Scattered explosions rained over the dusty skies of a desert village. The houses seemed somewhat abandoned as troopers rushed in for cover.

“We can’t press forward, sir!”

The clashing sounds of gunfire and plasma blasts filled the hazy battlefield of the village. The Allegiance troopers halted their advances in the village, unable to move or retreat. They were stuck. Their ground forces had been shredded thin by the converging enemy attackers from the oblivion of the sandstorm. With but a miracle to save them, the troopers remained pressed hiding in the houses of the village.

As the sandstorm calmed and the screaming softened, the surviving troopers let out their final gasp of calm and reloaded their weapons. This was it. The soldier’s oath to maintain peace with their lives. Their final minute counted down. Just as the captain in the field emerged out of the ruins of his cover, his comms flickered.

“Captain Ardago, come in.”

A familiar voice called to him.

“Captain, ping your location.”

The captain drew out his comms as he brought it closer to his mouth, whispering his reply.

“H.O Lou? Sir, is that you?” He frowned upon answering. He’d never expect high command to be in depth into a grounded mission like this.

“Yes, it is. Mark the hostile’s location captain, I’m bringing the rain.” Ryan subtly disconnected his comms as a howling swoosh can be heard zooming past the clouded skies. Immediately heeding the command, Ardago used the laser mounted on his gauntlet to mark a location in the sand clouds ahead. Not knowing what exactly he had marked, he ordered his troopers to run back as the howling sound grew louder.

With the striking glow of cyanic thrusters blasting through the air, a carpet bomb laid itself across the desert clouds beneath. The explosion formed dark clouds of smoke, clearing the desert clouds. As the dust settled, ruins of metallic tanks and bodies of troops remained. Ardago and his men crawled out of their hiding positions, slowly inspecting the enemy ruins. Their inspection ended when the man in the sky zoomed down, crashing on his feet as it caused a crack in the ground.

“Thanks for the assist, H.O.” Captain Ardago said so as he pulled off his helmet.

The man stood up, revealing the Spectral. Ryan’s visor retracted, being completely nano-technology. His armour platings were sleeker in design. His overall appearance seemed organic and more natural, like a stealthy assassin. A ghost.

“No worries, Captain. Now…” He pointed at a crashed truck while he brushed his hair back with his other hand.

Ardago’s unit closed in as Ryan walked forward to the somewhat damaged truck. With just the strength of his armour, he pried open the metallic doors. Sunlight broke into the dark interior, revealing a man and a woman in ruined clothes. 

“Aiden Lee…Cerezera Ashe…You’re welcomed into our custody.”

Ryan’s silhouette towered over the two as he appeared to be…saving them.

~~

A spherical glow of a moon gave nightlight over the damp leaves of a forest. The moon was pure. The symphonic howls of the wind amidst the clear galactic sky danced with the roaring sounds of metal. A starship slowly entered the forest atmosphere, coming up towards Fort Equator. 

Fort Equator, a deployment zone built over the old Galactic Liberation Front database terminal in Singapore dubbed Castle Lion, became the primary landing zone for starship fleets and counter-offense units for the New Allegiance. A year has passed since the return of the Allegiance to Earth. The arrival of the starship started a preparation on ground as troops marched into formation to welcome their comrades.

The troopers, branded with the Allegiance emblem assembled in mass. At the centre of the symmetrical alignment of battalions, stood a man with a green bomber and a woman in an archery kit.

“I bet they won’t take this welcome seriously.” Ajay, breaking the silence of their walk to the ship’s landing point, commented as he lowered his tablet down to his side. He took off his visor as he stopped right at a line mark on the ground. Beside him, Ava did the same.

“You bet on things you know will happen. How’s that remotely a bet?” She sarcastically replied. With a simple wave, a line of troopers, branded the same as the others but with a leaner rifle, marched in file behind them, stopping to form a guard’s row.

Just as the ship’s exhaust blew away the littered leaves on the ground, a metallic ramp unfolded itself, gently touching the concrete floors of the landing zone. As the bright light shined down from the insides of the starship’s hangar, a silhouette figure, accompanied by two assailants in cuffs, walked down.

