The Genesis by Foxtrot Uniform


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The vessel was an intricate spider web of halls and conduits. They were pathways that crossed and paralleled one another. They were the trails that we had to take, lined with steel tubes and pipes that hissed like snakes in our ears. They leaked steam, as hot as the very flames of hell, onto our helmet visors and our body armor. We were a squad of twelve men navigating those hissing halls. Marines, sent to retrieve information. A quest for knowledge, one might say. But we were cast into the fog and steam without direction. If it weren’t for our Shepherd, we would have been overwhelmed by that place. He helped to guide us on that mission. To this day I thank him for his sacrifice.

“Cletch, sir, I’m getting the feeling that we’ve been down this path before,” came Horton’s voice over the intercom in my helmet. “Doesn’t it look familiar?”

I halted my squad’s movement. I’d hoped we were advancing but unfortunately, their guess was as good as mine. We’d boarded the vessel through an entrance in the ship’s greenhouse, a place where they grew fresh fruits and vegetables for the crew of the entire ship. The heat and water system must have been damaged because a veil of mist loomed amongst the greenery. Potted plants thrived in the carefully controlled environment, covering the paradise in leaves. It was truly a beautiful garden.

Knoll had called out to me, and when I went over to him, he was pointing at a plump, perfectly ripe apple hanging from a tree. Water had condensed on the shiny red flesh and was sliding off in droplets. I warned him that it could be contaminated, but the hissing of the steam pipes must have masked my voice. He plucked it from the tree and took a big bite. He’d had a look of satisfaction on his face until he dropped our navigation device by accident. Our hand held electronic map fell into an irrigation ditch full of water and shorted out. Knoll was apologetic, of course, but he couldn’t undo what he’d done. We had to leave the greenhouse without any sense of direction whatsoever.

“Sometimes, the paths look similar, but they’ve always been different so far,” I said, answering Horton’s question. “As long as we keep our bearings about us, well reach our objective.” I was unable to completely mask my uncertainty, however.

“We don’t even know the right direction, sir. This ship is too large to navigate blindly,” said Nolan, negative as always. If there was one soldier that could get under my skin, it was Nolan. “We’ll never find our way without help.”
“
I know it’s a big ship. We just need to focus,” I explained. We were wasting time. “You’re all keeping your eyes open for the computer labs, right?”

“Yes, sir!” they chimed in. I could hear their actual voices as well as their voices over the radio.

At that point, we’d been on the ship nearly four hours. We were tired and hungry which only exacerbated the situation. The computers that we searched for contained vital information on the alien race. A threat that was discovered shortly after deep space explorations began. The information would aid the entire human race in their defeat. There was data based on months of research contained in the computers. The Genesis, from what we’d been told, was the first station to actually contain a hive and provoke it to give birth.

“Sir?” asked Pratt. He was hunched over the motion detection device headquarters supplied. It had begun to make a faint ticking sound like a clock. “I’m picking up movement about fifty meters straight ahead.”

“Good work, Pratt,” I responded, shouldering my weapon and releasing the safety with my thumb. We carried standard issue, lightweight machineguns. They used 50 round magazines but small caliber ammunition. They were sturdy, reliable firearms. “We could have hostiles ahead, boys. Look sharp.”

We moved together as a unit, highly trained at Concord Station. Our movements were swift and precise . Enders, Nolan, Druven and Stenler had our six. Pratt remained in the center, the place of greatest protection, to ensure that we didn’t lose the motion detector. Horton and Rob took the flanks, making sure no alien life forms took us from the sides, and Vikers, Knoll and I led the way.

“30 meters, sir,” whispered Pratt. The team quieted down substantially and the sound of our footfalls gave way to the ships whispers, hissing from pipes above and below. Hot steam blew over our armored suits and condensation beaded on our visors. The longer we went along the pathways of the ship, the further the steam pervaded our suits, sliding between the cracks and penetrating the pores of our skin. I felt naked and helpless against it.

“20 meters, sir.”

The steam was thick. It was blinding. Swirling in front of my eyes and distorting what lie ahead. The pipes looked alive; like writhing snakes.

“10 meters.”

Through the mist, a light became visible, shining through the fog like a star. It was intense and pure. It was a red light that guided us through that metal desert.

“5 meters, sir.”

very nice. I like your writin style and the suspense. However, I would like to know a bit more about the characters.

We were at a door. At was a broad, metallic gate probably several inches thick. A digital screen was mounted on the face of the barrier. It read: “Escape pod” in luminous green lettering.

“Sir, It could be an alien.” Horton warned from within the group. He was a nervous, smaller man, even though his argument was valid. This was his first mission so he was the jumpiest. Some of the men were keeping watch on the halls, squinting through the haze but most had turned their attention to the door.

“I know it could be an alien. If I need someone to state the obvious, I’ll ask, alright?”

“Yes, sir.”

I took a deep breath and stepped back from the hatch and said: “Escape pods are small, so I’m only gonna need two guys to come in with me. Any volunteers?” Stenler and Enders stepped forward. They were arguably the best guns of the team. “Alright, you two follow me in. I’m taking the point. Rob, I want you to open the door on my mark.”

Rob trotted over to the right side of the hatch, holding his hand over the big red button. I counted to three and the door slid open, squealing loudly as metal grinded against metal. The temperature gauge on my visor immediately went up, reading that it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit inside the pod. I stepped in with Stenler and Enders close behind and my weapon at the ready, tracing the attached flashlight over the surfaces of the pod. The walls glistened. They were wet. Moisture was condensed on everything.

We had entered into the small food closet that was located in the rear of all of the pods. The door to the main chamber was straight ahead. It was pitch dark, save for the halogen flashlight I guided over the room before stepping in. Water droplets caught the beam of light and glistened on the tops of MRE’s and other vacuum-sealed packets. As soon as I cleared the doorway, Stenler branched left and Enders moved right, in a quick, practiced motion.

Stenler and Enders were peas in a pod since they were kids. Growing up in the rural south, they worked at a chicken farm together, shooting coyotes with bb guns to protect the precious poultry of farmer Brown. They hunted together when they were older and even went to their high school prom with farmer Brown’s twin sisters. They’d been with each other and with guns all their lives, so they felt comfortable on the mission and in combat.

They whispered, “clear”, after discovering no hostiles crouched along the curved walls or shelf units of the pod, and then regrouped with me for the final door. There was a keypad on it, on which I quickly dialed an override code, and the door slid open. It was even hotter in this chamber, about 98 degrees. The main bridge was lined with computers for navigating the escape module once it detached from the main ship. A large window gave a view out into space. The ceiling and walls came together as one dome shaped sanctuary for a man who lay nude in the center of the floor, curled in a fetal position. Our flashlights shined light on his soaked body.

