The hum of the stargate still echoed in Captain Eva Daniels' ears as she sat in the dimly lit briefing room. The usual clinical lights of Earth’s Unified Stargate Command flickered intermittently, as if the strain of the war outside the galaxy was creeping into the heart of Earth’s operations. She could still feel the cold rush from the stargate, the icy grip that always followed each mission, but this time, it lingered longer than usual.
Across the table, General Rebecca Milner stood tall, her sharp blue eyes fixed on the holographic display that showed the galaxy’s core systems. Red markers blinked ominously, each representing a fallen planet or an outpost lost to the Kha'zir.
"The situation is deteriorating faster than we anticipated," Milner’s voice was clipped, her frustration barely masked. "Every outpost on the rim is either gone dark or been fully assimilated. Our allies are losing ground, and the Kha'zir advance shows no sign of slowing."
Daniels’ stomach churned at the sight. Planet after planet, each red marker felt like a countdown, one that led straight to Earth’s doorstep.
"Captain," Milner's voice brought her back from her thoughts. "We need to understand what we're dealing with. These beacons aren't just signaling their invasion, they’re building something. And we need to find out what it is before it's too late."
Daniels nodded, leaning forward. "We’re seeing a pattern in their attacks. They’re targeting planets with high-energy resources, ones rich in geothermal and magnetic fields. It’s like they’re harvesting the planet itself. Whatever they’re building, it's massive."
Milner’s jaw tightened. "If we don't stop them, we could be looking at a full-scale invasion fleet, powered by the planets they’ve drained."
"Or worse," Lieutenant Zara Reilly interjected, her fingers tapping furiously at the tablet in front of her. "The readings we got from the last beacon on P4X-219 suggest they’re channeling all that energy for something more than just an invasion force. It's a weapon. One we haven't seen the likes of before."
Silence settled over the room as the weight of Reilly’s words sank in.
General Milner was the first to break it. "Then it's simple. We find the next beacon, disable it, and gather enough intel to learn exactly what they’re building. We can’t let them get too far ahead of us."
Daniels nodded, her resolve hardening. "We’ll need more than just speed, General. If they’re protecting each beacon as heavily as they did on P4X-219, TFO-1 is going to need backup."
Milner's gaze shifted to the map of allied forces, still fighting in scattered remnants across the galaxy. "You’ll have it. The Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra are ready to assist. They know what’s at stake."
Daniels exchanged a glance with Maddox, who sat across from her, silent but brooding. The rest of the team, Fox, Kane, and Reilly…waited in the shadows, each lost in their own thoughts. They were ready for the next mission, but everyone in the room knew this was different. The Kha'zir weren’t just another enemy to fight. They were a force of nature, relentless, unfeeling, and their hunger for assimilation had already torn through too many worlds.
Milner tapped a command on the table, and the holographic display zoomed in on a new planet. The name blinked faintly: P3X-997.
"This is your next target. Preliminary scans show the same energy readings we detected at the other beacons. This time, we’re not going in blind. You'll be accompanied by a Jaffa strike team, and the Tok'ra will provide intelligence. We need to shut this beacon down before the Kha'zir complete whatever they're planning."
Daniels stood, feeling the familiar rush of adrenaline. "We won’t let them finish it."
"Good," Milner said, her voice cold and commanding. "Because if you fail, we might not get another chance."
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As the stargate flickered to life again, the swirling blue vortex reflected in Daniels’ visor, casting an eerie glow across the gate room. TFO-1 stood ready, each member checking their gear, preparing themselves mentally for the mission ahead. The weight of the galaxy pressed down on their shoulders, but this wasn’t new…it was just heavier now.
Sergeant Major Maddox moved up beside Daniels, his heavy pulse rifle slung over his shoulder. "You think we’ve got a chance?"
Daniels glanced at him, her mouth a hard line. "We always have a chance. The question is how far we’re willing to go to take it."
Maddox nodded, his expression unreadable behind his visor. "Just remember, these Kha'zir don’t fight fair. We hit them hard, we hit them fast, and we don’t look back."
"Agreed," Daniels said, her voice steady. "We make sure this beacon goes dark for good."
The mission controller’s voice crackled over the comms. "TFO-1, you are good to go."
With a final glance at her team, Daniels stepped forward, the familiar sensation of the stargate’s energy pulling her into its vortex. The cold, disorienting rush hit her like a wave, the light twisting and bending around her before she emerged on the other side.
The air was thick with humidity, and the sky overhead was a dull, bruised purple, casting strange shadows over the rocky landscape. They stood on a plateau, the stargate behind them, surrounded by jagged cliffs and distant mountains that loomed like silent sentinels.
"Welcome to P3X-997," Maddox grunted, his gaze sweeping the area. "Looks like hell."
