บท 42: WHY ARE THINGS IN IBERIA ALWAYS SO MESSY?
(Antarctica 1 Med Bay, Antarctica, April 2134)
"Thank goodness Eddie's food poisoning is alright," said Louis, walking down the corridors. "He will be returning to the UNSSD Commando Formation tomorrow," he said, referring to the other Tier 2 unit under the UNSSD land forces.
"It's shame he is eliminated due to such a stupid reason," said Vera.
Albert concurred, adjusting the sling for his fractured left arm slightly. "Erika and Karl were also unfortunate, especially Karl."
"I just hope that they will be alright in the Assault Pathfinders," said Ariel, having found out that their Tier 2 unit was the Assault Pathfinders of the UNSSD Air Force.
"And then, there is Clara," muttered Sean. The 5 of them sighed, looking at their new UNSSD SOC shoulder patches, which is a new version printed in 2134. It is the prove that they are now Tier 1 operatives. A bittersweet feeling came into their minds.
They have made it in, but at the cost of "losing" comrades.
They walked over to Clara's ward, having checked on Eddie. Just as they arrived at the door, they heard the angry shouts of a man who is shouting at Clara in Korean.
The cadets turned on the simultaneous translators in their smart watches, putting in wireless earpieces.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" he screamed.
"Captain, nothing is wrong with me," retorted Clara, absent-mindedly pausing the movie she is screening on the holo-projector in front of her bed, taking a bite of kimichi cup noodles.
Her old commander, Captain Ryan Ko of the Marine Shock Troopers is fuming at her, not out of hate, but rather more akin to a parent reprimanding a misbehaving child.
"Still have the mood to eat? If you want to eat kimichi so bad, you can go back to eat in Pyongyang!"
"Having your left foot amputated may be a death warrant for your military career! At the very least you can no longer be posted to a front line job due to your cybernetics!"
"Oh my god..." muttered Ariel in shock, not expecting Clara to be wounded so badly. Sean looked away from the rest, his eyes swelling.
Clara can never wrap up her childhood and be at peace with herself now.
"I will just go back to flying Mechas," said Clara nonchalantly.
"That is if Amethyst Detachment still has a slot left," Captain Ko sighed, wishing her to get well soon, leaving.
He walked out, bumping into the 5 cadets. He frowned at them for a bit, and then walked away.
"Come in!" said Clara, having noticed that there are people outside. Albert, Vera, Ariel, Louis and Sean walked in, holding gifts in their hands.
"Guys!" she exclaimed, putting down her cup noodles. She excitedly pointed to their new shoulder patches. "How's things in Tier 1?"
"Good..." muttered Sean. The 5 of them are gloomy, feeling bad for the fact that Clara is now crippled.
Clara noticed them staring at her bandaged cybernetic left foot. She laughed.
"Relax, I will still be able to walk. I can definitely still sing, dance, rap and basketball," she joked.
The 5 laughed, recognising the reference to the notorious Chinese internet meme.
"While I may not be as nimble as before, I can still beat you all up in the sparring arena!" she gloated.
She then turned to Sean, pointing at him. "Don't you have a metal skeleton? My left foot is now metal too! Watch out!"
Everyone laughed.
Just then, the holo-projector in front of Clara's bed which she had paused switched to the news channel, broadcasting a piece of emergency news.
"The month long riot in Spain following the protests against the election frauds allegations has now escalated into a civil war, forces loyal to General Manuel Garcia denounced the government and launched a coup de grace. Fierce fighting has broken out across major cities."
"The European Union and United Nations expressed their concerns towards the hostilities, urging humanitarian passages to be opened, and for combatants to ceasefire."
"In addition, sources claim that the Extremist Sellardraxian Organisation, the Vanguards, are working together with the insurgents..."
The Vanguards are a group of Sellardraxian extremists who believe that being the "superior" sentient life on Earth, it is their right to reign supreme, despising living among humans as equals, not to mention the occasional discrimination they face.
