Commander Baal's POV aboard the frigate HFAX Jordannastus in warp to Cane Secondus.
"So, Commander Baal, what is this supposed 'package' we all need to be here for?" Gunner asked.
"Yeah, right before the mission too?" Jason questioned.
The ship humd with power and activity as I stopped and looked over my shoulder at five people trailing behind . Their blues and red armor was painted over with the usual black.
These third generations are just so…different.
"We'll find out soon enough. Command wouldn't waste our ti if it wasn't important," I answered coolly.
Silent shrugs responded as we marched to a smaller hangar reserved for any of the special teams. The walk wasn't long despite the heavy presence of the regs filling the hallways and scurrying around for the impending assault.
I reached my hand onto the scanner and placed an eye against it as well, and was rewarded with a beep of confirmation as the door slid open silently.
A crew worked to arm and ready our Panther for launch; however, what was odd was the large black tal box, located toward the side of the room, being guarded by a small squad of masked Marine Force Recon personnel.
A Navy officer thumbed through a pad with a bored expression. She barely looked up as we approached and droned off, "Commander Baal of Niflheim?"
"Yes," I answered.
She thrust the pad out, "Credentials. Just procedure."
I input the commands and offered another quick eye scan. The pad flashed green as I handed it back to the officer. She gave it a cursory glance, slid her finger across sothing, and nodded to herself.
"Confird. The necessary data pack has been sent to you, and it holds all the details you'll need, Commander," she said.
I looked to the corner of my vision and saw the relevant manuals and information. I scanned the contents quickly, and my brows furrowed the further I went.
I stared at the tal crate and asked, "What is this exactly, Lieutenant?"
The woman stared at with tired, sunken eyes. "With all due respect, there are many things I care not to be privy to. Especially unmarked and guarded packages from Mars. So this is one of those things, Commander. If you have any questions or issues, I would recomnd speaking to the Admiral," she said seriously.
"Understood," I said with a nod.
The Lieutenant returned the nod, and with a wave of her hand, the guard detail followed her out of the room. We were left with the engineers on the Panther and the rest of us.
Jason walked beside and looked up at the crate with a questioning look. "What's in the box that its got a Navy officer spooked?" Gunner pressed.
I placed a hand in the alcove, and the crate hissed as it depressurized. The many locking chanisms inside sprang to life as the tal fell to the side. The crate fanned open, and the figure inside stood up.
Tubes and harnesses disconnected with smoke and hisses as the creature stood at its full height. It was well over ten feet tall, and its black tal-covered body resembled our armor, but it was also very different.
The reinforced plates across its limbs were two or three tis as thick. Another set of arms jutted out from its back, and each arm gripped a heavy weapon beyond the use of even the strongest Commandos. One was a supped-up railgun, typically attached to tanks or gun platforms, while the other was a heavy bolter mounted as sponsons on attack craft.
Its red eyes glowed to life, and I felt my heart beat a little faster in my chest. I had long since forgotten what it was like to feel sothing like fear, but this creature ca from a different ti in my life.
I never thought I would see this again.
"Familiar, Sir?" Gunner asked.
"It is. Unfortunately," I said through gritted teeth.
Jason rapped the leg with an armored hand as his face twisted. "Is there a living thing in here?"
"According to the definition of living, yes. But it's not a person, so don't treat it as such," I answered.
Gunner shuddered to himself. "So one of those Hounds, huh? Hate those things," he grumbled.
Jason let out a low whistle, "This thing is a walking tank. Thick armor to stop a railgun, even that new vehicle shielding. This thing is basically a ch inside of a ch, like one of those Xeno War Machines," he said.
"It'll lead the way into the facility," I said as I looked off to the side, a tir reaching zero. "Ti to go wake Cardinal."
We piled out and left the giant to itself, heading to the sleeping facility. Cardinal was already up and had passed her post-sleep check.
Cardinal waved a hand. "Any reason why I had to wake up? Feels like I barely got a day," she asked.
"Make it three," Jason shrugged.
She cracked her neck as she stood up. "Then what's the mission?"
"Storage planet got hit by the enemy. Ammo, fuel, the works," Gunner said.
"That's nice and all, but we don't really do counter invasions on backwater supply worlds. So let guess, a top-secret bunker got hit? Maybe a VIP got whisked away," Cardinal asked as we left.
"Both, in a way. The moon, Cane Secondus, has a research facility specializing in warp tech. We gotta get the files and egg heads back," Jason answered.
Cardinal frowned as she looked at . "Not so secret anymore. The invasion of the supply world must have been a misdirect. Do we know how they found out, Boss?"
"Sa way every secret gets out," I said.
"Great…" she groaned.
We passed a viewing bridge of one of the main hangars. The entire strike force was assembled as officers gave another rousing speech.
