“Wow, this is next level.”
We both sit in the cockpit and Raiken pushes the button on the pilot seat. I just feel so comfortable in them, it’s like sitting on a marshmallow.
“Initiating manual ride sequence” the voice from the ship says.
“Initiate stealth mode, initiate silent killer, initiate route control” Raiken Orders
“Initiating” It replies
“This has voice control with an AI handling it, awesome!” Now it really feels like we are on a mission to save the world.
“Yeah, now sit down we are going to fly” Raiken says with a smile while looking at me while I am busy looking around in the ship as a nomad would look at a smartphone.
The ship ascends from the ground and gains some height.
“Where to then?” Raiken asks while holding his hands on the flight stick.
“Nevada, Southwest from here. I have the coordinates marked” I say with a smirk
The ship zooms into the sky and becomes invisible.
“Now, your people would never know even if we were to cross your primitive radars.” Raiken says with a pride in his tone.
“I am just going to say that this is far more than I expected” I reply with my eyebrows up.
HAZE tech facility - Earth,
[Mirana]
“So, Ishaan has something to say” I say while looking at Ishaan who is standing next to me while keeping a finger on his specs. Chang, Aniket, Rupal, Tyler and Will are standing in front of us around the centre of the Operations’ room. The Operation’s room is part of the Command Room where the execution of any operation outside the base is observed and controlled.
“Since Chang found out about project Phoenix, I asked him to see if he can find anything related to it and what came to light is far more interesting than I thought it would be. SDC, a new division formed under the UN, serves as the extra-terrestrial affairs Division.” I say
“So, the UN made their own division in the wake of that incident?” Aniket asks curiously
“Yes, not only that, they found out about the Project Phoenix themselves and they are currently trying to reverse engineer alien tech salvaged from Mauritius. That’s why I think it would be better if we focus on UN rather than Area 51.” I suggest as everyone around me wonders.
“But there is no guarantee that the UN has the answers we need, besides Area 51 still proves to be a solid lead” Tyler points out
“I know but don’t you think UN will try to gain everything they can from Area 51” Ishaan questions Back
“It’s true but we can’t wait for them to make a move, we have to make our own.” Tyler replies.
“Tyler’s right, there is no certainty that the UN will make move or they will actually work together with Area 51” Aniket comments
“What are you suggesting then Aniket?” Ishaan questions boldly
“We should infiltrate Area 51 as soon as possible, before anything else interferes with our plans” Aniket replies to Ishaan in a stern way
“We are ready to do it tonight itself” Rupal says agreeing to Aniket’s suggestion.
“Rupal, are you sure you guys can pull it off?” Ishaan asks with a lack of belief in Rupal
“We can try, it’s better than sitting here doing nothing.” Will says
“Okay then, it’s done. You guys will head out and infiltrate the infamous Area 51.” I order firmly after listening to them.
“We will leave in half an hour” Tyler orders and they all head out.
“Chang have you called in your friends?” I ask after Will, Rupal and Tyler leave the place
“Yeah, they will be here by tomorrow. I should head back to my work then.” Chang says and leaves.
“Our first ever mission, quite the excitement” Aniket says sarcastically
“We will pull it off” I say more to myself than others.
22:00 hrs, Area 51, Nevada...
The night brews in the cold desert land of Nevada near the Area 51, animals awake at the night make sounds in the silence of the night. Two guards stand near an entrance to a hanger in Area 51 base of US military. They are wearing standard gear with overcoats to protect from the cold.
“Ah, I hate night shifts” One guard to other.
“Yeah, but you got to do what you got to do for living” Other replies while checking his gun
“We guard this rundown army air force base, and I thought I was serving the country” He comments sarcastically and they both share a laugh
“Yeah, at least it’s peaceful here, rather than Afghanistan or Iraq or Syria”
“That’s right, want to have some smoke?”
“Would love too.”
He lights the cigarette and gives the lighter to his partner. He grabs the light and SWOOP! A bullet hits his head as he falls to the ground.
“MAN DOWN, REPEAT MAN DO...” He says as he gets sniped in between his call for help.
A squad of soldiers move up from their position
“The left wing is clear we are moving in” One of the soldiers says
They move up to the gate and barge in the Hanger. Meanwhile, Tyler and his team arrive at the location. They sit near a high ground and Will takes out his binoculars to get a look at the base.
“Shit, they are already dead!” Will says while looking through his binoculars.
“What!” Tyler says
“The guards have already been taken down. There is nothing we can do”
“Someone is here, Ishaan do you copy”
“Yes, I hear you loud and clear. Let me check” Ishaan replies on the comms
“Chang, can you give eyes on the situation.” Ishaan turns to him.
“I will try my best because HAZE’s satellite are not exactly the correct satellites for this kind of job”
“Try your best and Tyler keep your distance and do not engage no matter what.” Ishaan orders fluently
“Let’s move to a better position” Tyler orders and moves out with the team to a denser bush to hide themselves.
Suddenly the siren in the base turns on and the ground starts shaking.
“What is happening?” Rupal asks in panic.
