EPISODE 10: RED ALERT! THE ROPEN ATTACK!

               FAR BELOW THE EARTH’S SURFACE, the two-mile-high ceiling of the Earth’s crust glowed like an angry red sky over the Mu Empire. At the pyramid like capital building, the Empress sat with her back to the glass balcony doors, giving her a warm yet ominous aura. Standing in the middle of the room was the Priestess Luna.

               “This Mechanical Titan of theirs, this Kiryu,” The Empress asked, “is it their only weapon?”

               “No, your highness.” Luna said. “The team that I was with said that their force consisted of a capture and an elimination division. Kiryu was part of their capture division.”

               “Capturing our benevolent, Manda.” Empress said to herself with a calm but furious demeanor. “Such heresy is unthinkable. Hopefully with the aid of Priest Juno, we can see what other surprises that the surface dwellers have in store for us.”

               “Your highness.” Luna started to ask with a slight tone of concern. “Are our forces up to such a task? We have not seen battle since the Red Moon calamity.”

               “Your worries do not go unnoticed, Priestess.” The Empress said. “For over a thousand generations our people have lived in peace. That much is true. However, the heirs to this thrown have always passed down one important rule. Do not search for war, but always be ready for it. Our great protectors will rise to defend us again.”

               “I understand your excellency.” Luna said.

               “I know you are worried about the safety of your older brother as well.” Said the Empress. “Fear not, Juno is our top warrior and his mastery of the shadow arts is without bounds. I would not have sent him to our South Gate if I feared it was out of his hands. Besides, The Ropen will watch over him and soon, take over for him.”

               “Very good your excellency.” Luna said.

               “You may go now Priestess.” The Empress said. “I will send for you when the time comes.”

               Luna bowed respectfully before turning towards the door and leaving. Once Luna was out of the room, the Empress stood up from her thrown and turned towards the balcony. She looked out across the technologically advanced Empire. Though it was an impressive sight to behold, her eyes seemed transfixed on something that went unseen to her subordinates. In her mind she saw flaming ruins which were dampened by the screams of thousands of injured and dying people.

               “We are happy to see you in good health, your majesty.” A pair of voices said in perfect sync.

               “And you grace me with your presence as well, Sacred Cosmos.” The Empress said with a half-smile but just the slightest hint of annoyance in her voice.

                She turned to find the Shobijin standing on her desk. The two small women respectfully bowed to the Empress to which the Empress returned a respectful and graceful bow over her own.

               “To what do I owe the honor?” The Empress asked.

               “We apologize for our intrusion your majesty.” The Shobijin said together.

               “On the surface there have been an alarming number of events.” The left said.

               “It would seem that the events have been the results of actions taken by your great empire.” The right said.

               “I am confused, noble Cosmos.” The Empress said. “I have taken no actions towards Infant Island nor your great goddess, Mosura.”

               “No you haven’t.” The Shobijin replied. “However, you have taken actions against others it would seem.”

               The Shobijin’s inquiry caused the Empress’s demeanor to become slightly more annoyed.

               “Your Empire has always lived in solitude and peace.” The left said.

               “Why would provoke conflict with the people above?” asked the right.

               “Oh Cosmos…” The Empress said. “Ever watchful of the surface. It would seem that your views have been narrowed to just the surface though. Your sights have not gazed on us below in some time.” A subtle fury was building behind her voice with every word. “For if you knew of our suffering, then you would not question our actions. Furthermore, we have only defended our gates and preserved our great Empire from the eyes of the surface dwellers.”

               “This is true.” The Shobijin said. “We know you have not taken any serious offenses towards those above, but even your small actions suggest a larger plan. Our gift of foresight may not be what it once was, but we can still sense that your anger towards those above will cause catastrophe.”

               “And what of it?” The Empress said with her anger growing more visible. “You speak of catastrophe, Cosmos. If you knew of catastrophe, then you would have seen the catastrophes brought upon us by their actions. My people suffered destruction, pain, disease, and death because of their wars; their atomic, chemical, and biological tests. So much so that they caused our benevolent savior, Manda to flee us time and time again. Now they’ve committed the atrocious act of kidnapping our lord.”

