Operation Chronos Prologue: The Rise of the Ghosts

The last of the howling winter winds fail to mask the heavy footfalls of the Russian power armors’ approach. The hazy spring dawn casts a silhouette of a female figure standing beside a hulking walker; both overlooking the war torn City of Leboux. The dull thrumming of the mechanisms powering the armors grind to a halt as the woman turns to face the three soldiers at the front. Audible hisses resound as the armors helmets slowly flip open; “Kaptian Tanya! The Ghosts of Zaitsev at your command!” shouts the soldier in the middle. The woman takes off her cap and dusts it off more from habit than actual dust, revealing the face of an attractive woman with long straight jet black hair, “At ease serzhant.” She replies with a stern look.

Tanya pauses for a moment to observe the ten power armored men standing in attention behind the sergeant, “Are these the only men you brought with you Serzhant Kova?” she continues. The sergeant flashes a wry smile as he replies “Kaptian, are you saying we will need more to bring Zaitsev’s vengeance?” The woman breaks out in laughter, “It’s been a long year Serzhant, I see you haven’t lost your pride in your snipers.” She approaches the sergeant, standing about a head shorter than him wearing that armor she reaches out and gingerly examines the “Steel Fist” armor with a gloved hand. “A beauty indeed, our scientists have made great weapon in our fight against the traitorous allies and our most hated enemies.” Looking up at Kova sternly she speaks “Tell your men to ready the camp and rest,” with a hint of suggestion in her eyes she replies with a voice only for the sergeant, “Then take off that armor and we shall talk.”

A loud creaking sound comes from the old rusty door hinges as sergeant Kova enters a poorly lit room; Tanya is peering from its windows observing the camp grounds she does not notice the soldier enter. Below she sees an old mining facility long forgotten and in bad need of disrepair; “A perfect place for ghosts”, she thought watching her men parking their power armor in front of the old miner’s housing units getting ready to attack. This room; most likely the mine’s overseer’s” located at the top levels of the mining complex provides a good vantage point for the city. “Kapitan” the sergeant called out hoping to catch his captain’s attention. Tanya turns around; her uniform half undone, motioning Kova to the window. “It has been a year serzhant, are we ready to haunt our enemies?” asks the woman. The sergeant nods and replies, “We have been stationed in this area closely observing our enemies learning their tactics” he pauses to add emphasis, “and their weaknesses.” He points a finger to the gaping hole on the western side of the mountain; “This town is one of the oldest in the region, long before VK was discovered Leboux had been a mining town and our camp is one of the oldest.” He pulls out a hand drawn map; “We’ve mapped out all the paths inside the mine, and we’ve found out most of them connect to the cities sewers or the other VK rich mining facilities; most of which are under our enemies’ control.”

Tanya’s face shows a hint of a smile as she turns around to walk towards what seems to be a personal bathroom replies in a soft voice, “Perfect”. She closes the door behind her, the sound of running water is heard muffled and the captain continues in a louder voice; “Relay this to our men, we shall use those mines to launch coordinated hit and run attacks in various locations in the city.” The sergeant moves beside the bathroom door and asks, “And what of our objective?” Tanya’s voice still slightly muffled by the door spiritedly replies; “We shall cause chaos amongst our enemies, like ghosts we shall haunt them, like our hero Vasili Zaitsev, we shall break down their chain of command as we hunt down their officers. If our enemies flee we take hold of the area for as long as it benefits us; should we be pushed back we shall retreat into the mines, leaving our enemies wondering, scared and confused. Remember, we are but ghosts. IN ZAITSEV’S NAME, FOR MOTHER RUSSIA!”

“For mother Russia!” replies the sergeant. He waits for a few moments, as he hears nothing but running water from behind the door then begins to exit the room. The loud creaking of the overseer’s door resounds once more but before he can take a step outside the room he is stopped by a voice. “Where are you going serzhant, have you forgotten your orders.” whispers Tanya standing below the bathroom door’s frame; her body hidden by the room’s poor lighting and continues “I thought I ordered you to take off your armor.”