Wolves
Cataclysm

Traw found himself standing in a field, suited in battle armor andholding an assault rifle. His four other team members rushed pasthim, each of them wearing similar armor. Tall grasses swayed at theirfeet as the sun's rays became hues of flame, stretching across thewaning daylight. “Come on!” Moore's voice hollered through hisearpiece. “What the hell are you doing, Traw? We gotta light upthat fort at the ridge, let's go!”

Not questioning the situation, Traw followed his team as theyadvanced through the tan, swaying grass that undulated at theirknees. In the distance he could see a stone fort nestled on the ridgeof a tall rockface, a hundred and fifty meters in the air. Nektrocannons could be seen mounted along the edge, with the occasionalaircraft passing by overhead. Then they began firing massive lasershots down at the team, blowing craters in the field and setting thegrass ablaze. “Jet packs, now!” Sanchez told them, hitting alight, thruster-laden device on his back and boosting through theair. The rest of the team did the same, and Traw quickly found hisown, rocketing into the air and drawing closer to the fortress.

Still the cannons fired menacingly at the squad members, but none ofthem met their targets. Nektro snipers and footsoldiers opened fireas well once they were in range, and like their artillery, none ofthem landed a solid shot on their foes. The squad landed into thefray, opening fire immediately on the advancing Nektro and avoidingthe concentrated cannon fire. After gunning down a dozen Nektro atthe ridge landing, the squad found cover and entered the fortress,breaking in through a hidden weak point in the left wing.

Scuttling over the rubble, the squad entered the hallway, riflesaimed. After turning through a few unguarded hallways, they enteredthe control room, where a Nektro commander and three footsoldiersstood, as if they were waiting for the squad's arrival. To the shockof Traw, the commander had Louise and Luella at gun point, one pistolfor each head. “Kolu, valaus takata! Jo ru, jo ru kai!” thecommander barked, pressing the barrels harder into the backs of eachof the hostages' heads. The footsoldiers aimed their rifles at thesquad members, taking a few steps closer.

Traw crouched, setting his weapon down. Clayton and Aveer did thesame, then, after some hesitation, Sanchez. They were all looking atMoore, who still had his sights set on the commander. “Lower therifle, you bastard!” Sebastian yelled, almost rising.

“Hell no,” Moore grumbled, then turned and opened fire on thefootsoldiers, shooting them down in rapid succession. Then, without amoment's notice, the commander shot both hostages, as the lastfootsoldier fell to the ground.

As Moore landed his last bullet into the commander's head, Trawtackled him from below, smashing his armor-clad frame into the wall.After tearing Moore's helmet off, Traw pounded punch afterunrelenting punch into his face. “I'll rip you apart, you son of abitch!” Traw screamed, intensifying his blows and hardening hisfists. Then a forceful hand ripped him away from Moore, and it wasAveer, his rifle aimed at Traw's head. Saying nothing, he shot Traw.

Traw awoke in a cold sweat, his breathing intense. Sirens flashedeverywhere, and officials rushed past in the hallway, most of themcarrying guns. Aveer grabbed Traw's shoulder and he spun around indefense, backing away. “There's an emergency. Nektro attack,”Aveer notified over all the clamor. It took Traw a moment to come tohis senses as his gaze darted about, soaking in the entirety of thesituation.

“Get your panties on, we got some ass to kick!” Moore shouted,zipping up his jumpsuit. “Just got orders from Venko to meet him athis office, pronto.”

“Aren't we supposed to be fightin' the Nektro? What does he wantus for, some suit n' tie meeting?” Sanchez wondered, stretching hisshoulders.

“Perhaps this is a drill. A preemptive test for us,” Claytonremarked, trying to adjust to his suit while realizing that thetailor had made some inaccurate estimations.

After each of them were properly suited, they hurried out of thebarracks and into the street, where a helicopter was waiting forthem. The team could see other sirens flashing and teams on alertacross the military compounds nearby. The city was in darkness,illuminated only by the ominous red lights of emergency, pulsing likea collective heartbeat. The team packed into the armored helicopter,and it lifted away into the night sky, rotors slicing through thecold air.

Traw looked out his small, narrow window and gazed at the citybelow. Emergency vehicles and GAM transports moved about with haste,each of them on a specific task. He even noticed several tanks parkedin strategic points in the middle of the streets. The helicopterlanded on the extended pad at GAM headquarters, and the squad wasrushed to Venko's office by a nervous assistant.

