Ceo


    14:34, August 4th, 2133


    The Broken Wall


    It’s been nearly two hours since we first got to the wall, and Sharks reinforcements weren’t here yet. The only ones that were here were of course the men that Shark had come with, Ronin and me.


    “You said it would take your men an hour or so to get here. What’s taking them so long?” I yelled to Shark who was in the other fort on the opposite side of the gate.


    Shark looked at me and seemed to give an exasperated look, “I don’t know, from what I last heard was that some squads got lost.” Shark said.


    I sighed, “Well let''s hope nothing happens till they find their way here.” I said looking out towards the outside.


    The hills outside were empty grasslands, most of the time nothing was out there, literally nothing, not even an animal for some odd reason. The sun was just past noon right now, shadows facing towards me were starting to form.


    There wasn’t a sound from the forest, it was still cold as ever. My hands were numb, I envied Ronin as he was in a full piece of armor that is insulative.


    I rubbed my hands together to warm them up, I wished I brought a scarf.


    I looked back up and there was movement, I immediately looked at where I thought I saw it, nothing was there, bushes and small mounds were scattered throughout the surrounding area.


    I saw something move from mound to mound using the vegetation as cover. Then again I saw a silhouette.


    The silhouette was small, and far away. I was 20 feet up from the ground with a good vantage point. I brought up my binoculars and focused on the mound. I saw it move behind, there I saw it.


    I placed my elbows on the wall of the fort trying to stabilize the image a bit more, and I saw that it was a green humanoid.


    Which was the only details I could make out at this distance. Then it went behind a small hill.


    I decided to call it out. “I see a figure, probably a quarter mile out.” I reported.


    Shark responded, “What do you see?” He asked.


    “A green humanoid figure, can’t tell you much more than that.” I said, continuing to focus on the last location where I saw the green figure.


    Then I saw another figure, or was that the same one? I couldn’t tell.


    “I think I see another one, running behind a small tree” I reported to Shark.


    “What? Another one?” Shark asked.


    “I can’t tell you, there is too much vegetation down there.” I pulled my binoculars down.


    “Keep an eye out.” Shark said.


    “Got it.” I said, looking around some more.


    Another ten minutes had passed, and nothing. From neither Sharks reinforcement or the unidentified figures. Nothing except from our forces, the boredom finally got to me and began to get down from the top of the fort.


    The soldiers had left their posts before me, they were currently with Ronin in the central trench line. They were busy cooking food and a nearby decapitated body was butchered, all of the body was left was the bones but several bones were already missing.


    I approached them, ”Y‘all making lunch now?” I asked.


    One of the stormtroopers looked at me, “yes we are, there''s been nothing lately, and I doubt our reinforcements are going to arrive.” He said.


    ”Me too.” I said.


    Ronin was holding a skewer with a pair of kidneys on it, and he was slowly turning it. Trying his best to cook it evenly, I sat down in the trench with the other soldiers.


    ”So anything new on the ones we spotted?” I asked.


    The stormtroopers shook their heads, I gave a sigh.


    ”Any good news? I haven’t received much in terms of messages from anybody, barring the occasional message from Major Shark inquiring about the position of our reinforcements.”


    ”Nope, they still say they are lost. Though it''s only been ten minutes.”


    I sighed, “I think today is going to be a long day.”


    ……


    Ceo


    18:12 Hours


    The Broken Wall


    The sun was starting to set beyond the horizon now, and Sharks reinforcements are still ”lost” in the forest. I feel like they just don’t want to follow orders.


    I continued looking out at the surrounding landscape, snow that was no longer fresh was still on the ground. I was sure I would have caught a cold when I got back to the bunker.


    It was quiet, nobody had said a thing in the last ten minutes, all that''s left was the rustling of the trees and the falling of snow from them. Nothing was happening out there, I sat down and closed my eyes.


    Then I heard the rustling of the grass, I ignored it then more rustling. I got up and looked over the fort, in the darkness I saw very little of anything. The moon was likely just rising up above the horizon now.


