From Bad to Worse
Fucked, was the first word to spring to the ASM's (Australian Space Marine's) mind as he hefted his pulse rifle, tipping it to the side to check the red readout on his rounds.65. Turning his head Archer looked over those remaining of the original 20, just 6 of his fellow marines including himself, the rest Xenomorph fodder. Their mission; to blow the whole hive to pieces and eliminate the queen and everything else on the moon base, a bit of an impossible task since upon being dropped off they were near constantly being swarmed by the Xenomorph scum, the demolitions expert having survived just long enough to get inside, where he unfortunately got ripped up into a ventilation shaft with a spray of blood, their whole mission getting flung out the window, their only objective now, survival and escape.
With a wave of his left hand they all rose in unison, 2 hefting pulse rifles with another 2 hefting smart guns and the final one bearing the mini-gun. Like a well-oiled machine the six slowly inched down the scarcely lit hall, the echoing screeches of Xeno's sending a chill up their spines. With Archer at the point closely flanked by Jennifer and Jaqen, with Venta limping in the centre and Xerxes and Gillian bringing up the rear, they made their way slowly down the barely lit corridors, alien resin coating the walls and marking it as alien territory, their goal the somewhat battered and generally abused APC, their one and only hope to get the hell outta the alien's hive.
Leaning around the corner Archer squinted, blinking in surprise at what looks like a heat haze darts across the main corridor.
"Shit," He mutters, looking back to those spaced strategically behind him.
"Predators,"
Yet another obstacle in their path to salvation. Darting around the corner the group keeps fairly bunched together, the injured Venta barely keeping up. Just when it seems they're on the home stretch, the APC clearly visible, still untouched in the large docking area.. a swarm of aliens start pouring out of vents, doors, windows and numerous other places, swarming over the APC and towards the group.
"Controlled bursts!" Shouts Archer, having taken on the mantle of leadership. "And fall back slowly!"
In answer the hum of the pulse rifles, the chatter of the mini-gun and the buzzing of the smart-guns fills his ears, along with the popping sounds of aliens exploding in showers of acid. Like a swarm of shadows the mass continues pouring through the bay towards the 6 marines.
"Holy shit! Archer they're coming down from the right as well!" Shouts Gillian, having backed right up against the wall and glanced to the right, the way they just came to see the shiny black figures of the grotesque xenomorphs swarm from the side.
The situation helter-skeltered out of control from there as Xerxes and Gillian cut down row after row of aliens swarming at them from the right, the smart-gun and pulse rifle working well in tandem in the relatively small corridor. While Archer, Jaqen, Jennifer and Venta continue blasting away at the swarms of aliens still pouring over the APC at them. Xeno's in front of them, to the right of them and God knows how many Predators to the left.Fucking Brilliant. With Jennifer, Jaqen and Venta holding the front Archer swings around to the left, only to see two de-cloaked predators backing away firing their pistols at another swarm of aliens.
"Shit!" Without knowing why Archer trains his gun away from the backs of the predators and lets rip at the aliens, blasting the acidic stuffing out of the closest of them threatening the predators.
"Don't shoot the Preds, I think they might lend us a hand when they see the predicament they're in!"
The predators also not having a clue why fall back and join the ranks of the six marines, all eight of them blasting almost futilely at the alien horde, only to have them suddenly stop and pull back, disappearing into the shadows. Reloading both the predators and the marines eye each other cautiously.
KACHUNK! KACHUNK! KACHUNK!
The only sound as the lights blink out of existence, leaving the marines in total darkness, the preds un-phased. Fumbling around the marines quickly switch on their helmet lights and gun lights, offering some illumination in the pitch darkness. Spinning around Archer's light bathes the figure of a predator, the large figure turning to look at Archer. With a slight nod of his head he turns to the five marines and waves his hand.
"Lets get the fuck outta 'ere people, we don't wanna be here when them mutha fuckers come back,"
Too late, as they start running down the left hand corridor the towering figures of three praetorian's burst into sight, if you thought plain old xenomorphs were f'n ugly then you'd be all out of dictionary meanings for a praetorian. Before taking two steps one of them was upon Venta and with a series of hisses and snarls bits and pieces of Venta covered the corridor behind them. Spinning around on his heel Archer pumped the pulse rifle and fired a grenade at the praetorian, knocking the creature back a few steps, the following rain of bullets ripping into the exoskeleton of it finally kills the beast, its fellows however push on regardless, two of them now running at Archer having cleaned up whatever was left of Venta, xenomorphs swarming all over the walls around the pair of praetorians.
