Nickels

Part 1: Chaos

The USS Interstar cruised through space, carrying over 3500 crewmen and women. In the depths of the engine room, about a third of those crewmen and women conspired. While everyone else was unaware of this, they had been planning to commit mutiny the whole voyage. After the meeting, they returned to their posts, and started the chaos. The Captain was one of the first down, shot by at least 3 people with Assault Rifles. He didn't go down without a fight, though, and grabbed his "lucky" grenade out of his pocket, pulled the pin, and hoped it worked. It did. The three assassins were blown apart, and they didn't even know what had killed them.

Dean Nickels awoke, looked at his clock, and saw that it was 0600 hours. He turned over, ready to go back to sleep, unaware of the chaos outside, when a man held a pistol to his head, and told him that if he moved, he'd be dead. He slowly held up his hands, but with a flip of the wrist, he grabbed the dagger in his sleeve, and slit the man's throat. He pulled on his customized Standard Issue US Armor, and ran to the bridge.

Explosions and gunfire rocked the bridge. A crewman's corpse was blown apart by a grenade, shattering the soldier's already fading morale even more. Major Nickels was already frustrated by the rude awakening call, and saw that they had lost too many good men to the mutiny or to death. He had to report to the Captain, somehow. He looked everywhere, but no sign of the Captain was to be found. There! He saw him, lying against the wall, his once spotless uniform covered in blood. He ran to him, horrified by what he saw.

The Captain looked up at the Major "Nickels, I need you to act in my place as captain," the Captain whispered hoarsely, "Order everyone to escape to the nearby planet."

Nickels couldn't believe it The Captain, a man he had come to respect, was dying. "Sir! You're going to make it!"

The Captain laughed quietly. "Son, you know good and well that I'm not going to make it. I have 8 bullets in me, and we're in the middle of an unknown sector, light years away from a medic. We've been betrayed by our own men!" The Captain looked dead already. "Like I said, get those loyal to us out of here. Now!" The Captain sighed. "Goodbye, Dean."

With one last breath, The Captain died, giving his last orders to one of his best friends. Dean closed The Captain's eyes, thinking about his last orders. Who would turn on their own men-in-arms, killing everyone in sight? He had to retake the communications room, and send a signal to all of his officers that were still sane enough to tell everyone else to get the heck out of dodge! He grabbed the Standard Issue US Assault Rifle lying a few feet away from the captain, and jammed a fresh magazine from his gear into the magazine well. He scanned the room with his piercing blue eyes. He stepped through the door in front of him, fired a single bullet into the resistance, and kept walking. Adrenaline passed through him, pumping through his blood.

About three minutes later, meeting no more resistance, he reached the communications room. Without warning, a bullet flew past him. He could feel it rush past his right ear. That was too close, he thought. He ducked behind a nearby crate, and set his armor HUD to show all targets in the room. He counted four, no, six, in the room. He peeked around the crate, and with deadly precision, shot the traitor armed with a SMG right between the eyes. He could see three more men come up behind him. He'd have to wait and see if they were friendly. They rushed though the room, jumped behind the same crate as the Major, and took a breather.

A Private looked at him with bloodshot eyes. His hands were white from holding his pistol so tightly. "Sir, we've salvaged about four grenades from the bodies, and to be honest, we're scared to death!"

Dean looked at him, and said to him bluntly, "Throw a grenade or two in there, and if that doesn't kill 'em, shoot till they are dead."

The private handed Nickels a grenade. "One….Two….THREE!" Private Furman threw the M203 Fragmentation Grenade into the midst of them, and Dean threw his onto the floor beneath him, where it landed right behind two traitors, who were about to execute 3 marines. Both were a success. The Major Nickels and the 3 marines ran over to the control terminal, exhausted. Major Nickels looked at Furman. "Get the heck out of here. The lifeboats are on the floor above us. Give me your pistol and grenades. Here's an Assault Rifle and 3 magazines for it." He paused. "The rest of you should be able to find some weapons on the battlefield." Furman gave him what he wanted, and looked at him with hesitant eyes. "Go!" They ran, faster than they ever had.

Now which switch do I press to get the officers? He pressed the first switch he saw. It worked. On the other end, through some fuzzy transition, he heard this: "Dean? Your targeting dot says you're the new captain. I'd congratulate you, but I'm a little busy!"

"Ben? That you? Tell all the officers to get out of here, with as much people as possible. The lifeboats are on the second floor. Get to the nearby planet. Bring as many supplies as possible. Good luck!"

He turned off the comm., and knew that Ben had got the message. They'd have to meet up on the surface. He inserted the comm. chip into his helmet, and ran to the stairs. He came close death while when a tripod-based turret fired at him from around the corner. He really didn't want to, but threw a grenade around the corner, destroying the gunner. He grabbed the gunner's M26 grenade launcher, and made sure to reload. There were at least 12 more men up top, who fired on him. He fired a grenade into them, and ran to get the 7 grenades that hadn't been destroyed by the blast off of them. He also picked up some pistol rounds, which he stuffed into his armor's pocket. Farther along, the walls were smeared with blood, and bodies were everywhere. There's a battle-mech up here, that's the only thing that would have devastated this many men. There it was, a monster of a machine, with it's back turned. The beast stood right in front of the entrance to the lifeboats. He guessed it was about 16 feet tall. It had two miniguns attached to it's arms, ready to fire. On each side of the head, he could see rocket launchers. It was painted a sickly yellow, with black stripes every foot or so. On its back, there was a bulge, which held its power supply. The red words on the back of the mech read:

Mark IX Battle Ready Mech D143933

He called his officers. "Do not go to the lifeboats, there is a battle-mech guarding the entrance! I repeat, do not go to the lifeboats!

In unison, it seemed, the officers replied. "Roger, will you be able to handle it, sir?"

He sighed. "I'll do the best I can. Talk to you later."

He flipped the sights of the M26 launcher up, and aimed at the power supply. He'd have to bounce it off the wall, and hit the power supply, and if that worked, take out the pilot. He'd have to bounce it off just right, so the fuse would go off near the supply. He took a deep breath, and fired. The grenade bounced off the wall. That's when the mech decided to turn around. He couldn't stand to see the man obliterated, so he ran around the corner to protect himself from the blast that was bound to happen. CRASH! Flames shot down the corridor, and if he hadn't been wearing the armor, he felt that he would have had some nasty burns.

His next move was to tell the officers to get their men off to the lifeboats. He walked around the corner, now completely covered in blood, and walked through the debris and flames. He got in a lifeboat, and waited for the rest to arrive. He called Private Furman, not expecting an answer.

"Sir! You made it! We've made it to the service, and have set up a distress beacon."

Dean smiled. "Good job, soldier. We'll arrive there ASAP. Nickels out."

So, they had made it, and had done better than his 46 year old body could do. 15 minutes later, the troops arrived, and Ben Nickels and his troop piled into his lifeboat. The Major got in the pilot seat, told everyone to buckle in, and got out of there. He led the lifeboats to the planet, hoping that these new lifeboats could land better than the old models. They would all try to land at the same place, and then get to the distress beacon where Furman was. He put the boat on autopilot, took off his helmet, and slicked back his dark brown hair. He looked out the window, and saw that the USS Interstar had already entered telespace, going to who knows where. Sitting back in the chair, he relaxed, and wondered how the heck they'd get out of this.