Hey all! I know some of you may remember me, but for those who do not, I am Sergeant Gutsy. I originally wrote up a story a few months back named America's Last Hope. After a long vacation away from writing, getting my grades up, and joining a military program in my school, I finally have the opportunity to write again. This is a sequel to the old story that many enjoyed. I hope you all think this new one is as good as the previous, and cannot wait to hear your feedback, both positive and negative. If you would like to read the first story, then click the following link. http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1016181

Enjoy!

America's Last Hope 2
Death of Liberty

Prologue
"Guardian" Command Center
September 25th, 2298
0800 Hours


Light settled gently over the familiar landscape of the "Capital Wasteland." It has been over twenty years since the defeat of the corrupt "Enclave," a shadow government of the previous United States of America which was wiped out hundreds of years ago during a nuclear holocaust. Despite this, Humans continued to survive and fight on. While the "Freedom Fighters" back in the past were only a small surviving group of traitors who left the Enclave, they were able to open their doors to allowing the Brotherhood of Steel to join their ranks in a joint force.

However, ten years ago, a massive civil war broke out between the forces over how to properly handle the new thriving population of the Capital Wasteland. The Brotherhood of Steel wanted the citizens to rule their own lands in their own ways, while the Freedom Fighters wanted them all to be united under a single unified government and rebuild together to make a new United States.

The war was long, over five years long at best guess, and very devastating to both parties. In the end, the Freedom Fighters won after a decisive nuclear payload was dropped from a Vertibird onto the main complex of the Brotherhood of Steel. After their surrender, the Freedom Fighters found it in their best interest to absorb the now-shattered Brotherhood of Steel into their ranks. Though the title "Freedom Fighters" were no longer appropriate, so a new naming began. After a few weeks of discussions, they ruled in favor of renaming it back to the traditional military branch of the Army.

However, due to such small numbers of sea that is still safe for transport, and the low numbers of fighter-like aircraft, General Phil Adams' ruled that the Army should control all forces of the United States for the time being, until the other branches are able to handle themselves in the future and are able to branch off.

Now united under the previous American Flag, the new Army works it's hardest to put everything back in place. General Phil Adams has tried many strategies to get the new Capital Wasteland to connect back together, and only a year ago, they succeeded. Unfortunately for Adams, his wife, Lieutenant General Christina Adams, formally Christina Simpson, was killed in a surprise attack on her personal Vertibird from raiders who were against any idea of a government that would interfere with their "work."

Adams took the news of his' death quite hard, and hasn't been himself since. Lately, he has allowed Major General Griffin and Major General Jackson in charge of all operations requiring military action. Two of Phil's children, Kirstin and James, have only just begun taking on officer responsibilities, such as leadership, discipline, order, and action. Both are only Lieutenants in the Army, though being the offspring of two of higher ranking officers has earned them respect and puts them ahead of promotions before everyone else, much to their despise.

Thankfully, they took their mothers' death with less anger and sadness than their father, and continue to do their duties admirably. Though their little sister, Abby, who was born only two years after them, was very close to her mother and stayed rather quiet since her death. She may be the youngest, but she somehow had a sixth sense about people. Who they were, what they planned, and most importantly, if they could be trusted.

Now, with multiple scanning across the Wasteland, peace was starting to finally settle. The raiders were destroyed in a surprise retaliation attack for the death of a high ranking officer, the slavers destroyed years ago by internal conflict, and the super mutants completely wiped out in the Wasteland. Things were beginning to show a brighter future for all.

But, unbeknown to the United States Army, an enemy worse than they've ever encountered, was beginning to prepare for a surprise attack against them. It is only days before the strike will happen, and the only warning they have is from a long-forgotten language none of them knew?



"华盛顿的破坏在四天的- ... -查理开始了部- ..." looped over the radios. Corporal Jenkins pondered what was going on. He didn't understand a thing that was being said. Hell, he didn't even know what language, if it was one, was being said. He sighed, and thought for a second. "Captain." Jenkins called out in the direction where Captain Young sat hunched over his old, broken and worn out table full of reports and mission statements. Young stared directly into the eyes of the Corporal with annoyance.

"Is there a reason you're bothering me, sonny?" he grumbled while yawning from a hard day's work.

"Sir, there's something odd playing on the radio. Possibly some other language. It's a bit messed up, though." Jenkins was afraid of his commanding officer, due to Young's knack of putting his needs before his troops, and normally not caring who's toes he had to step on to get what he wanted.

