“Victor Alpha! Victor Alpha! Report in! Report in.” called a strained voice. The veins on his fingers bulged as he tried to reach his teammates. His friends were missing so the corporal felt uneasy.
“Sir I can’t reach the scout team. This LZ is too hot.”
The captain frowned. He knew the history of this mission, but that did not matter at the moment.
“We can’t do much about that. We have a mission to accomplish. Remember our primary goal is to report back what we see. Our job is to collect data and lot’s of it. We have the army’s best equipment. No one has ever had anything better, but it might not be good enough. We have to succeed in this mission. If we all die, we fail.”
The captain took a deep breath and instructed what was left of his team. “Move out.“
Captain Tom was the team leader. He joined this mission with five of his best people. And now two were missing. They had been in the landing zone for just twenty minutes and he had lost half his team. If this were any other operation, he would be canned.
He pushed aside the leaves that hid them and stood up. When he looked around, everything seemed like an ordinary jungle. Dark, wet and green. It was just like his time training in Borneo, but he knew it was not.
“Captain. The long range scanner picked up some unusual movements about two clicks to the left of us. That’s a bit in front of the scout team, but maybe they ran into them.” spoke the worried corporal.
“Maybe it is time to just go and kick ass. If we are going to die in this shit hole, I want to die fighting. People might not know what we are doing, but if they did they wouldn’t believe us anyways.”
Sergeant Gutierrez stood up after she informed the team. She had been itching for a fight. Especially after the team got a hold of a few new and powerful weapons. She had spent the last year learning how to use hers by hunting terrorists around the world. But they were not her opponents, they could not even put up a fight. Even killing special ops teams from other countries was pointless with their new weapons. She only had one word for them all.
Meatbags.
She twisted her neck to relax her muscles and began to rub her fingers and thumbs together in both hands. Her Chinese friend told her it was a sign of good luck, but she was not sure since it was the same sign used in the bario when they wanted some money, except this one used both hands.
“Corporal Gray, keep scanning as we move forward. You are our eyes and ears in this mess. Gutierrez, take point. I got the rear.”
The three soldiers assembled in formation and began to move their way through the bush.
“Captain. Don’t you find this all a bit strange? They put this op together in four hours and set us out with a light briefing. I understand that we trained for months using new weapons and fighting some weird animals, but why the blindfolds this time. I don’t even know how I got here. I went into that room blindfolded and before I knew it, I was here in this jungle.”
Tom felt uncomfortable, but he had to hide it. He knew the truth about the mission and that the likelihood of their survival was extremely low. But he volunteered for it anyways. He had to volunteer. He had a wife and kids back home. If he did not find a way to help his nation out of this mess, everyone would regret it.
Boom! Boom! Boom.
They could see the colorful flashes of light as they heard the sounds of battle in the distance.
“Ready Up. It’s hot.” Captain Tom unshouldered his gun, an old M-16 Carbine. He had carried it with him since his days in Afghanistan and Iraq. Who would have thought that he would even carry it here.
Wherever the hell here is.
Tweeeeen.
The sound of an energy power up was heard from the front. It came from Sergeant Gutierrez’s new rifle. It was her baby and she used it to kill everything that annoyed her, even flies. In the course of nine months she had become the expert with it. Everyone on the team had specialized equipment. They were all tuned by the doctor to match the fighting style of each member of the team.
“Get down. Two targets 10 o'clock.”
“What are they doing?”
“I don’t know. The video feed from the remote eye is jammed. We’ll have to see it for ourselves.”
The corporal was annoyed. He was the device specialist on the team. The army had provided him with the best technology and yet his favorite long range drone was not responding. The five other eyes that surrounded him continually circled as they sensed everything within range. He called them his 8th eye, but now that he was down to seven he might have to rethink that name. Though he was sufficient in combat, his real strength was in electronic warfare and remote operations. He was the noob and just joined the team a few months ago. Right now, he felt a bit useless.
