Olympus: The Agency (Book One)

3. Olympus Squad

This was the first mission of the newly created Olympus Squad and nothing except a perfect result would be accepted. Captain Nevada had made that clear enough in his briefing before the team had left the My Lady Elizabeth flagship.

This particular group had a strange composition. Led by Agent Anemoi, the team consisted of Tartatus, Thanatos, Epione, Enyo, Apollo and Cerberus. They had been placed on a team because their skills complimented each other, which Anemoi did not see. The former World War II pilot was used to comrades having far more training and discipline, not this rag-tag band of history's "finest".

The automated ship landed, and the door swung open. Thanatos and Apollo exited first; weapons raised. Epione, Cerberus and Enyo followed, with Tartarus and Anemoi bringing up the rear. The dropship sped back into space through a force field. Already, Anemoi was wishing he were still dead. Whatever was through the doors to the rest of the ship had the ability to grant this wish, so he pushed this feeling down.

'Olympus teams, check in,' Anemoi said into his mic. Each team responded with 'Check' to signal they were in place.

Anemoi nodded, then gestured with his hand to Thanatos to open the door. The sword wielder moved quickly and pressed the door release. It opened with a pneumatic hiss and a horrid smell greeted the squad. Anemoi closed his helmet using his re-breather to filter out the stench. The little clicks told him his squad had followed suit.

Thanatos entered the corridor with Apollo and shone his light down the darkened halls. He saw little glowing circles of scarlet and immediately turned the light off. Apollo knelt and aimed his combat rifle. It wasn't the type of gun he was used to, but Apollo had a theory with guns: Pull the trigger and brace yourself and you should be fine. So far, Apollo had used fifty-eight types of weapons and his theory had never let him down.

'Contact, undetermined amount,' Apollo breathed into his mic.

Anemoi and Tartarus entered the corridor behind them and signaled the others to wait. No one here knew what exactly they were facing, only that it was dangerous and had most people on the My Lady Elizabeth scared of it. An alien force known as the Klisk.

'On my mark, Apollo, flash your light down the hallway. Thanatos, cover the others. Tartarus, you and I only fire if they approach in a hostile manner.' Anemoi's orders were direct, spoke of his discipline. No one spoke.

Tartarus pulled the bolt back on his rifle and aimed down the corridor. Thanatos stepped back and rose his blade to cover the other three agents. Anemoi looked down the corridor through his scope, tightening his grip on the stock.

'Mark,' Anemoi said.

Apollo switched his flashlight on, and a beam of high-powered tunnel light burned through the darkened corridor. Dozens of grotesque abominations of flesh and bone were now in view and roared in frustration and anger then barrelled towards the three soldiers. Olympus started firing in unison, 20th and 21st century people using 23rd century technology to fight aliens.

If this was a comic book, Anemoi might have read it with his son.

A beast tackled Apollo to the ground, separated only by the gun the agent had used to block it. It snapped and drooled over Apollo's helmet before its head exploded into thousands of pieces of bone, brain and globs of green blood that sizzled on the wall and Apollo's suit. He fell back on the ground with a sigh.

'Are you alright?' Anemoi said, helping Apollo up to his feet.

Apollo nodded before noticing the breaches the blood was making in his suit. They were small but an expert marksman could use them to cause Apollo a lot of pain.