Twilight: The Cloying Scent of Blood
By pony dragon
LOCATION: FORKS MINERAL COLONY, EASTERN MARS
The moan of air raid sirens washes over the little colony, a handful of small buildings caked in iron-oxide dust from the rust storms. Indeed, calling this little settlement a colony is a bit of a stretch. The place is mostly inhabited by miners looking to strike it rich in the platinum tunnels. Though the Earth Coalition had terraformed enough to establish a breathable atmosphere, it would be a long time before this planet were anything like inviting. With the sirens blaring, all civilians had retreated to the safety bunker. That sound meant a rust storm was coming, and rust storms were the harbingers of vampire raids.
Not everyone can handle life at the colony. Some folk go mad. The boys at the med-station think the condition is caused by the distance from civilization, a lack of creature comforts and the scent of blood, cloying and omnipresent due to the abundant iron-oxide. Those afflicted have a wide range of symptoms. The most benign cases drop to their knees and start sobbing, not knowing why. Others, develop a taste for human blood and run out into the wilds to join similar cases. They return to the colony only to prey on the settlers to satisfy their thirst, coming and going under the veil of the rust storms. The miners took to calling them "vampires."
The sirens snap Swan into full alert. She fulfills the role of first-responder while Security-Commandant Black gets his team suited up to be combat-ready in a rust storm. Callsign Swan is a cybernetically enhanced mercenary hired as a specialist in Martian combat. Her last assignment was pacifying rebels in New Phoenix under the employ of the Earth Coalition, and she had performed remarkably in that capacity. Swan regularly put the security officers to shame, thanks in no small part to her unique, top-of-the-line BEL-1a cyber-augmentation system by Belsen Innovations that earned her the affectionate nickname "Bella." The BEL-1a cyber-aug array affords her enhanced strength, enhanced senses and incredible skeletal integrity owing to the titanium matrix interwoven with her bones. All of this comes in Belsen Innovation's most discrete package, making the exceptional Bella appear to be little more than the average woman. Her best asset, however, is the nano-machine scrambler field, a Belsen prototype which allows Swan to selectively disable an enemy's enhancements without disrupting her own.
Bella hasn't been at the colony for too long, but she has already become rather popular. There are few enhancers at the colony, and fewer women, which earns Swan more than a little appreciation. But having a Martian combat specialist on the security team makes the colony-dwellers feel genuinely safe, and morale has increased exponentially. Bella remembers this, as she gets up from her bed and charge-dock, strapping on her sizable combat knife and side-arm before leaving the safety of her dormitory to meet the rust storm. Her com-link is pinged.
"Security Commandant Jacob Black to Callsign Swan. Confirm radio integrity."
"This is Specialist Swan. I copy."
"My boys are almost ready to move out. If you're in position, gimme a sit-rep widdem fancy optics a-yours."
Bella notices Black is letting his Cajun accent slip. She and Jacob have a healthy professional relationship and a lot of respect for one another, but she gets a little irked when he is this casual on duty. Commandant Black has let his decorum fall by the wayside since leaving Uley Company to form his own PMC, the Black Pack.
Bella gazes into the oncoming red cloud, mentally adjusting her optical enhancements to probe the electromagnetic spectrum. She spots something; someone; a whole team of someones.
"Commandant Black, I am detecting several life-forms approaching fast."
"Radar Watchtower-Two confirms—life-forms inbound."
"Subjects positively identified. You aren't going to like this, Jacob—it's the Cullens. Six of them!"
With that, the security team's worst fears are realized, as a sinking feeling takes their bellies. The Cullens were some of the first vampires. They were a clan of entrepreneurs that came to the colony for the platinum, just like most everyone else. The Cullens were real blue-bloods and came to the colony with augments fresh off the shelf. They used to make their fellow colony-dwellers uncomfortable with their shrewd business acumen and high-performance empathy modules. Folk swore that those Cullens could read minds. It's no wonder that empathy modules were outlawed to civilians just a few years after they went to market. In the sunlight, Cullens have this eerie glitter about them due to their platinum-impregnated skin. They called it "discrete ballistic armor," but it seemed more like a fashion statement than anything discrete. Rumors say that the Cullens hit like trucks and run like the wind; that they can catch bullets with those augmented nerves of theirs. One thing's for sure though: those Cullens got their money's worth. In the thirty years they've plagued Forks Mineral Colony, they don't look to have aged a day.
