Vylatian, Orenkian, it didn't matter. None of them stood in his way. The thunderous thoom of a custom mass driven sniper rifle tore flesh and armor asunder as if it was nothing. Every moment of their demise, every movement recorded through the eyes of the wearer. The armored man moved faster than the typical Irken. It seemed Vaukt, or favorites of his, were able to play around with experiments before anything official happened.
"All right, got the data and scrubbed the systems. Yank me."
The man checked that the room was clear before moving to the console, withdrawing a module, and sticking it into his helmet. An Irken avatar of regular green skin and red eyes appearing in the upper right corner.
"That's more like it."
"Beats being in a SiR unit doesn't it?"
"Certainly beats being an extra target to shoot at. Worst case, I just make you run to another console."
"Ha ha, very funny."
"Skrem," Vaukt's voice came in over the radio, "Weather's clearing. You finish your objective?"
"Yes, General. Grabbed the data, scrubbed the systems. No survivors."
"Shame. Need your pickup?"
"Yes, General."
"I'll get your pilot sent down. Good work. Out."
The recorded feed from Skrem's interface halted, reaching the end of its run time. A highly-proficient soldier among the Empire's most-elite and prestigious branch taken another step further. Selected from an experienced Spec Ops team who voluntarily took on any and all challenges thrown his way, mandatory or otherwise. A resume as long as Radec's and intuitive enough to ad-hoc fabricate his own equipment in addition to what the Empire provided him.
Skrem was definitely not your typical Invader.
"Wait, you want us to go get this guy on some frozen ice world?" Orkos asked, looking at Skrem's photo in a dossier after the slight demonstration of his combat skills finished.
"A simple assignment and a test of your team's skills." Corr answered, "If you can't handle a simple asset recovery in a low risk operation, there are far more serious problems with your team that need to be addressed."
"Only problem, Captain, we're a man short."
"You'll have Staff Sergeant Gers going with you. He'll act in his regular role as a Scout-Sniper and also as your field evaluator."
"Sounds easy enou-" Aren started.
"Comes with a catch," Corr interrupted, "If your mission runs into any dangers we don't anticipate or you two can't hack it for whatever reason, I'm giving Gers full authority to countermand your orders. The second he does that, it's over, he'll be in control of your team for the remainder of the mission. Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir," Aren responded.
"As can be, Captain," Orkos added.
"Good, unless there's anything else, we're coming out near Hel shortly. Get your team ready and prepare to land."
Aren's gaze glanced to Orkos briefly before clearing her throat to speak.
"Permission to speak freely, Captain?"
"Proceed, Sergeant."
"I…understand why it's necessary to have Gers go with us…but at what point does he, if at all, assume command? What criteria need to be met? Not splitting antenna here, Sir, only making sure there's no confusion if we're in the thick of it down there for whatever reason."
"The intelligence we have on Hel is extremely out of date," Corr cut straight to the point. "For all we know, this science outpost could be crawling with Federal forces at this point. He'll know what sort of call to make if it's entirely out of the league where the expectancy is that a large portion or the entirety of your team might wind up KIA." Corr glanced to Deris expressing shock hearing such a possibility, "That or Orkos makes some insanely stupid decision, which I doubt would be the outcome."
"I do try to save my men after all, Captain." Oros chimed in.
"As we've seen with your record. Short of your team discovering extremely stiff resistance of some sort or another, I wouldn't worry about Gers countermanding your command for this mission."
"Otherwise, Gers is an insurance policy to keep the rest of us alive and fill out our roster." Aren summarized for clarification. "...sorry, Captain…we're a little eager to prove ourselves and if Gers steps in, it defeats the purpose."
"So does dying," Lorlo chimed in, earning a hard glare from Aren.
"Yes, I don't want to die! Especially not on an ice cube!" Deris spoke next.
Chavsa looked at Deris before shaking her head. "Really I'd like to get my cold weather flight suit on and get to running the pre flight checks on the shuttle if that's alright with you guys."
"Don't bother," Aren began, looking to her. "We're taking a shuttle planetside and you're stepping off with us. Standard-issue kit will keep your candy ass warm enough, Private."
Chavsa was practically shooting daggers at her before Orkos smirked to himself. "You know what, go ahead, knock yourself out."
The yellow-eyed Sergeant looked to her superior with an incredulous "really?" look at blatantly countermanding her.
"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Chavsa gave a thumbs up and left the briefing room.
Orkos leaned in to whisper to Aren. "Let her freeze her c'hurta off and learn the hard way. She won't make the same mistake twice."
A dejected sigh of annoyance followed.
"...Yes, Sir."
"Sooo…when are we doing this task…mission…thing?" Lorlo asked from his seat.
"Safest assumption would be upon entry to Hel's system and shortly thereafter." Aren summarized, "and as stated, our gear should keep us warm, but layer accordingly. Nobody should risk losing anything to frostbite if it can be avoided."
"We're coming out in a few hours," Corr added. "Plenty of time for your team to be ready. You're green as soon as we open the hangar for you."
"Oh no, oh ikvedo…" Deris muttered quietly to himself.
"Well, go on, move out, get prepped, we'll meet at the shuttle." Orkos ordered his team to get them moving before looking to Corr. "We won't let you down, Captain."
"I would certainly hope not, Lieutenant."
Gers would be waiting at the shuttle, his issued armor worn over a Scout Sniper's winter camouflage uniform. The man was smoking a Vortian cigarette waiting for the new team. Part of him screaming in tortured agony that he was stuck smeetsitting the new team and having to herd a bunch who probably couldn't tell their c'hurta from their elbow. To say he was unamused would have been the understatement of the week.
"Sergeant," Orkos came up, earning a nod from the man. "Ready to do this?"
"Yes, L T, I'll be watching your team closely. Just don't trip on your boot laces on your first mission or something."
"...We uh, don't have boot laces."
"Scout Sniper humor, some of us did." He finished his cigarette, walking over to a nearby pail of scrap metal to extinguish the butt before tossing it in the trash can before coming back to the Lieutenant. "Let's just get this over with."
As Orkos and Gers conversed, Aren was busy ensuring the rest of Green Team was squared away. Irken Elite, Spec Ops…whatever this was now, didn't matter. A squad still needed to be gear-checked and everything accounted for. If it wasn't supposed to move, it needed to be secured and locked down. If it was supposed to move, it needed to be free and clear of any obstruction.
