War on the Home Front: Chapter 2, Lock and Load

Story by James Matrix on SoFurry

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Hey guys! Long time no read. Or whatever. :-p Anyway, I have had issues with getting a new computer with cuts at work and car/home expenses. A friend is letting me use her computer to upload stories now and then, so I won't be posting as often as I'd like, but its better than not at all I guess. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Comments and constructive criticism welcome!

Chapter 2

The two agents made theri way to the command centers small armory. It was there in case of a major attack, so the agents and staff didn't have to leave the security of the command center to arm up. They each grabbed extra ammo for their side arms and grabbed M4 assault rifles, the work horse rifle of the US armed forces and law enforcement. They also grabbed heavy kevlar vest, and put them on over their shirts after taking of the gold FBI lettering. after arming, they made their way to the briefing room.

"Tanner, O'Bern." Perry said with a nod to them. "Your are to head straight to South Carolina and meet up at O'Bern Dynamics where your sister and the commander of the US forces are. General Madden is using O'Bern Dynamics encrypted lines to stay in contact, since we belive federal and military lines have been compromised. There you will recieve your next set of orders. An unmarked air force gulfstream is waiting for you at the airport. A chopper will take you there." She finished.

"What about my team?" Dan asked.

"They will accompany the President to NORAD till she is secure. Good luck boys." The director said.

WIth that, they left, and boarded the chopper for a short ride to the airport. The chopper landed next to a white gulfstream jet, its gangway down. The only person visible was a female white wolf in and equally white air force uniform.

"Good day gentlemen." The Captain spoke. "We are ready to leave. Strap in."

WIth that, she walked on board, leaving Dan to shut the hatch. Before they could even get to their seats, the plane began to taxi, and was in the air soon after. Dan and Zack settled in, and began to chat.

"What do you think they have in store for us?" Dan asked, setting the rifle next to the plush leather seat he was in.

"I don't know, but it'll be big. North Carolina is our current front line, Charleston isn't too far from their."

"Yeah, I'd never htought the day would come where we'd be fighting an enemy on our own soil. I mean, how the HELL do the Russians have the firepower to start a full scale invasion? Most of their equipment is older than the stuff even our police cadets use." Dan said.

"Well, either way, they have to be throwing most of their forces at us now. I mean, the only reason their gaining ground is that htey took us by surprise. Once our forces are set up for a counter attack, it'll be over. Our Abrams can blow through their T-72s, T-80s, and their handful of new T-90s. I'm sure the Spetsnaz is all over the place tough. That'll be fun." Dan said grimacing.

"Can I get you anything?" The female captain asked.

"No, we're fine with the water." Zack said taking a sip. Before she could answer though, the co-pilot let out squeak, his long rabbits ears going rigid.

"Bogies at our six, coming in hot."

The cpatain got into the pilot seat and madly began flipping switches.

"Mayday mayda, this is sierra tango five nine, bogies coming in our six. Requesting immediate air support over. Repeat, this is sierra tango five nine, requesting immediate support." The captain said, as an alarm sounded.

The jets quiet luxury enginse grew loud as the jet banked sharply. Dan saw a MIG wizz by, and come right at them, preceded by a trail of smoking belonging to a missile. The plain rose and dove sharply almost all at once. The cabin shuttered as they heard a loud "chuff chuff" sound. A blast went off right after as the plain continued its evasive maneuvers. Even over the noise, they could hear the captain swear again as the same alram went off again. More chuffing and yet aniother bang, this one was too close though, and rattled the jet dangerously hard. The MIGS came around for another pass, the captain swearing and declaring they were out of counter meassures. Just then, two of the MIGS detonated befiore htey even knew what was happening.

The captain whooped as two F-16s streaked by. The MIG turned and fled, but it too was taken out by a Sidewinder air to air missile. The two Air Force F-16w provided escort the last hour of the flight, and they soon touched down in Charleston. The two got out, thanking the captain profusely for her skills at flying. She only smiled, and said she was glad to be here doing her duty.

The two agents were approached by two army soldiers, behind them were two armored humvees and anohter squad.

