Settlement command centre

The room where Apex found himself at 6.00AM consisted of a collection of terminals and communication equipment, a singular main monitor currently showing a planet on it as Gates voice narrated the current squad briefing.

“The plan is simple, we are going to use a intact enemy drop ship to return the group of now named Cornarians to their planet, we will also be using this opportunity to gather Intel on the natives here to see how well negotiations will go, we have confirmation with Mr Phinoenx and his group that they will not tell a soul about us since one of us save his group, the ground team will be supported by Droz, Davis and a collection of Marines that will be deployed as a final measure to exfill the ground team, Bear, Apex you to will be the ground team, you two have been briefed on what to do?” Gates explanation getting a nod of confirmation from Apex as Bear began to speak.

“Yes Gates, the ground team is to go planet side with the corerri- cornerra- “

“Cornerian’s”

“Yes Cornerians, thanks kid, anyway once we are planet side we are to gain entrance to a library or school,  and gather any possible info.”

“Understood Bear, Apex you confident with the drop ships controls?”  Gates question gaining another nod of confirmation.

“Good any questions?”

“R.O.E ?”  Apex questioned.

“Avoid all possible conflict, flee before fighting can occur at all, since Apex was the only one asking questions this briefing is finished, ground team is to be at the shuttle pads for 7.30 AM, Gates out” With that parting statement the screen blackened out, the screen image being left displayed, the sound of chairs scrapping across the ground and the sound of conversation filling the room, as both Apex and Bear exited the room, walking down the small hallway of the command centre before exiting onto the street of the colony.

“So were we heading?”

“Well kid we heading to the armoury, we need to get equipped for a stealth mission”

“How can we get any more prepped for a stealth mission, we both have Cloak abilities we should be fine”

“Kid, we going onto a habited alien planet, we need to be ready for this plan to go sideways” Bear said as the pilot due walked past a collection of businesses, the shops being packed with colonists that moved out of the way of the pilots.

“Well if we need to be ready for anything then why don’t we just grab some Spitfire’s , Archer rocket systems and some nuclear footballs”

“Ok Kid no need to get sarcastic with me” Bear responded as the pair approached a concrete building, its walls being angled, the door way having two Grunts stood outside that allowed the pair in.

The small armoury consisting of a collection of firearms attached to the walls whether being the p2016 pistol, or the archer anti titan rocket.

“So what we here for?”

“Non-lethal rounds kid, and since you most likely aren’t going to part with your R101 your going to have to carry two mags of the stuff” Bear responded, throwing Apex a pair of assault rifle magazines, the 30 round mags being marked with white tape.

“Unless you want to use a devotion or Volt” Bear continued gesturing to the Devotion LMG he had equipped.

“Since have did the devotion have a non-lethal option”

“There is a fire selector for this thing you know” Bear responded, gesturing to the fire selector on the side of the weapon.

“Well guess you’ll be doing most of the shooting then, let’s get to the ship then” Apex responded as he fastened a silencer onto his rifle.

“You sure you know how to fly that thing”

“Of course I do, I already know how to pilot most 6-4 drop ship’s and fighters, so this should be a piece of cake” Apex responded as the pair exited the armoury and headed towards the ship port.

“You know you’ve just jinxed it right”

“Since when were you the superstitious type Bear?”

“I wasn’t back at the Frontier but here anything could happen”

Bears response being stated as the pair reached the building that functioned as the colonies improve airport, the large tower that was just below the tree line functioning as the air traffic control, the rest of the rectangular buildings functioning as storage or waiting areas for individuals being transferred between the colony or 6-4 fleet above.  The final building consisting of a area for repairs  on Crow drop ships, one of said ships having its internals open to the suns rays as a collection of engineers performed their duties on the vessel.

“So kid reckon you can fly that thing”

“What, the bird with a broken wing or the Shamu with wings” Apex responded gesturing to the large alien dropship that consisted of a blocky body that sloped into a cockpit, the duel engines being attached at the end of the two wings the drop ship had. A small group of familiar figures being spaced around it with two masked Grunts standing guard.

“Come on kid, let’s get this mission over with” Bear responded as the pair walked to the Alien drop ship, with Bear approaching the two Grunts as Apex entered the strange transport and sat down at its pilot seat, the controls consisting of a basic pair of joysticks at the side of a computer screen, the panels above the viewport having a collection of buttons and switches. Apex’s HUD displaying a collection of images, each disappearing as he performed the correct action weather it being flipping a switch or turning a dial, the process continuing as the sound of people boarding the ship filled the back ground noise.

