World War Guppy
And, it's time, to start, with the next story! The immediate sequel to 7SSG, and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as the 2 previous parts.
Chapter 1: Desperate loneliness
"The time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life's cruelest irony." —Douglas Coupland
Tycho crater, OD headquarters
Objective: Destroy OD HQ and regroup
"Our evac is ready. The explosives are safe from OD defusing teams." Nonny said.
"We must find Molly and Zooli back first. Our comlinks don't work inside these structures." Deema said.
"They went to the tower. Let's move, now. The barricades won't hold forever." Gil ordered. The squad entered the elevator. Cesario got handcuffed earlier and his weapon confiscated.
"Back on the surface level. Sunlight please!" Deema said.
"Quiet, there could still be enemies." Gil whispered. They slowly walked down the hall again. "Nonny, Goby, get in that storage depot again with Cesario, and wait for our return."
The boys nodded. Gil continued with Deema and Oona. They passed the dome and reached the point where the hall turned to the left.
"There." Oona pointed.
"That must be the elevator door. And look at the mess around." Deema added. On the ground were soldier corpses and metal debris. Gil advanced first.
"What, is this..." He said, seeing a round object.
"Maybe it's a drone?" Oona whispered. Gil took it, turned it around, and let it fall out of surprise.
"NO!" He shouted. Deema and Oona were worried. Gil crouched and picked the object back up.
"Oh no!" Oona said, looking over Gil's shoulder. Deema saw it too, and put her hand on Gil's other shoulder. Gil started to sob a bit.
"Zooli..." He rubbed her forehead. Zooli wasn't recognizable any more. Her skin and hair were blown away. Only the shape of her head was more or less visible.
The 3 looked around, and saw all the other body parts of Zooli.
"Gil... We must..." Deema said.
"I know..." He stood up with the head, and walked forward. The trio entered the elevator, and went up.
"Earth... Wh, why..." Molly put one hand on the glass dome, staring outside.
"Molly!" Deema shouted. Molly turned around, and felt relief.
"What happened? What are you doing? Are you wounded?" Oona asked. Molly pointed behind her, slowly. The 3 looked, and were horrified. Earth's surface got wiped away by a shockwave. Almost no green or artificial lights visible.
"It's the beam we heard earlier, probably..." Molly commented. Gil approached her, with Zooli's head in his hand. She started to cry again. Gil hugged her. "I couldn't save her Gilly! And she sacrificed her life for mine. You were right, she is a Guppy!"
The couple sobbed. Oona and Deema were sad too.
"We must go, guys..." Deema said silently. They understood it, and went back to the elevator.
"We will find a way to bring her back..." Gil said. "We always find a way!"
Molly smiled and wiped her tears away.
"And..." Deema started. "Have you found their leader?"
"An older Guppy, grey brushed back hair, brown eyes, pale skin. They call him 'Unknown Voice', or 'UV'." Molly explained.
"And he didn't kill you?" Deema asked. The elevator got down, and the 4 continued.
"No, he didn't. He granted me one chance to avenge, my friend... For later. I tried to shoot him, but there's a force field around him!" Deema just nodded. "Did everything go by plan on your side?"
Gil looked at her, and nodded. "The explosives are ready, the rest is waiting in the depot storage for evac. And Goby captured that Cesario guy, you remember?"
"From Sinus Iridum? He's everywhere, really..."
"Goby really damaged him badly, with his grappling hook on the face..." Molly looked in a slightly disgusted way.
The group finally reached the storage depot. Goby and Nonny looked, and the first thing they saw, was Zooli's head. They were shocked too. Cesario remained silent.
"She... Zo... No." Goby stuttered. Gil retook his backpack and put the head in her.
"We won't give her up..." Gil whispered. The rest gathered on the platform, and it went down. A programmed train by Nonny was ready. And they all entered it.
"Here we go, south-western corner..." Nonny mumbled.
"No enemies around, have they fled or something?" Goby asked himself.
"I want to know that too! Cowards." Cesario responded. Goby didn't respond.
"What do you mean, you wanna know too? Don't lie that you don't know!" Gil said. Cesario raised an eyebrow. Goby looked confused too.
"They, used a weapon, a laserbeam, on the Earth's surface..." Molly mentioned. Goby was silent, but he turned to Cesario. Nonny heard it too from the control cabin.
"Why?! Why! Answer!" Goby shouted.
"Leave him Goby. They don't care about people. They only want success and power!" Molly added.
