I grew up on earth, I was raised in a middle-class family I always enjoyed the wilderness and nature. I would spend countless nights running around the forest behind our house with my friends. When I was older took martial arts lessons and joined the school paintball team. I was in peak physical condition after college I decided to join the marines and start my own martial arts school. I certainly had the physical and mental ability to join, after all I had spent my entire life learning and exercising. As a result, for the last year or so I've been stationed on an orbital station orbiting some backwater planet. It wasn't very developed, but its location made it a good jumpoff point to some surrounding colonies. Usually all I did was workout, look tough and sleep. The only assignments I ever got were so stupid stuff the "police" couldn't handle, like maybe a group of burglars who got their hands on a rocket launcher and maybe a nut who decided to take up the hobby of making plastic explosives in his basement.
This assignment was by far the most unusual. It didn't seem like something for marines but more likely something for a group of technicians. We had lost contact with one of our colonies on the rim, it was apparently a research laboratory. Which was strange, being so far out. I did hear a rumor that they were doing experiments on alien technology, but everyone "knew" there wasn't any such thing as an alien. I wasn't on a position to argue either. It didn't make much sense at the time, but there I was anyway. Going through the deep sleep process was always the worst part, or so I thought at the time. Since I scored so well in school I was trained as a pilot, and thus that was my job whenever the whole group went anywhere. I was the only one in the company who knew how to pilot the drop ship aside from the synthetic. It knew just about everything related to mechanics.
The highest-ranking soldier was a corporal, one bad assed dude who went by the name Vince. Not the most kindly person, I couldn't understand why he joined up, all he wanted was action and he never got what he wanted. We got a new guy a month back, a really nervous guy called Harper. I could never understand why that guy joined up. He was always afraid we'd get into some kind of action. We also had a sharpshooter, we all called him Hector, its amazing that he was in our platoon, and seeing as how his talent was far beyond anyone I could think of. He had an wonderful sense of humor too, which really made the time go more smoothly. Kai was a fanatic, nobody could really get along with her, and whenever she wasn't by herself she was too damn cryptic for many people to understand. I always got the impression that she was smarter than most people, always thinking things through on her own and calculating things way in advance of everyone else. Riley was basically a bum, as far as I could tell he was just using the Marine Corps as a way to battle his poverty. Vince obviously didn't like him; he didn't want to do much ever. And then there was the synthetic. It obviously wasn't the type programmed for interaction, because it didn't talk much at all. We just called it Bill. I'm called Hobbes by my platoon.
Anyway, we had just come out of stasis. And I was already done with my meal so I decided to start all of the pre-drop preparations. Tom, the ships Technician wasn't much of a help, but ever since an incident of some planet I cant remember, where a team was sent to restore communications it turned out a terrorist group had killed everyone and that the atmospheric processor blew up. They didn't make it out because the drop ship was destroyed and the APC was crushed somehow. Now it is standard procedure to leave someone behind on the ship just in case. That story never did quite click for some reason.oh well.
"Listen up marines!" I heard Vince yell out as he always does. "This is a quick in and out. We land fix the communication problem and then we're out of here. Any questions?"
"Wouldn't a bunch of techies be better at this?" said Riley in his own stupor.
"Shut up, Marine!" was Vince's only retort.
"How come we don't have a full compliment? Luith thought he was going to get some real experience, and tylor was supposed to be my support on the next big mission."
"Obviously this mission isnt big enough. That's about it, Gear up and get ready, we're not going to need any firearms for this mission." He said more calmly, this was the usual que for people to carry only a pulse rifle and a handgun. The rifles are almost always for show. Myself being the pilot I didn't need to worry about any of that crap, I just got in the drop ship holstered my US975 Hi Powered 9mm and began the preflight checks. As I watched the APC pull in I couldn't help thinking about how all the guns in the APC, we never use them, but just their presence is enough to give me the creeps.
With everything in place we commenced the drop, a long tedious process in which the efficiency of your stomach is completely messed up. As we approached the colony base I noticed all the blast shields were up, and I couldn't see any light coming from inside. But that didn't matter, all we needed to do was fix a transmitter.right? Oh well, I was given the order to land, and managed to set her down gently, as soon as the APC was clear I lifted off and began hovering, waiting for the all clear. I waited, and waited. Watching the rain fall onto the cockpit was quite mesmerizing. I don't know how long I just sat there circling and watching the weather. Suddenly something inside me snapped. It sure was taking them a long time. I was spacing off so much that I had failed to realize just how long I had been waiting. As I was about call in and ask on the situation. I heard a frantic call over the intercom.
"Come in Hobbes, Hobbes!"
"Hobbes here, what is the si." before I could finish I was cut off.
"Damnit Hobbes, we need extraction now!" I heard Vince yell with some pulse rifle noises flaring in the background.
"Yes SIR!" I managed to get out. My mind reeled just about as fast is the drop ship as I changed my course.
"What was going on, could it be terrorists like on.whatever the name of that planet was?" I saw the drop point and began my landing process, but the APC wasn't there.
"Vince, what is your position, I am at the dust off site."
"We are on route" was all I got in return. I set the drop ship down at the dust off site and opened the bay door. I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. Not even a minute into my wait I heard noises coming up the ramp. Shit, I thought, no APC, could it be the terrorists? Or perhaps the crushed the APC like the other ones did, and this was one of my own. Either way, I got up, and locked the door to the cabin, and was about to inquire as to the situation when I heard a call over the intercom.
