0735, 1 November, A.D. 2070
Yuri Gagarin Command Bridge
Haruko frowned.
She knew that the Commandant knew, but for whatever reason he chose not to bring it up as a factor. By all rights, as this was the very first engagement of the DFRI, he should have had the honor of leading. Absolutely no one, not even herself, would have begrudged him of that honor. It was right. It was proper. It was tradition.
Instead, he appointed the honor to her. Even knowing who she reported to. And worse, knowing that outside of live fire exercises, had never taken command in a real-world scenario once.
Major Devin, for whatever reason, was trusting her with their organization's very first mission. And she was determined to give as good an account as she possibly could provide.
It was this thought that crossed her mind as she studied the tactical display. "Sergeant Henry," she called out.
"Ma'am?" In a moment, the man was standing next to her, arms crossed in his usual way. She approved of SFC Henry. Unlike his other half, he was quiet, taciturn, and professional. Haruko was quietly relieved that Major Devin had sent him along as the senior sergeant.
"Take a look at this." She expanded the map holographs into a three-dimensional display. "By all accounts, we should be expecting the Kausen to be in the general area," she said. Pointing to where the hydroelectric powerplant was, she added, "If they stick to the usual observable methods, they should be drawing power from here right now."
Henry looked at her. "You're not sounding convinced of this, Ma'am," he said.
Good. He understood. "I am not convinced," she agreed. "Meanwhile, we have the residential zones requiring assistance, and an entire Ground Defense Force garrison goes radio silent without engaging any protocols?" She shakes her head. "Even if the Grand Coulee is being ransacked, the readings do not register any additional energy impacts. Either they have already taken what they wanted, or they are repositioning."
"Sounds to me like you suspect something at the garrison," Henry commented. Even with her hypotheses, Henry seemingly remained detached from the situation.
"I do," Haruko said. "I am sending the 1st Support Wing to investigate. I want you on that flight; if conditions allow it, connect to the Grand Coulee's systems and determine what you can."
"I'll do that, Ma'am," Henry confirmed. "I'll radio in what I find."
Haruko was already turning her attention to the next set of orders as Henry set forth to the loading ramps. "Lieutenant Wilde," she said, already manipulating the three-dimensional display. "You are with the 3rd Reconnaissance. Support the First Response Corps wherever you can."
"Got it, Ma'am!" Wilde said back, as infuriatingly cheerful as he always was. "I'll check in as soon as we get there!"
"Lieutenant Callaghan," Haruko said as the link to Wilde cut out.
"The garrison, Ma'am." It was not a question. "Knocking a hole into a dam like that is one thing. But bases don't just go dark like this, not without some operational order."
"And there was none," Haruko agreed, glad that he had caught on already. "I have already checked. Take the Shepherd and establish contact with the garrison."
"Orders in case of enemy contact?" he asked.
"Engage and destroy," came the cool reply.
"Gladly. Callaghan out."
0744, 1 November, A.D. 2070
Coulee City, Refugee gathering
The voices all washed over Sergeant Calhoun like a wave.
'My son is missing! Please help!'
'My baby! She needs food! You have some, don't you!?'
'Where is the army!? The flood destroyed everything!'
'Do something!'
'Do something!'
And he very much would have loved to have done something. He really did. But what did he have to do with!?
"Sarge!" Another blue-suited policeman slid over the hood of the nearby patrol car. "We've got even more survivors streaming in!"
"Send 'em 'round the corner, Brent," Calhoun sighed wearily. Rubbing the graying hairs on his scalp, he hopelessly looked around. The community had one ambulance, a handful of EMTs, and a volunteer firefighting team that looked to never want to volunteer for anything ever again. "Where the hell is the National Guard? Or even the Defense Forces?"
"I sure as shit got nothin'," Brent spat in disgust. "Radios still aren't getting anything out, and we're not receiving anything. Not unless we send a car out."
"No chance," Calhoun shot down. "Otherwise these people are gonna tear themselves apart."
