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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.

They now stood inside the massive station. A glass exterior encased the entire place, shaped in a square. The ceiling rose twelve meters, making for an exceedingly open space, while the floor had a tiered system that worked its way downwards. It was usually such a beautiful, sleek landmark of Taipys, and it would be right now as well if it weren't for the ash, dust, smoke, and tens of thousands of people all over it. Rush hour was in full swing when the bombs went off--no doubt a tactical move on the part of the aggressors.

Some citizens had already taken up leadership positions, primarily military soldiers. From where my fireteam was standing, I could see several with their own groups of civilians huddled around them while they stood atop a bench or a trashcan or a granite enclosement around a tree. Echelon tagged them all as officers, the slight majority of them being Army. Some were trying to keep everybody calm and passive, talking about how everything will be alright. Others were instigating the local crowds, talking about being locked up like caged animals. The division was far from split down the middle, however. For every one agitator, there were ten voices preaching order and patience.

Regardless of creed, everyone's eyes were on the three who had just entered. They lowered their weapons even as tens of civilians began swarming them, pestering them with questions. They were coming a kilometer a minute, and the chaos only grew as more and more civilians made their way over.

"Everyone," Tanaka shouted as they tried to make their way through the crowd to the group of agitators firing into the windows. "Please, make way! The Federation is working on the situation!"

"The sheer volume of Aegis outside begs to differ," came the shouting of one of the civilians crowding them.

"We have a right to know what is going on!"

"You cannot keep us locked up in here!"

"Please, I beg of you, I have my children waiting for me! I can't get through to them!"

They all blurred together. Tens of voices all shouting over one another. Frightened, desperate, confused individuals who just want to live. Those who are quiet and standing back have already accepted their fates or are slowly beginning to realize it. The ones crowding Tanaka, Hampton, and Yura are those who still have a sliver of hope left.

The mob continued to enclose around them, swelling both in number and audacity.

I could not clearly see who drew the gun from the PoV cameras, but one of the three pulled out their sidearm and fired three shots into the metal overhang that covered the entrance, coincidentally preventing it from hitting the glass above. My guess was that Tanaka would have fired the shots, being the ranking member of the team.

The mob, at least, stopped, though. They backed up and gave the fireteam some space. Normally, it would have been a bad idea: frantic, fearful people in a confined space. They must have been used to the gunshots from the renegades earlier, I guess. That, or the rigidness and constant military presence in the Federation helped condition them to obey. The real shocker, however, was when Yura spoke up. I presume that makes it she who discharged her weapon.

"Everybody, back away! I understand that you are scared for yourselves and your loved ones, but if you do not enable us to do our job, that only cements your fates. Stay calm, or at the very least, stay back. The sooner we can regain order, the sooner all of you can go home to your families!"

Out of the whole team, she actually did the worst on practice drills. Seeing her actions throughout this event, however, has shown that she is able to handle herself well under pressure and out in the field.

Taking a slight break from the impromptu operation, I grabbed my phone and placed it on the hub. It automatically connected, and I was able to use the messaging application on the big screen off to the right. Selecting recents and then the blocked number, I tried to establish a connection again to Taliya that was a bit more private.

** Cayden:** Watching the situation unfold?

I was just about to turn my focus back to the video feed--I could hear their footsteps moving over to the people who shot at the windows earlier--but a message quickly popped up.

** BLOCKED:** Yes.

** Cayden:** Is it really this bad everywhere?

** BLOCKED:** Some better, some worse.

** Cayden:** Have all of the stations at least been sealed off?

** BLOCKED:** We believe so. Pressure readings are constant.

Cayden: Are there any other attacks that have happened in between the start and where we are now?

BLOCKED: No.

Cayden: Have you sent in any teams yet?

BLOCKED: Archadmiral Emerson is in control of all the minutiae. He hasn't given the order yet. Seems fitting that you are first.

Cayden: Funny.

It wasn't.

Cayden: What about communications?

BLOCKED: High volume isn't helping. Been working on rerouting satellites. Will take more time...I know about Kayetlin. She'll be ok

Cayden: Yeah, now is not the time to lie to me, Tali. Focus on the mission first.

It killed me to type that. I think I was telling myself that more than I was telling her, but the last thing I wanted to think about was Kay's splattered remains coating the walls of the station due to the bombs. I didn't dare think about what biological agent the attackers had employed.

I switched my attention back to the mission feed. The three of them were now face to face with the aggressors who had fired the shots earlier. Guns were raised on both sides, but some of the aggressors father in the back had their guns lowered ever so slightly.

"--to see them again," was where I picked up the conversation after tuning it out while dealing with Taliya. It was Tanaka speaking.

"Saying that with guns drawn at us doesn't help your case," was what came from the de facto leader of the aggressors."

"Putting yours down first would go a long way to getting you all out of here. Shooting at the glass will just put everybody at risk. That includes loved ones out there."

Some of them seemed shocked and confused by Tanaka's line. At least, from what I can see. A part of the screen I was looking at had the Federation News Network running, but I had not been paying a lot of attention to it since shit went down. I could tell that it was also playing in the background with giant monitors showing it non-stop in the center of the station suspended above the ground. It would make sense for them to only cover the bombs, though, and not the possible bioweapon.

"What the fuck are you going on about?" Came from one of the people in the second row of the fifteen.

