Rising From the Ashes (MT, Open, IC)

[Sau Beiu]

(OOC: I had a whole thing written up to show Sau Beiu's entrance into the conflict but I forgot to save and I don't feel like rewriting it so ill start from the initial landing)

SBNS Kalin, top deck, 2:30 am
Major Ivan Lodenzk stood in the first row of an ever growing crowd forming around the newly promoted Colonel Metziv, the Colonel cleared his throat, "G-gentlemen, I do realize the irregularity of announcements post briefing, but new reports from our scouting teams tell of, well, we don't know, all we know is there is something dangerous on that island, Major Lodenzk will fill you in on the changes to the operation, Major." Ivan separated from the crowd,
"The plan for the most part will not change, however, unfortunately the helicopters will be unable to land, and we will have minimal intel on the area, so all teams are to stay close and secure a base camp in the city, teams one through eight stay in camp, teams nine and ten are to search for the recon teams, the rest of the teams will search for entrances to the metro." The troops seemed, distressed, but still exited to see action.

Skies over Varhall, 4:00 am
Corporal Leionhart repelled from the helicopter and dashed to meet up with the rest of the team, the lieutenant separated from the rest of his squad mates and announced in a very muffled voice, "Squad, first we clear the square, then move on to find an entrance to the metro, stay close and watch you backs!" The squad let out a collective "Yes sir!" And began searching buildings.

[Heldur]

Varhall International Airport

Brash agreed heartily, 'it would be better to talk somewhere undercover, the cold out here seems to eat its way through clothing like a knife in warm butter.' He sent one of his companions to check on the people he had gathered underneath the terminal building explaining that for now he'd rather let them stay where they are.
Brash and his group of four Stalkers followed behind Avery towards the Stryker and entered it calmly, whilst they had never seen a vehicle such as this before, the confined space to them was more than comfortable, having spent so much time in the confined spaces underground it seemed more than possible that these people could be agoraphobic.



SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

For quite some time, the group which continued onwards encountered nothing at all, the warehouse district seemed well and truly dead. So much so that the ground seemed to be covered in a fine layer of dust.
The only disturbance in this dust seemed to be the very footprints they were following. The prints were strange in appearance, every step appeared almost identical, more mechanical in appearance than biological. If the SBS troopers didn't know any better they could have thought their comrades had been transformed into robots.

Their tracks eventually led into a large industrial warehouse. The building was dour and abandoned and the roof appeared to be collapsing in on itself, like mostof Heldur. But something just seemed... Off about it. The soldiers had to make a decision on how they handled the building, it would not be difficult at all to knock the wall down with their transport, the building was definitely large enough to accommodate their vehicle somehow, however there was no telling what was on the other side of the wall. Perhaps it would be safer to proceed on foot.


Arminius Station, Gate Guard Detail

'What was that?' Argyle said, looking up from the faded old journal he always kept close at hand. Something had clunked against the old door which separated Arminius Station from the surface, it was a sobering thought that at times this solid steel construct was all that stood between the residents and the horrors above.
The sound repreated, more than once. Something was out there.
Argyle knew the protocols, he clutched his hands around the small whistle around his neck, he blew into the piece more than once, the shrill sound echoed throughout the station but would have been very unlikely to have made it through to the Arthuristan's on the other side. Within moments replies sounded out all throughout the station as armed men rushed forwards to investigate.
Argyle relayed the information to the Watch Captain, knocks on the other side of the door, the kind only a person would generally use. The Watch Captain agreed, he ordered his men to take up positions around the sandbag walls built around the entrance, while he wasn't going to keep guests out in the cold, he was not going to take chances when the station was at stake.

The Watch Captain walked up to the doors control panel and hit in a code, within moments the ancient mechanisms which kept the door running trundled and groaned as they opened the great door. The metal screeched a little as it slid open, it didn't get a lot of use and the door was made of more than six inches of solid steel, the kind of door you wanted between you and the horrors on the surface.
As the door opened, a series of powerful floodlights activated nearby, light spilled out through the growing cracks in the door, blinding anyone who had been looking in through the crack.

The Watch captain picked up a nearby megaphone and spoke into the device, his voice booming throughout the station. 'Greetings friends, welcome to Arminius Station, please lower your weapons immediately and identify yourselves.'



Southern Coast of Heldur

As soon as the first mutant fell, a great roar filled the nearby Marshlands, whilst the first warning shot had shocked the creatures, the barrage of hot led did little to scare them off this time. Dozens fell under the first barrage, but the smell of blood seemed to have awoken the island, beasts charged out of the Marshes, brought in by the noise and the smell of blood. At first it was largely more of the freakish creatures which had stalked them for so long, but on the other side of camp, a horde of different looking again mutants emerged from up the coast, these creatures were broader, more heavily muscled and had skin like that of a rhino's and an ugly snout like a tapir, their mouth was filled with vicious, deformed fangs and when they charged the largely unprotected side of the Bermudan camp, the barbed wire seemed to do very little to stop them, their skin was thick enough that it proved to be more of an annoyance than a deterrent as they leaped over in search of blood.
Worse still, other creatures were emerging from the swamps, strange crustacean like creatures and some like giant toads, this new wave of beasts proved much more resistant to small arms fire. Although the various creatures were hardly united, occasionaly they would clash with each other as they rushed towards the Bermudans, but such clashes were short lived as wild bursts of fire would remind them of the prey they had sort out here originally.


The Reactor

The amount of noise attracted yet more and more attention towards the reactor, even when the Raptor Inc. soldiers were dousing the nearby brush with flame, eyes watched them from a safe distance. A soldier who was too careless whilst deploying his flamethrower stepped onto a strange patch of dirt and was devoured by the toad mutant beneath him, which promptly fled when his companions opened fire at it shortly afterwards. The marshes had eyes, and they were not only malicious, but they were staring directly at the Raptor Inc. forces.

The wind seemed to have picked up too, in the distance flashes of light alerted the soldiers to the oncoming storm front. The sky was growing ever more darker and the normally damp atmosphere was beginning to become wet as the first drips of the oncoming torrential downpour fell down from the sky.


Drowned Station

'Strange.' One of the men at the table replied, 'we had heard of this broadcast from one of the Pathfinder Stations on the surface.' He paused to drag on his cigarette whilst his companion continued.
'But the strength of the message was weak, we are truly surprised that you were able to pick it up. Although seeing as though you have.' he paused and wrote a note down on a sheet of paper in front of him, 'I will be sure to relay your arrival up to Reich Station. Brotherhood Command will have to decide what to make of your arrival for them self, in the time being however, we would like to say that you are welcome in Drowned Station, regardless of their decision.'
'Also I would like to know what your next step is, now that you've met the Helduri people? What do you think of the home we have made for ourselves?'


Embassy District, Varhall

Roves looked across uncertainly at the wounded Toishiman, 'I'm glad it's dark enough outside, Stalkers never travel in daylight. It would take an hour, to an hour and a half. If we are lucky we won't run into anything unpleasant. We have a small army when compared to most surface missions, but there are some things on the surface, that every man in your army could save us from.' He looked warily at his men, 'I'll give out the orders to pack up camp and get my people ready to move, but I won't leave the Toishiman's here alone.'

