Rising From the Ashes (MT, Open, IC)

[Republic of Coldwater]

Shores of Heldur
The Helicopters roared past the shores, carrying materials and soldiers within them. A few of the Helicopters land on the shores. The doors slid open, and in there are Raptor Inc's Private Soldiers, in NBC Suits and armed with AUG A3 Assault Rifles. They scan the area for any mutated creatures and soldiers from other nations. They begin to move in, while having a camera that streams data back to the Headquarters of Raptor Inc. The Helicopters carrying materials and Security are still flying, planning to land 75 miles from the shores.

[Fascist Republic Of Bermuda]

Southern Coast of Heldur, 0800 Hours, Day 1 of Operation: Last Light

The 5 BMP-3s crashed out of the surf, and deployed 35 Bermudan Marines dressed in MOPP 4, as 5 M551 Sheridans rolled up beside them. They were under strict orders to secure the former docks for the Geologists' and Biologists' ships to arrive. The task force started moving towards the docks, watching around themselves for anything or anyone that could be constructed as hostile. "This is Hamilton to Tango Foxtrot, do you read?" "Yes Sir, this is Tango Foxtrot. Solid Copy," "You know your task. Secure the docks, unload and protect the Scientists, go under," "Roger, heading towards the docks now. This is Tango Foxtrot, signing off."

[Arthurista]

Heldur Task Force on-shore command post,
Varhall Docklands

Dr Francine Prescott has worked non-stop since the on-shore command post was set up some 36 hours ago, in the fortified zone so painstakingly cleared out in the docklands. Her scientific teams have made some intriguing discoveries so far, and she was busy cataloguing the latest finds of mutants when Major Thomas Beech knocked on the door of her pre-fab office.

"We may have a situation, ma'am," began the major, "a four-men SBS team vanished."

"Vanished? The SBS do not just 'vanish', major. What do you think has happened to them?"

"Ma'am, the environment here is even more hostile than we estimated before we set off. Our decision to arm the marines with battle rifles has proven to be most fortuitous. We knew there'd be an problem with stopping power, but we thought that's an issue with the creatures' size, not bullet resistance, but the giant lobsters could actually shrug off rifle rounds."

"Well, from now on, we'd have them loaded only with tungsten-carbide cored armour-piercing rounds, then major?"

"Indeed, that's our plan, ma'am." Both thanked their lucky stars that they took a Landing Ship Logistics with them. It was intended to provide an off-shore base from which to provide the locals with humanitarian assistance, but the extra ammunition load it contained would now prove to be very useful."

"Yes, and I'd have the troops load up extra AT4s as well. I don't think anybody will complain about the extra weight, now that they've seen what this place has in store."

"Right, major, what's our op-plan from now on?"

"We have two mission objectives. First of all, we need to find out exactly what happened to the team. I'll send a full SBS patrol to find them - eight commados, in two up-armoured Battleaxes. We also have enough BvS 10 APCs unloaded to send a full platoon to start looking up the nearby areas, with your scientists in tow."

"I'd like that nearby swamp investigated, though we should really start searching for the source of the radio broadcasts as well. We'll load up four APCs with a platoon and two of my scientists. We'll have them approach the swamp, maybe go around the outskirts. Preferably, they're not to go in until they've found a local or two who can tell us what's in it."

"Yes, ma'am. Anything else?"

"Yes, major. I don't think we should do any more dismounted foot patrols, should we?"

"Aye aye, ma'am. I think that's a good idea. Now that we've unloaded enough vehicles, that won't be necessary anymore."

SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

The pair of Battleaxes trundled through the ruined streets, carrying eight SBS commandos looking for their missing comrades. They were up-armoured urban patrol vehicles, capable of resistance against 7.62mm armour piercing rounds from all aspects, as well as mines and IEDs. Even though everyone had NBC suits beneath their armour, nobody lifted exposed themselves outside the vehicle. A pair of RWS mounting GL05 Universal Support Weapons swept round and round, controlled by their gunners from inside the vehicles, looking for threats.

"How did they disappear, sir?" sergeant Allison Prongs, patrol 2iC in the second vehicle, radioed her CO in the lead car.

"We've absolutely no idea," replied Lieutenant Felix Simons. "One minute, they were reporting that everything was normal through the comms. Then, they just stopped responding completely. No responses through the radio, just static."

"That doesn't sound good, sir."

Bang! Bang! Bang! the lead car's RWS suddenly openned up, firing three 25mm grenades at a distant location, airbursting above the target.

"What was that?"

"Just one of the flying monsters sir, 300m range, I think I got it."

Jesus, just how likely are we to find surivors, he thought, or, for that matter, how likely are we to survive this whole FUBARy mess?

2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/4 Arthuristan People's Marines

As the SBS patrol looked for the missing troopers, the Marine company's second platoon was staring at the swamp.

"It doesn't look like much, does it?" Said one of the two scientists, Dr Frederick Sonntag, leaning out of the hatch of his BvS 10 APC and scanning the shallow, steel-grey waters on horizon with his binoculars. "If the geiger counter isn't going insane. I'd wager this is a perfectly ordinary swamp."

"A perfectly ordinary swamp with giant lobsters in it, doctor." Lieutenant Susan Wednesday, who commanded the platoon, was not about to take any chances. "Still, tungsten-carbide bullets put them down easily enough. If not, we'd use grenade launchers, and if that fails we'll use rockets and anti-tank missiles."

"Yet, Professor Prescott wants us to grab a local and speak to him or her first, before venturing in there. How on earth are we to locate one?"

"We'll drive around for a bit. APCs are big, noisy things, after all, which should attract the attention of any curious natives. If not, maybe we ought to start hitting underground places - multistory car parks, sewers, tube stations and the like. We'll lose the protection of the armoured vehicles for the time being, though."

"Hopefully, it won't come to that. As you said, we'll drive around for a bit, first. Maybe we'll get lucky on the surface yet."

[Toishima]

North Varhall, Embassy District

"Wakata."

Haruguchi signalled to everyone to put down their weapons. He also did, spinning the pistol around and dropping it onto the table- still within reach if anything happened but far enough to be viewed as non-threatening. Everyone stood down, pointing their weapons at the ground instead. They did not need a firefight in this enclosed space.

"Very well, Commander Marks. I do not think our nations are at war. My apologies for the violent greeting, we were merely doing what we have been trained to do. I am certain you understand," Haruguchi said, staring the other foreign soldier in the eye. This was getting interesting.

"Commander Marks. How many foreign powers would you say have arrived on this island to investigate this broadcast?"

---

Several hundred miles off the coast of Varhall
At least two days out

The ship HIHS Notoro moved through the water. A refitted container ship, it was still mostly disguised as such. With it was the HIHS Shiretoko, her sister, also a refitted container ship. Missile launchers were hidden amongst the containers, within the containers, and several containers were realistic replicas that could open up to launch helicopters from the flight deck just below the main deck. Together, they carried the entirety of the black-ops unit known only as Division 144. A military unit, registered as a civilian effort.

Main battle tanks- old Type-74s, since the Imperial Army was not willing to provide better tanks to such a small unit- were strapped below decks. IFVs, APCs, all manner of light and heavy trucks, as well as two MLRS vehicles, and anti-air equipment, as well as other heavy emplaced weapons were all stored neatly beneath the decks. Soldiers slept in their bunks, full NBC gear and some exoskeletons stored neatly along with their other gear.

While this was registered as a scientific mission, it was obvious they were not here for mere science. They were going to war, but with what?

[Heldur]

Shores of Heldur

It doesn't take long for things to start to go wrong, not far from the shore one of the Raptor Inc soldiers was snatched up by an enormous, toad like mutant which disappeared into the brush the instant it had gobbled up its meal, it's strange hide absorbed most of the return fire as it fled without complaint and shortly after where it was last seen it's trail of blood ended.
A flying creature had swooped down to grab an unsuspecting soldier but misjudged the distance between him and a helicopter filled with supplies and soldiers, the creature's powerful body lodged itself between the rotors, causing critical damage to the vehicle and sending it spinning through the air on a crash course for the depths of the nearby marshes.
The helicopters were loud, very loud, especially compared to the relative silence of the otherwise silent land around them. Wherever the soldiers went, they found mutants lurking in the depths, waiting for them. Casualties rose on both sides as the edges of the marshlands, which made up the vast majority of Heldur became a killing field.


