Ceo

  Main Bunker

  August 5th, 2153, 18:24 hours

  I entered the War Room, I was met with all the Majors who were waiting in the room for me.

  “Took you long enough.” Said Punisher, who was sitting on the ground. I saw a couple of the majors doing cards, but had stopped as I came in.

  “Well I was biking at least a total of 8 miles on unpaved roads.” I responded.

  “You really ought to invest in chairs or change the meeting location Colonel.” Village said, who was also sitting on the ground.

  “Alright I get it, I was slow. Sorry, but thank you for coming and staying when y’all realized I wasn’t going to be here for a while. But let's get to the reasons why we are here.” I said.

  Shark finally spoke, “What’d you find there?” He asked.

  I moved to my desk as I answered, as the others stood up “Well for one an entirely partially automated base with a giant D.E.A.D System built into it with a highly sophisticated Computer Program running the entire thing. That's what's physically there at least, but it goes deeper than that. For one the US has been here at least since 70 years ago.” I said.

  “What? Why haven’t I heard of this before?” Shark asked.

  I gave a sigh, “This will take a moment to explain so I suggest you all sit down for this.” I moved from my desk so I could see them, as all the Majors sat down on the ground.

  “Alright so…”

  ………

  CeoMain Bunker

  August 5th, 2153, 18:50 hours

  It took about 20 minutes to explain everything that I had both found and explain both GEARS and Gunther's story.

  “Any questions?” I asked.

  Everybody's hands shot up, “Village.” I said to the kid.

  Village hesitated in his question, “Are you sure it's been 20 years?” He asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t know actually, the computers there say it's 2153, but my internal experience says it's still 2133. Anything else?” I asked.

  Another set of hands shot up, and I picked some, and this happened for the next 30 minutes, questions were asked and I tried to answer to the best of my abilities. And by the end of it everybody was shocked, some showed it through hurriedly talking with their neighbors, others simply checked out, only Shark was the one who looked like he was functioning.

  “And one more thing, I’d like to add before y’all leave to go back.” I said, garnering the attention of everybody who looked at me, “Don’t tell your companies about this, don’t tell your lieutenants I will announce this information when I think it’ll do the least harm possible. I don’t want our forces to be grieving any more than they were before.” I said.

  All the majors silently nodded, “Before y’all are dismissed, I would like to add this is a good sign for us, we have a known route of getting back home, we just need to work together, focusing on surviving and eventually hopefully get into contact with Earth, Mars, Venus whoever to send a ship to pick us up no matter how long it takes. Got it?” I asked.

  “Yes ma’am.” They all added.

  “Now, onto the security crisis we have currently. Shark, do you have any new information on our visitors?” I asked.

  The rest of the majors were brought back from their silence, as they all murmured things but had quickly gotten quiet.

  “I do, I don’t have any papers y’all can read from. But the map will do fine in explaining the situation.” Shark said.

  I grabbed the rolled up map and the big box of chess pieces from my desk and handed the big map to Shark who with the help of the others quickly straightened it out. I got up to join them as everybody crowded around the map.

  Shark now with the stick started explaining the situation, “So far we’ve counted at least 2000 lizards, all carrying guns. They are located along a concrete wall designed a bit like a medieval castle with an open air top with cover; they have positioned troops evenly across most of the length of the top, along with what appears to be a few Napoleonic war field cannons.” Shark explained.

  “The cannons are evenly placed along the wall, recon squads counted a total of 5 cannons on the top of the North facing wall. The lizard's weaponry appears to consist mostly of bolt action rifles, with a few LMGs placed in between, but from what we’ve seen they don’t have weaponry any more powerful or faster than that.” Shark explained, placing five rooks evenly placed along the front of the walls which were North. He continued on, “The wall has 3 main gates, each one fortified with basic trenches and dirt work with a small squad stationed there. Each gate leads to long wide roads,wide enough to fit a tank on the inside, though it should be noted we might have difficulty getting any armor we send through the forest. The area around the walls is clear with little cover for several hundred feet but it is wide and flat.” Shark explained, he turned to the others, “Any questions?” He asked.

  Punisher was the first to ask, “I would like to ask, have we even answered whether or not they are hostile, because you said there weren’t any goblins with them.” He asked.

  “Our recon squads haven’t had direct contact with the lizards, only eye contact with them.” Shark answered.

  Punisher gave a sigh, “So the answer is no, we don’t know why they are actually here. I think we need to consider the possibility that the place they are occupying was there before we arrived.”

