The Ones From Beyond

by Lordvessel

Chapter 12: How To Proceed

It is 0900 on a Wednesday morning; Andrew Sawyer sits in his quarters, waiting for his men to set up a live feed communication with the rest of the council in New Damascus. Today is a scheduled meeting, and he knew that Patel and the others would be eager to learn of their findings and the nature behind the device......................

---

The debriefing with Private Sabbag didn't reveal any new details like Andrew had hoped it would. Everything happened as he said it did, even showed him the body of the mutant and the cuts it left on his back. It had been three days since then, and for the last three days Bradford and his team had pretty much uncovered the history surrounding this facility. Andrew looked over the names associated with this place within the data banks of the facility's network, which was operating thanks to the combined efforts of the research team and some computer specialists brought in from Ft. Bismarck. After about 20 minutes of scrolling through the names of the greatest minds the West had to offer, he came across one that he was searching for. Jerome Kimbell, the American head of state back during Andrew's cadet days was heavily involved. That meant that the rumor turned out to be true.

Project Gateway, established in the year 2041 by the Van Buren Corporation. Back then, Kimball was just another CIA suit. Apparently, he oversaw the project for about 2 years in development before it was handed off to someone else, and The Van Buren Corporation was actually just a front for multiple joint German-American intelligence and research operations, this one being no different. With Russia and China leaving the UN entirely that same year, the West needed every possible advantage it could get, seeing nuclear war as an inevitable reality. Billions of dollars apparently went into the funding of this facility, from both the CIA's pockets and the BND's. Project Gateway was created to establish a way through dimensions via portal rift transportation, and if successful would have served countless needs for the West during the war. Its main purpose was set on resource accumulation and a steady supply of raw materials, which would explain why so many devices were built. This facility would have served as a central hub where materials would be going in and out constantly. It would have also served secondary needs such as, nuclear shelter for government officials and essential personnel, agricultural stability in face of nuclear devastation, material and equipment storage, and if any native inhabitants were encountered, they would be exploited to any advantage.

The project however ran into a crippling setback near the end of its development. The device itself functioned perfectly fine, it was finding a place which could have provided all of these demands that was the problem. Over 40 different locations were listed on a manifest in the facility's network. All had been scouted, observed, surveyed, and categorized, and all had their set of devastating drawbacks. The first location, codenamed "Alpha", had veins of iron littered across the planet's surface, but the atmosphere had a high composition of Carbon Monoxide and regular showers of lethal acid rain. The second world, "Omega", was still in the pre-evolutionary stages of planet-wide development. The surface consisted mostly of molten rock and erupting lava. Added to that, indigenous serpentine creatures were encountered by the scouting teams. Estimates had them at 50 feet or more in length, making their homes in the rivers of lava and had a tendency of being extremely territorial. Over the course of five years, every new world that was discovered always had something about it that deemed it undesirable and unfit to exploit, fifteen of which having absolutely nothing to offer at all. Plans had been made for another attempt on a location codenamed, "Echo", but by that time, the war had finally reached Berlin.

That’s when information on the project stops, with the last report on March 14th, 2046 acknowledging the impending attack by the Russians. Despite a thorough investigation of the facility and the assets it held, the reports made no mention of an evacuation procedure, or any status on the state of the personnel assigned to the facility. Like Sergeant Martinez had said, it's like they all just vanished. Despite this fact, Andrew had more important things to do than worry about than a bunch of scientists from 40 years ago. Main priority was for a search and rescue op, but that was going to be difficult. The Science team now knew how to operate the device, but still needed to find out where it lead, and before they could do anything, they needed a green light from the rest of the council.

Andrew drew his attention back to the facility itself and the technology it housed. It didn't surprise him that this place would be used for a selfish purpose in mind.

They created a technological marvel, and they wasted it on "resource" accumulation? Only resource they gave two shits about was oil.

Andrew knew the type of people responsible for this kind of abuse of technology. Same people who would say it's okay to launch a nuke, and the same people who would say it be okay to train child soldiers. The same people who raised him from birth. Old, greedy, warmongering politicians who benefited from the suffering of others. Andrew was just glad that this project was never successful in achieving its goal. If it were, it would mean The Conflict could have lasted much longer than three decades. Now that it was in the hands of The Survivors, some good would come out of it, and possibly, an answer to The Survivors' problems. Andrew's hunch actually paid off. With enough time and patience, this machine could yield the food and water they so desperately needed.

