Mission 9

Friday 05/07/30XX

1200 hours

“Hey, Luke!” Jake waves to catch Luke’s attention, jogging to catch up with him. “Where are you going, man? It’s break now, wanna grab lunch with us?”

Luke waves back to acknowledge Jake’s presence, but doesn’t slow his pace. His footsteps drum the grey corridor in a steady, rhythmic beat. “Can’t. Commander Heisen called me down to brief over our next mission. I’ll catch up later.”

“Oh right, there was that.” Jake scowls for a moment, but quickly waves it off. “I’ll wait for you. Shouldn’t take long.”

“You don’t have to. Aren’t you hanging out with the others?”

“They can go ahead. I’m not leaving my best buddy.” Jake grins and slaps Luke on the back. “We’ve got nearly a full hour left anyways. No rush!”

Luke smiles. “Thanks.”

Luke stops before the door to the Commander’s office, straightening his uniform and smoothing his slick blonde hair with his hand. Jake leans against the wall a few meters away from Luke, giving him a encouraging thumbs up before fiddling with his phone. Luke inhales deeply and knocks on the door.

“Come in,” A deep, gruff voice seeps out from the other side. Luke pushes the door open.

“Captain Luke of Squad 03A reporting in, sir!” Luke strides into the office with sharp, refined movements. He stops a meter in front of the Commander’s desk and snaps to attention, saluting the higher ranking officer sitting before him. Luke notices a soldier he does not recognize standing beside the Commander. Her figure is small and thin, but she stands straight and alert. Luke’s stormy blue eyes meets her hard amber ones for a brief second before he shifts his gaze back to the Commander.

“Captain Luke,” The Commander says nonchalantly, barely batting an eye or meeting Luke’s gaze. He points to a small stack of papers resting at the corner of his desk. “Those are the documents regarding your next mission. I don’t want to take more time from your lunch hour, so you can read them over on your own later.”

More like you don’t want to waste more of your free time on me, Luke thinks to himself, fighting the scowl threatening to form on his face. Missions aren’t something you just ‘read over’. It’s not like Luke isn’t used to this process. He’s been having to deal with incomplete instructions and rushed assignments for nearly a year, ever since the previous Commander, who was only in his forties, suddenly retired. Instead, he nods and replies in a tone as refined and firm as his demeanor. “Yes sir!”

The Commander makes a noise somewhere between a cough and a groan. Luke considers that the best acknowledgment he’ll get from the Commander for the time being.

“Your squad has only five members, correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“Starting today, you’ll have six,” The Commander sighs and signals to the female soldier beside him to quickly get the introductions over with.

The woman steps out from behind the desk, allowing for Luke to get a clearer view of her. She stands as tall as Luke’s chin, probably around 165 cm. She is in full uniform--grey combat boots and cargo pants. Her jacket is smooth and unwrinkled. The sleeves and collar folded neat and crisp. Her cap shadows her cocoa-brown hair, tied into a ponytail, and frames a pair of diligent golden-amber eyes that gaze at him unwavering. “Rizza, reporting for duty,” She says in a monotonous, hard voice that matches her calm and collected appearance.

Luke finds his voice faltering in his throat, and he stares blankly at Rizza, mouth parted slightly. When Luke fails to respond immediately, the Commander raises his voice. “You are dismissed.”

“Y-Yes sir!” The annoyance and urgency in the Commander’s voice snaps Luke back to attention. He quickly picks up the stack of papers, and exits the Commander’s office. Rizza follows him, a little too close for comfort.

Luke can feel his engine spinning as the surface of his skin begins to heat up unnaturally. His core throbs from the increased intake of energy. Is he down for maintenance? But he just got checked up a few months ago.

“Hey man, how’d it go?” Jake grins when he sees Luke, and places a hand on Luke’s shoulder. His smile quickly flips into a frown when he touches what feels like a walking heater. “You’re heating up, man. What happened? That guy didn’t mess with your cogs, did he?”

Luke clears his throat to regain some composure. “I’m fine. He didn’t even talk much, much less do anything.” Luke raises the papers he held. “He says we only need to read this for the mission.”

