Alexei
Within the space of two days, Alexei and Gerard had put out the word that a major discovery had been made, one that would change the course of human history. Naturally, the two of them had then been subjected to a great deal of scrutiny by UPL officials, particularly when they continued to refuse to reveal just what had been found.
To continue to maintain secrecy, Alexei had personally assumed control of the three Special Projects stations responsible for monitoring the Koprulu Sector, something that had not gone unnoticed by other prominent UPL members. From what Alexei had heard, the general consensus among the uninformed was that this was probably some news about the colonials deciding to try and make a return to earth, that it was not a big deal, and that "alarmist Alexei" would be shot.
Not quite, my friends. Not quite.
The broadcast was to be made from Paris, at Gerard's request. The two of them were the first to arrive and promptly got to business. Alexei took it upon himself to manage security, while Gerard was told to memorize the speech Alexei had written for him on the flight over. After a day of preparation, they were ready. Alexei sat sweating before a vast array of monitors, each linked to a camera that surveyed every inch of the building. Behind him, Gerard finished reciting the final lines of the speech, having memorized them flawlessly.
"…the time for humanity to step forward, and fight for glorious victory among hostile stars."
Alexei turned back to his friend, hat askew, smiling.
"A fine delivery, old friend," said Alexei. "You spoke those words as though they were an undeniable truth."
Gerard was dressed resplendently in an officer's uniform. His two most prominent medals of service adorned his tailor-made outfit. His cap sat square on his head, outlining his strong jaw and overall stern expression. It also added to his already impressive height; he towered over Alexei, even when he was not seated in his chair. The cap only made that more obvious. Admiral Gerard DuGalle, hero of the United Powers League, a man to be recognized and a man to be feared.
Gerard coughed, looking uncomfortable. "I would still argue memorization is not necessary, Alexei. Teleprompters are, in my eyes, a necessary evil."
Alexei turned back to his monitors, craving a strong drink. "I have caught no less than seven Brazilian attempts to stop this gathering of officials, Gerard. I will not have you made a laughing stock if they manage to somehow sabotage the teleprompters – this message must be heeded!"
Gerard gave a heavy sigh. "Very well, Alexei. While I do not quite share your, well, paranoia regarding Brazil's capabilities, I am more than willing to listen. As far as I am concerned, you are the one humanity's hopes currently rest on. To be honest, I do not understand why you brought me here."
How humble of you, admiral. Let me break it down for you.
"Look to this monitor, Gerard," said Alexei, patting a screen to his far right. Gerard walked over, peering over Alexei's shoulder. "Tell me what you see."
"I see this office," said Gerard, sounding utterly perplexed. "I see you sitting in your chair, and myself standing over you."
"I will tell you what I see, Gerard," said Alexei, taking a deep breath. "I see two men. There is one ratty looking bastard with a finished cigar still smoking in the ashtray to his left. His hair is greasy looking. He has a mean look in his eyes and when he stands, it is obvious he is neither tall nor does he possess great strength. When he speaks, it is with a prominent accent and a voice that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant." Gerard began to speak, but Alexei raised a hand and cut him off.
"Behind this unexceptional and rather hairy looking man stands another figure, tall and stern. He wears the officer's uniform of the UPL well, both cap and coat. His face features a strong jaw and sharp eyes. When he speaks, it is with the self-assured authority of a man who has lead soldiers into battle. While he possesses a slight accent due to where he was born, it does not detract from his presence or his ability to communicate. I would follow this man."
Alexei turned away from the screen and to the real Gerard, who looked stunned.
"Do you understand my point, my good admiral?" Alexei asked, quietly.
"Surely…" Gerard struggled for a few seconds, trying to think of what to say. "Surely you do not feel this way, Alexei? Your own accomplishments warrant praise of their own – and I remember quite clearly who scored higher on the aptitude tests back at-"
"Gerard, look at us," said Alexei, standing from his chair. "You are almost a head taller than me. Yes, I am aware of my own service to the UPL, to humanity. However, as the vast majority of these services are classified, not many will ever be aware of them. But… it doesn't matter." Alexei looked back to the monitors. "What they see on the cameras, their immediate disposition towards whomever is speaking – that is based on appearances. That is what matters. Not what either of us might deserve. That is why I need you, Gerard. To carry my message in a way I never could."
When Alexei turned again to Gerard, the admiral nodded stiffly to him.
