2288: The Skotadian Experiment Read online

“I say we keep moving!” Sanchez yelled out.

  “Looks like she just wants to hurry up and get there and make her husband sleep on the couch,” Wexler blurted it out. It caused everyone (minus Hayes) to laugh out loud.

  “Red Team, get to the building . . . now!” Lieutenant Hayes shouted out. He did this so that he didn’t have to hear Sanchez scream at them. Everyone then took off running to the building just so that they didn’t have to hear her scream at them.

  No one could explain it, but the building had heavy weaponry in it. As they got closer to their base camp, it was becoming obvious to them that the Skotadian forces were bogged down because of the assistance of the so-called Marine support. Red Team was able to catch the Skotadian forces off guard and eliminate the tank and each one of the APCs. As Colonel Blackburn was being led away, Martinez shot him dead. He ran out to collect his prize—Blackburn’s name tag and insignia.

  “This is Galactic Prime. I think that you will be able to find Colonel McIntyre at the following location. Be advised that the hostiles are a new form of clones called PNS, which is short for Prototype: Night Stalkers. Consider them extremely dangerous. Over and out. And good luck,” the supposed Marine informed them.

  “Ramirez, what do you make that?” Taylor asked him. It just didn’t seem like something that would come from a Marine.

  “She sounded more like a typical Skotadian than a Marine,” Ramirez responded.

  “Ma’am . . . regardless, they help us,” Sanchez mentioned to Vaistll.

  “I concur. Without their help, a lot more of our teammates would have been lost today,” Lieutenant Hayes mentioned.

  “Agreed,” Ramirez added.

  “We are at the mercy of whoever is up there. And they told us where Colonel McIntyre is. So let’s go rescue him and his team,” Vaistll mentioned.

  “So who should we send?” Taylor asked.

  “Caparzo!” Sanchez demanded. Hayes nodded his head and was trying to get them to agree. Since nobody wanted to deal with her, they basically agreed.

  “Nakada! Front and center!” Ramirez barked at him.

  “Reporting as ordered sir!” Nakada responded when he got there.

  “Including Caparzo, pick two more of your teammates. We found Colonel McIntyre and we need someone to go and pick him up.”

  “Yes sir. I pick Brewster and Venito.”

  “And Takashi, make certain that they understand that the hostiles are some new type of Skotadian monster.”

  “I’ll guarantee that they’ll understand sir.”

  As Caparzo was leaving on his mission, he looked at Sanchez, stuck his tongue out, and made a motion to suggest that he would lick her. He did that because he knew that it would infuriate her, which it did. Yes the two of them got on each other’s nerves, but they also got on their teammates’ nerves. But whereas Caparzo would have no problems on being sent on his mission, knowing full well that Sanchez was the reason for it, his actions toward her would cause her to be fuming for quite some time. Much to the dismay of the team as a whole. For they knew that she wanted to yell at someone.

  (6)

  Caparzo, Brewster, and Venito picked up a Marine beacon while nearing the city center of Bordeaux. Realizing that it must be either Colonel McIntyre or one of his forces, they hurried over to greet them. Once there, they saw three Marines wounded (but not critical), eight Space Core members, and four Skotadian forces. This deeply surprised them, but they said nothing.

  “You know, it’s a good thing that I saw the three of you. You almost walked into a trap,” First Lieutenant “Eagle Eye” Dawson, Skotadian, informed the three of them.

  “Dawson?” Venito said when she noticed his name tag.

  “Yeah. No relation to Captain Marcus J.B. Dawson. But you can call me Eagle Eye. We need to leave now since it’s almost dark,” he responded.

  Each of them left and quickly headed to a skyscraper that was well defended. Most of the defenders were wounded to some degree or another. On the lower levels there were robotic sentry guns. Two of them were damaged and two more were out of ammo. In the mid-levels there were booby traps. This was the spot where most of the defenders were wounded. The upper levels of the skyscraper were their base. At some point in time before Caparzo, Brewster, and Venito got to this base, they were told there was thirty-five Skotadian forces providing assistance.

  “Sir what’s going on here?” Venito asked McIntyre.

