Dude...how long has he been down there. Even the signs are mocking him. I'd love to work somewhere where the signs were that "useful." And its fitting too. All of that human excrement and radioactive lab waste must go there to be "recycled." <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> Joy.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Even the signs are mocking him.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> hehehe, true. That's the dark humour I put in the story, and you definatly got the meaning.
The roaring got louder and louder. Mark crept up to the table, which was covering him from a clean view. Looking over, he saw something which resembled a tank. It was an Onos. He swiflty hid under the table, hoping that it didn't find him. He only had his knife and napalm-launcher. He looked at his HUD's ammo display. 75% of fuel left. It was enought to kill that thin. According to Intel, 50% of fuel was needed to kill one Onos. Holding tight the napalm-launcher with both of his hands, he took 5 deep breaths and went to his suicidal attack.
The Onos was looking around, too see if there was anything odd. The beast looked away from Mark's direction, and just then, he jumped behind one of the pillars. The Onos heard Mark falling to the metal floor, causing a tremendous sound. Moving cautiusly, the alien went towards the pillar. Mark saw the refelection of the Kharaa from a piece of broken glass, getting closer and closer. When he was in range of the flame, he springed out, getting the Onos by suprise, and squized the triger. Flames flew out of the nozle, and caused the Onos to back away. It gave him some direct hit, but not even close enough to seriously hurt him. Seeing that his attack failed, Mark flew to another pillar. This time, the Onos saw him and began to run for an attack. 70%. Once again, flames went towards the Onos and Mark hid again. He repeated this until the ammo was of 50%. He then decided to fly in circles, not fearing the beast anymore. he pulled the trigger once again, but something was wrong. Nothing was comming out. The Onos charged his horn at Mark, flunging him to a wall.
Good thing he had this armour on, or elese he would be dead. Looking up, he saw the thing sprinting towards him, ready to make a kill. He managed to turn on his jet pack just in time, and managed to excape the horns. Those horns made a huge damage, causing the metal wall to be smashed. Mark flew up high and landed on a pipe. He hit his HUD with his hand and saw that there was a problem. The ammo displayed changed to 0%, showing that the ammo was actually depleated. His skulk excape caused a malfunction on the HUDs CPU. Looking down, he saw the Onos trying to reach him. Just like a dog would do if it chased a cat who climbed a tree. Mark threw his napalm-launcher at him, and his weapon was crushed. "****, now I only have a knife" he said to himself. If the beast was left alive, backup would come and Mark would be killed. If he tried to kill the Onos, he would definatly die. Imagine, killing a lightly damaged Onos with a knife. The only honourable thing to do was to kill the beast.
He went down and began slashing his knife, hoping he would hit a major artery, or something. The Onos, once again swinged his horn, and once again Mark flew away. Losing the grip of the knife, his only weapon was lost. Banging against a wall, and falling down to the floor, Mark began to bleed. His right shoulder was broken and bleeding. With great difficulty, Mark managed to sit against the wall. He looked at the Onos, right between his eyes. It was like he was staring at the angel of death, staring at his destiny. He knew nothing could be done. He had failed, and all was lost. Earth would fall, and so would the TSA. Humanity was doomed. He closed his eyes, and teers began to appear. He just sited their, waiting for the inevitable.
"Fire" shouted a voice "Fire at will, my friends. Vive La Resistance". A sound of several HMGs firing suddenly appeared. Mark opened his eyes. It was blurry, but he could see it. The skin of the Onos being covered with holes. The beast gave a huge roar, and looked upwards. Blood began to spirt, and the beast fell dead. Mark's eyelid was heavy. He closed his eyes. A distant voice came to him "Jaques, take him. We must get back to our base before more Kharaas appears. That Onos made a hell of a noise.". And then, he passed out completly.
<!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->. Yay! It's not a story about the lone rambo killing everything within a 5 mile radius.
As his eyelids opened, a strong light came, and hurted his eyes. It took some time for the eyes to get used to the light, but once it did he began to see that he was in a warehouse. All around him were hundreds of boxes, some writen 'ammo' on it, some 'weapons', others 'food'. There were few people walking inside, 10 maybe, and they all were wearing full TSA armour. "Ah, good. You woke up". A man came down some stairs which were next to Mark. He was a tall man, with dark hair and eyes. He had a scar on his left cheek, and was wearing a TSA General's armour. "<i>Bonjour</i> soldier. You finally woke up. Hope that our medicine didn't affect your organisms, you gave us quite a scare. Now would you please be so kind to tell me your name and rank?" he asked "M... Mark Johnson, Sargent" he replied, in a frightened way. "Who are you? And what is all this?" "Ah, yes. Pardon me for being rude. My name is Pierre Anquier, General 2nd Class." he said "And for your second question, this is all that's left of the 23rd Heavy Brigade. You see, after Janus was taken over, we were sent to re-take the facility. So, me and my men came here, hoping that we would accomplish the mission succesfuly.". His eyes darkened, as though he was recalling something dreadfull "I had over 100 men under my command, but now we are less than 15. The Station was completly overtaken. It was a suprise to us that this huge place could be infested in such a short time. Our troops were completly decimated from an Onos offensive. The few of us that managed to survive, hid down here in the sewers, hoping that soon we would be rescued. By then, we were 30. We found this location for us to settle a base. There is no access to nano-technology here, apart from our armour. This proved to be a terrible thing, but it had an advantage. The bacterium could not reach here, so the Kharaa can't find us." He then looked to Mark, in a way which seemed that he was hoping for a miracel from him. "When we saw you, we thought that you were our rescue. We saved you, now we hope for you and your men to save us" he gave a smile.
