“That’s why we need me and my people on the ground in Tokyo. We have some magical skill of our own and the Masters get stronger by the day. The military is out of their league here but we’re not. Get us clearance for a scouting mission. If it is being used by the ALF for staging attacks, then the military is going to have better information to use for an attack,” Sebastian said.
“High Lord Alecia, what are your thoughts?” the president asked her.
“I don’t like the idea of creating friction with the military. We’ve mostly worked together or at least not worked against each other since the Unification War was won and GloCom was established. This is necessary, though,” the High Lord replied.
“I agree. I don’t like it but it’s necessary. It will take some time to get the political issues cleared so until then we need to keep this quiet until I have full approval, so I need everyone to hold their tongue,” said the president.
“The way you tell it Sebastian knows exactly where to hold his tongue,” Trish whispered to Chelsea.
Several people started snickering and High Lord Alecia said, “Remember where you’re at.”
“I’m sorry, I thought I whispered that,” Trish said.
The snickering continued from a few people and Sebastian’s cheeks turned the deep red he was known for.
#
A few days later, they were discussing the Tokyo situation with the President and General Morrison on a video conference.
“The disappearances around Tokyo have escalated quickly. There have been sporadic incidences where groups go missing but in the aftermath of the cataclysm that wasn’t surprising. We thought it was starvation, disease or gang violence. Now though, it’s large groups mostly around Tokyo base,” the President told them.
“We have been pulling recon ops at Tokyo. We haven’t found anything and that’s the strange part,” said the General. “There are dozens of flyovers, countless drone flights, satellite surveillance and it shows nothing,” said the General.
“So, there is nothing at Tokyo base then we need to look elsewhere,” said Sebastian.
“No, you don’t understand. There is nothing. The files are all missing. The soldiers who did the flyovers are AWOL. The drones have been wiped. Someone hid whatever they found. The results provided to our intelligence people had their timestamps faked and were from shortly after the cataclysm when we did the base check and determined it needed closed,” he replied.
“Who would be able to do that?” asked the President.
“We narrowed down the list of people with the access level, training, and systems knowledge and it was a pretty short list. We don't have proof of anyone yet but suspiciously one of the people on the list has gone missing,” he said.
“Who?” asked Alicia.
“A former member of military intelligence who moved into command and served as my second in command,” the General replied.
“Major General Elam,” said Chelsea.
“Major General Elam,” the General repeated.
“This is troubling, but we have to make a call on Tokyo regardless,” said the President.
“I say we go,” said Sebastian.
“We have no intelligence, no idea of any kind what, if anything, is there. You’re talking about taking on an unknown enemy with unknown strengths with the knowledge and information of a GloCom command officer and intelligence specialist. Sun Tzu said something about first knowing your enemy,” General Morrison said.
“It’s what the Wardens do. We handle the unknown,” said Alicia.
“I’m hesitant here,” said the President.
“Let me take a team. Volunteer only. If it falls to shit, it’s on me not you. It’s unofficial unless it turns out positive and if it doesn’t then it was a renegade action by me,” said Sebastian.
“No,” said General Morrison. “You’ve taken the fall before and GloCom caused it to happen and it won’t happen again on my watch. GloCom is going to have your back this time. I already have recon teams getting us new intel and we'll be informed once we are ready to go,” the General told him.
“Then I guess it’s settled,” said the President.
“I’ll leave your two groups to handle the details but keep my office up to speed on the operation from start to finish and the final approval comes from me,” she said.
#
Several days later, Sebastian and Chelsea were sitting at breakfast with Boudicca, Trish, Samantha, and Xavier just after dawn when Bethany’s voice came over the internal comm. "We have a call from General Morrison. He said Tokyo is a go,” she said.
Sebastian and Chelsea looked at each other. "That was fast. Gotta love GloCom's efficiency. On our way,” he replied to Bethany. He activated his comm unit and said “All Marshals to the C&C immediately. This is a priority,” he said.
A couple of minutes later, everyone was assembled in their command center. General Morrison’s face was on the vid screen.
“Lord Marshal, we have a go,” General Morrison told them. “We have to tread cautiously. The base is on the edge of the civilian sector of Tokyo. We don't want innocent deaths.”
“General, we understand. You’re giving the go-ahead so that means you found something,” Chelsea said.
“We did indeed. We’re going to need your help in planning though. We finally got verifiable recon back and it’s going to be a major operation. It’s definitely an ALF base. From what we can tell, they’ve salvaged some of the equipment and facilities and are running a full-scale operation. The problem is they have other things there. Your kind of things. We don’t even know what some of them are. Can your people come to my base at Quebec for the planning? I would prefer to not have channels open that might be snooped considering Elam's background in intelligence,” said the General.
“Of course,” replied Sebastian. "We’ll prep and leave immediately.”
“Come heavy and bring all your combat-ready people. Be prepared to roll out,” the General said.
“General, the Vanguard is always ready,” replied Bruce.
A short time later, several Vanguard shuttles were cleared and landed at Quebec GloCom Command and the Vanguard Marshals were transported to the General’s main headquarters on the base and the rest of their group taken to a waiting area.
