Operation: Dark Night

[alertcommando]

Ukraine, Europe, January 17th, 1962.

Classified Location near the Polish border.

Local time 21:35h.

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[alertcommando]

With Annabelle and Bonzo watching her back, Tanya crosses the room towards a bald, bespectacled man with a pinched expression.

"Comrade Ivanov, I presume." She continues in Russian, her pistol moved close enough to the man's face for him to catch the scent of burnt propellant and feel the warmth of gunmetal. "Would you please initiate the full shutdown of the Western Missile Command? If you do so, I can guarantee you a safe prison cell far away from Romanov, Vladimir and Yuri."

"If you don't, I am afraid you and all your comrades here become useless, and after we do the shut-down the hard way, we will have to leave you all to explain to your merciful, magnanimous leaders why Mother Russia can not threaten western Europe with nuclear annihilation anymore."

There are a few long moments while the man ponders his options. "Please? Don't make me paint the observation window with your brains to make your second-in-command more amenable to the situation."

Indeed, one of the walls of the room is a huge observation window, overlooking the main silo.

[aeons_crackshot]

One fellow, who may be the second-in-command, looks like he's briefly considering protesting this demand until Annabelle points her rifle in his direction.

His mouth shuts with a nearly audible snap.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo is looking for anyone making a move towards a weapon. Truth be told, he'd rather not have to lop off any heads or arms right now, but if he has no other choice...

As he's moving around slowly, trying to get a glance at anyone who's trying to slip a gun out from behind a table, there's a loud "CRACK!" and immediately thereafter he feels a sharp pain in his side. He spins around to catch one of the Russians pointing a gun at him, and only gets a hand up in time to stop a second bullet aimed at his chest, albeit with a sickening crack as about a half-dozen bones in his hand crack, the bullet stopping as it comes out of the gun.

You can count on there being a loud, loud howl of pain from both shots. He drops his lightsaber, and the guy with the gun dives for it. He grabs it, but accidentally turns it back on before he has it pointing in the right direction.

Bad move, Mr. Russkie. Welcome to the One-Hand Club.

[alertcommando]

His membership of the one-hand team is very short-lived, thanks to a malady known to strike down Russian military personnel near Tanya: lead poisoning.

A thing to note is how she kills Mr. One-Hand without looking that way. "That was really stupid. Really, really." She jams her gun onto the white-coated man's neck. "Shutdown, now, or I will leave you for Vladimir." Casually, she puts a bullet into the arm of another tech who moved too much. "I have to remind you ladies and gentlemen that you are eight and I have sixteen bullets left. How lucky are you feeling?"

[aeons_crackshot]

There were Soviet soldiers coming to the rescue down the hallway. Annabelle takes aim and opens fire, also without taking her eyes off the scientists.

Reflective surfaces are all over the room, after all. They die, one after the other, their bodies collapsing to the floor and blood oozing over the tile.

"How badly are you hurt?" she asks Bonzo, expression grim.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo pulls his lightsaber back over into his hand, putting it back on his belt, and then tries to get to his feet. He doesn't quite succeed, but he's at least not laying down.

"Son of a bitch..." He looks down at where the bullet hit him, and reaches over with his uninjured hand, feeling the wound carefully. He can feel a fleshy mess, but it's not a hole. He feels along it...

"I think it broke one of my ribs..." He then feels his back. "Body armor pushed it aside, though." Said armor, not terribly strong, has a small crack in it where the bullet clipped it.

And of course, all of this doesn't change the fact that he has a nasty, painful, bloody mess in his side right now. On the bright side, it's not spurting too badly, so no veins were severed.

[alertcommando]

For now, the Reds seem to have decided being heroes is not their thing.

The head technician, after a moment of hesitation, turns to the console and starts working, while Tanya observes for signs of treachery.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Here," Annabelle says to Bonzo, handing him a Stimpak. "This will heal you up a bit if you inject it into a vein and hold the edges of the wound closed."

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo complies with Annabelle's directions. He winces as he puts the needle in and holds the wound together, but...it seems to work. After a few more moments of pain (the wounds healing themselves), he pulls himself to his feet, looking at the scar on his side and the remaining bruising on his hand.

