Head ringing, bioshields are functional, systems are somewhat stable, the connection is still on, Gaston raised his head and pushed himself up. “This is Adjutant Gaston Hardy, of the Earthside Consortium. All units in the area, please respond, Code-3 is in effect.”

“We hear you.”

“JSDF squadron, copying.”

“Copy that, Adjutant.”

Gaston operated his AR-M, and entered an encryption line. “Identification Code S18003, Gaston Hardy. Send a message to the core unit.”

[Copy that, Adjutant, please input your message.]

Gaston stared at the message box and gave his input. “This is Gaston Hardy, attachment of the Babaika Company, requesting immediate support. It’s a Code-3 spawning event with a total area radius of seven hundred twenty-one thousand six hundred fifty-four and sixty-eight hundredths. Coordinates are 53N-766336-3875873, over.”

[Message sent.]

Gaston sent the message to Ayumi. He went to the waypoint link and gained access to the sparrow-drone. “Rook Squad, do you copy?”

There was no immediate response. They were close to the blast area so Gaston feared the worst. They might be Breakers with natural bioshields, but that close to the explosion event would shred their shields.

Damn it, we were too eager to get to the position. Gaston thought. “Rook Squad, do you copy over?”

“Rook-1, copying.”

“Rook-2, copying.”

“Rook-3, we’re alive.”

Boris, Yumina, and Shion Jin replied. Gaston saw that their GPS coordinates were active, so he piloted the sparrow-drone to their location. They were half-buried in the dirt.

“What’s your status?” Gaston radioed.

“Breathing, we’re running on our natural bioshields at the moment,” Boris replied. “Our gear’s bioshields have been destroyed by the impact.”

Gaston operated the sparrow-drone’s camera on the area. There was a deployable shield on where they were. Most of the parts of the deployable shield were fried. Shion Jin was spraying a medicinal spray-on Yumina’s arm, and bandaging her up.

“Have you contacted the bridge?” Gaston radioed.

“Bridge communications are gone,” Boris sent an uplink, but there was no communication. “EMP must have hit them when the explosion event dispersed in the atmosphere.”

[Warning. Imminent split-realm openings.]

“You saw that?”

“We sure did,” Boris freed himself from the ground, and pulled Shion Jin and Yumina out of the dirt as well. “Most of the units in the area are injured, the Lancer-units managed to survive, but I doubt anyone without two layers of bioshield did.”

Gaston thought for a moment. They are isolated, injured, and the rest of the ground units are separated to protect defense positions, he brought up a map. We should be able to produce well-meaning defense lines around this area, but if they listen, no, I should make them listen by using the identification code, and take control of the situation here, damn it, this is why I hate being attached to Breaker-Excursion missions.

Gaston brought up his ARM headset and started calling out to all the units in the vicinity. “All units be advised, this is an Adjutant of the Earthside Consortium currently attached to the Japan branch. The area around coordinates ‘53N-766336-3875873’ is compromised. I repeat multiple split-realm openings are underway, and a Code 3 spawning event is happening. Route 263, 362, and 58 might be compromised soon. Requesting a siege line in the following UTM coordinates: ‘53N-767392-3876060’,” then Gaston repeated the message twice.

“Rook-1, I’ll leave the operations to you. I'll provide overwatch and communications. We’ll follow the E-C standards.”

“Roger,” Boris nodded in the footage. He turned to the two and commanded them to take a position. There was a Lancer squad that was on standby ten meters away from. Boris said something to the squad’s leader and started moving out of the position.

Gaston flew the sparrow-drone twenty-five meters from the ground, and started scanning for biomass entities, and found himself grimacing at the multiple dots appearing in the scans.

“I’ll provide, overwatch,” Gaston radioed. “You take the point, and do what you do, over.”

“Copy that, Rook Squad, moving out.”

The squad started to move out of the half-buried area while the Lancer-unit trotted their way, engaging their boosters, and dashing across the uneven ground.

“This is the JSDF’s cruiser bridge, do you copy?” Gaston heard from one of the lines.

“Copy that,” Gaston adjusted his waypoint. One of the technicians of the other squads was running towards him as he adjusted the signal.

“Yo, can you accept the waypoint link? We’re creating an emergency signal and to that, we need to boost the signals to send a strike team to this location.”

“Give me your data link, and I’ll link it up.”

“Cool,” he handed his identification code and made sure to connect with the data link.

The data link was connected to the Albatross Mercenary Company that took the commission. They probably didn’t expect that they’d be facing a rather terrible Code-3 spawning event that took out a small mountain.

“Link is connected,”

“Thanks, bro,” the person left and went back to his team.

Gaston went back to the input of the waypoint system and started filtering the data link that the person connected. He took out the logger and then started to boost the signals while making a reference point of their coordinates and a timestamp. When the signals were boosted, he was able to connect to the bridge of the Babaika Company cruiser.

“This is Adjutant Hardy, do you copy?”

“Adjutant, this is Bridge, we copy you.”

“Can you assist, over?”

“Negative, I repeat,” the bridge’s noise-canceller wasn’t working. He could hear alarms and status reports going off behind the operator, “the bridge is unable to support Rook Squad. Ichor-based engines one and two are down, over.”

“Bridge, can you provide firing support, over?” Gaston asked, knowing the answer already.

“Negative, unstable engines, unable to provide enough stability to fire pulse cannons, over. Cruiser, cannot fire cannons, over. You are on your own, Adjutant.”

“Copy that, providing data feed, requesting data-uplink, and connection to the main mothership, over.”

Gaston said calmly as he could. He had already been given the task, but he might as well try to get a clue. The operator behind the connection didn’t answer, as if weighing their options.

