[ 2 days later. T-minus 1 hour to liftoff for New Zina ]
Me, Kyra, Cynthia, and Emanuel were getting geared up in the equipment room. We'd all been provided similar black combat armor and weapons for offense. The weapons they gave us were a sleek knife so thin it could cut through flesh like butter, and come out just as easily. It was perfect for stealth, as its build was designed to make stabbing and slicing silent. I'd immediately recognized its model from my combat training back when I was still a rookie.
I swung the knife around, practicing the moves I was taught in my earlier days in the military. Emanuel noticed this. "You're pretty handy with a knife!"
"Ah…" I sheathed it in place. "Not so much. It's been a while so I'm a little rusty."
"Still, better than me," Kyra swung her own around practicing what she'd been taught. Somehow, my form was the most polished out of the rest of us.
"No wonder the General chose you to be a breacher." Cynthia slightly struggled with her own knife. "Can't understand why he chose me though."
For the next few minutes I began guiding everyone through some of the knife-wielding drills I'd picked-up on as a rookie. Turns out I was the only one out of us that attended the arms-race crash course in the rookie rank, so I was actually the most experienced with weapon combat there.
Finally, the General had called out to us. The gear-up phase was finished. Now would be a final debrief with everyone else before we all set-out into our missions. We'd met with the General and Enzo in the hall that contained the control rooms for all the infantry hive minds. Unlike all of us who were heavily geared-up, only Enzo wore casual attire as he would stay back to control Angels from his hive mind.
"Looks like you're all suited-up. So, covert team, Second's your in-lead with Emanuel on constant scout duty. Cynthia and Klyson are your breachers. If worst comes to worst, Cynthia, you will shield your comrades using your Fractal. New Zina is known for using long-ranged weaponry, and that doesn't only include the battlefield. So if you are all under fire at any point, find cover, or use Cynthia as a last second resort." The General then turned to Enzo. "Just be a good distraction on the frontlines. You don't need to kill all of them, but just enough to bring the attention away from the base situated in their back line."
Enzo nodded, barely paying attention.
"Okay, we're all set then. Can I count on all of you?"
"Sir, yes sir!" We all said.
The General nodded in approval. "I expect to receive a briefcase with New Zina's technology in my hands by the end of today." He then made his exit, leaving us to two officials who guided us to our respective ways. The one who came for Enzo asked him to confirm his number of Angels deployed.
"20," he'd said.
"20?" I wasn't sure if I'd heard that correctly. From the documents about the mission, I remembered reading that there were at least 200 of New Zina's soldiers deployed to guard their border. Shocked, I watched as Enzo entered his control room. 20 versus 200 didn't sound like a fair fight. I was suddenly reminded of what had happened to Sixth and Ninth in the battle against Invidan, and my trauma began to speak for me.
"Enzo!" I called out to him. "Only 20 Angels? There's at least 200 at New Zina's border!"
He shot me a look of confusion. The official with him responded back to me. "He knows that."
"Then why is he only sending 20?" I wanted to make sure he wasn't overestimating himself. "You know, Sixth and Ninth died during the battle of Invidan because large numbers of their infantries were all wiped in seconds! Experiencing all of that through the hive mind can kill you!"
Enzo stared back at me for a moment. Then, without saying anything, he scoffed. His face grew into an expression that looked at me with both arrogance and sympathy. In that moment, I was quickly humbled to remember one crucial thing.
He was First of the Upper Four.
I fell silent, watching as he placed the hive mind helmet over his head. The door to his control room closed in pursuit.
"Let's go," the official for my team said. He led us out of the building and towards the hangar where a black plane was waiting for us. I noticed it had a tint of color that didn't match our current night sky.
"That doesn't look like it's going to camouflage well," I said.
Kyra looked at the plane's color, then up at the sky's color. She laughed. "Klyson, we're flying to New Zina, remember? The night sky is different in color over there; pollution from all those techno-factories they got going on. This plane is meant to match New Zina's night sky."
"Oh…" I felt embarrassed about what I'd said.
She patted my back, grinning about it. "Keen eye though, I like it!"
We all boarded the plane and sat along the sides, buckling-up seat belts that crossed our chests like an X. Under our seats were bags equipped with parachutes that were innovated to also work like hang-gliders. It would allow us to cover more distance while getting to the ground more quickly and stealthily. Standing idle, in two rows of ten between us, Enzo's Angels were already equipped with their parachute bags.
