"Isa, can you smoke off aps window?"
"Sure."
Illuminated by her computer screen and desk light, a girl with silky brown medium length hair stared intently at her screen. Her hair rested underneath a headset that framed her slim visage.
The skyline of the Halcyon federation's biggest city, Einstein, was just visible through her apartment window blinds. The sleepless city glowed in the night, windows and signs ablaze like stars as businesses, employees, and shops ran late into the night.
Eve stayed awake, but for another reason: it was late and a school night, but she still couldn't get away from her ranked grind.
Although she was a university student that was doing extremely well in her courses and spent most of her time studying, Eve couldn't resist playing tactical shooters in her spare time. Or when she wanted to procrastinate, for that matter.
Glancing at the time, Eve sighed. It was 2:30 in the morning- she'd gamed well past midnight into the next day, and she had a presentation for class tomorrow- or rather, today.
Eve shook her head.
Just one more win, she thought.
Eve tapped '1' on her keyboard, switching to her rifle as she effortlessly navigated the map. She kept her rifle crosshair at headshot level as she piloted her character, subtly shifting her mouse on her mousepad.
As she turned the corner to the objective, Eve heard the psssssh of a smoke grenade thrown by her teammate filling the open window of the virtual apartment building that overlooked the objective. Eve's team was down three players to five, but were at match point. Eve panned her screen and scanned the area, pushing under the apartment window and forwards on to the target.
Suddenly, a kill message popped up in the kill feed.
[xXVikaXx --x-> Isa_2309]
Eve heard Isa's voice.
"My bad. He's hit 104, coming tunnels." Eve heard Isa ping the area with her marker.
"All good, nt," Eve's other surviving teammate spoke up. He then spoke to Eve. "I'm low, bait me. After I die, trade me and play time. I'll flash and util for you."
"K," Eve nodded. "Flash, then peek with me? Late flash high." The objective was in an open area, save for the apartment complex that Isa smoked the hold angle of, as well as a tunnel leading to the objective. Eve intended for the flash to pop high over the open objective to blind all opposing players that might be protecting the objective, while delaying the amount of time the defenders had to react before the flashbang went off.
"Sure. Three…two…one… pop. Peek with me, now, now now!" Her teammate's flashbang went off high over the objective, and the duo swung out from behind the apartment. "Two! Two!"
Recorded gunfire filled Eve's ears as both she and her teammate burst fired at the defenders protecting the objective. Their concentrated fire picked off the first opponent, at the cost of her teammate.
"He's hit 60."
Eve flicked her crosshair calmly towards the head of the defender, finishing him off with a clean head shot. Eve tapped "4" on her keyboard, which brought up a molotov cocktail that she'd bought at the beginning of the round earlier. She right clicked, and her character tossed the molly into the tunnels, blocking off the defender that her teammate had commed earlier. With that low health, he wouldn't be able to push through the molotov without dying.
Eve sprinted onto the objective and held 5 on her keyboard. She waited anxiously for several seconds as her character on screen pulled out a homing beacon and tapped out a code before slamming the beacon onto the objective. This would call in an airstrike to destroy the objective, which would win her the round as an attacker.
She glanced at the timer as she shifted her crosshair to the entrance of the tunnel. After placing the beacon, her molotov cocktail would've burnt out, and the opposing player coming from the tunnels could swing out easily. Sure enough, she saw a small object fly out of the tunnels.
Instinctively, Eve turned her crosshair away, avoiding the blind of the flashbang. She flicked back to catch the defender emerging from the tunnels. He was already low on health, and she quickly finished him off with two body shots.
The last two defending players, realizing that Eve was on the objective, swung out from the window, but were quickly dispatched from two quick headshots from Eve's rifle. Eve's screen flashed in slow motion as words flashed across her screen:
[Attackers Match Won. 10-7.]
Eve smiled and leaned back from her monitor. She angled her headset's microphone closer to her mouth.
"Good job, everyone- thanks for the game!"
She was met by several "ggs" and "carry goes hard"s. She slowly stood up and stretched. Yawning, she turned off her desktop.
"Apartment, turn off all the lights except for the bathroom, please." The apartment's built in AI obliged, silently dimming the room into darkness.
Eve sleepily shuffled to the bathroom. Amidst the brain fog now settling in after her ranked match, she took in herself as she brushed her teeth.
Her hair flowed just past her shoulders and a slightly mussed area was visible where her headset rested. Light black bags rested under the monolids of her soft eyes from her lack of sleep.
Once she'd gotten home from the campus library, she'd immediately showered and tossed on an oversized white T-shirt that sagged around her fragile frame as well as a pair of gym shorts. The T-shirt was now thoroughly wrinkled from frequent naps on her desk. Comfort came first when Eve was at home though.
