“I have copies of Thandisry’s notes. If you give me copies of your writing, I can compare and verify your theory.”
“I am not giving him my journal, not even if he is the boss,” Neesha yelled. She clamped her mouth shut in horror, staring at Erik to see his reaction. He didn’t seem to hear her at all.
“Erik, this is a private journal of a sixteen year old girl. I’m not sure how willing she will be to share it with a complete stranger.”
“I understand. You may give me the writings that deal with only what we want,” Erik said. “Her personal life will remain personal.”
“Thank you.”
“Could I meet the girl?”
Ida looked at Neesha and tilted her head towards them. Nervously, Neesha stepped through the green light. It was slightly warm but the temperature inside it was the same as where she stood before.
But she knew that Erik could see her now. He walked around the table to stand in front of her. He nodded his head in a greeting. “Hello. I’d shake your hand but it’ll be futile, as they’d just go through each other.”
Neesha wasn’t sure if she was supposed to laugh so she just smiled. “Prince Erik, I’m Neesha.”
“Just Erik, please. I am aiming for a democracy after all. At most I will be prime minister or president. No more princes. Now, I believe that you are the owner of this journal that’s in Ida’s possession?”
Neesha’s head shot over to Ida, forgetting that the woman still had it. It was now open and she was busy scanning the pages and using a finger to highlight the parts she wished to make a snapshot of. Once a light blue box hovered over the desired text, she tapped the centre of it and a digital copy of the writing was displayed on the table. She continued to do this as Doram busied himself with organising the operations Neesha had described.
“Yes, it’s mine,” Neesha said with annoyance.
Erik smiled slightly. “Ida can be quite forceful at times. That is what will make her a good General.”
“Y-You jumped quite a few ranks there,” Neesha said.
“She’s fit to be one. No one can object after all that she’s done for our cause.”
Neesha had only begun to understand Ida’s character but she could already tell that she was a dedicated woman, determined to finish whatever she started. But the work that she felt she needed to finish before accepting her promotion was still a mystery to her.
She was about to ask Erik when she changed her mind. It wasn’t her place to ask. If Ida wanted her to know, she’d tell her herself.
“I’ve finished,” Ida said and stepped back. Doram spread his arms across the table, linking with all the pages. Then in one swift motion, he flipped his hands so his palms were facing the ceiling and flung both arms high in the air. The pages followed his movements and were displayed in the air in front of them.
Erik approached the table. “That was quick work, captains.”
“Two weeks’ worth of reports from one operative is nothing compared to what we have to read daily,” Ida said. Neesha joined them at the table, taking the side where no one was standing so she wouldn’t be in their way.
Erik dragged a page toward him so it was at eyelevel and tilted it away slightly to make reading more comfortable. He gave each a thorough reading, dragging his finger upwards on the page to scroll down. Then he would flick it aside to the other end of the table to read the next one.
He did so silently without comment, keeping Neesha shifting worriedly at the side. Then when he had gone through all of them, he pressed a button invisible to her in the air which caused all the documents to settle down on the table and disappear.
“I will look over them again but I’m almost a hundred percent sure that Neesha has magic that belongs in the same family as the one Thandisry has.”
“Oh my Rowling,” Neesha muttered. “I actually have magic?”
“Neesha, exactly how invested are you in your writing?” Erik asked.
“What—?”
“How long have you written and how much about the civil war have you been writing about?”
Ida and Doram were both giving Erik a confused look.
“W-Well,” Neesha said and thought back to the days where she’d stay in her room all day, doing nothing except try to avoid her family. “A-Almost everything that the public knows? I don’t know. I’ve been writing since the start. I don’t remember everything.”
“Where are your previous books now?” Erik asked.
“It’s in a crate…in my closet. My old home that burned down.”
“I’ve been so stupid!” Ida said and smacked a hand to her forehead.
Neesha jumped at the sudden exclamation.
Erik’s fingers tapped against the table’s edge. “If the writing is destroyed, it’s very possible that Thandisry will be able to rewrite anything from that time. Ida, take a few people with you to her home. Find those journals.”
“I’m on it.”
“Doram, I’d like you to take charge of Base 6 while Ida is gone. You will have to take command of the operation if Ida does not return.”
“Yes sir!”
“I wish you all luck,” Erik said and lifted three of his fingers to pull down an option in mid air. Then his hologram was gone and the conference was over. The lights turned back on and Doram signalled to Lucy the all clear.
“Ida—Ida, it’s been a long time. Don’t you think they would have cleared up the area by now?” Neesha asked as she ran to catch up with the captain.
“You happened to live in an area that was surrounded by people who supported Erik. I’m not sure if that was done on purpose…but the Imperial Force will not waste their time cleaning up the rubble from a traitor’s home.
“However, they will post guards to catch anyone who tries to come back for whatever reasons. That is why we have to be very careful retrieving your journals. We’ll go immediately. It will take a while to get there.”
