Ad Astra - The Alagore War

AA V1 Alagore, Chapter 3

"Greg, get everyone suited up and ready for deployment," Ryder ordered.

The Sergeant First Class took his team to the armory while Ryder and King headed toward the HQ. When they entered the building, they saw heavily armed MPs and other security personnel guarding key sections.

"This is not a good sign," King whispered.

Ryder couldn't agree more. In front of the captain, he saw Ghost CO, Captain James Miller.

"Hey, Ryder," Miller said with a yawn. "Do you have any idea what the hell is going on?"

"Not at all," Ryder replied. "Hackett has to know."

The four men entered the CIC and saw the Hackett and CFT-3 in the room. It seemed like they had only just arrived.

"Don't bother taking a seat," Hackett said. "Time isn't on our side, and I want you guys spearheading this ASAP."

Ryder found a spot to stand, getting a good view of the digital whiteboard. Based on the design, the facility had two different types of inner-connected structures. On one side was a large concrete complex, an old Cold War facility built against the Soviets. At the same time, the other was a newer state-of-the-art facility built less than a decade ago.

"As you can see on the whiteboard," Hackett said. "It is a research facility jointly operated by the USSF and NASA. This is where the two develop next-generation technologies for space exploration and our future space control ships. We lost contact with the facility twenty-seven minutes ago and failed to regain contact. The facility is now on lockdown and considered in the hands of an unknown enemy."

"What unknown enemy?" Millar asked.

"If he knew, he wouldn't have called them unknown," Murphy said.

"Do you have any idea what we might face?" Ryder asked.

Hackett stared everyone directly in the eyes. "I have no idea. It could be domestic terrorists, foreign attacks, or the Akuma that you engaged in yesterday's training. Expect anything."

The word Akuma sent a chill down everyone's spine as they glanced at each other. At that moment, Ryder was convinced there was far more going on than he had been led to believe. While the details were already pointing in that direction, this confirmed that an Akuma was real in some manner. His questions were who made it, why they are attacking now, and so on. However, he could tell they needed more time to go through an entire educational class on what was going on.

"What is the situation we are walking into?" King asked.

A sky view of the NASA facility appeared on the digital whiteboard. Hackett grabbed a blue marker and drew a circle around the building. "2nd Battalion, 1st LBCT will create a containment zone around the facility. Nothing gets out. Elements of the 10th SF Group will push hard through the front and begin sweeping missions."

The screen focused on the roof. Hackett then marked three different locations. "Comanche and Ghost will conduct an airborne assault on the roof before the 10th begin their assault. Viking will be making an assault here from about a kilometer away. There is a hidden cargo corridor that was used to secretly move sensitive research into the facility."

"What are our exact orders?" Ryder asked. "Or are we sweeping the facility?"

"Rescue missions, I assume," King said. "Standard Op in situations like this. You want us to secure the priorities before the 10th brings in the hammer."

"Partly, Rommel," Hacket said. "We do not know what we are going up against. From what I understand, there were Generals, senior politicians, and key scientific personnel there. But your mission will also be flexible because of the unknown nature. If you see anything of value we don't know about, secure it."