“Hey, you know how to fly this thing” One of the guards questioned from the door way, the question drawing the attention of the ships passengers towards Apex who proceeded to power up the engines, the action answering the question.

“Tower this is the shuttle assigned to today’s ops, requesting clearance to leave?” Apex announced through his helmets in build radio.

“Understood, this is tower you are cleared, good luck and have a nice flight”

“And have a nice day tower”  Apex responded as he used the joysticks to guide the shuttle out of the planet’s atmosphere, the slight rattle of the ship being the only sign of strain on the vessel as it forced its way out of the planets gravity and into orbit, the small transport being dwarfed by the collection of 6-4 cruisers, the large vessels having crow drop ships flying to and fro.

“Oi kid how long is this going to take” Bears voiced his opinion as Apex switched the shuttle to it orbit mode and programmed the ships Nav computer to the required destination.

“Should be in about 2 to 3 hours, these things are slower than your grandparents on the internet”

“Seriously”

“Yeah Bear, you better get used to waiting, this thing is going as fast as  it can”

The response leading to Bear walking back into the passenger hold, leaving Apex in the pilot’s seat bored out of his mind. The boredom leading to Apex retrieving a single lose bullet and spinning it between his fingers with his feet up on the console as the screen displayed the expected time of arrival slowly ticking down, the small hum of conversation emanating from the passenger section. The conversations varying from small talk to looking forward to going home. Until Apex began listening to music allowing the sound of Shoot to thrill to block out the sound of alien conversation.

(Hours later)

“Oi Bear get your ass to the front”  Apex announced over the com unit he had, his focus being on the planet that was visible out of the crafts view port.

“Alright kid, what is it?” Bear questioned only for the sight ahead to answer him.

“Were 10 minutes out” Apex responded without the use of his mic, his armoured hands already moving across the control panel, switching the ship to manual, his helmet displaying the relevant information as the shuttle began decelerating for re-entry.

The statement of the time to arrival causing Bear to retreat back into the passenger hold, only to return a few minutes later with one of the aliens, this alien having russet coloured fur and large ears on their head seeming to resemble a fennec fox that were sometimes mentioned in old books about earthen wild life apart from being on two legs and wearing a business suit, with Bear explaining the reason for their retrieval, the alien language being translated seamlessly by Apex’s helmets translation software.

“You know what to do right Mr Phinoex ?”

“Yes, the deal I made with you Captain explained everything” the named Mr Phinoex announced.

“Good, kid where’s the com on this thing” Bears inquiry getting the equivalent of a blank stare from Apex’s masked face as he armoured hand pointed to a small plastic box attached to a consol by Some rubber coated wire.

“Ok no need to get snarky” Bear responded, seeming to confuse the fennec in the room.

“I was meaning to ask if that’s ok but is Mr Kid mute? He doesn’t seem to speak much”

The question causing Apex to nod in agreement before he moved his attention towards the viewport as the sight of orbital traffic became visible.

“Nah the kid is just takes some time to warm up to yah, he’s like that with strangers , and Kid’s just a nickname we gave him” Bear explained as a beeping began to emanate from the console.

“Well we’ve been seen, you’re up Phinoex, unless you enjoy having targeting pings on you ” Bear spoke looking at the console, leading to the mentioned Cornerian to begin using the microphone as a announcement came through.

“Unidentified space craft this is CDF orbital monitoring, identify yourself” The order being punctuated by the space stations turrets tracking the ship.

“CDF orbital this is Mr Phinieox, I am requesting immediate landing permission due to recently escaping our captives over” The response causing a small commotion to be heard over the comm before Mr phoenix explained the cover story that was agreed upon.

“Understood Mr Phinoex, please stand by”

“ Yet there still tracking us” Bear stated, the dull warning tone from the computer still emanating.

“ Mr Phinoex, please give relevant clearance codes or you will be fired upon and a reason why your in a pirate vessel ”  the warning being followed by a pair of bright bolts flying past the ship.

