The Cryptic Command Chapter 2

Chapter 2

B-408 (Scoob)’s Memory

//A note to the reader: the change of tense is intentional. 

The day I was born I was preparing for battle. Raised from an embryo in a tube, my entire purpose for being was to fight.

After half a year of training and forced growth, I was shipped off to the front lines.

I stepped out of the transport walker, steam hissing around me, three dozen of my identical brethren carrying their equipment.

“Those clunkers are going to get what’s coming to them!” said Sergeant A-12, known as “Bucky.”

That’s what we were there for. To fight the golems of the Malthuxians and defeat the Dark Ones.

The staging ground was filled with soldiers milling about. All of them were kithkin, my brethren from the same seed. We carried charge rifles and wore blue armor and helmets that covered our faces.

We all looked identical anyways, so that wasn’t a problem.

Bucky blew his whistle. “Squad seventeen,” he said.

The five of us in squad seventeen collected in front of Bucky.

“We have an important mission today,” he said. Me motioned to a feline standing with her arms crossed beside a box of supplies.

“That’s General Maki,” said Bucky. “She’s a Yedai. She’ll be with us to observe the coming battle.”

Maki scoffed, turning her head away. Her eyes showed an obvious disdain for us.

I stayed professional, like my training had taught me. However, something in me felt that General Maki was making light of us.

Bucky waved his arm. “Our mission is to protect her,” he said. “It’s either us or them. With her on our side, it’s going to be them.”

I turned to C-1020, known as “Serge.”

“Do you think she hates us?” I asked.

Serge shrugged. “Not my job, Scoob.”

My name, among my squad, was Scoob. Along with Serge and I, there was F-289, “Bord,” V-287, “Hammer,” and L-10, “Rye.”

Rye was the heavy weapons specialist. His arms were crossed, the rocket launcher on his back. “Our job is to do what we’re told,” he said.

Hammer put his hand on his sword. He, being the squad’s swordsman, had been grown with the most intelligence out of anyone in the squad. He needed it, as he was the only one among us to be able to use magic. He was our insurance against the enemy magicians.

Bullets did nothing against magic shields, but swords were effective. Thus, hammer doubled as our anti-magic suite.

Bord carried the squad’s explosives and other supplies. He was a big, heavyset kithkin whose only resemblance to us normal grunts was his face. His muscles bulged compared to us, and his armor was about fifty percent bigger than ours.

Serge frowned. “I don’t feel right working with Yedai,” he whispered to me. “They’re too powerful. They scare me.”

I thought so too, but I was unable to respond, as Bucky saluted and brought Maki over to us.

Maki crossed her furry arms and grimaced at us. “You lot are going to be my shield,” she said. “Don’t screw this up. I have ways to punish those who don’t work their hardest.

We stayed silent. There was nothing to say to someone who was so clearly above our rank.

Bucky slapped his rifle. “We’re going to bring Maki to a special shrine hidden in the Black Mountains that swarming with clunkers. The Malthuxians control most of the territory in that area. However, the contents of the shrine are especially valuable.”

Maki tapped her foot on the staging area. “Just do your job and no one will get hurt.”

I rubbed my temples. Something seemed to be causing a headache in between my eyes. The world went dizzy for a bit, and then snapped back into focus.

I turned to Serge. “Did you feel that?” I said.

“Eh,” said Serge. “Something’s off.”

I felt a quick flicker into blackness, and then my senses returned.

“… And if any of you slow me down, you’re going to suffer the consequences,” said Maki. She turned away from us. “Where’s the gunship?”

A Federation gunship appeared from behind a cloud and hovered in position over us. Its long, swept wings held rocket boosters that sent air swirling around underneath it. Painted with white and black, it appeared like a swan of death, armed with guns at every angle and missiles hanging underneath its hard points.

I had been trained on how to board one of these.

Maki was the last one on. When the whole squad was ready, we lifted off.

We flew over open fields towards the mountain range that slept on the horizon.

Over the city of Rochester, owned by the Malthuxians, we began taking flak. Explosions popped into existence around our ship.

“We’ve been outed,” said Bucky, donning his helmet.

A flak shell burst dangerously close to our gunship.

“You better not crash this ship!” said Maki, her hair blowing in the wind.

Bucky turned on his jump jets. “There’s nothing we can do if we do crash,” he said. “We’re far behind enemy lines.”

“They shouldn’t have known we were coming!” said Maki. “I’ll kill whoever ratted us out.”

“It wasn’t one of us,” said Bucky. “There’s no way we would go against our training.”

Maki drew her sword. “You better not be lying to me.”

She’s paranoid too? I thought. This wasn’t going to be an easy mission.

Another flak shell burst dangerously close. We went through the smoke cloud, and came out the other side with a flaming fuel tank.

“Prepare for crash landing,” said the pilot. He reached up and pulled a couple of levers.

Maki withdrew her sword. “If one person gets out of this alive, it’s going to be me.”

Bucky held up his hand. “Are you jump jets tuned?”

“Jump jets?” said Maki. “I can’t wear something stupid like that!”

The gunship shook with a dangerous rumble. We began to lose altitude.

“Get your jets on!” yelled Bucky.

I tuned my own jump jets.

“Bail!” yelled Bucky.

Serge was the first off. His jets engaged and he flew out of sight.

Next was Bord. His jets fired and he was off.

Maki seemed to be thinking. Her eyes flickered, and she grabbed Bucky aside.

“What the hell?” she said. “I wasn’t given one of those!”

“If you remember, sir,” said Bucky, “You were given one in training!”

