Interstellar Age

After confirming the plan which Tia had come up with, Erich then plot a course back to the bunker he had first visited when he initially landed on this moon. The trek was perilous, as he was forced to avoid patrols of Star Marines the entire time. But he made sure not to leave a single trace of his journey. After all, the WRAITHs had been tracking him based upon the impact he left on his environment. 

Erich was so soft footed in his return to the bunker that he had not even left a single footprint behind, often traveling through the thick trees, whose canopy blocked out the sun, rather than walking on foot. 

When he finally arrived at his destination, he was not surprised to see that it was heavily fortified. There were at least five hundred marines protecting the bunker complex from a possible infiltration. After getting his hands on a set of stealth power armor, Mirage appeared to have been alerted to the possibility of an attack, and thus she used every method she could think of to prevent Erich from getting to her.

From motion tracking cameras to laser grids that could detect life, everything that could used to prevent Erich from infiltrating the bunker had been established in one large FOB just outside the bunker’s entrance. 

And while the active camouflage that Erich made use of was an amazing asset, it was not infallible, especially against those who made preparations to protect against it. The moment Tia scanned the area, she cried out in dismay, realizing that her plan had been seen through. 

“Oh noes! Master, the Operations Commander, must have seen through your plan to infiltrate the facility. From the looks of it, your active camouflage is not going to be as helpful as we initially thought!”

Erich, however, was not nearly as concerned as Tia. After all, he had the ability to control machines with his mind. All he needed to do was get in a certain vicinity of these trackers and detectors, and he could easily misguide their efforts. Thus, he was quick to assure the artificial intelligence that the plan was still likely to succeed. 

“Don’t worry, Tia, I can handle it. Just make sure to watch my six for me, and I will handle everything else.”𝑜𝐯𝓁xt.𝑐𝑶𝓂

Tia nodded her head silently in agreement with her master’s words, before doing exactly as she was told. As for Erich, he began to covertly descend from the cliff he was standing on, making sure not to disrupt the rocks beneath his feet as he did so. For if he did, his plan would be ruined from the start. 

However, despite having an insane amount of agility, stamina, and endurance, Erich did not dare jump from the cliff, not because he would be injured, but because the moment he landed, it would send out a loud echo across the area. 

Thus, he skilfully climbed down from the cliff’s side, before approaching the first barrier of the bunker’s defenses. This was a simple enough gatehouse, one which could easily detect an infiltration attempt.

Or so it normally would be able to, but Erich simply accessed the scanner with his mind, and temporarily disabled it, as he walked through the entrance, and right past the guards who stood by waiting for any sign of an attempted attack. 

Once inside the main gate, Erich sent his cyberkinesis ability into overdrive, hijacking every camera, every motion sensor, and any other device that was designed to detect his infiltration. His methods of disabling each one, without alerting the complex, were different, and because of this, it was a constant strain on his mental strength. But he managed to do so long enough to approach the bunker’s entrance, which was sealed shut. 

Naturally, he could not just walk through the front door. That would alert everyone to his presence, especially if the doors suddenly opened and nobody was visible. That was asking to get riddled full of plasma. Thus, Erich immediately surveyed the area and found access to an air vent on the cliffs above. 

With this in mind, he began to climb the large cliff with his bare hands, as he slowly and covertly made his way up to the hidden air vent, which he quickly and silently pried open once he was in front of it. It took quite a bit of effort for Erich to squeeze through the air vent, but after moving his body in an incredibly unnatural way, he made it into the hatch. Where he realized that the way down was practically like a chute, rather than an air vent. 

Regardless, Erich would have to make his way down, and thus, he activated a feature of his power armor, which magnetically attached the heel of his boots to the metallic surface of what was essentially one long slide. This allowed him to slowly and stably walk down the curve surface, but most importantly, it made his approach completely silent. 

After descending through the massive air vent, which took longer than Erich would have liked, he finally entered the bunker complex. Where he used his brief memories of the place to track down the commander center, where undoubtedly Mirage was currently standing at, looking for Erich across the moon’s surface. 

As Erich entered the room, he noticed he was right on the money. Of course, Mirage was not alone. There were several other intelligence agents standing there monitoring screens. If Erich wanted to eliminate the woman, he would have to wait until she was alone. Thus, he stood silently in a corner of the room and waited for what seemed like hours. 

—

Mirage carefully monitored the holographic projections which were transmitted back to her command room via the cameras in the field, which were attached to every vehicle and every set of power armor. The WRAITHs were currently at Erich’s last campsite, looking through the remains of what they had left behind.

Which was perfect timing for Erich, as it gave Mirage something to get excited over. Erich could hear the voices of the other WRAITHs come from the projection as they informed their Operations Commander about what they found. 

“Looks like he was here, and just recently, too. I’d say he’s been gone for at least a few hours. It’s the damndest thing though, I don’t see any trail to speak of. Almost as if he just simply disappeared from the planet!”

Mirage furrowed her brows when she heard this. It sounded like the man was making excuses, but she was not in the mood to lash out at him at the moment. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily as she gave out her next orders. 

“Just keep looking. He couldn’t have gotten far! Oh shit, everybody out now!” 

Immediately, the intelligence agents cleared the room, leaving Mirage alone with Erich. And just when Erich was about to strike, Mirage accepted a call from none other than Supreme Leader Alaric au Emrys himself. 

The figure of the supreme leader filled on the screen as he had a smug smile on his face, before saying the words which Mirage did not want to hear. 

“So, you still have not found him yet? I dare say there is less than a month left at this point. Do you really think that you can find and eliminate your target by then?” 

Mirage was clearly perturbed by this remark, because she immediately lashed out at her superior in an act of careless rage. 

“We almost have him. I’ll have you know, we are already on his trail! It will be only a matter of hours before he is dead!”

However, in the very next moment, Mirage felt something very cold wrap around her neck, and something very pointy pressed against her lower back. In the next moment, Erich deactivated his active camouflaged to reveal his full figure. If Mirage could see the look on his face, which was concealed by the solid black visor of his helmet, it would be one of pure sadistic joy, as he whispered his next words into her ears. 

“Are you sure about that?”

However, before Mirage could respond, Erich placed the palm of his hand over her mouth and stabbed her repeatedly in the kidneys with his combat knife. Mirage could not even scream in agony as her life quickly faded from her body. He was then left face to face with the man who had orchestrated this whole scenario. 

There was much that Erich wanted to say, but Emrys simply smiled and let out a single piece of advice before hanging up entirely. 

“Oh, by all means, don’t stop on my account. You have a very limited window if you wish to succeed. I suggest you get a move on, but do make sure to hide the body first. After all, if someone were to come across it, well, that would be very bad for you, now wouldn’t it?” 

Erich only responded with a silent salute before doing as Emrys had warned him. He quickly disposed of Mirage’s body by hiding it away in a crate full of rations. This would not buy him much time, but it would be enough for him to finish the job of destroying this bunker and escaping on board a shuttle. 

As for Mirage, when she was finally resurrected on another world, she would be absolutely livid that Erich had gotten the better of her for the second time.