In thirty years, the Russian Federation has reclaimed some of its former glory as a superpower. With a reformed political system, rejuvenated economy, and a rapidly expanding and reforming military, Russia is looking to be one of the world's leaders into the second half of the 21st Century. This is all thrown into disarray when Gates open up in Tokyo and Moscow.
Chapter 1: The Kremlin
10 May 2045, Russian Federation
Red Square, Moscow
The day after the 2045 Moscow Victory Day Parade, marking the 100th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazi Reich and the end of the Great Patriotic War, saw celebrations continue into the next day and would likely begin bleeding into the coming weeks.
The parade just a day earlier was a resplendent display. Fifteen thousand troops took part, marching down the Red Square with contingents from across the world, including the United States and China amongst several dozen other nations including the CIS. It also served as an excellent time to display to the Russian people and the world how far Russian military technology had come in the thirty years since the Crimean crisis. Autonomous tanks on the ground and drone swarms in the skies were just two such advancements.
A day later and the military was still deployed in force to the city, bolstering and providing support to local and national police forces in the wake of a renewed 'War on Terror' led by the secular and progressive Middle Eastern Coalition and the subsequent string of terror attacks that racked the world. Russia was not spared from this new wave of terror which spread in the early 2040s and led to the introduction of "Operation Guardian Angel", a Military Aid to the Civil Power (ACP) operation that led to the deployment of 10,000 Rosgvardiya and 4,000 Russian Army personnel from various other gvardiya formations.
One such soldier was Lieutenant Svetlana Ivanovna Vesilya. Officially she and her squad were there as part of the 27th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. Unofficially, they were a Special Operations team from the Special Operations Forces Command (KSSO) temporary seconded to the MVD to assist with security operations. She was wearing the standard fourth-generation Ratnik gear painted in the EMR camouflage pattern that had been used since the late 2000s, though the hard protective mask was dropped in favour of a simpler olive bandana that was tied around the lower half of her face. It was counterproductive to look so intimidating in front of the citizens you were there to protect. A short head of blonde hair adorned her head and bright blue eyes shone out above the bandana. A long scar split down the right side of her face but bled out of sight as it reached the bandana half-way down. In her arms she held an held an AK-12M with a Obzor 1P63 red dot sight.
"Lieutenant," One of her fellow SSO operatives, a man by the name of Viktor Mendenetsa called from the side, "Something's wrong... Look, west side."
She instinctively followed his direction and outstretched hand and saw something of a mild stampede followed by- gunshots. She flinched and descended onto her knee with her rifle raised slightly, something that she saw was mimicked by everyone else.
She grabbed her radio, "Sokol, Vampir-1 shots fired in Kitay-Gorod, responding now."
The response was immediate, "Negative, Vampir-1. The SBP has been hit hard, proceed to the Kremlin Senate to evacuate the President, henceforth Kingpin. Vampir-2, Vampir-3, provide assistance. Su-82s from Kubinka are spinning up now and will be on station in five minutes but be advised: the Kremlin is under siege."
The SBP, also known as the Presidential Security Service, was a detachment of the Federal Security Service, or FSO, charged directly with the safety of the Russian president, currently the incumbent Kir Tarasov. If they were suffering casualties, that meant the President was under direct threat.
"The fuck is that?!" Someone shouted as beasts that looked like they were straight out of a fantasy novel took to the skies.
She looked up and saw them too but her training kicked in and rather than gawp at them she responded to Sokol, "Understood, Sokol." She cut the radio and shouted, "Volkov, it doesn't matter, we're moving!"
A blazing star shot into the sky and engulfed a wyvern in flames as it detonated, quickly followed by three more from elsewhere in the city as the Spetsnaz of Vampir-1 began moving quickly towards the Red Square. The missiles likely came from 9K44 Drotik MANPADs from the gvardiya brigades, the same brigades that were causing a lot of the gunfire that was disrupting Kitay-Gorod right now.
