IMPALA (Farside Saga: Book One)
Chapter Eight: Farside (Part One)

"Captain, I have identified the marker. Enemy is spotted and I am initiating suppressing fire. Good luck!!" the pilot said over the captain's earpiece as he circled his small aerial craft around.

There were seven small red square markers along his radar emerging from the building ahead moving towards the captain and his ground crew. He telepathically switched the weapons to the P.I.R. missiles (plasmic incinerator rounds). Seven of the twenty missiles loaded into the launch tube and locked on to each enemy ground vehicle. Mentally given the order, the green pulsating missiles shot out in a spread, each causing the small red squares to disappear off the pilot's radar. He shifted his right joystick and angled his craft to aim at the now closed cargo door that the vehicles came from. Mentally switching to the plasma cannons, he fired at the door, blasting it away in a green ball of flame that traveled up the outer wall, killing the three soldiers that had just aimed over the edge of the wall to shoot at him before dissipating.

"Now that's what I call a killshot!! Thanks for the assist...and good luck!! " the captain said, watching the whole thing take place.

The pilot bid his gratitude, then flew off to help the other ground troops.

"Alright soldiers....move out!!" the captain shouted to his men as they gathered about and headed to the now destroyed door.

The first wave of enemies were easily dispatched as the eight soldiers entered. They split in two, leap frogging down the wide corrider, with their plasma riffles ready as they moved to the massive door in front of them. The corridor itself had black soft pulsating walls with yellow glowing small rectangular lights in random spots along the walls and ceiling that pulsated with the wall's movement giving it the appearance of a breathing organism. The door looked like a giant greyish metal heart valve that pulsated along with the walls as one of the soldiers dropped to his knee and mentally adjusted his helmet's vision.

"Pelik...what can you tell me?" the captain asked as the rest of the group lowered themselves, carefully scanning the area.

"3 transport rovers, 12 fighters, looks like 30 ground tanks annnd 20 aerial flankers......" Pelik said as he scanned through the door. Suddenly, he stood up against the wall.

"Guard contingency, coming this way...e.t.a. 13 trillets." he said.

"Camo!!" the captain ordered.

The soldiers all stood against the walls and mentally adjusted their suits as each of them disappeared, blending in with the pulsating walls, the last one out of sight just as the door slowly opened with an almost crumbling plastic-like sound. The soldiers moved in unnoticed, as the last of the guards stepped through just before the door closed.

"I don't like this..." one of the other soldiers said quietly as they stealthily moved towards the transport vehicles and huddled in the shadowy corner. "...this is way too easy." She continued.

"Easy?..." another soldier said, almost a little too loudly as he looked at the first. "...we just lost over half our squad, no communication with anybody, homebase got blown up soon as we landed so we have no back up, no evac site...shit, we dont even have a skip to take us to the site. So explain to me what part about this was easy....Vira." he continued a little more softly, saying the name with as much venom as possible.

"Look, Tharen...." Vira started, spitting the venom back at him.

"...Your not gonna keep holding a grudge against me because of base camp. You started this mess. Anyway, think about the way they attacked us. Yes they hit us hard but look at the patterns. They hit us in small waves...granted they packed a helluva punch, but they made us bring out the big gun and they still took us down. Now they could've completely wiped us out...but they didn't. It's like they just stopped fighting and started running. Now i know fleet is on it's way but i don't think that's what they're running from. In fact, i don't think they're running FROM anything. It's almost like they're running TO something, and THAT'S what has me worried. Captain..." she continued as she now faced the captain.

"....the soldiers outside weren't trying to run out, they were going in. That's why contingency came. I cant say for certain, but I can almost sense something isn't right about this." Vira finished as the captain and the rest thought about her words.

"We better get that codex!!" the captain said as he stood and stealthily moved past the transport vehicles toward the lift on the other end of the wall, the rest following suit.

They all entered the large lift and started decloaking after closing and sealing the outer doors. Another soldier pushed a couple buttons on the arm of his suit and a holoscreen appeared showing a 3D map of the building. A blinking red square followed by a green line that ran horizontal, then turned a 90 degree angle straight up to 8 green blinking circles. A series of characters scrolled across the bottom of the image before the soldier lowered his arm, shutting off the screen.

"According to scout intel, the server room is 200 beks below...27 tribeks to the left." the soldier said.

"Ok, lets go..." the captain said as he reached over and pressed the sub-level button on the lift's panel.

"Something about this still isn't riiiight!!" Vira sang as she looked around the lift slightly nervous.

They all checked their gear then readied their weapons as the inner doors closed and the lift decended down to the bottom of the long shaft.

".....bort......pinned d......some type of......well....ing......" crackled the captain's earpiece.

"Say again control op...you're breaking up. I repeat, say again control op...did not receive..." the captain spoke.

"Least now we know coms back up!!" Tharen said sarcastically.

"Repeat...abort mission....enemy forces pinned down but there's some type of gravity well forming...wait...it appears....there's something coming through....no...no...it cant be....everyone, pull ba...."

Just then the lift was rocked hard then started descending rapidly.

"Shields" the captain yelled as they slowly became airborne.

Each of their suit's armored plating shifted and relocated to expand their 4 and a half feet slim frames into a six foot egg shaped cacoon that was slammed to the ground when the lift's emergency breaks kicked in, bringing the lift down to a not so soft landing. Each of the 8 cacoons reconfigured back into a soldier as they slowly stood up shaking off the soreness from the crash.

"What in the great creator was that?" Nori asked almost hysterically as the captain walked around checking on everyone and their gear.

"Control op...come in..." the captain spoke into his earpiece once he was done. "Come in control op..."

Silence.

"Any body receiving this, please respond. I repeat, if anybody's receiving this, please respond."

Still nothing.

The captain looked at his men of Ground Squad Three as they all looked at each other. Gathering his nerves, he ordered his men to get ready and nodded his head for Pelik to open the door. The captain, Nori, and two other soldiers stood against the opposite wall with their K-39 plasma riffles aimed at the door. Tharen, Pelik, Vira, and the last soldier stood to the sides of the door with shockwave discs in their hands ready to toss, each one activating their cloak. Pelik punched the button on the panel and the inner doors opened in protest. The ones with guns leveled their tracking sights to their visor's targeting sensors, while the ones with shockwave discs thumbed the activation button, tense, readying the toss. The outer doors began to open...

...and all hell broke loose.

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