Prologue
About two years ago
"My grandad fought in the Civil War. Before I left, he taught me what it takes to stay alive but...nothing could have prepared me with what I saw. New machines of war-like the tank-can sometimes change the battlefield overnight. Luckily they were mostly on our side...mostly"
An American soldier recalling his experience at the Battle of Cambrai
Jonah never liked it when Thomas Hayward requested his presence. From past visits, he knew that meant he would yell at him for some minor mess-up someone in his department has done because APPARENTLY since he was the manager of business operations, he was at fault for anything an employee did wrong (he had inferred that part).
Still, Jonah knew that he couldn't be fired because he was too crucial for the company, and no one wanted his job because of the frequent yelling.
I don't think I did anything wrong, Jonah wondered. Unless someone was trying to get me fired AGAIN. He has had many employees purposefully mess up just to get him fired. Luckily, His boss could tell, and he had the employee fired, which he thought was a sign that he was wanted.
When he reached Mr. Hayward's office, his boss was standing over the touchscreen that covered the surface of the desk with his personal bodyguard Dominus, a huge, burly, and bald man in a black suit, to his left, "You called me sir?" Jonah asked, standing at the doorway.
"Ah yes, come in Jonah," Mr. Hayward replied in an oddly welcoming tone he'd never heard before, signaling for him to come in, "I need your help with something."
"What is it, sir?" Jonah asked curiously as he walked into his office, which was black with two huge windows at the back and a logo of Hayward industries with the company's slogan 'Changing the future, for you.' he wondered why he needed help. He RARELY needed help with anything.
"I was looking through the candidates for Operation New Eden, and a candidate caught my eye," he pulled up a photo of a candidate on his desk, "What do you know about Nate Munoz?"
Jonah remembered Nate. His black hair looked like he was wearing a mop, he had glasses, and he was surprisingly tall, "Well sir, he's a great sharpshooter, quite intelligent, great build, and . . . "Jonah has started to list off before Mr. Hayward interrupted him.
"No, I mean, does he have any significant others?" Mr. Hayward clarified.
"Uh . . . no?" Jonah said, unsure why his boss would ask such a question, "He's an orphan, has no friends . . . Oh! He has a girlfriend named Abigail, but sir, they've been together for almost three years, surely he won't leave her!"
"I know that Jonah!" His boss snapped back, "Do you know if any of our hitmen are available?"
Jonah gasped in horror, "Sir! Surely you can't be serious!" he pleaded with Mr. Hayward. Jonah was perturbed by the fact that not only did Hayward industries had full-time hitmen and assassins, but he was also disturbed by the fact that they were always so busy, "Why don't you consider someone who has no significant others. This person was in the military . . . "Jonah reached his hand to the screen, but Dominus reached over and swatted his hand away before he could pull up the file for the other candidate.
"NO!" Mr. Hayward stubbornly said as his bodyguard swatted Jonah's hand away, "He's the perfect candidate for O.N.E." (O.N.E was what he liked to call Operation New Eden, and he demanded that was what everyone had to call it also).
"Sir, no offense," Jonah warily said, knowing what he was about to say might get him yelled at, "But why should we even do O.N.E anyway? I mean, planet C96 supplies all our needs. We don't need to colonize another planet." he jumped back after finishing his question, expecting to be yelled at, but Mr. Hayward just sighed.
"You see, Jonah," he started on another speech on why the end goal justifies the means, "There are three reasons. First, the human race needs to expand. We're constantly growing. Soon, we'll need a new planet to live on, and the dragon planet is the perfect one. Second, it's a morale booster for humanity. Once we colonize the planet, people will realize that anything is possible. Finally, it'll make our stocks skyrocket! And besides, other humans live there, too." Jonah wasn't surprised at the third option. He was sure that Mr. Hayward would sell the world to aliens if they gave him a good enough offer.
"Yeah, but they're already used to the dragons that live there AND we don't know anything about the dragons." Jonah reminded him, "Anyone we send will probably be eaten by the end of the week."
