Unknown UVS?
Becca inquired as they reached the surface and started running towards an area where a bunch of trucks were parked.
"I'm sure they will be fine. He has a battlesuit, but we don't. We are more in danger than whoever he is," Malik responded while getting into the driver's seat of one of the trucks.
"Get in!" He yelled.
Becca fidgeted but moved towards the passenger seat immediately.
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....
"Sir, they have returned. Well, to be more specific, two have returned," a loud voice accompanied by the presence of a tall military operative infiltrated a slightly large office.
A middle-aged man in an office with a fearsome expression and an eyepatch on the left side of his eye shot a glance at the newly arrived officer.
"Have you let them in?" General Gustav inquired.
"We decided to wait for your orders before making any decisions..." The military operative responded.
"Are you stupid? You left them outside the shelter to be eaten by beasts?!" General Gustav rose to his feet in anger.
"I.. Sir... we... n..." The military operative stuttered repeatedly.
"Let them in!" General Gustav roared.
Minutes later, two figures with countless visible injuries on their skin were escorted into the military base within the shelter. A crowd of military operatives followed behind them as they brought them to General Gustav.
"Why is it just you two? Where are the others?" General Gustav inquired the moment they were brought before him.
Becca shook her head slightly with a reminiscent expression while Malik spoke, "We barely survived. They are all gone..."
The general face displayed a grim expression upon the revelation.
"Tell me everything," He stated with a tone of compulsion.
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[ Emergency Protocol Initiated ]
[ Emergency Beacon Located ]
[ Deactivating Emergency Protocol ]
Kom! Kom! Kom!
Dennis suddenly jolted awake the moment the sound of knocking drifted into his eardrums.
'Another dream?' He wondered internally.
Kom! Kom! Kom!
He didn't get enough time to dwell on his dream as the knocking pulled him out of his reverie.
He didn't know how long whoever was there had been knocking, but he was glad he came to after noticing that daybreak had already arrived.
It would seem that it was already time for his daily drills, and he was even five minutes late. Dennis jumped off his bed and swiftly headed for the door.
As expected, Darrin was still sleeping so he wouldn't have bothered himself with whoever was at the door.
Kachum~
He pulled the door open, and the person standing behind it was none other than instructor Anne.
"Miss Anne? What is it?" Dennis noticed the perturbed expression on her face.
"Your friend is back," She announced.
"Malik is back? Finally..." Dennis let out a sigh of relief.
"He won't be joining you guys for a while as he and the other girl, Becca, are undergoing checkups and examinations," Instructor Anne revealed.
"Checkups? Are they okay?" Dennis inquired while his eyebrows furrowed.
"From the looks of things, they were pretty beaten up. The scientists say they should be back within a day or two," Instructor Anne responded.
Dennis's eyes suddenly widened as he realised something, "You said Malik and the girl... what about the others?"
Instructor Anne shook her head, "They didn't make it."
Dennis was taken aback but not entirely surprised. Since he was a former military, things like these happened all the time. Platoons were sent on missions only to be wiped out due to a lack of information or awareness of the opposing force.
However, Dennis was mostly disturbed because three MCs were a part of this mission.
Did this mean that the opposing forces were so powerful that even the UVS couldn't turn the tide?
"What happened? Since you mentioned just two, that means Miller from unit eighteen is..." Dennis didn't get to complete his statement before Instructor Anne confirmed it.
"Dead... according to them," She stated.
"How could that... what exactly are we dealing with here?" Dennis inquired.
"Not mutated beasts, not the Telktrops, not the Leufons, not the Xintropians... a whole new species," Instructor Anne's revelation gave Dennis a sense of foreboding.
"We are still waiting for the recovery of footage from their UVS," Instructor Anne added.
'Oh, the UVS has an inbuilt recorder... I had no idea,' Dennis said internally.
"Once footage is recovered, we will have a better understanding of what we're dealing with here," Instructor Anne turned around as she completed her statement.
"Shouldn't you be out by now?" Her voice trailed off as she walked away.
Dennis moved towards the bathroom to wash his face after she left. Everything she had revealed kept running through his mind as water gushed out of the tap.
He moved out to join the others for the daily drill afterwards, but for the entire day, his mind was plagued with the new species.
'I'll need to ask Malik about it after his return,' Dennis thought.
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....
In the laboratory facility, a bunch of military operatives and scientific researchers stood in the same room watching holographic footage play out.
Within the footage, a shooting scene was playing out between several military operatives and a bunch of unidentifiable beings.
Three UVS could be seen moving in the background and dealing with the beings as well. After a couple of minutes, the battle ended, and they progressed further towards a cavern underground area. That was where things started to go downhill.
The number of military operatives was around twenty, in addition to the three Modified Combatants equipped with a UVS.
The military operatives were also equipped with good weapons that helped deal with the hostiles, so they were a force to reckon with.
Unfortunately, when they went underground, they were met with an unexpected force. The number of unidentifiable beings was more than ten times their number.
They instantly became outnumbered and surrounded, causing unbridled slaughter.
Despite the group having an advantage due to the power of the UVS, it was still a hard battle. No matter how many they brought down, the unidentifiable beings kept coming, and eventually, they couldn't protect all the normal military operatives.
From what they could see, the Modified Combatants managed to fight their way through the encirclement and tried to escape, but they were already too deep in.
The unidentifiable species made use of an unknown rhombus-shaped item that sapped lifeforce from anything it made contact with.
The unexpected attack ended up costing them more lives than before.
It took an entire night of evasion to find a spot where they could lay low a bit.
At that point, all three UVS were nearly out of power, so Malik decided to deactivate his to save some and also activate an emergency pingback that would transmit their location to any functional UVS. All communication devices were not functioning, so it was the only option they had left even though they knew it was practically useless.
Soon, they had to be on the run again and lost Miller in the process.
"How did they come down in large numbers without our knowledge?" One of the military operatives questioned.
"They must have bypassed our detection radar," a researcher answered with a troubled expression.
"Not even the other extraterrestrials have brought this much number down to our planet... is this an act of war?" Another military operative voiced with a tone of rising anger.
"Open your eyes, soldier. We have been at war since the first one stepped on the face of this planet," Mr Ansel finally spoke.
"We did not anticipate such numbers... this is why my men kept perishing out there," Everything made sense to General Gustav at that moment.
"They have turned that place into a base of operations... I am guessing the V99 crystals are valuable to them," Mr Ansel pointed out.
"This is no longer a fight we can handle on our own. I will have to bring this to the attention of other shelters. Preparation and countermeasures need to be planned," General Gustav voiced.
"Till it is sorted out, I hereby declare Yellow Zone D a forbidden area," He added with a tone of authority.
The military operatives went into momentary shock because only one other forbidden area existed, and now there was another close to their shelter. They couldn't help but feel a sense of danger.
"What is the identity of the operator in the UVS that rescued them?"
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{ Two Days Later }
"Welcome back, man," Dennis patted Malik's shoulder the moment he walked into the first unit lounge.
"Thanks, man. I didn't think I would ever see this place again. Phew," Malik responded while taking a seat beside him.
From what Dennis could see, Malik had a couple of bruises and band-aids on his skin.
"I heard what happened... glad you survived," Dennis stated with a look of relief.
"If not for the arrival of that unknown UVS, my ass would have been long dead by now," Malik leaned back with a reminiscent expression.
"Huh? What unknown UVS?" Dennis's face displayed a befuddled expression.