Author's note: There will be no new chapter next Monday, so this one's extra long just for you, dear reader. I'll be taking the week off to incorporate content from the Federations expansion into the story.
PS: Can you find the Star Wars reference in this chapter? (Hint: It's one of Han Solo's classic lines from the original trilogy)
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Chapter 17
Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth
Sunday, July 15, 2035 6:00am
“You’re listening to Radio Xuhui, your only source for news, music, and more in the East Asian Ward, broadcasting from the one-hundred-twenty-seventh floor of Shanghai Tower. My name is Mingli, and it’s six in the morning. Here’s the news: Tragedy struck yesterday as another loyal ADVENT citizen was brutally murdered by XCOM criminals. Gene Therapist Sun Jianzhong was gunned down by rebel fighters while he was conducting a house call to a young child in the Lijuazui District. Juanzhong is survived by his wife and brother. A memorial service is being planned for ten o’clock in the morning next Monday. Attendance is mandatory for all citizens who maintained daily contact with him. Our next story comes from the west coast of North America, where…”
There was no static, no beeping and no surprised voices. For tens of millions of people in Mainland China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Home Islands, their radios suddenly went silent. At almost the same moment, television screens began to flicker as the hijacking of the airwaves took full effect. In city squares and parks, the holographic projections of newscasters and ADVENT politicians abruptly disappeared, leaving the skies clear and laypeople perplexed. In cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Busan, Tokyo, Osaka, and Hiroshima, everyday life came to a complete standstill as citizens of the Megacities took note of the interruption.
Then, quickly, all over the world… the interruption spread like wildfire.
Radios, televisions, and holographic projectors all went offline. The airwaves died as an unnerving silence radiated out from northeastern China. In New York, businessmen stepped away from their desks to watch as thousands of pedestrians stood still in the streets, their eyes fixed on electronic screens that had not gone dark in over two decades. In London, men and women nervously looked out their windows and into the rain, alarmed by the sudden failure of their in-home entertainment systems. In Cairo, the streets suddenly emptied out as everybody raced to find a screen and see what happened next.
Within two minutes, every radio and television on Earth was off the air.
And then… they came back!
Situated on a blue field, a white cross with three stars appeared, the symbol of the Resistance. Although the image never changed, a voice spoke. It was first heard in China, and then radiated out across the rest of the world!
“Soldiers, freedom fighters, men and women of the Free Earth! Hear me now!”
The voice of Duane Gardner rolled across the Earth. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world startled as they recognized his voice and nervously looked around at their friends and family.
“Today we will inaugurate the greatest battle in the history of our species!” Duane spoke to the Earth. “A conflict our kind has hurtled toward for the past twenty years! In company with our mysterious allies from the stars, we will bring about the destruction of the ADVENT war machine and end the tyranny of the so-called Elders! At long last, we will seek justice for the untold millions of our friends and family who entered a Gene Therapy Clinic and never returned! We will avenge our brothers and sisters who lost their lives protecting the innocent from the Chosen and their death squads! We will see the sun rise on a world restored to its people!”
In eastern China, a squad of ADVENT Peacekeepers used breaching charges to force their way inside of a radio station on the outskirts of Beijing. The crew who normally worked there was found locked in a supply closet, but nobody was at the controls. The pirate signal was coming from somewhere else! This scene quickly repeated itself all over East Asia as the enemy desperately tried to shut down the pirate broadcast while Duane continued talking:
“This battle will not be easy. Our enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. They will give us no quarter and we will show none in return! This fight will be savage and bloody! But we are now a greater force than the one which fought the so-called Elders twenty years ago! The United Nations of Earth have faced the ADVENT Coalition in the field of battle and claimed victory! Our soldiers have fought and defeated the Elder’s Chosen, proving once and for all that our enemy is not invincible! The tide has turned and the people of Earth now march together to our freedom!”
In Chongqing, Delhi, Istanbul and Lagos, overeager freedom fighters didn’t wait for the go-signal. Explosions tore through those cities as ADVENT vehicles and checkpoints were blown sky-high! The entire city of Baltimore descended into looting and anarchy as the civilian populace realized what was about to happen. Gunfire erupted in Kinshasa, Tokyo, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, and Riyadh! A tunnel bomb threw Los Angeles into chaos! Buenos Aires never got the go-signal at all: rebels destroyed the local power plant and threw the entire city into darkness before Duane uttered the agreed-upon words that would launch the global uprising:
“I have faith in you, my brothers and sisters. Faith in your courage. Faith in your skill! Today, we will show our enemy the true strength and power of Humanity! We will Crack the Sky! We will Shake the Earth! We will fight until our world is free!”
At once, in every continent and every Megacity, over one million soldiers, guerrillas, rebels, and freedom fighters emerged from their hiding places and took the war to ADVENT. This would either be the greatest battle in history… or the final week of Humanity’s existence.
Sunday, July 15, 2035 10:30am
Shanghai, Mainland China, East Asia
“Two minutes, Blue Team!”
Wendy sealed the Skyranger’s cockpit door and maneuvered the ship into its final approach of the mission area. In the deployment bay, Chihiro, Matthew, Akira, Odette, and Soylent checked over their equipment one last time while I reviewed the upcoming mission with our VIP, Private Sarah Harris.
“The Commander wrote a script for me.” Sarah said. “She says she wants me to translate it directly into Maori and transmit the message to that alien fleet coming this way.”
“What the hell makes Harper think the aliens will understand Maori?” I asked.
“She’s using Jericho’s database.” Akira chimed in. “It contained a lot of information about the Partogans, including the fact that they’ll understand Maori.”
“That doesn’t explain ‘why’ that’s the case.” I replied.
“Trust me, it’s kinda freaky.” Akira said. “The only way to know is to see for yourself, Blake. When you meet the Partogans, it’ll make sense. Let’s just keep Harris safe while she makes contact with ‘em.”
The Skyranger rattled as Wendy throttled down the engines. In front of us, the deployment ramp began to drop. Everyone checked their rappelling gear one last time.
“Thirty seconds!”
“We’re on mission now!” I shouted to my team. “Stay low, cover each other’s six, and callsigns only from here on out!”
“Wait, what’s mine!?” Sarah said. “Do I get a cool name like you guys?”
“We’re gonna call you ‘Nightmare’ because escorting VIP’s is the fucking worst!” Soylent shouted back. “Just keep your head down and try not to get shot!”
The deployment ramp fell all the way open and an incredible sight was laid out before us: the battle for Shanghai was already in full swing down below.
A massive uprising had gripped the city. Smoke and flames billowed from homes and skyscrapers alike while the streets were swarmed with rioters, rebels, and looters. The Skyranger bypassed most of the fighting and closed in on what had been the financial district twenty years ago. The Huangpu River snaked back and forth throughout the city, and at one point, it turned almost 270 degrees in a great curve, creating a small peninsula in the middle of the city. This little spit of land was dominated by a series of massive skyscrapers that reached well over two-thousand feet into the air.
“That’s our target! Ten seconds!”
I pointed towards Shanghai Tower, a skyscraper from the early 2000’s that stood out from the rest due to its unique shape. It looked as though the building has been twisted like a piece of licorice. An unmistakably alien antenna system had been erected on the rooftop.
“Not a lot of real estate on this roof!” Wendy called back to us. “I can’t land! Get ready to fast-rope down!”
With a loud whirring sound, the winch quickly extended six thick cables towards the rooftop while the Skyranger began to hover in place. Everyone except me hooked up. Gripping the overhead railing tightly, I waited for the red deployment light to turn green. When it finally did, I shouted:
“We’re green! Commence air assault! Go! Go! Go!”
Akira jumped off the deployment ramp, keeping a tight grip on her rappelling harness, and fast-roped down to the rooftop. Soylent, Chihiro, Sarah, Odette, and Matthew all followed suit. I did one last look to make sure everyone had jumped, and then I hooked up.
“See you when it’s over, Firebrand!” I shouted. Then I jumped.
Hitting the roof of Shanghai Tower, I disconnected my rappelling harness and watched as the Skyranger flew away, disappearing into the clouds of acrid black smoke that hung low over the burning city. From up here, the battle raging below sounded like a far-off firework show or thunderstorm, full of deep rumbling thunder and soft little pops.
While Odette and Matthew secured a nearby roof access door, I pushed the talk button on my radio:
“Doctor Freud, this is Trojan. Blue Team has secured the roof and are moving down towards the radio station.”
“Good work, Trojan.” Replied the voice of Yutaka Yamamoto. “We’ve locked down the ground floor. All entrances and stairwells are under our control. My team is destroying the elevators right now. You should have all the time you need up there.”
…
The interior layout of Shanghai Tower is what allowed the building to survive the rise of the ADVENT Coalition. On almost every floor, in between the central core of office space and the inside wall of the glass façade, there are wide-open spaces meant for public use that are filled with atriums, gardens, café’s and restaurants. A small town of 15,000 could have lived in this building comfortably and hardly anyone would have felt the urge to go outside. This wide-open layout was already in-line with the way ADVENT designed and built their Megacities, so Shanghai Tower was allowed to remain standing.