“CDF Orbital hold fire, A14789 I repeat the code is A14789, the shuttle was stolen in our escape ”  

“Understood Mr Phinoex, sorry for the misunderstanding”

“CDF orbital just gave use clearance to land, well have an escort once in atmosphere”

The response being ignored by Apex who angled the drop ship as it began to enter the first layer of the atmosphere, the flames that blocked the view port soon being replaced by the sight of a mixture of mountains and valleys, the rivers and lakes being quickly covered as the drop ship approached a city, the outlines of skyscrapers gradually having details filled in as the white and blue buildings became visible with a large amount of glass windows. The view suddenly shifting as Apex pulled on the shuttles joystick and instantly began bleeding speed. The much slower dropship now heading towards a clearing in the woods close to a road.

“What are you doing?” Mr Phinoex questioned, a second later alarms filling the ships cabin, a automated voice announcing G-defuser destabilisation. The warning continuing as Apex hovered the ship into the clearing, the ship being no more than 10 meters off the ground as everything cut out and the shuttle landed with a bone shaking thud.

“Dam kid, that didn’t seem good”

“How did you know about the G defusers failing?” Mr Phineox questioned, since the failure of a g diffuser  being incredible rare and only occurring through sabotage or being heavily damaged.

The only answer Apex gave was the shrug of his shoulders, as he shut down the ship and exited the cockpit being followed by Bear and Mr Phinoex.

“Those warning shots must have clipped us, were lucky to have managed to land” Apex said over the com to Bear.

“So kid your saying the warning shots clipped this birds wings, any landing you can walk away from I guess ?”  Bear restated as the back ramp lowered to reveal the green plant life of another alien world.

 “ Well go on kid lead the way , don’t want the CDF to see us yet , take care you lot those escort ships will probably be he soon”  Bear said as the pair of 6-4 Pilots walked towards the tree line, with Apex giving a single wave of god bye over his shoulder.

“Hey where those two going” Miyu asked exiting from the back of the ship.

­­­­­“So what did Gates’s deal consist of, I mean must have been pretty good for a bunch of aliens to listen to it” Apex said as he stepped over a heavily rotted log, his carbine slung over his chest and loaded with non-lethal rounds.

“To be honest I don’t have the slightest clue what the deal was, she probably guilt tripped them with the whole you being turning up like a knight in shining armour” Bear responded pushing a shrub out of the way.

“Sure Bear” came Apex’s sarcastic response.

“haha, Hey maybe she  agreed to marry you of to this planets version or royalty, you know since shes your legal guardian and everythin-‘ clunk’- Oi whats with throwing crap” Bear responded, looking at the fist sized stone that had been thrown at his helmeted head.

“I can find large things to punt at your head”

“Fine ill shut up now- though you did seem to—“

“Bear I swear to god”

“Fine fine,  although you will be glad to hear that were less than 10 miles out”

“Good” Apex responded as the pair reached the ridge of a small hill, the vantage point allowing the view of the path, that lead them through a large park like area.  The park consisting of a large open area covered in grass and the occasional play area, a footpath winding through the parks passing by the small tree out groves and passing a large central fountain, the main issue being the large amount of fuzzy locals ranging from young children and their families to teenagers and adults going about their day wither walking on the footpath or sitting with their presumed friends. 

“Well bugger” Apex announced his displeasure at the sight, already attempting to figure out how to time his cloaks recharge with the collection of trees and the open planes.

“That’s one way to put it, you reckon we can use those trees as cover?”

“Yeah though it will take longer, if we full on leg it we can make it about a quarter of the way there in one charge”

“That would be cutting it close, but we are on a timescale”

“So we have to cover ten miles of densely packed city to the nearest possible objective then” Apex muttered to himself.

“Right kid lets get this done” Bear responded, his figure fading out of existence, the action being followed by Apex who trailed behind Bear about 10 meters as the pair moved towards the first collection of trees, the target being reached without any contact from the locals.

“Contact”   Bear warned over the com unit.

“I know I see them just go around the ankle biters ”  Apex said at the sight of a collection of young looking Cornarians, the small group of 5 being watched by a collection of adults sat a small distance away on a park bench. The aliens attention being on the actions they were performing as both Apex and Bear moved past, angling their path to have the duel suns to their backs hiding their indivisible forms behind the intense light the stars created.