“What the hell?” Stenler asked, staying behind me. His sudden outburst made me realize that the silence was pure inside the pod. The fog and steam were gone. The only thing that remained was silence and clarity.

foxtrot, could you type more before posting? Like type a few thousand words before putting it up?

I inched forward, and then kneeled down. I removed the glove from my hand, and checked his pulse by feeling the soft skin of his neck. Beneath the surface I could feel the throb of a vein. He was alive.

“You two grab this guy,” I ordered. I noticed his clothes were bundled up on top of a chair and a backpack lay on the floor next to them. “I’ll grab his crap. Let’s get him out of this oven.”

The men were surprised to see a wet, naked man appear from the pod when we emerged. Stenler and Enders laid him down on the metal floor after stepping back into the fog and steam.

“Jesus…” someone muttered.

Druven kneeled down while a few others leaned over to get a good look. Druven was the closest thing we had to a medic. He knew basic first aid, and maybe a trick or two. Space Combat Medics had become less and less desirable as nanotech became more and more advanced. ‘Med packs’ were now the preferred method of administering medical assistance since they were faster and more effective than any medic. The Genesis, however, was on nano gridlock. Druven placed his hands on the body, and looked up at us, “Well, he’s got a pulse and he’s breathing. Maybe he’s dehydrated or something.”

“It could be heat exhaustion. It looks like he’d taken off his clothes because of how hot it was in the pod. Almost a hundred degrees,” I explained.

“Does it really matter, sir?” Nolan asked stubbornly, “This isn’t a search and rescue. Our mission is to retrieve computer data, not pick up any stragglers.” It was hard to hear Nolan over the hissing steam pipes.

“It does matter, Nolan. If you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been lost ever since we boarded this vessel. Surely this guy knows how to get to the computer. He’s a member of the crew, so he should know the way.”

Druven got out his canteen while Nolan and I debated. He sat the man up, and poured the water over his head. His face was soft and fair. It seemed to be the face of a gentle man, and when the cold water baptized his warm flesh, his eyes burst open and he shot up to his feet. He stood for a moment, running his hands through his wet, brown hair, spitting the water onto the floor, and then looked at us. “What happened?”

We were quiet for a second. We stood exchanging glances while he stood. I approached him slowly, giving him his clothing. He quickly put them on, and slung the backpack onto his shoulders.

“We’re United States Marines. I’m Thomas Cletch, commander of a mission to retrieve computer data contained on this ship. Are you a member of the crew?”

He looked down at the floor and brushed the stubble on his chin with his hand. “Yeah, I’m a member of the crew. My name’s Daniel Shepherd. I know where the computers are.” Daniel was of a normal build and appeared to be Middle Eastern. Thick eyebrows rested on a creaseless face and he had a broad nose.

“How did you get away from the aliens?” asked Nolan accusingly. As if he suspected Danny of conspiring with the enemy (which was ridiculous). “The rest of the crew is dead.”

“Soldier, you will not make another outburst,” I declared. Nolan was hard to handle at times on missions. He was smart and he was good at what he did, but he questioned authority far too often. I was trained on the Concord long before any of my men, but I’d heard of things Nolan had done during training that were very inappropriate. He had quickly established himself as the drill sergeant’s least favorite cadet. They were constantly at odds with one another. Several times, Nolan had apparently gotten the upper hand by lacing the sergeant’s dinner with catalyst packet fluid. As a result, Sergeant Key would be awake well into the morning hours, unable to sit still. At one point, Nolan had managed to deprive Key of so much sleep, Key thought he was getting a sort of space sickness and was transferred.

There was an awkward silence. Nolan looked at Danny with a sort of loathing, but Danny’s expression remained passive and at ease, despite his situation. I grabbed Nolan shoulder and spun him to face me. “You understand? You follow my orders, cadet.”

“Yes sir,” Nolan snarled.

I like your story a lot. That Nolan sounds like he's gonna betray everyone else or something.

I think Nolan is just being pure ****. Like he is the king of the world and takes no crap from nobody. More like a street punk than anything else.

“So, Danny, can you lead us to this computer? Once we have the information, we can all get out of here,” I said.

Danny pointed down a path, and then looked at me. “We can take the route through the dormitories. It’s the quickest way to get to the labs.”

I looked at the men. Steam swirled around them, but they could see through it. They had to see through it. “Alright, team. Danny stays in the middle with Pratt. We’re going to move out,” and with that, I led the team through a hall of slithering pipes and hissing heat.

There was a long passage that led from the escape pods to the dormitories. It was much like all of the other paths, pipes strung above and below, hissing and whispering to us, but everything seemed much less offensive with Danny nearby. We’d been helpless without him. To be honest, we probably would have died on that ship without him. The Genesis was a monstrous, coiled mass of conduits and shafts, with one computer lab located somewhere within. The twelve of us, highly trained frontiersmen of the TSA, would have been as defenseless as lambs and the steam would slowly close in like a pack of wolves. Walking with Danny and glancing back at him, I noticed that the steam had no effect on him. He could over power it. He could see through it, even though it swirled and churned in front of me. He was surely our shepherd.

The steel grating gave way to a solid, steel floor. A sign that hung from the ceiling read “Dormitories”. We kept a steady pace. The walls became solid, rather than being made of pipes and wires, but I could tell that they were still there. They were under the floor and inside the walls. Hidden, but inescapable. From the ceiling, hung a line a fluorescent lights, bathing everything in a horribly unnatural light.

“Movement,” Pratt whispered. I rose my fist and everyone halted. Danny glanced around coolly. I turned and consulted Pratt. “There’s three blips on the screen. They’re about 40 meters ahead. Not moving much, but they’re moving around alright.”

“Ok, team,” I said, whispering, but trying to sound as in control as possible. “These could be hostiles. In fact, I’d bet the farm on it. If they’re in a dormitory, we’ll just try and sneak past, but if we’re spotted, we’ll have to take them out.”

“Alright! Some action!” said Vickers excitedly. He cocked his weapon enthusiastically. Vickers was as brave as they came in the TSA. He’d participated in recon missions all over the Arm. None of these turned into combat missions, but Vickers was always willing.

“Keep it quiet, guys. Danny, you gonna be alright?” I asked. He didn’t seem to be concerned with any of what was happening, but I wanted to ask anyway.

“Of course.”

I led a slow advance down a hall of shut metal doors on both sides. I could still hear the hissing of the snake-like pipes, but I tried to listen to Pratt, rather than the ship’s whispers.

“We’re within 20 meters, sir,” whispered Pratt, sliding a pistol from his holster and clumsily pulling back the slide. His hands were shaking.

“You nervous?” Stenler whispered, “It could be a human, you know?”