Jake’s frown deepens, and he reaches over to take the warm paper from Luke’s hands. “I’ll hold on to his before you set it on fire. You should go change. Bet that uniform is what’s making you stuffy.”

Luke shrugs and loosens the buttons on his uniform, revealing a sliver of the white tank top underneath. “Before that, we have a new member you should meet.” Luke steps aside to fully reveal Rizza.

“Rizza,” she announces nonchalantly and extends her hand to Jake in a mechanical manner.

“I was wondering who that was behind you,” Jake whispers to Luke before shaking Rizza’s hand. “Jake.”

“Let’s go change now. You should too, Rizza. We’re heading out for lunch, you can join us,” Luke offers.

Rizza nods. “Understood.”

Luke flinches. Her response making him feel like he had ordered Rizza to comply. A response engraved into the memory chip of his being. A feeling he never wants to evoke. He scans Rizza’s face for any sign of reluctance, but her blank expression reveals nothing.

“Hey man, where is she going to bunker?” Jake inquires, nudging Luke out of his thoughts.

Luke freezes.

Where is she going to bunker?

The Commander never told him.

Jake saw Luke’s expression and almost slaps his hand to his face. “Man, you can’t be serious. That friggin’ Commander never told you?” Jake turns back to face Rizza. “Do you know where you’re rooming?”

“I just moved out of the trainee bunkers.”

“Oh for the love of--”

“I was told squads have their own bunkers.”

Jake and Luke both stare at Rizza. Squads do have their own team bunkers, and there is a spare bed in Squad 03A’s bunker. Luke’s thawing mind gives out a half-baked idea.

“We do have a spare bed--”

“Oh hell no man!” Jake grabs Luke’s shoulders and spins him around to face him. “Did your gears actually burn out? We’re all guys!”

It takes a moment for Luke for process what Jake is getting at, and when he does, he can feel the heat prickling his skin again. “I-I’m going back to ask the Commander.”

“Forget it man. I saw that guy run out of his office seconds after you left. We can come back to this later.” Jake sighs and tries to fan Luke with the stack of papers to cool him down. “Just go change and let’s head out. Only half an hour of lunch left.”

Friday 05/07/30XX

1230 hours

Luke sports his casual jeans and shirt as he makes his way to the electrobus station with Jake and a fully-uniformed Rizza. The rest of the squad are at a burger joint, a five-minute electrobus ride away.

Luke can’t help but cast nervous glances at Rizza, who is sitting on the bus with perfect posture, still in her uniform. Even though he is now in casual clothing that reveals enough skin to regulate his temperature, he can still feel the heat rising, as if he is the one uniformed. The summer heat and blazing sun radiating into the metallic vehicle only makes it worse. The fact that the electrobus’s air conditioning isn’t turned on doesn’t help either.

“I-Isn’t it hot wearing the uniform?” Luke tugs at the collar of his shirt to try to increase the airflow against his skin.

“I’m fine.” Rizza says simply.

Luke swallows nervously and gazes out the window for the rest of the ride.

#

Luke has never felt happier to get off an electrobus and feel the summer breeze blow over him. That happiness quickly disappeared when the electrobus drove away, the shade along with it, leaving him standing under the full power of the sun.

Jake stares at Luke’s skin, glistening with water. “Man, you’re sweating buckets!”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

“Get in the restaurant now before you melt.”

The burger joint is just around the corner from the bus stop. Jake rushes Luke towards the restaurant entrance as if it’s a life-or-death situation. Although Luke was against rushing at first, the moment a blast of cold air from the restaurant hits his face, he silently thanks Jake for hurrying him in.

“Oy~” A familiar voice calls out to Luke. He turns to see three young men sitting at one of the booths, one of whom is waving at him. “What took you guys so long? You only have ten minutes to eat now!”

The one yelling at them is Nils, a member of Luke’s squad. Nils blows a strand of his long shaggy brown bangs away from his eyes. His dark brown eyes scan over Luke, Jake, and finally lands on Rizza. He leans forward and rests his head on his fist, his half-lidded eyes meeting Jake’s. A smirk begins to form on his lips. “Who’s this chick, Jake? I thought you gave up picking up girls?”