"Hobbes, change of plan," I heard Vince yell as he was briefly interrupted by a grenade explosion. "I need you to lift off and come to the west entrance, It shouldn't be to far from where you are."
"Roger" was all I could say as I jumped back in my seat and lifted off, a few seconds later I was hovering right above the west entrance. I got up again after locking the drop ship in a stationary hover. I needed to find out who was in the hangar. Just as I unlocked the door it started to open, I jumped back a bit be the suddenness of it and locked the door again. It froze in mid opening and a pair of black clawed clasps thrust themselves through the doorway, then when I looked up and saw its head, my heart skipped a beat. The next thing I knew I was firing round after round at its head, all of which ricocheted off harmlessly. In an adrenaline rush the only thing I could think of was my martial arts training and I quite ungracefully kicked it in the face. It moved back slightly but continued its attempts to force its way through the door. So I kicked it again and again, but the third time it swiped at my leg and I fell backwards bumping the controls the drop ship went nose first into the air and I found myself falling right towards the beast. Luckily for me it was also startled and began to fall as well. As I fell against the door, my shoulder bumped the open button and I fell through. With nothing to hold onto I fell straight out the hangar door and just got a glimpse of the drop ship spinning wildly out of control before I hit the ground.
The fall was about 15 feet and I really got the wind knocked out of me to say the least. But I was jolted into action as the drop ship exploded about 26 yards away. I couldn't believe I didn't have any broken bones. I guess all that milk I drink really paid off. As I was just about to get my wits about me the APC came crashing through the gate door, it was on fire and most of the back wall was missing, with strange scorch marks all over it. I doubt they noticed me, but they stopped anyway. They probably noticed the absence of a drop ship instead. As they started to pick up speed I ran as fast as I could up to it, and they must have noticed me then because they opened the door and I managed to jump in before the APC shifted gears and zoomed off like a bat out of hell. And the inside looked just like that, hell. Everyone was still alive though. Hector and Kai were aiming their pulse rifles out the hole that had somehow been burned through the metal. While Harper was furiously looking through the supplies for something Riley laid unconscious on the floor as Bill was bandaging his arm. Vince was driving the APC up front. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and put tried to put out the flames.
"DAMNIT HOBBES!!!" I heard an angry voice from the front "What the hell are you doing down here, and where and what the hell did you do with the drop ship! DAMNIT!"
"What the hell are those things" was all I could manage in response.
"Fuck that, we need off this rock!" Harper yelled as he emerged with what he was looking for, a smartgun. "I don't care what the fuck those things are, they are tougher than steel, and I'm not going to buy it because you couldn't get out of here."
I was taken aback, I barely escaped with my life as well.
"The drop ship exploded." I said with determination.
"You sure seem as right as rain." He yelled back.
"I barely escaped with my life, some THING got almost got in the cockpit." I retorted
"Where are you headed." Kai called out to Vince, breaking up what would have been a huge argument.
"I'm headed to the research laboratory, we'll be there soon, so get everything ready." Vince yelled over the roar of the engine, just as Harper was fitting the last clip on the chest support for the smart gun.
"Everyone make sure to grab some auto sentries too," said Kai as she left her position and began removing items from storage bins. "we're going to need them to defend our position until Tom can send another drop ship."
As the APC entered the garage we got out and Kai made a dash for the ops room, Vince followed close behind. I pulled as many auto sentry guns out as I could before and stepped out of the APC, and made my way to the ops room. Bill was carrying Riley over his shoulder as harper stayed back to guard the APC, there was still a lot of stuff in there we needed. In less than a minute the main lights began to flicker and came to life, and I saw the storm covers begin to shut accompanied by a symphony of whirrs clicks and other mechanical noises. The halls in this place were wide, tall, and very well lit. There were signs painted on the walls pointing in all directions, and countless rooms, with creative names like lab one and lab two. As I was walking down the corridor I began to see bullet holes in the walls and I increased my pace. More bullet holes punctuated by scorch marks on the walls and on the floor came into sight. I felt a draft begin to pour through the halls. Then I saw something that startled me, some sort of black gray resin on the walls and ceiling. I stopped, took out my motion detector. Looked around and decided to keep moving seeing nothing on the scanner. Just as I came around a corner I saw something that made the hair on my back raise up like rocket. The hallway had ended abruptly and in its place was a hole.a big hole. In fact a good portion of the complex was missing, jagged pieces of metal protruded from the wounded surfaces. And below me was a giant crater that dug deep into the ground. Ash lay everywhere. Then I heard something behind me.too late.
"Hey Hobbes, ops is over this way!" I heard Hector say as I whirled around.
"Damnit! You scared the shit out of me!"
"Man, they must have pulled out one big chuck of explosives to do that!"
"Yeah, I wonder why they did it though? It destroyed a lot of the installation."
"Beats me, anyway, Vince wants you in ops with those auto sentries on the double. Just follow me." We began jogging down the halls and took a left through a door, which I must have missed, while looking at the bullet holes. We past by Harper who was guarding the parameter.
