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Part I

Max leaned against a port window, looking over an alien planet. “Everyone thought they’d find us first. What do you think they’re like?”

Ash answered, “Don’t know, but we’ll find out tonight. We’re extracting a couple.”

“What firm?”

“Adrian Labs.”

Dante, his mute tech-specialist and medic, nodded as his armor gauntlet buzzed to alert him to an incoming communication request. Looking at Dante, he extended a hand and opened his palm, which freed a hologram of a man dressed in business attire.

The hologram spoke, “Ash. Good to see you.”

“Adam.”

“I’m Adrian Lab’s liaison for this operation. I’m sure you understand the sensitivity of this, and the big man wanted your handle to be someone you knew. So here I am.”

Ash did little to hide his scowl. “So, snatch a few, then turn and burn?”

“Basically. If you succeed, this could mean so many things for humanity. Who knows what this could lead to? A cure for cancer, a new labor force, mayb-”

“I don’t care. As long as the coin is good.”

“That’s what I always liked about you, straight to the point. The Blackbird will insert you onto the only continent in the southern hemisphere. You’ll touch down about twenty kilometers from a population center. We call them Koarians. Their tech level is early machine age; nothing you can’t handle.”

“Do you have specific parameters?”

“No, but we need at least one male and one female. A bonus if you can grab a child or two.”

“No kids.”

“Come on, Ash. It’s an extra five million. Each.”

“I told you once before, I don’t do kids.”

“Your choice. The stun grenades we’ve provided you should do well in disabling them.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Do what you do best.”

He looked out the window of the Blackbird as it left the hangar of the observation center on the far side of one of the three moons. Adam interrupted his thoughts, “I should warn you, Ash. If you’re discovered planetside or if things go bad, you‘ll be left behind. Adrian Labs cannot assume responsibility for this operation. Understood?”

He nodded and closed his hand, ending the call. Dante’s helmet tapped into his neural chip and displayed a message in Ash’s visor: “What are the rules of engagement, boss?”

“We’re not here to kill anything we’re not paid to, but if it comes down to it, then you know the answer.”

Dante nodded.

Max looked out a window of the dropship, his hair nearly matching the dark of space, “I wonder if one of the other corporations is doing the same. Infinerate Solutions, definitely. Bunch of dicks.”

“Doesn’t matter. This should be one of the easiest jobs we’ve pulled, and our old man can finally retire.”

Dante smiled through his visor and from behind his gray beard as he lifted a middle finger. The pilot looked back from the cockpit, “We’re entering the planet’s atmosphere in ten seconds. Hell of a storm in our way, so brace back there.”

Ash strapped himself into a drop seat and closed his eyes to calm the nerves that bounced in time with each turbulence-induced vibration. The pilot yelled out, “Drop in five. Good luck down there.”

He counted down in his head, heart pounding with each second. A capsule closed around his seat as he shot from within the Blackbird. As his drop pod descended through and cleared the storm, he looked over the distant alien city and its flowing blood in the form of vehicle traffic.

Max opened his comm, “Reminds me of something back home. There must be millions in that city. What’s the military presence?”

He used his eyes to gesture through the visor commands of his heads-up display, “Moderate. There’s a base on the opposite end, but it shouldn’t be an issue.”

Like falling stars—he was sure someone below was wishing on them—they streaked to the surface. Auto-rockets were fired from beneath the pods for only a second before the chutes deployed and slowed them. His heart pounded as he touched down, only ten meters from Max and Dante’s pods. With trepidation, he opened the pod’s door and stepped onto the arid soil, “About as stealthy as a gunshot.” He looked up through the storm, “You see the pods for the packages?”

Max shook his head, “Didn’t see anything else drop with us.”

Ash keyed his comm but received no response. He tried twice more before Dante interrupted, “We can figure it out during extraction. We need to move, boss.”

“Agreed.”

Typing into his data command tool, the pods shimmered, then, like water rolling over a surface, faded away into the surrounding desert. He tagged them with a nav beacon and then motioned the team to follow.

Only ten steps from the pods - the sound of drills filled the air. Ash looked back at their pods as they de-cloaked and tunneled. With a thump from each, they disappeared beneath the surface. Max ran over to where his pod once sat and peered into the man-sized hole. Ash tackled him as flames bellowed up and out like a dragon’s maw. With a roll, he released him, “Those were Darters. They’re a one-way trip.”

Dante messaged, “That explains why the extraction pods never came.”

Max stammered, “Those were our only way back!”

He tried to open a link to Adam and then to the Adrian Lab’s station, but there was no answer. Looking up at the electrical storm they passed through, he ordered, “We stay on mission – for now.”

Max released the rifle clamped to the back of his torso armor, “They better have a good explanation for this when we get back.”

With three vibrations beneath his feet, the holes in the ground caved in on themselves, sealing away the molten remains of their pods. Ash ordered the team to follow as he sifted through the navigation chart of his HUD, “Sat imagery shows a farm or residence about five klicks from here. Data shows at least five living there. Snatch and run. Let’s move.”

