2288: The Skotadian Experiment Read online

  “Copy that. And the light-rail?”

  “We’re going to have to send some robotic repair drones to fix it,” Sanchez responded. No one liked the sound of that.

  “Won’t that alert Skotadi that we are here?” Nakada asked her.

  “Yes. But we have no other choice. Look, do you realize how long it will take to get the rest of our team across?”

  “I see your point,” Nakada responded.

  “Blue Team, I want you to set up a defensive position here. Green Team needs their beauty sleep,” Sanchez ordered them.

  “Do they need any make-up, ma’am?” Kaminski asked her in a joking manner. Sanchez didn’t say anything. She only smiled.

  When Green Team woke up, they headed north along the road. They eventually found a road that went to the northeast and then on to the coast. It headed to a small abandoned town. The town had no more than twenty homes. After they completed the search of the town, they realized that it was abandoned about five years ago due to financial hardships. They decided to stay there for the night.

  During the night, they heard a sound that stopped their hearts and sent a chill down their spines—a Skotadian troop deployment helicopter. The helicopter came and landed in the center of town. They saw only one motorcycle leave the helicopter, and the rider was a Dragon Clone. The Dragon Clone, who was still under the command of Blackburn, immediately left and headed in the direction of Blue Team. The two pilots stayed behind and waited outside the helicopter.

  “Caparzo, get out your pistol and put a silencer on it. I want you to cover the pilot on the left. Venito, I want you to do the same, but cover the pilot on the right. Wait for my signal and then drop them,” Nakada said quietly.

  “Copy that,” Both Caparzo and Venito said together.

  Both of them then went outside. They got into position, and Nakada made the sound of a bird. Both pilots turned and looked in the direction of Nakada with their pistols drawn. Caparzo and Venito shot both pilots in the head and then turned back.

  “Can any of you pilot that helicopter?” Nakada asked his team.

  Nobody said anything because nobody could. They then quickly headed back to Blue Team. Nakada had them running for three miles (4.8 kilometers), resting, and then repeating. Nevertheless, they were quite exhausted when they returned.

  It was midnight when the Dragon Clone got to Blue Team’s position. Without them knowing it, he first surveyed their position. In an effort to get their attention, he shot Van Hoven in the left shin. She went down crying out in pain.

  “What happened!?” Sanchez asked.

  “Someone shot me!” Van Hoven cried out.

  “We got hostiles out there!” Sanchez yelled out.

  Everyone then switched to their night vision and waited patiently for the hostile to make the next move. They then heard a motorcycle come at them at very high speeds. The motorcycle passed them, traveling over 100 mph (160 kph). But to their dismay the motorcycle was using stealth technology, making it almost invisible to night vision equipment.

  When the Dragon Clone passed them, he shot at Kaminski, getting out four shots. One shot hit him in the right arm, but it was nothing more than a flesh wound. The other three missed Kaminski. Everyone who could, shot blindly at the Dragon Clone.

  They then heard the motorcycle come from the south, once again at high speeds. The Dragon Clone went up some steps nearby, causing the bike to fly. He jumped off. The bike came at Nguyen, who quickly jumped out of the way. While the Dragon Clone was in the air, he shot at Nguyen and hit him four times. Although wounded, Nguyen turned and shot blindly at the Dragon Clone. He stopped when he realized nobody was there.

  “I’m hit!” Nguyen cried out.

  “How badly!?” Sanchez called out.

  “I can make it!”

  “That’s not what I asked!”

  “Nothing too serious!”

  “How about now!” The Dragon Clone said before he shot Nguyen in the left shoulder. Everyone started to shoot blindly in the direction of the Dragon Clone. But he was long gone.

  “Cease fire!” Sanchez yelled out. “Cease fire damn it!” she yelled out again after a few of them kept on shooting.

  Nobody was dumb enough to go and look for any hostiles in the darkness. They all knew that they were in the best tactical position. What’s more, he didn’t have his bike anymore. But what troubled them the most was the sound of its voice. It sounded like it was a cyborg. But the motorcycle could not jump as high as it did if the rider was a cyborg.

  “What the hell are we dealing with here?” Coté asked.

  “We’ll know as soon as we kill it,” Martinez responded.

