Howling Echoes
The Howls of War
Around the world, people tuned in to the T.V screens. News about the war spreads, and people want to know what is happening. News outlets question the government officials. Other nations have the same problem.
Earth is the place everyone calls home. If you see it from space, it's not the same. Why might you ask? The year is 20XX. Countries fight for land and resources. The oceans are polluted, and the skies are toxic. Protesters all over the world want peace. The government defends its actions and says it's for the people. The people want to go back to how it used to be.
At the White House, the President is in a locked room. Holograms of Ally Leaders are with him. They agree on an operation to stop the enemy forces once and for all. They give the orders, and it begins. They will wait for the results. The President looks at the T.V News channels repeating segments about the war.
Things might change after this operation. Over a desert-like town, a plane passes above. The winds blow the sands over what remains of destroyed buildings. The sun is setting soon.
Inside the plane, we see a group of people. The inside is enormous, and there is a table in the middle. Seats line up against the wall of the aircraft. Weapons are in special lockers. The group is soldiers, and they are getting ready. They are a special Elite Force team. They are finishing putting on a special suit.
The suits they wear are known as Exo suits. Built by the government and allies to help stop the enemy and their advanced weapons. The team was also unique. Enhance individuals made to fight using those suits. Super soldiers, you would call them. There are eight in total.
A man walks in from another room. He looks to be the captain of the squad. The captain is a white male with short black hair. He is about six feet tall. He has a scar on his cheek that runs to his missing ear lobe. The captain calls to another soldier that was sitting. The sitting soldier was daydreaming.
"I've heard of clear skies, blue oceans, and green pastures. I don't know why I'm remembering this now. It might be some kind of premonition, but I got work to do. I will figure it out later".
"….err…ner…. hey rookie"!
The soldier looks at the captain. The captain speaks to him.
"Hey! Rookie, you ready"?
The soldier shakes his head.
"Me a rookie…. You got to be kidding".
Before he got to say anything else, the Operations Commander came in from the other room. The team salutes and pays attention as he speaks.
"Okay, ladies, shut up and listen up! Today's mission is a search and destroys operation. That's not all; Aleksandr Sokolov, a Russian defector scientist that happens to be on our hit list. Our allies in Russia want him eliminated. Rumors have it that he has built a new type of weapon".
The table in the middle turns on. It is a hologram table. It shows targets and mission files. Some soldiers move close and go over the files while the Commander continues to speak.
"Your mission is to infiltrate the base. Steal all data on their weapons and important files. Destroy all knowledge of their files and weapons. If you happen to see Sokolov…. Eliminate him".
The captain speaks up.
"What type of resistance are we looking at"?
The Commander opens a file.
"This is a joint operation with ally ground forces. They are going to distract the enemy while you do your job. This mission might not look like the big operations you see in movies, but it might just be our last".
They recheck the mission file.
"Any other details, Sir"?
The Commander looks at them.
"That's all, boys; the mission starts at nineteen hundred; dismiss."
The Commander leaves the room. The team finishes preparing, and some go over the mission files again. The captain looks at the soldier who is sitting again. The soldier puts on his helmet. The soldier looks up and sees the captain staring at him. The soldier gets up and goes to get a weapon.
Another soldier walks in front of him. In a feminine voice, she shows him a knife.
"Lieutenant your knife."
The female soldier hands the lieutenant the knife. He grabs the knife from her. It was a sharp dagger-looking knife with a worn-out hilt. The lieutenant thanked her.
The soldiers do one final check on their equipment and are ready. The sun is almost gone. They make their way to another room at the back of the plane. Nervously they move a lot. The captain motivates them.
"Are you ready for this"!
The soldiers scream, and the captain hears them over the coms.
"Remember to watch each other's backs and check those corners…."
The soldiers agree. The captain looks at the lieutenant.
"… one last thing, watch out for campers".
The lieutenant shakes his head.
"He was in there really tight. You would have had trouble too."
They all laughed. The rest of the soldiers put their helmets on. They whisper some words, and they become serious. They had a different feel to them. The time was nearing. The lights in the plane go off. A red light begins to flash. It flashes on and off.
In another room, the Commander was watching everything through monitors: Other staff personnel checked the team status and enemy movements. The Commander hears the ground ally troops. The Commander gives the signal.
"Commence assault"
The light on the plane continues to blink red. The doors opened, and the team could see outside. The team looks below and sees the moon shine on a burning city. Tanks move forward, shooting at a massive fort. The fort's walls were high, and turrets were at the top. The turrets move and begin firing back. Enemy soldiers shoot at the allies' troops, making their way through the defense.