Bella fixes her optic tracking on the approaching Cullen clan. Twenty-two meters per second, by her calculation. Most disconcertingly, they are in a column formation; the Cullens are coordinated and organized. Bella and the security team had handled vampire raids before, but those vampires attacked in rabid disarray and weren't much of a challenge for Bella and the Black Pack. Having paused for a few disbelieving breaths, Commandant Black responds.
"Don't matter if it's Count Dracula. We stick to the plan. Swan, hold position at da safety bunker. When they come a-lookin' for supper, you jam them augmentations of theirs and my boys'll flank'm."
Before she can muster a response, Bella comes to a horrific realization. "Jacob, the Cullens are not headed for the bunker. They're making a beeline for the security station! Jacob, do you copy? Cullens inbound at your location!"
No response. Wasting no time, Bella initiates the Meyer Protocol, sealing the bunker and cutting it off from the rest of the colony grid. Meyer Protocol can only be terminated from inside the bunker. If the security officers fail, there will at least be someone left to hire new ones. With the civilians as safe as they'll ever be, Bella sprints toward the security station, hoping she won't arrived too late.
Having shut down his com-link, Commandant Black addresses his team of security officers.
"All y'all hole up in the supply depot. I'll send'm packin' myself."
"Sir?"
"There's enough ordnance here to take out the whole lot of'm if I can group'm close and set it off. Guess I'll be retiring early. Now, get—no sense in all of us bein' heroes."
"I… It's been an honor sir."
With that, the security officers sans Jacob make for shelter in the supply depot, to seek protection behind its big steel doors and thick concrete walls. They hang their heads low for the fate of their noble leader. Minutes pass like hours as Jacob waits. His rifle is ready, but he doesn't mean to aim for the Cullens. If the rumors are true, they'd just catch it for a souvenir. No, Black had his sights trained in the armory, where the ammunition had been carefully arranged with mining explosives from the supply depot. With each passing second, Jacob can only hope that the Cullens all succumb to the blast. With any luck, Bella would be able to handle any stragglers.
And suddenly there is a muffled tapping, louder, and louder with each impact. Would they enter through the northern wall and storm through the offices? With any luck, they'd be punching through the armory. No, it suddenly becomes clear where they intend to enter, but Commandant Black can't act fast enough as a young man drops down from the ceiling, swiping and disassembling Jacob's rifle in the blink of an eye. Just as suddenly, Jacob is put in a bear-hug from behind by the lean arms of a boy, his fair features not looking a day past seventeen. Jacob addresses his restrainer.
"Edward, if I remember the file," says Jacob jocularly now at peace with his fate. "After thirty years, you're still the pretty one. And you, must be Carlisle, the clan papa. Did a number on me there. Ku-dos."
Carlisle smiles a confident smile and answers in a haughty tone, "A nice touch with the explosives, Commandant. You almost had me. If it's any consolation, you're doing better than your predecessors."
Carlisle takes a relaxed breath and savors it before nodding to Edward. Commandant Black growls and grits his teeth as the younger Cullen slowly tightens his hold like a vice. The force is slow, but irresistible, and Jacob starts to fade from consciousness as he feels his body giving way. Jacob recognizes the absurdity in that his big, muscular Creole body was being done-in by a boy as slight as Edward. Though he was tough as hickory, Jacob realized the futility in trying to resist such an enhancer with augmentations that expensive.
But just before being snuffed out of the waking world, Edward's grip goes loose. Jacob is able to fill his lungs, but still collapses due to the damage from Edward's botched execution. Jacob's beastly frame pins the younger vampire to the ground, Edward now disoriented by his sudden weakness. Only one explanation.
"My name is Specialist Swan. Surrender yourself, Carlisle Cullen. Your augmentations have been disabled, and your accomplices have been apprehended."
Carlisle panics. For the first time in decades, he is vulnerable and has no option but to flee. Though most of his enhancements are disabled, he is still able to summon enough strength to leap back through the ceiling, with nothing to say but a few curses under his breath. Bella prepares to give chase, but notices Commandant Black in a heap, and prioritizes bringing her comrade to the med-station. Jacob is unconscious and worn down, but still alive. As she hoists Jacob over her shoulder, she catches sight of Edward, instinctively gripping his neck as he scurried to his feet. He is cold to the touch. For a few moments, their eyes meet. Bella is dumbstruck and lets up her grip. Edward feels something too. Edward chooses flight over fight as his augmentations re-activate, and he follows after Carlisle. What was it that they just felt that made them hesitate so? Bella and Edward wonder the same thing. It was something neither of them had felt since leaving Earth. Could this be the beginning of something—like love?