"The bombs did not just create explosions," said Tanaka before switching to a more subtle tone. "They also unleashed an unknown biological agent."

I could see the changes of the soldiers' faces as they connected the dots. The lime-green hazmat suits, the code green, the quarantine. The vast majority of them immediately lowered their weapons, now realizing that their fates were sealed. Two kept their guns up.

"You...I...ugh. How long do we have?" stuttered one of the men, an Aegis enlist. He was probably just patrolling the station just like any day.

"For all we know," came Tanaka, "you all might be hugging your families by tomorrow afternoon. We are working to understand what exactly the bio-agent is as quickly as possible. I promise that all resources are being used to solve this as soon as possible."

It wasn't what most wanted to hear, but he made it--

"Bullshit." Third row, second from right. Gun still raised. "I ain't going to watch helplessly as those Caskyan pigs put us down!"

He tightened his grip on his weapon and was about to shoot. Yura was faster.

A three-round, controlled burt aimed at his collarbone. The recoil brought the final rounds into his skull. He slumped down on the floor. His eyes were still open as blood trickled out of the hole above them.

The rest of the soldiers had emotions split between horror and vengeance. Most raised their weapons ready to aim at the three of them.

Tanaka, Hampton, Yura; they all fired into them. Not one shot whizzed past them. They didn't fly back or sprawl out like in the movies. They just went limp, the life sucked right out of them. Their faces were stopped, frozen in time. The only difference between them shouting and them lying on the floor was the amount of blood covering them. The back of their heads weren't blown out due to the hollow point bullets used, preventing collateral damage, but it seems that such hopes were dashed in that instant

I immediately tensed up, making some of the personnel and soldiers in the MCC turned to stare at me. I had my eyes locked on the video feeds where fifteen Aelmerians lay dead.

From the feeds, the three of them lowered their weapons.

"That," went Hampton. "That could have gone a lot smoother."

Tanaka turned around back to where the crowd of people were congregated. It was a mix of people staring at what had just happened and the others awkwardly looking away, pretending that nothing was wrong.

"Damn it," I said. "What's done is done, so we might as well make the most of the situation. Do any of you have the biological sampler on your person?"

All three of them grabbed theirs with Tanaka saying they all did.

"We just need one. Take a sample of any of their blood. We might as well try to figure out what to agent is."

Hampton stepped forward, placing the paw-sized cylinder against the late leader's neck before injecting the needle and filling up with blood. After a little bit, Hampton removed it and sent the data my way. On the screen, another window popped up, this time with the different cells from the blood in view.

Leukocytes, red blood cells, platelets, the common cold, and...shit.

"We have a heavily modified version of Anthrax." I made sure to sent the results to AHQ, hoping that it would help people understand what they were fighting against, but it would probably just cause panic. Worth it, in my opinion.

"We aren't seeing any signs of infection," said Yura. "How modified are we talking about here?"

"Extremely," I said, sending the rendering of the virus to their arm bands. "The only thing left is its base. I don't know what the changes are, though."

I think a person walked up behind them, timidly asking about what they were doing before being politely directed away by Tanaka.

"There have not been any injections, and insect bites or the eating of contaminated foods are highly unlikely," went, Hampton, listing off possibilities. "That means that we're dealing with an airborne version--"

"Which is the worst version," finished Yura quickly.

"Yeah, it is, but it means we know something about what we are going up against," I said. "First, we need to get Aegis in there to stabilize the situation. Maybe we can learn some more about the modifications they made if we survey the development of the symptoms. Maybe we can even find a way to neutralize, but," I paused for a second, unsure about how to word this. "But we need to be ready to accept that everybody presently contaminated can and will die."

"We know, Sir." I knew Tanaka spoke for all of them with that.

"Alright, good to hear." I refocused my attention. "Oracle," I said, waiting for the auditory notification that it registered amongst all of the background noise. "Connect to Major Bastian Maddox."

The channel was opened rather quickly. Longer than normal, but considering everything, not bad.

"Praetorian Hawkes, sir," came back his reply. Not a question, simply a neutral answer of acknowledgement.

"Major, are you able to connect me to Archadmiral Emerson?"

"How promptly, sir?"

"Now would be nice."

There was a moment of hesitation. "Yes sir."

In the moments of down time, I began prepping for the following conversation. There were very few people I was of lower rank. That being the Generals on the General's Council, but I had never met any, Taliya, but she doesn't count, the different Executive Ministers, and the Archadmirals of the Federation's military and Aegis branches with both groups having one main Archadmiral in charge of the entire group. Soon, I would be dealing with the Archadmiral of the entire Aegis contingent.

"Yes, Praetorian Hawkes? What news do you have?"

"Your admiralty, a fireteam of mine has collected a sample of the agent dispersed into Central Station. I am sending the data to you now, but I wanted to mobilize Aegis to move into all of the stations once they are completely sealed. One objective for Central, two objectives for all others."

"The primary objective for the other stations being to identify whether or not it is the same virus being utilized as the one in Central, and the secondary objective which applies to all stations being to secure all individuals present and to prevent any further loss of life if possible."

"That is correct, your admiralty, yes."

"Done. I just got the data, but I must admit that I do not have a Magna degree in virology. What are we talking about when it comes to the agent unleashed on Central?"

