BOOK I - UNION
Chapter 9: Fault Lines
November 6, 1000H
An earthquake? Now? No no no, fuck!
The whole room shook as the ground did, the needles of the seismometers in the room were going haywire recording the tremor all the way up to a magnitude 7.3. Well that's what Dr. Richardson said anyways cause I sure as hell don't know how to read those things.
Dr. Richardson was part of the small contingent of United States Geographic Survey seismologists sent to Republic City after they've discovered the fault line a few months prior, little did any of us know we'll be smack right in the middle of the earthquake when it finally happened.
"Everyone hold on!" I shouted. Not like they're not holding onto anything dumb ass.
It kept on shaking, one of the guy's printer fell down to the floor and the other's laptop followed suit. Thankfully we're in a tent on the ground and not on a tall building which would make it far far scarier and worse. There weren't really anything solid to hold onto so I just dropped to the floor and hoped the ground below me won't just crack open and swallow us up, thankfully it neve happened.
A few minutes past and the quake finally stopped, I immediately stood up to check the damage and made a head count.
"At least no one's hurt staff sergeant." Walter Ruderford said as he brushed off the dust from his uniform. "I can't say the same for the rest of the city though."
Fuck.
I rushed out of the tent to survey the damage done to the surrounding area, we were positioned just a kilometer away from the fault line to monitor it when the volcano erupted. It was just a small team, my squad to provide security to the small team of seismologists and their instruments. We set up just a day ago when the volcano was getting ready to erupt.
BOOM
It was loud, far louder than any of the documentaries would have explained. As I turned around I saw the black ash cloud coming out from the volcano... well I couldn't see the volcano itself anymore because of the ash but its starting to form the distinct shape of a mushroom. Yep, this looks like one of them documentaries alright.
The ground shook again, but it was too weak to be an aftershock. At least its summer in this world and not winter... two seasons off from our world huh.
"Its the volcano." Dr. Richardson walked beside me. "Its not the aftershock if you're wondering, it'll come later, but not too late though." He didn't look at me, he just started onto the dark cloud that's starting to come our way. "If the eruption's as powerful as we had predicted then we should get going, wouldn't want to be in the path of a pyroclastic flow now would we." He grinned before patting my shoulder.
"Doctor, shouldn't we check the fault line first? We're just a kilometer away." I asked, turning around and tried to follow him back into the large tent.
"And that's exactly why we should bug out now sergeant. I might risk it if Avatar Korra's here with us but she's not." He paused then looked towards the west. "I wonder how's Republic City's doing now, sure those big skyscrapers are built with earthquakes in mind but what about those smaller ones? The ones that most of the people living in the city actually reside?"
It did cross my mind, those smaller buildings that were not built to standard. Nothing much I can do there.
Steinmeier appeared from the tent, snapping me out from my thoughts. "Sir, Guderian base radioed us and asked for our condition right now."
"What did you say?" I replied as the doctor got back into the tent.
"I said we're all accounted for sir, no injuries though some equipment damaged."
"Good... Had anyone checked the cars yet?"
"Yes sir, Private Wagner's already on it."
"Okay, anything more? Did they say what the state of the base is in now?"
"Negative sir."
Hmm, we'll know once we get back anyway.
BOOM
Another thunderous explosion, this time much louder than before and the both of us jerked our heads around to see the clouds starting to cover the midday sun. This is bad.
"Steinmeier, get everyone to pack up now! Double time! I don't want to be museum pieces like those poor bastards at Pompeii became!"
"Yes sir, right away sir!" and with that he quickly got back into the tent and started barking orders.
It gave me time to close my eyes and focus my mind. When I opened it after a few seconds the whole place looked dark, far darker than before. Wow this fast huh. As I look up I saw the ash clouds covering what remains of the sun and in a few minutes the whole place would be as dark as night. Except there wouldn't be stars to decorate the sky.
"Come one!." I shouted while getting into the tent. "Get your asses moving!"
I helped them move all the equipment back into the three army trucks waiting, the tent was being dismantled and we didn't even bothered to pack it... we just threw it to the back of one of the trucks and it was at that moment that the thick grey ash started falling. Faster faster faster!
