2
The next day.
In other words, it was the day of Jhin’s plan. The Imperial capital had been hit with an unusually heavy rain.
Now, as for what Iska and the gang were doing…
“It sure is pouring outside. Hey, Iska, that window over there looks like a waterfall’s running down it,” Nene remarked.
“It really does. Good thing we’re just doing indoor training today.”
They were relaxing in the same conference room as the day before while holding a strategy meeting about their covert operation.
“Say, Jhin.”
“Hm? What is it, boss?”
As Jhin took a swig from his can of coffee, Commander Mismis pointed at the wall clock.
“It’s almost lunchtime…”
“Yeah, that’s obvious.”
“What about all the stuff you said to Commander Pilie? Like, about disguising ourselves as lunch delivery workers? If we’re going to do that, we need to start now.”
“Oh, that.” Jhin took another sip of his coffee and answered her with a straight face. “That was a joke, obviously. Who’d take that seriously?”
“Oh, right, of course.”
“Yeah, it’s a no-brainer. Thirty spies against a three-hundred-person defense team? That’s a factor of ten. We were already at a disadvantage to start with. Why would I reveal our plans on purpose?”
“Oh, good. I was almost convinced that you might have been serious.” Commander Mismis looked relieved. “P seemed like she was weirdly fired up about it, though. You don’t think she actually believed it…?”
“No way. It was tit for tat. I cracked a joke, so she just went along with it. That’s all it was.”
He tossed the empty can. After it landed in the wastebasket, he let out an exasperated sigh.
“It’s not like anyone can become an Imperial commander. No one in a position of leadership would take that baloney seriously.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Mismis said.
“Obviously.”
Everyone there was convinced of that, and the day passed without incident.
The next day.
“…At least that’s what we thought.”
“You big fat liars!” Commander Pilie ran into the conference room, her face bright red.
“I didn’t think anyone would take it seriously,” Jhin said.
“Wh-why did you just sigh like that?! Do you have any idea how many hours I spent waiting in the rain for you to break in yesterday night?”
She sneezed.
Evidently, the group leader of the defense team had caught a cold.
“I was guarding the base outside all night. You said you’d come in as food delivery workers, so I was keeping an eye out for you the whole time!”
“That must have been a lot of effort… Wait? You were keeping guard? Don’t tell me you did something to the delivery workers—”
“We arrested every single one of them, of course. We handcuffed them and everything.”
She’d just dropped a bombshell.
“I took every single female delivery worker and checked everything they had on them, including their IDs. Then I had them undress in a changing room and did a strip search, too.”
“Hey, you can’t drag citizens into this when they’re not part of the exercise.”
“I only did it because of what you said!” Pilie shrieked. “We had complaints come in from restaurants all over the capital! Thanks to you, I had to pull an all-nighter writing self-reflection reports. HQ even told me off. How could you do that to me?!”
“Uh, what am I supposed to do about that…?” Jhin shook his head, looking and sounding exasperated. “I’m just glad we weren’t real spies.”
“What?”
“A Nebulis spy could definitely leak false info to you. You should be thankful you got some practice dealing with that through us.”
“I—I suppose you have a point!” Commander Pilie swallowed her breath. “Did you do that on purpose as a learning experience…?”
“No, I was surprised you took me seriously. I didn’t think you’d actually believe in it.”
“Well then, this means war!”
She pointed at Jhin. Then she howled, turning red from rage and her intense cold.
“I made a mistake this time, but you’ll regret angering me. Now that I’m actually going all-out for real, there won’t be a single blind spot in my defensive line!” she said through gritted teeth as she firmly made her declaration of war. “You’d better be ready for this, Mismi…achoo!”
“P, you’ve caught a cold from being in the rain yesterday.”
“And whose fault do you think that is?!”
A few days passed.
Unit 907 was in the woods at the edge of the capital. It was late at night.
“So the base that we’re targeting as spies is somewhere in this Imperial forest reserve.”
Iska was leading the group. Behind him were Commander Mismis, Jhin, and Nene.
