Island of Secrets
Chapter 1: Into Darkness
Speach: Sample
Dinosaur Speach: Sample
Location: Off the coast of Costa Rica, U.S.S Mjolnir
Time: 14:35
The sun was finally giving way, good thing too; I was never a fan of sunlight. The corridors on this vessel were slightly more crampped than I'd enjoy, but remembering my pay seemed to mitigate the blow, though I paid it no mind. I made it to the rec room in this massive ship, sighing inwardly when I saw our contractor, whose plethura of scars were almost glistening, since she was using only a tank top with her combat pants & boots. Her brown hair was bound in a ponytail. She slouched over the counter & she appeared to have something in her hands, but I was still at the entrance, behind her, so I was unable to tell, though I could guess it was liqour. I walked to the counter & ordered a shot of whiskey... Ok, so I guess I should talk about myself while I'm at it. My name is Shaun, I'm 20 years old & have short brown hair, which I choose to keep that way, along with my clean face. I was wearing aviators since I got tired of being constantly bothered about my pale grey eye color. I'm wearing combat jeans, work boots & a bullet proof sweater, courtesy of SPECTRE Body Armor manufacturers. Their armor always combined style with function. This swater weighed nothing, yet it could stop a magnum round, but not at close range. I emptied the shot & asked for another round. Our contractor looked to her left, eyeing me lazily, then getting back to her drink. The bartender filled her glass with a worried expression, before filling mine more vigorously. I take it, thank the bartender, then turn around, my back now facing the counter. I look around, to see the other four men that I've been assigned with. I sigh & gulp down my shot, placing it on the counter without turning around, then I look at the youngest of us. His hair was a light brown & his eyes were blue. He, along with everyone else, excluding the contractor, wore the same sweater & pants. His shoes were meant for hiking, by the looks of the small cleats under them.
"What's your name, child?" I ask, catching his attention. He was sitting on a bench, polishing a desert eagle when I asked him, withdrawing it to pay better attention to me.
"Call me Drako..." He said, then turned to the table next to the bench & spoke.
"What about you?" Drako asks to the man next to him, on the other side of the table. This man had his blonde hair pulled back slick. He had an eyepatch over his right eye, but no scar, suggesting he lost the eye naturally or subtly. His boots looked sleak, but tough; combat boots if I'm not mistaken. He leaned further into the table & sighed.
"Ares. And yes, that's a code name, just like yours." He said, pointing at Drako. Drako laughed slightly & looked in my direction. He saw the contractor & looked intently. I knew that look, but didn't bother to reprimand him for it. The contractor turned around & looked at the other two men, smiling.
"Well, I'll do the introductions for these two. They're my personal guards, after all. Everyone, meet Dante & Jett." She said, pointing at the silver haired man first, then the baseball cap wearing man next.
"Pleasure to meet all of you." Said Dante, gripping his P-90 loosely. He looked around anxiously, but settled down quickly.
"Same here... But, I'm already familiar with Drako..." Said Jett, getting a nod from the mentioned mercenary. Yes, we're all mercenaries. And, we've been assigned to a special mission by the United Nations. Normally, I'd reject an offer from an entity that big, but my purse was tight & the coin offered was no joke. In fact, I rejected a similar offer from InGen, which they didn't take too lightly. Strange company, that one... Our contractor spoke up.
"Well, now that we're all good buddies, I'm about to begin the debriefing, so listen up. As you all know, we're working under the jurisdiction of the UN, which means any government oficial can go suck it if they interrupt our mission..." She paused, noticing the smirks some of us had. She smiled & continued.
"Our mission is to go to an island chain known as 'Las Cinco Muertes', specifically 'Isla Sorna', or Site B..." She was interrupted by me.
"These islands are InGen property. The rumors anyone has heard about them are true: InGen used these islands to produce dinosaurs in accordance with their agreement with Hammond Industries & the such. However, Site A was bombed with Napalm after the "Jurassic Incident". Site B was where the dinosaurs were created & shipped to Site A..." I stopped, noticing that the contractor was staring daggers at me. She sighed & continued.
"Yes, Site B remained untouched & was abandoned, but the UN wants us to go gather the information left at those facilities & bring it back. We leave in 5 hours, so I suggest you grab your gear now & wait for me at the helipad..." She finished & turned around, motioning to the bartender...
'This woman is amazing... Three glasses of vodka & she's barely fazed...' My thoughts lingered, then I went to my quarters.
