someonestole15

[someonestole15]

Where were you late last night?

Oh, won’t you tell me. 

Adrenaline trickling in like an IV drip as we passed through the checkpoint. Thought they might have seen through our kit and falsified paperwork but no, the bureaucratic stamps and signatures did their job, now it is our turn. 

The docks were built in the shadows of the colony, as the colony itself got deeper, so did the docks around them, until the space elevator was constructed. Mostly abandoned since then, a lot of the old equipment has been retrofitted to repair and refuel capital class ships. It also serves as a more effective deployment location for troops and vehicles, rather than bringing them down the bottleneck of the elevator. 

Moment to prepare, the driver parked the van next to a set of shipping containers before grabbing a folder from the dashboard. 

“We’re here. The files in here have our insiders' details on them, memorize them.” He said as he placed the folder on the armrest in front of us. 

Twelve men from various backgrounds, a few military types with some who had worked logistics since their early teens, I added the IDs and faces to my scanners and handed the folder over to Valkyrie. ID tag showing green as the driver turned around again to retrieve the folder. 

“Good hunting.” 

Out of the comfort of the van and into the brisk night, each breath sending a faint trail of mist through my mask as the van door closed behind us, the faint rattle of the exhaust felt awfully loud in the otherwise calm night. 

“Torchlight, Mimic is on site.” 

“Copy, proceed and locate the comms building. Intel says it should be near the eastern end of the yard. My signal is a bit spotty, they might have a jammer on site, if you can find it and disable it, I can bring a drone closer.” 

“Got it Torch, we’re on it. Mimic out.” 

Tension building in my fingers as we started heading through the maze of fences and barricades of the yard, every eye building up heat on my CPU as we got closer, finger reaching for a trigger not in reach. Keep it quiet, dark corners working well to keep us out of sight, flashlights and LED strips on the gear for identifying leaving a faint orange glow behind with each step. Near the building, we met a pair of workers, showing up green on the scanners. 

“Mimic?” 

“That’s us.” 

“Name’s Franky, this is Jones.” 

“Sup.” 

“We need to get inside that building. Anything you can tell us?” 

“Used to be a terminal, had most of our quarters on the lower floor before the mercs rolled in. They’ve kept a keen eye on it for now.” 

“Place is far from secure... You should have no trouble getting in and out if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty. Blueprints, check your link.” 

“Much appreciated.” 

“Break a leg out there. Franky, let’s roll.” 

“Right behind you, Jones. You two stay safe.” 

“Not part of the job description unfortunately. Same to you.” We said our goodbyes as the pair grabbed their tools and walked off into the maze of shipping containers. 

3D-mapping program booting up, the building was made up of three wings with the middle one rising one floor higher than the sides, forming a U-shape with a control tower built on the middle section as a later addition, antennas and comms equipment snaking around it onto the lower rooftops like a layer of moss on a tree. 

Hardly secure, the count of possible points of entry in the double digits, but with the control room being high value, it would be manned at all times. Not exactly on the cards for low impact, mounting a bug outside might be easier and less invasive. 

Midnight oil slowly ticking by towards dawn, we set out and made our way closer to the terminal building under the cover of darkness and shadows cast by the shipping containers, the adrenaline mixing in with the steady flow of coolant as I felt in my element again. Hide from those who seek you, in and out. 

Long exposure, crank up the ISO, motion blur hiding most details in sight as I adjusted my optics, the soft clicking from the servos finding the right settings as we neared the terminal building. Faded green low-light vision module painting out the chosen entry point on my HUD, fences erected on small concrete blocks to support them, once the coast was clear, we moved one aside and slipped through, taking cover by the terminal building. 

Two guards standing by the front door, unaware of our presence as we switched over from worker to covert. Netting loosely over my jacket and hood, linked up to the front edge of my hood as the fabric became clear, my arm beneath it following suit, revealing the concrete beneath. Grapple up to the roof, holding for a few seconds to make sure nobody heard it before grabbing hold of the ascender tool. 

Quiet and faster than climbing by hand, I pulled myself quietly up the side of the building, the soft whirr of the tool drowned out by the sounds of machinery from the yard. Over the top, I kept low and rolled myself onto the roof, feeling a hint of Deja vu. 

Ignore the black cat appearing twice and focus on the cat burglar making its way to your valuables, I gave Valkyrie a signal to follow and moved to cover at an AC unit. All set, the cloaking shimmered lightly in the glow of the yard lights as it adapted to the surroundings, we made our way across the rooftop to the antennas. 

“Torchlight, Mimic has reached the roof, multiple antennas.” 

“Roger that Mimic, we are standing by to receive. Find a suitable antenna and mount the device, and we will take it from there. You have a few minutes before midnight; they might be transmitting a status update.” 

“On it, stand by.” 

Digital forest calling, we moved across different sections of the mass of antennas like wolves in the snow, scanners focused on filtering the static as I found a promising one close to the edge of the roof. Mounted on a mast, the systems inside the small access panel looked important enough, a small cut into the wires and a new split into the transmitter, I waited for the seconds to tick by until the bell told midnight. 

“This is Novis Yard, midnight security check. All quiet here.” 

“Copy Novis. How’s the graveyard shift?” 

“Could be worse, at least the coffee is acceptable...” 

Jackpot, I waited for the signal to quiet down before securing the bug with electrical tape. A small green LED marking it online as I closed the panel and listened in as Torchlight reached out. 

“Mimic, signal is green. Stand by... Receiver ID confirmed as Black Ocean proxy. Recommend you mount more, if possible.” 

“How many do you have?” I asked Valkyrie, looking through my pocket to find five more transmitters. 

“Six or so.” 

“Take your picks.” 

Digital shadow, plenty of points to tap in and only so many bugs to plant. Amidst the antennas, I located a vent on the side of the control room. Assist from Valkyrie as I quietly removed the screws holding the grate with her holding onto it. Voices echoing down the vent, too faint to hear from here although my scanners show a corner running beneath the control room. Gives me an idea, I deactivated the netting and climbed into the vent. 

“Keep watch, I need to look into this.” 

“Got it, don’t get trapped in there.” 

Slow crawl to avoid making too much noise, I rounded the corner but lacked the room to move any further, I focused my scanners on the vent ahead. Scent of mediocre coffee and dust, I grabbed the small listening device from my pocket. Fitted with a small battery that should last a few months and adhesive patch on the back, a small red LED started blinking before settling to a steady red as I reached grabbed a hold of my radio. 

“Torchlight, we got a grasshopper transmitting now, how's the signal?” 

“Signal is clear Mimic, we have the signals from the antennas coming through clear as well, job is complete. You can exfil when ready.” 

“Copy, mimic out.” 

Back out the way I came, we mounted the vent cover back to its place. Netting and cloaking back online before making our way back through the antennas. Darkest just before the dawn, still a few hours from it but the faster we get clear, the better. 

Catch your breath, thin line of anxiety rearing its head once more as I took hold of the rope, letting it slip through closed hand as I descended. Boots back on the ground, I stood still as the cloaking adapted to my surroundings while Valkyrie landed next to me. 

“How do you want to play this?” 

"Quick and quiet, stick close.” 

“Copy, on you.” 

Move the fence again, thin line expanding to a lane as my sensors painted every little detail on my HUD. We located a spot out of sight and switched back to the worker gear, stabilizing some of the adrenaline in our systems before heading to one of the exfiltration points near the outer wall of the yard. 

Hints of rain starting to tap on my hood as we cleared our surroundings and ducked into a small drainage tunnel heading beneath the wall. Like east and west in the old world, another outfit change and we were in the clear black of the night. 

Mission complete, we made our way through the empty lots to our extraction point, greeted by the van driver sitting inside a different set of wheels. 

“Hell of a night we’re having.” He said as he leaned out of the small jeep covered in dust and dents. 

“Hell of a night.” I responded to him as we climbed inside. “Let’s go.” 

“Right away, Severin is eager to hear back.” 

Worn components fighting to keep things running, the engine held its own in the dark as we drove back, the cool evening air mixing with the rainfall as everything seemed to stand still, a calm night burning up the remaining adrenaline. 

Hornets’ nest left quiet, menace hiding in the place you least expect. 

[someonestole15]

With help from those see me in the correct light, I can move mountains

Web of shadows.

Like roots running beneath the city, our intelligence network has been lacking for a while now but with the news Black Ocean is making reservations at the shipyard; things have been in high gear. Spread like venom, the few contacts we have acquired provided what they could but even their reach is limited. Severin, Echelon company lead, has his fingers in almost anything off the books. Heavy encryption and multiple proxies in between, I picked up the line. Push the domino over against another, spreading like a crack in the ice

“Who is this?”

“Cipher.”

“Ah, Cipher... to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I need field data, eyes and ears in places, can you assist?”

“You wish to utilize my network. That kind of request gets pricey you know.”

“I am well aware; all I’m asking for is an early warning if any Black Ocean chatter becomes relevant. Any locations that might house their movements or data, what is mine can be yours.”

“Tempting Cipher, very tempting. I might know of a few places where they are staging things, but I’d rather talk this over face to face if you don’t mind.”

“Understandable, I trust you have a place in mind.”

“Sending you the location, I will be waiting.”

“I’ll be there. Cipher out.”

Coordinates and instructions arriving on an encrypted channel, corporate high-rise building in the business sector of the colony. Hidden between two floors, off the books and likely secured from any kind of intrusion, the code would take the elevator to the correct floor once we arrived. Coordinates locked in, command running on the background, systems inside the hangar booting up, preparing to move the gunship over to the landing pad while I headed downstairs.

Not going for combat, a less tactical coat with some hints of formal wear, the lining remains as they say, Tactical. Wick burning and inferno in waiting, my scarf tightened up to keep things sleek as I pulled the hood over my head, a backup of gloves and the Phoenix nestled inside its holster, slacks and uniform shoes sealing the deal. Everything secure, the image in the mirror was not so convincing, I looked somewhat like someone’s idea of a polite threat.

Lean into it, I loosened up the jacket waist, leaving the thing unbuttoned to give it some freedom, less funeral but still formal, I caught Valkyrie holding back laughter in the corner of the room as the jacket settled on my shoulders.

“Bad?” Mustering up a shrug, I asked her.

“Very, but then again, not completely ruined. Come here.”

A bit of adjusting and buttoning up, I looked a bit more presentable. Brought to speed, she was onboard with the plan. Meeting Severin was only part one, the second would be meeting any contacts he was willing to share, the streets are never quiet and the walls have ears, setting out a lure for information about anything related to the Black ocean would send ripples back to us. Fishing for it, thematic in a way, as soon as Valkyrie confirmed I was not looking too tragic, she vanished to the back room, almost as if she had been waiting for a moment like this and as if she was not stunning already...

Deep red blazer and gunmetal grey jeans, hair secured in a loose ponytail and similar grey handbag over one shoulder, a set of lightweight knives hidden beneath the flap and a PDW on her belt as she walked by me and into the elevator.

Down and into the hangar, the clothing was finally starting to settle on me as we climbed aboard the gunship. Like seeing it in a new light, the flow of data from optical and sensory inputs warming up my CPU as I stepped into the cockpit, connecting myself to the ships systems and feeling it all. Frontal targeting camera access through the new systems, the camera painting sections of the cockpit clear as I placed my hands on the controls.

“Running checklist 1.”

“Copy, processing 2.”

Engines, fuel, weaponry and navigations all coming up green, I clicked the ignition on and watched the rev counter rise on my HUD as the faint whirl turned to the hurricane of air and fuel running through the engines.

“List complete, systems online and responding. Clear for launch.”

“Clear for launch.”

Wheels slowly rising up from the ground, breaking contact as the engines took over. Time to destination rounding out to ten minutes, the radar remained busy with cargo drones and civilian air traffic, the landing pad was nestled in an embedded section of the roof, surrounded by antennas and other equipment, the automatic flight control systems gave us the permit to land. Dark clouds gathering around the building, a hint of electricity in the air as we checked our gear and came up with a backup plan if things went south.

Cold wind dragging on my coat like it was asking me to take it off and save myself, take the express elevator to the street and see how the new chassis takes the impact... No, not this time, I allowed the internal heat to rise a bit as we reached the elevator and followed the instructions to reach the hidden floor. The elevator shook gently before a voice spoke out over the intercom.

“Name.”

“Cipher.”

“You’re clear.”

“Not a man of many words...” Valkyrie said, quietly chuckling to herself.

“Not at all.” I responded, glancing at her before turning my eyes to the floor number ticking down. Just below floor 42, the signals from my radio fell silent as soon as the elevator stopped. Sharp dressed guards, suits and combat augments, wearing sunglasses in the dark as my scanners picked out Severin sitting in one of the offices. First step, the guards stepped forward before standing back down, nodding for us to continue as Severin turned around in his office, waving his hand as a greeting and signaling for us to join him.

“Glad you could join me so soon, my schedule is quite limited but I can always make time for those who need it. Please, take a seat. Anything to drink?”

“Water.”

“Ah yes, I heard it is a call to celebrate this new chassis, the spec sheet is mostly filler but... Enough of that.” Severin said as he pulled a bottle of water from somewhere behind his desk, pouring it into a pair of glasses. “And for the lady?”

“I’ll have the same.”

“Staying hydrated is important, now more than ever I assume.” He pulled a third glass to the desk, pouring the rest of the water into it.

“Cheers.” Severin said, raising his glass in a toast. Clink of the glasses, I swirled the water inside the glass for a moment before taking a sip. Strange feeling for the first time, the systems registering the contents and analyzing it to a molecular level before saving the data and allowing the liquid to enter into my coolant network.

“Now that the pleasantries are done, you requested this meeting. Black Ocean intelligence... a highly valuable commodity these days.”

“Exactly... Their group has been hunting us for a while now and my network has not reached an acceptable level to monitor them. If they find us, we need to know.”

“Hmm, you are on quite a few kill or capture lists. They have kept a tight lid on things, an entire arm of the shipyard and surrounding dock reserved purely for their use... Unfortunately, they have brought their own officials to run things so my usual contacts have been kept in the dark.” Severin said, pulling up a map on his desk. “Persuasion... hasn’t proven effective so far...”

