The next day.
***
Although, infectivity level 40 would be sufficient for a small target population, it would not be in a large-scale City. The Airborne Shell Persistence capability sufficed to infect people in the base where soldiers usually had their morning routines and runs, just like humans. With the Synaptic Chain capability at play, the virus could be transmitted through sweat minuscule droplets that stayed in the air, an inescapable combination for aerial transmission.
Two Spore capabilities would mask the existence of such a virus, remaining the Alien Cure Evolver oblivious. The sneezing symptom would also contribute to the contagion rate through expelled saliva mist. Meanwhile, a mild cold could be construed as a normal symptom depending on the host's immunity. A mild cold would proliferate in the infected hosts, risking recognition of a weaponized virus. However, the cold weather and the coming winter season would mask the Nebula Virus' existence, accused the cold north winds instead.
Well, the Bugmen behaved like humans. Despite their human appearances and traits, they were soulless and heartless, killing without remorse. At least, that's what Command had been instilling their minds with regarding the aliens.
Brigham City of Aegis Prime State had varied atmospheric conditions. Sometimes, the cold temperature spiked during nighttime and mornings, however, when lunchtime struck, the warm temperature mantled the land. With the cold and arid temperature, his virus status would suffice. Lunchtime, his virus would lose efficacy. He knew what to do next – Thermal Resilience Capability.
Luke unceasingly drenched his shirt with cold unrelenting sweat. Inside the transport vehicle, Nica, Kristo, and Calyx sat across him, three other operatives on his side. Fear permeated the air, although not evident on the faces of the soldiers inside the constricted cabin. He knew it with their actions. With the silence inside. The subtle jittering of the younger deployments.
They had driven for hours and no one had struck up a proper conversation other than Nica's commands. Faint moonlight fingered through the small glass window of their vehicle which Luke had tranced upon it. A distant analogy of a scant reach of hope. He felt like he was in prison. Home seemed farfetched until he eliminated Billions of these aliens. The Virus was not the weapon of destruction, instead, the Virus Evolver.
'Death is coming.'
Although Luke's fear never had ceased since they departed from the camp, he felt inside the thick metallic box of their transport vehicle. The presence of Nica enhanced the team's capability.
"Are you ok, Luke?" Nica asked. She must have observed the slight discomfort of the first-time Evolver in the field.
"Yeah. I am fine. Don't worry," Luke responded.
"Have you checked your gear?"
"Yes, before we left the base."
"Double-check them again," Nica suggested.
Luke opened his large backpack and inspected three one-liter glass canisters that were filled with virus and the nutritive media. A green small light flashed on the light indicators of the containers. Green meant 'sealed'. While red meant a risk of probable external contamination. Afterward, he checked on his drones packed in cases that occupied the center aisle of their vehicle to where their feet rested.
As he opened the cases, a small hissing sound appeared. Inside sat Z3000 Spy drones surrounded by black thick pads. In this case, aerial administration. He took out the drones one by one from their padded cases, checked on their batteries, and calibrated them using their control consoles.
A small whirring sound appeared from the drone blades and rotors.
"Good to go. Be sure to wear your gas masks. We will be about five hundred meters from the target site and the virus is designed to be carried through air." Luke reminded them. The soldiers only nodded.
For a few hours of driving along the unending sprawling of trees, their vehicle wound through a sinuous narrow rough ragged road, Luke knew that the enemy base was nearing. He frequently glanced at his watch, as he always did. For less than an hour, they would reach their marked stop.
Unsure of his uneasy feelings, the killing part was the culprit. Luke had not weighed the aftermath of having thousands of Bugmen killed because of him. During the Psychiatric Consultations he had during his training, his mind underwent brutal conditioning that the enemy came from outer space, conquered Earth, and killed Billions of people.
"Five minutes," Nica said after she glanced at her watch.
The soldiers checked on their weapons, cocked their handguns, and placed grenades in their respective belt slots. The noise of the metallic sounds of the clicking of guns conquered the deafening silence inside the vehicle's cabin.
A group of six soldiers and an evolver, a tactical number for covert ops. Furthermore, leveraging from the heaving trees, moonlight hardly reaching the forest bed contributed to concealment. It was nighttime and the faint moonlight had no match for the jet-black cloak.
They stopped a kilometer from the enemy's base and parked at the edge of the tree line. Beyond that, sprawled a vast clearing where snipers would take down intruders.
'Remember, they are heartless killers,' Luke convinced himself.
They lowered themselves behind the outcropping and surveyed the enemy fence with a precision telescope. Nica and Kristo flanked Luke and positioned a defense formation around him.
"Are you ready, Luke?" Nica asked again, thrice that time.
Luke hesitated to answer. He lied to Nica three times already.
"Yes, I am. Gas masks on," Luke said. He remained unmasked. He was immune.
Upon glancing at the faint ominous lights of the base reaching low towards the cloudy overcast, a devious feeling of uncertainty crawled into his being. It looked like a human base housed with human soldiers. An unshakable perception persisted within him. Luckily, the Virus would be dispensed in the air by the use of drones, but it would not help his hesitation.
They could not use long-range predators to dispense the virus, it would be gunned down and would alert suspicion. However, the drones were smaller, invisible to the naked eye as the dark overcast cloaked them, silent, and undetectable by enemy radar.
"Major, we are ready," Nica said. They were prone on the ground, chest pressed on the grassy and mud, rifles aiming outwardly towards the vast clearing. Luke crouched too, and activated the drones. The slots of the three drones mounted the three virus cylinders. The drone hummed as four rotors turned the propellers. It lifted with the canister on top of it.
'I am trained for this,' Luke thought. Convincing himself that the drone would infiltrate the enemy airspace without detection.
The drone flew away from them, melting into the dark overcast. The humming grew imperceptible. A monitor embedded in the console would enable the user to monitor the drone's flight path. "200 meters up," Luke said as the drone ascended. "First drone in position."
He did too with the other two drones, creating a triangular position in the enemy airspace.
"Ready to dispense," Luke faced Nica. Nica had the enemy's base on her telescope.
"Yes. Go on, Evolver," Nica said. "No alarms from the guards. We are all good."
"Dispensing virus in the air," Luke said, he hesitated for a second there. The button felt cold against his thumb, conscience scratching the surface of his thoughts. However, the necessity had driven him to trigger.