Fifteen minutes before Sergeant Martinez's team arrived at point Alpha, Gabe left his room. He was wearing an undecorated officer uniform he found in his room's closet. If he was going to be the Commander, then he needed to look the part. He was heading towards the Command Center.
The Command Center was located in sub-level three of the Headquarters building which housed the main meeting room and cafeteria that Gabe has been using.
Gabe took the elevator down from his room on the 20th floor all the way to sub-level three. Sub-level three was entirely dedicated to the Command Center.
After exiting the elevator, Gabe walked directly into the central room. This was the main room and took up the center of the floor. The ceiling of the room was extra high. The Command Center was actually three stories high meaning it was technically sub-level five. It was called sub-level three, however, because only two floors were accessible above without entering the command center.
The high ceiling allowed for large Holo projectors to display large maps, visual feeds, information or anything else to everyone in the main room.
The center of the floor of the main room was tiered downwards with each tier holding a ring of personal Holo workstations for the Command Center staff and officers. The bottom of this tiered center was referred to as the Pit.
The Pit was where Central Command would be located, aka Gabe the Commander. The bottom held another Holo table. It was similar but larger than the one in his office. The bottom of the pit was ringed with a row of workstations. These stations belonged to his staff of communications officers.
Normally his assistant, Vice Commander, Army General, Fleet Admiral, General of the Air Force and any of the other highest ranking officers would accompany him in the Pit during operations that involved their branch.
Currently, however, none of them exist. The navy was almost entirely decommissioned after the ecological collapse as ships were simply too harmful to the environment. Only a few cargo ships still operated to bring resources from the Antarctic Archipelago to the Western Nation.
The Air Force was in a worse state. Air was far less efficient than ground or sea based transportation. The only use for air support was fast travel times.
The only force that was maintained at all was the army. There was only a few companies worth of soldiers available throughout the entire Western Nation. There was no single location that held even a full company of soldiers. This resulted in there being no one at or above the rank of Captain.
There was no need to fill out the rest of the chain of command. Gabe was essentially in direct control of the lieutenant of each platoon of soldiers.
Around the main room of the Command Center, a perimeter of different rooms were located. The rooms were only a single story, so there were walkways and stairs leading up three stories to access each of the rooms.
The Command Center was built so that no matter where you stood in it, you could always see the center of the Pit. This had the side effect of while being in the Pit, everyone seemed to stare at you.
Perhaps that was the case, though, as those in the Pit were the highest authorities of the Western Nation's military.
The matte black steel and grey concrete of the room was illuminated by harsh fluorescent style lighting above. Cool blue flickered on work stations as Officers worked efficiently.
Only the inner most ring of the Pit was active. The command staff was scaled back just as much as the frontline soldiers. What was built for hundreds of command staff now only holds a few dozen. The Command Center seemed eerily dead in the fluorescent lights.
The moment Gabe stepped out of the elevator, a waiting private moved in front of him.
"Private Jacob Orthez reporting as ordered, sir!"
A young man saluted while reporting to Gabe. Gabe was confused though. He didn't know who this man was or why he was reporting. Seeing that Gabe was confused, the young man continued.
"Sir, Lady Speaker ordered me to act as your assistant until your assigned assistant arrives."
"Ah, I see. I will have to thank her later. At ease," Gabe ordered while walking into the center of the main room. Jacob moved to follow a step behind his Commander.
"Can you give me a SITREP of the situation? Is everything going as planned?"
"Aye, sir. The latest report from Sergeant Martinez claimed that they had passed the sub-base and were currently enroute to point Alpha through the mud roads of the fields. They are expected to arrive on time. Team Delta investigating point Delta in the old oil fields has reported delays. The marshy terrain due to the elevated sea levels are impeding their progress. They expect to arrive by 2330 hours. Delta team will miss the first event occurrence due to the delays. Everything else is proceeding as planned, Commander."
"Thank you, private. Report to me of any updates. I will be getting some water and visiting the bathroom."
"Yessir! I will inform you immediately."
The young man quickly walked back to the Pit.
Gabe made his way to the small canteen and grabbed a bottle of water.
He then made his way to the bathroom where he locked himself inside a stall.
"God, that was nerve-racking! I did not expect to be bombarded the second I walked in. I wasn't prepared for it," he complained in his head.
"Did I act Commanderly enough or is he out there mocking me with his friends? Uugghh. I hate this so much," he complained some more.
After relieving himself and complaining some more, he gave himself his usual pep-talk before leaving the bathroom. Even if he didn't believe in himself, he knew at least the Speaker did, and he didn't want to let her down.
After leaving the bathroom, Gabe entered the pit for the first time and took his designated seat at the head of the Holo table in the center.
He took a moment to look around and just admire the beehive-like efficiency and noise that seemed to radiate from the Command Center. Even though the Command Center was less than 25% staffed, he could imagine just how awesome the place would feel if it ever returned to its former glory. Staff running every which way while they carried out his orders. It was the power trip of the century.
