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Captain Chun Ki Ling stands in front of the Xi'an with his helmet under his arm. The storm gunboat assigned as his command has a number of engineers on top of her welding, patching and performing general repairs. He smiled as he looked at the ship and ran his finger down the bottom of it. There were only two things he absolutely treasured, his sword and his ship. He reached the rear of the gunboat, where the latest batch of recruits were preparing for their trip to JiangXi. Ling shook his head, the trials could make or break a man. He became aware of a numbness in his right arm. The scar's from the bears attack in the jungle were still painful. It would never fully heal. The memory of the agony caused Ling to grit his teeth.

He looked around the landing bay as the recruits busied themselves loading equipment onto the Xi'an. Another Storm was preparing for departure. It's reddish armour contrasting to the Xi'an's blue. It was the Social Credit, a legendary ship. He saw another batch of recruits preparing themselves for the mission. Ling smiled as he gazed at the Social Credit. One day - The Xi'an will be just as legendary he thought.

"Move it you dumb recruits, this is not a pleasure cruise you are going on!"

Ling surveyed the rest of the docking bay at Zvezdny Gorodok. Blast and scorch marks were still evident from the failed coup. From the look of things, Gorodok was also going to take time to heal from those wounds. It was for this reason that the trial for this bunch of recruits was selected. The Engineers finished their work on the hull of the Xi'an and began wrapping their gear up.

Ling marched past the recruits and up the ramp of the Xi'an. He stood at the entrance from the cargo bay to the steps leading to the cockpit of his ship. He yelled expletives at the recruits until he had their full attention.

"Right you worthless pieces of excrement! You have a mission given to you from High Command, you will follow the orders set out in this mission to the letter or you will be killed. Your interview with Mendel and the support staff was your first test. This will be your second. Previous trials separated the men from the boys, and showed who could truly survive. This trial will still test those skills to their limits, but you have a goal more than your own life to think about."

Ling pulled down a screen on his left where it showed the charred remains of a city on the northern hemisphere of JiangXi. The screen was split into numerous parts around the main image in the middle. The main image showed the street plan of the city.

"New Pristina. Or at least it was. This pile of rubble which was New Pristina was hit by a single Phantom strato-bomb. That's all that was needed. 150,000 people were instantly killed. We have not revisited the site since the bombing, save an aerial examination. Now however, we have a purpose to go up there."

Ling pulls down a second screen on his right and shows the recruits a complex diagram. The screen shows a frequency wave with several calculations and formulae written around it.

"Barely a week ago, this random transmission was picked up by one of our orbital defense satellites. The transmission was only on for a few seconds and we could only trace it to the city. However, We have seen these transmissions before. They were broadcast when Gorodok was locked down in order to start the failed coup a couple of months back. As such, High Command believes that there is a high chance that there are active insurgents in the remains of the city. They are probably planning to strike at our glorious leader Alvin Katz and the hierarchy of the Coalition. Let me be clear, this cannot be allowed to happen at ANY cost.

Ling walked forwards and gazed into the eyes of the recruits. As he slowly made his way through the cargo bay, he continued speaking about the plan

"To be blunt, High Command don't trust any of you. You are new, you could all be spies. The fact you are here does not mean you have been accepted into the revolution comrades. These reasons are exactly why you are heading to the surface. If there are any spies among you, they shall be routed out. If you succeed in this mission, you will have gone some way to earn our trust. Your goal is to find the source of the transmission. We believe that it was an activation signal, or some sort of hidden message. If there are traitors still in the city. Destroy them and find out where that blasted signal went to."

Ling draws his sword and runs his finger across the blade.

"You must be swift and deadly, silent and unforgiving. You will be dropped off approximately 40 miles away from the city. It's winter up there and the ice storms are reaching their peak levels for the season. We can't risk taking the Xi'an too close for two reasons. First, the storms would rip us out the sky. Second, stealth is paramount. The Xi'an will drop you off individually and in different locations, and then you must make your way up there on your own. If these "Remnant" forces are smart, they'll be able to detect a group of you coming from the one location. If that happens, you will surely die and these forces would scatter. That would displease Katz, he wants the traitors to die - not find another hole to survive in and breed this ridiculous counter-revolution."

Ling draws both the screens up and wraps up the brief.

"So in summary, survive the harshness the of the forests and mountain ranges. You should reach the city after two days travel. Stay hidden from view at all times. Enter New Pristina undetected. Find the source of the transmission. Obliterate any and all Remnant forces you find. Show no mercy."

Ling looks at the gear the recruits are packing and takes great pleasure in picking up one of the recruits bags and throwing it out his gunboat.

