July 2076
Chicago Metro Airspace
Central Territory
United States of America

“Everybody strap in, we are go for landing at O’Hare International, over,” the pilot piped into the speakers of the plane.

The cabin of the Vertical Ascent Utility Light Transport, or VAULT, thrummed as the rotating jet engines tilted slightly in anticipation of their landing at Chicago International Airport. The plane was a special model designed by the US Army for deployment during the Northern Wars. Two sets of wings jutted out from either side of the sleek body. The front wings helped with stabilization while the back wings proved the lift needed for prolonged flights. But it was the swiveling engines that gave the VAULT the unique function as both a troop transport and a battlefield attack vehicle. The engines could swivel to allow for full vertical take off and hovering, or be leveled off for long range flights. The VAULT line of aircraft had already all but replaced helicopters within many of the world’s military forces and models were now becoming cheap enough that contractors could also acquire them for use.

“Alright, everyone, we are dropping down on approach. Remember, this isn’t a vacation. When we hit the deck, we are out the door and across the tarmac to the staging area. Don’t leave anything here that might need, as Captain Sorenson will not be making any return trips,” Blake said to those assembled in the belly of the aircraft. They totaled fifty strong and would meet another detachment from Lionheart’s branch in Chicago later in the day. The combined force would be just over one hundred in all, and their company would only represent about one fifth of the total armed presence at the conference.

Alex watched their decent out the window to his right. It was early morning, with the sun barely cresting the distant horizon. He could make out the lights of the suburbs, twinkling as the network of homes and businesses slowly grew denser while the plane continued its drop through the clouds. After a few minutes he could see the buildings starting to rise as the aircraft approached the downtown flyover portion of its flight path. Alex heard the engine pivots activate and felt the small craft roll right as they approached the airport. The shimmering greens and blues of the neon tarmac landing lights illuminated the early morning. Then he looked past the runway and was amazed by the sight he saw. Several gasps from some of the other newly recruited members let Alex know he wasn’t alone in his amazement.

Where Oakvale had seemed impressive and Monterey overwhelming, Chicago put both cities to shame. More than thirty skyscrapers jutted up into the hazy cloud cover, many of their tops masked by the clouds above. The city was encircled by a massive circular highway structure of some sort, though Alex couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was.

“There’s the MagLev Rapid Transit. Fastest commuter rail system in the world,” Jimmy said, surprising several of those around him with the helpful comment. “My grandpa was a big time train enthusiast. He used to drone on and on about the wonders of MagLev technology and how Chicago had put the finest minds to work to build their system.”

“Chicago is home to more than 7 million people inside the metropolitan limits,” explained the pilot of the VAULT. Captain Karyn Sorenson, the stern woman he had met back before even entering basic training, was the head of the mechanical and air crew for Lionheart. She had personally volunteered to fly them into and out of Chicago, not wanting to trust such an important mission to anyone but herself. “After the Northern Wars, their population boom demanded new infrastructure. There’s only so much traffic you can deal with, even after they built the level two streets. Half of those skyscrapers you see are residential only and they are always building new ones.”

Alex could only nod at the information. The lights splashed every hue imaginable across his eyes. Advertising screens flashed product lines across their brilliant faces, a riot of colored lights that flickered across the city as the metropolis awoke and began the day. Alex was so engrossed with the view that he jumped as the wheeled landing struts of the aircraft jolted upon touchdown.

“The assembly area is straight out the door, three hundred feet, give or take,” Yoshito bellowed above the din of the engines and high-pitched whining of the gears as the rear door of the craft slowly opened. “When you get outside, keep moving, or you’ll trip up everyone in the line. You’ll have plenty of time for the view on our way to our lodgings. And watch your step, this place is a madhouse on a good day.”

Light flooded into the previously dim cabin as the cargo bay door dropped down to assume its alternate function as a ramp for debarkation. Alex squinted against the brightness and quickly pushed his sunglasses down from the bill of his sun hat onto the bridge of his nose. The world took on a brownish hue as the rays of the sun dimmed. Alex could see trucks and jeeps rolling by outside their aircraft, strapped with all types of weapons, ammunition boxes, and various other pieces of mystery cargo for the upcoming conference. 

