On the Front: Part 6

(Read the previous part here)

Ghast flew around my head as he scanned,

“Found anything?” I asked.

“Nope. No sign of signals, not on Fallen frequencies at least.”

“Did you find it?”

“What?”

I sighed, “The thing we're here for.”

“Oh, your pet project?”

I brushed off his comment,

“Did you find it?”

“A signal matching the frequency you gave me is coming from that ridge.”

Standing on the winding road in an old nature park, I saw some wood sticking out of a snow drift. Ghast summoned my sparrow and started up the road. The tarmac was ripped up and torn. It was obvious that, once upon a time, a guardrail stood along the edge of the road, but judging by the scattered stones zooming beneath my vehicle, it hasn't stood for hundreds of years. As I got closer and closer to the top, the snow thickened. Eventually, my sparrow’s thrusters were melting the snow beneath me.

I dismounted with the hardened snow towering over me. The virtual wall standing before me was unclimbable, so I turned and ascended the ramp of snow created by my engine. As I stood on top of the snow drift, I could see across the mountains for miles. I trudged along to where some planks stuck out of the snow,

“The signal is coming from….Directly beneath us?” Ghast said, puzzled.

I pulled a fusion grenade from my belt and slapped it into the snow. A few seconds later it went off. Along with the sound of snow being blasted away, I heard the sound of wood crashing far below,

“That's our way in.” I said as I leaped into the smoldering hole. I rolled out of my dive and found myself in a room illuminated only by the late afternoon light streaming through my entry point. An alarm was going off,

“Ghast, disable the security system please.”

Ghast appeared and floated over to a control panel and began to hack it. From my belt I pulled a miniature flashlight and turned it on. A box sat on a desk with letters AVC, printed on it in green letters,

“AVC?” I wondered aloud.

“Alpine Visitor Center?” Ghast suggested.

“Maybe,” I said as I ducked behind the desk. Something was flashing green. I grabbed at it in the dark, until my hand found a handle. I pulled it out and placed on top of the desk. It was a large black suitcase. A dial sat on top of it. Ghast looked over,

“Is that it?”

“Yep.” I said quietly.

“What is it?”

“A time capsule I think.”

“What's in it?”

I twisted the dial once and it lifted itself up. Three small screens with outline of a finger presented itself.

“Fingerprint scanner.” I muttered to myself.

“Sarech, the Beacon Network’s picking up a storm about 25 clicks west, it'll be here in about 15 minutes.”

“I'd better work quick then.”

“Can't we just take it and leave? You may recall we have somewhere to be?”

“What, Felwinter Peak? Can you send a message to Shiro tell’em I'll be late?”

“Fine. Message sent.”

I turned back to the case, alarm still blaring,

“Ghast can you turn that damn thing off?”

“I'm trying, you know I'm no good at math!”

I stared at the case, no answers staring back. Then I noticed something on the side of the case,

“Hey Ghast, can you get my DataPad from the ship?”

“Yes, why?” The thin screened device landed in my hands. I pulled a cable from inside my overally thick case and plugged it into the port I spotted. My home screen flashed and changed to a full screen of pure code.

“Perfect.” I said.

“What? Ghast asked,

“It's a backup.” Ghast looked at me questioningly,

“The time capsule was only supposed to be opened by these three people, but they’re probably long dead, so the creators left a puzzle,” I continued as I started tapping out the sequence on my DataPad, “So even if the creators were gone, someone could still open it.”

I finished my senescence as the lid of the suitcase popped open. A keyboard presented itself, but before I could type anything, Ghast piped up,

“Hey! It stopped.” Something heavy clunked, “Oh. I appear to have triggered a fail safe.” Heavy clunking, and then some humanoid figures stepped into the light, one of the them spoke,

“Intruders! Put the Cache down!” it was obviously an EXO,

“Gen 1, EXO, if I had to guess.” I whispered to Ghast followed by, “I need you to transmat the case and my DataPad upstairs.”

Ghast disappeared, along with the items in the desk. This, was evidently not what the EXOs wanted, as they fired, something at me, instantly vaporizing the cash register next to me. I ran out from the desk and into a hail of lasers. I turned right and ran into some kind of exhibit. I ducked behind one display as a taxidermied Wolf exploded next to me. More lasers, and the. I noticed something,

“Ghast? Why am I still on the ground?” I said into my earpiece as I cocked my sidearm.

“Storm blew in. I can't get a solid lock for transmat!” I heard my ghost say over comms.

“Could you get me if I get on the roof?” I asked as a laser whizzed by my head and vaporized a fake tree. Ghast stayed silent for a moment, obviously calculating, then,

“Yes, but how do plan to get up there?”

“You do the targeting, I'll do the escaping.” I said as I sprinted at the EXOs. They turned their fire on me as I ducked and rolled beneath it and then jumped for the ceiling, lasers blasted holes in the roof, and I grabbed the edge. I swung myself over the cusp and onto the roof. I sprinted along, dodging laser fire beneath me. I still wasn't transmatting. I ran blindly through the blizzard, only illuminated by the laser bolts whizzing beneath me. Then, I ran out of roof. Snow tumbled in weird patterns before me as I hurtled downward. I looked down and saw rocks just before I felt that feeling of transmat, and saw the cockpit floor. I exhaled, stood, and got in the flight seat,

“Ghast set a course for Old Russia. Time to go.”

(Read On the Front: SIVA part 1 here)

//And that's it! My last episode of Year 2. Also my 10th episode overall. Look forward to On the Front: SIVA Part 1 on September 24th(Or linked above). Thanks you for reading everything so far, and I'll see you in Year 3!//

(Read the whole series here)