"Agents Dan O'Brien and Zack Tanner?" The human man asked, and LT.

"Yeah. Thats us."

"I'm Lieutenant Derks. I'll be escorting you to O'Bern Dynamics. Mrs. O'Bern and General Madden are waiting."

The two got in the back of the second humvee, the LT got in the passenger seat and a sergeant major drover. As they drove through the city, they passed many barricades and checkpoints manned by police and troops. A few cars and pedestrians were about, but not as many as one would expect.

"We don't restrict travel too much, we try to keep people comfortable, but with the Russian Army growing closer, and the Spetsnaz even closer, we gotta take some things away. Like we have an eleven pm curfew. Better than most, but still, its easier to keep your guard up when only you and your men are out." The LT said.

"I thought I'd never see a city like this. The whole place is a dammned fort." Zack said.

"Yep. We are gonna make it hard for hte Russians to get here and take it. The governer said he will pick up a rifle himself if they ever show up in his state."

"How are the Russians blwoing through our defense so easily?"

"Speed and numbers." The LT said. "They're here to hit us as hard as possible before they run out of steam. Their current plans and attacks would be a logistical nightmare for even us to carry out. They leave their supply lines long and thin, and very vulnerable. Resistance fighters of police, citizens, and national guard are already wreaking havoc behind their lines. Yet, at the same time, we dont have much of a line at all. We have been able to keep them from moving over the mountains to the west, but not south. They mow down everything in their path. So our plan is to stall them and use geurilla tactics till they get to SC. By the tiume they get here, their supplies will be far behind them, they'll be tired, and we'll be fortified. The general will explain more when we get there, which is now." The LT said.

O'Bern Dynamics was a company Kristen had formed out of the O'Bern and Winston Pharmaceuticals shell. It still technically existed, but focuse ONLY on pharmaceuticals, not bio-engineering or technology of other sorts. That was for O'Bern Dynamics. O&WP researched cures for diseases and cancers, and vaccines for virus and biological weapons. OD researched the more technological side of things. Most notable, and top secret, was its cybernetics programs. Kristen kept her work away from major gene reconstrcution (we all saw how that turned out), and focused more on physical enhancement through the application of robotics and nano technology.

Some of her work also focused on Artificial Intelligence. Not the kind that will turn on people and wipe out organics, but the kind used for specific tasks. Mostly surgical aids. The idea was to use robotics to aid doctors in surgery more than they already did. They could recognize, say, a bleeding tear in the liver, and sew it up with perfect precision. Or it could perform spinal surgery, and aid doctors with the very dangerous precise procedures. It could reduce surgery time, and relieve beleageured medical personnel in surgical wings and ERs.

The two humvees pulled up to the glimmering skyscraper. It looked like it was once and ordinary, except a giant hande had twisted it around like a giant blue glass twizzler. It was a magnificant sight. The sidewalk around the building was barricaded, and blocked off by cops and soldiers. The two agents followed the LT inside, and the rest stayed with the humvees, manning the turrets.

They entered teh lobby, and were greeted by a female racoon in a black knee length skirt, and a purple blouse, flanked by two guards in white uniforms baseball caps with the company logo, sidearms, and sub machine guns strapped on, wearing a glimmering brass badge on their brests and the company logo on their arms. The logo was a light blue triangle, with the gold letters OD in the center with a slight shadow as if the light was hitting them at an angle, the name O'Bern Dynamics was at the bottom of the triangle, and below the triangle itself, but still on the patch, was the word 'security'.

"Welcome Mr. O'Bern, Agent Tanner, Lieutenant Derks. Follow me to Mrs. O'Bern's office." The racoon turned and walked down the corridor. The guards waited, and took up the rear. They passed less and less troops and more company guards, all very well armed.

"Does your sister have a small army we don't know about?" Zack asked jokingly.

"Oh no, I know about it." Dan said with a straight face.

"Tell me you're kidding, right? I still can't tell sometimes." Zack said.

"Well, does four hundred ex military and ex law enforcement security guards count? She has a LOT of assets that we need to keep very safe."

