Backstab.
Five minutes earlier.
"Any news from the mines?" Halverson said on the phone.
"Negative sir." The communications expert responded. "This friggen' electrical interference hasn't gone away. I can't get anything on the radio."
"Is the McKinney still okay?" Halverson questioned. He was referring to the McKinney Quantum Communication Device. Utilizing two 'entangled' particles, the device could send a message instantly, no matter the distance. Whenever one particle was manipulated, the other would instantly change with it, effectively serving as the only means of FTL communications. The system was still painfully slow however, and at $7,500 a bit, it was only reserved for important comms. Until the Magellan got to Pandora, it was also the only means of contacting Earth.
"Yeah it's still fine."
"Good. Keep me updated." Halverson terminated the call.
He reclined in his chair, hands wiping away the fatigue in his face. His office wasn't right next to the command centre like all the other higher ups, but it had the advantages of being a little bit bigger than the others. His desk was an imitation wooden one, which was covered in the paperwork that he had been getting behind on, and a now long dead cigar smouldered in the ash tray. Two of the walls had small bookcases propped up against them, filled with books (and not just the ones you had there for show.) and the odd souvenir of both his time on Pandora and his old life on Earth. A police academy graduation photo had hung on one wall, some na'vi arrows had rested on a shelf, and photos of his family sat on his desk. Two comfortable chairs sat in front of him, although since Militia were required to stand at attention, they were rarely sat on. His computer scanned updates from the situation at the breach, and the air conditioner was starting to crap out again. Most times, Halverson called the room home.
He exhaled, dark rimmed eyes glancing at the family photos on his desk. It showed a smiling couple, one of them in police uniform, the other holding a baby in her hands; a memory of happier days. Ever since he was fired from the force, not being able to provide so well made his marriage rocky to say the least. He had drifted from various jobs, mercenary contractor, security consultant to finally this job on Pandora. Between the sometimes tense nights with Victoria, between the constant migration and the haphazard hours, he often felt that he was inches away from losing it all.
Do I regret it? He mused.
He was silent.
Nope. He concluded after a minutes thought. A man's integrity is one of his most important attributes. You lose that, you start becoming part of the machine. I wouldn't be the same to Vicky and Lauryl.
He resisted the urge to light up another cigar. He really needed to spend some more time with the two of them.
He just hoped that they were still okay.
He was just about to grab his service revolver and some more items and go join his men at the wall breach when someone knocked on his door.
"Come in." he grunted, shutting down his computer. He had been helping his men push back the crazies at the breach, but he had to return to Ops Centre to review the situation. Then he had to grab some stuff from his office and make some recordings. He was itching to get back to his men.
Twon militia officers walked in to the office. One of them was in charge of the colony's security and went by the name of Captain Novak. The other was Captain Mendez who ran the Murder Yard simulations. "You wanted to see us sir?" Mendez asked.
"What?" he frowned. "No, why?"
"Uhh, someone told me that you wanted to see me?" Novak said puzzled.
Before the Major could reply, the phone on his desk rang. He swore.
"Oh for fucks sakes, just hang on for a sec…" he said apologetically. He picked up the phone. "Major Halverson here."
"Major, I need you to listen to me very carefully." The caller said quickly. "There's not a lot of time so I need you to put me on speakerphone right now."
"Who the hell is this?" Hellboy frowned. He couldn't place the voice or the accent of the caller. "This is a private line, how the hell did you-"
"Just shut the fok up and listen to me man!" the caller practically shouted desperately. "Your officers have just reached your office now right? I need you to put me on speakerphone RIGHT NOW. People's lives are at stake!"
Halverson flicked the speakerphone switch.
"Right, great, can you hear me"
"Yeah…"
"Good, listen, in about half a minute, a bunch of RDA soldiers are going to knock on your door and when they do, they are going to blow your brains out, do you understand me? They are going to kill you all."
"What!" The people in the room started. These weren't words you'd just throw around willy nilly. This was big.
"What the hell- are you suggesting that Carson's men are plotting to kill me?"
"They ARE going to kill you! They're about to-"
The caller might have said something else, but suddenly, the people in the room heard the rumble and thunder of automatic gunfire. From inside the building.
Everyone froze. No one said a word.
"Hello?" the caller shouted. "You still there?"
"Yeah…."
"What happened?"
"I heard… shit shutup!" Mendez hissed.
The sound of footsteps started to rumble down the corridor. It sounded like a bunch of soldiers was coming over. The three humans, looked at each other tensely. Mendez flipped the safety off of his rifle. Halverson unholstered his revolver and checked the rounds were loaded, and Novak tensed himself. Mendez and Novak took position at the sides of the door, while Halverson ducked behind the desk, revolver in hand.
The footsteps stopped at the door. It was made out of frosted glass, so the three could see shadowy figures on the other side.
One of them knocked. "Major Halverson?" a voice muffled by both a door AND an exo-mask shouted. "Are you in there?"
No one said a word.
"I think it's empty…" another voice said.
Halverson shifted his weight.
"Wait, I saw something!" the first voice said. "I think he's here, let's-"
Halverson didn't let the merc finish. He fired.
