New Order

Part One : Stray Dog

First Chapter

The raindrops were falling in straight lines down into the dark sea of the Caribbeans, making a soft but loud ambient noise. On the main platform, men were preparing for the inspection, running in all directions in their damp fatigues while their superiors yelled orders from the upper decks. Their tasks ranged from fetching papers, to moving heavy metal containers around. Away from the rest, on one of the secondary platforms, at the top of the main medical building, Artyom, alone, was looking at his comrades, quite satisfied to have been assigned to the role of lookout for that night. It wasn't that he didn't like to help, he loved his job, and his colleagues, even the Boss, but he enjoyed, needed even, to be alone like this, away from the rest. An when he did meet another member of MSF, during the course of his shift or when he went back to sleep, he felt that the exchange that ensued was somehow better, more sincere. Although the moments when they ate together, in big numbers, with people from all ranks and departments, sometimes with the Boss himself, were great moments, nothing could beat, in his opinion, a long moment of loneliness punctuated with short conversations with the other guards he came across during a night shift. But tonight, the usual silence of Mother Base was broken by an agitation rarely seen in the very disciplined environment that it was most of the time. Almost all the personnel was mobilized on the main platforms, which formed a bright circle of light, noise and movement in the damp, dark night. It was harder for Artyom to watch the sea around the platform, since power had been cut due to a failure that could not be fixed yet because of the inspection, thus forcing them to redirect the power of the emergency generators to the central platforms during the time necessary to finish preparing the inspection.

Somehow, the spectacle of all these men and women working hard under the rain, in the middle of the night, following confused orders, was a pleasant and rejoicing one. Because despite the chaos, everyone of them was at their place, a small but significant part of something greater than themselves. Their very own nation, a nation of freedom, a nation of warriors, built around no ethnicity or religion, but with one ideal in mind: they would become the army of those who could not afford one, accepting of all, and selling to none, unsullied by the ideologies that brought about the cold war. Artyom was happy here. Although he was, or rather, he had been Russian, and a fervent patriot, it did not trouble him the least to be working for an organization that had been founded by ex-members of the US military, and surrounded by soldiers from all nations around the globe, speaking almost every language there is. Men, women, of all color and religion, tired of a bipolar world, formed a single society, united and strong. On the Mother Base they called themselves "children of Big Boss", an army without a nation, fittingly named "MILITAIRES SANS FRONTIERES".

This nation had grown, from a few dozen members at its foundation, to several hundred that were now almost all together on the central platforms of the gigantic offshore complex they called home. It was big enough to host them all, and attend all the needs of a miniature society; there was a medical center, a shooting range, a research center, and even an entertainment platform, all within this metallic military city standing 40 feet above the sea.

Artyom noticed a helicopter departing from one of the dark platforms. It swoop almost silently towards the platform where he was standing, and went over it swiftly, but not enough for Artyom not to notice it was the Boss's chopper, the one he used to go to the mission areas. It was likely that most of the personnel, in the middle of all this noise, did not notice the aircraft flying away in the distance. It seemed to be headed in the direction of the continent. It was almost midnight, and the UN inspectors were supposed to arrive at 2 a.m..

"Where do you think he's going" asked a voice behind Artyom, who turned out to be Taggart's

"He? You mean the Boss?"
"Well, yeah. I don't think I ever recall seeing the chopper flying without him in it" she said.

"How can you be sure?"
"I don't know, I was just wondering I guess. It would be weird for him to leave us when the inspection's just about to start."
"I don't think that it's him. Maybe it was the only chopper still available, you know, with all that mess, and the power outage..."
"Yeah, you're probably right. By the way, your English has improved a lot since last time we spoke"
"Really? Well thank you! When was that? I believe we haven't talked in a while..."
"I had several missions in the past months, tough ones. So I asked to be assigned to base facilities for a while. It's quieter. What about you?"
"I'll take part in my first op for MSF in about a week, I passed all the medical exams and the training"
"And where will that be?"

"Africa. We are to rescue child-soldiers for a Nigerian NGO."
"Good luck with that.I'm sure you'll do fine there. Hey! Did you hear that they're gonna build a movie theater on the new residential platform?"

"Really? I didn't know!"
"Yep. A full-sized one. Apparently, it was a request of that shady Japanese guy from the research unit. He's a big movie buff I think"
"Never seen him or heard of him"
"Well I don't know exactly what he's doing, but he's said to be a valuable member of MSF. He sure seems to think he is, anyway"
"That ought to be cool. The movie theater I mean."
"Yep, I..."

Taggart was suddenly petrified. For half a second, A. thought about asking her why, but then he heard what she had seen just a second ago, and turned around to behold the central platform, ablaze, surrounded by military helicopters, some firing missiles at the central platform, others tracking down the fleeing survivors on the neighboring platforms. Some were stationary, and armed men in black descended from them along ropes down onto the platforms, shooting at the armed and the unarmed alike. It was a massacre. Within a few minutes, hundreds died, and the central platform started to collapse down into the sea, causing the surrounding platforms to shake tremendously.

"We have to move" whispered Taggart, so shocked that she was unable to speak any louder.