We finished loading everything ten minutes later, by then the whole place had already gone dark and we needed to use the flashlights on our guns to move around without bumping to one another. Everyone quickly loaded up to the nearest truck and off we go as quickly as the shitty dirt road would allow us anyway.
"Corporal Ruderford can you go any faster?" I said. We were on the lead truck and he was driving while I was beside riding shotgun.
"Well if you want to be on the casualty list then by all means sir!" He said sarcastically. "With it being this dark and a shitty dirt road with no lights but our own, I'm pretty much driving blind here sir."
I looked over to his speedometer. Twenty kilometers per hour, god It'll take us over an hour to get back to base.
BOOM
Another explosion, but this doesn't sound like it came from the volcano. No no no this was thunder by the sound of it. How the fuck did it form this quickly, hell the ones in our world took far longer before the bloody ashes even covered the sun! Then again this is a different world with possibly different laws of physics at work.
The truck's radio crackled and I recognized it as Dr. Richardson's voice. "Sergeant if we continue going at this speed..." There was uncertainty in his voice. "We could go out of the range of the pyroclastic flow."
"Well thank god that's a good news for once."
"Another thing sergeant, I was there when Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted and what we're doing now is what I've also done over twenty years ago but..." He paused. "But with the data we've gathered so far it looks like this one's going to be more powerful than Pinatubo and I don't know how, the last time this erupted was seventy years ago but Pinatubo's was four hundred. If I'm correct it'll mean that the build up of pressure within the volcanoes of this world if far far quicker than it is in ours."
"Noted, anything more doctor?"
"No sergeant."
"Okay, Tchaikovsky out."
"So do you think we'll get smouldered to death by the ash?" Ruderford commented as I put the radio back onto the dashboard.
"Don't think so, if the spirits of this world don't hate us which I assume they might since they're real and we've been cutting down quite a lot of trees to expand the base lately."
When we finally arrived back at base five hours later it looked surprisingly orderly. It took us that long when it was normally just an hour was because we needed to take a detour as the dirt road became clogged with people also running away from the volcano, we didn't even bother to go through the normal route which was through the city since its obviously in a state of fucked up, instead we took the other small roads that go around the outskirt of the city.
Looking up to the sky as we parked the vehicles beside the HQ building and got out, the whole place was just black. The sun's fully covered and it looked like night when its supposed to be three in the afternoon. It was also raining, raining thick muddy substance that was made out of the ashes in the sky. Jesus, this is getting more and more like those documentaries.
I scanned the area and saw all of the buildings in the base holding up quite well, they're built up to modern standards but I wasn't sure about most of the buildings in Republic City as the visibility was just at a hundred meters or so. On a normal sunny day most of the skyscrapers in the city would be visible from the base but today, there was nothing but darkness.
"Ah staff sergeant, a bit late arn't we yes?"
I turned to see General Braun standing on the small door leading into the HQ building with his adjutant close behind.
"General Braun we're, uh yeah..."
He signaled for the group to get into the building and after we placed the equipments down and patted off the ash from our clothes the general lead us to the 'command room' with several tables arranged in a U and chairs around it with the hollow part of the U having a small stool for a projector which could project onto a screen towards the opening of the U.
"Sit." he waved his hands as he sat down on the chair opposite of the screen. "I assume you guys want to know what's happening out there yes?"
"Well from the looks of things its not pretty general." said Dr. Richardson as the rest of us sat down on the sides of the tables.
The general groaned. "There are no fatalities in this base so far but we've gotten reports of some collapsed buildings in Deutschstadt as for the city itself... we have nothing for now, just trickles of information but not enough to bring the whole picture up."
"Can't we radio them sir?" I asked
"We could but the ashes are interfering with the signals far worse than it would in our world so until the sky lights up we can't do anything but to sit tight." towards Dr. Richardson: "Doctor, what was your predictions for the eruption?"
"Sir initial predictions has the volcano having an initial eruption followed by a few more after at least two days, then there would be a final eruption which would be the largest one just several hours afterwards. Based on what we saw, and the data we've gathered out there it seems like this is THE one judging from the amount of particles it spewed out and the magnitude of it." Dr. Richardson paused to catch his breath. "But since we're in another world I wouldn't rule this out being the initial eruption and after a few more day the big one."
