“What the hell is happening down there?” LT Hawkins asked as the three soldiers pulled Ortiz’s body through the gate.

“No time to explain sir,” Jack said turning back to the gate, “We need to get everyone off world asap.”

“That may be a problem.” He replied, “The only person to manage getting the gate back up and running is Alexander. There is simply too much interference down there for us to grab a good signal.”

“And I was only able to do it because Monroe extended my range enough to get up here.” Warren replied.

“Even then it was tough.” Thea added, “Monroe is suffering pretty hard from the creature.”

“What creature?” Hawkins asked.

“I’ll cover it in the after action,” Jack said, “For now, us three need to get back on that planet. Since ours is the only team that can extract, we need to help get the others out.”

“Good luck soldier.” Hawkins replied.

“Thanks.” Jack answered, stepping through the gate and back into the warzone.

“Guys, we have a problem.” Jack sent to the entire company after dissolving his connection with the Washington and re-establishing the communication network. “Possessors up top can’t get a lock on any of our locations. Luckily, Private Alexander was able to ride one of my threads to the ship and send a gate to our exact position.”

“And? What about the package?” One of the sergeants said, the sound of gunfire almost drowning out his speech.

“We have the package and it’s been delivered back to the ship.” Jack replied, “Next on the agends is getting us all in one spot so that Alexander and I can open the gate back up.”

“The centermost position is ours,” The leader of Nebula squad replied, “We can continue to hold the enemy back, but we need you guys to get here.”

“Moving.” Sergeant Sanchez with Nebula squad said, showing just how little of a foothold they really had.

“Give us a few minutes.” Sergeant Scott added, “Blackrock has one more charge to place before we can start heading that way.”

“That’s a no-go Sergeant,” Jack replied, “If I’m risking Turaspier to get you out of here, you better be there the moment we arrive.”

“Haha, you hear that Scott!” Sanchez laughed, “Now your decisions are so bad even Privates tell you what to do.”

“Whatever,” Scott answered, “When this is over you and I are having a talk Monroe.”

In response to her empty threat, Jack silenced his end of the connection while simultainiously uploading a new Light map to the company database. He understood Scotts desire to destroy the entire power grid, but it simply wasn’t necessary to the mission anymore. Now that the package was back on the ship, escape became the primary objective.

Closing his tired, throbbing eyes and taking a deep breath, he pulled his rifle from his back and motioned for his squad to form up on the door. They had been privy to the entire conversation and knew where the were going and why. It may not have been any of their first choice, but one look into their eyes would give away just how determined they were to protect their fellow soldiers.

With a word, he had Bob upload a lit path to each of their HUD’s that would bring them the local motorpool. According to Alec, both the Dragoon and Possessor abilities would work on alien technology, Jack only hoped that his friend was right.

“Go!” Jack commanded.

In response, Nessa threw a charged concussion disk through Dave’s shield and into the hallway that was now crowded with enemy combatants. Sounds of confusion were quickly followed by a shockwave that rattled Jack to his bones.

The frontline soldiers charged through the shield and into the area beyond. At the end of the hallway stunned Oteric chittered in a language that was untranslatable by human AI, but even without understanding the words, fear was universal. These creatures had just witnessed a god obliterate a pod of thirty soldiers, leaving nothing but mist and body parts in its wake.

Nessa fired a pair of incendiary rounds into the backs of two enemy soldiers at the end of the hall that had just chosen to run instead of fight. The move turned her stomach, but if there was a single Oteric that was not aware of their presence on the base, she would like to keep it that way.

“Neilson, Morningwood, watch my back. I’m going to take point.” Nessa said, following the provided pathway.

“Fuck that,” Dave said, sprinting to stand beside her with his sword drawn, “You are NOT going ahead without some real protection at your side.”

“Cool story guys, but now that it has been settled, we need to move” Jack said, jogging to catch up with the pack after helping Warren prepare a special gift for their enemies.

Knowing that time was of the essence, Turaspier Squad tore through the facility with little care for what was destroyed in the process. After nearly twenty minutes of fighting to the surface levels, the group found the motorpool and quickly boarded the nearest machine.

The vehicle was long and squat with tracks instead of wheels. More than anything, it looked like a segmented tank from the old human wars, except that it was not loaded with weaponry at all. It unfortunately offered almost no protection due to the open air design, but with concentration, Dave could protect them from overhead attacks until they reached the rondeveous zone.

“Oh cool!” Alec said, grabbing on to the side and hopping in. An orange glow enveloped his body and within seconds, he delivered on his promise of being able to operate the machine.

“Turns out Dragoons are for more than shootin’.” Dave said, taking a middle seat and extending his dome of protection.

“Yeah, we can drink really well too.” Alec replied.

“Not the time to make jokes, we just lost a brother.” Jack scolded, “I’m the last one. We need to get moving, I’ll plot the course as we go.”

