by Tom Jones
The leader of the CDI squad replied to the tank driver, “Roger that, Turtle. Keep us covered. Standby.” Once the transmission was finished, the squad leader spoke to one operative wielding an RPK-16, “We’ve got the go ahead for entry. Set the C4 up.” The operative with the RPK-16 nodded, and he reached into his dump pouch to remove a chunk of plastic explosives. The operator removed the protective cover for the adhesive before he planted it on the door. He then removed a few cables from one of his plate carrier pouches and attached them to the plastic explosive charge. He announced to the squad as they all moved to the sides of the walls for cover, “Charges set. Going hot in one mike.” Once the operative made sure that all of his squadmates were clear of the blast radius, he moved to the side of the wall as well before arming the charge. After arming the charge, the operator opened the safety cap on the detonator and pressed the button to detonate the explosives.
The C4 exploded, and the door was blown down within seconds. The operatives waited a few moments for the smoke to clear, and they were also waiting for any ISG members within the complex to return fire. A few more seconds passed, but there was still no response from the ISG. The CDI member closest to the door frame looked over to the Super Abrams while he spoke over the radio, “Turtle, do you have a visual on any hostiles inside the compound? Over.” The tank driver replied, “Negative. The doorway is empty.” The pilot of Copperhead heard the brief exchange, “This is Copperhead, we have no contact from the roof. Everything looks clear from here.” The squad collectively heard both transmissions, and a few members stepped away from the wall with their guns raised before exposing themselves to the doorway. With three operatives looking into the empty hallway, the rest of the squad was unsure of how to proceed with the mission. The squad leader spoke as he looked into the empty hallway, “On me. We’re going into the building.”
The squad leader moved forwards slightly while keeping his AK-12 pointed up at the hallway. He did not want to be surprised by a sudden ambush by the ISG. Once the entire squad was ready to proceed, the squad leader moved forwards into the hallway while keeping his rifle pointed at one of the corners of the hall. He kept expecting an ISG member or two to suddenly emerge and fire on him, but he was surprised to see that a defensive counterattack was not launched against his squad. As the squad leader proceeded deeper into Facility One, the rest of his squad had finally managed to make their way inside of the building as well. With all twelve men now inside of the building, the squad leader agreed that the men should split up into four fireteams of three. The squad dispersed, and they each chose a different path.
The gunner of Rattlesnake asked the pilot, “They didn’t encounter any resistance?” The pilot replied, “I don’t think so. They were expecting to face hostiles right at the entrance.” The gunner looked at the building again, and he also viewed the armored vehicles as they took positions around the building. He then looked up at the Super Havoc as it hovered above the building. The gunner spoke to the pilot again, “You think they’re walking into a --” The gunner was interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion. The gunner watched as the roof of the building tore off and debris were flung all over the sky. The gunner voiced his surprise, “Shit!” The explosion was visible enough to grab the pilot’s attention, and he immediately began to perform evasive action to try and avoid the debris from the building. A secondary explosion sounded mere seconds later, and fire emerged from the doorway from which the squad had just entered the building. Radio chatter started almost immediately, “We have a detonation from within the building!” The gunner’s headset was being overrun by the incoming transmissions, “What the hell is going on in there?” More chatter ensued, “Rover 1-Actual, what is your status? Rover 1-Actual, do you copy?” The radio chatter combined with the abrupt movement from the Super Hind’s pilot was enough to disorient the gunner. The gunner continued to hear the voices flooding the radio, “This is Copperhead, we’ve been hit!” Another voice quickly followed, and the chatter started to become less coherent, “Fuck! Back those vehicles up right now! Clear out, clear out! Oh shit!”
The gunner looked all over the sky, and he was trying to figure out where Copperhead was. After a few moments of searching once his own helicopter leveled out, he spotted the Mi-28M Super Havoc trailing smoke from its fuselage and engine. The helicopter was spiraling out of control, and it was descending in the direction of the armored vehicles. The gunner could hear the panicked pilot of the Super Havoc as he broadcast on the open channel, “Oh shit, I’m gonna hit you guys!” Though Rattlesnake’s gunner wished he could do something about the doomed helicopter, he knew that there was nothing he could do to help neither the pilot nor the gunner of the Super Havoc. One of the BTR-90s began to drive off as fast as the vehicle was able to go, and the driver veered right in order to escape the path of the crashing helicopter. The driver of the Super Abrams saw that he was directly in the path of Copperhead, so he stopped the vehicle in order to see if the doomed helicopter would pass over the tank. The CDI members all heard the final words of Copperhead’s pilot before the radio only outputted static, “Fuck, why did this have to happen to me? Dammit! Dammit --”
The helicopter impacted the ground, and it quickly burst into flames. The wreckage began to roll forwards at a quick rate, and only two of the BTR-90s were able to evade the path of the wreckage. The other two APCs were struck by the wreckage, and they soon crashed into a few trees near the compound. Rattlesnake’s pilot spoke to the gunner, “Hey, snap out of it! Make sure there aren’t any hostiles looking to down our chopper next.” The gunner shook his head as he refocused his attention back at the burning building. He then looked back at the wreckage of Copperhead, “Two of the BTRs are pinned underneath the wreckage. Look!” The pilot wanted to focus on the mission, but he could not help but look at the burning remains of the Super Havoc, “Damn… How many people are in those two BTRs?” The pilot did not have to say another word because the gunner heard more radio chatter from the driver of one of the surviving BTRs, “They’re burning alive in there! Get them out!” The BTR which was not crushed underneath the wreckage opened its rear door as well, and the driver climbed out of the vehicle to see the burning vehicles. There was nothing he could do to move the burning wreckage off of the two BTRs.
