Ns_power
Moconnor
Join Date: 2002-07-26 Member: 1004Members
Join Date: 2002-07-26 Member: 1004Members
Comments
Its late, and im fuelled by Stella Artois, so bear that in mind <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> ( the excuses)
All i know is that power is being extracted from the floor, which is what I gathered from your mapping posts.
Silence descended upon the control office, only the sound of the monitor buzz rebounded off the dreary grey office walls.
Cook sat in his tobacco stained chair, ciggarette butts littered the desktop. The deteriorating office room symbolised Cooks attitude to work and his meaningless lifestyle.
Suddenly the exhausted tannoy came alive: " Maintanence Group leader Cook, go to the power mainframe, technical difficulties have reached critical"
Cook sat up. In 20 years of being employed by the Corporation, never had any scenario reached Critical. The monitor faded and the buzz declined. The power was failing. Cook stood up, torch in hand his bloodshot eyes portrayed the thick cocktail of fear and mystification that dictated his thoughts.
He opened the manual office door and proceeded down the corridor, followed by a small uknown entity that hustled along the cold industrial metal work.
Ok, Thats nots finished obviously. But its late <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> Ill finish it some other time. But any thoughts on it now ?
forgive me if i read this wrong but...
Power Failing = aliens are in the facility!!!
and the "uknown entity that hustled along the cold industrial metal work" is
the "power" stuff?? <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I'm useless at writing stuff like and i really like were this is
going. just post any questions you have and i'll do my best to answer.
so you can progress with the story.ONLY IF YOU WANT TO!!
I think thats all for now.
also "power was failing" gives me an idea <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
p.s. its hard to beat the aul Stella Artois <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
power failing is due to heavy festation and melting of critical cables etc...( people dont know its aliens yet)
I thought instead of the ordinary......marine finds festaion..means hive is there somewhere..oh and aliens...
I would go for..boom!" in your face...aliens have been hiding building up resources..feasting time!!!
The entity is a skulk (well thats what I had in mind) and its following him to the hive.....goodbye Cook.
Yeah..its only a starter..and just a guide..so its not official.....or trying to be... <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Just a helper.
Glad to give you ideas mate, that was my target <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
On a side note, its <b>in</b>festation
Teq reminded me the other day.
Thanks nightdragon. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
***
I slammed the door shut. The hulking form of the creature made it bent, but our cover held. I sighed deeply in relief as adrenaline was still surging through my veins. I had made it. This time.
"Nick, I'm out!" I yelled out and ran up to the marine.
I snatched the clip out of his stretched hand and slammed the precious ammo into my shotgun. With a grimace, I made my way to the other pressure door to see if it was still keeping them away. It was still up, but I couldn't hear them on the other side. Crap.
"Where's sarge?" he asked me with a worrying look.
"What does it look like? He didn't make it."
"Did you get it?"
"Do you see it? Let's get moving. Mines."
I ran to the third pressure door, the only one still open, and checked the damp corridor. There was nothing in sight, but that wasn't a surprise. My instincts told me that the huge beast was preparing itself for another try just outside the first door. Nick had just finished setting up the explosives and ran up to me. I checked my shotgun again, nodded at him, and headed into the corridor.
"What happened, sir?" the marine asked.
"Later, later, just follow me."
I never had time to react to the sound. In an instant, I knew that the pressure door was gone, and the tank of an animal was through it, but I didn't have time to move. Didn't have time to duck.
Then I was suddenly lying on the floor, my vision a blur and ears ringing from the explosion. Nick was lying in a pool of blood at the doorway. I could barely make out the huge alien, or what was left of it, in the room. I quickly got up, glanced around and ran to the marine.
"My legs... sir, I can't... feel them", he said with a pleading look.
I rummaged through his body armor, grabbed any extra clips and stood up.
"I can't... walk on my own, sir", Nick repeated. I had known the private for three years, and he had been on my platoon for one and a half. I knew he had two kids waiting for him back home, and an ex-wife.
I turned around and ran. My steps echoed through the empty corridor, followed by the lone marine's shouts and prayers. They quickly turned into screams of agony. I sprung forward, both from the aliens and my conscience. Casting around worried glances, I took a left at the next junction and just barely dodged the incoming spikes.
A fat, four-legged alien was working busily, growing some kind of organic structures out of the ground. Blasting the creature away, I dived under a railing onto a lower level and kept running. The door was only halfway open and I slid right under it, again dodging another volley of deadly spikes. The next room was empty, save for another dog-sized creature of a sickly color and razor-sharp claws. As it snarled at me, I took aim with my shotgun. The creature hesitated only for a split second, and was then blasted away.
I got on my feet and saw another small creature farther in the room. It didn't look nearly as shocked as the first one and was quickly gaining speed.
As I jerked the trigger, nothing happened. I threw away the shotgun and drew my knife from its sheath. With one swift move, I sent my blade flying at the alien's forehead. The creature took a few steps before realizing it was dead. I drew out my pistol and headed on, following the blue pipings.
