Origins

The year is 2055 and humanity was spread to the stars under the protection and government of the UEC (United Earth Coalition) with its vast navy and armies of men to defend her colonies. But as man expanded a race of aliens saw humans as a blight on the universe and took it upon themselves to remove it. The K'Zaux, a race of upright walking reptiles that resembled a legendary dragon, two horns on their heads that curved back, frills along their cheeks… their eyes have a predatory gleam in their silted pupils.

Warning invasion detected…. planet?... Tecar…. class?... Industrial…. Production?... negative…. Research?... Positive…. Experimental artifact…. Invasion size?... Leviathan…. Dispatch 5th fleet…. estimated arrival…. three weeks…. Unacceptable!... Dispatch 479th ODSTs aboard Battleship Titus… Acceptable… orders sent… reinforcements warping in….

Journal excerpt from UEC Defenders( We fought day and night against enemies that had superior weapons and support, we fought like cornered rats…. huddled in pockets of rubble and whatever cover we could hid in. The first time we were fired upon by these creatures one of their energy weapons hit a friend of mine… you… you… could see his flesh melting away were he was hit in the head, hell the shit ate through ceramic plates. I just pray to whoever finds this that they get the hell out this hole and off this damned planet… because god knows I'm not.) Pvt. Jenkins of the 57th PDF(Planetary defense force), KIA on Tecar killed by enemy fire while protecting civilians, died a hero of the UEC.

We reached the planet only seven hours after D-Day and everything had gone to hell but we were hell jumpers and we had a mission… to secure a special package planeside. We would be jumping right into the municipal along pre-designated paths that fancy computers had plotted for our pods or most likely coffins after we left ship this run. I had no trust or even wished to trust those damned computers, experience has taught me over the years that those things have a very… very small margin for error and falling from orbit was all but perfect in a steel coffin that was plummeting towards the ground at terminal velocity. I'm no fool and I knew as soon as we saw the blockade we had to run that this was no two-way trip, that there was a damn good chance that everything we were about to do was in a futile effort to protect some tech. But I'm a soldier and soldiers aren't paid to think just fight and die and that's what we were going to do.

We ate our last hot meals as the captain and the officers in the bridge disputed over how they would shatter the blockade and drop us into the fires of hell. I had a melancholy of feeling rushing through my mind when we donned our armor, Mk. VI Specops pressurized combat suits with titanium plates over the chest, thighs, and lower legs. Underneath that was ceramic plates followed by two layers of Kevlar weaved for anti-flak and stopping ballistic projectiles. I picked up my M-89SP rifle from its rack, the M-89SP was the special forces variant of the normal 89 which fired a .30 round. it was a bull pup design for extra stopping power. The SP fired a smaller 7.62 cartridge, but they were loaded with AP-Shredder rounds which would make mince meat out off most infantry.

I followed the line of men down towards our pods, shaking hands with a few others giving each other hopes for save landings. I climbed into my pod after securing my equipment in the rifle and backpack slots next to my seat. Once in I pulled down the hatch and locked it in place then the ship's computer moved my pod out onto the drop beams which several other pods hung from. And we waited… I fell asleep in my pod only to be awaken by the thumping of magnetic clamps releasing . Like a meteor shower we fell towards the surface. We observed the clouds fall past us as we plummeted down systematically through the layers of the atmosphere. The clouds parted exposing a shocking sight of a ruined city barely any building were whole not one was untouched, but I didn't get time to look long as sirens blared throughout the pod.

'warning radiation spike… "wholly shit that's no spike it's the reactor plant its going critical"' a voice crackled over the radio inside the pod 'adjust trajectory…we…nee…' The radio cut off replacing the person's voice with static not a second later the city below was enveloped in a brilliant eye-stabbing flash, it happened so fast my helmet's visor couldn't polarize fast enough to save my eyes from the pain. The last thing I remembered was the pod spinning out of control and me yelling and my head screaming that I was about to die, then my pod impacted something hard… probably a building and then I blacked out.

