Chapter 1

A team of marines gathered in the courtyard of an abandoned Alpha base in the middle of New York City.

They just learned about a possible attack on the base that was about to happen.

Their team leader, First Lieutenant Peter "Reaper" Scanlan stood in front of them all. 35 years old and soon-to-be married, Reaper was slightly built with red hair and a goatee. He held an M4 Assault Rifle with an under-slung grenade launcher by his side. He had an IMI .50 Desert Eagle in a thigh holster and a short bladed samurai sword in a sleeve strapped to his back. He also wore a pair of black Oakley's that covered a pair of hazel eyes.

Reaper fired off orders to his squad.

He pointed to a stringy man named James "Flied Lice" Laughlin. Sergeant Major James Laughlin was the team sniper. Once a member of the 66th Battalion (TacOps) he has the 66th Battalion symbol and motto tattooed onto his arm which reads, "War is just a game." His other arm reads, "One Shot, Two Kills." 37 years old, cool as ice, he has served with Reaper on numerous campaigns, and had been his second in command for the last 5-6 years. They had also been best friends since high school and was well respected among the 66th Battalion for his courage under fire. He held a Magnum Sniper Rifle in both of his hands, with a M4 Assault Rifle with an under-slung shotgun over his back. "Lice, I want you and your sniper rifle up in those wrecked apartment buildings ninety seconds ago. I want you to take out their leaders and as many as of the fuckers as you can. Take as much ammo as you need. GO!"

Lice started off, carrying his sniper rifle with him.

He looks over to Gunnery Sergeant Michael "Shadow" Collier, the team's Heavy Weapons Expert. At 45, he was one of the best in the corp. He was holding a P90 Sub-machine Rifle calmly by his side. He was also packing a compact M41 Rocket Launcher on his back. He also had a machete strapped to his left leg. He had a slight boyish face to him that made him look younger then he really was, and he had wavy blondish hair. Some reckon that before he joined the marines he was a Calvin Kline model, something that he has always denied. "Shadow I need you on the .50 mounted machine gun turret. Take 10 minutes worth of ammo with you."

He ran off to the sentry tower where an AIE-486H HMG turret was bolted to the railing.

Reaper then looked at Staff Sergeant Jack "Sir Jackalot" Gerdes. Jackalot was the practical joker and the demolitions expert of the team. He was around 39-40 years old. At one point in his training, he was accused of blowing up his Commanding Officer's car. It was never confirmed. He always had a smile plastered on his face. He had an MP5 strapped over his shoulder and a Kukuri knife in a calf holster. "Can you set up explosives around the outside of the each wall? Rig them to blow via remote."

Jackalot just nodded and jogged off with enough explosives on his back to level a 15-story building.

Reaper heard a slight snigger from his right; he looked around at a Lance Corporal only known by the name "Simms" looking back at him with a trace of a smile on his face. Simms was the team tech specialist; he was only around 20-25 years old. He had long brown hair and a soul patch under his lower lip. He's a bit of a nuisance at times, but he could hot wire just about anything you ask him to. He's always talking about computers, but he seemed to get along with the whole team just fine. He held a Steyr Aug in his right hand, barrel pointing to the ground, along with a five-seven semi-automatic pistol on his right thigh holster with an AC Buster on a magnetic strip. "Help Jackalot would ya? I need those explosives set up before they get here."

Simms jogged off after Jackalot, carrying more explosives.

He looked over to First Sergeant Casey "Yeti" Harris, the team's mech specialist. He was at least 30-35, with long black hair. He had a slightly hunched back and a black beard starting to grow across his face. His Great-Grandfather was Marcus Harris; lead scientist on the "Colossus Project", who found the loophole in Einstein's Spacial Relativity Theory, thus creating the first Colossus 1 FTL (Faster Than Light) Drive. "Get to the armoury and pack as much ammo as you can into your suit. I want you ready in five minutes."

