Ashley then heard a beep in her pocket, pulled out the notification device and flipped on its holographic display.
“It’s Reach. He wants all Team Leaders and Second Officers in the Ops Center.” Ashley then paused with a two-second period of silent shock as scanned the following message. “They’ve located Kaurus and Judd.”
“Finally,” Richard grunted with exasperated relief and a brief roll of the eyes. “We can put this horrendous nightmare down for good.”
>>>>>>>OPERATIONS CENTER<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>8:00 PM<<<<<<<
“Are you sure you want to send our people there, sir?” Paige looked at the on-screen info with morbid worry. Her fellow Commanders each shared their own looks of worry and emotional hardness as they looked at this intel.
“If we don’t, Lieutenant Commander,” Douglas returned, “It could very well mean the end of A.T.X.D. And what happens after that? All the cities, villages, states, and countries that will fall victim once we’re out of the way? Hell, what’s to stop Judd and his elitist sycophants from going beyond our planet?”
Their summations were put on hold when Rowan, then Janeiro, followed Dave and Richard, and finally Ashley and Melody, entered. The TLs and O2s of Central Division’s main three tactical teams stood by firmly, practically encompassing their Commanders with wary looks that communicated a determined hunger for answers; especially ones of an advantageous nature.
“Thanks to the intel provided by some of the operatives who were…,” Douglas paused, trying to find the most appropriate word for the former revenants, “possessed by Kaurus, we’ve been able to track where the masterminds have fled to.” Zooming in on the massive and wide LCD screen they all faced, Reach circled an area of lush green from a satellite point of view. Changing the orientation of the view, the target site was revealed to be tucked within an immense valley. “It’s an old E.N.C. research and development facility from the 1960s. Codename: Raven’s Pass.”
The buildings and site perimeter were outlined in a dynamic white line to help them better stand out to everyone else present.
“I feel like I’ve heard that name before, sir,” Rowan mentioned slowly, twisting her face with puzzled intrigue. “Maybe a conspiracy theory?”
“I doubt that, Major,” Douglas rejected. “Not only were standard site secrecy protocols followed, but Raven’s Pass has been visually shielded by a cloaking mechanism since it was first established. Compared to the weak-ass coverups the Air Force did with Roswell, there was truly no way anyone on the outside would have known that Raven’s Pass existed. That we’re aware of, the shielding has remained active…even after the site was abandoned.”
“If I may, Commander-General,” Richard then piped up suspiciously. “What exactly was being researched and tested at this facility?”
Douglas turned to face him, and for a brief moment, Richard feared he’d spoken out of turn given the emotionless gaze his highest superior gave him. But the former’s tone was quite accepting and calm in timbre.
“A lot of the tactical tech we use in the force nowadays, First Sergeant. Certain XT-5 accessories, Mydrian Thermal Batteries, the Shade Device, Comm Freeze equipment, and so forth. Every unearthly invention ever utilized by the ATXD and some of our allied, domestic agencies had a starting life here at Raven’s Pass.” Douglas flicked a pointing finger back at the screen.
“But not everything tested at Raven’s Pass was successfully deployed,” Max added with formal wariness. “A lot of failed experiments up there, and presumably bits and pieces of ammunition or gizmos of unearthly origin still littler the site.”
“But why would that be of interest to Judd and Kaurus?” Dave inquired.
“Yeah, I mean, if they wanted to steal artillery to directly counter us, sir,” Melody commented in support, “they could have just broken into the armory and stolen spare rifles, batteries, and accessories. I mean, they had control of our whole, goddamn, HQ for like an hour during that siege last week.”
“Well, two things,” Paige informed. She tapped her datapad to reveal some ENC document screenshots. “One, the site was officially decommissioned in the early 2000s. Not long thereafter, intel suggests the Luminara took control of Raven’s Pass and have since been using it like a Forward Operating Base.”
“Our greatest concern, however, is what lies below the site,” Max noted. Turning to his left, Max flicked out a hologram of a most ominously weird ship next to Rowan. It was a bulky, rounded vessel with an almost gothic appearance and looked like it had a drop-down mouthpiece below it.
“What….is that?” Ashley mused with shock.
“The last product of my father’s legacy.” Douglas had a stony, unimpressed glare and a tight-lipped scowl as he faced this hologram.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, sir,” Rowan’s response communicated the taken-aback position almost everyone in the Ops Center not from Command was now feeling. “All due respect, but what the fuck do you mean this was your father’s work?”
