*IDR HQ*

IDR Major Smith walks into IDR General Sherwood’s office, General Sherwood is sitting down at his desk glaring at a multitude of monitors, “Smith, what do you have for me?”

The Major shakes his head, “Sir, the drill order came from the central computer, but it appears as though no one issued it. We have tracked it back with every avenue we can manage. My team even came up with a few new avenues to try. There is nothing. No one issued the order. It is almost as if the order has been there, hidden in the code, the entire time. Whoever issued this order, did so while the central computer was still being programmed. They baked it into the source code.”

General Sherwood slams his fist down onto the desk, “How does that make any sense Major?! Are you positive that we haven’t been hacked, or infiltrated or anything else?”

Smith sighs, “well sir, in a way we have been hacked, half a decade ago. Before we even uploaded the central AI to the HQ.”

Sherwood shakes his head, “Are we sure this wasn’t some kind of weird fluke by the AI?”

Smith shakes his head in kind, “no sir. These are definitely input orders. Not AI corrections. Besides sir, the AI is incapable of issuing grand scale operations, only advise corrections to existing orders and monitor news and social media feeds to identify upcoming and active disasters. The AI couldn’t have done this.”

General Sherwood sighs, “So, some nebulous code monkey or something baked in an order to mobilize the entirety of the IDR and place them on emergency standby, for what? As a joke? To make fools of us? For what end?”

Major Smith swallows hard, “We don’t know sir. And sir,” Smith hesitates.

General Sherwood looks at him, “what is it Smith?”

Smith composes himself, “sir, the order was buried deep. Scattered across thousands of sub systems. It is not conclusive, but I don’t think this was just some code monkey that did this. It is too complex, to well hidden. When we first received the AI and the operating systems, we ripped them to pieces, inspected every single line of code, every loop, every what if statement. We spent weeks, months, looking for something exactly like this, and we still missed it. This order was that well-hidden, that complex, that integrated into the AI. Somebody went through a lot of trouble to make sure this order was carried out and was not discovered until it was.”

The General remains quiet for a stretch of time until Major Smith asks, “sir? Should we cancel the standby drill or?”

General Sherwood shakes his head, “no, not until we figure out what . . .”

Everything went dark, the lights, the computers, the radios in the background outside the office.

The General rockets up and both him and the Major storm out of the office into the main control room of the HQ. Troopers are turning knobs, pressing switches, grabbing cables and a thousand other actions to try and restore their stations. Several troopers rush in along with the station colonel, Colonel Hix, they move directly to General Sherwood, “Sir, the entire station’s power is out, and the sky is lit up like a Christmas tree. Looks like we have been hit by a massive solar flare.”

Major Smith is exasperated, “how is that possible, we have constant monitoring of the sun’s surface. There have been no signs of a solar flare building up for weeks.”

General Sherwood scowls, “Major Smith, it doesn’t matter if it seems impossible if that is what happened that is what happened. Hix, are you sure?”

Colonel Hix gives a morose node, “yes sir. Colorful sky, all electronics are fried, not sure about the signals yet, but I bet their scrambled as all hell. Everything points to a solar flare, straight out of the Disaster Manuel.”

The General gives a decisive nod, “very well,” he raises his voice and directs the room, “Listen up, we have been hit by a solar flare! We know what to do, we have trained for this, we have drilled for this and many a disaster like this. Stay calm and perform your tasks. Switch everything to analogue and re-establish communications with our posts. They should be doing the same things!”

With a resounding, “Yes Sir!” the room begins to move with direction and purpose.

General Sherwood turns back to the Colonel, “as soon as they are able, send out the columns. The cities are going to be in dire straits. Set up refugee camps in the suburbs and any and every place large enough to host them. Load up a convoy with purifiers and dispatch them to the rivers to collect water. Prep as many sites as you can for medical relief. Issue extra non-lethals to all trucks. Send a squad to break into the armory, we will be needing more thermites to break through building locks. That is all for now.”

