Author's note.
It may be that I've been watching a little too much Lost of late //I don't own Lost or anything.// but I felt the need to give more of James' background up and couldn't really adapt it into the present day story line. Thus I have included a flashback line that will explain more about the main character than the regular story has allowed me. I hope it turns out well.
"What makes a weapon deadly? Is it the effectiveness, the deadly proficiency it's easiness to master? No it is the ability to rapidly produce that weapon to a point that numbers will count for nothing against it."-Unknown-
10 Hours. 45 Units February 3, 2184 AD
Planet Gamma Xeta
En route to Facility designated Target Alpha
Day Two of Operation "Unmasked Retrieval"
A branch snapped under James boot as the group continued on their trek through the jungle filled planetary surface. Up ahead Bacek and Cahleura and their almost eerily silent steps stayed on point making sure the path was clear. After the first day of marching they had decided wearing their full suits of armor was gonna take them out a lot faster than any enemy combatants. James felt a little unprotected without his full gear but as there was already more sweat collecting on his forehead he felt compelled to go on without the armor.
Wiping the perspiration from his temple his eyes scanned around checking for anything amiss in the environment. They had already seen several forms of native life, the creatures had provided an interesting change of pace from the overcrowded flora, but James knew that it would provide excellent cover for anyone preparing to ambush the squad on their route.
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April 11, 2178
Systems Alliance Training Base in Hadgeld, Germany
Student Assignment. The unknown enemy.
"You hit the enemy at their strong point, they are anticipating this move but you do it anyway. You sacrifice one assault to lull them into a sense of ease. In the time they think you're licking your wounds you strike quickly and decisively here at their supposed weak point." James said making sure to continue to remain motionless. Everything about this assignment was being watched and graded from the mannerisms in his voice to his stance.
"Interesting conclusion Fields but this plan of action only works if you think you can expend the resources in your initial assault. What makes you think your troops are going to be willing to make the secondary attack after what happens during the first?" A gray haired yet intuitive looking old man asked. All eyes in the classroom seemed to focus on James waiting for his response.
James slanted his head forward slightly. He knew the question was going to be asked and he thought that he'd come up with the right answer but was now having to make the argument in class it was going to be an interesting debate.
"The ends of course, must justify the means professor Othern. If the mission requires it, the troops would need to accomplish their mission. I wouldn't rely on the tactic for more straight forward missions but the manner of this attack could be used effectively in some theaters of thought." James said as he finished off his reply.
"You didn't answer my question Fields, how would you convince your troops to do the second assault?" Othern asked as James collected his datapad on the podium. Looking up to respond James began to figure out just how he was going to reply.
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It seemed for an eternity since they'd been following the river forward closer and closer into the lion's den but so far no one had seen anything and Tholam hadn't detecting any sort of communications that would indicate an enemy patrol. Now almost a day and a half into the mission James felt just a little bit on edge over the relative calm around him. As they journeyed forward James spotted another branch ahead of him and decided it'd be better to avoid it rather than breaking the silence.
The sniper rifle has always been a thing of beauty. Fine toned to a tool of warfare from the earliest application of firearms. The most efficient way of dealing with one's enemy with the least amount of commotion possible, the perfect weapon of death in its wielder's opinion. James trailed the sights of his rifle left to right observing the trio of patrolling individuals that Bacek had spotted. Keeping the rest of the group about half a klick behind them the chance that the sentries would realize they were under eyes would be very slim and keep the element of surprise securely with the commandoes.
The beings were all turian, each with a dull grey uniform and a rifle at the ready. James knew it was still early to assume that that they were enemy targets. Of course walking up to them and saying hello wasn't the best option either. Better to think up something a little cleverer.
Citus Gotan looked over to his right raising his rifle slightly. He knew he's seen movement in the bushes but now when his dark eyes were set right at the disturbance he couldn't see anything. To his right his cousin Kaitus was already covering his back while their accomplice, a quiet man who'd called himself Stone was spinning around to cover their rear guard.
"What was it?" his cousin asked suspiciously while keeping his own set of eyes searching for whatever the possible threat was.
"I'm not sure, hasn't been anything out here since when Rios thought he saw a krogan and tired to burn half the jungle down and then.." this time he definitely saw movement this time. Suddenly all three rifles were aimed squared up at the jungle brush ahead of them. Citus glanced over at Kaitus' white rimmed eyes and then returned to the moving plants.
Suddenly a fellow turian and an asari stumbled out of the jungle almost head long into the patrol, Citus almost lost his balance as the asari collided with him. His training kicking in he took two steps back and raised his rifle up a bit to make sure it was ready if he needed it.
"Woah woah my friend no need for that, I'm pretty sure we lost em in the shrubs." The turian said as he bent over to catch his breath.
"I'm sorry this is private property I can't let you come any further." Citus said quickly in an almost harsh tone. He knew the rules, nobody got into the area, the only people supposed to be in there are already there. Still if there was only two of them, and neither had weapons. "What are you doing out here anyway." He asked as he kept his weapon ready.