However, Andrew had to deal with the current task at hand, the rescue of Private Berfield. If he was transported to any of the locations listed from the manifest, then chances were that Private Berfield might already be dead and sending people into any of those locations could rack up casualties. Not to mention they still had to follow standard procedure, which required them to relay all this information to the Council before taking any sort of action. His deep train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the entry of Sergeant Martinez. She stood at attention and saluted and he stood up, returning the same gesture.

"Sergeant." he said.

"Commander, my engineers are just about done establishing a link with the Council. The meeting officially starts in about twenty minutes." she said.

"Where to?"

"A board room on the eighth floor, I can escort you there."

"Very well, have somebody bring Bradford up as well."

With that, Sarah turned the knob on her portable radio and clicked the call button. Two days ago, she managed to link her portable to the same frequency as the facility's intercom system, so that the two could work simultaneously in sync. Made things easier, with just a click of a button she could give orders out to everyone in the facility without having to run to the intercom room every time.

"Corporal Vanhart, Please escort Councilor Bradford to the eighth floor board room." she said, with her voice echoing over the speakers across the facility.

She then switched the portable back to the regular frequency, ready to escort Andrew to the Council. But something was off about her at that moment. She had a smug smile on her face.

---

"Shit." Francis scowled.

"You get to escort the esteemed Councilor, you should feel honored Francis." said Nick sarcastically.

"Shut up Barkley! I don't need any of your shit!"

Francis had his fill of these scientists from the moment they arrived. Half of their conversations made absolutely no sense to him, and all of them managed to be the nerdiest people that he ever encountered. Worst part about it was that he had been assigned to babysit them by the Sarge herself, knowing well aware that he found them irritating. This was her idea of a subtle punishment for all the wisecracks he pulled from the day Tim went missing, and now he had to escort the King of the Nerds, Bradford, up 22 whole floors.

“Let's get this over with.” he thought to himself.

Francis got up from folding chair where he was sitting and expected to see the councilor waiting by the elevator. But he wasn't there, in fact, as Francis looked around the large room, he couldn't find him anywhere. With all these scientists now wearing the same standard lab coat it was hard to differentiate one from the other.

"Councilor Bradford?" Francis called out.

The call wasn't answered. Francis was now looking desperately for Bradford, walking around the room looking at each scientist, trying to find the face and features that were associated with him.

"I don't have time for this shit." he cursed under his breath.

It was at that moment when the faint whispers of what sounded like a British accent came into earshot. Francis followed its source to find the man he was looking for, who was currently meddling with some sort of terminal built within the device itself.

"Councilor Bradford, I hate to interrupt but you're needed on the eighth floor." said Francis.

"In a moment." said Bradford. "This is of utmost importance."

Bradford went back to his mumbling leaving an annoyed Francis with very little patience. Bradford had a habit of not listening to anything but his own thoughts, and to Francis it was an obstacle.

"Councilor Bradford, you can get back to it later. The rest of the council is waiting for you."

"No Mr. Vanhart, I can't get back to it later, because it has data I need to present to the council, now please."

Francis was just about tired of putting up with him. He didn't care if he was a Councilor at this point, he needed him to get a move on.

"Look man, I have my orders and the last thing I need is to get chewed out by my CO for not following them, now are you coming or not?"

"God almighty and heaven above...I said I need a moment."

"What's the problem? What's so important that you can't get back to it later?!"

"If you must know Mr. Vanhart, this terminal is filled with a list of set coordinates which may be the key to finding the location where your friend was transported to, and with your constant disturbances, it is rather difficult to find them whilst not trying to alter them! Now if you don't have any further inquiries, would you please allow me a moment of peace!"

Bradford saw that Corporal Vanhart was now quiet, but with a frustrated glare on his face, not that he cared much, considering he saw him as nothing more than a witless moron. Standing at 6'' tall , with a battered SPECTRA helmet adorned with markings of profane language, black goatee, always dogging Private Barkley at possible opportunity, ignoring the scientific value of this facility, pestering him with ridiculous questions, and toting around an M60E3 and comparing it to his manhood, it was hard not to see him as a stubborn, idiotic, brute. He ignored the bitter thoughts of him, and resumed looking over the terminal.

