Gabe excitedly opened up the profile of his new assistant.
Name: Liliana Winters
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Previous occupation: Assistant manager in a gas mask filter factory
Projected efficiency: 98.1%
Projected synchrony: 99.2%
Projected efficiency boost: 187.3%
History: …
"No way, it's Lily!" Gabe exclaimed aloud. The two of them were good friends back in college. Unfortunately, she fell behind a bit and dropped out of college at 19, just one year before graduating.
They talked on the Holo for a while after she dropped out, but studies kept getting harder for him, and her job as an assistant manager took up a lot of her hours. It had been months since they last talked to each other. He realized he had never even told her what job he got assigned.
She was a very focused girl that he got along with well. Even though she was an introvert, when the two were together they seemed to be able to talk for hours.
She had vibrant blonde hair that seemed to shimmer when the light hit it right. Her eyes were a cool blue and she seemed to always keep a small but kind smile, at least when she talked with Gabe. She was definitely the cool, reserved beauty of the college.
After reading some more information on Lily's profile his Holo dinged twice. One was from Emma asking when he was getting dinner. The other was from a name he hadn't seen in ages.
"Are you the same Gabe Romas that just had me assigned as his assistant and is the freaking COMMANDER IN CHIEF???" The text from Lily read.
"Haha yea that's me," he replied back immediately. Before he could even turn off his Holo and put it away it started ringing.
"Why did you never tell me that!" Lily exclaimed the moment Gabe answered the call.
"I was kinda busy you know."
"Don't you give me that. I know you had plenty of time to send me a quick message."
Gabe stayed silent after that.
"So? What's this about Algo assigning me to be your assistant?"
"Yea so I need some help, and Speaker Diane said I should get one as soon as possible. I had Algo start searching 4 hours ago. I honestly had no idea it would choose you," he put his arms up to defend himself.
"The message I received from Algo said that you would organize transport for me to Denver. When should I expect to move out?"
"You're able to move that quickly? Don't you have any friends wherever you are? Speaking of, where are you right now?"
"Seriously, Gabe. Do you even know me?" she replied with a flat stare. She was a huge introvert around people she didn't know. That made it hard for her to make new friends.
"Oh right," he said quietly.
"Eeeh it's fine. I'm in Mexico City right now."
"Oh that sucks. I was really hoping you could make it here before 0900 hours tomorrow." By road, it took almost 30 hours of driving to get to Denver from Mexico City, and that was before the collapse.
Now that most roads aren't maintained, it could take even longer. There were only 15 hours until the continuous event. There was no way for her to get here in time.
"I'll ask Kelly if she can work some magic to get you here sooner. I don't know if that's possible though so sorry about the 30 hour truck ride in advance."
"You know Kelly?" She asked in a hurry.
"Uh of course I do. I had just gotten off the Holo with her before you were chosen by Algo. She is not going to like me calling her again," he said the last part to himself.
"Oh my god. That is so cool!" She said in awe.
"You do realize that you will likely be seeing all the council members frequently right?"
"HHUUHH?" Lily gasped. "No way?! I totally will right? That's so freaking cool!" She did a little happy dance while saying that. "So? When's my ride getting here?" she asked again.
"I'll figure it out. I'll go speak with Kelly and then I'll message you."
"Ok sounds good. It was good talking to you, Gabe. Bye!"
"Bye Lily, I look forward to working with you," Gabe said formally before ending the call.
"I think I'll just message Kelly instead of calling. I don't want her to yell at me again," Gabe thought. He sent a message saying his new assistant is in Mexico City, and he wanted her to get to Denver as soon as possible.
He received a reply almost immediately. "There's not much I can do to get her here before the operation unless you authorize a flight. I wouldn't recommend it, though. You can still communicate while she's in transit."
It's true. While Lily wouldn't be a great help until she arrived, he could at least get her up to speed on the state of things and send her the planning files from the last 4 hours to organize.
"Yea I agree with you. If you could just get her here as soon as possible, that will be good enough."
"Smart choice. Tell her that there is a raw materials convoy leaving the north entrance in 20 minutes and that she should look for a man named Bart. He's been notified that she will be traveling with them."
"Thank you so much. I'll let her know."
After he informed Lily of her ride he finally looked at the messages from Emma. She'd sent him 4 more texts since the first wondering if he was getting dinner.
He replied immediately that he would be getting dinner now to which she sent a thumbs up emoji. He got up and left his office, heading to the cafeteria to get dinner.
Once he entered the cafeteria, he got in the line that seemed to always wrap around the room. It seemed the room was on edge and tensions were high.
