Chapter 1
Koi
“Scott!”
I whip around to see my commanding officer approach me. He is tall with a strong presence, but his eyes are ready to retire. I sense bad news. I finish stapling one of my cadets to the ground with a quick swing of my arm, and he is defeated.
“You did well, but next time, you need to strike harder.”
“I know, I just didn’t want to hurt you since you are a girl”
“I am a woman, and your officer, trust me, I can handle any weak hits your arms can muster,” I snarl sharply
I’m so sick of men treating me differently here. I’m in the special missions unit, graduated top of my class, and am on track to become a ranked commander.
Annoyed and sweaty, I gesture to a cadet standing across the mat. “Now go and spar with the other cadet, you need the practice”
I can feel the cadet’s eyes following me as I walk to speak with my commanding officer, likely glaring at me.
“Hello Scott, I’m sorry to interrupt you while you were doing training.″ he frowns and hardens his jaw.
“I had something I wanted to talk to you about”
“what is it, commander?”
“We are moving you to a different unit.”
I take a deep breath before speaking, struggling to understand why they fought for me to be here, to train the new cadets and support this unit.
“Are you unhappy with my work, commander?”
“no, no, nothing like that...” he pauses for a short moment, glancing at the staring eyes before continuing.“I think it best if we speak in my office.”
I could feel the gazes of the cadets on me as I was led to the head office. What could he want with me? Am I being fired or maybe promoted? I had to stop myself from overthinking. Considering I moved around frequently, this wasn’t too much of a surprise, but the suddenness of it caught me off guard. My thoughts were interrupted when he instructed me to have a seat.
I sit, adjusting my sparring equipment to a more comfortable position.
“Officer Scott, we are moving your units to Russia”
“Russia? why?”
“There is a rumor that they are creating a weapon.” his jaw clicks. “they say it is the end of the human race if they use it”
I stare at him blankly. He waits for my response, but I’m unable to say anything.
“Officer Scott, I know this is sudden, but I wouldn’t put you in this position unless I had to. You are the most qualified, and I couldn’t protest when the leaders brought up your profile.”
“I’m honored,” I manage to croak out a response, “but what exactly am I supposed to do with a rumor?”
He smiles, seeming to be relieved by my willingness “Although it is a rumor, we suspect it is true that the Russians and their allies are getting cocky lately as if they have something up their sleeve.
“We need you to infiltrate their operation and gather more information. We are sending you with a highly skilled team. I hope your Russian is still as good as it used to be.” He flashed a small smile before becoming serious again.
I frown.″ sir, with all due respect, I do not look Russian how are you going to pull this off?” I take a moment to imagine myself trying to blend in with my dark black hair and hazel eyes.
“That won’t be a problem you will be going in as a foreign scientist we have everything ready for you, I assure you that nothing will happen to you I have arranged everything myself.”
“Thank you, sir, when will I be leaving?”
He pauses for a moment. “two days from now”
Two days! I have no time to prepare. “s-sir, I manage to stutter out. ” who will take over my training? and I still haven’t been thoroughly briefed.” I ramble on like a canary.
“As I said, Scott, everything has been handled”
That’s it; my short time here is done. I nod, stopping myself before I say anything more. He gives my hand a firm handshake before walking to his door and opening it for me, allowing me to continue with my day.
fuck, what the fuck, two days. I barely slept that night, knowing the next day would be three times busier.
I awake at 4 am as I always do, no alarm is needed to help the habit. I pull on some joggers and a compressed shirt before heading to the main hall to grab my breakfast as I’m walking, distracted by my racing mind, I bump into a large, tightly toned chest I look up to see who I bumped into, and I’m met with a green-eyed man around the same age as me. he has his breakfast in one hand and a file in the other.
“whoa, careful little cadet. You need to watch where you are going.” he flashes a sly grin at me and winks.
thrown off by him calling me a cadet, I pause before saying anything
“I’m sorry for bumping into you, but I am no cadet.” I scowl sharply.
Realizing I have no uniform or rank identification, I have nothing to prove my rank except for my tongue.
