The Vanguard

by Jeffrey Ellis

  “We are ready. Join hands please,” said Boudicca.

  Boudicca and Nefertiti closed their eyes. At first, nothing happened but then William felt twitchy. His fingertips itched a bit and he felt his fingernails growing. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up and every time a laser fired, or a jet flew over, he wanted to run. He was holding it together but was feeling very paranoid.

  “Hurry. We don’t want to maintain this any longer than necessary,” said Nefertiti as she ran towards the C&C building the rest following behind her.

  It wasn’t very far, maybe a mile run and they were moving very fast. The group went over debris, around obstacles, springing and jumping with agility they didn’t usually have. They reach the C&C building with Boudicca in the lead and Nefertiti close on her heels. The two men were a little further back not having the experience with this type of magic the two women had.

  The Masters hit the side of the building and kept going, scampering up the side like it was a horizontal surface. They zigzagged back and forth going around windows and duct work and made quick progress. The men struggled to keep up but managed the climb without issue.

  #

  Sebastian, Chelsea, and Xavier soared on the manticores.

  “Why didn’t we just have them drop us directly on the edge of the roof? It would have been faster,” Xavier said on their comm.

  “It would have been, but it would not have been as discreet and would have put the manticores in greater danger. This way, they can drop us and go home away from the danger of the battlefield,” Sebastian replied over the comm.

  The manticores flew upwards, as close to a direct vertical as they could manage. The laser fire was dying down as more turrets were destroyed or captured and GloCom slowly started taking control of the base. The manticores flew over the C&C building at a significant altitude and circled.

  Sebastian sent a message of thank you to the mind of the manticore. “It’s time. Let’s go,” he said and jumped.

  Chelsea and Xavier followed suit and the three activated their PEMES and plummeted to the top of the building. At the last second, they pulled up and slowed their momentum, then landed running.

  Just ahead was the group of ALF and ogres positioned centrally between the two remaining towers. The terrorists and fey did not expect them and were caught off guard.

  Sebastian pulled his blade and blue flame poured from his other hand engulfing the group. Chelsea did the same as did Xavier except instead of blue flames, electrical energy arced from his hand. Most of the ALF was killed in the opening salvo but the ogres, while singed and showing multiple burns, were mostly unharmed.

  “I hate brutes,” said Xavier as they faced off against the massive beasts. They were holding large chains with a spiked ball on the end and each also had a spiked club hung on its back.

  “Before we go inside, we need to take out those two towers,” said Sebastian. There’re three ogres and three of us. We’re much faster but need room to fight. Divide and conquer,” he ordered.

  The three Vanguard dodged and maneuvered to get the ogres separated. The one going after Chelsea followed her over near one of the turrets. The ogre swung the chain with elegance and speed Sebastian did not expect. The ones facing the other two were similar. They displayed speed and dexterity that was not usual for ogres.

  “They’re enhanced, be careful!” yelled Chelsea.

  The Vanguard held their own for the most part, but an ogre was already a formidable opponent. The enhanced abilities made them deadly. Their skin seemed abnormally resistant to damage as well.

  “That explains why the fire didn’t do more damage,” Xavier replied. “This is going to be harder than we thought. Three on three doesn’t seem like good odds anymore.”

  “It’s not three on three,” yelled Boudicca as she and the other three raced across the roof. A lightning bolt struck down from the sky on the ogre attacking Xavier and another hit the one near Chelsea. Boudicca didn’t break stride and as she approached the ogre on Xavier she pulled her blade and jumped in a single motion. William drew his blade and ran towards Sebastian with Jameson close behind as Nefertiti engaged the one by Chelsea. The ogres were strong and fast but outmatched. The Vanguard quickly overwhelmed them and within minutes the three brutes were dead.

  Jameson went to one of the laser turrets and accessed the control panel. He started keying in commands trying to bring the turret offline.

  “How can we help?” asked Sebastian.