Colonel Hix gives a sharp nod and a “Yes, Sir!” before rushing back outside with her entourage.

Major Smith is already directing his team inside the control room to get the radios operational. He turns to Sherwood, “Sir, the Ham radios are receiving nothing but static. The telegraphs will be online shortly, but we will only be able to contact the hard lined posts for now, at least until the flare subsides. The convoys that have already left will have no contact with us or their posts.”

General Sherwood nods, “it’s not a problem Smith. They are trained for this and know what to do. The only difference now and what we normally do, is the scale is a little bit larger. Our first priority for now is to determine if this flare has knocked out everything across the world, or just our neck of the woods.”

A trooper stands up and calls to the Major, “Sir! Telegraphs are online, we are receiving from five stations so far!”

*IDR HQ*

“Go, compile a report and relay it to me ASAP” General Sherwood commands Smith, before turning around and returning to his office. Within his office he pulls out his issued copy of Disasters Manuel and corresponding reference operations and actions manuals. He starts referencing the sections on solar flares and recommended procedures and actions to take.

After a short time, Sherwood scowls and looks at his watch, fully mechanical, and frowns. It has been more than half an hour since the telegraphs came back online. He is about to return to his reading when sharp cracks are heard from outside the building.

The General bursts through the office door with pistol in hand, “MAJOR SMITH, Status Report!”

Three troopers are just leaving the door with rifles in hand when Major Smith reports, “not sure sir. There was gunfire outside the operations room, sounded like it came from the yard outside where the column was stationed.”

More cracks pierce the air. General Sherwood steps towards the door before Major Smith blocks his path with four more troopers, “Sir, please remain here! I will head out and see what is occurring!”

General Sherwood scowls, “Major Smith, you will not. I need you to figure out what is occurring at our posts. This is my base, if something is happening, I want to know what it . . .”

More cracks and a large explosion are heard outside. The cracks continue. Loud bangs are heard against the door of the operations room. The four troopers surround the door to either side with their weapons trained on the entry way. Major Smith and General Sherwood drop to a knee between two solders each.

From the other side of the door a muffled, “Friendly, Friendly, Friendly,” can be heard just before the door swings open and Colonel Hix and seven troopers rush in before slamming the door shut behind them.

Major Smith stands back up, “Damn it! We almost shot you . . .”

General Sherwood cuts off the Major Smith, “Colonel! What is going on out there?!”

Colonel Hix takes a few deep breaths, “Sir, some kind of creatures are appearing out of thin air and attacking our personnel. I authorized use of lethal force against them after some of the larger ones shrugged off the non-lethals, and caused a fuel truck to explode. There are multiple casualties and four KIAs.”

Major Smith grabs Hix in a panic, “Ma’am, what do they look like?! Are they grey and humanoid? The bigger ones are black and furry?”

General Sherwood looks at Smith, “What is this about Smith? Do you know what is happening?!”

Major Smith shakes his head, “not fully sir. We have been receiving a stream of reports about these creatures. It has been difficult to figure out exactly what is happening. The posts keep referencing these things as Goblins and Black Hounds.”

General Sherwood stares, “they know what they are? Where did they come from then?”

Colonel Hix responds instead, “no, sir. Goblins and Black Hounds are from a video game, Shattered World. The things outside do look exactly like them though, I understand why the posts would call them as such. If it wasn’t impossible, I would call them that myself.”

General Sherwood starts issuing orders, “fine, call them whatever you want. If they are hostile, subdue or drive them off, but get this base secure. If you need lethal force, use it. This base must remain secure if we hope to maintain even a modicum of control over this disaster.”

Major Smith interjects, “Sir, the reports are saying the creatures are coming out of thin air. How do we secure the base if the things can appear anywhere?”

Colonel Hix adds more, “Sir, before they appear, my men tell me there is some kind of distortion in space. The colored light from the solar flare highlights the distortion. It is not for long, no more than a couple minutes for the larger ones and even less than the smaller ones, but we may be able to use this as an early warning system.”