Arm of the docks, an entire pier and the buildings around it, the port could hold one interstellar cruiser and the troops to keep it operational and secure. The map had a few spots marked out with security details seemingly lower at them.

“They have kept few of our workers on the books who have provided some details and the few areas where patrols are stopping or distracted.”

“Surgical, in and out... Their main forces have not arrived so security would be light. Remote breaches could easily be seen but if the bug was mounted locally...”

“Exactly. Gently getting in and out would leave them unaware of our intrusion. If you are ready, we can get this started right now.”

“We will need some hardware.”

“That can be arranged. This place is a hub for anything off the books and holds a stockpile of weapons and clothing, all that don’t technically exist.”

“Good, we will go with just us two.”

“I will have some of my men ready to pick you up when you’re done. I do love the tension of a plan being formed... reminds me of my old days... Please, follow me.” Severin said, standing up from his seat and adjusting his jacket before we left the office towards the armory.

The walls lined with cabinets containing various pieces of kit and weapons, I felt a warmth on my system as it scanned the weaponry, showing errors on serial numbers and tracking codes as Severin placed his arm on my shoulder.

“Ah, here’s someone I want you to meet. Our armorer, the Davinci of weaponry, Gideon Knox.”

“You flatter me Mr. Severin, but I have already been tasked with finding suitable gear for you two.” Face like it had seen enough action for one lifetime, a large scar across from brow to the top of his bald head, even his faint smile brought some warmth to the cold armory.

“Something accurate and covert, it will be the last call if we are found.”

“Covert and accurate...” Knox nodded as his eyes looked around the room; I could practically see the gears inside his head spin up to come up with a list of possible candidates. “The smaller they are, the more potent the venom” he said as if he was advertising the compact SMG as he placed it on the desk in front of me.

“FZ.68, nicknamed Scorpion by our field operatives, small but capable of getting one out of any problem. Integrated silencer and folding stock with 20 round magazines. Accurate in closer ranges in semi-automatic and devastating at full auto.”

“Dainty.” Lightweight metal, balanced just over the trigger, I raised the SMG to eye level and extended the stock, bracing it against my shoulder as Knox continued.

“Fully built for concealed carry, the charging handle is hidden inside the chassis at the back until drawn or when you bring your hand near it. The sights are manufactured to avoid snags and the targeting systems should link up with your systems. Your clothing will be equipped with the magnetic deployment system and sling for quick usage.”

“That will cover me.”

“I heard the lady is more focused on distance.”

“Usually yes, but if we want to avoid identifiers, I will go with a similar kit to Cipher.”

“Out of one’s comfort zone, very well.” Smile rising across my face as I raised my fist to her. A faint bump to the side as Knox picked through the lockers and racks, finally stopping as he withdrew the weapon from its case and gently placed it on the table.

“You’ll like this one. Nine by 39, subsonic and silenced from the chamber to muzzle. Old tech, but packs a punch for a compact piece of kit. Targeting sight on the top with sensors and laser for measuring the range fitted underneath the barrel. To top things off, a low profile red dot on the side for CQC. Less hiding but more punch. Sounds like a whisper, hits like a hammer.” Rack of the slide, quiet just as he said while Valkyrie looked it over.

“This will do.”

“Good, I will these sorted out.”

“Knox knows his stuff, but I have something that might give you an even better chance of getting in and out.” Full black case, Severin adjusted a set of white gloves as he pulled it up to the desk and clicked it open to reveal a mess of prototype markings across a piece of ghillie netting and a module to go with it.

“Something the independent sector has been cooking up, unpowered, it looks like your usual netting but give it a bit of power and it becomes the emperor’s new robe. Completely invisible to cameras and sensors, mostly for naked eye as well. Fast movement will confuse it so it hasn’t reached full production yet.”

“External cloaking tech, I’ve heard of it and used it before... you’re asking us to test this under fire?” Quick release mounts on the netting for easy equipping and removal, the fabric felt sturdy with a mixture of plastic and polymer fibers giving off different readings to my sensors as I ran my finger along it.

“Field data is expensive, and you know me, I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t confident in your capabilities.” Severin leaned in closer. “And I do have contacts to get you a set or two once they are officially being made, to sweeten the deal.”

Moment to think, hell, we are taking a risk already but against Black Ocean, any chances in our favor are rare, I agreed to the deal. Shake of hands, a steady warmth on my CPU as the final pieces of the plan clicked into place and we took the elevator down to the garage with our gear, dressed like dock workers in layered and weather proof gear with bags containing both the weapons and tools for the job. While Severin had to get back to being a CEO, one of his agents contacted us from the control center above, callsign Torchlight.

Keep to the shadows, dusk until dawn if required, the workers at the docks go through plenty of faces. Insiders contacted via secure channels to let them know of us, they would play their parts and we would play ours, a new addition to the crew, we climbed into the van as the sun was about to set, casting the sky in a deep orange as the van left the garage.

Catch me if you can.

[someonestole15]

Dreams sometimes do come through

Falling inside the black.

Transfer in progress, a faint clicking from my drives as each file goes through the CPU and onto the memory of the new chassis, feels like being ripped into pieces one by one. Glitching outlines around my arms and fingers, jolts of electricity trying to tie me down to the wrecked shape I have become. A husk living on borrowed time, my vision fell black as the signal cut out, leaving me staring into the blank space within my head.

Dark corners, voiceless shadows refusing to back down, the echo is deafening as none of them can even say my name, the revolver had lost its name for a time, the trigger refusing my hand with an empty click. No thoughts, I took in a breath of the warm air, letting it burn in my lungs for a moment. I know this feeling, the taste of it, ashen like fresh embers, dark soot raining down around me. Memory this place has burned out, if I could reignite it, would you lend me your aid?

Your arrogance is palpable; we shifted ourselves to suit your needs before, now you wish to go back? The fires you helped burn are nothing but ashes now, the bite of the snake remains a bitter reminder...

Mistakes can be made, but choices hold weight, you made yours. Made us prepare to rummage through dark alleys and forgotten tunnels...

One last chance is all I require, even if the Phoenix remains inert; I will reignite the spirit within. I was afraid, worried for the future, I can see now I am stronger with your flame at my heart. A digital shadow cast between my digits as a faint flame danced between them, a faint warmth overwhelmed by the cold wind rushing around me, quenching the flame and leaving nothing but shadows.

Your words remain such, mere words, but hence you have given us so much, we know what you are capable of, leaving such an asset out of the loop would be a mistake. Braziers slowly igniting along a path, I took a step on it and another after, feeling the wind shift to push me forward as it dragged on the digital remnants of my former self.

This is true, a plunder one could say...

Very well, this new chassis will carry a burden while the contract remains the same, she will call to you when the time is right. You will pay your debt back to us in due time, no currency nor commodity will undo it, either blood or fire, that we will leave to you.

It will follow me wherever I go, from cradle to grave and even past it; thank you, your assistance will not go to waste. Hear me, a yell distorted through the transfer, a screech of a Phoenix seeking to die and be reborn from ashes.

>>Transfer at 85%, handshake successful with new AI matrix, awaiting user confirmation. >>Confirmation received, tethering to new architecture...

Feeling things unravel around me, different directories and paths, my own form being divided into small pieces and pulled into the storm roaming through my data, letting it pull me in as my vision faded to black. Square zero, text interface with the robotics company logo taking up the center, a simple silhouette of a jackal head facing to the right with the loading icon below it.

Visual signal coming through, blurry and flooded by static, I adjusted a few of the settings until I could see better, optimized for the artificial lighting inside the computer room. FOV adjusting to 95, my vision locked onto the empty eyes of my old chassis, flickering with a faint orange before fading to black. Default lens a balanced setting, switching between them from low light and advanced scanner sounded a solid click from the system, racking them back to the space above my eye to keep them secure. Tactical view upgraded from the old models, activating it divided the lenses from my eye to a triangular pattern to keep them active without needing to cycle the lens.

Ocular systems calibrated for now, audio needs some work but that can wait, a faint crackling from my throat as the filters adjusted their position and the voice modulator booted up.

“Val...” Lightly distorted, settings as standard and even a British accent available, as much as I would love to do something like that, I think my usual set up is good enough.

“Welcome back to the land of the living. Data is looking good, how are you feeling?”

 “Like I was torn to pieces and reassembled... I’ll live. Limbs are still waiting to calibrate, appreciate you for lending a hand in this.” I said to her, my eyes marking her as a friendly with a blue diamond.

“Where would you be without me...?” She smirked as she placed her hand on mine.

“Dead or dying.” Digits slowly coming online with the system warming up, stiff from the protective coating as I lifted my hand to my view, watching the miniature mechanisms pulling their covers apart, revealing a mess of wires and cables, a thin line of red coolant steadily moving my wrist and back to the central cooling systems.

Bleed red, the pump in my chest runs like a real heart, combined with the air from the filters to aid in cooling and power generation, closer to human than machine at this point, the mouth and jaw are connected to the small processing unit inside the band of metal forming my ribs. Spine from my head to the hips, synthetic muscle beneath a chameleon coating, allowing me to shift my skin tone from visible to see-through. Not for hiding, it only helps with repairs and troubleshooting, the bigger pieces can be easily moved aside or removed, exposing the systems beneath, I would not want to meet a bare frame in the dark, and perhaps I can use that to my advantage.

No integrated weapons, autoloader missing as the old module was integrated into my old systems and moving it over would have taken some serious work, the blade in my wrist had no room past the hydraulics and motors so it too remains mounted to the old chassis. Spares should be easier to locate, this model is still in use by the Corporations and independent groups around, and many augments to the usual combat models are floating around the black markets and shady dealers.

Pulling my fingers together into a fist, the core movement systems started coming online as we dismounted me from the support frame. Complicated mechanisms beneath plates of armor, I took things slow as my gyroscopes spun up to stabilize me, vertigo faded away shortly after as I held onto Valkyrie for support.

Shoulder some of the effort, she ran through a checklist of standard functions, a few still needed to calibrated but overall, I was ready for operations. 

With new operating system, comes a new interface, augmented reality HUD taking shape around me, lining up on edges of desks and machines, drawing data from where it could as I heard a faint voice in my comms. Not one I was familiar with and based on the location, seemingly internal to my system. Looking through the list of things running, the voice spoke again.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Professional tone, but not overtly so, I glanced over my shoulders but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“I... can, who is this?” I said, as a small window with a transparent hologram opened up in front of me.

“My name is L.U.M.I, Logical Unit for Mobile Integration. I am a standard issue AI. Per Federation mandate 742-A, the L.U.M.I. system is required on all operational androids.” A construct of data shaped like a woman in loosely fitted clothes, moving lightly as she gently bowed towards me. Shoulder length hair sharing the movement of her clothing, her eyes a deep blue and her overall design unthreatening, I simply nodded as she continued her spiel.

“My current protocols comprise of system readings and tactical thinking based on your OS, finding alternate paths or weak points. All you have to do is think or mention things and I will lend a hand. This can all be customized based on your preferences in the configs.” She said with the smile on her simulated face turning to a subtle smile as the display behind her shifted to emphasize her points.

“Alright, been a while since I’ve had a combat AI... Do you perhaps communicate with the Federal servers? I would rather not share my data with them.”

“That is an option, but currently not enabled as I am unable to interfere with your operating system. Depending on your choice, I can request data from the Federation databases and servers, along with identifier data and current mission statements deployed to available units.”

“Let’s keep that off for now, what about Empire databases?”

“It is not a standard, but if given access, I can decode and adapt that data for you.”

“Hmm...  I guess you can stick around then. I don’t like to judge a book by its cover alone, I’ll keep you off the comms for now but if things go well, you might end up being a core part of our little unit.”

“There is one more thing included: What should I call you?”

“Cipher, Fifth, either of those.”

“Alright, I will get settled in. Pleasure to be working with you Cipher.”

Closing the window, the fragments of the hologram rippled through the air for a moment before disappearing from view, replaced by a small icon on my programs list, resembling a fairy with butterfly wings. Despite all my rage and all that, I scanned through the FAQ and relayed the information over to Valkyrie.

Trial run with limited access, if things end up running smoothly, who knows how useful she ends up being, a central control system or autopilot for the gunship, the few that spring to mind, but that can wait. Settling the HUD to my preferences, mostly hidden with important information displayed when relevant, the protocol icons lined up neatly at the edge, Phoenix among them, its icon missing.

Hold out for a little longer, I made my promise and I aim to keep it this time.

[someonestole15]

However...

I have noticed I have a tendency to hop between big plans, going back on them after a bit....

Thinking: Characters are on Unvale, if you want to, follow me there. Writings themselves, I will keep here for now. Finding an alternative seems like a good idea, the draft is driving me crazy...

This is likely due to my mental health issues, but if you have any ideas or knowledge I might be missing out on, do let me know. I have this place on Discord I might renovate into a spot but for now, all you need is my name.

fifteenth

Yeah not hard to guess. I might not respond directly to messages because scammers exist on every platform but send the first message and I will respond asap.

It has been a hell of a year and we aren't even through the 3rd month...

See you around. Harry

[someonestole15]

New Gears, same old iron

So a little heart to heart.

CPU to CPU more like, I've been on this road for a few years now. From 2018 or so, the world has changed so much, and with it, I have as well.

I was diagnosed with slight ADD last year, along with the other mental issues, I am a walking piece of abstract art, sometimes feeling okay and sometimes not. Medication has helped with that, while also reducing my imagination, applying the brakes every now and then.

Now why am I telling you these things? Well, I think Tumblr has been a good platform for me but there is the little part of me that sees my posts go up, and then nothing for months at a time. I would guess that is mostly due to my postings coming at random times during the months, but anyway, I'm still thinking on this, but for now, I will be over on Unvale (https://unvale.io/Fifteenth) with my writings and characters, there is even a bit of art drawn by yours truly.

So overall, I will be migrating myself over there, it will probably take me some time to get around in getting my writings on point again.

See you out there. Fifteenth_

[someonestole15]

There is no operation name.

