Chapter 6 - A Sentinel In Silence

A military red alert had been suddenly issued all over the moon base and PK-170 planet a few minutes ago. Immediately afterwards an emergency was declared over the moon base. The festive atmosphere that prevailed all morning had suddenly been replaced by a grim tone.

For the past two days, Salazar had been at the PK-170 military base disguised as a new private recruit. Since, Balthazar had contacted his grandfather, a bunch of people began to move in the shadows. Once, Salazar used to work for Balthazar's father, John Blyth, now he works under Max's father, Walter Blyth. Salazar owes a life debt to John and was his confidant. He became one of the Blyth family's secret members. He was one among the few who was not a Blyth, but cared about Balthazar. When, Balthazar left asklepian, he promised Walter that he wouldn't set foot in asklepian until Walter himself contacts him. Walter taught Bel many things after John's death and knew Balthazar wasn't one to break his promises for no good reason. When Walter came to know about Balthazar's message, he could only assume that he was in some kind of danger and Salazar was sent to PK-170 among a bunch of about 50 recruits on an interplanetary exchange program.

Entering a military base filled with fighters was almost a suicide mission for an assassin, especially if one's target is the someone like Balthazar. Balthazar was almost always surrounded by many personnel. Impersonating a recruit new to the base was the best kind of disguise an assassin like himself could ask for. He wouldn't be judged on losing his way in the base and he could also request and enter a few restricted areas portraying the attitude of diligent recruit interested in operations of the personnel. This allowed him to silently eke out the location of Balthazar most of the time without standing out.

The same disguise allowed him to get onto the moon base today. Many personnel from PK-170 went to the moon base to take part in the festivities and Salazar managed to get aboard one of the shuttles to the moon. When the emergency was declared, the situation at the base rapidly changed. All the regular personnel dashed to man their respective posts and the visitors either found their way to secure bunkers or found their way to the hangars to participate in the war.

As soon as the emergency was issued, Salazar messaged Walter of the situation and found his way to the largest hangar and docking station along with the rest of the recruits. By the time he reached the hangar, a fleet of about 30 warsh.i.p.s just took off.

"Anyone who is not a personnel posted on this base, please don't involve board any ship or shuttle. This is an emergency, any ship or shuttle which doesn't belong to the military flying above 2000 ft of surface level would be considered a hostile air craft during this time and the turret guns at the top of the buildings would auto target and shoot them out of the air," sounded a voice from the speakers.

"Any military personnel who are visitors can either seek refugee or can request for land-based combat weapons, warframes and support our efforts. Our personnel at the west end of the hangar, near the supply station would allot you the associated tools and co-ordinate you efforts. Kindly don't try to go air-born as it will be extremely dangerous and also hamper our efforts," continued the same voice. This was kept repeating for a few times before it stopped.

Hearing the message, Salazar with his group of recruits decided to join the resistance against the apes and went ahead to the supply station. The lieutenant charged with allotting and co-coordinating their efforts was at a table busy with a bunch of papers and computer.

"Kindly write your name, designation, technical skills and experience in less than 50 words and submit it. Once we verify your identity, we will allocate you firearms and commandeer your services as necessary," said a fully armed and armored soldier handing out leaflets. "Need mechanics urgently. If any person has experience in spacecraft maintenance and repair could immediately verify their identity and please stand to that side. You will soon be guided by one of our personnel," he continued.

Being a bunch of new recruits sent recently to the moon, they could only provide their identity and provide it. "Let them reinforce the hangar guards and our personnel here, we will be able to spare some of our men to other places," he thought. Being a veteran who always was on the frontier for the past 4 years, he felt that his men could be of more use than babysitting a bunch of volunteers. He immediately assigned a few of them to verify the identities of the volunteers and others to guard around the hangar.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PK-170-B command centre:

"Location of Lt. Col. Chang?" asked Balthazar to Daisuke.

"He was at the supply station by the hangar 1, Sir. On his way here," replied Daisuke.

"No need. Direct him to the hangar. We recently brought a vanguard battleship to the hangar from the planet for the showcase today. Let him commandeer the vessel. It will provide great advantage against the aliens. They seem to have a similar vessel in their armada. Have the rest of his battalion board the destroyers and commence attack," ordered Balthazar.

"Lt. Col. Jane has also come to the moon with me. Have her assist in securing the merchant vessel at the dock. A merchant vessel like that escaping such a large alien armada is extremely unconventional. There is a good chance that the armada managed to somehow reach very close to our territory. We need to know everything about them. Have Jane secure and detain them near the merchant ship in the hangar. Don't let them out of the docking station. Once, the situation has settled down a bit, I will also join the interrogation. The faster we would be able to counter-attack and patch any security issues we overlooked. We have several dignitaries and other higher officials we need to explain how this happened. Inform the rest of the military on the planet and Major General, Brixton also be aware of the incident," continued Balthazar.

