Time is eight o’clock in the morning, 2 hours after the skirmish at sector double zero one traditional forces who were once enemies now facing a new adversary wielding unimaginable power where Man and machine becomes one. With what remains of both Breznick & Libertus forces on a full rout, it would appear the battle was completely one-sided…
A player named Mike Harper, a corporal of the small insurgency group, looks over to the plaque that hangs over the room “Task Force 8080” must mean something to the squad leader I guess; Harper pondered, looking at a picture of their previous mission.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/824998130994905137/827603719234256896/unknown.png]
"Craziest bastards I've ever rolled with, and I'd do it again"
In terms of equipment The unit has scavenged out surplus weapons from the black market. Anything that was up for grabs was free game to them. Technically the load outs would still vary from mission to mission and there would be a pre-set kit to use but, since the operation was pretty straight-forward, Command gave us a bit more freedom than usual and go with our own load-outs, this isn’t much of a task force, we're more like a covert ops group right here just trying to do our own thing.
The squad was prepping their gear in the armory, one side was filled with weapons and ammunition of varying caliber , meanwhile on the other, were personal storage lockers containing who knows what. Some are performing some final checks on their weapons, while the others were accounting inventory. Once everyone was all set they made their way to the briefing hall.
There were a few chairs in the middle of the room, with the intelligence officer at the front, displaying a few maps, and a couple of folders. As the men take their seats, a few whispers echo around the room speculating on what’s the job this time, eager to receive their assignment. It’s been a long while since they’ve done an operation of this magnitude, it was mostly either patrols or reconnaissance but now they get to explore the field.
The individual up front then handed over the files to one of them, then gestured for him to pass them around. It contained information about the mission ahead. Nothing too out of the ordinary, it held the usual notes that the team was accustomed to.
Some sort of recovery type of mission, along with the kind of enemies that they might run into, and the route the squad will be taking. As the meeting was adjourned, they were dismissed and headed over to the staging area.
They headed over to a garage, the place was a mess, tools scattered everywhere, foreign liquids oozing from the crevice in the ceiling, the place seemed pretty screwed. But the important thing here is that the Jeeps are ready for deployment. Gas is filled up; our excess gear is loaded. The last thing we needed to do was to get our asses on board and head out..
Both teams began boarding their designated vehicles, it wasn’t the most comfortable of rides but it'll still takes us from point A to point B way faster than being on horseback.
As the Jeeps drove through the gates, leaving the safety of the compound, driving to the mission area, through the vast deserts, the moon at its peak provided them with sufficient visibility. After driving to what seemed to be a couple of hours, the landscape had finally changed from the dry and barren desert to the lush green forests. As the starry sky shined some light into the thick vegetation, the uneven dirt path began to smoothen over become easier to traverse, once the road ahead became concrete and the dense trees began to diminish they knew they were closing in.
Back to the mission at hand, Zone 0-0-1 was the area of operation for this mission. The objective was to recover as much modern tech from the ruined city while avoiding detection from the warring parties. Time was two o’clock in the morning in a game where the two traditional armies were still within their planning phase where it seems to be a power struggle for control of the sector. Fortunately, they were not expecting a minor group to be crashing the scene, aside from the usual vultures, players who pick-off anything left of value from the fallen.
As the Unit began sweeping through the alleyways looking for anything that would be deemed valuables which could be either scrapped for parts or be sold for gold.
Alpha 1 was in charge of over-watch consisting of Squad leader “Tactix”, “Recon Man “Jhuan”, and Corpsman “Labrys”. Meanwhile the boots on the ground Alpha 2 consisted of Second in Command “Harper”, Explosive specialist “Tosh”, and Auto rifleman “KFman”.
Taking an over-watch inside a four story building, tactix taking in the sights, Jhuan sitting in a corner zeroing his rifle and calibrating its scope for long range shooting they must be roughly 700 meters out. Labrys performed another inventory check on his stocks from the different types of bandages to his Morphine and Epinephrine; he was also in charge of the squad’s rations during missions.
“Such a shame, The pinnacles of Man in Dark World VR, left desolate and empty “
As tactix takes a puff from his cigar. Taking in the view of the bright night sky illuminating the vast city, high rise buildings rivaling that of mountains litter the land.
“Hey Jhuan come over here, lost visuals on Alpha 2-1 care to spot’em for me?”
Jhuan leaves his little corner and holds up his rifle, “Is Alpha 2’s IR Strobes still active? I’ll switch over to night vision right now.” leaning over the rails sweeping the streets searching for Alpha 2.
