>>>>>>AREA 51<<<<<<
<HANGAR #47>
<3:15PM>

William decided to skip his afternoon patrol that day to find out what his colleagues had learned of their findings last night. William’s first stop was the hangar where the mysterious aircraft was stored. He found Alicia standing just at the front of the aircraft, looking up at its dynamic delta-shaped c***pit.

“Any idea what this thing is?” William asked, coming up beside her.

“Beats me,” Alicia said, “But June was right about one thing, this is definitely no top secret aircraft design flown by the Air Force.”

“Could it be from another country?” William suggested.

“Unlikely,” Alicia said, “The material that makes up the armor on this aircraft doesn’t seem to resemble anything found on any continent, island, or landmass anywhere on the planet. Not only that, the kinds of engines attached to this thing make it look like it is built for stratospheric flights, maybe even space flight.”

“I’m willing to bet that maybe it did come from somewhere in the galaxy,” William said, “Question though is where?”

Alicia merely shrugged her shoulders, but gave William a brief guided tour of the inside of the aircraft. William now understood why most of the aircraft was so light weight: the aircraft fuselage appeared to be hollowed out, replaced mainly with rows of seats, handrails, and a small stairwell that led to the c***pit. The controls in the c***pit seemed familiar, like the ones in a typical Air Force bomber or freight plane.

“It might help you to know,” Alicia commented, “We found a couple more of those creatures inside the aircraft. Dead, of course. One was up here in the c***pit, bent against the controls. My guess, the pilot; probably got smashed into the console upon impact. The other one must have been trying to descend the stairs in the back of the c***pit when the aircraft hit, because he was found at the bottom of the stairwell.”

“Where are the bodies?” William asked, now curious to learn about the creatures themselves.

“Up in surgery,” Alicia said, “Lieutenant McFay wanted to do a biological study of the creatures.”

<SURGERY ROOM 131>
<3:30PM>

William peered through the window in the door and watched the medics work on the “extraterrestrial” patient. At one point, McFay came out and talked with William about what they’d found.

“It definitely seems to be from another world,” McFay admitted, “The blood is this weird greenish glowing substance. The skeletal structure is also quite unique. According to our X-Rays, its skull is mostly oval with the exception of those weird protrusions coming from under the chin and longer horns structures coming from the head. What the purpose of any of those protrusions is, I don’t know. Otherwise, though, the skeletal structure looks almost human.”

“I wonder where it came from,” William thought out loud to McFay.

“Somewhere from the stars,” McFay replied, part sarcastically.

>>>>>>AREA 51 PERIMETER<<<<<<
<3:40PM>
<EAST END>

Private Amelia Miller was substituting for William’s afternoon patrol. Like William, she too was interested and confused about what had transpired last night.

“Could the extraterrestrial rumors of this base really be true?” Amelia quietly asked herself.

Along the way, she ran into Private John Hamelin. John was in his regular greyish white special operations suit and kept his night vision goggles strung around his neck.

“I can’t seem to shake these weird feelings I have about that ship and the being that was on board it,” Amelia told John.

“I can’t explain what it is myself,” John said, “But I’m thinking that whoever that being was onboard the ship, he definitely wasn’t of this world.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Amelia said.

Then, a very weird feeling washed across her body. Glancing to her right, she saw what appeared to be an ominous shadow out on the desert horizon. Shifting her gaze up a bit, she saw a weird object flying near the sun.

“What the…?” Amelia muttered.

“Something wrong, Amy?” John asked.

“Can I have your electrobinoculars, John?” Amelia asked.

John complied and handed them to her. Amelia now had a better view of what she was seeing, now that the object had moved away from the sun. She zoomed in as close as she could, and saw the object flying almost parallel to the base perimeter. Again, she adjusted the focus, and to her shock, it was an aircraft of the same type that they’d just collected. The aircraft seemed to skim the desert sand, leaving a large wall of wind-propelled dust behind it before it suddenly came to a stop near the crater. The aircraft then changed direction and seem to fly closer and closer to the base.

Amelia was about to radio base security before she saw the aircraft change direction again. This time, the aircraft swerved to the side and away from the base. Then it began to descend until it was only a few feet off the ground. Then Amelia saw figures descending from a bay door on the side of the aircraft’s fuselage. Adjusting the focus, she almost gasped in fright to see that the figures were the same as the creature they’d found in the crashed ship, armored skin, muscular limbs, that strange blunt triangular head, and those mean looking wide eyes.

“Base security, Private Amelia Miller here,” Amelia said frantically into her headset, “Put up a condition orange alert, repeat, condition orange. Strange beings sighted approaching the base from east end at twenty yards.”

Amelia and John then jumped into a nearby base-runner quad bike and drove for the nearest building to find June and some of the other commanding officers. As they drove across the courtyard, they passed by Sergeant Nathaniel Byron.

“What are you two so frantic about?” Nathan asked, shocked by their hurried looks.

“Where’s Major Nicholas or Major Riley?” Amelia asked, almost desperately.

“June and McFay were in the medical building last I saw,” Byron said, “Mind telling me what this is all about?”

“It’s those creatures that we found in the ship,” Amelia said, “I saw another one of those delta-shaped aircraft just outside the base deploying like fifty or a hundred of those beings.”

Not even bothering to look at Byron’s quizzical look, the two soldiers continued drove to the medical building. Once inside the building, they dashed up the stairs until they ran into William, McFay, and June grouped together, talking about their observations from the alien surgery.

“Major June, Major June!!” Amelia called out as they ran.

“What is it?” June said, raising her eyebrows at Amelia’s frantic expression.

“June, we need to arm the base,” Amelia insisted.

“What for?” June asked.

“Amelia says that she saw an aircraft flying near the base that is exactly the same as what we found last night,” John told her, allowing Amelia to catch her breath, “On top of that, she claims to have seen the aircraft deploying a whole regiment of those creatures. I saw it through the binoculars myself, and from the way they’re moving, I don’t think they’re here to greet us peacefully.”

June was beyond belief and was about ready to argue with the two when William’s comm buzzed wildly.

“Captain William!” someone called. William recognized the voice as that of Carol’s.

“What is it Carol?” William asked.

“Captain, something got through the perimeter fence, right in the middle of the airfield. It’s those freaky creatures that we found last night.”

The radio cut out after this. But William didn’t need clarification. Apparently, they’d discovered some kind of creature that was of a warrior or predatory race of some kind.

“Amy’s right, Major,” William insisted, “We’re under attack and we need to do whatever we can to stop those things.”

“I guess I’m with you,” June replied, “McFay, come with me and William. John and Amy, do what you can to team up with anyone on the perimeter and hold back those bastards.”

Amy and John saluted and took off back for the stairwell.

<HANGAR #16>
<4:00PM>

Carol was running with two other soldiers, including her copilot Ally Johnson and soldier Jack Rodgers. The three were able to keep each other covered as they side stepped laser shots and explosions while evading the numerous kerosene and octane barrels that were stacked all around the hangar.

“!@#, when will these things stop following us?” Jack seethed, firing his rifle at several oncoming aliens.

Carol turned to fire on her pursuers but was forced to abort the action when a laser blast zipped dangerously close to her cheek.

“So what’s the plan, exactly?” Ally asked Carol as they kept running.

“To get to one of the Apache helicopters here and gun down these bastards before they can take over the base,” Carol replied hurriedly.

The three got out into the airfield through an open side door. However, they lost Jack among the confusion when he got separated from the two trying to take cover from some more approaching aliens.

Carol and Ally were just within a few feet of an Apache helicopter when three aliens blocked off access to them. Carol and Ally fired their semi-automatics before the creatures could even aim their blasters. Carol caved in the bulb-like structure above the eyes of one of the other attacking creatures with her boot. The creature howled in pain and fell backward, but another took its place. Carol attempted another kick, but the creature grabbed her leg, picked her up and threw her to the ground. Weakly, Carol looked up to see two other creatures approach her, and she closed her eyes, waiting for it to be all over.

Ally didn’t wait to see what would happen to Carol and ran off for the Apache by taking an alternate route around the creatures. She made it into the helicopter and gunned the engine to life. After getting into the air, she was able to gun down some of the aliens around the airfield but was careful to avoid shooting any of the base’s aircraft in doing so. Then, the dropship that had deployed the aliens intercepted Ally, firing away with its own array of weaponry. The helicopter took a hit to the side, causing it to veer out of control, but not before Ally fired a guided missile at the dropship. The rocket hit the dropship straight in the middle, and it too went veering out of control before crashing into a stack of ammo crates and going ablaze almost immediately. Ally’s helicopter, meanwhile, spun towards a flatter paved section of the airfield, where it crashed and skidded to a halt. However, Ally was thrown through the c***pit upon impact, and suffered severe bruising as she bounced and rolled along the paved surface.

>>>>AREA 51 MEDICAL BUILDING<<<<<
<NORTH COURTYARD>
<6:30PM>

“Go find Alicia, William. We’ll hold ‘em off” June yelled to William as she and McFay formed a two-marine firing squad to allow William to rush through an access door and up the stairs into the office building. Along the way, he ran smack into Alicia.

“William, what are you doing here?” Alicia asked in surprise, “I thought you were down in the hangar.”

“I was, but June asked me to cover the rest of this building,” William said, somewhat lying.

Alicia followed behind as William ran through the white corridors of the medical building, taking out any creatures who attempted to intercept them. As William and Alicia hit the corner of one of the corridors, they ran into Amelia.

“Run! They’re behind me!” Amelia yelled, and William could see at least five of those creatures running towards them, firing some rather strange looking blaster rifles. William didn’t have time for closer examination. He ran with Alicia and Amelia back the way they’d came, sidestepping lasers that sizzled past them from a variety of directions.

“There’s only one thing we can do,” Alicia said, “We’ll have to get to the alert panel and see if we can radio for assistance from any other bases.”

“But there isn’t a military installation for another twenty or thirty miles,” Amelia objected.

“We have to warn them somehow,” Alicia said, then added,  “The panel is just up ahead.”

As they reached the end of the corridor, Amelia raced for the panel, smashed the glass covering around it, and hit the red button. A siren began to wail accompanied by a continuous buzzer. However, Amelia received several laser shots to her back, throwing her against the panel wall. Amelia groaned and sank her knees before sliding to her side, dead.

William threw a grenade at their pursuers and pulled Alicia safely to the side before the grenade detonated, throwing most of the aliens forward, dead. One alien, however, weakly raised its rifle and continued to fire in single bursts. One shot smashed a window, and William, looking down, saw that there wasn’t too much of a drop below and got an idea to evade the enemy.

“Alicia,” William muttered, “I’m going to pretend to be hit and fall through the window behind us. I want you to do the same. I’ll catch you at the bottom.”

Alicia nodded in approval. The alien fired a couple more times, and William threw his arms back, yelped in pain and fell backward through the window. Alicia wailed in pain, pretending to clutch a wound to her stomach before she stumbled back and pretended to fall through the window. Although Alicia’s adrenaline spiked at the fall, it was only temporary as she twisted herself like a cat and was cushioned by William’s arms.

“Thanks Will,” Alicia commented.

“We have to get out of here,” William said, “By this time, the aliens will have overrun the base. Let’s see if we can go get any help ourselves.”

The two took off, running across the airfield as night began to crawl in on them. William skidded to a halt briefly when he saw the body of Carol. Carol lay sprawled on the ground, two shots in her back and laying in a pool of blood. Then, something happened; Carol began to move, getting up on her knees and then to her feet. She was wailing and groaning and she looked as though she were struggling with some invisible force. Then her voice seem to be replaced by an animal-like growling roar before she opened her eyes. William almost jumped back in fright; Carol had some ominous dark circles around her eyes, even though her eyes retained their original color. Carol reached for her semi-automatic, but William was running before the resurrected Carol could fire.

William spotted an anti-aircraft truck as he caught up with Alicia. Next to it was John Hamelin, who was waving his hands hurriedly, beckoning them to hurry and get into the truck. William clambered into the c***pit while Alicia manned the monitor station and John manned the turrets. William set the truck into the highest gear possible and drove off without a second’s hesitation.

“Watch out, enemy aircraft, 3:00” Alicia called.

