War: A Business

Chapter 44:Absolute Contingency

    I arrived at the Philippine Special Administrative State. I hitched a taxi ride from the airport to the company's main base of operations.

   While driving, I saw a mob of ethnic Chinese and Filipinos living in the state protesting in the street in front of us, holding wooden signs and tarpaulins like "Give back our land!" or "Equality for the Registered Citizens!"

   I saw a armored police vehicle pass by with a Active Denial System on its top. The people ran away because of the sheer heat of the crowd-control system.

   I'm afraid that activism doesn't do much these days. At least its worse in the member-states of the Global Alliance. Some of them had mowed down people with machine guns mounted on trucks. Some of them are more subtle, in "democratic" member-states of the alliance, when a person who has known the truth about the Global Alliance despite the heavy bombardment of propaganda,they simply disappeared or commited suicide.

   The taxi proceeded to drive to the expressway to the rural areas of the state where the road of the main base is. We passed the old buildings before the Philippine Special Administrative State was established.

   The evidence that China existed are present in the architecture in the rural areas. Buildings with neon signs with Mandarin symbols lighted the small cities.  Houses with a Oriental-esque style populated the villages. Native vendors sold fresh produce from their dirty, wet markets on the muddy streets.

    When we arrived, I saw a mob of rallying people blocking the road to the company's main base. So I decided to direct the taxi driver to the alternate route.

   We drove inside a tunnel inside a hill. The mercenaries and a hovering combat drone pointed their assault rifles and machine guns at us behind the concrete barriers and the stationary ballistic shields.

    I got out of the taxi and I walked to the checkpoint. The mercenaries immediately stepped out of my way and saluted me. I saluted back.

   I heard a gunshot.

   I felt the familiar agony of getting shot in the back. Then I tumbled to the ground in pain.

   The mercenaries shot the taxi driver,now holding a pistol.

   The bullet inside my back is pushed back by the nanomachines in my body. I stood up slowly. I saw the taxi driver's bloodied corpse beside the taxi, with a high-tech XR-1 multipurpose handgun on the road.

   I notice that the weapon on the ground is designed by RavenClaw. Well, their weapons are sold everywhere nowadays.

"Search the corpse." I commanded the mercenaries.

They searched the corpse.

"Sir, we have found something."

  They showed me a RavenClaw badge.

"Report it to High Command." I commanded, puking out blood.

"Yes sir!" They ran away to execute the order.

   I walked out of the tunnel. I heard a explosion.

   I looked back, the mercenaries are alive, just knocked to the ground.

   I decided to walk to the base's maglev train network to travel to the Fortress. I  sat on one of the seats in the train.

    Then, after a few stops, I arrived at the station closest to the Fortress. I commanded one of the mercenaries with a jeep in front of me to drive to the Fortress.

   They dropped me at the front of the metal blast gates of the Fortress. The gates opened. The Spartan Force are guarding the walls of the Fortress. A attack dropship landed outside the Fortress.

   I entered the building and I got inside of the elevator.

I ascended to my boss's office, or penthouse. I entered it.

"Welcome, Jack." he greeted me."I decided not to be angry, but I will be disappointed at your performance at Kazakhstan, one of the members of the Central Asian Commonwealth. Again, many died under your command, as same as your older stepbrother in Northern Africa. Ironically, only your younger brother displayed successful results, despite his naïvety, he displayed great leadership traits to his troops. I observed that both you and your older stepbrother are both suited in field ops, especially you, who is notably suited to stealth ops." he continued. "So I decided to assign you in field ops while managing our fighters."

  Dr. Reinhardt appeared at one of the doors in the room.

"I noticed that you have been showing signs of PTSD and schizophrenia, as one of your troops heard that you were talking to someone that isn't there. . So I convinced Boss to prescribe you a extended 2 month-long break, some medicines, and a service dog." he explained.

   A brown, jumpy German Shepard ran to me and sat in front of me.

It looks cute.

"I trained him very well so you can use him in combat. He is a genetically modified German Shepard, so he has the heightened qualities of any dog imaginable." he explained.

What is his name?" I asked.

"Panzer." He answered.

"Cool."

"Now for the mostly-good news." he announced. "The GA disbanded the numerous sanctions that place our company into bankruptcy. They did not state the reason why, but I don't care! We are back in business!" he added.

   I theorized that, when I joined the GIF, they decided to do us a favor. Maybe I'm a important asset to them. Or maybe I'm the bridge between them and Sons of War to spy on us. For whatever reason, I don't care, as long as I get paid and I get to stay alive to see my family again.

"To continue, all of our Ultranium and Philippinum mines are in our control again. Now we can continue Project Absolute Contingency." he announced.

"Isn't that right, Doc?" he asked.

Dr. Reinhardt looks strained.

"Yes, boss." he said weakly. I have notice that something is wrong with him.

Project Absolute Contingency.

   Our own program to develop brand new WMDs and deterrents for them just in case of invasion from forces more powerful than our private forces.

   Philippinium is the main mineral we need that makes the most destructive weapons in the world. Anti-matter weapons. Like a nuclear bomb without the radiation. Everything litterally disappears completely within its effective range.

  It is also extremely explosive and can conduct electricity in the air after explosion, including the white-hot fragments that falls slowly to the ground after.

  It is more precious to us than gold and diamonds.

   Maybe even the value of life. Well, the only real value of all things is their beneficial tangible contributions to their surrounding environment or society, in my opinion.

  But I wonder why is Doc so nervous? Hell, he loves making weapons and WMDs. It is his favorite hobby.

"Well, the other bad news is, other private forces like ours are fighting against us. The Lotus extremist militia and the Last Dragon Corps, the remains of the former Chinese armed forces are destroying some of our bases and has invaded Mongolia, but thankfully, the two groups are fighting each other as we speak. I suspect RavenClaw is behind this. Funding terrorists." Boss reported.

  "Some of our troops defected and turned against us and captured our bases. The citizens in our city are protesting. One of RavenClaw's members almost killed you, but luckily, you survived."he added. "It will end soon. Dismissed." He finished.

"Thank you." I replied.

   I haven't forgot the fact that he tried to kill me.When it is the right time, I'm going to kill him.