"The data my team collected indicates a heavily modified, weaponized version of anthrax. We suspect it to be an airborne variant, but I am unable to determine what exactly those modifications are without a lab. I was hoping, sir, that you could pass this data onto a team that can quickly ascertain its threat. Moreover, I would like to request that before the full force of Aegis goes into these stations that we send in specialists to make sure that we are cleared of any lingering threat."

"You are referring to the SRG's new tactic, are you not? Well, as for the other point, I shall pass it on now. They are in a safe location, and not a trauma facility, mind you, so they should be able to give us some information within the next six hours."

"Three, and that is correct, sir."

"So be it. You have full authority, Praetorian, and the entirety of Aegis' resources at your disposal. May the stars guide you."

Someone appears to be formal.

"And you, your admiralty. Maddox, are you still there?"

"Yes sir. What are your orders?" The speaker didn't flicker or pass static, so I presume that they are using the same device.

"Call in all of both your and my favors when it comes to any and all Spectre teams. I want at least one surveying each of the stations affected for any ways that the SRG might attack us again. I would also like another, additional team to be deployed to Central to supplement our comrades. I'll work on half here--about one hundred. You have the rest."

"Understood, sir."

"Good. Oracle, mute channel."

In that moment of silence, I reorganized my thoughts. Which teams go where, what those modifications could be, how to give medical care to those who are in need of it most. I took a breath.

I opened yet another window, the military's communication app, typing in all of the confidential channel names that I had memorized over the past decade. Twelve to fifteen characters, each with thirty six different possible values. The only channels in the Aelmerian military that simultaneously requires a rank, previous knowledge of the channel, and a secondary authentication number. That is, besides the GC, which is reserved to the Sentinel and Archadmirals, and anything in the Sentinial administration.

I began sending messages as soon as I could. I kept a couple of debts that needed to be payed off in my back pocket, but my rank gave me enough leverage with most teams. I tried to multitask while drafting orders, checking up on Tanaka as they tried to keep the peace and general messages being sent my way concerning the individual operations going on in and around Central.

We were basically using up all of the Aelmere Federation's Spectre teams that were close by and not on priority ops for some reason. Out of the twelve hundred Specters, five-hundred were available within thirty minutes of Taipys. About 90% of those available were stationed at Polaris. With roughly two hundred stations that needed surveying, we needed to split up platoons, typically around sixteen Spectres per team, into eight groupings. That could be supplemented by counter-insurgent and EOD trained Aegis officers, adding even more complexity to the situation, but--

Just great. The application suddenly had the background fade close to pitch black while the Seal of the Office of the Sentinel acted as the foreground.

"Cayden," came Tali's name over comms. "I got it. I know what you are doing. I have tools to do this for millions of soldiers. This will take five seconds.

The application soon opened back up, but I was nonetheless locked out. When I was about to see if I could do anything, the app suddenly had a seizure as thousands of individual messages were sent, some to specific Spectres, others to platoons of them, and some to Aegis officers. Each message, from what I could read as they whizzed up by the hundreds, contained specific instructions, locations, and information on a need-to-know basis.

"Umm, thanks, Tali."

"The more time we have, the more people we can save. It is as simple as that."

"Yeah, of course."

I dropped the conversation there.

All of the orders were sent and sealed. I caught a part of one saying that the order is authorized by the Sentinel, but the CO of the operation was myself. It explained why I was quickly getting thousands of confirmations. All Spectres that responded had their locations marked on the map, and when I zoomed out, I was able to see hundreds converging on the different stations. A similar situation occurred with the EOD and counter-insurgent warrant officers that would be reporting to them, though they neighbored more in the thousands.

I switched back to the channel with Tanaka, Hampton, and Yura on it.

"You guys will have company arriving soon to survey and secure the area. Sit tight, keep everyone calm, and make sure to keep yourselves uncontaminated until this is over." I said.

"Copy that," came Hampton's response.

Looking at their feeds, I could see Tanaka trying to keep everyone calm and being the leading figure, Yura was solving a dispute between two factions off to the side, and Hampton was trying to tend to someone who had been injured when the bombs went off. No one had ventured beneath yet due to there only being three of them--there should have been four at least--and someone had to keep an eye on those up above. The doors were locked, preventing people from flooding into the above ground section, but that carried just as many negatives as positives.

So we waited.

Several minutes passed before the Spectre teams met up with their Aegis squadmates with the Spectre officers acting as COs for the duration of the operation. The first stations that were addressed were in the Silicon and Gem districts. After about ten minutes, Central's corresponding team arrived.

With my phone linked up to the hub in the MCC, I went off to meet up with the Spectres-Aegis team. The walk was partially uncomfortable with the IV needles still embedded in my forearms.

The Spectres rappelled out of a transport helicopter which had most likely dropped off other pairs prior along its trip here. The Aegis officers were already congregated in the area, more or less, the same plaza that I was dropped off originally. By the time that the Spectres fast roped down, I was twenty paces away. When I arrived, we began.

"Ten hut!" One of the Spectres said. Recalling the names of the ones that were assigned to Central, and remembering which was the highest ranking, I knew that one was Lieutenant Commander Garrett Bowers.

"At ease," I said, responding with a prompt salute. "Moving forward, we are ditching the formalities."

"Of course, Praetorian," responded Bowers.

The Aegis operators wore clothing similar to those around us while the Spectres wore more proprietary equipment. Carbon fiber and ceramic plating very similar to that which I was wearing before donning the NBC. Everything was connected. Hard surfaces that were light, but tough enough to stop a 5.56 bullet. Headgear wise, they wore shield glasses, leaving their ears and heads open.