Ava’s eyes squinted in response to the light. As she slowly forced her eyes open, she saw Ryan walking down with Aiden and Ashe in cuffs. Her immediate response to Ryan was a warm hug as he came to the two to report in on the success operation.

“Since when did that happen again?” Ashe mumbled over to Aiden, who was beside her.

“I can’t hear you when you mumble, speak properly.” Aiden sharply replied.

“Quiet.” Ardago gave a nudge to his shoulder. With the rest of the ship’s battalion slowly marched down from the ramp.

“I’ll need to start questioning them about Fiend.” Ryan continued his conversation with Ajay and Ava.

“Ava’s tasked in handling that.” Ajay cut him short, saying so in an abnormal urgency.

“Uh…I brought them in.”

“There’s someone who’s keen on meeting you in the briefing room.” Ava continued for Ajay.

“Can’t that wait? Ardago and I planned this hit for months.” Ryan’s tone grew persistent. 

“He was sent under special clearance from the UN.” Ava’s sharp tone ended just as she got straight to the point.

Ryan, clueless as to who the man may be, hesitantly agreed upon her command and passed over mission control to her.

~~

Two metallic doors retracted to the sides immediately in response to Ryan walking towards the room. His steadfast stroll down the hall and into the briefing room halted as the man before him stunned his expectations.

“Director?” His voice stuttered.

In response to the call, the man turned. He slicked back his white hair. He was draped in a white formal tunic, a UN pin on the collar and chromed cufflinks. He was interrupted from a conversation he had with another in the room as his eyes connected with Ryan.

“Mr Lou, you haven’t aged a day.” A stern, deep toned voice blended with the strong Scottish accent replied to Ryan.

“Director Hallström! I thought you were dead.” Ryan was shocked to see the original founder of the New Allegiance to be alive and well, even after the GLF occupation on Earth.

“After they took earth, I was granted immunity by the UN and served my time in the Scot’s Army as a Brigadier General. When you guys came back, I took that chance to rebuild the representative department of the TNA in the UN.” 

Ryan walked in a rush, shaking hands with his long lost mentor.

“Good to have you back, Sir.” Ryan said so with happiness imbued in his words.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be taking the leadership role of the Allegiance.” 

“Sorry, what?” Ryan was utterly confused by his changed vision.

“The Allegiance always belonged to the Head Operators. The only reason I was Director was because I founded it. I lit the flame that you fanned for, even when the Front tore the organisation down, you kept it alive.” He sank his finger to Ryan’s chest, where his heart would be.

“The Head Operators are what the Allegiance are. Forces of strength and good allied together to form a symbol of heroism.” 

Ryan was at a loss for words. He gave himself a moment to process his mentor’s words. The pause brought him to his past. The exact words of Hallström was what made him join the Allegiance when it was just a mere task force.

“Bloody hell, Director. You made him soft again!” A strong Australian voice broke the moment. Ryan and Hallström turned to Kal, who was in the room with his feet up against the table.

“You could’ve just told him what you told me; ‘You’re the boss now’.” He’d mimic Hallström’s Scottish accent.

“Ryan’s slow. Give him time.” He gently replied to Kal’s comments.

Before leaving the floor to Ryan and Kal, he grabbed him by the shoulder as he gave one final comment.

“If you need anything, ask me.”

The doors closed as Ryan turned to Kal, giving him a faint smirk.

“Guess we’re running this armada.”

“Tessa, here we go again.” Kal mumbled to himself.

~~

A transparent locker, chained with the Ravage exosuit and Ashe’s scythe, wheeled past a detainment room with Aiden and Ashe within. Aiden had his hands clamped together as he waited patiently while Ashe was dozing away.

The long awaited interrogation finally came when Ava marched in, with a folder in her hand.

“You’re gonna need your bow.” Aiden commented, standing up as he said so.