The General nods, “Hix, set up roving patrols of at least two. No one is allowed to move about alone. Head to supply and pick up as many whistles as possible. Hand them out to everyone you come across. When the distortion is sighted, have them blow the whistle to alert the patrols. Spread the intel, drive these things off the base and make sure none of them are able to get ahold of any ground.”

Colonel Hix replies with a terse “Yes, Sir!” before collecting herself and exiting the building, weapons raised, with her four troopers. They leave behind the three troopers that had originally left the control room to find her.

General Sherwood turns to Smith, “give me a situation report Major Smith, I don’t care if it is confirmed intel or not. Just tell me what the posts are saying is happening out there.”

Major Smith nods, “Sir, after the solar flare hit worldwide, nearly all the posts switched to analogue. None of the hams are operational. During the last half hour, eighty-eight of the posts got their telegraphs online. The contacted posts have dispatched their columns in accordance with their training to set up relief centers around and inside the cities. The surrounding countryside has been placed on standby until the cities have been stabilized. Contact with the convoys was lost after they left the posts. Shortly after their deployment the . . .” Smith hesitates.

General Sherwood scowls slightly, “just call them Goblins and Black Hounds Smith, it doesn’t matter right now what they really are.”

Major Smith continues, “yes sir, the Goblins and then Black Hounds started to appear. We have lost contact with five of the eighty-eight posts we had active communications with. This makes seventeen posts we have no contact with. Of those we are still in contact with, the convoys that they dispatched have stared returning with heavy casualties. There are still over eighty percent of the convoys still fully unaccounted for.”

*IDR HQ*

General Sherwood slowly nods at the report, “are these creatures appearing in the countryside as well, or are they restricting themselves to high population areas?”

Major Smith responds, “the reports are sporadic, but they appear to be appearing everywhere, although in higher density relative to population density.”

General Sherwood continues his questions, “are they attacking anything, or are they concentrating on humans? Do they seem to be following direction or organization of some kind?

Smith answers, “Neither are known at this time, although there is a high confidence that they are not attacking each other, despite the seemingly difference in their species.”

General Sherwood nods, “very well, continue to gather intelligence on the enemy forces. Contact the posts closest to the ones we don’t have contact with. Have them send out riders to make contact. Issue Safe Haven Protocol,” The General hesitates for just a moment, “also, green light full lethal force mobilization.”

Major Smith’s face pales slightly, “yes sir” and turns to get to work.

General Sherwood adds to the Major’s back, “Smith, also contact any of the local military forces that you can. This isn’t just a disaster Smith; we are at war.”

Major Smith’s face fully pales at this, and nods slowly not saying a word.

General Sherwood returns to his office and begins to scan through his library, adding manuals on actions to take during war, how to Dael with hostile entities and anti-guerrilla warfare to his growing piles of books and paperwork. He sighs deeply and speaks to himself, “we are not an army, we are just glorified first responders, what should we do?” The General settles in and starts reviewing the texts, hoping to find his answers in their black ink covered papers.

Outside his office Major Smith is frantically scribbling away at a cypher form their Morris Code reference book, to issue the given orders. Outside Colonel Hix has sent runners to the supply lockers for the whistles, and is on her way to the armory to check on whether her squad was successful in braking through the vault door. The HQ’s own convoys have also started to return, covered in wounded and casualties. Less than half of the people that left on the convoys are returning with them. The emergency medical teams that were supposed to be setting up at relief centers, are now propping up tents within and just outside the base. Rifle cracks continue, both close and far.

While General Sherwood is buried in his books Major Smith bursts through the door, “Sir! There is a plane sighted approaching our runway!”

The General cocks his head up, “a plane? By now all the airlines in the sky will have crashed and burned across the Earth.”

