Major Tierney stood behind the operator as he completed his call.

  “Confirmed, Sir,” the operator said as he turned in his chair to face the Major, “Our Internet Bot which tracks security feeds picked up the explosions at The University. We have a confirmed FOP hunt! That was the security guard. His partner is wounded and they are taking refuge in their security office.”

  “What university?” asked Major Tierney, “What about all the students and faculty?”

  “It’s just called ‘The University’ since it closed down when the foreign student market dried up. It is now a research facility using about half of the buildings. Luckily the researchers were all at a ‘All Hands’ meeting at nearby Beaudesert to discuss why productivity was less than budgeted.”

  Major Tierney groaned. “I am sure everyone being pulled out of their projects so that the administration could ask why they weren’t working on their projects helped productivity immensely!” commented the Major sarcastically, “But, lucky there weren’t there when the FOPS landed. Let’s go! Beaudesert is only twenty minutes away.”

  The alarm blared and lights flashed alerting all on base a FOP hunt was happening nearby. All on duty were already aboard the Chinook helicopter when Major Tierney leapt aboard, reached across to the pilot and tapped him on his helmet.

  “Go! Go! GO!” he shouted and pointed out the windscreen.

  He then stepped back and strapped himself into his seat just behind the pilots. They would be travelling at full speed to get there quickly and he didn’t want to fall out. They had extensively rehearsed how they would approach a FOP hunt. One of the ARRG teams in Africa had flown straight into the hunt and suffered horrendous casualties. Those blasted FOP hunters were very well armed for a hunt.

  Major Tierney and Lieutenant Smythe looked over the map. The noise of the rotors and machinery meant they had to communicate using their internal network headphones and even then hand gestures were essential. The Major nodded and stood up to confirm with the pilots. While the main pilot concentrated on not crashing, the Major pointed out the route on his map to the co-pilot. He gestured at “The University” marked on the map and pointed out the surrounding hills. They were to go around the main hill and into the valley and quickly drop at the outside of the old stone walls surrounding the grounds. The second team should be following them about twenty minutes after they set down. Both nodded and Major Tierney returned to his seat, buckling himself in very firmly.

  “Right gentlemen,” he shouted into the team’s network, “We’re landing just outside The University. A FOP hunting team has landed and split into two groups, one with four and another with two members. Luckily, all employees and management are away in Beaudesert. The on site security were hit by the team of four hunters with one badly injured. They were able to escape and are holed up in their security office near the front gate.”

  The Major took a breath and stared at his team in front of them, “We are landing at the edge of the woods outside the walls surrounding The University. From there we will proceed in three teams of three with myself, the Lieutenant and Padre following. Just like we practiced.”

  The Major held up his hand to forestall questions as he received a message from the ARRG control centre. He then looked up and caught the attention of Father Pacioli.

  “Padre. It looks like we have a job for you.”

  Father Pacioli raised his eyes in surprise and said, “Me, Sir? Other than my usual assistance?”

  Major Tierney nodded, “Correct. You are our local expert on all things FOP. According to the security feed at The University, the FOP team of two is hiding in the abandoned section. The team of four are much more gun happy and we will handle them.” At this the Major grinned maliciously and his fellow troopers grinned back. They wanted some pay back. Now the hunters could fight someone that could fight back.

  Father Pacioli raised his hand, “Do we know where they are?”

  The Major replied, “Not exactly. The security feed isn’t operating in the abandoned part. We just know the smaller team went in there and we haven’t heard anything since.” The Major raised a finger and looked at his secure communications device and gestured at his troopers to pass it down to the Padre. When it reached Father Pacioli he started in surprise and pointed at the device, “Are these the hunters?”

  The Major nodded.

  “They are just like those that Captain Connor saw in the first contact!”

  Father passed the device back to the trooper next to him who passed it back up the line to the Major.

  Father sat back and pondered. “I wonder,” he thought, “It couldn’t be the same ones could it?”

  ****

  The Chinook chopper raced in to the valley and landed with a very loud thump.

  “Go! Go! GO!” shouted Lieutenant Smythe as everyone leapt out exits on both sides of the chopper and raced to the cover of the trees and lay flat. Once Major Tierney and Father Pacioli had exited, the chopper quickly spun and raced back up the valley a short way, ready to return when required.

  The dust settled and trees stopped swaying once the chopper had cleared the area. The Major and Lieutenant crouched at the edge of the trees while the A team scouted ahead. Father Pacioli stayed behind everyone as was required by his role. He provided basic first aid and attached to ARRG he provided vital specific subject knowledge. Father was recognised as one of the leading experts on the Federation of Planets, although at this point that wasn’t a very common achievement.

  Trooper Phil, the leader of A team, signalled back to the rest of the unit and Lieutenant Smythe beckoned them forward.