“But, Commander, we haven’t decided how we’re getting in, have we?” Iska said.
“That’s right. We’re just scouting it really quick today.”
There were two routes by which Unit 907 could infiltrate the base. They could either go through the business district of the capital and attack head-on, or attack from the woods and break into the base from behind.
“But this seems really sudden…”
Iska and the others had only been told they would be scouting that night. Per Mismis’s orders, Iska was carrying a map and a headlamp, while Jhin and Nene were taking along binoculars and cameras. Commander Mismis herself was dressed in light clothing and carrying a comm.
“Hey, Commander, I’d like to ask you something. What are you using that comm for?” Nene tilted her head. “We’re all here, so who else would we need to talk to?”
“Oh, did I not tell you?” Commander Mismis replied nonchalantly. “We’re helping one of my friends today.”
“A friend?”
“That’s right. Someone else from the spy group.” Commander Mismis nodded confidently and pulled out the comm. “Another team is going to infiltrate the base tonight. They’ll have ten people in total. And they’ll go through the woods to get to the base.”
“Oh, I see.” Iska nodded. He’d assumed the scouting mission was totally spontaneous, but it seemed that the point had been to support another group all along. “So, Commander, what happens if the other group gets into the base successfully?”
“That means the entire spy team has won. If that happens, our training will be over on the spot, so we’ve got to support them with everything we have!” Commander Mismis parted the underbrush and headed deeper into the woods. “C’mon, you can do it, everybody else!”
“I don’t normally condone relying on others, but this time I’m in full agreement. There’d be nothing better than getting this training exercise over with as soon as possible.” Jhin held up his binoculars. “Boss, when’s the other unit making their move?”
“They should be starting soon. Let me get in contact with them.”
The commander pulled out the comm again.
“This is Unit 907’s commander, Mismis. We’re getting closer to execution time. What’s the situation there?”
“Unit 31 commander, Nagra, here. We’ve rendezvoused with Unit 602.”
A sober man’s voice came over the comm. They could hear the other members of the unit in the background as Commander Nagra spoke. Ten members of the spy group would be participating in the infiltration. Apparently, they were already on standby.
“Where are you now?”
“We’re waiting at the rendezvous point. Right now we’re at the environmental conservation boundary’s ‘forest bear checkpoint,’ and we’ll be heading to the ‘forest rabbit checkpoint’ next. It should take us about an hour to reach the rear side of the enemy base. Then it’s showtime.”
The commanders were using code words.
They’d designated the “forest bear” and “forest rabbit” checkpoints ahead of time to ensure the mission would be a success. The attacking team had opted to use code words to prevent Pilie’s group from eavesdropping and deducing their location.
“Hey, Iska, ‘forest bear’ is a pretty cute code word, isn’t it?”
“I dunno. What if you actually get mauled by a bear in the woods…?”
“Shh! Iska, Nene, quiet. They’re about to head out!”
Mismis pointed into the trees. They could just barely make out people sneaking through the woods through their night-vision binoculars.
“Looks like they’re in camo. The infiltration team did a great job dressing for this.” Jhin sounded impressed. “If they can get to the back of the base, I can’t wait to see how they deal with the wire on the concrete wall.”
They were heading toward a wall equipped with security cameras, where there would also be patrolling soldiers.
How were they planning to get through the defenses with just ten people?
“So what’s our job here, Commander?”
“We just need to stay on standby.” She brought her comm to her ear. “Hello? How’s it going?”
“This is Unit 31. Progress going well down the forest route,” Commander Nagra answered.
They heard the unit’s footsteps parting the undergrowth.
“Uh, um. Good luck out there.”
“Ha-ha, Commander Mismis. You worry too much.”
The commander let out a hearty laugh. Even though it actually fell to his team to execute the spy mission, he sounded quite confident.
“We won’t run into any issues with Commander Pilie leading the team at the base.”
“You know her?”
“Yup. She’s basically the only commander in history who flubbed her first day on the job. She had to write a self-reflection report.”
“Oh, I actually had to do that, too…”
“Hm?”