Your men? Was he expecting Mark to have a whole fleet behind him? Mark didn't blame him for such high hopes. He didn't know how to tell him that it was a lone mission this one, that he was sent to destroy the place. After thinking on how to respond to the General, he told him all the story. That he was alone, that he was supposed to destroy the place and that he only had an X-Wing, meaning that there was no excape for everyone. The General gave a cry, and his face full of hope turned into a face full of tears. Anquier told a soldier to call all the men together, as he had an anouncment to make. He told all of his men about Mark's mission, that there was no excape for them and that they would all die. Mark felt disapointed about this, but the General's last phrase came to be a suprise "We, Frontiersman have promised to protect and serve Earth's Republic. If it is to it's best interece, we shall die for it. We shall die for the Republic! We shall help this men to finish his mission". All of the men, who were with a sour face, suddenly became full of bravery and courage. They all lifted their weapons and hands, shouting words of approval. Mark became content, that he would now have help from others, but he also felt disapointed, that they would all die.
The General welded Mark's damaged armour, and gave him an HMG, a knife and a pistol. These were the resistance, or La Resistance's, best weapons. He took his equipment, which were removed from him so he could be healed, and proceded to a crate. There, he stocked himself with ammo, and readied his gun. The General and his men would accompany him, so they all did the same and stocked themself with ammo. A solier came running to Mark, and as he removed his HUD he showed to be a boy, not more than 16 years of age. "Sir, let me say it's an honour to meet such a brave soul. Accepting a mission to destroy a infested Station, and all alone, involves a great amount of courage" said the boy, in a Russian accent. If he only knew that he was sent here as a convict....
Anquier pressed a button which was against the wall, and a door opened. Him, Mark and the rest of the man slowly steped out of the wharehouse. They entered into the Sewage Facility.
Once again, sorry about this chapter. I'v got tons of books to read before school starts and I'v been EXTREMELY busy.
The seweage corridors had a foul stench, only comparable by the one found at S.H.I.T. You could hear the flow of the water, and the marines moving cautiously down those long corridors. The water and the walls were in a colour which seemed like a brownish greed, resembling a mucus. Once in a while, a chuckle could be heard, and the sound echoed down the oblivious darkness. They would turn around, halt for a few minutes, in defensive position, and carried on. They reached the end of the sewer, without much trouble. A hatch layed before them. A sealed hatch. "Boy, come here and weld this door" shouted the General. The Russian boy came running, holding a welder. "Yes sir!" he shouted, and began to weld the door. When he was done, he kicked it down and the marines entered.
They were at the Water Purification Centre. There was a huge pool right at the middle of the room. Several walkways went over the pool, and there was this one, single silo. What was inside it was a mystery. "You 5, go there" whispered the General, pointing out some crates. "You 5, there" he said, pointing out the walkway, over them. "The rest, spread out. Mark, Dimitri and me will go to the central, next to the silo. Move out people.". They all folowed the General's orders. Swiftly following him, Mark proceded to the central. It was on a hovering platform, so they flew on to it. Inside, there were corpses around, with the surroundings painted with the ruby redness of blood. The smell was terrible, the one that only "Odd" said the General "the Kharaa would normally eat them, unless...."
He jumped to the window, and looked down. The marines were all in defensive position, but were being surrounded by aliens, without them noticing. "GE...." Anquier began to shout, but was soon silenced by Mark. "Be quiet" he whispered "If you shout, they will know we are here, and then we will fail the mission. You don't want that, do you?" He knew the General was a true patriot, and would give the life of his family for Earth's Republic. All they could do was watch, the massacre.
Some skulks were creeping up the cealling, looking down at the marines on the walkway. Fades were comming from the back of the marines, and Onos were comming from behind the silo. Lerks were on top of the silo. It was as though time froze for those few seconds. Anquier wanted to warn them, but that would compromise the mission. Dimitri was with an awful amount of fear, becoming white. Mark, was the odd man out. His face seemed unemotional, as though he didn't care that human lives were being taken away.
