“Be careful.” Spy-Mistress Kel-Taraan said as she escorted her younger cohort to the Human shuttle.

“Yes mother.” Isa-Bella said as she rolled her eyes. “I’m not a wet behind the ears young lass anymore, I am second in command of the ministry of secrets.”

Sighing, Kel’taraan answered her younger protege, “That may be so, but once you sky dive from the Human shuttle you will be on your own for up to a day in hostile territory with no backup or support.”

“I’ll be fine, the Human craft can’t be detected by anything the Howron could have left behind here. I planned this mission down to the last detail, we’ll have that device in our hands by this time tomorrow.” The younger Spy-Mistress said putting her hand on Kel’Taraan’s shoulder.

Then, with a salute she turned and walked the short distance to join the other two members of her team in the shuttle. After a few minutes, the craft lifted off from the palace grounds almost silently. Kel’Taraan stared up into the early morning darkness, already unable to make out the shuttle craft even with her android eyes. “I have a bad feeling about this.” She said to no one as she walked back into the palace.

As the shuttle lifted from the palace grounds, Isa-Bella looked over to her pilot. John was a big man, probably as large as Alex, the Captain of their ship. They were supposedly distant cousins, but she thought they looked more like brothers, they even had some of the same mannerisms if you watched them closely. Whether that was a human thing, or something genetic, she did not know.

“How long until we arrive at our drop point?” She asked.

John swiped at a holographic display, the strange rune like alphabet of Humanity changed, then he said, “A little less than an hour, you may want to check your gear and make sure your team is ready. If this goes sideways, well, things will get much more complicated.”

Unstrapping herself from her chair she nodded as she left the cockpit and walked back into the smaller passenger compartment. Her team consisted of her hand picked strike force, Agent Mei’Una was her demolitions expert, and carried their ordinance to get them through anything unexpected. Agent Han’Larr was their information and communications expert, her job would be to help sew confusion, and finally there was Agent Li’Dona, one of the single most talented Agents the ministry of secrets had ever trained.

The mission called for a small elite group to infiltrate the base and make their way to the device to ensure it was secure, then to use the shielding device the Human’s delivered to them to ensure they could not take it back or destroy it. Once that task was completed they could call for a full scale invasion by the Imperial marines, after the navy battered the shore line with artillery of course.

They went over their mission plan, using maps the Humans made for them with sensor sweeps of the island from orbit. Some of the underground base had to be extrapolated, from orbit multiple levels tended to blend together, but they were rather confident the device was on the third level down, as the fourth and fifth levels appeared to be housing the necessary power, plumbing, water filtration, air filtration, and long term storage a bunker like this would require.

Looking around she was pleased with the team she put together, each were prodigies in their own right. Each wore the new body armor made from an extremely tough woven material with a type of removable plate that was both extremely tough and light weight. The helmets they were provided worked in tandem with their weapons, what the Human’s called rail guns. A target reticle appeared in the glass before the eyes as if by magic showing where the gun was pointed.

The weapons were set for subsonic mode, according to John the projectiles would fire with little more than a click instead of the loud bang from a traditional firearm. He stated that the mass of the projectile would barely be traveling below the speed of sound, stopping the sonic boom crack that a normal firearm produced, but would deliver a killing blow to anything not wearing body armor.

She checked, she had two extra magazines, which were remarkably heavy. Each carried twenty rounds, which were displayed in her helmet, counting down as each were fired from the amazing weapons. When she asked John why they were so heavy he smirked before answering, “The rounds are depleted uranium, they carry maximum mass for their size, two hundred and sixty grams each. That way they deliver the same punch as your firearms, but almost silently, which is what you want down there. But if things get ugly, swap to full power mode.”

Isa’Bella had seen what full power mode on these guns could do to two inch thick ballistic plate, it made neat little holes in them. They also were every bit as loud as any firearm in their old arsenal. Using them would be only as a last resort. Once she was satisfied with their planning and gear she made her way back to the cockpit to strap back in beside John. “Ten minutes, then you get to jump out of a perfectly good shuttle.”

She grinned back at him, “I can’t wait!”

Soon the shuttle was hovering ten kilometers above the drop zone in stealth mode. John double checked their gear and once he was satisfied he opened the emergency door. Each of the agents nodded to him as they jumped from the shuttle, once the last one was out he closed the door and went back to the cockpit to bring the shuttle back up to the Missive.

_______________________________

The jump was exhilarating, Isa’Bella grinned broadly through her helmet as she fell through the pitch black night sky. The glass of her helmet showed her landing zone and according to the dots on the ground her team would all land within the area. All too soon a nano-fiber carbon mesh parachute deployed from her back pack. The navigation computers in the helmet ensured they all landed in the same area without slamming into each other.

Once down on the ground the backpack sent a signal through the nano-fibers causing them to loose molecular cohesion, and the parachutes fell to dust in the warm night air. All four agents unstrapped their weapons and prepared their gear, there was a service access point fifty meters from where they landed, it should be lightly guarded.