It took me an hour to get there, given that this cruiser was massive indeed. I wonder how much the UN invested in this operation. What caught me off guard was that there was no military presence on this ship, which meant we were all private contracts... Whatever the UN is planning on doing with the information, it seems they don't want anyone snitching. I reached the door to my cabin & opened it. Just your standard ship lodging, mind you. I took out the duffel bag under the bunk & pulled out two Karambit knives. I placed them on either side of my waist & then walked up to the extra wide drawer in front of me. I opened it & retrieved a katana, a Jonin-Maru. Sharp, elegant, light & steady. It belonged to my father. He told me he earned this sword through blood & trust in Japan. His tattoos were also a sign, so he said. I slung it to my back, tying it accordingly, yet firmly & closed the upper cabinet, opening the lower one. I retrieved my .44 magnum & my M4A1, customized with night vision scope (collapsable) & fore grip. I slung it & holstered my magnum. I also picked up a small book someone left in my cabin. Before paying the book any mind, I approached my duffel bag once more & pulled out an ammo holster belt. I took two Magnum round clips & three 5.56m Round clips (for my rifle) & clipped the belt on my waist. I then saw a small note on the book's cover...
"Good luck..." I read the note stuck to said book, which was a dinosaur encyclopedia; fitting...
As I made my way to the helipad, I bumped into Drako & Jett. I waved to them slightly & they slowed down, so now the three of us are walking to the helipad.
"You didn't tell us your name..." Said Jett, inspecting his AK with a keen eye. Drako sheathed the damascus combat knife he had in his left hand to his right shoulder sheathe.
"Not that it'll matter once we get to the island... From what I've heard, this isn't the first excursion to this place..." Drako trailed off while I crossed my arms, listening to each word carefully. I then remember the book & pull it out, beginning to read it on our way to the helipad. Jett notices the book, but doesn't bother asking about it. After a rather quick walk, we made it to the helipad, where there was a helo waiting for us, its blades spinning harshly to prove this point. Our contractor came from the small cockpit, where Dante & Ares were waiting. Dante now had two desert eagles, one was black; the other, white. He was flourishing them slightly, but with a good degree of skill. He then holstered them when he noticed our approach & smiled. The contractor looked at me, Drako & Jett, then gave a thumbs up, walking back to her spot. We entered, and I was able to notice Ares' weapon of choice was an MK-49 Light Machine Gun, with a 100-round box mag & fore grip. He smiled, but it was more of a cold smile, forced upon due to years of politeness. Once we were fastened, I began to pour on the book I got.
'Compsognathus, or Compy: These chicken-sized bipedals are scavengers, known for "cleaning" bodies to the bone. In great quantities, they may consider live prey, depending on whether they are distracted by the "scout" or not. Diet consisting of insects, scavenged goods & meat, when available.' I read through the first twenty pages, then closed the book & looked outside to my right. That's when I saw it, the beauty of the island we were heading to. I could only watch in awe. Everyone else was staring at the island too, sharing the window parallel to mine. Dante broke the silence in a very unusual way:
"Abandon hope, All ye who Enter Here..." He said, making me smile warmly. Jett, who was in the co-pilot's seat, spoke up.
"Well, that's encouraging... ETA, 6 minutes. Weapons hot, ladies!" He announced, causing most of us to nod in agreement. I loaded all my weapons before getting in the chopper, so I simply leaned back to my seat, trying in vain to catch slep, since Drako & Ares made small talk.
"Did you hear what happened at the Park?" Asked Drako. Ares looked away, through the window, as if ignoring him; he answered the question...
"Only that it was the fault of one employee. Dennis, I think he was named. Bastard never made it out of the Park, though. Instant karma if you ask me..." Ares responded, then looked down to his gun. I glanced only, but I could tell his grip was tightened, just for an instant. The sounds of birds could no longer be heard, drowned out by the blades on our helicopter, as we approached the island's sandy shore. What caught my attention was the bunker with a small helipad on it, sitting right there, mere feet away from the water. The helicopter landed, albeit roughly, on the helipad & the five of us got out, scanning our vacinity.
"Clear!" I say, lazily holding my M4, still looking around nervously for any sign of danger. Dante was wielding his P-90 firmly, looking South West to a great mountain.
"Seems we're next to the island's natural perimeter. Which means we're currently... at the far South East corner of this island." Said Dante, who was looking at a compass he had, then he stored it in his left pocket, dropping his guard. We looked at each other, then at the contractor.
