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Supreme Commander Romanov
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
0730 hours local
The Kremlin, Moscow
I was typing up my after-action report.
Yellow Squadron After-Action Report
BDA: 100
Collateral Damage: Zero
Casualty rate: 20
Remarks: the media knows something has happened, but they don’t know what. As yet, no comment is being given. Any links
to Yellow Squadron will be regarded as a Federal Felony. The bombing run was a total success however; Yellow 13, the Squadron
Leader was shot down, and is MIA. Other squadron members debriefings are conflicted.
Recommendations: Ground Yellow Squadron until Yellow 13 can be found, if SAR takes longer then two weeks, place a temporary
Squadron Leader for Yellow Squadron.
I placed the report in my outbox. Yellow Squadron would read it, the Erusian Air Force would review it, and the Erusian High
Command would confirm it. I knew that this wouldn’t sit well with the Erusian Command, but it was necessary to prevent
further losses of some of there base aces.
I started mentally reviewing the debriefs.
Yellow 11 said that he saw Yellow 13 get shot and blow up in midair without ejecting. Yellow 7 said that he saw an ejection,
but no chute. Yellow 21 saw a chute, but couldn’t tell where it landed. And finally, Yellow 4 said she saw 13 belly-in
over the forest, although from her altitude she could not tell if 13 had bailed out, where he ended or even if his plane exploded
after the crash-landing.
Elena Michaels
0821 hours local
Stonehaven
I went downstairs after I woke up. As I was going down to get something to eat, when I thought I smelled gunpowder. I followed
it, and it was accompanied by the smell of death, slight decay, and-oh, god no!- a Werewolf that I didn’t recognize.
I was running now, desperately hoping I was wrong. The smell was strongest as I got to where Bird Dog was left. I opened the
door, praying to every God I knew and hoping desperately that my nose was wrong. When I saw what was behind the door, I almost
puked. The smell was overpowering and the shock was almost more then I could take.
Bird Dog was covered with vomit, blood, and bodily waste. On the ground, I saw a wolf. One of the mutts that Jeremy had almost
considered letting into the Pack on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds.
After I recovered, I ran as fast as I could to the dining room. Jeremy must have smelled my panic as soon as I got within
his scenting range. Even though he was eating, he knew something was totally and horribly wrong. He intercepted me and asked:
“what’s wrong?”
I tried to tell him what I saw, but it came out in an incoherent jumble of words. He somehow understood some of the words,
and rushed into the room where Bird Dog was. He put restraints on him, and started giving small amounts of water to keep the
pilot hydrated, and got the dead werewolf out.
I felt truly sorry for Bird Dog. One second, he was-as far as I knew- one of the best combat pilots anywhere, the next, a
werewolf. It was literally hell for me becoming one, if he was going through the same things, it had to be at least doubly
so for him. He came in practically half-dead, and again, if he was going through what I went through, there was very little
chance he would survive.
Capitan Nick Parker “Havoc”
1200 hours local
I was Para-inserted into a forest in New York State. My mission was simple: locate Yellow 13’s aircraft or the Black
Boxes, find Yellow 13, IF POSSIBLE, and retreat to the extraction point.
“This is Havoc,” I said into my EVA (Electronic Video Assistant) “I’m in. what happens if I see yeerks?”
“This is a Stealth Mission, Havoc.” General Locke, my Commanding Officer said. “As such, you have a strict
“Shoot only when shot at” policy.”
“Okay, so what do I do if this wild goose chase takes me into that city?”
“Change into your civilians, put away your weapons, and try to look like a tourist.”
“Roger that, out.” I clicked off the radio, and started making my way towards the faint signal that let me know
if I was getting closer or farther away from the Black Boxes.
I moved through the forest like a ghost, being as silent as possible. I encountered a wolf a few kilometres in. I dove for
cover in a bush and lay absolutely motionless. Normally, wolves don’t go anywhere near humans, but this one either was
too hungry not to care, or simply thought I was easy prey. I waited for a few minuets, only moving in the slightest to breathe,
staring at the wolf, waiting for it to leave. Eventually, the wolf went away, and I started walking again.
It was dark out by the time I got to Yellow 13’s fighter. I looked around, and saw that the canopy had already been
blown, or became dislodged. I took out a multi-tool, and began removing the armour in the tail section-or what was left of
it- to expose the Black Box Recorders.
I reviewed the tapes on my EVA. The Visual and Audio running at the same time. I fast-forwarded the tapes to the crash. I
saw the plane from the Visual smack down hard against the trees, the screen flash into static for a few moments, and then
clear up again as the plane crashed to a halt.
I then fast-forwarded until I saw something of interest. A wolf’s paws, then the entire wolf. It was pale yellow colour
and I thought it was the same one I had seen earlier. I heard a two howls, the second one was clearly different, but as to
how, I could not tell. The wolf vanished, then a women stepped out, and started to pry lose the canopy. The strange thing
was that she was naked. What the hell was a naked woman doing out here? I wondered. And where had she come from? At least,
the wolf shouldn’t have been around if a human was here… unless she was literally raised by wolves. I saw Mystery
Woman Number One pull out Yellow 13, and disappear off the visual sensors.
“Home Plate, this is Runner. I’ve found the plane you lost, and I’m downloading the Black Box recordings
to you now. Yellow 13 is nowhere to be seen, repeat, nowhere to be seen.”
“Understood Runner, ready to receive download,” Locke said.
I selected “DOWNLOAD” from my EVA Unit’s display, and watched the download’s progress.
“Hmm… alright, Havoc, I’ve seen the tape. We’re running an ID on this woman now, but it’ll take
some time. There are plenty of people in the Soviet Union, and we haven’t had enough time to ID everyone in that universe
either.”
“So you’re saying we don’t know who she is?” I asked
“Correct, there are on average, about seven billion people in every universe we’ve went to.” He said, sounding
slightly amused.
“Okay Locke, I’ll do a little recon myself. Over and Out.”
I went to sleep a few minuets later, in a tree. I didn’t want any forest animals on the ground to start gnawing at me
while I slept.
Elena Michaels
1200 hours local
Jeremy said for me to go take a run, so that’s what I did. It calmed my nerves when I ran, and gave me something else
to thing about. After a few minuets of running, I smelt someone. Not a werewolf and not someone who should have been here.
I saw a flash of movement as the person dove into a deep bush. From what little I could see, (my vision as a wolf is distorted
and the colours are muted.) he was staying absolutely motionless. I stared at his general area for a few minuets, saw that
he wasn’t doing anything that could even be remotely considered hostile then my wolf instincts kicked in, and I turned
and kept on running. Eventually, I decided to return to Stonehaven, but it was getting dark. Not that a wolf can’t navigate
in the night, but I didn’t want to return just yet. I had already seen one freshly turned werewolf, and it wasn’t
a pleasant experience, plus, she had died a few hours later. I didn’t want that to happen to Bird Dog. Even in the bed,
badly injured, 13 exuded an air of invincibility. Now that air was gone, plus he was facing almost certain death. Now, I’m
not one of those people who can’t handle seeing someone die. I’ve killed a few times myself, but there was something
about seeing a person I barely knew, and who seemed like a reasonably nice guy, die for no reason other then to temporally
satisfy some mutt’s craving for food.
Mutts where non-Pack werewolves. Generally, they either steal from, kill and/or often eat humans. According to my dossiers,
this particular one was just a thief though.
I eventually drifted off to sleep, knowing that Jeremy could contact me and find out where I was, but I also knew that he
would have his hands full with Bird Dog.
Chapter 4
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