“You heard the NuHu,” Aelthris called across the shard to his squadmates. “Careful shots and careful movements! Know where your allies are at all times!”
The strike leader ducked low and peered out from cover again. There was no comforting target outline like he was used to, but he was able to squeeze the trigger. He wasn’t going for a kill shot; just a few scattered attempts to drive them back or placed attacks against non-vital areas. It didn’t matter if they could be rebooted into new bodies – fighting against Concord soldiers just felt wrong, and killing them would have been even worse. He didn’t want to think about the psychological trauma that most of the men would probably experience from this mission; the warning regarding the override against friendly fire was there for a reason.
Almost in unison, his squad joined the firefight and the wave of plasma from the enemy seemed to let up slightly from the answering assault. After a few moments, more allied plasma bolts joined into the sea of swarming energy waves. Aeltris could feel through the shard that the two other units had reached the ruins, the Interceptors seemingly having been dealt with or avoided altogether. The enemy fire thinned out as the opposing Concord forces withdrew deeper into the ruins.
* * * *
“Cease fire!” Var’zyle spoke through the shard, letting his arm holding the plasma carbine drop to his side. “Do not pursue. Aelthris, get us to base, and then all troopers spread out and secure the perimeter while the Iso-Drone deploys.”
Aelthris’s squad led the way to the building they had found. It would serve its purpose, Var’zyle noted. The bottom floor was still mostly intact; the entrance had been blown up, but a wide entrance would help them in keeping eyes on the outside. The second and third floors had been blown apart in various areas, but they also would make for good vantage points. Just above the third floor, the roof was thankfully still intact.
Var'zyle realized that he did not actually know what caused the devastation on Gorymol. What little records they had on the planet showed that life had not existed here since at least the past age. The destruction marked a war of sorts, but between who? Not the Concord, but perhaps there was some native intelligent species that was wiped out.
Perhaps the victor of this ancient battle was behind the mass hysteria from the first wave of Concord troopers. Whoever once lived, or was still living, on Gorymol did not expand very far. This was one of only a dozen or so ruined settlements. Whatever material, some form of synthecrete it seemed, that the structures were made from, survived the years with great durability; however, native fauna ensnared the remnants pretty thoroughly.
Once they settled in, Var’zyle turned and nodded to one of his own squad members, Borock, as he punched a few simple codes into the Iso-Drone through his shard interface. Xarten’s command drone fluttered around, examining the ruins, while Dahrius came up to Var’zyle stood at attention.
“Dahrius, at ease. Good work with the Iso-Drone. Anything on the Interceptors?”
“No, sir. Not after we were able to put a few warning shots into them. They cycled back to the enemy lines and have not been seen since. Perhaps they were testing us to see if we would really disable friendly fire.”
“More than likely.”
“If I may speak plainly, Senior?”
“Go ahead,” the senior strike leader nodded.
“Something feels awry. And not just because we already knew there was something not right going on here. There’s a definite bad feeling on this planet.”
“I know what you mean, Max. The less we stay here, the better.”
There was a series of robotic noises that came from the Iso-Drone before a translucent shell crawled down over the entrance and then disappeared from their plain sight. The isoshield had covered the entire building, and as he looked up, Var’zyle could see the yellow outline that signified the entire edifice being covered, even through the upper floors.
Before he could relay his next order, Var’zyle sensed the urgency that Aelthris pushed through the shard as he approached the leader. Now that the isoshield was up, both men activated the translucent shield on their helmets to better see one another.
“Thane, at ease. What’s the matter?”
“Kyrrto, I think that whatever has affected the troopers here has compromised their suits.”
“Strike Leader Aelthris,” the drone commander buzzed directly to the two leaders as he hovered in their direction. “What is it you have detected? Any findings should be brought directly to my attention.”
“Mandarin Xarten,” Aelthris saluted before glancing sideways at Var’zyle. “My apologies. I did not want to make a report without being sure if what I had seen was worth your time.”