I nodded in his direction. "You all need to suit up in quarantine suits before heading in. We are dealing with a heavily modified, unknown strain of anthrax that has infected the citizenry inside. The situation is the same across all major Taipyn metro stations. Initially spread via explosives, we need to root out any remnant ordinance before we go in full force. Spectre officers, you will provide leadership for this fireteam which includes everyone here who is signed with Aegis.

"All of you, however, will report to orders from myself and members of the CBRF inside--three of them in total. Everything said here is classified at T1 level until I or an officer of equal or higher rank says so. Get in, coordinate to find if there are any remaining dangers, and dismantle necessary. Everybody in Aegis, you will not be in EOD suits! If your suits are breached beyond their kevlar and innermost rubber layers, you are as good as everyone else compromised in there, so stay clear of sharp instruments except those necessary for defusal. If you have requisition requests, page me. I will get you anything and everything you need. Is that understood?"

The Spectres just gave me neutral stares as confirmation. The Aegis soldiers were faking it. They all said "yes sir" regardless.

"Good. I'll get you suited up. You will also be wearing mission cameras in order for me to monitor your progress. Move out."

In all there were eight soldiers following me. We made our way over to the nearest entrance while I called over a light utility transport. Three privates carried suits for the eight of them over to our position, and they started to suit up. It took longer than my team, and they were more basic suits without the four oxygen tubes, IVs, and auxiliary oxygen supply that I was wearing, but they would suffice.

One of the Aegis soldiers, a Chief Warrant Officer, asked a question about dealing with the civilians inside. He was trying to be discreet, but to me it was very obvious that he was alluding to having to kill any. Seemed worried about it too. The possible fact that he might have to come face to face with a friend of his.

"Don't shoot unless you are directly threatened. If a gun is aimed at you spontaneously, you have authorization to neutralize the threat. If an unarmed civilian says they are going to beat your family until you let them out, ignore them. On the other paw, if you are swarmed by civilians needing aid, direct them to stay in their location, defer to one of the Spectres, or just play this off as standard procedure. You cannot help them. Your job is to make sure we don't accidentally blow them up when we try to help them. Does that help?"

He nodded meekly.

Other than that, things were able to go along more or less alright. I headed back to the MCC before they went through the decon-chamber. One by one, their mission feeds and physiological data began streaming into the display as I typed in their serial numbers.

They went through the corridor smoothly, and after a minute, they were inside the gigantic top level of the terminal. Using both my team's and this secondary team's cameras, I was able to tell that Yura was sent to meet up with them while Tanaka and Hampton stayed back. She greeted them curtly and after conferring over the details of the operation and its objective, all nine of them made their way over to the middle of the terminal that descended into the bowels.

The people, soldiers and civilians alike, who stood between them and their destination parted. To be honest, I could not tell if it was out of fear, respect, hope, or apathy, but I didn't really care. If this operation went well, it would cost us a lot of precious time, but the other option is a lot worse.

I opened the channel with Maddox again to get a sitrep.

"Eighty-five percent of the teams have gone in," he said after being prompted. "The remaining fifteen percent will be in within five minutes."

"Have any of the squads had to engage with hostiles or come across obstacles?"

"No, not so far. For most stations this is the first contact they have had with what is going on outside, but the teams having difficulty with them are getting orders about what to say relayed from hostage negotiators outside."

"Glad to see that our plans are being enacted properly," I responded. All seven of us--Tanaka, Hampton, Yura, Stark, Yokkado, Maddox, and myself--had worked on situational response procedures in the event of an attack that we were unable to directly respond to. There were fourteen individual response plans, each of which had branching paths. They also worked as good guidelines for us, though I doubted any of us expected working on them on such a large scale. They helped, needles to say.

Pilots, mechanics, educators, interviewers, interviewees, even world leaders; they have checklists.

"All of the bombs went off below ground trapped behind entry points that have magnetically sealed doors," came back Maddox, trying to recap and piece together everything. "For one, that means that no one has entered or exited those areas yet, though the agent has been able to move throughout. Two, the bombs exploded when the 'loops were unloading, likely causing high, initial casualties.

Don't remind me.

"My question is why? The bombs create structural damage, but the attackers could have easily released the agents without them. They could be used to blow open our defenses, but then why put them down below? It doesn't make sense."

"Maddox, I get it. You are trying to get into their heads. It won't work. We don't have the whole picture," I told him. "My guess, their intelligence was wrong. They thought we didn't have biosensors in the stations, so our attention would be on the bombs. They knew that the doors would not prevent the weapon from contaminating those residing outside it, and with standard procedure, we would want to get them out as soon as possible, releasing it into the world. But if we make assumptions, it will fuck up our minds. We cannot make any unless we come to a definitive conclusion. Until then, we assume they have every strength and no weaknesses."

"Right. Of course, sir. Just me being speculative. Sorry."

"All right." I left it there. Everyone was on edge.

The team on the inside had their guns up while Tanaka tried to keep the peace. Hampton was performing impromptu medical treatment on an elderly person. Stress and a weak heart is my guess.

LC Bowers was leading them over to the center of the station with branching paths downwards. The eight of them were arranged in a typical formation: One pointman, two behind them, two pairs on either side covering the flanks, and one in the back. One of them had a backpack with a long antenna on top. Electromagnetic countermeasure to jam IEDs and the like.

