The Will To Live✔️

Chapter 37: Do or Die

                                                                  PART FOUR
                                                           –Terminus Vector–

Greg had gathered (almost) every last member of Task Force Reaper in the lobby to the outpost that was their home.

One way or another, it wouldn't be much longer.

"Is everyone checked in?" he asked, looking around at the men and women surrounding him.

They each did a radio check, one by one, and once he had confirmed that they were all in on this call, he reached out to Gibson.

The man was waiting for them, for this time there was no delay and no need to be relayed to him. He cleared his throat and began.

"All right, this is the plan. I am both enraged and enlightened to learn that there was research being done on the Flood completely independent of our own operation here. Research being done at a much better location. They were far better staffed and equipped, and thus managed to get a lot done in a short amount of time. I'm still trying to piece together exactly how that all worked out, but right now it doesn't matter. Here is the key thing: we need to find the Proto-Gravemind. At present, we have no knowledge of where it is. We believe it is at the zero point for this infestation, and no one knows for sure where that is.

"We have people searching, but we need to know for sure. And I managed to get in touch with the research team at the lab. They told me that they had just devised a way to scan for Flood effectively, but that they were also experiencing a full containment breach and then I lost all contact with them. They've since gone completely dark. That was two hours ago. I already had a team scrambled out there, but I've lost contact with them as well, as of fifty five minutes ago. So, this is your task, Sergeant Walker: assemble your team, take your best people, and get this research. I'm sending a pair of Carrier Warthogs over with whatever gear I could think of that you might need. Everyone else who you aren't taking, we're going to have them come back with the Carriers and begin help with the evacuation efforts."

"Understood, Master Sergeant. But what about how to actually find this thing? With the solar phenomenon in the atmosphere affecting sensors...how can we possibly find it in time?"

"I'm working on that, too. It's looking dicey, but we have a few things working for us. The first is that weather research data you recovered. It's been very, very helpful. I believe we understand enough about the interference to counteract it at least somewhat. The second thing is that based on the intelligence we have gathered, we've been able to at least narrow the zero point to within five hundred square miles. We're presently working on locating some powerful enough sensors that will be able to triangulate the Proto-Gravemind once we integrate the new search criteria. But that comes later. Right now, you prepare for this mission. It's..." he hesitated.

"It's what?" Greg pressed.

"Underwater. It's an aquatic research facility that's out in the middle of the ocean, built partially above the waterline, mostly below it."

"Oh great," Izzy muttered.

"We can handle it," Greg replied. "Just make sure you have the next part ready to go."

"I will." He paused, then sighed heavily. "Right now, all of our lives depend on you getting this done, correctly and quickly. And even then, once we find the Proto-Gravemind, we still have to kill the damned thing. I'm hoping we can just drop a nuke on it but I doubt we'll be that lucky. But we're preparing for that as well. Your Carriers will be there within the next five minutes. So good luck out there, Task Force Reaper."