Major Smith informs, “it appears to be a mid-size twin engine prop plane. Likely no electronics onboard to knock out. Our watchmen say it is heading straight for us. There are also reports of multiple Roc Eagles in its vicinity heading for us as well.”

General Sherwood questions, “Roc Eagles?”

Major Smith nods, “another creature from Shattered World. Large, feathered bird with a thin beak and big talons.”

General Sherwood nods, “Smith, is there anything that has the Shattered World creatures described in it?”

The Major nods, “the Shattered World developers sent over a crate of hard copies of their online game wiki to pass out among any of the troopers that wanted one. I believe we still have a few left sir.”

General Sherwood motions at his stacks of books, “good, there seems to be a strange connection between what is happening and this video game, bring me a copy of this wiki to add to my pile.”

Major Smith gives a hesitant nod, “sir, what about the plane?”

General Sherwood looks up from his book, “set off some flares along the runway. Try to motion them in. If they are being hounded by these Roc Eagles, cover them with ground fire as best you can. We are not about to turn away a plane full of civilians that are likely scared out of their minds, during what appears to be the beginning of an apocalypse.”

Major Smith supplies a “yes, sir,” before exiting the office to convey the orders.

As the plane approaches, it is being attacked from all sides by the Roc Eagles trying to intercept the aircraft. From the sides of the plane flashes erupt and Roc Eagles collapse from the sky. Upon entering range, the IDR troopers assist the plane in its defense, taking down volumes more of the Roc Eagles, and allowing the plane to outrun the remaining creatures. The aircraft Circles twice in the secured airspace, before spotting the smoke lined air strip. The plane lines itself up and lands. The occupants of the aircraft are ushered into a nearby hanger.

Some time after the plane has landed Colonel Hix enters General Sherwood’s office, “sir, I have a strange report.”

General Sherwood raises an eyebrow and lowers his newfound copy of the Shattered World wiki, “a strange report? In a time where video game monsters are appearing out of thin air and attacking people? While a solar flare has rendered us mostly helpless?”

“Dae-Ho is here sir,” Colonel Hix replies.

Surprised, the General asks, “Dae-Ho? Why would he come here? Doesn’t he live halfway across the planet in a super bunker, guarded by his own private army? That place is far more secure than this place could ever be.”

Colonel Hix just shrugs her shoulders, “he is demanding a meeting with you sir.”

General Sherwood sighs, “I don’t care how much money he has sunk into the IDR, or how much political influence he has, or how rich he is. I am busy trying to figure out what our next move should be. I don’t have the free time to entertain some arrogant, pompous, rich, man child. Just stick him in some locker somewhere where he might feel safe or something.”

Colonel Hix nods, “I agree with you sir, but he claims to have information on what is currently occurring.”

*Dae-Ho*

After arriving to the IDR headquarters these troopers just shuttled me into some lousy hanger. It took me over ten minutes to get them to even bring the base Colonel, this Hix woman, to see me. I did not come all this way to see a simple Colonel, I am here to see the IDR’s General. Finally, the woman Hix has returned to escort me to see General Sherwood. This is taking too long. I never originally planned to interfere this much until much later, but the solar flare has changed things. I am just glad I thought far enough ahead to add in the ability for the IDR to operate after an EMP. It was supposed to come in handy after the idiotic governments and crazed militaries started nuking each other and themselves to topple the larger monsters that will start arriving a week from now, not on day one.

At the very least the IDR I set up is efficient. There are roving patrols scouring the base looking for any incursion rifts. I can also hear whistles periodically, followed by gunfire shortly after. Are they using whistles to alert the patrols of incursion rifts? Not bad, not even I thought of that. At least that means someone in charge is at least competent.

As we pass by the armory building, I can see the structure has been melted on one side, “Colonel Hix, what happened here?”

The Hix woman looks back at me, is that annoyance I see, “that is the armory,” with that she continues on. That’s it? No explanation? Nothing?