[Arthurista]

SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

“Should we take the car in, sir?” Corporal Alan Thurston, with the departure of Sergeant Prongs now 2iC of the patrol, said as they evaluated their options. “The footprints clearly lead to the building, and we’ll likely need to clear it, anyhow. I don’t like having to lose the fire support capabilities given by the car, but we’d want our means of escape intact and ready in case we need to get away expeditionsly.”

The lieutenant decided to adopt his conclusion – junior officers who didn’t listen to experienced NCOs seldom prospered. “True. We’ll just need to make do with what we can carry. I’ll take my [url=Milkor MGL]Milkor[/url], just in case.”

With the preparation made, the remaining six members of the team made their preparations. The driver and the RWS’s gunner would remain in the vehicle, while the lieutenant would lead the other three dismounts into the building.

“Ready…mark,” the patrol commander intoned. The car’s RWS spat four 25mm grenades at the warehouse’s gate, blowing it apart. The Milkor rapidly spat six 40mm flashbang grenades into the building, then six smoke grenades, blanketing the interior in a thick fog. With IR goggles on, the team ought to be able to see – and kill – anything hostile inside, while the tangos were still blinded.

In theory, anyway…

Arminius Station

Yes! There are survivors still alive.Sonntag thought, the commander is right on the money.

“Dr Frederick Sonntag, at your service, sir. My companion here is Lieutenant Susan Wednesday of the Arthuristan People’s Marine,” he shouted, using the most diplomatic voice he could muster, “in the name of His Highness Gareth II, Lord Protector of the People’s Commonwealth of Arthurista, as well as his parliament and government, I bid you greetings. What is this place, and with whom am I speaking?”

[Fascist Republic Of Bermuda]

Southern Coast of Heldur, 2000 Hours, Day 1

Blood was everywhere, both human and mutant. Sergeant Jackson ducked behind a flipped Sheridan, wiping his gas mask clear of the blood, cradling his M4 Carbine close to his chest. He glanced around the damaged, muddy track, looking into the chaos before him. Some soldiers had run out of ammo, drawing their knives and trying to fend off the mutants. He glanced towards a BMP-3, the hatch open, the screams of the crew echoing out from inside. He saw the M2 crew mow down mutant after mutant, but the mutants appeared to be coming faster than the M2 could kill them. And the body parts, scattered everywhere, most to mangled or chopped up to identify. He turned, only to find himself face-to-face with a toad mutant from Hell, by the looks of it. Just as Jackson accepted his fate, the sound of 2 helicopters, then a Gatling gun, appeared suddenly and loudly, distracting most mutants. The toad mutant, transfixed by the spotlight on a chopper, didn't see Jackson scramble away as a Missile from the second helicopter destroyed the entire area around the Sheridan, vaporizing the mutant immediately. The Gatling gun fired again, ripping through the mutant's ranks. As the remaining mutants retreated for the time being, the Chinook landed, it's blades chopping up the air, as BermuOps, Bermuda's Special Forces, piled out to search for other survivors. The AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter with the Hellfire missiles churned overhead, the Chaingun ready for anything. As the surviving 7 soldiers and 9 tank crewmen of the original Task Force Heldur loaded on to the helicopter, followed by the BermuOps, the Chinook lifted into the sky, heading for the docklands.

[West Aurelia]

Site 14, Undisclosed Location

Hayes was surprised that other nations were being so overt in their military operations on Heldur. Media outlets around the world were already reporting about what had happened, and it was no longer a secret. It seemed that only the Aurelians and Toishimans had dispatched small special forces units to investigate the mysterious radio broadcasts.

Hale came up beside him. "Mr. President, here is, as requested, the report on all nations with forces on Heldur, as well as Raptor, Inc. Outlined are their deployments as far as we can make out, their military capabilities, and potential motives for deploying forces there. Most nations are there for scientific research and humanitarian aid, like us. Heldur is very crowded right now. Some forces have already encountered each other. No firefights have been reported, but one mistake could change everything."

"Thank you, Director. I'm sure I'll enjoy reading this. But before that - I want assets deployed around Heldur. A carrier strike group should do it - just in case we need it. I also want another 10-man Department unit on standby - position a Sea Eagle 2.0 in international waters and tell them to lay low."

"Understood, Mr. President."

International Waters, Outside of Heldur

A carrier strike group was deployed just off the coast of Heldur, consisting of one aircraft carrier, two destroyers, one submarine, and various logistics, transport, and supply ships. As far as the international community was concerned, this was West Aurelia's first move in the Heldur event.

A few kilometers away from the carrier strike group sat a DarkLair-registered Sea Eagle luxury yacht, manufactured by an Aurelian company - or so it seemed. In reality, it was a modified "Sea Eagle 2.0," intended for clandestine operations by the Aurelain military. It was fully fitted with a command center, communications room, armory, helipad (with an MH-70 Hunter utility helicopter painted to look like a privately-owned helicopter), and sleeping quarters. It had M1017 miniguns built into various locations around the deck, which could be activated with the press of a button. It even contained torpedoes and missiles to be used as a last resort. The Department unit would be ready to deploy as soon as they were called upon.

[Garganta de la tierra]

Skies over Varhall

The F-35s flew fast and low, over the post-apocalyptic landscape. Captain Michael Webb switched on the imaging equipment. Live high-res radar, Lidar, and thermal images were being beamed by laser to an orbiting GDLT satellite, and relayed to the Mistral-Class Assault Ship Fenrir along with atmosphere samples, a radiological gradient map, and photographs of points of interest. A map of Heldur was showing in the briefing room of the Fenrir with overlays of the incoming information showing on top of it. A clear line of information was showing, following Captain Webb's flight path. His escort, Lieutenant Mills followed close behind as the two jets rushed across the countryside and into Varhall. After a few passes the HAZENV team would have information on the city showing hazards and landmarks.

"We are going to circle back for another pass." Webb reported in. "kicked up the wildlife with our last pass, Mills keep your eyes out for that as well as those prowling Tomcats."

The Jets came in low over the Metro, the Thermal scope giving indication of activity in the area by the cluster of individuals near the door and heat coming from undamaged vents surrounding the structure, indicating underground power sources. Lieutenant Mills rounded the side of a crumbling skyscraper to give space for Webb to fly straight through the city center. Mills startled a group of juvenile Demons, which took flight around the tower to avoid the large object flying by them. One juvenile cornered the building too fast and crossed Webb's flight path. The Juvenile never saw what hit it. Sinewy wing and claw hit the filter cover of the specialized intake, denting it into the turbine. The remains of the Demon hit the right wing and tumbled to the ground. Hydraulic fluid leaked from burst valves and the the F-35 began to fall.

"Crap! This is Webb, a native hit my right intake and smashed the environment shield inwards, I can't sustain flight!"

Onboard the Fenrir people scrambled to their consoles and plotted coordinates. A readout of the F-35 was brought up.

"Mills! I'm too low to eject, I'll have to bring it down for a hard landing!" Captain Michael Webb shouted over the radio, the roar of the dying turbine reverberating through his jet. "I'll circle till you hit the ground." Mills replied "We will get CSNR launched immediately."

Combat Search and Rescue gear was loaded into two Ospreys on the Fenrir. A major function of HAZENV units is to go into difficult situations and get people out, but those jumping into the backs of the CV-22s were veterans of bad situations, needed for events such as these.