Pumping his pulse rifle again Archer hazarded a glance over his shoulder, seeing his fellow marines and the predators round the corner at the other end of the corridor, he looks back to the swarming aliens with a grin of pure evil as he unleashes another grenade into the swarm, bits and pieces of Xeno's raining down onto the two praetorian's that rise to their full height of 12 foot and roar at him, slowly stalking down on him.
Without hesitation he pumps the pulse rifle yet again and sends a grenade at them, sending one of them reeling back, its tail lashing around and killing two of the lesser aliens before it finally regains its balance and shakes its head a bit, a low hiss erupting from its ugly mouth. The other praetorian however fell to all fours and barrelled at Archer, who shocked into paralyse could only watch as death came steam rolling at him.
A second later his instincts kicked in and he back pedalled, firing wildly into the mass of aliens, desperately struggling to keep his aim on the praetorian as the gun jerked about. With an almighty hiss the praetorian leapt at him and Archer threw himself out of the way, forgetting to let his finger of the trigger which ultimately saved his life.well at least from that threat, the bullets smashing open an air duct which he rolled into, plunging himself into the foreboding darkness..
Meanwhile the other 4 marines and the 2 predators sprinted down pitch dark corridors, the sounds of gun fire suddenly coming to a halt as they round yet another corner and come to face the predator's ship in the large hangar used for interplanetary ships. The two predators turn to one another and after a series of chatters and clicks one of them turns to the four marines and beckons them with one hand, leading them over to the ship, while the other unlimbers his spear gun and shoots the door mechanism of the door which they just came through to enter the hangar.
The first predator jogs up the ramp into the ship and starts switching switches while the wary marines take up guarding positions on the ramp, keeping their guns on the ready as they silently mourn the loss of two more friends. The second predator jogs onto the ramp with the marines and he too turns around and takes up a defensive position as a resounding series of thuds hit the door they just came through. The predator ship slowly starts to hover and is just taking off as the aliens burst through the blast door, hissing and screeching as the marines and predator open fire on the aliens. As quickly as the aliens appeared they disappeared as the Predator ship swung around, the ramp closing and the small ship hurtled off into space.
Dead was the first word that sprung to his mind as Archer swung around, the torch on his helmet and his pulse rifle washing over the resin the alien's had secreted on the walls. With slow deliberate movements he made his way through the alien hive, nervously glancing back and forth as the echoing sounds of the aliens found their way to his ears. A soft thud nearly inaudible caused the marine to swing around, to find his gun level with an alien's head. Without hesitation he shoved the gun barrel against the alien's head and pulled the trigger, blasting the alien head over heels, splattering himself and the surrounding surfaces with the alien's acidic blood. Instinctively his left hand dropped away from the pulse rifle, grabbing the small spray can on his belt, which he quickly sprays onto the acid that was in the process of burning through his armour, the anti-acid spray working instantly, saving Archer from serious harm.
Having no idea where it is that he was, his bearings lost when he had narrowly escaped the praetorian to go flashing down a long winding air duct. Finding himself hours later laying on the mess of alien resin that the drones had secreted all along the corridor as far as he could see since his helmet light and the light on his gun dimmed somewhat. Now, wandering cautiously down the maze of corridors, he was once more feeling trapped and helpless when he first saw them, row upon row of human beings cocooned within the alien resin, nearly causing him to retch as he stepped close to have a better look. Peering at what looked to be an extraordinarily beautiful woman in her 20's he almost jumped out of his skin when her eyes blinked open and looked at him. Upon seeing him the woman starts squirming and moaning at him, making helpless noises.
Archer closes his eyes for a second, settling himself down, opening his eyes he places a finger to his lips, looking around to make sure her actions and noises didn't bring an alien down on them before he reaches down and pulls out his bowie knife, slowly and carefully cutting the resin from her face before continuing on a bit hurriedly as the sound of a hissing drone echoed down the hallway.
"Hurry,"
The woman whispers urgently as Archer cuts off the last bits of resin from around her waist, the woman abruptly sagging against him. Without a second thought Archer turns and half carries, half drags the woman along with him until he reaches the air duct he came down in, tucking the woman in before hopping in himself, closing the air duct hatch and leaning back against the wall of the duct he allowed his eyelids to droop closed.
A slight movement made the ASM Archer start, his hand instinctively pulling his pulse rifle up, the flashlight on the gun shining right into the lovely face of the woman he had saved from the very claws of the alien hive. Lowering his gun slightly so that he wasn't shining it directly in her face Archer finally inspected her. She was indeed beautiful, even if a little dirty, long black hair and beautiful green eyes and a perfectly sculptured face. The only visible flaw was her clothing and not because she was actually wearing clothing.though that is an arguable point.but because it was the dull lifeless grey suit issued to everyone who worked on moon bases.
