Chapter 3: Rewind: Starting The Mission

A little while later the trio are sitting in the helicopter, both Sonic and Tails are sitting and looking out the sides where the can see the clouds, the land, and the sea. They were up there. Ben was steadily piloting the helicopter. Everything seemed normal on his end, which is something he was looking forward to: a bit time to relax, in a way. Sonic and Tails were sitting near the cockpit.

“Hey Ben?” Sonic asked. It was loud but Ben could still hear him.

“What’s up?” Ben asked. “Getting air sick?”

“No, I’m fine. I was just wondering how did you find out what Eggman was looking for the Time Shifter” Sonic asked.

Ben slaps the co-pilot seat next to him, motioning Sonic to move up to that seat. “I’ll explain, sit here it will be easier if ya next to me so I can still keep my eyes out in front” Ben said as Sonic moves up to the seat. “Tails you can hear me right?”

“Yea.” Tails says as he moves closer a bit so he could hear a bit better.

“So it was about a week and a half ago on a Saturday…” Ben begins.

It’s a warm but partly cloudy Saturday at a Mobian Marine military base. Several Marines are doing training exercises, some are running, and some are just patrolling the grounds. In the barracks Ben is getting his combat boots on. He was in no rush as Saturday and Sunday are usually him and his off days. He always gave his team the weekends off, usually they are all helping the other marines anyways but it’s their time and they can do whatever they pleased. As he finished lacing up his left boot a young PFC entered the room.

“Capt. Wolfbane sir?” the young PFC asked. He is a young Siberian Husky.

“Yes?” Ben replied

“Private First Class Luke Jackson sir, General Alvakirk asked me to tell you that you are needed in the Strategy room. It’s important.” He replied.

“Did he say why?” Ben asked

“No sir, but your squad is there as well.” Jackson replied

“That big ehh? Thank you, Jackson.” Ben replies. Ben gets up and leaves the room as Jackson follows behind. “You’re coming with me?”

“The General wants me to accompany you, sir.” Jackson says.

“Fine by me.” Ben replied. He didn’t mind that he was accompanying him. “So where are you from?”

“Small town out west. A place called Cyprus, Captain.” Jackson replied.

“Call me Ben, Jackson. I was one who never liked being called by their rank. So why did you enlist?”

“Family legacy, my father served, my grandfather served, and my great-grandfather was a Royal Guard. I wanted to serve since I was a little pup.” Jackson said with a smile on his face. He was proud of his family legacy of serving.

“Is your father still active or has he retired?” Ben asked out of curiosity.

“No, he was medically discharged about 12 years ago when I was 6 during the war. He was hit in his collarbone and he never healed right. Damn shame too he was well liked by everyone. General D’Coolette didn’t want to let him go.” Jackson said

“I can imagine. It’s tough to recover from combat-related injuries.” Ben replied. He said this because he himself was injured not to long ago, though he refuses to talk about it.

“Is it true that you’re the last of the Myarque?” Jackson asked.

“What are the stories they are making up now?” Ben said with a chuckle. He knew that the other guys make up stories about him, most of them make him seem larger than life but Ben does get a kick when he hears them.

“They’re stories?”

“Yea, nothing more than a bunch of guys who like stretching the truth just a bit. But to answer your question it depends on what you mean by “last”.” Ben replied.

“What do you mean?”

“There are others who were involved with us. General Alvakirk had a bit of involvement, Raymond had involvement as well and I believe my uncle who defected before I was born is still alive, was apart of us. But I am the last true, full-fledged member of the Myarque.” Ben replied.

“So the stories that don’t stretch the truth are the truth?”

“Don’t believe everything you hear about me unless it came from me.” Ben said. “But some stuff I hear that are about me are true.”

“Like you was the only survivor of the bat...”

“We don’t talk about that battle” Ben replied. He sounded very antsy about that battle and for good reason. That battle severely injured Ben and he almost died from his injuries. “I’m sure several people said something about that.”

“Right I forgot about that, I’m sorry.” Jackson said, feeling bad about potentially bringing up a bad memory.

“It’s fine Jackson.” Ben said as they entered the Command Tent. “What’s the good word Alvakirk?” Several other Marines, including Ben’s squad, are in the tent as well.

