Hey, guys. Sorry its been a while. No, this story is not abandoned, im just lazy... Either way, heres the next chapter. Still looking for a beta.

The next morning came too soon but I knew that it was time to face the music either way and deal with Collins and the recent development of these strange creatures that had been discovered. After my morning routine, Lt. Auriel reported in as we returned to the Operations Room at the CC. The Cerberus Squad hadn't returned but I wasn't expecting them to. Something about the way they were strict on information and appeared as if they knew what these creatures were beforehand, just created more suspicion around the squad and their motives.

As Auriel and I ran through the reports about yesterday's events, a transmission came through with Collins and the Cerberus Commander. Collins started the conference:

"Greetings again, Lieutenant. I know you're anxious for some answers about those creatures. Suffice to say they are the subject of current high-level research. We had quarantined a number of these creatures for study, but shortly after our science crews began their experiments, all communications with the Flannum Installation was lost."

My thoughts raced: 'High-level research? What do we want to do with these creatures?' Before I could think too far on this, my thoughts were interrupted by the Cerberus Commander:

"The installation has been compromised, and preliminary scanner sweeps indicate the area is crawling with hostiles. My Cerberus unit will handle the situation inside, but we require Alpha Squadron's assistance getting here. Any other information is on a strict need to know basis."

After that, the transmission ended and the coordinates of the facility were transmitted to my hub signified by a blinking light in the corner of the display. Forwarding the coordinates to the Adjutant, it was then sent to all liftable buildings and the lift off protocols began. The infantry formed up and began to enter the available ground transports before rolling out in the direction of the facility.

Sitting down in my command chair, my thoughts continue to run about the facility: 'What was being done at the Flannum Installation? What caused them to lose the installation? What are they doing to these strange creatures there?' My curiosity getting the better of me, I determined to try to find out what I can

As we waited for the protocols to give an all clear, I turned to Lt. Auriel asking:

"Lt. what do you know about the Flannum facility?"

Lt. Auriel grabbed a small data pad and swiped to the side. The image that was on the pad appeared on my holopage next to the command chair as her findings came through:

"Sir, currently what is known about the Flannum facility is it's hidden from most personnel since the info is above top secret. Being involved in the mission to retake the facility, we are granted a very minimal amount of information, mostly regarding its whereabouts and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, there is not much to go off of, seeing as how most of the information is redacted from us."

I groaned upon hearing that there was almost no information other than our potential combat zone, while all-in-all not the worst situation, is still pretty damn annoying. I didn't get to stew much when one of the operators manning communications called out:

"Sir, all liftoff preparations are finished and we have a code green for all buildings."

"Finally, at least some good news". I then gave the order and everything was underway.

There was a rumbling from the CC as it fired up the thrusters below, the command chair rattling. As they reached the optimal power, the CC began ascending into the sky as it climbed over the surrounding cliffs. Upon clearing the cliffs, a second set of thrusters activated to move the CC towards the coordinates of the facility. The rest of the buildings followed close behind and gave all clears, operation was a go.

Seeing as that the flight out took some time to arrive at our destination, the shift of operators were given a reprieve to refresh and catch up before we possibly have to go in with guns blazing.

To pass the time, I had everyone drop the formalities, seeing as how we were basically "off the clock", and struck up some friendly conversation between each other. Most of the operators were kind, young men and women who gave the level of respect when required but could still have a good laugh and a truly positive conversation. One of the operators even decided to hack the protocols for restrictive use and had the holonet playing some form of sport on his screen, where several others gathered and would scream and holler throughout the game.

Seeing that everyone was getting along even "outside of the office", a smile came across my face and I continued to spend time with the others. The only one who seemed to be a little too distant was Auriel. She was still too formal and restricted to truly enjoy the little bit of time that was free between missions like this.

Upon seeing that she was merely having polite conversation, I pulled her aside and asked:

"Something the matter, Auriel?"

She raised an eyebrow:

"Sir, you know that it is informal and against protocol to call me by my first name, correct?"