Earlier this morning, Bradford had been rummaging through some of the old papers covering the design layout of the device when he stumbled across the terminal built into the device. He learned that this terminal determined where the portals would open. However, the coordinates displayed were not of any known pre-war numerical or grid system. Each set was a trio of 6-digit codes listed from top to bottom. The first code was fixed at "000030", and Bradford assumed this one was the portal that opened within the device itself, as it was a fixed number and could not be changed. The second however was more elusive, "0256EE" and the third set at "H55V81". The terminal system had several of the three code sets saved within its data banks. Bradford had the numbers, but he needed the name of the world these codes were associated with.

"Manifest...” said Bradford.

"What?" asked Francis.

"Manifest, I need to see the manifest."

"Uh..oka-HEY!!"

Bradford shoved past Francis to a nearby network terminal. There he pulled up the manifest and looked over the codes for each destination, all the while, Francis was impatiently waiting for him to get a move-on.

---

Andrew now sat before a blank TV screen which at the moment was being worked on by an engineer, going through some final tweaks before connecting with New Damascus. Sarah stood by the entrance, wondering what the hell was taking Vanhart was so long. To her, this kind of lollygagging reflected badly on her ability to command, and right in front of the Commander in Chief no less. Andrew himself didn't really think anything about it, with his mind still set on the facility and how they might be able to use it in the future. A small spark ignited where the engineer was working and the screen lit up with a picture of the council chamber in view. It was currently empty, leaving Andrew with just a little bit more time to wait on Bradford.

"Speaking of which..." Andrew whispered.

"Speaking of what, sir?” asked Sarah.

"Bradford? Where is he?"

Sarah and Andrew had been waiting for about 15 minutes for his arrival. Sarah could ask a similar question, what was taking Francis so long to get him up here? Sarah turned the knob on her portable and pressed the call button.

"Corporal Vanhart, please escort the Councilor to the eighth floor." she said.

"Your men always this late, Sergeant?" asked Andrew.

"No, sir. They follow orders as soon as I give them, he better have a good excuse for being late."

"Knowing Bradford, I'd wager he's preoccupied with some small detail relating to that thing downstairs. That's probably what's taking so long."

"What makes you say that?"

"Bradford has been down there studying that thing since we've been here. Can't take him off of it."

"Still, my men know better than to slack. Especially with Private Berfield going missing. We need to be on our guard for when we commence the rescue op."

"That's good to hear, Sergeant, but depending on where that thing took him we might have to rule out the rescue."

"But sir, he's one of us. We just can't leave him."

"If he got sent to a world where we could be easily compromised I'm not willing to put more lives at risk and neither will the Council, I can promise you that. Private Berfield might not have foreseen himself getting into this kind of situation, but he knew there were risks when he volunteered for the Militia, I knew them, and so do you."

"Still, if he's alive-"

"If he's alive, then we'll get him home, but before we do anything we need the approval of the Council."

Andrew turned back around in his chair and waited. He was about to ask what the situation with Bradford was again when from the speakers of the TV, the sound of a door was heard opening. When Andrew looked at the screen, sure enough, Councilors Patel, Yeong, and Schafer all took their respected seats.

"Councilor Sawyer. It is good to see you again." said Schafer.

Schafer was the oldest of the current Council, at an age of 62, with a subtle but raspy German accent, and aging features. With a deep respect of the pre-war era and his own experience with it, he was the best choice for, and has been the only Councilor of Preservation since the founding of The Survivors. The man had multiple stories covering various times in his life. The life before the war, his tales during the war as a soldier in the Bundeswehr, and the nightmare that was the nuclear holocaust. He had a passion for pre-war relics and literature and did everything in his power to preserve the history of the old world.

"It's good to see you too." said Andrew courteously.

Schafer began squinting his eyes and came in closer on the screen.

"Hmm? My eyes aren't what they used to be but it seems that Councilor Bradford is not in attendance."

"Yes, We called for him but he's probably still on the bottom floor, working on the device, I'll have him called for again."

Andrew gestured for Sarah to go over the intercom again, and she did. Turning the knob on her portable, she clicked the call button yet again.

"Corporal Vanhart, please escort Councilor Bradford to the eighth floor board room at once." she said, this time with more assertiveness in her voice.

