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I put my phone back on my utility belt and fastened it onto its clip before I turned my attention back to the group. Elaenor had her paw pressed against her temple, likely so that she could better hear something coming in over her implant. Taliya and the Minister were still on the call, though I muted it. They can get incredibly trivial: meaningless numbers, repetitive intel reports, and all.

Without warning, Elaenor draws one of her thigh-holstered PDWs in one paw and used the other one to latch onto Taliya's arm. Her overall facial expression remained the same, albeit with more tension. Her ears had flattened out, however.

"Ma'am, we have to move," she said.

The rest of the agents that surrounded us followed Eleanor's lead. They unholstered their weapons--a mix of carbines, pistols, and PDWs--while altering their stance into one that was more alert.

I had no idea what the fuck was going on, and it probably showed.

As Elaenor began to walk briskly forward, Taliya still in tow, we followed for a couple of seconds before shit hit the fan. The facility burst into life as alarms began blaring. The white light that encapsulated the hangar shifted to a duller, red, auxiliary lighting system.

"Bravo Team," Elaenor started, shouting into her comms implant. "Prep for immediate extraction from helipad Zulu-Niner! Echo and Delta Team, secure a path. I need Tempest-One enroute now!"

We shifted from a quick job to a moderate run. I joined the rest of the agents present and took the carbine on my back, though I was going to be one of the few being escorted instead of escorting.

However, that changed when the PA system came alive.

"All non-essential military personnel are to remain where they are. Do not attempt to evacuate to the nearest shelter. All metro stations have been compromised. Repeat, do not attempt to evacuate. Stay where you are. A Code Green is in effect."

Those last five words scared me more than anything going on right now. Elaenor and the rest of the agents present continued to move forward, but Taliya killed her momentum, prompting Elaenor to jerk and stop abruptly to prevent her from ripping the Sentinel's arm off.

"Ma'am, we have to keep moving," Elaenor shouted, though the words might as well have fallen on deaf ears. Taliya had diverted all of her attention towards me, who had also stopped dead in my tracks. Her eyes locked with mine. She did not need to say anything; the horrifying look she had did all the work for her.

Go.

I immediately planted my hindpaw in front of me, shifting my direction into the completely opposite direction that Taliya and her detail were going. I went into a full sprint, blowing past dozens of ARC workers shaking in terror.

I had covered half of the distance I needed to in order to exit back out into the foyer before I took a look back. Taliya, Elaenor, Minister Allen--they were still on their way back to the elevator that took us down here all those hours ago. Half a dozen furs in lime green hazmat suits were heading to cut them off. They held R5A4 carbines in their paws, their faces obscured by the suits that they were wearing.

They were the Hazardous Materials Team that was a part of the Sentinel's motorcade...I think. They must have been sitting in their HAAPV for hours, though I doubt that they would ever want to have to get out of it.

While the HMT was still a ways off, one of the Sentry agents took out an apparatus out of a briefcase. The briefcases all looked the same, but their contents ranged from liters of Taliya's blood type, explosive ordnance, an orbital weapons launch device, and of course the gear that the agent had just removed. It was like a pilot's helmet with a long tube stretching from the opening of the muzzle into the briefcase where some oxygen tanks and a rebreather lied.

The agent fastened the breathing apparatus to her suit, creating an airtight seal in an attempt to keep the air she was breathing clean. They were about to rendezvous with the HMT, but I turned my attention back to straight in front of me. I had covered about another thirty meters or so in the time it took to look back.

Normally, I would have run into somebody--hell, even one of those cleaning robots--but the pathway to the exit was clear. No one was making an attempt to make a break for it. I am not sure if it was out of fear for what lied outside, their conditioning due to the emergency drills put in place, or both.

These are the moments when one is most thankful for the constant drilling that annoys most Aelmerians to no end. The moments when no one knows what to do; when I don't know what to do.

After an indeterminate amount of sprinting, I finally arrived back at the escalators which were dead. I planted my outerpaw hard and turned to the left, heading up the escalators-turned-stairs at two steps at a time. My two pistols jostled on my hips. They moved more than the one in my shoulder-holster, though that one was more overt with its presence as it placed a slight pressure through my body armor.

The trip up this time was far more ominous than the last. Something that I did not think could be topped. I made it to the top of the escalators to be greeted yet again with the lobby. The space was occupied with more people this time, but they were all gathered close to the opening of the escalators. Perhaps the more correct observation: they were all gathered away from the windows and doors that led outside.

Half of them were staring at me with either fear or despair. The other half, fifty or so non-combat personnel, had their gazes locked to the closest blank surface, be it the floor, wall, or ceiling. All of them, though, were huddled together.

