Two weeks later I was finally cleared for active duty. Coincidentally, on the same day Brooke had gained her accreditation and was now also considered an active member of the Draugr Wildcats. I was being very thorough in rewarding her for her efforts, she was likewise very happy to physically express her congratulations at my return to active duty. It was a little cramped in the cockpit of the Harbin gunship, but it needed christening, and the two of us were certainly up to the task.

A mere thirty minutes into the celebrations however we were rudely interrupted.

:>> Go for Tac. 1.

:

I answered the call in a rather distracted fashion.

:>> Draugr One. Strapped.

The relief in Brianna's voice was clear, she was all to happy to give up the operational control she had inherited during my medical leave. Hmm... before I could change my mind about finishing up the celebrations I turned and ran down the ramp of the small gunship to gather my gear.

:>> Draugr Two. Strapped. Medtec.

:>> Draugr Three. Reaper.

Lilou responded to the blinking notification of the now open tactical channel on her HUD.

:>> Draugr Four. Reaper.

:>> Draugr Five. Strapped. Spanner. Rolling.

The excitement in Abby's voice was clear. She had finally been called up, she was beginning to have second thoughts at marking her file recovery only. Meaning she would make full use of her mole in the recovery of other vehicles in combat conditions. I was happy to see she would actually be seeing some action in her preferred role.

:>> Draugr Six. Strapped.

Brooked cooed into the tactical channel, her mind not yet completely with it after our very recent activities. Her notification should have been Gunship, but given I'd literally just left her in a wet puddle in her pilots seat and this was her first OP, I guess I could forgive the mistake.

:>> This is Tac. 1. Draugr Alpha through Four mount up. Draugr Six go airborne, move immediately to the AO for operational support, you are seconded to Wildcat alpha for the duration. Alpha your team is to rendezvous with the Wildcats and Draugr Six at the enclosed coordinates with all due haste. Will link in Wildcats and any remaining assets to Tac.2. once secure orbital comms established. Your primary is to engage and destroy all targets within the AO. Secondary is to secure manufacturing facilities at the target site. If mission outcome doubtful advise immediately, retreat and harass enemy movement, await reinforcements. Welcome back Draugr Alpha. Tac.2. Go.

I stood motionless and almost dry retched at the enormity of the task that had just been placed firmly in my lap. I didn't know where to begin analysing the mission brief and where to read between the lines. I pulled up the target coordinates on my hud. Eighty kilometers into the dead zone, almost two hundred kilometers from our current position.

:

Lilou ran across the hard standing to grab the second humvee as Bri backed up the first into the workshop to throw in the extra gear and ammo I'd ordered. Abby was busily loading extra fuel and munitions on the tray of the mole with the assistance of a heavy lift drone. We had no idea what we were supposed to recover, but we could very well need everything she'd had the foresight to grab, if not we would just dump it, fuck the expense. I'd rather have it and not need it... I nodded in approval at her worried glance as she worked, she had taken the initiative of her own accord.

I didn't really like the thought of splitting up the team between the two up armoured humvees, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make in exchange for the extra firepower the turrets would provide. The whole 'if mission outcome doubtful' reel was one I hadn't heard since the war. I wasn't looking forward to this by any stretch of the imagination, but I was glad I was back on active duty to lead my girls on such an extraordinary mission.

What had the Wildcats gotten themselves into? I let myself worry over them for only the few seconds it took to jog into the workshop. For now at least, their fate was their own, I had to put my game face on. I looked at Bri for instructions to give any assistance I could in loading up the trucks, trusting in Abby to do what was required outside, other than Sumiko she was likely the smartest amongst us anyway. If she didn't think of it, I doubted I would.

"Grab the NBC gear. Armory, second isle." Bri grunted, hauling the extra drum of .50 cal ammo to the truck on the trolley. Clea had already man handled the heavy drum of extra ammo for the .30 into position thanks to her cybernetics, currently working on linking in to the first barrel so that a reload on the fly wouldn't be required.

"Extra PDW ammo?" I asked already on the way to ride the freight elevator down to the second basement level.

"Dani's on it, Lilou's loading up their truck now."

I punched the button to the armory and looked up to the roof impatiently willing the elevator to move. Fuck it, we have half a minute so I guess some explanations are in order.