"Hmm." The general groaned once more. "If this continues for several days then we won't be able to use the airfield to medivac casualties." Medivac? So we're going to go help then, that's good.
General Braun must have seen my small grin as he said towards me "Tchaikovsky, I want you out there the moment everything settles down."
"Yes sir."
"Good, now all we have to do is it hunker down for a few more hours, or a few days at worst"
We were back to the command room two days later when the skies cleared up and relief operations could start at a reasonable pace. This time I was the only one from our group to be present, the rest of the twenty seats were occupied by General Braun , the local air force commander Lieutenant Colonel Hans Krammel, the local army commander Major Erik Schütt, Chief Beifong of the RCPD, General Iroh of the United Forces, and several others who looked important which I don't recognize. Welp, looks like I'm in a cave of giants where just a word from any of them would kill off my career.
We were being shown footage shot from the RCPD airships a few hours ago showing the destruction in the city.
"As we can see here" General Braun started as the video continue rolling "Most of the collapsed buildings are from the 'poorer' areas of the city as the skyscrapers are relatively unscratched saved for that one that collapsed..."
"The Cabbage Corp. headquarters." Chief Beifong added
"Yes, that one." the general continued "As you are all aware this base had been accepting civilians that came here for medical assistance into the hospital. BUT, until the defence ministry back home approves of the request I made for more... well everything, we are not in a position to provide much help. If we did so now, we could only provide enough for maybe a thousand civilians or so before we run dry." the general looked to the army commander "Major Schütt, how many men do we have?"
"Just over four hundred general."
"How about you Colonel Krammel."
The colonel bit his lips and exhaled. "We got six Huey choppers which with the ground crews and support units all told... about a hundred and forty sir."
"Hmm." the general leaned forward and supported his chin with both his hands "Well Chief Beifong, I think you could use my men to at least help with rescue operations."
She crossed her arms. "Thank you general, they would be invaluable. My men are already stretched thin even with several thousand of General Iroh's men helping. This disaster is on a scale unseen before in Republic City."
"Yes it is, I've already put everyone in the Republic City garrison to work and I'm also sending for more men from other parts of the country." Iroh added.
"Now" General Braun looked at me "How many men could you effectively lead on the field staff sergeant?"
At that point everyone in the room looked at me. I gulped. What the fuck of a question is that? "Well as a non commissioned officer I could control about a squad sir and..."
The general interrupted me. "I know about the ranks sergeant, I'm asking you personally. How many CAN you lead?"
"Ah." I mumbled "I... umm, I don't know sir. The largest I had commanded was a squad."
"Very well. Chief Beifong." He paused, thinking "I'll give you a platoon under Lieutenant Gottlieb, then I'll add the staff sergeant's squad in so you'll have... fifty men more or less."
"Thank you general." Lin replied.
"What about Avatar Korra?" I asked
General Braun was about to say something when Chief Beifong beat him to it "Avatar Korra has been helping in the city since the initial earthquake, I've been telling her to take some time off. You know she've only slept a few of hours for the two days she's been helping out."
"Oh." Was all I could say Damn, she's really...
"Sergeant Tchaikovsky, do you have any more questions?" General Braun asked.
"No sir." I quickly replied
"Very well, let us continue."
The meeting continued on for a few more hours talking about making shelter for the tens of thousands of civilians displaced and the coordination of the relief effort to come. It was also discussed what the role of the small German contingent in Lin's police force was going to do, and set limits and have a ranking system which would see us included in the police's table of organization.
After the meeting and with everyone dismissed, General Braun asked me to stay back because he had some 'sensitive information' to convey to me.
"Can you repeat to me what's the role of your squad Geraldt." the general said. He called me by my first name, that's very very odd.
"Well, my ten man squad is to provide protection and assistance to Lieutenant Gottlieb's platoon since they'll be going in unarmed to help out with the police, sir."
"Good, good. Now I'll be adding some more to your objectives Geraldt." He scanned the empty room seemingly paranoid that someone or something might hear what he was about to say. "You know how during disasters, especially ones in cities, that bad guys always spring up to take advantage of it."
"Yes sir, that's why we put state of emergencies to effect."
