7 MONTHS EARLIER
"AHAHAHA. You suck at this game!" Jacob laughs as Sung merely complains about how his controller was busted.
"Alright guys, command just tasked us. We're deploying in 2 hours." Layfette says walking in.
I look up from my book just in time to see him mid toss, as his hub pad is tossed to me. I drop my book, just barely catching the pad and I furrow my brow at the assignment.
"This gotta be a joke." I tell him as I toss the pad to Jacob and Sung.
" 'Fraid not." He replies as the other two finish the contents.
"Ain't no way. The abduction of the Gasian Princess?" Jacob says just as suspicious as me.
"I agree. Wasn't there just an assassination attempt last week by somebody?" Sung asks.
"Yeah. Team 7-2, 3-5, 0-9, and 0-7 all failed. We're cleaning up their messes." Layfette says turning a chair around a sitting facing us. He interlaces his fingers and rests his lips on top of his hand as he looks over us.
"Holy Ghost, she's only 12. She's just a child." Sung argues. It was reasonable, he had a son himself so of course he would be against it.
"I agree with Sung. I've stained my hands with lots of blood, but I'm not harming a kid." Jacob says agreeing with Sung. "Pass it off to Team 0-2. They can handle it." I lightly bite my left thumb in thought, or at least to make it seem that way. Then a small smile cracked his lips causing all of our jaws to drop.
"That's the thing boys. 0-1 to 0-5 are all that's left. We're not abducting, we're saving. Teams 0-6 to 5-5 are no longer around. Apparently, we came under new leadership. This was the last order real order from MARE Command." He says pressing a couple of buttons on his left wrist and soon a holographic order forms.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. MARE COMMAND HAS BEEN
DISBANDED UNDER THE NEW CHROMIUM PARTY.
IF ACCEPTED THEN MARE UNIT 0-0 WILL STAND
DETACHED FROM CHROMES SUPPORT IN ONE
FINAL JOINT MISSION WITH UNITS
0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, & 0-5. ANY SUPPLIES NEEDED
WILL BE REQUESTED IN THE ORDER FROM CHROMES
NEW MILITARY COMMAND. AQUIRE AS MANY SUPPLIES
AS POSSIBLE. YOU WILL BE ALONE WITH ZERO GOVERNMENT
SUPPORT. PICK WISELY. YOU WILL HAVE NO
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT, NO REINFORCEMENTS, NO COUNTRY
TO RETURN TO. SAFE HOUSES IN GASIA HAVE BEEN AQUIRED
FOR THE TEAMS FAMILIES IN CASE OF ACCEPTANCE.
...…
PS I'M SORRY GENTS, YOU WERE THE ONLY ONES I COULD TRUST.
--- SUMMONER
We all took our time taking in what we had just read. We basically had two options. Option 1 was we keep our flag but live with the death of a child; and Option 2. Change flags and save a single child.
"So that's it huh? Betray our country for a kid, or kill a kid?" Jacob spats crossing his arms. "I take it we won't know 0-1 to 0-5's answer till we get to the armoury huh?"
I understood his concern. Not only were we committing treason, but also hoping that our fellow members were too. We were in quite a pickle.
"I'ma do it." I finally say after thinking it over. "I got no family left here anyway so whether I'm in this country, or that one, it's not like I have anyone waiting for me." I look at the others and can tell they are mulling over the situation too.
"Fuck it. I'm in the same boat. Me and my girl broke up almost a month ago." Jacob says getting up.
"Mind if we stop by the house after gearing up? If we do this, I wanna make sure my wife and son are going to be safe." Sung finally says dryly after taking the longest pause.
"Of course. Cap did say the safe house was for them after all." Layfette says. Apparently, he had already made his choice. "Alright then. Let's get ready to roll out gents." He says getting up after waiting for more responses.
"Hey Sarah, I've been wondering…."
"…. Right? It surprised me as well."
"Whatcha think of this vacation?"
"Oh my God, it was so nice of their command to extend it to us!"
I sigh to myself crossing my arms and laying them on the Decker 75mm Rotary Gun that came as the base attachment of all Armadillo's while listening to Sung and Layfette's wives happily chat away. At least the kids were finally asleep. The first few hours was horrendous with them trying to grab or play with everything they saw. I did wish I was as oblivious as them though.
I did feel like they should have been told what was really going on though. Unlike me and Jacob, they had actual families back home and now they probably won't get to see them again for years if that. As bored as I was, I did find myself fascinated by the beauty of Gasia. Compared to Chrome, it was definitely less industrial. Forests and mountains were everywhere.
Once we get into the general location of where the safehouse was supposed to be I straighten up and flip the tiny switch to begin the guns heat up and coolant process. The peaceful whoops and chirps of the mountain's wildlife was a sound for sore ears you could say. That didn't stop me from remaining vigilant though. I scanned every bit of forest we passed. The scanner that covered my right eye would pick up the slightest hint of a sniper or any other danger that was hiding in the lush vegetation.
Just as we begin to finish coming over a hill the two women quickly begin to get excited.
"OH WOW! JESSICA LOOK AT THAT!" Sarah says excitedly.
"OH MY GOSH! IS THAT REALLY THE PLACE?" Jessica asks just as excitedly.
