"Today we must be strong, brave, and courageous!" Yelled the leading commander, Anax. "Two days ago we got a nuclear threat from the Astarians and now it's a call to action! We must take arms and know that we aren't fighting for our country, but for the whole East!" He raised his right hand and grabbed out to nothing. Our salute. We followed all the same, grabbing out to nothing. Our salute, our pledge to Eleutheria, our home. He pointed to the exit and shouted, "Get ready! For we leave at 19:31!"

All the soldiers walked in unison, preparing for war. I followed my group, not breaking formation, and stayed steady. The whole East has been in dread for the last year. Astacrs had finally conquered Vincere, its neighboring country. Now they threaten to take our ally, Algoris. We can't let that stand. For if they take our ally we will stand no chance in defeating them. Erebus, Astacrs's tyrant, is our biggest concern when it comes to winning the battle. A year ago, he made a speech to the whole Earth. He plans to conquer the world, leaving no place behind. He threatened that if no one surrenders to him, he will show us hell. At first, we didn't believe he could do any of his threats. Due to the world's advancement in technology. There are systems at play to stop such world-conjuring plans. But, a few months ago everything changed. In the battle located in Vincere, Erebus brought a strange new technology no one had ever seen. We dubbed them nanobites. In the battle, weapons that were not from the Astarians stopped working. With nothing to protect them, Vincere had fallen. Scientists and military leaders from all over the East came to the battlefield. To find out why the weapons stopped working, that's how we found the nanobites. The nanobites can stop any technology from functioning if it touches it. It took us a while to figure out how these things work. But it seems it attacks the chips that are inside the technology these days. This applies not only to our military weapons but anything that has chips as well. Most weapons, planes, ships, and even houses today have chips. That way they can regenerate when destroyed. Or used to prevent anyone but the owner from using said technology. These nanobites are causing a huge problem because we can't stop using the new weapons and go back to old ones. Like, the rarely seen old trigger guns. What was that one called? Ah! Yes, the rifle. It would be difficult to find the blueprints to make these in large quantities. While we can't stop these nanobites from affecting our guns, we found a way to stop them from touching our planes. This is going to be part of our plans to defeat the Astacrs.

We entered the loading zone and waited for the speaker to call out our section. I could feel the tension coming from our section. We don't know if we're going to succeed or even if Erebus will even keep his word. Being that he gives us three more days until he declares war. Every step taken fueled our anxiety and worry, not knowing if we're going to live another day. Fighting for our country, although stressful, is worth it. For I know that at least I'm working everyday to keep the promise of a better future. That is why I even signed into this military; to secure my family's future. My section stayed in line, not daring to talk or even look at one another because there was no time to relax. We waited for the speakers to call us to our assignment. After calling the section before us, it called out for our section.

Section 49 go to the call room. Say goodbyes. Calls available for 30 minutes. Section 49 go to the call room. Say goodbyes. Calls available for 30 minutes.

I had a sigh of relief and I wasn't the only one. At least I'm able to speak to my family before this mission happens. My section walked to the call room. A room all black and blocked from the inside-out, its purpose is as in its name to call people. Of course, every call had a limit, and an obvious protocol, we can't say where we are. Even with these rules, it gives soldiers that hope of seeing their family one last time. At least it gives me hope. I walked up to one of the transparent screens. The screen immediately knew who I was due to a number of factors. Such as sound, steps, and blood type. It's another protocol for every military technology to check and ensure that we are who we say we are. In case we try to contact someone we can't or try to cover up that we even called someone. Once the screen processed who I was, it began to speak.

Evening Atticus Galanis, rank bomber. Assigned to 15 minutes to call 1 number. Please pick out of the section on the screen.

I didn't have to think about it. I was going to call my wife. I eyed my wife's name and the screen automatically understood what I wanted.

Calling Venetia Galanis.

Milliseconds went by and I went into a virtual room.

Calling, please wait a moment.

That moment didn't take long because not even a minute passed when I saw my wife and son's face. I smiled when I saw them only for a second before composing my face.

"Venetia..." I walked over to her. I wanted to kiss her, but protocol stands that I need to be serious even in the virtual. She gave me a sad smile. I guess we both knew this might be out last time seeing each other.

"Papa!" My little seven year old son yelled, my wife had to stop him from running up to me.

"Hello, Eraqus, you've grown so much." I said, keeping my sadness locked away with a non emotional face.

"I missed you papa!" He smiled, "Guess what I learned in school today?"

"What?" I asked and his face brightened up upon hearing it.

"I learned about the first country that brought freedom, the United States." He disappeared from the virtual call for a moment and came back to show me a picture of a red, white, and blue flag. Filled with stars and stripes.

I felt a pang in my chest. The twisted irony, knowing that I can't ever escape my enemy. The country we are preparing for war, Astacrs, used to be the United States 700 years ago. It seems that they will always be following us unless we bring them down. My wife looked at me concerned. With her face, I could tell she was asking if this was okay to speak about the United States. I nodded and I saw her have a sigh of relief.

"You know son, we used to have a monarchy." I said and his eyes brightened wanting to know more. "If my history is right, we used to be called Great Britain." He processed the information for a moment.

"Well that sounds more fun than Eleutheria." He pouted. I bit my lip trying not to laugh, with my son it was so hard not to break my straight serious face.