               “As we said before to you, and your predecessors,” The Shobijin said, “We understand your isolation, but you cannot expect the surface to respect you if you choose to remain hidden.”

               “There are bad people above.” The left said.

               “But there are good people as well.” The right said. “Far more, good than there are bad.”

               “Would you let the actions of the few bad, condemn the innocent and the good to death as well?” They asked together.

               “Then I ask you, oh noble Cosmos. Is it not just the destruction they bring upon us, but the Earth as a whole? We are all a part of this world. What we are about to do, is our way of punishing them for the sake of the suffering they inflicted upon the Earth as well. You have been just, Sacred Cosmos. Our Empire would not have survived without the aid of your ancestors. I’m afraid, that it would seem you have abandoned us as well. And so, it is because of both facts, that I, Empress Tao of the Mu Empire, banish the Cosmos from our gates.”

               The Shobijin were rendered speechless and saddened by the Empress’s words.

               The Empress looked on with cold eyes and merely said, “You may go now.”

Though they were hurt by their banishment, the two small women remained respectful by bowing to her before they turned into a ball of light. The Empress turned her back to them as they floated up into the air. Her gaze did not focus on anything but the city before her as they glided past her on their journey back up to the surface.

               THE NEW GUINEA MONARCH SITE: 3:16 AM.

               After spending the night tossing and turning with anxiety in his cot, Ken sat up from his flimsy bed. From the nearby tents he could hear snoring, primarily from his colleagues Paul and Dakota. Most of the Bushmasters were asleep too; the ones who weren’t were quietly on watch in their fighting positions around the camp. Though it was discouraged by the company-commander at that time of night, Ken felt the need to stroll around the camp.

               Slipping on his shoes and stepping outside, he was first struck by the mild chill of the night air. Though it was 70 degrees outside, he had become accustomed already to the constant upper 80 and low 90 range that it had been since he arrived. Additionally, an overcast shrouded the usually star-spangled sky with almost total darkness. The only light visible was the faded light of the moon and the distant slight glare Port Moresby over the hilly horizon. As per usual though, the night was alive with commotion from the forest but not nearly as much as the warmer nights.

               He began to slowly walk around his tent. Though the natural moonlight was dimmed by the overcast, his natural night vision could still see well enough to make out the black silhouettes of the tents and the few soldiers on watch around the edges of the camp. Towards the middle of the camp, he saw the silhouette of another soldier walking around on patrol.

               At that very moment a voice asked from behind, “Doctor?”

               Ken turned to see the outline of a larger soldier, as big and as intimidating as a bear.

               “Sergeant Winter?”  Ken asked.

               “Yeah.” The Sergeant replied, “Is everything alright?”

               “Yes, I just couldn’t sleep.” Ken replied.

               Winter asked, “Anxious to be going home tomorrow?”

               “Something like that.” Ken replied. “Anxious to go home and at the same time, not. Was hoping to see this cave system the other team found.”

               “Don’t sweat it.” Winter replied. “Once the situation is handled here, you’ll be able to come back under less strenuous circumstances.”

               Ken responded with, “I suppose you’re right.”

               At that moment something in the sky behind winter caught Ken’s attention.

               “What’s that?” Ken asked, prompting Winter to turn around.

               It was a single stationary light hovering over the hill to their southwest. It had a light blue coloration; at first glance it looked like a star or a plane. As Ken looked harder at it, he realized that it was pulsating or changing shape, expanding lengthwise and contracting in a fairly rapid succession.

               “1-3 to 1-4, over.” Winter said into his radio.

               “Go ahead 1-3, over.” A voice replied.

               “We got activity about 2 clicks to our southwest, over.” Winter said.

               “Roger, I see it.” The voice replied. “I’ll get a better look, over.”

               Ken suddenly remembered something as he uttered, “Strange lights in the sky…”

               “What’s that?” Winter asked.

               “The first team here reported seeing strange lights in the sky.” Ken said.

