Sphereberrant: Rules of War Part 2

Makemba vomited, then winced and rinsed her mouth out with warm water from the bottle. A strong hand descended on her shoulder and she looked back at her team leader, Manual Escobar squeezed gently. "It's ok."

"It's not... I..." She shook her head, then realized her mistake and vomited again. She was sick, sick and disgusted with what they'd done."

"Sweet Mary." Manual muttered "Doc! Get over here."

Paul, the teams Aesculpians doctor moved over and sat down before Makemba and then raised a hand, glowing slightly with noetic forces to her head. Instantly the teleporter felt better. "This environment is poisoning us. I don't know how those people lived here."

Makemba shivered "It's not just this place. I... I saw that girl's face." She squeezed her eyes shut. Paul looked down himself, then back at the rest of the time and their support unit of Project Proteus agents kneeling in a single line in the bushes.

"Makemba, there was nothing else we could do for them. A quick death is way better than what would have happened to them if the aberrant's cells had continued to gestate."

"I know but..." Makemba winced "They were just kids for god's sake."

"Ok, just take a moment, drink some water." Paul and the other psions pulled back to give Makemba space and she heard them talking in low voices, then Manual approached again.

"Makemba, you're mission critical you know. We really need you to be."

"So have Fan Jie do her thing and take away the emotional weight of it. That was what you were discussing wasn't it?" Makemba glared at him "I'll even give my consent."

Manual sighed, then looked at the Chinese woman, the group's telepath who nodded. Makemba felt a weight on her thoughts and then . . . She blinked slightly, wondering why she'd been feeling so terrible. "Alright, that was easy enough. We should keep following the trail before it goes cold."

"And keep your helmets shut from now on." Paul ordered "This place is entirely covered in poison and way too hot."

"It's pretty amazing people even live here." The team's electrokinetic, Lora Rowen looked around "That's some serious genetic engineering."

"Not as serious as ours." Manual looked down at the lightning gun she was carrying. "Come on, let's get moving." The team set off again.

As they walked, Manual felt a touch on his mind and Fan Jie spoke. So the one person who can get us back is squeamish. She observed acidly This mission is really wonderful Manual, and I'm so glad you bought me into it.

Believe me, if I could I'd have bought a company of Assault VARGs. Manual looked up at the rain soaked canopy overhead I'm sorry Jie, but I needed the best, and you're it.

If I don't make it back, you can tell my Husband and children that..." she looked at him If you make it back that is.

I'm the one carrying the SADM, so chances are I'm going to be the one to stay if anyone does, this time though, I'm going to get everyone home.

You know promises like that don't work out. Fan Jie's mental voice became gentler.

The team's seventh member had stopped, frowning "I think we should be careful up ahead." The ISRA psion frowned "We're going to get ambushed I think, and it's going to draw attention." Asuman Yılmaz had always seemed slightly stoned to Manual, as if he wasn't quite sure where he was.

"Attention from what? The Aberrant?" Emma Gregs, the big legion woman who was walking point looked back, adjusting the strap on her heavy cannon slightly nervously. She and the teleporter were the two Manual hadn't worked with before, she came highly recommended but he wasn't sure.

"No. I think something else. Dangerous though... LOOK OUT!" Gregs and the commandos hurled themselves flat at the words as a long tentacle slashed over their heads, bushes and saplings erupting into bits, clean cut.

Gregs began firing, her cannon rapidly cycling explosive and armour piercing rounds down range "Is it the aberrant?" The area ahead was hard to see through, so hot and wet that thermal was all but useless and gloomy under the canopy. The micro-UAV they had couldn't see much more than thrashing in the canopy.

Manual changed the way his eyes work, also hugging the ground and firing, trying to find a target, he blinked, for an instant not believing what he was seeing, one of the massive local ferns had changed into some kind of a nightmare, huge long tentacles waving skywards, great jaws opening on three sides as it shambled forwards. "It's not the aberrant! It's a fucking tree! It infested a tree!" getting over his shock he aimed his rifle at the target and switched on the designator "Designated!"

The Proteus commandos were shooting too, coil guns and squad support weapons thumping, doing further damage to the forest. "Deploy! Section A flank! Section B cover!" yelled their squad leader "Choi! Get your launcher up!"

The Proteus commando rose to a crouch, balancing her launcher and fired down the rocket down range, then ducked back down, not bothering to keep the fire and forget launcher centred. Manual looked on in amazement as the tree jumped to one side, avoiding a direct impact even as the missile lunged after it. There was a massive explosion and fragments scythed through the jungle.

The tree howled and then charged, tentacles slashing towards the heavily armoured commandos. Gregs dropped her cannon and met it half way. A tentacle leapt towards her and her fist glowed as she pounded it aside, not catching it, for to lose use of a limb would have been fatal. Another limb whirled towards the back of her combat armour and deflected off the shimmering psychokinetic field around her... and then she struck, fist slamming into the creature with a massive boom sound. Chips of infested wood exploded backwards as she ripped the tree in half. For a second she stood, triumphant... and then was hurled off her feet by a thrashing tentacle.

"It's still alive! How is it still fucking alive?" Gregs roared, grabbing the tentacle around her and trying to yank it off even as more hurtled in towards her. She looked at them and they burned away.

"It's not a single being! It's a colony of cells! You need to burn it or blast it!" Paul yelled, moving towards the thing, firing as he went. The other part reared up again and most of the rest of the team unloaded into it, incendiary rounds and lightning gun blasts striking it again and again. It tried to rise, then collapsed, burning.

"Right. Burn" Gregs snarled and the fire on the limbs on her began rapidly to spread towards the main body. The tree thing's top half began to scream as smoke poured out of its mouths, and began to burn fiercely. Gregs rose "Do you think maybe next time we can get a little more warning than that?" She looked over at Asuman, panting slightly.

"Uh, I'll see what I can do I guess." He looked slightly sheepish under his helmet.

"No time for chit chat now." Manual looked at the sky. "If there is someone else out there, we just gave them our position. Move with a purpose people. I want to find that aberrant and be gone before whatever the hell local authorities this universe has turns up."

The team moved forward again, through the bushes, and Manual noticed it was becoming lighter ahead. They reached the edge of the forest, and looked both ways "Well shit Sir." The proteus commando leader, a muscular British Woman named Mary said "It's a fucking road."

"Let's just hope our aberrant hasn't hitch hiked." muttered Gregs.

Manual certainly hoped not.