Few cannon-like structures pop up from the ground. The base goes on high alert. The cannons start moving around probably in search of target. They are huge and have a pretty big barrel, with enough strength to take out a tank in single shot.
“we got ourselves a big problem” Tyler says with a shock as he looks at the humongous cannon popping in front of him.
Back at HAZE facility, Chang is working desperately to get eyes on his friends and Ishaan is monitoring with whatever he has got.
“Chang, they are in danger, I need eyes in there.” Ishaan orders
“I am trying!” he yells as he keeps typing something on his keyboard.
“Done!” he says as he slams enter.
“Here you go, full surveillance in effect, even if the US government tries to block it” Chang says with pride and attitude.
“Alright, I have eyes Tyler” Ishaan says and looks at the screen only to see those massive cannons. “What in the world is that thing!” He says dumbstruck by the size of the cannons.
“Let me try to analyse it, Tyler can you put the chip I gave you on it?” Chang asks
“Yeah, I can try, one of it is close by but they are firing at something”
“Everyone stays beneath the cannon, it’s the only Safe place.” Ishaan orders while looking at the screens.
Everyone moves beneath the Cannon and Tyler puts the chip on it.
“Chip’s placed”
“Okay, let me see what can I do” Chang replies as he starts typing in rapidly.
Suddenly, one of the cannons blows up. Soon after that other blows up.
“Ishaan are you getting this.” Tyler says as he notices someone destroying the cannon.
“Yeah, the cannons are blowing up”
“NO not that, someone is destroying them.”
“I d
on’t see anybody.” Ishaan says as he concentrates on the screen and corrects his specs.
[Zunzar]
I jump in with my battle axe and notice my friends beneath the cannon and slow down with the landing. I stomp on the ground and stand right in front of them,
“Who are you?” Tyler asks with a slight shiver in his tone and a sense of fear in his emotions and fires a round at me.
“It doesn’t matter” I say with a robotic tone to my voice making it sound different. “What are you doing here?” (Robotic voice)
“What are ‘you’ doing here? An what are you?” Tyler asks with all the courage he has stored.
“We are here to destroy these cannons. You can consider us allies” (R.V) I reply
“WE?” Tyler questions.
“Tyler, whom are you talking to?” Ishaan says through comms as his voice shatters and static disrupts it.
“Hello, Ishaan can you hear us?” Rupal says trying to press his comms to work.
“We lost connection” Chang says disappointedly.
“OH god” Ishaan says as he rests his hands on the screen while thinking.
“I am here with my partner” I reply to his question
“When did I become your partner?” Raiken asks agitatedly as he takes down one of the cannons.
“Whatever” I say in the comms. “You need get out of here. We will cover for you, GO!” I order Tyler.
“We can’t, this place is rigged with all kinds of defences.” Tyler argues
“Can you come here?” I talk through comms
“Look above you, Dumbass” Raiken says
Raiken jumps down from the cannon right beside me and strikes me on the back of my head.
“We can’t take them all out.” Raiken says.
The UN soldiers appear from the Hanger and start firing at the cannons.
“Who are they now?” Raiken says angrily
“It’s the UN, they were the ones who infiltrated before us” Tyler says with a shocked look.
“We need to get out of here before any one of them spots us.” I comply and turn towards Raiken. Clearly, he is the only hope of getting out alive.
“Okay” Raiken says and opens a bridge.
“Wait, you can do that?” I ask with amazement
“We will talk later, everyone inside the Bridge.” Raiken orders
“What?” Rupal asks curiously as the firing gets louder in the surrounding.
“Trust us and move” Raiken says with a bold voice.
Haze Tech Facility,
“Are the comms online yet?” Ishaan asks Chang desperately.
“I am trying, okay. They will be fine” Chang says as he gets agitated by Ishaan’s constant pressuring.
The bridge suddenly opens in the Command room and everyone looks at it leaving the task at hand with an awe. But Ishaan looks at it with a fear behind his head as he remembers Zunzar’s abduction. Tyler, Rupal, Will and the squad appears from the bridge.
“How the hell did you get here?” Ishaan asks
“We had help”
“From Whom?” Ishaan’s nightmare turning true.
I appear from the Bridge with Raiken in our Dark Order uniform and stand behind the squad. The squad moves away to let Ishaan see. He looks at us as if his nightmares have come true. The bridge closes.
“If it wasn’t for them, we would have been dead by now.” Rupal says as he feels relaxed while sitting on the ground.
Everyone in the room looks at both of them and Aniket arrives from the back of Ishaan only to see two suspiciously dressed freaks standing in front of them.
“You are the one who took Zunzar, right?” Ishaan asks and everyone turns their attention to Raiken who stands there with attitude.
He unveils his face to everyone and they all look at him with even bigger shock as he is not a human.
“Let me introduce myself, name is Raiken, the Leader of Dark Order and the Servant of the Keeper of Hell, Dark Lord. We serve the Hell and this Universe. Yes, I was the one who abducted Zunzar” Raiken says without the slightest form of hesitation. I glaze at him from the corner of the eye.
