Shi Lang and the rest of the people did not talk much. Gamma said, “Lang, put on the squad uniform. It is placed under the chair.”
The boy undid the safety belt and bent down to take out the neatly folded black set of clothes. He stood up and walked out of the holding cabin. The ship had a smaller holding cabin, allowing ten people to sit in, and had one lavatory. The rest of the sections in this ship were weapon stations and one pantry.
This ship was designed in a manner where if the damage exceeds a limit of twenty percent the crew could take up the weapon stations and with the aid of the AI system act more efficiently. The AI would always have a set of commands to prioritize but manual or sub-manual control could help the people avoid it.
Shi Lang came to the lavatory and quickly changed his clothes. He was dressed in black attire, that stuck to his skin but was breathable and at the same time soft. This uniform had a semi camouflage system inbuilt in it. The mask on his face had lenses, and a HUD feeding him various data. What was even more the uniform came with a drill-like knife that Shi Lang liked a lot.
He walked out of the lavatory with his old uniform neatly folded and placed it under his seat. Gamma said, “Introduce yourself to the team.”
The two pilots have also come back, as at this moment the ship was floating in the boundless space. Shi Lang saluted and said, “Captain Shi Lang, graduated from Federal Star Academy, topper of the batch. Been in service for thirteen hours.”
The people were surprised, even Stephan could not help but gawk at him. He asked, “How did a fresh graduate become a captain. What have you done?”
Shi Lang replied, “I cannot disclose that to you, Sir.”
Gamma said, “I have the clearance, I can check.” she gave him a choice to spill it or she will look at it herself.
Stephan said, “Boss, what are you waiting for, do it.”
What followed later was Shi Lang’s academic record, his battle skill videos, his enrollment in a top-secret camp, and then his performance in the army entrance exam. Gamma was surprised to see that there was a camp that was top-secret even with her rank.
She asked, “Tell me, what was the rank of those instructors at your camp? This is not sensitive information.”
Shi Lang thought about it and said, “General of the fleet served as the camp master.”
There were twenty fleets in the federation army now and each one of them was so big that a squad could be seen as a speck of dust in a sandbox. The people were shocked when they heard the rank. Gamma nodded and said, “Now, a few rules and regulations, after you put on that mask, you will only use your code names to call each other.
You are not to take off your masks at any time during the mission. If you are caught by the enemy forces, then either you kill them all, or you kill yourself. That is all. Now the team shall introduce themselves to you.”
The people nodded, the pilots stepped forward, “I am, Lullaby, vehicle expert. The rest of my introduction will be after the mission completion.”
Shi Lang nodded, then he was introduced to the rest of the members, Carole, Sharpnel, Tian, Hunk, and Gamma. The boy greeted them all and got back on his seat.
Hunk was Stephan’s code name. Gamma used her code name as the last name. She asked, “What is your code name, rookie?”
The boy smiled and said, “Ace.”
…
The space wrapped and a ship came out like a bullet penetrating window paper. The spaceship quickly began to descend through the atmosphere of the planet in front of them. The landscape became more detailed as they descended and the ship came to land safely on the tarmac of the military base.
Shi Lang looked through the porthole window and found that the base situation was similar to Ao. Gamma and the rest stood and they walked out of the hatch door of the ship. They were greeted by the acting commanding officer of the post.
Gamma and the team stood in a neat formation and a man wearing a black military outfit walked forward. His face was covered with a transparent mask. This was the high-tech oxygen extractor. It worked as the name suggested. Shi Lang and the others did not need to wear this as their masks already had this feature embedded.
The man came forward and crisply saluted Gamma as he said, “Acting Commander, Major General Stalin, welcomes, Investigator Gamma on the base.”
They all had their code names reported earlier to make the communication easier. Gamma nodded and said, “Show me the control room.”
The man nodded and then briskly led forward the people. Shi Lang sensed a lot of gazes focused on him. He became vigilant and Stephan said, “Be on guard, who knows which one of them is infected.”
The rest of the squad nodded and they raised their subconscious guard. The moment the ship landed on the tarmac, they had entered the enemy territory. This base belonged to the federation military site, however, they did not trust anyone. What if the source of the parasites was hidden inside the base? What if the parasites were the ability of one of the soldiers and not something originating from this planet?
The federation had its internal struggles, those who did not believe in the civilization to be charging ahead in the space and conquering others as if they were slaves. The squad quickly came to the main building and they were led to the control room on the top floor.
Expect for the acting command officer and his adjutant, the rest of the soldiers and staff were asked to leave. The squad took control of the pieces of equipment they needed and Shi Lang stood next to Gamma.
In the center of the control room, there lay a holographic model projector. This thing was used to project a real-time model of the surface with the help of satellite surveillance. Gamma said, “Ace, take control.”
Shi Lang nodded and stepped forward, and asked, “Point out the spot of the massacre.”
The adjutant beside the acting commander nodded and stepped forward. He turned a trackball on the side of the table, anti-clockwise to zoom out of the map, and then scrolled the same ball to make the map move. Then a red spot came to the center of the map and the adjutant zoomed in again.
Shi Lang looked at the model and found the place to be a valley. He asked, “What were the suspects doing here?”
The acting commander said, “We had received intel from the inhabitants that this place as a lake traveling through the hidden caves near the valley and the water of this lack could cure a lot of physical ailments. Brigadier Jun sent a small reckon group at first, however, the reckoning reported that the place was filled with native wildlife.
The beasts here are very violent and deadly, a five-star Terran might die if they were not careful. Brigadier Jun did not want to risk the lives of the troops so he took action himself and brought along some other high-level comrades. Then after camping for a week, they returned to the base, but before they came inside, suddenly they all rushed back to the valley. We found them on a rampage through the surveillance and rushed to stop them.
We reached the native settlements too late, their elders had taken action and three of our comrades were killed.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “Why was Adjutant Louis not handed over to the military police right away?”
Acting Commander Stalin said, “Adjutant Louis was one of the people who were trying to stop the Brigadier and the rest before she was knocked out and injured by them. Thus she was inside the infirmary.”
Shi Lang turned and looked at Gamma, who nodded and said, “That will be enough for now, MG Stalin, you can retire from the room now.”
The man saluted and left the control room with his adjutant. Shi Lang followed them and closed the door of the control room from the inside. Gamma said, “Carole, pull out the medical records of Captain Louis Lampard from the mainframe. I want to see what treatment and tests were done on her.”
The girl nodded and began to work around the computer. Shi Lang said, “If they had given her a medical check-up then why did not discover the parasites. Ma’am, we should swipe this place for bugs and transmitters.”
Gamma nodded and Shi Lang began to look around the control room. Something really fishy was going on here and they needed to find it. As the boy was searching the control room, Carole said, “Boss, the report is found, the injuries Captain Louis suffered were light and she was not given any in detail tests.”
The lady took over the tablet and looked at the content of the report. She said, “Check the doctor’s record. It is not that she was not tested, even basic tests were not conducted. This is not in accordance with the protocol.”