There was a silent sort of approval radiating from the crowd around me. I stood atop the rumbling t-72.
"Ladies and gentlemen, with the wall completed and the last sweeps on the wall interior completed last night…"
The crowd started cheering, and I held a hand up, waiting for the few hundred people to calm down. "We are calling this enclosure fire base Fyodor. We're going through the buildings, and Lieutenant Tanya here will be the point of contact for settling each of you in the suburban housing."
The crowd started to clamor and I held my hand up again. "Yes, I know, the Lieutenant will do her best to ensure you can move back into your previous residence if it is inside the walls, however we make no guarantee."
I watched as people began flocking to the Lieutenant as she and her soldiers began helping the people fill out their paperwork for housing. A few of the apartment blocks near the west wall had been seized for barracks, the residents still alive would be relocated to the civilian housing area.
"Captain, from Ivan." Luka said while holding out a radio hand mike.
I grabbed it and keyed it for a moment, waiting on the click that told me it was working. "Headquarters, this is 6."
"6, HQ. Alpha just found another survivor group on terminal island, want them to bring them in or send them back?"
"Have them hold onto them for now, bring all the survivors back at the same time." I replied.
"Good copy 6. We will proceed with the mission. HQ out."
'Quest complete (series quest). Establish a survivors camp and have at least 250 survivors under your care, Reward 2 Mi-24v helicopters. 253/250.'
'Quest issued, (series quest). Expand your survivor camp to 500 survivors. Reward 20,000xp. 253/500'
'4 Mi-34v helicopters are in your inventory, please select somewhere to place them.'
I groaned internally and tried flicking the notification away but that last one stayed, refusing to budge. I was going to have to deal with this now wasn't I? I handed the mike back to Luka and dropped off the T-72 and started walking towards the motor pool. Well, really it was a large area we were using as a motor pool that had been cleared of cargo containers. I chose an area clear of the vehicles not currently in use and the 4 hinds appeared, the massive helicopters dominated the middle of the motorpool, the flight crews standing before the helicopters saluted.
A man wearing a lieutenant's epaulets took a few steps forward. "Greetings Comrade Captain."
I stared at the lieutenant then back to the massive attack helicopters. "Get your birds airborne lieutenant, fly reconnaissance in a ten mile radius around this location and confirm the presence of any undead hordes. Before liftoff get a secure comms link with headquarters."
"Oh, Lieutenant! Does Thomas sound like a good name?"
"It does sir!" came the reply as the crews scrambled for the helicopters, piling into the massive metal beasts.
"That will be your name then." I nodded to him and turned, heading back to the
I started towards the headquarters, the TracPac administrative building. As I was walking into the lobby I could hear the distinctive sounds of helicopter blades slicing the air. The heavy beasts flew a few hundred feet above the city, engines roaring loudly as they raced away from the terminal. The four helicopters split into two pairs and split apart, moving east and north respectively.
I walked into the command center, a pair of offices that had been joined together by the expedient of removing the intervening wall. A few soldiers sat around a few radios and maps, moving a collection of pins around as reports came in from the hinds.
"Say again your last?" a soldier asked while slowly moving a marker to a location a few miles from the base.
"Estimate on how many survivors?"
"Good copy, seven survivors on the roof of the Long beach Hyatt Regency…"
"Go ahead lieutenant…"
The soldier looked at me. "Capitain, there's a horde of undead bearing down on a survivor group…" he quickly looked at the map and traced his finger along a few roads.
"They are converging here, at the Stephen M white middle school…"
Name those helicopters falcon 1 through 4, that lieutenant is in Falcon 1. Figure the rest out. Get those birds over that airspace now!"
I looked at the map then grabbed a spare handset and changed the radio's frequency to the fire control for the mortars.
"Sir, the horde is approaching the intersection of West 233rd and Vermont!" the soldier shouted as the command center turned into chaos.