"Well, I trust that he has the more detailed analysis of whatever you found. Not that I am questioning your abilities, its just that he's the more informative out of you two. A little too informative now that I think about it."

"No apology needed Councilor, Bradford certainly knows more about the technical layout of this place than I do, however I took the liberty of learning the history of this place. Since Bradford discovered the subject himself, I'm sure he wouldn't mind I took the time to share the information with the rest of you."

---

“Just great, this idiot just had to have one of his nerdgasms when I'm just trying to follow orders! Sarge' is gonna fucking kill me!” Francis thought angrily to himself.

Francis walked up behind the Councilor to see what exactly he was doing. From what it looked like, he was going through the list of names on the manifest and clicking on each location individually. Each one he clicked on revealed a wealth of information about it. Unfortunately, it was all written in German, so Francis couldn't make out what it was. However, at the very top were the sets of 6-digit codes unique to each particular world. From the frustrated mumbling Bradford made a habit of, it seemed as if he wasn't finding the one he was looking for.

"Blasted! Why isn't it here?" Bradford whispered to himself.

"Uh, pal, I hate to interrupt your search...well actually, no, I don't care what the hell you're looking for. We need to get a move on! Now!"

Bradford seemed to ignore Francis' statement other than the word, "search".

"Search? Search, search! Why didn't I think of that?!" Bradford said sporadically.

Bradford quickly opened up the network directory and opened up the index search tab.

"Now what are you doing?" asked a very crossed Francis.

"Searching the network for anything relating to those codes. None of the worlds on the manifest matched the set on the terminal over there."

"Meaning?"

"It means that wherever you're friend got sent to, it wasn't one of the worlds that was looked at before the war."

"Hey that's good news; I heard all those places were shitholes!"

"Well, it could be bad news if he got sent to one just like it. So let's cross our fingers that it's not."

Bradford typed the codes in the search tab and clicked enter. There was only one small-unnamed document associated with the codes. Bradford clicked it and saw that it was similar in structure to the ones he went through on the manifest, with the exception that it had absolutely no information on anything, other than the name of the location itself.

"Echo, he was sent to Echo." said Bradford.

---

The Council was taken aback; even Patel was amazed by the revelation of what happened over 40 years ago. Andrew had given them the full story of what transpired back then, all that was left was a progress update from Bradford, who was still absent for some unknown reason.

"A portal to another realm. My God. And not just one, but twenty? My countrymen didn't construct just one trans-dimensional portal they built twenty? The technological and political pressure must have been overwhelming." said Schafer.

"Even more so with a war at their doorstep." said Andrew.

"A marvel indeed. But I'm curious, Commander, what came of the people who were assigned to this facility?" asked Patel.

"That's what I've been wondering about. It doesn't say. The facility was in pristine condition when we got here, so that rules out any sort of indication that they were discovered, in fact I don't think the Russians even found this place. It's like the whole place was untouched, well other than the first floor, it's quite damaged."

"Do you think they may have used the portal, as a possible way to escape the war?"

"Not likely, if it were the case they're would have been signs of a haste. Besides like I said, the worlds they did encounter were all uninhabitable. The point of this project facility was to obtain resources, not to colonize. They would have had to find a world that was sustainable for life and none of the records here indicate that they did. The only world we don't know anything about is Echo, and that's because the war reached them before they got to take a look at it."

"Is it then safe to assume that Private Berfield would be killed upon arrival?"

"We don't know. Bradford's still trying to figure out where the portal leads and how to operate it properly."

With that, the doors behind Andrew opened and entered Bradford accompanied by Francis.

"Sorry I'm late, I was preoccupied with something."

As Bradford took his seat, Sarah shot a glance at Francis. He expected to get chewed out right then and there, but Sarah was in the presence of the entire Council, and deemed it inappropriate to do so in front of them."

"I'll deal with you later, dismissed." said Sarah.

"Yes, ma'am." said Francis.

Francis left the room and the meeting picked right back up.

"Councilor Bradford, good to see you finally arrived." said Councilor Patel.

"Likewise Councilor, now do I have a story to tell you. Turns out-"

"I've already informed them of what we learned."

Bradford's expression fell into utter disappointment.

"You told them already? I wanted to do that." said Bradford.

"Then show up on time." retorted Andrew.