I tried to keep my focus ahead, though. Even though the PA system was rattling off orders, notably including for individuals to stay in their place, no one told me to stop of stay where I was. Most of them either fell into the group of not saying anything as that was what everyone else was doing, or they kept their muzzles shut because if I was going out, I probably knew what I was doing.

My shoulder slammed into the glass doors to open them. Of course, they did not budge. At all. I did, though, and was nearly thrown off balance.

Locked because of the lockdown. I shifted my head left and right to look for something. A thin, black brick of sorts was attached to the wall on the right of the monster doors. After drawing my identification card, I pressed it against the black box. No sound effects sounded--if they did, they did not cut through the blaring alarms and PA system. When I tried the doors again, this time more gently, the swung open, though.

Immediately after I moved out of the doors, two lime green vehicles sped past at what seemed to be close to 120 kilometers an hour. They went left to right which translated into north to south. Towards the center of the capital.

My eyes followed their movements for the brief amount of time that they were present which led me to discover a light armored transport left idle along the opposite side of the road.

Once again finding an objective to get after, I checked both ways for any traffic. Nothing was coming in either direction within my immediate vicinity except for the two emergency vehicles heading out. There were half a dozen limes down the road, but I had a couple of seconds. With the roadway clear for the time being, I sprinted over to the transport, arriving on its right side. I grabbed my ID card yet again and held it to the side window. This time, with the PA systems no longer blaring one meter next to me, I could hear the transport say "LOCK DEACTIVATED" in a synthetic voice trying to emulate a female one.

After hearing that, the door handle presented itself from within the door. I yanked it, swinging the door open and hopping into the driver's seat.

My ID still in paw, I pressed it against the left side of the steering wheel. As soon as the dashboard turned on, I pressed my foot on the accelerator. The door automatically closed itself, naturally, and I pulled into the same lane that the emergency vehicles used before I slammed down on the accelerator even harder, the electric motor bringing me up to and beyond 100 km/h in two seconds.

Around that time, the vehicle's stereo system signaled that my phone was connected.

"Oracle," I shouted, somehow thinking that my subdermals would not pick up the noise. The head's up display showed an animated soundwave, so I continued on. "Call Kayetlin Everett."

My subdermals played the standard ringing sound in my ears, and it went on for a little bit. I had already caught up to the emergency vehicles from before by the time it ended.

"Unable to connect," were the words that my ears picked up on, prompting an audible "Damn it" from me.

Satellites are probably too congested right now, I thought.

We--the emergency responders in front and myself--were nearing an on-ramp to the highway heading to the city central. I looked to the center display which showed several vehicles behind us as well. We turned left onto the highway, moving into the lane farthest to the left. The emergency response lane, distinguished by its cyan colored asphalt instead of the typical, dark obsidian.

Three VTOLs buzzed past us, and I could see out of the windows on either sides of me grouping of aircraft heading towards the capital. There was a mix of twin-seater attack craft and transports capable of carrying twenty-four soldiers max.

The highway itself was in gridlock in either direction as civilian vehicles had most likely been shut down in place in accordance with emergency procedures. Usually, they should have been heading towards the nearest shelter or metro station, but seeing as those were compromised, the Federation must have decided to just keep them in place. There must have been tens of thousands spread across the eighteen lanes.

The Aelmerians inside were probably locked in, most of them probably in a panic, fearfully watching and listening to FNN, or more probably a combination of both.

"Oracle, connect to channel Alpha Foxtrot Delta One Seven Six Six Niner Echo Three Four Alpha."

The words resonated in my head. "Connecting to satellite. Authenticating." It took a bit to patch me through as the satellite decrypted my subdermal's identification code.

When the line did patch through, there was a mix of the roar of an aircraft and a familiar voice. "--know either, information is short at the moment, and--Oh, Praetorian Hawkes, sir!"

I began to turn the steering wheel to match the curve of the road as I was rapidly approaching the towering skyline of Taipys.

"Glad to hear from you too, Major," I said. "Now, does someone know what in the world is going on?"

"I was just telling Lieutenant Hampton and Yura that I don't know. No one at CAC knows what has happened, or at least, they aren't saying anything. From what the team has been able to piece together, several explosions went off in the metro stations. CAC put out the emergency report shortly after the Transportation Ministry reported the detection of biological agents."

"Prompting the Code Green," I finished.

Captain Tanaka continued the conversation after the major finished talking. "We were waiting for you before taking off, even waiting past the sixty-second mark until ninety."

After she was finished, I said, "Thirty seconds is a lot, especially when it comes to our work. You all knew I was off on assignment, so next time, take off the instant it hits one minute, understand, damn it?"