The skulks were the first to perform the attack. One of them leaped right on top of a marine and bit his head off. The marines on the walkway began firing, but were soon anihilated by an endless skulk rush. The marines down at the bottom also retaliated, but were caught with suprise from acid rockets and Onos charging. Not mentioning the Lerks giving covver from the top of the silo. The battle didn't last 5 minutes, and by the end, all the marines were killed. Some of the aliens began to devour the skinless humans right on the spot, others were heading to the room were they were found. That was the storage room for human flesh. "Quick" whispered Mark, who had found an entrance leading to the cealling "enter here". All the three of them followed him.
When on the cealling, they began to look for the pipe which would lead to the Cooling Facility, were they would find the Cooling Agent, and reach the hive. They found it, but to get to the pipe they had to pass over the silo, by some small water pipes passing over it. Using the jet pack would cause too much noise. As they moved over the silo, and looked downwards, they saw it. A second hive inside it. That explained were the high concentration of Kharaa. As they swinged inside an opening on the pipe which would lead them to the Cooling Facility, the aliens continued with their diabolic feast. Now, the party went from 30 marines, to a mere 3.
So, that is how you get rid of the spares. Impressive to say the least...<!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->. ... It's ok. Update whenever you feel ready. We're not going anywhere.
"NO!" shouted the General, in a painful voice, as though he was stabed. "NO! NOT LIKE THAT.... not like that...." he beggan to soften his voice, seeming that he was weak. He leaned against the pipe's wall, and slided down it, finally sitting. "Sir" Mark said "You knew that they would die, that everyone would die. You knew that there isn't any excape, and that I have to plant that bomb. At least they died in battle. With honour" He put his hand over the General's shoulder, trying to make him realise that this was part of war (which seemed that, by being a General, he knew an awful small amount of this). The General raised his hand, and covered Mark's "Yes..." the General began to say, still wheeping "Yes.... They died with honor. They died the way of a soldier." He leapt up, with a sudden smile on his face "We will avenge them.". The General was an awkward man.
The three soldiers continued down the pipe, towards the Cooling Agent. The pipe was a dark place, with a huge amount of humidity in the air. The only way to see was by using the flashlight, mounted on the HMGs. The only sounds heard where the foots falling down on the metal, creating a sound which echoed everywhere. The Kharaa would already know were they where with all that sound, so they quickened their paces. They turned right on an intersection, and carried on. They saw a light at the end of the tunnel and fell into the cooling agent. Now, all they had to do was to travel 500m, underwater. The jet packs would make them move faster, but still, this meant being 3min underwater.
"OK, you two, follow me" oredered Mark. He took a deep breath and dived in, the others followed him. The agent was pure H2O, but with something which made the water much cooler and added a certain visocsity to it. The jet packs were turned on, and the three 'flew' inside the agent. After about 300m, Mark heard something. He looked back and saw that Dimitri was choking. Water had entered his lungs, and the jet pack still on made the situation worse. Mark told the General to carry on, by giving him a sign, and poceded back to Dimitri. He removed a syringe and inserted at his back. It contained nano-medicines, which were programed to make the liquid to be expelled from the body. Dimitri gave a cough, and together with his air bubbles, out came a blue mucus, which showed to be the liquid. After saving his life, Mark caught him, and proceded to the Main Generator.
As he was reaching the exit, moving upwards, Mark saw a splash, and something moving slowly downwards. When he got a better view, he saw that there was a body, and it was of the General. His eyes were giving a desperate look. Blood was comming out of his mouth. He lost both of his arms, and lost all of his armour, only wearing his clothes. Seeing that gave Mark his rage. The lava stream was entering his veins again. He moved closer, and closer of the exit, almost forgeting Dimitri. When he got out, he droped Dimitri, making him fall inside the agent. Mark took out his weapon and began to shoot wildly, with his eyes closed. When he opened it, he saw the only living being which was there, apart from him an Dimitri. He looked down and there was it. Mark cried as he landed "It... can't.... be...."
w00! this should be a movie, with the scene in equlibrium when the guy starts to just blast out everybody around him like has an aimbot...or something. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->. Would look great.
Mark's eyes filled up with tears. "But... how can that be?". He lowered his weapon, and fell to his knees when he reached the ground. Standing, before him, was the figure of Jo. She was standing there, naked, and with blood in her mouth. "You... I saw... that Fade....". Jo looked at him, and gave sinister laugh. She licked the blood which remained on her lips. "Hahaha, yes. The fade." she said, as she moved towards the hive which was there behind her. "Yes, I remember it very well that, Mark"
Jo suddenly leaped towards the hive. The alien structure opened and allowed Jo to enter inside. The skin of hive then gave a form of a human, and Jo's face came out. "You seemed confused. Well, I think I'll explain everything what happened, before I kill you. That fade made me seriously injured. After you left me there to die, I tried to crawl into an excape pod, but it was useless. I then began to feel a strange sensation, as though there was a creature inside me. I was infected by something which was on that Fade's claw. It somehow allowed me to constroll the Kharaa. Therefore, I called a gorge and ordered it to heal me. Mark, you have no idea of how good is this power! And the taste of human flesh! Even better!"