“I noticed a hill about 100 meters. 9 o’clock. Let’s go there.” spoke the captain.
Suddenly Gutierrez stopped and raised her closed fist with her elbow bent at ninety degrees. Then she signaled for them to lower their posture. She stood tall from her crouched position and used the sights on her weapon.
“What the fuck? What the fuck is that?”
She was confused. She shook the sweat off her head, blinked her eyes a few times and looked again.
“Sergeant what did you see?”
But before she could answer her captain’s question, she quickly reported what she saw.
“Shit it’s coming for us. Whatever the fuck it is. Multiple meatbags as well. Can I engage?”
Though he looked stoic, the captain was astonished. If the sergeant had seen what he expected or maybe beyond what he had expected, the simple fact that she did not show any fear made him think that she was truly amazing.
La Montaña is what they called her. She was the mountain that never faded, never moved, and never ran. She got that name after she defeated a band of pirates during a rescue mission. Though surrounded and outnumbered, she held her ground until the second team came to her, but by then she had routed the enemy single handedly. She had killed more than half a dozen enemies with just her knife. Her confidence in a fight was unbounded. Especially with Los Tigre in her hands.
“What do you see?”
“Some large bugs. I should have brought some bug killer. But I have Los Tigre here which is even better. Captain, I don't think they are friendly. I saw them kill something, then they ate parts of it. But I don’t know what they ate. This place is messed up. As soon as they were done eating, they turned and came this way”
She smiled as she rocked her weapon. Her eyes gleamed.
Something to shoot. Something to kill.
Something that could finally test her baby. She moved her guiding hand along the barrel to steady her shot.
“Sergeant, you are cleared to open fire. Kill whatever you don’t like. If it looks bad in anyway shoot first.”
Zooom! Zooom. Zooom!
Blazing blue-ish white fireballs rang out from Los Tigre. The ET-01, her ET weapon. The energy balls immediately vaporized the plants and all unfortunate wildlife along the way to its target.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
A strange sound could be heard in the distance.
“Shit. I got one, but I lost track of the other.”
Suddenly her vision grew dark as she was hit in the face. Then it was immediately followed by a blow to her left leg. As she began to fall, she was hit in the chest and was sent flying away. She crashed into the bush. Only the bloody stump of the proud warrior’s left leg remained.
“Enemy attack!. What the fuck just happened!” yelled corporal Gray. He aimed his SPR and shot at the intruder.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
A spherical purple energy field of some kind shielded the attacker. The corporal's bullets splashed and rippled on the field's surface. He instinctively reacted with a smile as he realized that a scene straight out of science fiction had come to life. But the thought quickly vanished when the sickle being wielded by the attacker was brought down on him.
The corporal dropped his ET scanner and the five balls crashed onto the ground. The communications backpack he carried fell to the left. And his weapon to the right. He saw half the world sideways before it went black. The two pieces that made up his body separated and fell on to the ground. He was split straight down the middle. Corporal Gray was dead.
The sound of a fully automatic machine gun soon joined the fray as the hot shell casings fell to the floor. A clicking soon followed. Next the familiar sounds of a handgun was heard. It was the captain’s Beretta M9. Though he hit it with every shot, only ripples could be seen on the attackers shield.
The attacker waved its arms and a few blades flew at the captain. They struck him and pinned him to a tree. When he looked down, he noticed that his left arm and half of his left leg were not with him. However he did not bleed. The specialized body suit that he had selected seemed to be working well. As the one in charge, his job was to observe, report and lead his team so he picked armor for his ET equipment. Right now, it seemed his choice was right. But he did not think it would matter too much longer.
It seemed to be smiling, but it was hard to tell since it had mandibles instead of a human’s mouth. It’s red carapace reflected the midday sun as it began to walk casually towards its final victim. It was like a large armored bug of some kind. Around eight feet tall. However, the captain was too busy recording information to spend anytime fearing it. His only regret was letting his team die without knowing the truth of their mission. But it was something that he and his supervisors thought best remain hidden. Who would believe them anyway.
