Picking up the Pieces
I’m looking at a live mapping of the engagements along the unified east and NATO Israel border. Even with combined forces, they shouldn’t be pushing them back this easily, Griffin had to call in a barrage to deny the pass. This makes no sense. Unless… It’s a trap…
“Admiral load solid slugs and charge the main battery” I bark out a horrific feeling in my gut. “Aye mam what’s our target” I stare down at the map “Can your gunners hit the apoapsis of an ICBMs arc” his already ramrod straight spine stiffens “I have full confidence in my crew” I frown. We are still a day out. This is going to be a shit show. “Good, redline the reactors for as long as you can we need to be at that port yesterday”
Not even five minutes later I see the plums of smoke I’ve been waiting for. Those crazy bastards actually did it. “Track those missiles and send out a theater warning they are using nukes” The bridge bursts into motion as orders are relayed and the main turrets rotate into position.
I watch the warning flash out as the first shots are fired. The entire ship shakes as each of the four turrets staggers fire, hopefully, each hitting its target. “We have confirmed nuclear impacts across the UE '' someone calls out.
I grab my helmet off a nearby surface and slam it on. I force myself onto the fleetwide coms “Mobilize all air transports loaded heavy with docs and radiation supplies with some grunts mixed in” Alarms start wailing and red lights flash meaning the admiral has put out the word to his captains to shift to combat ready.
I beeline to the single spare aircraft on this battleship, the one I brought. As I get to its landing pad I hear its thrusters already screaming. I climb aboard and it lifts off joining dozens more all of them loaded heavily with now desperately needed supplies.
I settle into my crash seat and open a tight beam back to the capital and high command. “This is General Rex we have confirmed nuclear detonations we need a full relief fleet we don’t have enough anti-rads to help them all or any heavy engineer equipment to clear rubble” I pause for a second before I continue knowing my next words will decide the fate of a country “I am also requesting a counter strike from the 4th air wing full fusion payload”
the other side is silent grasping at what I’m saying for a few moments “Request received and” There’s a noise like someone is taking the headset “General This is the caption general of the Air Force are you requesting that we glass a nation” I mute myself and sigh then unmute and respond “yes sir it is my belief that we should respond in kind though not with half measures”
a few tense moments before the response “I agree, request approved I’ll mobilize the 4th air wing for a strike and the 13th for heavy lift to get you supplies as soon as possible” With that I cut the tight beam and pull up the battalion roster to check angel platoons status…
that’s a lot of red…
My vision is blurry, my arm feels like it’s on fire and made of broken glass. On top of that, my Geiger counter is clicking like crazy and my medical emergency icon is flashing and beeping.
I feel someone pull me up and sit me against something. “Hey, lieutenant you make a great shield” The voice is deep and entirely bass. I try to look at him but once I try to move my head a wave of dizziness hits me.
Someone fiddles with my helmet and gently pulls it off my head then flashes a light into my eyes. “Shit he’s almost entirely unresponsive he's lost a lot of blood” I hear another voice join the first “What do you need I’ll have my people get it, he saved my life it’s the least I can do”
Suddenly I feel several needles prick my arm and the pain fades “his heart rate is too, high damn it, we have to stop the bleeding” This is followed quickly by shouting “This is ironic” I’m sure I hear a torch ignite “that might work bring it here” before any more words are spoken my side and arm feel heat wash over and I pull myself to the surface of conscience as Barbosa and rabbit are burning my new stump arm with a torch.
Once they finish I just sit there gasping for air. I know I screamed at least a little. Barbosa speaks looking at something on his tablet “Rosa and Snorble you both sustained only minor injuries and have the same blood type so you're volunteered as donors”
After a few moments I feel another prick on my hood arm and slowly my heart rate lowers and my vision clears a little and my dizziness fades some as well.
“Remind me to kick the Israeli's ass the first chance I get” As if almost on cure the twilight sky turns into dozens of new suns on the horizon.