Gabe was pulled from his imagination as Private Jacob cleared his throat next to him.
"Sir, there is nothing to report. The four teams are continuing their operations smoothly."
"Good. Have any of the comms stations been set up yet?"
"No, sir. The teams have only just reached their designated locations. They have to unload their vehicles before the comms stations can be established."
"Have each location setup a temporary camera so that we can get eyes on the situation."
"Aye, sir. It will be done swiftly."
Private Jacob moved toward four communication officers on the ring of the Pit. He had them deliver Gabe's orders to the teams studying the phenomenon.
Private Jacob was an averagely built young man only two years younger than Gabe. He had dropped out of university three years prior to his graduation. He was enlisted in the military as part of the command staff approximately a year ago. While he hadn't interacted directly with the previous Commander, he had seen him in the Pit often.
Jacob hid his feelings well, but he was incredibly envious of Gabe. It was every boy's dream to lead a military of their own to claim and conquer, and now he had to be that boys temporary assistant. Even though Gabe was two years older than him, he had a full year of experience and fiercely believed that he could've been the Commander instead.
He didn't know what he did wrong to deserve this hellish treatment. Why was he forced to witness his dreams play out for another man? It was extremely infuriating for him.
He would never act on his feelings, though. He knew it wasn't Gabe's fault. The man had simply been lucky. He also knew the punishment for attempting to remove the Commander on falsified reports, so he simply did his job as he was trained to do.
Soon, three different views were projected above the Holo table of the operation teams that were on time. The fourth projection remained static as Delta team was still running behind. The command staff were now able to get a visual of the situation on the ground.
While watching the feeds in silence, Gabe received a call on his personal Holo from an unexpected source. He quickly answered and, before he could greet them, he was cut off.
"Yo, kid," Kelly started. "I've got some news. The extra weapons package you requested for Operation: Event Horizon, has been fully gathered for each location. They should be on-site by 0600 hours at the latest. Also, will you please answer your new assistant girlfriend. She's been bugging me wondering why you aren't responding for hours. See ya!" With that, the call ended, and Gabe didn't get a single word in.
"What girlfriend?" He questioned aloud. "Assistant girlfriend? Is she talking about Lily? How did Lily even get Kelly's contact?"
Gabe was completely flabbergasted at the whirlwind of information Kelly told him. It was good that the extra weapons he asked for would be delivered on time. It made his gut relax just a little more.
Gabe heard some snickering coming from the officers around him. It wasn't a great look to be treated like and called a kid by one of the councilors. He was trying to act mature and confident like the Speaker said to, but it was so hard when stuff like this happened.
He pushed the laughter aside and thought about the rest of what Kelly had told him. Lily was apparently looking to contact him. He had turned his Holo on silent while he slept. It kept ringing and waking him up.
"All that ringing must have been Lily trying to reach me," he mused. "Guess I'll call her quickly."
"Finally you call me, Gabe. Why'd you leave me in the dark? You tell me I'm going to be your assistant and then completely fuck off for four hours!" Lily was definitely angry.
"I-I went to eat dinner and then—"
"I don't care. It was rude, and you will make it up to me later. Understood?"
Gabe sighed in resignation. Women could be so difficult sometimes. "Yes, I hear you. So? What do you need me for?"
"Oh, right. I just had a few questions about this Operation: Event Horizon and wanted to clarify some things with you."
The two chatted over Holo for some time before Gabe asked a question that had been bugging him.
"How did you even get Kelly's contact info? She told me that you had been bugging her."
"Oh that. Well…" she pause before continuing.
"Now that I'm your assistant my access privileges have been elevated. Part of my job is carrying out contact between councilors. All the councilors and their assistant's contact info was automatically added to my Holo.
"You had mentioned talking to Kelly when we talked before, so I figured she'd be the best one to reach out to. That's all," she finished her explanation.
Before Gabe could continue the conversation, Private Jacob came up to him to report.
"Sir, the comms stations at points Alpha, Beta and Gamma have been set up. Delta team is still running slightly behind. Alpha point event activation is imminent. I recommend focusing on the operation," he ended.
That little bit at the end pissed Gabe off. Jacob shouldn't be telling him what to do. If he wanted to talk to his good friend then he was going to. He was right that he needed to hang up, though.
"Very well. I want the long range and infrared cameras from the three comms stations pulled up," he ordered Jacob, "And, Private Jacob, you will not tell me what to do again. Understood?"
Gabe waited for Jacob to nod in acknowledgement before turning back to his call with Lily.
"Looks like I need to go. Safe travels Lily, and stay away from these events if you can," he warned.
"You know I'm not in control of this convoy, yes? And thanks, I'll be safe. Bye Gabe," she said sweetly before Gabe hung up.
Gabe turned his attention to the event location near Denver. He wanted to see how much more intense the event have gotten over the past 24 hours.