John aimed the truck’s rocket launcher at an oncoming dropship and let fly one missile, hitting the target directly. The dropship spun crazily out of control and out of the truck’s proximity. William then steered the truck for one of the gates and at about the last second, slammed on both the gas and the clutch. The truck seemed to leap forward before smashing through the gate and racing out into the open.

After about a few miles of driving, William pulled the truck to a stop on a hillside. William looked out at Area 51, which now had several columns of fiery smoke rising from various sections. The thought that most of his other friends and colleagues were now dead, possibly mutilated by those things into hideous zombies or brainwashed beings, brought a painful feeling of loss to him, and when Alicia and John were fast asleep, William lay down on the control panel and began to cry at the loss of his other friends and comrades at Area 51.

<10 MILES FROM AREA 51>
<ALIEN TACTICAL XTREME DEFENSE HQ>
<OFFICE 465>

Private First Class Richard Johnson sat at his desk, organizing files on a computer monitor in front of him. Richard had served in the the ATXD for about a year, but already, his experience with alien life was improving. He could remember having to work with his comrades Lieutenant Stephanie Miller and Sergeant Marcus Connor to outwit alien terrorists or prevent the development of vicious biological weapons by various countries. However, none of this experience would prepare him well for his next task.

Richard had been up most of the night, doing a surveillance watch on the computer. Usually, if there was an issue that should be brought to ATXD notification, he was one of the first to report it. Despite his rank, Richard was very valuable to the ATXD because he held one of three data processing positions at the base. His monitor’s clock read 12:00 by the time Richard felt sleepiness creep into his eyes.

“Pretty soon, I’m gonna need to get a caffeine dose or I’m going to collapse on the keyboard,” Richard muttered to himself.

He felt just about ready to do that when he noticed a small window on the toolbar that was flashing red.  Richard knew that if a window flashed red like that, something was amiss within the condition red zone. Pulling up the window, Richard read the message inside:

MESSAGE BIOS:

CONDITION: RED
TIME ISSUED: 6:40PM
LOCATION: AREA 51 MILITARY INSTALLATION
MESSAGE: UNKNOWN ENEMY PENETRATION AT SITE. ANY PERSONS WITHIN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO SITE, ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED URGENTLY.

Richard read the message a few times, and then picked up the phone near his desk.

“Extension 16, please,” Richard said and waited until the head of ATXD, General Douglas Walker, came on the line.

“Yes?” Walker asked.

“Sir, this is Richard,” Richard said, “I’ve got what appears to be a code red alert coming from the Area 51 military installation. Can you come down here to check on this report please?”

“Be right there, Richard,” Walker replied before the connection terminated.

It was only three minutes later that General Walker came into the room. Richard showed the alert to Walker, and Walker had Richard check for any security footage that might have been transmitted from the base in the message. Surprisingly, there was. Richard stared in disbelief at what he saw. Tall aliens were wandering through the hangars, shooting at various personnel with blasters that seemed to be two long curved spike-like bars and which generated small laser orbs that ejected the laser when fired. The aliens themselves had fair-sized horn like structures coming from their heads and small protrusions in the chin. Suddenly, one of the creatures turned and fired its laser at the camera and the footage snowed followed in red text reading “Signal Lost.” However, Richard was able to rewind the footage and pause it right before the creature shot the camera. Now Richard got a good look at the aliens face: Two wide dash-like eyes and a central bulb-like structure on the creature’s forehead.

“Sir, what are those things?” Richard said, examining the creature.

“Oh I thought we were done with those beings,” Walker said, “Those alien beings are called Kronosians.”

“What are they, sir?” Richard asked, caught off guard.

“The Kronosians,” Walker repeated, “Probably one of the most feared imperialistic races of the galaxy.”

“Can you tell me a bit about them?” Richard asked.

“Many years ago,” Walker said, “ATXD was called to investigate an imperialistic conquest by the Kronosians. The Kronosians come from a world far away from here by the name of Kronos. With the exception of the hostile nature of its inhabitants, Kronos is actually a nice-looking planet. However, the Kronosians, under the leadership of their Klaris, that’s the Kronosian word for King, wanted to gain control of every reachable star system and show their power as an imperialistic race. Your comrades Stephanie and Marcus were sent out on a two man investigation of the Kronosian’s conquest. As the empire continued to expand, they tried to rally defenses from various colonies and worlds, but it seemed as though no armies or space fleets could stop the Kronosians. The worst part came when the Kronosians came within reach of Earth. It was just pure luck that Earth was able to muster up some underground galactic militaries with our assistance and force the Kronosians into retreat before they could even land on the planet, let alone perform the whole act discreetly. After that, Stephanie and Marcus helped create the Galactic Fighting Force, an intergalactic rebellion group that slowly fought the Kronosians off and eventually brought about the end of their empire.”

“Any idea what kind of treatment the Kronosians gave to conquered colonies?” Richard inquired.

“Not vicious, but at the same time, very much Totalitarian,” Walker said, looking grave, “According to reports by Stephanie and Marcus, the Kronosians would police most if not all the conquered star systems. If they even so much as suspected someone of attempting to incite rebellion or committing any other “heinous” crime, they would add them to a Galactically Wanted List. Stephanie and Marcus definitely had a big price on their heads. If you were placed on this list, you would be classified as a criminal under three categories: Type 1, Type 2, Type 3. You’d be lucky if you were a Type 3, because you received minimal punishment, maybe at most just being in a prison colony for a few days for inquiry. Type 2 was pretty bad; you were often times sent to an arena on Kronos were you either fought each other to death or you fought against terrible beasts. If not that, you might be sent to a work camp. As though a Type 2 classification wasn’t enough, Type 1 was the worst. You would receive a Type 1 sentence if you were deemed extremely dangerous to the empire, so dangerous that it would be unsafe to keep you alive. In that case, you were usually executed, normally by firing squad.”

This made Richard’s eyes widen and he gulped at the thought of being shot to death with the blasters he’d just seen these so called Kronosian soldiers carrying in Area 51.

“Why wasn’t I ever told about these encounters?” Richard asked, trying not to sound like he was upset for not being told about this by Stephanie or Marcus.

“You were bound to learn Richard,” Walker said, “But I need to remind you that you only got the position just recently. But also understand, as with any other militaristic or otherwise dangerous alien race, this information has to be kept confidential to avoid planet-wide panic.

“Do you suppose these Kronosians are here to seek revenge on Earth for bringing down their empire?” Richard asked, glancing back at the computer screen, where the face of the Kronosian soldier stared back at him.

“That’s a possibility,” Walker said flatly, “But I can’t be sure. However, considering that the Kronosians might be trying to start up their war machine again, we’ll have to respond and clear the Kronosians out of Area 51 before this situation goes full scale. Richard, have you received any other reports from any other locations regarding suspicious alien activity or intrusion?”

“Not prior to this report, no,” Richard replied.

“Well, that’s good,” Walker said, “At least it means that we’re not dealing with a scattered invasion force. Richard, I’m going to assign a team out to Area 51 to counter this attack. Stephanie and Marcus will be in it, but I’m also willing to send you in the team as well. I know you don’t have much experience with these creatures, but Stephanie and Marcus should be able to help you out. Are you interested in participating?”

“If it means preventing a galactic crisis,” Richard replied, “I’m willing to accept.”

“Very well, Richard,” Walker replied, “You’ll depart for Area 51 immediately after a briefing session tomorrow at 9:00. In the meantime, get some sleep. You look really exhausted.”

“Thank you sir,” Richard replied, trying to show some pleasure through his tired state.

<3 MILES FROM AREA 51>
<ARIZONA DESERT>
<ANTI-AIRCRAFT TRUCK #56>
<10:00AM>

When William looked up, he was surprised how late he and his friends had overslept. He’d hoped that the whole experience with the aliens was merely a horrific dream, especially where he’d seen Carol mutilated by the creatures and turned into some zombie-like minion of theirs. But when he looked out beyond the driver window, he could still see the smudged remains of smoke in the air. The attack had been real; almost everyone in the base, save those in the anti-aircraft truck with him, must have died or been mutilated by those beings. Their faces and the cries of his friends and other soldiers as they morphed into those beings haunted William, making him think of all those he’d lost. At the very least, he still had Alicia with him. Surely, if Alicia had died in the attack, William might have fallen into deep depression. He turned around, looking at Alicia, who lay against one of the side consoles, her boots propped up on the console and her military cap tilted over her eyes as she slept quietly.

Then something else caught William’s attention. A choppy sound in the air that he recognized as that of a helicopter. Rushing outside, William saw a helicopter flying straight for them at mid-height.

“Alicia, John,” William yelled, “We’ve got company.”

Alicia and John were outside in a matter of seconds, rifles in hand. The approaching helicopter looked unfamiliar to William. It was ocean blue, had a small array of missiles attached to some small wing-like supports, but had a blade diameter that looked almost equivalent to a Chinook. William waved his hands, trying to flag down the helicopter, and surprisingly, the pilot seemed to notice as the helicopter came to a stop and began to descend, blowing dust all around as small landing wheels descended from its body. William could see some giant white letters on the side of the helicopter as it got lower: A, T, X, D. What they stood for, he had no idea, but he hoped that whoever this organization was, it would help him fight back against the alien invaders who’d just taken over Area 51.

As the helicopter got closer to the ground, three figures jumped from the main bay to the ground. Each figure had a blue uniform and what looked to be a black bulletproof vest and a white helmet. One of them, who appeared to be the youngest of the group approached William.

“Who are you?” William asked.

“Name’s Richard,” the soldier replied, “Private First Class Richard Johnson.”

“What does ATXD stand for?” William asked, indicating to the big white text on the side of the helicopter.

Richard knew that ATXD operations were not the same as those of CIA or MIB operations, and therefore didn’t require as much secrecy. Therefore, Richard continued without hesitation.

“It stands for Alien Tactical Xtreme Defense, “ Richard said, “I’m assuming you are from Area 51.”

“Yes,” William said, “In fact, we’re the ones who sent out the alert from Area 51, if you received one that is.”

“We did, and that’s why we’re here,” Richard said.

The other two figures approached and stood on either side of Richard. The one to Richard’s right was a woman, about age 25 or so. She looked like the commander. The one to Richard’s left was a man who looked to be in his thirties, sort of muscular, and had a small black mustache that went around his lip and under the chin.

“Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Stephanie Miller and Sergeant Marcus Conner,” Richard said, indicating to the two figures at his side, “And your name is?”

“William,” William replied, “Captain William Roberts.”

William went on to introduce Privates Alicia and John to Richard as his comrades.

“Are we allowed to fight with you to take back the base?” William asked, desperately hoping Richard would say yes, which he did. At Richard’s suggestion, William drove the anti-aircraft vehicle ahead of the ATXD helicopter, guiding them toward the base.

>>>>AREA 51<<<<
<PERIMETER COURTYARD>
<10:30PM>

The base seemed to act almost at its usual pace, even though the majority of those in the base were either the physically modified beings under Kronosian control or the Kronosian soldiers themselves. One Kronosian scout stood by a sedan and scanned the perimeter with specialized electro-binoculars to check for signs of enemy activity. Suddenly, something caught his view. A vehicle of some kind was tearing across the desert toward the base. Not to far behind it was some kind of helicopter. The scout wanted to radio for aerial assistance, but the vehicle was coming too fast. Despite this, the scout was able to alert its commanders through its comm of the oncoming attackers. Not too long after, the scout narrowly avoided certain death as the vehicle, a large anti-aircraft truck, came smashing through the fence, throwing shards of metal wiring and crates everywhere.

The truck came skidding to a halt and narrowly avoided tilting over.

“You okay Alicia?” William asked, looking behind him.

“Heh, never better,” Alicia said, her legs sprawled across the side console and a humorous smile stretching her lips.

A little ways off, the ATXD helicopter had detoured and deployed its passengers just short of one of the base’s runways before flying off.

“Let’s move it!” ordered Stephanie as the three jumped out, clicking their assault rifles into position.

“You ready, Richard?” Marcus asked.

“Well prepared, Sarge,” Richard replied, trying to sound confident.

The first threat that intercepted Richard caught him off guard. What stood in front of him wasn’t a Kronosian soldier, but a human-soldier that appeared to be possessed. The humanoid had creepy dark circles around the eyes, eyes that appeared to express human emotion, and a partially damaged uniform. The humanoid also held a machine gun that looked like it had been pried from an aircraft. Richard gunned the creature down before it could even raise the weapon. But more of these humanoids came, firing pistols or rapid fire weapons of various types.

