A gunship pierced the void of space and had decelerated its momentum from light speed travel. Its colour was a shade lighter than the darkness that surrounded it that was filled with small white dots, distant stars, worlds and more. The stern of the small vessel widened to house two wings that were equipped with two directed-energy weapons on each side, capable of disabling or even destroying ships of a similar size.
"We've entered the Dasha Region, Captain." The pilot of the ship swiped his armour-plated palm over his control panel. "Commencing scan now." He pressed on the screen a few times, quiet beeping followed. The Captain held onto the pilot's shoulder,
"I don't want to alarm you, but there's an entire fleet of Pirates right in front of us" he said in a cold tone. The pilot glanced at him,
"Oh yes, Exeter, that planet ahead of us is secretly a Space Pirate fleet and is about to obliterate us." The man spoke in a sarcastic tone and then chuckled. "Good mood today are we sir?" He returned his attention to the panel.
"That I am Starling," the Captain relaxed into the sturdy and solid seat, "as a matter of fact I met this wonderful lady at the bar yesterday afternoon." The sounds of whistles echoed from the back of the ship, dozens of troopers with individual roles sat in their seats as they listened in on Exeter's and Starling's conversation. "Oh, shut up guys, c'mon." Exeter's face was red hot under his helmet which covered his entire head, he held the visor of his helmet, which has slight condensation on the inside.
"Who's the lucky girl Ace?" A voice came through Exeter's helmet.
"C'mon don't put me on this type of spot, you're supposed to be manning the guns anyway Triplette." The Captain glanced to the interior of the ship behind him.
"I can do multiple things at once, it's kind of my job to be able to." Triplette scoffed as he returned his focus to arming the cannons. Exeter chuckled a little and sat normally.
"Well, if you've got to know, she's quite pretty. She works for a high-end store on Earth, pretty cool if you ask me."
"Oh yeah, astounding." A soldier waved his hand and spoke in a slightly annoyed tone. "Get to the good part, is she banging?" He leaned over to the front of the ship. "Come on, everyone on the Tyr is wondering." A number of nods were motioned from other soldiers. The Captain was silent for a moment, he grinned a little under his helmet.
"Yeah pretty hot." A number of people gave little cheers. Exeter chuckled upon hearing their cheers. Starling then jolted a little, Exeter looked at the pilot. "Starling? What's up?" He leaned in.
"Contact, starboard side. Pirate Frigate." Starling clutched the controls to the Tyr.
"You hear that Triplette?"
"Already on it, sir." Triplette activated the weapons of the ship.
"Strap yourselves in men, contact." Exeter input multiple commands onto a panel, opening a tab showing the outside. A purple and silver craft was closing the distance between it and the Tyr.
"Ready to fire, Commander." Triplette called down the radio.
"Roger that." Starling adjusted the ship to face the threat. Triplette opened fire on the vessel, sending heavy slugs of metal down the barrels of the cannons and straight at the enemy. The Pirate frigate immediately returned fire, hurling shots of blue plasma onto the Tyr. Many of the shots fly way off target, Triplette didn't miss nearly as much.
"They can't hit for anything!" The specialist exclaimed as he fired dozens of rounds onto the alien frigate. As the two ships neared, the damage onto the Pirate craft was substantial. Upon reaching within one hundred metres of the Tyr, the frigate sharply changed course and adjusted its setting onto the planet ahead.
The Captain quickly leant back in his seat a little as the frigate made its manoeuvre. Starling leaned back a little as well. "That was too close. It's heavily damaged, we can destroy it if we pursue." Starling looked to Exeter. "Permission to chase?" The Captain motioned his hand forward to a point.
"We're going in." He looked behind into the interior of the ship. "Lock and load men, we've got Pirates on our hands." The troopers sitting in their seats immediately pulled their weapons to their hands and prepared them for combat, attaching them to their arms and gripping firmly. Exeter looked ahead as the Tyr accelerated after the Pirate frigate. "Reevs, I'm going to need info about that planet we're getting on." The science specialist was operating a tablet.
"I am already working on it. It seems the planet is known as Aether, just on the edge of Federation space. A rogue planet as well." He pulled up an image of the planet onto his tablet. The trooper next to him leaned in.
"What's with the purple clouds?"