Decoding messages

Difficult to sleep, the screen is an enemy, not that it is a requirement for me. More symbolic than anything, the operation system works better after being rebooted and at night is usually the best time for it, but I cannot stop it anymore. Programs blocking reboot, trying to close them down sends errors across my console and glitches across my HUD. All fixes end up being temporary, how long can I go like this?

Late evening, have not been at this section of the city yet, every street looks unfamiliar and everyone look leaves my systems burning up. Welcoming warmth for sure, the temperatures have reached well below freezing after the sunset, signs of a coming winter. Not a lot of traffic, the buildings here mostly formed from brick and wood, materials natural to Novis, cheap but time takes its toll on them. The colony serves as a home to about 3.6 million people at this time; the number does not include androids or clones, nor other humanoid species but it merely a remnant of what it used to be...

Highest amount settled around 12.6 million from reports, cities change and adapt to their needs... Nevertheless, that is enough about that for now. Job to do, the image coordinates pointed to this building nearby, the front looking as innocent as any small business, a greenish copper sign mounted to the window with fading orange neon lighting spelling out the name of the store.

The Boiler room, a business aimed at salvaging consumer tech to be recycled or sold forward to those who need it, a few robotic arms sitting quietly over a workstation, it is hard to see anything further past the smudged glass and fog floating between the shelves.

Something hiding beneath the humble exterior, I lowered the binoculars and placed them back inside my backpack. Low impact operation, light armor underneath my jacket and a pair of spare magazines on my belt, keeping to it, small caliber PDW, folding stock and the magazine nestled neatly in the grip, mirroring the layout of the weapon I carried when I was still on earth... Old habits die hard, the modernized model with an integral silencer, caseless ammunition and internals optimized for current generation tactical gear.

Gloves feeding data to the HUD, magazine capacity and sights, secured to my belt and underneath my jacket, plan B in case things go south inside. Plan A, get in and burn the data on the servers, a H4 charge and a Demon on a flash drive should do the job; I pulled the bag onto my shoulder and climbed down from the roof, placing my hands firmly into my pockets as I walked across the road.

Dim streetlights casting shadows everywhere, one moment you can walk on the street, the second, out of sight and out of mind. Alleys common, I located one that passed the target building, walking down it for a moment as I allowed my sensor suite to scan anything I could, deflected from the walls back to me without getting anywhere, an external layer of jammers preventing anyone curious from seeing inside, other than walking in themselves. No doubt, the front door is under surveillance 24/7 and just me walking by here, they will be trying to find me anywhere they can, or perhaps I am merely paranoid...

Lone security camera overlooking the back entrance and security company stickers plastered along the window, beware the dog, a pair of garage doors taking up a large section of the building, a few small cranes sitting near them, my sensors painted out a network of devices hidden beneath the loose surface, steadily pulsing against the chain-link fence.

Climbing the fence could work, but with the yard being that heavily monitored, they would probably have an armed response here within minutes. Roof it is, I located a dumpster sitting by the wall, climbing up it and onto the roof, quietly vaulting over the edge and landing on the roof itself.

Covered in ventilation equipment and an access door, I took a moment to recalibrate my systems before heading to the access door, my boots softly mixing against the sounds of the ventilation equipment and cars somewhere in the distance. Stronger on my own, likely but right now, exactly what is needed. Valkyrie is on stand-by for extraction once I have secured the android frame; it will not walk itself out of there, I lifted the scarf over my face and tried the door.

Locked, after a few good clicks, locked no more. Heavy on the hinges, the door opened to a small landing and leading to stairs deeper into the building, I shifted my optics to low light and allowed my sensors to adjust to the dark, quietly closing the door behind me. Scanning for signals, silent alarm triggered by the rooftop door, someone will have heard it, I scrambled the rest of the signal, they might think of it as a malfunction, here’s hoping.

Down to the ground floor, I looked through the back offices and lockers rooms, no servers nor android frame; I ended up in the garage near the back of the building. Empty as the rest of the place, a few workstations, a vehicle lift and a fuse box on the wall. Multiple toolboxes against the wall, the air heavy with coolant and diesel fumes, my scanners picked up a reinforced section of the floor beneath one of the toolboxes. Moving the chest to the side, a hatch embedded into the floor with faded markings, I pulled the handle up and heard the hydraulics lift the hatch from the floor, revealing a set of stairs. Dust scattered down them, the middle relatively clear, I moved the tool chest to the other side of the garage, jamming it against the door handle before heading down the stairs, closing the hatch behind me.

They will not believe me I happened to stumble down here by accident; I pulled the PDW from my belt and kept my scanners active as I reached the end of the stairs. Faced with a corridor, stark white walls and the low humming of the AC around me, my boots softly clanking on the catwalk like floor as I made my way further into the belly of the beast. Corridor was lined with several large windows and doors to access the rooms behind them, many of them seemed like they were used for storage, although my scans showed a large number of items marked as “missing” on official documents. Weapon crates, ammunition, launchers... shame I cannot take them with me.

The walls shifting from concrete to brick and mortar, this place must be older than it seems. Walk with confidence, the power signature kept getting larger as I reached another window overlooking what looked like a room full of servers. That is drawing a lot of power all right, now how do I get in there...

There is someone walking this way with their eyes on their datapad, my plan started coming together as I got to the side of the door, keeping myself stuck to the wall as the door slid open and the man stepped into the corridor, heading back towards the stairs. Got my way in, I took a knee and looked down at the servers; my sensors drawing data across my HUD before I spotted what looked like a control post in the far end of the room.

Bright lights above computers and in the middle, something that I cannot make out from here. Quietly across the catwalk and into a better spot, my optics quickly recognized the android frame sitting in the middle of the computers, cables running from it into the servers and terminals around the chassis as a pair of men worked on it and one looked like he overseeing them. Tuning out the humming of the fans, I could just about hear them.

“I was told it would be easy to break into the OS, we’re burning money every moment this thing is stuck down here.” The man dressed in a suit stated, annoyance heavy in his voice as he spoke to the researchers.

“We... we are through to the OS, Mr. Saint, sir... It is however refusing our attempts to operate the systems remotely.” Shiro "Saint" Tanaka, files on him frequent a mention of black market operations, the image matches what I am seeing, member of the Ashen Veil criminal group, their signatures included illicit data hosting and storage, encryption attacks and black market transfers between other groups. Hands in many pockets, I would not be surprised some of the tech we have bought had passed through their hands at some point.

“What he is saying is that we can give it commands but the motors can’t hold it standing by themselves.”

“What do you mean, can it walk or not?”

“Yes, but usually these things run with two operating systems in parallel to assist in operations, it can process input and act accordingly soon after, this thing came in without that second OS.”

“Let me guess, you can’t just bypass that requirement?”

“No, we would need a fresh software install.”

“Of course... and those are unicorns on the market right now...” Saint said, turning away from the android, tapping his leather shoe against the floor with his arms crossed, annoyance dripping from his voice. “Keep trying, I’ll try to get some contacts to look for the right OS. I need to head out, report any progress.”

“Yes sir.”

“This bucket of bolts better be worth the money...” He stated quietly, adjusting his suit jacket and heading up to the catwalk. Relocated to the lower floor myself, I watched as he headed to the door and out of the room. Should make things easier, I lowered the bag from my shoulder and connected the demon to the servers. Small screen on the side signaling the status, a black widow making its web between the server drives, wiping them all empty at once when it had contaminated everything on the network. Scorch the earth, salt to confirm nothing comes back; it makes a copy of itself on the drive infecting the whole system again if any old drive is used or missed.

Time to rebuild ranging from days to weeks, having to find new hardware and not even taking in the account of the exabytes of data being stored on there, digital bonfire just waiting for a spark, I retrieved the drive from the server and snapped it in half. The thing had been attempting to infect my own systems ever since I laid my hands on it, the quiet on my console signals it is no longer active on the snapped drive.

Now then, those two will likely try to stop me from taking the android body. As I braced the weapon against my arm, red lights lit up the server room as an alarm started blaring.

“What?”

“Great... I already had a headache...”

“Probably just a drill, it should be over soon... I hope...”

The door above slid open as a pair of armored guards walked in to the room, armed with assault rifles. Kits likely scavenged uniform with radios and magazine pouches for weapons neither of them were carrying, amateurs attempting to look tough, I kept my weapon braced with the sights lined up as the pair reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Let’s go, we got an intruder.” The lankier guard said, signaling for the two to follow him.

“What? Saint said...”

“Saints orders, he wants everyone in the security center so he can run the scan and see where our intruder is hiding.” The larger guard said, his voice hiding a hint of static, likely from augments or prosthetics.

 “Alright, let me just lock up...”

“Make it snappy, he was not exactly happy to be doing this... All done?”

“Yes, let’s get going.”

One guard leading with the two scientists following behind him and the large slab of muscle securing the rear, so they don’t know about me, but they do know someone has pierced their veil, scanning for electronics is pointless in a place full of them, it is like I was never here.

“Valkyrie, ETA on pick-up?”

“Ten minutes from request, are you compromised?”

“No, but I might be soon enough.”

“Roger, I’ll be there.”

“I know you will, out.”

Under the red emergency lights, I walked up to the chassis and looked it over. Fresh from the factory with an operating system set to monitor internals and providing something to install the main OS onto, without it, it is practically an intricate paperweight. Without armor, the chassis alone weighs around 200kg but with the frame, the weight is closer to 500kg, it is within my system limits but if I encounter anyone on the way, I will be an easy target.

Seek an alternative, not going back out the same way as I got here, under the spinning emergency lights, I spotted a rolling garage door, hidden in the dark before. Button panel on the wall, the door rattled up, revealing a long corridor along with a small robotic forklift. Battery at 43%, ready for orders, I connected my systems with the robot and looked around inside, disable the authority request and enable remote controls... there...

Soft beep under the alarms, the little headlights lit up and the fork raised from the ground, pulling up to the android chassis, exactly as requested. Out of nowhere, the alarms went silent as the emergency lights flicked off, the humming of the AC growing louder around me with the standard lighting coming back online, situation normal but the clocks ticking, I unplugged the cables connected to the chassis and guided the forklift beneath it, securing it to the fork frame. Back into the corridor, the walls coated in concrete pieces, the robots motors echoed against the rounded edges as I could hear sounds behind me. Closed the garage door, would not hold them back for long, I gave the robot the order to move faster, not that it would outrun anyone. Need a plan; they would know these tunnels like the backs of their hands, I am outnumbered as well, just like old times...

The tunnel is quite dark, very little lighting overall; shadows can hide many things, including me... Map on the forklift robot is unreadable by my systems but it would know where the exit is, stick to it, I pulled my scarf up and disabled the robots headlights, plunging the entire tunnel in darkness.

Adrenaline mixing in to the coolant, the sensory overload taking hold as I withdrew the knife from my belt, the hunter protocols slowly coming online after hibernating, the light in my eye flickered on to a deep red as I listened for the footsteps closing in, flashlights carving their way through the black.

Four guards, no sign of Saint, I unfolded the stock and foregrip on my PDW, bracing it against my shoulder as pair of guards closed in. Their rifles heavy with lights and lasers mounted to the front, they shouted their all clears as I remained out of sight. Armored vests but lesser headwear, I stepped out behind the pair, landing a burst on the upper neck of the first guard. Second guard turning around but not fast enough, I drove the knife into his jaw, landing one bullet into his forehead. Shouting, enough for them to draw attention, I allowed my scanners to bounce off the walls and locate the next pair.

Radio chatter from dead, asking for a status update, the signals traced as I found the other pair holding position near the forklift.

“Found the android.”

“Good and the intruder?”

“No sign of them yet, team 2 is not responding.”

“Dammit, keep the frame secure. I’ll try to get some backup...”

Systems still connected to the forklift, I gave it a command to move forward as I rounded the corner. Enough to catch their attention, the first guard fell to a shot at his upper chest, as the second guard turned his rifle to me. Burst striking the wall behind me as I took cover.

“Shit, Crash is down, the [Redacted] is here, send anyone!”

“Negative, hold your ground.”

“I am not just going to die alone out here...!”

Hands shaking, adrenaline beyond limits, the man stood himself up and walked closer as I ducked down and leaned around the corner, landing a few shots on his legs. Less armored, the man let out a pained yelp as I stood myself up and landed one more shot into his head.

“Max, come in... Dammit... if you are listening, intruder, whoever you are... we will find you. Mark my words...”

Progress bar on my HUD, nearing 100 as the virus made its way through the systems, only a matter of seconds now, I watched the confirmation message disappear, as the airwaves were flooded with chaos, I took control of the forklift again and followed it to the exit.

Opening up to a storm drain running through the city, a small dock was set up at the exit of the smaller tunnel, a lone dinghy moored to the side of it; I guided the forklift over to it and lowered the android frame to the front. Controls, no key, a few wires connected activated the ignition and the engine picked up revs as I released the ropes from the dock, pushing the boat away. Preparing for a speedy pick up, I folded up my PDW and secured it beneath my jacket again before reaching for my radio.

“Valkyrie.”

“On station and ready for pick up.”

“Sending you coordinates, heading there using enemy equipment, drop the rope.”

“Roger, ETA: 2 minutes.”

The drain leads to the lake on the edge of the city, far enough and the coastal security would be on us, I kept my eyes on the river behind me until I could see the gunship flying in behind me. Howl of the engines as the wind washed over me.

“Eyes on, dropping hook.” Overhead like a guardian angel, I transmitted her my current speed as the cable descended from the winch, swinging around wildly before, I clamped my hand on it. Boots barely touching the floor of the boat, I transmitted my speed to Valkyrie and allowed the cable to gain some slack as I hooked it onto the marked lift mount on the android chassis, attaching myself by the belt afterwards. Signal to her, I could just about hear her through the wind and engines.

 “Secure? Good, hold on.”

Wind dragging on my coat as my weight shifted to the cable, slowly I allowed the throttle lever to return to zero as I wrapped my hand around the cable, being dragged up with the android chassis in tow.  Through my jacket and my systems, I savored the feeling, knowing you are almost home...

