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WARNING! This story may or may not contain some or all of the following: violence, harsh language, sexual content (lulz jk), and/or cheesy love scenes (lulz jk). YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
I recently remembered one of my first hand-written stories that I wrote in school. It got all messed up because I wanted the reader to feel as if he was the 'main character', but... it didn't really work out. I've decided to redo the whole story, while keeping the main theme the same, which is simple, really: survival. So, without further ado, I give you: Lost in the Tundra.
Lost in the Tundra
Prologue...
-At the end of the 21st century, humanity discovered a way to traverse the unknown regions of space... The wormhole theory was, in fact, correct; there were "tunnels", shortcuts through space, which allowed humanity to traverse the infinite universe using little fuel and little effort. This discovery convinced the United Earth Nations (U.E.N.) to create a new military branch, designed specifically for space exploration, and, if need be, combat. They called it... Recon.
Recon troops were tough soldiers, and were hand-picked from the U.E.N. army. They were also well equipped with the latest in military tech: H.E.C.A. (Hazardous Environment Combat Armor), which was made of insulated kevlar covered by titanium plates, with attached combat visors and communicators for an informative view of any given zone on any given planet; S.P.R.s (Superheated Plasma Rifles) to easily dispatch hostiles; and all Recon personnel were required to take Iodine supplements in case a planet is radiated.
Recon troops were sent on various explorations, finding only few habitable planets for plant and animal life. However, their luck changed when Beta company located the planet Hydraxis, in the Aquarius system. This planet was incredibly brutal, with perpetual blizzards, massive glaciers, and permanently frozen soil. It was cold, but livable. But as terraforming technology advanced, it would not be long before the environment could be tamed. So the planet was earmarked and Beta company returned to Earth to report what they found. The U.E.N. was pleased with Beta company's findings and sent them back to collect a more in-depth study. This was their fatal mistake... For something was waiting there, something vicious and deadly.
Sergeant James Walker, of Beta company, was ordered to oversee the construction of a forward command post on the most stable part of Hydraxis. This was a usual operation, and was done on most earmarked planets. However, something about it made James uneasy. Two nights before he was dispatched with his squad, designation two-one-three, he had a strange dream... He was in his H.E.C.A. suit, standing inside a massive cavern of crystal, marveling at it's beauty. Then, all of a sudden, he hears a soft voice. "Come to me.... Come to me..." it repeated. The voice was seductive, and that of a female, all of which made James uneasy. And now he would hear the voice when he was awake.
"Relax, would ya?" said Amy Jameson, Beta company's medic. "If you're all tense, how am I supposed to examine you before you go?"
James was getting his routine checkup to make sure he was fit for the job he was going on just one day ahead. "I'm sorry, Amy. I'll ease up."
"Good," said Amy with a slight smile that warmed James.
Just as Amy was finishing up with her examination, Commander Hawkings, the the commanding officer of Beta company, showed up in the med-lab.
"How's our favorite Sergeant doing?" he asked, in a slightly whimsical manner.
"James is fine, Commander," replied Amy, before James could say anything.
"Sir, I'm always ready for any objective you throw my way. I swore to my pop that I'd carry on his line of work, and I don't plan on breaking my promise just yet. You say 'jump', I say 'how high'. It'll always be like that."
"Glad to hear it, Walker. And it's funny that you mention 'jumping', because that's what you and your squad are going to do. We can't land the Achilles on the planet's surface. It's to rough and uneven. We'll enter the planets atmosphere to drop you off from say... a few miles up."
"Understood, Commander."
James turned to leave to the elevator, but he was stopped by Commander Hawkings once again. "James?"
"Yes, Commander?"
"You make your father proud. I bet old Benjamin Walker's looking down at you from up there, wherever he is, and smiling at how seriously you take the military."
James painted a picture of his father in his mind. He envisioned him being saluted by the General of the Army, Robert Ford. Benjamin Walker, for your brave rescue of Gamma Squad Six-Nine-Zero when they crashed on Nexus Prime, you are promoted to Captain. Then the scene changed, and James saw his father talking to him as a child. Son, when you grow up, I want you to be just like your old man: brave, selfless, and most important of all, a soldier. To which he replied you got it, dad.
"Thank you, Commander Hawkings."
"Don't thank me, James. Thank your dad."
Chapter One:
Lost Contact
A day later, James and his fireteam, which consisted of Roy "Joker" Rodriguez, the Squad's grenadier; Roger "Picasso" Benelli, a master of the "art" of computer engineering, as he puts it; and Jonas "Headshot" Welski, a calm and quiet marskman who could hit a bird from a mile away without breaking a sweat; assembled in the drop-bay, about to load into pods. In Recon, "jumping" is a slang term which refers to dropping into a planet's atmosphere. It is in no way an easy or practical thing to do, especially when the planet's terrain is uneven and may even have pockets of hidden ice underneath light sheets of snow. But when a Recon ship can't land on the planet's surface, jumping is the only way of going in. And when you have to drop off building materials, it gets even more difficult. Specifically because the drop-pods for the materials are pretty big, to say the least. And mistakes could be costly, both in material in lives lost. But that's just the military for you, thought James.
