Ifrailian Tales

Wasteland Incident

Snowflakes, each individual snowflake is unique. Sure from afar they may all look the same, just another tiny dot of frozen water falling from a cloud high above. But upon further inspection, you'll notice just how incorrect you were. As hidden in plain sight, was a complex structure of thin strands of ice, all woven together in a fascinating display of natural beauty. However, what Peter Brun saw was not the stunning glory of the world he inhabited, no it was far from that.

Scattered amid the vast frozen wasteland Peter found himself in, were reminders of a conflict which only saw it's end a mere three years prior. Large fragments of scarred metal darted the horizons. Remnants of the Federation war, this wasteland was the site of one of the most bloody battles of the entire, twelve year  fight for Ifrailia. One million souls lost their lives here, only for the cold, unforgiving snow to bury their corpses before they could have been recovered. Even after these soldiers laid down their lives to put an end to a violent, tyrannical threat, this wasteland remained their home, with their only remaining legacy being the remains of their hulking machines of war. These heroes weren't even granted the dignity of a monument of some kind, hell the only interest the A.C.G had in the wasteland was recycling the scrap metal left behind. Which coincidentally, was the reason Peter found himself in the Wasteland.

Alexandria had a sizable military presence in the wastes. Partly to secure scrap, but mostly to keep an eye on their neighbors, the kingdom of Agarosa. Which also happened to have quite a large force stationed here. However, unlike Peter's kingdom of Alexandria, Agarosa held a keen interest in this icy void, but the reason for this eluded Alexandria. Soldiers passed the time by concocting extravagant and preposterous theories in regards to Agarosa's presence. Some claimed that weapons, capable of leveling entire cities were being tested. Others hypothesized that the rival kingdom was using the wastes as a staging area for a full on invasion. Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing, with each passing day the insanity of these rumors grew. However, Peter's superior Neil Crest speculated that Agarosa was here to dig up Seraph ruins.

"Seraph?" Peter questioned.

"Some long lost civilization," Neil replied, pressing his back against the massive hull of an old D.E.P transport craft. He could feel it's cold surface reach his skin, passing through the layers of insulation woven into the bodysuit which stuck to his body. 

"I don't know much about it," every time he opened his mouth, a stream of visible breath trailed from his lips. Neil c****d his head to the right, watching as his men carried out their respective duties, patrolling the surrounding area or guarding the massive drills that chipped away at the ice, unearthing chunks of metal which would undergo the recycling process and eventually serve Alexandria once again.

"But why would they be interested in some dusty ruins?"

"Hell if I know, it's above my pay grade." Peter couldn't shake the feeling that Neil knew more than he was letting on. Although it made sense, a commander wouldn't share classified info with some random grunt. But before Peter could change the topic, Neil's wrist embedded comm pad emitted a high pitched beep, in turn the first of three buttons which lined the comm pad took on a forest green glow, blinking in and out of existence in sync with the annoying sound. Neil tapped the button, raising his right arm, holding it in front of him.

"Go ahead,"

From the speakers on Neil's wrist pad, came a male's voice. 

"Private Aaron Vesta here. We've got a situation."

"Elaborate."

"Agarosa sir, they've uncovered an entrance to... something, not sure what though." Peter noticed Neil's eye twitch, something was wrong. 

"I'll be right there," with that Neil closed the communication, tapping the center of his suit. Without warning a bright flash of neon green light enveloped Neil's body.

In less than a millisecond the strands of grass colored light came together, creating holographic depictions of bulky body armor. 

"Brun with me," he said walking away from the young soldier. Peter scrambled, scooping his mark V scout rifle off the frost covered ground and jogged over to his superiors side. Private Avesta was stationed at the southern quadrant of the salvage operation. From the main excavation area it was about a thirty minute walk to reach the crater, which held a massive chunk of purple metal at its center. Twenty minutes into the journey, Peter could spot the tip of the wreckage as it poked out of it's grave. It's surface was smooth, while other pieces of salvage had corroded; this one seemed untouched by the passage of time. The unidentified purple mass was only given one drill to dig it up, along with two soldiers to guard the site. Among them was Avesta who's findings couldn't wait as he jogged down the trail, meeting Neil and Peter halfway.