Maki scoffed. “Well I don’t have one now. What are we going to do?”

“We have a spare,” said Bucky. He opened a compartment and grabbed a spare jump jet. “Wear this.”

Maki grabbed it and tried putting it on.

In the meantime, Rye jumped. Another ball of flak exploded close to the ship.

Maki went to the ship’s open doorway. Just as she was about to jump, her jets malfunctioned, spitting streams of charged particles.

Bucky grabbed her, but in the chaos they both tumbled off the ship. Bucky and Maki disappeared behind the ship.

I turned to Hammer. He shook his head, and then jumped.

It was just the pilot and me. I turned to the cockpit and was about to say something when I saw the blood splatters on the window.

He was gone.

I gave silent prayer, and then jumped. My jump jets activated and I landed softly on the ground in the middle of a field.

I could see where my comrades had landed on my tracking device. I struck off in the direction of Bucky and Maki.

After ten minutes, I arrived at their landing site. Maki was kneeling beside a prone Bucky. Blood covered Bucky’s armor.

“He’s gone,” said Hammer, stepping out from behind a stone wall. He went up to Bucky, kneeling beside him.

Maki stood up and brushed off her hands. “You guys are disposable,” she said. “Just be lucky I wasn’t the one who died. If I were, you wouldn’t have a future to look forward to.”

I kept my opinions to myself. A huge headache began, and my ears rang with a distant siren. After a bout of nausea, I returned to normal.

Nothing seemed out of place. Maki turned away from us.

“Can you guys figure out how we’re getting to our destination?” she said.

Serge came running from between the trees. “They know where we are,” he said. “We need to move.”

“We haven’t accounted for Bord or Rye,” I said.

Bord’s voice came from close by. “I’m here,” he said. He limped into the clearing, blood trailing from his leg.

“If you hold us back we’re leaving you behind,” said Maki.

Bord grunted. “I’m strong enough to work through a simple flesh wound.”

“Did you see Rye?” I asked.

Bord shook his head. “I don’t know. He could have been captured.”

“We should wait for him,” said Hammer.

“I’ll overrule that,” said Maki. “We’re leaving now. If I get captured, there’s no saying what will happen to our war effort.”

I turned away. “Yes, sir,” I said. It was ingrained in me to follow my superiors, without asking questions.

Maki flicked her fingers and Bucky’s body disintegrated into dust. I felt a little bit of a headache returning, but I chalked it up to the shock from the landing.

We headed towards the mountains. Since we were in the middle of enemy territory, we had to move carefully. We hacked our way through the underbrush until night fell.

As we sat around the campfire, Maki said nothing, staring off into the distance. Her face appeared a bit fuzzy, but I could tell that she was deep in thought.

Bord offered Maki some food. She slapped him away. “I’m not hungry,” she said.

Bord retracted his hand and went to sit on a log. The atmosphere was subdued. There was no talking.

Hammer made a motion and Bord put out the fire. We knelt down as some lights came from the east.

“That’s a search party,” said Bord. “They must be searching around our crash site.”

“We’re far from it,” said Maki.

“They probably used magic to follow our trail,” said Hammer.

Maki snorted. “Those primitives probably can’t even use magic to boil water.”

“Are you sure you’re not underestimating them?” said Hammer.

Maki shrugged. “They’re a bunch of idiots. The lot of them.”

“Underestimating an enemy will get us killed,” said Serge.

“I’m your superior officer,” said Maki, “And I order you to shut up about that.”

Serge looked at Hammer, and the two of them knelt down.

“We should take the fight to them,” said Bord. “Ambush them when they don’t know we’re here.”

Maki shook her head. “No, that won’t work.” She paused. “I know! We can set a trap for them and use the darkness to sneak up on them.”

“That’s exactly what I was suggesting—” Bord was cut off.

“You’re talking back?” said Maki. “It was my idea. You’re just a grunt. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

I felt a bit of that headache coming back, but the feeling passed.

Looking towards where the lights of the search party were, I gave Bord a nod.

Maki flicked her fingers and her body became shadow. “You guys go ahead of me,” she said. “While you’re distracting them, I’ll cast magic arrow and kill them all.”

Bord nodded. We approached the search party in the darkness, using the starlight as our guide.

“Are you sure they went this way?” said a man’s voice.

“I’m sure,” said voice that was filled with deep, velvety dread. “My magic does not fail.”

Uh oh, I thought. We’re up against a big guy.

Bord held up his hand. “Fire on my mark.”

Maki, surprisingly, didn’t argue. We took surrounding positions and zeroed in our sights. The silence was unbearable.

“Wait,” said the evil voice. “I sense something.”

“Hya!” yelled Maki, as she burst out of the shrubs and into the middle of the group. She sent a wave of force out in all directions around her, spreading the enemy squad out. The normal soldiers all collapsed to the ground.

I joined my squad in combat, opening fire on the stunned enemies.

The Dark One, the man with the evil voice, stood up in the midst of the chaos. His aura filled my entire body with dread. I could not see his face, but the scent of apples and roast beef radiated from his countenance—a smell that, contradicting its components, awakened in me a fear that I did not know I could experience.

I staggered backwards. This was not a man I wanted to mess with.

“Have at it!” yelled Maki, as she grabbed Bord with a force grip and tossed him at the Dark One. Bord’s body was ripped in two by the Dark One’s blade, but he was distracted.

Maki used that distraction and closed in, blades twirling.

The last thing I saw before the battle was her grinning face, so blurred that I could not make out her eyes.