6th May 3405 PA

(Post Apocalypse)

Warehouse, New Sephera Port

United Federation of Sephera

The capital city was a masterpiece of 800 square kilometers of buildings, hundreds of skyscrapers that reached for the clouds in the inner city, surrounded by tens of thousands of houses in the outer city. Filled with of poor rundown residential districts and middle class suburbs. The city was crossed by the rivers Mercy and Valor that bisected the city into the western, central and eastern regions. An expansion of the inner city was showed by the half-finished skyscrapers extending towards the sky.

Where the river Valor and Mercy met was the the cities port. It stretched from west, into central and into the eastern section of the city. While the central was filled with life from public and company owned shipping docks the west and eastern sectors were more rundown and in need of repairs.

The warehouse was separated from the ocean by lines of giant shipping containers stocked upon each other. The only activity was two men sitting outside and a silent armor reinforced van approaching outside their view.

Behind the blacked-out windows was a number of armored individuals. Their armor was made up of beige camouflage titanium and ceramic composite plating. The helmet-also beige camouflage colored-had a circular visor that glowed slightly red. It gave them all a menacing look. There was equipment attached to the armors different sections.

The armored person in the seat next to the driver was a young woman. In her grip was a Multirole Combat Rifle.

“All teams, report,” Sakiko said through her helmet commlink.

“In position,” Hachiro reported in Bravo’s status. “One fella on the roof. Ministry of Intelligence database identify him as Harold Deveron, Khanese terrorist.”

“Ready and able. All clear,” Charlie team’s Vanessa affirmed.

“Ready,” Jessie answered for Delta. “No hostiles.”

They wasn’t the typical New Sephera Police Department’s Counter-Terrorism operators. They were special. Their beige armor was the obvious difference between Sephrim’s and NSPD Special Tactics Assault Units black standard armor.

The black van stopped and Sakiko ordered her team out of the vehicle and up to the corner. Up on point, just ahead of her, was John. Her XO.

“Ok Sakiko, two man at the entrance, John informed her as he peeked around the corner with his red circular visor.

On Sakiko’s order her team to silently eliminate the two men up front and enter, meanwhile Bravo eliminate the roof scout and ascend the wall and go in through the roof. Charlie and Delta enter through the back entrance, catching the hostiles inside the warehouse from all sides, locking them in without an escape.

“Prism, John standby to neutralize the guards,” Sakiko said.

John nodded, as did Prism.

Prism was the only member of the Sephrim assault team that wasn’t wearing the beige armor. He was also the only none-human member of the team. He was an Exxo. One of the two races that came to Earth just as the apocalypse started and the First Great War begun. He was a humanoid machine. His exterior was grey and silver colored, with a red jaw and a small titanium horn in the forehead. His blue glowing optics blinked at Sakiko, adding a nod.

“You got it,” his robotic voice assured her.

“On your word,” John told Sakiko through his exterior audio.

The helmet made his voice robotic, giving him a more menacing appearance.

Sakiko put up John’s view on her HUD to get a look at the two men.

One of them was wearing an ugly green and brown flannel shirt and jeans, his brown hair a messy of dirt and dust. He had a Submachinegun on his knee, but he didn’t have his hands close to the trigger. A cigarette lodged between his fattened lips. The other man had a Submachinegun on his knee, covered up under a rag, but the barrel was visible. He wore a cheap grey suit and looked like the complete opposite of the flannel shirt man.

“Go,” Sakiko said in her helmet.

John peeked around the corner and fired a single bullet. Prism rolled out and flipped up on his feet and stylishly fired a single round through the man in the suit’s skull. Splattering his blood and brain matter on the grey warehouse wall. The flannel shirted man’s skull also saw its back shattered and painting the wall.

The three moved up towards the doors and John and Prism took up positions on the sides of the door and Sakiko stepped up in front of it and kicked the door open.

First in was John and he had his rifle raised. Inside he found a fifteen meter long entrance hall with a desk. There was no one in sight.

“Clear,” he said.

Sakiko and Prism advanced side by side with him.

“Roof clear,” Hachiro said. “Descending.”

There was two doors halfway down the corridor. Upon reaching them Prism and John smashed one open each. Both rooms was small and quickly cleared. They were small offices only had the regular office supplies.

“Back room clear,” Jessie informed from her and Charlie team.

The trio continued to the end of the corridor and forced the double wooden doors open. The next room was an open area with couches, a few computers and some steel crates placed in different locations. The room was 20 m2. Sakiko supposed it had been a storage area before it was turned into a recreation room.

The room had seven people in it. Most had casual clothes while two of them had suits.

“New Sephera Counter-Terrorism Task Force!” She yelled through her exterior helmet audio’s robotic voice. “Drop your weapons!”

“Seriously?” John questioned through their private interior channel.

