Context: In Book 2 of the A.T.X.D. saga, the Kronosians have returned. Bravo Team is attempting to clear out another one of their experimentation ops at the Port of Long Beach, but realize that the Kronosians are not working alone...somebody is discovered operating in cahoots with them, and they seem to have an understanding of the way the A.T.X.D. works.
“Tiger, I’ve got audible,” William informed over the radio as the rest of Bravo 2-2 converged on their position. Being the assigned comms officer, William had been using an intercept setting on their helmet comms to check for close-range verbal audio as yet another safeguard to the P-STAR drone. “Some chatter that sounds rather deep and aggressive coming from the truck loading docks ahead and to our left.”
“P-STAR shows audio and visual signatures grouped up within Warehouse 18 and close to Loading Dock 8,” Angela followed up.
“Copy,” Richard acknowledged. “Grizzly, request permission to investigate.”
“Negative, consolidate on my position and let’s proceed together as a squad,” Dave advised. “Gladius, can you make out what they’re saying.”
“What the….oh for Pete’s sake, the drone’s encountering interference,” Angela unexpectedly grunted, irritably tapping her goggles as she saw fidgety colored lines begin to distort the visual. “They’ve got some kind of shielding or scramble mechanic inside this warehouse that’s messing with the drone. I’ll have to recall the unit so it doesn’t lose contact and crash, Grizzly.”
“Copy that, looks like we gotta do this the old fashioned way. Tiger, you and Poison Frog get up close to the loading dock and try to listen in on their conversation. But do not proceed inside until I give the all clear.”
Conveniently, the loading dock door had not been fully closed, so as the operatives got closer, the chatter became a little clearer but then stopped. Instinctively, Richard held up his hand and then, when no hostile action occurred, pointed at William and Sophia and motioned them to take up position on the other side of the door. Just as the two six-month novices hunkered down below the loading dock ramp, however, the chatter resumed.
“What’re you doing here?” a rigidly-harsh voice that sounded much like a Kronosian demanded.
“You’re not supposed to be looking at those,” a different, aggressive voice that sounded like it was behind a digital mask of some kind, replied. “You know what the Doctor said. Only authorized hands can touch it.”
“I heard no such order. If you need to check my clearances, run it up the command chain with the Klaris. He’ll decide from there.”
“I think we’d rather not waste the time.”
Then there was another pause before a strange energy whizzing sound was heard and a third voice that sounded much more calm with a sly edge in its tone inquired, “Tac Sergeant, you do not have the authorization to handle that cargo. It is extremely delicate, and I would hate for you to get it all over your hands.”
“Doctor, the deal was you show us what it is you’re offering, and then we hand over the subjects for testing.”
“We’ve already got subjects, actually. I thought the General told you.”
“Which General?”
“I’m afraid he didn’t want you to know. He’s worried that his superior won’t like it.”
“Don’t play the confidential game with me, Doctor. We report to the Klaris, and he needs to know what we’re handling here.”
“I’m afraid we can only trust a very specific minority of Kronosians to handle this product, Tac Sergeant. Like I said, it is highly volatile.”
“I’m done hearing this. I’m going to check in with General Taurlius and find out what he knows.”
“I’m afraid that cannot be allowed….Deal with them.”
Just then, an exchange of blaster fire stiffened the operatives outside, and Dave whispered hoarsely on the radio to Paige, “This is Grizzly to Command, we’ve got a firefight inside Warehouse 18. Bravo 2-2 standing by to breach. Unclear how many hostiles are involved. Please advise.”
“Hold your fire and do not breach,” Paige immediately replied in as calm a manner as she could despite being shocked at this report. “Wait for things to quiet down and then enter with caution.”
“Copy that,” Dave replied. But then a split second later, the firefight ended.
“What just happened here?” Richard whispered to Dave. “Do we have a group of hostiles aside from the Kronosians here at the docks?”
“I don’t know, but stay vigilant. I’ve still got signals on the other side.”
“Should we see who just won the firefight, Grizzly?” Sophia whispered over the radio, but Dave rejected the suggestion for the moment as he continued to tensely watch his tracker’s screen. Something, however, seemed wrong. The signals were fading occasionally and fluctuating in a strange manner, almost like something was distorting the reading. Richard, meanwhile, listened to a little more chatter that had just surfaced inside the warehouse.
“Better remove the bodies, sir,” one of digitally-garbled voices replied. “If General Stilatro discovers this, the deal will be broken before it is completed.”
“Relax, Vektor-14,” the sly-sounding voice reassured. “We’ll just tell him there was...an accident with the shipment. We gave the Tac Sergeant fair warning, but he wouldn’t listen and he and his troops paid for their carelessness. He’ll buy it.”