Both policemen looked at each other helplessly, as if wondering if the other had the magical solution to all of this.
Thankfully, they didn't have to wonder.
"...pe..s...ral Banks, does *bzt* read?" the radio crackled.
Both men were onto the radio quickly. "Get that signal cleared up!" Calhoun snapped.
"Working it, Sarge," Brent muttered as he adjusted the settings. Before long, the signal, though still raspy, was much clearer.
"...say again, this is Corporal Banks of the Third Reconnaissance, Ground Defense Force, is there anyone on this channel? Over," the voice called out. Said voice sounded more than a little frustrated.
"Corporal, this is Sergeant Calhoun of the Coulee City Police Department," Calhoun responded quickly. "We are south, away from the big flood zone up north. How close to us are you?"
"Good copy, Sergeant," Banks said. "Standby, verifying location." A few moments later, the Corporal called back in, her voice sounding much clearer. "Sergeant, we're approximately thirty minutes out. Just hold tight, we're coming to you. What do you need from us?"
At those magical words, Calhoun began shooting off a list of basic needs they required a long time ago. It was late, but he didn't care. Someone was actually trying to help.
He wasn't going to forget that anytime soon.
0800, 1 November, A.D. 2070
Outskirts of Fort Brenner
"...say again, this is First Lieutenant Callaghan, EUDF," Richard said over the radio. "Does anyone on this frequency copy? Over." When he was again greeted with nothing but static, he simply allowed the radio function to fall away. "Dammit," he muttered.
He fidgeted a bit in his new enhancer helmet. Far from the ramshackle bits and pieces of the Mark 1 from earlier in the year, the enhancer - the MMI - was now a proper pilot's helmet tied into the machine properly. Smoothly curved, it also now had a visor that obscured the wearer's eyes, a visor that also provided radio frequencies, the machine's HUD, and a three-dimensional mini-map to the corner.
And it was all accessible by simply thinking at it.
Richard sighed. He'd never imagined he'd ever be saddled with a responsibility like this. He'd only ever signed on to cadet training and then his commission into the U.S. Army to pay for his history degree. Even his primary training reflected that: radar technical officer. He was expected to ensure communications and radar capabilities was up and running, how to set up and break down said capabilities, and not much else aside from manage Soldiers.
He'd apparently ticked off the wrong assignment personnel, since even this obscurity wasn't enough for them. Not that he particularly cared - he didn't think he was going to go past his original contracted service obligations. Yet even as he was assigned - inexplicably - to a new idea that seemed like it was going nowhere, here he was.
The poster boy for a new groundbreaking piece of technology that was supposed to fight off whatever had caused Fort Brenner to go silent.
Richard didn't think himself exceptional. Not even great. Just 'good enough.' Which apparently already put him leagues ahead of most. "Guess that makes me the 'old timer' by default," he said to himself.
To his rear, the Shepherd prototype rumbled along with him. Through some strange trickery that he didn't understand - and was all but told by Dr. Carlson to not think too hard about it - the Shepherd was rumbling along with him because he thought he wanted it to. The MMI handled the rest, apparently capable of simple remote drone controls like that. It was kind of scary...which was why he promptly stopped thinking about it.
Scary thoughts probably would disrupt the link or something. He didn't care to find out.
"I say again, this is 1LT Callaghan to Fort Brenner…" His voice trailed off as soon as he crested the hill.
The overturned and burnt out husk of a Bulwark main battle tank.
"Shit," he muttered. Willing the Shepherd to stop, he configured into Mecha mode and slowly made his way towards the ruined tank hull. Ahead of him, he noticed a trail of similar stories. Overturned Coyotes, burning Hound trucks, the smoldering remains of hastily established fighting positions. All burnt, and emanating a most curious wisp of purple smoke.
And if he was reading his scanners correctly...there was some kind of energy signature erratically emanating from the direction of the fort. "Just my luck to have the simple problems," he muttered. He really wished he could have had an AI co-pilot with him. At least he'd have someone to bounce his fears and suspicions off of. But...here he was. He'd have to make do.