The Spetsnaz sprinted past fleeing tourists. They had a quick discussion on the move and decided that the best course of action was to enter the Kremlin via the Borovitskaya Tower in the South since it was just a few minutes from their location. Despite their best efforts, they were intercepted by... armoured men on horseback.
"Okay..." Svetlana muttered, realising the eccentricity of this situation even further. She briefly considered that they might be a film company or something such as that, but the dozens of bodies littering the street dissuaded that notion. So she shouted, "Hostiles front, fire at will!"
She was the first to descend onto her knee and aim down the Obzor optic on her rifle before sending a shot downrange and clipping a horsemen in the head. The SSO operatives formed up to her left and right and they all joined her on one knee, except the Kord-5.45 gunner who both went into a prone position to make better use of his bipod. A deafening cacophony of gunfire tore apart the road and the resulting hailstorm of bullets broke the back of a cavalry charge containing roughly a hundred and fifty horses.
The Spetsnaz team immediately got back up and filtered through the Borovitskaya Tower where they were ushered inside by members of the Federal Protective Service.
"What unit are you part of?" An FSO officer asked.
"43rd Special Purpose Brigade, Special Operations Command." Svetlana replied, receiving a wide-eyed look from the FSO officer who nodded and stepped out of their way. She was grateful to the reputation of the Spetsnaz at this moment as it meant that they could immediately get back to their mission. As they moved alongside the State Kremlin Palace, a massive increase in the volume of gunfire sounded off from the North-East Wall.
"All Vampir units," Sokol called over radio, "The North-East Wall of the Kremlin has been breached. Vampir-1, speed up your extraction. Vampir-2 and 3, provide fire support. A squadron of Su-82s are online for CAS."
"Understood, Sokol." Svetlana said, clearing a corner, "How are we getting the Shkvoren out?"
"Two Mi-32s are currently en-route, fifteen minutes out. Callsign is Pitsa 1 and 2. You will have to move the Kingpin to the roof of the State Kremlin Palace opposite the Arsenal." Sokol replied.
Svetlana looked up at the State Kremlin Palace and nodded to herself as they cleared the road. The SSO operatives taking point double tapped a few stragglers, taking down the archaic swordsman with ease. High above the city, the roaring of jets and the streaking of air-to-air missiles drowned out everything else as the men and women of the Russian Air Force cleared the skies.
"Understood. We're opposite the senate building now. Do we have the SBP's freq?" She asked, putting a bullet into the head of an invader.
"Affirm, the SBP are on 27.6. Callsign is Zvezda 1"
She switched the frequency and spoke, "Zvezda 1, this is Vampir-1, Spetsnaz, how copy?"
"This is Commander Vasiliy. Are you the extraction team?" A slightly panicked male voice replied.
"Yes. We have eyes on the senate now." She replied as Sokol came back on.
"Be advised, armoured assets from the 4th Guards Tank Army are entering the city and attack helicopters from the 440th Separate Helicopter Regiment are on call for support."
"Copy, Sokol. What is the policy on destroying sections of the Kremlin?" She asked.
Sokol replied after a second, "...do what you have to. You are cleared to call in danger close strikes within the Kremlin if it is necessary for the protection of the President."
Svetlana glanced back at her team and gestured to half of them, "Popov, Kozlov stay here and cover us with the Kord-5.45. We're going to cross to the Arsenal and then the Senate building."
A series of understoods and yes ma'ams spread throughout the twelve-man team. They counted three seconds before sprinting across the open road whilst the Kord team fired intermittent bursts to suppress anyone who might have thought to shoot at them with... a bow. They quickly made it to the Arsenal and then filed along the wall until they could bound across to the Senate, something else that was trivially easy when your enemy wasn't shooting at you with firearms.
"Friendlies coming in!" Mendenetsa shouted as he pushed through one of the entrances to be greeted by beleaguered SDP agents.