  “He is right.” Fish said, “We know nothing about them, for all we know they could not be a part of that nation mentioned before. What was it called again?” He asked.

  “Hlpecbyg.” I answered.

  “Yeah, them. I say we prepare for the worst but hope for the best, and that is they are friends.” Fish said.

  I spoke next, “Well, I’d prefer not to have a battle with a group that outnumbers us two to one. So let's try and make first contact, Shark, start drawing up plans to fight them just in case they aren’t friendly, and Punisher you start making a gift basket to open up dialogue, something you’ll think they won’t take the wrong way.” I ordered.

  The two nodded.

  “What about us ma’am?” Fish asked.

  “That is a good question, give Punisher as much help you and your companies possibly can with getting together the gift basket. Other than that, continue with what you were doing before, and also have your companies be prepared to fight if it comes to it.” I said.

  They all nodded, “Anything else?” I asked.

  There were shaking heads, and no ma’ams. I nodded, “Get to work we have a long night ahead of us. Return to your companies.” I ordered.

  The other Majors started to leave the War Room, Punisher was the only one remaining.

  “Punisher what is it?” I asked.

  “Colonel, I wish for you to join me in our attempt at First Contact.” He said.

  “Alright, I will be there with you.” I said, Punisher nodded. “I will meet you here outside tomorrow at 12:00 PM. It's 8:30 PM, go back to your company and start working on the gift basket.” I said.

  Punisher nodded, “Got it. Good night Colonel.” He said, turning to leave.

  “Good night, Diplomat Punisher.” I said, turning into my room for the night.

  ”Colonel?” Punisher said as I was about enter the room.

  ”Yes?” I asked, turning to face him.

  ”Have you eaten yet?” He asked.

  I shook my head, “No, I guess I forgot to eat.” I said.

  Punisher nodded, “Do you want me to send you some cooked fish?” He asked.

  ”Yes… that would be nice. Thank you.” I said.

  ”Alright, I’ll make sure your dinner gets sent here. Also by the way there is now silverware a Lieutenant apparently had thousands of them buried in a box.” He said.

  I nodded “That’s cool. Good night Punisher.” I said.

  I waited for him to respond, “Good night Ceo.” He said.

  The main door to the war room silently closed shut with a quiet and satisfying click, I entered my room and turned on the light, I exhaustedly moved to the restroom to do my business and then took a shower which felt quite nice to simply rinse off all the dirt and grime I built up over the last few days. Granted I wasn’t fully clean but it still felt better.

  In the middle of my meticulous scrubbing with my hands there was knock on the door to my room.

  ”Colonel!” Someone from the other side yelled.

  I turned off the shower, “Yes!” I yelled back, moving closer to the door Of the restroom to hear them better.

  “Is it fine if I put your dinner on the main war room desk?” They asked.

  ”Um, yes that will be fine.” I responded.

  ”Got it I’ll be outside waiting, Orders from Major Punisher.” They said.

  ”’l’ll be done soon.” I said.

  ”If you don’t mind asking, are you taking a shower?” They asked.

  ”Yes, I am. There's running water with proper plumbing in all the bunkers apparently.” I answered.

  ”Got it.” They awkwardly said, after that they got silent.

  After that I went back to showering. wished I had soap, all I had was a rag. But my shower was quickly over and I started to dry off and then I grabbed a new pair of sleep clothes.

  After that I went outside Into the War Room where I was met with a private next to my desk. A bowl of all things covered with aluminum foil for insulation was on my desk. With silverware neatly placed to the sides and a cup as well, like the way silverware is placed at a fancy restraunt would.

  ”It’s fish fillet ma’am, the cooks made it on special order just for you.” The private said.

  I nodded, and I sat down, “I apologize if I don’t have anything better for you. AllI have is water.” The private said, as he removed the aluminum foil

  ”Thank you, water is fine.” I sat down as I got a look at the fish fillet.

  ”You know what's funny, this is the first time I’ve actually had fish that wasn’t printed or grown on a farm in space.” I said.

  ”Well I had you enjoy it.” He said.

  ”I will, thank you.” I said, and I started digging into the fish fillet. I was hungrier than I thought.

  ”I’ll be waiting here until you're done.” The private said.

  After five minutes of eating, downing a cup of water.

  ”I think we need a dedicated place where the Majors eat together while going over plans. Then a small room with a lot of open floor space.” I said to the Private who came over to pick up my empty bowl and cup.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  ”I completely agree, Colonel and I would like to work there if you wouldn’t mind.” He said.

