Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  The Hashmedai psionic stopped for a moment. It refused to enter the hallways and ended up performing its attacks from the lobby, hurling fireball after fireball at them. It was puzzling to Chris at first. The psionic had the advantage now they were on the run. Why stop?

  The mind shield, that’s it, he thought.

  There was a reason the psionic and the others outside hadn’t teleported deeper inside the black site. They couldn’t. The dampening field created by the mind shield would have blocked out all psionic activities conjured by a Hashmedai mind. Its powers were useless in the halls, only the lobby wasn’t protected by the shield.

  “Hold here!” Chris shouted. “The mind shield, it must be out of alignment.”

  Michei winced. “It covers here but not the lobby?” Two large white balls fire plummeted into the halls, destroying one of the elevators in the process as it hit. “He can still shoot at us though.”

  Chris opened up a channel to Aura and her team, that air support was needed now more than ever. “Gladius this is EDF lead, what is your ETA?”

  “ETA is one-minute EDF,” transmitted Aura. “We see the complex now.”

  “Got a psionic holding us up at the front entrance,” Chris said. “Blow it to hell.”

  “Copy that, you guys better stay clear.”

  Chris ran back to see what remained of the elevator. There wasn’t much, just flames and melted metal. He looked up inside the elevator’s shaft and saw the only means of escape the emergency ladders inside. Additional Hashmedai from the outside entered the lobby. They were equipped in their combat environment suits, one of them pointed at Chris and the others and led a charge toward them.

  “Everyone up!” Chris yelled as he pointed toward the ladder inside the shaft. “Michei get a barrier up across this entrance once everyone is in,” Chris said, then began to step back toward the lobby.

  “What about you?”

  “I’m gonna hold them off! You guys get the fuck out of here now!”

  Chris was after all the only one equipped with a suit that could allow him to survive in the outside world. Once the airstrike hit, the whole section would be exposed to the extreme cold and methane atmosphere. Chris staying behind was critical, not only to cover their escape, but to keep the Hashmedai there, just long enough to get their comeuppance.

  He fired his rifle and projected a fake image that a lone EDF solider was trying to take on a Hashmedai psionic and a large group of warriors and guardians. Everyone was gone from sight, they entered the elevator shaft and climbed up as he requested. Michei’s barrier shimmered purple over the section of the wall that was once doors to an elevator.

  Gladius squadron on approach to UNE Black Site, Titan, Sol System

  Aura’s HUD highlighted the black site, it was a small installation sitting on a mountainside slope. As per Chris’ instructions she and her team flew circles around the base until the front side came into view. VLOT mode was engaged thereafter and all crafts moved at a slower rate. She saw that several Hashmedai where indeed storming in through the front, and several others were also up on the rooftops. They’d need to be dealt with next, but first things first.

  Ten missiles simultaneously dropped out from each of the fighters and hammered forward toward the lobby of the black site, exploding, creating a thunderous sound in the aftermath. She could see the Hashmedai up on the rooftops take cover while debris from the explosion was hurled upward, and slowly fell back down in the lunar like gravity.

  “Good kill,” Chris transmitted to her.

  Out from the rubble, fire, and smoke Chris emerged in his full EDF protect suit, waving toward them. No one was shooting at him, or trying to gut him with plasma swords, the threat was neutralized. “You’re insane,” Aura said.

  “Number one rule in life, if it works, don’t complain!”

  Aura’s fighter started taking minor damage from a new source, small green beams of plasma from the rooftop. The Hashmedai had snipers up top with plasma rifles. She moved her hovering fighter upward to get a better view. Her HUD highlighted multiple enemy targets on foot that began to scatter.

  “Not out of this yet,” Aura said. “We got Hashmedai on the rooftops.”

  “Copy that lead, taking it to them,” Hijinks said.

  “I’ll be fine, you guys finish them up,” Chris said.

  The Gladius squadron took up positions all around the complex and began to indulge in the seemingly easy task of gunning down warriors, guardians, and riflemen. None of whom could do anything to them except the riflemen, and even then, plasma rifles versus the shields of Solaris fighters weren’t going to do much. Aura’s shields dropped to eighty-nine percent, eight percent of that was knocked out during her fight with the interceptors a while ago.