Moving into the building, we found ourselves in an arboretum below a glass ceiling. The sight and smell of trees, grass, and flowers made us all a little uneasy. Odette recovered first and led the way, keeping her new Laser Rifle at the ready. A column of hot air shot out of a nearby elevator door, followed by a deep reverberating boom! It was confirmation that Red Team had destroyed the elevator system.
“Radio station’s one floor below us.” Matthew said. “Keep moving to the stairwell.”
The top floor of Shanghai Tower was completely deserted. We crossed it quickly and found a staircase. Chihiro held up a hand to stop the team.
“Cover me while I throw a Battle Scanner.”
Chihiro dropped the little sphere down the middle of the stairwell and then pulled a small tablet computer out her pocket and studied the screen.
“The floor below us is clear, but there are about four thousand civilians hiding all throughout the building. A lot of them are using the comms system to call for help. Some of them are calling for ADVENT Peacekeepers.”
Cursing, I grabbed my radio.
“Freud, what’s your situation?”
“Enemy jabbers have got the building surrounded and they’re trying to force their way in, but we’re dug into good positions and the enemy doesn’t know we’re here! We can hold all day if we have to!”
“Stay dug in and don’t take risks.” I said. “We think enemy reinforcements are on the way to you now!”
Hal Macintosh’s voice sounded over the radio.
“Well bring 'em on, I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around!”
My team dashed down the stairs and fanned out into the next floor. First we passed by the tuned mass damper, a device designed to stop skyscrapers from vibrating or swaying in the wind. Then we ran past a concert hall, around a corner, and found ourselves in a large garden. On one side of the rows of flowers and shrubs was an ADVENT Burger fast-food restaurant. Odette plucked a half-eaten burger from a table and wolfed it down in two bites. She smiled at us and shrugged her shoulders.
“Oh, man.” Sarah commented. “That’s the one thing I miss about my old life. Ever since I joined the Resistance, I haven’t gotten to eat any of those damn juicy ADVENT Burgers.”
Matthew picked up an ADVENT Burger wrapper and sniffed it.
“I know everyone says these hamburgers are really delicious.” He said, “But when was the last time anyone here saw a cow?”
“I dunno. Twenty years ago?” Soylent offered. “Definitely before the invasion, that’s for sure.”
“Guys!” Chihiro hissed. “That’s it!”
The radio station was on the other side of the garden. It looked like a small office area with only three rooms and a single door that opened onto the garden. Unfortunately, that door was locked.
“Blue Dragon, check if anyone’s home.”
“Battle Scanner, coming up!”
Chihiro wound her arm back, lifted one leg into the air, and threw the sphere exactly like a baseball pitcher would! It smashed through one of the radio station’s windows and made a loud beeping sound while Chihiro looked at her tablet again.
“No one’s home.” She said. “It’s empty.”
“Goddamnit, that was a helluva throw.” Sarah said. “Were you, like, an athlete before the war or something?”
“I played baseball in school.” Chihiro replied as she pushed the door open. “That was before the Soviet Union invaded Japan, long time ago.”
The radio station was a cramped little place, so it didn’t take long for us to find the computer that controlled the antenna array on the roof.
“Here’s the plan.” I told the group. “Alecto, hack into the computer and give us control. Nightmare, you step into the booth and get set up by the microphone. We’ll tell you when we’re live. Vampire, Blue Dragon, and Soylent, you three are on Overwatch. Set up overlapping crossfire between that tree in the garden and the ADVENT Burger meat locker. Those rooms are practically bulletproof! Paradox, I want you guarding that stairwell. Anybody tries to come up here, you turn them to ash, am I clear?”
“Got it.” Akira said.
“Wilco.” Soylent replied.
“Roger-dodger.” Matthew said.
“On it.” Chihiro said.
The team fanned out. While Matthew started tapping away at the computer system, I checked in with the Red Team on my own radio:
Yutaka told me that his team had made contact with the enemy, and that ADVENT’s first assault on Shanghai Tower had been repulsed easily.
“The ADVENT Army troops are pulling back.” Yutaka said. “Now they’re starting to bring up some alien units instead. We’re fighting Sectoids, Vipers, Faceless, and Mutons down here.”
“How long can you hold?” I asked. “We just reached our objective here.”
“We’ve got this handled!” Yutaka replied. “We can hold them here for as long as we want! Just get your job done.”
To my left, Matthew let out an excited laugh.
“We’re almost in!” He said. “Just a few more lines…”
Then he froze.
“Shit!” Matthew shouted. “Shit! Aw, fuck!”
“What’s up?” I said. “What happened!?”
“I don’t know how, but it looks like I just tripped some kind of silent alarm!” Matthew said.
He tapped a few words into the keyboard and then pressed an icon on the screen with his thumb. A message popped up on the computer screen.
“Here it is,” Matthew said. “‘Attempted to access a local Codex with an unrecognized user ID.’ I’ve got no idea what that means, but it looks like we still have control of the antenna. Tell Nightmare she can go live whenever she wants.”
I crossed the room and tapped the glass window separating the control room from the voice booth.
“Start talking, Nightmare!” I said. “And pray the Partogans are listening!”
Sarah donned a headset and unfolded her copy of Commander Harper’s script. She looked it over for a moment and recited the Maori words in a quiet voice. Then she flipped a switch on the microphone and spoke out loud:
“Awhina mai! Awhina mai! Awhina mai! Ehara matou i o koutou hoariri! Tena koa awhina!”
Silence.
Sarah held a hand to her headset for a moment, and started to reach for her script again, but then her eyes suddenly shot up to me, and she screamed:
“BEHIND YOU!!”
I whipped around, raising my Alloy Cannon just in time to see… something.
At first, I thought the room had caught fire! A brilliant flickering light filled the control room, before it resolved itself into a semitransparent humanoid shape. Two brilliant pinpricks of white light hovered roughly where a person’s eyes would have been, and the entire golden “body” of the creature flickered and blinked as though a small child was clicking a light switch as fast as possible.
“Contact!” I shouted. “I've got an X-Ray here!”
Too late! The golden being reached out and grabbed Matthew! He struggled and swung his hands at the thing, but his fists passed through the alien’s body as though it wasn’t even there! The creature threw Matthew out the doorway and into the garden! As he hit the ground with a loud crash, the alien rounded on me! I fired my Alloy Cannon from the hip, aiming for what I could only guess was the alien’s chest!
The creature’s body blinked into and out of existence three times, and each time it reappeared, it had assumed a different pose; flickering through the act of dodging a bullet! It was like I was looking at a slideshow of some acrobat performing a stunt as this strange new creature dodged my weapon fire!
The yellow flash then dove towards me! I dropped my shotgun and drew my Arc Blade! Swinging the weapon downwards, the electrified sword caught the alien in the shoulder! Just like Matthew, my attack seemed to pass through the alien’s body as though it were just an illusion, but this time, my sword nicked something solid just below the base of the alien’s neck!
At once, with a great rushing of Psionic energy, the alien creature vanished from sight! Then, a second later, I could hear panicked yelling and weapons fire coming from the garden!
I dashed into the atrium to see a fight in progress! The golden alien had reappeared there, and now it had been joined by a second golden alien. The two attackers looked exactly identical, or at least they would have if they weren’t flickering all over the place and leaving blurry afterimages of themselves hanging in the air like ghosts.
Both of the golden aliens had armed themselves with Plasma Rifles and were trading fire with the rest of the squad! Odette ran around the flank and raked one of the golden aliens with her Laser Rifle! The enemy let out a noise like grinding metal and then…
It duplicated itself!
The golden alien lost its humanoid shape for just a moment before reforming into a pair of identical copies of itself! And now there were three golden aliens fighting us in the atrium! One of them raised its Plasma Rifle and opened fire on the ADVENT Burger storefront! Charred plaster and concrete flew through the air as Chihiro emerged from her hiding place and returned fire with her Laser Sniper Rifle! Once again, the alien dodged the incoming fire and teleported away!
We were losing control of the situation! Each time these aliens took a hit, they copied themselves and teleported away! In mere seconds, we were outnumbered and in immediate danger of being outmaneuvered! I saw only one way out!
“PARADOX!” I shouted. “NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!”
A blast of cold and harsh air swept through the atrium as though the whole tower had just been hit by a tornado! Three of the golden aliens vanished immediately, leaving a small hemispherical object behind that fell to the floor with loud clatters. Akira stormed onto the scene! Her Celestial Gauntlets crackled and shone with light as she joined the fray!
“Who the hell woke up a Codex!?” She shouted!
One of the alien creatures fired its weapon at Akira! She caught the plasma projectile in her Gauntlet, infused it with Psionic energy, and then sent it hurtling back towards the enemy! The alien creature got a facefull of its own plasma and duplicated itself at once, sending a new enemy into the fight!
“Oh, I’m so glad to know what they’re called!” Soylent yelled above the gunfire. “Just tell us how to kill these buggers, Sheila!”
Akira impaled a Codex through the neck on her Shard Blades, causing it to disappear completely! Then she drew her Plasma Pistol and shot another Codex between the eyes. It vanished right away!
