Prologue: Training Op

Elysium City

Private Maya Burton sat crouched in the bushes, and tried to fight the butterflies in her stomach. She knew that this wasn't how a Navy Special Warfare specialist should act, but this was her first official mission.

Well, technically, not an official mission. It was more like a training op, but seeing as this was their final one before completing their training cycle and becoming full-time NavSpecWar personnel, it was close enough.

The mission was pretty simple. The house that they had under surveillance held the target, codename "117". Their objective was to infiltrated the house, obtain the target, and take it back to a pickup point, all without attracting the attention of the public.

THAT was going to be the hard part. The house they were staking out was in the middle of a fairly densely populated neighborhood. Fortunately, mission control found a clever way around that. First, they managed to lure most of the inhabitants away on a bogus community meeting. Then, just in case there were any witnesses left behind, another NavSpecWar team would cut the power to the entire neighborhood. This would serve as a cover for their insertion. Their vehicle was disguised as a maintenance van, and would pull up to the target house.

"Eye in the sky here. Subjects have left the building. Front door is open, I repeat, front door is open."

Through the walls of the van, Maya could hear a car zoom past.

"Confirmed. Back door is open as well."

Maya sat up. That was their mission leader, a Chief Mendez, and he had just given the confirmation code. That meant the mission was go.

"Move in! And remember, 117 is to be taken intact. Any damage, you and you can kiss your damn careers goodbye!"

The dozen or so NavSpecWar operatives nodded in agreement. Mendez raised his hand, and began counting down with his fingers. The moment his last one came down, he kicked the door to the van open.

At the same exact moment, several residential city blocks turned black as coal.

Maya and her squadmates piled out of the van. To keep the darkness from hampering their movement and coordination, they were equipped with nightvision and thermal goggles. The operatives moved and took position around key areas of the house, cutting off any potential avenues for escape. Maya and a fellow operative took up positions at the front door.

"Breach on my mark! Mark!"

Simultaneously, windows and doors were broken down and the operatives poured in, sweeping every corner of the house.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Damn! Where's the target?"

"Checking the second story."

Maya crept up the stairs and peered down the second floor hallway. From their pre-mission briefing, she already knew where the target's room was. She crept down the hallway, pistol raised. Unlike actual guns, however, these pistols were modified to be nonlethal weapons. Unfortunately, due to the close quarters, they couldn't use stun rounds, so they instead opted for small, subsonic darts that would deliver a small and nonlethal electric shock.

"Now where are you…"

Maya slowly inched the door open and peeked inside. Nothing. Slowly, Maya inched further into the room and took a closer look at her surroundings. The room was fairly common for what you would see a six-year old living in. The wallpaper was adorned with spaceships, stars, planets, and all sorts of other astronomical bodies, giving the room a very surreal look. Everywhere, toys of every kind and shape were scattered about, and there were many items related to some very wildly popular Saturday morning cartoons. Besides that, though, the room was pretty much empty. No 117. Maya took out her radio.

"Second floor cle-"

Before she could finish her sentence, however, Maya stopped and listened more carefully. She could hear something in the room, something alive, as it was breathing. The sound was coming straight from the closet.

"Wait, target is on the second-"

Suddenly, the closet on her right side burst open. Maya only had enough time to face the black silhouette leaping out at her. The black shape slammed into her chest, and Maya could feel herself falling backward. She toppled to the floor, scattering toys and other knicknacks around, and she felt her chest being compressed. Suddenly, the pressure on her chest relieved, and Maya only had enough air to blurt out on her radio.

"Target is loose on the second floor!"

As May lay on the ground, trying to regain her breath, she could hear the radio chatter of her squadmates.

"There he is!"

"Grab him!"

"Crap! The little bugger bit me!"

"He's getting away!"

"Don't have a clear shot! Simmons, cut him off!"

"On it!"

"Watch out, this kid's tougher than he looks!"

Maya finally managed to pull herself to her feet and barrel down the stairs. As she did so, she could see the target rush into what should be the kitchen.

"Target's in the kitchen! Pursuing!"

Maya followed the target into the kitchen, though she quickly lost track of his position. In the dark, it was difficult to see, but Maya did hear metal scraping against wood.

Great, the last thing I need now is to get carved up by a scared six-year old with a kitchen knife.

There was a crash of pots and pans, and Maya instinctively whirled around to check the sound, but knew it was a mistake. She turned back around, and saw that same silhouette charging her. This time, though, Maya was prepared. She raised her pistol and fired. The dart imbedded itself into the target. There was crackle of electricity, a scream of pain, and then the target ran back out of the kitchen, where Maya's squadmates piled on top of him, though this was far from over.

The resulting scuffle resulted in wounding every member on the team in one way or another. Most suffered from bruises and scratches from the wild punches and kicks the target threw, though several more were nursing broken fingers when they tried to take away a small metallic token from him. Maya, fortunately, managed to grab the little item without any serious injury. She glanced at it, and noticed that it was a quarter. An ancient coin used in the 21st century. How did this kid obtain one? Maya thought about keeping it as a memento, but thought against it, and decided to turn the thing to Mendez. He should know what to do with it.

"Good job team. Mission accomplished, though it appears you didn't get away unscathed."

"You're telling me. The little bugger gave quite a fight."

"Took all twelve of us to pin him down long enough to administer that tranquilizer."

"Uhhh, Chief Mendez? Sir?"

Mendez turned around to face Maya.

"What is it, Private?"

"Our op in there made a little mess, we were wondering if-"

"Don't worry. ONI is sending in a clean team right now. By the time the parents return, they won't notice a thing. You job is done, Private. We can take it from here."

"Yes sir."

As Mendez and his men left, Maya turned to her squad leader, Sergeant Fleming.

"Sir, this was supposed to be a training op, right?"

"That's right. Why?"

"How come it doesn't feel like one?"

That question would haunt Maya's dreams for the rest of her life.