"Very good Geraldt, now I have reports that the Equalists in the city have been trying to get guns. None of it got to them thankfully but I don't think it'll last seeing how much shit the city's in." He leaned in closer and lowered his voice "Your primary objective is still to protect Gottlieb's platoon but your secondary is to collect out information about Equalists."
I frowned. "But sir isn't that the job of General Iroh's intelligence services, or the metalbending police?"
"I know I know but" he waved his hands dismissively "I would like to have one for ourselves too."
"Well, what about the Federal Intelligence Service?"
The general leaned back onto his seat, crossing his arms "I'll be too obvious sending small groups Germans into a disaster zone, besides you and your men have the perfect cover."
"But I don't know anything about spying sir." I tried protesting, all in vain
"I know that's why I'm telling you to just collect information passively, like listening to the survivors or policemen, I'm not telling you to go in and do it Sherlock Holmes style Geraldt."
"Okay sir"
"Good, any more questions?"
"None sir."
"Very good, I'll be sending you off tomorrow morning. You should use the rest of the day to brief your men, and remember to tell them this is a clandestine operation. NO ONE, I repeat NO ONE should know about it other than your squad, understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Oh by the way." he took a folded piece of paper form one of his pockets, waved it a bit in front of me, then handed it over "Its a procurement slip for the carbine versions of the HK417 battle rifle. I'm planning to slowly change from the G36 as the service rifle to that one." He pointed at the paper "The bigger seven-six-two round of the 417 would pack a bigger punch in those close quarters combat and it'll be a big help when taking down those guys who're martial arts experts."
"Ah" I opened the paper and quickly read it "So the whole squad's changing sir?"
"Yeah, I'm planning to have the whole command change by the end of the year."
"I see."
There was awkward silence in the room as I waited for him to say something while probably at the same time he's doing the same thing.
"Well Geraldt, you ahve any more questions?"
"No sir."
"Very well, good luck sergeant."
Darkness and dust fell all over me. What the fuck happened? A moment ago... right right, the bloody floor gave away. I could hear voices but not discern what it was saying or who's it from. Still lying on the floor I tried getting up. Ok good, looks like I don't have any broken bones. Moments later a hand grabbed my right arm and helped me up.
"Sir are you alright?"
I shook my head trying to clear it and looked up to see it was our medic Walter, thank god.
"Yeah doc I'm fine, I'm fine, thanks." Standing on my feet I tried getting my bearing as to where I was.
"Quite a nasty fall sir, thankfully we were close by." he said as he let go of me
"Yeah." I looked up to see a hole about two meters wide just over four meters high. Wow, that's one hell of a fall. I walked forward a bit before stepping on an exposed steel rebar sticking out of the collapsed concrete floor "Damn, I could've died." I kicked the rebar lightly to get Walter's attention.
"Yep, you wanna get out of here yet sir? We've got a rope down already."
"Yeah yeah, just a minute. I'd like to know where this is. You go up first."
"Ok sir." He said as he started climbing up the wall.
Phew okay now calm...
Just a few minutes ago we were with Lieutenant Gottlieb's platoon providing them with security as they were pulling out survivors from the rubbles of the Dragon Flats Borough. We came in with seven trucks, five to transport us in while the two carried medical supplies and food for the immediate needs of any remaining survivors. We were sent alone in this part of the district except for a metalbending officer who will coordinate with the rest of the police.
It was still blurry what happened, I was just walking into an uncollapsed building when I heard some noises coming from within and the moment I stepped in the whole floor just gave away and down I fall into this hole... Wait is that a fucking tunnel tucked in that dark corner? Holy shit it is!
"Doc!" I shouted. "Doc there's a fucking tunnel!"
Walter was halfway up when he heard me. "Tunnel?" he replied.
"Yeah, tunnel. Hey tell them to get three guys down here and the rest I'll put on your command for now since your the corporal."
"Alright, what do you want me to do up there sir?"
"The normal shit doc."
"Roger."
As I waited for the men to come down I took a closer inspection of the tunnel. It was quite small, just over a meter high (four and a half feet I say) and about two and a half feet wide. It doesn't have any lights but so far on what I could see with the light from the hole over our heads it goes deep into, well somewhere.
"Sir?" Herman spoke as I was still pondering about the tunnel.
"Ah, okay who came down?"
"Me, Karl, and Jonathan sir."
