1st Year Of A New Age, Wednesday, 1st Week, 2nd Month Of Noah.
The recovery process had already begun, however there were still some people who were left without jobs, for example, like the elderly who had lost their families, remained unemployed. So, in order to amend this problem, the government prioritized the welfare of the elderly.
Respecting the elderly was paramount, as they had built the foundation upon which the newborn generation is currently standing. Instead of offering jobs, the government provided them with homes, hired staff to care for them, and allocated a reasonable amount of monthly allowance.
To generate more employment opportunities, the government made a move to conscript workers and streamlined the bureaucracy, where a massive amount of red tape would be removed. Furthermore, only eligible people could work. Those above the age requirement were elderly and will be given homes, while those below the age requirement are to study mandatorily. Stopping education isn't for it will delay the growth of the Empire, and so the government mandated schooling and increased teachers' salaries.
A lot had to be sacrificed. To prevent the skyrocketing of all prices, the government decided to extend the price freeze to every aspect of commerce, not just on food.
This was a heavy blow to the economy, but to prevent the Empire from sinking further, such measures are needed. However, in every disaster, there is always that silver lining in the sky, and so they sped up the process of going back to the gold standard. That is because they are no longer in a world where paper money has any worth. In times like these, something of value must be the one that is circulating in the market.
Even though such stringent measures were placed to stabilize the economy and the masses afloat, there were still some people who were dissatisfied with it, particularly among the wealthy. Just the thought of losing vast sums of money heavily angers them.
But the biggest problem was the old guards of the old system, the oligarchs who escaped the mass purge of the past, are now on the move. Their greediness knows no end, and the government had to take care of them, for the sake of the Empire, before they even bloom.
The Imperial Secret Police has now taken its move. Even though the existence of the Secret Police was already known to the masses, they still didn't bother with it, as the secret police's job is to eliminate those who are a threat to the state, and the wellbeing of the state is the wellbeing of all the masses.
As of now, they've received reports of multiple sightings of armed militias surfaced across the nation.
The time to take care of these threats has come, and so a bloody street-to-street battle will take place in various provinces of the empire.
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Austronesian Empire, Imperial Majapahit, East Kalimantan, Tanjung Redeb, In The Skies Above Tanjung Redeb.
1st Year Of The New Age, Wednesday, 1st Week, 2nd Month Of Noah
Tanjung Redeb, one of the first cities devastated by the first wave of demons during the New Year Tragedy.
Shortly after the war's end, signs of a militia group emerged within the ruined city, and the Imperial Secret Police investigated the place, only to discover that one of the largest rebellion groups they had yet to eliminate were establishing a Headquarters there.
Therefore, they will send an Elite Overwatch Task Force to deal with them.
In the outskirts of the city where there is only woods and mountains, a loud sound started to grow nearer.
Suddenly, two helicopters appeared, flying side by side and can be seen heading towards the scenery.
Inside one of the helicopters shows a black-haired person seated with narrowed eyes and comms on his head
"Echo 3-1 to Charlie 2 actual," he said a bit tiredly.
[Go for actual,] a voice responded
"LZ is in sight. Looks like our boys are right on time, Colonel." said the man in a disinterested tone.
[Roger 3-1. Overwatch team is locked and loaded for assault. You are green to go.] the Colonel confirmed.
[Watcher to 3-1, how copy…] a woman's voice interjected.
"Section team Laswell, send traffic." Answered the man in a much brighter voice.
[Don't forget to target the rebel leaders...] she reminded him.
As the squad leader conversed with high command, the helicopter stopped moving, and a door opened to its side, which showed a group of seven soldiers wearing tactical gear in it waiting for something.
"I have fought literal demons from hell. A group of rebels won't scare us," The man in the helicopter said, as he hooked a rope and kicked in it to make it fall.
[Understood. Just locate the rebel leaders and get off the X before the tide turns,] the woman responded.
Behind the man named Riley, the soldiers went to the rope and descended, Riley followed as he approached the rope.
[IMAGES]
"Copy, Watcher, we'll handle it," he said, gripping the rope and sliding down.
[Charlie two actual, this is Hammer 2-1. Overwatch chalks on deck. We're RTB,] crackled a voice over the comms.
Riley pulled out his rifle and gave the order, "Let's move."
[All Overwatch teams, push to your set point,] came another directive.
"Roger, on the move," one of his comrades responded.
"We need to keep this on a tight loop. High command said that the rebel leaders were on the move tonight," Riley cautioned.
