The soldier's sister, the tracker's lover

ᴏɴᴇ - ʀᴇᴜɴɪᴛᴇ

Dear Y/N,

it's been three months since I've written you my last letter. I'm doing well. Mills says he misses you, I slapped the back of his head afterwards. I hope the war will end soon. The past couple of months have been agonizingly exhausting. The Colonel tries to make life as comfortable as possible for us, but it's a war after all.

I miss you and I hope I'll be able to visit you soon. Take care of yourself. I love you.

Reg

Folding the letter up again, she stuffed it in her bag before slinging it over her shoulder. A camera was hanging around her neck, ready to be used.

She was walking through the harbor of Bangkok, trying to find a specific boat - the Athena. On her way, she saw a woman with blonde hair, a camera around her neck as well.

"Hey, could you help me? I'm searching for a boat called Athena." she approached the girl who started smiling at her. "I'm headed there, too. Follow me." the woman said.

The two of them approached a man with a blue jacket. "Mason Weaver, photographer, and..." the woman, Mason, trailed off, realizing she didn't know the other woman's name.

"Y/N Slivko, photographer." the h/c haired woman answered. "Mason Weaver is... a woman?" the man asked. "Last time I checked." Mason frowned, turning to walk away.

Y/N snickered before following her new friend. They approached some kind of stairs that led up to the ship, a man standing right next to it. In Y/N's opinion, he looked like a bodyguard trying to protect some kind of celebrity.

"Can I help you?" he asked. Mason handed him a paper, his eyes scanning over it quickly. "Two years in country. Where you been?" the man asked.

"Embedded with MACV-SOG." Mason answered. "Ah, you were in the shit. I respect that. But it's people like you, lost us support back home." the man chuckled before turning to her with a serious face.

"You're not actually gonna blame the people without guns for losing the war, are you?" Mason asked, clearly shocked and annoyed by the man.

"Camera's way more dangerous than a gun. And we didn't lose the war, we abandoned it." the man answered. "Right." Mason scoffed before walking up the stairs.

The man turned to Y/N. She handed him her paper as well, his eyes scanning over it quickly before he turned to her with disbelief on his face.

"Y/N Slivko? You don't happen to have a younger brother or cousin, do you?" he asked. "Uhm, I do have a younger brother. His name is Reg." the woman answered.

"Well, shit. You're the sister he, Mills and Cole have been talking about. My name's Colonel Packard. He's on board the ship." Packard spoke, seeing her eyes lit up.

"Excuse me, Colonel, I have to find my brother." she said ,enthusiastically, before running up the stairs. Firstly, she went to the room assigned to her, where she put her bags down before joining the others in a large room.

"Hello and welcome. I'm LandSat field supervisor, Victor Nieves. This is my colleague, Steve Woodward, our data wrangler." a man, Nieves, said, standing in front of all the people. She turned to look at the man he was talking about, only to realize it was the man her and Mason had approached earlier.

"Our expedition takes us to a place every nautical trade route known to man has avoided for centuries. As our satellites show, the island is surrounded by a perpetual storm system, allowing it to remain hidden from the outside world. But with Colonel Packard's helicopter transport, we will be the first to break through to the other side. We're also pleased to be joined, for the first time, by the resource exploration team, led by Mister Randa and accompanied by biologist, Miss San, and geologist, Mister Brooks. Our focus will be on the island's surface, theirs, what lies beneath. Mister Brooks." Nieves continued, pointing to the different people before Brooks walked up to where Nieves had stood a minute ago.

"Simple, really. We'll use explosives to shake the earth and create vibrations, helping us to map the subsurface of the island. We'll fly in over the south shore and then strategically drop seismic charges to better help us understand the density of the earth." Brooks explained. Pictures of the bombs and the island where shown.

"You're dropping bombs?" a new voice said. She turned her head to face the man that had spoken. He had short, light brown hair and blue eyes. The blue shirt he was wearing was tight around his biceps and she could clearly see the muscles on his torso.

"Mmm... scientific instruments." Brooks said, though he didn't sound too sure either. "You hear that, boys? We're scientists now!" she could hear her brother's voice. Excitement cursed through her.

"You are NOT scientists." Woodward mumbled.

"We'll then land and make base camp for ground excursion led by Mister Conrad. Major Jack Chapman." Brooks stepped aside, a young man standing next to him. Mister Conrad seemed to be the man with the blue eyes and brown hair.

"All right. Once on the island, the storm's interference will block all radio contact with the ship. That means we'll be by ourselves. Three days later, the refuel team will meet us here on the north end of the island. That may be our only safe departure window for an unknown period of time. So, tip for everybody, don't miss it, please." Chapman said.

Everyone stood up and went to leave the room when Cole's eyes landed on Y/N. "Oh my god." he laughed before walking up to the girl and pulling her in a hug.

"What are you doing here? I missed ya, girl." he exclaimed. Mills' and Slivko's eyes landed on the younger boy's sister. When Cole put Y/N down, her brother immediately hugged her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, nuzzling his face in her hair. "I was hired to be the photographer for this land survey. I didn't know you guys were here." she explained.

"It's good to see you, Y/N." Mills smiled before hugging the girl. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Conrad watching her as she reunited with her brother and friends.