So far as we knew at the time, the Wildcats had left on a standard mission rotation just over forty eight hours ago. After twelve hours with no contact I began making discrete enquiries as their CO and was stonewalled at every turn. I had even tried contacting my ex, then the cypher that had placed the Wildcats in my care, all no joy. Veronica told me in no uncertain terms to fuck off, probably pissed that her complaints from a month or so ago only resulted in her being demoted. The cypher was apparently unreachable, even on the channel that he had specifically given me to get in touch. With no other options I hit up my AI. Sumiko had taken less than five minutes to track the exact location of the Wildcats, they were currently in a hide observing an impossibly active manufacturing facility in the (relatively) nearby dead zone.

What's a dead zone? It's actually the former site of Victory City. Bundaberg it was called back in the day...

"Finally!" I stepped out of the elevator and made a beeline for the open armory doors.

"What the fuck is going on babe?" Dani asked with a worried expression as she threw every preloaded magazine we had into a trolley, then turned to grab several extra boxes and empty mags for good measure.

I forced a calm purpose into my voice and smiled at her reassuringly before responding.

"We're going to pick up our girlfriends... right?" I looked at her in mock confusion.

I smirked when she stopped what she was doing and grinned idiotically at my answer without looking up, the stress leaving her body instantly.

"Ass hat." she grinned at me pushing the now full trolley to the door, pausing briefly as she passed to peck me on the cheek.

"Lock up." She ordered without turning around as she continued on her way. I watched her...

"And stop looking at my ass!" She shouted playfully at the roof.

With one job done I went back to the task of grabbing the prepackaged Nuclear Biological and Chemical warfare packs and meds. I made sure the packs were still factory sealed before throwing them in the trolley, I grabbed two extras 'just in case', and as a final thought threw in a few medical kits, grenades and extra ration packs. I had made sure the humvees were always equipped with extra gear, food, and water as a matter of course, but with no idea what we were up against a little extra couldn't hurt. The AO was over two hundred kilometers away, we wouldn't be coming back for anything we had forgotten and we needed to get a move on, I wanted to be boots on ground ASAP.

Gear collected, I can head back upstairs on autopilot, so where were we? Oh wait! Did you notice how all the girls are 'strapped' now? Yeah, we took a page out of the Wildcat playbook and we're all geared very similar to their load outs with slight variations and personal touches. The primary commonality is that we are all armed with the ACR's the Israeli girls had chosen and common sidearms as well. Which I can only imagine will pay off on the upcoming op with all our gear being chambered for the same ammunition. The Draugr Wildcats had basically turned into a paramilitary harem... err company.

So dead zones. During the war Townsville, Gladstone, and Bundaberg, all cities on the East coast and furthest from main land China, they were designated as hard points. They had significant manufacturing infrastructure in place and large port facilities in the very likely event they'd be cut off from rail and road transport. These cities were intended to be strong points and forward operation bases that would likely end up behind enemy lines should the Chinese war machine advance as rapidly as expected. The problem? The Chinese aren't stupid, they knew what would happen, so to avoid any complications they simply virus bombed the three cities during the opening stages of the war.

It was the first time virus bombs had been used in modern warfare, and the results were devastating. They were deemed illegal of course, and the technology had been around for years, but given what they did... no had ever thought anyone would be stupid enough to deploy them. With a near one hundred percent mortality rate, the population dipped by close to eighty million souls in the first two days of the war. Of course there was international outrage and condemnation, but China were the big boys on the block now, they didn't think anyone could do anything about it even if they'd wanted to. All I will say on that is thank god for the French, or they likely would have carpet bombed the entire continent.

The elevator chimed merrily to let me know it was time to get back to work. Brooke jumped, wrapping her legs around my waist and burying her face in my neck as the elevator doors opened. I pet her ass a few times and she begrudgingly climbed down. I physically checked over her pilots suit in silence to ensure she was properly equipped and hadn't forgotten anything she might need, then grabbed her NBC pack and the couple of spares and handed them over.

"Grab some extra mags from Dani on your way out hun. During the flight mark at least two primary and as many secondary landing zones you can outside of the dead zone, but as close as possible. Then the closest safe area to the dead zone from the AO regardless of direction. Primary for refueling, secondary for... well... lets hope you don't need 'em. Your going to have a busy day."

She listened attentively to my advice, nodding firmly to confirm each point I had mentioned was locked in.

"Conserve ammo, Abby is loading extra, but we don't know what we are facing, and we don't know when we can rearm."

"Be safe." She pulled me in roughly with a fist full of shirt collar for a heated kiss, then spun on her heels and jogged across the compound to the harbin gunship, engines idling loudly.

The remaining Draugr's paused their work to watch the young pilot run up the gunship ramp. It was her first combat OP, we were all worried that we wouldn't be nearby. But, on the plus side, we could at least trust that the Wildcat girls would look out for her until we got there.