“Welcome to QGCC,” said their escort. "I’m Major General Davis. I’m General Morrison’s second. If you’ll follow me, General Morrison asked you be escorted immediately to his conference room.”
“You’re Major General Elam’s replacement then?” asked Field Marshal Bruce.
“The traitor? Yes. The recon data shows he might be at Tokyo. Gut him for me please and make it hurt. He betrayed UniGov, GloCom and his commander and he deserves to suffer,” she said then indicated a door. "We’re here.”
General Morrison and several other members of GloCom were already sitting and waiting on the Vanguard along with High Lord Alecia and several people from the Warden Directorate. The group took a moment for formality and introductions.
“Welcome. Nice uniforms. You look like an old school Special Forces unit. Normally we would be more cordial to guests, but pleasantries can wait. We have an assault to plan and time is more important than we realized,” he told them.
“This is your show, General. Tell us what you need,” said Lord Marshal Sebastian
“What we need is your particular field of expertise in planning and pulling off this assault. If it were strictly ALF we were dealing with, we would already have launched. It’s not though and quite frankly, we don’t know what many of these things are, their capabilities, weaknesses, etc. Let me show what we’ve got,” the General told them.
“Excuse the interruption, General Morrison. Another of the Vanguard just arrived,” said a Lieutenant as he led Field Marshall Nefertiti into the room.
“You should be with Ra,” said Lord Marshal Sebastian.
“Ra and I are warriors. He would not want me to sit idly by when a battle of great importance wa
s being fought. He is with me in spirit. I will fight twice as fierce for him,” Field Marshal Nefertiti told them.
He activated the wall panel and a map of the base appeared. "This is Tokyo Base, or rather what’s left of it. Initially, we declared it a no-go because our data indicated the reactor was unstable, so we set up a perimeter guard at some distance around the entire base in case of a meltdown, but that perimeter was compromised by Elam and appears to be comprised completely of his people. We now know that all of the recon data was falsified as well.”
“The base itself is in shambles. There are only a few buildings still intact. The lots are cracked, and seawater has flooded much of it. There are rubble and debris from the buildings and craft we had stored. The base is a hazard.”
“It looks like they’ve concentrated their salvage efforts around three key areas. This location,” he said indicating a red circle, “Is the motor pool. These facilities are also set up for repair and maintenance on nearly every piece of equipment we use. After the declaration of a no-go, we were forced to leave a lot of equipment behind until we could get crews in to stabilize the reactor. We now know the delays and bureaucracy were exacerbated by a traitor.”
“The second area is the armory,” said the General indicated another red circle. "The armory contains ordnance as you might guess. Based on an analysis of recent attacks, we know they have a supply of military grade armaments, so we think this is a likely source. This armory contained everything from small arms ammunition to RATS.”
“Excuse the interruption General,” said Field Marshal Boudicca. "Why would rodents be a threat?”
“I don’t mean the little rodents that scurry around. RATS is a military machine. It stands for Robotic Advanced Tactical System. RATS. They’re big suits of heavily mechanized armor equipped with grenade launchers, energy cannons, and rocket launchers. They can take a beating and dish one out. They’re airborne capable and can withstand heavy attacks, extreme temperatures and keep the pilot protected. They’re nasty pieces of work,”
“I remember them from my GloCom days,” said Lord Marshal Sebastian. "Let’s hope they haven’t got those mobilized yet. Their security systems are good but not impenetrable, especially if they’ve gotten command codes from the database.”
“The last area is the command center,” he said illustrating a red circle almost in the center of the base. “By itself, it’s not an actual threat. It’s the computer systems inside. The security is the best we have available and getting past those firewalls will take the best crackers in the world and a lot of time if there is anything to salvage. Once the base was declared a no-go, we sent commands to wipe the systems and as part of standard protocol, all global systems had security codes reset so any codes they retrieve are garbage and even Elam couldn't stop that from happening. The concern here is those systems, if the wipes failed or weren’t complete, have locations and specifications for our global security measures,” General Morrison told them.
“Now, as far as opposition. We know the ALF has fortified their position. The number of troops they have is in the hundreds, possibly more. They have access to the defenses of the base as well. This includes automated laser turrets, missile defense systems, anti-personnel measures and any vehicles they’ve managed to salvage,” he told them.
“We looked through the archives the Wardens provided and identified many of the fey. They have ogres, lycanthropes, zombies and a variety of other common fey. These we can even handle and maybe we can handle it all and clean up our own mess but that’s what you’re going to tell us,” he told the group.
“The reason the Vanguard and Wardens are here is the things we don’t know how to fight. Our recon has provided us information on creatures we’ve never seen. The floor is open. I’ll show, and you tell,” he said changing the display.
On the screen was a tall, gaunt creature in tattered robes. It was near a building entrance with dozens of what looked like zombies milling about.
“I don’t know what that is, but we’ve fought one. Conventional weapons don’t hurt it, but magical fire seems to do the trick. They also have the ability to summon what Merlin called ghouls. The ghouls are deadly. If they get their teeth in you then you’re dead. The thing itself makes you afraid if you’re close and can hypnotize people with its eyes,” said Field Marshal Xavier.