The next moment all seven moved for their guns. With minimal effort Sakiko put a three slug burst through one of their heads, shifted her aim a few centimeters and squeezed the trigger again, relieving a woman of her life. Her third burst hit a man in a suit right in the chest and he fell against the wall creating a bloody path down as he fell to the floor. Prism-who usually preferred a sniper-used his MCR to kill two on a couch and John eliminated the final two.

The fight was over in three seconds.

“Room clear,” Sakiko announced.

Prism whistled impressed.

“Nice shootin’,” Prism complimented Sakiko’s perfectly aimed bursts.

“Back at you Prism,” Sakiko replied with a smile behind her visor.

They jogged through the room to the door on the other end.

“Four hostiles down,” Hachiro told her.

“Located their control center,” Vanessa said.

“Copy. Leave it for Ana once the warehouse’s secured,” Sakiko answered her.

“Copy that. Moving on.”

John and Prism scanned the dead terrorists while Sakiko conversed with the others of their batch and scouted out the hallway ahead and three side rooms.

“None of these guys are Vadam,” John told her.

“Anybody has eyes of Vadam?” Sakiko asked.

John and Prism joined her to move down the hallway.

A round of ‘negatives’ was the answer. It left her cursing under her breath. The intelligence presented to them placed Vadam Shu in that warehouse. Had the Ministry of Intelligence been wrong? But it was also possible that he could have been warned. As little as it was, given that the absolute minimum number of people knew about the operation.

They checked every office space in the hallway and continued down until the corner forced them right and to a staircase.

“Second floor secured, Sakiko,” Hachiro said over the interior commlink in their helmets.

The next moment he came around the corner from upstairs with his team. He Ana and Simon almost skipped down the stairs as they met up with Sakiko, John and Prism.

“Got a present for you,” Simon said with a smirk as he pushed a handcuffed tan skin man in front of him.

Sakiko connected the computer in her helmet to the Ministry of Intelligence, Ministry of Law Enforcements, Office of Military Intelligence and International Terrorist and Law Enforcement databases to find an identify for the scumbag.

She found a passport in the Law Enforcement database.

HAL ARAM MEMPHANO

If his tan skin didn’t imply it, his name and passport determined that he was Khanese, from the southern continent of Ardae. His passport had been registered when entering Federation borders through a flight from A Khanate city to the city of Dale. But it had been fourteen months ago and his passport had expired eight months ago.

“Last area secured,” Vanessa and Jessie said almost simultaneously.

The two teams met them at the bottom of the stairs.

“Most of the guys we shot was Khanese,” Hachiro told Sakiko.

Sakiko nodded to him.

“Same. No Vadam?”

“No sign of him. We shot a female Sryphio but not Vadam,” Jessie grunted displeased.

Sakiko gestured to the handcuffed man.

“We’ll leave him for NWPD. They can bag and tag ‘im. Ana download the computers data and look it over back at base.”

“Alright,” Hachiro acknowledged while throwing a death glare at the terrorist.

“Understood,” Ana complied.

The Khanese man swore at them in his native tongue.

“Shut up!” John yelled at him.

The menacing robotic voice configured by the helmet combined with John’s yell caused them man to jump in fear. It seemed to be a desired outcome because he backed off before Sakiko had to tell him. She imagined he had one of those big grins on his handsome face.

Prism made the call to the NSPD and it took ten minutes before police cars came up outside the warehouse. Sakiko led her people outside to meet the authorities with Prism and John. Prism was holding the terrorist at gunpoint.

Still helmet on her head, Sakiko sighed deeply upon seeing Commissioner Martin Crane.

“Son of a bitch,” John muttered at the sight of the fat Commissioner that seemed to always have a bad hair day. His messy receding hair was as crappy looking as always.

“John,” Sakiko said, catching his attention.

He shut up and obeyed.

The fattened Sepheran man crossed his arms over his chest and walked up to the three Sephrim. His eyes landed on the handcuffed man. He looked pretty roughed up with bruises a little all over.

“Well, well, what the hell do you think you’re doing in my district?” Crane demanded angrily. “How dare you run an anti-terrorism op on my watch?”

John balled up the left fist that wasn’t folding onto his Multirole Combat Rifle.

Sakiko said his name in her helmet and he stood down, but continued to fume over the Commissioner.

Sakiko pointed hard at him.

“We operate under the Ministry of Defense so if you got a problem, take it up with the Secretary of Defense.”

Crane snorted in disgust. He could never win a jurisdiction fight with the Ministry of Defense, and he knew that she knew it. Which made him angrier.

Seeing his reaction made Sakiko’s day. She imagined John and Prism was pretty pleased too. Crane was basically acting cleanup duty.

Prism handed the Khanese man over to the police officers.

Their conversation with Crane wasn’t long and quickly ended and Sakiko ordered her people to all return to the van. From there on they returned to General Abrahams Military Complex located at the eastern edge of the city. They had their own underground bunker where only they and senior officers was allowed.