1020AM EST Time - May 27TH - 1969 - Washington D.C - White House
A meeting is currently going on between the President and his most trusted advisors, those such as Helms, Haldeman, Agnew, and laird.
“From what I can see from this report, this ‘portal’ as reported in West Virginia is a gate to another world?” Nixon asks Helms.
“That’s what’s been reported Mr. President, though we haven’t sent anyone past it though for safety reasons. But, we have sent a small rover through with a camera attached to it. Originally it was an experimental rover that was a prototype used by NASA for experimental uses. But NASA handed it over to the CIA to see what’s on the other side, so now we have some photos on the other side.” Helms says.
Helms proceeds to turn on a projector, and multiple photos of a lush green jungle appear on a wall.
“How can we even be sure this isn’t somewhere in Central or South America, plus this Another World seems more like the CIA trying to cover something up,” Vice President Kissinger says.
“Now, I understand it might sound like something in the realm of fiction, but we cannot out rule the possibility. Now, I want to know more of this… Super Orbis... in West Virginia,” Nixon says.
“Ah, well, what our researchers say it gives off next to none radiation, which is opposite to the one that was in Antarctica. But, what I’m more interested in is the untapped natural resources in this New World. Just think about the amount of Oil that could just be sitting there, not to mention things such as uranium or other such things.” Helms says.
“While that's extremely promising, but what about things such as disease or unknown viruses we can bring back by accident, I’m sure none of us want to go through an epidemic,” Laird says.
“Well we’ll just have to proceed with the utmost caution, I don’t see anything wrong with this, hell, we might gain a tremendous advantage over the Soviets if we start to take resources from this New World,” Nixon says.
“But, we’ll have to go through Congress for that Mr. President, and I honestly don’t think that the Democrats would agree with you,” Kissinger says.
“Well, who says we’ll need approval from Congress, as long as we do it in secrecy, no one will ever find out,” Nixon says.
Everyone stared at him for a second, while they know the advantages, but to bypass Congress for such a thing doesn’t sit well for them.
“But Mr. President, I understand the possibilities, but to just not even talk to Congress about such a thing is just foolhardy,” Helms says.
Before Helms could say more, H. R. Haldeman, the Chief of Staff, interrupts him. “And who says we can’t? The number of possibilities that can happen, new technology that could be possible, not to mention the tremendous advantage over the Soviets. If the Democrats in Congress and even other Republicans are gonna oppose us, then we won’t go through Congress! Let me ask you the question: do you want the Soviets to discover this before we even have the opportunity to begin operations?! Mr. President, I do not believe going through Congress is a good idea, and if such a thing were to leak to the Soviets, we could lose the advantage! Now, gentlemen in this room, do you want to live in a world dominated by the Soviets! If not, then let’s bypass Congress and gain an advantage over them!”
Everyone else in the room stayed quiet and seems to believe what he has said Including President Nixon. Helms though knows better, Haldeman ever since becoming Chief of Staff has always been a crazy Nixon fanatic. Helms knows full well what he’s saying is only to influence the others in the room to bypass congress, but he doesn’t know what to say to oppose Haldeman.
“Well then, I suppose I shall take my leave,” Helms says as he grabs the photos from the desk and the projector.
As Helms walks down the hallway of the White House, he tears the photos up and leaves the scraps of the destroyed photos on the floor.
0100PM EST Time - May 29TH - 1969 - West Virginia - ‘Super Orbis’
Large numbers of trucks and troops enter a walled-off area of a grassy plain field in West Virginia. Each truck carries cargo, construction vehicles, and some are even carrying things such as tanks, helicopters, heavy vehicles, and even carrying Jets.
Due to the secrecy of this operation, the trucks and their escorts were not allowed to use any public roads to not raise suspicion that the military was strangely gathering up in West Virginia. As such, it took 2 days for everything to arrive.
As the trucks and their escorts finally made it past the rough dirt roads of West Virginia and entered the base, where large fences surround the area for over 20 Miles with guard towers only 20 feet from each other.
But, due to how hastily the base was built, some things still weren’t implemented, such as hangers to keep the newly brought in jets and tanks, helicopters, and other heavy vehicles, as a result, they had to be kept on the trucks that drove them in. But the base itself wasn’t meant to be something large, only a standing point where the real base is to be built in the New World.
In a small building where soldiers and members of the CIA walk in and out of, Thaddeus Burton sits in an office, who’s In charge of operations in terms of keeping track of things coming into the base.
“4 Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter’s, 4 McDonnell Douglas Phantom II, 2 A-10 Warthog’s, 6 M551 Sheridan Tanks, and 10 M48 Pattons. Suppose these will do, but I can’t imagine there would be much resistance on the other side,” Burton thinks. “Well, if there’s any sort of intelligent life on the other side. But the 1st Armored Division is assisting us, so I shouldn't be thinking of such things."