Svetlana followed in after him and she too was greeted by the battered faces of half a dozen SDP agents, their faces littered with small cuts and covered in dirt from the intense stand-off that had been going on for ten minutes. A few hundred agents versus thousands of enemies was never going to end well, and whilst they had experienced few deaths, casualties were mounting and they surely would have broken sooner or later.
She caught one of the nearby agents and asked, "Which way to the saferoom?"
The agent looked up at her and pointed down the hall, "Go down there and up the stairs. It should be right in front of you."
She nodded and gave a quick gesture before the they got back on the move.
"Can someone explain to me how the hell they got so close?" Kir Tarasov, President of the Russian Federation, demanded.
"Uhh... our intelligence network is in disarray at the moment, Mr President-" The Interior Minister replied.
"Why did I ask?" Tarasov cut him off sardonically.
A distant explosion shook the building as gunfire continued to permeate the atmosphere. From the side, Commander Vasiliy spoke hastily into his short range radio before rushing over.
"Mr President, special forces have entered the building to escort you and your staff to safety."
"No way in hell am I leaving the people of Moscow whilst they suffer!" He declared in a bullheaded way.
Much of his staff as well as Vasiliy looked flabbergasted by the proclamation. It was a matter of shear luck that the invaders - just a few fortified walls away - had not overrun them already. It would take at least thirty minutes for QRF units to arrive in Moscow and whilst 14,000 troops from the National Guard and Regular Army were already stationed around Moscow, they had little to none of their heavy equipment. It was untenable.
At that moment they heard a commotion outside the reinforced door, heavy footfalls with unintelligible Russian shouting. The four SBP agents within the room held their PP-90MPs up to the door and took cover behind makeshift barricades. The silence was palpable before Vasiliy's radio crackled to life.
"Zvezda 1, this is Vampir-1, we're right outside the saferoom now." Svetlana's slightly distorted voice said over comms.
"Finally..." Vasiliy breathed a sigh of relief whilst rushing up to the door with one of his agents. The pair grunted as opening the steel reinforced door took all their strength, but their struggle soon paid off as the recognisable digital camouflage pattern of the Russian armed forces was displayed to them.
Svetlana walked past Vasiliy and pulled the bandana down off of her face before presenting herself to Tarasov, "Mr President. Lieutenant Vesilya, 43rd Special Purpose Brigade. We're here to evacuate you."
Tarasov shook his head, "I just had this conversation, I will be staying."
"With respect, Mr President, that's a terrible idea. If you die, Russia will be in the midst of a crisis with no solid leadership. As honourable as it is to want to lead from the front, it's also foolhardy. You will be far more effective in a position where you can actually help. It is our job to be at the front, not yours." Svetlina declared, trying to sound as neutral as possible. She kept her face neutral even as she could see him coming over to her side.
"Yes... You're right, of course. Very well." He said.
Vasiliy looked over to her, "What is the extraction plan?"
"Two Mi-32s are enroute. They should be on station in five minutes. We need to move the President and his staff to the roof of the Kremlin Palace." She said before clicking on her radio, "Sokol, Kingpin is secure. We need to draw hostile forces northwards, away from the Kremlin so we can safely exfil to the roof."
"Understood, Vampir-1. Vampir-2, Vampir-3, run interference. Do as much damage as possible, the full array of current air assets and artillery are at your disposal."
"Copy that, Sokol. Vitali, rocket launcher, stat!" A second voice, that of Captain Malyenko, callsign Vampir-2, replied.
"Lieutenant," Popov's voice came over the radio, "Hostiles have breached the Senate Palace, we're engaging what we can."
At the same moment, an SBP operative ran into the room, crying out, "Commander Vasiliy! The perimeter has been breached!"
A panic set in on many of the civilian personnel part of Tarasov's staff as they realised just how close the enemy was. Svetlana glanced at Vasiliy and has a silent conversation with him to which he nodded, prompting her to pull the bandana back up over her face.
