by J. A. Scorch
After some thought, he could only think of a few words to say. "I'm not going to take credit for this mission. We all did our part toward its success. All I will say is this: raise your bottles to the ones who never made it back. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten."
The mixed crowd of technicians, mechanics, and officers all raised their bottles as one while a silence washed over the group.
Porter stepped down from his X90S and took a swig of his drink and approached Garcia. A smile covered her face.
"We did it," she said. "The Zeal carrier is toast along with her fighters."
Porter shook his head. "Hard to believe, isn't it? How did Rivera go in the end? I know Fellows didn't make it through."
"She died detonating her bomb. The damn thing jammed and wouldn't release. She destroyed the second Cyclone along with most of her team. Fellows' pilots got overrun in a matter of minutes trying to cover him."
Porter's arm dropped a little after hearing Garcia's rough report. His mission, one with significant losses, was the most successful of the day, but the job was not complete.
"What about the third ship?"
Garcia stepped over to Porter and pulled him aside. "We need to talk about that, right now."
Chapter Forty-Nine
The Zeal blade wrapped around Teve's neck began to cut into his skin. He could feel blood seeping out and over the sharp metal before it dripped to the floor below.
"I'm waiting," X said. "Show me the soldier within." He released the razor from Teve's throat and shoved him to the ground.
Teve heaved in a breath as he saw the blade retract back into X's skin. "That soldier is dead. You're just going to have to kill me."
A grimace formed on what little part of X's mouth was visible. "Your death is not up to me, T. It is up to you. I can drag a knife across your weak throat and end your life, but your next actions will be the cause."
Teve stood and stepped closer to the blade-covered hybrid. "Then do it, already."
A swift foot shot out at Teve's chest from X and sent him sailing back and down to the ground with a thud.
"You do not give orders to me. Only the Orb may command us."
The attack from X removed some of the Zeal control from Teve's mind, enough for him to remember where and who he was. "If I can't give you orders, then you can't give me orders. I'm going." He stood on shaky legs and limped toward the sewer exit.
X rushed past Teve and slapped him across the face with a sharp hand, slicing his cheek in several places at once. "Do you really think it would be that simple? I am not another cog in the machine; I am the machine. I am the first human-Zeal hybrid. I am the future of this planet."
On his hands and knees, Teve continued to move toward freedom. "You must forgive me, your Majesty, but I've got to go back home before it gets too dark out. I'd hate to disappoint the general."
X grabbed him by the back of his armor and lifted him up off the ground without effort. He dragged him out to the center of the open room toward the Orb as he waved the object back up from below.
"If you won't listen to me, then a weak death shall be your end." Every step Teve got forced toward the Orb seemed twice as painful as the last. A pressure squeezed his temples in at the side as his vision began to fade with white-hot, searing agony.
"Stop, please."
X halted his movement and tilted Teve's head back to study his eyes. "Why? Because this hurts? Because you are ready to admit your species is nothing but a parasite burrowed into a floating rock?"
"Yes. We are," Teve said. Every breath out of his mouth as painful as the last.
X leaned in closer until their foreheads touched. Teve felt something cut his head.
"You're lying. Another weakness of humanity." He marched him on, closing the gap to the Orb. They reached the same point previously used to display the Orb's power and continued past it.
"You see how much stronger you are than them, yet, here we are, throwing away a perfect opportunity." X stopped with only a few steps left.
Teve could no longer breathe, think, or fight back. Death was on top of him, closing off his airways with a boot across his throat.
"Goodbye, T. I hope you understand how meaningless your life truly is."
X pulled him back, ready to shove him across the last gap and into oblivion when something broke within the Zeal base. The Orb blanked out and shut down in an instant as if someone had just cut its power.
Falling to the ground, X shrieked out in agony, clutching the side of his head as he wailed.
Teve felt something lash out and strike his entire body, but he regained his ability to breathe and sensed a change within the base as if its energy and draw had been silenced temporarily. He stumbled back from a downed X and the Orb and found several Stiltz on the floor, twitching. "What the hell?"
He moved forward at a crawling pace and noticed the barrel of a UEF rifle come around the corner. Confused, Teve fell backward on his butt and clawed away from the human soldier until he realized Mish was standing over him, pulling him up.
"We have to go, right now," she said, dragging him up and along.
X continued to scream in the distance, his voice streaming through multiple layers.
"How did you—"
"I'll explain once we're out of here. Time to go, Sarge." Mish dragged him on through the sewers, never once stopping to look back. They made it all the way along the distance of the network, passing by several downed Stiltz and drones. Gunfire raged across the city above as the pair escaped up and out of the sewers a few hours later to a waiting Humvee. Harris sat behind the wheel.
"I thought you left?" Teve asked.
"I decided to come back for you, Sarge. Now get in here before I change my mind about reporting you."
Teve climbed into the back and rested his head flat on the hard bench seat. Moreno ducked down from the mounted gun. "Good to have you back in one piece, Sarge."