"Pack winter gear you moron, unless you enjoy -30 degrees in your shorts!"

With that, he strode up the steps into the engineering deck and then up to the cockpit where he busied himself with the preflight checks. He sat in the pilot's seat at the front left and began powering up the systems on the ship. His co-pilot joined him and ensured all the flaps and rudders were working. The communications officer and weapons officer had just began their checks when Ling headed back down to the cargo bay. The recruits were nearly ready. Well, they would have to be now - Ling wanted to move.

"Time's up, I'm shutting the cargo bay door. If you're on the wrong side of it, my gunner will blast you on the way out."

One recruit didn't make it. He grappled with the door as it shut on his fingers, slicing them off. Ling sat back down in the pilots chair, and laughed as he saw he recruit rolling around in pain on the deck. He radioed docking control and the ground staff were evacuated out. One quick shot of Xi'an's rear turret was enough. The recruit was turned into a charred crater in the landing pad. Satisfied that the remaining recruits on board the Xi'an had got the message, Ling set a course for JiangXi.

The trip there was uneventful. Ling eased the Xi'an into the atmosphere and moved towards the first drop point. Tops of trees flew underneath the gunboat until they reached a small gap in the woods. The co-pilot confirmed they had arrived at the first drop point. Ling opened the cargo bay door.

"First recruit, dispatch now. Xu Lu Li Tango 3 - DROP!"

None of the other recruits made a move.
I sincerely hope i remember what Vasquez taught me.
Ian cinched his rifle tight to his chest, took up his rappelling line and ran down the cargo bay.
He reached the end, hitched the carabiner to a tie-down ring, took two steps and leapt.
The sickening rush of freefall took over for a brief moment before his harness pulled tight when he engaged the brake.
As he felt his feet touch the ground, Holmes turned and rolled off his feet, hitting his calf, thigh, arm and shoulder in quick succession.
His left hand hit the release and the line fell free as he leveraged himself up with the other.
Ian's former instructor's voice rang in his ear as he contemplated that piss-poor landing.
Gorramit, you bloody well didn't hit all five points! Get the frak back up there and do it again, or i swear, i'll break your legs off myself and use them to BEAT YOU TO DEATH.
Holmes rose to his feet and crouch-ran to the treeline, putting as much distance between himself and the landing zone as possible.
Eight minutes later he was close to a kilometer away.
Aight, time to slow down. No sense in running into an enemy patrol.
He moved quietly, placing each foot perfectly, his head swiveling, making no noise, using every ounce of training he had recieved, first on Crete, then at West Point, as he slowly made his way towards the city outskirts.

"Abort Drop, I repeat, ABORT DROP!"

General Alvarez's voice echoed through the ship, piped down from the cockpit by the pilot.

Momentary chaos ensued, where Master Chief Pavel "Pasha" Byk stepped forward to slam the drop ramp shut, despite the fact that one of the recruits was already to the ground.

"The gunboat is ordered to rendezvous with Malkolaiv Research station," General Alvarez continued. "There the crew is to transfer to the CPW-Resurgency under Vice-Admiral Broch."

The comm spluttered silent, as the Gunboat pivoted on its axis, shooting skywards, heading for the research station.

Colonel Aloysius Rhade was in the middle of live fire training with a group of recruits when he received orders from General Alvarez himself.

"Rhade, get to Mykolaiv. Priority Code Zero."

"Zero?" Aloysius mumbled to himself. "Must be damn important."

"Recruits" Rhade began. "Your training has been cut short. Get back to base and await further orders."

The recruits complied without hesitation and once they were docked he immediately set a course for Mykolaiv. His XKR Insurgent Mk. II moving gracefully through the Omega-52 System.

Ling reacted badly to the new orders - he was half way to drop point 2 when Alvarez's voice boomed over his ships comm system. He nearly shot his comm officer.

No, on second thoughts - He could have shot Holmes. That blasted recruit must have been detected. The first one to drop out the ramp fails the mission?!

"Confirmed Alvarez. Xi'an reporting as ordered, aborting drop."

Ling cursed and swore as he punched through the atmosphere and out back into the cold wastes of space. Chattering was heard in the cargo hold, the recruits were confused and shaken.

"Malkolaiv Research station this is the CPW-Xi'an, we have orders to dock with your station. Authenticate Ling Po Xi Alpha Alpha 1."

