23: 55
New Eden War Room, Sector 10, Administration District, New Eden
The War Room was a big dark room with big screens fitted to all four walls. The floor was filled with multiple rows of consoles and there was an elevated platform in the middle of the room. A bridge connected the platform with a door on the back wall of the room. Most of the screens fitted to the walls were relaying the video feed of the soldier's helmet cameras while the other few were trying to relay live satellite view of the island. The storm was making it hard for the satellites to get a clear picture.
There was a soldier working behind each console. Some were monitoring the island's security cameras, some were providing overwatch to the soldiers and the others were doing other things.
Just then, the sliding door on the end of the platform bridge opened and General Overlord entered the room with a few others behind him. General Overlord walked through the bridge and went to the platform while the rest of the officers who came with the general got down to the level with the consoles through a staircase to their right.
General Overlord said, "Give me a sitrep."
The soldiers started talking one after the other.
"Radars are clear."
"security cameras are clear."
"All personnel in the island except the students, DIs and Medics have spread throughout the island and are patrolling vigilantly."
"Sanctuary air defence system is armed and ready."
"Satellite video feed visibility low. The storm's too thick."
General Overlord closed his eyes and nodded. Then he said, "Good. Let's…"
Suddenly alarms blared through the speakers of the room. General Overlord asked, his voice calm but with a hint of annoyance, "What happened?"
A soldier replied, "Sanctuary is getting overwhelmed. It's detecting multiple cruise missiles and aircrafts in it's range."
Overlord ordered, "Focus on intercepting the missiles, scramble our jets against theirs, and order our boys in the field to keep their eyes peeled for paratroopers. Take them down before they come down. Engage lock down protocol."
A few soldiers yelled together, "Yes, sir."
Suddenly the whole island started shaking. In a moment, large pillars rose up from tubes buried in the ground. As they rose 50 feet up in the air, the upper side of the pillars opened and 2 omnidirerctional SAM turrets rose out of the pillars. As thy fired their missiles and they collided with the incoming cruise missiles, the balls of glaring lights reflected upon the dark body of C-17 troop carrier jets.
Suddenly another barrage of hatches opened on the ground of New Eden. Large spotlights raised out of the hatches and lit up the sky.
13 June
00: 11
Sector - 14, Inventory District, New Eden
De Luca, Elina and Sifat were looking at the sky with awe as they saw multiple rockets clashing with each other and exploding mid air, swarms of jets chasing each other in a dogfight like bees, and above all, bunch of paratroopers jumping out as five C-17 troop carrier jets flew over the island in formation. De Luca was caught off guard as his earpiece suddenly blew up.
"Watcher 0-4 to all Bravo stations. Anyone copy?"
"Solid copy, 0-4. Go for Bravo 2."
"All active personnel are to take down the incoming paratroopers. Do not let a single one land unscathed. Mission objective: kill or capture incoming tangos. Is that clear?"
"Clear. Bravo 2 out."
De Luca looked back at Sifat and Elina, and said, "OK guys. We have our orders. Do not let a single one of them land. Aim for their parachutes."
Elina and Sifat nodded. All three of them aimed their weapons towards the paratroopers. Sifat and De Luca started firing and one after the other, the paratroopers fell down to the ground like pieces of stones as their parachutes got punctured by oncoming bullets. Elina on the other hand, couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger. She aimed at a paratrooper but her hands started shaking ferociously and she couldn't shoot.
De Luca noticed Elina acting weird and asked as he kept shooting, "Elina? What happened? Oii, Elina?"
Elina suddenly took down her gun and yelled, "I can't. I can't get myself to shoot."
Sifat yelled, clear frustration in his voice, "What? Are you fucking kidding me right now? A soldier getting cold feet after the battle has already begun."
Elina replied, her voice clearly indicating that she's frustrated with herself, "I don't know. I never thought this would happen. I can't get myself to fire."
Just then, De Luca noticed something on the corner of his eyes. He quickly turned to his right and sprayed bullets on the road. A chill went down his spine as he saw around 20 or so soldiers quickly take cover behind the warehouses on the other side of the road as more landed behind the same warehouse. De Luca yelled, "Quick, get inside the warehouse behind us."
De Luca jumped inside and Sifat pulled Elina inside with him. Sifat peeked out the door of the warehouse for a second and pulled his head back quickly just as a spray of bullets hit the door. Sifat said, "Shit. There's almost a hundred of them. What do we do?"
De Luca reloaded his AK-15 as he said, "Shhh. Let me think."
De Luca said through his earpiece, "Bravo 2 to all stations, does anyone copy?"
After he repeated the line a few more times, someone replied, "Solid Copy, Bravo 2. Go for Hunter 6-1."
"Hunter 6-1, send reinforcements to Sector 14. We're overwhelmed here."
"No can do, Bravo 2. We're shorthanded here too. You have to take care of the situation yourself. 6-1 out."
Sifat asked, "What happened?"
De Luca replied, "We're on our own."
Sifat punched the wall he was leaning on in frustration as he said, "Motherfu…"
De Luca interrupted him before he could finish and said, "Ayy ayy ayy. Not the mother. I got a plan."