Secret Agent
16 Sep 2020Zamen Kensata
Above all else, black ops missions required subtlety. The most valuable asset afforded to an agent, more important than the air he breathed, was control. When an agent lost this priceless advantage, everything fell apart. That is why Garen Han had stressed the absolute necessity of maintaining radio silence during his current operation. But there were always those who weren't in the field that felt the need to dictate a situation from behind their desk. Because the outcome of the situation would reflect on them in the eyes of the public. The field operative was of little consequence. Nameless and insignificant; their existence denounced with a simple hand wave of disavowal. Even while the mission was still in progress, the agent's requests or preferences were often disregarded with ease. Especially by those who themselves held field experience. The paradox had always tormented Garen with high levels of bewilderment. Those who were once in the trenches who realized that the most important judgement for the situation would come from the man with his eyes currently on the situation; miraculously those in charge would forget this simple principle of rationality and chose instead to interfere with said eyes and said situation. Their minds filled with past experience, which often fogged the reality of present circumstances.So while Garen Han sat silently in his Viper, waiting to move in on the Shield of Justice insurrectionists and possibly sabotage their efforts to sabotage the Perseverance, and possibly apprehend several high ranking members of their faction, his focus was instead interrupted by a small light flashing from his comm. The dim golden hue of illumination brought a slight frown to the agent's face as he immediately reached out and hit a button, dismissing the communication. There was only one person who held the proper codes that enabled communications of any kind to be sent to Garen's craft. Though it wasn't a voice transmission, Garen had made it clear to Director MacEllister that he didn't want communications of any kind once the suspected timeframe of the insurrectionist's operation began. Chiefly because S-6 was unaware of the full transmission and tracking capabilities Shield Of Justice operatives had at their disposal but also because any signal sent, even if not reciprocated, could be picked up by stock radar systems in most ships.
"Impatient moron." Garen muttered in slight frustration.
Now if anyone happened to be looking at their radar, for a brief moment his ship may have blipped on to their screen. The full reach of Section Six was vast. Not even Garen knew how far the organization held sway. What he did know is that while Ardua lay cut off from the rest of humanity due to their generation ship crash landing on the now doomed world, humanity had survived and spread out much farther than most within the confines of the planet would have ever imagined. Before leaving, Yen had shown Garen what humans had accomplished back in what they now called the bubble. So many thousands of populated star systems where the Thargoids are nothing more than a myth. They would have to be warned. But first the Arduans, Garen's people, would need to survive this current crisis. That was his mission and joining this government agency that wanted to play at spies was something he needed to endure in order to accomplish that mission.
Garen knew it couldn't be a coincidence that they too took on the name of S-6 and often wondered which agent had first sunk their tendrils into the Arduan government and fed them the label. Along with it they had of course added their prestigious titles and pretty rank insignia. But it was all puppetry and in this moment, more than any other than Garen could recall, he wished to open a channel and tell MacEllister where he could stick his situation updates. The director needed to remind himself that he was in control when he didn't even realize the significance of the mission. A mission he believed he ordered.
"You really have no idea." Garen said, staring down at the comm panel.
Bright flashes of red pulled the agent's attention from his ship's instruments. The attack had begun.
"One Cobra?" Garen's eyebrows rose with his wonder.
The small combat ship hovered around the cruiser, using its engines and boosters to reach a sufficient firing position beneath or above the ark's defensive turrets with blinding speed. Garen instantly recognized the unconventional means of flight with a hint of respect behind his eyes. Within minutes, the Cobra had disabled the massive cruiser's turrets and then settled above the ark, waiting. Garen had quickly began moving in with his Viper set to silent running when the golden light returned, again flashing across his face. With a curse and a glare, the agent shut the entire communication unit down then continued towards the ark, eventually settling beside one of the disabled turrets on the underbelly of the cruiser. Not long after the initial assault, a shuttle that Garen assumed was filled with a boarding party dropped into normal space a few kilometers from the ark.
"There she is." Garen could feel the presence of his main target long before intercepting her encrypted transmissions through a personal communication device inserted into his ear. Thankfully the gadget was incapable of sending and receiving signals through planet atmospheres so any annoyances from MacEllister were not possible.
"You're all clear, bunny. Hope those Shield of Justice mercs can handle the skeleton crew."
"Hope was never a factor. We'll let you know when it's safe to come aboard."
Garen did not recognize the man she was speaking to yet smirked in satisfaction at hearing the voice of Dr. Tukka Rask. At hearing the pilot would be boarding the cruiser, Garen decided to wait and follow the man in instead of risking detection. After about a half hour, his patience was rewarded.
