W.A.R.S: Back in the future

The Dark Alley

“Sir we've found nothing, everything is in order, the only loss is the front door” one of the troops men said to the commander

“I am aware, you imbeciles, and besides, it isn't just the door that was damaged, this place was breached by someone we do not know, that could be counted as a major damage and if we do not find whatever or whoever did this, some of you clowns will find yourselves among the damaged. So give me a reason to spare your lives by doing what must be done.”

“Sir, with all due respect, state our objectives and we shall prove our loyalty to you by doing just that which you will state” another one of the men requested in a tone that depicted nothing but fear.”

“Find and end the being that did this” he said as he turned to enter the warp Portal that he had waiting behind him as he paused “And dare let a word about this operation out”. You will relive the worst days of your lives, forever” he added and stepped into the portal as it closed immediately.

“We're done for, there's no way we could just have someone we don't even know followed without a single clue or lead linking to the person” one of the men spoke.

“And we can't let any of the rest know about this or we're dead” said another

“Quiet and do as he says or you all will have yourselves to blame, spread out and begin your search”

As the rest of the men spread out without a definite destination the one who spoke last stayed back and observed the alley one last time as he pushed a button on the remote that hung on the belt which he had on and the place Devin laid became exposed, Devin noticed this and ran quietly and quickly to the initial hideout spot he had in mind without being noticed but then the weapon on the topmost rack of the shelf fell and drew the attention of the man but just when he was almost reaching the shelf, his dialer beeped

“Get over here, now” Sounded like his commander but the voice he heard was a bit too strict.

When the man had warped out of there, Devin raised his head to get a peek of the environment, when he was sure the coast was clear, he came out quietly and staring at the place, the entrance and exit of the commander and his troops left the house in a state of total disarray.

“That was a close one, those were Kronarian soldiers with Commander Kal, all of them seemed to be trembling in fear except for one. What's going on?!” Devin thought to himself as he slowly turned around and what he saw left him in a state of dire confusion and great shock.

It appears the guard didn't turn the cloaking system back on so the loop prison Jiori was in became visible. And Jiori was behind it the whole time without being noticed because the cloak had him covered, though it did not occur to him at the moment.

Devin who was scared and perplexed at the same time hurriedly ran out of the building through the back exit far away from the Loop prison's control panel and set his warp gloves coordinates for the Barracks at Kronar.

In less than ten seconds he arrived but the warp shields in the barracks limited his travel to the entrance gate and so there he found himself. But luck was by his side and he met Raaul who sighted his portal opening from afar off and ran down to meet him.

“Jiori” Raaul shouted to get his friends attention, Devin who was almost about to force his way through the gates turned and saw his friend coming and let go of the soldier whom he already got a stranglehold on.

“Rauul”, Devin said as his tenseness is made visible through his breathing pattern.

“Good, you're okay soldier boy, now you need to come with me” Devin added as his heavy breathing subsided. He set the coordinates for his previous initial location and his portal was opened, Raaul refused to go in with him, he stood there in opposition.

“Where are we going, you haven't told me anything and you expect me to follow you into a portal that could be leading us to anywhere in the Gaaaaaa…” Raaul was about to go all talks over the issue just when Devin gave him a falling push that had both of them fall into the portal that took them through to the other side.

“What was that for, you could have had me killed there and what if we…” Raaul was yelling at Devin who was just standing there in silence but stopped himself halfway as his upper and lower lips gave way in opposite directions in surprise as to what his eyes beheld

“Is that…” Raaul was about asking as he tried to force himself into not believing what he saw was true but Devin cut in.

“Yes it is, I don't know why or how or what, but he can't be in there for no reason.”

“And that's what we're here to find out right?” Raaul asked Devin as he received a nod from him in confirmation.

“So what happened, tell me everything you know” Raaul demanded

“You might not like what you're about to hear” Devin warned

“Go on,” Rauul insisted.

“I was test running a mini tracker on our last visit here, so I kept them on the floor knowing someway somehow you and Jiori would step on ot and would stick to your shoes” Devin went on

“So you're saying you had a tracker on us this whole time, for what reason?” Raaul said as his temper rose and fell immediately as he remembered the situation they were in at the moment.

“Listen, I just had the thing made and I needed to test it so that…” Devin tried to defend himself and not hurt his friend by doing so but his tone didn't seem to help matters at all.

“It's fine, I know whatever you did, it's for the best so there's nothing in Zorvath and beyond that could let that be an issue right now” Raaul let out these words to give his friend a bit of comfort “You were in the middle of an explanation Science boy” he added as he walked around to get a better look around the place.

“Right, so I used it to track Jiori to this building, because if you come to think of it, none of us would pick up our dialers first to call, Jiori would and a day without that…” Jiori said while trying to open the control panel and disable it from the inside.

“Could be counted as one of the highly unlikely to ever happen” Raaul said, completing the sentence for Devin.

“Exactly, so I noticed this and came up with this strange feeling that something doesn't just feel right somewhere and that's how I began my search and it all landed me here, there's this group of soldiers that came down here with Warp Commander Kal, talking about stuff” Devin continued.

“What kinda stuff are we talking about exactly?” asked Raaul.

“I don't know, but whatever stuff they've got plans for, it ain't gonna be good at all.”

“Agreed, I observed the room for exotic matter storage and trust me, it calls for alarm because no one has this kind of arsenal in their own personal residences” he said had he turned around and stopped turning to face Devin “this is no alley or basement, it's a ship, but belonging to who, the warp commander?”

“Done!” Devin, who was trying to work on the broken control panel to free his friend, said as a result of his accomplishment. “You were saying something” he asked for clarity's sake.

“You could continue with your narration” Raaul replied

“It's not much of a talk stuff, they just barged in looking for the one responsible for breaking into their base and all that, since they didn't know who it was they were reluctant about the search and couldn't find me here, they received word to put an end to the one responsible. And there I was lying on the ground without any visible cover. I could see them but I didn't think they could see me, until one of them pushed a button on his device and it disabled the cloaking systems and…” Devin said with precision as he was cut short by Raaul.

“Calm down Devin, that means you were hiding at the back of the loop prison” Raaul cut him amidst his narration.

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down, we have…” Devin's rage had set in as they were both interrupted.

“Guys” Jiori said faintly as he was just freed from the loop prison and had been sitting there the whole time but was far too frozen in fear to say anything, the torment he just received was a lot to handle, all he could do was to call out to his friends then he passed out.

“Jiori” both of them shouted as they rushed to check on their friend.

“He's alive,” Raaul commented as he checked Jiori's pulse.

“Good, I'm warping us back to my chambers now, there'll be help back at Xymerion” said Devin as he turned on his warp gloves and set the coordinates straight for home.