Southern Coast of Heldur

The coast was largely abandoned in this stretch, quite possibly due to the conflict raging around where Raptor Inc. had arrived, but there was something worse about the silence. After a short amount of time, the Bermudan forces started to get twitchy, some claimed to have felt like something was watching them. Another soldier, with no history of mental breakdown's fell to his knee's and started crying until another pair of soldiers dragged him away, he later had no recollection of why he was crying, or even that he had cried at all.
Others would stop and stare off into the distance and another pair of soldiers ran off into the brush, calling for someone to wait for them, yet there was no sign of anything having been there.

The worst part of it all was when one of the Sheridan's got bogged in the wet sand, the Bermudan's would have to solve the problem quickly and get out of this strange place quickly. The docklands were still some distance away, and they had no idea that another nation had already occupied them, but anything was better than this hellish landing zone.


SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

The full patrol followed the missing soldiers tracks easily enough, in the daylight they could easily see where the men had gone, a few mutant corpses were left in their wake. Then they found the first body.
It was truly horrifying to see, no injuries were present on the outside of his body, no claw marks, no gaping wounds, but they were dead, their body was bent backwards at an impossible angle, their gun left where it lay. The tracks of the dead soldiers comrades continued onwards towards the outer warehouse district.
It was on the path there that things started to get truly weird. Every now and then, electronics would fizzle in and out, stopping and then starting again after a short time, even though upon inspection the devices all seemed in perfect condition. This extended to the mounted support weapons, any electronics inside them seemed to go haywire without warning, more often than not simply loosing power, but other times they would spin around uncontrollably, whatever was interfering with their electronics, was worse for any and all electronics outside the vehicle.
Something was wrong here, that much was obvious.


2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/4 Arthuristan People's Marines

As they swept around the outside of the swamp, scanning the outside terrain, they ran into a horde of dog like mutants, however spying no easy, fleshy targets the creatures bounded around the armoured transports not even caring when one of their number got too close and was crushed under the lead APC, to them it was like encountering any great beast, one member of the pack perished whilst the others continued onwards in their own quest to find food. There were hundreds of the creatures, all of them were deformed and hideous, mere parodies of whatever creatures they had once been.

It was already getting dark outside when they first spotted it, the thick cloud cover always blocked out the sun to some degree and nowthe sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows on the ground.
An Metro Station sat in the distance, it's gates to the surface were closed and an impromptu barricade had been set up around it as well as several other signs of habitation, some of which were recent.
There were a few bodies there too, old skeletons,some blackened from nuclear fire, others just old, rotten bodies. The rotted ones were much more recent from the looks of them, and some scraps of clothing, or protective gear remained. Gas masks covered the long dead heads and every single one of them carried some strange, bastardized gun made from spare parts and other items. While these people had died, it was all the proof they needed, at least at some stage, people had lived in this Metro tunnel.


North Varhall, Embassy District

The Stalkers calmed down seeing their new companions lower their weapons, one even walked up to Nagata and asked if there was anything he could do to help.

But the tension still remained, the Stalkers seemed to refuse to relinquish their weapons, the reality that their code, the Stalker's code did not translate to foreigners had hit them like a tonne of bricks, whilst their stations had fought for what little resources remained in the past, it was an unwritten law that you did not engage each other on the surface. If at the very least because that would draw all kinds of unwanted attention to you.
A few of the Stalkers migrated to the edges of the room, others left entirely to sit in the radio room and watch over Colban as he slept, even with the two foreign parties inside, he still was the Helduri link to the outside world.

Roves had calmed down considerably as soon as the Toishiman's had lowered their weapons.
'Wait, you mean, you're not the only ones who heard?' he asked, curiously.

[Republic of Coldwater]

Raptor Inc. HQ

"What the fuck" said Clarence Norman as he sees a hulking toad devour a soldier, as the video feed becomes more and more grainy and choppy, until finally it cuts out.

"These dam'n creatures are dangerous, we better bomb that place. Call in a few Fighter Jets with Incendiary Bombs and Missiles, I want that marsh burned to the ground"

In the darkness of the silent night, 8 Fighter Jets and 2 Medium Bombers exit their hangars, equipped with Thermobaric Bombs and missiles. They move to the runway, and the engines turn from black to orange as the aircraft take off into the air and soar towards Heldur.

Shores of Heldur
"WHAT THE FUCK" exclaimed a soldier as a gargantuan mutant snatches his commander as he fires his bullets at his commander, to give him a less painful death.

"This is HQ, use your Designator and Designate the marshland"

"Copy that....fuck this place"

The soldier pulled out his designator, tainted in mud, bits and pieces of human flesh, blood and radiation. He ooks down the designator and presses the button, designating the forest.

"This is HQ, don't worry, we're doubling your pay for this assignment"

75 miles into Heldur
Dozens of Helicopters roar as they descend from the gray, irradiated sky. The metal door slids open, and soldiers exit. They also have a camera attached to their helmets, which streams feed back to HQ. The Soldiers protecting the fusion reactor are better armed, with 7.62mm Magpul Massoud Assault Rifles with an ACOG Scope and a Grenade Launcher. A few of the soldiers offload camping supplies while others move more into the irradiated wasteland and scan for other people and mutants.

[West Aurelia]

Varhall

"Your broadcast was picked up by many monitoring stations around the world," Ghost said. "About seven other countries and one private energy company have sent men here. The countries are all certainly here for the same reason as us. The company, Raptor Inc., state that they want to conduct some nuclear energy tests here, but they have a large amount of mercenaries with high-end military hardware - including fighter planes. I suspect that they may have… sinister motives. Our analysts back home are looking into this."

Ghost allowed all of this to sink in. The local leader seemed confused, which made sense. He wouldn't know what many of these terms meant. But he could be filled in later. There were more pressing concerns. "As I previously stated, my men and I were dispatched to investigate the radio broadcast. As it is, we have made contact with you. The survivors. I have learned that your people survived by hiding in the metro. We would like to visit the metro and meet your leaders. We will provide humanitarian assistance to any non-hostile survivors who we come across."

[Virdalonja]

----------Varhal suburbs, entryway to Drowned Station----------

Götze was taken aback by the situation he found himself in. Not only had he just ran from something called a Demon but was now being led underground with his troops and sealed under by a huge metal door. It was like a horror movie. He looked around at the men, not a fun first deployment for them he thought. They looked more than shaken up about the events. This wasn't covered in basic training.

The group halted, Götze turned to Dart.

"Corporal, why have we stopped?" he asked
"Lieutenant Bleak would like to knw if you have any further questions before we enter sir" replied Dart
"No Corporal, I would very much like to get in there. To get away from those things and out of heavy curiosity"

Dart nodded and now turned to Bleak.

"Lieutenant, my Commanding Officer has no further questions. We would like to enter Drowned Station now if you would. The demons haven't exactly persuaded us to linger out here"

----------FOB Char, level 1----------

A large creature, evidently the Alpha Male, charged down the ramp with a cry of rage at the death of its mate. The assembled soldiers immediately began to fire but the sheer momentum of the beast carried it forward, the bullets having seemingly no effect. The creature bounded straight into the group of soldiers, sending several sprawling and lifting Sergeant Haldir with one great arm, before clenching its fist and audibly snapping his spine and ribs. One of the soldiers on the ground stabbed his bayonet at the creature, piercing its skin and causing it to howl in rage as it retaliate, eviscerating the man with one swipe from its clawed arm.

As the creature stood the raucous gunfire continued and it seemed to struggle against the storm of bullets.

"Roast it!" He cried.

Corporal Lovasz readied the Hydroar. The entire floor was totally illuminated as the Hydroar ignited and fired a condensed stream of fire at the creature, completely enveloping it. The cries of the creature were no longer those of rage, but pain. It slumped to the floor, a charred and shrivelled corpse.

