Chapter 3  Clypeus

           

            When the standard running lights turned yellow it was accompanied with an alert. The craft was being instructed to get certain areas prepared for combat. All departments will be required to be ready for active combat in five hours. Various notifications rang out on every level of the ship.

“Drop ships must be armed, fueled, and readied for launch.”

“Shield systems are to be checked and charged for combat.”

“Deck crews are to clear all bays.”

“Mess hall is closed in 3.5 hours.”

“All Hands must be in general quarters in 4 hours.”

“This is not a “Drill”. This vessel is entering hostile engagement with class E to C beasts, and one potential class “A” Entity.”

            Crews bustled and tension grew the closer they got. A series of locker rooms were filled by combat soldiers. Shirts were dropped on the floor; the heavy boots were tossed at open lockers. In both the men’s locker room and the women’s locker room, everyone being dispatched from the ship stripped down, and pulled out a thin woven body suit. All the soldiers made that their first layer of clothing, from their heels, to wrists, and neck. The suit easily gave as it went over their body, and they pressed the seam together in the front. Small electrical bracelets clamped over the ankles, then the wrists, and last around their necks. Every bracelet lit up and synced their signals. they sealed the suit front and pulled everything tight around their different bodies. Each person stepped up to their locker and placed their feet into a slightly larger Combat Suit. It reacted to the bracelets sealing the armor around the ankles, waist, up to their neck and around their wrists. The soldiers now looking like lightly armored troopers pulled out a three quarters helmet and it chimed when connected to their neck brace. System announcements rang out just loud enough for each trooper. The gloves rolled up over their hands and sealed with small plates covering the most vital areas.  One by one each trooper told the system upon complete check to “Engage, and Enter Combat standby mode.” Only after deployment would they completely close the helmet to keep the mist out.

            Heavy boots echoed as one of the largest men joined the line for Bravo Squad. He was a full head over most of the soldiers in line. Just like the rest of the group he was preparing the load out on his hips, shoulders, and back pack. But he carried an expandable shield on his left arm, and heavy blade attached to his back. He stood out not just for his size but also for the strange equipment he was outfitted with. Even his armored body suit had almost 75% more plating than the rest.  One of the fellow soldiers’s caught the big man testing the shield on the arm. It expanded to the size of a riot shield so fast it was mind boggling. It was then energized as a golden sheen rolled across it. Small patterns could be seen as if it was even reacting to the slightest of air currents. Even with all this strange high tech equipment the soldier was baffled at this nearly mid-evil equipment.

            “Hey, Bachell? Are you going to explain to us what the fuck your doing with shit like that?” He playfully punched the big man in the shoulder, but the big man didn’t even budge. “Are they expecting you to be fighting dragons or some shit?”

            The smaller guy looked on at the open lower face shield expecting a response.

            In a fast and fluid motion the big man took a defensive stance with the shield, and drew his sword. The sword also extended by almost half again to reach a full 7 feet long as it glowed in golden energy like the shield.  

            The smaller man took a half step back and in reflex drew the compact Energy Rifle. He took note to how large the tower shield really was and how much it covered the big man Bachell. He grew a bit concerned and finally said in exasperation.

            “FUCK MAN!  You know I’m just screwing with you right?”

            Bachell took an easy stance and grinned widely. The gear reduced in size for travel before he nudged the smaller man in the shoulder.

            “Of course dude, but for our sake you better hope there isn’t anything like a dragon out there or really we’re all screwed. Sure this stuff is cool and all, but even they don’t know how well it will do against the top Class Beasts out there. It is as much a test run, as it is designed for killing those things.”

            “So what makes those any better than these, anyway?” He slightly raises the Energy Rifle.

            “I don’t really get the science behind it, but they basically told me the metal is some of the hardest transforming material they got. It has also been set up as a super conductor with the same type of energy grid as the gun. So in cases where the Energy Rifles fail to work, then hopefully these will. Because of the super conductor material it can output a more focused amount of energy on whatever is hit by it, and the weight of the blade should also help penetrate anything that is resistant.  Quote “in theory”. So if you can make sense out of that, then congratulations. You know what I know.”

            “Seriously? You should just run up and swing at something these rifles can’t kill? You are either very brave, or fucking dumb as hell. I wouldn’t want to get in arms reach of anything that can survive these bad boys. They could even melt most metal on just one hit or a concentrated fire. But they expect you to get mid-evil on their ass? That’s a wholenother thing entirely.”

            The smaller man shakes his head back and forth as if he just can’t believe it. 

           

            “Enough Chatter!  _Attention_!” The commanding officer announced.

