Data Decryption Key: Charlie23-Hotel 7
Classification: eyes only
Recipient: Doctor Conner
Redaction: engaged
I hope you really need this, if its for the medical staff tequila bash, I will skin you with your own scalpel, you ------- ----- of ----. I lost ------ men to ferals and another ------- to the signal. Next time you want "an important facet of the plan", its in your own ------- ---. Yeah I got the serum, Exterra must have put in a fortune on the development.
According to the dossier, the purpose is to develop kamikaze soldiers. It's a cocktail of adrenaline, steroids, lactic acid suppressant, rapid coagulants, full dose pain blockers, reaction boosters, testosterone, performance enhancers, and bloodstream grade nanites for carrying the other ingredients. My chemist, -------, estimated that the user would have no longer than thirty minutes before cardiac arrest sets in. Until then, they would make the Incredible Hulk look like your granny out for a walk.
You had better be using that for research only. Somebody injected with that could face down a whole pack of ferals, and hate it for every remaining minute of their life. We should be back to base in a few hours, the Faraday cages set up in the drop ships sure slow done the aurora's effects. When i get there you had better have my ---- money.
Data Decryption Key: Alpha14-Bravo 1
Classification: eyes only
Recipient: Colonel Steiner
Redaction: engaged
Completed as ordered sir, the mercenary drop ship that dropped off the crate of requested materials was sabotaged. One pack of C-4 in each roter, detonated when the ship was two miles away from Hesperus. Recon reported no survivors. All hail the Pax!
"Marc, hey Marcus! Wake up! You want to stay?"
Marcus jolted upright in his seat, everyone in the process of unbuckling their straps, the engines of the plane a dull roar. Juno popped out of her seat to his right and snapped her fingurs at him. "Lets go Marc, the plane says we have to drop!"
She snatched up her rifle and copied what the rest of the pack was doing. Six ports set into the floor by the walls opened, and some were preparing to jump out. Panicked, Marcus struggled out of the restraints, and rushed to the nearest port. Galba jumped feet first down, like a firemen going down the pole, with Scipio following, and finally Marcus. A brief moment of panic followed, as his mind knew he was falling, then a roof loomed out of the rain and sleet that cut visibility down to a few meters. His feet impacted the soaked gravel covering the flat roof, mechanical joints absorbing the harsh force of falling sixty feet. Red pack formed up into standard defensive formation, scanning the roof for hostiles. Responding to Brutus's commands like an orchestra with a conductor, they rushed to the access door. With a whine of servos, Marcus slammed his elbow done on the handle of the door, his titanium elbow shearing the knob from the door. A kick knocked the door off its hinges and down they charged.
A man identifying himself as Command, issued instructions over their headsets as they descended the stairwell, eerily quiet save for the didactic pounds of their boots. They were to reconnoiter the area, and then proceed to a building that housed three thousand civilians. they were to then provide protection while the Pax Initiative evacuated the targets. They would then proceed further into the city, and secure a vault for transportation. No information was provided when they requested intel on possible hostiles. After minutes of sitrep and stairs, they reached the bottom and lined up along the walls by the double doors exited out into the apparent lobby.
Brutus scanned the area and when he told them what he saw, there was a tone of puzzlement in his voice, "Whatever happened there was a spit to end all spit. Blood is everywhere, and a load of corpses, no signs of activity, but stuff has been moved after hell broke loose. Lets hit the street and head towards the extraction building."
He smashed the bar of the door with his body and they filed out into the lobby. Brutus wasn't kidding about the carnage. Blood, smashed pots and furniture, stiffs lying about, mostly rotten into skeletons. Some looked disturbed and had been torn apart. On one wall a dent marred the smooth plane; cracked and dusty sheet-rock formed and indentation about the size of a human's head. Old blood, the color of mahogany, had dripped from the crater, pooling on the floor, while small chunks of dried grey fat speckled the dent. Most of the glass exterior of the place had been smashed, some panes looking like people had ran through them.
They exited onto the street, scanning the ruined cars and corpses littering the area. All of the store fronts had been smashed, glass littering the sidewalk. Visibility was poor due to the torrential downpour from the sky. Even with imaging assistance, they could barely make out what was across the street. Their digital maps showed that the target was three blocks south of their location. keeping low and using cars for cover, the fireteams leapfrogged through the street. Juno's team was in front when they halted and motioned for the rest to stay down.
Brutus impatiently snapped, "whats the hold-up?"
"Bogey spotted." she whispered back.
"Okay, what do they look like, armament, numbers?"
"Hard to tell, over twenty of them, crouched and moving slow, some animal maybe. What the hell are we here for? Pest control?"
Grumbles spread through the pack. Brutus was about to speak when Command broke through the conversation.691Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6J5IETm2X2
"Red Pack, the bogeys you see are to be treated as hostiles, engage and destroy all groups you see en route to the extraction point. Further orders on completion."
"Copy that Command, Pack Alpha out. Team Juno has permission to engage." 691Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRB6jDZKtUw
Juno and her team stood up and opened fire on the crawling figures. Tracers zipped into the pack, dropping targets. With a howl that sounded too human to Marcus's ears, the animals charged Red Pack. Looming out of the gloom, they ran on all fours before jumping those nearest. Marcus then realized that they were human, but only in appearance. Clothed in rags, covered in fresh and old wounds, they acted like savages, tearing at their victims with their hands and trying to bite through the armor plating. Marcus drew his pistol and double tapped the woman trying to strangle Scipio. Strong as Red Pack was, their attackers seemed to be filled with an unstoppable rage. Bullets flew, teeth flashed, knives swung, and bodies dropped. In the end Red Pack escaped with no serious injuries, and only two of the animals survive to flee into the storm. Rain dripping off their armor, they regrouped and continued on their path. Lucius commented that those must be the ferals that had lurked in the back of everyone's minds, unknown monsters found.
