Chapter 31 – At The Eastern Base [Part 1]

Letting his eyes fade back to their original colour “You can come out now.” Zulu shouts whilst on his knee next to a large amount of corpses and looking up high at a bat flying, screeching a soundless cry.

‘You burn through your supplements faster than Four’

“Why aren’t you showing yourself Ten?” he lets his sword dissipate and takes a large breath before quickly getting back to his feet, to not let those on the wall see him in too tired a state.

‘…I don’t completely trust her.’

“Something I need to be aware of?” forgetting about the runaway bat, he looks at a group of soldiers staring down at him, looking confused and hesitant, from upon the wall.

‘...Four was betrayed’

Scrunching his brow, he clenches his fists but stays quiet.

‘Five?’

“What happened?” he asks as his nails dig into his palms.

“Betrayed…” a voice recording plays of Zulu 4 sniffing with shock, “I…was betrayed?” she repeats with an odd realisation in her voice, “Betrayed!“ now shouting, crying, angered, “Betrayed...” Her voice quietens and nothing but the sound of weeping is heard for a long time then, “They will die!” she shouts angered, and laughing hysterically, “They will all die!” she sounds crazy, crazier than her usual self…and she just…laughs.

“What is this Ten?” the recording shuts off and he turns his back to those looking down at him, looking instead at the place Delia should soon be appearing from.

‘The last thing we heard before she separated us.’

Seeing Delia appear leaning heavily upon her stick for support, “Did she succeed?” he asks quietly.

‘Records say Yes’

“I see…” Releasing his clenched fists. When we get back to Zag’s room, we’re going to have a long talk. He forces himself to relax and pushes this particular subject aside.

“Identify yourself to them,” he tells Delia as she approaches, “They may react better if you speak first.” He turns back and looks up at the wall.

“Alpha Unit Zero-One, Sergeant Delia,” she shouts and shifts her head slightly to her left, indicating the Zulu, “Accompanied by Unit Zulu, Requesting Entry.”

Seeing a few of them move off, “The entry point is inaccessible,” Zulu says to Delia, “When they throw down a rope, I will carry you.”

Still leaning on her stick, “…Okay,” she looks down, evidently not happy but also not willing to cause trouble.

‘You don’t need the rope’

Lifting his left arm and shifting his view to his arm guard, “True.” He says out loud and concentrates.

A Cloud of silvery metal sand gathers around his left hand, It’ll be easier with the rope though, he sees Delia’s looking at him through the side of her eyes. “What?”

Shaking her head, “Nothing,” she looks away.

Flicking his hand, the cloud of metal returns immediately to his arm, “It’s one of my many tools.” He says guessing at what she was wondering about.

‘She’s scared’

“Scared?” he repeats questioning it.

“I am not.” Delia answers immediately turning back to him.

Looking deeply into her eyes, “I wasn’t talking to you,” he comments with a slight smile, disappointed that it was true.

Shifting her view away, “Then who were you talking to?!” she asks agitated.

“Delia?!” a feminine shouts comes from on top of the wall, drawing both Zulu and Delia’s attention to it.

Name: Staci

Rank: Major

Date of Birth: 09/12/XXXX

Station: Eastern Base

Aeternus

“Staci!” Delia shouts back

Throwing down a long piece of rope, “Come on up!”

Taking a hold of the rope with his left hand Zulu grabs Delia around her waists and feels some small resistance from her, before she herself hooks her right arm around his neck, making it seem as if they are both happily embracing one another.

Concentrating again, the metallic sand wraps around his left hand and attaches itself to the rope, climbing it and as it climbs it pulls him with Delia up.

‘Enjoying your situation?’

Ignoring Ten they soon reach the top of the Eighty metre like castle wall and Delia pushes herself off Zulu with a little force, to be embraced immediately by Staci.

“I can’t believe you’re alive!” she exclaims before breaking the embrace and holding her at her shoulders, “You’re injured?” seeing Delia favouring her right leg.

“She is,” Zulu breaks their reunion, not giving Delia a chance to speak, “How is the situation Major?”

Drawing her attention, “Get her to the med bay,” she states as two soldiers move and leads Delia away, “You’re the Zulu?” she replies with a questioning gaze, looking up and down at him, examining him, “You’re younger than I thought you’ll be.”