“Lots of hardware out there,” Shawn mumbled behind Alex. “Looks like they brought in some serious firepower for this.”

“The entire upper echelon of the government will be present at the convention, Woods,” Yoshito replied from the very back of the group. “Did you think were were just bringing riot shields and batons?” Raucous laughter echoed around the cabin and then quieted as the door finally slammed down onto the black asphalt of the tarmac. Yoshito repeated his instructions on the rally point, then yelled, “Move out!”

Alex jogged forward after the man in front of him, a rifleman in Blake’s personal squad named Gerald. He was a quiet young man, probably a couple years older than Alex, and they had spent most of the flight in silence. Now Alex heard him wondering at the immensity of the city as it towered up before them.

“That’s one hell of a city,” Gerald said, his neck craning as he looked out at the buildings the spiked up and down along the skyline. Alex noticed Gerald was slowing, and gently pushed him ahead a bit.

“That it is, but keep in mind you’re first in line,” Alex said quietly. “Set the pace, we can look at the skyline later.” 

Gerald nodded without looking back and picked up the pace. As their feet pounded rhythmically against the pavement, Alex took the few minutes to observe the environment around him. Unlike the other cities he had previously visited, Chicago showed almost no signs of natural landscape. The air was warm, but carried a thick, almost sticky note.

“Damn it’s humid here,” Shawn said behind Alex, mirroring his own thoughts. “I’m sweating all over and we haven’t been out more than a minute.”

“Aren’t you from the southern part of the territory, Shawn?” Alex said over his shoulder, laughing at his friend’s discomfort. “This can’t be much hotter than it is down there.”

“Paso Robles is warm, but it’s not sticky wet warm like this,” Shawn muttered glumly. “Give me dry heat over wet heat any day.”

“Quit the whining, Woods. We’ll only be here a week and if your hair starts to friz we’ll just shave it all off again, OK?” Blake yelled from the back of the pack, eliciting another round of laughter from the rest of the team at Shawn’s expense.

Alex shook his head and shared in the laugh, but he understood Shawn’s complaints. Even growing up in Oakvale, summers were hot and dry. Alex could feel the moisture everywhere too. His gloved hands felt wet and gummy and his shirt clung to his skin like he had just run a two mile sprint.

“Don’t worry, Shawn,” Alex shouted back to his friend. “We’re on ground floor duty, so we’ll be inside with the air conditioning keeping you dry and cool.” 

Shawn groaned at the thought of being comfortable and the laughter of the rest of the team grew. Alex even thought he heard Yoshito’s scoffing laughter somewhere in the din of voices.

The laughing died down as the group assembled in the staging area. Weapons and packs were checked and rechecked before Blake gave a thumbs-up to the pilot of the VAULT, who saluted back, fired up the aircraft’s engines, and quickly climbed into the air, heading south away from the city. Alex watched the retreating silhouette of the aircraft for a few minutes, as it seemed to float effortlessly away from the city. He watched it until it disappeared over the horizon. As the aircraft slipped from sight, a new type of vehicle hove into view.

“Commander, what are those?” Alex asked Blake, pointing to the train of boxy vehicles driving across the airport’s tarmac toward the assembling military contractors.

“APCs, Alex, Armored Personnel Carriers,” Blake replied without even looking. “Or as I like to think of them, our sweet rides for the duration of our stay in this lovely city.” 

He walked past Alex, motioning for him to follow. Alex hefted his backpack over his left shoulder and held his rifle by the hand grip as he followed Blake away from the group. Blake stopped a few hundred feet from the group and waved to the lead vehicle. The armored machine honked its loud horn in response and the train of wheeled behemoths veered towards their group.

“Wow,” Alex said under his breath as he got a better look at the approaching vehicles.

