“Alright ladies and gentlemen, we have a plan. But in order to effect that plan, we need to kill some of these bastards and acquire a few victory points.” Caldwell had already explained how the points system worked to his men as best he could.

They had questions about it that he couldn’t answer, but that was always the way of things. You had to work in a world filled with ambiguity, that's just the way of things. No one tells soldiers shit, why should we expect that to change now? He asked himself and smiled as his men turned to him and started taking notes again.

“Sargent Labou, you and your squad will go with the devil dog and start hunting these bastards down. Only reap what you can get away with, do you understand?” Labou nodded.

“Yes sir.” Labou nodded. The man was a giant cachian boxer turned warfighter. And was probably the best man for this kind of stealth action.

“We need as many VC’s as you can get. That will allow us to snowball. But don't get yourselves killed, we’ll need every rifle on the line when the time comes.” The man nodded, and then turned towards his men organizing them into small two person reaper teams. “The rest of us will make this place as defensible as possible. Lt. Brown, you will stay here and manage our active defense if you don’t mind.” She smiled and nodded in agreement. “Good. If the System gives us objectives to take or things to do to earn more VC’s, I'll take third squad. Second squad will stay here with you. We’ll be the QRF.”

The plan was in place, everyone knew their roles. Just as they settled in to wait, the writhing darkness dissipated revealing an industrial cityscape that looked like something out of a nineties dystopian movie. Or, Caldwell realized, most US Cities today.

Labou’s squad left, quiet, efficient, fast and low, climbing out of the front of the bunker like ants out of a hill, then disappearing into the fake destroyed cityscape. They would stick to the shadows as best they could, stay unseen, and reap what lives they could without kicking the hornet's nest. It was midnight, and Caldwell guessed that the System didn’t much want to change that fact.

Caldwell braced his weapon in the bunker's front opening. “Settle in boys, let's see what the system has in store for us.”