The team sees the other side of the fort. The enemy rolls out their tanks. Anti-missile launchers were shooting at the missiles fired at them. The group hears jets approach. The defense gets hit by a bombardment from the jets passing by. The enemy alarm was ringing, and the enemy troops were gathering. The enemy begins to fight back. The battlefields erupt in fire and smoke. Over the coms, you hear the allies desperately fighting.
"Deploy plasma shields"!
Tanks shield themselves while others blow up. Ground soldiers ran to cover and shoot at the enemy.
"Enemy up high"!
"Hit… tank hit"!
"Fire"!
The team changed com channels. The red light flashed three more times, and then a green light appeared. The team jumps from the plane and falls towards the fort. They could see the chaos of the battle. They speed up their descent. Their target was the rooftop of a building inside the fort. As they get close, the enemy appears on the rooftop.
"Weapons free."
The captain and the lieutenant aim their guns and fire at the enemy; The suit beeps, and the team prepares for landing. Thrusters on the suit activate, slowing them down. They land and ready their weapons. The enemy that appeared was all dead. The team moves and secures the roof. On coms, the captain calls them.
"Mike, check"
The team responded to him. The captain acknowledges their response. He calls the Commander.
"This is Alpha one, nest. Do you copy"?
The Commander can see them on his monitors.
"This is nest Alpha one; we hear you loud and clear."
The Commander tells them to continue their mission. Their helmets display where they have to go. The captain points to move out. They make their way to the designated spot. The team moves from corner to corner and through obstacles. More enemy soldiers appear on the roof. The unit quickly takes them out. The team makes it to the mark, and the captain calls out.
"Set charges"
A soldier steps up and sets C4 on the wall. They move back. The soldier checks that everyone is clear and activates the bomb. A hole opens in the wall, and they enter. The team makes sure the room is clear. They make a circle and go over the plan again. A blueprint of the building shows on their helmet. The captain gives out orders.
"Bravo team, head to the server room. It's located four floors down."
The blueprint shows them the floor.
"Any files of value, take it; burn the rest."
The soldier in charge of the Bravo team confirms his orders. They split into two groups of four.
"Alpha with me to the weapons room. If anyone sees Sokolov, you have permission to take him out."
The team makes their way to an elevator. The Alpha team opens the elevator doors and looks down. Bravo team hooks up to wires. Bravo team head down to the fourth floor. Alpha takes the stairs to a hidden base. A lot of the enemy troops have evacuated the building. Several minutes later, gunshots ring. A gunfight starts in the building. Outside, the fighting still rages on.
Bravo team moves to the server room. They engage in gunfights against some of the remaining enemies. Bravo team quickly takes them out. They reach the server room and secure it. One of Bravo's teammates gets close to a server. He takes a wire from his suit and connects. Files begin to be extracted and sent to Nest. The other teammates see the enemy and hold them off—Bravo messages Alpha one.
"We have begun to extract the data. Estimated time one hour"!
Alpha was on the secret floor making their way to a room; Alpha heard the message.
"Alpha one, copy that Bravo. Nest, did you hear that."
The Commander of the operations hears the message. He looks at a screen receiving files.
"This is Nest; we hear you, Alpha. We await your results."
"Copy."
Alpha heads through a hallway. They reach another hallway with no resistance. They end at the door with a keypad. One of the soldiers moves up and begins to hack the keypad. The door opens, and the team slowly makes their way inside. They are in a room that looks like a control room. They see through a window into another space that has a machine.
A group of soldiers and what looks like a scientist are working on the machine. The team makes their way into the room and hides; They look around for more enemies. They spot two more on a catwalk. One of the teammates points at the scientist.
"Sokolov spotted."
Sokolov looked angry and was telling the soldiers what to do. Sokolov was working on a computer by a large metal ring. The captain counts six foes protecting Sokolov. The captain orders the team to tiptoe around some large computers. They get a better view of the enemy. The captain calls his crew.
"Alpha two and three, take out the enemies on the catwalk. Alpha four with me; we take them out together on my signal."
The team agrees, and they move. Alpha two and three activate a stealth feature in their suits. They see ladders leading up to the catwalk. They move silently not to draw attention. Alpha one and four make sure the others don't notice.
Alpha two and three reach the top. They make sure the enemy on the bottom can see them. In a dark corner of the room, they kill the soldier on the catwalk. They radio to the captain. The captain makes his move. He orders the team to line their shots. Each person will take one out.
