Chapter Text
The walk to the communication outpost was one of the most miserable and time-consuming treks Alatall had been on. Over seven kilometers of walking through dense forests, rivers and even a patch of marsh had left him and Bash exhausted to the point where he’d rather hunker down for a full day. However, time was of the essence. They had to strike before ADVENT realized their plan and sent every available trooper in the area to the old station. As he stopped at the edge of the forest surrounding their target – a large, old brick building with a large antenna beside it, all surrounded in chain link fence – he cursed under his breath.
“I should have figured...”
Bash came slithering up beside him quietly, noticing what he had as well with a hiss.
They are already here.
“Must have figured this was a likely place for us to head to, or perhaps they were already stationed here. We’ll have to take them out fast and silently to avoid them alerting their superiors. We need as much time as we can get.”
Alatall sighed and walked back a few meters to stay hidden, sitting down against a tree trunk.
“It will be dark within the hour. A short enough wait, and it will give us an advantage.”
The Viper nodded as she followed, coiling up beside him to relax as well. As the minutes passed her eyelids slowly closed and her upper body leaned more and more to the side, until her head rested on Alatall’s shoulder. The Skirmisher looked at his sleeping companion, smiling inside his helmet before gazing back up at the quickly darkening sky.
“Bash.”
Alatall crouched next to the Viper, who had curled up in her coils, and shook her shoulder gently. Her eyes opened and she straightened up, alert and awake in an instant. The forest was almost pitch black, a thick layer of clouds hiding any light from the moon and stars,
“I scoped the place out. Come on, I have an idea.”
He held a hand out to her, which she accepted and got up, her tail uncoiling and stretching. Alatall walked back to the treeline, pointing towards the right side of the station.
“Entrance is on the south side. One guard posted there, another patrolling inside, and an officer inside the building itself. No one else.”
A light squad. Easy pickings.
Bash hissed softly, and the Skirmisher could have sworn he saw her smile. Or at least, as much as a Viper could smile.
“Come on. We’ll stick to the treeline to move around unseen.”
He got up from his crouch and began a quick jog through the trees, circling around to the south of the old communication station. The lone ADVENT trooper standing guard at the entrance was still present, standing completely still save for the head, slowly looking side to side. Not that it would do much to spot two figures in the dark woods on a moonless night. Alatall crept up to the closest tree before the open space between the woods and the small compound, looking at Bash.
“What do you think? Able to reach that far?”
The Viper eyed the distance, then nodded and leaned her whole body backwards in preparation for her move.
“Good. I got eyes on the patrol, wait for my mark.”
The Skirmisher’s thermal imaging let him keep an eye on all three ADVENT, focusing on the only one moving. It walked past the entrance, turned and headed away, to which Alatall nodded.
“Now.”
Bash threw her whole upper body forward, jaw opening as her tongue shot forward. Alatall had seen Vipers pull in enemies at relatively long range, but nothing like this distance. In just a second she pulled her body back, tongue basically reeling in her catch as the guard came sailing through the air towards them, landing in front of the two with a ‘thump’. Before he could get to his feet, the Skirmisher readied his Ripjack and drove it in under the gap in the helmet up into the trooper’s skull, killing him instantly and silently.
“One down. Let’s move fast.”
He said as the dual claws on his gauntlet retracted, sprinting across the open field. Bash followed behind him, the two rushing through the now-clear entrance and stopping at one of the corners of the structure. He gestured silently to her and then towards the door, and she nodded in response, slithering under the windows in the brick wall over to it. Alatall waited by the corner as he heard approaching footsteps, stepping out and taking the patrol by surprise. A swift punch and a body later the Viper opened the door and rushed inside, catching the officer off-guard as she coiled herself around her, tightening to the point a few ribs audibly snapped. Alatall followed inside, Ripjack at the ready. The officer barely had time to spit a curse at the Skirmisher before the claws penetrated her skull and downloaded the knowledge in her cerebral implant.
“A simple enough system to operate.”
Alatall commented as he pulled the claws out again, now covered in orange blood. Bash uncoiled and let the dead officer fall to the ground, looking around with a hiss.
You can send a signal?
“I can, yes. However, ADVENT will hear it as well, meaning they will be upon us shortly after I transmit. We will have to hold out until extraction arrives.”
The Viper nodded understandingly, then reached up to her head with another hiss.
They may send others of my kind. We have to be certain you can tell me apart.
“How?”
In response she grabbed the headpiece of her armor, which was more decorative than protective, and dropped it to the ground.
Like this. A sign of my new freedom. Now, send the message and I will start preparing for the assault.
She hefted her plasma rifle, and Alatall nodded before walking over to the main console. It was ancient, pre-invasion, but still functional. He grabbed the microphone, shaking off the dust, before turning it on and transmitting his message.
“This is Amodee Alatall of Phalanx Squad, requesting immediate extraction at source of this signal. ADVENT forces inbound, will hold position until arrival. Vox tala for ten.”
He fell silent, double checking that it had been transmitting before shutting the system down again. Bash was already at work taking whatever she could find to help barricade the very obvious weak points of their holdout; the many windows, most of them already broken.
“The message is sent. All we can do now is wait.”
Are you certain they will come for us?
She hissed as he came over to help out with the makeshift barricades.
“Yes. We Skirmishers leave no one behind.”