November 14, 2056
10:10 P.M.
Atlis Naval Base
Renne Luna
After touching ground at the Naval base, I now stand amidst the AS Vision floating peacefully in the water. The crew stands at attention, lined on the deck with perfect uniformity as a ramp is lowered to the dock for us.
A breeze makes me push my scarf further up so my nose is concealed just as I notice two figures approaching me and Alice. The short one now notices me and starts sprinting to me.
"Luna!"
Before I can react, Carel almost knocks me down with a hug as she soon lets go and recomposes herself.
"It's been so long. I was starting to wonder if I'll ever meet you again." She smiles just as Carl comes up behind her and puts his hand on her head and rubs her hair.
"Stop exaggerating things, sis. What's up Luna. Alice. Been awhile," he says.
On the surface, they don't seem any more different from the last time I saw them. One thing that is certain however is that they give off a much stronger aura. Their backpacks also have the same symbol Zoe had during our meeting with Fletcher.
"Indeed, it has. It's good to see you two. Although, I wouldn't really call this a happy reunion." Alice crosses her arms.
Carel expression now grows serious. Something I rarely see. Maybe she grew up a bit during her training.
"We heard," Carl says first. "Hard to believe what happened to White Shard. I just hope there are still survivors. Any ideas who's behind this?"
"None." I shrug, "The only way we'll find out is when we arrive at Vicerole." I finish as the ramp finally connects to our dock and Macy orders everyone onboard.
On the deck, the Admiral stands with his officers as Macy and Cruz walk up to him and salute.
"Good morning, Admiral Houston! Black Shard and Crimson Shard will be under your care for the duration of our mission. I do hope you treat us well." Macy says.
"Welcome aboard Shards." The Admiral salutes back, "You have my word that your Shards will have the best of treatment under my ship." He states and gestures to a female officer who will lead us to our quarters.
After walking through countless tight corridors lined with pipes and lights, we arrive at our section. I take about an hour to unpack my bag and settle in a room with a few others including Carel. I finish up and leave her to regroup with Macy and Frost before heading towards the bridge where Admiral Houston will propose his course with us.
Arriving In the room, a large table sits in the middle with a screen displayed on it. On it is the terrain of Vicrole with numerous points dotted on the southern coast. Houston leans on the table and begins his plan of course.
"Vicerole is a tricky spot to plan an operation like this. There aren't many suitable places to land Helis due to the ongoing blizzard and uneven terrain, but we managed to find a few just outside the storm that are marked with dots." He points to one as an example and continues. "They have relatively flat land and, should the situation arise, be good locations to set up FOBs." He now shifts his hands upward inland and taps on a red circle. "Moving on, this is where White Shard's facility is located. As you can see, it's still a good distance away from any of the LZs so no matter which one you choose it'll take a day or two on foot."
Houston goes over a few other things and after a couple of minutes, Macy and Cruz thank him and walk up to the screen to discuss what's on the table amongst themselves. Eventually, they settle on Point Bravo and Charlie as the two reside southwest of the storm, opposite of where it's currently moving. This way we can stay behind it and not have to wait for it pass by unlike with the other LZ's.
Stolen novel; please report.
Crimson will also be landing at Bravo a little earlier and we'll be taking Charlie after them. The chances are low but the last thing we would want is to cluster together at a hot LZ. Leave it to Macy once again to be prepared for the worst. After this, we'll then move inland towards White Shard's position where we will eventually meet back up on the next day. After more discussion, and me nearly being able to stay awake, the Admiral gives the order to depart. I still don't know why I attend these meetings.
A little later the ship comes alive with the thumping of metal coming from the outside. We drift away from port and position ourselves towards the never-ending sea. Three more ships accompany us as they merge in on either side, they consist of two Cruisers and a Destroyer. After a few minutes, the Carrier group increases their speed as Atlis behind us slowly becomes infused with the horizon.
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November 18, 2056
2:01 P.M.
Southwestern waters of Vicerole
<
The intercom repeats itself once more before going silent as I finish putting on Carel's vest while she works on assembling her Banner.
"You'd think they'd make these things easier to construct... Just putting the flag in the holder is a hassle." She grunts.
With a little help, she manages to construct it and attaches the holder to the back of her vest. The Banner comes next and when placed in her holder, her eyes close and a visible aura surrounds her for an instant before fading away.
"Still getting used to that." She chuckles.
We proceed to hang out for the remainder of the time before another voice comes blaring over the intercom again.
<
Once up top, the air immediately stings my exposed face with its harsh wind. I pull down my goggles as I can already feel my eyes drying out.
Looking out at the deck I can see the Helis with their rotors spinning and crew with different colored vests walking around doing their specified jobs. It doesn't take long for us to spot Macy chatting with other officers. She notices us and gestures a greeting.
"Afternoon ladies. You two will be riding with me. Crimson just departed to secure their LZ but I'm afraid they left one behind." She nods to something behind us.
I turn around to see a leaned over Zoe trying to catch her breath, her Banner thrashing in the wind.
"She's coming with us then I presume?" I ask.
Macy nods and motions us over to our Heli.
After a little while, the birds lift off from the deck and begin to head towards the island in formation. I gaze back at the fleet one last time as they become nothing more than a few specks on top of the water. The island itself comes now into view as we pass over the steep coastline and enter into the airspace of what once was called a Nation.
I was never taught about much when I first came to Atlis, only the essentials and military terms. I learned about Providence in my own free time, but Vicerole always came up with little information. It was the youngest of Nations and remained neutral during the Great War. As a result, it was a safe haven for refugees and quickly grew in population. After the war ended, Vicerole was fortunate enough to have most of its infrastructure left intact and soon began to prosper.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long as the infamous Incident would soon send the inhabitants of the island fleeing and spell the end of the Nation. I now know that incident was caused by UnHoly Divinity but exactly how I don't know. Whatever happened that day I'll never fully know it seems. Perhaps for good reason.
Suddenly, I'm pulled out of my thoughts by a high-pitched buzzing noise coming from upfront.
"What's going on up there?" Macy is quick to ask the pilots.
"We're... being locked on to! How's that-" He's cut short when a robotic voice comes blaring within the helicopter.
<
The Heli then makes a sudden jerk to the right which sends everyone hard back into their seats. The voice continues to repeat the same words as more maneuvers to the Heli are made.
"Shit! Deploying flares!" The pilot suddenly shouts.
Behind us, flares shoot out in both directions followed by an explosion that rocks the entire seating area.
<
Another one?
"It's coming from everywhere!"
"Get us on the ground now!"
"Mayday! Mayday! We're under AA attack! Taking an evasive maneu-" An explosion erupts from our tail that sends us into a violent whirl.
My vision goes blurry as the world stretches with every spin. The pilots struggle to regain control but to no avail and that's when another missile detonates right next to me. My ears ring and a hole has opened next to me with the shard that was sitting there having vanished. I hold on to my seat tightly, but I soon let go to catch another shard about to be sucked out into the air.
I hold his grip as we continue to fall but I can feel it loosen on every passing second. I meet his eyes and the fear in them sends a shiver through my spine, but I just can't hold on any longer. I lose my grip and watch the shard be pulled out of the Heli with a faded scream. Moments later, everything goes black with a large thud.
When I open my eyes, flames rage around me, and blood spills from a person lying face down in the snow next to me.