November 6, 2021

As the officers of the Vigilant Fire Company met in the officer's quarters room, Weiss gathered her notes in a folder on her desk before she began reading out the roll call. "Okay, I'm present. 2nd Captain Llewelyn?"

"Present," Dafydd replied as he raised his hand. He was 24 and had 9 years in.

"3rd Captain Ling?"

"I'm present," Yi replied as she raised her hand before checking her phone for a text from her father. She was 25 and 11 years in.

"1st Lieutenant Key?"

"Here," Ross replied before he checked over a folder. He was the youngest officer there, and was only 19 years old with 7 years of experience. He was previously the 9th Lieutenant before the attacks.

"2nd Lieutenant Schnee?"

"Present," Hans, the eldest of Weiss's late uncle Alfred's 3 children, said. He was 25 and had 13 years of service.

"3rd Lieutenant Mueller?"

"Present," James Mueller, a 30-year-old with 15 years in the fire company, replied. He also worked as a paid firefighter, and had 7 years on the paid side.

"4th Lieutenant Ray?"

"Here," replied George Ray, the oldest officer, who was an ex-captain, 54 years old, and had 30 years in the Vigilants as well as 12 in Valeanian Legion Post 12 Ambulance Squad and Valiant Hook and Ladder Company before then. He was a police officer, and was planning to retire early next year after 32 years on the job.

"5th Lieutenant Greenwald?"

"Here," replied May Greenwald, a 34-year-old whose father was a member of the fire company as well. She had 22 years in, and worked as an elementary school teacher.

"6th Lieutenant Miller?"

"Present," replied Ron Miller, a 20-year-old with 6 years in the fire company. He had the least amount of years in, and worked as a security guard for a bank.

"7th Lieutenant Avery?"

"Present," Michael Avery, a 30-year-old with 17 years in the fire company who worked at a warehouse as a dock loader.

"8th Lieutenant Oleander?"

"I'm here," replied Maxine Oleander, aged 29 years with 5 years in the fire company plus 13 in Protection Fire and Engine Company in District 1. She worked as a dispatcher for the police department. Her father was in PFEC1 before he was killed in the attacks, and he worked as a dispatcher with the police department as well.

"9th Lieutenant Burke?"

"Present," replied Lillian Burke, aged 23 years with 10 years in the fire company. She worked as a mid-level manager at a nearby restaurant.

"Alright," Weiss said as she began the meeting. "Okay, truck detail, Captain Ling?"

"Got it," Yi replied as she stood up with a clipboard. "Okay, on the Ambulance, me and Lieutenant Schnee will get on with whoever else is here that isn't an officer. On Engine 201, Captain Llewelyn, Lieutenant Key, Lieutenant Mueller, and Lieutenant Ray will board as well as anyone else who isn't an officer. On Truck 201, Lieutenant Greenwald and Lieutenant Miller will board. On Rescue 201, Lieutenant Oleander and Lieutenant Burke will board."

"Thank you." Weiss then pulled out the plans for a new ambulance from her folder. "Now, first order of business is the purchasing of a second ambulance. Last week, we agreed to send these plans to Avex Manufacturing and to VMC. They have received them via email, and they just got back to me saying that they are starting construction tomorrow. They expect to deliver Ambulance 201B to us by early January."

Ron then asked Weiss, "Will this contain special mountings for the permanent firefighter SCBAs, or is Ambulance 201B gonna be all-volunteer?"

"It will be all-volunteer," Weiss replied to him. "We will be the sole operators of this unit. It will be housed in front of Rescue 201 in its bay. Any other questions?" After several seconds of silence, she moved on with, "Okay, next on the list is Firefighter Whitley Schnee's status. Now, my brother has completed the special Basic Firefighter-Certified First Responder class that was first offered at the beginning of August, primarily for the many new volunteer companies that have been sprouting up recently. As of today, I have cleared him as an interior-certified firefighter. As for other classes, the new set of January classes will be communicated to all the volunteer companies in early December. Sign up for a few, get training in, we need it, especially since the terror attacks back in August wiped out far too many experienced firefighters."

Then, George raised his hand. "By the way, sorry to interrupt, but the annual Valeanian Manorial Fire Officer's Convention is being held on the 1st weekend of December. Are you planning to attend, Weiss?"

"I was about to mention that, in fact," Weiss replied to him as she flipped through her notes. "I will be attending both dates, but after the second date, I will have to leave to go to Atlas for a week for some SDC business. During that time, Captain Llewelyn will be Car 5."

Meanwhile, as Penny cleaned the counter top of the rec room bar at the firehouse with a towel and disinfectant spray, she noticed a spot on the floor below her. "Oh, greaaaat..." Annoyed, she put the disinfectant and the towel on the bar before going back into the kitchen to grab a mop. "Who the hell spilled something on the floor and didn't pick it up?" As she went back out with the mop and began to clean the spot up, two other volunteers walked in. Penny waved hi as she continued. "Hey guys. Say, do you know if anyone spilled anything behind the bar and didn't pick it up?"

"Nope," said one of them. "This is the first time we've both been here today." As they both sat at the bar, he pointed to a non-alcoholic bar gun and said to Penny, "Hey, uh, Penny, can you give me and Steve here squash?"

