“Sometimes I wonder if we did the right thing. These people are fools who can’t see the forest for the trees. Do they not realize what the men and women in the military provide for them? Or do they just despise them because it is convenient or popular? Truth be told, they have no clue just how far our soldiers go to keep them safe. After all, the best military presence is one you don’t even know you need.” – From an interview with Albert Mayer.

  “Is he… dead?” Jenkins asked, closing the door behind him. Remembering they were technically in enemy territory, he took a moment to possess the control panel and engage the locks.

  At first glance, it felt like the portal had entirely too much protection, but considering the room’s occupant, they understood.

  “He… Can’t be. He’s an Unranked Officer. Shit, he’s THE Unranked Officer,” Nessa said, staring slack-jawed at the head of her corps. “How in the hell is this even possible? We saw him yesterday.”

  She walked up to the table and stared into the unseeing eyes of a corpse. She’d only met him a few times, but each interaction left her feeling like he was like a supernova contained inside a thin sheet of metal. How someone, or something, could have not only killed him but left the body intact, baffled her.

  “This isn’t a prison. It’s another workshop.” Alec said, opening his faceplate to allow in the cool, fresh air.

  Along the walls, various workbenches were home to more non-standard equipment. Unlike the last room, every module here was complete and labeled with its function. In all, it was clearly the workspace of someone extremely organized.

  A primal part of Jack wanted to take some of the special weapons, hoping they would somehow make him more powerful. However, either from fear or respect, he knew doing so would have horrifying results.

  *click*

  On one wall, a hologram of the deceased officer sprang into being as a shocked Candice backed away. Before anyone could turn it off, it started talking:

  “October tenth, 3260. The reconstruction of my body is as slow a process as always, but I believe this one to be far more formidable than the current model. With the help of the others, I’ve been able to push my control from the Shapers Light into the Controller spectrum. I’ve always had some innate ability to make the body I inhabit follow my commands regardless of the modules used, but with these new components, I’ll be even stronger… Perhaps even strong enough to use…”

  Jack explored as the recording played and eventually finding himself in front of a well-kept toolbox. Unlike every other set of tools he’d ever seen, this one was nothing more than a series of rods that ranged in size. Upon closer examination, he saw the telltale gleam of a Light emitter buried in each base.

  “Alec,” Jack called, walking over with a tool held out for the Dragoon to look at. “Aren’t there generally supposed to be tools at the end of tools?”

  “Unless something has gone horribly wrong, yes. Usually, a Li-Tech tool has a little more frame… maybe it’s a screwdriver?”

  “… Lately, it’s become more difficult to hold the monster back. He pushes at the bounds of my mind every day. If I had to give a comparison, I would call myself a modern-day Dr. Jekyll. However, unlike the tragic life of that tortured soul, my worse half holds the power of a god…”

  “How often do you need thirty screwdrivers? The only things here are just handles. Despite the age of this recording, this place has need used recently.” Jack pointed to their footprints in the layer of dust, then toward a pair of Raak’Shee-sized prints scattered throughout the room.

  Almost like they had been looking for something.

  “This place it’s… it’s basically an operating room,” Thea said, peering into the empty chest cavity, “But instead of being brought here to heal, Hargrave looks like he was torn apart.”

  “-Seventeenth, 3262. Albert just got back from another meeting with the Xan. They claim to have information on our power’s origin. If they are telling the truth, we might even be able to meet the progenitors of our strength. Whether that is good or bad has yet to be seen…”

  “He’s not being torn apart. If someone had taken them out, the screw heads would be scratched,” Alec noted, inspecting the exposed inner workings with a critical eye. “Maybe this is a new Hargrave?”

  “Why in the hell would we need a second one?” Nessa scoffed. “The man is by far the greatest threat to the AHF. Building a second one is just asking for trouble.”

  “Dammit, Turaspeir, listen to me.”

  Jack’s blood ran cold. The voice changed in cadence and called them by name.

  Turning to face the recording, the face remained impassive. However, even though the picture stayed the same, a recording from years before he even joined the AHF just addressed his squad.

  “Albert helped me touch Light that would one day be here with you. So, listen to me closely. The threat we face is unlike anything we’ve seen before. I have a few crossover weapons here, but not many. Grab what you can use, but do not use them unless you absolutely need to. We cracked the code, and I was able to force Optical Light to merge with most others. I’m sorry, young binder, but yours is the one that I couldn’t finish. You must protect this facility, you must protect the remains.”