Holme's radio was still on the Xi'an's comms channel, and he heard the order given.
He struggled to control his rising anger.
It was a solo mission anyways. They didn't abandon you, your supposed to be on your own anyways. Just like that time on Malta. You got this. It's chill.
He nodded to himself and set off.
Find the tower. Kill a metric ton of bad dudes. Blow it up with plastique. Get the hell out.

"Yes, but it is extremely unstable..." Doctor Xiaobei was having a very loud argument with Vice Admiral Broch in docking tube that led to the top secret Coalition warship.

"It will hold together, si?" Alvarez inquired standing between the two, as the nuggets were led down the tube and into the large battlecruiser vessel. None of them had been told what was going on, nor should they. Theirs was but to do or die, that was the nature of what it meant to be a Coalitioner. They did as they were ordered, and no questions were asked.

XiaoBei shook his head, "I bloody well can't allow this to occour," he said loudly. "The moment the drives get activated, the whole ship could explode... or worse, it could work in an unpredictable fashion and ... with all due respect, no one knows exactly what will occour should anyone tamper with the..."

Alvarez held up a finger, "Shhh Hermano... there are ears everywhere. And the Commissars will not appreciate word of the Vice-Admiral's plan getting out."

"You could be condemning all of these men to certain death!" XiaoBei snapped.

"Si, and I take it you are going along with them?" Alvarez said nodding to the hatch.

"You're damn right I am!" XiaoBei snapped back. "I'm not about to risk my experiment in the hand of what... Commissar Mendel so lovingly refers to as the Muppet Brigade!"

"Si," Alvarez said. "Vice Admiral Broch will command the ship, Colonel Rhade will command the... special forces. I will assign elements of the fighter corps to ensure that nothing goes wrong. And my son will act as Second in Command."

With that he saluted Broch. "Ma'am, good luck, si?"

Rhade docked his XKR aboard Mykolaiv Research Station. By the time he arrived, he was given a quick briefing on the mission. He thought they were joking. They couldn't be serious. However, it was brilliant. If it worked, that is.

Rhade was led to a deep part of the station. One that few knew about, let alone accessed. He was led into a room, where he noticed Xiaobei arguing with Alvarez and Broch. Without saying a word, he was lead to a docking tube.

"The Resurgency." Rhade mumbled to himself. It was a name only a select few had ever known about. Even he himself, had only just recently been briefed on it's existence.

He took the time to admire it. It was a work of art, yet one could tell this was an old ship. A -VERY- old ship. almost as if... no, impossible. Rhade dismissed that notion.

He moved to the Docking Tube where he caught sight of a group of recruits looking confused.

"What are you muppet's waiting for, get settled in! MOVE IT!"

Rhade proceeded to a section of the ship where the majority of the muppet's... recruits, had been led to.

He took a seat, keeping tabs on the recruits, ensuring everything went according to plan.

A man sitting in a large cushioned chair had his hands folded in his lap, all around him from wall to wall were large screens with security feed from all corners of the Coalition, from the lowest Partisan's cockpit to the Premier's office.

Right now he was looking through the feeds from the coalition's primary shipyards and research facility, Mykolaiv Station, the man's features couldn't be seen due to the lighting not being turned all the way up, even the light of the screens didn't seem to reach his face, only faint shadows of his features could be seen. In his lap a fluffy white Cat lay purring, taking in the man's body heat for comfort as it's evil plan had succeeded, it's pet would soon commence the petting and all would be right once more.

The man's voice was smooth and almost friendly if it were not for the cold undertones.

"Zoom in on Grid Five Five Three mark Eight." he ordered, all the screens switched over to the room where the conversation with Xiaobei, Broch and Alvarez was taking place.

As he watched and listened to the audio feeds he smirked all so slightly, unfolding his hands and slowly stroking the cat in his lap, causing the puring to become louder.

When he heard them talk about Mendel and what he called the 'Muppet Brigade' he couldn't help but chuckle slightly, shaking his head.

Commissar Mendel while he had his faults was very good at his job, he was ruthless, sarcastic and absolutely loyal to the cause, perfect for His Watchful Eye's needs. This new Warship was important...Important enough for His Watchful Eye to send in his own 'hand' to make sure that all went well, hidden amongst the crew of the new vessel. Continuing to pet his Cat which started to rub it's head against his hands he nodded to himself.

"Should these...Muppets mess up it looks like I'll have to make some people...Vanish." he commented lightly to himself, continuing to watch the screens as he ordered it all back into Monitoring Mode, returning each image to a different section of the Coalition.

The Politburo chamber was silent, several members conspicuously absent. As Premier Katz walked into the room, taking his customary seat, and folding his hands on the table.

"We have a green for go," he said, looking at each of them. "For the Revolution!"