Chapter 1 - Entering The Facility

Chester arrived at the coordinates he had been told. They were in a barren plain, surrounded by small hills, with not a tree in sight. He was given a piece of paper that told him to lean against a stone and draw a triangle on it with his hand. If it had been handed to him by one of his comrades-in-arms he might have thought it was a cruel practical joke, but Ann Hedge, an assistant to Nail Carpenter, a famous research assistant who had come to him on a hospital visit, had slipped it into Chester's hand without anyone seeing and left the room with a 'get well soon' look on her face. It was normal that no one in the room recognized Ann, because she was a very intelligent assistant who didn't try to stand out, but Chester knew her and respected her for her numerous achievements and research. Ann knew him too. Ann had been kidnapped about three months earlier, and Chester's group from the Ruby Point troops had been assigned to the rescue mission. After a three-hour operation, she was rescued without loss and sixty-five milligrams of red core were recovered.

Chester was searching the desolate, yellowing grassy plain for the rock he had been told about. He was wearing a black half-sleeved t-shirt, a thin blue hooded jacket and military camouflage pants. He may have looked civilian, but he had a pistol hidden in his waistband. Furthermore, he was looking for the rock in this vast grass-covered plain, but he had a hard time finding it because of the high grass. Grasshoppers buzzed incessantly in the grass, and various flies and their variants jumped on Chester to suck his blood.Chester was used to such disturbances from his previous operations, but the insects still annoyed him.

After half an hour of searching for the rock, he came to a small, circular empty space. A misshapen, reddish rock stood right in front of him. The paper only had a picture of what looked like the rock in front of him, and the drawing on the paper wasn't very good. Chester leaned against it, thinking it was the right rock, and drew a triangle on the stone with a twig he picked up from the ground.Twenty seconds later, from the south, Chester noticed a movement in the grass. It was too loud to be a turtle or smaller animal. Chester took cover on the south side of the rock and took out his sidearm and aimed it into the grass. The sounds grew closer and closer. At last, he was confronted by two fully armed soldiers.The soldiers wore what he estimated to be level for body armor, held long-barreled automatic rifles and wore full-face gas masks.It was impossible to tell who was who by looking at their eyes. Gas masks completely covered their faces.Chester hid behind the stone before he was noticed.

The soldier on his right said aloud;"The red raven seems to have crashed. Do you want help to fly again?"

He knew someone who could say these words.

Medh Santez, formerly of the Ruby Point operations.He was an old friend of Chester's, a comrade in arms. A crazy friend who buzzed with humor and could make them laugh even in a hail of bullets raining down on their heads.Medh had side-swept blond hair, an x-shaped battle scar on his left cheek, black bags under his eyes, a scruffy beard, and most importantly, he liked to fight back-to-back with Chester. At least that's how he knew him. But…;After many years, he had petitioned, saying that he wanted to take some rest, that he wanted to be in a quieter place. As a result, he was told that he was a security guard in a garrison on a different continent, and he was never heard from again. If one of the men in front of him was an old comrade, he should be fine.Because Chester was a man who chose his friends carefully.The rest of them thought they were his friends, and after using them to the fullest, he would throw them away like garbage. For this reason, he had only two friends in the world. One of them had already died during the operations.

Chester came out from behind the rock and put his gun back in his holster.

"What are you doing here, Medh? Did you start farming or something?"

"It's quiet in the grass. At least you don't have that fear of death that is always with you."

After five seconds of awkward silence, Medh spoke again. He had to speak again. That's how he felt.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened. I'm sorry I couldn't come to visit you at the hospital. We work here 24/7, with only three days off a year. And I had already used up all my vacation days the day you were shot."

Chester reacted quickly to the situation. Yes, he was a little disappointed that one of the men he trusted most in the hospital hadn't come to visit him, but he wouldn't be angry with him if there was a good reason for it. He also knew that Medh had a child. Medh had obviously used his leave for her.

"Don't worry about it. Getting shot is an essential part of these missions. Besides, you get used to it after one."

Chester shook his head in the negative.

"You've hidden the entrance quite well, but from the sounds I've heard, I think there must be some kind of passage under the red clay soil a minute's walk north from the rock. You should walk more quietly."

Medh extended his hand with a smile on his face

"We knew you were coming from two kilometers away, but what should we do with him?"

"Come on , how could you find me if I was hiding?"

Medh smiled "That's a good point. Good to see you again, captain."

After arriving at the location of the red clay soil, Medh gave a series of strange answers to the strange questions asked of him over his radio. After a few seconds of delay, the clay floor split in two. A horizontal elevator appeared in front of them. It was so big that two trucks could easily fit inside.It had very thick doors and four unmanned Gatling gun turrets.Chester was a little intimidated.Medh was patting Chester on the back for comfort. Obviously the first time he had seen him, he had made that face himself.