“Impressive,” Blake agreed. “Four inch thick titanium-steel alloy armor. Eight independently rotating wheels with digital controls for difficult terrain. Room for twelve fully armed men in the belly, plus two on the guns and two in the cab. A mounted .50 caliber machine gun comes equipped with regular ammunition, as well as tracer and armor piercing rounds. Those are the front guns. The rear mounts are Thumper A56 grenade launchers, complete with a full assortment of projectiles including anti-personnel frag grenades and semtex sticky rounds. If you absolutely have to destroy everything around you and keep your soldiers safe, the APC Mark 7C is the only way to go.”

Alex nodded at Blake’s laundry list of facts about the vehicles, wondering in a distant part of his mind if Blake had been a salesman in a previous life. The APCs were the most incredible thing Alex had ever seen. And he couldn’t way to get inside. As the APCs silently slid to a halt several yards away, Alex wondered at the fact that only six stood before them.

“There are only six here,” Alex said aloud. “How are we supposed to fit a hundred of us when there is only room for a maximum of 72?” Alex wondered,then hastily tacking on a ‘Commander’ in deference to Blake’s rank. 

Blake seemed amused, but also approving of Alex’s assessment. As he turned to beckon over the rest of the team, he patted Alex on the shoulder lightly, saying, “These are only half of what we’ve got at HQ.”

Two hours later, Alex stiffly climbed out from his seat on the second APC. Each of the vehicles had a designated number, one through twelve. Alex noted the palm sized number two painted on the side of the one he rode in, and would be assigned to for the remainder of the mission. The ride had been less comfortable than he had anticipated and the armor plating had made the journey one without sights to accompany the sounds of the city. He craned his neck to look up at the buildings that towered over him. The edifice in front of him, though, was considerably smaller than the others around it.

“Welcome to your home for the next week, ladies and gentlemen,” Blake said, arms spread wide like he was a real estate agent showing off an open house. The buildings was a four story hotel by the looks of it. A sign outside read ‘Welcome Lionheart Security’. “And if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where you’ll be working as well.”

“Pretty cool, we get our own hotel just for our company,” Shawn said as he and Alex set off after Blake.

“Yeah, living the good life I guess,” Alex replied as the group moved away from the hotel towards their next destination. 

Blake set off down the street at a brisk walk without waiting to see if everyone else followed, which they all did of course. A brisk walk down six city blocks brought them to a wide open area that Alex thought must have been at least four square blocks in size. Across the street they could see a huge park. Green grass was punctuated by fountains, streams and all manner of different foliage. Beyond the trees stood the building itself.

The great white dome of the Chicago Convention Center, or C3 as Alex had come to hear it referred to by the senior officers, rose up high above the treeline of the magnificent park that surrounded it. Light twinkled across the reflective surfaces in a cascade of colors. The building was impressive, even among the towering skyscrapers that dominated the city’s skyline. Five stories high, it was constructed as an almost perfect circle. The one exception to the perfectly rounded walls of the building was the entrance, which jutted out at a downsloping angle. But what Alex noticed most was the lack of walls. Glass paneling rose all the way up the sides of the building, allowing those outside to see the bustling foot traffic on all four viewable floors.

Alex looked to his side and noticed many of the other recruits had the same marvelous expression as he did. The one exception, surprisingly, was Cassie. She glared at the building with a calculating look, a look many of the older soldiers mirrored. Alex returned his attention to the building and studied it more closely. Then he realized why the others seemed concerned. Crews were swarming over the windows on the south side of the building, installing new glass and hauling the old windows away.

“Why are they replacing the windows?” he wondered to no one in particular.

“They’re installing bulletproof glass panelling,” Cassie replied. At Alex’s blank stare she continued, “You know, to protect the delegates?”

Comprehension dawned on Alex. Then another thought dawned on him and he understood the looks of consternation of the others’ faces.

“They’re expecting there to be violence,” he said quietly.

“They’re not stupid, though that’s about the only smart thing I’ve seen the government do recently,” Yoshito said roughly. “They know people don’t like the idea of a new constitution and they know that even with us and the other teams, the chances of getting through this week without at least one angry person firing shots at the building is unlikely, even in a city as unarmed as Chicago.”

“Better safe than sorry, I guess,” Alex mumbled, his mind now grappling with the possible confrontations.