    The rustling hadn’t stopped with the wind, I looked over the edge and the grass at this part of the fort was notably taller than elsewhere. Though I only remembered its height it was pretty much pitch black right there in front of the fort. The only light around was the blue shine of Ronin’s equipment from the gate, and my grenades in my pouch, even then it was dim.


    Curiosity got the best of me, I grabbed a grenade and the bright neon red light emitted blinded me. I quickly held it over the side and dropped it, it wasn’t primed so no noise came from it and the red light dropped lower and lower, then it lit up the surrounding grass in red.


    Then I was hit by something, followed by extreme pain in my right shoulder. Then another arrow flew towards me hitting me in the abdomen before I could realize what was going on. “Fuck!” I yelped, stumbling backwards.


    ”Ma’am! Are you alright!” One of the stormtroopers yelled from below.


    I grabbed my spell book and desperately turned the page to where the healing spell was. Everything was in pain, I felt my breath start to increase.


    ”We are… under attack!” I yelled, as I found where the healing spell was. ”Activate damn it!” I said, I put my finger under the lines. I heard Ronin start to yell something in Japanese but it didn’t sound good.


    Gunshots began to go off, then a flash of blue light erupted out of nowhere. I looked at the healing spell line, and read it internally. Then a red light covered the entire place. I heard the low hum of the healing spell with red particles fall from the sky like snow, the pain quickly disappeared and I saw the two arrows fall out of my body.


    The gunshots were loud and consistent. We were under attack, another blue flash of light occurred from the Gate. Things seemed to slow down as I got back up, the gunshots rhythm and the hum of the spell as well. I got down from the top of the fort as I saw another arrow fly right past me.


    On the ground now, I ran out of the fort, bringing up my SMG. My feet sunk into the snow the moment I stepped into them, I turned the corner to be met with another brilliant flash of blue flames from Ronin’s flamethrower. He was slowly stepping backwards, as a large horde of what seemed to be goblins charging his location, they were burned alive.


    I saw an arrow fly through the flames, and hit Ronin in the chest. The flames began to clear up and the goblins began to charge Ronin, I fired my SMG into the horde. It was firing slower than I last remember, but I held down the trigger. The first bullet hit a goblin, that one fell then another one, all shots were hit. I dropped the current magazine, it fell slower than usual, I grabbed another magazine, by the time I reloaded the magazine had hit the ground.


    Ronin stepped back, the flamethrower threw steam around. More gun fire to the left and right of me started, all I could hear was ringing which drowned out the gunfire.


    Dozens if not hundreds of those small green goblins seemed to swarm us through the gate. I grabbed my only grenade left, I regretted using the first one as a light. I pulled the pin, and then threw it into the horde. It slowly flew in an arc as I quickly started firing my SMG once more, then I was grabbed on the shoulder and pulled back. I saw another blue magic circle brighten up the surrounding area, it was Ronin who grabbed me. I nearly fell backwards but I caught myself.


    The grenade finally detonated, and a flash of light briefly blinded me, then green blood everywhere. Followed by bright blue flames, I saw a goblin that got past the gun fire and the club it carried was half way through a swing to his knee caps. I aimed at the goblin and my gun didn’t fire, I couldn’t hear the click but the goblin wasn’t dead and the club had hit his knees. I drew my sword, and did an overhead swing into the goblin, who was about to get another swing in.


    Ronin was midway through his fall, as my sword slammed into the goblins head, and Ronin was now on the ground his knee was all contorted in ways a healthy leg shouldn’t but was quickly snapping back into place. I swung my officers sword into the horde, another grenade flew past me, several in fact. They lit up the goblins in red, I grabbed Ronin and began to pull him backwards with surprising ease.


    I dragged him back into the trench which we had deepened in the last few hours. Several spot lights turned on when I was about to get back up to hold the goblin horde back when four HMGs’ begin to fire at the goblin horde. Ronin pulled me down into the trench out of the way of gun fire, Ronin seemed to have landed uncomfortably on the firing steps.


    I sat down as the gunfire continued on, tracer rounds passing by. The healing spell by this point ended and everything seemed to be going the right speed. I was breathing heavily and I felt like I was about to have a heart attack.


