Operation Identify Ch. 01

Operation Identify -- Chapter 1: The Capturing of Sergeant Mendez

Author's Note: This story is a re-write of my submission, Operation Vero, which I submitted in 2015. At that time, I received some significant and extremely helpful feedback which I appreciated a great deal. I very much look forward to reading your feedback so please comment any criticisms or suggestions you might have! Finally, I am finishing a re-write of the only other story I had written and so will be submitting chapter 2 of this story shortly thereafter.

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Crunch. Crunch. Crack. Crunch. Snap!

Sergeant Mendez moved with extreme caution along the stone-like objects littering the floor of DOA-293. Having completed additional advanced reconnaissance training immediately after Ranger school --further sharpening her field craft, navigational and soldier skills—and finishing at the top of her course in both, Sgt Mendez was tasked with a section commander role in the highly regarded, reconnaissance platoon of C Company (C Coy), 3 Special Forces Regiment. Now, here she was on patrol, on planet DOA-293, as the main effort for the entire battalion.

The area of the planet that the ship had landed on was covered in odd stone-type objects. They were consistent in colour and shape with Earthly rocks, but instead of being rock hard, they were weak and collapsed into dust when stepped on.

"McIntyre," Mendez's voice was low. Noise discipline during this phase of the patrol was not kept too strict, considering the vast expanse of rolling hills covered in varying sizes of soft rocks.

Mendez's hand came up to her helmet, tapping the top several times frantically; signalling to Lance Corporal McIntyre, the patrol's light machine gunner, to come to her position immediately.

McIntyre, recognizing the signal, turns his head back over his right shoulder and holds his hand up in the air, signalling for the other two members of the patrol to short halt. Private Belair, behind McIntyre raises his thumb to signal acknowledgement and then turns back to the second in command (2IC) of the patrol, Corporal Bennett, and signals the short halt.

Belair and Bennett take a knee facing in opposite directions, covering flank security for the halted patrol as McIntyre moves quickly to the front.

Reaching Mendez, McIntyre kneels down beside her. He looks at her, "Sergeant?", he says. But Mendez says nothing, she remains silent and stares straight ahead. "Serge-," Mendez interrupts him, "Shhh. Look," she points the barrel of her rifle towards a canalizing point between two large hills about 200 yards in the distance.

McIntyre looks in the direction of the rifle but doesn't see what she's referring to, he focuses his eyes again. "Oh fuck," he says as he notices the large moving black slime in the distance; an organism that had obviously not been identified and passed along by intelligence sources.

"Get down, in the prone, now." Mendez orders.

Corporal Bennett, coming up behind the two notices McIntyre quietly getting into a firing position and so he slows his steps and lowers his posture in an instinctual effort to be less of a target.

Bennett comes up beside McIntyre, who is already in the prone looking over his sights. He gets down into a kneeling position, brings his rifle up and peers through the rifle's scope.

"Alright, McIntyre, you're going to stay here," Mendez begins, "Corporal Bennett, get Belair over here, he and I are going to move to this things flank."

"Rog," Bennett slowly gets up and moves back about 20 yards to where Belair is still kneeling.

He gets down beside Belair who, noticing the commotion at the front of the patrol, was already anticipating something about to go down. "We're going to move quietly to McIntyre. There's an unidentified organism approximately 200 yards to our front in the direction of advance and the Searg is taking you with her to recce it, prepare to move," he began to slowly get up, "okay let's move."

Belair slowly and quietly stands up, only reaching a semi-erect squatting stance, following Corporal Bennett's example, and moves slowly towards McIntyre.

"Okay, here's what's going to happen," Mendez begins as Bennett and Belair get into the kneeling position in front of her, "Belair you and I are going to move alongside that large hill's dead ground," she points her finger just East of the creature by about 50 yards, "and try and get a top-down vantage point."

"Rog," responds Belair.

"Corporal Bennett, you know what to do," she continues, "maintain security for the gun and hold steady. If we're not back in one hour, move back to the last rendezvous point, and then further until you reach the FOB. If we come under contact, or engage, open fire on the fucker. If you come under contact, we will move back to your position immediately. Rog?"

"Rog," responds Bennett.

Mendez turns to Belair, "Private Belair," she whispers.

"Sergeant," responds Belair.

"Let's move," and the two begin to rise slowly; moving East from cover to cover behind the largest stones available.