"Alright boys, you know the drill," began James. "Any questions?"
"Yeah, I got one," responded Roy. "Why do we always have to go to all the boring places? Couldn't we have been assigned to the Solaris system? I hear the planets there are paradise!"
"You complain too much, Joker," chuckled Roger.
"Hey, hey! I have valid complaints! And who are you to judge, anyway? You whine like a little girl whenever your precious 'computer' gets all messed up n' stuff."
"You see, it's ignorance like that that won't get you anywhere."
"Cut it you two," said James with slight frustration. "We've got a job to do, so let's move out!"
Jumping causes different sensations. At first, the body begins to produce only slight amounts of adrenaline. But it builds up, and then the Recon soldier will begin to get nervous. Urinating, vomiting, and crying, are just a few of the many side-effects that occur when in a drop-pod. The force is immense, but luckily, Squad Two-One-Three made it okay. Roy, as usual, was complaining the whole way down. Jonas was as calm as ever. Only Roger had it rough, because he had a slight case of motion sickness. It only got on his combat boots, however, so it was alright. Touchdown wasn't so brutal because of the heavy layers of snow, and the building materials dropped shortly afterwards without killing the fireteam underneath.
"Aw man, looks like Picasso painted his boots orange!" cackled Roy.
"Go ahead and shove it up somewhere," retorted Roger, kicking the vomit off his boots and into the snow.
The squad looked around the landing sight. They saw that they were surrounded on all sides by a tall plateau, and thankfully that there wasn't much ice around in the area. But the only way to get through the plateau was through a little tunnel some thirty meters northward.
"Well sarge, I gotta say that this is one pretty place we got going on here," said Roy, sarcastically. "Nah, I'm just playin'! This place is like a museum, except it's even more bor-"
"I'll setup a sniping position on that small ridge over there, sir," said Jonas, cutting off Roy.
"You do that. Keep lively men. We got to look out for any possible dangers here."
"Yes sir!" said the rest of the fireteam in unison.
The command post was finished in less than four hours, using robotic workers to do all the harsh, manual labor. It was medium sized for a command center, with a control room, barracks, mess hall... Everything that was necessary for a fully functioning military building. Squad Two-One-Three kept a watchful eye out, but spotted no threats during the entire time. Sergeant Walker, however, heard the seductive female's voice again. "Come to me... You are so close... Come to me..."
He snapped out of it when one of his troops, Roy Rodriguez approached him.
"Sarge? You alright? You seemed to space out there for a second. Heh. Get it? Space out! MAN I'm a killer! You know... since we explore space?"
Roy had an odd sense of humor, which was alright by the crewmen, since humor in the world of Recon was difficult to find.
"I'm fine, Joker. Thanks for asking. It's just that... nevermind. Let's just report back to the Commander."
"Sure man, whatever you say!"
But something wasn't right. The squad tried to establish connection to the Achilles via short-range communicator, but the signal wouldn't go through.
"What the hell is going on with this piece of crap!" cried Roger Benelli, squad two-one-three's mechanical and computer engineer. "It's assembled properly, and the snow shouldn't affect it at all. And the Achilles is orbiting this very god-damned planet!"
"Ooo! Looks like Picasso is losing his touch with his 'inner artistic abilities'," said Roy insultingly.
"Shutup Joker. It's not my fault. I'm a professional. Maybe it's just that this communicator is defective..."
"Excuses, excuses. A real artist makes no excuses. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that."
"You're a butt-head, Joker, you know that? Why don't you make yourself useful and see if you can ask our 'beloved' pilot Foley on the Achilles and see what's going down."
"Picasso needs help from me? I'm flattered!"
"Just do it..." muttered Roger with a sigh.
"Okay, okay. I'll do it. Hold up."
Roy toggled his communicator through his tactical visor and opened communications with Corporal Foley.
"Hola' senior Foley!" No reply.
"Corporal Foley? What's goin' on man?" Yet again, no reply.
"Sarge, I opened communications with Corporal Foley but I got no replies from him."
"Try again and see what happens."
"Aight'. Hey Foley, pick up!"
"Hey Joker, I really wish I could talk right now but, well... we're kinda taking fire from an unknown cruiser so... yeah. Don't worry, we'll take him down soon en- what? What?! Oh no, this can't be happening... No, no, no, no, no... AHHHH-" The line went dead.
"That's not good..."
"What is it, Joker?" asked James.
"The Achilles is under attack by a foreign ship. Foley said it'd be no problem, but then he panicked and the line went dead."
"Relax a minute. Let me check out the situation on my tactical visor..."