The doors to Venko's office flew open, and the squad members walkedbrusquely inside. Venko set down a datapad and greeted with a tone ofurgent business, “Glad you're here, gentlemen. You finally get toserve the State. Our city is under attack, as I'm sure you're aware.Klept, please brief them on the situation in further detail.”

Klept, who had gone unnoticed until then, clicked a button on hisremote, and a broad metal case opened before their eyes. Inside werefive suits of armor. They were each similar, but unique in their ownways, and accompanying each suit was a specific weapon. Each suitcompletely protected its wearer's body, leaving no crevices exposed.

“Made of an impenetrable metal known as keronium, which our miningcolonies have recently began supplying us with, these suits willprovide whole protection for you. Each piece of armor is built towithstand at least one hundred and fifty to two hundred rounds, withvitals like the helmet and breastplate able to take up to sevenhundred rounds before collapse of the suit's structure. These caneven withstand a direct cannon round. Functions like temperature,noise cancellation, squad contact and heat vision are controlled byvoice command. I hand-picked weapons specifically for each of you,catering to your individual strengths. I'm basing this on what I sawduring your simulations and your personal record, of course.”

Engraved on the back of every helmet was a name. The men approachedtheir mighty suits of armor, awestruck. Clayton was the first to fitinto his suit, as it was the only one roughly his size: there was tobe no debate on that. After fitting into his armor and setting thehelmet firmly on his head, he picked up the gun mounted beside hissuit. He began to examine it. “That is a P-1000 thunder rifle. It'swired with three million volts and designed to set off a chainreaction on Nektro armor. You take one down, and the one standing tenmeters away gets fried with him. The armor of your team members isimpervious to the shock, so don't worry about that.”

Aveer had a broad, slit-eyed mask that fitted his dreadlocks. He wasdesignated a hefty machine gun, already armed with eighteen thousandchain rounds that sat folded in his backpack. Sanchez had twoautomatic pistols, with twelve extra magazines clipped to his belt.His helmet was slim, with a broad visor that covered his brow and thebridge of his nose, giving him a large range of vision. Moore wasgiven a shotgun, with a sixty extra shells attached to his cheststraps and belt. His helmet was tall, a chrome visor covering hisentire face which allowed him a broad line of vision, but allowed noone to see the face within.

Finally, after Traw had pulled up the last steel zipper, he reachedfor his helmet. It was narrow, with a jutting pyramidic edge thatprotruded from the middle and a shorter one from the brow. There weretwo slim, rectangular eye slots. He slipped it onto his head andknocked the side of the helmet, making sure it was on correctly. Thenhe picked up his rifle. It was long and narrow, which he supposed tobe a sniper rifle. He had noticed four extra magazines clipped to hisbelt, and realized that they belonged to no ordinary gun. “TheSN-12 long-range rifle. It has the firing capability to accuratelyhit a target from eighteen hundred meters, also considering weatherconditions. Can puncture tank armor, concrete, sheet metal, you nameit. Not a finer rifle has existed in military history,” Kleptmarveled, staring at the gun like a gorgeous woman.

The Death Squad stood before Venko, who looked at them proudly inthe glowing red light hanging from the ceiling. They felt how theirsuits stretched and contoured. Klept stood beside Venko, then glancedup at him. “I only wish I had more time to train them,” Kleptremarked. “You'd best send them off now. The armada is only goingto get closer.”

“Of course,” agreed Venko, making his way round the table.“Gentlemen, there is a transport waiting for you at the landing padwhere you arrived.”

“Yeah, what's our mission? You kinda failed to tell us that,”Moore asked through the electric filter of his helmet's speaker.

“You're going into the heart of the swarm,” Venko informed,pointing to the stormy sky through the window. “The armada'smothership is waiting outside the atmosphere. Our guess is they'rewaiting for reinforcements. We have our anti-aircraft cannons ready,and the citizens are all in bunkers, but we need you to go up thereand blow that mothership to kingdom come before any more of thosebastards arrive. Clear?”

“Wait,that don't make sense,” Traw interrupted. “If or whenthe rest of the armada comes, they'll just attack without themothership. Blowin' that to smithereens won't stop the whole assault,will it?”

“Our research division has come to the conclusion that it willtake the rest of the armada at least two hours to recalibrate theirsystems upon the mothership's destruction. The mothership is both thebrain and heart of the armada. With it disabled, that will give ustime to deploy our fleet and eliminate them. The Nektro will bedefenseless.”

“Are you certain?” Clayton asked, his mousey voice made a bitrobotic with the helmet's filter.

“Enough to send you with a 2.8 gigaton bomb. Good luck,gentlemen.”