To be expected, all of them were adjusting to the unique uniforms and cutting-edge equipment now at their disposal. Some quicker than others…Deris being the slowest adjusting to a combat role and his state of affairs and familiarity with kit showed. Thankfully, his commanding officers had combat experience aplenty and they weren't going in completely fresh.
"Corporal…" Aren sighed, mildly annoyed as she forcibly tugged at the engineer's webbing. "Lift your arms."
Obeying her commands, Deris did so…or attempted to do so. His range of motion was halted by the load-bearing equipment in question.
"I…can't, Sergeant."
"Exactly. Adjust it to fit you. Sort yourself out."
"Yes, Sergeant."
Chavsa came out wearing her flight helmet, armor worn over a cold weather flight suit, looking at the absolute state of affairs Deris was in. "You nitwit, I don't have time to sort out two things." She got right to work helping out the Corporal with his equipment as Orkos made his way over.
"Magnet."
"Yeah, boss?"
"How's the shuttle?"
"Pre-flight checklist is done. Ready to fire up the engines and get us airborne once we're loaded and given the all clear."
"And you have your helmet?"
"It's on my head."
"...Combat helmet."
"In the cockpit. Gonna swap it out as soon as we land. Blasted thing was missing piloting capabilities for some reason; it wouldn't sync with the shuttle to give me a piloting HUD at all."
"Noted; I'll have First Sergeant Vard look over it when we get back."
"Wasn't aware you needed step-by-step instructions to do your job, Private." Aren chided, redirecting her attention away from Deris. "Shuttle has instruments and its own HUD. You'll manage."
"Call it fighter pilot tendencies and redundancy." Chavsa shot right back at her.
"Call it "check your gear and I better not find anything out of place if you have time to run your mouth". Sort yourself out."
"I've sorted myself already, why do you think I'm helping wrench boy here?"
"Wrench boy?" Deris looked at her with a puzzled face.
"Well, yeah, mechanic."
Aren bit her tongue. Hard. Chavsa's attitude diametrically opposed her own and had since day one. Never anywhere else before did she permit any subordinates to speak the way she did to them. Always something to say. Defiance. Insistence to deviate. Redirection of blame. The Commander brought her aboard for her talents in the cockpit but managing her was its own challenge.
Nevertheless, she made her way to Lorlo. Despite lacking rapidity in the realm of infiltration of systems and access control, he was taking to their new roles in the simulators well enough. Unfortunately for him, forgetfulness reared its ugly head as Aren's brow furrowed in a mixture of confusion and annoyance as she checked his gear over.
"...Corporal?"
"Ma'am-"
"Sergeant."
"Right, sorry, uhh…Sergeant?"
"...where's your power cells?"
"Right…here?" Lorlo explained, gesturing to the series of secured pouches containing a fresh supply for his primary weapon.
"No, the other power cells…for your devices…so they can function." She tiredly spoke, going as far to flick his sensitive antenna unkindly. "C'mon, wake up Lorlo. You're smarter than that."
"Yes, Sergeant." He sighed, mentally kicking himself as he went to get the items missing in question.
Gers, sighed loudly as he shook his head. "Fucking kill me."
"Is it that bad, Sergeant?" Orkos asked.
"For me? Yes. Almost wonder if I pissed someone off."
"You and me both…" Aren muttered, keeping her composure as she oversaw the rest of the team fixing their shortcomings. "Soon as Deris figures out how to dress himself and Lorlo somehow figures out how to generate electricity from thin air, we'll be ready to step off, Lieutenant."
"Good to hear, Sergeant." Orkos looked over to see that Deris was now able to raise his arms thanks to Chavsa fixing his gear and giving him a pat on the shoulder when she was done. The mechanic came over to the two of them.
"Second try, Sergeant-"
"Corporal."
"Lieutenant?"
"...Where's your grenades?"
"...Right…grenades…I have the grenade launching rifle…" Lorlo let his head hang in frustration.
After several more moments of frustration and delay, Green Team managed to pass inspection…or as close as it was going to get. They weren't jumping head-first into an active theater of war and needn't bring everything but the kitchen sink with them. Support was in-orbit overhead and in constant contact. Quick in-and-out retrieval mission for an asset that could take care of itself without incident.
Ushering the newly-christened team aboard the waiting shuttle, Green Team found their respective seats. Strapping in for preparation to deploy, all that remained was the insertion itself and recovery of Invader Skrem thereafter. An assignment to cut their proverbial teeth on and prove their worth. That they belonged among the likes of Red and Purple…and their faith in them was not left wanting.
Dorum, at the helm of the ship, opened the hangar door's outer shielding once they entered the system. "Magnet, Hel is at heading two one six once you exit. Can't miss it."
"Copy that, MAC, two one six." As Chavsa fired up the engines and left the hangar she made her turn and bound for the planet of white. What better place for a science outpost than an icy, inhospitable world where nobody would bother you? She strapped on her oxygen mask as a standard precaution she took when entering an atmosphere in a shuttle. Once there, she scanned her HUD, noticing something hard on her radar warning before pushing down and taking the shuttle lower in a rapid descent.
"What was that?!" Orkos yelled from the back.
"I picked up radar! I'm not risking us getting detected in this tin can!"
Orkos looked to Aren, "Guess the place might be occupied after all…" His attention turned back to Chavsa, "Think they spotted us?"
"Fucking of course I did. Hard to miss an object entering orbit. Took us down in such a way that they'll think we're probably just a piece of space junk or a meteorite. We're below their radar now." She was relying on her helmet's HUD and instruments as heavy snow fell outside. "Not the best visual flying weather."
"Just land us safely."
"Will do." Several minutes more of flight time before the shuttle slowly came down and landed in a concealed position not far from one of the science facilities. The door opened and the team piled out. Chavsa being the last out after powering down everything and switching to her combat helmet before joining the others outside.
If the sudden blast of whipping, frozen wind after breaking the sealed environment of the craft ripping through the interior wasn't a sign of the conditions, stepping outside made it abundantly clear at the adversity they were to face. Near white-out conditions beneath a constant howl of horizontal snow. Hel was anything but a lovely vacation getaway.