I chuckled at her citation of the rules before responding:

"Indeed I do, Lt. Auriel. But also, I have given permission to forgo those formalities and treat each other as equal individuals."

"But you would think that nearing a mission, they should be monitoring the systems, making sure that everything is in place to be."

"The protocols are already in place, and the Adjutant can easily inform me if there is any form of disturbance or issue. The infantry are already on the way and will have a perimeter established when we arrive. So there is nothing to fear, Auriel. Simply relax, blow off some steam, letting everything go for a couple of hours."

Looking into her eyes, I saw thoughts whizzing through her head as she fought inside herself to either remain as the obedient soldier or to break code and enjoy some time away from it all.

After a moment of debating with herself, she shook her head and exited the OR. Deciding to leave her be, I walked up to the observation deck and took a seat to watch the scenery flow beneath us. Even though it was mostly wasteland with very little change, it still had its own form of beauty and I simply sat and watched.

About four hours later, the Adjutant informed me that we were nearing the landing zone and that Cerberus Squad had already arrived with the previous team of firebats and goliaths. The infantry that had been enroute had already established a perimeter and were set to go. After getting the rest of the operators back to manning their stations, I established the protocol once we landed, mostly getting our base up and running along with some defenses in place.

Once we set down, the SCVs got to work, setting a few bunkers and depots. The barracks and engineering bay came down shortly afterwards, establishing our base. As everything was being established, the Cerberus Commander opened a channel to me:

"Lt, your mission is to clear the xenomorphs around the facility, not to enter it. Consider this your only warning. Any attempts to enter will be met with a court martial and possible termination."

With that, he cut the connection. I was simply shook by how cold and emotionless his voice seemed. Just from that, I could tell that his threat was true and he was willing to take the necessary actions to follow through on that threat. Of course, the other thought that went through my mind is 'But I only just started my command. Talk about a short career'.

A beep came from the direction of Lt. Auriel's station. She quickly checked to see what it was:

"Sir, it appears that the Cerberus Squad has forwarded us the blueprints to the mobile factory along with…."

She scanned the next document:

"...schematics for the vulture-class hover bikes. They also sent the schematics for stationary missile turrets."

'Well, at least we can get some better scouts that can cover more distance than just a marine on his own two feet.' I relayed to Auriel that once we were landed and well defended, I wanted a factory going and some vultures to scout the nearby area to get a feel of the surrounding terrain.

As everything began to fall into place, we were attacked by these strange creatures once again. The small ones were expected but then there was also a different form of these creatures that simply left me stunned. These new creatures were tall and lanky, walking or more like slithering around on a snake-like tail. A large set of mandibles were featured along with large scythes. But what shocked me was the fact that they fired these strange projectiles that were strong enough to pierce the marine's armor like it was paper.

The small ones went down quickly but these taller ones combined were able to kill off a couple of the marines before the rest of the squad moved to drown them in gunfire. Deciding to fill in the gaps in my defences, I reinforced the defensive line with another couple of bunkers and assigned a couple of SCVs for emergency repairs.

Once the defenses were tightened, I asked the Adjutant to give the nearest route to the facility.

After a few seconds came her response:

"Lt. the quickest route to the facility is across the bridge to the north. Preliminary scans indicate xenomorphs on the same path. Recommend military escort."

'No shit, robot'. I radioed over the Veteran Squad that had accompanied us on the earlier mission and had them form up with the Cerberus Squad. Transmitting the route indicated to reach the location from the adjutant, the Firebats took point and the squad followed with the goliaths in tow.

All was seeming to be running smoothly when an alert sprang up and rang through the operation room. Auriel's voice rang out as well:

"Sir, there seems to be several UFOs enroute to our command center. ETA about 15 minutes."

'Great, when things were going smoothly.'

I opened a com to the emergency SCVs: "Repair team, fall back to the command center and get a couple of missile turrets up. We have bogeys in coming."

"Right away sir."

