Unknown Wars (Ch. 2)

When the party arrived at the outpost, they were greeted by a series of plasma fences and motion detectors. The General, Major Ingram, Captain Mau, and Lieutenant Jamerson hunkered down behind a termite hill within the reach of their Special-Issue Foxtrot Combat Suits’ built-in telescopic zoom.1

(The S-I FC suits were the toughest, most advanced, most durable combat attire used by the GIA. Equipped with a zooming capability of 100x, the battle armor casing, similar to that used by the contemporary M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank, was, by far, the most impenetrable suit known to man. They also housed an in-suit voice monitor that enabled a whole division of troops to communicate without risking interference or interception.)2

The General gave the signal that all communication would be confined to the voice monitor system, for fear that they had more than just motion detectors to warn them of oncoming enemies.3

“That’s an awful lot of security for an outpost,” remarked Mau.4

“Aw, it won’t be too bad,” the major retorted. “All we need is our expertise, which I hope we all brought along with us on this mission.”5

“You better have,” said the General, removing from his pack a small, lopsided electrical piece of equipment. He flipped a cover off the top, and began pressing some of the several buttons on it.6

“What’s that?” Jamerson asked, his face riddled with curiosity.7

“It’s… a prototype,” was the General’s only reply.8

After a minute or so of toying with the buttons, the General told: “Turn off your suits and your blaster carbines and pistols.” The POGs silently complied. The General paused, held up three of his fingers, and one by one brought them down. When he had reached “zero”, he pushed a small black button on the device. Instantly, the air around them shook, and they watched as the plasma fences sparked and deactivated, the lights on the motion detectors turned blank, and the hum of the generators from inside the outpost ceased.9

“An EMP,” Ingram whispered, after they had all rebooted their suits.10

“Precisely. And designed to target only live electrical circuitry. “ The General smiled at Ingram secretly, replaced the device, and stood up. “Any of you amateurs got an extra carbine?”11

“I do, sir,” the captain grunted, discreetly sickening of the General’s showy attitude.12

They sprinted out from the termite hill, and, in an impressive array of field tactics, safely made their way to a segment of the fences, currently deactivated, and to the rear of the outpost.13

“Captain, you first,” the General ordered over the voice monitor system.14

Captain Mau expertly dove over the fence, landing on his belly. He rose to his knees, and began a low, steady run toward the nearest building. There he stopped, still kneeling, and waved two fingers over his head, signaling the rest to follow him. In a matter of ten seconds, the team was on the wall behind Mau.15

“Clear?”16

“Clear.”17

“Mau and I are Bravo. Jamerson, you and Ingram are Charlie. Confirm?”18

“Roger that.”19

“I’m go.”20

“Affirmative.”21

“Charlie take North corner building. Bravo will hold. Standing-by for your go.”22

“Roger that. Charlie moving out.”23

Pause.24

“North corner clear. Bravo, you are clear to go.”25

“Bravo incoming.”26

Another Pause.27

“Bravo taking Northeast wall. Charlie hold.”28

“Holding.”29

“Charlie this is Bravo. Enemy sighted! Repeat enemy sighted! Bearing eleven o’clock south.”30

“Roger that. Enemy confirmed.”31

“Bravo moving into firing position. Cover fire.”32

“Affirmative. Covering fire.”33

Pause.34

“Hostile eliminated.”35

“Confirmed. Moving to center building.”36

“Roger that.”37

“We have reached center. Charlie rendezvous at our position. Bravo holding.”38

“Affirmative. Charlie en route.”39

Pause.40

“Perimeter clear. Prepare for breach.”41

“Roger. We are go to breach.”42

“Charlie one, cover six. Charlie two, cover twelve o’clock high. Bravo two, cover three. Bravo one on twelve.43

Again, pause.44

“Approaching some sort of stair-case. Careful, boys, the steps are about three feet apart.”45

Pause.46

“Hostiles spotted. Requesting backup!”47

“Roger that.”48

Pause.49

“Hostiles eliminated. They know we’re here.”50

“ beep- End of transmission.”51

Major O’Bryan sighed. She turned to the Admiral: “We received this transmission at approximately o-four-hundred this morning. The location from which it was transmitted… about seventy-five miles inside the Flaggies’ main lines.”52

Admiral Mira slammed her fist down on the map board. “HOW did this happen?” She demanded. “I need to know where he is! We must get him back! He is our best, if not only, asset in this war!”53

“Yes, ma’am,” the major muttered, looking at her feet.54

“Whoa. What is this place?” Ingram asked, stunned.55

“Some kind of hangar,” an equally awed General noted. “These… things… whatever they are, could be our only way out of here.”56

The team moved to one of the odd-looking vehicles. “Commencing schematics scan… The controls aren’t all that complex. They seem to be some sort of interface. Let’s give it a shot.”57

As they seated themselves, the General inserted a small plug into the outgoing link of his suit.58

“I… my eyes direct it, by looking… and blinking, I can select and enter commands. Too weird…”59

The vehicle rose off the hangar floor, and automatically hovered toward a door to the rear of the hangar. The door opened, revealing a similar door several yards behind it. The vehicle hovered to a stop in between the two doors, and the door they had just passed through sealed shut.60

“An airlock,” Jamerson naively commented.61

The air inside this “airlock” was suddenly filled with a tint of green, making the air resemble that of the building they were now leaving. After a few seconds, the door behind them opened, revealing a shaft leading to the suface. Straining to look upward, Ingram said, “We climbed almost a hundred feet underground!”62

The vehicle stopped in the center of the bottom of the shaft. Suddenly, it shot skyward, up and out of the ground, jolting to a vertical halt almost a mile above ground.63

“There seems to be some sort of radar in this interface. I see three green markers heading towards one blue one. Oh… NO, dang it! They’re comin’ after us!”64

Their vehicle shook multiple times in rapid successions.65

“We’re being fired upon!”66

The General ordered the vehicle to drop toward the surface. It did so, and sped up, zooming across the vast landscape of jungle toward their front lines. The vehicle shook once more, and there came a shattering sound. Something had gone terribly wrong. 67

The General commanded the alien craft to land in a small clearing. Once they had landed, the team scrambled out, just in time to escape the final blow delivered to the vehicle. It exploded into millions of pieces.68

“Come on!” the General shouted. “They’ll be coming after us!”69

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