Looking squarely into her eyes “But I am older than I seem,” he replies with hidden annoyance, “What is the situation Major?” he repeats

The ground shakes but no one stumbles and no one falls.

“It’s all clear Ma’am.” A soldier says as it soon stops.

Nodding “I am not relieving control of my base to you…” She says and looks for a name or rank upon Zulu’s uniform but fails to find any, finding there instead to be no insignia of any sort upon his clothing. “…We’re pushing these monsters back out.”

“You may call me Zulu” he tells her looking now to those that gathered around

“You expect me to call you by your unit name?”

‘Half of them are frightened’

‘Those that saw you’

‘The Major is wary of you’

“I do Major,” taking what Ten says in, “Some of your men are frightened,” he points out, “Where is the General?” Looking down back to her

“Dead.” she answers without hesitation.

“The Colonel then?”

“Dead as well.” She answers again without hesitation.

“Then you hold the highest rank I assume,” Folding his arms he frowns, “There is no point in confusing the command tree and your men seem to not want to follow my orders,” he sighs, “I will act as a third party here.” he concludes

“You will not do as I order?” she questions looking up at him.

“You have no right to order me Major Staci.” Those that are skittish adjust their weapons, “Treat me like a high ranking mercenary.”

“High Ranking mercenary?”

‘There is no such thing anymore’

Sighing at being told that, “I will aid you if I agree with what you suggest, If not I will watch and do nothing. I will take no command of your men and I will advise you if I see a gap in your plans.”

A breath of relief fills half of those surrounding him. “So a ranking officer that’s outside of the command tree?”

“Yes, a ranking officer outside the command tree.” Looking away from her and at the smoke rising within the base, “So what is the situation Major?”

“I’ll debrief you at Command Central.” Staci answers turning around and heading towards the steps, “Get back to your stations!” she shouts at those watching them.

Following closely neither of them speak, moving quickly they pass through streets whose box shaped buildings seem perfectly fine then to some with signs of wreckage, until they find a building, near the front line, windows destroyed and roof collapsed.

“No!” a man shouts as Staci and Zulu enter this particular building, “We can’t afford to do that, if we move anymore men we will lose it!”

“I am ordering you Sergeant!”

“What’s going on here Piers?” Staci asks as she and Zulu walk up to a large command table with holographic images displaying real time position of all at base, surrounded by over ten other people.

“Major!” the two of them stand up straight, along with everyone else in the room.

“At ease,” she waves her left mechanical arm that begins at her elbow to get everyone back to work, “What’s the problem?”

“You’re sergeant here is refusing orders!” he points his finger across the table towards him.

“Mat?” Staci looks towards Matthew.

“His orders make no sense!”

Rubbing her forehead with her left mechanical hand, “This is why you need to get off the front lines and become an officer Mat.” Looking towards Piers, “What was your orders Piers?”

“To gather half of the men looking covering the immobile worm and use them to push forward!”

Looking at the table with holographic figures displaying real time movements, Zulu ignores the conversation occurring right in front of him, choosing instead to study the current situation and in turn spots an unusual large amount of enemy troops in the south west quadrat of the base, away from the fighting.

‘They’re retreating’

“They’ve been retreating ever since we first encountered them.” He says to Ten out loud and immediately realises that he’s gained the attention of all at the table.

“That’s why we should push forward now!” Piers states then squints, “Who’s this?” he asks annoyed at seeing an individual who held no rank at the table, even though what Zulu said helped his cause “Some fresh recruit?”

Name: Piers

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Date of Birth: 20/02/XXXX

Station: Eastern Base

Mermanus

“Zulu…” Matthew answers lowering his head slightly towards Zulu.

“Zulu?!” Piers repeats surprised and suddenly cautious

“What do you mean?” Staci asks ignoring Piers sudden change in attitude.

Reaching to his head gear Zulu extracts some wires from it, drawing the alarmed attention of all those at the table. Staci waves her left hand again, indicating them to stand down and Zulu brings his wires to the holographic table, letting them attach itself to it, making them dig their way into the circuity of the table and merge with them.

The holographic 3d image changes from that of the base to that of the land just west of the base. Showing his own predicted location of the enemy before the bombardment, “If you see here, before the failed bombardment you will notice that the slugs are systematically stationed 100 metres away from each other.”

Changing the display again, “Now right after the bombardment you can see that those that are still alive have not moved.”