“Stephanie, what are these things?” Richard asked, firing away at them, “These don’t look like the creatures I saw on the security cameras.”

“They look familiar for some reason,” Stephanie said.

“Incoming! Get down!” yelled Marcus, grabbing both Stephanie and Richard and ducking behind some crates just before two missiles exploded a few feet away. Richard looked up and saw an Apache being driven by one of those creepy humanoids. Richard saw a dead humanoid with a bazooka. Without giving second thought, Richard rushed over and grabbed the weapon.

“Richard, get back here!” Stephanie yelled, but Richard had already weaved around some crates and set up a firing position at the helicopter. The helicopter was starting to turn in Richard’s direction when Richard, hauling the heavy weapon on his shoulder, fired one shot. The shot threw Richard backward, but the shot got its target. The helicopter went veering out of control and transformed into a giant ball of fire within minutes. Dropping the bazooka in favor of his rifle, Richard returned back to cover with Marcus and Stephanie.

“Had to find some way to get that guy of our tail,” Richard admitted.

“Well it was a good shot anyway,” Stephanie agreed, “Come on, let’s keep moving.”

“Douglas to Stephanie,” came General Douglas’ voice over the comm, “Request status.”

“We’re making our way through the base’s outer perimeter,” Stephanie replied, “But we’re not encountering any actual Kronosian forces. Instead we’ve found what appear to be possessed versions of the base personnel.”

“What are you talking about?” Douglas’ asked, shocked and disbelieving.

“The creatures are humanoids that seem to be wearing the uniforms of various military personnel and also appear to have great muscle capabilities since they can haul aircraft weaponry as though it’s just a standard-issue weapon,” Stephanie said.

“Well, be careful regardless of what kind of enemy you encounter. Walker out,” Walker said and cut out.

After fighting off about another regiment or two of the beings, Richard’s group met up with William and his group. John set a detonation charge on a rear access door to a hangar and blasted a gaping hole in the wall. Weaving around the flames, the group made it inside the hangar. Richard skidded to a halt as several bullets zipped vertically in front of him. Looking up, he saw two humanoids grabbing onto some maintenance cables and firing semi-automatics down at the group. Richard and Marcus sent the beings crashing to the floor with a few shots at both the creatures and their cables. Stephanie ran on ahead, jumping behind the cover of an overturned convoy truck.

A humanoid in a purple heavy-duty suit came out with a missile launcher on its shoulder and aimed at the truck which Stephanie had ducked behind. Richard tried to shoot it, but the bullets had no effect as they ruptured what appeared to be a bulletproof vest inside the creature’s uniform. The creature turned and attempted to fire his weapon at Richard now, but at that moment, a shot blasted through the creature’s skull and it collapsed. Richard turned to see Stephanie with her assault rifle slung on the back of her neck with a competitively daring look in her eyes.

“Move out!” Marcus called and ran on ahead.

<HANGAR 51>
<EAST END>
<2:00PM>

At this point, the group began to encounter real Kronosian soldiers. Compared to the humanoid soldiers, the Kronosians were much quicker and could raise and fire their weapons quicker. A couple times, Richard came face to face with a Kronosian soldier and just barely survived by quickly firing an almost point blank shot at the Kronosian soldier.

“Stephanie, you said that these humanoid soldiers looked familiar,” Richard commented to Stephanie after bashing his rifle into the skull of one of the humanoids.

Stephanie quickly stopped to check a small data pad on her utility belt. She had her answer within minutes while William and Alicia provided cover.

“Well Lieutenant?” William asked.

“If I’m correct,” Stephanie replied, “These humanoids are former base personnel who have been infected with a biological mind-control weapon that was proposed by the Kronosians called a Crawler.”

“A what?” Richard questioned.

“A Crawler,” Stephanie replied, “It’s a microscopic squid-like creature that’s injected into the neck of either a dead or unconscious victim that then taps into the central nervous and reflexive sections of the brain. In short, the Crawler acts as a supplemental brain, doing only what the Kronosians order its host to do.”

“That’s disgusting,” Alicia commented, but her expression was more that of horror than disgust.

“Stephanie!” Marcus called, “I found someone!”

The remainder of the group ran over to Marcus, who stood over by the body of a female pilot who lay by the ladder to an MH-53 Pave Low helicopter. The pilot had brown hair tied back in a small cluster and had a yellow and black uniform. She lay flat on the ground, her head tilted to one side and small red puddle surrounding her. William recognized the pilot as Cassy Longbow, a surveillance and combat guidance pilot whose flight and aerial communication skills had been seemingly unmatched.

“Careful,” William warned as Marcus adjusted Cassy to a sitting position, “She may have that Crawler-thing in her.”

“He’s right,” Stephanie agreed, “If a Crawler has been embedded in her head, she could succumb to its possessive effects relatively quickly depending on her injuries.”

“Hand me a detector, Stephanie,” Marcus asked.

Stephanie handed him a bar-like device which Marcus gently waved over parts of Cassy’s body. William did notice, however, that Cassy’s eyes didn’t have the same darkened rings that many the infected base personnel had. William hoped this meant that if Cassy woke up, she would be her normal self, not the same being that Carol had become the night before.

“No alien life detected inside,” Marcus said after a few scans, “And I’m also picking up some weak pulse signals from her vitals. Stephanie, I need the medical kit.”

Marcus first took out a bio-foam patch inside the medical kit. ATXD used bio-foam mainly on their own soldiers incase they were severely wounded in combat since it had the ability to fill in open wounds quickly without leaving scabs or scars and allowing the body’s immune system to repair the internal part of the wound at a quicker rate. Richard grimaced a bit as he saw some of the open blast-wounds in Cassy’s body, which were still bleeding a dark red color. After the bio-foam patches had been applied to Cassy’s body, Marcus took out a needle containing a stimuli serum. Stimuli serum was an ATXD modified version of current medical injection fluid used for recovery if a person’s life signs were still active but their pulse was weak. Richard wasn’t exactly sure how it worked, but somehow, the stimuli serum was able to improve or restart a heart beat to a regular pulse if the correct dosage was applied.

As soon as the needle entered Cassy’s shoulder, William heard a sick but human moan escape from Cassy’s lips. William cautiously approached Cassy who, after straining her eyelids, opened them to reveal regular jewel-like blue eyes.

“Wi...William?” Cassy wheezed, straining her eyes.

“Hey, Cassy,” William replied gently.

Cassy looked around at Richard, Stephanie, and Marcus, whom she obviously didn;t recognize.

“William, who are these people?” Cassy asked.

“Their a counteroffensive force that’s trying to help us liberate Area 51,” Alicia assured, “Cassy, are you able to walk?”

Cassy slowly stood up, groaning a couple times as her injuries tried to pull her back to a sitting position. But she finally overcame the effects of her wounds as the bio-foam patches continued their effect.

“Um guys,” mused John, looking at an incoming army of humanoids, “I hate to break up the reunion, but we’ve got company.”

“William, Alicia, keep Cassy protected,” Stephanie ordered, “Marcus, Richard, follow up behind me.”

The group took down the humanoids relatively quickly, using the equipment stacks and various vehicles as cover. A few times, Richard would shoot a fuel barrel and the ensuing explosion would kill one of even two enemies, humanoid or Kronosian alike. Richard also noticed that a large number of the humanoids now possessed pilot uniforms with the pilot’s last name sewn into the chest. Other humanoids, however, still wore regular yellow or red maintenance and mechanic uniforms. Although William and Alicia kept Cassy covered, Cassy also made use of her defensive semi-automatic to provide additional defense, taking out at least a few Kronosian soldiers.

<HANGAR 51>
<BASE KIOSK, WEST END>
<4:00PM>

Finally, the group made it to the opposite side of the hangar, near the docking kiosk. Suddenly, one of the large semi-trucks nearby exploded as a Kronosian soldier shot some fuel barrels nearby. The semi flipped on its side and crashed into the kiosk, throwing glass, metal shards, and flames into the kiosk.

“Damn, that was close,” Marcus mused as he recovered from the shock of the intense explosion.

“We’re completely cut off in that direction,” Richard said, noticing that the destroyed semi and the large wall of fire surrounding it blocked their way.

“And there’s no way we’re going into that kiosk,” Alicia added, “It’s a $%^ inferno in there.”

“Go up,” Stephanie said, standing by a ladder that lead to a platform on the roof of the kiosk.

Richard took out an approaching humanoid mechanic while Stephanie ascended the ladder. Richard followed with the rest of the group in tow. Stephanie scanned the area on top as Richard got to the top of the ladder and both jumped behind cover as a few humanoids posing as military patrol personnel opened fire. As they made their way through, Richard noticed boxes with a red label on them saying “WARNING! DO NOT OPEN. TOP SECRET.”

“William, what’s in these boxes?” Richard asked.

“I believe this is all equipment for the formerly used medical labs used to conduct studies on the said alien life from the 50’s,” William replied, “The warning labels must be there to discourage other base personnel from handling them without authorization.”

“Is it true, then, that there are still medical labs that have preserved examples of the Roswell Incident in the base?” Richard said, now very curious.

“I don’t know,” William said, “I’ve never been that deep into the base as long as I’ve worked here.”

By this time, Stephanie had taken up position by the upper floor of the kiosk, where a narrow side balcony ran along the side of the upstairs office. Stephanie cautiously walked along the side balcony, keeping her rifle close to her. At the same time, the inferno below had reached yet another stack of fuel barrels, causing an explosion that threw a couple flaming fuel barrels right at Stephanie’s position.

“Stephanie, watch out!” Richard yelled, firing his own rifle up at the incoming incendiary objects. He successfully blasted both barrels mid-air, with their remains descending to the lower floor.

“Thanks, Richard,” Stephanie said.

The group encountered a small detachment of humanoids at the other end of the kiosk roof, which Stephanie and Marcus took out relatively quickly. Richard went on ahead, scanning the lower floor below for enemy signs. Another humanoid carrying a rocket launcher appeared, firing his weapon straight at Richard. Richard backed up, but the rocket hit the roof’s edge where he’d been standing. The whole edge section collapsed, taking Richard with it. A stack of empty cardboard boxes below cushioned his fall, and Richard recovered quickly, taking down the missile firing humanoid quickly with a whole clip from his rifle. Stephanie and Marcus were the first ones down after Richard had taken down his attacker.

“Richard, are you alright?” Stephanie asked desperately, helping him regain his footing.

“Yeah, just a bit dazed and off guard,” Richard admitted.

The rest of the group finally made it down, and Marcus ran on ahead to an exit door while the rest of the group provided cover fire. Marcus was having trouble opening the exit, since the door had a electronic keypad-lock attached and he was unable to determine the code to open the door.

“Oh for cryin’ out loud,” Alicia said dully, and shot the lock with her semi-automatic and kicked the door open. As the group made it outside, they noticed darkness already beginning to descend on the base and its desert surroundings.

<AREA 51 AIRSTRIP>
<NORTH CONVOY YARD>
<5:00PM>

Almost the minute they entered the convoy yard, the group came under fire. One of the humanoids even appeared from behind sedan that was parked directly in front and was just ready to pull the trigger on his semi-automatic. At the same moment, Alicia jumped on board the truck, grabbed the humanoid’s arm, kicked him in the stomach with combative cry, and threw him out of the truck. Stephanie finished the humanoid off with a quick shot to the head with her semi-automatic. Immediately after, a quad-bike came screeching to a halt next to the group. However, the driver was not a humanoid. He was a human pilot who wore sunglasses and had a dark mustache. Cassy recognized him as Captain Robert Bowers, one of her fellow copilots and ground-force coordinator.

“Robert, how did you…?” Cassy began to say.

“There’ll be time for that later,” Robert said, then added to Richard, Stephanie and Marcus “You guys need a lift?”

“Sure thanks,” Richard said, hopping in next to Robert. Stephanie got into the back seat while Marcus went with William and Alicia in the back of a Humvee jeep.

“I’ll go grab my chopper and provide you guys with air support,” Cassy said, hopping into an open-cabbed tow-tractor.

“Alright everyone,” Stephanie said into her comm, “Keep in touch. It’s going to be a rough ride out here. Stephanie out.”