“But before you say anything, let me introduce you to one of my teammates, the newest member of Dark Order...”
I remove my hood, pull down the mask on my face to reveal myself. Everyone’s expression turns into total Despair as they see their lost friend directly in front of their eyes. The mix of emotions is clearly visible on their faces. The joy, the shock, the fear, the curiosity, all these emotions take an all-out war with each other as I look at them with a little smile and a proud look.
“Zunzar...” Raiken ends his sentence.
To Be continued.......
CHAPTER 7
Homecoming
Zunzar opens his mask and stands in front of everyone as they all look at him with a shock. Aniket’s eyes glitter with hope but Ishaan doesn’t seem that happy.
[Zunzar]
“I will be in the yard” Ishaan says in a cold tone and agitatedly walks away. Thankfully, only Aniket hears what he says.
“What, seen a ghost or something?” I say with a smile and a very positive welcoming approach.
Aniket smiles and says “Welcome home, brother”
Rupal looks at me with a disbelief. He is probably thinking that I am some super powerful, hood wearing, kill machine or the fact that I came back totally upgraded. After all I am pretty muscular now.
“Why are you looking like that?” I ask Rupal just to clear my thoughts.
“Nothing, you look… strong” Rupal says awkwardly.
I chuckle and look around noticing how much things have changed since I left or in fact I was kidnapped.
“Quite the use of this facility” I say with a prideful gesture.
“Yeah, let me call everyone” Aniket says and lifts his hand to the ears to press a button on the earpiece.
“Everyone, there is an emergency and I would like you all to report to the command room.” Aniket says
The voice spreads throughout the facility through the speakers.
“Wow! That was not expected” I say surprised.
“Well, it helps in tricky situations to reach out to everyone. They will come running, knowing that it is an emergency.” Aniket replies.
“This is sick, well I guess my disappearance was not that bad” I say jokingly and both of us start laughing.
“We have to celebrate man” Rupal says as he stands up exhales.
“Brother?” A voice calls from the side and I can’t help but notice the familiarity of the voice. I turn to look at Minal who stands there dumbstruck by my appearance. I look at her with a broad smile. Minal walks up to me and hugs me tightly.
“I missed you, I thought I would never see you again.” Minal says with tears and a smile.
“I will always be there, you know that” I softly whisper to her and holds her by her shoulders. Look at her with his soulful eyes and wipe her tears.
“Your brother isn’t going anywhere” I say firmly to comfort her.
“Are you guys done, because we have a lot to discuss” Aniket says sarcastically.
“Yeah, this is Raiken by the way, my boss and the Leader of Dark Order” I say pointing at him.
“Yeah, he did mention it earlier, but what concerns me is why are you guys here?” Aniket replies with a doubt.
“About that, we can discuss it with everyone. I have to talk to someone before that” I reply with a weird gesture and Aniket instantly understands my motive.
“Okay, we will be in our conference room with everyone. You can join there with that idiot” Aniket replies while putting pressure on idiot.
I walk away towards the yard and everyone stands there with a blank expression looking at Raiken, who looks at them with an awkward gesture and says
“So, where is everyone?” giving a very genuine fake smile. Increasing the awkwardness to the maximum
Ishaan is standing near the yard looking at the vast land and green
ery ahead him. Thinking about something, resting his body on the railing.
“You don’t seem very happy” I say from a distance.
“Why are you here?” Ishaan says, not so willingly
“Well, I thought I would get a warm welcome and here you are giving me a cold shoulder.” I reply and walk towards him.
“What do you want me do, throw a party” Ishaan says agitatedly
“Yeah, would love it” I say sarcastically. Not the best lines at the time.
“It’s not funny” Ishaan says as he looks at me. He seems totally pissed.
“Okay, I am here on a mission” I reply
“Mission?” Ishaan says surprised
“If you would just let me explain rather than storming off.” I try to convince Ishaan with a loud tone and in a very expressive manner.
“Everyone is gathering up as you may have heard Aniket, so let’s get back to everyone and I will explain everything you need to know” I continue this time minding my tone.
Ishaan walks by me and stops right as soon as he passes me. Without changing his pose, he says “What are you waiting for then, let’s go”
I turn and stand beside him without facing him and we both start walking towards the conference room.
“Why are you so pissed?” I ask a little concerned
“I am not pissed”
“What is bothering you so much, I mean, you got Exodus up and running with everyone” I look around
“Do you even have the slightest of idea what it cost me?” I start sensing a bit of agitation.
“I know your squad got wiped out” I try to deduce the cause.
“You know because you were there… forget it. I lost everything, trying to bring that bag out. I lost my job and I lost my career. What would an unemployed good for nothing like you understand, huh?” I sense anger towards me.
“Hey, just because I play video games doesn’t change the fact that I graduated from MIT” I reply him much more stupidly igniting the flame.
“It doesn’t change anything. You are an idiot, never the less”
“You could have been great Zunzar, you could have even become a CEO of a company even greater than Aniket’s. But you chose to be nothing instead.” Ishaan continues
“I would never do a job It was never my thing” I try and give my opinion on life.
Universal War- the New World Page 9