Side Chapter Hood 2: Moonglow Preparation
Through a terminal on Juptar–the tiny moon that Dominous Hood had made their base near Earth on–a conversation was being held between two members.
On Juptar, there was a man wearing a dark blue cloak and a flat mask to cover his face, and on the other side was a well-dressed man in a seemingly ordinary office suit.
“Everything ready?” The manager asked the Juptar commander.
“Yes sir, the team leaders are contacting their own ground members now.”
“Good, remember to be quiet for as long as we can.” The manager flicked a screen to open a status report on the Staff of Clear Midnight Moons. “If we have to go loud, be as quick as possible, spread the word, no restraint is to be given when attempting to acquire the Staff of Clear Midnight Moons.”
The Juptar Hood commander nodded.
The manager followed up by saying, “How is the mission secrecy?”
“3C Sir, all parameters are still within their average range.”
“High end, some reports have been made that Nina will appear in the area, which is happening in the expected amount, and the submitted reports that we will appear in the area not done by us are also in the expected amount.”
Reports that indicated Dominous Hood was going to appear at a location happened all the time. Some were fake reports created by the Hood themselves while many others were guesses made by enthusiastic individuals. These were especially common around festivals or company development operations.
A similar phenomenon happened around Nina Clarword. People would claim she was visiting without any basis. Dominous Hood also contributed to these fake sightings, as they did with other prevalent elusive individuals.
The manager asked once more, “So everything is ready to go with Operation Moonglow? No final surprises?”
“Good, take care and report at operation completion.” The signal closed and the Juptar commander was left alone.
Through his implants, he sent instructions to his underlings informing them to get prepared.
Besides the lowest grade members, everyone would stay on the moon and leave the morning of Sunday to commence the plan.
“Commander, did the chat go well?” A woman with long black hair wearing a space helmet that covered only her facial features appeared.
“It went as well as it should.” He replied while he continued sending off commands and checking reports of his underlings.
“Weren’t you the one who was worried about the meeting?” The woman danced around, “It was the only thing you would talk about.”
“Still got ants in your suit I see.”
“Ignoring me I see.” She shrugged, “So honestly what’s the chances of success?”
“Little high, not trying to project it higher?”
“No, this is something I have prepared for.”
“We, the team leaders, and you have prepared for.” She spun around, “But what about the chance of us going loud?”
The woman stopped moving, surprised, “Lower than I expected.”
“Nina wouldn’t want to cause a scene, which will help us greatly. We just need to ensure our first attempt is perfect.”
The operation’s plan was simple.
The low and mid-low grade members would be spread around the city, their only purpose was to look for Nina. While the team leaders would work together to steal her staff. It was important that the lower grade members didn’t get involved so they wouldn’t get caught, but if they did there were contingencies in place.
“How is your team going?” He asked as he wasn’t currently receiving a report through his implant from her as he requested.
She spun in a circle before sitting cross-legged on the ground. “Fine, everyone is already within Newcastle. I’m going to have a proper talk with them tomorrow about the mission.”
“You were supposed to do that yesterday.”
“Addict, letting your addiction get away from your mission.”
“It was team building.”
“So you just dragged all your underlings into the open just so you could have drinking company?” The more spoke the more exasperated he became.
“Not all. Some don’t drink–”
“Good.” He interrupted.
“–While others were busy.”
“So they listened to my order to not go drinking with you.”
“You told my team what!”
“Only four members.” He closed the last tab in his mind and turned to stare at one of his team leaders.
“That’s 50% of my team, no wonder only two showed up.” She wasn’t going to question how he told them, the commander was a master of getting information across one way or another.
“How did you even rank up to a team leader…” He put his hand on his mask and shook his head.
She said proudly, jumping off the ground in the process, “Dedication to the cause and a great level of talent and skill at my job.”
“Well proved it to me this time.”
“I will like I have done every time.” The woman finally decided it was time for her to leave, “Message if you need anything.” And she waved goodbye.
As she left the room in Juptar’s underground base, a quiet silence began to fill the room.
“Sigh, she is too much to handle. Hopefully, her time to be moved around comes soon.” He slowly walked around his office.
The room was simple, with metal walls and a couple of chairs, but big enough for over twenty people to fit inside.
The Juptar base was built partly below and above ground, with advanced camouflage technology put in place to ensure no one noticed their whereabouts.
“Boss wants to move into the next stage of the plan soon,” He spoke aloud.
“While a 5% mission failure might’ve been fine in the past, if we want Dominous Hood to rise above what it is, we need to do better.”
“The only semi-success of the Acrostar mission hurt but the massive publicity of it was a damning factor to the Hood's plans. More eyes are almost never a good thing…”
“But if that is what is required to ensure our victory so be it.” He stamped the ground, “I’m trusting you, to ensure the mission's success.”
No one answered as the commander walked to the centre of the room to sit on a chair.