They went into maintenance shafts, bathroom stalls, libraries, food stops, and the like. The Chief Warrant Officer became well acquainted with his mobile plasma torch, cutting open sealed hatches, walls, electrical conduits--any place that might have been hiding a bomb. It took twenty minutes to clear just the top level, and that was incredibly quick. Air shafts were clear too.

Yura and Hampton made sure that everyone above ground was no threat. Pat downs to make sure that no one was concealing an explosive vest or detonator. They made all military and Aegis personnel turn over their weapons unless I vetted them. Thirty hundred twenty out of four thousand and fifty-two was all I gave them. Those whom I had cleared were officers, held high security clearance, and lengthy service reports with self sacrifice. They knew they were probably going to die, but those who had volunteered to help genuinely wanted to help their country and fellow comrades.

Once the ground floor was cleared, I unsealed the doors leading down while they were manned by a member of the team sent in. People who were trapped inside for the past hour or so made their way up, guided by whichever soldier greeted them over to an area that all people from down below would be looked over and searched just like those above ground.

The vast majority of them were bloody and covered in dust that had been caked on. The only places on their persons that were not covered were cleaned by streams of tears. Hampton, Yura, and Tanaka recruited medical personnel and EMT trained Aegis to help look after those who were just recently released.

They were mostly young, only a couple thousand over forty. There were tens of thousands of them too, I would round it to to maybe seventy-k at a bare minimum. Some of them had open wounds, dust-covered eyes; the ones who were worse off had shrapnel in their bodies or were carried out on makeshift stretchers by those inside. Those inside helped as much as they could, but they couldn't do much until the whole stations was cleared for threats.

Desperate times brought out the best in Aelmerians. Unfortunately, not everyone was kind. Some people had held others at knife or even gunpoint. They were stressed, locked in a place that had been turned into a warzone for roughly an hour, and saw people around them who were severely injured and help was nowhere to be seen. There were seventy that we had found dead, and we still had only searched ten percent of the whole place. Those who were caught or ratted out for extorting, assaulting, and killing others swiftly got a bullet to their heads after we caught up to them.

The levels below the ground floor were not all bad, but level U4 didn't exist anymore. U3 had a gigantic hole in the middle of it. Mission feeds showed trails of blood surrounding it, along with metal shrapnel that had been pulled out. That too had turned crimson.

"Sir, I am not sure we can safely survey the lower areas," said one of the squad members. "Plus, even if we did, we don't need to go breaking our legs on the way down."

With the stairwells either collapsed or crumbling, the only ways down where the elevator shafts or the giant hole in the middle of the floor. One would expect the central, Taipyn bunker to hold up better, but that did not officially start until U11 where there was a significant gap between it and 10.

I just hope the lower levels are not worse, and note to self, instruct Taliya to reinforce bunker reconstruction.

"Alright, do what you can, but do not progress further down until I instruct you to. Continue to sweep the accessible areas of U3. I'll work on getting you all a path down."

"Copy," came back Bowers, covering for everyone.

I switched channels yet again, that being the tenth time in three minutes. "Yura, I need you to grab some rappel gear for the squad below you. U4 is inaccessible normally."

"I--you want me to head out and grab it?"

"I am going to have an Aegis suit up and drop it off in the middle of the decon. All you have to do is pick it up and transport it down to them." As I began saying such, I was typing up a message that I was about to send to an Aegis support team that, while still working, was not high on the tier of priority teams.

"Understood, sir. Will be in place in two.

She paused for a bit, mulling over what she should say, if at all.

"Can we have at least some medical supplies? A lot of people are hurt, and we risk more dying every minute we--"

"I know, Lieutenant. Has the Aegis bunker on U1 already run dry?"

"It had enough for a couple hundred, but..."

"Yeah, I know," I responded as my defenses were draining, letting my body let a sigh through.

We can't risk using up resources if there will be another attack. It will just reduce the amount available elsewhere or later.

"Alright, I'll put in a req order too. You might want some help lugging everything in, though, and make sure you ration it out to those most in need--so long as you believe they will survive. Will the Alpha-Tango-Foxtrot-Three set work?"

"Yeah, that was what I was thinking. Four minutes then?"

"Yeah. Be ready. Cayden out." I cut the channel and added the list of medical supplies. We had organized specific lists of supplies that would be needed to keep things centralized. ATF3 was for extreme trauma for an individual with a weakened immune system, but doubled as the most rugged, catch-all pack we had planned.

Yura delivered the gear to the squad and distributed the medical gear. The team dropped glow-sticks down the hole, trying to get a good look without using magnesium flares that might cause something to combust. I could see some random limbs exposed through rocks fourteen meters below.

Six of them hooked some carabiners onto exposed rebar and lowered themselves via nylon tied through some harnesses while two covered them up top. Once the six did get down, they covered the ground floor while the two remainders joined them below.

The area down below was one enveloped in darkness except for the glowsticks, gun-mounted flashlights, and faint light emanating from either sides of the passageway. They were on level U5 right now. They split up into two groups to pursue either directions, one Spectre and three Aegis.

I got a ping from Hampton, so I tuned in to his channel while keeping my eye on the squad's mission feeds on the hub.

"Praetorian Hawkes?"