“Any and all information that the IMTel can use to explain what happened on Gorymol is worthy of my time, Strike Leader.”
“You are correct, my apologies.” The strike leader cleared his throat, shifting nervously on one leg before speaking again. “The troopers that we encountered – the color of their armor was not matching to blend in with their surroundings at all, nor even the teal color of the planet's surface. Their armor was snow white. It just seems like an odd choice; as if whatever affected the troopers disabled their armor first.”
Var’zyle’s eyebrows narrowed as he considered Aelthris’s words. “It would only make sense. I don’t know what in blazes could be alive on this planet, but in order to send a whole strike force into that much of a frenzy, it would have to be able to penetrate the armor and hyperlight shields. But just what could have done that?”
“More analysis needs to be made on the native lifeforms of Gorymol. No known panhuman race is known to be capable of such a neural capability.”
“Right, then we do what we have set out to accomplish,” Var’zyle nodded to Aelthris and Dahrius. “Aelthris, go west of the ruins, Dahrius go east. See what you can both find in the immediate proximity. My squad will remain here with the mandarin’s drone to defend the base. I don’t know where the others are held up, but I can imagine it’s not far from here. We’ll need someone to be ready in case they try and make another pass.”
* * * *
“When do you think’s the last time any panhumans actually lived here?” Trooper Bettenn spoke over the squad shard.
“I’d guess maybe two ages ago? At least.” Trooper Ruzea responded from the eastern flank.
“However long it’s been, this has never been a Concord-controlled planet.” Dahrius said in the middle of his spread-out squad. They had left the main hub of the ruins and found themselves in a slightly more barren stretch; remnants of buildings were more scattered and the planet’s natural blue was more apparent under their feet. “From the looks of our situation, that might be the case for a while yet, still.”
“Why did the IMTel want Gorymol in the first place?” Dahrius watched Trooper Kowel’s blue-tinted outline just in front of him to the west.
“Why does the IMTel deem any planet worthy of settlement?” Trooper Rapha was just farther east, between Dahrius and Ruzea.
“Truly spoke, Rapha. Once the planet had been discovered and IMTel noted no discernible enemy ships in orbit, the strike force was deployed to try and extend the Concord’s reach through this gate. Because of the lack of intelligent life, it seemed like a good spot to try and establish a foothold in this section of space. Unfortunately for our people, it seems they weren’t able to make much progress. Probably just able to scout the planet before they were… disabled.”
The thought of their allies’ fates seemed to quiet the squad. Dahrius felt the somber mood pass through his squad, and he could not help but experience it as well. Concord soldiers were trained thoroughly, and the men and women sent to this planet were the far from anything that resembled the word ‘green’. He did not have as close as a relationship as Var’zyle with Odiwing, but like his senior, he knew many of the soldiers sent to Gorymol. He knew enough about Tykus Odiwing to know the man’s prowess and leadership was just as commanding as his own leader's.
He was an awful sight on the battlefield; never shaken, always commanding.
To have his mind taken over to think allies are enemies? What could have done that?
Dahrius caught sight of something that he could not register, almost fifteen yan away. There was a translucent question mark that hovered over the target he stared at, outlining it in a pastel green. His eyebrows deepened in a frown as he bent down behind a ruined first floor, not more than half a yan high.
“Leader Dahrius, what are we seeing?”
Kowel was almost two yan away from Dahrius, and the leader noticed the rest of his squad had held position as well, carbines trained on the still object. Dahrius zoomed in on the indigenous creature, but none in the shard could recognize what it was. The creature was relatively flat to the ground, crawling on slow, stubby legs. It had two pairs of boxy eyes that were constantly swirling around, just above its squat, black nose. Resting on its back were long, purple hairs that had no natural bend or wave to them.
“Permission to investigate further, Leader?” Dahrius zoomed back out and looked to where Ruzea was, her carbine still aimed at the creature. “Who knows what use this thing could be to the Mandarin. He did say to report all useful information. Well, here’s an indigenous species.”
“Right,” Dahrius nodded. “Just be careful and keep your distance.”
