Operation Sudden Storm: Chapter 1

Be sure to read the introduction first.

Operation Sudden Storm
Chapter 1: Snowbound

"Data Log #4:
Name:
Jose Ramirez
Date:
July 12, 2303
Location:
37°33'8.01"N
121°54'12.61"W

"Sergeant Wulfbane is leading us across the ice fields of the old bay. Everything seems okay. No enemy activity in sight. Just some hard weather seems to be coming in. It's just a slight breeze right now but it might act up in the morning. Everyone's in good shape and we'll be back at base after one more day of surveying. My batteries starting to freeze up."

The sun didn't show that morning. Harsh winds blew snow across their faces, leaving them with a line of sight only spanning a few feet. The gales of the blizzard beat against their chests in a constant, almost rhythmic, pattern. The usually calm ice-capped landscape was now a frozen death trap. Nothing lived out in this area. Maybe a few nomads scattered across the wasteland, but nothing more than that.

“Ramirez!” the man in the front yelled. With the howling of the wind, it was hard for them to even hear their own voices. “Where’s the nearest shelter?” He wore lightweight body armor covered with a thick jacket made to protect against only light winds. The wind seemed to tear right through his clothing, leaving him not even the slightest bit warm.

“My navigation equipment's dead sir!” After he had spoken, no more dialogue could be comprehendible. All of their voices were muffled and any attempt of radio equipment to transmit commands would immediately fail. With the storm gaining strength, the rules of the land were changed: Find shelter, or lose your life. It was in the old manual ­-the one that Mikkle Wulfbane studied hard from to prepare for his missions.

This was just another one. A routine sweep of the southern bank was executed once every month. Just to check if any enemy activity was present. It never seemed like any grueling training would be needed for such a mission. He remembered those days when he would work so hard each day. Every morning cadets would be woken up long before sunrise. Intense training missions and other exercises would soon follow. Exercising side by side with his comrades seemed to finally show their purpose now.

Mikkle felt a sudden jolt on his back. It was Ramirez. Unsure about what he meant, he stood there dumbfounded and shouting himself. He seemed to be mouthing words and pointing off into the distance. Turning to see what he was trying to signal, he caught a glimpse of a small knoll up ahead. But it wasn’t a knoll, it was a cave. A cave. That meant shelter. A shelter. That meant safety.

As Mikkle rushed forward to reach the group, he stumbled in the snow. Attempting to pull him back up, Ramirez felt the ground cracking beneath him. The same expression was shared by everyone. The whole squad pulled Mikkle up and ran away from the area. The area they were surveying used to be the location of a large gulf. Now the top was frozen but every now and then, a piece would give way.

Giant chunks of snow and ice gave way underneath them. Wasting out most of their energy, the group prayed that they would make it out of the breaking ice field. As the breaking subsided, they found themselves panting on the floor with their hearts throbbing with incredible speed.

As Mikkle stood up, trying to figure out where they were, he noticed that with the gales still blowing at full strength, finding shelter would not be easy. Ramirez stood up trying to locate the cave that he saw earlier. It was no where in sight. Another soldier named Peter Gaoheimer Schmidt stood up beside his comrade, aiding him in his search.

With all sense of direction lost, Mikkle started trekking through the snow. The rest of his squad followed him. With the wind blowing against them, every step drained twice as much energy as it normally would. With the team exhausted, they had to do something, and fast.

“This storms going to kill us all if we don’t get out of it soon,” a pessimistic Gauheimer cried. “We have to make our own shelter or the storm will make something out of us.”

Mikkle, turning back to see his crew, squatted down into the snow. Using his rifle, he began digging a hole in the ground. The rest of the group, not knowing how making a shelter right in the ground would help, followed anyways. After a few minutes of digging they finally had what would be a substantial shelter. Mikkle finished adding up more windbreakers on the top edges of the giant hole and sat down.

“We have to start making more progress through this storm. Ramirez, you’re coming with me.” Ramirez looked up at him with a dazed look on his face. As he jumped out of their makeshift shelter, Ramirez only started in trying to get up.

Mikkle headed into the distance scouting ahead for any resources that could come in handy. Ramirez quickly followed before he would disappear out of view. The wind seemed to subside over time but wasn’t nonexistent. After about half an hour of scouting, they finally saw something. "Look," Jose said as he pointed at a chunk of metal protruding from the ground." It seems to be a bunker." Mikkle called the rest of his team over using his SATCOM device and they excavated the entrance of the bunker. After carefully advancing through the bunker, they found it completely empty except for a suspicious looking data disc. "I'll bring this disc back to headquarters to analyze as soon as this blizzard is over," Mikkle told his team.

All of a sudden, there was a gunshot outside. More followed in burst fire fashion and sounded against the metal walls of the bunker. They started to move toward the bunker. As Mikkle's team rushed to defend the bunker, Mikkle looked outside. "Cadanian Seal Clubbers! They probably followed us when we were navigating through the storm," he yelled to his team as they returned fire. The Clubbers managed to make it to the bunker. Knocking Mikkle’s troop with brute force, they spotted the data disk. Adrenaline rushed through Mikkle’s body and his heart beat raced at an incredible speed.

Peter got up onto his knees and ran toward the fleeing Clubbers. Attempting to shoot down the one that was holding the disk, he switched to burst fire mode on his AXL-504 Anti-Personnel Assault Rifle. Seeing that Peter’s efforts were failing, Mikkle quickly stood up and pulled out a frozen banana. He dashed toward the Clubbers with amazing speed and leaped on the back of the one who held the disk, attacking him viciously on the head with the frozen banana. Peter began shooting the other Clubbers who were attacking Mikkle. After successfully putting the Clubber into submission, he took out industrial-strength whale-made fiber wire that he brought with him from headquarters.

“There’s something on this disk. We have to get it back to headquarters.” Mikkle looked up at Peter. “Get to the other troops and get them ready to move. We’re getting out of this wasteland."