Inside the expansive luxury motorcoach capable of seating sixty passengers, twenty-four trainees sat loosely scattered. The oldest among them was Mace Reed, who had already become a Fellow of Strategic Research and had taken a far different path from the rest, while the youngest looked to be no more than six years old.
As the coach slowly rolled out of the familiar city and onto the interstate, gazing at their homes receding into the distance, a soft sob suddenly rose in the cabin. In this strange moment, crying seemed to become contagious; within minutes, the entire carriage was filled with weeping.
Even though they all grew up in military dynasties and received semi-military education, making them more resilient than their peers, they were still just a group of children who didn't know
