The Last Bastion: Bunker Chicago (Recruiting Area) U-ARM - The War Hero Arrives

Nilum

The Wanderer Returned
Benefactor
((Read This First.))

U-ARM – The War Hero Arrives

A small church stood in the midst of a neighbourhood controlled officially by The Old Guard’s soldiers. Officially being the key word, for it was clear that the neighbourhood zealously kept to itself, managing to elude the attention of both Old Guard and Coalition forces. With everything else going on, it was hard to pay it any mind. Those seeking to work for freedom and liberty often found themselves drawn to this place, and the church itself—regardless of their religious inclinations.

As the sermons within the church come to an end, an elderly priest standing at the podium would look up and see what few members of the congregation he had today. He speaks, loudly. “There is no deception to be had in these hallowed grounds! For those allowed to stand within the presence of God today, I know, each and every one of you has been seen to be a valiant defender of freedom and liberty! If you wish to learn of how you can bring these fires to light once more in this gem of a bunker colony, simply walk past me, and into our basement. Beware, though, that what you learn is a truth from which you may never turn back... For liberty comes at a high price.”
 
Kaevus sat in the church, listening to the sermon of the wise preachers. He had never found himself a religious man in the past, but separated from the U-ARM, one of the few things he had grown to know in life, he felt its call. He sat on the rough wooden pews, breathing the cool morning air, relaxing his mind in the words of God, and preparing himself for another day of work. Construction was always in demand, after all. The war made sure of that.

Despite the calm, despite the words of the preachers, despite the slight aching in his muscles after a long day of work, despite the food it brought him, despite it all, there was still something missing. The familiar acrid smell of burning powder, the familiar recoil of his rifle. Over time, the U-ARM military grew to be the only thing he knew. They were friends and family, people he had fought by and shared stories with. He regretted not being with them, especially as the war grew more and more heated.

As the sermon ended, Kaevus prepared to rise, and begin another day of work. A voice stopped him short. Old, but full of pride, and hope. He preached to the soul, and one only needed to hear a few words to know it. The U-ARM. Liberty, freedom, truth, it brought his mind back to what he had fought for, before he was discharged. This man may not be U-ARM, but he preached the same words, sang the same song. And if he could help the Bunker, the home his parents lived in, the home his comrades defended, and keep them safe, that was enough. Kaevus grabbed his work jacket, slung over the back of the pew, and threw it over his shoulder, and stood.

"I'll take up your call, preacher."
 
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Haggered and unkempt, a young redhead balled her fists and wiped the last traces of moisture from her eyes.

Eira turned to look up at the man standing between the pews, taking in the strength of his posture and the bluntness of her words. Though by now she was already decided, his own resolute presence bolstered her spirits and made her ready to commit. Rising from her seat and banishing as best she could the signs of anger and grief recently apparent in her expression, the woman strode up to the man, placed a reassuring hand on his arm along with a slight smile, before motioning for him to follow her—or walk alongside her, should he himself be familiar with the path.

She then stepped past him, and walked to the priest, speaking quietly and simply, "Thank you, Father," before turning towards the entrance to the basement.
 
The old priest looks at Kaevus and simply nods, motioning toward the basement. "Then see the truth for yourself."

The basement itself was unlocked, being a simple trap door descending down into the ground. It seemed most of the time, it could be easily hidden, and judging from the scrape marks against the wooden frame, it often was. Though it was darker in the basement, the faint smell of a gasoline generator hard at work kept her on the right path. It seemed most of this underground had been dug out by hand, and must have taken a lot of work. Most of it even seemed to be done in secret to some extent, judging from the fact that it went underneath the foundation of the building.

Without much delay, Eira would find a moderately sized room. It held a large table, with maps of both the city ruins of Chicago, and Bunker Chicago itself. Standing on the other side of the table was a young, but muscular man--one that obviously made fitness a key priority in his life. He looks up at the woman entering the room, and motions her inside. Glancing inside, she could see four uniformed U-ARM guards. The muscular man speaks, with a deep rooted charisma--like an action hero, who had stepped out of a book. "Don't fear! Have faith. I am Keith Emmanual Richardson, Sergeant Major in U-ARM. You may have heard of me from my exploits against the tyrannical forces of The Coalition. You may have also heard that we took a major loss against them recently, which is true, and which is why I am here. I am going to save this colony from their autocratic manipulations, and from the deadly mutant threat outside--simply step inside and I'll tell you how. If you still don't have faith in me after, I'll even let you leave. You're free to make your own choices, like everyone else--that's what we stand for, after all."
 