"I'll give Jett the satelite phone. From the chopper, I spotted a compound about 6 clicks Northwest of this bunker. Contact me when you've got the data. Since this island's systems run on geo-thermal & hydraulic energy, all systems should be opertaional; that is, if they haven't been tampered with." The contractor told us, then she motioned to the pilot. The helo took off, leaving the five of us on the helipad. Jett holstered the satelite phone, slinging his AK & adjusted his baseball cap. He looked to be Drako's age, with green eyes & red hair. Drako was aiming down the scope of his M16 (extended clip, ACOG) & sighed.
"There's a path we can follow to the nearest compound, but it's barely visible. There appear to be... chickens? No..." We were caught offguard by this remark, so I looked through my scope, making sure the NV was set to OFF first. I then cleared any doubts by mentioning the name of these small & green dinosaurs.
"Compies, at least five of them. We're lucky, then. It'd be disastrous if there were one of them..." I said, which seemed to earn me some confused looks. Ares, being the most baffled of the group by my remark, spoke up.
"Why is one worse than five?" He asked in a crude manner.
"If it's one, that makes it a scout. Compies are known to hide, sending in a scout to size up prey, distracting them while the pack sorrounds it silently. This is akin to how hyenas act when they face larger animals..." I trailed off, until I noticed Dante aiming his gun at them. They were a mere fifteen feet away, so I knew it was a warning shot. I quickly stepepd in however, lowering Dante's P-90 before he could fire.
"What the fuck? Let me shoot them, dammit..." He said, then Drako intervened.
"Even if you don't hit them, it'd be a risk to fire off a gun here. Unless any of you brought suppressors..." He said, then we looked at Ares, who simply chuckled & handed them out, smiling.
"Thought they'd come in handy... Still... Conserve ammunition. I doubt a gun would do good for ten of those ankle-biters..." He said, then slung his MK-49, unholstering his Makarov & pointing it down, signaling us with his left hand to follow him. I slung my M4 & pulled out my karambits in each hand, simulating claws. Jett unholstered his M1911 & a tactical knife, holding the knife in his right hand, backhandded, using his arm to support his gun hand. Drako kept his M16 trained forward, while Dante pulled out his twin desert eagles, holdng them forward, ready to blast anything in his path. We reached the worn path in a matter of seconds, then walked slowly forward, our guns trained in the same direction, while our eyes moved around, seeking to our left & right. One of the compies got close to us while the other four watched carefully. It walked up to me, chirping lowly as it stared up at my face. I noticed the rest of my ragtag squad backed up, leaving me in the front.
"Oh... Hello there, small one..." I said, lowering my knife wielding arms & crouching to get a better look at it. It was chirping slightly, while tilting its head to the right as it looked at me. I looked to my left, to see the other four staring silently. I tried reaching for it, but it hissed, earning me interesting looks from the other four compies, not that they could accomplish much with their lack in strength.
"Relax... I won't hurt you..." I said, then sheathed my left karambit & held out my left fist. The compy flinched slightly, then gave a tentative smell at my knuckles. It then lowered its head, so I took the oportunity & caressed its head lightly. It recoiled from the touch, then cooed when it realized what I was doing. I was petting a dinosaur. An actual fucking dinosaur. And it was LOVING it! It then jumped on my wrist, which caught me off guard. I refused to flinch however, knowing that it would certainly agitate it. Instead, I motioned with my right hand after I sheathed my other knife & the little creature seemed to understand me: it jumped off my wrist & returned to look at me quizically. Allthewhile, the other four were around me, but did nothing, chirping slightly with each other. Then they looked at the rest of the squad. Dante was smiling, while Drako & Jett looked nervous. Ares was holding his Makarov tightly, though he looked relaxed.
"I bet you guys are hungry..." I mulled, then pulled out a granola bar. I then looked behind me & winked with my right eye to the squad, then placed my right hand with the bar close to the compy I petted. The squad followed my hint, each one retrieving a snack bar of his own. The other four compies caught on & one went to each man...
Once the compies were fed, they let out soft chirps & coos. I could only guess this meant thanks.
"Not even a day here & we've already made friends..." Says Dante, as his compy was on his head, on its haunches, resting it seemed. All the other compies followed. Jett's compy rested in a backpack he was carrying, poking its head out. Drako's compy rested on his right shoulder, it was the smallest of the bunch. The eldest compy, which seemed to have a few scars, climbed onto Ares' gun & sniffed it, then it went to Ares' head. Meanwhile, I was holding my compy like how someone would hold their baby, caressing its yellow-ish underbelly with my left hand, since my right hand was supporting it. It seemed to squeal in delight with my gentle touch. Time had been lost to us during our interaction with the Locals. We walked down the path, making sure our little partners were comfortable as we walked. Ares' compy got off of him & walked beside him like some kind of guard dog. It was kinda cute, really...