“Shut it.” Jake throws himself on the booth, crashing into Nils intentionally. Nils doesn’t hesitate to shove Jake off of him. “She’s a new member to our squad.”

“Dang, we get a hot chick? Sweet!” Nils grins and looks Rizza over.

“Shut your perverted eyes.” Jake slaps his hand at Nils’s head, who promptly grabs his attacker and pulls him off balance. While falling over Nils’s lap, Jake raises his legs to kick Nils in the face.

Luke chooses to ignore them.

“Captain Luke,” The young man sitting across from Nils stands and uncaps himself to greet Luke. It is Kriss, Luke’s second-in-command. Kriss wears his black jacket even in this weather. After acknowledging Luke’s arrival, he fits his grey detective’s cap back over his black hair and sits down.

Luke smiles nervously, glancing over to the other side where Jake and Nils were still wrestling. “Think we can fit four people on this side? I don’t think anyone wants to join them.”

“Sure!” The last member of Luke’s squad pipes up, Alex. Alex squeezes himself against the corner of the booth seat, and Kriss slides towards him, almost knocking off Alex’s glasses with his cap. “Jake notified us that you guys were on your way, so we ordered for you beforehand. Hope you guys didn’t want something other than what you usually get.”

“Thanks.”

Luke seats himself beside Kriss and beckons for Rizza to take a seat. Rizza stares at the cramped booth for a second before settling down, her arm brushing against Luke’s.

Luke wonders if the restaurant had suddenly turned off their air conditioner.

“How’d the meeting go?” Kriss inquires.

“Same as usual. I haven’t read through the documents yet, and the Commander didn’t say anything about the mission. We’ll just have to find out later.”

“That so?” Kriss lowers his head so that his cap hides half of his face. No one knows if it’s because he’s shy, or thinks it’s cool, but Kriss always sits like that. “Captain?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re burning my arm…”

“...Ah--sorry!” Luke quickly draws his arms closer to his chest, and fidgets awkwardly in his cramped seat. He hears snickering from across the table.

Nils has stopped struggling with Jake and is now looking at Luke with a half dreamy, half mischievous gaze. “I see someone is already taken.” His smirk intensifies. “Can’t steal from the Cap’n~”

Luke holds his gaze, genuinely confused. “W-what are you--”

“Here are your orders. A double cheeseburger with duck oil fries and a kobe patty with onion rings.” Luke exhales. Why does he feel like the waiter saved him?

With Nils and Jake now keeping their hands to themselves, Alex switched to the other side to create more room. Luke finally has breathing room to relax and enjoy his meal.

“You know,” Jake looks up at Luke and speaks through a mouthful of burger, “I still don’t understand what you need food for.”

Luke snorts, “What, I can’t enjoy my sense of taste?”

“The food can still be converted to energy,” Alex speaks up, eyes still fixated to a laptop he brought, “It’s just a less efficient conversion.”

“What he said.”

“But you always end up having to drink your rations to supplement later.”

“Let me enjoy life at least.” Luke continues to chow down on the burger, wary of the time limit he’s got. Only he and Jake are still eating, if he doesn’t count Nils stealing Jake’s onion rings. The others had already finished their meal and are waiting on them. Alex is typing away on his laptop, up to who-knows-what, and Kriss is… sleeping? Luke can’t tell because of the cap that’s blocking out Kriss’s face.

Wait. Why are only him and Jake eating?

Luke swallows his bite and glances over at Rizza who’s sitting there in the same prim and proper posture. “Hey, Rizza.” The name feels foreign on his tongue. “Aren’t you going to order anything?”

“I ate already.”

“O-okay.”

The smirk never leaves Nils’s face. “Aww~ Is the prince worried for--ow!”

Jake elbows Nils in the stomach. “Shut it, and stop taking my onion rings!”

“Sharing is caring~”

“This is stealing!”