Fox crouched beside a rock, scanning the horizon with his rifle. "No sign of immediate contact, but we should keep moving. These places don’t stay quiet for long."
Daniels nodded, her gaze fixed on the distance. She could feel it, the faint hum of the beacon, pulling at the edges of her senses like a distant heartbeat. It was there, somewhere among the rocks, waiting for them. Waiting to be shut down.
"We move fast," Daniels ordered, her voice steady. "Stay close, stay sharp. We’re not alone out here."
With that, TFO-1 moved out, their footsteps echoing faintly in the desolate silence of P3X-997.
TFO-1 moved swiftly through the jagged terrain of P3X-997, the humid air clinging to their skin as they advanced. The quiet of the planet was unnerving, but they were used to that by now. Too many missions had started like this, deceptively calm, only for chaos to erupt without warning.
As they climbed the jagged ridge, the oppressive heat of the planet pressed down on them, thick and unrelenting. The ground beneath their boots was cracked and dry, the kind of terrain that seemed to absorb sound, making every step feel like a muted echo. The sky above, a sickly shade of red, cast long, distorted shadows over the landscape, giving the ruins an almost haunted quality.
Reilly’s scanner broke the silence with a soft, rhythmic ping. She stopped abruptly, her brow knitting in confusion as she adjusted the device, its screen flickering with unfamiliar data.
“Captain,” she called quietly, her voice cutting through the still air, “I’m picking up something.”
Daniels, who had been scanning the horizon with her sidearm at the ready, turned to Reilly. “What is it?” she asked, moving to her side, her eyes narrowing as she tried to decipher the information on the screen.
Reilly tapped the device, her fingers moving with practiced precision. “It’s a signal,” she said, her voice tinged with surprise. “An Earth-based signature... military frequency.”
Daniels raised an eyebrow, her pulse quickening slightly. “Earth? Out here?”
Reilly nodded slowly, her brow furrowing deeper as she studied the readings. “Yeah... but this doesn’t make any sense. We weren’t briefed on any other teams being deployed to this sector. We’re supposed to be the only ones here.”
Maddox, standing a few feet away, had been watching the exchange with silent intensity. His gruff voice broke in. “You think it’s a trap?”
Daniels didn’t answer right away, her mind racing through the possibilities. The Kha'zir had been unpredictable in every encounter so far, adapting and evolving with terrifying speed. Earth’s allies, scattered and desperate, were in constant communication, but they had lost many outposts, entire squads going dark with no explanation.
“Command wouldn’t send another team without informing us,” Daniels said, her voice laced with skepticism. “But Earth’s forces have been stretched thin... it's not out of the question that someone’s gone rogue or that Command didn’t share everything with us.”
Reilly, still focused on the scanner, shook her head slowly. “The signal’s weak but it’s definitely military. Could be a distress call.”
Daniels bit her lip, her instincts telling her something was off, but she knew they couldn’t ignore it. A distress signal meant there could be survivors, and if another team was out here, they needed to know why, and what they might have uncovered.
“How far?” Daniels asked, her tone all business.
“Close,” Reilly replied, adjusting the scanner again. “Just beyond that ridge, maybe a kilometer or two. Whatever it is, we’ll be on top of it soon.”
Maddox shifted his weight, his rifle at the ready. “If it’s a trap, we need to be ready for anything. The Kha'zir have been getting smarter. And if it’s not them, there’s no telling what state this other team is in.”
Daniels nodded, her mind made up. “We can’t afford to walk into this blind, but we also can’t leave any stone unturned. Reilly, keep that scanner active. Maddox, Fox…take point. Stay sharp, and assume the worst.”
Maddox grunted his acknowledgment, his expression hardening as he took the lead, moving with the deliberate, measured steps of someone who had seen too many ambushes to take anything for granted. Fox melted into the shadows, his lithe form practically vanishing against the rocky terrain as he scouted ahead.
Daniels followed close behind, her senses on high alert. The air felt heavier now, almost suffocating, as if the very atmosphere was pressing down on them, warning them of something they couldn’t yet see.
As they ascended the final stretch of the ridge, the hairs on the back of Daniels’ neck stood on end. The terrain beyond the ridge was eerily still, the ruins below shrouded in the dim, blood-red light of the dying sun. There were no sounds of life, no birds, no rustling of wind through the debris. Just silence.
“Captain,” Reilly whispered, her voice barely above a breath. “The signal’s getting stronger. It’s coming from just inside those ruins.”
Daniels stared down at the crumbled remains of what might have been an Ancient outpost. The place looked abandoned, forgotten by time, but something about it felt wrong. The silence wasn’t just natural, it was purposeful, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
She exchanged a glance with Maddox, who had already drawn his weapon, his eyes scanning the area with practiced vigilance. “This doesn’t feel right,” he muttered.