"All clear. You can come on in, Dan. Welcome aboard."
"Roger that."
The Cobra carrying the pilot sailed past Garen's Viper, a bit too close for his comfort towards a small entry pad near the back end of the ark then sank into the bowels of the ship after landing. Garen knew he couldn't make such a pronounced entrance as whoever was in charge of the bridge would most likely notice an unauthorized entry. But that was why he was a secret agent. Secrecy came with the job. His ship harbored a custom hatch that, while functioning as a normal access point for an SRV hangar, it also performed a second function; latching on to sections of large structures such as stations or cruisers and allowing forced entry with the assistance of cutting tools.
From what Garen could tell considering the size of the shuttle carrying Dr. Rask, there would be no more than fifty insurrectionist mercenaries aboard the ark. Unless some of their members had managed to infiltrate the ranks of the official crew, which could have put their numbers up well above seventy even though the Perseverance was currently being operated by only the essential staff. But that wouldn't be an issue. Considering the size of the ark, spotting one man intent on remaining unseen would be exceptionally difficult. Especially considering that man is me, Garen thought with a smirk. The agent was nearly finished slicing through the metal ship when something unexpected caught his attention.
Drifting up towards the front end of the enormous cruiser was an even more massive, flower like entity that Garen immediately recognized as a Thargoid vessel. Having only observed the frightening ships in holo-recordings and photos, Garen could not remove his awe filled gaze from the colossal alien craft. There was no indication from any of the instruments on his ship's panel that he had been detected but Garen couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that the ship was staring at him, through his own ships's metal hull and plasteel visor. Unnerved, the agent continued cutting into the ark while trying his best to ignore the vessel of seemingly impossible size, fluctuating a greenish hue through its pedal like appendages. The bugs had reached Ardua and not a single person on the planet was aware. They were in the system. More so now than ever before, Garen needed to find Dr. Rask and uncover the location of Mar Ris. S-6 were certain he was connected to the Thargoids in some way. They needed to know why the bugs had chosen now to begin operating within the borders of human space. Ardua was closer to the bubble and the rest of humanity than they realized. About forty thousand light years. Centuries ago during a similar crisis on Gensea, S-6 agents had steered the direction of the generation ship towards the rest of humanity. Though the ship had unexpectedly crashed on Ardua, the organization had partially accomplished its goal of reuniting a wayward civilization with its ancestral people. Revealing the knowledge of the bubble would raise too many questions and the organization held the importance of its secrecy above all else but that didn't stop agents from giving these lost people a push in the right direction.
Garen pushed the now detached chunk of metal once connected to the ark up and to the side. Slowly, he lifted himself up into the cruiser, scanning the dark section of the ship that, according to the schematics on a P.D.A. strapped to his wrist should be the unused quarters of one of the many absent crew members three corridors left of the cargo bay. Staying low, Garen peered into one of the many halls lining the ark and upon spotting no movement, crept out into the empty passage. Like most untraveled sections of large ships in space, the air was stale but sufficient. The path towards the bridge harbored no resistance, to Garen's surprise. He had expected the new owners of the ship to have established an armed patrol within at least twenty meters of the command center yet when he finally reached the bridge there was no one posted outside of the open entryway.
Expecting some sort of trap, Garen eased his way up to the open door, drawing his sidearm and slowly peered inside. Around twenty corpses were scattered across the floor of the bridge but what shocked the experienced agent more than anything were the two mercenaries staring out into empty space through the plasteel visor as if there weren't a pile of dead bodies behind them with blood dripping from their ears.
Backs to an unsecured entry for the bridge, Garen mused. Dead people scattered around dressed in the same uniforms as the people staring out into space like brainless zombies. Something wasn't right. Where had the Thardgoid ship flown off to?
The agent needed to find Dr. Rask if she was still alive. Garen assumed she might be considering her body wasn't amongst the dead on the bridge. But maybe she hadn't made it that far.
In answer to his pondering, the feint echo of what was most likely a loud shriek entered Garen's ears causing him to pull back from the line of sight of the two mercenaries on the bridge. Oddly enough, neither of the two men flinched at the sound of the screams. Their attention seemed fixated on the stars. Garen turned and headed deeper into the ship towards the origin of what sounded like a pain filled cry. As he grew closer, a louder screech that the agent could positively identify as female shot through the corridor of the ship. The absence of a roving guard had nearly lowered the agent's caution in his approach but fortunately his senses picked up on the movements of mercenaries near the end of the hall, causing him to slow his advance and listen intently to the light commotion.
"What are you?" The voice was loud and male, each word pronounced slowly and with purpose.