Another minute later, some of the signals on Dave’s tracker abruptly disappeared, but the remaining few simply moved off screen. Assuming it was now safe to breach, Dave gave Richard a gentle pat on the shoulder and advised him to move in with William while the rest of the squad held back briefly. Coming around in front of the Sergeant Major and taking in a quiet deep breath, Richard hauled himself up and crawled under the roll-up door with William following behind. What the two operatives saw was mind-numbing: five Kronosians, including one with red protrusion markings on his armored shoulders, lay dead. But there were also two other bodies, and these guys were human-form in shape, with obsidian-black colors and glowing neon or LED strips and segments on their armor.
“What happened here?” William mouthed quietly to Richard.
“Well, definitely an internal struggle of some sort,” the Lance Sergeant returned quietly. “But who the other party was, I’m not sure. Come on, let’s examine those two bodies over there.”
Before they could move, however, a laser zipped across the storage room, missing both operative’s heads by nearly a foot and cooking a portion of the roll-up door behind them. When Richard turned in the direction of the shot, he saw a human, or at least human-esq, figure standing on one of the higher supervision ramps above the warehouse floor. The man had a greenish tinge to his eyes, a bald head, noticeably pale and waxy skin, and his lips were curved in a rather sarcastic smirk.
“It would appear the Tac Sergeant brought along some friends too,” the humanoid replied with that sly casual voice they had heard earlier. “Someone from outside the loop….No trouble, we’ve got plenty of manpower to hold you back.”
Looking down at the storage floor, the figure gave the same, “Deal with them,” order. As two more of the black-clad armored beings wove out from behind the storage containers, five more suddenly materialized in a series of energy columns - some kind of teleportation mechanism most likely - and took out their own military-style laser rifles.
“Snap,” William swore, “we’re screwed.”
“Not if our friends can help it,” Richard returned with a hostile whisper, then called out, “Guys, we could use your assistance in here! Seven hostiles!”
Shortly, the receiving door adjacent to the loading dock was kicked in just as the black-clad soldiers opened fire. Richard and William quickly sought cover behind some boxes as their comrades came in with their XT-5s blazing.
“Clearly not those creepy humanoids from Area 51,” Sophia commented as she rolled behind a storage container and traded some pot shots with one of the masked hostiles, shortly striking him in the head with a carefully-aimed burst.
“These guys are well-trained,” William added, noticing how quickly their enemy ducked behind cover as well as their accuracy such that the ex-SEAL also found himself having to find cover frequently.
“This is Grizzly to Command and Bravo Leader,” Dave advised on the radio, “contact in Warehouse 18. Be advised, suspects are not Kronosians. They're some kind of militarized cell, highly trained and sporting advanced tactical equipment. Keep an eye out for hostile soldiers wearing black armor and bright lighting on their uniforms: apparently the Kronosians were attempting to make a deal with them.”
“Copy that,” Ashley advised. “We’re still being held up in the dockyards but we’re trying to get to you as fast as we can. Pull out of there if you have an exit and we’ll try to reinforce you.”
But William hatched an idea as more laser rounds deflected off his cover, and he requested on the radio, “Sir, let’s hold our fire. Draw them closer and catch them by surprise. There’s no way we can just stand and shoot with these guys. We’ll just run out of ammo by then.”
“Affirmative,” Dave replied, then without hopefully drawing the attention of their adversaries, ordered the squad, “Everyone, cease fire. Cease fire.”
As the operatives hid behind cover, the remaining five black-clad hostiles advanced slowly on their positions. William then withdrew a flashbang and pulled the pin, but held the trigger in the meantime. Just when the enemy was steps from getting a point-blank shot at them, William chucked the projectile towards them. Mid-air, the device exploded and, in addition to fogging the area, the flash of light and sudden noise caused whatever software was in their enemy’s masks to malfunction, as they suddenly grabbed at their helmets and backed up to clear their sightlines of the haze. That’s when Dave and the rest of the squad took up position, a couple behind the enemies, and peppered them with lethal laser rounds that put them down with garbled groans.
“Clear!” Dave shouted, and the rest of the squad returned similar acknowledgements before William and Richard advanced to observe. It was just then, however, that the same teleportation lights suddenly illuminated over the bodies and the hostiles disappeared. There hadn’t even been enough time for a trace of bodily fluid or other genetic trace to be collected before then, making for an inconveniently clean result after such a hellish battle.
“Bravo Leader to Grizzly, sit-rep,” Ashley requested.
“Hostiles in Warehouse 18 neutralized,” Dave replied, then abruptly stated, “Moving out to reinforce. How’re you guys doing?”
“We’ve secured the logistics office and forced the hostiles down in the dockyards to retreat. But I would guess they’re going to regroup and hit us again, so I’ll need your squad over here to reinforce us.”
“Understood, Bravo Leader. We’re on our way,” Dave informed, then ordered Bravo 2-2 to move out.
“Sir, why didn’t you tell her about the bodies?” Richard inquired, but Dave patiently returned, “We have to focus on the central objective first, Tiger. Post-contact technicalities can be reviewed with Command and SIO later.”