“It just doesn’t feel right,” answered Pratt. It was understandable that he would be nervous. He was a nerd in the truest sense of the term. He grew up on a research station and was highly educated in civilian and marine technology. He even played a small role in the development of the personal phase gates that were being used by the TSA. Some of the guys had a bet going. They were trying to guess whether or not Pratt had ever been laid. I had my doubts.

“What door is it?” I asked. The hallway was still just a line of doors. Each was numbered to designate a different residence. On the wall was a small splatter of what appeared to be blood, but there was no time to investigate.

“Three down on the left.”

Three hatches down was room ‘246’ and as we approached, everyone’s attention fell on the door. I held my breath and eased my grip on the Cx10. My hold on the pistol grip was so tight that my knuckles were aching. Danny didn’t seem worried, though. He was quiet, but he didn’t even look at the door. He kept his eyes straight ahead.

We moved on silently. Enders, Nolan, Druven and Stenler watched our backs again. The path led to a split in all four directions.

“Which way, Danny?” I asked, looking down all three paths. Some of the lights that hung were out and others blinked and sparked.

“Movement…” whispered Pratt nervously. “Lots of movement…” he stammered. He started spinning in circles, pointing the MD everywhere. The motion device began to click wildly. “Sir, we’re in trouble.”

Room ‘246’ opened violently, and a four legged creature darted out from inside. It resembled a sort of dog or wolf, but with talons for feet and greenish, wet flesh. Its eyes glowed red and it’s teeth glinted as twelve flashlights fell on them. Its mouth was dripping red blood onto the floor.

It slithered towards us, but we only stared. None of us had actually seen an alien before. We’d seen them in pictures and on paper targets in the firing range, but nothing could have prepared us for the way it slithered with such agility.

“Shoot it!” shouted Danny suddenly. Loud enough to break us from our trances, but not so loud that he was panicked. I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t helped us shoot that first alien. We were tempted by it. Its red eyes that glowed in the failing hall light were evil, yet compelling. It hissed like a snake, loudly and angrily.

I took down the first creature while the others watched in awe. A long burst from my weapon brought it to a bloody halt about twenty meters away. The shots were muffled by the noises of the hall. Its eyes dimmed, and its stomach ceased to rise and fall. Its forked tongue rolled out of its mouth and lay lazily on the floor. In a fluid motion I ejected the magazine from my gun, allowing it to clatter to the floor, and replaced it with a full one.

The halls were now alive with the sound of claws sliding and digging into steel. Below all of that, the steam pipes whispered in my ears.

finally, some action! Everything is very realistic and i like that. Your story embraces all the senses and that makes it a truely good read. You shld nvr stop man!

“Danny, we have to get to the labs. Which way?”

He looked at me calmly. “That way,” he said, pointing down the darkest, most forbidding path.

“That one? Are you sure that that’s the quickest?”

Nolan grabbed my arm and spun me around, his face was sweaty and his eyes were bloodshot, “How do you know we can trust this guy?” he asked, breathing hot breath onto my visor. It was as if there was steam inside of him. He had a look on his face I can only describe as ‘crazed’.

Danny looked at me when I turned back to him and this time his eyes were warm and caring, deep brown and all seeing. “You have to trust in me. I know the right path. You have to choose whether or not you’ll take it.” I didn’t hesitate even though Shepherd’s words struck me as strange in that particular situation. We moved like a herd: swiftly, trotting down the dark, hissing conduit. Our boots clanked against the metal floor and steam swirled around our feet. I kept Danny at an arms length. I wanted to convince myself that I was protecting him, but deep down, I think he was protecting me.

“Six o’clock!” shouted Enders from the rear, and the popping of gunfire followed. It echoed up and down the hallway. I glanced over my shoulder to see another ‘skulk’, chased up a wall by Enders’ excellent aim. The creature managed to gain some ground on the group, but its wounds caused it to drop from the ceiling and roll to a halt. “Got him,” reported Enders.

The hall began to darken, save for lamps that blinked like strobe lights. It was nearly impossible to decipher what was right and what was wrong. The fog, the darkness and the hissing in my ears were almost impossible to ignore.

“We’ll have to take that elevator to get to the labs,” Danny advised me, his voice piercing the rest of the noise. The elevator came into view around the next bend. “Down five floors.”

The elevator was more of a lift: A flat bed with some rails going down a slightly oversized shaft. Crude elevators such as those were rarely found on civilian ships because when the elevator wasn’t on your floor, you could go right over the rail and down the shaft, but the Genesis was an old vessel. It was just our luck that the lift was on our floor.

“You guys hear that?” I asked over the hissing of the pipes and the clanking of our boots. “We’ve got to cram onto this lift.”

“Once we get to the laboratory floor, we’ll have to reach the computer room which isn’t far,” Danny informed us.

The thirteen of us congregated on the platform and I managed to push Danny to the back wall. We needed him to be safe. There was a control panel on the wall, with a keypad. The ship had over two hundred floors so it wasn’t practical to have a button for every floor. “Danny what floor are we on?”

Danny responded from behind my marines “65!”

I quickly typed in ‘60’ and a klaxon sounded, red lights illuminated the shaft, air gusted from hydraulics from somewhere within the ship, and the lift began a slow descent. Just as the lip of floor 65 reached eye level I could see more red lights, dancing like fireflies in the darkness. More Kharaa.

From a tactical perspective, the lift was one of the worst positions possible. The ‘skulk’ species was highly adapted to falling and navigating vertically. One of the first rules of Haverhill’s ‘Basics of Engaging the Kharaa’ is to avoid CQC (close quarters combat) with them at all costs. But our mission objective overrode any such danger.

“Sir, I don’t think this is such a good idea…” Pratt stammered. I’d managed to ignore the wild chirping sound that the motion detector was making. Chips in our armor stopped his device from reading us, so there were obviously a lot of unidentified blips on the screen. “There’s movement on every floor. Multiple blips, sir. They’re closing in on our position.”

No sooner than when he finished his deadly report, a skulk poked its wolf-like head over the edge of floor 65. It’s eyes burned red from within. It glared at us from above and then, instead of barking like I would have expected, it made a grunt sound like a pig. I had no idea what it meant but more heads appeared.

“Marines,” I said with the most confidence I could muster, “you know what to do. Haverhill says, ‘Engagement protocol is pretty simple…’”

We finished the rest of the well known saying as a team “If it moves, and it isn’t human, put a lot of lead in it.”

more?

that was indeed a good read !

you must continue the story

I think Nolan is letting the stress getting to him. And if u stop writin,
me-> : <-u

Foxtrot, don't you dare stop writing!

Genesis is such a great story. I know that as fanfic writers, eventually we come to a point where we feel very tired. We think that no one appreciates what we does, or that we are too lazy to continue writing.

