The next day in one of the large M1 officers' locker rooms Arron and Kix were both quietly getting ready for their shift. The room was filled with ruckus laughter and chatting between over a hundred different M1 officers.
As Arron was putting on his armor the ceiling light turned from yellow to a red.
Annnnnnnnh! A loud warning system started blaring throughout the building.
“Alert! Code 2! Alert! Code 2!”
Everyone in each of the locker rooms, including those who were just getting off the night shift received an emergency message notification from their NerViz system and their helmet visors.
Arron tapped on the blinking emergency message, opening it so he could read it.
[Code 2 emergency: Class 1 terrorism. All M1 field officers are to immediately head to Sector 7 zone 1 and help with clearing and recovery operations.]
The locker room was now quiet of all chatter as everyone looked up from their messages with serious faces. Those who had taken off their armor started to put it back on. The night shift officers all took out some synth caffeine pills and ate a few of them.
This was Arron's first experience with a code 2 alert. He looked over to Kix after finishing putting on his large armored boots.
Seeing Arron's gaze Kix shook his head and said, “I don't know anything more than you. This is only my second time receiving such a message. Something big must have happened. We'll have to meet up with the other members of Unit 3 when we get to Sector 7. ”
“Hey Kix, can we hitch a ride with you to Sector 7?” asked Ward sporting a fresh crew cut.
Knox stood next to him holding his helmet.
“That would be great help and a lot safer since we don't know what we're getting into.”
“We'll suit up and meet you at garage 23,” Knox said with a wave before leaving the locker room.
Arron and Kix made their way into a Mag-shoot and headed down to their garage.
On their way down Kix called Lexa in the HQ operations office.
“Kat is heading down to your garage, you need to wait for her before you can leave,” said Lexa.
“Understood, we are also taking Knox and Ward along with us. Can you tell us what is going on?”
“Detailed information is being suppressed by The Office of Reason to not cause panic. The only thing I know right now is that there was an explosion in Sector 7 Zone 1. The coordinates suggest it was near an Office of Reason branch building. Standby as I work on something.”
The Kix and Arron exited the Mag-shoot and walked into the small garage number 23 that held their APC and few other tools.
After the auto harness buckled Arron in, he started to hear the loud thumping of heavy metallic exoskeleton footsteps.
Both Knox and Ward entered the small garage in their dark blue Exoskeletons. Kix pressed an option on the dashboards menu and two sturdy parasteel steeping ledges folded down on both the left and right rear of the APC at the same time two thick bars extended out of the APC's roof.
The Exoskeletons each hopped onto one of the ledges and grabbed onto the extended bar on the roof. The extra weight caused the APC to dip down and float back up slightly as the hover mechanics adjusted to the heavy weight of the exoskeletons.
Kat was the last to arrive by Mag-shoot and quickly hopped into the rear of the APC.
“We're all here,” said Knox.
“Where is the rest of Unit 3?” Kix asked Lexa.
“They're already on their way to Sector 7 zone 1. I'll start connecting you all to a secure group call.”
On the top right of each of their helmet’s visors, 8 other holographic heads appeared.
“Kix, Ward, where are your units?” asked Captain Pointer.
“Captain, we're all together and heading out right now,” said Ward, as the APC shot up the M1 exit ramp and headed out onto the emergency highway lane.
Tens of other mismatched armored vehicles all varying in size continued to fly out of the M1 exit ramp behind the APC and each vehicle had its sirens blaring.
Just like Knox and Ward, there were several other units of prototype Exoskeletons hitching rides on hover vehicles as they headed out to Sector 7.
Arron watched as one of M1's hovercopters took off from a landing pad filled with several people as well as extra equipment and ammunition. With its fast speed, it zipped through the air passing the caravan as it headed to Sector 7.
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The loud caravan of armored vehicles with its several menacing exoskeletons, was a surprising sight to see as they sped past the civilians stuck in the busy morning rush hour traffic.
The caravan was not hindered or held up at any of the checkpoints. As soon as they reached one they were immediately waved through.
As they passed the Sector 7 border checkpoint and entered zone 1, Arron saw a large gray cloud of dust and smoke covering a large portion of the zone not all that far from where they were.
As he looked around he saw that there were already 50 other Armored vehicles parked near the border checkpoint.
Kix pulled into the border parking lot and parked next to an older model APC. Captain Pointer and the rest of their team were waiting for them next to the Vehicle.
“Captain! What are our orders?” asked Arron.
“We were given the task of clearing out the blast site around what used to be one of the Research facilities run by the Office of Reason. The early reports state that the Research facilities security and several people from the buildings in the surrounding area were shot when they were trying to help people wounded from the initial blast. We need to complete this task quickly so that the emergency rescue can safely put out the fires and the wounded can receive treatment,” said Captain Pointer.
“Just point us to where we have to go,” said Knox.
