When One isn't Enough
The sixth sense. Some say it doesn't exist, that it is made up and childish. Others believe strongly in it, they claim it's gut instinct. What exactly is the sixth sense? It might be the feeling you get when your being watched. Look arround you now, are YOU being watched? Or maybe it's the hairs on the backs of your neck that raise when you KNOW there is something behind you. Something you don't really want to turn arround to see. Maybe it's all of your five senses working all together. Maybe, we will never know.
The quiet city, full of lights and other species of alien passed under them. The black craft seemed to slice through the air and effortlessly float to the destination. The only sound was of the rear engines humming and the occasional clank of the weapons on the cold metal walls of the flying Ops transport. All sixteen were quiet, none spoke. A solomn look plastered onto the blue faces. They all knew what had to be done, no questions asked. The transport would also serve as the comms station and look out while the Ops went in.
The black ship set down outside the lab in the lawn to the right. It waited for a minute before the rear doors opened and let the troopers out. Silently the four teams of four went to their places and awaited for the go command.
Team three carried four long poles and a black briefcase sized computer. The four poles were part of a machine called the 'Holer'. They inserted the rods, which were made of a special metal that is capable of going through the thickest of objects, into the wall in which you wanted to enter. Then the computer activated the rods and the material in between the four rods could be pulled out, making an effective doorway. They each put one of the four poles into the wall, made sure they were perfetly square, "Team three is in place." the leader said to the comms.
Team two swiftly moved in the darkness. They rounded the corner to the rear of the lab. They then found the ladder in which they were supposed to go up and ascended it. The gravel on the roof crunched under their feet as they approached the sky light. The four positioned themselves arround the the glass enrty point. Thet all looked for any signs of hostility or anything in the room below. Nothing. "Comms, this is team two. In position."
Team four made their way up the dark hallway of the main entrance. The only sound was the uniform's material scrapping against itself. They silently approached the octaginal room. The sweep was complete, nothing. All according to plan. The rear was packing a hacker computer, he approached the door by the burnt out lab. The two moons let some light into the eight- sided room. The click of keys, as the computer specialist hacked into the door controlls. After a few seconds there was a beep. "Were in." the specialist whispered. "Team four ready." the leader spoke into his head set.
In the comms room onboard the ship three techs monitored the communications. "We are go." said one. "Commance assult." General Skeff said from the back of the room. "Team two, go! Team three, go! Team four, go! Team one, await further orders."
*
He yawned at the bitter coldness of his room. Scratching himself he stood up from his bed. How long was he asleep? an hour? four? He was hungry, and the ammount of time he'd slept didn't matter anymore. He just hoped his life would return to normal, what ever normal was. He pulled on his suit that he'd taken off before going to sleep and checked the weapons besides his bed, just in case. As of the incident with the dogs he carried two blasters arround in his suit. He stepped out into the hall and sniffed the air, like he did all the time. 626 noticed a faint smell, he coulnd't make it out though. He sniffed his uniform, nope. He tried again, maybe it was an experimental fiber Jumba was working on. He heard it, very faintly though. It sounded like the rubbing of fabfric, like when you walk. Besides he and Jumba there was no one else who wore any clothing. A thought passed through his head, one Jumba had said, '626, you were created to destroy.' And now he felt like destroying something.
For safety he climbed up on the wall and to the ceiling ten feet above. The sound got closer. He scanned the area, listening and looking. Something moved in a side hallway, be barely saw it because it moved fast, but from the looks it was arround three meters long, not one of the dogs. Then the sound slowly faded. He moved slowly on the roof, gravity pulled his small weight down. He creept over the wire bundles and the lights, only making small almost inaudible sounds. His stomach growled, he'd not eaten anything in a while. To him it seemed like a gunshot in the silent halls. He then heard them, four. He heard their breathing, arround the next corner. He had a plan formulated in his head already.