A flurry of "Yessirs" came my way.

"Alright then," I said. "Stark, where are the most civilians and/or the epicenter of the attack?"

"I am trying to figure out right now, just gimme a sec," he said. A couple of seconds passed before I said anything. Everyone else was deathly silent. "Uh, central. It's central."

That was the worst news I had heard yet. I'm sorry, Kaye. I'm coming.

I had to physically shake my head to keep myself focused. "OK. Alright, then," I said. "Tanaka, Hampton, Yura, you're on me. Maddox: you, Stark, and Yokkado need to rendezvous at Aegis Central Command after you drop the rest of the team off with me. I'll be there in--Oracle, ETA to Central Station?"

The words were whispered to my ears and my ears alone. "Calculating. On your current path, you will arrive at ONE WORLD TERMINAL, Taipys, Aelmere Federation, in five minutes."

"I'll be there in three," I said. I saw a slight gap in between the cars in the lane to my right approaching, so I pushed the accelerator all the way down.

"Sir," Hampton said. "Where are you anyway?"

I turned my steering wheel as I rapidly approached the vehicles in front of me in order to make it into the gap, pulling ahead of the emergency responders before turning back into the lane to avoid a collision. The vehicles behind me honked.

"Oh," was all that he replied, his question getting a satisfying answer.

A silence dragged on for far too long. There was some metal-on-metal and plastic clinking in the background, and the roar of the aircraft's engines was hard to ignore.

I knew the level of emotion going around. It wasn't about how bad things were, but about how no one knew what was going on. The metro system is incredibly expansive, and in a city with as many millions and millions of people as Taipys, it was very likely that the Federation will be limping away from this attack. It's also the third biological attack that has ever been enacted, so there was not a lot of precedent to go by.

"It's the SRG, isn't it?" Stark said it rather solemnly. There wasn't fear in his voice. More of depressing acceptance.

"It's rather likely," Yokkado said in an equally somber tone before trying to add some dark levity. "Who knows, maybe those Caskyan imperialists finally showed their paws! Bastards." I wasn't in the cabin, but the feelings of uncertainty and awkwardness were painfully obvious.

"Maybe," was the only thing Captain Stark said in response, forcing himself to be a bit more positive. "Praetorian Hawkes, sir, what's your take on the situation?"

It's the SRG, no doubt about that.

"I don't know, and I don't care," I said firmly. "If it is the SRG or Caskyans, bully for us. I want you all to act as if it is all of them. We have been over each group's tactics, so prepare like we are going up against all of their combined strengths and none of their weaknesses. The SRG is fanatical and suicidal with a complete disregard for life. Prepare for hostages and guerilla warfare. If it's the Caskies, plan for heavily armored and well equipped forces. It's not our job to find out who it is. Our job is to keep the situation contained and mitigate its effects. Understood?"

Maddox spoke for the team with the affirmative. Even if they disagreed, they would listen to him.

"You heard the man. Stark, have you got a connection with the Aegis officer on site yet?" Maddox knew the drill. Refocus on the task, keep them busy.

"No, sir. I don't think they have set up a base of ops yet"

"Damn," was all Maddox could supply back.

"Captain," I said. "As soon as you establish a comms link, patch me in, understood?"

"Yes sir."

"In the meantime, Tanaka, send a message to CAC. Get them to put out a wide notice to hold back all forces and to lockdown all entrances and exits connected to all metro stations, regardless of whether they were hit or not. I need them airtight, nothing gets in and out."

"On it, sir," came his reply.

"The rest of you," I continued while turning the steering wheel to get me on the off ramp. The city streets, from what I saw, were equally congested when compared to the highway. The city was still in a kind of late dawn with the sun having been out for a couple of minutes. It was heavily reflected by the capital's skyscrapers, some pushing past one kilometer in height. The lack of life in the city gave it a very eerie tone, however, making it feel empty without the thousands of people walking up and down the streets.

"Suit up just like in the sims. Quarantine suits, ditch the body armor, and IV tubes in. We don't know how long we will be in there. Maddox, you and your squad need to do the same. We don't have time for you to change in the field should the event come. Yokkado, help prep Stark's gear. Hampton, you do the same for Tanaka. Yura, rendezvous with me with my gear."

"Sir," Yura replied. "We are landing in thirty."

"You have twenty."

"Yes sir. Anything else that you need me to grab?"

"No, Lieutenant. Thank you." I let off a subtle sigh at the end, hoping it was quiet enough.

I had to quickly apply the brakes after coming into a long line of traffic in the emergency lane. I was a couple of blocks from the station, and from here to there hundreds of emergency vehicles had lined up from every direction. There were over two hundred stations in Taipys, and while not all of them had been attacked I hope, the scene here is probably the same at each of them, just smaller.

