South Africa, Camp Morgan…

Military planes land at the camp’s runway, carrying supplies, equipment and manpower for their operations. Phrixus along with many soldiers disembark from the long trip. They line up in formation to receive orders.

“Attention soldiers! I am Captain Brewer and you are now in Camp Morgan, each one of you will be assigned to specific squadrons and will carry out different orders. Report at the barracks for your allocation.”

***

24 minutes later…

Recon squad, someplace in a jungle to survey the area for any hint of insurgent activity, how boring… Phrixus thinks. At first, his assignments will be more exploration-oriented and less dangerous, although that might change in the future…

Phrixus is assigned to a twelve-man unit to investigate recent enemy activity in South Africa, although the information collected so far has been insufficient it has become a matter of urgency, so they will have to expect the unexpected. The country is currently aligned with the VOA but there is a dissident group supporting the Red Confederacy, disrupting and threatening the security of the nation via guerrilla warfare and instilling fear to the population. Their last trace of activity was located in a rainforest zone, their objectives are clear and they are on their way to begin the task.

***

7:08 am, somewhere in the north South-African border, an hour has passed since arrival to the area of operation.

“Nothin’ but bugs, trees, foliage, and parasites…” One soldier says, waving away the annoying insects.

“We have seven hours ahead before we finish the trip, meanwhile we got a lot of nature to look at,” says another soldier.

“Yeah yeah, you don’t have to remind me of it,” the first replies.

“Heard the folks assigned to the eastern zone of Africa got a more difficult task, covert operations in Confederate territory,” another soldier says, while warily studying his surroundings.

“More like a relaxed task, staying more in the shadows rather than being in the action,” the laid-back soldier says.

“I don’t consider it a relaxed operation, you must always maintain a low profile and be on high alert, you never know when…” the wary soldier says before being interrupted by the leader of the squadron.

“Quiet! I’m hearing something near us.”

Moving carefully through the vegetation and moving aside the plants blocking his vision, he discovers from afar what appears to be a small insurgent camp. There are all kinds of armed people doing their usual work: moving supplies, maintaining their weapons, receiving orders… He doesn’t immediately spot any confederate soldiers. There is a mix of civilian and military alike. Possibly they are here to study whoever is collaborating with the enemy.

Slowly falling back to avoid drawing attention he address his squadmates.

“There is an unknown camp ahead, I think this may be the rebel faction causing trouble.”

“What are we going to do?” one of the soldiers asks.

“I’m going to contact HQ first, they will tell us what to do next.”

As the man picks up his radio, Phrixus senses not only movement but the neural activity of some people getting close quickly. They appear to be men from the camp, one of them is about to throw something…

“AMBUSH!” shouts Phrixus.

As soon as the entire squadron hears that phrase, they quickly break formation and take cover. A grenade explodes and kills one of the soldiers, armed men appear between the vegetation and open fire against the squadron. They are pinned down and at a clear disadvantage, but they still hold their position. Phrixus jumps into the fray to save his comrades; ignoring the bullet impacts that he receives he quickly dispatches most of the hostiles with quickly aimed shots. After that, the squadron is able to repel the attackers. At the end, two of them manage to flee back to the camp, as if the reports of the guns weren’t enough…

“Goddamn it! What’s going on?” says the squad leader.

“We lost Kidd, Nathan and Williams, also we got four wounded, I’m afraid even hiding they will find us soon,” says one of the soldiers.

“Then we have to retreat as soon as possible, we can’t…” The leader is interrupted by a radio call from HQ.

“Squadron Foxtrox-1, the transmission was suddenly cut and we heard gunshots, what the hell is going on?!”

“We got ambushed by insurgents near the camp! We have taken some casualties and have some injured men, we need an evac unit now.”

“Send us the coordinates of your location, stand by for the extraction point.”

The leader quickly pulls out a special map from his chest rig and hastily scans for the location. It doesn’t take long to find the area.

“N5W-OFC3-D1,” the squad leader says.

“We have confirmation that it is the insurgent camp involved with the Red Confederacy, it needs to be destroyed. We must retrieve any critical data about their operations in this region and what the reds in Africa are planning.”

“Sir, we are not in any condition to perform a direct assault to an enemy outpost, we have some men down and wounded.”

“There are two Homo Magnars in your squadron. Tell them to do the wetwork while the rest retreat to the extraction point.”

Hearing that, Phrixus and one of the soldiers take a step forward.

“So, you are one of those fabled one-man armies every power wants at their disposal? Think you can handle this?”

“Absolutely, sir,” the other soldier says.

“Yes, sir,” says Phrixus.

