Tau8: project Bifrost chapter 2

Chapter 2

Waiting outside the offices of Mr Mroden, one of his commanding officers, Sanderson nervously looked at his watch for the eighth time in the last five minutes.
‘Any idea how much longer they’re going to be?’ he asked.
Helen, the boss’s creepy secretary, muttered something under her breath, adjusted the sunglasses she never seemed to remove and pretended not to hear him.
He waited some more, his thoughts alternating between trying to make sense of the previous mission’s chaos and trying to decide which of Helen’s features unnerved him more; the way her strangely-braided hair always seem to move as if blowing in a non-existent wind or how her face looked so old, worn-out and leathery when her body was clearly young, healthy and well-maintained.
‘Mr Mroden will see you know.’ Helen stated with just enough enthusiasm to remind the world she was still alive.

Entering the large, well-decorated room, Sanderson was surprised to find more than just his boss waiting for him. Five figures sat on one side of the desk. At the centre sat Mr Mroden, a tall, skinny, pale man who managed to look traditionally respectable despite being more tattoo-covered than anyone else Sanderson had ever seen. He was one of the highest-ranking members of the Brotherhood of the Celestial Torch in the UK.
To his left were a man and a woman, both well dressed and waiting calmly. Sanderson was fairly sure one was Mroden’s American counterpart and the other was a HR bod, but wasn’t sure which was which.
To his right were two individuals that could undoubtedly be described as angels. The first of these was close to the stereotypical image of an angel. He (at least Sanderson assumed it was a he) was tall, handsome and healthy, and wore robes of a gleaming white. His skin was at least as dark as Sanderson’s, but his features appeared to be an odd mix of various ethnicities, as if he’d tried to chose the most interesting traits of every race. The second looked stranger. He/she/it looked like a large wheel that’s outside was covered in small silver eyes. At the centre of the wheel lay a structure that appeared to be comprised of wheels, cogs, more eyes and clouds of brightly coloured energy. Sanderson suspected that this creature must be an Ophanim, or angel of the Throne.
Mroden gestured for Sanderson to be seated. A he sat in the only chair by the opposite side of the table to the panel of five he noticed another person sitting in the corner of the room taking notes. The upper half of her looked like a reasonably pretty woman of Indian descent, but her lower half looked like that of a large snake.
‘For the records, this is the interview of Dr Sanderson Adams of chapter Rho 9.’ Mroden began before looking Sanderson in the eye and saying ‘Starting from the beginning Dr Adams, I would like you to explain the events of your most recent mission to my assembled colleagues. Please go into as much detail as you feel is necessary.’
‘I was helping Professor Rodgers from R+D last Tuesday when I received an email from Sgt Frank Barker, my chapter’s leader.” Sanderson began nervously. ‘He instructed me to get my affairs in order and get on a plane to Pennsylvania that was leaving in the evening. He said he’d explain the full details when I arrived.’
‘Did any of this seem unusual to you?’ asked the more human-looking of the angels in a calming voice.
‘I don’t get called abroad much, but it certainly wasn’t the first time something like this has happened.’ Sanderson replied ‘Sgt Barker likes to make sure the team is available to provide back-up to any other team that calls on us.’
‘Understood, please continue.’
‘I received more information when I collected my gear from the drop-box. Apparently Chapter Kappa 12 thought they’d found one of the drop-off points for the relic smuggling operation they were looking into. I wasn’t provided with full information on the case, just that they needed another field scientist.’
‘Do you know why you were asked, rather than someone from a more local team?’ ask the woman next to Mroden.
‘I wasn’t told anything directly, but I did hear some of the Kappa 12 boys talking about some sort of information leak, so if I were to guess, I’d say they though an outside team was less likely to be compromised. I know Sgt Barker and James “Lil’ Jimmy” Trammer, the leader of Kappa 12, went back a long way, so that might have been why my chapter in particular were chosen.’
All five of them were quiet, but Mroden gestured for him to continue.
‘We met up in Sgt Barker’s motel room a few miles away from the site to discuss the plan. I was to wait outside with Maria Clarkson, my chapter’s forensics expert, along with Raphael Li and Patrick Lewis from Kappa 12, while the rest moved in to surround the meeting. We weren’t expecting much resistance, but we had Lyle West get to a raised position with a sniper rifle in case they had more people or firepower than we were expecting. Jake Davidson did a quick recon of the area, then the team went through in force.’
‘Is this when the shooting started?’ asked a strange, musical voice that seemed to just appear in Sanderson’s head. Sanderson guessed that it belonged to the Ophanim.
‘I didn’t see how things went down, but I didn’t hear any shots fired, so I doubt much combat had happened by this point. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Sgt Barker called us in at this point. We had just entered the large storage area when West opened fire on us, and a bunch of those Ivory Legion blokes burst out from some of the storage crates. Sgt Barker, Li, Clarkson and myself pulled back to the offices to try to find some cover. Clarkson and Sgt Barker were both hit, but Li and I managed to fight our way free. We encountered Laura Tracy while searching for other survivors. We removed any evidence of the Brotherhood or supernatural elements and then pulled out when we realised the enemies had left the area.’
‘This seems like a lot of effort to go to in order to secure a simple transaction.’ the strange voice came again ‘Do you have any idea what was going on there?’
‘I’m not one-hundred-percent sure, but I did notice that the bodies of our guys had been searched thoroughly, so they might have been after something that one of our people had.’
‘Thank you Dr Adams’ Mroden commented ‘I believe we’ve covered everything we needed to ask right now. I have made an appointment for you to speak to Dr Roach at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Please get yourself some rest.’