(Juxta Military Base, Perimeter Grounds)
The wind had picked up slightly as Leo walked beside Charles, their boots crunching over gravel while faint hums from power lines and distant drills filled the air.
Above them, destroyer-class ships rested on docking rails like dormant beasts, silent but brimming with menace, waiting for war to summon them forward.
Charles took a long drag from his cigarette, letting the silence settle, letting the weight of their last conversation hang between them. But as they rounded the bend near the comms station, something in his posture shifted. His tone lost its emotional edge, becoming calmer, colder, like a blade being unsheathed for instruction.
"You see, son," he began, voice even and deliberate, "there are a lot of tactics when it comes to capturing a planet."
He paused, gesturing lazily toward the sky as if the stars above were pawns in a game only he knew how to play.
"But the first step is always the same."