Robert adjusted the throttle and accelerated at once, with Marcus’ jeep in tow. The humanoids, though, had there own convoy support, and almost immediately, Richard’s group was intercepted by a humanoid-driven jeep, with another humanoid in the rear firing a handgun. Richard fired at the being, and although it was Stephanie who successfully took down the attacking humanoid, Richard managed to shoot the driver-humanoid in the head. The jeep swerved out of control, sweeping into a stationary forklift and a collection of fuel barrels, which rolled in the path of the quad-bike, before the jeep flipped over and skidded to a halt.

“Where do we go next?” Richard asked Stephanie as he shot at another incoming humanoid-driven jeep. It was then that Richard noticed fiery smoke coming from the administration building all the way across the airfield.

“Over there,” Stephanie said, pointing at the administration building, “Robert, head for the base administration building.”

“Roger,” Robert replied, veering the quad-bike sharply to the left.

“Hey whoa, careful!” yelled Richard as they sped toward the fence separating the convoy yard from the airfield.

“Hold on, everyone,” Robert yelled, gunning the engine as the quad-bike crashed and ripped through the fence. Marcus’ jeep followed swiftly in tow, widening the gap in the fence. Once in the airfield, Richard held on firmly as the quad-bike veered wildly around semi-trucks, sedans, fuel barrel stacks, and aircraft of all types. All at once, a semi-truck came crashing through a stack of ammo crates, coming alongside the quad-bike. The driver, a humanoid, veered the semi into the quad-bike, throwing it squealing several feet off course.

Seeing that Richard’s group was in danger of being flipped over by a significantly larger vehicle, Marcus ordered William to steer the jeep so he and Alicia could provide cover. As soon as they came alongside Robert’s quad-bike, Marcus fired the jeep’s rear gun at the semi. However, the semi, being designed for heavy duty combat, was equipped with bulletproof armor, and the bullets pinged and deflected off the semi’s armor harmlessly.

“Dammit,” Marcus seethed, “William, accelerate. Get ahead of that semi.”

The jeep adjusted to driving straight in front of the rogue semi, and Marcus aimed and fired again. This time, the machine gun managed to splinter the semi’s windshield full of cracks, but not fully break it. With his view obstructed, the humanoid-driver of the semi started veering crazily out of control, again ramming into Robert’s quad-bike.

Stephanie adjusted her position and fired a grenade launcher at the semi, hitting it straight in the front air vent. The explosion briefly blinded the driver, who veered off course temporarily.

“Robert, steer to the left,” Richard said, and Robert complied. Following more of Richard’s instructions, Robert brought the quad-bike parallel to the opposite side of the semi. Richard fired his assault rifle at the side windshield, shattering it and exposing the driver’s cover. Richard then placed a carefully aimed headshot at the humanoid driver, who slumped against the wheel, causing the semi to veer sharply to the right and tilt on it’s side. It slid for about five meters before coming to a rest near another hangar.

“Nice shot Richard,” Stephanie said.

“Thanks,” Richard replied.

Robert steered the quad-bike onto the main runway, with the rest of the group firing away at more humanoid-carrying jeeps. A few humanoid military policemen on motorcycles came up on either side of the group. Richard managed to shoot one of them, who flipped right over his bike as the motorcycle shot into the air and bounced off the runway. Alicia managed to shoot another one in the head, and he too along with his bike flipped off the runway.

An open-topped carrier truck with a rear machine gun intercepted Robert, who veered to the left to avoid being struck. Complying with either Richard or Stephanie’s instructions, Robert would veer to either the carrier’s left or right in order to gain a good firing position at both sides of the truck. After at least six humanoid soldiers were gunned down, including the gunner on the machine gun, another more muscular humanoid came up on the carrier and pried off the machine gun. But instead of firing it, the humanoid hurled the heavy weapon at the quad-bike, and Robert veered sharply to the right to evade the bulky weapon. The carrier drove on ahead, and the muscular humanoid pulled out another heavy machine gun, which had apparently been held inside the carrier, and fired that instead. To Richard’s annoyance, the humanoid also wore a bulletproof vest inside his uniform, making it hard to take him out with one shot.

Then, a missile from above came screeching down near their position, hitting the back of the carrier and causing the whole vehicle to spin and fly forward in a ball of fire. Looking up, Richard saw a Pave Hawk combat helicopter above.

“I’ve got you covered,” came Cassy’s voice through Richard’s comm, and Richard smiled a bit at this.

As the group turned off the runway, a couple sedans intercepted them. John managed to shoot the rear left tire of one of the trucks, causing it to swerve sharply into the path of the other sedan. But the second truck just simply pushed it roughly to the side and continued in front of Robert’s quad bike. A humanoid mechanic on board the second sedan pulled out a semi-automatic and fired at the quad bike, but Robert was able to make frequent steers away from the humanoid’s aim. Stephanie then saw a fuel barrel onboard the sedan, and placed a well aimed shot at it. The explosion engulfed the back of the sedan, threw its passenger way off into the distance and forced the truck on it’s side.

As the group neared the administration building, Cassy came up with a rope ladder stretching below the Pave Hawk.

“Need a lift?” Cassy asked through the comm.

“Hop on board and secure the roof level,” Robert told Richard and Stephanie, “I’ll guide the others to the building’s entrance.”

Stephanie climbed the rope ladder and Richard followed in tow.

<BASE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING>
<SOUTH WING>
<5:30PM>
<ROOFTOP LEVEL>

Cassy’s Pave Hawk gently lifted Stephanie and Richard off Robert’s quad bike and took them to the rooftop level of of the administration building’s south wing.

“Jump, I’m right behind you!” Stephanie called to Richardson from above as they neared the rooftop.

Richard jumped off the ladder and somersaulted to the side. Stephanie followed suite, both of them probing their rifles around for threats.

“Seems clear to me,” Richard said to Stephanie.

“I don’t think so,” Stephanie said in a contradictory tone, and Richard jumped out of the way as one of the HVAC units nearby exploded.

“I’ve sighted multiple beings approaching your position from the left,” Cassy said over Richard’s comm.

Richard and Stephanie turned as four Kronosian soldiers ran at them. These soldiers, however, featured some kind of rectangular energy shield which easily blocked the bullets from Richard and Stephanie’s rifles.

“Go around and attack them from the side,” Cassy suggested.

“Stephanie, you keep them occupied,” Richard said, “I’ll take ‘em by surprise.”

Richard ran quickly around to the left behind the cover of an exhaust duct, where he switched to his semi-automatic and quickly took each of the four Kronosians out with a single shot to each soldier’s side. More Kronosians arrived, however, firing from behind all kinds of roof objects and even from a scaffold toward one of the upper parts of the building.

The HVAC and other ventilation units were not very sufficient cover, at least not from Kronosian lasers, as at least a few other units exploded or burst into flames upon being shot. A boxy roof fan exploded and one of its blades, glowing red hot, came spinning at Richard. However, Richard’s accuracy allowed him to at least deflect the blade off its fatal course with a single shot from his semi-automatic.

Richard heard glass shatter in the administration building just across from his position and saw a Kronosian soldier fly out of one of the corridor windows yelling and plummeting to the ground below. To him, this was a sign that Marcus’ squad had successfully entered the building and were already on the third floor. But then Richard’s comm began to crackle with frantic chatter, and Cassy later intercepted the chatter with bad news.

“Marcus’ group is under heavy fire on the third level,” Cassy reported through the comm, “They need backup. Richard, Stephanie, please hurry.”

“Got it,” Stephanie said as she sent a Kronosian soldier over the edge of the roof with her assault rifle.

“Marcus, what’s your position?” Stephanie asked, coming up by Richard.

“Main office level, central section of the third floor,” Marcus’ voice said, then he yelled, “Dammit, my cover’s blown! Hurry up and get in here before my squad and I get annihilated.”

After taking out the enemies on the scaffold, Richard and Stephanie found a window in the administration building that faced directly into the main office area. The two fired tow cables from their rifles into the wall just above the window and swung from their position to the office area below.

<ADMINISTRATION BUILDING>
<THIRD FLOOR>
<5:45PM>

Richard and Stephanie crashed through the window, throwing glass everywhere and catching several humanoids by surprise. The humanoids ran to the side and turned over one of the conference tables for cover as Richard and Stephanie located and provided cover for Marcus, who’d found shelter behind an administration desk.

The area that surrounded Richard was a living nightmare. Large walls of fire stood in certain doorways, blood was splattered in small amounts on the white office walls, and for the first time since the mission began, Richard saw dead bodies of office and army personnel. One of them, to Richard’s horrified disgust, had been decapitated and another lay by a door with a dent to his face, supposedly from being punched by a Kronosian. But Richard managed to get a slightly better look at the injury and noticed it seemed a lot more smooth, almost as if he’d been clubbed by a rifle. To prove what he’d seen, Richard was suddenly intercepted by a humanoid with what appeared to be a damaged mustache and a determined look in his eyes. In his arms, he carried an AK-47, which he prepared to thrust into Richard’s face. Richard gunned down his attacker, but another humanoid, a woman soldier with short cut hair showing under her cap, ran up and attempted a punch. The humanoid just missed Richard’s face but the punch grazed his forehead before he could fire. Although it didn’t make direct contact with him, the humanoid’s fist felt like a rock, and Richard felt a small bloody gash on the point of impact. Quickly, he shot the attacker in the stomach before she could swing again, and with an animal growl, the humanoid collapsed. A Kronosian soldier threw a desk chair through a kiosk window and almost got the dazed Richard, but Stephanie managed to push him to the side as the chair bounced harmlessly against a wall and came to rest on its side.

William threw a grenade into the kiosk, lighting up the formerly aesthetic lounge in a fiery inferno. Alicia and John ducked behind computer modules as a few enemies advanced on them. As John pointed his semi-automatic over the desk and fired at their attackers, Alicia wedged herself under the desk and fired to provide cover fire at the other end of the room. What they didn’t expect were several Kronosians who’d followed the pair to their end of the office, and were approaching Alicia’s position quickly. There were too many to take down with the remaining shots in her semi-automatic, so Alicia looked for an alternative. Above was a rectangular rupture in the ceiling with a mess of wires tangled inside. Adjusting her aim, Alicia fired into the rupture as her attackers drew their weapons. A shower of white hot sparks rained down, blinding her attackers and giving them the moment she and John needed to evacuate their position.

“MOVE!” Alicia yelled, taking John by the hand and sprinting down a side corridor to her right.

After clearing the central meeting area, Richard and Stephanie moved down the more narrow aisles toward the offices of the commanders. The door to the first office, labeled as that of Lieutenant Melissa McFay’s, Stephanie slammed open with her shoulder, finding a female humanoid clutching her head and emitting that animal growl that the humanoids had been induced with. Suddenly, another female humanoid wearing a black jumpsuit somersaulted from behind the office door and lashed out with a sharp upward kick. The kick got Stephanie in the chin, and she fell backward with a shriek. Richard, in both fury and self defense, swung his rifle into the humanoid’s temple. The humanoid, groaning, grabbed her head before Richardson shot it in the neck.

As the one humanoid collapsed, the other humanoid, who Richard identified as McFay from her uniform’s nametag, picked up an assault rifle and threatened to smack Richard with it, but Richard finished off the possessed Lieutenant with a shot to the side. Richard glanced at the nametag on the other dead humanoid, which read Miranda on it. Another humanoid, whose nametag read Rico, attempted a punch at Richard, but again, Richard took out the attacker quickly.

Running to Stephanie’s aid, Richard saw blood dribbling out of Stephanie’s mouth.

“Richarbd,” Stephanie bubbled, “mebdical kit, augh.”

Richard quickly rummaged in the medical kit equipped to Stephanie’s utility belt and pulled out a small squeeze tube which contained a chemical formula similar to that of bio-foam. Stephanie took the tube and applied a small wad of the formula to the inside of her mouth while Richard kept his rifle ready in case any additional enemies came. After clutching her mouth to press the formula to her gums, Stephanie was finally able to recover as the injury healed itself up.

“Come on, let’s go,” Stephanie said in her regular tone, wiping away the blood that still stained her chin, and Richard followed behind.

Marcus and Robert fought back against several Kronosian soldiers, who were running while firing at them. Robert leaped over a small cubicle to take cover from the laser fire, and accidentally landed on a humanoid. The humanoid, a male, growled and threw him off.

“Marcus, help!” Robert yelled as the humanoid got on its feet.