He couldn't believe that. Jo had become the enemy? Once again, his rage was coming out again. Jo began to laugh "Oh yes, that anger of yours. It seems that some of my blood that entered your eyes gave you some of the alien ability. Such as being a ruthless creature. It also seems that I can control you when you are weak, like when you are being teased. You never like when people teased you"
Mark got his HMG which was beside him. He stood up and pulled the trigger. Bullets began to fly towards the hive. It seemed that he would defeat the Jo, or actually that thing, since for him, Jo died the day when Janus fell to the aliens. His rage began to disappear. He was once again an avarage soldier, not a killing rambo machine. Jo closed her eyes, and began to speak in another language. The hive opened itself, and let hundreds of spikes flying towards Mike. He was frozen. It was as though he would be killed. Suddenly, a person jumped before him. It was the Russian boy, Dimitri. He stood there, with his arms opened, protecting Mike. The spikes hit him, and it went deep inside him, penetrating his skin and muscles. Dimitri's eyes were wide opened, and he fell down on the floor. The impact made the spikes penetrate even deeper, appearing on the other side of his body. He was dead.
Noo! Well, I suppose that's how all loyal soldiers die. ... Interesting plot twist, I could see something like this happening in Starcraft II, but that's at a much later date. Nice little chapter though.
I'm gonna write the last chapter today, cause tommorow starts school, and I'll start being way too busy to write long stories. Plus, I wanna start a new story soon <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> !!
Chapter 16 - The Final Rest
The body of young Dimitri layed at the floor. Blood was still flowing from the wounds caused by the spikes. There was no time to grief Dimitri's death. More spikes were soon flying towards Mark, but this time, he managed to dodge the projectiles and hide behind a column. Taking deep breaths, to see if he could regain some strength. He could hear the spikes hiting the metalic column, and Jo laughing inside the hive. "Give up Mark. Be a nice boy and I shall kill you without pain"
Mark had to do something about it. He began to look for a way to get near the hive, but without Jo noticing him. Up above him was a pipe, wide enough for Mark to walk on. He turned on his jet pack and went on top of it. Jo was still fireing the spikes at the column, and Mark carried on towards the hive. He crept slowly, and when he was on top of the hive, he jumped on it and began fireing his HMG. There was no protection for the hive from the top, so the hive and Jo was at Mark's mercy. He wasted all of his ammo, and finally made the hive to fall. However, this hive was destroyed diferently. It exploded.
Mark flew away, and landed on a piece of metal, which riped his skin, muscles and guts. The spike entered his back, and exited from his belly. Mark tried to remove the metal with his hands, but he cuted it, since there was glass around it. He thought that Jo was dead, but as he looked to were the hive used to rest, he saw her body. It was like a new-born baby. Naked, and full of blood and mucus around it. Jo looked up at Mark and began to threat him, with a voice which resembled the devils own. "You shouldn't have done that. Now I will kill you slowly and painfully". She stood up, and began to shake. She hugged herself, and lowered her head. Her human skin began to melt away. A wing came out of her back, and thorns appeared, running down her spine. Her nails began to grow, and it got a green colour. The wing wraped her, and she began to mutate. Soon, in about 5 seconds, the wing opened it self.
Jo suddenly became a fully grown alien, literaly. A new skin replaced the one which melted away, the same one used of the Onos. A spear-like piece of bone was comming out of her wrist. The nail resembled a claw. Jo was looking like a demon from hell, but 10 feet tall. "You punny little punk. You are going to be digested slowly inside me." She lowered her claws and caught Mark. He gave out a horrific scream, a scream of pain. The monster opened her mouth, and was about to eat the human. Mark remembered that he had a semtex. It was the only way to destroy Jo. He armed the bomb, and raised it over his head. "Digest this" he screamed, and threw the bomb.
Jo swalowed the semtex and realized what just happened. She could feel the bomb going down her throat, and right there, it blew up. Mark flew further away then when the hive exploded. This time, his armor was shattared. The pieces of the armour cutted his face, entered his wound, made him look like ****. He encountered a wall, and he fell down to the floor. Jo was finally in peace, however, the mission was not over. He still had to destroy the station, but now that his semtex was gone, he only could think of one way. By over-heating the Main Generators. He crawled with great effort towards the commanding console, and pressed a few buttons. The Generators made a humming sound, and began to glow red. Mark closed his eyes. He could see Jo, smiling at him. He could see Dimitri, still considering him a hero. He could see General Anquier and his men, saluting him for a job well done. He smiled, and soon, the station began to blow up. He was finally at peace.
Afterwards: The destruction of Janus made a gap in the enemy lines, allowing the TSA Fleet to arrive to the Solar System without much threat. After 3 months of battle, the Frontiersman managed to destroy the Kharaa presence, and continued with the attack on the infected systems. A new law stated that there oculd be no more experiments invovling Kharaa structures and aliens on a system which had civilians living their normal lifes. As for Mark's death. It became another file that the TSA will never admit that it existed.
