Post by VoltageHero on Mar 5, 2014 16:27:30 GMT
Chapter One: End of Watch
Three people were in a well lit room. All that was in the room was a long table, normally used for meetings of sorts. The chairs were rather expensive, made from the top leather. At one side of the table, two men sat across from each other. One man wore a beret, with the bronze rank of Major resting on his shoulder. He seemed no older than fourty six. The last name "Jackson" was written across his right breast pocket on his uniform. Across from him, a green haired male slouched into the chair, a look of mixed boredom and sadness. A silver bar mirrored the postion of the Major's insignia.
Near the door, an armored man, wearing was most likely his SI armor guarded the door. This man was more to protect the two men inside, than to keep either from leaving. The man on the other side of the door had the same job. Back at the table, the Major figited with some papers, and a small voice recorder. He sighed, looking at the man sitting across from him.
"Are you ready to begin?" he asked, pointing to the recorder. The Lieutenant nodded, and leaned forward. His normally cheerful face, that many of the soldiers had known, was replaced by a blank stare. He crossed his arms waiting for the man to continue. The Major noodded, clicking on the recorder.
"Major Jackson, questioning First Lieutenant Rock on. Operation: Winter Fog. Recording start at 12:43 PM," he paused for a short while before beginning again.
"Lieutenant Rock, you were in charge of the team heading Operation: Winter Fog. Is this correct? Answer with yes or no," he ended, looking up to the other game he was laying back in the chair again.
"Yes," the other man stalely responded. The Major nodded slowly, before continuing.
"For the records, Lieutenant Rock was in charge of Operation: Winter Fog. His squad was…outmatched, and the operation was rendered a failure due to the loss of the team. This is correct, Lieutenant?" he asked, everybody in the room knowing the answer. Phoenix sighed, before nodding again.
"Yes, it is," he added. He knew he would have to speak more shortly, but he secretly wished he could just walk out of this room, and not have to think about the incident ever again. It seemed the Major could tell what the man was thinking, as his face turned to one of sympathy for a few seconds, before returning to a formal, blank mood.
"We need you to tell us everything you can remember about what happened during your task. You can uh, take your time if you need to," he finished speaking, and set down the recorder on the table, in a mid-way point between both of them. Phoenix blinked a few times, glancing down at the recorder and back to the excepting man. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, seemingly thinking before finally speaking.
"Of course sir, it was supposed to be really easy, nothing we hadn't dealt with before. Sure, they were gun runners, military grade, but we had dealt with guys like this before. We…weren't aware that they had experimental weaponry. It all went terrible, as the formal report says…" he trailed off, beginning to report on everything leading up to the terrible conclusion of Operation: Winter Fog.
Five weeks ago, everybody had been joking and laughing. Phoenix's squad, nicknamed informally "Beaver Shooters" due to a…mishap at a reserve, talking about their plans for their next period of free time. Staff Sergeant Thompson, the squad's weapon specialist was coming back with a darkened glass of, something. The man was always known for drinking the strangest things.
"Hey, I heard that they were opening a new restaurant in Lowell. You guys hear that? Some…some sort of like, I dunno. Something about "Asian" food," he shrugged, taking a sip from the glass he held before wrenching in disgust, placing it down on a nearby table. Corporal Dynes, the youngest of the squad and one of the only two women in the squad raised an eyebrow looking up at the man, who stood away from the seated group.
"You'd think people would stop taking food from Earth's culture eventually..." she trailed off, shaking her head. She always seemed to be unsupportive of perserving things from Earth, and made her stance on it obvious at time. The group were seated around a short, glass table. Four of the six were there, including Dynes and Thompson. The other two was Specalist Brown, a rather short man for his age at 23, standing at roughly 5'7, and the squad's communications Sergeant First Class Broke, who was the near polar opposite of Brown, nearly 6'9. His towering height, added with his dark skin, made him look like a very sterotypical Drill Sergeant. The only two missing was Staff Sergeant Ronder and Second Lieutenant Phoenix Rock. Ronder, was the second female of the squad. It was normally hard to pin-point her location, but she was normally found flirting with the Black Shark's ship doctor, or sleeping. As silly as it seems, that was the only two locations she could be counted on being at. She also happened to be their demolitions expert. Rock was currently in a dimly lit room, lit mainly the two lamps. He was being talked to, by Captain Hayes, and Lieutenant Colonel Bishop after a job that would give his squad some much deserved credit, and promote him to First Lieutenant.
