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Revealed: Chapter 17

After we dealt with Gary and his little ambush, our two squads began to move ever so closer to the central labs. This was where the meat of the operation that was going on in this not-so-little house of horrors. The majority of the station was used for housing and storage as we soon learned. The thing with a raid was, we couldn't just plow straight ahead, we were required to check every room now that the doors weren't locked due to the lack of air.

Some rooms had nothing in it, others had boxes or cowering scientists. They looked at us with fear and guilt in their eyes. They knew what they were doing and had no excuse that would get them out of this mess, so they just kept quiet and kept cowering. It made me sick. Full of pride when the possibility of being caught isn't there, but as soon as someone comes knocking to investigate, they'd go off and hide. Luckily for them, they had a little longer to themselves, we wanted Louis Jostens.

Our radioman had tried to get into contact with Becotte and Krauss with no luck. Wherever that jammer was, it was still on. It worried me. Krauss was one tough son of a bitch and surely the soldiers he was with, the German Frogmen, were also quite capable. They had been around since the Second World War some four hundred years ago and had an impressive service record. The only problem was, they carried slow firing assault rifles. It didn't matter how good they were when the enemy had the ability to mass forces in such a way you couldn't kill them fast enough. Teresa and her team had learned that the hard way.

Her group was at half strength, but still strong. They carried themselves high and proud with each step they took. They were professional, or at least on the outside. Most of us Spec Enforcers were shaken by the experience. There were simply so many and they just had to look like something out of an insane man's imagination. Gary had also spoken about cloning vats. They no longer needed human "volunteers," as I'm sure that's what they would call them. They were literally growing their security force, a test tube army.

It didn't take long to find the main labs. The amount of security they had posted was a sure sign we were close.

"There's a lot of them." Crane was peeking around the corner with his gun. A camera on its barrel was feeding us the footage from down the corridor. The Jostens had set up a barricade of storage crates and were waiting for us. It was one of the more wide corridors, which only allowed them to cram more soldiers into it. Dozens of glowing "x's" from their face masks watched their hall vigilantly and the blue of their armor created a wall in itself behind the crates. They were determined to keep us out.

"Do we go around?" I asked Mathews. He rubbed the part of his mask where his chin would be and leaned up against the wall. The map showed many routes to the center of the chamber, this wasn't our only option.

"Every access way to the center will be like this." Mathews finally spoke. "Looks like they won't be moving. Everyone take five while I figure this out." We all slumped down to rest for a bit. The information on our huds told us that there was no unknown or poisonous compounds in the air, so most of us took of our helmets, me included.

The air was clean, but smelled highly recycled. I took a breath in and Dog absolutely melted.

'About time." He relished in the "fresh" air. 'The inside of that suit smells too much like you.' I could feel him in my head going through the scents in the air methodically.

"Well don't get used to it." I warned and laid back against the wall. Mathews was with Teresa and were discussing possible ways to get through and Crane was talking with a few of the other Spec Enforcers. Supposedly he knew some of them. No surprise, he always got around when he could. Sneaking off base and returning with "contraband" of the sugary sort. Spec Enforcers were married to their jobs and had to maintain the highest level of physical fitness, with having absolutely bulging muscles. There was a limit to how many carbs we could ingest, but as long as you kept in shape, most of the commanders would turn a blind eye. In Crane's case, he kept Mathews supplied with caramels. I bet his dentist was always happy to see him.

My mind began to wander from the station to the fleet. They would have been fighting for a good hour by now and a lot could happen in that time. We still had the most fire power when I last checked, but having the most guns wasn't a guarantee for anything. I just hoped that admiral was competent and not the kind who threw himself and those under his command straight into battle for glory. Those kinds never lasted that long.

"I'm getting a signal again sir." The radioman had been working on trying to bolster our signal to simply overcome the jamming. I didn't think it was possible, but maybe I was wrong.

Mathews excused himself form Teresa and walked over to the radioman. 'Everyone, helmets on and radios on." He said and we complied.

'Nooooo.' Dog's voice slowly faded as I put my helmet on. The smell of sweat was barely noticeable to me, but I guess he took in more than me. I smiled a bit. Then a powerful stench hit my nose, the hairs in my nostrils curled at the stench. 'Forgot I could do that, didn't you.' He was sharing what he was experiencing. I gagged once and banged on my chest. No one around saw and Dog stopped. It was just a way to remind me that making fun of him was just hurting myself.

I turned on the radio while trying to blink away tears from my stinging eyes. It was still very unclear and filed with noise, but I could hear some talking behind it. The radioman was actually doing it. He began to turn a series of knobs on his pack and the signal was slowly getting better.

"Move... get back... centr..." I could hear only parts and pieces and couldn't tell who it was. The radioman continued to mess with the signal until for a second, all of the static went away and came back. The man panicked for a second and quickly went back to the signal without static.

"I don't know if anyone is getting this, but I've linked up with Major Becotte and are heading towards the central area." It was Krauss and it sounded like he was running. His breathes were short and rapid and each word was shaken.

"We hear you." Mathews spoke through the radio.

"Dieu merci." Becotte's voice came in. "We've been trying to get in contact for so long."

"What's your status?"

"The fighting has finally stopped. We're outside what appears to be the entrance into the central areas. Lots of hostiles." Krauss reported.

"Same here." Both groups were at a standstill. Unable to move forward. We needed to think of something.

I went over to Crane. He had went back to his position near the corner and had his gun poking around. I linked into his feed. The enemy was still there just daring us to face them in a fight. I don't know how Jostens got so many people willing to fight and die for him. I understood that the ones who were transformed were most likely brainwashed. Dr. Ruse taught me that. But, there were just as many people who appeared unchanged.

