The following morning, Rhiza Kalanin sat at a table in one of the side rooms of the bunker. Vidic and the other scientist were sitting opposite her. “I don’t think we were introduced properly” she said to them.

“I’m Gustav. Gustav Adams” the scientist replied, his accent thick. “And he’s Vidic. Just Vidic”

Vidic was holding a hand to his head. “What were we celebrating last night?” he asked, appearing hungover.

“The fact that we’re fighting back against the Cult” Gustav explained. “You were out like a light after a few drinks.”

“I can’t seem to remember hearing such news...” Vidic groaned. “But how are we fighting back?”

Gustav got up and poured himself a cup of instant coffee. “Our allies have captured a Cultist strike team. I think the couple in the medieval armour are interrogating them now”

Vidic groaned again. “I don’t recall anything about allies”

Rhiza cleared her throat. “So you’re what’s left of the science team?” she asked, running her fingers across the dusty table.

“Yes, just myself and paranoid Vidic” Gustav replied.

Rhiza nodded and grabbed a canteen of water. “I see. Well today you’re going to be very happy to know that I too am a scientist”

“I never would have thought that” Gustav commented, looking over the purple-haired woman. “What fields do you work in?”

“Quantum Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics” Rhiza listed off quickly. “I’m also a  skilled computer programmer”

Gustav and Vidic leaned forward in interest. “It’s a hobby.” the woman explained “So tell me, any of you know biology? Especially biology of your own species?”

“That would be me” Gustav replied “Are you looking for differences in our anatomy or something?”

“Not quite. I’m more interested in the fact that you have an 80ft or so person running around your countryside, tearing up cities, brainwashing your people into devoted cultists... and violating many laws of physics!” Rhiza ranted. “If any of you know biology, now’s the time to give me your bullshit explanations as to justify what the hell is going on here!”

“Ummm...” Gustav stumbled, racking his thoughts. “We are looking for the same answer ourselves actually”

Rhiza raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess, you never did get to study her?”

“My lab was destroyed in the first year... I’ve been tagging along with the United Military ever since trying to understand those questions myself.”

Vidic spoke up, placing both elbows on the table as he shouted. “The Goddess has come from the stars to punish us for being too complacent! All this suffering is just a way of learning!”

“Not this alien invasion theory again...” Gustav groaned. “It could easily be terrestrial”

Rhiza shook her head. “Paranoid and delusional. Just how is he not a Cultist?”

“Because they killed my family!” Vidic shouted back. He then put a hand on his head as his headache returned.

I wonder what my husband is up to, Rhiza thought to herself

-----

Captain Dragonhelper, Rosalina Sunburst and Eric Ross were quickly moving across the clearing to the jungle.

“So are you sure this is a good idea?” Eric asked, carefully holding his submachine gun slung over a shoulder. A second sling held his sniper rifle and a few boxes of its ammunition.

“Of course it is. We need supplies and the Cultists should have plenty if they could send a strike team here so quickly” The Captain replied, holding his rocket launcher over one shoulder.

“I’m not worried about the objective. A supply raid is highly reasonable; I’m just concerned about the strategy” Eric said.

“He has got a point Mr. Dragonhelper” Rosalina commented, floating next to the two men.

“And what’s wrong with my strategy? I think the plan is flawless” the Captain complained.

“Can you please explain it to us again then so we can understand its perfection?” Eric growled sarcastically.

They just reached the jungle line and started moving through the underbrush, making loud steps. “Certainly.” The Captain answered. “It’s a three-man... person job. We all rush in there shouting “Oooga booga booga!” at the top of our lungs and scare them into submission!”

“And you’re somehow the leader...” Eric shook his head.

It was approaching noon when the Cultist camp was in sight. It consisted of several small buildings with a low stockade, all made from the local timber. Several Cultists in their dark orange jumpsuits were on patrol, armed with a variety of melee weapons. Seems like they’ve looted a few police cars and perhaps a gang or two... The Captain thought to himself, looking over at Rosalina.

“Rosalina, could you please get a headcount of the camp?” he suggested to her.

“Change of plans, Mr. Dragonhelper?” the woman asked.

“I just remembered something Lieutenant Jenkins told me back in the days...”

“Rush into a firefight once you know how many of the sorry bastards you’re going to be killing?” Rosalina quoted. The Captain looked impressed.

“I overheard one of his briefings while I was working on the Skyranger... his voice could carry through the hangar...”

“Now I can see where you got your plans from...” Eric muttered.

Rosalina floated upwards and hid herself in one of the trees. As a precaution, she moved her rifle to her hands and trained it over the camp.

“Shouldn’t we be doing recon from a much further distance?” Eric asked “And preferably with binoculars, not an assault scope?”

“I don’t want to give it away, but Rosalina’s got a few tricks of her own, besides being able to float in the air.

