Red Team

"Command, this is Red Team leader. Do you copy?"

"Red Team, this is command. We can hear you loud and clear."

The six men Red Team guarded their tech specialist as it infiltrated the ship's mainframe. Rows of well-defended servers had been placed like a labyrinth to the central access console. Blue light illuminating the narrow passageways above the cold plates of the floor. Those same cold plates were connected to the outside of the ship, where the excess heat would be dumped in space in the form of radiation.

The enemy defendants had opposed extreme resistance, resorting to blowing up entire sections of the room to slow down the enemy and leave as little valuable data for them to gather after the battle. They couldn't blow up the whole room as the mainframe handled all the ship systems, and its loss would spell certain death for the crew.

Their resistance met a swift end as the team advanced with little care for the supposedly valuable military secrets encrypted within the servers.

"We have complete control of the mainframe, and we will start transmitting the data as soon as possible."

"Roger that, Red Team. As soon as the upload is initiated, execute plan Havoc."

"Orders received."

Red Team Leader, Ricardo Sato, stood on the corpse of a squid, its eight limbs coiled around the armored leg stepping on it in a futile struggle to twist the limb and break free.

Squids, as the humans affectionately called them, were the epitome of the alien empire's society, its founders, and high command members.

An adult squid had eight muscular tentacles for limbs with nimble finger-like hairs at their end. One single large eye and a streamlined body that came in many colors, mainly blue.

They would usually strut around on their thick limbs hidden under a long coat, revealing only the top of their body and their eye filled with superiority.

Not today tho. Today Mr. Squid met the ex sushi chef, Ricardo Sato, and just on one of those days when he felt nostalgic about his former profession.

"What do you guys think? Ika yaki?" He asked his comrades as he sized up the meaty parts of his prisoner of war.

"Sato, you are the only one that could look at one of those things and think they look tasty." The Demo expert, Fornero, looked away in disgust.

The other team members took turns in disparaging the squid and their team leader. Ricardo took it silently, with a mysterious smile as he looked at the squid wriggle uncomfortably at those words.

Imagine being the equivalent of a noble caste, looking down in disgust at those beneath your attention, and then being captured and insulted after being treated as a low-quality ingredient.

"Ok, we are transmitting." Wolfhard, the tech expert, announced, wiping imaginary sweat from the top of his helmet. Ricardo nodded to him and turned his attention to the squid.

"Sorry, Mr.Squid, guess you are too trash to even become food after you die. Enjoy becoming space rubbish." Ricardo said and fully stomped down, executing the POW. (prisoner of war)

"Command, this is Red Team leader. Are you receiving the data?" He communicated through his Oracle.

"Yes, Red Team leader. Proceed as discussed."

Ricardo looked at his men and nodded. They had fought together on dozens of battlefields, and words were no longer needed between them.

They left as they came, without a sound, following the map that Wolfhard had retrieved from the ship's systems.

Thanks to his hack, they had access to the surveillance systems and could avoid patrols and fortified junctions that had sprung up quickly after the boarding party.

Thankfully Red Team had managed to reach the mainframe before serious fortifications could spring up and eliminated the tenacious yet limited defenders.

However, the new target was heavily fortified. Ricardo scouted out the place with a remote-controlled drone, and it was shot almost immediately after crossing the corridor.

Based on the last images it sent over, dozens of enemies, turrets, and barricades had been placed at every entrance of the life support node they targeted. He calculated that no matter the plan, he would lose at least a few men, a trade-off the Red Team leader wasn't willing to accept if he had other choices first.

"Oracle, do we have any Folgore nearby?" He asked, pensive.

"Yes, Team Charlie, Foxtrot, Whiskey, and Xray are less than five minutes away."

"Send them all at the fortification." with a casual order, he had spelled death for close to a hundred men.

"The rest of you get ready. Once they create an opening, we enter."

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Fireteam Charlie continued their march in silence. Ship-rocking explosions occurred more and more often. Adriano suspected that the ship would soon be inoperable if it weren't already.

They encountered two more patrols, both times pairs of lizardmen. The first encounter went without a hitch, killing both in the initial salvo. The second encounter cost the life of a tech as he went to seize the enemy's weapons but got shot by a lizard playing dead.

Adriano wondered if there was some specific meaning to the pairs but decided against investigating at this juncture. He couldn't afford to be distracted.