Daniels nodded, her hand tightening on her sidearm. “We go in slow. No mistakes.”
And with that, TFO-1 descended the ridge, the weight of the unknown pressing down on them with every step.
“We’re checking it out,” Daniels said, her voice decisive. “If there’s another team out here, we need to know what happened to them. Maddox, Fox, take point.”
As they approached the source of the signal, the landscape began to change. The rocky terrain gave way to a series of crumbled structures…ruins of what had once been an Ancient outpost. But the signs of recent battle were unmistakable: scorched ground, scattered weapons, and the unmistakable stench of death.
“Captain,” Fox called out from ahead, his voice low. “You’re going to want to see this.”
Daniels moved forward quickly, her pulse quickening. What she saw made her blood run cold.
Bodies. The smell hit them first, thick and metallic, hanging heavy in the air like a miasma of death. Strewn across the ground, crumpled and broken, were the mutilated remains of what had once been a proud Stargate Command unit. Their gear, Earth’s finest, was barely recognizable, shredded and burnt, twisted into grotesque shapes that defied the mind's attempts to piece together what had happened here.
Daniels’ stomach turned as she took in the scene, her breath catching in her throat. The bodies were torn apart, limbs scattered in unnatural positions, ripped from their sockets as if by some monstrous, unseen force. The deep gashes carved into their flesh were jagged and cruel, skin peeled back to reveal muscle and bone beneath, glistening wet in the dim, crimson light of the setting sun. It was as though something had taken its time with them, savoring the destruction.
Flies buzzed in a thick cloud over the carnage, landing on the exposed entrails spilling from a soldier’s torso, intestines tangled in the dirt like a snake crawling out of its nest. Blood…so much blood, had soaked into the cracked earth, pooling in the uneven terrain and turning the ground into a dark, sticky mire. The sharp, acrid stench of burnt flesh filled the air, mixing with the coppery scent of fresh blood to create a nauseating combination that made even the most hardened of them flinch.
Daniels knelt beside one of the fallen, her gloved hand trembling as she brushed aside what was left of the soldier’s dog tags, the metal scorched beyond recognition. The soldier’s face, or what was left of it…was a twisted, hollowed-out shell. His eyes had been burned away, leaving blackened craters where they had once been, the skin around them bubbled and warped by intense heat. His mouth hung open, frozen in an eternal scream, teeth shattered, tongue a withered, charred stub.
“What the hell did this?” Maddox muttered, his voice barely a whisper, as though speaking too loudly would somehow disturb the grotesque stillness around them.
Daniels didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. This wasn’t the work of the Kha'zir, at least, not the ones they’d encountered before. The gashes weren’t clean or precise like the energy weapons the Kha'zir favored. These wounds were savage, brutal, made by something or someone who took pleasure in the act of tearing flesh from bone.
Further down, another soldier lay impaled on a broken piece of rebar, their body dangling limply, arms outstretched as though they had been crucified. Blood dripped in slow, heavy droplets from the ragged hole in their abdomen, where something had burrowed its way through, leaving behind a gaping cavity. The soldier’s entrails were tangled around the metal spike like a grotesque trophy, swaying gently in the breeze.
Reilly gagged, turning away from the sight, her hand covering her mouth as she tried to keep the bile from rising. “This wasn’t a battle,” she said, her voice shaking. “It’s... it’s a massacre.”
Fox moved past her, his eyes cold and calculating as he scanned the bodies. His rifle remained raised, but there was a tension in his posture that wasn’t there before, a readiness for something worse. “No sign of Kha'zir weapons or tech. Whoever did this, they weren’t trying to just kill. They wanted to make a statement.”
Daniels stood, her boots sinking into the blood-soaked ground with a sickening squelch. She could feel it, the weight of something far darker than they’d anticipated pressing down on them, a shadow that lingered just out of reach. Whoever, or whatever…had done this, they hadn’t finished.
“This wasn’t Kha'zir,” Daniels said finally, her voice low and grim. “This was personal.”
Her gaze drifted over the scene, her eyes locking onto something that made her blood run cold. At the edge of the carnage, written in the dirt in large, jagged letters, was a single word scrawled in blood:
Traitor.
Daniels’ chest tightened as the pieces began to fall into place. This wasn’t just a slaughter. It was a message.
“They were executed,” Maddox said, his voice grim as he knelt by one of the bodies. “Close range. Standard issue weapons.”
Reilly knelt beside him, her face pale. “These were our people, Captain. What the hell happened here?”
Before Daniels could respond, the AI rover they had brought along began to hum softly. Its camera swiveled toward the ruins, then back to the group, as if searching for something.
