Chapter CXXVIII: Moonlight Raiders

 In the Zone, second chances are rare. Miss an anomaly by a few centimetres and then trigger it with your fleshy parts as you try to squeeze through? Death. Join Duty but then come to think that Freedom might be on to something and try to switch sides. Most likely, death. Thus, it is rare that a single member of the Zone's lovely society manages to scrape by to earn a second chance. Even more so with a whole faction. Yet in the darkness of Jupiter, two such factions met each other for the first time.

Dimuha warmed his hands by the fire inside the Jupiter checkpoint. Across the fire, a man in X-18 Monolith suit observed him with keen eyes, but without hostility. Vityukha was sitting to his left, while the hermit and Zone legend Scar had propped himself against the wall to his right, sucking on his pipe and occasionally puffing out thick smokeclouds. Strider, the man in the Monolith suit, spoke first to break the silence.

• So let me get this straight. You guys are some sort of rehabilitation faction looking to regain your reputation?, his monotone voice asked.

• Quite so. Boris can explain this a little better when he arrives, but basically, we are all former bandits, renegades and mercs. We swore an oath to fight to regain our tarnished honour, and have been fighting battles for others ever since, Dimuha explained.

• I see. Noble goal, I will admit. And this leader of yours, I hear he has made quite the name for himself. I wonder if he is willing to help us.

• Depends on what that help entails. I can guess you're former Monolith members, but could you elaborate a bit, Vityukha asked in turn.

• Indeed I can. Five years ago, Major Degtyarev helped me and my squad of Monolith deserters join Freedom. We were the first to get out from Monolith's influence, it seemed. However, Freedom was not for us, we wanted to learn what had happened to us, what had caused us to join the ranks of Monolith, Strider recounted, his tone like that of a machine.

• So when major asked me to help him reach Outskirts, I agreed on the spot. The tunnels were horrible, but we made it. This one Vano guy agreed to help me find something related to Monolith and our fate, but we found little before Vano left for Army Warehouses. Still, I eventually wandered to Pripyat itself and found a group of Monolith troops similarly lost as I was. I led them to Jupiter, used my connections with Freedom to settle things and begun the quest of finding knowledge. I've been working tirelessly for years now to find reasons for what happened to the original Monolith, why we became what we were. My faction, Noon, is far from large, but everyone is a dedicated and trained fighter.

He was about to continue further when Stepukha barged into the room, nodded to Strider and Scar and turned towards Dimuha, looking at him with eyebrow raised. Stepukha did a sarcastic salute and asked:

• Mind if me and the boys head to Yanov for... Uh, combat performance recovery mission? We'll be back by morning, of course. I'll leave Psoglav here of course, he seems to be eager to chat with his ex-Monolith brethren.

• Fine then... But if you go on a bender, I won't save you from Loki's wrath. And no drugs, you know Boris' attitude towards those!, Dimuha added, giving the Redemption lieutenant a stern look.

• Got it, bratukha, we'll trash the station as ordered, Stepukha replied, turned on his heels and barged out as quickly as he had arrived.

• That man will be the death of me, Dimuha sighed.

• Do continue, Strider, if you still have story to tell, Vityukha commented, shifting the conversation away from Stepukha.

• Yes, indeed. Not much more to tell. When the Monolith resurgence happened, Shulga blamed us for it and attacked us at our former base, at concrete factory. We lost almost half of our numbers before Gavrilenko and Loki made him stop, Freedom and Duty almost came to blows inside Yanov because of it. Then Shulga left for the north, and we never heard from him. Last few years have been rough, but we've managed. But we need allies, as do you. We are still outcasts, like Redemption, and I do not wish to suffer another disaster like with Shulga again, Strider said, sighing.

• I see. I understand your situation well, I recently led our faction and the burden is unbearable at times. I can only speak for myself, but I think Boris will agree with me on this. I personally think you guys would make excellent allies, and I accept your offer, Dimuha replied, and Strider's face grew into a very uncharasteric faint smile.

The ex-Monolith commander was about to say something when a crescendo of gunshots crashed into the building. A screech of a wounded stalker came from outside, and the group inside drew their weapons hastily. Another groan of pain came from close, and as Dimuha charged out of the door, a Noon soldier with empty eyes collapsed into him, a wound in his chest. Machine gun fire struck the corpse, slowing down enough that they barely scratched Dimuha's armour. He fired back with his SVDS, barely even aiming at anything particular, and then dove behind the nearby crate. He could see another Noon trooper on the stairway of the opposite building, firing at the bushes down the road. Psoglav was on top of the small tile building further right from Dimuha, hiding behind a smokestack, dead Noonian to his left.