Sergeant Walker and his team looked for the Achilles on their tactical visor, and they found that it was under attack. Multiple hostiles were engaging the Achilles, and the Recon vessel itself was taking much damage. But the Achilles was retaliating. Small fighters were being dispatched and were engaging the enemy. The enemy ships were overwhelmed by Beta company's fighters, or so they thought. The hostiles dispatched their own fighters in bigger numbers than that of Beta company. The battle was lost, and Squad Two-One-Three knew it. But then
the Squad received new readings of multiple drop-pods falling to the surface. They're evacuating, thought the Sergeant, which means there might be survivors. We'll try and save them.
"Sarge, are you reading this?" exclaimed Roy. "The Achilles is being totaled! What the hell are we gonna do?!"
All of a sudden they heard a blast coming from the direction of the command post. It was obliterated, along with the robotic laborers that built it, and marching towards the fireteam were strange bluish humanoids with metallic plates covering their vitals and faces. They carried S.P.R.s similar to Recon's, but much more advanced in design.
"We're in real deep now, boys!" shouted Walker. "Take cover behind that snow-dune!" James pointed Southwards.
"This is gonna be fun!" said Jonas with a grin as he cocked his scoped S.P.R.
"You got that right!" said Roy.
While Beta Squad Two-One-Three prepared for combat, Sergeant James Walker remembered the voice he heard, and wondered if the female it belonged to had anything to do with what had just happened.
Chapter Two:
Aeora
Jonas quickly dispatched one of the oncoming aliens. Reloading his gun, he whispered, "One shot, one kill."
"Watchu' want!?" shouted Roy, alternating his fire between two of the hostiles. "You ain't got nothin' on me, homie!"
The hostiles began to shoot back, and Roy put his head down with a shriek.
"I've got your back," assured Roger, as he tossed a plasma grenade right in front of the two who were shooting at Roy. In a matter of milliseconds, the aliens were disintegrated in a serenade of dark blue and bright white light.
"Nice throw, man!" said Roy, as he patted Roger on the back.
"Thank you."
"Sir, we've got more hosties inbound," reported Jonas.
"I don't think we'll want to be here when they come around. They came from the South, so we'll move in the opposite direction. Lets move out!"
The fireteam moved Northbound as quickly as possible in order not to have to face any more of the aliens. This was smart, because just a few minutes later, more of them came to the ruins of the command post, expecting to find Squad Two-One-Three. One alien, distinguished from the rest by a red arrow running down his helm followed by an upside-down five-pointed star, spoke in a harsh, frustrated, and commanding tone to his comrades.
"Where is the human?!" He looked around, but there were no humans in sight.
"Commander, our scouts have spotted them here."
"Then the scouts must have been hallucinating because I do not! This is intolerable, you hear me? INTOLERABLE! The Matriarch requested the human's immediate capture. When she finds out her army has failed her, she will become enraged!"
"Commander..." began a scout that had just ran onto the scene.
"What is it?!" he spat back angrily.
"I have spotted them heading Northwards. They are heading towards... her."
The Commander paused for a moment. "Well? Are you just going to wait until they have audience with her? Stop them!"
"As you wish. Go, go, go!" And so the aliens made chase, but due to their numbers, they had to move slowly, which angered the Commander.
"Order the Northern platoons to ambush them at the mouth of the cave. They shall not enter it!"
Beta Squad Two-One-Three covered much ground in half-an-hour. They had almost made it to the tunnel that they assumed led out of the depression in the terrain they were presently in. But their journey had halted abruptly when Jonas had warned them of enemies waiting for them.
"They're planning to ambush us," said James.
"But the worst part is that they are also coming from behind as well. They are almost here."
"Man... of all the other jobs I could have taken I just had to join Recon," said Roy as he let out a dismal sigh.
The aliens arrived no sooner than Roy finished speaking and had surrounded the fireteam
"Aw come on!" said Roy, even more frustrated.
The alien commander stepped forwards from the rest of his troops. "Hello, humans," he said, in a pretend kind voice. "Welcome to the humble planet of Sonarus, or 'Hydraxis', as you humans know it. Throw down your weapons, and we won't have to harm you."
"You heard him, Squad. Throw your firearms down." And so they did.
"Good... It's nice to have some cooperation from your race instead of rebellion. That way we don't have to clean up after your mess."
James was saddened at the thought of the aliens dismembering his friends. A tear trickled down his face as he started to speak.
"What do you want from humanity?"
"'We' do not want anything. The Matriarch wants you. We destroyed your vessel assuming you were aboard. The fact that you were not is slightly inconvenient, but we'll have to make due."
This "Matriarch" must be the one who's voice I heard in my head! That b****...
"Why does she want me?"
"That is her prerogative to share with you when you meet her. Now enough questions! You four!" The Commander pointed to four troops. "Bind them and let's go. The Matriarch grows impatient."
Before they even got the chance, a great blast of light blinded everyone.
"I do not think so," said a loud yet soft voice, very similar to the one James had heard in his head. "I will not have you poison the mind of this one."