*
All was quiet, too quiet. Still the squad pushed on, scanning the hallways and making note of anything suspicious. The NVG's showed the lab in a green color, they hummed in the silence. The leader stopped, waited. "Team four," he whispered "Sound off." He didn't want to lose anybody in the huge labryinth. "Geffs, here." "Srif, here" Silence. "Ives?" the leader asked ,"Ives, report!" The stone dead walls offered no comfort for the lost comrade. "Back trek, I won't loose any Ops man to a cocky scientist." The squad turned arround.
They found nothing in the first few meters. They slowed their approach arround the corner. What was arround the edge surprized all of them. Laying on the floor was the out lines of Ives. The squad leader pulled him up, he was unconscious and his hands were bound behind his back with the tubular hancuffs 626 was looking at the other day. No sign of a key was present. "Comms, four here. Ives is out of commission." the leader leaned over and felt dizzy. "How team four?" the comms asked. The comms men were always prying into the battle events. "He was assaulted from behind, presumably knocked out then handcuffed with some of those new style cuffs, no key is present." he paused. "Permission to send him out of the lab under escort." he stood up again. "Permission granted." The two remaining black figures slipped off into the long hallways. One of the soldiers stayed behind and carried Ives over his shoulder and out of the lab.
*
Team three approached the controll room. They found the door and walked inside, being catious after team four reported the incident. They filed into the room filled with computer monitors and printers. They removed their goggles and turned on the light. The room was filled with artificial glow. The computers were turned on and neatly cleaned. They got closer, one pulled an expensive computer from his back pack. A slight russle. "Team?" the leader spoke softly. "No." the three replied. All gripped their riffles and scanned. The lights turned off.
*
Three minutes passed as team team four approached the doorway to the room. They all stopped, confused. Why weren't the lights on? Maybe they got there first, maybe team three was late, or dead. They pointed the riffles at the door as the leader opened it. Nothing, it was empty. They filed in, removed their goggles and turned on the lights. They put the goggles away into the packs and surveyed the room. Computers, printers and such. They all turned in unison to see the area not visible when they entered the room. The three froze.
Team three was out of commision, all of them lay unconscious on the floor in a row, all of them were cuffed like Ives. Whatever it was didn't make a sound, and moved too fast for them to react, or even say anything. This thing moved fast, and got all four of them, while they were in the same room. Now that took skill. They were all demorilized by what they saw. "Comms, send team one in. And see if you can get team two up here too." "Affirmative" comms said.
*
He'd raided the medical storage and picked up several pairs of hand cuffs. The one in the hall was an accident, he'd swiped at the comms set in his ear and it flew off. Then he got on the ground and hit the legs with the bar. The soldier had fallen, he then planned to smash his chest, but the soldier had begun to get up, instead he hit him on the head, knocking him out then he applied the cuffs. He propped him up against the wall and ran to the controll room. Inside he found four others, he disposed of them too.
Now there were more, three more. As he hung onto the ceiling he decided how to de commision them, then find where they'd come from. 626 pulled out a tranquilizer he found in Jumba's desk and got ready. He aimed for the nearest one. The soldier stopped and stood there, the dart sticking out of his chest. He made no sound, he just stood there. The two living ones turned and saw, they could do nothing as their friend slipped into the black void of sleep.
He pulled the other tranquilizer from the pocket and let go. He fell head first, firing at the remaining soldiers. The same weird thing happened, things got slow. He saw the dart go into thier chests, they were thrown slightly backward from the shots. He fired two more shots for good measure, the soldiers fell to the ground. Things returned to normal time again. He saw the gound. His vision blacked for a second as he hit the floor with a tremendous of speed. He rolled over and faced the tranqs toward the soldiers, you can never be sure. He sat there for a second, the guns pointed to the bodies. Nothing moved.
He'd heard the soldiers say something about two more teams. There'd had been four in each, so that meant sixteen, half were now dead. The tranqs were out of ammunition, he needed another way to rid himself of them. He decided to ge the claymore.
Utilizing the walls and the roof, he made his way to the bathroom, retrieved the claymore and then went back to the controll room. They weren't there yet, good. He held the mine facing the door and kept a finger on the detonator. The soldiers approached so quietly he didn't notice them. They opened the door and rushed inside. He had seconds to react, he hit the detonator.
