by J. A. Scorch
"Sir," one of the control room techs said to Miller. "They are almost at the front of the base."
"Don't pull them out yet. We need to see inside before we put any troops on the ground."
Porter had heard about the way the Zeal dealt with defeat. When the UEF and the Special Forces had them against the wall, they responded by killing every human prisoner they had in the base. It was unknown if the move was a last act of defiance from the aliens or if they were trying to prevent humanity from understanding the experiments performed on the prisoners.
As he continued to witness his brother and his team expertly avoid combat with the thousands of oversized, armor-covered alien brutes, Porter couldn't help but feel proud of his younger sibling. But that pride he was feeling soon turned to fear when he saw what Teve had planned as a way of getting into the base.
"Sir, should we intervene?" asked the tech.
"No. Let this play out. We need to figure out the problem with these bases once and for all. If it all goes to hell, send in the troops."
Any respect Porter had for Miller disappeared. The man was using Teve to determine how they could stop the Zeal from slaughtering the human prisoners. While on the one hand, he understood sacrifice was necessary for progress, but he didn't want to witness his brother's death firsthand because of the general's whim.
"What is this, sir?" Porter asked as he stood from the chair.
Miller didn't take his eyes off the screen. "Take it easy, Captain. You're underestimating your brother. Sit down and watch him work."
Not wanting to, Porter stayed upright. No one else in the room seemed too alarmed at the happenings of the mission, so he tried his best to remind himself he wasn't in space fighting the Zeal the way he typically would from the cockpit of an X90 stalker. This was the UEF's war. He was a visitor.
"Sorry, sir. Not used to seeing things being done this way. I'm sure he will be fine."
Miller half turned toward him and nodded. "You've got no idea just how good he is at killing the Zeal now."
Chapter Four
Teve and Mish reached the edge of the Zeal base and switched their drop dampeners over to climb mode, allowing them to clamp onto the alien construction with their hands magnetically. They had to wait until the distraction was in place before laying a hand on the material. As soon as they did, a silent alarm would alert every Stilt and hybrid in the area.
"Everyone is in position. Charges set," Mish said.
He gave her one long stare before nodding. He tapped his comm to make sure he had Red, Pocket, and Romeo ready to execute his command. "On my mark, hit your triggers in order. Thirty-second delay. We need them as confused as possible if we're are going to pull this off."
The three soldiers acknowledged the order as Teve let out his breath to steady his heart rate. "You ready?" he asked Mish.
She nodded in silence as she secured her rifle to the back of her battle armor and prepared the magnetic attachments on her palms.
"Okay," Teve said. "Here goes nothing." With his comm active, he let out the command to his team to engage their triggers in the specified order. As the first explosion rang out in the distance, Teve lowered down and jumped up several meters into the air with the aid of his enhanced body and gripped the side of the alien construction. Mish followed close behind him as all hell broke loose below.
With the first blast smoldering in the distance, Teve wasted no time as he scampered up the side of the building. He and Mish needed to reach three-quarters of the way up the alien structure to find a soft access point they knew existed. It was the only way in from the outside.
A second detonation burst a safe range from the first explosion. Teve took a quick glance down without slowing to see dozens of Stiltz and some hybrids flowing out of the base.
"They're not messing around," he said to Mish. "This had better work."
"Don't worry, Sarge. If it all goes to hell, at least we'll die fighting the pricks."
Teve let a smile form on his lips at the thought of going down swinging. He didn't plan on dying anytime soon, but when the inevitable did happen, he was prepared to take as many Zeal with him as he could.
When the third explosion rocked the ground below, Teve could see that they were almost at the soft point into the base. Red, pocket, and Romeo had placed two charges each, allowing enough explosions to continue to confuse the aliens.
As Teve came within ten feet of the target zone, a burst from one of his team's rifles slowed him down a touch.
Mish was already looking down toward the gunfire when Teve spotted Red engaging the Zeal.
"What should we do?" she asked. Her hand was reaching for her rifle.
Teve got on the comm, expecting the same question from Pocket and Romeo. He proceeded to order a tactical withdrawal before they said anything and turned back to Mish. "Let's keep moving forward. We can't waste this opportunity." He could see the desire in her eyes to drop back down to the ground and fight the Zeal to the death. She resisted the temptation and scampered up past him. Teve followed quickly behind and put the thought of his team below to the back of his mind.
Arriving at a seemingly arbitrary point, Mish stopped and pulled out a depth scanner from one of her leg pockets. She ran the laser over an area, knowing it would be the right spot for them to breach. Teve was already fishing inside of her pack to pull out a small charge.
"This is it," she said as he planted the breaching kit in place. Once he had set up an outline of the hole he was about to create, the pair moved back a few paces to safety.
Teve pulled the trigger and watched as a square hole was created. He immediately advanced toward the opening into the Zeal base. He radioed Command an update before heading inside.
As the two climbed into the hole and wormed their way into the building, Teve couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what they might find inside. Every other mission had ended the same way. When they attacked a Zeal base, thousands of human prisoners were left dead and butchered in the center of the structure. The only difference this time round might be the fact that the two of them would walk in on the act as it was taking place. If that was to be the case, he didn't know if he could leave if Command ordered him to.