There was another corridor behind the next door. I knew I was already getting close to the hangars. Seeing something move in the corner of my eye, I blinked and spun around, levelling my pistol. There was nothing to be seen. I blinked nervously, and then the felt the warm breath on my neck. I froze and blinked again.
The claws penetrated my armor just as I spun around. I groaned in agony, staring at the sneering, nearly human-like face in front of me. Grunting, I slammed the barrel of my pistol down its throat with my free hand and pulled the trigger. The creature's lifeless body slumped to the ground, dragging me with it. I tried to pull myself free, but didn't have the strength left.
I fumbled with my battle gear, and shot one last longing glance at the precious chip. Clenching it in my fist, I waited, the silence broken only by the clatter of feet.
Very good read. It was fast and furious.
Liked the description from the main character about the aliens...how it was naive...as it would be. Nice detail.
But the story does not really grasp or explain what the map is about..eg. the main Power Supply. As it stands now..it could be any map.
Still...nice little read.
is very well written excellent read if i do say so myself <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
All is not lost though, your description of the environment that the
marines are in gives me some ideas!!thanks <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
and finish that map <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Chop chop on the old mapping frong, Mc C, we're counting on you.
Tucker set the welder down next to him on the maintenance bay's deck and wiped the sweat off his brow. ****, this was grunt work - something for the spider bots to do, they never got tired or complained anyways. But, systems had been failing more and more often through the week, including the bot controls, and Tucker's transfer would take at least another month to be processed by the AI at corporate central HQ back on Earth. "Alright, the final re-entry plate is back in. I'm catchin' some R&R." No response as usual - Bob must be sleeping in the control deck. He rolled out from under the T.S.A. shuttle on his dolly and got to his feet. This was ship repair and maintenance 103B, a relatively small bay in the massive ship repair and resupply complex where some T.S.A. Frontiersmen had landed here a few months ago after what seemed to be a pitched battle at a nearby space station. All Tucker knew was they ended up nuking it after losing too many men to the infestation. Tucker proceeded over the small grated catawalk over some black waste water, the result of flushing the ship's depleted fuel canisters. The waste water duct made a moat around the ship, shaped like a box. Tucker stopped in mid-step when he heard a quiet pattering from behind the ship "Hello?" he stood completely still for a moment "Whoever's out there, this is a restricted area, I <i>will</i> report you to the T.S.A.!"
Tucker sighed and walked out into the deserted corridor and cursed. Air scrubber systems must have kicked the bucket - there were oily strands of vapor emanating from the ceiling ports. Suddenly Tucker's comm unit crackled to life "-chief mechani-" a loud buzzing interference "ucker, this is base CO-" more buzzing "I've lost contact with almost everyone! What the hell is going on down there? Systems out all over-" Tucker stopped short of the hatch to the low level personnel quarters - he had heard something that sounded like a scream in the distance "life support in command is going down, I repeat-" A dark, viscous liquid oozed down some of the ventilation ports "Go to sublevel 1C and fix that **** power or everyone in the sector is dead. Wait a minute..." Tucker was concentrating too hard on his surroundings to hear the gunfire and screams on his radio. There was something on the other side of that door he would never want to see, not in the 30 years as Chief Mechanic of Repair and Resupply Outpost 66 Nathaniel Tucker or in the future.
He grasped for his tiny 4mm slugthrower. The thing was a gauss gun, limited range but very high velocity. The needle rounds would pass straight through a human - it was designed to incapacitate rather than kill. He had it in case some of the convicts working their years off started something. Tucker didn't think this would be enough to stop whatever the Kharaa were. Well, there were 100 of the tiny rounds in each magazine. Nothing could take all of them and live, and he'd modded his "stinger" - that's the derisive term the United Trans-System States Marines used for the slugthrower - to be fully automatic.
Well, and he would go to the auxillary reactor at sublevel 1C and get it working or suffocate in the facility's own noxious (sp?) fumes. He took the corridor to the right which opened into a large room where the walls were practically made of piping and pressure gauges. He made a sharp turn and slammed into a wall, slid down a ladder through some scalding steam, ran over grated floors past flashing emergency lights and groaning metal pipes, the automated PA system warning against proceeding further, and then the lights went out. "God ****!" the words came out as a scratchy croak - the air toxicity was too high.
He flicked on his Mag Lite and continued, stumbling into several sharp metal obtrusions until he got to a large room with a glimmering blue core. It was 20m away - he knew the room was giant but the air was clouded with smoke so the blue light was all he could see aside from his raised slugthrower. There were inhuman screeches and roars from all directions. Chief Mechanic Nathaniel Tucker had never been more scared since his first EVA. A tall figure, almost 8 feet tall ran past him only 5 feet away. "Holy-!" His words were interrupted by the deafening sound of HMG fire and the clank of Heavy Armored Frontiersmen moving in.