               “1-3 to 1-4, over.” The voice replied over the radio.

               “Go ahead, 1-4, over.” Winter replied.

               “We’re checking it out through the thermal scope now.” The voice said. “We can’t get a positive ID on it, but it appears to be alive, over.”

               “Good copy, 1-4.” Said Winter. “I’ll wake up 1-6 and 1-7. Keep an eye on it, over.”

               As Winter hurried to wake up their leadership, Ken stood watching the strange light as it continued to hover in place for a couple minutes. He then heard the shuffling of feet around the camp. Lieutenant Joyce and Sergeant Hawkland returned with Winter.

               “Do you know what it is Doc?” Sergeant Hawkland asked.

               “It might be the Kaiju that Doctor Yamane’s team were sent to investigate.” Ken said. “I can’t really tell though. I thought it’d be bigger.”

               The Lieutenant started to order, “Have Sergeant Bailey-” when suddenly more lights rose from the forest to join the first. The number grew from one to eight in a matter of seconds.

               “Winter, wake up McCall and Sanchez.” Sergeant Hawkland said. “Get the rest of the platoon up and in their positions.”

               Winter hustled over to one of the tents while Ken, Joyce, and Hawkland continued to observe the strange lights as they gathered in a cluster. For a few seconds they appeared to just flutter about above the one hilltop. A short while later, a lot of boots could be heard shuffling and running around the campsite; every now and then they were accompanied by the soft metallic clatter of magazines in their pouches as the men hurried to their fighting positions.

               Winter returned with McCall and Sanchez in tow.

               “How many are there?” McCall asked.

               “About a dozen now.” Hawkland answered.

               Sanchez had with him a special scope that he held up to his eye. Through the lens he could see a thermal view of the area where the lights were gathered. The hillside was a dark shade of blue while the sky was black and the lights were yellow and red. Zooming in and focusing, he still couldn’t get an accurate visual on them, but they were aviation creatures of some kind with wings and bodies.

               “They look like either large birds or bats.” Sanchez said.

               “1-6 to 1-4, over.” Lieutenant Joyce said into his radio.

               “Roger 1-6, over.” A voice replied.

               “Have Bucur’s team bring the AK rounds up to the line and let Escobar know his team is clear to let loose if they come within 100 yards of the camp. Over.” Joyce replied.

               “Roger, Good copy, over.” The voice replied.

               “Doctor.” Hawkland said, getting Ken’s attention. “Wake your team. Make sure you three stay behind with us. The rest of you, get to your squads and report anything unusual.”

               Ken hurried to Paul and Dakota’s tents. Winter, McCall, and Sanchez hurried to the defensive line. Hawkland and Joyce made for the center of the camp and regrouped with Nguyen who was manning the main radio. Meanwhile on the defensive line, a team of three men were loading up a portable missile launcher that resembled a 4-foot-long box with 4 openings on one end and a hatch that opened on the other. On the underside was a handle with a trigger-well and on the left side was a special viewing scope that resembled a pair of binoculars. While one man held the weapon, the other 2 were loading it from the open hatch end with foot-long missiles: green in color with red noses.

               The sergeant instructing them, a slender gentleman in his 40s with a Romanian accent, said, “Make sure you have them twist-locked in. We don’t need any misfires when the shit pops off.”

               “Roger Sergeant.” The one soldier responded.

               “Sergeant Bucur.” Another sergeant quietly called out.

               “Over here, Bailey.” The Romanian sergeant replied.

               Another Caucasian Sergeant with a tough raspy voice, emerged from the bushes to their back, “Is that thing loaded?”

               “Roger, the last one is going in now.” Bucur said.

               “Good, if they come our way, light’em up as soon as they get in range.” Bailey said.

“Hopefully that group out there is all there is though.” Bucur commented. “We only have one more case of rounds.”

“Esco’s got plenty of heat to go around.” Bailey said. “Make every round count though. You good over there Deneal?”

The soldier at the trigger, a younger light-skinned African American in his mid-twenties, replied, “Good to go Sarge.”

“Awesome.” Bailey said. “Let me go check on Esco’s team.”

