[December 23, 2019
Tydari District Courthouse
9:10 AM
Tyderius, Tydari
The day of December Twenty-Third began as any other monday in the Federal Republic. The city's urban workers shuffled in to their offices, getting reports ready for the short two day work week before the Year's End holiday that would last until January 6, 2020. For being so close to the holidays, no-one could schedule an appointment fast enough in two days for the District Courthouse to judge. Civil and criminal cases that came in for this week would be put off until January 9th, leaving the Courthouse with no active sessions for today. Yet, the Courthouse was still bustling with employees and law assistants getting their cases ready for the 9th or finishing off some last minute assignment so they wouldn't have to worry while on holiday break. Even the District Judge, Alfred Anthony, was filing reports he put off from older cases. Despite the relative quiet of today's Courthouse activities, he had presided over nine sessions last week and only had enough time to complete four of their after-session reports. To finish these reports, he would have to remain at the Courthouse well through the night so he could spend tomorrow searching for an appropriate holiday lodge for he and his family to enjoy when they travel to Northern Fuso for a few days. Finding a hotel in Fuso so close to holidays was nearly impossible.
Two men dressed in properly fitting business suits stood watch at the steps of the Courthouse, members of the Federal Security Service assigned to the security detail for the Courthouse and the Judge. Three more were located in the lobby near the metal-detectors, talking to one another about their plans for the holiday. Four more were stationed around the perimeter, walking back and forth, watching vigilantly for any sign of threats to the Courthouse. It began as any other day in the capital city. At the front curbs of the Courthouse, two black vans pulled off the street, shutting off their engines. Vehicles parked in front of the Courthouse wasn't out of the normal for normal day operations, but no sessions were planned for today, at least none that the FSS agents were informed of. Both FSS agents on the steps reported in to the three based in the lobby. The windows on the vans were darkly tinted, so dark neither agent could see what was going on in the interior. Window tint exceeding 75% was considered illegal, especially in city limits, and these were way over 75%. "Hey, Walters. Go ahead and report this in and-" The side door to both vans slid open at the same time, revealing two shiny new six-barrel miniguns firing 7.62×51mm. Both Agents eyes went wide as they scrambled to pull out their service sidearms while moving up to the lobby. Both miniguns unleashed on the two agents, ripping them to shreds, as they guns re-adjusted to the lobby's glass double doors. The safety glass shattered into a million jagged pieces as the heavy flurry of rounds shredded two of the agents with the other ducking behind the service desk at the center of the room. The back doors of the vans were kicked open as dozens of people around the courthouse were sent into wild panic as they scrambled to find cover from the onslaught. Three men to each van jumped out, dressed in black combat fatigues, a black kevlar vest, with full black masks, a red crescent moon on the forehead section of the masks. All the men were armed with Federal Army-issue C7 rifles and explosives strapped to their thighs. They smoothly ran up the stairs, past the agents' bodies, targeting any civilians that were too slow to find cover. The miniguns' fire subsided as two more men ran past them, dressed in the same attire, to join their comrades. The eight men ran into the lobby, guns raised as they focused on the center desk after hearing the sound of a sidearm's magazine being slammed into the weapon. As soon as the agent rose up to open fire, he was pelted with dozens of rounds, including three to the head. Alarms blared throughout the Courthouse as the other four Agents made their way to the front, ignorant of the fact that another black van had pulled up into the rear loading bay, three men dressed in like attire moving in behind them. "Find Judge Anthony. Kill any you see, Comrades." The deep voice said over the radio piece attached to each man's shoulder. The distant sound of sirens grew closer as Tyderius Police Department scrambled all units across the city to the Courthouse, including the Strategic Response Squad. The Congressional Halls were placed on lockdown as the President was moved to the saferoom within the underground Presidential Bunker, protected by an entire company of FSS agents. As per Nightfall Contingency, a plan devised by Congress to be enacted if the President were killed or in danger, would see the Fifth Infantry Battalion stationed at National Guard Depot Allivers was mobilized and began deploying to Tyderius, set to arrive within the hour.
