She then thought to herself, “Get your head in the game girlie.  Just don’t respond to anything unless required!”  

 “Huskins, I want the E.C.O. shielding deployed on the cab of the transport as well as on the back.” Voss ordered as he closely monitored every movement of the transport, unit 37, unit 38, and various other screens all at the same time.  Huskins replied, “Yessir!  Do you really think this is a trap?”  “I don't know. It very well could be.  We won’t know until we hear from unit 37.  All we can do is be prepared for the worst.” Voss replied, waving his hands to move through several screens on his glasses, sweat beginning to bead up on his forehead.  “Shields on commander.” Huskins stated, the sweat starting to show on his brow as well.  Huskins was clearly concerned. Huskins was neither a fighter nor a courageous man, so the very thought of a possible trap had him to the point of almost soiling himself.  Despite his fear, Huskins held firm, and continued to follow Voss’s orders.  “This one sure has the commander spooked.” Huskins thought.  It didn’t help the situation, that Huskins could tell that Voss was deep in thought, trying to make more sense out of the situation.  Voss meanwhile had the same serious look on his face that he always had.

Mulling over the situation in his mind, Voss thought, “If they are indeed under some sort of mind control, the E.C.O shielding will protect us from personal weapons fire.  We can keep them isolated, but wouldn’t the ghost just have them wait until we got back to base before it did anything?  Or maybe it is simply watching where they go?  In which case, we would just be leading it straight back to base.  Does that mean that the ghost is watching them now?  Is it somehow not detectable by our computers?  If that were the case it would be a first.  If it is hiding, there must be a way to find it.”  Voss began moving his hands and arms in a fashion similar to that of a music composer, using his various computer layouts from his glasses to conduct sensor sweeps of the area.  “Nothing…. Absolutely nothing,” Voss thought, looking over the results of the sensor sweeps.  “Maybe if I connect to the satellite imaging.” Voss thought as he connected his computer to the Bairon-Midley satellite network.  He began to flail his arms and hands even faster trying to move between various screens and views of the local area.  

Voss’s obvious increase in activity had Huskins beginning to worry even more.  Despite the fact that Huskins could not see what Voss was seeing, he was smart enough to realize that whatever it was; Voss wasn’t finding any answers that he liked.  Huskins tried not to think about it as he maneuvered the transport into the pick up location for unit 37.  As the transport came to a halt, Huskins could see unit 37 getting closer and closer on his screen.  Huskins then opened the E.C.O. shield on the back compartment of the transport.  Fumbling nervously he lowered the ramp on the back of the transport.  The whole time he watched Voss hoping for either a confirmation or denial of a trap, but it never came.  The comm line opened, “Unit 37 requesting permission to load up,” Sergeant Lewis stated.  Voss nodded to Huskins; giving the go ahead to let them into the transport.  Huskins came across the comm line and said, “Sergeant Lewis, your unit is clear to load up.”  “Roger that,” Sergeant Lewis replied, motioning his men into the back of the transport.  Commander Voss looked out the side of his glasses at Huskins as if to question, "Why they are following protocol now?"  Huskins looked back at Voss with concern in his eyes and sweat all over his face.  The sound of the heavy powered suits moving into the transport began to reverberate into the front of the transport.  “I can’t figure out why the sudden change from panic to protocol.” Voss thought to himself, watching unit 37 like a hawk watches its prey.  

 It was only natural that the constant appearance of the G.E.T. team at every ghost sighting around the world, that the power hungry world leaders would leave the ghost phenomena to Bairon-Midley as the tension between them escalated.  It was only a few years into the all out Pan-Geo War that the world powers began to realize the possible dangers of the ghosts, but by that time, no one even came close to the specialization in ghosts that Bairon-Midley had achieved.  It was at this point that the war ceased, but the reliance on Bairon-Midley remained.  As such, five years after the cease fire, Bairon-Midley would still be called on.  This time, they were called to the Pan American Sphere’s territory about a possible ghost, the likes of which had only been concocted in the darkest of nightmares.  