He lessens the distance between us “Naughty girl. You know that it is a great offense for you to lie about rank, right?”
My jaw tightens, ready to punch this egotistical brat in the mouth to show him my rank, when I am suddenly reminded that I am leaving tomorrow and can’t have any bruises on my hands because last time I checked, the scientist didn’t make it a habit, of punching assholes in the face, right?
“I know very well how offensive it is, just the same as a lower rank talking to a lead Ranked officerlike this.” I manage to distance us again, not wanting him to breathe near my ear.
He pauses for a moment, studying me hard with his eyes, trying to see if I’m bluffing.
“mhm, you a first-ranked officer?”
“Yes,” I answer sharply.
“I don’t know of any female ranked officers here,” he says in a demanding tone,
annoyed by the conversation, I figure I can get his name and rank and teach him a lesson another time.
“What is your rank and name?” my tone is now sharp and unmoving.
He raises his hands in defeat and smiles a fake grin” Hey, hey, let’s not start a rank fight this early in the morning I was just messing around,” He closes the gap once again, slightly spitting on my face as he talked, “I won’t tell anyone you lied about your rank if you don’t say anything to the ranked officer that you’re probably fucking to get this big of balls tothreaten me.”
That’s it I’m gonna punch him.
With a quick rise of my knee and a grip on his shoulders, I land a devastating hit to the groin that has him doubled over, happy with his whines of pain, I walk away, ready to start training with the cadets.
---
Sweaty and exhausted from training, I was ready to go get lunch when I was summoned to the meeting room. There stood the commander and five men, all toned and exuding confidence. As I assessed the men in the room, my gaze landed on the familiar green eyes that my knees recognized all too well. The asshole from the mess hall. His eyes meet with mine, remembering my fatal blow to his groin.
“what is she doing here?“He speaks without being addressed, causing tension to brew in the room.
The commanding officer looks between us briefly before inhaling sharply “Good, you two have met, Gentlemen, this will be the woman leading this team. I trust that you will support her throughout this operation.”
Asshole scoffs before taking a look at me and the Commander. I watch as the gears turn, wondering if he is the one I crawled in bed with “Commander, with all due respect, what is a cadet doing leading an operation like this ′
“Cadet? Scott is no cadet, and you will show respect when speaking about this woman. She has held more rank and possesses more skills than all of you combined.”
I watch as his smug expression turns to shock, and I feel accomplished.
“Hello,” I raise my hand to give a quick wave. “My name is Koi Scott. I hope we can all get through this operation amicably.”
They all greet me with a name; I will be sure to remember them quickly, jotting it down on a nearby paper.
The asshole speaks, greeting me with a now sheepish look, “Hello, my name is Tony Marino”
I nod and gesture for the commander to continue the beefing
I stretch as the meeting comes to an end, cracking each knuckle before heading out of the meeting room, ready to pack and get some sleep. As I’m daydreaming about my bed, I hear an all too familiar voice call out to me
“Officer Scott, can I have a word with you?“I groan, annoyed by how many interactions with douchbags I’m having today.
“Yes, Mr. Marino.” I’m blunt, wanting the conversation to be short
he scratched the top of his head, trying to find words: “I just wanted to say I’m sorry about this morning. I just thought-”
I cut him off so he couldn’t finish his sentence.
“You just thought I was sleeping with a ranked officer rather than imagining that I could be the ranked officer.” with my hand on my hip, I strained my neck to look at his face.
“no, I-”
“or was that youmessing aroundagain?”
I turn on the balls of my feet and start walking away.“I have nothing to talk to you about, all I ask is that the operation goes as planned goodbye, Mr. Marino”
his mouth, is left gaped as he watched the 5′3 officer sway her hips as she walked away.
Marino gritted his teeth ”damnit"
Author’s Message: Hello, dear readers. I apologize if some details may not align with what you know about the special missions unit. They are a top-secret organization, and I try to avoid going too in-depth about them so we can focus on the more exciting aspects of the story this is all just background ;).