"Ops is just down the hall to the left, you cant possible miss it this time." He said with a hint of cynicism. As he began patrolling the parameter.
As I entered the ops room I saw Kai and Vince standing over a computer terminal, and discussing something.
"Hobbes!" Vince said with a surprisingly pleasant tone. "I need you to go set up these auto sentries. And here put on a helmet, we need you on the comm system."
"Ok, where do I put them?" I asked as if it was a simple task.
"We've got 12, we need four guarding the entrance on the roof and we need two guarding the garage with the APC, two by the main entrance and the rest guarding the opening that was blasted in the wall. We can funnel all traffic through one main hallway on each level and there are three levels. You and Kai are to seal off the bulkheads and set up the sentries while I hector and myself get some more supplies out of the APC. I want you two to keep your motion detectors on at all times, and watch your back."
"I'm on it." Kai said as she headed out the door leaving me to catch up. I've been carrying these cases forever.
Lets just say everything was going off without a hitch until It came time to place the sentries on the roof. The wind wasn't blowing very hard so we were able to set them up easily, one pointed in each direction, however just as we were about to close the hatch they started shooting, Like a thunderstorm. On and off and Back on again.
"They must be malfunctioning." I said, but just then I started picking up movement on my motion detector.
"Shit! I've got movement up on the roof and the auto sentries are going off!" I yelled into the headset
"Pull back to ops now Marines!" Vince replied.
"I'm just got the last of the supplies from the APC now!" said Hector "and am on my way." As the sound of gunfire was getting farther and farther away, It abruptly stopped.
"They're either dead or they're already in the building." Kai said into over the comm as I followed behind using my motion detector to check behind us.
"Damnit! We're already in the ops room, get your asses here on the double!" Vince Yelled nervously.
"OK we're approaching the intersection to the ops room be waiting for us and don't shoot!"
"I hear ya, I've got you on my motion tracker." Said Hector through over the comm. As we rounded the corner I saw Harper looking the other way down the hall with his smartgun waving it slightly back and fourth in expectation. And Hector looking straight in our direction, as I walked past I could see a look of unease in his eye. The ops room was a mess, piles of equipment scattered all over the place.
"Alright, here's whats going on." Said Vince calmly "It's been an hour since the transmitter on the APC got wasted, so Tom should be sending down another drop ship, and Riley is recovering. Here's the bad news, its going to take a while for the drop ship to get here, and when it does we have no way of contacting Tom to tell him what to do with it. And it looks like we are up against something major here. All I could get out of Bill was that this is a high security research installation. And they've been doing some research on dangerous 'substances.' However, I did manage to get some information out of the computer. It looks like they knew about at least three different alien species and technologies. The first is the one we faced earlier, it apears to be a killing machine, totally aggressive, and highly evolved. The second is a race we know little about, they do have extensive technology, the only evidence of their civilization was a spacecraft found on the planet LV-426."
"I thought that was terrorists!" I interrupted.
"Apparently that was just a cover story. Anyway, their spacecraft was found on LV-426 along with a single dead member of that species. Their ship contained an awful lot of technology. The third species is a race of destructive predator like creatures that have hunted both humans and aliens, but have been kept under raps for now. This whole installation was built for the purpose of studying and reproducing their equipment and technology."
"Did you find any?" Kai asked as soon as he let up.
"No, all the equipment is scattered around the complex in different laboratories, or part of that crater on the south end of the complex. And we didn't have much time to look. But according to the data banks, they were working on some sort of energy field that blocked any form of gas from penetrating, including pheromones which seemed to be an important thing seeing as how it was mentioned numerous times in the logs. Another thing was a new type of body armor derived from the predators own suit that resisted the aliens strong acid and a electrical grappling hook. The last thing I couldn't get much info on, but apparently it is a new form of automated sentry incorporating laser technology. If we could find it and assemble it in a defensive position it'd kick ass."
"I've got some movement out here!" I heard hector say over the comm. cutting the briefing short.
"I'm on my way." I said as I readied my pulse rifle and headed for the hallway.
"I've got three signals moving quickly." Said Hector as he lined up the end of the hallway in his sites. Then he started shooting, but I couldn't see what he was shooting at. But whatever it was he kept on shooting, then I saw it, a splatter of green splashed against the wall and I opened fire. Whatever it was it was getting torn up now. Green fluid began spraying in all directions as I saw a hulking body fall to the ground. Just to be sure I launched a grenade at it and watched as two shadowy figures were illuminated for a second then disappeared with the body leaving only a puddle of green.stuff.on the ground.
"What the hell was that? I asked
"I've got no fucking clue!" Hector yelled out.
Just then we heard a yelp from behind us as Harper was lifted off his feet by a shadow. This thoroughly threw my attention off. I aimed my pulse rifle but Harper was in the way. Then from behind me I heard a thud as Hector came crashing to the floor. Knocked unconscious at my heels. I looked behind me and saw a shadow pick Hector up, then started carrying quickly down the hallway. A loud thud grabbed my attention as Harper was thrown to the ground. This all happened so quickly I stood there for an instant trying to figure out what had just happened while my mouth just hung open in disbelieve. Then it hit me; they took Hector.there was no way that I was going to let them get away with this. I ran down the hallway after them.
"I'm following the targets, Damn they're fast!" I said into my headset.
