Post by shadowknight on Nov 3, 2013 7:21:28 GMT
Here is a excerpt from later in the story......
....Swarming Darkness....
...Mac could hear the heavy mechanical footsteps of the AT-STs approaching off in the near distance.
"Fixer," Mac snapped over the squad's comm channel," Can you get connected to those walkers on the comm?"
"Negative Sarge, there's to much atmospheric interference." Fixer replied, cycling through long range comm frequencies on his HUD, "We need to get closer before the signals are strong enough to connect."
'We need that fire power if we are going to survive the night, and those poor bastards are walking our salvation right into an ambush.' Mac thought as he signaled whats left of his squad to form up on his flank. They raced quietly along the back alleyways, keeping their eyes and scanners on the rapidly deepening shadows for any sign of movement. Mac heard the Walkers come to a halt as he the others entered the dimly lit main plaza at its far end. Three walkers had stopped out side the hanger bay while two soldiers were standing near the exterior control panels trying to run a by pass.
"Got it!" Fixer exclaimed, " Channel 484-B." Mac frantically cycled through his HUD's comm frequencies, praying he could warn them in time. Suddenly a gargled voice flooded his helmet,
"*static* bypass com*static* hanger doors ope-"
"NO!!!!" Mac bellowed at them over the comm; however, it was to late. The squad watched in horror as the creatures swarmed out of the hanger and subsequently tore the two soldiers to bloody shreds. Moments later they climbed into the walkers, ripping the top hatches clean off. Mac, now running the opposite direction with his squad, killed his helmet link, cutting short the Walker pilots blood curdling screams.......
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Chapter 1 - Hard Landing
'I've got a bad feeling about this.' Mac thought as he glanced around the cabin, observing the body language of the other men who, like him, wore full body armor. Their eyes hidden behind identical face-plates, their bodies encased in an eighteen piece, environmentally sealed, shrapnel proof suit of polished white protection. They are Stormtroopers, elite shock troopers of the Galactic Empire, and from the body language Mac was reading, over half of them were fresh out of the academy.
'Just my luck,' Mac mused to himself,' out of all the operations I've been on, its the ominously creepy one that gets me lumped with a load of FNGs'
"ETA: Five minutes," cracked the co-pilots voice over the inter-comm, " Scanners show that one of those Ion-charge thunder storms is starting to shift coarse, I suggest you double check your seat restraints."
"Fixer," Mac snapped over the squad's comm channel," Can you get connected to those walkers on the comm?"
"Negative Sarge, there's to much atmospheric interference." Fixer replied, cycling through long range comm frequencies on his HUD, "We need to get closer before the signals are strong enough to connect."
'We need that fire power if we are going to survive the night, and those poor bastards are walking our salvation right into an ambush.' Mac thought as he signaled whats left of his squad to form up on his flank. They raced quietly along the back alleyways, keeping their eyes and scanners on the rapidly deepening shadows for any sign of movement. Mac heard the Walkers come to a halt as he the others entered the dimly lit main plaza at its far end. Three walkers had stopped out side the hanger bay while two soldiers were standing near the exterior control panels trying to run a by pass.
"Got it!" Fixer exclaimed, " Channel 484-B." Mac frantically cycled through his HUD's comm frequencies, praying he could warn them in time. Suddenly a gargled voice flooded his helmet,
"*static* bypass com*static* hanger doors ope-"
"NO!!!!" Mac bellowed at them over the comm; however, it was to late. The squad watched in horror as the creatures swarmed out of the hanger and subsequently tore the two soldiers to bloody shreds. Moments later they climbed into the walkers, ripping the top hatches clean off. Mac, now running the opposite direction with his squad, killed his helmet link, cutting short the Walker pilots blood curdling screams.......
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Chapter 1 - Hard Landing
'I've got a bad feeling about this.' Mac thought as he glanced around the cabin, observing the body language of the other men who, like him, wore full body armor. Their eyes hidden behind identical face-plates, their bodies encased in an eighteen piece, environmentally sealed, shrapnel proof suit of polished white protection. They are Stormtroopers, elite shock troopers of the Galactic Empire, and from the body language Mac was reading, over half of them were fresh out of the academy.
'Just my luck,' Mac mused to himself,' out of all the operations I've been on, its the ominously creepy one that gets me lumped with a load of FNGs'
"ETA: Five minutes," cracked the co-pilots voice over the inter-comm, " Scanners show that one of those Ion-charge thunder storms is starting to shift coarse, I suggest you double check your seat restraints."
Mac followed the given advice and made sure the straps were secure tight over his Sergeant Pauldron. Finishing his adjustments, he thought back to the operation briefing.
...[Two hours ago]...
...[Two hours ago]...
"Listen up men!" The Lieutenant Snapped, " Five days ago an Imperial research center on Adoz III went dark. it was staffed by over 240 scientists, along with a battalion of Imperial Army soldiers serving as the installations security force. The Center is located in the middle of a large colonial capital. This capital has a population of over 2,000 colonists, we have not heard from them since the Center went dark." The Lieutenant, Lieutenant Lema, paused to allow the men time to process the information,"The nature of the research is classified and extremely valuable , Imperial Intelligence has been tracking the movements of a small group of Rebel Commandos in the area and it is believed that they raided the center." Clearing his throat, he continued. "The atmosphere is breathable; however, it is highly unstable. Long range communications are going to be spotty at best due to the Io--"
...[Back to the present]...
Mac was snapped out of his day dream when the Lambda-Class Shuttle jolted hard to the left, then the right.
"Everyon--" the Pilot was cut off as the power in the shuttle shut down. Mac was glad he was wearing a helmet ,aside from the external noise suppressors keeping him from going deaf, the helmet hid his face, which was a mask of pure terror. A large jolt of, almost supernatural, lightning struck the cockpit with enough force to shatter the transparisteel view-port, sending large chunks into the cockpit crew that shredded their bodies. The shuttle starts to spin uncontrollably, the shrieking of the wind is now over powering the helmets sound suppressors, Mac's lungs are pressed into his feet from the G-force, he catches a glimpse of the storm lashed ground as the shuttles dorsal wing rips clear taring holes in the roof, a body get sucked out one of the holes,blinding lightning flashes, the ground is closing fast..............then blackness.
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Chapter 2 - Long Walk
As rapidly as it came, the storm passed, leaving behind just the faintest echo of a gentle breeze. Mac's eyes snapped open,his ears rang, his head pounded, he groaned in pain as he raised himself to a sitting position and looked around at the devastation in the smoke filled cabin.
"Is anyone still alive?" Mac called, cranking his helmet's vocoder so that his voice could be heard clearly with out forcing him to yell, "Sound off!"
One by one armored bodies began to rise from the smoldering, sparking, wreckage.
"TK-1134 here."
"TK-2147 reporting"
"TK-131 still here sarge"
Mac moved steadily through the claustrophobic wreckage, clawing his way through torn metal and sparking wires, until he reached a loose hunk of metal. Shoving with all the strength he could muster, he popped the metal free of the wreck, clearing a path for him and the others to crawl out into the scorching midday sun.
"TK-4151," a man called, crawling through the hole as Mac and the others stood, "I'm here." Mac looked down at his armor, and at the men surrounding him. Their armor,no longer an antiseptic white, was smudged and caked in with black burn marks and dark brown dirt, they were also splattered in dark red dried blood. He glanced back at the crash, it was a horrid sight, dark red blood soaked entrails were strung about, hanging out of holes in the wreckage. Bodies had been flung from the shuttle crash, leaving long red splatter marks where they had impacted with such force that it flattened them despite the armor. severed limbs were laying around like leaves from a dead tree.
"Sarge, are we all that's left?" TK-131 asked,his pained expression audible on his hidden face.
" I don't know." Mac replied. A few minutes passed as the five of them tended to their minor wounds, once that was done TK-131 asked.
"What are your orders Sarge?"
"Well first we--"
"Not so fast Sergeant," a cold, almost menacing, voice said. Soon Lieutenant Lema emerged from the hole, his uniform looked almost undamaged, "This is MY operation and I'M in charge. Now, I want all salvageable weapons and supplies pulled from this heap. If you are not gathering weapons then you are surveying the perimeter. Well what are you waiting for MOVE!!"
The five of them gave a sharp salute and set to work, Mac and TK-4151, who got the nickname "Hydro" due to being born on Manaan, crawled back into the wreck. As they made their way through the ship towards the weapons lockers Hydro started speaking.
"Hey Sarge, did you see the LT's antique?"
"What are you talking about? What antique?" Mac asked, slipping on a blood soaked chest plate.
"The antique he wears around his wrist, under his uniform, Its one of those ancient melee shields. I learned about them from a friend of my dad who is a historian on Mandalorians, he showed me one that they found in a dig site on Duxon. I'm telling you man the LT's got one, and it looks almost new, I tell ya I wish we had some of those as standard gear, they would have protected us from damn near all of th--" he was cut off as a metal pipe gave way and smacked him in the shoulder, though Hydro was protected he decided to cut the chatter and focus on his task.
Ten minutes later, Mack and Hydro emerged from the ship dragging a sack full of salvaged weapons and ammo and distributed them to the men, placing the sack of ammo and the extra blasters on a salvaged landing strut that TK-131 set on top of a salvaged repulsorlift.
'Missing,' Mac thought to himself as he looked at his helmet readouts,' not all of us are accounted for, that could mean one of two things, ether six men were sucked out of the ship, or they left before we woke u--'
"Sergeant!" Lt. Lema snapped, from the infliction in his voice Mac could tell that Lema didn't like him much,"form these men up single file and lead us to the colony.
Mac complied, gave his orders and set off. A few hours later the squad found themselves on twisting rocky path with the colony still hours away.
