GATE (Thus the JSDF fought there): Breakthrough

Bonus Chapter

Jason rocked back and forth as he stood in his room, he was rather used to being on a boat and it was just muscle memory for the sniper to keep his footing. But he wasn't here for any sort of military reasons, he was here for pleasure aboard a cruise liner, one of the best.

A full year had passed since the closing of the gate, and information gained from JSDF intelligence explains that time moves a bit differently from their world to the new one, once the gate closes, it was speculated that every 4 years in their world is around 1 year in the new world.

Jason's mind thought back to the events after the closing of the gate. Around a year after the closing of the gate, Jason, Claire, and Mike retired from their life in the military after their contract was over, Jackson stayed as he still had a year or two left in his contract but was allowed to be stationed in Japan with Delilah.

Claire had published a book about the stories of the task force's missions, explaining the team and the dangers of certain scenarios the team had run through. She kept classified info to herself and had it double-checked by the U.S. government and the Japanese government as well. Her book came to a surprising success with more than half a million books sold within the first few months.

Using the money, Claire donated some of the funds to many veterans charities as well as donating a small bit to a few of the team, however, most of the funds went to Markus's family.

Which ultimately leads Jason to standing onboard a cruise ship. Originally, this cruise trip was supposed to be for Claire as a way for her to be interviewed by multiple news sources. Still, instead, she decided to give the tickets to Jason and Druilla while she went to go and visit Markus's family.

Claire even bought tickets for Mike and his family, the poor guy needed a vacation anyway, being a dad was hard.

"Well- I don't know, what do you think?" Jason asks, looking at Mike and anxiously waiting for his friend's answer.

Mike had a small smile across his face, he hadn't seen Jason this anxious ever, but it was to be expected when you were going to propose to the love of your life. "Well, it's a damn mighty ring... You didn't go spending all of Claire's money she gave you on this right?"

"Not a heavy spender, but Druilla started to get more into Jewelry after a while so uh... about 2K." Jason said as he gritted his teeth in embarrassment and scratched the back of his head.

"Holy- Jeez man... my wife's ring only cost 900, but I guess it depends. Either way, you already bought it, it's a good ring though, I'm sure Druilla is fine with whatever though, at this point a ring doesn't matter much." Mike reassured Jason, he knew the usually calm sniper needed his nerves calm.

Jason nodded and took back the ring box, closing it and putting it into the right pocket of his jacket. "Never thought I'd be at this point... thought I'd sign another contract honestly."

"I did also." Mike said, taking a deep breath and looking at Jason. "Markus's words struck me a little, I take a look at my baby girls and my wife and I tell myself what he thought also, I can't ever imagine another man taking care of them. I need to be there for them, and you need to be there for Druilla."

Jason took a deep breath, he already had the blessing from Barika... that was after a few minutes of calming her down, luckily at this point, Barika was at the point where she tolerated him. Jason told his parents and younger siblings as well, he did introduce Druilla to his family and luckily all went well, his grandmother was a bit skeptical of Druilla until a few days later.

"C'mon let's go. Dinners at 10 and knowing my kids they'll make a 5 minute walk a 10 minute one." Mike walked to the door of Jason's room and opened it, motioning for Jason to follow.