"Negative! Pull back Marine!" I heard Vince say through the comm
'Damnit! I'm not leaving him behind!" I yelled. Putting an end to the discussion.
Back to the roof where I placed the auto sentries just a while ago. I was just about to catch up when it jumped up the flight of stairs. I ran after it noticing the auto sentries had been ripped to shreds. There, in the middle of the roof stood an alien spacecraft with its door wide open. This was it I thought to myself and ran after it, the ramp began to close and was forced to jump in order to make it inside. The interior was a strange color of orange with mottled silver indentations. Then I saw it. It was a yellowish brown color with long dreadlocks protruding from the back of its head, and was wearing some strange form of body armor. Whatever it was, was in the process of locking Hector in some sort of a cage. I ran up to it with all my strength and shifted my weight into my foot as I sent it smashing against the thing's head. It was barely phased, but instead of ignoring me, it turned around, looked at me, and then got right up in my face. It was huge. The tension in the room was as thick as peanut butter. It was probably born that way, but with me I was at the peak of human physical condition and I could just barely keep up with it. I just stood there staring back at it, pondering the unfairness of it all when another one came out of another chamber followed by several more of them, all badly wounded. In its hand was a pistol like weapon, which it gave it to the thing in front of me. We stood there for a few more seconds then it turned around grabbed hector and handed him to me, still unconscious, and started to walk away. I took this as my que to get the hell out of there. Things are just getting too strange, I thought to myself, and it isn't over yet.
"I've got him!" I'm heading back I said over the comm somewhat enthusiastically.
"Just get back here damnit. The drop ship is going to be arriving soon, and we need to get to it before anyone else does. We need to be ready."
"Roger that." Was all I could say in return. I still couldn't believe what was going on. This was all like a bad dream. As I got back to the ops room I passed by Harper once more, this time he managed a sort of nervous smile as I passed by.
"Expected arrival time for the drop ship is 43 minutes." Said Vince through the comm. "However, without communications with Tom, the drop ship will probably land by the dust off site near the main complex and wait. It'll take us a few minutes in the APC to reach the complex so for now I want you to get as many supplies out of the research labs as you can and meet back at ops in a half an hour."
Hector and myself headed for the north wing where the armor was being developed, this may come in handy for me because as of yet I wasn't wearing any armor. As we began walking down the block 15 access hall on level 2 I spotted a blip on my motion detector. It was down the hall about 20 meters.
I proceeded carefully. I was just about to round the corner when I heard a strange noise. I stuck my hand out to stop Hector.
"I hear something." I said into the headset. "Its in block 15. It's getting closer."
"I'll back you up." Said Hector as he layer down his pulse rifle and unslung his semi-automatic Sniper rifle, while bracing himself against the adjacent wall. Just as I was about to peek my head around the corner a beam of red light flitted across the entrance.
"A laser." I whispered into my headset.
"Could it be that new form of defence?" Hector replied. "We should bring it with us."
"Hold on Hector we don't know what it is yet, and if it is the new auto sentry, I think it might be active." I said as I crept up to the corner. Then I saw it, as it stuck its foot into the intersection. It was one of those things I saw before! My ears were deafened as blast after blast from Hector's rifle struck it square in the head, but it kept on coming. I began blasting it with me pulse rifle but it didn't seem to have any effect.
"Damn! This thing is indestructible!" Hector said as he continued firing
"Watch out!" I yelled as it locked its laser on Hector's chest.
As soon as the words left my mouth he dropped his rifle and dived for the pulse rifle he had left of the floor. I streak of sapphire energy ripped the wall were he had been leaning into shreds then made its way down to the floor where hector was. I blasted it with a pulse grenade and it stopped. It shuddered and a few sparks flew into the air.
"Did we kill it?" I asked, but before hector could reply It began to whir and click.
"Shit! I guess not!" I said as I began firing again
"Fire in the hole! Run for it!" Hector yelled, and I saw a small silver cylinder fall to the floor at the beast's feet. I didn't need to think twice, I turned tail and ran. I ran as hard as I possible could, before being knocked flat on my face by the explosion.
"That got it!" I heard Hector laugh out loud in exhilaration.
"They were doing live testing here on monsters like that?" I asked rhetorically "No wonder they got their asses kicked."
"Never mind that!" Kai said over the comm. "I found something in block thirty two. I'm turning it on now."
Suddenly the hallways were filled with an eerie blue light, as a blue field of energy blocked each intersection.
"What is this stuff?" I heard Harper ask over the comm. "It reacts when I touch it."
"I don't know quite for sure, but it's called a pheromone shield generator. I think it's supposed to block gasses from passing through it."
"What the hell's that good for, turn it off, it's hard to see through it." I heard Vince say in an irritated voice over the comm.
"I thought you said yourself that pheromones seemed to play a key role." Kai said
"I don't care, I couldn't even see 50 feet in front of me." Vince snapped back
"Fine, you win." Kai said, backing off. After a few seconds the blue fields promptly disappeared.