"Mr President, we're moving now." She said before turning to her team, "Ilyich, Mendenetsa, take point. Volkov, cover our six. Commander, keep close to the President. Let's go."
The ten Spetsnaz operatives, now accompanied by a dozen SBP agent, rushed down the hallways, taking shots at the Classical era guards that stood between them and the exfil. They were caught off-guard as a lone soldier burst out of a side room, skewering an agent. Svetlana raised her rifle and batted the swordsman away before another Spetsnaz operative shot him in the head. Kneeling down, she checked for a pulse on the stabbed SBP agent before shaking her head.
"He's dead," She stated without emotion, grabbing a near catatonic Tarasov and pulling him along, "We've got to keep moving."
As they turned the corner, they were greeted by the sight of the bodies of SBP agents and foreign soldiers strewn across the stairs going down to the ground floor. Viscous red liquid soaked each step and a small waterfall of it was slowly dripping down to a slowly growing pool at the bottom. The smell of gunpowder and iron was fresh in the air. Tarasov and a few of his ministers clearly struggled to keep their breakfasts down as they negotiated the stairs whilst the Spetsnaz and SBP dispatched several more groups of classical swordsmen, their plate armour crumpling beneath the 5.45 and 9 mm rounds. Bouncing off the last step, half of the team swept left and half right, securing either end of the corridor.
"Popov, how are you holding up outside?" Svetlana called to one of her two support gunners over the radio as she cleared a small room with an SBP agent.
"We're keeping a low profile in the Palace. Senate Square has been overrun by a shit ton of... I don't know, half-giants. Ten foot tall hostiles."
Svetlana glanced at her radio as if she would be able to see Popov as he said that. Ten-foot tall giants seemed unbelievable, but after seeing dragons shoot down by Drotiks over Moscow and a massive army appearing out of seemingly nowhere, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one and responded after a little bit of contemplation.
"...copy, Popov. Keep low and prepare to engage." She switched to broadcasting on a different channel, "Pitsa-1, this is Vampir-1, what's your status?"
Two Mi-32 Drakon attack helicopters orbited over the Zamoskvorechye District, two kilometres south of the Kremlin. The Mi-32 was a relatively new design that closely resembled the Mi-24 Hind it replaced. With a similar reputation of being a flying tank, it was large and heavily armed and armoured beast of the skies and an envy of all the world's helicopter corps.
These two Drakons were outfitted with a nose-mounted AVe-30-1 omnidirectional laser which, although ineffective against most armour, could hit a target the size of a football from a kilometre away. This gave the Drakon built-in anti-missile capability and the ability to target enemy infantry and light vehicles with extreme accuracy. The fact that the laser was invisible to the naked eye just helped matters further. On the edge of the small wings either side of the ten-man passenger cabin were a pair of hardpoints sporting 9M443 anti-air missiles, the same type used by the Drotik MANPAD. Four other pair of hardpoints held seven 9K991 Goplit air-to-surface missiles each, making for a total of twenty-eight missiles per helicopter.
In the pilot seat of Pitsa-1, Katia Popova was talking to her gunner, Yegor Belov, when the radio crackled to life from the Spetsnaz ground team they were supporting.
"Pitsa-1, this is Vampir-1, what's your status?" The feminine voice of Lieutenant Vesilya asked calmly.
"Vampir-1, Pitsa-1, we're currently orbiting over Zamoskvorechye at stand-off distance from the Kremlin. What can we do for you?" She replied succinctly.
Katia took a quick moment to watch an Su-82 "Feral" streak over the city a little ways away, ripping a flying monster apart with its 30 mm autocannon.
"We have Kingpin secured but there's an army of hostiles outside the Senate. Think you can clear the path for us?" Vesilya asked, a modicum of gunfire bleeding over the radio.
"Of course. We're moving now, ETA is less than a mike." She said, "You catch that, Pitsa-2?"