    Ronin sat up and onto the fire boards, I could see he was breathing heavily, he picked up his mask and he too looked like he was about to have a heart attack as well. Ronin looked at the ground, gaining his breath.


    I looked around the trench and I didn’t see anyone else. After a minute the gunfire stopped, and it was eerily quiet, the only noise was the ringing of my ears. I stepped on to the firing board and looked over the top.


    I looked at the gate and there were hundreds of dead goblin bodies, it seemed like none of the goblins got past the gate itself barring a few but they had been quickly gunned down by someone. Blue blood and guts covered the entire gate, making a horrid scene, the smell of charred flesh, gunpowder, and copper wafted through the air. The scene reminded me of something that was familiar, not from the game but from somewhere else and a time that was long ago. I looked at my hands. They were shaking vigorously, the cold no longer bit any more, yet I wasn’t warm either. At least this battle was a slaughter.


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    “Is everybody alive?” I yelled out.


    “Yes!” Shark responded, along with the rest of the squad that was with us while we waited for reinforcements to come.”


    I turned around to see the pillbox spotlights were on, I climbed out of the trench and approached the pillbox.


    “Who the hell is in there?” I asked.


    A Stormtrooper, stainless steel armor came out of the pillbox. “One of Sharks reinforcements.” A male voice said, I saw the armband they had, which was of First Lieutenant.


    “Took y’all long enough.” I said.


    “Well, we actually got lost if you want to know.”


    I sighed, “I don’t need excuses, nor do I care right now. Just secure this area.”


    A male Kyntari medic rushed out of the pillbox, “is anybody injured?” He asked.


    “I think so.” I said, the other soldiers came out of the various foxholes that were around here. Ronin climbed out of the trench, and he looked no better than before.


    “He does not look good.” The Medic said.


    “If you want you can check on him. Though expect a language barrier, he doesn’t know english.” I said.


    “I’ll manage.” He said approaching Ronin.


    Shark approached me, “how are you holding up?” He asked.


    “Alive, and moving.” I answered.


    “If you need to get back to the main bunker, and rest up. I doubt this will be the last we’ll see of them.” Shark said.


    “Yeah, I agree.” I nodded at him.


    Shark nodded, “Alright.” He then turned to the few engineers that were here, “Start building a barbed wire fence on the gate…” Shark started, I moved away from him towards the medic and Ronin.


    As I approached the two, I heard the Medic was speaking in Japanese


    “That''s two people here who know Japanese.” I said to the Medic.


    “Well I am old enough to have remembered a time when Japan was in a Union with the U.S, and a time when both nations had greatly benefited from it. I am Lieutenant Hans Gunther, nice to meet you Colonel.” Gunther held out a hand.


    I shook his hand, “Colonel Ceo, nice to meet you Lieutenant.” I turned to Ronin, “So how is he?” I asked.


    “Nothing more than the stress of going through a battle, along with the strains of moving so much. Did you know that in Japan sports is something only the wealthy do?” Gunther asked.


    “I did not know that.” I said.


    “Well Ronin, just needs some rest and he’ll be good as new by tomorrow morning.”


    I nodded, “Good.”


    “Now I need to check on you Colonel, you also might be having issues.” Gunther said.


    I held up a hand, “I am fine, just the adrenaline running through my veins.” I said.


    Gunther looked at my hands, “Even then I need to check for any injuries.”


    “I had a healing spell active during most of the fight, any injuries I did attain were gone in a matter of moments.” I said.


    “We’ll know in an hour if you did attain injuries.” Gunther said, “You two are good to go then.”


    Gunther then turned to Ronin and began speaking to him in Japanese, probably the same thing as he told me.


    Ronin nodded at Gunther and got up. The two of us began to head into the forest, towards the Main Bunker. I felt exhausted, but I knew that going to bed as soon as possible wouldn’t be a good idea. I brought out my Clipboard and sent a message to the Majors except Shark.


    “Head to the War Room in the Bunker for a meeting in 20 minutes.”


    …….


    Ceo


    18:54 Hours


    Outside the Main Bunker


    Ronin and I walked up the hill of the Main Bunker, there were more stoves built around the hill, the snow was now old and there was less of it now. The skies were clear, and the alien moon whose features I did not recognize hung mid way in the sky.


