Chapter 1
"United mining, do you read over" The transmission echoed only silence.
Issac looked at Carver confusedly.
"They should of answered by now" said Carver
Mere moments passed before the spectre of a Brethren Moon, dwarfing the moon.
"oh...god" Isaac said with his jaw hanging low.
"Mr. Clarke, Mr Clarke you can wake up now" said with a calm mild mannered voice which emanated from a man dressed in black.
Isaac opened his eyes a little more but not fully as the bright light shone brightly into his face which was still bloodied from the fight with the moon.
"Mr Clarke. It's nice to see you awake this time. Did you have pleasant dreams?"
"Dreams" Isaac replied slowly and groggily.
"Remember. The Terra Nova and Carr?" "I must admit the government interrogation apparatus is so much more effective than. The "traditional" method"
Isaac opened his eyes even further with his sight becoming clearer. It was at this moment that he noticed the entwined arms of the marker. The marker was a symbol. And it was white on the black uniform of the "sandman"
"Mr Clarke. My name is Mr Carr" "You're aboard a ship. You've been here for several months in a coma"
"GOD, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE" Isaac yelled angrily.
"Mr Clarke. Isaac we have spent a lot of time repairing you and learning from you. And now you're going home"
"Tell me Isaac do you recognise this ship?"
"yeah it looks familiar. looks like a warship" Isaac said. His temper had morphed into curiosity.
"You should, it's the "Valor"
"This ship was among the first places visited by the marker which spread it's glorious convergence upon Aegis 7 and the vessels that came after. We spent quite a bit of time restoring it after it crashed into the Ishimura"
"Oh no. I can't do this again. IV'E HAD ENOUGH"
"I'm not here to make use of you anymore. I'm here to tell you that you're going home. You see during our struggle with Earthgov, we triumphed. And now Earth is the centre of our faith.
"When Danik found you on that iceball. he summoned reinforcements. By the the time we arrived all we found was our desolated salvation and the killer. You Mr Clarke. You who robbed humanity of our EVOLUTION"
Carr promptly, almost uncontrollably struck Isaac's face. Fresh blood crept from his mouth accompanied by a profound aching.
"That's when they spared you, so you could face trial at our new church on Earth"
Carr who had now finished his litany of anger stood straight as his assistant spoke to him.
Hi assistant promptly exited the room after hearing the words "I'll join you at the the bridge Mr Randall"
He promptly left. Carr waited and looked at Isaac and half smiled at him with the contentment that someone so heretical was to receive his retribution. Then he left.
The so called restoration work was anything but as the walls and floors were dripping with moisture courtesy of a poorly pressurisation job. This left the room in a humid and stale atmosphere and was exacerbated by the lack of temperature control. If there was anything harmless and living aboard then it would be a tropical paradise although this was a thought that Isaac kept to himself.
The lights flickered on and off from time to time. Isaac could also various notes from the engineering crew although he could read them clearly which was sticky taped over some naval propaganda.
As he searched the rooms with his eyes he could see impact scratches from pulse rifle fire which he was all too familiar with during his time aboard the Ishimura but something did catch his eye; a table with a telekinesis module and what appeared to be a stasis pack.
An alarm rang out over the ship wide speakers "Warning. Unknown ship detected. two zero three degrees. Starboard side"
Approximately 5 minutes had passed when a blast struck the hull. Resonating a dull tone throughout the vessel.
"Power depleted. Switching to reserve. System rebooting" the shipboard computer announced.
Isaac's restraints were lifted. Isaac stood up and moved toward the desk facing the wall.
He found a spare TK module and stasis pack amongst the tools of his captors trade; that being blooded blades although these had clearly not been used upon him.
As he placed the TK module on his wrist he felt the worst kind of familiarity and paused for a moment and blinked his eyes once at half speed before letting out a longer than normal exhalation from his nose.
A noise from the far side of the room broke this precious and brief tranquilly.
The rooms door had malfunctioned making it slide wildly from side to side. He had seen this one time too many to be fooled and remembered just how he used it before to so that he might live.
Isaac used the stasis pack to slow down the door and exit the room.
As Isaac moved down the corridors towards the crew barracks he saw unitology fighters running hurriedly to other parts of the ship.
One fighter noticed Isaac and promptly raised his rifle only to find himself pinned to the ceiling by a loose gravity plate caused by a shot to the ships side.