"No!" Garen identified the voice as that of Dr. Rask who was most likely the woman he previously heard screaming. "Wait! Who are you? Why did you...What was that thing on the bridge? Why did it kill him?" With her final question, she again managed a guttural shout. "Who the fuck are you?"
"Rude." The previous male voice said, followed by the clank of footsteps.
"What?" Tukka's voice came again with confusion and shock. "No! Get the fuck off me."
Sounds of struggling broke out.
"No!" Tukka shrieked. "Please, not again." She begged. "Kill me. Just kill me. You have the ark. I don't have anything. I don't have anyone else. You took them from me." Her voice once again fell to a whimper. "My mom, my dad. My sister. My nephew. Dan." Her voice trailed off after the mention of the pilot that disabled the ark defense turrets.
Garen peered around the corner and briefly caught sight of the man he assumed was previously speaking. Tall, blond, and dressed similarly to the other mercenaries; he disappeared through a door leading to a section of the ship that harbored the officers' crew quarters.
Who might you be? The agent wondered while watching the blond merc vanish.
Garen heard a deep gasp from inside of the room with Dr. Rask. Moments later, one final agonized, bloodcurdling bellow erupted from the young woman before she grew silent.
Had she died? Or maybe just passed out from the torture. Garen hoped the latter was true as he had not yet been able to question her himself. He pulled back when two more mercenaries exited the room and took up positions on either side of the door. So they were willing to guard the doctor but not the bridge? Why was a naive, borderline revolutionary so important? And what the hell did that alien ship have to do with all of this?
"One way to find out." Garen whispered to himself then raised his sidearm.
The agent lightly tapped the wall a few times in order to draw the attention of the guards. He took aim at the sound of one set of footsteps, waiting for a chime from his weapon confirming it was ready to fire. A dim red blast of plasma pierced the mercenary's left jaw before he could fully round the corner causing the man to flail off to the right, tossing his weapon into the outer bulkhead. The corridors of the ark were lined with metal struts that jutted out into the hallways just enough that a man could hide himself if the need arose. As the second mercenary rounded the corner and began scanning the hallway, Garen knelt down against the strut then quickly took aim and fired. The mercenary hit the floor with a burning hole through his chest.
Upon entering the now unguarded room, Garen stopped a foot from the doorway. In his ten years of working for the agency, the agent had seen his share of gruesome displays of death and destruction. The bridge was littered with one such example. Dr. Rask's clothes weren't torn. Her body harbored no major wounds. She was mostly just covered in sweat and her hair disheveled, clinging to her face. It was mostly her expression that pulled the small hint of pity he held for the woman onto his face as she awoke. An expression replete with pain yet dominated by despair. A despair made more apparent by the tragic loss she outlined before passing out.
"You gonna stick me with another needle?" The doctor managed through labored breaths.
"Looks to me as if a needle is the last thing you need." Garen said with a reserved tone.
"And you are?"
The agent took another step into the room, holstering his sidearm before answering. "My name is, Garen and I am here to arrest you."
Garen waited and let Tukka study the reassurance in his eyes that he wasn't there to continue her torture. Her deep breaths continued and he watched her way her options. Remain strapped to a chair to be asked more nonsensical questions by what appeared to be a psychotic cult or take her chances with an agent from the very government she had just defied. After studying the doctor's profile, Garen knew she was a smart woman and figured it wouldn't take too long for her to realize which was the most logical decision.
"Get me out of this chair." Dr. Rask said after a few moments of deliberation.
"Can you walk?" Garen asked while slicing her restraints with a dagger he pulled from a sheath on his belt.
"Since I was two." Tukka shot back.
"Stick close to me." Garen ignored the sarcasm. "Didn't spot any patrols on the way here but one can never be too careful."
"How did you manage to land here undetected?" Tukka asked.
"Let's focus less on my methods of operation and more on getting off this ship." Garen said after sheathing his dagger.
Tukka rubbed her wrists as blood returned to them then slowly managed to stand. "Fine."
Garen turned and led the doctor back down the route he took to reach the front end of the ark. To his relief they encountered the same number of guards that he had seen on his way to the bridge. Overconfidence will usually lead to the downfall of most organizations. This Shield of Justice was obviously more dangerous than his own organization had previously thought. They were obviously somehow involved with the Thargoids yet even so, they had not expected him. That could mean that their knowledge of S-6 might only extend as far as the government agency on Ardua. Although the Arduan branch was in the loop on this apprehension turned rescue operation they did not harbor any knowledge of his unorthodox methods. Such as literally cutting into the ark. No. Garen was his own agency, the same as each operative of the true Section Six with resources and equipment far beyond what the government could supply. The thought gave him confidence that humanity could stand a chance against the coming conflict. But they needed more information on the enemy. Information he hoped the doctor could provide.