  “Unless you’re familiar with security systems for military systems you really can’t,” Jameson replied.

  “I have some experience. I’ll see what I can do on the other one,” said Sebastian.

  “Unless you are absolutely sure, please don’t. You’ll trigger a lockout if done incorrectly and then we won’t be able to deactivate them without accessing their core system directly and that’s inside the C&C,” Jameson told him.

  “Understood. You’re the expert here,” replied Sebastian.

  “Jameson, is GloCom planning on salvaging this base or its hardware?” asked William.

  “We assumed it was lost already. If we hadn't lost so many troops in the cataclysm, we would have already decommissioned it formally. If we can salvage anything that would be great, but it’s all considered an acceptable loss. We’re only here to stop the ALF and free their hostages,” Jameson replied.

  “Then why don’t we just destroy the turrets?” asked William.

  “I don’t have any high explosives. Do you?” asked Jameson.

  “We’re the Vanguard. We are high explosives,” said Chelsea with a smile.

  “I managed to destroy a smaller turret myself, but these things are massive, comparatively. That’s a feat even for Masters,” William replied.

  She took Sebastian’s hand and turned to look at one of the turrets. He looked hesitant, but she reassured him. “We can do this, love. Remember the Tormentor? We can do that again,” she told him then looked at one of the towers.

  The two of them focused on the tower. Blue flame engulfed them and flowed towards the turret. It took the shape of a winged creature and hit the tower. The flame engulfed the tower and for a moment nothing happened. Then the tower exploded. The shockwave knocked them down and a moment later debris rained on them. Xavier conjured a shield above them as Nefertiti and Boudicca used energy waves to deflect the falling pieces of the tower.

  “Now we know what killed the Tormentor,” said William.

  “What the hell was that?” asked Boudicca.

  “The lions roared,” said Nefertiti.

  “Dragon’s breath…” said Boudicca. “You can call on the portion of your soul that contains the dragon when the two of you work together. The fragments become whole. That explains much.”

  “What?” said Chelsea. “How do you know?”

  “Because I chose to remember when you did not. I’ll explain it later but for now, destroy the other one so we can move on,” Boudicca told them.

  “No need,” said Jameson. “I have disabled this one and shut down its reactor. It will take a while to reactivate the core even if someone managed to break the encryption I put on it,” he told the group.

  “The secret entrance is in the air conditioning ductwork near the corner,” said Chelsea.

  “How did you know about that? It’s not on any maps and only command staff know about it,” said Jameson.

  “I don’t know. I just knew it. It’s a memory from a prior life but I’m not sure which one,” Chelsea replied.

  “I’m pretty sure Lord Marshall Sebastian was General Adamson during the Unification War but I’m not sure of your connection. The old cowboy commanded the PacRim forces and is one of the five generals that are credited with winning the war,” Jameson replied. “He’s also my great, great, great grandfather but that’s something I’m still wrapping my head around.”

  “Why did you call him a cowboy?” asked Sebastian.

  Jameson was working at a hidden panel for
the secret access tunnel while they talked. “He grew up in Iowa and met his wife there. They called each other Cowboy and Cowgirl. It’s just their names for each other, I guess because they grew up on farms or something. That’s why I joined GloCom. It’s in my blood. Going back to General Adamson and even farther than that the men of my family have all been command officers,” Jameson told them.

  “I have some news for you. Being a Warden is in your blood as well,” said William. “Cowboy and Cowgirl were Wardens before they were GloCom.”

  “And considering their history, I would suspect Cowgirl was Chelsea,” said Boudicca. “And technically the military was first. Captain Arthur predates all of those although if you really want to get technical, King Baldric was the first, so it would go nobility then military then Wardens then Vanguard.”

  “King Baldric? Who is that?” asked William.

  “How about we talk about history later. We have a rogue commander to find,” said Sebastian.