"Hey Sarge," TK-131's voice cracked over Mac's helmet squad comm,"do you know why we crashed?"
"That Ion-storm. It fried our shields leaving us vulnerable t--"
"That's just the thing, it shouldn't have."
"What do you mean?" Mac asked, resisting the urge to glance back over his shoulder.
"Look sarge, I was chosen as the "Tech guy" for this operation. I graduated top of my class and have memorized the inner workings of nearly every ship and mechanized unit in the Empire, and I can tell you that it would take more than a simple Ion-storm to drop our shields."
Mac thought a moment, the situation was becoming something it shouldn't really quickly.
"Your thinking sabotage, or an intentional shut down?"
"All I'm saying is keep your eyes on Lt.Lema, he headed to the cockpit for a few moments, and returned to his seat just before things went to hell. That, and something about him doesn't feel .... right."
"I know what you mean, despite barking orders he is .... too calm."
They both went silent for a few minutes.
"Whats your name?" Mac asked.
"Filen Texer, but you can call me "Fixer" its shorter and fits with my charming skill set."
"Well Fixer," Mac said trying to boost morale of those listening but not saying anything, "at least we are in these environmentally sealed suits with fully working coolant systems, he has to walk this waist land sweating his ass off."
They, as well as a few others, shared a tired chuckle. Over the next few hours Mack's mind began to wander.
'Who in their right mind would want to live in this desolate place.' he glanced around at the dark brown soil, out over the barren expanse to their left, the Forrest of jagged rocks to their right, the cracks in the dry sun baked earth, cliff faces off in the distance. 'This place is a worthle--' His thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling form behind.
"Movement, three tags to our left!!!"TK-2147,Mac learned that he was called "Regs" for his constant quoting of them during boot, called over the Squad comm.
They all dropped into cover, leaving Lt. Lema to crouch behind the repulsorstrut.
"Don't shoot!" a voice called out from behind a large cluster of rocks.
"Identify your selves!" Lt. Lema ordered.
"TK-4435, TK-2113, and TK-2444,"the three stormtroopers, looking just as banged up as Mac's squad, slowly made their way forward. "We were part of a larger group from the crash site, when we reached this point we were split, half of us wanted to go and see if the colonies communications array was still functional, we wanted to wait and see if anyone else from the crash might have survived and wait a day for them, you, to reach us.......we have not seen or heard from them all day."
The sun was starting dip below the horizon when Lema gave the order for them to arm themselves and file into the line.
"Lieutenant," Mac said," I strongly advise resting here for the night, the men are exhausted and it would not be wise to go snooping around a dead colony in the dark."
"Very well....sergeant,"Lt.Lema replied, adding an edge of venom to his words, "we WILL begin at first light."
With that, the squad began setting up for a long restless night.
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Chapter 3 - The Omen
'It was coming for him. Mac could hear it moving ever closer as he retreated down the darkened corridor. He ran hard, sweat pouring down his face despite his armor's coolant system, he looses his footing as he rounds the corner to fast and slams into the wall. Mac was up before he knew he had fallen and bolts down the new passage way, hearing the creature hit the spot where he had just been. Mac's heart pounded against his rib cage, his muscles trembled with exhaustion, his mind raced with fear.
'Got to get out!' He screamed at himself.
Then a door, he spotted a door at the end of the passage way. Mac put on a burst of speed, and reached the door in what felt like seconds. His hands flew to the control panel...locked.
"No!" Mac bellowed, beating the door, willing it to open.
"Everyon--" the Pilot was cut off as the power in the shuttle shut down. Mac was glad he was wearing a helmet ,aside from the external noise suppressors keeping him from going deaf, the helmet hid his face, which was a mask of pure terror. A large jolt of, almost supernatural, lightning struck the cockpit with enough force to shatter the transparisteel view-port, sending large chunks into the cockpit crew that shredded their bodies. The shuttle starts to spin uncontrollably, the shrieking of the wind is now over powering the helmets sound suppressors, Mac's lungs are pressed into his feet from the G-force, he catches a glimpse of the storm lashed ground as the shuttles dorsal wing rips clear taring holes in the roof, a body get sucked out one of the holes,blinding lightning flashes, the ground is closing fast..............then blackness.
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Chapter 2 - Long Walk
As rapidly as it came, the storm passed, leaving behind just the faintest echo of a gentle breeze. Mac's eyes snapped open,his ears rang, his head pounded, he groaned in pain as he raised himself to a sitting position and looked around at the devastation in the smoke filled cabin.
"Is anyone still alive?" Mac called, cranking his helmet's vocoder so that his voice could be heard clearly with out forcing him to yell, "Sound off!"
One by one armored bodies began to rise from the smoldering, sparking, wreckage.
"TK-1134 here."
"TK-2147 reporting"
"TK-131 still here sarge"
Mac moved steadily through the claustrophobic wreckage, clawing his way through torn metal and sparking wires, until he reached a loose hunk of metal. Shoving with all the strength he could muster, he popped the metal free of the wreck, clearing a path for him and the others to crawl out into the scorching midday sun.
"TK-4151," a man called, crawling through the hole as Mac and the others stood, "I'm here." Mac looked down at his armor, and at the men surrounding him. Their armor,no longer an antiseptic white, was smudged and caked in with black burn marks and dark brown dirt, they were also splattered in dark red dried blood. He glanced back at the crash, it was a horrid sight, dark red blood soaked entrails were strung about, hanging out of holes in the wreckage. Bodies had been flung from the shuttle crash, leaving long red splatter marks where they had impacted with such force that it flattened them despite the armor. severed limbs were laying around like leaves from a dead tree.
"Sarge, are we all that's left?" TK-131 asked,his pained expression audible on his hidden face.
" I don't know." Mac replied. A few minutes passed as the five of them tended to their minor wounds, once that was done TK-131 asked.
"What are your orders Sarge?"
"Well first we--"
"Not so fast Sergeant," a cold, almost menacing, voice said. Soon Lieutenant Lema emerged from the hole, his uniform looked almost undamaged, "This is MY operation and I'M in charge. Now, I want all salvageable weapons and supplies pulled from this heap. If you are not gathering weapons then you are surveying the perimeter. Well what are you waiting for MOVE!!"
The five of them gave a sharp salute and set to work, Mac and TK-4151, who got the nickname "Hydro" due to being born on Manaan, crawled back into the wreck. As they made their way through the ship towards the weapons lockers Hydro started speaking.
"Hey Sarge, did you see the LT's antique?"
"What are you talking about? What antique?" Mac asked, slipping on a blood soaked chest plate.
"The antique he wears around his wrist, under his uniform, Its one of those ancient melee shields. I learned about them from a friend of my dad who is a historian on Mandalorians, he showed me one that they found in a dig site on Duxon. I'm telling you man the LT's got one, and it looks almost new, I tell ya I wish we had some of those as standard gear, they would have protected us from damn near all of th--" he was cut off as a metal pipe gave way and smacked him in the shoulder, though Hydro was protected he decided to cut the chatter and focus on his task.
Ten minutes later, Mack and Hydro emerged from the ship dragging a sack full of salvaged weapons and ammo and distributed them to the men, placing the sack of ammo and the extra blasters on a salvaged landing strut that TK-131 set on top of a salvaged repulsorlift.
'Missing,' Mac thought to himself as he looked at his helmet readouts,' not all of us are accounted for, that could mean one of two things, ether six men were sucked out of the ship, or they left before we woke u--'
"Sergeant!" Lt. Lema snapped, from the infliction in his voice Mac could tell that Lema didn't like him much,"form these men up single file and lead us to the colony.
Mac complied, gave his orders and set off. A few hours later the squad found themselves on twisting rocky path with the colony still hours away.
"Hey Sarge," TK-131's voice cracked over Mac's helmet squad comm,"do you know why we crashed?"
"That Ion-storm. It fried our shields leaving us vulnerable t--"
"That's just the thing, it shouldn't have."
"What do you mean?" Mac asked, resisting the urge to glance back over his shoulder.
"Look sarge, I was chosen as the "Tech guy" for this operation. I graduated top of my class and have memorized the inner workings of nearly every ship and mechanized unit in the Empire, and I can tell you that it would take more than a simple Ion-storm to drop our shields."
Mac thought a moment, the situation was becoming something it shouldn't really quickly.
"Your thinking sabotage, or an intentional shut down?"
"All I'm saying is keep your eyes on Lt.Lema, he headed to the cockpit for a few moments, and returned to his seat just before things went to hell. That, and something about him doesn't feel .... right."
"I know what you mean, despite barking orders he is .... too calm."
They both went silent for a few minutes.
"Whats your name?" Mac asked.
"Filen Texer, but you can call me "Fixer" its shorter and fits with my charming skill set."
"Well Fixer," Mac said trying to boost morale of those listening but not saying anything, "at least we are in these environmentally sealed suits with fully working coolant systems, he has to walk this waist land sweating his ass off."
They, as well as a few others, shared a tired chuckle. Over the next few hours Mack's mind began to wander.
'Who in their right mind would want to live in this desolate place.' he glanced around at the dark brown soil, out over the barren expanse to their left, the Forrest of jagged rocks to their right, the cracks in the dry sun baked earth, cliff faces off in the distance. 'This place is a worthle--' His thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling form behind.
"Movement, three tags to our left!!!"TK-2147,Mac learned that he was called "Regs" for his constant quoting of them during boot, called over the Squad comm.
They all dropped into cover, leaving Lt. Lema to crouch behind the repulsorstrut.
"Don't shoot!" a voice called out from behind a large cluster of rocks.
"Identify your selves!" Lt. Lema ordered.