"By the Emperor" murmured Kaiz before steadying himself "Corporal, take 4 section and clear the second floor. It's only the children left. Burn them up"

The Corporal and the rest of 4 section saluted and headed towards the ramp to the second level. Kaiz looked at the bloody mess of the unfortunate Private and the crumpled heap that was Sergeant Haldir.

"5 section, help me with the bodies"

----------Heldur Marshland, Imperial Convoy----------

The Mastiff convoy traversed the rough terrain of the marshland with ease. The silence breaking whenever a body of water was disturbed. Yanmir was sure he had seen many small and malformed creatures slinking away from the convoy as it approached, but put it down to his imagination. His attention was once again drawn to the flock of flying creatures above the convoy. They had been with them since they departed and he still had no idea what they were.

Yet as he watched, they began to peel away East. Strange he thought. Then he heard it too. Gunfire. He ducked back inside the Mastiff.

"Sir?" He said

Guldur turned towards Yanmir

"Yes Private" he replied
"Sir, there is gunfire on the surface. Those things up that have been following us since we left base have headed off in the direction of the gunfire sir"

Guldur thought for a moment. He thought it was unlikely only Virdalonja would be responding to the message. He picked up the radio and hailed Mastiff 4.

"Sergeant take your vehicle and follow those birds, it will lead us to the source of the gunfire. Report back when the combatants are identified"
"Yes sir" replied Sergeant Amroth

[Heldur]

North Varhall, Embassy District

'Seven,' Roves paused, 'I'm not sure how many countries are out there, but that's seven more than I knew existed earlier today.' He paused for a moment, 'how. How could you all forget about us? Did no one seriously think to check for survivors before? I mean not immediately of course, but once the radiation had subsided a little. No one thought to check, at all?'
Company, fighter jets, nuclear energy and military hardware, it all went over Roves's head, the same went for his men, they had no knowledge of what a Company was, aside from a military organisation and the only aircraft they had ever seen, were burnt out husks spread out around the city.

After a moment he looked back up from his thoughts and looked directly into Ghosts eyes.
'You found some of us, now I'm not sure how many of us you could happily call 'friendly' overall but you'll find most groups will be more than hospitable to you and your people, especially when offering aid. And there's a lot of us. A lot of different groups, a lot of stations form little alliances with their neighbours, whenever possible. Our home station is largely independant.' Roves spoke with some sort of pride, 'but we're friendly with one of the big three groups in the tunnels, the Vinhan Commonwealth. I'd explain it a bit, but,' he paused, searching for words, 'it would probably be best if you found out about them from the source. Now I can personally take you to the leaders of my station, but my recommendation, if you want to meet the leaders of what remains, you'll have to go to Dochas. The last city.' He bowed his head for a moment before continuing, 'no one group can lay claim to owning the Metro Tunnels, not even humanity itself can, while we may dominate most of the tunnels, we're still not alone down there, sometimes shit crawls down from the surface you see.'
'But, in the past, Tunnel Wars have been stopped at peace conferences in Dochas, it's a truly neutral ground, a combination of four, very close stations, surrounded by a ring of friendly independents, their only link to the surface. Whilst they may not like it at times, the Commonwealth, Communists and even the Brotherhood respect Dochas's will, even if the later two covet its power.'


Shores of Heldur

The shore burned for some time, the blackened marshland trees went up in flames around the fetid water, those mutants unable to bury themselves, or submerge in deep pools of water screamed as the flames burnt them. But the fire was short lived, the late night rains billowed and battered and the wet marshlands were soon doused, smouldering in much the same way that they did when lightning ignited one of the blackened husks you could call a tree.
The blast sites were leveled, all trees, wreckage and mutants had been either incinerated or thrown clear of the blast site, save for the murky pools beneath them.
For some time, the Marshes were silent, it took over an hour for any mutant to make a sound, but it would not be long before they emerged from hiding, many had died, roasted or boiled in their refuges, but not everything had perished, what life that did remain on Heldur was persistent.



Drowned Station

Bleak shrugged, 'tell him that they're opening the gate as we speak. I was merely asking to pass the time.' Bleak eyed the entrance to the tunnel, the stairs which led to the surface, 'it's better than staring up at them. Makes me nervous. I much rather focus on the warms of home.'
Not long afterwards, the huge doors clunked, groaned and grated as they slowly trundled open.
'Welcome my friends,' Bleak announced, 'to Drowned Station!'

They were greeted by a sight of a small wall of sandbags just beyond the doorway, several armed men, in similar gear to the Stalkers manned the sandbag wall, a single machine gun pointed outwards and all of the men who had taken up defensive positions were armed.
One of them called to Bleak and Bleak responded warmly, stepping over the threshold and quickly explaining to the Watch Captain what had happened during his journey, even going so far as to show him the cool gun Gotze had given him.

Soon enough they were welcomed into Drowned Station and the door closed behind them. The Stalkers all removed their gas masks and most headed off into a nearby corridor to return their surface survival gear, gas masks included, to the armoury. Bleak handed his off to one of his men, having decided to guide his new, foreign friends through the station.

He turned to face his guests, 'what do you think? It's nice and uh, homey,'

The Station had more than earned its name, at some stage water had flooded into the station from the surface, probably filling a number of nearby tunnels as well. The platform only just sat above the water line and a number of floating bridges and small, makeshift rafts and boats lined the tracks. The station seemed labyrinthine in scope, with more than one set of tracks running through it and more than just two platforms, with plenty of side passages and rooms. But even with the added space the place was bustling, a kind of bazaar had opened up on the far side of the place and the stations high ceiling was filled with a second tiers worth of shops.

There were people everywhere, they were all pale, most were scrawny, some even emaciated, but others seemed fed well enough, the station kept pigs and even chickens as well as selling fish taken from the very underground river which had earned the station its name.

'My friends,' Bleak announced as he led them through the station, 'if you see anything in the bazaar that you think would make a nice souvenir, or you want to try some of our food, let me know. I have enough cartridges here to pay for anything like that for us all,' he laughed and patted a satchel filled with magazines for the gun he carried.
That's when they noticed what the market was run with, everywhere they looked, goods were either bartered for with other goods, or services, or with bullets, some things warranting only one, but other transactions seemed to warrant an entire cartridge.

[West Aurelia]

North Varhall, Embassy District

"I don't think anyone checked on you because… it was assumed that everyone died during the bombings," Ghost said. "This place was considered… a hell on Earth. No one would come here. You people have been living in these conditions for your whole lives. It seems normal to you. But out there… is a whole new world." Ghost wished that he could access the Internet so that he could show them what it was like out there.

After a minute or so, he asked, "May we see this home station of yours? We are here to help. You know, if you wanted to, we could… take you and your people out of Heldur. Let you see the world. And, sorry about this, but how may I address you? Are you part of some organized military unit?"

Just then he noticed the Toishiman soldier lying on the table. A man was tending to her wounds. Ghost nodded at Scarecrow, the team medic, who walked over. "I have medical supplies. If you require any assistance, I would be happy to help."

Some of his men had started talking with the locals and the Toishimans, learning about the history of this place and generally trying to be friendly. One of the locals inquired as to what was the weird… metal thing (for lack of a better word) that was attached to the small of Cypher's back. The MQ-24 quadrotor. This would be magic to them, he thought as he unhooked it and powered it up.

[Republic of Coldwater]

Shores of Heldur

60% of the soldiers were killed by the mutants, and there was a case of friendly fire, but the soldiers move into the now incinerated forest, with the smell of fire still being in the air. They pull out devices that measure radiation, and stream the data back to Headquarters. Using the cameras attached to their helmets, they take pictures and videos of the irradiated terrain of Heldur, which are streamed back to Raptor Inc. HQ

Skies above Heldur
"This is HQ, quite a few of our military guys want you guys to recon and map out all of Heldur. We know that you do have fuel for this, just take a slow cruise around Heldur and....enjoy the view of the irradiated wasteland. This may take a while, of course, we will pay overtime fees"

"This is Alpha 2-3, copy that"

The Jets made a sharp turn and back to the smoldering ruins of Heldur. As the jets move backwards, the pilots open up their cameras and begin to take video of Heldur's Terrain.