Returning to the site of the fallen sentry creature. We managed to avoid the hole blown in the floor and entered block 15. There was heavy machinery everywhere, not what I expected to see in a science installation, but upon closer inspection it appears that they were beginning production of something. There were piles of armor plates scattered across the floor, I picked up one and examined it. It looked like a normal chest plate, however it had several switches and internal storage compartments. The other piece was something that fit on my arm, it had what looked like a small computer terminal and several buttons on it, I had no clue what they did, but I put it on anyway. As I was fitting the chest plate on Hector got a signal, moving at incredible speed, he just had time to take aim and shoot before the thing was pouncing on me. It was one of those alien things, but when the pulse rifle hit it, it practically exploded. Yellowish fluid splashed everywhere, and began eating through the floor and walls. I covered my face with my arm as blobs of "blood" came at my face. After a second of standing there covering my face I looked at my arm. A patch of yellow liquid sat there on the piece of armor I had just put on, just sat there. No burning or hissing or eating through to my flesh. I wiped it off on the ground, which it quickly ate through, and then picked up my pulse rifle.
"Come in marines, if we are going to do something we should do it quickly, They have gotten past the auto sentries." Hector said into the headset. "We are returning to ops."
"I don't have anything on my detector.Wait, I'm picking up some signals. Shit! Everyone fall back to the APC on the double." I heard Vince yell over the comm followed briefly by the sound of pulse rifle fire. I looked at hector, he nodded, then we both ran like madmen. We ran uninterrupted until we came to the stairwell. I aimed the motion tracker up, and got numerous readings, just then aliens started dropping like raindrops from level 3. We opened fire, but there were just too many of them. They lunged and sprinted at us but we kept on shooting.
"Damnit! We are cut off. Position, the main stairwell." I yelled into the headset.
"There should be a secondary one behind you and to the south." Kai said over the comm.
We fell back. Taking turns looking behind us, but they just kept coming. By the time we reached the secondary stairwell we must have killed more than two dozen.
"Damn! They are all over the place!" I heard Riley yell, Obviously back in action.
"Harper here. Riley, Bill and myself are at the APC. Standing by."
"Vince and my self are almost there," said Kai over the comm "Hector, what is your position? Where's Hobbes?"
"We have just made it to level 1 about to cross service hall 82. We are falling back to the APC, we are heavily engaged."
"Hold there, we are heading your way."
"We'll try." I yelled as I changed the clip on my pulse rifle. "But they just keep coming!"
So we stood there in the middle of the corridor and waited. Then I felt something touch my back.
"DAMNIT HOBBES! Watch your back more carefully!" I heard Vince yell from right behind me. "Come on! Lets get the hell out of here!" We backed down the hallways till we made it to the garage, obviously they were coming from the roof, because it was quiet down here except for the
"tink tink tink" of the auto sentries.
"Hurry and get in here!" Harper said poking his head and smartgun out the door of the APC.
"You don't have to tell me, I would have anyway." Hector said into the comm As we approached the APC I could hear its engine come to life, just then the frontal turret began firing down the corridor, eliciting a series of hisses and unearthly screams. We jumped in, and got in our places, while Hector looked for another Sniper Gun. The turret kept on firing until the APC burst out the gate in reverse, spun around and speed off across the landscape.
"OK marines we've got 9 minutes till expected drop time, give or take. We may need to wait at the drop zone for a while so get ready to kick ass!" Vince yelled from the front. "And Hobbes, don't you dare touch any of the buttons on that wrist thing you've got."
"Why not?" I asked, completely befudled by the suddenness of the comment.
"I'll explain later." Was all he replied.
"Keep your motion detectors on so we'll know when they are coming." Kai suggested, but the moment we stopped at the dustoff site we began to hear the telltale screeches that we were beginning to get accustomed to.
As soon as Vince got done yelling "LETS DANCE!" the front turret began firing and we fanned out of the APC and let them have it while Riley stayed in the hole and readied a rocket launcher. There weren't as many of them as we had seen before, but there were enough. Several explosions lit up the night sky, and the ground was lit up by the thousands of flashes produced by our firearms. I guess we were starting to get into the flow of fighting these monsters, because everyone seemed more relaxed, when I say more relaxed I don't mean relaxed, I just mean not about to kill each other because of the tension.
"Where's that drop ship?" Asked Harper frantically "I'm running out of ammunition!"
"Bill! Gather all the clips you can and distribute them! Don't worry marines, I'm getting a signal from the drop ship, it should be here any second." Said Vince in-between the loud crashes of turret fire. "I'm going to see if I can relay audio through the drop ships transmitter to Tom."
"Take your time! I've got the situation covered!" Yelled Hector with a smug tone in his voice.
"TOM! This is Vince can you hear me?" I head Vince desperately trying to contact Tom. I couldn't here Tom directly, but I heard Vince start talking to someone.
"Tom, do you think you can launch a few missiles at the complex? Yes I know what I'm doing. We don't have time."
"I see it! I see the drop ship!" I yelled as it came into view.
"Good, now aim for the south side away from the reactor, but near the center of the complex. That ought'a scare em away!" I heard Vince say with calculating precision. I guess tom decided to go with him and blow up part of the complex before picking us up. The drop ship opened its weapon compartments and readied to fire.
"I see something else!" Kai yelled in fear "It's headed for the drop ship!"
Then I saw it; it was fearfully familiar to me. It was large, with the same orange mottled appearance I saw before.
"It's the ship I saw before! They're the ones that tried to take Hector!" I yelled to Vince in particular. Hoping he'd catch my drift, and he did.