"What's the sitrep, Lieutenant? Do you have the supplies Haylen was sent--"

"Sir, I have dozens of confirmed cases of citizens with stage-two pulmonary anthrax. Some have only a fever, albeit a very strong one, but I have many, many more who have gone into shock," Hampton said.

"It's been slightly more than an hour, and we have people in shock?"

"That's...that's right," he said.

"Do we have any confirmed deaths?"

"Twelve," he said curtly.

"Is that within the past ten minutes? Have you been unaware of how long they have--"

"Sir," was all that I got, cutting me off.

I surrendered, allowing him to continue.

"Those are all within the last minute, and I see several others going into shock right now from where I am. And yes, I have EMTs dealing with them, but they are all contaminated and will likely meet a similar fate promptly. The deaths are killing any morale the people here had scraped together when we came in."

The realization dawned on me. "You want me to instruct all Aegis personnel to enter now. That's what you are pleading for."

All I heard in response was damning silence which more than answered my question on its own.

I glanced over to the pool of intelligence that was accumulating. Over a hundred stations had been cleared for explosive, and all of the sweeps turned up nothing. The other stations were just beginning to report similar cases with shock and pneumonia, but that was only because they had soldiers and Aegis caught inside before the attack streaming video to their phones--glad Emerson was able to utilize that tool at my prompting.

"Ten minutes, and I send the full weight of Aegis in. If the support squad concludes their sweep before that, then I'll send them in then."

"Cay--I--ugh. Have any other stations apart from Central been cleared for explosives?"

Yes.

"No," I told him. "Several have turned up suspicious items that are being inspected, and the rest have yet to continue."

I doubt he believed me. He knew Central was far more massive than the rest of them. The suspicious item claim might have worked, but he wouldn't let on.

"Alright. Ten minutes. Timer starts now."

"Done. Stabilize as many as you can." I cut the conversation off there before switching back over the the support squad's.

"This is Praetorian Hawkes, how copy?"

"Solid copy, sir," came Bowers.

"I need you guys to be done in five minutes with the entire station, or else I have to send in Aegis, and I don't want to do that without the assurance of safe passage."

They all stayed silent, but their cameras showed a split between a jolt in movement or sharing stares between one another.

"Your recommendation on how to proceed?"

"Split up into solo groups," I said. "Each person takes care of a level. Aegis, you guys should have the basics covered now. I need all of you to cut as many corners as you can without compromising security. If your mental checklists says to go through eight things--"

I watched the camera feeds as Bowers and the other Spectre gave out paw signals with everyone now running to stair cases or holes in the ground, trying to make their way to another floor. Once one of the Spectres had sent out the instructions to his group, he pulled open one of the elevator shafts and began descending via his rappel gear down.

"--Then pick three. Run through the whole process. We still have floors U9-U18, so Spectres, you both need to double time it. Do two levels, two-point-five minutes each. And if you meet any people still alive down there, send them up; I will have Lieutenant Yura try to meet them"

Tearing my eyes away from their shaky feeds, I opened a channel with Yura, explaining what was going on. She made her way over to the lower levels after grabbing what must have been slightly less than twenty kilos in extra rappel gear, albeit clearly encumbered. An assortment of ropes, carabiners, and auto-ascend devices.

As time began ticking down, everyone was frantically moving about.

Aegis and Spectres alike were skidding and leaping around their levels littered with rubble. They were all fit, but the sheer amount of weight and gear that they were carrying hindered their movements; the Spectres fared better by a significant margin, but I could tell the slight differences, and their physiological data points disclosed as much.

All eight of them were looking underneath counters that had shrapnel tear millions of tiny holes into them, near bloodied and mutilated bodies--so much so that I could not dig up their profiles on Echelon and contact their next of kin--and in any and every alcove, nook, or hiding spot. They were limited with the time I gave them, but none of the other stations had turned up anything. There were no teams close enough to get here within reason unless I wanted VTOL taxis crowding the skyline. It would be another twenty minutes before they would be able to help in any meaningful way, and the people in there didn't have that long.

Yura was fixing up anchors with six ropes, utilizing the previous group's work, before taking the other half of the rappel gear with her as she rapidly descended down. After a couple seconds, she set up the gear. Most of the people had been cleared of the upper floors, so the only bodies accompanying her there were the ones lying motionless on the ground. From what I could gather, she was also trying to put together a stretcher on the rope. Using the auto-ascender, it would be able to get to the top independently, but it would still complicate things.

Hampton and some volunteers were trying to adapt to the rapidly increasing deaths and victims in shock, but when the people contaminated numbered in the tens of thousands, nothing could keep them safe and happy until Aegis descended on the terminal in full force. The only thing worse than the thousands of walking, dead furs was the reaction to those who had already been taken. The deaths were rapidly accumulating, and with it the panic. Hampton was having to bounce around between volunteer groups, but it was already difficult when there were several going on at once. Tanaka, on the other paw, was trying to keep everybody from rioting to be let out.

He had mild success.

My eyes darted between screens as I ran through the locations, paths taken, and distance left. I was trying to look over the layout of the ten levels and gave out suggested areas of interest. Structural areas that could direct any explosion upwards or destabilize the surrounding ground.

It was looking like a time sink, thousands dying while I risked it all on the possibility of a bomb being placed so far down, especially when most stations had turned up nothing. Those that I was not including in that category were nearing that state as their team(s) inside concluded their sweep. I knew what the Guard had done in Galvan, Eglitia, though, and did not want to send a handful of emergency response crews inside only to be blown up in a "Second wave attack"--SWA as some of the Admirals were trying to get it called by.