***POV SWITCH***
Seemingly glowing grey eyes stalked from the dark cover of nearby bushes, as the body of a velociraptor came to view. It's leathery skin was auburn, whith black stripes which ranged from its jaw to the tip of its tail, leaving an "open space" in between them. Its claws were an ebony black. It looked on, carefully watching these... bipedal creatures... Humans, if the elders' descriptions were of relevance here. It watched on, taking note of the humans' lack of hostility towards the green vermin.
"Hmm... These humans are... odd. The elders spoke only tribulation & wrath towards them, yet they do not show any threatening signs... not even to those vermin..." The raptor was lost in thought after conversing, with itself... Then, another raptor made its presence known. This one was a dark shade of blue, with a light grey underbelly & with six small, red frills on its head, close to its pure amber eyes. Its claws were a lighter shade, bordering on faded white. It looked at the humans, then at its fellow raptor,who was about three inches smaller than it, before speaking.
"Serena... I've warned you about wandering too far from our territory... Secondly, these humans have to die..." It spoke to its pack mate. Serena, this being the name of the auburn raptor, spoke up.
"Why? They're not hostile... I mean, they've given no signs of hostility... We should observe them more... Alpha will be pleased if we bring her news of the humans. More so if the humans show interesting behaviour, Kellam." She said, looking at the raptor named Kellam, who sighed.
"Go ahead & mull over these meatbags. Call for me when you've considered them a meal..." Said Kellam, walking away slightly.
Serena huffed out, having half a mind to slap Kellam with her tail, until she brought her attention back to the humans, who were taking a path which lead to a human built nest of hardened rocks. Then, a rather distant blast was heard, drawing everyone's attention to the shoreline...
***POV Switch***
"Shit!" Said Ares, as he ran to the shore, with us following closely. What we saw was beyond belief: a monster of the sea; Mososaurus, if the book was correct. We caught but a glimpse of this creature, along with the remains of the naval carrier. Jett quickly pulled out his satelite phone & dialed '2'.
"Ma'am, are you there?!" He nearly screamed. After three seconds of static, we got an answer.
"Jett! You have to continue to the... outpost... signal for rescue. It's too late for... us... I don't know how many of us survived the explosions, but I doubt- wait... There's something in the water... It looks like-*static*..." We then saw another glimpse of the mosasaurus, as it dissappeared into the ocean depths. We stood there in silence, as even our compies were staring in the direction of the remains of our vessel. I then began walking down the path again...
"We have to proceed with the mission... With any hope, we can radio in a rescue..." I said, absent mindedly petting my compy, which I was still holding "baby" style, except it turned over, having its underbelly resting on my right arm now.
"We just lost our contract & you want us to fucking CONTINUE?! Did you even noticed what the fuck just fucking happened?!" Said Ares, exasperated by the recently transpired events. Drako spoke up, eager to lighten the mood.
"We were contacted by the UN, each one of us... Our contract is with them... We might be deducted a couple thousand for this... incident... but we answer to them..." He said, then Jett & Dante nodded, Dante being careful not to drop his partner. The four of them followed me, but not before Ares sighed in annoyance & fell in with the group. We walked for a half hour now, judging by the sun's position. The compound was within our line of sight, at twenty meters away, on a cliffside...
Then, we heard it...
A/N: Well, this is interesting, right? Me, writing about dinos... Well, I'll just say this, right off the bat: I will NOT be paying as much attention to this story as my Pokemon story. This is what you would consider an 'In the Meantime' story, written as I wait for my outstanding co-writer & friend xX-xeXeeD-Xx while he carries his torch in our stories. Honestly, I'm doing this for three reasons: First, I've been interested in a fic for Jurassic Park in quite some time. Secondly, The fics that do exist are good, don't get me wrong, but the few I've seen that gave me the motivation to proceed were GREAT, like the one made by Vantage77. You people know which one... Thirdly, I want to contribute to the Jurassic Fanbase & what better way to do it, right?
Well, ramblings aside, I'm really looking forward with this story. I know I stated that this would be a way to pass the time, but that's no excuse to make CRAP. Well, not much to say anymore, except to ask you denizens to leave a review. I'm also accepting Dino OC's, through PM of course. I've got three spots open, so cast your votes, after leaving a review. Duh...
Ciao,
-Prince Blood Moons