  “In a moment. What do you got Eagle Eye?” McIntyre asked him.

  “The Fiends overran our pilots while they were refueling the helicopters. No survivors. I was able to eliminate the attacking Fiends.”

  “Understood. Dismissed. What are your names?” McIntyre asked his quests.

  “Crewman First Class Caparzo, sir.”

  “Crewwoman First Class Van Hoven, sir.”

  “Crewman Brewster, sir.”

  “And the name of your team?” McIntyre asked.

  “Task Force ZH-3C,” Venito responded.

  “Who’s the captain?” McIntyre asked.

  “The Wol’ga’con Vaistll Adnrwal,” Venito responded.

  “Who brought you here?” McIntyre asked.

  “Captain Mad Dawg Burton, sir,” Venito responded.

  “Can I see the report from Project 21 on your team?” McIntyre asked.

  “Here you go sir. Sir, would you like to see our progress report upon this world?” Caparzo responded.

  “Sure, let me see it,” McIntyre responded.

  “Before we leave, you must understand that we have to defeat what we call the Fiends. Most of them have already been eliminated, but the rest are believed to be preparing a final assault upon our position. This is what we were trying to provoke them into doing from the get-go,” McIntyre informed them after he quickly read through the reports.

  “Sir, just precisely what are the Fiends?” Venito asked.

  “A failed genetic experiment. It was an attempt to create some hybrid of all the ETs that Skotadi have encountered. Is that all?”

  “Yes sir,” Venito responded.

  “We can leave after they attack and not before.”

  “We understand,” Venito responded.

  “Dismissed.”

  It was late evening when the Fiends finally attacked and talked about doing the unexpected. It caught everyone off guard. A nearby skyscraper fell and struck the high-rise that they were in. Minus the guests, everyone knew that they were smart, but no one realized that the Fiends could have pulled that off. Five minutes after the building was struck, shooting could be heard on the twenty-second floor. Unfortunately this was the area with the most critically wounded. Once help arrived, they discovered eighteen dead: twelve Space Core, two Special Forces, three Marines, and one Skotadian.

  “All of our wounded are dead!” The Space Core member mentioned over the radio.

  “Come with me! We most close that access point!” The Skotadian lieutenant ordered the group that was with her.

  “We’ll provide cover fire!” The Marine staff sergeant mentioned.

  It was a hard fight to get over to the skyscraper, and then it became a hornet’s nest of blood and sacrifice. Yes, the access point was closed off with explosives, but all who went over never returned. Twenty-two more dead: nine Space Core, eight Marines and five Skotadian. It was at that point that the Fiends tried to overwhelm all positions.

  The largest group of Fiends came at the most strongly held position—the lobby. Wave after wave came at the defenders. It took slightly more than three hours to finish off this wave of Fiends. But when it was over, there were thirty-three more dead: twenty Space Core, three Special Forces, four Marines, and six Skotadian. The rest were seriously wounded and could not hold out against another type of assault.

  In the parking garage, the Fiends spent so much time trying to get through the security door that all of them were eliminated without any losses or wounded on the defender’s part. But with the loss of that door, it made it very unlikely that would
be the case the next time around. When that assault was over, it was announced over the radio that the last two sentry guns were destroyed.

  “You three, cover me!” Eagle Eye ordered the three guests. He then picked up a chair to shatter the nearby window, knowing what would come next.

  “Holy shit!” Caparzo yelled out when he saw the debris coming out of the skyscraper. The Fiends piled a lot of heavy items on that side of the building. Most of the debris caused no damage while some only shattered the high-rise windows.

  It was almost as if though the Fiends had it in for Eagle Eye. They were determined to kill him. They would throw things down at him, jump down at him, whatever they could think of. Some of them would come close to landing in the room. Four actually did, but they were too badly injured, and they were quickly gunned down. And then the Fiends came up with a new tactic—coming after Caparzo, Venito, and Brewster. It was only a matter of time before it happened.