"And talking about 'no killing innocents'! How hypocritical of you!" Goby added.
"I just learned the news from your teammate here! I was never informed of a mass-destruction beam that could destroy Earth's surface, merda!"
"How the Hell can't you know? You were in the HQ all the time! You have a high position, as Colonel!" Gil snapped back.
"I was in the underground facilities all the time! And I might have a high rank, but there are things that are kept secret, for almost everyone!" The rest didn't reply directly.
"What a trust does the OD have in their employees..." Deema said. Nonny entered the carriage with the rest.
"Will it take long?" Molly asked.
"10 minutes, roughly. But Molly..." Nonny said.
"Yes Nonny?" The rest looked at Nonny, and he looked back.
"You, you promised that the OD, wouldn't take back Earth. And now they did! All our places we loved, gone!" Molly sighed, and looked down. "We can't go back to a normal life now. The world is in pieces! And I don't think the WPP will win this time..."
Nobody felt like talking. All were sad of the past events. Moral was low, and Molly had to do something. She stood up and looked her friend in the eyes.
"They attacked Earth... But... Will we, give up?" Guppies started to look up at Molly. She continued. "We beat the OD so many times now! We were made to kick them! We will never give up!"
"Never!" The rest, except Nonny, screamed.
"Will we fight until the end, with everything we have?"
"Yes!"
"Will we finish the OD once and for all?!"
Yes!" Everyone stood up.
"For Zooli... For Zooli, we will do it for her!"
"For Zooli!"
Everyone was looking at Nonny. He watched Molly.
"We will do our best." He replied. Everyone raised their weapons. Moral got restored. Some moments later, they all sat down again.
"I must say, your special team spirit can't be replaced by any sort of technology... Impressionante." Cesario said.
"You guys don't have such spirit in the OD?" Goby asked with a little undertone.
"What do you mean, Goby?" Molly asked.
"What I want to say, is that our very friendly Italian here, was once on our side... But he didn't stay..." Nobody expected this. Goby started to tell everything that Cesario had revealed to him earlier.
"... True. We never asked ourselves how the WPP was created." Gil said.
"It doesn't really matter now... Not any more." Molly said."
"But so they still observe us when we leave!?" Oona asked worringly. Cesario grinned.
"Of course not! Don't let his word impact you. Stay focussed Oona." Molly replied.
"I want to be sure about it. I'll try to find out on myself later…" Goby thought.
The train stopped at the programmed destination. The squad went up the stairs of the south-western station. In a locker, they found a spacesuit for Cesario. Now they could go back to the surface.
"Finally Sun!" Deema exclaimed. But then she looked around. Buildings destroyed, walls in ruins, and Earth...
"It is... quiet." Molly commented. Their sound receptor modules didn't catch 1 little noise.
"The battlefield switched rapidly, from here, to Earth again, I suppose..." Nonny said.
"Guys let's hurry! There is the rift in the wall we created!" Gil pointed at it. Everyone ran to and through it. The surface was devastated.
"We must find the preparation camp. From there we'll start our research." Molly ordered.
"I have the coordinates on my map tool." Nonny said. Everyone followed him, and a couple of minutes later, behind Moon dunes, they arrived at the inflatable dome and tents for storage and vehicles.
"Investigate the surroundings and the camp itself. Goby, stay with the prisoner. Deema, find the long-range radio and try to contact help." Molly finished giving her orders. She followed Deema who found the radio in the dome.
"It's still working, or, half... Let me emit an emergency signal. Everyone in a 50 kilometres radius will receive it... Done!"
"And how will they contact us? They might don't have an as strong radio as we do." Molly questioned.
"With the signal they will get our coordinates. And when they receive it, they can send a short response in the form of a couple beeps. 3 consecutive beeps means they will come to our position and that we should wait for them." At that moment, the radio started making noise.
"Like this?" Molly asked. Deema listened attentively.
"3 beeps! A WPP unit is near. Only they know the combinations, and the response was quick. They are very close!" The 2 girls rushed out and gathered everyone into the camp.
"Do you know from where they'll come?" Goby whispered to Deema.
"We can't know that, but they will be friendly, don't be afraid." She answered.
"I'm not afraid!"
The group waited for an extra minute, until a nearby shot was fired.
"You heard that too?" Gil asked. He took his weapon ready. The squad looked around to the dunes. On the side Molly was looking on, 2 silhouettes appeared.
"Ahh, goddang! They survived! I told you they did! Even the most dangerous missions don't kill them!" A familiar voice said. The 2 approached the group.
