*The Damon family mountain chalet, Northern Hokkaido, Japan. Two days after the Scarvenger team's arrival on Earth, none of them had left the chalet since their arrival. They each settled in as best they could, occasionally Damon's son would come to play with them, which helped relax them by having his presence. To pass the time, Warner and Nikto lazed in front of the television, watching TV programs or playing video game. Gael had locked himself in the basement and prohibited anyone from going down. Elisha was like a madwoman since she had discovered the internet; there was always new content, always something new to search, and it made her happy. But sometimes she displayed a sad look when she came across certain news. On his side, Stowe devoured any books he could find. He also tried to familiarize himself with the Earth's devices, and he even tried to drive the pick-up secretly.*
"We're back," said Francis.
"Daddy is back, girls."
"Hi, boss," they greeted.
"Dad."
*The young boy jumped into his father's arms and hugged him tightly.*
"Dad, is it true that where you come from, you have football fields in space? With amusement park, hotels and all that."
*He looked at his son surprised.*
"Well, technically, it's space ball not football, and it's played with the hand and lots of gadgets. We also organize Jumper races among the debris of certain moons. Hey, who told you about this in first place?"
"The lady with blonde hair," he replied excitedly. "Enisha, I think her name is."
"Elisha," said Gaines. "Try to pronounce her name correctly, Uri."
"Yes, Uncle Gaines."
*The boy went to play, while the other two put their bags on the table. Warner immediately got up from the couch and headed for the table.*
"Please tell me you brought that thing from last time."
"You mean the fried chicken. Karahage ?" asked Francis. "There's none left."
"Damn. Why are you the only one going out Major?"
"Honestly, I don't have to answer to you," he said, biting into an apple. "But if you must know, there were only two injections planned, so I gave them to the most useful members. By the way the apple here taste juicy. But it's full of chemicals, it seems."
"Less than on Myrrion, at least," Francis commented.
"It's still delicious."
*The door to the basement opened to reveal Gael. His sweater was stained, and he appeared not to have slept all night, though it didn't seem to bother him.*
"General assembly, kids, Dad's done working."
*Uri immediately appeared, bounding down the stairs, but Gael gave him a stern look, and he froze.*
"Not you."
"Don't be scared; he won't eat you," Gaines said with a smile.
*Gaines was the kind of guy with that reassuring smile, always with his eyes half-closed, his facial expression not revealing his thoughts. He approached Uri and ruffled his hair.*
"Be a good boy, okay? I'll show you a couple of trick later on."
He nodded and left with a smile on his face.
"You should be ashamed of intimidating a kid. He's just like us, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Come on down."
*When they descended to the basement, they were both surprised and not at all. The place had been completely renovated and looked more like what they knew of an operational base.*
"It's changed, huh. I used my own O.R.K. generator; the walls are made of self-regenerating nano-carbon fiber, so even if we get bombed, we'll be safe. Here's the armory for when we have 'guns,' if you catch my drift. The blasters are locked up for now. Here's the command center. I've connected my own operating system to their primitive version of the RCL. I can access information from all the planet's organizations, even the deepest secrets. I have access to all the security service cameras, in short, everything in the base."
"Did you do all this on your own in two days?" Warner asked, amazed.
"Not all of it; I had a competent assistant."
"An assistant?" Arctog inquired.
They turned and saw Chanel, with some spots on her face, but a smile on her lips as she tinkered with a tube.
"Sorry, dear, it was stronger than me," she said, laughing.
"It's okay; I'm not mad," he replied.
"You're the best," she said, giving him a cheek kiss.
"Hey, think of the folks in the room who are still single," Warner added. "Thanks."
"There are children here," Nikto teased.
"I'm not a kid. When you say all organizations, do you mean really all? Like all?" Elisha asked.
"This planet's computer security system is a joke, you know," Gael said, bored. "Well, we can't blame them for at least trying. Assistant!" he shouted.
"Hey, my wife isn't your maid," Arctog said.
"Chill out, honey," Chanel told him.
She brought a box with four tubes inside. This box was called in the Federation "A dialect sequencer."
Two days ago, in the basement:
"A sequencer what?"
"A dialect sequencer, try to catch up."
"Fascinating."
"The green liquid you see there is used to transport the RNA to the brain. First, we introduce information in the form of an electric pulse; then, we inject it into the nape of the neck, and the RNA implants this information directly into the cerebral cortex. It's as if we've always spoken that language."
"It's brilliant; do you realize the numerous applications this could have? We could use it to learn things more easily, or, conversely, to store a ton of sensitive data. Liquid knowledge, do you have any idea how revolutionary it is?" Chanel said with stars in her eyes.
Gael looked at her with a certain air of disdain.
"Yes, I know," he said, rolling his eyes. "Amadori is really prehistoric."
"Don't insult us," she said.
Gael was slightly surprised, wondering if she had understood.
"I don't know what you said, but I know how to recognize a sarcastic look. Don't insult the humans, or you'll regret it," she warned.
He looked at her, quite surprised, then gave a smirk.
"Sorry if I offended you. And for your information, we're also humans."
Two days later, she was practicing the injections on the team members while Gael activated the screen. Gaines approached the screen and placed his hand on Gael's shoulder.
"Nice job, Gael. I think that'll be enough."
Name: Gael "Monty" Monferra
Team Code Name: Cipher 02
Rank: Warrant Officer
Role: Communication, Surveillance, and Transmission Officer of the Unit
Civil Qualifications: Engineer, Computer Scientist
"Now that we finally have an operational command center, we can get to the heart of the matter. Miss Damon, I'm going to have to ask you to take a break."
