Triple Point

Chapter 111: T-1

Elsie

October 14, 34 AE

1 day before Operation Cliffhanger

Much to everyone's surprise, their last day before Operation Cliffhanger started off with an unexpected announcement: the senior chief authorized a "morale-building event" for the rest of the day. And, according to Mack's blunt translation, that meant they were allowed to relax and party.

There were some caveats: everyone had to complete their essential daily responsibilities first, and they were still expected to be ready to leave the hideout at 10 o'clock that night. Regardless, it was much appreciated by everyone, Elsie included, and they ended up showing exemplary teamwork to wrap everything up in a matter of hours.

Thus, their gathering started with lunch in the cafeteria, which ended up looking like a barbecue for an extended family reunion, and simply grew from there. They still were expected to ration most of the food since they needed to support the non-combatants and prisoners that were staying behind, but most people ended up chipping in their secret stashes of snacks and drinks they had been hoarding for special occasions. In a matter of minutes, it became a full-blown party, and no one would have guessed that most of them would be risking their lives in less than a day.

Most of the tables were filled with chatter, and it took Elsie a moment to realize why it was unusual. There were friendly conversations happening between the Alliance and Exodos, metas and non-metas, and no one was trying to kill each other. In fact, they seemed thrilled to be in each other's company, but that was probably attributed to a large pair of kegs that mysteriously appeared at some point; apparently, one of the Exodos members had turned one of the vacant rooms into a distillery, and a few Alliance metas had found and maintained it after the takeover.

Before she knew it, Elsie and her friends were wrapped into all the conversations as well. People from both sides were enthralled by her stories from the entertainment industry; several even asked her very detailed questions about some of their favorite movies of hers. A few feet away, she could hear Luca fawning over both Jordan and Minyoung's music from their younger days, along with Mack's forced laughter that awkwardly accompanied the conversation.

Further away, Hitomi and some Alliance metas were chattering in loud Japanese, and AJ tried desperately to follow along with what little she knew about the language. Off in the distance, Ian was in the midst of a rowdier crowd as they competed in round after round of various drinking games. And every once in a while, Elsie would hear Nakia and Finn's voices filtering through the noise as they reconnected with all of the people they befriended over the past few weeks.

It was the most camaraderie the Alliance and Exodos had ever shown; maybe this is what Senior meant by building morale.

Elsie didn't know how much time had passed before she finally decided to take a break, and she excused herself to get a drink of whatever mystery punch was being served at the time. Her real reason was that she wanted to find out what Camilla was up to, but in the crowds of people, finding her tiny girlfriend took a lot longer than Elsie expected. And once Elsie finally did spot Camilla, she almost smacked herself in the head for her amazing amount of stupidity.

Off in one of the corners of the cafeteria, the couple dozen of Exodos kids were gathered for what could best be described as a beach day. The ground was covered in heaps of dark gray sand that surrounded a large pool of water. All of the kids were happily running around or playing in the water while wearing T-shirts and shorts, each of them seemingly oblivious to the cold air around them; the only adults that were dressed in so little were already heavily intoxicated.