He was nearly three meters from the edge of the cliff, unable to grab onto anything solid. The ground closed in on him, nearly ten meters below still. His suit opened up several flaps increasing his air resistance but it was too late.
He aimed his gauntlets on the clear ground below him and shot out a capsule that exploded on impact with the ground.
Instead of flames and heat, the capsule released a large bed of highly compacted gel. The substance spread on the ground quickly like slime, deep and soft. As he hit the ground the slime absorbed the heat of his landing, hardening in the process.
His fall slowed considerably, from tens of meters per second to mere centimeters per second. His neck snapped forward but his helmet absorbed the shock. By the time he stopped, the gel became a solid.
It would take the hardened gel some time to sublime. A minute… His helmet’s panoramic camera tried to provide him with a view but almost no light penetrated the thick gel.
Shadows moved through him. He could only see the flicker and patter of gunfire trying to breach the nearly impenetrable solid.
The more his enemies fired upon the gel the thicker it became. Bullets ricocheted, transferring their kinetic energy to the gel. On the other side the gel sublimed very quickly. With his strength Prox broke free of the remaining solid and took cover behind it.
He peered around the corner, just barely dodging the gunfire. The convoy transporting the toxin was just a few seconds ahead of him.
The others.
He tried to signal his team. I can’t be the only survivor…
Prox thought too soon, instantly the Eri soldiers around him fell dead. The rest of his Ghost team emerged from the darkness, all four of them stoically awaiting orders.
“Good to see you all, alive.” Prox said as he searched for his weapon, it must have gotten lost during his descent.
“One of our men suffered severe internal injuries from the fall. He landed on the edge of some rooftop. He can still fire a gun but he’s not good to run.”
“He’ll be the driver then, come on.” He led his men down the cliff at the pace of the team’s injured member. They caught up to the convoy and prepared to engage their target.
Up close he could see a mix of armored personnel carriers and a number of pick-up trucks salvaged from the city. Azuryl had slowed them down just in time. Prox could only hope that the others on the upper terrace were still okay.
He relayed his tactical plans via their radio. A mix of hand signals were added for good measure. The Ghosts took their positions on the plateau, they all signaled, Ready.
Prox threw his hands down and raised his rifle, in seconds he and his men neutralized all of the Eri soldiers.
They instinctively investigated the flat-bed truck. He aimed his rifle and threw open the door of the truck revealing a frightened mortal. He was driving the vehicle for the Eri.
Prox helped the man out, but pushed him back inside as gunfire fell on their position yet again.
He flinched only for a second as a bullet pierced his shoulder, the pain was sharp. Prox signaled the injured Legionnaire from atop the cliff to come down. It was time to leave.
“Get in the truck! We’re going to bring this thing back up to the upper terrace.” The point shooter investigated the other vehicles.
Argh- Prox pulled out the bullet lodged in his skin with little thought. He bled briefly but his body already started healing the scarring tissue.
The explosives his men prepared in the cliff face were set off. In seconds the powerful explosions destroyed the road ahead of them, leaving an escape route back up the cliff. Enemy troops down the hill were stalled for the moment.
The trucks falling off the cliffs were a clear giveaway to the Eri in the city, the payload was stolen. Prox jumped aboard the flat bed truck in its rear along with the three other Ghosts. The injured Legionnaire put the truck into reverse and slammed the pedal.
Nearly a kilometer away snipers from the city aimed at the Ghosts. Prox and his men ducked to avoid most of the fire.
“Can anyone hear me?” Prox’s radio was a no-go. Static flooded all channels.
By the time they reached the summit nothing was left, it was all rubble. The bodies of Ghosts were strewn across the scorched Earth. The guest home that Azuryl had holed up in was intact but on fire.
The driver prepared to exit the vehicle but realized the mortal co-pilot had been long dead. His body riddled with bullets from the Eri attacks on the roads. The Legionnaire closed the man’s eyes and jumped out.
The familiar whirring noise of bullets filled the air. Prox dragged the warhead payload into the building that remained.
The bodies of his friends lay lifeless around him as they retreated. He was dragging the crates containing the toxins through the battlefield toward the burning building.
Prox removed his helmet. His black hair was drenched in sweat, the burning debris was radiating immense heat.
He set the container down in the dark lobby and ordered the other two men to stay there. A flashlight turned on from his neck-guard and illuminated the stairs in front of him.
The stone walls kept the flames at bay. Throughout the building furniture lay broken into pieces, most likely from the shockwave of the missile blast.
Prox heard screams. He charged up the stairwell with his rifle at the ready. The entire room was ablaze. He kicked away a large pile of debris revealing Azuryl trapped underneath the remains of the wall.
He was grunting heavily, trying to move his hands. Prox tried to remove a slab but immediately noticed blood draining underneath.
“Don’t move any more of them!” Az yelled with all the force his lungs could muster. He coughed out blood. “My legs are crushed, I can’t feel them. I think my struggling earlier caused it to collapse onto my lower torso now.” He tried to stretch his arms. “I’m done for Prox, complete the mission…”
Prox nodded, “We’ve brought it here.”