He was thrown back into the row of monitors by the force of the explosion. He went through a screen and out the other side. He heard groans that told him he had hit his mark. 626's eyes adjusted to the darkness, the explosion had taken out the light. He stood up and went to see his kills. He coughed at the thick smoke that hung in the air, the smell of burnt flesh and grease from the guns. It wa sthen he realized that it wasn't a usual claymore, it was a specially designed stun claymore. The soldiers would be out for another hour, he restrained them anyway. Now that that was done he had to find where thay had come from.
He pulled out a headset from one of the stunned soldiers and stuck it in his ear. He heard the command post's confusion about what that noise was. He ran down the hall to the bathroom, where he could exit by the skylight. While the comotion in the comms room died down he could now hear the insects buzzing. They were outside.
* * *
"Sir." the comms man said, "Sir, they're all decommisioned." "What?!" Skeff shouted while getting up from the seat in the corner and walking to the row of screens. "They are all out cold, sir." He couldn't believe it. They had sent in the best troops with the best weapons, and now they were all incapacitated. "Confirm." he shouted. The med tech looked over at the monitor, "Heart beats are all low, they are indefinately out." he said flatly. What would Darfinis say? He turned away from the monitors and huffed off into the cockpit. He sat down in the pilots chair and stared into the night. "Abort mission. And prepare for take off." he yelled.
* * *
When 626 made it to the top of the bathroom and outside onto the roof he scanned for a ship of anykind. He spotted a black transport cruiser, it was going through it's take off cycle. He ran across the roof and hurled himself off. When in mid air he saw his mistake, the ground was five meters below him. He took the impact as best he could and recovered. The ship was almost ready to lift off.
He ran across the ground on all six appendeages, he covered more terrain faster that way. The ship was hovering when he got to it, ready to jet off any second. He leapt up into the air and grabbed onto the landing pad. The jets pulsed and the cruiser took off with amazing speed.
The sixth sense. Some say it doesn't exist, that it is made up and childish. Others believe strongly in it, they claim it's gut instinct. What exactly is the sixth sense? It might be the feeling you get when your being watched. Look arround you now, are YOU being watched? Or maybe it's the hairs on the backs of your neck that raise when you KNOW there is something behind you. Something you don't really want to turn arround to see. Maybe it's all of your five senses working all together. Maybe, we will never know.
The quiet city, full of lights and other species of alien passed under them. The black craft seemed to slice through the air and effortlessly float to the destination. The only sound was of the rear engines humming and the occasional clank of the weapons on the cold metal walls of the flying Ops transport. All sixteen were quiet, none spoke. A solomn look plastered onto the blue faces. They all knew what had to be done, no questions asked. The transport would also serve as the comms station and look out while the Ops went in.
The black ship set down outside the lab in the lawn to the right. It waited for a minute before the rear doors opened and let the troopers out. Silently the four teams of four went to their places and awaited for the go command.
Team three carried four long poles and a black briefcase sized computer. The four poles were part of a machine called the 'Holer'. They inserted the rods, which were made of a special metal that is capable of going through the thickest of objects, into the wall in which you wanted to enter. Then the computer activated the rods and the material in between the four rods could be pulled out, making an effective doorway. They each put one of the four poles into the wall, made sure they were perfetly square, "Team three is in place." the leader said to the comms.
Team two swiftly moved in the darkness. They rounded the corner to the rear of the lab. They then found the ladder in which they were supposed to go up and ascended it. The gravel on the roof crunched under their feet as they approached the sky light. The four positioned themselves arround the the glass enrty point. Thet all looked for any signs of hostility or anything in the room below. Nothing. "Comms, this is team two. In position."
Team four made their way up the dark hallway of the main entrance. The only sound was the uniform's material scrapping against itself. They silently approached the octaginal room. The sweep was complete, nothing. All according to plan. The rear was packing a hacker computer, he approached the door by the burnt out lab. The two moons let some light into the eight- sided room. The click of keys, as the computer specialist hacked into the door controlls. After a few seconds there was a beep. "Were in." the specialist whispered. "Team four ready." the leader spoke into his head set.