  I nodded, as I pushed back from my desk, careful not to hit the rifle rack behind me. “I’ll make sure you are the head server Mr?” I asked.

  The Private paused, he seemed to be taken a back, “I would like to ask, if such a you’re envisioning is built are expecting to be able to hold a variety of things? Like hosting people of importance?” He asked.

  I thought about it for a few seconds, “Sure, if its place where the Majors and I meet up, why not.” I answered.

  ”Then how about I go with the name of Mr. Cromwell.” He said in a very regal sounding British accent that was a sudden shift from his normal American Accent.

  “Alright Mr. Cromwell, welcome to the job of serving us or whatever we are going to call it.” I said.

  Mr. Cromwell gave a smirk, and held out a hand and I took. “Have pleasant dreams Colonel, and may you wake up refreshed tomorrow. For another long day of this.”

  ”Good night Mr. Cromwell, and you have pleasant dreams as well.” I responded.

  He nodded, ”I’ll take these.” He said grabbing my bowl, cup and silverware. As I got up to go to bed, tiredness from eating taking over my body.

  …………

  Ceo

  Outside of the Main Bunker

  August 6th, 2153, 11:55 Hours

  I saw Shark and Punisher arrive at the Bunker, they were escorted by a small squad of Stormtroopers. Punisher was surprisingly well groomed and not wearing a Kyntari Uniform, but a Tuxedo of sorts. Shark was still in his uniform.

  “Good Morning, y’all are on time.” I said, “And you Punisher look quite spiffy in that Tuxedo of yours.” I said.

  “Thank you ma’am, It took me a while to find where I had put it in my room. But I did.” He said, I looked at his hand and saw he was carrying a box with a handle.

  “What are our gifts to strangers?” I asked.

  “I kept it simple, I added some basic medical supplies no healing syringes though, a watch, and a small Jewel I had laying on my desk.” Punisher said.

  “I’m guessing you had some random stuff in your imported rooms before the game had shut down?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I did.” He said.

  We turned towards the south, where the walled complex was towards, “You ready?” I asked.

  “Yes, I am. I hope this doesn’t turn violent.” He said.

  “Don’t worry,” Said a Lieutenant Stormtrooper, putting a hand on Punisher's right shoulder. “We got your backs, we’ll pull you out there at the first sign of aggression. Though that Tuxedo of yours might be dirtied.” He said.

  Punisher nodded, “Alright.”

  I turned to Shark and his Stormtroopers, “I’m guessing your men have been briefed?” I asked.

  “I would’ve chosen Bomlitz and his squad for this, but you have him guarding Charlie Base.” Shark said.

  The Lieutenant gave a salute, “Don’t worry sir, our only orders are to pull out the messengers not to fight god. That's what the artillery we presighted are for.”

  “Oh, yeah. Your plan if they turn out to be hostile?” I asked.

  “I had artillery crews presight the general area, it was some basic trigonometry. Though depending on how fast the artillery shoot we may be way off for your get away.” Shark warned.

  “Duly noted, though I hope you have an artillery spotter?” I asked.

  “There is, I had grabbed two of the radios you brought back. I’ll be commanding the artillery, a soldier will be out there spotting. The other half of the plan is to have everyone pick up their rifles and encircle the walls.” Shark said.

  I nodded, “A siege then.” I turned to Punisher, “Let's get moving, we don't know if they are going to attack or not. Also Shark I hope you have great timing.” I said.

  “Don’t I may have commanded an occupation force but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to enact a military operation.” He said with a smirk, “Good luck Colonel, Major Punisher.”

  I nodded, “Let's get moving.” I said.

  Punisher, the Stormtroopers, and I did so, we turned south and started walking towards the forest.

  “Do you have an idea of what to say to get their attention?” I asked Punisher.

  “I was just thinking Hello, we are (whatever we are naming ourselves), can we be friends?” Punisher said.

  “That is a good question, what is our name?” I asked.

  “Ma’am may I speak.” A Private Stormtrooper asked.

  “Go ahead.” I said.

  “How about Palisade? that's our nation's name, and we are Palisadians.” They said, voice slightly muffled.

  I thought it over for a second, and then nodded “That's a good name actually. I like it, Punisher?” I asked.

  “Yeah, so I am going to say Hello, we are Palisade, can we be friends? And then I place down the gift basket and we go from there.” He said.

  “First time?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I spent my life studying the art of diplomacy. Granted I haven’t finished my studies in full yet, but hopefully I know enough to not mess this up.” Punisher said.

