GATE: The United Nations of Earth

Chapter 46: "Priority: Lost and Found"

--Somewhere in the Kark forest--

After a few hours of carefully but hastily navigating the forest, the SIFs are now close to the origin point of the fog. They are now almost out of ammo after fighting hordes after hordes of undead to get here. Ava can see the 2 mages through her helmet screen, heavily protected by a horde of skeletons while they are performing the spells. One of them is drawing the life of the children in the cages around him to release the dark fog while the other is keeping the barrier up. Unlike the barrier back in Sadera, this one is only slightly over the trees' top and flat instead of a dome.

Despite being powerful dark mages, the protective methods that these mages put up do not take advanced modern weaponry into account. While it is extremely hard to approach them directly and the trees are blocking a direct line of fire from arrows or even ancient firearms, the TAC suit could easily allow the SIFs to see through the trees and the PAS-5 bullet is powerful enough to punch through the trees and hit its mark.

Ava uses hand signals to order 2 SIFs to take a shot at the mages. One bullet to the head, each, they drop dead instantly. As soon as the spell is disrupted, the horde of undead around them also drops to the ground like puppets without strings. The Fog quickly clears up and the comms connection returns as the barrier disappears.

"...ease come in, over" the radio cracks as the link is established "Sierra 5, Sierra 5, this is Recon Four Two (42), please come in, over" a soldier of a reconnaissance team just right outside of the forest repeating while the rest of his team is keeping watch.

Thanks to the satellite network in orbit of the planet, Alnus Command has been monitoring the SIFs since they were teleported into the forest. When the barrier in the forest was up, all life sign or any reading other than visual images got cut. In addition, the situation of Rondel got worse and the only message they got from the embassy was an SOS before the barrier expanded and cut all transmission and scan. General Nguyen decided to dispatch 2 recon teams, carried by 2 D-20Bs, to the region. The 2 teams would be conducting a search and rescue mission to find the SIFs while the 2 D-20Bs would cloak above the Rondel dome and report the situation as best as they could.

"Recon 42, this is Sierra 5 lead, copy you loud and clear. What the hell is going on? TACNet intel is all over the place, over." Ava replies.

"It's great to hear from you Sierra 5. We were hoping that you were able to tell us what happened. Approximate 4 hours ago we lost contact with you and Rondel 2 hours ago. When we arrived, we could only visually observe the chaos that is happening in Rondel while none of our scanning equipment could pierce through the dome. Our order is to make contact with you and try to get you back into Rondel...somehow. Let us know what you need, over." The operative reports.

"Why does it have to be a mess everything single time?" Rob mumbles.

"What do you know about the situation in Rondel? Over." Ava asks again.

"Unknown force engaged the embassy before the dome expanded. Our recon D-20Bs observed at least 2 opposite sizes are engaging each other as well as our assets within the city, they also seem to engaging with the Imperial forces as well. We've been using light signals to talk with our people inside the city but they don't know anything more than we do. Command considered breaking the dome and sending reinforcement in, but we're not detecting any energy signature from the dome. Therefore, we don't know the appropriate amount of firepower to break it. Too much could wipe everything out including the city, too little might do nothing and risk the people of Rondel to believe we're trying to attack them. That's all we know so far. Over" comes the reply.