Gers looked to the facility through thermal binoculars, noticing Vortian guards making roving patrols on a bridge leading from the landing pad further away into the facility itself. "All right, LT, the field is yours. Get to work."
"Right," Orkos took a breath, "What do you have?"
"Three Vorts along the bridge this side of the landing pad, another two on it. Some sort of bay at the end of it, likely for vehicles."
Orkos looked to Aren, "Think with our cloak we should be able to sneak past them and ingress through the vehicle bay or an external airlock?"
"Don't see why not. Vard said we can run silent indefinitely but can still be picked up on EM and infrared." Aren concluded, checking her rifle before taking stock of the team as they filed out.
"Nature of the technology is what he told me, Lieutenant." Deris added. "The field refracts visible light around you, but the field itself blossoms under EM wavelengths…and it's really cold out here if this temperature readout is accurate."
"Not to mention the snow," Chavsa added. "Probably going to notice piles of them moving around if we're standing up."
"Blast," Orkos sighed in some frustration.
"Poor visibility works both ways," Aren reasoned with a shrug. "Sooner we get inside, sooner we'll have the advantage. Only way they'll spot us is if we give them a reason to look our direction closer than usual. Let's not and say we did. Ready to move on your order, Lieutenant."
The man took another breath. "All right, cloak and make a run for it. Let's go." Orkos started off, cloaking on the move as the others followed. Past the armored Vortian on the landing pad watchtower and the others on the bridge. As they moved closer to the vehicle bay, a speaker screeched to life.
"Red Team: radar reports an object entered the atmosphere and crashed five kliks out. Go investigate and make sure it's not some Irken probe of some sort."
One of the Vortians on the bridge responded over the radio, "Red Lead copies." He signaled to the other Vortians, moving to the vehicle bay and opening it, setting the timer for a close as the two on the bridge joined another in the bay, starting up a six wheeled APC and heading off. The team made their ingress as the vehicle bay doors shut behind them.
"Magnet, how long you think it'll take for them to get there?" Orkos turned to face the pilot.
"If they take it cautious to avoid crashing into anything? Twenty minutes maybe? If they haul it we have five, maybe."
"Well, we better get to work." Orkos looked as Lorlo made his way over to an elevator door, examining the console and tapping it. No need for a security clearance. "Corporal, what's over there?"
"No, don-!"
"Elevator up, sir." Lorlo replied to Orkos only to see Aren swiftly approaching him.
Lorlo earned himself a violent shove away from the console from Green Team's sergeant, but the damage was done. Her yellow eyes glowered with the rage of a star behind her faceless visor at him.
"You IDIOT!" She growled at him. "We don't know where it's coming from or who is near it! They just sent the crew down here out!"
Huffing, regaining her composure, turning to face the others.
"Fan out, take up defensive positions and stay out of sight." She ordered, casting one more lingering look of disbelief at the offender before moving to do the same.
Gers had already taken cover behind some crates, SMG in hand after facepalming at Lorlo's absolute stupidity. Chavsa behind the engine block of a utility vehicle in the bay with a flashbang grenade in hand. Orkos left his carbine trained on the elevator, the others taking their positions as the elevator descended and came to a stop. The doors opened.
Empty.
Orkos heaved a sigh of relief before looking at Gers.
"You got lucky." Gers gestured to Lorlo, "After you or your Sergeant beat him for his stupidity, maybe we can get back to doing what we came here to do, hm?"
"Right, right…" Orkos looked at Lorlo, "How about a scan of the facility before you do something stupid again?"
The technician pulled out some equipment, sitting on a tire of the utility vehicle and getting to work on it. His speed had increased somewhat thanks to training with Vard but he was still rather slow. Minutes of meticulous finger tapping passed before a map of the facility passed to their HUDs. To Aren, Gers, and Orkos specifically, an interesting note he found in the system of one of the labs being made forbidden to personnel in the facility outside of a select few. Whoever this "Butcher", "Oxide", "Numbers", and "Thermite" were, they're the only ones able to access that wing.
"Sec," Orkos' attention turned to Aren, "sounds like a good place to start looking for Skrem?"
"Good a place as any to start," She concluded, rifle at low-ready as she approached the waiting lift to quickly clear it before shifting it out of her way towards her back to momentarily hang. "Chavsa, on me."
A little more lackadaisical than she'd have liked, but the pilot obeyed her superior's request for her presence. Aren's helmeted head nodded up to the ceiling of the elevator as she took a knee to give her a boost.
"Pop that hatch open up there and climb up. We're not riding this thing up inside a deathtrap."
"Good call, not keen on gettin' machine gunned." She hopped up, reaching up to the vent, popping out a couple latches before cutting the wire to stop a running fan. The butt of her rifle followed, knocking it out of the way before climbing up. She offered a hand to the others to pull them onto the top of the lift. A service ladder ran along the side, giving them access to all the doors along the shaft.
Some static came through their radios briefly. Lorlo thought it was a fluke, that was until a voice came through.
"So, a question for the lot of you. Are you a rescue party or an asset denial party?" The voice was the same they heard in the demonstration video in the briefing, the avatar Skrem spoke to.
The team collectively froze on the spot as featureless visors looked to one another. An unfamiliar voice obviously addressing them, supposedly unseen and undetected thus far. Was this some kind of prank on the behalf of Red and Purple? Was this all one giant joke and they were being made for fools? Surely not!
"...Lorlo?" Aren finally broke the silence among them as they stood in the darkness of the elevator shaft atop the lift itself.
"Sergeant?"
"...who is that? That wasn't you, was it?"
"No, Sergeant…and I don't know." He reluctantly admitted, swallowing.
"Are we made? I don't hear any alarms." Deris queried aloud.
"We'd know if we were made," Aren debunked with a huff, looking to Orkos. "...but someone…or something knows we're here. Question is if it's with or against us…could be our package, Sir."
"Oh, where are my manners?" The voice said again.
"Yeah, maybe an introduction would be in order." Orkos replied, "You first."
"You can call me Alurac. Artificial construct."
"You work with Invader Skrem by chance?" Chavsa asked out of turn.
"Why yes I do, fighter jock."
"I'm Sublieutenant Orkos, Shadow Strikers. To answer your first question, yes, we are the rescue team."
"Oh splendid. You see I've seen everything inside these Vortian systems and quite frankly running around evading the likes of this Numbers lady is rather dull at this point."