After roughly twenty minutes of cautious travel, Garen led Tukka to the square hole in the metal floor connected to the cockpit of his Viper.
"That..." Dr. Rask began with a slight frown. "That's going to be a tight fit."
"Claustrophobic?" Garen smirked. "Don't worry. If I can climb up, you can slide down. Cockpit is small but there are bunks in the back near the cargo bay. Strap in and hang on."
"I've kind of had my fill of restraints for today." Dr. Rask replied with a look of discomfort.
"We're going to be shooting out of here pretty fast and there is no copilot seat. Strap yourself to a bunk until we've cleared the ark's scanners." Garen ordered.
Tukka nodded with a sigh before disappearing down into the agent's ship. Garen followed shortly after but stopped in order to drag the detached section of the ark back into place. He retrieved a silver can from a storage compartment in his ship that contained a foam sealant. Moments later, after the opening in the ark was repaired, Garen returned to the pilot seat and spooled up his Viper's systems.
"You strapped in?" He called back towards the cramped crew section of his craft.
"Are we clear yet?" Tukka shouted back.
"Okay..." Garen muttered to himself.
The ship detached itself from the ark and Garen pulled left on the control stick, spinning the ship upright then directed full power to the engines. Within seconds the ark had already begun shrinking into a barely visible speck behind the Viper. Garen kept his eyes glued to his radar as he knew anyone paying attention would have detected his ship by now but to his great relief, it appeared as if no one was going to give chase. After about ten minutes he let his tense muscles and heightened senses relax, slouching down into the pilot seat.
"We clear yet?" Tukka appeared behind the agent, placing a hand on his chair and gazing out at the stars.
"Well if we weren't you would have probably broken your neck on the ceiling by now." Garen replied sternly.
Tukka ignored the jab. "I'm assuming you'll be taking me to the capitol."
"Having second thoughts? I could swing back by the ark if you'd like." Garen said with no expression for her to discern his intentions.
"You're with the agency, aren't you?" Tukka asked bluntly while Garen remained silent. "Cutting into ships isn't standard S.D.F. procedure."
"This wasn't a standard mission." Garen deflected.
"They don't send in lone operatives for extraction operations either."
"I wasn't aware the A.M.C. was briefed on classified military operations."
"I didn't know they..." Tukka began but paused.
"They what?" Garen glanced back and caught a glimpse of the doctor's unnerved expression. "You saw it too?"
"I...I don't know what I saw. I just know it killed him." Tukka whispered.
"On the bridge?"
"How did you...?" Tukka began.
"I was there before I found you. Most of your mercenary friends were spread across the floor of the bridge."
Tukka paused again at that.
"You're telling me the ship did all of that? How?" Garen said with another glance in Tukka's direction.
"Ship?" The confusion in Tukka's voice was genuine. "What ship?"
Again, Gaaren looked back at the doctor but this time kept his gaze on her, studying her face. Before he could respond, however, a bright white light flashed from in front of his ship, pulling his eyes back to the stars. Shock spread across each humans' face as the gargantuan Thargoid vessel appeared directly in front of the Viper.
"That ship." Garen shouted as he began keying in a set of commands on the navigation section of his control panel.
Tukka remained frozen, clinging to the pilot seat.
"Get back to the crew section and strap in!" Garen ordered.
For a moment Tukka remained still with fear before another shouted command from Garen shook her back into reality. Garen turned the ship left towards a random star he selected from his navigational menu and fired up the frame shift drive. He decided to skip supercruise, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the alien ship as possible.
"Come on...come on, come on!" The agent demanded in response to the female artificial intelligence.
"Four." The A.I. began. "Three...two...one...engage."
The Viper shot forward with blinding speed, cracking the barrier between normal space into what was known as witch space; a massive, swirling black tunnel mixed with purple and white light. The target star, a small pinprick of orange barely visible at the end of the tunnel. Garen didn't expect his drive would engage before the alien blasted him with some strange weapon or latched on to his ship with some tractor beam. The thought nearly made him chuckle. Tractor beam? Was that even possible?
As if in response to his thoughts, the Thargoid ship suddenly ripped into the witch space tunnel in front of the Viper; it's pulsating green and white lights flashing wildly.
"Holy shit!" Garen panicked.