It was obvious that people figured out something was going on. The military doesn't mobilize for nothing. With the scale of the mobilization, it was obvious whatever it was that was going on was big, too.
There were more than a few questioning eyes that looked to Gabe wondering what he was up to. Only Gabe had the power to mobilize after all.
He eventually got his dry biscuit and vegetable soup before looking for Emma. Turned out he didn't need to. He felt a tap on his shoulder and when he turned around he found Emma there with her own biscuit and soup.
"Heya Gabe!" She said happily.
"Hello, Emma. Want to find a seat?" He asked while looking around. They found a mostly empty table off to the side and sat down to eat.
Before Gabe could even take a bite, Emma spoke up.
"So? What was the summons for? Please tell me something cool is happening? I heard the military is preparing for something. What's going on?" She begged to know what was going on as she bombarded him with questions.
Gabe sighed before responding. "Yes something is going on. No I cannot tell you what. It is highly classified for now."
"Please please please can you tell me? I won't tell anyone I swear," Emma begged while giving puppy dog eyes.
Gabe smiled at her antics. "No I cannot tell you. Even when you look at me like that."
Emma's puppy dog eyes got even bigger. Gabe paused for a moment debating whether or not to say something. He decided he could reveal a tiny bit.
"Ok fine! This cannot get out!" He warned with a serious face.
"Yes sir!" She replied with enthusiasm knowing her tactics worked. Gabe sighed while seeing her response.
"There are a bunch of really weird events happening all over the Western Nation. Whatever you do, stay as far away from them as possible. I think they are the source of my bad feeling."
He tried to make it explicitly clear that whatever the events were, they were extremely dangerous.
"Hmm, that's going to be difficult. I'm in the logistics team for whatever you have planned down the mountain."
"WHAT?? This is incredibly dangerous. You need to request someone else take your position. Actually, I should be able to have you swapped out. I think I have that power now."
Gabe said that second half to himself. He continued to mumble to himself plans on how to get Emma as far away as possible.
WHAM!
Gabe was smacked hard on his shoulder. He then stared at Emma wondering why she just smacked him.
"You just totally forgot about the world there," she said scolding Gabe. "While I appreciate the thought, this is my job. If this is going to help the world, then I will put my everything into it. If anything, with the way you're acting, it means that this operation is super important. I'm definitely going to go now. I want to see whatever it is you're trying to hide from me," she said with a mischievous smile.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous this could be? We could lose every person we send out!" he said way too loud.
Everyone at the tables surrounding them looked at him. His actions definitely did not instill any confidence in the people around him.
If he let the rumor mill go, this could totally ruin his first operation as Commander in Chief. He slowly stood up and straightened his clothes. He was desperately trying to think up an excuse. He cleared his throat to buy a few more moments before an idea suddenly clicked.
"To make myself clear, I did not mean losses as in deaths. The mysterious events we are investigating completely disrupt our communication abilities. I only worry about losing contact with the men and women on sight. Do not worry, we have thought up many backup plans so that the people on site are not stranded without orders."
What Gabe said wasn't exactly a lie. However, it definitely wasn't the truth. They knew for a fact that they would lose communication with the teams around the event, so they have come up with multiple ways to communicate with them.
It seemed that while most of the people there knew he wasn't being fully honest with them, they understood that at least Gabe prepared as much as he could.
Dangerous operations happen all the time, and deaths weren't rare. The only thing they can rely on is hoping that whoever was in command planned well enough that they didn't die, too.
Gabe nodded and sat back down at his table. The crowd that had gathered went back to their meals as if Gabe's outburst never happened. He looked up at Emma and saw she had a stupid smirk on her face.
"Oh so whatever is happening messes with communications. Interesting…" she said teasingly. She was happy she got some good info out of Gabe. She then leaned in towards Gabe and whispered. "I also know that excuse is bullshit. So I might die on this operation. This is thrilling news," she teased while leaning back.
"I'm serious Emma, you need try and get away," Gabe hissed in irritation.
"And I'm serious, too, Gabe. I am not a fragile woman," she said with a rare seriousness in her voice.
Gabe's mouth opened and closed looking for another rebuttal. He found none, though. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he warned her once more.
"Fine, Emma, I won't stop you. You have to promise me you'll be careful, though."
Emma smiled and replied, "I promise Gabe. You don't have to worry about me."
That made Gabe worry even more. Emma was a carefree soul, but he did have to admit that she never did anything that crossed the line.
Gabe and Emma ate their meals while chatting. They both needed to ease the tension in their bodies before the operation started tonight.