Mendez moves very cautiously, taking point on the recce. Belair's movements are quite a bit slower as he outweighs his recce commander by at least fifty pounds and has to be extra cautious to avoid crunching the wrong stone and alerting the organism to the front. An organism which no one on the patrol had any knowledge of. Therefore, from their perspective, the thing could already be emitting some sort of odourless lethal gas or radiation of some sort.

The two approach a particularly large stone, offering significant cover.

SNAP!

Belair's boot landed on a particularly denser stone, crushing it to bits, sending a loud snap into the air. Mendez's eye's peel open, startled. The two freeze in place, not moving a single muscle.

In the position that they are in that means being ducked behind the concealment provided by the large rock. Unfortunately, however, it also means being unable to keep eyes on the creature. As such, Mendez turns her head to the side and tunes in to the sounds; or, lack thereof.

The creature, essentially a moving blob of tar, looked to be about four feet long and around 3 feet tall; probably weighing in at about 300 lbs. It was a disgusting sight. But no movement so far, the creature seeming completely oblivious to the sounds around it.

After about a minute and a half -- which felt more like an hour -- Mendez slowly rises up from her crouched position and lay's eyes back on the creature; at this point about 25 yards away.

Noting the creature's lack of perception for sound, Mendez turns to Belair and signals for him to rise. Belair, unsure of the command's appropriateness, given the situation, contorts his face into a look of disbelief.

"Just relax," she whispers, "I don't think he can hear anything."

Belair slowly rises to his feet and lays his eyes on the tar blob. He studies it closely, furrowing his brow in anticipation for the thing to suddenly realize that there are two aliens standing only 25 yards away from it.

Mendez turns to Belair, "Okay, let's get to the top of that hill," she points to the previously assigned vantage point. Mendez gives the let's move signal, Belair acknowledges, and the two begin slowly moving forward once again.

The last stretch between the rock and the base of the hill was only 10 yards or so but the climb up had to be about 20 yards.

Mendez's boot, gripping the gravelly particles on the hill well, propels her up in no more than a handful of strides. Belair taking shorter, more careful steps comes up beside her and gets down on one knee, noticing Mendez halting.

A gust of wind blows into the two's faces and immediately they detect a grossly putrid odour. The tar blob's odour was so sharp and so foul as to quite literally cause Belair to dry heave.

Belair contorts his face in disgust. "Fucker stinks," say's Belair.

The tar blob, which heretofore had been occupying itself with slow back and forth swaying on its centre of gravity, now suddenly stood completely still.

Another gust of wind blows and this time it pulls up behind Belair and Mendez before carrying the scent in its waves of spreading air particles directly towards the creature.

The creatures head darts towards Belair.

"Get down, now," commands Mendez.

Belair slowly drops to the prone and simultaneously begins to point the barrel of his rifle at the tar blob.

"Mendez gets on a knee beside the prone rifleman and looking over the sight of her rifle stares back at the creature, the two engaging in a contest of sorts.

The tar blob didn't appear to have any eyes on its head. It didn't even appear to have a head. It was quite literally a blob of tar, that appeared to possess the equivalent level of consciousness of a rabbit.

The staring continued, minutes passing and no one moving yet. Mendez looks down at Belair, "I'm going to move closer, keep your eye on it," she orders.

Mendez slowly stands up, the tar blob remaining completely still. She lifts her boot and prepares to put it down a full stride ahead, which would place her past the crest of the hill and at the downward slope. She hesitates a moment longer... Nothing, no movement at all from the tar blob.

She takes the step.

Crunch. Crack. Snap. Crack.

The tiny gravelly stones on the descending slope of the hill appear to crack under less pressure on this side of the hill.

Belair presses his index finger hard against the pistol grip of his rifle. His palms sweating profusely now as Mendez slowly gets closer and closer, less than 10 yards from it now.

Mendez stops and gets down on one knee. The creature remains frozen in place.

"Hey..." she says, staring at the creature over her rifle's scope. "Hello?" The creature remains silent and still.

Irritated by the nonsense Mendez quickly stands up from her kneeling position, turns around and begins walking back up the hill to Belair.

"Up. Let's get back to the RV," Mendez orders, motioning her hand in the signal to get up and move.

Belair gets up and follows Mendez back down the hillside and the two soldiers walk back towards the det.