"Maddox, do you have my coordinates?" I rushed to get out of the vehicle I commandeered. As I did, my ears were assaulted with the city's alarm system blaring, shooting out instructions as if someone had not heard them over the past--I checked my wristwatch--six minutes since this whole thing started.

"Uh, yes sir," came the reply. "What's the situation?"

"Tell the pilot to rendezvous over them. I won't get to Central in time with this traffic."

"Yes sir. Taylor, we need a quick pickup! Sending the location now!"

I turned to my right, the direction that I came from, and saw a VTOL fifty meters up navigating through the skyscrapers on either side of the boulevard. The four engines on its two wings quickly flipped around 180° before more slowly tilting upwards, bringing it from a cruising speed to a standstill right above me in a couple of seconds.

The port side doorway slid out and back towards the stern before a lime figure manning a turret shot down a harpoon-like projectile with a rope attached to its rear, landing a couple paces to my right.

The figure in the doorway gave me a thumbs up as I made my way over, unhooking the two carabiners keeping the rope attached to the harpoon. I fastened them onto the front of my utility belt, giving them a quick one over, before giving my own thumbs up. With that, I was jerked up off the ground and approached the VTOL rapidly from underneath it. The rope on their end was now attached to a winch that swung out of the doorway.

In less than ten seconds, I was level with the VTOL. The figure from earlier grabbed me and pulled me into the cabin. As soon as I was clear of the door, they pressed a button that brought the door closed.

"We're clear! Get a move on!" The words were passed to me through my subdermals, but I knew they were coming from the soldier who had just brought me in.

"Thanks, Yura," I told her while unfastening the carabiners. "Have my gear?"

She pointed over to my right--her left. Laid on top of an built-in fold out chair was a quarantine suit with an IV tube in either arm. As my eyes adjusted to the cabin's lighting, I was able to make out my surroundings.

The cabin, thanks to Taliya, was lined with prototype hologlass displays instead of windows. Some of them showed the outside environment, others were showing other scenes. One was tuned into FNN. The individual panels were rectangles, but they were joined seamlessly. The door that just swung closed behind me had some too, and they had already come back online, joining the others. The door into the cockpit had a very large, vertical one for briefings.

Below the displays, there was seating that folded up for a low profile when not in use and storage bins such as a wardrobe and gun cabinet, containing eight R5A4s, four PDW3A1s, another eight P6A2s, and a series of explosive ordinances. Those include fragmentation grenades, impact, smoke grenades, 9-bangs, and magnesium flares with all but the latter in both paw thrown and launcher variants. I knew that by heart after the amount of training I have been conducting.

The cabin itself was rather dark and metallic. Most of the interior lining was sleek and flat without much on it except the backs of the seats and the hologlass displays, though there was some thick, electrical wiring tucked up at the corners of the roofing.

All six individuals in front of me were fitted with their quarantine suits, more commonly referred to as NBCs--Nuclear, biological, and chemical. The former was not our problem. The second and third most certainly were. The CBRF or Chemical and Bioterrorism Response Force, formed by Sentinial Order 13A254 after a White Phosphorus attack at a popular tourist site in the United Eglitican Alliance. The Aelmerian military and Aegis forces already have sizeable teams set up to deal with such scenarios, but most are trained in military settings; not urban, high density areas with civilians and guerilla warfare tactics.

Taliya gave me authority to head up the CBRF not to prevent attacks, but to mitigate their effect and solve it as quickly as possible. The soldiers in front of me were paw picked by me across all divisions, and I had been training them for the past three months. The program was supposed to be expanded in another month, but it does not look like that will help right now.

First Lieutenant Yokkado and Hampton come from the Navy, Captain Tanaka from the Army, and Captain Stark hails from Aegis, the domestic equivalent of the Vanguard. Second Lieutenant Yura had only graduated from the Academy five months ago, but she had proven to be a prodigy within her class and throughout her teenage years, serving as a platoon leader in the Morning Stars. Major Maddox and I were both in the Spectres originally, and he serves as the squad's XO with me as their CO.

All of them had shown physical and intellectual aptitude, strong leadership, a unique sets of skills, and an understanding of chemical and biological agents. Many of them worked on projects or squads dealing with them. Some creating or curing, the others destroying and containing.

They all sort of blended together, though, looking at me through their NBC suits. The suits themselves were comprised of several kevlar and polymer base layers sandwiched between two sealed layers of rubber. They were colored lime with occasional black stripes. Legs over and below the knee and one's paws were more heavily armored featuring carbon fiber plating, but the rest of the body minus the torso and head was less protected. One's tail was also protected within the suit, and luckily these suits were made to fit.