  “Flash-bang!” Van Hoven screamed out fifteen seconds later.

  Both Van Hoven and Hoffneisten were temporarily blinded by the flash-bang. Hoffneisten was shooting back and forth into the night. Two shots then came out of the darkness and hit both Van Hoven and Hoffneisten in their helmets. They were fine, but their helmets were now useless[13]. Both of them took off their helmets.

  “That damn motherfucker is toying with us!” Sanders yelled out.

  “I think he’s trying to get us to waste our ammo! That damn asshole!” Coté yelled out.

  “Nobody shoot until you see him!” Sanchez ordered them.

  Thirty seconds later, two more shots came out of the darkness and hit Sanchez and Sanders in their helmets, rendering their helmets useless. Neither one of them returned fire.

  “Nguyen!” Sanchez cried out.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “I want you to . . .” Sanchez was saying. Nguyen saw a shot came out from one of the windows and hit Sanchez on the left side of her lower back.

  “Ma’am, are you alright!?” Nguyen asked.

  “Never mind about me. Tell Green Team to get down here now.”

  Five seconds after Nguyen complied, a shot caught him in the helmet, rendering it useless.

  “That fucking asshole!” Nguyen yelled before he took off his helmet.

  “Nguyen, tell me you sent the message,” Sanchez asked him.

  “They got it ma’am.”

  “Ma’am, we’ve got to flush that son-of-a-bitch out!” Kaminski yelled.

  “Not with Nguyen wounded!” Sanchez responded.

  “We’re setting ducks ma’am! And that ain’t fair!” Hoffneisten yelled.

  “Ma’am, let me go out there!” Sanders yelled.

  “He’s changing his position constantly! You go out there and you’re a dead man!” Sanchez yelled.

  “I am a messenger from the Hammer of Doom! Lay down your arms if you want to fight me hand-to-hand! Or you will die . . . slowly!” the Dragon Clone yelled out to them after two minutes. Nobody said anything for several moments. It was the words "Hammer of Doom” that silenced them.

  “What shall it be!?” the Dragon Clone yelled out.

  “Alright tough boy! Let’s see what you got!” Sanders yelled out.

  They then saw the Dragon Clone come out from between two buildings. Sanders tried to shoot him, but the Dragon Clone was quicker on the trigger. He shot Sanders in the throat with a handgun. When he did, he immediately jumped through a window while everyone was shooting at him.

  “Sanders is down!” Van Hoven yelled out.

  Everyone except for Nguyen ran to Sanders. They tried their best to save him, but they couldn’t. Kaminski stood up, screamed at the Dragon Clone, and shot at where he was when they first saw him. Sanchez and Martinez stood up to stop Kaminski from shooting.

  “Save it!” Sanchez yelled at Kaminski.

  “He shouldn’t have pulled a gun on me! No matter! Like I said, we can go at it hand-to-hand, or each one of you can die like your friend!” the Dragon Clone yelled out.

  “Alright you son-of-a-bitch! Bring it on! It’s time to finish this!” Sanchez yelled out.

  Everyone except for Nguyen started to disarm themselves. They took out the magazine clip, threw it away, and then dropped the rifle. They walked twenty feet from
their weapons and waited. The Dragon Clone came out with his rifle pointed at Nguyen, who was also pointing his rifle at the Dragon Clone. The Dragon Clone walked up to Nguyen, still pointing his rifle at him. He stopped when he was standing in front of Nguyen. Nguyen wanted to pull the trigger, but he knew he wasn’t fast enough.

  “Take your weapon and throw the clip away, and I will do the same,” the Dragon Clone said to Nguyen.

  Within a span of three seconds, the Dragon Clone then threw his rifle in the air, took out his handgun, pointed it at Nguyen, holstered it, and then caught his rifle.

  “Get the point? Don’t make me have to tell you twice. Disarm the weapon and throw away the clip, and I will do the same,” the Dragon Clone said.

  Both of them disarmed their rifle and threw the magazine clip away. The Dragon Clone then, in a split second, pulled out his handgun and pointed it at Nguyen.

  “Now give me your side arm,” the Dragon Clone said.

