((Urgh, i'm going to be totally honest. I have NO idea how, why, and even what happened with this story. I was playing Starcraft and getting my ass handed to be by the AI ( I haven't played in like two years *Shrugs*)) And this suddenly popped into my head and i just opened word and started typing...An hour later, here i am a thousandish words on my hand and no idea what to do with it. So i decided i'd bore the world with this and upload it for the fun of it. An hours work with little to no direction.))
((If you do read this, please leave a comment/review. Tell me how bad it is, or if you think it's salvagable, i might be able to make something out of it. Who knows.))
Antaria's last message: Always starts with a storm
Antaria, a desolate planet at it's best, down right dangerous and uninhabitable at worse. Ninety percent or more of its surface was desert; the rest was fortifications build by the Terran Dominion.
There was little use in the planet, it was remote and lacked any strategic value, save a massive deposit of the blue crystals every race in the Kouporal sector harnessed for their war efforts.
Unknown to the garrison that watched over the mining operation, they weren't the only ones with eyes set on the dust ball of a planet.
"They should have reported in by now…Shouldn't they?" One of the technicians' asked his companion, eyes glued to the sensor readout. A sandstorm had picked up recently, driving most people inside, and it was playing hell with the scanners. "It's been two hours with no word from the Ikea."
"Alex, shut up!" His friend barely resisted the urgh to smack the younger tech. "The storms probably knocked out the comsat station again. Once it passes they can fix it and get us back online."
Alex opened his mouth for a second, before snapping it shut again, the blond haired teenager knew better then to argue. Fears or not, he wasn't one to push the issue. Besides, the boss was probably right.
Sadly the planet only had a few suitable locations where their command posts could be set up. And the only place the comm tower could be established and still get a clear signal out to orbit was a good five miles away from the main outpost. Forcing the dominion to split its attention and forces. A mistake that was unknowingly being exploited.
"Comm's offline…Operation complete." A cold voice burst through the static and made Corporal Jackson wince slightly, how he disliked the spooks, voices were so cold and emotionless, sent chills down his spine just thinking about it.
"Got it." He responded after a moment, blasted ghost probably heard that and all.
"You're surprised?" The same voice spoke again, this time a faint hint of amusement edging the words.
"Can it…And keep out of my head jackass." Jackson snarled, before breaking the transmission. How he hated working with them. But this operation couldn't afford mistakes, and that meant putting his issues aside.
Pulling the hammer back on his impaler, the marine gave a slight nod to the squad around him, before setting off towards the comsat station. He couldn't see it through the storm, but the hud that decorated the inside of his visor had dropped a waypoint, all he had to do was follow it.
"Two on the door. Orders sir?" One of the marines whispered, Jackson noted with a hint of pride the marine was already in position to take the shot and kill one of them. Without pause, he pulled his rifle up and took aim as well. "Quietly delta, on three."
He slowly counted up. And as soon as he reached the number, both fired a short burst. The silhouettes of their targets flickered and vanished a second later. "Think anyone heard that?"
"Doubt it. Keep moving," His gaze snapped down to a countdown timer to one side of his visor. "Two minutes till the scanners activate." Everything had gone to plan so far. With the storm playing hell with the dominion equipment, it had been easy for a dropship brave, or stupid depending on the persons point of view, to land a strike team, the ghosts had easily hacked a hole in the array and brought them enough time to reach the station.
All they had to do now was silence the crew.
The timer was down to one minute when they reached the door; one of the ghosts had rejoined them at this point. And Alessa was quick on her wrist mounted computer. "Three, two…One." The doors slid open and before Jackson could even blink, she vanished in a flicker and was gone. Another reason why he disliked them, you could never tell when they were in the room watching…
Shaking his head, he waved his squad through and followed close behind. "Watch for movement, no chance they'd leave this place undefended…" A motion tracker popped up on his screen, and he noted several red blips moving off to the sides. Other rooms no doubt.
The building was the standard metal corridors and lights. Nothing special really, though he cringed in disdain at the dominion banners hanging up here and there. How anyone found this decorative he couldn't say.
Raising a hand, he swiftly waved the five others with him into position. Two for each side room, and one to keep going to the main room with him.
As the two continued onwards, he heard the muted barks of rifle fire and heard the reports from his fellow soldiers, all dead no sound. So far the base was unaware they were even on the planet, let alone inside the comm center with them.
"One guard, two techs working on the computers, orders?" Alessa's voice filled his ears, unlike her superior her voice was sweet and almost innocent, a stark contrast to the woman it belonged to.
"Were at the door. Soon as it opens, take the guard, we'll handle the others." Jackson replied, his hands tightening there grip on the impaler. "Go!" The doors sprung apart automatically, sensing movement they parted without protest.
The first thing he saw, was another power armoured marine, the red and black suit now sporting more red then usual thanks to a sizeable hole punched through it by Alessa's C10. Before he even hit the ground, the unarmed techs were dead and on the ground as well. "Fifteen seconds!" Alessa snapped, already her weapon was slung across her back and she was madly tapping away at one of the consoles. "Cutting it close!" She hissed, Jackson simply rolled his eyes. As she'd already finished hacking the terminal by this point.
"Okay, sensors are offline. Comsat down. Soon as the storm passes, we can deal with the main command center…"
The storm would likely last for a few more hours. With a slight shifting of his head, Jacksons visor slid up and out of the way, revealing the young man behind it. He was only in his early twenty's. The only reason he held a rank was due to the fact he was due to his squad leader being killed in the last mission. He'd been the poor bastard picked to replace him for the assault on Antaria.
One armoured hand moved to wipe the sweat from his face, no easy feat thanks to the helmet and gauntlet. "Soon as the storm lifts. The rest of the strike team will join us. And the dominion won't know what hit them."
Antaria would soon be liberated. And it's resources put to much better use. The Kel-Moria Combine would see to that