“Oi Bear how far now, my cloaks down to 50%”

“Just up ahead there’s a ally”  Bear responded as the pair approached the edge of the park, a single road seeming to separate the beginning of the city and the park, the ally Bear having mentioned being between two shop like buildings, the line characters on the shops signs being automatically translated to display  the signs that designated one as a general  store and the other being some sort of diner.

“Hey Kid this sort of looks like your home colony?” Bear said, de-cloaking in the ally allowing the optic camouflage to recharge.

“Please don’t remind me” Apex responded, his now visible body and showing that he was on edge, with his rifle pointed towards the entrance to the allay.

“Sorry about that kid, forgot that it was a sensitive subject”

“Its ok Bear, you were never the best with social grace”

“Hah says the teenager who’s unable to ask a girl out”

“ Support team this is ground team, I need a medic Bear’s mean comments have mortally wounded me” Apex responded, his spare hand clasping over his chest.

“Hey did you hear that?” A voice shouted from outside of the ally, leading to both pilots to look each other and nodding, the pair disappearing from sight and jumping over the fence towards their destination again.

“Go Go Go”

 

“So thats the target then?”

“Seems like it” Apex responded, His position next to Bear allowing him a clear sight on the target building. The building being a pair of towers, one being shorter than the other with a collection of glass tube walkways connecting the two towers, the base of the structure having a semi circular building facing away from the towers, encompassing the paths and car parks, a collection of smaller buildings be placed behind the larger tower, a collection of landing pads and a runway being placed nearby as well.

The building the 6-4 ground team were on being part of a commercial district, the building seeming to be some sort of muti storied restaurant whose patrons where thankfully more interested in their food then the roof of the building.

“You reckon you can get a pulse blade there?”

“Yeah kid, were less then a 100 meters from the building” Bear responded, his cloak flickering as a small sonar blade was thrown, the blade sticking into the wall of the target building allowing the detection of any movement through the wall.

“So what you see?”

“Well kid the rooms clear, and looks like we’re in look there’s a terminal in there as well”

“Well thats good, how we going to get there then, we cutting through the windows? ”

“Good idea kid but there’s vents above the windows we can get through”

“Yeah I see them” Apex responded, his sight on the plastic like grills above the windows .

“Meet you up there kid” Bear said taking of and wall running between the buildings before  leaping to the target building and climbing upwards its surface , Apex soon following suit, rushing forward and firing his grappling hook and activating his jump pack causing Apex to slingshot himself towards the building. With Apex latching onto the buildings side as Bear landed on the opposite side of the vent. The vent cover failing against the data knife Apex used to peel away the cover until the whole was big enough for Apex to fit into.

“Well lets get this done kid, the Fire Pit is open again tonight” Bear said before climbing into the hole.

“Yes, hopefully their doing steaks again” Apex stated  following behind, the narrow vent soon leading to their designated room, the pair dropping down through another vent that was quickly moved out of the way.

“Kid..”

“Already on it” Apex responded, quickly moving towards the rooms terminal as Bear locked the door, the terminal consisting of a single monitor on a crescent desk, a touch pad seeming to be this planets version of a keyboard.

“A touch pad really, what sort of hipster BS is this place” Apex continued, twisting the monitor to the side to gain a view on the ports the terminal had since it seemed to be a monitor integrated with the main body of the PC.

“Oi Bear”

“What?”  Bear question being asked as Apex drew his Data knife and placed the tip of the bade against a small slit that seemed to allow the addition of storage to the terminal.

“Downloading know” Apex continued after slamming the blade into the port possible causing damage, however the collection of viruses and other forms of data retrieval malware that the Data knife contained didn’t care, as the blade creates a connection between the processor that was in the knifes handle instantly booting up and activating drawing the information the data knife had been programmed to, the injection of malware and retrial of information ending as the holographic display on the handle of the knife formed a full circle leading to the addition of one final program that corrupted the Terminal’s equivalent of a operating system.

“There info complete”  Apex announced, twirling the blade in his hand before sheathing it.

“Good, Support team this is Ground team, data retrieved moving towards exfill” Bear spoke over the com, the response from Droz confirming it revival of the message by the Support team.

“So kid you have those hologram kits?”

“Right here why”  Apex responded passing Bear one of the devices, who after activating the device had his armoured form being replaced by a brown Cornerian that resembled a Bear his weapon being replaced by a ladder.

