Hells Bells

War Craters the Land

January 18th, 2026. Moscow. Red Square.

Gunshots echo throughout the square followed by screaming. After weeks of protests and riots, troops loyal to Linskey have moved in to disperse the crowds. Them doing so has caused them to come in contact with police and military forces loyal to the Duma. leading to gunfire being exchanged. The situation escalates out of control when a BTR loyal to the Duma, comes screeching into the square firing its gun wildly. Linskey's forces retreat when a stray round fractures a dome on the iconic Saint Basil's Cathedral. In the light of the rising sun in early dawn, the Duma convenes. The Duma has had enough, and orders all loyal troops to set up positions and lock down the cities. Moscow, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Samara, Ufa, Smolensk, Vladivostok, Perm, Kursk, Belgograd, Kirov, Orenburg, and Volgograd. Follow the Duma's orders and declare martial law, while Saints Petersburg and the rest of the major cities remain open due to them being loyal to Linskey or their city leaders not choosing a side and remaining loyal to the Russian state itself, either a republic or another form. An arrest order for Joseph Linskey was issued, in response Linskey dissolved the Duma throwing the country onto the path of civil war.

January 23rd/24th, 2026. Base Aquilia. Innerworld.

Wyte packs up his office scouring through his bookshelf to find what's his and what was originally there before he arrived. Chaos in the Russian Republic and concerning moves by China, has led to congress ordering SCUs and other Hells Bells divisions on standby. Though the divisions might not be arriving stateside until the situation is near boiling over. Wyte packs up the less essential parts of his office to prepare for that call. He is interrupted by one of his sergeants crashing into his door. Wyte lets out a sigh and goes to unlock his door and asks the sergeant his purpose.

WYTE: Can I help you with something Mccoy?

MCCOY: You have to come look at the frontlines. Some crazy shit's going on.

Wyte wonders what could Mccoy be so excited about, as he already knows about the blasting tunnels Yensom has been digging since the stalemate started. He looks at the many boxes in his office and decides a break is needed. So he follows Mccoy to the control room located near the hangar. The door's locked and Mccoy struggles to open it. Wyte puts his ID card up to the scanner next to the door frame and unlocks it. They enter onto an elevated catwalk overlooking the room. Three big screens span the length of the wall in front of the room, while control panels, computers, and scanners. Stand in rows in front of it. Walking down a spiral staircase they enter the command floor. The operators are busy doing their job and monitoring the conflicts closely.

WYTE: So, what's going on? Besides the already dug tunnels?

MCCOY: They started to move explosives through the main tunnel before dawn, but they just stopped and started to seal the tunnel. It's almost show time.

Wyte grits his teeth.

The small hand moves diligently on the 2nd lieutenant's pocket watch. 20 seconds, then 10, then 5, then 0.

2L: Entzünечь!

The plunger goes down and detonates the explosives. Shaking emanates from the ground, the earth rises sending men a dirt into the sky. Only for them to fall back down onto the frozen earth. The Hillion line is covered in smoke, with the sky becoming orange from it. A faint whistle and a roar of shouts from the Yensom line falls upon the shakened defenders. The Yensom banner breaks from the smog with its soldiers following along. The surge of Yensom makes a grave error and the soldiers pour into the crater expecting to come out on the other side, but run themselves into the walls of the crater.

The scene draws silence in the command room, with all attention on the screens. Wyte breaks this silence with foreboding words.

WYTE: Those young men got themselves into a turkey shoot.