75 miles into Heldur
After a few hours of offloading food, water and tents, the soldiers begin to open up quite a few unopened Helicopters. The metal doors open, and in there, are hulking pieces of metal and scientists in NBC Suits with them. Dozens of soldiers push the heavy objects out of the Helicopter and into the ground. As the pieces of the small fusion reactor, scientists and tools are offloaded, another vehicle was also pulled out of a helicopter: A truck designed to pull the assembled Fusion Reactor at least 1.5 kilometers from the camp so they can purposely melt the reactor down.

The last of the Helicopters which landed had supplies that can be used for walls, metals, polymers and bricks. A few soldiers began to assemble the wall.

Raptor Inc. HQ
More Helicopters lift off from Raptor Inc. HQ. In there carried construction workers in NBC Suits. They will help with the assembly of the wall for the Raptor Inc. Camp.

[Fascist Republic Of Bermuda]

Southern Coast of Heldur, 1200 Hours, Day 1

Sergeant Jackson helped the last crewman of the Sheridan out of the hatch, angled ever so slightly into the mud. He glanced at PFC Johnson, the soldier who had had a mental breakdown not 5 minutes after they had landed. He wiped his gas mask clear of condensation, blackish with the filth of ash. "Sir, you think we could hurry up? I don't like this place; it gives me the creeps," Jackson said to the Lt., as he slogged through the mud. "We gotta go slow for the tanks, Sergeant!" The Lt. Responded, as he stepped over a large object that looked suspiciously like human remains. "This is Hamilton, do you read Tango Foxtrot? We need a SitRep," The Platoon's radio crackled. "This is Tango Foxtrot, solid copy, a Sheridan's stuck in the mud, one of our soldiers might be Section 8ing on us, and the men are not liking this landing spot, sir!" The Lt. responded, patching his earpiece through the radioman's radiopack. "This is Hamilton, proceed with the mission. And remember, in an emergency, shoot first, ask questions later. Hamilton, out," The radio replied, with a thud showing that the Hamilton had hung up. The Lt. turned a slight shade of white, and said, "Continue the mission. Nothing more. Notify me if you see anything."

[Arthurista]

SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

“Right, this is weird, Ell-Tee,” said the gunner manning the RWS in the lead car. “The imagery is fritzing out. It’s like some kind of persistent, low-level EMP effect. Some kind of localised ionosphere anomaly, perhaps?”

“Which is rather odd, considering there’re no active nuclear initiations on the island right now.”

“None that we know of, sir.”

“Very well, corporal, switch to manual override mode.” As a backup option, the RWS can be operated without any of its sophisticated electronic aid. It’d simply be a periscope with a stabilised 25mm grenade launcher mounted on top. Accuracy drops off to some extent, and the smart airburst function will no longer work, but at least it’ll operate.

“Anyway, I think we ought to keep following the tracks. I’ve contacted the major regarding our discovery of the first body, and he concurs. We’ll drive on towards … what is that area marked as on the old maps, again?”

“The warehouse district, sir.”

“That’s it, let’s get a move on, then.”

2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/4 Arthuristan People's Marines

The team stared at the Metro station before them with something akin to awe. It was a shabby thing, long suffering from the effects of disrepair – faded paint, fallen tiles, the general look of neglect and decay. The fact remained, however, that there is evidence before them that the system has kept survivors alive through the years – the bodies in front of them was proof enough. All present felt a new sense of respect for the Metro’s probably long-dead architects.

“Look at their survival gear,” said Dr Frederick Sonntag, examining one of the gas masks. “Crude, but very effective.”

“Same goes with their weaponry, Doctor,” said the Lieutenant Wednesday, She picked one of the weapons up, took out the magazine, shook it to remove some of the dirt that clung to it, then loaded it and fired a burst. “This franken-gun is totally functional. An ingenious feat of engineering, this was. Whoever the survivors are, it’s no wonder that they managed to hold out for so long.”

“Anyway, I think we have to make a decision, lieutenant,” said the scientist. “Our orders are to find survivors, first and foremost, and that means entering the metro station. The only way we’re going to do that is to pull down the barrier. The inhabitants might not…appreciate it.”

“We’ll leave the APCs here, then. Their RWS are on manual override, so they’ll fire regardless of the weird ion effect that’s affecting the atmosphere, though less accurately, of course. The four of them and their crew ought to be able to hold the entrance against anything short of a main battle tank. As long as they’re here, the locals are more than safe.”

“If you say so, lieutenant.” With that said, the platoon entered the metro station. They weren’t taking any chances, with dangers of running into either mutants or armed, hostile natives in close quarters. Half the platoon had II-NVGs, the other hand IR scopes. All were armoured and armed with 7.62mm battle rifles and light support weapons loaded with tungsten carbide AP rounds, except the scientists who had the Lyran .50 calibre Submachine guns and pistols. Everyone had an AT4-CS apiece. All told, they were as prepared for the challenge as they were ever going to be.

Task Force Heldur onshore base
Varhall docklands

“Major, I’m afraid I just had some new orders from the top.” Dr Francine Prescott did not look too happy at that, or anything that could distract from the mission’s primary objectives, for that matter. “Which are the tallest structures in our fortified area?”

“Ma’am?” Major Beech looked obviously perplexed by the surprise question, “erm, either the old electricity pylon 20m south of here, or the roof of the old port authority building, which is technically just outside the barbed wire. May I ask why it’s needed?”

“Satellite intelligence has picked up indications that a number of foreign expeditions have arrived in Varhall in the same timeframe as we did,” said the scientist/intelligence officer in command of the task force, “we would like to know what they’re doing here.”

“Ah,” the look of sudden, dawning realisation was apparent on the major’s face, “I suppose you have a secret gadget of some sort?”

“Indeed, major. One of our techs jury-rigged it from our frigate’s spare EW components. It’s not the most powerful thing, but it ought to pick up a fair bit of the transmissions made in the city by its other guests, assuming, of course, it’s put high enough. The thing only receives, it doesn’t transmit anything, so they’ll likely not notice they’re being snooped upon.”

“Won’t the messages be encrypted?”

“Yes, but we can beam them back to Arthurista to have them decrypted. At the very least, the TYPE of encryption they use will tell us who’s the likely sender. We can also triangulate the locations from which these signals were broadcasted made from. “

“I hope this works, ma’am.”

“As do I. Now, the pylon or the building?”

“I’d probably say it’s a bit safer with the pylon, ma’am.”

“Good, please see to it, then, major. Carry on.”

[Garganta de la tierra]

Varhall International Airport

"You are Citizens of Heldur?" Avery was taken back. "I'm Sargent John Avery, of Garganta de la Tierra. Sorry about the crap story, I am pretty sure the World Assembly does not even have a designated monitoring team for incidents such as these, it was just to throw off anyone not meant to be here." Avery looked over at the hanger. "Also I apologize about the hanger, we weren't logistically prepared to minimize collateral damage, we were prepared for a hostile environment." He looked at the pieces of the mutated dogs. "Well, we were prepared for a normal combat zone. We have a supply drop coming in, if there are any materials we can spare or aid we can bring you I'll send for it when the Ospreys return to base." Avery looked over the man standing before him. The Scavengers were clad in old grimy Gas masks, overalls covering outdated NBC gear, and assorted padding covered their bodies like impromptu body armour. One of the men standing further behind Brash was holding a box of parts taken from the aircraft, his long rifle strung across his back. He kept watching Avery as if unsure to grab his gun or carry on to the hanger.

Four Grey CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft came rushing in over the foliage cover, fast and low to the ground. Without their lights on they were barely visible in the darkness. They circled around the airfield, kicking up dust as they switched to vertical landing mode. PVT Dagger and CPL Michaels ran over to the Lowering ramp of the first Osprey. Inside sat 24 GDLT soldiers of the HAZENV Division, wearing Combat NBC suits and General Service Respirators. Their dark grey uniforms had the gold horn of a Bronze Rhino on the sleeve and each had large black equipment packs full of gear. The group split in two, half heading over to unload the other Ospreys and the other Securing the perimeter. Out of the back of one rolled an IAV Stryker. The other two contained large supply crates and rolls of barbed wire. Every so often a few shots would sound off as the soldiers fired at moving wildlife. Large groups of watchers ran round the outskirts of the airport, attracted by all the lights and noise. Some would approach and retreat quickly, testing the perimeter, others seemed to be heading off towards the coast, disinterested in the such a racket. The Ospreys lifted off only 10 minutes after landing, flying off into the dark once more.