"Almost there," Mish said, knowing the way through the narrow tunnel. The access point would take them to an opening found in the middle of the base where the prisoners were kept. Why the Zeal had this weak spot was a mystery to Teve. The UESF had exploited it countless times, yet the aliens refused to fix the problem.
They came to the end of the tunnel and climbed out to the opening below. Teve had his X762A1 automatic rifle in one hand as he squeezed through. The high-explosive rounds loaded in the weapon's magazine where dying to spew out and kill some Zeal.
His feet found the top of what he could only describe as a catwalk that led to nowhere. Mish was already in place and gazing down at the center of the base. The long cylinder spanned from the floor of the building to three-quarters of the structure's height. On the walls of the area was a sight Teve had seen enough times in his life to send him over the edge: human captives kept in place by large claws and purple tubes.
"We made it in time," Mish said as the realization hit them both at once. The prisoners were still attached to the walls and twitching.
"They're all alive. And it doesn't look like there are any Zeal down there, either. They all must be out dealing with the attack."
Mish's mouth fell half open as they both knew what needed to happen next. Teve jumped on the comm and spoke to Command. "We need a full attack force, now. We have live prisoners inside ready for evac." He repeated the request for good measure. The operator on the other end acknowledged and ordered Teve to hold for further instructions. Mish heard the same conversation.
"Sit tight," Teve said to her, knowing she'd be itching to get back out to the fight. Within a few minutes, the UEF and the Zeal would be engaging in a bloody battle that would see the base liberated. Before that could happen, they needed to ensur
e the prisoners' safety inside.
"Let's head down. We need to make sure nothing happens to these people during the fight."
"Okay," she said, nodding her head. "Just doesn't sit well with me knowing what's going on out there."
"I know," Teve said as he reached the edge of the catwalk, "but we have a chance to save some lives instead of forcing the Zeal into killing them all."
As he stood on the end of the catwalk, he switched the tech in his hands over to drop mode. The system was fully charged and ready for him. "I'll meet you at the bottom," he said over his shoulder to Mish before jumping off the edge and letting himself fall into the depths of the base.
After a short count, Teve flared out his fingers and activated the gravity dampening system embedded in the palms of his battle armor. He shoved his hands down and controlled his fall, slowing his descent enough to reach the ground without breaking his spine.
When he touched the solid, purple metal of the base's plate, he pulled out his rifle and squatted down into a tactical position, ready to fight the Zeal in an instant.
Mish slammed a tad harder and pulled out her weapon as Teve continued to check all directions for any pissed-off aliens. The base was empty.
With the area secure, Teve moved away from the center of the floor from the round cap on the ground he knew contained the base's Orb. The spherical, purple object was the heart of the base and only stood to corrupt his thoughts when it engaged with the nanites swarming his system. The longer he and Mish spent inside a Zeal base, the more impact it had on their minds.
"Let's take a look around. We need to find a way to start lowering these people down from the walls."
Mish gazed up at the first layer of prisoners. Their legs and arms twitched and swayed as they reached out toward the two UESF soldiers.
"Do you think they are in pain?" she asked Teve.
He thought back to the time he had first ventured inside a Zeal base and was subjected to only a portion of what he could only assume the prisoners endured every second of every day. A hybrid from the Los Angeles base by the name of X once tried to harm Teve by forcing him toward an Orb. He hadn't seen X since, despite the Los Angeles Zeal tower being destroyed.
"Best not to think about it. There's no time to waste. Start looking for a way to disable these claws."
Mish shook her head and rushed over to the alien tech that covered the ground level of the central room. There seemed to be no obvious way to interface with the equipment, but the MAF had managed to do so with the captured carrier they had in their possession high above Earth's orbit.
Teve pulled out a modified e-slate from his pack and attached an experimental connection Command believed would allow them to interface with any Zeal tech found in the field. The idea had only been tested on the MAF's captured alien carrier and never successfully implemented on Earth. Every time a base was liberated, the Zeal tech inside had already been destroyed in full. The aliens didn't like to leave their secrets behind in the event of defeat.
At the end of the attachment was a round link that was supposed to connect with the Zeal network automatically. He felt stupid waving the device around, aimlessly trying to find the right spot, but there was no other way Command knew of to connect to the base without subjecting Teve and Mish to the impact of the Orb.
"This is hopeless," Mish said as she studied the Zeal tech in front of her. "We should just blast this crap to pieces. That'll break the claws."
"We don't know if that will work. It could have the complete opposite impact and kill them all."
Mish threw up one of her hands in defense. "Just a suggestion, is all."
"Noted," Teve said with a smile.
As he was about to give up and radio Command for an update, every single door on the lower level of the base's walls opened at the same time. Before Teve could react to the sudden disturbance, his eyes recognized the outline of a hybrid soldier standing in each doorway with their razor-blade-covered bodies flared and ready to strike. There had to be at least twelve of the creatures surrounding them in all directions, yet they were not moving.