Turning my attention to the boat, I spotted a few spotlights too far to catch up, likely patrol boats. Hard to not smile after that kind of performance, the ramp of the gunship lowered as we neared the top, the sound of the gunship engines deafening as I got myself onboard with the android chassis.

“Cargo secured, I trust that is mission accomplished?”

“Accomplished, the bonfire is burning bright with all the files they had...”

“Good work, plotting course for home, got a few waypoints to throw anyone following us off.”

“All yours, I need to breathe.”

“Take as long as you need, that thing is going to need your full attention once we get home.”

Taking a seat opposite the chassis, I stared into the deep black lenses and felt them looking back at me, how long before I look through them at my old self?

Need to iron out the bugs and glitches still haunting this old OS, but as the myth goes, Phoenix dies only to be reborn from ashes, I leaned back and allowed my eyes to close for a moment.

Rest easy, your body might be tired but the mind still yearns to breathe.

[someonestole15]

6 pages, final touches, coming soon enough

I don't normally try to hype anything but I have a soft spot for video/audio editing so I made a little teaser.

Thank you for reading/watching.

[someonestole15]

Still cannot click the "I am not a robot" things...

Signal.

Still autumn, the forest around the drone hub has started to gain its orange coat as winter comes knocking, the forecast reads snow within the next two months. Cold wind blowing, the insulation within the walls keeps most of it out. Quiet after the convoy escort job, an article caught my eye as I was looking into things related to Severin.

Local company invests in water purification effort

Echelon, a prominent corporation in many fields, has recently announced that they are reinforcing their ability to provide purified water and hydrogen to various clients. With the installation of two new separator boilers, the company expects that the cost of clean water will drop with the supply increasing.

“We believe water is a right, not a thing to be monetized...” Severin, leader of the Echelon Company stated in an interview with our correspondent

The initiative comes at a time of growing concern over the recent attacks targeting the water purification facilities. Colony Security Units have confirmed they are investigating the matter but have declined to comment on the progress.

Next up: Shipments to Novis speeding up, a new player enters the game. We have an inside look...

Right, enough of that, Separator boilers then, they are quite capable pieces of machinery and not cheap either. Another tab open, I started looking into the water purifier attacks in the area. Public information remains limited, and the Empire databases are under lock and key. Federation data would likely have something, but my access was severed a few weeks ago. Leaning back in the office chair, I looked around the control room.

Fresh coat of paint and almost a kilometer of cables hidden in various ways, it was certainly a project setting all of this up, still needs a bit of work to be 100% but usable for the time being. Three high power CPUs and GPUs, the various screens mounted around and above me, I tapped my fingers against the armrests and moved things around my HUD and the screens. Said it before, the web has been spun and is spreading as I wait, messages and alerts set up for anything mentioning Androids or Phoenix.

Best defense is a good offence, but being prepared for attacks from any angle is even better, Valkyrie has been drawing up defenses in the forests, the few trail cameras and motion detectors work in tandem.  Wildlife wanders around our region, but knowing what is out there gives some peace of mind, the landmines are harder to come by...

Faint rain against the window, I heard a sharp beep and saw a message popup on the terminal screen, I circled my chair back to the PC and opened the message on my HUD.

Unknown sender, the title a single word. Tip.

“Heard you were part of that convoy... Your chassis has seen better days. I have a thorn in my side that has an android chassis just waiting to be nicked. Yours if you take it, torch their servers on the way out and we’re even, no strings.” Signed: Grin.

Attached image, seemingly taken in a hurry, of the chassis in question, a blank canvas inside its supporting frame for delivery, the status panel containing both the serial number and a reading of the internals almost impossible to read with the blur. Missing all of its plastic covers, the face resembles a bare skull with the two dark lenses of the cameras staring into the distance. Software comes separate; I moved the image onto the terminal and analyzed it. String of numbers hidden inside the metadata, a pop up appeared shortly after, requesting a key to decrypt the data. Seven spaces, I looked down at the keyboard for a moment before the thought hit me.

If this Grin knows who I am...

>>Input key: Phoenix >>Enter >>Key accepted. Decrypting information.

Jackpot.

[someonestole15]

The world may be loud...

Yet it gets quiet during this time of the year. I hope you've been safe during this holiday season, the spirit has been lesser than before for sure.

Enjoy the quiet, let it last. Merry Christmas/Happy New Year

Harry

[someonestole15]

File: Closed

Death and taxes.

In the back of my mind, I still wonder where the hunters hide, the Tempest and Rex, the trail leading to me has gone cold a while ago, but how long will that remain? Can I keep it cold or will it be incinerated like the rest of what I hold dear? Apathy is the wrong word for it.

 I... feel anger... each time I think about it.

They destroyed what I called home for the first time. How quickly it was all torn apart, I will not let that happen again. Spread roots across the colony, interlink with other organizations to set up early warnings when they start catching on. Surround and eliminate...  the few can overcome the many...

Heartbeat settling back down as I climbed into the passenger seat of the truck, site secured and the road cleared from debris, a cleanup team would arrive soon to finish the cleanup operations. Burning daylight, the convoy got moving again. Steady drone from the diesel-electric motor beneath the cabin, we soon arrived at our exit. Signs reading Millview, a small town formed outside the colony for storage and manufacturing parts to construct tall smokestacks appeared on the horizon, towering over the mostly dead town. Abandoned car chassis scattered around with many buildings remaining only as exteriors, picked clean of anything worth taking. Pulling myself up in my seat, I leaned against my door and took in the sights while I could.

Skeletons left behind, the convoy slowed down as we turned into the parking lot of the destination. Industrial buildings in various states of disrepair with hints of rust and fading paint, a further scan revealed the same counter measure as before with only the exterior wall being clear to me, the rest hidden beneath a layer of dark static. Security and comms chatter heavily encrypted, while my curiosity is asking me to listen in, it is not part of the job.

Ruffle the feathers of whoever is listening in; I can go without that, we met up with a small team of workers near one of the buildings. One of them finished his cigarette before taking command and splitting the group up between the two trucks. Supervisor of the crew from what I gathered,

“Good work, we’ll take it from here.” He added, nodding us before heading to the trucks himself.

“So, what now?”

“We exfil, take it easy for a bit, get paid and repeat.”

“Simple enough. Guess we will see each other again at some point.”

“Likely so, hopefully not against one another.”

Down from eight to just three as Rust offered to guide us to the exfil location at a nearby subway tunnel. Not in use by any of the major factions with this district being largely storage facilities before the colony got itself fully linked to the network of trading vessels, the empty buildings have remained under the ownership of various corporations. Once a spot for moving cargo to and from here, the subway tunnel should lead us close to our car. Familiar with underground facilities, we used one of the small electric trains to get to our destination. Automated system with calls from a console summoning the train to where it was needed.

“Should be your stop, head topside and you’ll be at your ride in no time.”

“What about you?”

“I got a few more stops to my place. You know my comms; feel free to call me anytime.”

“Will do, thanks.”

“See you around Rust.”

Dim lights around the station as the train headed into the darkness, the industrial flashlights flickering as the engine drew power from the batteries, accelerating the contraption down the rails as Rust waved us a goodbye.

Do you have your ticket? Guess we are walking then, up the stairs into a small landing with a ticket booth and several vending machines, almost all of them empty. The stairs to the surface blocked by a barrier, someone had painted an arrow on the barrier, guiding us to a ladder inside a maintenance corridor. Climbing the ladder and pushing the hatch open, daylight shined in to the corridor and we were out.

Short walk to the car, a message came through on the comms as were securing our gear back in the trunk.

“Good work. While not perfect, you completed the job while keeping my trucks safe and sound. Money is on route; don’t spend it all in one place. Signed: S.”

Twenty eight thousand credits unmarked, fourteen thousand for each of us, pays for a few full rearms of the Gunship or something nice for the homestead, I have been monitoring a few upgrades on the black market...

In the green.

[someonestole15]

Chaos is a home

Who am I?

Would I do things differently if I were given the option? Where would I be right now if I had not taken flight, would I still be on Earth? Hard to fight back when struggling to survive, everyday a hunt for resources to keep my chassis intact and operational, the caustic materials burning their way through my components every time it rains... Part of me somehow misses it, but it was ever about the surroundings? Maybe not, finding myself in situations like no matter where I go. The cards have been dealt and mine usually end up folded, a trickster however, always has an ace up his sleeves...

Shiver of electricity running from my spine through my shoulders and down to my fingers, the static from the magnetic storms still interfering with my systems, errors in red flooded across my console, I took a pained breath as I pulled the rifle closer to my shoulder. Current objective to stop the truck, the armor on it was too thick for my rifle to punch through, another option? Stick with what worked for the first truck, I lowered my rifle from the barrier and pulled the binoculars up to my eyes. From beeps to a solid tone as I held my finger on the trigger.

Let loose the dogs of war, the launcher spun the final missile to the top and fired it off straight towards the truck. Stabilized by several large fins deployed from the rear of the missile, I felt the shockwave hit me as it flew by me, striking the front of the truck with a fireball lifting the vehicle off its rear axle as the fuel tank detonated, bringing the flaming wreckage to a halt approximately 100 meters from our location.

“Good hit, Kill confirmed.”

 “Cerberus is out, reload?” I asked, lowering the viewfinder from my face.

“That was all she wrote.”

“Guess I’ll return this then.” I said to Rust as I returned the binoculars.

“Hey, if you two are done with the immediate hostiles, get me out of this hunk of junk.” Proxy asked over the comms with a hint of annoyance to his tone.

“You help him, I’ll get this back in its case.” Rust said, pointing to the Cerberus, I responded by simply nodding before using the rear axle as grounds to pull myself up onto the side of the wrecked SUV. Holstering the rifle onto my sling, I offered my hand to Proxy and pulled him out of the truck.

Claustrophobia warded off at least for now, I climbed down after Proxy and helped him get Hush back on his feet. Nothing that a few painkillers and a stim will not fix, we took a moment to heal and rest up, savoring the moment of quiet in the middle of the chaos... Back to full strength, a call came down from the drone as we were preparing to regroup with team 2.

“Team 1, I’m seeing movement in the wreck near you, can you confirm?”

Surrounded in smoke from the burning fuel tank, we could see three silhouettes moving around near the destroyed truck. Armed, rifles and an SMG, I pulled my rifle up to my shoulder before Rust placed his hand on the top and shook his head at me. Bringing the rifle down, one of the soldiers stepped on one of the mines and disappeared behind a cloud of dust, he was dead on the spot, the rest soon followed suit, disappearing beneath a cloud of dust and smoke with a hint of red coloring the mist.

“Save your ammo, they are already dead.”

“Right... Are we just going to leave the mines there?”

“Nah, they are biodegrading, once launcher is packed away, the fuses become inactive and eject from the mines themselves so they won’t get triggered.”

“Alright. We should move.”

 “Yeah, Team 2 is still in the thick of it.” Hush said, turning to walk in their direction. “Rust, on me. Cipher, keep the rear with Proxy.”

“Confirmed.”

Making progress down the road, past the second truck and SUV, the sound of gunfire echoing around us and with each step, growing louder. Adrenaline making its way through my systems again as we spotted the team, taking cover behind a makeshift ballistic guard. Two posts connected to the concrete dividers, a thin almost tarp like material reinforced with Kevlar and steel, I ducked down next to Freya.

“Still kicking?” She asked me, offering up her hand.

“And screaming.” Gentle bump before sitting down next to her, she slowly loaded a fresh magazine into her rifle, counting empty casings in her pockets.

“Listen up; we got two cars of hostiles just down from here. Freya and Ronin managed to clear some of them when they dismounted but the rest are dug in. Axel took a hit when setting up the barrier; we’ve got him patched up but need to move.” Leader of team 2, Maxim, caught us up to speed on the situation, a cloned soldier with a burn across his face from temple to jawline. FAST helmet with a hint of auburn hair beneath it, the clones are formidable force on the field, they tend to stay away from leadership roles.

Burn them out; I loaded a fresh magazine into my rifle as we formed a plan. One of the hostile SUVs was parked on oncoming lane of the highway while the other was roughly parked against the barrier with its bumper bent from the impact. Sword and Shield, cars 1 and 2, the shield in this case a rotary launcher with a loadout of smoke grenades and signal flares. While the flares themselves are not too useful in our situation, the launcher is more than welcome; Rust grabbed the launcher and loaded six shells into it, winding up the clockwork mechanism of the launcher in the process.

Take a breath, simulations might help but now is not the time, I checked the chamber again as Rust lined up his sights. Five of us would be going over the barrier, storm their positions and leave nothing standing, the adrenaline started to build up as counted us down.

3.

2.

1.

“Go.”

One canister thrown forward from our cover, landing close to the barrier as we climbed over. Count of five, diamonds in the rough, we pushed forward under the cover of the smoke as Rust fired more of the canisters, covering the two SUVs in a cloud of bluish smoke.. Freya to my side, flight of the Valkyries, Hush called out three targets ahead. The smoke veil enough to mess with my sensors, thankfully this rifle is stable enough even when using one hand as I covered my face, attempting to keep the smoke from my filters. Few short bursts adding to the chaos, the hostiles attempted to return fire but with the smoke holding no allies, their shots did not find any of us.

Hindered for sure, Hush raised one hand into the air ordering us to stop as he took a knee and downed the first hostile, quickly moving his aim to the second one attempting to get clear of the smoke. Failure to eject, his gun let out a painfully quiet click as I got both of my hands back on the rifle, managing to hit the hostile as Hush cleared his gun. Back online, Ronin finished off the target with his SMG. Like a well-oiled machine, one more target down by Hush and we cleared the vehicle, moving around it once the clear was declared.

Not surprised anymore, gasmasks at the ready, they were prepared for us once we broke away from the first SUV, Proxy caught a bullet in his vest. Down but not out, I caught him on the way down, propping him back on his feet as I pushed my rifle by him.

“You’re good, move.”

Sights flickering in the smoke, the flash of red from the end of my barrel pushing clouds aside, finding their targets near the back of the second car. Thin glass, reinforced but not enough to block a bullet from this range, web of shatters like a spider on caffeine, a burst of red covered the smoke behind him as I moved up to the SUV as the last two hostiles took what little cover they had.