“It’s a lich,” said Field Marshal Morgana. "They’re a type of undead created from the remains of a powerful wizard. They’re very dangerous. You should leave it to the Vanguard and Wardens.
He changed the display again. A massive, heavily muscled creature was visible. It was at least thirty feet tall and its skin glistened with what looked like metal plates.
“That’s a troll,” said Field Marshal Boudicca. "It’s been armored though. The metal plates on its skin aren’t natural. That’s going to make it very hard to kill. It’s full grown too. They can be hurt by normal means but take a lot to kill. Their skin is very thick and tough on its own with a hardness almost like granite and the armoring will make it even stronger. My recommendation would be to use some of those bombs you seem to like.”
The general changed to another slide. It showed several humanoids with scaled skin and long, shimmering hair. They were obviously reptilian. They were accompanied by large animals that looked to be a cross between a lizard and dog and were half again larger than a wolf.
Field Marshal Morgana gasped.
“Is something wrong?” asked Vice Marshal Chelsea.
“Drebs…” said Field Marshal Morgana.
“You said they were dead,” replied Lord Marshal Sebastian.
“I thought they were. If they’re alive this could have serious ramifications. I’m sorry but I can’t join this fight. I have to speak with the dragons,” Field Marshal Morgana said.
“We need you here, mom. I need you here,” said Vice Marshal Chelsea.
“Mom?” said Field Marshal Boudicca. "So, you know who you are then, Malka?”
“Wait, how do you know?” Vice Marshal Chelsea asked.
“If you’ll excuse me a moment. I don’t want to seem rude but,” said the General and continued “I’m not sure what all this is about but unless it pertains to the matter at hand can we table it for later please?”
Vice Marshal Chelsea said, “Of course General. This is an internal issue and is not relevant nor will it impact the operation.”
“They’re very dangerous. You should nuke that place immediately,” Vice Marshal Morgana told him.
“Are you telling me a few dozens of those things and their lizard dogs are so dangerous we should nuke Tokyo and kill millions of people? Even a tactical warhead would kill massive numbers in that densely populated an area and that’s not even mentioning fallout,” the General asked.
“Millions?” asked Morgana. "No. We might lose lives in this fight, but we can’t sacrifice that many. They’re drebs. They’re a very old, very powerful fey race. They’re as old as humans and just as strong magically. What you call lizard dogs are krinn. They’re descended from canines but magically altered. They’re extremely fast with incredible endurance. Their bites are venomous and can kill a creature many times their size. The drebs create them and keep them as pets. Do not underestimate drebs. Next, to Mordred, they're the most dangerous creatures on this planet.”
“Noted. There are only a few more slides,” said the General.
“Field Marshal Boudicca is as knowledgeable as I about the fey and can offer any insight I might have. I must speak with the dragons if they’ll grant me an audience. I’ll return as soon as I can,” said Field Marshal Morgana then disappeared.
“Dragons? There are dragons now?” asked the General. "Are they on our side or not in this fight?”
“I don’t think they’ll be involved in this fight, General, but from what I’ve been told, they’re on our side. I didn’t realize any were still around,” Lord Marshal Sebastian told them.
“We have a lot to discuss back at Camelot when this is
over,” said Field Marshal Bruce looking at Lord Marshal Sebastian and Vice Marshal Chelsea. "The Vanguard is not supposed to have secrets.”
“General, a question if I may,” said Sebastian.
“Of course, Lord Marshal,” replied the General.
“This is uncharacteristically cautious for a GloCom strike. The base is easily accessible. The warheads housed there are in deep bunkers. Why hasn’t GloCom just launched an airstrike? It’s hard to believe you need to do a ground assault here. I appreciate the need to check the computer systems, but couldn’t you just surgically strike everything else then raid the command center?” asked the Lord Marshal.
“That’s a good point and one I was about to get to. Under normal circumstances, you would be correct. There are extenuating circumstances and political issues to deal with. Politically, the President wants this to be done as a joint strike between GloCom, the Wardens and the Vanguard should it be more than GloCom can handle and from what I'm hearing about the lich and drebs, it is. She’s operating under martial law statutes but even in that case, authorizing Serendipity and creating the Vanguard are pushing the limits and making the Senate question her. She was able to brush aside the Serendipity issue because there were no civilian casualties and it was overall a successful operation. A successful venture here would help show at least that the Vanguard was a good decision as well,” said the General.
“That’s all good and well but the follow-up raid on the C&C at Tokyo could be done as a joint strike. There’s no reason to waste lives on a ground offensive that is likely going to get nasty,” said Field Marshal Bruce.
“You’re right. That brings me to the next issue. One of the things that made Serendipity and Syracuse go away was the lack of civilian casualties aside from a few press shuttles which was turned to our advantage. We don’t have that luxury here. They’ve been kidnapping locals. Until we got solid recon, we couldn’t be sure it was the ALF. It could have just been people lost to the violence and situations of the aftermath. Now we know that’s not the case,” General Morrison said as he changed slides.
The Vanguard Page 7
