1:4:9 Reclamation (Part 1)

Turbulent. The KADS had deposited them in high orbit above the Johned base but the nebula’s gasses had made the journey anything but smooth. The Destiny rocked and shook as it re-entered regular space, turning the stomachs of most of its crew. Aloe and Ace rode the shock-waves like expert surfers, affected at first but they adapted quickly, while the rest of the clones battled not to be thrown against the bulkheads too hard. Strangely, of the others, it was only Magpie who had thought to buckle himself in before they set off. The ship settled and the clones picked themselves up from the floor.
“Everyone okay?” Ace made their way to the middle of the cargo bay. “Destiny, can you start scanning Johned to see if anything’s changed?”
“Doing it now boss.” Destiny called over the speakers. “New holomap is available when you want it. I’ve got something else coming through too but I’m not sure what yet. Give it to you when I’ve cleaned it up.”
Ace stepped aside and activated the holo-grid. The old map of the campus was slowly replaced with its newer version. The outer campus mostly remained the same, windows blown out and some damage to the outer walls but The Slingshot itself seemed to have been rebuilt since their last scan. “Okay so Lore and Char have had an impact. We’ve still got the same number of life signs as before but at least they’ve not changed that.”
Aloe span the map. “We’ve got a clear entry point there.” She pointed to a gateway in the campus wall that led straight into the courtyard. “Could be worth a look. It’d be risky but much quicker.”
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” Destiny’s face came out of the map. “Just got a garbled message from Char. Most of it was gone but it mentioned that gap and traps so perhaps give it a miss.” She retreated into the campus.
“Okay then… We’ll not go in that way.” Aloe threw up her arms.
Ace circled the campus. “Well…” They squinted at the map and viewed it from multiple angles before they stopped. They mumbled to themselves as they did but nothing came of it.
“That window there.” Magpie stood up and pointed at a window about ten metres from the main entrance. The whole room looked at him. Even with their helmets on, he could tell that they all looked confused. “It’s the quickest way to the courtyard without touching the main entrance or that tunnel thing.”
Ace double checked his route. “That… Might work… I think we’d be better off splitting into two teams. A recon group and an over watch team.”
“And I wonder who will be going where…” Magpie rolled his eyes sarcastically.
“Actually, I want you to lead the over watch team. You, Blindside, Midpoint and Edge will stay outside and cover us as we breach the campus. Once we’re in, you can push forward.” Ace turned to the others. “Aloe, you, Curve and Outlier are with me. We’ll press in, find whatever device is causing the nebula and disable it.” They paused. “Ready?”
“Hey!” Destiny extruded herself from a vent in the ceiling and gracefully landed on the floor. “What about me?”
“We’re going to need someone to bring the heavy firepower should things go wrong.” Ace smiled. “They hopefully won’t but I’d still feel safer knowing that I can call for air support should we need it.”
Destiny looked at them confused. “You do realise that my cannons, even on their lowest setting, were designed to attack starships not buildings… I fire that and, if you’re not careful, you’ll need more air support than I can offer.”
“We’ll be fine, trust me.” They grabbed their pistols from their holsters. “Is everyone ready now?”
“Ready!” They all said in unison.
Ace nodded. “Well then Destiny, take us in.”

The nebula’s gasses grew slightly thinner as they neared the planet’s surface but not enough that it was safe for the majority of the clones to leave the ship without a helmet. Aloe seemed all too nonchalant about the toxic compound of gas and suspended particulates that awaited her while Ace and their siblings were triple checking the seals on their helmets and replacing the filters just in case. She just watched them, smiling.
“You know you really don’t need that.” She chuckled.
Ace’s look of confusion nearly broke through their helmet. “Just because I can adapt, doesn’t mean I want to. My lungs might adapt to the amount of stuff in the air out there but I doubt my eyes can do a better job than my helmet.”
Aloe thought for a moment. “Good point.” She, reluctantly, removed her helmet disk from her belt, expanded it then put it on. She didn’t bother to check the seals however. “What? The others need the filters more than we do.”
Destiny touched down and lowered the cargo bay door. Magpie led the first group of clones out and took a position behind a nearby ridge as they started their scans of the region. Rifles at the ready, they scoured the landscape for the life signs they were expecting but also anything that either didn’t match their orbital scans. It didn’t take them long to find something.
“Magpie to Ace. We’ve got a slight problem. Those stationary blips appear to be inactive mech units. They look to be bigger than a person but smaller that a tank.” Magpie’s voice crackled over their comms.
“And what’s the problem there?” Ace responded.
“Oh, it’s the fact that the base is crawling in people.” Magpie responded jovially.
“Could you repeat that please?” Ace pushed their comm unit further into their ear to ensure they heard properly.
“There are Protectorate soldiers walking around the base.” He shouted one word at a time. “We could pick a few off to clear you a landing pad but you’ll have to do the rest.” Magpie levelled his rifle and drew a bead on what he presumed was the commander of the unit’s head. “Engaging target.” He pulled his trigger. Due to the density of the atmosphere around them, the shot lost some of its power, cleaning a trail of air between him and his target but it still managed to penetrate the officer’s helmet. He quickly lined up another shot, firing when ready. Midpoint and Edge had no idea what Magpie and Blindside were firing at until their enemy started their approach. As they should have expected, the soldiers weren’t too interested in them but rather The Destiny as it rapidly closed the gap between the over watch team and the campus. Magpie raised his hand and signalled for them to move forward; Edge and Midpoint’s weapons whirred as they charged and readied themselves for firing. They ran deeper into the fog, following the trail of clearer air created by The Destiny’s engines and as they did, they realised the problem was slightly larger than they had initially expected.
“Ambush!” Magpie yelled into his helmet’s microphone. He threw his rifle onto his back and resorted to his back up pistol. Even without a scope, he was just as deadly but there was something about the soldiers that irked him. A tiny detail that made them seem… Wrong. After his seventeenth consecutive head-shot, it twigged in his head. “They’re not dying.” Half of the soldiers kept following The Destiny while the other half had been attracted by Magpie’s unit’s assault. Midpoint and Edge advanced, mowing a path clear ahead of them but, with each breather their weapons took to cool down, the once downed found their footing once again. As they came closer to The Protectorate soldiers, they found many of them rejected their weapons and decided to fight with their bare hands. Drawing in closer, this gave the clones a closer look at the bulk of The Protectorate’s army and, in doing so, the something Magpie found amiss became clearer; while they appeared to be human soldiers, they were as far from it as they could be. Silicone flesh sloughed off of their metal faces; ceramic plating, tarnished by the nebula’s gasses hid below; damaged circuitry was visible to the clones eyes through the holes they had created in the abomination’s armour. They knew not what they were firing at, just that whatever they were, they weren’t human and they didn’t care about how they got their job done. The clones continued firing on their opponents heads until, a chance shot cut into one of the soldier’s necks; frenzied, the soldier broke formation and started attacking its comrades. It tore and swiped, embedding the pistol in its hand into its first target as it unleashed a metallic roar. The clones took a step back, allowing the turncoat to do their job for them.
“What the hel is going on?” Midpoint turned to his siblings.
“Haven’t a clue.” Magpie shook his head. “Just accept it.”