Mission over Man

A knock on the door brought back the colonel to reality "come in" he said shifting on his chair to sit upright a 6'5 lean man with broad shoulders entered the room and paid his attention to the commanding officer inside "as you were, and please take a seat lieutenant " the colonel smiled as the lieutenant sat "thank you sir" "drink?" the colonel offered "yes please" the colonel fixed two whisky glasses on rocks then handed the other to the lieutenant while he sipped his and closed his eyes to welcon the hot burn it his chest " you know I also feel like a part of my is restored when I get to feel the burning sensation of old Jack" by old Jack he referred to the Jack Daniel's they were drinking sitting down to face the lieuntant he then again smiled, through his easy  smiles in his wrinkly face it was easy for on distinguish that colonel Nel was a troubled old man, even though he always smiled genuely the tension in his brow ridges never left. " you asked for me sir" said the lieutenant and that colonel laughed "always impatient ain't we" he smile and the lieuntant gave an apologetic smile "you right lieuntant at times like these one shouldn't be wasting time on personal pleasures" he said as he opened a drawer taking out a file the lieutenant looked embarrassed "I'll get straight to the point" he said earning himself a nod from the lieuntant and he began his hands intertwined and rested on top of the huge brown file he took from his drawer " I told believe am hearing you right just now sir" disturbed the lieuntant " are you telling me you have an operation for me and my man and you expect me to work with mercenaries, forgive me sir but I thought you knew how I felt about mercenaries" the lieuntant kept his gaze fixated on the man before him as his pupils darkened under neath the mahogany desk on top of the lieuntant's tights his hands clenched into tight fists the colonel only huffed lowering his gaze as if he could not look at him anymore "am afraid yes lieuntant" "but sir why, am sorry sir but I'll have to disobey" the colonel rubbed his face in frustration "am afraid you won't be able too lieutenant this is not a time for personal feelings and stereotypes this is a time for you be a good civil servant" his hand rested on the table "by going against my beliefs and working with the enemy" the lieuntant was angry but remained calm in respect of his superior "lie-" the lieuntant cut him off " am sorry sir you know I never disputed your reasoning nor go against your order but am afraid I  can't seem to be able to do so with this one" the colonel shouted "lieuntant before you are human or anything you are a soldier and that means if you have to put your feeling aside for the sake of the country you pledged your loyalty to, you have no choice but to do so" the lieuntant flinched " I know this is hard for you lieuntant but so is it for me, to think I will put that child's life in this type of danger for the selfish reasons of being a soldier" he paused tears forming in his eyes "we took the oath lieutenant, we are civil servants and our country is in danger" he let the tears fall putting a hand over his mouth "but sir you know what mercenaries did to lieuntant-colonel Voyi" he reminded "of course son I know how can one forget losing a friend of 25 years like that, which is why this is  hard for me as it is for you that poor child lost everything because of that" "sir--" the colonel cut him off "it's not easy for me too to ask such so please lieutenant try to make this easy from everyone and put your feelings aside and be the soldier you pledged to be or did you forgert the oath you took?" "No sir" "good in the end we are the 5SFR we fear naught but God, by all means this operation will be a success with no casualties" he said it more to himself than to the lieuntant for he needed the operation to be a success more than anyone he also feared the risks he was taking to make it a success like Shadow had said he was going to have to sacrifice people " but sir as you said it we the 5SFR we fear naught but God why do you want us to join forces with mercenaries why sir?" he questioned "because like every battle this might also have it's casualties but we can't let that be our man so we'll need pawns" he hated himself more than anything "so you think we could trust people who serve money more than anything, what will happen if our enemy offers them more than we can offer, you know how mercenaries are" the colonel let out a sigh "which is why I chose to work with this one, at least I can trust if they agree to do it they won't be doing for money" "but sir mercenaries are all the same the do it for money which is why they'd fight against their own country" he reminded "but at least they are mercenaries the pledge their loyalty to no one what of our brothers in arms who do the same while carrying the flag" he looked tired "why do trust that this one won't betray us, why should I trust your decision this time sir at least you owe me that much" " it is wrong when a soldier questions the decisions of his superior, but I believe it is also wrong not to question your superior when you don't trust their decisions so with I'll answer you" he the again sipped his drink " it is not I who I want you to trust nor do I want you to trust that they won't betray us" he smiled "then who is that I should trust sir?" "your judgment of course and I want you to have faith on the reason that will make them take this mission for it is not money but something greater" "if it's not money they want sir what could it be?" "am afraid I can't answer that lieutenant" he gave him an apologetic smile "who are they sir do you know them personally?" "let's just say an enemy of an enemy is a friend" "in so sir they are mercenaries still" the colonel chuckled "and we have a group of mad scientists and politicians threatening the country with a Fatman" he said running his hands through his greying silk hair. "what do they want?" the colonel laughed "the presidancy" the bewilderment in the officers face couldn't hide how shocked he was "the what?" he asked the colonel laughed again "crazy I know, in this life time if there's anything a man should be afraid of is a maddog scientist" nodding in agreement the lieutenant added "and if there's any thing a soldier should hate is a politician those ambitious monsters, will they ever stop making ourlives hard"  they both laughed.