"Tom! Evasive maneuvers. You've got a hostile on your tail!" Vince yelled to Tom.
I thought to myself that we were doomed now, after all Tom was a lousy pilot. The drop ship swerved and turned but it was useless. The orange vessel fired, a streak of crimson energy struck the rear of the drop ship and ripped the back half off, while the rest plummeted to the ground in a spinning wreck of twisted metal. The explosion was spectacular in contrast to the now mortal situation. That was the last drop ship, and now it would be at least a week before help arrived.
"NO!" Riley cried out as the alien ship touched down about thirty meters away and opened its hatch. "Those bastards are going to pay!"
"Someone stop him!" I yelled over the intercom, and ran after him anyway as we continued to fire at these howling demons.
"I think we deserve a little bit of revenge!" said Vince Angrily as he began maneuvering the APC so the turret was lined up with the ship.
"They cut off our escape Hobbes! They're going to kill us!" Harper said over the comm as if I was out of my mind.
"I don't think they are trying to hurt us, if they wanted to kill us they would have!" I retorted.
A titanic explosion blossomed from the alien ship as the turret's shell exploded with deadly accuracy on the ship's hull. But when the smoke cleared its armor was barely even dented.
"Don't get careless! Guard your backs! Those creatures are making another attempt." Said Kai over the intercom. I ducked as a black figure jumped over my head, then spun around and let him have it. A few seconds later the turret on the APC stopped firing.
"Vince! You there?" Kai yelled over the comm.
"Yeah." Vince replied with a painful squeak in his voice. "I'm kinda busy, someone care to lend me a hand?"
"Hector help out Vince, then everyone converge on the spacecraft." I said into the headset as calmly as I could.
"I see one, he's standing in the entryway!" said Riley, still bent on revenge. "This one's going to get it." His voice was cut off by a loud thud.
"Riley?!? Where are you? Shit!" Harper cried out, but was silenced by another loud thud. I was falling back towards the APC in hopes of assisting Hector when I heard several loud crackles, like the sound that's made when you get shocked by static electricity, only much louder. I looked over by the Alien ship and saw one of the predator things shooting at the aliens with a type of energy weapon. As suddenly as they had came the Aliens were gone and their ghostly screeches faded into the background.
I ran towards the APC and caught up with Hector and Vince. Vince's leg was bandaged from the hip down to his shin and he was walking with a slight limp. Kai and Bill met us about halfway to the ship. Bill was carrying a pulse rifle and a large bag, which I could only assume was filled with ammunition.
"What are we supposed to do now?" asked Hector. Obviously worried.
"I think we should investigate that spacecraft." I said, "I don't think they are really trying to hurt us."
"Then why did they blow up the drop ship, if you're so smart?" Vince asked cynically.
"Do you think we should just walk up and knock?" asked Kai, with a slight hint of sarcasm.
"Well waiting around here isn't going to do us any good. Those things left for no apparent reason, and could come back at any time." I pointed out.
"After what those things did to Harper and Riley how can you be so sure?" Added Hector
"I don't know Damnit! Look, when they knocked you out, they were putting you in a cage. I don't think they wanted to kill you."
"A cage?!? What do you want us to do, be their little pets?" Asked Hector, beginning to get frantic.
"We don't have time to wait for a rescue! In this time alone we've managed to use a third of our ammunition!" I said, desperatly trying to calm them down. "We can't just sit around for a week and hope it all turns out OK!"
"Hey! I'm in charge here and I say…" Vince started, but was cut off.
"Hey guys? I think you'd better get in here and take a look at this." Riley said over the comm in a dazed and voice. The argument was over, we approached the alien vessel. I was sure of it now. They didn't want to kill us. But what were they doing, its like they've been playing a game with us or something. Oh well, I'd figure it out later when I knew more.
As we approached the hatch I began to hear that ghostly hissing noise again in the distance. A tall figure walked down the ramp and motioned for us to enter, which we did quickly. It was like something out of 'Alice in wonderland.' The next thing we knew, the hatch closed and the spaceship was taking off. The tall creature bumped me on the shoulder and pointed to another chamber of the ship. His hands were like stone, its no wonder he was so tough. Kai glanced at bill then led us through the doorway to a smaller chamber. As I was walking by I noticed several more predator creatures standing back to the side, they looked healthy and like they were waiting for something. As I entered I saw Harper was lying on the ground, while Riley was sitting up holding his head. This didn't make much sense. They had knocked us around, beat us up and even kidnapped one of us. But they didn't seem all that hostile towards us. The only other explanation would have to be that they came for the aliens. But then why were we seeing them most of the time. Maybe we hadn't, maybe they were here before us. They did look injured when I saw them last. But how could they have healed so quickly? It would be a lot easier if I could talk to them, but they didn't seem to speak much English. Maybe we really were going to become pets, at least it's better than being on that god forsaken planet with all those creatures running around. We still had our weapons, so I didn't find that very likely. Maybe they just didn't want us to blow up the complex, seeing as how they blew up the APC right before it could launch a missile. But they may just not have wanted us to leave. Why not? Did they need us for something? Did they need our help?
"Maybe they need us to help them kill the aliens." Kai suggested. She always did that, thinking way ahead of everyone else.
"Huh? What makes you think that?" asked Vince
"It just makes sense I guess." She replied.