IR or Infrared Strobes, used during night missions to identify friendly forces in the mission area, usually attached to his harness or helmet. Only visible through Night vision.
Tactix: “Oi Alpha 2-1 where the fuck are you guys?“
As he finishes his transmission, Jhuan sees a blinking light through his scope followed up with the usual middle finger.” Jhuan takes a shot. As his radio lights up
“Fuck you Jhuan !” While giggling a bit due to the adrenaline gained from nearly being shot”
“Yeah, yeah love you too” with a gleeful banter over the radio.” Jhuan jabs back at Harper
“Oi quit dicking around, remember you guys are not out of the woods yet, now 2-1 give me a status report now” Tactix reminded the two, he always the prepared and cautious one.
They agreed in unison.
“So far so good, nothing but just scouts roaming the streets, nothing too dangerous. Breznick forces appear to be mobilizing soon with one platoon’s worth of troops leaving the airport. We’ll be finished soo-” Harper announced on his radio until he got cut off.
Flashes appeared all around, a deafening boom, there came in entirely alien to the battlefield. Combined arms warfare, Rapid deployment, blitzkrieg-like tactics, it was madness on every front, morale broken and the men shattered. After the initial attack has ceased, They’ve resorted to using their 406 mm artillery and long range missile batteries. The entity that has joined the battle we’re skeletons, no ordinary skeletons you find in dungeons; these ones were wielding modern day weaponry and well trained to boot. Their coordination and skill were on a whole other level.
“All units this is Alpha 2-1 the mission is FUBAR I repeat the mission is fucked. Tactix what are your” Harper screams into radio for aid but only the buzzes of disconnection is what echoed through.
“Harper? HARPER! Alpha 2 report in, REPORT IN” Tactix shouts out for a hope of reconnection.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Tactix starts screaming into his radio hoping that Alpha 2 or what is left of them is still listening only to be hearing screams and machine gun fire on the other side…
“Ok, here’s the game plan all TF 8080 elements evacuate Zone 0-0-1, We are to find Alpha 2, even if we are going to be dragging their asses out of hell Tactix tries to open the UI map to find Alpha 2’s last known location.” Tactix commands his squad, the mission turned into an unexpected rescue.
The secondary team, the other half of Task Force 8080, were making their round close to the city square when the unfortunate has happened
As the deafening blast of the bombs has seemed to stop, it is now calm with the air covered with the scent of fire and ash, what was previously buildings which surrounded Alpha 2 was now rubble and debris.
“Well then, better stuck under some rocks rather than our guts spilled everywhere… Tosh? Kf? Both of you are still alive?” Harper asked.
Tosh pops out of a pile of debris dragging Kfman right on his shoulders.
“I’m still kicking, not much to say about Kf, poor bastard got knocked the fuck out but good news he’s still breathing” Tosher replies looking at the sad state.
“I see… Do you still have some inventory space left? As long as we ain’t over encumbered we could still mount up. Assuming the jeep is still in one piece that is…” Harper said but stopped mid way upon realization.
As Harper and tosh keep up the pace out of the dead zone, Shots can be heard over the distance, “Sounds like we’ve got company up ahead, two? No four of them up ahead” Tosh said.
The roar of the tank’s engines as its tracks crushes whatever is in its way. What followed were skeletons, no ordinary skelly, these ones were packing heat, Body armor, assault rifles and a whole goddamn tank?
“Umm, Tosh? You got any Anti-tank explosives on you?” Harper asked nervously
“Of course! Who doesn’t bring explosives? I’ve got 'em all !” Tosh responded in a cheeky demeanor.
“Then I’m guessing you know what to do… right?”
“Yeah, I’m on it.”
He leaves Kf in Harper’s care as he begins to creep his way towards the tank’s rear with hostile infantry taking pot shots at the desolate ruins to kill any possible survivors. Arming the satchel charges by linking it to his detonator, drawing ever so closer to the metal beast with the undead troops close by. He begins to wait for the tank to be within Throwing distance for maximum effect.
Staying low as possible making the smallest of movement to avoid being spotted, few seconds passed and the armored unit has started to progress down the road, the tank is now but meters, its engines echoing like a beating drum.
He tosses the satchel charge on to the tank, just landing right on top of the engine block, behind the turret. *click*
“And boom goes the dynamite…” Tactix comments just before the wondrous event happens
An explosion occurs setting the tank’s engine a blaze causing the crew to immediately disembark the vehicle, seeking cover before the ammunition cooks off
Yet in their haste they managed to find the saboteur responsible, and the undead fire team proceeded to lay down suppressive fire. Due to the sheer volume of bullets being fired in addition to the 5.56 caliber of their carbines it just decimated Tosh’s cover.