  The hologram glitched briefly, then the voice resumed its previous cadence.

  “What fascinates me most is the way life has adapted to some of these environments. I know it’s not right, but we don’t tell the Senate about every inhabited world we find. Just fifty years ago, the seven of us found intelligent life on a planet made of…”

  “What the actual fuck was that?” Dave exclaimed.

  “A sign that we need to keep moving,” Jack said, shaken but refusing to let it show. “Look for something with the squad name on it. Apparently, he had that, but not our individual identities.”

  “Well, they say time is a fickle mistress,” Nessa said, searching for the promised equipment.

  “Resume Light Comm’s only. No more open faceplate until we are back in a secure area. We have a mission and, apparently, it’s much worse than we previously thought,” Jack reminded, sealing his helm before joining the others in the search.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  It didn’t take long to find the equipment. Unfortunately, none of it was usable. Whoever found this room before them had also heard the recording and understood what it would mean if the soldiers got their hands on the gear in question.

  Everything was broken, bent, or some combination of the two.

  “Well shit,” Dave surmised, accurately vocalizing the general mood.

  “It is what it is,” Jack said, walking toward the door and motioning to Jenkins. “We just have to make do.”

  He’d taken pictures of the lab and would return if Command decided the information inside was of any genuine concern. The squad wouldn’t torch a room full of equipment just because they could, especially if they didn’t have to.

  ~~**~~

  “Hey Monroe, any Rhinos down there?” Dave asked, prying open the doors of an elevator shaft.

  There hadn’t been any more sightings of the creatures, but there was ample evidence the building had many more inhabitants than they’d found. The creatures had nearly destroyed the kitchens and tossed mattresses to the ground with no regard. Truth be told, the scene was closer to that of a crack house than an organized invading force.

  “Just the two. Remember, drop one level and get to the stairwell ASAP. We will be waiting on the other side.” Jack replied.

  “You realize this is damned near suicide, right?”

  “Make a bubble of force to protect yourself.”

  “That’s not… oh whatever. If there are more than two waiting for me, I’m blaming you.”

  The Aegis leaned back into the shaft, hoping beyond hope this little binder girl could hold him and his gear as well as she claimed. Sure, she’d handled the canyon, but she was basically letting him fall at that point. Crossing his fingers and toes, he nodded to Hayward and took the first step down.

  He’d repelled before, but it was always in a controlled training situation and with equipment he knew he could trust. This was different, sure he thought he could trust Hayward, but there was a nagging voice in his ear that kept telling him he was going to fall.

  “Unclench your butthole Dave, I’ve got a pretty solid track record for not dropping the people in my care. I know you don’t believe me, but I have full control of this line,” she said, accentuating the point by pulling him away from the wall and dropping him the remaining ten feet.

  Her ability to stop on demand was perfect, but he couldn’t deny that his armor was a little more… moist from the experience.

  “Unless, of course, you want to take the express train to the bottom? I can let you meet the shaft floor in about ten seconds if you don’t start trusting me,” she finished, sending another pair of strands down to stabilize him further.

  “No, no. I trust you, but if you drop me, I’m going to drop you.”

  “Been a long time since a cowboy offered me that particular treatment. You can’t threaten me with a good time.”

  “Dammit, that’s not… wait, hush up for a minute,” beyond the door, the big man could hear the rhythmic grunting of the Raak’Shee language, “Get ready for breech. Monroe, is everyone in position? You’re going to need to punch through when I make the distraction.”

  “And the fact that the door is locked?” Alec asked.

  “Do we need to go through this again? Didn’t you just find out that Nessa is a master locksmith? If you can’t figure it out, let her pick the lock.”

  Dave waited… in the dark… hanging from a basket made of glowing yellow string that looked like it couldn’t hold a kitten, much less him. If he fell, the entire mission would change.

  If he failed, he would be the one needing protection.

  “West, we are in position and Walker has cut the hinges.”

  Jack’s voice broke through the fog of self-pity and brought him back to the present. Yes, he’d failed Ortiz. And yes, he would probably fail again one day. But for now, he would charge in like a pissed-off bull in a china shop.

  He pulled a skeletal greatsword from his back and called on his power. As if it were second nature, he funneled twenty percent of his energy into the weapon. Balling the other hand into a fist, a nearly invisible field of energy wrapped around his arm like the armor of a Roman Gladiator.

