All Along the Watchtower: Part II

[MasterChief096]

*Note: I am changing this from a PlanetSide 2 fan-fic to a PlanetSide 1 fan-fic, as my heart goes with PS1 and I believe that PS1's lore, while brief, was put together better. It should still be fun to read for fans of both however.

All Along the Watchtower: Part II

A smoldering smell of incinerated flesh and torched metal permeated the basement of the Thoth Bio Laboratory. The red back-up emergency light doused the room with moderate illumination that fluctuated with the bulb's rotation. Groggy from the blast, Sgt. Treggan Yong feebly used the remains of the staircase to hoist himself up off the ground. His Jackhammer rested in the foot-wide hole blown straight through the back of a Terran infiltrator. Bastard had managed to detonate his boomer trap right before the triple-barreled shotgun put an end to his temporary life, nearly bringing down the foundation of the basement itself. The bodies of Yong's squad mates lay strewn about the basement, the victim of the explosives and shrapnel. Likewise, the squad-sized TR garrison at Thoth was also amongst the gore.

Static chimed into the atmospheric destruction, "Sgt. Yong? Sgt. Yong are you there, over?"

"Yeah I'm here... you can expect my squad back at sanctuary in a few minutes, they weren't so lucky. I'm pretty beat up."

"Roger that. Is the mission still a go?"

"Should be, I eliminated the threat and survived the blast, staircase was blown to hell but I think I can clear the rubble blocking the passage to the backdoor area. Stay alert, I'll keep you posted, over."

A relieved sigh, and then, "Copy that Sgt., we'll relay the news to high command. Proceed to objective. Evac inbound to your location, rendezvous on roof airpads, over and out."

Yong located the body of AT-Specialist Jergen Banks. Poor sap was disconnected into two pieces from a flying support beam off the staircase. He rolled the body over and grabbed the Decimator. Luckily it survived the blast and was still functional. He took aim at the blockage from behind a crate and fired off a rocket. The resulting blast cleared away the chunks of metal that previously blocked his way.

Not a lot of time thought Yong, that infiltrator will send a response team. Cautiously, the sergeant made his way through the narrow corridor towards the lobby that bridged the spawn room with the back door area. No sign of any other enemies thus far, and Yong couldn't recall hearing the characteristic noise of an activated spawn tube. Confident in this observation, Yong quickened his pace and arrived at the entrance to the control console. He removed his REK from his holster and let it get to work on the door lock. The guys back at the Terran Republic geek lab had reinforced their door lock encryption protocols, and it was taking the NC techies a bit of time to catch the NC standard issue REK up to speed.

After 30 seconds went by the electronics in the door lock jingled and a distinct noise of locks retreating into the walls was heard. Yong advanced in the control console room and removed the TR extraction disk from his utility belt. A long battle was fought over this extraction disk, as it was the only known means of cracking the information inside of a TR control console rather than simply converting its protocols to a new faction's control scheme.

He inserted the disk which granted him access to the facility's information database. He ran a quick search for the phrase A Treatise on Auraxium and its Purpose in the Core by Jack Nordell and Associates. Whatever was in this scientific paper, the TR were afraid of it falling into the hands of one of the rebel factions. They went through a great deal of effort to cover up the findings by Nordell, and after the explosion of NS Research Substation One no one knew the whereabouts of any of its occupants. They were presumed dead. Rebirthing technology had not yet been discovered, let alone fine tuned at the time of the explosion. A lot had happened since then.

The paper was retrieved, the disk ejected and then promptly holstered back into Yong's utility belt. He used his access to the mainframe to temporarily disable the facility's wall turrets to make way for the evac vehicle. Once the turrets were offline, he bolted for the roof and buzzed command.

"Yong to command, I've retrieved the document, over."

"Copy that sergeant. Evac is enroute, ETA seven minutes."

"That's gonna be cuttin' it close. That cloaker unleashed his trap over fifteen minutes ago."

"Understood sergeant, warp-scans indicate no enemy activity in the vicinity of Thoth, over."

"Roger, awaiting evac, over and out."

