Author’s Note: I’m going to be gone on Friday and Saturday to try out for All-State on my clarinet, so I’m posting this chapter early.

Chapter 44: Getting In

Date: November 25, 3007
Time: 21:00
Location: Orbis

Three days had past since the incidents in El Nath. Three days since all of the horror and suffering the platoon had been through. But it seemed like just yesterday when Niel got off of the dropship, when Aaru collected the sphere, when they fell into the cave only to be ambushed by machine-gun wielding zombies, when Rey rescued them by blowing the cave apart, when Repty, Mexiufax, Aaru, Billy, and the others died.

The survivors were all gathered together in the local Orbis pub. Niel sat down and took a long drink from his beer. Sighing in comfort, he tried to forget that the Dominion was out to get them. But then, something popped into his mind.

“Hey!” he cried out, making Annikabelle knock over her glass of iced tea. Muttering a quick sorry, he continued, “If the Dominion thinks we’re dead, then they aren’t really hunting us are they?” The entire table looked up at him. Beside him, Rey belched.

But soon enough, the lights popped on in the rest of their eyes, and they got it too. They were supposed to be dead onboard the Isis, entombed beneath miles of freezing cold ocean. But the facts were that they were not, and they were still alive and kicking, unknown to the Dominion.

“But they’ll find out,” Caleio muttered bitterly, “They always do.” At that moment, the television in the pub clicked on. The reporter on the screen seemed to be standing on a battlefield. Random flashes of light followed by tremendous explosions revealed the warzone.

“We’re here with Dest Won,” the news anchor informed, “reporting for the Nexon Dominion Broadcasting Company on the tiny island of Navasota off the coast of Orbis, where the Nexon army has engaged a group of rebels claiming to be loyal to the Wizet Confederacy. Dest?”

“Thank you, Aliyah,” Dest started, “As you can see, our troops are putting up a hell of a fight. Behind me here, you can see the row of Dominion Tanks pounding away at the rebels who are said to be cowering atop the mountain range to the north.” The camera panned from the line of sleek black tanks up to the snow capped mountains which were barely visible in the night.

“The skirmish has just begun, but experts report that it will be over in an hour or too with a predicted overwhelming Dominion victory. Reports indicate that the rebels are led by Mikhail Shale, leader of EDEN and a known terrorist. They number about 300 or so, so our force of thousands will easily crush their force, ending the numerous terrorist attacks on the Dominion.”

“Thank you Dest, we’ll be checking up on you regularly. In other news, are Balrog attacks and certain types of perfumes linked? We’ll show you just…” The news anchor trailed off, and Niel turned his head back to the group.

“At least someone’s fighting those bast****,” he muttered to himself and took another drink. Somehow, it did not feel right. He felt as if he should be doing something more productive, but how was that different from any other time in his life?

Felix looked up from his own drink, “I know what to do.” Niel looked at him curiously. He stood up and walked to the door. Shrugging at his platoon-mates, Niel decided to follow Felix out. The night was cold with the incoming winter, but a full moon shone down onto the clouds, lighting the way. Felix trudged through the emptying streets into a back alley. There, he whipped around and stared each of them in the eyes. Niel hated the way his piercing eyes seemed to see all of his secrets, his lies and deceits.

“We’re gonna help those rebels,” Felix spurted out bluntly, “And to do that, we’re going to have to infiltrate their headquarters.” Niel instantly thought Felix had lost it. Infiltrating their headquarters was a fool’s deathwish. It was so impossible, that no one even thought about it.

“You’re crazy, captain,” Niel replied disbelievingly.

“You’re right, but you know this must be done if we are to live on,” Felix replied coldly. Niel knew that was the truth, and decided to hear him out.

“Anyways,” Felix continued, “You all have your weapons right?”

“Yea,” Annikabelle replied, “When we checked out of that hospital, they didn’t know about us yet, so they let us keep them. They’re back at the hotel.”