YEAH!! Finished it!! Not bad for someone who's second language is English I think. Please, everyone who reads this, post your thoughts of my first story here at the forums.
*sniffle* So many good fanfics end with the death of the main character. Wahhhhhhhhhhh! *cries* It was good, expecially the end. It is cliched, but it isn't really used that often <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->. Good job.
Comments
<!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
hehehe, true. That's the dark humour I put in the story, and you definatly got the meaning.
The roaring got louder and louder. Mark crept up to the table, which was covering him from a clean view. Looking over, he saw something which resembled a tank. It was an Onos. He swiflty hid under the table, hoping that it didn't find him. He only had his knife and napalm-launcher. He looked at his HUD's ammo display. 75% of fuel left. It was enought to kill that thin. According to Intel, 50% of fuel was needed to kill one Onos. Holding tight the napalm-launcher with both of his hands, he took 5 deep breaths and went to his suicidal attack.
The Onos was looking around, too see if there was anything odd. The beast looked away from Mark's direction, and just then, he jumped behind one of the pillars. The Onos heard Mark falling to the metal floor, causing a tremendous sound. Moving cautiusly, the alien went towards the pillar. Mark saw the refelection of the Kharaa from a piece of broken glass, getting closer and closer. When he was in range of the flame, he springed out, getting the Onos by suprise, and squized the triger. Flames flew out of the nozle, and caused the Onos to back away. It gave him some direct hit, but not even close enough to seriously hurt him. Seeing that his attack failed, Mark flew to another pillar. This time, the Onos saw him and began to run for an attack. 70%. Once again, flames went towards the Onos and Mark hid again. He repeated this until the ammo was of 50%. He then decided to fly in circles, not fearing the beast anymore. he pulled the trigger once again, but something was wrong. Nothing was comming out. The Onos charged his horn at Mark, flunging him to a wall.
Good thing he had this armour on, or elese he would be dead. Looking up, he saw the thing sprinting towards him, ready to make a kill. He managed to turn on his jet pack just in time, and managed to excape the horns. Those horns made a huge damage, causing the metal wall to be smashed. Mark flew up high and landed on a pipe. He hit his HUD with his hand and saw that there was a problem. The ammo displayed changed to 0%, showing that the ammo was actually depleated. His skulk excape caused a malfunction on the HUDs CPU. Looking down, he saw the Onos trying to reach him. Just like a dog would do if it chased a cat who climbed a tree. Mark threw his napalm-launcher at him, and his weapon was crushed. "****, now I only have a knife" he said to himself. If the beast was left alive, backup would come and Mark would be killed. If he tried to kill the Onos, he would definatly die. Imagine, killing a lightly damaged Onos with a knife. The only honourable thing to do was to kill the beast.
He went down and began slashing his knife, hoping he would hit a major artery, or something. The Onos, once again swinged his horn, and once again Mark flew away. Losing the grip of the knife, his only weapon was lost. Banging against a wall, and falling down to the floor, Mark began to bleed. His right shoulder was broken and bleeding. With great difficulty, Mark managed to sit against the wall. He looked at the Onos, right between his eyes. It was like he was staring at the angel of death, staring at his destiny. He knew nothing could be done. He had failed, and all was lost. Earth would fall, and so would the TSA. Humanity was doomed. He closed his eyes, and teers began to appear. He just sited their, waiting for the inevitable.
"Fire" shouted a voice "Fire at will, my friends. Vive La Resistance". A sound of several HMGs firing suddenly appeared. Mark opened his eyes. It was blurry, but he could see it. The skin of the Onos being covered with holes. The beast gave a huge roar, and looked upwards. Blood began to spirt, and the beast fell dead. Mark's eyelid was heavy. He closed his eyes. A distant voice came to him "Jaques, take him. We must get back to our base before more Kharaas appears. That Onos made a hell of a noise.". And then, he passed out completly.
As his eyelids opened, a strong light came, and hurted his eyes. It took some time for the eyes to get used to the light, but once it did he began to see that he was in a warehouse. All around him were hundreds of boxes, some writen 'ammo' on it, some 'weapons', others 'food'. There were few people walking inside, 10 maybe, and they all were wearing full TSA armour.
"Ah, good. You woke up". A man came down some stairs which were next to Mark. He was a tall man, with dark hair and eyes. He had a scar on his left cheek, and was wearing a TSA General's armour. "<i>Bonjour</i> soldier. You finally woke up. Hope that our medicine didn't affect your organisms, you gave us quite a scare. Now would you please be so kind to tell me your name and rank?" he asked
"M... Mark Johnson, Sargent" he replied, in a frightened way. "Who are you? And what is all this?"