After moving as quietly as possible through the dense underbrush they found what they were looking for, a small alcove of concrete sticking out from the surrounding mound of the artificial hill structure that made up the bunker the Redeemers used as a base of operations. Two guards were posted by the metal door leading into the base.

“Han’Larr, you’re up.” Isa’Bella whispered through her helmet. John had ensured her that they were completely sealed to the suit and no sound would escape, but training had instilled upon her to stay as quiet as possible. The younger agent had a tablet like device in her hands and within a few minutes spoke, “Cameras have been spoofed, infrared sensors are as well, we just have to take out the guards.”

The Spy-Mistress grinned broadly inside her helmet, she knew whoever was monitoring those cameras would see nothing more than the same image on repeat over and over again. “Li’Dona, you have the one on the left, I have the one on the right, on my mark. Mark!” She said as she and her second in command squeezed their triggers within milliseconds of each other. Both guards fell with nearly no sound at all.

All four agents moved forward with caution, once they made it to the door, Han’Larr found a card on one of the guards. “According to John, there will be a guard station to the right of this doorway. It has bullet resistant glass and is used to issue an alarm.” She took the card and laid it on her tablet, a few seconds later the tablet flashed, scan complete. Then she took another card from her belt pouch and laid it on the tablet, after a few moments the tablet showed, payload uploaded.

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Looking to Isa’Bella, who nodded, Han’Larr placed the card into the slot to request access to open the door. The small red light swapped to green and there was a click from the top of the doorway. Nodding to Mei’Una the bigger woman pushed through the doorway turning to the right. Sure enough, a wall with a glass window was exactly where John said it would be, the woman behind the window baulked and slammed her hand down on a large red button only for nothing to happen.

Mei’Una placed the strange looking device on the window and turned to walk back out the door. The device started to spin on its axis, then stopped, there was a small ‘hoorumph!’ and then silence. The four women went back through the doorway into the corridor, all stealing glances into the window. The device had cut a small hole through the glass and exploded a small pellet of lethal gas into the confined room. The guard lay dead on the floor, as if asleep.

Making their way further down the hall they found the stairway down to the level they needed to get to. Three levels below the surface would keep them from anything other than a direct hit from the naval guns from the fleet. Nodding to Han’Larr and Mei’Una she whispered, “Make your way to communications, make sure those radars don’t see the fleet coming, you have ten minutes.”

Both agents nodded, looking at the time in the top left corner of their helmets, the fleet would be in radar range in about fifteen minutes give or take, those radar dishes had to be taken offline before then. Splitting up wasn’t ideal, but it was the only solution to the problem. Isa’Bella and Li’Dona made their way to the device itself.

There was a small room at the end of a corridor, it was the only section of the scan that had its own power source and guard posting. John said that Kara would have liked to have a Bells Inequality to triangulate, but evidently they did not send messages very often. This was the best guess as to where the device would be held.

“Um, boss, those don’t look like normal guards.” Li’Dona whispered to her superior.

Isa’Bella cursed under her breath. They were wearing armor, something orange and black with full helmets. Their rifles glowed a faint green, and were obviously modified to be handled by Alandran hands. They had seen Howron weapons, and these were not what they used, this was not part of the plan.

They both had flash bang grenades on their sides, but they doubted those would work against the helmets the guards were wearing, they also knew there could be people inside the room as well who could send a message to the fleet. Then she received a message from Mei’Una, “Bad news boss lady, the computers from the radar to the communications room are air gapped and use a cable running through the wall, we can’t get access to it.”

Isa’Bella cursed to herself once more, then thought about it for a moment. “Mei’Una, how close are you two to communications?”

“Right outside the doorway ma’am.” The agent answered back.

Nodding to herself she asked, “How big of a boom can you make inside that room? We have a problem on this end, looks like the Redeemers have some Ussar technology in the form of armor and weapons.”

After a short pause Mei’Una responded, “I have two demolition packs from the Humans, they were for if we had to breach through solid walls due to unforeseen events.”

Thinking for a moment she made her decision, “Use one of the charges to destroy that communications room, if they can’t call out to the forces on the surface it will buy the navy time to start shelling them. Hopefully it will draw these guards attention as well. Li’Donna, swap to full power mode.” Two versus six wasn’t good odds, but maybe surprise will help.

Pulling the scanner from her pack she waved it down the corridor where the six guards were obviously engaged in some kind of conversation. “No one inside the chamber behind them.” She said over comms before putting the scanner back in her pack.

“Ready here Spy-Mistress.” She heard over her communications.

Taking a look over to Li-Dona she nodded before addressing Mei’Una. “Blow it.”