"Good good. Check your weapons and ammo boys." I said to all of them "Who's got a flashlight?"
"I do sir." Karl trotted forward holding up his rifle with a small flashlight attached to its front.
"Good good, okay since you have the light you're on point."
"Yes sir." he replied.
"Lets get moving then."
We formed up in a line with Karl up front, me behind him with Herman and Jonathan behind me respectively. We slowly inched forward with rifles at the ready having Karl be the group's eyes, all the while I was taking in the atmosphere of the tunnel. It doesn't have any noticeable smell and the bare concrete walls looked well maintained but has several cracks here and there which I presume was because of the earthquake. There's a single wire attached to the upper right part of the tunnel through stapler-like metal strips, lightbulbs were attached onto it every five feet or so but none of them is working, presumably damaged because of the earthquake. The echoes though... holy shit, the smallest of sounds would echo all across the length of the tunnel so there wasn't any point of trying to be stealthy really.
Continuing onto the darkness with thumping boots echoing throughout the tunnel, we arrived at our first obstacle: a corner. Why? It, being a corner in a tunnel meant there is no way for us to see if there's any form of trap waiting for us when we got around it. Its one of the most important features of close quarters combat and it where people get surprised and be cut down by well hidden enemies.
We could throw a flashbang around to try and clear it but that won't work because, well we're in a tunnel. I could sent Karl ahead and if he got fucked then the rest of us would know something's up and try something else but the downside is Karl getting fucked. Or the dumbest is for all of us to rush around it so if one of us go down, the rest could still shoot at whatever enemy awaits, of course if it wasn't a person but just some mechanical trap like an IED then that means we're all fucked anyway.
Herman tapped my shoulder as we got to the corner "What should we do?" That is an excellent question in which I barely have an answer to
I half turned my head to reply but nothing came out, I looked back to where Karl was kneeling down. Biting my lips I again half turned my head "Someone's going ahead and..."
BAM
I was on the floor with my whole body numb not from pain, but just numb. Gunfire rang all around me as I tried moving my body in vain. I was able to move my neck upwards and my right arm, but it was wholly inadequate to turn my body around let alone move. As the deafening gunfire in the tunnel died down I saw the flashlight on Karl's rifle lighting up the corner, I then looked up (which was away from the corner, towards where we came from) an saw a pair of green eyes shining in the darkness just a few meters away looking straight at me.
Oh shit, that's an equalists. That means I'm chi-blocked... fuck.
For some reason he wasn't moving so I immediately reached for my standard-issue USP pistol strapped onto my right thigh and pointed it at him. He saw what I was doing and started running towards me and I pulled the trigger as fast as I could being scared as fuck.
My shots were not at all accurate being attributed to the uncomfortable twisted state I was in and the fact that I could only move my right arm and my head. He dodged the first few shots no problem but as he got closer the fifth or so shot hit its mark. It hit him squarely on his chest with the remaining ten rounds making contact with various other body parts.
He dropped like a sack of potatoes, no dramatic flailing, just straight down. I tried holstering my pistol and took a deep breath to calm myself down, then tried to picture out what had just happened.
"Sir... what the fuck just happened?" Karl blurted out as he tried to get up. "What the fuck, I can't move both my arms"
"Calm down private its just chi-blocking, it'll wear off soon enough" I hope "Hey since you can stand up, go check on Herman and Jonathan for me will you? As you can see I'm a bit... stunned." I gestured my body using the one functional arm.
"Alright sir." he replied
After fumbling around a bit he eventually got up to his feet and walked towards the remaining two in my squad and quickly checked them out. "They're unconscious sir but still alive."
Thank god they're not dead. "Okay good work, since you're able to walk go back to the opening and call for help quickly."
"Right away sir." and with that he darted into the darkness.
It took them a while but they finally got here, I was able to hear their footsteps far before I was able to see their lights. Karl wasn't in front since that person was holding a rifle with a flashlight but I could hear his voice.
"Sir? Sir! Jesus are you alright?" It was Walter. Thank the army for medics
"I'm fine but Jonathan and Herman's out cold."
"Yeah, Karl's told us about it. He's topside resting for now."
