AND THE ANZAC LEGENDS DIDN'T MENTION...

[agogemod]

AND THEN SOMEONE YELLED OUT "CONTACT!";

and the bloke behind me swore

THE SILENT WAR

The news of the day of the retreat spreads like wildfire through the Trenches. Leading up to the final date, all soldiers on the ground are instructed to limit their gunfire, to make it look like the usual traditions for warfare, which have determined much of human history up until this point: no one really goes to war in winter. Everyone is to maintain a verbal and physical presence, but the time to confuse the Turks has really become paramount. At times, whole sections are ordered to be perfectly quiet until the last possible second and then spring out before the Turks can get too close.

Which is just how it is supposed to be. In fact, for COST recruits, there's a real sense that this might just go according to plan.

Around this time, the Rear Guard signup starts. COST recruits are met with some surprise by Captain Lewis; he will blink in surprise at a group so new wanting to volunteer so readily, but he's glad and gives everyone who joins a big warm handshake.

Each day gets closer and the mood of the soldiers becomes more jubilant and tenser; the erratic sense of relief that they might be leaving what has become the graveyard of so many friends and, often times, family, combines with the frustration of not being able to do anything but wait. This leads to more than a few fights breaking out, often over nothing important. Just the edge of temporary relief.

Then, before dawn on Jan 7th, the evacuation begins in earnest. It's possible to see it from the top of some sections: a bustling populace until it trickles down to the ghost of the Trenches, where there is nothing left but the rear guard. It's a smooth, efficient evacuation.

The Rear Guard

This is a skeleton army, just enough to make it seem no one has left. Everyone is encouraged to come up with ways to make it seem like there are more men than there actually are.

The local soldiers have come up with a particularly sneaky one - a rope is wrapped around the trigger of a rifle, just loose enough not to pull it, and from the end of it hangs a bucket. Another container slowly drips water into the bucket until it fills and drops, pulling the rope around the trigger and firing the gun. Soldiers are tasked with emptying the water, refilling the cannister, or checking the gun if it looks like it has jammed.

Outside of that, if someone has a sneaky idea to keep up the ruse - even if it's lighting small fires or singing loudly in a chorus to give the notion of people still around - it's all encouraged.

THE THUNDER OF GUNS

Everything is going well. It's not even that worrying when a thick mist comes up, heavy and difficult to see through. But, for those with powers, it prickles oddly on bare skin, followed by a pressure that builds in the back of the mind. It seems to dull any extra powers or senses; magic and its ilk are still usable, but require more concentration to reach now.

In the stillness of the night, however, there is no breeze to move the fog on and it settles like oil through the trench.

It's 1am when the first shell drops. It falls to the east of the recruits' position at Lone Pine. It's a shell that comes down and splits apart the night air in an explosion of shrapnel, dirt and heat. Then a second, then a third, now starting from both sides.

All the soldiers' clamour out of the way and Captain Lewis can be heard shouting over the din: "Into the Tunnels!"

But not everyone can make it. The shells are coming steadily now and one step in the wrong direction is the difference between life and death in such a small space. It's chaos - some soldiers are killed outright. Others get buried under the debris and dirt. Others catch shrapnel that, if not fatal, is enough to throw them and make it hard to get up. But COST's mission is the same as it always is: save as many of these men's lives as possible.

There are four direct entries into the tunnels, all about four or five meters apart, and they're all interconnected within the tunnels themselves.

One by one, however, shells fall and destroy the entrances to the tunnels.

WARTIME ARCHEOLOGY

It takes another three hours for the bombardment to stop and, once the tunnel entrances collapse, it becomes very dark in there. Might be time to fish out a match and strike up a torch.

While Officers previously told soldiers to keep out of the tunnels and otherwise left them ignored, these tunnels are huge. Not like the ones in other sections of the coast; here, they seem to go far into No Man's Land. They're crudely constructed and only some sections are reenforced with heavy beams of wood. But once journeying into them, there are all sorts of things to be found. There are old gas lamps that can be used to light your way or hung on a secure nook or cranny. The stone has been worn smooth in some sections, and other parts have been carved with graffiti of the soldiers who cut them out.

Some locations go down a few steps, while others go up and small holes seem to have been dug through the roof of the tunnels.

It's definitely best to get away from the front of the tunnels, where the bombing is still going on. There are wounded to be seen to and secured from bleeding out, people to find to make sure everyone is still alive. Maybe you want to go farther into the interweaving tunnels to see what else can be recovered. Or maybe you're being stubbornly sensible and looking for a way to dig your way out again, once the bombs stop firing.

Either way, it's a long, exhausting wait in the dark as the ground shakes, showering dust and rocks over everyone.

INTO THE DAWN

The sun has risen when the firing stops - and it's time to search for a way out of here.

Stepping into the light reveals utter destruction. The concentrated bombing has done its work; everything is strewn or buried in dirt and rubble. Machine guns are overturned and parts of the Trench have collapsed; going over the top would be disastrous, given that the Turks have no idea what is happening and will pick off anyone who sticks their head up.

There also isn't...anyone else around. All that's left is this one segment of the rear guard, just 500 men and the COST soldiers. It isn't possible to discern if the other groups have been evacuated or killed at this point.

It's time to consolidate, count their losses, see who is alive and who isn't, and salvage what supplies are left after some digging clean up is done. Work out who needs to stand watch. For now, Captain Lewis' orders are to use the tunnels as a new base of operations.

