— Monday, December 5, AD 2129 —

Absolute darkness, incredible silence. An abandoned abyss, filled with a lifeless stillness in a cavernous space, surrounded on all sides by steel and cement. Though no human eye would be able to perceive it in this space devoid of light, cracks covered the walls, floor, and ceiling, and dust blanketed the ground — the surest signs of a building abandoned for decades.

Within this lightless space was a wide steel ramp, sloping gently upwards for a couple dozen meters before reaching a massive ring mounted against the back wall. At eleven meters in diameter from outer edge to outer edge, and ten meters between inner edges, the giant ring towered over everything present — though the ornate royal blue, silver, and white geometric designs that wreathed the entirety of the ring failed to impress themselves upon the abyss in which they sat. Still, the ring remained as it was, lifeless yet standing tall amongst the debris of abandonment that surrounded it.

And then, a dim, white light pierced through the darkness. Originating from the top of the large ring, the light shone with a consistent steadiness, even though it, on its own, was no where near enough to illuminate the surrounding area. Then, at steady tenth-second intervals, nine other dim white lights began to shine into the darkness, creating a ten-point circle on the ring’s face. As if in response to these white lights, several devices within the room began to stir — devices mounted on the walls, the floors, and the ceiling, devices that all possessed long, thin barrels that quickly oriented toward the translucent black film that soon manifested in the large ring’s interior. After appearing, the black film shimmered slightly and darkened, and gold lines all around the ring began to glow softly, generating just barely enough light to finally fight off the darkness.

All that remained of the silent, dark abyss was now the lack of sounds — but even that didn’t last as a blue light appeared on the side of the Interstellar Gate, followed shortly by a lone figure leaping out of the black film, a figure with dark hair that was long in front but short in back. With him were only the clothes on his back: a thick green military uniform with black trim, a uniform that was immediately lit up with weapons fire as each of the devices mounted in the room revealed their identity as autoturrets, releasing a hail of bullets and laser fire upon the newcomer. Each bullet and laser found their mark, but the figure remained steadfast and uninjured, ignoring the weapons fire that deflected off of his skin as he shouted aloud, “Overdrive: Pulse!”

Instantly, all of the turrets in the room shorted out and exploded in a shower of sparks, while a handful of other spark explosions dotted the room as well — indicating a variety of other hidden electrical devices. None of them were any match for the powerful electromagnetic pulse that the newcomer had just released, and in the aftermath of their destruction, the room cast in dim light momentarily returned to the eerie silence that had once held it firm.

The man took a silent moment to look over his body to verify that he was fine, even after directly taking so much weapons fire. And indeed, no injuries nor blemishes remained on his body, allowing him to easily glance back at the large ring just as two new figures stepped through it. Both wore similar thick green uniforms with black trimming as the man, but they also were wearing a handful of blue and green armor pieces that covered their upper chests, forearms, and lower legs. Of the two newcomers, both shared the first man’s dark olive complexion, but one of them had a much larger build, while the other was a woman with blond hair covered partially by a red bandana.

After taking another few steps down the ramp, the blond woman paused to glance around at her surroundings, and then turned toward the first man. “Fuckin’ hell, Mote. You couldn’t leave even just one thing for me to destroy?”

“This is the mission, Kate. Now cut the chatter,” Mote retorted impatiently, and then turned to the large man. “Mark?”

“Here,” Mark replied, holding up a small rhomboid in his hand. He then tossed it through the air toward Mote, who deftly caught it. A second later, a bright white light engulfed Mote’s body, only to give way to a set of heavy crimson, black, and golden armor.

Mote took a moment to look himself over again; he then glanced toward Mark and nodded. “Thanks. Now…” he began speaking, his voice low as he slowly surveyed the room they were all standing in: the Interstellar Gate embarkation room within Sunova’s abandoned Gatefort. “…There were defense turrets when I arrived. And when I activated my Overdrive, more than just the turrets were destroyed.”

Mark’s brow furrowed in concern. “Nanocreatures?”

“I doubt it. It was likely Black Suns surveillance devices.”

“That turret wreckage definitely looks like Black Suns tech,” Kate declared as she inspected the remains of a nearby turret. “Sure looks like the Suns were here.”

“But no signs of the Nanocreatures so far…” Mote muttered. “I think it’s fine to continue the mission. Any objections?”

Mark shook his head while Kate replied for both of them. “None here.”

“Good. Now… Vanguard 1 to Overseer,” Mote began speaking, activating his comms as he did. “Beachhead established. Continue mission, over.”

«Understood, Vanguard 1,» replied a gruff voice over the connection. Then, just a couple seconds later, Mote noticed a blue light appear on the side of the Interstellar Gate — a signal of an incoming traveler. Ten seconds later, Danielle emerged from the Gate’s event horizon, dressed in nothing more than a black sports bra, black cargo pants, boots, and a thick green waist cloak with black trimming — her signature look. As soon as she was through, she spotted Mote, passed him a quick smile and a nod, and then ran down the ramp past the other three Chaotics.

“Still no armor…” Mote muttered as she passed him.

“It just gets in the way of the shapeshifting,” Danielle replied. “Besides, if I really need it, I’ll just make some!”