Back at the command post, Lieutenant Joyce and Sergeant Hawkland were talking to Nguyen when Ken and his team joined them.

“I don’t know what’s going on, sir, I’m not getting any kind of feedback.” Nguyen said as he fiddled with the radio.

“You did the radio check at zero three, right?” Hawkland asked.

“Roger, we had a clear connection.” Nguyen said.

               “It might be because of them.” Ken said. “If the radio was working fine before they arrived then it’s the only logical conclusion.”

               “Shit.” The Lieutenant said. “Why are our short-range radios working then?”

               “Probably because the signal doesn’t have to go out that far.” Dakota said. “If they are nocturnal then they probably have sonic sonar, which for a normal size bat its quite powerful. Something as large as those things could emit a sonar frequency powerful enough to drown out radio frequencies.”

               “1-4 to 1-7, 1-4 to 1-7, over.” Bailey’s voice said over the radio.

               Hawkland answered, “Go ahead, 1-4, over.”

               “They’re gone, over.” Bailey said.

               Everyone stopped and looked at each other in confusion. They then looked out over the camp in the direction of the hilltop where the lights were gathering. The sky was pitch black once again.

               Hawkland spoke into his mic, “Did anyone see where they went, over?”

               “Negative. They just started blinking out. By the time we got the thermals up, they were nowhere to be seen. Over.” Bailey replied.

               The night was still and silent. The six men in the center of the camp stood with an uneasy anxiousness hanging over them. Every muscle in their body was tense, their senses on edge as they watched and listened. A slight breeze picked up, causing the tarps on their tents to gently flap and scrape. Even that soft delicate sound was enough to send a slight chill up their spines.

               A few seconds later they started hearing a strange clicking noise. It would happen in rapid succession and its direction was unclear.

               “What the hell is that?” Joyce asked.

               “It sounds like…” Paul started to say. “Echolocation.”

               Before anyone had a chance to comprehend what that meant, someone shouted “CONTACT!” from the line to the east. Two soldiers fired off six shots with their M4’s. A few of their glowing tracer rounds raced out into the darkness as they shot from right to left. But none appeared to hit anything. The short firefight lasted but only 4 seconds.

Immediately after the echoes of gunfire seized, McCall called out, “Description, and distance?”

The soldier called back, “Something big just swooped by at about 50 meters.”

Within a few seconds, the clicks started up again.

Shortly thereafter from the southwest part of the line, another soldier shouted “Contact! 30 meters!”

Once again there was a burst of gunfire from two M4s. This time they were joined by a rapid burst from one of the Squad Automatic Weapons. The M4s fired off a dozen rounds, and the SAW shot off two rapid bursts of 8 to 10 rounds. The sudden explosion of gunfire from the machine gun was enough to make Paul and Dakota wince. Once again, they could see the tracer rounds dart off into the darkness. This time the bullets traversal started low and then swayed upwards.

The men in the center stood tensely as they watched the commotion going on around them. Once it settled down and the deafening silence befell the area, they were left uncomfortably on edge again.

“They’re probing our defenses.” Hawkland said quietly.

“1-6 to all,” The Lieutenant said into his radio. “Flares up, I repeat, Flares up!”

A few seconds later and the men heard a few low-toned pops from across the line. After two seconds, the area lit up from the light of three bright flares floating 200 meters in the air., illuminating the area with an eerie red glow. For ten long seconds of waiting tensely there was no signs of anything in the nearby forest nor the air around them in a 300-meter radius. The soldiers on the line, their command, Ken, and his team all watched with weary eyes, nerves on a hair trigger. Suddenly, all at once, the silhouette of 20 creatures with 15-meter wingspans flew into the light of the flares. The platoon couldn’t get an accurate depiction of what they were due to the high contrast of the lighting, but they resembled giant vampire-bats.