"And today, who do we do this for Marines?!" an officer's voice rang out over the speakers.
Tens of thousands of soldiers stepped to attention. "New Neveda! For Humanity! Rember the fallen!" the unfined voice echoed.
"Details have been sent to you. We are out of warp in twenty hours. Pre checks start two till."
—
The Panther raddled as we broke through the weak atmosphere of Cane Secondus. The fleet was already engaged with the enemy, and the moon's anti-ship guns turned off. They didn't have enough ti to turn them over, it seed—a boon for us.
"South LZ is clear, three minutes til touchdown," the pilot radioed.
The Panther's engines roared as it touched down on the moon's surface. Our harnesses clicked open, and we were already down the ramp before it fully touched down. The dark sky lit up with tracers and explosions of the space battle. Panthers and drop pods burned through the atmosphere as they made landfall. Explosions shook the moon as low-flying Lynx strike craft bombed enemy positions and ship-mounted rail guns slamd into the dirt.
The crew chief gave a thumbs-up as the Panther flew off, leaving the package behind. The box unfurled as the "Ballistic Reinforced Utility Tactical Exoskeleton" ca to life. More Panthers offloaded troops in the valley as drop pods sank into the mountainside. Grav tanks glided off their transports as troops mounted onto their vehicles.
Like a well-oiled machine, the battalion was on the move. The moon was sparse with life as our vehicles hovered over the uneven, rocky terrain. The sounds of distant bombs and mortars only grew closer as we closed the distance.
"Coming up on the facility in five. Bravo and Charlie battalions have already engaged. They are eting heavy resistance," a radio operator inford the battalion.
"Captain?" Cardinal asked.
"The fleet is suppressing any escapes for now. We don't know when a gap will open up. Stick with the plan," I ordered.
The front of our battalion crested the ridge and began to fan out. The grav tanks' rail guns imdiately opened fire. Enemy return fire blanketed the battalion. Globs of superheated plasma consud tanks, breaking their plasma shields as smaller vehicles sped past, rockets exploded against armor, and small arms peppered everything that moved.
The facility was in view, its tall black tallic walls stood as a bastion embedded in a mountain. The pathways up were narrow, a solid defensive position where the defenders looked down at us. Tall, anti-ship batteries stood silent, gazing into the night sky, unable to be turned against us.
However, automated defenses were spewing fire at us as troops manned the walls. I reached into my mind and activated my implant. The B.R.U.T.E. responded and bounded forward, overtaking vehicles as it moved forward. Its large plasma shield flickered as explosions and bullets pocked the glowing blue shield.
The coils on the rail gun fired up as blue electricity arced across its fra. With a thunderous boom, the sabot released from its housing raced across the field and slamd into the gate. A plasma shield flickered to life, but the round left a wispy, black smoke behind.
The eerie darkness consud the blue shield as it cracked and crumbled into pieces. Enemy fire tried to bring down the B.R.U.T.E., but its plasma shield shrugged off the attacks as its heavy bolter swept across the battlents, and our grav tanks ripped tal and flesh apart.
Our small arms returned fire as our battalion swept into the facility's breaches. My squad dismounted, and my bolter sang as sprays of multi colored blood painted the ground and walls. A small team of Xenos was behind a plasma gun emplacent, but the B.R.U.T.E.'s rail gun left nothing but a smoldering crater.
Gunner kept the fire of his heavy bolter, leaving a trail of corpses across the fleeing enemy as they tried to reach the safety of the facility interior. I flicked around as an Xeno aid its rifle at , before it could even pull the trigger, my bolter round reduced its head to paste, its body following to the ground in a spray of purple.
My plasma shield flickered as rounds smacked against it, and with a few squeezes of the trigger, another three corpses joined the pile. Grav tanks thundered as our troops sward the ground, finishing off the stragglers. In less than ten minutes, the courtyard had been cleared.
"Rally up. We are pushing into the hangar," I radioed to my squad.
Three green thumbs up shone on my hub as I radioed to the lietutants to prep the charges. The regs moved quickly, placing the charges on the blast doors as the tanks floated into position. The B.R.U.T.E. positioned itself as the front, and as the "readies" reached , I gave the order.
"Blow it."
Rail guns, tank rounds, explosives, and heavy bolters blew the large doors up and fired into the interior. The opposition was short-winded as their attacks harmlessly flickered against the B.R.U.T.E.'s shields and died down. Regs pushed into the smoke and exchanged short bursts of gunfire.
My team pushed in behind them, the grizzly aftermath clear. What little defenses they had managed to set up were completely annihilated—nothing but blood, bodies, and craters. We gathered up on a far door as the regs moved around us, checking the bodies and finishing off any who survived.
