Dalton tried his radio as they punched it back to base.
"Forrester, Fish, you read?"
"Yeah, Sergeant. You good?" Forrester replied. There was a haze over the channel that he didn't like. He could see her rover ahead, there shouldn't be a problem over the shortwave.
"We're good, got the part. You?"
"So far, no problems."
"Good. Keep going. Fish, you keep a sharp eye out, read me?"
"Yes, Sergeant."
They all fell silent, driving across the churned-up badlands. Everywhere he looked, paranoia was creeping in.
They were under the dirt.
"What do you think they are?" Baker asked after another few moments of bouncing along the uneven terrain.
"Aliens," Dalton muttered. "Gotta be. You saw its eyes, yeah?"
"Uh-huh. They glowed."
"Yeah. But there was intelligence there. It wasn't some dumb animal, I don't think. And it looked…" he hesitated, uncertain if he even wanted to continue this particular line of thought. Something had struck him immediately, a notion that was like a vast shadow beneath the surface of a sea, suggesting something immense and terrifying looming just a bit deeper.
"What?" Baker pressed.
"It looked like something created, not born," he replied.
"What?" he repeated, more sharply.
"I don't know, it didn't seem natural. I've seen all sorts of creatures, Corporal. All over the Sector. Fought up and down this miserable scratch of space, but I have never seen anything like this. Or that thing floating in the air. Something doesn't get this nasty naturally. At least not here, nor on any of the other worlds I've seen."
"So what then? Someone made it? Like in a laboratory?" he asked, the word an awkward string of syllables in his mouth.
"Maybe. I don't know. I always heard stories about what the Confederacy or the Combine or the Protectorate were cooking up. Always thought it was bullshit, but maybe not. Or maybe they're aliens. I think they're aliens, don't know why. Just...well you saw that thing."
"Yeah," he muttered.
They fell silent again. Dalton's mind was working furiously, trying to figure out some plan. This was bad. Really, really bad. That outpost had been shredded. He was half-expecting to get back to base and find it under attack. They were too far out to try with the shortwave. What to do? Install the part and try for comms.
Yeah. Dalton began to calm down a little.
Miller would have the ultimate say, but he had the funny suspicion that they'd look to him or maybe Dix or even Frost for a plan of action. He knew Dix was more of an 'aim me at a problem and cut me loose' kinda guy, and Frost for some reason didn't strike him as someone to take over. Which meant it'd be up to him.
So, swap the part, fix the radio. He thought he could do it, probably. Then call for help, because they needed help. This was big, the biggest thing he'd ever seen. If nothing else, the Confederates would want to swoop in and grab some samples, and he happened to have one. If the part swap didn't work, then the next nearest outpost was Gamma Nine, a simple run-of-the-mill base like their own, meant for peacekeeping purposes.
Maybe they'd had better luck so far with all of this, whatever this was.
Dalton drove fast enough that he managed to catch up with and then overtake Forrester's rover, taking the lead back to base.
When he finally got within sight of it, he felt some measure of relief at seeing no signs of destruction and Marines walking along the wall.
He opened up the shortwave. "This is Dalton, I need to talk to Miller right goddamned now."
The response was quick. "You have me, Dalton. What's the problem?"
"Can't talk about it over the radio but we've got a big clusterfuck of a situation. Get Dix and Frost and meet me in the Motorpool, no one else. This is urgent."
A pause. "Got it."
"What are we gonna tell them?" Baker asked.
"Everything that happened, but I'm gonna let Miller figure out how he wants to handle this going forward. You saw how bad Fish was with those things. Most of grunts out here are rookies. We don't need some kinda panic going on," Dalton replied.
"Yeah...I'm halfway there myself. If those things tunnel into our base…"
"I don't think they tunnel."
"What? We saw 'em tunnel."
"No, we saw 'em coming up out of the dirt like trapdoor spiders. If they tunneled, why would they need to tear the gate open?"
"Oh. Huh. Yeah."
He activated the shortwave again. "Forrester, you take it right into the Motorpool and you and Fish just sit tight, understood?"
"Yes, Sergeant," Forrester replied.
"Fish, do you copy on that?"
"Uh, y-yeah Sergeant."