  Nguyen, without taking his eyes off of the Dragon Clone, very carefully took out his handgun and gave it to him. The Dragon Clone then threw both his and Nguyen’s handguns far away.

  “Stay there, or die,” the Dragon Clone said to Nguyen.

  The Dragon Clone then walked over to the other six members of Blue Team. His massive six-foot-ten (208.28 centimeters) frame towered over them.

  “There is only one rule . . . fight to the death,” The Dragon Clone told them.

  Luckily for each member of Task Force ZH-3C, their training in hand-to-hand combat was far superior to that of the Marines on Galactic Prime. The fight, which lasted for more than an hour, ended when the Dragon Clone was about to use his sonic shock wave and Martinez punched him in the throat.

  When Martinez punched the Dragon Clone in his throat, the Dragon Clone stepped back with both of his hands raised. Blood started to come out of his nose, ears, and the corners of his eyes. Both his hands and his head started to shake violently, and then his head exploded.

  All six of them were too tired and exhausted from fighting the Dragon Clone. Toward the end of the fight, they started to feel the effects of exhaustion. The Dragon Clone was the only one who hadn’t been exhausted. He could have kept on going for far longer than them. Both Sanchez and Kaminski collapsed from physical exhaustion when it was all over. All of them then went to Nguyen, sat down beside him, and waited patiently for Green Team to return. Both Sanchez and Kaminski fell asleep.

  Nobody said anything when Green Team returned. They let them figure out what had happened to them. They were just too tired to do much talking. Nakada had Brewster and Anderson bury Sanders’ body. When Sanchez woke up, Nakada told her what they found. Sanchez had Nakada take over, and she went back to sleep.

  “Ma’am, there is a Skotadian troop deployment helicopter up there, but none of us could pilot it,” Nakada informed Sanchez after she woke up.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that before I went back to sleep?”

  “I’m sorry ma’am. It slipped my mind. Ma’am, can anybody in your team pilot that helicopter?” Nakada asked Sanchez.

  “Yes, I can.”

  Sanchez then left on the motorcycle and headed to the helicopter. Blue and Green Team started to talk about the meaning of a three-word phrase that the Dragon Clone had used.

  “Sir, you wouldn’t by any chance know if the Hammer of Doom has returned, would you? We heard that that . . . thing mention it,” Kaminski asked Nakada.

  “How did he use it in a sentence?” Nakada asked. The fear in him started to rise.

  “He mentioned that he was a messenger from the Hammer of Doom, sir.”

  “No fucking way! You mean they’re here!?” Brewster asked.

  “I guess,” Coté responded.

  “What the fuck you mean, you guess!?” Venito asked.

  “I mean that thing indirectly implied that they are here,” Coté responded.

  “There’s no way we can take them on! Remember Valkyrie!? Lenkov wasn’t a Fleet Captain then!” Choy said.

  “Holy shit man! We’re all going to die here!” Kim said. He was getting hysterical.

  “You don’t know that.” Nakada said. He was trying to stop them from panicking.

  “You weren’t here sir! So you don’t know what we went through just trying to kill that damn ugly fucking thing!” Nguyen said.

  “Let’s just wait for Sanchez to return! She’ll know what to do!” Nakada said.

  “Yeah right sir! The only reason why we killed that damn thing was out of dumb luck! It started to make some type of noise, Martinez punched it in the throat, and then its head exploded!” Coté said.

  “Well then, let just wait until Sanchez get back,” Nakada said.

  “What good is she going to do us sir!?” Hoffneisten said.

  “I don’t know! But let’s just wait for her anyway!” replied Nakada.

  “Has anybody ever defeated either Lenkov and/or Omori?” Caparzo asked.

  “No,” Martinez responded.

  “Oh god man! We don’t stand a chance! How are we expected to survive!?” Van Hoven said.

  “Don’t forget that Colonel McIntyre is here,” Nakada said.

  “Yeah, and they all got killed!” Nguyen responded.

  “Man we came here for nothing!” Coté responded.

  “Look, someone had to survive in order for us to get that Intel,” Nakada said.

  “Maybe that’s part of the Hammer of Doom’s plan sir!” Anderson said.

  “What for? Look, let’s just wait for Sanchez to get here and see what she has to say. And that’s an order!” Nakada said. He was starting to act like an officer.