Such a view also has a strong influence in the Sellardraxians that left Earth following WW3 to build their own civilisation in the Alpha Centauri system. These Sellardraxians further expanded the extremist ideology, claiming that it is their manifest destiny to annex the sector of space from the Solar System to the Alpha Centauri system.
While such a movement is not the mainstream of its society, the tolerance of such an ideology by the Dynasty of Draxas is enough to warrant a shaky diplomatic relationship with Earth.
Clara muted the projector, sighing.
"Why are things in Iberia always so messy?" mused Ariel.
"Spanish and Portuguese history is just a collection of screwing themselves over with wars," commented Sean.
"That's for damn sure," said Vera.
"I hope this doesn't mean that we will get deployed," commented Albert, prompting Sean, Ariel, Vera and Louis to immediately silence him for fear of bad karma.
Clara laughed at her friends, then checking on Eddie, relived to hear that he is alright.
The cadets then piled up her bedside with gifts, including the ones from Karl, Erika and Eddie that they are helping to pass. Clara stared in surprise and joy at the things they got for her:
A Kuromi plushie from Ariel, a Kuromi necklace from Vera, a sports jacket from Albert, a Swiss watch from Erika, a box of chocolates from Eddie, a pair of earpieces from Louis, a massage device from Karl, and a can of sweet potato chips from Sean.
"Thanks guys," she smiled. "From now on, the numbers 9, 17, 31, 42, 92, 4, 23 and 74 mean something very precious to me."
"The number 100 also means something precious to us," said Ariel. The rest of them concurred.
"Now, I have some expectations for you all in the Tier 1 units," Clara said, smirking.
"Ariel, I expect you to invite me to your wedding with Doc soon," she teased, referring to Phineas.
"SHUT...UP...!" protested Ariel, blushing, squatting beside the bed to hide herself out of embarrassment. The remaining cadets all laughed, teasing Ariel relentlessly.
"And if you 2 have kids I call dibs on the favourite aunt— ehh!" Clara's teasing is stopped when a beet red Ariel threatened to punch her.
Ariel then stomped the floor in a cute and embarrassed manner, prompting the others to also spare her.
Clara giggled, turning to Louis next. "Louis, you better hit the gym, I don't want you to puke on the treadmill so fast next time!"
Louis smiled, saluting her. "Promise to complete the mission!"
She saluted back, then turning to Vera and Albert. "Vera, Albert, I want you 2 to become the best sniper duo of UNSSD, confident?"
Vera laughed. "I have to ask Cheung Sir," she chuckled, looking at Albert.
Albert asked her to watch out for herself, then whispering an insult in Cantonese, only for Vera who had learned Cantonese from Ariel to instantly hit him in retaliation.
"Comrade, please have a word with me in Lubyanka," threatened Vera with a fake smile, referring to the headquarters of Soviet intelligence, and a prison.
They all laughed.
Clara then turned to Sean last.
"Don't start from zero again when you are there, alright Sean?" she smiled tenderly.
Sean nodded.
Clara is fighting back tears all this time, careful to not let her friends see her cry in this happy occasion. She is glad that they made it, yet, she could not help but to be sad that she is not one of them, and can never be one of them.
"Alright, I need to rest now, all the best guys," she saluted, already on the verge of breaking down.
The 5 cadets did not notice her emotional state, saluting her in return.
They walked out of the ward. Sean is the last to step out. Just as he did, he stopped, turning back to Clara, taking out something from his pocket and putting it into her hands.
Clara looked at it. It is the old version of the UNSSD SOC shoulder patch, it is battle-worn, a sign of Sean's 4 years of military life before meeting them.
She looked up at Sean, surprised.
"I hope this can make you feel better," he said.
A drop of tear fell onto Clara's blanket.
She nodded. "Thanks..." she croaked.
She smiled at Sean.
"Will we meet again?" she asked.
Sean grinned. "I hope so." With that, Sean left.