“Right,” Felix responded, “We’re going to need those, and as much ammo as we can get. And I know just how to get it.”

The platoon huddled for an hour, straightening their plan out, making sure everything was going to run as smoothly as possible, covering all possible sources of error. This was going to be a foolproof mission that only a crazy man could concoct up. Niel looked at his watch when they finally dispersed back to the hotel: it was 11:11 PM. They had forty-nine minutes until they carried out their final mission against the Dominion.

Date: August 16, 2997
Time: 06:50
Location: Orbis

Niel’s world focused around him. He rubbed his head and sat up. Propping himself up against a metal plating, he realized he was inside a dropship. Right next to him, was his brother Rey, snoring peacefully, as if nothing had happened.

“Where am I?” Niel asked to no one in particular.

A low voice replied, “You’re going to get conscripted mate” A man walked forwards and lifted Niel up, “What did they get you for?”

It took a while for Niel to remember, but then he saw images of the dead man, Rey standing over him like a lycanthrope after a kill, and him screaming at the top of his lungs until the Dominion dropship arrived. “I… my brother killed a man, and they took me too.”

The man chuckled and patted Niel on the back, “What a f***ed up world we live in eh?” He went back to his seat and started to hum a tune to himself.

Niel shook his brother awake and helped him up as well, but just as both of them got to their feet, the dropship suddenly shuddered and the engines died down: touchdown.

The hydraulics hissed as the back ramp opened up to reveal a sparkling white building in the morning sun. White marble pillars supported the roof on the outside, gleaming with pride. Whatever this building was, it was heavily guarded too, for hundreds of armed guards in black uniforms stood at attention all around it.

Suddenly, someone pushed him forwards, “Are you gonna go or not!” a gruff man growled. Niel and Rey both stepped off of the dropship and filed into a single-filed line leading into the double doors of the magnificent building.

The inside was enormous. It was like something out of one of those millennium-old Harry Potter movies where everything was large and blown out of proportions. It seemed surreal, but Niel knew he wasn’t imagining anything. They were being recruited into the army. So this is what happens to all the criminals…

“Starks, Niel,” the man at the desk called monotonously. Niel stepped forwards, watching the man shuffle through some papers. After a while of seemingly pointless writing, the man pointed for him to go through a door to his left. Niel obeyed and stood by the desk as he waited for Rey.

But as the man was shuffling through Rey’s papers, he suddenly stopped. Slowly, the man looked up into Rey’s red eyes. Without taking his gaze off of Rey, the man whispered to his assistant, “we got another one.” What the hell does that mean…

But Niel soon realized afterwards, that he might never see Rey again. Four men in white doctor’s gowns rushed forwards from a door directly behind the desk and grabbed Rey. Rey’s eyes met Niel as he struggled to get free, but he was no match for the four muscular men.

“Rey!” Niel cried, “Rey come back dammit!” But he felt himself being pushed towards his own assigned door. Niel took one last glance at Rey as he was being forced through the door behind the desk before it slammed shut. The airlock hissed and Niel had a feeling he would never see his brother again.

Defeated, he slouched over and allowed himself to be escorted to his own door. Niel stepped through the threshold into the shadows.

Date: November 26, 3007
Time: 00:00
Location: Orbis

Niel tried hard to stifle his laughter. They all had to make sacrifices in order for this plan to work, but Niel thought Zanna had the worst of it. He found himself crouched up by a side entrance into the headquarters of the Dominion of Nexon with Felix, Rey, Caleio, and Annikabelle, watching Zanna. He couldn’t help it anymore, and burst out laughing.

In front of him, Zanna was wearing a black and very revealing outfit. Tears welled up in Niel’s eyes from laughter. Suddenly, he felt a stinging pain on his cheek as Zanna fumed and slapped him. “I’m… I’m sorry haha, but, heh, this is just too hahaha funny!”

“Yea, well when I’m done with them, I’ll be coming for you!” Zanna snapped and stood up, ready.

