The commander did the same.
"Mr. Rufina informed me that they did not notice anything unusual that day." He said, but his eyes said there was more.
"Continue." Said the commander, gesturing his gloved hand.
"But there were rumors in that ship that they saw two people floating in the sea...although abruptly as they disappeared afterward." He said.
"That is it. Look for any more stories in their ships, no matter how ridiculous they may sound. Said the commander seriously, "Then I'll see you around, sergeant."
"Yes," They both saluted as they went their ways.
"George." The commander glanced at his side.
"Yes, Dad?" George said.
"Commander." He corrected.
"Ah right, commander."
"Stay home for a while, and go to school."
"It's summer, commander," George said, unflinching.
"Hm, that's right. Then just stay home, don't come to the base for now." He said.
"Yes, commander." He saluted.
"Go home."
...
I left the base and took a bus home. As I glanced at the window, I saw a sign saying 'SALE!!'. 'Ah, I'll go check that out.' I thought.
The bus stopped on Wilshire Boulevard, and instead of staying, I got off the bus to check out the manga sale.
"Woah, there really is a sale," I said, biting my lips in excitement. "Alright!"
I went in, and there were quite a lot of people wandering about the store. There was also a huge line.
"Eh. Whatever." I didn't mind it though, for I can wait that long just to buy some discounted manga.
I went to the doki-doki genre but suddenly flinched, closing the book as I heard a familiar voice.
"George, is that you?" He said, patting me on the back, "Oh it is you!" He laughed.
"A-aha." I rubbed the back of my head, 'I just got caught buying some doki-doki manga.' I thought.'
"I didn't know you like mangas." He said, smiling. The smile was wiped off however as he saw what was on my hand. His expression turned serious.
"You read that?" He smirked.
"N-nah bro, what do you think I am?" I said, slightly stuttering.
"Oh, too bad." He pouted. "Give it a try! It's pretty good."
"W-what? You read this?" I asked, showing him the book titled 'My Onii-Chan and My Onee-Chan is Doki-Doki'.
"Yea, it's pretty good." He said, unbothered.
"I-I see, I'll give it a try then since you recommend it."
"Nice, tell me if you end up liking it." He said, "Well, then, I'll see you around, there's quite a lot of customers to tend to."
"You work here?" I asked, a bit surprised.
"I work everywhere." He just said.
'Ah, did he just trick me to buy this?' I thought. 'Damn.'
I just nodded and went to the line of weebs to pay for the books I picked.
Siiigghhhh...