“Connecting Adjutant to Camomile Seven, updating your security clearance, you are free to boost the signals this one time, over.”

“Got it, requesting strike teams, boosting the signals. Have a safe retreat, bridge.”

“Godspeed, Adjutant. Watch over the squad detachment, over.”

Gaston felt the split-realm jump above the clouds. Can’t be helped if their engines are down, but this will be a hard one for the people down here.

[Incoming encryption line.]

Gaston saw the text box appear on his AR-module. He switched to his private line and connected the line.

“Adjutant Hardy speaking,” he said.

“Adjutant, can you confirm the Code-3 spawning event?”

Ayumi was back to her professional tone. Gaston took footage from the sparrow-drone, the explosion event, the radius, the data readings, and the status of the area with the dotted hostiles. He attached them into a compressed folder and sent the data to Ayumi.

It didn’t take long for the data to be uploaded.

“Confirming data,” Ayumi said patiently behind the line. “Code-3 event, four hundred thousand units in the area of coordinates attached. Upgrading to Code-4 event spawning event.”

Gaston breathed out heavily after hearing that. He narrowed his brows and watched the other screen while the Rook Squad retreated. “Sparrow, requesting orders, over.”

“Received, please be advised that the Ward is entering a siege. Areas to the following coordinates had lesser spawning events detected, and all hands are full. Strike Team Amakuni, and Hattori are preparing for an orbital drop. ETA thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes?” Gaston said grimly. “Can you repeat that?”

“Affirmative, split-realm jumps are unstable. EMP nodes have been created, and the strike team is preparing for an orbital drop and needed time to find the right point of drop. Sending a data link on your waypoint, creating a command order, processing all units, sending a situation overview, over.”

Gaston terminated the encryption line. He downloaded the situation overview and attached the command order to his AR-module’s display.

[Reports have identified a greater split-realm opening in the Misawabo lake, with a Code-5 spawning event, producing an ichorium stream that is covering twenty thousand three hundred twenty-seven hectares of land. Units have been deployed in coordinates, ‘53N-766649-3891107’ and are currently holding the lines. The last line of defenses is established in coordinates ‘53N-757178-3864975’. Priority is to defend the area, until the assault fleet arrives, and start a purging run. Expect flyers, light up your colors, and steer clear from the danger zones and the designated bombing areas on your maps. We're expecting three waves coming. Keep the biomass entities away from any populated area. Aerial Bombardment will be provided by USS Sable.]

After reading the last line in the situation overview. Gaston looked up and saw the battleship helicarrier CA-91 Sable breaking through the split-realm and appearing in the reddened sky. Over two thousand five-hundred feet in length, carrying over two hundred plus air vehicles and a battalion of ground units, armed with guided missiles, and synced with the satellites of the United States for optimal and concise barrage firing.

Not to mention that it has an army of drones that reinforces its firing systems that were swarming like a flock of birds around the helicarrier.

USS Sable is here, so they aren’t trying to make the same mistake back in the Golden Gate then, let the situation go worse, Gaston entered his identification code, and uploaded his data link to USS sable.

The Golden Gate incident was a timely reminder of how inaction could cost the lives of many civilians. He had been stranded in a split-realm during the event and was only able to get a read of what had happened while recovering in a hospital. The political climate back then in regards to the Breakers, the Earthside Consortium, and the threat of super-soldiers made it difficult for UEDF and the Earthside Consortium to deal with the split-realm opening that happened. The incident tore through the Golden Gate of Kyiv, slaughtering millions of civilians, and polluting the area with concentrated ichorium, turning the land into a wasteland where mutated plants, animals, spread from the Golden Gate and began to spread over the Capital.

It was severe enough that it almost made the newly signed countries doubt the effectiveness of the UEDF. It was only when Secretary-General, Gregory Armstrong, refuted the countries over their inability to let UEDF do their job that it led to the slaughter of millions.

Usually, no politician would have dared to say something like that to the countries that signed them, but the Secretary-General had lost his temper in the assembly and demanded that this event should never happen again and had advocated for a new line in the pact.

The Secretary-General had spent all his political capital to make sure that the event of the Golden Gate Event would never happen again. It was through this contract that some of the spawning events happening all over the world were neutralized before they could reach a possible Code-5.

The USS Sable’s presence made the situation less dangerous, but Gaston could not feel the spawning event stopping. The skies that were supposed to calm after the spawning event remained darkish red. Red skies usually occur when dust and particles are trapped in the atmosphere, but spawning events naturally scatter the lights emitted by the sun and thus causing a red sky.

They usually don’t take long to disappear, but the red sky made Gaston restless.

And then he felt it coming. He was about to reach out when he saw another spawning explosion event happening in the direction of the Oguni Shrine.

“This is JSDF force attached near Oguni Shrine, A severe twenty-one and ninety-four hundredths square kilometer of the total area are imploding! I repeat, a spawning event is happening! Requesting reinforcements!”

But it wasn’t over. Another urgent report interrupted on all frequencies.

“Akihasan Hongu Akiha’s Shrine is undergoing a split-realm opening! Multiple split-realm openings are happening! Command, please be advised!”

The line was cut off. Gaston stood up and traveled his gaze over the four red pillars of light breaking the darkness of the night sky.

“Rook Squad,” Gaston opened the line. “Boris, get everyone here in the Camping Ground, move the defense line to the camping ground, you see this, right?”

“I do. Fuck, why is there a storming event happening? I thought this was a normal excursion damn it!”

Gaston thought so too. But the destructive light breaking the skies was a clear indication that this was beyond the coded-excursion event that the Squad was armed for.

All the instructions given had to be thrown to the side.