“Aim high!” Akira yelled. “Aim for the head and neck! You gotta kill it with your first shot or it’ll clone!”
I took cover behind an open door and looked back towards the radio station. The window smashed out from the inside as Sarah engaged a Codex with her own pistol.
“Somebody, guard the radio station!” I shouted. “Nightmare, get back on the microphone!”
Finally, we had whittled the number of enemy Codices down to just six, but as we quickly found out, even a single live Codex could turn the tide of battle. Just when we thought we finally had the enemy figured out, one of the golden aliens broke off from the pack and teleported onto the roof of the ADVENT Burger restaurant. It raised both of its palms towards us!
“Spread out!” Akria shouted. “Everyone scatter!”
The atrium around us darkened and turned purple! The air went heavy and damp, and I could feel as though an electric charge was running through my whole body. We were inside a Psionic Rift!
Before I could say or do anything, the Rift collapsed! My whole body was wracked by a kind of pain I’d never even imagined before! I was as though every nerve in my body was being cut at the same time! Imaginary needles stabbed every inch of my body, but the agony was all too real! My heart cramped violently, and all I saw was stars! I was sure I was going to die, right here and now!
Then, it was over. The pain in my chest lessened, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that I had fallen onto my side. My nails had dug into my palms and my voice was hoarse. But I could see that the enemy Codex was still on top of that damn restaurant! I got to my knees and raised my Alloy Cannon! Aiming down the sights, I pulled the trigger!
Nothing happened.
“Downgrade your guns!” Akira shouted. “These things disable Elerium tech!”
Looking left, I saw that Akira had ditched her Plasma Pistol and Celestial Gauntlets. The rest of the squad had abandoned their Laser and Plasma weapons as well, and were now fighting with old-fashioned conventional weapons. Without her new high-tech rifle, Chihiro was using her Shadowkeeper exclusively. Matthew and Soylent were fighting with compact submachine guns while Odette was covering our flanks with a sawn-off shotgun. I threw away my Alloy Cannon and drew my Arc Blade. I clicked the power switch and saw that the electrified sword failed to activate.
“Shit! I got no weapons!” I shouted.
Hang on, Blake. I gotcha covered!
Chihiro’s voice spoke in my mind, and at the same time I felt a rushing sensation throughout my body! All of the remaining pain in my body ebbed away as I felt Psionic energy envelop me. At first, I was tempted to re-create the Psionic shields Chihiro had given me at Kanna. Then I realized they would be less than helpful against a Codex. I decided to try and use a more offensive technique. Gripping my sword tightly, I struggled to remember the crash course in Psionics that Chihiro and Ignatius had given me. Keeping my mind focused on a single demand, I warped the energies around me into something I wanted:
My sword ignited! Bright blue and purple Soulfire wrapped itself around the blade, licking at the air hungrily. The supernatural flames felt cool to me and burned intensely without consuming my sword or arm. This fire was fed by my own mental energy and it would only burn whatever I commanded it to.
“Thanks, Chi!” I shouted!
Running forward across the atrium, I jumped! My Meld-enhanced legs carried me higher into the air than any normal Human could ever hope to do! At the top of my arc, I was head and shoulders higher than the enemy Codex! It looked up and tried to redirect a Psionic strike at me, but it was too late! I pointed my sword downwards and vented a cone of Soulfire like a blue flamethrower! The Codex shrieked and vanished inside of the inferno!
Falling back to the floor, I kept my head low to avoid Plasma bolts and heard Chihiro shout:
“Blake! Don’t move!”
I froze. A column of white and pink light fell from above and blocked my view of the battle! The Psionic Exchange was over as quickly as it had started! Chihiro and I had traded places, and now I was back in front of the radio station! The door was open, and three Codices were firing their Plasma Rifles into the voice booth!
Once more, I sent a jet of flame into the enemy! The control room blazed like an out-of-control furnace as blue and purple flames roiled forth from the shattered windows! Satisfied the enemy was dead. I tried to banish the flames. Sweeping my hand aside just like Chihiro had shown me, I expected the raging Soulfire to vanish into smoke… but nothing happened! My stomach lurched as I tried to will the fire away, but there was no effect. The office continued to burn, and around the edges of the windows, the blue and purple flames shifted to an orange-red color.
“Chi! How do I make it stop!?”
“Outta my way! Before you burn us all!”
Akira shoved me to one side and raised her hand! Like a dog returning to its master, the Soulfire inferno leapt through the air and into Akira’s palm, vanishing from view as she closed her fist.
“You need a lotta practice, Dad.”
Plasma weapon fire made both of us run inside the office and put our heads down behind cover. Four more Codices were outside!
“How long are these things going to keep coming!?” I yelled at Akira. “We must have killed a whole squad of those things by now!
She pointed to the control computer. It was singed and the edges of the screen were melted, but it was clearly still functioning.
“We’ve just gotta turn that thing off and they’ll stop! Kill the power!”
“We can’t do that yet!” I responded. “Let me check on Nightmare! Cover me!”
Akira nodded and raised a telekinetic shield around the radio control room, shutting out the enemy for a few moments. Keeping my head low, I moved across the room to the voice booth! Sarah was still there. She had kicked over a table and was sheltering behind it. With one hand she gripped a pistol, while with the other, she was talking frantically into the microphone:
“Ka taea e koe te whakarongo ki ahau?” “He maarama koe ki ahau?”
She looked up at me.
“There’s someone on the other end!” Sarah said. “Listen!”
I reached out and took the headphones. Pause. For a moment, all I could hear was the dull thudding of gunfire from the other side of the atrium. Then, it finally happend: someone replied!
“Ka taea e ahau te whakarongo ki a koe.” Said a female voice through the receiver. “Ko Kailani Kalili toku ingoa. Kei konei matou ki te awhina ia koe. Kei te hiahia awhina koe?”
My eyes widened in shock and I looked down at Sarah.
“Well!?” I said hurriedly. “What are they saying? What does it mean!?”
Sarah took the headset and listened closely.
“They say that they can hear us,” Sarah said slowly. “And the speaker says her name is ‘Kalili,’ I think. She's asking if we need help!”
“Wait!” Akira shouted. “Did you just say Kalili?”
In that fraction of a second, Akira’s concentration broke! Her Psionic shield failed, and we were back in the thick of battle! Sarah screamed and ducked down behind cover again as another Codex made a run at the radio control room! I grabbed Sarah’s pistol and emptied the magazine into the Codex’s head! On my left, a blast from a Plasma Rifle caught Akira in the shoulder and she fell over backwards. Scrambling back to her feet, Akira sent the offending Codex flying through the air with a quick burst of mental power!
Looking around, I realized the situation had gotten even more desperate. About twenty Codices had flooded into the atrium and more were materializing in the hallways! Odette, Chihiro, Soylent, and Matthew had given up the atrium entirely and were now fighting from storefronts.
“Trojan!” Akira shouted. “The longer that computer stays online, the more Codices we’re going to attract! These things live inside the computer network! We’re gonna get overwhelmed! We’ve gotta cut our losses and get out of here!”
“Nightmare!” I shouted. “You’ve got two minutes to say what you’ve gotta say and then we’re pulling the plug!”
“Copy all!” Sarah yelled back from her hiding place.
“Stormbreakers!” I shouted. “Nightmare needs cover! Move out and draw fire!”
To take the heat off Sarah, we would have to present ourselves as better targets. It was our only option.
Odette, Matthew, Chihiro, Akira, Soylent, and I all broke cover and went on the attack! The garden shriveled and withered as Chihiro, Akira and I torched the battleground with Soulfire! The glass façade of the tower finally shattered when Soylent held down the trigger of his submachine gun, a fountain exploded in a great cascade when a shot from Odette’s sawn-off shotgun went astray!
One after another, Codices went down! But after the first thirty seconds or so, the tide turned as the enemy refocused on us! Odette’s longstanding habit of trying to flank the enemy alone finally backfired on her! Three Codices concentrated their fire and managed to hit her in the thigh! Odette dropped to her hands and knees and crawled behind an elevator shaft, leaving a trail of blood behind her. The enemy never got a chance to finish her off, though. On my order, Soylent and Chihiro both moved in for the rescue! While Chihiro kept the enemy locked in place with her Shadowkeeper, Soylent pulled Odette to safety and put a tourniquet on her leg.
Matthew was the next soldier on our side to go down. He stepped out from behind the deep fryer in the ADVENT Burger restaurant to shoot at the enemy, only to get caught in the chest by an alert Codex! His armor pulverized, Matthew fell over behind the kitchen equipment, in a great deal of pain but thankfully still alive.
Akira, who was already injured, took another hit! This time a Codex shot her in the back while she was moving to help Chihiro, and she replied with the most vengeful retribution! Slamming her hand to the floor, bright purple tendrils snaked their way across the floor, erupted upwards and seized the Codex! Akira siphoned Psionic energy off the trapped enemy and used it to quickly mend her own wounds, all the while keeping herself and Sarah hidden behind a telekinetic shield.