"Unsure, it is highly unusual. Captain, I recommend caution moving into the atmosphere and surface." Exeter nods after the warning. The Tyr sped towards the planet Aether ahead of them. Starling adjusted the ship for atmospheric entry, the transport withheld easily. As it descended into the clouds, thunder could be heard, shaking the ship vigorously. The troopers inside clutched their seats.
"These are some vicious storms!" Starling's hands we clamped onto the controls, holding control just barely. Then the Tyr was struck by a bolt of lightning off onto the right wing of the ship. Soldiers near it grunted and exclaimed a little. The controls to the ship shook. "Dammit!" Starling clutched tightly to regain control.
"Get it together Starling." Exeter sat firmly in his seat. After a few moments, Starling managed to retain control of his ship and sighed with relief.
"Sorry I panicked sir."
"Don't worry Commander, it happens to everybody." Exeter patted Starling's back. "You did good. You've still got to land though." Exeter chuckled a little, Starling scoffed.
"Affirmative sir, setting a course now." He input commands into the control panel and set a landing zone by a stable cliff face. As the Tyr came in for landing, the ship shook and rattled. Once it settled, the wings of the craft moved to an upward angle to slow the Tyr down. "Landing pads down." Starling input the command, the craft was metres from the ground as the pads were deployed. The ship slowed and stopped and landed safely. The Captain stood to his feet and walked to the troop bay.
"Alright men, we're going set up a perimeter around the LZ. We're going to split into two teams. Force One will consist of Brode, Haley, Crany, Milligan, Triplette, Monz and myself. We'll provide reconnaissance for the area. Force Two will contain everybody else, you are to guard, repair the ship and set up a field of operations. You will be led by Smythe. Medics, remain on standby. Everybody got that?"
"Sir yes sir!" The room erupted with voice.
"Force One, on me." Exeter raised his weapon and jogged out of the ship ahead of his team. They followed him in formation. "Monz, take point."
"Roger that, sir." The trooper jogged forward with their weapon raised, solid posture. Vonda took slight cover behind a boulder in a tunnel with his arm rifle raised at any potential targets, none were presenting themselves. "Clear." The rest of the team started to jog down the tunnel, weapons raised. Exeter leaned against a wall and aimed his weapon down into a room, he looked around, the walls were littered with cocoons, varying in sizes and leathered in cobwebs. His weapon slowly lowered.
"These aren't Pirate... things." Unsure of what he was truly looking at, he studied a cocoon near him, it was a massive one, wet and pulsing, as if it had consumed the wall. He looked to Monz. "The hell is this thing?" The trooper struts over to the Captain's side and kneels, he leans in for a closer look.
"Not all that sure sir, but, they feel familiar." He places his left hand on the cocoon and feels the pulsing. "It is gross though."
"Don't need to say that twice." Triplette spoke as his rifle, which was oddly fixed with a bayonet, was raised into the room. "I think this would be good for a defensive turret. Stick a game here, nothing can get passed." Brode responded with a nod.
"Alright then," Exeter began, he pointed towards the ceiling, "can it be placed up there?"
"Of course, sir."
"Get to it, any security is better than none, we don't know if those Pirates survived or not."
"Copy that sir, anything that isn't human will be nothing but paste." Exeter nods in response.
"Team, on me." He strutted along down the tunnel that were strung up with more cocoons. They come across a turn that held a narrower tunnel, there was a green, five-pronged plant stood within a metallic circle. Haley stepped forward somewhat nonchalantly and looked at the peculiar plant.
"What's with this ring around it?"
"Might not be natural." Milligan walked towards it too, with more caution.
"You think?" Crany strode along the wall, ever cautious. "Sure, plants are great and all, they give us life, but if you don't focus then we're probably gonna have ours taken."
"Easy Crany, we're going to be just fine." Exeter marched towards the men. "The ship will probably be repaired within the next day or two, let's just make sure that the Pirates don't wipe us out before then. After we get out of here, you lot can look at plants all you want."
"Yeah, while you eye up that lady of yours." Triplette chuckled with a grin on his face from along the corridor.
"Shut it Trip, get that turret up." Exeter scoffed a little.
"Roger that." Triplette strode off to the Tyr to collect the turret and gate.
"Sir, permission to speak?" Haley turned towards Exeter with his rifle lowered to his waist, still maintaining a firm, vice-like hold of the fore-grip of the weapon.