One does not, under any circumstances, ignore the effects of an explosive magnum round. You would be okay if you were wearing heavy armor, but even then you'd be forced off your feet. This particular mercenary wasn't wearing heavy armor. This particular mercenary, who was dumb enough to stand right in front of the frosted glass door, was blown back as the round detonated on his chest, blowing through his armor and killing him after an agonizing two seconds. The other three mercs in the corridor immediately took cover to the sides, one of them blind firing his gun through the doorway. Thankfully, none of the bullets hit the Major, and Mendez managed to twist his gun to shoot one of the mercs on the other side of the doorway. Unfortunately, that merc was in the process of pulling the pin on a grenade.
The small bomb clattered to the floor. Into the office.
"Grenade!" Mendez screamed.
It was Novak who came to the rescue. Thinking quickly, He swept the bomb out with one movement from his foot.
Then it was the mercs turn to scream.
The resulting explosion shook the walls and caused trinkets and books to fall off their shelfs. Ar'kadi thought he heard one of the mercs scream, but an awful silence pervaded through the office.
Mendez poked his head out with the most extreme caution. The mercenaries were dead, their bodies torn from both the gunfire and the grenade shrapnel. He looked across the corridor and his heart skipped a beat.
Slumped against the wall was a militiaman. His brains had been painted across the wall as a splatter, his head looking down at his feet. Mendez glanced at one of the mercenaries and saw a silenced pistol in his holster. He put the two together fast enough. He heard a whimpering from one of the offices. It sounded like the office workers hadn't been touched, but they were probably too scared to look outside.
"Hello?" the phone asked nervously. "You guys still with me?"
"Yeah…" Halverson exhaled. "We're still alive."
"Oh thank god… Listen, your men at the breach still don't know what's going on and the mercenaries are jamming the airwaves, so you'll need to get to the Command Center in order to warn them in time. You've got to move now man."
"Who are you exactly?" Halverson snapped. "What the hell is going on?"
"Carson is extracting all of his RDA goons from the colony and pulling back to Citadel Base. He's taking most of the choppers, the transport shuttles and he's sabotaging both the communications and the aircraft left behind. You'll need to save or repair them if you want a chance to survive." The caller answered. "As for who I am, well, let's just say that my real employer really wants you AND the natives to survive in equal measure."
"But who are you exactly?"
"Can't talk any further, I've got to go fly this thing now or else my cover is blown. You're on your own for now. God speed man."
The caller hung up.
They stood for a few seconds before Halverson snapped angrily "What the hell are you waiting for! Let's move!"
"So what do you think made these guys so crazy?" a militiaman by the name of Fisher asked his compatriot.
"No idea…" the militiawoman Lockland shrugged. "Did we pump something in the water or something?"
The two militia were sitting on top of an APC taking a smoke break with some other soldiers while the others watched the breach. It had been about half an hour or so since the last attack. Usually the enemy surged forth like a wave within minutes of the last one, so people were slowly coming to the conclusion that the attack was winding down. Nothing had poked out from the rubble for a long while. Well, there was that six armed monkey that was blown apart by a jittery militia after poking its head out, but that didn't count. Many of the humans had been taking the opportunity to use the lull in the fighting to go to the toilet, talk a little or take a snack. It might have looked unprofessional, but after a night of fighting, they really needed it.
"Nah, can't be." Another soldier shrugged. "We didn't have these problems last time we were here."
"Maybe somebody dumped some LSD or something into the river." Another one smirked.
"Don't think we've got enough for the na'vi. Besides why would we share it with them?" Lockland chuckled.
"Well, SOMETHING'S fucked them off." Fisher muttered. "I mean, aren't the na'vi supposed to be loving, tree hugging people living with Mother Nature or some shit?"
"Hey, I once survived two hurricanes, an earthquake and a tsunami back on Earth." Another man shrugged. "And those things would happen pollution or not. If there's anything I've learned from those, is that Mother Nature may look all lovey-duvy, but when you get right down to it, she's a total bitch."
The militia laughed. "Guess our god's got a sense of humour." Another man smiled. He looked around. "Hey, where are those RDA douchebags anyway?"
"Hmph… Carson's withdrawn them to check out the rest of the colony apparently."
"Right…"
Carson watched as his men dragged the militia bodies out to the corner of the hangar bay. He'd prefer not to have to trip over them while final preparations were under way. He'd take a smoke right now, but his exo-mask was a bit of a barrier to his one vice.
"Sir." One of his officers came up. "ETA on departure is about fifteen minutes."
"Hmm, better than I suspected…" Carson muttered. "Are the colonist mechanics giving any trouble?"
"Not really. I think we made our point after the militia." Manderley glanced to the body pile. "I think they might suspect they'll be pacified after fixing the rest of the aircraft, but don't worry, we've got men watching out for any sabotage on their part."
"Very good. How are the other teams?"
"Tango team is currently securing the power station, they'll have the place rigged in about ten minutes-"
"Not good enough, I want the bomb, or bombs or whatever rigged in five. Tell them to get a move on."
"Yes sir. Vector team is currently securing Dr. Carnegie and his data in the science area. They're meeting some resistance so far, but our cover hasn't been blown yet."