"I hardly think this is the time for you to go off on some wild fantasy, don't you?" growled the woman.
"Huh? Oh.sorry.whichever way, I'm Archer, Australian Space Marine and you are?"
"Natasha.and uhmm thanks for rescuing me from the aliens."
"Anytime, that's what I'm here for,"
"Uh huh.anyway, when are we getting off this base?"
"Well that.could be a problem considering the last time I tried to get to the APC it was covered with aliens,"
"So.are you trying to tell me that you don't actually have a way off this base?"
"Well no.I never actually planned that far ahead,"
The woman sighs and squirms around a bit before running a hand through the tangled mess of her hair.
"What happened to the rest of your team?"
"Well.I wasn't the commanding officer till after the 8th or so wave of aliens.but the survivors the last time I saw them were safe and are probably far far away by now,"
"Why did you get left behind?"
"A mother fu- err a couple praetorians and a swarm of aliens attacked us as we were getting out so I stopped and took out a couple before I was knocked down into this air vent,"
"So what was your plan before you rescued me?"
"I was going to try and take out the Queen,"
"What? By yourself?"
"Yeah, I couldn't do anything else could I?"
"Yes, tried to get back to the APC,"
"If I'd have done that I wouldn't have ran into you,"
"True. Well I just happen to know where a spaceship is,"
"You're joking!"
"Not at all, it arrived just before all these aliens started showing up,"
"Great, lead the way, I wanna get off this damn base and this moon,"
Minutes later Archer and his new companion Natasha were travelling through the winding passages a nagging doubt troubled Archer.the spaceship arrived just before the aliens arrived.hmmm.
"Hey 'Tasha, you said the ship showed up before the aliens?"
"Yes, why?"
"Oh God. Where'd the ship come from?"
"TS-650 why?"
TS-650 a Weyland-Yutani controlled planet, close to the where the aliens were first discovered. A planet which had many dark rumours associated with it. All to do with aliens and biological weapon experimentation.
"Let me guess.the ship was a Weyland-Yutani space frigate."
"Why yes, it was, how'd you know?"
"Lets just say that Weyland-Yutani is often associated with alien infestations.unofficially of course,"
"Oh my god,"
"I don't think even he can help us now, here take my pulse rifle. Now for your tutorial for handling it, place one hand here and one hand here, good, now you squeeze the trigger to shoot the mother fuckers and when you run outta ammo you press this here, grab another clip, insert it and then slam it home. If we get more grenades for it, remind me to give you a tutorial for their use. And remember, short controlled bursts, I don't care how many or how close they are, short controlled bursts,"
Having shown Natasha the nuances of the pulse rifle, Archer unstrapped his backpack and withdrew the folded up and dismantled smart rifle and within moments he had reconstructed one of the best weapons to grace Marine hands. Using the simple mind exercise all Marine's go through before using the smart gun and relaxing his arm muscles so that when the gun started jumping all over the place all he had to do is pull the trigger Archer kicked open the grill and slowly slithered out. It was just like he remembered the alien hive to be, disgusting. Indicating Natasha to follow him closely Archer started down the corridor, their goal, the APC, their chances of success somewhere in the proximity of 1%.
Easing their way down the corridor Archer abruptly feels the smartgun come alive in his hands, the gun jerking up and left till it finally stops. Archer pulls the trigger and the gun jumps slightly from the recoil as four bullets rip through the air to shatter the carapace of a xenomorph's head, splattering the creature all over the resin coated walls.
"Run!"
Without further warning Archer sets off down the dark corridor, his head light bouncing around as he bursts into motion. The gun in his hands coming alive, jerking this way and that, leaving Archer to do nothing other than pull the trigger, sending burst after burst into the aliens that appear before them. Natasha slower to react makes up for it as she sprints after the fleeting form of Archer, her only illumination the small light on the pulse rifle. Without warning she skids to a halt almost crashing into the still form of Archer who has planted his feet shoulder width apart.
No longer is there the steady burst of gunfire, now it was a near continuous hum of rounds being fired off into the dark corridor before them. Carefully edging beside Archer, Natasha lifted her gun and saw in horror the swarm of aliens clattering down the corridor towards them. After a moments hesitation she raises the pulse rifle and letting loose a burst, splatters an alien and blowing the leg off the one behind it. Taking aim Natasha once more pulls the trigger, shattering another alien and decapitating another.