Don't think that way! Your story is great, definitely worthy of continuing to write. If you are tired, then take a break for a few days. But make a personnal promise with yourself to continue when you are ready.

Ok?

u know fox, after reading your story one more time, i kinda realised that your story was very technical. like tom clancy.

A few members of the team managed a nervous chuckle, even as the red eyes glared from above. The elevator grinded loudly as it lowered down large metal tracks in the walls. I shot a quick glance at Nolan. I didn’t want him to see me watching, but something was seriously off about him. More so than usual.

Nolan was staring directly at Danny. I could just barely see his eyes through the foggy visor of his helmet. “Nolan,” I said “defog your visor, soldier.”

“The defogger is broken,” Nolan said back, tapping the side of his headgear. The glass was supposed to remain at a substantially higher temperature so that no condensation would form. “It hasn’t worked since we got on. Maybe if the TSA could spare a few more bucks we could get better equipment.”

I had no time to respond to Nolan’s comments about the poor TSA funding. Something fell from the floor above us like a sack of bricks, crashing down on top of Stenler, who went down firing. Stray bullets sparked up the wall as Stenler went over backwards. It was a skulk.

Enders was the first to act, dropping the Cx10 he held and diving across the platform, tackling the creature like lineman sacking the quarter back. They rolled to the edge of the lift. My men quickly formed a sloppy protective formation around the edges of the lift while the two wrestled. I grabbed Danny and pulled him next to me.

The skulk writhed and snapped wildly. CQC training took control over Enders almost instantly. He hugged the beast tightly, avoiding both the claws of the skulk and the razor teeth that glared in the light of the elevator shaft. The beast and him were chest to chest, its legs peddled wildly on both sides of Enders. He slid his hand to his knife and in one quick motion, yanked it from the sheath and plunged the blade high into the flank of his opponent. The alien screeched in agony as Enders gutted it alive, raking the blade down the side of its body and spilling a soupy pool of yellow blood and lumpy organs.

I shot a glance back to Stenler who was flat on his back and saw that Druven was already hovering over him. The top of floor 64 came into view beyond the side of the lift and I thought to myself ‘we’re not even halfway there’. I looked back up to floor 65 which was pretty high up, considering that each floor was several meters thick, and I could see skulks stepping into the elevator shaft, scaling the walls effortlessly. About six of them started to slither down towards the lift, saliva dripping from their mouths and onto the platform. They hissed loudly.

Enders recovered from his attack, sheathing his knife, and then quickly moved over to Stenler. I wasn’t sure of the situation at the time, but I heard Enders moan “Oh God…”

“Make sure none of those skulks get too close!” I shouted to the team. I looked at Danny who had an expressionless face “you stay here.” I went over to see Stenler and much to my dismay, he looked pretty bad. The skulk’s extremely deadly talons had punctured the nano armor of Stenler’s torso and from the holes leaked blood, dark red blood that contrasted greatly with his armor. His face was already pale.

Danny came up behind me and I said to him, “I told you to stay by the side,” but he just looked at me.

“Let me see him.”

hey foxtrot, are you dead? pls continue the story!! dun giev u halfway!

More MORE! MOOOOORRRREEE!!!

I stepped aside without protest. Danny stopped over Stenler and kneeled down. I noticed that his clothes were loose fitting when he dropped down to see Stenler. They flowed like robes. I wanted to watch what Danny was doing. It would be a miracle if he could do anything to help. Our body armor wasn’t made for slipping on and off. If something managed to damage the armor seriously enough to harm the user, it was usually assumed that the user would be terminated. Watching the spectacle was not an option, however, because we were surrounded and outnumbered.

Floor 64’s ceiling became visible at the floor of the lift on the same side of the shaft as floor 65. The corridor was in such disarray it was impossible to see through the thick, fluffy mist that filled the hall completely. Within the whiteness, though, I could see eyes watching. The floor was also infected with bacteria commonly associated with Kharaa presence. I looked up and I could see the skulks, clever, careful predators, descending at the same pace as our lift, keeping a distance that would prove a difficult shot. Cx10’s weren’t renowned for their accuracy, only their jam proof, high ROF system and high capacity magazines.

I constantly imagined them as snakelike creatures. Their effortless, totally vertical descent of the shaft reminded me of the way a snake coiled around the branch of a tree, preying on a robin’s nest. Their claws slid into the metal hull of the ship with such ease it boggled the mind. A skulk was of course, the most basic of all Kharaa life forms, but it was beautiful all the same.

Horton took aim at one of them and fired a single shot. It zinged up the shaft and clipped the creature in the hind leg, detaching it from the side of the shaft. It fell like pants down a laundry chute, freefalling and spinning as several Marines put well aimed shots into it on the way down. A brief sprinkle of yellow blood followed the body’s thud against the lift floor. Vikers dropped a dry magazine and replaced it.

Skulks began to fill the shaft above us. They hissed and chattered to one another, dripping saliva along the walls and onto our armor. They were patient, methodical, waiting for a sign of weakness. A glob of skulk slobber hit Nolan in the face and he whined, wiping it on his arm. “Sick.”

There were nervous chuckles.

“How did you do that?” I heard Enders say with great enthusiasm. I rushed back over to Danny, Stenler and Enders to see that the armor on Stenler’s chest was completely mended. Not only that, but the color had returned to his face. Danny, our shepherd, stood up and outstretched a hand for the fallen soldier. His eyes shot open, wide and alert, and without hesitation he took Danny’s hand and rose from the dead it seemed. Ender’s repeated, “How the hell did you just do that?”

Danny never appeared to have any intention of answering the question, but he tilted his face upward. The skulks regarded us with savage snarls. “The devil himself,” Danny observed and we all looked up as well. I could see what he was referring to. Standing at the edge of floor 65 far above us loomed a creature so large it was a wonder that it could move through the narrow conduits of the Genesis. It had a dark, muscle bound, elephant like body. The Onos knew we were staring at it, and a deep growl rumbled in its throat.

“Oh jeez,” sighed Pratt, almost comically. We were horribly unprepared to do battle with the most advanced of the Kharaa species. Cx10 ammunition stood almost no chance against the thick hide of an onos. I thanked God that he was too far to catch us.

“Danny, where are there stairs that lead between the floors?” I asked. The onos turned away and disappeared.

“Pretty far away,” he said simply.

“Are we going to run into that thing?” asked Nolan nervously. He angrily shoved a finger underneath his visor to wipe away condensation.

“I don’t know.”

Finally! A new addition. there is so much mystery surrounding the characters. i really wanna know more about them. especially danny.