"...How long have you two been in here?"
"Since the start of Impending Doom Two, effectively. Now, we can chat all day some other time. I do need you to proceed to rescue my dear friend before it's too late."
"Why? What's wrong with Skrem?"
"Oh, just that you meatbags are far less resilient to electrical persuasion than someone like myself if it doesn't….destroy the system. I'll mark his location for you." And with that, the AI sent Skrem's current position right to them, along with a separate marker where his equipment is stored in a different color. "Prioritize the green then head for the red once you liberate him."
"Artificial con-...like a SiR unit?" Lorlo attempted to make sense of what was interacting with them.
"Precisely that, slow technical man. Skrem however took it a step further and removed any inhibitors placed on me."
"Great, good, amazing, we can play twenty questions later," Aren cut in, noting their recently-added waypoints. "How you want to play this, Lieutenant? Can go three-by-three and knock out two birds with one stone. Clock's ticking on that search party, too."
Orkos blinked, rubbing his chin. "I'd rather not separate the team. The two locations aren't that far from each other. Let's go get Skrem, get his gear, and then get out of here." Orkos led the way up the ladder to the sixth floor. Alurac opened the door for them to save on the frustration of trying a balancing act to pry it open.
Cameras conveniently flicked off or turned away, the AI closely monitoring their progress as they made their way closer to Skrem. The closer they got, the louder the apparent screams of an Irken became.
Alurac's assistance made their approach all but smeet's play in a glorified training exercise. As far as the security systems in place were aware, they were nothing more than ghosts. That didn't excuse a margin of avoidable mistakes, however. Taking no chances, Aren silently ushered the team to take up position to either side of the corridor at the intersection nearest to the source of the awful noise.
Oxide huffed, "Butcher, we shocked this guy about twenty times already. If he knew, he would've told us by now."
"I was serious about not knowing anything beyond my part of ID2, you brutes!" The response was followed by another scream as Butcher flipped the switch once again.
"Was that really necessary?" Oxide shook his head.
"I'll be sure to note your sympathy for the Irken in our after-action report to the Director." The apparent squad leader noted, unphased by the writhing agony of their captive. "...while I admire your tenacity, Invader, my patience grows thin. What is the primary objective of your assignment to Hel? What does the Empire want with this world?"
"Lowered incentive for compliance, is my concern, Butcher." Oxide spoke as he took a sip from a mug of a hot drink, a mug that appeared comically small in his hands.
"Related…to Vort. Tech…they want your tech."
"Yeah, no shit they want our tech," Thermite spoke up from the other end of the room, seated at a desk. "We saw one of our shield generators in your armor. Tell us something we don't know!"
"...my colleague raises a valid point, Invader. Be more specific and I may reduce the voltage yet." He calmly reasoned. "Provide us a reason to show you the mercy denied to Vort."
About that time, Green Team was in position and had an unobstructed view of the scene playing out before them at the other end of the corridor. Four voices, one in a great deal of discomfort, and two Vortians visible in jet-black armor. Giants of men even from afar with their weapons almost laughably small upon their backs.
"Okay…nobody panic…" Aren did her best to work damage control over their closed team communications. "We're not made yet…and that is definitely one of the SIS teams we were warned about."
"Yeah, yeah it is." Gers looked down the hall and sighed, "All right, kids, you know what this means, play time's over."
"We didn't even get to do anything!" Chavsa hissed.
Gers quickly smacked her upside the head, "One, shut the fuck up. Two, those are the types of guys that will literally tear you apart."
That smack, however subtle, still echoed with the clack of armor against its likeness down the corridor. The faceless helmet of one of the visible Vortians snapped to the source, causing several hearts to stop.
"What is it?" Oxide queried.
Butcher didn't immediately respond, only looking for a few more seconds longer. To the naked eye, only an empty hallway of alloys illuminated by harsh overhead lighting. Unfortunately for them, the visors of their helmets weren't for show alone as his overlaid HUD filtered through additional wavelengths until the contrasting outlines of six hidden Irken came into focus.
"Appears we have company…let them believe they are hidden." He calmly reasoned, turning his attention back to Skrem's restrained form before keying his comms. "Numbers. We have guests…roll out the welcome mat for them, if you would be so kind."
"Of course, Butcher. Hospitality is our speciality."
The giant Vortian male turned away, back to torturing the captured Invader. A collective sigh of relief filled the team. Aren's attention snapped to Chavsa.
"One more outburst out of you like that and I'll personally rip your antenna off and stuff them down your throat." She threatened, looking to Orkos. "Whatever we're doing, we need to do it fast. I don't like being stuck in this hallway."
Orkos quickly looked around, finding a floor level vent shaft. Quickly moving to open it. "All right, loudmouth and Deris, in you go."
"W-where to?" Deris asked.
"Based on what Alurac is showing us, this vent will come out in that room."
Gers looked right at Orkos. "What's your bright idea?"
"We split the team up. Two to go grab Skrem."
"Yeah, and then what?" Gers stared him down.
"...I hate to say it but I think we need to cause a diversion to draw them out so we can get Skrem and get his gear."
"You're crazy, but not stupid at least." Gers keyed his radio to the ship. "Purple Lead, Red Lead, either one of you, Spike, we got problems."
"Spike…what…respond?" Corr's voice came through, but garbled.
"Problems, I said we have problems."
"Problems? …sort…brea-..."
"Great, pretty sure the weather's interfering with comms."
As Deris entered the vent, Chavsa looked at the three of them, "You guys look at the roof?"
"What's up there?" Gers looked at her.
"Pretty sure I saw a high powered transmitter up there."
Orkos quickly brought his map up as Chavsa entered the vent, confirming her findings before sealing it up behind her. "Yeah, yeah there is."
"So that means either you or Aren are going to go with Lorlo and see if you guys can't fire that thing up." Gers spoke up as he made sure Vard's special devices were handy.
"And the one who doesn't?"
"We get to have suicidal fun playing hide and seek with big Vortians who can rip us in half."
"I'll do it." Aren volunteered. "Red and Purple Team managed to do them in, we can too. After Lorlo unjams the jammer, the cavalry is coming, right? Just have to stay alive until then."
"Basically," Gers answered with a nod before gesturing to the stairs nearby. He watched Lorlo and Orkos leave before looking to Aren. "All right, go cause a disturbance."
