by Todd Mcleod
“We might have a situation,” Gunney explained, “Sensors confirm we have multiple unidentified objects entering the atmosphere.”
“We are on a colony world in the far reaches of the known galaxy near an unstable asteroid belt. Is not the arrival of a meteor something of a common occurrence?”
“Yes and no,” Gunney replied, “Though our sensors are having issues quantifying these ones. Something seems to be interfering with our array and our ability to adequately analyse these meteors.”
“Also, not a new occurrence. This is potentially the most important discovery in the history of mankind, and you want me to worry about meteors and sensor sensitivity?”
“I have both assets in the air, as well as cadets out in the outlands,” Gunney’s tone was not swayed by the condescending speech of the lead researcher, “It’s my job to take these things seriously, and my duty to consider the welfare of everyone involved.”
“Fine,” he sighed, “I will do a diagnostic on the sensor array.”
“Thank you. I’m sure it will not take long, and as soon as I can confirm everything is fine and relay it to command, you can get back to work on your big discovery.”
The lead researcher nodded, clearly doing nothing more than humouring Gunney. He began to check the systems, his brow frowning in confusion. “That’s strange. The array seems to be attuned with something, and it’s warping the signals coming in and out.”
“Warping how?”
“This is impossible! It seems to be attuning to the sphere. It’s like it is trying to line up with the signal from the array to cancel it out. The more I try and differentiate it, the more the sphere powers up and neutralises it.”
“We need to get the word out. We need to warn people the system is going to go down!”
“It’s too late. The sphere is fully powered up and actively neutralising all signals from the array. Everything is dead, communications, sensors, automatic distress protocols, Navstar network, everything!”
“This device…” Gunney speculated, “What could be the purpose of it? A trojan horse meant to take out our main communications systems and leave us completely in the dark?”
“I don’t know, but the object is highly shielded, and it would take hours to get into it, if we could at all.”
“Well, I would start working on it.” Gunney walked over to the window, seeing dozens of objects streaking down from the upper atmosphere, “Because it seems this was just the first part of the plan, and we need to find a way to warn people about the next part before it’s too late!”
* * *
As the sun began to hang low on the unearthly horizon, the pair met as they often did in the courtyard of the royal castle. Rover, the AI drone buzzed around evaluating the cadets. The pair wore practice vibro blades and were on either side of a makeshift duelling pitch. They had not yet begun to spar, but were looking each other up and down.
“So, have anything new up your sleeve today, rival?” Elvin asked with a wry grin, “Because if you use your same old tricks, you are about to lose.”
“I may have, and then again I may not,” Vi replied calmly, “Though if I did, I would not so easily betray it to you.”
“I suppose then I will have to find out.” Elvin grinned, “What are we at, anyway? Wins to losses?”
“No way of knowing really. You destroyed the score tablet two weeks ago with one of my wins.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess I got a little too into combat...how about we say this next one the winner takes all?”
“Takes all of what?”
Elvin shrugged. “Ultimate bragging rights forever?”
“Sounds good to me. It’s about time I did. Are you sure you can handle the humiliation of being beaten by a girl?”
She pouted provocatively to the amusement of the others.
“Don't go too overboard,” Rover commented, still buzzing around, “This area has a lot of complex machinery here. Also, I would hate to have to call in an emergency health vehicle all the way out here.”
“I’m starting to think you care more of the inconvenience to equipment and vehicles than our safety,” Elvin laughed.
“More so that I know saying don't hurt each other will fall on deaf ears,” Rover responded, “The med bay might already want to be standing by.”
“So sensible Rover is,” Vi replied.
“We going to spar or what?” Elvin added, being at the length of his patience.
Vi responded with action, charging forward, her vibro sparring sword moving to a blur of action. Elvin was at the ready, parrying blow after blow, a grin growing on his face. The pair fought back and forth on the pitch. They were similarly trained and fairly evenly matched. What Elvin had on Vi in strength, Vi made up for with agility. Most of their spars usually ended up with either a draw, or one of the cadets achieving a victory with a tactic or circumstance. The other cadets used to gather to watch the conflicts but long since learnt there was never much of a decisive winner. Only Gunney really came out for them anymore...though for necessity and tradition mostly.
Vi indeed had a trick up her sleeve and started switching hands that she was attacking with. It had been a tactic she had practised in secret for this very moment. She began to take Elvin off guard and stagger him back off of the pitch. Elvin was usually hard to overwhelm, hulking down, and going defensive. The tactic paid off for him as Vi realised a flaw in her new sword skill...it took far too much energy. Before long Vi began to slow, and Elvin knew he had an opening. He charged forward, using his strength to try and knock the vibro blade out of her arms. Vi almost fell for the attack, her hands stinging from the impact of the hits. However, she held his ground, staggering back, almost leaving the pitch as her rival’s weapons clashed.
“Fancy new tricks,” Elvin said with a savage grin, “But it will take more than that to win this!”
“I’m just getting started. You will never see it coming. I’ve got one more trick, something I know you can't possibly be ready for.”