"So, we just keep sending candidates until one actually manages to survive, and I chose Nate to be the first one." Mr. Hayward shot back.
He sure seems confident in his choice. Maybe I should trust Nate too. Jonah wondered. He'd never met Nate before, but honestly, he'd seem like the right choice based on what his file said.
"and, by the way, you're wrong about us not knowing anything about the dragons." Mr. Hayward added. He then pulled up a satellite picture of the surface of the dragon world on his desk, "our satellite images show us that the continent is divided into six regions, each with their own dragon type to go with." He then started to list them.
"Ironically, the continent is shaped like a dragon, so here are the regions. The head is a snowy tundra, with white dragons that live there, so they must be resistant to freezing temperatures. Next, the chest is a desert with a few oases here and there, so the sand-colored dragons there must be able to live in hot temperatures and go without water for a while. The wings are a mountainous region, so those dragons must be strong fliers to get over the mountains. The back is a huge swamp, but if there are any dragons there, they must blend in with the mud because our life scanners detect life there but there is no sign of it. The hind is a massive rainforest, although we're not even sure there are dragons there because we can't get a clear view of it because the canopy is so thick that our life scanners can't get through it. Finally, the tail seems to be a chain of islands, so the dragons there must be able to breathe underwater."
"Ok, but how are we going to defend Nate from the dragons?" Jonah questioned, "Surely the dragons eat humans."
"Ha! You said Nate! You know he's a viable candidate!" his boss said triumphantly, then continued, "Anyway, for his melee weapons, we arm him with a kukri and a raider club. Now, he's well educated when it comes to WWI, so we arm him with a revolver Mk VI, a model-10 A shotgun, and a Ross MkIII rifle, along with a huge backpack filled with other supplies necessary."
"What if he runs out of ammo?"
"I already came up with a solution for that problem." He pulled out a small cube from his pocket. It had a blue base with a small clear container with a door on top of the base. "This here is a new invention. I call it the AutoAmmo. It rearranges the molecules in the air to automatically to create ammunition. Watch." He pressed a button on the AutoAmmo, and with a flash of light, a small cylinder with a handle holding six bullets appeared. "This AutoAmmo is for the Revolver MK VI, but we have other ones for other guns."
Jonah was surprised by his invention. "Ok. Now, sir, Nate survives long enough for us to colonize the planet. Then what?" Jonah asked, deciding that now was an appropriate time to start quizzing his boss about his intentions.
"well, I've been deciding on whether to exterminate the dragons or enslave them, but I'm leaning toward the first option since dragons will probably be hard to enslave." Mr. Hayward answered, not suspicious of why he asked that question, "But that's WAY in the future! We'll cross that bridge when we have to."
"So, basically, this a "the 100" situation?" Jonah asked. He had recommended that show to his boss, but he REALLY hoped that wasn't where he got the idea for O.N.E from, "We just send him there to see if we can colonize the planet?"
"Yes, that is essentially what O.N.E is." Mr. Hayward said quietly, avoiding eye contact with him.
"Ok. just to clarify, I should contact Nate to let him know that he's been chosen for O.N.E?" Jonah asked to make sure. He had gotten into trouble many times for doing things that he thought he had been given permission to do but hadn't.
"Actually, I would like you to wait on contacting him until one of our hitmen has…taken care of Abigail." Mr. Hayward paused in an ominous tone of voice that made Jonah sick to his stomach.
"Sir, are you sure Nate is the candidate you want for O.N.E?" Jonah tried to plead with him, which usually didn't work, "killing someone close to him seems a bit too extreme."
His boss pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "Jonah, sometimes, to make an omelet…"
"You have to break a few eggs. Yeah, I understand." Jonah finished his favorite saying. He then sighed, "Fine, I'll check with our hitmen."
"Excellent!" his boss exclaimed, jumping out of his seat, "We have SO much work to do. People to get taken care of, candidates to train, spacecraft to build. Oh, this is so exciting!" he then walked to Jonah and then put his arm on his shoulders.
"Onward Jonah, for we have much work to do."