COROVOSI COMPOUND

18:03

“Madame” the woman in black suit greeted.

Yuqi nodded in response “Where’s my brother?”

“In the lab. Master’s been working on a code as soon as you reported” replied the “I’ll immediately prepare the first aid kid in your room” she continued, noticing the cut on Yuqi’s lip and ligature marks around her neck.

Yuqi had just arrived at the Corvo estate after making sure that all the robots have been confiscated. The lab, where bio-weaponries including the robots are created, had been part of the Corvo family’s compound. The Corvossi are known for their excellent engineering pioneered by Corvo Primo, Yuqi’s great grandfather. Their family’s weapons aided during the war of the ten countries. The weapons were so advanced that it won them their victory against their opponent countries.

Yuqi’s grandfather, Ygor, succeeded the position as the head during the great war. As her grandfather led the defense for Alleris, Geoss made a proposal that resulted to a truce between two countries and the rest is history.

The lab was established as part of the Corvo family’s property for confidential reasons. Being the trusted producer of Alleris’ weapons, the country could not risk any information leaking to their opponents. Alleris had agreed that the lab will remain in the hands of the Corvo family. Special forces of both Alleris and Geoss are also provided for the safety of the lab. However, the manufacturing and production will be handled by Alleris itself.

“Yuta” Yuqi called as she entered the concreted building of the lab.

The second eldest continues to type as soon as Yuqi had arrived. Yuta was working on a code his sister had sent earlier, “I’ll be done in a minute. Sorry I wasn’t able to pick you up.” he said without averting his eyes at the screen in front of him.

Yuqi shook her hear head as she leaned on the doorway, disregarding the fact that Yuta was not even looking. “The code is much more important”.

Yuta continued to type as he listened to Yuqi explaining about the defects she had observed from the robot. With the last tap, Yuta finally leaned his back and rubbed his temple “The code is done for now. However, there’s still more to do”

“I can run some programs” Yuqi suggested to help.

“It’s fine. We’re not in a hurry” Yuta shifted his gaze into the cut on Yuqi’s lip “You’ve done more than enough”

“Understood”

“But with the workload we have now, the whole programming team won’t even be enough.” Yuta hesitated” I need to ask a favour from you”

ALLERIS MILITARY HEADQUARTERS, TWO DAYS LATER

07:00

Lucas had just arrived to Angela’s office after receiving an urgent call from the said Lieutenant. He exhaled deeply before knocking on the wooden door.

“Come in” A familiar voice replied, and Lucas entered.

Lucas saluted upon entering the already familiar office, Angela followed the gesture. “Seeing you’re well enough, let me cut to the chase” She started while handing Lucas a connector to his watch.

A hologram screen appeared before Lucas. It showed a single document entitled ‘MAA-0318’. Angela instructed Lucas to open the file and it showed pages of texts as well as images.

“This is you first mission here as a commissioned officer in Alleris.” Angela announced as she synched Lucas’ file into hers “What you are seeing are new armouries to be presented at the summit that will be held in the kingdom of Mociz” Angela continues to explain. “Your mission is to a representative of the Corvo family to Mociz and back here in Alleris safely.”

Lucas lightly furrowed his brows “Why would a Lieutenant a civilian for a summit? Wouldn’t a Warrant Officer or a Sergeant be enough?” He questioned. Geoss wouldn’t dare send a high-ranking official to be a bodyguard unless the one they were guarding is the ruler, His Majesty, himself. To be escorting a civilian was not something Lucas was used to back in his country.

“One of those who previously escorted the Corvo family was General Wong. And before him were Lieutenant Generals and Major Generals. However, General Prete, the one who currently escorts them, is unavailable at the moment.” Angela expounded. “Every commissioned officers had escorted the Corvo family for decades”

Lucas found it hard to process. “Are they that important?” He had let his thoughts slip.

“It is understandable that you find this quite different. The Corvo family had been the source of armoury and line of defense for Alleris and its allied nations. It is of utter importance that our armouries may never fall into the hands of the enemies.” Angela continued to explain “You are unaware of this but there have been many threats to members of the Corvo family. They may be safe in Alleris but we cannot be sure when outside of the country. Especially in Mociz”

“Mociz is an ally, though?”