"Good to be back," Teve said. He sat up a little as Mish jumped in and started to pat down his bleeding face with some material from her medkit.
"How did you do it? How did you shut down the base?"
Mish's brow twisted. "I didn't. The whole building switched off or something for a moment. It was like someone cut the power and flicked it back on. I had nothing else to work with, so I ran in and got you before they all woke up again."
"Why did you come back for me? I was wrong about everything. You should have let me die."
"Couldn't do it. Just didn't seem right to leave you there in that place. Something pulled me toward you. I guess I can't explain why."
"I think I understand better than you'll ever know."
Mish gave him a smile out of the corner of her mouth. "Try and get some rest, Teve. We'll be home soon." She stroked his face gently until something startled her.
"What?" he asked. "Is it the blood?"
"No," she muttered. "Your eyes. They're purple."
Chapter Fifty
Garcia stepped past the celebrating crew with Porter moving swiftly behind her.
"What it is, Commodore? If you don't mind, I'd really like to catch up with my pilots. We just survived the worst sortie in the history of the war."
"Right this way," she said gesturing for him to step inside her private control room.
"Okay, but if you plan on telling me to head back out and hit the third ship, I might take a swing at you."
She stared at him for a moment and let out a sigh.
"Wait. Was I right?"
"Yes and no. I just received word from the top. Command doesn't want the last Cyclone to be destroyed. They want us to capture it."
"Capture it? Are they insane? We lost 160 pilots taking out the first two using stealth ships. How the hell are we supposed to seize a fully loaded Zeal carrier? We don't even know how many armed personnel they carry."
"It's not ideal. In fact, this idea is downright stupid, but Command holds a few good reasons."
Porter fell against the nearest
console, leaning back on the desk without looking. "I suppose you're going to tell me."
"That's why we're here. Take a seat." Garcia guided him to a chair by her side. She proceeded to show him data packages received by a few Stalkers she had assigned to send a message down to Earth should the mission fail and go on to the next stage. During that time, the MAF agents managed to make contact back, reporting a time of fifteen minutes when the Zeal bases spread across the globe all shut down at once. The temporary lapse allowed the UEF a small window to attack the Zeal and make significant gains of various degrees across the planet. Destroying the ships had apparently disabled the Zeal network for a time.
"So why does Command want the ship captured? Surely its destruction could be coordinated with an Earth-wide assault to take them out once and for all."
"You would think so, but Command believes capturing the remaining Cyclone intact would far outweigh the immediate collapse of the Zeal fleet. They want to learn everything about the aliens and understand their technology."
"Jesus Christ. Isn't it enough to wipe them out? Are you telling me the MAF would rather claim the alien tech and come out of this thing well and truly on top?"
"It's one possibility."
Porter stood tall and paced around. "So, when will we be taking on this last ship?"
"As soon as we're resupplied and a plan has been formulated. Sorry Lieutenant. There will be little rest between ops."
"I don't know what to say. I'm running on fumes, and you're telling me this."
"Don't say anything. Simple as that. Now go. Celebrate and rest while you can. Tomorrow we continue the fight."
Porter shook his head and went to leave but thought of one more thing to say. "You can't possibly be okay with this. I know you were tough on this last mission, and I think I understand that now, looking back. But this is something else."
Garcia cleared her throat and got out of her seat to take a few paces toward him. She placed an arm on his shoulder and said, "It doesn't matter what we think, Porter. The war is moving into the next stage of its life, with or without us. We can either get on board or die holding on to our values. Take some time. See your friends. I will find you tomorrow once the dust settles." She slapped him on the back and turned away.
Porter left the room feeling as if he had survived the biggest mission of his life only to find out it was the beginning of something far bigger. He moved down the steps of the control room and shuffled toward the deck where a makeshift party had begun. He found Briggs and Cannon, and some of his cadets. They celebrated into the night, drinking up as many ciders as the ship had in its stores until the last of them went to bed.
Later, he went to sleep in his bed with both arms wrapped around Cannon as his mind drifted to the future. In less than three hours, he would be up to face the next line of problems the war would throw at him.
For now, all he needed was to have Nicole by his side.
Chapter Fifty-One
Teve couldn't remember passing out in the Humvee. When he woke up, he found himself laying on a foldout bed in a closed-off brick room he had never seen before in Phoenix.
"Hello?" he said in a cracked voice as he sat up. "Mish? Are you there?" A slow sweep around the room revealed little more than a basic setup of the bare essentials. Apart from the canvas bed, his eyes found a toilet with a built-in sink, a single mirror made from metal, and a lone window with bars on it.
"Where the hell is everyone?" he asked the quiet room. It wasn't until he stood from the bed that he noticed a thick glass door embedded in the far wall.
A pain stabbed into his mind as he remembered the beating X had given him earlier. Curious to see the damage, he lifted his shirt and realized he was wearing a hospital gown instead of UEF fatigues and armor. His inspection revealed no bruising or cuts across his chest. "Huh?" he muttered, wondering how he could have no marks from such an attack.
