The Nucleus Project: Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Nucleus Revealed

The USS Wasp

Early the Next Day

Shephard, Krenzi, and their men returned to the USS Wasp after helping the South African Military secure the Namibian capital and the surrender of the Namibian military and were welcomed by applause and cheers from the air crews on it's flight deck as they walked out of their transports

"Well I'm glad that's over!" Krenzi said to Shephard

"I am too, can't wait to get back to base and get some shut eye." He replied while they went below decks using one of the Wasp's elevators where they found RED Team #405 and the Resistant Contingent waiting for them

"Took you guys long enough!" Barney shouted to them

"So where's Reaver?" Shephard asked them

"He's in the brig and we have Claire and the Engie trying to bust open that intelligence briefcase we got." The RED Soldier replied

"Good, hopefully that briefcase will contain the information we need to know what BLU's planning with those scientists that Wombossi gave them." Shephard said to him, "Hell, it might even tell us where the Ubermensch is living so we can give that bastard a visit!"

***

USS Wasp - Briefing Room

The RED Engineer had placed a specially designed device that would break the combination code of the briefcase to allow him and Claire Weskit, a member of the Lambda Resistance and the TDJTF's Chief Intelligence Officer to access it's contents

"So how long is this going to take?" Claire asked him

"However long it takes for it break the combination. So just take a seat and enjoy the break!" He replied as he fiddled with the strings of his guitar while sitting in a metal folding chair

Claire sighed and sat down in the seat next to the Engineer

"So have you actually ever seen the inside of one of these things?" She asked him

"Not really, we were prohibited from opening them under the contract that the originals signed with the announcer when they hired them." He replied

The code breaker machine made a clicking noise as the locks of the suitcase popped open, making Claire and the Engineer

"Well speak of the devil!" Claire said as they got up and went to the suitcase before opening it up, revealing a large collection of booklets, packets, datasheets, maps, and folders

"Haha! Jackpot!" The Engineer replied as he picked up one of the booklets and flipped through it's pages, "Wait a second...this one is all about the Nucleus reactor back at the Badlands back home! Why the hell is the Ubermensch so interested in it?"

Claire picked up a folder and opened it and scanned it's contents

"Look at this..." She said as she showed the contents of the folder to the Engineer

"Ah hell...we better go tell the general. Command needs to hear about this!" He said

"Hear about what?" Shephard asked as he entered the room

Claire sighed and handed the folder to Shephard, who looked at it

"Just when I thought that this day was over..." He said to himself, "I'll go contact Brokaw, this is going to be a game changer here."

***

Bren - Capital of the Brenodi Empire; Brenodi Verse

Allied High Command

The Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, General Howard Brokaw was in the middle of a press conference with Miss Pauling, the acting CEO of RED and Empress Bertha, the Brenodi Empire's head of state when one of the general's aides came running to him from the sides of the stage

"General Shephard is on the line! He say's it's important!" The Aide whispered into Brokaw's ear

"Excuse me for just a minute." Brokaw said to the gathered reporters and Press workers before going to the back of the stage where he found the aide holding up a phone that he took up, "Shephard, this better be good."

"It's anything but good Brokaw, the Ubermensch is up to no good. Claire is sending you something you need to look at on your PDA." Shephard said to him

Brokaw sighed and pulled out his PDA and opened up his messages where he found the rather large EMAIL from Claire containing all the information that she sent him

"What am I looking at here General?" Brokaw asked him after opening the email and seeing it's contents

"Something that the BLUs are calling the Nucleus project, it's dark-energy signal emitter that's supposed to be able to close and open portals at will." He replied

"Jesus Christ..." Brokaw said to himself, "Shephard, I want you and your men to meet me in the Mann Verse ASAP!"

"We're already on our way to the nearest portal." Shephard replied, "But we're going to need some bigger weapons to take on this facility."

"You leave that to me general." Brokaw said to him, "You just concentrate on getting to the Mann Verse. Just let me wrap up this damn press conference so I can tell Miss Pauling and the Imperial highness about this."

"What's going General?" Miss Pauling asked him as he hang up

"The BLUs are working on a doomsday device in the Siberia of your dimension." He replied as he handed her his PDA containing the EMAIL from Claire that she read

"Wow this is bad...I'll contact the Pentagon and see if they can send some forces that way because there is no way for the TDJTF is going to get there that quickly." She said to him, "I think we're going have to rethink our policy on how we deal with threats from Pact after this."

"Well that wasn't my decision... but are you sure we should bring in the Pentagon on this? Because they don't have access to the same expertise as the TDJTF does." He replied

"I think we can trust them." Miss Pauling said to him

***

Nucleus Facility; Mann Verse

The Ubermensch's personal bodyguard, a BLU Shock Heavy wearing a ushanka, two bandoliers of minigun ammunition, and a pair of sunglasses named "Hammer" was overseeing the strengthening of the facility's defenses when a BLU Shock Soldier wearing a team captain, fancy dress uniform, aviators, and a dark blue leather jacket approached them

"What is it?" Hammer asked the Shock Soldier

"Sir, we've received a response from the Soviet government to our request for reinforcements. They said that they will be unable to send us any reinforcements to us until next week!" He replied

"Figures. Does the Ubermensch know?" Hammer said

"Yes and he isn't pleased." The Soldier replied, "What should we do sir?"

"Continue strengthening our defenses. We can at least try to slow down an attack if one comes!" Hammer said to him

"Yes sir!" He replied before leaving

"I'm going too old for this..." Hammer thought to himself before yelling at a pair of BLU Engineers who were arguing over a spot where they both wanted to place their sentries

***

US Military Base; Northern Hokkaido, Japan - Mann Verse

Private Howard Manduser of the 101st Airborne Division was in the base's mess hall eating a late breakfast with some of his colleagues when their commanding officer busted into the room, making the private and the other US solders in the mess hall stand at attention as walked down the aisle between the tables

"This base has just been put onto full alert! All units are to report to their division CP(command point) for immediate briefing!" The Officer shouted to Manduser and the other US Soldiers as he walked down the aisle

"You got to be fucking kidding me..." One of Manduser's colleagues said under his breath

"Well we better get moving..." Another of Manduser's colleagues replied

"So much for a boring assignment..." Manduser said as they left the mess hall and went to their division CP