The operation was nick-named Winter Fog, which in no way represented the hot, deserty planet on which it took place. According to the two higher ranking officers, the local police force had been attacked recently by a medium sized group of men in heavy body armor, close to that of SWAT teams. The police force had requested the Armored Knights to help, as they doubted they would be able to do much. The Black Shark was the nearest vessel, so they were recruited. As well, in a sense, the Beaver Shooters drew the shortest straw. Getting stuck doing a weapon raid, on small or large forces was never fun, and going with only six people was challenging, to say the least.
"We're looking to be there within five days. Your team will go in, get the location from the police, and go from there. Hopefully," he paused, stressing the word "hopefully".
"Hopefully, we can get their weapon cache. If it's not possible, destroy the cache and finish any remaining secondary objectives. The police force want to minimize deaths, so you'll have to shoot to disable, not kill...er, if possible," he added. He leaned back, looking to Bishop, who picked up where he left off, who cleared his throat before speaking, his raspy voice another sign of him being older than the other two, and prolonged smoking.
"They don't think their main group is an populated area. No, too...too obvious. Somebody would have had seen them." he nodded, agreeing with himself.
"This shouldn't take too long if we find them all in one area. It'd be like shooting beavers in a nature reserve, isn't that right, Lieutenant?" He grinned toothely, not waiting for a response. More than a year and that was still being joked about.
"Anyways, like it was said, we don't think they're in any populated areas. We'll drop you guys off when we get there, at any possible POIs. We may have more information as we draw closer. Any concerns? Besides "why are we the only ones going", because that's due to us not raising the gun raiders' alarms with a large, obvious group," he finished, waiting for Phoenix to speak. When he shook his head, he was told he was dismissed, he headed out to tell his squad.
The black sleek door slide shut behind him, and he sighed. He walked out of the hall, to the cafeteria. Like he excepted, Ronder was over talking to the doctor, who as normal, didn't seem to even be paying her any attention. He walked past her, tapping her on the shoulder, causing her to stop talking to see who had interrupted her one-sided conversation.
"No more talky-talky, come with me," Phoenix said, mimicking a "talking motion" with one hand. He glanced over to the doctor, who hadn't even noticed his entrance, and must have assumed Ronder was still talking to herself. Ronder sighed, muttering something before following a few paces behind Rock. As he was explaining to her what was going on, he kept an eye out for the rest of his squad, but their voices were loud enough to be able to be traced to the source. Thompson was the closest towards Rock and Ronder, when they entered.
"Hey, guys. Yo, Phoenix we get told we're getting bumped up to two thousand credits an hour now or something? I had to sell my last case of-" he cut himself off, closing his mouth and leaving the thought unfinished. After Thompson was done speaking, everybody's attention turned towards the officer, ending whatever conversation they had going. Their commands were relayed to them, gaining mixed responses. A few sighs of boredom and groans of disappointment sounded through the small group, everybody not wanting to have to go back planetside, and would have stayed on board. Once the details were relayed to them, they all got up, nodding. After being dismissed, the squad took to getting themselves for their task ahead. The first aid satchels were restocked, the explosives tampered with to ensure their blast range would be large, the guns cleaned.
Within a few days, the Black Shark was in the orbit above their destination. When it was decided everything was ready, the vessel landed on a small portion, near one of the major cities. All of the squad was geared in their standard armor, which was more armored hard suits with built in oxygen supplies, HUDs and commutations. The helmets covered their face, leading only the color schemes of the soldiers to help themselves get identified on the field. They currently stood in one of the many docking airlocks on the Black Shark, which allowed both entrance and exit. Their oxygen supplies kicked on, as it was drained from the room, balancing the pressure and oxygen supply on the planet's surface, with the ship. Today, up until this point, they had all been rather quiet to one another, something they had grown used to doing before a mission. They all knew what was at stake, and they knew what could happen, both to them and the people they were going to take down. Their breathing echoed in the silent airlock, as the room ended it's cycle, the breathing masks slightly distorting. They shifted their gaze to the airlock door leading outside, as it slowly slide open. They stepped outside carefully, the planet's bright sky nearly blinding them due to ship's dim light they were just in. They moved away from the ship, and as if on cue the ship brought itself back into the planet's orbit, awaiting knowledge on how their mission was going, while also being able to give orders from a safe distance.
