A/N: This story is AU, Hughes is alive, Al is restored, and Ed is alive but still has his automail. Also, Ed is twenty years old in the story.

Chapter 1

"Today is a beautiful day here in Central City, sadly it is spent behind this desk full of paperwork, don't you agree, Colonel Mustang?" General Grumman said as he crossed his fingers and leaned his chin upon his hands.

"Completely, sir." Mustang said as he stood in front of the General's desk.

"I'm glad you agree, Mustang." General Grumman said with a slight smile. "I have just the solution to this problem."

"Problem?"

"Yes, being trapped inside." Grumman said as the smile spread across his face.

Roy waited silently for the General to continued but when he didn't Roy spoke. "What would the solution be, sir?"

"A mission."

"A mission? For me?" Roy asked shocked.

"Yes, you." Grumman said as he unlaced his fingers and turned his chair to face the window. "And a couple more hand-picked soldiers."

"Who are the other soldiers, sir?" Roy asked praying that the soldiers would be competent.

"Its all in this file for you. You will be commanding officer for this mission though there will be a higher ranked officer in your party. I trust that you will be able to handle this mission with no problems." General Grumman said as he turned back from the window and picked up a file off his desk before presenting the file to Roy.

The colonel took the file. "I'm confused, sir." Roy said as he stared at the manila folder in his hand. "How does this solve the problem of being inside on a nice day in Central?"

General Grumman laughed. "You will be spending a lot of time outdoors with this mission, soldier. I only wished I was not required to be here so that I could accompany you."

Roy sighed. "Thank you sir. When do we start the mission?"

"You are to be on a train tomorrow at noon."

"But I have a date tomorrow night." Roy said with a frown.

"You'll just have to reschedule then," Grumman said. He then turned back to the window and stared longingly outside at the perfect sunny day. "You're dismissed, Colonel."

"Yes Sir," Roy said with a salute before turning and exiting the office.

As he walked down the long corridor he open the file to read it. He quickly read through it to find the summary. "Colonel Roy Mustang will be the commanding officer of a group of 14 soldiers that are to take a train to West City, from there take a train to Pendleton and from there travel North to the border of Creta to form an outpost. The goal of the outpost is to gather information of Creta, watch for Creta spies, and guard the border from illegal passages between countries. The unit will consist of the following soldiers, ranked lowest to highest: Private Sheska; Warrant Officer Vato Falman; Sergeant Denny Brosh; Master Sergeant Kain Fuery; 2nd Lieutenant Maria Ross; 2nd Lieutenant Jean Havoc; 2nd Lieutenant Rebecca Catalina; 2nd Lieutenant Heymans Breda; Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye; Major Edward Elric; Major Miles; Major Alex Louis Armstrong; Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes; General Olivier Mira Armstrong." Roy paused after reading the names. "I'm not sure I like the way this sounds, I'm going to be trapped with a bunch of idiots." Mustang sighed and looked up to see that he was at his office. Now was as good as time as any to tell the crew they would be shipping out.

Roy entered the office to see Hawkeye waiting for him inside the door. "General Grumman wanted me to give you these, sir. He said you would know what to do with them." Riza handed Roy a large stack of manila folders.

"Thanks, I have an announcement so rally the troops." Roy said as he carried the stack of folders back to his desk, where he dumped them, before sitting down in his chair. He closed his eyes for a couple of minutes, thinking to him self that he should have quit the military years ago.

"Sir." Riza said loudly, to get the Colonel's attention. Roy opened his eyes to see his crew lined up before his desk.

"I have an announcement, crew. No complaining about any of this, it's not going to make any of us happy." Roy said as he sorted through folders. "We have a mission."

"A mission, Boss?" Havoc said as his cigarette dangled frown his lips.

"Yes, a mission. We are being shipped to the West." Roy said with a sigh. "And we ship out tomorrow at noon."

There was shouts of protest from the crew, but none were louder than Edward's. "But, Colonel, I just got my brother restored, I'm suppose to be going on leave to spend time with him and Winry, I can't go on a mission."

"We've been given orders by the General so your leave will just have to wait, Fullmetal." Roy said with a sigh.

"What's the mission, Chief?" Breda asked with a smirk.

"We're are being shipped to the Creta border to form an outpost." Roy said as he picked up his manila folder. "I have the reports for each of you here."

"Colonel, what is the point of this mission? Creta hasn't been a threat for a while now, this mission seems odd." Hawkeye said with a frown.

"Honestly, Hawkeye, I have no idea what the General has up his sleeve this time." Mustang said with a frown. "I'm sure he has everything perfectly planned for us to reach his goal though." Roy opened his folder and glanced at the first page of the report. "I might be able to figure it out if I actually read the full report."

"You're presenting this to us without knowing the full details, Sir." Riza said shaking her head in disbelief.

Roy sighed then began to read the report out loud where he left off earlier. "The soldiers will be broken up into battle buddies to complete the mission. The unit will be at the outpost for a minimum of one month-"

"A month!" The group shouted in protest.

Roy ignored the crew and continued, "or maximum a year to complete the mission."

"A year!" The crew shouted.

"Sir, what exactly is our mission?" Hawkeye asked frowning.

"As far as I can tell there isn't one, the only thing the report says is that we make an outpost to protect the border. There doesn't seem to be a very specific goal." Roy said with a frown. "I'm going to pass out the files and see if any of you can figure this out." Roy began to open each file and pass out to the assigned officer.

"Sir, would I be allowed to leave early this afternoon since we have to be on a train tomorrow to leave?" Fuery asked as he accepted his file.

"I'm going to dismiss everyone for the rest of the afternoon to prepare yourselves." Roy said with a frown glancing out the window. "You are all to report to the train station by 1130 hours tomorrow. The train leaves promptly at noon, any soldier left behind will be court-martialed." Roy finished passing out the folders and began to gather his things. The crew dispersed and gathered their own things before leaving the office one at a time.

Hawkeye was the last out of the office, she made sure files were locked up and the lights were shut off before she exited the office. "I have a feeling I'm going to miss this office."