"Keith Emmanual Richardson..." Kaevus muttered under his breath. It practically carried a religious significance. Any soldier who wore the stars and stripes with pride knew who he was, and what he had done for the U-ARM. Suddenly, in front of the soldiers and the Sergeant Major, he felt naked without his uniform. It had been a long time, but he still felt the loss of that shared brotherhood as keenly now as when he was first discharged. The maps, the uniforms, the U-ARM's proud patriotism, all of it made Kaevus feel like he was nearly home again. This could be his best, last, and only chance to return to the only life he knew. In that moment, he made his decision.

Kaevus drew himself up, and steeled his resolve. He gave a respectful nod of thanks to the Sergeant Major, and stepped inside.
 
Eira followed Kaevus inside, and acknowledged the guards with a nod of her head.

She then turned to Richardson. "It is an honour to meet you, sir," she stated respectfully but no particular reverence. "My name is Eira Mairwen, here to take the place of my brother in his…" She grimaced and paused momentarily. "Absence. Not a lot of experience in the field, I'll admit, but I've been trained and am ready to fight to get those damned Coalition-ers out."
 
"Good, good." Keith states with a friendly grin. "Mairwen... One of the casualties of the last battle, huh? You have my condolences, I will ensure his sacrifice was not in vain." He pats Eira on the shoulder, then turns and looks at Kaevus. "You speak my name with such respect, and brim with such pride... I wonder, if you have served elsewhere?" He seemed to be musing his thoughts aloud as he walks over to the table, and taps on one of the papers on it--blueprints to a structure. "We're going to do something brave. Something that nobody would suspect. When The Coalition leaves for their next mission, we will attack the bunker itself directly, and give em' a bloody nose. At the same time, we're going to get a whole bunch of information that we need to end this new mutant threat, once and for all. Are you interested in learning more?"
 
"3rd Regiment. I worked explosives. Got to see you speak one time, damn good speech. But, I was discharged a while back. Mutant and I got into a fight in a bar. A few of his friends joined in." Kaevus paused. He had a mixed expression, somewhere between sorrow and wistfulness, and looked down, shamed to meet the commander's eyes. he rubbed his nose, looked back up, and continued. "It was bad. They were dead, I was not too far behind. But even in my disgrace, the U-ARM still took care of me. Patched me up and discharged me. Pardoned me for the act. It was more than I could have hoped for." He shook his head, as if trying to snap himself out of the past.

"It's been a while. But the U-ARM is still fighting the good fight. If I can help the U-ARM and give those snotty coalition bastards a black eye, hell, sign me up. And have those mutants kick the bucket while we're at it?" He eyed the commander seriously, trying to see if there was any falsehood in his words. Deep down though, he was already decided. "I'd die for the U-ARM. But if we can end the mutants? I'd sell my soul to the devil himself if that's comes down to."

"Whatever you ask, Sergeant Major. Through hell and high water, to the ends of the earth and back again."
 
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Eira paused after Kaevus fell silent, momentary doubt showing on her face. She held U-ARM in high esteem, and in many respects shared their goals, if perhaps tempered by her time in Bunker Chicago. What the man at her side displayed was a fervour exceeding the rational—and edging into the dangerous.

Still, he was but one man among many, and he'd have to earn his influence just as much as she.

"My ears are open. Wouldn't be here if I weren't ready to serve, risk or no." The redhead crossed her arms, and held Richardson's gaze skeptically. "If the Coalition had info on how to purge the mutants, wouldn't they'd have used it by now?"
 
"Good to have you back, soldier." Keith pats Kaevus on the shoulder reassuringly, then sharply turns his attention to Eira--like that of a hawk, staring at its next meal. His tone held an unbridled level of pride, and a barely suppressed intensity that threatened to break through at any moment. "That's just it, don't you see? They're playing us. Do you really think they're not aware of this place? They raided one of our farmsteads a couple weeks ago, while I was in transit to this colony. They took out almost everyone there. Only a few managed to escape, including the priest above us now. I don't doubt that John Smith has done his best to protect us and our identities, but there is no way that The Coalition has not figured out where we are by now. This is a normal strategy of theirs, the political bastards: To manipulate everyone around them into doing what they want."