"Just doing a little big game hunting, damn beasts actually got the drop on us, don't you hate it when that happens." Just as the words left his mouth several figures in sleek black armor appeared from the brush. "But I guess we can settle for something else." The turian said with a sly grin.
As Citus and his comrades slowly lowered their weapons he turned to one of the commandos, "Why couldn't they have been more krogan?" he said with a heavy sigh.
Nina and Tholam finished binding the wrists of the guards and then helped the group up to their feet. James was still figuring everything out about what to do just as he turned back to his charges. "So just what kind of operation are you guys running down here." He asked inquisitively as Bacek and the rest of the squad kept watch.
"We're raising baby Tovalers, they're great guard animals." The charcoal skinned turian retorted gruffly to the question.
"Yeah being able to vomit acid is always something you want your kids to experience at an early age." Joavn said with a smirk. "You better start talking gray, we've got things to do and a few guards can't slow us down that much." He turned up to James. "Put a round in his friend's leg."
James nodded quickly to the command and unholstered his Stinger swiftly and aimed it to the armored kneecap. He had decided early on that secrecy was as important as ever in this operation. It was bad enough he'd already exposed Bacek and Cahleura to the patrol but he needed to keep the rest of their identities as dark as possible. So far Joavn was doing a good job fulfilling the role of ersatz squad leader but it would only go so far.
The pistol's barrel lined up its target just as Kaitus opened his mouth. "They don't tell us anything, they employ us to keep an eye on the grounds. Nobody outside gets to go into the facility, they don't pay us for that." Citus stared crimson bolts to his cousin for giving in. If their employer, unstable as he was already found out about this they'd have a lot more than death to worry about, not that he figured they make it out here much longer. He braced himself for the imminent execution.
Joavn glanced up slightly to James awaiting the signal for what to do next. The movement was so quick it wouldn't have mattered that the captured still had their heads bent slightly to the ground. James made a quick shake of his head. Jovan brought up his rifle and pressed a small tab on the side of the gun. Quickly and proficiently he fired one shot into the neck of each turian. Of course in place of a rapidly traveling pellet of lethal efficiency there was a tiny dart lodged into the rough skin of each being. Almost at once they fell down to the jungle floor leaving the Cohort team alone to their thoughts.
"Well we better start moving." Jovan said as he unclasped his helmet and lowered if from his sullen looking features. "How'd I do?" he asked as he turned over to James.
"I think a little less shoot to solve and more just solve next time, don't worry about it I'm sure there's gonna be more where that came from."
"Patriot you never fail to amaze, and this goes for all the weapons?" the first individual asked the turian besides him. The elder of the species had yellow gold tattoos emerging from each of his eyes.
"Of course, it took awhile to make it practical but in the long term it will be much easier to create in the future." Jardron stared out onto the manufacturing floor. "In a way it makes me so proud, these weapons will secure victory for." Suddenly a spell seemed to overtake the seasoned turian. He rapidly expelled a series of coughs and the other individual had to move quickly to balance his comrade.
"It seems to be getting worse my friend. What have the doctors told you?" the comrade asked as Jardron cleared his throat.
"Nothing that I haven't already heard but it doesn't matter, be it now or the next generation we will have our victory." Jardron turned up to talk to his comrade. "One way or another we have secured victory."
His compatriot nodded almost completely assured in the knowledge himself and brought his hand to pat his friend's shoulder. "One way or another they will never see it coming."
The building was interesting to say the least, it seemed like a combination of artistic manor as well as a large warehouse at least from the exteriors they were seeing. Of course things are never what they seem like on the outside. And of course they were still under comm silence for another 30 units so they had some time to figure things out.
18 Hours, 04 Units. February 3, 2184 AD
Planet Gamma Xeta
Facility designated Target Alpha
Day Two of Operation "Unmasked Retrieval"
"The main entrance is here," James pointed to the structure's entrance on the large datapad he had brought to the meeting of the captains. "It has turrets manned at all times according to both our observation and what we've gotten out of the prisoners so far."
"Of course if there's a main entrance then there is always going to be a secondary entrance." Ivizzes growled almost and traced his claw from the entrance to another entrance north-east of the beginning point. "This is where we hit them and hit them hard. My team has been watching it closely, it seems to be a service entrance of some kind we tracked several individuals bringing out loads of refuse and dumping them in containers. The kicker of course is that they do this while in full containment suits." To this Signius raised his head obviously interested in the peculiar piece of evidence.
"So another piece of the puzzle falls out and we get another gap. What does a retired turian officer have in his private residence that requires full containment suits?" the turian asked as he stared back to the structure.
"Not a lot of people know about this facility, if Jardron wanted to do something away from prying eyes." Troaviel mentioned as he continued looking over the maps the squads had created of the immediate areas. "So what exactly does this mean for us?"
"It means that we need to be extremely careful with how we proceed. No sense walking into a death trap without knowing just how you're going to get shot." James said as he figured out the best alternative for them to enact. "Anyone up for a bit of force recon?"
Bacek was always one for finding the good wherever you could. Since his induction into the time honored military training back when he was young he'd done his best to keep his wits about him and look for the good wherever he could find it. Interestingly enough however, there wasn't much to look for when you were headed straight into an enemy facility with only exterior knowledge and your wits to protect you.
