20:53
SNA Medical Complex, New Eden
Inside a cabin on the 12th floor, a man was lying on the cabin bed. He had an IV line attached to his left hand. A brown girl in her late 20s was standing next to the bed and was checking something on her tablet as another white woman in her early 20s was changing the man's saline bags. The brown girl had long black hair and grey eyes, and the white girl had really short black hair and black eyes.
The Brown girl said, "Hmm. Everything looks OK. Just a few more days of rest, and you'll be as fine as ever."
The man replied, "Thanks, doc."
The girl checked her wristwatch and suddenly started panicking. She quickly closed her tablet and ran out the door as she took off her apron and said, "Take care of the rest for me, Arina. I gotta go."
She left before Arina could answer.
21:20
Runway - 4, New Eden
A Bell - 206 helicopter was getting ready to take off. A pilot was sitting inside and an Asian woman in her late 20s was waiting for someone outside the helicopter. She had red eyes, long dark blue hair and a round face.
A few moments later a Subaru Defender stopped just outside of the Helipad and Jacob and the brown girl got out.
Both of them ran to the Asian grill as the brown girl said, "Mei, sorry we're late."
They hugged and Mei said, "No problem. You aren't late. I have a few minutes left before take off."
Jacob said in a tone of complaint, "It's Mitali's fault, we're late. Her phone was turned off so I had to go to the medical complex to pick her up."
"It's not my fault that my battery died."
"Uhm, it is? Cause you didn't charge it?"
Mei stopped them by saying, "OK, guys. Calm down. I don't have much time left so let's get down to business. Jacob, Luna got put in your class, right? Did she say anything about Sohel?"
Jacob's smile disappeared as he said, "No. Nothing. But, when I tried to rile her up by talking about Sohel, she looked… Joyful. I'm not sure but I think she knows about his whereabouts. What about you, Mei? Did you find anything out?"
"I've been wanting to talk to Ann about it but it's hard talking to her and keeping the contents of the discussion off records."
Mitali and Jacob looked down.
"But I have an idea this time. We'll see how it works out."
Mei realised Jacob and Mitali's feelings and tried to cheer them up. "Hey. Wherever he is, he's at least free and not rotting in jail for a crime he didn't commit."
Mitali suddenly hugged Mei. Mei was startled for a bit but she hugged Mitali back a second later. She was about to say something but the helicopter pilot interrupted her. "Captain Watanabe, it's time to take off. We wouldn't be able to leave once the storm starts."
Mei looked back towards the helicopter pilot and said, "I'm coming. One second."
"Mitali, it'll be fine. We'll see him again. Just wait. OK?"
Mitali nodded. Mei then bid them farewell and got on the helicopter while the other two got back in the car.
Jacob started the car and said, "The whole island is feeling haunted."
"Well,the Island has the capacity to house 10,000 soldiers and rookies. Currently it has less than 3,000. What do you expect?"
"That's true. I wonder what's going on in the mainland. Suddenly our neighbors started to station troops and armaments in the border, making us do the same thing."
"Don't know what's going on. But whatever it is, our job doesn't change…
Who would've thought Naomi would just suddenly change her name like that. Who the heck is Mei anyway?"
"It's apparently her real name. Naomi was a fake name given to her by Dr. Kobayashi."
"I know that. But it still kinda weirds me out."
Jacob chuckled and said, "You'll be fine. You know what, let's have some fun tonight. We've been too busy with work lately. It'd also be a nice way for you to sway your mind from all the sad stuff."
Naomi looked up, sighed and said, "Yeah, let's do that. Is the entertainment district still open?"
Jacob turned the car as he said, "Let's find out."
12th June
01: 51
SNA Naval Base Yamato, Okinawa, Japan
Mei entered her room after talking with the rear admiral in charge of the base. She went to the window and looked through it towards the raging sea. The strong winds were making some violent currents. She thought as she closed the window and pulled the curtains, "Hope the storm isn't as bad as it's predicted."
She then took off his coat and put it on the bed before taking out her tablet and sitting on the couch.
She turned on the tablet and ran a program named, curtain.exe
A few seconds later, she asked, "ARIA, check for connections to New Eden."
A second later, ARIA replied, "No connections found."
A big smile appeared on Mei's face as she called Annabelle.
A few seconds later, Annabelle's voice came through the tablet speakers. "Hello."
"Ann. It's me. Your malware worked."
"My stuff always works. Never doubt me. Now get to what you wanted to talk to me about. I'm a bit busy right now."
"Yeah, yeah. I wanted to ask about Sohel's whereabouts. If he reached out to you in the past five years. Or if you have found out his location somehow. Or if you have doubts about him being somewhere. Anything about him. Please tell me if you know."
"I'm sorry, Mei. I don't know anything about him. And I haven't looked for him either. You should move on too. If the top brass finds out you're looking for him, you're the one who's going to be in trouble. You need to move on."
Mei sighed and said, "Yeah, I know. But I… I won't give up. I will find him and I will get him back."
"Think about it, Mei. What if he's happy where he currently is? What if he doesn't want to go back? If you still try to pull him back into the SNA, that'd be selfish of you."
Mei got agitated and said in a loud voice, "I am selfish, Ann. I want him with me, so I will bring him back. I don't care what you or anyone else thinks."
"You need to calm down and think it through. Go take a shower and think about everything. Talk to you later."
The call cut. Mei bit her lips in anger and laid back.
Same Time
Watson Estate, Pound Hill, Crawley
Annabelle looked at one of her screens that showed she had just cut a call and sighed. She looked towards another screen on her left and asked, "Are you sure about this?"
A male voice replied from the other side, "Yeah."