LUU Chpt 4

==Let Us Unite - Chapter IV -==
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
----
===Rage of Loss Love ones at hands of the enemy===
Date: December 27th, 2766, 1900 Pacific Standard Time
Location: San Diego, Camp Pendleton Military Hospital
"Come on people, you need to leave, now!" a man dressed in the clothes of a Rim Worlds Republic uniform yelled through his loudspeaker as groups of armed soldiers forcibly removed people at gunpoint."We're evacuating the hospital, please exit in an orderly fashion, you'll be reunited with your loved ones soon enough."
 
Elizabeth Hazen frowned as she shuffled along with the crowd, her hand cautiously stretched to the small of her back where a small laser pistol was secured in a holster before moving back to her side.
 
"You SLDF?" A man asked from behind her, his bearing and cut that of someone who was also on leave.
 
"Aye," Elizabeth nodded. "Was visiting my brother. What unit you in, stranger?"
 
"Mechwarrior O'Bannon, I'm in the Seventh Royals, you?" the man replied.
 
"One Ninety First," Elizabeth shifted so they walked together instead of with her back to him. "We should probably make ourselves scarce, I've got a bad feeling about this."
 
"Yeah," O'Bannon nodded. "Something fishy's going on here."
 
"Let me know if you spot any other SLDF," Hazen muttered loud enough for him to hear. "You've got a bit of a height advantage."
 
"Copy that," the Mechwarrior began inspecting the crowd as they finally left the hospital behind. "I hope my mom's alright, she's laid up with some nasty bug in there, and I'm supposed to have leave until she's taken care of."
 
The crowd then watched as the RWR soldiers left the hospital, their guns pointed at the crowd as a group of air breathing jets streaked by, a cluster of bombs falling and exploding on the roof of the hospital, sending a cascading effect that rippled down through as the ancient structure began to collapse.
 
All was silent as the last piece of rubble slowly fell to the ground. Everything slowed to Elizabeth as a hot and violent emotion went through her like she had been struck by lightning. Her nose flared as she inhaled harshly, her lungs filling with the dust and smoke of the ruined hospital while everything inside of her warred with the calm and logical soldier that she had been trained to be. 
 
Finally, after what seemed like hours in her mind, the emotions won, and she pulled out her Laser pistol and shifted to run at the RWR soldiers still grouped up around the ruins of the military hospital that had stood for hundreds of years. 
 
"Whoa!" O'Bannon pulled her into a bear hug and tucked the laser pistol into a jacket, shoving her into an alley as the dust began to obscure their location. "I ain't letting someone go and commit suicide like that."
 
Elizabeth couldn't respond, her mind was still white-hot with rage, and had long since mentally classified everyone around her as a potential enemy.
 
"We'll get them," the man tried to calm the angry Black Watch officer down but she twisted and dislocated his shoulder, and moved behind him as he dropped her to the ground and with a reclaimed pistol in hand. 
 
But it was too late, the dust cloud from the falling concrete structure had blocked all of her vision, and she had no visual on where the enemy soldiers were.
 
"Fucking bitch!" O'Bannon swore, his shoulder held with his opposite hand. "I just saved your damned life!"
 
"Fuck you, my brother was in there!" Hazen finally reclaimed the language center of her brain. 
 
"So was my mother, and you don't see me lashing out at you!" O'Bannon yelled angrily.
 
"Quit bitching, it's only dislocated." Elizabeth wiped a few tears away, locking her emotions down as she grabbed the man's shoulder and casually popped it back into place with a sickening 'crunch'. "If you've got any other SLDF buddies in town, gather them up and have them meet at Jack's Bar on 29th."
 
"Okay," the Mechwarrior rubbed at his shoulder. "And where will you be?"
 
"Me?" Elizabeth stared into the dust cloud. "I've got some business to attend to, I'll meet you there at," she checked her watch. "Midnight, three hours should be plenty of time for me to finish what I need to do."
 
"Alright," O'Bannon sighed. "I'll try, no promises though."
 
"If you don't make it, then you're already dead," She shrugged. "They're not going to leave anyone else alive to resist. You can count on that"
----
===Welcome to the Safehouse===
A few hours previously… Outskirts of Unity City
 
"We're going to have to ditch the flatbed," McFadden nodded at Jewels as she brought the vehicle to a stop. "They've got a checkpoint up ahead on the street according to the comms chatter I'm picking up."
 
"I'd say split up," Capell said after a minute. "But I think that'd be a death sentence for most of us."
 
"Then it's a good thing I had the safe houses maintained," Colonel Schmitt smirked as a small bit of blood came up as she coughed. "If I remember right, there's one a block away from here."
 
"Right," Yanez snapped his fingers. "It was around the corner. Give me a second.
 
Frank grabbed his Survival kit and dug through it, finally pulling out a faded paper map. 
 
"Now, this thing's a bit dated, but it's got the city streets on it, and that's what we need the most of right now."
 
Those who weren't too wounded stood around the map while Suarez stood guard.
 
"Closest safehouse is here," McFadden pointed at a spot on the map. "But it's a hole in the wall."
 
"It'll work though," Capell replied. "And we need access to those medical supplies," he jerked a thumb at the critically wounded patients. "That place should have a fully stocked medical suite. I can stabilize them and we can collect the rest of the kit that's stocked there."
 
"Might be able to get comms out to anyone who wasn't in Unity City too," Yanez added. "But based on their search patterns," Yanez indicated the RWR soldiers that were slowly clearing out the city. "That place'll be inside their envelope within an hour. So we need to get there and make sure it still looks like no one's home."
 
"Right," McFadden nodded. "We're leaving the flatbed here, I want it scrubbed clean before we leave."
 
"Already on it," Charles began wiping down any of the surfaces that they'd touched. "Major, can you get the last seat?"
 
"Yeah," Capell grabbed another cloth and wiped down the front passenger seat.
 
The group of survivors began to move in the marching order that they had decided upon earlier, sticking to the shadows of darkened alleyways and on the outskirts as they reached the back entrance of the now-defunct electronics store. 
 
"It always weirds me out that we leave everything on," Suarez shivered as they entered the storefront. "The flickering tri-vids and other stuff just makes it feel haunted."
"That's part of the rumors surrounding this place," McFadden smiled. "The more that people think this place is just a ghost store, the less likely they are to dig too deeply into it."
 
"And the few that do dig into it are mostly teens who were dared to do a night in the "haunted store". Capell replied. "The past Black Watch weren't idiots."
 
McFadden finally reached the men's bathroom and a horrid smell greeted them.
 
"The fuck is that smell?" Jewels asked.
 
"Part of our cover," Capell walked in ahead of the other major, reaching a far wall and touching the handicap panel, a slight glow appearing where his fingers had been. "It only responds when one of the authorized users touches it. If someone who isn't authorized touches it, then nothing happens. It's as good a cover as you can get for something like this."
 
After the slight blue glow disappeared, the wall slid open, revealing a set of stairs that receded into the darkness. 
 
"Welcome, to Safehouse twenty-seven," McFadden assisted with the wounded. "Don't get comfortable, we won't be here for very long."
----
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
Chapter 4