“I know that is the armory, I asked what happened? Why is it melted like that?” I am getting annoyed. She doesn’t even respond to me. What is wrong with these people. I came here to help them, and they treat me like this?

I need to calm down. As far as they know, I am just another rich kid with a stick up their ass. I was very careful in making everyone believe that. Benevolent eccentric billionaire, but a one percenter all the same. Normally, I was only going to show myself, with my own forces, after the IDR has collapsed and the people are looking for their savior. Sadly, that is no longer feasible. I can no longer wait to build up a force, with how things are going, I need one now, and the IDR is the best candidate. Plans so carefully laid, why do they always go up in smoke at the last moment?

My head of security leans over to me, “sir, I believe they used thermite to burn their way into the armory. The vault door would have sealed from the flare, and they would need the ammo inside to fend off all the incursions.”

I nod to that. I ensured the vaults for the armories to prevent any mobs and cultists from getting inside. Just something else that backfired on me. Just how much are you going to screw with me you sadistic god?

We eventually reach the entrance to the central command building where General Sherwood’s office is located. There was a small snag outside when we were demanded to relinquish our weapons at the door. What do these people think is going on?

Calm, these people don’t know what is going on. That is what I am here to tell them. Tell them what is happening, take command, fix everything, save the world.

Once inside I can see that have gratefully already switched over to telegraphs, and have established contact with at least a few of their other posts. That will at least save some time later on, now how many of their one hundred posts are online, twenty, thirty? Anything over that would be a miracle. I will need to remind them to try and contact the lost posts, there could very well still be some survivors after they ran away. Every person will count now.

I am led to the door to General Sherwood’s office, my party is told to stay outside, much to the chagrin of my security team. I enter and see General Sherwood sitting at his desk reading. Reading. The General of the IDR is reading while his troopers are outside dying?! What kind of leader is this? He should be out there leading his troops and rescuing as many people as he can! The coward looks up at me. Calm down, everyone has their own leading styles. Even though I did not select this man to lead the IDR and the moronic UN did instead of my man, he was, at least at onetime a respected military leader. “General Sherwood, I am . . .”

The bastard cut me off, “I know who you are, Dae-Ho.”

Fine then, this is good, it should run a little bit smoother if he knows me, “good, I have come to . . .”

Again, he cuts me off, “I don’t particularly care what you have come to do. I was told you had intel on what was happening. I thought what you could possibly know about what is occurring.” He picks up one of my Shatter World guides that I had printed and passed out, “then I started to think, how is it, that all the things showing up are exactly, like the creatures in your game that you made? Not just similar, exactly the same. Then I remember, my head of signal tells me this morning, that someone planted an order in my IDR computer systems. This order would put the entirety of the IDR on emergency standby, the day of such a major disaster. The computer system that your developers built. A development team, that you led. To add on top of all this, you have also spent billions of dollars on the IDR. Building your influence, both politically and within the IDR. Now this leads me to believe something, that I very much hope is untrue. These seeming coincidences, seem to indicate that you knew that this would occur. You knew that today would be the beginning of an apocalypse. And here you are, magically appearing to come to the rescue of the IDR in its most dire moment. Now, the question is, what exactly are you after? After letting this apocalypse happen and then coming to take over the IDR. What were you planning on doing next? Take over the world? Build a nice little utopia for just you? A nice happy garden of Eden after the world has burned?”

General Sherwood places his hand on top of his desk. He is holding his pistol.

*Dae-Ho*

He thinks I just let the end of the world just happen?! And now I am here to what? Take over the IDR and turn it into some kind of cult?! After everything I have been through, after everything I did for twelve years, just to prepare for today! Calm, he doesn’t know. I was very careful with all my actions so that no one would know. If people knew, they would have stopped me, deemed me crazy, insane. Locked me away in an asylum and then there would be nobody there to save them. They are just, he is ignorant. I just need to explain. There is no more point in hiding what I have done anymore. There is no one left to stop me anyway. The end of the world has already begun. I just need to educate this man. He will believe me, and we can then move forward. Regretfully I was not able to get one of my people into his position, but I need this man to trust me. He needs to listen to what I tell him to do, or we all die. Simple as that. I just need to convince him.