[Heldur]

North Varhall, Embassy Distric

'I'm still surprised no one bothered to check.' Roves commented sadly, 'whenever we don't hear from a neighbouring station for four days, we send a group to investigate. Takes a while for information to travel down there, radio's are a little useless for station communication so most of it has to be done by word of mouth.'
When Ghost mentioned how the irradiated surface seemed normal to them Roves laughed, 'oh we're aware that it's not normal. I've seen the look on many a Stalkers face when they first see the crumbling buildings on the surface. And I know that this is not how we are meant to live. But we have had little choice. It's not like we could leave. Some probably wouldn't want to leave either mind you. But I find myself curious as to what the rest of the world would look like.'

When asked Roves laughed, 'as formal a military group as you'll find in a station of around ten dozen people. I'm a captain, captain of the Stalkers, normally I don't lead such a large group, either, it's just been pretty hectic on the surface lately. There's another three Captains and we form the Council of Defence at the Station. Other factions have higher ranking officers than we do of course, they can field more men. As for my home station, you''re all certainly welcome to come,' he looked over at the Toishiman's, 'you guys too of course. I'm sure the station will be happy to see you all, as well as the larger community as a whole I believe.'
Roves paused when he considered the offer to see other lands, 'I'm, unsure. Heldure is our home, regardless of it's state. And I feel like I'd be abandoning my people. We've lived at Able as long as I can remember, I'm not sure how many people would choose to leave...'

The MQ-24 quadrotor shocked all of the Stalkers who gathered it around, for a moment they were utterly stunned, until one glanced nervously around and muttered, 'can we turn it off, strange noises attract, well you've already seen the stuff up here.'
Most of the Stalkers nodded in agreement, although once it was powered down every single one of them asked to hold it and look at it closely.


Raptor Inc. Base

The entire construction process was watched closely from the bordering Marshlands, more than once, mutants crawled out to investigate, or grab a quick meal. The Crustaceans were the worst, their armoured forelimbs continually shrugged off bullets and proved resistant to basic explosions which detonated in front of them. They scuttled forwards, using these armoured limbs as shields. They crawled in at almost any given moment, from any given direction, but fortunately they rarely seemed to come in hordes, or even large groups, considering the effort required to put a single creature down the fact that they generally only ever emerged in pairs at most was, fortunate.

Any unit going on recon however would have a harder time, the marshes were, for the time being, still a problem, but much less of a problem now.



Southern Coast of Heldur

It wasn't long before the mutants started to appear. In this region there were few of the statue like creatures, instead the Bermudan's were dogged every step of the way by skeletal, four legged creatures, almost like some kind of rat on stilts, whilst on all fours they almost reached the shoulder or a man and they had a very hungry look on their faces.
However they hung back mostly, they seemed to be waiting for something else to do their job for them. The soldier who had broken down moments before often found the creatures looking at him especially, it was if they knew something. Something that no one else could see.
Another soldier on the other side of the unit also earned their attention. At first everyone just assumed this was because they all couldn't target the same person and expect a meal at the end of it, but then this particular soldiers friends noticed something, his gas mask had fogged up and he was panting heavily. He didn't respond when asked if he was okay, only continued walking, like a robot.
Something had to be done and soon.


SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

The warehouse district was empty, not a thing stirred in the shadows, no rats, no flying mutants. No sign of habitation as far as the eye could see. The place was as dead as one would have expected all of Heldur to be. The missing soldiers tracks were visible in the dust on the ground, the only prints on the ground at all, no claw marks, nothing. Just a few sets of boots.

The second soldier stood at the end of the street, completely unmoving. Their weapons lay at their feet, apparently they'd decided to let go. They stared off into the distance, every now and then they appeared to shiver.
When the patrol drew closer, their comrade turned to face them, quickly, too quickly. Their body turned before they shifted their foot and their ankle rolled at an unnatural angle, causing them to collapse in the middle of the street. Upon closer inspection, they found him jittering and mumbling. Talking about how 'lonely "they" were'. And how they wanted to stay with them, how they must stay with them.
When someone tried to shift him, he reacted violently, flailing his limbs and trying to scramble away, even kicking at someone with his injured leg.
As soon as they realised what he was doing the soldier was restrained, quickly.


2nd Platoon, Bravo Company,

Past the fence and barricade, the team found themselves heading down an old flight of concrete stairs. They led downwards for some time, in the complete darkness the bottom seemed impossibly far away.
When they did reach the bottom, they had to light a flare to see where they were, a short corridor led down towards an enormous steel door, intended to keep the Metro's inhabitants safe from nuclear fire. The door was closed, and very much intact. In fact there was evidence that it had been used, scratches marked where the great portal had opened numerous time, allowing whatever was inside access to the world above.



Varhall International Airport

'Citizen,' Brash almost went to scratch his head, he paused and realised how foolish that was considering his full face gas mask. 'Citizen, my wife used that word.' He paused in thought for a moment, 'ah, when you were born somewhere. Yes, I suppose you could say I am a citizen of Heldur. You'll find most people are citizens of Metro Stations now though, country has scaled down to small towns and communities these days.'
Brash offered Avery his hand, 'a pleasure. I am not sure I know what half of what you said means, but a friendly face on the surface is always nice, someone from outside, now that is a true treasure. Why are you here? I thought most people treated our little island like the radiation riddled rock it is?' he laughed.
'Ah yes,' he chuckled at the mention of a hostile environment, 'do you like our fauna? I've always wondered if you could domesticate a lot of these creatures. But I am not stupid enough to try it myself.'
After a moment Brash became aware of the youth standing behind him, he turned around and looked at him for a moment, 'Nikolas, don't you have better things to be doing now. Go, get. Help Sofia with that kit you're carrying.'
He turned apologetically towards Avery, 'he has his heart in the right place, that boy. But he's a firebrand. I'm glad he grew up in our station, one of the more extreme groups would have bled him dry, he'd have carried their flag proudly, and died just as proudly trying to take another station for them.' He sighed, sadly, 'I thought when I came down into the tunnels that I'd have seen the end of war. I was wrong.'

When the Osprey's arrived, scavengers arrived to gawk at them from the hangar and yet another appeared from inside the crashed aircraft. A small party walked out of the terminal and stopped dead when they saw the incoming aircraft.
They just watching in surprise, horror and wonder at the strange machines which appeared out of the sky, before leaving as quickly as they had arrived.

[Virdalonja]

----------Drowned Station----------

The Virdalonjans removed their gas masks.

Götze was taken back by the sheer scale of the settlement that Drowned Station was. There were certainly hundreds of people packed down here, and that was only one section of the station. There were perhaps thousands down here. The shanties were not comfortable, but preferable to the surface. He didn't know what to expect, but it was not this. The people seemed, content living underground. Absurd he thought. Judging by the reaction of the troops with him, they shared his thoughts.

What he found particularly interesting was the use of ammunition as currency in the absence of actual money. The organisation of the market and guards on the door were testament to the preservation of some form of civilisation. He turned to his troops.

"Corporal Dart, you are with me. I need you for translations when I meet the Brotherhood representative" Dart saluted "the rest of you may explore the Market as you see fit but remain wary. Do not stray far or go where Bleak deems off limits. We are trying to help these people, any small mishap down here could spell disaster for the inhabitants"

----------FOB Char----------

Destroying the creatures nest in the car park had greatly improved morale, however the deaths of Sergeant Haldir and PFC Novak were saddening. The sightings that were previously thought of as hallucinations by the men were now confirmed as creature sightings, which both frightened the men and reassured them that they were not going mad.