Webb came down hard, keeping his F-35's nose high to use his wing surfaces as air-brakes. The belly of the jet scraped along the concrete, throwing sparks into the dark sky. The fuselage and cockpit imbedded itself in the side of a large crumbling building, burying the main body in rubble but leaving the cockpit intact. Webb smashed his head into the console during the impact, being knocked unconscious. Wild dogs, startled by all the noise headed over to the blacked out glass. The radiation shielding and reflective particles in the canopy stopped heat and light from getting out, essentially making the cockpit a one way mirror. Not finding anything other than twisted metal, the scavengers left.

Varhall International Airport

Brash and his Stalkers were seated on the metal chairs in the Stryker and handed pieces from ration packs once the door was closed and pressurized. Chocolate bars, Auroch jerky, and water bottles were handed round as the group began to talk and eat, free of their gas masks.

Avery turned to Brash. "We picked up radio transmissions coming from Heldur when we were doing reconnaissance in the area, and another nations military presence in Varhall itself. Do you know anything about this?"

PVT Logan George noticed one of the stalkers had a seeping wound on their neck, with scabbing burn marks around the inflamed area where it had been burnt to try and sterilize the cut. "Let me take a look at that." He said, pulling a first aid kit from the cabin area and unclipping it in front of the survivor. "I'll patch that up so it doesn't get worse, especially because your mask was rubbing against it. Is that ok?" The survivor looked uneasy about the materials PVT George had pulled from the plastic case, and recoiled slightly. "Its ok, we can do it whenever. I'm Logan by the way, never thought I'd meet a Helduri citizen other than the bodies I was going to run tests on..." He trailed off, realizing how insensitive he must have sounded.

[Heldur]

Aurora Square

The Square felt cold and unwelcoming towards the Sau Beiu soldiers as they touched down on the ground. The massive open space was littered with debris from the crumbling buildings which surrounded the Square. At one end of the square sat the old Helduri Parliament building, in its day it had sat majestically above the grand flight of steps leading up towards it. Now it looked decrepit and empty, like much of the area.
On the other side of the square was the old National Library, built out of marble pillars in a style borrowed from the Temples of Ancient Greece.
Once this place had been the beating heart of Varhall, now is was an old, crumbling ruin, devoid of human life.

However it was far from empty, in the shadows of derelict cars, all manner of horrific creatures crept, lurking and waiting for a chance to ambush the new arrivals to their lair.
The first gunshots echoed throughout the square moments after the men disembarked from the helicopters, it was well known amongst the Stalkers of Heldur that you made as little noise as possible on the surface, arriving by helicopter made that all but impossible. The soldiers were soon met by whole packs of nightmarish creatures, they charged from the shadows and leaped out from behind corners.
It was quickly apparent that the Sau Beiu soldiers had to relocate to somewhere more defensible for the time being, as their gunfire was likely to attract yet more creatures.



SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

The warehouse rocked and shook with the impact and explosions caused from by the Arthuristan bombardment but largely remained quiet otherwise.
The SBS troopers entered into the Warehouse swiftly, they swept the building quickly, there were no more mutants here than anywhere else in the district, save for one small, startled spider like creature, while outside of Heldur the spider would likely have been called large, being nearly half the width of a human hand, but in Heldur it was probably one of the least horrific creatures they had so far encountered.
It's web however was expansive and erratic, covering one of the far walls in strange, otherworldly patterns, similar to what you would have expected if the spider had been given a tiny dose of a hallucinogenic drug.

Another of the SBS troopers was found in the center of the room. Her body was deathly cold, from the looks of her she had died over an hour ago, it wasn't clear what had finished her off however, there were no signs of struggle and her weapon lay beside her as if she had placed it beside her as she lay down on the ground. Had she lay down and stopped breathing intentionally? There wasn't a lot to go on, but her serene expression pointed towards an experience which hadn't been all that painful.

Almost without warning, a scuttling sound emanated from the back room, the side entrance slammed closed unexpectedly as some unseen creature fled the warehouse while the Arthuristan soldiers were busy inspecting their fallen comrades body.
The last set of tracks led towards the back room and upon entering the soldiers were greeted with a sight that none of them had expected. An old lamp in the back corner of the room flickered on, then off again, before turning back on. It crackled with power, somehow this room still had enough electricity to power it.
Then as suddenly as the device had powered on, it shorted out, in that instant almost every electrical device in the room, the Arthuristan's included went haywire for a split second before they all cut out.
Attempts to restart their electronics failed, until one soldier stepped outside of the room and his equipment started up again. It was like some sort of interference in that room had deactivated all their equipment somehow.


Arminius Station

The Watch Captain paused unexpectedly, he was baffled by the response, Arthuristan People’s Marines? That didn't sound like any organisation from the Metro.
'Say again friend, you're from the People’s Commonwealth of Arthurista? Where is that? I've never heard of that Station before. As for your question this is Arminius Station, a subsidiary state of the Vinhan Commonwealth. I'm Captain Vance of the Watch, it's my job to keep this station safe. Now get inside so I can lock the door behind you all, I'd rather not have mutants enter the station while we sort all this out.'


Southern Coast of Heldur

As soon as the Bermudan aircraft were away, mutants emerged from the marshes to devour the dead, the creatures barely even waited until it was off the ground and the departing Bermudans got a good look at all the different horrific creatures picking meat off of the dead and fighting each other for scraps as they departed.


Varhall, F-35 crash site

The sound of the jets alone had alerted the foreign presence to anyone on the surface, but when Captain Pavel of the CSH Rangers saw the strange object fall out of the sky in a blaze of fire and metal, he knew he had to investigate. First his team had picked up strange radio transmissions when they were at the National Library, now foreign objects were falling from the sky.

His team of five, battle hardened Stalkers cleared the site easily enough, CSH Quartermasters may be frugal when it came to outfitting the standard line infantry deployed by the CSH, but the Stalker teams always got the best equipment, outfitted with aging laser sights, well maintained assault rifles and even military grade shotguns. They swept the site carefully before they began to inspect the strange metal craft.
Pavel quickly ordered two of his men to begin salvaging components near the engines, hopefully they'd get some form of fuel out of them, or machinery parts. The others would keep an eye out for any more inquisitive mutants.

Varhall International Airport

Brash looked surprised, 'no I don't. Our radio's have been largely unusused, we've been saving them for keeping in contact with each other when we are doing supply runs. We haven't heard anything from the city itself. Let alone other foreigners.'

Another one of the Stalkers lay a comforting hand on their injured companion, 'it's okay,' he said, 'look at that sign, the red cross was used by lots of nations as a sign for medicine. You've seen the old med kits we keep around as food containers haven't you? They used to hold medicine inside of them.' The stalker looked Logan in the eye, 'are you a doctor?'

[Virdalonja]

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

"You're hospitality is most welcome, thank you" replied Dart "these sub-terrainian cities the people of Heldur have created are remarkable. Given the devastation Heldur endured during the bombing, the fact that any people survived is a true symbol of Helduri strength itself. The survival of the people of Heldur is a miracle, and it is something the Emperor wishes to aid"

Dart motioned to Gorze that he had finished his translation. Götze stood from his seat and held out a hand to the two men opposite him.

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

"... 13 dead and 5 wounded sir" concluded Kaiz before saluting Captain Gaunt

"It could be worse Lieutenant. We cannot allow anything like this to happen again. Has the door been sealed?"