Shifting it again to after he killed one squad of bats, tri-legs and six-arms, “And as soon as I engaged them they all started moving, some heading here as a group, which I’ve dealt with, but many of them simply disappearing altogether.”

“What does this have to do with anything at base?!” Piers butts in but is ignored by all at the table.

With the aid of Ten, the images change again to just before the wide base announcement. “Now we see that the front line is being pushed in on all sides, the safety line is slowly losing ground,” changing the display again to now, “and now after the announcement they’ve been pushing outwards.”

Taking his wires out of the table and putting them back to his head gear, “They are retreating, not because of us, but because they choose to…This was never an invasion”

Looking up at those at the table, he finds that no one disagrees with him.

“So my orders are valid!” Piers says after a few seconds of silent contemplation about the situation, “and he” pointing at Matthew “Is disobeying them.”

“Your orders Lieutenant are stupid and completely wasteful of resources.” Zulu reprimands him with a stern voice, “there is no need to push out with additional troops, move slowly instead of rushing and you will get your base back.”

After a second of pure shock from being told flat out he was wrong, “You said it yourself!” Piers shouts forgetting about the caution he once had, “They are retreating! It is the best time to destroy these monsters, to pay them back for what they’ve done. They are running”

“The enemy is giving you the base back.” Zulu emphasis with a calm but strong voice, “Do not make them change their minds.”

“Yes,” Staci says nodding, “Forcefully moving out will not be a good idea, they are giving our base back at a decent speed.”

“Is that your orders Ma’am?” Piers interrupts her, “Or has the Zulu taken command of this base against your wishes?”

“Second Lieutenant Piers,” Staci states with extremely firmness, “I order you to walk away from this table.”

Going silent, Piers opens and closes his mouth then stands up straight and salutes, “Yes Ma’am” he states with immense anger before walking away favouring his real foot over his fake one.

“Ma’am?” another officer speaks up.

Name: Ormonde

Rank: Warrant Officer Class 1

Date of Birth: 28/02/XXXX

Station: Eastern Base

Deviare

“What is it Ormonde?” Staci asks.

“What about the soldiers out of the safety line,” nodding at Zulu, “If what he says is true would it not be best to send some men ahead to save them?”

“Yes,” she replies, “As I was saying before Second Lieutenant Piers interrupted me, we will not commit to a full offensive,” she tilts her head slightly towards Zulu, “it would be stupid to make them change their minds,” looking down at the table, “we will instead not push forward, keeping our current front line. We will send out multiple units to get in contact and escort soldier behind enemy lines back here.”

Looking up she sees everyone nodding, “Will you help us?” she asks Zulu.

Staring down at the table as everyone looks at him, “No,” he replies, “I will not.”

“I see,” Staci nods, “Then we thank you for your advice and ask you to wait outside.”

‘Did she just ask you to leave?’

“Did you just ask me to leave Major?” Zulu asks raising an eyebrow.

“That I did Zulu” she answers.

Looking down at the table he smiles, “If you want to find me,” he points to the south west quadrat of the base where a large number of monsters were gathered, “I’ll be there.”

Looking to where he points, “Why?” She asks him.

“Are you not curious as to why there is a large gathering in that location?” he looks up and finds that everyone is looking away from him.

‘They know why’

“Why are they there?” he asks them and finds that no one is willing to answers.

‘None of them are proud about it’

Turning around he walks out of the building, “Ten do you know?”

‘Sorry…there are no digital records’

“Then I guess we’ll go find out.” He scratches his neck

“Hey!” Matthew walks out of the building

Looking back, “What is it Sergeant?” he faces him

Throwing one of the two weapons he holds, “You’ll need help.”

“Thanks,” he catches the weapon and cocks it, “Do you know what’s there?”

“I do,” looking down and pumping his shotgun, “But if you want to know, you best see it yourself.” Looking back at him, “I refuse to speak of it.”

A/N

Just wanted to point out in case you all missed it. Staci was first seen in Chapter 25 - Matthew :P

Also wanted to remind you, Zulu is older (A LOT OLDER) than he looks, no matter what you say, ones looks always plays a large factor in how one is treated. And so in turn He does know how to deal with it in a civil manner ~

Thanks for reading all, though this may have been a slightly boring chapter (less eventful than others, i think) Hope you all enjoyed it and thank you for reading.

@Elohim,

It may be a while before your questions on the Human-monsters stuff are answered...as in a long long time (So sorry)