  “It’ll really depend on how they react, you’ll be fine.” I said.

  Punisher nodded, and he remained quiet as did everyone else, we simply continued walking through the forest, after 10 more minutes of walking the forest had suddenly stopped. Opening to a wide open field, to my right was the wall we had seen on the map.

  Punisher looked around and shook him and turned to me and the rest of us, “I say we go back into the forest and approach them directly from the front, and not the side. Stormtroopers you will remain in the forest, Lieutenant you and another Stormtrooper of your choice will go out with us, you will remain behind us when we’re out in the open. I want to come off as a non-hostile.” He said.

  I nodded, “Should I go out unarmed?” I asked.

  “Well this an attempted peaceful first contact, I don’t know why you decided to come fully kitted like you were going to command an invasion force. At the very least, keep your smg hidden, it's small enough to hide on your back, but the carbine remains with one of the Stormtroopers.” Punisher said.

  I nodded and I grabbed my carbine and handed it to one of the Stormtroopers, after that we moved to our right a few hundred yards.

  ”Ok this is a good spot to come out of the forest now, come out slowly with your hands visible, don't make any sudden moves.” Punisher said.

  I nodded, “Got it, so hands visible and we slowly would come out of the forest. Do we just approach them, or what?” I asked.

  ”I was just thinking we would slowly walk up to around halfway to the wall, place down our giftbox and back off a few dozen paces. Let them come out, assuming they are peaceful.” Punisher said.

  ”Alright,” I nodded, “Are we ready?” I asked.

  ”Yeah.” Punisher said.

  A quick look over at him told me he looked a bit panicked, and I don’t blame him. Meeting with aliens that have a history of possibly being hostile isn’t going to calm someone down.

  “Alright let's go, Lieutenant, your pick?” I asked.

  The stormtrooper nodded and turned to one of his troopers “Corporal you are with me, you two stay on standby to support pull in case things go south.” The Lieutenant ordered, they gave a nod.

  ”Alright.” Punisher said, “Colonel, come out next to me, and stormtroopers stay behind us.” He ordered.

  I gave a nod, as did the two stormtroopers. “Let’s go.” Punisher ordered, and I stepped through the vegetation out into the noon sun out into a dried field of grass, the fortified lizards were around a hundred yards away.

  The wall they held was concrete, two stories tall. I could see what appeared to be outcrops on the top of the wall, openings that looked to be designed to provide cover for defenders. At the bottom I could see all three gates, each one closed with a large metal gate, in front of that was what seemed to be basic trench work in front of the gate. Flanking each gate's side were towers that rose a story above the rest of the surrounding wall.

  I could see some lizards move about on the top of the wall, and the tower despite the distance we were from them.

  “I feel like we’ve caught their attention.” I said to Punisher.

  ”Yep, they certainly see us.” He responded.

  We continued on getting closer about 50 yards away now, Punisher stopped and so did I and the stormtroopers. Punisher placed his gift basket onto the ground, and took a step back, I copied him.

  I couldn’t tell much of what the lizards were doing, I saw a dozen lizards expose themselves from their cover. They just stood there like they were watching.

  “Should we yell something, or what?” I asked.

  “We are quite far from them, they probably don’t see the gift we have.” Punisher answered.

  “We could get a little closer, they probably just see us standing here.” I said.

  “Let's give them a minute, they are probably just a little scared. We just appeared out of the forest out of nowhere.”

  I silently nodded, and continued watching the wall. There seemed to be a bit of an altercation between two lizards on the wall, I couldn’t hear anything of what they were saying. After a few more moments the altercation between the two lizards had quickly ended.

  “I think they were just debating a course of action right now.” I said.

  “Yeah.” Punisher said, I kept my eye on the wall.

  *BANG* A gunshot went off from somewhere. Then pain erupted from my shoulder, I took a slow step backwards, I instinctively looked downwards, towards the source of the pain.

  Blood was coming out of my left arm, and it was partly limp, the smallest movement had only made the pain flare. I slowly and groggily looked back up, I was slowly getting dragged along into the forest, I saw a bit of grass and dirt get thrown up into the air. I heard distant or muffled gunshots, overpowered by the ringing in my ears.

  “The hell… happened?” I muttered, the pain that was coming from my left arm was mostly gone now, just a slight sting.

  I looked to my left, I was getting carried by one of the stormtroopers, and to my right was Punisher. I was no longer looking at the fortifications but we were back in the forest.

  “Colonel!” I heard Punisher distantly yell in front of me.