"Fire Mission! Intersection of Vermont avenue and 233rd street, heavy. When ready."
"Fire mission, intersection of Vermont avenue and 233rd street, when ready, heavy bombardment, over." The reply came.
I looked out of the window and saw the two hinds to the east turn away from the building they had been circling around and heading northwest.
"Sir the lieutenant wants permission to engage." the soldier reported.
"If they cross the highway weapons free, otherwise direct the mortars onto the horde. Get a composition of the horde." I replied. Then turned to another soldier.
"Get Luka and Bravo on the horn, get them to stage at Gate 3." I said as my blood began to rush. I walked to the window and stared at the boulevard below. The people were still organizing, moving their stuff out of the admin building and starting to filter to their new homes. They visibly flinched when the mortars started lofting rounds into the sky. The T-72s engines began to roar and they moved down the boulevard before turning north. Infantrymen began scrambling from their positions, running to the motorpool. Please get there in time… please…
Lieutenant Joseph sat in the commander's hatch of his lead BTR 60, the men silent as they checked their gear in the sweltering confins of the metal box. Looking out of the vision ports the lieutenant could see the imposing T-72s moving towards the gate. The squad assigned with guarding this gate was busy opening it, the hydraulics visibly straining to move the heavy sheet metal doors. The lead tank roared out of the camp, its engine spewing wisps of smoke as its driver pushed the machine harder as the tank lurched for the highway's on ramp.
He double checked his equipment as the tank platoon roared up the ramp and his company followed. The T-72s burst onto the highway in a loose wedge, shoving cars and trucks aside as they plowed onward. Captain Reichenbachers voice filled the radio.
"Lieutenant Joseph, you'll have command of this task force, get to that damn school and rescue those survivors, get them aboard the hinds ASAP."
"Good copy sir, Bravo is entering highway 110 from Gate 3." he replied as his company rolled onto the highway behind Luka's tanks.
The captain's voice filled the radio again, audible to everyone in the BTR. "Reports indicate a horde around five to seven hundred, thankfully not a lot of mutants, the harpies are being dealt with but you'll have to deal with the five or so mutant tanks. Mortars are already raining on their positions, get in. merk that horde and get the survivors out."
As the commander spoke the convoy drove around a wide curve, to the right was some industrial storage tanks and warehouses. As the highway straightened out again lieutenant Joseph peered through the view ports. Ahead he could see the four Hinds hovering to the east of the highway, spewing rockets from their wingpods at the horde. Tracers from their autocannons soared through the air, painting a vivid sight. A growing cloud of smoke and dust was growing from the west side of the highway.
"Luka, Halt. Company… Dismount!" Joseph shouted into the radio. The tanks came to a stop a few hundred feet from the bridge, quickly swinging their turrets around to target the horde. Soldiers piled out of the BTRs as they pulled to the edges of the convey, training their heavy MGs on the horde now trying to cross the bridge and firing at them.
Some zombies came running down the exit ramp on the southbound side of the highway, led by several Tanks, the T-72s aimed, firing several rounds into the mutants, reducing their muscle bound mass to blood smears on the road. Slowly the infantry began adding their fire to the mis as they began spreading out, a platoon began scaling the eastern earthbank and set a blasting charge against the sound barrier, blowing a hole in the wall.
Soldiers piled through, dust still swirling in the air as they began clearing a church. A few zombies jumped out at them but were quickly dispatched. Junior Lieutenant Petr had a simple mission, that was to get his platoon in front of the horde as quickly as possible. With his lead squad now clearing the church he directed the other 2 to begin running up the road. They kept to the center of the road, avoiding cars as they ran, only stopping to put a few shots into any zombies they saw. The Junior Lieutenant turned his head back seeing his last squad following him up as another platoon was moving to follow him.
