28 Hours after Attack – twenty miles from Building 7 – 1947 hours
Gerald Hastings was laying on the floor on his side, unconscious from the blow to the head given to him by a separatist member. The large square room was cold, well lit, empty, and painted all white. The door was located on the right of Hastings’ unconscious body. Cameras were in all four corners of this room, as separatists were watching him in a nearby room through the monitors.
Dressed in his business casual tan slacks and matching blazer, the knot on his black tie was loosened around the collar of his buttoned up undershirt.
A masked separatist member opened the door into the viewing room, walked up to the intercom microphone in the other room and activated the maroon colored button to open the channel. To mask his actual voice, they attached a modification to the microphone. Two other members sat in the chairs beside him and watched the cameras.
The voice was deep and unnatural as it echoed in the empty white room.
“Wake up, Mr. Hastings… time is wasting.”
It roused Hastings barely enough to open his eyes. His vision was blurry, and his eye lids were heavy weights.
“Mr. Hastings….”
Hastings groaned as he started to move, the back of his head was pounding. Reaching for it, he felt some slight swelling had developed. Looking at his hand, he noticed no blood.
“I am terribly sorry Mr. Hastings, it was not ideal to strike you to knock you unconscious. That unnecessary violence was handled, I assure you.”
“Where…where am I?” Hastings replied. His voice was raspy.
He was looking around the empty room, allowing his eyes to focus and begin to understand the situation around him. He was in a room, presumably locked, and he was being closely watched.
Slowly, Hastings began to stand by getting on all fours, and then gently rose up to his own two feet. Wobbling around a little, he regained his balance and looked around with his eyes, and then moving his head around.
“You have important information we must extract from you, Mr. Hastings. Hopefully, that hit on your head has not affected your memory. We need the six numerical digit password for a certain…item. Of great importance.”
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hastings stammered.
“Why, yes you do Mr. Hastings. Let’s not lie now. We went through a lot of trouble finding you.” The man (or woman) in the microphone spoke to Hastings in the room.
“You’ve got the wrong guy!” Hastings started to raise his voice.
“We can do this the very easy way, or the violent hard way. The choice is ultimately yours on how smoothly this goes, Mr. Hastings.”
Hastings stood, and looked at all four cameras in each corner as he turned his head and body.
“We want the six digit password for the NR-73 explosive device.” The microphone person spoke again.
“How did you get your hands on that? That weapon can level a city!” Hastings realized he said too much, and quieted himself.
“So you know what we are talking about then. Excellent. The six digit code, Mr. Hastings.” The member asked through the modified microphone.
“I’m not telling you a god damn thing!” Hastings yelled back in response.
The separatist member turned off the microphone.
“See to it that we feed Hastings. Water included. We cannot have him die. An hour after he eats, we ask again.” The separatist member said to the two others monitoring the room. The member who used the microphone began to walk out of the room.
“What if he doesn’t respond with an answer?”
He stopped, and looked over his left shoulder.
“Guess it will be the violent way. Do not hit his head or his face. We need him coherent.”
* * *
Raven Scouts – Raven’s Nest HQ – Operation Area Span: Fifty Miles – 2005 hours:
UAV’s high in the sky, rotating around different sectors covering the ground for the scout teams. Their engines unheard down below. Slowly circling around, recording and photographing the concrete jungle of the city.
High altitude, a SC-33 flew above. It was the airplane used for stealth reconnaissance and aerial support. It housed two dozen armed rapid assault drop troopers (RADT), and a team of five radar and surveillance specialists. Two fixed wings, powered by four noise suppressed engines that were internal to the fuselage of the aircraft. Armed with a defensive active camouflage that made them invisible.
A Lieutenant, wearing a headset and glued to the screens, spoke into the headset microphone.
“All Raven Elements, Raven’s Nest: Report in…”
* * *
Raven Squad 1 –
“Raven One to Nest, not a fucking thing.”
Three troopers were prone, on top of one of the city skyscrapers, with binoculars and bolt laser sniper rifles. Located approximately five miles north from the building seven attack.