I take a deep breath and begin, “General Sherwood, you believe that I just let this apocalypse happen, that I did nothing to prepare the world, that I want the IDR as my own private army to do with as I please. Well sir, you are wrong on all accounts. While I did know that the end of the world would occur today, I did not leave the world unprepared. The first thing you are incorrect about, is that the monsters showing up are the same as the ones in my game. It is actually the other way around. I based the monsters in my game, off of the creatures appearing now.”

The General shifts in his chair, making his pistol point towards me, “and how is it then, that you knew so much about these creatures to build a video game about them?”

This will be harder than I thought, half-truths won’t work against this man, if I just say that I have seen them before, he will just ask me where. The truth it is then, “it is because I have already lived through this day, and the days to come.”

General Sherwood glares at me, “are you trying to tell me you’re from the future? Some kind of, time traveler?”

I compose myself, “in a sense. All I know is that one day, twelve years ago, I collapsed with a major stroke. When I woke up there was no damage to my brain or body, except that I could remember the future like they were memories of my past.”

General Sherwood’s expression remains blank, “go on.”

At least he is listening, “when I learned what would happen, I started to make plans. I couldn’t just come out and say the end of the world was coming. No one would believe me. Especially if I was prophesizing this kind of end. So, I made plans. The first one was for information warfare. I would trick people into learning about the apocalypse, and the creatures and beings that would bring it about.”

General Sherwood picks up the wiki with his other hand, “Shattered World, but there are far more creatures and other things in this game than what has appeared.”

I nod, “they will come, in time. The next plan was to prepare the world physically. But for that and for Shattered World, I needed money. So, I used my knowledge of the future, trends in the stock market, future technologies, and social trends, and I stole billions. Billions of dollars and all the political controversies and revelations to use as blackmail. All to create an entirely new force, that never existed in the world before I started changing it. I did not just invest money into the IDR. I created the IDR.”

General Sherwood gripped his pistol, “and now you are here to take over the IDR that you made? You want me to hand over the IDR command to you, because you’re some messiah, come to save everyone? You expect us all to simply fall in line and blindly follow everything you say?”

This man will never willingly hand over the IDR command to me. He does not trust me, but at the very least he has not called in his guards to send me to their cells, or just shoot me. I take a moment to compose my words, “I am not here to try and replace you. I am here to help you, advise you as someone who knows more about what is happening than anyone else. I do not need the IDR; I do not want the IDR. I already have my own private army.”

“Then why are you here now, and not just before the end started? Why not come before the solar flare hit? Why not come before we sent out our columns? Sent out our troops to die?” of course the General hits the issue on the head.

I lower my head slightly, I must be careful, being truthful is one thing. Letting him know I was originally planning on abandoning the IDR another, “because the solar flare never happened.”

General Sherwood just glares so I reiterate, “in my memories of the future, there was no solar flare. The IDR should have had all their equipment, all their technology. You should have been able to handle things easily without my help. Without any further intervention. I do not see myself as a messiah or Christ reborn. If you have played my game or read my guide, you should know why I don’t want to stand out as a champion of humanity. It will just put a target on my back. Originally, I planned to continue my work in the shadows. Hidden away from sight. I am here now because things have changed. The solar flare changed things. If this is different, what else will be. I can no longer just stay in the shadows, if we are to survive the end, we will need all the help we can get.”

Thankfully the General finally removes his hand from his gun. He may not trust me still, may even believe me crazy, but at least he is not ready to kill me, “and what is it Dae-Ho, that you want from the IDR by coming here?”

I stare him straight in the eye, this is no lie, this is what I have always wanted them to do, “I created International Disaster Response to do only one thing. To respond to disasters. Well, the world is facing the greatest disaster it will ever face, so, Respond.”