“I doubt that,” Elvin scoffed, “You can never surprise me.”
* * *
Nearby a small egg-like object rested in a new crater in the rock and dirt. Heat still rolled off it, in the form of steam from the re-entry and journey through the atmosphere. It crackled with static electricity, the remnants of an ambient shield that protected the object from the gravitational forces, the rapid decent, and the very sudden stop. Cracks like an egg began to form on the outer structure, the shell having served its purpose and now being allowed to degrade.
It fell apart, revealing a tightly crumpled figure within. The figure unfurled its body as it came out of stasis. It was humanoid in shape, covered with black metal and a synthetic outer structure. It stood up efficiently, seeming to stop to assess its condition automatically. Though the outer shell of the entry device was all but destroyed, it was untouched. It went over its gear, lighting up tech as it went. It was an advanced scout, one of the first to make landfall, and it quickly went to work to prepare for its simplistic orders. A visor over where its eyes would be lit up and scanned the environment. It slowly took stock of all in front of it. The terrain appeared mostly worthless, dirt rocks, sparse vegetation. Off in the distance there was something of interest. It seemed
there were radio signals, digital and analogue coming and going. It zoomed in, seeing metallic walls and structures made with a deliberate hand.
This was a target and what it was looking for. The being began to move toward the newly discovered structure in a slow jog. It went over its weapons and gear, readying itself for anything. It tried coordinating with the others, but with the interference of the atmosphere, and chaos of the other landing scouts, there was not much to quantify. It was likely one of the first on the ground and could not rely on coordinated orders for some time. That was all right…it knew what to do…find a target, assess, neutralise. Search and destroy was the name of the game, and it was ready and geared to go.
As it got closer, it w
alked past some vehicles and technology likely from the targets. It did not have time to deal with them as they appeared not to be weapons. It paused briefly to scan the tech so it could report on it later. It moved closer, sticking to the shadows and using its jammers to interfere with security or motion sensors. It heard clashing of mechanical weapons beyond and banter in an unfamiliar language. It recorded what was said, using it with other things it had gleamed to put together patterns in the language. The scout knew it would be unlikely to piece together much. It was usually after waves of invasion that such information could be categorised. It was unlikely the targets warranted such study, and for the time being the scout could only afford to focus on the task ahead. There appeared to be two humanoid creatures fighting with simple weapons and some manner of remote drone. The scout climbed over the perimeter to behold more. Soon would be the invasion, and it would capture as much information as it could. It had a job to do.
The sparring battle continued, but both cadets were distracted as a shadow fell over the area from up above. They looked and saw a strange alien black-clad figure run along the edge of the balcony. It jumped down into the courtyard.
“Who are you?” Rover said, lighting up and confronting the figure clad in black metallic gear. It had a dark grey mask with a red visor, “You have to..”
Before the drone could finish his words, the masked figure drew what looked like a gun from its gear. It simply pointed it at Rover, and a bubble of energy appeared around it. Rover sputtered, powered down, and fell to the ground.
“Rover!” Elvin cried as he ran from the pitch. He still had his vibro training sword in his hand. Vi turned and followed him, eager to help engage the newcomer.
Vi and Elvin leapt at the strange interloper, working together in attacks. Their swords were not powerful enough to kill, but together they might find a way to stop and incapacitate the intruder. Though the cadets were well skilled and finely trained, they had no real experience in battle other than sparring or practice. The intruder wore armoured gauntlets and easily parried the blows, keeping both at bay. Vi allowed herself a glance to check on Rover. He seemed unharmed, the blast meaning to disable and not destroy. Her lapse in concentration led to the attacker striking her in the chest and knocking her off balance, back to the ground beyond. Luckily, her advanced combat armour spared her from serious injury.
“Vi!” Elvin called out, surging harder in his attacks against the masked intruder so he could not advance on her.
Vi got to her feet and retrieved her weapon. She remained silent, planning to use the attacker’s distraction with Elvin to her advantage. She moved in closely and swung wide. At the last moment the figure raised up an arm, parrying the attack, and moving so he could keep an eye on both cadets. Vi slid in and stood in defence of her friend while they took the time to regroup. They looked at each other, neither sure what to do.
“Where are the guards?” Elvin asked, “An intruder like this should have triggered all sorts of planet side alarms! Unless it’s part of a drill?”
Vi nodded. “It must have been what was in that meteor we saw fall. The sensors likely didn’t think it was anything other than an asteroid or something harmless. Where there’s one there might be more. We cannot let it win! We need to destroy it and warn command!”
“It might be an invasion!” Elvin agreed, buying himself some space to use his communicator. “Gunney, can you read me? We have an intruder at the outpost! Dammit, the comms are jammed!”
“This thing must be jamming communication. We’ve got to take it out! We gotta do it fast. If there’re more, the others need to be ready for them!”
“Well, it’s hardly fair. We’re only armed with training swords, and it’s fully armoured and clearly using advanced alien tech.”
“It doesn’t matter. We have to try.” Vi leapt from cover.
