Hey what's up everyone!

We are back with another chapter of Callsign: Phoenix!

So sorry about the wait. I got a virus which wiped my computer and made me restart the chapter.

I would like to thank PraetorFable for all his help and support. You guys should go check him out!

And with that, enjoy the story!

***With The Rest Of The Men***

The seven men had been walking for some time. They were in a somewhat wide tunnel that was slightly damp. The tunnel's walls had moss and other plant life growing in different patches. The air was dry and there was a warm breeze blowing through the tunnel. There had been some jumps here and there, but it was always nothing. After a while, they began to let their guards down. That's when all hell broke loose. The trooper at the back went flying back down the tunnel, not even a scream to be heard. The only sign that he had been there was his helmet rolling to a stop on the floor of the tunnel. At that sight, the rest began to pick up the pace.

Now sprinting down the tunnel, the troops could only hope to make it out alive. When they finally stopped, they took defensive positions on both sides. Two men guarding the front and two guarding the rear. The last two were in the middle trying to get in contact with Commander Dunn. What they failed to notice was that one of the troopers trying to contact their commander was standing under a large, gaping hole in the ceiling. The trooper beside him was looking around when he suddenly heard a loud, sudden snap next to him. The trooper quickly turned around to the sight of another trooper being pulled up into the hole in the ceiling. The trooper lifted his rifle and started firing up into the hole. Immediately, the mangled corpse of the dead trooper fell back out of the hole and landed on the floor of the tunnel in a crumpled heap of skin and bones. Despite the loss of their fellow troopers, the survivors pushed on, hastily making their way down the tunnel. But within the hour, two more of them were dead. One had a claw get stabbed straight through his ribcage, leaving him gasping for breath as he died. The next trooper was killed when he was sent flying by one of the beasts and hit the tunnel wall, instantly painting it red with his blood.

As the last three troopers ran down the tunnel, they noticed a light at the end. They had finally made it out. As they took their first steps outside, they were horrified by what awaiting them. Two of the ships were destroyed, with the remains ablaze. The remains of both ships crew were splattered across the ground, without a single surviving soul in sight. It was obvious that the creatures in the temple had done this. One of the troopers tried his commlink, attempting to get through to headquarters. When someone finally answered, the trooper was filled with horror. After they had left, the creatures had attacked their headquarters. It turns out the creatures weren't just in the temple but were instead across the whole planet. Almost everyone who had been at the base had either been killed or had left the base in the hope that they would survive on the surface. The ones that weren't killed had regrouped and retaken the base. After which he told the trooper that reinforcements would be sent to the temple. The person who had answered was a trooper who had gone rogue a couple years ago. This trooper's name was Aiden Mahner.

***With Aiden***

Aiden was a light skinned young man in his early twenties who was lean and had a slight muscular build. He had no scars and looked as if he had never seen combat. His auburn hair and blueish-green eyes stood out against his white armor. His armor had a few scuffs here and there, but overall looked fairly new. His helmet, which sat on the table, had a green visor and two green dashes on each side of the nose.

As he set the commlink down, he pondered something. 'What is some no name commander doing way out here?' The door behind Aiden suddenly opened and a man quickly walked in. The man was wearing armor similar to Aiden's except his was dark gray in color. The armor clearly was older and had seen its share of combat. On the man's back, there was a black staff with rubies on each end. On the man's side, there was a simple laser pistol.

Aiden turned to the man and said, "Captain Craig! The base has been cleared out. We also have the location of the temple."

Captain Craig nodded his head in approval. "Good," he said, "Order the men to get ready to move out."

Aiden nodded and watched as Craig left. Before Aiden left the room, he looked around one last time. The room was fairly clean, except for the bodies of the troops that were executed. He sighed as he exited.

***Back Outside The Temple***

After the trooper got off the commlink, the other two looked at him with interest, wanting to know what happened. He told the two what had apparently happened to the base. After explaining to them what he was told, they began to gather any materials they could use to build some barricades. While setting up, one of the troopers looked up and noticed something. While they had been in the temple, a fog bank had rolled in over the mountains. After setting up the barricades, they gathered whatever weapons they could to defend against the creatures until the reinforcements arrived. As soon as they finished, several of the creatures came out of the entrance of the temple. Standing in the light, the creatures were unlike anything the troopers had ever seen.

The creatures were tall and covered in thick black fur. Their faces resembled that of a wolf's, with blood red eyes which seemed to glow. Their backs were lined with sharp red spikes. Finally, they had razor-sharp claws on their front and back legs.