            All the men geared up as troopers stood in a uniform line and assumed the same posture.

            “Just like what was already announced, This Is Not A Drill. When we go hot this is a live fire combat scenario. We are to eliminate all hostile forces in the area, and anything that we can’t handle with the ground crew each company is going to be supplied a tagger.”

            Some of the troops started to react to this news.

            The CO raised his hand halting concerns before anyone could so much as spread any distress.

            “This means there is a B or potentially an A Class beast down there.”

            A few men actually started to object at this terrifying news.

            “Hold your questions! As I was saying, A Potentially A class beast is down there. This is an excellent chance for us to test out not just the smaller sized weapons you are carrying, but they are permitting some of the heavy weapons as well. The Tagger is just as a last ditch effort in case the heavy weapons can’t do the job. But just as you all know, the tagger is going to guide the deck guns. So we have to make sure all the men are clear before this can be used. Now at ease, any questions?”

            The men promptly started to voice their concerns including the limited vision, frequently disrupted communication, and the like. The ground troops are being provided additional Tracker Rounds to help the HUD’s (Heads Up Display) show positions of hostiles despite the concealment of the Mist. But this tech has a limited range so don’t lose your target and keep your ranks. The Mist still has a tendency to affect the electrical systems, which is why each company will have a Tagger. That will be strong enough of a signal for the ship to target anything through the Mist with pin point accuracy. But you must clear the kill zone.

            The rough briefing continued on for a while until Bravo, Alpha, Charlie, Delta, and Echo were dispatched to the Armored Tactical Dropship “Foxtrot-01”. This was going to be there way in and out.  After they are dropped off this ship should rise again above the Mist and remain ready for extraction at a moment’s notice. It would also remain close enough to relay ground systems to the Command Ship. Of course this is under ideal circumstances and assuming nothing went wrong. Their technology was the something out of Si-Fi in the year 2020, and everyone believed in it. The only exception was the seemingly paranormal circumstances involving the Mist.

            After the hours of preparation the call for action arrived. In one of the drop ships layers Team Bravo was sent a situation update. A rough 3d rendering of the area was put on display in the center of the room for the team.  The LZ (Landing Zone) is expected to be a park like area.  The second Armored Tactical Dropship “Lima-02” is going to do a strafing run in the area to clear out or weaken the local wildlife and they are to do a hot drop from low altitude. Their team Bravo is to join Alpha in a frontal assault using a pincer maneuver. All weapons are to go live as soon as they exit the drop ship. Teams Charlie, Delta, and Echo are going to be your backup and heavy weapons fire if you need it. We need a solid confirmation on the target we’re designating as Zulu-1. The signal has become intermittent after our arrival in the area. But we can tell a number of lower D to C Class Mist beasts have for some reason started to swarm this area. It’s almost as if they have come to defend the area.

            The drop ships launch and start their descent run. All the troopers are surprised when they are directed again to the center of the room. Everyone’s eyes focus on a yellow dot inside the building that is their destination.

            “Ok, we have a situational update on the plan. We have an unknown in the area. Designation is Romeo 04.”

            Just then Romeo 4 vanished as quickly as it appeared and a few red dots vanished.

            “Damn it,  Ok folks this is going to be a tricky one. Romeo 04 seems to have been appearing and vanishing for the last few minutes. Follow our little red friends to Romeo 04 and confirm if they are friend or foe.  We are only guessing at this point, but it seems like Romeo 04 is being hunted down in an old world stadium. Bravo we are changing your mission to prioritize Romeo, and Alpha is going to get a confirmation on the big Zulu 01. Don’t forget your lives are more important than everything else down there. Get in, get out together. We also have hostiles emerging from the structures within 2 miles of this building.  It would be nice to get another Mist Touch like you “Clypeus”, but we’re not holding our breath. Worse case take his head if he’s hostile or retreat. Bravo is in your capable hands.”

            Bachell salutes “ Yes, Sir. I’ll do my best.”

            “Excellent, we’re go in T-0:50 Seconds. Good luck out there. And keep the suits sealed.”

            All together Team Bravo says “Aye, Sir”

            The countdown reaches 3,2 and the ship jolts abruptly. 1, 0….  The exit door opens and everyone charges forward out the exit ramp in a well coordinated group. The Mist swirls about them as various men take up a position and deploy a temporary defensive wall while a couple of other troopers ready a repeating turret. In only 20 seconds Team’s Bravo followed by Team Alpha are advancing past a make shift defensive perimeter in the park. Periodic energy bolts fly threw the mist causing the strange mutant beasts to scream or just collapse dead on the spot.

