It had been a hard slog the past few months for now Sergeant Jason Scharn.

The three two month rotations had been challenging on the planet Loki. For every two sectors of the planet gained, the Ceti's had regained another one. While key sectors had been retaken in order for the dwindling medical supplies to be restocked, it came with a monumental cost. New troops were being flown in every few weeks but simple numbers stated that whoever had the most troops would win.

Fortunately, at this time, the Ceti's numbers were not increasing.

Of the 1.5 million souls currently lost on the planet, Jason had lost a fair few comrades along the way. It was great to see the likes of Private, now Lance-Corporal, Gisseux and Lieutenant Daniels back on active duty, with Private Schuldermann's smarts still serving him well. But others had long gone, and he had received no news from Aurora since their last encounter.

That hurt more than anything else in this damned war. The torn look in her eyes and the bitterness in her voice broke Jason's heart just to think about it. With that and still no word from his father who was laying low after allegations of corruption and treason were being laid at his feet it simply didn't give Jason any time to relax or even smile.

His rotation breaks mainly consisted of training for the next rotation. His life now revolved completely around this war.

Then suddenly a few days ago Jason had been pulled off active duty and was being made to prepare for a trip to Sol. It couldn't be much further from the front lines.

No one stated why or for how long, though gathering by the need to take all his equipment it seemed likely that he'd be away from Loki for some time.

Towards Loki, Jason had admired the stars, as he returned home, however, he had confined himself to his room with nothing but reading material to try and take his mind off the situation. Not that it helped much. He was intrigued to know where he was going, with every waking moment hypothesising the reasons behind his return. When he did venture into the observation deck he recognised the constellations quickly. Aquarius, Cassiopeia, Gemini, Orion. They were back in the Sol system and likely a few million miles past Mars.

Within a few hours, they dropped out of FTL flight and the beautiful view of the swirling clouds over the blue and greens of Earth could be seen.

Jason had never been to Earth.

To visit the human confederate capital was exhilarating. To see everything from its overpopulated satellites, space stations and the vast array of vessels to entering the atmosphere and seeing the skyscrapers and traffic all heading in various directions it was simply a sight like no other.

It had an air of antiquity about it. The buildings on Europa were far smoother, far more eloquent and far richer than the buildings that towered towards the heavens, but there was sophistication and superiority in the architecture that Earth had to offer.

Despite all the history articles explaining the arrays of green on the homeworld, there wasn't much greenery anymore around his final destination, Moscow. As one of the USM's top military headquarters, it was heavily defended by a vast array of defensive systems.

What Moscow displayed in defence was also displayed in beauty as buildings like the Kremlin and the Red Square had been protected and maintained to allow visitors to view the impressive culture.

Unfortunately, Jason would be unlikely to have an opportunity to experience that culture as he entered a side entrance of the heavily guarded Kremlin.

Walking through the high ceilinged spotless corridors, Jason felt the intimidation and awe he was expected to feel, as large wooden doors automatically opened when he gradually neared them. Real wood, something he never felt he would see in his lifetime.

Paintings of numerous top Generals of the USM since its formation lined the walls as he marched forward. The size of them felt that their ego and personalities had been poured into the soul of the paintings. Men and Women who had been influential in the success of the military stared down on the mere mortals that deemed it necessary to walk past them.

A wave of bitterness flocked Jason as he took each step forward. His father's picture should be up there too, a hero in his time, one that now spent his days in hiding.

He saluted the various officers as he walked along the corridor. Some of them looked a bit confused at his presence. While it wasn't uncommon for a Sergeant to be running errands within these walls, no soldier of the 223rd Rifles had ever set foot in this place.

Why had he been sent here?

The final room opened to show a massive room of a mixture of past and present. In between its metallic blue screens, computerised terminals and massive data library, it was full of mahogany and oak. Old fashioned chairs with soft curved armrests, wooden tables and an old chest set in the centre of one.

Jason just stood in amazement at the time parody that he had to embrace.

"Sit down Sergeant." A voice came from across the room. A voice that he instantly recognised.

Jason saluted as the door behind him closed with a smile on his face. It had felt like a long time since he felt his facial muscles form any kind of smile.

"No need for the formalities Jason, not behind these closed doors." The voice boomed across the room. He knew there was a smile behind the moustache, there always was, but Jason had forgotten how much he missed it along with the plump figure of General Vladimir Proviski. That smile always made him feel at ease.

"Uncle." Jason sat on the wooden chair and found it somewhat uncomfortable at first, desperately trying to find the best way for him to sit in the seat correctly. The wooden armrests seem to just add to the discomfort. He could not contemplate how people sat comfortably on these archaic pieces of furniture.

Vladimir poured himself a drink of some strange dark orange substance that Jason had never seen before. Pouring it into a small glass it seemed the amount that he had placed in the glass was insignificant and pointless but as he swirled it in his hand and smiled, Jason felt compelled to take it from him.

"Don't drink it too quickly." Vladimir responded.

Jason smelt the drink but it didn't seem to have any distinguishable smell to it. Eventually, he apprehensively took a gulp of it.

Initially, there was little taste until he really felt the kick in the back of his throat. The burning sensation was painful but exhilarating at the same time "Oh wow!" Jason coughed struggling to remove the kicking sensation that was bursting within his mouth.

There was a deep chuckle from Vladimir. "Impressive stuff isn't it?"

Jason tried to respond but just coughed more now his chest felt like it wanted to explode out of his body. He nodded instead.