Bradford sighed, knowing he was right. It's the least he deserved after showing up late for a Council meeting, something that was definitely frowned upon considering the circumstances.

"Well, what has he told you?" asked Bradford.

"Everything other than the current status of the device and how to operate it." said Yeong. "He has left that part to you."

"Do you want the long version, or the short version?" asked Bradford.

"The version we can all understand." said Schafer.

"Alright, my team and I have gone through the logistics of the portal multiple times, looked over the schematics, blueprints, controls, and have accessed almost every bit of information we could find in the facility's network. The portal works on some sort of coordinate system, only it's not like a regular map, it works more along the likes of a circuit grid. The portal itself has a destination terminal, each world has a set of 6-digit codes, and those input codes are what determine its opening location. Suffice to say, I think we're ready to start a test run."

"Are you sure that's safe?" asked Patel. "I would hate to see another incident like the one with Private Berfield."

"Yes, right, we've found out what caused that. We determined that the portal somehow generates its own airflow upon opening to remain stable. When Private Sabbag activated it, it apparently had been turned to its maximum setting, which would explain why it was strong enough to pull Private Berfield in." said Bradford.

"Why would that high of an air current be necessary?"

"Well even the lowest setting of the device generates a lot of airflow, comparable to that of a desk fan on high, only on a much larger scale. I theorize that the flow of air is one-directional, it sucks in air from here and on the other side, it goes out. The higher the setting, the bigger the portal gets."

"My guess is that a portal that big would have been used for transporting resources via cargo truck or something with a lot of weight to keep from getting pulled in." said Andrew.

Andrew then turned to Bradford.

"You said you're ready to start tests, does that mean you've found out where it leads?" asked Andrew.

"Yes...and no." said Bradford.

"What do you mean?"

"While I know the name of the world Private Berfield was transported to, there's no data whatsoever on the location, completely blank."

"But all the locations on the manifest have-"

"This one wasn't on the manifest; I had to dig around in the directory just to find anything relating to coordinate codes that were set on the device. That's what took me so long."

"Well, son. Where did he end up?"

"He was transported to Echo."

"Echo, huh?"

There was a decent period of silence before Councilor Yeong broke the silence.

"That's the world that wasn't visited, yes? Is that bad?" he asked.

"No, but it's not good either." said Andrew. "It means we have no intel until we actually go through ourselves. Could be anything on the other side."

"Yet you still intend to use it to carry out a rescue operation?" asked Patel.

Andrew took some time to think of an answer. Strategically, going in with no sort of intel was practically suicide. He had no idea of what could be lying in wait on the other side or where it would lead them. He could be walking straight into an ocean or straight off a cliff. The atmosphere might be toxic, or the ground could be unstable, possible first contact with intelligent life, anything was possible. Not to mention they still needed to find a way of communicating with each other from beyond the portal. Despite this, he knew that the rescue operation was in order, regardless of the consequences. Not just because they needed to rescue the man, it was to see if this was the solution to the shortage. With enough time they could possibly find a new home where man could not just live, but rebuild. Whether Echo could be that place was uncertain. But Andrew knew to take things one step at a time. First things, first, they needed a status on Private Berfield and intel on Echo.

"Yes, I do plan to proceed with a search and rescue." said Andrew.

Councilor Patel let out a small sigh of discontent.

"I would lying if I said, I was surprised. No doubt you have a loyalty to your men first. I'll will sanction the operation, But on one condition."

"And what would that be Councilor?" asked Andrew.

"Handle this professionally. Take every safety precaution, go over every minute detail, have the portal secure at all times, the thing that needs to go through are the men who are partaking in the mission. Consider every preparation before carrying out your mission. And finally, I would ask you to send two of your First Reconnaissance teams to carry out the operation."

The mere mention of the First Recon brought memories back to Andrew. In the early years of The Survivors, they were first deployment group used to scout out sites for settlement and forward operations. Andrew himself was within their ranks for about 10 years before he accepted the position as Commander in Chief. Nowadays, they were the closest thing to Special Forces humanity had. The best gear, best guns, best training, and the most dangerous of missions. Along with site clearing, First recon performed tasks such as advanced weapon retrieval, nuclear disposal, data recovery, information gathering, assault operations, etc.

