In the fiery light of a huge gold sun, a dark speck glides silently through space. "Melstom, zoom in on that object, is it a ship or not? And Alsof, get a reading on it- friendly or hostile?" Shipmaster Arron Stom ordered, eyes fixed on the dark speck in the distance, momentarily lost in thought. Observation and Long-Range Scanning *L.R.S* experts Melstom and Alsof complied and worked at their consoles, wondering if that little, ominous dot out in the light of the sun was an enemy vessel, an ally in distress…or something else entirely. Arron shook himself from his stupor and waited patiently as the view screen pulled up a clearer and closer image then before. "Alsof, do you have the data yet?" Arron asked, "Not yet sir, I'm getting heavy interference from the sun." Alsof replied and checked the data again only to find it blank, as if erased. "Sir, the data…" Alsof said in a worried tone, catching Arrons attention and bringing him to the console. "What seems to be the problem?" As the two checked and re-checked the data and got an incredibly fuzzy image of what appeared to be some kind of prison ship, Tek awakened on the very ship the U.E.S.D frigate Miami Sunrise had spotted. His reptilian eyes slowly opened, revealing a dank -and torn to pieces- prison cell. His combat training kicked into gear, enacting the procedure for awakening in a strange environment. 'Check for injuries, check for hostiles, check for the wounded hostile or otherwise, survey the damage, find a weapon.' He did each of those in order, finding no injuries-apart from a massive headache he pushed away-or hostiles or wounded of any kind, saw a small and beat-up corridor leading away from his cell, and found a Mark IV C.C.A.R *Close Combat Assault Rifle* lying outside the cell door. "Why would a heavy weapon like that be in a prison ship?'' He murmured, grabbing the rifle and finding the ammo counter down to 38. "Strange, no signs of a firefight…" He whispered and crept stealthily down the hallway, finding gaping and smoldering holes in the walls and floor, plenty of blood-animal, human and something else-but no bodies and no bullet holes, and he would've noticed plasma burns by the smell. "Well, whatever happened must've been entirely silent or I was drugged. This much blood and debris…no bodies or signs of struggles or firefights. Reminds me of the stories the elders used to tell me and the other pups…" Nonetheless, however much his natural stealth and camaflouge kicked in he still had the eeriest feeling he was being watched…or hunted. He did not enjoy being hunted-he was the one doing the hunting, usually. He rounded a bend, finding the ship's bridge. "So…that's where the bodies went." Tek growled, and gazed with eyes used to the sight of death upon a massive pile of bodies on the floor and plastered to the walls with a strange residue. His grip tightened on the gun, he began a stealthy walk of the area, finding the bodies emaciated with strange gaping holes in the chests and the control panels slashed or…strangely melted to pieces. The shadows seemed to bend towards him, whispering dark tales of what happened on the ship. His camaflouge increased and his adrenaline rose to such levels as to be nearly invisible and jumping at the slightest movement. His tube-like hair trembled in slight fear as his instincts screamed to get out of there, to run down the halls and never look back-but he had a strange feeling that if he made one move to leave…he would die. So, he resolutely inspected, identified and prayed for each of the bodies plastered to the wall and strung about the floor, growling slightly at the sight of an emaciated pup of his own species. "I pledge to avenge your death, young one." He vowed. He finished sometime later and eyed the shadows, readying his weapon and sensing that some way or another…he would meet the killers soon. The slightest hiss, the nearly silent thump, His mandibles flaring-"Hiiiiisssssssss…" He whirled around, raised the rifle and emptied the clip at the monstrous creature of death, watching as it leaped from the floor to the ceiling and back in mere seconds, the rifle filling the air with noise and barely dodging the hideous things tail-as if it wasn't terrifying enough-which struck out of nowhere, nearly cutting off his arm. He leaped, rolled and came behind an upturned table, panting heavily. His camaflouge seemed to have no effect on the creature- it was as if it knew exactly where he was! And the furious hiss and sliced-in-half table proved the theory, making him run sideways while firing bursts at the thing and sending apparently acidic-just pauking PERFECT-blood splashing and melting across the floor, making the gaps in the floor he had seen in the hallways. The gun clicked, he rolled and narrowly missed the tail, came up behind a console and he heard the god-awful hissing, the rapid clinking of claws giving away its position to him. He quickly devised a strategy, timed it…just a few more seconds-NOW! Took out his Vaskar knife and plunged it deep into the head of the monster as it leaped on him. The thing slumped on him and made a strange gargling sound before a second mouth shot out, just nipping his nose, "any closer and I'd have a gaping hole in the middle of my forehead." He said disgustedly, and rolled the corpse off of him, taking in the shadows again, taking extra ammunition and leaving the bridge and mounds of bodies behind. 'Objective completed-find and kill thy enemy. Tek thought darkly, and ran out of the room, camaflouge activating again, the body of the creature and bullet holes the only sign of a fight.
Well, this was a sampler-and the first bit of-a new story I'm starting, called 'The Strangest Bonds', Which is about a Yautja military prisoner-Tek-who was captured in one of the may boundary fights between humans and aliens and sent aboard the prison ship Locked Comet, only to awaken days after his arrival in his cell, unharmed-but finds the cell and ship around him is torn to literal pieces-with few bullet holes and plasma burns. THEN he finds a heavy-duty close combat weapon only used by the human military with less than half a clip right outside his cell, proceeds down the corridors to the bridge…and finds piles and piles of dead guards, prisoners and plain visitors with gaping chest wounds and plastered to the floor and ceiling, and if THAT wasn't enough he also fights a huge, vicious silent acid-blooded killing machine he barely manages to kill that reminds him of the creatures the elders back on his planet sometimes spoke of killing back in their golden days. And he has no idea that there're probably HUNDREDS of these things throughout the ship. Oh, and add a heavily armed human military frigate just spotted the Locked Comet not 48 or so miles away…Tek is in for the fight of his life and maybe his species. He'll battle vicious xenomorphs, insane prisoners, an iffy human military force…and maybe the strangest bonds of love.