“Hmph…” Mote snorted as he watched her descend to the bottom of the ramp, at which point she held out her right arm and transformed her right hand into a small autoturret, not unlike the ones Mote had just destroyed. Then, she severed the turret from her arm, placing it on the ground before transforming the stump of her arm into her hand again — and then her hand into another turret. Mote found himself shaking his head in disbelief; he had known for a long time that Danielle’s shapeshifting allowed her to turn parts of herself into useful tools and then separate those tools from her body, effectively allowing her to endlessly create copies of anything she wanted. This particular use of her Transtechnism was limited to objects not much larger than a person, but it was an incredibly useful application of her shapeshifting ability all the same — if an unconventional one.

The arrival of four more individuals drew Mote’s attention back to the Gate, where Colonel Saito, Major Hackett, Captain Travis, and Researcher MacTavish had just appeared, all decked out in the same kind of armor pieces as Mark and Kate. Quickly, MacTavish scurried down the ramp to the autoturrets that Danielle was creating, where the Researcher plugged in a small handheld device and began programming the turrets to properly recognize SERRCom IFF implants — and to fire on anything that wasn’t registered. As she did so, Hackett and Travis moved forward on their own, carefully inspecting the embarkation room with their weapons as they secured the exits.

“…Vanguard 5, ready,” Hackett declared after taking position near the left exit.

“Vanguard 6, ready,” Travis echoed, as he did similarly on the right.

“The room is clear,” Mote added, turning to address Saito directly. “Everything in here was destroyed.”

“You probably took out all the damn computers in the control room, too, knowing that Overdrive of yours,” Kate remarked with a snort.

“Black Suns?” Saito questioned, his attention focused on Mote as he ignored Kate’s comment.

Mote nodded. “The turrets looked like Suns tech. The EMP from my Overdrive destroyed a handful of other devices, as well — and I can sense a few electrical circuits farther away that are disconnected from the Gatefort’s power grid. The Suns might’ve bugged this whole building. No signs of the Nanocreatures, though.”

“Good that there’s no Nanocreatures. As for the issue of the Black Suns, well, we suspected that they might’ve set stuff up here…” the Colonel muttered, momentarily casting his gaze toward Danielle as she produced her tenth turret. He then shifted his weight and adjusted his rifle, commenting, “but, that’s what we’re here to deal with. Now. Vanguards 5 and 7!” Saito raised his voice as he shouted toward Hackett and MacTavish. “Get to the control room. If anything survived the EMP, get it back online, ASAP.” He then turned his attention to Travis and Mark. “Vanguards 6, 2; secure the Gatefort exterior and neutralize any Suns that might be around.” Saito then glanced toward Kate and Danielle. “Vanguards 3 and 4; set up defenses, both in and around the Gatefort.” With that, the Colonel finally turned toward Mote. “Vanguard 1, you’re with me — let’s get those generators back online.”

“Yes, sir!” replied everyone in the room, with varying levels of enthusiasm.

“The details of your paired missions are as we discussed earlier,” Saito declared, and then offered a firm nod. “Now let’s reclaim this Gatefort. Vanguard team, move out!”

---

*

1 Hour Later

“Everything clear?”

“So it seems…” Colonel Saito replied as he stepped up to Major Hackett, who herself was standing guard within the Gatefort’s derelict control room. A short distance away, Researcher MacTavish was busy interfacing with a lone computer on the far side of the room — the only one that had been out of range of Mote’s earlier EMP blast. The Interstellar Gate embarkation room could be seen below through a large window that spanned the length of the control room; dim lights now illuminated the entire facility, showcasing exactly how dusty and derelict the entire Gatefort had become during its 20 years of disuse.

Saito glanced out the window to the room below, and the handful of autoturrets that Danielle had left behind. In the hour since the team’s arrival, Kate and Danielle had created and placed autoturrets throughout the entire interior of the Gatefort — however, not one of them had found even a single hostile to fire on. “…Seems like the Suns really have left the Gatefort alone,” the Colonel eventually commented, his voice low as he addressed Hackett. “Mote said that he destroyed some surveillance bugs when he first got here, but there’s been no indication of more bugs around the Gatefort.”

“I guess the Black Suns only cared about watching the Gate, then,” Hackett speculated. “Speaking of ‘bugs’, though, sir… has there been any sign of the Nanocreatures?”

Saito shook his head. “None. Vanguard 1 did a sweep of the complex before going off to power the generators. His armor didn’t detect any nanites, and even if it had, he practically washed the whole building in high voltage electricity. No nanites would survive that.”

The Major released a disappointed sigh as she eyed the heavy shotgun in her hands. “And here I was hoping to get to use a Railshot, for once. I suppose we’ll just have to see how the rest of the op goes…” She then passed Saito a doubtful glance. “Do you really think we’re in the clear, sir?”

The Colonel remained silent for a moment as his gaze was once again drawn to the Interstellar Gate. “…I think I can safely say the ‘metallic infection’ isn’t a threat, here. But something else doesn’t add up. The Black Suns’ reinforcement of the Gatefort is sending mixed signals — they’ve left the fort itself largely abandoned, and they didn’t even activate the Gate’s block to stop us from coming through. So it seems like they wanted to hide their presence from any Gate-based probe into the state of this complex… except for the fact that they also placed autoturrets in the Gateroom, which would immediately give away their involvement here.”