A dark blue-skinned female with even darker colored long hair stood before the mouth of the cave. She wore a thin, dark blue dress. In the center of her dress was the shape of a diamond, surrounded by five little stars. Her deep blue eyes showed signs of wisdom, but also of beauty. A white aura surrounded her entire body, making her appear heavenly and angelic.
The female extended her arms. Balls of white energy began to form in the palm of her hands, and eventually burst, annihilating the hostiles, except for the Commander.
"This is all but trickery!" he spat, desperately.
"Or is it?" said the woman, as one more ball of energy formed and exploded, decimating him as well.
The fireteam looked with part amazement and part awe as to how easily the alien female had dispatched their would-be captors.
"Now that is the kind of girl I'd go for," whispered Roy to his comrades with a sly grin.
The female turned to face James. She seemed to be speaking to him, but he did not hear what she was saying. His head was beginning to spin. Then, he heard her voice in his head again. All is well now. You are safe. Sleep...
When he woke up, found that he was wearing very light yet very warm white clothing instead of his H.E.C.A. suit, which disturbed him slightly. She must have undressed me!, he thought to himself. But just who is she? He did not know the answer.
He examined the area he in which he was located. He seemed to be in an underground chamber, judging by the rocky aqua walls about him. There were crystal structures throughout the chamber: large ones sticking out of the ceiling, small ones sticking out of the side of the walls. Streams of crystal-clear water were running throughout the chamber. His squadmates were sleeping on the floor nearby. For the first time in the last few days, James felt at peace with himself.
"So, you are awake?" asked a soft, sweet voice that warmed James. It was the woman who had decimated the hostile aliens.
"Yes," he replied. He was admiring the alien's looks. For someone not human, he mused, she sure is beautiful.
"Beautiful, am I?" James was dumbfounded. How could she have known what he was thinking?! "Relax, James. I was only teasing you."
"How did you-"
"You will have all your questions answered in time, James, starting now. Do you know who I am?"
James remembered being in the same cavern in his dreams, and hearing the same woman's voice.
"So you remembered. Yes, I was the one who called you here; know that it is for an important purpose. I suppose I should explain myself to you, then?
"My name is Aeora. I was one of the first of my people, the Elestrians. I became the first Matriarch, a leader of my people. I taught the Elestrians to have an inner peace and harmony with themselves and with each other. And this was the way it was. For many years my people have prospered because of this.
"However, there was one of us who had shunned my teachings. Senara was her name. She was the one who had overthrown me and had taken the title of Matriarch away from me. She is the one that hunts you now."
"Why? Why is she hunting me in particular."
"You are to eager to hear the end of my tale. Have some patience, and you shall learn much. Now then. Senara had exiled me from my people, claiming my teachings to be 'false' and such. So I had ran hear, and hid. But I had learned much. My mental abilities were still strong, and I had seen what was going on. Senara had been imposing her will upon her fellow Elestrians. Those who did not abide by her dominion were executed. Over ten-thousand Elestrians were killed in cold blood that tainted the land.
"Senara was becoming insane. In order to ensure no one would question her, she forced everyone to receive a neural implant that would bind them to her will. As you probably guessed, she again killed those who opposed her.
"Eventually there were no more threats of an uprising. But Senara had lost her mind, and began having delusions of rebellions occurring. So she assaulted the planet needlessly with a rain of plasma missiles. The amount of energy that was discharged was immense. It was so strong that the planet's natural ecosystems and weather patterns were destroyed. This is why you see perpetual blizzards outside."
"But why did you want me to come here? What purpose do I serve for you?"
"My mental abilities are not just communicating telepathically and reading minds or shooting balls of energy. I have had a vision of you. I had seen you killing Senara, and from that moment onward I knew you were to be our savior. You are the one that will release my people from Senara's dominion."
"But why would I do that?"
"Because our races are both threatened by Senara. Your ship, the Achilles, contains information about your homeplanet, which Senara will most likely want to destroy out of fear that you will attack her. My race will be forever enslaved by Senara. Our races are two sides of the same coin. Senara's fate will determine both humanity's and Elestrian's fate.
"One last question: how will my squad and I be able to kill Senara? We are only four, and there must be millions of Elestrians protecting her."
"You must be very stealthy about your business. The less Elestrians you kill, the more of my race shall survive. Besides that, I shall give you, James, my blessing. I will share with you my power, so that you will have an easier time fighting Senara. She has powers as well as I do, so you will need them. Ease the tension in your body and relax, James..."
James began to get very lethargic as a ray of light was sent through his body. It felt as if his head was about to explode from a sudden rush of knowledge. After a few seconds, he returned to normal, except two balls of energy were formed in his hands.
"Interesting..." he said, contemplating his newfound power. He felt much more open minded and at ease than ever before. He enjoyed it. "Thank you, Aeora."
"No, James. Thank you for pledging to help me. Lay down and rest, for you will need it for when you leave."
James was thinking about all that had occurred and all he had learned. But he soon felt so exhausted that he could not resist it; and he fell asleep.