“You shall refer to the General as General Alvakirk Ben.” A big white polar bear told him in an angry voice with a bit of a Russian accent.

“Yukon it’s fine that Ben addresses me that way, no one else has a problem with it” Alvakirk replied. Alvakirk is a half-wolf, half- husky.

“Still he should set an example to the younger guys” Yukon replied again.

“He says he doesn’t mind.” Ben replied

“Well I’m pulling rank and saying you HAVE to…”

“Yukon shut it down now I said it’s fine.” Alvakirk replied. “Down to business then: We received reports of an attack near the settlement of Twinleaf. Now only a small force hit the town and a larger force was tracked by Rico-One near an old ruins sight.”

“Now what’s that got to do with us?” Raymond replied.

“The ruins were an old Myarque base, now you two are the only ones that know what may be inside.” Alvakirk said pointing at Raymond and Ben. “All three of us know that there are some secrets that should not be in enemy hands.”

“Most of your little group’s “secrets” are nothing but wives tales and stories to scare little children” Yukon said.

“You haven’t the slightest, General Yukon” Ben replied, annoyed that he doesn’t realize what could be at stake.

“So you’re going to send us out to the ruins and Twinleaf just for assessment damage??” the poodle in the back says.

“No Carol, I’m gonna send you out to both places, find out what happened last night, and go to the ruins and figure out what’s going on. Ben and Raymond: If you see anything amiss, radio to me and I will give you further instructions. If the Overlanders are at the ruins do NOT engage unless fired upon. I don’t want more skirmishes to happen again, this conflict if finally dying down and I don’t want an incident to re-escalate things.”

“Understood.” Ben replied.

“Excellent. Gear up and head out immediately.” General Alvakirk says. “Dismissed”

“Got it. Everyone meet up at the rally point outside the base” Ben told his team.

“Hold on a moment Ben.” Alvakirk replied as everyone else left. “Jackson is gonna accompany you now as a new member of the squad.”

“What happened to Horton?” Ben asked.

“Horton had to leave due to Family issues. Jackson is going to be his replacement. He’s a good kid and I think he’ll learn a lot from you guys.” Alvakirk said.

“Understood” Ben replied as he walks out of the tent.

Ben walks back to his barracks and grabs his gear that he will need. He’s trying to figure out who would want to go towards that outpost and what would they be looking for. The fact the outpost in question is just nothing more than a safe house if anything. Most of the outposts were just safe houses for when the weather is bad or someone in suspicion was on their tail. Nevertheless Ben got ready and met the rest of the squad at the point and they set off to Twinleaf.

“So why would Overlanders attack a settlement? I mean this conflict basically over now.” asked said the white Labrador. As they begin walking down the road.

“Who’s to say its Overlanders, Shaymus? For all we know is that it could be bandits or some mercenary squad that attacked Twinleaf.” Raymond replied.

“Still. We have the best track record in the Marines, isn’t sending us a bit of a waste of good resources?” Shaymus replied.

“Well if they send us the mission will be successful. If they were to send someone else it could lead to disaster, laddie” the Scottish Terrier said.

“Yea I understand that William, but what if it’s just nothing? What if it’s a bunch of kids who was just messin’ around?” Shaymus said

“What if it is Overlanders, I mean a building was destroyed and the town wasn’t even involved with The Great War, so what’s the point in attacking a town that had no involvement at all?” The German Sheppard added in.

“That’s something to think about Tommy. The town has been neutral with no involvement whatsoever. So attacking the town they either had bad intel. or they couldn’t tell what they were doing. What do you think Jackson?” Shaymus asked.

“I’m not sure. It could be anything.” Jackson replied

“I hope its Overlanders, I wanna get into a fight.” Carol asked.

“We are not to engage them unless they attack us Carol.” Raymond said. “Remember our orders to investigate what happened and go from there.”

“Stop being a softy Raymond. You’re a freaking Master Sargent, act like one instead of being cautious all the time.”

“I’m just following orders and you are supposed to do the same.” Raymond snapped back.

“Lock it down, both of you.” Ben turned around and said to them.

“Sorry Ben” Both Raymond and Carol said to him at the same time.