“Looks like you all learned something from me after all,” Dempsey said with a chuckle. His mirth echoed through the rest of the company. After a few moments, Blake held his hands up, palms out, to quiet them down.

“We’ll have the morning to go over security zones and get everyone in place. In the meantime, we’ve got holographic maps of the building. I want everyone to know the floor plans like the house they grew up in. We report tomorrow at 0430, so study up and get some rest,” he said loudly for the entire group to hear.

Alex heard the group leaving but he stayed a few moment longer, taking in the lay of the land and the park area around the building. The wind moaned slightly as it weaved its way through the skyscrapers and out over the pristine beauty of the park. A shiver ran down Alex’s spine, but he shrugged it off. After one last look at the white halo of a building, he jogged after the rest of the team back towards their hotel.

* * *

The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon as the convoy of vehicles rolled down the streets of Chicago. All but one of the APCs were being used for the conference. The twelfth was having problems with its hydraulic system and Blake hadn’t wanted to compromise any of the squads if they were caught inside a broken vehicle if things went badly.

The line of insect-like vehicles approached the white dome of the C3 from the rear entrance, on the opposite side of the park from where Alex and the rest of the team had spent a restless night. Alex had made sure to memorize the plans of the building and found it was a structure of surprisingly simple design. 

Five circular hallways ringed the central hall of the building, one for each floor. Ramps led up from each floor to the next, with the exception of the fifth floor, which had one private access ladder to the roof of the building. There were a total of four exits from the building which included the main exit and the fifth floor ladder. Alex had heard a few of the older soldiers muttering about the lack of exits.

“Wouldn’t want to be caught inside during a firefight,” the first, a man called Graves, had said.

“Fish in a bucket, man,” his friend, who Alex had learned was called Helo, had replied.

Alex pushed the worries of the operation away as he felt the APC grind to a halt. Light quickly filled the inside of the armored transport as the rear door opened to allow those inside to exit. Alex climbed out, immediately putting on his sunglasses. The sun had always seemed brighter in the morning and there certainly wasn’t any exception to that rule here. The rest of the squads were leaving their own vehicles and Alex jogged to greet his friends before they were split off into their individual teams. As he reached the small group, he saw them gazing intently across the staging area.

“Hey guys, what’s going on over there,” Alex said as he heaved to a stop. He was still adjusting to the weight of his gear, now that Yoshido had assigned him both a marksman rifle and a standard battle rifle. His father’s old scope was securely fastened to the former. If he had to pick one weapon, he wanted to the one with the best accuracy and least weight.

“Delta Team just got here,” Jimmy said as he craned his neck to see what the team in charge of guarding the roof and top floor from any airborne threats would look like. Then Alex saw his friend focus on one person in particular who was climbing out of one of a black SUVs. “Uh-oh.”

“Delta Team is a group composed primarily of security details from Pride Security,” Cassie said matter-of-factly. “I guess we know which company picked up Sebastian and Jeremy now.” 

She inclined her head at the figure who had clambered out of the vehicle and was quickly joined by another. Even at a distance, Alex knew she was right. Even worse, he saw that Sebastian had apparently noticed their little knot and was making his way purposefully toward them. Alex could see Jeremy grinning as he followed his friend. It wasn’t a happy expression either.

“Long time, no see,” Sebastian said as he strode up to the group, snapping off an exaggerated mock salute. “Looks like the border wasn’t the end of our time together.”

“I knew it was too good to be true when someone else picked him up,” Shawn mumbled under the his breath. Alex and Jimmy both snorted and Cassie allowed a small grin to pass her lips.

“What are you doing here?” Alex asked after the moment of mirth. He noted that while Jeremy seemed angered by the barb, Sebastian had remained passive.

“I’d ask you the same thing, but it’s pretty obvious I think. Pride Security is the best private military company in the continental United Territories. Naturally they asked us to watch over them,” Sebastian said, the pride in his voice matching the name of the company that employed him.

“Yeah, we’ll be sitting pretty up there while you four prance around like pre school hall monitors,” Jeremy laughed. He spat onto the ground in front of Alex, who felt hot anger rising in his ears.