Without another word, the vehicle lurched into motion. Without removing his hands from the console, Alec accessed his shoulder mounted missle launcher and created an opening in the doorway that would’nt have otherwise existed. Satisfied with the work, he pushed the machine to its full speed and away from the facility.

Before they could even make it a mile away, another shockwave washed over the group for the second time in a matter of minutes. However, unlike its predecessor, this one packed enough punch to rattle the ground beneath their feet even considering how far away they were.

“What the hell was that?” Candice asked, armored fingers gripping the vehicles walls hard enough to dent the metal underneath.

“That,” Warren started, “Is payback for Ortiz. Because of that… that… thing, our brother lost his body.”

“Don’t you mean life?” She clarified, drawing questioning stares from nearly all members of the squad.

“No, I mean body. I was able to connect with his AI in the last minutes and upload his mind to the Re:Birth program.” He explained, “I can’t promise when, or even if, but he will be rebuilt when the AHF see’s fit.”

“So Roberts was right?” Jack said in shock. It wasn’t often that any of them referenced the overly irritable Drill Sergeant, but it seemed needed in this instance.

When they eachfirst joined the AHF, they were given an ultimatum: Either allow the AHF to do whatever it takes to keep you mission capable for the length of your contract, or refuse and stay on Earth. It was implied that the military could keep a soldier alive for a long period of time, but none of them ever considered that would include transferrance of consciousness to another body on the off chance that theirs was damaged beyond repair.

The silence was palpable. Not only did they just discover that their friend may one day walk beside them again, but they also just how far the AHF would go to prevent the permanent loss of a single soldier.

“It’s not perfect, but it is becoming more accepted with time. I think most people recognize that being Steel Cast is not the curse that it was when the Unranked’s built the first model for Hargrave.” Warren defended.

“They’re still creepy.” Alec muttered before speaking up, “Cecile, its time to earn your keep girl. The lizards are being rude and closed the gate on us, be a doll and open it for us?”

“Talk to me like that again and I promise you can experience what it’s like to have steel balls long before the rest of you.” She replied sweetly, materializing a dagger and pressing the flat of the blade of his thigh.

Smiling at her intemedation, she stood and pulled her rifle from her back holster. As the long barrel formed, she kneeled down and planted her tripod on the vehicles dash. Pulling on the crimson power coursing through her body, she pushed that heat into the weapons chamber.

“Fifty percent power.”

“Not going to be enough.” Nessa answered, touching the weapon and funneling her own power as well.

“Eighty and rising,” Cecile replied, “Forming explosive one-fifty-five milimeter round equivalent.” The round wouldn’t be that large, of course, but training with Spier squad had taught her that explaining how Light could be compressed to a point where a single shot carried that much power was tireing. “Shell formed, ninty-five percent power achieved. Any more and this will loose stability. Firing bunker buster in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.”

A small bead of crimson light that vastly betrayed the shots magnitudet, flew out of her weapon with unerring accuracy. Although they were still nearly a quarter mile from the gate, the crimson flash as the Light exploded nearly blinded every being unlucky enough to be staring at it. Luckily, the human soldiers’ facemask darkened when at the presence of extremely high levels of energy.

The Oteric didn’t have that luxury.

Massive metal gates that once stood firm at the only entrance into the complex were reduced to piles of cooling slag. Nearly two feet of solid steel was destroyed in a moment, dozens of guards that were posted at various intervals could be seen holding their eyes from the pain of having their retina’s burned out.

Pushing the vehicle to it’s limit, Alec raced through the gate. Beyond, hordes of enemy Oteric were swarming a group of human soldiers, and dying for their efforts. Orange light flared as the Dragoon pulled more out of the machine, slamming it into the crowd of attackers, effectively carving a path to the glowing blue dome of protection at it’s center. Extending the bubble, Dave merged his power with the protective shroud to create an opening for his team into the center.

“Sergeant Rose, status report.” Jack commanded, knowing the he was overstepping but simply not caring in that moment.

“Nice to see you Private.” He replied, “We are fighting an army of barbarians, how they have the advanced tech to build a better star drive, I’ll never know.”

“We do, but we don’t have time for that. Where are Sanchez and Scott?”

“You know?” He asked incredulously, “This I have to hear. Striker is defending the north side of the dome. Not going to lie, their assistance was much needed, my Aegis’s cant hold out for much longer.”

“And Blackrock?”

“We are here Private, hold your damn horses.” Sergeant Scotts voice said over the comm channel. “How did you push through the barrier?”

“We drove a truck through it, but I’m not sure how well that will work for your situation.” Jack answered, following the thread of Light to their squad and watching them become slowly surrounded by enemies. “Can you push to us?”

“It’ll be slow, but we can manage.” She said.

“Great. Sergeant Rose, Sergeant Sanchez, we need to push the dome fourty yards that way so that we can meet up with Sergeant Scott.” He answered, knowing that the only way to safely leave this planet was as an entire unit.

“Ten-four.” Sanchez replied, “By the way, ‘general’ Monroe, who died and made you tactician.”