Pratt’s motion detector was clicking like a time bomb as it had been for the majority of the mission. He clung to it with a sweaty hand, pistol help limply in the other. He’d much rather monitor tiny dots on a screen then shoot at swift, dangerous Kharaa.

“Sir why are they just following us down? They’ve got us outnumbered ten to one,” Pratt observed obnoxiously. He didn’t sound as worried as he could have been. In fact, he sounded like he’d rather give up and give in than continue fighting.

“I have no idea what they’re up to. Maybe we’re not posing a threat to their hive, so they’re just watching us…” I suggested but there was no basis for these predictions. Kharaa attack patterns had yet to be thoroughly documented or diagramed, not even by Haverhill. There was no doubt that even the skulk was a brilliant creature. They hand uncanny coordination, agility and strength. They understood what a firearm was, avoiding the line of sight of a marine whenever possible. It seemed that if they’d been blessed with opposable thumbs, skulks would be as capable as humans.

Floor 60 finally arrived after about ten more minutes of waiting. The lift slowed and the whoosh of air filling hydraulic systems echoed inside the shaft. My men looked to me and I said simply “Let’s move out,” and that’s what we did. Keeping an eye on the alien hounds, we slipped out of the shaft and into floor 60. Stenler moved as if nothing had happened to him and I wanted to ask him if he felt alright, but I was more concerned about Nolan. He was wiping his visor angrily.

“I can’t see anything, sir,” he grumbled, “I’m practically blind.”

Floor 60 was like no other floor that we’d passed on the way down. The hall that led into the ship was lit with a soft blue light from recessed bulbs in the ceiling and floor. The metal was slick with moisture, shining in the azure light like ice. It was quiet.

“This is… really nice actually,” said Knoll, peering down the long, empty hallway.

“I’m starved,” said Rob. He was a healthy eater. I wasn’t surprised it was the first thing he’d said since insertion.

“No kidding,” agreed Horton.

Danny walked down the hall without a word and I followed him without protesting. He had no fear for the aliens, and for a soldier, I would have thought it was reckless or stupid, but Danny seemed to know what he was doing. His clothes flowed like robes. “There should be food in here,” he said simply, entering a room on the right of the hall.

My men looked at me for approval and I said “I guess we’re gonna stop for a bite.”

It was a small cafeteria. Probably used to feed the personnel strictly assigned to that area of the ship. It was dry inside, the lighting was harsher than in the hall, white fluorescent bulbs burned brightly. Sterile counter tops and cupboards lined the walls and in the center of the room were four tables.

“Everyone take a seat,” Danny said, turning to us as we stood in the doorway. “I know where all of the food is.”

I led everyone to the nearest table, a long, plain, plastic slab with enough chairs around it for all of us. I sat near one end, and left the seat at the head of the table open for Danny to join us. Nolan sat at the opposite end.

Danny came over shortly with a cart full of MRE suppers and tossed them onto the table. Rob snatched a vacuum sealed pouch and turned it over in his hands, then looked at Danny and said “Um, sir, this isn’t what I ordered.”

The men, including myself, burst into laughter. Danny laughed too. We knew we were nearing the end of a long journey and it was a relief to sit down together, despite the apparent danger around us, and simply enjoy a meal.

awesomeness so far, extending the length of each post really helped with the story. Just be sure to stay with it, and when your finally done combine all your posts into one big complete story post

I like your character development, keep it up.

did foxtrot die or something?

We greedily devoured our protein-enriched MREs. If we hadn’t eaten, our suits would have kept our bodies going with sugars and carbohydrates injected directly into our bloodstream, but going too long on artificial stimulants such as those could be harmful to a marine. Several men in my training group had suffered the sickness known as 'overdrive' where a soldier will develop a dependency on the stimulants. The same danger existed in catalyst packs.

Enders sighed loudly, mentioning the onos that had been only a few floors above us, watching from a distance. “If we run into that thing, will we be able to stop it?”
“It would be impossible,” Nolan assured us all. You could always count on Nolan to be positive about things. “The only way to avoid it would be to get into tight places. Places where it couldn’t fit.”

Danny forked a piece of meat and plucked it into his mouth. He had no interest in the conversation about a powerful beast that could easily impale us all in a matter of moments. “So Danny, how’d you manage to get trapped in that escape pod?” I asked. All other conversation ceased immediately.

Danny looked out over all of us, twelve soldiers of a new army, and finished chewing a chunk of beef. There was a single, square metal ventilation conduit that ran parallel to the ceiling and went from one end of the cafeteria to the other. The sound of alien claws, the distinct click of curved talons against steel, echoed through it. Kharaa were coming.

“Kharaa infection was discovered a week ago,” Danny said, rising from his chair. “I was taken there.”

FIINALLY! you're back!!!!! keep writing! keep writing!

your chapter was short and enjoyable. quite descriptive. and finally, we ca find out more about Danny.

I didn’t understand his reply at all because it was cryptic like always, elusive and teasing. Why did he have to be taken? Why didn’t he go there himself? Why didn’t he ESCAPE in the escape pod? These questions quickly became overshadowed by the impeding skulks, surging through the vent like a hot draft of furnace air. The conduit that hung above our dining table began to tremble visibly.

I stood up quickly, my chair tipped and clattered to the floor. It was an accident but it created a sense of urgency about my men. They stood quickly as well, gathering their equipment and shoveling one last piece of food into their mouths. “Let’s move out,” I said, grabbing my Cx10 from the table and hurrying out. I moved with less-than-sure footing into the soft blue hallway, in such a hurry that I almost slipped and fell on the slick metal floor. I’d forgotten how cold it was on that floor, condensing the moisture that hung in the air. “Careful, it’s slippery,” I remarked after grasping a pipe to regain my balance.

Pratt’s device began it’s ticking again, as if it was warning us that time was running out, or perhaps, that our time had come. Sometimes listened to that ticking and thought that it was my own heart, pounding in my ears. “The computer labs are not far,” Danny explained, taking his usual position in the middle of our team. “We’ll have to make our way through some laboratories and some medical sectors. Then we’ll be in the computer core area.”

Danny’s mysterious nature and predicament never left my mind. He was the only survivor that we’d come across on our voyage through the station. He was also completely unafraid of any species we encountered. He had somehow healed Stenler after the skulk attack on the lift. Being with him seemed to keep all of the Kharaa from attacking us. What I knew about him were just pieces, few pieces to an enormous puzzle.

All of the halls that we passed glowed soft and blue, their primary lighting had been deactivated in favor of low power emergency lights. Cold air drifted along them, passing over the metal surfaces that glistened like diamonds in our flashlights, beads of water swelled above flat metal surfaces. I noticed that I couldn’t hear Pratt’s device anymore. It was a good sign.