Marcus came around the corner and quickly shot the humanoid in the back of the head. Robert then primed a grenade and threw it over the cubical, right into the ranks of the incoming Kronosian soldiers, killing them all. Marcus, meanwhile, was intercepted by a male humanoid who wore a military police uniform and carried a crowbar in one hand. Marcus gunned the humanoid down as it raised the weapon and shot another humanoid who’d appeared from behind a desk and fired his semi-automatic.

Another humanoid with a damaged mustache threw a fireman’s axe at Robert from behind cover, but Robert ducked as the axe deflected off the wall and clattered harmlessly elsewhere. Marcus quickly finished off the humanoid with a shot to the chest. Then Marcus heard yelling coming from down the corridor. Marcus and Robert arrived in a small promenade to find an office employee running across the hallway before a humanoid threw a combat knife into his back, killing him. A Kronosian soldier appeared from behind cover, firing at Marcus and forcing him to take cover. As the knife throwing humanoid came to retrieve his combat knife, Marcus placed a carefully aimed shot at the Kronosian soldier. As the Kronosian fell, his rifle went off, and two shots hit the humanoid in the side and the head.

Richard and Stephanie ran into Alicia and John, merging ranks and taking out a few Kronosian soldiers behind them. One humanoid, identified as Sergeant Carmen Hunter, appeared from behind a cubicle and fired a large assault rifle at the group. Alicia quickly gunned down the humanoid Sergeant, clearing a path for her other colleagues. Richard entered one office, belonging to Major Jacob Riley. Richard found Jacob inside, but he wasn’t humanoid. At first, he’d pulled out a Glock 9mm, believing that he was being attacked. The minute that he and Richard made eye contact, however, Jacob lowered the pistol. Stephanie entered another office, belonging to Major June Nicholas, and found a Kronosian soldier inside. But Major Nicholas was also inside, and was backing away from the soldier. Stephanie didn’t hesitate as she shot the attacking Kronosian and came to the Major’s aid. Stephanie could see that June had been critically injured, clutching a slash wound to her side. Stephanie quickly applied a bio-foam patch to June’s injured side and she recovered within a matter of minutes.

“Major, I’m Lieutenant Stephanie Miller of the Alien Tactical Xtreme Defense Force,” Stephanie told the Major as she recovered.

“You must’ve received the distress call then,” June said, a little sickly but with a sheepish smile.

“Yes,” Stephanie replied, “How long have you been here?”

“About a few hours,” June replied, “When I realized that many of our own personnel were being taken over by those things, I ordered my remaining forces to fall back. We retreated to the administration building. For a while, we were able to hold our position. But then the enemy found us. Before our cover was blown, I heard the creatures talking, and strangely enough, they spoke English.”

“Go on,” Stephanie said.

“The aliens were saying something about Stronghold Beta,” June continued, “How they were planning to set up some kind of base of operations.”

“Stronghold Beta?” Stephanie asked.

“I really shouldn’t say,” June said, “But this isn’t the time for secrecy. Stronghold Beta is the base’s main weapon and equipment storage facility. It’s below the basement level of the administration building.”

“Is there anyone else here?” Stephanie asked.

“All I know is that once our cover was blown, all %^#^ broke loose,” June admitted, “Those creatures and a whole hoard of our own soldiers under their possession attacked and massacred us. The last thing I remember, I was with Sergeant Carmen. We were forced to split up, and when I came back to my office, Carmen was already there. But she’d been injured and possessed by those beings. She attacked me with her combat knife, and I was forced to retreat. I tried to find someway to cover up my injury, but I passed out from blood loss before I could find some sufficient medical equipment. The next thing I know, I wake up and there’s one of those creatures approaching me. Then of course, you arrived and saved me.”

“So everyone else here is dead?” Stephanie guessed.

“Or possessed,” June admitted, “Now let me ask you a question Lieutenant. What the*&! are those things?”

“They’re an imperialistic race called the Kronosians,” Stephanie briefly explained, “If you want to know what they’ve done to your base’s personnel, they’ve injected a special biological weapon called a Crawler into their nervous system.”

“Did you see a soldier named William by any chance?” June asked.

“Yes,” Stephanie said, a bit surprised, “He’s alive and in our group, along with four others: Alicia, John, Robert, and Cassy.”

“Then I’m not the only survivor,” June exhaled in a relieved tone, “Where are they?”

“Major?” Alicia said, appearing in the doorway to June’s office and exhaling in relief “Thank goodness you’re still ‘alive’.”

“Hey Alicia,” June said, struggling to her feet, “Where’s everyone else?”

“They’re heading to back to the conference area,” Alicia said.

“Come on,” Stephanie said, helping June to her feet.

“It’s alright, Lieutenant,” June said, gently brushing Stephanie hand off after standing up, “I can walk.”

As the trio exited the office, June noticed Carmen, her shut eyes still shaded and lying in a puddle of blood.

“I shot her, Major,” Alicia admitted.

“It’s alright,” June replied, “At least you and William are still alive.”

Along the way, the trio met Richard and Jacob. June was relieved to see Jacob alive and uninjured, but Richard persuaded them to save the reunion conversation for later. The group finally rendezvoused with the others in the main conference room, where Stephanie and Marcus determined where to go next.

“Major Nicholas tells me there’s a stronghold below the basement level of this building where the enemy has set up base,” Stephanie explained to Marcus, then turning to June, “What’s the closest way down to the stronghold.”

The main elevator will get you to the basement level,” June explained, “But you’ll have to take a separate elevator from there to reach the stronghold. And you need to have valid identification to be allowed to use that elevator. I can provide you with that.”

“Alright, since there’s too many of us to use the elevator, let’s split up,” Stephanie said, “Marcus, go with June, Jacob, and Robert and take the stairs. Alicia, William, you’ll be with Richard and I. We’ll rendezvous at the basement level.”

After the group split up, Richard tried the elevator’s down button. To his frustration, a small screen above the console beeped a red “ERROR! POWER FAILURE!”

“Dammit, it’s broken,” Richard said to Stephanie, “The power must’ve been cut in certain parts of the building during the firefight.”

“Here, let me,” William said, and carefully removed the panel. William’s gloved hands protected him from electric shock as he fumbled with some wires inside the panel. He was able to retrieve two wires which he carefully brought together. After a few small zaps, William managed to jump start the elevator, and its doors opened, allowing the group inside. Alicia hit the B button for Basement Level, and the elevator began to descend.

<ADMINISTRATION BUILDING>
<BASEMENT LEVEL>
<6:45PM>

“Basement Level...Doors opening,” said the cool female voice in the elevator before the doors opened and Richard, Stephanie, William, and Alicia exited. The sight that greeted Richard widened his eyes. The basement level was a high ceiling activity center with computer modules, a mess of ventilation ductwork, and a series of catwalks. Just as Marcus’s group arrived, several bullets deflected off the guide rails of the nearest catwalk and two humanoids came out from behind the cover of one of the CPU modules, one firing an assault rifle and another firing a handgun.

Marcus gunned down the two humanoids as Richard and Stephanie ran along the main walkway to their left, taking out a few Kronosians who jumped off from some maintenance cables on the ceiling. A humanoid also dropped from a maintenance cable, but Richard sent him over the balcony with his rifle’s rapid fire mode. Another two humanoids appeared below a stairwell in front of Richard carrying steel-grade bulletproof shields. Stephanie threw a grenade just over the heads of the humanoids, which landed behind and killed the two humanoids.

“Here,” Richard said, handing one of the shields to Stephanie and taking another for himself “We may need these.”

Conveniently, the shields had little sight gaps in them to allow its owner to see while behind cover. A whole squad of humanoids greeted Richard and Stephanie on the lower level, most of them firing rifles. Richard and Stephanie got behind their shields as volley after volley of bullets deflected loudly off the shield’s material. Richard and Stephanie took turns coming out from behind cover and neutralizing one or two of the humanoids.

“Richard, on your left!” yelled Stephanie, and Richard ducked behind his shield just in time as an automatic turret descended from a panel in the ceiling and fired at his position. Stephanie blasted the cannon with a few quick bursts from her rifle, but two more cannons descended ahead of them.

“Great,” Richard thought to himself furiously, “The Kronosians or the infected base personnel must’ve reprogramed the bases defense system.”

“Marcus to Richard,” Marcus’ voice said over comm, “Status.”

“Marcus, the automatic defense system in this zone is active,” Richard said, “Can you or your team locate the defense system’s control panel or CPU and disable it. And I know I shouldn’t be giving orders here, but shoot the CPU or control system if you must.”

“Got it Richard,” Marcus replied, “Hang in there. We’ll shut it down.”

“Major Riley, Major Nicholas,” Marcus said, “Do you know where the control system for the defense system is?”

“The CPU control room is just ahead,” June replied, pointing to a small array of computer modules adjacent to their walkway, “It’ll be the center computer in the middle row.”

Alicia and William ran on ahead, taking out two Kronosian soldiers as they entered.

William got to the defense system’s CPU monitor first and opened up the override command box.

“Valid passcode required,” came a cool female voice from the monitor’s speakers.

“Jacob,” William called, “Do you have an override code on you?”

“Here,” Jacob said, handing him a small plastic card.

Quickly, William typed the card’s override info into the computer.

“Access Denied,” the female voice replied.

“Rgh, what the %#$,” William responded. He tried the code again, with no success. Then a thought dawned on him.

“What if the Kronosians found someway to counter the override program in the base’s computers?”

He didn’t have any other override codes on him, and even if he did, the computer might still reject them. In conflicted fury, William hit the computer screen. A crack appeared, fuzing the screen with colors and then a brief flash of the “blue screen of death” before the female voice, now very badly distorted, replied “Error, system shutdown.” Another screen next to that one issued a message that, given the circumstances, was actually good news.

“WARNING! Basement security defense system disabled. Source, fault with main CPU.”

“Phew,” William replied, wiping his forehead, then asked through the comm, “Richard, Stephanie, are you guys encountering anymore of those auto-cannons?”

“Not anymore,” Richard’s voice replied, “Did you figure it out at last?”

“...Somewhat…” William said with an unsure voice as he looked back at the central CPU unit, which still fuzzed with small sparks, random lines of code and odd colors.

“As soon as we clear the base, June or Jacob are probably going to kill me for this,” William thought to himself and proceeded on.

William met up with Alicia back on the outer walkway, where they faced off against several maintenance and soldier humanoids. Then a volley of lasers blasted a section of the walkway’s right guide rail from below. Looking in that direction carefully, John noticed a whole group of Kronosians and three humanoid soldiers below. The Kronosians kept John and his group pinned down from that angle and there were so many of them that no one in his group would be able to take them all out in one go, not without making themselves an open target to any surviving enemies.

Looking above, John noticed a large concentric vent above the area that the enemies were at. Quickly, John fumbled with his utility belt and found a grenade, which he primed and threw towards the upper half of the vent’s drop box. The grenade blasted away the ductwork that supported the drop box, causing it, some additional ripped out ductwork and support bars to come crashing down on the enemy.

Richard and Stephanie finally made it through the lower level of the basement and rejoined with the others on the walkway. June helped lead the group to the nearest corridor that would lead them to Stronghold Beta’s access elevator. Ahead, a double door entryway had been blasted open, revealing another large room with walkways. Above the entryway, Richard noticed the placard above reading “Chemical Weapons research lab.” To the side of the door, Richard noticed several chemical hazard signs, including one that made him feel uneasy:

“DANGER!! Corrosive materials inside. Protective clothing required beyond this point.”

<CHEMICAL WEAPON RESEARCH LABORATORY>
<MAIN WALKWAY>
<7:00PM>

Although the group was very close to the access point for Stronghold Beta, they didn’t encounter too much resistance in the laboratory. Most enemies encountered were humanoids wearing protective laboratory clothing and firing small pistols. Many of these humanoids were taken out safely and efficiently, but the group also encountered a few Kronosians. At least three Kronosians took up firing positions on either side of the end balcony that extended from the end of the Main Walkway. After two of the Kronosians had been gunned down, the third Kronosian, who bore special red markings on his shoulders, began to retreat.

“Huh, coward,” Alicia said a little sourly, “Runnin’ from the fight, are you?”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Stephanie mumbled, then added, “Alicia, be careful. That Kronosian is a commander. The commanders always have some kind of evasion tactic in mind.”

