One World

Part 4

Gabriel Cassel fastened a metal bracelet to his forearm with a snap. At the sight, he thought how ridiculous the elaborate alien device on the sleeve of his tattered Air Force uniform looked.

He and two of his most trusted followers were holed up in the basement of one of the abandoned buildings in the ruined and long-depopulated city, hastily completing the final details of their long-prepared plan.

The rest of his companions, who had volunteered for this dangerous mission, were already waiting at their posts.

"Even though I got their electromagnetic shield working, you must keep in mind that the battery is almost dead," Eric, who had made his living as a computer programmer and hacker before the war, explained to Gabriel. It was he, the true genius with an IQ well over 150, who had been able to decipher the Ardanian technology.

"How long will it last?" asked the rebel leader.

"Five minutes tops."

"Five minutes should be enough for me to get near Rag'ell and kill him."

Their plan was for the advance party to lure the enemy into the narrow streets of the ruined city, right into their trap, where the rebels would attack. Gabriel assumed that the arrogant outworlders would not consider them a threat and would willingly walk into this obvious ambush.

And the fact that the rebels were finally able to use alien technology would be another unpleasant surprise for the conquerors.

All shields and weapons were genetically locked to respond only to Ardanian DNA, so no human could activate them. However, after many failures, Eric the genius eventually managed to bypass the lock.

Unfortunately, they couldn't replace the energy used in these technologies. Once the batteries in the weapons or shields ran out, they became unusable for humans.

"We'll take them by surprise," Gabriel planned, his pulse quickening at the thought that he would soon be facing Rag'ell. They had been planning this for weeks and it was finally happening. Today was the day he would take the alien bastard down.

"We only have this one chance," Eric spoke again. "If it doesn't work, they'll find out that we hacked into their system. And next time they'll be ready. "

"It will work," the dark-haired rebel leader said confidently, clutching the Ardanian gun in his hand.

The alien firearms were very advanced compared to those used on Earth, their shots could penetrate an armoured transporter or a tank. They could even shoot down an aircraft.

These weapons used by the Ardanian forces were much smaller than the human assault rifles. They were made of an unknown metal, with automatic sights and very intuitive controls, and could be fired like normal weapons or attached to the forearm, making shooting and aiming even faster.

"That magic shield of theirs," Eric tapped the flashing bracelet on Gabriel's forearm, "will surely be worn by Rag'ell as well. It's designed to absorb a missile or an explosion of enormous energy. It will not be penetrated by any of our or Ardanian weapons. I've done the maths, and it could probably absorb a blast from our most powerful thermonuclear bomb."

"Holy shit," retorted Garret, leaning against the dirty, blackened wall, half-listening to the two men's conversation.

"But in hand-to-hand combat," Eric continued, ignoring the mercenary, "you should be able to get past it. A blow with as little energy as a punch won't be even registered by the shield, so it'll get through."

"Well, it's nice to know I can punch him."

"If he's wearing their battle suit and helmet, you'll break your arm before he feels any of your strikes," objected the hacker.