Ahead the hinds swept up massive clouds of dust. Expended cartridges rained down as they emptied their autocannons at the horde. As the platoon began to approach the underside of the hinds they began peeling away, most of their munitions expended. With the thundering rotors now gone it was replaced by the sharp blasts of mortar fire falling on the other side of the highway.
The platoon spilled into the intersection of Figueroa and 233rd, on the northwest side was a gas station and the Junior Lieutenant quickly issued instructions to his squads to take up firing positions. The troops fanned out, rifles and light machine guns spewing the righteous fury of humanity at the horde. The Junior Lieutenant now turned to look at the horde.
The bridge was pock marked by autocannon and rocket fire. Zombies still came through the flickering flames, moans and roars intermixed as they rushed to consume the Junior Lieutenant. The front ranks of the horde began to fall as the platoon began to cut down the undead. The Junior Lieutenant took a knee and raised his rifle, firing at the undead rushing for him. The hot Los Angeles sun beat down upon them as they killed and killed. The relentless horde bearing down upon them. For every one they killed another quickly took its place, whenever a single rifle paused to reload the horde would quickly rush forward, gaining a few more precious feet, but they held, brave and stalwart soldiers, the roaring of engines was their salvation as a T-72, machine guns spewing hate as it came up the eastern on ramp. The commander half out of the hatch manning the coaxial machine gun, emptying the weapon like a man possessed. Then came another T-72 and then a BTR, they interposed themselves between the platoon and the rest of the horde, then slowly infantry of the 1st platoon followed them up the ramp, reinforcing the position as the final T-72 came up the ramp.
As Junior Lieutenant Petr and 3rd platoon made their stand at the bridge Junior Lieutenant Pasha commanding 2nd Platoon directed his soldiers to pass Petr's men, they ran across the intersection, continuing up the street to the school. Several survivors came pouring out of the school as more undead began pouring out of the neighboring buildings.
Above the hinds were circling, waiting on a chance to land and have the survivors board. Pasha directed his platoon to fan out, securing the large green on the school's south side. Several survivors rushed over to him as he directed his radio operator to signal the Hinds to land.
The survivors spoke something to him, but the Junior Lieutenant's knowledge of English and Spanish was not enough for him to know what they were speaking. His replies were in his own language, Russian. "We are here to help."
The Junior Lieutenant pointed at the Hinds as they began to settle down on the green, the rear ramps coming down to reveal aviators inside gesturing for the people to quickly board the helicopters. The Junior Lieutenant pushed the survivors to the Hinds. They resisted at first but the growing number of zombies pouring from the school convinced them otherwise and soon they were boarding the Hinds as quickly as they could.
As many as could be sent aboard the hinds, as soon as every seat was full the helicopters lifted off, it became an apartment to the Junior Lieutenant that there were more people than the hinds could carry. The Lieutenant came over.
"Get these survivors to the gas station for now!" he shouted over the roar of the last helicopter as it lifted off, leaving several survivors wailing. The lieutenant spoke to the survivors, but his English was little better than the Junior Lieutenant's. But his gestures seemed to calm them. They followed the captain, allowing the Junior Lieutenant to focus on the battle his platoon was fighting.
Lieutenant Luka, standing in his commander's hatch, a box of ammunition for his coaxial mg in his hand quickly reloaded the gun and jerked the bolt, chambering another round. His blood roared and he immediately aimed at a pair of zombies trying to clamber up his tank, a quick burst liquifying the zombies where they were.
A few controlled bursts had those near his vehicle near him mulched and the infantry now around his tank allowed him to focus more on the zombies that were more distant, the ones that had made it through the curtain of death the mortars were creating.
The headset crackled in his ear. The infantry lieutenant informed him that the hinds were away with the last of the survivors. He continued firing at the horde as Joseph began instructing everyone to return to their vehicles. The infantry around the T-72s began to fall back, but by now all that remained of the horde were a few zombies; a few bursts from the MGs reduced them to corpses.
The lieutenant dropped down into his commander's seat and nodded to his gunner. "Luka acknowledges."