“Kurt Hofmeier?” A jail guard spoke after knocking on the cell door to grab Arcades’ attention. Arcades’ ears perked up, and he acknowledged the guard, “Yes?” The guard spoke after he had the fox’s attention, “Your friend, Bobby, is here to pick you two up.” Jason looked up at the cell door as well, and he was trying to mentally count how many days he had been held in police custody with Arcades. The fox asked the guard, “When are we going to be on our way out?” The guard replied, “As soon as he can give you guys some different clothes to wear. You’re not leaving in those inmate uniforms.” Once the guard finished speaking, he left the cell, and Arcades and Jason were alone yet again. The fox spoke to Jason, “Bobby should have your clothes, right?” Jason replied, “I think so. I know I put my combat uniform in the helicopter before we got taken away.”
Arcades slowly shook his head as he remembered the South African mercenaries, but he tried to keep his mind off the event as he continued the conversation, “Yeah… If they didn’t get rid of anything on their way back, then we should still have everything.” Jason presented Arcades with a different question, “Kurt, what are we going to do after we get out of here?” Arcades took a deep breath, “I… I don’t know, Jason.” The wolf spoke again, “How are we supposed to take down more than twenty more Omega facilities all by ourselves if we faced all this trouble trying to take down one of them?” Arcades fell silent for a moment, but he answered, “I don’t think we ourselves can do it.” Jason continued speaking to the fox, “Then how are we going to be able to rescue all of those anthros?” Arcades sighed, “It might be too late now. Omega likely knows that we know about them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re trying to cover up their tracks right now.”
Approaching one of the doors to Facility Zero, Alpha 1 could see a humanoid figure standing in front of the door, but the weather conditions made it rather difficult for the human to see who was standing at the door. Omega 4 commented on the humanoid first, “Who is that over there? Is that supposed to be an ISG member?” Alpha 1 recognized the humanoid when the unit was close enough to see what was monitoring the door, “An anthro?” Alpha 3 was surprised as well, “Really?” Alpha 2 remembered the discussion he had with Alpha 1 while on the plane and jokingly said, “Looks like we’ve met our replacement.” Alpha 1 stopped in front of the anthro and studied it. Except for the tail, the anthro was entirely covered up with a black latex-like material. The anthro wore a gas mask which resembled an Avon FM50 mask, but it featured a red lens rather than the clear lens the mask usually was manufactured with. The lens itself was designed to be reflective, and Alpha 1 could not see a pair of eyes staring back at him from what he could see from the outside. Given the shape of the gas mask, the anthro appeared to be a canoid, but it was still hard for Alpha 1 to identify the race and gender of the anthro. The only identifiable characteristic of the anthro was the medium-brown tail which was the only exposed fur anybody from the outside could see. The tail and the shape of the mask were the only details which one could use to identify the anthro as part of the canoid race. The anthro held an XMP-1, but it only wore a minimal black chest carrier over the latex bodysuit. Alpha 1 could see that the anthro was not equipped with any equipment outside of a couple extra magazines for the XMP-1. The anthro was not even supplied with any first-aid equipment or armor; Alpha-Omega was convinced these anthros were designed to be expendable.
