Chapter Text
After the Pallet-Jack landed, dismounting all the mamono and unloading the mechs of S.T.A.R. Team Seven went fairly quickly, with the humans and their armor taking seats aboard a specialized transport vehicle that met them at the landing zone. The battered war machines sat down back-to-back on a large metal bench, complete with anchor points for their feet and shoulders atop a specialized trailer, while their human operators rode in the tractor portion.
Before leaving, Red, Bass, and Pistol had taken the time to say: “see you later”, while Sgt. Rawlins gave a professional wave, before being pulled into the first of what would likely be very many walk-and-talks with the base techs who had arrived to help secure the ATLAS units for transport to the repair bay.
“Once we’re debriefed, and have filed our reports, Command will want us to meet back up with you”, Bass promised. “This is a different situation compared to our usual jobs, so don’t think you’ll be rid of us that easily.” This last was said mostly to Tamera, and the zombie dragon blushed faintly, while her companions hid knowing grins.
As the humans rode away, their otherworldly charges found themselves confronted by a both familiar, and incongruous presence:
“Greetings, ladies! I’m Rumiko Hanzo, and I’ll be your EID Liaison for today,” the danuki woman said, her ringed tail swishing energetically as she walked up and greeted them, while her two black-suited aides looked inscrutable behind their dark sunglasses. In contrast, to their intimidating black suits, white shirts, black ties, black boots, and earpieces, the shorter mamono woman looked not only stylish in her black pencil skirt, white blouse, and sensible pumps, but also much more open and approachable. The ID badges on all three’s breast pockets showed they meant business, though, and Beth’ver’sheth smoothly took charge.
“Greetings to you too, Liaison Hanzo,” the baphomet said easily. “We are all grateful for your reception, but will be needing a few things before we can proceed further.”
At the danuki’s affirmative nod, she continued. “We are basically two groups. Myself, the zombies, the ghoul, and my personal charge, the chimera, are of one group, while the minotaurs, living armors, wurms, zombie dragon, and ushi-oni are another. That having been said, we’re all sort of one big group, so…”
At the awkward trail-off, the danuki nodded. “No worries, miss ‘Ver’Sheth, we’ll need to interview all of you separately, but there will be no isolating anybody. I don’t have all the details, but there’s been a recent report that you all are among the last to come over from the Old World. I understand some of you were in the final combat element that came over, while others were a part of some sort of security detail.”
At the look of surprise on Beth’s face, the danuki smiled reassuringly. “Humans here have developed some pretty impressive communications technology, and I was briefed about the basics of your situation before you even landed. Rest assured, we’ll get you sorted out, and most importantly, fed, right away.”
At the word “fed”, the baphomet felt and heard her stomach growl, while similar noises interrupted the small conversations of her companions as well. “Well, Liaison, I am incredibly grateful you mentioned that.”
Asteria took that moment to interject. “Ma’am, you had me at food.”
The other mamono also expressed similar interest, ceasing their conversations to approach, and look expectantly at the EID woman and her companions. In response, Rumiko flashed a wide grin, and gestured to her two companions. “Well boys, you heard the ladies, let’s get some grub!”
As the group set off, she sidled over to Beth, and began speaking. “Miss ‘ver’sheth, I have to thank you for taking charge like that. Let’s walk-and-talk, and you can fill me in on the details.”
ELSEWHERE
Across the base, the remnants of STAR Team 7 finally took stock, letting themselves finally think about the loss of their commander.
“The LT was one hell of a guy,” Bass said, shaking his head slowly. “I dunno if I’da been able to call down an arty strike like that on my own position.”
“Considering what he must have found, maybe it was the only option,” Pistol replied, a pensive look on his face.
“If you want my opinion, I think it was a noble thing,” Aggrandize put in, before Red switched in. “We agree, Aggrandize. But at the same time…”
“It’s tough to know one of us won’t be coming home. We all know what we signed up for, but it doesn’t suck any less when the inevitable happens, and your number comes up.” The Sergeant finished.
“Uh, guys… You’re going to want to see this,” A new voice broke in, as a light shone from Rawlins’ wrist, coalescing into the tiny figure of a woman. A woman with a slender figure, but a familiar face.
“Gloria?” Rawlins asked, “But how are you doing that?”
“You do realize your suit has a holographic time and data display, right? Anyway, the more important thing is this: The LT’s not dead.”