"You should be grateful that we are even allowed to learn about the world's past. Some countries can't." My mind immediately went to Astacrs. Where their dictator hides their country's past and never lets its citizens leave. It's as if they were all brainwashed.

"Which ones?" He asked.

"Well," I knew I couldn't respond without mentioning the Astacrs, so I tried to change the subject. "I can't really recall right now son, maybe next time. Anyways, how is it in the bunker?" I asked my wife.

"It's something, to say the least." She said, "But, I'm thankful that our city provided a place for us." I nodded. I was thankful too. Ever since the threat the Astacrs made, the East started to work tirelessly to protect its people. One way was creating underground bunkers to prevent people getting killed by bombs. I do worry though, what if their nuclear bombs will somehow affect them? You never know with the growth of the Astacrs's technology.

3 more minutes until sign off. 3 more minutes until sign off.

My wife's smile faded a bit. That was the only thing I hated about the viral calls, time sweeps away from you.

"Let me talk to your father." My wife said holding my son back, but Eraqus pushed away from my wife's hands and hugged me. Surprised about this action, my face broke its facade and showed my surprisement. Once I caught it I put my serious face back and told him.

"Listen to your mother." He had tears in his eyes. I had to remember why I joined the army to stop myself from shedding a tear. To protect his future and for the both of them to live a good life.

"Okay, love you, papa." He choked out the words, breaking the embrace, and disappeared from the call.

15 seconds until sign off. 15 seconds until sign off.

"I love you." My wife said.

"I love you too, Venetia." I said, getting ready to depart from the call.

"Try to be safe." I heard her saying when the screen started blaring out.

Call end. Next assignment is now available.

I saw my wife's face disappear and I instantly came back to the call room. It wasn't even silent for a second because the speakers yelled again.

Section 49 training area. Section 49 training area.

My section listened. Followed and obeyed. I practiced in a simulation to avoid an enemy with nanobites. Also how to bypass the nanobites when launching the bomb. The reason I had these training sessions was because that was my mission in this attack. To launch a nuclear bomb. After an hour of training, there was only about two hours until we headed out for the attack. We were then assigned another assignment to prepare for the attack. My section was to prepare the medical equipment. Then check to make sure our bogs, robot dogs, were working in an orderly fashion. I was checking a bog when we were all summoned to battle.

All Sections go to Delta. All Sections go to Delta.

The time was now. The commander assigned me to one of the planes carrying a nuclear bomb. The one that was heading to the farest location. I thought about the lives that were going to die from the bomb, but to have peace, sacrifices are required. I got loaded into one of the planes and on the signal of Commander Anax I took off. While usually these planes don't need the assistance of a human. Those nanobites will destroy the chips needed to make them work. So we have to go old school and let humans control the planes, not autopilot.

Section 49 launching in 3...2...1...

I clicked the power button and started to get into motion . Clicking the necessary buttons and checking to see if they had secured the bomb. When I was ready, the jet fighters took off and I soon followed. Going a bit slower because of the bomb I carried. I placed the plane on autopilot until further instructions from the commander. I felt I had a huge role to fill and I had to keep on telling myself it was for the greater good. Though I couldn't help but stop and wonder: will this stop the fighting? Will I live? Will I have guilt? While thinking about this, I made sure that the plane was following the map. Six jet fighters protected my plane. All was going according to plan, we would reach the bombing site in two more minutes. Before going across the border lines that ment we reached Astacrs, I got a call from the leader of the jet fighters.

"'Only Hope' it seems that 'The Red' is responding. We may need to shift to plan B."

"Understood." I said into my call piece reminding myself to use the code names from now on, "Will proceed with plan B."

I automatically shut down autopilot and the data chip on the plane turned off. Then I started to ascend from the jet fighters, who went into battle formation. I activated the plane's 'cloud mode' camouflaging it in the sky. I kept moving to my destination praying for the jet fighters below. They had started fighting the Astarians and their technology. I was now three minutes to my drop location. I prepared the button readying to hit my target, the enemy's stronghold, the white house. A place that had encouraged freedom now doing the opposite. I continued with the plan, but then I saw an enemy battle plane coming towards me, no it's an Apollyon. The highest and fastest tech plane out there, only these don't house humans inside only AI.

Without even processing the situation I tried to invade the plane, but it crashed into the left wing. The plane was going down. I tried to steer it in the direction it needed to go, but it was struggling to listen to me. Thirty more seconds! I thought. That's all I need. I activated the plane's repair ability, forgetting that it turns on the chips inside the plane. The repair ability was not meant to activate when flying, but I had no choice. I needed to finish my mission to ensure a better future. The plane's left wing started to prepare itself, but right as it started, the engines began to fail because of it. Come on! I thought. Five more seconds! The wing was almost fixed when another Apollyon hit the tail wing. The plane started to spin, falling from the sky even faster. Two more seconds! I thought. The plane, although falling at an incredible speed, was still going the direction I wanted it to go. A loud beeping sound filled the entire plane. The screens blared a bright flashing red, warning me that there was only 10 seconds until we crashed. I tried to steer the plane and reactivate the reintegration, but it wouldn't work. Another screen chimed over all the warning screens to say I was at the location to complete my mission. I immediately tried pressing the button to launch the bomb. The moment I felt the button I thought to myself, for their future.