* * *
Raven Squad 2 –
“Raven 2 here, no change from last report.”
Two man trooper team, both armed with bolt laser sniper rifles. Located approximately 15 miles southwest of building 7, inside the small infrastructure on the top level.
* * *
Raven Squad 3 – approximately twenty miles north west of building 7.
Three man team.
“Minimal separatist activity, roving patrols. Seven members. Armed with sub machines and spicy pineapples. Non aggressive stance… wait one….” The trooper moved from his sniper rifle to stronger binoculars.
“Update from 3, someone walked out of the building. He’s gathering the roving patrol and talking. All wearing same uniform. Four more members stepped out of the entrance. Roving patrol increased to 11. This might be Talley-oh on objective. I repeat. Talley-oh on possible objective!” The trooper switched his binos to sniper rifle and Aimed down the scope, enhancing distance range.
“Raven’s Nest to 3, Can you confirm VIP?”
“Neg. I don’t see our VIP.”
“Stand by 3….”
“Raven’s Nest to Eagle Watch, Raven 3 may have something of interest, switch to secure net.”
The surveillance operator flicked a ton of switches and moved channels on his dashboard. A RADT Captain approached the surveillance officer.
“Eagle Watch this is Raven’s Nest.”
“Send it, Raven.” Captain Winters responded.
“Sending you footage now…”
* * *
Operations Division – [Redacted] [Redacted] Captain Winters – CO of [Redacted]
Captain Winters viewed the UAV and scout footage from Raven’s Nest on her data pad.
She pondered for a moment.
“Allyn, what do you make of this?” Winters asked as he walked over and watched the data pad.
“Cap, this is probably coincidence. Should we send in the scout elements to get closer? We need thermals or physical eyes on VIP. If it’s a fortified separatist base, this is gonna get fucking bloody.”
“RADT is on stand by aboard the bird, they could infiltrate and cause hell. Risky. They are an assault crew… fuck. Scouts will keep it quiet. But RADT will handle it if it gets aggressive….” Winters and Allyn looked at each other.
“Ma’am, it’s your call. I suggest exfil (exfiltrate) 1 and 2, converge on 3. Let them have the eyes of the sky and ground. We need to watch this building some more.”
Winters activated her microphone.
“Raven’s Nest, Eagle Watch. Converge your 1 and 2 to 3 immediately. Weapons cold, strictly surveillance only. Prep RADT. How copy, Raven?”
“Eagle this is Raven, fuck yeah. Loud and clear. Switching off secure net.”
“All Raven Elements, this is Raven’s Nest. 3 is in area of interest. 1 and 2, exfil immediately. Converge on 3, set up perimeter on entire area of interest. UAV support and aerial support are en route to your location, 3.”
The SC-33 banked hard left and locked onto the coordinates of Raven 3.
The RADT Captain next to the surveillance officer smiled, feeling the shift from the aircraft.
“You’re on standby Captain. Get your people ready.”
The RADT Captain clapped his armored hands together and laughed, “fuck yeah! Let’s rip their dicks off!”
“Uh, Captain. That might be a war crime.”
“It’s all about documentation LT. Let us worry about that little dick detail!”
The RADT Captain chuckled and nodded, applying his full face shield helmet, with an active HUD inside his visor.
“Get in your drop pods and stand by! This is not a drill, fuckers!” The RADT Captain said into his headset, as the RADT Members hustled and ran to their designated Drop pods with their armor and weapons engaged.
“Eagle Watch this is Spearhead Lead, RADT is ready to deploy at your command ma’am.”
* * *
Captain Winters – CO of [Redacted]
“Spearhead Lead this is Eagle Watch. Stand by. Let Raven 1 and 2 exfil and converge with 3. I want you guys to have sniper support.”
Captain Winters lifted her left arm to activate her wrist watch, alerting the Greywolves.
“Greywolves! Head to the Armory and suit up. It’s fucking show time! I’ll meet you all there!”
Winters dropped her headset in the cubical she was at and snatched up her helmet to turn on the active HUD visor. Allyn grabbed his helmet and ran next to Winters heading towards the armory.
Story Time 