He turned his head toward Mish as she raised her rifle. "Stand down, Mish," he shouted before she pulled the trigger. She didn't fire a single bullet but kept her weapon leveled at the closest target to her location.
"Sarge?" she asked, desperate to shoot.
"Don't shoot," he said as he slowly backed over to her position. "We have to keep the prisoners safe. As soon as we engage, it's all over."
He arrived at Mish's stiff body and gently lowered her rifle while the hybrids continued to stand guard, not taking their eyes from their targets.
Chapter Five
The control room buzzed with activity as Porter stared at the sight before him. On screen, Teve was surrounded by a type of Zeal soldier he had never seen in action.
"Is that a hybrid?" he heard himself ask the general. The man didn't answer, opting to ignore Porter's question.
The operators in the room had their attention split between the retreating Special Forces outside the Zeal base and the pending fight inside. On the central screen, a view of Teve's helmet camera showed him remaining calm as he snapped his head from one alien to the next. How he was doing that was beyond Porter's understanding.
"General Miller?" Porter yelled as he stood. This time the commanding officer took notice of the MAF man demanding answers in his presence. Miller stomped over and stared him in the eye.
"You know what those things are? Something you fleet assholes haven't had to deal with. They are former UEF soldiers taken prisoner by the Zeal and turned into monsters."
"Jesus," Porter said. He'd seen images of them before, but seeing one live on his brother's helmet cam was something else.
"So, you've read the reports. The Zeal successfully created a new hybrid species from our own people. And not just any kind of species, but one that could kill everyone in this entire room in a heartbeat."
Porter stared past the general at the body of one of the hybrids. He immediately noticed the blades sticking out of its whole figure including its face. Through the thicket of razor-sharp armor, he could make out the eyes of a human.
Porter brought his attention back to the general. "You have to get Teve out of there. He's surrounded. Send in the attack force."
Miller snorted. "Out of anyone around here, your brother is one of the few soldiers competent enough to take these things out. But given the number of hybrids that have him cornered, I doubt very much that he will make it out alive. I'm sorry, Captain."
"No, you can't give up," Porter said as he pushed through toward the screen. "He needs help, now."
Miller shook his head. "His mission was to try and save those prisoners. That objective has been compromised. Even if we send in every available soldier we have, they won't make it in time. It's over."
"Bullshit it is," Porter said as he stormed toward the exit.
"You're wasting your time," Miller called after him.
One of the operators interrupted. "Sir, we are losing optics inside the base."
Porter turned around to see Teve and Staff Sergeant Mishina's helmet cams switch off. He turned to Miller and gave him one last appeal.
Miller stared Porter down for a moment, letting him know he had no authority on the ground no matter how much he had done for humanity.
"Launch the attack. Take out the base."
Porter's eyes popped out wide. "What do you mean 'take out the base'?"
"It means what it means. Now get the hell out of here before I write you up for insubordination."
Porter shook his head at the general as he backed out of the control room. He charged up a steep stairwell and headed for the surface. Once he saw daylight, he ran over to the MAF pilots as they scampered toward their Dragonettes.
Within a minute, Porter found Clay about to board one of the MAF gunships to support Miller's attack on the base.
"Lieutenant, I need this ship, right now."
"Sir
?" Clay asked as he had one foot on the first ladder rung up to the pilots' cabin.
"You heard me, Lieutenant. Step aside. You are not needed for this mission."
Clay's head spun left and right. "What? Is this a joke? We're about to attack the Zeal base."
Porter did what he could to contain his anger. "Either get out of my way or sit in the co-pilot's seat."
Clay threw up his hands. "Okay, Captain. The bird is yours. Do you want to get into a flight suit first?"
"No time," Porter said as he climbed up into the cramped pilot's seat. He grabbed a helmet from the overhead storage compartment and hooked himself into the comms system before motioning for Clay to hurry up. "Now or never."
"Coming, sir," Clay said as he rushed to the other side of the Dragonette. The twin heavy-duty rotor turbines that sat behind the main hold of the gunship powered the craft's VTOL capabilities. The Dragonette was primarily used as support in the field, utilizing several autocannons to inflict quick passing damage on ground forces while also holding enough cargo space to carry a decent payload of soldiers. There were no UEF soldiers loaded into Clay's bird as he had been ordered to fly support only on this sortie.
As Clay climbed in and settled into position, he gave Porter a quick up and down as if to assess the man's mental health. "Everything okay, sir?"
"Peachy, Lieutenant," Porter replied as he rushed through pre-flight checks and safety protocols. Any pilot worth a grain of salt could see him skipping several key steps to get the main engines fired up.
He'd only flown Dragonettes a handful of times and was used to space flight over traditional atmospheric limitations. He took a moment to collect his thoughts and breathe.
"Okay, Lieutenant. Get us permission to fly."
"Yes, sir," Clay said before he radioed the control tower.
After a few long minutes of back and forth communication, Porter received approval to take off. He lifted off vertically as fast as the bird would allow and jammed the thrust forward once they cleared the FOB.