Black Ops Part Two

Firefly · 2004-01-19, 01:43 AM

Another tense half hour passed until eventually the last of the repair tools, capacitors, and nanite bins were unloaded from the belly of the Galaxy and taken inside the tower. By now the techs were hooking them up to the main power grid. Silently, Elias prayed that they were working quickly. He turned his attentions to the concrete apron that surrounded the base of the tower. One of the commandos was laying an intricate network of mines, remote Spitfire weapons turrets, and Doppler-operated motion alarms. They would serve as a nasty surprise to any enemy soldier coming up the slope trying to get into the tower.

He slid downhill through the thick viscuous mud to his earlier vantage point and squinted down into the murk, the mud squelching at his thick boots. Movement rippled below him, but was it an advancing army or a trick of the light and rain? Then a bolt of lightning flashed in conjuction with cracking peals of thunder, like a million trees being sheared of their branches at once. Suddenly the night was illuminated, the lightning playing a vivid hellish glow across the plains below. Elias� breath caught in his throat.

The slippery slopes of the mountain teemed with dark-colored soldiers swarming uphill in masses, hundreds upon hundreds of them. Leaping MAXes lead the charge, their deadly energy weapons aimed directly at the commando team, steam billowing from the charged weapons as rain slapped the metal.

He scrambled back uphill, fighting through the thick, sucking mud. Opening a radio channel, he yelled �Sergeant Major! Ready the troops! Get the Galaxy off the ground!�

Seconds later, the dropship�s engines roared as it lifted off the ground to circle high above the tower. Elias caught sight of a few shimmering shapes run wildly away as the engines lit their infiltration suits afire. He smiled in spite of himself, relishing seeing the alien-loving traitors run around like living matchsticks.

�What�s the situation, sir?� Banner called over the radio, watching from a rampart on the tower.

�They�re here,� Elias screamed as he fired a full magazine blindly over his shoulder.

Rain hammered and pounded the hillside and lightning provided stroboscopic illumination across the rocky slopes as the thousand-strong horde scrambled up towards the tower. Rivers of muddy foaming water flooded downhill, sweeping great swathes of the foot soldiers with them. Where they fell and slid away, more filed in to take their place. The glutinous mud swallowed a few of them whole, their comrades stomping down on them as they trampled ever upward.

Gunfire raked the slopes as Spitfire turrets tore into the teeming mass of bodies. Mines blasted apart armored MAX troopers in stuttering blazes of flame. Body parts flew into the air, unable to withstand the brutal punishment of the remote turrets. Elias tore a grenade from his pistol belt and hurled it back over his shoulder as he drew near the tower, ducking behind a massive steel-crete blast plate that ringed the tower. The grenades detonated with a muffled crump, sending up showers of mud and once-human cybernetic parts.

Screeching MAX units struggled in the mud, their jumpjets clogged with the filth, their heavy bulk causing them to sink almost knee-deep in the sludge. They made excellent targets for the commando assaulters, who drew their disposable Decimator rockets and picked them off with relaxed precision. They were careful to conserve their ammunition, taking out the giant suits of armor first, fearful of the enormous energy beams that were now tearing chunks from the tower�s upper ramparts.

Sergeant Major Banner stumbled across the protective apron to Elias�s position, his pristine armor caked in mud, the symbol of the Terran Republic Special Forces barely visible on the breastplate. �They�re circling around us! We need to get inside!�

Elias looked up into the filthy downpour, seeing indistinct shapes bounding across the terrain toward the tower. Banner was right, Elias realized, given a few minutes they would be surrounded.

�Let�s get going then,� he said, rising from behind the slab.

Elias felt the ground shift under his feet and leapt backwards as a huge portion of mud suddenly detached from the slope, sliding downhill as the torrential downpour of the Forseral seasonal rains washed it from the side of the mountain. He landed on his back and rolled, grabbing onto the slab of barrier as he felt himself slipping. His para-Cycler clattered to the concrete.

He heard Banner cry out and then he saw the sergeant major desperately grappling in the mud with a Vanu warrior. Both men had their knives out and were struggling for a killing stroke. Uriel snapped his weapon up and braced himself along the barrier and took aim. The Vanu warrior presented his back as the pair danced about, and Elias wasted no time in squeezing the trigger. The Cycler spat death, a foot-long gout of flame searing his vision as the bullets tore into the Vanu soldier�s armor.