"Of course, Private, you don't need to ask me. What's on your mind?" Exeter stepped towards Haley, kicking up dry dust from the earth with the heels of his boots, leaving marks in the smooth dirt.
"What if..." The Private paused, "something goes wrong?" An uneasy breeze blew softly against the protective glass built within the helmets of the soldiers, the faint whistle of the wind echoed off the mossy rocks and walls.
"Like I said Haley, we are going to be fine. We are going to take standard procedure, set up a base of operations, communications and fix the ship. In the meantime, we need to deal with those Pirates once we spot them." Exeter placed his hand onto Haley's broad shoulder with a light clang. "Now let's make sure the rest of our boys have a place to sleep in safety." Haley nodded and lightly raised his weapon, easing up his grip.
"Affirmative, Captain."
An opening met the troopers, it was just a little taller than themselves.
"One at a time. Stay alert. Crany, you take point." Exeter motioned his left arm to a point down towards the entrance.
"Copy that." He raised himself from his knee with a smooth and firm motion. There were no nerves or hesitation, he marched forward, weapon raised and braced for action. He strode to the side and leant against the wall. "What the...?" Before him stood three rectangular, polished stones, one was placed on top of another. One of the sides of each pillar housed a built-in and glowing red light, all dim but ominous. "That is... Weird. Captain?" He glanced back into the hallway where the rest of the troopers were located, Exeter stepped forward into the cave and looked at the pillars. Each block was the height of himself.
"Whoa." The rest of the troopers followed up with the Captain, Haley protecting the rear. "Anyone know what those are?" The squad was silent. Brode stepped forward and placed his palm onto a block.
"No idea, sir. But they definitely aren't Pirate-based. Looks more like another race built it." He looked towards his Captain.
"Bit of a bold claim." Crany shrugged a little at the suggestion.
"Well it's the only one we've got to explain why this it here. Stay alert men, the Pirates might not be the only threats out there." The squad gave individual nods in response.
Haley held his rifle towards the hallway that the team had just come from, his hands firm, but not tense. He wondered what the cocoons were and was curious about how Monz felt that they were familiar. A light tap was felt on the shoulder of his suit.
"Alright, sir." He turned to look at his captain, who was more than ten feet away.
"Say again Private?"
"Didn't you just, tap my shoulder sir?" Haley motioned to the shoulder where he felt the tap.
"No, I was over here."
"Then who...?" He looked over to his shoulder, he saw a wet patch of what appeared to be slobber. It had started to slide down the shoulder and his arm, he looked to the floor, and then above. He gave of a startled shriek when he was met with a dozen, bee-like cells built into the ceiling, each cell housed small cocoons, one of which had a long trail of slime hanging from the top of it. Exeter looked at the cells and raised his weapon to them.
"Well that looks dangerous." Crany spoke with a sly smirk and scoffed.
"That it does." Exeter hesitantly walked slightly below the cocoon that had the trail of slime. "Was it this one you were under Haley?"
"I-I believe so, sir." Exeter looked at the Private, his left hand was ever so slightly rattling. "Why is that one oozing?"
"I think it likes you." Crany had his weapon raised ahead of the cave and behind the pillars.
"Come on man, he's a little spooked. Give him a break." Milligan lightly nudged Crany's back.
Exeter glanced at the platoon and then to Haley. "Do you want to have a time out? Have a little rest back at the Tyr?" Haley paused for a moment.
"Yeah, I think I need that sir." He sighed and his shoulders slightly slouched. The Captain placed his hand on the Private's other shoulder.
"Take all the time you need soldier, and if you need to, have a check-up." Haley nods in response.
"Thank you, sir. I appreciate it massively." He began walking back towards the gunship. Exeter watched him depart, he then looked up at the cells in the ceiling. He studied every one, the cocoon that had been oozing was a tad larger than the others. His eyes narrowed. He turned towards his men and strode forward.
"Cover our rear Crany." The trooper nodded and turned. Exeter looked ahead and was greeted with a clearing. He analysed the area and looked above the clear room. There was no roof above it and he placed his hand on his chin. "This is where we could set up a communications dish. Send out a distress beacon from here." Exeter turned his radio on. "Smythe, do you copy?" The captain awaited a response. However, unusually, the communications system only sent back static. Exeter lightly tilted his head, he tapped his helmet. "Smythe, do you read?" Again, he only received static. Exeter looked to his team. "Squad, on me, we might have trouble."