“What’s it picking up?” Daniels asked, her voice tight.
Reilly tapped into the rover’s feed, her eyes narrowing as she accessed the camera’s recordings. “I’m pulling up the last known footage from this location… Oh, no.”
The screen flickered to life, showing grainy footage from earlier that day. Another team, TFO-5, Daniels recognized by their gear, was moving through the ruins, just as TFO-1 was now. Their leader, Major Eric Tannon, was a seasoned veteran, someone Daniels had fought alongside in the past.
But the footage took a dark turn. The team was suddenly ambushed by a group of heavily armed mercenaries. Chaos erupted as TFO-5 tried to fight back, but it wasn’t the mercenaries who delivered the killing blow.
It was Tannon.
In the footage, Tannon turned on his own team, gunning down his soldiers with brutal efficiency. One by one, they fell, confused and unprepared for the betrayal. The last member of TFO-5, a young sergeant, staggered toward Tannon, blood streaming down his face, pleading for an explanation. Tannon shot him without hesitation.
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Daniels’ stomach twisted as she watched the footage. The rover’s camera captured it all, the cold, calculated slaughter, the mercenaries watching in the distance, and Tannon walking away from the massacre to join them.
Reilly’s hands were shaking as she shut off the feed. “He… he killed his own team. Why?”
Maddox’s jaw was clenched in barely restrained fury. “He’s gone rogue. Sold out to the mercenaries.”
Daniels stood there, her mind racing, trying to process what she’d just seen. Tannon, a man she had once trusted, had turned on his own. Worse, he was working with the very mercenaries who had been dogging TFO-5 across the galaxy.
“We need to find him,” Daniels said, her voice cold and controlled, though the rage burned just beneath the surface. “He’s gone rogue, and we can’t let him get away with this.”
Fox, still crouched beside a fallen soldier, spoke quietly, his tone hard. “If Tannon’s with the mercenaries, then they’re here for more than just plunder. They want the beacon too.”
“That means they know something we don’t,” Kane added, her emerald eyes flashing with anger. “If they’re after the beacon, we can’t let them activate it. We’ll be facing an enemy who knows our playbook.”
Daniels nodded, her resolve hardening. “We take out Tannon. Then we shut down the beacon. No loose ends.”
The team moved quickly, sweeping through the ruins, every sense on high alert. The silence that had once been unsettling now felt suffocating, like a ticking bomb waiting to explode.
Daniels’ comm crackled to life suddenly, an unfamiliar voice coming through. “Captain Daniels, I see you’ve found my work. I wondered how long it would take.”
Daniels froze, recognizing the voice immediately. “Tannon.”
The voice on the other end laughed, cold and detached. “It’s not what it looks like, Eva. You wouldn’t understand. The things I’ve seen, what the Kha'zir are really planning. Joining the mercenaries was the only way to survive.”
“You murdered your own team, Tannon,” Daniels growled, her grip tightening on her rifle. “There’s no justification for that.”
“They were liabilities,” Tannon snapped, his voice losing its casual tone. “I did what had to be done. The Kha'zir are going to win, Eva. I’m just smart enough to be on the right side when it happens.”
Daniels felt the rage boil over. “We’re coming for you.”
“I look forward to it,” Tannon said, the line cutting out abruptly.
Daniels took a deep breath, steadying herself. This wasn’t just another mission anymore. It was personal.
“We move fast,” she ordered, her voice sharp. “Tannon’s close, and we can’t let him or his mercenaries activate that beacon.”
The team nodded, their faces grim and determined. TFO-1 was more than ready for what was coming next.
As they moved deeper into the ruins, Daniels couldn’t shake the feeling that the real battle wasn’t with the Kha'zir, it was with the traitors within their own ranks.
And she wasn’t going to let Tannon win. Not this time.
The air grew colder as Task Force Orion descended deeper into the crumbling ruins. The heavy silence weighed on them, pressing down like an oppressive force. Even the wind, which had howled through the rocky landscape earlier, had died, leaving only the echo of their footsteps to break the suffocating stillness.
Daniels clenched her jaw, replaying Tannon’s words over and over in her mind. “Liabilities.” That’s how he saw his own team, people he had fought beside, trusted. Reduced to nothing more than expendable tools in the face of survival. She had faced betrayal before, but this… this was something worse. It wasn’t just a soldier switching sides. It was a complete unraveling of the moral code that had bound them all together.
Fox moved silently at the front, his eyes scanning the darkness ahead, while Maddox’s heavy footsteps echoed behind them, each one carrying a barely restrained fury. The rest of the team followed close, tense, waiting for the inevitable clash that would come.
As they crested a ridge, the rover’s camera swiveled again, capturing something in the distance. Reilly’s scanner pinged softly, the signal growing stronger.
