---

??, ??, 24th of December 2020


The explosion came soon.

Sooner than expected.

Expected? That was the attitude, we knew there was the possibility for them to detonate their nukes. I signed them off when they unloaded it in the harbour, I thought they would be aimed toward the peacekeepers and the royalists, bringing The South Pacific to the first nuclear winter. We never expected this to be their last stand, that they'd kill their own people instead of being tried.


My cleaners have been at work keeping the peace of whatever's left. The royalists have also not been kind to us, the RIM technically never surrendered, and the society that tried to live its life with blissful ignorance against who's running the show was targeted by the dozen. I don't imagine the Frost Empire would be looking forward to stabilising these nuclear wastelands until they can have order, and order be it be, with bullets, blood and propaganda.


As for people like myself, our whole operation was destroyed. After years of work to ensure the city is maintained and fed, its underground is in order. All that was destroyed in a day, a blinding light that didn't escape my mind as The Broker told me to come down to the bunkers.

The Broker, they call him. My superior, he's missing, kidnapped. While trying to do one of his community services, he was ambushed by unmarked vans from our enemies. The connections and influence of our family are not as strong as before, but I am able to discern my target with help from a... surprise visitor. Intel told us that the convoy will be here to transport the Broker, we need to clear the garrison.


"There's too much radiation, we'll have to go around." He told me, I heard my Geiger counter. We have to plan our paths another way. Our boots stomped on the dust and ruins of the city as we walked through it. The jiggle of our ammunition and grenades accompanied our path, with my kevlar weighing from my shoulder. We walked carefully for a couple of kilometres, passing by crowds and patrols from royalist forces and peacekeepers.


"Don't move." He told me, we were at a couple of apartment complexes on the outskirts of the city. Ourselves hidden behind the ruins. He looked by the side with his binoculars.

"Two tangoes by the lorry, and a sniper." He motions me to get into position, "Fire escape, 4th floor, on my go."

I moved quickly to give some space, I can get a clear shot now. "Standing by," I answered.

".....Weapons free." I pulled the trigger, the man is no more.

"Two tangoes by the lorry, we have to take them out at the same time. Wait until I get into position." He told me, before spacing away. I watched my perimeter and the patrol's movements.

"I'm in position, we have to take them out at the same time. On my go."

"Copy."

"3....2....1.....now."

Two bodies fell down, our clock is ticking. We moved quickly to new positions. We calibrated the radio to hostile channels and continued our pace.

"Clear, go." He ordered. I followed suit. We both know where to go. We moved through the ruins and the frozen soil into the apartment complex.

"Don't let your guard down, we're not there yet." He told me.

We entered through the side entrance of the short complex and treaded snail's pace by the doors. Listening closely if there are other hostile combatants. Room by room we cleared out the combatants with flashbangs and suppressed weapons, securing every floor before moving on to the next. We don't think there are many citizens living here, and both of us viewed that anyone is expendable. It took some time until the building is cleared.


"This is team alpha," he radioed to my cleaners, "we cleared floor 3 of building A."
"Bravo team cleared floor 2 of building B, moving up."
"Charlie cleared floor 3 of building C."
"Secure the floors and the buildings, get into position." I radioed
"Copy that team alpha." One of my cleaners responded, "bravo out."
"Charlie out."

I sighed, I waited for the other cleaners to come. It's very difficult to move through this city from the royalist forces. We're going to wait for the exchange here. My partner took off his gas mask and pulled out a cigarillo. He smoked it, and seemed to enjoy the release.

"These things never get old," he remarked. "Isn't it right, Ms Toudou?"

"It has been a while since I've been on my toes like this, doctor Kane." I remarked, "mind giving me a puff?"

He offered me his lit cigarillo, I took it and gave it a smoke. I think I took too much, I ended up coughing the nasty thing while my tongue is sweetened from the paper.

"You don't smoke that much do you?"

"Not as much as you," I said, myself still coughing while taking another puff. He gave a laugh.

"Oh I'm not a chain smoker, I simply smoke once in a while." said doctor Kane as he checked the magazine of his sidearm, before taking the cigarillo from me. I looked outside the window, a square surrounding short apartment complexes about 3 stories high. In the middle, a playground and a jogging track, or what's left of it. A road sliced through the community square between the towering apartments leading to some shops. Intel told us that the convoy will pass through here soon, where the Broker will be traded like cards.

"This is where I used to live," I muttered, he listened. "Over there, that was the community square, I played with the other kids in the neighbourhood."


"It didn't matter how much sun we had until evening, nor how much homework we had to do before tomorrow, it didn't bother us at all." I mentioned, "look, can you still see the outlines of the square?"

Doctor Kane just looked at me in silence as I continued.

"Had I defied my orders, had I alerted the peacekeepers. Had I not signed off that transport from those ships." I wondered why I mentioned those words to him. I suppose he understood the field as much as I do.


"We are taskmen, operators if you will." He responded as he put out his cigarillo, "the war never ends for people like us. No matter the discouraging factors, there's always a task to complete. Its completion is all that matters, regardless of the things that entail."

"And this is one of them." I continued, by instinct. "Let's plan the patrols. Control will inform us of developments."