“Nichols, you being the longest-serving, active-duty, combat operative in A.T.X.D. history should know that my father was not known for being a humane creature,” Douglas warily reminded the Major who—once upon a time—used to be a teammate of his. He then expanded his gaze to include everybody else. “What you are looking at is a prototype vessel intended for exclusive use by A.T.X.D. codenamed Storm Gazer. But those of us who disagreed with its purpose—myself included—alternatively call it The Maverick Weapon because of my father’s unorthodox reason for its creation.”
“That being?” Dave asked worriedly.
“Mind-wiping, on a mass-population level,” Max confirmed. He then programmed the holographic projection to demonstrate its function: the mouthpiece dropped open, and a glowing pulse of energy began to grow. “Using EMP wave-style technology, the Maverick Weapon is supposed to blast an entire populated area with a wave of energy equivalent in function to what our Shade Devices transmit on contact.”
“Basically, if we had one or a few of these Maverick Weapons up and running at the time of the Senturi Invasion, we would have been able to wipe everybody’s minds of those events and pretty much return things to normal,” Paige corroborated.
“Ironically, world invasions were what my father Eduardo Reach’s theoretical literature hypothesized.” Douglas Reach was looking even more like a sour apple as he stated this point.
“Mind wiping entire communities from a single…a single battlestation, practically,” Dave mused with cold horror.
“That’s not the worst of it,” Max pointed out, ignoring the shut-eyed, worried grimace Richard gave in response to the remark. “The weapon can be used to target specific populations, identities, group alliances, etc. In the worst case scenario, our intel suggests it has the ability to erase an entire cultural identity and it doesn’t need to kill a single human being to do it.”
“And in the Luminara’s hands,” Reach corroborated, “they’ll most likely use it to erase our memories as A.T.X.D. operatives…possibly our complete identities if they wanted to fully neutralize us. More disgusting, according to the ENC preliminary data, tests of this EMP-style technology in up-close proximity resulted in long-term cerebral damage and even physical deformities.”
“Tests? On human subjects you mean? I thought we were better than the Luminara when it came to testing on humans, sir.” Ashley looked reasonably betrayed.
“This is an E.N.C. facility, Miller, not A.T.X.D.,” Douglas reasserted, jerking a disgusted thumb at the screen once more. “Unfortunately, back in those days, certain figures still didn’t have the brain cells to understand or even care about the meaning of the word ethics. Believe me, there are just as many scars and shame on our side as there would be on the Luminara and the KSV; were they led by more humble individuals.”
“So what’s our best way to approach?” Janeiro inquired, bringing everyone back on track.
“If only it were that straight forward, Tactical Chief,” Paige warily dismissed. “Unfortunately, while you can’t see Raven’s Pass, anybody inside can see you. The site’s location was planned strategically, and the planners took full advantage of the surrounding geography.” Paige periodically rotated the map model in 3D view as she explained in further detail.
[Scene unfinished]
--
[The Crypt is unlocked, and select operatives start acquiring special weapons/gadgets]
“Sir, where are we going?” Richard inquired as Russell led them past the Armory and down an adjacent staircase.
“You’ll find out shortly,” was all their Major General said, his voice still cracked with the vengeful anger he was harboring for Kaurus, Judd, and their followers.
>>>>>>>ONE FLOOR BELOW THE MAIN ARMORY<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>SECURITY STORAGE VAULT<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>CODENAME: THE CRYPT<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>4:16 PM<<<<<<<
“Ready, Lieutenant Commander?” Russell asked Paige.
“Ready,” she replied.
Simultaneously, both commanding officers swiped their ID cards through the readers and verified their thumbprints on the pads below. Two seconds later, the security system registered their authorization and disengaged the heavy metal, bi-parting security door. With a long pneumatic hiss, the doors slid into the wall, revealing a small but wide room that was dark in color. It was lit only by simple LED shop lights, had a few work tables in the center, and was lined with shelves and fenced lockers. It looked like an abandoned machine shop for forging modern military gear.
Richard, Ashley, Vanessa and the other summoned operatives in the room looked around and saw all sorts of unearthly—and frankly ungodly—looking weapons and tech locked in blue-glass security tubes by chains, laser bracing, and other security measures.
“What…is this place, sir?” Dave inquired with shock that was a mix of bewilderment and awe.
“Welcome to The Crypt,” Russell informed firmly and without any excitement. “This is where specialized tech or dangerous handheld weapons confiscated from various felons or hostiles in the Extraterrestrial Domain are stored and locked away from all access: human and non-human alike. It’s called The Crypt because our hope is that all these machinations of criminal and military tech will stay in this dark and dreary hellhole long enough to break down and become easier or safer to disassemble.”
[Scene unfinished]