"I thought OD only has eight total research facilities, including its main one here, excluding the plain administrative office buidlings across the country."

"She has a dozen office buildings, not including this one. They havea few guards, its the labs and main HQ that needs the heavy stuff." Dan said, pointing to two more white uniformed guards with rifles.

The two cut their conversation as teh elevator stopped on the eleventh floor.

"Any further and we get to the R&D labs, those are off limits to you guys, except you of course Mr. O'Bern."

"I feel left out." Zack said.

"Own forty nine percent of the comapany like Mr. Obern and then you can come here all you want." The woman said, making the LT and Dan smirk, while Zack was left speechless.

They followed the racoon, and found themselves in a place full of suites and lab coats, and also guards and soldiers. They followed her through security doors and checkpoints till they entered a large room. Much like the odd command center O'Bern had busted with the FBI beaver a year back. Only it was half the size, and only one room in the back instead of two. They entered the large conference room, and found Kristen, wearing tan slacks and a green blouse, and a holster with a .45 revolver, and General Madden. He was a tall, scary ass wolverine, with eyes as sharp, even sharper, and more intelligent than anyone half his age.

Kristen looked up from the papers and maps that were surrounded by officers and aides. She spotted Dan and Zack and ran up to them.

"Little bro! How are ya?" She said hugging him tightly.

"And my favorite stallion is here too!" She said, hugging him too before either could reply. Dan opened his mouth but she spoke again, only quietly enoguh so they could hear,

"Y'all two reek of each other by the way." She whispered.

"Yeah, we know." Dan said. "How are things here? I was told the army set up shop to access your encrypted communication system that could help keep their stuff off the main government grid."

"Yep. We wrote our ownm stuff, so even if all governement comms were hacked, we'd be more secure than anything else." She said. She walked them over to te table, the LT stayed at teh doors to talk to a few of teh guards and soldiers.

"This is General Madden. He is in charge of all of our East Coast and South forces. The brain behind the defense."

They all introduced eachother formally, and went right down to buisness. The general outlined thier defense plan.

"We are goading the Russians further and further from their supply lines. So far, we have them crossing into North Carolina. We have used Strikers and Bradley fighting vehicles and mechanozed infantry to prod their lines and do just enough damage to convince them we're giving everything we got. We keep attacking and retreating, attacking and retreating. Our Abrams are drawing their tanks away from the rest of the grous while sniper and strikers prick thier troops and draw them out. Its working. Their chasing us down, and we slowly start lossenig up our attacks, and throwing up weaker defenses. They think they'll be in the Florida Keys by the end of the week. Truthfully, we are stopping them here. In Charelston. They really need our port, and so we're going to make them think they have a chance at it. They'll throw themselves at the city, we'll ambush them, bog them down. Then thousands of Abrams and Bradleys will descend upon their supply lines, wipe them out, then turn south and hit them from the rear. Thier navy will try to slip in to the port, but the carrier attack groups led by U.S.S. Lincoln and U.S.S. Enterprise will block them in, wipe them out, and provide mop up air cover. We'll hit them on all sides. Then we push up the coast, and take back our soil." The General finished.

"Sounds good, but where do we come in?" Zack and Dan asked.

"We'll be entering the dark zone. A marine infiltration team will get us in, and get us to a secret OD safe house where we can assume new identities, and such to make us Russian VKR agents. We have the technology to change our appearance, and even alter our voices temporarily to speak in perfect Russian accents. Plus you two speak Russian fairly well, and with the cybernetics aid, no one will know. We'll get backgrounds and such when we get there." Kristen said. "I speak flawless Russian, and three other languages, but thats beside the point."

"Wait, YOU are coming too?" Dan asked. "No way."

"Not your choice little bro. I know what I'm doing. Besides, do you REALLY think I was studying abroad in Paris those five years after college?" She said. Right then alarms began to sound. One of Kristen's security techs reported that the cameras in the lobbies and garage had gone down, and there reports of gunfire along police and army comms.

"Damn. Spetsnaz found us." The general said, loading a rifle as soldiers and guards took up positions. "Lock and load people!"