With a wave of his hand Captain Pointer brought up a holographic map of zone 1 showing off the blast zone that had been divided into many districts.
“We have been given the Northwest district to clear. Unit one, find some unobstructed high ground overlooking the area and provide cover for units 2 and 3,” said captain pointer as he jabbed his finger at the northwest district on the map.
“On it!” said both Bishop and Priss as they headed out to find such a place.
“Unit 2, you are to take the scenic route cutting from the south of the northwest district. There were several reports of shots being fired around here,” said Captain Pointer, pointing at an area on the map. “If there is anyone still there you need to draw their attention and engage them so that unit three can enter from the north unhindered.”
“Understood!” said both Knox and Ward. They turned around and started running to the southern part of the northwest district.
“Unit 3, you'll have to skirt around the edge and enter from the north. Reports from the area's security drones show that there are several groups of wounded around that entire area. Wait until unit 2 successfully draws the enemy’s full attention. You are to head in and set up a secure area for the wounded as well as a place for the med-vacs to land.”
“Got it,” said Kix and Aaron as they hopped back into the APC and headed towards the northern part of the North-West district.
“Kat and I will stay on the outskirts and act as reinforcements for either unit 2 or 3 if a situation pops up,” said Captain Pointer as he continued to talk to everyone over the helmet’s secure group holo-call.
When Kix and Arron reached the northernmost part of the northwest district they could barely see in front of them due to the large amount of smoke and dust floating in the air.
“We won't be able to take the APC in there with all the rubble blocking the road,” said Kix as he scanned the road in front of them.
Both Kix and Arron cautiously exited the APC. Arron continued to scan the area while Kix went to the rear to get into his patched-up Portable Exoskeleton.
Fwump! Pop! Pop! The sound of a muffled explosion and gunfire to the south of them erupted as the two were clearing up a large area around the APC.
“Enemy engaged!” shouted Ward updating them over the secure group holo-call.
“Unit 2, I see 5 targets directly in front of you hiding behind a destroyed wall. Marking targets,” said Bishop.
PAA! The sound of a large caliber sniper rifle sounded out.
“Unit 2, a sixth target that was sneaking up behind you has been permanently normalized,” said Priss.
“Unit 3 you are green to enter and start your search for survivors,” said Captain Pointer.
Kix in the P.L.E. Took point and led the way into the gray dusty cloud with Arron following behind him.
Arron's helmet sealed itself and started to use its filter to clear the dusty air as he entered the dusty cloud. Their viability was extremely poor so they switched over to thermal vision to help them spot the bodies of those wounded. This made the several dozen burning fires stand out even more, nearly blinding Arron as he looked at them.
The road was filled with large chunks of para-concrete and metal chunks making it hard for them to walk forward.
“What type of explosive could cause something like this and who are we fighting?” asked Arron while he kicked smaller chunks of rubble to the side, clearing a path for when they would return.
“Who else would be stupid enough to attack a building controlled by the Office of Reason?” asked Kix as he activated his exoskeletons area scanner.
“Separatists,” growled Captain Pointer. His face showed a bitter hate for them as he said that one word. “They're still fighting a lost war. Utterly pointless.”
The sound of distant muffled gunfire could still be heard as the gunfight to the south grew more intense. In the north Arron and Kix slowly made their way down the cluttered street fully alert while searching for the wounded.
“The five targets have been permanently normalized,” said Ward.
“We're moving north, and will be entering the main building to clear out the area. We'll meet up with unit three when it's all clear,” said Knox.
“Arron to your left there's a wounded person,” said Kix pointing to a body.
Arron turned and found the person. It was an unconscious man who had two broken legs. He walked over to the man and picked him up and turned around to carry him back towards the cleared area around the APC.
“What are you doing? Just give him a short of liquid Ethylene, then put him behind one of the walls to protect him from any bullets or shrapnel, and then mark the spot on the map. We can't drag out everyone we find right now.”
Pop! Pop!
Gunshots rang out and smacked into the ground near Arron’s feet sending up dust and chunks of paraconcrete.
Both Arron and Kix dived behind a wall of rubble dragging the wounded man with them.
“We’re taking fire!” shouted Arron as he tried to scan the area for the shooter.
CRACK!
“Target normalized!” said Priss in her cold voice.
The two continued to cautiously search for wounded Kix stood guard while Arron moved the wounded they found out of the streets and open areas and into cover where he gave them a shot of liquid Ethylene and marked their positions onto the map.
The farther in they went the worse the wounds were.
“I'm running out of liquid Ethylene to give them,” said Arron.
“I gave you all I have. I'm not a pharmacy,” said Kix.
Boom!
“Shit!” shouted both Ward and Knox over the secure holo-call.
“What is? Are you two okay?” asked Captain Pointer.
“We're fine. Just a bit surprised by the booby traps,” said Knox.
“Unit three, be on the lookout for booby traps,” ordered Captain Pointer.