Episode 1: Collision Course
Cole and his men waded ashore as quietly as they could. He could still hear the voice of a Dutch woman chatting away, most of her quips ending with several people laughing at her comments.
"There's several people." Cole whispered as he leveled his rifle through the fog.
"I can see a campfire." The girl whispered as she pointed to a dull orange light poking through the fog.
"Let's get closer." Cole whispered as he turned to his squads behind him, motioning them to bunch up.
"We aren't alone here… but we don't seem to have been discovered." Cole said as Lucia walked over to him.
With a sigh, she looked at Cole.
"If it is who I think it is, They're friendly." Lucia said as she listened closely to the voice of the Dutch woman who was still talking.
"You have a clue?" Cole asked.
"Her name is Natalie. She should be with the men you are looking for." Lucia spoke before backing off a bit.
'I wonder why Natalie is here.' Lucia thought, making her way back to the edge of the group.
"Well… we're in Germany. How common can a Dutch woman be?" Cole said as he motioned for them to move forward towards the campfire.
"Dutchess… there's somebody here." A new voice spoke. Cole froze in his tracks and leveled his rifle at the campsite.
"Who goes there?" One of the men spoke sternly.
"Depends. Who are you?" Cole asked as the fog between them blew away with a gust of wind, allowing slightly better visibility.
Cole noticed the green uniform of the Union Army.
"You're Army." Cole said as he lowered his weapon.
"As are you…" The man said as he lowered his handgun.
"Corporal, is there a problem?" A large woman asked.
"We have visitors. Looks to be a Union Soldier and a bunch of Union sailors." The Corporal said.
"Who is she?" the girl next to Cole asked as she pointed to a cloaked figure sitting by the fire.
"We don't even know who you are." The Large woman retorted.
"I am Brooklyn, Kansen of the USS Brooklyn. These men are under my protection. Now, who is she?" Brooklyn asked.
The figure turned to her. In a flash, Brooklyn's rigging was drawn and all fifteen of her guns were now trained on the cloaked figure.
"Brook?" Cole asked.
"Back away slowly… they can't be trusted. That cloaked woman… it's a Siren."
Lucia's eyes widened. Now she knew for certain that Natalie was here. Why else was Ania here? However, if Lucia didn't act fast, Ania wasn't about to be around much longer.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Alright, you ready?"
The men nodded. For the last few days, they had been scoping out the area, taking note of when the sirens passed by. Now, it was time. The airborne soldiers hadn't done anything like this before, but there was no time like the apocalypse for trying new things. Creeping forward, the men followed behind the Iron Blood girl, keeping any comments they had to themself. It was odd, following an Iron Blood girl, but she knew the area best.
"Hold." The harsh whisper came down the line.
The Union airborne soldiers stopped right where they were. Ahead of them, several explorers and SS men were walking around the base of the bridge. As the airborne troops watched, their foes slowly moved away. Keeping low, they resumed their advance toward the bridge. Reaching the base, the men slowly began climbing the tower.
"We gotta make this fast. Who knows how long we have before either the sirens and SS return, or a siren train passes over our heads."
The men nodded their agreement. As they began climbing, each man's heart began beating a little bit faster with each foot they climbed.
XXXXXXXXXX
The Iron Blood girl was the first to reach the top of her support tower. Precariously balancing on a steel beam, she reached into her bag and pulled out a block of TNT. Wrapping the brick in place, the girl gave a thumbs up to the engineer on the ground, who began his ascent.
'One down, three to go.' The girl said to herself before pulling herself up onto the catwalk above her.
As she crawled along, the girl stole glances at the Eagle Union GIs doing their side of wiring the bridge to explode. Above her, a private placing a TNT charge, below to her right, the engineer running a wire to the TNT charge she had just placed. Far below her on the ground, the radiomen were talking with the other two radiomen a few miles down the line, watching for oncoming trains. Placing the second charge of TNT, the girl took a moment to steady herself. This was the tough part. Going down.
The girl had reached the downward half of the arch, and carefully climbed down one of the steel girders until her feet touched the arch. Carefully bending over, the girl placed the third TNT charge, before beginning her descent down the arch. By now, the engineers were wiring the TNT charges at the top of the bridge and along the catwalk.
'Just one more and I'm done. Then we can blow this thing.'
Descending the arch to about the halfway point, the girl placed her last charge, then hurried down. The engineers above her were still wiring everything, but were working as fast as they could. Climbing down as fast as she dared, the girl ran over to the two radiomen who appeared to be waiting for her.
"Wie are uns tun with time?" The girl asked.
"Pretty good. Robert is reporting no trains inbound. Wait, hold one moment." The radioman said, intently listening to the radio.
The girl's face nervously glanced at the radioman, then back at the engineers on the bridge.
'Hurry up.' The girl pleaded in her mind.
"We got trouble. Siren train inbound." The radioman reported, his eyes wide with fear. "This is coming from Hensley, so we have some time, but not much. Robert will tell us what the cargo is."
The girl glanced up at the engineers who were finishing the wiring. She hoped that they would get down as fast as possible.
"High ground. Most likely weisheit dust" The girl said, to which the radioman nodded his agreement.
"Robert confirms what you said. Wisdom dust. We need to get out of here."
The girl turned and ran toward Captain Speirs, the most senior officer left in the 506th. As she ran, she saw the engineers reaching the base of the bridge, and laying the destination cord up the hill. Spying Speirs off to the left up the hill, the girl quickly turned his direction and ran up to him out of breath.
"Weisheit dust… Wir have…to get… hier raus… Jetzt." The girl sputtered.
"Woah there Carina. Calm down. What is it?" Speirs asked.
"Sir, she mentioned wisdom dust. We lost Charlie company to the detonation of wisdom dust munitions a few weeks ago.'' The Staff Sergeant next to Speirs noted.
"I didn't need that reminder Darrell. However, if wisdom dust is indeed involved we should get away from here. Carina, tell the engineers to lay the det cord while falling back. Double time." Speirs said, before shouting to the rest of the 506th. "Fall back! Wisdom munitions!"
Carina turned, and sprinted down to the engineers, who shooed her away. They heard Speirs. Carina wheeled about and sprinted back up the hill. They had to get as far away from this bridge before they turned it into a smoking pile of rubble. That train would barrel over the precipice, and send them all to the next world. Whether they were ready to or not.