Draxler and his troops had arrived a short time ago, his report was encouraging. Although much of Gotze's interaction with the locals had been recorded, what was actually discussed was disclosed by Draxler. Götze would be reporting back soon with a bit of luck. The VIS Archon had also contacted the FOB to report that the research team had landed and were searching for a site inland to construct the outpost while establishing another FOB at the beachhead. Captain Gaunt smiled to himself. Things seemed to be going well.

[Republic of Coldwater]

Raptor Inc. HQ
A report flies unto Clarence Norman's desk. It shows images of large creatures being problematic being killed. CEO Norman, enraged by such things ordered M312 Machine Guns with incendiary armor piercing rounds on each side of the wall.

Outside Raptor Inc's base
Numerous trucks towed materials for the building of the fusion reactor to the build site. The foundations have been laid, and the reactor is beginning construction. 24/7, dozens of soldiers are on watch, this time armed with 6.5mm Grendel Rifles equipped with 24" match grade heavy barrels. They are constantly watching the wild, shooting at anything that isn't human, shall it be mutant or not. Numerous Trucks have just parked at the reactor just so they can be used as cover to shoot at mutants.

[Fascist Republic Of Bermuda]

Southern Coast of Heldur, 1600 Hours, Day 1

"Sir, those things have been following us for miles now. They've been looking at Johnson and The Other Schmidt over there essentially the entire time!" Jackson said to the Lieutenant, who snapped back, "Well, Sergeant, what do you propose?" "Order the men to fix bayonets, charge the dang things, I don't know! You're the CO!" Jackson almost yelled back. "Watch your temper Sergeant! Alright Sheridan Echo, prep a warning shot!" the Lt. said, the Commander of Sheridan Echo, a Junior Sergeant standing out of the hatch, saluted, saying something to her crew over her earpiece. "And Schmidt Number Two! Look at me when I am talking at you! Schmidt!" The Lt. yelled over at the soldier with the fogged up gas mask, who just kept shuffling forward. "Stephan, Nicki, you two go restrain The Other Schmidt!" The Lt., obviously pissed off, waved his hand over at 2 soldiers, and then at The Other Schmidt. "Sir, Sheridan Echo is ready for the warning shot," The Junior Sergeant of Echo said to the Lt., the turret of the Sheridan aimed towards the monsters. With a wave of the Lt.'s hand, the Sheridan fired and the 2 soldiers moved to intercept Other Schmidt.

R.B.S. Hamilton, Off The Coast of Heldur, 1600 Hours, Day 1

"Admiral, the Task Force's progress is much slower than expected," The Operator told Admiral Jenkins, a tough sailor of 53, with steel gray hair. "We need those docklands SECURED NOW!" Jenkins said, slamming his fist on the desk. "Yes Sir, we do, but the Task Force is having trouble navigating the harsh terrain, as well the soldiers are nervous, at least one of them has cracked up. We need more boots on the ground," The Operator said, pointing towards satellite photos of the island. "Well, send three Black Hawks full of Marines to the Varhal Docklands, to secure it, and let's get a couple of F-14s to secure Varhal Airspace!" Jenkins said, waving his hand. "Yes Sir, it will be done immediately!" The Operator saluted, speed walking out of the room, presumably to prepare the Tomcats, Marines, and Black Hawks.

[Heldur]

Drowned Station

A few of Bleak's pathfinder's returned to accompany the Virdalonjan soldiers throughout the station, although the language barriers made things difficult at times, the soldiers were generally helpful, mediating the occasional wish to buy something in the market and providing the ever coveted bullets necessary to purchase what the visitors wanted.

Bleak led Gotze and Dart through the back corridors of the station, they passed a number of checkpoints, all of which were manned by either one or two armed men in old Helduri Military uniforms with the old Heldur flag removed and replaced with the Brotherhood's Insignia, which appeared to be a winged fist of some kind.

Eventually they were admitted into a room, a large table sat at the other end of the room, like most of the back corridors this room was lit with more conventional electrical lighting. At the far end of the table sat a pair of men, both of which were wearing what must have been an officers uniform, a black overcoat covered their fatigues, one of them was smoking some kind of cigarette. The men beckoned Dart and Gotze to sit at the other end of the table.

Bleak greeted them with a salute, 'sir. These two are the representatives for the foreign group I encountered on my patrol.' he paused for a moment before indicating Dart, 'this one speaks our language, the other is his commanding officer.'

'Thank you Lieutenant.' One of the men said, 'you may return to your post for the time being.'

'Yes sir!' Bleak snapped off another salute before exciting the room.

Once the door had closed the man who was smoking quickly offered both Gotze and Dart one of his cigarettes before stating, 'I hope you'll excuse the poor conditions of our meeting room, we were not expecting, guests.'

His partner nodded in agreement, 'let alone people from outside Heldur.' He regarded both of the men in front of him, 'but there's no denying now that you're not from here. Your gear is too clean, too, advanced perhaps, for anyone born here.'

'As a result,' the other continued, 'we would like to officially state that you are hereby recognised as foreigners, now that may not mean much to you, but to everyone else in Drowned Station, and beyond, it means a lot.' He paused to allow Dart to translate what they had both said for his commander.

'Now that this minor formality has been conducted, may I ask what it is exactly you came here for? To our knowledge the last time Heldur had contact with the outside world was when they dropped nuclear weapons on us.'


FOB Char

Clearing the base had done much to calm down everyone inside, however as the activity inside the building continued, more and more attention was drawn to the building. The old and rusted back door was knocked down by a pack of muscular four legged mutants which spent no time at all causing havoc inside the base, wrecking equipment as they raced through the building, more than one isolated Virdalonjan operative was caught by the hungry pack before they could be cornered. But the greatest damage they had done was break their way in through the back of the building, when the door was discovered, the ground around it was covered in a strange, slime like substance, similar to that left behind by snails. Except that this trail was two meters across, while whatever it was must have had some difficulty getting inside, when it did so it had gone straight for the basement, somewhere which had not been checked since the commotion had started.



Outside Raptor Inc's base

Once night had fallen, the Marshes around the build site became deathly quiet, all day horrific things had crawled from the muck surrounding the site, things which may chill the soldiers guarding the site for the rest of their lives.
No matter what anyone had said before, Heldur was definitely not empty.

The silence didn't last for too long however, a forward guard outpost called in to report contact with yet more mutants not long after the Marshes fell silent. Gunfire lit up the night for a few moments, before it was suddenly cut short. After that, no attempts to raise the guards succeeded and eventually a group of soldiers were dispatched to investigate.
They found all of the men on the ground, no claw marks, or bite marks were visible, but almost every single one of them was dead, those that weren't were comatose, or gibbering wrecks, twitching in the mud. Of their assailants, there was no sign, but the investigators returned with their still living comrades chilled to the bone. Something had happened to those men, what however, was what haunted them. They'd seen mutants swallow men whole, or tear them to pieces with claws and fangs, never before had a group of trained soldiers been taken down in such a way.


Southern Coast of Heldur

Other Schmidt resisted as his comrades grabbed him, he gurgled and fell to the ground with a hard thump. The two men had to restrain him quickly as he continued to struggle on the ground. He didn't even react when the Sheridan fired it's main gun, just continued to struggle against his comrades efforts to calm him.

The mutants scattered at the sound of the tanks main gun, running swiftly away from the sound. But it only kept them at bay for so long, although when they returned, they did so at a much greater distance.
But upon their return, their focus had shifted a little. A handful of other soldiers began to act weirdly, some seemed to be crying, others collapsed on the ground. Some began talking to thin air.


Varhall Docklands

It didn't take long for the Bermudan's to identify that they were not the first foreigners to land in the Docklands, as they flew in towards the Docklands they spotted a large encampment being set up, complete with a defensive wall. Soldiers and Scientists in NBC suits were walking all over the place, and while they hadn't spotted them yet, it was only a matter of time before the Bermudan's were hailed.
On the outskirts of the base, the Bermudan's could see the remains of all kinds of mutants which had assaulted the encampment, although from the tarp covered bodies outside the encampments field hospital it was obvious that these people had also suffered casualties as well. Heldur's new residents seemed relentless.