Once Yeti had walked off Reaper looked to the last member of the team, Corporal Jarrad "Smoking Toaster" Oldershaw. Toaster was the team's medic, a member of the 91st Division (Medics). He's also the type of person that doesn't shut up. At 22, he's constantly talking loudly, he seems to get into more trouble than anybody else in the squad, but he's a good soldier, true and true, and that's what Reaper needed most. He held an M16 across his chest with a hunter's knife in an ankle holster "Gather up as much ammo as you can. Once Jackalot gets back, you two are with me on point defence."

They both ran off to the front entrance.

Reaper and Smoking Toaster arrived at the front entrance and took up position in the guard post. He says to Smoking Toaster, "Start firing once they get to the one hundred yard line."

"Yes sir." was all he said.

Reaper opened the all-team COM. "Alright team, listen up. This is going to be one hell of a fight. Jackalot, once you are finished with the claymores get to Smoking Toaster and me. Simms, try to raise HQ when you're done and tell them to pick us up in twenty minutes, then call the flyboys, we may need air support. Tell them to use napalm for a bit then use whatever they want. Shadow, start firing once they get to the 70-yard line, keep firing for ten minutes straight or until you run out of ammo. Then fall back to point Bravo and get on the .50 and wait for us there. Lice, fire when ready."

All chant over the COM. "HOORAHH."

Reaper looked off into the distance he saw them rounding the corner.

The Rachnie.

All he could see was a mass of 6-legged warrior bugs with massive 1-2 metre long mouths with fist sized jagged teeth. They stand at about 2-3 metres tall with 1-metre long legs. The skin colour is dark yellowy orange with tinges of green and brown. Their eyes are on the inside of their mouths up the back just above the throat. The tops of their heads are almost level with their snouts.

Further up in the distance he saw massive walking mortar bugs, which shoot massive human sized balls of super-heated plasma up into the atmosphere to take out the ships, located in high orbit above the planet. They look like cockroach-turtles with green and brown all over. Don't step too close otherwise you will be sprayed with fire so hot that it melts everything it touches, thought Reaper.

Behind them, he saw a mass of what look like Scorpions, but without the stinger. Instead, they have massive tails similar to Scorpions, but they shoot out what appears to be hyper-beams. They are covered black all over and they have what looks like armoured plating over their eyes and mouths.

Reaper saw all this and he opened the all team COM.

"Oh crap," He whispered. "Fuck it. Make it one hundred and twenty yards. Fire so that we won't be reloading at the same time. Short controlled bursts. Aim for the eyes"

All the Rachnie stopped what they are doing and looked over to the marines at their base. Then they start to move. All of them. At once. All Reaper could see was a cloud of dust and flesh, hungry for human blood.

"Hold your fire." said Reaper into his mike.

"Charges set into place sir, returning into the base." said Simms and Jackalot in unison over the COM.

"Simms, get on the horn with HQ. Ask them where our pickup is. Tell the flyboys to bomb the fuckers every minute until they run out." said Reaper.

The bugs got to the one hundred and fifty-yard mark. "Hold fire!" They reached the one hundred and thirty-yard mark. "Hold!"

One hundred and Twenty.

"FIRE!"

A stattico of gunfire hammered the first line. Everything in that line went dead in the first couple of seconds. Then the .50 cal started up, ripping limbs from bodies. Nevertheless, the Rachnie just climbed over their wounded, dead or dying.

They hit the walls and started to climb. "Detonate half the charges on each wall, now!" There was a massive explosion as half the claymores on each wall obliterated the bugs that climbed over. "Holy shit guys, what type of explosives did you use?" asked Reaper once all the screaming had died down.

"The special kind." muttered Jackalot.