Aren took a breath making her way to the door as Gers took position nearby with one of Vard's devices in hand. With another, the woman uncloaked, leaving herself fully exposed to Butcher and Oxide within before knocking on the door.
"Hi! I'm with the lost and found department. Here to collect something we lost."
Oxide, looked at her, laughing after the shock of having an Irken blatantly come up faded. The man set down his mug and walked over to the door, Aren stepping back as he came through the open door. "You Irken really are stupid aren't you?"
"Nah, I think that's SIS' department." Aren replied as a cloaked Gers slapped the device onto him. It was a vastly improved version of the original device Vard cooked up. Purple beams shot out from the device across the man's arms and legs, leaving him effectively locked in place and unable to move. The team's technician was clever as always.
Try as he might, the same enhancements adorning his flesh now became a prison held fast. No amount of will or augmented effort could budge the suit he wore a single inch.
"Butcher! Thermite! Little help here!" He glared at Aren, "Big breasted Irken clearly has some tricks up her sleeve."
"Idiot…" Butcher growled, intentionally zapping Skrem one more time before tossing the controller down to deal with their uninvited guests. Tricks or no tricks, they all bled the same.
Aren, aware of Butcher's rapid approach, attempted to cloak and evade. She had another of the immobilizers on her, but needed to deploy it. The SIS team leader wasn't about to allow her the opportunity as his oversized hand ensnared the Sergeant by her ankle.
"Leaving so soon?" He sneered, dangling her upside down with a twisting turn to throw the Irken woman with all his might deeper into the room toward the opposite wall. "Stay awhile. Make yourself at home!"
Her yelp of surprise was cut short after colliding with a rolling cart of tools and implements some distance away. Its contents scattered in an awful cacophony of metallic clattering as she tumbled end-over-end until coming stopping abruptly where the wall met the floor. Her cloak fluctuated, finally failing to reveal herself proper once again.
"...ow." Aren seethed, dazed as she saw the upside-down armored monster of a Vortian encroaching on her. Scrambling to right herself, she rolled away in time as the other referred to as Thermite nearly put his foot through the metal decking where her head once was.
"Squirm all you want, worm. You and your friends are dead." Butcher declared with conviction before addressing his squadmate. "Deal with the other and free Oxide. I've got this one."
"On it," Thermite's attention turned to the cloaked Scout Sniper as he closed the gap in a few bounds. The Sniper ducking before the man's fist impacted the wall where he was standing a few moments ago, leaving a sizable dent. The sniper made his way out and towards another door, forcing Thermite to pursue him into the next room. Oxide simply sighed, left bound for the moment.
Within the lab turned torture chamber, now cleared of Vortians, the duo of Chavsa and Lorlo approached the bound man and undid the restraints. A man of extremely dark green skin and purple eyes glanced up at them. Noticing antennae, he heaved a sigh of relief. The Invader was still in an undersuit for his armor rather than a typical Invader uniform, something they expected of him.
"Can you walk?" Deris asked the newly freed Invader.
"Yeah…yeah I think I can." He heard another clang outside from a tool cart thrown in Aren's direction before missing and impacting a wall. "Fun bunch aren't they?"
"Absolute hoot," Chavsa deadpanned, aiding with the last of Skrem's restraints to get him down and back on his feet. "Your robo-pal's been helping us. Get your gear and get the heck outta here before they turn us into paste."
While the rescue-in-progress continued, Aren evaded Butcher's wrath with far too many close calls than she'd care for. Every attempt to escape the room saw her route blocked off or another dangerously-close attempt on her life. Every object of sizable mass became a kinetic missile with the amount of force that could be placed behind them in their hands. Innocuous items such as a simple wrench may as well had been a high-caliber rifle if thrown hard enough.
"Okay, uhh…listen, big guy…think we got off on the wrong foot here…" She attempted to conversate, keeping her distance while looking for an exit. Each attempt she made to move, he was there. "We're just here for our friend. That's it. Forget you saw us, we forget we saw you?"
"Perhaps we have," Butcher facetiously placated, unphased by her distractions. "...but you are trespassing in a high-security facility…just as your "friend" was…but unlike him, a more gruesome fate awaits you."
A frantic hand slapped at her comms.
"Orkos, where the FUCK is our backup at?!"
"I'm trying, Sergeant," Lorlo came in over the line, "but the schematics for this transmitter is an absolute mess."
"I don't care! You'll be scraping me off the wall down here if you don't hurry!" Aren quickly countered, the sound of something else being thrown and destroyed on impact with her the target of opportunity.
Near the lift, the sound of thuds against a door echoed into the room, before the door came flying down the hall and crashing into a wall behind Butcher. A female, similarly sized to the trio they already saw, came down the hall.
"That damned AI has been turning the security systems against me. Sorry I'm late." That's when she noticed Skrem making a break for the next room. "Hey!" She immediately went after him.
Noting Numbers' sudden arrival and subsequent disappearance in pursuit of their prisoner and his liberators, a growl of annoyance came from Butcher. His team separated, Oxide in the same room as he but uselessly incapacitated, chaos reigned supreme. Something he had an inkling was planned on the Irken's behalf.
"So…uhh…question." Aren hesitantly broached, watching Butcher's every move as he matched her step-for-step, ready to pounce at any attempts to make a break for it. "Not that this…game of tag isn't…exciting, but…why aren't you just shooting me?"
Butcher chuckled.
"Too merciful. No, I want all of you to feel a fraction of the suffering inflicted on our people…and I have a capacity for violence the average VDF soldier does not. Lucky you."
"Yeah, lucky me…" Aren huffed, swallowing.
What to do, what to do…she had the immobilizer still. Butcher would be upon her before she could ready it. Same with drawing her rifle or sidearm. Even so, the amount of punishment they could tank would eat up her ammunition. Hand-to-hand combat was suicide. That left the current strategy of playing keep-away until the end of time…or running to fight another day the moment opportunity presented itself.
Her yellow gaze behind her visor frantically searched the room. She needed a way out. Anything to put distance between her and Butcher. Her smaller stature made her far more nimble, but he was still unreasonably quick. Obstacles were becoming few and far in between as they ended up mangled messes after colliding with the walls.