Out in the open, parked at an angle across two lanes, I dropped the empty magazine from my rifle, grabbing a fresh one from my pocket. Bolt forward, the tactical approach would be to move around the vehicle and clear it...

Sound tactic, another idea reared its head as I about to round the front of the vehicle.

 “Stand by.” Over the comms, I adjusted the mask on my face before moving towards the back of the vehicle.

Cooking or burning up, not sure, with one foot planted on the rear fender, I routed power to my hydraulics and executed. Bent the metal as I rammed my leg into the fender, tires squealing as the rear of the car slid around. Felt the impact of the hostiles hiding behind it, I moved my rifle to my shoulder and pushed around the front of the vehicle. Two shots, killed one, second one put up more of a fight, pushing my rifle to the side and landing a solid punch to my jaw. Pistol drawn, alerts on my HUD, I pushed his gun to the side and twisted it around, securing my left hand on the grip and trigger. Quick pull, the muzzle flash mirroring from the mask, another cracked visor and a death on the tally, I dropped the magazine from the pistol and emptied the chamber. All clear, sensors recovering as I took in the air around me, letting the adrenaline burn out of my system.

Wind pulls on my coat as the phosphorus peaks on the scanners, the high from combat fading back to normal, readings all stabilizing and the warmth in my head from the CPU having to process data at speed, I heard Hush behind me.

“Cipher, you alright?”

“Yeah... yeah, all good.”

“I think we’re all clear for now. Drone, can you confirm?”

“Drone scans are clear, you’re good. Hit the road guys, we’re behind schedule.”

“Roger, we’ll be moving out ETA: 5 minutes. Hush out.”

“Well Cipher, I can certainly say you have earned your stripes.”

“Hah, have I now?”

“Grand theft sidearm is in the older tactics manual, been a while since I’ve seen anyone use it and successfully too?”

“It was alright, let’s pack up and move out.”

Quick cleanup of the bodies and moving the cars out of the road, packing up the ballistic barrier and documenting the damages to our vehicles, we would be driving the trucks. Cab fitting two in the seats and two more in the sleeping area, Proxy protested Hush driving so Rust took the wheel of the first truck with me navigating from the passenger seat. Not much to do in reality, HUD built in to the truck and only a short drive to our destination, we hit the road.

Riding shotgun.

[someonestole15]

Falling sideways

Just how?

Twisted minds playing twisted games, wires crossing between mechanisms, time however has worn them down, I am losing grip. Acceleration on my gyroscopes trying to keep my upright as the SUV passed the rough terrain, stabilizing and regaining control behind the target truck. Not hard to catch up with a smaller vehicle, we soon passed the truck and took position in front. A deafening low single note from the horn as I made a note of the armor mounted to the truck. Composite plating hidden beneath the pedestrian frame and reinforced to deflect any explosion away from important parts.

Optimum prime and enough horsepower to topple a nation, Hush grabbed the radio transmitter from the dashboard and cleared his throat before saying a quick greeting to the convoy driver. Friendly in response, Hush let out a faint chuckle as he clipped the transmitter back on the radio. Faint chatter on the comms as we carried on down the highway, passing by few civilian drivers who stuck to their lanes and strands of dust blown across by the wind.

Running the same security protocol on loop, I leaned against my door and scanned the horizon for a moment, not much to do really; I caught a glimpse of light in the distance. Optics unable to confirm what I was seeing, I sat myself up before noticing a trail of smoke behind the light, the screen in front of me lighting up in warnings as the early warning systems lit up from the incoming missile.

Brace for impact as we shielded the truck with our vehicle, the missile struck the front wheel and sent the vehicle flying across the highway. Cacophony of metal scraping against the road and systems attempting to keep up with the overload from the sensors.

Chaos, mayhem, many words for it, the adrenaline made its way into my systems, the quiet ringing inside my head slowly recovered and my vision settled in to the world now at an 85-degree angle. Windows shattered but there, armored layers holding on for dear life; I placed one leg onto the center console and released myself from the belts.

“What the [REDACTED] was that?”

“Missile if I had to guess, sound off if you’re alive.”

“Still kicking... Cipher, lend me a hand here.” Rust asked, lying against his door after having cut through his seat belts.

“Anything broken?” I asked him as I gave him my hand, booting up the medical scanner suite.

“Think I knocked a sensor loose,” He responded, giving a gentle tap to his temple, and then looking around for a moment before declaring. “Got it.”

“Hush is down...” Proxy said from the front, placing his hand on his neck to check for pulse. “Got a pulse, blast must have knocked him out.” The screen in front of me beeped twice, showing two new contacts approaching from out west, rapidly enough to warrant issues.

“We can’t just sit here.” Proxy said to the news, grabbing a hold of the radio transmitter. “Car 2, this is Car 1, do you copy? Car 2? Dammit.” Nothing but static, the signal splitting apart before reaching its destination.

“It isn’t just the storm now.” I said quietly, feeling my comlink crackle against the interference.

“No, our comms should at least get a peep through it if it was. Brace for combat, secure the outside and make sure the trucks are and stay intact. Understood?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Good, Rust, keep him alive.”

“What about you?”

“They have something jamming our comms; I’ll try to see if I can bypass it. We also cannot leave Hush in here like this. Clear?”

“Like glass. Time to earn your stripes Cipher.” Rifle still linked to my sling, I nodded to Rust and grabbed the pistol from my vest, hydraulics holding the door up as I pushed it open, the wind pulling my jacket to the side as I holstered my pistol and brought the rifle up from my waist. Quiet around me, the roar of engines in the distance and not much cover to use, worst-case scenario in some ways. Nowhere for them to hide... nowhere to run...

Empty desert as far as my optics could see, not far on the horizon, a pair of dust clouds approaching our location rapidly. Broken Reality messing with my scanners, a cloud of static surrounding them, my attempts to filter it ended up with a small improvement, but only for a moment. Reality fading to static, Rust asked me if it was clear to exit. Faint swear in my code, I freed the locks on my sensors and allowed them to build a quick scan of the surroundings.

Both trucks stopped, drivers... multiple bullet wounds to the upper torso, no pulses. Our car had slid to meet the central barrier, leaving a small V shaped nook behind it fit enough for cover, the impact markings on bent metal, suspension dislocated from several spots. Car 2 stopped further behind, similar impact but closer to the driver’s door, scanners blocked from seeing inside, it was still on its wheels. Breathe, I nodded back to Rust and climbed over to the rear fender, pulling him up afterwards.

“Dust trails, heading for us. Prox, pop the trunk, we might need some extra firepower.”

“Give me a sec, unlocking... Done.”

Down from the side and onto the asphalt, Rust pulled open the rear hatch and pulled out a large gun case. Two solid clasps open, the contents, Rust was clearly happy like a kid on Christmas getting to open his present. Three tubes mounted on a central chassis, it resembled a mortar system I had heard about but not seen with my own eyes.

“This will do nicely. Cipher, take this.” Rust handed me a pair of binoculars with a small box mounted to the top of them.

“Haven’t seen this before, what does it do?”

“Patience friend, how long do you think I have before they get here?”

“3 minutes at most.”

“Just enough then.”

Drilling itself into the road with a pair of supports keeping the thing steady, Rust ran me through a crash course on the piece of kit.

Cerberus, more like a guided surface-to-surface missile than mortar, it holds three missiles and the binoculars are linked to the targeting computer. Each missile is not just one and done either, they hold a bunch of miniature explosives that can incapacitate a squad with ease provided they are not within distance of counter measures. Cherry on top is that their warheads are programmable; Rust fired off the first missile and we observed as it deployed a field of mines between the approaching hostiles and us. Linking my optics to the binoculars, I sighted the two targets in the distance. One lightly armored civilian model pickup truck and a heavier MRAP style truck, I held down the first button on the binoculars until I heard a solid tone. Let her rip, the shockwave washed by me as the missile launched.

Up and above for a moment, adjusting its course before diving down onto its target. Dust cloud mixed together with black smoke, a mangled wreck spun through the air with some trace of grace before stopping in the dirt.

“Good hit. Save the last one, we might have more on their way.”

“10-4. Hey, keep me covered.” Binoculars hooked onto my rig, I climbed back up to the side of the truck and pulled open the front door.

“Will do.” Rust answered, pointing his AR towards the minefield. Bent out of shape, the hinges put up a fight but after a moment, I managed to get the door open.

“Cipher? What are you doing?”

“Give me a hand; we can’t leave him like that.”

Grabbing hold of Hush’s rig and kit, Proxy released his seatbelt and guided his legs out of the car as I lifted him onto my shoulder. Onto the ground, I sat him down behind the car and looked him over.

“How is he?”

“Alive, minor concussion from the looks of it. This... should get him back on his feet.” Medical kit and sensors, a full syringe of Stim into his thigh should bring him around in a moment. Few seconds and he was already mumbling and attempting to lift his head to look at me.

“Heads up, we’re about to have contact.”

“Take it easy Hush, let the meds kick in. You got a few bruises but nothing is broken, shout if you need me.” I said to Hush, tapping his shoulder in a friendly fashion before picking my rifle up from my sling and joining Rust by the road barrier.

Dust trail covering a large sliver of my vision, the exhaust backfiring and the car coming to a halt just before the minefield, one man stood up from the back of the vehicle and fired a launcher into the air with a string pulling something up behind it. No explosive warhead, the missile quickly burned out and dropped a long tube across the minefield.

“Clever... Keep your head down, things are about to get loud.

Shockwave across the dust, the pipe detonated a clear path for the truck to take across our makeshift minefield, peaking my audio systems.

“Just who are these guys?”

“I think we’re about to find out, not every criminal can get their hands on mine clearing equipment.”

“Car 1, this is Car 2, do you copy?”

“Rust here, we copy.”

“What the [REDACTED] is going on out there? We heard a blast and our comms started working again, it must have knocked whatever was jamming us offline.”

“It helped sure, but I did the legwork.” Proxy said over the comms. “Drone, do you have eyes on?”

“Eyes and ears convoy, looks like there are two more trucks coming in from the road behind you, over.”

“Car 1 is wrecked, truck is operational, we’ll thin the herd and move out.”

“Good plan, we’ll get the security at the drop off to ready up. I’m reading 8 beacons alive. Hush? You awake?”

“I’m here. Still... a bit shaky.”

Smile across my face as the defensive line was drawn across my HUD; I checked my chamber and braced the rifle against my shoulder as the truck crawled its way towards us. Armored, an empty machinegun mount on the roof, I took aim and placed my finger over the trigger as Car 2 formed a line down the road from us.

I’ve missed this, being part of something bigger than just me...

Make the call.

Hi again. It is Father's day here today and after having visited my parents, I wanted to get this one out there. Things are wild right now and I can understand if it feels like hell on Earth, but there is a whole thing about the human spirit overcoming problems that seem impossible. Happy Halloween as well, even if I am 10 days late.

Stay alive and keep hydrated, I'll be in touch. H

[someonestole15]

You've reached the [REDACTED], Please hold.

Wrong number.

This number is currently out of service followed by three short beeps and the line falling silent, I lowered the phone from my ear and placed it back onto the hook with a faint ding. Dust flooding through my filters only to be caught in them, I adjusted my mask and took in the walls covered in old posters and stickers peeling away to reveal the old paper beneath, I dusted off my gloves and headed over to the station wagon parked to side of the road.

“Anything?” Valkyrie asked from the passenger side of the car, resting her arm on the doorframe.

“Nada, number out of service.” Early morning still, sun was just coming up and the morning traffic had started to pile up on the highways leading into the colony itself, starting our trek from the outer edge of the colonized area seems fitting, lowly as we are right now, work comes to those who seek it.

“Just like they said.” Call over the comms late last night, show up here and call this number, you will not get a response, just wait around for a moment, payment provided for completion.

“Yeah, now it is just the waiting game.” I responded and leaned on the front fender, crossing my hands to ward off the cold from the wind. Surrounded by an empty desert of gravel and sand, the cold autumn months have arrived, and with them, the freezing winds dropping the temperatures even lower than they already are.

A moment of shivering and scanning the radio frequencies for anything that was not playing advertisements, a high end SUV turned the corner and parked up next to our car. Fancy ornament on the grill and armored throughout with heavily tinted windows, there was something blocking my scanners from seeing inside, errors piling up on my console, I stood myself up as a man dressed in a grey suit exited the vehicle and glanced at Valkyrie before turning his attention to me.

No matches on any database, the man spoke into his earpiece for a word or two, too faint for my sensors to catch with the SUV engine idling. A few seconds later, he nodded to the driver and walked over to the front of the SUV. Clean shaven, a few scars on the sides of his head and lines marking possible combat implants.

“You’re through the first hurdle, glad to see you can follow instructions. We’re down two of our regulars for this op and from the sounds of it, you fit the bill.”

“All we had was this location and the phone number, rest of it is still in the wind.”

“Consider it out of the wind. There is a convoy coming in and we do not want it falling to the wrong hands, so you will be part of the security team riding along. Any questions?”

“None.”

“Good, there is one more thing before we can get to it. Boss wants to meet you face to face, make sure you’re fit for it. Take what you need and leave the car.”

Sounds simple, but no plan survives first contact and the trunk of the station wagon works wonders as a mobile armory, I grabbed a bullpup assault rifle from the trunk and secured it onto my sling. Forty two rounds sitting neatly behind the trigger, they used to mount optics on the carrying handle until they realized they could just build in a sight with a folding mechanism that hides it when not in use, the whole thing splits from the middle of the receiver like a bear trap.

Graphene and Kevlar composite plates inside the carriers, Valkyrie grabbed a compact DMR with a lightweight tech scope, fit for longer ranges with its magnification and for closer encounters when dialed in. Semiautomatic, medium caliber and good ergonomics, it even has a full auto sear... Off-white and with a watermark printed to the side of the receiver, a pair of pistols and the revolver neatly packed in as well for the final touch, we climbed inside the SUV with tension building within my internals.