Two soldiers down and another unable to move, our team had finally run out of options. It was time for me to make one of the most difficult choices a Squad Leader ever has to make.
“Everyone back on me!” I shouted. “We’re bugging out!”
I dashed back to the radio station control room one last time. There was an ominous bloodstain on the wall and several Codex “remains” on the floor when I got there. Akira was kneeling behind cover with Sarah. The New Zealander had been shot in the stomach and was coughing blood, but didn’t seem to care. She was writing something on a slip of paper as she listened to the headset.
“We’re out of time!” I shouted. “Drop what you’re doing and let’s get out of here!”
Sarah looked at Akira, and then at me.
“I’m done here!” Sarah said.
Akira straightened up.
“Move, Dad!” She yelled. “I’m killing these damn things!”
Akira drew her arm back and I side-stepped out of her line of fire! A Psi Volt arced away from Akira’s hand and struck the computer! The monitor exploded and flames erupted from the back of the box! Without its central mainframe, the radio station’s systems all died instantly.
Outside, there was a brief but noticeable lull in weapons fire.
“The computer’s out!” Akira said. “With the network down, there won’t be any new Codices. Kill the ones already out there, and we’re home free!”
“We’re not staying here!” I countered. “We’re gonna call the Skyranger and evac-”
“NO!” Sarah shouted.
The Private pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket and showed me.
“The Triple Alliance is coming now!” She said. “They’ve sent a QRF! They’re going to engage ADVENT’s forces around the tower! We’ve gotta stay put or they might accidentally hit us!”
“Oh, shit!” I breathed.
At that moment, under a storm of cover fire, Chihiro, Soylent, Matthew, and Odette all rejoined us. Odette and Matthew, unable to fight, quickly took shelter inside the control room alongside Akira and Sarah.
“Guys, new plan.” I said. “We can’t bug out. We gotta stand here. Vampire, Alecto, Paradox. You stay here with Nightmare and cover us. Blue Dragon, Soylent, you and I will play forward defense! We’ve gotta hold here until the Partogans arrive!”
“They’re coming!?” Chihiro gasped. “Here? Now!?”
“Here and now!” Sarah said. “We just gotta buy more time!”
A Plasma bolt sailed over our heads and hit a balcony above the radio station. Sparks and flames rained down on us. I grabbed Odette’s backpack and produced a few of her favorite weapons: Proximity Mines. Passing them to Soylent, I said:
“Mine the right flank, there’s a lot of open space over there. Blue Dragon, get up high and give us eyes!”
“Right.”
“Moving!”
The squad took up their positions for one last fight. By now, my eyes had gotten used to the flashes of golden light that accompanied a teleporting Codex. Using our shared powers, Chihiro and I were able to keep more of the enemy force at bay for about a minute, and once the rest of the squad was in their new fighting positions, a storm of gunfire forced the enemy to retreat to a safe distance and take poorly aimed potshots at us.
Hunkered down behind cover in a smashed-up department store, I got on my radio and called the Red Team:
“Doctor Freud, Trojan here, we’ve accomplished our primary objectives and are holding position. Be advised: Allies unknown are approaching from orbit! Stay in the building! Do not go outside! I repeat! DO NOT go outside!”
“Copy all, Trojan!” Yutaka replied. “I’ll pass on the word to our Resistance friends to seek shelter at once! We’ll hold here until you evac.”
A sudden burst of gunfire forced me to put my head down again! The last remaining Codices were pushing our positions again! The air itself was now superheated with plasma weapons fire! The garden itself was an inferno, the central tree crowned with a ring of flames! A powerful telekinetic wave rippled out from the spot here Chihiro was hiding, sending a half-dozen Codices flying!
Then, all at once, all of the remaining Codices suddenly teleported away! The flash of golden light that accompanied the sudden move was blinding! We all closed our eyes and hid behind cover, waiting for blinding light to fade!
“For your sins against the Gods…” said a deep rumbling voice. “You have been judged.”
I opened my eyes. My heart seemed to skip every other beat as I looked up and saw exactly who had just appeared in the center of the burning garden, surrounded by a bodyguard of Codices.
Kon-Mon Dessurik, the Elder’s Chosen Warlock, clenched his fists at us. Soulfire enveloped his arms, and arcs of energy jumped from his body. And when he spoke, it was as though he projected an aura of fear and terror throughout all of our hearts and minds.
“And I… am your punishment.”
“It’s the Warlock!” I shouted to my squad! “Take him out before he takes us out!”
Dessurik’s Codex escort flickered away as all seven of us trained a hailstorm of psionic and conventional weapon’s fire against him! The Chosen Warlock swept our attack to one side with ease and then sent his own assault our way!
Once again, the seemingly endless horde of Codices began to attack, but this time, they were augmented by the Warlock’s Spectral Wraiths! Two at a time, the semi-corporeal warriors rose from the floor and joined the assault! Slashing my Soulfire sword back and forth, I felled two Wraiths and a Codex before finally backing away from my position! Chihiro and Akira both waged a fighting retreat towards the radio station!
“Squad, gimme an ammo check!” I shouted over the cacophony.
“Two mags left!” Soylent yelled.
“Last mag!” Matthew hollered.
“Black on ammo!” Sarah screamed.
Chihiro spun on her feet and tossed the Shadowkeeper into the control room. Sarah scooped up the ancient pistol and sent rounds towards the enemy right away. Chihiro, Akira, and I were now completely disarmed and were fighting with Psionics only. I finally gave up on using Soulfire and set up a wide telekinetic shield, offering cover for Chihiro and Akira while they launched one devastating attack after another.
Standing back to back, the two women were a force unto themselves on the battlefield. Lances, Volts, Soulfire, all erupted violently out from underneath the umbrella of my shield. Codices and Wraiths alike converged on us, stepping right through the outer perimeter of my shield!
“Hang on!” Akira shouted!
She pointed to the floor and then lifted her hand skyward. A shimmering purple obelisk rose up in front of us! It was a construct of Psionic energy made solid!
“Get to cover!” Akira shouted, “Come on!”
Chihiro and I pressed our shoulders to the shimmering transparent wall, blasting anything that dared to come around the sides! Together, Chihiro and I telekinetically pushed a Codex right out of a shattered window! It fell two thousand feet to the base of the tower! Then we turned our shared powers against one of the Warlock’s Wraiths! The spectral attacker grabbed its head with both hands and quite literally went to pieces!
“Hell yeah!” Akira screamed. “That’s the Mom and Dad I remember!”
Chihiro and I both paused to look at one another.
“Holy shit,” Chihiro panted. “We’re really gonna be parents, aren’t we?”
We hesitated for a moment too long. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Chosen Warlock finally get around our left flank! He unshouldered some kind of alien assault rifle, took aim, and fired!
Chihiro was hit twice, once in the back and once in the forearm! The sound of her arm breaking was louder than the gunshot itself! Chihiro gasped and fell forward into my chest, her right arm hanging useless at her side! By the time Dessurik had lined up a second shot, Akira and I had already moved! I raised one hand to launch Soulfire at the Warlock, but nothing happened! Chihiro’s concentration was broken, which meant my own powers were gone! I let my legs give out and I lowered Chihiro to the floor while Akira raised another Psionic pillar between the Chosen and us!
“Even the crudest weapons have their place in battle.” The Warlock growled as he shouldered his weapon and closed in on the three of us!
“Akira! Take that thing down!”
“My goddamn pleasure.”
Akira lunged out from behind cover and attacked the Warlock! Even though she had no Gauntlets or Amplifiers of any kind, she managed to hold her own, reflecting and absorbing all of Dessurik’s attacks while launching a few of her own.
Meanwhile, all around us, the rest of the battle was still raging. Soylent, Matthew, Odette, and Sarah were all crouched down in what remained of the radio station, firing their weapons at anything that moved. But as I opened up my first aid pack and wrapped a tourniquet around Chihiro’s arm, our teammates made it clear that the situation was no longer tenable:
“Harris! Where the hell are the Partogans!?” Matthew yelled. “You said they were coming!”
“I don’t know!” Sarah screamed. “They said they were sending someone!”
“That’s a tracer!” Soylent yelled over his own gunfire. “I’ve got six rounds left! Trojan, we gotta bail!”
“We can’t wait anymore!” Matthew called to me. “Trojan, if we stay here, we’re gonna die!”
“We’re two thousand feet up!” I called back. “We’ve got nowhere to run! I’m calling for help!”
I grabbed my radio and shouted:
“Freud! It’s Trojan! We are overrun! I say again! Overrun! The Chosen Warlock is here! Send help!”
Yutaka responded quickly.
“Negative! Cannot comply! We’ve got problems of our own down here, Trojan!”
“We are getting killed up here!” I roared into the radio, spitting desperation! “We’re outnumbered and they’re right on top of us! Send Jericho up here right now!”
“I have men down and more hostiles on the way! We’re in danger as well! Do your best and we’ll get to you when we can!”
I cursed with every profanity in the English language. Grabbing my sword, I stood over Chihiro and guarded her as best I could, shouting to my troops:
“THERE AIN’T NO CAVALRY COMIN’ FOR US!! DEFEND THIS POSITION AT ALL COSTS!!”