“Captain,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly, “we’re picking up movement…human signatures. They’re close.”
Daniels raised her fist, signaling the team to halt. They crouched low, blending into the shadows cast by the towering ruins. Ahead, the faint glow of a campfire flickered between the broken walls, casting eerie, jagged shadows against the crumbling stone. The soft murmur of voices drifted through the still air.
“Tannon’s there,” Maddox growled, his knuckles white around his rifle. “I can feel it.”
Daniels nodded, her voice low. “We go in quiet. We’re not here for a firefight, but if we get the chance to take him out, we don’t hesitate.”
They moved as one, slipping between the ruins, each step measured and silent. As they approached the camp, the voices became clearer, mercenaries, talking in low tones, laughing, oblivious to the death that was creeping toward them. But there was something else, a sound that cut through the quiet like a blade.
Screaming.
Daniels’ heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t the scream of someone in a firefight. It was the scream of someone being tortured.
Fox crouched behind a pile of rubble, his face dark. “They’ve got prisoners.”
Daniels peered through the narrow gap between the stones. In the center of the camp, a group of mercenaries sat around the fire, their rifles slung lazily over their shoulders. And there, tied to a post, was one of the survivors from Tannon’s team, barely conscious, bloodied, and broken. His body was slumped, his face beaten beyond recognition, but he was still alive. Just barely.
But the one standing over him, smiling, was Tannon.
Daniels’ blood ran cold as she watched him. He wasn’t the same man she had known. The once-dedicated soldier, the leader she had trusted, was gone. In his place was something twisted. His face, lit by the firelight, was a mask of contempt, his eyes cold and empty.
“We warned you,” Tannon’s voice carried over the camp, casual, like he was having a conversation over drinks. “But you just couldn’t let it go, could you? Still clinging to that old sense of loyalty. That’s why you’re here, suffering, while I’m free.”
The man at the post whimpered, trying to speak, but all that came out was a garbled mess of blood and broken teeth.
“Shut him up,” one of the mercenaries said, laughing as he kicked the prisoner in the ribs.
Daniels’ hands trembled with fury, her finger hovering over the trigger of her rifle. She could feel Maddox seething beside her, every muscle in his body tensed and ready to charge. But they had to be smart. They couldn’t afford to go in guns blazing, not yet.
Reilly’s voice was barely a whisper. “Captain, if we don’t move now, they’ll kill him.”
Daniels’ mind raced. They needed a plan, but the sight of Tannon, so utterly devoid of humanity, was like a knife twisting in her gut. He was enjoying this. He had fallen so far, and there was no coming back from what he had become.
“Fox,” Daniels whispered, her voice cold and steady, barely audible over the oppressive silence that hung in the air. Her gaze was locked on Tannon, standing in the center of the camp like a dark sentinel, his back to them, completely unaware of the deadly intent narrowing in on him.
Fox’s eyes narrowed, his sharp features illuminated by the flickering firelight as he adjusted his rifle, aligning the crosshairs with Tannon’s head. His breath was slow, controlled, as he zeroed in on the man who had once been one of them. “I’ve got him,” Fox muttered, his voice devoid of emotion. Every muscle in his body was tense, coiled, ready to strike.
Daniels’ heart pounded in her chest, her grip tightening on her sidearm as she weighed the gravity of the moment. Killing Tannon wouldn’t just eliminate a threat, it would sever the last thread of trust they had left in a man who had once been their brother-in-arms. But there was no room for hesitation, no space for second thoughts. He was too dangerous, too far gone.
“Do it,” Daniels breathed, the finality in her words cutting through the tension like a blade.
For a split second, time seemed to stretch, the world holding its breath.
The shot was silent, a whisper of death as it left Fox’s rifle, slicing through the air with deadly precision. The bullet found its mark, striking Tannon squarely in the back of the head, just above the neck.
There was a sickening thud as the bullet pierced bone and flesh, the impact jerking Tannon’s head forward violently. For a second, he remained upright, swaying as if the life hadn’t yet registered that it had been ripped from him. His body trembled, his fingers twitching reflexively at his sides.
Daniels watched, her breath caught in her throat. For an agonizing heartbeat, Tannon’s figure remained standing in the firelight, a macabre statue of betrayal. Then, with a slow, eerie grace, his knees buckled. His body crumpled to the ground, lifeless, hitting the dirt with a dull, final thud.
The world snapped back into motion.
Chaos erupted in an instant.
The mercenaries, who had been lounging around the campfire, were momentarily stunned, their faces twisting from lazy boredom to wide-eyed terror. But the shock only lasted a heartbeat. In the next moment, guns were drawn, and shouts filled the air as they scrambled for cover, weapons raised, frantically searching for the unseen sniper.
