We had received orders and a team of sappers. Our task was to investigate and potentially destroy this structure by bringing the sappers we carried atop our engine bay behind the turret to the building. We will then disembark our vehicle and aid them.

“Full stop!” I yelled.

We had reached the edge of the forest. It was near dark and the sky was dim, becoming hard to see. A slight breeze rustled the leaves and blew along some of the snow that had been accumulating across the ground for a week now. Beyond this forest lay an imposing utilitarian building about the size of a medium sized warehouse. It was flanked by over a dozen Estal logistics trucks of the kind I had seen before. The side facing us was the long side, with a small side door located relatively close to the edge of the forest. This door would be our point of entry. We spent a few more minutes surveying the building from the forest, no guards or security systems were visible.

Soatin, who is the most knowledgeable sapper in Estal technology chimed in, “I have never seen a building like this one before. I will cut the power and we will enter through that door there.” He pointed to the door closest to us.

Soatin wore an off-white sappers uniform. A few long tools were attached to the backpack and the front pockets of the dress were filled with many small assorted tools and magazines for his submachine gun that was slung under one arm.

Pesha, whose name was derived from the nearby Pesha Mountains, sat at the end of the engine bay behind Soatin. He stands taller than anyone else but remains silent most of the time. He carried multiple 8Kg explosive charges on his hips and a few stick grenades of different types on a sling that went around his neck, and then under his left arm. He slung his Sju-7 submachine gun over his chest.

Azie, the only female in the group of sappers, sat on the other side of the engine bay to the front. Azie carried a large radio interception backpack for picking up short-range unencrypted Estal communications. She knew the Estal language fluently and could understand any word said in it, and can even read to an acceptable level. Having learned from captured Estal soldiers and defectors. She slung her 8mm submachine gun under her left arm like Soatin.

Tokoth sat behind Azie, at a height just below where Ekni stood. He seemed to never stop speaking, and is rumored to have a 6th sense that allows him to predict the future, sometimes. I do not believe the rumors as I do not participate in such childish things. Tokoth had extremely sharp senses, picking up sounds and smells no one else was able to. His unnaturally long ears probably helped a bit. There is a sewing line half way through the part of his head wraps that cover the ears, indicating they had to enlarge a head wrap for him to fit his massive ears. He slung his 8mm submachine gun over the shoulder and behind him.

“Is there anything we should know before we enter, Soatin?” I questioned.

“Don’t touch anything, I will cut your damn arms off,” He said, with a fairly serious and assertive tone of voice.

“Got it. We’ll be clearing the building then?” I answered.

“That is correct. It is advised you stay out of our way”

“We know how to operate handheld weapons, we weren’t born inside this vehicle, you know?”

“Yes, you’ve also never cleared a building before, so I formally request you shut your trap, commander.” He seemed like the easily irritated type.

I decided not to argue with the lead sapper, but instead take the initiative, suggesting “Would it be best if we disabled the power first?”

“My thoughts exactly sir, Estal doors are pneumatic, but we’ve been issued a device that allows us to open their doors without the power supply.” his personality seemed to switch to a more friendly disposition, as soon as I asked.

“Won’t they be alerted as soon as the power cuts?” Ekni interjected.

“That becomes less of a problem for us as shooting first seems to stop people from shooting you, oddly enough.”

“Alright then.” Ekni replied, chuckling slightly.

We spent the next few minutes hiding our vehicle, and venturing to the rear entrance.

Once we had reached the rear door, Soatin headed into the fenced off area that contained all the power supply equipment. He opened up a large metal box attached to the wall of the building, and flipped a single switch. Power to the entire facility was cut immediately.

“Now we master lock this fucker so they don’t turn it back on, if they even know how to flip a master breaker,” I heard Soatin chuckle to himself.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Soatin left the fenced off area and quickly grabbed the longest of the tools from his back, a meter long steel rod with an oddly shaped tip. He inserted the rod into the circular opening above the door, and then twisted the rod 180 degrees. The door slowly opened making a loud hissing sound from the pressurized air being discharged. All eight of us formed a single-file line and entered, submachine guns at the ready. We had recently received new ‘Ferrosteel core’ bullets that were promised to punch through any Estal infantry armor. I felt anxious but confident at the same time.

The door led into a corridor, large metal doors flanked either side of us as we filed in. Soatin and Pesha took the door to our right, Azie and Tokoth were able to cut through the simple exterior lock on the one to our left.

“This is just a storage room. Meat by the looks of it.” Azie said to the group.

“A bunch in here as well.” Tokoth said.

I stepped into the cold room with Azie, she had begun to read what was written on the vacuum sealed packages of meats that took an odd color. Her ears went flat against her head, she read another package, and then a package a few rows of shelves down.