Frontiersman Nicholas D'Errico swept the area with heavy anti-armor rounds. They were ****' everywhere on motion, but he couldn't see one damn alien! "D'Errico, watch your **** fire! If you hit that core-!" A skulk leapt on his partners helmet and bit with its impossible strength down on his faceplate. The armor held - but Eric didn't. He dropped his HMG and grabbed at the Skulk attached to his head, screaming bloody murder. Nick brought his heavy MG around in the darkness and fired it straight at Eric's team beacon. FF should've stopped the rounds! The skulk fell to the ground. Followed by Eric's lifeless body. It hit the ground with a clank, still its Heavy Armor. No human armor could really stop an HMG round - at least not a direct point-blank headshot. That must've been one of the failed systems. Nanite IFF was no longer here. Nick couldn't spare the time to mourn the death of his friend. He'd survived the defeat at space station Nothing and now he was killed by his best war buddy. Nick's HMG was empty. 3 Skulks charged him before he could draw his pistol and grabbed his legs, holding him in place. A Lerk's spikes lodged into the armor's chestplate. Then he heard the roar. The roar that only one monster could make. "Nooo!"
Tucker was wheezing, his diaphram exausted and the toxic fumes in his lungs at a critical level. One of the Marines was shot, and the other was directly in the path of a charging monstrosity, held in place by large dog-like aliens. He crawled forwards to the reactor, all his mind could really force his failing body to do. The problem... one of the cables was connected improperly... The last Frontiersman jolted backwards as if by magic, then Tucker saw that the soldier was in the mouth of an Onos. Tucker kept crawling... an HMG. With 73 rounds left. He was going to die either way. Better to help the soldier. Tucker propped the HMG on its side and fired it into the Onos' side. The thing screamed in pain and it let most of the Frontiersman slide out of its gaping mouth.
Nick somehow fell back out of the Onos. Gunfire. Someone else was here? Nick didn't care. He was going to kill this motherfucking piece of **** alien and there was nothing it could to to stop him. It tried to force him out of its mouth, but he hung on to the inside of its jaw as his other hand clumsily grasped for his pistol. He found it "You think you have lunch? Think again." His pistol aimed straight at the roof of the Onos' mouth, at the brain. The 10 gunshots followed by the thump of the Onos hitting the floor were glorious sounds in the ears of D'Errico. He wasn't one of the poor mothers whose life would end in the stomach of a bacterial infection. He climbed out of the Onos' mouth and surveyed his accomplishment. The smaller aliens were scared off by the defeat of their big bad tank. They didn't know he only had 10 pistol rounds left. Nick's sensors picked up a human male lying at his feet. "We gotta-" the man coughed "fix this damn thing!" Damn straight - the HA's scrubbers couldn't hold out for long in this environment.
The Frontiersman brought him to the core and Tucker fixed the problem by simply switching a cable between plugs. "That's it?" Tucker nodded, unable to talk in the chemical fog. The hum of air scrubbers and the hiss of emergency cleanup nanites being released assured him that they'd done it. As the air cleared and the lights faded back on, Tucker looked around the room, his vision blurred with poison. There were bulletholes and alien blood everywhere in the pentagonal chamber. As the main hatch cycled closed, something sped through it with impossible speed and an electric buzz straight towards him. The alien he'd seen earlier. It was known as a Fade. Tucker didn't have the strength to move in time. It slashed him once across the chest, tearing his internal organs to shreds. The frontiersman fired at it but it was gone. The frontiersman said something and Tucker fell to the ground. His chest felt like napalm. The Chief Mechanic of Repair and Resupply Outpost 66 coughed up some blood, said a prayer, and died knowing that the T.S.A. would avenge him one day.
Nick set the tech down and shut his eyes with a swipe from his hand. Without this man, every Frontiersman here would have died without firing a single shot. At least the guy was old - easily in his 60s, not one of the young kids that got slaughtered on the battlefields with so much left undone. His name tag said Nathaniel Tucker. D'Errico would be sure to visit his relatives when he got leave and tell them just how strong their grandfather or uncle or brother or whatever really was. Sure as hell had a sense of duty. Nick took the man's slugthrower and stood. The aliens were coming back, he could see that clearly on motion tracking. He access the facility's computers and got a nav point for the T.S.A. hangar and started running, shedding his broken and useless HA - the torso had been completely cracked by the Onos' teeth. D'Errico saw his comrades headed for the same place on his minimap, heard someone say they were getting in the command chair as he ran back. When he got there, he was panting and had a sneaking sense of guilt. A tiny voice in his head said "You did it. You ignored SOP and brought your ship back here knowing full well it could be contaminated." He picked up a spare LMG and began to oversee contruction on an armory. The commander spoke "Nick, I need you and Gonzalez at this emergency resource node-" a waypoint appeared on his visor. Nick would go back into the fire, this time with revenge in mind.