SG Vol. 1 pt. 34

Another day passes by and it’s as if everything has been forgotten about already.

If there’s one thing that humanity has gotten good at, it’s getting over things and returning to normalcy.

Rubble was dug through, a memorial service was held, and then everybody got on with their lives.

Those of us left injured in the hospitals and any damage done are the only reminders that something bad might have just happened a few days ago.

Aside from that, it’s as if nothing has changed.

What pisses me off the most is that they’ve yet to tell us anything about the attack. No purpose, no explanation – nothing.

The fact that they’re so quiet means that there’s something going on that they don’t want to tell us about.

And I have a feeling that my suspicions are finally about to be confirmed now that Zane has ordered me out of bed to have a one-on-one visit with him back at the base.

Having to walk with a cane pisses me off.

Zane’s door is already open when I arrive, and he beckons me as soon as he sees me. “Close the door behind you,” he says.

I walk in and slam it shut with my cane.

He’s not teasing me for being grumpy or jumping out of his chair to hug me, so something is wrong.

“I’m glad to see that you’re able to walk around now,” Zane says.

“It doesn’t count if I have to rely on a cane,” I reply.

“Your daughter uses a cane, doesn’t she?”

“That’s different. She’s blind, so she has to. This is just a reminder that I fucked up.”

“You always have been too harsh on yourself. At least they’re expecting a full recovery for you.”

“Yeah, at least. So, you going to tell me what’s going on? That better be why I’m here, because you know I’m going to punch you if you brought me here just to make small talk.”

“We’re brothers, Lance. At least let me check on you before getting to business.”

“You wouldn’t know they’re expecting a full recovery if you haven’t been checking on me.”

Zane sighs. “As horrible as your wife may be, you two do go well together with your tempers.”

“Don’t compare me to her.”

“Then stop earning the comparison.”

Annoying bastard. He’s lucky my leg hurts like a bitch still. “You going to get to the point or not?”

“I can’t tell you too much.” Of course he fucking can’t. “But, I can tell you what you’re authorized to hear since I know you don’t know how to look it up yourself.”

“I pilot VSUs, not databases.”

“As simple as ever. Now, as you know, the VRAG launched an attack on us at approximately fourteen hundred hours on the sixth of August – five days ago. Most of the attacking force was shot down before it reached the islands, but several pods landed and the VRAG within the pods destroyed as much as possible before being terminated.”

“Can you get to the parts I don’t know already?”

Zane clears his throat before continuing. “In addition to the Titan-class you fought against, despite being ordered not to by a commanding officer, there were two more Titan-class VRAG that emerged from pods around the island. Each one was at a strategic location. You went against the one targeting here, another landed near our missile defenses and was killed in secondary explosions that destroyed… a significant amount of our defenses, and the third landed up at MCBH.”

“And?”

“At MCBH, it was targeting… certain facilities – facilities that the VRAG should have zero knowledge about.”

“And? The VRAG are a bunch of dumbasses. They probably got lucky and accidentally and just landed in the right spot.”

“While that may be what has happened before, we have reason to believe that this was a targeted attack. Attacking our base and the missile defenses makes sense because they knew of those locations beforehand, but there is zero reason to believe that they knew anything about MCBH and the facilities underneath it. There was a large number of Cutter-class there who immediately tried digging underground before being taken out, and the Titan-class accompanying them focused on defending the Cutter-class. It could have tried to destroy nearby buildings or at least went after the units trying to bait it, but it refused to move. It solely defended the Cutter-class and nothing else.”

“Does this have something to do with that ‘nothing’ on the submarine?”

Zane waits a few seconds before saying, “No.”

That tells me everything that I need to know.

“So, the VRAG somehow knew about the labs under MCBH?” I ask.

“We believe so, yes. If they did… it is a sign of higher intelligence than what we have ever observed from them.”

“Great, so the VRAG are fucking getting smarter?”

“Either that, or they have always been this smart and have been keeping it hidden from us. I would rather it be the former of those two options, honestly.”

“Fucking great.”

“Or, it is possible that they… tracked something. As for what they could have tracked, I have no idea.”

Uh-huh.

“Even if that is what they did, it is still a sign of higher intelligence or a greater unity between them than we have been expecting.”

“So, they’re either smart, or they’re smart and pissed off.”

“That’s one way of putting it, Lance.”

“And this is what you brought me here for? To barely tell me anything other than the that the VRAG are growing up and have working brains now?”

“And, more mutations have been discovered.”

Shit. That reminds me of that Titan-class I fought. It was regenerating which I’ve never heard of before.

“An increased variety of mutations which have been assisting them in countering our weaponry, and the fact that they are seemingly capable of plotting widescale attacks including what happened at MCBH… we are looking at an even greater threat than before.”

I can feel my heart in my stomach.

How am I supposed to – no, if it’s for Naomi, I will do whatever it takes. I don’t care how fucking smart the VRAG might be or how many mutations they might evolve.

“What are we going to do?” I ask.

“We have more units coming in to replace the ones we lost, and Japan is working on tech that should improve our units’ effectiveness even more. Until then, we are going to place a greater emphasis on the training of new cadets. We need to create more aces, not throwaways. All offensive operations have been canceled to focus only on defense until we have an elite force prepared. Then, we’ll go from there,” Zane explains. “We are already planning on having the other instructors copy your… methods. You have already proven to be a far more effective instructor in such a short amount of time. That one cadet of yours has already attracted the attention of some important people.”

“You don’t mean Shitger, do you?”

“I do. He was ready to sacrifice himself for his fellow cadets from what I heard and was injured as a result.”

“Don’t thank me for that. I’ve barely been with the annoying brat.”

“As humble as ever.”

“I’m not being humble, I’m being serious. One week of dealing with me isn’t enough to whip a brat into being ready to sacrifice his life. If he did that, he did that on his own without my influence.”

“And this is why you and Kate are a horrible match for each other. If you were as selfish as her, it might work out, but you are far too caring and humble to handle her.”

“I’m going to punch you if you bring her up again.”