In the comms room onboard the ship three techs monitored the communications. "We are go." said one. "Commance assult." General Skeff said from the back of the room. "Team two, go! Team three, go! Team four, go! Team one, await further orders."
*
He yawned at the bitter coldness of his room. Scratching himself he stood up from his bed. How long was he asleep? an hour? four? He was hungry, and the ammount of time he'd slept didn't matter anymore. He just hoped his life would return to normal, what ever normal was. He pulled on his suit that he'd taken off before going to sleep and checked the weapons besides his bed, just in case. As of the incident with the dogs he carried two blasters arround in his suit. He stepped out into the hall and sniffed the air, like he did all the time. 626 noticed a faint smell, he coulnd't make it out though. He sniffed his uniform, nope. He tried again, maybe it was an experimental fiber Jumba was working on. He heard it, very faintly though. It sounded like the rubbing of fabfric, like when you walk. Besides he and Jumba there was no one else who wore any clothing. A thought passed through his head, one Jumba had said, '626, you were created to destroy.' And now he felt like destroying something.
For safety he climbed up on the wall and to the ceiling ten feet above. The sound got closer. He scanned the area, listening and looking. Something moved in a side hallway, be barely saw it because it moved fast, but from the looks it was arround three meters long, not one of the dogs. Then the sound slowly faded. He moved slowly on the roof, gravity pulled his small weight down. He creept over the wire bundles and the lights, only making small almost inaudible sounds. His stomach growled, he'd not eaten anything in a while. To him it seemed like a gunshot in the silent halls. He then heard them, four. He heard their breathing, arround the next corner. He had a plan formulated in his head already.
*
All was quiet, too quiet. Still the squad pushed on, scanning the hallways and making note of anything suspicious. The NVG's showed the lab in a green color, they hummed in the silence. The leader stopped, waited. "Team four," he whispered "Sound off." He didn't want to lose anybody in the huge labryinth. "Geffs, here." "Srif, here" Silence. "Ives?" the leader asked ,"Ives, report!" The stone dead walls offered no comfort for the lost comrade. "Back trek, I won't loose any Ops man to a cocky scientist." The squad turned arround.
They found nothing in the first few meters. They slowed their approach arround the corner. What was arround the edge surprized all of them. Laying on the floor was the out lines of Ives. The squad leader pulled him up, he was unconscious and his hands were bound behind his back with the tubular hancuffs 626 was looking at the other day. No sign of a key was present. "Comms, four here. Ives is out of commission." the leader leaned over and felt dizzy. "How team four?" the comms asked. The comms men were always prying into the battle events. "He was assaulted from behind, presumably knocked out then handcuffed with some of those new style cuffs, no key is present." he paused. "Permission to send him out of the lab under escort." he stood up again. "Permission granted." The two remaining black figures slipped off into the long hallways. One of the soldiers stayed behind and carried Ives over his shoulder and out of the lab.
*
Team three approached the controll room. They found the door and walked inside, being catious after team four reported the incident. They filed into the room filled with computer monitors and printers. They removed their goggles and turned on the light. The room was filled with artificial glow. The computers were turned on and neatly cleaned. They got closer, one pulled an expensive computer from his back pack. A slight russle. "Team?" the leader spoke softly. "No." the three replied. All gripped their riffles and scanned. The lights turned off.
*
Three minutes passed as team team four approached the doorway to the room. They all stopped, confused. Why weren't the lights on? Maybe they got there first, maybe team three was late, or dead. They pointed the riffles at the door as the leader opened it. Nothing, it was empty. They filed in, removed their goggles and turned on the lights. They put the goggles away into the packs and surveyed the room. Computers, printers and such. They all turned in unison to see the area not visible when they entered the room. The three froze.