"Sir," Avesta said in between gasps for air, "W-We have to go back, call for help!" Neil grabbed Avesta's shoulder, shaking him slightly,

"Calm down, tell us what's wrong."

"Garrett sir, they took Garrett!" Avesta's voice carried a feeling of hysteria, Peter had yet to see, it made him feel uneasy. The Sargent's body language was confident, reassuring and given that, those emotions trickled down into his subordinates. Snow came down harder, falling to the planet in tiny powdery dots. Amid the sea of frozen rain, Peter noticed movement in the corner of his eye. Four humanoid shapes approached from the excavation site, their skin appearing to be white. Peter narrowed his eyes, straining them in order to get a better look at figures, that's when it hit him. "Sargent," Peter cried out, raising his rifle, but it was too late.

The approaching figures were Agarosaian infantry, they opened fire on the three Alexandrians. Thinking on his feet, Neil threw Avesta to the ground while he held out his right arm, the hard light creating his armor dissipated and like water, it streamed down the man's right arm, reappearing as a six foot tall energy shield. The rectangular shaped shield absorbed their fire, two of the Agarosaian men attempted to flank their position, one sprinting around the right while another, the left.

Peter covered the right, once the enemy combatant came into view, he fired off a burst from his rifle, each of the three bullets fired hit their target, cracking the visor of the Agarosaian helmet, piercing the man's eye. His body fell to the ground with a soft thud, sinking into a thick layer of snow that blanketed the surface. Peter twisted around just in time to see the second enemy soldier drop to the ground, the barrel of Neil's M3 heavy pistol still smoking. An impressive feat to behold, as he kept up the shield while quickly, and efficiently dispatching the enemy. Suddenly, the hail of gunfire ceased and the two remaining Agarosaian soldiers lowered their jagged rifles.

"What the... why're they-" Avesta couldn't even finish his sentence, none of them could speak. Through the snow, behind their adversaries, and beyond the crater was a pair of glowing red eyes. During the briefing before Peter had been shipped out to the Wasteland he had been given lectures about Agarosa's known arsenal, and although most of the info flew right through him, he remembered what those beady eyes were attached to. The Massive all terrain assault craft, otherwise known as a M.A.T.A.C, but Peter's instructor called them scorpions. The mechanical beast stretched out it's artificially constructed tail, bending it at a ninety degree angle. A large, golden crystal like orb attached to the tail began to shine as the sun's rays touched it.

Peter glanced over to the sarge whose eyes were shot open, whether it was in fear or awe he couldn't say. A thunderous roar echoed throughout the miles of barren, snow covered plains, Peter snapped back to the Scorpion only to see it's sphere radiate a blinding, yellow light. Peter and Avesta were flabbergasted, fear gripped their heart like a vice, never before had either of them encountered such... power. Neil however was no stranger to conflict and this allowed him to quickly take control of the situation. Just as the Scorpion realigned its tail, taking aim at the mysterious metal buried in the ground, Neil shouted. "Fall back," Avesta didn't hesitate to high tail it out of there, but Peter was still paralyzed with fear. Neil clutched his shoulder yanking him back, ripping his attention away from the mechanized monster.

"Let's go," Neil exclaimed as he released his grip, joining Avesta in dashing back to the main site. The last thing Peter saw before fleeing was a strange, green mist flowing out of the fallen Agarosaian's shattered helmet. Then without warning the Scorpion unleashed it's full destructive capability, eviscerating the unnatural hunk of metal. Snow spurted upward from the blast, falling to the ground in a dazzling cascade of white powder. The remaining foes did not pursue, only watch as Peter, Neil, and Avesta fled back the way they came.

The survivors of Agarosa's attack double timed it, arriving at base camp after only fifteen minutes of sprinting. Peter and Avesta took this opportunity to catch their breath while Neil broadcasted a message to all of his forces working at the excavation site, ordering them to regroup at the command tent which was located at the northernmost point of the valley. Neil entered the rather large tent, as the remaining soldiers all funneled in front of the command center. By Peter's count, there were nineteen men and women standing with them, all accounted for... all but Garret. Scattered throughout the crowd, were the confused murmurings of the other soldiers. After what felt like an eternity, Neil rejoined his men, all those present halted their individual conversations and waited for the sergeant to reveal why they'd been pulled from their posts.