All of the giant bats were scattered in the skies around the camp. They at first appeared to be flying erratically and then, suddenly they all directed their flight paths down to the men. Without order, the soldiers began unloading a hailstorm of bullets at the creatures. Ken, Paul, and Dakota ducked their heads down amidst the sudden explosion of automatic and semi-automatic gunfire. Overhead, the tracer rounds zipped every which way as did the giant bats. For nearly a minute, the men kept shooting at the creatures, but their quick random movements made it difficult to get an accurate shot. Likewise, the gunfire was preventing them from getting anywhere close to the camp.

Finally, one of the creatures managed to duck below the line of fire and dive bombed one of the men’s fighting positions. 

The beast landed with a heavy crash in the nest of bushes that the two men were shooting from. At the last minute, they managed to duck out of the way; one of them unfortunately miss judged his dodge and fell ten feet down a ledge. The other soldier shot at the giant creature as it looked in his direction. The bullets struck the monster’s shoulders and felt like wasp stings; causing it to screech. Before the soldier could land an accurate shot at its head, his weapon clicked; mag empty.

“Shit!” He said, frantically reaching for another mag.

The creature, baring jagged sharp fangs, lunged forth and grabbed the man by the foot. The sharp six-inch fangs felt like daggers piercing his flesh. He couldn’t help but cry out in pain. The monster hoisted him up 15 feet into the air and was about to fly off with him. But before it could take off, it was struck in the face by a sudden rash of bullets, making it drop the soldier. Sanchez emerged from the bushes and fired two more shots at the creature’s face; one in each eye. The creature shrieked and flailed its head around. Sanchez then put four more rounds into the monster’s chest; right where the heart would be. The massive bat fell backwards and tumbled down the hill.

               Elsewhere on the line, another creature passed through the firing line at another fighting position. The creature went into a swan dive and looked as though it was going to dive-bomb the men. The soldiers fled their position, but just as it looked as though it was going to crash into them, it suddenly whipped its wings forward into a clap; launching was looked like a spray of some kind at them. The area was struck by a cluster of seven-inch-long quills; several struck one of the soldiers in the calf and thigh. His battle-buddy fired back and clipped the creature’s wing, but it was able to flee.

               Amidst all the gunfire and the creatures flying about. The soldiers in Bucur’s position were trying to get a solid lock on the monsters as they zipped every-which-way.

               “Deneal what the hell are you doing!?” Bucur shouted.

               “They’re moving too fast Sarge!” Deneal said back. “The system can’t get a lock!”

               Just then someone shouted, “On your six, man!”

               Deneal spun the weapon system around and saw the fleeting but growing image of one of the monsters diving at him. Just in the nick of time, the system registered a lock. He squeezed the trigger and one of the missiles fired from the first tube. The giant bat was struck dead center and was engulfed by powerful explosion. Its wings, legs, and other remains scattered through the air. Elsewhere on the line, the Bushmasters were having more success.

               Sergeant McCall managed to put a 320-grenade round into another creature’s chest. Another soldier was able to down another creature near Sergeant Bailey, who promptly finished it off with 2 rounds to the monster’s skull. Another creature was pursuing Sergeant Winter, who narrowly dodged a cluster of quills. Just as the creature swooped overhead, he found himself running into the fighting position of three soldiers, one of whom a Hispanic Sergeant, that were struggling with an M134 Minigun.

               “Escobar, what’s wrong with that thing?” Winter called out.

               “The safety mechanism is jammed!” Escobar shouted in frustration.

               “Watch out!” Winter said as he snatched the weapon system from him.

               With the butt-end of a combat knife he pulled out from one of his pouches, Winter pounded the safety lever three times. After the 3^rd time, the lever popped into the firing position. Just then, two creatures were swooping in on their position. Winter hoisted the weapon up and, with a noise that sounded more like a loud accelerating engine, the barrels on the weapon began spinning and spewing out a stream of bullets at the two incoming beasts. The monsters were virtually cut to pieces by the spray of fire.

               The fighting raged on for another minute. Grinding into another stalemate situation with the creatures keeping their distance and the soldiers unable to hit them as they zipped about. Soon thereafter the giant bats broke off their attack and disappeared back into the darkness. The light of the flares began to dim out; prompting the soldiers to fire off 2 more. An unsettling calm fell over the area as the bushmasters remained silent in their fighting positions catching their breath and watching the skies with weary eyes.