As Burton looks away from the paper and out the window and looks at the gate, he watches as truck after truck comes in with supplies and building material, with escort vehicles in between every so often.
As the last truck enters the base, the gate closes, and a man walks into Burton’s office. “I suppose that’s the last truck?” Burton asks the man. “Yes sir, we’ve already been given the green light from D.C, on your command Operation “Columbus” shall begin.”
Burton scratches his head. “Alright, I suppose we should begin.”
Dozens of trucks begin to enter the Super Orbis, one minute after another to prevent a clog up on the other side.
As the trucks and troop transports go through it and to the jungle on the other side, they are left in awe. Many of the men have been to the jungles of Vietnam and the Amazon jungle in South America, but the trees and fauna are far larger than anything they’ve seen on Earth.
Trees that tower over the landscape looking to be over 100’s of feet tall, strange flowers, and other such things litter the jungle floor. The truck’s main destination is a mile away due to the rough and rugged area the Super Orbis is at, but there’s a flat area only a mile away from where the jungle ends.
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“Alright, remember to keep your guard up, we’re not here for vacation, we’re here for a mission,” A Second Lieutenant says to his men in a troop transport truck. “The Second Lieutenant’s right, once we arrive we’re gonna be scouting around the area, anyone found having fun here is gonna get some hellish training,” A First Lieutenant says.
As the troop transport trucks and the trucks reach their destination, hundreds of men begin to outline the space where the future base ‘Fort Nixon’ will be built. Originally, soldiers would have built the fort, but it was decided that they instead formed a contract with a construction company. To prevent civilians from leaking information, each worker was handpicked by the CIA and blindfolded and had headphones put on them so they couldn’t hear anything, and they would only be taken off once they reached the site. They would also not be allowed to return home until Fort Nixon is built and an extra month after, where the process will begin again.
“Alright, we’re all gonna be splitting into Platoons so form up with your commanding officer!” A Major shouts. 2000 U.S.Army soldiers were brought along for this secret operation, there would have been more, but fear of soldiers accidentally leaking or being spies, two thousand was the number chosen by Nixon.
Platoons began to form, and many were used to either patrol the area within a 5-mile radius, or others began to scout the area within a 15-mile radius. There were approximately 20 platoons tasked to scout the area within a 15-mile radius, while there were 9 tasked to patrol the area within the 5-mile radius, altogether making up around 1,260 troops. Unfortunately, support vehicles such as tanks and jeeps couldn’t be used due to limited fuel and for them to be used for emergencies only, the fuel that was brought needing to be used for the construction vehicles, and the surrounding area being too tough and rigid even for troop transports to properly traverse, unlike the smoother path they used to get to the future fort site. Tents began to spring up around the flat area, as well as radio towers to communicate with the platoons.
Platoon team 2 is currently North East of the area where Fort Nixon is to be built, the current commander of Platoon 2, Sam Brigham, a man in his late 40’s, is a hardened veteran of Vietnam, as such is wary of the thick jungle setting him and his platoon find themselves in. However, many of the men he leads either never were stationed in Vietnam or were there for only a few weeks or months. As a result, many of them aren’t taking the mission seriously and talking amongst themselves, or just not showing much interest at all.
“Yankee Doodle went to town A-riding on a pony, Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni!
Fath'r and I went down to camp, Along with Captain Gooding, And there we saw the men and boys As thick as hasty pudding.
Yankee Doodle keep it up, Yankee Doodle dandy, Mind the music and the step, And with the girls be handy!”
Yankee Doodle, some of the men were singing it as they walked, it had some nostalgia to Brigham and his friends would sing it when he was younger when he was in Middle School. But, he couldn’t feel a bit agitated as well, he who had seen the horrors of jungle warfare and wanted to keep quiet, couldn’t believe they were just singing into the air. What’s worse, as they continued to sing more and more men joined them, even some of the sergeants in the platoon joined in.
As they all walk down the thick jungle, Brigham felt an uneasy feeling in the air. He had ignored it earlier, but he can feel the uneasy feeling getting thicker. He stopped in place, his time in Vietnam had him wary of surroundings, and to listen to his gut. He only stopped for a few seconds, but the rest of the platoon also stopped in place and had stopped singing.
“Is there something wrong sir?” A man asks him.
“Someone is watching us, at least, that’s what my time in Vietnam tells me. M16’s on full auto.” Brigham says as he brings up his M16.
The rest of the platoon holds up their M16’s and a small click is the only noise that fills the air as they all switch to full auto. The singing had stopped, and each man was slowly walking forward, careful not to make too much noise. Brigham kept his eyes on the trees, a habit he’s gained due to the time he’s been in the jungles of Vietnam.
