The dark water Mercenaries assembled the bodies of Eli and Steve side by side. The troops were busy going through their belongings when they heard an explosion. “Captain, the sonar is down, so are the drones and our scout isn’t responding either “, a Lieutenant yelled.

The cochlear implant on the captain translated it to Croc. “What? “. He logged in to the video camera on a gunship and gasped. Most of the gunships were battered and in flames while three ships were completely blown to bits, before them lay the mangled corpses of several Mercs.

Detonation of the core and munitions maybe. Is this a rival gang, who’s stupid enough to do this? He moved to speak but a soldier cut him off. “Vitals of two guards at the entrance are down. And…the vitals of two more just went out before the reactor chamber.

“Who are these people?” he grit his teeth and barked, “Shut the blast doors immediately and call for backup! “. The engineer promptly got to work. The giant, two-seventy ton doors closed before them.

“Contact the Colonel, tell him we have company and…” a sound emerged. The Captain turned to see the blast doors start to reopen. “You idiot, has your brain turned to mush from eating worms? “, he screamed at the befuddled human engineer. “But Sir, I’m not opening it and there’s no sign of hacking either!” “

Impossible, he looked at the enormous doors trembling under an unseen force. The gates made a rumbling sound as it scrapped through solid concrete, circuits over head burst into sparks. It would take a heavy, spaceship construction drone to move this.

“All troops assume defensive positions! “. The troops quickly got behind cover and set up heavy equipment and defensive measures. The gates parted midways and buckled at the ends.

Dim light cast on to the chamber through the gap and from it emerged a single human male. The Captain’s helmet mounted camera did a swift multi-spectrum analysis of the foe and info played on his visor’s HUD. The man carried no arms save for a single monomolecular power sword while his body had several S-grade implants.

The man in the black mask spotted squads of soldiers positioned behind storage tank and a heavy machine gun nest behind a portable plasma shield. He clenched his fists.

“I’ll say this only once- Let me pass “

“Waste him! “.

A hail of fire rained down on him. The machine gun let loose EM rounds at the rate of 6000/min while riflemen emptied their magazines at him. Yet the hundreds of bullets all mysteriously missed him or flew past him, despite their helmet optics getting a perfect lock.

Two airborne Mercs flew above to his flanks and fired rockets from their EXO suits. The rockets exploded near him, engulfing the man in flames and sending a shock wave rippling through the halls. On the Captain’s signal four riflemen moved to assault the flaming heap but then a figure jutted out of the fire.

The man lunged at them with his sword and the Captain grinned. Got ya you spook! He activated the laser mines just before the man. The red lasers sliced through the man but he kept coming. The riflemen frantically fired at him at point blank but the man phased through the bullets and then through them before vanishing.

What the hell? The troops moved to see but then a flash of light appeared before the four riflemen. The man materialized amidst them out of air and slashed at them with his sword. He beheaded two men with one slash before swinging to slash the throat of another and then shoved a dagger into the last one’s eye.

The others moved to fire but the man vanished in a flash and manifested behind the machine gunner. He thrust a hand at them and the three troops were forced into the plasma shield, forcing through the blazing and engulfed in flames.

The captain fired his shotgun but the round jammed, causing the muzzle exploded. The troops to the man’s left fired at him but he raised a hand an invisible wall stopped them. He thrust the hand forward and a shockwave smashed into the troops, shattering their rifles.

Before they could run, the man flung his sword at a Merc, the blade sliced through his visor. The other two attempted to flee but he beat them to the punch. He closed the gap within a blink and punched a Croc Merc in the head. The force shattered his helmet and skull to bits and sent him careening onto two more Mercs. The impact sent the two smashing into titanium cylinders.

The man’s luck ran out as the airborne troops fired missiles at his back and the Captain raised a shotgun. He moved swiftly, he jutted his hand at the captain, a violet light engulfed the Merc and his body fell into paralysis and shock. The two missiles hit him but a shield of violet light stopped the blast front.

He raised his arms at the befuddled troops and both their bodies twisted inwards. An unseen force crunched their bones against their armor. The man moved to twist but in an instant turned back and raised his arm. Moments later a flash of light appeared and a ball of plasma jutted into the violet shield.

The cloaked sniper was baffled, How did he knew where I…before he could finish the thought, the frozen plasma bounced back along its trajectory and punctured through the sniper’s abdomen. Organs fell out of the cauterized hole before the man collapsed onto the floor beneath.

All that was left now was the Captain. He rose up upon regaining control of his senses but then a force tugged at his body. His body rose into the air and soon a tremendous force struck him and he was flung onto the walls at the far end.

The force of impact shattered the Captain’s exoskeleton and blood vessels. Blood and bits of internal organs thrust out his mouth. Through a screen of red he saw the man beneath him

Four forces acted simultaneously on his limbs and head now. He looked in horror as his arms, legs and neck were twisted backwards until they each snapped with a sickening crunch. The man let him go and the body fell on the floor flat like wet noodles with a thop.

#

Cassie was halfway to storage room when a blast from behind was heard. The shock of impact sent her falling down a secondary vent. “Arggh! “, Cassie cried out in pain as she fell on to the cold metal floor. A sharp pain rippled through her arm as she forced herself up. Her arm showed no sign on bleeding but the swelling beneath the elbow stung with pain upon movement.

No, I can’t give up, Ms Harrun and Steve…she fought back tears as she crawled through the vent. Biting her lips, she saw the new route to the coordinates. It was a longer path, one that threatened to erode her lead on her hunters.

I have to be quicker. The storage room is just ahead past the generator chamber. She forced herself to crawl quicker but then she heard two more explosions. Their smaller profile indicated a greater distance from her. She froze upon hearing them, after a minute of silence, more explosive sounds erupted from the same distance.

Are they fighting someone? Is someone else here to capture me? The thought led to a rise in heart beats. Forcing the terrifying thought out of her mind, she pressed forth till she came arrived at the power room.

It was a large, dark chamber with three large thermal engines, multiple cooling tanks, control panels and drone tanks. The two primary engines had been dismantled but the smaller secondary one still operated with a low humming sound.

I think that man told me once that these engines operated on ionized gas extracted from space and liquid nitrogen was used as cooling agent. She walked up and touched the device, a strong vibration was felt. Maybe this can mask the sound of my breathing and heart beats.

She looked at the door at the opposite end and then back again at the engine. Maybe I could stay for awhi…right then a tremendous explosion erupted and the door burst open with flames.

The door flung over Cassie’s head while fire flooded the room. Cassie screamed and fell back on to the wall as the greedy fire stopped a few meters short of the engine. She made move for the vent but a flurry of gunfire emerged from the other end, their distinct noises clearly heard.

Fire on the way forward, gunfire on the way back, She fell onto the floor in despair. She grasped her head as the sound of gunfire and explosions grew more pronounced. The same feelings of hopelessness as the day her mother left her, clawed on her heart.

Streams of tears rolled down her face, everything, all the sacrifices for her sake had been a waste, no different than her very life. She clenched her face to stop the trembling.

Mother, where are you?