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I tried to make it sound suspenseful and mysterious and creepy. Enjoy! Oh, and I also added a warning, just in case...
I recently remembered one of my first hand-written stories that I wrote in school. It got all messed up because I wanted the reader to feel as if he was the 'main character', but... it didn't really work out. I've decided to redo the whole story, while keeping the main theme the same, which is simple, really: survival. So, without further ado, I give you: Lost in the Tundra.
Lost in the Tundra
Prologue...
-At the end of the 21st century, humanity discovered a way to traverse the unknown regions of space... The wormhole theory was, in fact, correct; there were "tunnels", shortcuts through space, which allowed humanity to traverse the infinite universe using little fuel and little effort. This discovery convinced the United Earth Nations (U.E.N.) to create a new military branch, designed specifically for space exploration, and, if need be, combat. They called it... Recon.
Recon troops were tough soldiers, and were hand-picked from the U.E.N. army. They were also well equipped with the latest in military tech: H.E.C.A. (Hazardous Environment Combat Armor), which was made of insulated kevlar covered by titanium plates, with attached combat visors and communicators for an informative view of any given zone on any given planet; S.P.R.s (Superheated Plasma Rifles) to easily dispatch hostiles; and all Recon personnel were required to take Iodine supplements in case a planet is radiated.
Recon troops were sent on various explorations, finding only few habitable planets for plant and animal life. However, their luck changed when Beta company located the planet Hydraxis, in the Aquarius system. This planet was incredibly brutal, with perpetual blizzards, massive glaciers, and permanently frozen soil. It was cold, but livable. But as terraforming technology advanced, it would not be long before the environment could be tamed. So the planet was earmarked and Beta company returned to Earth to report what they found. The U.E.N. was pleased with Beta company's findings and sent them back to collect a more in-depth study. This was their fatal mistake... For something was waiting there, something vicious and deadly.
Sergeant James Walker, of Beta company, was ordered to oversee the construction of a forward command post on the most stable part of Hydraxis. This was a usual operation, and was done on most earmarked planets. However, something about it made James uneasy. Two nights before he was dispatched with his squad, designation two-one-three, he had a strange dream... He was in his H.E.C.A. suit, standing inside a massive cavern of crystal, marveling at it's beauty. Then, all of a sudden, he hears a soft voice. "Come to me.... Come to me..." it repeated. The voice was seductive, and that of a female, all of which made James uneasy. And now he would hear the voice when he was awake.
"Relax, would ya?" said Amy Jameson, Beta company's medic. "If you're all tense, how am I supposed to examine you before you go?"
James was getting his routine checkup to make sure he was fit for the job he was going on just one day ahead. "I'm sorry, Amy. I'll ease up."
"Good," said Amy with a slight smile that warmed James.
Just as Amy was finishing up with her examination, Commander Hawkings, the the commanding officer of Beta company, showed up in the med-lab.
"How's our favorite Sergeant doing?" he asked, in a slightly whimsical manner.
"James is fine, Commander," replied Amy, before James could say anything.
"Sir, I'm always ready for any objective you throw my way. I swore to my pop that I'd carry on his line of work, and I don't plan on breaking my promise just yet. You say 'jump', I say 'how high'. It'll always be like that."
"Glad to hear it, Walker. And it's funny that you mention 'jumping', because that's what you and your squad are going to do. We can't land the Achilles on the planet's surface. It's to rough and uneven. We'll enter the planets atmosphere to drop you off from say... a few miles up."
"Understood, Commander."
James turned to leave to the elevator, but he was stopped by Commander Hawkings once again. "James?"
"Yes, Commander?"
"You make your father proud. I bet old Benjamin Walker's looking down at you from up there, wherever he is, and smiling at how seriously you take the military."
James painted a picture of his father in his mind. He envisioned him being saluted by the General of the Army, Robert Ford. Benjamin Walker, for your brave rescue of Gamma Squad Six-Nine-Zero when they crashed on Nexus Prime, you are promoted to Captain. Then the scene changed, and James saw his father talking to him as a child. Son, when you grow up, I want you to be just like your old man: brave, selfless, and most important of all, a soldier. To which he replied you got it, dad.
"Thank you, Commander Hawkings."
"Don't thank me, James. Thank your dad."
Chapter One:
Lost Contact
A day later, James and his fireteam, which consisted of Roy "Joker" Rodriguez, the Squad's grenadier; Roger "Picasso" Benelli, a master of the "art" of computer engineering, as he puts it; and Jonas "Headshot" Welski, a calm and quiet marskman who could hit a bird from a mile away without breaking a sweat; assembled in the drop-bay, about to load into pods. In Recon, "jumping" is a slang term which refers to dropping into a planet's atmosphere. It is in no way an easy or practical thing to do, especially when the planet's terrain is uneven and may even have pockets of hidden ice underneath light sheets of snow. But when a Recon ship can't land on the planet's surface, jumping is the only way of going in. And when you have to drop off building materials, it gets even more difficult. Specifically because the drop-pods for the materials are pretty big, to say the least. And mistakes could be costly, both in material in lives lost. But that's just the military for you, thought James.
