The Soul Conflict

Chapter 20: Voldusaya

The shuttle arrived back at H-Base after picking up roughly thirty additional soldiers. Nearly all of them were wounded to some degree. I heard that Nigel, Peter, and Ibis had made it aboard another shuttle. That's a big relief; if I lost someone this early...I don't know what I'd do. I have grown to like them all.
We are currently on our way to meet with O'Reily and another officer regarding the Jiwa we collected. Cutter had gone off to meet somebody; she had to tell us by writing a note. Marshall still had the little green fireball sealed away in that jar. Seeing that thing makes me wonder about all of this...what makes their souls so special? Ordinary people don't have souls...I think? Do we? Are they just invisible? I want to know just what quality it is that makes them the way that they are. I'm afraid that I may never find out...

"What do you think we are going to do with this soul? What can we even do with it?" I asked Marshall. We left the surprisingly empty airfield through a set of double doors leading into another angular white hallway.

"You sure do ask a lot of questions. I have no idea what they are going to do with it. That's what we are meeting for, if I had to guess." He said.

"...I see." I said. Marshall took a left and started walking up a flight of sharply edged stairs. He seems to know where he's going; I wonder how many bases he has been to and why. We kept going through corridor after corridor, seeing busy soldiers marching towards wherever to perform whatever. Damn, Sunai really has extensive operations. The fact they have managed to stay under the radar for so long astounds me.

Finally we reached a set of double doors once again. It is marked as a conference room. Marshall marched through them while carrying the soul in one hand. We arrived in a room similar to the conference room all the way back in the U.S, although with a black ceiling and walls. This room is just darker overall. Standing on the left side of the conference room was O'Reily and a officer whom I do not recognize. Sitting on the right side was Angela, dressed in her regular Kadan gear. 

"Looks like you really do have the soul...thats what they look like, right? The glowing fireball things?" O'Reily said.

"Yeah. The last one was blue." I said. I turned to the unknown officer. She had a cap on that was too big for her head, and it sunk down to obscure her eyes. I couldn't see her hair either, so it must be pretty short. She herself stood only at shoulder height compared to O'Reily. "And you are...?"

"Officer Endvitz. You must be the new recruit with the funky soul thing going on." Endvitz introduced herself.

"...uh, yeah." I said. She seems ok I guess.

"Have a seat. We're still waiting for Clovers, Anders, and Ibis's arrival. I want everyone who has prior knowledge about the Jiwa here." O'Reily said. I did so and took a seat next to Angela. Marshall sat next to O'Reily.

"They will be here shortly." Marshall promised.

"Good, because if anything happened to Ibis...I will remember that it was Sunai that dragged me into this conflict." Angela said. I can't tell if thats a warning or not.

"Noted." O'Reily said. "But, based on history I think that The Kadan has just as much reason to be after The Serpent as much as Sunai does, if not much more so." O'Reily said.

"Besides, The Serpent is currently only being pursued by the lower divisions of Sunai. I believe we only have 300 soldiers on standby for this operation currently." Officer Endvitz stated.

"Only 300? Against an entire army at his disposal? Where is the logic in that?" I said. That frankly just seems stupid to me.

"You'd be surprised at what can be done with just 300 soldiers...take a look at your history." Endvitz said.