***** "It's the last day of school! Summer vacation, I'm coming!" Yuuna exclaimed at breakfast.
"Shut up, I'm not ready for my department speech and school speech yet..." I growled.
"It's ok, we feel you," Daniel said as he eyed Joseph, who sighed in agreement.
"Yeah but I also have to do one for the whole school..." I whined.
"Did you sleep?"
"Of course not, Daniel and I were practicing our speeches together for the whole night!" I wailed. It's been three weeks since the incident with those Capital scientists occurred. I've been looking through all the files inside the data-pads, and have decided to share it with a person that I could really trust with this classified information.
"Are we changing dorms next year?" Alex asked.
"No, unless you want to. You live in a double with Andre, right? So it's not bad," I replied.
"Luca, I heard you were looking for me!" Lindsey said as she entered the lounge.
"Eh, where are you going?" Yuuna asked in a suspicious voice.
"I just need her to do some analyzing for me," I replied and waved her off. "Plus, why do you care?"
"Humph," she said as she puffed her cheeks.
"Luca, you made your girlfriend mad!" Daniel exclaimed as I rolled my eyes and walked away.
"She's not my girlfriend..." I muttered in annoyance as I left the dining hall. As childhood friends, I struggle to actually see her as my girlfriend, even though we almost kissed after the Taoyuan Disaster.
"So, what do you want me to do?" Lindsey asked as we walked down the hall.
"This place isn't safe; can we talk at your dorm room?" I asked.
"Hehe, you wanna do some lewd stuff?" Lindsey teased.
"Seriously, I've got some really important data that I need you to analyze and research," I stated. "You're the only one that I can really trust with this information."
"I see..." Lindsey mumbled as the two of us headed for her dorm. When we arrived at the girl's dorm, a few girls chatting in the common room spotted us as we walked past.
"Ehh, isn't that the commander?" one of them asked Lindsey.
"Guys shouldn't be in a girl's room!" another exclaimed.
"He's got something that he really needs to discuss with me," Lindsey replied coolly as we headed for the elevator. Once we entered Lindsey's room on the third floor, I immediately locked the door added an alarm on it.
"Wow, are you sure you're not gonna doing something weird here?" Lindsey asked slyly.
"We can save that for later," I teased back. "But now, we've got more important things on our hands right now."
"Ok."
"You can't tell anyone about this, promise?"
"I promise, so what is it?" Lindsey asked impatiently. I covered the windows with curtains and a sound-proof shield, which will block off our sound to other people.
"During my patrol a few weeks ago, I ran into a group of scientists that worked for the Capital. They were killed during an ambush by Unknowns and I recovered the data from them," I explained as I laid down the data. Lindsey looked at one of the data-pads and exclaimed, "What... What are these?"
"Look at these," I said, passing the other data-pads to her.
"Project Harvest, Project Hades, Project Containment... These are all classified information!" Lindsey exclaimed. "These aren't in the archives or the secret archives, these are off-the-chart missions!"
"Look at the newest one," I said and gave her another pad.
"Project Paladin Shields, goals: to create a shield that would prevent livestock from leaving this place. Livestock?" Lindsey read with confusion.
"Livestock as in us, I think," I replied.
"It says that the chips implanted in our neck would be upgraded to increase aggression towards humans. But I thought we are the humans?" Lindsey asked.
"This is the problem, I need you two to go dig out information from the archives and special archives, even from the Safe," I requested.
"The Safe? You can't go there unless you have special permission!" Lindsey exclaimed.
"I've already acquired them for you two. It not that suspicious when two girls working for the Command department are looking for files compared to the commander of the army," I replied.
"That is," Lindsey pointed out, "if we are really living in a made-up world and the brass are onto you."
"Please, I really need to know. For the sake of us!" I pleaded.
"Fine... But we have to do it during vacation time though," Lindsey replied.
"I'll treat you," I suggested.
"We can talk about the terms of surrender later. Right now, I think we should get our research starting," Lindsey gleamed.
"Thank you! I owe you two," I thanked her as I deactivated the safety items.
"By the way, why did you entrust this with me and not with Joseph?" Lindsey asked.
"Well, Joseph sometimes has a rambling mouth, and I know you are our ace at analyzing data," I explained.
"Any other reasons?" Lindsey pestered as she crawled towards me.
"Well..." I stammered.
"Well?" Lindsey persisted.
"Let's just say that you're pretty cute..." I mumbled.
"Really?"
Lindsey moved in front of me, her face almost touching me. I heart raced as her pretty face drew near me. The sixteen-year-old teenager had well-developed body, I could see her matured breasts and cleavage through her loosened uniform. A sweet apple smell from her morning-washed hair filled my nose as my heart jumped harder and harder.
This is bad, I'm really falling for her!I thought as I tried to calm myself down. Lindsey had always caught my attention somehow. I tried to stay away from my relationship and put my job as a commander in front, but no matter how hard I try, Lindsey will somehow always appear in my mind. Is this what you call love?
"Yeah..."
"Are you jealous that Atlas is dating me then?" Lindsey teased.
"No... Not really... Like, why would I care?" I grumbled.
"Don't be shy," Lindsey whispered in my ear.
"Can you not tease me?" I whined as I stood up and headed for the door.
"Aw, that's no fun," Lindsey chuckled as the two of us exited the room. Once we entered the elevator, another person walked out of Lindsey's room and said, "I didn't hear what they were talking about, but we should get eyes on the girl too. What? Yes, I think it's about Operation Livestock. Don't lock them out of the documents, or else they'll know something is wrong. We'll eliminate them when we get the chance."
***** "I'll now hand it over to your commander, Lucania Lee," Supervisor Hulkenburg said as he ended his speech. I breathed in deeply and walked onto the stage, shook hands with the supervisor and the school headmaster under the applause of the students and the teachers, and got ready on the podium.
"Give it your best!" Daniel exclaimed.
"Chill guys," I said through the microphone and laughed. "It's been a rough year for us. The Taoyuan Massacre saw us lose more than two thousand students. Unfortunately, even as adults, the Administration couldn't protect us."
The crowd murmured in agreement as people looked down with sadness in their eyes just as I spot the president of the Capital glaring at me from a private room located in the back of the auditorium.
"Ok, back to the main point. Throughout the three years as middle-schoolers and trainees, we've cried together, laughed together, fought together, and stayed together. I know it's pretty hard to accept the fact that you can lose friends during battles, but we as a group have to move on! We're not here to protect those lame adults as they sit in their air-conditioned room, but to protect ourselves and stay as a united group! We may not be family, but when you need help, there will always be people there for you!"
I paused and scanned through the students. Some were already sobbing, others were still gleaming in excitement, but most of them gave me a tired expression, their sharpness dulled by the constant bloodshed and workload.
"We started a few years ago like strangers, and I know it's hard for some of you to accept others when you have no one to be there solely for you. I really want to reiterate this, we are a family. We are a family bounded not by blood or kinship, but responsibilities and duties, by friendships and love. We aren't all connected, but when you need help, there will always be someone there for you. We are heading towards summer vacation, the essence of youth! Although school manners are still in play, you are pretty much free. Relax, enjoy it with friends, that's what summer vacation is all about. Go to the beach, go shopping, go to festivals, enjoy yourself! It's summer vacation!"
As I left the podium, I shouted, "Class dismissed!"
As the crowd applauded, I again shook hands with the supervisors and headmaster of the school. The crowd dispersed after my dismissal and headed for the exits while I quickly jumped off the stage to join up with my friends.
"Not bad," Joseph mused, "not bad at all."