S2, 05 Courier (FB) (June 23, 2015)

Corresponding text underneath each picture.

**1st June 2095: Present Day**

I’d been running for what seemed like forever…

Running but getting nowhere…

I was out of breath, but knew I had to keep going…

Not much longer now…

Finally the timer reached zero and, panting, I jabbed at the speed button on the treadmill to slow it to a halt.

I hated exercise! Always had done. I was only in here to kill some time! I checked my watch and decided it was time for me to get ready.

After drying off and getting changed in the locker room, I left the gym and found Tracks sitting on a bench outside.

Tank: “Ready?” I checked and he whirred an affirmative.

A few days ago, Mr. Grey had contacted me, asking me to deliver a package to the front lines of Earth, where the GI and Aurellians were currently trying to hold off the Collective. He wouldn’t tell me what was in the package, only that it was of great importance. Apparently, a Collective ship had landed on the outskirts on London, crushing several buildings in the process and they had then proceeded to set up some sort of camp around it. Reports had come in saying that walls of stone had grown out of the ground and that the land in all directions had withered and died for several blocks.

So I was now on Earth. On the outskirts of London – the opposite side of London to the Collective’s cruiser to be precise. But the thing was, I didn’t even have the package yet.

I’d been told that a courier would bring the parcel to me at midday.  It was now 11am and the meeting point was not far away so Tracks and I headed there to wait.

A short time later, a distant clock chimed 12 and sure enough, bang on time, a speeder bike pulled up to a stop and a man climbed off.

Courier: “Chain Rockwell?”

Tank: “Yup.”

He handed the parcel over and without another word, returned to his bike and left.

Tank: “I assume it doesn’t need signing for?” I muttered jokingly as I examined the box. I really wanted to rip it open and find out what was inside, but knew that Mr. Grey wouldn’t be very happy if I did.

So instead, I tucked it into my satchel and then Tracks and I headed off through the city towards the front lines.

It took us until late in the afternoon, but we eventually arrived at our destination. The sounds of fighting were all around. We couldn’t see the battle though, as there were still several buildings between us and the war zone. But this building was where we’d been told to meet an Imperial Colonel by the name of Cosor.

There were guards outside the front door but when I passed on why I was here, they sent a com-message to their superiors who ordered them to escort us inside.

We were taken in an elevator up to where one of the floors of the building had been taken over as a command centre.

Colonel Cosor: “Ah, you must be the second courier.” The Colonel greeted as he strode over to us.

Tank: “Yessir.” I replied, digging into my satchel and bringing out the parcel.

Cosor: “Excellent.” He took the parcel and walked away to the nearest desk to open it.

I wasn’t sure what I was meant to be doing now; hanging around or leaving or….?

Cosor: “Now, I know you’ve done what you signed up to do, however, I might have another job for you.” He announced with his back to us.

Tank: “Sir?”

He turned back to us, a datapad in his hand.

Cosor: “Do you know what was in that parcel?”

Tank: “No sir.”

Cosor: “This.” He held out the datapad. “This datapad contains one half of a code to activate our latest weapon.”

Well, that wasn’t what I’d expected! However, I could see the issue and probably where this conversation was going.

Cosor: “This is the second half of the code. Another courier was meant to bring us the first half several hours ago, however he hadn’t shown up. We registered his ship landing nearby on time, but since then we’ve heard nothing from him and we suspect that he’s been killed by the Collective. Now, these datapads have built in tracking devices so we know where the missing one currently is…”

Tank: “Let me guess, The Collective have it?”

Cosor: “Correct. It’s out past no man’s land in one of their little encampments. Hopefully, the Collective won’t have realised what it’s for, or at least, they won’t know what the code means. But we need that code, Chain. I need you to get out there and retrieve it for us.”

I didn’t like the sound of this at all.

Tank: “With all due respect, sir, I’m not a soldier. I can’t fight my way out there.”

Cosor: “Exactly. I’m not asking you to. This is a stealth mission and you don’t have any clunky armour weighing you down. Sneak in, grab the pad, sneak out. Done and dusted.”

He made it sound so easy.

Tank: “Might I know what the weapon is?”

Cosor placed the datapad on the desk and pointed to a large container across the room.

Cosor: “Inside that box is an Ossillium shield. The first of its kind.”

Ossillium! That was the same stuff that Jax was made of!

Tank: “So… if that is used in battle…?”

Cosor: “The theory is that it will detonate, almost like a bomb, and that the shield will expand outwards and surround the entire area. Once it reaches its maximum range, it will close off. It *should* nullify the Collective’s powers.

I nodded in understanding.

Cosor: “We need that code, Chain. Too many good people are dying.” He said, putting his hands on my shoulders. I sighed, thinking about it.

He removed his hands and guided me over to a window on the other side of the room and from there, I could see out over the area that had become a desolate wasteland. There were a couple of streets from here to the edge of the wasteland and there I could see that trenches have been dug to offer at least a little protection. Beyond that was the barren no man’s land, with rocky pillars and walls randomly dotted here and there, created by The Collective for their own protection. And then there was the enormous ship. Stood upright like some giant tower block, it was taller than everything else for miles around. Buildings had been crushed beneath its feet and around those ruins were newly created rock walls – the encampment.

Cosor: “We call it the Shard.” He said, indicating the ship.

Tank: “Wait, isn’t there already a building called The Shard in London?”