“These are the laboratories coming up. There are a lot of testing and experimentation areas up ahead, but I suggest that we stay on course,” said Danny. “The experiments conducted in here are most likely related to the computer data that you are searching for.”

We kept moving in a tight, practiced formation, but I kept the dialogue going. “What kind of experiments are we talking about? Weapons?”

“No,” replied Danny flatly.

We rounded a corner and the hall opened up into a large, round plaza. It was a large court of sorts, with benches arranged in groups and tables, surrounded by a giant ring of long windows that were occasionally interrupted by metal doors. The long floor-to-ceiling windows glowed blue from within. Everything was glowing blue. “So this is where we were learning stuff about them, huh?” asked Druven. The squad broke formation but I didn’t protest. I was curious as well.

I went over to one of the long windows and peered into a room. There was a plump alien lying belly up on a white, plastic table. It was still alive, I could see, from its chest that slowly rose and fell. It was restrained with straps and a tube was threaded into the creature’s mouth. It had slick brown flesh and red tentacle like feelers that protruded from its mouth. It was a gorge.

“Sir, you’d better come and see this!” cried Nolan from across the plaza. I left my window and made my way across the deserted plaza. The tables had half-finished cups of coffee, notes, datasheets, and other items that didn’t jump out as particularly important. Some other soldiers reached Nolan’s window first and turned away, groaning with disgust. “You’re not going to believe this,” Nolan warned.

He was right. For the longest time I didn’t believe the atrocity I saw through the glass. There was a man lying on the floor, naked and covered in dry blood. One of his hands was strapped to the table, so he hung from it awkwardly. He had black hair and rough-looking skin, greenish patches of fleshy growth spotted his chest and legs. His eyes were vacant but they were red, not blue or brown or the color of human eyes. They were red. His other hand was not present, and at first glance, it looked like maybe it had been severed. As I stared at the appendage long enough, I came to realize it was not a bone protruding from his wrist, but a talon. The man was half Fade.

Everyone turned to Danny, who was seated in the middle of the plaza, staring right back. The blue light reflected on his soft face. “I suppose you want an explanation,” he started but he was cut off.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?!” shouted Nolan, he began to approach Danny and pointed his Cx10 at him.

“Yes, I knew about it,” Nolan started but I grabbed his arm and stopped him from going any closer.

“That’s enough,” I said. “Danny is going to tell us what the hell is going on here. It’s time you gave us some answers, friend.”

It was like story time in preschool when Danny began to explain what was going on aboard the Genesis. Danny sat at a table alone, whilst my men and I surrounded him, an audience to his tale, on adjoining benches.

“The Genesis was meant to be a research vessel and was privately funded by the world’s largest mining company at the time, IronCore. A station like this obviously doesn’t come cheap, but they developed it on a preconceived notion that money spent on it would return to them exponentially.” Danny ran a hand through his hair and I could see that he was picking and choosing his words. I bet Nolan could see it too. “IronCore wanted to take a bite out of their competition. Corporate sabotage isn’t a new concept. Sin isn’t a new concept, deception etcetera and so on. These are the things that all of this boils down to.”

In the distance, the vessel shuttered, metal creaked and groaned. It was common for a ship of that size to warp slightly and bend, like an old house. Rob had managed to wedge a vacuum-sealed bag of applesauce under some of his armor. Since we seemed to be on hiatus, he jabbed a hole in it and began to work on sucking out the contents.

“The Genesis reached this point in space 20 years ago. At that point, their direction of study and their possible results were unclear. The ship was provided with a dangerous bacteria sample of unknown origin, supplied by the company headquarters. They were instructed to use this bacteria to develop a chemical agent that could be used to sabotage the mining operations of competing corporations. It took the science team seven years to develop a saboteur.”

“I don’t believe this,” started Doc Druven, “Do you mean to tell me that this is the birthplace of the Kharaa?”

“Yes.”

AMAZING....

never expected this. can't wait to find out what role Danny plays. and fade/human hybrid.

your chapter is excellent. cant offer any constructive critisism.

I shut out the millions of questions that cascaded into my mind and forced myself to listen further. I let out a loud sigh, and urged, “Continue, Danny.”

“The Sanjii was the first station that was purposefully infected by the team here, and it was also the last station to be purposefully infected,” Danny explained. He had no emotion and conveyed no regret about being part of the sinister deeds that took place, and I didn’t understand why. “After Sanjii, every resulting infection was a result of the bacteria’s ability to survive, adapt, and resurface after evading quarantine methods used by the military. The first Hive was developed here. The first skulk was spawned here. Oni, Fades, Gorges and Lerks were all developed in the labs here on the Genesis.”

“How?” Nolan imposed. He had remained standing.

“The sample that the scientists were provided was mysterious in nature and of unknown origin. The team quickly discovered that it was highly able to adapt and survive, and constantly killed off the weakest traits of the bacteria and allowed it to rebuild, constantly making it stronger and faster. This all started of course, under a microscope, until the cultures began to take over the lab areas and had to be moved into larger, designated zones. A sample was allowed to regenerate over night only one year into development and by morning, the entire table was covered in growth.”

“It was a nightmare,” Knoll speculated.

“How do you know all of this? I thought you said you were part of the maintenance crew,” Nolan accused, and he was right. The stories didn’t match up. Danny, however, ignored the question.

“The growth began to flower. The blossoms were a variety of colors, petals that contained several shades and hues blooming from each bud. They were able to pollinate themselves, containing both male and female characteristics.” Danny rubbed his chin, and then continued, “The first hive developed after five years of bacteria being destroyed and allowed to strengthen and evolve. Most of its evolution took place through the process of natural selection, where the strongest parts of the bacteria would pickup where the weak had died.”

“They maintained control over the bacteria, though?” I asked. It was only after seven years that the hive had developed fully. That meant that the humans and the Kharaa coexisted for thirteen years.

“Even after the hive produced all of its species, they continued to destroy them and were able to contain them with careful measures, but the evolution ceased. The scientists had exhausted all creative ways of killing the creatures off, and reached a point where the bacteria that regenerated was basically the same as the last. The scientists sent word that the saboteur was ready and it was deployed on Sanjii. It was of course, an overwhelming success. The entire station was shut down, their workers were evacuated, Sanjii was disabled. This of course, was only the beginning, however.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, remembering that ‘Six Days in Sanjii’ had come out over ten years ago. “So the bacteria spread easily without careful quarantine?”

“Very easily. IronCore was terrified and disabled the Genesis nine years ago, abandoning all staff and personnel to die out here, and with it, evidence of the Kharaa’s origin.”

“So what happened? How come there are human experiments? Why were we sent on this mission?” asked Nolan.