PS: Can you find the Star Wars reference in this chapter? (Hint: It's one of Han Solo's classic lines from the original trilogy)
======
Chapter 17
Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth
Sunday, July 15, 2035 6:00am
“You’re listening to Radio Xuhui, your only source for news, music, and more in the East Asian Ward, broadcasting from the one-hundred-twenty-seventh floor of Shanghai Tower. My name is Mingli, and it’s six in the morning. Here’s the news: Tragedy struck yesterday as another loyal ADVENT citizen was brutally murdered by XCOM criminals. Gene Therapist Sun Jianzhong was gunned down by rebel fighters while he was conducting a house call to a young child in the Lijuazui District. Juanzhong is survived by his wife and brother. A memorial service is being planned for ten o’clock in the morning next Monday. Attendance is mandatory for all citizens who maintained daily contact with him. Our next story comes from the west coast of North America, where…”
There was no static, no beeping and no surprised voices. For tens of millions of people in Mainland China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Home Islands, their radios suddenly went silent. At almost the same moment, television screens began to flicker as the hijacking of the airwaves took full effect. In city squares and parks, the holographic projections of newscasters and ADVENT politicians abruptly disappeared, leaving the skies clear and laypeople perplexed. In cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Busan, Tokyo, Osaka, and Hiroshima, everyday life came to a complete standstill as citizens of the Megacities took note of the interruption.
Then, quickly, all over the world… the interruption spread like wildfire.
Radios, televisions, and holographic projectors all went offline. The airwaves died as an unnerving silence radiated out from northeastern China. In New York, businessmen stepped away from their desks to watch as thousands of pedestrians stood still in the streets, their eyes fixed on electronic screens that had not gone dark in over two decades. In London, men and women nervously looked out their windows and into the rain, alarmed by the sudden failure of their in-home entertainment systems. In Cairo, the streets suddenly emptied out as everybody raced to find a screen and see what happened next.
Within two minutes, every radio and television on Earth was off the air.
And then… they came back!
Situated on a blue field, a white cross with three stars appeared, the symbol of the Resistance. Although the image never changed, a voice spoke. It was first heard in China, and then radiated out across the rest of the world!
“Soldiers, freedom fighters, men and women of the Free Earth! Hear me now!”
The voice of Duane Gardner rolled across the Earth. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world startled as they recognized his voice and nervously looked around at their friends and family.
“Today we will inaugurate the greatest battle in the history of our species!” Duane spoke to the Earth. “A conflict our kind has hurtled toward for the past twenty years! In company with our mysterious allies from the stars, we will bring about the destruction of the ADVENT war machine and end the tyranny of the so-called Elders! At long last, we will seek justice for the untold millions of our friends and family who entered a Gene Therapy Clinic and never returned! We will avenge our brothers and sisters who lost their lives protecting the innocent from the Chosen and their death squads! We will see the sun rise on a world restored to its people!”
In eastern China, a squad of ADVENT Peacekeepers used breaching charges to force their way inside of a radio station on the outskirts of Beijing. The crew who normally worked there was found locked in a supply closet, but nobody was at the controls. The pirate signal was coming from somewhere else! This scene quickly repeated itself all over East Asia as the enemy desperately tried to shut down the pirate broadcast while Duane continued talking:
“This battle will not be easy. Our enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. They will give us no quarter and we will show none in return! This fight will be savage and bloody! But we are now a greater force than the one which fought the so-called Elders twenty years ago! The United Nations of Earth have faced the ADVENT Coalition in the field of battle and claimed victory! Our soldiers have fought and defeated the Elder’s Chosen, proving once and for all that our enemy is not invincible! The tide has turned and the people of Earth now march together to our freedom!”
In Chongqing, Delhi, Istanbul and Lagos, overeager freedom fighters didn’t wait for the go-signal. Explosions tore through those cities as ADVENT vehicles and checkpoints were blown sky-high! The entire city of Baltimore descended into looting and anarchy as the civilian populace realized what was about to happen. Gunfire erupted in Kinshasa, Tokyo, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, and Riyadh! A tunnel bomb threw Los Angeles into chaos! Buenos Aires never got the go-signal at all: rebels destroyed the local power plant and threw the entire city into darkness before Duane uttered the agreed-upon words that would launch the global uprising:
“I have faith in you, my brothers and sisters. Faith in your courage. Faith in your skill! Today, we will show our enemy the true strength and power of Humanity! We will Crack the Sky! We will Shake the Earth! We will fight until our world is free!”
At once, in every continent and every Megacity, over one million soldiers, guerrillas, rebels, and freedom fighters emerged from their hiding places and took the war to ADVENT. This would either be the greatest battle in history… or the final week of Humanity’s existence.
Caption said:
Sunday, July 15, 2035 10:30am
Shanghai, Mainland China, East Asia
“Two minutes, Blue Team!”
Wendy sealed the Skyranger’s cockpit door and maneuvered the ship into its final approach of the mission area. In the deployment bay, Chihiro, Matthew, Akira, Odette, and Soylent checked over their equipment one last time while I reviewed the upcoming mission with our VIP, Private Sarah Harris.
“The Commander wrote a script for me.” Sarah said. “She says she wants me to translate it directly into Maori and transmit the message to that alien fleet coming this way.”
“What the hell makes Harper think the aliens will understand Maori?” I asked.
“She’s using Jericho’s database.” Akira chimed in. “It contained a lot of information about the Partogans, including the fact that they’ll understand Maori.”
“That doesn’t explain ‘why’ that’s the case.” I replied.
“Trust me, it’s kinda freaky.” Akira said. “The only way to know is to see for yourself, Blake. When you meet the Partogans, it’ll make sense. Let’s just keep Harris safe while she makes contact with ‘em.”
The Skyranger rattled as Wendy throttled down the engines. In front of us, the deployment ramp began to drop. Everyone checked their rappelling gear one last time.
“Thirty seconds!”
“We’re on mission now!” I shouted to my team. “Stay low, cover each other’s six, and callsigns only from here on out!”
“Wait, what’s mine!?” Sarah said. “Do I get a cool name like you guys?”
“We’re gonna call you ‘Nightmare’ because escorting VIP’s is the fucking worst!” Soylent shouted back. “Just keep your head down and try not to get shot!”
The deployment ramp fell all the way open and an incredible sight was laid out before us: the battle for Shanghai was already in full swing down below.
Caption said:
A massive uprising had gripped the city. Smoke and flames billowed from homes and skyscrapers alike while the streets were swarmed with rioters, rebels, and looters. The Skyranger bypassed most of the fighting and closed in on what had been the financial district twenty years ago. The Huangpu River snaked back and forth throughout the city, and at one point, it turned almost 270 degrees in a great curve, creating a small peninsula in the middle of the city. This little spit of land was dominated by a series of massive skyscrapers that reached well over two-thousand feet into the air.
“That’s our target! Ten seconds!”
I pointed towards Shanghai Tower, a skyscraper from the early 2000’s that stood out from the rest due to its unique shape. It looked as though the building has been twisted like a piece of licorice. An unmistakably alien antenna system had been erected on the rooftop.
“Not a lot of real estate on this roof!” Wendy called back to us. “I can’t land! Get ready to fast-rope down!”
With a loud whirring sound, the winch quickly extended six thick cables towards the rooftop while the Skyranger began to hover in place. Everyone except me hooked up. Gripping the overhead railing tightly, I waited for the red deployment light to turn green. When it finally did, I shouted:
“We’re green! Commence air assault! Go! Go! Go!”
Akira jumped off the deployment ramp, keeping a tight grip on her rappelling harness, and fast-roped down to the rooftop. Soylent, Chihiro, Sarah, Odette, and Matthew all followed suit. I did one last look to make sure everyone had jumped, and then I hooked up.
“See you when it’s over, Firebrand!” I shouted. Then I jumped.
Hitting the roof of Shanghai Tower, I disconnected my rappelling harness and watched as the Skyranger flew away, disappearing into the clouds of acrid black smoke that hung low over the burning city. From up here, the battle raging below sounded like a far-off firework show or thunderstorm, full of deep rumbling thunder and soft little pops.
While Odette and Matthew secured a nearby roof access door, I pushed the talk button on my radio:
“Doctor Freud, this is Trojan. Blue Team has secured the roof and are moving down towards the radio station.”
“Good work, Trojan.” Replied the voice of Yutaka Yamamoto. “We’ve locked down the ground floor. All entrances and stairwells are under our control. My team is destroying the elevators right now. You should have all the time you need up there.”
…
The interior layout of Shanghai Tower is what allowed the building to survive the rise of the ADVENT Coalition. On almost every floor, in between the central core of office space and the inside wall of the glass façade, there are wide-open spaces meant for public use that are filled with atriums, gardens, café’s and restaurants. A small town of 15,000 could have lived in this building comfortably and hardly anyone would have felt the urge to go outside. This wide-open layout was already in-line with the way ADVENT designed and built their Megacities, so Shanghai Tower was allowed to remain standing.