~Excerpt from The History of Bairon-Midley, Better Business Inquirer Magazine

Sara and Corporal Heraldson kept watch on unit 37 until they made it out of sight.  Sara couldn’t help but wonder, ”Why is there no chatter in the unit 38 comm line?  Why did Norman and Voss ignore the warning about it being a trap?  They must already have a plan.”

Voss continued closely monitoring the troopers of unit 37 for any signs out of the ordinary.  “So far the only thing that is different is the lack of used ammunition and a slight lapse  in protocol.  While neither of these things is good behavior for a unit of troopers; I can’t say that it is a punishable offense either.” Voss thought to himself, swapping between screens from the transport and the area outside.  He waved his hand again, opening a new screen to check the biometrics of the troopers.  “All of their stats are elevated, but that is what one would expect.  Maybe if I cross reference their vitals now with their vitals from their last PT exam. Maybe that will tell me something”, he thought, opening more screens to compare as much as he could as fast as he could.  "Everything is within an acceptable parameters based on their most recent PT exam. Damn!  What am I missing?” he thought to himself, startling Huskins as he slammed his fist on his own leg.  

“Sergeant Lewis, begin debriefing of the situation”, Voss ordered, closing his eyes to remove any distractions from the screen; and carefully listening for any subtle changes or inflections in Sergeant Lewis's story.  Voss made sure to directly feed the general comm line into the unit 38 only comm line as well.  “Yessir!  We dropped at the location as per normal…. Gasp … protocol sir.  All was quiet.  There were fires and fire control was dealing with them.  Gasp … There was no sign of the ghost.   Gasp … We got confirmation of the transport's departure; then outta nowhere a huge ball of fire hit the transport.  It melted the transport to slag in seconds.   No time to get up the E.C.O. shielding.  Gasp …. We used every type of sensor sweep our suits could do, but there was no sign of life or the ghost … whew.  We searched for the ghost for a few minutes after that.  Not finding it, we were hoofing it to the rendezvous point, where you guys were going to pick up your unit.  Then we heard you dropping over the comm line and came running.” Sergeant Lewis stated while trying to gather his wind back from the long run.  

Commander Voss pondered the story for a moment, “Everything he is saying makes sense with the conditions of the troopers.  It would also make sense that they would come to us for a pick up if their transport was destroyed.  But why not contact HQ rather than us directly?  Just a lapse in judgment perhaps?  Or maybe a subtle manipulation of judgment?  Whatever the case, Sergeant Lewis doesn’t seem to be aware of anything.  Either way, the E.C.O. shielding should keep them in and anything else out once they are loaded up.” Voss thought to himself, openning his eyes.  

Elemental Conditioning and Obscuration Shielding or E.C.O Shielding was the brainchild of Dr. Kozue Archive.  Using various types of proprietary technology and electrical energy fluctuations, the shielding provides complete protection from any form of attack.  The barrier also prevents any form of radio, satellite, or sound from passing through.  Physical items are also unable to pass through the barrier.  As such E.C.O. shielding must be used cautiously as air does not pass through the shield either.  Also, the high energy cost prevents the shield from being implemented constantly.  

~Excerpt from New Journal of Science and Technology; Bairon-Midley edition.

Huskins began the loading procedures for the unit 37 troopers. “Air circulation and filtration engaged.  Power charging ports activated.” Huskins thought as he began checklisting the procedures in his head.  Both Voss and Huskins could hear the troopers load up.  As each power suit came up the ramp, the transport would shift positions; similar to that of a very large person getting into a compact car.  As Voss wracked his brain for a solution to the perceived trap, it felt as if time was going in slow motion.  The troopers felt as though they were taking hours to get loaded in and settled rather than minutes.  Glancing at the time on his glasses, Voss was aware that they were actually loading up very quickly, despite how it felt.    

As the last of the troopers loaded into the back of the transport, both Voss and Huskins looked at each other in complete silence, both with a look of concern on their faces.  “Huskins reactivate the E.C.O. shielding for the back of the transport.” Voss commanded, closing all the extra screens he had opened hoping to find answers.  “Shield activated.“ Huskins replied, lifting the ramp and closing the back door.  “Now, return to base Huskins,” Voss ordered, intensly watching the view of the back compartment. 

