Dirge for the Planet (Rurik)

[Basil]

Memories assailed Maginot as he stood on the edge of the Red Forest. The fact that, in a few hours, he was going to meet an old "friend" didn't help either.

"So boss...you sure you want to meet those Fascists?", asked Wasp, her voice weaker than before. Maginot turned to the Penumbran and looked at her sadly. She was as pale as a sheet and her eyes were sunken. Everything about her seemed drawn and tired, but she still insisted on going out into the Zone with her fellow Freedomers.

"I have to, Wasp", said Maginot, "I have to..."

He looked at the old brick wall before him, and the rusty gates that closed off the mining facility from the forest beyond. He could hear the whirl of anomalies deep within the forest.

Wasp shifted uncomfortably next to Maginot, her gloved hands holding her Protecta tightly. The prospect of going through the Red Forest and meeting Dutiers did not make her feel at ease. How would she protect her leader if things went wrong? Her sickness had been devouring her vigor bit by bit, insidious and unstoppable.

"You should have taken more men", she said reproachfully. Maginot merely shrugged, unconcerned.

"I don't want to make Rurik think I might attack him", he said calmly, "I want him to know that we come in peace. Now come on, let's get going."

The two Freedomers entered the Red Forest, their boots crackling faintly on a carpet of pine needles and dead leaves. At the sight of the forest's twisted branches and swollen trunks, Maginot had another flash of memory. All these years ago, sitting in his living room...1995, was it? He couldn't quite remember. He'd watched a documentary on Chernobyl, complete with aerial footage of the Red Forest...

...and several years later he'd travelled through that same forest alongside some of the strangest and finest men and women he'd ever met. Adder was one of them, a nervous loner struggling to cope with the things the Zone had done to her. Thinking back on it it was hard to connect the frightened snake-eyed loner with the woman who helped him run Freedom. Rurik had lead the group, his intimidating frame in direct contrast with his friendly personality.

After reaching Limansk, the group had split. Rurik had returned to Rostok, and Maginot and Adder had become the leaders of Freedom. Life had taken some unexpected turns then.

Something rustled in the bushes before running away, heavy footsteps thudding on the forest floor. Maginot reached for his weapon before relaxing. It was probably just some harmless mutant running away. Wasp on the other hand seemed genuinely afraid.

"This is stupid, Mag. Even if we get through the forest alive we'll still get killed by Duty..."

"Relax, Wasp", Maginot said softly, "I know the guy who leads Duty. He's a old friend of sorts."

The two Freedomers crossed the Red Forest in silence. Maginot was surprised at how little opposition they met. When they emerged from the warped woods, Wasp heaved a sigh of relief, her breath sounding desperately thin and weak.

"More memories", murmured Maginot as he gazed upon the rusting drawbridge. Limansk's grey rotting buildings were barely visible.

"Adder told me about Limansk", said Wasp, "you went through the sewers and got separated."

Maginot nodded in silence. It seemed some loners had turned the outpost on this side of the bank into a base of sorts. He waved at them, and they waved back. How quiet the place seemed now after all these years...in Maginot's mind Limansk was still a war zone, the air burning with emissions. Penumbra had informed him that Limansk was now mostly controlled by the mercenaries.

"The road should be pretty quiet from here", said Maginot, turning away from Limansk. "Stalkers often travel here..."

Wasp and Maginot encountered a few loners heading North. These loners all told the pair that Yantar had once again become home to terrible dangers: anomalies had sprung up all over the old factory and mutants had been appearing in ever increasing numbers. One of the stalkers Maginot met even mentioned chimeras appearing in Yantar and the Garbage.

This only confirms the worst...

When the Freedomers finally reached Yantar, they saw that the loners' warnings were indeed true. Maginot's detector went crazy as soon as they approached the gates to the factory, and he saw dozens of whirligig anomalies.

"Bloody hell...", said Wasp, her eyes widening at the sight of the anomaly field, "I thought Yantar had become quieter!"

"The Zone's changing", said Maginot, reaching for his detector, "and it's changing faster than we would think."

"How?", said Wasp, raising an eyebrow.

"It's expanding", said Maginot, his words like nails being driven into a coffin.


After navigating the anomaly field, the Freedomers emerged from the factory and were greeted with the familiar sight of Yantar's mobile lab. Anomalies had also appeared close to the scientist's bunker, and Maginot smiled when he saw several of said scientists lurking around an anomaly with various instruments.

"I haven't seen Sakharov in ages", he said before descending the slope above the bunker, "I wonder if he's still around?"

[Karcentric]

Rurik walked with some immediacy he was anxious to get through the Wild Territories as quickly as possible, even someone of his size was a target if enough mutants attacked at once. And lately the sheer number of times patrols came back with an injury from mutants attacking was increasing.