  Together they approached The University’s main entrance. Tall and thick bluestone walls surrounded the grounds with massive iron gates open on the primary roadway. The gates looked as if they were rarely closed, perhaps never in over thirty years.

  Trooper Phil tapped his subordinate Trooper Jones who raced across the opening quickly and sheltered behind the security room. Trooper Jones knocked on the door in a musical pattern. The security room was built from the same thick bluestone and the door sounded very thick. A slot opened in the door and Trooper Phil saw some communication was going on from whoever was inside the building and Jones. The door opened slightly and Trooper Jones signalled to Phil to come.

  Phil and his other team mate, Richard, raced across and into the building with Phil following close behind. They saw Dave pushing the door closed behind them and noticed Jane looking quite unwell on the lounge. Jones peered out the slot in the door and saw B team now waiting at the entrance they had just vacated. He poked his hand out the slot and gave a thumbs up and then an open palm, telling B team they were all good and to wait.

  “Jones,” said Phil, “We need the Padre in here. She needs help.”

  Jones poked his hand back out the slot and made a cross with two of his fingers.

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  B team sent word back and Father Pacioli came forward. “You’re on, Padre,” said the B Team leader, “Go fast!”

  Father Pacioli glimpsed at the main university buildings about 500 metres away up the driveway and saw the door to the security room open. He hefted his first aid kit and raced in to the room and the door shut firmly behind him. He saw the injured security guard and went to work quickly, talking softly with her as he examined her for injuries.

  Phil nodded and turned to Dave, “Well, what’s going on?”

  Dave quickly answered, “The aliens appeared about an hour or so ago and started shooting up the place. We investigated a disturbance in the auditorium and they shot Jane with lasers and other guns. I fired enough to get a sight of them and quickly stepped back, picked up Jane and we ran to here. I managed to set off the Shutdown sequence though.”

  Trooper Phil liked the sound of that, “What’s this ‘Shutdown Sequence’?”

  “The University is now a private research facility and if something goes wrong, we can shut down the place. Massive steel doors secure the facility into smaller areas. It’s a pain to reset everything if you don’t have this digital key, but the precautions paid off this time,” Dave answered holding up a small black box, then looked over at Jane, “Will she be all right?”

  Father Pacioli looked back at Dave and smiled, giving him a thumbs up, “She’ll be fine. We’ll get her evacuated when we can but for now I can stabilise her.”

  Dave let out his breath and nodded his thanks to Father. “You can see the main building from up here,” he said as he stepped on the stone seat and looked out the high window. Phil joined him and asked, “Have you seen any movement or action since you escaped?”

  “No, nothing,” Dave said, “Maybe they have gone?” he added hopefully.

  “Not if we can help it,” said Phil taking the black box from Dave. Turning to Trooper Phil he added, “Open the door for me and keep this place secure.”

  He then raced out the door and landed next to the leader of B Team. Major Tierney and Lieutenant Smythe were also at the entrance with C Team close behind.

  Phil spoke quickly, “We don’t have much time. They have already been down a couple of hours so may get beamed up any moment. The Shutdown Sequence has been activated which has closed off the used parts into smaller sections using massive steel doors.”

  The Major was about to ask how they would get through the doors when Phil lifted up the black box, “But I have the key!”

  “Very good, “ said the Major, smiling, “Right. We’re going ahead through those lovely gardens with lots of great cover right to the front doors, past that stone fountain. Using your lovely black box we’ll open the doors and go in and get those bastards.”

  Phil added, “Sir. One of the security guards is badly injured, and the Padre has her stabilised.”

  “Very good,” said the Major looking at his watch, “Once we open the doors, call in the chopper. Evacuate her to the chopper and send it back to base. The second ARRG team should be here in about 10 minutes. We’ll be at the front doors in five!”

  “Go!”

  B and C Teams raced ahead and rested on either side of the closed main doors, with Major Tierney and Lieutenant Smythe at the edge of the gardens behind a heavy stone waist-high wall. The leader of B team raised the black box but before he could press the button, the doors exploded outwards, spreading hot debris for metres. The troopers leapt to the side and the Major and Lieutenant dropped to the ground behind the wall as large pieces of the metal security door flew past them and the lock mechanism hit the wall in front of them with a loud crack.

  “Take that!” yelled a oddly translated voice from inside the foyer, “Now where are you hiding?”

  Red and Blaire led the way out of the building pointing their guns in all directions. Blinking in the bright sunlight, they stopped, lifted their weapons and looked around for their quarry. Those dirtlings had run away and locked the doors behind them, but they couldn’t stop the hunters!

  As they turned and saw the troopers against the wall, the troopers opened fire, spraying the two hunters with many bullets, dropping them instantly. The B Team leader looked across at C team and directed them to go in. C team troopers threw in concussion and smoke grenades and raced in firing. B Team moved towards the downed hunters with the troopers firing at the bodies a couple more times to make sure they stayed down. Red and Blaire were definitely down and would not move again.