And with this, Operation: Winter Fog was underway.
End Of Chapter One.
Three people were in a well lit room. All that was in the room was a long table, normally used for meetings of sorts. The chairs were rather expensive, made from the top leather. At one side of the table, two men sat across from each other. One man wore a beret, with the bronze rank of Major resting on his shoulder. He seemed no older than fourty six. The last name "Jackson" was written across his right breast pocket on his uniform. Across from him, a green haired male slouched into the chair, a look of mixed boredom and sadness. A silver bar mirrored the postion of the Major's insignia.
Near the door, an armored man, wearing was most likely his SI armor guarded the door. This man was more to protect the two men inside, than to keep either from leaving. The man on the other side of the door had the same job. Back at the table, the Major figited with some papers, and a small voice recorder. He sighed, looking at the man sitting across from him.
"Are you ready to begin?" he asked, pointing to the recorder. The Lieutenant nodded, and leaned forward. His normally cheerful face, that many of the soldiers had known, was replaced by a blank stare. He crossed his arms waiting for the man to continue. The Major noodded, clicking on the recorder.
"Major Jackson, questioning First Lieutenant Rock on. Operation: Winter Fog. Recording start at 12:43 PM," he paused for a short while before beginning again.
"Lieutenant Rock, you were in charge of the team heading Operation: Winter Fog. Is this correct? Answer with yes or no," he ended, looking up to the other game he was laying back in the chair again.
"Yes," the other man stalely responded. The Major nodded slowly, before continuing.
"For the records, Lieutenant Rock was in charge of Operation: Winter Fog. His squad was…outmatched, and the operation was rendered a failure due to the loss of the team. This is correct, Lieutenant?" he asked, everybody in the room knowing the answer. Phoenix sighed, before nodding again.
"Yes, it is," he added. He knew he would have to speak more shortly, but he secretly wished he could just walk out of this room, and not have to think about the incident ever again. It seemed the Major could tell what the man was thinking, as his face turned to one of sympathy for a few seconds, before returning to a formal, blank mood.
"We need you to tell us everything you can remember about what happened during your task. You can uh, take your time if you need to," he finished speaking, and set down the recorder on the table, in a mid-way point between both of them. Phoenix blinked a few times, glancing down at the recorder and back to the excepting man. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, seemingly thinking before finally speaking.
"Of course sir, it was supposed to be really easy, nothing we hadn't dealt with before. Sure, they were gun runners, military grade, but we had dealt with guys like this before. We…weren't aware that they had experimental weaponry. It all went terrible, as the formal report says…" he trailed off, beginning to report on everything leading up to the terrible conclusion of Operation: Winter Fog.
Five weeks ago, everybody had been joking and laughing. Phoenix's squad, nicknamed informally "Beaver Shooters" due to a…mishap at a reserve, talking about their plans for their next period of free time. Staff Sergeant Thompson, the squad's weapon specialist was coming back with a darkened glass of, something. The man was always known for drinking the strangest things.
"Hey, I heard that they were opening a new restaurant in Lowell. You guys hear that? Some…some sort of like, I dunno. Something about "Asian" food," he shrugged, taking a sip from the glass he held before wrenching in disgust, placing it down on a nearby table. Corporal Dynes, the youngest of the squad and one of the only two women in the squad raised an eyebrow looking up at the man, who stood away from the seated group.
"You'd think people would stop taking food from Earth's culture eventually..." she trailed off, shaking her head. She always seemed to be unsupportive of perserving things from Earth, and made her stance on it obvious at time. The group were seated around a short, glass table. Four of the six were there, including Dynes and Thompson. The other two was Specalist Brown, a rather short man for his age at 23, standing at roughly 5'7, and the squad's communications Sergeant First Class Broke, who was the near polar opposite of Brown, nearly 6'9. His towering height, added with his dark skin, made him look like a very sterotypical Drill Sergeant. The only two missing was Staff Sergeant Ronder and Second Lieutenant Phoenix Rock. Ronder, was the second female of the squad. It was normally hard to pin-point her location, but she was normally found flirting with the Black Shark's ship doctor, or sleeping. As silly as it seems, that was the only two locations she could be counted on being at. She also happened to be their demolitions expert. Rock was currently in a dimly lit room, lit mainly the two lamps. He was being talked to, by Captain Hayes, and Lieutenant Colonel Bishop after a job that would give his squad some much deserved credit, and promote him to First Lieutenant.