  Overkill did not begin to describe what they were doing to the Hashmedai as one direct hit from a rail gun round tore cavernous holes through their bodies, the Hashmedain blood and organs that were ejected from the exit point froze as they sprayed across the surface of the rooftops. Guardian arm shields failed after several hits, leaving them defenseless, then lifeless. There was one group left in the kill zone and for some reason they all clustered together, something was up. Aura pressed her rail gun triggers, spraying red streaks of tracer light toward the group. Every bullet was blocked by a violet, glowing, dome-shaped barrier that shimmered and rippled purple. Fucking psionic, she thought. Psionics were the one thing that could pose a threat to them.

  “Watch it, another psi in play!” Aura warned her team as she lifted the nose of her craft up higher to get a better look of the area. Both her eyes and targeting scanner began looking around for the psi at the higher vantage point, a psionic that did an excellent job staying hidden and luring the whole squadron closer.

  Blue light was seen from the corner of her eye, the psionic had jump ported toward them. “I’m hit, I’m hit!” Hijinks yelled.

  “Everyone back off,” Aura said. “Focus all fire on that psionic!”

  Aura shifted the stick of craft toward the right, forcing it to turn toward where she saw the light. Sure enough there it was, a Hashmedai psionic was floating in the skies, weaving a new bag of tricks, tricks that sent Hijinks’ fighter crashing and burning. Aura locked onto the psionic as her fighter propelled toward its. Her rail guns blazed while her fighter performed an elegant aileron roll to evade the massive white fireballs that came toward her.

  None of her shots connected as the psionic jumped ported away again. She looked back down toward the black site as she saw Hijinks’ fighter crash-land on the rooftops.

  “Fuck! Hijinks, talk to me!”

  There was no reply to her communication, Aura’s computers showed that Hijink’s vitals were still good. She was either knocked out or her communication systems were badly damaged. Either way, she needed to get out of there quickly. The remaining Hashmedai on the rooftops ran toward her downed and burning fighter.

  The psionic reappeared, cancelling any ideas Aura had of swooping down to rescue Hijinks or at least laying down suppressive fire to protect her. The psionic was indeed a talented one. They fired off nine fireballs within five seconds, each one headed toward the remaining Gladius fighters forcing them into a series of rolls and evasive thrusts to get away. The psionic chased one Gladius fighter down toward the foot of the mountains below and started the task of ripping their shields apart with its fireballs. Aura followed behind the psionic as her HUD reported a weapons lock. The psionic showed no signs of moving away, probably because it had no idea she was swooping down from behind.

  Primitive hunter instincts within Aura activated, nothing else around her mattered, only her prey now oblivious to her presence. She needed one shot to make the kill or risk it fleeing in fear. She had the power to do that, just one shot and the fighter up front could be saved resulting in everyone else moving in to save Hijinks.

  Guided missiles seemed risky to her. This was a powerful psionic and it might detect the use of radar guidance. She quickly switched t
he load out of her missiles to a nonguided version, and aimed the nose of her craft carefully.

  “This is Gladius lead, fox one!” she yelled and launched a single plasma missile from her fighter.

  Her debating and planning however lasted a second too long, as she fired her missile her craft clipped the side of the mountain. Her shields held but the collision was loud enough for the psionic to use its ESP and sense Aura’s Solaris fighter was sneaking up from above. It vanished a second later, and her fired missed nearly caused a friendly fire incident.

  Rage didn’t begin to describe what she was feeling. Hijinks might be joining Hammer now, and if this psionic continued to play with them in this manner, they might be following.

  Chris overheard the situation above and needed no further instructions as to what to do next. He began to climb over the debris and rubble from the airstrike until the outside walls of the black site were visible. His MRF activated and gave him the reduced mass needed to wall run across the outside walls it was the fastest means to gaining access to the maintenance ladder on the opposite end of the base while avoiding the jagged and uneven rocks below. His hands grabbed hold of the ladder and he began to climb up, skipping several steps in the process, thanks to his jump jets. The three-story ladder climb was completed in six seconds.

