Anna first had a meeting with the student council. To avoid suspicion for Anna's team, the upper echelon with the knowledge of the existence of Team Spectre established a new branch of the student council, the disciplinary committee. However, that was only being used as a front, and Anna didn't actually need to operate it.
Anna was now on the way to the student council. She arrived just outside of their office. As the best academy in the entire country, the student council, which held power over the student body, was a very prestigious group.
Anna knocked on the door to the office and heard Emily's voice from inside.
"Come in."
With Emily's permission, Anna opened the door and walked in. As expected, it was on a completely different level from the offices of the school clubs. The floor was covered in a layer of brown carpet. There were glass shelves around the room that were filled with trophies the academy had obtained in the past year. Any ones older than that were stored in the storage room.
Emily stood beside a huge desk, at which sat a boy. The main student council had 5 members, but they were the only two present at the time.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Anna Hastings, and I believe we have a meeting scheduled," Anna spoke first and gave a salute.
"Yes. I have heard much about you, Anna." The boy stood up from his seat and walked over to Anna, offering her a handshake.
"My name is Jack Grey. It's nice to meet you, too."
"Grey? Are you related to Mr.Grey, the combat instructor?" Anna asked.
"Yes. Mr.Grey is my uncle. Let's talk over here." Jack guided Anna to the couches on one side of the room.
They sat down across from each other. Jack gave Emily a wave. She gave a nod and left the room, closing the door on her way out.
"Now, Anna. I have been told of the existence of your special operations team, and I understand that the disciplinary committee is merely a front." Jack said.
Anna wasn't really surprised that the student with the highest position in the academy was informed of the classified Team Spectre.
"There's really no need for a disciplinary committee since most of the students are trained with high etiquette. Obviously, there are exceptions, like Logan, but that's not enough to require a special branch to suppress." Jack continued.
"However, I believe that was one of the reasons why the top brass assigned you with the committee, as you don't need much effort to operate it."
"Right," Anna responded.
"But you guys still need to look the part. If you see any conflicts going on at school, try to intervene."
"Naturally."
"Well then. The student council will take care of everything regarding public relations. You guys don't need to worry about anything, just leave it to us."
"Thanks."
Anna got up and shook Jack's hand one more time. He walked her out of the room. Jack seemed like a competent person, so Anna felt like she could rest assured.
Now she had a meeting with Secretary Campbell. Anna had been told that her office was a couple of rooms away from the student council, so she began walking toward there.
She entered the room after knocking on the door.
"Good day, Secretary Campbell." Anna greeted the woman sitting at the desk in the middle of the office.
The room had a much lower profile than the student council office. It looked more like a room from a government agency rather than a school.
"You can just call me Aunt Jenny when we are alone." Secretary Campbell said. Her sentence did not match her stern expression.
"Sure, Aunt Jenny, what did you call me here for?" Anna smiled at Secretary Campbell's request.
"As General Arden, and I am sure your teacher, have told you, the top 500 students in the academy will be going to the GMRS Citadel next week."
"That's right."
"I believe that this will be an excellent opportunity for your team. The aircraft will highly likely be attacked by the Derunce Freedom Fighters as we are on the ocean border to regions under their control."
"Should you be sending students if you are expecting an enemy attack?"
"Normally, no. However, the GMRS Citadel is armed with the most advanced technology our military has to offer. They don't pose a serious threat. We could even use them as target practice for the students if the opportunity arises."
"That's..." Anna was speechless at Secretary Campbell's confidence.
"Getting back to the topic. I know that you and Chris can make it to the top 500 with no doubt, however, I am not so sure about your other teammates, as they heavily specialize in particular fields and lack in everything else."
"Right." Anna thought of her teammates. Will, Theo, and Charl could barely hit targets from 50 meters away, and Leah had almost no knowledge of military practices other than marksmanship.
"So, I pulled some strings and gave the entire student council free passes. Naturally, that would include the disciplinary committee."
"That's good." Anna was a little relieved that she wouldn't have to spend a month with Chris alone. Even though that thought excited her a little.
"Given that the recent attack had failed miserably, we don't think the Freedom Fighters will make another move on the school any time soon, so Team Spectre will be on standby until you are told otherwise."
"Got it."
Anna left the room after a wave of dismissal.
Now, one last thing, Anna thought.
After all that happened with the mercenary incident, Anna had become very busy on the first day of school.
Anna had to check up with Mr.Douglas since she had fired her pistol. So now she is on her way to the smithing department.
She knocked on the door to the office of the department head, Mr.Douglas, but an unfamiliar voice came from within.
"Come in."
Anna opened the door, and inside was a boy around her age, but he wasn't wearing the academy uniform. Anna noticed that he looked somewhat similar to Mr.Douglas, so she just assumed he was his grandson.
"Hi. I am here to see Mr.Douglas."
"Right. Something came up, so he won't be back today. He asked me to take care of most of the work." The boy looked over to Anna and said.
Anna got a closer look at his face and realized that she had seen him before.
"James? From Hamilton-Douglas?"
"Oh, Ms.Hastings. Fancy seeing you here." He seemed to have recognized Anna as well.
He was personnel working at the test fly sites at Anna's summer job. But since Anna had never seen him do any work, she wasn't sure what his job actually was.
Anna came to get the Golden Rose inspected, but since it was made with super high complexity, not every weaponsmith could perform maintenance.
"James. I came for a check-up on my personal firearm. Do you have any experience in weaponsmithing?" Anna asked.
