November 6, 2025 – 0630 Hours
San Jose Agricultural Recovery Zone – Central Luzon
The ground shook.
Not from tremors or infected stampedes—but from the massive rotor wash of heavy-lift helicopters descending over the reclaimed fields of San Jose.
Thomas Estaris stood atop a makeshift observation platform—an elevated steel scaffold bolted onto the bed of a JLTV—watching the horizon thunder to life. Sunlight shimmered across the rising dust clouds as the first wave of transport choppers began touching down in sequence.
The first bird was a MH-53 Pave Low, its side doors already open mid-hover as its wheels kissed the dirt. Its matte black fuselage bore Overwatch insignia and sensor pods bristled from its nose and underbelly. Its twin rotors churned the air like a typhoon.
"Pave One has landed!" someone called over the field comms.