  “Check your fire! They are right on top of her fighter!” he heard Aura’s voice transmit.

  “Heard you guys need a hand,” he said as his feet touched down on the rooftops.

  His mass increased to prevent his body from flying too high upward from his rapid climb from the ladder. Smoke and mist drifted away from the downed Solaris fighter as two plasma rifle wielding Hashmedai stalked it along with two warriors and a guardian. Hashmedai with rifles were always considered to the weakest—rejected warriors or guardian candidates that were either too weak or young to swing a blade. Nevertheless plasma rifles were deadly if the shot connected and flight suits worn by fighter pilots weren’t exactly made to protect them from weapons.

  “Whatever you have planned do it quickly!” Aura said.

  Chris smiled as he held onto his rifle hard and mentally prepared to do the primary role in his job description, killing alien invaders. “Just keep that psionic away from me!”

  Chris ran over to the action, his rifle extended forward, his eyes peering through the holographic targeting scanner. The back of the head of one the rifle wielding Hashmedai in its environment suit combat attire appeared, the other was much further off to the right while the melee armed ones were behind, and posed the least threat to Hijinks. He pondered how to handle this delicate situation as the psionic above continued to laugh and torment the Gladius team like a heckling space witch.

  Shoot one while he still had the element of surprise? The other might kill Hijinks knowing that rescue was coming for her. Both plasma rifle armed adversaries needed to go and he wasn’t sure he could target one, drop them and target the next to do the same before the guardian jumped in to protect them.

  But he had to try.

  And time was running out. Now more than even as Hijinks leaped out her fighter.

  Chris’ blue jump jet thrusts lifted him as his MRF kicked in again. His body climbed up four stories in the air, while his rifle zoomed in on one of the riflemen Hashmedai. He pulled the trigger and gave the saying ‘death from above’ a whole new meaning. The targeted Hashmedai fell over, in a bloody mess while its air and heat escaped its bullet ridden suit. The blood that hit the surface of the rooftops froze and crystallized instantly. Chris’ aim switched as his propulsion stopped and the weak gravitational force of the moon slowly pulled his mass reduced body back down.

  He was ready to make another kill there was one problem. Hijinks. She got the drop on the last rifle wielding Hashmedai, tackling him to the floor. The two rolled back and forth in a battle for dominance. Taking a shot was risky, even when he had the perfect chance to do so as there was a chance the exiting bullet would hit Hijinks, killing her in the process. The two continued to roll, rumble, punch, choke, and head butt each other. Neither Hijinks nor the Hashmedai were aware that they were slowly rolling toward the edge of the facility’s rooftops. Someone was going to fall to their death. The impact might not kill them but the sharp and jagged rocks below would surely put a hole in someone’s suit or helmet.

  In any case, Chris lost his high ground advantage versus that target. The three remaining Hashmedai were now the new threat as the guardian attempted to pull Hijinks toward him with its tractor beam. His aim rapidly switched again as the trio realized he was high above them shooting. He allowed his body to return to its normal mass to expedite his fall back to the rooftops. There was no cover in the skies, not good when a guardian planned to aim its tractor beam toward you.

  Chris’ shields began to slowly drop.

  Ninety-eight percent.

  Ninety-six percent, the tractor beam of the guardian was slowing draining it and at zero percent he’ll be pulled in toward it.

  Ninety-five percent, Chris finally landed on the rooftops, and hunkered down behind an exhaust vent. He heard the footsteps of the three Hashmedai storm over then stop. He took a quick glance around his cover, and saw nobody except for another exhaust vent like the one he hid behind, they must have taken cover as well.

  “Come out coward!” He heard a voice yell toward him, the accent sounded almost Russian. The Hashmedai stalking him wanted to talk, or taunt.

  Chris adjusted the settings on his helmet allowing his voice to transmit externally. “You speak English now?”