"Ah, yes. Pardon me for being rude. My name is Pierre Anquier, General 2nd Class." he said "And for your second question, this is all that's left of the 23rd Heavy Brigade. You see, after Janus was taken over, we were sent to re-take the facility. So, me and my men came here, hoping that we would accomplish the mission succesfuly.". His eyes darkened, as though he was recalling something dreadfull "I had over 100 men under my command, but now we are less than 15. The Station was completly overtaken. It was a suprise to us that this huge place could be infested in such a short time. Our troops were completly decimated from an Onos offensive. The few of us that managed to survive, hid down here in the sewers, hoping that soon we would be rescued. By then, we were 30. We found this location for us to settle a base. There is no access to nano-technology here, apart from our armour. This proved to be a terrible thing, but it had an advantage. The bacterium could not reach here, so the Kharaa can't find us." He then looked to Mark, in a way which seemed that he was hoping for a miracel from him. "When we saw you, we thought that you were our rescue. We saved you, now we hope for you and your men to save us" he gave a smile.
Your men? Was he expecting Mark to have a whole fleet behind him? Mark didn't blame him for such high hopes. He didn't know how to tell him that it was a lone mission this one, that he was sent to destroy the place. After thinking on how to respond to the General, he told him all the story. That he was alone, that he was supposed to destroy the place and that he only had an X-Wing, meaning that there was no excape for everyone. The General gave a cry, and his face full of hope turned into a face full of tears. Anquier told a soldier to call all the men together, as he had an anouncment to make. He told all of his men about Mark's mission, that there was no excape for them and that they would all die. Mark felt disapointed about this, but the General's last phrase came to be a suprise "We, Frontiersman have promised to protect and serve Earth's Republic. If it is to it's best interece, we shall die for it. We shall die for the Republic! We shall help this men to finish his mission". All of the men, who were with a sour face, suddenly became full of bravery and courage. They all lifted their weapons and hands, shouting words of approval. Mark became content, that he would now have help from others, but he also felt disapointed, that they would all die.
The General welded Mark's damaged armour, and gave him an HMG, a knife and a pistol. These were the resistance, or La Resistance's, best weapons. He took his equipment, which were removed from him so he could be healed, and proceded to a crate. There, he stocked himself with ammo, and readied his gun. The General and his men would accompany him, so they all did the same and stocked themself with ammo. A solier came running to Mark, and as he removed his HUD he showed to be a boy, not more than 16 years of age. "Sir, let me say it's an honour to meet such a brave soul. Accepting a mission to destroy a infested Station, and all alone, involves a great amount of courage" said the boy, in a Russian accent. If he only knew that he was sent here as a convict....
Anquier pressed a button which was against the wall, and a door opened. Him, Mark and the rest of the man slowly steped out of the wharehouse. They entered into the Sewage Facility.
Once again, sorry about this chapter. I'v got tons of books to read before school starts and I'v been EXTREMELY busy.
The seweage corridors had a foul stench, only comparable by the one found at S.H.I.T. You could hear the flow of the water, and the marines moving cautiously down those long corridors. The water and the walls were in a colour which seemed like a brownish greed, resembling a mucus. Once in a while, a chuckle could be heard, and the sound echoed down the oblivious darkness. They would turn around, halt for a few minutes, in defensive position, and carried on. They reached the end of the sewer, without much trouble. A hatch layed before them. A sealed hatch. "Boy, come here and weld this door" shouted the General. The Russian boy came running, holding a welder.
"Yes sir!" he shouted, and began to weld the door. When he was done, he kicked it down and the marines entered.
They were at the Water Purification Centre. There was a huge pool right at the middle of the room. Several walkways went over the pool, and there was this one, single silo. What was inside it was a mystery. "You 5, go there" whispered the General, pointing out some crates. "You 5, there" he said, pointing out the walkway, over them. "The rest, spread out. Mark, Dimitri and me will go to the central, next to the silo. Move out people.". They all folowed the General's orders. Swiftly following him, Mark proceded to the central. It was on a hovering platform, so they flew on to it. Inside, there were corpses around, with the surroundings painted with the ruby redness of blood. The smell was terrible, the one that only "Odd" said the General "the Kharaa would normally eat them, unless...."
He jumped to the window, and looked down. The marines were all in defensive position, but were being surrounded by aliens, without them noticing. "GE...." Anquier began to shout, but was soon silenced by Mark.
"Be quiet" he whispered "If you shout, they will know we are here, and then we will fail the mission. You don't want that, do you?" He knew the General was a true patriot, and would give the life of his family for Earth's Republic. All they could do was watch, the massacre.
Some skulks were creeping up the cealling, looking down at the marines on the walkway. Fades were comming from the back of the marines, and Onos were comming from behind the silo. Lerks were on top of the silo. It was as though time froze for those few seconds. Anquier wanted to warn them, but that would compromise the mission. Dimitri was with an awful amount of fear, becoming white. Mark, was the odd man out. His face seemed unemotional, as though he didn't care that human lives were being taken away.
