Ash and Blood
We’ve landed and offloaded the scientists many of whom are shaken. I spot several guards coming our way. “Shit behave yourselves” I quietly tell the others. The guards stop in front of us “Please follow us for debrief we’ll also load your transport so once you're finished you can be on your way”
I nod and clip my helmet to my waist. We go through many hallways before we stop at some matte black doors. We are each put in our own and the doors silently close behind us.
Inside there is a single chrome table with a chair on either side. I stand at attention and wait. “At ease take a seat and let’s begin” I crisply and smoothly take a seat.
“Now this should be fast as we will only cover your space op. We’ll cover the invasion another time. Let’s start with your decision to spacewalk over to the station rather than dock with it to start” Some things never change “Being the first vacuum-based operation I thought it prudent to protect our only means to return to the ground and knowing the capabilities of my men and equipment a spacewalk was the obvious decision”
The individual nodded and we continued walking through every detail and my decisions until finally, we got to the drop “Now it is my understanding that it was in your mission orders to de-orbit the station but it was left at that why did you decide the location in the manner you did”
Here’s the fun question “I wanted the input of my team and all targets that were options were pre-approved by command. The Pacific theater was a growing hot zone from my last intel brief and we wanted to test if we could actually hit a specific target. What we were not informed about was the warhead arsenal both nations possessed nor did anyone believe they would simply glass one another in that manner”
The individual nods and taps a pen. It’s clear that they are frustrated that I turned the situation on them for shitty intelligence. “Thank you I believe that will be all dismissed. You have your repaired armor waiting with the rest of your squads in the hanger” I get up and leave.
It doesn’t take long to return to the hangar and on the way I could see numerous people mobilizing. By the time I return the rest of the squad is already changing armor. I give mine a check before I switch back and see that my whole comm unit was replaced along with several other parts inside the helmet.
Once we are all ready we board and have to wait while a huge container is attached by cables to the rear of the drop ship. Finally, we are cleared to leave. We are told that we are the last one going to the federation as all air traffic is being grounded globally because of China.
Once in the air I get comfortable “It’ll be a longer flight back so get some rest guys I can guarantee you won’t be getting much in the coming days” I immediately dozed off.
I wake later spurred on by the shift in speed. Foehammer called from the cockpit “We’re on final approach I’ll have to drop the cargo before I can drop you guys off” I simply adjust how I’m sitting.
A few minutes later the drop ship is gone and we open up the container. It’s entirely full of gas masks and ration packs. I go find Tanya to report in. “General where do you want the contents” she turns from the men she’s talking to “Glad your back but could you have not fucked the planet I left you alone for such a short time. Anyway, go in the facility beneath the city masks for volunteers and spares with the food”
I nod and get to rounding up some hands. Finally, the time to hunker down for the initial blast wave is only hours away. Tanya climbed onto a tank to speak to everyone. I’m leaning on a puma watching with Wraith and Jed beside me.
Suddenly she’s launched back blood and helmet fragments arcing through the air. The crack is heard not even a second later. Wraith is pointing and I see the marker he put down. We are sprinting away from the puma before she even hits the ground.
We use our jump packs to effortlessly get onto a rooftop and begin our chase. I spot two figures scramble up and awkwardly run across the roof and jump barely making it to the next one. I turn on my mobility thrusters to give me a slight boost to speed but mainly to help stabilize me as I raise my rifle.
I’m dimly aware that the rooftop edge is fast approaching so I jump and while I’m soaring through the air I see my shot and take it. I hit one of the men’s legs in the knee. Unfortunately for them, I had shredder rounds loaded and the lower half fell free. They scream and fall. Wraith takes a shot and seems to hit the other in the back. They too fall and we catch them both.
I kick the rifle away and stomp on the one hand that was carrying it crushing most of the bones. I then tie their arms behind their back and put a tourniquet on the one's leg. Wraith evidently hit the other in the spine with an armor piercing so it seemed to only shatter the spine and exit out the front the bone fragments doing some damage.
“Requesting a puma on my position” A moment later Jed pulls up I guess he grabbed one to follow. We pick up the men and jump down an easy landing for us but rough on the passengers.
We drive back and I’m shocked to see Tanya breathing and giving people orders. Jed stops the puma and Barbosa and another medic check over the prisoners. I stride over to where Tanya is sitting.
