No Gods, Only Men

The damn thing was still alive.

Could it be said to be alive at all, he wondered? The mission brief had made it clear – the Charon Research Institute had been conducting experiments on Calisto, Europa, and on Dante's Station. Turned out that the moon bases were conducting experiments in teleportation, and that the Great Red Spot of the solar system's largest planet was actually a portal to Hell. Yep, Hell. As in fire, brimstone, screams, and demons. Such as the creature that was on Calisto's surface, lying outside the hangar bay of the moon's research base. A grey, hunch-like monster, with claws, teeth, and the ability to fling fire at its foes. Yep, thought Sergeant Balaton – CRI had gone and done it. It had managed to fuck up out beyond the asteroid field. Turned out that no matter where mankind spread out over the solar system, fuck ups were sure to follow.

But the thing was still alive. It crawled across the moon's surface, apparently unbothered by a surface temperature of -140 C, radiation from Jupiter, and an atmosphere composed of mostly CO2. Either Hell wasn't as hot as everyone made it out to be, or these critters were just that tough.

"Sarge?" One of the Purifiers asked. "Should we-"

He fired a single shot of his BFG, a small ball of green energy colliding with the creature and tearing it apart at the atomic level. Behind his HUD, Balaton smiled. Usually the Purifiers were assigned to clear up disturbances on Mars or asteroid bases – go in, 'remove' the dissidents, and then wait for poor smucks from Earth to fill in the vacancies. He'd stopped caring about the moral and legal issues behind such a line of work years ago. Still, if he was going to use the BFG on a target, this one at least wasn't a human. He wasn't going to lose any sleep over a monster, especially one that had already killed plenty of men and women already no doubt.

"Alright," he said. "Gerard, door. Rest of you, on point."

The Purifiers moved over the Calisto surface, hopping as if their suits weighed nothing. Which they did, technically, what with the moon's gravity barely being one tenth that of Earth. Once they entered the base, artificial gravity would kick in, but right now, it was a hop, a skip, a jump, and for now, no shooting.

"Door's fried," said Gerard. "I'll run a bypass."

Balaton nodded, and the Purifiers took up positions. He wasn't counting on much resistance was. The report had stated that the invasion from Hell had begun at Dante Station, and had spread to Europa and Calisto through the teleporters. Plan was to secure the Calisto base, shut down the teleporter, and then wait for reinforcements before tackling Europa.

Through his HUD, he looked up at the sky – Jupiter itself filled his vision. He squinted, trying to make out Europa, but failing.

"Is it true?" asked Private Case.

"Hmm?" He looked at the squad's FNG. "What?"

"Is it true?" the soldier asked. "That some lone marine fought all the way to Dante Station and shut down the portal without us?"

Balaton scoffed. "You think one jarhead can fight his way over three bases and shut down an entire invasion?"

"Well, maybe a Purifier could."

"Right. But he ain't a Purifier, so get it out of your head."

The private fell silent, and Balaton frowned. Yes, the brief had mentioned that little titbit, the rumour that a marine had fought his way through Hell and high water, that the resistance they could expect would be stragglers. But that was a possibility, and a remote one at that.

"Clear!"

The doors began opening. And-

"Oh my god."

That didn't take long, he reflected. The hanger had operated in a vacuum – must have, given the lack of rushing air coming out to meet them. But, yes. There was no hiding the bodies. Or the blood. Or that how said bodies had been ripped and teared by creatures spawned from Hell's bosom.

"God isn't here," Balaton said. He glanced at his men. "Not here. He ain't Zeus, he ain't Jupiter, and we may be beyond Earth, but we ain't in Heaven. Get me?"

No-one said anything.

"Do you get me?!"

Affirmations and nods came his way.

"That's very good to hear. Now move out."

The Purifiers moved into the base. Silently, methodically, badassedly. Which wasn't a word. But he didn't care.

And deep down, he couldn't help but wonder if a marine really had fought his way all the way to Dante's Station. That his job had been done for him.

Couldn't help but hope that it was the case.