Fractured Dawn

Licensing

Location: Lemore's Office, Havoc A Site, R-3

Lemore: So let me get this straight, you want me to put hundreds of specialty trained soldiers through more tests because you think our actions aren't enough?

Two officials from the Hero Commission stood in front of Lemore who was clearly annoyed at the fact he would need to halt all operations for this test. Now what test is this? The hero licensing test, apparently the Japanese government isn't happy about a bunch of people running around with guns doing better than actual heroes at hero work, so the solution is to make them legally heroes. Bureaucracy ladies and gentlemen.

Official: Correct, one of your "Companies" at a time. The raid team will be tested separately.

Lemore: All expenses are coming out of your pockets understood? And if any soldier dies you are paying for funeral, and paying the family. 

Official: That will be arranged.

Location: Testing center, R-3

NO combat forces would not be thinned out like hero course students were, that would be a waste of time considering that the soldiers operated as a team. Instead they would be thrown into a random incident all together and would handle it with only the equipment they had in their company. They would not be imitating helicopters landing, they would actually land them. They would not set up a pretend triage area, they would do triage.

Training Scenario: Dirty bomb detonated on civilian target.

9 soldiers moved down a street with their rifles raised. The soldiers used a TIC(thermal imaging camera) to check rubble and would spray paint anything marked as clear. Eventually they found a "victim" and checked his "injuries". He had a broken leg pinned by debris, was contaminated, and was bleeding from the head. The team medic stabilized him while the soldiers lifted off the debris. Three soldiers stood guard over the perimeter while they worked. 

When the leg was free the medic did a final check and lifted the man onto his back. The soldiers ran back to the triage area where support personnel were providing medical care to the victims. A decontamination site had been set up and a helicopter was flying over transporting people and victims across the testing site.

The officials were honestly impressed. They were watching 230 men work together carefully to secure parts of the area, rescue injured, and handle decontamination. In fact they originally didn't plan on the troops needing decontamination to pass but NO high command insisted that if they were going to test them they might as well test them right. Lemore stood with the officials and when questioned about how they knew how to handle this despite being soldiers Lemore opened his laptop and choose a video from late 2197 in the capital.

The video opened with the helmet cam of a soldier driving an LAV, around the vehicle was a thick white and grey ash. The vehicle stopped and the soldiers got out. Through the ash the occasional flashing light could be seen and sirens echoed through the city. The soldiers grabbed equipment and walked deeper into the ash passing FDNO ambulances and fire trucks. Debris littered the road and rescue workers were treating the injured. While they walked an OCFD engine drove through with two firefighters hanging off the back. The video switched to a WFM helicopter that was watching the incident. A massive skyscraper was snapped in half and the ash cloud was rising through the city. The camera zoomed in on a convoy of military vehicles driving into the shit show.

Lemore: We train our soldiers in basic medical care, decontamination is also a necessity. I'd we just ignored the aid part of their training we would have incredibly high death tolls. Soldiers are trained for war but at some point they have to put things back together, to not train them for that is stupidity.

Official: Would you mind showing some more of this footage? If you can actually prove all of your soldiers are capable of this than we can skip the other tests.

Lemore: Gladly.

Location: Isla Numbar, mid 2198

The video starts with soldiers in hazmat gear riding in the back of a helicopter. The soldier with the helmet cam looks out the window and sees other military, firefighting, police, and even US helicopters flying. The helicopter the soldiers were in breaks off and lands in a relatively untouched area, or as untouched as Isla Numbar was at this point. Three feet of dark grey ash lined the ground and every building was obliterated or burning. Destroyed vehicles lined the roads and a few dead bodies were visible. The helmet cam panned over to a plume of smoke and a cone rising out of the water.

Sergeant: Jesus, that thing killed the entire region in a month.

Soldier with cam: Shows us how bad volcanoes are.

Medic: Holy shit, how are you alive?

The camera turned and the soldiers walked over to the medic who was leaning over something. Cracked goggles reflected the sun and a orange cloth covered the mouth of the victim. A fire department turnout coat was barely visible and the cracked yellow helmet poked out of the ash. The soldiers dug out the firefighter who was barely alive and noticed he had severe burns, cuts across any exposed part of his body, and a piece of rebar through his leg. The helmet said "FF/PM RICHARDS" with "INCFD S1" above that. The soldiers cut the leg free after securing the rebar and moved him to a stretcher where he was airlifted to the USS Intrepid. The video continued on showing NO forces sift through the debris and put out fires. The video ended when the soldiers were allowed to return to a NO aircraft carrier for rest.

Lemore: The final one is from another reality, R-2, and it was filmed a year ago.

The video was once again helmet cam footage, this time the soldiers were armed and gunfire could be heard. The soldier with the camera was riding in a truck with 15 men in the back. The truck stopped and the soldiers got out of the back. Around them civilians were pushing at one another to be the first on an evacuation helicopter. Soldiers on hastily erected watch towers opened fire at a threat beyond the crowd. The soldiers from the truck ran forwards and got past the civilians to confront the threat. To the officials it looked like something from a horror movie, this was the first SA attack carried out by the insurgency, it destroyed and entire nation in R-2. The soldiers raised their rifles and fired into the crowd while other troops helped civilians get out of wrecked vehicles. Jets flew over and bombed something nearby causing flames to shoot into the air. Air raid sirens screamed and a loudspeaker kept advising civilians to find their nearest evacuation point. The video ended with the soldiers running for a US helicopter and getting onto it. The helicopter took off and the full scale of the damage was visible. And entire city in flames and a huge horde approaching the evac site.

Official: What did we just see?

Lemore: The SA virus, zombies to put simply, gruesome stuff. Hold on, let me show you something.

Lemore reminded the tape and pointed at an officer yelling orders while firing his rifle. Lemore zoomed in on the officer's vest and pointed at a name tag."Col. Lemore"

Lemore: That operation actually was what got me promoted to Commander, it was a complete failure of our original objective but we got 40% of the civilians out. I know that isn't great but to be fair it is hard to stop the early stages of SA.

A/N:Yes that is not how the US army does ranking, think of this as the NO equivalent of Brigadier General. If I copied US ranks exactly it wouldn't make sense.

Official: How hard can it be? Slow moving zombies can't be that hard to kill.

Lemore: Gas. SA has a gas form. This gas was released during a festival, everyone at that festival was instantly infected. The majority of this R-2 nation was at the festival, along with thousands from other nations.

Official 2: How many NO civilians died there?

Lemore: None, we were there to provide security, we took out every terror cell in that nation and this attack blind sided us. We found out why a bit later, the terrorists responsible had been helped by corrupt agents, all of those agents are in prison or are dead now.

Official 3: I think we have seen enough, your men just finished their last objective on the ground. Lemore all 'Havoc' personnel are clear for hero work.

Lemore: Thank you sir.

Lemore saluted and exited the room. He immediately informed command of the change of plans and retuned to his office in Havoc A Site.