"Yes sir, charges were placed on the floor above and the debris blocked the door. Should hold for a while sir"

"We won't be here much longer Lieutenant. We need to wait for Lieutenant Götze to radio us and receive the all clear to move out from the Oracle. If all goes well, we will be out of Varhall within 24 hours" replied Gaunt, looking visibly relieved as he said the last sentence "take 3 section and our them on watch on the rubble pile. I want nothing getting through"

"Yes sir!" Kaiz saluted and departed to carry out his orders

----------Imperial Convoy, Heldur swamplands----------

Guldur's Mastiff stopped at the designated location.

"Yanmir, report" he ordered

"Nothing to report sir" replied Yanmir, scanning the area around the 3 Mastiff's

"Everyone out. Yanmir, stay on the Gimpy"

The doors at the backs if the Mastiff's swung open and the Virdalonjans disembarked, soldiers first. Guldur gestured to Sergeant Duniash.

"Take 8 men and secure a perimeter Sergeant, we don't know what is out here" Guldur demanded "Engineers, what do you think of this? Is it stable?"

Carl Mundi stomped on the ground.

"We'll it certainly seems more stable than the rest of the ground around..."

"Excellent" replied Guldur "I will inform the Oracle that the area is suitable for the construction of the base and ask for supplies immediately". Guldur disappeared inside.

Mundi gave his colleagues an exasperated look. The ground should be stable enough. But the Sergeant Major was acting very peculiar. Something was clearly troubling him. But what?

----------Mastiff 4, unidentified compound----------

The Mastiff was now close enough to make out the flag flying above the walled compound. It appeared to consist of several horizontal read and white stripes with a blue square in the top left hand corner. Within the square was a circle of 13 stars and two vertical white stripes. Strange thought Amroth, he had seen similar flags may times before but did not recognise this one.

"Private open the comms link to all. We are going to announce ourselves" ordered Amroth

Private Avar flicked the switch and looked towards Amroth.

Encryption: none

Addressee: owner of military compound

Hello, my name is Sergeant Amroth of the 28th Nevrastan Rifles from the Empire of Virdalonja. We are currently outside your compound. Please identify yourselves.

"Open another channel to the Oracle Private, if anything should happen to us" Amroth turned and looked at the engineers and scientists in the back of the Mastiff "which it won't, at least we will know who our enemies are"

[Republic of Coldwater]

Raptor Inc. Base
The commander receives the message. He knew that other nations have been in Heldur, but he wasn't certain about the dangers of that nation. Two Soldiers Clad in NBC Suits walk to the top of the wall and into guard posts, facing the troops from the nation. A Staff Sergeant pulls out a megaphone and says "Identify yourself first, I don't want no harm"

[Sau Beiu]

Aurora Square, 4:05 am
Colonel Setenseslav was in disbelief, he knew of the threat but in such numbers so quickly? He had to think fast, assuming the other helicopters teams didn't deploy because of the threat he has, thirty men? Sounds about right, there are two large buildings, a parliament building and a library, the parliament building is probably more likely to have a radio, so it would be able to signal for backup, but the library is so close. In a quick decision he urged the men to the library so they could regroup. Once inside Colonel Stenseslav ordered the men into their squad formations to take role, five men missing, two injured. After a brief period of rest, Colonel Stenseslav called the squad leaders together to form a plan, "Gentlemen, I am sure you know our current situation, so I'll take any suggestions." Captain Romsyact was first to answer,
"We should take a tight formation and clear the square."
"And draw more to us? "
"What if we sneak around the beasts?"
"We have too many men for that plan to work efficiently."
"Well how about we send a small team to the parliament building to radio for backup?"
"That could work."
"But what abut the risk? Do you think that five men could fight off those things?"
"They don't need to fight if their quiet." After hearing out the plans the Colonel broke his silence the small team idea is the best we have, I propose we send two teams on opposite ends of the square, one team searches the building and the other takes up defensive positions, in the mean time the rest of us search this building."

Aurora square 5:00 am
Sargent Lenstov knelt behind a pile of rubble, waiting for the beasts to pass, the parliament building was about 70 meters away, he ran to the abandoned bus ahead, and signaled for the rest of the squad to move up, three beast lie between them and the parliament building, the Sargent drew his knife and took the first beast by surprise, his squad mates dealt with the other two beasts. Now was just to find the radio in the building.

Metro under Aurora square 2:22 am
Lieutenant Petrov took point, they had hardly made it through the square with their lives, Uhlal and Portz both died on the surface Markovich got separated from the group. Now the group is down to three. The group came to a large metal door, confused, the Lieutenant looked everywhere for a way to open it. "Nothing, must open from the inside."
"Did you try knocking?"
"And who would answer? The beasts? It isn't like there's anyone down here"
"Wouldn't hurt to try."
"Fine." The Lieutenant knocked to shut him up, when, to his surprise, the door started to open.

[Arthurista]

SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

“What’s going on with the electronics?” The lieutenant was completely unnerved now. “It’s more of that atmospheric ion effect, isn’t it?”

“But it’s not general, this time.” Corporal Alan Thurston sounded equally disturbed, “it’s more like very, very localised ion field of some sort, localised at a specific room, in fact.”

“The camera cut out when we were in the room, I presume?”

“Affirmative, sir, though it started back up again when we went outside.” The live stream, it seemed, was still intact. The base would no doubt be trying to figure out what was going on, already.

“I have no doubt Dr Prescott would want to send people out here to investigate this, preferably with a heavily armed escort. Anyway, Dingo, what’s your verdict on Trooper Whittman’s CoD?”

Lance Corporal Charles Canmore, callsign ‘Dingo’, was not a doctor. Nevertheless, as a medic and designated first aider, he was the only person there who could do the preliminary analysis.

“No obvious trauma, sir, gunshot, laceration, blunt-force or anything else. No telltale sign of concussion, either. No struggle, as far as I could tell. She just seemed to have stopped moving and breathing.”

“Poison?”

“Can’t be sure, sir, not without a full toxicology report. Another possibility, an even more disturbing one, is that this has something to do with the psychosis we saw earlier.”

“What kind of shitstorm have we gotten ourselves into?” The lieutenant mused. Not even such an episode, however, could put him off his determination to figure out what happened to his last lost trooper.

“Right, we’re moving on. Make sure everything we saw here has been streamed back to base. We’ll let the scientists sort out the whys and wherefores. Let’s go find our guy!”

Arminius Station

The platoon filtered into the station, then helped close the gate. Their muzzles were pointed downwards, but fingers were firmly glued to the trigger-guards. These people seemed friendly, positively the type they were here to help in the first place. But as the ops department people kept saying, trust, but verify.

“We’re not from another station, sir.” Both Lieutenant Wednesday and Dr Sonntag have quickly surmised that there were multiple survivor stations, probably connected through the metro-line and developed into coalitions of sub-terranean city states. “The People’s Commonwealth of Arthurista is another nation, sir, in a region known as Pardes, some thousands of kilometres from here, across the sea. We’re here to investigate a radio broadcast which originated from Varhall, as well as provide assistance to any survivors like yourself.”

Task Force Heldur Onshore base, Docklands

Dr Prescott was worried. Sergeant Prongs’ car had just returned to the base, bringing along with her the SBS trooper afflicted with psychosis. The doctors were attempting to diagnose and treat him, but so far success in either effort has eluded them.