The operation was nick-named Winter Fog, which in no way represented the hot, deserty planet on which it took place. According to the two higher ranking officers, the local police force had been attacked recently by a medium sized group of men in heavy body armor, close to that of SWAT teams. The police force had requested the Armored Knights to help, as they doubted they would be able to do much. The Black Shark was the nearest vessel, so they were recruited. As well, in a sense, the Beaver Shooters drew the shortest straw. Getting stuck doing a weapon raid, on small or large forces was never fun, and going with only six people was challenging, to say the least.
"We're looking to be there within five days. Your team will go in, get the location from the police, and go from there. Hopefully," he paused, stressing the word "hopefully".
"Hopefully, we can get their weapon cache. If it's not possible, destroy the cache and finish any remaining secondary objectives. The police force want to minimize deaths, so you'll have to shoot to disable, not kill...er, if possible," he added. He leaned back, looking to Bishop, who picked up where he left off, who cleared his throat before speaking, his raspy voice another sign of him being older than the other two, and prolonged smoking.
"They don't think their main group is an populated area. No, too...too obvious. Somebody would have had seen them." he nodded, agreeing with himself.
"This shouldn't take too long if we find them all in one area. It'd be like shooting beavers in a nature reserve, isn't that right, Lieutenant?" He grinned toothely, not waiting for a response. More than a year and that was still being joked about.
"Anyways, like it was said, we don't think they're in any populated areas. We'll drop you guys off when we get there, at any possible POIs. We may have more information as we draw closer. Any concerns? Besides "why are we the only ones going", because that's due to us not raising the gun raiders' alarms with a large, obvious group," he finished, waiting for Phoenix to speak. When he shook his head, he was told he was dismissed, he headed out to tell his squad.
The black sleek door slide shut behind him, and he sighed. He walked out of the hall, to the cafeteria. Like he excepted, Ronder was over talking to the doctor, who as normal, didn't seem to even be paying her any attention. He walked past her, tapping her on the shoulder, causing her to stop talking to see who had interrupted her one-sided conversation.
"No more talky-talky, come with me," Phoenix said, mimicking a "talking motion" with one hand. He glanced over to the doctor, who hadn't even noticed his entrance, and must have assumed Ronder was still talking to herself. Ronder sighed, muttering something before following a few paces behind Rock. As he was explaining to her what was going on, he kept an eye out for the rest of his squad, but their voices were loud enough to be able to be traced to the source. Thompson was the closest towards Rock and Ronder, when they entered.
"Hey, guys. Yo, Phoenix we get told we're getting bumped up to two thousand credits an hour now or something? I had to sell my last case of-" he cut himself off, closing his mouth and leaving the thought unfinished. After Thompson was done speaking, everybody's attention turned towards the officer, ending whatever conversation they had going. Their commands were relayed to them, gaining mixed responses. A few sighs of boredom and groans of disappointment sounded through the small group, everybody not wanting to have to go back planetside, and would have stayed on board. Once the details were relayed to them, they all got up, nodding. After being dismissed, the squad took to getting themselves for their task ahead. The first aid satchels were restocked, the explosives tampered with to ensure their blast range would be large, the guns cleaned.
Within a few days, the Black Shark was in the orbit above their destination. When it was decided everything was ready, the vessel landed on a small portion, near one of the major cities. All of the squad was geared in their standard armor, which was more armored hard suits with built in oxygen supplies, HUDs and commutations. The helmets covered their face, leading only the color schemes of the soldiers to help themselves get identified on the field. They currently stood in one of the many docking airlocks on the Black Shark, which allowed both entrance and exit. Their oxygen supplies kicked on, as it was drained from the room, balancing the pressure and oxygen supply on the planet's surface, with the ship. Today, up until this point, they had all been rather quiet to one another, something they had grown used to doing before a mission. They all knew what was at stake, and they knew what could happen, both to them and the people they were going to take down. Their breathing echoed in the silent airlock, as the room ended it's cycle, the breathing masks slightly distorting. They shifted their gaze to the airlock door leading outside, as it slowly slide open. They stepped outside carefully, the planet's bright sky nearly blinding them due to ship's dim light they were just in. They moved away from the ship, and as if on cue the ship brought itself back into the planet's orbit, awaiting knowledge on how their mission was going, while also being able to give orders from a safe distance.
And with this, Operation: Winter Fog was underway.
End Of Chapter One.