I looked over my shoulder to see what they were so excited about and saw a two-story log cabin overlooking a lakefront. A lime-colored SUV was already parked out in the front.
As expected, after waking up the two children as soon as the Armadillo stopped, they flew out of it and headed straight for the lake. The poor wives could only sigh in depression as they walked off after the two.
"Gentlemen, I'm glad to see you've made it here safely." April, formerly known as Captain Sport, says with an obvious look of relief on her face.
"Of course. Why wouldn't we?" Sung jokingly asks poking her with his elbow.
"I guess you've haven't heard the news then." She says causing all of us to look at her confusedly. "It seems like the new government has made its move. Unknown forces launched a failed attack on the capital yesterday. 0-3, and 0-4 took a couple casualties and have returned to their respective safe houses. 0-1, 0-2, and 0-5 are still in the Area of Operations working to prevent any new dangers." She explains and we all nod in understanding.
That was indeed some bad news that would cause one to worry if you had soldiers on the way. Especially if two teams took casualties. Each Mare consisted of 4 soldiers. A Rifleman, Machine Gunner, Sniper, and Medic. Including us she only had 24 soldiers at her disposal, all of whom had entrusted their very lives to her, so much so that they abandoned their own country.
She then tilted her head seemingly looking past us, and out of reflex we all turned around as well.
"I know I said to take whatever you could, but an Armadillo?" She asks exasperatedly eyeing the giant assault/transport vehicle.
"Oh, wait till you see the toys we brought." Layfette says with a sly smile as we walk to the back of it and if we were in a cartoon her jaw definitely would have been on the ground. The entire Armadillo Armory, which could hold up to 100 guns over 15,000 rounds of ammo had been completely stocked.
"H-h-how?" She stutters as Jacob hands her the approved Arms Request.
ARMORY COMMANDER. REQUESTING THE COMPLETE STOCKING OF 0-0'S
ARMADILLO IN SUPPORT OF THE UPCOMING OPERATION. UNIT 0-0 WILL
BE ON STANDBY IN CASE ALL OTHER FORCES FALL TO AQUIRE THE VIP
UPON VIP RETRIEVAL UNIT 0-0 WILL ESCAPE DUE NORTHWEST DUE TO THE
EASTERN AND SOUTHERN CHECKPOINTS BEING BLOCKADED.
UNIT 0-0 WILL BE DEEP IN ENEMY TERRITORY FOR AT A MAXIMUM OF 240
IN THE WORST CASE SCENERIO. DURING THAT TIME, UNIT 0-0 WILL BE
COMPLETELY CUTOFF FROM ANY AND ALL SUPPORT. ANY SUPPORT
REQUEST WILL NOT ONLY ENDANGER THE MISSION BUT ALSO THE
ENDANGER THE COUNTRY WITH THE RISK OF WAR IF DISCOVERED.
THEREFORE, IN ORDER TO SUCCESSFULLY MAKE MISSION AS PER USUAL
UNIT 0-0 IS MAKING THIS REQUEST.
- BRADLEY J. LAYFETTE
.............................
UNIT 0-0, AFTER REVIEWING YOUR MISSION SUCCESS RATE, IT HAS
BEEN DEEMED THAT A FULL ARMORY WOULD BE IN THE COUNTRIES BEST
INTEREST. UNDER ORDER 791345D.1 CH 54. COMPLETE ARMADILLO ARMORY
STOCK IS HEREBY APPROVED.
- BARD A. STAR, ARMORY COMMANDER
As she stood there in absolute disbelief it was obvious that she had severely forgotten our mission success rate was 100%. Even if the new government didn't like us, not even they could turn a blind eye to the only unit with a perfect track record.
"...And to think here I was worried for nothing." She says facepalming and shaking her head. "Well, can you guys go and assist the others? I'm sure at least one team will appreciate the brief respite." She says shaking her head and turning around.
"Yeah, we got it. Which team is closest?" I ask, picking up my slender 65 mm Vector-1 Sniper Rifle doing a quick inspection. As the team sniper once we got about a quarter away from the AO, I would continue on foot and find a suitable overwatch position and relay all pertinent information to the rest of the team.
She taps a few buttons on her left wrist and a mini-map populates. "0-5 is the closest. They are currently overwatching a Chromium resupply run. Once it gets within their AO, they'll eliminate the drivers and redirect the supplies to us." She explains flicking her middle finger across the pad in my direction. The pad on my right wrist blinks a water green three times indicating it had successfully received the information.
I give it a quick glance and memorize all the important locations before flicking it to Jacob. "Drop me near zone, Romeo." I tell him and he frowns as does April.
"Why? That's literally a 2km gap. If anything happens, even if you move at full speed, it will still take about 5 minutes to rappel down, 5 to run across, and 10 minimum to free climb." He asked, bewildered by my decision. "Plus, it provides below-par sniping capabilities."
I understood his concern. I was a sniper and as such close quarter engagements weren't my forte. However, at the same time, my survivability wasn't something to sneeze at either.
"I just got a feeling is all," I told him. It was honestly what I was feeling. I felt like that area would be important.
He merely sighed and gave me a smile. "Very well. Don't fuck it up." He jokes as I climb into the Armadillo.