“Ghost! Reaper! What the hell are you doing?” yelled a voice. Both of them jumped at their operation call names and turned quickly to salute the owner of the voice. He was a tall man who resembled Sebastian. Or, rather, Sebastian resembled him. He pointed to Alex and the others and angrily asked, “Who are they?”

“They’re my people, Richard,” Blake’s voice boomed behind the small knot of mercenaries. Blake walked with purpose and strength, stopping to stand between Alex’s small group and the older man who had approached Sebastian.

“Ah, Darren, I’d hoped you would be leading the team yourself,” the man named Richard said. “I take it you’ve already met my son, Sebastian.”

“We were introduced during the graduation ceremony last week,” Blake replied evenly, nodding once in greeting to Sebastian. He ignored Jeremy altogether, who sneered at the group of Lionheart soldiers.

“Well, I’m sure we’ll have more time for pleasantries later,” Richard Malwood said, allowing the briefest of smirks to cross his face. “Then again, perhaps not.” 

He turned without another word, stopping only to grip Sebastian and Jeremy roughly by their shoulders. He shoved them both forward, propelling the two back towards their assembly area.

“Let’s go, we’ve got work to do and I just got word we have a new assignment,” Blake said. Alex couldn’t tell if he was angry or just his normal stern self, but he was certain their commander didn’t like Richard Malwood.

“What new assignment, commander?” Jimmy asked as the four young soldiers followed the officer.

“We’ve been selected to break off a contingent to guard the guests. Captain Yoshito’s team, as well as Sergeant Dempsey’s team, will be handling that role, so get moving you four,” Blake replied quickly as they crossed from the cement path onto the grass toward the parking area where the APCs were now lined up in formation, in case of a speedy escape being necessary. Alex doubted it would come to that, because it would mean a lot of bloodshed inside the building to make retreat the only option.

“Commander, have there been any reports of any violent activity that may be headed our way?” Shawn asked. 

By now the four of them, and the rest of the newly minted mercenaries as well, had learned Blake favored direct question. He expected his orders to be followed, but he also expected his soldiers to think for themselves and gather their intel as needed, even if that meant asking the company commander about the situation directly.

“Negative, Goliath,” Blake responded. They reached the command vehicle and Blake reached in for a case in the back. 

“Then why all the firepower?” Shawn asked, dropping his decorum momentarily, but quickly adding, “Sir.”

“Just being careful,” Blake said. “Now, don’t you all need to report to your units? We are already on duty and this day is going to be a long one. Best find where you are supposed to be.” He graced the small group with a smile, then clicked his heels to attention. The group of younger soldiers were only a second behind as they saluted their commander. “Dismissed.”

Five hours later, Alex stood guard as he watched hundreds of delegates pour into the convention hall from his position near the side exit from the main hall, closest to where the speech podium stood. There were fewer groups than he had anticipated, figuring there would be one from each party in each territory. Instead, he saw unified territorial delegations who seemed to have put aside their ideological differences in order to achieve the highest results for their territory as a whole.

“Kind of amazing to see so many politicians in one room without bloodshed,” Shawn joked. Alex heard his friend’s voice crackling through his radio and glanced up the side aisle towards the emergency exit his friend was in charge of. Alex snorted, though not loud enough to be heard by the rest of the team.

“Quiet, Goliath. We are here to work, not insult the people paying your salary today,” Yoshito said. 

He was one of two soldiers positioned directly in front of the stage. Shawn visibly composed himself, but Alex thought he saw a slight smirk shining through. Alex also thought Yoshito sounded more amused than angered.

“Yeah, cheer up,” Alex murmured. “It’s Independence Day after all.” 

The rest of the team chuckled, including Yoshito, as they settled in for the long day of likely doing nothing. It took the better part of an hour for the delegates to file in and take their seats. Alex knew many of those in the company, especially the younger soldiers, were as bored as he was. 

I joined up to fight, to find my place, to follow Dad. Not stand around looking tough for a bunch of politicians while they babble on about things only they understand. 

Then the first explosion detonated outside the Convention Center.

Next Chapter: Ch. 14 - Firestorm