"Yes Sir, as you said we need to provide them with an explanation. Also they have brought many personnel along with them to provide them security. They have been contacting us and insisting that their men and sh.i.p.s support us in safeguarding the moon. These forces alone could add on a fleet of 30-40 sh.i.p.s on our side. I would suggest we send them to support and co-ordinate with Lt. Col. Chang Biming," suggested Daisuke.

"Fine," said Balthazar. "Make note of all the personnel and let them join our efforts. Inform Lt. Col. Sophia to immediately prepare available forces from the planet to support Daisuke. Enable the shield-fire protocol to bolster our defence and announce that any non-military vessel will be fired upon. As we are including other personnel, let us also ask for volunteers from the visitors. It is best that we co-ordinate them than have random incidents. This would also enable our forces involved in repair, rescue and other operations on the surface."

"Volunteers? Sir, asking for volunteer would put our reputation at stake. We have more than enough to defend the moon. It is unnecessary to take such drastic measures. Shouldn't we reconsider this?" asked Daisuke.

"No. It is best we ask for volunteers. The intent of this base is not just to establish a secure relay point but also to increase the alliance interstellar territories further. The enemies have trapped themselves trying to attack us here. We can defend the base for sure. But, we need to seize this chance. Moreover, our requests for reinforcements have always been delayed. An ask for volunteers would emphasize our cause and hopefully they would take our requests much more seriously," replied Balthazar. "As for repute among the rest of the alliance force. HAHAHA. I have been a colonel for only 4 months and it is my first time commanding a force of this size. I know many consider me to be inept and young. Our achievements today would speak for us. I care for my personnel and the safeguarding our territory not the my reputation. I have take under consideration your concerns and it would be noted, but relay the request for volunteers as my command."

The battle at the moon which was supposed to be disadvantageous to the alliance forces from the start didn't go as planned. The alien forces which expected a mild resistance were bombarded by the citadel from the start and had great casualties. They couldn't get near the moon, being incinerated by the intense firepower of the various interstellar cannons and bombardment weapons affixed on the moon. They could only retreat in defeat but their return was being covered by the fleet from the moon and this hampered their safe return. Also these were only the forces from the moon. They would soon be reinforced by the fleet from the planet.

Meanwhile, at the hangar, Jane led a squadron and managed to secure the merchant vessel. The vessel had a lot of holes, burn marks and was hardly operational and many of the passengers had been dead. It had all the signs of a vessel that had been ambushed by an alien fleet. But, Jane knew better. She was informed by Rowley that there were assassins stationed as passengers on the vessel and also on the hangar. Nothing went as she expected. The alien forces were being easily routed and the merchant vessel was secured and detained and Balthazar was coming to the hangar to interrogate them.

She quietly messaged Raymond Rowley for further instructions. Their plan had failed miserably. Raymond was currently seated in a hotel room in city K4 on planet PK-170. He couldn't understand how the alien forces failed so miserably in the attack. It looked like the alliance forces were attacking a stray alien armada rather than the apes attacking the moon. Somehow, the detection and targeting systems on the moon perfectly identified the alien armada and rained fire on it. Right now, the only thing that could salvage this mission was Balthazar's death.

He quickly messaged back to Jane. "Don't let the men on the ship be injured or tortured right now and wait for Balthazar to come to the hangar. There my men will handle him and make it look like he died in an accidental explosion. Just make sure you get out when it is time."

Immediately after that he turned to Dave. "The only reason the alien invasion would fail would be because somehow the systems worked. There is a high chance that she is either compromised or that she wasn't with us from the beginning. Either way it is best, we have her also handled," he said to Dave.

"I agree. I will inform them to make Jane's death look like an accident too. It won't be much of an issue," agreed Dave.

Dave immediately messaged the assassins to inform that Jane is a secondary target along with merchant ship's passengers and it is best to blow them all up.

A few minutes later Raymond received a message from Jane informing him Balthazar's arrival at the hangar which was also confirmed by the assassins he deployed. "Maybe we judged her too quickly. She is still diligently updating us," he asked Dave.

"I informed them to consider Jane secondary target and to kill her, if the opportunity should arise. I won't change that there is not much advantage in keeping her alive. She is of not further use to us and this will remain as such," replied Dave.

Meanwhile, at the hangar, Salazar who was in guard and patrolling over the hangar heard that the merchant vessel in ruins which managed to escape the armada was docked at the hangar and detained. It was announced that although the red alert wasn't lifted, the invasion was successfully averted and the state of emergency has been lifted and that all volunteers could either help in the handling the wreckage and rescue efforts on the moon. Once, it is confirmed that there are no foreign forces by the military, the ban on the space travel from moon would be lifted and the visitors would be free to travel back to the planet or anywhere they desire. There was a rumor going around that they were about to identify information about the attack from the merchant vessel and plan a counter-attack on the alien forces and that the colonel in charge of the moon is going to personally interrogate the crew of the vessel.