Bill began handing everyone ammunition, so as to be prepared for any eventuality. And we all sat down, we were all tired and at least we were safe from those screeching monsters. Even in this strange environment I was able to loosen up.
"Vince, Did you manage to get any info on the creatures we were fighting?" I asked
"Yes." He replied and that was all, which was strange because usually he'd be spouting out every last bit of information he could. Sometimes just to look smart, but now he was silent.
"I know! I think they spray acid out their mouths to eat through metal. If we could maybe we could use that to our advantage!" said Kai rather excitedly.
"I'm not so sure." Said Hector hesitantly "I haven't seen any proof." Then I saw it, as soon as he said it, she quickly glared at him, then at Bill, and back again.
"I'll bet that's how they melted through the APC." I offered "We can find a way to use it against them."
"Well, what if we captured one? We could extract its own acid and use it against the other ones." Hector said quietly.
"That wouldn't be advisable, the Xenomorphs appear resistant to their own blood." Bill said quietly.
"What did you call them?" I asked
"Xeno…" he was cut off by Vince
"I knew it! You knew all along about these things! I can tell, the new model synthetics are shitty liars!" he yelled out victoriously
"But, no, I knew, you knew didn't you?" Bill replied sheepishly
"Yes I looked through the computer's logs, but I didn't tell anyone their name. And you were to busy to look, I had you doing things the whole time." Vince said with a slightly sinister tone in his voice. "I wondered why you never talked about this mission. What do you know about them?"
"I can't say, it's classified." Bill said coldly "You were lucky to find information on the computers, I had specific orders not to let you, but the person giving the orders didn't rank that above your life."
"Above our lives?!? You son of a bitch!" Yelled Riley as he lunged at Bill's throat.
"Please! I can't disobey orders!" pleaded bill as he moved aside, avoiding Riley be more than a foot.
"Stop this, it's not helping anyone." Said hector calmly "Just calm down Riley."
"By the way, how did they burn a hole in the APC?" I asked.
"They draped themselves over the main turret while we were using it." Harper said with a chuckle. "Those things are smart."
We were all beginning to relax and think rationally now, but it wouldn't last for long. One of the predator's entered the room and picked me up by the arm and began to drag out the door. I didn't really try to struggle, but he stopped, looked at me, then at the piece of armor on my arm. He opened the computer panel up, looked at it for a second then let go of me as he roared out and didn't stop as he ran out of the room. I couldn't tell if he was angry, sad, or whatever, but when he came back in with several others and pointed at my arm. He picked me up by the arm again and pointed out the little computer console, and then they all started roaring out. They were laughing! They just stood there roaring and one of then was almost keeling over. Then the big one barged in, probably to see what was going on. He started clicking at the other ones and they all left the room. He entered the room again, and we felt the ship touch down. He motioned for us to follow him. As we walked back into the main room, no one said anything; we just walked up to the exit and waited. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other predators looking at each others wrists and then pointing at me, and chattering away, all in that strange clicking noise. Whatever it was about the armor on my arm, they really must have thought it was funny.
The largest Predator motioned for two others, they were also very large, the largest of the rest. And the door began to open. As I peered out I recognized where we had landed. We were on the roof of the main colony base, near the atmospheric processor. The largest one, which I assume is the leader stepped out onto the platform then, signaled. As we walked down the ramp, the other two followed behind us. We moved out in the direction of the nearest access panel as the ramp lifted up and the hatch sealed itself behind us. We were now walking in formation, the large predator in front, us in the middle, and the other two in the rear.
"Will someone remind me why we're doing this?" Asked Riley bitterly
"We don't have the luxury of waiting around for a rescue." I tried to explain, but I was interrupted
"Listen up marines, I don't want to hear any whining, stay focused, stay sharp, and stay frosty!" Said Vince unwavering. "We go in, do whatever it is they want us to do, then we're outta here."
"When I get back from this I am going to take a long bath." Said Hector with a chuckle.
We entered into the structure through the access hatch in the roof, back into familiar surroundings, the familiarity soothed my mind. While at the same time I knew I was in more danger than back on the ship, and it made me tense up. We had barely walked 20 feet when we began to hear the ghostly howls echo through the corridors.
"Bill, motion detector. Keep us updated." Vince said in a low voice.
"I am seeing multiple signals, 30 meters." Bill replied.
As we came to an intersection an alien flew past us like a bullet, clinging onto the wall. The lead predator blasted it with that pistol I had seen before, and the alien blew up, sending drops of acid everywhere.
"Shit! How are we going to pull this off? They're already coming for us!" Yelled Riley over the comm.
"Wait. They're moving away." Said bill calmly as the lead predator put his pistol away and moved to the back of the formation.
"Ha! Looks like they're too chicken to take point." Said Harper Angrily
"What the hell are they up to?" Hector asked rhetorically.
"Something doesn't feel right, This whole situation. I can't quite put my finger on it." Said Kai in an unusual display of confusion.