The skulks were the first to perform the attack. One of them leaped right on top of a marine and bit his head off. The marines on the walkway began firing, but were soon anihilated by an endless skulk rush. The marines down at the bottom also retaliated, but were caught with suprise from acid rockets and Onos charging. Not mentioning the Lerks giving covver from the top of the silo. The battle didn't last 5 minutes, and by the end, all the marines were killed. Some of the aliens began to devour the skinless humans right on the spot, others were heading to the room were they were found. That was the storage room for human flesh. "Quick" whispered Mark, who had found an entrance leading to the cealling "enter here". All the three of them followed him.
When on the cealling, they began to look for the pipe which would lead to the Cooling Facility, were they would find the Cooling Agent, and reach the hive. They found it, but to get to the pipe they had to pass over the silo, by some small water pipes passing over it. Using the jet pack would cause too much noise. As they moved over the silo, and looked downwards, they saw it. A second hive inside it. That explained were the high concentration of Kharaa. As they swinged inside an opening on the pipe which would lead them to the Cooling Facility, the aliens continued with their diabolic feast. Now, the party went from 30 marines, to a mere 3.
...
It's ok. Update whenever you feel ready. We're not going anywhere.
"NO!" shouted the General, in a painful voice, as though he was stabed. "NO! NOT LIKE THAT.... not like that...." he beggan to soften his voice, seeming that he was weak. He leaned against the pipe's wall, and slided down it, finally sitting.
"Sir" Mark said "You knew that they would die, that everyone would die. You knew that there isn't any excape, and that I have to plant that bomb. At least they died in battle. With honour" He put his hand over the General's shoulder, trying to make him realise that this was part of war (which seemed that, by being a General, he knew an awful small amount of this). The General raised his hand, and covered Mark's "Yes..." the General began to say, still wheeping "Yes.... They died with honor. They died the way of a soldier." He leapt up, with a sudden smile on his face "We will avenge them.". The General was an awkward man.
The three soldiers continued down the pipe, towards the Cooling Agent. The pipe was a dark place, with a huge amount of humidity in the air. The only way to see was by using the flashlight, mounted on the HMGs. The only sounds heard where the foots falling down on the metal, creating a sound which echoed everywhere. The Kharaa would already know were they where with all that sound, so they quickened their paces. They turned right on an intersection, and carried on. They saw a light at the end of the tunnel and fell into the cooling agent. Now, all they had to do was to travel 500m, underwater. The jet packs would make them move faster, but still, this meant being 3min underwater.
"OK, you two, follow me" oredered Mark. He took a deep breath and dived in, the others followed him. The agent was pure H2O, but with something which made the water much cooler and added a certain visocsity to it. The jet packs were turned on, and the three 'flew' inside the agent. After about 300m, Mark heard something. He looked back and saw that Dimitri was choking. Water had entered his lungs, and the jet pack still on made the situation worse. Mark told the General to carry on, by giving him a sign, and poceded back to Dimitri. He removed a syringe and inserted at his back. It contained nano-medicines, which were programed to make the liquid to be expelled from the body. Dimitri gave a cough, and together with his air bubbles, out came a blue mucus, which showed to be the liquid. After saving his life, Mark caught him, and proceded to the Main Generator.
As he was reaching the exit, moving upwards, Mark saw a splash, and something moving slowly downwards. When he got a better view, he saw that there was a body, and it was of the General. His eyes were giving a desperate look. Blood was comming out of his mouth. He lost both of his arms, and lost all of his armour, only wearing his clothes. Seeing that gave Mark his rage. The lava stream was entering his veins again. He moved closer, and closer of the exit, almost forgeting Dimitri. When he got out, he droped Dimitri, making him fall inside the agent. Mark took out his weapon and began to shoot wildly, with his eyes closed. When he opened it, he saw the only living being which was there, apart from him an Dimitri. He looked down and there was it. Mark cried as he landed "It... can't.... be...."
Once again, sorry about the poor story.
Mark's eyes filled up with tears. "But... how can that be?". He lowered his weapon, and fell to his knees when he reached the ground. Standing, before him, was the figure of Jo. She was standing there, naked, and with blood in her mouth. "You... I saw... that Fade....". Jo looked at him, and gave sinister laugh. She licked the blood which remained on her lips.
"Hahaha, yes. The fade." she said, as she moved towards the hive which was there behind her. "Yes, I remember it very well that, Mark"
Jo suddenly leaped towards the hive. The alien structure opened and allowed Jo to enter inside. The skin of hive then gave a form of a human, and Jo's face came out. "You seemed confused. Well, I think I'll explain everything what happened, before I kill you. That fade made me seriously injured. After you left me there to die, I tried to crawl into an excape pod, but it was useless. I then began to feel a strange sensation, as though there was a creature inside me. I was infected by something which was on that Fade's claw. It somehow allowed me to constroll the Kharaa. Therefore, I called a gorge and ordered it to heal me. Mark, you have no idea of how good is this power! And the taste of human flesh! Even better!"