______________________________

Mei’Una lived for this shit, blowing stuff up was her life’s work. Now she had Human toys that were much more powerful, and much louder than anything she had access to before. Once in her hands she had trained continuously to ensure she knew everything about her devices. She took out the satchel charge and adjusted the yield to maximum, then nodded to Han’Larr. “I’m going to open the door, throw the satchel charge in, slam the door and we’re going to run like the demons from the seven hells are after us.”

Snatching open the door she swung the satchel in a beautiful arch into the room, it landed on some large glass console over a huge bank of monitors. She was already closing the door as she heard multiple women shout, “Hey! What the hell!” Before she and Mei’Una were running as fast as their legs could carry them around the corner and back to where Isa’Bella and Li’Dona were waiting.

Then the bunker shook, nearly knocking them off their feet. They couldn’t hear the sound of the satchel charge, but they felt it, even through the walls of the underground complex. Overhead lights flickered and went out, some sprinkler systems started discharging water from the ceiling.

Looking down the hallway the six armored figures dropped to one knee and aimed their weapons down the hall. There was no cover to breach the distance, their only hope was that a few of them would leave their post while the rest stayed put.

Then they did exactly what Isa’Bella hoped they wouldn’t do. One of them stood up to go for the door into the chamber. On instinct she rounded the corner and fired a three round burst from her rifle, one of them missed, striking the door, but one struck the guard in the back of the head, the other into her back, she crumpled to the ground, brains and blood covering the once gleaming steel door.

She hurried to the other side of the corridor just as green bolts of… something whizzed down the hallway. Then she heard, “Fire in the hole!” as Mei’Una threw a grenade down the short corridor, a loud ‘BOOM’ she could hear even through her helm shook the base again. “Wait!” She said as Mei’Una rounded the corner and fired her weapon down the corridor.

Isa’Bella watched in slow motion as a green bolt went through the chest of her agents’ armor as though it wasn’t there, Mei’Una fell to the floor as if she were a puppet with the strings cut. “Shit!” She shouted to herself.

“Another one is trying for the door!” Li’Dona said over comms. Glancing out she backpedaled as more green bolts slammed through the corner taking chunks of concrete with them. Then she heard another three round burst as Li’Dona took that opportunity to fire down the corridor taking out the second guard to attempt to make it through the door.

Peeking out and back Han’Larr reported across the communications channel, “The grenade took out one, looks like it injured the two beside her. Three of them versus three of us.”

“We can’t sit here for long, that blast will bring more guards, we have to get through that door and barricade ourselves in!” Isa’Bella said while she thought. “Li’Dona, help me lay down fire, Han’Larr, grab Mei’Una’s pack!”

Nodding they both swung their weapons around the corner firing on burst down the corridor trying to leave as little of themselves vulnerable as possible. One guard fell as one of rail gun darts took the top of her helmet off splattering brains all over the hallway, it was after this Isa’Bella felt something hit her in the side as she spun back into the corridor.

It was as if someone had slowly pushed a red hot poker through her side and left it there. Looking down there was a small scorch mark on the charcoal armor, it didn’t look that bad, but it hurt fiercly, and was getting worse.

“Boss!” She heard from across the hallway as Li’Donna swiveled to avoid more fire coming from the corridor.

“Stay there!” She said through gritted teeth. “Did you get the backpack?”

She saw Han’Larr hold up the pack. “Good, take every grenade she had in that pack and throw them one after another down that hallway.”

Han’Larr nodded and started pulling them out, three in all. Pulling a pin she hurled the first one around the corner, waiting for the ‘BOOM!’. Then followed it up two more times. “Now!” Isa’Bella shouted as the last grenade went off. All three agents swung around the corner firing on burst mode at the downed guards. Isa’Bella and Li’Dona hugged the walls, but Han’Larr had to swing around Li’Dona to fire. In that moment a green bolt went through her helmet, splattering the ceiling and walls with her brains.

Isa’Bella and Li’Dona pumped rounds into the last guard, both emptying their magazines. The corridor was a slaughterhouse, without the Human weapons they would have never made it this far. “We’ll have to blow open that door without Han’Larr.” Li’Dona stated.

The wounded Spy-Mistress nodded as she held her side and made her way around the corner while Li’Dona took the last satchel charge from the pack and placed it against the door with one of the corpses of the guards holding it there. Once around the corner she activated the charge with her helmet.

Once the complex stopped shaking again she turned to find Isa’Bella slumped down in the corridor. “Come on boss, we’re not through yet.” She said as she helped her up and with an arm over her shoulder she helped her into the large opening the charge had made in the doorway.

Once inside she propped her up near the strange orange and black device in the center of the room as she took the shielding module from her pack and set it up on it’s tripod. Just in time it seemed, for more guards voices appeared from down the corridor. With her helmet she activated the shield, and a red field appeared covering the doorway and walls around it.

The guards pulled their weapons and started firing down the hall, their rounds causing small ripples in the field, but nothing more.

Isa’Bella smiled leaning heavily on the alien machine. “It is done, we’ve won.”