The part of the suit covering the front of the head was a ballistic mask connected via industrial zippers to the rubber part of the suit. The mask was opaque and slightly reflective on the outside to shield from heat, though transparent and unobstructive on the interior. The only part of the mask that was not uniform was the end where the mask tapered at the end of one's muzzle, separating into four tubes on the exterior, two thicker ones and two thinner ones. The thicker ones wrapped over the wearer's shoulders and into the back where a life support back was located. This provided oxygen and rebreathing capabilities, as well as temperature control. In the event that either two or both of the tubes are compromised, the mask connector will seal them shut.

The individual can subsist on only one tube, but should both go, the two auxiliary tubes will provide back up oxygen from a thin panel connected to the user's torso, colored black. This does not have as long of a lifetime as the main life support unit, nor does it have temperature control, but it will keep you alive for a couple of hours.

The suit is also airtight and pressurized, making the wearer look a bit larger than normal, but movement is not too impaired.

Worst case scenario, we are wearing them for two day's time, the absolute maximum duration that the life support unit can function. Unable to eat or drink orally, the two IV tubes supply nutrients and fluids directly into the bloodstream. They are uncomfortable, but necessary due to the conditions and often impossibility of rotating teams.

Getting to my paws after being unhooked from the rope that brought me up, I immediately start taking off my armor with Yura beginning to help me take off my lower armor. Unlocking two clasps on either arm, I was able to take off my gauntlets. My cuirass had a similar way to take off, flipping up the clasps between my shoulders and breasts allowed me to raise the section above my head as the waist section was unclasped by Yura. With my greaves, all I had to do was walk back as Yura had already opened up the rears. I was out in five seconds.

I promptly turned my attention to the gear Yura had laid out for me. I first stepped into the left and right pant legs before I reached in to grab the needle in the left sleeve and lined it up with the vein as I had practiced hundreds of times. It was uncomfortable, but not as bad as a broken leg or when I had gotten shot. I quickly did the same with the right before I put my paws through and pulling up the suit. It zipped up slightly offset from the front. Once it was aligned, I pulled the zipper up to my neck and sealed it with the adhesive flap.

Next came pulling my hood over with small protrusions for my ears followed by grabbing the mask that I had left on the seat. I used my left paw to hold it over my muzzle while my right paw zipped it shut. A similar adhesive flap covered the sipper there as well.

With everything sealed, I tapped a piece of glass on my left forearm. The display turned on with the touch, showing only one option: pressurize. It took a couple of seconds before that was done, but by the end of it, we were starting to descend down to the LZ.

For last measures, I had Yura give me a once over while I secured my utility belt around my waist. It was not meant to go overtop the NBC, but it hasn't impacted my performance before. I also just liked having my standard array of equipment at my disposal at all times.

Yura gave my shoulder a double tap. I bent down and grabbed my arms, that being my R5 and my two P6s. I left my knife with my armor on the seat. By the time I had them all holstered, the cargo door in the aft began to lower, and with it, the soundproofing of the interior was broken, opening ourselves up to the roar of the engines that kept us hovering in place.

"Captain, have you been able to get a link established?"

"I've only been able to connect to their assistant, Sir," came Tanaka's reply.

"Alright," I said. "We'll just have to deal with it."

I saw him nod, and with that, I walked down the cargo ramp, the VTOL hovering ten meters above the ground. A line was hanging down to the ground, and Tanaka followed Yura and Hampton after they fast roped down.

"Major, stay in touch," I ordered with my head turned ninety degrees. The standard affirmative came back, though he continued on. "And Cayden? Good luck."

I nodded before turning my attention to the rope and descending down. The VTOL was hovering over the plaza to the station. No vehicles could enter due to the bollards, but Aegis transports and supply trucks had backed up as close as they could get. By my guess, there had to be roughly three hundred Aegis personnel swarming the plaza, some already pitching tents, others paused in their work to look up at us.

As soon as my boots hit the ground and I let go, the rope was quickly reeled up before the cargo bay sealed shut, and the VTOL went east to Aegis Central Command.

Looking around, there were dozens of eyes on us. I pointed at Tanaka and Hampton. They knew what to do and went off to hurry along quarantine efforts. Making sure instructions were clear, followed through properly, and that nobody slacked off. I doubt the latter would be an issue, though. I was more worried about panic attacks and existential crises.

I signaled for Yura to rally up around me, and she hurried over.

"First," I barked, "we need to rendezvous with the ranking officer onsite. From there, we can oversee what exactly the situation is and figure out how best to deal with it. Maddox should help give us the big picture."