The B.R.U.T.E. stood beside us as Jaon inputted the door commands. The door hissed as it was opened, and enemy fire ca spewing out—the B.R.U.T.E.'s heavy bolter thundered, and after a few monts, it went silent.
"Big guy coming with?" Gunner asked.
"Doesn't exactly fit," Jason chuckled.
I activated my implant and activated the sequence. The B.R.U.T.E. crouched down and seed to power down as steam and gases were expelled. It opened up like a coffin, and a smaller version stepped out, albeit a relatively smaller version.
The armored figure still stood at well over seven feet tall, and an extra pair of arms sprang out from its back, gripping a bolter. A wrist-mounted bolter strapped to another arm moved to the side as a blade of plasma ignited—a handheld plasma shield in the other. My heart shuddered for a mont.
B159…
The thing radiated an ominous aura of death just as it did that day. But it seed subdued, weaker. It didn't have the raw, nacing intelligence as it once did. A nutered monster, what a fitting end for it.
[Mission live.]
[1. Secure research materials.]
[2. Secure research staff.]
The text scrolled across my HUD as I ordered, "We're moving. Stay behind the B.R.U.T.E."
We swept through the hallway, and at the first junction, gunfire tried to suppress us. But the B.R.U.T.E.'s shields stood firm. The enemies are unfortunate enough to be directly in front of us and were cut down in a rain of bolter fire. Their heat signatures were turning into mist in my HUD's vision.
With a shredder grenade, the small emplacent was cleared. My map updated as the regs pushed into the belly of the facility.
"Bravo and Charlie breached the periter. We are swarming the enemy," Gunner radioed.
"Doesn't this seem too light a force? The traitors might be thick-headed, but not to this degree. The dossiers didn't ntion what type of warp tech was going on here," Jason said.
"Personal, localized warp drives," I answered.
Cardinal's head turned to . "Then they are just buying ti," she said gravely.
"Seems that way," I answered as we reached the service elevator.
"Elevators are bad, Boss. About a million ways this can go wrong," Cardinal said.
The gate opened as we stepped onto the platform. "Afraid of so heights?" Gunner chuckled.
"No, just don't want to plumt to my death in a narrow shaft after being blown up," she grumbled.
"Stand close to the B.R.U.T.E., its shields will do its job. Our goal is on the bottom floor," I said as the lift began to descend.
We plumted into the depths of the mountain as red warning lights flickered and scread at us. The elevator ca to a screeching halt as its brakes engaged.
"At least we didn't blow," Jason chuckled.
"Break it down and hop on," I ordered.
The B.R.U.T.E. used its legs and kicked in the gate, sending it spiraling into the darkness. We jumped onto the B.R.U.T.E.'s back, and I ordered it to jump. It leaped off the platform and sank its plasma blade into the tal wall as it slid down.
Even with all of us weighing it down, it easily hopped off and grabbed the cables, riding them down into the depths as sparks licked at its hands. We reached the bottom of the shaft and readied ourselves. With a single thrust of its hand, the B.R.U.T.E. forced its arm into the tal door and ripped it open, throwing it forward as soone scread.
We were rewarded with a boom as the B.R.U.T.E.'s handheld shield shattered, and its personal barrier whined and flickered as it was tossed backward.
"Rail gun!" Gunner barked.
Bolter fire lit up the hallway as we returned it. Then the distinct fwomp, fwomp of a grenade launcher as the B.R.U.T.E's mounted launcher lobbed rounds into the breach.
"Up and over," Gunner groaned as we pushed into the hallway.
No moving heat signatures ca across my HUD as Gunner kicked a sack into the elevator behind us, followed by an explosion that shook my chest. "Looks like we just beat them," he said.
"Told you they were going to blow the elevators," Cardinal said as she reloaded.
The B.R.U.T.E. lumbered over a crawling figure and crushed its spine to his ribs with a single step. Red blood splattered out.
"Humans," Jason said.
"Traitors," Cardinal corrected.
"Coms to the top are being jamd," Gunner said.
"To be expected," I said. "Humans make up the elites of the colitation. We are close. The data, materials, and scientists are probably in different locations. Mission stands, split up into two teams, and secure our objectives. I'll take the B.R.U.T.E., you three move together."
"Yes, Sir," they said in unison.
The B.R.U.T.E. led the way as we cleared corridor after corridor. As we sprinted by, we saw a slight shimr in the air and reached out for it. My hand, which should have reached empty air, instead found purchase. I crused down as a muffled groan escaped from their lips, and I fired my bolter into their chest.
The B.R.U.T.E. leveled its bolter and fired, and the shimrs in the air disappeared as bodies dropped to the floor, their cloaking coming undone. The dead Marine's bloodied lips turned into a smile through his visor as his arms went limp along with the grenade.
Damn the Human spirit sotis.