McIntyre and Bennett are waiting in the position that they were left in. Mendez and Belair rejoin and the four form a small circle for a quick de-brief.

"Okay," starts Mendez, "We got up and close, real personal with it and there was nothing. This thing doesn't give a fuck. We'll move right past it."

"Rog," responds Bennett, as he turns to Belair and McIntyre, "alright, you heard the Sergeant, prepare to move."

Belair, already ready to move from his recent recce quickly gets to one knee. Bennett moves to the back of the single-file recce party and McIntyre slowly rises, tightening the shoulder straps on his patrol pack. Mendez, now back at the front, turns to the recce detachment and gives the signal to move.

As the four approach the tar blob they each "lock eyes" with it while in stride. Quickly, they pass the hill that Mendez and Belair had used as a vantage point and continue on in the direction of the advance.

At least thirty minutes of uninterrupted movement takes place at this point. The recce detachment, lead by Sergeant Mendez, itches to reach SLUSH VALLEY, named after its slushy appearance in aerial photographs. Once at the valley the detachment has approval to RTB -- albeit, via an alternate route -- and to conclude the mission; a preliminary ground recce, pathfinding, preceding the assault pioneer's land.

The group continues to move, rock by rock, yard by yard.

Rib. Rob. Rib. Rib.

Mendez immediately puts her hand up to signal a short halt. McIntyre gets down in the prone, his gun's arcs covering rear security. Belair gets down on a knee and covers right flank security, Bennett covers left.

Rib. Rob. Rob. Rib. Rib. Rib.

The sounds get louder. Rib! Rib! Rob! Rob! Rib!

Mendez extends her neck, frantically turning her head about attempting to locate the unfamiliar sound.

RIB! ROB! ROB! RIB! RIB! RIB!

Mendez's eyes open wide as she notices the herd of tar blobs rapidly approaching their position. "McIntyre," she yells, "double time it here, now!"

McIntyre quickly gets up and doubles it to Mendez. "Get down, over there," she points to a spot 15 fifteen feet or so away facing the oncoming threat. McIntyre gets drops into the prone and looks down across his gun's sights towards the herd of tar blobs. There must be twenty-five or thirty of them down there, he thinks to himself.

"You want me to ice 'em Sarge?" Asks McIntyre in a raised voice as the approaching herd's noise pollution exponentially increases.

"You might need to if they keep on this bearing!" She exclaims, noting that the blobs seem to be moving directly towards them but not necessarily at them.

Bennett gets up from his prone position, "Belair, cover the rear," he says as he moves to Mendez. Belair wiggles his body and shifts his arcs of fire so that he's aiming to the rear of the group. Their flanks become exposed as McIntyre and Bennett are now at Mendez's side.

"Sergeant Mendez, what do you want us to do," Bennett asks, "I think we need to move though."

"Wait," she snaps back, "why do they look like they're run—"

SCCCCCCCCRRRRRREEEEEE EEEECCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!

The blaring screech suddenly explodes in the distance. The soldiers fall to the ground with their hands desperately trying to shield their ears from the deafening sound.

The sound stops, everyone quickly turns back towards the herd of tar blobs.

WHOOSH!

In one blurring motion a massive creature with wings blasts through the clouds in the sky and torpedoes down towards the gelatinous blobs of tar. It reaches one of the tar blobs in milliseconds and descends down onto its surface like a vampire bat, its wings slowing its descent in the last fraction of a second. The wings were massive, spanning at least 35 yards total.

Mendez lifts her head up, exposing it, to get a look at the creature. She can't see anything as it's wings curl around itself like a Dracula, curtaining itself off and providing an improvised cloak of privacy.

"Don't move, stay completely still," she looks back at Belair and signals the same to him, "be prepared to open fire."

The herd of tar blobs rush past the recce det without even noticing them and in an instant, they've passed through the rear and continue scurrying towards the direction of where the group approached from.

Mendez turns back towards the winged creature and cocks her head up a bit further to get a better look, still unable to see anything other than large wings concealing what clearly was a feast for the winged creature.

SCCCCCCCCRRRRRREEEEEEE EEECCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!

Mendez's face wrinkles in pain from the sound but keeps her finger on the trigger guar, at this point nearly acclimatized to the deafening roar. "Keep watching!" she exclaims. The creatures loud, bellowing screeching sound comes to a stop and the wings contract, in one quick motion folding in on themselves and pulling tightly against the creature's body.