They got up to the gate, which was already opened for them, and drove right inside. He noticed several people lingering around, no doubt wanting news on what had happened. He ignored them for the moment and they drove right for the Motorpool. The doors were open for them there, too, though he saw a Marine waiting for them. They parked and Dalton hopped out. Miller, nor Dix or Frost, were here yet. He recognized the Marine as another young Private, Abner.
"What's goin' on, Sarge?" he asked.
"Get going, Abner," Dalton replied, pointing to the door.
"Did you find somethin' out there?" he persisted.
"That's an order, Abner."
The goggle-eyed Private just stared at him for a moment longer, his eyes briefly cutting to the rovers, then he nodded jerkily and hustled out of the Motorpool.
"Secure that exit," Dalton said to Baker, pointing as he moved towards the way Abner had gone. Baker fired off a sharp reply and got on it. He didn't need anyone sneaking a peek before they figured out how to handle this.
He locked down a side exit, and then went to wait by the single open garage-style door. There he saw Miller, Dix, and Frost. Dix and Frost were in full armor.
"What's going on, Sergeant?" Miller asked as they walked in.
"A moment," Dalton replied, and secured the door behind them. "Gonna want some privacy for this." He started walking over to the second rover. Forrester and Fish hopped out as he approached. "Wheeler and Dallas are KIA," he said, "and so is everyone at Gamma Four."
"Everyone?" Miller asked in an uncharacteristically strained voice.
"Far as we could tell."
"Who did it?" Dix asked.
"Not who," Dalton replied, "what." He got to the trunk and waited for them to get into position, then put his hand on the handle. "Would someone like to tell me what in unholy fuck this is?"
He popped the trunk.
"Whoa!" Dix cried. It was probably the strongest reaction he'd ever seen from the Firebat.
"My God...what is that?" Miller whispered.
"We killed about a dozen of them. They shredded every last person at that outpost, and took down Dallas and Wheeler."
"They were hiding in the dirt," Fisher said, his voice haunted.
"And that big thing we reported seeing in the clouds earlier? I saw another one, or maybe the same one, don't know. But clear as day. It was definitely alive, some kind of creature." He looked directly at their new Ghost. "Frost, do you have anything to say about this?"
The others turned to look at her as well. She was staring into trunk. He wished like hell her mask was off, so he could read her face.
"No," she said, "I have no clue what that is. It looks dangerous."
"It is. As hell. They weren't exactly easy to put down, took more bullets than you'd think," Dalton replied.
"Did you get the part?" Miller asked after a few seconds of staring at the creature again.
"I did."
"Can you install it? With Dallas dead…"
"I'm reasonably sure I can. How are we going to handle this?" Dalton asked.
Miller looked increasingly worried, like a tired old man, no longer sure of the world around him. He wiped at his forehead, staring into the trunk still.
"Lieutenant Miller," Dalton said, a little more sharply, causing the man to look at him. "What are your orders?"
"We need to call for backup," he said finally.
"I think we should put the base on high alert, and I think we should show this to everyone, and warn them about what we're up against," Dalton replied.
Miller looked a little reluctant, but finally nodded. "You're right."
"Perfect. I'm going to go install the part and see if we can reach Gamma Nine...have you heard anything else on the radio? Anything at all?"
"No, still down, and we haven't found any other problems," Miller replied.
"All right. I gotta get to work. Forrester and Baker will fill you in on what they're capable of and what happened," Dalton said, walking back towards the garage door. He listened to the others start talking as he opened it up and headed back outside.
He was halfway to the Command Center when he realized he was being ghosted.
"Dalton."
He stopped and turned around, looking at Frost. "Yeah?"
"I really don't know about that thing," she said. He stared at her. "Do you believe me?"
Huh. Well, last night probably meant more to her than he'd initially assumed if she cared about whether or not he believed her.
"Take off your helmet," he said finally.
She hesitated for only a few seconds, then did as he requested, revealing that starkly pale face of hers and her blood-red hair and electric blue eyes.
"Look me in the eye and tell me you aren't holding anything back from me," he said.
She hesitated, but then looked him in the eye. "I don't know anything about that creature," she said.
"That...isn't what I said," he murmured.
"I know, but that's what matters right now."
"...what are you holding back? Do you know anything about the comms?" he asked.