The slashes across his face came to mind also as he remembered the next part of the violence he had encountered. The deep scratches would shed some light on his current situation, so he moved over toward the mirror.
His stared at his clean face reflected back from a piece of metal fixed to the wall, finding no slices, as if his face had been spared of scars. All he discovered out of the ordinary was a purple tinge, noticeable around the outer rim of his eyes.
"I don't understand," he whispered.
"It's a lot to take in, isn't it?" a male voice said from beyond the room.
Teve spun around and tried to find the source of the interruption but found only plain, empty walls.
"Up here," said the voice. "Got eyes and ears on you via the camera."
He looked to the front of the room and discovered the small round bulb hidden in the corner. A security camera with a two-way audio feed stared straight at him.
"Why am I here? And where's my fire team?"
"Your questions will be answered in time. First, we need to talk."
"Talk?" he said. "All I do is talk. No, I want to know where the hell I am and what I'm doing here."
A silence came back to his request allowing enough time to pass for the man on the other side of the wall to consider the request. Teve imagined all kinds of crazy answers as he waited.
"Very well. You are in a secure UEF building formerly known as the Black Forest Correctional Facility."
"So, you're military? Why did you take me away from Phoenix? I'm not even injured."
"Your injuries were the least of our concern, Sergeant. And I think it is quite obvious as to why you have been sent to this isolated environment."
Teve let out a huff of air as he remembered Mish's reaction in the Humvee. "My eyes?"
"That among other things. Your team had no choice but to report you to our unit."
"Unit? What is this place?"
The man on the speaker cleared his throat. "You have been infected by the Zeal, Sergeant. We cannot allow a compromised UEF soldier to flood our thin ranks with an unknown pathogen from an alien army. You have been isolated to safeguard our people against any possible spread of the Zeal virus you are carrying."
Moving up to the camera, Teve asked the only question on his mind. "What about my team? Where are they?"
A red light blinked on an endless loop, mocking him with silence.
"Answer me, dammit. Where are they?"
A screen lowered from the ceiling behind the camera to reveal three other rooms identical to his own. Harris, Moreno, and Mish could be seen in each chamber, standing around or sitting on a single bed identical to his own.
"Your fire team came into direct contact with you. We had no choice but to isolate them as well."
The screen rose again and disappeared into the ceiling it came from as Teve stepped up to the door. He placed a hand on the acrylic glass surface and could see movement in the distance. People in biohazard suits scurried around a chaotic, windowless lab in a blaze of activity. A man without a suit was marched past Teve's room toward an open operating room and fixed to a reinforced bed with large straps. Four suited-up people held him down and pinned him in place before a curtain was drawn across the view.
"What the hell are they doing to him?" Teve slammed his fist against the glass and felt his energy repelled back. "Tell me."
The voice crackled over. "He is being processed for Zeal pathogens."
"What happens if they find some?"
"A strict set of protocols will be implemented to prevent further spread of the virus."
Teve didn't need the man to say any more for him to work out what that meant. The person in the operating room was a dead man. "So, how long before you storm in here and 'process' me? Cause I can tell you now, I'm not going down without a fight."
"That won't be necessary, Sergeant. According to our initial findings, you are one of the few infected soldiers we come across capable of harnessing the true potential of the Zeal virus. In simple terms, you are impervious to its typical, deteriorating effects. Instead of your system slow
ly shutting down, you now possess the capability to reverse the flow of destruction and allow the virus to rapidly heal your body."
"What are you saying?" Teve asked as he paced backward from the glass. "I can heal from injuries quicker?"
"Not just quicker. Your body also learns from those injuries and compensates to prevent further damage. Frankly, Sergeant, you have the capability to transform into something beyond human. Something this army needs."
Both of Teve's hands landed on the back of his head. "This is nuts. You're lying to me. You're—"
Before he could get another word out, a man stepped around the corner into view. "This is anything but crazy," the man said, revealing himself as the voice coming through the speaker. "My name is Doctor Hoang."
Teve stumbled back from the door and slipped to the floor. He found himself scurrying along until he grabbed at the barred window, trying to find a way out. When he discovered how thick the bars and glass were, he slid down to the ground, defeated.
"Why is this happening?" he asked himself, thinking about how he escaped the Zeal base, X, and a transformation from human to Zeal, just to become a prisoner to his own kind.
"Calm down, Teve," Hoang said.
"Calm down? Two seconds ago, I was inside the Zeal base ready for death. Then ... " He trailed off, unsure what really happened to save his life.
"Interesting, isn't it? There you were, in the middle of one of the most dangerous places in the world, yet you escaped."
"It was Mish. She saved me."
Hoang waved his index finger left and right. "I'm afraid not. She merely retrieved you. No, I'm afraid the circumstances of your escape are quite remarkable."
Teve shook his head. "Stop talking in riddles."
"Who said anything about a puzzle? The whole thing is quite simple, Teve. You were about to join the rest of the captured humans inside the Zeal base when an attack on the alien fleet by Mars destroyed two of their ships. You have no doubt seen how connected this species is, no?"