Cussing while scrambling away towards what remains of actual hard cover, Kf finally woken with a mild concussion but is well aware of the situation, then commenced raining hell on the undead with his own volley of bullets from his L85A2 Light machine gun, As the undead regrouped, Tosh just sprinted towards Kf’s position. Still running…
The entire Alpha 2 just dodged and weaved through the ruins, avoiding the rest of the undead army just creeping in the dark, hiding in the shadows, avoiding the light being emitted from the metal beasts that roamed the skies. They stumbled upon one of the staging areas of two armies.
Entire player battalions dead, hundreds of bodies littered the streets mostly mutilated from the first attack leaving the skellies to finish off the dying. The scene was like something out of the history books, a sense of dread and despair filled the group. Alpha 2-1 gesturing to go around the mass grave or end up joining it.
Finally, Alpha 2 has reached the outskirts of Zone 0-0-1, keeping a solid pace made it to the rendezvous point, an abandoned petrol station, the sign was missing a few letters, smashed glass everywhere, to their surprise there’s still fuel in the pump, Alpha 1-1 filling his jeep up.
“Where the fuck were you guys? Don’t you know how to answer the radio?” Tactix demands.
“Radio got screwed during the initial bombardment, but forget about that, boy do I have news for you” Harper explains as he checked his equipment for damages.
“Let’s take it back to the homestead,” Tactix says getting up.
“By the way, Labrys, Kf hit his head pretty hard back there, might need to hit some painkillers, or maybe morphine if that won’t do” Harper states,
“Got it, anyone else needs stitching up? No? then saddle up” Labrys assures Harper.
Tactix tells if nothing more is done then they should hurry.
“Why Am I driving? I saved both their asses out there. I deserve a break over here.”
“Fine, fine I’m driving, now everyone shut it and mounted up already” Tactix looking annoyed.
The rest of the unit mounted up and headed south, toward Breznick territory. Things have quieted down at Zone 0-0-1 it seemed like the battle was long over. The unit stopped in the woods and started setting up a small camp.
The unit gathers around the fire passing around the rations prepared by Labrys.
“Great work gentlemen, Mission accomplished as always” Tactix congratulates.
“Accomplished my ass, we had to drop weight and abandon most of the loot, Alpha 2 conduct an Inventory check.”
As Harper gave the order, Kfman & Tosh began combing through their inventories stating how much ammo they’ve used, equipment lost, and loot obtained. The only things we managed to pocket out was, some short swords from the traditional armies, a helmet, chainmail, some rings, and lastly some tech trash.” Harper complains.
Kf claims a helmet but Harper tells him that all that was salvaged will be distributed back at HQ.
“What time is it? I’ve still got drawing plates to do.” Labrys said with a hint of drowsiness in his voice.
“It’s three in the afternoon, Yeah I’ve also got to go. Good game everyone” Harper tells looking at his broken watch, he’ll be surprised if he has anything left intact.
Everyone exchanges farewells for now and starts preparing to log off the game performing the cross sign to open up the player menu. As the player menu opened up the translucent box popped but yet it was somewhat incomplete. The menu flickered in and out of everyone’s vision noticing a couple of the features are currently missing, most importantly the log off button.
“Hey guys, You seeing this or is it just me?” Jhuan asks.
As Jhuan looks over to his squad mates their player names and health bars we’re no longer there. Jhuan rubs his eyes to check if the game is messing with his vision.
Kf not feeling too good, checks the bandage wrapped around his head as he unfurled his bandage he feels a gash on his forehead…
“Hey guys uhh I think I’m bleeding right now” Kf stated.
“What do you mean your bleeding? Damage in the game is just but numbers and statistics” Labrys pointed
As Labrys looks over to Kfman, blood dripping down his face, droplets staining his uniform, a mix of shock and confusion is visible all over Labry’s face, grabbing the attention of the entire squad. Nevertheless he knew his role, To keep everyone at peak condition and began stitching and patching the wound.
“Uhh so tell me, how bad is it?” Kf asked again,
“Good news it isn’t a deep laceration but we’ll still have to take another look at your wound back at base, and will need to change your bandage again soon.” Labrys announced.
“No point camping out here in the wilderness, let's continue the trip home” Tactix said, taking command.
As the group agreed in unison, packed up their gear,put out the fire and proceeded as planned.