�Elias!� Banner shouted, pointing.

The officer looked up, saw a monstrous MAX with a glowing arm clawing its way up the ruined slope. Its weapon was primed and ready to fire, static discharges snapping at the end of the barrel. The heavy armored unit locked eyes with Elias, the operator inside no doubt relishing in the death he was about to deal. Explosions burst around the battle as the commandos tried to buy time for the pair of soldiers.

Elias quickly slung his Thumper grenade launcher off his back, tucked it under his arm and squeezed the trigger. The weapon squealed like an angry, hoarse banshee and spat a plasma grenade at magnificent speed. The grenade exploded as it struck the MAX full in the face. A nightmarish green glow enveloped the armor and the lethal gases fouled the air as the toxic substance burned the MAX. The unfamiliar goop caught the MAX unprepared and it toppled forward, off-balance.

The operator inside flailed about and tried to wipe the crap away with its utility claw. Seeing a clear spot, the MAX surged forward and locked its claw around Elias�s boot. It tried getting to its feet, tearing Elias off-balance and knocking him on his back.

Triumphant, the MAX pointed its barrel at Elias�s face. The Vanu traitor inside stared through its broken, split viewslit at the soldier, a leer on his ugly, scarred cyborg face.

Elias deftly slid his stolen NC mag-scatter pistol from its holster and took aim. �Burn in hell, alien-lover.� He squeezed the trigger again and again, bucking as the dying MAX jerked and tore at his leg. Vanu still bleed, and the red mist blowing out of the MAX�s head shroud was the same red blood as any other human.

Banner joined him, pulled his captain to his feet. The two men stumbled and slipped through the torrents of water and mud to the tower door. Twice, the approaching Vanu hordes almost overtook them. Elias and Banner drove them back with controlled, accurate bursts from their rifles. Banner had to drop his empty rifle, now switching to his Sweeper shotgun - not a problem, since the rushing soldiers were within close range now.

They ducked inside the tower and Elias slapped at the door lock. He keyed the lock code for random-scramble, making the lock-unlock code change at random intervals. Anyone trying to hack through that access panel would be there a long time. Only a master hacker would be able to break that code.

�Holy hell, that was too close,� Banner breathed.

Elias let out a shaky sigh. He checked the ammo in his Cycler drum, and then checked the magazine on his NewCon shotgun pistol. �Damn right. I thought we were goners there.�

The steel of the doors buckled inward with a resounding clang. Thunderous impacts rocked it, and Banner yelped as he leaped backwards. Dust fell from the ceiling with each blow.

�Come on,� Elias said. �This door looks like it won�t hold for too long.� He marched down into the tower basement, where two techs were working on the terminals. Banks of electronics, capacitors, and nanite construction engines lined the walls of the square-shaped room. Two steel-sheathed glass tubes occupied a full wall, one flanking each side of the stairs.

�Matter matrixes,� Banner observed. �So if we have to, we can phase out of here?�

Specialist Markos shook his head. �We don�t have a link to anywhere. This is the only stronghold in range.�

�Specialist Markos,� snapped Elias, �when can you have the guns ready to fire?�

Markos nodded at the walls. �The capacitors are linked to the power grid, and the terminals are activated. We had to track down all the wire leads, but the connections are good now. Man them and get them firing.�

Elias waved and shouted, �Follow me!� They raced up the flights of stairs to the roof, where the commandos were blasting down into the crowd of angry Vanu techno-traitors.

A lone MAX vaulted into the air, coming to rest nimbly on the tower ramparts. Elias emerged in time to shout a warning. The thing raised its massive laser weapon and fired at a commando. Punishing purplish-blue energies fused his armor within a second, and before the trooper could whirl around, he exploded in a pulpy, superheated soup.

The hellish brute turned and spotted Banner, who pumped a salvo of Sweeper shots into its chest, his armor-piercing sabot rounds boring through its hardshell chestplates. Elias swung his Thumper up and fired as well, his plasma grenades eating at the thing�s armor. Suitably distracted, the MAX did not notice the commando slap a shaped charge on its back, nor did he see the combat engineer flip the killswitch.