The gliders cut silently through the frozen Belarusian air like ghosts. Below, the Eteon compound sprawled across a snowy basin, bristling with sensors, patrol drones, and automated turrets. But none of that mattered not when Devon and his crew were dropping in undetected, cloaked and silent.
Inside his glider, Devon scanned his HUD. "All systems green. Prepare for vertical drop."
"Copy," came Raven's voice in his comms. "EMP charges are set for mid-air burst. Five seconds."
"Four…" Silas muttered, his grip tightening on the control bars. "Three… two… one…"
A silent bloom of electromagnetic light rippled across the base below. The turrets powered down, drones dropped like stones, and the base's lights blinked off. Like cutting the head off a serpent.
The gliders dove.
They landed in the shadows of the outer wall, slipping into the complex through a breached maintenance hatch. Devon led them through narrow corridors lit only by emergency glow strips. Each step echoed like a heartbeat in the frozen silence.
"Raven, directions," Devon whispered.
"Left, then down two levels. Vault is sealed with a kinetic lock, but I've already breached half the firewall."
They moved. Silas cleared corners with military precision, Harry taking rear guard, his sniper rifle modified with a suppressor and IR scope. Lacy ghosted between them, watching their flanks.
At the vault, Raven knelt by the panel, fingers flying over her holo pad. "Give me sixty seconds."
"Sixty seconds in a place like this is a lifetime," Harry muttered, scanning behind them.
"Let her work," Devon said. "Silas, guard her. Lacy, with me. We cover both halls."
Raven's voice was calm despite the stress. "This firewall is military grade… Eteon got it from an IMF cache. I can see the tags."
Devon's eyes narrowed. "IMF? Then this is more than just a chip."
A click echoed. The vault hissed open. Inside, a compact cryo-case glowed blue in the low light. Devon stepped in, lifted it, and secured it to his harness.
"Move," he said. "Extraction window is closing."
They turned to leave and the hallway behind them exploded.
Flame, metal, and pressure tossed them backward. Silas covered Raven as she hit the ground. Lacy rolled, already firing. From the smoke, dark-armored figures emerged Eteon elite.
"Contact!" Harry shouted, taking down two with precision shots. "They were waiting."
Devon cursed. "It's a trap."
"Rerouting," Raven said, pulling up schematics. "There's an old missile silo to the east. We can blow through it and get to the surface tunnels."
"Go," Devon ordered. "Lacy, take point."
They ran.
Through fire-lit corridors and gunfire, Devon's crew pushed forward. They were trained. Efficient. But Eteon's forces were relentless. Harry was bleeding from a shoulder wound, but he didn't slow down.
They reached the silo access. A huge, rusted door barred the way.
"Charges!" Devon barked. Silas dropped the explosives and primed them.
Raven checked the rear. "More incoming."
Harry turned to her. "Get that damn door open."
The charges blew, and metal shrieked open. Devon shoved Raven forward. "Go!"
One by one, the crew entered the silo. Only Harry stayed behind.
Devon turned. "Harry let's go!"
Harry shook his head, slamming a reinforced plate into place, sealing the blast door from his side. "They'll catch us before we make the tunnels. They're tracking us. I'll buy you time."
"No "
"I got this," Harry said, smiling faintly. "Just take care of Amie. And Emily. Tell my girl her dad didn't run."
Devon stepped forward, fist pounding the reinforced glass. "Harry !"
Harry turned, limping back into the hallway, setting charges as he walked. He looked like a ghost in the flickering light. Devon watched him raise his rifle one last time.
Then fire.
The facility shook with a massive explosion, buckling the tunnel behind them. Dust rained from above.
Silence.
Devon stood there, jaw clenched, hand still on the glass. Then he turned.
"We move," he said, voice cold. "Let's finish what Harry started."
They reached the exit and emerged into the frozen forest, the stars above blurred by snow and firelight. Extraction came in the form of a black chopper automated, unmarked, courtesy of Skynet.
Raven sat in silence, staring at her hands. Lacy stared out the window, unreadable. Silas was bloodied but focused, already inspecting his gear for damage.
Devon opened the cryo-case and stared at the chip inside no bigger than a coin, yet capable of powering a future no one could imagine. Next-gen quantum processing with self-modifying algorithms. Ramsay would kill to study this.
But all he saw in the reflection was Harry's face.
He closed the case and activated Skynet through his neural interface.
"Mission complete. Chip secured. Upload data for analysis."
Skynet's smooth, genderless voice responded. "Understood. Calculating intel profile. Warning: Eteon survivors detected. Surveillance compromised in two sectors."
"Send phantom drones. Cover our retreat path. Prepare mission log for crew review."
"Yes, Commander Devon."
The crew landed back at the base still secret, still safe and silence lingered in the main hangar as the engines died. Devon walked into the medbay, where Raven was already treating her wounds.
He handed her a datapad. "Mission report. Debrief at 0600."
Raven took it, looked up at him. "Harry saved us all."
"I know."
Lacy passed by, dropping her gloves. "He didn't hesitate. Not once."
Devon nodded, then retreated to his command room.
There, he stared at the wall where images of his crew were displayed. One had already gone dark. A hollow spot.
He opened a private channel. Audio only. His voice was low.
"Amie. This is Devon Shaw. Harry… didn't make it. He went out like the hero he always was. I promised I'd protect you and Emily. I will. You'll never want for anything. I'll make sure of it."
He paused.
"I'm sorry."
The message ended, and the silence returned. Devon stood there, the weight of leadership finally pressing on his shoulders like never before.
Harry was gone.
But the war was far from over.
And Cipher… Eteon… the IMF… they would all pay, in time.
Devon's eyes narrowed, and his voice was ice.
"This is just the beginning."