  Learning from their mistakes, the Fiends finally were able to figure out a way to get more of their people inside the room were Eagle Eye was at. Once that happened, it was left up to Venito to finish them off, since the Fiends made every effort to land as close as they could to either her or Caparzo and/or Brewster.

  “I need help!” Venito cried out over the radio. Five Skotadian forces then came in to provide her with assistance. Both Caparzo and Brewster couldn’t do so because there were too many Fiends coming at them.

  As time went on, more and more Fiends were landing in the room. Enough came in as to force both Caparzo and then Brewster to deal with them. Eagle Eye kept on sniping as many of them as he could, each shot a kill shot. When it was over, Venito and three more Skotadian had lost their lives.

  The last wave of Fiends came up from the subway access point. They came so hard that it told everyone that this was truly it. Kill them all and all Fiends would finally be no more. With the sensors alerting everyone to the presence of the enemy, all nearby forces came to finish off the threat. This was the only time that the Fiends ever came from this access point. Although the barriers slowed down the advance of the Fiends, both the size of the force and their speed made it a mute advantage. The defenders were pushed all the way back to the cafeteria before they could make a stand. Unfortunately all the defenders were killed before any help could arrive. Total losses fifteen: six Space Core, five Special Forces, two Marines, and two Skotadian.

  It was north of three o’clock in the morning when it was all over. It would take another four hours to confirm that that was the last remaining group of Fiends. From various locations throughout the high-rise, an additional six Space Core personnel lost their lives. Of those who remained it was: fifty-six Space Core, eight Special Forces, thirty-three Marines, and eighteen Skotadian. In all, ninety-eight defenders, including Venito, lost their lives.

  “Not another one,” Brewster said when he look at Venito’s lifeless body.

  “I’m just grateful that it’s over,” Caparzo responded.

  “Our mission here is finally done. Now it’s time to leave. Take all of us to your team,” McIntyre informed both Caparzo and Brewster.

  (7)

  “Ma’am . . . it’s us. We found McIntyre and ma’am . . . we lost Venito,” Caparzo said through the radio when they were close enough to send the message.

  “Understood,” Vaistll responded.

  Task Force ZH-3C just couldn’t help but to remain suspicious as to why those Skotadian were still with McIntyre forces. None of the Skotadians appeared to have any desire to betray their people. So what were they doing with McIntyre? Not only that—they also stayed close to the rest of McIntyre’s forces. It was as if though all of them were waiting for something. But what could it be?

  “Mad Dawg will be quite pleased to see you,” Vaistll said with a smile.

  “I’m certain that he will. You do realize captain, that in all likelihood, the Hammer of Doom has returned, don’t you?” McIntyre responded.

  “Why yes of course. But Project 21 has already taken that into account.” She responded. She was not certain of were he was going with this. Project 21 tactic for her team was simple: once the ship returned, keep a low profile, find out what they were doing there, and then to continue on with their mission once the ship leaves. Nobody would ever entertain the notion that the ship would stay for an extended length of time.

  “And the thought that the ship was here before Galactic Prime arrived?”

  “That’s absurd. They would have been detected.”

  “Not if they were hiding in a blind spot.”

  “Now why would they do that?”

  “Because what’s in Ishtar’s atmosphere may be directed at them.”

  “Now why would Skotadi do that?!”

  “Not Skotadi, but Dark Core.”

  “Oh really. No offense sir, but I think that you have been spending too much time with those Skotadians.”

  “I looked at the report on your team and you have no true experience in dealing with Skotadi. If you did then you would know that Dark Core has been behaving in a very strange way recently.”

  “Why?”

  “Good question—no one knows.”

  “What are you hinting at sir?”

  “The Hammer of Doom is in full control of the TIA starbase, and any attempt to usurp their authority would fail quite miserably. If it wasn’t for their help, chances are that me and my team would have been slaughtered by the Fiends. We have no other choice but to surrender to them.”

  “And if we don’t?”

  “Then chances are that you and your team won’t make it off this world alive. And if you think that Commodore Parker will send help, don’t. He betrayed your people and he mistakenly let out the Hive. No ships will come other than Skotadian ones.”

  “What!? Why would he betray Project 21!?”