"Alright boys, you know the drill," began James. "Any questions?"
"Yeah, I got one," responded Roy. "Why do we always have to go to all the boring places? Couldn't we have been assigned to the Solaris system? I hear the planets there are paradise!"
"You complain too much, Joker," chuckled Roger.
"Hey, hey! I have valid complaints! And who are you to judge, anyway? You whine like a little girl whenever your precious 'computer' gets all messed up n' stuff."
"You see, it's ignorance like that that won't get you anywhere."
"Cut it you two," said James with slight frustration. "We've got a job to do, so let's move out!"
Jumping causes different sensations. At first, the body begins to produce only slight amounts of adrenaline. But it builds up, and then the Recon soldier will begin to get nervous. Urinating, vomiting, and crying, are just a few of the many side-effects that occur when in a drop-pod. The force is immense, but luckily, Squad Two-One-Three made it okay. Roy, as usual, was complaining the whole way down. Jonas was as calm as ever. Only Roger had it rough, because he had a slight case of motion sickness. It only got on his combat boots, however, so it was alright. Touchdown wasn't so brutal because of the heavy layers of snow, and the building materials dropped shortly afterwards without killing the fireteam underneath.
"Aw man, looks like Picasso painted his boots orange!" cackled Roy.
"Go ahead and shove it up somewhere," retorted Roger, kicking the vomit off his boots and into the snow.
The squad looked around the landing sight. They saw that they were surrounded on all sides by a tall plateau, and thankfully that there wasn't much ice around in the area. But the only way to get through the plateau was through a little tunnel some thirty meters northward.
"Well sarge, I gotta say that this is one pretty place we got going on here," said Roy, sarcastically. "Nah, I'm just playin'! This place is like a museum, except it's even more bor-"
"I'll setup a sniping position on that small ridge over there, sir," said Jonas, cutting off Roy.
"You do that. Keep lively men. We got to look out for any possible dangers here."
"Yes sir!" said the rest of the fireteam in unison.
The command post was finished in less than four hours, using robotic workers to do all the harsh, manual labor. It was medium sized for a command center, with a control room, barracks, mess hall... Everything that was necessary for a fully functioning military building. Squad Two-One-Three kept a watchful eye out, but spotted no threats during the entire time. Sergeant Walker, however, heard the seductive female's voice again. "Come to me... You are so close... Come to me..."
He snapped out of it when one of his troops, Roy Rodriguez approached him.
"Sarge? You alright? You seemed to space out there for a second. Heh. Get it? Space out! MAN I'm a killer! You know... since we explore space?"
Roy had an odd sense of humor, which was alright by the crewmen, since humor in the world of Recon was difficult to find.
"I'm fine, Joker. Thanks for asking. It's just that... nevermind. Let's just report back to the Commander."
"Sure man, whatever you say!"
But something wasn't right. The squad tried to establish connection to the Achilles via short-range communicator, but the signal wouldn't go through.
"What the hell is going on with this piece of crap!" cried Roger Benelli, squad two-one-three's mechanical and computer engineer. "It's assembled properly, and the snow shouldn't affect it at all. And the Achilles is orbiting this very god-damned planet!"
"Ooo! Looks like Picasso is losing his touch with his 'inner artistic abilities'," said Roy insultingly.
"Shutup Joker. It's not my fault. I'm a professional. Maybe it's just that this communicator is defective..."
"Excuses, excuses. A real artist makes no excuses. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that."
"You're a butt-head, Joker, you know that? Why don't you make yourself useful and see if you can ask our 'beloved' pilot Foley on the Achilles and see what's going down."
"Picasso needs help from me? I'm flattered!"
"Just do it..." muttered Roger with a sigh.
"Okay, okay. I'll do it. Hold up."
Roy toggled his communicator through his tactical visor and opened communications with Corporal Foley.
"Hola' senior Foley!" No reply.
"Corporal Foley? What's goin' on man?" Yet again, no reply.
"Sarge, I opened communications with Corporal Foley but I got no replies from him."
"Try again and see what happens."
"Aight'. Hey Foley, pick up!"
"Hey Joker, I really wish I could talk right now but, well... we're kinda taking fire from an unknown cruiser so... yeah. Don't worry, we'll take him down soon en- what? What?! Oh no, this can't be happening... No, no, no, no, no... AHHHH-" The line went dead.
"That's not good..."
"What is it, Joker?" asked James.
"The Achilles is under attack by a foreign ship. Foley said it'd be no problem, but then he panicked and the line went dead."
"Relax a minute. Let me check out the situation on my tactical visor..."