Following his lead, they traversed the alien landscape. The storm they had entered through had moved on just as quickly as they landed, revealing a night sky lit with thousands of twinkling stars and the oppressive glare of three moons. A liquid stream they crossed was glowing white, and in it swam bioluminescent fish. Chirps and clicks marked the air as insects searched for mates.

Max asked, “Any ideas on how we’re getting off the planet?”

“Dropship or return pods.”

Ash’s visor displayed a question: “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Dante pointed to a group of boulders, “Speech. That way.”

He led them to the boulders, which sat at the top of a sloping hill. A few hundred feet from the boulders was a gathering of the Koarians. They wore, to his best guess, ceremonial robes that concealed their features. They made strange gestures and chanted in a language he couldn’t understand. Their voices sounded like a steel cable—wound too tight. Using his visor’s zoom feature, he focused on a glinting object that lay in the dirt they had circled around.

Max asked, “Any idea what they’re doing?”

“No.”

The alien wearing a golden robe took the object into its clawed hands and lifted it to a moon. Ash’s heart kicked the back of his chest plate with sudden realization.

Max spat, “Is that one of our helmets?”

Ash keyed his comms and opened his gauntlet to reveal Adam, who finally graced them with a response, “How can I assist, Ash?”

“Cut the shit. How many teams have you sent here?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Ash added his visor feed to the comm. “Ah,” He hesitated, “You’re the third.”

“What the hell is going on, Adam? Those pods were Darters, and we have no way off the planet.”

“No one leaves the planet until you secure the other two teams’ data packs. Their vitals flatlined forty-eight hours ago. We need their bodies and equipment incinerated after data retrieval.”

“This whole op is bullshit?”

“The first two teams could be linked to Adrian Labs. You PMCs are great for plausible deniability. Do the job, and you’ll be paid. As a bonus, the original parameters still stand. I’m updating your nav system with the latest known locations for teams Alpha and Bravo. And Ash, go—”

He slammed his fist against a boulder, closing the feed.

Dante messaged, “Never trusted corporations. What now?”

“That helmet will have a feed of what happened. We need it.”

“Understood. Stun or kill?”

He looked at one of the electro-grenades hanging from his chest rig, “We’ll stun and then secure them. Not getting paid to kill them.”

They watched the alien group’s movement as Ash tossed a stun grenade into their midst. With a few startled yelps, one of the Koarian picked it up and looked it over as its beeps increased in rate. It exploded into a lightning bolt, jumping to each alien.

“Move.”

In the form of an arrowhead, they closed on the aliens who lay motionless. Dante pulled the hood from one to reveal a feline face. It looked like an ocelot. He pressed two fingers into its neck and nodded, “Alive.”

“Round them up.”

He grabbed one of the golden robbed Koarian’s arms and dragged it with the others into a pile. Once all six were gathered, he tossed a containment emitter between them. He stepped back as a pulse of air burst from the sphere. Then a flowing bubble of energy enveloped the newly imprisoned aliens.

Max typed into his data command tool, “How long do you want it to hold them?”

“Forty-eight hours should do it. If we’re not off the planet by then, we’re probably dead.”

He reached down to grab the helmet they seemed to worship. Expecting it to be lightweight, like his own, its weight surprised him. He turned it over and tapped the side of the visor, which became translucent, revealing that the owner’s head was still inside.

Max chuckled, “Damn.”

Ash pulled a data-cord from its recessed point in his helmet and plugged it in. Sifting through the man’s personal comms and other various info, he found a video file of their time on the surface.

“Sol Alpha Commando, Ian Hare. Assigned to alpha team,” a robotic voice drolled out.

With a command, the helmet began playback, sending the feed to each of their visors, “Let’s see what happened.”

>>Playback Begin<<

Ian emerged from his pod and joined the formation of Alpha Team’s six members. He looked at the two scientists they escorted as his sergeant snapped at them, “You two may be in charge up there, but on this planet, I’m in charge. Now, I need to know what the hell you’re planning, so I can keep you safe.”

The taller of the scientists answered, “Soil samples. Biological samples. We need a few bodies to study.”

“Alive?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Understood. Move out!”

Ash fast-forwarded the feedback, and it resumed as Ian stood over the body of a Koarian, “Not so hard to kill.”

“You idiot!”

The second scientist scolded him as well, “We need them intact, not blown to pieces.”

“You said it didn’t matter. Nothing about being intact either.”

The sergeant intervened, “Stow it. Grab the pieces and set a beacon.”

He fast-forwarded again, and it resumed, showing Ian being held captive.

“No, please!” Screams filled the air as an alien eviscerated a begging scientist with its claws.

Ian yelled at it, “Fucking bastard!”

The alien wiped the gore from its claws. It then pointed to Ian and growled. The Koarians on either side of him, each holding some kind of bladed weapon, pushed them into the armpit of each arm. With a pop at each shoulder and searing pain filling his mind, the visor flashed red, “Limb loss detected. Seek immediate aid.”

Ian collapsed as blood erupted from where his arms used to be. Screaming and cursing incoherently, he was lifted by another of the Koarians, who then plunged a blade into his neck. With a gurgle and short cry, the head rolled from his body and caught an image of the one who had killed him, tossing his torso aside.

>>Playback End<<

End Part I