            Bachell, code name Clypeus, moves at a swift speed with his group Team Bravo. In the several hundred yards to the stadium his team alone has open fired on more than three dozen Mist beasts. Several actually were close enough they could have got a member with a lunge. They slowed their advance when they got to the building. They open fired on a few more creatures outside clinging to the walls above the doors. Bachell, and two more took a position and blasted their own entrance around the doors. This caused the cooling material to have less rough edges and solidify into a half ring hole in the wall.

            With just one word “Advance”, the group continued on. They rolled around the walls taking position, while others open fired on incoming beasts. As they advanced they noticed clothing on the floor that was shaken loose of the white powdery dirt near a room. With a short investigation they found some can goods that were open and spilled on the floor. This same area also had some dead beasts in it.

            One of team Bravo spoke up while this scene was being investigated.

            “I got him, Romeo 04 is about 3, no, 4 floors up. Our buggeres are hot on his trail. It looks like the nearest stair case is that way, just around the corner. Romeo is headed roughly in our direction if we can cut him off there.”

            “Clypeus, thoughts?” asked one of the men.

            “We don’t really have a choice do we? Lets go up.”

            Together the troopers moved in waves clearing the path to the stairs and floor by floor they headed up. Just as Team Bravo was passing the second floor an emergency call came out from team Alpha.  They contacted the main target Zulu 01 and are engaging it.

Zulu 01 is taking damage but something is wrong, it isn’t slowing down.

 Using explosives, It’s really big.. Something’s happening… energy readings spiking…

            … _ _ …

            Everyone in team bravo felt a tremendous tremor rock the building around them. All of their systems glitches out and started to reboot. A small announcement rang out in everyone’s helmet. Switching to backup circuits, activating backup air canisters, 10 minutes remaining.

            With hand signals they verified the situation and chose to head to the fourth floor. The building rocked several more times before they could cover the distance to the door for the fourth floor. The door was jammed due to the shifting of the building.

            Bachell didn’t wait he just pulled out his blade cut it 4 times and kicked it open. The troops started to pour out as they blasted a few more beasts. Another group of 5 troopers took up position in the door way leading to the inner portion of the stadium. But no sooner did they arrive something filling the hall started to flow along the walls in their direction. Several bulbous fleshy things rolled along the walls like slugs without shells and with tentacles or half appendages. They open fired on those too. But when they popped it left a sickly flesh substance coating the walls. It seemed to bleed down the walls and ooze down the hall toward them. Another man pulled out a torch and cauterized the flesh and disintegrated the fluid.

            “Well do we have a read on Romeo 04?” Bachell shouted inside his helmet.

            The technician who was tracking it showed his equipment. It showed an arrow chasing itself in a circle, a sign of the system still resetting.

            With a hand signal everyone understood to keep an eye out.  With this time for observation the Mist actually had a flow to it. It seemed like an incredibly dense amount of Mist was flowing from inside the main part of the stadium down the hall and away from the center of the building.

            One by one all the troopers started to have their gear kick back on. And about the time they were making radio contact with one another in Bravo more monsters started to pour into the area. So the sound of Energy Rifle discharge started to drown out their voices. Their systems picked up several beasts converging on one area as it quickly approached several of the troopers facing the west hall way. The side Romeo 04 should have emerged from.

            The troopers open fired on the hallway. In seconds the beasts covered the 30 ft range, to 20, to less than ten. They cut down the beasts and as the final beasts were fired upon a figure was made out in the Mist. It was small and humanoid and charging out barely in front of the beast.

            One of the Energy Bolts nearly clipped Romeo 04 in the face. But he rolled with it and the bolt seemed to explode on his upper body. The troopers shouted over the Coms as Romeo 04 went down. The bolt managed to not only stop his forward momentum but shoved him back a little bit in the mist.

            Clypeus heard over the Coms what happened. He turned to witness Romeo 04 falling back into the Mist. He started to move forward to get a better look. As he watched Bravo’s target ricochet off the beast that nearly got him and roll down to the floor.

            Over the Coms Bachell heard the trooper apologize for the blunder. “I’m So sorry, Sir. Honestly he didn’t show up on the gear and I was blasting the beasts before they got to us. I didn’t see “It” until they were right on top of us.

            Bachell asked “Is Romeo 04 dead?”

            “Yea, it took a blast in the chest sir. So I don’t see anyone getting up from that.”