"TK-4435, TK-2113, and TK-2444,"the three stormtroopers, looking just as banged up as Mac's squad, slowly made their way forward. "We were part of a larger group from the crash site, when we reached this point we were split, half of us wanted to go and see if the colonies communications array was still functional, we wanted to wait and see if anyone else from the crash might have survived and wait a day for them, you, to reach us.......we have not seen or heard from them all day."
The sun was starting dip below the horizon when Lema gave the order for them to arm themselves and file into the line.
"Lieutenant," Mac said," I strongly advise resting here for the night, the men are exhausted and it would not be wise to go snooping around a dead colony in the dark."
"Very well....sergeant,"Lt.Lema replied, adding an edge of venom to his words, "we WILL begin at first light."
With that, the squad began setting up for a long restless night.
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Chapter 3 - The Omen
'It was coming for him. Mac could hear it moving ever closer as he retreated down the darkened corridor. He ran hard, sweat pouring down his face despite his armor's coolant system, he looses his footing as he rounds the corner to fast and slams into the wall. Mac was up before he knew he had fallen and bolts down the new passage way, hearing the creature hit the spot where he had just been. Mac's heart pounded against his rib cage, his muscles trembled with exhaustion, his mind raced with fear.
'Got to get out!' He screamed at himself.
Then a door, he spotted a door at the end of the passage way. Mac put on a burst of speed, and reached the door in what felt like seconds. His hands flew to the control panel...locked.
"No!" Mac bellowed, beating the door, willing it to open.
He spun around, back to the door, and slapped his last clip into his blaster. The creature was like a cross between a bug and a demon, it raced towards him at nightmarish speed. Mac aimed his E-11 and fired .... miss. The creature jolted to one side at the last second, dodging the blaster bolt, and continued to close the distance. Mac fired again and again, desperation setting in with each pull of the trigger. It was nearly on him now, his mind was blinded by terror and even more adrenalin began to flood his system, Mac fired, it leaped onto the wall, then launched towards him. The creatures shriek bored it's way into his brain and echoed in his soul, time slowed to a crawl, Mac began to scream. It was on him now, claws mere inches from his armor, Mac pulled the trigger one last time...'
Pain. Mac's eyes watered as his hands snapped to his face, his cheek was throbbing, slowly he opened his eyes. Fixer stood over him, fist clenched, a flash of worry fading from his grey-green eyes.
"You ok Sarge?" Fixer asked, unclenching his fist and extending his hand.
"Fine."Mac replied, taking the hand and let fixer help him up.
"Sorry I had to hit you Sarge, but you wouldn't stop screaming."
Mac glanced around, it was still dark but a glow was starting to show on the horizon, he noticed the men looking at him with concern in their eyes.
"So, whats the matter Sarge?" Fixer asked
"nothing,"Mac replied, hearing the creatures screech echo through his mind, "just a bad dream."
"Yea, had a couple about the crash my self......again, I'm sorry about the punch, I tried other yelling and shaking you but it didn't work, you were locked into that nightmare good."
"It's all ri--"
"Enough of this!" Lt. Lema interrupted, "Secure your helmets and prepare to enter the colony."
Mac and Fixer exchanged a quick glance, then Mac scooped his helmet, that had previously doubled as a pillow, off the hard packed earth and slipped it on. After a second, the armor sealed and Mac stood in front of seven ragged Stormtroopers and a .... very unpleasant Lieutenant.
"Well?" Lt. Lema asked contemptibly, "What are you waiting for, MOVE!"
The sun hung low in the morning sky, casting long shadows across the cool, night chilled, earth, as Mac and his squad reached the main entrance of the colony.
"Fixer," Mac said, pointing to the guard house near the entrance,"Take Hydro and see if you can get this door open."
"Roger, come on Hydro, watch my six."
"On it."
Mac watched as Fixer and Hydro entered the building.
"Tell me what you see Fixer." Mac ordered over the squad comm.
"It's weird in here Sarge," Fixer replied, "the powers off, and I'm not picking up anything on the scanners....I mean nothing, not even rod---shit!"
"Whats wrong?"
"Nothing Sarge, just slipped in .... Hydro, shine your light here... it looks like some sort of ... molted skin or husk near the breaker."
"What the hell, Sarge, I suggest you and the squad get comfortable. Someone destroyed the whole damn breaker box, damn near ripped it out of the wall, its going to take a while to rewire this beast."
"Take your time Fixer, were not going anywhere."
"Aye Sarge."
Mac relayed the information to the rest of the squad and , much to Lt. Lema's displeasure, waited for the next hour and a half for Fixer to finish his repairs.
"Got it." Fixer said, his voice in Mac's ear.
Mac heard the guard house power up.
"What the.....Sarge...something bad happened here.....something real bad."
"What do you mean Fixer, what do you see?"
"A lot of dried blood, and I mean a lot, its every where. There is a ton of blaster burns and carbon scoring on the walls, floor, hell even the ceiling. There's evidence of explosives damage to and, now I cant quite explain this but, near the explosives damage the floor and walls look ...... melted."
"Fixer, you and Hydro get this door open and get back here. I have a feeling we're not dealing with commandos."
A few moments later Fixer and Hydro emerged, the doors to the colony opened.
'Well,'Mac thought, 'you cant live forever.' And signaled for the squad to move out.
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Chapter 4 - Into The Darkness
"Squad double up!" Mac ordered, after stashing the weapons near the guard house. They entered the colony.
"Fixer on my left. Clank, TK - 2113, on Lt. Lema. Form up!"
"Roger Sarge." The two soldiers said in unison and the squad fell into formation.
The sun was closing in on midday as they marched their way through the dead colony. The only movement was that of the squad, the silence in the colony was only broken by the sound ow the wind howling through the ruins, and thought there was no one else around, Mac couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. The colony was in utter ruin, several of the buildings were burnt out, many collapsed, there were shattered windows, holes ripped into doors and walls, what looked almost like ...... claw marks on many of to structures. Weapons, scraps of clothing, shards of imperial army combat suits, helmets with holes punched clean through, everything littering the street seamed to be caked with dried blood.
"Sarge," Hydro said in an unintentional whisper, "I don't see any bodies, where are all the bodies?"
"I don't know ..... keep alert."
It took nearly an hour ,they were going slowly as not to miss anything,for the squad to reach the junction that would lead strait to the research facility. They turned the corner to find their latest setback, an AT-ST had toppled and been crushed beneath a rather tall building, the resulting mountain of rubble effectively prevented ground traffic on the street.
"Find us a way around Sergeant!" Lt. Lema barked form the back of the formation.
"Regs, you salvage those recon probes form the crash?" Mac asked.
"Yes Sergeant."
"Deploy them, find us an alternate route."
Regs removed two fist sized, metallic black, spheres from his backpack. These spheres shot strait into the air, forty feet above their heads, and took off in different directions. Moments latter the probes data receiver flashed to life, a 3D holographic map hovered in the air a few meters in front of the receiver in Regs's hand. It soon became clear that someone had attempted to seal off the research facility from the rest of the colony, every external path to the facility was blocked by an equally large mountain of debris; however, Mac spotted a way in.
"Well,"Mac said as the probes returned," from the looks of these scans, the quickest way through this barricade is to cross through this office building."
The squad crossed the distance in a few minutes, upon their approach to the complex Fixer noted the really large hole in the blast doors.
"Sarge," Fixer spoke, "this doesn't look like explosives damage.......something ripped through this metal."
"That's reinforced durasteel." Clank spoke up, "No way anythings that strong."
"Cut the chatter,"Mac ordered, "From what I can see on the probe scan there are two possible ways through."
Mac turned to the squad, switching to his vocoder so that the Lieutenant could here him.
"Split into two teams. Clank, Hydro,Trig,TK-4435, with me; Regs and Fours,TK-2444, go with Fixer and Lt. Lema."
"Clank take point, "mac ordered as the two teams entered the complex and split up. The place was dark and oppressive, the partial power the building had caused exposed wiring to spark, lights to flicker, and emergency lights to kick on which only served to deepen the shadows.
"I don't like this." Clank said as they slid slowly along the corridor.
Mac knew what he meant, the deeper in they got, the closer the walls began to feel;and
despite the helmet's MFTAS, Multi-Frequency Targeting and Acquisition System allowing for enhanced the stormtroopers' perception in darkness and other low visibility conditions, he felt like the darkness was about to engulf him.
"Sarge look!" Clank exclaimed, pointing down the corridor.
Mac, straining his eyes to see through the gloom,spotted what Clank was pointing at. At the end of the corridor, on the trash covered floor just barely reflecting a hint of the flickering light, lay a battered Stormtrooper helmet.
"There were no Stormtroopers stationed here." Trig pointed out.
"I know," Mac replied, "form up and stay alert, that could only have come from one of ours."
The team slowly approached the helmet, keeping their eyes out for trouble.
"Aria secure Sarge." Hydro reported.
Mac plucked the helmet from the floor, it trailed long strings of a sticky mucus-like substance slide off of it.
'What is this stuff?' he thought as he removed the substance from the helmet as best he could.
"Hand me a data pad." He ordered Trig, who complied with out a word.
Mac used a data transfer cable to connect the helmet's visual recordings to the data pad and downloaded the last recorded file.
"*Static*oving!" a gurgled voice erupted from the pad's speakers. The visual display cleared up a few moments later. It was a rush of motion, the hair on the back of Mac's neck stood on end as he began to recognize the corridor the man was running down, his mind knew what would happen seconds before it showed up on screen. The man turned the corner to fast and slammed into a wall, he was up in seconds. Something big hit the floor behind him, a door came into view , the man ran faster. "No!" the voice screamed through the speakers, the man spun and began firing his blaster over and over, he screamed, something dark filled the screen but was to close to see; however, the inhuman shriek that ripped from the speakers made up for the lack of a visual. Then the screen cut to static.