Two hours after the initial boarding, a minor update came together with a ship's map. "Congratulation! You completed your second directive! Your new objective is to breach an enemy fortification ahead of you. Team Foxtrot, Whiskey, and Xray are on their way as well."

"F**k!" Charlie cursed angrily.

"Oracle, we don't possess the firepower to storm a fortified area. I request we wait for further backup." Charlie pleaded with Oracle, unwilling to go headfirst into the meatgrinder.

"Command has denied your request. Enemy forces across the ship have locked most of the regiment in combat, we have no spare reinforcement. And any minute wasted is a chance for the enemy to reinforce their position. Besides, you should at least make contact with the enemy before claiming it's impregnable." Charlie gritted his teeth at the refusal.

Adriano could tell the man seriously considered saying, "f**k it, and disobeying." However, with the Lad threat in everyone's heads, he had no choice.

He sighed and accepted his destiny. "Charlie's team Charlie, it was a pleasure to fight alongside you. If we gotta die, at least let's do so taking a few bastards with us." Looking almost peaceful, he gave his final remarks before marching forward.

The rest of the team followed somberly, dragging their feet but without turning their heads away from duty.

They turned the first corner, and they saw the last crossroad after just five minutes. If they turned left now, they would be face to face with the last stragglers.

Charlie pressed his back to the wall and used a small camera to spy behind the corner. And with a sigh of relief, he reported, "No signs of enemy activity, just a dead-end."

Feeling a heavy weight lifted from their shoulders, Team charlie relaxed considerably, and some even broke out laughing.

"The map clearly says that this corridor leads to the objective." Oracle retorted, almost unhappy at the avoided massacre.

"Look for yourself, hahaha. There ain't nothing." Lennox provoked while patting the wall.

However, maybe to mock Lennox's remarks, like the maw of a ferocious beast, the wall opened.

Behind the jaws of the door, a new crossroad appeared, each side fortified with barricades, automatic turrets, and machine guns.

A mix of different aliens looked in glee at the humans in their crosshairs, then, with a war cry, opened fire.

Lennox had no time to react before a barrage of hard light bullets and rays deleted every trace he had ever existed.

Like him, half the fire team vanished from the universe, leaving behind a wisp of smoke.

The last tech managed to open a barrier just as the hail of death hit, shielding himself and Charlie.

Adriano and what remained of the team had survived by luck by being too slow to cross the corner.

They looked in horror as, under the enemy's concentrated fire, the barrier shielding their team leader glowed like molten metal, ready to give up at any moment.

Knowing something had to be done, Adriano took out his grenades one after the other and threw them out, hoping they would bounce on the wall and hit the enemy position.

However, the moment they left the corridor's safety, the automatic turrets targeted them, dashing Adriano's last hope.

"Give up, don't waste any-" Charlie started, but Adriano would have none of it. "Like hell I am! I'm not the ECP. I don't believe we are expendables, and I'm not f******g LEAVING YOU TO DIE!" He screamed half in his head and half out of his real throat.

Looking around, he saw a demolition expert holding his head, probably temporarily losing it after being so close to becoming compost.

"Hey! Demo, you got anything that goes straight and explodes? A bazooka, a mortar, anything?!" He demanded, grabbing his collar and pulling him out of the stupor.

"I...?" Terrified, his eyes went to the enemy projectiles, mercilessly battering the barrier into melted butter. However, as his Oracle gave some calm juice, he seemed to come back a little.

He handed a small tube to Adriano. "Hand mortar, just point and shoot."

Adriano stole it out of his hands and planned quickly. Two choices.

Slowly stick to the opposite wall and look for an angle where he could shoot the enemy position without being targeted.

Roll the mortar and seek a direct hit.

"Oracle, can you remotely activate the mortar charge?" He asked, approaching the corner. At every step, the air warmed up from the intense enemy fire.

"Of course. Just switch on the remote detonation on its side." She replied succinctly.

He nodded in response and kneeled, placing the small mortar tube on the ground. He flicked a small switch he recognized as remote detonation and calculated something in his mind.

"Everyone! Do you want to stay down like a beaten dog, leaving Charlie to die or you wanna become heroes?" Adriano called at the demoralized members of his team looking at the concentrated salvo able to turn an army into dust.

They nodded resolutely, Charlie might have been a little bit of a rascal, however, they would never want to find themselves in his place, pinned down and being left behind. Adriano smiled and quickly explained his plan, stealing anxious glances at the rapidly melting wall keeping his team leader alive.