Team three was out of commision, all of them lay unconscious on the floor in a row, all of them were cuffed like Ives. Whatever it was didn't make a sound, and moved too fast for them to react, or even say anything. This thing moved fast, and got all four of them, while they were in the same room. Now that took skill. They were all demorilized by what they saw. "Comms, send team one in. And see if you can get team two up here too." "Affirmative" comms said.
*
He'd raided the medical storage and picked up several pairs of hand cuffs. The one in the hall was an accident, he'd swiped at the comms set in his ear and it flew off. Then he got on the ground and hit the legs with the bar. The soldier had fallen, he then planned to smash his chest, but the soldier had begun to get up, instead he hit him on the head, knocking him out then he applied the cuffs. He propped him up against the wall and ran to the controll room. Inside he found four others, he disposed of them too.
Now there were more, three more. As he hung onto the ceiling he decided how to de commision them, then find where they'd come from. 626 pulled out a tranquilizer he found in Jumba's desk and got ready. He aimed for the nearest one. The soldier stopped and stood there, the dart sticking out of his chest. He made no sound, he just stood there. The two living ones turned and saw, they could do nothing as their friend slipped into the black void of sleep.
He pulled the other tranquilizer from the pocket and let go. He fell head first, firing at the remaining soldiers. The same weird thing happened, things got slow. He saw the dart go into thier chests, they were thrown slightly backward from the shots. He fired two more shots for good measure, the soldiers fell to the ground. Things returned to normal time again. He saw the gound. His vision blacked for a second as he hit the floor with a tremendous of speed. He rolled over and faced the tranqs toward the soldiers, you can never be sure. He sat there for a second, the guns pointed to the bodies. Nothing moved.
He'd heard the soldiers say something about two more teams. There'd had been four in each, so that meant sixteen, half were now dead. The tranqs were out of ammunition, he needed another way to rid himself of them. He decided to ge the claymore.
Utilizing the walls and the roof, he made his way to the bathroom, retrieved the claymore and then went back to the controll room. They weren't there yet, good. He held the mine facing the door and kept a finger on the detonator. The soldiers approached so quietly he didn't notice them. They opened the door and rushed inside. He had seconds to react, he hit the detonator.
He was thrown back into the row of monitors by the force of the explosion. He went through a screen and out the other side. He heard groans that told him he had hit his mark. 626's eyes adjusted to the darkness, the explosion had taken out the light. He stood up and went to see his kills. He coughed at the thick smoke that hung in the air, the smell of burnt flesh and grease from the guns. It wa sthen he realized that it wasn't a usual claymore, it was a specially designed stun claymore. The soldiers would be out for another hour, he restrained them anyway. Now that that was done he had to find where thay had come from.
He pulled out a headset from one of the stunned soldiers and stuck it in his ear. He heard the command post's confusion about what that noise was. He ran down the hall to the bathroom, where he could exit by the skylight. While the comotion in the comms room died down he could now hear the insects buzzing. They were outside.
* * *
"Sir." the comms man said, "Sir, they're all decommisioned." "What?!" Skeff shouted while getting up from the seat in the corner and walking to the row of screens. "They are all out cold, sir." He couldn't believe it. They had sent in the best troops with the best weapons, and now they were all incapacitated. "Confirm." he shouted. The med tech looked over at the monitor, "Heart beats are all low, they are indefinately out." he said flatly. What would Darfinis say? He turned away from the monitors and huffed off into the cockpit. He sat down in the pilots chair and stared into the night. "Abort mission. And prepare for take off." he yelled.
* * *
When 626 made it to the top of the bathroom and outside onto the roof he scanned for a ship of anykind. He spotted a black transport cruiser, it was going through it's take off cycle. He ran across the roof and hurled himself off. When in mid air he saw his mistake, the ground was five meters below him. He took the impact as best he could and recovered. The ship was almost ready to lift off.
He ran across the ground on all six appendeages, he covered more terrain faster that way. The ship was hovering when he got to it, ready to jet off any second. He leapt up into the air and grabbed onto the landing pad. The jets pulsed and the cruiser took off with amazing speed.