“Looks like the general beat you to it” someone says from the side. I look and it’s Ori, standing without a care in the world and a glimmer or… almost a glow in her eyes and a bright smile. “You're probably right but how can you tell” she answers without taking her stare off the glowing horizon. “For one the locations but also those were triple stage warheads with a lot of tritium”
I glance at my Geiger counter and am shocked to find the levels are way lower than I expect them to be “You sure know a lot about warheads” She finally takes her gaze off the horizon and looks at me though that… glow… is gone “I would hope so I designed them all, everything from thermobaric to quad stage warheads. That was twenty Tri stage fusion warheads” I chuckle a little bit to myself “Here I thought Spero’s kid was just another diplomat shirking duty”
Any further conversation is cut off by dozens of aircraft coming in and landing hard and fast, suddenly The area is filled with nearly a hundred Elysium soldiers helping the wounded. I hear a set of determined heavy footsteps coming for me. Of course, it’s the general. “You’ve seen better days griffin. Don’t worry I’m rotating you all out you all need rest and radiation treatment” I nod as some new medics put me into a stretcher “Before I go I call dibs on the kill” she punches me In the gut “Denied I called in the strike but I’ll let the battalion put it on their count… the Golan pass is all you though” with that I’m taken to a waiting aircraft and me and my squad are taken from the now slightly radioactive unified east.
I watch Angel platoon leave in the few airlifts leaving the region. I pull myself back to the current situation and turn to Ori and President Hadi “The first wave of help has arrived to start search and rescue across the UE and dedicated engineer battalions should arrive in meaningful numbers by morning” I take note of the blood on Hadi though he’s perfectly fine aside from some rads.
He’s the first to respond “Thank you for your help… if not for your strike team and your assistance we would have been destroyed or at the very least in another bloody war” he takes a long pause then continues “Though we promised the people only one battalion I'm not sure what we’ll tell them regarding the last day”
I watch Ori’s smile brighten “You can tell them the truth my friend, The Elysium republic listened to your people's concerns and sent only a battalion, then the west attacked, an attack that was repelled with the battalion’s help. Not being a gracious loser they launched nukes and realizing the situation the volunteer battalion tried to stop them all but managed to only lessen the damage. Not taking kindly to nations trying to destroy our friends we stepped in and took care of the nation and are now sending in aid to help you rebuild”
the president is nodding “yes yes you're right I’m sorry for my warrynes I now have a lot on my mind as you can see” he chuckles as he gestures around. I speak up now that our presence is no longer a possible problem “I’ll go ahead and organize relief and rebuilding efforts then, I’ll have someone help you to a field hospital Mr. President you really should get checked for injuries.
I take it on good authority that having nearly 500 pounds of man and armor laying on you isn’t great for one’s health” I wave over a corporal and they leave me and Ori. “So you went straight for the mk6 fusion warheads I see,” she says. I jerk my head and we slowly walk away from the bulk of the people. “I should have known you’d know the exact type though it still boggles my mind” she gives me a short lighthearted laugh “Those are still only firecrackers I could have done it in a snap of my fingers”
I stop for a moment and look back at her “I’d be disappointed if you couldn’t, after all, that Yorm has told me” she playfully pushes me forward “I still remember when Yorm introduced you it was honestly a shock that he told you though I did win a bet because of it” I nod smiling a little at the memory, I just graduated basic training top of my class as Yorm challenged so he invited me to a little party of sorts and Ori, kel, Bear, and Spero were there.
At first, it was just socializing and Yorm and Spero having a grilling competition. After we all got more comfortable or rather once I got comfortable hanging around so many high-ranking officials yorm broke the other reason for the get-together. To tell me about the pillars. After some fuss and some convincing, they all caved and let him tell me, and Ori agreed to show me. Turns out Ori is the pillar of destruction and Spero is humanity and technically the pillar Helios too. I’m still not sure what exactly Helios is even after becoming good friends with Yorm. The biggest takeaway from that day was that Ori can and has destroyed the universe and according to her sees the human range of light as well as the higher energy particles.
“Hey, you're daydreaming again” I shake my head “Right more important things to do right now” We continue on to where my command center has been dropped off outside of the airfield. Minutes later I’m dropping points on the map for various facilities and defenses. Large-scale hospitals, smaller more spread-out field clinics, wreckage collection zones, equipment landing zones, and proposed road reconstruction. The list goes on and for most of this, I have to wait for local civil engineers to approve reconstruction plans. After all, it is their country I can’t choose the architecture.