[Garganta de la tierra]

Varhall International Airport

Avery shook Brash's extended hand and listened intently. He was amused at the looks on the survivors faces when the Ospreys came in, guessing by their reaction and the amount of deadly flying species that they havent seen an aircraft before, bar the one which carried Brash's wife. "C'mon, bring some people over and I will introduce you to my team, and most likely the Officer in charge of us now that the Ospreys have gifted us with some new equipment. I'll even give you some rations to eat while we talk."

PFC Angle saw Avery give the signal that all was good and walked over to the Strykers backdoor. Inside the rest of the eight man team were stretching and changing clothes in the safety of the pressurized environment. They had all grabbed new General Service respirators to replace their S10 masks they were issued with from the Shattered Crossbow's inventory. The Soldiers from the Hazardous Environment Unit had set up a small inflatable shelter over the crater containing the unexploded soviet warhead, the olive canvas had wire mesh inside to give it more strength. The only people allowed to enter were the two EOD operators from the HAZENV unit and their commanding officer Captain Sierra Jayden. The captain was heading back and forth between the tent and the radio station in the passenger seat of the Stryker. She kept her voice low so others would not hear her talking to command.

International Waters near Heldur

a Garganta de la Tierran Mistral-class amphibious Assault ship sat in the dark water. After the Ospreys were rolled off the deck two F35 fighters are raised and prepare for launch. On one wing is Painted the Emblem and Stripe of the Garganta de la tierran flag, on the other is the Logo of the HAZENV Corp. The cockpits are blacked out as one way glass by the Radiation shielding. The intakes have special filters attached over them. The Jet with WEBB stenciled beside the cockpit has Lidar (Light detection and ranging), a Radiation scope, Aerosol Atmosphere sampling, Thermal and Live feed cameras built in rather than a standard weapons package. The other carried a light armament of air to air missiles and two under-wing unguided rocket pods for ground strafing. Both F-35s were equipped with their 25mm GAU-22/A guns and loaded full of ammunition. They launched and set off towards Helduri Territory, making sure their path avoided the Patrolling F-14 tomcats. Even though the stealth abilities of their craft could defeat the Tomcat's radar easy, they were under explicit orders not to engage or alert the other nations if possible, and even in the dense fog and cloud of Heldur there is still a possibility of a visual sighting.

[Arthurista]

SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

"By Zeus, what the fuck has happened to him?!" the lieutenant decided that his best strategy towards coping with the shocking scenario before him was to go right to the point. Special Boat Service commandos train for a great many things. All of those present had seen combat, saw people shot up and blown to pieces. Nothing, however, ever terrified them as much as the insanity which seemed to afflict the trooper they just found.

"I don't know, sir," corporal Tina Tiptree was the patrol's designated first aider. She rummaged through the lead car's med box before finding a syringe and loading it with a tranquiliser. "Hold him still, damnit!" she barked to the two commandos restraining the man, who kept up his raving throughout. It took nearly two minutes for the drug to take effect and he calmed down enough for them to relax their grip on him.

"If I have to guess, sir, this is some form of psychosis." The subtext here was that this was impossible - nobody was admitted to the Arthuristan special forces without having passed through the most stringent of psychiatric evaluations. "Ell-Tee, we have to consider the possibility that it was environmentally induced."

"How?"

"I have no idea what the mechanism would be, sir, if that's truly the case."

The lieutenant turned to a trooper holding a video camera, "did you get the entire process?"

"Every minute of it, sir."

"Good, we'll send this back to base and let them decide what to do before we go any further."

The subsequent deliberation took ten minutes before Major Beech pronounced his decision. If something in the environment was capable of inducing psychotic episodes, it was too risky for the patrol to go ahead. They'd take the missing troopers they'd recovered so far and return to base.

"We can't do that, sir," said sergeant Allison Prong, patrol 2iC. "We can't leave the other two behind. We don't leave anyone behind, fullstop."

"You're right. The major, too, is correct, this is too risky, and there's no point risking all of us. Allison, take the second car and go back to base with your team and the two troopers we found. I'll take the lead car and the other half of the patrol and push on. Make sure that both cars' video live links are on and connected to base. If either or both of us run into something untowards, we want the major to see everything that we saw and find out what exactly happened. Clear?"

2nd Platoon, Bravo Company

"Stop wasting the bloody flares, Smith!" snapped the lieutenant at the marine who popped it, "we all have NVGs. Use them. Flares for emergency only, got that?"

"Sorry, ma'am," the offender said sheepishly, "won't happen again."

"Now, Dr Sonntag, do you know how to open this door?"

"Can't say I do, lieutenant. I have an idea, however. We can probably agree that the space beyond is inhabited, yes?"

"Yes. Do you propose we attempt to communicate with the denizens of the metro station behind this door?"

"This is exactly what I'm suggesting." With that, he strode up to the great metal door, picked up a loose brick on the ground, then started to hit it - bang, bang, bang, bang! a pause, then another bang...

Everyone present recognised the beginning of the greeting in morse - "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Task Force Heldur onshore base, Docklands

"Now, isn't this intriguing," muttered Dr Franics Prescott as she read a hard copy of the latest intercepts. The reception antenna they placed on top of the old electricity pylon worked better than they could've hoped for, and they started to snoop on the radio transmissions of the other forces on the island. Most of it was fragmentary, incomplete, encrypted or all of the above, but they'd gotten enough useful snippets to gradually build up a picture of the foreign forces on or approaching the island.

"Considering the number of foreign interlopers present, I can't help but think, major, that there's something very, very interesting here. A major scientific discovery, perhaps, or something that could be weaponisable, a wellspring for some kind of WMD. Considering the above, in my latest report I've recommended the Ministry of Defence to send us backup."

"Backup, ma'am?" Major Beech was never told such a force existed.

"A carrier group and a reinforced brigade of marines. Given the go-ahead, they could be with us within one or two weeks, depending on various factors. We were not supposed to call on them, except to bail us out of a situation we otherwise cannot handle. Given the situation here, major..."

"You decided to interpret your instructions a little loosely, ma'am?"

"Precisely, major. Now, about our new friends, the Bermudans."

"They seem to be aggressively moving on the docklands, ma'am."

"I'll be sending them a polite 'welcome to Heldur' message, major. I'll be nice and courteous, but not forgetting to inform them that our arrival preceded theirs, that we have a fortified base and a frigate loaded for bear offshore. after all, it was rather rude of them not to inform us of their presence first before operating in our area."

"So, basically an exquisitely polite way of saying 'sod off, we were here first?'"

"That's the idea."

"And if we encounter their troops?"

"Standard rules of engagement, major. Don't shoot except to defend yourself, but if you do have to shoot, lay it on!"

"Aye aye, ma'am!"

TO: CO, FR Bermuda forces, Heldur
FROM: Dr Francine Prescott, commander TF Heldur, Arthuristan Foreign Office

Sir/Madam,

I would like to extend the most cordial welcome to you and your forces to the island of Heldur. Regardless of your purpose here, we note that you have chosen to land your forces in the docklands. We would like to politely inform you that Arthuristan marines have, prior to your arrival, already established a heavily fortified on-shore base in the docklands area. In the interests of preventing a diplomatic incident of any nature, our marines have been instructed to exercise the utmost caution upon encountering Bermudan forces. We would appreciate it if your troops would exercise the same restraint.

Again, in the interests of preventing a regrettable incident, we would very grateful if you could inform us whether you wish to share the docklands area with Arthuristan forces or to establish your forward base in another location.