“You’re gonna need your suit. Oh wait…” Ava mocked him as she slowly covered her mouth, angering Aiden further. The feud was interrupted with a maniacal laugh from Ashe as she slowly stood up from her lying position.

“Glad to see your sense of humour is back, Cerezera.” Ava jitterly commented as she sat at a long table in the room.

“It’s Ashe, you piece of shit.” She quietly mumbled as she sat in the opposing direction, followed by Aiden.

Before Ava could open the binder, Aiden started the conversation to take control of the interrogation.

“Get to the part where you ask us to snitch on the others and give us some compensation.”

“Others?” She asked, gently closing the binder as she was curious to what he meant.

Aiden was puzzled. What more could she want either than the other Tariol Operators.

“Oh, Tariol Operators. No, we don’t need any of them.”

“Then why do you need us, Av?” Ashe stared deep into her eyes as her eyebrows caved in forward.

Ava gently turned to Ashe.

“Well, after Eclion disbanded the Tariol Task Force, we were searching for the operators for questioning. You were the first two to come out of hiding.” 

“If she didn’t try to sell weapons in the black market and got caught, you wouldn’t have caught us.” Aiden sharply replied, giving a glare to Ashe.

“We needed money. I’m not going to fucking stay in that dusted ship of yours any longer.” She replied henously as she nudged his shoulder.

“Relax, I just want to know about your disbandment.” Ava flared out her fingers as she tried to get both their attention to calm them down.

The room grew quiet for a moment before Ashe made a demand.

“What’s our compensation?”

“You help us with one mission, and you’re under detainment in our rehabilitation facilities for 10 years.” Ava briefly said the terms in favour of them.

“We’re not fucking insane. I’d rather be sent to prison. Send me back to Alcatraz.” Aiden demanded.

“It was either this, or the death row.” Ava went straight to the context of the deal. She fought hard to make sure Aiden and Ashe would still be alive after this deal. Unlike the tyrannical fascists that saw justice as a straight line, Ava offered leniency to even her enemies to show that the Allegiance believes in good within everyone. To be merciful when the stakes are against you.

Ava looked to both their eyes, waiting for a response.

“Deal?” She asked.

Aiden looked at Ashe. Even though Aiden was the caretaker and the most responsible of the two, he made sure that Ashe was happy with whatever decision they made together. 

Ashe gently nodded.

“It was months after the Supreme Leader fell. Eclion took control over the Front, but he seemed absent at most times. He left control of the armada to the Generals and other Admirals, but they were dogshit. They’re the reason you were able to push GLF colonies out.” Aiden replied to her previous question.

Ava toggled her audio recorder as she listened attentively.

“After a long streak of inactivity, he came back from god knows where and phased us out.”

Ava frowned upon hearing so.

“Did you ask why?”

“No, but he brought these men with swords with him and a weird ship with him.” Ashe continued further.

“Weird ship?” 

“It wasn’t dark or marked with the GLF flag, like the rest of the fleet. It had a molten texture to it. Seemed almost like a hovering volcano. The only thing I could make out of it was an emblem that glowed even under the glow of a star.” 

Ava’s curious expression turned quickly into seriousness. She slowly opened her binder, flipping to a certain page that was bookmarked. 

“Did it…look like this?” She slowly asked.

“It is.” 

“What is it?” Ashe asked, out of curiosity.

Ava hesitantly replied, unsure herself as to what she was saying.

“Our assumption is that this emblem belongs to a faction that belongs outside of our sectors. Some of our colonial takeovers from the Front led us to crates marked with this emblem. Whoever this third party is, it may be bigger than the Allegiance. As of now, we’re handling it.” 

“How are you with that?” Aiden asked.

“Classified.” She gently replied, trying to not reveal any more information. Aiden simply chuckled.

“Ryan will brief you on the operation as per the deal. He’ll be in charge of you.”

The two, in synchronisation, turned to Ava in a stunned face. They did not expect their captor to be commanding them in the field of battle. Their fate in the hands of the Allegiance remains unpredictable.