"Sergeant Flynn!"
"Lieutenant Moon!"
"Alive, but wounded." Molly said.
"Alive is the important part, where is Zooli? I count only 6 suicidal individuals?" Flynn said jokingly. Everyone looked at Gil in silence. He showed the remnants in the backpack.
"My condolences." Moon said.
"If I had a hat on, I would take it off..." Flynn added. His attention was then caught by the OD prisoner. "What a, coincidence to see you here!"
"Do you..." Goby said, the rest were confused too.
"I thought you would have retired. Or doesn't the WPP let you?" Cesario commented.
"I'm not retiring until I choose to. But I'm certainly not deserting!"
"Wowow. You guys know each other?" Goby asked, putting himself between the 2.
"Yep, I trained him on his arrival. But that was the past now. He's the enemy, and our prisoner."
"I'd like to remind everyone that Earth's surface has been blown into pieces, so we should get a little bit of information from you? Why are you 2 here alone? Where is the rest? What the Hell happened?!" Gil asked.
"We tried to contact you, but no signals passed through the OD HQ." Moon started. "We couldn't reach you inside either. The defences were too heavy and the casualties too high already. So we stayed, waiting for your return."
"But while waiting, our scouts saw a dome open up inside the HQ, revealing an unknown weapon. It shot a laserbeam, at Earth." Flynn added.
"The high-command ordered an immediate retreat and redeployment of our troops. To help Earth's population probably. Valen secretly ordered us to stay, he didn't want to abandon you 7, 6, completely..."
"So you don't know anything else?" Molly asked.
"Unfortunately no. The communication with Valen broke before he could explain more..." Flynn said.
"The Hannibal might be under attack then! Milou is in danger!" Gil stated, being worried.
"I'm afraid it is, but we were ordered to stay until your arrival. So it's time we go and check the situation up there." Moon said, pointing up.
"There's still a transport ship operational on camp Delta, not far from here. We'll reach it and go to the Hannibal." Flynn added.
"What are we waiting for? Let's move!" Molly ordered. Nonny got the point on his map, and the group wandered on the deserted Moon surface. While walking, Molly went to Flynn again.
"Impressive." He simply said.
"What?" Molly asked.
"Everyting, really. Surviving this mission, staying stable after the death of a team member. You really trained on that."
"You trained us on that."
"True, don't stop being operational. Or we'll die..."
"What happened to your 2 squads?"
"They all left with the rest. We couldn't risk being with too much, or we'll get spotted."
"And... Earth, is it the apocalypse?"
"It is the beginning of it. But I still don't know what the surface looks like, if it's still liveable, or if people managed to get in the secret WPP shelters. Yes, we built special shelters all over the world. But if this is what I think it is, The OD was far more dangerous and is now taking over the globe."
"But that means the WPP will be made public!"
"We must try and save this world, so yes, we will. Don't ask too many questions, we must focus on our missions, and then you'll get your answers. I don't know anything about the situation right now. Ah there, Delta camp!" Flynn said, pointing.
The whole group got into the ship. Gil went to the front seat with Moon. The rest sat down in the briefing area. This was a large transport ship like the one for the Mars mission.
"Taking off! What a chance it still works!" Gil announced through the loudspeakers. The ship went up, and flew above the OD HQ. Nothing shot at them, the area was completely abandoned. Flynn stood up to talk.
"Chances are great that the Hannibal is under heavy attack. It's one of our 2 HQ's after all. You all are wounded, but the situation is critical. Ignore the pain, you aren't dead so keep going. Ehem, we will try and evacuate the most important members of the HQ. Sonic will stay on board to fly away quickly."
"I'll stay too to help you unlock the access to computers." Nonny said.
"And I'll try to establish communications with the survivors." Deema added. Flynn nodded.
"We will have to fight, so watch out. Clean a way to the evac, and save a maximum amount of people. After that... We'll see what to do..." Flynn sat back down.
"Hopefully this will work out." Oona said.
"It always worked out for us, Oona." Deema responded. She smiled.
Flynn looked at Cesario, questioning.
"Giovanni, if I remember..."
"Cesario for the enemy." Flynn laughed a little.
"It's weird... We beat you so hard on Earth and in space, but you seem to have an infinite amount of soldiers and resources."
"In the OD, you only see what we have on the battlefields..." Flynn crossed his arms. The ship continued to fly, in space.
"Milou, please be still alive…" Gil said to himself.
"My home will be avenged. And my friend…" Molly thought.