  I looked up, I was no longer being carried by him or the stormtrooper. I was on the ground, in the forest, the Private Stormtrooper was busy messing with the medkit they had to the left of me.

  “Colonel!” Punisher yelled again, “What did you give her?” He asked, looking to my left where the stormtrooper was.

  “Nothing, I’m guessing it's adrenaline in her body.”

  The grogginess I had experienced ended, as I became alert.

  “What adrenaline?” I asked.

  “You're awake now, you’re alive.” Punisher said he looked pretty similar to how Ronin looked after Ronin and I fought the goblins. Panicked and he looked like he was moments away from a panic attack.

  “Yes, I am awake and alive. What do you mean by adrenaline?” I asked.

  “You were shot, don’t move.” Punisher said.

  “I was shot? I don’t feel any pain, I feel fine.” I said, after that I looked down at my body, I saw bandages wrapping my left shoulder, lower abdomen and right leg. All were greatly bloodied, and I realized that I was numb in the parts of the body that were wrapped in the bandages.

  “You have bullets in your body that need to be removed before we can use a healing solution. So you can’t move.” Punisher explained.

  “I don’t remember getting shot at, hell one moment I was standing out in the field, the next I was taking a step back. I don’t remember why I was taking a step back and the next I was here, on this tree.” I said.

  Punisher looked at the ground, “Well I remember you were screaming like a banshee, before you had passed out.”

  “I’m guessing it was the Lizards that had shot me?” I asked.

  “They were not friendly, and Shark had begun his bombardment the moment we were back in the forest.” Punishers hands were covered in blood.

  I nodded, the most worrying part about this is that I don’t feel a sting at all. “Did y’all give me a painkiller as well?” I asked.

  “I don’t have painkillers in my medkit.” The medic said, “and as I said it's probably the adrenaline.”

  “I’ve gotten shot before, adrenaline should only be leaving stings. Yet I feel nothing, are you sure I have bullets in me?” I asked.

  “Have you tried moving?” The medic deadpanned, he seemed annoyed at me now.

  I attempted to move my left shoulder, and nothing happened. My shoulder muscles weren’t moving no matter how hard I tried, “I think my arm is paralyzed.” I said.

  The medic got up and picked me up by my right arm, “We need to get moving, again, if your arm is paralyzed that's not a good sign for you.” He said, I leaned on him as I realized that my right leg wouldn’t move as well.

  “I agree, we’ve stopped for long enough, and the Colonel is awake.” The Lieutenant said.

  Punisher picked me up by my left arm, the movement of my arm didn’t hurt at all either.

  “Hey be careful you may make whatever internal bleeding the colonel has worse!” The medic said.

  “Sorry.” He said, “Are you ok Colonel?”

  “As in am I in pain? Then yeah, I don’t feel anything right now in my body. Hell, I don't even know if I’m cold or hot, what makes you think I’ll feel a broken bone right now?” I inquired, the medic got moving as did Punisher and the other stormtroopers who were flanking us two.

  “Well, we don’t know much about these new bodies of ours. I don’t know how you feel right now so I can’t say.” Punisher answered.

  “You sound like you're not in pain, but trust me it's the adrenaline, you’ll feel it once it's gone. Assuming that's before we get you back to the main bunker for some basic surgery.” The medic said.

  “I hope this paralysis goes away with the adrenaline.” I muttered.

  We continued on silently through the forest, though the forest wasn’t silent as the sound of artillery firing had grown louder the closer we got to the main bunker.

  “I would like to ask.” I broke the silence everyone was following the last ten minutes.

  “What is it?” Punisher asked.

  “Did the Lizards follow us, or did they just shoot me? Or did they try to shoot everyone?” I asked.

  It took Punisher a moment to answer, “Well… they shot you first, with the first bullet getting you in the abdomen, then they tried to shoot all of us. They were able to get a couple of shots onto the stormtroopers but the lieutenant had gotten in front of me, as Private Perkins dragged you away from the battle. That's where your other gunshot wounds came from, the shoulder was from when you were getting dragged out from the field, and the leg wound was from when you were in the forest.” Punisher explained.

  “And how long has it been since I was shot?” I asked.

  “About 25 minutes, we spent about five minutes tending to your wounds.” Punisher said.

  I nodded, “Alright.” My eyes were quite heavy. “Hey, is it alright for me to pass out?” I mumbled. It was impossible to keep my eyelids open.

  “She must have internal bleeding.” I heard Perkins say, “We gotta get moving!”