Sean-Michael Argo - Ghost Faction

They might as well get paid for it.

“Overwatch reporting, one minute to drop!” the voice of Marcus came over the comm-bead’s company channel.

“We’re up against hollows, so remember center of mass and head shots are the only things that put ‘em down for good,” said Berg, using the raid channel that directed his voice to the other five mercs in his squad. “You can’t bleed out if you’re already dead.”

Jada looked at the warriors who surrounded her and wondered how many of them would die today. With every mission, there was an assumed risk; it was why the soldiers of fortune were as expensive as they were. For all their gene-therapy, costly armor, and advanced weapons, they were still mortal creatures and subject to the perpetual grind of time and chance.

Osric was a testament to this truth. He was the man who had replaced Mors as Strega’s battle buddy, bringing their squad back up to full strength. They certainly expected to need every available rifle at the ready.

There had been a robust security force of troopers protecting the excavation site, several hundred labor crewmembers and at least one battle tank. Whatever happened there went down fast, and it was a shame that the environmental interference was so thick that more recon data wasn’t available.

Jada could only assume the worst, that there was now hundreds of Hollow Horde down there. The re-animated bodies of the dead, modified with machine parts in the subterranean forges of the Gedra. However, this was not a tomb-world and that being didn’t appear to be one of the alpha cyborgs. None of it made sense, and here they were, about to assault drop into the middle of the deadly unknown.

Only those who fought as though dead would conduct combat operations in such a way, and that was both the gore and the glory of the Dire Swords at war.

The drop siren blared and the belly of the ship opened. Jada was immediately buffeted with the caustic wind that dominated the landscape. She realized instantly why the dropships were making wide circles just outside the excavation site. Jada leapt out of the ship and began her descent, taking note of the thick cloud banks that gathered over the excavation site, impressed that the recon scanners had been able to gather any intel at all.

She could see the engine exhaust ports of several other ships burning through the gloom and the dark shapes that leapt from their bellies. There were thirty-six Dire Swords dropping out of the sky to bring violence against whatever awaited below.

As Jada plunged through the bottom of the cloud bank, she was met with her first full view of the excavation site. It was shockingly unlit, as if all the power had been shut down. Not a single artificial light burned. Her HUD painted the ground below using sonar, so that at least Jada could direct her fall towards solid ground and keep herself from crashing into scaffolding or through one of the multitudes of bombed out buildings. No anti-air batteries opened up and no infantry rifles hurled rounds up at them. The mercs were greeted with an eerie silence as they began to engage their dropshields.

Jada slammed into the dusty floor just inside the deep walls that had been cut through the flowstone. Her descent had given her some idea of just how deeply the Helion crews had dug in order to uncover the master ring and the alien sprawl that surrounded it.

Whatever happened here had been quick, and it was likely that the only reason Helion had not been able to respond was the continuous attacks by the Dire Swords on other worlds in this system. The mercs had kept Helion scrambling to cope with their lightning assaults and security forces and were now spread thinly across the whole system. With an entire archaeological site going dark just as the mercs were smashing the urium plays on another world, it was likely all Helion could do to mount a modest void defense to at least keep the main Grotto fleet engaged. It was possible that Helion troopers were not even aware that a tactical insertion was taking place.

It wasn’t until Jada was on her feet and hefting her rifle that she considered the idea that Helion knew exactly what had happened here and perhaps was staying away on purpose.

In moments, Jada closed the distance with her battle buddy, Poe, and soon after they were joined by Berg, Ranec, Strega, and Osric. For a time, they stood in stunned silence, facing all directions in a loose defensive formation. All of them shared looks, and Poe shrugged as if to acknowledge the strangeness of it all. The only sounds that could be heard were the rapidly fading engines of the dropships as they returned to meet Sword Base for re-fueling and the dwindling hiss-pops of dropshields impacting as the last of the mercs made planetfall.

“We should be hip deep in bad guys by now,” snarled Ranec as he scanned the darkness ahead of him. What little light there was came from the dropships above, reflecting briefly off of the skull face etched into his helmet.

To date, corporate forces had only engaged Hollow Horde enemies that had been recently created and they were slow combatants. Even though they were shambling corpses re-animated by an, as yet, unknown means, even they would have reacted by now.

Jada began to wonder what the cyborgs might have done had they been given more time with their creations. Suddenly, the merc became concerned that there had been a glaring oversight in their intel.

Berg gave the signal to advance and the six mercs moved forward, each of them scanning the darkness for signs of the enemy they knew had to be lurking there. In the near pitch black, even with their HUDs at maximum aperture, it was difficult to judge distance or maintain full spatial bearing, as everything looked like the same series of dig pits, scaffolds, and stairs leading up or down. It wasn’t until they reached a bombed-out building that they were able to make sense of their position. There was a Helion building, likely a pre-fab that had been airdropped, which looked like it had been formerly a mech bay. Jada recognized the distinct shape of the doors and the multitude of loading tracks embedded into the floor.

“Labor mechs,” said Jada as she ignited the light on the end of her rifle and shone it into the depths of the bay.

“This place is a freaking maze!” grumbled Poe as he ascended a series of steps that the Helion engineers had cut into the smooth curve of flowstone that led upwards and around the side of the mech bay. “I’ll bet you anything Helion has their compound connected with tunnels of their own, drilled right through the site.”

“A door at the bottom of a hole,” whispered Jada as she moved her light back and forth, yielding some small additional illumination.

“You say something?” asked Poe as he turned on his light and the two of them proceeded into the darkness of the bay side by side.

“Thinking about old times. Listen, as we go, be sure to check your back shadows and blind corners,” said Jada as she swept her rifle back and forth ahead and behind her. “Basics of hostile salvage, I have a feeling this won’t be the kind of stand-up fight we thought it would be.”

Poe nodded silently and the two of them pressed onwards, then after a few steps, Jada suddenly stopped. Her instincts were screaming at her to flee, but she held her ground. Poe didn’t seem to feel what she did and he followed her lead. The mercs slowly retreated backwards, never allowing their aim to waiver as they pointed their weapons into the black. When they reached the entrance of the mech bay, they were joined by the others, all of whom were at the ready.

Moments passed, and then the rest of the mercs began to grow restless, as if they too were beginning to feel the monstrous danger the same as Jada.