Sounds echoed down the street and the ran towards a conflict unfolding at the entrance to a large sky-scraper. Well over four hundred ferals tearing down a barricade blocking the entrance, while intermittent flashes from guns within tried to hold back the storming monsters. Brutus took cover behind a rusted truck and flashed signals to three of the pack. Octavian, Livia, and Galba all carried heavy backpacks and they dropped them and opened the packs up. Out of each came a stubby chain gun with six foot-long rotating barrels. They opened the breach and slapped in the end of a belt of small-round munitions that reached into the backpack. They hefted the guns and climbed into the bed of the pickup. Once there, the three opened the guns to full throttle, a heavy buzz that carried over the sounds of the mob in front. Hundreds of rounds tore into the ferals like hail flattening wheat. The horde turned and tried to rush the pickup, but made no ground against three guns spitting fifty rounds per-second. Brass casings littered the pickup's bed as the gunners reduced the mob to a field of gore. The slaughter lasted no longer than two minutes. Galba and company stowed the guns and Red Pack moved towards the now clear barricade. When they were a few meters away, A bullet gouged asphalt in front of Brutus's feet.
"Halt! who are you?" A voice whose command was ruined by the panic in the tone.
Brutus motioned for the pack to spread out, and he shouted out, "We are from the Pax Initiative, get the door cleared and let us in before I decide to leave."
A couple men armed with crowbars moved some of the pallets, couches, and sheet metal aside and motioned for them to enter.
Once inside, a short man with a scar crossing his lips told them to come with them to the shelter director. They passed three more barricades on their trip to a large cargo elevator. Marcus noted how poorly armed the defenders were. Pistols, bolt-action rifles, a few semi-automatic rifles, and crow bars looked to be the flavor of the month. Conversely, the ragtag survivors were in awe and even fear of the mechanical features, the black armor, sleek weapons, grinning death's-head masks, and the total anonymity of the soldiers inside. Once the elevator began its assent, their guide turned around and gave a hesitant grin.
"Boy, you guys saved our asses out there. I had three guys getting signal sickness already, but I needed to keep the fers back. Who are ya'll?
In one of their first cycles, Red Pack were told the Genesis had to cultivate an appearance. They could never stoop below themselves. They were the pinnacle of warfare, and they had to look it. Their propaganda training showed them videos of old armies marching through streets and on parade, always serious and ready for action. Later they heard a drill sergeant yelling at the propaganda instructor that, "they're kids, not marines" and that "They should be playing with toys and not grenades" . Marcus wondered why the instructor would insult them by calling them kids, and what toys were.
In response to their guide, Brutus merely looked at him. The rest stared straight ahead. The man searched Brutus's mask for meaning, and finding none, he cleared his throat nervously and turned around. They all silently laughed behind his back. Who are ya'll?
Michael Burns never asked for the job. Before the signals came, he was the manager in a restaurant chain. Making food, not stockpiling it, was his job. Then he had the good luck to be in a mega-scraper when the signal hit. He joined the rest of the men in the building to try and frantically keep raging savages from cannibalizing everyone until barricades were set. Fifty-eight of them were memorialized, but they were still dead, including his teenage son. His managing skills meant that the election for a director ended with him in charge. When scouts reported that a class 7 pack had taken up residence in the area, he figured that it would only be a matter of time before he got to see his son again. Everything changed when one of the shelter engineers presented him with a hard drive concerning the seed vaults just outside of the city. That got the Pax's attention, self-centered bastards got greedy enough to help him and take his people to Hesperus.
The door to his office opened and Jack, his lieutenant, led thirteen Pax Initiative soldiers into the room. Looking like the soldiers in the shooter games his son had played, they assembled in three groups of four, with one slightly taller in front. The leader undid the locks on his helmet and removed it, the helmet reminded Michael of the helmets that the Nazi soldiers wore in WW2 and he hoped that these were much different.
He started at seeing the mere boy look at him with an air of control and power that belied his age, fourteen from the looks of it. The lack of ears also disturbed him. What the hell was the Pax doing? Nevertheless, they were here to help Shelter Concord.
He began to thank them for coming, when the boy interrupted.
"First, you're welcome. Second, we don't have the time for chitchat, so shut the hell up. Third, I'm in charge now old man. Get everyone to the roof of the building. drop ships are fifteen minutes out. My pack will hold the ferals off until then. I assume that thumb drive you hold in your hand concerns Camino Verde; I'll take the drive, that's our next stop after this dump. Got that?"
Micheal felt his blood pressure rise at the gall of this punk soldier boy, but he had others to think about. 691Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02vVTV5XMz
"Okay, I understand. Here's the drive, but how are you going to last in the signal? From what I have seen, the vault would take a long time to access, and it isn't shielded. No human can last that long."
"Look old man, Don't assume we are weak cause we are children. We ain't children and definitely not human. If anyone asks who saved your sorry asses, it was the Genesis, Red Pack."
ns 15.158.61.51da2