But there was nothing he could do. There was no dropping out of witch space before reaching the programmed target. Ship systems wouldn't allow it. How the fuck did that alien ship manage to break into witch space? It was not possible. Alien or not...the laws of physics...but...thousands of years ago human understanding of physics would dictate that witch space was impossible. That faster than light travel for anything other than light was impossible. Yet here he was, traveling faster than light. And here was a Thargoid alien, traveling faster than him. As if light speed was a slow jog. It could hover around his ship like fish in the ocean if it wanted. What were these things?
Garen gripped the arms of his seat as an invisible force latched on to his ship. So it had the impossible tractor beam too then. We are so fucked.
Moments later his ship was flung back into normal space, spinning for several seconds before the agent managed to regain control. Then it appeared, slowly hovering in front of the small Viper and waited. As if it were deciding what to do next. Or perhaps it was curious to see what Garen would do next.
"All right then." He redirected power from his engines into the ship's weapons.
"What's happening?" Tukka's frightened voice called out from the back.
"Stay strapped in!" Garen snapped.
But Tukka was already emerging from the back as Garen spoke.
"What is that?" She shrieked.
"How did you not see this thing when you were on the ark?" Garen screamed.
"I was busy watching some monster murder my boyfriend!" Tukka shot back.
"What?" Garen began but was interrupted by the alien.
Somehow, again in defiance of everything the humans knew of science and how the universe worked, a loud horn like noise erupted from the Thargoid vessel, causing them both to cover their ears. Garen instinctively pulled the trigger on his control stick and sent a volley of missiles towards the alien craft. The Thargoid hovered closer towards the Viper, ignoring the missiles as they slammed into it and exploded, causing no damage.
This is it. Garen thought to himself, never taking his eyes off of the alien ship.
When the Thargoid had moved in close enough to where the only part of its gigantic form that could be seen was a bright white light in the center of the ship, the vessel stopped and waited. The loud horn halted and the white light flickered with a sporadic cadence.
"What...what's it doing?" Tukka managed.
The light pierced the visor of Garen's Viper, taking on the form of a thick white line that appeared to be scanning the contents of the cockpit. As the line engulfed Tukka, the light within the alien ship's center grew brighter. Inside Garen's cockpit, several unrecognizable alien characters flashed across every visible surface. Then suddenly, the light pulled back and dimmed within the confines of the alien craft. Both humans continued to gaze out at the Thargoid vessel, too shocked and afraid to do much else.
WHAT. ARE. YOU?
The voice echoed inside both Garen and Tukka's minds for what seemed like an eternity, causing them both to cover their ears while screaming in pain. When the voice finally went silent the two humans opened their eyes and watched with utter confusion as the ship turned and flew off, entering what seemed to be witch space and vanishing from sight.
A minute passed before Garen finally spoke. "Did you hear that? Did it...speak to you?"
Tukka, still clinging tightly to the back and side of the pilot seat let out a deep sigh before letting her gaze leave the stars and lower to the floor. "It..." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "That was the same thing..."
"What?" Garen turned in his seat, staring at her. "What do you mean?"
"Back on the ark. That was the same thing..." Tukka said between breaths. "That he asked me."
"Go strap yourself back in. We're getting out of here." Garen ordered then reached out to his control panel, turning the comm back on.
Several minutes went by before he received a signal. "MacEllister." Garen started.
"Han." Section Six Directior John MacEllister's voice crackled furiously into existence. "Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to contact you since..."
"MacEllister. I'm returning to the capitol now. You need to get the higher ups up and ready to receive my debriefing." Garen cut in, ignoring the agency director's tone.
"What? I need a sit-rep. Now. And we are not on a first or last name basis, lieutenant. You will address me as, sir. Understood?" MacEllister barked.
"Don't have time for this." Garen muttered while plotting a route for Ardua into his navigation system. Lieutenant? He had forgotten what title the agency had given him.
"Make time, agent." MacEllister shot back.
"Why would it ask me the same thing he did back on the ark?" Tukka's voice suddenly cut in between the two men.
Garen hadn't noticed she was still behind him and turned at the sound of her question.
"Who is that?" MacEllister demanded.
"Tukka." Garen placed his hand on her cheek, gently directing her eyes to meet his own. "I need you to return to the back and strap yourself in. Okay?"
Although she was looking directly at him, Dr. Rask seemed to be staring past him into another universe until Garen's voice finally broke through her fear induced trance. Her gaze returned to his and her eyes signaled an understanding of his order before she nodded and returned to the crew section of the ship.
"Was that Dr. Rask?" MacEllister's voice again echoed within the cockpit.
"Get them ready, sir." Garen let a bit of sarcasm seep through with the final word of his first sentence, then added; "we are all going to have a lot to discuss."
With that Garen keyed off the comm and spooled up the frame shift drive.