We have a quick chat and Jed is now supposed to stay put for a while. I grab a chair for both of us and sit watching the medics stabilize both men. I lean over to Jed “You think they volunteered or were they forced into the military”
He shrugs “I’d put money on volunteer” I nod and watch Barbosa join us surprisingly followed by Ivan. “Alright I shouldn’t have to tell you guys but no touching the prisoners” Ivan touches something on his ear and seems to understand.
Barbosa gets comfortable “It’s a shame about the Pacific I was looking forward to seeing a green Africa” I nod In agreement “I was going to get a lake house on the reformed Chad Lake” one of the medics calls over “Of course you were major” I guess everyone is in good spirits because they laugh partly at my expense.
I check the time. Twenty minutes before the blast hits. “Hey make sure you get them inside before the blast wave strikes” the snarky medic twists something hard with a grunt “That should do it let’s move them now” the others helping him nod and get some stretchers and they head inside the kremlin.
Ivan watches for a moment before speaking “I am amazed by your efficiency” I shrug “The 104th is strange, we have the heaviest mix of equipment as other units specialize to some extent. Our specialty seems to be toppling nations. Plus it helps everyone here has experience and has to be picked to be allowed in jed here is the only private”
He seems to ponder this for a few moments “Well I guess we are lucky that your unit is here otherwise I’d fear for my people”
I shrug “What you're lucky for is you didn’t use anything controversial on us. We use the rules you set down essentially so if you use gas weapons then so will we. You shoot civilians then it’s open season. I have a feeling these new guys won’t be so smart”
A message pops up on my visor from the general saying to meet her. “I’ll be back I think the general wants to know who to break a chair over” I get up and walk away.
I enter the tent and see Sherman already here. Tanya seems to be doing fine. “Good, you're here. Get your command squad and hop on Sherman’s tank zombie bate will join you. I’m giving you command Griffin, you’ll be our main quick response, especially during the debris cloud”
Not needing anything else me and Sherman leave and I radio to those I need to gather. Shortly after we all get together the wave hits and we bunker behind the tank as the wind howls past taking small debris with it in a few cases road signs.
The wind doesn’t die down for close to two hours. That doesn’t mean the nearly global dust cloud leaves. Oh no that’s still overhead blotting out the sun and dropping the temperature to negative twenty degrees. Grey snow and ash particles float down and now it truly feels like we are going to be fighting in hell.
Ash and Blood
We’ve landed and offloaded the scientists many of whom are shaken. I spot several guards coming our way. “Shit behave yourselves” I quietly tell the others. The guards stop in front of us “Please follow us for debrief we’ll also load your transport so once you're finished you can be on your way”
I nod and clip my helmet to my waist. We go through many hallways before we stop at some matte black doors. We are each put in our own and the doors silently close behind us.
Inside there is a single chrome table with a chair on either side. I stand at attention and wait. “At ease take a seat and let’s begin” I crisply and smoothly take a seat.
“Now this should be fast as we will only cover your space op. We’ll cover the invasion another time. Let’s start with your decision to spacewalk over to the station rather than dock with it to start” Some things never change “Being the first vacuum-based operation I thought it prudent to protect our only means to return to the ground and knowing the capabilities of my men and equipment a spacewalk was the obvious decision”
The individual nodded and we continued walking through every detail and my decisions until finally, we got to the drop “Now it is my understanding that it was in your mission orders to de-orbit the station but it was left at that why did you decide the location in the manner you did”
Here’s the fun question “I wanted the input of my team and all targets that were options were pre-approved by command. The Pacific theater was a growing hot zone from my last intel brief and we wanted to test if we could actually hit a specific target. What we were not informed about was the warhead arsenal both nations possessed nor did anyone believe they would simply glass one another in that manner”
The individual nods and taps a pen. It’s clear that they are frustrated that I turned the situation on them for shitty intelligence. “Thank you I believe that will be all dismissed. You have your repaired armor waiting with the rest of your squads in the hanger” I get up and leave.
It doesn’t take long to return to the hangar and on the way I could see numerous people mobilizing. By the time I return the rest of the squad is already changing armor. I give mine a check before I switch back and see that my whole comm unit was replaced along with several other parts inside the helmet.
Once we are all ready we board and have to wait while a huge container is attached by cables to the rear of the drop ship. Finally, we are cleared to leave. We are told that we are the last one going to the federation as all air traffic is being grounded globally because of China.
Once in the air I get comfortable “It’ll be a longer flight back so get some rest guys I can guarantee you won’t be getting much in the coming days” I immediately dozed off.