“I see you are still alive, lifeform. Very surprising. You are weak, but somehow tenacious. Like a bug. Maybe your genes might be useful after all.”
The captain was awestruck. It had spoken to him in English. But before he could say anything. A large blur interrupted them and the creature was sent flying along with the blur. It crashed next to a tree in the distance.
“Fuck you! Your buddy might have killed Pops, but it didn’t kill me.” roared a voice. It was an angry, yet familiar voice. It was a MIA member of the scout team, Lieutenant Kowalski.
The bush swayed and spread as a large wide man stepped out from the thicket. Given his girth, no one would expect him to be nimble, but he was. His uniform was torn and covered in freshly dried blood. Some red, some blue, and some black. However the red and black face paint he wore looked surprisingly untarnished. Once he came forward, a large shadow soon followed from behind. It was a behemoth and it was very large.
“See. I told you that if you use basic Physics you can defeat that red thing. Though they are surrounded by an energy field, it only stops energy up to a point. So you lose your bet. And unstoppable force can defeat an immovable object.”
Suddenly the lieutenant dodged left as a few blades flew by him and hit the behemoth’s shield, only to fall harmless to the ground.
When the captain and Kowalski looked towards the source of the blades, they noticed a red mess at the base of a tree. It seemed to struggle as it moved.
“Still alive? Payback’s a bitch!”
Kowalski flicked his wrist and a telescoping rod extended in two opposite directions from his hand. It was his specialized close combat weapon. His ET weapon. It was in a shape that was very familiar to him. One that he had wielded since he was a kid, but this one was no toy. This weapon was the real deal and it could cut just about anything.
As it gradually came to full power, a recognizable sound could be heard.
Bzzzzzzzzzt.
Both ends of the rod glowed a vibrant red as it extended to its full length. It reached its final form. It resembled a very conspicuous Hollywood weapon and looked as if it were taken straight from the movies. The red dual bladed staff looked ominous. Kowalski began to spin it around skillfully as he prepared. A familiar sound reverberated as it cut through the air. A moment later, he waved it and easily blocked a few more incoming blades. He smiled then ran towards the attacker.
“Ara’teri wait! You still have to pay up the bet. That thing might kill you if you get too close.”
The behemoth immediately followed after him.
The captain was at a loss for words. Everything happened too quickly. Though he hung on the tree with several missing limbs, he mustered everything he had and began to report into the recording device.
“This is Captain Tom of recon 9. We have lost three members, but two of us are still alive. We have engaged and eliminated some of the enemy, but I still need to confirm it. It also seems that we have befriended one of the other participants. I can feel myself starting to lose consciousness so I will continue the report once the adrenaline boosters kick in.”
That was the last sound heard from the recon team as the image replay ended. The shocking scene came to a close as the 3D hologram that surrounded them all faded. Several of them began to smile. The sounds of clapping was heard and laughter soon followed.
“See my Ranger team did way better than your Harry Potter crew.” said a general wearing a well pressed uniform clad in green camouflage.
“Lucky your group found some help. They could not do it alone.” replied an angry man wearing a white coat. He was responsible for sending every team prior to this recon team.
“Enough. Enough. This is a time to celebrate, not to dwell on minor details.” said a third voice.
“You are correct Senator. Congratulations! Senator. Generals. Everyone. It seems your species might be capable after all.”
The newly formed space combat committee had sent in seven other teams beforehand, but none had survived. Therefore, they had no video footage on the enemy and never knew the difficulties that they faced. That is, until now. They finally saw what they were fighting against. And this time, they had a survivor as well. This time they had data. This time they were strong enough. This time they even killed. And this time they found a way to play.
As the onlookers surrounded the smiling senator, he spoke.
“We passed your preliminary test. Our team survived the encounter. We might have only one survivor, but that doesn’t matter. We did it! Gimbal we are ready. We are ready to play in The Game.”
thanks!