"No. I don't think so, anyway."
"Why are you really here?" he pressed.
She sighed. "I can't...tell you." He waited, but she stood her ground. "I'm sorry," she added quietly.
He just turned away. "I've got work to do."
"Wait," she said, and he turned back to her. "If you get the radio working again, and get in touch with someone higher up...could you not mention me?" He stared hard at her now. She balked, a little. "I know, I don't have a right to be asking any favors right now...but I'm asking."
"Fine, but at some point in the near future, you and I are going to have a conversation, and I want to know more." He wasn't sure where the hell this was going, why didn't she want anyone else knowing she was here?
Did anyone else know she was here?
He realized he had no idea.
"I can't make any promises," she admitted reluctantly.
"We'll figure it out, just be ready to fight like hell. If those things show up here, we're going to need every last body and gun."
"I can do that," she said firmly, and he believed her.
He nodded and began walking to the Command Center.
It took Dalton two hours to get out of his armor, figure out what exactly Dallas had been up to with the communications array, and then install the part that he'd lost two men trying to get. He'd been a little worried at first. He was no comms expert. But though the part was deep in the system, it wasn't all that complicated. Really, most of the time spent was the effort of putting the array back together after he'd installed the new part.
"All right," he said as he closed the final panel and looked over at PFC Mulberry, the other technician on the base, and now the only official one left, "initialize power."
"Yes, Sergeant," he replied quietly. He knew the basics, but Dalton did wonder how he'd ever passed aptitude. He didn't really have a mind for technical work.
There was a hum and a few lights turned on.
"So far, so good," he muttered, walking over to the workstation. Mulberry moved out of the way to make room for him. Dalton looked across the old screen, frowning at the cracks in it, the parts that were fogged over by the passage of time, making it hard to read some of the words. Everything looked clear across the board. "Well...it seems to be working," he muttered. "Guess it's time to find out if it's us or the rest of the world that's broken."
"Uh, do ya need me for anything else, Sarge?" Mulberry asked.
"No, you can go," Dalton replied.
"Thanks." The young man scurried off.
Dalton frowned, looking after him as he left. It was really occurring to him just how many of the people around the base were little more than kids. Now that he thought about it, most of them were in their late teens or early twenties.
Didn't seem right. They should be home with their parents, working in a merch store or going to college or maybe working some hydroponics.
Not out here wasting away with a few grizzled old vets to lead them to nowhere.
He left the little side room and moved down the hallway that reconnected him to the central hub of the Control Room.
"We're online," he said.
"Perfect," Miller replied. He was at his workstation, personally firing up the comms array himself. "Everything looks green across the board in here...I'm attempting to establish radio contact with Gamma Nine…"
Dalton took a closer look at the man. He looked more haggard than ever. How long had he been out here, he wondered suddenly? He didn't really know, only that the guy had been running the outpost for awhile by the time he'd shown up. But awhile was a rather imprecise stretch of time. Did it mean a year? Or ten?
Could he still manage this?
Dalton wasn't exactly eager to step back into the role of leader, but if it really came down to it he would.
"Damn," Miller whispered, derailing his train of thought.
"What is it?"
"Our gear is working, but we can't make a connection...with anyone. I'm not getting anything but dead air," he muttered, fiddling with the controls. "Shit!"
Dalton's mind was already going. "Let me take a squad out to Gamma Nine," he said.
"Wait," Miller said, looking up. "We can't afford to send a whole squad out there...not if the base could be attacked at any moment...take Frost," he said as an idea suddenly occurred to him. "See if you can get more information out of her."
"You think she knows more about what's going on?" Dalton asked.
"Yeah, I do. I never could get a straight answer out of her about why she was here and as far as I can tell she's never actually done anything. She's just hung around. This could be-" He winced, like something had pained him in his head. He reached up and began massaging his temple. "Could be something the government let loose, and she might be here to observe," he said, lowering his voice considerably.
"Do you really think that's possible?" Dalton asked.
Miller sighed wearily. "I don't know, but you saw that thing. Ain't natural."
Dalton considered it. He wasn't sure he'd have walked away intact from Gamma Four if it had just been him and Frost. Then again, they could always bolt if there was any trouble…
"All right," he agreed reluctantly. "Lemme go suit up."