- 7th RP, 3175th Cycle TIC. Outskirts of Research Station Gamma129 -
(Keltek) "Sergeant Pheonix, take your squad and move to the rear of the research facility using the left flank." Came the order from Captain Keltek as we prepare to assault the facility with our platoon.
(Pheonix) "Roger that Cap. Peterson take point, the rest of you all fall into a tight skirmisher formation." I communicate through our internal communication systems.
I get acknowledgments from the rest of the squad and we move out at a standard pace. We have to move with light steps but fast enough to reach the rear of the facility by the time the rest of the platoon reaches the front gates. The research facility went dark about three weeks ago and the Empire's Marine Corps hasn't been able to send a platoon out since the nearest one was two stars away. Once we arrived in system we received an automated message from the Facility's Artifical Intelligence that informed us the Facility suffered a catastrophic failure causing the disappearance of the personnel. There was no cause listed and the Captain was unable to actively communicate with anyone on the surface so we sent the Platoon down to ascertain the situation.
'Quite the beautiful planet they have here' The rising sun begins to shine through the green skies in odd shades of green and blue topping the tree-like objects made of stone and ice native to this planet. In the distance, you can see native lifeforms that can only be described as Yetis. 'I wonder how long this will take, I've got leave coming up and I got the boys to take me out for my birthday'. Just as I finish thinking about the wonderful times we're gonna have and the massive amount of Cleansing Tonics I'm gonna need to drink to get rid of the hangover, we arrive at the rear of the facility.
(Peterson) "Firebird, we've arrived at the objective area. Awaiting stacking by fireteams" Peterson our pointman calls out to me over the comms using the nickname given to me from the boys after, well let's call it liberal use of fire and... yeah I won't lie, I was plastered and thought it'd be great to make homemade napalm and try to light things on fire with it. All I can say is it's what Marines do so don't blame me!
(Pheonix) "Copy that Peterson, Squad split into fireteams and take up your assigned positions."
(Pheonix) "Captain, First Squad in set and ready to move" I call through the Command Channel, where all Squad and Platoon leaders are able to call commands and discuss the plan.
(Keltek) "Roger that Pheonix, everything's on time so continue through. Your squad will take the buildings in quadrant four and we'll rendezvous at the central Plaza at 0200 SPT*. Oh and try not to blow anything up yet"
'Gee Cap, thanks so much for the vote of confidence, lucky I won't tell the boys about your little alley rendezvous on Sigma Aeternus' I can't help but reply in my head to the Captain's wonderful sarcastic comment he added at the end of the transmission. "Roger that Captain, see ya on the other side".
I turn to my guys and begin issuing commands to have each Fireteam take two different buildings at the same time. I detail Alpha team to take one of the residential buildings while Bravo team and myself go to the larger research building in this quadrant of the base. Once Alpha team finishes their sweep of the residential building they'll meet up with us in the research building. I raise up my rifle to the ready position, which will give me a clear line of sight while only sacrificing milliseconds worth of reaction time to get the rifle up to fire. We move to the building and we breach through the front door, most of this is done in silence as Marines in the Terran Empire rarely need to communicate with standard operations in small teams.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
(Pheonix) "Peterson, Alvira you take the the third floor. Rogers and I will take the seco..."
*BOOM, CLANK, HISSS, BOOOOM*
(Pheonix) "What the fuck was that, anyone have eyes on?"
(Rogers) "Negative boss, sounded like it came from somewhere below"
(Alvira) "This place has a Gods Damned sub-level?"
(Peterson) "It wasn't on the schematics and last I checked the ground doesn't spontaneously combust"
(Pheonix) "Yeah no shit smartass, thanks for the precious intel. Alright let's go, Alvira send out the nanobot swarm to search for any hidden passageways to get us down to where the commotion is coming from"
(Alvira) "Got it Sergeant" Alvira activates a few controls on her holographic display covering her left forearm on her armor and releases a swarm of military-grade nanobots that specialize in mapping and anti-nanobot operations.
After a quick five minutes that honestly felt like an eternity, Alvira's bots make it back and upload their information into her system showing us the Sub-levels and the way to get to their entrance. Unfortunately, the bots can't send imaging otherwise we would've been able to see what's waiting for us down there, though we don't expect much.
Oh, how wrong we were...
----------------------------------------
(Rogers) "What. The. Fuck. is that thing?"
After scouring almost the entirety of the sub-levels, we came across a lab walled off by floor to ceiling windows and a security door about ten times more secure and stable than any of the other doors we hacked on our way here. Everyone was staring, mouths agape, because what was on the otherside of the glass should not be possible. It almost looked like it was a black hole? No more like, a tear, a tear in the fabric of reality. No one in the history of the Empire has ever recorded something like this. It honestly shouldn't be possible. Looking at it made you feel like you were going cross-eyed while tingling sensations as if your limbs were asleep move up and down your body with every beat of your heart. It was an odd feeling, to say the least.
(Peterson) "Boss, I don't like the feeling this thing gives me"
(Pheonix) "Yeah me neither, alright let's pack it up gents. We've secured the way down here and we can let damn science types handle this"
The team acknowledges my command and we sping on our heels to move out. *BOOOOM BOOM BOOM* "Oh son of a... Everyone activate your shields!" I quickly drop my rifle to let it hang by the sling and reach over to activate my shields when *THUNK, SHUOOOM* A door that was blown off by the explosion comes streaming right for me. My thoughts before looking over to see my team being incinerated and the door smashing me in the face is 'At least we died together and died well..' The force of the explosion and the door blast me through the almost foot thick glass and into the black void that was sitting inside the room that we were turning away from. My armor absorbs most of the impacts and allows me to be conscious when void sucks me up, stretching my body like its made of clay, tearing both muscle and bone before putting it back together and depositing me in a strange sort of space filled with vibrant colors of all types and shades."AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH GAHHHHH" is all that's able to come out when my mind finally catches up to the pain before darkness takes me and I get the sweet relief from the pain invading my body.