He turns away and walks over to the table, covered in various papers. He wraps one of his hands into a knuckled fist and taps the blueprints to the base. "I don't doubt that they don't understand the gravity of this threat. They probably think they can solve it with technology--with another of their darn laboratory schemes. They probably think they can manipulate these out of control listeners, like they can all of their science projects on legs. They don't understand that they're playing God with people who think they are Gods. Even if they don't quite understand how to destroy this threat, they have far more information on listeners than we do. They have far more information on this new listener threat than we do. Hell, even if they don't, we should make it a priority to hit them so hard that we knock them off balance long enough to redeploy ourselves so they don't know where we are anymore. Aggression is the key to success, count on it... So does that dissuade some of your doubts, ma'am?"
 
"Some of them, yes." She stepped towards the table, taking the time to mull over the Sergeant Major's words. "Enough to be willing to trust you know what you're doing, at least." Eira now leaned over the table, looking through the papers that had been laid out. "So what is your plan? Guessing a flat-out frontal assault wouldn't be particularly effective—that bunker's hardy as all hell."
 
Kaevus stood with his arms folded behind his back listening to the conversation while gazing over the maps and diagrams scattered about the table. Whatever the commander had planned, it seemed like he had been at it quite a while. He nodded lightly in agreement with the commander as he spoke, and turned his attention to Eira. He flinched a bit at her words. 'Have more faith in the Sergeant Major. He wouldn't be recruiting men for a suicide mission. The U-ARM is bold, not foolhardy.' He thought to himself. As far as the woman herself, though, Kaevus found her too quick to question. The brass may not care too much for the grunt, but they'll make sure his life serves a greater purpose. If she lived through a few more years on the field, she'd figure that out herself. She would make a fine soldier in time, though. Someone he could rely on, if need be, when in combat.
 
"Look around you." He motions around at the clearly dug out underground passages. "Most of the bunker is built underground. One of these passages has been recently expanded to a location close to the bunker, we're going to dig our way to the bunker's walls, and then, through them. The moment my civilian team breaks through, we're moving in behind them. We can't beat them head on, and we never have been able to, so we're going to try and cripple them. If we can make them appear weak enough, perhaps The Old Guard will take our help instead of theirs. At the very least, we need to restore faith in the local population, that we are seriously able to do as we claim: Defeat The Coalition within their own home, and we can prove that to them."

He glances between them. "Any further questions?"
 
Eira looks to Kaevus before speaking. "Nothing that can't be figured out there—except, perhaps, what to look for once inside." She crossed her arms, much like he had done, scrutinizing her fellow recruit before continuing. While she could not fault him for his devotion, a healthy dose of critical awareness was useful at any rank—even the most straightforward of grunts could be rendered more effective with clear knowledge of the objectives and risks at hand. "Anything to add, Kaevus?"
 
"Get in, get the intel on the listeners, get out, and cause as much damage as possible along the way. A simple enough plan. Do we have anything on troop numbers, layout, enemy weaponry, proposed route, anything relevant? While blasting our way through waves of coalition forces is fun, it'll help if we know everything there is to know about this plan. It's not like we can back out now, anyway." Anything at all, Kaevus though to himself, anything at all that might help turn a broken nose into a fractured skull. The more we've got to go on, the better we can get the mission done, and the likelier we will be to be there when we get to bury the Coalition, once and for all.
 
"We have four targets when we're inside." Keith moves some of the overlying papers away, so they can get a clearer look at the map on the table. "The nuclear power core, the computer and network database center, the primary lab, and the prisoner facility. If we can take out their power, they lose the ability to remotely seal off parts of the bunker from us--though they do have backup generators. We can use the backup generators ourselves if we reach them, to take temporary control over certain parts of the structure and turn their own defenses against them. If we reach the computer and network database center, we can steal all the information they have about this new listener threat--as well as any of their other pet projects... We could use that information to broker better relations with The Old Guard here, as well as enlighten ourselves to the true extent of the threat at hand. The primary lab may have ongoing experiments that we can rescue, or conversely, put out of their misery--and set back The Coalition's cruel science programs as a result. Finally, the prisoner facility likely contains several of U-ARM's specialists, and it is our duty to leave none of them behind."

He clears his throat and glances at the guards around him. "In terms of layout, we have their blueprints. We do not have an exact number on troops, which is why we will be waiting to move in until after they leave for an operation tonight. Their weaponry should be fairly standard for Coalition goons--lots of ballistics and laser weapons. The routes are being kept on a need to know basis, you will be informed when the operation begins tonight. Be here at 1800 hours, we'll then wait and see how long it takes for our enemy to act... Do either of you have any further questions?"
 
She shrugged. "No, that will enough. Thank you." Eira turned partway, as if to leave, but hesitated before committing. She lowered her voice and her gaze simultaneously. "Unless you've further need of me, I'll take this time to prepare. See you on the field."
 
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