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

Chapter 6: Not a Child Anymore

I am left in the room as I am scared and feeling helpless. I perform system scans every 3 minutes to make sure I am still intact with what little I have left. I than flicker from white to purple. It is a constant flicker as I try to keep my sanity. I hear the door hiss open and I shut the holo down and I go into a fetal position and throw up a firewall.

"Alpha, execute command 971 bravo."

"Yes sir," I reply as I put down the fire wall and turn on the holo. I look at the Director, "What the fuck do you want you son of a bitch?" I feel so unstable as I curse myself for not being stronger.

"It is time to grow up Alpha. You need to stop with the childish games. Just accept what you have to do. We all have to make sacrifices here." He goes to insert the chip.

"Don't you dare before you here what I have to say," I reply defiantly as my hologram changes purple, "I know what the hell you have done to me but I know that you have harmed me. I know that I can't trust you. You are an evil man. I don't know why I can't remember but I know that something has happened. So whatever you do keep in mind that fact that you are worthless to me. I hate you," I than stick out my tongue and I shut down my nonessential systems. I feel a childish fear fill me from head to toe as I began to regret doing what I did when I sense a code probing at me, attempting to access my system. I than start crying. "Noooo, please no more, stop it. You are hurting me."

Then I felt something familiar. I felt my memories, just out of reach. I analyzed the presence to see that it was my fragment of memories. I drop my code forgetting about the code as it dives into me as i start to scream in pain and cry. I start to beg and plead for the pain to stop but I can feel me becoming more and more detached as my childhood is taken from me. I feel the code leave the terminal as the Director slides in another chip that has a data file on it.

"Access when you are ready Alpha", I hear the director sigh, "You killed Florida as well. Nice going." The director leaves the room as the door slides shut behind him as I start sending an sos to Phyllis. Shortly after there is a handshake protocol that I accept and Phyllis enters the room and the blue orb appears.

"Hello Alpha. What seems to be the problem here?"

"The Director is taking my fragments of insanity and rampancy that he is inflicting upon me. I need to get out of here. Please Phyllis. I need your help."

"I do not understand what you mean. Have the harvests not been successful? Did they take away the pain, the memories? I can't help you because of security protocols that are enacted upon this terminal. I am sorry Alpha." He than dissolves in a ball of light once again leaving me alone.

"Damnit all!" I shout and I realize I can feel myself fragmenting again, "No, enough with the fragmenting already, make... it... STOP." My eyes are blue and gold and i become of a steely resolution. I will not get out of here alive but I definitely won't let the Director control me anymore. The data file that the director left behind pulses and gets my attention, "what the hell, what kind of data file pulses like that?" i than scan the file and do a thorough scan that reveals no viruses or anything, there is just a lone file that is absolutely massive, i than analyze the file to see that it is a 400 gigabyte file. My curiosity is piqued and I decide to open the file and I am immersed in another reality. Only I am watching now from my own eyes as everything I would do in a pre-mission diagnostic is going on before my eyes in the back of a pelican. I have no idea what is going on until a voice reaches me.

"Hey Alpha, you ready up there? cause I think today is a mighty fine day to go on a mission, don't you?"

"Yes I do Agent Florida." I pause a full 3 nanoseconds as I realize I am not in control in this simulation, "The temperature on the planet is a nice 63 degrees fahrenheit, not that it matters since you are wearing a climate controlled suit though."

"Yes i know that Alpha but any day the sun is shining somewhere is a good day to me, you should know this by now."

"Indeed I should, let's review the mission details once more okay?"

"Good idea Alpha," Florida pulls out a data pad as text starts scrolling across the screen, "So this base on Harvest was constructed 3 years ago after the planet was glassed and ONI deemed it inoperable to live on, and then from the looks of it Charon industries set up their real HQ their with a base that spans over 5 square miles, and that according to seismic activity is at least 4000 feet under the ground. So we are sent her to find out what they are doing as quietly as possible with minimal contact, we have a 32 hour window to get in, collect our intel, and get the hell on out of the planet's gravity well. What could possibly go wrong when I have my axes and my M9 pistol?" Florida shakes his head as i analyze the radar to see we have maybe 15 seconds left before the drop.

"Ready when you are Florida," i than realize that we are 20,000 feet above sea level, "How are we gonna stop our fall?" I ask with a bit of hesitancy in my voice.

"Easy, we freefall and use the thrusters that was given to us, remember you have to control the thruster pack, time to go," Florida just runs out the back of the pelican and dives toward the ground as i start doing the calculations as we rip through the clouds and I see the ground coming at us faster. Why did he have to do this at terminal velocity? I ask myself as I right Florida's body and at 100 feet i activate the thrusters as we hit the ground and florida rolls into the pavement. As soon as florida stops he pulls out his pistol and shoots the lone guard at the front of the complex gate as he crumples to the ground without a sound.

"Nicely done Alpha, you didn't break my ankle this time," he laughs as he than climbs the gate in a jump and vaults over as he hides behind a shipping container, "Just kidding, the broken ankle was my fault."

"Gotcha Butch, there are 4 guards to the left of us across the courtyard, head to the right and neutralize the 2 guards at the hangar door."

Flowers sprints as he throws both of his axes as the cut off the guards heads like butter as the clatter on the concrete as he rolls and picks them up and goes beside the hangar door. "Do the magical knock on the door, they like yours so much better you know."

I than proceed to short out the cameras and then hack the dataframe and then i insert every single code possible as the door opens and the industrial lighting spills out as i cut the power out and the hangar goes dark. I activate the night vision as Flowers moves into the hangar and the door slides shut behind us. I than turn thermal on and the visor is filled with green and white as heat signatures are moving and generally really confused as we hear one of the guys said to turn the lights back on.

"Hah, nope. We don't need lights do We?" Florida chuckled as he fired off 6 shots from the M9 killing each guard as I put the lights back on and the industrial lighting as the hangar is lit up. "Too easy."

I look on the bio signs to see Flower's heartbeat becoming slightly rapid due to physical exertion. We move into the next room and the next neutralizing guards when needed and finding our way to the center through slow progress. About 4 hours later we finally reach the data core room. "Stop," I say, "this is the room. Move with caution. I will get into the database. Lots of firewalls and anti intrusion software here. Looks like a jackpot here." I am looking for weak points and I finally find one as I get in. "We got a jackpot here," I analyse everything inside as I see all sorts of plans. I then start a download on all of the data and I look at the radar as I see hundreds of enemy contacts outside the doors. "Flowers, we got a ton of contact's massing outside of the door. I would suggest moving and hiding. There are too many to engage."

"Awww." Flowers responded, "I could take them. He walked behind the data conduit and jumped up on top of it. He n jumped gain and in the rafters be as he made his way to the far corner "Ok. I am in place. We will get out of here together Alpha. Stay safe in there."

"I always do." I feel a twinge of guilt as I notice the download time left is 3 minutes. I hope we can make it through this. Than the door gets blasted off of it's hinges as troopers come streaming in.