-Katherine-

The sirens woke Katherine. She sat up straight in her desk, a slight bit of drool hangin on the side of her lips. She wiped it with the sleeve of her dress uniform. A technician ran past her office as two soldiers in full gear ran the opposite direction. She turned to her partner, Dylan for answers but he was still asleep at his terminal.

The buildings shook, from what Katherine did not know. She stood from her seat, the shaking tipping over her carefully balanced Vault-Tec coffee mug to the floor. She winced as it shattered but continued stepping towards the wide window at The US Army Headquarters. She gasped at what she saw: fleets upon fleets of Chinese bombers and transport vessels.

"Ma'am we have to get you out of here." An officer stated. Katherine heard him long before he entered the room, she had heard the clinking of his weapons. Why she was so perceptive to this, Katherine wondered as she turned almost frozen by the sight she had just scene. She turned to face the young officer.

"Yes, of course." Katherine muttered she strode forward, Dylan had finally woken up.

"Lieutenant, what is going on here?" Dylan demanded.

"Sir, the Chinese have come. We're losing Anchorage." The Lieutenant replied grimly. "Now General Chase is calling for all Officers to reach the Safe Zone perimeter."

"Perimeter? Why do we have a safe zone already establish?" Katherine asked. "They've just arrived we can fight then to a holding action."

"I agree, ma'am." The Lieutenant replied as he began dousing the terminals desks and files in gasoline. "But orders are orders." He hands Katherine a silver plated lighter. "Will you do the honors ma'am?"

Katherine nodded and flicked the lighter on. She tossed the lighter into the oil ash watched her work burn.

"take us to the safe zone, soldier." Katherine ordered.

"Of course, ma'am." The Lieutenant replied. He waved his troops along. "Rangers, move out."

-Nathan-

Nathan ran as fast as he could, panting as he went a long. I'm getting too old for this. He thought as he vaulted over some storage boxes. He darted under a few cargo containers as the Chinese troops came around the corner.

They spoke in hushed tones, as if they could actually sneak up on them him. Nathan grinned as he primed a plasma grenade. He lobbed it overhead and jumped out of his cover. He aimed his father's M1911 pistol and honed in on the grenade.

"Speak some English you fucks!" He taunted as he squeezed the trigger. A green plume covered the the Chinese troops burning their skin and setting many aflame.

The troops began to take cover and push through the now-activated fire suppression system. They shouted back in Chinese to which Nathan understood very little. Nathan emptied the magazine and continued lobbing grenades. When the Chinese finally stopped firing, Nathan grabbed his radio.

"This is Sergeant Hale, I'm pinned down at hallway C with a whole lot of reds. I'm in need of support." Nathan said over the radio.

"Copy that, Hale." Overlord, the tactical command specialist for the Anchorage Base, replied. "Be advised all assets are currently engaging Chinese forces where they can. The only available team is about a half hour away."

"Fuck." Nathan cursed to himself. "Copy that, Command."

Suddenly, three sprays of fire broke the silence with Nathan raising his pistol ready to fire. Three soldiers ran through the smoke.

"US Army! Surrender!" The lead soldier cried out. Nathan smirked.

"Blue, blue!" Nathan called out. The soldiers rushed forward and took cover besides Nathan.

"What's it look like out there?" Nathan asked.

"Reds everywhere," the soldier panted. Judging by the patches on their uniform and the haphazardly strapped gear, Nathan guessed they were fresh out of training. "Parachuting in, overran multiple gun battery positions. We're all that's left of Oscar Company."

"What?" Nathan asked. "Everyone?" Nathan's thoughts reflected back to all his friends who lived and served at the gun battery.

The soldier nodded. "They came from nowhere. Couldn't see them. We sprayed away at wherever we thought they were popped smoke and got the hell out of there."

Nathan nodded. "Well helps on the way. We hold this position."

"But there's nothing here sir." The soldier replied. Nathan shook his head and waved his dog tags at a wall. The wall opened up revealing a huge stash of weaponry as well as experimental suit of Power Armor.

"What's here is worth everything to the United States. We lose this, they get everything the DIA has." Nathan said. "And that is simply unacceptable."

-Ash-

"Move up!" Lt. James shouted. Ash rushed forward, leaping over the sandbags to join his commanding officer. "Hit 'em hard and hit 'em fast!" Ash sprinted forward and suppressed the Chinese with his assault rifle. A tracer round shot past Ash's head. He turned and watched it cleave through a fellow squadmate's chest, ripping a hole into his torso.

Ash leapt into the trench and smashed the butt of his rifle against a Chinese soldier's head. He pulled the rifle to his hip and sprayed rounds at the fleeing Chinese troops. He cut down at leafy three of them when he rifle stopped firing. He reloaded quickly when his rifle was knocked out of his hands. An unseen adversary knocked him to the ground. Ash reached for his pistol when a spray of assault rifle fire cut down the invisible soldier.

"Hey there stranger." Yuri said with a smirk she lowered a hand down to Ash, who took it and was helped to his feet. "How can you fight if you're always on the floor?" She asked. Lt. James brushed past them and stood above them on top of a weapons crate.

"Shadow Company, regroup on me!" He shouted. A group of at least fifty men and women gathered around Lt. James with more than dozen auxiliary forces from mismatched units that Shadow Company had recovered.

"The Anchorage Pipeline is less than 100 miles from this location. Command knows that the Chinese invasion force has us outnumbered and outgunned." Lt. James shouted over the snow. Gunfire and explosions in the distance rocked the main gun battery that Shadow Company had just taken. "That's the obvious part of their officially orders. Uncle Sam isn't going to be able to send us help or reinforcements anytime soon."

"What?" Ash whispered, taken aback. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops up against a motley crew of defenders?! How are we going to hold out? Ash wondered to himself.

"But we will hold this pass. Orders from the top." Lt. James said grimly. "They get past us, they can hit the pipeline and the rest of the settled Northwest Commonwealth. Our families are down there. DIAs working to evacuate the rest of them but they need another week at best. We will give them that week. Is that understood?" He shouted.

"Yes sir!" Replied a collective voice.