“Do you think they’re expecting us?”

“Well, Vanguard 1 did destroy their surveillance bugs, so that’s likely tipped them off. Before we even arrived, though? It’s hard to say. If they had expected us that far back, surely they would have enabled the Gate’s block? We have those Frigates that just arrived in orbit, sure, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Black Suns expected us to attack through space instead of the Gate — SERRCom is known for that. But it doesn’t explain leaving the Gate completely open.”

“Hmm…” Hackett pursed her lips in contemplation. “…Maybe they’re expecting someone else?”

“Um… s-sir…?”

Saito and Hackett both glanced off to the side, where MacTavish was timidly looking up at them from her seat in front of the computer. “Yes?” Saito prompted.

“S-something is, um… weird, a-about the, uh… computers,” MacTavish stuttered out, turning her attention back to the screen in front of her as she did. “The access logs, um, a-aren’t consistent…”

“Well, they have been in disrepair for two decades,” Hackett pointed out.

“And the generators have been destroyed for some time, as well,” Saito commented. “Mote’s electricity is the only reason this place has power right now. The computers wouldn’t have even been able to log any kind of access. Right?”

“Uh, well…” MacTavish slowly responded, “th-there was, um… a recorded access just, uh, t-two months ago…”

“Two months?!” Saito exclaimed incredulously. “How? The generators looked like they were destroyed long before that!”

“I-I don’t know. I-it also looks like, um, like whoever was here t-tried to, uh, c-cover their tracks. I-it’s well done, too… like they know, uh, how our computers work…”

“Hmm… isn’t that odd?” Hackett questioned. “Earth computers work pretty differently from computers in the rest of the galaxy, right? Have the Suns been studying our computer systems…?”

“M-maybe…”

“Further investigation is likely necessary,” Saito declared, “but we aren’t equipped to do that. The hardware here has been unsecured for so long that we would have to replace it all, anyways; we can just notify the EIIC about this intrusion so they can look into it when they decommission the system.”

“Which is sure to take some time,” Hackett mused, and then passed the Colonel a doubtful glance. “A full recovery of this base will take a long time, won’t it, sir?”

“That’s correct.”

“Longer than we have for this op, right?”

Saito nodded, a wry smile crossing his face. “That’s right. Now let me guess your next question: why does Shepherd’s plan involve this base so heavily?”

“A question without an answer, as far as I’m concerned, sir,” Hackett replied.

“I do wonder that, myself…” Saito muttered. “It’s likely just a matter of symbolism. Shepherd doesn’t like to rely on the navy any more than he has to — I’m sure that’s why he only got two Frigates involved. Normally, he’d insist on using the Interstellar Gate for any invasions or operations. If you assume that using the Gate is necessary, then it only makes sense to establish a beachhead around it. Still… like I said earlier. Something about all of this doesn’t add up…”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, huh?”

“I’d like to be able to wait and see, but I’m sure that we’ll be the vanguard for the next part of the op, too…” Saito grumbled. Just as he was about to launch into another thought, however, a voice came over his communicator.

«Vanguard 6 to Vanguard 0, come in.»

“This is Vanguard 0, I read you,” Saito quickly replied.

«We’ve swept the whole base, sir,» came Captain Travis’s voice over the connection. «Perimeter’s fully secure. There really aren’t any signs of hostiles around here. Vanguard 3 says there isn’t even anyone listening in on our comms.»

“That’s great. We’re still in unsecure territory. Maintain callsigns.”

«…Right, sir.»

“Anything else to report?”

«Nope. Everything’s quiet. Almost too quiet, all things considered. But Vanguard 3 says there’s no bombs or mines or anything hidden around.»

“Good to hear, Vanguard 6. We’re moving on to stage 2. Maintain perimeter.”

«Got it, sir. Vanguard 6, out.»

“…Everything’s fine out there?” Hackett questioned as the connection cut and Saito took a deep breath.

“So it seems,” the Colonel replied.

“Is it just me, sir, or are things going a little too well for us?” Hackett remarked.

“…There isn’t much we can do about that but remain alert,” Saito replied, and then turned toward the control room exit. “I’m going to dial the Gate and call in the reinforcements for the next phase. Vanguard 7, establish contact with the Frigates and see that they start beaming down their own equipment. Vanguard 5, hold the fort here until someone comes to relieve you.”

“O-okay…” MacTavish muttered in reply.

“Yes, sir!” Hackett declared with a salute.

With a curt nod, Saito left the two behind and began descending the stairs outside of the control room. The Black Suns are supposed to be an elite group, right…? the Colonel thought to himself as he went, if that’s the case, then their work here in the fort seems sloppy. Is it possible that we’re dealing with a splinter group after all?… He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he reached the lower levels and entered the embarkation room. No. Don’t let your guard down yet, Saito. We still have to face the main force at the caves. Maybe, once we do that, I’ll find the answers I’m looking for…