Back in the treetop, Rosalina started to focus on the Cultists below. Her irises expanded to cover up most of the eyeball and her vision began to turn purple. The Cultists began to emanate a yellow glow to which the woman easily picked up in her enhanced sight. The camp looked faint compared to the glows

She looked across at the wall and the buildings, the timber not dampening their energy signatures.

She kept a count of all the yellow spots before blinking, her sight slowly returning to normal. With that, she floated out of the tree and landed back with the others.

“There are about thirty Cultists. Ten on the walls, the rest throughout the camp” she explained. “Five are indoors”

“You got all that from sitting in a tree?” Eric asked.

“Ever heard of psionics?” Rosalina answered. “If not, let’s just go with magic...”

“Do all of you have magical powers of some sort?” the sniper questioned.

“Only myself and the Shepards. Marth has an affinity for...”

“Alright guys, let’s do this!” The Captain interrupted, running straight towards the camp.

He then started screaming at the top of his lungs “OOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!”

“By the stars... he just ran in there” Rosalina sighed. She followed after the leader quickly.

Eric just watched as the two mercenaries moved ahead. I’m not sure on what I should be doing here... he thought to himself.

The Cultists at the gate stood up and drew out their various weapons and knives and began charging at the screaming man.

An eager Cultist with a pair of switchblade knives was suddenly knocked to the ground as the man hit him in the side of the face with the metal tube. He twitched several times before he died.

Another Cultist with a collapsible nightstick reached the enemy next. He deployed the stick just before making contact, only to suddenly find himself on the grass.

Before he fell unconscious, he thought he heard the words “Falcooooon...”

The Captain saw that the whole camp had mobilised and were charging towards him with their weapons. Seeing a few were wielding pipes and crowbars, he thought to himself, I like variety!

He eagerly dropped the rocket launcher to rush into the fray with his gloved hands.

“Stand back! Let me deal with this one myself!” a woman’s voice yelled over the shouting.

The Cultists stopped their charging and made way for a woman in dark orange robes. Unlike the previous Cultist women, this one had a full head of long black hair. She carried a pair of curved swords that the Captain recognised as katanas. “I take it you’re the leader of this ragged little band?” the man asked her.

“I am Karen Sirius. Captain of this Company of devout believers in the Goddess” the woman replied.

“Well hello there Karen, I’m...”

“You have only two choices. Surrender or die” Karen interrupted. “Either way, the Goddess will be pleased.”

“Hey, I was trying to introdu...”

“If you choose to surrender, you will put your hands behind your back and kneel down. You will be punished according to your sins.”

“My name is Captain...”

“If you wish to die however, you will be killed either by my blades or by the men around me”

Rosalina landed next to the Captain. “What’s happening? Should I be shooting?”

“Nothing to worry about, the Cultists are just being rude and not allowing me to get a word in edgeways” he replied as Karen was explaining how surrendering worked.

“Well I can see the makings of a great lawyer in her” Rosalina commented.

Once Karen finished her speech five minutes later, she noticed that there were now two people standing before her. “And who is that? Another one of you wishes to surrender to the Divine Goddess Cult?” she asked, pointing at Rosalina.

“No, that’s my lawyer.” The Captain replied. “If you actually had shut up for five minutes, we would have introduced ourselves”

He offered a hand and started again “Hello, I’m...”

Karen whipped a blade out at the hand, causing a deep cut in the palm.

“Ow... ok, so handshakes are not your thing. Anyway, I’m...”

The other blade went for his side. The Captain quickly ducked back. “Hey careful, you could have cut someone in half with that”

“I was intending that to happen, now shut up and die!” Karen snarled.

“Oh so you get to yammer on about nothing for five minutes and I don’t?” The Captain asked as the blades went at him again. “I’m all for equal opportunity, but you gotta throw me a bone here...”

He jumped back a few more feet, only to slip and fall to the ground. “Do you choose to surrender now?” Karen asked, pointing both blade edges at The Captain’s neck. “Your gods have failed you... it’s never too late to worship The Goddess and beg for Her forgiveness”

Rosalina shook her head. This is getting silly... she thought to herself. Closing her eyes, she waved a hand out at Karen. The Cultist started to float in the air and her arms were forced away from The Captain’s neck.

“What sorcery is this?” she screamed, looking around.

“Mind over matter” Rosalina stated, moving Karen further into the air. She could see the tops of the trees now.

“Hey, I have a better idea for you, bitch!” The Captain yelled, leaping to his feet. “How about you surrender?”

There was an immediate uproar within the Cultist ranks. “They wield the powers of the Gods themselves!” a man shouted.

“Blasphemer!” another yelled.

“This is going to get nasty. I’m going to call Rhiza for transport” The Captain commented to Rosalina as he drew his radio out and extended the aerial.

