Intro

Howling Echoes

People worldwide tune in to the TV screens; news about the war continues to get coverage. The people want to know what is happening; new outlets question the government officials. Other nations have the same problem. A family patiently watches to see what unfolds. Some people in the streets tend to be on their phones.

Earth is the home and birthplace of humanity; once, it was a world filled with beautiful sites and natural beauty. If you view it from space, the world is not as it was before; why, you ask? In the year 20XX, countries have been fighting for land and resources.

The oceans have become polluted, and the skies are toxic. Protesters worldwide want peace; crime rates have increased, and the people wish for a government solution. On the other hand, their governments defend their actions and say their involvement in the war is for the people.

Some people are sick of it and want it to return to how it used to be. Meanwhile, the president is in a locked room in the white house. The president was an older white man with black hair. He sits in an almost empty room; holograms of other nation's leaders are with him.

"So is everyone in agreement then," asked the president. The nation's leaders all agree. A video of the news is displayed on a monitor. It shows the chaos around the world. "Very well, it is unanimous; let the operation commence," he said. The president looks at the monitor; it changes to show a green screen that says approve.

Above a desert city, a plane flies by; winds blow sand on the abandoned city streets. Cars and buildings are in ruins; it was a ghost town. The plane begins to make a turn; the sun also begins to set. "Nest control; copy that."

The plane was more significant than regular planes; soldiers relaxed around a large table. Seats line up the aircraft's wall; Weapons are in special lockers; the group hears an announcement and begins to get ready. They look like an elite strike team; the group suits up in special equipment.

The suits they wear are known as Exo suits, built with the cooperation of allied scientists. These suits are made to face the enemy's advanced weaponry. There was also something special about this team: they were unique. Super soldiers enhanced individuals with the speed and strength of several people; they were the only ones capable of wearing the Exo suits. There was a total of eight on the plane. A door slides open, and the soldiers stop and salute.

A man walks in from another room. He was a captain by the symbol on his suit. The captain is a white male with short black hair, about six feet tall. The scar on his cheek runs to his missing ear lobe; the captain calls to another soldier sitting. We can't see his face because he had his helmet on.

"What's this, clear blue skies…." The scene changes, "Blue oceans, green pastures…are those people?" The captain wakes him; the soldiers hear someone calling him. "….err…. oner…. hey rookie!" The soldier woke up and looked up. "Hey, rookie, are you ready?" The soldier shakes his head, "Me a rookie, you got to be kidding."

Before he could say anything else, another man walked in, "Commander Richard," the captain shouted. The soldiers salute him. Commander Richard is in charge of the group. He was a tall, dark-tone man; he wore a hat and had brown eyes. He had a small mustache and wore what the pilots wore. He told them to relax.

"Okay, ladies, shut up and listen; we got the green light. The mission is as expected: search and destroy; that's not all…." The table in the middle lights up, and the room goes dark. A hologram appears on the table, "Aleksander Sokolov, a Russian defector scientist. He is on our hit list; our allies in Russia want him eliminated. Rumors have it he has built a new type of weapon."

Aleksandr Sokolov was an older Russian man; the picture showed him in a white lab coat. He looked to be in his fifties. Sokolov has short gray hair, blue eyes, a black and white beard, and a mustache. The team stares at the picture.

The commander reviews their mission; other files appear on the hologram table. The soldiers point at a file, and when it opens, they see its content. It shows pictures of a place and other material on the enemy. The commander tells them their top priority, "Your mission is to infiltrate the base and steal all the data you can; once it's done, destroy everything. We don't want them to be able to get back up from this."

The file and picture of Aleksander Sokolov reappear, "If you see Sokolov, eliminate him." The captain speaks up and asks about the enemy defenses; Commander Richard opens a file, "This is a joint operation with ground ally forces; the top wants this operation to be the last." The commander tells them that the ground forces will be a distraction.