"What the hell was that?" Hydro asked, a tremble audible in his voice.
"I...I don't know." Mac replied, shaking off the memory of his ..... dream,"We are going to find out."
Mac tossed the helmet back to the ground and slipped the pad back into Trig's pack.
"Fixer," Mac called over the long range comm, glancing around nervously in the dark,"can you read me?"
"*static*ly,y your sig*static* weak."
"Listen STAY ALERT! I say again, STAY ALERT! I have a feeling we are walking into a trap."
"*static*got alert an*static*rap. Couldn't *static*rest. I'll *static*eep eyes pealed fo*static*k."
"Just stay alive untill we regroup, ok Fixer?"
"*static*ill do Sar*static*."
Mac turned to his team and gave the signal to move. They continued down the passageway until they came to the turn from the helmet recording, taking it they spotted the door at the end of the corridor. Unlike in the recording, the door stood open, the room beyond was darker than a moonless midnight.
"We going in there?" Clank asked deadpan.
"Yep." Hydro replied bluntly.
"I'm taking point?"
"Yep."
"Lets do it." Clank said, switching his E-11 to full power.
Slowly they advanced toward the open void, Clank was the first in, they soon found that in this room of blackness their helmets' MFTAS were useless.
"Pop flairs." Mac ordered.
Moments latter the room was flooded with piercing blue light cast form four ion flairs.
"Sarge...are your seeing this?" Hydro asked
Mac saw it. They were in what had been the buildings cafeteria, it wasn't anymore. A thick black organic matter covered every inch of exposed surface. Columns of the stuff ran clear to the roof, fresh matter,looking identical to the substance on the helmet they found, dripped down in long strings. The matter seemed to have a strange jagged swirling pattern to it.
"Looks like some sort of secreted resin." Mac remarked as he ran his hand along the wall.
"Yea Sarge, but secreted form what?" Clank asked, moving past him.
"Scanners picking up some strange readings, seems there is a temp spike in this area," Hydro noted as they moved deeper in, "Getting a ... what is that?"
Mac turned and followed Hydro's line of sight to an alcove in the far corner.
"Go check it out." he ordered.
Trig and Hydro moved almost back to back towards the short, oval shaped, object. When they were on it Trig leaned closer to inspect it.
"It's some sort of leathery object, like....an egg or something."
"Don't get to cl--" A sudden flurry of movement startled Mac as the top of the top of the egg split open, peeling back to form a flower shape.
"Hydro, bring that flair closer so I--" Trig was cut short as a small creature launched out of the egg with blinding speed. Wrapping its tail tightly around his throat, it latched onto his helmet, throwing his blaster to the ground, Trig started to claw at the creatures tail which caused it to tighten. The others rushed him, Mac screaming in his ear for him to calm down, trying to hold him still long enough to remove the pale spider-like creature; however, before they could, a fine smoke began to rise from between Trig's helmet and the creature. Trig was screaming, his panic reaching hysteria levels as the spider thing started to slip into his helmet from the newly formed hole in his face plate. Much to the teams horror the creature made it inside, cutting off Trig's screams; His body goes limp in Mac's arms as he passes out.
"Fierfek!!"Hydro screamed in anger, slamming his fist into the wall as he watched Mac and Clank lower Trig to the ground.
"Hydro, hold it together damn it! Clank, remove whats left of his helmet and check his vitals. Stay here with him, Me and Hydro are going to find something here to slice that little bastard off of him." Mac and Hydro headed cautiously into the kitchen, avoiding an egg clutch in the corner, and retrieved a vibro knife from the counter, the knife humming with life as he held it.
"Ok," Mac said, handing the vibro Knife to Clank, "how are his vitals?"
"He's alive," Clank said, staring at the melted helmet,"its feeding him air, I don't know why its doing it though.
"We need to remove it, start cutting at its knuckles."
Clank moved carefully, slicking through the creatures flesh. Pressurized fluid shot clean through the knife and splattered clear across Clanks chest plate and helmet.The others flew to him, helping remove both as holes started to form.
"Acid!" Clank yelled kicking his destroyed chest piece away, "The damn thing bleeds acid!"
"That's a wonderful defense mechanism." Hydro said, a touch of disgust towards the creature seeping into his voice.
"Ok, we're getting out of here." Mac said,"Clank, grab Trig's weapon and take point. Hydro, help me carry him, We'll use the medical bay equipment in the research facility to remove this thing."
The team searched for ten minutes, finally finding the rear exit to the cafeteria. The doorway was blocked by the black resin webbing, Clank blasted it apart with a few well placed shots and lead them along the path he remembered form the building scan.
"*static*arge, your there?"
"It's good to hear form you Fixer, listen, we have a problem."
"I'll say. Fours is gone."
"What!?"
"We were passing through the offices, he was in the rear. We heard him scream, I snapped around just in time to see his E-11 hit the floor. Something snatched him through the vents sarge, he was still screaming over the squad comm till he got out of range. We hauled ass and made it outside, we've been waiting on you, oh *Fixer dropped his voice to a whisper*, and Lema wanted to leave your team behind in there.......just thought you should know.
"Got it," Mac said, resentment towards the Lieutenant seeping into his voice," Tell Lema we're on our way. Oh, and we need a something to carry Trig in. Something attached itself to his face, melted clean through his helmet.
"Roger Sarge."
A few minutes later Mac and Hydro, Clank letting them take the lead, exited the complex and jogged over to team two. Clank, spotting something out the corner of his eye, stopped in the doorway and turned around, trying in vain to force his vision to pierce the darkness.
"What are you waiting for ?" Regs called out to him, "Come on!"
Clank turned to face him taking a step, "I thou--"was as far as he got. A thick, spiny, black blade tipped tail punched clean through his back plate, bursting through his torso spraying blood and chunks of entrails away from the body. The tail jerked him back into the darkness, his last act before life left his bod, was to fire his blaster into door's control panel, forcing it to close and seal.
Mac and the squad stood stunned in silence, staring at the door until Lt. Lema started shouting at them.
"That's enough gawking, I have a mission to complete, so move your asses!"
Mac gritted his teeth, he wanted nothing more than to beat Lema down a few notches, but he needed to stay strong. The men were starting to loose heart, he could tell from their body language, and they needed him to stay above Lema's level, to give them hope. He turned to a hovering cargo cart that Fixer found.
"Strap Trig down to that cart and lets get to that damned facility." Mac ordered in his best commanding voice, snapping the men out of their shocked stupor," Move out."
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Chapter 5 - The Swarm
Mac and his squad moved swiftly towards the Research facility.
"Sarge," Fixer said, "My scanners are picking up movement, but I can't locate whats causing it."
Mac glanced around at the ruins as they hurried down the littered street, catching a glimpse of what looked like a tail as it slipped over a nearby roof and disappeared form sight.
"We're not alone men! Double time it!"
The squad broke into a sprint, startling Lt. Lema who didn't here the order issued over the squad comm which caused him to fall shortly behind, closing the distance to the facility.
'At this pace we should -- ' his senses started screaming at him, a split second later a form shot through the air.
"Contact!" Mac screamed over his vocoder as a large black creature launched it's self from a darkened window, shattered window.
Mac reacted on instinct, snapping up his E-11, he fired. A single red bolt ripped through the air, flying directly into the creatures open, saliva dripping, maw. The top half of the creatures head exploded as its momentum carried it, it smashed into the hard packed ground and skidded to a stop at Mac's armored feet. Wisps of acrid, poisonous smoke rose form the cauterized wound as the early afternoon sun glinted off the corpses glossy black exoskeleton.
There was no time to relax, no sooner had Mac ended the first attacker did the rest swarm in on all sides.
"Squad,"Mac bellowed over the nightmarish shrieks and blaster fire,"On my six! Lets MOVE!"
Forming up on Mac, the squad raced towards the facility, leaving the street behind them in total carnage. The ran along until a large pile of debris blocked their progress, the squad formed a defensive perimeter as Hydro began setting a small demo-charge to clear the path. Trigger pull after trigger pull the creatures fell, yet no matter how many they squad dropped, the beasts kept coming.
Suddenly, one of the beasts burst up through a drainage grate, knocking the cargo cart to the side with enough force to loosen the straps, causing Trig to be flung free. The beast was like black lightning, it knocked Regs back, snapping its tail forward with enough force to punch clean through the Reg's armored gut, impaling him. The beast pulled Regs close, bringing him face to face, it opened its maw to reveal a second mouth inside. In a last act of defiance, Regs managed to catch hold of a jagged durasteel rod that was protruding form a shattered window, and with the last ounce of his strength he rammed it up through the creatures jaw and through the top of its skull just as the inner mouth punched a hole through his helmet, digging deep into his brain. Dark red blood gushed down Reg's face plate as he and the creature toppled over,spraying acid blood across the cargo cart.
Mac turned, hearing Reg's final scream of rage over the clamor of the battle, in time to blast a second monster that burst up form below.
"Fire in the hole!" Hydro shouted, a small, near defining, explosion fallowed.
"Fixer - Hydro! Regs is.. Regs is down. Grab Trig and take off,I'll cover you !"
"he's dead weight, Leave Him!" Lt. Lema barked, blasting a creature as it sprung off a wall.
Fixer and Hydro ignored him, scooping Trig off the ground, they, with Lema in tow, bolted down the street and rounded the corner towards the facility; with Mac, now sporting Regs's E-11, covering their escape. Once they were well away, Mac spun and sprinted after them, a dark living tide of death hot on his heels.
"We made it Sarge," Mac herd Fixer shout through the comm, over his ragged breathing, "lema ordered the blast door shut, but Hydro told him to shove that order up his ass. Where holding here till y--holy shit!"
Mac chuckled ,despite his situation, at Fixers reaction to the swarm on his tail.