Archer with determination written across his features rattles of round after round, the familiar sound of a pulse rifle coming into play giving him some reassurance. Abruptly instead of the steady hum of his gun he is hearing the 'click, click' of an empty cartridge. Without pause he drops the spent cartridge and slams another one home, the gun once more humming its deadly song. Step after step the pair slowly inch their way down the corridor, blasting alien after alien till finally the familiar figure of a praetorian fills the corridor before them.
Lowering to all fours the creature springs forward, Natasha back-pedalling leaving Archer to face the beast by himself. In a rather unorthodox manoeuvre Archer runs at the Xenomorph and moments before it pounces on him he leaps to the ground, rolling onto his back and letting rip with the smartgun, the rounds smashing through the thick carapace to rend major damage to the creature's internal structure, acidic blood spraying over Archer as it falls limply to the floor to twitch around in it's death throes. Unhurriedly Archer takes out his anti-acid spray and liberally coats himself in it, nearly emptying the spray can.
"'Tasha?"
"Oh God, you're still alive,"
"You bet, how 'bout we keep going now?"
"You're the Marine,"
Natasha slowly makes her way forward to Archer's side as he gets to his feet, her amazement clearly evident on her face at the Marine's actions. She has heard of Praetorians and it was thought that the only weapons that were truly effective at stopping a charging Praetorian were a Proximity Grenade, a SADAR or a Chain-gun. What this man had single handily done was nigh on impossible and it was unlikely that such a feat would ever be repeated by anyone. It was definitely a Kodak moment. However these thoughts were for another time, right now she was focusing on survival and daydreaming was a sure way of getting yourself killed. Following Archer's lead Natasha gulped down the feeling of wrongness she was experiencing and tapped Archer on the shoulder.
"Archer.I think.I've been impregnated."
"Shit.damn it.we've gotta get to the APC now.it's your only chance of survival, we've got some medi equipment for cases like this,"
"If.if."
"Don't worry, I will,"
Nodding Natasha once more followed the ASM down the eerie corridor, her one and only hope of survival.or at the least, a quick death.
Archer closed off the feelings welling within him and focused on what was happening now, rather than what could happen. Without realising it he had found himself becoming attached to the woman who's survival and life now rested in his hands. It was somewhat of a wakeup call, for not long before he had steeled himself into going on a suicidal rampage of the hive, hopefully taking out the Queen before he was killed. Now he was responsible for getting a woman out of the hive. Turning the next corner he gritted his teeth, for just ahead was the hangar.and the APC.
"'Tasha.there is the APC, I don't know where the fuck the aliens are, but listen.run for the APC, get inside, switch on the AUTO pilot, write a small note saying you've been impregnated and then jump into a stasis pod. Don't worry, where the APC will take you to is a ASM temporary moon base and there won't be any Weyland-Yutani operatives or anything,"
"Archer? What about you?"
"Someone has to open the hangar and fend off the aliens, don't worry, I'll jump in the APC if it is humanly possible. But just in case it is always best to have safeguards, oh yeah, here,"
Archer hands her his pistol and takes the pulse rifle from her before pushing her towards the APC with a shouted go. Sprinting into the hangar Archer slings the Smartgun over his shoulder and wrenches the pulse rifle around, firing a scattering of rounds at a bunch of aliens munching over the remains of one of his mates. Darting over he scoops up a second pulse rifle. Thusly armed with two pulse rifles he lurches up the ramp and smashes down the hanger door button, setting the huge doors into motion. Spinning around he watches as the APC shudders into motion, black xenomorphs clambering after it. Leaping from the platform Archer pulls the triggers on the pulse rifles and blasts alien after alien away as the APC cruises past him.
Seeing that the pulse rifle he scooped up contained a pulse grenade he discards his original rifle and pumps the new one before firing the grenade into the swirling mass of aliens, blowing a good couple of dozen into oblivion. Throwing away the rifle he gives chase to the APC, darting after it and even with all the odds stacked against him manages to grab a hold of it. Pulling himself inside Archer slams the door closed and turns around wearily, making his way over to the stasis pods were he looks through the glass at Natasha. The APC travelling through the hanger's force field a moment later.
An hour later she awakes to find herself laying on the cold steel floor of the APC with a sleeping Archer snuggled up beside her and on one of the chairs in the back of the APC a container containing the foetus of an alien queen which after a moments thought she grabs and taking the pistol she opens the back of the APC, placing the container on the floor before firing round after round into it, shattering the glass and obliterating the alien queen, the remains flying through the protective force field. Feeling somehow relieved Natasha closes the door of the APC and holstering the pistol she goes back to Archer and carefully worms her way into his protective embrace.