  ”Because he is an idiot and a gambler[16].”

  “I’m no idiot. I just don’t want any of my people the end up in the Skotadian DEAD. You know there are those rumors about why it is called that.”

  “It sounds like you are either going by conspiracy theories or Hollywood.”

  “And if I’m not!?”

  “Look, the deal with Lenkov and Omori was that if you serve their interests and create the illusion that you are also serving Skotadi’s interests, they will let you go. Just ask the rebels on Valkyrie. Furthermore, if you refuse, you will have to then deal with the Skotadian DEAD. And that is if, and that is a huge if, your team survives whatever clone army that Dark Core wants to test here.”

  “Oh god. Alright then,” Vaistll responded with a heavy sigh. Within the hour she, along with her team, was on board the Hammer of Doom.

  The Sounds of Their Screams

  (1)

  “Hey Alexander—” Omori called out to him as he was leaving the Conference Room. The debriefing on his new assignment had just concluded. She then handed him a SIN that obviously belonged to someone. If there was no binary, then it would indicate that it was new and belong to no one. “Deck 23 Science Lab A. Your SIN has been updated for clearance.”

  Ramirez hated being on a Skotadian ship, and he hated the feeling of “serving” them yet again. But he knew that he had no other choice. Anything that he did or said was being monitored by the ship’s AI, all in an effort to create a profile of him. There was no privacy, not even in the bathroom. And with the ship now being connected to the TIA starbase, surly his record would have been accessed by the psychological AI. It was in his head, in his mind, and it knew all of his weaknesses. It knows . . . He then tried his best to put those thoughts out of his head before they started to affect his behavior.

  “Alexander?” Maria Sadowayj said out loud when she saw him coming into the Science Lab. What sort of joke is this? He thought to himself.

  “And you are?” He responded, still in disbelief over the notion that it was her.

  “Don’t you recognize my voice?” she asked him. He didn’t respond. “So what did Omori give you
?”

  “Nothing. Why do you ask?” He just couldn’t let himself believe that it was no trick.

  “She gave you my original SIN, didn’t she?”

  “No. I don’t know.”

  “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you love me anymore? In case you haven’t noticed, this is a clone storage area.”

  “Whoever you are . . . here,” Ramirez responded. He gave her the SIN that Omori gave him and then left.

  “I still love you. Please don’t do this to me,” Maria said to him as he was walking down the hallway.

  (2)

  “Eagle Eye? What are you doing here? I thought that you would be heading down to Fort Conti,” McIntyre asked him. After the wounded were taken care of, they were taken to Fort Conti to wait out the rest of the conflict that would surly arise. Once it was all over, McIntyre and his forces would be turned over to Mad Dawg, and they could leave without incident. Lenkov was not the only Skotadian commander who was like that, but such individuals were few and hard to find. If it wasn’t for Dark Core, there probably would be many more of these individuals.

  “You like football sir? And I mean the American type,” Eagle Eye asked him.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well I’m a Skotadian and we like to keep the ball moving down the field and never give up yards,” Eagle Eye responded with pride.

  “You a beer drinker?”

  “Sure.”

  “Come on over here and drink with me,” McIntyre responded with a smile. The two of them then started to reminisce about their life in their military. Although both of them were enemies, they had such profound respect for one another that it never got in the way of them reminiscing about their life.

  The two of them, along with all other Skotadians and some of the Dragon Clones, were collecting all weapons and ammo for their mission. There was a long debate over whether or not this mission should be given to Task Force ZH-3C or not. Lenkov, Omori, and Captain Maxwell thought that it should. But McIntyre won out. He stated that since the report on the team put them at the bottom of the list, that basically implied that they were a loser team. And since this particular mission would create insight into what is in Ishtar’s atmosphere, it should not be turned over to amateurs. The argument became very heated at that point until Lenkov jumped in and ruled in McIntyre’s favor. Lenkov was at that age where he was more interested in quiet than who was right or wrong. Vaistll, Taylor, Ramirez, Sanchez, and Hayes left with a grudge upon their shoulders. Their pride was injured, and they had something to prove.