Sergeant Walker and his team looked for the Achilles on their tactical visor, and they found that it was under attack. Multiple hostiles were engaging the Achilles, and the Recon vessel itself was taking much damage. But the Achilles was retaliating. Small fighters were being dispatched and were engaging the enemy. The enemy ships were overwhelmed by Beta company's fighters, or so they thought. The hostiles dispatched their own fighters in bigger numbers than that of Beta company. The battle was lost, and Squad Two-One-Three knew it. But then
the Squad received new readings of multiple drop-pods falling to the surface. They're evacuating, thought the Sergeant, which means there might be survivors. We'll try and save them.
"Sarge, are you reading this?" exclaimed Roy. "The Achilles is being totaled! What the hell are we gonna do?!"
All of a sudden they heard a blast coming from the direction of the command post. It was obliterated, along with the robotic laborers that built it, and marching towards the fireteam were strange bluish humanoids with metallic plates covering their vitals and faces. They carried S.P.R.s similar to Recon's, but much more advanced in design.
"We're in real deep now, boys!" shouted Walker. "Take cover behind that snow-dune!" James pointed Southwards.
"This is gonna be fun!" said Jonas with a grin as he cocked his scoped S.P.R.
"You got that right!" said Roy.
While Beta Squad Two-One-Three prepared for combat, Sergeant James Walker remembered the voice he heard, and wondered if the female it belonged to had anything to do with what had just happened.
Chapter Two:
Aeora
Jonas quickly dispatched one of the oncoming aliens. Reloading his gun, he whispered, "One shot, one kill."
"Watchu' want!?" shouted Roy, alternating his fire between two of the hostiles. "You ain't got nothin' on me, homie!"
The hostiles began to shoot back, and Roy put his head down with a shriek.
"I've got your back," assured Roger, as he tossed a plasma grenade right in front of the two who were shooting at Roy. In a matter of milliseconds, the aliens were disintegrated in a serenade of dark blue and bright white light.
"Nice throw, man!" said Roy, as he patted Roger on the back.
"Thank you."
"Sir, we've got more hosties inbound," reported Jonas.
"I don't think we'll want to be here when they come around. They came from the South, so we'll move in the opposite direction. Lets move out!"
The fireteam moved Northbound as quickly as possible in order not to have to face any more of the aliens. This was smart, because just a few minutes later, more of them came to the ruins of the command post, expecting to find Squad Two-One-Three. One alien, distinguished from the rest by a red arrow running down his helm followed by an upside-down five-pointed star, spoke in a harsh, frustrated, and commanding tone to his comrades.
"Where is the human?!" He looked around, but there were no humans in sight.
"Commander, our scouts have spotted them here."
"Then the scouts must have been hallucinating because I do not! This is intolerable, you hear me? INTOLERABLE! The Matriarch requested the human's immediate capture. When she finds out her army has failed her, she will become enraged!"
"Commander..." began a scout that had just ran onto the scene.
"What is it?!" he spat back angrily.
"I have spotted them heading Northwards. They are heading towards... her."
The Commander paused for a moment. "Well? Are you just going to wait until they have audience with her? Stop them!"
"As you wish. Go, go, go!" And so the aliens made chase, but due to their numbers, they had to move slowly, which angered the Commander.
"Order the Northern platoons to ambush them at the mouth of the cave. They shall not enter it!"
Beta Squad Two-One-Three covered much ground in half-an-hour. They had almost made it to the tunnel that they assumed led out of the depression in the terrain they were presently in. But their journey had halted abruptly when Jonas had warned them of enemies waiting for them.
"They're planning to ambush us," said James.
"But the worst part is that they are also coming from behind as well. They are almost here."
"Man... of all the other jobs I could have taken I just had to join Recon," said Roy as he let out a dismal sigh.
The aliens arrived no sooner than Roy finished speaking and had surrounded the fireteam
"Aw come on!" said Roy, even more frustrated.
The alien commander stepped forwards from the rest of his troops. "Hello, humans," he said, in a pretend kind voice. "Welcome to the humble planet of Sonarus, or 'Hydraxis', as you humans know it. Throw down your weapons, and we won't have to harm you."
"You heard him, Squad. Throw your firearms down." And so they did.
"Good... It's nice to have some cooperation from your race instead of rebellion. That way we don't have to clean up after your mess."
James was saddened at the thought of the aliens dismembering his friends. A tear trickled down his face as he started to speak.
"What do you want from humanity?"
"'We' do not want anything. The Matriarch wants you. We destroyed your vessel assuming you were aboard. The fact that you were not is slightly inconvenient, but we'll have to make due."
This "Matriarch" must be the one who's voice I heard in my head! That b****...
"Why does she want me?"
"That is her prerogative to share with you when you meet her. Now enough questions! You four!" The Commander pointed to four troops. "Bind them and let's go. The Matriarch grows impatient."
Before they even got the chance, a great blast of light blinded everyone.
"I do not think so," said a loud yet soft voice, very similar to the one James had heard in his head. "I will not have you poison the mind of this one."
A dark blue-skinned female with even darker colored long hair stood before the mouth of the cave. She wore a thin, dark blue dress. In the center of her dress was the shape of a diamond, surrounded by five little stars. Her deep blue eyes showed signs of wisdom, but also of beauty. A white aura surrounded her entire body, making her appear heavenly and angelic.