“We are here.” Ben said as an older looking Deer walks up to him. Twinleaf resembles a Western like settlement with one main street with stores and houses along the road. There are two side streets that lead to two ranches. They see some of the damage in the town from the store that was destroyed and several damaged buildings.

“Good to see you guys have arrived I’m Mayor John Derickson”

“I’m Captain Ben Wolfbane and this is my team. What would you like for us to do?”

“Several towns folk and the Sheriffs office engaged whoever attacked us. A rocket hit the General Store and wrecked it and the towns’ folk and the Sheriffs fired back. Fortunately no one was hurt during the skirmish. So I would talk to some of the people in town and see if they saw anything amiss.” the mayor said.

“Right, you guys go talk to the towns folk and help them clean up a bit while you can.” Ben told his squad as they left. The mayor walks toward his office as Ben follows him. “What can you tell me about last night?”

“It was just an average night. About 9 PM when everything was shutting down we heard gunfire. We thought at first it was you guys doing a training exercise or got into a skirmish. Then out of no where the shots were coming this was and a few RPG rounds sailed over us and one hit the store.”

“Well none of us were in the area last night, plus we would have notified you guys if we were doing a training exercise.” Ben replied

“That’s when we ruled you guys out. It was pitch black so we couldn’t see whom it was. I hope it wasn’t Overlanders, yet they never gave us any problems. I have a feeling it may be some sort of bandits or merc group with more firepower than brains.” The mayor said.

“It could be.” Ben replied. “Though I don’t wanna rule anything out just yet. They were heading towards the ruins correct?”

“Correct. Curious place those ruins. You know of them? If I recall they belonged to a group called the Myarque.”

“They did. I know of those ruins because I am the last surviving member of the Myarque” Ben replied.

“Really? I heard all of them died.” The mayor said

“Nope I’m the last one left.” Ben said, “I think I should check up on my team.”

“Okay, Good luck to you guys.” The mayor said. Ben walks back into the center of town. The town has been cleaned up a bit and the rest of the team has gathered in the center as well.

“What did you guys find out? Ben asked his team.

“Attacked at 9 PM last night, the people I talked to didn’t see who attacked.” Shaymus said.

“I talked to the Sheriff and his deputies and they are certain they hit one of them so we may be able to find a blood trail.” Tommy said.

“If its Overlanders or bandits or something like that” William said.

“Whaddya mean?” Raymond asked.

“I’m not ruling anything out.” William replied.

“We shouldn’t rule anything out.” Ben replied, “The Mayor gave a good account of what went down. There was obvious miscommunication with the attacking party, which is the reason why they didn’t press into the town.”

“What the hell are we waiting for let’s hunt them down!” Carol said.

“We should at least let Gen. Alvakirk know what happened first.” Raymond said.

“Why? We should just get them now if they are wounded.” Carol snapped back.

“We were sent to find out what happened, give a report then find the ones responsible.” Raymond said.

“They could be long gone by the time we find them if we report first.” Carol said.

“Well I’m just following orders.” Raymond said as both of them continue their argument down the road.

“When will they get together and make out already?” Jackson asked. As he said that the rest of them looked at each other and laughed. “What’s so funny?”

“There’s a bet on base that they secretly love each other and don’t wanna admit it. Half of us think they love each other while the other half think they really do hate each other.” Shaymus said with a chuckle.
“20 Mobiums will get you into the pool. Hey Captain what’s the amount that as been pooled in?” Tommy said

“Around 4980 Mobiums, somewhere around that ballpark. Nearly everyone is in on it and those two don’t know about.” Ben said with a chuckle. “Personally I think they’d be great together.”

“So you want in?” Shaymus asked. Jackson reaches in his pocket and pulls out a 20 and gives it to Ben. “Hey, hey! It hit 5000.”

“So do we go after them or give a report first?” Tommy asked.

“Let’s find whoever attacked Twinleaf and question them so we have a clearer picture of what happened and I wanna see the attackers M.O. for doing this.” Ben said.

“Roger” all of them replied. They walked down the road and got Carol and Raymond and they set off for the old ruins that are near the town. Ben begins to think something is off about this. What it is he doesn’t know but he has a gut feeling that there is something bigger lurking in the mists and they are about to be thrown into it.