Above Central Highway District Seven, Centralia.
21/Kryo/2467 R. S. 02:30:05
Through the dark night sky, the Sanity screeches past at maximum speed. Inside the shaky cockpit, Jacklyn tightly grips the ship's steering mechanism. Near unconscious sitting behind him on the ComVis seat, Ankiros deliriously moans as the pain from his left rib wound only seems to increment.
Jacklyn uses his right hand to manipulate the Sanity's control panel, deactivating the Ship's heavy capacitor, therefore shutting down its protective barrier, this routes more power to the main engine. After this he turns on the autopilot function now that the course has been set to United Central Command. He quickly stands up and walks to Ankiros which is laying on his back with his legs stretched outwards. The ComVis seat is splattered with dried dark red blood, Jacklyn grows desperate as he goes to pick up Ankiros and notices the body's sudden shift. He gets bugged out and almost seems to drop Ankiros, until the green light around Ankiros's black visor turns off and the helmet depressurizes. *TSS* *TSS*
The weakened Ankiros puts one hand under his helmet. Taking this as a sign to remove it, Jacklyn helps Ankiros twist and lift the heavy equipment off his head only to reveal a full head black mask.
Jacklyn scoffs amidst his extremely worried facade, because this reminded him how Ankiros and Michael both wear the masks before any serious mission. His eyes inevitably water, two tears drop from them simultaneously as he blinks.
"I won't let you be in this position again."
Jacklyn says.
A short buzz of static hits the Sanity's intercom, drawing Jacklyn's attention,
shortly after, the voice of a man comes in asking the vessel to identify itself.
Jacklyn retracts his hands and uses his right hand to press the button on the side of his helmet.
49: " Central, this is Trooper zero-zero forty-nine, I've got a critical Trooper on board requesting immediate assistance upon landing, over?"
"Understood Trooper forty-nine, dock three is ready for the Sanity."
49: "Got it, thank you!"
Jacklyn returns to the pilot seat and deactivates the Sanity's Autopilot systems to manually land. They descend from the clouds and see The United Central Command, over the years, Troopers from all squadrons had to report themselves five times a week at the very least, during the "Trials" period and after said period times were different. Most Troopers don't stand the sight of Central Command, and some await their return. As the Sanity continues its descent across the populated city, civilians stare at the loud drop ship, from the ground and from the vibrating windows on the tall skyscrapers that surround Central Command. This is the Capital City of Centralia, welcome to Central Highway District Seven. On the side of the buildings, holographic billboards advertise health products and food. Some were news outlets and were reporting on the recent incident and its development.
The bright flashing lights bother Ankiros on the ComVis seat, he faintly groans.
Jacklyn accelerates past the tall building and makes his final descent into the Docking pad, from eighteen Docking pads on the east side of the Command Center they land on the one labeled with a bold white "3". Marines and Combat Medics rush towards the Sanity as it lands, pushing wind and dust away from the dropship. Jacklyn switches off all of the Sanity's controls and Motor functions, he then stands up and puts his left hand on Ankiros' back and his right hand under his knees, picking up the heavy Ankiros from the ComVis Seat. Jacklyn makes his way to the back of the Drop Ship and uses his shoulder to push the open hatch button, coolant vapor exits the edges of the hatch as it opens. The hatch finally completely opens and the combat medics hurry in the aid of the wounded Trooper, they hustle in a compact resting bed that they stretch open in front of Jacklyn so he can lay Ankiros down.
As the Combat Medics carry Ankiros away, they pass by a dark gray armored female Trooper that looks at Ankiros as they take him away. She turns her Black Visor back at Jack and with her arms crossed, swaying Jacklyn attention.
Jacklyn makes his way down the open hatch and jumps from the landing platform to the dirt path below. As he continues to walk, she lets go of her arms and says: "Didn't expect to see you bring in Nine like that, the other way around seemed more realistic."