I wake later spurred on by the shift in speed. Foehammer called from the cockpit “We’re on final approach I’ll have to drop the cargo before I can drop you guys off” I simply adjust how I’m sitting.
A few minutes later the drop ship is gone and we open up the container. It’s entirely full of gas masks and ration packs. I go find Tanya to report in. “General where do you want the contents” she turns from the men she’s talking to “Glad your back but could you have not fucked the planet I left you alone for such a short time. Anyway, go in the facility beneath the city masks for volunteers and spares with the food”
I nod and get to rounding up some hands. Finally, the time to hunker down for the initial blast wave is only hours away. Tanya climbed onto a tank to speak to everyone. I’m leaning on a puma watching with Wraith and Jed beside me.
Suddenly she’s launched back blood and helmet fragments arcing through the air. The crack is heard not even a second later. Wraith is pointing and I see the marker he put down. We are sprinting away from the puma before she even hits the ground.
We use our jump packs to effortlessly get onto a rooftop and begin our chase. I spot two figures scramble up and awkwardly run across the roof and jump barely making it to the next one. I turn on my mobility thrusters to give me a slight boost to speed but mainly to help stabilize me as I raise my rifle.
I’m dimly aware that the rooftop edge is fast approaching so I jump and while I’m soaring through the air I see my shot and take it. I hit one of the men’s legs in the knee. Unfortunately for them, I had shredder rounds loaded and the lower half fell free. They scream and fall. Wraith takes a shot and seems to hit the other in the back. They too fall and we catch them both.
I kick the rifle away and stomp on the one hand that was carrying it crushing most of the bones. I then tie their arms behind their back and put a tourniquet on the one's leg. Wraith evidently hit the other in the spine with an armor piercing so it seemed to only shatter the spine and exit out the front the bone fragments doing some damage.
“Requesting a puma on my position” A moment later Jed pulls up I guess he grabbed one to follow. We pick up the men and jump down an easy landing for us but rough on the passengers.
We drive back and I’m shocked to see Tanya breathing and giving people orders. Jed stops the puma and Barbosa and another medic check over the prisoners. I stride over to where Tanya is sitting.
We have a quick chat and Jed is now supposed to stay put for a while. I grab a chair for both of us and sit watching the medics stabilize both men. I lean over to Jed “You think they volunteered or were they forced into the military”
He shrugs “I’d put money on volunteer” I nod and watch Barbosa join us surprisingly followed by Ivan. “Alright I shouldn’t have to tell you guys but no touching the prisoners” Ivan touches something on his ear and seems to understand.
Barbosa gets comfortable “It’s a shame about the Pacific I was looking forward to seeing a green Africa” I nod In agreement “I was going to get a lake house on the reformed Chad Lake” one of the medics calls over “Of course you were major” I guess everyone is in good spirits because they laugh partly at my expense.
I check the time. Twenty minutes before the blast hits. “Hey make sure you get them inside before the blast wave strikes” the snarky medic twists something hard with a grunt “That should do it let’s move them now” the others helping him nod and get some stretchers and they head inside the kremlin.
Ivan watches for a moment before speaking “I am amazed by your efficiency” I shrug “The 104th is strange, we have the heaviest mix of equipment as other units specialize to some extent. Our specialty seems to be toppling nations. Plus it helps everyone here has experience and has to be picked to be allowed in jed here is the only private”
He seems to ponder this for a few moments “Well I guess we are lucky that your unit is here otherwise I’d fear for my people”
I shrug “What you're lucky for is you didn’t use anything controversial on us. We use the rules you set down essentially so if you use gas weapons then so will we. You shoot civilians then it’s open season. I have a feeling these new guys won’t be so smart”
A message pops up on my visor from the general saying to meet her. “I’ll be back I think the general wants to know who to break a chair over” I get up and walk away.
I enter the tent and see Sherman already here. Tanya seems to be doing fine. “Good, you're here. Get your command squad and hop on Sherman’s tank zombie bate will join you. I’m giving you command Griffin, you’ll be our main quick response, especially during the debris cloud”
Not needing anything else me and Sherman leave and I radio to those I need to gather. Shortly after we all get together the wave hits and we bunker behind the tank as the wind howls past taking small debris with it in a few cases road signs.
The wind doesn’t die down for close to two hours. That doesn’t mean the nearly global dust cloud leaves. Oh no that’s still overhead blotting out the sun and dropping the temperature to negative twenty degrees. Grey snow and ash particles float down and now it truly feels like we are going to be fighting in hell.