“Contact!” one of the mercenaries yelled, his voice panicked, just as Fox’s next shot rang out, dropping him where he stood.
Daniels wasted no time. “Move! Engage!” she barked, her voice sharp, cutting through the growing noise as she surged forward, her sidearm raised.
Maddox was already charging into the fray, his heavy pulse rifle barking as he laid down suppressive fire, the bright flashes from his weapon illuminating the chaos as bullets ricocheted off rocks and debris. The air was thick with the acrid smell of gunpowder and the sharp crack of energy rounds, filling the night with a symphony of violence.
The camp, once filled with the lazy crackle of the fire, was now a battlefield of confusion and death. The mercenaries, disorganized and panicked, fired wildly into the shadows, unable to pinpoint their attackers. Their movements were erratic, their shots scattered.
Daniels moved with precision, her heart pounding in her chest as she fired off controlled bursts, dropping a mercenary who had foolishly broken from cover. She ducked behind a crumbled wall, her breathing shallow as she surveyed the chaos.
Fox was a ghost in the dark, slipping between the ruins, his rifle silent but deadly as he picked off targets with unnerving accuracy. Each shot was a whisper, each kill a shadow falling.
Maddox charged forward like a force of nature, his massive frame dominating the battlefield, drawing fire away from the others as he laid down a wall of gunfire. The mercenaries stood no chance against his raw firepower, their screams lost in the storm of bullets.
But even as they fought, the air grew heavier. Daniels could feel it, something darker, something worse closing in around them. The Kha'zir weren’t far off. She could sense them in the shadows, just beyond the edge of the camp, waiting for their moment to strike.
“Reilly!” Daniels shouted over the din, her eyes scanning for the tech. “Status!”
Reilly, crouched behind a pile of debris, frantically worked at her scanner, trying to locate the beacon’s signal. “Almost there! Just keep them off me!” she yelled, her voice shaking with urgency.
Daniels fired again, her eyes darting toward Tannon’s lifeless body, still crumpled in the dirt. The man who had betrayed them, who had slaughtered his own team, was dead. But even with Tannon gone, the battle felt far from over.
It was only getting darker.
Daniels moved swiftly, her focus entirely on the prisoner. He was barely conscious, his breath shallow and ragged, but he was alive. She knelt beside him, her hands moving quickly to untie the ropes that bound him.
“We’ve got you,” she whispered, though she wasn’t sure he could hear her. “You’re safe now.”
But even as the words left her mouth, she knew it was a lie.
The fight around them raged on, mercenaries falling under TFO-1’s assault, but the air was thick with more than just gunfire. There was something else, something darker. Daniels could feel it in the pit of her stomach, like a shadow creeping over them.
“They’re retreating,” Maddox called out, his voice barely audible over the gunfire. “But not for long.”
Daniels nodded, her gaze shifting to the horizon. She could feel it…the Kha'zir weren’t far off. This battle was just a distraction, a prelude to something much worse.
“We need to move,” she ordered, pulling the prisoner to his feet. He groaned, barely able to stand, his eyes flickering with fear. “Kane, get Command on the line. We need an extraction, now.”
Kane tapped at her comms, her brow furrowing. “No signal, Captain. Something’s jamming us.”
Daniels cursed under her breath. Of course. Tannon had been prepared for this, even in death. His betrayal had run deeper than she’d realized.
“Then we do this the hard way,” she said, her voice hardening. “We fight our way out.”
Maddox stepped forward, his face grim. “And what about the beacon? We can’t just leave it active.”
Daniels looked down at the broken man in her arms, the last survivor of Tannon’s team, and felt a pit open in her chest. They had come to shut down the beacon, to stop the Kha'zir from advancing. But now, with their mission compromised, everything was falling apart.
“Reilly,” she said, her voice steady but dark, “how far are we from the beacon?”
Reilly checked her scanner, her face pale. “Not far. But if we go after it now, we’ll be walking right into a Kha'zir trap.”
Daniels’ jaw tightened. She knew what needed to be done, but the cost was going to be high. Too high.
“We’re not leaving without shutting it down,” she said, her voice like steel. “If we don’t stop the Kha'zir here, Earth will be next. We finish this. No matter what.”
With Tannon dead, the mercenaries routed, and the Kha'zir closing in, TFO-1 was about to face their darkest battle yet.
And not everyone would make it out alive.
The wind picked up as TFO-1 advanced toward the beacon, carrying with it the scent of scorched earth and decay. The broken man from Tannon’s team, barely able to walk, stumbled forward with Maddox supporting him. His breathing was ragged, shallow, and filled with the unmistakable sound of defeat. His eyes, sunken and bloodshot, darted between the shadows, as if he could sense the horror waiting for them.