Angela nodded “They are. But remember that you are participating in a summit. Every allied nation will be there.  It’s basically a melting pot for enemies to infiltrate”

It made sense to Lucas now “When do we depart?” he asked

“Tonight. It’s a three-hour flight and you will be arriving at daybreak” Angela said sternly “We will be meeting the representatives in a few hours”

ALLERIS MILITARY TRAINING GROUNDS

10:00

“Hurry up!” Lucas said angrily

“Sir, yes sir!” the men in green uniforms replied with the same enthusiasm as they struggle to finish the obstacles. Lucas may seem easy-going but he wouldn’t be in position if he didn’t have the qualities for it. He had noticed that the new recruits had been lax around his because he had bandages two days before and they thought he would go easy on them. However, it was the complete opposite. It seems that Lucas is worse than their trainers.

"You call yourselves soldiers? Even kids in Geoss would be faster than you turtles!” He wouldn’t admit it but Lucas felt great inside. He missed the thrill of being on field. He missed pinpointing entitled young people until they can no longer take it.

“Lieutenant!” A soldier came up to Lucas and immediately saluted. “Lieutenant Wong is summoning you”

Lucas returned the gesture “Alright. You stay here and watch over them.” Lucas turned his head back to the recruits “And make sure that those two at the back, P01198 and P01199 have to go three more rounds of obstacles. They skipped the last one when they thought I wasn’t looking. The rest can run twenty laps and those two can follow afterwards”

After a ten-minute walk, Lucas had arrived at the conference room, knowing that the expected guests and Angela are already there. Lucas tidies his uniform and carefully entered the room.

The two people who sat across Angela stood up upon the arrival of Lucas. Angela followed suit and greeted “Lieutenant Wong, please meet our guests”

Lucas walked sternly beside his sister without taking an eye off a familiar face.

“Lady Song of the Corvo family and her bodyguard” Angela introduced as the two ladies before them slightly bowed. “And this is Lieutenant Wong” Angela gestured towards her brother “he will be your during your stay in Mociz”

“Pleased to meet you” Lucas also bowed in response.

“I had already briefed Lieutenant Wong about his general mission but” Angela began “it is best to explain the full situation since he had just been reassigned to Alleris”

Angela explained to Lucas that Mociz do not like soldiers that aren’t their own. It would be a taboo if Alleris brought their own soldier; it would threaten their own people and could possibly be misunderstood as a declaration of war. Mociz is a peaceful nation that is allied with both Alleris and Geoss, thus, bringing a foreign soldier would actually make Mociz question the credibility of their trust from Alleris. As a result of an honest mistake, once a Corvo family would bring an such as the generals, the soldiers would guise themselves as merely family members.

“My brother is usually the one who represents the Corvosi and Alleris in any gatherings” Yuqi started’ “However, due to recent events, I had been asked a favour to go in his stead”

Lucas immediately thought of the robot situation in the military school. Remembering that, he actually wanted to ask about it but knowing the situation he’s in right now, he refused the idea.

“If you already have a bodyguard, why ask the military?” Lucas asked

Angela cleared “I apologize for his rude behaviour, Madam Song”, side-eyeing Lucas in the process.

Yuqi shook her head and smiled “It’s fine. No need to be so formal with me” she then turned her head into her companion.

“I have already been listed as an official guard for the Corvo family” The bodyguard spoke “thus, the allied nations are already aware of me and most of the family’s guards. I cannot accompany madam during this trip”

“If you are not allowed to bring a bodyguard, how will Mociz ensure their guests’ safety?” Lucas wondered.

“Mociz assigns soldiers for you” Angela replied “While it’s true that they don’t like foreign soldiers, they still want their guests to feel safe. But since we cannot let Madam Song go to a foreign country alone, the Corvo family entrusted us to protect her as well as the new weaponries that will be introduced in the summit.”

“Almost all the generals here became our uncles” Yuqi reminisced.

Angela agreed “They usually disguise as family members or family friends”

“I don’t think I can be an uncle, can I?” Lucas tried to lighten the mood, avoiding angering his sister any more

“Before we could decide on his role, I want to send you the data for madam’s schedule and work in Mociz” the bodyguard handed Lucas a connector and Lucas downloaded the files.

It’s a three-day stay full of conferences and tests. Lucas wondered why such a young girl would have this much workload for three days.

“I do have an idea” Angela said “It’s very effective and efficient for the two of you, but I do not know if you would agree to this”

A/N: I got really pissed at myself because I had actually written chapter 3 (unfinished). And when I checked to finish the rest, my stupid  actually did not save the whole chapter. So heres the new version