The feature about the anthro which was most peculiar to Alpha 1 was the fact that the anthro wore a blue collar rather than a green collar. Omega 2 commented on the collar before Alpha 1 could, “A blue tier? The Foundation never told us about this.” Alpha 1 shook his head as he stood in front of the anthro and studied it further, “I thought green-tier was the highest tier for an anthro. They had a whole other tier they didn’t even tell us about?” Omega 1 nodded, “I suppose so.” Alpha 1 remembered his conversation on the plane as well, “This is our replacement…” Alpha 3 questioned, “Replacement? I thought Omega was just supposed to get anthros to supplement the ISG when we need additional support.” Alpha 1 spoke, “Considering they’re using these anthros as the ISG here, my guess is that they have bigger plans.” Omega 4 pointed at the collar, “So, there’s a blue tier they’re going to be replacing us with?” Alpha 1 shook his head, “Let’s talk about this inside, how about we? It’s too fuckin’ cold out here for this shit.” Alpha 2 spoke to the anthro guard, “Let us in.” Almost immediately after the human spoke, the anthro spun directly around and placed its hand on a door panel. The panel looked different from the standard keycard readers which were common among other Omega Foundation facilities, but there was still a slot to swipe a keycard. The door panel flashed blue and then green before the door opened. The squad proceeded inside Facility Zero, but Alpha 1 took note of how the anthro moved. The anthro seemed to move in almost a robotic manner, and Alpha 1 was surprised that an anthro could be brainwashed enough to behave as such. He had not even seen green-tiered anthros behave exactly like this manner. When the anthro spun back around, it placed its hand back on its weapon, and the trigger group changed color from red to blue. Alpha 1 raised an eyebrow as he studied the XMP-1 variant before he heard his colleague speak, “You coming?” Alpha 1 diverted his attention back to the task at hand, “Yeah…”
Arcades examined the old-cut Zimbabwean uniform which he had worn in the Congo. The guard had given both the fox and wolf the clothes which Bocchino had supplied. Jason had been given a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and his work boots. The fox saw that the wolf had been given his shoes, “Looks like Bobby decided to give me this -- for some reason…” Jason spoke as he began to change into his regular clothes, “Why don’t you ask him when you get out there?” Arcades inhaled before speaking, “Yeah…” When Jason finished dressing himself, he questioned Arcades, for the fox had not yet changed his clothes, “What’s wrong Kurt? You don’t even wear shoes.” Arcades replied as he looked at the shorts, “These shorts were originally designed for the African climate. They’re very short, and I wouldn’t really want to wear them around a place like this.” Jason chuckled as he remembered how Arcades looked when the group was in Africa, “Heh, I think they look pretty good on you, mate.” The wolf’s comment made the fox even more reluctant to wear the shorts, but he knew that they were all he had been given. Arcades looked at Jason again, and the fox knew that he should just hurry up and change if he wanted to get out of jail. The fox removed the inmate clothes before putting on the Zimbabwean Brushstroke combat shirt and shorts. Arcades noticed that the shirt’s sleeves were still rolled up from when he was in the Congo, but he did not see any reason to roll them back down.
The guard came back with a few moments to check and see if both anthros had finished getting dressed, and he opened the door when he noticed that Arcades and Jason were indeed dressed. The guard noticed Arcades’ shorts, sighed, and muttered under his breath, “Fuckin’ anthros are all the damn same…” The fox did hear the guard’s comment, but he did not say anything back to the guard; Arcades just wanted to get out of jail. The guard stood outside of the cell and gestured to the anthros before he spoke, “Come on out and take a right. Don’t walk too fast.” Arcades exited the cell first, and he briefly looked at the guard before following his instructions. As the fox walked, he could hear Jason trailing close behind him. After a good several meters of proceeding forward, the guard spoke again, “Take a left here.” Arcades listened to the guard, and he made a left turn. As the fox continued, Arcades couldn’t help but think about the comment the guard made before he exited the cell.
Alpha 1 waited in front of a door which he had been told led to the hangar for the XVP-1. The unit did not know what the XVP-1 exactly was, but all they knew was that the codename for the vehicle was called the Dreadnought. With such a name, the group was left to speculate that the vehicle contained an impressive collection of high-caliber armament. Before the unit could converse among themselves again, the hangar door opened, and a human emerged, “Alright, ISG Alpha-Omega is here. Are you guys ready to see the Dreadnought?” The unit looked amongst themselves, but nobody produced any objections. The Foundation engineer waved the unit inside the hangar, “Come on now.” The unit walked into the hangar and was immediately surprised upon seeing the XVP-1. Alpha 1 vocalized his amazement first, “Holy shit…” The group looked over the railing, and they could see the absolutely massive vehicle being maintained in the hangar. The engineer chuckled, “Heh, you guys like it? It’s finally operational.” The vehicle consisted of four large segments, and it almost appeared to be a train of some sort. The XVP-1 had four sets of large treads on each segment, and some of the treads were facing different directions, which let the group know that the vehicle was capable of rotating each tread grou
p independently of the other treads.
Atop of each segment of the vehicle were large weapon systems. The first segment held an array of automated CIWS turrets, which appeared to have been built to destroy incoming projectiles. The second segment held communication equipment and what appeared to be equipment for an advanced trophy system. The third segment contained an oversized version of a device which physically resembled the AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System, but the LaWS appeared visually distinct from the model produced by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions since it was developed by the Omega Foundation itself. The fourth segment held an array of surface-to-air missile VLS launchers as well as unguided rockets and a conventional SAM launcher. The Omega employee spoke after the group visually inspected the Dreadnought from afar, “The eXperimental Vehicle Project 1, ‘Dreadnought’ features everything you need to stay in a fight. The armor is composed of a multi-layered system for maximum protection. If an enemy can even get past the trophy system in the first place, they’d still have to get through the other layers of defense. The outermost layer is entirely covered with reactive armor. I’m sure you guys are familiar with that concept: It’s designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating the armor and causing internal damage to the vehicle. Underneath the armor is a thick and improved titanium-steel alloy capable of withstanding high-energy projectiles. If you breach that layer somehow, then you’d still have to get through the Foundation’s classified composite armor filling which lines the cabin. Not to mention the cabin itself is also shielded by another layer of that same titanium-steel alloy.”