“I think Lispara and Mairwyn are on the roof now, they took my rifle and are trying to hold off any advancing Eri.”
“Didn’t think the girls had much fight in 'em.” Prox said.
Az cackled with what air was left in his lungs. “When you patch people up for a living, sometimes you feel like killing too.” He tried to chuckle but it hurt him. “Bring them down here and let’s end this. Neutralize this thing then get the hell out of here!”
Prox shouted at his men on the floor below, in seconds they rushed up the stairs with the toxin container. Each of them engaged their oxygen reserves as the smoke continued to arise from the room.
Prox continued alone up the stairs toward the roof, just shy of the door. As he reached for the knob he ducked, a bullet barely missed him. He readied his weapon and swung open the door while crouching. He could see Mairwyn aiming her rifle at him. As if seeing a real ghost she lowered her weapon.
She got to her knees and ran toward Prox with her weapon but was caught off-guard. A bullet pierced her back. She fell forward with the force of the projectile, the plates seemed to have caught the bullet but it still fractured her thoracic vertebrae. Her legs shook uncontrollably. Prox ran to help her, just barely dodging the sniper fire himself.
“Mair!” He yelled.
She moaned in pain, “Prox…I can’t feel my hips…” She used her elbows to pick her chest up off ground and crawled back to the doorway. She was a soldier at the core. But her specialty was in saving people, not killing them.
“Save Lisp…” She whispered pointing over the building.
Prox crawled over to the edge of the roof and peered through a crack in the stone toward the battlefield below. Lispara had jumped into a large fissure in the ground.
“What in the hell is she doing…”
“Prox…the Eri are closing in on us, from all sides…” He backed up toward Mairwyn, he could not do much for her, “As soon as you procured the toxin they all began to converge on us. They’ll be on us any minute…neutralize the toxin…”
She handed him a vial of a powder.
“This is the reagent that will force the solution to crystallize… pour this in after mixing the toxin with our solution…” She fell flat to the ground, her back was numb, “The solution we made won’t last very long in the heat, hurry!”
Prox understood and crawled quickly back through the doorway downstairs. His body rocked with each stepped, he was dehydrating from the immense heat.
“They’ve reached our position you have to destroy this stuff now Prox!” Azuryl said.
Prox opened the metallic crates that housed the toxin revealing a temperature controlled refrigerator. The toxin globules had a deep purple color. Large amounts of foggy low-temperature carbon dioxide evaporated immediately.
His fingers grasped the hooks that held each sphere. It quickly liquefied at room temperature. He looked at the barrel just a few feet away from him. The neutralizing agent…
He rushed over and dumped the toxin globules into the fridge Lispara and Mairwyn brought. The solution itself was colorless but the odor was instantly detected by his armor system. Snaps and cracks appeared in the globules of toxin causing the substance to leak. He closed the lid as the final toxin globule was placed inside.
The container swelled from the volatile vapor pressure building inside. Prox vented it somewhat to keep its shape rigid. The toxin spread like a milky solution before dissolving entirely.
Prox aimed his rifle at the stairwell, someone was approaching.
A Ghost appeared, signaling friendly fire. Prox lowered his weapon and signaled back. Kill on sight, buy me time. The soldier returned downstairs to relay the orders.
Prox returned to his improvised chemistry experiment. The solution was dissolved, now for the powder. The white solid was powdery to the touch, like fresh snow. He grabbed the handle of the container that sealed the solution.
If I don’t do this fast enough the toxin solution might vaporize…
After adding the powder it vanished. In seconds crystal lattices formed throughout the container.
Now what…
The gunfire was picking up all around him. An enemy soldier burst through the barricaded windows but Prox countered and neutralized him in melee combat. He had nowhere else to run now, he was trapped in the building.
He handed Azuryl the enemy soldier’s assault rifle. “Watch the solution.”
He rushed back to the roof to rescue Mair. As he reached her side his suit reported her vitals were failing fast. The sniper’s slug penetrated the plate armor. He removed her pack and saw the slug lodged squarely in between her shoulder blades, the wound was high enough that it would disrupt nerve communication to much of her lower extremities.
“Mair…” He whispered to her.
Her breathing picked up.
“Mair, I need to know what to do next, the toxin is crystallized.” She could only mutter a few words at a time.
“Get it out of here…it should…stay as a crystal. But…if they find it before it dies, then we fail…” Her head fell limp.
He removed her helmet, and closed her eyes. As a friend and commanding officer he could do little else for her. She came to this war of her own free will, and eternal glory was now hers. Prox slammed the ground before picking up her suit’s battery and rushing back downstairs.
Azuryl saw Prox’s demeanor and knew the prognosis was grim.
“We’re holed in now Az. We have to get this thing away from here, as far from the Eri as we can.”
“Run then,” Azuryl replied, “Get as far as you can,” He motioned for Mairwyn’s reactor pack. “I’ll overload this thing and blow this cliff to hell. Take anyone else to safety, if they think they can trap Ghosts… they’re direly mistaken.”
Azuryl cocked his rifle and grabbed Mairwyn’s pack from Prox’s hands. He rerouted the power coupling and forced the fluid in the pack to begin reacting spontaneously. Though the system’s fluids had been partially drained, there remained enough to blow a large chunk out of the plateau they were on.