Sergeant Yong placed his Jackhammer on the magnetic rack along his back and retrieved his guass rifle, ejecting the standard ammo magazine and slapping in an armor piercing one in anticipation of an enemy scout fighter. Several minutes went by until finally he could hear the hum of a mosquito's engines. A friendly unit tag popped into display on his helmet's HUD, signifying it was friendly. Words cut in afterward.

"Miss me?" asked Scout Captain Victor Huygens.

Yong let out a mocking laugh, "You've come to save my ass again eh? At least this time I did all the work!"

Victor scoffed, "Not likely, I think that infiltrator did most of the work for you. I'll be touching down on the forward pad in fifteen seconds, be ready."

Victor Huygens had delivered troops with sensitive materials out of hot situations many times, he was an expert evasive pilot and the bane of TR and VS fighter squadrons. They could never match his skill in the air, at least in terms of keeping up with him. Victor's mosquito dropped most of its weight by removing its weapon systems and carving out a crude secondary passenger seat for evac missions, which gave him an edge in escaping. It wasn't comfortable for his guests, but it got the job done.

"Alrighty then, hop in Yong."

Yong proceeded forward.

"Yong!"

No time. Victor applied full vertical thrust. The heat from the exhaust vents would have scorched Yong if he were standing just a few more feet forward. A lock-on missile flew through the mosquito's previous location but failed to recalibrate for its sudden vertical shift. It would have locked back on if it wasn't so close to the ground, it impacted and exploded before it could readjust.

"Take cover Yong! Hostile flyers inbound, I'm seeing three from the warp-scan, inbound from over that southern mountain!"

The three mosquitoes appeared, and a sudden barrage of lock-on missiles manifested as smoke plumes trailing their way towards their mark. Victor maneuvered his fighter far away, putting the air pad between himself and the missiles. Two of them impacted the air pad, eviscerating it, while the remainder of the barrage stormed through. To compensate, Victor then swung his craft behind the main building of the Bio Lab. Most of the lobby's front wall erupted in flames and flying debris.

"Ok Yong, you only got one shot, I'm popping the hatch, get in now!"

Treggan Yong sprinted towards the roof's north railing and leaped. He hit the ground, sending shocks of pain from his feet up through his midsection. His suit's microgel apparatus must have been damaged in the explosion because none of the force from his fall was absorbed. Staggering toward the cockpit, Victor exited to help him in.

"I only have one weapon I can use, and its not that reliable."

"Just get us out of here Victor," replied Yong.

Victor popped three successive smoke capsules. The first masked his initial movement out of the courtyard, the second veiled his elevation ascent, and the third covered his northbound flight path. Full speed, he jetted away. If he could survive one more missile barrage, he'd have enough speed gained to outrun any further missiles and the pursuers.

Without a moment's doubt, tracking picked up another barrage of six missiles. Victor released six missile manipulators, tiny nanobots that floated along the path of the oncoming volley. The missile manipulators lie in wait of the lock-on projectiles and relied on a very sensitive timed burst to attach themselves to the missiles, in which they would then override the missiles' control protocols and redirect them towards the enemy. The only problem was the speed of the nanobots. They weren't nearly as quick as the missiles themselves, so unless their computers got the calculations right, they might miss their targets. After that, it would be impossible for their limited flight capabilities to outpace the enemy's projectiles.

"Cross your fingers Treggan."

Victor anxiously watched the warp-scan reader. The missiles were gaining ground. He hadn't picked up enough speed to outrun them yet.

"Come on."

They stayed on path, and then, one deviation. The missile wheeled around back towards the owner. Another deviation, a third, a fourth, and then the final two.

"Yes! They hit!" Two missiles struck a TR fighter, obliterating it. The remaining two changed trajectories to avoid the shrapnel. They fired off their rotary chainguns eliminating three more missiles, but the final managed to get through the hail of chaingun fire annihilating another mosquito. The last mosquito kept up the chase, but by this time Victor's craft was blazing ahead at too great a velocity.

"You never cease pulling rabbits out of the hat, Victor. I thought missile manipulators weren't approved for field use yet?"

"They're not. I pulled strings. There's still some glitches in their tracking parameters."

"So there was no guarantee they were going to work?"

"Nope."

Sergeant Yong slouched back into his metal container.

"Lucky bastard," he whispered.

To be continued...