Jacklyn stands next to her and replies.
"Not in the mood for jokes, Malice."
500: "Alright, so were you there when it happened, the explosion?"
49: "Not quite, Michael and Vera however..."
Trooper Five hundred turns her eyes to the Sanity and then back to Jacklyn with doubt. She notices they are missing, elevating a sudden concern.
500: "So, where are they?"
49: "They're in ground zero, fending off the Millitants, I had to take Ankiros back, I couldn't help them, just like... I couldn't help him."
His left hand quickly turns into a fist as he suppresses his feelings.
Malice puts her right hand over Jacklyn's left shoulder pad in an attempt to console him.
As a gesture of appreciation, Jacklyn allows her to continue.
500: "Those two are on the same page most of the time, I'm sure Michael and Vera will be fine. That's what I thought about Ankiros though..."
49: "Yeah well, I hope they pull through, if not I'll feel like shit for taking this decision."
500: "Hey, you did the right thing, trust me, what are you gonna do now?"
49: "They're taking Ankiros to the buikding down the road, I need to be alongside him..."
500: "I'm going to the same building, I'll join you."
Malice retrieves her hand and begins to walk along the dirt path, Jacklyn follows her as they make their way along the reinforced concrete structures within the Command Center. As they continue to walk in silence, Marines prepare for the coming war, they speak to each other with spite against the actions of the Millitants.
"Fucking terrorists..."
"Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse..."
"Heads up Marines! Troopers inbound."
Malice and Jacklyn walk past the Marine Cell. As they do the Marines look up to them and some show their respect by saluting, while some, show their envy by blatantly ignoring their presence.
500: "I feel bad for these men, praying to go back to their families, hoping the conflict in Caloris would only be that, a conflict, now it boiled down into a full-fledged war."
49: "What the hell do they want with Caloris anyway?"
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500: "I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."
They look at each other for a second, Jacklyn smiles within his visor, consequently laughing before getting serious again. Malice lightly punches Jacklyn's left shoulder.
500: "Haha at least I made you laugh a bit, but for real though, I can't tell you what we found, not yet at least..."
49: "What do you mean? Your whole squadron is onto something?"
500: "I can't tell you, Vort, enough."
49: "I'm just trying to clear my head, and you just inserted yet another mystery into it."
500: "In Aankhi's name, I shouldn't have said anything, now you won't shut up about it."
49: "You should've known, I'm like this."
They continue to move along the dirt path, it becomes a concrete sidewalk, to their left a huge reinforced concrete structure, one of the many Motor Pools that Central Command has for vehicle storage. The structure opens its wide garage gates upwards and more Marines huddle outside in unison. The Troopers stop to let the Marines pass, Malice takes this moment to reply.
"Dust is here, in the interrogation building.
Maybe he will tell you, but I'm in no position to share the information"
Jacklyn turns his head towards her, then looked forward again as the Marines huddle away into dropships.
"Then I won't poke into it, I'll know when the time is right. "
They continue their walk reaching the front of an L-shaped structure, Malice walks towards the armored door and uses the access pad to its left. The door opens sideways into the walls, they walk inside together, facing a horizontal hallway that had two colored lines drawing to opposite sides to one another.
The red stripe leading to the left with a bold white "MEDICAL WING", where Ankiros is being treated. A blue line made its way to the right of the hallway without explanation.
As Jacklyn turns to the left, Malice turns to the right, they walk a couple of steps and then stop. Realizing that they were not going to the same place, Jacklyn quickly says:
"Well, I guess this is where we part ways."
Malice nods and replies: "For now." before continuing her way towards the end of the hallway and entering a door to her left, disappearing from Jacklyn's sight.
The Armored Door that is the building's entrance closes to his right.
"Hmm... For now? " Jacklyn says to himself as he turns around facing the Medical wing hallway leading to another door.
.
.
.
Central Highway District Four,
"Ground Zero", Centralia.
