OPERATION ENDURING PROPHET
ALIEN ABDUCTIONS
COLOGNE, GERMANY
“I didn’t think Germany got flooded out.”
From high up in the cockpit of Vulcan, Oranis found himself thankful for his metal legs. He effortlessly pushed up the street, the water gushing downhill, as the rest of the squad waded through the pool collecting at the bottom of the street. Oranis scanned the street, listening to the soft sound of rain splattering against hit helmet, when Maxwell said, “Oranis, keep moving up.”
He started to move Vulcan up the street, carefully scanning for any signs of enemy movement. The street had gone completely dark, though the light of a half-moon helped illuminate the surroundings. Cars had been haphazardly parked all over the street, obviously abandoned by civilians in a hurry, though it didn’t look to Oranis as if an attack had taken place. Slowly, he moved himself up the street as the squad finally slogged through the pool, spreading out amongst the street.
“See anything?” asked Maxwell, taking a position behind Oranis.
“Nothing yet,” he replied. Maxwell started to order the squad’s sniper pair into a good vantage when Oranis saw a green glow spilling out from behind a delivery truck and said into the radio, “I think we got Meld over there.”
Oranis scanned the street as Maxwell said, “Notch, go check it out.” Topnotch dashed towards the delivery truck, taking cover behind it. Oranis scanned the street once more when Notch suddenly broke cover and ran back towards the squad, hissing, “Cyberdisc!” before ducking behind a fire hydrant.
A white disc gently floated above delivery truck towards the squad, accompanied by 2 Drones. Oranis immediately responded, raising his railgun and firing, punching a hole through one of the Drones. It immediately fell to the ground and the second Drone was rapidly destroyed by the squad, but the Cyberdisc opened up, revealing its twin cannons.
“Destroy it!” screamed Maxwell. Comrade replied, “What about the Meld?” and Maxwell replied, “Take it out of my tip, I don’t care, DESTROY IT!”
The first barrage of plasma hit Oranis, the sheer force of it knocking him backwards. It missed anything vital, and he quickly regained his balance and fired his railgun in retaliation. He was hasty and the shot went wide, though the rest of the squad was quick in returning fire. As he lined up another shot, he heard heavy mechanical footsteps approaching the squad from further up the road, and saw a Mechtoid and Sectoid rushing towards the squad. Ignoring the Cyberdisc, Oranis turned towards the approaching threat and leaned forward slightly, engaging the mortar on his back. The round whistled as it flew towards the aliens, detonating between them. The body of the Sectoid flew out of the blast, landing a few meters away, though the Mechtoid continued its charge. He raised his railgun and fired once, hitting the robot, and shouted, “Mechtoid incoming!”
He held his position, firing once more at the robot, when a plasma lance pierced its leg armor, causing it stumble. Gunfire had erupted up and down the street, and from behind Oranis someone shouted, “Disc down!”
As Oranis was getting ready to fire, there was a small explosion as the Cyberdisc detonated, quickly followed by another explosion as the Meld detonated, also blowing up the delivery truck. Shrapnel and flames bounced off of Vulcan’s armor as a pair of Floaters flew into view, taking cover behind a bus stop.
“Floaters!” shouted Comrade.
“Notch, circle around that Mechtoid, we’ll draw its fire! Oranis, get a mortar on that bus stop!”
Oranis leaned forward in Vulcan and fired another mortar, watching it impact on the bus stop. The explosion destroyed its walls, sending debris flying and into the raging water and shredded the armor of both Floaters. Both snipers were continuously firing on the Mechtoid, wearing it down. It slowly lost balance, its armor a twisted mass of melted metal, when Notch slipped into position near it and fired one last barrage with his heavy laser, destroy its chestpiece. The robot fell backwards and fell into the deluge, practically being consumed by the running waters.
The sound of gunfire was quickly replaced by the sound of rain once more. Oranis held his position, keeping a careful eye out, but no retaliation came.
“Chimera 5, do you see anything from up ahead?” asked Maxwell over the radio.
“Negative,” came the reply.
“We have to clear the rest of this street. Get back into a column. Minotaur 3, you’re on point.”
“Roger dodger,” he replied, moving through the rushing waters. As he passed Notch, he couldn’t help but notice that he was drenched to the bone and was thankful for all his artificial augmentations. He stayed in the center of the street, navigating between cars, when there was a sudden burst of plasma fire. Oranis took a step backward as plasma sailed directly in front of him, and he whirled to face the new threat. He saw a Mechtoid’s cannons emerging from a nearby store, and Oranis and shouted, “Mechtoid!”
He fired 3 quick blasts from his rail gun, decimating the front wall of the store but only scoring glancing hits on the Mechtoid. The rest of the squad was shouting, firing at the Mechtoid, quickly grinding down its armor and destroying it.
Oranis reloaded his railgun, watching for any more movement inside the store, but none came. After a few minutes of nothing happened, Maxwell called out, “That should be the whole detachment. Good job. Let’s get the hell out of here, it’s going to take me 2 god damned weeks to dry out.”
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