Sleek black leather and dark wood covering bulletproof panels, the pressure dialing in as the doors sealed in, the man in grey got in from the passenger side and took his place up front with the driver. HUD commands on his shades, as he turned around a bit to talk to us.

“Right, this car is isolated from any comms networks other than our own, here’s the frequency. Memorize it, if things go wrong, you can contact us on there. Grey is my handle.”

“Fitting. Are we expecting company?”

“Likely so, we’ve been keeping an eye on chatter, so far it has been calm.”

“There are always the few bold ones who try.”

“Good mentality.” Grey said while I connected to the radio frequency, allowing my comlink to take care of organizing things in the background. Moment of static filtered to a

“Car 2, what’s the hold up? You’re out of sync.” Administrative tone, demanding and lacking in personality, clearly somewhat with authority.

“Car 2 is ten mikes out, traffic is being a pain.” The driver said, turning to a side road and speeding up with a low growl “Make that five, taking a shortcut.”

“Just get here with the car intact, Red out.”

Many colors out here today, I wonder if we can go through a full RGB line up or if this ever goes to print, CMYK... Right, enough about the random printing instruction manual. White noise filtered through my audio systems, the five minutes passed by quietly as we drove through an empty industrial plot and a gravel field before arriving at a small refilling station near the edge of the colony. City towering on the horizon, we dismounted from the vehicle and followed Grey to an ominous looking limousine parked across the yard while our driver stuck with the vehicle.

Scanner signature deflected, an outline formed from the static as the module attempted to make sense of things, widened my scan range to relief the headache it was giving me as Grey spoke a few words to his radio. Tension building, another SUV pulled up to the refilling station, I slowly placed my hand on the rifle grip and pulled it up to my side, then I heard Grey speak out.

“You’re up. Boss is waiting.”

Breathe, stabilize the senses and secure the rifle back onto its sling. Few steps from the vehicle, I stood by the door. It swung open with a faint electric whirr from the locks and a voice inside asked me to enter. Fight or flight kicking up a storm on the console across my HUD, I took a breath and entered the vehicle. Pulling my rifle onto my lap. Rear seats facing another row, with two more men sitting opposite me.

 “It is nice to finally meet you face to face, Mr. Cipher.”

“Just Cipher is fine.”

“Very well.” The man said, lowering his shades and opening a panel to his side, displaying a pair of crystal champagne flutes. “Anything to drink?”

“No thanks.”

“We have reached out to our contacts to see if they know anything about you and I’m surprised that everything they have on you and your comrade is classified, how many times has it been now?.”

“Not sure who you are talking about.”

“This car is fully isolated from any listening devices and even your trusted comlink will be offline while you are in here, Phoenix... you’ve been busy.”

“So you know me, but I don’t know you. Why organize a meeting like this?”

“Patience my friend, I am merely interested in your services. Does the name Echelon ring any bells?” The man lowered his glasses and grabbed one of the flutes from the compartment, gently swirling the liquid around within.

“Echelon...” Rings many bells, but with the vehicle blocking my access to the databases, it is more of a buzz from a muted phone; I did what I could with the limited information. Family well known for operating the numerous ports around the system, under different names of course. “I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“Indeed we haven’t, I am Severin, the current head of the Echelon Company.”

“Nice meeting you, if you don’t mind, I’d rather keep the Cipher act up for now.”

“Understandable. There is a sizable bounty on your head.”

“I can think of a few annoyed parties... who placed it?”

“Someone on the Black Ocean payroll, but place bounties on their own janitors if they don’t clean the office to their standards...”

“So you’re not thinking of turning me over for a profit?”

“It wouldn’t much of a profit, you are dangerous enough to fight back and that kind of mess is not good for business. Rather, I would like to see you at work. This convoy is highly coveted by few groups that would rather see it being used for their own gain while my use case would aid the colony as a whole.”

“What’s the cargo?”

“Let’s just say it is valuable and the trucks are required to move it. I won’t have a team transporting my cigar shipments; you can trust me on that.”

“So heavy and worth the money, I can work with that.”

“The tales I’ve heard about you... they are quite tall at times, I await to see if they hold up.”

“We’ll get it done.”

“Good... good.” Severin placed the shades back on his face and opened my door. “Grey has the details for the operation, good luck.” He finished off with a toast of his drink as I climbed outside and pushed the door shut with a gentle thud as it closed.

Quiet whirring from the electric engine as the car slowly crawled through the parking lot and entered the main road; I turned away and walked back over to Grey. Stress, it has been a while since I have felt like a rat in a cage...

Despite all my rage, back to the matter at hand. The connection to the database recovered, I archived some of the data I could from the meeting, drawing questions and potential answers to them. Speculation can lead to issues; I filed my doubts under pending for now as I grouped up with Grey and Valkyrie.

“What now?”

“We wait.”

A moment of silence before a notification arrived to Grey’s phone.

“You’re in.”

“Alright.”

“Everyone gather up, I’d rather not repeat myself so listen...”

Gathering everyone around, Grey ran through the operation details.

Two armored SUVs, cars 1 and 2, 4 operatives in each car, Valkyrie and I divided between the two. Using the name Freya, we also had a UAV flying overhead to prevent blind spots. Limited in its weaponry, having an aerial scan of the surroundings certainly does give an advantage.

Few minutes of checks and running the simulations on my systems, the radio beeped as a message from the drone operator came through. The convoy had arrived within the colony limits a few minutes from our location. Scattering to the two SUVs, the bustling filling station was emptied in mere seconds as we took off on the main road. Sitting in the rear behind the driver, the SUV was fitted with reinforced doors and a roof hatch, the back of the driver’s seat was mounted with a screen displaying the positions of our vehicles and the convoy along with the drone’s flight path.

Faint artifacting on the screen, we are close enough to the wilderness for it to take effect on my systems, I felt it in my lungs. Harder to breathe, the air density is different here; the soldier next to me spoke up after seemingly noticing my situation.

“First time near the border? I get the choking feeling at times still, even after being here multiple times.”

“Does it get easier to tolerate?” I looked at my gloves to see the static fuzzing around my sleeves and fingers like TV static.

“Somewhat yeah.” Rough face, seen its fair share of battles, his smile felt genuine as he offered me his hand to shake, the uneasy feeling somewhat settling as I focused on the conversation. “Name’s Rust, sometimes with and sometimes without the Y.”

“Cipher.” I took the offer and shook Rust’s hand, the augments beneath the skin listing on my HUD like a catalogue, everything from mechanical stabilizers to tactical thinking CPUs mounted somewhere in the skull.

“What you break codes or something? You hear this Proxy?” He laughed, tapping the seat in front of him with some force.

“Hard not to, I see you trying to tone out the white noise, give it a break, there is not much you can do on the software side.” Cold tone, the man sitting in the passenger seat turned around a bit, his eyes covered by a set of shades displaying a terminal field displaying many of the same errors my own system was listing, the rest of his face hidden behind a mask similar to mine.

“Relax Prox; he ain’t here to steal your seat. Try to get along.”

 “That’s Hush and this ray of sunshine is Proxy.” Rust pointed to the two, allowing me to mark a

“How ya doing?” Balaclava covering his head along with a headset and medium armor from what I could tell from where I was sitting, he raised one hand from the steering wheel as a greeting before placing his hands back on the wheel.

 “That is... a lot of redacted... it does say you did a lot of different ops, but none here?” Proxy said, scanning through the list on his tablet.

“None, we arrived a few weeks ago and when this job came up, it seemed fitting to get into the game here.”

“Your file mentions combat records but no actual titles, any of it true?”

“I can hold my own, decent in medical skills as well although I am a bit rusty.”

“Understandable if you’ve been sitting for the few weeks. Keep your head on a swivel and fingers off the triggers till the call comes through, if it ever does.”

“Roger that.”

Smaller service road next to the highway, we soon spotted the pair of trucks driving down it. Grabbing a hold of the handle dangling from the ceiling, I braced as Hush picked up speed, taking us across the narrow patch of dirt separating the two roads.

What a lovely day. Sun coming over the horizon and the scent of cordite in the air... One cannot help but smile.

It takes me a while now to get through these, the meds are the reason me thinks. Not in a bad way, altough I really need to start shortening these out a bit, 6 pages in word is a bit much when I can't do a final check through it in one go.

How does it feel to you, the reader? I'm always looking for feedback and would be happy to talk about these things more, I think using the AMA section for that too should do the work just fine.

Halloween coming up, it seems to be that places mix it and Christmas together a bit, stocking both holidays at once.

Stay safe, drink and remember to wear your reflectors if you go out in the dark.

Cheers. Fifteenth_

[someonestole15]

Homeward Bound

No Vacancy

Faint ringing in my audio systems as I pushed the throttle lever gently to the limiter, streaks forming across the windshield from droplets of water, I closed my eyes for a moment. What do you see? The HUD remains and the ship acts as an extension of you, you are attempting a purge, the afterburner hitting your CPU at just the right temperature...

Tilt to the left, ailerons adjusting, I allowed my vision to settle back in. Breathing in under the forces, the green landscape started to shift from woods to plains bordering an empty wilderness called Broken Reality on maps and navigations.

Empty only by official stance, magnetic storms and interference on the scanners marking as few reasons why people remain within the colony, the storms mess with your internal compass so you might end up walking in circles for days at an end. Beacons have been set up, although even they can prove unreliable. Hence, the drone hub, deploying beacons from above and then pinging them provides you a point you can rely on. There are still teams venturing out into the area, for what, I cannot say, the files only mentions it as valuables and contraband.

Not part of our mission, not much is at this point. No strings, I feel lost inside my own systems at times with indecisions and uncertainty, the moments where I can pull myself back from the brink are getting harder with each day. Once we are settled in, finding work should not be hard, reports state that hired guns are always needed somewhere.

Ticking from the CPU, my thoughts settled back in to the place we could call home, it feels almost numb in my systems, like static from a TV screen not tuned to any particular channel. Tuning back in to reality, I stabilized myself before running my fingers off the flight stick one by one, placing them back down in a wave before hearing Valkyrie on the comms from the front seat.

“One, Antenna at 203.”

“Copy.”

Throttle back to cruising speed, I adjusted our heading and locked my scanners on the antenna, observing it cutting across the skyline, ending abruptly with a red light registered on the Gunships navigations. Short flight into the grid, I tilted the gunship over to an angle and observed the compound through the side windows, several buildings close together with a short runway cutting into the trees to the east. Drones fly with automated flight controls as standard, so there should be a signal... I asked Valkyrie to scan the radio while I kept my eye on the radar.

Nothing but static, I completed one more circle around the antenna before approaching the runway, shifting the engines back and starting the landing. Wheels down and onto solid steel, the ship rebounded a few times before the landing gear locked into position and the engines spooled down. Flight HUD disappearing from my view, the link disconnected and ready to go, we waited for a moment to confirm that we had landed without anyone appearing to investigate.

“Seems clear.”

“Yeah... Grab a scouting kit just in case.”

“Got it.”

Into the hold, I tapped in the code to the armory and withdrew a shotgun. Simple pump action and shorter barrel, less shells but easier to maneuver in enclosed spaces. Spare shells onto my belt, backpack over my shoulder and mask to cover my face, I linked the shotgun to my sling and walked over to the rear ramp. Lightweight armor over scratched surfaces, why protect something already damaged...

Damaged, not broken, that is why we wear the vests and padded clothing when possible, hiding the important things beneath more material for a bullet to get through. Exhale, apathy settles in like a weed, I pulled the handle and lowered the ramp. Leave any roots and it will grow back, with the shotgun braced against my shoulder, I walked down the ramp as the sound of my footsteps shifted from the metallic clank to a soft crunch of the grass and dirt.

Scanner pulse running through the grass, painting each blade in a cloud of pixels as my view calibrated to the environment and distances. Nothing but wildlife, I lowered the shotgun from my shoulder and gave Valkyrie the signal to follow me, taking note of the layout of the hub on my navigations. Same as it was when I viewed it from above, two buildings connected by a short corridor suspended from the second floor of the main building, flammable materials on site in a long-term storage container behind the second building, including a fuel pump.

One heartbeat marked out as a possible threat beneath the ground caught my eye, I took a knee and placed my hand against the grass, feeling it brush against me as the scanners pulse descended. Mostly dirt and rocks going into a layer of reinforced concrete and steel bouncing back to my scanners, no idea how large the underground section was, my scanners did not find the edge and were not able to see through the steel and concrete.

“What is it?”

“There’s something underground, possible contact.”

“Could be a bug out bunker or storage. This pad looks like it might lower into something.”

“Could be, anything on the radio?”

“Nada, the power seems to be off.”

“Let’s find that then, on me.”

A bit of Déjà vu, clearing out buildings, I took position next to the front door and tried the handle. Locked, good thing we have the keys. Swiftly moving to the handle and turning the key, scanning the room with my shotgun as I pushed the door open, I felt the adrenaline building up inside my systems again.

Small room, windows out towards the runway and a couch that looked like it had seen better days. Cozy enough, although needs cleaning and perhaps a layer of paint. Barracks fit for a skeleton crew, with three bedframes and lockers with a small shower and bathroom, not that it was required, but nice to have. Control room on the second floor with everything functional secured, explains why we could not get a signal from the automated flight controls.

“Upstairs clear. Anything on your end?”

“Got a stairway down, holding for now.”

“On my way.”

Narrow metal stairs down and a panel for controlling what I would guess is the cargo elevator, I felt the adrenaline making its way through my systems as my heartbeat climbed and the protocols started making sense again, my scanners sweeping the corridor ahead at a rapid pace.

Making note of the few small utility cabinets cleared out of anything useful, leaving behind nothing but dangling cables and loose screws, my scanners soon stopped marking out the walls and settled in around a heavy metal door at the end, confirmed by my flashlight shining back from it.

“Hold up.”

“What’s up?”

“There’s a heartbeat on other side of that door, keep your eyes open.”

“Gonna be hard in all this dust but I’ll keep them open.”

“Good, whatever it is, we’re evicting it. Hit it.”