'It's possible that Jostens has a refined formula that has mind controlling properties without serious side effects.' Dog had a point. If he could partially transform some, what's to stop him from simply altering the brain chemistry?

"Crane." Mathews called out. "How accurate are you like that?"

"Very."

We had been so focused on standard forms of combat that we forgot that the huds had targeting reticules that were synced with our guns. They were notoriously inaccurate, but Crane had learned how to compensate in all of the right ways.

It was just a few minutes of shooting before the Jostens were forced to retreat. They tried to fire back, but since they couldn't fire around corners like Crane, there was nothing to do. Normally a grenade would have flushed us out, but most forms of explosives were kept off of stations for obvious reasons.

We then relayed our technique to the other teams which put them to good use.

On the move again, we came across the cloning chambers first. We were on a catwalk that went over a massive chamber filled with vats. Some were empty, but most had those guard dogs in various stages of development suspended in some sort of blue fluid. Some scientists were down there monitoring their specimens. They quickly ran off once they saw us. There must have been two thousand tanks in this one chamber and the map showed four chambers.

We moved quickly, not sure if they could be released at any given moment.

Leaving the area behind, we came across more soldiers. The thing was, they weren't there to fight us, they were already dead. Just like back at Venus, it appeared to be suicide. Dozens of them were in the halls with blood leaking out of the bottom of their helmets and slumped in various rag doll positions. I guess they realized that they couldn't stop us and wouldn't want us to take them alive. Some kind of fanatical cult thing all started by Jostens.

The scientists were still there. A few of them spilled their guts out, not literally, about what was going on here. They explained that most of the original security guards were given an ultimatum. "Stay and prosper or leave." The problem was, those who wanted to leave were simply killed and turned into genetic material for use in the cloning labs. The scientists had no choice but to stay since they knew what would happen. It was Jostens way to keep his secrets locked up. The fleet protecting the station had broken up and surrendered. The battle outside was over, Jostens had lost.

When it became apparent that the station was going to be lost, Jostens order a purge of the staff. Luckily for the scientists, some had altered the formula that was used on the soldiers so that a purge would have them commit suicide rather than kill everyone. It was barbaric.

We left the scientists behind. They were smart enough to know that they were going to be put on trial and that there was no escape. Even if they got to some sort of shuttle, they wouldn't make it far.

The bodies began to lighten up the closer we got to the very center of the station, where Jostens was. His office wasn't much, just a simple circular room with a desk and some chairs. Behind the desk was a man and a woman. Louis Jostens and Natalie Jostens. They were arguing.

"You're a monster papa." Natalie yelled. She glanced at us, but kept yelling. "So many people. The estimates say one million."

"It was a necessary final act to show them." Louis nodded at us as if we hadn't just walked in. "To show them I'm right."

"But, you've lost and ruined the family in the process." Louis' face reddened and he back handed his daughter.

"I've ruined nothing." He yelled at her. She had fallen onto her side and was holder her cheek. His ring had cut her and some blood was dripping onto her white blouse. She glared at her father venomously. The rest of us who had just entered were slowly filing into the room, letting them finish what they were doing.

Louis Josten stood up. His clothes were in bad shape. His suit that was once worth tens of thousands was wrinkled and ruined with a coffee stain. "Gentlemen." He announced. "I'm ready to be taken into custody." He held out his hands to us openly.

"What?" I stepped forward. "After all of this trouble, you're just giving up?"

He nodded, his loose hair went over his eyes and he pushed it back with a finger. "I just needed some extra time."

"Time for what?" Mathews stepped forward with a pair of cuffs. He put them over the man's wrists and secured them tightly.

"Time to set up the ultimate experiment that will prove that I'm right." He didn't smile or anything, just held the perfect poker face. "Mankind is stagnant. We save the weak at the cost of the powerful. I have just released twenty seven canisters of my perfect formula into moderately dense population centers. There, people will experience evolution like never before and they will lead us forward onto a better future."

"You're insane." I wanted to strangle him. He looked so sure of himself and confident.

"Perhaps, but look at yourself." He actually looked past me. "Look at the one you call Krauss. Perfect. My people tell me of his unique ability. Imagine a future where everyone is like that."

I turned around and saw Krauss. He had come in at some point. The other teams and his brothers were waiting just outside of the door.

"It's a curse." Krauss muttered.

"A gift."

Krauss walked up to the handcuffed man and stared at him in the eyes. Mathews tried to push him back, but got a shove which forced him away. Krauss lifted Louis by the collar of his neck and the man struggled, fear finally coming to his face.

"Do you know that you're responsible for the death of my brother?" His eye clouded over and I, like Mathews tried to stop him, but was merely shoved back. I couldn't stop him, he was too strong for me.

"Stop him." I yelled, but no one could save Louis now, even if we all tried. That voice in his head, Wolf, had control.

"Do you know what his final words were? The words that shot through my head like a bullet?" Kruass pulled a hand gun out of the holster on his side. Several of the soldiers in the room raised their guns, but didn't know what to do. Were we supposed to kill Krauss over this madman?

Natalie looked on from where she was on the ground. We all looked on.

"P... put me down. You need me alive. I know your orders." Louis grabbed onto Krauss' fingers and tried to pry them apart to no avail. Krauss didn't even notice or just didn't care that guns were aimed at him and that Louis was speaking to him.

He pulled Louis close so that he could speak into his ears. "It hurts." He said and pulled Louis away so he could look into his eyes again.

Louis looked at Krauss and then at the gun. He was sweating and still tried to pry apart Krauss' fingers.

"Perhaps we can..." Louis' voice was cut off by a gun shot. He held onto a bleeding wound in his neck and looked over at his daughter before dying.