DEAD SPACE – FIRST CONTACT ASSAULT
A fanfic by Stefan Lindqvist
Titan Station, Government sector, approximately 3 years after the incident on USG ISHIMURA
There were seven of us, excluding me and that was the last time I checked. However, I opened my eyes realizing that something had fallen down to hit my head, interrupting me from dozing off. Luckily, my equipment absorbed most of the impact as my entire squad was given the latest tech in order to deal with this "Event". If I recalled correctly, I remember that it had a rather simple name, "The Soldier Suit".
When I opened my eyes, I noticed that I was on the same dropship as my squad, that had been sent out on an objective that none of us really understood. It was something about evacuating the Citizens on Titan into the Government Section, but also through the Evac pods, but priority was getting the sick ones from Memorial Hospital through a dropship on top of the building. But, that went to shit. At least, from all the things that were going on around here. Suddenly, in the middle of all of this we were granted the permission to fire at will, now that Martial Law was in effect. However, I did forget to mention that in total, we were an entire platoon from Alpha to Delta squad, consisting of eight people in each group. We were divided into securing these sections, however me and my squad was declared being on the F.C.A – First Contact Assault status. That meant, we were the first and last ones ready to deploy and deal with any situations given by our superiors. Anyhow, it all seemed gibberish to me.
"Ikarus, hey Ikarus! Did you get the orders?!" A man in front of me yelled, I sat next to two other soldiers like me, while three were in front of my position. The man in front of me had slightly leaned forward in order to catch my attention, however he also seemed to wear the same suit such as me, except that his visor was orange rather than blue like mine and the others. Not to mention that he also had the Sergeant insignia on his shoulder which also meant that he was my superior. My face was hidden by my helmet and I merely gave a nod in response to the Sergeant. However, I could not help but to reply as I knew that this guy was a really tough individual, when it came to dealing with his men.
"Yes, Sergeant!" I slightly stuttered on the first word, but somehow I managed to keep my rhythm quick and strict, just like it is expected from a soldier.
"I asked you, how you holdin' up? Do you think you can handle it?" The man asked, his voice was slightly lowered and I could clearly tell the other soldiers were looking at me, awaiting my reply. But, the Sergeant shook his head before I could reply as he realized that I had not been paying any attention at all to the briefing on the ship. After all, it was rather important, but I had to admit. To my stupidity I was too tired to listen, which caused me to sadly doze off. However, in my mind I told myself to do better from now on as I could not afford going like this.
"Listen, Corporal! Our objective is to raid the Cassini Towers and investigate why all comms went lost. We've been trying to reach them for a while, but our objective is to extract someone and we have to protect this individual at all costs. I can not say anything else." The Sergeant replied and after his order, I looked to my side to see how my brothers in arms felt about this situation. They seemed a bit skeptical on this mission, though I can't blame them as I felt so as well. But, I wonder if the Sergeant felt the same way as well? I mean, everyone simply had this bitter; I was about to say look, but they all seemed to have this bitter yet weird aura amongst themselves. Like, they've given up and they simply only tried to survive. I was sure, one hundred percent positive that we were all equally curious what the Sergeant was hiding, but asking for more information would be like talking to a rock, when it came to talking to the Sergeant.
"Alright, how's the connection? Is everyone able to link their R.I.G's with each other?" The Sergeant asked as he stood up, trying to get a grip on a handle that allowed the Sergeant to stand, after all this was a bumpy ride.
"Yeah, I'm linking my R.I.G with everyone now." A man sitting next to the Sergeant replied, I believe it was Corporal Ray Cormick. Same rank as I, but he was the Support of this squad while I served as a Grenadier. However, as I myself was about to link my R.I.G with everyone else, I was interrupted by a notification in which requested the permission to have Ray's R.I.G linked with mine. This would allow me to see everyones health status on a small interface inside my helmet HUD. Of course, I reached out my hand and pressed the "accept" button. Then, I did so with Private Doyle's R.I.G and the others. Until it was my time to do so as well, which I did by opening up my interface and checking a preset checkbox that would request anyone in my squad to have my R.I.G displayed through their HUD. After that was done, the Sergeant sat down on his ordinary seat and silence took place for a while. The only thing that I could hear was the bumpy noises from the old Dropship. Until, the Sergeant had to leave his seat once again to talk to the pilot on the cockpit. I was the one sitting next to the Sergeant, that meant I was also the one closest to the cockpit. As the Sergeant got up, I could clearly tell that he wanted to go and check on the situation, probably the ETA regarding the ship. But, his missing presence took longer than expected. It also made me doubt and feel worried because when the Sergeant was absent for a long time, this being from all the five years that I've served with him...
