District 42-Chapter 196: The truth about the mission

As those words were said by Casper, each one of the soldiers inside that place got quiet.

They all knew that it was worthless to continue the mission with just 10 people. They were supposed to have, at least, 20 or 15, after all. All the scheme to travel through the Operation base was made for that amount of troops.

And the issue wasn’t just to get further on the Operation base from the Black Widow, but also get out from there, and that’s why Casper would be escaping with more 4 soldiers with him. Everything was perfectly settled for those others 45 people to die but at the right time.

"The Black Widow has more soldiers than expected. It was barely a 4 to 1 disadvantage in combat. It is even incredible that they could maintain so many people here without we noticing beforehand." Ana spoke. She knew that it was just useless to state that information, everyone knew it, after all, but she still felt the need to say.

"You are right, but no one here asked for your opinion, captain." One of them, also a captain, retorted.

Ana was going to say something, but she lost her will and just kept quiet. They would die soon, it wasn’t worth it to fight with an idiot guy like him.

"Hey, there is no way to just keep going? I mean, if we will die anyway..."

"No way. If the colonel doesn’t get out of here, we will lose the data we need to gather, and so we won’t be able to do any good with this. The objective of invading the Black Widow is to prevent them to keep holding a certain amount of data after all."

"Hey, what!? I thought they said that it was just to annihilate everyone in this place..."

"They said to me that it was to disable a strong weapon that was threatening our base..."

The soldiers started to share the information passed to them, and there wasn’t anyone who was sent there with the same objectives as others. They all diverged.

Casper’s face was pale at this point, and he just sat on the ground, putting his hands on his hair, frustrated.

"We are here to annihilate. We are here to take an information. And we are here because of a weapon... But not because there is a threat or something. Differently from what they made it appear to be, the enemies hadn’t broken the Peace agreement yet..." Casper spoke, his voice was empty.

Everyone looked at him dumbfounded. They were believing that they were there for the sake of the country because something bad was going to happen.

"What are you saying, colonel?" Ana asked.

"The enemy country didn’t break the Peace agreement yet... We are the ones who will do it. That’s the objective of the mission: attack them before they attack us. Stole their data, use their weapon, destroy the Black Widow... And with this, start a war. We are doing a suicidal mission for the sake of genocide before the enemies do it with us first."

Silence...

The soldier couldn’t look at them. He could not bring himself to stare at their eyes and see the expressions they would have.

When someone has all he believed shattered in front of his eyes, it was difficult to bear. It was like losing a part of himself while seeing all his efforts being thrown in the trash, everything he did until that point seems to become meaningless.

Casper felt the same thing when he discovered that. The soldier was more unstable than he usually was because of that. He wanted so badly to save everyone there, even if he could not do it, because he knew that those lives would be taken for the sake of something so selfish and cruel.

They stayed quiet for several seconds. None of them could find the strength to get up from the ground and do something. In truth, they were struggling just to assimilate what was said for them, and to bring themselves to believe.

Everyone there had given their lives for the Yanke Forces. They strived every day to accomplish their missions, to contribute to the country.

Now, the organization that they efforted in and had so much faith, basically had betrayed them. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

No one would find easily the will to keep going after that.

The soldiers just started to react once they saw Casper raising from the ground. He was serious, although his eyes were showing that, on the inside, he was destroyed.

Actually, the colonel was destroyed a long time ago.

"I was the only one knowing about this matter, but I think it would be fair to talk about it with you all. In truth, I should have had been open and clear with our other comrades as well, but now is late...

"Anyway, I don’t regret anything. I entered into it because I would be the only one getting my hands dirty, and would be responsible for all of this. Also, I thought I could find a way to get out of here without so many casualties throughout the mission."

The soldier kept walking. That empty, white room of the Operation base had a hatch in the middle.

The complex of that base was underground as well, so they needed to open that thing and go down to there, where things would be going to get crazy.

Casper put his hands on the hatch, then tried to find a way to open it.

"Hey, man..." One of the soldiers called him, and Casper quickly glanced at him. "I-I am, sir... Well, are you really implying that you are going to finish this?"

The soldier shrugged looking at his friend.

"I failed in the mission of bringing all of you alive. We messed with a lot of parts of our plans, and maybe it was bad coordination on my part... Well, I failed in one of my goals from before, so I will, at least, annihilate these people and end up with it, once and for all.

"I won’t fail with you again, and I will not afford that all my comrades died because of nothing."

He finally could find a way to open that hatch. Casper gazed at that entrance, pointing at it.

"I will go alone if needed. Maybe this way I can rest in peace afterward." Then, the colonel started to go down the stairs until the floor they had construed in the underground.

The soldiers hesitated for a moment. They didn’t know how they should react to that. The resilience of that guy was something to be admired.

"Ok, let’s go. I can’t let him do more idiotic things. Also... I think it’s better if you all go as well, to honor your friends and make their deaths have a minimal sense." Ana gave a severe look at them, starting to go down the stairs quickly.

The soldiers kept looking at each other, troubled.

However, little by little everyone began to rise from the ground and go in the direction of that hatch. Their hands were trembling with fury and anxiety, and they were questioning if that was the most reasonable thing to do.

However, what Ana and Casper said wasn’t wrong. Their friends died because of that mission. Genocide or not, that mission was for the sake of the country. Even though the war wasn’t something that would happen for sure, they were doing that cruel act to prevent 100% that it wouldn’t happen.

Although everything was against moral there, those soldiers were prepared to keep going against it to honor their comrades, to fight for their country, and give their lives for that.

It was useless to go with just 10 people to try to fulfill the mission, but they would pull through. They could invade and fight relentlessly against the Black Widow, the enemy’s most secure and dreaded military camp.

They could fight against very well-trained soldiers, with the best equipment, and more numerous, in their own terrain, and stay alive.

They were strong. 10 people weren’t enough, but they would find a way to turn the table.

Thinking like this, they went down with the others, prepared to face their destiny.

Once Casper finished going downstairs, he found himself in a corridor that seemed to be endless.

He waited there for some while. The colonel was sure that the other soldiers would tag along. He knew each one of them and was aware of how loyal they were, and how much they evaluated their friends’ lives.

Just as he thought, in a matter of seconds, the other nine people were next to him, not even a single one was left behind.

He pointed to the corridor.

"After this corridor, there will be a complex with different rooms interconnected. The security system here probably returned to work as well, and they are aware of our approach, so it will be difficult. Are you still going?"

They didn’t answer but didn’t say no, as well. Casper took that silence as a confirmation.

"Ok, then. We are near the end of it all. Let’s go!"