"Very well, Alexei. On my word as an admiral – and your friend – I will do this for you," said Gerard.
Alexei grinned back at him, removed his hat, and saluted. "Then get out of here, my good admiral and friend. It starts in twenty minutes."
Gerard strode out of the office while Alexei sat himself down and fumbled in a coat pocket for a cigar. He saw his friend walk through several hallways over the cameras. When Alexei checked the auditorium, he saw that it was almost full. On the balconies above, he caught a glimpse of an armed silhouette – one of the many members of Alexei's security team.
Alexei laid the cigar on the desk for later while donning a headset.
"Sputnik here, now overseeing the operation entire until the speech is done. All teams report status."
The teams chimed in, their voices sounding electronic and ghostly through the vocoders.
"Sparrow 1, courtyard has considerable civilian presence. Meeting has attracted great interest. Scanning crowd."
"Sparrow 2, primary hallway clear."
"Sparrow 3, secondary hallways are clear. Continuing patrol."
"Sparrow 4, auditorium secure."
About what I expected.
Sparrow 4 had the most important job by far – hence he had given that job to Saburov and Baker, his two bodyguards. The remainder of the teams were the finest ghosts Alexei had worked with and could bring to Paris on short notice. Thus far they had performed their job quickly and thoroughly, which was all Alexei ever asked for. He leaned back in his chair, scanning the monitors with narrowed eyes. Despite the security room being ice-cold at his request, Alexei found himself sweating.
The worst of it is already over. The Brazilians have far more limited resources than the UPL. Nothing will happen to Gerard.
"Sparrow 1, noting suspicious character moving along left edge of crowd."
Sighing, Alexei found the monitor that showed the individual they were speaking of. He wore no outfit and his face was unobscured, but he was clearly inching his way to the front, pushing civilians to the side in order to advance."
A bad time and a bad place for suspicious activity, friend.
"Take no chances," said Alexei. "Execute."
"Confirmed."
From one of the screens to his right, Alexei caught a glimpse of a small muzzle flash. A puff of red appeared behind the suspicious man in the crowd. The man's eyes widened before he went boneless, falling like a rag doll, the gaping hole now clearly visible on his back when he hit the ground. People screamed and moved away from the corpse while Parisian police moved in to secure the body. The civilians, used to the ways of the UPL, quickly forgot about the corpse once the law enforcement had descended.
"Sparrow 1, police forces searched the body and found no weapons nor any kind of suspicious possessions. Not sure what he was up to."
Alexei shrugged, feeling nothing. All it would take to bring about the destruction of my mission would be a single ounce of mercy given to the wrong individual. The fate of human history rides on my decisions.
"Sparrow 4, all officials present. DuGalle begins speech in 30 seconds."
I almost wish I had given this job to someone else… looking at the recordings of the speech after the actual thing cannot be compared to witnessing it firsthand.
"Sparrow 3, uh, looks like one of the toilets flooded," said Sparrow 3, obviously both incredulous and embarrassed. "Got some janitors wandering around with mops."
"Keep an eye on them," said Alexei irritably. He could see one of the idiots nodding at the two team members as they went by. Another walked into the view of the camera, put down a wet floor sign, and then rolled a large yellow box with a mop sticking out of it into the bathroom.
Alexei turned his attention to the auditorium screen, where Gerard had just strode to the podium. He tapped the mic twice, and the crowd went silent. Baker and Saburov still circled the floor above, gazing down from shrouded balconies. Alexei felt himself recite the first few words of the speech alongside Gerard, feeling a shiver as his friend's voice boomed through the silence.
"Ladies, gentlemen, all of humanity. Today is the day our history shakes, the day the course of our species changes once again. The UPL is a venerable institution that once took dire measures to rescue our species from its own excesses. While it succeeded in that endeavor, it came at the cost of stagnating human progress. Our sole attempt at creeping from this crowded solar system was at the behest of someone who is now well-renowned as a madman; it was little more than a petty genocide conducted by a hateful little scoundrel."
"Since then, we have only turned to the stars to look at the few extra-terrestrial colonies we can claim, such as Mars and Phobos. We kept an eye on our wayward colonists, if only to note the time and date of their death. But not only have they survived, they have finally accomplished that which we never could."
Alexei smiled. At this very instant, the observatories across the globe were uploading the video clips, now numbering in the dozens, of their proof. The entire world would see that at last, there was a real reason to huddle together and hate the darkness. If we do not ally, do not make ourselves stronger together, who is to say these beings will not wipe us out? Unity through fear.