The troopers were terrified to say the least. As the creatures moved closer, the troopers opened fire. The creatures swarmed out of the temple and began circling around the troopers. The creatures started to attack from all different directions, slowly making their way closer to the troopers. The fight went on for another hour before the troopers were finally overrun. As the last trooper was about to be killed, he looked up and noticed something in the fog. Several B478s come flying over the mountain stunning both him and the creatures. The B478s looked to be equipped with rockets and gatling guns. Once in range, the B478s opened fire on the creatures. After the creatures were cleared out, the B478s all landed in a circle around the trooper. As troops started coming out of the B478s, all the surviving trooper could feel was relief. As the trooper was finally able to get a good look at the other troops, he noticed something. None of these troops were from the base. Before the trooper could say anything, one last B478 came over the mountain and landed. The trooper saw a few more troops step off before two men quickly followed and headed towards him.

When the two men finally arrived, the trooper said, "I don't understand. Who are you people?" The man in the dark grey armor said, "My name is Craig." As soon as the trooper heard the man's name, he tried to run away. But it was too late. As soon as the trooper turned to run, Craig pulled the staff off his back hit the trooper square in the back. The trooper fell to the ground. Craig walked over to the trooper and put the end of his staff against the trooper's back, keeping the trooper pinned to the ground. Craig then pulled out his pistol off of his waist and shot him. Aiden, who had been standing beside Craig, was shocked to say the least. As Craig turned to head towards the temple, he simply said, "No witnesses."

***With Commander Dunn***

It had been a few hours since the remainder of his men had left to go get reinforcements. Matthew and the others had finished setting up their defenses and traps a little while ago. Now, all they had left to do was wait for the creatures to show up and attack. During this time, Matthew decided to take a closer inspection of the room. Along the walls were covered in writings and hieroglyphs. As Matthew inspected the walls, he said, "Taylor, come over here." As Taylor walked up to him, she said, "What's up?" Matthew motioned to the wall in front of him and Taylor turned to look at it. She noticed the writings and hieroglyphs and immediately became interested. Taylor started to translate everything on the walls.

After about half a hour, Matthew asked, "Find anything interesting?"

Taylor looked at him before standing up. "From what I can tell, this is basically the history of the planet and this temple" she said. "But what's odd is how many times it mentions phoenixes." Taylor said with a puzzled look.

"Phoenixes?" Matthew asked.

"Yes, phoenixes" Taylor replied.

Matthew stood there contemplating for a moment before saying, "Phoenixes? Like the mythical bird that catches on fire and dies, then comes back to life?"

"Not exactly."

Matthew gave her a puzzled look.

"Well according to this, while phoenixes can come back to life, there are different elemental phoenixes. Also," she continued, "apparently phoenixes were worshipped as gods here."

"Wait, wait, wait," Matthew asked, bewildered, "So phoenixes are real?"

"Apparently" Taylor said.

While Taylor and Matthew were talking, Gabe was keeping watch. As he was watching the tunnel, he noticed several glowing blood red eyes start to appear. "Um, guys," Gabe said, "it looks like we've got company." Matthew and Taylor quickly moved over to Gabe to see what he was talking about. When they saw the glowing eyes, they started taking up their defensive positions. Gabe and Taylor were on each side of the tunnel while Matthew stood in the middle. As they finished getting into position, the creatures started pouring down the tunnel towards them. All three opened fire on the creatures. The gunfire did not cease for half a hour until one of the creatures finally managed to make it to Gabe. The creature grabbed Gabe's shoulder with its mouth with a crunch and pulled him back down the tunnel. As Gabe was dragged, he kept trying to shoot the creature holding him, all the while screaming out in pain. Each time he shot, the tunnel would light up just a little. This let Matthew and Taylor finally see what the creatures looked like. After the sounds of Gabe's shots stopped, there was a blood curdling scream.

Matthew and Taylor continued to fight until the creatures finally retreated back down the tunnel. Afterwards, they both slumped down against the wall mourning Gabe's death. Before either of them knew what was happening, one last creature came running down the tunnel and lunged at Matthew. This caused Matthew to fly back across the room and hit a box. Taylor opened fire on the creature and killed it. She then ran over to Matthew to see if he was injured. Matthew had three huge cuts across his chest piece. Taylor was relieved at first until she noticed the blood that had started to pool around him. Taylor realized that the cuts had gone all the way through Matthew's armor. In a panic, Taylor moved the box out of the way, so she could try to stop the bleeding.

As soon as Taylor moved the box, a loud screeching could be heard throughout the temple. It sounded as if it came from some kind of bird. Once the screeching stopped, a beam of light burst from where the box had been and went through Matthew. Taylor to jumped back in surprise, lifting her gun. After a moment, the beam of light stopped. Terrified of what just happened, Taylor ran back over to Matthew and pulled him away. Still needing to close his wounds, she removed Matthew's chest piece only to find that his wounds were healed. Where the beam went through Matthew, there was now a phoenix shaped mark. Taylor wasn't sure what to think. After a moment, Matthew groaned and opened his eyes and looked around confusedly. Suddenly he remembered what happened. That creature had gotten him good. He should be dead right now. lowly looking over at Taylor, he asked her one question, hoping she knew the answer.

