5th March 2031
20:00
SNA HQ
All 4 of them except Sohel were chatting in the conference hall. A moment later Sohel entered the hall with Lt. Leonard. All of them got up seeing Sohel enter the room. Sohel reached them and said that Lt. Leonard would give them a lift to the island of New Eden. He asked them to meet in the helipad atop the tower with their bags in 20 minutes. They agreed and left the room.
22:34
Approx 90 km off the coast of Choshi port
All 5 members of the Bravo Squad were sitting in the helicopter. Lt. Leonard's voice came through the headphones, "Everyone Look out the window. The Artificial Island of New Eden is now visible."
They all looked out the window and saw a huge island simmering with lights. The helicopter got over the Island. Mitali was stunned to see the extravagance of the island. Jacob started explaining to Mitali about the island,
"Welcome to the artificial island of New Eden. This island was artificially created in 2011 with the sole purpose of housing and training SNA soldiers and specialists. The island is 100 square kilometres wide. That big building on the south side of the island is the academy building. The two towers on both sides of the academy building are the boys' dorms on the right and girls' dorms on the left, which house the student's training in the academy."
Mitali looked around and was awed. She saw shopping districts and an amusement park. There were a few big fields and warehouse buildings, which she could tell by looking, were the training grounds. She saw 10–12 detached houses and asked Jacob what they were. Jacob replied, "Those are squad houses. Every specialist squad gets a squad house for their housing. They also get a big VTOL jet, which would serve as a mobile base for their operations."
"Cool."
Leon alerted them that they were landing. The helicopter landed at a helipad in front of the academy building. One by one, the 5 of them got out of the helicopter, and Leon flew off. Mitali was staring at the academy building. Sohel came beside her and asked, "What are you looking at?"
Mitali looked at him and smiled, "Nothing much. Just thinking that this is the place where you spent the last 3 years."
Sohel smiles and says, "Yeah. The days I spent in the academy are something I'll never forget. Let's go."
They get in a Honda Elevate parked outside the academy gate. Sohel gets in the driving seat, and Naomi gets in the passenger seat beside him. The other three sat in the backseat. They drive through the nightlights of New Eden and, after around 15 minutes, enter the driveway of a detached house. All of them get out of the car One by one and enter the house. The house was nicely furnished. There was a sofa set in the middle of the room. There was a kitchen and dining area on the left side and 2 doors on the right side, in front were 2 doors and a staircase. Up the stairs, there were 3 more doors. Sohel explained to Mitali, "Welcome to the Bravo Squad House. The door on the right side leads to Ann's lab and the other leads to the Landing zone for our VToL, which we should be getting in a few days. The other 5 doors are our rooms. The bottom right is Ann's and the top three are Jacob's, mine, and Naomi's from left to right. So, I guess you get the bottom left one by default. Don't worry, every room's pretty much the same." Saying this, Sohel looks at the others and says, "Rest up for today. Tomorrow we gotta clean up the whole house." Everyone nods and heads to their rooms. Mitali does so too. Mitali enters her room with her suitcase. There was a window opposite the door and a Bed. A closet and a desk are on the right side and a washroom is on the left. Mitali says to himself, "No creativity, huh?" She sighs and puts the suitcase in front of the closet. She opens the bag, takes out a fresh pair of clothes, and changes. After freshening up, she goes to sleep.
The next day, all of them worked together and cleaned up the house. Ann, on the other hand, was doing something in her lab and was putting little speakers all over the house.
2130
Bravo Squad House, New Eden
After a whole day's work, they have dinner and sit in the living room to talk. At that time, the bell rings. Mitali gets up and opens the door. She gets startled to see General Overlord Standing in front of the door with a case of beer in his hands.
"Can I come in?"
The question brings Mitali back to her senses. She awkwardly lets him in. overlord goes to the others. All of them get up seeing him. They look happy to see him. Mitali comes back too. All of them looked happy. Naomi said, "You did come, Uncle Ahmed."
Mitali had also reached the living room. She exclaimed, "Uncle Ahmed!" The General looked at Mitali and said, "I couldn't really introduce myself yesterday. I'm General Rahat Ahmed, AKA Overlord." Sohel adds, "He was in the same brigade as father. He is the one who recommended me to the SNA."
Mitali seemed to have understood and sat down with the others. Annabelle finally got out of her lab. She walked to the others with a smile on her face. Sohel asked her what took her so long. She replied, "Was working on something. Anyway, call for ARIA."
Sohel said, "Huh!! None of us are wearing either our battle helmet or the glasses. So...."
"Don't worry about it. Just call for her."
Sohel reluctantly does so. "ARIA"
ARIA's voice is heard in the speakers they saw Annabelle put up all day, "Yes boss."
Annabelle says, "This is what I was working on all day. Now you can talk to ARIA from anywhere in the house without the helmet or glasses." saying this she lowers her head in front of Sohel. Sohel looks for a moment and sighs as he realizes what Annabelle wants. He pats Annabelle's head while saying, "Ann, you need to stop acting like a child."
Annabelle replies, "Don't want to."
Sohel stopped as he saw Jacob mischievously smiling and Mitali and Naomi sulking.
After that, all of them sat down and gossiped.
Mitali suddenly asked, "Sohel, can you tell me about how you guys got together? I really want to know."
Sohel looks at others and says, "Why not? From where do I start?"
Naomi said, "If we are talking about our academy days, why not from the very day our course started."
Sohel chuckled, "OK then. It was just a normal day at the BMA training grounds when our To came over and asked for me. I got scared at first but when he said......…."