The group rechecks the files, and the lights turn back on, "Any other details, sir," the captain asks. The commander looks at them, "Don't die; that's all boys; the mission starts at nineteen hundred." The commander leaves the room. The soldiers return to finish getting ready. The soldier with his helmet on sits back down again.

A female soldier walks up to him; she has short black hair and looks young. The female soldier wore the same armor he had on; she pulled out a knife, "Lieutenant, your knife." The sitting soldier takes it and thanks her; he looks at it. It was a worn-out dagger-looking knife.

Once they were prepared, they headed to the back of the plane. They do a final check on their equipment and put on their helmets. The group all look like the character from a video game, Specter from Call of Duty. They feel nervous as they wait for the mission to start. The captain realizes and begins to motivate them.

"All right, team, no screw-ups; we don't want another incident like last time…." He looks at the lieutenant, "What are you looking at me for?" "Remember to watch each other's backs and check those corners…." Again, he looks at the lieutenant. "Hey, I see what you are doing!" the group laughs. "Are you all ready," He shouts.

The team shouts; their visors cover their faces. The captain began to hear them over the comms. The soldiers were relaxed; it looked like his talk helped. The lieutenant speaks to him over the comms, "OH, Mr. hot shot, you would have a hard time against him too." "No, I wouldn't; I can handle campers." The group laughs again; the lieutenant shakes his head.

It becomes silent; they whisper something. In another room, the commander and other soldiers on computers monitor what's happening. The commander looks at a giant screen; it shows a large base. A message reaches them; the ground forces are ready. The commander saw monitors with the team's vitals and head cam; they were prepared.

The commander checks his watch, "Commence assault." The soldier in the room sends messages to the ground forces. At the back of the plane, the team grips their weapons; the lights turn off, and red blinking lights flash. A large door opens up, and the team sees the night sky.

The team moves forward and sees the moon shining on a burning city. Fire spreads through destroyed buildings; on the ground, tanks move forward, firing shells at the enemy base. A colossal fort is on alert and fires back at the tanks; turrets appear and shoot ground forces. The enemy fort is away from the abandoned city.

The ground forces are in the open, attacking the enemy. The enemy sends out their forces to intercept. The team sees bullet trails from both sides. Inside, the commander hears the ally's communications. Some ask for backup, while others need help pushing. The commander radios the team, "Get ready to jump; ground forces are doing their part."

Their plane has not been spotted; the team sees the other side of the fort. Troops rush to the fort walls, tanks move out, and anti-missile launchers fire at the ally missiles. The group hears jets approaching; the enemy gets bombarded by the allies.

The red light on the plane turns green, and the team jumps off; they fall towards the enemy base. The open field begins to get covered in smoke and fires. The teams pick up chatter from the ground forces. "Deploy plasma shields," forward tanks stop, and energy shields activate, blocking enemy fire.

The ground soldiers run and cover behind the tanks. The enemy uses special weapons to attack; they blow up some of the shielded tanks. Enemy positions are called out, "Hit…. tank hit, need repairs!" "Enemy, up high!" "Fire!" "Everyone, change comms channel," said the captain.

The team changed their comms channel and moved towards a tall building; they sped up their descent. Their helmets display where to land; as they get closer to the ground, they activate thrusters on their suits. The team lands on the rooftop and secures their position.

"Weapons free," the team aims and moves to their destination. Enemy soldiers on the roof get taken out swiftly; the group makes quick work of them. More enemy soldiers appear, but the team kills them, "Tango down." They get to a door.

The captain gives them hand signals; another soldier gets close to the door and uses a torch to open it. They enter a maintenance room, "The hidden entrance is below us." The same soldier who opened the door took out some C4 and placed it on the ground, "Charges set."

The group drops down and clears the room; the captain shows them a hologram of the building. The room they are in is marked, and so is everyone; it shows them where they need to go, "Move." The team moves from corner to corner, watching each other's backs.

They reach the elevator doors; they open them, "Bravo team, move." Four group members attached to the elevator cables and headed down four floors below. The elevator group stops and opens the elevator doors; they enter the floor and clear it. "Mike, check," the captain calls.

