GATE: The United Nations of Earth

Chapter 7: "Priority: Charlie Compound"

--HQ Building, Fort Alnus--

1700 hour

The building is busier than usual today, Ava is walking fast pace in one of the hallways leading to the war room located in the center of the HQ. She walks through the door as 2 guards salute her, the war room is a massive room just like a ship CIC. In the center is a large holographic ring that displaces any information that is being discussed.

General Nguyen is standing by the ring, 4 strangers in the GIA TAC suit and 3 other commanders from the 2nd SIF, 9th SIF and 22nd SIF platoons are with him. One of them is Commander René Laurent of the 9th SIF platoon, she remembers him from her SIF training, and they are best friends and have been through many operations together.

Ava approaches "General" she salutes then turns and nods as a greeting to the other commanders. Judging by the fact that they recall her unit with haste in the middle of a mission, Ava can tell that something big is coming up.

"It's good that you are here, we can now begin our briefing" General Nguyen returns Ava's salute then turn to Viktor and continues "This is Special Agent Viktor Volkov from the GIA, he will brief you on this mission"

"Thank you General" Viktor turns to the holographic map and continues "The GIA managed to obtain information, from a reliable source, of possible locations that we believe our missing people a being held hostages".

The holographic map zooms in on the 4 locations with their designations and the time it takes for DS-20B to get there.

"The compounds are built deep into the mountain so our scanners can only see the first few layers, this means that you will be going blind after you pass these points" The holographic map displays the visible part of each compound as Viktor continues "Each compound has a fire beacon on top of a tower you must first secure the towers and disable the beacon to avoid enemy reinforcement"

"Our range weapons using mass effect drivers and suppressors are quieter but they still make a lot of noise, the enemy will know we're there as soon as we fire the first shot I'm sure you all know this. Be as stealthy as possible but we need to move quickly as soon as the enemy detects us. We have assigned 2 GIA to each platoon in case you need our special "skill set". Do you have any questions?" Viktor turns to the commanders.

"How reliable is this source of yours?" Ava asks not fully trusting the GIA because the last "reliable" intel from the GIA was completely wrong and resulted in 1/3 of her platoon KIA.

"We have a high confidence in this intel commander" Viktor realizes Ava "I know the Suicide Mission was GIA's bad intel but you can trust us on this"

"Right" Ava still skeptical about what Viktor said.

"What should we expect?" René asks

"Our drones show that the compound's gate is guarded by 2 dozens armed legionaries but our source says each compound is guard by a cohort which is roughly 500 legionaries each, narrow corridors with our superior weaponry should cancel or reduce their number advantage. More SAT8s will also be assigned to each unit to boost firepower" Viktor replies "Charlie compound has a lot more activities than other compounds, it is the most likely location we will find our people. I will accompany the 5th SIF in the assault of this compound"

"If there are no more questions you can go back to your platoons and begin preparation, Commander Ava can I have you for a second?" General Nguyen dismisses everyone.

"According to your report, there's a young mage and an...apostle?" General Nguyen asks.

"Yes sir, they helped us defeat a dangerous native specimen. These two are very powerful General" Ava replies.