And to prove her point, the Kronosian soldier suddenly ducked behind a railing and threw a plasma grenade at the group.

“RUN!” Stephanie yelled, and the rest of the group ran forward quickly as the grenade bounced behind them. Kronosian plasma grenades, though, had more blast power than standard hand grenades, and this one exploded with such force that a hole was blown open in the walkway, throwing a few people to the ground. To make matters worse, the blast also broke at least two of the supports for the walkway, causing it to tilt downward. Richard lost his balance and fell backward. He grabbed onto some crevices in the now almost vertical part of the walkway, and looking down, was thankful he had. Below was an experimental acid bath, containing a mix of highly corrosive acids. Richard gulped; if he lost his grip, he’d die a horribly painful and almost toxic death. A corrosive smell from the acid bath made Richard eyes water a bit, but he held on dearly.

“Stephanie, Help!!” he yelled.

“Richard, I’m coming!” Stephanie yelled back, then turned to Marcus.

“Marcus, grab my legs and lower me down,” Stephanie ordered.

“But Stephanie…” Marcus said.

“Just do it…” Stephanie insisted.

Marcus grabbed Stephanie’s legs as she laid down on her stomach and slowly slid her way towards Richard.

“Richard, grab my hand!” Stephanie yelled, reaching out her left hand.

Richard didn’t hesitate. He stretched out his arm, trying to lock onto Stephanie’s. But they were still too far apart.

“Lower!” Stephanie called back.

“I’m trying!” Marcus replied with a strained voice, inching forward a little more. Still, though, Stephanie’s hand couldn’t lock onto Richard’s.

“Can’t you go any lower!?” Stephanie yelled back, almost screaming.

“Stephanie, any lower and we’re both done for,” Marcus retorted.

All of a sudden, Alicia arrived, sliding herself along the slanted walkway while gripping the guiderails. She reached down just far enough to grab Richard’s wrist and pull it far enough so that Stephanie’s hand could grab it.

“I got him,” Stephanie called out, “Marcus, pull me up.”

William helped Marcus pull Stephanie back up while Richard used his free hand and his knees to push himself up and keep in pace with Stephanie. Alicia, meanwhile, used the guiderails to help her walk slowly back up the walkway until she finally reach the edge and climbed onto more horizontal terrain.

“Thanks guys,” Richard exhaled, “God, that was damn close.”

“John, where did that Kronosian go?” Alicia asked, noticing that the Kronosian commander who’d blown apart the walkway had just disappeared.

“He was headed for an access elevator toward Stronghold Beta,” John replied.

“But he won’t get very far,” June said, “Unless those aliens have developed some means of burrowing their way into the stronghold, he’ll need valid identification to access that area.”

Richard noticed a small plastic disc in a utility belt on one of the dead Kronosian soldiers.

“Stephanie, what’s this?” Richard asked, pointing to the disc-like object.

“It’s some kind of identity or info disc,” Stephanie said, picking it up. Then handing the disc to Richard told him, “Keep this, we may need it.”

Richard took the small disc and carefully stuffed it into his pocket. When the group arrived at the elevators, June approached a pedestal-mounted data pad, where she took out her base ID Card and slid it through the reader. Much to her surprise and quiet outrage, the screen blinked a red “ACCESS DENIED” message. June tried her card again; “ACCESS DENIED.”

“What the $%^, what the %$&?” June seethed, “I’m one of the superiors of the base and this damn thing is denying me access to Stronghold Beta?”

“I had the same trouble with the defense system in the basement level while using Jacob’s ID card,” William admitted, “I suppose the Kronosians must have hacked the base’s CPU system and rewired everything.”

“Oh great,” Alicia muttered, frustrated, “So all the base’s computers are working against us in other words.”

“That’s what it sounds like,” Jacob replied.

Richard then took out the small disc Stephanie had stolen from the Kronosian soldier.

“Major,” Richard asked, “Do those data pads also have a disc insert section?”

“No,” June said, “You can only unlock these things with the card slider accessory.”

Richard then came up and gently rolled the identity disc in a sliding way through the card reader.

“ACCESS GRANTED”

“Seems as though we’ve found a way in,” Richard said casually as the elevator doors opened and he strolled inside. Stephanie and Marcus followed next, then the rest of the group.

The elevator was just large enough to accommodate the group and still provide enough arm space between them. June hit the button for Stronghold Beta, and the elevator began to descend.

<STRONGHOLD BETA>
<EXACT COORDINATES>
<UNKNOWN>
<7:10PM>

When the elevator doors opened, Richard and the rest of the group found themselves standing in what appeared to be a massive cave, with industrial-grade lights suspended from the ceiling. The area itself appeared to stretch almost 3 miles in every direction, and there were stacks of spare fuel barrels, ammo crates, vehicles, and the same boxes Richard had seen back in the hangar with the “WARNING! DO NOT OPEN. TOP SECRET,” labels.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Stronghold Beta,” June said with fake enthusiasm, motioning to their surroundings.

“Come on, let’s seek out whoever else is in here,” Alicia said, clicking her rifle’s next clip in.

“Hold it, Alicia,” Stephanie gently ordered, holding her hand out, “In an area this big, we may be open targets. Proceed carefully. If you come under fire, take cover immediately.”

Marcus took out a small data pad and activated a motion display system. By the time the detector had fully booted up, several blips had already appeared and were closing in on the group fast.

“Hostiles, eleven o’clock,” Marcus cautioned.

At that moment, several humanoids slid down on maintenance cables from the ceiling, firing pistols or light machine guns. Richard took William and Alicia to the left, firing his rifle in rapid bursts and successfully killing at least four of the humanoids. The three ducked behind a stack of crates, shielding them from the remaining enemy fire. Then one humanoid landed on top of the stack, but William blasted it in the chin, knocking the humanoid off backwards.

“Incoming, three o’clock!” Alicia yelled as several bullets smacked into the crates from behind.

As Richard’s group evacuated to the a different position, William saw four humanoids firing from behind the opening of a large kiosk window and somehow recognized their uniforms.

“Interrogation personnel,” William said in a shocked voice.

“What?” Richard asked, c***ing a disbelieving look.

“Did you ever notice those signs on the perimeter that said ‘Use of Deadly Force Authorized?,” William asked as he fired his rifle over the edge of their cover, “’”

“Yeah,” Richard replied, confused, “But I thought that just meant that base personnel could shoot potential intruders on site. Was there something more?”

“It may be just speculation,” William replied, “But I’ve heard rumors in my service days here that some intruders were arrested and taken to an unspecified detention facility and brainwashed, sometimes harassed or abused, to force them to forget about what they’d seen. Supposedly under orders from the CIA.”

“Stephanie, Marcus,” Richard said into his comm, “We’re pinned down at the south end of the stronghold. We need backup immediately.”

“Roger that. I’m on my way,” Marcus replied.

A minute later, Marcus arrived, firing his assault rifle in burst mode and forcing the humanoid interrogation personnel to duck away. Marcus advanced slowly, and Richard slowly followed up behind, keeping his rifle trained. The next thing he knew, one of the humanoids, a man with glasses and a mustache, jumped on Marcus, tackling him to the ground before he could even fire.

The humanoid started to punch Marcus, but Richard ran at the attacker, firing his rifle. The humanoid spun and flipped and bullets punctured him all over. Richard was just starting to help Marcus back up when another humanoid interrogator tackled Richard. This humanoid was a woman with a sturdy appearance and shortcut oily black hair. Richard did his best to fight back, delivering a punch to the humanoid’s face and keeping her at bay. Another female humanoid appeared next to Richard and threatened to kick him, but Richard thrust his attacker in the way, injuring the one humanoid on him and bowling the other one right over. Richard reached for his rifle, but the sturdier female humanoid kicked it away. Now Richard got a good look at the interrogation humanoids’ clothing; tanned uniforms and blue surgical gloves. The sturdier woman held a dog leash and the other humanoid specialist wore a black knit cap that sagged bit and held a scalpel in one hand. It appeared that Richard’s attackers wanted to capture and do some kind of live surgery on him.

Marcus was still dazed and attempting to recover from the injuries inflicted by his attacker, so he wasn’t able to support Richard at the moment. William, meanwhile, was trying to fend off some incoming humanoid Marines that were approaching from the opposite direction. He and Alicia had just switched cover to evade fire when William noticed Richard’s predicament. Already, the humanoid with the knit cap was advancing on Richard, snarling with that vicious animal sound and swinging her scalpel. Richard was backing up in defense, searching his utility belt for his semi-automatic. William also noticed the lead humanoid interrogator, a Staff Sergeant, advancing behind Richard, waiting for him to get close enough for him to catch in his muscular arms.

William didn’t want to fire his assault rifle, worried that any stray fire could hit Richard. Instead he pulled out a grenade, primed it, and threw it. The grenade bounced off the head of the humanoid with the knit cap, who growled in surprise and clutched her head.

“Richard, run!!” William yelled, and Richard dove far to the right just as the grenade exploded, swallowing the remaining three humanoid interrogators in a bright orange blast.

“You alright?” Richard asked, helping Marcus to his feet.

“Yeah,” Marcus said, still dazed but surprisingly okay otherwise, “Boy, it felt like that guy had rocks in his fist.”

“I’m not surprised,” Richard said, feeling at the scab on his forehead that had been left by the one humanoid who’d grazed his forehead back up in the administration building.

The two ran behind cover with William as Alicia fired her rifle around the edge of her cover. At least one humanoid marine was hit in the leg, and he roared in pain and fell over, gripping his leg. Then gunfire from behind took out the remaining humanoid marines. Richard looked over to see Stephanie, Robert, June, Jacob and John coming there way.

“Come on, let’s keep moving,” Stephanie ordered.

“We’ve got company,” Robert warned gruffly as four humanoids appeared behind a stack of crates. Two more rolled out from behind opposite ends of a humvee jeep, firing assault rifles. The group carefully took out the humanoids by the crates and John placed a clean shot at the humvee’s engine, causing it to explode and kill the two humanoids who’d taken cover at by it.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about,” John said triumphantly.

But squad after squad of humanoids continued to appear, firing weapons of all kinds, throwing crowbars or combat knives, or attempting punches and kicks. Each of these humanoids wore military uniforms of all kinds: pilot uniforms, special forces, standard army, specialists, and mechanics.

“The Kronosians got what appears to be a whole legion of the base’s personnel at their disposal,” Stephanie commented.

“Then there is something vital in here which the Kronosians are desperate to protect,” Marcus added.

“Either that, or they’re after something in the stronghold and are trying to retrieve it while we face the base’s personnel,” Stephanie added.

“Major Riley,” Marcus asked as her blasted a humanoid pilot in the shoulder, “Do you know of anything in this particular stronghold which an enemy may want. Just any kind of enemy.”

“As June told you before,” Jacob said, whacking a humanoid special ops soldier in the forehead with his pistol, “This Stronghold is primarily for equipment storage. That June or I were informed of before taking the position, there is no top secret weaponry or technology stored in this stronghold. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Stephanie inquired.

“Unless they have found out about the fission reactor,” June finished.

“Fission reactor?” Richard questioned.

“Area 51 used to have some kind of a prototype fission reactor that was constructed as an alternate power supply for the base,” June explained, “The reactor, however, never went online. Construction was halted and the project cancelled by orders from the Pentagon, or so I’ve heard. But now that I think about it, that Kronosian air-vehicle we recovered the first night...it went missing not too long ago.”

“Do you suppose they’re trying to rebuild their dropship and evacuate?” Richard assumed, “I mean, by this time, they’ve already suffered many casualties and they may have been ordered to scrub whatever operation they were initially planning. Maybe they’re trying to fuse their dropship with the reactor in order to refuel it once any repairs are complete.”

“Seems likely,” Stephanie said, “Except that you said the reactor was never completed, right Major.”

“That’s what I heard,” June replied.

“But if the Kronosians could figure out how to reverse the base’s security systems,” Alicia countered, “Then they may have also figured out to finish completing the reactor. They may have also figured out how to activate it as well.”

“Major Riley,” Richard asked, “What is the quickest way from here to that reactor?”

“There’s a hidden elevator in the middle of the stronghold,” Jacob replied.

Stephanie then saw what appeared to be a miniature artificial mountain ahead. Between some fuel barrels and ammo crates, Stephanie could just make out what appeared to be two bulky double doors.