  “Where’s that female you sent after us?”

  “Female? You mean Vaughan?”

  “The one with the plasma grenade!”

  Three Hashmedai, two warriors and a guardian, these were the same group he and EDF-1 encounter at the Uranus outpost. I should have known, not every day you see Hashmedai with dreadlocks. “She’s single but ain’t interested in you guys.”

  “Bring her! I got a present for her,” one of them yelled as the other two began to laugh.

  “You fucking deaf? She’s not interested.”

  Chris once again peeked around and saw the guardian of the group rise with his shield forward while his body took on a steadfast form. “Then I’ll give it to you, motherfucker.”

  It’s always the swear words you learn first in any language.

  The trash talking came to an end as the three brothers made their pursuit toward Chris. Blind fire from his rifle wasn’t enough to deter them neither were plasma grenades as the guardian tossed them back toward Chris with his tractor beam. As a result, he was forced from his cover and ran toward the ledge of the black site where the lobby once was. His jets and newly decreased mass allowed him to slide on the surface of the rooftop quick while making his body a harder target for the guardian’s tractor beam.

  He held onto the crumbling ledge and looked down at the rubble below him. One of the warriors jump jetted ahead of the guardian and ran toward the ledge Chris held onto. Good he’s taking the bait, he thought as he attached a plasma grenade to the ledge then used his hands to shift his body just enough over to the left. His HUD projected a superimposed projected over his tactical visor of the estimated blast radius of the explosive, he was just out of range.

  The warrior got near the ledge as the grenade exploded. The unstable surface below the feet of the Hashmedai felt apart because of the blast and his body slowly plummeted down toward the rubble and remains of the lobby below. The warrior was still alive as his angry face looked upward Chris who remained hanging off the ledge. Chris pointed the barrel of his rifle toward the downed warrior and ensured it remained lying down permanently.

  Chris’ jump jets took him into the skies once again, as he slowly descended back down toward the rooftops, he saw the two remaining Hashmedai run toward the ledge, they were more concerned about their downed comrade than him. More power to me, he thought as he landed and went into cover behind another exhaust vent, this time none of them saw which one
he had hidden behind.

  The two Hashmedai began to shout. They were pissed. “Oh, did I just pop your boyfriend?” Chris taunted them from his cover.

  The two turned around to face him, their eyes scanning left to right, trying to find where Chris had run to. The guardian extended his sword out toward the general direction of Chris and yelled. “Motherfucker! You killed my brother!”

  “Keep up that attitude and I’ll kill you next.”

  “Fuck you!”

  Chris did a quick check of the situation, shields were ninety-four percent, two Hashmedai left, and neither of them knew where Chris was. Hijinks was still holding her ground. We got this!

  Blue light discharged behind him, he cursed knowing exactly what that meant. He spun around to deal with the new threat that teleported behind him, knowing full well it was too damn late to defend himself.

  His shield strength went from ninety-four to zero percent instantly.

  Skies, the horizon, the ground, the horizon with Saturn in the distance, skies. It’s all Hijinks saw as she and the riflemen Hashmedai rolled and slid toward the edge of the black site’s rooftops. Eventually she felt no solid surface below her when they finally made it to that point. She released her grip on him, flailed her arms about and hoping to catch onto the edge before she slowly fell down. Her left hand came into contact with something solid and massive, the ledge. Her fall was broken for now. Suddenly she felt something else grab onto her foot. Wait. Not something, someone, her adversary from earlier. As she held on to ledge with one arm, the Hashmedai held onto her with one of its arms, then two and used all his strength to yank at her. He knew he was finished and he wanted her along for the ride.

  Hijinks lifted both hands and hung on in desperate attempt to get back up, along with the extra weight below she’d rather not have to deal with. She lifted her head just enough to see a plasma rifle close by, it hadn’t fallen down as she thought. She stretched for it but it wasn’t close enough for her to grab it. Just half an inch away. Half an inch. It was all she needed, and she was now losing distance as the Hashmedai below her began to climb up along her body. She felt his hands reaching closer to her waist.