After several hours I’m nearly done. And that’s when I heard it. Some funky jazz on a saxophone. Curious me and Ori poke our heads out of the command center to see what could only be described as Big Foot playing the saxophone with Kel standing next to it. “What the fuck is this,” I ask as Ori bursts out laughing.
Kel responds as if this scene is an everyday occurrence “his name is Dave, he was a US experiment that escaped so I figured I’d give him a hand” By the pillars it literally is Bigfoot. Dave stops playing his saxophone and his voice surprises me, he sounds like Johnny Cash though a bit deeper “Pleasure to meet you both” he extends his large hand presumably to shake so I take him up on the offer and his grip surprisingly is firm yet gentle “so uh kel what’s going to happen to Dave here”
He seems polite and nice but I get the sense of lost innocence from him. “Well, we were on our way to the mainland when everything popped off here so I had us stop by to get a look firsthand. Seeing as you're heading up the efforts here in general I have full confidence. Once we do get to the mainland I’ll see if Spero can give Dave special status and allow him to live a normal life” says Kel, hearing this I turn to Dave “My curiosity is piqued, What do you want to do Dave”
He looks down out of embarrassment it looks like as he responds “I’m not sure honestly but I enjoy music Could I do something with that” A sly smile creeps onto my face "Well Dave, I'm sure my battalions exploits could give some inspiration"
A notification pings on my visor that President Hadi is asking for me “I’m sorry but I’m needed elsewhere” I wave goodbye to Dave and head for one of the medical stations where the president is being tended to.
I’m sitting at a large carved redwood table with various advisers lining both sides of it. Down one side are the various captain generals of our military branches and on the other side are civil advisers and heads of state-owned industry.
“I’m going to start this meeting now Brigadier General Tanya Rex is occupied and will be unable to elaborate on the situation in the unified east beyond what we can see from satellites and what has already been reported” Everyone nods so I point to a screen that displays the current map, updated minutes before this meeting
“As you all can see Israel is a sea of molten glass that is predicted to cool and solidify by the end of the month more importantly we can see the radioactive hot zones from the nuclear strikes. The 104th is spearheading the efforts to evacuate those areas and begin search and rescue. Dedicated engineer battalions are on their way to assist with these efforts and help the locals rebuild…that should be everything” Everyone reads through reports or scans the map for a few moments before anyone speaks.
The first to do so is the public health minister “The general was correct to get the areas cleared before they could soak up more rads but I’m concerned about our supply of medicine if we commit to this action” I nod then motion for Sif to put up a new gene therapy that’s passing trials easily with no side effects
“This has come to my attention recently from the papers and reports the individual altered will be able to naturally combat radiation sickness and nearly all genetic maladies I am proposing, with their consent using this on the 104th to aid them and see how effective it is. Should it prove safe and reliable it will revolutionize medicine and dramatically increase life expediency”
everyone looks at the reports and slowly begins nodding but the health minister is the only one to respond “Allow me to review the experiments and the science before we move on with this plan” I nod and the strategic supply minister raises concerns “Rebuilding efforts take a lot of material and with the domestic civil projects it will strain resupply production. With the tunnel connecting the mainland to beachhead completed that helps mitigate the problem but the defensive emplacements are still under construction”
I nod “I am aware of the material situation and I have a plan for it that I’ll touch on momentarily, What is our standing military population” The answer I get is 50 million with another 20 in reserves. I nod and continue “production, speak with engineering and update all designs to the latest approved prototype, and begin phasing out the old models. Enter full war economy to pick up the slack for material I’m authorizing for the asteroid belt miners to drop cargo on the surface, the drop point is Africa so build the port accordingly and prioritize defenses around it. Roll out the newest armor as well I want the coming war to be entirely one-sided”
Hours after the meeting was finished the United States along with the entirety of NATO and surprisingly the Russian Federation joins them as well. The unified east publicly sides with the Elysium Republic.