"Affirm, Popova. On your tail." The pilot of Pitsa-2 sent back as the pair of helicopters broke away from their orbit and made all due haste towards the Kremlin.
"Looks like we get to have some fun, Yegor." She remarked candidly to her gunner, "Best spin up that AVe-30 and the Goplits."
She ignored Yegor's slightly maniacal laugh as he brought up the targetting systems for the laser and air-to-surface missiles and focused on flying over the Moskva River. She let out a whistle of appreciation as she saw what was in the Red Square, over the far side of the Kremlin.
"Looks like Command was right when they said the Square was the epicentre of the invasion... Shit, that's got to be a few tens of thousands." The pilot of Pitsa-2 said, voicing her own thoughts perfectly, "Think we can hit that?"
"Not right now." Katia said, "Our priority is the protection of Vampir-1 and the President. If we have spare missiles afterwards, I'll bring it up with Sokol."
"Copy... Looks like hostile infantry is breaking into the Senate. Got tracers coming out the door and windows. Are we clear to engage?" The same pilot asked.
"I'll make sure..." Katia said, going back onto the frequency with Svetlana and asking, "Vampir-1, Pitsa-1, are we clear for danger close?"
"Copy, Pitsa-1! You are clear, waste the motherfuckers!" Svetlana replied.
"You heard the lady. Have at 'em, Yegor."
"Ura! Firing Goplits..." Yegor replied, targetting the enemy 'giant' infantry with the 9K991 missiles.
The missiles flew off their holdings and accelerated to over Mach 4 before striking their targets. Each impact wrought untold devastation to the square, pulverising the armoured ogres and flinging debris into the air. The seven missiles fired, three from Pitsa-1 and four from Pitsa-2, engulfed the entire 14,000 metre square and left the whole place dead. The dust and debris kicked up from the impacts were so great that the co-pilot gunners had to switch entirely to FLIR to get an idea of what was still alive.
"Are Vampir-1 clear to advance?" Katia asked
"I think so..." Yegor replied unsurely before speaking to the co-pilot gunner of Pitsa-2, "What do you think, Vlad?"
"If there's any stragglers, I can't see any. Popova, I suggest you stay here and keep an overwatch on Vampir-1 whilst we swing around to get a better view of the Ivan Square." 'Vlad' said.
"Copy that. Go ahead, Pitsa-2. Just be careful to avoid any primitive anti-air attempts, these Drakons are tough but they're not invincible." Katia replied.
Pitsa-2's gunner acknowledged that point before pulling back and swinging around, quickly opening up with a few more missiles as they came into view of another formation of enemies in a different part of the Kremlin.
"Vampir-1, Pitsa-1, you are clear to move." Katia said.
"Copy that, Pitsa-1. Coming out now." Svetlana replied.
"I've got them on FLIR." Yegor affirmed as the Spetsnaz and SBP agents filed out of the Senate building with the centre of the formation consisting of a core of men and women in suits.
"Katia!" A panicked shout called over the radio, "Pull back, you've got incoming!"
She did not question the shout and sharply pulled back on the cyclic stick between her legs. A gasp escaped her lips as a diving wyvern just barely missed her helicopter by a few metres, tumbling past into the line of fire of her Drotik. It was a simple, though slightly frayed, matter to lock onto the IR signature of the wyvern and fire a single 9M443 missile which, with its immense manoeuvrability and speed, tore the winged creature apart on impact.
"Fucking hell..." Yegor sighed, "That was close."
"You're telling me... thanks for the heads up, Pitsa-2. You just saved our skin." Katia replied.
"Looks like drinks are on you two then." Vlad sent back with an audible smirk before sending another Goplit missile screaming across the entire expanse of the Kremlin before it disappeared in a fireball somewhere within the Ivan Square.
"Watch out, archers are coming up on the wall between the Kutafiya Tower and the Troitskaya Tower." Katia declared, moving the Drakon into a better firing position.