The cadets engaged the alien interloper with all they had, but the strange creature had them out equipped and outmatched. They couldn’t tell if it was machine or organic. All they knew it was unlike anything they had ever seen, and it was resistant to everything they threw at it. If they could not defeat it with the weapons they had, they had to find a way to use something else. Elvin looked at Vi, knowing she would be the one to figure out a way to stop it. Vi did not need to hear the idea to know the tactic being suggested.
Elvin went on the defensive, keeping it at bay, buying his friend time to engage it. Vi ducked back, going into the enclosed area and gear to see if she could find anything, having only a few seconds to think. Though not knowing if the alien was alive or machine, she did have some detailed mechanical components. At most it was an android, at worst the armour was a type of encounter suit.
If only she could disable the tech in some way, then maybe she could at least slow it down. Vi looked through the tools, mostly mining and sampling gear, nothing particularly viable for weaponry.
If only we were back at base. There are pulse rifles, frag grenades…grenades!
A crude explosive might be the only way to deal with the alien. Though she had to be careful in her planning. The alien could not communicate with them, but it clearly knew what was going on. If she walked out with a grenade, it would be too obvious, and the enemy would simply knock it back to them. She needed something that the alien might not have the necessary experience to deal with.
The alien was indeed more advanced, but it had not been on the planet as long as she had. There were a lot of highly electromagnetic polymers on the planet, and when aggravated could generate a high amount of electromagnetic energy. It made a lot of the tech go haywire when the first settlers came to the world, something the alien was unlikely to know. It most likely had just arrived, and its experience with such things probably had not yet come up. Vi collected as much of the electromagnetic polymer as she could from the sample jars and rigged them in a thin glass container. The alien would probably swat at it, and that’s exactly what she wanted.
Vi found Elvin still holding his ground against the alien. The creature seemed to know that it could win at any time, and almost as if toying with Elvin. Vi stepped forward, tossing the makeshift device at the alien. As anticipated, the it swatted at it, breaking the glass, and aggravating the compounds within. The electromagnetic sand surrounded it like a cloud, striking at its electronics which went haywire. The figure stepped back, struggling to get things back under control. Vi shot a look to Elvin.
“Brains over brawn. Once again!”
The time to fight was over, and the time to run was now. They had used the knowledge of the world against the alien but could not afford to gloat. They quickly gathered what they could, knowing the alien would return to normal at any moment. They fled out the front entrance, not looking back.
Chapter Four
The two cadets fled across the landscape. They’d been gone a short amount of time, but sensed urgency in their return that was more powerful than the desire to leave. They were quiet, contemplating their next moves, and trying to forget about what might be right behind them.
“Can you reach the base?” Elvin asked, double-checking the approach telemetry.
“Command this is Cadet Locke,” Vi said in an official tone, “We’re ten minutes out and need to speak to someone in command on an urgent issue.”
Vi paused, the line completely quiet. “That’s funny.”
“Is there a delay or interference?”
“Neither. I’m definitely broadcasting, but it’s like there’s nothing on the other end.”
“There’s definitely something on the other end!” Elvin looked at the communication controls himself, “Signal strength is good, but you’re right, it’s like there’s nothing there.”
“I’m searching for sources of jamming. That’s odd. If there was jamming there would be something, but there’s still nothing at all.”
“We’re so close. We should definitely be reading something.”
“Well, the whole system has issues with interference. I remember on
e of the officers saying when they first came to this sector things like long and shortwave comms, electro targeting, and sensors were severely disrupted.”
“I do recall hearing about that, too, Vi. But isn’t there a transceiver at home base that amplifies the signals, so things can be broadcast in this system?”
Vi paused in thought, putting together all of the variables and details. “Well, if it was offline, it would definitely be similar to how we’re not getting anything out.”
“Could it be a malfunction?”
“We were in communication a little while ago. There would have been some indication.”
“Could it have been taken out? If this is an invasion, it could have already started.”
“I don’t see how. The base is one of the best built and managed fortifications we have. They’ve spent years fortifying it and protecting it against exactly this kind of thing. I cannot imagine they were not prepared for all of this and ready to defend. It’s been a very short time since comms were still on. It would mean that within that time they came in and disabled it so fast they couldn’t even send a distress call out.”
They looked forward as they made their approach. They moved fast, perhaps too fast, but neither wanted to get caught by the creature or its allies.
“Well, given all the evidence, it seems what we’re heading into might be far worse than what’s behind us. This is at best an unpredictable situation, and at worst a trap.”
“We cannot turn around,” Vi said, “There are friends and colleagues ahead, and we cannot leave them high and dry, if what we think is happening is indeed happening. We need to go in, assess, and assist.”
The words were right out of the manual, but Elvin knew she was right.
“I agree, but we need to be careful.”
Vi nodded, and the bikes continued on, leaving the wasteland, and heading towards a thick layer of what at first looked like fog. It was soon revealed to be a massive dust cloud, kicked up by some manner of activity. From outside it was impossible to tell what.