It would seem lines have been drawn
Picking up the Pieces
I’m looking at a live mapping of the engagements along the unified east and NATO Israel border. Even with combined forces, they shouldn’t be pushing them back this easily, Griffin had to call in a barrage to deny the pass. This makes no sense. Unless… It’s a trap…
“Admiral load solid slugs and charge the main battery” I bark out a horrific feeling in my gut. “Aye mam what’s our target” I stare down at the map “Can your gunners hit the apoapsis of an ICBMs arc” his already ramrod straight spine stiffens “I have full confidence in my crew” I frown. We are still a day out. This is going to be a shit show. “Good, redline the reactors for as long as you can we need to be at that port yesterday”
Not even five minutes later I see the plums of smoke I’ve been waiting for. Those crazy bastards actually did it. “Track those missiles and send out a theater warning they are using nukes” The bridge bursts into motion as orders are relayed and the main turrets rotate into position.
I watch the warning flash out as the first shots are fired. The entire ship shakes as each of the four turrets staggers fire, hopefully, each hitting its target. “We have confirmed nuclear impacts across the UE '' someone calls out.
I grab my helmet off a nearby surface and slam it on. I force myself onto the fleetwide coms “Mobilize all air transports loaded heavy with docs and radiation supplies with some grunts mixed in” Alarms start wailing and red lights flash meaning the admiral has put out the word to his captains to shift to combat ready.
I beeline to the single spare aircraft on this battleship, the one I brought. As I get to its landing pad I hear its thrusters already screaming. I climb aboard and it lifts off joining dozens more all of them loaded heavily with now desperately needed supplies.
I settle into my crash seat and open a tight beam back to the capital and high command. “This is General Rex we have confirmed nuclear detonations we need a full relief fleet we don’t have enough anti-rads to help them all or any heavy engineer equipment to clear rubble” I pause for a second before I continue knowing my next words will decide the fate of a country “I am also requesting a counter strike from the 4th air wing full fusion payload”
the other side is silent grasping at what I’m saying for a few moments “Request received and” There’s a noise like someone is taking the headset “General This is the caption general of the Air Force are you requesting that we glass a nation” I mute myself and sigh then unmute and respond “yes sir it is my belief that we should respond in kind though not with half measures”
a few tense moments before the response “I agree, request approved I’ll mobilize the 4th air wing for a strike and the 13th for heavy lift to get you supplies as soon as possible” With that I cut the tight beam and pull up the battalion roster to check angel platoons status…
that’s a lot of red…
My vision is blurry, my arm feels like it’s on fire and made of broken glass. On top of that, my Geiger counter is clicking like crazy and my medical emergency icon is flashing and beeping.
I feel someone pull me up and sit me against something. “Hey, lieutenant you make a great shield” The voice is deep and entirely bass. I try to look at him but once I try to move my head a wave of dizziness hits me.
Someone fiddles with my helmet and gently pulls it off my head then flashes a light into my eyes. “Shit he’s almost entirely unresponsive he's lost a lot of blood” I hear another voice join the first “What do you need I’ll have my people get it, he saved my life it’s the least I can do”
Suddenly I feel several needles prick my arm and the pain fades “his heart rate is too, high damn it, we have to stop the bleeding” This is followed quickly by shouting “This is ironic” I’m sure I hear a torch ignite “that might work bring it here” before any more words are spoken my side and arm feel heat wash over and I pull myself to the surface of conscience as Barbosa and rabbit are burning my new stump arm with a torch.
Once they finish I just sit there gasping for air. I know I screamed at least a little. Barbosa speaks looking at something on his tablet “Rosa and Snorble you both sustained only minor injuries and have the same blood type so you're volunteered as donors”
After a few moments I feel another prick on my hood arm and slowly my heart rate lowers and my vision clears a little and my dizziness fades some as well.
“Remind me to kick the Israeli's ass the first chance I get” As if almost on cure the twilight sky turns into dozens of new suns on the horizon.