               At the CP in the center of the camp, the same was true for their leadership and Ken’s team. The six men looked around and listened in an adrenaline filled anxious wait. Gradually the sounds of the crickets and other nocturnal wildlife began to fill the air with their nighttime songs.

               Hearing the night sounds returning, Ken took in a heavy and shaky breath before saying, “They’re gone.”

               Suddenly a static voice called over Nguyen’s radio, “Bushmaster 1-6, do you copy, over?”

               “Sir!” Nguyen called out. “HQ is on the line!”

               Joyce hurried over and snatched the mic out of Nguyen’s hand and responded, nearly shouting into the mic, “Bushmaster 6, this is 1-6! Red Alert! I repeat! Red Alert! Contact made with Airborne bogies! Send the Red Alert! Over!”

               Though there was a relief that came over the camp, Ken was still not fully at ease. Though he felt confident that the creatures had retreated, he still felt something was amiss. He still felt as though eyes were watching them from the shadowy forest.

               Meanwhile, 2500 miles Northeast at the Ogasawara reserve, the sun was breaking over the horizon to the east. In the barracks on the main island, where the Termination Division was on standby, the men and women of Moguera squadron were just stirring in their bunks. One bunk, however, was already empty and made.

               On the other side of the compound, a lone soldier was working out in the gym. A 300lb deadlift bar bounced up and down on the ground. The lone soldier had done 25 reps at that point. His red and black PT uniform was drenched in sweat. His normally spikey, short hair was lying flat on his scalp from the heat and perspiration. It was the owner of the empty bunk, Goro Kuroki.

               After catching his breath for 30 seconds, Goro did five more reps. With every subsequent deadlift, there was more strain on his muscles, more burn, more pain. After completing the fifth one, he walked over to a chin-up bar and snatched up a towel he had left hanging on it. He padded his arms and then his face with the cloth.

               While clearing the sweat from his face and scalp, a voice called out to him, “Early start again, I see.”

               Before his hands dropped down, he knew right away who it was. Surely enough, he lowered the towel to see Captain Shaw standing before him.

               “If I’m to be the lead pilot, then I need to be the first at everything.” Goro said.

               “It’s more than a desire to be first at everything.” Shaw said. “You have a lot of anger built up, Kuroki.”

               “Is that a bad thing in this line of work?” Goro asked before starting to do pull ups.

               “Not when it’s as bad as yours.” Shaw answered.

               “I have my ways of dealing with it, Captain.” Goro said between two pull-ups.

               “You use it as fuel.” Shaw observed. “That’s good. However, even that isn’t good enough. You have too much fuel for the tank and instead of keeping some in reserve you’re just doing nothing but letting the engine run constantly.”

               “If the engine’s always running,” Goro said hopping down after doing 15 pull-ups, “Then it's always ready to go.”

               “It could also cause it to go over its mileage, prevent you from doing necessary maintenance, and even become a fire hazard.” Shaw retaliated. “You need to learn to chill every now and then, Lieutenant. It’s not just you that you’re fighting for nor with. You’ve been here for a week, and outside of myself, you haven’t interacted with anyone in the squadron.”

               “I understand, sir.” Kuroki replied. “I mean no disrespect. With us on standby, I just want to be ready for the Red Alert when it comes.”

               “Being ready means more than locking yourself in the training simulator and the gym 16 hours a day. On the battlefield, having a level of comradery with the squadron is as much a deciding factor in the heat of battle as your own individual prowess.”

               Kuroki calmed down a little and considered what the Captain was saying. He was about to open his mouth to say something further when suddenly the speaker system buzzed.

               “Attention, attention.” The voice said over the system. “Red Alert. Moguera Squadron, begin prepping for mobilization. I repeat, Red Alert. Moguera Squadron, begin prepping for mobilization.”

               “Well,” Shaw said, “You heard the man. Get your shit together and let’s get ready to take off.”

               “Roger, sir.” Kuroki said gathering his things together.