"Ah, so you were the one my father was talking about."
"I don't think I have ever met your father," Anna said, assuming that his father was the son of Mr.Douglas.
"Oh no, you have. Mr.Douglas is my father." James said with a smile.
"Y-Your father? Mr.Douglas is your father? But that would mean…" Anna was surprised.
"That's right. I don't usually tell this to a lot of people, but since you are a fellow heir, I don't see why telling you would be bad."
Anna had heard that Mr.Douglas had founded the Hamilton-Douglas Heavy Industries company with a genius aviation engineer, Dr.Hamilton back in his prime. Dr.Hamilton had passed away a couple of years back without an heir, so Mr.Douglas took over the entire company. Out of his respect for Hamilton, Douglas kept the name. After Douglas had left the development sector and joined the academy, he passed down the entire operations of the company to his son, who was standing right in front of Anna.
"Um, Nice to meet you, Mr.Douglas…" Anna was not sure how to act. Hamilton Douglas Heavy Industries was the biggest benefactor to the war. They made everything from tanks to jets to warships. That would mean in terms of wealth and influence, the Douglas noble family was the highest in the country, right below the Ardens themselves.
"Just call me James as before. Most people don't know that Hamilton-Douglas is managed by a 20-year old, and I don't plan on letting more people find out." James smiled.
"Sure."
"Anyways, while I specialize in aviation engineering, I am quite confident in my skills as a weaponsmith. Can I take a look at the renowned Golden Rose?" James asked.
"Yeah."
Anna took the pistol out of her holster and handed it to James.
"Beautiful. As expected from Hastings Firearms's prized possession."
"That's exactly what Mr.Douglas said, too."
"Haha. Like father, like son, right?"
"Yep."
James put the pistol down onto the workbench. He disassembled the pistol no problem, but it wasn't as swift as Mr.Douglas was.
"Amazing. There is some gunpowder residue left in the chamber, but it looks like there is no wear at all." James said while he examined the receiver.
"Well, there isn't really much for me to do. I reckon you can probably fire a hundred more rounds before I even need to do another inspection." James put the gun back together.
"Great, that's good to know." Anna took the gun as James handed it back to her. She began walking out of the room.
"Wait, Anna. There is one more thing I need to tell you." James stopped her.
"What is it?" Anna walked back to James.
"Your mother had requested for Hamilton-Douglas Heavy Industries to be a sponsor for your special operations team, so if you need anything machinery-wise, we are happy to help."
Anna didn't know that many people were informed of the existence of her highly classified squad. But remembering that James Douglas was the president of Hamilton-Douglas, the biggest contributor to the front-lines, she understood.
"Sure. Oh, the aircraft on GMRS Citadel should be made by Hamilton-Douglas, right?" Anna said.
"Yeah. In fact, most of them are the new generation of jet fighters that were put into service last year, so you should have already piloted them during your summer job."
"Oh really? I remember some of them. Which ones are aboard the Citadel?"
"Let's see. I believe there is the 2 seater G-22 Falcon, the single-seater G-18 Wasp, and the B-10 Lightning Bolt. Since the B-10 is mainly air to ground, you will only be piloting the G-22 and G-18."
Anna remembered all of these aircraft. They were the most expensive and advanced ones out of the 30 something planes she test flew. It made sense for the GMRS Citadel to carry the best aircrafts available.
"That's good. They were by no means easy to pilot, but they sure were the best by far. I think the students will have a lot of fun with them."
"Yeah, I think so, too. I helped design them, you know?" James flaunted a little.
"That's pretty impressive." Anna smiled, which made James even more proud.
"That's all I need you for Anna, you are free to leave now."
"Okay. Bye, then."
Anna waved at James and left the room. Lunchtime was almost over, so Anna headed straight for the next class. She had airsoft training with Chris's class next.
Anna had already seen Chris in action, and it was real action, not training. Anna recalled the breach and clear operation during the mercenary attack. Since she was focusing on her own task, she didn't get a good look at Chris, but she knew he was efficient after seeing the clean bullet holes through the chests and heads on the mercenaries after the fact.
Airsoft training was pretty common. The academy even had a training ground dedicated to airsoft. However, it was usually drills that they practiced, not actual skirmishes. When classes had joint airsoft training, they held skirmishes instead, but the last time Anna had taken part in one was a couple of years ago.
Arriving at the training grounds, Anna saw Will and Leah already there. It looked like they were chatting. Anna jogged through the field to them. The training ground was outdoors. It was a clear field consisting of soft covers like bushes and walls made of thick paper, hard covers like tires and planks, and structures like wooden sheds and treehouses.
"Oh, Anna, there you are," Will called out after noticing Anna running toward them. Leah turned around and nodded slightly.
"Hey, guys! Sorry, I had a couple of meetings, but I made it on time." Anna stopped in front of them.
"Cutting it a bit close, though." As soon as he said that, the teacher walked out of the academy building.
"Gather around, everybody!" Mr.Grey, the combat instructor commanded the class.
At an instant, the students lined up in a clean, predefined formation in front of Mr.Grey.
"Today, we will hold airsoft skirmish matches against Class 6-B. They should be here in a moment. For now, just wait."
After a couple of minutes, a crowd of students walked onto the training grounds, Chris among them. The girls in Anna's class got excited and started whispering amongst themselves. Anna could see that some of the boys in Chris's class were looking at her, too.
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