Finding two teams that were openly available was nearly impossible. Most Fireteams were almost always on assignment and couldn't be contacted depending on the circumstances. Andrew would most likely have to pull two teams and reassign them here, only problem was any assignment involving First Recon was always deemed important. Pulling them out could mean losing out on something valuable to The Survivors.

Nevertheless, he had to agree with Councilor Patel on this one. Despite the entire 3rd Motorized Company and its Sergeant more than eager to conduct the operation themselves, he was going to need soldiers with experience in finding and tracking people. True, legitimate scouts who could track something or someone for miles just by picking up on traces and clues that had been left behind could also do the job. But this mission carried with it more than logistical ramifications, and despite Sarah's firm belief that they could handle the mission themselves, this wasn't an op for grunts.

"Very well Councilor, I'll see to it that I get two Fireteams here as soon as possible."

Sarah's astonished look turned towards her Commander. The last couple of days she was under the impression that she and the 3rd would be the ones to locate Tim, after all he was under her command and he was her responsibility.

"I thank you for that commander, before we move on, I have to ask, when do you think you two will be able to return to New Damascus, and is there anyway of transporting the device here so the entirety of the Science division can take a look at it?" asked Patel.

"I'm afraid moving it is out of the question." said Bradford. "This thing built into the facility from the ground up, moving it would be like trying to move a mountain."

"And if we disassembled it there's a high chance we could damage or lose something vital in the process, and since it's already fully functional, I'd say leaving it here would be the best course of action." said Andrew. "As for when we'll be back, I'd say a week or two, tops."

"Well, that's longer than I would of liked, but I suppose that it's within reason. I have no objections. You may go forth with your operation."

"Neither do I." said Yeong.

"I get to turn it on, so you obviously have my vote." said Bradford jokingly.

"You have my support Commander. Alright, onto other matters then." said Schafer.

---

The meeting wrapped up just before noon. No new developments, same crisis as before, same plan for tackling it. Andrew was walking back towards his quarters when Sarah walked up beside him.

"Sir, may I have a word in private with you?"

Andrew had expected this, and he had already planned for it.

"If you were wanting to discuss the Council's decision to deploy First Recon for this operation, I'll have to inform you the decision is final."

"With all due respect sir, Tim's under my command; it should be our responsibility to find him, not First Recon. I've known these men for years, and I can count on each and every one of them to do their job. I know First Recon has a history of accomplishments but I have to insist-"

"Sergeant Martinez, I'm not in the mood to debate this with you. First Recon is suited for this kind of deployment. They're specialists and they have a better chance of finding your man. I realize this has unsettled you, but it's for the best."

"But, sir, if you would just listen-"

"End of discussion, Sergeant!"

Sarah saw that he made his point very clear and she didn't dare to attempt to overstep her bounds. She could do nothing but comply.

"Yes, sir."

"Good, order the men topside to get a Humvee gassed and ready, you have command while I'm gone."

"Sir, where are you going?"

"Fort Bismarck, I need to use the comm systems there to get in touch with an old friend. Just need to grab a few things and I'll be on my way. You're dismissed, Sergeant."

With that, Andrew took the elevator down, leaving a vexed Sarah, unsure of how the men were going to react to this bit of news. Her fist was clenched in anger and she bashed it against the wall.

"Fuck!"

---

It was 1800 in the barracks, or what had been turned into the temporary barracks. Sarah and several dozen of her subordinates were gathered round in a large group, debating on what to make of the fact that they wouldn't be the ones carrying out the mission.

"First Recon? Do they think we can't handle it?!" said Ahab.

"Doesn't surprise me, we're obviously not trained for this kind of mission." said Nick.

"Maybe you're not prepared newbie, but the rest of us have plenty of experience!" shouted Cpl. Locke.

"Yeah Nick, we can't all be as bad as you!" retorted Francis.

"Barkley's got a point, Vanhart, you'd do well to listen to him." said Cpl. Harris.

"Yeah, better First Recon charge headfirst than us! At least they're prepared for that kind of thing." said Pvt. Nazif.

"Didn't take you for a coward, Nazif!" accused Ahab.

"I'm not a coward, Ahab, but there's a very high chance that whatever's on the other side is hostile."

"We live in a fucking wasteland, what's more hostile than that!?" asked Francis.

"A wasteland where the very air could suffocate you, or melt your face off,...............or filled with lava, hell I don't know!" yelled Nazif.