Bravo's team answered him. "Head to the server room," said the captain. "Copy, Alpha One." The captain radios command, "This is Alpha One, Nest. Do you copy?" The commander answers, "This is Nest, Alpha; we hear you," the commander sees their status. The captain told the commander that the Bravo team had begun their part of the operation.

The floor Bravo's team was on looked like an office space; there were rooms with computer cubicles. Bravo's team made their way to the server room; they went down a corridor. Enemy soldiers spotted them, and they began a shootout. Bravo's team moved quickly and reacted to the enemy fast.

"Alpha team, move out," said the captain. The rest of the group moves to the emergency staircase, going down and stopping between floors. A diagram on their helmets shows a hidden floor; a soldier places C4 and creates a hole. The team entered and cleared the hallway.

"Clear," "Clear," "All clear," said the lieutenant. The captain motions to move; they head down a corridor. The floor looked to be some testing area. There were sealed rooms and some experimental rooms. The team engages with what looks like robots. The unit quickly takes care of them and reaches a door.

The door had a high-security lock; one of the team members used a device and started running a program to bypass it. The light on the security lock opens, and the team enters the room. They were in some control room. They look around the empty room and computers; "Alpha One, come look at this," said the lieutenant.

The captain goes over to a window; they see a group of soldiers guarding a scientist working on a machine. Their helmets scan the room and identify Aleksandr Sokolov, "Nest, this is Alpha One; we have Sokolov." "Alpha One, repeat." The captain sends the command a picture.

"Alpha One, take him out." The captain tells the group to move; they head towards doors that open to the room Sokolov is in. They silently moved in; the room was larger than it looked. A machine stood in the middle. The team's helmets scan the enemy soldiers; it displays the weapons they have.

"Those are bad news if you get hit by them; the suits won't be able to handle it." "What do you suggest," asked the lieutenant. The captain looks at the enemy soldiers; he counts six. Two were on catwalks while the others were helping Sokolov; he looked upset.

Static was heard over the comms, "Alpha, this is Bravo One; we have reached the server room and begun extraction," the sound of gunfire was heard. "Bravo, I heard you; once you are done, torch the place and get out; we will meet you at the extraction zone!" "Bravo, copy." The captain radioed the command and asked if they had heard that.

The commander gets a transmission; files are transformed, "Nest here, we are receiving the files." The plane the commander is in had been circling the base. Meanwhile, the ground forces are still hitting the enemy hard. Inside, Sokolov hears and feels the building shaking.

The captain looks at the group and tells them his plan. He orders two teammates to take out the guards on the catwalk; the other will wait, and they will take them all out at the same time. They agree and move; the lieutenant and another go to the stairs to the catwalk.

They activate a stealth function on their suits and head upstairs. The other and the captain get to better positions; they wait for the others. The lieutenant takes out his knife and gets close to the enemy soldier; he waits for his teammate to do the same. They kill them simultaneously, "Alpha two, tango down; moving to position." "Alpha three, also moving to position."

The group aimed their weapons at the targets. The captain waits for everyone to have a clear shot. "Alpha two in position," "Alpha three ready," "Sir, ready," said Alpha four. "Okay, I have sight on my signal," said the captain; Sokolov shouted that the machine had worked earlier and had trouble restarting it.

"Three…. two…." The guards move; the captain shoots first, and then three more shots are fired. The captain shoots one more time, hitting Sokolov. The enemy falls to the ground, "Targets down," he says over the comms. "Alpha One, we need confirmation." The team regrouped in front of the machine.

The captain fits Sokolov's head and runs a scan; his helmet matches the target data, "Target confirmed." "This is Nest, Affirmative Alpha; now continue your mission." The captain orders Alpha Three and Four to set charges; he and the lieutenant stand guard. They calmly look around.

"This operation feels too easy, don't you think," said the lieutenant. The captain laughs, "Don't jinx it; it may be that way, but remember, this is supposed to be what ends the war. Years of fighting, the enemy got overconfident, and now look at them: defending the last stronghold."