Alpha two and three aim down at the soldiers. Alpha one and four also aim. The soldiers move around working on the machine; Alpha one ensures the team is ready.
"Are you guys ready"?
The team replies.
"On my mark, one…. two…."
The enemy moves around some more. Alpha one shoots first, and then three more shots are fired. Alpha one fired one more time, and the enemy went down—alpha two and three jumped down. Alpha one and four make their way to the enemy bodies. Alpha one turns the scientist's body around.
"Nest, this is Alpha one. Sokolov is down; I repeat, Sokolov is down… over."
The Commander gets an image of the body. They confirm the body.
"This is Nest, Affirmative Alpha; we heard you. Now destroy that weapon."
The team regroups, and Alpha one orders them to set charges on the machine. Alpha three and four begin to place C4. The captain and lieutenant look around. They begin to talk.
"That was easy. What do you think it is"?
The captain looks at it. He thinks and looks at it from a different angle.
"I don't know; it reminds me of an old movie I watch during one of our missions. The movie had something similar to this."
"That was it"?
"They called it a gate."
The lieutenant looks at it, puzzled.
"A gate…. Like something you go through…. wow."
The captain and lieutenant continue to talk while the other two finish their work. They look around the room again. The captain in his helmet looks at the progress of the other team. The lieutenant thinks about the machine.
"You wonder what the big fuzz about this was"?
The captain stares at it again.
"Well, whatever this is, we are done. This is supposed to stop this war. The enemy's final weapon. Either way, I am off after this mission."
"What, seriously"!
"Yep, I got permitted to go back home."
"How, I thought soldiers like us…."
"I know, but my request went through. Have fun without me."
The captain began to laugh. The lieutenant shakes his head. On coms, you hear the other team.
"This is Bravo; we have taken the data and scorched the room. We are moving to extraction."
The captain looks at his team. One of the soldiers gives him a thumbs up. The other was still working.
"Copy that, Bravo. Alpha is almost done too."
They finished setting up the C4. The building shakes from bombardments. Unknown to them, a group of enemy soldiers was making their way to them. They get to the door and see it open. The enemy enters the room and catches them. The team steps back, ready to leave when the lieutenant notices the enemy. He takes aim and shouts.
"Contact, enemy forces"!
A shoot-out begins. The team was out in the open. The captain tells them to find cover. They see some metal boxes and rush to cover behind them. The captain runs but gets hit. He falls to the ground. The enemy keeps shooting. The captain covers himself and is getting hit.
The lieutenant calls out to him. The captain sees on his display that he is losing armor plating. The captain is huddling, covering exposed areas. The lieutenant tells him to move. The others can't fire back. The enemy moves closer.
"Captain, get out of there"!
The captain can't move. There is blood under him. The enemy's bullets look like lasers. The captain looks over at the lieutenant.
"I can't; they got my leg."
The lieutenant was breathing heavily. He looks at his display. His heart rate was rising. The lieutenant calms and takes a deep breath. He gets out of cover and fires back. He then moves up and shouts.
"Instinct"!
His suit lights up, and he starts to weave from the bullets. He fires and hits the enemy. He has become more aware and focused. His shots are more accurate. The enemy stops and covers. One of the enemy soldiers pulls out a grenade. He throws it before getting killed.
The grenade falls near the captain. The lieutenant sees this and jumps on it. He covers it with his body. The explosion sends him flying. His other two teammates came out of cover to shoot back. The explosion wave knocks them. The captain also gets pushed back.
The lieutenant hits the machine control panel. His suit suffers some severe damage. It starts to discharge electrical waves. The machine turns on and begins to go out of control. The enemy gets frightened and runs away. The captain receives help from his teammates. They see the lieutenant fall to the ground.
The machine lights up and begins to engulf its surroundings. The lieutenant gets up injured. His teammates could not get close to him. The lieutenant starts to walk their way. He reaches out for help. The light engulfs the lieutenant. The lieutenant's body disintegrates.
It was dark, and the lieutenant couldn't see anything. He then hears a voice. It was a female voice, and they sounded scared.
"Why are you doing this"!
A light flash and startles the lieutenant. He covers his eyes with his hand. Out in the distance, he notices something. It took some time, but he realized what it was. A planet that looked like the earth; blue skies and oceans. Green pastures on land. His eyes become heavy, and his body weakens.
The lieutenant is losing consciousness and can't keep his eyes open. He closes his eyes, and his body breaks. He begins to disappear.