• Who are they?, Dimuha yelled to Psoglav over the gunfire.

• Mercenaries and some other guys with armour I don't recognize!, Psoglav screamed back, ducking to cover as another burst raked the tiles under him.

Strider crouched next to Dimuha, and the Redeemed saw Vityukha and Scar making it to cover inside the checkpoint guardpost. Their weapons blasted the bushes with lead, and a scream from one of them signaled that they hit one attacker.

• Locke! You bastards!, came a shout from the enemy, and sniper shot rang out, striking Vityukha.

Vityukha yelped in pain as Scar dragged him to cover. Dimuha rushed to help his friend, but the hermit was already checking the wound and gave Dimuha a thumbs up to signal that Vityukha would be fine. Dimuha laid down inside the checkpoint and started firing long bursts into the ambusher's locations, smelling the cordite and gunpowder through his helmet. The darkness made it almost impossible to see the attackers, and while the enemies had the benefit of the checkpoint's lights, Noon and Redemption were almost completely blind. The ex-Monolithian in the ledge nearby was hit in the head, spewing brain matter on the staircase behind him, his gun firing towards the sky as he fell.

• We need to retreat, we can't hold them back!, Dimuha shouted to Strider over his machine gun's roaring.

• I agree! Foma, Walrus, take Danila and Senya and get to Red Forest! Contact Armor, Sickle and Hammer and tell them to regroup the squads there!, the Noon leader shouted to his radio, making the last Noon squad disengage and run into the night.

• Dimuha! You retreat as well, I'll hold them!, Psoglav roared over the fire, jumping down and tossing a smoke grenade into the street ahead.

• Fine then, but you better get out of here alive or I'll kill you myself!, Dimuha replied and begun to drag his wounded friend out.

• Don't worry about me, the Sin built me up to survive a lot, Psoglav responded and stormed into the smoke.

As machine gun fire ensued, and Dimuha heard another of their attackers die to Psoglav's spraying, they slipped out of the checkpoint and down the hill, using the darkness to their cover. One ambusher opened fire on them as they crested the hill, having flanked around the hillside. Dimuha felt a sharp pain in his thigh and collapsed to one knee. Scar returned fire and killed the attacker. As the man fell to the ground, his gun fired and the muzzle flash revealed a suit of red, white and green. Similar uniform to those Dimuha had seen in Generators and Limansk.

On the checkpoint above, gunfire had ceased. Dimuha smacked a stimpack into his arm, and after the stimulants recharged his energy, they picked up the pace and ran, Dimuha carrying his now unconcious friend over his shoulders. Scar guided them towards a train with a giant ball of energy circling inside it, and then past it. In the darkness, only a shapeless mass drew against the sky first, but the closer they got, the more it begun to look like a scientific bunker. The guards almost opened fire, thinking that the group was some sort of mutant pack, but Scar and Strider repeatedly shouted "Friendly" from the dark and the guards lowered their guns.

• Goddammit, next time come by a little later okay? I'd rather not spend my night shift shitting myself because you guys suffer from imsomnia, the commander of the guard said angrily.

• Sorry, we got attacked by some unknown enemies and needed help, Scar replied apologetically.

• Bandits? Monolith?

• No idea, but that isn't important right away. Our friend got hit, can you help him?, Dimuha grunted, lowering Vityukha.

• Yes. Seryoga, patch the man up, we don't want bloodstains as a welcoming carpet, the squadleader said, waving at a NBC-suit wearing guard nearby.

• Thank you, Spartacus, we won't be long here. Now, Dimuha, who the hell were those guys and were they following you?, Strider asked, his tone angry even over his usual Monolith speech patterns.

• I have no idea. I've seen corpses with their uniforms at Limansk and Generators, but nowhere else. Man, I really hope Psoglav made it out, but that idiot did not make it hard for them to hit him, Dimuha muttered weakly.

• I hope he does. But those soldiers... I think I've seen them before, years ago. But they were scientists back then, not covert ops, Scar spoke.

• Scientists? What are you talking about? Some sort of special eggheads have decided enough jokes about them not hitting the barn from the inside and decided that it's purge o'clock?, Dimuha asked sarcastically.

• Yes. They were known as ISG back then, and they got wiped out pretty bad up north, some ended up as Monolith, others were killed by Final Day and most were mauled by mutants or anomalies. Only a single BTR made it out, and even that broke up near Rostok, no idea what became of the scientists after that.

• Huh. Never heard of them before. So you're saying we got our asses kicked by a bunch of eggheads?

• If those are scientists, then I am a pseudodog. No, I think we might have something major on our hands right now. Especially since they had mercs in their pocket.

• Fuck, not again, Dimuha cursed and spat on the ground to Scar's amusement.