"Hey, what are the odds we run into any of the rebel leaders?" an agent asked.
"They wouldn't be caught dead out here," another commented.
"Psst. Heads up." one of the squad members made a sign for everyone to stop.
Two people showed up before the walking squad, speaking in Indonesian.
"Lewat sini, di atas sini!" ("This way, up here!")
"Aku mendengarnya, dari balik punggung bukit!" ("I heard it, over the ridge!")
"Shit, they heard us," muttered a squad member.
"Hei, aku mendengar sesuatu... (Hey, I hear it again...)"
"Siapa disana?!" ("Who's there?!")
"Ayo maju, tunjukkan dirimu!" ("Come forward, show yourself!")
As the figures approached, Riley took his weapon to his eye, peering through the scope and creating a zooming effect to get a clearer view of the men.
Eyeing the two of them, Riley quickly pressed the trigger, throwing two rounds right in the head of the approaching figures, who dropped lifelessly to the ground.
"Post up on the ridge and let's get the lay of the land," Riley ordered.
All the squad moved up to the ridge before them, showing off an entire facility with lights everywhere, making white dots on all the buildings clouded at night.
"Echo 3-1 to Blue Viking 5, call for fire. Stand by for target confirmation," called Riley.
[Copy 3-1. Viking standing by,] came the response.
Riley pulled out a binocular from his pocket. The scope started to glow green, showing perfectly what was up ahead of him in the night.
"Judging by the amount of lights on several buildings over there, they might be important, especially that one ahead, it appeared to be a factory," Riley marked.
"They probably use it for weapon production," answered the squadmate in a worried tone.
"Let's recon the area, make sure there's no rebel army nearby down here," suggested a squad member.
Riley moved to the left side of the city to observe.
"One in the tower. Left side high, no arm. Patrol vehicles. Contractors."
"Security, good targets," the squadmate approved.
"There are also guarded weapons over there," an agent pointed out to a covered up and tightly guarded weapon.
"Judging by its size, it might be a weapon against infantry," another remarked.
"I doubt that," Riley sighed as he put his eyes off the binoculars and pressed the comms on his ear. "Blue Viking 6, this is Echo 3-1. Troops in the open, south gate. Confirmed to be rebels, you are cleared hot."
[Roger 3-1. Target acquired. Weapons free ETA for 5 minutes,] came the reply.
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Austronesian Empire, Imperial Majapahit, East Kalimantan, In an Military Airfield
1st Year Of The New Age, Wednesday, 1st Week, 2nd Month Of Noah
At a nearby military airfield, a pilot and his co-pilot were preparing a bomber plane for takeoff. After buckling into his seat, the pilot began flipping switches and running through the usual pre-flight checklist.
"Batteries okay, checking brakes and hydraulics," the pilot said.
"Check!" replied the co-pilot.
"Fuel tanks? Tanks one, two, three, and four?"
"Check! All good!"
"Okay, signal to start number one!" the pilot ordered.
The co-pilot leaned out of the side of the cockpit and gestured to the ground crew that they were starting the number one engine. The pilot pushed down on the starter switch for the number one engine and held it down for about fifteen seconds, while setting the hand primer with his other hand and gave it a few good pumps to get the air out of the primer lines.
Once he was done, the co-pilot unlocked the fuel mixture controls while the pilot pressed down on the mesh switch. The co-pilot immediately pulled the engine one fuel mixture lever all the way back to full rich mixture when the engine coughed and roared to life.
The pilot checked the oil pressure gauge that slowly rose up and hovered around the 70 mark before testing the RPM of the engine by adjusting the throttles to one thousand.
Once satisfied, he nodded, "Signal the guys we are starting Number Two!" he instructed.
The whole process was repeated for the second engine, and soon the bomber was ready to take off.
"Omega Tower, this is Blue Viking One, request taxi instructions for flight over," the pilot radioed.
[Blue Viking One, you are cleared for runway zero one to the southwest, over,] Omega Tower responded.
"Blue Viking One, Roger, requesting wind information." the pilot continued asking.
"Omega Tower, wind at North north East, speed, fifteen klicks, over."
"Blue Viking One, Roger, out!" The pilot ended the radio comms and said to his co-pilot. "Let's go!"
His co-pilot gestured to the ground crew and they rushed over to remove the wheel chocks and other equipment before giving the pilots the all-clear signal. The pilot returned the salute of the crew ground as he taxied the plane to the runway.
One by one, the bomber planes eased out of the hangars behind them and lined up for their turn on the runway.
"Alright! Let's go!"