Only 100 yards or so away the creature was now visible to Mendez. It appeared to be a tall, very tall, tomato-red skinned humanoid creature.

"Is that a fucking --," McIntyre begins but is interrupted. "Quiet! Look!" Her voice trembles as she relays the order to look at the creature, her eyes remaining fixated on it.

McIntyre turns towards it; it's looking right back at him with a humanoid type face. The creature appeared to resemble a Hollywood style devil, or demon type. It's body was lean, highly toned, and muscular. It stood completely naked in the distance, all red, staring back with black goop from the tar blobs dripping from its mouth.

Bennet swallows a large lump forming in his throat, unable to break his own gaze at the creature.

The creature raises its head slightly towards the sky in a motion to sniff the air.

"What do you think he's doing?" Asks Bennett.

"Trying to figure us out, I think he knows we're not from here," she says, her breathing slowly becoming ragged, "I think he's, I... I think he's self-aware," she finishes, her heart beginning to beat rapidly.

"Self-aware? That's not possible, we spent months with int (4 Int Coy -- the attached company of intelligence personnel to the SF regiment) and we know there's no self-awareness here," states Bennett. As the 2IC of the recce, part of his job was to keep the recce commander, Sgt Mendez, from spinning and going into the black. He could tell she was beginning to panic and automatically, without even considering his words, began to reassure her.

"No, look," Mendez responds, "he's looking right at us with curiosity, he's thinking!"

Bennett looks at Mendez, "Sergeant, I think we need to just remain still here."

The creature still simply staring directly at them takes a step forward. And then another. And another. Now walking at a quickening pace, the creature strides towards the soldiers.

McIntyre turns towards Mendez, "give me the go ahead, I'll fucking blast him," he states.

"No, wait, just hold for a second... Wait," she continues, putting her hand out to signal to stop. The creature was picking up his pace now to a fast walk and closing the distance...

70 yards...

60 yards...

"Sergeant?" McIntyre asks again.

Bennett brings his eye down from above his scope to his scope's lens and focuses the reticle on the creature moving towards them.

50 yards...

40 yards...

Mendez's eyes focus in on the approaching creature and she notices that his naked body resembles a human man much more closely than she expected, anatomically speaking.

30 yards...

"Sergeant?!" McIntyre exclaims louder this time, lifting his head and looking over at Mendez, who's eyes remain fixed on the creature. The creature, his eyes now focusing on McIntyre after his yell. He's close enough now to see that the thing's eyes were jaundice yellow, a sickly colour where the whites should have been and the retina within it a pure black.

20 yards...

Corporal Bennett looks over at Sergeant Mendez and notices she's completely entranced by the creature, seemingly put under a spell and unable to break her stare. "Mendez! WAKE UP!" Bennett shouts, and while doing so notices there's a small organism on her shoulder. It looks like a leech of sorts and has half its body plunged into the flesh around her collar bone, it's flabby tail flapping back and forth an inch and a half above the skin.

"Mendez!" Bennett shouts and swipes his hand hard at the leech, it breaks free from her and falls to the ground. Immediately, Mendez is broken from her trance.

10 yards...

"FIRE!!" Mendez shouts the command and McIntyre squeezes the trigger, a volley of five rounds burst out of the barrel and hurl towards the creature.

Belair flips his rifle's firing mode from repetition to automatic and opens up on the creature. The first volley of rounds tear through its torso.

SCCCCCCCCRRRRRREEEEEEEE EECCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!

The creature's wings fly open and extend out towards its sides. Another volley of rounds from the gun hits the creature's torso. The creature stops moving and stands still, its wings completely extended, it raises its nose toward the sky, closing its eyes in a prayer like fashion.

Ripppp! Volley after volley of rounds tear at the flesh of the creature. Mendez stops firing her rifle and focuses on the creature's face, a bullet hits his left ear and cleans it right off his skull.

Rippppp! Rippppp! Burst after burst is fired from the gun and the rounds continue to tear at the creature's flesh, his body severely disfigured from the onslaught.

The creature closes his eyes and takes a deep inhale of the air above his head, his nose still raised to the sky, and pulls it deep into his belly. The muscles around his stomach rippling as he attempts to glean information from the odour in the air.