At the look on the human’s faces, she raised her hands placatingly. “I promise, this isn’t some delusion, or sick joke. The reports that just filtered into the base mainframe are tagged with his comm signature, and I’m getting a report about Gertrude being shipped back here with a H.E.R.C.U.L.E.S. unit.”
“I’m more concerned about how easily you’ve managed to access communications on the base intranet…” Rawlins said leadingly.
“Well…” Here the holographic woman had the grace to look abashed. “I’m still ‘Technically’ military hardware, so my clearances and codes are all still valid. From there, it was just a matter of asking nicely for the latest news regarding our mission, using the operation identifier codes.”
“’Asking Nicely’, huh…” Pistol mused. “Please tell us you didn’t hack into anything,”
“Nope, Scout’s Honor,” Gloria replied, affecting the traditional salute.
“In that case… What makes you so sure?” Red interrogated.
“There’s a voice transmission accompanying the report data, and the voiceprint, plus transcript proves it’s definitely the LT. And, there’s visual records. I’m 90% sure one of whomever he ran into saved him, and got him back to us.”
“How do you figure?” Bass asked.
“His gait is a little off, like he’s favoring his left side, but his color’s good, and his voice is steady. Anyways, I’d be ready for Command to call the Sergeant, and-“At this point, Gloria stopped, and then addressed Rawlins directly. “Sergeant, there’s a formal call coming in from Command, shall I route it directly to your earpiece?”
Taking in the expectant gazes from the rest of the team, the Sergeant nodded curtly, “Yes.”
ELSEWHERE (Again)
The 9-woman strong group of mamono, plus their three handlers, made an interesting sight at the base DFAC. The sheer variety of food had proven intimidating at first, but the EID agents proved to be capable guides, and soon the nonhumans were sitting at a pair of tables they’d pushed together, while tucking into -and inevitably trading- the various food items they’d secured.
“I’ll trade you some of those “fronch fries” for a nugget” Asteria said to Ruby, the minotaur holding out a crispy brown nodule in one hand.
“Mm, sure,” The wurm mumbled around her triple-stacked burger, using her free hand to supply some of the golden treats.
“Those are called “French fries”, hornhead,” Deana commented sardonically, the ghoul holding an apple in one hand, and a pear in the other, while taking alternating bites of both. “I’ll trade one of my pears for one of your nuggets though.”
“Does anyone want to try this “spag-hedy?” Carrie asked. “It’s really good!”
“Looks a bit messy, but I’ll probably get some on my own,” Yuina replied, as she expertly wielded a pair of chopsicks, and tucked into a large plate of sushi.
“Commander, this food smells very good,” Thirteen commented, as she surveyed the platter of scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and toast in front of her. “But I don’t know what to eat first.”
“Don’t worry about it, Thirteen, Beth relied reassuringly. “Just scoop up what you want to try first.”
The chimera looked dubiously between her Commander, and the large spoon she “held” in her right handicle. Looking closely at Aina, who was spooning something that smelled spicy into her mouth with an identical utensil, Thirteen carefully copied the minotaur’s movements, scooping up a spoonful of eggs, and transferring them to her mouth, before chewing carefully. Clearly enjoying the taste, she copied the movements of Asteria and Ruby, picking up a strip of crispy bacon in the two tendrils that served as her thumb and index fingers, placing the morsel into her mouth with the remainder of the eggs. Combined, the two tasted even better than the eggs had alone!
The look on her face that overcame the chimera was similar to the satisfaction on Tamera’s, as the zombie dragon delicately cut a large bite from the slab of steak in front of her, scooping up some mashed potato to add to it, and scarfing both, the look on her face beatific, as she chewed in pure bliss.
Selena on the other hand, used a large spoon to scoop steaming portions of clam chowder, taking a moment to inhale the complex fragrance, before enjoying the local dish.
The living armors, Joan and Maria, had been hesitant to even attempt eating food, due to their typically etherial nature. But, after tentatively removing their helmets, and discovering that they were more-or-less solid in this new world, the two had agreed to try a chicken salad wrap, and a burrito, respectively, the two not-quite-soldiers maintaining an alert attitude as they ate quickly.
“I’m not sure how to feel about this…” Maria commented, using an ungloved thumb to wipe a smear of dressing from the corner of her mouth, and sucking it clean.
“I think it’s a weird, but good thing,” Joan replied, picking up a stray grain of rice, and regarding it thoughtfully, before popping it into her mouth. “I feel more ‘real’ here, if that makes any sense.”
