Half-Life 2: Opposing Force.

Chapter One: Boarding Party.

Adrian Shepard slowly awoke to darkness. If this was all a dream, he would be waking up to Sargeant Barnes morning drill. Fat chance on that happening. He had seen too much for anything to be a dream now. He had lived through a dream. Fantastic monster's of all shapes and sizes, Black Op's carrying in a nuke to silence Black Mesa once and for all. He had lived through something he was not trained effectivly enough to live through. And.......for what? Only to be lectured on "discretion" by that damn civie. And then he was put into some sort coma by the man in question.

Something in Adrian's mind clicked when he thought of the word "coma". Why was he thinking all of a sudden? Did the same thing happen to everyone in a coma?

Adrian's long chain of thought's were cut short by a long slithering voice rising from the darkness. The voice that belonged to the G-Man.

"Wake up Corporal Shepard.......Wake up....." he hissed. "It's been quite awhile since we last met, I do apologize for the necesity you for all this time, but I assure you now that it's worked out for the best. As of late, I have received several intresting offers for your services."

Offers?, Adrian thought.Services? Who the hell is this guy anyway?

The G-Man appeared before his eyes, he adjusted his tie.

"I sincerely hope that everything makes sense to you in due time, but I am on a rather tight schedule right now, so unfourtantly this meeting will be short. I will see you.....very soon."

Adrian tried to speak, but no words would leave his mouth. The G-Man seemed to be disapearing now. Once again, he was all alone in the darkness.

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Captain Stuart looked out from the control deck of the cargo ship, The Huey, and into the blackness of Atlantic Ocean. Or what was left of it. When the Combine had invaded, they had litterally dried up half of the worlds water supply. The Atlantic, and Indian oceans were now the only two major bodies of water left on the planet. They were now in litereal terms, giant lakes. But even they had been delivered heavy blow's in terms of water loss. Stuart expected the Indian to dry up in another 7 years.

The Huey was an lllegal cargo vessel, since the Combine had outlawed water travel back in 2004. Now the only things that sailed the (once) ocean blue were amphibious Strider's. The Huey's purpose was to deliver much needed supplies to the European resistance, lead by Eli Vance. Eli was one of the only great scientific mind's left of Earth. The Combine had exterminated those they had deemed "too intelligent". Stuart found it fitting that Eli was now leading an underground rebellion. He's main base of operations was City 17, which Stuart frankly thought was suicide, as Dr. Breen's own base of operations was City 17 as well. He had meet Eli several times, and had brought up the topic every single one of those times. Eli had simply said that it was the last place the Combine would ever look.

There was an on-going resistance in America as well, where Stuart himself was from. The American resistance was far more open the European one, and as a result the Combine had concentrated a majority of it's forces there, leaving Europe open for attack from the inside. What did'nt make sense was that alot of the citizen's in Europe had adapted to Combine rule, leaving the resistance over there alot more lack luster then the one in America. But recently, a development had started. Vortigaunt's everywhere were rambling about "The Free Man's return", and "The Combines fall await's". He did'nt know what the hell they were talking about, but it sure got the European resistance excited.

Captain Stuart sighed, and went over to a nearby radar screen to see how far they were from City 15. Twenty more miles. He walked out of the deck, and saw distant lights. Coast line. Of course, they would be making port a good four miles away from the city, or the Combine would be on their case pretty damn fast.

A young crewmate rushed onto the deck and hailed him.

"Hey Captain, we found a boat drifting around nearby, there's a human on board." the young man said.

"Are you sure? It might be a trap, you know how clever those Strider's are." the captain warned.

"Well, we did a binocular check, and the guy's wearing an old uniform. He has some kind of protective vest on. I think we should bring him in."

"Very well.", Stuart sighed.

The crewmate saluted and left. What did Stuart care if they found some old guy out on sea? He was more concerned with getting out of the upcoming mess with his head on his body.

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Adrian Shepard woke up with a nasty headache. Everything was dark around him, but his stomach kept lurching up and down. It felt like he was on water. He groaned and reliezed his eyes were simply closed. He opened them, and saw that not only he was indeed on water, but a humongous cargo ship was heading straight for him.

"Oh shit." Adrian muttered. He looked around at his surronding's, and saw that he was on small paddle boat. He saw water in every direction. Was he out at sea? He dipped his hands in the water, and tasted it. Salty. He spit it out, and started to paddle. He went off in long strokes, but the ship was infinitely faster. It eventually was on his side. It lurched over towards him. He could feel the heat blast as it came for him, felt himself blacking out..............

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Adrian woke up once again.

I might as well get used to waking up in a strange place due to strange circumstances.... he silently joked to himself.

"There, he's coming to." a voice said.

Adrain coughed up some water. "Where the hell am I?"

Adrains vision focused, and he saw he was inside some sort of medical wing. There were two people around him.

"You're on The Huey. You blacked out when we started coming for you, don't know why. I'm Captain Stuart. Whats you're name son?" the man asked.

"Uhh....Adrian. Adrian Shepard. I think." Adrian said.

The captain gave him a strange look. Then he gestured to the nearby nurse.

The nurse checked some equipment, "He seems fine. A bit of a rush of blood pressure, but other then that he's ok. You're lucky to have that vest, where ever the hell you got it."

Adrian sat up on his bed. He was still wearing his fatuige pants, but other then that he was stripped. He looked over to the side of his bed. His PCV, fatuige vest, and even his Desert Eagle side arm were there.

Adrain looked up at the captain, "Where are we going?"

"We're heading to City 15 to drop off some supplies to the Euro resistance. Then we're going back home." the captain shruged.

"Where is home?" Adrian pressed.

"America. You sound like you're from there. Where are YOU from?" the nurse said.

"Er, same place. I'm U.S. Military." Adrian said.

This time the nurse and the captain gave him a funny look. "There IS no U.S anymore, son." the captain said.

A blow horn sounded after the captain said those words. After that it was followed by a loud voice.

"Strider's!"

The captain cursed loudly and ran out of the medical wing. The nurse went into a closet and produced a shotgun. She turned to run out of the room when Adrian stopped her.

"Wait! What's happening?!" he yelled after her.

The nurse turned.

"The Combine are attacking."

Authors Note: Well, first chapter, hope you enjoyed! Next one will follow shortly.