“You have your orders, wipe out the damn place and get any important intel in whatever form it takes; papers, USB drivers, data stores or prisoners, once you get the job done contact HQ for your ticket to go home. Carry the wounded fast, we are leaving!” says the Squad leader.

While the rest of the soldiers are making a quick retreat, Phrixus and his squadmate go to take a closer look at the camp while remaining concealed. It is at a state of high alert due to the recent events, it looks like they are preparing themselves for a counterattack.

“Well well mate, looks like it’s you and me, the name’s Geist, my talents are the manipulation and attunement of soul essence, or as the scientists vulgarly say… control of currents of kinetic energy. So, let’s come up with a plan to sort this out, the encampment’s design makes it tough to choose a convenient path to assault the place, I might suggest attacking from afar until we thin out their numbers and dash forward.” Geist says, his tone has a bit of arrogance.

“Soul essence? That’s a mouthful, I’m Phrixus. By the looks of this camp, I have an idea how to finish this quickly, I have gotten rid of similar outposts in the past back in my country. I’ll storm the front, if you want to join me or prefer to charge from behind is up to you.”

“I like attacking from the shadows, be sure to draw enough attention first though, I will need to get enough focus to unleash my power against them.”

“Alright, I’ll make some chaos, be sure to flank them good,” says Phrixus. With that he jumps off the ravine and lands in front of the camp.

The insurgents seem surprised at first but quickly aim at him, Phrixus quickly takes cover next to a big tree as he is greeted by a lot of suppressing fire. When the shooting cuts down by half, he responds with his assault rifle, taking some of the enemy soldiers at the interchange of bullets, while returning to cover again to reload. He spots Geist approaching the left flank, with his hands he makes a pushing motion and releases some kind of shockwave against some soldiers. It doesn’t send them flying but makes them flinch and they fall to the ground, incapacitated or dead. Phrixus pushes forward, killing many of the soldiers on his way, while Geist does the same with his unusual abilities. The camp is quickly cleared.

“It wasn’t that hard after all… of course, they are only common soldiers,” says Geist.

“Their Superhumans must be somewhere better than goofing around in an insurgent camp. We have to check their main hut to get any information,” says Phrixus.

“Right behind you.”

They go to the biggest cottage in the camp, there is nothing formal inside; a large desk, a rack for weapons, a laptop, and some file cabinets, but with one extra element. Phrixus senses the nervous system of another person hidden in a corner, waiting with a knife in hand with a surprise attack in mind. Phrixus heads in that direction and with mechanical precision, he overpowers the attacker and puts him on the ground, then proceeds to psychically subdue him to keep him restrained and alive.

“Mind tricks eh… I like it, now… who is our unexpected guest?” Geist says.

“This will take a moment,” Phrixus says. Phrixus begins to infiltrate in his mind, then after some seconds he cuts the neural link.

“This one is a spy from the Red Confederacy, his job is to gather information about the operations in South Africa. This camp was apparently supplied both with weapons and logistics by somebody called The Corsair, a Homo Magnar who is currently somewhere in the Republic of the Congo. He is also the leader of a rebel group supporter of the confederacy called The Charred Ring, they are scattered all over this continent,” says Phrixus.

“So this place is just a tiny fragment of a big boulder. Guess our prisoner will be needed at the headquarters. How about you contact them, I’m gonna check the rest of the place for any interesting detail we could have missed.”

“HQ, HQ…” Phrixus speaks into the radio to his superiors.

“This is HQ.”

“The camp has been cleared, we have a prisoner in tow who could have information regarding the activities of the Red Confederacy not only in South Africa, but over the entire continent.”

“Understood, we are sending you the coordinates to the rendezvous point, go as fast as possible, HQ out.”

He memorizes the coordinates they give him. “That is twenty minutes of walking, it’s better not to find any more troublemakers in the way. Geist, have you found anything?”

“The papers I found only have useless drivel written on them, however I’ll take the laptop for analysis, we should go now before we get more undesirable company.”

“Time to move the captive, it won’t be that far,” Phrixus says.

***

5 hours later, at Camp Morgan…

“The Charred Ring…” Captain Brewer says to Phrixus and Geist. “There are some insurgent groups across the globe, most of them receiving indirect help from the Red Confederacy and thwarting our affairs, but this one has proven to be the most audacious according to our reports. I will make contact with the high command to receive more support about this matter, you will be informed soon. Dismissed.”

***

7 minutes later…

“Finally a good rest, I wonder what Valeria and Roberth are up to…” Phrixus says with a little smile, thinking of his friends discovering the gifts he left for them.