As the platoon marches further with their guns up and guards up, Brigham suddenly sees a humanoid shape disappear in the trees. He nearly pushes the trigger, but he manages to stop himself, but one of his sergeants comes up to him. “Sir, are you okay?” “Get me the radio.”
A man wearing a AN/PRC-77 Portable Transceiver on his back walks up and Brigham starts to use it. “Comand, this is Sam Brigham of platoon 2, I believe to have seen something strange in the trees, humanoid in shape. Over.” A minute later there was a response. “Platoon 2 leader, this is Comand. Platoons 1 and 3 are coming to your location. Please stay in your current location until they arrive. Over.”
With that Brigham walks away from the portable radio. “Alright, guard up, and prepare to engage possible hostile forces,” Brigham says to his platoon. The men ready their M16s with some unsure what to do, “This is just like Vietnam, but I gotta keep my composure in check… if who, or whatever I saw was hostile, I can't let these men die,” Brigham thinks to himself.
“Sir, some of our men have just now reported seeing unkn-,” Just before the Sergeant can finish an arrow strikes his neck killing the man instantly.
Brigham looks to where the arrow came from and sees multiple humanoid figures in the trees. He immediately begins to fire his M16 at them. This, in turn, results in the other men doing the same. Many of the men are shot with arrows, and many others quickly get to cover. Brigham now in cover grabs the portable radio off the back of one of the dead men.
“COMMAND, THIS IS PLATOON LEADER 2, WE ARE CURRENTLY ENGAGED WITH UNKNOWN HUMANOID HOSTILES IN THE TREES! CASUALTIES UNKNOWN! WE NEED BACKUP!”
“Platoons 1 and 3 are en route to your location! Hold out as long as possible until reinforcements arrive!”
At the temporary large tent where Command was at, panic started to emerge. Platoon 2’s sudden radio transmission of unknown humanoid hostiles had many question if there was any intelligent life here, many believed they were Soviets. Regardless, platoons 1 and 3 were ordered to quickly make it to platoon 2’s location. Once the report of a sudden ambush on platoon 2 by sudden humanoid hostiles reaches Burton, he panics.
“How far away are platoons 1 and 3 to platoon 2?!”
“Only five minutes sir, but it could be even longer if they come across any obstacles on their way!”
“Then get all available troops on base on to the troop transports to assist platoon 2 quickly!”
Approximately 240 soldiers on a dozen troop transport trucks begin to make their way into the jungle where platoon 2 is currently at. While they weren’t necessary as platoon 1 and 3 were already on their way to platoon 2, Burton doesn’t wish for the entirety of platoon 2 to be wiped out in fear that the operation might be canned, and he doesn’t want to think what will happen to him if that happens. But, due to the ragged terrain of the jungle, it could take twice as long for them to arrive compared to platoons 1 and 3.
Platoon 2’s situation was grim, Brigham counted at least a dozen or more bodies with arrows in them as he hides behind cover, and at least even more injured. But, he’s counted at least half a dozen dead enemies on the ground. “Shit, how fucking long until reinforcements arrive!?” A man shouts.
“Just hold on for a few more minutes!”
As Brigham peeks from his cover and where the unknown hostiles are, an arrow pierces into his shoulder. Fortunately, a medic was right beside him, and he immediately begins work on Brigham’s shoulder.
As Brigham’s shoulder was being patched up, platoons 1 and 3 suddenly arrived, as well as troop transports. As the platoon 1 and 3 began to reinforce platoon 2, the unknown hostels soon disappear into the trees. As men began to pile up the dead bodies of their comrades, and many more began to be treated for injuries, Brigham slowly walked up to one of the bodies he had seen fall from the trees.
“Point ears, blonde hair, the face looks a bit weird too… the hell is this…” Brigham says as he investigates the dead body of a man.
“Where’s the commander of platoon 2?” A voice says behind him. When Brigham turns around, he can see the commander of platoon 1, Marvine Irvin, talking to the medic who just fixed his arm up.
“Oi, I’m right here, are you blind or something?”
“Oh, and the hell happened to your shoulder?”
“Oh nothing much, an arrow got shot into my shoulder but this medic here fixed me up.”
“Wait, an arrow? These guys weren’t using guns?”
“Nope, and have you seen them, they got some pointy ears too.”
Both Brigham and Irvin looked at the bodies now piled up, at least 10 dead bodies of the unknown hostiles. “Talk about weird-looking, maybe their another homo species, you know, like the Neanderthals,’ Ivrin says. “I don’t believe in that type of stuff, I’m a religious man.”
“Yeah, well, they look human, but their face structure looks off, and not to mention the ears. Maybe we should take one of these bodies back for the lab or something.”
“Well, I’ll let you deal with that, now, if you excuse me, I’m probably gonna get yelled at by my superiors,” Brigham says as he walks away.