Arknights: Starsfall II

Chapter 42

[ =★= U.S. Government Intranet =★= ]

Join the discord for suggestions, pictures, and very cool people:

https://discord.gg/3N584EEFXx

[ ============================ ]

"What goes bump in the night"

The command center in Sargon was up in a frenzy once more. Another platoon went missing, and now a massive chunk of a battalion has also fallen radio silent. They were getting more afraid, men and women alike was becoming more demoralized.

Tankers around the southern half of this country was noticing that the people were getting rowdier. There is more flora that is out there that was causing men to hallucinate and experience extreme Paranoia. And the weather was getting noticeably worse, showing consistency despite the different locations.

Worst of all? As more soldiers and field officers report the issues, the worst it seems to get.

"This is a serious situation and we cannot just ignore it!" stated a lieutenant who was on his feet and pointing at a map of the affected areas. And it was bad.

Patrols going into the night and not coming back, outposts going silent despite being perfectly active moments prior.

And entrenched vehicles swearing they can see something through regular optics, but when they try to use thermals everything is as cold as the arctic.

"Our Dragon Nests are preparing to deploy several special operations units into the region," a commander stated, "But we can't get any proper reconnaissance on what exactly is down there, which makes any missions extremely risky."

"Have we tried getting a few J-20s down there to do aerial reconnaissance and some strike missions?" Questioned an officer, who was looking at some reports, "We do have some airfields down there that are close enough, why don't we send out some Z-11Es or other attack aircraft?"

"We're going to," reassured a sergeant, "in time of course, we need some to remain in reserve for any incoming offensives from the Americans and their allies."

"Fair enough," the officer sat down, "But I will order a few helicopters to start going down there to try and figure out what is happening to the units, what exactly is killing our forces, and see if we can strategize against them."

"Solid enough suggestion, officer," the lieutenant replied, "But may i add that we ask our Dragon Nests to try and use their scanners to see what is down there?"

"That's unfortunately not possible," added the officer, "From what they have been telling us, anytime before a unit starts going missing, a great storm appears and it makes it difficult to any cameras or any sensors." The officer pulled up his files, "These storms are characterized by an extreme cold that masks heat signatures, and trying to penetrate it needs more 'on location' systems, like a weather balloon."

The sergeant looked over at a commander, "Do you believe that Beijing will grant a request for us to bring some Weather equipment down here?" The man nodded, crossing his arms.

"The chairwoman would find that it is a smaller risk to try and bring them over then try and bring more heavy equipment," his fingers began to tap against his upper arm, "But I cannot guarantee that we will receive any welcoming results."

A few of the soldiers guarding the room looked outside uncomfortably, noticing something that none of the command staff were as they were still tied up in trying to strategize something against the phenomena that was occurring in the south.