The presence of the Bermudans in the docklands hasn’t helped. There’ve been no incident so far, and their close proximity was a positive boon for the improvised radio traffic snooper they placed atop the pylon, allowing them to pick up a large proportion of their messages. It was pretty clear, however, that the forces they brought were utterly inadequate.

As a temporary fix, Major Beech decided that the Landing Ship Logistics they brought with them be docked right at the port, its complement of 145, except from a skeleton crew, to join in the defence of the fortified zone. Sailors were trained in the use of firearms and some basic infantry drills. They couldn’t be deployed to aggressively patrol the perimeters as his marines could, but they had absolutely no issues with standing behind mine fields, razor wire and sandbags to shoot up anything that strayed too close.

Which just made the latest despatch from the Admiralty that much more welcome.

The reinforcements she called for, temporarily designated ‘Force H’, is only five days away from making landfall. With the forces that would be at her disposal, she’d finally feel confident enough to probe the various mysteries of the island to her hearts’ content.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” a marine aide de camp suddenly poked her head into Prescott’s office, “I have a priority call from Patrol Alpha-Three-One. They’ve found something serious. I’d suggest you talk to them at once.”

[Fascist Republic Of Bermuda]

Forward Base, Varhall Docklands

The Chinook containing the survivors of Task Force, Heldur (or the "Doomed Expedition") landed, the survivors being loaded, their wounds bandaged, onto a Patrol Boat that had arrived on Pier 7. Major Jack Abney, a blond, middle-aged man of 43, CO of the Forward Base, watched as the men and women were carried out of the Chinook on stretchers. Suddenly, a PFC ran onto the scene, carrying a sheet of paper, the poor soldier probably having not fired his gun since Basic Training "Sir, new orders from the Hamilton. We are to dig in and await further orders," he exclaimed, handing Abney the paper, "We are supposed to dig Trenches, use barbed wire, mines, tank traps, the whole nine yards to defend this place! We also need an airstrip for our heavier aircraft," "Very well. Have the men commence work immediately. I want those defenses finished by sunset tomorrow," Abney replied, when one of the survivors spoke up. "You think barbed wire will stop those... Things? Ha! We're all gonna die!" The survivor yelled, his voice cracking as he started crying. As the medics loaded him, gagged and still crying, onto the PT boat, Abney strolled into the comms tent.

To: Admiral Jenkins
From: Major Abney
Encryption: Medium
Message: Sir, we may need more troops and tanks, not scientists, to capture this island. Less than half of Task Force, Heldur made it back alive! One of the survivors was moaning about how barbed wire doesn't stop the wildlife! The island is not safe for scientists to come ashore yet, evidently. In other, equally dark, news, the Arthuristans, although no offensive movements have been made, I fear that our comms may be compromised, because of our relative proximity to each other. I request that from now on, high encryption messages, instead of medium, to prevent or at least delay for longer periods of time, any attempts to infiltrate our comms network.

Skies above Southern Varhall

The F-14 Tomcat, codenamed Hawk 7, flew above the desolate surface of Heldur, Patrolling the skies in the southern part of Varhall. As they passed a relatively tall building for the city, a old hotel by the looks of it, the instruments within the cabin began to malfunction. "This is Hawk 7 to Foxtrot Bravo, the instruments are going crazy," The pilot said, glancing around the cabin. The gunner said, "This is Hawk 7's Gunner, I confirm instrument malfunction throughout the cabin." "This.. *Static*... Is *unintelligible*... Malfunct... RTB," Came the garbled response, strange considering their proximity to each other. The Tomcat was going along just fine, barring major malfunctions in the equipment, until the engines gave out, sending Hawk 7 plummeting down towards the ground. "THIS IS HAWK 7, BAILING!" The Pilot yelled into his radio, as he yanked the eject lever, tearing the plexiglass off of the Cockpit, the rocket motors in the Pilot's seat firing. The Gunner followed suite, and their olive parachutes, once they deployed, were painfully obvious next to the sky. Both of them hit the ground without incident, about 73 feet away from each other. They rendezvous beside a burned-out car as they planned their next move, with nothing but a bit of food, 2 bedrolls, 2 pocket knives, some bottled water, and 2 M9 Pistols.

[Heldur]

Drowned Station

Both of the men stood up and took it in turns to shake Gotze's hand before replying, 'we would be honoured to receive aid from your Emperor, the Brotherhood will always look kindly on its friends.' The two men seemed quite happy with this outcome, 'to work this all out we assume you will need to meet with other members of our leadership, if so we would be willing to provide transport to the beating heart of the Brotherhood, Reich Station. Until then, you are more than welcome to use any and all facilities here in Drowned.' One of the men handed both Gotze and Dart two bullets made of silver engraved with the Brotherhood's sigil, 'if you need to provide payment for any kind of service here in Drowned, please show these to the merchants, they will wave the fee upon sighting them, please do not give them to the merchant's, they'll try to get a hold of them off of you, but do not listen to them. These are for you and your men alone.'


National Library, Aurora Square

The library did not appear empty at all, books lay all around on the ground, some in carefully placed piles, others had been knocked over, some places indicated a minature camp site had been errected inside the great building, with everything but a fire place, upon closer inspection the Sau Beiu soldiers found the odd piece of gear, sometimes a rifle, an odd gasmask, food or water container. All of it was old, although the condition of them all indicated that they had been, until recently, been cared for.

It was not long after that they found the body. Wrapped in heavy scrap plate armour, with plenty of leather and wool to protect him from the elements on top of an old and very basic NBC suit, lay a badly wounded man, almost mortally, one of his arms had been crushed and deep gouges covered his brestplate. Something of enormous strength had hammered into him before fleeing at the approaching sound of the incomming Sau Beiu soldiers.
The man lay still for some time, but when they drew close to inspect him, his nearly limp head looked up slightly and he croaked, 'Anton? Is that you?'


Kildare Station

The Sau Beiu soldiers knocking had caused the great door to open, as it did they were greeted by a stream of blindingly bright light as over a dozen, powerful spot lights lit up on the other side.

'Stay where you are and announce yourselves. Who are you and where do you hail from?' A voice boomed over a loudspeaker device, 'lower your weapons or you will be fired upon according to the Laws of Engagement within the Vinhan Commonwealth, the Watch reserves it's right to fire upon trespassers when provoked.'



SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One

The last member of the missing soldiers tracks led down towards an old, crumbling ruin of the city wide Metro System. The entrance was too small, and the tunnels too old to have any armoured vehicle trundling through them without there being a serious chance of collapse. The air here felt not just stale, but off. The entire atmosphere of the place was dark and forbodding, the tunnel looked as if it didn't want intruders within it.
However the last soldiers tracks definitely led inside, but what made it truly worrying was the two sets of tracks which emerged from within the tunnel system to greet the lone soldiers own before following them inside. The tracks were not made by any creature the SBS troopers had encountered so far, they were large and looked like they ended in claws of some kind, but they were also slender and looked more like they belonged to a foot used for walking upright rather than all fours. The lack of blood where the three sets of tracks converged was confusing, every mutant they had encountered so far would have been more than game to pounce on an unwary soldier, yet these creatures had more than likely walked alongside the missing soldier as he went underground.


Arminius Station

Captain Vance took the news well, he stared in almost disbelief as Lieutenant Wednesday and Dr Sonntag explained their origins. But from a close inspection of their appearance, how their skin was far too suntanned to have lived a subterrainian lifestyle, how well fed they were and how well equipped on top of that, with gear that didn't look older than he was no less. Vance nodded, he was a smart man, you needed to be to make anything of yourself in the Commonwealth.