Vladimir sat down at the desk in front of Jason, instantly the desk came to life displaying various reports.

Giving him an opportunity to gather his breathing again he took another sip before asking his first question. "The Ceti's, what do you make of them?"

It was a strange first question, but it was an interesting question to ask. One which no one had asked him, or anyone he knew, before. "In what context?" Jason replied.

Vladimir smiled, he picked up quickly that Jason wasn't going to dismiss the question as pointless unlike a number of other soldiers would have done in his position. "Good question." he responded. "And so you know, nothing said in this room will go further. The Ceti's as individuals, what do you think?"

This was a very peculiar question but Jason knew that Vladimir was fishing for something. "They are a strange race, but extremely honourable. I've never known them to fight dirty despite their exceptional ability at close quarter combat. POW's we've liberated have always been treated well. All were rescued healthy and even the injured were being looked after. If we weren't at war with them, I'd be tempted to admire them."

Vladimir sat and nodded. There didn't appear to be any condescending nature to his body language.

"Why do you ask?" Jason responded.

Vladimir stood and walked casually around the room eventually manoeuvring himself to the chess table. "And your opinion of the war?"

"Everyone is battering each other but I'm yet to understand why. The Ceti's fight with passion but they don't seem focused on resources or territory, it seems deeper, almost personal." Jason replied.

"So they fight with honour but an aggression which is personal you say?" Vladimir clarified.

It did sound a little strange hearing it from Vladimir but Jason couldn't back down from his response now, he was simply expressing his opinion. "Yes. I'm not an expert in alien lifeforms but I sometimes wonder why they attacked us in the first place."

Vladimir's huge beaming smile appeared again. "Very astute." he replied without responding much more than that. Could Jason have just given Vladimir the response he wanted to hear?

"Do you mind me asking why you want my opinion on this?" Jason questioned.

Vladimir seemed to just ignore the question. "When did you last speak to your father?"

Jason was a little irritated by the question. "A while." he responded bluntly.

"You should, ideally before his trial in a few months time."

Jason didn't reply.

Vladimir picked up on the lack of response and seemed a little put off by the silence. "Your father should not even be in this position, he's the best strategist around and an asset to the USM. He may not be the warmest of people but his intentions have always been pure."

Jason remained quiet.

"There is more to this war than meets the eye. I have spoken with some of the Ceti POW's along with various other key personnel and quite frankly this whole war doesn't feel right and I intend to uncover the truth." Vladimir responded passionately.

He returned to his seat before taking another sip from his glass.

"Are you angry with your father?" Vladimir responded.

Jason looked around the room trying not to make eye contact initially before looking Vladimir dead in the eye. "No, but he has made a mess hasn't he."

Vladimir carefully placed the glass on the table. "Someone put a lot of effort into getting both Yulrian and I removed from the military. Allegations of corruption, insubordination, treason the list goes on, eventually something had to stick on one of us. As the walls were caving in, we both felt that I was best placed to find out what's going on."

Jason was somewhat confused by this whole conversation and the direction it was taking. He didn't respond initially, contemplating the words that were being said. "What has it got to do with me?"

The smile reappeared once again on Vladimir's face. "Do you remember the one time I played chess with you and I sacrificed my Queen. What did you say?"

Jason smiled remembering that time in his childhood. He was about fourteen or fifteen when it happened but he learnt a lot from that encounter. "What a stupid move!" He replied.

There was a bellyful chuckle from Vladimir as he smoothed his moustache. "And then what happened?"

"I took your queen with my rook, you took my rook with your knight causing a checkmate."

Vladimir lent forward. "I've lost my main piece in your father," he pointed at Jason "And now I've got myself a knight! Due to your exceptional service above and beyond the call of duty I am hereby giving you a commission and the rank of Lieutenant. You will be reassigned to the 17th Special Operations Recon Unit."

As the words sank in, Jason just realised what was happening. He was not just going to any SORu unit, he was going to the absolute best of them all.

Jason smiled, "The Blue Ravens?" he asked.

Vladimir nodded. "You will report to Colonel El-Hadji on Titan at 1500 on the 10th December, but you will report everything to me."

Was he asking to snitch on his fellow soldiers? Morally he wasn't comfortable with that.

Vladimir picked up on his hesitation. "If you pick up on things which are out of the ordinary you contact me, you will also liaise with Lieutenant Donnelly who already reports to me. There's things that do not add up in this war, Jason, and I need to find out what it is and what the end game is expected to be. Someone is outmanoeuvring us all and it's time we got a handle back on this before more millions die."

Jason had known Vladimir since his birth, he had been his mentor all throughout his childhood and had never once forgotten his birthday, visiting him on several of them. Jason also knew how morally suspect he was. He was a man that would easily sacrifice lives in order to achieve his objective, and while Jason didn't always agree with his actions, his motives were always sound.

What was being asked of Jason was morally wrong, but was it justified? Could his suspicions about the nature of this war have been right all this time?

He had signed up for the war, desperate to make a difference, but he never imagined that it would go down this route and spying on his own kind. If this war and Vladimir's investigation into potential corruption had caused his father to lose his position as a result, surely he should be doing everything he could to clear his name even if their relationship wasn't the warmest? Not to mention the crosshairs that it would undoubtedly put on Jason's back.

With all these thoughts running through his mind, there was simply only one correct course of action.

He stood and saluted Vladimir before taking his hand and shaking it.

"Consider me your Raven Knight."