Prologue
The sentry on duty scanned from left to right. She shuffled from side to side. She was still green behind the ears, and only had recently donned the three stars of Albaka. The border between Albaka and Technica had been the scene of hostilities. Numerous border posts had been attacked recently, and threats of war were being issued. Under cover of the velvet dark sky, a spy sneaked in. Weaving through the trees, the spy stopped just short of the cameras. A silenced flash, and the cameras and motion detectors were shot out. The sentry glanced up at the muffled noise. She crumpled down, and the spy withdrew a hidden blade.
Chapter 1
“Dammit politicians!” muttered the sergeant. After Albaka declared war on Technica, diplomats had visited nearby country Nobia for assistance. They suggested that the vast factories used to make lightning rods be redirected to make tanks and guns. The Nobia diplomats took offense and locked into another meaningless debate about how useless lightning rods are as a method of power generation.
“So Sarge, you get help when you when over to Nobia?” Steel’s withering glare told the answer. Steel ordered his squad together.
“Listen up people! Nobia isn’t gonna help us, so we are roughing and toughing this ourselves! We have to be real careful about our tanks and heavy weapons, because we aren’t getting many more!”
The sergeant plowed on.
“Our first mission is to spearhead into enemy territory. General Wolf will be here tomorrow with the frame-tanks, and General Ocelot will lead up the air force frame-helis.”
A young soldier coughed quietly.
“Yes, Private Jones?”
Jones swallowed and pointed. “Sorry to interrupt Sarge, but who is that person behind you?
A young woman walked out from the shadows. She looked non descript, and wore a simple uniform similar to the Albakian army.
“Hey girl, what you doing here? Army’s a rough place for a cutie like you.”
The girl chose to ignore the statement. “Hello, I’m Cassandra, and I’m the red spy.”
The sergeant barked out his next order.
“Okay Private, show this new recruit to the camp.”
Chapter 2
“So, anyway, um…, this is the mess hall, these are the latrines, and that is the assault course. There aren’t enough bunks, so you’ll have to share a tent with somebody. As John talked, they studied each other. John saw a young woman, not even, just a girl about his age. Cassandra saw a guy around her age. They both found it difficult to connect the other with the bloody nature of their occupations.
Cassandra cleared her throat. “Aren’t you a little young to be a soldier?”
“Aren’t you a little young to be a spy?”
They faced each other and stopped.
“Well you know, the whole supplies thing, so they barged to the schools and rounded people up.
“Mmmm, me too.”
Jones hesitated for a fraction of a second before asking his next question. “Why did you say you were the red spy?”
Cassandra also paused before answering. “Red is the colour of the Lockfield Covert Training Centre.”
Jones eyes widened. Cassandra wondered why she had chosen to divulge such a sensitive secret.
