UN Special Forces Poland Research Base

[albatross]

The flight is short and uneventful. Khris gets a VIP reception in Sweden. Defense ministers and Generals are on hand to meet him. Fully 90% of Sweden's troops are deployed all over the world in refugee relocation and relief operations, just like every other military on Earth. But 10% are on home rotation. And there are a few elite power armor and borg units home for a break.

The officers tell Khris he can review the units whenever he wants, and their unit history and personnel files are available in the office if he would like.

[albatross]

Bel says to Dante, "The improvement is impressive. While their powers are negated the shield is an entire degree of magnitude stronger." She drops her voice a little, though not enough so that those with super hearing will miss what she says, "Once the Egyptians arrive with the other item, I think they will be ready for combat operations in two or three weeks."

[dakota]

A little suprised at his reception, but did not complain. He was thankful for the cooperation, and excepted the unit records to go over. He looked at the clock, then nodded respectfully to the base commander. He was uncomfortable dressed in the UN envoy uniform, most importantly the boots. He hated the boots and couldn't wait to kick the damned things off. "Thank you for your assistance, gentlemen. If possible I would like a couple hours to review these records if I could? Perhaps a fairly competent juniorofficer to help me with any questions, and then interviews with the unit commanders this evening, commencing at 1800?"

[sasqaricious]

The doctor still mulling about waiting on any interaction warranted or needed mainly concentrates her power where needed.

[Dome]

Dante says, "combat operations is one thing. When will they be able to go up against the demons? I mean that is the end goal here right," his voice low in the hopes Rock doesn't hear and this triggers a panic attack.

[albatross]

An officer helps Khris review the files. Each of the units up for consideration has top scores in most areas. Half of the units have seen combat, all have been involved in search and rescue and local natural disasters.

"Any particular aspect you'd like to focus on?" The officer asks Khris.

[albatross]

Bel glances over at her husband. "I suppose I was being vague for Rock's sake. I mean I think they will fight a demon in two or three weeks." She shifts her eyes back to the trainees. To people around the world living through terrible attacks and fleeing from the demons, the whole process must have seemed unbearably long. But now that the kids might fight a demon in a couple weeks, it seems like everything is happening very quickly.

[Dome]

Dante nods. He leans over and kisses her on the side of her head, "I will leave you to it. I'm going to go to ops and check on possible targets. See if the tech's identified which of the three would be weaker and a better first round for our team. Maybe our new team mate would like to see the tracking center."

He waits for her to respond before actually heading out.

[sasqaricious]

Kat finally jarred from her reverie of nothingness, "A tour of some more of the facility would probably be a proper idea as I have explored about as much as I could on my own. And now a tour would be a better way to go." She says getting up and ready to follow.

[dakota]

Khris started leafing through the files, looking for something that jumped out at him. "Not really, but a unit that has seen combat and has pulled security details would be nice, particualy any that have faced other power armor units in the field. and a CO with his head on his shoulders will help."

[albatross]

The Tracking and Command Center is relatively quiet. The three demons stalk away. One still on the bottom of the ocean reversing its crossing the Pacific. The one that Rock fought is marching along the coast towards India, but angling towards Poland now, and the third has crossed into Russia. All three are taking the most direct route towards the Poland base. They can clearly sense the powerful new shields.

Millions of refugees are in camps, displaced after getting out of the demons way. Millions more are starving because all the fish, animals and plants the demons have walked near are dead, and even outlying farms had to be abandoned when the things came too near.

Every once in a while, someone from Division One, chosen at the trials steps into the demon's path and fights it. They always die. Sometimes their power is sufficient to slow or stop the demon for a moment, and when they do the tracking center re calculates the estimated time of arrival for that demon.

But if Bel is right, the ETA no longer matters. In just a couple weeks, the pilots will be deployed to fight.

[albatross]

The junior officer says, "They have all trained against other power armor units, but I don't think any of them have faced actual combat that way." He sorts the files for Khris, putting the ones with combat experience in one section, and sorting out from them those with the highest scorces in power armor vs. power armor training excercises.

"Check these three?" He suggests. One has a poor official combat record with high losses, but has obviously seen the most fighting in the toughest locations. The other two have good combat records, great power armor vs. power armor scores, and highly decorated leaders.

[Dome]

Walking into the control room Dante points out the global map with the three demon points, then the individual stations that track each demon, "we have a team assigned to each demon. Mainly tracking its progress, looks like they are all coming here. Hope they perfect those new shields quick. Having all three get here at the same time, I think would mean we are screwed. One at a time, maybe if Rock can face them with the others by then, we may have a chance."

[dakota]

Khris picked up the first file, the one that had a poor record.He began reading over, knowing full well records didn't tell the full story, mainly just kill ratios and survival rates, " Can you get me some intel on these engagements? And I don't suppose you have met the commanding officer? This doesnt tell the whole story about what happened. The other two sound like brass pet projects that get cush assignments."

[sasqaricious]

Kat hears what Dante says and just nods and replies, "That is understandable. Although this shield thing I will have to figure out exactly what you mean...actually you know what I will just agree and nod." Kat says to her guide.