While the living armors debated the minutiae of how their bodies worked in this new world, Rumiko sat across from her first interviewee, Linda, the zombie having finished her chicken parmesan quickly, and volunteering to go first.
“So,” The danuki began, sipping from her mug of green tea, while one of her assistants typed away on a tablet. “How exactly did you end up here?”
CAPE COD SPACE FORCE STATION
The PAVE-PAWS operator frowned, and checked his scope again. “What the…?”
“Something up, operator?” His commander asked.
“It’s the primary lobe, sir. I’m picking up multiple high-altitude tracks, way up in the cons, but sat visual’s got no correlated response.”
“Descending?”
“No sir, they’re not ballistic, and there’s no sign of ECM.”
“We got any birds in the area?”
“NORAD hasn’t spoken up yet, and local AD’s got only the standard birds in the general area, couple of old ‘35’s, and we’re running a pair of Ghost Bat-F’s with their Inquisitor pairs a couple hundred miles closer.”
“Get me visual, looks like this is it.”
The control room became a flurry of activity, as the contact was relayed to Command, and the Inquisitors detached from their carrier craft, and attempted to acquire visuals.
After a few tense minutes, the Inquisitor operator called out. “Got something, sir!”
“Put it up on the main monitor.”
After a beat, the usual radar plot shifted to one side, and split, with the upper half of the right side displaying the direct radar tracks, and the lower displaying the contacts speed and altitude. There were almost fifty, and the entire left side of the screen was taken up by a separate feed from each of the four Inquisitors.
The commander swore under his breath, and asked for final confirmation. “Trajectory?”
“They’re heading here sir, could divert towards Hanscom or Westover, but the strongest probability is here.”
“All right, let’s hit it.”
BASE DFAC
“So, there we were, when all of a sudden-“
Linda’s story was interrupted by the red lights in the corners of the room beginning to rotate, while a siren blared, and a voice came over the building’s PA:
*WHOOP!*
*WHOOP!*
*WHOOP!*
“ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL, INCOMING. I SAY AGAIN, INCOMING.”
*WHOOP!*
“THIS IS NOT A DRILL, ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO ASSIGNED DUTY STATIONS,”
*WHOOP!*
“ALL ALERT FIGHTERS SCRAMBLE,”
*WHOOP!*
“SCRAMBLE,”
*WHOOP!*
“SCRAMBLE.”
There was a rumbling sound from an adjacent corridor, and every mamono stopped what they were doing, and rushed to the windows of the DFAC, which faced one of the base runways. There were streams of humans running from their building, and several adjacent ones, some in flight gear, other wearing colorful vests, that piled into several waiting vans and took off in a screech or tires.
Scant minutes later, there were several rising shrieks in the distance, before several lines of jet fighters rolled to the far end of the runway, and took off, one after another, after another, some on a single column of flame, others on two, massive finned javelins hanging from each craft’s wings.
While the DFAC was partially soundproofed, the noise created a background rumble like an approaching storm.
“Miss Rumiko, what’s going on?” Thirteen asked, the chimera’s sensitive ears folded flat, her expression pensive.
“That, ladies, is a full-on scramble alert, one intended for an airborne intercept, if I’m not mistaken.”
“And… What exactly will happen with us?” Beth interjected calmly.
“Well, you aren’t badged up, so you can’t exactly go out during the alert,” the Danuki began, gesturing to the badges she and her aides wore. “To be honest, the safest place you can be is probably this building.”
Outside, several concealed hatches began to open, and various turrets rose into the air, swiveling on their mounts, and unfolding antennas, while swarms of quad-rotor drones rose out of hidden hangars, and small innocuous-looking stones at the corners of walkways suddenly lit up red.
Seeing the developments, both Joan and Maria quickly put their detached armor sections back on, settling their helmets back onto their heads. “Ma’am, we’ll assist in protecting this building,” The older armor stated firmly.
At the sharp nods from her aides, Rumiko raised her hands in a calming gesture. “While I appreciate the willingness, hopefully the alert fighters will be able to deal with whatever’s out there long, long before it gets close enough to be a threat.” While she was speaking, the EID agent’s phone rang, and she stopped to pick it up. “Yes?”
After a brief exchange with whomever was on the other end, she hung up, and returned her attention to the baphomet of the group. “Miss ‘ver’sheth, I may need your skills in the next little bit. Yours as well,” she continued, gesturing to all of the mamono present. “It seems something interesting’s about to happen.”