Once the plane had taken off, I watched as the Angels continued to stand their ground even as the aircraft had experienced turbulence. I noticed that there were plenty of free seats for them to use.
"Hey, er… Angels!" I called out to them. "There's free seats if you guys wanna sit. I think there's still some time before we get to New Zina."
There was no response. They paid no mind to me. They only continued to look forwards towards the rear of the plane from which they would eventually jump out.
"Angels…?" I tried one last time. It seemed as if they couldn't even hear me. They stood the exact same way Sixth and Tenth's Angels had after they'd been disconnected from their hive minds.
Docile.
I recalled what the General had said about them, that they performed no action without a command. It was unnatural and strange to think of. As if they needed a stimulus to even move at all.
"Don't worry about them," Kyra told me. "They've always been like that, quiet and still. After some time, you get used to it. They really just aren't meant to talk to."
I sighed. I leaned one way, trying to somehow catch a glimpse of their face through their mask possibly. But it was too dark. I couldn't make out anything. I felt slightly bad for them, knowing that they were Fractless too. I realized that I was looking at one of the paths that was exclusive to the Fractless, yet was not as exciting as all the others. I realized I could have ended up like them too.
"Hmm…" I began to wonder something. I leaned over to Kyra. "How do you even become an Angel?"
She replied with just as much curiosity. "I actually don't know… I thought you would, since you're a Fractless."
I realized that not once throughout my life had I ever been shown the option of becoming an Angel. I began to think about whether I would have considered it at any point in my life if I ever was provided the opportunity. "You know, I find it strange…"
"What?"
"How many Angels there are." I recalled that every commander of the Tenfold was provided an infantry of 100 each, meaning there were at least 1000 Angels at disposal. "There's so many Angels, and all of them are Fractless. Yet, these days, it's so rare for a Fractless to be born. I wonder from which generation were there this many Fractless, when these days, it's so uncommon to find one."
"You're right… That is weird. I never thought about that." Kyra began to look at Enzo's Angels mysteriously, the same way I had been. "You know, they act so absent all the time, that sometimes I even forget that they're there. It's sad to think about, but it's as if they were trained to act inhumane."
Turbulence began to shake us out of conversation. The pilot then spoke over the intercom. "I'm descending in altitude. We're nearing the Angels' drop-off point."
The back of the plane began to open up, revealing a dark night sky engulfed by clouds. The Angels began to march forward in unison, before translating into a sprint and jump out of the back. Just like that, they were all gone. Soon, we'd be next.
"Descending further in altitude. Approaching covert-team's drop-off point," the pilot had said. We all unbuckled our seatbelts and equipped the provided backpacks. Now, the four of us stood in line, ready to make our own sprint and jump out of the back.
"Drop-off point is now available for a window of about 1 minute and 20 seconds."
That was our go.
"Ready everyone!?" Kyra called out to us from the front of the line. "Let's go!"
We all bolted forwards and began jumping out of the plane in order, one after the other. Our dive began as New Zina's wind sliced past us. We followed in Kyra's trail as she leaned side-to-side, before establishing the location we were meant to land. We all noticed it. Following this, we had all spread our arms and legs out to impede the diving speed. The air was basically slamming our faces. Up to a certain point, we waited on Kyra's initiation of the parachute. When she used it, we all would. Once we were finally approaching the right altitude, she pulled her parachute out, and concurrently, we engaged ours. The speed at which we dropped was quickly cut in half, and we began to glide towards the ground.
In the distance, I could see the border that Enzo was meant to attack. There were multitudes of camps set up, and walls accompanied by spotlight towers that had guards littered all over it. From so high up in the sky, the troops all looked like ants.
"Ants…" Enzo had always called them. Maybe this was the inspiration behind it.
We quickly swooped-in towards the ground, landing in some muddled grass just below a hill from where the base was. I began to imagine the bottom of the hill from the battle with Invidan again, but shook my mind out of it. I couldn't let my past failures fail me this time.
"Perfect landing guys." Kyra looked at our surroundings. Our landing point was considered a blind spot area to the border's defenses and spotlights, so we were currently in the safe zone.
"Night goggles on everyone. Let's use the darkness of dawn to our advantage."
We began our covert operation into the base of New Zina's western border.