"They grow up so fast." Brianna joked from my side, giving a wave over her head as the little gunship shot off like a rocket.

I turned and pulled her into a tight full bodied hug without really knowing why. With a surprised look on her face she let me manhandle her for only a few seconds before pushing against my chest and stepping back. She knew why.

"Don't start that shit buddy. We got this. You got this. You understand me?" Her face was hard and she was poking me in the chest hard enough to hurt as though to reinforce her words. We had worked together for a long time. Maybe she was right. Doubt was nibbling at the back of my mind, and if I let it run rampant we were all as good as dead, we may as well just lay down right here.

"How did you get him to look at you like that." Abby asked in genuine curiosity as she walked over with the remaining girls, preparations complete.

"Practice." Bri winked at her, demeanour completely changed to give nothing away.

She flicked her eyes at me with a slight glare. I hardened my expression before turning around.

"Clea, Dani, your on point." The girls nodded, grabbing their NBC gear.

"Lilou, Bri, with me second up."

"Finally I get to take it up the rear." Abby smirked, the girls all giggling with nervous tension.

"Your just to big." She frowned at me and hugged into my side, setting off the group again. It was the only constant complaint she had.

"Okay. Questions?"

There was silence, they knew I only had the same information they did. But no one bitched about it, they would know it when I did.

"Where our big Alpha Daddy Gil goes, we follow." Bri cast an expression that was far to serious for the words she had just spoken around the group. I let her words sink in as the girls put on their war faces.

"Lets roll."

I jumped into the back seat of the hummer, the only thing about me and sex that surprised my girls was that everything was off the table as soon as an OP started. So it was no surprise that Lilou didn't try to jump in the back seat with me for some entertainment during the long drive, instead choosing to sit upfront with Bri who was driving.

Like any good grunt, as soon as we started moving, I began drifting off.

So virus bombs, that's what we were up to right? That's some bad voodoo right there. A virus bomb is a horrifying technological beauty. An airborne gas that due to instabilities becomes inert after only thirty minutes or so. Problem is during that time it rewrites your DNA, turning most people that come into contact with it into a puddle of goo over the course of several hours. Well, the lucky ones at least. Remember how I said close to a one hundred percent mortality rate? Yeah that. You see mutants are a thing now. Typically built like a brick shit houses and looking like their skin was half melted at some point, no body wants to fuck with 'em. People like to think they are dumb like animals, but I'm telling you they are far more cunning than that. Sure their minds are gone, but the human brilliance is still locked away in there someplace, combine that with unrestrained animal cunning and basically... your fucked. That isn't even the real problem. You see thing is, just like the people they used to be, they like fucking. Lots of little baby muties get popped out every damn day.

Oh yeah, you likely zeroed in on the whole French saving our asses right? Well strap in, its a good one. Before the war, and arguably even now, the French are the proxy world super power. How? Location, location, location. Around the same time as the second American civil war, the ranks of the French Foreign Legion swelled. Why? The rules for the organisation hadn't changed since its inception centuries ago. You didn't need to be a French citizen to sign up and you could join under an assumed identity, meaning during the fall of America from grace a hell of a lot of people from every walk of life and in every corner of the globe did some seriously fucked up shit just in order to survive. When the dust settled and governments stabilised those people were being called on to account for their actions. Those that didn't want to pay the price joined the legion.

Seizing the opportunity to better defend themselves the French setup recruitment offices around the globe and in short order had several large, well organised, and well equipped armies in just about every country on the planet, including China. When the virus bombs detonated over our cities the French didn't hesitate to act, everyone assumed it was a preemptive move out of self interest at the time. But then news began filtering out about how their installations on mainland China, and in both North and South Korea had reacted in unison, engaging the militaries of their host countries and completely neutralising the possibility for the weapons to be used again in any reasonable time frame. The cost was high, three armies wiped out to a man, several hundred thousand legionaries had died and France had made a very powerful enemy, but they weren't finished. Fully three quarters of the French Foreign Legion, consisting of around fifteen million soldiers were on the move to Australia in support, before the operations against China had even begun. Without them, we would have been well and truly fucked.

Anyway, enough about that shit. I got a job to do. The first half of Tac.1's briefing was basically just making sure we had the gear they thought we might need for successful completion of the job at hand. All fairly standard and routine stuff, about the only thing you could read into that was that we would be bringing something out again, with the inclusion of Abby and her mole. If your an Aussie you probably get the joke, if not... well I'll just let you figure it out.