"How am I alive?"

***With Craig and Aiden***

After Craig executed the trooper, he and Aiden lead his men into the temple. They continued walking until they came to a fork in the tunnel. The tunnel split into three different directions, with each looking identical. Craig split his men up, having a third of them go down each tunnel. Craig and Aiden went down the middle tunnel with their group. They ran into a few of the creatures every now and then, with a couple men being taken each time. At the order of Craig, they never gave chase and kept going. It had been about a hour since they entered the temple when suddenly they heard the loud screech. While all the men were confused as to what the sound was, Craig knew exactly what was happening. The weapon had been discovered. After ordering all his men to pick up the pace, Craig lead them to what was left of the main chamber of the temple.

The whole time, Aiden had been thinking about all that had happened. This wasn't what Craig had told him when he had joined him two years ago. Craig had told him that he was a peaceful man and everything he did was in the name of peace. 'Peace my ass' Aiden thought. After joining, Aiden made sure he kept a close eye on everything that was happening. He soon found out that he had lied. Aiden witnessed the destruction of cities and the slaughter of people at the hands of Craig. But Craig would always come up with some excuse for his actions, in the attempt to make them seem justified. But after Aiden had watched Craig's troops slaughter the men at the base and then execute the trooper outside the temple, he knew something had to be done. It was then and there that Aiden decided he had to get rid of Craig and his men.

Aiden had the remote detonator for the explosives on the troops' belts. All he was waiting for was for Craig and all his men to get into the temple's main chamber. When Craig and the rest of his men finally made it to the main chamber, they all saw that the floor had collapsed. Craig looked down into the chamber below and noticed all the rubble.

"Aiden, what do you make of this?" Craig asked.

Aiden however was deep in thought, 'Shit… now what am I going to do?' Aiden was knocked out of his thoughts when Craig hit him.

"Answer the damn question" Craig hissed loudly.

Aiden looked over the rubble before saying, "It looks like this was caused by explosives." Aiden started,, "It was probably the men from the base."

"Well no shit" Craig said.

"How are we going to get down sir?" One of the troops questioned.

"Aiden," Craig said, "Take four men with you back to the ships and get the ropes."

"Yes sir!" Aiden replied with a short nod of his head. 'This is my chance to detonate the explosives'. As he and the four men walked back down the tunnel, Aiden paused. "Oh, by the way Craig," Aiden said as he held up the detonator for Craig to see, "Go to Hell." When Craig saw this, he was infuriated.

"You backstabbing bastard!" Craig yelled. But right before Aiden could press the button to detonate the explosives, one of the men with him knocked him out.

When Aiden came to, he was kneeling in front of Craig on the edge of the chamber. "Well, well, well, look who's finally awake," Craig said while staring at Aiden.

"You almost got me Aiden," Craig spoke. "I can't believe you would stab me in the back after I welcomed you with open arms when you joined," Craig finished as he shook his head.

Aiden lunged at Craig hoping to at least manage to kill him. Two of Craig's men quickly grabbed him and restrained him.

"I should execute you right now for being a traitor," Craig said with a smirk, "But execution is too good for you."

As he finished, Craig pulled out his pistol before pulling the trigger and shooting Aiden in the gut. But before Aiden could react, Craig kicked him in the chest, making him fall backwards into the chamber below. With one last chuckle, Craig threw a flare down into the chamber, allowing Aiden to see that he was surrounded by the creatures.

"Have fun being their chew toy!" Craig yelled down to Aiden before disappearing back into the tunnel with his men. Using the creatures' confusion to his advantage, Aiden got up as fast as he could and desperately looked around for any possible exit. He quickly noticed that there seemed to only be a single tunnel that led out of the chamber and rushed in an attempt to make his way out.

***With Matthew and Taylor***

"How am I alive?" Matthew questioned, staring at Taylor.. "I, I don't know" was all Taylor could say. After a few minutes, Taylor pulled herself together and told Matthew what had happened. Matthew was stunned to say the least. "I should be dead," Matthew muttered as he sat against the wall. All of a sudden, they heard voices coming from down the tunnel. Hoping it was reinforcements, they were surprised when a man they didn't recognize came into view. The man was moving slowly down the tunnel. He had one of his hands on his gut and the other one on the wall to keep himself from falling. But they quickly began to hear the creatures coming down the tunnel. So running as fast as he could, Matthew ran into the tunnel and grabbed the man. They had just made it back into the room when the creatures came into view. After setting the stranger against the wall, Matthew and Taylor opened fire on the creatures. In a stroke of luck, the creatures decided to retreat instead of pushing forward.