He and the three other turians made a casual and non eventful walk up to the border of the main entrance. All of them had their helmets atop their heads and visors down. Arterius hadn't been happy about the mission either but Troaviel had a larger frame than the gray uniforms and James didn't want to risk the base guards figuring out the ruse too early.
And the last two members of the group had been provided by one of the unwilling prisoners and a turian Cohort member by the name of Taoris. James had said without at least one of the original patrol present the ploy wouldn't even get off the ground. As one of the sentries took notice of him the guard unholstered his shotgun from its port.
"Hang on their Citus, you know the rules, anyone who belongs in the base is already in the base." The approaching guard said as he held his shotgun at the ready keeping a close watch on the newcomer.
"He said his ship got busted up on his reentry, said he's here on the request of Yo'Tauros." With this mentioning the guard seemed to show a little bit of surprise, he lowered his weapon slightly and looked over to Bacek. Appearing to size up the turian he moved towards him and responded.
"Well if you're here on the request of comrade Yo'Tauros, than you wouldn't mind telling me how his uncle is doing?" the guard leader asked as he continued keeping his weapon at the ready.
Bacek suppressed a smile to the question before making his next remark. "Well maybe you can go ask him yourself." Just as the realization hit the guard leader a sniper round cut through the air and lanced one of the turret gunners. The turian's rough skin blistered under the extreme heat of the blast as his form crumpled down to the floor.
Without another word the Cohort squad member withdrew compact pistol and fired point blank into the guard captain. The turian yelped in agony at the attack while Bacek caught the next guard in a swift jab. Taoris knocked the prisoner unconscious and opened fire with his own weaponry. As the guards dove for cover amidst the supply containers nobody was quick to see the group of twelve black armored commandoes as they moved on past the main entrance.
James heard the whirr click as his sniper rifle folded back into place on the back of his armor and then looked downward. In one swift movement he dropped to the ground feeling a bit of pain as he landed. Making a note that such a drop shouldn't be part of his normal routine James continued along meeting up with Tholam and Joavn whom now were full suited and ready for action. The firefight just ahead didn't make him feel very optimistic but he knew patience was every thing.
The firefight raged on as the base guards slowly fell back under the accurate to say the least fire. From the tree line single precision shots rang out while from the base of the foliage a squad of eight armored troops marched right out from the trees firing as they went. The entire visage was quite discomforting to the garrison as enemy group methodically continued forward their weapons working through almost all cover available. One security officer made a run for the secondary turret which had been plucked off almost as quickly as the first one. But just as he was clearing the body a storm of rounds penetrated his barriers and the man collapsed back down to the exterior floor.
The guards however did have numbers on their side. Even without the heavy guns they were still able to bring concentrated fire down upon the advancing soldiers. It took a few seconds but eventually the storm of fire broke the commandos' morale and their line broke. Their position compromised the commando leader motioned to the squad to fall back to the trees. Under the suppression fire of their snipers the group rushed back to the relative safety of the jungle but they could only move so fast. Two of the fleeing soldiers fell against the torrent of fire but the rest managed to escape.
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April 11, 2178
Systems Alliance Training Base in Hadgeld, Germany
Student Assignment. The unknown enemy.
"As a leader it's your responsibility to make sure you know what your troops are made of. There's never a perfect situation in a military conflict, one must always make due with what's given. I would compel upon my troops that this way was the best to counter the threat laid before us. As you said before a leader must maintain complete control in order to execute his mission, my troops would do the secondary assault because they knew. That even if we lost the battle, we would still win the war." James said as he waited for the rebuttal by his professor.
Instead Othern just looked back at James; blankly it seemed at first but soon enough a sly grin crossed the older man's face. "It seems I was wrong Fields you have been paying attention in class. This assignment was in fact not geared toward the accurate response tactically but instead it was a reprisal of what we studied last semester. No matter the plan or tactic a unit no matter how small or large must be under the watch of an able leader." Othern looked up at the clock in the beige walled classroom and then turned back to his students. "Alright that's all the time we have today, make sure to review your knowledge on the 'Joker's Gambit' and bring in that report I gave you about Hackett." The professor began cleaning up his desk as the students began to disperse. James was just getting ready to leave when he heard Othern's voice once more. "Fields, may I have a word with you?"
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The base guards finaly relaxed their stances as the area was secured. They began moving through the bodies making sure to collect the IDs of their fallen comrades. One guard moved over to one of the dead commandoes and used his foot to kick the corpse onto its back. A blank helmet visor stared back at the investigator and he would have moved on except for a slight movement of the helmet. The guard instinctively brought up his weapon and aimed it squarely at the motion and prepared to fire. With his right hand firmly gripped on the handle and trigger the turian soldier used his left hand to remove the helmet.
As soon as the armored piece left the owner's head the guard was shocked to see a fellow guard staring back at him. "Kaitus what the hell's going on?" he asked as he ripped the utility tape off Kaitus' mouth.
"Hit the alert! They're going to hit the side entrance, get on the comm now!"