The second half of the briefing is where all the meat was at, specifically... 'link in any remaining assets'. Those words right there, and others like them, are about the only thing I don't like about ringer operations. If we were regular military we would know going in if that meant the guys there (i.e. my Wildcats) had already been given up for dead or would be otherwise sacrificed before we got into the AO. It could even mean there were other units in the area that had the unfortunate job of going first and there may still be one or two unfortunate souls wandering around out in the dead zone. Long story short, we would need to play that one by ear.

Hmm. I was about to skip over the whole orbital comms thing, but I suppose a brief word on that score can't hurt, especially if your a civilian. Your probably wondering why the fuck an orbital comm link would be needed to cover a mere two hundred kilometer distance, and why I was unable to stay in touch with the Wildcats. One word. Bandwidth. Here's another couple. Data degradation. You see the constant networking of multiple neural links that upload quite literally everything a soldier experiences, including all relevant HUD and tactical data, comm traffic backups and blah blah techie mumbo jumbo, combined with the fact that all comms are tied into the same network, and a two way live feed is required, means that you need a whole fuck load of bandwidth.

Theoretically it is indeed possible to transmit over the distances we are talking about here, but it would be voice only. Whilst that would do in a pinch, it meant relying on what someone believed the situation to be when they are in a high stress environment. But the point is moot on the whole voice only thing anyway. Like I said, comms are inseparable from the data required for the neural links, so that's that. Max range is around fifty kilometers, hence the many repeaters dotted around every city scape.

You nerds finished your little bitch session with the explanation? Good. Lets talk about 'engage and destroy'. Now that's something I haven't heard since the war. To be honest I'm unsure if the blatant 'no survivors' order was due to the military rank of Alpha Gil that I had inherited with my Wildcats, either that, or shit was just that serious and no one gave a flying fuck who knew what we were up to out here. Some of the more conspiratorial nut jobs within the ringer ranks would have wiped their hands of the job as soon as those words were spoken, even over secure comms. Far to concerned about stepping into some secret government mumbo jumbo and getting paid with a bullet in the head at the end of the job for their troubles. I'm not saying stuff like that never happens... but stuff like that never happens. Yes, I'm rolling my eyes at you, you nut job.

So, killing anything that moves is only the primary reason we are here. If you were paying attention you would know we are assaulting a factory, in the middle of butt fuck no where, probably smack bang in the middle of a mutant army that had no right to be manufacturing so much as turds, let alone... whatever it was that was going on.

I felt a tap on my knee and flicked open my eyes, Lilou was bent over in her seat and very uncomfortably leaning over the center console of the humvee to get my attention with a mischievous grin. I glanced at Bri watching my thoughts tick over in the rear view mirror. She gave me a little squint of her eyes now that she had my attention and threw in a lopsided grin for good measure as Lilou squeezed my fingers. Yeah okay, lets try that again.

We are neutralising any threats and securing an enemy manufacturing hub. That sounds much cleaner. Lets go with that. Actually... now I've calmed down a little, that's likely why Abby is tagging along, to drag out samples of whatever is being made for the boffins to assess.

Brianna flashed me a warm loving smile in the mirror and wrinkled her nose at Lilou who was trying to be sneaky as she kept an eye on me, half turned around in her seat as she eyed both Brianna and I in interest attempting to figure out what was going on. Seeing that I had a much more relaxed demeanor the girls promptly ignored me again and fell into a comfortable silence.

Hmm. Now we are getting towards the end of the briefing we are getting into another part I have conflicted emotions about. The whole 'if mission outcome doubtful' part. Again, it was one of those things I had heard a whole lot of as part of my briefings during the war, not so much as a ringer. In fact, this would be the first time. Basically, what it boils down to, is that despite sending in the full combined might of the Draugr Wildcats cell (not insignificant in its own right), combined with 'remaining assets' already on site... no one was holding their breath for a successful outcome. But... looking at things pragmatically, being a former blade, that's what I do. I pull everyone's ass out of the fire. And whilst I wouldn't toot my own horn out loud, its actually something I'm very good at. Don't get me wrong, it's likely going to be an impossibly long hard slog, so... lets play that part by ear as well, shall we?

And the final part. The bit everyone, including myself, had immediately dismissed and had likely already forgotten about. When in fact it was likely the most important piece of the puzzle. 'Welcome back Draugr Alpha.' It was just a coincidence a huge OP like this happened on my first day back on active duty huh? Yeah pigs ass.