Ruzea nodded and then climbed over her protection, slowly slinking her way toward the small creature. She was about a yan away from the quadruped when it swiveled its four eyes upon her and opened its gummy mouth. It let out a low wail that seemed unfitting the small creature before all of the purple hair stood erect like long needles. The purple pins shot off of its back, disintegrating into tiny spores that clung to Ruzea’s armor.
“What the-…?! Leader – I can’t… AGH!”
Ruzea fell to the ground, still thrashing to fight the spores off of her body, until she stopped moving altogether.
“Kill the damn thing!” Dahrius ordered as he fired at the creature. Their single shots singed into the tough hide the creature had concealed beneath the purple spores as it tried to escape. Even though they had not killed the beast before it scurried underground somewhere, its now red outline disappearing altogether as it dove deep down, Dahrius did notice it limping.
“Ruzea!” Bettenn rose to run to her, but Dahrius swung his arm out, sending a curt and direct feeling through the shard like a wall.
“Do not pursue Ruzea! I warned her not to get too close, and dammit, look what happened. Hold position.”
“Leader! We-”
“No! You remember why we’re here? You remember the blasted feeds Glorious Determination brought back?!”
Before any of them could answer, Ruzea’s outline winked out. It was not the same as when a trooper died; their outline was still visible even then. No, their shard shut her out of its collectivity altogether, a strange void filling the spot where Ruzea’s fear had been, as if she was never there. A different kind of fear seeped through the shard; one of realization.
Ruzea got back up again, slowly, and shook her head. The shard did not recognize her as one of their own; it noted that she was still a Concord soldier, but any attempt to connect with her was met with a security error.
Dahrius stood up from his cover, holding his gun up in surrender, as he activated the external communication speaker within his helmet. “Ruzea? Ruzea, can you hear me? Are you alright?”
The color of the trooper’s armor slowly became a neutral white color as the spores could no longer be seen, as if being absorbed into the material. Ruzea's head was turned to Dahrius for several long moments, as if trying to understand what she was seeing. Suddenly she jerked, bringing her weapon into a firing position.
“Wh-…What have you done?!” Ruzea said through her external channels. Carbine still trained on Dahrius, her head turned toward the ground, her hands shaking. “My squad… You killed them, you Isorian bastard!”
“Ruzea, what…?”
Before Dahrius could respond, Ruzea’s weapon fired in automatic mode, spitting countless plasma bolts at him. He barely had a moment to throw himself in cover, his hyperlight shielding taking the brunt of the first shot.
“Boss!” Rapha had come up beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?!”
“Yes, but we need to stop her! Keep her occupied – Bettenn, Kowel, distracting fire!”
His two other squadmates squeezed off several single shots from their positions, causing the plasma stream to move away from Dahrius. He waited a few moments, making sure her attention was completely drawn from him before he raised, bringing the micro x-launcher on his wrist to bear on her. The net expanded once it hit Ruzea, dropping her to the ground before shocking the troop neurally into sedation.
Dahrius exhaled deeply. He had been skeptical about the prototype net that the NuHu had given each commander to use; how could one prototype round help them in the grand scheme of several units? He was thankful now.
“Var’zyle, Aelthris, we have a major problem.”
* * * *
The further that Thaniel Aelthris and his squad moved into the ruined city, the less intact the buildings seemed to be. Large pieces of synthecrete hung in the air, barely clinging to slightly more stable pieces; how any of it was still upright was incredible. He could only imagine what a jungle of buildings this place must have looked like when civilization reigned here.
Aelthris stopped, his unit holding their positions as he knelt behind a mossy overturned rooftop. The noise had been faint at first, but he could hear the high hum of a vehicle slowly crawling through the ruins. Peering out, he saw the three Interceptors making their way to what looked like it could have been a garage ages past.
“Bingo. Move in on my mark; cover all angles.”