Caption said:
Moving into the building, we found ourselves in an arboretum below a glass ceiling. The sight and smell of trees, grass, and flowers made us all a little uneasy. Odette recovered first and led the way, keeping her new Laser Rifle at the ready. A column of hot air shot out of a nearby elevator door, followed by a deep reverberating boom! It was confirmation that Red Team had destroyed the elevator system.
“Radio station’s one floor below us.” Matthew said. “Keep moving to the stairwell.”
The top floor of Shanghai Tower was completely deserted. We crossed it quickly and found a staircase. Chihiro held up a hand to stop the team.
“Cover me while I throw a Battle Scanner.”
Chihiro dropped the little sphere down the middle of the stairwell and then pulled a small tablet computer out her pocket and studied the screen.
“The floor below us is clear, but there are about four thousand civilians hiding all throughout the building. A lot of them are using the comms system to call for help. Some of them are calling for ADVENT Peacekeepers.”
Cursing, I grabbed my radio.
“Freud, what’s your situation?”
“Enemy jabbers have got the building surrounded and they’re trying to force their way in, but we’re dug into good positions and the enemy doesn’t know we’re here! We can hold all day if we have to!”
“Stay dug in and don’t take risks.” I said. “We think enemy reinforcements are on the way to you now!”
Hal Macintosh’s voice sounded over the radio.
“Well bring 'em on, I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around!”
My team dashed down the stairs and fanned out into the next floor. First we passed by the tuned mass damper, a device designed to stop skyscrapers from vibrating or swaying in the wind. Then we ran past a concert hall, around a corner, and found ourselves in a large garden. On one side of the rows of flowers and shrubs was an ADVENT Burger fast-food restaurant. Odette plucked a half-eaten burger from a table and wolfed it down in two bites. She smiled at us and shrugged her shoulders.
“Oh, man.” Sarah commented. “That’s the one thing I miss about my old life. Ever since I joined the Resistance, I haven’t gotten to eat any of those damn juicy ADVENT Burgers.”
Matthew picked up an ADVENT Burger wrapper and sniffed it.
“I know everyone says these hamburgers are really delicious.” He said, “But when was the last time anyone here saw a cow?”
“I dunno. Twenty years ago?” Soylent offered. “Definitely before the invasion, that’s for sure.”
“Guys!” Chihiro hissed. “That’s it!”
The radio station was on the other side of the garden. It looked like a small office area with only three rooms and a single door that opened onto the garden. Unfortunately, that door was locked.
“Blue Dragon, check if anyone’s home.”
“Battle Scanner, coming up!”
Chihiro wound her arm back, lifted one leg into the air, and threw the sphere exactly like a baseball pitcher would! It smashed through one of the radio station’s windows and made a loud beeping sound while Chihiro looked at her tablet again.
“No one’s home.” She said. “It’s empty.”
“Goddamnit, that was a helluva throw.” Sarah said. “Were you, like, an athlete before the war or something?”
“I played baseball in school.” Chihiro replied as she pushed the door open. “That was before the Soviet Union invaded Japan, long time ago.”
The radio station was a cramped little place, so it didn’t take long for us to find the computer that controlled the antenna array on the roof.
“Here’s the plan.” I told the group. “Alecto, hack into the computer and give us control. Nightmare, you step into the booth and get set up by the microphone. We’ll tell you when we’re live. Vampire, Blue Dragon, and Soylent, you three are on Overwatch. Set up overlapping crossfire between that tree in the garden and the ADVENT Burger meat locker. Those rooms are practically bulletproof! Paradox, I want you guarding that stairwell. Anybody tries to come up here, you turn them to ash, am I clear?”
“Got it.” Akira said.
“Wilco.” Soylent replied.
“Roger-dodger.” Matthew said.
“On it.” Chihiro said.
The team fanned out. While Matthew started tapping away at the computer system, I checked in with the Red Team on my own radio:
Yutaka told me that his team had made contact with the enemy, and that ADVENT’s first assault on Shanghai Tower had been repulsed easily.
“The ADVENT Army troops are pulling back.” Yutaka said. “Now they’re starting to bring up some alien units instead. We’re fighting Sectoids, Vipers, Faceless, and Mutons down here.”
“How long can you hold?” I asked. “We just reached our objective here.”
“We’ve got this handled!” Yutaka replied. “We can hold them here for as long as we want! Just get your job done.”
To my left, Matthew let out an excited laugh.
“We’re almost in!” He said. “Just a few more lines…”
Then he froze.
“Shit!” Matthew shouted. “Shit! Aw, fuck!”
“What’s up?” I said. “What happened!?”
“I don’t know how, but it looks like I just tripped some kind of silent alarm!” Matthew said.
He tapped a few words into the keyboard and then pressed an icon on the screen with his thumb. A message popped up on the computer screen.
“Here it is,” Matthew said. “‘Attempted to access a local Codex with an unrecognized user ID.’ I’ve got no idea what that means, but it looks like we still have control of the antenna. Tell Nightmare she can go live whenever she wants.”
I crossed the room and tapped the glass window separating the control room from the voice booth.
“Start talking, Nightmare!” I said. “And pray the Partogans are listening!”
Sarah donned a headset and unfolded her copy of Commander Harper’s script. She looked it over for a moment and recited the Maori words in a quiet voice. Then she flipped a switch on the microphone and spoke out loud:
“Awhina mai! Awhina mai! Awhina mai! Ehara matou i o koutou hoariri! Tena koa awhina!”
Silence.
Sarah held a hand to her headset for a moment, and started to reach for her script again, but then her eyes suddenly shot up to me, and she screamed:
“BEHIND YOU!!”
I whipped around, raising my Alloy Cannon just in time to see… something.
At first, I thought the room had caught fire! A brilliant flickering light filled the control room, before it resolved itself into a semitransparent humanoid shape. Two brilliant pinpricks of white light hovered roughly where a person’s eyes would have been, and the entire golden “body” of the creature flickered and blinked as though a small child was clicking a light switch as fast as possible.
Caption said:
“Contact!” I shouted. “I've got an X-Ray here!”
Too late! The golden being reached out and grabbed Matthew! He struggled and swung his hands at the thing, but his fists passed through the alien’s body as though it wasn’t even there! The creature threw Matthew out the doorway and into the garden! As he hit the ground with a loud crash, the alien rounded on me! I fired my Alloy Cannon from the hip, aiming for what I could only guess was the alien’s chest!
The creature’s body blinked into and out of existence three times, and each time it reappeared, it had assumed a different pose; flickering through the act of dodging a bullet! It was like I was looking at a slideshow of some acrobat performing a stunt as this strange new creature dodged my weapon fire!
The yellow flash then dove towards me! I dropped my shotgun and drew my Arc Blade! Swinging the weapon downwards, the electrified sword caught the alien in the shoulder! Just like Matthew, my attack seemed to pass through the alien’s body as though it were just an illusion, but this time, my sword nicked something solid just below the base of the alien’s neck!
At once, with a great rushing of Psionic energy, the alien creature vanished from sight! Then, a second later, I could hear panicked yelling and weapons fire coming from the garden!
I dashed into the atrium to see a fight in progress! The golden alien had reappeared there, and now it had been joined by a second golden alien. The two attackers looked exactly identical, or at least they would have if they weren’t flickering all over the place and leaving blurry afterimages of themselves hanging in the air like ghosts.
Both of the golden aliens had armed themselves with Plasma Rifles and were trading fire with the rest of the squad! Odette ran around the flank and raked one of the golden aliens with her Laser Rifle! The enemy let out a noise like grinding metal and then…
It duplicated itself!
The golden alien lost its humanoid shape for just a moment before reforming into a pair of identical copies of itself! And now there were three golden aliens fighting us in the atrium! One of them raised its Plasma Rifle and opened fire on the ADVENT Burger storefront! Charred plaster and concrete flew through the air as Chihiro emerged from her hiding place and returned fire with her Laser Sniper Rifle! Once again, the alien dodged the incoming fire and teleported away!
We were losing control of the situation! Each time these aliens took a hit, they copied themselves and teleported away! In mere seconds, we were outnumbered and in immediate danger of being outmaneuvered! I saw only one way out!
“PARADOX!” I shouted. “NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!”
A blast of cold and harsh air swept through the atrium as though the whole tower had just been hit by a tornado! Three of the golden aliens vanished immediately, leaving a small hemispherical object behind that fell to the floor with loud clatters. Akira stormed onto the scene! Her Celestial Gauntlets crackled and shone with light as she joined the fray!
“Who the hell woke up a Codex!?” She shouted!
One of the alien creatures fired its weapon at Akira! She caught the plasma projectile in her Gauntlet, infused it with Psionic energy, and then sent it hurtling back towards the enemy! The alien creature got a facefull of its own plasma and duplicated itself at once, sending a new enemy into the fight!
“Oh, I’m so glad to know what they’re called!” Soylent yelled above the gunfire. “Just tell us how to kill these buggers, Sheila!”
Akira impaled a Codex through the neck on her Shard Blades, causing it to disappear completely! Then she drew her Plasma Pistol and shot another Codex between the eyes. It vanished right away!