  “But sir . . .” Coté responded.

  “And I said that’s an order!” Nakada snapped back.

  As time went on, each member of both Blue and Green Team had time to think about their situation. The very fact that they lost someone, the Hammer of Doom, not being able to contact Galactic Prime. They thought about it all, and they had no idea what to do. They hoped that either Vaistll and/or one of the other officers would know what to do. When Sanchez got back, she was in no mood for their pettiness.

  “Ma’am, we need to talk,” Martinez said to Sanchez.

  “What about?”

  “Ma’am, Joseph Lenkov and Sayaka Omori are here,” Martinez mentioned.

  “What? Where?”

  “Ma’am?” Martinez said.

  “Where did they land at?” Sanchez asked him.

  “I don’t know ma’am.”

  “Then why are you bothering me with this?”

  “You heard what that thing said ma’am,” Martinez said.

  “Refresh my memory.”

  “He mentioned that he was a messenger from the Hammer of Doom.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I already know that. But what’s your point?”

  “Ma’am. Ah . . . they’re here,” Martinez said. He was starting to get confused by her forgetfulness.

  “I heard you once. Where are they?” Sanchez asked him.

  “We don’t know.”

  “So you guys have no idea if both of them are here on vacation or if that thing was just messing with our heads? Is that it?”

  “Ma’am, I um . . .”

  “Is that it?” Sanchez said in a demanding tone of voice.

  “We don’t know ma’am.”

  “That’s right. You don’t know. None of you do. All of you need to get your act together and that’s an order. Blue Team, get on board. Green Team, get down to the terminal and wait for either me or Task Force ZH-3C to return. And don’t forget to send in those repair robots or it will take forever for us to get across,” Sanchez ordered them.

  Sanchez was being what Hayes and Nakada weren’t—an officer. She didn’t let their fears get the better of them, nor her own. She knew that in all likelihood, both Lenkov and Omori were out there somewhere, but she wouldn’t show any fear. Fear was a contagion that must be controlled. She was not interested in being their friend; as was the case with both Hay
es and Nakada. She was trying to be a good officer despite her faults. She forced them to internalize their fears so that they could be controlled through successes. Which is what a good officer is supposed to do.

  When Sanchez left, she headed westward to see where those tracks would lead to. She did not like what she saw—a medium-sized city. From the looks of it, the city looked big enough for a quarter of a million people. The city was at a natural harbor. Seeing enough, Sanchez headed back to the rest of Task Force ZH-3C to let them know what happened and what they found.

  (3)

  “Ma’am, it’s me. Look for my signal to the south-by-northwest,” Sanchez said when she got near the location of where the rest of Task Force ZH-3C was. When Sanchez landed, she immediately left to talk to Vaistll, Taylor, and Ramirez in private. She did not want either Red or White Team to overhear their conversation concerning the Hammer of Doom.

  “Where’s Green Team?” Taylor asked.

  “We couldn’t take them so I had to leave them sir. And sir, Sanders is dead,” Sanchez said.

  “How did it happen?” Ramirez asked.

  Sanchez, with sadness in her eyes and voice, said, “We encountered some type of a monster. It moved like a cyborg and was strong as such. But it wasn’t a cyborg.”

  “Then what was it?” Ramirez asked.

  “It was very tall, its skin was grayish, and it’s face . . .”

  “What about its face?” Vaistll asked.

  “It brought to mind a cross between a dragon and a wolf.”

  “Anything else about it?” Taylor asked.

  “It talked like a cyborg. Sir, we fought that damn thing in hand-to-hand combat for more than an hour and we still couldn’t take it down.”

  “Then how did you guys kill it?” Ramirez asked.

  “It made some type of noise and then Martinez punched it in its throat, and then its head exploded.”

  “Where was Green Team?” Vaistll asked.

  “I sent them out to explore the surrounding area in case you wanted to move the base camp over there. They discovered a small abandoned town. They said that it looked like it had been abandoned for five years at the least. While they were there, that Skotadian Troop Deployment helicopter landed. That thing then left in a motorcycle and headed to our location. The helicopter was not carrying anybody else other than the two pilots.”