I am, sir/madam, your humble servant,

Dr Francine Prescott

Spsecial Scientific Officer, Foreign Ministry of Arthurista
Commander, Task Force Heldur by order of Dame Valerie Chen-Raman, Foreign Minister

[Fascist Republic Of Bermuda]

Southern Coast of Heldur, 1900 Hours, Day 1

The Bermudan Task Force had essentially been halted by the "Panicky Marines", as the Lt. referred to them. As a direct result of the halt the remaining Marines had begun to set up a temporary camp for the night, protected by a hastily assembled knee-high wall that consisted mostly of sandbags, Barbed wire, ammo crates, dirt, and clay. "Lt., what do we do about the mutants looking at us like a pack of wolves? They appear to be the cause of some of the men Section 8ing on us," Sergeant Hackman nonchalantly said to the Lt., jabbing a thumb at the "Nutball Cafe", as nicknamed by the soldiers, a tent with an armed guard, where the "Panicky Marines" were locked up for the night, except for PFC Johnson and The Other Schmidt, the latter being chained up near the flagpole, guarded by an attractive female Lance Corporal. "Sir, I suggest we just shoot the dang things! They look like Slenderman and a rat had an aborted baby!" Johnson exclaimed, talking with his arms just as much as his mouth. "Fine, Johnson and Hackman. I'll deal with them. MEN! Get your M4s locked and loaded! We're showing them to NOT mess with the Bermudan Marines! URA!" The Lt. said, waving his M9 around like he was posing for WW2 Soviet Propaganda. As the soldiers, BMPs, and Sheridans lined up at the wall, a MG team set up and loaded a M2 Machine Gun. Once the soldiers were in place, on the wave of the Lt.'s hand, the first shots rang from the Bermudan's line.

Varhall Docklands

The Bermudans, lead by Chief Warrant Officer Smith, an intimidating, but at the same time frail, man of 31, hovered in the Black Hawks, unsure of what to do. "Uh... Hamilton? This is Yankee 1, we have Unknowns on the ground, not firing at us, but I don't like the way those Unknowns are aiming at us," The pilot of the lead chopper said into his radio, examining the encampment in front of them. "This is Hamilton, do NOT engage, set Yankee 1, 2, and 3 on Dock 7, the Unknowns have sent us a transmission, we're working up a response. Only fire at Unknowns if attacked, but proceed with caution. Hamilton out," The pilot's earpiece crackled. As they veered away to one of the few intact piers, a young recruit in Yankee 2, due to a miscommunication, fired a quick salvo of rounds at one of the Arthuristan troopers before being restrained by his comrades.

R.B.S. Hamilton, off the coast of Heldur

"Admiral, a message from... Arthurista's fortification, sir," the Operator informed Jenkins, squinting at the paper in his hands, ". "Yes, Operator, I understand the situation. Send a heavily armed rescue team, by helicopter, to save Tango Foxtrot," Jenkins instructed the Operator, pointing at the paper in the Operator's hands, "And be ready to send a message." "Yes, Sir. It will be done," The Operator said, nodding his head back and forth.

Dr Francine Prescott-

We apologize for barging in onto your operations within the region of Varhall. The Docklands are the only suitable place that our scientists can unload their equipment, as well as a prime place for a staging area to rescue the Marines of Task Force Heldur, trapped as a result of mental breakdowns within the ranks. We can only hope this does not lead to a diplomatic incident between our two respective nations. The political effects would be enormous, and quite probably a military disaster for all parties involved. We, despite our history concerning military intervention and conquering, intend to allow for a peaceful solution to this issue. I suggest joint ownership of the docklands as a contingency to prevent military skirmish

-Admiral Earl Jenkins, Head of Operations for Heldur Expeditionary Force

[Republic of Coldwater]

The Reactor

"What in the god damn" said a soldier in total shock as he sees his colleagues on the ground with little to no signs of any attacks.


The commander was staggered, and quietly told his team "Turn on your cameras and set them to livestream back to HQ, if we die, HQ knows what has gone wrong"

The commander then pulls out his radio, and says "Base, this is Delta 4-5, arrived at StoneHenge, unidentified things have taken down Delta 4-4, currently streaming data back to HQ, tell all units to be streaming their camera feed back to HQ while on combat duty"

"This is Base, copy that"

The team then carefully explores the vicinity of the reactor, looking for any signs of attack

Raptor Inc. HQ
After receiving communications from the Raptor Inc. Base of the mysterious deaths of a unit defending the reactor, the board of directors take a vote. In a vote 39-11, it was decided that flamethrowers will be issued to soldiers in the area to constantly burn the marshland. Armor piercing rounds will be issued to soldiers to kill well armored mutants.

After the vote, two dozen Tilt-Rotors light up and fly towards the Raptor Inc. Base, carrying Flamethrowers and armor piercing rounds.

[Virdalonja]

----------FOB Char----------

Kaiz cursed when he saw the remains Corporal Reind. What the fuck were they fighting here? He gestured towards two privates.

"Take his remains up" he ordered and the privates began the gruesome task of gathering the remains of Reind and putting them in a body bag.

It was as he watched the privates at work he noticed the slimy trail glistening in the light. It was about two meters across by his estimate and led from the door to the basement. Now that he thought about it, during the entire episode if neutralising the mutants that broke in, no word had been heard from the basement. The mutants themselves also did not venture down there, which Kaiz thought strange.

"7 section, with me. We're going down" he said and 7 section fanned out around him as they approached the ramp. Even from up here, the stench of decaying matter was overwhelming. The wounded and mentally sick were down here Kaiz realised.

"By the Emperor" he heard a soldier say "what happened down there?"

Kaiz didn't have the strength to reprimand him, he had no idea what had happen. But it wasn't good.

"Don't step in the slime" Kaiz advised "we don't know what it is"

As the group reached the bottom of the stairs, the smell made the soldiers eyes water. In the centre of the basement was what had caused the slime trail. A huge and blackened pile of the slime was present, and as the soldiers watched, it began to reduce in size. Whatever it was, it was dead. Kaiz became aware of a coughing sound coming from the corner of the room and approached it.

Private Stergen was sat in the corner of the room cradling his Hydroar like a child and swaying slightly.

"Private, what happens here?" Demanded Kaiz

Stergen looked up at Kaiz with a dead look. Nothing he saw seemed to register properly. He tried a salute, but was too weak. His arm flopping down onto his chest with a squelch. It was then Kaiz noting he was covered in slime.

"We were attacked sir" spluttered Stergen "I'm all that's left sir. The others... the others..." He gestured towards the sinking pile of slime "that consumed them. That smell sir, is the wounded and the rest of my section rotting inside that pile..."

"That was alive Private?" Exclaimed Kaiz

"... It just rolled over them and they stopped screaming. The slime, it burns the skin. It made it rot..." Stergen continued to rant deliriously

"How did you survive Private" asked Kaiz, firmly. Stergen seemed to respond to the more harsh tone.

"With this" he said, almost happily, patting the Hydroar "roasted the thing up real good. They don't like fire here sir" Stergen exclaimed and burst into hysterical laughter.

Kaiz walked back to his section.

"Sergeant, I want you to take Stergen upstairs. Get him out of that uniform and get him to a medic. The rest of you watch the door, I will send 2 section too. We need to figure out how to block it"

----------Drowned Station----------

Dart politely declined the offer of the cigarette knowing full well that Götze did not smoke.

"We were sent here by the Empire of Virdalonja to investigate the island of Heldur. Several days ago we received a broadcasted message from Heldur from someone who claimed they were a survivor, and there were thousands more like him. Of course, we were dispatched immediately in order to aid the people of Heldur" began Dart "we discovered that the message originated here in Varhal City. We were told to establish a base and make contact with survivors if possible. That is how we met Lieutenant Bleak, who brought us here. So we are here to help. Had we known there were survivors, it would have come sooner. But us, like the rest of the outside world, had no idea anyone or anything could survive what Heldur endured. It is a true testament to the strength of the Helduri people.

----------Mastiff 4, Heldur swamplands----------

Amroth craned his neck for a better view. Ahead of the Mastiff appeared to be a military compound. Construction workers were building some sort of wall around it as dozens of soldiers kept watch of the scorched landscape around them.

The flying creatures had long gone, but it had been easy enough to follow the sounds of the gunfire as the Mastiff got closer, especially when the bombing started.

Amroth contacted Sergeant Major Guldur on the radio and explained the situation. Guldur's follow up orders were to make contact with the owners of the compound.

"Private start the engines, lets go meet these people" ordered Amroth

[West Aurelia]

Embassy District, Varhall

"Well let's not waste any time then," Ghost said. "How far away is this station of yours?" He looked over at the wounded Toishiman soldier. "Can she make it?"