Countdown to Death
Not far from the planet Mars, the Naval Phantom Class dropship Darkstar slowly began it's decent from the docking bay of the light assault carrier USS Ticonderoga. The Engine's thrusters burned a bright white as it quickly gained speed toward it's target destination: the first moon of Mars, Phobos. On board the small craft were eight of the most highly trained marines in the entire corps, Joson's Raiders of the 2nd Marine Raider Regiment, 1st Marine Raider Battalion. The 1MC loudspeaker crackled with the familiar voice of the ship's pilot, Lieutenant Commander Murphy.
"ETA nineteen minutes to the drop zone."
The Raider's officer-in-charge, First Lieutenant Wilbur unhooked the straps from his seat and made his way to the center of the cold and uncomfortable compartment.
"All right raiders, listen up, the situation is the same from the briefing, still no word from the UAC research facility at the Reldresal Crater. It has been four hours since last contact. As you may know, the facility has been experimenting with teleportation and the top brass fears something went wrong with one of their experiments."
He cleared his throat before continuing.
"As you already know we lost contact with Camp Clustril and Naval Support Activity Drunlo also, so we have to expect some sort mass casualty incident. Our primary objective is to find out what happened to the communications relay at the Computer Station and get it operational again. We will be landing in the central hub about one kilometer north from the Hanger. From there we will separate into two man groups and search out any survivors and help them with anything needed to bring back operation to the compound. I will be going with Lance Corporal Hall to the Command Control and oversee this operation from there. When everyone completes their tasks, rendezvous with me there. Any questions?"
Everyone in the compartment shook their head.
"Well, I know this the first time on Phobos for everyone besides myself, so stay sharp and make damn sure you keep an eye on your respirator cartridge, we may have created an atmosphere and gravity on Phobos, but because of this the air has very fine regolith particles floating around and will cause death if inhaled, and believe me, it would be one hell of a way to go."
The 1st lt quickly looked at the group's Corpsman and received a quick nod in response.
And with that, the 1st lt took he seat and strapped in right as the 1MC crackled on again.
"We are now entering the dropzone, make final preparations for landing, ETA is three minutes."
In nearly perfect unison, everyone in the compartment grabbed their weapons and checked to make sure they were clear and safe. We made damn sure because one accidental discharge, especially a round from a plasma rifle would cause a large enough hole in the bulkhead to kill us all. Our doc always said safety first, last, and always. But me being well...me, I didn't even bother with my weapon, all I had was my standard 9mm already safely holstered on my right leg anyway. I let out a deep sigh and as I heard a quiet laugh from the marine on my left.
"Looks like you got stuck with "securing" the Hanger, hope you don't die of boredom, Ghost." He chuckled.
Ghost happened to be my nickname, I "acquired it" it back at my last command and it stuck with me ever since, I'm pretty well known back in Camp Pendleton for sneaking around and playing pranks, and messing around, everyone knew it was me, except the people in charge of me and ever since then I went from being known as Corporal Evonitz, to Ghost. The one who can get himself out of any predicament.
I playfully kicked at his boot.
"Yeah well I don't really mind, I just can't wait to get out of this rust bucket, I just hate being strapped in here, I'm already starting to feel claustrophobic." I replied.
He let out another chuckle. "Tell me abo..."
He never got to finish his sentence. At that exact moment something large struck our dropship. Instinctively our 1st lt barked his orders for us to activate our respirators, as our ship rapidly descended towards the ground, the overhead started to tear open. I looked up and saw the strange Phobos sky. Then it just hit me. Fear. I'm not sure what it was about the sky and why I didn't react the instant I felt the near concussive impact, but there it was...that ever so familiar, adrenaline pumping fear. I nervously looked around the compartment and saw the same emotion stricken on the other marine's faces. We knew we wouldn't stand a chance of surviving, whatever it was that hit us decimated the cockpit. The oxygen in the compartment was being sucked out from the tear in the ceiling. I struggled to stay conscious, the last thing I heard before I was welcomed into the darkness was the sound of a roar, a demonic roar that echoed across the entire moon. I didn't want my life to end like this...
Well I hope everyone who read this was entertained and engrossed enough to want to follow the rest of the story as it unfolds, and sorry if it was too short, this is just the introduction chapter, the rest will be longer, I promise.
I will have a few Easter eggs and neat trivia hidden in the story along the way. They are actually more or less just references to other stories or famous/infamous people and places, when I finally get around to finishing the whole story, I will list them at the end of the final chapter.
Also for those of you who are unfamiliar with general military abbreviations/lingo:
A bulkhead is a wall, overhead is the ceiling, ETA is estimated time of arrival, and 1MC stands for 1st Main Circuit which is nothing more than a digital form of general communications used on board a ship.
Thanks for reading and please review!