“Looks like the general beat you to it” someone says from the side. I look and it’s Ori, standing without a care in the world and a glimmer or… almost a glow in her eyes and a bright smile. “You're probably right but how can you tell” she answers without taking her stare off the glowing horizon. “For one the locations but also those were triple stage warheads with a lot of tritium”
I glance at my Geiger counter and am shocked to find the levels are way lower than I expect them to be “You sure know a lot about warheads” She finally takes her gaze off the horizon and looks at me though that… glow… is gone “I would hope so I designed them all, everything from thermobaric to quad stage warheads. That was twenty Tri stage fusion warheads” I chuckle a little bit to myself “Here I thought Spero’s kid was just another diplomat shirking duty”
Any further conversation is cut off by dozens of aircraft coming in and landing hard and fast, suddenly The area is filled with nearly a hundred Elysium soldiers helping the wounded. I hear a set of determined heavy footsteps coming for me. Of course, it’s the general. “You’ve seen better days griffin. Don’t worry I’m rotating you all out you all need rest and radiation treatment” I nod as some new medics put me into a stretcher “Before I go I call dibs on the kill” she punches me In the gut “Denied I called in the strike but I’ll let the battalion put it on their count… the Golan pass is all you though” with that I’m taken to a waiting aircraft and me and my squad are taken from the now slightly radioactive unified east.
I watch Angel platoon leave in the few airlifts leaving the region. I pull myself back to the current situation and turn to Ori and President Hadi “The first wave of help has arrived to start search and rescue across the UE and dedicated engineer battalions should arrive in meaningful numbers by morning” I take note of the blood on Hadi though he’s perfectly fine aside from some rads.
He’s the first to respond “Thank you for your help… if not for your strike team and your assistance we would have been destroyed or at the very least in another bloody war” he takes a long pause then continues “Though we promised the people only one battalion I'm not sure what we’ll tell them regarding the last day”
I watch Ori’s smile brighten “You can tell them the truth my friend, The Elysium republic listened to your people's concerns and sent only a battalion, then the west attacked, an attack that was repelled with the battalion’s help. Not being a gracious loser they launched nukes and realizing the situation the volunteer battalion tried to stop them all but managed to only lessen the damage. Not taking kindly to nations trying to destroy our friends we stepped in and took care of the nation and are now sending in aid to help you rebuild”
the president is nodding “yes yes you're right I’m sorry for my warrynes I now have a lot on my mind as you can see” he chuckles as he gestures around. I speak up now that our presence is no longer a possible problem “I’ll go ahead and organize relief and rebuilding efforts then, I’ll have someone help you to a field hospital Mr. President you really should get checked for injuries.
I take it on good authority that having nearly 500 pounds of man and armor laying on you isn’t great for one’s health” I wave over a corporal and they leave me and Ori. “So you went straight for the mk6 fusion warheads I see,” she says. I jerk my head and we slowly walk away from the bulk of the people. “I should have known you’d know the exact type though it still boggles my mind” she gives me a short lighthearted laugh “Those are still only firecrackers I could have done it in a snap of my fingers”
I stop for a moment and look back at her “I’d be disappointed if you couldn’t, after all, that Yorm has told me” she playfully pushes me forward “I still remember when Yorm introduced you it was honestly a shock that he told you though I did win a bet because of it” I nod smiling a little at the memory, I just graduated basic training top of my class as Yorm challenged so he invited me to a little party of sorts and Ori, kel, Bear, and Spero were there.
At first, it was just socializing and Yorm and Spero having a grilling competition. After we all got more comfortable or rather once I got comfortable hanging around so many high-ranking officials yorm broke the other reason for the get-together. To tell me about the pillars. After some fuss and some convincing, they all caved and let him tell me, and Ori agreed to show me. Turns out Ori is the pillar of destruction and Spero is humanity and technically the pillar Helios too. I’m still not sure what exactly Helios is even after becoming good friends with Yorm. The biggest takeaway from that day was that Ori can and has destroyed the universe and according to her sees the human range of light as well as the higher energy particles.
“Hey, you're daydreaming again” I shake my head “Right more important things to do right now” We continue on to where my command center has been dropped off outside of the airfield. Minutes later I’m dropping points on the map for various facilities and defenses. Large-scale hospitals, smaller more spread-out field clinics, wreckage collection zones, equipment landing zones, and proposed road reconstruction. The list goes on and for most of this, I have to wait for local civil engineers to approve reconstruction plans. After all, it is their country I can’t choose the architecture.