The Captain sighed with loud displeasure. "Damnit Jenkins, you better not be wasting my time with some old radio signal you picked up." Young moved over to the Corporal, and listened to the destroyed message. He began to fix away at the problems, first by simply trying to home in on the signal, then after that failed, fixing up any way he could with the old equipment.

After a while of toying around, Young was finally able to get the signal to come in loud and clear. To his dismay, it was something short, a different language, and most likely broadcasted before the Great War.

"华盛顿的破坏在四天的内将进行。 阿尔法、喝彩声和查理开始了部署。 皇帝杨引导我们全部。"

"It's just some old commie crap back before the war you stumbled upon. Quit wasting my time, and get back to navigating the airways so we can tell if our damn troops need any more toilet paper to wipe their asses out there." Young snarled.

Jenkins sighed, he thought he had found something that would have made his commanding officer happy, and finally get him off his back. Sadly, he just ended up pissing him off. The Corporal shut off the radio and went back to work.

If only they had a way to understand what was actually being said, they would have known that the message was not old, but rather in fact very recent. Also, not just some "commie crap," as the Captain put it, but plans of attack on their very settlement from an enemy that has a very old grudge against the very government Jenkins and Young were working with, and wanted to wipe every last one of them off the face of this barren hell-hole.

Let me be the first to welcome you back, I really did enjoy your last fan fic, although I did have to perform a quick skim read to remember where the story left off. Good job on the prologue, I managed to pick up only one mistake:

"Though their little sister, Abby, who was born only two years after them, was very close to her mother and stayed rather quite since her death."

I was also able to translate the message from Chinese to English except I won't post it because I don't wish to ruin the surprise. Anyway good job and keep the good stuff coming. :thumbsup:

Oh dang, I completely missed that. I'll fix that up right now. Nice catch, Aussie. Tis' been a while, I know. Sorry all, just a lot went through life so took a break. And I knew people would translate the message, so I tried to make the message as clear as possible. When you type something in a translator, sometimes it comes out completely odd wording or different than you wanted, so eh, glad you liked it. ^_^ I'll begin the first chapter tomorrow after doing some Air Force JROTC work.

Well seeing as I cannot sleep, I decided why not just give you all the first chapter now instead of making you all wait for later tonight. I hope people find the story satisfactory, if not many do, I may pull the plug here after a few chapters. I'll give it about a weeks' time before I decide if people still like it after a few chapters. I'm mainly doing this for the fans who refuse to quit poking me back after ALH finished. (I still love you all, though) Also, if anyone has any feedback, give it. I know I'm not that good of a writer, but I hope someday to become mediocre at best.

Chapter 1
“Vanguard” Forward Mobile Command Center, Barracks
September 29th, 2298
0931 Hours


Abby woke slowly; her soft gentle brown eyes scanned the room. After slowly stretching her arms and experiencing a soft yawn, Abby looked in the direction of the clock on the wall. To her dismay, the time on the clock was not what she was hoping for. The Vertibird that was supposed to take her to Guardian Command Center left an hour ago with the rest of the higher ranking officers. Apparently, none of them thought it was worth the time to wake her up and get her lazy behind out of bed.

Groaning, she slowly rolled out of bed and began to get prepared for the day ahead. Explaining to her father why she missed the Vertibird again was not going to be fun. After a quick dressing up into her jet-black Officer-In-Training uniform, she quickly folded her black hair into a bun and put her hat on before leaving the female barracks.

Normally, officers wear a jet-black uniform and then a tan jacket and pants over it. However, when someone is still in officer’ training, they are only allowed to wear the jet-black uniform with limited design and decoration on their uniform to signal they’re future officers, but at the same time, show that they have no official rank in the US Military.

Many of the designs of the Enclave were kept while making the new US Military, due for multiple reasons. One, they already had access to a large amount of said uniforms. Two, the uniforms were easily recognized by many who already knew the armor and uniforms from before. And three, the traditional green uniforms worn by the Army would not be suited for the barren-wasteland that the world lives in now.

Many who do not understand the uniform question the need to wear a dark, heavy uniform and then a jacket and pants over it, when they’re in the middle of a hot and barren desert. Though in fact, the uniform is very light weight and the jacket and pants as well. They are made with special fabric that no matter how much of it you may use, sand and other forms of the environment may not enter, while air is allowed to enter or leave through the uniform whenever it likes, keeping the body constantly cool and able to “breathe.”