“Oh, nothing! Ah-ha-ha-ha. Right, no one would have to write a self-reflection report their first day!”
“That’s for sure. An elite combo unit like us wouldn’t lose to the defenses set up by a woman who just squeaked by as a commander. Right, everyone?”
They heard laughter through the comm. It wasn’t just Commander Nagra. Everyone seemed to be chuckling on the other side of the line, as though the mission had practically been handed to them.
“You can rest easy knowing that we’ve got this.”
He seemed very reassuring when he put it like that.
“Oh, um…but have you taken any countermeasures? P is really motivated, after all.”
“Ha-ha-ha. Don’t worry, Commander Mismis. No matter how much spirit she has, she’s still a fail—”
Boom!
Just then, they heard an explosion on the other end of the comm.
“Gaah?!”
Then they heard a scream.
“Uh…Commander?! Commander Nagra?! What happened?!”
“ ”
Communication cut off.
“Iska, over there!” Nene pointed in the direction the unit had been walking.
They looked through their night-vision binoculars. White clouds of pillowy smoke were obscuring the thickets.
“Looks like tear gas-firing equipment. It was hidden in the brush.” Jhin looked through his binoculars. “That’s not all. I don’t see anyone coming out of the gas cloud, so there must have been pit hole traps there, too. I bet Commander Nagra’s team fell into them.”
“P-pit holes?! Are you telling me they walked into a trap?!” Commander Mismis went pale. “But, Jhin, this is meant to be a conservation zone. They couldn’t have been there originally…”
“The defense team must have dug them for this training exercise.”
“During the last few days?!” Mismis spoke into the comm. “Commander Nagra, please answer!”
“Ugh…th-they got us! It was a tear gas trap!”
Iska and the others watched as a large man leaped out from a cloud of tear gas, looking like he was in pain.
“And there are pits all over the place! It was a bloodbath… My whole team—all nine of my troops—got caught!”
“Wh-what?!”
“I never expected her to be so prepared…but I’m still here!”
Perhaps spurred by his sense of duty as an Imperial soldier, or the fact that he couldn’t allow himself to be beaten by a young girl, Commander Nagra ran right through the tear gas. He was still heading for the base.
“Sh-shouldn’t you withdraw?!” Mismis asked.
“Leave this to me. It’s pitch black. No one can see me with camo—”
Flick.
Just then, an intense spotlight shone on Commander Nagra.
“I-impossible! An infrared tracking system?!” he screamed.
This was no normal infrared surveillance camera. It was bona fide Imperial forces equipment.
“I can’t believe it. How much of the budget did Pilie blow on this?!”
“Commander Nagra?!”
“Urgh!”
He ran through the vegetation, but the surveillance equipment followed him wherever he went. And then…
A gigantic net fell on him from above.
“Gaaaaah!”
“Commander, Commander, keep it together!”
Mismis frantically called out to him, only to receive silence on the other end.
“ ”
A few moments later, they finally heard his sad voice over the comm.
“…I’m sorry, Commander Mismis.”
“Commander Nagra?”
“It seems this is where we say goodbye. We’ve all been wiped out.”
“Wh-what?! Commander, you can’t—”
“Be careful out there. That young lady isn’t the same person she once was… I pray fortune will be in your favor!”
The comm cut off. It must have been intercepted by a jamming radio wave from the base.
“Commander, we need to withdraw. Let’s run.”
“B-but!—”
“The defense units will come any minute. We’ll go down like them if we stick around. Don’t waste their sacrifice!”
“Urgh. I-I’m sorry, Commander, and the rest of you!” Mismis cried out like a heroine in a story, wiping away her tears and running after Iska.
“This is so unfair of the defense team! How could they use so much of their budget to protect the base?! How are we supposed to even try tackling that?!”
“…You got over everything that happened real quick.”
“That’s because they’re not playing fair!” Mismis wailed.
They ran through the dark woods.
The spy group had lost ten of its members, but Unit 907 managed to escape under the direction of Commander Mismis.
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