Kriss sighs and raises his head just enough for the group to see his silver eyes glare out from the shadows of his cap. “Just finish eating quickly. We have to head back soon.”

Friday 05/07/30XX

1350 hours

Luke sits alone in the squad office and scans through the last pages of the mission documents, memorizing and analyzing the data on sight. He has a few minutes before the others arrive to brief over the mission plan.

Luke’s mind wanders over the events of the day. Today feels more tiring than the rest. That’s to be expected, considering how much energy he burned through heat. Luke reaches over to his metal water bottle and takes a sip. The bitter taste of gasoline hits his tongue, and Luke swallows it quickly before the taste lingers any longer. Had Luke not familiarized himself to its taste, he would’ve no doubt retched and spat it out.

An appointment with Prof. Richardson has already been scheduled for tonight. Luke prays that there isn’t anything wrong with his body. He’s got a mission to complete tomorrow, after all.

“Greetings, Captain Luke. Kriss reporting in.” Kriss enters the room and formally salutes Luke before taking his seat to Luke’s left.

“Hey,” Jake waves his greeting. Nils and Alex file into the room after Jake, the former still smirking mischievously. Rizza enters last and takes up the remaining seat that had been vacant until today.

Once everyone is seated, Luke stands and begins addressing the mission, “Tomorrow morning, we will be retaking sector 92 of Earth.”

“Tomorrow!?” Jake flinches in surprise. “That soon? What happened to preparation times before missions?”

“Don’t ask me.”

Jake growls beneath his breath. “That damn Commander!”

“Anyways. Several squads have been assigned to this mission. Our specific task is shutting down Military Base 092. Alex, can you pull up the layout I sent you?”

“On it,” Alex begins madly typing on his computer. It takes only a few seconds before a three-dimensional diagram of Base 092 is projected around the table in the center.

“The parts in grey are rooms that have been identified by the satellite laser scan, but are of unclear usage. All other rooms are known.” Luke points a finger to the large double doors at the top of the Base. “Squad 05B will be attempting direct assault to the front entrance, which will serve as a distraction for us.” Luke touches two locations on the hologram, highlighting them. One location is at the top of the base on the opposite side from the front entrance, the other is at the bottom. “We will be entering through the trash chute and the sewer system.”

“What?” Jake slams his fist on the table, “Are they asking us to die? Where are the air vents that all them movie bastards go through?!” :)

“There are none. The other possible entry options are the gas pipes and underground electro-railway, but those create a whole ’nother problem.” Luke highlights the electro-railway entrance point. “Plus, one of our first targets upon infiltration is to shut down the railway, to cut off their route of support and escape.”

“I hate to say this but Jake’s got a point,” Nils speaks up, his expression finally more serious, “Sewers and dumps are always infested with them mutants. One bite and you’re done.”

“The dump won’t be that bad. There’s lots of open space and escape points. If things comes to the worst, a nether-gas bomb should ward them away long enough for you to enter the chute or escape. Mutants don’t stray out of their marked territories.”

“What about the sewers? A nether-gas bomb in a tight, closed space is the same as death as well.”

“I’ll clear it. I’ll clear the way.” Luke clenches his fist, realizing the weight of what he’s saying. “Mutants don’t affect me.”

There are some uncomfortable shifting and a lot of frowns.

“You may be immune to the venom, but that’s it. You aren’t invincible either.” Jake is the first to point it out.

Luke tries to lighten the mood. “Maybe, but I’ve got a deadly aim.” He forms a gun with his fingers and winks at Jake. Jake sighs.

“Showoff.”

Luke clears his throat and continues, “Kriss will lead Jake and Nils through the trash chute route. Alex and Rizza will come with me to the sewers.”

Nils starts smirking again, but Luke pretends he doesn’t see it.

“I object,” Kriss raises his hand. “Having Nils and Jake together is troublesome. Switch one of them out for Alex.”

“I need Alex’s mechanical skills to shut down the railway.”

“Rizza then.”

“Woah, hold on,” Nils holds both his palms up, signalling for Kriss to halt. “I won’t get in any trouble with Jake. Keep Rizza with Cap’n.”