Noting her hesitation, Butcher knew he held the advantage. She was running out of places to evade him. Time to tip the scales in his favor for certain. Facing her still, he backpedaled slowly, inching closer to Oxide. By the time she realized what he was up to, panic overrode better judgment at the idea of fighting more than one of them at once.
A mad dash across the room for the same vent Chavsa and Deris used to extract Skrem became her sole target. Butcher ripped Oxide's immobilizer off and crushed it mid-sprint in pursuit of Aren. An armored gauntlet swiped at the Sergeant, slicing through the air as she dropped into a slide for the vent. Almost there…
Butcher's follow-up did not miss as Aren soon found her vision obscured by his palm and snatched mid-slide off the ground to be held aloft by her head. An intense discomfort made acutely aware as he intended to sling her across the room or perhaps snap her neck from the directional change. Rather than give him the satisfaction, an impressive display of physicality saw her body flex to wrap the full length of her legs around his arm.
A terrible training-induced reaction that would have worked on a normal opponent to extradite herself through incapacitation. Something Butcher found endearingly pathetic as Aren's attempts to dislocate or break his elbow rewarded her with an intimate introduction into the adjacent wall head-first with enough force to fracture her helmet and shatter her visor.
Despite the devastating impact, she remained locked out in place around the Vortian's arm. His attempts to shake her off proved unsuccessful, trembling with effort to hold fast.
"Oxide, come peel this bug off of me." He commented, the Sergeant's bright eyes hazy. "Persistent bitch, I'll give her that."
"That she is." Oxide walked over, peeling one arm off of his squad leader, only to have it wrap back around. New strategy, he maneuvered one arm around Aren's body, using one leg propped against the wall and pushing to draw her off of him. No success with minimal pressure so he started upping the force bit by bit. "I think she likes you."
"Good for her," Butcher sneered behind his helmet at his subordinate. "Should just finish squashing her but now we have leverage against the other pests."
About that time, Aren's glazed-over eyes refocused. Blinking rapidly in vain to free them of the sting of blood from her broken visor, she winced. Disoriented from the blow to the head and being held nearly upside down, her iron grip faltered and she fell to the floor in a heap. Rolling over and scrambling to get back to her feet, Butcher's massive hand ensnared her neck from behind.
"Good, you're awake." He taunted as she struggled in vain to release herself, kicking and writhing.
"Let'go…ofme!"
"Just when we were starting to become friends? I wouldn't dare dream of it." Butcher continued, making a point to rip the Irken's weapons off of her body. "You were the one that wanted to talk, let's talk."
Doing her best to remain composed, her fruitless grasp at Butcher's digits around her throat released long enough to key her mic.
"Theygotme-"
His other hand seized her forearm, squeezing, and snapping the bone beneath with a shrill cry of agony from Aren.
"Ah, ah, ah, none of that now." He facetiously warned, looking to Oxide. "Take her helmet off before she tries calling for help again."
With a simple flick of his free hand, Oxide finished the fracture, the halves of the helmet falling to the floor. Butcher's previous blow having done most of the work and only a slight convincing needed to finish the job. Though what was slight to him may as well have been a smack of a sledgehammer to the back of Aren's head.
If the panicked, interrupted radio transmission wasn't a sign of Aren's situation going south, the abrupt change in biometrics on the team's HUD spelled a worrying cause for concern. Her heart rate skyrocketed and blood pressure increased dramatically. Something, or someone, had given her cause for alarm. The sort of responses associated with fear…or injury.
"Uhh…I'm not a medic but that doesn't look good." Deris commented uneasily. "I think Aren's in trouble."
Skrem finished donning his custom armor of segmented plates, black with purple accents. His visor fired up as he grabbed his custom sniper rifle, a custom compact carbine, and some extra pieces of gear.
"Skrem!"
"Alurac, where are you?"
"Marking it on your HUD now. Go help your rescuer, she's on the way."
"Loading a magazine of depleted uranium slugs, Skrem made his way by an immobilized Numbers, giving her a smack on the thigh armor. "Say hi to Thermite for me later." A facetious tone came from the Invader, newly rearmed.
"Fuck you."
He moved back the way they came, his armor allowing him to move somewhat quicker than the duo who previously rescued him. Shocked for who knows how long and he was coming back to form quickly. Truly a resilient Irken, PAK healing aside. As he entered the hall outside the lab, he glared right at the two SIS agents.
Oxide, still holding Aren, was the first to look over after sensing an extra set of eyes on him. "Oh, damn it, he was hard enough to catch in that damn armor the first time."
Displeased that the Sergeant's vain cry for aid managed to reach her compatriots, Butcher turned to face Skrem. Aren wheeled around with him, feebly clutching at his digits in an attempt to alleviate the discomfort.
"Let her go!" Deris screamed hoarsely, doing his best to remain composed before these two towering titans holding their commanding officer precariously.
"Not one step closer." He warned, unphased by how quickly the situation had deteriorated. "I will pop her little head off here and now…you lot seem different…you actually…care if I hurt this one, don't you?"
Skrem's rifle was leveled at Butcher's head right as he made his threat, three rails alongside the rifle emitting a greenish-blue glow as power flowed through them. "She did just come here to bust me out of this joint. So, yeah, maybe I do care. And you want to pop her head off? What's stopping me from giving you a third hole to breathe out of coupled with a dose of radiation poisoning?"
"Oxide will shove the short one's head up your ass first." Butcher chuckled. "Now…we have ourselves quite the predicament here, don't we? I have something that belongs to you…and you came in, uninvited, and made quite the mess of things."
"Leave-" Aren eeked out, earning herself a tightening grip on her airway.
"Oh, how selfless…I'm starting to get attached to this one. Quite the precocious one full of obstinance and vigor. I might keep her in exchange for you, Invader."
Oxide kept one hand on Aren's body, keeping her legs and remaining good arm bound as he aimed a machine pistol at the trio of Irken. "Yeah, you heard her. Why don't you three make like a tree and leave?"
Curiously, down the hallway, emerged one of the security drones, headed right towards Butcher and Oxide. Steel on steel echoed as the four legged drone came closer and closer.
"Fighter jock, scared boy, I do apologize for this in advance." Alurac spoke over the comms before he forced a power overload of the drone, sending a massive electrical shock into the two Vortians and Aren by extension. Though the AI did his utmost to try and direct the majority of the charge into the two agents, some collateral was unavoidable.
