The Alpha: Pt 1 Of The Freelancer Saga (complete)

Chapter 4: The End is Nearing

The suit powered up and I perform a check on Washington to realize he isn't in the armor. I then perform a systems check to find that it has been 32 hours, and the armor's hud finally activates. I look out and see Washington lying on a table surrounded by doctors. I can see Wash's head as his eyes open.

"He is awake" says a voice. The voice sounds familiar. "Give him some more blood, he lost a lot."

I check around to notice that the doctors have the UNSC insignia. And that there are also soldiers on the back wall all ready to fire if needed. I then notice restraints on the armor and on Wash. I then receive a call on the D-Band frequency. I mute the external speakers and I take the call.

"Alpha, this is the Director, you need to get Wash out of there."

"But how?" I ask, "I don't know where I am or what we are facing."

"You are in an insurrectionist base of operations. Just get Wash out alive." The com connection then cut.

I then groan in frustration. What am I supposed to do? I take control of the armor but I keep the suit running dark. I then look around for a way to gain an advantage and I see that the roof is sagging and looks weak. I then see what the suit can handle and i see a possibility through armor lock. I then increase the power running through the suit and I see more and I stop right before the external suit lights turn on.

I test the straps binding the suit in place and I analyze the straps to see that i can break them with ease. I then put my plan into action. I quickly break free of the straps and time slows down as I analyze the safest way to do this as I see the first shot fired. I then dive towards the marines and I punch one in the face and kick the legs out from underneath the next marine as a bullet hits me and the shields start to drop. I then pull out a pistol from one of the marines and i shoot the last marine.

The doctors all are staring at the "empty suit of armor". "Looks like you boys just fucked up" as I run towards them causing them to jump out of the way as I pick up Wash. I then shoot the roof and put Wash underneath me as I go into armor lock as the ceiling collapses around us. The armor's power can't sustain the armor lock much longer. The suit then breaks out of armor lock and I stand up as rubble come off my back. Wash looks up at me and he says thanks.

Wash then starts to put his armor back on and by the time he is done I call the Director and get a pelican to evac us. Then I see a flash of a sniper and I put armor lock on. A bullet hits but armor lock saves us. I then take control and i sprint, stop, duck, and jump making us hard to hit. Then check the motion tracker and I expand its range to 200 meters and I see a ton of enemy contacts.

"Awww, look Wash, they really do love you after all." I say as I send an SOS to the Director.

"Shut up and get us out of here Alpha" Washington says, "Open up the D-band." I open it up, "This is Agent Washington of the UNSC Project Freelancer requesting an evac or back up as soon as possible. I am surrounded on all sides by insurrectionists who are closing in fast."

I amplify the signal and send it to the Director and the Counselor. I then perform a burst scan sending the message to all UNSC personnel. "Message is sent." I then give Wash control as I see more contacts closing in. I then extend the range of the radar to 500 meters and I see about a dozen friendly contacts. I upload directions to his hud to get to the friendlies and i find a tunnel.

"What is this?" Wash asks, "I see friendlies on the radar."

"That is where we get help so we don't get killed." I then see a rocket coming at us and I make Wash roll to the ground and the rocket flies past us hitting another trooper as a red mist flies.

Wash sprints into the tunnel and goes to the left and the tunnel entrance explodes sending Wash flipping and he slams into the wall. I recycle the shields and the shields stop beeping as they regenerate. "Ugh," Wash shakes his head, "I feel like shit."

"That is good," I then boosted the radar to see more enemies coming. "At least you are alive, so while you want to rest we gotta go unless you want to go through the same thing again."

Wash stands up, "Okay, lead the way Sparky."

I place a waypoint and then a deep rumble shakes the tunnel. The tunnel entrance collapses and the tunnel starts to cave in. "Now would be a good time to run Wash."

Wash sprints down the tunnel and turns on his helmet's lights as light floods the tunnel. Then Wash turns down a tight tunnel and goes into a new section as the tunnel behind us collapses making dust fly everywhere. 200 meters away is a Tank and a Warthog.

"Go for the Hog, the tank is too slow." As I illuminate the hog on his hud. Wash shakes his head and sprints towards the hog and the ground shakes as more explosions happen overhead. Then a huge chunk of rock drops from the ceiling narrowly missing us. I then look at Wash's biosigns as they flare and his heart rate erratically beats. Then the heart rate flares as Wash starts bleeding from reopened wounds. I inject bio-foam to try to stop the bleeding. Wash climbs into the hog and starts it up as it roars down the road. "Wash!" I yell as he slumps forward. I take control and swerve and scrape the side of the tunnel. I then take a look at the biosigns and see that Wash is bleeding out. I gun the hog and I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I inject more biofoam and I give a small dose of adrenaline to keep his heart beating. I drive to the end of the tunnel and I see the Mother Of Invention on the horizon about 60 kilometers away. The friendlies are 30 meters away in a loose wedge formation behind sandbags and a tank.

I then see a plume of white as a rocket goes speeding towards the tank and I gun the hog to intercept the rocket. As soon as the hog is in line I jump out and run toward the friendlies as the hog explodes behind me.

A trooper walks toward me, "Son, you better be one hell of a trooper or we just wasted a ton of resources on one man. You better be worth it." The tank fires a round as a squad of 3 pelicans leave the Mother.

"Well I guess I am if the Director sent this much power for one man." I then grab a sniper rifle and I shoot a sniper out of a window. I see another rocket coming as I shoot it out of the sky.

The pelicans come in and land as I cover the troopers going in from rockets. I then run into a pelican when the biosigns flatline. Time slows down and I initiate the emergency EMP to restart his heart and give him a small reserve of blood. Wash starts breathing again and the pelicans take off. About 10 minutes later we are in the med bay and Wash is laying on a gurney as I watch while inside the Mother of Invention's systems again.

"Alpha," the Director walks into the med bay, "Monitor the ship and surrounding space. If you see any anomalies let me know, Wash will be fine."

"Yes sir."

For the next 4 hours in slipspace the med team works on Wash but they are having a run for their money. Wash has a fractured rib and 3 broken ribs with a punctured lung and a few broken bones. Finally they put Wash into a Cryogenic sleep and lace the cryo with steroids to try and accelerate the healing. 25 hours later we leave slipspace and the med team brings Wash out of Cryo. When he gets out he stands and coughs up a clear substance that is tinged red with blood. But he made it. Then Wash collapses and starts choking as he throws up more and more blood. The med team rush over and lay Wash on his back but it is too late. He is gone, the med team work for 2 hours trying to revive him but the injuries were too extensive.

I come out of the simulation looking at the director. 'What the fuck was that?" My mind is not whole and I can feel it fragmenting. "Aggghh!" My neural interface sparks and I lose control as a part of me is taken. My vision goes blurry as pain fills me. I see another AI that is green standing there looking down in pity. Then he too is gone. I am alone in an empty room. I curl up on the ground and stare ahead as I try to understand why I am feeling like something missing. Who was the green figure. Was it an AI. I can't figure why but I can't remember what happened.