"We will be at the rear of the convoy. Get tanks 2 and 3 back onto the highway, driver! Reverse us down the ramp!" the lieutenant peered through his view ports as the infantry streamed past the tanks as they slowly made their way back to the highway and the BTRs slowly turned around.
The lieutenant knew the T-72 was never fast in reverse, but the infantry must have been exhausted from their running for it to take them so long to remount their vehicles. The last few soldiers were mounting their BTRs as the T-72s spun around to face south.
"Luka to Joseph, we are ready to roll." the other lieutenant replied and the lead BTR at the front of the convey started moving forward. Luka instructed his gunner to train their turret to the rear, just in case.
Evn with that precaution no zombies or hordes spilled into the highway. Luka cursed silently as the convoy started entering Gate 3 once more, his gunner spun the turret around once more as the three T-72s rolled into Firebase Fyodor
Andrew stared at several notifications before him as he received the reports the troops were within the walls again. A sigh of relief escaped him. A few light injuries, no deaths among the infantry. The survivors were being examined at the makeshift hospital converted from the Harbor view apartments on W C street.
'Quest issued, (series quest). Expand your survivor camp to 500 survivors. Reward 20,000xp. 321/500'
'Killed Zombies 650(walkers), 225(runners) mutants 10(harpies), 3(tank): rewarded 1,495 Credits, 10,175 xp. Please view the shop to use your credits.'
'You have gained 10,175 xp, 25,540/50,000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
I started going through the system shop again. No doubt most of the ammunition had been expended. I should probably get extra ammunition for the future, we'll store it in those warehouses near the edge of the wharfs… that'll have to be for the best. A few hundred mortar rounds, thousands of rifle and machine gun rounds, a few extra boxes of pistol ammunition. A few dozen extra rounds for the tanks. Then a few hundred rockets and autocannon ammunition for the Hinds, then a few extra anti-tank missiles. 407 credits…
I grumbled to myself a bit then added several MRE pallets to the list, bringing the final price to 1,307 credits. I bit my lip but hit accept. Food was a necessity that we currently had a lot of, but there was no guarantee it would last forever, especially since this system wants to grow the size of my camp at all costs. I headed over to the far wharf and summoned the supplies, the Logistics platoon under Lieutenant Tanya began packing the supplies into the warehouses.
I sighed and looked out at Terminal island. George's company should be finishing up and returning soon. They'll probably return through gate 4…
'Quest issued. Use the gacha shop free monthly spin. Reward 500 credits.'
I stared at the quest for a bit. I guess I shouldn't have found this development surprising should i? I opened the gacha shop and began looking through the catalog and seeing the potential rewards… whole sets of equipment for divisions? Months worth of supplies???
I quickly opened the gacha roller. If they are going to give me a free roll I might as well use it… I rolled the gacha and crossed my fingers as a wheel began spinning, the three cylinders like a slot machine. Slowly they stopped, and a matching pair of sicles was revealed and a small screen appeared.
'Gacha Free roll result. Pauk class patrol boat!'
'Quest Complete. Use the Gacha shop free monthly spin. Reward 500 credits'
A patrol boat? The hell? I looked through the system shop again but no ships even appeared in the list. I'll figure this out later… I looked at the harbor and selected the wharf next to me for the patrol boat. The vessel appeared then several system alerts flashed before me.
'Warning, asset above current rank under user command.'
'Warning, assets are beyond user command limit.'
'Warning, asset… calculating
'Warning, calculating emergency quest.'
'Special Quest issued! Rescue trapped sailors from Santa Catalina island, time limit 36 hours. Reward, Instant free promotion to the next rank, 10,000 credits, 70,000 xp. Warning. Mission must be personally commanded by the user. High chance of fatality. Failure. Removal of asset(s) Pauk class patrol boat and crew.'
I recoiled back for a moment then watched as the timer started counting down. Aw come on!