“Aim high!” Akira yelled. “Aim for the head and neck! You gotta kill it with your first shot or it’ll clone!”
I took cover behind an open door and looked back towards the radio station. The window smashed out from the inside as Sarah engaged a Codex with her own pistol.
“Somebody, guard the radio station!” I shouted. “Nightmare, get back on the microphone!”
Finally, we had whittled the number of enemy Codices down to just six, but as we quickly found out, even a single live Codex could turn the tide of battle. Just when we thought we finally had the enemy figured out, one of the golden aliens broke off from the pack and teleported onto the roof of the ADVENT Burger restaurant. It raised both of its palms towards us!
“Spread out!” Akria shouted. “Everyone scatter!”
The atrium around us darkened and turned purple! The air went heavy and damp, and I could feel as though an electric charge was running through my whole body. We were inside a Psionic Rift!
Before I could say or do anything, the Rift collapsed! My whole body was wracked by a kind of pain I’d never even imagined before! I was as though every nerve in my body was being cut at the same time! Imaginary needles stabbed every inch of my body, but the agony was all too real! My heart cramped violently, and all I saw was stars! I was sure I was going to die, right here and now!
Then, it was over. The pain in my chest lessened, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that I had fallen onto my side. My nails had dug into my palms and my voice was hoarse. But I could see that the enemy Codex was still on top of that damn restaurant! I got to my knees and raised my Alloy Cannon! Aiming down the sights, I pulled the trigger!
Nothing happened.
“Downgrade your guns!” Akira shouted. “These things disable Elerium tech!”
Looking left, I saw that Akira had ditched her Plasma Pistol and Celestial Gauntlets. The rest of the squad had abandoned their Laser and Plasma weapons as well, and were now fighting with old-fashioned conventional weapons. Without her new high-tech rifle, Chihiro was using her Shadowkeeper exclusively. Matthew and Soylent were fighting with compact submachine guns while Odette was covering our flanks with a sawn-off shotgun. I threw away my Alloy Cannon and drew my Arc Blade. I clicked the power switch and saw that the electrified sword failed to activate.
“Shit! I got no weapons!” I shouted.
Hang on, Blake. I gotcha covered!
Chihiro’s voice spoke in my mind, and at the same time I felt a rushing sensation throughout my body! All of the remaining pain in my body ebbed away as I felt Psionic energy envelop me. At first, I was tempted to re-create the Psionic shields Chihiro had given me at Kanna. Then I realized they would be less than helpful against a Codex. I decided to try and use a more offensive technique. Gripping my sword tightly, I struggled to remember the crash course in Psionics that Chihiro and Ignatius had given me. Keeping my mind focused on a single demand, I warped the energies around me into something I wanted:
My sword ignited! Bright blue and purple Soulfire wrapped itself around the blade, licking at the air hungrily. The supernatural flames felt cool to me and burned intensely without consuming my sword or arm. This fire was fed by my own mental energy and it would only burn whatever I commanded it to.
“Thanks, Chi!” I shouted!
Running forward across the atrium, I jumped! My Meld-enhanced legs carried me higher into the air than any normal Human could ever hope to do! At the top of my arc, I was head and shoulders higher than the enemy Codex! It looked up and tried to redirect a Psionic strike at me, but it was too late! I pointed my sword downwards and vented a cone of Soulfire like a blue flamethrower! The Codex shrieked and vanished inside of the inferno!
Falling back to the floor, I kept my head low to avoid Plasma bolts and heard Chihiro shout:
“Blake! Don’t move!”
I froze. A column of white and pink light fell from above and blocked my view of the battle! The Psionic Exchange was over as quickly as it had started! Chihiro and I had traded places, and now I was back in front of the radio station! The door was open, and three Codices were firing their Plasma Rifles into the voice booth!
Once more, I sent a jet of flame into the enemy! The control room blazed like an out-of-control furnace as blue and purple flames roiled forth from the shattered windows! Satisfied the enemy was dead. I tried to banish the flames. Sweeping my hand aside just like Chihiro had shown me, I expected the raging Soulfire to vanish into smoke… but nothing happened! My stomach lurched as I tried to will the fire away, but there was no effect. The office continued to burn, and around the edges of the windows, the blue and purple flames shifted to an orange-red color.
“Chi! How do I make it stop!?”
“Outta my way! Before you burn us all!”
Akira shoved me to one side and raised her hand! Like a dog returning to its master, the Soulfire inferno leapt through the air and into Akira’s palm, vanishing from view as she closed her fist.
“You need a lotta practice, Dad.”
Plasma weapon fire made both of us run inside the office and put our heads down behind cover. Four more Codices were outside!
“How long are these things going to keep coming!?” I yelled at Akira. “We must have killed a whole squad of those things by now!
She pointed to the control computer. It was singed and the edges of the screen were melted, but it was clearly still functioning.
“We’ve just gotta turn that thing off and they’ll stop! Kill the power!”
“We can’t do that yet!” I responded. “Let me check on Nightmare! Cover me!”
Akira nodded and raised a telekinetic shield around the radio control room, shutting out the enemy for a few moments. Keeping my head low, I moved across the room to the voice booth! Sarah was still there. She had kicked over a table and was sheltering behind it. With one hand she gripped a pistol, while with the other, she was talking frantically into the microphone:
“Ka taea e koe te whakarongo ki ahau?” “He maarama koe ki ahau?”
She looked up at me.
“There’s someone on the other end!” Sarah said. “Listen!”
I reached out and took the headphones. Pause. For a moment, all I could hear was the dull thudding of gunfire from the other side of the atrium. Then, it finally happend: someone replied!
“Ka taea e ahau te whakarongo ki a koe.” Said a female voice through the receiver. “Ko Kailani Kalili toku ingoa. Kei konei matou ki te awhina ia koe. Kei te hiahia awhina koe?”
My eyes widened in shock and I looked down at Sarah.
“Well!?” I said hurriedly. “What are they saying? What does it mean!?”
Sarah took the headset and listened closely.
“They say that they can hear us,” Sarah said slowly. “And the speaker says her name is ‘Kalili,’ I think. She's asking if we need help!”
“Wait!” Akira shouted. “Did you just say Kalili?”
In that fraction of a second, Akira’s concentration broke! Her Psionic shield failed, and we were back in the thick of battle! Sarah screamed and ducked down behind cover again as another Codex made a run at the radio control room! I grabbed Sarah’s pistol and emptied the magazine into the Codex’s head! On my left, a blast from a Plasma Rifle caught Akira in the shoulder and she fell over backwards. Scrambling back to her feet, Akira sent the offending Codex flying through the air with a quick burst of mental power!
Looking around, I realized the situation had gotten even more desperate. About twenty Codices had flooded into the atrium and more were materializing in the hallways! Odette, Chihiro, Soylent, and Matthew had given up the atrium entirely and were now fighting from storefronts.
“Trojan!” Akira shouted. “The longer that computer stays online, the more Codices we’re going to attract! These things live inside the computer network! We’re gonna get overwhelmed! We’ve gotta cut our losses and get out of here!”
“Nightmare!” I shouted. “You’ve got two minutes to say what you’ve gotta say and then we’re pulling the plug!”
“Copy all!” Sarah yelled back from her hiding place.
“Stormbreakers!” I shouted. “Nightmare needs cover! Move out and draw fire!”
To take the heat off Sarah, we would have to present ourselves as better targets. It was our only option.
Odette, Matthew, Chihiro, Akira, Soylent, and I all broke cover and went on the attack! The garden shriveled and withered as Chihiro, Akira and I torched the battleground with Soulfire! The glass façade of the tower finally shattered when Soylent held down the trigger of his submachine gun, a fountain exploded in a great cascade when a shot from Odette’s sawn-off shotgun went astray!
One after another, Codices went down! But after the first thirty seconds or so, the tide turned as the enemy refocused on us! Odette’s longstanding habit of trying to flank the enemy alone finally backfired on her! Three Codices concentrated their fire and managed to hit her in the thigh! Odette dropped to her hands and knees and crawled behind an elevator shaft, leaving a trail of blood behind her. The enemy never got a chance to finish her off, though. On my order, Soylent and Chihiro both moved in for the rescue! While Chihiro kept the enemy locked in place with her Shadowkeeper, Soylent pulled Odette to safety and put a tourniquet on her leg.
Matthew was the next soldier on our side to go down. He stepped out from behind the deep fryer in the ADVENT Burger restaurant to shoot at the enemy, only to get caught in the chest by an alert Codex! His armor pulverized, Matthew fell over behind the kitchen equipment, in a great deal of pain but thankfully still alive.
Akira, who was already injured, took another hit! This time a Codex shot her in the back while she was moving to help Chihiro, and she replied with the most vengeful retribution! Slamming her hand to the floor, bright purple tendrils snaked their way across the floor, erupted upwards and seized the Codex! Akira siphoned Psionic energy off the trapped enemy and used it to quickly mend her own wounds, all the while keeping herself and Sarah hidden behind a telekinetic shield.
Two soldiers down and another unable to move, our team had finally run out of options. It was time for me to make one of the most difficult choices a Squad Leader ever has to make.