Clara hugged the patch close to her body, once the door is closed, she bawled, crying.
(Barracks canteen, Tokyo, May 2134)
Squad Artemis are eating dinner after wrapping up training for the day.
"I will go to fetch dessert," volunteered Sean. "What do you all want?"
The entirety of Squad Artemis remained silent at their table, giving Sean the cold shoulder.
Sean awkwardly asked his question again, not getting a response.
Liu Zhong promptly cleared his plate and left, heading to the training room to practice his martial arts. He gave Sean a polite, yet distant nod.
Frederica simply does not like to talk, while Aya, Nanami and Vasily are hoping that their siblings will be more friendly to Sean after he moved back and resumed training with them for a week.
And they are disappointed by the outcome.
Seeing that the majority of his siblings still remain hostile towards him, Sean bowed his head down, dejected.
Aya knew that she has to intervene.
"Sean," she smiled. "Vanilla ice-cream, 2 scoops for all of us!" she ordered, not wanting Sean's attempt to show good-will be wasted.
"I will go with you!" volunteered Vasily, he stood up and then pulled Sean off with him.
Once the 2 disappeared from sight, Aya's smile turned to a frown, looking at her siblings.
Nanami, their second in command opened her mouth first.
"Guys," she said. "what's the matter with you all?" she said, not looking Frederica who is sitting across her.
"I am just surprised he has the face to come back," said Cameron, brushing her cat ears absent-mindedly.
"How so?" asked Nanami, crossing her arms. "He passed the Tier 1 selection, why can't he come back?"
Maia, the most popular sibling, sneered. "Your darling should have listened to me and washed out Sean," she said to Aya, with a bitter tone.
Aya is starting to get mad. "You think its my idea?" she retorted, understanding Maia's implications.
"Xiao Tian — I mean Lieutenant Colonel Zhou brought him back entirely out of his own idea. Besides, washing out a cadet when he has not been eliminated is unreasonable."
"What equally unreasonable is him being a sellout," retorted Ethan, the crown on his head puffing along in his displeasure, referring to Sean's action in the exercise. Meari concurred.
Frederica, who has been eating her food slowed the movement of her cutlery.
"Someone with 4 "kill count" of his siblings..." muttered Electra with gritted teeth. "I am surprised Liu Zhong didn't say anything," she referred to the now absent-Liu Zhong, the third in command after Aya and Nanami.
Walter and Atsumi joined them in flaming Sean. Nanami tried to stop them, but to no avail.
Aya finally had enough. She ensured that they are alone in the section of the canteen, then standing up angrily.
"So it's still about Freyja?!" she said, tears forming in her eyes.
"All of us, except for Vasily saw it with our own eyes," retorted Maia.
Aya laughed, angered.
"IF SEAN WAS THE ONE THAT DIED WILL YOU BE HAPPY?" roared Aya. "Will you all bully Freyja the same way you are doing now?"
They bowed their heads.
"YES, BIG SIS!" roared Maia, tears raining down her cheeks. "IF HE DIED IT'S HIS FAULT FOR MISSING, FREYJA DIDN'T HAVE TO PUSH—"
"CRASH!" the sound of ceramic shattering stopped their conversation.
Frederica had crushed her bowl after squeezing it. She cannot believe that Maia will be so cruel to her partner, and lost control of her emotions for a brief moment.
(The next day)
"Albert is a f***ing bad karma," thought Sean as he and Squad Artemis are woken up in the middle of the night by the emergency gathering whistle.
They rushed out of their barracks, armed and in full gear towards the cargo planes flying to Libya, where they will meet up with the Chinese PLAN and head for Spain.
Squad Artemis has been deployed as part of the UN's operation to open humanitarian passages in the 2nd Spanish Civil War. Mission is to escort civilians and foreign nationals evacuating from the war zones, and counter-terrorism.
"Why are things in Iberia always so messy?" complained Nanami, unhappy that her beauty sleep is interrupted.
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