She looked at her husband, and he nodded, assuring her everything was okay. She left the room.
"Our target is Albert Shracken. As I've already explained on the Condor, he's a doctor and also a scientist. He worked on a top-secret military project for about a year. Project Ajax."
"Can I know exactly what Project Ajax was, if it's not too indiscreet?" Warner asked.
"The weapon is a prototype of a next-generation combat exoskeleton. As for its specifications, they didn't tell me, but I'll find out. The target also stole an O.R.K. reactor, which means he has an almost unlimited energy source. Our mission is to find him, recover the reactor, and bring back the weapon he stole."
"What about the doc? What's our plan for him?" Stowe asked.
"It's capture or kill, Kiddo" Gaines replied.
"He's been on this planet for two years; he must have hidden like a sewer rat," Nikto commented. "What if the intelligence services figured out he's here?"
"Before he suddenly disappeared, he performed a Warp jump through spacetime," Gaines explained. "It took a while, but the analysts deduced he had eventually landed in what turned out to be World 1066. And since we had a man on the ground, here we are."
"So what's the plan?" Nikto asked. "There are two billion people on this planet, and sooner or later, we'll have to go big."
"I've just sent a 'Jubile' drone into the sky; it will be our eyes and ears. It's not armed, though; it's there for surveillance only," Gael said.
"A Jubile drone? They finally made it?" Arctog asked.
"The R&D guys worked their butts off. By the way, the codename is Whitestar. It's completely stealthy, even for us. This gear costs a fortune."
"As for the languages in the sequencer, I asked to prioritize these four," Gaines explained, pointing to a row of different flags on the screen: English, French, Chinese, and Russian.
"Wait, 5000 dialects aren't one language per flag, are they?" Nikto asked.
"There are 194 countries, but each of them has its history," Sullivan explained. "In Africa, for example, just in Ivory Coast, there are nearly 60 ethnic groups, each with a different dialect, even though the official national language is French. French itself is derived from Latin, which..."
"We get it, Miss Encyvlopedia," Nikto interrupted. "Man, their internet's going to drive her nuts. Why these four as a priority?"
Arctog stood up and slid his hand over an image, indicating a building in New York.
"In this world, there's an organization called the U.N. If I have to keep it short, it's an alliance of all the major powers on this planet that have sworn to help each other."
"Like the Federation?" Sullivan asked.
"Not really, this organization only exacerbates divisions among peoples. Within it, there's the so-called Security Council, and only five of them are permanent members. I chose the languages because these five are technically the biggest military powers in the world. We'll probably have to travel to these countries to apprehend our target," Arctog explained.
"Let me guess, the star-shaped flag and the one with lots of stars speak the same language?" Nikto said.
"They have a father-son relationship. It's been going on for centuries," Arctog explained.
"Okay, and what about the armament on this planet?" Sullivan asked.
"If we overlook the fact that they're centuries behind ours, their armies are as well-structured as ours, with classes, specialties, and divisions. Imagine all the destructive potential of the Federation, but on the scale of a single planet," Arctog detailed.
"Put that way, it's chilling," Warner commented.
He slid a file onto his tablet and sent it to everyone.
"This is the TOP 10 of the world's most powerful armies, and alongside it is a list of the most lethal special forces units."
"Wow, that's a lot," Warner said. "And that country alone has more than ten."
"I guess they have ton of enemies" said nikto amused.
"We really need to know all this?" Sullivan asked. "I mean, we already know that we're superior to them, both militarily and technologically. We just need to apprehend the target, and we're done."
"That's where you're wrong, Lieutenant," Stowe chimed in.
She looked at him, surprised that he interrupted, as he was usually quite reserved.
"If the target has sought help from one of these countries, it would be good to know what and who we're dealing with to avoid any surprises, especially if he decided to share his knowledge with them. If he's been captured, it's the same; we should be able to anticipate any unforeseen events."
"Finally, someone who takes this mission seriously," Gaines said. "The kid said it all."
"Hey, I'm here," Gael interjected.
"Let's move on to your identities. From now on, here are your new identities. You are..."
"No need," Stowe added.
"You're quite talkative today," Arctog noted.
"From what I see, humans on this planet aren't that different from us," Stowe explained. "Except that we outclass them physically, they are identical to us in every way, right? They have a lot of prejudices and ideas about visitors from other worlds; they think they're alone. In other words, even if we make a fuss, they'll never imagine that we're spies from another world."
"I agree with the kid on this one ," Nikto said. "Plus, using pseudo exhausted me on the last mission. We can do without them."
"I vote for it," said Warner.
"Me too," Sullivan added.
Gaines sighed and set down his tablet.
"Here's where you guys are wrong; this is not a democracy. But I agree with the rookie. If the police are looking for 'Moris' [he pointed at his ID card to Damon], it won't make much of a difference whether I have a fake name or not."
"I wanted to help," Gael laughed. "It's alright; I'll reprint everything."
"Thank you," Gaines said with a sarcastic smile. "By the way, I'd like to discuss one last point with you, and I want you to keep this to yourselves throughout the mission. I don't want it to leak, and I won't tolerate any mistakes. Is that clear?"
They exchanged glances, somewhat surprised by the serious tone, and then nodded.
"Crystal clear."
"Well the real population of Amadori is"....
*End of the chapter.*