"Copy, switching to laser." Pitsa-2 replied, flying back and joining Pitsa-1.
The two helicopters fired their AVe-30-1 lasers at roughly the same time, but the invisible beams could only be seen with infrared. To the naked eye, all it looked like was two helicopters hovering whilst the archers on the wall suddenly burst into flames or sparks burst off of their armour as the lasers burrowed through. It took just a few seconds to carve through the soldiers on the wall, leaving just light, albeit not entirely inconsequential, damage to the wall itself
"Good kills. Looks like Vampir-1 has made it to the Kremlin Palace." Katia said.
"Pitsa-1, Vampir-1, thanks for the support. Prepare to receive Kingpin: ETA five mikes."
Svetlana clicked off the radio and followed Viktor into the next room of the Palace as Popov and Kozlov held their six. The Palace was currently playing host to 5,000 terrified civilians and had seen around a hundred FSO agents armed mostly with submachine guns, with a few rifles sprinkled throughout, clinging on for dear life until the two Mi-32s arrived.
It was very slightly amusing to her that a minute before her main concern had been stopping primitive swordsmen from stabbing President Tarasov and now her main concern was keeping overeager civilians back as they passed through the auditorium
"All these people..." Tarasov muttered, "How is it fair that I get to leave and run away whilst they're forced to remain?"
Svetlana immediately decided that it was not her job to talk down the President of the Russian Federation and let one of his staff do that until he addressed her himself, which he did a minute later.
"Lieutenant Vesilya, how long will it take for reinforcements to arrive?" He asked.
She turned around to look at him for a second whilst continuing to walk backwards before completing her 360 turn and speaking, "Last I heard, the forward elements of an armoured brigade entered Moscow twenty-five minutes ago."
Tarasov turned to his Minister of Defence and said, "What does that mean, Sergey?"
"It means that a few dozen light tanks should be here within an hour... What about airborne forces, Lieutenant?"
Svetlana looked back again before speaking into her radio, "Sokov, Vampir-1, what is the ETA on VDV first responders to Kitay-Gorod?"
"ETA is fifteen minutes, Vampir-1. What for?" Sokov queried.
"Be advised, roughly five thousand civilians are trapped in the Kremlin State Palace. The question comes from Kingpin." She replied, continuing to manoeuvre around the side of the auditorium until they got to some stares which could take them up.
"Copy that, Vampir-1. Give Kingpin the radio." Sokov responded. Far be it for her to question her superiors, she immediately passed the radio to Tarasov.
"Uhh... Sokov?" He asked tentatively.
"Mr President, this is General Aleksandrov...-"
Svetlana tuned out the bulk of the conversation because she could only hear one side of it after that and it was mostly just information she was already aware of. The special forces soldier was a little annoyed at having her radio taken from her, but if it soothed the nerves of their President she would take it without protest. Besides, they were rapidly approaching the roof and after that they were no longer her issue.
In fact, at that moment, they reached the roof access. Volkov went up first and broke open the locked door with a couple of shots on the hinges from his breaching shotgun. After that, they all filed up one by one where they were greeted by the vast wind and thrumming created by an Mi-32's rotor. The massive metal beast slowly descended onto the roof as Svetlana grabbed Tarasov and guided him towards it, taking her radio back in the process.
The President and five other Ministers boarded the Mi-32 followed by four Spetsnaz troops which quickly took off, Katia announcing over radio whilst alluding to the Russian equivalent of Air Force One, "Pitsa-1 is now Aircraft No. 1."
Pitsa-2 then descended onto the roof. The remaining eight Spetsnaz soldiers as well as the last remaining minister boarded the attack/transport hybrid. Svetlana slid the door shut as the Mi-32 began taking back off and followed Pitsa-1 away over the Moskva River.
"That was one Hell of a day..." She muttered, looking out of one of the windows as an Su-82 "Feral" dropped three KAB-500L laser-guided bombs on the red square, kicking up tonnes of debris and smoke.