Alexei started as two gunshots came from another monitor – Parisian police had executed someone.
"Sparrow 1, report."
"Drug dealer, told us they'd been looking for this guy for ages - unrelated matter," said Sparrow 1 without emotion. "Looks like it might have stirred up the hornet's nest though…"
The crowd was scattering, but there were shouts and screams. The Parisian police had now formed a proper riot line, and one man stood atop the steps up to the government building and begin yelling into a megaphone, alternating between English and French. Alexei saw a flash from a silhouette in the crowd and the man fell, wounded. Then all hell broke loose.
"Sparrow 1," said Alexei, watching the beginnings of a large scale riot form before his eyes, "get inside the building and let the police handle this. Bar the door and head to the auditorium."
"Copy that."
Alexei caught another brief snippet of Gerard and tried to remember where he was in the speech.
"…of life beyond us, of civilizations beyond us. They have proven themselves belligerent, and assault these people – our colonists – without provocation or warning. We have seen into the void and found these creatures already crawling up to consume us. Humanity must stand together before this…"
"Sparrow 3, suspicious persons in western hallway. Checking it out."
Alexei gritted his teeth and considered turning off the monitor overseeing the courtyard – the noise was ungodly, and now he could only see smoke, gunshots, and struggling outlines of people. He looked for Sparrow 3 and found the pair of them approaching one of the janitors from before.
Alexei glanced back at the auditorium, caught a glimpse of either Saburov or Baker learning down behind a balcony.
"Found something, Sparrow 4?"
Alexei thought he heard something muffled on the mic before one of them responded.
"C- uh, sorry, come again, sir?"
Alexei suddenly had a lurching, sinking feeling in his stomach. Couldn't be. He made sure his line was directed only to Sparrow 4 and then said, very clearly: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." How sweet indeed.
There was a brief pause before Sparrow 4 responded, "Uh, come again, sir?"
That's not Saburov or Baker.
"All Sparrows, Code Red, repeat, Code Red," said Alexei, remaining calm. "I just issued a kill phrase to Sparrow 4 and neither of them reacted. They are imposters. Converge on auditorium and-"
There were more muffled gunshots – the maintenance workers had produced guns only to be swiftly dispatched by Sparrow 3. Quick and thorough.
"This is Sparrow 1, people are trying to get in!"
"Get to the auditorium!" snarled Alexei. "We cannot lose Gerard!"
Alexei then quickly cleared his throat, and relayed orders again to the false Sparrow 4, who had heard none of the ruckus.
"Sparrow 4, keep an eye on your corners. We have rogue maintenance workers and a riot outside. Preserve the UPL Central Cabinet at all costs." That should buy Gerard some time – if they start shooting, he won't be at the forefront of their minds.
"Understood."
The three teams were dashing through the building at all speed. However, as Sparrow 1 rounded a corner, they were immediately confronted by four men in unfamiliar spec-ops armor.
"Son of a-"
Sparrow 1 went down; both members quickly drilled three times in the chest before being shot twice again in the head. Alexei watched with dead eyes, thankful that at the very least the auditorium was still locked and sound-proofed. None of you will escape this revelation.
Part of him was tempted to just leave – the main goal of the mission was already accomplished. New leaders, leaders possibly decided by Alexei himself, could be put into place. He could select people who would turn their backs on the stagnant policies of the UPL in favor of a new order that would propel humanity forward.
But I'd lose Gerard.
There was not really a choice. Alexei took off his hat and put on the headset that Gerard had insisted he have there "just in case." Building is sealed off. Brazilian teams running rampant, one team down and one team compromised… it's a good day to die.
"Sparrow 2 and 3, proceed with caution," said Alexei, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Brazilian specialists are on site and have already taken out Sparrow 1. I am moving from my position to help secure these hallways – we only need keep them from getting in for another seven minutes at the most, but someone needs to remove the imposters." And if I tell anyone what's going on in the auditorium, those bastards start shooting. How the hell did they get this far?
Alexei ignored the responses of the Sparrows and stepped to the arms locker, procuring a deadly looking Harbinger rifle. Best I can do without a combat suit. Need to be careful.
Sighing, he carefully opened the exit door and began jogging down the hall, feeling his rifle slide in his grip.
"Sparrow 2, wounded three guys and are in pursuit! They're yelling in Portuguese."
