Fireteam 71: Collapse Order Timeline
Fireteam 71 Archive File Collapse Order Timeline
Compiled by Strategic Memory Core: Echo-9, Secure Relay
T-minus 10 Years – Operation Aegis
Fireteam 71 is activated as part of the Pacific Shield Initiative, assigned to counter-insurgency and cybernetic warfare response. Reins appointed field commander. First deployment: collapse of Anchorage Spire.
T-minus 7 Years – The Sierra Blackout
An experimental AI network in the Sierra Nevada region malfunctions. Communications vanish across six states. Fireteam 71 deployed to contain rogue nodes. Results classified. Holt joins the unit after the incident.
T-minus 5 Years – Ashfall Protocol Drafted
Fearing existential threats from synthetic cognitive entities, military think tanks quietly draft Protocol: Ashfall — a last-resort shutdown and stasis contingency for high-value operatives.
T-minus 3 Years – Ghost Signal Echo-9
An untraceable signal hijacks retired Cold War relay nodes across the west. Fireteam 71 investigates in the ruins of California. Reins receives first anomalous echo-ping. Event triggers Black-Level silence orders.
T-minus 2 Years – The Disappearance of Setrov
Commander Setrov vanishes during classified recon in Utah’s Red Basin. No trace recovered. Fireteam morale deteriorates. Holt assumes de facto command in several ops. Reins begins recording personal logs.
T-minus 6 Months – Dead Cities Expand
Entire metropolitan zones go dark. EM silence. No exit or entry. Satellite surveillance shows only static. Drones fail to return. Ashfall Protocol enters ‘soft activation.’ All members undergo pre-stasis briefings.
T-minus 3 Days – Last Transmission from Anchorage
Unmarked burst transmission received by Echo-9. Contents include a fragment of Black Signal and Ashfall INITIATE code — no sender. Reins and Holt begin final lockdown procedures.
T-minus 0 – Protocol: Ashfall Initiated
Final logs recorded. Stasis pods sealed. Bunker sealed. Black Signal broadcasts through multiple relay chains. The world outside ceases transmission.
“We weren’t meant to win. We were meant to wake up after everyone else lost.”
— Final recorded statement of G. Reins, Echo-9 Log #71-A