    “Ronin!” I heard the voice of Crumpet yell.


    Ronin and I turned to face the Engineer, she looked worried and ran to Ronin quickly checking over him. It wasn’t surprising at her worry, Ronin was covered in the blue blood of the goblins and to make things worse there were tears in his uniform. Ronin was quickly firing off words like he was trying to calm her down.


    I left the two to their own devices and entered the bunker, after that I immediately headed towards the War Room.


    When I entered, I was met with all the Majors waiting for me, and the second I entered questions immediately began being asked.


    “What happened over there?” Fish asked.


    “What started the gunfire?” Punisher asked.


    The questions from everybody kept coming, and every question seemed to blur.


    “Shut up! Give me a moment to breathe and I’ll answer them.” I said, “Does anybody have water?” I threw my clipboard, and spellbook on the desk and placed my sword to the side of it. After that I sat down in my rolling chair and leaned back.


    “Here.” Fish said handing a plastic white flask, I sat up, removed the cap and began to chug it, I was dehydrated for sure. I intermittently took a breath and continued drinking.


    After emptying the whole flask I gave a huge sigh. “All I can answer is that we were attacked.”


    “Attacked?” Memes asked.


    “Yes we were attacked, which is why I have a dozen holes in my uniform, and covered with blue blood.” I sighed.


    “How many attacked you and who?” Memes asked.


    “A horde tried to charge the Broken Wall, they were small and green, they seemed to be goblins of some sort” I said.


    Village then spoke, “What are we to do, anybody have ideas?”


    I answered “for now we hunker down, and we guard the gate, letting no one come in or out until we can confirm it''s safe outside the walls. On top of that we would need to prepare our land for long term habitation. I don''t think it''s safe to be living in the remnants of a warzone.”


    “What do you suggest exactly for inside the walls, guarding the gate is something I can already easily guess. But for here?” Village asked.


    I started to explain, “Well firstly we are to start picking up the land mines, barbed wire, and other hazards designed to slow the enemy''s advance who is now across the river and is no longer our enemy. We also need to get into consistent contact with the Noxu players. Our food situation still hasn’t been solved yet, the meat is going to last only so long before it decomposes, so we need to continue collecting food.”


    Village was the first to speak. “I could have my men deal with the mines, trenches, barbed wire and also getting across the river. While everybody else can deal with the other issues.”


    Fish said, “My company could deal with the food issues via fishing. How long will the smoked meat last if we ration it at the minimum of which people can effectively work?”


    I didn’t immediately respond and after a few moments I did. “Well assuming the meat doesn’t spoil, which it will, we should have enough supplies to feed everybody 2000 calories a day that’ll last around for six months, give or take a few days. Enough time to make a fishing industry, or a fish farm industry.” I said.


    “That is assuming we properly smoked every single body we can get our hands on?” Fish asked.


    “Yes, in actuality however we should expect the food to last 3 months. I’m not sure how much we can preserve in a day, but it''s a conservative estimate.” I answered.


    “That should be enough time for me to build small fish farms, and fishing boats. Giving us more time.” Fish said.


    Silenz spoke, “I could have my company try and start a traditional farm, whether to feed some sort of livestock or to grow edible food to cook with. It won’t be done in the 3 month time limit but it should be started by then.”


    I nodded and turned to the remaining Majors, “Y’all have any ideas on what to do?”


    Memes, Shadow, Punisher, and Buzz were all that didn’t come up with any ideas yet.


    Buzz answered “I''ll just help with whatever comes up, maybe manage who goes where and does what. I don’t know, I just threw an idea out there, I was in the HR department for the company I worked at before getting fired.”


    I cocked my head curiously, “So you want to manage the workforce?” I asked.


    “Well if we need that kind of management, I would like to volunteer. I am very good at managing numbers to get the desired result of more productivity. Although my boss did disagree with me on that and fired me, so please don’t fire me.” Buzz asked meekly.


    I leaned closer towards him, “If you don’t fuck up the numbers game of human resources.” I didn’t like treating people like they were another resource, but if the reality is that most of the people here were from Earth I couldn’t expect much to get done without some form of centralized authority ordering things to get done. At least when compared to the expectations of a Venusian Colony.