The squad replied their affirmative, and Aelthris crept his way through the downed synthecrete. Before Aelthris got too far, two carbines appeared in the doorway, another three from upper levels of the building. His heart leapt into his throat as he threw his body to the ground, feeling the heat of the plasma wash over his back. Rolling to the side, he laid against a downed pillar, trying to catch his breath.
“Damn you, Boromites!”A female voice called out from the garage that Aelthris recognized. “Wasn’t it enough you sold your boulder-skins out against us on Palior? Now you and those Freeborn scum want to finish what you started here?!”
The Palior reference solidified it. It was Denaii Ral’sitan. She had been with Odiwing almost as long as Aelthris had been with Var’zyle, and because of that, the two of them had worked closely on Palior. Together, they had pushed the frontlines of the Boromite mercenaries back into their native mines.
“Ral’sitan!” Aelthris called out, getting his back up to the wall. “This is Thaniel Aelthris! You need to cease fire!”
“Aelthris?” There was a hesitation in the plasma waves, to which Aelthris used to get himself into better, thicker cover. “N-No… It can’t be. Your voice… It’s too rocky. I know what I saw! You’re Boromites!”
“Ral’sitan, listen to me! I remember Palior. I remember the troopers we both lost pushing back those damn mercenaries. I lost Elzar, but you lost Lynnia, Casori, and Oel! We won that fight! Do you remember Casori’s last words? He told us that when he came back he wanted to own a bar.”
“The only blood he’d ever want to see again is the kind he cleaned up after a brutal, drunken fist fight…”
Aelthris watched Jayce try to skirt around the ruins, but the second he stepped out into the open, two lines of plasma fire tore through his hyperlight shield, dropping the trooper to the ground with a violent gurgle.
“Jayce!”
“No! Stop!” He heard Ral’sitan call to her own men.
“Leader, they’re trying to trick you!” He heard one of the other Concord soldier call. “I just saw a damned Boromite trying to move to us!”
“N-No!” He heard the panic in her voice. “That was a damn friendly you just droppe
d! Have you gone mad?!” There was another pause. “Oh no… What the hell is happening to me?”
“Ral’sitan, listen to me!” Aelthris pleaded, but he didn’t dare poke his head out.
“They’re everywhere! The spiders! They’re crawling everywhere!”
“Leader, what are you-!”
There was another pair of screams as two of the opposing Concord soldiers stopped firing their guns.
Aelthris finally looked over to where Ral’sitan was on the second floor. She was on her hands and knees, sobbing, over the two bodies of Concord soldiers. The two in the doorway disappeared and Aelthris made his move, flanked by Leonid and Petriz; Sullidar made it clear he’d stay with Jayce. By the time that the three of them had gotten into the building, more plasma fire was heard from up above. They flew up the rickety, decaying staircase, only to see two more bodies at Ral’sitan’s feet.
They kept their guns trained on the kneeling soldier, but she lowered her own gun and then the translucent screen on the helmet. She looked beyond harried; her pupils were so dilated that there was almost no white of the irises to be seen. Her hair, from what he could see, was ragged and in a mess. She was younger than he was, if only by a few years, but she looked as if she had aged about thirty years since he last saw her.
“Please, help me…”
Aelthris produced a set of restraints, to which he clipped Ral’sitan’s arms behind her back.
“I’m a good person…”
“You are,” Aelthris forced himself to look into that foreign, disturbed face again. “You’re a damn good leader, Ral’sitan. I’m so sorry this had to happen to you.”
“What’s wrong with us?”
Aelthris turned away, looking to where he could see Sullidar and the still form of Jayce.
“Sullidar, report.”
“He’s gone, Leader.”
Aelthris was silent. Of course, he could be rebooted, but that never took the pain out of a combat death. Jayce would never be the same. Neither would the four Concord troopers beside Ral’sitan, but at least they weren’t going mad anymore. He thought of putting a bolt of plasma through Ral’sitan and giving her the same mercy, but he knew the NuHu would be absolutely furious with him. He knew he could see through the buddy drones following the squad.
Beyond Antares Dimensional Gates Page 24