  “Think about it, kid. It’s in your blood. You’re good in a fight, you have medical training and you know computer systems. You could learn magic and have the potential for greatness in the Vanguard. We don’t have a lot of people with those skills. Sebastian is one of the few with GloCom experience and with the lines between the two gone in the Vanguard, you’re a natural fit,” William told Jameson over a private comm channel.

  “It’s a lot to think about and I will seriously consider it if we make it out of this,” said Jameson.

  “This is going to take a few minutes. They’ve changed the security codes. I can get by them. Just give me a few minutes,” Jameson said.

  “Boudicca, William, Nefertiti, I can’t imagine how you’re holding it together. I’ve been in your shoes twice and I fell apart. You have my deepest sympathies. Your resolve is unreal,” said Chelsea.

  “It’s not easy but it must be done. We fight for more than ourselves and I suspect were you in this position you would be doing the same. When Sebastian was injured you were not fighting. You had time to let it sink in. We have the battle to preoccupy us,” said Nefertiti.

  Xavier walked over to Boudicca. “I’m very sorry about what happened. She has been my best friend for many years and to lose her would hurt more than I can imagine. Once this is over, I’ll do anything I can to help.”

  “Thank you. She feels the same about you. She considers you her closest friend,” said Boudicca and rested her head on Xavier’s shoulder while they waited for Jameson.

  “We went to the Academy together. She was top in the class and I was right behind her. I spent a year in Germany then we were assigned to the same Facility for years and have been hunting together since. I couldn’t imagine life without her. When we find him, I will make Mordred suffer,” Xavier said.

  “You will have to stand in line,” said Nefertiti.

  “It’s going to be a long line,” said William.

  “No one is fighting Mordred alone. If there is one thing I’ve been adamant about since the beginning, it’s that we are a team. We’re friends and we care about each other. That’s what separates us from people like Mordred. We fight for each other and everyone else and that must never change. We fight for Ra. We fight for Trish. We fight for Anna. We fight for Bruce’s and Bethany’s unborn child. We fight for the billions dead and the billions living. We fight alongside those who can fight to protect those who can’t. None of us is as strong as all of us,” Sebastian said. “Jameson, stand aside.”

  “Sir?” Jameson asked.

  “Move. That door is coming down and we’re waiting no longer,” said Sebastian.

  Jameson stepped to the side. Sebastian closed his eyes and pushed forward with his hands. A wave of energy went from him, shattering the surface of the roof as it passed from him and impacted the secret door. The reinforced steel door blew off its hinges and took a portion of the wall with it.

  “Vanguard, move out,” Sebastian said as he drew his blade and walked down the hidden stairwell.

  They worked their way down to the stairs, meeting no resistance. The route was concealed, for the most part, alternating between stairs and walkways to create an exit path from the main control room that avoided all the areas of the building likely to be breached in the case of overwhelming force.

  The building was ten floors, most of which was taken up by offices and storage rooms for the bureaucracy necessary to run a base of its size. The passage showed signs of damage from the quakes and tidal wave and possibly the fight outside. They managed to descend seven flights before the stairwell became impassable due to a collapse of the floor above it. They used the collapsed section as an exit and came out in an office pool on the fourth floor.

  They started to walk out the door, but William stopped them and whispered, “Wait, something is wrong. Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “It might just be lingering effects of the spell. You might still be feeling the fear and paranoia of a lower prey animal,” said Boudicca quietly.

  “That’s not it. There was no resistance to this point. The stairwell became impassible and now we’re in an office that opens out into a hallway with no exits until the end. This smells like a trap. Considering Elam was a commanding officer, he should have known about the passage,” said William still whispering.

  “You're right. They have to know we’re in the building. We should assume there is resistance ready for us,” said Chelsea with her voice low as well. “We’re too close. To make an amateur mistake now would be stupid.”

  The room was laid out parallel to the hallway with a single entrance on the far end, near the outside of the building. Sebastian went to the edge of the door and was about to peer out.