"A suicidal attack by the ape forces on such a strongly fortified citadel followed by a colonel personally interrogating a couple of refugees?" wondered Salazar. "There is definitely something peculiar afoot. I need to get near the merchant vessel. I might finally be able to find out something about all this mess." Since, he arrived on the planet two days ago, he couldn't get close to Balthazar nor could he get a hint of what he was supposedly involved in. Balthazar kept everything secret and suddenly today, they were fighting an invasion. It never felt good to be in a mission without any information. At last, he got a chance to find out something after the past two days.

Salazar quietly managed to get into the hangar till he could see the merchant vessel along with a group of personnel guarding the hangar. He sneaked behind a crate of mechanic boxes and crouched behind them. He had a clear view of most of the crew being held near their ship and interrogated on how they came into contact with the alien forces and the military personnel were checking the ship. The captain of the vessel along with a few of his men were seated a bit further away from the ship and being interrogated separately by another group headed by Jane.

After a few minutes later, the ship was thoroughly examined and an all clear was given. After that a few more personnel entering the docking station of the hangar. They went past him towards the ship. Salazar quickly noticed Balthazar among them and that they were directly headed towards the captain. He quickly pulled out a head gear and mechanic box from the crates and also silently followed behind them towards the direction of the ship. As soon as he neared the ship, Jane sent the signal forward that the Balthazar was in place.

"BOOM!"

The shock of the explosion blew one of soldiers onto Salazar. His vision went in and out of focus for a couple of seconds before he regained it. He noticed that he was beneath a large dead man. If not for all the physical augments that the Blyth's have provided or the soldier who cushioned the shock of the explosion, he definitely wouldn't be able to walk around. As he pushed the soldier off and got up, he slowly took in the scene in front of him. A majority of the lights were out. There was a lot of smoke and a part of the docking station had collapsed the bright light from outside the hangar filtered in. The crew and the personnel near the ship were all in pieces. Many others were either knocked out or beneath the debris. None of the personnel were standing.

There were three men who were neither injured nor shocked running in the debris, as if they had known beforehand about the explosion. They were holding few sharp objects which looked like they were pulled out from the debris. As, they were searching in the debris, a dark looking man suffering a number of burns on his torso came running at them from the smoke. "You sc.u.m. You killed them all. I will kill you," he shouted as he tried to attack. It was captain Ode. Even burnt, injured and limping he was strong enough to retaliate against the assassins. One of them engaged Ode while the other two went into the smoke.

Salazar could hardly hear any of that over the buzzing noise in his ears. He only cared about the safety of Balthazar. "I can't let him die," muttered Salazar beneath his breath as his eyes searched for Balthazar. Salazar silently retrieved a firearm from the soldier who fell on him and unable to find a blade, he took something that looked like a long drill bit from the mechanic box, put on a mask and moved towards the other two in the smoke. He stealthily made his way to the place where he saw Balthazar before the explosion. One of the two men suddenly move towards a burnt body and checked her. "Secondary target confirmed to be dead. Verify identity," he said pulling out Jane's ID.

"Confirmed and verified," replied the another.

Salazar silently followed them in the smoke. "They are definitely heading towards Balthazar's location," he confirmed to himself. A few seconds later, one of the two dragged out another person from the debris. This victim had a long peace of metal protruding from one of his arms and the was his legs were soaked with blood. "Primary target found. Verify identity," said the man trying to check the target's vitals, when the victim suddenly coughed and tried to grab on to him. "Who are you?" asked Balthazar coughing out blood. The man calmly looked at Balthazar. "Do all men ask such stupid and useless question before they die," he thought as he pulled out a sharp piece of metal to plunge into Balthazar's head. Suddenly, he realized that his fellow assassin hadn't verified his find yet. As he lifted his head, he saw a bright light flash before his eyes and he fell back dead.

Salazar calmly holstered his firearm as he pulled back the drill bit from the head of the second assassin. He looked back towards captain Ode and noticed that captain Ode was dead with something sticking out of his neck and the third assassin had disappeared. The survivors were getting up one by one and the rescue services were headed towards them. He took the gas mask off the assassin in front of him and put it on Balthazar and proceeded to check him. "The left hand and legs are injured heavily and the internal organs have been shocked. Nothing that can't be fixed," thought Salazar. Balthazar tried to talk but just coughed out more blood. Salazar signaled him to stay quiet. It hadn't even been a minute since the explosion but the rescue efforts were already nearby, else the situation could have been a lot worse for him.

Salazar carefully pulled out the metal piece from Balthazar's arm and made a make shift bandage out of his uniform. He gently lifted Balthazar up away from the assassin's body and out of the smoke. "I found Col. Balthazar. He is alive but heavily injured," he started shouting.

Balthazar who could hardly hear or see anything, fainted when the metal piece was pulled out of his arm. His consciousness wavered a few times as he was transported to the medical facility. He could hear his savior beside him during the trip. When they reached the medical facility and he pulled out of the transport, did he finally get to see his savior,s face. "I have seen you before," he thought just before he was put into sleep by an anesthetic.