The arrival of the security drone gave Butcher pause. About the time it encroached closer than it should have and behaved erratically proved detrimental. A discharge of electricity impacted all of them, sending their suit's systems into a shielded, soft-lockdown state to reboot. Long enough for his grip to falter on Aren.
Falling to the the ground on her broken arm in a wail of agony, Skrem leapt into action to recover the beguiled Sergeant as the Irken operatives beat a hasty retreat to put distance between them and the SIS team.
Deris retracted his visor back into the helmet with the HUD effectively rendered useless for the time being.
"Okay, now what? Sure they won't be happy once they recover."
"My vote's get the heck outta here!" Chavsa huffed.
Skrem made his way over to a panel in another room, withdrawing Alurac's AI module and slipping it into his helmet before returning to the group. His shield regenerating from the electrical shock as he spoke to Alurac. "Sitrep, now."
"I'm maintaining a wireless connection to their systems. I've turned the security systems hostile to the Vortians and gave the sniper some breathing room."
"Good, where is he?"
"Roof."
"Then that's where we need to go."
"And corner ourselves?!" Deris incredulously spoke.
"Deris…" Aren coughed. "...be quiet. Skrem knows what he's doing. Give me a gun. Someone."
Skrem quickly ripped Chavsa's sidearm from its holster and held it out for Aren to take with her good arm. "Let's go." As Skrem led their way to an elevator to take them to the roof, Orkos broke through the comms.
"Guys! Lorlo managed it! Haxx is coming in as some backup."
"Just Haxx?" Chavsa asked.
"Haxx and a few others, including Jur."
"Take what we can get." Aren winced, doing her best to block out the pain of her broken arm and lacerated face. "Double-time, move it!"
About that time, Butcher and Oxide's suits concluded their soft reboots in response to the electrical discharge. Something Butcher showed his displeasure in dealing with by picking up the drone that caused it and throwing it against the wall with a growl of fury to smash it to pieces.
"Had it with these little shits." He sneered, keying his comms. "Numbers, Thermite, status? The Invader escaped with the help of our uninvited guests."
Numbers grunted as Thermite freed her from one of the immobilizers left on her courtesy of Chavsa. "I'm here with Thermite, they got away."
"Damn security systems fired on me, couldn't get the one I was chasing, Butcher."
"Of fucking course they did…" Butcher muttered with disdain before keying again. "Full lockdown, nothing in or out. They're running scared. Best assessment would be extraction via the roof under pressure. Regroup there."
"Roger that," Numbers replied as she and Thermite headed for a stairway to take them to the roof.
Concluding their exchange, Butcher drew his rifle from his back, looking to Oxide.
"Let's go. Got a handful of bugs to squash."
Up above, Gers took an overwatch position on the roof of the transmitter. The four Irken made their way to the roof right around the time a heavy shuttle, piloted by Vara, set down, and opened the back ramp.
As Skrem and company crossed the snow-blown roof of the facility, the exterior door was kicked open with enough force to fracture the concrete it slammed into by Thermite with Numbers close behind him.
"There they are!" He called out, raising his rifle to engage about the time Numbers forcibly yanked him behind a thermal exchange unit with the crack of a high-powerful rifle narrowly missing.
"Don't charge in stupid!" She huffed at him, leaning out to take well-aimed shots through the driving snow. "They've got nowhere to go!"
Deris and Chavsa did their best to return fire amidst backpedaling. Gers' precision kept the SIS operatives suppressed thankfully with their atrocious accuracy under pressure on the move. Not well enough to keep Butcher and Oxide from charging through the open door to join their squadmates and begin formulating a plan of attack.
"Who taught you two how to shoot?!" Skrem yelled at Chavsa and Deris as he turned about to fire a trio of depleted uranium slugs towards Oxide and Thermite in their attempted charge and then at the piece of cover they were behind. "Just run, you idiots! I got this!"
By then, the facility was on high alert and the stationed security personnel would be responding accordingly in short-order. Should they linger any longer, it was only going to get increasingly worse by the moment.
"So, uh…extraction? Where is it? Why isn't it here yet? Why are we still here?" Lorlo struggled to remain composed as the firefight intensified.
Out of the back of the heavy shuttle came Jur, Zutel, Radec, and…thuds.
The occupants of the shuttle, one-by-one, cleared the ramp to aid their pinned comrades to increase their numbers against the SIS operatives. There was another reason for this: To provide Haxx all the room he needed to maneuver and aim.
Vard and Aero's mad-science project had finally been realized as an armored exo-suit not unlike the Megadoomer in design but far smaller, took magnetized steps towards the rear of the shuttle. Purple Team's acting Lieutenant barely contained his antenna-to-antenna grin as the targeting system began picking up the SIS operatives' signatures and the handful of first-responding security coming to join them.
"Keep your head's down!" He called out through the mech's vox caster, both of the limb-attached PRCs spooling up before unleashing a torrent of magenta plasma from each weapon.
What appeared like certain death and a failed mission suddenly gave way to hope as Haxx's armaments shredded any of the vortians foolish enough to charge forward or threatened to render their cover useless.
"C'mon, move your c'hurtas!" Haxx continued between bursts of rotary cannon fire. "We're askin' to be shot down here!"
"The FUCK is that?!" Numbers queried aloud, ducking back into cover as dozens of incoming rounds threatened to slag her only protection. "Butcher, they're going to escape!"
"Put that in a memo and title it SHIT I ALREADY KNOW!" He snarled at her. "We need AA up here, double-time!"
Oxide made a mad dash for the stairwell, narrowly avoiding Haxx's fury as he returned to the facility to go grab a missile. A second shuttle was already making its way to the roof, the one the team inserted with, as Vara proved herself able enough to give the autopilot instructions to guide it to the roof while keeping Haxx steady.
Skrem, seeing a Vortian figure as he moved closer, quickly leveled his rifle at Jur.
"Don't shoot him! He's friendly!" Orkos yelled to him.
"Friendly?!" Skrem yelled back, "He's a Vortian!"
"No talk time, shoot now!" Aren managed over the din of battle, shoving Deris and Chavsa along. "Get IN! GO!"
Oxide returned to the fray, carrying multiple single-use guided AA missile tubes. Tossing them to the other SIS operatives and any nearby regulars he could reach between Haxx's PRC bursts. So long as they kept the pressure up, they couldn't safely board and escape. That kept the vessel hovering, ripe for targeting.