3:27:15
Millitant presence has been completely eradicated within Centralia
The improvised perimeter defense established by Michael and Vera with the help of a few Marines is now a successful forward operating base, the nearby rooftops serve as landing platforms for the transport dropships, and wide spaces have been repurposed into a makeshift tent town with metal platforms for drop ship landings
Multiple medical tents have been set up nearby the broadcast antenna, treating the wounded and any affected by the chemical fallout. The effects did not seem to have effect with younger people, but the majority of the metal structures and hardened aluminum re-bar in the area decayed with ease, leaving an abundant amount of concrete rubble amidst the destruction.
Both Sigma Squad members are within one of the many tents, getting up to date on what the unknown chemical actually does and its effects on living organisms. A male body lies on an extended metal table illuminated by a small spotlight, as Troopers one one seven and ninety-eight stand inspecting the contaminated corpse. To the right of the body, Ellindel Nä-go (117) extracts skin samples with her medical equipment, as Phaeton Squad Leader Fox Leaden (98) catalogs every detail Ellindel enlightens him with. On the other end of the table, Trooper Fifty One observes with scrutiny, trying to figure out what the effects could imply for the Troopers. Questions like "Could the Millitant's technology be focusing on taking down their biggest threat?" are lurking into his mind.
Michael interrupts the team from their extraction, beginning to ask questions.
51: "Ellindel, I was in the explosion itself, how are we sure I'm not contaminated?"
117: "We have a theory on what the chemical itself does, to metal. Not quite sure what it causes on living things, hence sampling."
She replies as she continues to collect petrified skin tissue from the arm.
51: "On metal? I lost some armor but most of it is still on me, what do you think it does?"
Ellindel inserts the sample into a small Cylinder biohazard container, and slightly turns her head at Michael. Her slim gold glass visor reflected the nearby spotlight.
"If you were affected by the chemical, your armor would be a remnant of the past, it appears to nearly disintegrate metal on a molecular level, but of course it's just a theory. "
She then turns towards the body again to continue her research. Upon hearing the theory, Michael raises his right hand against his helmet's chin and ponders. "This isn't good at all, we have metallic add-ons in our body.."
51: "Basing ourselves in your "theory", Ellindel, this chemical would be deadly for a Trooper, we need to report the findings."
Next to Ellindel, the Gray armored Fox Leaden stands listening to the conversation.
He jumps in.
98: "Fifty-One, this is our theory on what the chemical could do, and we've only been around it for an hour at the most. Let us find more reasoning to it before reporting, we could cause a huge misallocation of resources."
Vera opposes the argument and also integrates into the conversation.
20: "With all due respect, Ninety-Eight, but your theory could already be confirmed.
I mean, have you looked around the crater for yourself? "
51: "Fox, grant me permission to share your Squadron's discovery to General Dovyo, this is vital."
98: "That is not for me to decide, it is, after all, Ellindel's discovery, but we formularized the theory together."
Ninety-Eight says as he turns his view from the body to his squadmate. To which One One Seven stops her work and says:
"Give me some time to think about it, in the meantime, I'd like to continue to do my job."
51: "How long do you nee-"
117: "Uninterrupted."
She quickly implies that she wants to be alone with the body to continue her work without any distractions. Michael remains silent, while Vera does not waste any time and leaves the medical tent.
Fox turns his head at Michael, expecting him to do the same. He was right, but before Michael leaves the tent he stops and says: "I'll be back in twenty minutes or so, I better have an answer by then."
He proceeds to walk outside, Vera stands waiting for him next to a Marine Escort, for the dormant Millitant Prisoner.
20: "Such assholes."
51: "It's Phaeton, gotta love 'em. Get the Prisoner ready for transport, we're leaving in thirty minutes."
20: "You're not really going to keep this a secret are you?"
51: "There's no way I can do that and live on with myself, but I wish they would consent and avoid the trouble. Get going, we need to get back to Central Command."