She hitched her right thumb over her shoulder, saying, "I saw a mobile command platform due south-by-southeast. Willing to bet that's our best guess."

"My thinking exactly." I gave a nod, and we hurried ourselves over in that direction. The plaza that surrounded the terminal had rows of trees emanating from the structure outwards, as well as certain areas being decorated with some modern, wood paneled seating and shrubbery. Those posed some obstacles, but the makeshift tents that many of the Aegis personnel were setting up were posing more of a navigation problem. We weaved in and out of them for around a two hundred paces or so before we came to the southern barrier of the plaza.

Mobile crowd control barriers had been erected in front of the bollards from our perspective. All civilians had probably been escorted out of the immediate area and into buildings in close proximity right before we arrived. I thought I saw some entering the neighboring skyscrapers, but it was hard to make out between the dozens of Aegis vehicles parked in front of the terminal.

There were several Aegis officers positioned around the barriers, probably on perimeter detail. They were in the standard Aegis garb. A base level of a digital urban camo combat uniform with a tactical vest worn over top. They also had on the typical helmet, but worn over their faces were some of the more common gas masks. The ones with the side filters and triangular eye holes. Stowed across their torsos were some unmodified PDW2A2s.

We vaulted over the barriers and made our way over to the large, brick-like command platform. There were several officers making their way in and out of it through a door to the rear, so we went over to it as well.

My eyes took a bit of time to adjust to the dimmer lighting inside. Yura and I had to step aside to make sure that we didn't block the exit. The walls of the command post were saturated with computer screens, each one manned by an officer barking orders into a comms unit.

In the middle was a flat, rectangular table with the top covered in a digital display. Hunched over it was a middle aged Canisean dressed in their combat uniform and a gas mask hanging down around their neck, the only difference being several gold stripes around their arm and a lapel with the insignia for a Lieutenant Colonel.

The Canisean, a woman, glanced up and gave us a one over before straightening her back. "Well, come on," she said, her tone strained. "If you are going to say something, please do. Otherwise, loiter elsewhere." With that, she waved us away with a dismissive flick of the wrist.

"Colonel," I began while flashing my ID card with my left paw. "I'm under orders from Sentinel Itsuko to take command of this operation."

I don't believe that she was able to see the rank on my card. "Listen here, Mister, I am not in the mood--"

The speakers from inside the command platform cut her off. "Zara, he's with me. Do as he says. He's our best chance at managing this."

Thanks Tali.

With Taliya's surprise intervention, the LC immediately changed her tone, saying in a tone that was not too loud, "Yes, Madame Sentinel." I am not exactly sure where she was speaking to, but I am rather sure that Taliya heard her. She turned her attention to me. "Sorry, sir--" I think that was when she actually saw my card because she cut herself off and immediately went into an Aelmerian salute. "Praetorian!"

I returned the salute so that she could relax, only bringing my arms up for a second. "At ease, Colonel. Just drop formalities. We need access to all of your equipment and intelligence. Tell your noncoms to install airlocks around the main entrances and to seal all minor ones. We need to make sure we have the terminal airtight. Understood?"

She nodded. Her face and body were held very tightly and tense.

"One more thing," I asked. "Where's the Aegis Archadmiral?"

She seemed ready to question that, but she quickly caught herself. "He should been evacuated. I don't know his location."

I was about to ask if anyone else would know where he was, but my phone buzzed. I picked up and turned on the lock screen, only to be greeted by a message sent by a blocked number. The message contained coordinates. I glanced back up to the LC hesitantly before forwarding the message to Maddox.

I whispered, speaking in a volume that would be picked up by my subdermals but not pass through the mask I wore. "You're watching me, aren't you?" Yura didn't seem to pay any attention to that, remaining focused and turning her attention to the central display. I'm willing to bet the message was only picked up by one person.

Taliya spoke again, this time only into my comms unit and not over the loudspeakers. "Yes."

"Are you secure on Tempest One?"

I got no response to that, instead placing myself opposite Yura on the in-built display.

She pressed her right paw on the screen and slid it towards me. A map of the terminal came up along with CCTV, satellite footage, and a highlight of all the exits. Two areas, on the U4 and U9 floors, showed up with red rings emanating out from what I would assume to be the epicenter.

"Aegis has already sealed twenty-four out of thirty-five minor exits. Only one major exit has had a decontamination chamber fitted to it, but the rest should be up within ten minutes. Other teams are enroute to the exits off site here--." She put two fingers on a spot on an aerial map of the entire area, about half a click north, and the display marked it. "Here, here, here, and here."

"Good," I told her. "Did the exterior doors seal themselves when the alarms when off?"

