The Franco-British Union: The Trials of Time

Chapter 4: Back Alley Brawl

Several hours earlier...

26th of April, 17:00

Trafalgar Square, the City of London

     It was yet another evening in London, although the shock from the "Teleportation Crisis" remained as evident from some people holding signs in the street, demanding more explanations on the crisis from the Franco-British government, most people, including Stella Elliott, were trying to act as normal as they could and carried on with their lives.

     Stella was exhausted, after all, she was called back to the EBC's main office right after her first report in Paris. All she wanted to do now was go back to her apartment and drift off to sleep, however, while she was waiting to cross the street, she overheard a group of co-workers listening to an emergency news broadcast.

Emergency News Broadcaster: "...fter COBRA met a few hours earlier, the Prime Minister hosted yet another emergency cabinet meeting on the progress of Operation Ruckus that aims to mobilise and deploy up to 200,000 service personnel from all three services to secure strategic and sensitive locations in crowded public places, but, apart from the borders and the palace of Versailles, we have yet to see military personnel in major cities."

(Author Note: "COBR" stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms that is popularly referred to as "COBRA", however, these are actually rooms used for committees that coordinate the actions of government offices in response to crises, whether regional or national and overseas events that heavily implicate the FBU.)

Emergency News Broadcaster: "We will now go live to our 70 Whitehall Correspondent Tyler Andrews. Tyler, can you explain what's happening?"

Tyler: "Very well, Helen, uh, as you can see, I am currently outside of 70 Whitehall where COBRA met only a few hours ago. We believe the Prime Minister is still inside the buildi- Here he comes!"

     There was a short pause from the reporter, Stella thought it was probably because he was running towards the Prime Minister. A strange sound can be heard in the distance but she wasn't sure what it was. By then, Stella was already watching the live broadcast from her own phone.

Josué: "Let's start with you first."

Tyler: "Very well. Prime Minister, you said the Armed Forces will deploy in key locations throughout the union. But we have yet to see military personnel in major cities, why is that?"

Josué: "Ladies and gentlemen, before I answer your question, I will have to ask you to kindly look up to the sky."

     Most of the reporters stared at Josué while some actually looked up just as a Caiman AH.1 (NH90) helicopter from 652 Squadron, 2nd Regiment Army Air Corps flew past them, followed by another 15 Caimans from the same regiment flying in a formation and it wasn't long before they flew over Stella and Trafalgar Square.

     And just as the pedestrian crossing lights were about to turn green, they were suddenly changed back to red as several metropolitan police cars drove into the area. Some of the police officers got off from their vehicles and set up roadblocks around the square. Confusion ensued amongst the people as a lot of them were unsure of the reason for the sudden police appearance.

     Road traffic around the square was suddenly stopped, at least temporarily, while the rumbling sound of diesel engines can be heard from the distance. And it didn't take long before everyone realized that the armed forces were coming.