"Clear the doorway and get ready to slam it, I'm coming in hot!"
A few moments later mac dove through the doorway as the blast door sealed, the sound of a hundred bodies slamming into it echoed through the complex.
"Sergeant!" Lema shouted as Mac picked himself off the floor," these me--."
That's as far as he got. In that moment, Mac punched the Lieutenant hard enough to send three of his teeth clattering down the corridor.
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Chapter 6 - To Rule The Galaxy
Mac, right fist still throbbing, stood over Lema, watching the man as he slowly lifted himself from the dirty metal floor. As Lema staggered to his feet, Mac caught hold of him by the front of his now blood stained uniform and slammed him into the wall.
"Now listen to me you kriffing fierfek." Mac said menacingly, his voice thick with venom." I don't give a damn about your mission, as of right now there are only two objectives; getting Trig to medical and getting the the last of my team off this blasted rock. If you get in our way I will personally put you down and feed your bloody corps to the beasts. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!"
Lt. Lema, blood still flowing from his mouth, spat on Mac's face plate. Mac responded with a sharp head but, breaking Lema's nose and sending his head snapping back into the durasteel wall. Mac tossed the dazed Lema to back to the floor in disgust.
"Fixer/Hydro, strip that bastard of his weapons and slap a set of binders on him."
"Aye, Sir!" They snapped, descending on the Lieutenant, following their orders.
"I'll heave your head for this!" Lema spat as he was hauled to his feet, "All of you will be court marshaled when this is over!"
"Shut your mouth Lema before I shut it for you." Hydro said, ripping the Lieutenant's rank plate from Lema's now bloody uniform and flinging it down the corridor."You won't be needing this anymore."
The next few minutes passed slowly, the team making its way cautiously towards the facilities medical bay through the dark and littered hallways in silence.
"Movement," Hydro said as they neared a door marked 'Bio-Labs',"Thirty five meters ....that way." He finished, pointing at the room.
"Fixer, set Trig down and run a bypass on that door, Hydro cover him." mac turned to Lema as the doors silently slid open."After you."
The bio-lab was a mess. Broken datapads and, oddly enough, sheets of paper were scattered around. Tables and chairs were overturned and various pieces of lab equipment were strewn across the room.
"Star alert....Hydro, where is it?"
"Next room Sarge, its barely moving."
Through the gloom of the low powered emergency lighting, casting the room in a dim orange light, they spotted the door to the next room. It hung ajar, no light shown from within.
"Hydro, help me pry the door open." Mac ordered, through the combined effort of the two of them, they forced the door open. The rooms back up power kicked in the moment they entered.
"Sarge....are those-" Fixer started
"Yea."
Before them stood four rows of ten tanks which strongly resembled the cloneing tanks on Kamino. In each tank floated a fleshy, pale spider with a coiled tail, the same form of creature that had attached it's self to Trig. All the tanks, save one, showed negative life sines.
"Private Marlo Janks," Mac said, reading the data-screen by one of the tanks," he and the subject died during subject extraction."
"Similar thing over here Sarge." Fixer called, closing down the screen he had been viewing.
"What about the living one."
"The log says that it was captured before it could attach itself to one of the scientists." Hydro said as Lema leaned closer to the tank, trying to get a better look at the un-moving creature. He shot back, knocking over a tray of medical instruments and fell to the floor as the spider smashed against the transparasteel tank, a long fleshy tube slipping out of it and rubbing where his face had just been.
"Looks like love at first sight Lema." Fixer chuckled
"Cut the chatter." Mac ordered, as he and the others turned away from Lema, who was rolling around in a vain attempt to get back up, and activated the head scientists holo-logs. Moments later the ghostly image of a balding scientist in his mid to late sixties appeared before them.
"Personal log of Dr. Corran Trale: Log A-121," Said the holo-gram,"That crash out in the wastes last weak provided us with an amazing discovery. An egg of an unknown species, cryo-frozen in the cargo hold."
Pain. Mac's eyes watered as his hands snapped to his face, his cheek was throbbing, slowly he opened his eyes. Fixer stood over him, fist clenched, a flash of worry fading from his grey-green eyes.
"You ok Sarge?" Fixer asked, unclenching his fist and extending his hand.
"Fine."Mac replied, taking the hand and let fixer help him up.
"Sorry I had to hit you Sarge, but you wouldn't stop screaming."
Mac glanced around, it was still dark but a glow was starting to show on the horizon, he noticed the men looking at him with concern in their eyes.
"So, whats the matter Sarge?" Fixer asked
"nothing,"Mac replied, hearing the creatures screech echo through his mind, "just a bad dream."
"Yea, had a couple about the crash my self......again, I'm sorry about the punch, I tried other yelling and shaking you but it didn't work, you were locked into that nightmare good."
"It's all ri--"
"Enough of this!" Lt. Lema interrupted, "Secure your helmets and prepare to enter the colony."
Mac and Fixer exchanged a quick glance, then Mac scooped his helmet, that had previously doubled as a pillow, off the hard packed earth and slipped it on. After a second, the armor sealed and Mac stood in front of seven ragged Stormtroopers and a .... very unpleasant Lieutenant.
"Well?" Lt. Lema asked contemptibly, "What are you waiting for, MOVE!"
The sun hung low in the morning sky, casting long shadows across the cool, night chilled, earth, as Mac and his squad reached the main entrance of the colony.
"Fixer," Mac said, pointing to the guard house near the entrance,"Take Hydro and see if you can get this door open."
"Roger, come on Hydro, watch my six."
"On it."
Mac watched as Fixer and Hydro entered the building.
"Tell me what you see Fixer." Mac ordered over the squad comm.
"It's weird in here Sarge," Fixer replied, "the powers off, and I'm not picking up anything on the scanners....I mean nothing, not even rod---shit!"
"Whats wrong?"
"Nothing Sarge, just slipped in .... Hydro, shine your light here... it looks like some sort of ... molted skin or husk near the breaker."
"What the hell, Sarge, I suggest you and the squad get comfortable. Someone destroyed the whole damn breaker box, damn near ripped it out of the wall, its going to take a while to rewire this beast."
"Take your time Fixer, were not going anywhere."
"Aye Sarge."
Mac relayed the information to the rest of the squad and , much to Lt. Lema's displeasure, waited for the next hour and a half for Fixer to finish his repairs.
"Got it." Fixer said, his voice in Mac's ear.
Mac heard the guard house power up.
"What the.....Sarge...something bad happened here.....something real bad."
"What do you mean Fixer, what do you see?"
"A lot of dried blood, and I mean a lot, its every where. There is a ton of blaster burns and carbon scoring on the walls, floor, hell even the ceiling. There's evidence of explosives damage to and, now I cant quite explain this but, near the explosives damage the floor and walls look ...... melted."
"Fixer, you and Hydro get this door open and get back here. I have a feeling we're not dealing with commandos."
A few moments later Fixer and Hydro emerged, the doors to the colony opened.
'Well,'Mac thought, 'you cant live forever.' And signaled for the squad to move out.
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Chapter 4 - Into The Darkness
"Squad double up!" Mac ordered, after stashing the weapons near the guard house. They entered the colony.
"Fixer on my left. Clank, TK - 2113, on Lt. Lema. Form up!"
"Roger Sarge." The two soldiers said in unison and the squad fell into formation.
The sun was closing in on midday as they marched their way through the dead colony. The only movement was that of the squad, the silence in the colony was only broken by the sound ow the wind howling through the ruins, and thought there was no one else around, Mac couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. The colony was in utter ruin, several of the buildings were burnt out, many collapsed, there were shattered windows, holes ripped into doors and walls, what looked almost like ...... claw marks on many of to structures. Weapons, scraps of clothing, shards of imperial army combat suits, helmets with holes punched clean through, everything littering the street seamed to be caked with dried blood.
"Sarge," Hydro said in an unintentional whisper, "I don't see any bodies, where are all the bodies?"
"I don't know ..... keep alert."
It took nearly an hour ,they were going slowly as not to miss anything,for the squad to reach the junction that would lead strait to the research facility. They turned the corner to find their latest setback, an AT-ST had toppled and been crushed beneath a rather tall building, the resulting mountain of rubble effectively prevented ground traffic on the street.
"Find us a way around Sergeant!" Lt. Lema barked form the back of the formation.
"Regs, you salvage those recon probes form the crash?" Mac asked.
"Yes Sergeant."
"Deploy them, find us an alternate route."
Regs removed two fist sized, metallic black, spheres from his backpack. These spheres shot strait into the air, forty feet above their heads, and took off in different directions. Moments latter the probes data receiver flashed to life, a 3D holographic map hovered in the air a few meters in front of the receiver in Regs's hand. It soon became clear that someone had attempted to seal off the research facility from the rest of the colony, every external path to the facility was blocked by an equally large mountain of debris; however, Mac spotted a way in.
"Well,"Mac said as the probes returned," from the looks of these scans, the quickest way through this barricade is to cross through this office building."
The squad crossed the distance in a few minutes, upon their approach to the complex Fixer noted the really large hole in the blast doors.
"Sarge," Fixer spoke, "this doesn't look like explosives damage.......something ripped through this metal."
"That's reinforced durasteel." Clank spoke up, "No way anythings that strong."
"Cut the chatter,"Mac ordered, "From what I can see on the probe scan there are two possible ways through."
Mac turned to the squad, switching to his vocoder so that the Lieutenant could here him.
"Split into two teams. Clank, Hydro,Trig,TK-4435, with me; Regs and Fours,TK-2444, go with Fixer and Lt. Lema."
"Clank take point, "mac ordered as the two teams entered the complex and split up. The place was dark and oppressive, the partial power the building had caused exposed wiring to spark, lights to flicker, and emergency lights to kick on which only served to deepen the shadows.