Still, a basement filled with bombs is different than a subterranean bunker hundreds of meters deep having the unlikely trap. Until I was sure, Aegis would remain on stand down. The fact that the Archadmiral or Taliya had not usurped me shows that they don't want to risk it either.

One of the Aegis officers--Master Chief Warrant Officer Nakasone--was running along a corridor on level U16, but her mission feed showed that she was skidding to a stop before turning to an alcove. I had to check the map that had her location because her mission feed was largely blocked out by the amount of dust and smoke still in the air. The map showed that she was heading towards an Aegis bunker like the one above ground that contained some medical supplies.

Few people who walked by them each day knew what was hidden behind them besides the keypad next to the doorknob. As Nakasone neared the door, however, I was able to pick up the sounds of the door being banged on. It was faint, though, like the individual banging on it was tiring out.

She went up to the door and banged on it in acknowledgement before shouting out something. I was unable to listen to it clearly as the depth was starting to affect the live feed in both video and audio quality, but it was enough to understand what was going on. Mostly.

Nakasone drew her plasma torch to cut the side of the door. From what I could tell, the keypad was inactive. Most doors in an emergency were failsafe, meaning that if there was an emergency, their magnetic locks would disengage and allow doors to be opened, preventing the restriction of movement. However, certain doors were exempt from this, and with the keypad inactive, an electrical conduit must have been hit, preventing the door from having its electromagnets disengaged.

Once she had cut whatever was holding the door in place, Nakasone drew her sidearm and slowly opened the door.

She held the pistol grip in her right paw while her left paw covered her fingers, the gun tilted at an angle using a center axis relock grip. One that the Spectres had developed.

On a tac-rail below the barrel of the gun was a miniature flashlight. As the door opened, it illuminated the bunker and what must have been a little less than twenty civilians inside. The video quality was closer to 360p at 20fps compared to its normal 2160p60fps output, making the figures inside blur together, but I could separate most of them.

My eyes went wide at the sight of one of the people inside. Her fur was covered in dust, making her look more like a chestnut than a white-furred Canisean, but it was Kayetlin.

She was the only one to stand while the others were sitting or lying down. She had a spot of fur on her forehead that was stained red, and her onyx pantsuit had similar splotches, but from what I could tell, it was not her blood. The people around her were worse off, having their apparel cut open. I could not see clearly enough to be able to tell, but there were black lines along their skin within those exposed sections of their body. Shaved fur too. Probably the result of impromptu surgery, but shrapnel would be hard to come by when this floor was seven levels below the other explosion.

Of course there were other bombs. The largest were probably the ones on U4 and U9, but it would explain the damage and dead bodies.

"Emergency asset identification Echo Mike One -- Two Six Niner Niner -- Siris," Kayetlin said, standing tall. The audio cut out some parts, but I knew what she was saying from heart. EM1126998-Siris, the code Taliya gave her should an attack ever occur. Everyone high enough in the Federation had one, but that bar was set incredibly high. She had it because of me.

Nakasone lowered her gun. "Ma'am, I--I -- to confirm that. Give me -- second."

She pulled out her smartphone, the current model instead of my prototype, and started to type up a message. Before she even selected the contact, though, I got a text from her.

Fucking hell, we have go to fix this latency.

+12-94A3-2607-886F (AE-MCWO Aya Nakasone): Confirm identity of EAI EM1126998-Siris

Cayden: Confirmed. Listen to her.

By the time I had sent the message, the video had only just shown her doing the same with her original one. I sent another.

** Cayden: Show her the following:**

Cayden: Kayetlin, I'm here. Anthrax. Working on getting you out. Help evac civs to ground.

There was some latency, and I looked to the other feeds before she showed the message to Kayetlin. Almost all of the others were close to being done with their search. Nakasone had been quick, so she only had a couple more meters to survey before she could call an 'All clear.'

Kayetlin, upon seeing the message, snatched Nakasone's phone from her paw and began furiously typing away.

"Ma'am, if I may. Who -- you?" Nakasone asked.

+12-94A3-2607-886F (AE-MCWO Aya Nakasone): Ok. You are worried about second wave. Too many will be dead or dying. Felt fever, people here have pneumonia. Did not expect anthrax. You will save as many as is possible. I know that.

+12-94A3-2607-886F (AE-MCWO Aya Nakasone): I love you, Cay.

Cayden: I know. You will get out of this.

"I have friends in high places, and we'll leave it at that," Kayetlin said, her voice breaking while she said it, still typing. She then stopped typing, probably reading my message, and tears began welling up in her eyes. "Alright, continue on. I'll get us up to the top." She handed the officer's phone back.

"But--" Nakasone started before Kayetlin stared her down. "Ok. Go up the stairs until U10. You'll know what to do from there." After finishing her response, Nakasone exchanged nods with Kayetlin, and they both went into their own worlds.

Nakasone resumed her sprinting patrol down the rest of the level.

Kayetlin turned back to the survivors inside the newly opened room. I didn't see her after Nakasone turned off, but I could guess that she was galvanizing the rest of them. Those that could stand would, and those who couldn't would be loaded onto collapsible stretchers that were in the walls of the bunker.

Taliya better explain why Kay only has an EAIC and not a milspec phone, damn it.

