Sean-Michael Argo - Ghost Faction

Then, as quickly as it had arrived, the sensation of accomplishment was dashed when Jada realized, as did the other mercs, that the Objective’s whereabouts was as yet unknown.

“Recover Taymar and let’s get topside,” growled Womack as he returned his now empty assault rifle to its mooring pegs on his back. “The Objective isn’t above and it isn’t below. We’re going to have to call this one a wash.”

For a moment, nobody moved, shocked as they were at their leader’s admission of failure. They were the Dire Swords, they did not fail, and yet, here they were, on a hostile alien world, with Helion bearing down on them, and no sign of the Objective. Already, more Dire Swords had died on this single operation than many others combined and they had nothing to show for it.

When they emerged from the temple, it was to the sound of wind and thunder, but no violence. The merc defenders held their line and it appeared that the hollows had spent their strength at last. As soon as they were out of the temple, their comm-beads flooded their ears with radio chatter and the mercs realized that their signal had been temporarily ruined while inside.

“Overwatch, we can see the Helion barges, maybe three minutes out, be advised,” said Najib over the company channel, “This is going to be tight, you may have to shoot your way out.”

“Dropships are returning for extraction, on site in two minutes,” responded Marcus. “Raid Alpha, you aren’t going to believe this, but we are looking at live feed sat images and the Objective is right there.”

“The temple was just a hollow horde conversion chamber, no sign of the Objective,” argued Womack.

“Negative on temple, Raid Alpha, the Objective is standing in the center of the master ring base, right there on the dais,” Marcus insisted, his voice tinged with something like disbelief. As one, the mercs all looked at the ring and the dais at the center of the base.

“Overwatch, your instruments are lying to you, I’m looking right at the dais and there’s nothing there. Raid Alpha, converge on the master ring, we’re done here,” ordered Womack as he began to ascend the terraced steps leading to the base of the master ring. “Overwatch, this mission is humped, no sign of the Objective, we exfil now before we lose anymore that we have. I will inform House Indron of our failure in person.”

“Copy that, Tasca pulling out,” responded Najib, and Jada could see the slaver skiff moving over the flowstone buildings start banking hard so that it could move away before the Helion barges arrived.

“I’ll be glad, at least, to get away from the cold spots,” said Poe as he joined Jada, “I haven’t been able to get used to that and this place is full of them.”

Jada stared at Poe, then turned back and looked at the dais, swept away by a sudden idea.

“ The ghosts ,” she breathed.

She began rushing up the terrace, and as she continued upwards, she became more convinced of her theory. “ Womack, the Objective is here!”

The Helion battle barges were coming close, and the growl of their engines started to fill the air, each of the mercs knowing that in moments they would be disgorging fresh platoons of battle troopers, likely with tank support.

“ Jada, report! What do you see?” barked Womack as he saw Jada and Poe pull ahead of the others who were setting up a defensive perimeter on the terrace, preparing to repel the Helion advance until the dropships could extract them. “I’m looking right at the dais and there’s nothing there!”

“It’s cold,” said Jada as she stood in the exact center of the dais.

“Raid Alpha, I am still seeing the Objective, right where you are standing, the image is heavily artifacted because of the planetary interference, but that doesn’t account for this,” insisted Marcus. “Jada, you’re right on top of it!”

“Najib, bring your skiff around!” said Womack, “Whatever she’s got, we’re only going to have one shot at this before Helion is all over us.”

“Just like the rest of the signals, its cold but there’s nothing here,” observed Poe as he started looking around.

“Tasca inbound, twenty seconds,” said Najib over the comm-bead. “Ellis, get on the net. Jean, ignite the cage. I hope you have something for us, Jada, we’re coming in hot.”

“Look at your feet,” said Poe as he pointed, and as Jada took a step back out of the cold spot, she saw that at the center of the dais was a symbol, inlaid into the stone with the polished alien material of the temple. It made Jada’s brain itch just looking at it, though what it signified she could only guess.

And then she had it.

“This isn’t a platform at all!” she exclaimed, stepping back off the dais and pointed to the underside of it. The dais was actually comprised of a slab of flowstone, reinforced with the heavy alien material, set atop a base of equal dimensions, “This is a coffin! ”

The two mercs stepped off the dais as Womack joined them. After a moment of silence, interrupted by the scream of the slaver skiff’s engines and the roar of the Helion barges, the three of them began to push against the slab. It took everything they had, but after a few moments, the slab began to move, and there was a rush of cold fetid air as they broke the seal of the coffin.

An inhuman scream filled their ears, whiting out the chatter in their comm-beads and driving the three mercs back a step. A hand, far too large to be human, emerged from within the coffin, effortlessly shoving the lid back and off.

A ragged figure rose from inside. Even as tall as the mercs were with their enhanced bodies and mag-armor, it still towered over them and it was a walking nightmare to look upon.

Jada had no idea what it actually looked like; her mind painted it as the Stalker in the Dark. The trauma of witnessing the unleashing of this horror of horrors threatened to break her mind. There was a power rolling from this terrible thing they had just awakened, palpable and as cold as the blackest hole in the void.

The stench of burning flesh filled her nostrils and Jada experienced George Tuck dying once more. She had not seen what happened to him, but she’d heard it, she’d smelled it, and in the presence of this alien wraith that had risen from its coffin, Jada was back in Vorhold.

“ Contact! Contact! ” screamed a voice, perhaps Ranec, over the comm-bead, cutting through the deafening rush of blood in her ears and Jada began to make out the crackle of small arms fire.

“ Objective sighted! ” bellowed Najib, “ Engaging! ”

“Just kill it, please, just kill it,” mumbled Womack over the company channel, his voice uncharacteristically small and weak. “Please, make it die.”

Jada screamed inside her helmet and squeezed the grip of her pistol, the feel of the weapon in her hand as she slid it from its holster the only thing keeping her sane.

The Stalker loomed before her. Through the swirl of rags that clung to its body, she caught glimpses of metal, a gleaming mechanical skeleton beneath the flowing ragged cloth and bleached desiccated flesh. She was near to vomiting and she could feel blood seeping out of her nose as she struggled to raise her pistol.

Beside her, Poe lay prone, bright red pouring from his nose and ears. On the other side of her, Womack was curled into fetal position, still begging her, or anyone, to slay the specter. Behind her, she could hear a firefight erupting in the wash of the dropship engines that had no doubt come for the extraction. Najib was yelling something in the comm-bead, but she couldn’t make it out.

She knew that behind this figment of her imagination wearing the face of the Stalker in the Dark, was something more terrible than anything she could even consciously perceive. Every instinct was screaming at her to end this hellish abomination.