Daniels moved quickly, her mind racing through every possible scenario. The Kha'zir were close… she could feel it. That creeping darkness, the weight of something inevitable and insatiable pressing down on them. Every breath was a reminder that time was running out. The ground beneath her boots was uneven, scattered with the debris of a civilization long forgotten, but she barely noticed. Her focus was on the mission, on the beacon.
And on surviving.
“Reilly,” Daniels called over her shoulder, “how much farther?”
Reilly glanced at her scanner, her face pale under the dim light. “It’s just ahead, past this ridge. The energy signature is off the charts. This beacon’s stronger than any we’ve seen before.”
“Which means the Kha'zir will be all over it,” Maddox muttered, his grip tightening on his rifle. “This isn’t going to be clean.”
Daniels knew he was right. The Kha'zir had always been relentless, but with every beacon they activated, they grew stronger, more coordinated. This was their last chance to stop them from completing whatever nightmare they were building. And now, with Tannon dead and the mercenaries scattered, they were on their own.
As they crested the ridge, the sight before them made Daniels’ blood run cold.
The beacon stood in the middle of an open expanse, its towering structure pulsating with a sickly green light. Tendrils of organic material snaked out from its base, twisting through the cracked earth like veins, pulsating with unnatural energy. The air hummed with power, and the ground beneath them seemed to tremble with every beat of the beacon’s rhythm.
But it wasn’t just the beacon.
Around it, the bodies of fallen soldiers…mercenaries and Kha'zir hybrids alike, were strewn across the field, twisted and broken. The grotesque hybrids, their bodies a horrific fusion of flesh and metal, moved in the distance, patrolling the area with a sickening, mechanical precision. There were dozens of them, their glowing eyes scanning the ruins with cold, emotionless efficiency.
Daniels swallowed the knot of fear that had risen in her throat. “We’ve got one shot at this,” she said, her voice low and steady. “We hit the beacon fast, shut it down before they can call for reinforcements.”
Maddox, ever the pragmatist, grunted. “What if they’re already calling for them?”
Daniels didn’t hesitate. “Then we finish what we started. No matter what.”
Fox crouched low, his sharp eyes scanning the terrain. “The only way we’re getting to that thing is if we go through them. There’s no way around it.”
Kane stepped forward, her expression dark. “If we don’t shut it down now, we won’t have a chance to regroup. Every second it stays active, it’s sending out a signal. The Kha'zir will be here in full force soon enough.”
Daniels nodded. “Reilly, get that scanner ready. Maddox, Fox, Kane, take positions. We’re going in.”
As they descended the ridge, every sense was on high alert. The ground beneath their feet seemed to shift, like it was alive, reacting to the presence of the beacon. The hum of the organic tendrils grew louder, almost deafening now, vibrating through the air with a pulse that made the hairs on the back of Daniels’ neck stand up.
“We don’t stop until that thing is offline,” Daniels whispered, her grip tightening on her sidearm. “We hit them hard, hit them fast. No mistakes.”
They moved like shadows through the broken ruins, keeping low as they approached the beacon. The hybrids were close…too close, but TFO-1 had been through worse. They had survived hell before, and they would again.
Suddenly, a scream tore through the silence, raw and filled with agony. Daniels’ heart lurched in her chest as the sound echoed across the field. It wasn’t the scream of one of her team.
It was the broken soldier from Tannon’s unit.
Maddox, who had been helping him walk, froze as the man collapsed to the ground, convulsing violently. His body jerked and twisted, his veins bulging, eyes wide with terror.
“Captain!” Maddox shouted, kneeling beside the man, but it was too late.
The transformation was horrific and swift, an abomination born of the very air they breathed. It began with a sudden convulsion, the soldier’s body jerking violently as his wounds festered and bubbled. The gashes on his skin, where blood had once flowed freely, now oozed a thick, black substance, writhing as though it was alive. His breathing grew ragged, each inhale a choking rasp as his body fought against the infection invading him, creeping through his veins like fire.
Daniels watched in horror, her heart pounding in her chest as the micro-organisms, invisible yet deadly, took root in the soldier’s open wounds. The air itself had betrayed them. What had initially been just a simple infection began to accelerate into something far worse. His skin, once a pale, bloodied canvas, began to stretch grotesquely, bulging and cracking as though something was growing beneath it, trying to force its way out.
The sound of bones cracking echoed through the air, each snap a sickening reminder of the horror unfolding before them. His limbs contorted at unnatural angles, joints popping, muscles twisting in ways they weren’t meant to. His fingers elongated, the nails splitting and blackening as they curled into claws, scratching at the dirt in desperate, mindless agony. His screams, once the desperate cries of a man in pain, now twisted into deep, guttural howls, more beast than human.