Kriss glares out from under his cap. “This isn’t a joke, Nils.”

“Do I ever joke with lives on the line?”

There was a pause.

“...Yes.”

“Ouch.” Nils sighs, “Look, I got it. I promise I won’t goof off.”

Jake stares at Nils with an expression somewhere between shock and disgust. “What’s gotten into you?”

“You’re the thick-headed numskull here. Give Cap’n a little support!”

“Huh?” Jake sits up taller and bolder in his chair, glaring at Nils. “I always support Luke! What are you getting at here?!”

“It’s hard to believe you two will cooperate based on this,” Kriss huffs and lowers his hat to hide his eyes again. “I’ll take your words into consideration.”

Luke clears his throat. “Moving on. My group will deactivate the electro-rail first, since our entry point is right beside it. We’ll then scale down to the command room to power down the base.” Luke highlights the path of infiltration on the hologram in red.

He then switches a color and begins highlighting a new path from the trash chute. “Kriss’s group will enter through the chute and make their way down to floor 3B.” Luke points to the middle-level floor of the Base. “The energy core generator is there. Once the energy consumption from the core to the Base is shut down by my group, Kriss’s group will sever all connections the core has with the Base and attempt to retrieve it. The route of escape is undecided yet, but any possible points of entry, including the electro-rail and the gas pipes, are possible exits. It all depends on the circumstances. Once we’re out, a ship will be waiting for us, location also to be determined.”

“Why are we retrieving the core? I get that they are valuable and all that, but…”

“It’s listed as one of our objectives. I don’t know how imperative this is, but if retrieving it isn’t possible, leave it. I’ll shoulder the blame.”

“Look at you acting all noble, pfft.” Nils blows the strands of hair covering his eyes away. “We won’t fail, Cap’n.”

“Alex, send the mission files to everyone here. Ship leaves tomorrow morning at oh-five on the dot. Prepare the equipment and call it a night.” Luke sits back down. “Meeting dismissed.”

As the members file out to the armory, with Jake showing Rizza the way, Kriss stays behind. He clears his throat and raises his cap when the room empties of all other individuals except for Luke.

“About the group assignments--”

“You’re free to switch out Nils or Jake for Rizza,” Luke responds calmly.

“No… I think I’ll keep the groups as is.” Kriss lowers his head to break eye contact. “It’s her first mission in the squad. It would be more beneficial for her to take orders directly under you.”

Luke looks up, his expression a mixture of surprise and content. He quickly clears his throat and returns to his neutral face.

“I’ll take my leave now.” Kriss stands. “You’ve got a meeting with the other squads, yes?”

Luke nods. “Prepare my equipment as well. I won’t make it back until later tonight.”

“Yes sir.” Kriss bows to Luke slightly before exiting the room.

Friday 05/07/30XX

2330 hours

Luke sighs as he sits on a near-empty electrobus. The moon is high in the sky now, but the town remains lively as rainbow lights illuminate hotels, parks, and nightclubs.

At least it isn’t as hot now.

The electrobus pulls into a station on the far side of town, an additional twenty minutes away from the burger joint they went to for lunch. Luke exits the bus and makes his way down the dark street. He stops before a grand building, twenty stories tall. The dimly lit words ‘XenoTech’ protrudes above the entrance. A few windows in the building are glowing, but most remain dark.

Luke presses his palm against the cold metal door. He can feel the slight jolt of electric current running down his fingers, and the barely visible laser trailing his hand.

[Subject 00009A. Authorization Accepted.]

The circular centerpiece lock clicks and spins counter-clockwise. The thick, heavy metal doors creak and slide open to reveal a small rectangular room. Luke enters, and the doors clamp shut behind him.

[Destination?]

“Floor B2, sector three.”

The small room Luke is in begins to slide downwards like an elevator. Then it stops and moves through a series of horizontal paths. When it stops again, the door opens and Luke steps out into a familiar hallway.

Professor Richardson’s laboratory is the third door down. Luke knocks on his door.

“Come in!”