The lieutenant looked at the machine; it was a large ring, "What do you suppose that is?" The captain stares at it, "I wouldn't know, but it does remind me of something I saw in one of those old movies; I believe it was a portal or some sort of transport."

The lieutenant looked puzzled by it; he asked the captain about its purpose in the movie. He said that it teleported the people to other worlds. "Otherworld, HUH, why would Sokolov be working on something like this?" The captain shrugged his shoulders.

"This is Bravo; we have secured the intel, moving to extraction." "Alpha One here, copy that, Bravo; we are finishing. We'll meet up with you shortly." "Copy, Alpha," Bravo's team throws grenades into the server room and leaves. Alpha finishes setting the explosives.

The captain asked one of his teammates to secure data from the machine; he said it could be helpful. Alpha Four turns the machine computer on and begins to acquire data as they wait; the captain and lieutenant talk. The lieutenant asks the captain what he plans on doing.

"They said we would be free after this, so I requested some time off." The lieutenant becomes surprised, "Can we do that?" The captain laughed; I talked to the commander and asked what they planned to do with us. He said we could return to civilian lives after some check-ups a course." The lieutenant chuckled.

"So, what's the first thing on your list," the lieutenant asked. "I plan to go home…." The group feels danger; doors burst open, and the enemy enters. "Enemy sighted, begin neutralization," robot enemy units shoot at the team. "Contact, enemy forces," the captain shouts.

Alpha Three and Four jump behind the machine computers and take cover. The captain and lieutenant fire their weapons from their position. They take out the enemy but rush in more, "We need to get to cover!" "Yeah!" the lieutenant moves and gets behind another computer station, "Move, get out of there," he shouts at the captain.

The captain sees cover and is about to move when he gets hit; he falls backward to the ground, "I'm hit!" The enemy keeps firing at them; Alpha Three and Four fire back. In command, they see Alpha One status change, "Command to Alpha team, come in Alpha!"

"This is Alpha Two. Alpha One is down but not out; we are engaged in heavy fire and are trying to hold off!" The captain was bleeding but covered his vital spots; his armor was being chipped off in his display. He sees warning signs. The Lieutenant calls him and tells him to move. The captain said he couldn't.

"Alright then…." The enemy advances; they put pressure on them. "Instinct!" The lieutenant's suit glows and lights up red. On his display, it shows an activated program. The lieutenant's eyes turn like animals, and he focuses more. His reaction time doubles, and he takes out more of the enemy.

"Sir, Alpha Two activated his instinct!" The commander watches their helmet cams. He tells his group to find the team a way out. The surveillance team began looking at the building blueprints. The other kept an eye on the team's status.

Alpha Three and Four also activate their instinct program and help the lieutenant. The enemy forces alert each other and hold their advancement. A robot takes a grenade and throws it at the captain. The lieutenant sees it and jumps on it.

The explosion sends him flying towards the machine controls; his suit malfunctions and causes the machine to turn on. The robot's program warns them, and they begin to flee. Alpha Three and Four help the captain. The lieutenant was disorientated and started walking towards the team. The machine powers up and opens a portal.

The machine goes out of control and starts to suck in everything. Alpha Three and Four help the captain from being sucked in. The lieutenant felt something strange, and his body began to disintegrate. "Alpha Two, hang on. Will get you out of there!"

The lieutenant couldn't hear anything; his comms became static, and his helmet display bugged out. The machine engulfs its surroundings. The lieutenant opened his eyes, and he was out in space. He didn't know what was happening. He heard something; it echoed through his head, "Why are you doing this!"

A flash of light startled him; he covered his eyes. When he opened them, he saw a planet. It resembled Earth but wasn't; the skies and ocean were blue, and he could see green pastures on land. His body felt weak. Slowly, he was losing consciousness; he couldn't keep his eyes open.

His body disintegrates into nothingness.