The team was able to get two turrets up in time before the UFOs came within visual view. Wanting to get a visual gaze of these creatures, I vaulted towards the observation deck. Considering everything that I have seen so far, I was still surprised at these creatures that now seemed to have grown wings. 'Wonderful, now we got uglies in the sky.'

These abominations that were flying towards our position, the best way that I could describe them were flying nightmares. These things flew with slender bodies that hung from a set of bat wings. The eyes of the creatures seemed to be resting on the top while some strange orifice was at the bottom.

As they neared, Lt. Auriel called out: "Sir, they are now within range. Turrets are opening fire."

Smirking at the fact to get a front seat to the show, I merely watched the turrets unleashed volley on volley of longbolt missiles. The flying xenomorphs were quickly taken down but the strange creatures got off a few volleys of their own form of projectile. The projectiles would impact the first target and it appeared to bounce to nearby targets, doing a less amount of damage per bounce. All in all, nothing the SCV team couldn't handle.

With that out of the way, my full attention was returned to the Cerberus Squad and the Veteran Squad that had accompanied them to the bridge. Just for extra insurance, several vultures and another contingent of marines and firebats were forwarded to their position to help them.

The combined platoon then moved out and started working towards the facility, working through the occasional alien group. As they moved through, something struck me as odd. 'These creatures seemed to be getting smarter about fighting us. They setting up ambushes, trying to flank my men in the open if possible. Too smart for just some random creatures.'

After about another hour of fighting through these strange creatures, the platoon came across quite an anomaly.

Skyguy, the lead marine from the Veteran Squad radioed in:

"This is Skyguy, requesting the 1st Lt."

I quickly replied:

"This is Adam, go ahead."

"There is some strange substance coating the whole ground, sir. I have no idea what it is, sir, but it isn't natural."

"Give me a visual feed, I want to see this for myself."

After a second, the screen in front of me gave a live feed of the cam posted on the front of the marine's suit. Upon inspecting the ground, there was something that stopped me for a second. 'Why is the ground purple?'

Skyguy came through again:

"You seeing this sir?"

"Yes, I am. I have no idea whatever the hell that… stuff is."

"Well, whatever it is sir, it ain't natural but there seems to be no harm when stepping on it. It almost feels spongy."

Giving it a quick thought, I told them to proceed. As much as I wanted to find out what the heck that gunk is, we had a mission to complete. The platoon encountered little resistance on the rest of way to the facility.

Upon gaining visual confirmation of the facility and reporting no hostiles in the area, one of the Cerberus firebats came through, his voice low and gruff:

"Sir, tac team has reached the installation. You watch things out here. We'll take care of things inside."

Before I could retort, he ended the connection and the Commander came through:

"Lieutenant, we have access the installation's primary bio-scanners and have ascertained that there is still a number of Confederate scientists inside."

Collins then came online with a rebuttal:

"What? I'm the only one who has the installation's access codes! How did you override my security clearance?"

"I told you before, Magistrate, we don't answer to you. We are to infiltrate the installation and evacuate any remaining confederate personnel. Now let's move, gentlemen. We're on a tight schedule."

With a scoff and snide remark about how the higher Command will be hearing about this, Collins cut out but the Commander continued:

"Lt., my firebats will move into the facility and clear it before escorting the civilians inside to the entrance. I will leave the goliaths to allow you to bolster your defenses while you wait for my men to return. Confirmed?"

I quickly gave my confirmation before he gave his final warning:

"Once again, none of your men are to enter the facility. You know the consequences."

With that, he cut the connection.

Now acting on their own, the Cerberus firebats moved towards the entrance whereas the Goliath fireteam moved towards both sides of the door and turned to stand guard. Knowing that we were going to be waiting for a while, I had the rest of the platoon set up a perimeter and hold position until the firebat team returned. The entrance opened with a hiss and the neosteel doors slid open with a grind. The team entered and the doors closed behind them.

Now came the part of a mission that I always hated: the waiting game. Since it was unknown how long it would take for those firebats to clear the facility, all we could do was guard and wait.