CHAPTER 7: The Fractured Front
The air in the Council Chamber turned frigid as Prime Minister Bola Ahmed leaned forward, his hands flat on the mahogany table. The holographic light of the dying world reflected in his glasses.
"One hundred million men," the Leader of the Xenocides repeated, his voice like grinding stones. "Mr. Prime Minister, you are talking about a global draft. You are talking about sending civilians into a meat grinder against the aleins."
"I am talking about victory," Ahmed countered, his voice rising. "The Xenocides are elite, yes. But you are few. You are a surgical knife trying to stop a tidal wave. We need a wall of steel!"
"A wall of corpses is more likely," Zane interjected, his voice calm but lethal. "Numerical superiority means nothing to an enemy that adapts to your tactics in real-time. You don't defeat an S-Rank with a crowd; you defeat it with precision."
"The people are frightened!" Ahmed slammed his fist down. "They see the Xenocides as a secret club that only appears when cities are already burning. If the government doesn't show a massive military response, you won't have a people left to defend. I am authorizing the Infiltration Initiative. We strike their hives now."
The Xenocide Leader stood up, his cloak shadowing the commanders behind him. "If you send those men in now, you aren't infiltrating. You're feeding them. My answer is no."
The room held its breath. The tension between the military's scalpel and the politician's hammer was at a breaking point.
The argument was silenced not by a gavel, but by a tremor.
The holographic map in the center of the room flickered, the blue lines of Earth turning a violent, pulsing crimson. A high-pitched whine began to ring through the comms of every commander in the room.
Then a tactician named jinx proposed an idea " let's gather Intel we need enough knowledge if we are going with your plan sir Ahmed"
THe room was silent for a second then everyone began to agree, "well, you're right, so we'll send out men to gather Intel, then the meeting as beennow concluded "
AS everyone began to leave they began to murmur about the meeting.
Zane frowned" I don't trust that shit bag", " I also don't trust him we have to keep an eye on him" the leader of the xenocides cuts in.
10th division base
The room buzzed with a rare, electric energy. Usually, missions ended in silence , but today felt different.
"Did you see the look on its face?" Nyx leaned back, her boots propped up on a weapon crate. "Well, if it had a face. That last hit? We were like... whoosh." She mimicked their synchronized strike with her hands.
Vela was already halfway through a fresh bag of chips she'd stashed in the her lockers. "I'm just glad I didn't have to scrape you two off the pavement. Elias, that jump was terrifyingly good. My heart nearly stopped."
Elias leaned against the hull, a tired but genuine smile on his face. The adrenaline was still humming through his veins. "I didn't even think about it. I just saw Nyx move and my body... it just followed."
As the door hissed , it was their captain Captain Drayke Void .
"Keep that energy up," Drayke called out, nodding to them. "You've earned the right to brag. That footage is already being looped at HQ."
The team gathered around him, sensing his unusually mood.
"Captain," Nyx grinned, "I assume the big bosses in Sector One are throwing us a parade?"
Drayke chuckled, shaking his head. "Not quite a parade, but the meeting was a victory in its own way. I just got back from the White House. It was tense—the Border Commanders were at each other's throats, and Prime Minister Bola Ahmed was ready to sign a draft for a hundred million men."
The team's smiles faltered slightly at the mention of such a massive number.
"But," Drayke continued, The Prime Minister is backing down on the draft for now. Because of the tactician ideas .
He clapped a hand on Elias's shoulder. "You guys didn't just kill an alien today. You saved thousands of people . so for now we rest ," things are about to get interesting"the captain said with a smirk on his face.