FSN Secure Operations Division
Mission Continuation Log 072-D
Classification Level: Shadow Clearance
Location: Subsurface Zone Three, Lower Ruins
Status: Omega-4 Unit Deployed
1040 Hours – Subsurface Extraction Gate
The lift's metal doors groaned as they opened, the shaft filling with vibrating echoes. Through the haze of red dust and oxidized decay, five towering figures emerged.
Zeta-9 stepped aside.
Omega-4, the FSN's elite heavy assault unit, had arrived.
Their exosuits were nearly twice the bulk of Zeta-9's, plated with multi-layered composite armor designed to withstand anti-tank ordinance and biomagical force alike. Every movement they made echoed like machinery older than the Earth itself—purposeful, deliberate, unshakable.
Each Omega-4 soldier carried a continuous-fire laser machine gun, attached to power packs with advanced heat-dispersing alloys. They didn't require ammo—just coolant. The weapons could fire up to 200,000 rounds before overheating.
Their backup gear included grenade belts, shield boosters, and hydraulic breacher tools meant for urban sieges. One trooper even bore a plasma-forged pike across his back, meant for close-quarters combat against creatures that wouldn't die from firepower alone.
Leading them was Captain Jaeger, his helmet crowned with extended sensor arrays and anti-psi shielding nodes.
"Zeta-9," he said through gritted modulation, "We've taken over worse holes than this. Brief us."
Lieutenant Rennik met him at the edge of a rusted platform. "Contact with unknown entities—several Class-One hostiles. One recurring anomaly with higher capability. Fast. Durable. Bleeds, but it's smart."
"We're not here for smart," Jaeger replied. "We're here to end threats."
1055 Hours – Descent into Sector 5-B
The squad pushed deeper through the structure—somewhere between a temple and a tomb. The damage was inconsistent. Some halls were untouched but ancient. Others bore blast scars and claw marks melted into their steel walls.
This wasn't collapse.
This was a warzone.
"All of this predates known FSN cartography," Echo muttered. "And still no seismic disturbance on the surface. Whatever happened down here, it wasn't recent."
"It was buried," Runt replied. "Forgotten."
"And not by accident," Chisel added.
1112 Hours – Contact: Class-One Threats
Just before the stairwell leading into Lower Sector 6, the first wave hit.
Three smaller entities lunged from a vent shaft—skeletal, feral things. One had no eyes, only sockets glowing with cracked green light. They screamed in fragmented syllables, their limbs too long and spindly for human proportion.
Zeta-9 opened fire with handheld laser rifles, cutting two down in seconds. Omega-4's gunner responded with a burst from his continuous beam weapon—the third creature disintegrated mid-air, its outline burned into the wall behind it.
"Fodder," Jaeger grunted. "They're testing our strength."
"And learning from it," Rennik said. "They didn't come at us like that the first time."
1134 Hours – Silence Returns
Down in the old city's bones, the air shifted.
The walls were warped here—columns twisted and slagged. Ancient murals lined the walls, faded into streaks by heat or time. In the center of the chamber lay a shattered bridge over a rust-choked trench.
Across the way, something moved.
The squad froze.
There it was—the creature. Standing at the far edge, near a crumbling arch. Draped in ruined cloth, hunched but imposing. Its claws were stained dark, old blood dried and flaking off. Fangs glinted when it turned its head slightly. Its eyes were no longer kind.
It said nothing.
Then it charged.
Chisel raised his blade first. A brilliant flash—his built-in laser sword clashed with claws mid-strike. Sparks flew. The beast recoiled.
Zeta-3, Brick, opened fire with high-energy rounds. Hits landed—impact flares lit the beast's side, but it didn't fall. It twisted, claws raking against Brick's chestplate—leaving a deep gouge, but not penetrating the heavy alloy.
"Damage minor! Fallback!" Brick yelled.
The beast snarled—low, guttural, intelligent.
Then it hurled a fireball, blinding bright and molten, into the ceiling. Debris fell between them.
It vanished into the shadows behind the smoke.
1143 Hours – Aftermath
The squad re-formed quickly, weapons primed. No injuries. Systems stable.
Rennik exhaled. "It knew what it was doing. That fireball was cover, not an attack."
"Didn't seem feral," Echo said. "It watched. Calculated."
"Not animal instinct," Jaeger agreed. "That was tactical evasion. Civilized sentience. Twisted by time, but not gone."
Zeta-9's exosuits buzzed softly as their weapons systems increased output settings, calibrating for maximum precision and power—overriding standard conservation protocols. Plasma blades hummed louder, supercharged. Lasers were tuned for rapid-burst execution. No more warnings.
If the creature returned, it wouldn't escape again