He couldn't believe that. Jo had become the enemy? Once again, his rage was coming out again. Jo began to laugh "Oh yes, that anger of yours. It seems that some of my blood that entered your eyes gave you some of the alien ability. Such as being a ruthless creature. It also seems that I can control you when you are weak, like when you are being teased. You never like when people teased you"
Mark got his HMG which was beside him. He stood up and pulled the trigger. Bullets began to fly towards the hive. It seemed that he would defeat the Jo, or actually that thing, since for him, Jo died the day when Janus fell to the aliens. His rage began to disappear. He was once again an avarage soldier, not a killing rambo machine. Jo closed her eyes, and began to speak in another language. The hive opened itself, and let hundreds of spikes flying towards Mike. He was frozen. It was as though he would be killed. Suddenly, a person jumped before him. It was the Russian boy, Dimitri. He stood there, with his arms opened, protecting Mike. The spikes hit him, and it went deep inside him, penetrating his skin and muscles. Dimitri's eyes were wide opened, and he fell down on the floor. The impact made the spikes penetrate even deeper, appearing on the other side of his body. He was dead.
...
Interesting plot twist, I could see something like this happening in Starcraft II, but that's at a much later date. Nice little chapter though.
Chapter 16 - The Final Rest
The body of young Dimitri layed at the floor. Blood was still flowing from the wounds caused by the spikes. There was no time to grief Dimitri's death. More spikes were soon flying towards Mark, but this time, he managed to dodge the projectiles and hide behind a column. Taking deep breaths, to see if he could regain some strength. He could hear the spikes hiting the metalic column, and Jo laughing inside the hive. "Give up Mark. Be a nice boy and I shall kill you without pain"
Mark had to do something about it. He began to look for a way to get near the hive, but without Jo noticing him. Up above him was a pipe, wide enough for Mark to walk on. He turned on his jet pack and went on top of it. Jo was still fireing the spikes at the column, and Mark carried on towards the hive. He crept slowly, and when he was on top of the hive, he jumped on it and began fireing his HMG. There was no protection for the hive from the top, so the hive and Jo was at Mark's mercy. He wasted all of his ammo, and finally made the hive to fall. However, this hive was destroyed diferently. It exploded.
Mark flew away, and landed on a piece of metal, which riped his skin, muscles and guts. The spike entered his back, and exited from his belly. Mark tried to remove the metal with his hands, but he cuted it, since there was glass around it. He thought that Jo was dead, but as he looked to were the hive used to rest, he saw her body. It was like a new-born baby. Naked, and full of blood and mucus around it. Jo looked up at Mark and began to threat him, with a voice which resembled the devils own. "You shouldn't have done that. Now I will kill you slowly and painfully". She stood up, and began to shake. She hugged herself, and lowered her head. Her human skin began to melt away. A wing came out of her back, and thorns appeared, running down her spine. Her nails began to grow, and it got a green colour. The wing wraped her, and she began to mutate. Soon, in about 5 seconds, the wing opened it self.
Jo suddenly became a fully grown alien, literaly. A new skin replaced the one which melted away, the same one used of the Onos. A spear-like piece of bone was comming out of her wrist. The nail resembled a claw. Jo was looking like a demon from hell, but 10 feet tall. "You punny little punk. You are going to be digested slowly inside me." She lowered her claws and caught Mark. He gave out a horrific scream, a scream of pain. The monster opened her mouth, and was about to eat the human. Mark remembered that he had a semtex. It was the only way to destroy Jo. He armed the bomb, and raised it over his head. "Digest this" he screamed, and threw the bomb.
Jo swalowed the semtex and realized what just happened. She could feel the bomb going down her throat, and right there, it blew up. Mark flew further away then when the hive exploded. This time, his armor was shattared. The pieces of the armour cutted his face, entered his wound, made him look like ****. He encountered a wall, and he fell down to the floor. Jo was finally in peace, however, the mission was not over. He still had to destroy the station, but now that his semtex was gone, he only could think of one way. By over-heating the Main Generators. He crawled with great effort towards the commanding console, and pressed a few buttons. The Generators made a humming sound, and began to glow red. Mark closed his eyes. He could see Jo, smiling at him. He could see Dimitri, still considering him a hero. He could see General Anquier and his men, saluting him for a job well done. He smiled, and soon, the station began to blow up. He was finally at peace.
Afterwards:
The destruction of Janus made a gap in the enemy lines, allowing the TSA Fleet to arrive to the Solar System without much threat. After 3 months of battle, the Frontiersman managed to destroy the Kharaa presence, and continued with the attack on the infected systems. A new law stated that there oculd be no more experiments invovling Kharaa structures and aliens on a system which had civilians living their normal lifes. As for Mark's death. It became another file that the TSA will never admit that it existed.
YEAH!! Finished it!! Not bad for someone who's second language is English I think. Please, everyone who reads this, post your thoughts of my first story here at the forums.
So many good fanfics end with the death of the main character. Wahhhhhhhhhhh!
*cries*
It was good, expecially the end. It is cliched, but it isn't really used that often <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->. Good job.