November 15, 2025 — 4:40 PM
Japanese Self-Defense Forces Enclave – Barracks Corridor, Upper Level
The mountain wind outside whistled faintly through the ventilation shaft, a sound Thomas Estaris had grown familiar with over the past few hours. Cold, constant, and unchanging—like the silence after a battlefield, or a conversation where too much had been left unsaid.
He stood at a wide window overlooking the valley below. The trees down the slope swayed gently in the breeze, and beyond them, the sky was beginning to lose its light. The Stratotanker—Valkyrie One—sat parked far below on the ridge landing pad, engines off, silhouette dark against the fading sun.
Footsteps approached from behind.
Thomas didn't turn immediately. Only when he heard the voice.
"You run a tight operation, Estaris. I'll give you that."