  ****

  Gerdon and Timms were relieved when the last door blew open. They had spent way too much time and effort getting through multiple security doors. They could see sunlight out these final doors and after Red cried out his defiance to the stupid doors, he and Blaire raced to catch those running dirtlings. Then Gerdon’s mouth opened wide as Red and Blaire were gunned down and stopped moving. With a loud bang, they were pushed back and smoke filled the whole entry way.

  Gerdon and Timms looked at each other and ran back the way they had come as bullets started flying around them. Timms fired back with his laser pistol, but it went “Click!”. The power cartridge was drained from the last door opening!

  They turned down the first corridor and some new dirtlings emerged out of the smoke racing towards them. These dirtlings were not at all like the ones they had been chasing. These ones had helmets and uniforms and were not afraid of them at all!

  ****

  The Lieutenant raced over to the bodies while Major Tierney called over A team and the Padre.

  Lieutenant Smythe pointed to the doors and said to B team, “Go! With me. We support C Team!”

  Phil raced up and said, “Major, the chopper has taken away the injured security guard. Dave, here, wants to stay and help.”

  Dave nodded gravely and stood next to Phil.

  “Padre, two more FOPs for you to examine,” the Major said, and added to Phil, “post watch and look for any of the other FOPs.”

  Phil nodded and directed his team to take positions they could watch. An abandoned utility vehicle nearby served as a convenient bit of cover.

  Father Pacioli examined the dead hunters. Definitely dead. With Dave’s help they stripped the hunters of all their gear and placed it some distance away.

  “Leave the communicators on them. They are the booby trapped variant. We don’t want to be near when they activate or we may be sent back up to their space ship,” said Father.

  “That gives me an idea,” said the Major and turned as he saw more troopers from the second unit arrive, “Excellent timing. We have a violent group on the run in the building. Send two teams in to the foyer to prevent any doubling back of those FOPs. Go.”

  The Major grinned and looked at the remaining team and said, “There’s a wildlife reserve down the road. Take the Chinook and bring me back a couple of their wild boars. Let’s send back a surprise for the hunting tour operators.”

  When the troopers had departed, Father Pacioli asked the Major, “How did you know about the wildlife reserve?”

  The Major smiled, “My cousin was having lots of trouble with his organic farm from wild boars. We ran a training mission and captured some of the worst ones and gave them to the wildlife reserve. The reserve has been complaining to me ever since that the boars won’t settle in and are causing them trouble too. I think we have a better use for them.”

  The Major then called to Phil and his team, “Phil, back here. I want you to accompany Padre and investigate the abandoned wing over there. We are pretty sure two other FOPs are hiding out there. We don’t have much time if Dave’s estimate of their arrival time is accurate.”

  “Any idea where they might be, Sir?” Phil asked the Major.

  Just then wooden boards covering some broken windows on the second level fell to the ground with a loud clatter and crash. Looking up, they saw one of the blue aliens staring at them in obvious surprise.

  The troopers immediately fired while the Major pushed Father to the ground.

  “There’s your target,” said the Major, “We want to capture them. Go!”

  Phil and his team ran to the doors on the ground floor of the old wing with Father Pacioli, followed by Dave who didn’t want to be forgotten. This wing was of older construction that had been left to deteriorate once the rest of The University was upgraded for the new research operations. The ground floor doors were only secured with a flimsy lock. Phil was about to break it down when Dave stopped him.

  “No need for that,” he said as he reached down to a ring of many keys at his waist, “I can open it a bit quieter.”

  Phil nodded and directed his team into the building, “Up the stairs” he told his team, “Padre, follow me.”

  Phil raced after his troopers, followed by Father and Dave.

  On the second level, the troopers took turns to kick open the doors and check for danger.

  Jones kicked open one door and it fell off its hinges with a crash. Jones stepped back as Father Pacioli noticed something inside.

  “Sergeant,” Father said to Jones, “Let’s move on.”

  “Padre, we should do a full check,” started Jones who was standing in front of an old desk in the room.

  “It will be fine. I have my defences. Move along and check the rest of this office block.”

  “Sir!” answered Jones and he went to continue down the corridor.

  Dave stood at the door as Father Pacioli stepped into the room and leaned against the door frame. Dave looked at him with a questioning look, but Father just raised a finger to his lips and said a silent “Shhh.”

  The body of a blue alien appeared slowly from behind the desk. Dave reached for his gun but Father Pacioli put a hand on Dave’s arm, beckoning him to wait.

  “Thank you,” said the voice of another alien that must have been on the ground.

  “No. Thank you,” Father Pacioli said slowly.

  One of the blue aliens popped up his head quickly and stared across the desk. His wide open eyes stared straight into the eyes of Father Pacioli who calmly stared back. He continued leaning against the door post and smiled at the alien.

  “Greetings,” he said, “We mean you no harm.”

  ****