The explosion wasn't just the grenade but all the explosives he was carrying as well. The wave hit like a truck and forced into the tal wall. I felt the hot air on my face as my visor cracked, my armor punctured in places.
"Commander! Status?!" Jason roared on the radio.
"Cloaking tech Marine Force Recons. Punctured my suit, I'm fine," I said.
I stood up with a groan as blood leaked into my eyes. "We are regrouping then?" Gunner suggested.
"Agreed, et you at rally point Golf," I said.
Drugs flooded into my system as the pain was whisked away. I wiped the blood from my eyes and ripped my mangled helt off my head. I double checked the map in my head and made my way to a large storage room, hopefully to secure so of the supplies and cross over to where the rest of Niflheim was.
B.R.U.T.E. breached the door with a kick and revealed a large warehouse-type area, stacked with various unmarked crates that nearly reached the ceiling. It was clear they had been ransacked, but not entirely. There was just too much to go through. But I had a feeling the truly valuable items were already gone.
And this place…perfect for an ambush. I'd do it here.
As if reading my mind, I felt the air in the room got sucked in, leaving my lungs. I dodged to the side just before the explosion consud the B.R.U.T.E. from beneath the floor, followed by the thunderous booms of railguns. The only thing that kept alive was my shield.
But I had little ti as the fast footsteps on tal ca to my side. My vision swam, and my ears rang as the heat blasted my face. I reached behind my back as my shield flickered and my combat knife flickered across just in ti to et the shaft of a plasma sword. The yellow armor-wearing Xeno may have been smaller than , but I recognized it instantly.
Elunari.
I kicked out and swung my bolt pistol, and its shield flickered as the rounds exploded across it. Plasma rounds from the Xenos pistol burned the air as it smashed against my shield. I sprinted forward and t the plasma sword again, kicking low at their shin.
The Xeno jumped back, but I was faster. I stepped on their foot, forced my bolt pistol through their plasma shield, and fired. At such a close range, the rounds exploded, damaging the alien and my gun. But that wouldn't be enough to stop one of these creatures; it never was.
It continued to fight , and even with my mangled hand, I overpowered it. I elbowed its visor, cracking it as a stream of rounds impacted my barrier, and it finally shattered. I dropped my blade from one hand, caught it in the other, barely able to grip it and reached out.
The plasma sword nearly took my arm off, but it was too slow. I gripped the alien by the throat and stabbed it over and over again in the chest. Just before I went for the cracked visor, its pale skin showing through, its eyes wide in fear and hatred, I lost feeling in my arm. Another boom went off as a railgun took my arm clean off.
I didn't even feel it as I kicked the alien away and dodged the incoming fire, hiding behind so crates and scurrying away into the darkness. I spared my implant a check and saw the black, flat lines by my squad's nas.
Splitting up was a mistake. What will be my final one, it seems…
"That you, Baal?" a familiar voice called out.
That voice…Heimdall?
I didn't dare ask the question back. I knew he was trying to pin my location as my stealth field activated. At least, it made sense why everything went wrong so quickly. These weren't just the elites; they were the best the coalition had.
[Objectives changed.]
[1. Deploy Kill Team.]
[2. Let none survive.]
My coms went wild as the AI relayed my new orders. I reached back, and a pyramid-shaped object hit the ground. I input the command through my implant as it fanned open and secured itself into the ground. A single, black crystal shard floated at its center.
[G.A.T.E. activated. Syncing coordinates.]
A burst of bolters ripped through my position as I jumped away. And moved to another. But it was mostly futile, even with my blood clotting agents, I still leaked small dribbles of gold flaked blood on the ground. My suit had activated the Embrosia. It was the end.
"Doesn't have to be this way, Baal. Always a chance for redemption," Heimdall called out.
I made sure to clear away from the G.A.T.E. before swearing, "That's rich, Commander."
"You know they got rid of Bastet, Tiamat, Fujin, and the others behind your back. What's the point in pretending?" Heimdall said as bolter rounds impacted against the crate I was just at.
"We served our—"
My words caught as I stopped and turned around. The air shimred as I stared down the barrel of a bolter.
"Our purpose? To be disposed of like dogs? Is that what we fought for, Baal?" Hemidall asked.
"Anything for Humanity, traitor," I spat.
"Sha," Heimdall said with a shake of his head. "You would have fit right in."
[Synochzation complete.]
[Kill Team Asura deploying.]
The air in the room seed to shift. An eerie feeling perated the space. I smiled as I lashed out in the futile attempt I knew that it was.
A bolter round sank into my chest, followed by another three. I lost control of my body as I lay down and looked up at the yellow armored man. My ntor, Commander, and once upon a ti…friend.
"What did you do, Baal?" he asked gravely.
"Sicked the hounds on you, bastard. See you in hell."
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