            Bachell finally got a better look at Romeo 04 when he stopped rolling to the floor. There were bad burns all over the right side of Romeo’s chest, shoulder, and arm. Romeo looked like a young malnourished youth. His back pack strap was burned off his shoulder, and that bag is what kept him from rolling any more. That wasn’t the worst of Bachell’s surprise. Romeo 04’s eyes popped open for just a second, and then an invisible force plucked him up off the floor like puppet without strings. He dangled there for just a moment before being spirited away toward the center of the stadium.

            “OLY! Shit!… No fucking way. Tell me someone else saw that too.”

            Several men gave a reluctant confirmation. Then the order was given to pursue Romeo 04.

Barely half way down the tunnel and there were more explosions.  They got occasional Com static as Team Alpha had requested artillery support into the East side of the Stadium.  As Bachell reached the end of the tunnel another beast appears to have taken a massive blow that took off a quarter of its body without burns.

All of Bravo that came out the tunnel started to get readings from a Tracer type rounds that Alpha shot. A Monstrous humanoid over 30 feet tall is being highlighted in their HUD’s. Even though their normal vision cannot see that far, an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) pulse keeps the being visible with their helmet’s electronic system.  

            While Bravo was spreading out searching for Romeo 04 they spotted a few beasts in the stands. Immediately those troopers open fired on them. A few beasts were spotted flying in the air and they started to shoot at them. Only a couple hit and were burned. Suddenly two more beasts seemed to explode, as if those flying beasts were suddenly hit by a massive impact. Then another series of explosions rocked the stadium. Flames and exploding shells came down through the roof. Team Alpha fired a series of medium weapons causing several more explosions, and then they set off a high yield energy device.  The 30 foot tall beast had its head and arm blown off.

            The giant beasts head was sent all the way over to Bravo’s side along with the arm in two large chunks. To Bravo teams horror their scanners were showing the head melt down into a series of monsters. The head’s scalp, eyes, and tongue all changed shape and size as they took flight. The skull turned into a tentacle octopus like creature as it squirmed its way up the wall and headed in their direction. The hand grew extra appendages and like a spider speed up the wall and a mouth opened on the palm. Segments of the arm lost the rigidness and it started to snake up the stadium toward team bravo.

           

            “Clypeus, I don’t know what we’re seeing Sir, but we have incoming. Lots of incoming.”

            More than half the Platoon turn their focus in that direction as the order to “Open Fire” came out.

            Their weapons were turned to full auto and the energy bolts started to pour down the stadium as it melted into beasts segments.  As the focused fire saturated the different body parts their size was being reduced and the speed at which they were approaching team Bravo was slowing down. Each component crawled then stopped as they slumped. This was having a positive net feeling for team Bravo.

            Bachell started to have a bad feeling though. Like something here was bothering him. The strange flying scalp, eyes and tongue each had their own unique movement. They eyes floated about with dangling tendrils that elongated like a jelly fish.  The scalp undulated like a huge manta ray as it also seemed to reach out with tendrils on the bottom side. While the tongue split where it would have been attached resembling a type of sick mutant squid. These flying parts were all hedging in an area higher up inside the stadium.  From time to time the Mist would ripple out, or a body part would launch an attack made of itself up into the air at something that Bachell’s HUD was unable to pickup.

            The density of the Mist started to thin out after the success at stopping the ground based threat. However those monsters started to regenerate almost instantly. And again the fire teams open fired again. The Mist was thinning out enough Bachell was able to get multiple glimpses of the air born fight. He could only blink in disbelief as he could make out the same body he saw before being swung around like a rag doll as it hung there limply.  Tendrils were flying at it from high and low, left then right. But the body would be dropped a dozen feet, then tossed back up into the air. Something appeared to catch it as it is hauled from side to side. Occasionally an invisible force would slap the scalp and it would quiver and sink in the air a little bit. The fight was largely one sided and outnumbered.

            Bravo team started to use large explosives to keep the ground based things away. Grenades, a small scale rocket barrage, then an energy bomb that vaporized a section of the stadium and dropped two of the larger parts into a lower floor While they were starting to succeed again the snake like arm got close enough Bachell drew his sword and turned his shield on to a “Large Round” shape. He battered the beast from the side before it could reach the party. They took turns falling back and providing covering fire. The snake type head was being burned away by the sizzle of the energy shield, and with a couple of blows he sheered the head clean off.

Bachell could still feel something, and he felt it strongly like a sense of knowing. It was coming from the middle of the body. Rather than fight the feeling he went with it. He hacked and slashed the whole body near the center. By taking out chunks of flesh almost 3 foot deep he was struck with a certain knowing as soon as he saw it. When the last chunk of flesh fell aside a black ish colored crystal was exposed. It was like a rough fragment but it was still the size of a soft ball. He knew with every part of his being this was a threat, a clear and present danger. And with a clean strike with his sword it exploded into fine bits that were vaporized by his energy sword.