"...Gagarin, this is Callaghan," he says. "Signs are not good for Fort Brenner."
0809, 1 November, A.D. 2070
Yuri Gagarin Command Bridge
"Something's definitely screwed with comms here," Wilde reported over the radio. "I'm talking with the local cops, and all comms have been out around this area for about an hour." Wilde's face was devoid of any of his usual cheeriness. "I checked all the lines and satellite receivers, and everything on this end is working. At least, the stuff that's not flooded. But something's jamming all the commercial and national military lines; I'm only getting anything through because of the Gagarin's Union link."
"Which explains why we haven't received any reports from anyone," Haruko mused. She placed a hand to her chin as she thought, leaning against her chair. "Yet we still receive information from the Dam. Nothing is jamming the Gagarin...this jamming is selective. How? Why?"
The image of the burnt trail to Fort Brenner was displayed fully to her side as well. "And why Fort Brenner? What was there that they could possibly want? Why there, and not the Dam?"
"Ma'am." Henry's voice chimed in. "I'm on ground at the Dam."
Haruko stood up abruptly. "What did you find?"
"There definitely was something here earlier, but it looks like we scared them off," Henry said. "I'm tapped into the powerplant's system now. Some power was definitely made off with, but there's enough energy stored to power the state through some pretty hard times in here. They could have made off with all of it, there isn't exactly anyone around to stop them. But they didn't."
Sasaki's eyes narrowed. "The Kausen would not deliberately leave such a prize alone," she said slowly. "Whoever was planning this was doing so deliberately as a diversion." She paused. "...and not necessarily for us." Turning to Wilde's link, she asked, "How much longer are you required there?"
"Give me about half an hour," he said. "We're now patched in with the FRC guys thanks to the Gagarin's link. Soon as they arrive, we'll hand this off to them."
"Good. I will need additional eyes on the ground soon. We need to make sure the Kausen really have moved on from that area." She switched to Callaghan's frequency. "Lieutenant. Proceed with caution. We need to know what happened."
"Copy, Ma'am," he said grimly. "Any chance I can get the First's air cover?"
"Henry here, Ma'am. There's nothing else for us here. I can recce the area with Wilde, or swing over to Fort Brenner. Your call."
Haruko frowned. What to do?
The situation remains fluid. The Dam was looted, but not to the extent that was expected given the Kausen's observed methods.
Third Reconnaissance was well-received by the weary refugees and law enforcers of Coulee City. They are about to receive the initial First Response Corps - now properly in communication - and are ready to begin onward movement.
The First Support Wing has reported that there was some movement, but had abruptly moved off as soon as they had arrived. SFC Henry examined the internal systems, and has reported that very little of the energy reserves were siphoned off.
1LT Callaghan has yet to make radio contact with the Fort Brenner installation, and has found a trail of devastation leading towards the base. He is requesting additional support, even though he's already loaded for bear.
Your orders? Choose one from each.
[] Third Reconnaissance
- [] Pull back. There's nothing else for you to do, and you have already helped the FRC as much as you could.
- [] Continue scouting the area. You don't know if the Kausen really have moved on, or if they remain a threat to the refugees and the FRC responders.
- [] Continue reaching out for survivors and bringing them in. There's very little they can do against the Kausen, but they can still save lives.
[] First Experimental Support Wing (Either action will take time)
- [] Provide air cover for the Third Reconnaissance. If they run into the Kausen, they are in deep trouble without some air cover.
- [] Immediately depart for Fort Brenner...or what is left of it. Callaghan is running in blind, and would benefit from having some air cover.
- [] Continue examining the Dam. Did the Kausen leave any other clues behind?
[] 1LT Callaghan
- [] Proceed with caution. You have no idea what's going on, so don't take any risks.
- [] Full speed ahead. If you don't rush in now, there might not be anyone left to save. You have to hurry!