Taylor went over to the stranger and checked his wounds. As she was doing that, Matthew checked their ammo supply. "We need to get out of here," Taylor said. "I can stop the bleeding, but he needs an actual doctor." Taylor finished as she turned to Matthew. "I agree" Matthew said. "We don't have much ammo left." After Taylor stopped the bleeding, she and Matthew carried the stranger down the tunnel that their men had taken when they left to get help. After about a hour of walking, the stranger regained consciousness. "What happened? Who are you?" he asked Matthew and Taylor. They sat the stranger down and told him who they were and what had happened to him. After they finished, he introduced himself as Aiden and told them about Craig and everything that had happened.

"I see…" said Matthew, "so Craig is here for the weapon that's supposed to be here." "What's the plan Matthew?" Taylor asked. "Well I'd say the best plan of action is for us to make our way out of the temple and then steal one of their ships" Matthew replied. "What about Craig?" Aiden asked. "We're in no condition to fight him and his men" Matthew finished. Taylor nodded her head in agreement.

After that, the trio made their way through the tunnels and out of the temple. Once they were outside, they came up with a plan. They decided to take the ship Craig and Aiden arrived in and use their remaining ammo and explosives to destroy the other ships. As they were setting the explosives, Craig and his troops made their way out of the temple. As Craig's troops spotted them, they began to open fire. In a last-ditch effort, Matthew decided to go ahead and detonate the explosives. The blast could be heard for miles. This caused a panic as all the creatures from within the temple came out and start attacking Craig's troops. Doing their best to ignore the chaos, they ran inside of remaining ship and began to prepare for launch. Right before takeoff, Aiden stood at the bottom of the boarding ramp and yelled at Craig. As Craig turned towards him, Aiden held up the detonator for the explosives Craig's troops were carrying.

Noticing the detonator in Aiden's hand, Craig was shocked. 'There's no way he can have it' Craig thought. 'It's right here on my belt' Craig thought as he touched his belt where the detonator was supposed to be. The only problem was that the detonator wasn't there. 'How? When did he take it?' Craig thought. As he thought back, he realized Aiden must have taken it when he lunged at him. 'That bastard!' Craig was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Aiden yell, "Hey Craig!" This caused Craig to turn back to Aiden. As Aiden stood there with the detonator, Craig realized what was about to happen. Craig quickly starting yelling for his troops to get rid of their explosives. It was too late though, as Aiden detonated the explosives without a second thought.

Some of Craig's troops got lucky and died in the explosions. The unlucky ones got dragged away by the creatures kicking and screaming. Craig just stood there, watching it all happen. The chaos and horror of it all was too much. Right as Craig turned to run, he looked up at Aiden and knew he was doomed. In Aiden's hands was a W-237. Aiden yelled, "Hey Craig! Fuck you!" After which he shot Craig in the leg, destroying any chance he had of escaping. Craig fell to the ground and watched the ship fly off. Hearing the growls of the creatures behind him, Craig turned over to see he was surrounded. Craig tried to pull out his pistol and take the easy way out, but before he could, the creatures dragged him back into the temple.

***With Matthew, Taylor, and Aiden***

Everyone sighed a sigh of relief. They had escaped. They were alive. "So, what's next?" Aiden asked, slumping in one of the empty seats. "Well, I was thinking of stopping at the base" Matthew said. "What? Why?" Aiden questioned. "To get you patched up and see if there were any survivors" Taylor said. "Sounds good to me, then." Aiden responded, delicately trying to straighten the bandages wrapped around his wound. As they flew towards the base, Taylor patched up Aiden's less serious wounds so that he could at least walk.

When they landed at the base, they got out and split up. Aiden stayed in the hanger and refueled the ship. Matthew headed to the armory and supply room to get food and weapons. Taylor headed to the med bay to get medical supplies. What none of them knew was that Craig had his men set explosives in case anybody at the base survived their onslaught. After a while, Matthew came back with plenty of food and weapons. But while Matthew and Aiden were waiting for Taylor to get back, there was a huge explosion. They raced to where they assumed the source of the explosion came from. Once they got there, they searched around and finally found Taylor. She was against a wall with a metal pole through her chest.

"Taylor!" Matthew yelled as he ran over to her. Taylor slowly opened her eyes. "Don't worry," Matthew said as he cradled her in his arms. "We're going to get that thing out of you." Matthew said with tears in in eyes. Taylor looked up at him and placed her hand on his cheek. "Yeah, we'll make you good as new." Matthew said desperately, looking for anything that can help him remove the pole. "We can travel the universe together like we always said we would, and we'll have all these great adventures."