“Prox, you take this remote.” Az handed him a small remote as he prepared to ignite the air-fuel mixture. “And when you get to a safe distance blow it…I’ll protect the device until then…”
Prox’s stared at his friend, he was not ready to end his life.
“N-no.” He replied, “You keep it, if we should die I don’t want this remote to fall into Eri hands.” He knelt by his lieutenant’s side. “We were all trained to fight to the death, if the mission is going to fail I’d rather trigger it when needed.” He placed the remote back into Azuryl’s hands.
Azuryl removed his helmet, he wept bitterly. “Don’t do this to me Prox. Not like this…”
Prox tried to comfort him but Azuryl would not budge, “Come on man…If I’m overwhelmed before your team leaves the building and I trigger the device, this whole mission would have been for nothing… hundreds of thousands might be exposed…”
“Or it could be a success and the blast might vaporize the entire lot of the toxin… and millions would be saved a gruesome ending…” Prox replied.
Azuryl took a deep breath. He was ready for death, but this was bordering on insanity. If he failed, the whole mission would fail. He looked at Prox and nodded.
“Prox… It’s been an honor to fight at your side.”
Prox stood to leave but faced his lieutenant for the last time. He was looking at a dying man, and Prox was never good at farewells.
“I wish… I could be at your side Az, until this whole thing ended…till death took us…”
“As do I…”
“I’ll never forget this Az…” He slammed the wall, “I’m a coward for leaving you here by yourself…”
Azuryl shook his head, “You’re the hero now Prox…this is your story… and you should remember it for all the time that remains in this universe, old friend…”
Prox knelt again at his Azuryl’s side and grasped his hands firmly, “We are Ghosts…”
“And forever will be…”
Prox and his men burst outside the doors and metgunfire from every direction. With the toxin in his hands he had the ultimate bargaining chip. But it seemed the Eri cared little for containing the toxin at this point.
He and his men sprinted forward toward the fissure Lispara had jumped in.
Pray that she’s still there.
But despite their best efforts, they were falling one by one. Prox himself had taken several bullets to the belly of his bicep and deltoid. His left arm was useless now. He moved the canister to his right hand and held it in front of him as a shield. Bullets panged off of its exterior leaving fractures in the glass. The container was well designed but it would not last long against this much firepower.
He leaped into the crevice in the ground, falling dead in the center of it. The plunge was nearly four meters deep. He hit the bottom of the cavern with a thud.
His legs crushed from the impact, carrying the toxin upon impact only furthered his injuries.
A shadow emerged from the darkness. Prox raised his rifle with an outstretched hand but stopped just shy of pulling the trigger.
“Lisp…” He dropped the rifle and stood up trying to catch his breath. “Az rigged Mair’s pack to detonate…we’re stuck here …”
Her face lit up, “What happened to Mair?”
Prox shook his head, he need not say any words. “This cave may not be able to contain the blast but it’s our only option now…are there any exits out of here?”
Lispara was at a loss of words. A part of her wanted to climb out of this narrow pit and search for her sister but another part of her realized the futility of such a notion.
She held her mouth and whimpered, they all came to this planet to save its people. But they ended up losing the ones they came with.
“Lisp, please.” Prox reached out his hand for hers. He stood and grabbed her arm tugging her through the dark passageways. She dragged her feet behind him, now disconnected from the reality around her.
There had to be a way out. In one of the passageways he found a Ghost with his back against the wall, his leg was wrapped in a cast and his helmet was all but destroyed. He saluted his team leader.
“Jubar?” He recognized him, “are you good to run?”
Jubar shook his head, he was in no way ready to move.
Two immobilized soldiers… The cave was his last chance, he could only pray it would hold. He had no idea when the bomb would be triggered but he knew enemies were trailing them.
He set the toxin canister beside Jubar and Lispara. They would make their stand at this dead-end. They were Ghosts, they would not go down without a fight.
The narrow passageway was a little over a meter and a half in width, enough to fit the three of them with their backs against the wall.
He emptied each of their packs to check their belongings. There had to be something. In the end he had a set of rather useless instruments. If the mountain was going to tear asunder from the explosion they would need protection from the cave on top of them.
“Okay, listen both of you. When the cave starts to break apart, I want you keep running. These have to lead somewhere, maybe a drain over the cliff.”
Lispara said nothing but the wounded soldier nodded. Prox unsheathed his combat knife and pistol and looked back at them once more.
“Lisp, you take the canister with you, keep it close.”
“What about you Prox?” The wounded soldier asked.
“I’m going to buy us all time.” Prox unwound his emergency tent and wrapped it over his head and body like a long cloak; it meshed with the darkness of the shadows.
As the others ran through the caves he returned to where he jumped in the cave entrance. His enemies were grouping up there.
He could see them in the dark, three of them, trying to flank each passageway. He quickly darted to the closest one and gashed the commando’s neck just above the vocal cords. With the blade still lodged in his trachea the Eri soldier could only bleed to death helplessly, unable to whimper for help.
Origin: Eternity's End Page 30