Carefully climbing over a rusted barricade set up some time in the distant past he continued, the area was as gloomy as ever, nothing about the area was welcoming. Thinking of the name of the area it seemed very appropriate, but from what he'd heard it seemed more of this mutant behavior was happening everywhere, even that The Zone was expanding. Are worrying prospect since Duty's code was to fight The Zone, and the idea of an expansion was very much the opposite of success in his mind.

Passing the collapsed building site brought back memories, he'd lead Adder and Maginot though the area when they had first arrived as well several others, all of which he hadn't seen in a considerably long time. Including the young sergeant. The howl of one of the local wildlife reminded Rurik he wasn't the only thing in the area. Pushing the thoughts from his head he went a bit faster, he wasn't one to sprint since the sheer weight of the exo suit was considerable and stopping was more difficult than it needed to be.

Getting to the burner tunnel, he scattered several chunks of concrete into the tunnel, igniting a number of anomalies, the intense heat wafted out into the cooler weather, picking up more rubble he moved onward avoiding the flaring pillars of flame. Chucking more rubble he would of mopped his brow if he wasn't wearing a helmet, the heat of Searing even in the armor, leaping between to pillars he patted the slight singe on his armor.

"Lucky the armor is black anyway." He muttered to himself. Following the roads curves he finally saw Yantar's lab sticking out of it's surroundings far below, the area seemed to be infested with anomalies, springboards and whirligigs seemed to cluster everywhere, the distorted gravity around the anomalies made the area appear rather alien looking, flicking a loose rock through a patch of them they set each other off as they threw loose debris up and into one another before finally settling, he could see several mercs standing guard of the lab, even one sitting a little to casually on the roof looking through a pair of binoculars at something in the swamps or beyond.

A merc by the door looked up to Rurik before speaking.

"Uhh, there's some Freedom soldiers already in there, just letting you know. We don't need you two starting trouble or anything." The merc said, giving a nod and mooching of.

"Thanks..." Rurik said, trailing off as the merc wandered off. He pressed the intercom button and waited as the door swung open without being questioned, they could always pick the massive stalker without him having to ask for entry.

Ducking as he entered he waited as the decontamination cycle finished and the the inner door swung open. Stepping in and ducking again, he rounded the corner and saw Maginot and another talking to old Sakharov.

Sakharov looked over Maginot's shoulder when he saw Rurik. "Ahhh, Lieutenant, welcome welcome." He said, his voice seemed a little frailer than the Dutier remembered.

"Professor, Maginot, Ma'am" He said courteously looking to Wasp whose expression had veiled distrust. He couldn't blame her, they were technically enemies. But for now they'd have to focus on the task ahead of them. He waited to hear from one of the others one how they wanted to address the problem.

[Basil]

Maginot smiled when the gigantic Dutier ducked in through the door. Rurik hadn't changed one bit save for a few new lines on his face.

"Damn, Rurik", said Maginot with a laugh, "it feels like I haven't seen you for decades. I'm glad you answered my call, I was worried you might be suspicious. I don't blame you either; our factions have been at war for a long time."

Wasp, who was seated on a metal bench near the door, only gave the tall Dutier a suspicious glare. She did not reach for her weapon, though. Her loyalty to Maginot and Adder was without question.

"Forgive Wasp for her cold welcome. Duty took quite a few of her friends, and being in Freedom didn't help much..."

"-Delighted to meet you", said Wasp, the sarcasm apparent in her weak voice. It was clear that she distrusted Rurik, but Maginot was confident that he'd be able to sway her to his cause. After all, if he could make Wasp agree with his plan, then the rest of Freedom would probably follow.

"But anyway, I didn't call you here to do small talk", said Maginot, looking up at Rurik, "we have serious matters to discuss. You see, us Freedomers have been observing and studying the Zone for years. We gathered information from loners, scientists...even Dutiers and Mercs. We have Penumbra to thank for these two. As the information accumulated, we became aware of something...something that I did not believe at first.

"I once thought of the Zone as a static entity, like the old Exclusion Zone. This belief was invalidated by the information we gained. This might seem to vindicate Duty's beliefs, but the situation is far too urgent to let us argue about ideology..."

Maginot took a deep breath, fearing Rurik's response.

"The Zone is expanding", said the French stalker, "and it's expanding faster than we think. Zombies, chimeras and other things have been reported as far South as the Cordon, and there's even one case of anomalies appearing outside the Zone's official perimetre. It's becoming obvious to me that the Zone is more dangerous than I previously thought. It is now our duty to try and understand why the Zone is expanding and how we can stop it. What I propose, Rurik, is an alliance between Freedom and Duty. If we join forces we can better face what the Zone throws at us."

