{6:35pm, 22/03/2024}
{Greny Burns pov}
The shrill sound of the alarm sliced through the silence of the morning, pulling me from the depths of sleep. I blinked against the harsh light filtering through the curtains, the familiar weight of the blankets pressing down like a heavy shroud. Three years had passed since I hung up my uniform, and the days had blurred together into a monotonous haze. There was no mission to prepare for, no orders to follow. Just me and the lingering ghosts of a life once lived in high stakes.
As I lay there, contemplating the comfort of staying put, I felt the urge to roll over and let the day slip away. But a flicker of discipline ignited within me. I had promised myself a routine, a semblance of purpose in this new life. With a resigned sigh, I swung my legs over the side of the bed, the cool floor sending a jolt through me. I pushed through the lethargy, reminding myself that I was more than the sum of my idle hours.
The workout was familiar; each movement was a dance I had perfected over years of training. Push-ups, sit-ups, a jog around the neighborhood, and finally, the reward of a steaming cup of coffee. The rich aroma filled the kitchen, grounding me in the moment. Just as I settled into my routine, a sharp knock on the door shattered the quiet. Curiosity piqued, I opened the door to find a sharply dressed man standing there, an air of urgency about him.
"I need to speak with you," he said, his voice steady. "The President has requested your presence at a special meeting. It's time-sensitive."
"The president?", I replied, making sure I had heard him right the first time. He had a pair of dark shades on and he was constantly scouting his surroundings while he spoke.
"Agent burns, the president wants to meet" he repeated quietly, sliding out a white envelope from his pockets, just enough for me to see the presidential imprint on the cover.
"Without faxing first?" I questioned, disregarding the fact that he had just mentioned the most important man in the country.
This was strange, usually whenever there was supposed to be a special task I was to undertake, I would receive a fax the previous day but today was unusually different and to think the president himself would set up a formal meeting with a veteran soldier.
This had to be of national security.
I looked out towards the walkway behind the stranger, an SUV was parked opposite with another man in dark shades sitting behind the wheels.
'So it is true?'
"We have to leave now sir, it's important"
The words hung in the air, heavy with implication. I hadn't expected this—an invitation back into the fold, a chance to serve again. The thrill of purpose surged through me, eclipsing the mundane routine I had grown accustomed to. Without hesitation, I nodded, adrenaline coursing through my veins as I prepared to leave the life I had known for the past three years behind.
I picked up a shirt, shut the door and headed into the SUV.
We arrived at the airport soon after and headed to the private jet that had been cleared in preparation for our departure. We took off almost immediately, gaining altitude by the second amidst a mild turbulence.
I readjusted my seat, pulling out the envelope that the agent handed out to me in my apartment.
It contained details of a briefing that I was headed to, regarding the appearance of the anomaly and some other gibberish I didn't bother to ache my head over.
The air hostess came out from the cockpit, pushing a trail of wine and poured a glass for me, mouthing some words that I somehow couldn't understand, before heading towards the back to do the same for the other passengers.
I nodded slimly staring at the glass in my hand, my thoughts trailing towards the events that occured a week ago in Orion; the appearance of the 'exotic' gate and the rumors of some object in the president's possession that may have instigated it. If that was really the cause for this emergency meet up the president had arranged personally, then it was definitely going to be a long couple of weeks.
"But how did the info get leaked to the public?"
We arrived at Oxlor in about an hour and moved to an undisclosed location where I was told details of the mission would be revealed so I just followed the two agents without as much as questioning them until we arrived at the entrance .
There was an underground stairway, leading towards a barely lit room that seemed to be the interior of an abandoned factory.
The roof leaked, with a rancid smell emanating from the corners as we walked through a narrow isle before reaching another door at the end of the room.
An elevator was at the other side, and as we all boarded, the smell had disappeared leaving me with only the mild stench of perfume from my escorts.
We finally reached out destination after a few minutes, the sight of a well lit underground facility coming into view as various workers and security details, patrolled the entrance.
The workers were dressed in lab coats, with nose masks on as they hurried to a singular elevator at one end of the corridor.
The agent that had spoken to me back at my place, immediately ushered me into a room with an opaque glass door, beckoning on me to head inside for the briefing.
Two figures were already seated there waiting patiently and I saluted them as soon as I walked into the room. They were the chief of defense staff; Roger mills and the president's spokesperson; Gilbert which I had guessed would only be available for public hearings and meetings that the president couldn't personally attend rather than top secret briefings.