“What’s up?” Soatin said, approaching the two of us.

“It… it says… it’s marked with their word for ‘Avali’.. I think that says ‘muscle’.”

“Holy.. Ekni was right.. Fuck..” I said to myself, quickly brandishing my SMG. I heard someone gag.

A new feeling washed over me, not one of fear, but one of primal rage. My nerves dulled, eventually I could not feel the pressure my feet exerted against the soles of my boots, or the hefty submachine gun I held firmly. I could hear everything. I could smell the meat, it smelled awful. I could no longer feel the saliva in my mouth. My vision widened, with everything becoming clear and the dark room becoming bright. I felt ready to kill, my muscles urged to violently contract. Time was slower, I had plenty of time to process my surroundings. I could feel the presence of everyone around me, they felt the same as I did, we were ready.

“Let’s go.” I stated in an angered tone.

I could hear footsteps, they were far off. Everyone headed down the hall without speaking a word. Three other doors sat within this halfway besides the one in front of us. I sent Pesha, Azie, and Ekni off to individually check these doors. Each one of them required only two hits to breach the door with the exception of Pesha, who only needed one solid shoulder check to knock the metal door open. Ekni immediately fired his weapon upon breaching the door, after a few bursts he yelled “Clear!” and returned to our group at the largest of the doors. Within seconds the other two yelled “Clear!” and rejoined us.

We were ready when the door at the end of the hallway opened, Ekni took a pot shot at the Estal guard breaking down the door, and hit it straight in the head. Their body made a vindictively satisfying crunch as it went limp and fell to the ground. The furious click-jabbering of Estal speech could be heard as we entered.

We entered the room, it was big and covered in white tiles, we darted to cover behind some crates, prepared to ensure that the violet stains on the walls would get an overcoat of fresh hemolymph before the night was over. I got a quick view of our adversaries: two Estal soldiers carrying what appeared to be their equivalent of SMGs in their upper arms, their smaller limbs held serrated skinning knives. Standing between them was another officer dressed in the same brilliant red armor, carrying a pistol. Lastly, there was what appeared to be an elite marksman, dressed in dull maroon and carrying only a long rifle, with gauss coils visible on the outside of the barrel. Ekni had to reload his weapon, Azie was able to kneecap one of the guards with a spray of bullets before they got to cover. The officer shouted something and she smirked.

Tokoth was able to get a shot off at the downed Estal guard, killing them. Arkette stood up from her cover and attempted to fire but was forced back down by a hail of gauss flechettes from the standing guard’s SMG, one of whom grazed her upper ear, although she did not acknowledge it. I had decided to charge ahead and find cover closer to the enemy. I vaulted over the crate I hid behind and rushed forwards, spraying my SMG at the standing Estal guard, who fell. I slid behind another crate unscathed.

The officer barked an order and made for the door at the far end of the room, Pesha bolted from his cover to pursue, and managed to get a shot or two off, at which point the marksman Estal emerged from their cover against the wall and was able to get a clean shot. The gauss slug went straight through Pesha’s abdomen, tearing through the flesh with the same ease it ripped through the air. He was stopped in his tracks and folded forward like a jackknife. Yet after a few seconds he stood up once more, violet blood near-gushing from the wound, and threw himself behind a crate seeming unphased. The marksman lowered their weapon slightly, no doubt frozen with fear and disbelief, both Ekni and Ishi took advantage of this, dashing forward and unloading their weapon’s magazines into the Estal soldier, reducing their head and upper torso into a hole-filled mess of chitin and hemolymph. The commanding officer was on the run and we were pursuing, while Ishi stayed behind to tend to the wounds of Pesha.

The commanding officer darted into an open door that led to another room. I was the first one in the room with him. We met each other's view and I was the first to fire, but as I pulled the trigger all I heard was a click. Although I had conversed with Estal prior, I had yet to hear one laugh, it is a deep knocking chortle that can, in the right context, scare the wits out of you. They made this sound before taking a step forward, raising their pistol and firing at me twice. Both shots hit me directly in the stomach area. I staggered backwards, but then rushed ahead to disarm him, quickly pulling the pistol from their hand. I then grabbed their head with my left arm and his right shoulder with my right arm. I used my weight and strength to quickly throw the massive beast to the ground before they could react. I then held their head as far back as I could before inserting my claws into the soft canvas-like material that protected the chin and neck area. It screamed as loud as it could before it began to gargle as I drove my tallons deeper and deeper into the neck of this creature. It struggled but eventually fell limp as it could no longer fight me. I stood up and saw the creature lie motionless before me. I felt a shallow, light soreness wash over me, and then a light but sharp pain in the area where I was shot. Everything went black as I drifted into unconsciousness.