  The others talked about how easy it was to use their energy with rifles, but that had always been the toughest part for Dave. This power didn’t want to harm, and he often found it very difficult to charge a firearm with his Light. Almost like the power itself knew what he was about to do.

  But this sword was a trick. The glasslike Light receptors in the hilt felt like the other receptors in his armor. However, the blade moved Light so that when power flowed through it, the tiny hexagrams that made up his shields turned on their side to create something like a saw.

  The Quartermaster explained it to him several times, but no matter how many times he broke the science down, Dave still couldn’t understand how it worked. Apparently, those tooth-like protrusions were on a track that would spin when energy flowed through the blade. The more power he gave, the faster it would spin.

  Frankly, he bought it because it looked cool, and everyone knew that cool was the most important part.

  “Get ready, I’m breaking through in 5… 4… 3…”

  He left the last two numbers silent since he figured his squad knew how to count well enough. If Alec had an issue with it later, Dave would just buy him a beer to smooth it over.

  As delicately as he could, he created a small shield between the doors. When the timer hit zero, he pushed the field out with incredible force, slamming open the doors and exposing the hallway beyond. So far, every fight down here had been all hush-hush.

  But this time was going to be much different.

  Candice flung him into the clearing and into the center of three Raak’Shee guards that were still in shock from the elevator exploding open.

  “Dammit,” he cursed over the comm.

  Landing in a crouch, he raised his shielded arm and pushed the energy outward in a burst of force. Like a traditional shield bash, the attack was primarily to stun the enemy. Dave could personally attest that being struck by a translucent wall of force was not something most opponents could quickly recover from.

  The attack was so unexpected; it staggered two and knocked a third Raak’Shee off his feet entirely.

  Dave sprinted toward the downed enemy, re-wrapped his arm in energy, and switched to a two-handed grip. With a powerful chop, he cut through the creature’s foot—and the floor beneath it—like a hot knife through butter.

  Nessa always chided him about his lack of speed or grace, but she didn’t wield the equivalent of a five-foot chainsaw. Luckily for him, the barrier for entry on a weapon like this was incredibly low. While he could become truly dangerous with time and training, he was effective with almost none.

  The Raak’Shee roared in pain and retaliated with a backhanded fist that should have crippled the puny human. Instead, all it could do was pound against the blue barrier of force. From the outside looking in, keeping up the barrier took no effort at all.

  If only the creature could see through his faceplate, it would know just how tough maintaining the barricade truly was.

  With a grunt that sounded like Raak’Shee’s speech, Dave tore his blade free from the ground. With an overhead chop, he repeated the cut and cleanly removed the arm that had so recently tried to break through his shield. Orange-tinted blood sprayed from the two grievous wounds as the alien fumbled for a weapon.

  Dave would be truly impressed if it survived the encounter.

  A wave of heat washed over his armor and caused his shield to flare to life. With a glance over his shoulder, he saw a twisted hole where the door into the hallway once stood.

  “What the fuck did she use?” he yelled.

  Turning his back to his allies, he took a step backward and expanded the shield to protect the members of his squad. Ahead, the stunned aliens came to their senses while their injured comrade struggled to stand.

  “She mixed concussion and incendiary disks,” Jack said, looking around the doorframe with his rifle raised.

  “Good enough. Alec, use those punch blades of yours and help me take down these overgrown bulls,” Dave replied, turning his attention to the next enemy in line.

  “Why not guns?” The Dragoon asked, spinning up the left Gatling. “I got those in spades.”

  “Can you take out a limb with it? If not, bladed weapons.” Nessa said, darting through a gap in Dave’s shield on her way to face a creature. The breaker flowed like water as she danced to avoid various attacks while gripping a pair of un-energized hilts. On her back, a small drone clung tightly to her armor, taking shots where it could.

  As if to magnify her point, Jack placed three useless rounds into the alien’s torso. Unsurprisingly, the bullets cut through the creature’s skin, but its hide was so thick that the energy dissipated before it could do any real damage.

  “Jenkins, Alfson, and I have backup on Walker. I need you to get that crawler over to the first target and execute it. Once done, focus on helping West and Morningwood.” The Sergeant ordered, sending a near-constant stream of fire at Nessa’s target.

  “Copy that.”