Thanks for the advice, and criticism of random people
Chapter 2 : A new life
I opened my eyes. The morning sun spilled through the bedroom windows, and blinded me for a few seconds. My feet touched the cold floor, and I was completely conscious. I felt a little shiver creep up my spine, and realized I had left the radiator off in my small bedroom. I didn't care much for it anyway, at least I had a radiator. Some didn't.
Soon thereafter, the aroma of breakfast from next door hit my nose . I showered, and cooked some eggs. The eggs were fresh off the farm, and tasted very good. After breakfast I stepped on to the balcony, and looked at the amazing view. Diligently pulling a cigarette from the pack, I sparked it, enjoying the flavor. The smoke swirled up into the air, in intricate patterns. I heard footsteps on the floor, and standing behind me was Vojtek.
"Hey, how'd you get in here!?" I yelped.
"You gave me a key, remember Filip? Besides, the door was open. You gotta watch out for those kinds of things." He replied.
"Just a habit I can't give up, from the occupation I guess" was my response to his worries. "You sound kind of like my mom used to"
"Oh and by the way those things will kill you." Sarcasm practically dripping from his mouth. He grabbed one, and lit it up himself.
"Well, what are you worrying about more, your lungs, or getting popped by a soldier?" I explained.
"The combine of course." He retorted.
I looked over the apartments next door, and saw the farms, and saw the green plants. It had been years since I saw something as beautiful as that.
"Hoc, vojtek idziemy." The words rolled of my tongue. We needed to be at base soon.
"Tak. Or should I say, let's go." He opened the door back up, and we stepped out.
Outside, the civilian day was beginning. Small stores were opening, and the smell of fresh bread filled the market square. The street repair crews still had work to do all over the city. The damage was extensive. Just a few minutes later, we arrived at UEF headquarters. Walking through the courtyard, I noticed the automated turrets, and guard towers. I also spotted the huge Anti Aircraft guns coming off the 4 story roof, and the RFPC's coming off the roof. The RFPC's, or Rapid Fire Plasma Cannons, could shoot 100 triple sized plasma rounds per second. They pierced the heaviest combine armor with ease. So essentially, it was like 30 plasma rifles at once. The base was a heavily guarded place, and had the best record out of any main base of the 3 cities. No combine recon ship had reached 15km or closer to it. Or the city itself.
"Commander Kowalski, You've been requested to enter the war room immediately, there is a situation." A guard notified me, while saluting sharply. He stepped back into his post, back to his mounted machine gun.
"Thanks for the news, ill be on my way, radio ahead." I knew something was up. The only time a guard said that you needed to head to the war room immediately was when a relative died in the war, or something big was up. I have no relatives left.
We walked, half jogged to the main security gates. We scanned our ID's and eyes as fast as possible, and were met with the green light, and resounding beep of access being granted. The large combine-designed metal doors opened quickly, almost silently. Vojtek said his goodbyes, and headed off to his squads prep room. I ran to the war room, with a bad feeling in my gut. When I opened the door, I was shocked.
At first glance, the ovular shaped room was packed. The atmosphere was tense, and serious. The war desk was filled to the brim, every seat but mine taken. Five star general Eli Vance, essentially the "Head" of the UEF, and of congress was sitting in the center chair. Four star General Calhoun was there, and Commander of special operations, Alyx Vance was present. It was quite an impressive power filled crowd, along with others I had not recognized.
"Hey Phil, you're a bit late." Chastised Calhoun. I glanced at my watch, 7:58.
"Its 7:58 sir." I said, respectfully as possible. Calhoun and I went way back, he always made his jokes. I took my seat quickly, not trying to attract more attention than I already had. Barney started talking,
"Well, a situation developed overnight, and we weren't able to reach your mobile. As of today, your security clearance has been raised, and your rank upgraded. You are now a rank one Divisional commander. The words and images in this room do not leave this room until April 30th, in any way, shape, or form. This information is top secret for the next two days. Recorders off, now!" Barney ordered, half at me, half at the glass wall behind me. There was a sense of urgency in the older mans voice, one I had never heard before.
The camera in the ceiling retracted, and the LED indicator in the table turned red. Monitors flipped out of the table, and a projector screen lowered behind Barney.
"We have received word, from New Warsaw that the combine is up to something. With the amount of time they have had to prepare, it seems as if they would mount some sort of offensive. Recon ships took these pictures yesterday; they are "close" to Warsaw." Barney said. It appeared as though Eli and Alyx were there just to supervise. Barney knew what he was doing anyways.
Pictures appeared on the screens, and a larger version on the projector. It looked like a small military base, with combine outer walls. Only one floor, and ground only, it did not look very threatening compared to a Citadel. Once I zoomed in, the fear inside me grew. It seemed as though there were rows upon rows of barracks. There were weapons out in the open, and around 100 Apc's scattered about the camp. The camp looked relatively empty of soldiers.
"This is the first forward advance outpost they have built. Warsaw still way out of their max shelling range, but not out of the range of long-range dropships. It could pose a serious threat to Warsaw is the future. There are 38 barracks, each holding 70 soldiers to the max. More are being built, at the rate of one per day. Full, it can hold 5,000. When these pictures were taken, there were only 500 support and guard troops, along with construction teams. Apparently, they do not know we know their there. The combine would not be massing so many resources in one place, without a damn good reason. They're pushing forward, and this isn't a good sign. Tomorrow, at 200 hours, there will be an offensive launched against the combine, before this budding base can grow any larger. The leaders of this attack will be Regional General, David Argullo." Barney was almost done speaking.