“We’re gonna need a two-niner on seven three. You got my ten?”

“Umm... copy that Honeybee... I’ll be there in half an hour to an hour, tops... and please don’t butcher radio code again”

-----

Rhiza landed the VTOL half an hour later in the centre of the camp. She grabbed her Peacebringer laser pistol and stepped out through the cargo bay door as it lowered.

As she stepped onto the ground, she viewed the area. Several Cultists were lying dead next to a large stack of wooden crates.

She kicked one of the bodies with a black boot to check for signs of life.

“Sorry about the mess... we forced a surrender out of the camp’s leader and some of the Cultists didn’t like the idea” came a familiar voice.

“You certainly excelled here today, honey.” Rhiza replied.

“Well... the Shepards had their chance to shine and now I’ve got mine.” The Captain replied, embracing Rhiza in a big, strong hug.

“I take it those crates are to be loaded onto the VTOL?” the woman asked, pointing to the stack.

“Before we get started, I need to seriously address the matter of my radio callsign...”

“Why, you wanted something cooler than Honeybee, honey? Because I didn’t write the callsigns”

“That’s because I wrote them... and I thought yours was appropriate...” said another voice.

Rosalina floated out of the leader’s building over to the couple. “I’ve found a radio transceiver in there. I think we can listen into Cultist transmissions rather than adjusting our own sets” she explained, pointing back to the building she just came from.

“Or send them threatening messages” The Captain replied. “Or even crank calls... hey Goddess, is your fridge running? Well you better go crush it!”

He looked around and saw that the two women had moved away very quickly to the building. And yet I stick around for their jokes... He followed after them.

In the Cultist Captain’s office, Captain Dragonhelper saw Eric was sitting in the chair, pointing his gun at the woman who was restrained to a window bar. Her head was completely bald though, a wig of long black hair was hung over a nearby lamp.

Eric looked disappointed at not participating in the camp’s surrender.

“You will not get away with this you bastards! The Goddess will return and she will punish you for your arrogance!” Karen was yelling.

“Maybe we should have made shutting the hell up part of your surrender terms!” The Captain yelled back at her.

The radio transceiver crackled to life. “Captain Sirius, status report!” barked a man on the other end.

“Should I answer it?” Captain Dragonhelper asked the team.

Eric tied the wig around Karen’s mouth in a crude gag, commenting “You should have done this earlier...”

Seeing the sighs of relief, The Captain picked up the microphone. He pressed a button on it and began to speak.

“Greetings from beyond the stars, intrepid natives! I am Captain R. Dragonhelper of the Planet Earth!”

“What is the meaning of this? Report Captain Sirius!” the voice barked back.

“We have been watching your planet for eons, studying your people and your various cultures and we have learned a lot about your ways”

Rosalina couldn’t help but laugh. I’ve heard this speech before... First Contact... what a joke!

“We know that you as a people are violent and this threatens our way of life, threatens everything we have worked for.” The Captain continued. “We have offered you the olive branch of peace and prosperity, but you have spat upon our offer and desecrated our gifts.”

“Because of this, we have no other choice but to destroy you as you have destroyed your chances of peace from beyond the stars”

“We came in peace, but now we will be shooting to kill. For the good of our race” he finished.

Rosalina then began bursting out with laughter. “You copied the speech almost word-for-word!”

“Hey, the microphone is still on... let me finish up” The Captain replied.

“By the Goddess! Stop fooling around and get me Captain Sirius!” the voice barked back. “We’ve received word from our forward recon that there’s a band of rebels heading your way and...”

“Then you’re a little too late” The Captain replied. “Because we’ve already invaded and taken your women...”

He handed the microphone to Rosalina and went over to Karen to untie the gag.

“You bastards will pay for this! You don’t know who you’re talking to!” she immediately yelled.

“Care to elaborate for me then?” The Captain asked, smiling at her.

“General Jack Sirius, Advisor to the Goddess herself” Karen replied, smiling back. “Not only does my father command a large army of followers, he has high favour with the Goddess”

“You’d better release me now and surrender, because you’re going to be in a lot of trouble... and pain when they’re through with you”

Captain Dragonhelper applied the gag again. “So it seems we’ve got a hostage now” he said to the General. “This should be interesting.”

“Your resistance is through. I will have the Goddess see to your destruction personally” Jack replied calmly.

“I have four words to say to you: Come and get me!” The Captain laughed. He turned to Rosalina.

“If you may, I think the transmission is breaking up”

Rosalina nodded and focused on the radio transceiver. It quickly crumbled inwards until it was a small ball of scrap metal on the ground. Captain Dragonhelper kicked the ball away and faced the others. “Load the hostage onto the VTOL with the rest of the supplies. I think this is a job well-done” he stated, walking out of the building. He hummed a few bars of a song he knew. “Doot do dootdo dodo dodo...”