“Everyone back on me!” I shouted. “We’re bugging out!”
I dashed back to the radio station control room one last time. There was an ominous bloodstain on the wall and several Codex “remains” on the floor when I got there. Akira was kneeling behind cover with Sarah. The New Zealander had been shot in the stomach and was coughing blood, but didn’t seem to care. She was writing something on a slip of paper as she listened to the headset.
“We’re out of time!” I shouted. “Drop what you’re doing and let’s get out of here!”
Sarah looked at Akira, and then at me.
“I’m done here!” Sarah said.
Akira straightened up.
“Move, Dad!” She yelled. “I’m killing these damn things!”
Akira drew her arm back and I side-stepped out of her line of fire! A Psi Volt arced away from Akira’s hand and struck the computer! The monitor exploded and flames erupted from the back of the box! Without its central mainframe, the radio station’s systems all died instantly.
Outside, there was a brief but noticeable lull in weapons fire.
“The computer’s out!” Akira said. “With the network down, there won’t be any new Codices. Kill the ones already out there, and we’re home free!”
“We’re not staying here!” I countered. “We’re gonna call the Skyranger and evac-”
“NO!” Sarah shouted.
The Private pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket and showed me.
“The Triple Alliance is coming now!” She said. “They’ve sent a QRF! They’re going to engage ADVENT’s forces around the tower! We’ve gotta stay put or they might accidentally hit us!”
“Oh, shit!” I breathed.
At that moment, under a storm of cover fire, Chihiro, Soylent, Matthew, and Odette all rejoined us. Odette and Matthew, unable to fight, quickly took shelter inside the control room alongside Akira and Sarah.
“Guys, new plan.” I said. “We can’t bug out. We gotta stand here. Vampire, Alecto, Paradox. You stay here with Nightmare and cover us. Blue Dragon, Soylent, you and I will play forward defense! We’ve gotta hold here until the Partogans arrive!”
“They’re coming!?” Chihiro gasped. “Here? Now!?”
“Here and now!” Sarah said. “We just gotta buy more time!”
A Plasma bolt sailed over our heads and hit a balcony above the radio station. Sparks and flames rained down on us. I grabbed Odette’s backpack and produced a few of her favorite weapons: Proximity Mines. Passing them to Soylent, I said:
“Mine the right flank, there’s a lot of open space over there. Blue Dragon, get up high and give us eyes!”
“Right.”
“Moving!”
The squad took up their positions for one last fight. By now, my eyes had gotten used to the flashes of golden light that accompanied a teleporting Codex. Using our shared powers, Chihiro and I were able to keep more of the enemy force at bay for about a minute, and once the rest of the squad was in their new fighting positions, a storm of gunfire forced the enemy to retreat to a safe distance and take poorly aimed potshots at us.
Hunkered down behind cover in a smashed-up department store, I got on my radio and called the Red Team:
“Doctor Freud, Trojan here, we’ve accomplished our primary objectives and are holding position. Be advised: Allies unknown are approaching from orbit! Stay in the building! Do not go outside! I repeat! DO NOT go outside!”
“Copy all, Trojan!” Yutaka replied. “I’ll pass on the word to our Resistance friends to seek shelter at once! We’ll hold here until you evac.”
A sudden burst of gunfire forced me to put my head down again! The last remaining Codices were pushing our positions again! The air itself was now superheated with plasma weapons fire! The garden itself was an inferno, the central tree crowned with a ring of flames! A powerful telekinetic wave rippled out from the spot here Chihiro was hiding, sending a half-dozen Codices flying!
Then, all at once, all of the remaining Codices suddenly teleported away! The flash of golden light that accompanied the sudden move was blinding! We all closed our eyes and hid behind cover, waiting for blinding light to fade!
“For your sins against the Gods…” said a deep rumbling voice. “You have been judged.”
I opened my eyes. My heart seemed to skip every other beat as I looked up and saw exactly who had just appeared in the center of the burning garden, surrounded by a bodyguard of Codices.
Kon-Mon Dessurik, the Elder’s Chosen Warlock, clenched his fists at us. Soulfire enveloped his arms, and arcs of energy jumped from his body. And when he spoke, it was as though he projected an aura of fear and terror throughout all of our hearts and minds.
“And I… am your punishment.”
Caption said:
“It’s the Warlock!” I shouted to my squad! “Take him out before he takes us out!”
Dessurik’s Codex escort flickered away as all seven of us trained a hailstorm of psionic and conventional weapon’s fire against him! The Chosen Warlock swept our attack to one side with ease and then sent his own assault our way!
Once again, the seemingly endless horde of Codices began to attack, but this time, they were augmented by the Warlock’s Spectral Wraiths! Two at a time, the semi-corporeal warriors rose from the floor and joined the assault! Slashing my Soulfire sword back and forth, I felled two Wraiths and a Codex before finally backing away from my position! Chihiro and Akira both waged a fighting retreat towards the radio station!
“Squad, gimme an ammo check!” I shouted over the cacophony.
“Two mags left!” Soylent yelled.
“Last mag!” Matthew hollered.
“Black on ammo!” Sarah screamed.
Chihiro spun on her feet and tossed the Shadowkeeper into the control room. Sarah scooped up the ancient pistol and sent rounds towards the enemy right away. Chihiro, Akira, and I were now completely disarmed and were fighting with Psionics only. I finally gave up on using Soulfire and set up a wide telekinetic shield, offering cover for Chihiro and Akira while they launched one devastating attack after another.
Standing back to back, the two women were a force unto themselves on the battlefield. Lances, Volts, Soulfire, all erupted violently out from underneath the umbrella of my shield. Codices and Wraiths alike converged on us, stepping right through the outer perimeter of my shield!
“Hang on!” Akira shouted!
She pointed to the floor and then lifted her hand skyward. A shimmering purple obelisk rose up in front of us! It was a construct of Psionic energy made solid!
“Get to cover!” Akira shouted, “Come on!”
Chihiro and I pressed our shoulders to the shimmering transparent wall, blasting anything that dared to come around the sides! Together, Chihiro and I telekinetically pushed a Codex right out of a shattered window! It fell two thousand feet to the base of the tower! Then we turned our shared powers against one of the Warlock’s Wraiths! The spectral attacker grabbed its head with both hands and quite literally went to pieces!
“Hell yeah!” Akira screamed. “That’s the Mom and Dad I remember!”
Chihiro and I both paused to look at one another.
“Holy shit,” Chihiro panted. “We’re really gonna be parents, aren’t we?”
We hesitated for a moment too long. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Chosen Warlock finally get around our left flank! He unshouldered some kind of alien assault rifle, took aim, and fired!
Chihiro was hit twice, once in the back and once in the forearm! The sound of her arm breaking was louder than the gunshot itself! Chihiro gasped and fell forward into my chest, her right arm hanging useless at her side! By the time Dessurik had lined up a second shot, Akira and I had already moved! I raised one hand to launch Soulfire at the Warlock, but nothing happened! Chihiro’s concentration was broken, which meant my own powers were gone! I let my legs give out and I lowered Chihiro to the floor while Akira raised another Psionic pillar between the Chosen and us!
“Even the crudest weapons have their place in battle.” The Warlock growled as he shouldered his weapon and closed in on the three of us!
“Akira! Take that thing down!”
“My goddamn pleasure.”
Akira lunged out from behind cover and attacked the Warlock! Even though she had no Gauntlets or Amplifiers of any kind, she managed to hold her own, reflecting and absorbing all of Dessurik’s attacks while launching a few of her own.
Meanwhile, all around us, the rest of the battle was still raging. Soylent, Matthew, Odette, and Sarah were all crouched down in what remained of the radio station, firing their weapons at anything that moved. But as I opened up my first aid pack and wrapped a tourniquet around Chihiro’s arm, our teammates made it clear that the situation was no longer tenable:
“Harris! Where the hell are the Partogans!?” Matthew yelled. “You said they were coming!”
“I don’t know!” Sarah screamed. “They said they were sending someone!”
“That’s a tracer!” Soylent yelled over his own gunfire. “I’ve got six rounds left! Trojan, we gotta bail!”
“We can’t wait anymore!” Matthew called to me. “Trojan, if we stay here, we’re gonna die!”
“We’re two thousand feet up!” I called back. “We’ve got nowhere to run! I’m calling for help!”
I grabbed my radio and shouted:
“Freud! It’s Trojan! We are overrun! I say again! Overrun! The Chosen Warlock is here! Send help!”
Yutaka responded quickly.
“Negative! Cannot comply! We’ve got problems of our own down here, Trojan!”
“We are getting killed up here!” I roared into the radio, spitting desperation! “We’re outnumbered and they’re right on top of us! Send Jericho up here right now!”
“I have men down and more hostiles on the way! We’re in danger as well! Do your best and we’ll get to you when we can!”
I cursed with every profanity in the English language. Grabbing my sword, I stood over Chihiro and guarded her as best I could, shouting to my troops:
“THERE AIN’T NO CAVALRY COMIN’ FOR US!! DEFEND THIS POSITION AT ALL COSTS!!”
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