"We've got a foothold in Seattle, but the Russian fleet at San Francisco still poses a major threat."

"The Battlegroup is moving, and will be at San Francisco by morning."

"Sir, we've got multiple holdouts sending in from San Francisco, and it seems they're holding against opposition by the Russians."

"Patch me in, let's see what we can learn from them."

Yien-US ARMY

"Lieutenant Yien, get up here." Captain. Marcos whispered back to me, and I crawled up next to him. I looked out, and saw the city sprawled out beneath us. I saw fires spread throughout, and heard the firecracker echo of gun battles in the distance. It was dark, 2240 hours. I hadn't slept since the battle began, and was weary, but we had to keep moving.

"Have we got eyes on?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"First we've got to head to the harbor, and gather intel, then we're to move to 11028 Fox Ave. and rendezvous with the detail inside the building. The battlegroup needs that intel to secure the harbor.

"Then let's go get it." Lieutenant Renner said next to me, and I nodded.

We got up, and ran down the hill. There were six of us, Myself, Renner, Marcos, Liapold, Dorlem, and Spiro. I took point, and we moved from street to street. It was quite mostly, and we slipped past established checkpoints set up by russian forces. I knew that in our stealth gear, and in the darkness we wouldn't be spotted, but I still had my rifle at the ready. We found ourselves walking through chinatown, and making our way up a steep slope.

"Why're there so many hills?" Spiro asked, and suddenly, as if on a cue from god, a sniper round plowed through his forehead. Dorlem, who'd been directly behind him, took the same round to the shoulder, and dropped screaming, his arm reduced to a bleeding stump.

"Shit, get down!" Renner didn't need to say it, we'd all dropped immediately. Dorlem continued screaming, and Liapold rolled to him. I looked to Renner, and he looked back to me, and held up the sign for 'ok'. I returned the gesture, and he nodded.

"He's gonna need attention now!" Liapold spoke, and we all turned to the Captain.

"Liapold, get ready to move him. Renner, Yein, you're with me. Snipers in that building at the end of the road. On my go, open fire, and give Liapold an opening. ready…" I tensed, and switched my M16 to burst fire, "Now!" I shot up to my knees, and opened fire. Then as we kept suppressing to the best of our abilities, we moved back to a nearby alley.

"What's the plan, cap?" Renner asked.

"Dorlem, is only going to slow us down, but he's still got a chance. The holdout is nearby. Liapold, I need you to go to fox street ahead of us with Dorlem, they can secure him there. We'll get the intel on the harbor, and you secure the holdout for our arrival."

"Roger, sir." Liapold slung Dorlems remaining arm over his shoulders. We watched him rush down the alley, and turn down a corner. Then we moved to a door. I pressed it open, and we marched through the opening, and then I closed it behind me.

"Damn, it's dark in here." Renner muttered

"The power was probably cut." I said, but just then stepped on broken glass, and turned on my flashlight. The lights in the ceiling had been broken, and I looked down the dark hall, and saw something vanish around a corner.

"Tell me you saw that too." Renner whispered as he pressed to the wall.

"Stay frosty, let's clear this building." Marcos took point, and we stepped forward quietly. I heard our breathing, and my own heartbeat pounded in my ear. Renner seemed on edge, and glanced in each doorway we passed. I had the only active light, and as such Marcos made me stay right on his shoulder.

"Right here, I hear movement on the other side of the door." Marcos took one side of the door, and Renner the other.

"Ready... Breaching!" I said, and kicked open the door. Then as I aimed down my sights, and prepared to fire, Renner grabbed my barrel and jerked it upward. I stopped any pressure on the trigger, and the gun didn't fire.

"Hold your fire, Yien, we've got civies." Renner peaked in, and I followed him. Inside was a stout old chinese man standing in front of two young girls.

"Oh, thank you! You come to save us!" He said, and happily shook our hands.

"Sir, what's your name?" I asked.

"Name, Mi-peng. These are my granddaughters, Cassidy and Lenna. We've been hiding here since the fighting began."

"We need a quick route to the harbor, do you know any way?" Marcos entered the room, and tipped his helmet back to speak easier.

"Across the street, from the front of this building, is my store. In the basement there is a hatch. The storm drains run below it, and head straight to the ocean. Is that where you are taking us?"

"That's a negative sir, I need to ask you to stay here with your granddaughters, we've got to head to the harbor, but on our way back we'll come pick you up. Can you manage that long?"

"Of course, but please, be quick. My girls are very afraid."

"Don't worry, we'll be right back." Marcos nodded, and exited. I kneeled in front of one of the girls, and smiled at her.

"We'll be back for ya, don't worry."

"Come on, Yien." Renner said, and I turned and followed them into the hall. We closed the door, and he looked at me.

"You got kids, Yien?"

"A girl… looked just like her."

"Don't worry, we'll get home, and you can introduce me to her."

"Sounds great." Marcos had reached the front door. We peeked out, and looked across the road. Marcos indicated he had eyes on, and we nodded. He moved for me to go first, and I took position at the door. He opened it quickly, and I started making my way across the street, Renner was following me, and Marcos was exiting the door, just when suddenly a tank pulled around the corner.

"T-90!" Renner shouted, and we both made a break for the next building with Marcos right behind us. We busted through the storefront, and turned just in time to catch him as he leapt through the window to avoid a shot from the cannon.

"We gotta move now." Marcos was slowly regaining his balance. I looked around the shop, and saw dozens of small novelty chinese trinkets, fans, dragons, and the like. Then i felt a cool breeze as I passed a door.

"Hey, there's a draft coming from here." the others rushed to me, and I kicked open the door, then we followed a staircase down into the sublevel. It wasn't as dark as expected, and we spread out across the cold basement.

"Okay, I've got it." Renner was in a dark corner, moving boxes, "This connects to the storm drains, we should be able to follow them straight to the harbor." He opened the small trap door.

"That can't be sanitary." I muttered, but Renner was already in.

"It wasn't how I planned to get us there… but it'll get us there." Marcos followed him. I stared down the hole, and crouched for a moment. Then I heard the tank cannon fire above, and dust shook from the ceiling above me. I listened, and heard the tank light up the store with it's coaxial, and shook my head.

"Well, it could be worse." I dropped in, and landed on a pile of muck in the darkness, "It's worse."

The storm drains were uneventful, and we crawled our way out onto the ankle deep mud. I dragged my way up the wave break, and we looked across the stretch of water to the harbor that housed large shipping vessels. It was cold, and the water clashed near us, sending droplets up over our prone bodies.

"Wow, looks like they turned the shipping harbor into one big gun nest." Renner, handed me his binoculars, and I looked out at the harbor. He was right. The shipping vessels had been blown, and formed a makeshift wall around the easy landing zone. Their armaments consisted of at least two dozen Surface-to-Sea and Surface-to-Air missile launchers, dozens of 40mm cannons turned towards the gaps in the ship barricade, and enough troops to man it all. Then right across the barricade was the Russian fleet.

"That's the clearest path for large deployment, and now it's a gauntlet of death." Marcos was thinking, and turned towards Renner. He pursed his lips, and then took a breath.

"We need to meet up at Fox… but I think we've got a good vantage here. This inlet is wide enough to receive a Zodiac or two, and then move on those turrets. Renner, I'm going to head back to the holdout with Yien, and I want you to stay here, and keep eyes on. Radio in if anything changes."

"Yes, sir."

"Let's move, Yien."

"Good luck, Renner." I Nodded to him, and he raised his rifle.

"I don't need luck… but thanks, man."