  “Wait. Let me,” said Nefertiti as she created an illusion of herself. The illusionary Nefertiti walked to the door and eased its head out. She looked down the hall and saw nothing. She slowly scanned the hallway looking for any anomalies. At the edge of a door, a small black thing could be seen. She narrowed her vision and focused on it. It was the end of a gun barrel.

  “Someone with a gun is behind one of the doorways near the end of the hallway,” whispered Nefertiti. “I could not ascertain numbers beyond that. I will send spectral forms down the hallway. I can see through their eyes. I will gather more information. They know we are here and waiting for us, so I see no reason to maintain the pretense.”

  “Do it,” whispered Sebastian.

  Nefertiti created four spectral forms. The four ran down the hallway very quickly looking in each of the doors as they did so. Gunfire erupted from several locations with each form dissipating as it took a hit. “There are many. I estimate at least thirty spread out among four other rooms. They are wearing armor of some kind and carry large weapons. Some of them look like the one that gravely injured Anna and they are coming this way now,” Nefertiti told the group.

  “Plasma rifles. Our armor won’t do much against those. We might be able to take them but could suffer serious casualties in the process. There are no other exits and the walls are reinforced,” Jameson said no longer keeping his voice low.

  “If we can’t go through them then let’s go under them,” Chelsea told the group and channeled her energy into the floor. It shattered beneath her creating a large hole through the floor and drop ceiling of the room below. She was a bit overzealous and most of the floor of the room collapsed, dropping the group down to the one below.

  “Everyone okay?” asked Sebastian. Everyone gave an affirmative.

  “Let me pull the floorplan for this building and find us a way down,” said Sebastian.

  “Already loaded and reviewing,” said Jameson. “Down the north hall is a large conference room. That conference room is next to an interior wall with the elevator, ducting and plumbing for this part of the building. There is also an emergency stairwell next to it. The stairwell is too much of a chokepoint but that interior wet wall will get us to the first floor and connects to a washroom.”

  As the group was discussing their o
ptions, they heard the terrorists above them closing in on the room. “We’re in a shooting gallery here. We need to move,” said Xavier and the group headed out the nearest door.

  Several of the ALF dropped down into the room behind them and followed them into the hallway. Sebastian turned and raised a shield just as the plasma rifles started firing. The impact of the plasma hit the shield and was absorbed but the impact was noticeably draining.

  “I can’t hold this long. Run!” Sebastian said.

  “Wait. I have an idea,” said Xavier. “Everyone, do what you can to make the shield stronger. If this works…just reinforce that shield and surround us if you can.”

  “What are you doing, Xavier?” asked Chelsea.

  “Bringing together physics and magic and making a big boom,” Xavier replied.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” said Chelsea as Xavier started focusing energy.

  A strange hum and the sound of electrical current could be heard emanating loudly from the direction of the soldiers firing the plasma rifles then it stopped, and their rifles stopped firing. One of the soldiers looked at his rifle just as it exploded along with the rest of them.

  The hallway created a tunnel effect on the resulting fireball and propelled the soldiers back into the wall behind them. The Vanguard was less impacted thanks to their shielding, but they were still knocked back a bit. The soldiers didn’t move. Several fires ignited but quickly burned out thanks to the fire-resistant construction.

  “We’re lucky those things have small power packs. That could have been devastating. Xavier, next time you decide to set off plasma bombs thirty feet away from us, how about a bit of warning? That fire could have damaged my hair!” said Chelsea trying to add some levity to a bad situation.

  “Well we certainly wouldn’t want anything to happen to your meticulously styled ponytail now would we,” William said, doing his best to muster a fake smile despite his concern for Anna.

  #

  The RATS decimated the forces on the north side of the command center then the GloCom troops and remaining Vanguard and Wardens worked their way inside. They were ordered to find the server room and secure it. They had maps to the location so finding it wouldn’t be a problem.