Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen: Rooting out Pests
Liao, March 25th, 3026
"Alright, we've gone over all of the personnel files, and are pretty sure we've narrowed down the ones responsible for what happened five days ago." Packer briefed the senior officers of his RCT. "Colonel Vincent has cross checked and is assisting us in locating any NBC stashes, but in exchange, she wants us to provide amnesty for her and several of her officers on Kentares."
"I'm inclined to give them that amnesty." Packer continued, "Her and her people have been more than cooperative, and even if we were once enemies, this may prove to be what allows the FedSuns, Concordat, and Commonwealth to integrate the people of the Capcon into their nations."
"We need to get the cells rolled up first sir." Mendoza reminded him. "One problem at a time."
"You're right Mendoza." Packer agreed. "Now, we've got people who trained with Dunham in counterintel, and I'm going to need you to split them into our various infantry fireteams and make sure they have the handbook to go with it.."
"We have around thirty to forty of counterintel specialists." Mendoza said, "And between three to five hundred infantry, that's a pretty significant split."
"Anyone have any better ideas?" Packer asked, "Because we have to make sure that this world is secure for any garrison forces before we move onto Outreach."
"Put them in a dedicated team." Someone spoke up. "And have them do a series of rapid training scenarios, while it might not be as good as all of us having the full training regimen that Dunham has them go through, it may help us get a head start, and if we have the training materials that they use, we can keep them on our slates for ease of access."
"I like that plan, but it leaves us with several blank spots." Mendoza brought up. "So, let's mesh several ideas together. We hold a quick training program and get it together, and have our people go through it. Then, after they've gone through it we have our people split up between fireteams in order to properly utilize said information."
"I like all of it," Packer said, "But we still have to figure out how to implement this."
St. Ives, May 3rd, 3026
"Duchess Liao," I greeted the woman as she was brought in. "I heard you've been cooperating with my people."
"No one wants to have that kind of blood on their hands." Candace Liao said as she sat down calmly like she was still in control of the situation. "I am not responsible for my fathers actions."
"No, you just didn't stop them." I said. "There's an old quote from where I come from, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I sighed. "That, is what I think applies to you currently."
"Oh, and what did you think I was supposed to do?" She asked with a cold expression on her face. "Die because I stood against my madman of a father? Or did you want me to start this war sooner so that you could steal more of our factories and machinery?"
Natasha stood up to do something violent before I put my hand on her shoulder in order to stop her. "Yes, if it would have worked to stop the deaths of millions of people." I stated, "Even doing anything would have been better than nothing."
"This wouldn't have stopped my father." Candace said. "He was planning this in secret for at least a decade if not more, and by doing what I did, I prevented it from being far worse than it is now."
"Duchess Liao, there will be a reckoning when this is all over, and you will be held accountable for what you did and did not do, but until that day I need your assistance to help prevent more evil from being done." I said with a slight tremor in my voice. "When will this stop?"
"It will never stop." Candace said with a sad laugh. "Not while people like my father remain in power."
New Avalon, April 10th, 3026
"Aha!" Dr. Banzai exclaimed as he looked over the latest scan results. "I think I know where the Nuke is hidden." He looked around his lab before alighting on his slate, flipping through the applications until he reached his communications folder. "Yvonne, I think I found it."
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Four hours later…
"I tracked down an artificial radiation signature that wasn't something that can be attributed to a Fusion reactor." Dr. Banzai explained. "It was on a ship headed for Albion, and was approximately five days out."
"If they're in the middle of the ocean, should we try and take them out now?" Ian asked. "Because there aren't any population centers out there, and even if they set the nuke off we should be fine right?"
"It depends." Dr. Banzai said after a moment. "We know now through interrogation that they smuggled the device onto New Avalon in stages, and if they were able to manufacture it here, they may also have gotten their hands on some Cobalt or other materials that may make the immediate fallout much more dangerous, and could potentially even reach a major population center depending on the magnitude of the device."
"But, this may be the best chance we have?" Ian asked.
"Yes, but I would only send teams that were volunteers, because if something goes wrong, they're not coming back." Dr. Banzai stated with finality.
"I'll go start getting some people together." Yvonne said. "And I'll make sure that it's volunteer only."
Avalon Ocean, somewhere in between Brunswick and Albion…
"Alright team," The leader of the two platoons of volunteers said over hisMithril's communications systems. "We know that they have a nuclear device onboard, as well as at least five to ten suits of Mithril that were stolen from the local militia."
"Is that why we have the prototypes?" One of the platoon members asked. "Because I thought these things weren't supposed to be issued for another two to three years."
"Handheld gauss weaponry is the only thing we think will work against other powered armor." The CO spoke. "And we're the ones who are going to be testing it out against people that are ready and willing to destroy everything that we stand for."
The VTOL's hovered hundreds of meters above the ship while the two platoons dropped out of them, using Jump jets to maneuver onto the ship below. They systematically dismantled all of the MASK personnel onboard until they reached the one shipping container that was surrounded by the enemy PA troops. Unfortunately, the prototype Gauss weapons were not quite up to the task yet, it took over a full magazine to penetrate the stolen Mithril Powered armor but fortunately the Davion forces had ammunition to spare and hadn't yet taken any casualties.
All that was left after they had taken out the enemy powered armor was to breach the actual container that held the nuclear device hidden in it.