When Abby walked outside, the blinding pure light of a strong, relentless sun beat down onto her light colored skin. She covered her eyes for the few moments required for them to adjust to such a sight. After taking a few moments to collect herself, she moved forward towards the CC (command center) where Colonel Price was studying a few reports of entire survey teams going missing over the past few days. Puzzled, he sent the information down to Redemption Command, where all the highest ranking officials stay.

Price looked out momentarily from his busy work and did a quick glance at Abby while she saluted and reported in. “Sir, Cadet Abby Adams’ reporting in, sir!” she did a quick, clean salute and stood at attention. Price sighed, and put his papers’ down.

“You’re an hour late, Cadet.” Replied the Colonel with his deep, slow, but commanding voice. Leaning back into his chair, he pulled out a nearby toothpick and put it into his mouth to softly chew on. He didn’t bother letting the Cadet stand at ease, or even return the salute until he learns why the Cadet was late.

Abby sighed and tried to advert her eyes as his piercing blue eyes shot into hers. “Sir, I woke up late.”

The Colonel rolled his eyes, laid back for a second, deep in thought. Finally, he returned the salute and told the Cadet to stand at ease. She gladly relaxed her body and took a deep sigh of relief. Price stood up, and walked slowly over to the window where he looked outside to the barren wasteland. The light shined in onto him, showing his wrinkles, obvious signs of both stress and age.

“Cadet, we have a problem. Many of my survey teams have been disappearing over the past few days. I was trying to convince the good people of Redemption to send some more units this way to figure out what’s causing this. However, they seemed to turn a blind eye to me. Apparently, missing teams is rather normal. This is where you come in.”

Price turned around and picked up a bottle of old ale. Drinking on duty is something that is punishable by reprimand, however, when you control an entire base and are the superior officer, most would end up turning a blind eye. He poured two very small glasses. He offered one to Abby.

“I’m only eighteen, sir.” She stated with an eyebrow raised at the Colonel’s intentions.

“You’re about to be an officer, and it’s not like you’re going to be flying anything today, Cadet. So drink, Cadet.” He ordered. Abby shrugged and took a soft sip; she hated the taste, but she has learned over time from being the daughter of a General that whenever a higher ranking officer offers you alcohol, it’s usually either because they’re just feeling like sharing, or they have some kind of news they want to break to you that may require a little “liquid courage” for them, and you, to understand.

“Since they wish to ignore me, Cadet, I would like you to ask them, personally, to re-look the situation. I may be a Colonel, but it’s nowhere compared to being the daughter of General Adams.”
“Sir, you cannot expect me to use my family’s honor as some sort of weight to smack people into re-addressing concerns.”

“Cadet, let’s just say, if you do this, you may be bumped ahead a full year into your course of Officer’s Training.” The Colonel took another long sip. He managed to put a little bit of stress on that last part of the sentence so that it would strike through. Abby didn’t like it, but the ability to advance a full year’s worth of training for something this simple is worth it.

After a minute of thinking, she shrugged, and gave in. “Alright, sir. I will. I’ll need transportation to Redemption.”

Price smiled. “Use my personal Vertibird. I’ll let the pilot know you’ll depart immediately.”

Abby saluted, and did a sharp about-face before marching out the room. Walking across the field, many of the Vertibirds were being resupplied and refitted. One stood out from the rest, a sharper looking Vertibird with special Colonel Insignia design on the sides signifying a Colonel's personal transport. The lone Lieutenant standing nearby nodded at Abby and began to climb inside.

Once they were both inside and the Vertibird preparing to take off, Abby noticed in the distance a fast moving shadow in the distance. The Vertibird was already off the ground and beginning to move out when she had a very bad feeling about the object. It was moving fast and directly towards the base. Not long after she saw the first one, dozens began to appear behind it. Some higher in the air with larger outlines than the ones below.

Before she could say anything, two white streaks zipped out from the lead object and headed straight towards them. Warnings flared alive and the suddenly radio pvssyr skyrocketing. The pilot looked off in the distance and noticed the two streaks heading right for them.

“Missiles!” he cried into his mike. The Vertibird shuddered as it suddenly changed direction and speed attempting to dodge the missiles. The first one soared by at an extremely close range, causing a blinding light to reflect off the glass into the cockpit. The pilot yelled out in pain as the light blinded him, preventing him from being able to dodge the second missile. Abby’s eyes opened wide as the second missile impacted straight into the tail of the Vertibird. She was suddenly thrown into the wall from the impact and began to lose consciousness. The last things she saw before drifting to sleep was dozens of bombs dropping onto the base, with horrifying results on the ground below. The Vertibirds’ engines screamed as it attempted to stay airborne, before being suddenly silenced by being violently thrown into the earth.