Wasp turned and gawped at Maginot. The French stalker had not told anyone about his plan, not even Adder.

[Karcentric]

"The Zone is expanding", said the French stalker, "and it's expanding faster than we think. Zombies, chimeras and other things have been reported as far South as the Cordon, and there's even one case of anomalies appearing outside the Zone's official perimetre. It's becoming obvious to me that the Zone is more dangerous than I previously thought. It is now our duty to try and understand why the Zone is expanding and how we can stop it. What I propose, Rurik, is an alliance between Freedom and Duty. If we join forces we can better face what the Zone throws at us."

Rurik was speechless at the statement and the proposition. It made his head spin at the idea. Seconds passed as he processed the information, realising that he'd been silent for nearly a minute.

"Expanding? By how muc-, no that isn't important at the moment." Rurik said, he was partially flustered still. "We'll have our work cut out trying to convince our respective factions that our alliance is genuine." He wondered how some of the more senior, hardline members would react to the news and the proposition. If the officers running Duty could be convinced, than the others in the faction would by large comply, but the trick would be convincing the officers.

Pacing a few steps to think he continued.

"We'll also need a base of operations, ideally somewhere we can both get to but won’t have large amounts lone stalkers investigating, or we can hire mercs to keep them away, preferably without bloodshed.” Rurik said. “I doubt the military would be willing to provide necessary accommodation and equipment. Do you know of any places that could work?”

Sakharov interrupted, “Excuse me gentlemen, perhaps I can suggest a place that is out of the way, but near the borders. As you both know, there is the old swamps, west of The Cordon rumour has it that the base there has been largely untouched since the faction that resided there went north.” He paused to take a breath and continued, “Clear Sky if I’m not mistaken, they had an interest in The Zone’s activities also, but they disappeared when they went north, I suspect they triggered something that caused their own demise. It was when Duty also had a base in Agroprom if you remember Lieutenant.”

“I do remember that, we were cut off for some time due to anomalies in Rostok.” Rurik remarked, he’d heard rumours of the Clear Sky base, but no one had ever seen it or even known where to look. “Do you know anything of the whereabouts of said base Professor?” He enquired, if the base intact it would be a good start.

The old scientist slid a worn out map across the counter, several spots were circled and there were line on the edges of map.

"I take it these circled areas a where the base might be?" Rurik asked, getting a nod from Sakharov. "And these lines? What are they?"

"Those are the known ways into the area, they often change with the larger emissions. But there are also mutants lurking in the area, Marsh Bloodsuckers, even Chimeras occasionally. Though I’m sure your factions working together could easily deal with these threats.” Was the response from Sakharov.

Thinking it over, Rurik looked from the map to Maginot, “What do you think? We should also go beyond the cordoned area and see for ourselves what’s happened, maybe the military will assist?” He said.

((Not exactly sure what direction we're heading in, but the CS base was used to monitor the zone))

[Basil]

"Clear Sky...", murmured Maginot. He'd heard stories about a faction hiding deep in the Great Swamp, back before the great emission that had depleted stalkers' numbers. He'd never heard of anyone travelling into the Swamps, though.

"I've heard of Clear Sky", said Maginot, "but I'm afraid all Freedom knows about them are rumours and hearsay...the professor's information is the only solid stuff I've ever heard about them."

The French stalker fell silent, pondering the matter. Wasp shifted her attention back to Freedom's leader, looking somewhat livelier than she had a few moments before.

"I think I may know a safe path into the Swamp", she said tentatively, "well...I don't know if it's still open, but it might be worth examining. Back when I was starting out, at the Cordon, there was this stalker called Pig. He was an ugly, fat and disgusting bastard, but he was a very good stalker and artefact hunter. He also had a path that lead into the Swamp, a path that he always kept secret. Every now and then he'd disappear for a few days and come back, his rucksack filled with artefacts and loot. Nobody ever saw what path he took...except me."

Wasp shifted on the bench, glancing suspiciously at Rurik. "One evening I followed him as he left the village. He was pretty hard to follow, but eventually he reached an area next to the old railways tracks. The place was filled with grav anomalies, but he seemed to know a path through them...the path headed West, to the Swamp. The only trouble is that that was the last time anyone saw him. He never returned from his trip..."

She shifted again and took out her PDA. "I'm pretty sure I still have the path marked on my PDA. I just don't know if it's still clear, though...yeah, here it is."

She held the PDA up to Maginot, who took it from her and examined the map now shown on the small screen. A red line snaked through a patch of undergrowth, running alongside a set of railway tracks, West of the Cordon.

"This could prove useful", said Maginot, "but before setting out we should call for some reinforcements. Preferably people with more loyalty to us than our factions. We don't want a fight breaking out..."