Date: April 17, 2011.
Name: Multinational Coalition Airbase.
Coordinates: 47° N, 28° E.
Description:
This airbase is located on the eastern plains of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. It serves as the primary airbase for the Multinational Coalition, with a permanent population of approximately two thousand personnel.
With the assistance of the Multinational Coalition, the government forces recaptured large areas of the capital in early 2011.
However, to this day, the rebels within the capital continue to engage in guerrilla warfare with the government forces and the Multinational Coalition, resulting in a stalemate.
.
Hours after Sergeant Davis was killed, at 22:54 local time in Moldova.
A massive Um-255 transport plane flew through the night sky over Chisinau, heading towards the airbase on the eastern plains.
It extended its landing gear and began a slow descent, then landed steadily on the runway, coming to a complete stop after a brief taxi.
Seeing the Um-255 come to a stop, Colonel James Orend, who had been waiting by the hangar for a long time, led several fully armed Delta operators towards the tail ramp of the Um-255.
The ramp opened.
The first to emerge were fully armed Task Force members wearing AAES II suits, followed by USS personnel in biohazard suits and a large number of technical staff.
Captain Karina Lais Ploures, the Umbrella-dispatched operations commander, also wore a biohazard suit, but she did not let the helmet cover her face.
She had short black hair. Although her face was beautiful, her slightly furrowed brows combined with her chilling gaze made no one think she was just a 'pretty face.'
Following Captain Ploures was Umbrella's dispatched consultant, Rebecca Chambers.
Rebecca was only in the early stages of pregnancy, which would not affect her normal work, and she was also one of the few researchers with practical combat experience.
Over four hundred people disembarked from the Um-255 transport plane and, under the guidance of the crew, began to unload crates of weapons and supplies from the cabin.
Colonel Orend approached Ploures and Rebecca, extending his hand and saying, "Hello, I am Colonel James Orend, the commander of this airbase."
"Hello." Ploures shook Orend's hand, speaking in a low voice with a French accent, "Captain Karina Lais Ploures, Commander of Umbrella's Private Military, Gamma Mobile Task Force."
As she spoke, Ploures looked at Rebecca beside her and introduced her, "She is the consultant for this operation, Dr. Rebecca Chambers.
I hope the Colonel will heed her advice, as Umbrella is much better at handling anomalous phenomena than your conventional military."
"No problem." Orend had no objection to this.
"Alright."
Due to her husband being Jame, Rebecca's state during missions was no longer that of a 'rookie.' Instead, she waved her hand and said straightforwardly, "There's no need for unnecessary talk, Colonel. I believe you must have more information."
"Indeed." Orend nodded, gesturing towards a building inside the base, "For the specific situation, please follow us into the base for discussion."
"Good."
.
Immediately, the Gamma Task Force organized themselves outside under Ploures' command, while she led Rebecca and several USS personnel to follow the Colonel into the base for discussion.
——————
...
Inside the conference room of the main building of the airbase.
Orend motioned to the base staff to turn on the multi-screen projection equipment in the conference room and introduced to Rebecca and Ploures, who were seated, "Because the Delta Force uses your Umbrella individual soldier system, their helmet visors and holographic glasses can provide our soldiers with various visual modes.
In the past week, the glasses and visors of six soldiers have captured images of this thing."
As Orend spoke, the projection screen at the front of the conference room simultaneously played five video feeds, operated by the staff.
All the videos were in first-person perspective, mostly using thermal imaging and night vision.
The audio in each video contained motion alerts and conversations where soldiers reported to the base that their individual soldier system might be malfunctioning, and so on.
And when the motion alert reached its peak and emitted a piercing sound, the 'outline' of something would flash across the video.
Afterward, the motion alert returned to normal, and both the soldiers and the base assumed it was a system malfunction, so they did not pursue it further.
Seeing this.
Rebecca looked at Orend and said calmly, "So, the sixth video, is it from Sergeant Davis?"
"Yes." Orend's tone darkened, "Davis was an elite among the Delta, but he was still killed in one blow by something, something invisible."
"Invisible?" Rebecca frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, then asked, "What about the autopsy results?"
Orend did not rush to answer. Instead, he waved his hand, signaling the staff to continue playing Sergeant Davis's autopsy data.
He added, "The cause of death was also very strange; his internal organs were instantly frozen, but his skin appeared to be burned and corroded."
Rebecca browsed the data, the 'furrow' between her eyebrows becoming increasingly pronounced. It seemed she was temporarily unsure what exactly they were facing this time.
At this moment, Orend added, "In fact, over the past week, we have also successively discovered bodies with causes of death similar to Sergeant Davis's.
Locals have even spray-painted 'Aratare' at the incident sites. Coupled with Davis's death, I believe this is very likely caused by some kind of supernatural creature."
"Aratare?" Rebecca asked, puzzled.
"It's a local legend, meaning 'like a demon, a ghost of war,'" Orend explained.
"A ghost?" Ploures, who had remained silent, was startled and tentatively asked Rebecca beside her, "Could it be something like a Wendigo?"
"No." Rebecca shook her head, "Wendigos are formless and possessive, but since this so-called 'ghost of war' can be detected by motion sensors, it indicates it's a physical entity."
"If it's a physical entity... then why did Sergeant Davis's gunfire have no effect?" Orend retorted.
Rebecca gently shook her head, closed her eyes slightly, and said calmly, "Being a physical entity doesn't necessarily mean it can be killed by rifle ammunition. To figure out what it is, we need clearer images and more detailed data."
At this point.
Rebecca opened her eyes, stood up, and said to Orend, "Our company's individual soldier system sold to you does not have a scanning function."
"Scanning function?" Orend seemed a bit confused.
Ploures, who also stood up, helped explain to the slightly gray-haired Colonel, "The scanning system, combined with what you know as the motion detection function, can provide clear situational awareness even in zero visibility."
Hearing this, Orend's face lit up, "That would be excellent, as long as we can deal with that 'ghost of war.'"
"Mm." Ploures nodded and said, "Then please dispatch your elite troops, Colonel, to act as guides for our reconnaissance team into the city."
"No problem."
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