"Thermite, Numbers, suppress on my mark!" Butcher barked, watching Oxide prepare one of the launchers. "Oxide, knock those fuckers out of the sky! Three, two, one, mark!"
As intended, the three SIS agents simultaneously engaged, pinning Lorlo, Orkos, and Gers just short of the waiting ramp to safety and extraction. The armor of the vessel and Haxx's Minidoomer exosuit took quite a bit of punishment, but held. For now.
"Guys, no rush, take your time, but we're getting pummeled here!" Haxx facetiously reasoned, doing his best to stay calm…until he saw the tell-tale plume of rocket exhaust from the launched missile screaming through the snow towards them. For a split second, it felt like Tallum all over again.
"VARA!"
Vara was quick on the controls, flipping a switch to launch flares as she pulled an evasive turn to dodge the missile fired by Oxide. The missile flew past them, but it was enough to remove Haxx's firing solution for the meantime.
That timely save and close-call had an adverse side-effect. Lorlo had been mid-step to leap across the short gap of the roof for the waiting ramp. The maneuver saved the craft but now he clung to the ramp for dear life and his grip began to falter, sliding backwards.
Radec, having reboarded beneath Haxx's hail of fire, dove and ensnared the Tech Specialists wrist at the last moment before he plummeted into the white abyss below.
"Got ya! C'mon, climb, climb, climb!" He ushered, yanking him aboard and out of harm's way.
Out of frustration, Skrem set his sniper rifle down and ripped the rifles from the hands of Deris and Chavsa and leaned out the back of the shuttle, firing bursts from both to get his bearing, then holding down the trigger to return the favor of suppressive fire. A second missile followed, causing Vara to make another crazy maneuver that sent the pilot out of her seat, past Haxx, and out of the shuttle, landing on her back on the snow covered roof with Lorlo, Orkos, and Gers nearby.
"...Ow…"
"Get up, you idiot," Gers quickly pulled Chavsa to her feet.
"Stop screwin' around and let's GO!" Haxx growled at them, expending the last of the oversized power cell for one of the PRCs. "They'll get lucky the longer we linger!"
A third missile was about to fire at them, but the dash from the team's other shuttle drew the regular's attention, the Vortian firing at it, only for the shuttle to dump flares and climb with an evasion. Vara's gamble proved worthwhile, long enough for the remaining members of the team to board.
"Get us out of here, now!" Orkos yelled from the back as Zutel got to work tending Chavsa's arm.
"No need to tell me twice!" Vara yelled from the cockpit as she ascended, sealing the door behind them as they accelerated to escape velocity.
Down below, Oxide punched a wall in frustration, the Invader and the others having eluded them. "Well that's just great."
The base of fire withered to a sporadic shot or two and then silence save for the whipping winter wind around them. The two craft disappeared into the great white, taking with them the captured Invader. Security personnel moved to secure the scene, ensuring none of them were wounded or left behind while tending to their own.
"Butcher." Numbers addressed, regrouping with their team lead as he gazed skyward. "...Buros."
"What."
"I need confirmation. I saw Vortians with their extraction team. Were my eyes deceiving me and the idiots stationed here got caught in the middle of that mess or were they actually helping them escape?"
"The one I caught a glimpse of looked like one of those Ohnmatu types to me." Oxide chimed in.
"That doesn't make any sense though." Thermite chimed in once it was clear the engagement concluded and they were left with bruised egos to nurse. "Why would anyone help the Irken?"
"I don't know, why would anyone waste time and resources rescuing an Invader? Whole situation reeks of something and I don't know what that smell is yet." Numbers summarized. "...either way, we just got our asses kicked. Those weren't normal Spec Ops."
"Seemed normal enough to me. Awfully green experience-wise, too."
"They are, but they're definitely not normal." Oxide rubbed his face.
"They weren't." Butcher finally spoke. "The yellow-eyed bitch I had in my custody. Got a good look, that wasn't standard-issue Spec Ops kit…and all of them were strange."
"Strange how?" Numbers pursued.
"Empathetic to one another. Emotions. Fear."
"Seemed more…not normal for an Irken at all," Oxide added. "Not to mention, you ever seen an Irken with tits before? I sure haven't until now."
"Take your word for it," Thermite shrugged. "I didn't get a good enough look at her before I chased after the other one…and Oxide was too busy being a piece of modern art."
That earned him a harsh shove from Numbers.
"This some kind of joke to you?" She dared. "The entire reason we were here just flew off and we failed. Miserably. Already hard enough justifying the program as it is to the Federation and we got caught with our pants down in front of everyone. Have some dignity."
"Something just reeks about this whole thing." Oxide rubbed some snow off his helmet. "We found Skrem among a bunch of Irken who killed other Irken. These weird Irken show up to save Skrem. Joint Spec Ops team of ours-"
"Allegedly. Could've been numbnuts stationed here stuck in the middle of it."
"I know an Ohnmatu suit when I see one." Oxide huffed. "Still, none of this makes any sense. Either the situation is more fucked up than we know, or someone is leaving us high and dry not telling us a damn thing."
"...or we just crossed paths with the unit responsible for taking out Team 2 at Tallum." Butcher joined in amidst the conversation after a great deal of contemplation. "SIS aren't strangers to Spec Ops. Most common teams we end up engaging…but those teams don't wipe out ours wholesale with ease. Explains their tenacity and resolve."
"...So these are the same guys who took out Tallum and Arokina?" Thermite asked.
"If the boss is right? Sure sounds like it." Oxide added as he wiped some snow off his horns.
"If that's the case, I'm even more pissed off they got away." Numbers glowered. "They made us look like fools and deserve everything comin' to them."
"Damn straight." Thermite snarled.
"There's still a lot of angles about this that don't make sense to me." Oxide looked at Butcher. "Should we run this by Overlord or go straight to the Director with it?"
"Doesn't matter who we tell, they're going to be furious with us." Numbers scoffed, shaking her head. "...it's Butcher's call, but I'd bypass middle-management on this one…and it's fuckin' cold out here. I'm going inside."
"Need to get control of the situation here and compile our report before speaking to anyone about anything first." Butcher concluded, gesturing with his head towards the illuminated opening. "Let's go clean our mess up."