The War of the Future

Chapter Fourteen The Desperate Measure

September 1st 2140

Five years had passed since Colonel Hunter was once again deployed to the frontlines of the War of Annihilation and neither the People's United Army, or War-Net could break the stalemate. The Free People's Army were humanities last light of hope in this ever changing world of war and suffering. The F.P.A were devoted to saving the human race from War-Net, by any means necessary, but now, they were getting desperate. The scanners they had showed that there were only 1 billion humans left on the surface of the Earth, those left were in hiding and were scared for their lives. The F.P.A had so far failed to break through the defences at Carson City.....better known as War-Net Central. 100,000 F.P.A soldiers were focused on that city alone, trying to cut the head of the snake that was War-Net, but they had so far failed and were getting more desperate than an elephant trying to find food in a drought. There was this old saying that "Desperate times call for desperate measures" and this was one of those times. Colonel Padlock was in a convoy armoured vehicles and was in the lead truck. These vehicles were racing through the roads towards a pre-war United States Army base, that appeared on no normal map. Colonel Padlock was in his seat and staring down at a letter in his hands. 

"Dear Hunter, our son, Hunter the 2nd, just had his first day at school, he was very excited and its only thanks to Mayor Jones having the new school built that he can go, every day he asks Me about you and I tell him that your of fighting the Machines. He looks up to you, even though he's not met you for years and keeps asking when your coming back, every day I pray that this war ends so that you may return home to us. I also pray for your safe return, so we can raise our son, in this new world you are creating my love. Sincerely yours, Jessica"

Colonel Padlock deeply missed his Wife and Son, he had not seen them for four years and worried that soon Hunter the 2nd might stop asking about him. He had prayed for the wars end as well. He placed the letter in his bag and asked himself "Will I ever see them again?" Finally the convoy arrived at the base, it was a huge blown out building, with broken windows and burnt out cars all over it. There were also skeletons, that plagued it like rats in the mud. General Nickolas Greene was waiting for him next to a row of freshly dug graves, most likely for the personnel of this base. Colonel Padlock exited the vehicle and General Greene said "Hello Colonel Padlock" they shook hands with one another and Colonel Padlock asked "Why is it that we are here, at this old Army base in the mountains?" While scratching his eyepatch. General Greene then said with enthusiasm "To win the war". This got Colonel Padlock excited. "Follow me" said General Greene. Colonel Padlock agreed and followed him. They went inside with an escort of 20 other soldiers. Colonel Padlock could tell they were looking at his eye-patch, which he considered a gift from the War-Scorpion that slashed  2 years earlier. When they entered the reception area, there were at least 35 skeletons, scattered amongst the room and broken pieces of furniture. The skeletons all had army uniform on and had access badges that had various clearance levels. All of these people had worked long and hard hours at this base, but had sadly perished when War-Net unleashed its bombs on the Earth. A soldier pushed open a door next to the reception desk and when it opened, they all immediately saw the bones of dead staff all over the hall. Colonel Padlock was careful not to step on any of them, he had always respected the dead and dearly despised those who disrespected the dead.

 After some time, they came across the head soldiers office. It was covered in dust and the desk had his corpse leaning on it from the chair it was sitting on. General Greene found the photo of the officer and placed it facedown. All of a sudden, the wall next to them opened up and a huge elevator was revealed. Colonel Padlock was a bit impressed and said "Clever". General Greene then got in the elevator and said "Gentlemen, what you are about to see is the desperate measure that will end this long and terrible war, with it we shall achieve a victorious and lasting peace, but know that many of you may despise this weapon for what it is and even demand its destruction. But understand that this weapon will end this war, once and for all". The entire squad then entered the elevator and General Greene pushed the button with the triangle facing down. The doors closed and the elevator went down towards this "desperate measure" that General Greene was speaking of. After about a minute or two, the elevator landed at the floor where it was being kept and the doors flew open. The moment they opened, the squad saw the weapon and even Colonel Padlock gasped in horror at the sight of it! The pointed weapon was in a huge underground silo and was the size of 10 War-Rexs stacked on top of one another. The words "25 megatons" were painted on to it, in a bright white that stood out from the black paint. Colonel Padlock could not believe what he was seeing, he honestly thought he was hallucinating and even pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. For he had long believed that this weapon was extinct, mainly because the weapon had been used up by War-Net at the beginning of the War of Annihilation.

This weapon was........the nuke.

Colonel Padlock could not believe his eyes, an actual Nuke, was right in front of him! The Nuke was in a silo that stretched 200 feet below ground and the control room had a stereotypical big red button on it. The window above the control pad was strong enough to withstand a missile hit, so as to protect whoever was launching the nuke. Colonel Padlock finally broke the silence and asked with disgust "What is the meaning of this!?" "Well that's easy to explain" said a very familiar voice. The soldiers all turned to the right to see the very woman who had given Humanity hope in these dark times: Field Marshall Julie Myers. Colonel Padlock marched forward and asked her "What on Gods green Earth is this all about?" Julie got to the control panel and said "This war, has lasted for an entire generation, over 12 billion have died and we still cant stop War-Net". She continued speaking and said "We have discovered that when War-Net unleashed the worlds nukes, this one failed to launch......the last nuke". Colonel Padlock gasped. He was now staring at the very last nuke on Earth. He then realised that Field Marshall Myers planned to use this nuke to destroy War-Nets defences so that the Free People's Army could march forward and destroy War-Net. "Do you really think it will work?" Julie sighed and said "This is the only chance we have at survival, War-Nets machines will be destroyed by the nuke and that will allow our troops to march forward and take back the city". General Greene then stepped forward and said "On top of that, War-Nets communications with all of its War-Robots worldwide will be obliterated and we will be able to simply delete it with this Kill Code". He then opened his briefcase to reveal a USB stick that had the word "Kill Code" written onto it and said "Once we find War-Nets core, we will upload this into it and War-Net will be deleted, once and for all!" The soldiers burst into applause, knowing that the wars end was now near.

Colonel Padlock however, was shocked and said in a serious tone "I will only agree to this, on one condition". They all looked at him and a soldier with the rank of Private asked "What's that sir?" Colonel Padlock looked at Field Marshall Myers and said "Once this war comes to an end and we have established the Free People's Republic......We make an eternal ban on all Atomic research". Julie's mouth opened wide with shock and she asked "Even as a power source?" Colonel Padlock confirmed this, saying "Even as a power source". Field Marshall Myers thought for a moment, took a deep breath in and said "We are always going to regret using this, alright then, I agree, no more nukes.......ever". The soldiers once again burst into applaud and the plans for Operation Endgame began.