"I don't like this." Clank said as they slid slowly along the corridor.
Mac knew what he meant, the deeper in they got, the closer the walls began to feel;and
despite the helmet's MFTAS, Multi-Frequency Targeting and Acquisition System allowing for enhanced the stormtroopers' perception in darkness and other low visibility conditions, he felt like the darkness was about to engulf him.
"Sarge look!" Clank exclaimed, pointing down the corridor.
Mac, straining his eyes to see through the gloom,spotted what Clank was pointing at. At the end of the corridor, on the trash covered floor just barely reflecting a hint of the flickering light, lay a battered Stormtrooper helmet.
"There were no Stormtroopers stationed here." Trig pointed out.
"I know," Mac replied, "form up and stay alert, that could only have come from one of ours."
The team slowly approached the helmet, keeping their eyes out for trouble.
"Aria secure Sarge." Hydro reported.
Mac plucked the helmet from the floor, it trailed long strings of a sticky mucus-like substance slide off of it.
'What is this stuff?' he thought as he removed the substance from the helmet as best he could.
"Hand me a data pad." He ordered Trig, who complied with out a word.
Mac used a data transfer cable to connect the helmet's visual recordings to the data pad and downloaded the last recorded file.
"*Static*oving!" a gurgled voice erupted from the pad's speakers. The visual display cleared up a few moments later. It was a rush of motion, the hair on the back of Mac's neck stood on end as he began to recognize the corridor the man was running down, his mind knew what would happen seconds before it showed up on screen. The man turned the corner to fast and slammed into a wall, he was up in seconds. Something big hit the floor behind him, a door came into view , the man ran faster. "No!" the voice screamed through the speakers, the man spun and began firing his blaster over and over, he screamed, something dark filled the screen but was to close to see; however, the inhuman shriek that ripped from the speakers made up for the lack of a visual. Then the screen cut to static.
"What the hell was that?" Hydro asked, a tremble audible in his voice.
"I...I don't know." Mac replied, shaking off the memory of his ..... dream,"We are going to find out."
Mac tossed the helmet back to the ground and slipped the pad back into Trig's pack.
"Fixer," Mac called over the long range comm, glancing around nervously in the dark,"can you read me?"
"*static*ly,y your sig*static* weak."
"Listen STAY ALERT! I say again, STAY ALERT! I have a feeling we are walking into a trap."
"*static*got alert an*static*rap. Couldn't *static*rest. I'll *static*eep eyes pealed fo*static*k."
"Just stay alive untill we regroup, ok Fixer?"
"*static*ill do Sar*static*."
Mac turned to his team and gave the signal to move. They continued down the passageway until they came to the turn from the helmet recording, taking it they spotted the door at the end of the corridor. Unlike in the recording, the door stood open, the room beyond was darker than a moonless midnight.
"We going in there?" Clank asked deadpan.
"Yep." Hydro replied bluntly.
"I'm taking point?"
"Yep."
"Lets do it." Clank said, switching his E-11 to full power.
Slowly they advanced toward the open void, Clank was the first in, they soon found that in this room of blackness their helmets' MFTAS were useless.
"Pop flairs." Mac ordered.
Moments latter the room was flooded with piercing blue light cast form four ion flairs.
"Sarge...are your seeing this?" Hydro asked
Mac saw it. They were in what had been the buildings cafeteria, it wasn't anymore. A thick black organic matter covered every inch of exposed surface. Columns of the stuff ran clear to the roof, fresh matter,looking identical to the substance on the helmet they found, dripped down in long strings. The matter seemed to have a strange jagged swirling pattern to it.
"Looks like some sort of secreted resin." Mac remarked as he ran his hand along the wall.
"Yea Sarge, but secreted form what?" Clank asked, moving past him.
"Scanners picking up some strange readings, seems there is a temp spike in this area," Hydro noted as they moved deeper in, "Getting a ... what is that?"
Mac turned and followed Hydro's line of sight to an alcove in the far corner.
"Go check it out." he ordered.
Trig and Hydro moved almost back to back towards the short, oval shaped, object. When they were on it Trig leaned closer to inspect it.
"It's some sort of leathery object, like....an egg or something."
"Don't get to cl--" A sudden flurry of movement startled Mac as the top of the top of the egg split open, peeling back to form a flower shape.
"Hydro, bring that flair closer so I--" Trig was cut short as a small creature launched out of the egg with blinding speed. Wrapping its tail tightly around his throat, it latched onto his helmet, throwing his blaster to the ground, Trig started to claw at the creatures tail which caused it to tighten. The others rushed him, Mac screaming in his ear for him to calm down, trying to hold him still long enough to remove the pale spider-like creature; however, before they could, a fine smoke began to rise from between Trig's helmet and the creature. Trig was screaming, his panic reaching hysteria levels as the spider thing started to slip into his helmet from the newly formed hole in his face plate. Much to the teams horror the creature made it inside, cutting off Trig's screams; His body goes limp in Mac's arms as he passes out.
"Fierfek!!"Hydro screamed in anger, slamming his fist into the wall as he watched Mac and Clank lower Trig to the ground.
"Hydro, hold it together damn it! Clank, remove whats left of his helmet and check his vitals. Stay here with him, Me and Hydro are going to find something here to slice that little bastard off of him." Mac and Hydro headed cautiously into the kitchen, avoiding an egg clutch in the corner, and retrieved a vibro knife from the counter, the knife humming with life as he held it.
"Ok," Mac said, handing the vibro Knife to Clank, "how are his vitals?"
"He's alive," Clank said, staring at the melted helmet,"its feeding him air, I don't know why its doing it though.
"We need to remove it, start cutting at its knuckles."
Clank moved carefully, slicking through the creatures flesh. Pressurized fluid shot clean through the knife and splattered clear across Clanks chest plate and helmet.The others flew to him, helping remove both as holes started to form.
"Acid!" Clank yelled kicking his destroyed chest piece away, "The damn thing bleeds acid!"
"That's a wonderful defense mechanism." Hydro said, a touch of disgust towards the creature seeping into his voice.
"Ok, we're getting out of here." Mac said,"Clank, grab Trig's weapon and take point. Hydro, help me carry him, We'll use the medical bay equipment in the research facility to remove this thing."
The team searched for ten minutes, finally finding the rear exit to the cafeteria. The doorway was blocked by the black resin webbing, Clank blasted it apart with a few well placed shots and lead them along the path he remembered form the building scan.
"*static*arge, your there?"
"It's good to hear form you Fixer, listen, we have a problem."
"I'll say. Fours is gone."
"What!?"
"We were passing through the offices, he was in the rear. We heard him scream, I snapped around just in time to see his E-11 hit the floor. Something snatched him through the vents sarge, he was still screaming over the squad comm till he got out of range. We hauled ass and made it outside, we've been waiting on you, oh *Fixer dropped his voice to a whisper*, and Lema wanted to leave your team behind in there.......just thought you should know.
"Got it," Mac said, resentment towards the Lieutenant seeping into his voice," Tell Lema we're on our way. Oh, and we need a something to carry Trig in. Something attached itself to his face, melted clean through his helmet.
"Roger Sarge."
A few minutes later Mac and Hydro, Clank letting them take the lead, exited the complex and jogged over to team two. Clank, spotting something out the corner of his eye, stopped in the doorway and turned around, trying in vain to force his vision to pierce the darkness.
"What are you waiting for ?" Regs called out to him, "Come on!"
Clank turned to face him taking a step, "I thou--"was as far as he got. A thick, spiny, black blade tipped tail punched clean through his back plate, bursting through his torso spraying blood and chunks of entrails away from the body. The tail jerked him back into the darkness, his last act before life left his bod, was to fire his blaster into door's control panel, forcing it to close and seal.
Mac and the squad stood stunned in silence, staring at the door until Lt. Lema started shouting at them.
"That's enough gawking, I have a mission to complete, so move your asses!"
Mac gritted his teeth, he wanted nothing more than to beat Lema down a few notches, but he needed to stay strong. The men were starting to loose heart, he could tell from their body language, and they needed him to stay above Lema's level, to give them hope. He turned to a hovering cargo cart that Fixer found.
"Strap Trig down to that cart and lets get to that damned facility." Mac ordered in his best commanding voice, snapping the men out of their shocked stupor," Move out."
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Chapter 5 - The Swarm
Mac and his squad moved swiftly towards the Research facility.
"Sarge," Fixer said, "My scanners are picking up movement, but I can't locate whats causing it."
Mac glanced around at the ruins as they hurried down the littered street, catching a glimpse of what looked like a tail as it slipped over a nearby roof and disappeared form sight.
"We're not alone men! Double time it!"
The squad broke into a sprint, startling Lt. Lema who didn't here the order issued over the squad comm which caused him to fall shortly behind, closing the distance to the facility.
'At this pace we should -- ' his senses started screaming at him, a split second later a form shot through the air.
"Contact!" Mac screamed over his vocoder as a large black creature launched it's self from a darkened window, shattered window.
Mac reacted on instinct, snapping up his E-11, he fired. A single red bolt ripped through the air, flying directly into the creatures open, saliva dripping, maw. The top half of the creatures head exploded as its momentum carried it, it smashed into the hard packed ground and skidded to a stop at Mac's armored feet. Wisps of acrid, poisonous smoke rose form the cauterized wound as the early afternoon sun glinted off the corpses glossy black exoskeleton.
There was no time to relax, no sooner had Mac ended the first attacker did the rest swarm in on all sides.
"Squad,"Mac bellowed over the nightmarish shrieks and blaster fire,"On my six! Lets MOVE!"