'I see.' He waved for his men to calm themselves. 'In that case, welcome to Arminius station, would you two mind coming with me, we'll need to speak with the Stations Administration immediately, this is big news I hope you'll understand. They need to know, and quite frankly I think we need to get you lot off the station floor before you're swamped with people,' Vance looked over his men who were still standing around in wonder, 'you're going to be instant celebrities, I hope you understand that.'


Southern Varhall

The Tomcat screeched as it slammed into the ground, it wasn't long before the Howlers arrived to investigate, those strange, deformed creatures covered in patches of dieseased looking fur prowled all over the crash site, searching for their next meal.
The pilot and gunner were forced to cower in a small storm drain as the creatures sniffed and howled amidst the nearby ruins of the jet, the strange smells of the small causeway did enough to mask their smell and some debris shielded them from view.

They watched in horror as a pair of winged creatures swooped down and carried off two of the Howling mutants that were searching for them. The whole atmosphere had gone from that of a hunt, to a frantic bid for safety as the creatures began to scatter. One even bolted straight through the storm drain in a bid to escape the nigh unstoppable aerial predators hunting them.

Not long after, a trio of odd looking figures jumped down into the Storm Drain from above, they were armed with robust, but aging equipment. Unlike many of the other groups anyone had encountered from the remains of Heldur's population however, these three men did not wear a mix matched set of armour, NBC suits and whatever else was laying around, these men wore well maintained Military Gear designed for irradiated enviroments, they had proper armour, kevlar backed up with professionally added metal plating to add extra protection. They moved like a well oiled machine, with definitely the kind of training you would expect in an urban special forces unit. They deftly moved from cover piece to cover piece as they threaded their way towards the downed aircraft, almost entirely oblivious to the pilot and his gunner.

[Arthurista]

SBS Patrol Alpha-Three-One
“I advise caution, ell-tee,” corporal Thurston wasn’t one to be unnerved easily – no SBS commando was. However, after seeing two colleagues die in mysterious, incomprehensible ways and one driven into an inexplicable psychosis, nobody could fault him for being cautious.

“Well, according to the HQ, the Marines found friendly, civilised survivors in a place called Arminius Station, not exactly a million klicks from here. Maybe some locals got hold of Trooper Winfield.”

“Local wildlife, maybe. Did you see those prints? They definitely have claws.”

“They were bipeds, though. I really don’t know what to make of it. Anyway, we’ll look around and find out what the station is called, then have the marines at Arminius ask the locals about the place before we move in. Question them about a creature with those characteristics, as well.”

Arminius Station
“Excuse me, ma’am,” a trooper interrupted the conversation that Lieutenant Wednesday was striking up with Vance, “a call from, you know, that bunch.”

Thank god for UHF radio the lieutenant thought as she picked up the receiver. “Sorry, watch captain, I must take this.”

It only took two minutes for the lieutenant to ascertain what was required of her.

“Pardon me, watch captain Vance, sir, do you happen to know what’s in a certain metro station called…”

[Republic of Coldwater]

Raptor Inc. HQ
"Sir, we got a report of something dam'n big happening off the coast of Heldur" said a high-end servant as he slides a hazel manilla folder across the clear glass table.

Clarence Norman gets the folder, and slowly opens it. He first sees satellite imagery of a West Aurelian Fleet off the coast of Heldur, and then he sees a report of what they might be doing.

"Well, shit, they now have a bunch of ships off the coast. Send in 3 F-15 Silent Eagles, we have to make communication with them"

Minutes later, 3 pilots with 2,500 Hours of Combat Time entered their Silent Eagles. This was a move that wouldn't have been done in the past, because Raptor Inc. had secretly purchased 250 Silent Eagles with no media coverage. The pilots were ordered to Self-Destruct if the media picks it up, just to save the name of both Boeing and Raptor Inc.

The Silent Eagles fire up as command tower gives them the order to fly up into the sky.

[Toishima]

OOC: Apologies for all that. I forgot about this RP as I had started juggling schoolwork and RPing once again. And my plans are no longer realisable now with the unusually massive amount of players for this type of RP. As such, I am formally leaving.

---

North Varhall, Embassy District

Haruguchi had moved himself to a corner of the room as the foreigner and the Heldurian were playing with a small drone. Toishima had these things, so he was unimpressed. He noted that some members of his squad were gearing up to move. Kitoaji walked towards him, radio already strapped on.

"Sergeant. Command says we must pull out. Things are getting too noisy up there."

"Okay. We'll get out as soon as possible."

Kitoaji must have already informed the other squad members before Haruguchi. Interesting. The local leader then extended an invitation to the Commandos, but Haruguchi declined.

"Negative, we will be unable to follow you people back to your tunnels. We have completed our mission, and must leave this area immediately. Too many foreign elements are converging on this island," Haruguchi said curtly and seriously to both Roves and 'Marks', looking back out of the window. Kitoaji called in the helicopter extraction, which would be difficult with all the foreign activity in the area, plus the creatures. A whole platoon of SNLF was to be deployed to retrieve the team.

---

Several hours later, an armoured and heavily-armed truck, covered in blood with the corpse of a demon on the roof, pulled up to the remains of the embassies, flanked by two LAVs with heavy machine guns. Several SNLF troops had already been killed thus far, and the team leader was not waiting around any longer.

Farewells were short and fast as the Imperial Army Commandos left the building and went back into the wilderness, quickly boarding the truck and leaving the city as they rushed to a nearby LZ. Creatures besieged them on all sides, but were beaten back by the four machine guns on the convoy. Three helicopters, two Pave Lows and a Chinook, were waiting with rotors spinning in what may have once been a park between two tall buildings, with four AH-1s providing covering fire to clear off the large amount of creatures attempting to enter the landing site. The remains of another Pave Low were visible to the side of the LZ.

The Commandos were quickly spirited away from the island, along with the rest of the Toishiman troops. Aside from the crashed helicopter, Toishiman troops had never entered this blasted land. Memories would last forever, though, and the team would not soon forget their experiences on this island.

[Heldur]

OOC: Sorry to see you go Toishima, thanks for participating and good luck with any other endeavors your taking on at the moment!


IC:

Arminius Station

Vance nodded in understanding, 'Of course.' He was a little surprised to find that the outsiders radios could communicate with the surface whilst underground, but after a moment of thinking about it he decided that it probably wasn't all that unlikely considering their advanced looking gear.

His face bleached as soon as the question was brought up.

'Wharf station.' He said solemnly. 'I thank whatever powers there are in this world that that place is not connected to my own station.' He paused and looked at the ground momentarily, 'Wharf was always a little weird, in the early days, the original inhabitants always used to say the weird stories the occupants came up with were just sailors tales. But one day, the Station just stopped communicating. When someone went to investigate from the nearby Independent Station, they found, well, I'm not sure what they found, but the men came back never wanting to talk of that place ever again. Since then, there's been, whispers. Of tall mutants moving on the Independent's Borders. The Commonwealth was looking to add them to our growing sphere of influence, but since then we've stopped sending envoys, the only thing we're sending them these days are guns, to keep whatever s lurking down there on their side and not on ours. If things get bad, we've apparently rigged our connecting tunnels to blow, sealing off whatever horrors are there, hopefully. The whole Commonwealth Ring is threatened by whatever s down there. And we're not alone in that regard. Similar horror stories have appeared in other far flung places, somethings different about these mutants, something sinister I'm sure of it. They walk on two legs, not four, where others growls and roar, these are silent, they walk calmly into gunfire or so the story goes, shrugging off wounds that would kill a man.'