“I think I’ve located the elevator,” Stephanie said, “June, lead the way. The rest of you follow up behind me.”

The group ran on ahead, occasionally ducking to evade fire from the remaining armies of humanoids who continued to appear from behind equipment stacks. There were also a number of humanoids entrenched in the artificial hill in which the elevator was hidden, but Stephanie and Marcus were able to take them out quickly.

The remained of the group finally made it to the shelter of the elevator’s entrance. June was about to slide her ID card through the data pad in front, but then glanced over at Richard and added “Richard, I think you’d better do the honors of getting us in.”

Without response, Richard strode over to the data pad and slid the stolen Kronn ID disc through the reader, gaining them access to the elevator.

<STRONGHOLD BETA>
<MAINTENANCE CORRIDOR AREA>
<BAY 89>
<9:15PM>

When the elevator doors reopened, the group found themselves in a mostly dark maintenance corridor. The only lighting came from small dim blue lamp structures. Cables hung from the ceiling or were strewn across the floor. The group went ahead slowly, with Marcus the second in front, referring to the motion display on his data pad to alert them of any nearby threats. About several meters ahead, they found a small kiosk with its main door open. Two Kronosian soldiers jumped down from a window above, but Stephanie and Marcus quickly took them down along with another Kronosian who fired from the window above.

Inside the doorway and just through the kiosk, the group found an abandoned medical lab. Some of the tables had some of the base’s personnel strapped down. Stephanie cautiously advanced, using her detector to scan each of the patients.

“Just as I thought,” Stephanie determined, “This medical lab must’ve been where the majority of those base personnel were taken just prior to being injected with the crawler. Each of these patients is dead but their pulses are beginning to restart. A crawler is embedded in each of their nervous systems.”

As though to prove her point, Richard could see small green tanks near the walls with squid-like creatures that were so small, Richard had to squint to see them in the green containment fluid.

“Hostiles, inbound,” Marcus warned, and instantly, glass shattered as three Kronosian soldiers jumped through the medical labs windows.

Richard, William and John quickly took out the Kronosians, but behind them, the glass ceiling windows above shattered as more Kronosians arrived to reinforce the medical lab.

“%$^^!” Alicia seethed, “There’s too many of them.”

“Fall back!” Stephanie ordered and dove through the nearest broken window. Marcus and Richard followed suite.

“June, hurry,” William called.

“Hold on,” June said, “There’s just one thing I need to do.”

Carefully, she edged herself near the medical tables and narrowly avoided Kronosian laser fire. Slowly, June drew her Glock 9mm defensive pistol and fired one shot into the head of each of the four infected base personnel. When her work was done, June began to run back to William. A laser blast suddenly hit her in the leg and she screamed and stumbled into Williams arms. Without second thought, William, with June in his arms, dove backwards through the same window Stephanie, Marcus and Richard had. Alicia, Jacob and John managed to dive through just after William and June.

“Stephanie, June’s injured,” William said, “How many more of those bio-foam patches have you got on you?”

“At least six more,” Stephanie said, rummaging briefly in the first aid kit and tossing a small patch to William.

William tore off the adhesive-protection layer on the back and quickly placed it onto a laser burn on June’s leg that was the size of a golf ball. June shrieked as the bio-foam reacted with the burn surrounding the injury before it went to work on the inside of the injury.

“How many more of these am I gonna need before we get through this, if we ever do,” June said disgusted as William helped her back to her feet.

The group ran through the nearest door as Kronosian lasers deflected off the walls and a few control panels. The group now found themselves in a large maintenance and storage corridor, almost half the size from one end to the other as that of Stronghold Beta above.

“Get them!!” a voice on the catwalks commanded with a strict tone, and the group quickly diverged and took cover as lasers and bullets ricocheted off the floor. Kronosian soldiers and humanoids fired from small ramps on either side of the corridor, pinning them down from both ends. Stephanie placed a lucky shot at a female humanoid marine, who groaned before falling backward, her rifle going off and hitting another humanoid nearby. Marcus threw a grenade up onto the opposite ramp, and a male humanoid commander yelped as the blast incinerated him and flung a Kronosian right over the ramp’s balcony. Richard then saw a small vehicle to the side that appeared to be an industrial carrier-version of a golf cart. Conveniently, it had a rooftop that didn’t seem to be affected by Kronosian lasers of the bullets from the humanoids’ guns. It also had an extra trailer that could accompany the rest of the group.

“William, Alicia, follow me,” Richard said and took off for the carrier with William and Alicia in tow.

Richard hopped into the front seat and ignited the vehicle’s engine as William and Alicia hopped into the rear and provided cover fire. Richard spun the vehicle around, crashing through several equipment stacks as he drove it back towards the positions of his comrades.

“All of you, in the rear, now!” Richard ordered as he pulled the vehicle to a stop near their positions. Stephanie climbed into the seat next to Richard while everyone else climbed into the back trailer.

“Don’t forget who’s still in command here Richard,” Stephanie said, a little annoyed that someone of lower rank was giving orders.

“There’s no time for this,” Richard retorted, steering sharply to the right, “We can discuss about rank and authority when we get back to headquarters, but we still have a mission to complete here.”

Since his rifle weighed so much in one hand, Richard kept it below his seat and used his semi-automatic to take out enemies that tried to intercept them as they drove wildly through the corridor.

“Turn to the right,” June instructed from behind, and Richard veered the carrier through a side corridor in that direction and hit the accelerator. A Kronosian was slammed out of the way as they veered sharply into another large storage corridor.

“The entrance to the reactor’s room is just up ahead,” Jacob said, referring to Marcus’s data pad.

The doorway ahead was a large ascending door that lay tucked away in a wide dip in front of them. Without thinking, Stephanie took out her grenade launcher and fired a single shot at the doorway as the carrier began to descend into the dip. The grenade ripped a hole in the bay door and the carrier lept straight through it. A Kronosian soldier suddenly landed on the roof of the carrier, carrying a plasma grenade which he attempted to throw into the carrier. Alicia shot its bulb structure and the Kronosian, with a yelp of pain and surprise, fell off the carrier’s roof before the plasma grenade in his hand exploded.

“You’re almost there,” Jacob informed them.

As the corridor widened, a humanoid stepped out from behind cover and fired a pistol at the carrier. The bullet deflected off the windshield and hit a panel on the side. Another panel ahead lit up red and began to wail with a repetitive and annoying wail, almost like a burglar alarm. A large steel door with yellow caution tape on its bottom began to descend with an deeper pitched warning siren.

“Damn it all!” Stephanie swore, standing up and leaning out of the carrier’s cab. She fired one grenade into the alarm panel, which exploded in a red and white volcano and left a large burning hole in the wall. Stephanie quickly reloaded and fired two more grenades at the upper edges of the descending steel door. Sparks flew, fire and smoke billowed around the edges of the of the door and it whined as it’s motors failed and the door stopped descending midway.

“Nice shot,” Richard commented as they drove under the large door.

“Thanks,” Stephanie said a little dryly.

Richard finally pulled the carrier to a stop as they came up to a large heavy-duty access door.

“Beyond that door is the reactor,” June said, eyeing the door with determination.

“Richard, Marcus, we’re going in first,” Stephanie said, clicking her assault rifle’s next clip and advancing forward, “The rest of you, wait outside until I give the okay.”

The access panel this time had a keypad instead of a slide scanner. Richard guessed that this panel too had been rewired so that base personnel alone could not access the room that lay ahead. However, and he guessed this, Richard could not find any code imprinted even faintly in the little identity disc he now had. But then, he noticed that the access panel also had a barcode scanner. Slowly, he approached the panel and held out the identity disc. A small and slightly visible red light project out from under the panel and scanned the disc. Richard stood back as he heard three heavy locks inside the door reverse, then a compressor hissed and an almost animated hum of a motor as the door split in two and bid them access to the room beyond.

<REACTOR ROOM AND ABANDONED AIRLIFT HANGAR>
<AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY>
<10:00PM>

The reactor room was a large semi-circular hallway that led into a large dome like room ahead. Inside the domed area was a large circular core reactor mounted by heavy-grade brackets and connected to a series of pipe like cables. Two of the largest cables stretched down to the floor, where their diameter widened before linking into generator units on opposite ends of the cylindrical hallway that the group now stood in. To the shock of everybody, June in particular, both generators were active, humming with an intense noise. The core ahead was glowing red as though chargin up.

“Enemy attack!” yelled a voice on the walkway below, and Richard saw the  Kronosian commander, the same one who’d blown apart the walkway above the acid bath, pointing right at their position. The commander ran off as five other Kronosians arrived and opened fire.

“Be careful!” June warned as the group took cover, “If we damage any of the computer modules, we may end up compromising the generator functions, which may render the reactor unstable.”

Richard, Stephanie, and Marcus split up, weaving their way between some of the computer modules while June fended the the attackers off with her semi-automatic.

“June,” Jacob ordered, “Get Alicia, Robert, John and William out of here. Rendezvous with Cassy and have her airlift you guys out.”

“We’re not leaving you here, Jacob,” June insisted.

“Don’t worry about me,” Jacob replied, “I’ll help the ATXD finish off these ^%$. The last thing I want is for any of you to be killed or mutilated.”

“Come on, June,” William said, taking June’s shoulder.

“NO!” June cried with a tearful face, “Jacob, I will not leave you here.”

“June, if you stay here, you and everyone else will surely die,” Jacob insisted, “I’ll help the ATXD finish this mission and then you can have Cassy retrieve us. So just get the $%*& out of here.”

June, with an almost tearful face, nodded and along with Alicia, John, William, and Robert, hopped into the carrier. Robert gunned the engine and drove off with the other four.

Stephanie, meanwhile, was the first down to the lower level and, followed by Richardson, quickly and carefully took out the five Kronosians blocking their way. Marcus and Jacob followed behind. As the group proceeded into the dome-like cave ahead, Richard saw that the wall behind the reactor had been blasted open, widening the cave’s walls. Above the reactor, Richard could see that a special platform had been set up. As they drew closer, Richard could see that his guess from earlier was right.

A rather battered and delta-shaped Kronosian dropship rested on the platform just above the reactor, linked by more of the connector tubes that branched out from the reactor.

“Well, well, well,” came the voice of the Kronosian commander. Looking up, Richard saw the commander above, eyeing him and his group with sinister interest, “It seems as though those legends of ATXD soldiers being virtually undefeatable appear to be true.”

Richard and Stephanie lifted their rifles, ready to shoot down the commander. But he only laughed at being held at gunpoint.

“Even in the most dangerous environment, you’re just intent to take out your target,” the commander said, motioning to his surroundings, “You realize that you are all liable to be blown to smithereens if you misfire.”

“Oh really!?” Stephanie called back threateningly, “And what about you? You are right above the deepest red zone in this whole area.”

“Well go ahead,” the commander countered, still smiling and holding up his hands, “Shoot me.”

Richard and Stephanie remained still; again the commander was up to some kind of trick. He was trying to get them blown up. Jacob picked up a small work wrench and hurled it just below the platform. Immediately, a purple sphere lit up and the wrench bounced off, falling out of view.

“Even your most powerful weapons would only deflect harmlessly off this force field and right into the reactor,” the commander replied, “You’d be dead in a matter of minutes.”

“Well so would you,” Richard called back, “As Stephanie said, you’re right above the danger zone. We may die if that reactor explodes, but you will too.”

“You don’t even know how powerful this force field is,” the commander retorted, “Even a thermonuclear explosion wouldn’t breach this field.”

Marcus, meanwhile managed to locate the source of the force field: a large projector dish that stood directly below the platform. However, the floor surrounding it had been blown away and only small narrow access ramps around it provided the best access.

Marcus motioned to Stephanie and Richard and they along with Jacob followed him back down the corridor, until they were out of the commander’s range of sight.

“That’s it!” the commander called back, “You’re just going to turn on your heel and leave. You humans are more pathetic than the Klauris made you sound.”

Marcus informed the group what he’d just found and they discussed their next move.

“Richard, Jacob, while Marcus attempts to detonate their shield generator, you two are gonna need to rig the generators,” Stephanie said, “If we can detonate those and the shield generator, then we’ll be able to trap the enemy before they can fully refuel their ship and escape.”

“But what about us?” Richard said, concerned, “Or is your idea that we’re going to sacrifice ourselves to stop the enemy escaping?”