20: "Understood! Let's go Marines! "
Vera leads the escorting team while the Prisoner lays restrained on a bed, immobile and unable to retaliate when he regains consciousness.
51: "Keep those restraints tight!"
As they huddle away from sight between the many tents and on foot traffic. Michael takes a small time to look around, he sees the wounded Marines returning from taking out the Millitant threat in the area. He sees the innocent men, women and children that suffered because of the explosive device. The desolate street they were once in not long ago, now full of movement and lingering with life, the spirit of survival and pertinence flows throughout the newly created pathways around tents and the many stationed Dropships.
Michael, feels responsible for the premature Detonation of the Explosive, and therefore the location in which it happened, but if he had not done it, the consequences could have been greater. And seeing how the population and Military are working together to rise up does not make him feel so weighed down.
"This night feels endless...
"Last op", he said, "I promise", heh...
Now it's going to be a while until I get a break."
He says to himself as he waits outside Phaeton's tent with his arms crossed.
He continues to wait, but he is starting to grow anxious, not knowing what is going on in Central Command, his squadmate, Ankiros. Many things are getting into his thoughts, he puts his right hand against the visor as he lays his head on the glass from inside of the helmet. Seconds pass in this position, slowly the sweat drips from his forehead all the way across his cheek and falls off his chin, after this, he notices how dirty as sweaty he is. A sudden urge to remove the helmet and clean his face takes over Michael.
He takes his right hand away from the visor and reaches to the right side of the helmet to remove the first pressure lock.
As soon as he touches the mechanism, behind him, the tent's tarp opens, revealing the gray armored Fox.
Michael quickly removes his hand from the release and turns his head towards Fox.
"We may have an answer to your request, Fifty One."
.
.
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United Centralian Command, District Seven Centralia.
4:04:04
Ankiros regains consciousness, the first thing he hears are the repetitive beeps coming from the medical machines next to him, this causes him to finally opens his eyes. He takes a look around the darkroom, besides the monitors lighting up the room, there is nothing else that creates lighting. Many transparent tubes emanate from his body, strung out from multiple medical systems, as he sees his blood being drawn away he tries to lift his left hand and fails. He knows he is gravely wounded, but he gives his all to try and move his body parts.
From the darkness a blue light flashes, Ankiros slowly turns his head to the right and sees how Jacklyn's blue visor light gets closer from the corner of the room.
49: "Finally awake, you shouldn't struggle, Hendricks is going to come later today, probably in the morning."
Ankiros licks his dried lips to moisturize them, then he attempts to lift himself up to make it easier to speak.
"What's happening to me?"
Ankiros says with a barely audible, weak tone.
Jacklyn gets closer, the blue light now illuminates Ankiros.
"Try to save energy, Doctors are running tests with your blood, they said something about a foreign element in your system."
Ankiros's gray iris enlarge as he hears the news, the medical systems monitoring his heart rate begins to beep slightly faster.
He swallows deep and looks down, closing his eyes.
49: "Try to relax, Ank. You are pretty messed up. "
09: "I've been shot before, multiple time--HNNNG!"
Ankiros exclaims in pain just as he tries to undermine his situation.
49: "Yeah, well not like this! Clearly this is something else..."
he breathes in and adds.
"I haven't heard from Michael or Vera, but I'm sure they are fine, some of the first Marines to go in are arriving, that's good news."
Ankiros opens his eyes and looks at his wound, though covered with thick white gauze, he still feels the lingering pain within. The infection drains energy from his body, and the foreign element inside him does not seem to be benevolent in nature.
He lays shirtless, rigged to multiple devices.
"Good news..." he says under his breath, before slipping back unconscious. His eyes close and he no longer responds to Jacklyn's bright visor.
"You better pull through this one, Ankiros."
Jacklyn says, while walking backward against the wall to wait until Ankiros wakes up again.