A friendly face greets Luke. Professor Richardson gets up from his desk and welcomes him.

His bedhead is as bad as ever. Luke smiles inwardly when he sees Prof’s messy chestnut hair. Professor Richardson follows Luke’s gaze and quickly tries to flatten the untidy mop on his head down. His hair does not obey.

“What brings you here today, Lukey-boy?”

“I’d like to get another body scan.”

Prof frowns. “Why? Didn’t we just do a full check up last January?” He gets up and leads Luke over to the capsule laser scanner. Luke settles into the seat as Prof connects a few wires and cords to his back.

“Yea but my body’s been acting up today. I think the heat regulator is broken, and my engine’s overworking for some reason.”

The capsule encloses around Luke. Prof plays around with some buttons on a controller and the scanner roars to life.

“So, abnormal heating. Anything else?”

Prof begins typing on the computer beside the laser scanner controller. Luke could mentally feel his firewalls and cyber defense mechanisms being breached.

“Engine overwork,” Luke repeats.

“Huh. Kind of hard to believe your engine can be overwhelmed. What were you doing at the time?”

“That’s the thing--nothing! I was just walking normally with Jake and the new member.”

“New member?”

“Rizza. She just transferred into our squad.”

Prof flinches slightly, but quickly continues to pull up the data on Luke’s hardware and system code. He skims over the lists upon lists of numbers on the screen.

“Any other symptoms?”

“My energy core was drained faster than usual. There was also a throbbing ache during the heatings.”

Prof stops typing and looks at Luke. Luke can’t tell what Prof’s eyes are conveying. Is there pity? Sympathy? Amusement? Anger?

The capsule opens up and Luke feels the cords disconnect. He gets up and stretches to make sure his limbs are working fine.

“So, Prof?”

“No physical damage detected to any components. Your engine and heat regulators are working fine, and your energy core power level is still top-notch.”

“Oh…” Luke doesn’t know if he should feel relief or dismay. “Thanks Prof.”

“No problem. Good luck on your mission tomorrow.”

“You heard?”

“Well, I am in charge of monitoring you.”

“True. Thanks.” Luke waves his goodbye and heads towards the door he came in.

“And,” Professor Richardson calls from his desk, “Follow your heart.”

Luke stares at him in puzzlement. “I don’t have a heart.”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

Luke mentally searches up the phrase on the Internet as he leaves the room.

Luke tiptoes into his squad’s bunker, careful to not disturb his sleeping teammates. The bunker consists of two triple-layered bunk beds. He occupies the lower left one.

While grabbing for the cord on the desk beside his bed, he notices a suitcase that was not there that afternoon. Glancing up to the highest bed of his bunker, he sees strands of long brown hair hanging over the edges of the mattress.

So she did move in… Luke feels the heat creeping in again and quickly jumps into his bed. Lifting a flap of skin on the base of his neck, he inserts the cord and plugs the other end into an outlet on the wall.

Luke enters sleep mode.

Saturday 05/08/30XX

0100 hours

The phone on Richardson’s desk begins to ring. He stares at it for a moment, as if he doesn’t know what to do, but eventually picks it up.

“Professor Richardson,” an authoritative voice on the other side rumbles in Richardson’s ear.

“Sir.”

“Have you finished checking up on Subject 00009A?”

“Yes sir.”

“Any progress?”

“His hardware are in good shape. There’s no viruses or malware and--”

“You know what I’m asking you.”

Richardson goes quiet. Then swallows.

“The new code implemented last January.” The voice repeats in detail.

“I don’t believe it’s ethical to toy with emotions.”

“Answer the question.”

“No sir. There has been no progress.”

The voice grumbles something Richardson could not hear. “Keep monitoring for another month. We’ll decide what to do after then.”

“Yes sir--” Richardson hears the phone click.

Dropping into his chair, Richardson tosses his phone roughly onto his desk. He inhales deeply and pinches the bridge of his nose with one hand, his bloodshot eyes glaring out with unusual animosity. His other hand fumbles through the drawers, landing on and clenching a cardboard packet.

“I need a smoke.”