“June and the others should be on Cassy’s helicopter by this time,” Jacob said, “I’ll readjust my communicator to get in touch with Cassy and let her know to pick us up when the time is right.”

“Alright, now let’s hurry,” Stephanie said, “We don’t have much time before the refueling process is complete. I’ll keep them distracted while you three carry out your assigned tasks.”

Richard, Jacob, and Marcus nodded and split up. Stephanie approached the platform where the Kronosian’s dropship still lay.

“You’re back,” the commander said, trying to mimick being relieved, “I was beginning to get a little bored at first.”

“Well, we just figured we’d try to bore you a bit,” Stephanie countered with her own fake pleasure, “We wanted to save the more exciting part for later.”

Marcus, meanwhile, had slipped under the platform without being noticed and carefully started to walk along the nearest ramp that lead to the shield generator. The generator hummed and buzzed as it spit out bright purple energy that seemed to disappear but was obviously forming the base of the force field. Carefully, he took out a grenade and attached a small radio ignition switch to it and placed the grenade carefully near the base of the shield generator. He then slowly backed up and returned to the other end of the ramp.

“Marcus to Richard,” Marcus whispered into his comm, “I’ve set up a radio-controlled explosive under their shield generator. You and Jacob, do the same with at least one grenade and drop them near the core of those generators.”

“Roger,” Richard acknowledged quietly, then turning to Jacob, attached a radio ignition switch to one of his grenades and carefully handed it to Jacob.

“Drop this in near the most vital part of the generator,” Richard instructed, “When we’ve laid explosives into the generators, let’s meet back with Stephanie and await either Marcus or Stephanie’s instructions.”

Jacob acknowledged and the two split up once again, each one heading to one of the two generators. Richard got behind the generator on the right and managed to find an access panel inside. Next to the panel was a yellow sign reading “WARNING! DO NOT SERVICE OR HANDLE INTERNAL COMPONENTS WHILE GENERATOR IS OPERATING.” Removing the panel, Richard could see the generator’s main axle spinning quickly and loudly inside. It also felt rather uncomfortably warm inside, and Richard guessed that if he stuck his hand too far inside, he would be burned or even possibly electrocuted. Also, Richard had to make sure the grenade wouldn’t make direct contact with the axle because if it got damaged or or jammed the axle, that would compromise the generator’s function too early, exposing them and putting himself and his comrades in potentially serious danger. But then he noticed a space below the furiously spinning axle that was just wide enough to stick a grenade inside without it making direct contact with the axle. Slowly, Richard removed a grenade from his utility belt along with a radio ignition device, which he carefully clipped onto the grenade’s trigger. With extreme caution, Richard carefully reached inside and dropped the grenade in the space just below the axle. Withdrawing his hand quickly, Richard placed the panel against the opening and retreated back to the other end of the generator.

“Explosive set in right generator,” Richard whispered through his comm, “Major, you got yours in?”

“Snug as a bug,” Jacob said casually and quietly, “I’ll meet up with you and Stephanie under the enemy’s platform.

Richard and Jacob returned to Stephanie and Marcus, who were still keeping the Kronosian commander distracted.

“Okay, I’m getting bored again,” the commander called down, “How ‘bout showin’ me what the interesting part is that you had in mind.”

“Okee Dokee,” Stephanie said with a smug smile and nodded to Marcus. Marcus pulled out the radio detonator on his utility belt and activated it. An earthquaking blast erupted below the platform as the radio-controlled grenade consumed the shield generator.

“Richard, now yours!” Stephanie yelled.

Without hesitation, Richard pulled out his radio detonator and activated it too. Two bone jarring blasts knocked Richard, Stephanie, Marcus, and Jacob to the ground as large black and orange clouds of fire billowed out of the generators. Not too long after, explosions of fire and smoke ruptured all over the place and the reactor began to smoke and billow fire itself.

“Jacob to Cassy, Jacob to Cassy, do you copy!?” Jacob yelled into his communicator.

“Cassy here,” Cassy voice said over the communicator, “I’m directly above your position. You ready to be airlifted?”

“Yes!” Jacob said, “And hurry the %^^ up! This cave is gonna collapse on us soon!”

A minute later, the ceiling above exploded as two missiles from Cassy’s helicopter opened a way out for the group. Cassy’s helicopter began to descend through the opening, fanning some of the flames in the cave room.

“Hurry, up the ramp!” Stephanie ordered, and everyone else followed behind her as they ran up the ramp toward the platform where the Kronosian dropship was.

Two more Kronosian soldiers blocked their way, but Stephanie and Richard quickly dispatched them as Cassy’s helicopter descended a ladder that lead into the helicopter’s deployment bay. Stephanie went first, then Richard, then Marcus and finally Jacob. Alicia and William held out their hands to help the remainder of the group into the helicopter. When the group finally made it in, June ordered Cassy to start ascending. Below, Richard saw the Kronosian commander looking up at them with rage.

“You’ll never escape the wrath of the Kronosian Empire!!” he bellowed at them, “This battle may have been lost, but the war between Kronos and Earth has only just begun!!”

He raised his blaster rifle and attempted to shoot down the helicopter, but at the moment, the reactor began to implode and the platform collapsed, taking the commander and the dropship with it. Finally, the helicopter made it out into the air and began to move away as the explosions began to reach the top of the pit with them.

Suddenly, as the helicopter flew away from the edge of the pit, a powerful blast shook the helicopter as a wall of fire erupted from the pit like a volcano and lit up the sky with a bright orange. Alicia screamed as she flew forward from the helicopter’s sudden jolt, but was cushioned by William’s arms.

“It’s okay, Alicia,” William said, “It was just a shockwave. We’re clear of the true blast.”

“Thanks,” Alicia said with a smile of reassurance.

The explosion continued to swallow the ground around it for about another several meters before finally stopping. What Richard thought was peculiar, however, was that the area surrounding the blast zone was completely barren but still protected by the base’s perimeter fence.

“What did you guys use this barren area for?” Richard asked June, indicating to the wide area below.

“We actually don’t use it for much,” June admitted, “Jacob and I were told to inform standard base personnel that it was for short-range and contained weapon testing. But in reality, that was all just a cover-up to keep the location of Stronghold Beta and the reactor a secret.”

“Where to now?” Cassy asked.

“ATXD headquarters,” Stephanie said, making her way into the helicopter’s c***pit, “I’ll guide you there.”

“Yes ma’am,” Cassy replied, “It may take some time, though. My bird here is little weighed down, so the engines are slow. But she should be able to make a steady flight all the same. You won’t need to worry about stall-outs or anything like that.”

“Alright,” Stephanie said, “Steady as she goes then.”

Cassy nodded and steered the helicopter away from the base perimeter, following Stephanie’s instructions on the way back to ATXD headquarters.

<THE NEXT DAY>
<ALIEN TACTICAL XTREME DEFENSE FORCE HQ>
<MEDICAL LAB>
<10:00AM>

Richard walked past the medical tables as he observed some of the humanoids who’d been recovered from the base. Obviously due to injuries inflicted either by the Kronosians or by ATXD weapons, many of them wouldn’t recover. Some would even perish due to brain damaging side-effects left behind by the Crawler’s presence in their brain or nervous systems. At least a few, however, we reported suffering non-fatal injuries and would recover soon. However, under a general order issued by the CIA when ATXD was formed, any survivors in an alien attack that called for ATXD assistance and required medical treatment were to be painlessly brainwashed. This brainwashing process simply required them to sit in a chair, look into a specially equipped light while technicians safely probed and deleted or replaced memories of the alien encounters in their head from computers.

Many of the survivors who’d helped the ATXD liberate Area 51 from the Kronosians, including both Majors, were due to be brainwashed, but until then, they were told to remain in ATXD headquarters. Richard did find it odd that they weren’t brainwashed immediately, but if General Walker had made his decision, Richard couldn’t argue with it.

Richard looked at the name tags of some of the base personnel who’d previously been in humanoid form. Many of them were male, but quite a number were also female. Unsurprisingly, however, Richard noticed that a lot of the former humanoids were soldiers or pilots, and less of them were mechanics. Those who were mechanics, strangely enough, always kept defensive pistols of all kinds, probably under safety or security protocols at the base. Some of the Crawlers that had been extracted from the base personnel were already dead, having drowned in the cerebral fluid or suffocated after their hosts’ oxygen supply had ceased upon death. Some, however, were still barely alive and were put into tanks and stored in a cryogenic chamber to freeze them.

“Richard,” Stephanie’s voice said behind him, and Richard turned around to see Stephanie in her more formal uniform with her Lieutenant medals and insignia shoulder band, “General Walker wants to see us.”

“Very well,” Richard said obediently and followed Stephanie to the General’s office.

<A.T.X.D. HEADQUARTERS>
<GENERAL DOUGLAS WALKER’S OFFICE>
<10:06 AM>

Inside Walker’s office, Richard found a few of the survivors, William, Alicia, and John, along with Marcus already waiting inside the office.

“Richard,” Walker replied as they exchanged salutes, “Stephanie and Marcus tell me that you acted with great skill during the mission. Especially since you had never been trained for such a mission before.”

“I don’t want to sound denying, but I was only doing what it took to complete the mission,” Richard said, remaining firm.

“Well anyway,” Walker continued, “What Stephanie and Marcus have told me makes me believe otherwise. Therefore, Richard, I am giving you a promotion to Sergeant.”

Richard eyes widened at this. Sergeant? He knew that ATXD rank determining was not as strict or demanding as the army, but Sergeant? He couldn’t believe it. Walker handed him a small black shoulder band, with the symbol of his new Sergeant rank on it. Richard graciously accepted the shoulder band and slid it on over his left shoulder’s sleeve. Next to him, William and Alicia quietly clapped, nodding and smiling with appreciation. Richard also noticed something on Alicia’s lap; it appeared to be a blue uniform.

“Also, Sergeant Richard Johnson,” Walker added, “I’ve changed my opinion on what is to become of some of the survivors of Area 51. Most of them, including the Majors, are to be brainwashed as planned. But the three you see here, William Roberts, Alicia Daniels, and John Hamelin, I’ve decided to recruit into the ATXD for their fighting skills and involvement in this operation. You shall be their new commanding officer along with Lieutenant Stephanie and Sergeant Major Marcus.”

“Thank you sir,” Richard said, pleased and looked at the three new recruits.

“You three may go now and change into your new uniforms,” Walker said, and adding a salute replied “Dismissed.”

As the three left to get changed, Alicia stopped and hugged Richard.

“You are going to be a great commander, Richard,” Alicia said with a smile of assurance, “I know you will be.”

“I promise that I’ll train and lead you three well,” Richard acknowledged.

“I’m sure you will, Richard,” Stephanie said, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling affirmingly, “But don’t forget who still holds command here.”

“Must we go through that again?” Richard said, giving her a sheepish smile.

“I hope you two don’t start a fight over who’s in command here,” Walker said, interrupting their fake confrontation.

“Don’t worry sir,” Richard assured, “We’ll respect each other’s ranks. Stephanie is, after all, more experienced with the Kronosians than I am. And she has very good combative skills.”

“At the same time, though,” Stephanie said, “Richard can learn so much within so little time. He is also quite daring and skilled. He definitely will work out to be a good Sergeant for the ATXD.”

“I sure you’re right, Lieutenant,” Walker said, “Dismissed.”

“Stephanie,” Richard said as they walked out of Walker’s office and down the corridor, “Just before he died, that Kronosian commander said that the battle may have been lost, but ‘the war between Kronos and Earth has only just begun’. Do you suppose that means we will be expecting those Kronosians to return?”

“Kronosians don’t give up easily,” Stephanie admitted, “I’m sure now that that whole army they dispatched to Area 51 was wiped out, their leader is bound to find out. The we really will have a task to deal with. I hope your not worried, Richard.”

“Nope,” Richard replied, “I just want to be sure I know what to expect when and if they ever do return. And I’m sure they will remember me, just the same as how they remember you and Marcus.”

“They certainly will,” Stephanie replied.

“Well, we’ll be ready for them,” Richard said, “Come on, let’s get to the cafeteria. A mission like that is bound to get one hungry.”

Stephanie only nodded in approval and continued walking along with the new Sergeant Richard Johnson.

<TRANSMISSION STOP>

THE END