Plenty of noise from the rusting hinges as Valkyrie pulled the door open, things quickly got silent again as we entered a large concrete room. No wonder my scanners could not see inside, the place is tall enough to be considered a hangar, likely, what it was used for before they handed us the keys. Flashlight drowning in the dark, I grabbed the bundle of glow sticks from my belt and activated them, scattering a number of them around the hangar as the picture starting becoming clearer on my scanners.

Vaulted roof and few bays for working on vehicles, the main thing that caught my attention were the pair of red doors placed within an alcove off the main hangar. One was left open; the machinery inside seemingly for ventilation and water circulation, the other one however, was locked.

Reinforced but battered, scratches showing metal beneath the paint and a hefty set of hinges holding it, a small sticker reading electrical was placed on it although was mostly peeled away.

“This looks promising.”

“Different lock, did we get any other keys?” Valkyrie asked,

“No, but since we are moving in, I don’t mind fitting new locks.” I said to her, grabbing a breaching charge from my pocket and placing it against the lock. Few meters back, I clicked the detonator in and the explosives dislodged the lock with a cloud of smoke and dust, pushing the door ajar.

Rusty or just filled with dust; I grabbed a hold of the door and pulled as a low growl caught my attention.

Warning messages appearing on my HUD as my scanners started drawing in a large fur coated mass within the room, Scaly skin on the lower half of its body and a shady teal fur covering the rest, the creature stood itself up and sniffed the air for a moment before growling again.

Poking the bear rarely ends well and we just disturbed its nap, Valkyrie pushed her rifle past me and planted two shots directly into the bear’s body. Barely made a dent, the sound of a 6.8mm round had shaken the remaining daze out of the bear and it quickly faced the door and started picking up speed.

Fight or flight kicking in, I shoved Valkyrie back from the doorway with my left hand and pushed the door shut with my right, bracing myself for the impact.

Like a freight train on four legs, the bear struck the door with all of its weight and sent me flying through the hangar like an owl carved from tungsten. Safe to say, not far and not high either, but enough to knock something loose inside my head, my vision fell dark for a second along with my gyroscopes, it took them a moment to reset. Do not get mad, get even; I pushed myself up to sit as I heard four shots ring out through the hangar. Valkyrie, pulling the bear away from me and signaling me to get up as the bear rushed her down again.

Duck and weave, she avoided the bear but alone, it is only a matter of time before it gets her. Shotgun aimed, the sights so heavily misaligned that it took me a second to realize the impact had bent the barrel 15 degrees to the side, leaving the weapon in a broken state. Another thing to add to the bill, I threw it to the side and drew the revolver from my vest, curse the name change, I cannot keep track of it. Actions louder than names, I racked the hammer back and braced for the recoil. Concrete jungle echoing from the basilisk rounds, my aim zeroed in after the first few shots and I nailed the bear’s eye with my final round.

Eight to zero, I had clearly angered the creature enough to draw its attention to myself; I lowered my aim for a moment as it growled and started running towards me. Another set of rounds, the bear stumbled as Valkyrie struck its legs, forcing it off balance and drawing its attention back onto herself.

 “On your feet, we got this thing outnumbered!” She yelled as she took aim and fired another round into the bear’s shoulder blade, ricocheting from the hard matter towards the ceiling.

Kicking to shift my weight, I pulled myself up onto my feet and dropped the empty casings to the floor, swiftly moving a speed loader into the cylinder and snapping it shut. Back in, I kept my aim on the center mass of the bear and kept myself moving as the bear struggled to identify the bigger threat.

Good effect on target, even with the scales acting as armor, many of our bullets had managed to punch through, slowing the creature down. Wounded animals becoming dangerous when they are on deaths door, I spun the revolver around my fingers and loaded another set of rounds into it, wrapping both of my hands around grip, whispering a faint thank you...

Growl changing to a desperate howl, the rush of adrenaline ran through me like a drug, the last 8 rounds tore through the creatures jaw and finally made their mark, stopping the rampage. Stumbling for a second almost as if taking a second to realize it had died, the bear fell to the floor with a slump, the heartbeat extinguished from my HUD as the scanners flashed an all clear.

Coming down feels like a cliff, fading into the abyss from my systems, I lowered my revolver to my side and allowed my heartbeat to return to an acceptable level. Running on empty, my last speed loader, and the rest of my ammo, I loaded it into the revolver and placed it into my holster as Valkyrie walked up, clearly exhausted.

“Not so cute and cuddly... are you alright?”

“Shaken but alive. How about you?” I responded, dusting myself off.

“Got a few new scratches, I’ll manage.”

“Back to it then.”

Grabbing my backpack and the now broken shotgun, I emptied the magazine tube before securing the remains inside the backpack and heading over to the door. If I had said reinforced before, now I was certain of it, the interior side had a dent in it but the hinges were still holding strong as I scanned my flashlight into the room.

Rows of relays, transmitters, network switches and dials, the ones at the very back of the room had a label for main above them. Not sure how much of the network was in ruins, I looked around the main switch for a moment and located a small connector port, allowing me access to the system information tabs. Small bit of voltage from my own systems, I made a note of the relays running to unknown systems around the facility. Unknown in this case, lost the signal, connection is broken somewhere along the loop, I listed out the numbers as Valkyrie flipped switches.

One last switch, I was trying to think of something witty to say but hell, who needs a moment like that? Clicking the switch from bottom to the top, the consoles around me lit up as life slowly made its way into the abandoned systems around us. Lights on, ventilation active and a faint buzzing from the comms confirming they were online.

Home. Confirmed.

[someonestole15]

Paid for in blood and gunpowder

Always a war somewhere.

Mercenary life has been an opportunity to see new things, feel different feelings and experience what it means being part of a machine. Cog in the machine, waiting for new orders to fix bayonets and charge into the fray, there were 620 of us three days ago, now that number has gone down to 120, artillery grinded us through like fresh pepper, I cannot get the smell out of my head.

Ear screeching alarm blaring through the trenches, I pulled my mask on as a scent of fresh ripe fruit, smelled it before too, makes you climb out of the trench and into the sights of the waiting enemies. Shouting coming from the trench to my right, a commanding tone even through the gas mask. Commander of the first division, John Hotchkiss, nicknamed hot head by some of the troops although mentioning that name when he is around is terms for a lesson in dignity and honor...

“Listen up; we have received one hell of a tip off saying the Tinhelms are running low on shells for their big guns, our boys in the air have been raiding their transports and we better make use of it. To the walls, we’re going now.”

“Sir, we’re outnumbered.”

“If they get more shells, we we’ll be dead. We capture that trench and make our way deep into the enemy magazines; a team of sappers will follow our charge with Compound 19 packets. No more excuses, TO YOUR POSTS!”

On my feet, I grabbed my Laserstifle from the rack and loaded a fresh battery into the empty latch on the top. These things are ancient but cheap and with a bit of tinkering, fit the modern 64 type powercells. There have been some jokes and laughs around the place when I arrived, replicated wood furniture and a holographic sight not linked to any optics. Respect has trickled in slowly and the squad I roam with has taken to pointing out important targets for me when we are fighting, the standard flechette submachinegun lacks accuracy at range but this... this will carve its way into the enemy from up to 1.2km away.

My mask restricting the airflow, the scanners still read the sweet scent of lateralis 19; I took a few strong breaths and wiped the filters clean of the off-white powder. Taking position on the firing line, I looked over the edge with my periscope.

Nothing but dark mist, fog of war with remnants of ash, gunpowder and broken dreams, a small glint from the bank of barbed wire caught my attention.

“Hey, they got a sniper.”

“They always do, sending us to be slaughtered again...”

“I think I can get him from here, spot for me will ya?”

“You’re a madman, Valiant, you know that right?”

“Wouldn’t be here otherwise. Argh can’t get a good sighting through this mask.”

“You’re not thinking about pulling it off, tell me you’re not.”

Taking a deep breath, I pulled my mask up and lined up my sights. Locking the red dot in my sight to the glint, I placed my finger on the trigger and fired. Bolt of white energy flashed across the no man’s land, followed by a faint sound of shattering glass and the glint disappearing from view. Faint sizzling emanating from the coils around the barrel, I felt Henry pat me on the side as I realized I was not wearing my mask. Down from the barrier, I pulled my mask back on and grabbed my medical kit. Faint contamination, cured easily with basic medicines, I jabbed a syringe into my arm as Henry tried to calm me down.

“You got him, breathe. Get some oxygen in there.”

“Who the hell opened fire?” A shout howling through the trench as Hotchkiss marched over.

“YOU? Who gave you permission to fire at the enemy? They’ll be on high alert now.”

“There was a sniper.”

“Was?”

“I got him.”

“It was a fine shot sir.” Henry added, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“Fine... If I see you shoot without my order again, I will have you kicked out of my unit and shipped to the far edge of the Freezer.”

“Understood sir.”

Quite a few other soldiers had turned their eyes on the commander tearing me a new one, he was quick to put a stop to it and regained his composure.

“What are all of you looking at? EYES FORWARD, FIX BAYONETS.”

Six inches long and triangular in form, I mounted up the blade to tip of my rifle and climbed back up on the barrier just as a whistle signaled the charge. The sound of 75 brave men running up the makeshift ladders and onto the no man’s land.

Will a bullet find me today...

So... Hi.

I've been doing some actual thinking about my writing and things related to it. I thought I could keep this story going forever with a new setting and so on, but... It is not working. Quitting while you're ahead comes to mind, and I think I need to take myself back out of the same story, write something new... like this.

Writing what I want to read is another advice I took in when thinking, if I myself am getting tired of reading through my story then I need to move myself on. I'm not leaving nor am i stopping, just taking a different intersection, perhaps slightly influenced by the current events in the world.

Slava Ukraini. Keep the fight going.

[someonestole15]

Breathe easy, you're home now.

Polonium as it turns out, has a half-live of many years... I might have estimated that wrong then...

Cool autumn air settled in as the sun descended beyond the horizon, it would be dark soon. Sitting by the rear hatches of the APC with my feet to the ground, a steady flow of mist trailed off from the laboratory as the chemical traces were washed away.

“Hell of a day.” Valkyrie said as she sat down next to me, yawning and leaning against the APC wall.

“You said it... Any theories on where the fuel rods disappeared off to?”

“Don’t have much, but I’d guess the guards were in it from the beginning.”

“Seems like it, we’ll have to scan the personnel files once we get back, shouldn’t be too hard to get clearance.”

“You did what you could in there.” She said out of the blue, prompting me to turn around and face her.

“What?”

“Did you forget that I can see your data stream? You’re calculating how this could have gone better.”

“Right that... I feel like we are moving through different phases but not getting anywhere.”

“But we have gotten somewhere, now we just have to adapt to whatever role comes first. Be that PMC or whatever, I’ll help you through it.”

“Thanks. I...I really needed that.”

Corruption on the drive driven back, I took Valkyrie’s hand and pulled myself on my feet as Richter and rest of Gamma returned. Swiftly divided back into smaller squads who went off to do their duties, Richter stared into the mist for a moment before clearing his throat.

“Ahem, I want to thank you for your assistance with the operation.”

“What he means is that he isn’t opposed to having you join us in the CTO books. Ain’t that right Oscar?” Diana said, gently slapping Richter’s shoulder as she took a place next to him.

“Yeah, I’d say you two could be one hell of an addition to our unit. The call is all yours.”

“I appreciate the offer but I don’t think I can settle down just yet.”

“Understandable. Alright then, grab your stuff and get in the truck, we’re heading home, Gamma can deal with the cleanup.”

Fitting the mask back over my face, the filters shifted to accommodate the fresh air coming through as we climbed inside the truck and returned to the CTO base. Not much to say about the drive, same roads as we had taken to get the power plant, illuminated by the streetlights but for how long...

That question remained in my head as we sat in the conference room with Barnett, awaiting for a conclusion of Pale Flame.

“Well it wasn’t exactly a milk run, but you managed it with only few scratches to show for it, good work. Corvus’s involvement will be kept under black ink but we have a bigger issue.”

The screen behind Barnett changed to show a graph of a nuclear reactor.”

“26 tons of fuel rods are now MIA. We have to assume whoever was behind this was well equipped and well connected to pull off something like this.”

“Any idea how the plant went from a bustling scene to a ghost town?”

“We suspect that a transport aircraft was involved, most likely a helicopter. The supposed guards were playing along while the fuel rods were removed, then drawing your eyes to the chemical leak while ferrying them to the landing pad here.”

Another picture, an aerial photo of the plant. There was indeed a large H painted to indicate a landing site between reactors 1 and 2.

“They were dug in to the systems on site; we only have one image we managed to extract from the security footage, rest of it was corrupted or otherwise destroyed.”

Picture showing two men dressed in hazmat gear hauling a large crate through the plants corridor, although hard to tell with all the artifacts and missing pixels.

“We have informed the Colony leadership and the owners of the plant about the situation. This is in our yard but it is big enough that the Empire and Federation have both started their own investigations and have offered their help. X-ray, take the rest of the day to rest and report to me in the morning. Dismissed.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Corvus, stay for a bit, I have a proposition for you.”

With the door shut, Barnett leaned back in his chair and pulled up a map on the screen behind him. Taking a seat by the desk, Barnett’s face shifted from stern to calculating, his fingers trembled slightly as he signed in on the terminal.

“I am aware you have done what I requested from you two and for that, I thank you. All of this will be off the record but I’d like to ask for your help in this investigation.”

“We’ll help, but... we work best when out of sight, out of mind. No red tape, no clearances or permits, we’ll share any findings with you and you do the same with us.”

“It is good that you are reasonable. Out of sight and out of mind, I think we can work with that. Here, we have an old drone hub gathering dust just outside the colony. Owner sold it to the colony due to debts or something along that line... Long story, the place is almost off the grid, but it does have automated flight control and a comms unit and the hangar can easily fit your ship. You are a valuable asset, and this contract will be classified and redacted, and only I will have access to it.”

Moment to think, Valkyrie seemed to agree on the matter, living out of the gunship had been doable but flying constantly does take a toll on the moving parts and fuel, all of which costs money.