"Sparrow 3, pinned down. Sir, you best get to that auditorium fast. I think they've got a bomb."
Alexei imagined Gerard still spouting the words he had written for him, blissfully unaware of the people fighting, bleeding, and dying outside of his little audience.
Need to get to the second floor.
A stunned looking janitor almost collided with Alexei. He opened his mouth to speak, hands raised, but Alexei squeezed the trigger twice and watched the blood spatter the wall behind the janitor as the man collapsed bonelessly.
Alexei sprinted now, carrying himself further toward the stairs. He could hear yells from the floor above him, heard muffled thuds.
"Sparrow 3, man down! They're headed for the balconies!"
Alexei smashed the door to the stairs open and careened up them, heart thudding in his chest. When he shoved open the second floor door, it was to find two spec ops turning toward him, a yellow janitorial bin loaded with a beeping package between them.
His hands slick with sweat, Alexei quickly jerked his rifle into position and fired into the pair of them. One yelled as his shoulder was hit before going down with a gurgle, and the other charged toward Alexei. Alexei redirected his fire and saw a graze, but the recoil was too much and it was too fast to keep track – the Brazilian lifted Alexei off his feet as he barreled into him, trailing blood. The two fell into a grunting, biting mess.
Alexei came out on top and pinned the Brazilian's arms with his knees, drawing a fist back and driving it into the man's stomach. Alexei felt a crunch and a sudden pain in his hand as the knuckles connected with something made of metal, and the man broke free, quickly standing as Alexei clutched his whitened knuckles.
They stared at each other, both breathing heavily as Alexei's pain came in low throbs, and the man's leg bled continuously. When Alexei tried to stand, the Brazilian lurched forward and tried to aim a kick at Alexei, only to fall slightly off-balance and miss. Alexei, unwilling to try and punch a man wearing any amount of armor, instead dove forward and found the wound with his thumb, driving the digit into it and feeling a sadistic glee as he did so.
The man howled and twisted, but Alexei was on top of him again and drove a finger into the wound as well, feeling the blood running in crimson rivulets down his sweaty hands.
Die, damn you. DIE IN PAIN.
The man's hand found Alexei's arm and, with effort, wrenched it free, leaving Alexei tumbling to the side with a bright red hand. He laughed, even though his foe was stronger than him, even as his foe began to stand again, because Alexei had ended up right next to his foe's rifle.
Grabbing it, he swung at the man's head with an arcing blow, cracking him across his mask. The lens shattered, and the man fell twitching to the floor. Alexei fell on his enemy again, clubbing him over and over and over with his gun, until both the weapon and the victim's skull were a ruined mess. He stood, panting, over his fallen opponent.
Still have to move…
The other Brazilian lay still, several holes still trickling blood from the freshly formed cavities in his chest. Another rifle lay beside him.
Alexei took it, only barely registering it as some sort of Southern American Coalition carbine, hearing only Sparrow 2 and 3 reporting themselves wounded but victorious while he sprinted again, almost slipping on blood, to the doors that lead to the balconies above the auditorium.
When he burst through the doors to the other side, he was immediately confronted by one of the imposters, who jerked backwards and began to aim his rifle. Alexei, not even sure where his hands were, squeezed the trigger so tight he thought it would break. The subsonic rounds seemed to cut through the imposter in slow motion, the blood blossoming before his eyes in a way that was beautiful. The man looked down in shock, and Alexei could see his eyes were wide behind the lenses. The imposter fired his own rifle, even as his legs gave way, and Alexei felt pressure on his chest through the haze of red.
The world turned around Alexei as he heard his own ragged gasps. Behind the now slumped form of the first imposter was the second, now looking down his sights at the assembled politicians. Alexei brought up his own rifle again and fired three times, noticing afterward that his wrists were now soaked in blood and he had no idea why.
The crowd roared and the man fell; Alexei swore he could feel the pain and dismay of the false-Baker's final moments. His own weapon fell from his lifeless fingers and he fell forward, caught only by the balcony railing. Crimson droplets fell from him on to the crowd below, and he saw the assembled politicians recoiling in shock and disgust as he stared down at them. He looked up; saw Gerard staring from the podium.
"Alexei?"
Alexei drew himself up as best as he could.
"Well?" he snarled to the rest of the politicians, pointing to the still image of an alien vessel behind Gerard. "Get on with it!"
Alexei Stukov began to turn but his legs gave way and he fell to his knees, staring in blank shock at a sucking chest wound.