"Thanks." Pause as he looks down at the dead Russian and at his hand. "Damn, that hurt."

[alertcommando]

While this, the man in charge finishes. The consoles all beep, and a female voice with a mechanical timbre echoes in Russian. "[Attention all personnel: Facility shutdown engaged, please evacuate at once. Facility shutdown engaged, locking silos, powering down systems, gather your belongings and proceed orderly to the nearest marked exit...]"

"This is not going to help you." Says the man, frowning. "They will just bring a backup site into the grid."

Tanya grins to him. "They will try, I'm sure." Too bad right now they have a four-inch-tall saboteur keeping the data lines on a nerve pinch. "But by the time they manage that, it will be too late." The 'nerve pinch' is recording all the silo locations for the next move of the war.

"Now, if none of you plan to be suicidal, it is time for us to leave." She nods to Annabelle and Bonzo, gesturing for them to take point. "We just need to get back to that big intersection."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle catches the nod and moves to take point.

Hopefully, no one will decide to do anything...stupid.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo follows Annabelle, letting Tanya pick up the rear. He's honestly quite amazed...other than being more than a little sore, he's just been shot and he's jogging away.

"You're going to have to tell me where to get some more of that stuff..."

[alertcommando]

Tanya herds the surviving techs and scientists ahead. The returns to the main gallery and the intersection is quite uneventful, except for the nonmilitary personnel who do rather unceremoniously output their latest meals through the input port at the grisly remains of the battle.

In a way, it ends being good: nauseated, horrified people are much easier to keep in line.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle is all for these people being kept in line, thank you.

She's keeping up her serious and threatening expression, just in case, as they move their prisoners through to their goal.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo has his lightsaber back out, ignited and being held carefully away from him. It's actually not pointed at anyone, but its simple presence should do some wonders for deterring people from getting any ideas. His other hand is still smarting, and he knows it's going to hurt for a while.

[alertcommando]

Once they get to the intersection (and make sure there are no ambushes set for them), Tanya sends all the prisoners to stand against the wall, then places a metal cube at the center of the room. "Annabelle, Bonzo, turn your back to the open space... it will get very bright in a moment."

And it does, as space ripples with light effects, and a large armored personnel carrier appears where there was nothing a moment later.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle does as ordered. Even so, the ensuing blast of light makes her eyes water.

"Very handy," Annabelle says with a grin. "Now we just have to get our 'friends' loaded, yes?" she asks Tanya.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo does the same, and instinctively closes his eyes at the excessively bright flash.

"What the..." Pause. "What did you just do?"

[alertcommando]

"I'll explain later..." Too many ears around for them to leave clues. "Open the back doors, they should not be locked, lets load our prisoners and then make our own exit."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods and moves to open the doors. Anyone who looks reluctant will get a more physical encouragement to cooperate in the form of a shove.

"Let's get out of here," she adds when the prisoners are loaded.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo gestures lightly with the lightsaber. We'll assume that gets the hint across. After what happened to the other guy who tried to use it, it's doubtful anybody wants a swat on the rear from the blade.

"Yeah. I don't think I want to be around when the guys in charge find out something's broken here."

[alertcommando]

Tanya locks the doors and takes her companions back to the emergency access they used to get in. Behind them, there is another very bright flash of light, but this time they can actually cover their eyes. "Answering your question, Bonzo... The Chronosphere. An invention from Professor Einstein, it can teleport vehicles or people inside vehicles anywhere on Earth... if we have a clear 'view' of the arrival spot, using satellites, line of sight... or a beacon of some sort."

"Right now the gadget I gave our pixie friend is transmitting the location of all the secondary command bunkers in eastern Europe back to the Allied high command in London. High-speed bombers are taking off to destroy silos with special bombs, and the Chronosphere is delivering EMP charges to the control centers."

"In about one hour Romanov's missiles will be good for scrap metal only."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle grins. "Now that sounds like a good day's work. I'd love to see the look on his face when Romanov gets that bit of news."

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bonzo laughs at that. "So would I." Pause. "Didn't know Einstein invented that..."

[alertcommando]

"At least here, he did. The Chronosphere saved us in the Second War, it allowed us to move faster than the Reds, set up ambushes, advanced bases, outposts..."