As the small group moved closer Walter went to pick Herman up over his shoulder and the other guys who I think is from Lt. Gottlieb's platoon carried Jonathan and our stuff that are lying on the ground
Is was beginning to wonder who's going to pick me up when a familiar low yet soothing female voice started talking to me. "Wow Geraldt, you got fucked up huh?"
"Oh hey Korra, quite a while since I've seen you." She's got long hair now with the weird triple ponytail style which I saw she had in pictures a few years ago.
"Uh huh, come on lets get out of here."
"Help me up? You sure you... woah woah woah! Jesus."
She grabbed my right arm and pulled my whole body over her shoulders in a fireman's carry/lift with ease. Damn she's this strong huh. She walked for a few seconds back towards the surface before stopping like she forgot something, then turned around and with a stomp on the ground earthbent a wall to close off the tunnel behind us. "I'll come back for them later." She murmured.
It was far more uncomfortable being carried this way than it looks, well actually not that uncomfortable since most of my body was numb. I bobbed up and down with every step she took and it was a little over ten minutes of awkward silence before we finally got out of the tunnel. My men were waiting for us and had prepared ropes to haul me up but Korra being Korra simply earthbent a platform beneath her feet up to the ground.
And that's when I got knocked out by something.
November 7
I grunted and groaned as I got my senses back. The first thing I saw as I opened my eyes were the bright LED light right above me. LED... that means I'm back at base. I tried to move my whole body and what do you know, I can move again! I sat up and looked around trying to figure out where I was. Okay, big-ass room with dozens of beds in several rows with my bed on one of the corners... I'm in a military hospital.
"Ah good morning Staff Sergeant Tchaikovsky, I see that you're awake ."
I looked to my right and saw a male nurse approaching, holding a clipboard and a stethoscope. "Uh yeah, how long had I been out?"
"Just a day sir." He walked to the foot of the bed and started reading the notes pinned to a small board. "You were chi-blocked, then got hit in the head by falling debris after Avatar Korra retrieved you from the tunnel." Ah, so that's what knocked me out.
"Wait, but I was wearing my helmet." I said confused.
"Yes you were but the report said that the piece of concrete that fell onto the back of your head weighed about a kilo and falling from at that speed, it was a miracle that it didn't kill you right then and there or put you into a coma."
"Oh... that bad huh" I continued wiggling my body around trying to make sure nothing was off.
"Yeah, lucky Avatar Korra was there. She healed some of your head wounds but the brain stuff." he tapped his head "Not really effective."
"Ah"
"So, how are you feeling?"
"Um, okay I guess. Nothing seemed off."
The nurse started writing down stuff on his clipboard. "You'll undergo a physical examination and if you passed, well you're going to be discharged from the hospital." He then scanned the empty ward with a sudden and tired look on his face. "This whole place is going to be full later you know, when we start accepting civilians en masse." He then looked at me, sighed, then continued "I bet you guys see things that are a hell of a lot worse than what I'll see in here."
I scratched my head. "I haven't seen much yet but.. seeing the scale of the earthquake its not going to take long."
He smiled faintly. "Well sir, you want to get out of here yet or what?"
November 7 1100H
I was back at the barracks and the whole place looks deserted as most of the men were deployed to help Republic City, so I was told. I proceeded to get into uniform and went to the mess hall to get something to eat with lunch time being from eleven thirty to one in the afternoon.
As I entered the mess hall the two TVs were showing something live about a meeting that's about to happen in the Bundestag which no one in the hall were giving any attention at all. I bought a drink from one of the several vending machines and sat down on the benches waiting for lunch time to come. It was then when I start watching the TV and... wait, is that Raiko?
He was standing on the podium, waving as he waited for the applause to die down. Wow jesus, how the hell did I not know he went to Berlin? He started his speech as the applause died down with it being immediately translated into German:
"As you may have known, Republic City and its surrounding areas was struck by a very large and destructive earthquake just two days ago, it brought destruction on a scale never before seen in my world. In the months that we have discovered each other we had learned a lot from each other and improving the lives of people in my world through technology. Now in times of need I have seen what the people here do in order to help one another, so I am asking the nations of this Earth for help in any form. Not to help the United Republic as a country, but to help its citizens battered by this calamity, I ask the nations of this Earth to set aside any differences we might have to help the people terribly in need because in the end, we're all humans."