"That's just it, we don't know what's on the other side, it could be fine for all we know! I think the Council's decision was a load of shit!" said Cpl.Richards.

"Richards is right, this is bullshit! Tim's in our unit, it should be us to bring him back here! We look after each other!" yelled Ahab.

"Yeah! Fuck whatever's on the other side, I say bring it on!" said Francis.

"There's no point in arguing about it!" announced Sarah. "It's not our choice to make, Sawyer said the decision was final."

"But Sarge, this is horseshit! You're just gonna let them do our job for us!?" asked Cpl. Richards.

"I never said I liked the decision, Corporal. But I'm not about to disobey a direct order from Commander Sawyer." said Sarah.

"So what do we do?" said a faint voice in the back.

As everyone turned around to see Achmed sitting on the end of one of the bunk beds. It was hard to converse with him; with Tim gone, he just didn't act like himself. Nobody could really pinpoint what the exact change in his mood was, but they could tell, it was like he was an entirely different person from the one they knew.

"I'm sorry Sabbag, but all we can do is follow orders." said Sarah.

Achmed's dreary expression had remained as it was before. He let out a sigh.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Nobody knows what the hell to do anymore." said Achmed.

Achmed got up and exited the room. His comrades followed out in a similar manner, seeing that the argument had just complete. Sarah stopped Cpl.Harris from leaving though. A few days ago she asked him to check on Achmed every now and then to see how he was doing. Cpl.Harris was the company's pointman/field counselor, and was skilled at reading the body language of others.

"How's he been holding up?" she asked.

"Well Sarge, he's been eating his meals, but he's not sleeping that much and he hadn't talked to anyone until just now."

"He hasn't talked in three days. He must be taking it pretty hard, huh?"

"I'd say so, he spends most his time on the bottom level, just staring at that thing. Maybe he's hoping Tim can find his way back."

It was sad to see Achmed in this state. Especially when he and Tim were pretty much inseparable. You couldn't have one without the other.

"Ma'am, in all honesty, I want to believe Tim's fine. But I think it's that uncertainty that's keeping Sabbag on edge. If Tim's dead, I'm not entirely sure how he'll react. All I can say is be prepared for anything."

Sarah was now worried. She knew Achmed's mom was on the verge of death, but he had claimed he would be psychologically stable with her passing. If that were the case, he'd have to leave the Militia behind, and Tim along with it, to care for his younger sister. However, Tim's untimely death could push him to do something severe.

"Just keep an eye on him, if his behaviors changes drastically, you let me know. You're dismissed Corporal."

Corporal Harris nodded and left the room, leaving Sarah to her lonesome. She didn't mind though, as she needed some time to think.

Comments

[yellowest butter]

One of the very few stories I still haven't lost Interest in. Keep up the good work!

[Mr Dorito]

I have a feeling members of Tim's unit will disobey orders, crossover to Equestria, and then fuck up pissing off the Equestrians and starting a war.

[Lordvessel]

6839631 Thanks, I aim to please

[Sweetblue]

6825698

If you wanted to win a war that would be a way to do it but remember that wars do not end at victory. If you, theoretically, could take down all princesses eliminate all military assets ponies have and world would not end up stopping what would happen?

Now you need to POLICE the suppressed population with your total population being 50k. Ok now imagine Hamas with access to magic? Learning human technology little by little while inflicting them with casualties? Earth ponies eroding the soil? Pegasi placing high-altitude tornado bombs? Unicorns doing pretty much whatever they want?

Humans with population of 50k would NEVER go to war with Equestria unless they would/could literally be ready to exterminate all of them. Simply put they lack numbers to pacify them unless there is ridiculously low population of ponies. You would lose even if you would win.

[TheManWhoSoldTheWorld]

Exterminatus. Wait...nevermind. Man, I really want an Imperium of Man invasion.

[Pat_brony]

More! MORE! MORE!

[Frazzle2Dazzle]

"Ma'am, in all honesty, I want to believe Tim's fine. But I think it's that uncertainty that's keeping Sabbag on edge. If Tim's dead, I'm not entirely sure how he'll react. All I can say is be prepared for anything."

Prepared for anything, including magic horses teleporting him back home? Sure, why not.

[Green-Venom]

"Echo, he was sent to Echo." said Bradford.

Echo for the win. Press E to pay respect.

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.