His flesh seemed to rebel against itself, peeling away in ragged strips as the infection took hold, spreading faster than anything humanly possible. Blood vessels ruptured beneath his skin, dark veins of infection spreading outward like a web, his eyes rolling back in his head as they filled with a dark, viscous fluid. His jaw unhinged, snapping violently as his teeth sharpened, twisting into grotesque fangs, the last remnants of his humanity slipping away.
Daniels felt a cold knot of terror tighten in her gut. The Kha'zir they had turned the very air around them into a weapon. These micro-organisms, unseen but deadly, were transforming the soldier from the inside out, a biological weapon designed to assimilate anything in its path.
“Captain!” Maddox’s voice broke through the horror, his tone sharp with panic as he pulled back, his weapon raised in reflex. “He’s... he’s turning!”
The soldier’s screams devolved into a wet, gurgling snarl as his throat bulged unnaturally, the infection spreading faster than any of them could comprehend. His back arched, ribs snapping audibly, tearing through his flesh as his spine contorted, elongating grotesquely.
Daniels’ breath caught in her throat. “Move!” she ordered, her voice tight with urgency as she pulled Reilly back, her heart hammering in her chest. “Everyone, back!”
But it was too late. The soldier, now nothing more than a writhing, monstrous hybrid…lunged forward, the infection fully consuming what remained of his humanity. His body, a twisted fusion of flesh, bone, and the Kha'zir’s insidious bio-tech infection, lashed out with terrifying speed, his claws raking through the dirt as he scrambled toward them, eyes glowing with a sickly, feral light.
Daniels raised her sidearm, firing in rapid succession. Each shot hit its mark, the creature jerking backward with every impact, but still, it came. It was relentless, driven by the same insatiable hunger that had consumed every world the Kha'zir had touched.
“Maddox!” Fox shouted, firing from the flank, his rifle’s sharp crack cutting through the chaos.
The hybrid screeched, its body convulsing as the final bullet tore through its skull, dropping it to the ground in a heap of blood and metal. Maddox staggered back, his breathing ragged, his hands shaking.
Daniels’ heart pounded in her chest. “Are you hit?”
Maddox shook his head, his face pale but determined. “I’m fine. Just... caught off guard.”
“We’re running out of time,” Reilly said, her voice trembling as she looked between the beacon and the advancing Kha'zir patrols. “That scream... it alerted them. They’re coming.”
Daniels glanced toward the beacon, its pulsing glow growing stronger. The hybrids were already converging on their position, moving with terrifying speed.
“We can’t wait,” Daniels said, her voice firm. “Reilly, get to that beacon. Maddox, Fox, Kane, we hold them off.”
The team moved quickly, setting up defensive positions around Reilly as she sprinted toward the beacon, her scanner in hand. The hybrids were closing in, their twisted forms moving with horrifying grace, their eyes glowing with malevolent intent.
Daniels took aim, her pulse steady despite the fear gnawing at her insides. She fired, the shot tearing through the nearest hybrid, but still, they kept coming.
The air was filled with the sound of gunfire, the crackle of energy weapons, and the monstrous shrieks of the Kha'zir as they charged. Every second felt like an eternity, the ground shaking beneath their feet as more hybrids poured from the shadows.
“Reilly, how much longer?” Daniels shouted, her voice barely audible over the chaos.
“Almost there!” Reilly called back, her fingers flying over the scanner, trying to find the beacon’s power source.
Daniels fired again, her heart pounding in her chest. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and the Kha'zir were closing in fast. The beacon pulsed brighter, the air around them crackling with energy.
And then, with a deafening roar, the beacon surged with power.
Daniels felt the shockwave hit her like a physical force, knocking her off her feet. The light from the beacon intensified, blinding, as if the very air was tearing apart. She hit the ground hard, her head spinning as the world dissolved into a blur of light and sound.
And then…darkness.
----------------------------------------
Daniels gasped, her eyes snapping open as the cold air rushed into her lungs. Her body ached, every muscle screaming in protest, but she forced herself to sit up, blinking against the haze that clouded her vision.
The beacon was dark.
The hybrids were gone, their bodies littering the ground, twisted and broken. The pulsing energy that had filled the air was gone, leaving only a heavy, oppressive silence in its wake.
“Reilly?” Daniels called out, her voice hoarse.
“I got it,” Reilly replied, her voice weak but filled with relief. She was slumped against a broken pillar, her scanner still clutched in her hand. “I shut it down.”
Daniels nodded, trying to steady her breathing. They had done it. They had stopped the beacon.
But as she looked around at the carnage, at the broken bodies of her team, the blood-stained ground, and the empty sky overhead, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t the end.
It was just the beginning.