The Mission

*** Prologue ***

"Special Operative Grace, I have a mission for you."

The voice of my commanding officer boomed throughout the room. He had a demeanor that demanded respect coupled with his tall frame and wide build it was almost impossible not to feel intimidated by him. He was towering over my 5'9" frame and staring at me with a deep scowl set into his hard face.

"Your mission will be to infiltrate Shalion's territory and eliminate target 1025. It's a warehouse no more than 30 klicks from Shalion's capital city Ava. We have reason to believe that the warehouse contains our enemies military resources. Eliminating this target will be a huge blow to Shalion's forces and will potentially steer this war in our favor. You will be dropped off near Shalion's border and you will have to find your own way to target 1025. You will be given 7 days to complete this mission, if by the 7th day you have not reported in or the target has not been eliminated it will be marked as a failed and incomplete mission. You do know what happens to soldiers who don't complete their missions don't you?"

He had a cynical grin playing on his face urging me to speak. He knew very well that I knew what it meant to fail, all of Dahlia's soldiers did. Failure was weakness and weakness was not allowed in Dahlia's military.

"Yes sir, any soldier who does not complete their mission is given a dishonorable discharge and is sentenced to death under the statute of treason and treachery towards Dahlia's government."

I said it with a straight face even though on the inside I was furious. I had lost many comrades to this military law. I had to watch them get dragged from hospital beds and their families just to be labeled a traitor and executed at the capital. My emotions were getting the best of me causing my hands to shake at my sides, I clenched my fists hoping he wouldn't notice.

He smiled, he saw it and he enjoyed the fact that I was angry.

"That's right special operative Grace, failure is not an option unless you want me to shoot you square between the eyes. We'll be leaving at 0800 so get your gear prepared and ready to go."

With that he turned around and left with a light chuckle. I wiped around and punched the wall next to me leaving a nice dent in the structure. He made me so angry but I had to respect him because he's my commanding officer. I looked at my hand and saw that around my knuckles purplish bruises were forming. Thankfully nothing was broken, my hand will just be sore tomorrow. It was worth it, it kept me from doing what I really wanted to do.

I packed my stuff in my bag like I was told and made sure I was prepared to set out on my mission tomorrow. My name is Calvin Grace and I'm a soldier in Dahlia's military. Although I may not agree with everything my country does, I will stay loyal to my government and do everything in my power to make sure it does not fall.