The screaming was loud and sincere as the plate was slowly crushing the fighter until it faded into near silence.
Isaac proceeded along the corridor hoping to find the docking port in order to find an escape hatch only to be obstructed by loose fittings and the parts of the inner bulkhead which he removed with his TK module.
Nearing the bridge section, he encountered the captain of the besieged ship. Who was in a panicked congress with Randall although the captain was rather calm.
"What now?" said Randall
"We still have the marker onboard. We'll release the shielding" The captain said slowly almost as if he was narrating a story.
"But you'll kill us all" a scared Randall said.
"No. The dead shall be reborn and they will purge this holy vessel of heretics. Now is the time of our transcendence" The captain calmly took out a device which resembled a detonator and extended it outward with his right arm, smiled and pushed the button.
A strange pulse resounded throughout the ship and sounded almost as if someone rung a very low sounding bell.
The sound knocked Isaac down to the floor. Moments later a dead fighter started to move with a stuttering motion. A pair of long, sharp, boney looking blades grew from him and his face fell into something beyond recognition, erupting with an almighty roar.
The captain called to the newly formed creature "To me brother. Let me be the instrument of the markers will" he opened his as if to greet a friend. The blades plunged into his chest which yielded only the brief scream of torment from the captain. He was gone leaving behind a facial expression which said only that he was so very wrong.
Randall ran with the necromorph following in hot pursuit.
Clarke tuned right towards one of the docking ports only to encounter the sounds of a slasher necormorph although the beast itself did not seem to move; it was almost as if it did not sense Isaac.
It was getting more dangerous as the other ship was making more and more destructive blows against the tattered hull of the Valor one of which had caused a light bulb to flash revealing the slasher which turned into a manic and furious charge.
Isaac sent a shot from his stasis module at the monster knowing that his time was short he frantically scoured the room for something that would kill it.
Finally he saw it. A fully loaded telemetric spike gun. His lifeline. It was like winning the lottery for him.
Isaac jumped towards the spike gun which caused him to bleed from mouth as he had landed so desperately towards it.
The gun was switched from safe to primed and aimed at the enemy only to impale it.
The spike rammed into the slasher and pinned it to the hull. It had penetrated the hull sucking the out the air in the room until there was silence.
It was clear that this part of the ship had lost the outer layer of armour during it's reclamation and it would not be long before absolutely everything aboard would be dead. Isaac spared a thought for the blooded blades he saw at the table in the interrogation room. There must have been of others; he couldn't help them, there were only minutes left and the odds are that they were already converted to necromorphs by now.
How many times had he left people behind? How many lives did he see begging for help within the range of his sense but could not physically reach? He felt a lesser and emptier man for it but reminded himself that in the end it was about ending the nightmare forever and everyone.
Although the slasher was pinned it still moved frantically waving it's blades from side to side desperate to devour Isaac.
Isaac had exhaled the air in his lungs shortly before he grabbed the EVA suit that hung by the airlock door.
As he put on his helmet he felt the hull about to give way. The helmet sealed itself creating a tight environment around his body which sent a burst of air into his face in order to complete the seal. It reminded him of the wind on Earth and he felt a strange comfort in it.
An explosive bolt which ringed the docking circle suddenly detonated breaking away the weakened hull as well as violently ripping away the airlock door itself which passed by Isaac by a mere inches.
Isaac was hurled into the void along with the body of the slasher which bounced off a piece of engine covering and was incinerated as it eventually made it's way down to the engines.
Isaac turned around only to see the former USM Valor in flames and in pieces with fire spewing out like watery jets of gold with the odd bit of turquoise. It was beautiful.
The bridge section of the Valor gave way and floated away with pieces of wiring that stuck out which seemed almost as if was reaching out wanting to be repatriated with the midsection.
As it separated necromorphs came out with one such beast in the process of impaling a doomed crewman. It was strange to see this in the weightless environment of space as it was almost as if time had stopped.
A dark object with flickering red and green lights moved slowly beneath the Valor before coming into the direct sunlight.
Isaac had noticed a sign on the second ship which read "WEKA"
Moments later a communications channel opened on his suit RIG.
"Isaac. come aboard, quick we have to get out of here" The voice sounded like Carver but Isaac couldn't be sure.
"Ok I'm coming in just don't string me up like the other guys" replied Clarke