Neil cleared his throat, "I've been informed that we've been attacked by Agarosaian forces all across the wasteland. I witnessed their aggression firsthand at the southern quadrant of our operation. Both Garret and the engineer he was protecting are dead, murdered by those monsters." Peter heard a few gasps come from elsewhere in the crowd, but besides that no one spoke.

"That's not all, before I could report back to our boys back home, our comms went down."

"Did they set up a jammer?" a female voice questioned.

"Unknown, regardless, we're on our own out here..." The sound of an explosion beyond the valley stole everyone's attention. Peter twisted his head around with the rest of his comrades as they looked out into the distance. What scared everyone the most, wasn't the sight of a massive Agarosaian assault force, it was their own thoughts in anticipation of such an attack. Peter felt himself drift away into his mind, he no longer felt the cold against his skin or saw the miles of open space coated in snow. A loud bang brought Peter back to his senses, turning back to face the sergeant who had drawn his handgun, aiming it at the clouds above.

"We aren't going to just sit down and let those bastards do whatever they want. If we're going to die, it'll be with my hands wrapped around an Agarosaian's throat," He screamed out, his voice echoing across the landscape. Perhaps even reaching the ears of the strike team in the southern quadrant. After that, he handed out orders to his men, sending a few out to scout while the rest of the soldiers worked on fortifying our location. Although the atmosphere was tense, the crowd began to thin as everyone headed out to perform their assigned task.

But Neil had other plans for Peter and Avesta, "I need you both for a moment." Peter nodded and both him and Avesta joined the Sergeant in the command tent. Once inside the tent was much smaller than it appeared, With the futon snuggled up against the right wall and the giant table adjacent, it was no surprise.

"Avesta, I want you to tell me everything you saw"

Avesta's body trembled when asked to recall what had transpired, "In the morning, Garret noticed a group of Agarosians chipping away at the ice. After awhile he said they uncovered an old set of stone double doors. That's when he asked me to radio in."

"What happened after?" Neil said.

"T-The-" Avesta stumbled over his words, pools of tears formed behind his eyes. "The Agarosaians, they managed to pry the door open..." He turned away from Neil, wiping his eyes and taking in a breath to compose himself, then turned back.

"Then... a cloud of green smoke poured out of the entrance, completely covering the Agarosaians, some of it even reached us. Garret and I moved back managing to avoid it, the pilot of the drill wasn't as lucky..." Neil brought his hand up to his chin, scratching at his bushy beard. Peter felt as if Neil wasn't buying what Avesta was telling him, maybe he should bring up what he saw as they were fleeing... Peter brushed the thought aside and remained silent.

"Without warning the...the engineer got out of the drill and ran, I mean sprinted towards the Agarosaians," Avesta's voice started to fall apart, tears streamed down his face while he sniffled, whatever he saw, it was enough to bring a grown man to a mental breakdown.

"Garret ran after-him... they... oh god they-" Neil stopped Avesta, ordering both him and Peter back to their tents. In Peter's mind, after what Avesta's been through, he deserved some rest. After all, there was an alarmingly high chance that none of them would live to see another day.

The sun's rays became mellow, painting the horizon with a stunning shade of orange. And as the sun gave out one last hurrah, the cold returned with such ferocity Peter could feel it pass through his body suit's heat regulator. In less than an hour, this excavation site had been fortified to the best of their abilities. Trenches were dug on the borders of the site, a first line of defense, so to speak. Behind them and closer to the command tent were rows of sandbags, the center of the line was a heavy machine gun which was mounted atop a pile of sandbags a few inches taller than the rest. Along with three others, he was assigned to guard duty in the trenches. Everyone made small talk, but peter distanced himself from the others, choosing instead to sift through his memories, thinking back on that fateful night a year ago...

"You smoke?" one of Peter's allies spoke, offering him a cigarette.

Peter made a sound, that was a mixture of a scoff and a soft laugh.

"He also asked me that..." Peter said, taking the cig from the confused soldier. Under that sunset, Peter Brun shared a smoke with his fellow soldiers, while the loud stomping in the distance grew louder with each passing second...