“Oh I guess thats what”  Apex continued, his modified hologram modular system replacing the cloak system attached to his forearm, activating the system changing his appearance to any outside viewers, the slight reflection from the rooms window showing the now canine hologram that looked back at him, the clothing his hologram wore reminiscing the stereotypical maintained clothing one would find back on the core worlds, where ever they were.

“Come on kid, we can leave know”  Bear responded, leading Apex out of the classroom and down the hallway that was close to barren other than a few students that seemed to be there for extracurricular activities and the such, the pair being ignored as they moved through some sort of study area that had a large collection of terminals and tables, the majority of the areas details being ignored by Apex who followed Bear to a staircase, keeping track of the Cornerians that were in his provisional vision.

“As smooth as silk”  Bear stated as the pair of hidden Humans walked through a pair of doors and into a stairwell that they descended.

“More like as smooth as sandpaper since you just said that”

“Kid, you’d actually fined sandpaper to be quite smooth, and don’t worry about what I just said i doubt anything serious can happen”

“Excuse me, you two maintenance staff”

“Shit”

“I Fucking told you Bear”  Apex announced over the coms as the pair turned to face what seemed to be some sort of elderly Rodent   that had some sort of box with them.

“Im sorry to bother you but could one of you help me with my class materials to the floor below ”

“Yeah no problem Miss” Bear responded as Apex moved and grabbed a hold of the box, lifting up the box filled with tablet like items with one arm, quickly descending down to the floor below with Bear and the old Cornarian following behind.

“Your friend seems to be in a bit of a rush”

“Yeah, his looking forward to getting home, its been a long day”  came the response of the rodent who bid a farewell, pulling up a handle on the box and wheeling it away as the pair of Pilots continued their exit.

”Bear if you don’t take that as a sign the shut up....”

“Yeah kid understand your point”

The pair continuing their idle chatter even as they walked the through the buildings large reception, the sloped domed glass roof allowing the planets light to illuminate the reception desk and the glass doors that opened to allow the pair out of the building.

“How far are we from the exfill point ?”

“Well Apex, we’ve got to get back to the forest like area of this place and wait till midnight”

“Then why are we not running it? We would cover the distance in minutes” Apex continued as the pair waited at some form of street crossing, blending into the surrounding populace.

“Dont worry Pal, well free run it once were out of sight “

“Will that ally over their count?, we could switch to cloak and over charge the units to reach extraction”

“Well we cloud do that but it runs the risk of frying the Cloak system”

“Fair enough”

“Well aint this nice” Apex spoke, the pair having ceased using their com link due to how isolated they were, the Pilots current location being deep within one of Cornerias forests that covered the majority of the planets hill ranges. Said Pilots were currently sat on the overhang of one of the hills, waiting for the drop ship to pick them up.

“Eh seen better” Bear responded from his spot, his Devotion LMG resting on his lap.

“Where?”

“ Well there was is Harmony, cannot beat the beaches on their, hey kid make a wish” Bear joked at the sight of the approaching drop ship, the aircrafts side door opening up to show a pair of 64 Grunts, the pair of Grunts helping both Apex and Bear into the drop ship before it jumped away.

“Oi Pilot your using the FTL a bit much” Bear announced towards the cockpit.

“Dont worry, the only thing those aliens could detect is some back ground radiation nothing they can use to trace to us and furthermore got to follow standard procedure if they can track us, hence the duel stage transit” The aircraft’s Pilot responded as the shuttle returned to real space, only to lurch again as it jumped for a second time. Thos time the scenery outside the vessel warped into the endless expanse of trees that surrounded the colony the 64 had established.

“Welcome home you two” the drop ships pilot announced as the rear door opened allowing the individuals to exit.

“So Bear how do you reckon first contact go?”

(1 week later)

“So this is it then” Droz announced as the group sat in the colony command centre, the rooms main screen displaying the information that the ground team had retrieved, the information having been translated and displayed on the briefing screen in the room.

“Yup, so any idea how first contact is going to be made?”

“Its already being made Droz “

“What?”

“Yeah Droz, apparently they started the moment the info Apex retrieved was translated”

“Speaking of the kid where is he?”

“I was raiding this places kitchen” Apex announced walking into the room, still wearing his armour.

“And judging by you lack of food id say you were unsuccessful?”

“Yup so, Bear ,Davis ,Droz I’m off to bed” Apex responded walking towards the colonies barracks.