Vance looked around him, nearby bystanders were getting nervous listening to him, they all knew the stories of course, but most people preferred not to think about them.

'I think I should not speak anymore of this place. But why, why do you speak of it?'



North Varhall, Embassy District

Roves watched the Toishimans go uncomfortably, the loud engines of their transports had drawn many creatures into the district, which worried him somewhat. Fortunately the creatures were generally far more interested in chasing down the loud disturbance in their realm. After an hour had passed he sent a Stalker outside to look up and down the street to ensure it was clear enough to move out, his entire team covered them from the building.
Once the Stalker had returned, giving them a quiet 'clear as it's going to be', Roves announced to his men that they were returning to Able Station. He went back to the room where the West Aurelian's had stayed put and announced to Marks that it was time to move out, stating that if he had any questions, now would be the time to ask.
'Once that's over I'll give you a quick run down on how Stalkers prefer to act, our procedures so to speak, it may save lives for both of our groups after all. Although I'm sure it will all seem a bit like common sense now you've had a taste of the surface.'

[Garganta de la tierra]

Crashed F-35, Varhall

Captain Webb awoke to the sound of tearing metal. Luckily he was uninjured from the crash, apart from bruising and a headache from being passed out. A small red light on his watch indicated the air was not safe, and he could not remove his helmet without a replacement gas mask. The HAZENV unit's Pilot's helmets functioned as basic gas masks, but only for a short period of time. The entire fuselage of the jet shifted left as it slipped half a meter more into the rubble of the building. Webb heard muffled shouts of alarm from outside. He turned around in his seat, and looking out back of the canopy he could see a group of people, some carrying pieces of metal and pipe they had removed from the wing. These must be the people we were briefed on, He thought to himself. Flicking the distress beacon strapped to the leg of his flight suit, he then turned around and banged on the canopy to attract their attention, since he knew they could not see him inside.

Varhall international Airport

Private George looked at the two Heldurians. "I am not a formal Medic, but I have enough training to fix most trauma. All members of the Garganta de la Tierran Military have to take it, and i passed with high marks, so there is nothing to fear. My proper role is forensic Archaeology/anthropology, which is why I am here on Heldur. If you do not wish for me to see to it i can give the gear to your friend here?"

Captain Sierra Jayden Radioed Sargent Avery to meet her in the Shelter. Avery apologized to the survivors and left the Stryker. Inside the Inflatable structure a small floodlight shone onto the dented dome of the Soviet warhead, the scorched grey metal emitted a dull reflection.

"This is both good news and bad news your team brought the HAZENV unit Sargent" Captain Jayden remarked. "Our EOD technician has confirmed our suspicion. Not all the warheads were nuclear, or even warheads that hit Heldur."

"So this isn't a nuke sir?" Avery questioned. "I am... confused as to how Heldur could have gotten so radioactive without the forty something nukes the Soviets claimed responsibility for dropping here."

Captain Jayden knelt down in the crater. "Oh this is a nuke, but they cant have dropped forty of them. EOD specialist Mark reported to me that your team has Discovered a Salted bomb. Its halfway between a Radiological weapon and a Nuclear weapon. Essentially a nuke crossed with a dirty bomb. It would have only taken for or five of these to cover all of Heldur in radioactive fallout. From our survey flight it seems the Soviets detonated other Nukes to cover up the fact they used Radiological weapons. A world war could have started if that Information got out. But it seems there were biological weapons dropped too, not warheads but canisters. With this surviving warhead here there may also be other surviving WMDs out in the wasteland."

"What do we do with this information? There was a military presence here that the citizens we met did not make contact with, plus PFC Angle got word from your Osprey pilots returning that there are huge Foreign military staging points at the docks. We were to remain anonymous but with civilians in the area coupled with the possibilities of more weapons out there I am not sure how to continue." Avery queried.

"You are to grab whatever gear you need from our supply drop, I'll write it off to your unit when we get back home, and head with the civilians to establish a connection. See if any parts of the Helduri government remains, they were once good friends of Garganta de la Tierra. We will supply them with as much aid as possible once the airfield is suitable for transport aircraft to land, but we need to make contact with the owners of those F-14s that keep buzzing around. If they are staking claim to a land that is still inhabited, no matter how Godforsaken, its an invasion on a third world nation, which we cannot allow."

Avery looked stunned. When they were first loaded into the Shattered Crossbow they assumed they were remaining covert, but now his team was going to be heading an Aid mission, something Garganta de la Tierra was not known for.

Avery stiffened to attention "Can I respectfully request one thing to aid my team if we are to make contact with both the Foreign military presences and the Native population?"

"Yes?" Captain Jayden looked amused, as if already guessing what Avery was about to ask

"Could we steal your Stryker?"

Crusader Joint Military Base, Garganta de la Tierra

In the harbor sat a readied fleet of ships, some loading on equipment and others already steaming out into the ocean. One ship looked just like a regular LPG tanker was pushed out by tugs and left off towards Heldur carrying a special cargo.

Four soldiers climbed into the back of the Phoenix prototype, their gear jet black. Apart from height you could not tell them apart. The armour looked like it was made of some sort of woven metal, with ceramic filled kevlar pouches covering vital regions ontop. A light hydraulic exoskeleton was built into the gear allowing fro better movement with the weight of the armour. The Phoenix lifted off, pulling up steeply to gain altitude, and the pilots set course for Heldur.

[West Aurelia]

North Varhall, Embassy District

"I have many questions regarding Heldur and its history, but nothing of particular importance right now," Ghost replied. "Let's just get out of here." Ghost knew that they were at a disadvantage without the Toishimans - they were highly trained soldiers and would have provided extra manpower. But he couldn't worry about that now. He looked over at his men. "We're Oscar Mike, let's go." They put on their gas masks and readied their weapons.

International Waters, Outside of Heldur

A radar technician on the supercarrier WAN Leviathan looked up from his console. "Sir, we have three bogeys coming in fast!" The general (OOC: West Aurelia uses the same ranking system for all branches of the military, so the navy has generals - check my factbook for more info) stood up. "Scramble the jets! Deadly force is not authorized, just keep them away from us."

Three F/A-36 Devastators took off from the deck of the Leviathan. The lead pilot hailed the bogeys' lead pilot on the radio. "Unidentified aircraft, you are approaching West Aurelian Carrier Strike Group Three, please identify yourself."

[Republic of Coldwater]

International Waters

The Silent Eagle Pilots decide to respond to the Radio "We are apart of Raptor Inc. We are asking why you are sending in a carrier into Heldur waters"

The Silent Eagle pilots also tighten their grasp on their joysticks, in case the West Aurelians engage in a dogfight.

Raptor Inc. Reactor
The engineers there decide that walls will have to be erected around the reactor to prevent animals from destroying the reactor. Concrete is being shipped in everyday to build the walls.