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

They appear first as a shimmer of off-light, no more than a haze against the resettling mist. A faint shape against the grey - the long lines of a dog's face, almost Jackal-like, in a clean black uniform that gives more to the appearance of shadows - moves closer, but not too close. They could almost be a trick of the light, out of the corner of your eye. Almost intangible.

They're not moving closer, however, choosing to hang back in the rubble of the Trenches. The ANZAC soldiers don't seem to notice them at all.

Ten minutes after they're first spotted, Commander Grothia issues a priority message:

Contact. Regency soldiers. Do not engage.

If a shot does get fired that way, whether it's from Turkish or ANZAC soldiers unknowingly or from COST operatives: it's quick but, as the bullet seems to come into contact with them, the air around them shimmers blue, like it's hitting a field of light. This effect seems to be stronger when they're standing close together and, as of now, they remain unhurt.

Moving closer to them increases that feeling of mind fog on powered characters; for the unmagical, a sense of unease prickles up. It's a feeling not unlike the beginnings of the time-step, the hum of sensation that marks a transfer through time. Veteran recruits will easily recognize the buzz that dances through their bones before it stills as they move away; rookies might recall it from their initial arrival from BASE.

READ THE OOC INFOPAGE.

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Comments

[chariotry]

[ He'd let go partly because he didn't want Noctis to notice just how affected he actually was. His legs and arms feel like lead, weighted by some unknown force as exhaustion seeps into his bones.

It takes all his remaining strength just to shove Noctis into the tunnel as they reach it, sensing another shell coming their way. ]

Outta the way! [ He shouts after him, surging forward to escape the blast. But... he trips... over his own two feet as they begin to fade.

And he gets caught underneath the ensuing explosion. Noctis will be sent flying back, but Achilles will be buried underneath the mouth of the cave as it collapses in on itself. ]

[fessus]

[ The shove's enough to force him unsteadily forward but it's nothing compared to the explosion that follows. He shouts as he's thrown forward in a shower of dirt and debris, body crumpling against the tunnel wall upon impact. It's lucky for him, really, that he wasn't a step or two further back.

His first inhale as he slowly pushes himself up onto his hands and knees is ragged, choked with dust as he shakes his head. ]

Achilles... [ And it only takes a second before he's scrambling back to try to dig into that rubble with his bare hands when he sees what's happened, wide-eyed and frenzied. ] Fuck, fuck...

[chariotry]

[ This is humiliating.

It stirs a primal anger within him, knowing that he'd be dying again in such a pathetic way. First, it'd been his heel as his downfall, and now he'll be fading underneath a pile of dirt and rubble.

This is no way a warrior should go. Yet here he is struggling to claw for his dignity, trying to use the last reserves of his mana and gather his strength so he can pull himself out. There's no more left, though. The only reason why he hasn't completely faded into nothingness is because of his bravery skill letting him hang on to the remnants of life. In a way, the skill has worked against him, putting him in this kind of position and making someone he actually considers dear to him panic and worry.

He can't bear to look the other man in the eye. He bows his head with a low noise of distress. ]

Stop, stop. I'm going to fade -- [ His voice is shaken, breathless. He's lifting his chin to look at him, trying to soften his features, but anger and shame have steeled his features. ] I have no more mana left. The mist is...

It's dangerous. Noctis, hey. [ Stop trying to dig him out. He's starting to break, feeling the weight of guilt give way to helplessness. ] Get away from here, go find Chiron.

[ His teacher can protect u. ]

[fessus]

[ His fingertips scrape at rubble and end up cut and bloodied within seconds, finding any surface-level wounds easy to ignore when someone important to him is facing this level of danger. ]

Stop it. [ His voice is steadier than he feels, quickly realizing the futility of his actions but what does that mean he's supposed to do? Give up? No... no, there's obviously another way-- ]

Contract with me.

You can do that, right? You-- Just contract with me, become my servant. You won't have to fade and I have more than enough mana for you, okay?

[chariotry]

[ Even as consciousness begins to fade in and out, he can still process the weight of those words. The offer. ]

Are you sure? [ He can't refuse this. There's no reason to, especially when it means life or death. Wearily, he lifts his head, looking up at Noctis to gauge his expression. ] Then give me your hand.

Swear to me your oath and I will accept. [ He stretches his arm out, reaching to grip Noctis' in a tight fist. ]

My body will serve you and your fate will be my sword.

[fessus]

[ He expects a protest from Achilles that doesn't come and that alone convinces him of this man's current weakness. He's desperate, as desperate as any of them are out here if not even more so now, and Noctis scrambles to lay his free hand over Achilles's. ]

I swear. I swear that I'll be your master and support you with my magic; I'll take on whatever I have to, just take my mana and get up.

[ He isn't letting another person die. ]

[chariotry]

[ That's all that is needed to complete the contract. His words bind them, opening the gate containing his mana and letting it flow into Achilles. It's intense at first, almost too over-stimulating for the average magus. The impulse that moves down Noctis arm will feel electric, rattling him to his core.

His hand will be iron-hot against Achilles, whose body is generating a surge of green electricity.

Maybe it's a bit much, but he's sending all that rubble flying with a sudden burst of that energy, standing on his feet and shielding Noctis from the onslaught of dirt and rock. The mouth of the tunnel has completely cleared. ]

I got you. [ Literally. He's not letting go of his hand and is ... literally scooping him up over his shoulder. He's going to get him out of here, away from the opening of the tunnel. ]