Ifuen leaned over the table, keeping himself up by propping his arms on the table. He stared at the holoscreen, formulating a secret plan in his head. Now usually, he wasn’t this quiet; whenever he had some life-threatening, daring plan of action, he would usually require a little help to think it up, but now he couldn’t trust anyone. He wanted to trust his best friend Jace, who had been at his side since they were little. He wanted to trust Anya, who he had always loved from the bottom of his heart. But letting someone in on the plan would be dangerous; not to him, but to everyone else.

(Ifuen’s p.o.v.)

    Now, I know right now you’re probably wondering how the hell we got here? I’ll take you back, y’know, explain everything, fill you in up to this point in time.

    Alright, first off, you’re probably wondering who I am. My name is Ifuen Forge. I am an acting Sergeant in the Freelancer Enforcement Agency of Regulation, or FEAR. FEAR is a strict agency that handles all security matters and things of that nature. Where exactly are we? We’re on the planet Mandsidian, a couple galaxies away from the planet Earth. Who are we? We are a species (what you humans would call “aliens”) that comes from a place light years away from here, called Mobius. Mandsidian was once a peaceful place; the citizens didn’t bother the FEAR, and we didn’t bother them. But then, everything changed when the Dragon Code attacked. The Dragon Code is a vicious order that runs on killing, dictatorship, and black magic. They came from an unknown planet, very far from the boundaries of our universe, looking to expand their “dynasty” of plunderers and pirates and ruthless criminals.

    Me and Jace have known each other for a long time. Ever since I was in the fifth grade, me and his older brother Isis have been like brothers. We all used to laugh together, and we would play those kid games everyone enjoys… but this war… it changed people. After we graduated from high school, somehow Isis was able to convince me and Jace to enlist ourselves for FEAR. At first, it seemed like all fun and games, but I guess that was just another rude awakening.

    It was here we met Anya. I still remember the day…. Beautiful woman, she was. The picture of youth… boy, was she a handful. She worked at FEAR Command as a dispatcher. What does that mean? Well, basically, she ‘s the one who guides us on our missions, points the way, relays us important intel, all that good stuff. She always stayed in the Command tower, but she would be able to talk to us during the mission through TEAMCOM.

    ANYWAY, back to the story. So we enlisted, met Anya, formed Bravo Team, yada yada… and then, five years later, Dragon Code attacked. It was chaos on Mandsidian. All the freelancers were sent to fight, the battles took place everywhere, and so many people died, there were only three hundred civilians to evac. There used to be eighty million.

    Now, ten years later, there’s only one stronghold that remains on Mandsidian; Constance. We’re still holding the Dragon Code off, but they’re coming closer and closer every day, and hundreds of Freelancers are dying. There’s also this terrible disease spreading around right now, but that’s pretty much the least of our problems.

    And now, we’re here. I’m still trying to formulate this ridiculous plan in my head when Anya comes up to me. “Ifuen, the commander wants to see you,” she said. I continued to stare at the screen. Usually, whenever I’m thinking up one of my plans, I just tune everything else out. It help me focus. But apparently, she doesn’t know that. “Ifuen? Ifuen, are you feeling ok?” she asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I snapped back to reality for a second. “Who, what? Oh, hi Anya…” I said, still focusing on the screens. She sighed. “Ifuen, you have to stop all this… strategizing! It’s not your job to come up with these things. You’re overworking yourself!” she said. I looked at her and sighed. She knew just how to make someone feel guilty. I stood straight up (or, at least, what straight is for me) and I sighed. “Anya, I’m going to be fine. There is completely nothing to worry about.” “But, what if you-” I held up a hand to stop her. “Anya, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m a Freelancer. What’s the worst that can happen?” I said, smiling a bit. She looked down and sighed. “Ifuen, I’ve been worried about you… I mean… we’ve been worried… but that’s not the point. The point is one day you’re probably going to end up thinking yourself to death, and then what’s going to happen when you lose all your sanity?” she asked. I sighed and stumped a little. Damn her innocence. “Anya, I seriously doubt, with all of my heart, that that will every happen. Ever,” I said. “Ifuen-” I put my hands on her shoulders. “Ever.” She looked up at me one last time, then at the ground. “Yeah, so… commander wants you…” she said, in a just barely audible whisper. I sighed. “Anya, I-” “Sergeant Forge! Just the man I wanted to see!” I felt something like a bear paw slap me on my shoulder, and when I looked up, sure enough, there was Commander Victor. “Commander, sir, Anya tells me you wanted to see me for something?” I asked. He chuckled his hearty laugh and started leading me to his office.


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