Turning to Yura's feed, she was helping get survivors up to U4. I was not sure what floor they emanate from due to my primary focus being on Nakasone for about a minute. There were tens of them there, so it would take awhile for them to get up. None of them looked to good. Limping, paws clasped over wounds, and people being carried by their arms and legs thanks to some good samaritans.

Yura was doing what she could to help them, but her medical supplies from before had decreased a fair bit from previous victims.

A moment later, Nakasone had finished her sweep, before talking over the general channel.

"Officer Nakasone reporting in. Level U16 is clear."

After a second of silence, Bowers responded, "Praetorian Hawkes, all levels have been swept and confirmed clear. What are your orders?"

I checked a timer that I had set. Five minutes twelve seconds.

"Go back and look over any areas that you are unsure about. You have two and a half minutes to do so."

"Copy," Bowers responded. "Move out!"

All of the feeds exempting the ones from the lower levels were in sync. All of the personnel moved forward sprinting, though almost universally, everyone's heart rate and breathing was calmer. Probably feeling a wave of relief flowing over them after getting extra time to correct any failings.

When they went to search, most looked in crawl spaces or small crevices that they were not able to look over extensively. Places like HVAC vents, maintenance shafts and rooms, and spaces hidden within props such as recycling bins or tree pots.

As time dwindled, more and more began radioing over.

"Level 11 clear."

"12 is clear."

"Level 16 clear."

That went on for the remaining Aegis and Spectre officers until all of them gave the all clear.

Kayetlin and the other survivors with her began to enter Yura's feed, though they moved slowly, carrying people up. She was still working on helping others get out, but the crowd had been reduced to five.

Shortly thereafter, all of the other stations went green.

"Archadmiral," I said, yet again switching to the adequate channel. "All stations have been swept. We are a go."

His response came immediately after without delay. However, it was broadcasted via local speakers like the ones used to indicate the emergency in the first place. "All trained Aegis personnel, you are clear to move into the stations. Use the decontamination chambers put up, and do not enter unless wearing biological protection suits. Emergency Medical and Trauma personnel are to be given priority entry."

His words when thought of separately were calm, but the way his voice carried and his tone of choice made the announcement feel like a dam opening the floodgates. I could audibly hear the hundreds of heavy boots and weapons banging into suits as all Aegis in the immediate area began converging on the nearest, viable entrance.

I pulled up a CCTV camera fixed on the plaza, and it was chaotic order. There were so many out there, clashing into one another's paths, yet each of them knew where to go and what to do.

Moving back into the camera feeds from my team, some of them stopped what they were doing. Tanaka ordered Hampton to take over while he went to meet up with the first Aegis team to have entered, all while Hampton was flying around trying to keep things under control. There were already tens of corpses being carried out of the vicinity into their own space.

Kayetlin was helping Yura load people onto the ropes to safety, doubling their effective speed.

Across all available feeds showing the inner terminal, Aegis personnel began pouring out of the decontamination chambers in waves, spreading across the entirety of the upper level. Most migrated down below the mezzanine to the true hub of Central which was also the location that contained most everyone.

All Aegis coming into the terminal did not necessarily do so alone. Many carried with them stretchers, mobile, modular surgical stations, or bags of supplies such as plasma, syringes, or tools.

They were still continuing to file in, but those already inside began to interact with the survivors there. They began combing through the crowd, identifying those who needed aid the most, who could wait, and those who were far too gone.

Now with the adequate supplies, they could begin treating the people there and began to separate them based on their condition. Those that were far too gone, mostly consisting of elderly and children who were already exhibiting high fevers and even unconsciousness, were placed on dolly stretchers before being euthanized. Mercy killing to remove weak variables that would otherwise hamper the handling of others per my orders.

It was a conveyor belt in its functions with each Aegis personnel having a specific objective before passing the subject off to the next person. This continued on for those being euthanized as well as those who were receiving treatment. Antibiotics were the main tool, but we still did not know the modifications that were made to the virus. It was based purely on hope, however futile it was.

Central was the last station to be filled by Aegis, but it did not take all that long for such to occur. Due to the design and location of the station, it had to have a multitude of exits that would--

All of my camera feeds went to a black screen with a silver text box: "No Connection." Biometrics went dead. In an instant, the ground shook. With the force of a moderate earthquake, the world around me was thrown off. Officers in chairs that surrounded me were either thrown to the ground or were forced violently into their computer screens so much that they went limp. I was barely able to keep myself from being thrown off my paws, and even then, I was tossed aside.

My mind raced with the possibilities of what just happened, but my heart sank as I narrowed down the list.

I scrambled to get a proper footing, even using my forepaws against the floor to balance myself before turning to the entrance of the MCC at full speed. I was the only one in it on my paws.

When I opened the door to the outside world, my eyes were blasted by the sun's bright light. After my eyes adjusted to the change in brightness, I fell to my knees, defeated by the sight which lay before me.

The glass enclosure to the terminal was completely white. Not because of dust or a tarp, but because millions of spears had impacted the glass, leaving the innermost layers fractured. The gaps were quickly filled in gray from smoke, but the areas I could see before being eclipsed by the smoke revealed a war zone within. The terminal's interior had dropped several layers, leaving a blank emptiness beyond.

"Kayetlin," I tried to say, but it merely came out as a gasp for air. My voice croaked out of unwillingness the say the words.