The female extended her arms. Balls of white energy began to form in the palm of her hands, and eventually burst, annihilating the hostiles, except for the Commander.
"This is all but trickery!" he spat, desperately.
"Or is it?" said the woman, as one more ball of energy formed and exploded, decimating him as well.
The fireteam looked with part amazement and part awe as to how easily the alien female had dispatched their would-be captors.
"Now that is the kind of girl I'd go for," whispered Roy to his comrades with a sly grin.
The female turned to face James. She seemed to be speaking to him, but he did not hear what she was saying. His head was beginning to spin. Then, he heard her voice in his head again. All is well now. You are safe. Sleep...
When he woke up, found that he was wearing very light yet very warm white clothing instead of his H.E.C.A. suit, which disturbed him slightly. She must have undressed me!, he thought to himself. But just who is she? He did not know the answer.
He examined the area he in which he was located. He seemed to be in an underground chamber, judging by the rocky aqua walls about him. There were crystal structures throughout the chamber: large ones sticking out of the ceiling, small ones sticking out of the side of the walls. Streams of crystal-clear water were running throughout the chamber. His squadmates were sleeping on the floor nearby. For the first time in the last few days, James felt at peace with himself.
"So, you are awake?" asked a soft, sweet voice that warmed James. It was the woman who had decimated the hostile aliens.
"Yes," he replied. He was admiring the alien's looks. For someone not human, he mused, she sure is beautiful.
"Beautiful, am I?" James was dumbfounded. How could she have known what he was thinking?! "Relax, James. I was only teasing you."
"How did you-"
"You will have all your questions answered in time, James, starting now. Do you know who I am?"
James remembered being in the same cavern in his dreams, and hearing the same woman's voice.
"So you remembered. Yes, I was the one who called you here; know that it is for an important purpose. I suppose I should explain myself to you, then?
"My name is Aeora. I was one of the first of my people, the Elestrians. I became the first Matriarch, a leader of my people. I taught the Elestrians to have an inner peace and harmony with themselves and with each other. And this was the way it was. For many years my people have prospered because of this.
"However, there was one of us who had shunned my teachings. Senara was her name. She was the one who had overthrown me and had taken the title of Matriarch away from me. She is the one that hunts you now."
"Why? Why is she hunting me in particular."
"You are to eager to hear the end of my tale. Have some patience, and you shall learn much. Now then. Senara had exiled me from my people, claiming my teachings to be 'false' and such. So I had ran hear, and hid. But I had learned much. My mental abilities were still strong, and I had seen what was going on. Senara had been imposing her will upon her fellow Elestrians. Those who did not abide by her dominion were executed. Over ten-thousand Elestrians were killed in cold blood that tainted the land.
"Senara was becoming insane. In order to ensure no one would question her, she forced everyone to receive a neural implant that would bind them to her will. As you probably guessed, she again killed those who opposed her.
"Eventually there were no more threats of an uprising. But Senara had lost her mind, and began having delusions of rebellions occurring. So she assaulted the planet needlessly with a rain of plasma missiles. The amount of energy that was discharged was immense. It was so strong that the planet's natural ecosystems and weather patterns were destroyed. This is why you see perpetual blizzards outside."
"But why did you want me to come here? What purpose do I serve for you?"
"My mental abilities are not just communicating telepathically and reading minds or shooting balls of energy. I have had a vision of you. I had seen you killing Senara, and from that moment onward I knew you were to be our savior. You are the one that will release my people from Senara's dominion."
"But why would I do that?"
"Because our races are both threatened by Senara. Your ship, the Achilles, contains information about your homeplanet, which Senara will most likely want to destroy out of fear that you will attack her. My race will be forever enslaved by Senara. Our races are two sides of the same coin. Senara's fate will determine both humanity's and Elestrian's fate.
"One last question: how will my squad and I be able to kill Senara? We are only four, and there must be millions of Elestrians protecting her."
"You must be very stealthy about your business. The less Elestrians you kill, the more of my race shall survive. Besides that, I shall give you, James, my blessing. I will share with you my power, so that you will have an easier time fighting Senara. She has powers as well as I do, so you will need them. Ease the tension in your body and relax, James..."
James began to get very lethargic as a ray of light was sent through his body. It felt as if his head was about to explode from a sudden rush of knowledge. After a few seconds, he returned to normal, except two balls of energy were formed in his hands.
"Interesting..." he said, contemplating his newfound power. He felt much more open minded and at ease than ever before. He enjoyed it. "Thank you, Aeora."
"No, James. Thank you for pledging to help me. Lay down and rest, for you will need it for when you leave."
James was thinking about all that had occurred and all he had learned. But he soon felt so exhausted that he could not resist it; and he fell asleep.
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I tried to make it sound suspenseful and mysterious and creepy. Enjoy! Oh, and I also added a warning, just in case...
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