It only meant one thing, that shit was bad.
I'd go and eavesdrop on his conversation with the pilot, but that would mean that I would have to get up. Which also prevented me from doing so, I did not want to get a bad name on my record, nor have any of my squad mates snitch on me. So, I sat down and just waited like anyone waiting on their train, or bus. There was nothing to do really, until I heard distant mumblings at the corner of the ship, three seats away from the Sergeant's seat. I couldn't make it out, but it was something about a thing called "The Marker" and on how convergence was at hand. I didn't really pay any much attention, so I went back to trying to listen on the pilot and the Sergeant. But, I could make out in the background that one of my squad mates tried to calm down the mumbling man that seemed to make the others of my squad more and more upset. However, now that the mumbling man had decided to stand up, so did the two of the others sitting next to me – now trying to tell the mumbling soldier to sit down. Alright, by that time my attention span focused on something else. Now, I knew something was going on so I turned to my right to see what the fuss was all about.
What it seemed to be going on, was the fact that the mumbling soldier seemed to be rather unstable. The man was shaking, stuttering in each of his sentences and spouting up things that did not make sense. Of course, I was put to my surprise when I thought that this soldier was one of the most stable people, after all; I had served with him for quite a while and he had a great record. His name was Corporal Johnsson Frost, a Grenadier same as me.
"What's going on?" I asked Private Doyle, the man sitting next to me had previously been focused on the crazy soldier until he turned his attention to me, in attempt to reply to my question.
"This guy keeps rambling about the marker and how convergence is at hand, he's been doing so for the past few hours, but he's been getting more and more aggressive as time passed. His friend here, tried to calm him down but things does not seem to go so well now." Doyle replied and I merely gave a nod, now glancing at the crazy man that had now placed a hand on his friend next to him, trying to convince him to accept "their fate". I did not really know what was going on, but the Sergeant certainly did as the moment he came back from the cockpit. He shouted at everyone to sit down, until I turned to explain the situation. At that moment, he shouted towards the crazy guy after giving me a stern look.
"Corporal Johnsson Frost! You will sit down and be quiet or I will have you taken to Military Court and dishonorably discharge you!"
However, the Grenadier did not reply. He simply stood still as the others grew more and more paranoid and felt the unnerving presence from the Unitologist. All of us had a deep fear inside for what could go wrong. After all, unitologists were people not so easily accepted into the Military. After the Unitologist stood still for a brief moment, he silently began chuckling to himself, as the laughter gradually became louder and louder. It was clear that the man had lost it, his voice was distorted by his helmet and suddenly. He did something in which surprised everyone, he took out a Hand Grenade and yelled out.
"If none of you will accept your destiny, then I will force it upon you!" Yet so, the man pulled the pin quickly and at that moment, none of us really knew what to do. It happened quick enough that we did not have a chance to look for cover, but instead...
We were greeted by a tremendous force, that blew me and the Sergeant next to me away into the cockpit. All of what remained, was that the Drop Ship split in half and how everyone else tried to struggle on holding on to anything that could keep them inside of the ship. I saw Private Doyle clinging on to the damaged ceiling, luckily enough the damaged cords on the ship allowed Doyle to cling on as the ship was split in half; dividing our group in two's. As I felt the ship crashing into one of the buildings on Titan, where I had no idea where...
I simply hoped that we'd make it out alive, but everything went black after a tremendous force that seemed to be another explosion that made my ears ring intensely.
Chapter One, finished