After several hours I’m nearly done. And that’s when I heard it. Some funky jazz on a saxophone. Curious me and Ori poke our heads out of the command center to see what could only be described as Big Foot playing the saxophone with Kel standing next to it. “What the fuck is this,” I ask as Ori bursts out laughing.
Kel responds as if this scene is an everyday occurrence “his name is Dave, he was a US experiment that escaped so I figured I’d give him a hand” By the pillars it literally is Bigfoot. Dave stops playing his saxophone and his voice surprises me, he sounds like Johnny Cash though a bit deeper “Pleasure to meet you both” he extends his large hand presumably to shake so I take him up on the offer and his grip surprisingly is firm yet gentle “so uh kel what’s going to happen to Dave here”
He seems polite and nice but I get the sense of lost innocence from him. “Well, we were on our way to the mainland when everything popped off here so I had us stop by to get a look firsthand. Seeing as you're heading up the efforts here in general I have full confidence. Once we do get to the mainland I’ll see if Spero can give Dave special status and allow him to live a normal life” says Kel, hearing this I turn to Dave “My curiosity is piqued, What do you want to do Dave”
He looks down out of embarrassment it looks like as he responds “I’m not sure honestly but I enjoy music Could I do something with that” A sly smile creeps onto my face "Well Dave, I'm sure my battalions exploits could give some inspiration"
A notification pings on my visor that President Hadi is asking for me “I’m sorry but I’m needed elsewhere” I wave goodbye to Dave and head for one of the medical stations where the president is being tended to.
I’m sitting at a large carved redwood table with various advisers lining both sides of it. Down one side are the various captain generals of our military branches and on the other side are civil advisers and heads of state-owned industry.
“I’m going to start this meeting now Brigadier General Tanya Rex is occupied and will be unable to elaborate on the situation in the unified east beyond what we can see from satellites and what has already been reported” Everyone nods so I point to a screen that displays the current map, updated minutes before this meeting
“As you all can see Israel is a sea of molten glass that is predicted to cool and solidify by the end of the month more importantly we can see the radioactive hot zones from the nuclear strikes. The 104th is spearheading the efforts to evacuate those areas and begin search and rescue. Dedicated engineer battalions are on their way to assist with these efforts and help the locals rebuild…that should be everything” Everyone reads through reports or scans the map for a few moments before anyone speaks.
The first to do so is the public health minister “The general was correct to get the areas cleared before they could soak up more rads but I’m concerned about our supply of medicine if we commit to this action” I nod then motion for Sif to put up a new gene therapy that’s passing trials easily with no side effects
“This has come to my attention recently from the papers and reports the individual altered will be able to naturally combat radiation sickness and nearly all genetic maladies I am proposing, with their consent using this on the 104th to aid them and see how effective it is. Should it prove safe and reliable it will revolutionize medicine and dramatically increase life expediency”
everyone looks at the reports and slowly begins nodding but the health minister is the only one to respond “Allow me to review the experiments and the science before we move on with this plan” I nod and the strategic supply minister raises concerns “Rebuilding efforts take a lot of material and with the domestic civil projects it will strain resupply production. With the tunnel connecting the mainland to beachhead completed that helps mitigate the problem but the defensive emplacements are still under construction”
I nod “I am aware of the material situation and I have a plan for it that I’ll touch on momentarily, What is our standing military population” The answer I get is 50 million with another 20 in reserves. I nod and continue “production, speak with engineering and update all designs to the latest approved prototype, and begin phasing out the old models. Enter full war economy to pick up the slack for material I’m authorizing for the asteroid belt miners to drop cargo on the surface, the drop point is Africa so build the port accordingly and prioritize defenses around it. Roll out the newest armor as well I want the coming war to be entirely one-sided”
Hours after the meeting was finished the United States along with the entirety of NATO and surprisingly the Russian Federation joins them as well. The unified east publicly sides with the Elysium Republic.
It would seem lines have been drawn