"Radio silence measures still enabled?"
"Yes sir. The Comms hub has already been trashed by Stalker team and we've got men masquerading as the controllers. Stalker went dark soon after reporting that they were about to take Major out. Haven't heard from them. Since we've managed to lock down the buildings it's going to take a while for any survivors to warn anybody about what's happening."
"Hmm…"
"And finally, Sentinel team has secured the runway. They're keeping watch for any interruptions."
"Very good Manderley." Carson muttered as he took a glance at the mechanics. He watched as they nervously made calibrations to the machinery inside the Emperor Gunship, fearful of the gun barrels pointed at them. Carson would have preferred to have just wiped them out along with the rest, but they didn't really have enough engineers to get the job done in time.
"With respect are you sure about sending the Emperor away?" Manderley queried. "If our cover is blown, we could use the firepower."
"No. I want ALL loose ends tied up. That includes any survivors from the mines, and any native witnesses. I'm sure your men are capable of handling any trouble here for the time being."
Halverson quickly hopped over yet another corpse as he ran Command. It looked like the mercenaries didn't have time to kill every colonist in the place so they settled for just wiping out anyone who was dumb enough to stand in their way, be they militia or just some unlucky colonists.
Not everyone was dead though. Far from it, there was the odd office worker or worker who was brave enough to poke their head out of wherever they were hiding, absolutely horrified of the odd body on the floor.
A few of them tried to ask the three officers what was going on.
"What happened?"
"Those fucking mercenaries killed him!"
"Where's our own guys?"
"What do I do?"
The officers only had time for quick answers as they ran through administration. They finally reached the Command Centre door. Normally it was one of the few doors in the colony that was automatic. Unfortunately, the mercenaries had fried the circuits on their way out. The three humans only found out about that until Novak smacked face first into the thing.
As Novak got back up to his feet, rubbing his sore face, Mendez first stated the obvious by saying the door was flash fused, then he took a bit of thermite out of his vest.
"You pack thermite!"
"Helps with the slash and burn ops that we have."
After sticking the grenade on with some duct tape, he pulled the pin. The door blazed as bright and hot as the sun as the thermite burned and melted its way through the doors lock. As soon as the fiery sight stopped, Halverson used his boot to force the door apart. The officers moved in.
"Jesus…"
The Command Centre was a mess. The computers, holo tables, desks and various other instruments were covered in bullet holes and blood, their screens indicating most of the tech had been trashed by the gunfire. The former colonists who were manning their positions were lying on the ground or slumped against their desks. Their blood marking the place.
"Why the fuck would they do this?" Mendez hissed as he stepped over another body, checking the kiosks for friend and foe.
"Maybe we should ask them Mendez…" Halverson muttered as he started to fiddle with the communications console. "Go get somebody who knows how to use this thing!" His eyes drifted to a still-functional security console. He started to flick through various cameras.
"Shit… These guys have been busy…"
The rattle of gunshots were faint, but Fisher could definitely hear it.
"That's funny…" he muttered as he got off the APC and keyed his radio. "Command, we've heard gunshots down at the Armor Vault entrance, I think. Could you verify."
"Uh that's a negative Echo. We don't hear anything."
Fisher frowned. The voice on the radio was different.
"Command, you sound a little different."
"Uh… so?"
"What happened to the usual guy?"
"Oh, he's in the john right now. I'm subbing for him."
Fisher could hear the slight lack of confidence in his voice. He was about to fire off another question when what sounded like a grenade popping off echoed from the same area as the gunshots. The other militia men started to notice, started to talk amongst themselves as to what was going on.
There was one squad of mercenaries stationed with them. They had been looking somewhat nonchalant up until now. Now they were piling into both of their patrol vehicles. "We're going to go check out the sounds." Their leader said.
As they started to drive off, Fisher keyed his radio again. "What was that?"
"We're hearing reports of a small accident involving mishandling of ammunition. Nothing serious."
Fisher had enough.
"Command, identify yourself."
"What?"
"What is your name? Who am I talking to?"
"I don't see how-"
Before the suspicious voice could continue, A very loud voice blared over not just the frequency, but over every loudspeaker on the PA system in the entire colony.
"All Militia personnel, I repeat all Militia personnel and colonists. This is Major Halverson. The Command Centre personnel have been assassinated by RDA soldiers. I repeat, the RDA are killing colonists, they are attempting to destroy the reactor core, and have already been killing colonists and Militia.-"
As the voice blared across the colony, the mercenaries who had driven off, suddenly started to slow down. That was when one of them fired a rocket at the militia.
"TAKE COVER!" Lockland screamed as she dove off the APC . The missile smashed into the thing, killing her and another militia and injuring a few others. The armored vehicle fireballed where it was, the blast knocking some militia off their feet. The militia in question started to open fire, spewing bullets in the direction of the retreating trucks, who in returned the favour with the mounted machineguns. One of them spun out and crashed, the other got around the corner and out the murder yard.
As the other soldiers got back on their feet, the PA system finished its announcement.
"-repeat, all militia get your asses over here and take back this fucking colony!"