Steps echoed down the long walkway once again, Stacy was returning to her quarters.
'They are basically telling me to die. Haha...'
Stacy was appointed Captain of Eastern Expedition Team Delta.
The Eastern Expeditions were always dangerous, but this time would be especially so.
Gabriel had told her that this Expedition is expected to go further than all that came before, going well beyond what was considered safe.
And to add to it she was appointed as a team captain. Ordinarily this wouldn't have been an issue were it not for the fact that she was wholely underqualified.
Arriving at her room, Stacy opened the door where a familiar face welcomed her.
"Did you make a mess again?"
Asked the women sitting on one of the two beds in the room.
"Well, I tried, but it seems my actions have finally caught up with me."
"I warned you to be careful. Your conduct hasn't been the greatest, I knew they were gonna punish you eventually. So what happened?"
"I got appointed as Captain of Eastern Expedition Team Delta."
Hearing this the woman jumped up from her sitting position.
"Wait, I knew they were gonna punish you, but isn't this too much. Aren't they just sending you to die?"
"That's how I took it too."
"Any idea what your team looks like?"
"None, they haven't told me yet."
The Eastern Expedition was something the Holy Church's Holy Army annually participated in. These expeditions always took atleast a month of time and the mortality rate of participants was high.
For this very reason usually only personnel above Rank 5 attended these expeditions and even then it wasn't rare for people of higher rank to also participate. For example the first expedition was something even Reinhardt himself was a part of.
Stacy just couldn't understand why they'd send her there when she clearly wasn't qualified. Especially to be the a team captain, that was a huge responsibility.
All she could do was wait, for how things would unfold as this wasn't something she could overturn.
...
It was a normal sunny afternoon at the Military Division. Preparations for the Eastern Expedition were already well underway. And amidst all this on a lone spot of land stood Stacy before nine individuals all wearing military uniform.
"This will be the platoon you'll be in charge of. Get familiar with each other as you'll be stuck together for a long time to come."
Stacy overlooked her group and her first impression was that there was a lot left to be desired.
Her team consisted of one medic, two ranged magicians, four swordsmen, two gunmen and herself.
The composition wasn't terrible, but certainly lacked something.
Compared to the other teams the ranks within hers was just average or below it.
'One Rank 6, eight Rank 5s and then me as a Rank 4.'
There being a Rank 6 in their ranks would have been reassuring were it not for the fact that the guy only ranked up a few days ago and was also in his late 60s.
'This is gonna be a headache I can already feel it.'
Stacy confidently stepped forward and spoke up introducing herself to her subordinates.
"I'm Stacy Vike Captain of Team Delta. When we are out there all decisions will go through me, I don't want anyone acting alone during such a dangerous operation."
*Chuckle*
While she spoke she noticed that two of the Rank 5 guys were laughing at the back of the group.
"Hey! What's so funny that you need to laugh, huh?"
The two men looked up at her slowly stopping their laughing. Then one of the two spoke up.
"From how I see things you are trying to act tough Miss. We all know you are both the weakest and youngest among us. There is nothing that you can give this squad, not through strength or through experience."
Stacy squeezed her hands together before speaking up.
"And from where I'm standing I only see a bunch of dead men talking... of course this includes myself aswell."
"..."
"So you can go ahead and keep on mocking me like this position was something I've dreamed of or just SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DO YOUR FUCKING JOB! Maybe that way atleast some of us will return alive."
The whole group went quiet, unable to refute her words.
Then the old Rank 6 walked forward and lightly bowed before Stacy before introducing himself.
"I'm Richard Howard, I've served in the Holy Army for the better part of fourty years. I specialize in defense, so long as I'm there I'll make sure to protect this group."
Soon following the old man's example the others all walked forward introducing themselves.
"I'm Wilma..."
"I'm Charles White..."
"I'm James..."
"Jack..."
"Mary..."
"Tom.."
"Gerald..."
"Paul..."
Soon the whole group introduced themselves. With all of them going through their introductions Stacy was able to get an idea for what each members strengths were.
Wilma was a ranged fire mage, Charles was the groups healer, James was the groups other tank, Jack was the quick dagger wielding meele fighter, Mary was the more experienced of the two gunmen, Tom was the Life magic type ranged support, Gerald was a heavy machine gun carrying mad gunner and Paul was the teams other normal swordmen other than Stacy.
Ideas were already going around in Stacy's head about how their composition should look.
Then a voice sounded across the whole Division.
"To those who are part of this years Eastern Expedition, get ready because tomorrow morning we are departing. The trip to the Void should take around 6 days so prepare accordingly."
"Well then tomorrow."
Hearing the announcement all personnel dispersed returning to their quarters so they could sleep before it was time for them to depart.
...
The time for departure quickly arrived and Stacy and her new team were now all sitting in a transport vehicle going across the endless wasteland.
The Expedition this time was led by Gabriel himself which gave some reassurance to the people in attendance including Stacy too.
While sitting in their transport vehicle the silence was interrupted when a hoarse voice sounded in the tiny space.
"Captain, have you thought of any ideas as far as the formation is concerned since yesterday?"
Richard asked Stacy who was just sitting there absentmindedly.
"I wanted to ask about that too actually."
Mary added to Richard's question.
"I have actually."
The strategy she told them was simply. The two tanks would lead the charge, Paul would watch the flank, her and Jack would take care of the sides and the others would stay inside the formation.
The plan was simple, but none of the members found any fault with it so they quickly accepted it.
As the vehicle moved through the endlessly streching wasteland the sun that once hung so high eventually started setting, it's figure threatening to disappear beyond the horizon.
Nights were one of the more problematic things while traversing through the wasteland.
The constant threat of monsters was certainly not something people were ever excited about. Combine this with the worse than poor visibility and you get a truly nightmarish combination.
Luckily for the people present both problems have mostly been solved atleast to some degree.
One of the basic skills one would learn while in the Holy Army or any organization that had the potential of traversing through the wasteland was Aura Vision.
Aura Vision as the name would imply was a skill which allowed the User to use Aura as an alternative to light when perceiving their surroundings.
As such through reading the energies in the air the once unpiercable darkness became only hindrance.
Still it wasn't perfect it had the problem of only reading shapes and some dampened colors as such visibility still wasn't perfect.
As night came Stacy was quick to relay the fact that they should activate their skill to her underlings.
"Everyone activate your Aura Vision, things at night can always get complicated."
They all stood guard, waiting for anything to move, but nothing came.
The arrival of sunlight signaled the end of the night.
"Thankfully things were uneventful. It's good that these vehicles are concealed."
Indeed, even the second issue of the monsters was mostly solved.
The military vehicles of the Holy Army and many others were made so their presence would be concealed, so as to not attract all the monsters.
Still it was only a partial fix and would require vigilance at night, since while the vehicles were concealed so they wouldn't give off any of the necessary signals, once found they still were very much visible.
As such this wasn't a foolproof strategy to avoiding monsters.
The people of Team Delta and many of the other teams were exhausted by staying up all night and as such decided to switch to sleeping during the day and being awake during the night.
So with most people sleeping the vehicles began moving through the wasteland once more.
Their destination was the Void Outpost. One of the only military bases near the Void that was once the Eastern Continent of Asia.
Void Outpost wasn't small by any means it's size rivaled that of big wasteland towns.
It was also one of the few places which didn't belong to any one City State.
It was a place where all those that came to explore gathered regardless of their nationality.
The remaining days spent on the road were peaceful and soon the sight changed from the boring old landscape of the wasteland into something... else.
There in the distance stood a giant tower from which extended a giant veil of energy that protected the city below.
This was the Void Outpost.