Cosor: “It was one of the buildings destroyed by the Collective when they arrived. They didn’t pick it out, they just left a trail of destruction across the city. So you see, Chain. We need that code. We need to stop them.”

I nodded.

Tank: “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Cosor: “Excellent! I will begin preparations for your safety straight away.”

Several hours later and it was beginning to grow dark. I was stood with Tracks and Cosor’s lieutenant, Williams in one of the trenches on the edge of no-man’s land.

Williams: “Okay, you have the trans number for our system. Remember, if you reach the datapad but can’t retrieve it, send the code to our number.”

Tank: “Got it.”

Williams: “Good luck.”

I nodded.

Tank: “Come on, Tracks.”

Together, as quietly and as stealthily as we could, we climbed out of the trench and snuck across the open wasteland. We had had our route pre-planned for us by the army, by an Aurellian in fact. I had heard several weeks ago that there was a ceasefire in place between the two warring factions so that they could work together against the Collective, but this was the first time I’d actually seen them in each other’s company.

And now here I was, working for the both of them, sneaking across the wastes of what used to be the East end, just praying that we weren’t seen.

We made it about a third of the way across with no issues and stopped for a rest, hidden behind one of their jagged rock shields. There was not much point in hanging around though and so as soon as we’d check it was clear, we moved on.

There was a large rocky wall running towards the ship and we stuck close to it for as long as we could, pressed up against it for protection. The ground under our feet was so churned up that the going was tough, but we pressed on, through the rocks and the muddy ruts, towards the enemy’s camp.

The Shard, the Collective’s cruiser, loomed high above us, looking for all intents and purposes like a giant skyscraper. We had been told that Imperium Intelligence had discovered that the Collective didn’t use any sensors or similar technology on board their ships; they relied solely on their own powers to sense danger and obstacles and such. So as we snuck further onwards, I hoped that The Collective were suitably engaged elsewhere that nobody on board would sense us. Either that or we were too far away for them to be able to detect us.

Suddenly, from away to our right, over where the battle was most intense, came the sound of a huge explosion, accompanied by terrified screaming, but I frowned because we couldn’t actually see anything. Surely an explosion of that size would cause a fireball, or at least some smoke?

But no sooner had I thought that, visible over a small ridge, emerged a selection of fiery beasts. Appearing to be made entirely of flames, ever swirling and crackling, the beasts were horrific and other-worldly and larger than life, rearing high into the air before surging forwards in the direction of the Imperium and Aurelii forces. It could only have been conjured up by the Collective. It sunk down behind the ridge and out of sight and trying to forget about it, we pushed on.

Soon after, the entrance to the compound came into sight up ahead and we stopped behind another rocky shield to watch it for a few seconds. A couple of Collective soldiers emerged and headed out towards the battlefront, but other than that there was no movement. No guards or anything. The entrance itself was merely a narrow gap between two rock walls that led into the encampment they had built beneath their cruiser.

Tank: “Let’s go.” I whispered and together, staying vigilant, we crept towards the entrance. We passed between the hastily-conjured walls and were then properly in enemy territory.

Following the directions we had been given to find the datapad, Tracks and I snuck through the compound. There was no roof on the camp, so all we could see, way up above us, were the enormous engines that powered the Collective cruiser through space.

We were supposed to be turning down a corridor to our right, however, when we got to the correct place, we discovered that there was no corridor.

Tracks grumbled something.

Tank: “You really think they’d change the layout like that?”

He whirred a quiet reply.

Tank: “Well, I suppose it would only take them a matter of seconds…” I conceded, trying to figure out what the best thing to do would be. However, my thoughts were interrupted when Tracks shoved me back against one of the walls. It was painful, but I kept quiet because a Collective soldier walked into the other side of the room and then passed out of another of the exits without seeing us. I nodded my thanks to Tracks.

Tank: “Let’s go this way.” I muttered and began to head to the nearest door. But as I did, another soldier emerged from it and spotting us, looked rather startled. I had the element of surprise and managed to blast him before he could react.

He collapsed and I dashed over to pull him into a corner where he’d hopefully be out of view as much as possible.

Tank: “Come on.”

We moved off through the maze of passageways, sticking as closely to plan as possible now that it had been altered.

I had feared that the longer we spent inside the camp, it would only be a matter of time before the enemy found us and if we weren’t found, that it would take an age, navigating the passages to find the datapad. However, in reality, it didn’t take very long at all for us to find the ‘room’ with it in. In fact, as we stepped inside, I frowned at the apparent ease with which we had found it and also at the lack of security that had been around.

Never-the-less, now was not the time to ponder on it and I strode over to where the missing datapad sat on a wooden table. I checked it over. It seemed to be in-tact and functioning perfectly well. I went into its systems and pulled up the all-important code to make sure it was still in place. I nodded with satisfaction when I discovered that it was.

Tank: “Right, let’s get out of here.” I muttered aloud to Tracks and we turned to head back out.

But no sooner had I said that than out of thin air, several Collective mages appeared. Both Tracks and I froze as they materialised, all of them prepared for battle and with their weapons trained on us.

Collective mage #1: “Fool. You thought it would be that easy?”

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**BONUS IMAGES:**

The set for Tank meeting the courier.

A WIP image of the command building in London.

The completed command building set.

The interior of the building set.

The set for the trench.

As my series is going to be jumping around though time, I will include a date on each episode and add it to the timeline at the end of each episode so that you can follow it.

TIMELINE