One of the eye ball creatures elongated a tendril as it grew clusters of eyes, and then it launched the cluster at the limp body when it slowed down again. At the same time the air above created a rippling shockwave aimed at the other eye creatures. That ripple struck the eye and it exploded with juice everywhere. But the cluster flew at the body (of Romeo 04) from behind, where it promptly exploded into many component parts. With multiple explosions and shrapnel the body was sent crashing limply into the bleachers. Then the flying creatures started to head that way like a pack of circling vultures ready to descend on their pray.  

After clashing with another beast body part, Bachell followed that same instinct again. He did a full on body slam with the Energy Shield engaged to obliterate the second black crystal he could feel. That makes two down. And to everyone’s relief the creatures he attacked seemed to stay dead. They no longer regenerated like before. But that didn’t make things safer when the rest of Zulu 01 was crashing through the wall on the other side of the stadium trying to get at Alpha Team.

Bravo took the opportunity to at least complete their mission and deal with Romeo 04. Several times they had to open fire on the creatures in the air to keep them at bay. Then a number of chairs had to be tossed off the side just to reach their target.  Bachell and 4 other troopers approached Romeo 04 at several angles just in case they had to suppress it. They looked down over Romeo 04 and it reminded a few of the older men of a comic book. Settled in a broken section of concrete is an overly thin small teenage boy. His small frame is highlighted by a growing pool of his own blood. No one really knew what to say. His body was covered in cuts, bruises, burns, and gashes.

“Check him.”

As one of the men stepped forward he jumped back and raised his gun. “Romeo’s awake!”

Bachell pointed his sword at Romeo’s chest and his suit broadcasted the voice aloud so the target could hear it clearly.

“Friend or Foe? What are you doing here?”

Romeo gazed back at the men with partially open eyes and blood seeped from his mouth as he tried to speak. With a grimace and twisted smile Romeo’s hand opened and he dropped a can opener on the ground. 

“For Pineapples…. It’s .. trap.  Run.. Nww.”  Romeo squeezed his eyes as the pain was getting to become too much.  Bachell tapped the tool and was surprised at what he gripped so tightly.

Another voice came over Com’s, “We have multiple incoming. We need to move immediately.”

Bachell made the call. “He’s not hostile, and disabled. Corpsmen, get the stretcher bearers, then we’re going.”

Like a well oiled machine, the unit grabbed Romeo 04 with an emergency stretcher. In a double column they were guided by the man observing the map readings. 

Wave after wave of enemies assaulted the group from every angle until several other groups started to provide cover fire. Heavy weapons were fired ahead of the group and it was like their job was to run directly toward death. Thanks to the tactical support systems this was more like running into a tornado and being pelted by everything that wasn’t tied down. The group was so grateful to have (Bachell) Code Name Clypeus intercept every time something charged the front of the Platoon.

Only after Bravo managed to get behind the defensive perimeter were they able to take a breath. They could see multiple heavy strikes occurring around the Stadium and one massive target was highlighted over all the troopers HUDS. But even in their position the Mist seemed to have an unnatural flow to it. It was like that beast was calling the Mist to itself.

It wasn’t until they loaded Romeo 04 on their extraction ship were they able to make formal recommendations. But that did help turn the battle and reduce the amount of ordinance used against that creature and its numerous parts. Team Bravo noticed the unusual flow of the Mist, but it was Bachell who believed it was related to a particular part or black tinted crystal that was the problem. He couldn’t entirely explain it other than what was recorded over his HUD System. 

An analytical team made the verification of his claim when he cut one open and how that changed the creature’s regenerative ability. So that change of plan shortened the engagement and gave the command ship a chance to clean the area and gather an assortment of research specimens.

 

            Romeo 04 was housed in a containment facility and was diagnosed with severe and extensive injuries to his body. They analyzed what Romeo 04 had contained in his bags and it was a small collection of can openers, can goods largely with Pineapples, and some contaminated hotdogs and buns. The can goods were less contaminated but all of them were heavily influenced by the Mist. Natural degradation seems to have been retarded by this contact. They also found his body was affected the same way as the food he seemed to carry. The last note of interest in the Doctors report is unusual brain wave activity. A large portion seems to be active at all times and a few areas seem to have shrank in equal proportions to the areas that are “Active” all the time, and have expanded from that activity. When the operation is over they will attempt to revive him and speak to him. He has a clear sign of Mist touch and it hasn’t vanished once sense he was taken down by Zulu 01.  So far he doesn’t seem to have recovered enough to regain consciousness.