A short, Spanish featured man raised his head and looked at Barney, grinning. I knew he was the commander of this op.
"The commanders under him will be listed on the screens now." And with that statement, Barney finished. Not surprisingly, my name appeared on the list, along with four others. We were to get four squads briefed and prepped within 1800 hours. The transports would be shipping off at 2200. I picked Vojtek's squad, and Radeks, plus two of my best performing American squad leaders, and in all I was ready. I drafted up some battle plans, and had them revised by Barney. They were sent out to the squads at 11:30. I was ready for a break. I called Vojtek, and asked him if he wanted to hit the city for lunch instead of the mess hall. I decided to tell him the details over lunch.
Stepping out of the compounds security doors, I looked skyward. I saw three of our interceptor gunships streak across the sky, sleek, black, and looking like they almost absorbed the light around them. The guard saluted as I left, and I headed out to the square.
I spotted Vojtek within a few seconds, being one of the few in military dress outside in the city. The hour was 12 by now, and the lunch crowd was out, hitting up the Cafes and restaurants.
"Czesc, jak sie masz?" I asked.
"Dobrze" he uttered. I could sense the uneasiness in his voice. So I switched to English, and hoped to call him down.
"What's up? You seem a little anxious." I inquired.
"It's about the briefing, and the things that weren't supposed to leave the room. Don't you think it is just a little troubling? I mean you don't seem worried at all." Vojtek had obviously been thinking about this. We started to walk through the crowded market, and down the street towards the main district.
"Well, considering it has taken thing long, I'm actually happy. If this had happened earlier, I would have been worried. It's been seven months now, nearing eight. If it's taken this long, they are obviously having problems. Without the citadel here, they are obviously not able to teleport goods and people nearly as quickly, and with the capture of the other two, we dealt a major blow. Dr. Vance said without this citadel, their teleportation rate was cut back severely. Their advance is slow, and weak." Apparently, this explanation was good enough, as the look of anxiousness slipped off his face. We walked, and sucked down a few cigarettes before we went to eat. As we passed a deli, their sign in the window caught my eye. Although the façade of the building was marred with some old burn marks, it had sidewalk seating, and looked ¾ full. It seemed like a good place, so we stopped in.
"What can we do for you guys? Anything new happening on the front, or in the world outside our city?" The chef asked, he was clearly a friendly guy.
"Well both take The Cesar Chicken sandwiches, and ice water. Ill pay. For now, we just want to eat." Vojtek's expression changed to one of surprise. I never paid for anyone else's anything, unless there was an occasion. We sat down.
"What's the occasion?" He asked.
"Well, I've been upgraded to rank one divisional commander. I just got a huge bonus today. Also, f you haven't noticed you've gotten a pay upgrade too. Extra 8,000 per year, and you get hazards pay for this mission. It seems this is an important victory, they really want us to win it." I could see his smile. It was obvious his squads recent dramatic jump in performance ratings had paid off for us both. "So don't screw up" I joked.
"I assure you, we won't." He answered coolly. As we were chowing down, the friendly chef walked towards our table.
"Well guys, the food good?"
"Yeah, hit the spot." I answered. Vojtek said something similar. The chef sat down, and said the totally unexpected.
"Look guys, I heard there were some rumors that the combine had made a few advances. I hear something big is going to be happening tonight, or tomorrow. Their just rumors of course, but I'm just concerned. I wont tell anyone I promise." he whispered quickly, secretively.
"I'm not at liberty to say any details, but ill tell you something. This city, and the other two are both very safe right now. We got a lot of new armor and weapons in last month, and they will really pack a punch against the Combine" I reassured him.
"Wait, did you guys get any new front guns on your uhh, what do you call them, Apc's?" He asked. Surprisingly, we had. We just got the new model of RFPC mobile versions. They had a little less firepower than the ground mounted ones all over the city, but had automatic target detection, and assisted aim.
"Hey, how do you know about that? Not many people outside the base have even seen 'em !" I said, astonished. He responded,
"Well, my brother designs them. He's a head Designer in Dr. Kleiners department. He said that you guys would have no problem mowing down the combine with that gun." He said.
"No, we wont. I've shot it, it's a very capable weapon." We scarfed down the sandwiches, and I made a mental note to return to that deli/café in the future. I got the chefs name, Frank, and said goodbye.
We headed toward the base, and continued the rest of the day training and preparing. We ran a few miles, shot off at some targets, and went over the op's battle plans. The operation was now nicknamed "Sword and Shield". We checked up the equipment and loaded the Apc's, and dropships. At 6:00, we left the base to get some rest. We went our separate ways, and each went to our separate flats, only one floor apart. I showered, and ate some more. I watched the news, stocked up on a few more calories.
I knew that the night would be a long one. I hit my bed like a sack of potatoes, and set an alarm for 2 hours later. My dreams were saturated with visions of shooting combine.
Chapter 3 : Midnight Assault