Coalition of Order Governments!
Two Days before Operation Hollow Storm:
"Looks like you owe me ten bucks." Gates grinned as he held out a hand at his brown haired comrade. Cpl. Collins groaned before handing him a full cartridge of ammo rolling his eyes as he glanced over the first and only stronghold the COG seemed to still have under their control since those beasts erupted out of the ground. "Granite seems to be the only thing those damn beasts can't get past." Gates continued as he chucked the ammo in his pack.
"We have only been searching for them for fifteen years." Collins mumbled as he rubbed his bearded chin, everyone beside Wende had grown some sort of facial hair covering their rugged features. They had managed to tame them, as much as their knives would allow but it was still nothing like a clean cut. Wende was the only one who didn't have to worry too much about facial hair, it was one of the few (and when she said few she meant very few) perks of being a female. The thirty year old red head brought her gaze to what seemed to be the final outpost of the Cog.
"What the hell happened?" She couldn't help but mumble to herself as they marched on, the last battle they had been ordered to was to Aspho Fields and after that battle their King Raven had been shot down. They lost both the pilot and co-pilot and hadn't the vaguest idea where the hell they were. It took nearly two years but finally they made their way to familiar land and ended up in Porta Ogari which was an important stop for many merchants and the COG. It was there that they were informed that the Pendulum wars had officially ended and they were actually at peace. The following day the squad had purchased tickets to take board of a ship and make their way to another city closer to Jacinto. It was there where they watched the city fall victim to a new enemy, and since they were on a civilian ship they hadn't the vaguest idea of what was going on, on their planet.
The corporal shook herself from her thoughts at the sound of the Sergeants voice, "Let's get moving. I'll be damned to be get this far and die now." She glanced over at the Sergeant, he wasn't one of many words that much was learned fifteen or so years ago when they first met. The dark skinned man was instead a man of action and if their survival proved anything, it was that this man knew what he had to do in order to keep his men alive. Jacinto was in eyesight, that was always a plus yet she still felt as if it were so far. "Let's move Bravo-Zero." Both Collins and Gates walked passed her following Campbell without so much as a second thought, at that Wende smiled if the past fifteen years did anything it was strengthen the bond between the members of their squad. With that the corporal marched forward with warm beds, nice showers, and good food in eyes reach.
Jacinto had seen better days, that much was for damn sure to the entire Bravo-Zero members. As they made their way through the city they passed by just about everything they had seen during their time over in the pendulum wars- the only difference were the horrible human like creatures that littered the floor. "They may not be able to tunnel under, but they sure as hell have tried to take the city by force." Collins mumbled as he kicked a dismembered limb out of his way. The streets were packed with COG recruits, and NCO's with all the time that had passed none of them were actually expecting to recognize anyone around. Much to Wende's surprise though they came across some familiar faces, Campbell was the first to walk up to them.
"Jones?" The female in question was standing next to a familiar red head and a COG who wore an issued helmet, when she spun around at the name recognition played in her eyes with a hunt of disbelief.
"Bravo-zero?" All conversation around them halted as all eyes turned to them, Jones hadn't spoken but above a whisper yet that seemed to be all it took to catch everyone's attention. "No, way. Look at that Pratt! I told you they weren't dead, just hopelessly lost." Jones ran up to the four of them and gave them the biggest hug she had received since she had last been around friendly people. "Oh my gosh, you do not know how badly we need trained battle hardened gears like you guys." Wende watched as she fell back with the masked man and Pratt, they had run into each other a number of times during the Pendulum wars- back then those two were the closest thing to recruits you could get in that era. "What I would give to live in those days when we were surrounded by nothing but battle hardened gears." She whispered as her head hung, "But now, I kid you not Bravo-Zero." She did not like the look in those chocolate orbs, "Our species, mankind, humans. We are on the brink of extinction." She felt her own jaw fall ajar slightly at the sudden information. "We have been fighting the damn locust for fifteen years; hit them with fucking everything we had. The light mass," Jones' eyes met up with her own hazel eyes, "We even hit our own cities, civvies with the hammer of dawn in hopes of exterminating these things."
Wende watched as the battle hardened gear, in her own right, broke down in front of her leaning on the masked man's shoulder and weeping, "Is the situation that dire?" This time it was Pratt who spoke up.
"You see all of these men around you." Wende looked around as the rest of her squad did, "I kid you not ninety percent of them are recruits. We have lost a lot of good men, a lot of men we could really use right now. And though the new blood is nice-"he shook his head his own deep voice hitching, "I can't possible see us winning this fight. Jacinto is our last stronghold, all the people you see are the last of the "civilized" race left in all of Sera. Or so the COG will tell you, we have shipped women onto farms. Those farms have mainly been taken over. We have lost a lot of people, lost the respect of the stranded." He glanced back at the specialist who was now whipping her eyes clear.
"If we don't stop them here…we are as good as dead."
"Stop them here?" Gates asked both Jones and Pratt glanced at each other before looking away, this time it was the masked man who spoke.
"We are taking the battle to them, a big chunk of the remaining COG will be sent down into the Hollows to attack the Locust in their own turf. If we can get one squad to get to their stronghold, I think they called it Nexus- a second wave will be sent down via beacon to act as reinforcements to the men down there."
"Are you guys…" She didn't even have to answer her question; the look in the gears' eyes told them all she needed to know.
"We lost our Sergeant not too long ago to those damn grubs," Jones' chocolate orbs hardened as she subconsciously grazed over her pistol. "I will take out as many as those bastards as I can," Though the woman was staring at her, Wende felt as if she was looking past her before finally she shook her brown curls around and smiled. "Anyway we need to inform Hoffman that you are here, your appearance will surly raise the shit moral we have running around right now."
"Morale is low?" Campbell finally spoke up; Pratt was the one to reply.
"It goes without being said that if we fail here we lose. Everyone knows that and with no known way to annihilate along with the majority of the men being recruits. Can you blame them?" Campbell merely shrugged, "Anyway we should show you up to Hoffman. It's good to know we have some of the Royal Tyran Infantry with us."