“I gave myself the role. Afterall, who else was willing to stand up to save you?” Jack shot back, “Now shut up and do what I told you. Alexander and I need to work on opening the Gate.”

Without another word, Jack silenced that channel on his radio and searched for the man that would be their salvation. As expected, the possessor was sitting in the center of the dome with his legs crossed, controlling no fewer than five drones that had peeled away from his armor n one way or another.

“What, no Warrior yet?”

“Those are for emergancies.” He replied without opening his eyes, “Since we have an out, this is most desinately not an emergency.”

“Fine, but you need to set them all to auto and help me get us home.” Jack replied, rolling his eyes. “I’m sending out a thread to the Washington.”

As before, establishing a connection with the ship was more difficult than it should’ve been by far. Unfortunately, pulling Light out of a creature that was so obviously not designed for that cost Jack more than he was willing to admit. But, just like last time, he was able to eventually establish that a connection between Warren and the orbiting vessel. A flash of indigo passed through his thread as his friend possessed the main server again. Ever so slowly, Jack watched as the power slowly traveled through the network and into the gate room.

Back in reality, the dome had started to slowly glide toward Blackrock Squad as they abandoned the current fortification in order to retrieve the final group of human soldiers. The truly dangerous part about this enemy was not their weapons – they seemed to only fight hand to hand – but rather their numbers.

As it moved, Dragoons and Binders kept pace with the barrier, blasting any and all enemy combatants that were not actively retreating. For the first time in his life, Jack experienced true carnage. He’d been told that the creatures they would face were fearsome, evil even. Today, he learned just how false that was.

Humans were the aggressors here, the Oteric were simply trying to defend their homes. He understood that due to his actions, many children would grow up as Orphans for no other reason than having access to technology Mankind wanted. As much as he didn’t want to accept it, Ortiz would still be alive if it wasn’t for the greed of Man.

“You and I have to talk, Private.” Sergeant Scott said, marching up to Jack once they had been enveloped by the dome. “I told you that I had a mission and you THREATENED me for trying to complete it!”

“Yes, and I said we will talk about it later.” Jack replied coldly, pushing her finger away from his chest, “Right now we have a job to do, and it doesn’t involve hurting more of these people than absolutely necessary.”

“Fuck you.” She replied. Motioning to her squads Possessor she said, “Specialist, blow the bombs that we were able to place before bleeding heart here decided to pull us out.”

Jack undertood that he was a lower rank than this woman, but that didn’t matter. He understood that fighting against her would result in consequences that were a mystery to him, but he didn’t care. In that moment, he knew that there had been enough bloodshed for one day.

“Warren, I need you to split your focus.” Jack said quickly.

“No need, the gate is opening.” Having heard the entire confrontation, the Possessor understood what was being asked without the words being said.

Satisfied that the Gate was locked on to their location, Jack dropped that connection and sent a thread of Light in the direction Blackrock had come from. Luckily, he was able to follow the thin indigo thread representing their Possessors connection to his equipment.

As before, Warren’s mind and power was dragged with him through the distance to find the various bombs. When their minds arrived at the first, the other Possessor’s presence was already there, readying the trigger. Like a hammer falling on an anvil, the two soldiers blasted their fellow human’s mind with enough force to sever his bond with the weapons. Opening his eyes, the Blackrock Possessor looked horrified at their combined power. So much so that he flatly refused to attempt sending his mind back to those weapons for any reson.

“The gate is open Sergeant,” Jack said harshly, “I suggest you march your homicidal ass through before Spier ‘forgets’ that your still down here.”

All soldiers in the company heard the threat, and those who could turned to stare at the bold Private slackjawed. How could a soldier with this little experience speak with such conviction?

“Striker is through the gate.” Warren said, breaking the spell of horrified admiration. “Nebula, your up.”

As the soldiers of Nebula Squad stepped through the gate, the protective dome shrinked significantly. Now, only Dave and the single Aegis from Blackrock held the barbarians at bay.

“Speir, were up.” Warren said, grabbing Jack by the arm and pulling him toward the gate. “If Scott can’t make her decision, she and her team can just stay here.”

“Fuck this.” A Breaker from the rebellious squad said, holstering his weapon and following Spier.

“Sergeant, get back here. I’m not done with this yet.” Scott said with a sneer.

“Yes, you are.” Captain Griffin said over the comms. “Richardson, please puck up your Staff Sergeant and deliver her to the Gate Room on the Washington.”

Without another word, the Blackrock soldier grabbed his squad-leader by the waist and heisted her onto his shoulder. The act seemed to spur the rest of the squad to action as they fell back through the surface of the portal.

Giving the battleground one last look, Jack seared the image into his mind. Vowing never to forget what happened here, and to refuse any order that would put him in the situation a second time. He hoped that he would never again allow his squad to be placed in a situation like this one.

They would rise.

Turning back to the shattered surface of the Gate, he and the remainder of Speir Squad stepped through, leaving the research facility a burning husk of its former glory.