"I'm sure you've never been in an elevator that is surrounded by various weapons, is resistant to nuclear attack, and is gigantic. They bring the elevator to the surface for you. Normally, if a few people were going to go in, you would walk down those stairs you see on the right for a long, long time."

"I think someone loves you very much."

Even when Chester was in the midst of such chilling events, Medh could make him smile.They walked towards the elevator. If they were calling him to a super-secure place with secret doors and codes, something serious was going on inside. And as Medh had said, there was no point in bringing such a large elevator to the surface if no more than a few people were going to enter, because its presence on the surface was a threat to the secrecy of the facility they were in. If only a few people were going to go in, they could enter through the trapdoor under the ground and operate the elevator while they were underground. That way nobody would notice.The elevator doors suddenly closed, and the elevator began to move underground. The elevator had a shimmering silver paint job, and nowhere could he see any trace of screws, nails or welds. It was as if the whole elevator was made of cast steel.The acceleration of the elevator caused Chester a little concern. Curious, he asked;

"How far underground is this facility?"

"Normally I'm not supposed to give information, but I'm sure it's okay. It's about six kilometers.Isn't it a bit scary?"

Six kilometers underground was pretty deep. Chester's first thought was that something dangerous was hiding.An armory with guns and a lot of ammunition? Important state secrets? But the most likely thing was that a core reactor was here. And it probably was.The elevator was getting faster and faster. He felt as if these heavy, ton-heavy reinforced walls were going to crush him like a bug.The elevator eventually slowed down and finally stopped. Its doors opened.Inside it looked like a huge laboratory. The whole place looked like it was made of white sheet metal. The lighting was quite good. It was bright enough to see its own reflection in the floor. About 100 meters in front of it was a checkpoint, with two tanks facing towards the elevator door. He could count about 20 people at this checkpoint. Now he knew there was more than the core reactor. After looking around, he realized that the walls of this facility were made of the same material as the elevator walls. He wanted to look around a little more, to find out more, but someone behind him tapped him on the shoulder;

"Isn't it great? It really is, but I just wanted to make sure you didn't feel lonely."

"You'll pay later for working in a place like this and not even sending me a letter. Let's go."

They searched him thoroughly at the checkpoint, checked his ID. But no one took his gun. The reason was quite simple. This facility was in a spiral structure and only in sections 1 and 2 were weapons allowed for military personnel. It was normal for a Colonel to walk around with his weapon in the 1st and 2nd sections, but a midshipman could not do that.After they finished searching him, Medh;

"Friends will take over from here. I was just part of the welcoming group. Good luck."

After Chester saluted Medh, the two soldiers at the checkpoint escorted him and after a while they disappeared down the corridor.The people next to Medh and those at the checkpoint were curious about something.

The soldier next to him asked;

"Why do you call him the red raven? He sounds so normal."

He turned with a stern face towards the soldier who asked for medh His tone became serious.

"No matter how normal he seems, he rarely thinks about his friends. He is too ruthless for such a world. He is unpredictable. Furthermore, he's a war genius, a slaughter machine, brutal and ruthless."

"He is someone who, with 3 men, managed to take a core weighing ten kilograms from a battalion of terrorists, giving them a twenty kilometer gap.He was there at the battle of Hilaga.Yes, the famous war. The one where terrorists who called themselves nationalists gathered and then formed an army and attacked Hilaga so that they could declare their own autonomous region. We were given intelligence that the terrorist group had a large nucleus, and we were ordered to go there and secretly take it from them. It was this core that protected them from the massive bombardments, and then, as you already know, they were wiped out in one go by a huge bomber fleet. They were not criticized by anyone because the whole world considered them terrorists. Anyway, me and Ralph were on a remote observation and support mission. There were five of us at the time. We were telling them where to go, mapping out a safe route, providing sniper support if necessary.Instead of trying to go quietly, he left bodies wherever they went. It was obvious what Chester was doing."

Medh cleared his throat and continued

"They cleaned up everywhere they went without firing a shot at the other side.If they'd tried to go quietly, they probably wouldn't have noticed the bodies and come after Chester. That's one of the reasons I left.

Rudolf and Serykov had died in the line of duty because of his desire to kill everyone. No matter how great a soldier he is, he will never hesitate to kill for his duty and revenge. Even if you don't disobey him, if you are not sufficient for his crazy orders, you will still die.When he is not on duty, he can be said to be calm and understandable."

"That asshole is a dog of war. He doesn't belong in this era."

When the soldiers heard this, they were a little hesitant. Because they were told that death itself had passed right by them.