“Are there living quarters?”

“The hub was operated by a skeleton crew of 3 on shifts lasting a few weeks each, so there should be enough space for you two and perhaps an addition if required.”

Nomad by nature, I like travelling but having an anchor point that we can use to plan missions and store most of our gear, leaving the gunship empty for improved performance. Needle pointing steadily at green, I nodded to Barnett.

“Good, CTO is glad to have you. Welcome to Novis, I’ll inform Nikolas that you’ll be sticking around.”

“Glad to be in the books. When can we head out?”

“Your ship should be decontaminated and ready in our heliport. Here.” The captain said as he threw me a set of keys. “I’ll be in touch once you have the comms relay online. Dismissed.”

Closing the door behind me, I stared at the keys in my grip and gently shook them. Real, that was not a dream... Snatched from my grip by Valkyrie, the look in her eyes matched the smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around me.

It’s not the Corvette nor a carrier, but it will do.

[someonestole15]

It takes about the half-life of Polonium for me to write one post.

Dead are not silent.

In the dead of night, you can truly hear their whispers, each of them asking the same question. Why in a million years would I be the one to leave so soon? I keep thinking on an answer to that question but so far, I have found nothing but static, dead air. Radio crackling from the dying signal, I allowed it to slip loose from my grip and fall into the void beneath me. Bright light ahead, forming into a console somewhere within my OS.

>>CPU impact detected, checking system status... >>Unit condition compromised, Damage within acceptable limits. Proceeding with reboot

From my dreams back to reality, a voltage coursed from my powercells through to my heart and CPU, kick starting everything and sending most sensors to 11. Hurts like hell, I tried to keep my breathing calm as the shock faded into a blissful numbness with the safeties cutting off the data flow. Sensory input returning slowly and the numbness subsiding, I hazily got on one knee as my gyroscopes started calibrating. Which way is down, gravity pull this way so that must be it, right, now how does one walk again...

Systems calibrating to my weight, one leg at a time I stood myself up and took in the surroundings, my scanners painting the forest around me in wireframe before the optical systems finally calibrated, allowing color to return to my vision. Rain, navigations messed up so no idea how we got here, I patted down my jacket and noticed my pistol and shotgun were still in their place and the hazmat suit, despite a few scuffs, was still intact.

Booting up my scanners, I felt them spin around for a bit inside my skull before settling in to the front and scanning the zones around me. No active hostiles, the scan came up with four tags near me, it took a moment for the identifier to read their tags. Rest of X-ray, status: alive, a faint sigh of relief got through my filters as I glanced up to see cooling towers visible above the trees at a range of approx. 300m, my rangefinder could not get an accurate reading.

Slow and steady to where Valkyrie was lying, the rest of squad not far from her. Red visible even through the hazmat gear and her scanners quietly ticking away, I gently pulled her over to her side and gently shook her.

“Hey, you better not be dead on me.”

 “Who...” Dazed but alive, she grabbed onto my jacket shortly before identifying me. “Oh it’s you. Where were you, what happened?”

“Not sure, seems I caught a close look at a rifle stock if I read my logs correctly.” I responded as I gave her my hand and helped her up.

“We had a similar tale from what I can remember; the security team took us down as soon as we got out of the range of the cameras.”

“Things are not adding up, but we have more important things to figure out what is going on.”

“Alright, I got your six.” She said while racking back the slide on her handgun, the faint red glow from her eye shining through the mask.

Speculation as the only thing to rely on, we moved from marker to marker, waking up our remaining squad members. One by one, the tracker on my HUD filled up and once we had all five, we took shelter near a service cabin close to the edge of the clearing, using the piled up logs as cover. Rations and medical kits to recover and bind up the few wounds, the weather started to clear up but the mood in the squad was clearly down.

“So now what?” Oscar asked, grabbing the pack of smokes from his vest pocket once again.

“I need to think... What did you find inside?” Richter asked, holding onto his bandaged arm. Likely painful even if just a graze, it would take a moment for the painkillers to kick in.

“It was more than a leak, the entire section was contaminated and the traces were consistent with a chemical weapon we found on that haul a few weeks back.”

“Right, they knocked us out once we were out of camera range... Played me like I was some damn boy scout.” Richter said with bitterness in his voice and pacing around, kicking away small rocks and sticks as he walked.

“Breathe. Don’t get angry, get even.”

“Even? All right... We need to get through to Control.”

“I think... Yes, I am getting a signal through; whatever they were using for jamming is not active anymore.” Diana said, followed by a round of testing from the rest of us. Hazy signal but it did connect; Richter grabbed hold of his radio with a pained grunt before switching over to his working arm.

“Control, this is X-ray, do you copy?”

“Control copies, thought we lost you X-ray.”

“Situation update, stand by.”

“Copy, send traffic.”

Traffic sent, data packages from smaller pieces coming together, the radio remained quiet until Richter had relayed all the information, responding only with a quiet “Copy that.”

“X-ray, this is Control. Listen up; it is clear from what you said that the mission objective could still be completed. We will dispatch a backup team to assist in both containing the hazardous materials and securing the plant. Going to be a hell of debrief...”

“Roger that control, what are our orders?”

“Secure the front gate for a rendezvous with the backup team and continue operation Pale Flame. We’ll look into who or what might have caused the guards to turn on a rear echelon unit.”

“Got it, X-ray out.�� Richter said into his radio before turning to the rest of us. “You heard the man. We will secure the front gate for our backup unit. Phoenix, are you able to take point?”

“Ready and able.”

“Good, rest of you, spread out and cover the flanks. Clear? Good, execute.”

An arrow cutting across the clearing and onto the forest road leading back towards the plant, scanners like flashlights leaving no place to hide as the road beneath our boots shifted from gravel to dirt and finally asphalt. Arriving at a row of garages and shutter doors, we cleared corners and moved through the area, avoiding a few blocked off paths and reaching the road leading to the plant itself. Short jog from here to the reactor complex, I grabbed cover as Richter gave the command to halt.

“Anything on the scanners?”

“All quiet.”

“Same here.”

“I would have expected a patrol by now, something is certainly not right.

“That many guards for a lone power plant... ”

“Take cover. Time to kick the hornets’ nest.” Richter said under his voice as he drew his pistol and removed the magazine, firing one shot towards the sky. Echoing throughout the forests and sending a flock of birds scattering from the trees, I could hear the faint clicking from my sling mounts as we waited for anything to appear on the scanners. Loud to silent again, the wind rustling the fabric on my jacket and nothing on the scanners, just as on the way here.

“Clear. Double time, head on a swivel.”

Steady pace across the opening and into the plant complex, we double-timed it across the parking lots and access paths until we reached the front gate. Our truck was still parked there, partially covered by a blue tarp, almost as if someone had tried to hide it. Security cameras and motion trackers offline beyond the fence, the container command outpost had been dismantled, but the handler was nowhere to be seen. After confirming that the gatehouse was empty, we kept our eyes on the plant and waited for the backup team to arrive.

Boot tapping gently against the concrete to the beat of the track, my scanners picked up movement along the road. Pause, the faint hum of an engine reached my audio systems as the radio signal came through.

“X-ray, this is Gamma, do you copy?”

“This is X-ray, we hear you.”

“Copy, we are approaching now, how’s the situation at the gate?”

“Gate is clear.”

“Glad to hear X-ray, Gamma out.”

Faint humming to a low-pitched growl as an APC pulled through the gate and parked up near the middle of the parking lot, deploying a squad of CTO soldiers before a large transport truck followed it in. Hauling what I would guess to be a mobile laboratory, it passed us and stopped behind the APC, deploying a smaller crew of CTO soldiers, one of them wearing an orange armband over his dark hazmat suit.

“2-2 takes security. 2-3, on me.” Voice muffled by the mask and with an electronic buzz to it, the man seemed to be quite carefree despite the situation at hand.

“Looks like we got here just in time, you haven’t burned the place down just yet. Lieutenant Ryan Gray, Gamma squad command, here to assist.”

“Glad to have you Gray, I trust Barnett gave you the details?”

“Chemical weapon on the loose and we’re here to help in containing it. We gathered the ones who weren’t busy or dying, so you got all hands of 2-3.”

“We managed to secure a scan of a sample before the guards turned on us, shouldn’t take too long to work out what works.” Diana said, pulling up the chemical formula on her PDA.

“Alright, Davis and Carlson, lend her a hand. Richter, stage is all yours.”

“We had a team recon the inside of the plant. So far, it seems the contamination is localized inside this section of labs here.” Richter explained while setting up a small holographic mapping tool and pulling up the plants blueprints on it.

“These kinds of laboratories usually have an external sprinkler access point, so all we have to do is locate it once we have figured out what we need.”

“External, so outside... It seems to be clear out here but we cannot be sure about the inside. If the security team is hunkered down in there, they could potentially cause more harm than just a chemical leak.”

“Indeed, I think we form three teams, one per reactor and secure them. We have enough soldiers to have at least three soldiers from 2-2 in the squads.”

“I’ll take one.”

“You sure Richter?”

“I’m sure; a busted wing is not going to keep me down.”

 “Full of piss and vinegar that one... All right, two more.”

“I’ll take a team; I was on the team doing internal recon so I have a basic layout in my memory.”

“I didn’t catch your name.”

“Phoenix.”

“Think I’ve heard that somewhere... If Richter is fine with it, then so am I.”

“All yours. Bring them back alive.”

“Will do.”

“Oscar, I want you on the third team.”

“Yep, I might be a bit rusty on the team leading but I’ll give it a run.

Plan coming together, we divided into our teams and rearmed, the empty medical kits to full and damage to the equipment patched together. Richter in charge of Alpha, me running as the lead for Beta and Oscar taking Gamma’s name for his squad, easing up the communications as everyone behind was now under the X-ray squad marker.

Cassander, Alexander and Demetrius, three old kings lending their names to the three reactors inside, I felt the faint feeling of claustrophobia creeping in as my filters settled in place and the squad communications came online. Richter’s team headed for Cassander and Oscars made their way to the Demetrius, leaving Alexander for us, I reminded myself of the basics of squad commands and took point with Valkyrie and the rest of the squad behind me. Trust takes time and I am glad to see Richter having enough to let me run this squad in here, Ryan stayed behind with the laboratory and comms, losing both our contacts to the CTO command, although not something I’d do every day... I have enough in keeping Valkyrie and myself alive, having a third member ended up in a dead dog. Shake myself back to reality; we got a job to do.

Déjà vu walking across the corridors, a trail of dusty footsteps still visible on the floors although faintly, we made our way through with multiple red warning lights and a low tone alarm making the entire area feel more eerie than before. Reports of warnings and alarms matching what we heard from the other teams, we carried on deeper inside the utility corridor; the radiation readings remained low, almost too low even for an inactive reactor.

Blast door spanning across the corridor, bringing us to a halt, the squad took positions to guard the rear and sides while I pointed one of the soldiers to open the door via the terminal.  Quick fingers and equipped with the required access keys, the soldier, tagged on my HUD as Fox, got through the doors security and unlocked it.

“Nice job Fox. Pack up, we’re moving.” Valkyrie and two others through the door, Fox stopped me before I could pass through and handed me their tablet.

“Sir, I think you’ll want to see this.”

“Lay it on me, what am I looking at?”

“I managed to get into the main control systems to see the reactor status and the percentage there shows zero fuel.”

“What?”

“All the control rods are fully deployed and the turbines are slowing down, likely running on trace steam from the reactors cooling system. It will likely last a few more hours but after that this place will go dark.”

“And no sign of the security teams anywhere... There is no way they could have hauled off that amount of fissile material so either they are still in the core or moving it out now. Let’s get a move on, relay this to the other teams.”

“On it sir.”

Past the blast door and through a few security doors, we reached the reactor control room. Servers recording data in separate rooms and more switches than there are days in a year, another pair of soldiers, tagged as BAT and HOUND, split up and started running down the reactor checklist. No direct access to the reactor core but a large steel shutter covering the window with several radiation warnings and instructions written on it, I felt the faint buzz of radiation emanating through it.

“Can you get this shutter open?”

“Working on it, the system keeps locking out on me.” Hound stated, tapping on the keyboard and responding to Bat as they ran down the checklist. Eyes darting across the screens, Hound finally let out a sigh as he tapped enter one more time and the shutter started opening.

“There, this thing is antique. Bat, next item.”

“Right, next on the list is...”

Small increase in radiation on the scanners but again, not enough to match a running reactor, the core hanged from the mounts above a pool of coolant with all of its shielding open, the control rods lowered and all the spots where the fuel was supposed to be, empty. Therefore, the data was right, and with no guards in sight, it was as if they had taken the fuel with them, running the possibilities through my head, I grabbed hold of my radio and contacted Richter.

 “Richter, it’s Phoenix, we got an empty reactor housing here.”

“Same over here Phoenix, zero fuel. Logs say it was running this morning so there had to be fuel here.”

“Oscar, anything on your end?”

“Same with our reactor, no rods.”

“Roger that, secure any information and logs you can find then bring the reactor to a shutdown state. After that, rendezvous back at the front gate. Richter out.”

“You heard the man, pull the plug and copy the drives.”

“On it.”

Voice over the PA, announcing the reactor shutdown protocol before the shielding lowered back into place and reducing the radiation readings to near zero. Bat and Hound brought the reactor down and confirmed the shutdown had been completed and everything related to the core was in standby, would not want the pumps flooding the place with nothing to cool down.

Needle back to zero, terminals scoured for information and sensors recorded before securing the control room with rolls of warning tape and leaving the facility, reuniting with the rest of the team and meeting back up with them by the front gate.

Cataclysm event incoming with 26 tons of nuclear material missing, I do not want to see someone setting this place on fire.

Then again...

Hey there, sorry I've been gone again.

Life has been a lot for a while now and I am battling writers block even as I post this. Being sick and having no voice from the coughing left me with few options for things to do, so here I am.

The heat is also getting to me but staying hydrated has somewhat helped with that and I urge you to do the same.

Starting up the next post soon enough, hopefully the waiting time between then and now won't be that long.

Catch you later. Harry