“The last time I had been on the front line was two years ago. It hadn’t gone well for us; we lost most of our men to the enemy before they could even reach the shore. The only thing that kept me from losing all hope of surviving that mess was the memories of my family. Those memories gave me something solid on which to rely when everything else around me seemed to be slipping away into chaos. It was an anchor point,” Sergeant Raveena said.

She was tall and slender with a lean body structure similar to athletes. Her skin tone was dark, as if she was used to sunbathing often. Her hairs were dark brown, but her eyes were green like emeralds or jade stones.

She took a sip of coffee while looking out over the forest. A gentle breeze blew across her face and passed through the open window behind her. In the distance there was nothing visible except for the trees growing thickly everywhere in front of her.

She took another sip of her coffee and looked up at Roma as she remembered those sad moments. Roma was the total opposite of the young woman she was talking to; she was pallid like a ghost. Her hair was black, and she wore a pair of glasses.

“But this is different.” Her eyes turned cold again as soon as she saw the look on Sergeant Roma’s face. “Thaids are a bigger threat than the Hininas,” she added.

Both she and Roma were stationed at the city’s edge, in a military building made to deploy troops fast in case of attacks. There were several such buildings scattered across the city’s perimeter. The two women stood next to each other and talked quietly about the days in which the war started.

Sergeant Raveena had just returned after spending some days off duty in town. And now that she had returned to work, she found out that her old friend Roma had also started working at the border. They spent some time talking about war, and she told her about how Thaids had attacked a nearby village three weeks prior.

There were no casualties among civilians because their defenses managed to hold against the attackers long enough for help to arrive, but five soldiers died defending the place.

The thaid situation was becoming more and more difficult since the number of attacks increased in the last months.

Most recently, a platoon of twenty-five soldiers went missing during an attack by what appeared to have been thousands of these monsters. Their bodies weren’t found, leaving the militaries to wonder what had happened to them.

“Do you think we will be able to stop the thaid invasion?” Roma asked. ．

Her voice sounded distant as if she was thinking deeply.

“I don’t know. We need better soldiers and training. But we can try.” Raveena shrugged.

They both sat on the room’s couch and continued drinking. After half an hour or so, a knock came on the door, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching quickly towards the area where they were sitting.

A soldier wearing full combat gear entered the room without waiting for permission. He stopped right beside his superiors’ table and saluted. His helmet covered most of the side of his head, giving him the appearance of being bald.

He spoke clearly: “We got reports of a group of Thaids heading our way!” he announced.

His voice echoed inside the small quarters. Both officers stared at the man, trying hard not to show any emotion. They knew exactly what would happen if either showed anything less than absolute confidence.

“How many?” Raveena asked calmly.

“A thousand strong, sir!”

In response, she nodded slightly and ordered, “Get your squad ready and inform Colonel Tiwana immediately.”

After saying that, she walked toward the door, still holding the cup of hot liquid between her hands. Roma followed suit.

The hallway outside the room was full of soldiers scurrying left and right, carrying weapons and armor. She could see a few men running past them and entering the elevator from the end of the hall.

At the same time, the doors opened, and people exited them. One of the men walking out said something loud enough for everyone around to hear.

“It looks like the Thaids are headed straight here.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers reacted; they grabbed their guns and headed out of the building, going in position over the building’s defensive positions.

Everyone rushed forward and began climbing the stairs. They moved like a well-oiled machine. As far as she could tell, all the troops were fully equipped with protective equipment. Considering how much damage a single thaid could cause, it seemed like a good thing.

The elevators were packed with soldiers rushing to get to the upper floors. Others climbed down the stairwell instead, taking turns until the crowd thinned.

Roma and Raveena went to the bottom floor. When they did, they noticed a couple of soldiers standing guard at the entrance to the corridor.

One of the guards stepped aside and waved them in. Soon afterward, she and Roma arrived at the colonel’s office.

Roma knocked twice before receiving permission to enter. The inside of the room was neat and tidy, everything neatly arranged in its own place.

A large desk dominated the center of the space, behind which was seated Colonel Mirko Tiwana. He was tall and blond and was wearing a light gray uniform.

The man rose from his chair when she saw Raveena and Roma walk through the door. The two women made a salute and then bowed politely.

Tiwana smiled broadly and greeted them warmly. He looked at each of them carefully, then addressed the two:

“As you are probably aware, a problem arose,” he said.

Both women nodded.

“Our forces reported that a group of a thousand thaids is approaching this building. I want Roma to lead a squad on the east side of the premises while Raveena the west side.”

At the mention of those words, Roma felt herself tensing up. She wasn’t new in commanding squads, yet fighting the thaids was never simple, and having lives depend on her decisions was a great burden. Raveena was in the same situation too.

But there was no other choice, and after hearing about the enemy numbers, the only option available was to fight.

Raveena stood straighter.

“Yes, sir! Understood!” both the women replied in unison.

Tiwana gave explained the plan to the two women. Once he was done, they turned toward the door leading outside the room after showing their respect to their superior and started walking toward the exit.

Colonel Tiwana watched the two leave the room, leaving him alone again. He sighed deeply. Then he placed one hand on the edge of his desk and leaned back into his seat.

The two women then went to the meeting room; eight people were waiting for them inside the room, standing by the walls. All of these individuals had ranks above private and most likely held higher ranks than that.

But even though they were veterans, none of them appeared worried or anxious. Instead, they were looking relaxed, almost bored.

They waited patiently for the two women to arrive, and once they entered the room, silence fell upon the gathering. The soldiers made a military salute at the two officers and waited for her to speak.

“I’m Sergeant Raveena Greene, and this is Sergeant Roma Sinclair,” Raveena said. “You have been assigned to be part of our squads,” she added. They stared at her silently.

“You, you, you, and you will come with me,” then Roma said. “The rest will go with sergeant Greene. Is it clear?”

“Sir, Yes, Sir.”

And so, the two squads were formed. Each squad consisted of four members plus an officer. All these men and women were powerful and trained; their specialty was melee fighting.

A small briefing about each other’s BCP started, and after they were done, the two women had a general understanding of the soldiers’ capabilities.

The teams left the building together and headed toward their respective defensive positions. On the way, Roma took note of the weapons some of the team members carried. Some of them had laser rifles, and others wielded pistols.

In addition, many of them wore armor plates over their bodies. It seemed all the equipment needed to defend themselves against the thaids’ attacks was here. It was true that they mostly used their BCP to fight, but not all of them had powers that allowed them to attack from a distance, which was necessary in some situations.

The two groups were tasked to stop the thaids from approaching the building and had to fight melee, mostly since the soldiers over the roof of the building, and many other defensive positions, were already there with their weapons drawn, waiting for the enemy.

After reaching the designated location, the first thing Roma did was give orders to her squad.

“We’re going to form a circle around this area. We’ll keep watch on the northeastern corner of the building, where we can see what’s happening out front.

It was then that the soldiers started hearing something. They couldn’t discern what it was, but logically it could only be one thing. Thaids footsteps.

A few minutes later, the sound got louder and more distinct. Soon enough, the noise came closer, and soon after that. The two squads found themselves face-to-face with the enemy.

“Stand in position!” Roma said to her soldiers at the east side of the building. Raveena did the same on the opposite side. It was then that the sound of rifles started echoing through the air.