“Food began to run out and there was no hope in ever returning home for the people aboard this vessel. So, they turned back to their experiments. They wanted to develop a way to keep themselves, or the truth alive. Kharaa are able to live without food or water, their bacteria is fed through many means and exchanged through many as well. The scientists knew that the Kharaa would outlive them, and so, they went to work developing human sperm into a Kharaa-human hybrid, using the hive on this ship.”

I felt relived somewhat, to know that the man we’d seen, strapped to the table, was not a product of sinister research, but an attempt to carry on life aboard the Genesis. My faith in our mission objective increased substantially as well. The information that was contained on the logs on the ship would probably provide enough information to completely eradicate the Kharaa bacteria’s existence. I knew what Danny was going to say next because it was the only thing that made total sense and explained everything that had happened on the mission concerning him. The fact that I saw it coming didn't make it any easier to accept.

“I am the second son of the Kharaa hive.” said Danny. My men were silent.

My God!
This story is awesome!!

I'm saving this all to my desktop!

wow. so intrigueing. so is danny the good guy or the bad guy? or is he neutral?

and this is the part where the onos barges in.

Ahh! We have to keep this bumped!
You're not escaping so easily Foxtrot!
Write the rest of the story or I'm sending an Onos to your house!

Danny word’s hit me hard. They hit me so hard that at first, I didn’t feel the vibrations beneath the soles of my combat boots. I wasn’t the first to notice. Nolan whirled to face an entrance to the plaza and screamed “Onos!” at the top of his lungs. LMG’s rose and swiveled in the direction of the threat.

“I can control them. Don’t shoot,” warned Danny, who remained seated in the center of the circle. My men hesitated.

The Onos halted in one of the many thresholds large enough to accommodate it. It stood proudly, three horns gleaming in the soft blue light. The mass of the Onos’ flank reflected a purple-brown color: the red and green flesh reflecting differently through the azure filter. Swarming around the monster’s tree-trunk legs was a legion of skulks, snapping their jaws, slithering along the floor and ceiling in constant motion as if the beast wore them as clothes.

“He’d better stop them,” said Pratt, turning off the motion detector, “I’ve never seen so much movement.”

“Danny, take us to the computer lab. Now.”

The Onos followed us, an enormous devil from the very depths of hell, but Danny protected us once again. The Devil’s minions, the skulks, barked like hounds and hissed like snakes, leaping over one another with their red eyes glowing, keeping near their horned master. Danny held them at bay somehow but I didn’t ask how, for fear that I might disturb his concentration.

The medical bays that Danny had prophesized arrived quickly. Halls that would have been illuminated with harsh fluorescence were instead, glowing soft sapphire, the same as the rest of the level. We moved at a swift pace, boots hitting quietly against thick metal flooring.

“Dan, how’d the Kharaa take over the ship? How come there aren’t a bunch of human look-a-likes instead of just you?”

It was Nolan pushing for answers again. I allowed it to happen because of my own curiosity.

“When I was created, the scientists became divided. Some believed what they were doing was too unnatural, creating new human life forms. Some of them were distraught after the first son’s birth, who was disfigured and violent. Many were angry, obviously, that they’d been left to rot in outer space and thought that any further research that was performed aboard the ship was liable to capture by the government and would be exploited. Research concerning my creation was what worried them the most.”

The medical sector ended and the corridor narrowed severely, Danny stopped but the Kharaa did not. Enders, Knoll and I stood by Danny for a second or two longer, but the skulks came within inches of our legs, expelling burning hot breath over us. Nolan didn’t bother to look back. He ran ahead into the computer lab, our main objective apparently losing all interest in Danny.

“Danny, come on!” I urged him, reaching for him with an empty, gloved hand. We were only a matter of meters apart, but it might as well have been light-years. A skulk slithered between us and snapped angrily at my outstretched arm, flinging saliva into the air. “Danny what is going on?”

Yes! I knew keeping this alive was a good idea!

Now quick, post more before I die of suspense!

foxtrot is a master of suspense, his chapters always having a cliffhanger ending. nice piece anyway. however, i feel that atmosphere is lacking in this chapter.

He looked at me with his coffee bean eyes, there was not sadness in them, but there was love. “I can’t come with you,” He said reluctantly. He didn’t reach for my hand.

“I don’t understand,” I said, pathetically emotional in front of all of my men, but I felt that we owed this man our lives. We did. He would be the reason that we’d escape from the Genesis and see our families again.

“Thomas,” he said. I hadn’t been referred to by my first name in so long it sounded strange. “If I came with you, you know what would happen. I would be exploited.”

The skulk between us growled like a dog, baring razor teeth that glistened in the light. The Onos grunted and shook its horned-head, skulks climbed over the beast’s body.

“Sir, we’re almost there, lets go,” Knoll advised. He was generally level headed. “I want to go home.”

The word ‘home’ echoed in my mind for a moment but then the blue, calm light of the ship switched to threatening, pulsating red lights. Klaxons wailed and shrieked and steam burst from every crevice and connection in a deafening explosion of heat and moisture. The skulks scattered, the Onos reared and Danny spun to face it, spreading his arms like wings. The beast came down, the metal floored groaned beneath the weight and a hand pulled me backwards toward the computer lab away from Danny and the monster.

A woman’s prerecorded voice presided over the pandemonium, stating calmly, “Self-Destruct sequence automatically initiated. Unauthorized removal of classified information detected. The Genesis will self-destruct in 30 minutes.”

I fought against the hands pulling me, the hands of my men, who were faithful to the mission and to saving my life. I didn’t want to leave Danny and I screamed to him, “Danny, we can protect you!” But that was a lie. There would be no saving him.

He turned to me from the other end of the hall and there was steam rising and swirling around him, red lights flashing, sirens wailing, but somehow I heard him say “There’s no other way” just before the Onos’ horn tore into him, exiting from his chest in an explosion of yellow blood.

I screamed but I was overpowered by the sounds around me and the hands that pulled me into the computer lab. Enders punched the keypad and closed the hatch on the Onos, who had begun to try to squeeze down the hallway that was much too thin, wearing Danny like a trophy who hung limp and lifeless. “He’s GONE!” Pratt screamed into my face as I lay on the floor in astonishment. I thought he was talking about Danny but then I realized he was talking about Nolan.

the atmosphere in this one was better. you wrote the part about Danny dying very well and I felt really sad after reading it.

and i HATE nolan. keep up the gd work

“Sir, we’ve got to get out of here!” Knoll shouted, reaching his hand through the steam and down to me. I was laying flat on my back and I could feel the cold metal of the ship against my neck. I could feel the ship shudder somewhere within. Knoll gave me much needed assistance in getting back on my feet and I quickly reorganized myself.