We began moving again, this time towards the main stairwell. We were in front, while the predator creatures lagged behind and watched. We were being used, but I had to assume for a good cause. Anyone who opposed these vicious aliens couldn't be that bad. Could they? We walked in formation, Harper with his smartgun in front, the rest of us in an eschelon with bill in back with his motion detector. Ever since the first alien appeared it was quiet. Maybe we had killed most of them, I thought, but then I remembered the hoard we had left in the dust back at the research labs. They might also have some sort of reserve to guard their base or whatever they have. As we approached the stairwell bill aimed the motion detector up and down, no movement. Vince began walking down the steps carefully, aiming his pulse rifle around the corners, Harper and Bill followed close behind. That's when we heard the shrill beep of the motion detector. Vince barely had time to look up and say, "Shit!" before he jumped, tumbling down the stairs. The Alien landed exactly where Vince had been a second ago. I watched as it hit the ground like a cat, smoothly and gracefully and hissing in anger. Harper jumped back a step as the alien began to move from its crouched position and ripped it to shreds with the smart gun. Vince had to roll to the side to avoid being hit by the smart gun.
"Damnit Harper! Watch where you're shooting that thing!" Vince yelled furiously. Just then the stairs underneath Vince bulged upwards with a loud thud noise that echoed down the hallways.
"Hang on Vince!" yelled Hector as he bounded down the flight of stairs.
"There's one under me!" Vince yelled as he tried to get to his feet.
Hector stopped several steps from the curve, aimed and shot through the stairs. Several droplets of yellowish liquid sprayed through the floor and a small hole ate its way through the metal. Vince got back to his feet and ran up the stairs pushing everyone back as he went.
"Incinerators out!" he commanded, and Kai unslung her flame-thrower. She walked carefully to the steps, but the howls had stopped. This didn't really matter, cause the next second she was shooting burning napalm over the railing. As she kept moving we began following more closely. When she came to the hole in the floor she shot a long burst of flame through it. Nothing yet. Before she rounded the corner she angled the tip of the gun around the side and shot. Again, nothing. I stepped around her and aimed my pulse rifle down the last flight of the stairs. The hallway was clear.
"All clear." I said into the headset.
"Lets keep moving." Said Vince as the creatures behind us began clicking at each other.
"What's with those guys?" Riley asked as if it was the latest gossip.
"It's like we're hounds to the hunters." Kai pointed out.
"Everyone heard me when I said 'pets' right?" said hector with a slight hint of humor, as we began moving down the hall.
"These aliens aren't attacking head on anymore." Said bill. "I think they are trying to ambush us."
"Are they really that smart?" I asked.
"I can't say." He replied curtly.
"Ha. It figures." Said Vince cynically.
"Wait, I had a signal, but it disappeared. For a moment, it looked like a stationary signal." Said Bill. "It was around this next intersection, about 7 meters down the hall."
"I'm going to try and flush it out." Said Riley bravely.
Harper moved closer to the intersection while Hector readied his pulse rifle. Riley crept up to the intersection and pulled a small cylindrical object out of his pocket.
"One, Two…" Riley began then threw the grenade around the corner as hard as he could. "Three."
The ground shook and a wave of hot air hit us in the face accompanied with the standard ear shattering kaboom.
"Level A disturbance detected, re-activating emergency defense system." A recorded voice echoed through the halls as a barricade of blue energy fields lit up the hall.
"Shit! I can barely see into the intersection!" snapped Vince, obviously disturbed by the blue lights. Then we heard the chirp of the motion detector.
"I've got movement again, I think it's the contact I saw before." Bill reported.
"Everyone back the fuck up!" growled Vince
"You have 15 minutes to confirm or deny emergency. Defense systems will remain active until the time expires." The voice sounded through the halls as we backed up slowly and the blip on the motion detector came closer. We saw something move into the intersection, but I couldn't make it out from behind the blue field.
What is it?" I asked.
"I can't tell." Vince complained. "Be ready."
A shiny black crest punched through the energy field and we recognized it, as it recognized us it let out an angry hiss and flung itself at us. Harper pulled the trigger on his pulse rifle and let out a stream of bullets that cut through its armor with ease. As its corpse fell to the floor and began to sink through the metal, one of the predators pushed past me forcefully and grabbed it by the head. Ripping it brutally from the rest of the carcass. We had to part like the Red Sea in order to avoid being spattered with its blood as he went back to his position letting out a roar. Hounds to the hunters I thought, as the idea became more believable in my head.
Our pace slowed considerably, we couldn't see very well past the nearest intersection, and we weren't sure what other "Defense systems" there could be. However, when we rounded the next corner, things went from bad to worse. There was no longer the blue energy fields, instead the walls were covered in a shell of black material. It looked like the inside of something's digestive tract.
"Damnit!" said Harper suddenly, "I've seen this before. It was in the research facility. Right near where the building ended and the crater began." Only this time there was no crater, the hallway just continued endlessly into the darkness. For a moment all we heard was silence, but suddenly we heard gunfire, a long way down the tunnel.
"Did you hear that?" asked Vince.
"Yeah, it sounded like gunfire." I replied.
"I highly doubt someone is still alive after all these days." Scoffed Kai.
"Maybe its some sort of defense turret." Offered Hector.
"I guess we'll have to check it out, as long as these guys don't mind." Said Vince pointing at the three aliens that stood behind us, clicking softly to each other. "Nope, doesn't look like it, lets go marines!"
"This is one hell of a mess we're getting ourselves into." Grumbled Riley as we started walking into the dark resin covered corridor.
