Firestorm: prologue.

1

it has been the subject of innumerable studies. it has been theorized about, observed, considered and debated. but even so, few can claim to fully understand it. the question itself is a fundamental one. how must a human mind view the world, on what plane must a being operate, to sacrifice one's life, one's very being, for a cause? 2

why would a man kill himself in support of his beliefs?3

and the simple truth is, outside of those who do, no one really knows.4

but that is not the question, the theorem behind this tale. that is just a question of how it was started.5

and it started with a man. one simple man. a man who would never be known to most of the world as anything other than a catalyst. he would, for all future generations, be known as only a cause. only the initiator of an event. he would be known for all history, as simply the name behind his actions. but he was more. he was a man. his name, so insignificant to the world, was linked to a deep identity. he had hopes. he had dreams. he had a family once. a beautiful wife he loved more than the breath in his lungs, and daughters he would cut out his own heart for. he lived a life that men could be proud of. 6

but one day, that was all taken from him. one day, in the blink of an eye, in the time it took for an electronic synapse to flash, a chemical reaction be unleashed, he lost all that he had ever loved. and that is one way a man can have the determination to die. and so, having made up his mind to die, this man sought the power to do so. he went in search of the ability to accomplish all he had left in life. and then he went in search of those he would take with him. and it was his decision that the one's who die his death be a small group of men. a select portion of the entity he viewed as responsible for his pain. this is the story of this man, and those men. and how their meeting would change the world, forever.7

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Liuetenant Joshua Johannes Kalian was, by all accounts, a remarkable man. he graduated high-school at sixteen as veledictorian. he came out of College four years later with a degree in international relations, with a minor in psychology. and then, most remarkable of all, he did what no one expected. 9

he joined the marines. and from that point forward, his story became even more interesting. after OCS and the Academy, he was assigned to Force Recon. he served in minor engagements all over the world. and within the small community of the Special Forces, he establisheda reputation. 10

"Socrates" they called him. Or "the Philosopher." he earned these titles through his quick thinking and unconventional solutions. he danced through gaps others couldn't see, exploited weaknesses no one else noticed. he was combat savant. a dealer of death on par with the reaper himself. 11

but at the end of his two years with Force Recon Unit 7, he wasn't reassigned to the same unit. he was assigned instead to a new, experimental unit. the "Unrestricted Intervention and Unconventional Tactics Unit" or UIUT. it was he fruit of a new initiative. so new the ink had barely dried. it called upon the Pentagon, the DOD, the NSA, and the CIA, to work in concert to intervene in cases of terrorism and national security. the Unit was essentially a small force that was to be restrained by no border, inhibited by no sanctions, and concerned with the safety of the Country above all else. it was secret beyond secret. it's funds were pulled directly from the CIA's "black" bankroll, ensuring that finance would never be a problem. it's members were granted rank in every service, with clauses to ensure that authority issues would never be. they were to have access to every weapon and vehicle imaginable. they were granted direct control over the entire national satillite network. they were given the resources to contact every major government official in the world. and they were given the right draft and conscript any government employee they could find. they were to be the most powerful men and women in the world. they were known, informally, as the Nephilim, after the biblical half-men half-angels who could stop armies and slaughter hundreds singlehandedly. 12

and this is their story as well.13


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it was about two AM. the sun had long since surrendered to the dark embrace of the horizon, and some time afterward, the moon followed. and now, it was pitch dark, only the stars to break the monotony of the night. 15

the waves slopped against the steel, a solemn cacophony, a silence of noise. the only other sound in the darkness was the steady thump of rubber on steel, a sentries' boots on deck.16

but lack of noise is not neccesarily lack of life. for in the darkness, and the silence, another being stirred. it was a single man, moving through the water slowly and intentionally. 17

he approached the hulking shape cautiously. his body taut, controlled. but his mind was elsewhere.18

it was still standing amidst the flames. it was still stumbling through the wreckage. it was on its knees, digging desperateyl through the wreckage. and most importantly of all, it was cradling a child's head, begging God and fate and any other power it could think of for the strength to bring its little girl back. the power to save her from the fate that had engulfed her.19

and so, the man moved closer. he drew alongside the shape. there, on the bow, were letters. 20

"U.S.S Janson."21

the man swept his eyes over the blocky definite script once. it meant little to him. simply that he had found his goal. he followed the shape, heading towards the aft. he kept his movements painfully slow, deliberate. just as he had been told. and just like he had been told, the motion detectors sensed nothing. no alarms sounded. no klaxons wailed. there was just the lapping of the waves, the thumping of boots.22

and in the silence and the darkness, the man reached his final destination on earth. 23

he ran a hand over the vest. it was composed of small blocks and wires, coated in layer upon layer of plastic wrap and a sealant. it was hard and foreign, a bizzarre thing to feel in place of one's own chest. he thought of his little girl. of his wife. of the american bomb that slammed into his home. 24

and then he dove underneath the ship. down he went. deeper, deeper, until he was directly under the center of the hull. and there was the joint he had been told of. he felt his way along it, until he was located in the weakest part of the entire craft. and then he said a prayer. his lips moved silently. the water, cold and bitter, rushed in, filling his mouth, forcing its way into his lungs. but he didn't panic, he just finished his prayer. and then, even as the cold water replaced his breath and the pure darkness of death encroached, he pressed the button.25

And with that single, simple motion, a chain of events was ignited. a circuit was completed, a charge sent. the electric impulse along the wire. it flashed through the loops and spirals, and finally slammed into the detonator. the small, pen-shaped device did exactly what it was intended to, sending a surge of energy into the plasticky compound. the bricks detonated in near-perfect symetry. all of the pent up kinetic enrgy contained within those chemically created clumps was released in a single, terrible instant. 26

a wave of pure kinetic energy surged outward, followed immediately by a sphere of fire and flame that burned as bright as the sun, even underwater. the sudden exponential increase in pressure collapsed the hull in on itself like an aluminum can. the fireball pushed through hull and engulfed the lage machines and men contained within. they never had time to scream, seeing as they were instantaneously cremated, the fire burning hot enough to fuse the entire section into one solid mass of steel. 27

the Janson bucked, surging up out of the water like a performing whale at sea-world. the shockwave lashed outwards, thrusting a five foot white-topped wave outward from the epicenter. fifteen miles away, in a seaside village, people were yanked from their sleep by a sound louder than any thunderclap. it meant far more than they could comprehend. 28

it meant that it had begun.