“What’s this operation Erik was talking about?” Neesha asked as they entered the elevator. Ida called for the level where they slept.
“It’s…I’ll tell you later, when we have more time. Right now, we have to get ready. Go to your room and get dressed. Bring your gloves and night vision goggles.”
“Okay,” Neesha said and dashed to the left while Ida went to the right.
Neesha dressed in her black combat clothes and boots. She picked up her night vision goggles and placed them over her head so that they hung from her neck—these goggles were more advanced than the ones they used during training. They were also slimmer and closer to her eyes so they had less of a chance of being knocked off. They were shaded red but when they were in use, they showed her the landscape as clear as though it were daytime. When placed over her head, the part of the band which wrapped above her ear held a small communicator which would allow her to hear anything her comrades relayed.
The gloves, which she already had in one of her pant’s zipped pockets, were what she loved most. They were light, sturdy, and ended just halfway below the elbows. They had more functions than a pair of gloves should have. Built into them was a weapon that would stun an enemy from a hundred metres away, activated at her command. Her left one also had a small flashlight and a watch. The right one held a small holographic navigating system and a sheathed knife. On it as well was a mic for her to respond to any commands.
She ran out of her room and met Ida at the elevators. She was dressed similarly to Neesha although she carried extra fire arms—one strapped to her back and on her belt, was a variety of weapons that Neesha had still not learned to wield.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7fmMdVQd9
“Derek and Vain will be meeting us,” she said as she made their way to the garage.
“Vain?”
“She’s vain,” Ida said with a smirk, “so we call her Vain. She’s a good fighter though. She’d fight tooth and nail for what’s right and will bite the head off anyone who dares stop her from getting what she wants. And she’d do it in style.”
The elevator doors slid open and they were greeted by the crew running around, getting the craft ready. This time they were using one that was black, thin, and narrow, with twice the amount of boosters than the grey craft they travelled in for her first mission.
Night had settled in and the lights of the garage were on full. Neesha saw Derek’s blond and green hair immediately. He was in the craft while a woman was standing next to it, doing a last minute check and oversaw the weapons being placed in the back. Indeed, she was beautiful and had something to be vain about, but the way she held herself told everyone that she wasn’t one to mess with.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDTn5HXtOtw
“Derek, Vain, are we ready to go?”
“Yes sir,” they chorused.
Ida took shotgun while Vain and Neesha took the back seats. A garage crew member pressed a button and the trunk closed swiftly.
Neesha looked around her and noticed that the seats had two straps to them and there was not much leg space, though still easy to move around if they needed to fight within the craft.
All the buttons in the craft were illuminated enough for them to see by but still soft enough so no one looking at their craft from a distance would see their abnormal amount of controls. At the moment, all the lights were on as they were still settling in.
As the last door closed and the white lights slowly faded away to leave only the lights from the controls, Ida shouted the order to go. Derek shot out of the garage before she finished speaking and Neesha was pressed into her seat from the speed.
There were no arm rests for her to hold onto so she resorted to holding the sides of her seat.
Vain noticed her startled expression and posture. She herself was relaxed and smiling. “Relax, this is one of the fasted and quietest crafts we have, but it’s perfectly safe. Derek knows what he’s doing. He was one of the guys who offered to test-run each model before it was perfect so he knows this baby like the back of his hand.”
“Better, in fact,” Derek said as he activated the bottom boosters and had them in the air, avoiding late night traffic before diving back down to ground level. Neesha gulped. Never in her life had she been in such a car that swerved, dived, and flew as fast as this one.
“I still find it hard to relax,” Neesha said.
“You’ll get used to it,” Vain said as she pulled out the tablet installed into the craft. “I’m going to take a look at the surroundings, make sure that the route we’re taking is clear.”
“Why did we have to take the fastest and quietest craft you guys have!?” Neesha asked.
“Because where we’re going would take two hours if we used a regular craft like when we went to find you,” Ida said. “On this, it should only be half an hour, forty five minutes tops.”
“Two hours? You went all the way to my home even though it’s two hours from the base?”
“If we had the slimmest chances of finding a single survivor, we will go,” Ida said and turned back to face the controls.
Neesha stared at her. The way how Ida ended the conversation made Neesha believe that the woman did not know the significance of what she had done for her new recruit.
Finding out that both her parents were killed at a young age, she was left in the care of her mother’s second husband and his family. She was neither the oldest nor the youngest and so she received the least attention but was given the most responsibility since her older siblings and cousins had their own families to take care of and her younger siblings and cousins were too young to take care of themselves.
All the adults were busy with their work and were only home for the weekends. Even then, it was up to Neesha to make sure that the children were fed, warm, safe, and happy. No one cared for her. No one would ever think to drive two hours for her. Not one.
And here was a total stranger who was willing to help a young girl that she had never met before in her life. Sure, they weren’t only there for her, but to realise that people like Ida existed in the world and would be there for her was just too overwhelming.
She wiped her tear stained cheeks and resolved herself to do everything to relay these people for what they had done for her.
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