Forming up on Mac, the squad raced towards the facility, leaving the street behind them in total carnage. The ran along until a large pile of debris blocked their progress, the squad formed a defensive perimeter as Hydro began setting a small demo-charge to clear the path. Trigger pull after trigger pull the creatures fell, yet no matter how many they squad dropped, the beasts kept coming.
Suddenly, one of the beasts burst up through a drainage grate, knocking the cargo cart to the side with enough force to loosen the straps, causing Trig to be flung free. The beast was like black lightning, it knocked Regs back, snapping its tail forward with enough force to punch clean through the Reg's armored gut, impaling him. The beast pulled Regs close, bringing him face to face, it opened its maw to reveal a second mouth inside. In a last act of defiance, Regs managed to catch hold of a jagged durasteel rod that was protruding form a shattered window, and with the last ounce of his strength he rammed it up through the creatures jaw and through the top of its skull just as the inner mouth punched a hole through his helmet, digging deep into his brain. Dark red blood gushed down Reg's face plate as he and the creature toppled over,spraying acid blood across the cargo cart.
Mac turned, hearing Reg's final scream of rage over the clamor of the battle, in time to blast a second monster that burst up form below.
"Fire in the hole!" Hydro shouted, a small, near defining, explosion fallowed.
"Fixer - Hydro! Regs is.. Regs is down. Grab Trig and take off,I'll cover you !"
"he's dead weight, Leave Him!" Lt. Lema barked, blasting a creature as it sprung off a wall.
Fixer and Hydro ignored him, scooping Trig off the ground, they, with Lema in tow, bolted down the street and rounded the corner towards the facility; with Mac, now sporting Regs's E-11, covering their escape. Once they were well away, Mac spun and sprinted after them, a dark living tide of death hot on his heels.
"We made it Sarge," Mac herd Fixer shout through the comm, over his ragged breathing, "lema ordered the blast door shut, but Hydro told him to shove that order up his ass. Where holding here till y--holy shit!"
Mac chuckled ,despite his situation, at Fixers reaction to the swarm on his tail.
"Clear the doorway and get ready to slam it, I'm coming in hot!"
A few moments later mac dove through the doorway as the blast door sealed, the sound of a hundred bodies slamming into it echoed through the complex.
"Sergeant!" Lema shouted as Mac picked himself off the floor," these me--."
That's as far as he got. In that moment, Mac punched the Lieutenant hard enough to send three of his teeth clattering down the corridor.
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Chapter 6 - To Rule The Galaxy
Mac, right fist still throbbing, stood over Lema, watching the man as he slowly lifted himself from the dirty metal floor. As Lema staggered to his feet, Mac caught hold of him by the front of his now blood stained uniform and slammed him into the wall.
"Now listen to me you kriffing fierfek." Mac said menacingly, his voice thick with venom." I don't give a damn about your mission, as of right now there are only two objectives; getting Trig to medical and getting the the last of my team off this blasted rock. If you get in our way I will personally put you down and feed your bloody corps to the beasts. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!"
Lt. Lema, blood still flowing from his mouth, spat on Mac's face plate. Mac responded with a sharp head but, breaking Lema's nose and sending his head snapping back into the durasteel wall. Mac tossed the dazed Lema to back to the floor in disgust.
"Fixer/Hydro, strip that bastard of his weapons and slap a set of binders on him."
"Aye, Sir!" They snapped, descending on the Lieutenant, following their orders.
"I'll heave your head for this!" Lema spat as he was hauled to his feet, "All of you will be court marshaled when this is over!"
"Shut your mouth Lema before I shut it for you." Hydro said, ripping the Lieutenant's rank plate from Lema's now bloody uniform and flinging it down the corridor."You won't be needing this anymore."
The next few minutes passed slowly, the team making its way cautiously towards the facilities medical bay through the dark and littered hallways in silence.
"Movement," Hydro said as they neared a door marked 'Bio-Labs',"Thirty five meters ....that way." He finished, pointing at the room.
"Fixer, set Trig down and run a bypass on that door, Hydro cover him." mac turned to Lema as the doors silently slid open."After you."
The bio-lab was a mess. Broken datapads and, oddly enough, sheets of paper were scattered around. Tables and chairs were overturned and various pieces of lab equipment were strewn across the room.
"Star alert....Hydro, where is it?"
"Next room Sarge, its barely moving."
Through the gloom of the low powered emergency lighting, casting the room in a dim orange light, they spotted the door to the next room. It hung ajar, no light shown from within.
"Hydro, help me pry the door open." Mac ordered, through the combined effort of the two of them, they forced the door open. The rooms back up power kicked in the moment they entered.
"Sarge....are those-" Fixer started
"Yea."
Before them stood four rows of ten tanks which strongly resembled the cloneing tanks on Kamino. In each tank floated a fleshy, pale spider with a coiled tail, the same form of creature that had attached it's self to Trig. All the tanks, save one, showed negative life sines.
"Private Marlo Janks," Mac said, reading the data-screen by one of the tanks," he and the subject died during subject extraction."
"Similar thing over here Sarge." Fixer called, closing down the screen he had been viewing.
"What about the living one."
"The log says that it was captured before it could attach itself to one of the scientists." Hydro said as Lema leaned closer to the tank, trying to get a better look at the un-moving creature. He shot back, knocking over a tray of medical instruments and fell to the floor as the spider smashed against the transparasteel tank, a long fleshy tube slipping out of it and rubbing where his face had just been.
"Looks like love at first sight Lema." Fixer chuckled
"Cut the chatter." Mac ordered, as he and the others turned away from Lema, who was rolling around in a vain attempt to get back up, and activated the head scientists holo-logs. Moments later the ghostly image of a balding scientist in his mid to late sixties appeared before them.
"Personal log of Dr. Corran Trale: Log A-121," Said the holo-gram,"That crash out in the wastes last weak provided us with an amazing discovery. An egg of an unknown species, cryo-frozen in the cargo hold."
.................................
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------'What.....' Trig's head pounded, he rolled on his side, his breath coming in ragged, painful gasps. he gagged, then forced it back down, and rose to a kneeling position. His mind was fogged, the last thing he could remember was entering the office complex...was he still there? His vision was blurry; however, he spotted the spider, his attacker, and drove his fists into it as hard as he could. For a solid minute Trig beat the dead creature, a sharp pain in his chest snapped him out of his blind rage. His hands flew over his armor, unclasping the chest plate he flung it away to reveal.....nothing. Swearing, he stood, stomped the spider one last time and turned, fallowing the sound of voices. The Pain in his chest rising.
.................................
"Personal log of Dr. Corran Trale: Log A-129," The holo-gram continued,"The orders just came through. We are to begin harvesting the eggs effective immedi--"
"Doctor!" an urgent voice interrupted from out of view.
"What is i--"
"Subject Six has broken containment and has freed subjects One through Five!"
"Sound the alarm! I want this contained! I will not let word of this get back to Director Lema-"
A blaster shot stopped the holo-projector dead. Mac and the others spun; however, Lema had the drop on them.
"So "Director", was stranding us here part of your plan? or are you making this up as you go along?" Mac asked coldly, cursing himself for letting his guard down as well as noting the small medical tool sticking out of the binders that lay on the floor behind Lema. "come on, whats really going on here, what are you doing with these monsters?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Lema asked, a demented look entering his eye,"These creatures are living bio-weapons. They are the perfect organism; unclouded by pity or remorse. The creature that they found, it evolved, it is now the Queen Mother. She is with me, inside my head, she speaks to me." He started to laugh manically, "She has a plan, she reached out to me and told me my part, I caused the shuttle crash. This kept me alive!" he flashed his wrist, a rebuilt and heavily modified Mandolorian Melee shield,"I had to come here, make it look like an accident, be all professional, then call for help." *fit of laughter* "Once those fools land with their bigger ships landed we will harvest the soldiers and manipulate the crew into bringing the entire colony on board the Star Destroyer. From there I will begin my conquest with my Queen Mother. We will seed every world with the Queen Mothers glory!" Madness flooded Lema's eyes, "We will cast down the false Emperor and I get what she has promised me. BOW BEFORE ME, FOR I AM THE NEW EMPEROR! I RULE THE GALAXY!"
"Your mad!" Mac shouted, interrupting Lema's laughter,"I--"
"You'll what? Kill me first?" Lema said in a mocking tone, "You seem to forget that I am the one holding the gu--"
A hand slammed hard into Lema's mouth, a second one punching hard into his side, forcing him to reflexively drop his blaster and sending it clattering to the floor moments later.
"Your 'reign' is at an end, you son of a bitch!" Trig shouted with his final breath of rage and pain.
A split second latter his chest exploded sending blood pouring down, his muscles locked up gripping Lema tighter, Jagged bone stabbed deep into Lema's back, Lema shrieked in pure animalistic terror and pain as the little monster that burst from Trig began eating its way through his back. Lema's heart bust as the creature chewed through it. Blood flowed freely from his mouth and the hole that quickly formed in his chest. The creature launched from the bodies as they toppled to the floor. Mac reacted before he could think, snagging the creatures tail from mid air he swung the monster like a flail. Again and again he smashed it into the nearby wall, until Fixer placed a hand on his puldron.
"Sarge......it's dead."
Mac Froze, sweat and rage induced tears pored down his face, his heart beat with the fury of a hurricane, with out a second thought he flung the limp creature across the room and forced himself to regain his composure.
"Secure your gear," Mac said as he looked down at the expression of pain frozen on Trig's dead face," Let get out of this hell hole."
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Chapter 7 - The Lift
Mac and his remaining men moved swiftly through the dark and desolate facility, taking note of the growing number of motion tags fallowing them.
"Sarge," Fixer said, " I'm Picking up power readings from a turbo-lift on my scanners."
"Location."
"Next right. Twenty Meters."
