AutoTerra: Operating Systems
Chapter 76: The Corpse at Headquarters
The office space belonging to the commander of Battalion Y13 Aturna was quiet, deliberately made with minimal lighting. Mavin was sitting in his office chair watching the documents on the computer hologram monitor in front of him. His expression that was always calm now seemed serious, between carefully reading the data or the thoughts of other things.
It's true, Mavin is currently messing with the mind of one of his team who is on a mission. It had been several hours after Mavin contacted the team led by Chairman Edrick, until now they had still no news.
“My feeling is so bad,” he murmured with cold sweat slightly soaking his temples.
The Caucasian man noticed a picture of a framed old man lying next to a computer. He took the photo, paying attention while leaning his back that began to feel sore.
A black-and-white photo showing a row of teenagers in military uniforms, the back row standing while the front row crouching. They all gave their own distinctive smiles, looking so happy with their moment together at that time.
Mavin's green eyes focused on one teenager crouching in the middle front row, appearing to give a wide smile as bright as a star, showing great spirit as a prospective soldier who is still carrying out education at an interplanetary Military Academy.
Mavin sighs resignedly, “…. Until when did he forget?”
Mavin's memories had appeared, reminding him of the initial events they could know each other.
...~*~*~*~...
At that time, 16-year-old Mavin was studying at a military academy, the West Ribelo Military Academy. The academy is known as an interplanetary school. Those who graduate in this academy will be ensured to work in renowned military units, from the level between cities to interplanetary. Even some of them managed to become the flagship soldier in the Galactic Union.
Of course it is a pride for would-be soldiers to join a prestigious military unit, but not for Mavin.
Being a soldier is not Mavin's wish. He was forced to become a soldier on the whims of his parents who wanted their one family to work in a military agency. His father was a state military general, his mother a police inspector, and his eldest brother was the head of an orbital forces unit. Only her sister has not been anything since she was a child.
For this reason, his family was obsessed with standing in the military, wanting the whole family to be soldiers. And that made Mavin feel restrained.
In his memory, the young Mavin was sitting hugging his knees under the shade of a tree. From a distance, he could see a futuristic-style majestic building standing firmly there, the building of their academy.
Every hour of rest or empty hour, Mavin always went to this place to be alone. Sitting under a tree while contemplating his fate, regretting attending a military academy.
“I don't want to be a soldier,” muttered as he further sunk his face to the knees.
While busy daydreaming for himself, his eyes accidentally saw a child in confusion from a distance. The child was looking for something while carrying a tab. Mavin thought that the boy was one of their juniors who was busy doing chores, so he didn't want to care.
“Hey, you! Senior?!”
The boy shouted to someone. Mavin thought the boy was calling someone else, apparently trying to run up to Mavin.
“Senior! You're senso—.”
Mavin grimaced to see the boy fall on the road as he ran up to him. But as quickly as possible he got up, continued running towards him. Seen from the look of the young man's face, he was very enthusiastic when he found the existence of young Mavin there.
“You— Haaah…. Haaah..”.
The young man stood slightly bent in front of Mavin, bored after running as fast as he could. Of course Mavin was confused by this kid. What was the purpose of him approaching Mavin? Mavin himself did not know him at all.
“You... semester force up or medium?” ask the boy to try to catch his breath.
Still astonished, Mavin answered soberly, “Intermediate.”
The child breathed a sigh of relief. His fatigue was instantly replaced with a wide smile and the gazes of both excited yellow eyes. His somewhat tan skin was slightly shiny under the sunlight, and his gray hair strands were twitching in the daytime wind.
“It's great to see you, Senior. I'm sorry if I'm presumptuous, but can you help me? I wanted to enroll in this academy, but was still confused as to how the test was. I cannot fail. Being a military soldier was my dream.”
Since Mavin's encounter with the young boy, he finally realized that being a soldier was not a bad thing.
...~*~*~*~...
“Astan has amnesia.”
At first, Mavin is shocked to hear and listens to all the stories of the person until he finally accepts the reality of Astan's circumstances. And from then on Mavin makes plans to involve Astan into their military mission so that Astan can remember the memory that has been lost.
Mavin is forced to lie that he only suspects Astan amnesia, while he himself knew it from the beginning before the meeting with Astan. It was all done in order to gain the trust of the hunter, not making Astan feel too suspicious or even reluctant to deal with him.
Thinking about all that made Mavin massage his own temple. This problem really made him dizzy.
“Commander Mavin!”
Mavin was shocked when he saw the figure of Harnan suddenly entered his office without permission first. It's not usually Harnan like this. Did something wrong happen?
“What's up? Don't you usually play gawking in like this?” ask Mavin astonished.
Harnan's breathing seemed up and down, feeling tense to convey something that had just been discovered. “You may not believe what we found.”
...~*~*~*~...
Military sector, precisely near the eastern hangar there are several warehouses. Usually these warehouses are used to store certain items such as weaponry, technology parts, to used goods.
Near one of the warehouses, there were many people gathered there, as if they had just seen something unusual happen. Mavin and Harnan who had just arrived in the area hurriedly broke through the horde, trying to get inside the warehouse.
Inside the warehouse was seen the headquarters security officers were just about to install a dividing line, and there were also some helping to secure the location. When they saw the arrival of Mavin and Harnan, immediately they all saluted.
“Our respect to Commander Mavin and Deputy Commander Harnan!”
“Greetings all,” reply Mavin relax. “What happened here?”
Some soldiers who were asked to look down, confused what to answer. As there was no answer, Mavin stepped forward towards the place secured. He was rather surprised to see the corpse of a soldier lying on the floor of the warehouse, covered in blood. From the state of the corpse, it looks like the soldier has only died here for a few hours.
One of the soldiers spoke, “Sorry, Commander. We just realized that in this place there has been a murder.”
From the results of severe injuries on the body of the corpse, it can be easily guessed if he was killed by someone.
“We still don't know who killed this soldier. We're just about to start the check.”
“Can I see for a moment?”
The soldier nodded, “Please, Commander.”
They let Mavin approach the body. He crouched down, beginning to notice the state of the corpse. The corpse was a male soldier's corpse, his face was damaged by a sabetage or a kind of scratch that made it difficult to recognize, almost all parts of the torso were stabbed and slashed until it seeped a lot of blood. The clothes worn by the corpse were simple black clothes, commonly used as an internal armor.
An inner uniform of armor? Mavin's feelings are getting worse.
Soon Mavin checked the name plate on the chest of the uniform. The plate was dirty with blood, but it could be removed in one rub.
Mavin's eyes suddenly turned in disbelief. If it's true that Mavin's conjecture about this corpse, then something's not quite right is going on.
Something closely related to this corpse.
“Deputy Commander Harnan, we have to go to the command room!” mavin's orders, straight out of the barn.
Everyone there was shocked by Mavin's panicked attitude, especially Harnan. It's not usually Mavin to be that sweet.
Before he followed the chairman, Harnan had seen the name plate of the body. His eyes were also shocked.
Mavin is panicking. This is a very big deal.
...~*~*~*~...