"Well, yes, but," she said, sounding very worried. "They haven't yet implemented the changes we requested. The exterior ones are sealed, so the city itself has not been contaminated, but in terms of within the station? Anyone who was not outside when the bombs went off are trapped inside, and the entire station is possibly compromised. Sections are locked off from one another, but those doors are not air tight, so air can still circulate, circumventing the HEPA filters in the air supply."

"And this is the same situation across all stations hit?"

She nodded.

"How many people are we talking about? For Central, and the stations combined."

"We don't have hard numbers," she said before pausing for a second. "Best case scenario is a little over four hundred-thousand in central, one-point-one million overall."

"And worst case?"

"Overall, two-point-five million."

At that moment, Tanaka and Hampton came through the doorway and met up with us. Their pace was hurried, but I found that was more due to the situation than any specific moment of urgency.

"East one through nine, North one, two, three, and six, and all of South is sealed," Tanaka went on.

"Good," I said while marking the locations of the exits closed off. "Yura, you said ten minutes until the major exits have been fitted with makeshift decon chambers. Does that amount of time include the time it takes to seal off all of the more minor entryways?"

"Highest priority has gone to the decon chambers, so that number goes up to fifteen if we want everything sealed," she said.

"Are we also sealing any ports for air circulation?"

"Those should have been sealed off when the alarms went--"

I cut her off. "We need everything sealed before anybody goes in. Time is infinitely important, but we cannot risk the rest of the capital being contaminated, especially before we know what the biological agent is. We're going to be looking at something more like twenty minutes now, right?"

"Well, yes sir."

"Alright then," I said. I clicked on the display, allowing me to create a new window. I went to the one about field commands, selected all of the squad leaders, and then sent out the message to seal everything. Each group had roughly five air ducts to seal, totaling in at a little over two-hundred fifty sites.

I turned to my five o'clock where the Lieutenant Colonel, I take it her first name is Zara, was standing. Looking at her nameplate revealed that her last name was Richtide. Probably best to use it. "Colonel Richtide, can you help direct the present companies? Remember that we need to focus on containment over reactiveness. After that goal is achieved, I'll provide further instructions."

"Yes sir," was the only response I got. Crisp, clear, and strongly articulated.

"Good." With that, she went off. The personnel present would likely respond better to having their orders come from someone they know. She would also know those here better than I would, allowing her to gauge moral and squads better fit for one task over another.

Tanaka, Hampton, Yura, myself; we discussed plans once we were inside. Routes that we would take, backup routes if they were compromised, and how to deal with coming across people we knew. I still glanced back and forth between the display and everyone else, checking up on messages, alerts, and any new information that came forward. Maddox told us they had made contact with the Archadmiral of Aegis. That would help us coordinate between stations, but there was just so much going on in so many places that it felt utterly overwhelming.

Another message popped up on the display, but this time, instead of having the typical gray background, it was colored a slightly muted red.

** Captain Vogel:** Friendlies trapped indoors. Shooting at glass. Orders to proceed?

I thought for a moment, enough for my squad to pick up that something was wrong and look at the message that had just been sent. They knew the severity of the issue at paw. I began typing up a message using the on-screen keyboard.

Lieutenant Colonel Richtide: Stand down, do not engage. Response teams dispatched. Cooperate. Will be onsite shortly.

"Alright, team, let's gear up," I said. "Keeping the terminal sealed is priority one right now. Everything else is secondary."

All four of us unholstered our weapons. First Lieutenant Hampton and I grabbed our R5A4s while Second Lieutenant Yura and Captain Tanaka chose to be armed with their PDW3A1s. We began filing out of the command post.

"Cayden," came the words spoken into my ears. Taliya's voice. "I need you to stay on the outside of the terminal. Send your team in and coordinate from the Mobile Command Center that's stationed there."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "Taliya, I need to be on the inside. No one knows what is going on, and I above everyone will know how to deal with the situation."

"You can figure out how to deal with the situation outside. Keep out."

"No, Tali--"

"Praetorian," she barked in a tone and harshness I did not know existed. "That's an order from your Sentinel."

I am not sure exactly what my emotions were at that moment exactly. Probably an amalgam of fury, shock, reproach, and perfidy. I was too stunned to even move, and judging by my squad's immobility, I would venture to say they heard it all as well. Strange how she let that altercation through.

I tried to form the words in my mouth, but it proved rather arduous. "Yes, ma'am." I forced myself to put a lid on all of the emotions coursing through me, preventing any spite from coming through my words. Crisp, articulate, perhaps a bit curt.

I looked up at my team, and while I could not see their faces, all of our eyes met.

"Captain, you're on point. All of you, relay your mission feed into the hub. I'll continue to communicate via comms. Priority is containment above all costs."