Nothing I can do about it, Eve thought. I should probably do laundry soon though…
She gargled with water and told the apartment to shut off the lights. Making her way through her apartment in the darkness, she managed to drag herself on to her bed and pull the covers over herself. Yawning, Eve quickly drifted off into a tired rest.
- - -
Eve's alarm clock woke her up abruptly at 7:00 in the morning.
"Mmmmmmrgh." Eve blinked her eyes at the brightness of lines of sunlight seeping through her blinds. Glancing at her ringing alarm clock, she debated throwing it across the room. However, knowing that she had morning classes that day made her stop and reconsider before she had to spend another 20 dollars on a new alarm clock.
Groggily, Eve reached high above her head with both hands and stretched, yawning.
"Apartment, lights, please. Morning brightness."
She dragged herself out of bed, and walked into the kitchen.
I'll do my makeup and change later, she thought. Patting her t-shirt in an attempt to smooth out the wrinkles on it, she opened her pantry and grabbed a cup of instant ramen. Refilling her kettle with new tap water and bringing it to a boil, Eve peeled off the lid of her cup noodles back and took a pair of chopsticks from the pantry as well.
- - -
Eve settled down next to a low table in the living room and poured the piping hot water into her instant ramen, replacing the lid and covering it to heat.
She then grabbed her laptop from the charging port next to the table and flicked it open, intending to check up on her DMs and emails, or maybe watch a drama while she ate. Eve held the power button down for a while, and soon a login prompt was displayed across its screen. Eve typed in her password, blew on her cup ramen, and waited for several seconds before her laptop booted up.
Suddenly, the apartment's TV turned on, startling Eve. The sound was turned high and blasted throughout the room.
"Jesus- Fuck!"
Eve frantically lunged for the remote. However, what the TV broadcasted made Eve freeze mid-grab. It was a live news broadcast. The news anchor wore a black ballistic vest and helmet, both clearly labeled 'PRESS' in white. Fire raged in the background along with buildings in ruin. Gunfire could be heard, and the anchor was escorted by a soldier.
"As you might know, negotiations with the Asphodel Federation broke down last Friday, and relations have been deteriorating ever since. However, this has escalated to an unimaginable point: four hours ago, at 4 o'clock in the morning, the Asphodel Federation declared war against the Halcyon federation and her allies.
The full force of the Asphodelian warhorse has been brought to bear, and the Halcyon federation has answered in turn. Two hours ago, the Asphodelian military commenced their attack on the border of the Newton region, as you can see here."
The anchor turned and gestured to the destruction behind them. As if it were scripted, at that exact moment a spark appeared across the horizon and grew in size quickly. The soldier, reacting quickly, tackled the news anchor to the ground as a rocket slammed to the ground next to the broadcast and exploded, sending the camera flying.
The camera landed sideways, and through its cracked lens Eve could make out the soldier hustling the news crew to cover while firing their rifle in bursts at an unseen target. Gunfire rang out in the direction of the crew, and machine gun fire combed the street.
The splashes of dirt from the impact of rounds sprayed the entire street and a larger crack split down the broadcast before the broadcast cut out to black screen, then returned to a newsroom with a different and visibly shaken newscaster who did his best to smile at the camera.
"As you can clearly see from our, uhm, reporter's view..." He stammered.
Eve stared in disbelief, her cup noodles and laptop forgotten. The rest of the broadcast was a blur.
War? Now? True, I did know that relations had been fouling recently, but our two federations have been allies for the longest time.
A sharp knock downstairs broke her from her stupor. Silence followed. Then, Eve heard a muffled voice.
"Halcyon Armed Forces. Come to the door!"
Heart racing, Eve's head filled with unanswered questions as she slid down the stairs to open the door, still reeling from the news. News of the war had only reached the public now. Why were they here? Were they here for her? Did she do something?
Gulping, Eve unlatched and pulled open the door.
She was met by a soldier, whom she recognized as a sergeant by the three chevrons emblazoned on their shoulder. They sported an older version of the Federation's combat uniform, as well as the helmet that all Halcyon armed forces wore.
The sergeant had the mask that was embedded in the helmet's mechanisms activated, obscuring their face and voice, giving Eve no clue as to their sex nor appearance. They glanced down at Eve, taking in her wrinkled oversized t-shirt and gym shorts in rather judgemental way.
"Eve…no last name?" they asked, as if off of a list.
"Y-Yes, sergeant," Eve replied. The sergeant, seeing this, chuckled good-naturedly.
"There's nothing to be worried about… or a lot, depending on how you look at it." The sergeant pointed over their shoulder and out the hallway window. A military truck was visible, parked by the pavement with a driver at the helm. Eve could just make out several other individuals seated in the back of the truck.
"You've been drafted."
And that was how Eve started serving with the Halcyon Armed Forces.