At first glance, the strange battle suits might be mistaken for padded scuba gear. In truth, the suits provided extra support, actually enhancing the wearer's endurance. Just as he reverse-engineered alien technology from the invading armies, Omar Nehru had reversed-engineered the suit Trevor brought home from the humans of an alternate universe.
He fit the mask on and peered through the goggles. Hauser double-checked the mesh that covered the suit and Trevor's assault rifle, and ensured all the power cords were connected. The mesh had not come from that alternate Earth but, rather, came from the Chaktaw; another piece of alien technology adapted for humanity's use. Hauser asked, "Sir, are you sure you should be in the front lines on this one?" He placed a hand on Rick's shoulder. That served as answer enough. "Let's go." The lights in the cabin turned off. The side door slid open. Hauser watched the strike teams head off into the forest behind a line of K9s. — Sparkling stars covered the midnight sky above the buildings once home to the Seventh Space Warning Squadron. The fence-enclosed facility sat atop one of the many small, grassy hills west of the Sierra Nevada range and housed the PAVE PAWS antenna that resembled a three-sided 1970s era stereo speaker standing several stories tall.
The Witiko enhancements-a tower, anti-air emplacements, a fuel depot, a box-like building known as 'the pen'-gave the compound a cluttered, messy look.
That clutter provided cover for Nina Forest and Vince Caesar, the Dark Wolves charged with infiltrating the main building. At the same time, Carl Bly and Oliver Maddock lay in ghillie suits atop hills within sniping distance of the complex.
Two days since the failed air strike, the Dark Wolves did what the F-111s failed to do; breach the facility's defenses. Unlike the planes, Nina's team received considerable help in the form of one disgruntled janitor (a former Cal-Berkley Professor) who hid the two commandos on a maintenance truck.
Armed with a detailed layout of the complex, Nina and Vince made their way to the roof of the four-story building at the center of the base. There they knelt in the darkness, their black tactical suits blending with the night.
Nina dribbled sizzling yellow goo from a small packet onto the iron bolts holding a metal grate above a ventilation shaft. Vince helped her pull the shield away after the bolts dissolved.
With that obstruction cast aside, Vince Caesar assembled a tripod hoist from which dangled a stretch of nylon rope. Nina slipped the hook at the end of that rope around a latch on her body suit and then adjusted the small, but heavy, pack slung on her shoulders.
As for armaments, she left behind her assault rifle and sword, planning to rely on stealth and speed as opposed to firepower.
Nina swung her legs into the shaft…
…A guard in black coveralls continued to walk his rounds between tan-painted walls. His boot steps echoed along the marble floor, announcing both his coming and going.
Nina-hiding behind dusty old crates stacked in a dead-end corridor-allowed the guard to continue unmolested. Moments later, she moved from cover into the open, traversing the brightly-lit corridors.
She had memorized the map provided by the janitor and walked fast for her objective. Of course, she knew she would be discovered eventually, she only hoped to complete her job on time. And while completing her job was always her primary goal, tonight's mission meant even more; she knew Trevor Stone led the assault on the base.
Why he chose to fight in the front lines she did not know. Indeed, the more she thought about Trevor Stone the more he confused her. Ironically, as that confusion grew she found herself more and more intrigued by the man.
Three years ago Stone traveled into hostile territory to rescue Nina and her team, for reasons she did not understand. But now-tonight-she did understand that Trevor trusted her to take out the base's defenses, to the point that he essentially placed his life in her hands.
Yes, she would complete the mission. No one-human or alien-would stand in her way.
Nevertheless, she scurried through the enemy's hallways with a silenced pistol ranking as her most lethal weapon. If things came to a firefight, she stood at a serious disadvantage. Then again, if a firefight erupted before she breached the main computer room her mission would fail.
Captain Nina Forest came to a stretch of corridor where an ancient wall-mounted security camera swung on a motorized swivel. She pressed against the wall and hurried under the device, timing her movement so as to be below the camera's arc of vision as it panned…
…Trevor led the two dozen soldiers of the strike team from the mountain slope onto the rolling, grassy hills surrounding the generator complex. With the cover of the mountainside behind, the time had come to take advantage of Omar Nehru's hard work in studying and adapting Chaktaw battle ponchos.
"Suits on," he radioed.
One by one the soldiers touched small units mounted on their belts. The chameleon mesh on the suits powered up and adjusted to match the ambient colors around the wearers. In this case, the gray suits changed to a pattern of brown and faded gold in reflection of the dipping and rising field they crossed. The soldiers did not turn invisible- not truly-but only the keenest eyes could depict their moving silhouettes against the background…
…To Nina's left, a thin hall stretched twenty yards to a 'T'. At that 'T' waited a wall of tall glass windows and a corresponding glass door. Behind those windows and that door stood a forest of Cray Supercomputers controlling the network of security sensors around the exterior of the base.
While the place hosted only a small garrison of Cooperative soldiers, a protective shield of automated turrets could rip apart any ground force.
Nina spied two humans with side arms standing in front of those glass windows, one a short bald black man, the other taller with curly dark hair. The two shared words over something written on the bald black man's clipboard.
She also noticed a shadow stretching from around the corner, indicating a third person-human or otherwise-waiting in the wings. She also knew that at least two technicians worked inside the computer room.
Nina momentarily closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. She exhaled that breath in a softly-whispered battle cry no louder than her heart beat…the cry of a dark wolf: "awwwooooo."
She turned the corner and ran full speed, her ponytail wavered behind like a rippling streamer. The two men in front of the glass windows pulled their eyes from the clipboard to see a woman in black BDUs charging.
Nina leapt and drove a flying sidekick into the bald black man's chest, sending the clipboard off in one direction and the man hard into the glass behind. His head whiplashed against the window, causing a crack and sending him into a state of unconsciousness before his body hit the floor.
Nina landed where that man had stood a split second before and turned on the taller, curly-haired guy. Even as she moved to deal with him her eyes identified the shadow: a silver-faced Witiko officer armed with one of the aliens' standard-issue rifles, a weapon resembling a cross between a long rifle and a Gatling gun.
While her eyes identified the Witiko, Nina kicked the curly-haired man's knee before he could draw his pistol. As he crumpled she drove a hammer fist to the soft spot at the back of his skull. He fell unconscious.
The motion of her hammer-fist carried through to her utility belt after hitting the man's head. In the blink of an eye, she grabbed a sharp throwing star from that belt and reversed the motion of her arm in a graceful arc. The shiny, deadly star lodged in the Witiko's throat at the same moment he brought his rifle to bear.