"I don't mind, Chris," Penny replied as she grabbed two glasses from under the bar and poured squash into both before giving them to Chris and Steve. She then grabbed a glass for herself and poured pineapple juice for herself before putting the bar gun away. After she took a sip, she said, "Ah, I love pineapple juice. It was actually the first liquid I ever drank. It was kinda funny, too. My father had some because he friggin' loves it, too, and while he was out on break, I walked over to his work table and drank it. I had only been online for like two hours, I think."

"Nice," Chris replied. "How did he react?"

"He kinda panicked at first, but nothing happened, and I was allowed to keep drinking stuff." She then finished her glass.

As she did, the paid lieutenant on duty walked in and said, "Hey, guys, your officers wanna order some food for later. Would wings or something work?"

"Yeah," Steve replied as Chris and Penny nodded.

"Got it," he replied as he walked out. As he did, Penny refilled her glass with water before she cleaned the bar gun with a paper towel.

Then, they all heard a loud crash in front of the fire station. Penny asked, "What the fuck?"

Then, all 3 of them ran out of the rec room and past the fire trucks as they saw that a car accident had happened in front of the firehouse. A car had hit a motorcycle head on, knocking the driver off the bike and onto the street. The driver of the car had minor injuries to his face and was standing out of the car with a horrified look on his face.

Weiss also ran out as she radioed, "Car 5 to Fire Alarm."

"Car 5, go."

"Tone out my company and Goodwill for a Delta-response traffic accident in front of our firehouse. We have a car vs motorcycle with 1 unconscious patient."

"10-4."

Weiss then grabbed a medical bag from her captain's car as several firefighters began to get dressed in their turnout gear as their pagers went off, followed by the station siren. She then ran over to the driver of the motorcycle, who was lying in an expanding pool of blood and was out cold. She then began to pull out supplies as the ambulance pulled out of the station onto the street. As Penny ran out to her, she said to her, "Get a bunch of towels and get them out here to get all this blood!"

November 7, 2021

"Hey, look over there," said Ruby as she pointed to a group of suspicious men standing in the courtyard of an apartment building in a battle-torn city in Menagerie from the roof of a building about 100 yards away. She was joined today by a Menagerian spotter. "What the hell are those guys over there doing?"

"Oh yeah," the spotter replied as he zoomed in. As he did, he saw weapons on them. "Shit, they got a few rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade with them." He then turned to her. "Let's ask to take these guys out."

"Good idea. There's a patrol from Mistral going through here soon." She then shuffled around and grabbed a radio from her pocket. "Question Uniform 339 to Base."

"Base on, go."

"We have 4 male individuals in a courtyard armed with rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade," she radioed out. "Want me to act on them before the Mike India patrol comes through, over?"

"Affirmative. Take the shot, over."

"Roger." Ruby then aimed Crescent Rose at the men. As she zeroed in on the one with the rocket-propelled grenade, she hoped that she would hit it and take out all 4 at once. "Okay... Hit the RPG, hit the RPG, hit the RPG..." She then sighed and pulled the trigger.

A second later, through the scope of Crescent Rose, Ruby saw that she had hit her mark as an explosion engulfed the courtyard, killing all 4 instantly. A few seconds after that, the sound of the blast echoed to them. The spotter told her, "That was awesome! You hit it just right!"

"Yeah, I know." Ruby then ejected a jammed casing before putting in two explosive rounds.

Suddenly, a bullet whizzed past Ruby, went straight through the spotter's scope, and blew the spotter's head off almost completely as his body was thrown back, startling Ruby as she was covered in the spotter's blood and brains. "Holy fuck!" She quickly regained her composure and began aiming through the scope of Crescent Rose as she tried to find where the shot had come from. After a few seconds of searching that felt more like minutes, Ruby got her answer when another bullet grazed her gun, barely missing the trigger and her hand, and she saw a gleam of light coming from a silhouette in a building not far from where she had killed the 4 White Fang terrorists before. "Take this!" She then fired two shots in quick succession into the building.

Almost instantly, both rounds, which were explosive, hit their target, causing a small explosion that killed a White Fang sniper and killed the room with smoke.

Ruby then quickly folded Crescent Rose up and shuffled her way to the stairs without getting up on her feet as she also dragged her fallen spotter's body with her. Once they reached the stairs, she stood up and carried his body on her shoulders as she ran down the stairs. Once she got out of the building, she saw the Mistralian patrol on their way down the road and ran up to them, shouting, "Hey! Over here!"

A soldier and a medic on the patrol quickly ran out to her as she placed her spotter's body down on the street. The medic said to her in accented Valeanian, "What has happened?!"

"He took a round to the face from a White Fang sniper," Ruby told him as she put Crescent Rose on her back. "I killed the sniper afterwards. He's gone."

"Yeah," the medic replied as he pulled out a towel for Ruby to wipe the spotter's blood off of her. "I think he is dead. Not many people survive a bullet to their heads."

The soldier then said to the medic in Mistralian, "Θα συνεχίσουμε την περιπολία. Μείνετε μαζί της και επιστρέψτε στη βάση μας."

"Μάλιστα, κύριε," the medic replied back. "We are going to our forward operating base. You can contact Valeanian forces there."