Terror pulsed through the Courthouse as the eleven men moved through the building, gunning down employees and visitors alike as they cowered in their offices or tried to flee. The four Federal Security Service agents had engaged two of the blacked-out murderers, putting effective fire on them, leap-frogging each other as they inched closer to the gunmen, moving to terminate them before they could get another shot out. Before they reached their targets, they were properly flanked by three others from the halls that connected behind them, putting them down easily, as semi-automatic pistols could only do so much when pitted against military-issued assault rifles. With local security disposed of, the attackers focused on finding the Judge while slaughtering everyone inside. By the time Tyderius Police units got to the scene and secured the outer perimeter, the gunmen had found their target, hiding under his desk, hoping the Police would arrive soon enough to stop them from reaching the inner administrative offices in front of his door. They beat him with the butts of their rifles, leaving him bloodied and swollen, dragging him to the lobby, where the rest of the men had gathered a dozen of those deemed worthy examples. The Tydari District Courthouse looked more like a war-zone as Tyderius Police cruisers surrounded the building, armed with APCs, heavy machine gun placements and SRS troopers, their C7 rifles trained on the lobby, holding position. Twenty minutes had gone by since the gunmen first unloaded on the two sentry FSS agents, and now, every major news outlet had their cameras trained on this incident, including a few international agencies. Two companies from the Fifth Infantry Battalion was moving in from NGD Allivers, though they weren't going to be dispatched on the gunmen. They were to position themselves around the Federal Congressional Halls and ensure that no additional attacks were coming for the Congress or President. The nation had, effectively, come to a stand-still. Lieutenant Gavin Erada was the commanding officer for the units surrounding the government building, standing by with a microphone, speakers behind him, so he could speak to the gunmen, who seemed to be taking hostages. "My name is Lieutenant Gavin Erada of the Tyderius Police Department. Would someone please come outside so we can talk? I see there's quite a a lot of you in there, and we understand that if one of you goes down, the hostages die. You won't be harmed. I just want to talk." Said the hostage negotiator. He received no response as the gunmen lined up the remaining employees and the judge at the front door, knelt down, barely remaining conscious from the severe beating he received while dragged to this point. "Camera." Said one of the men as he held out his hand to the other. The other man pulled a backpack off his back and unzipped it, pulling out a camcorder capable of uploading live to all of the popular video sharing websites. This would not be a hostage situation, this would be an example.
With the touch of a few buttons on the small screen, the camcorder began recording, a smartphone nearby connected to it to upload to a different video sharing website. "You have grown complacent within your cradle of power, feasting off the struggling masses that cry for your help, too fat to move from the millions you accumulated off of the blood, sweat and tears of those you swore to serve. Now, this is the time to open your eyes, see me, and see what the Revolution has in store for the pampered elite of this country!" He said before resting the barrel of his C7 onto the base of the Judge's neck and pulling the trigger, blood splattering against the steel frame of the shattered entrance doors. The judge fell over, convulsing as he choked on the blood and chunks of his spine lodged into his esophagus. Tears fell down his face as his last thoughts were of his family. "Kill them all!" Said the man as he raised his rifle to the Police lines and opened fire. "For the Revolution!" He screamed, the others repeating this as they put down the remaining employees. "Open fire!" Lieutenant Erada yelled as he ducked behind one of the TPD cars, as bullets punched into the side of the vehicle. Every gun opened up on the entrance with SRS troopers moving up under the cover of the officers thick sheet of fire. Twenty officers moved in from the rear of the building, hoping to catch the gunmen by surprise.
By the end of the ten minute firefight, all of the gunmen lay dead, but took six TPD officers and four SRS troopers with them. As for the Courthouse casualties, fifty-six people, including Court Judge Anthony, lay dead. This was the largest terror attack since the New Calica disaster during the Avarice War. The videos of the incident sent out across four video-sharing websites had been found and taken down within the hour, but not before picking up 250 to 15,000 views and re-shared through outside search engines. Days after the December 23rd Massacre, a coordinated, joint-agency investigation was launched by the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and the Federal Security Service into identifying these men and figuring out how they obtained equipment only accessible by Department of Defense divisions and the Federal Armed Forces. They also were investigating how something this immense of an operation could have been planned without a tip to TPD or the Tydari Constables.
