Operation:Pacifica "Reawakening"
by Commander "ST" Geier

 It had been about ten minutes since ST had regained his wits, but
  he was still incredulous.  For no logical reason at all, he now had his
  father's sword strapped to his weapons belt.  He had had what first appeared
  to be just a dream in which he freed the sword, known as Schlee, from its
  prison of ice.  But it was real...wasn't it?  ST shook his head, for about
  the hundredth time.  [If it is, than just let it be.  Let's see what this
  thing can do.]  He slowly drew the intricate crystal sword, marvelling that
  it seemed nearly weightless in his hand.  [Amazing.  How is it doing this?]
  he wondered as he started thrusting and feinting at incredible speeds.
  After a few minutes of getting the feel for it, ST sat down again and
  pondered his next move.

 [Dammit, I don't even know where the hell I am, or where the hell
  my allies are.  I could end up wondering in circles forever in this God-
  forsaken place.  Wait..what's that?]  His head jerked to the side as he
  heard nearby footsteps.  He sheathed his sword and crept towards the steps,
  hoping to find a vantage position.  As he drew closer to the footsteps, he
  heard them suddenly stop.  Intrigued, he used as much stealth as possible to
  get closer until he was about three hundred feet from where the steps had
  stopped.  He looked up and saw yet another spongin.  [This damn island's
  crawling with them.  It could be a trap, so I'll just wait a bit and see.]
  The spongin was sitting down on the ground, looking perfectly content as it
  murmured ripped-off songs.  ST cringed and decided to take the risk.  He
  drew his new weapon with the slightest of sounds, tensing himself for the
  attack.  Usually, at this point in an ambush, his breathing would start to
  become quite labored, but there was nothing but a quiet calm.  [I just might
  have that damn hyperventilating problem beat,] he smiled to himself.  [Oh
  yeah, the attack.]  As the spongin prostrated itself on the ground, ST
  charged.  The spongin looked up too late as ST rapidly brought Schlee down
  on an overhead stroke.  To ST's utter surprise and shock, the sword bounced
  off the spongin's head with great force, knocking ST to the ground.

 "What the.." he wondered aloud as he looked up.  The spongin was an
  ice statue, perfectly frozen in a look of horror.  ST stood up and looked at
  the sword in his hand.  "Did you do that?" he asked of it.  It gave no
  response.  "Umm...ok..let's try this.." he muttered as he walked over to a
  tree.  "Do NOT freeze this tree, ok?  Ok."  He swung the sword in a wide
  arc, severing the trunk with ease.  "Whoa!" he cried out as he realized his
  sword's power. "Excellent!"

 "There he is!"

 [Oh shit, the jig is up.  But they're not taking me without a
  fight.]  ST put the sword in his right hand and drew his .357.  He could see
  a small party of troops approaching.  As they drew closer, he realized that
  they wore enlisted personnel uniforms of TRES Corps.  [About damn time!]  He
  put his weapons away as they approached.

 "Lieutenant Geier, I presume?" asked the sergeant.

 "Yes, that be me.  Who sent you?"

        "Admiral J-Rock.  He's taken quite an interest in your
  whereabouts, by the way.  We've been combing this part of the island ever
  since you disappeared.  Where the hell were you?"

        "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," replied ST.

 The sergeant snorted.  "Figures.  C'mon, I've got to take you to
  headquarters."

 "Headquarters?" interrupted ST.  "Where?"

 "Near the city, boy, just where the hell have you been?"

 "I..really don't know...hell," ST realized, "I don't even know what
  day it is or the time."

 "Seesh...don't they teach you anything?  It's Day Ten of the
  Operation, and it's 2030 island time."

 ST locked the time and day into his mind, wondering how he lost
  track of it so easily.

        "Ok, Leftenant, time for us to go, it's getting a little
  late to be out here."

 "Agreed."

        With that, the TRES troops turned around and started heading
  back, with ST following.


[About a half hour later]
[Jihad Landing Force HQ]

 ST entered the main tent to find his comrades discussing the
  information they had extracted from some sponge or wyrm minion, ST couldn't
  figure out which.  DarkSide, J-Rock, Sabine, Mal, Sheridan, and Windigo all
  looked at him as he entered.

 "Lieutenant, how nice of you to join us," began J-Rock.  "Pull up a
  chair and tell us exactly what the hell you've been doing since you landed
  on this island.  We had troops looking for you all day, and they only now
  just found you?"

 "Allow me to explain, sir," asked ST as he grabbed a chair.

 "By all means," replied J-Rock.  "Begin."

 "Ok.  I landed on the island, and I started hearing this
  strange...I guess one could call it murmuring.  I asked the pilot of the
  transport if he could hear it, he said no.  So I started thinking it was a
  Lyran playing games or something, so I searched the area.  No Lyran.  Then I
  hear some voices.  Turns out its a spongin couple making out."

         The assembled made sounds of disgust as ST continued.  "So
  I frag their asses and continue on.  I then killed a bunch of spongin who
  were trying to ambush me, and from there, I stumbled into a mechanized
  conflict, so I hauled ass out of there and then that strange murmuring
  returns.  Turns out it was some kind of signal that got stronger as I got
  closer.  Anyway, I get to this big rock, and then I collapse.  I wake up in
  this weird place, it wasn't around here, that's for sure, it was in the
  middle of a blizzard, then I hear this voice that's been haunting my dreams
  ever since we left San Francisco."

 "Haunting your dreams?" questioned DarkSide.

 "Yeah, it was telling me all this crap like `seek the sword, follow
  the path,' etc. etc.  Okay, so I'm in this dream world or whatever you want
  to call it and the voice tells me to turn around, so I turn around and see
  this," he drew Schlee for all to see, "embedded in a wall of ice.  I somehow
  reach through the ice and free it, then soon after that, I wake up with this
  sword on me.  Then, I came across another spongin, so I attacked him with
  this sword but it turned him into an ice statue."

        The assembled now stared at ST in surprise, as he concluded,
  "And then some TRES troops found me, and now you know," ST did his best Paul
  Harvey, "the rest of the story."

 J-Rock broke the silence after a few seconds.  "A very interesting
  account, I must say.  What else can this sword of yours do?"

 "That's just it, sir, I don't know.  I only just now got it, and
  while it is my father's sword, I have no idea how it got here..or there...or
  wherever it was," ST shrugged.  "I'm feeling awfully tired, sir, request
  permission to hit the sack."

 "Permission granted."

 "Thank you, sir."

 With that, ST saluted smartly and left the tent.

To be continued in "Hero of the Day"
-- ST