“Where did he go?” I shouted back to Knoll. The klaxons that wailed made verbal communication almost impossible. The computer lab was an enormous data center, aglow with computer monitors and blinking lights. Since Nolan had apparently taken the data, the only thing left to do was escape. My men were ready to leave through a doorway at the opposite end of the room, looking my way for the order. The ship was readying itself for self-destruction.

“I don’t know,” yelled Knoll in reply. We made our way between the computer terminals, weaving through the chairs and tables. Above the doorway by which my squad waited blinked a holographic message that read “To Escape Pods”.

“25 minutes until self destruct” stated the synthesized female voice over the ship’s speakers.

“Sir!” Pratt cried urgently, “what are we going to do?!” He had faced more aliens that day than most would encounter in a lifetime, but for some reason, he seemed more afraid of going down with the ship than being torn apart by Kharaa jaws. Maybe that wasn’t it at all. Maybe it was because Danny was gone.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” I shouted back, shoving men into the hall in the right direction. Without question they started moving. I was in the middle of the group somewhere, Knoll was in the rear, I had no idea who was up front. The steam that gushed from the ship’s veins like blood filled the hallway and reduced the visibility drastically.

“Sir!” someone shouted from the front. Everyone kept moving but heads turned back to me through the mist. Suddenly everyone was stacking up and I almost fell over.

I made my way to the front and saw that there was a hatch that read “Escape Pod Bay”. I thumbed in an override and was awarded with only a buzzer sound, barely audible over the klaxons, indicating that my code was incorrect. Nolan had changed the code.

“20 minutes until self destruct.”

“Kharaa!!” someone screamed from the back of the line. An LMG popped in the fog and others followed. Soldiers backed against me. I backed against the sealed doorway. The gunfire ceased and then came the message: “Hostile down!”

Suddenly the door we were smashed against opened, spilling my men and myself onto the floor of the escape pod bay. I stood up quickly. The bay was a long corridor, lined with fluorescent bulbs along the ceiling. Along both walls were bulges with a door on each of them. Each led to an escape pod and they were capable of sustaining up to ten people. I whirled back to the door and pulled my men in, making sure all ten of them were inside, and then depressed the ‘close’ button. As soon as the hatch shut completely the klaxons became a distant echo. Half of my men laid on the floor in silence; the rest regained their footing and took deep breaths. Everyone was breathing heavily and loudly.

“Get in a pod,” came a familiar voice over the bay’s speakers. “I can’t stop the self destruct.”

The shattering of the brief silence we shared in the bay was Danny. His voice echoed up and down the pod corridor.

“Danny!? I thought you…” I shouted to the ceiling. I spun in circles like an idiot as I said it, as if I expected to see him watching over us from above.

“The bacterium recycled me, Tom,” he reassured me. His voice was warm. Enders ran over to the nearest pod and he opened the hatch. “You must go now,” said Danny.

Awesome!

Must... see... last... part!!

hooray! Danny's alive! although not for long

the tension created was great. the chapter moved at a face-pace as you intended it too. and you keep us guessing where is Nolan. how can any1 not love your work?

There was no time to try and understand. The ship spoke to us again, “15 minutes remaining until self-destruct,” and I ushered my men into the pod that Enders had opened. Even though there were 11 of us, which exceeded the pod’s limit by one person, I didn’t think it would be a problem. I took one last look down the long corridor before I climbed into the pod and noticed something lying in the middle of the floor several pods away.

“Get the pod ready,” I shouted into the cramped interior and then I went over to what I had seen. It was the data disk that Nolan had taken. There was blood nearby. I knelt down to retrieve the diskette but the familiar click of an LMG being cocked forced me to freeze.

I knew who it was and I rose slowly from my knees. From my right came Nolan, covered in his own blood. He had been hiding between two of the pod bulges. “That’s mine,” he said, poking his cx-10 at me.

“Nolan what are you doing?” I asked. We’d had our differences of course, but nothing to warrant such bizarre actions. Our mission was almost complete and all I wanted to do was go home.

“I’m getting paid by IronCore, Tom,” he answered, snatching the disk from the ground and waving it in front of me, “and this data is going to make me rich. IronCore couldn’t allow the government to find out the truth… how far the Kharaa research has really progressed aboard this ship, so I’m not going to allow that. I’m going to take the data straight to IronCore and they can do what ever the hell they want with it, as long as I get my money.”

“You were just going to let us go down with the ship?” I asked accusingly.

Stenler came out from the escape pod my team had managed to cram inside of. At first he said “Sir?” but as soon as he saw Nolan, shouted “What the hell?”

Nolan dropped the disk and quickly drew his pistol, aiming it at Stenler while he aimed the cx-10 LMG at myself. “Don’t move,” he warned, wielding both weapons. He began to back up to an escape pod, kicking the keypad and opening the door without taking his eyes off of us. I expected no less from a highly trained marine like himself.

Far off at the opposite end of hangar a set of double doors opened and something passed through the threshold. An enormous creature roaring loudly as it galloped down the length of the corridor. “Nolan!” Stenler shouted, pointing behind him. Nolan had probably felt the vibrations of the beast because he spun to see the Onos bare down on him, dip its magnificent head, and impale him without effort.

I leaped to the left, away from our escape pod without any other choice as the beast charged like a train down the aisle. From my position on the ground I could see that it had not crushed the disk and I scrambled across the floor, retrieving it. Meanwhile the squad had entirely exited the escape pod, staring in disbelief as the Onos turned to face me.

Nolan was hanging from the monster’s largest horn as Danny had. It shook the corpse free and then it regarded me with extreme interest, moving forward slowly, exhaling loudly with every step. The creature combined the aspects of an elephant and a rhinoceros, possessing an enormous tank of a body with three great horns protruding from a massive, flat face made of bone several inches thick.

The blood of both Danny and Nolan were splattered across the magnificent creature’s face. Beneath the smears of red and yellow glowed the monster’s eyes, glowing crimson as if a furnace burned from within it. My squad opened fire into the hulk’s exposed flank and it grunted, moving towards me with increasing speed.

“Ten minutes remaining until self destruct.”

I raised my cx-10 and unloaded what I could into the leg regions of the impending beast, but in no time it was upon me. The beast’s horn sliced through the air missing me by mere inches as I leaped backwards, firing what remained in the magazine helplessly. With savage strength and unpredictable agility, the Onos swept the horn back, knocking the weapon from my hand. With no other option I flung myself onto the broad face of the creature, grasping onto the two upper horns like handlebars.

what happened??!?!!? TELL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEee

wow. just wow. now i know why Nolan has been acting the way he did. great peice of work. especially liked the end. looks like a final faceoff to me. the time elapsed might have been a bit too fast though.

OMG this is amazing more more mmoooooooooooooooooore!