"Lieutenant burns, it's a pleasure" Gilbert chimed gleefully stretching forward his mitt for a hand shake as I hesitated for a while before returning the gesture.
"I no longer hold that position spokesman, it's ex serviceman for me" I replied, withdrawing my hands from his sweaty grasp.
"How have you been adjusting to retirement then, I heard the country side is a nice spot for retirement, plan on heading there myself in a few years."
"I bet you'd fit fine, Gilbert".
He was an overly sensitive individual so I refrained from sharing further details as to how life after retirement works and the titles people held after service.
And even from my few encounters with him I could tell that he would get worked up over the fact that I lectured him over something that insignificant.
I could tell that he was scared of me and not just because his palms were sweating but because it was the usual reaction from every scraggy 5"8 individual, whenever they were faced with a 6"2 beefy ex military personnel exchanging pleasantries.
My appearance spoke much of me but it wasn't as good as it seemed, especially when everyone was actively intimidated by my compact frame.
"Shall we?" General Mills insisted, pointing towards the documents placed on the table.
Mills was a familiar face from my years in the military and although he was just a major back then he always held a tight relationship with the president, hence the reason he always spearheaded every special ops run by the government.
"So?, What's the run down, Gilbert." I inquired flipping through a few of the documents.
"It's a recon mission to gather Intel about the enemy's base of operation" Gilbert responded, shifting his tie in order to ease his mild anxiety.
'Enemies?'
Judging by how carelessly he used the word it could only mean that alien life had somehow been identified and only the people in this building where aware of it- excluding some exceptions.
And that they were also proving hostile to humans.
"And the location?" I countered, scaling through the important texts.
"The world beyond the rift" Milis stated abruptly. He was staring at me in expectance of my amazement but I just stared back at him sternly before questioning Gilbert.
"So who am I going to be working with on this?" I said, finally filling out some interesting pointers from the rundown I held.
"I already put together your team, their expected to be here in about fifteen minutes so sit tight burns." Milis responded, rising from his seat and heading towards a shelf at the end of the room
"They've received orientation regarding the details of the mission so it won't be a hassle" Gilbert accompanied calmly, wiping his face with a handkerchief.
Mills handed me another document containing all the details and rundown of the task and I read through it cautiously, absorbing every detail as I waited calmly, thinkly deeply of my next course of action. Even details of the omega seed and some 'black box' was written on it and it all seemed out of context and hard to believe.
Although I had led several special ops team before, this was going to be the first which would involve interactions with an otherworldly race entirely and it was going to be tough.
The situation we found ourselves in was really shitty and although at the moment our country was the only one with this occurrence, it didn't mean the world was safe. We had to deal with the problem before it developed into something world ending.
The rest of the team had arrived and we were signaled about their arrival and proceeded to join them in the main hall.
As I walked towards the main hall, I started piecing together tiny details which helped me uncover where we were at the moment. This was the unavowed research facility where the rumored project z was situated.
It took me a while to decipher, but after deep thinking it just seemed like the more plausible location for this particular event.
"Don't worry burns, it's not here anymore" Mills whispered, chuckling lightly while shaking his head as he walked ahead of me.
What I found annoying wasn't the fact that he had cut through my thoughts and revealed my concerns, but that he was able to do it so amusingly as to mock me.
And just like he had stated, project Z had been moved to another black site due to reasons that remained unknown to me.
The main hall was colossal and everything inside was either top-secret or not supposed to be on display for anyone to view or account for.
Large equipments laid from side to side, beeping loudly and transmitting various data on its screens.
There were ten people standing at the center, besides a blonde haired scientist and I could only guess by the way he was demonstrating while he spoke, that he was the head scientist.
He seemed to be giving them some kind of orientation about something I couldn't hear about because I was still very distant from them, but as I got closer the one statement that spiked my attention was what the scientist spoke about before turning to address us.
"What you all are about to beta test today, is going to revolutionize the course humanity has been on!".
His hair was stubby, with traces of grey strands poking from each sides, and a bald centre part that made him look cliché.
Gilbert cleared his throat, announcing our arrival as the greatly immersed science man tuned to greet us.
"Ah, you must be Greny, it's so nice to meet you in person. Shall we get started then"
He asked pointing towards machine in front of us, the black veil that was put over it was now removed by two aides, revealing a tube like upper segment holding serums in it's coolers.
"What is this doctor?"
I wasn't trying to hide my curiosity, directing my concerns as plainly as I could.
"This my boy, is the future!"