    Buzz nodded meekly.


    Memes said “Well whatever comes up, I am free to take any position you can give me. But for now I’ll stay as a military commander if you are fine with that.”


    Buzz immediately answered Memez. “You could just be a reserve company in which we can move people towards different work wherever they would be needed.”


    Fish looked at Buzz, “You really are an HR manager, if you came up with the idea of having people in a reserve.”


    “Yeah, I wasn''t sure how well it would work in reality other than just having people be employed constantly. For now my job may be useless, and if it is then I’ll just resign to prevent bloat.” Buzz said.


    “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind but we might need your HR skills one day, or not, who knows.” I turned to the remaining Majors who hadn’t volunteered. “For the rest of y’all just donate your men to the cause of Village, Fish or Silenz as they are doing the most important things right now.”


    Memes, Shadow, and Punisher nodded.


    “Well I would like to hear y’alls ideas by Noon for the specific issues you guys have volunteered to try and solve. Even if it''s barely 19:00 hours, I am exhausted.” I said. Everybody nodded and left the War Room.


    I slumped back into my chair and looked at my uniform. I was covered in Goblin blood and I didn’t look too good.


    But the good news is that there''s a lot of bodies to loot so someone should have my size and or a lot of clothes assuming they all weren’t torn up for fuel. But I also had some role playing clothes in a box beneath my cot. I got up and moved to my quarters in the back, there was a standing closet across from my bed.


    Opening it, I was met with an extra Vost Dor, Noxu, Adushasha, Rostora, and Oskovian uniform with a trench coat, all hanging. There were also more plain laid clothing, mostly just pajamas and a t-shirt along with undergarments. I took off my boots, socks, and pouches, then I moved to the restroom.


    The restroom was filled with some amenities, at the end of the room was a simple standing shower, using a curtain to keep the water in. There was a toilet located right next to it and a sink in front of it. A 12 by 24 inch mirror was above the sink, moving to the sink I saw myself for once.


    I had grey hair that went down to my shoulders, grey cat ears with dirty white fluff in the center. I had copper skin, bushy eyebrows, brown eyes, my nose was big, no more mustache though. I had more feminine features, by all accounts if this wasn’t me I’d say they looked pretty, though if I wasn’t covered in blue blood. There were a few holes in my trench coat. I unbuttoned my trench coat and took it off, throwing it into a corner.


    Both my shirt and pants were damaged, I’d need a complete change. I stripped off the rest of my clothing and it was dirty.


    I opened the faucet and nothing came out, then a bit of water started to drip through, the pressure was low, followed by the pressure increasing by a bit more and more. It was odd, to my knowledge I did not include a dedicated plumbing system, except of course the piping but that ended like a foot below the ground.


    But I decided to take advantage, I rinsed off my hands, and my face. I decided to keep it at that, I moved back to the room, went back to the closet, grabbed under garments, put those on, then blue pajamas and a t-shirt.


    I cleaned the room a bit, I looked around the room a bit more, I found a clock lying in a drawer, the current time was 19:54 hours, did I really spend that much time? At the top of the clock were two bells and a hammer. On the face above the hands was the words AM or PM, a dim led light lit up next to PM.


    I wondered if it worked, turning it over to the back I found several items of note on it. A single button which turned on a light, a place for a battery, opening it revealed old style AA batteries, a small grooved wheel to adjust the time. Then another button, pressing it, had set off the bell.


    ”RIIIIING!” It loudly announced, I hurriedly pressed the button again and it kept ringing.


    I spun the time wheel by a bit and the ringing stopped, I turned it back to the last time I remembered and it didn’t go off again. I spun the wheel to the time of 7 AM, pushed the button it started to ring, I pushed the time clockwise again to 7:55 PM, the ringing stopped, then clockwise again to 7 AM, the ringing started again. I pushed it back to 7:55 PM once more and placed it on the ground underneath the light switch next to the door.


    I turned off the incandescent light and laid down in my twin sized bed, I closed my eyes and just fell asleep.