Tanaka gave me a one-armed salute across his breast, but Hampton and Yura both broke their composure for a split second, exchanging conflicted looks before joining Tanaka in a salute.

I holstered my carbine, responding with a brief salute and sending them on their way before I myself turned tail.

Arriving back in the mobile command center, I positioned myself in front of the display hub. My claws digging into the edge as I tried to silently vent, my body ever so slightly hunched over. I regained my composure.

Focusing on the task at paw, I brushed aside the map of the area with my left paw, putting it to the side. Then, placing my right paw at the bottom of the screen, I swiped up. The camera feeds of my squad emerged along the line I drew with it, along with their combat IDs. Personal information such as name, rank, serial number, physiological data such as heart rate, and their profile picture to round it out.

Their video feeds were all optically stabilized, giving them this very strange gliding feel. They showed different views, but the videos were all part of the same scene.

Their locations were also plotted on the map in real time. 240 Hz. I had the capability to zoom in on the map, using live satellite footage to see them move, but I decided to switch to a more minimalistic, map view.

Coming through the comms link, I could hear a muffled gunshot. The reaction varied in intensity between them, but all three showed some physical reaction. Yura's heartbeat had also picked up with that.

Tanaka's feed turned to the right, showing me a look into the terminal through the all-glass encasement. The only reason we weren't all fucked was because it was, well, missile proof. Anything would give under enough force, though, but it would have to go through half a meter of it. The subterranean parts of the metro stations where nuclear blast shelters, so hypothetically, the glass could take a beating, though I am not sure about its practicality. Now, though, I was ever thankful of it

The feed showed thousands of people inside. Some were on the floor, some were hugging loved ones, and a couple were banging on the glass. I counted thirty-five, sixteen of which were a mix of military and Aegis personnel. They weren't part of the force helping to contain the situation, though. They were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Looking deeper into the station, there were faint amounts of smoke rising from the center where several stairwells broke off into different directions underground. They were sandwiched in between two rows of glass elevators, each row containing eight.

The camera turned away from the terminal, however, as the three of them were about to meet up with the soldiers who called in the report. A vulpine decked out in similar gear to the rest of the Aegis in the area--tactical vest, gasmask, three year old PDWs--started jogging over to meet them.

"If anyone asks," I said into my comms, "You were sent by Lieutenant Colonel Richtide."

No one responded, but they got the message.

The words came streaming through their feeds, condensed into one through the software employed. "Are you three the team that Richtide sent?" was what the vulpine said. Captain Vogel.

"That's correct," Tanaka replied. "How quickly is the situation deteriorating?"

"It's been getting progressively worse over the past--" Vogel was cut short by a rapid succession of bullets. Four gunshots coming from a low caliber weapon in the terminal rang out. The captain and the other Aegis in the area flinched, but the three I sent off only turned their heads in the direction of the shot.

There were four marks on the glass aimed at them coming from a guy in an Aegis uniform. I marqueed his face and ran it through Echelon.

Name: Dacien, Gideon

Age : 34

Height: 1.88 M

Mass : 95 Kg

Citizen Id: 0175-7043-3071-AE7

Branch Of Service: Aegis

Division : 113th Domestic Security Division

Rank : Staff Sergeant

*Pay Grade: * G-5.3A

P** revious Violations**: Insubordination (10221, 10225), Speeding (10217, 10219, 10223, 10223), Parking (10224), Lying to Instructor (10202, 10203, 10203, 10203, 10204, 10205...more)

"Alright, it's deteriorating," Tanaka said. "Captain, is the door sealed and decontamination chamber operational?"

"Well, er, uh, yes, sir," came the stuttered response.

"Good," Tanaka responded. "Prime it for us, and once we are in, do not open it up for anyone on that side. Lock it until we give the all clear."

"Of course, sir," Captain Vogel said. He signaled his section, and a soldier underneath a makeshift tent typed away on a military laptop--an Enigma X4--and inserted a card key into its right side.

Tanaka, Hampton, and Yura moved over to the entrance of the yellow square tube. Its edge was a square with a white, metal outline and two pieces of glass divided by a diagonal part of the outline. It slid over to the side, and they went in. The chamber was only four-point-five meters long.

They stood inside of it, and once they were clear, the door sealed shut behind them, a rubber tube running along it inflating to create an airtight seal. A mixture of steam and chemicals hissed out from a series of tubing lining the walls, sterilizing their suits for a quarter of a minute before the door into the terminal opened.

Guns drawn, Tanaka was the pointman while the other two kept themselves covered on the sides. As soon as they were away from the door, it sealed them in shut, and the chamber once again went through the process of decontamination.