It was day light when we dropped… when I came back around it was dark... almost midnight, and I woke to find myself laying back in my pods chair on my back. the pod having crashed into the street and skipping into a building if the ceiling of an office building above my canopy was anything to judge by. with a few codes punched into the pod's computer the hatch blew off and embedded itself into the ceiling of the room. I yanked myself out of the seat and climbed unsteadily out of the pod and began yanking my rifle and pack out of their holding slots. I pulled my three bandoliers out my backpack putting two of them over each shoulder to an 'X' across my chest and the other around my waist just above my belt. After my webbing was in place I through my pack over my back and picked up my rifle and began to edge to the hole my pod made in the wall.

It was dark outside and looked like it was snowing but it was no snow just atomic ash from the nuclear fallout that was decently irradiated. I spotted a strangle untouched building across the street , I checked both ways for enemies… seeing none I sprinted across the street and used my shoulder to bash open the solid wood door. I looked around the inside… it was a tea shop, bags with different languages on them lined the walls and shelves of the store, on the walls of the shop were designs of Chinese dragons snaking through the air.

But I need a place to stay away from the radiation for a day or two and the shop's walls wouldn't stop the radiation, but… I did like tea so I pocketed a few bags and by few I mean six one pound bags. hey, shot me I like tea and soon it would be too irradiated to drink unless you fancy cancer and radiation poisoning. Seeing nothing for cover in the main section of the shop I moved to the back of the shop to were the owner would have spent his off hours. The door way was blocked by hanging beads which I parted with the barrel of my rifle and an armored hand, the room was untouched to say the least. I walked in and found a bed and a round table with three chairs and an old TV. A nice Persian rug covered the floor and I decided to take a seat on the bed, which… turned out to be a feather bed. But before I laid back I noticed something off with the carpet under the table, an outline of a square was in the rug pushing up from under it… something was under the table. I walked over to the table and pushed it to the side and moved the chairs out of my way, in the carpet was a square cut… I grabbed the cut section and pulled it up exposing a trap door.

A smile spread across my face it was an escape tunnel at least that's what I hoped it was, opening the door I found a dimly lit tunnel below me shrugging I dropped down into the tunnel flipping my rifle's flashlight on. A voice echoed in my head, the walls around me were made of aged gold from god knows when. the voice echoed again this time I could hear it… 'come… come… come to me…' the base of my spine tingled with fear and my palms began to sweat I shined my flash light down the tunnel. A round door with a dragon's head in the center reflected the light back at me from its golden shine. My curiosity got the better of me and I began to walk down the tunnel looking at all the strange words carved into the walls as I drew closer to the end more and more voices began to fill my head. the golden head opened and a flat tongue was exposed, on the center of the tongue was the outline of a hand and in the center of the outline was a hole. I held up my hand and looked at the palm. Then looked at the imprint and back to my hand… I reached out laying my hand onto the imprint.

As soon as my hand fell onto the imprint the mouth snapped closed and pain bolted up my arm and fire began to flow through my vines. I tried to scream but no words came from my mouth… instead I fell to my knees gasping for air as my whole body began to feel like it was on fire. My brain couldn't take it anymore and retreated into unconsciousness to my relief.

I bolted up right looking around wildly I was laying in a meadow in the middle of a forest, lake next to me were a few deer were drinking from its clear pristine waters. 'Where the hell am I' was all I could think… one second I'm in a ruined and nuked city and now I'm in the middle of a planet that appears untouched by civilization. I found it beautiful yet disturbing to be sitting here with no idea of how I got here.

I just prayed I could find someone that could help me. But as I was thinking this a soft 'twang' and one of deer dropped to the ground next to the lake, an arrow protruding out of its side were I presumed its heart lay. I was in a patch of tall grass watching not moving, for fear of the person responseable not being friendly. A few loud foot steps and cracks of twigs with the crunching of leafs alerted to me to his approach, as soon as it came into view I knew it was no human… no it was some kind of anthro cheetah with a bow in its hand looking at the deer it fell. I rose with rifle in hand but with the barrel lowered to the ground, the cheetah noticed me out the corner of its eye and turned fully to face me. But it froze not being able to tell what I was, so I took the opportunity to get closer and approached slowly and carefully with a few motions of my hand to show I meant no harm.

I decided that as a show of trust I would show my face and removed my helmet, griping it in both hands I pushed the two release buttons and the helmet disengaged with a pop and hiss of pressure. Fresh air fill my lungs and a breathed it in tasting the freshness, my nose picking the mottled cacophony of smells. Fresh air…

So if you like please R&R, if you don't… well… your SOL so skedaddle and don't complain.