They took the turn sharply, sprinting down the dimly lit, littered corridor. as they moved closer the walls pressed in, the dimly flickering light casting disfigured shadows along the walls. The constant beeping of Mac's helmet tracker put him on edge, his pulse pounding as the readings drew closer. Soon they spotted the lift, Fixer slammed his fingers down on the glowing buttons of the control panel.
"Damn!" Fixer shouted in frustration,"Lift controls are fried, cover my while I run a bypass!"
"Hydro," Mac ordered as the tags reached the five meter mark, "Take right an-"
Red death ripped from Hydro's E-11 cutting Mac off. The creatures poured in from both sides like ants swarming a carcass. Mac and Hydro were back to back , seconds passed like hours as the bodies began to pile. Acrid ,toxic, smoke rose from the cauterized wounds as the blaster rounds ripped deep into the beasts as they relentlessly advanced on the three. The monsters never stopped, bursting from the walls, the floor, the ceiling, Mac and Hydro swiftly lost count of how many thy felled. Silence.....the world seamed to have stopped. Corpses piled from floor to ceiling , nothing moved, had they been their for minutes or days. Movement, Mac's senses kicked into overdrive, his tracker showed that the beasts were retreating. He started breathing again, his head felt light.
'how long was I holding that?' He thought as he checked his blaster clip 'one shot left...gre-' a scraping sound caused him and Hydro to snap into a combat stance. They checked the corps piles, a nine foot gap between them and the dead. He saw it, one of those...things slowly dragging its body from the left pile, his pile, towards him. Mac felt nothing as he studied the crippled beast, taking note of his own handy work. Legs blown off at the knees, right arm amputated at the shoulder, tail shot in half; the monster still wanted him, it's inner mouth slid from its drooling maw as it pulled itself forward on its one good arm. Letting out a deep hiss, it's claws scrapped down Mac's armored shin guard. Coldly Mac pumped the last shot into the creatures head which promptly exploded in a shower of of smoking fragments.
"Done." Fixer said, relief and exasperation dripping into his voice as he closed the control panel.
They stood in silence as the doors parted. The lift was drenched in dried blood, a half rotten leg lay in crumpled in the corner.
"All aboard!" Fixer exclaimed as they entered.
"Fixer,"Mac said, slapping a fresh clip into his blaster,"this place is crawling with those bastards, which level is the nearest exit from this lift?"
"UUUmm...That would be sub-level 171, we need to cut through the main reactor chamber." Fixer adjusted his display map," Looks like there's a maintenance shaft that leads strait out."
"Great, why do these situations always lead to a basement." Hydro groaned.
"You watch to many holovids." Fixer mumbled, chuckling to himself
'At least they haven't lost their sense of humor.' Mac thought as he punched the button.
Two minutes latter the doors opened to a sight that was all to fresh in Mac's mind. Thick black organic matter covered the walls and floor, the air stank of decay and death, something moved in the darkness a head of them, just out of sight. A pang of panic stabbed into Mac's gut as his hand flew to the lift cont--.
A large splatter of acid flew from the darkness, missing the three it splattered directly on the lift, eating clean through the outer metal and destroying the controls. Half a second later the creature that had fired the acid projectile fell dead, blasted by Hydro and Fixer.
A voice cut into their minds, they all heard it, a whisper on the edge of hearing. It called to them, tugging at their thoughts, it was her, she wanted them to come.
The Queen-Mother was waiting.
"Doctor!" an urgent voice interrupted from out of view.
"What is i--"
"Subject Six has broken containment and has freed subjects One through Five!"
"Sound the alarm! I want this contained! I will not let word of this get back to Director Lema-"
A blaster shot stopped the holo-projector dead. Mac and the others spun; however, Lema had the drop on them.
"So "Director", was stranding us here part of your plan? or are you making this up as you go along?" Mac asked coldly, cursing himself for letting his guard down as well as noting the small medical tool sticking out of the binders that lay on the floor behind Lema. "come on, whats really going on here, what are you doing with these monsters?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Lema asked, a demented look entering his eye,"These creatures are living bio-weapons. They are the perfect organism; unclouded by pity or remorse. The creature that they found, it evolved, it is now the Queen Mother. She is with me, inside my head, she speaks to me." He started to laugh manically, "She has a plan, she reached out to me and told me my part, I caused the shuttle crash. This kept me alive!" he flashed his wrist, a rebuilt and heavily modified Mandolorian Melee shield,"I had to come here, make it look like an accident, be all professional, then call for help." *fit of laughter* "Once those fools land with their bigger ships landed we will harvest the soldiers and manipulate the crew into bringing the entire colony on board the Star Destroyer. From there I will begin my conquest with my Queen Mother. We will seed every world with the Queen Mothers glory!" Madness flooded Lema's eyes, "We will cast down the false Emperor and I get what she has promised me. BOW BEFORE ME, FOR I AM THE NEW EMPEROR! I RULE THE GALAXY!"
"Your mad!" Mac shouted, interrupting Lema's laughter,"I--"
"You'll what? Kill me first?" Lema said in a mocking tone, "You seem to forget that I am the one holding the gu--"
A hand slammed hard into Lema's mouth, a second one punching hard into his side, forcing him to reflexively drop his blaster and sending it clattering to the floor moments later.
"Your 'reign' is at an end, you son of a bitch!" Trig shouted with his final breath of rage and pain.
A split second latter his chest exploded sending blood pouring down, his muscles locked up gripping Lema tighter, Jagged bone stabbed deep into Lema's back, Lema shrieked in pure animalistic terror and pain as the little monster that burst from Trig began eating its way through his back. Lema's heart bust as the creature chewed through it. Blood flowed freely from his mouth and the hole that quickly formed in his chest. The creature launched from the bodies as they toppled to the floor. Mac reacted before he could think, snagging the creatures tail from mid air he swung the monster like a flail. Again and again he smashed it into the nearby wall, until Fixer placed a hand on his puldron.
"Sarge......it's dead."
Mac Froze, sweat and rage induced tears pored down his face, his heart beat with the fury of a hurricane, with out a second thought he flung the limp creature across the room and forced himself to regain his composure.
"Secure your gear," Mac said as he looked down at the expression of pain frozen on Trig's dead face," Let get out of this hell hole."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 7 - The Lift
Mac and his remaining men moved swiftly through the dark and desolate facility, taking note of the growing number of motion tags fallowing them.
"Sarge," Fixer said, " I'm Picking up power readings from a turbo-lift on my scanners."
"Location."
"Next right. Twenty Meters."
They took the turn sharply, sprinting down the dimly lit, littered corridor. as they moved closer the walls pressed in, the dimly flickering light casting disfigured shadows along the walls. The constant beeping of Mac's helmet tracker put him on edge, his pulse pounding as the readings drew closer. Soon they spotted the lift, Fixer slammed his fingers down on the glowing buttons of the control panel.
"Damn!" Fixer shouted in frustration,"Lift controls are fried, cover my while I run a bypass!"
"Hydro," Mac ordered as the tags reached the five meter mark, "Take right an-"
Red death ripped from Hydro's E-11 cutting Mac off. The creatures poured in from both sides like ants swarming a carcass. Mac and Hydro were back to back , seconds passed like hours as the bodies began to pile. Acrid ,toxic, smoke rose from the cauterized wounds as the blaster rounds ripped deep into the beasts as they relentlessly advanced on the three. The monsters never stopped, bursting from the walls, the floor, the ceiling, Mac and Hydro swiftly lost count of how many thy felled. Silence.....the world seamed to have stopped. Corpses piled from floor to ceiling , nothing moved, had they been their for minutes or days. Movement, Mac's senses kicked into overdrive, his tracker showed that the beasts were retreating. He started breathing again, his head felt light.
'how long was I holding that?' He thought as he checked his blaster clip 'one shot left...gre-' a scraping sound caused him and Hydro to snap into a combat stance. They checked the corps piles, a nine foot gap between them and the dead. He saw it, one of those...things slowly dragging its body from the left pile, his pile, towards him. Mac felt nothing as he studied the crippled beast, taking note of his own handy work. Legs blown off at the knees, right arm amputated at the shoulder, tail shot in half; the monster still wanted him, it's inner mouth slid from its drooling maw as it pulled itself forward on its one good arm. Letting out a deep hiss, it's claws scrapped down Mac's armored shin guard. Coldly Mac pumped the last shot into the creatures head which promptly exploded in a shower of of smoking fragments.
"Done." Fixer said, relief and exasperation dripping into his voice as he closed the control panel.
They stood in silence as the doors parted. The lift was drenched in dried blood, a half rotten leg lay in crumpled in the corner.
"All aboard!" Fixer exclaimed as they entered.
"Fixer,"Mac said, slapping a fresh clip into his blaster,"this place is crawling with those bastards, which level is the nearest exit from this lift?"
"UUUmm...That would be sub-level 171, we need to cut through the main reactor chamber." Fixer adjusted his display map," Looks like there's a maintenance shaft that leads strait out."
"Great, why do these situations always lead to a basement." Hydro groaned.
"You watch to many holovids." Fixer mumbled, chuckling to himself
'At least they haven't lost their sense of humor.' Mac thought as he punched the button.
Two minutes latter the doors opened to a sight that was all to fresh in Mac's mind. Thick black organic matter covered the walls and floor, the air stank of decay and death, something moved in the darkness a head of them, just out of sight. A pang of panic stabbed into Mac's gut as his hand flew to the lift cont--.
A large splatter of acid flew from the darkness, missing the three it splattered directly on the lift, eating clean through the outer metal and destroying the controls. Half a second later the creature that had fired the acid projectile fell dead, blasted by Hydro and Fixer.
A voice cut into their minds, they all heard it, a whisper on the edge of hearing. It called to them, tugging at their thoughts, it was her, she wanted them to come.
The Queen-Mother was waiting.