“Alright, Zanna, you know what to do?” Felix asked. Niel could tell Felix was having the hardest time trying to restrain himself too.

“Yea, captain, I know. I walk in, give them this cake, and ‘seduce’ the guards long enough to find out how the controls work. Then I’ll dispatch of them and let you guys in. That’s it,” Zanna rolled her eyes.

“Yep, that’s it. Oh, wait one more thing,” Felix remarked, “Try not to embarrass yourself too much.”

“Yea, thanks a bunch captain…”

A moment later, Niel heard Zanna’s echoing footsteps upon the marble floor on the inside of the headquarters through his earpiece. Then, Zanna started to speak, and Niel could not stop snickering.

“Can we help you ma’am?” the guard asked.

“Oh yes, I would like to see your boss,” Zanna replied in a girlish, very un-Zanna-like way. “I’m here to deliver a cake.” She paused for a second, then sighed, “is it just me or is it hot in here?” Niel heard the unzipping of a zipper and plugged his fist into his mouth to prevent from bursting out laughing.

“Um ma’am, if you… you would uh… put my cake in your scanner, I… I mean, put your cake in the scanner,” the security guard stammered awkwardly. Niel started to cry at the conversation. He knew what was coming up next. There was a fumbling and then a cry of surprise from the guard.

“Oh my goodness! I’m sorry sir!” Zanna had just “accidentally” spilled the cake onto the guard, “Here, let me help you clean that up.” Niel wanted to see what Zanna was doing, but all he could hear was the guard breathing very rapidly.

“Zanna should get a promotion,” Annikabelle whispered, but she too was trying to stifle her own laughter. Niel listened through the earpiece, hearing Zanna coo and giggle like a little girl. But then, there was a whooshing noise and four silenced gunshots. Then, nothing at all.

Niel waited for a moment, when Zanna’s voice whispered, “Zanna here, four down, alarms disabled, doors unlocked.” There was a click on the side door and Felix wrenched it open. They were in.

Niel’s footsteps echoed through the dark main lobby. To his right, Rey was coving their flank, just in case any unexpected security guards showed up. Suddenly, another pair of footsteps reached him. The group turned the corner and met up with Zanna, who was standing over four dead guards, one with a whole mess of cake on his front.

“Damn nice, Zanna.” Niel chuckled as he looked from the guards to her body, his eyes stopping just a little more on her revealing outfit. Annikabelle pushed Niel over and threw Zanna her combat uniform. Niel skidded to a stop on the squeaky clean floor and heard Zanna mutter something profane, but he didn’t care. He had his laugh.

Felix set his bag down and revealed the stolen weapons from the local gun store and tossed Zanna a spare S-16. Funny how the Dominion had allowed civilians access to military weapons.

“Regroup men!” Felix muttered. The lobby echoed with the clicks and clacks of loading weapons. Niel screwed the silencer onto the barrel of his S-16. “Alright, let’s do this.”

Niel and Rey walked over to the elevators and pushed the call button. Instantly, the humming of the elevator making its way down filled the otherwise silent lobby. Three elevator doors opened, revealing a spacious and luxurious little room. Rey and Niel went in the first one, Zanna and Annikabelle the next, and finally Caleio and the captain in the last.

“Alright,” Niel heard Felix say through the communicator, “I want full radio contact at all times. Anything happens, the entire platoon knows. Good luck guys. We can do this.” The earpiece clicked silent and Niel could only hear his own breathing.

“So this is the life of my brother eh?” Rey chuckled and turned to him. Niel sighed, “Yea, this is pretty much it, getting chewed up and regurgitated by the captain. All part of the daily routine.”

“Right,” Rey scoffed. Niel thought for a moment, then asked, “Rey what happened to you all these years?” But Rey only looked at Niel and smiled. Somehow, Niel curiously forgot what he was asking and decided to drop the subject.

The droning of the elevator finally ceased as he reached his designated story. Taking one last look at Rey, he stepped off onto the deserted floor.