Sergeant Norman heard over the comm line, “Unit 37 loaded up, we are returning to base. We will return for your pick up at the designated time and place.” from commander Voss.  “Roger that. Thirty-eight out.” Norman replied, cutting the comm line between him and Voss.  Sergeant Norman then seamlessly began giving orders, “Begin fanning out and search the area for the ghost and survivors.  Make sure you stay in visual range of one another.”  The troopers began their search for the flame dancer.  Routine chatter would come across the comm line, “sector 1.... clear! Sector 2 ..... clear!”  The chatter was all routine.  There was no sight of the flame dancer.  There was also no signs of life in the area either.  Sara thought to herself, “There is nothing. No ghost. No civilians, No plants.  Just ash and things that don't burn.  Even the metal from street signs and cars is little more than slag on the ground.”  The major thought that then came to her mind was, “What kind of intense fire would it take to incinerate bones and reduce the city to ash so quickly?”  

The silence was eerie.  There were no screams.  There were no engines.   There were no animals.  Nothing but a gentle breeze carrying the smoke and ash around.  The occasional leftover flame was found, slowly smothering to embers with a faint red or orange glow.  It felt like time was standing still.  What felt like hours had only been mere minutes.  All of the troopers could feel their anxiety on the rise, and with good reason.  This level of destruction had not been seen since the last use of nuclear weapons in World War II.  The level of destruction could be compared to Hiroshima but in truth it was much worse.  Hiroshima left some structures standing.  This incident left almost nothing.  A vast desert of ash and soot was all that remained of Pasadena.  Even more hair raising to the troopers was the lack of bodies.  Over two hundred thousand people and not a body, bone, or shred of personal effects.  

Sara couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.  She was genuinely afraid, because she knew that if the flame dancer did come, there was nothing she could do to stop it.  Even worse she had no clue what this foe from another world even looked like.  She could be looking straight at it and not even know it.  Sara began to stay herself mentally.  She repeated to herself, “I mustn’t be afraid.  Fear compromises good judgment.  Good judgment saves your life.”  She repeated this phrase over and over in her mind.  It was a saying her father had taught her ever since she was little.  Sara began to calm down a little as she repeated the phrase over and over again.  Then the familiar woman’s voice from earlier whispered again, “Its here!”Sara turned to face the front of the formation. 

Just as Sara turned to the front of the formation, the silence was shattered with the sounds of gunfire and shouting across the comm line.  It was Slater.  From the front of the formation, Slater shouted across the comm line, “Fireball incoming!”  Sara heard the woman’s voice again, “It’s going after the transport.”  Ibara shouted pointing toward the fireball, “INCOMING PROJECTILE!!”  Raising his rifle towards the fireball, Norman shouted, “OPEN FIRE!!”  Several troopers had begun to open fire at the target, which looked like a ball of fire traveling at great speed.  However, rather than striking the troopers like a normal fired projectile; the object swerved up and over their formation at the last second.  Norman shouted across the comm line, “Troopers, about face and begin pursuit!!”  All the troopers did a complete about face and began chasing the target.  Norman shouted over the comm line, “WATCH FOR FRIENDLY FIRE! KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE TARGET!!”  Ibara then came across the comm line, “TARGET DOESN’T SHOW ON SENSORS!!”  

Sara, despite her fear, turned and began running after the fireball, weapon drawn.  Sara had a natural speed and grace to her run; leading to her easily out running the rest of the troopers in pursuit.  Weapon blazing, Sara fired shot after shot at the ball of fire with no visible effect.  Sara tried switching to thermal imaging, but it was like staring into an inferno with no ability to make out the shape of the target.  She then switched to infrared with the same result.  She flipped through view after view with still no way to pinpoint what was within the blazing ball of flame.  Despite her speed of travel, Sara was definitely losing ground on the fireball at an incredible rate.  “There is no way I can catch this thing!”  Sara thought to herself as she changed out her empty magazine for a fresh one.   “You know where it is going…” the woman’s voice whispered again.  Sara shouted across the comm line, “IT'S GOING AFTER THE TRANSPORT!”