[b]Continent of Sakria Rampart City[/b] --- Rampart City was a concrete sprawl of buildings and roads. It wasn’t a pretty site, but it was home to one and a half thousand people, and all of it surrounded the hulk of the [i]Rampart[/i] which had been turned into both the seat of power for what rag tag government they had established and as a military headquarters. Within the [i]Rampart[/i], seated at a desk within the old captain’s quarters, Interim President Hyde mused to himself on a rather pressing issue. The captain’s quarter was a windowless room, that, despite being rather sizeable, had always made him feel just a little claustrophobic. Hyde was an aging man by now, entering his fifties with a head of brown hair that was splattered with silver and gray, and a rather full looking beard. The creases in his face, though, showed signs of aging past his time, as stress played havoc with his health. Dacyria was supposed to be a new home for these people, but now with the arrival of so many others, and the recent aggression of the natives, things were beginning to grow tense within the city. The old Underground had lost sight of its original goals, becoming nothing more than a group of pirates and thieves, but now… Here on Dacyria… They had a second chance, a chance to build a new home away from the oppressive rule they had first been established to fight. Hyde had fought hard for them to be given this chance. The other human colonies had, so far, stayed away from Underground holdings but with things progressing as they were now, it would only be a matter of time before they were stumbled upon. Years had passed since they’d last met with governmental forces of Earth, but they were still wanted men, and discovery could bring a terrible wrath down upon them all. Even worse, they were rather lacking in both manpower and supplies compared to the other established colonies, and worse yet, there was little that Hyde could do about it. --- Sergeant Hawkins let out a low whistle as he watched the fighting around the Canton Research Facility through the eyes of a pair of binoculars. “Looks like they’re really beating the hell out of each other…” Hawkins glanced back at the rest of his five man squad as they sat crouched at the top of a ridge overlooking the battlefield a fair distance away. He handed the binoculars over to Corporal Reeves so that he could have a look. “Hot damn!” Reeves said as he took his own look. “That’s a straight up slugfest that they’re doing out there…” “I heard that the other colonies were having skirmishes with each other, but this is the first time I’ve heard of them being in open conflict…” Corporal Black muttered to herself. Private Bryan stared out over the field, his hand over his eyes. “Can you tell who the players are out there, Reeves?” “Give me a minute…” Reeves mumbled. “Well… It’s obviously Canton forces that are defending here… And it looks like we’ve got AVA Mercenaries playing the aggressor here… Hmm, wonder who paid them.” Reeves handed back the binoculars to Hawkins who tapped them in his palm for a moment as he thought to himself. “I doubt we’ll find that out anytime soon…” Hawkins said, scratching his chin. “Anyways, HQ’s probably going to want to know what happens here, and we’re a little far from home to be radioing back to them, so it looks like we’ll be camping out here while our friends down there are blowing each other to bits.” There was a round of groans and complaints, but Hawkins ignored it. They were already expecting it to begin with. “Reeves, go and take Private Bryan with you and fetch the supplies from the jeep. The rest of us will stay here and keep watch.” Reeves gave a lazy “Yes, sir,” and waved for Bryan to follow him before disappearing into the trees. Hawkins turned the binoculars back to the battlefield in front of them, watching the artillery fire while Black spoke to Private Cross, the newest member of the squad. “Say, Cross… Why the hell are you still wearing that goddamned helmet?” “What do you mean?” Cross asked back. “It’s protocol to wear all protective gear when in the fie-“ “Who cares about protocol? That thing’s stuffy as all hell! Seriously, how the hell do you breathe in that?” Hawkins saw Cross shrug out of the corner of his eye. “We hiked with them back in boot camp.” “Yeah, real good way to get heat stroke in my opinion, just how many recruits passed out during these hikes of yours?” Hawkins butted in finally, deciding to end the argument. “Come on now, Black. If Cross wants to wear his helmet, let him. Long as it doesn’t slow him down.” Black rolled her eyes and grunted in affirmative. Hawkins turned over to look at Private Cross for a moment. The man was fresh out of training, and dressed in a full body suit of armor that showed zero skin, and clutched in his hands was a ZK-01, an assault rifle designed by the Underground itself. Ever since the first proper factories had started up and mining operations had gone underway, the Underground had been trying to begin standardizing Militia equipment, with the armor and rifle being such attempts. The full body armor was a simple thing, it wasn’t powered, nor did it provide any real outstanding protection other than the full body coverage, but the helmet had a few basic additions, such as a HUD and a radio system built in, and it also acted as a gas mask in case of chemical attack. The downside of all of it, of course, was the added weight, and the fact that none of the material really breathed, meaning most soldiers stuck with the more piecemeal pieces of armor they had. The ZK-01 rifle was designed by a few weapons engineers that had deserted to the Underground for one reason or another, and was designed to be rugged, reliable, and easy to maintain, a godsend considering the Underground’s current position. Still, other than new recruits, it, along with the new armor system, wasn’t used all that often just yet, as most soldiers had tried and true favorites they preferred. Cross was the rookie of the squad, having been assigned to them only a week before they were sent out on this scouting mission. Hawkins had worked with everyone else on the team for at least a month beforehand, and he’d gotten to know them well enough, but Cross was the odd man out. He seemed like a good enough person, a little too by-the-books, so to speak, but he’d probably grow out of it. Hawkins shook his head and turned his attention back to the conflict between AVA and Canton. He wondered which side would buckle first. So far it looked like Canton was on the losing side, but you never knew. Something was going down here. He could feel it in his gut.