ABS FIESTA - LOCKED EDITION

[Mr. Hurricane]

The requisitions laptop shows nothing new, at least for now, so I requisition some nice research instead put the laptop away and head to the rec room.

[Ad Bot]

[Swat 3]

Eventually the news program on the TV begins displaying aerial images of the aftermath of the mission just flown by your teammates. You still can't tell what anyone's saying, but the pictures say enough. The images get a bit more personal, coming down to ground level and showing you in detail the corpses scattered everywhere, the burned-out and destroyed vehicles, and the soldiers who were incinerated as they tried to bail out, their upper layers of skin totally blasted away, leaving only blackened muscle behind and a grisly skull-like grin on their face. Oddly enough, the occupants in one of the transport trucks had their hands bound behind their back, and Kintharian flag patches on their shoulders.

I hold my hand up to my mouth. "How did we not know?" I then remember the images of the gruesome end to the enemy's lives that were shown moments before, my feelings broken because the proof of seeing our allies being killed by our own. "They died a horrible death, too. All of them." Disbelief. All of it.

[mlockha]

Obrad sits on his bunk, drinking a beer.

[Gojira]

"Holy hell."
That's all I'm able to say... unless...
"Hey, what if that's edited, or planted there?"
I'm in disbelief myself. I'm trying to rationalize the deaths of the Kintharians. I can't tell if those are actually Kintharians because of how burned the uniforms are.

[mlockha]

no one thinks that a soldier could have been put in a kintharians uniform

[Gojira]

no one thinks that a soldier could have been put in a kintharians uniform

that's what steele's kind of thinking
he's thinking the patch was planted there
Could it be that it's a Huitz soldier in a Kintharian uniform? I don't know. Too unrecognizable.

[Swat 3]

"What if? This was a POW transport! How could have command not have known?!" I begin to get angry, a little pit inside of me believing that they are... bad, but I push it to the side.

[Qwepir]

Could it be that it's a Huitz soldier in a Kintharian uniform? I don't know. Too unrecognizable.

Of course, when they're retreating they would absolutely take the time to put on another soldier's uniform and tie their hands behind their back so they can't quickly escape their vehicle should they run into danger.

[Swat 3]

Of course, when they're retreating they would absolutely take the time to put on another soldier's uniform and tie their hands behind their back so they can't quickly escape their vehicle should they run into danger.

uhm sir reply to PM SIR

[Gojira]

Of course, when they're retreating they would absolutely take the time to put on another soldier's uniform and tie their hands behind their back so they can't quickly escape their vehicle should they run into danger.

this is true
i was more thinking that the uniforms were planted there, idk
maybe the patches were planted
"I doubt Command would intentionally have us destroy POW transports unless the prisoners were carrying valuable information. I don't know."

[Swat 3]

"Oh, alright, no biggy, totally not just try to rescue the POWs!"

[ZombiLoin]

Simon flips through the channels on the TV in the recreation room, eventually coming to a news channel. A low voice emits from the TV's speakers. There's some static in the voice, but it only becomes noticeable when his voice yells. The reception here isn't great, but you can probably blame the brass for that.

"This is NCNN on Channel 4 bringing you news of the complete rout of Huitzitlaotani forces on the Tampa expressway. This so-called "Highway of Death" laid down by our Air Force destroyed what was left of several divisions. After a series of victories against Lieutenant General Toltecatl 61st, 62nd, and 101st infantry and armored divisions, the cowardly remnants of this savage force tried to retreat over allied land. Our troops who had just routed them were resting, so the boys in green took a backseat and watches as the boys in the air cleaned up the rest of them. Here are what some of our onlookers had to say."

A 1st lieutenant appeared on the screen. His clothes were nice and ironed, he was wearing a clean and new uniform with no flak vest or helmet. The tall, lanky lieutenant, with bright grey eyes, a handsome face, and combed brown hair, had obviously been chosen as a PR stunt by top brass.

"Y'know, we had just whipped them quite a bit. They tried to take one of our towns, y'know, ship everyone out who could work and kill all the rest, and we wouldn't let 'em, y'know. We don't believe in slavery so these guys- like savages- just come and think that we'd let 'em take our allies like that. So we gave 'em something to think about. When we were done what was left of 'em took and left, like a bunch'a cowards.
"We were tired a bit, so our highest CO here, General Fulton, he said we could jus' take a little break. 'let the fliers take them out'. So we did. We looked at 'em through some binoculars, and we saw 'em all go pop. Explosion here, explosion there, sometimes they ripped 'em up with cannon fire. It was a pretty wild sight. Deserve it though.
"Sucks that we're going to have to clean everythin' up though. Gotta use a vaccum-"

The 1st lieutenant starts to chuckle. Simon changes the channel.

[Operator¹]

I find some of the parts I'm looking for and send in a requisition order, the most unusual items on the list are the fiber optic cable bundles and a new avionics system. I continue to calibrate my Hornet's avionics and flight control system, trying to squeeze better reaction times out of the controls.

[mlockha]

Obrad walks into the recreation room, spotting Simon.

"It is not good to watch news while in the military, Simon."

[Mr. Hurricane]

A news report comes on a TV screen in the rec room, talking about today's action. They have some mouth breathing leutenant come on screen as an "eyewitness report," or some stuff. After the short report, the channel is changed.

"I didn't know they let sociopaths into public relations, sounds like a contradiction in terms," I say to the squadron mate in the room.