[Heldur]

Crashed F-35, Varhall


The knocking sound from within the cockpit startled Pavel and his team, two of his men leaped into the air and everyone flinched in surprise.
'What was that?' One of his men said in surprise.
'It came from up here.' Pavel noted, stepping over towards the cockpit, 'Ikar, get over here and cover me,' one of his men who had previously been watching from mutants climbed onto the downed aircraft and climbed onto the opposite side of the craft from where Pavel was inspecting the canopy.
'Looks like this is where the driver sat when this thing was operational.' Pavel commented, 'I wonder' he tapped on the glass, when he got a reply tap he began looking around for some way to open the canopy.
'Keep me covered Ikar,' he said as he grabbed onto a hatch release lever, 'he may be inside, but we still don't know if he's friendly, Henchek keep up the salvaging!' With that he gave the lever a pull and the canopy began to slide open.'

Varhall international Airport


'That sounds good enough to me,' the wounded Helduran man responded, 'how long is it going to take to fix me up?' He asked looking at the foreign soldier carefully, from the way he was gritting his teeth George could tell that the man was not used to the idea of anesthetics and was mentally preparing himself for any coming pain.



North Varhall, Embassy District


'I certainly hope I can help with those questions, our history is a little sketchy now that communications has become a lot harder.' Roves smiled sadly before his face became serious, 'Okay as procedure goes, don't get seperated when you're in a group, make the least amount of noise as possible and whatever you do, stay on the roads, cover by buildings is fine but unless absolutely necessary, don't go into any buildings without me saying it's clear, houses especially, the new owners tend not to enjoy company.' Roves concluded his quick briefing session and headed

The street was empty save for the Stalkers and their new foreign friends. In the distance they could hear the Toishiman's retreating towards their pickup point and the noises of the dozens of creatures chasing after them, the sounds of gunfire and roars filled the night air.

'The one thing I'm glad about,' Roves said quietly as they made their way down the street, 'is that at least most of the surface shit is heading that way and not towards Able Station, means we shouldn't encounter too many problems.' The Stalkers moved on, darting from cover to cover, primarily burnt out cars from before the nukes fell, or rubble from nearby buildings, the entire trip was tense, with everyone checking over their shoulders as they walked, eyes darting from every potential place a mutant could leap from, followed shortly by their guns.

Raptor Inc Reactor

Building walls around the reactor proved to be even harder than simply defending the reactor itself, the ground was anything but stable any more than a few dozen meters from the reactor itself and even when the walls weren't sinking into the ground, the noise of construction caused more and more mutants to charge at the workers and their guards from the marshes.

At one stage another group of Raptor Inc soldiers and the work crews they were escorting stopped reporting in, some kind of atmospheric interference had broken their video connection to Raptor Inc. When a team finally found them, the entire group had died, even worse something seemed to be affecting the men sent out to find them. They found themselves having terrible nightmares, shaking uncontrollably and even staring off into space randomly.
That building site in particular seemed cursed, especially whenever the interference would return to some degree, messing with any electrical devices in the area, causing them to loose all power despite whatever their operators did to them.

[The GAmeTopians]

"Colonel Altman, you are to proceed with touchdown." The cargo ships beached on the shore of barren Heldur. When GAmeTopia had been renovated a few years back, the embassy channel had been turned into a public channel, putting the embassy channel on a different frequency. So many of the citizens were listening to public radio, when:
Hello, is anyone out there that can hear me?
"My name is Colban of the ----
-- Are survivors inside the Varhal Metro system in Heldur, --- thousands of survivors.
I repeat, there are survivors inside the Varhal Metro Systems, if you can hear me, please. Please respond!"
This had received an uproarious response from the caring citizens. Now they were forced to investigate what was likely a death trap, or face the wrath of the citizens. "Check your hazmat suits for tears" He said as he did the same. Once they were all checked, they put their armor on over the suit, and headed onto the land.

OOC: I will not be able to post on the weekend.

[West Aurelia]

International Waters, Outside of Heldur

"We are not entering Heldurian waters; rather, we are just standing by and monitoring the situation," the pilot replied. He had never heard of the Department, much less that one of their units had been deployed into Heldur. "We have not received any orders to enter their waters. I request that you change course as you are getting too close to our carrier strike group."

Varhall

As they headed towards Able Station, Archer could not help but notice the tall, statue-like creature that seemed to be following them. It was a few hundred meters back, staying in the shadows. Even with their night vision goggles, it was hard to pick out detail in the moonless night. But as one of the team's snipers, he easily spotted them. Bringing up his M25 sniper rifle, he looked through his scope and trained the rifle on the creature's head.

Ghost was at the head of the group along with Roves. He heard a clanking sound, unmistakably the sound of a weapon dropping, and he turned around. Archer was on his knees, his rifle at his side. "What the hell?" he said, jogging over. It seemed that Archer was staring into the distance, and not focusing on anything in particular. In reality, he was staring straight into the creature's eyes.

"The voices… They were speaking to me…" he was babbling.

"Oh shit, not again," Ghost said. First Cypher, now Archer. The first time, Cypher was babbling for only a few seconds, but Archer was still talking.

Scarecrow, the team's medic (and the other sniper), came over. He knelt down and looked at Archer, making eye contact. The moment visual contact was broken with the creature, Archer snapped out of it. "What the hell? Where am I?"

Scarecrow breathed a sigh of relief. "Remember what happened to Cypher? You just had an episode yourself." He looked over at Cypher. "That's what happened to you."

"There was something out there," Scarecrow replied. "I looked at it through my scope… and I don't know what happened next." He grabbed his fallen rifle and looked into the distance once again, but the creature was gone.

"We'll have time to talk about this later," Ghost said. "I don't know about you, but I want to get to this station. Now get up, you look like a beggar."

[Virdalonja]

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

Götze took the engraved bullets and bowed his head. He put one in his own pocket befor handing one to Dart.

"Thank these men for their gifts, in turn the Empire remembers its friends. Also accept the offer of a meeting with the leadership, this will be crucial in establishing steady commection from Virdalonja to Heldur. however I must report back to Captain Gaunt. Please request a brief period for myself and some of my section to return to the surface and radio the FOB. I imagine he will want to attend this meeting with the Brotherhood leadership himself rather than sending me"

Dart saluted and began his translation.

----------VIS Oracle----------

"Excellent news Sergeant. I shall inform FOB Topol immediately" replied Admiral Quenya "hold your position and begin earmarking building locations until you're five further orders"

"Of course, sir" replied Guldur as he shut off the radio.

The report from Guldur was pleasing for the Admiral. The sooner this base was constructed, the sooner it was he could leave. At least now a suitable spot had been determined for construction.

He ordered a comms officer to give the all clear to the FOB on the beach for construction to begin at the designated location and another to permit the withdrawal of forces from the FOB established in Varhal. Char he believed. In all honesty, he hadn't paid attention to Gaunt's report. He preferred to avoid military business unless it almost directly involved himself.

----------Raptor Inc Base----------

Amroth pulled on his gas mask and exited the Mastiff, hands in the air away from the rifle slung across his back.

"I am Sergeant Amroth of the 28th Nevrastan Rifles. We are from the Empire of Virdalonja and are here to conduct research on the effects of nuclear fallout" he called "We do not wish for conflict between us. Who are you?"

[Republic of Coldwater]

"Staff Sergeant Johnson of well....I can't say. We are working on the construction of a fusion reactor to see if it generates any electricity and to see if it is a viable option for powering the world".