Major Faction Humbarine Dawn: III. Terrible Arithmetic

Loudspeakers blared across Humbarine City. Preluding a sterile, masculine voice was the jarring tonal sound indicating a state of emergency.

"Attention! This is not a test. All citizens and non-military personnel are to report immediately to a designated security zone. Repeat, this is not a test. An unknown radioactive agent has been dispersed by hostile actors. Your safety is our priority, your compliance is required."

The announcement continued in repetition. Occasionally, the citizens were warned that failure to comply would result in immediate and indefinite arrest. But elsewhere, soldiers of the Home Guard's 1st Radtrooper Company received their orders - helmets on, body gloves sealed. Double checked. An air of caution permeated their ranks. All of them were veterans of the Core Wars, but their role then was largely clean-up. Ordinance leakage. Downed warships. Things like that. This was different; this invoked duty and danger like no other assignment, and more than a few of them had thoughts of conspiracy. Were they being told the truth? Still, they obeyed. Orders, always following--

"I don't understand. Our instruments can sniff a radiation leak within fifty klicks, and I haven't seen any activity on this damn thing!"

"Will you shut it, Four-One-Seven? You're gonna get us reprimanded. Just follow orders. The sooner we're done here, the sooner we get out of these sweaty suits."

The two troopers argued as they marched alongside a tank that rolled down an empty street. A few hours ago, this was a busy commercial zone that saw hundreds of thousands in daily foot traffic. Now, there was scarce a soul, save for the troopers. All civilians, incidentally, had been evacuated to temporary shelters near and surrounding critical military installations and supply depots.