The bugs hit the gate but it was too much for Reaper, Jackalot and Smoking Toaster to take on all by themselves. They held their ground for three whole minutes until it was just too much, "Fall back to point Bravo, NOW!" screamed Reaper at the other two. "SHADOW, I NEED THIRTY MORE SECONDS ON THAT GATE, THEN RENDEVOUS WITH US AT POINT BRAVO. WE NEED YOU ON THE .50 CAL AT THAT LOCATION. LICE, I NEED YOU TO COVER SHADOW UNTIL HE LEAVES."

Next thing he heard was Flied Lice's calm and cool voice, "Hmm, sounds like a plan."

Reaper, Smoking Toaster and Jackalot all fell back to point Bravo where they met up with Simms. "Sir HQ has sent over a boat to pick us up in twenty minutes. Air support will be here in two." said Simms, leaning into some cover.

"Good work. Get to the armoury. Get us some more ammo and bring it over to point Charlie. Lice, five more minutes of sniping, then relocate to Point Bravo. If it's taken, then get to Point Charlie."

"Ya-huh." came the reply.

"Where's Yeti?" asked Reaper a moment before he heard the humming of machinery. A second later Rachnie warrior rounded the corner behind him and was blown to bits. Reaper spun to see Yeti in his Mech warrior providing cover fire up on top of one of the buildings. Its arms and sides bristling with auto cannons and rocket pods, Yeti fired on the bugs making their way through the main entrance.

"Nice work Yeti, keep it up" said Reaper as he loaded a new magazine into his M4.

"Will do sir" said Yeti as he sent a salvo of rockets speeding towards the main entrance. The entrance exploded into bits, chunks of concrete flying every which way but most of it crumbling ontop of a bunch of bugs underneath it creating a wall, slowing their advance.

Three minutes later, "This is Foxtrot two niner, call sign "Big Willie" inbound. You boys call in some air support?"

"SIR! AIR SUPPORTS ON THE HORN!" yelled Simms from the radio station.

Reaper came running in from outside and grabbed the phone, "Oh thank god… I thought you weren't coming for a minute then. Yeah, listen we need help, they're swarming in; we can't hold them off long." He put a hand on the receiver. "Shadow, get off the mini gun now, get to Bravo. Lice cover Shadow's retreat. Then get out of there we need more weapons down here." Taking his hand off the receiver he said, "We need you to take out the bugs in the front area. Over?"

"Roger that order. Be there in twenty seconds." said Big Willie.

Twenty seconds later Reaper hears a massive boom and the screaming of bugs being fried. He looks out the window and sees a cloud of black smoke rising from behind the wall. "YEEEHAAA! Nice work boys, just keep it up for as long as you can."

"Roger that, Big Willie out."

Reaper ran outside where he was met by the rest of his squad members.

"They decided to rush the apartment building, sir. I had to get out of there." said Flied Lice, panting as he put away his sniper rifle and pulled out his modified M4 Assault Rifle.

Before he could reply, Reaper heard a scream from behind him. He spun around and saw that one of the bugs had crept up on them. It speared Simms in the leg and lifted him up in front of it so that nobody could fire at it. If anybody did, they would ultimately hit Simms instead of the bug, killing him.

Simms dropped his Steyr Aug and pulled out his Five-Seven, pointed it into the bugs mouth, "You hungry, motherfucker?" said Simms looking into the bugs eye. "Well, eat this!" and fired three times into the back of its throat. The bullets ripped into the bugs head, blew apart its brains and exited through the top of its head severing its spine. When it was dead, he directed the gun to where the bug's leg was speared into his leg and loosed a round into it. It snapped off and he ripped it out of his leg.

More bugs climbed over the barricade, hungry for blood. It was like there was no end to them. The marines made short work of the first wave and the wave after that, but the next wave had the Scorpion looking creatures with them. There were three of them stumbling along with the rest of the pack. Bullets just pinged off their armour when the marines fired upon them. Simms tried getting back up but he couldn't; his leg was too screwed up to stand on.

All of a sudden, one of the Scorpion creatures jumped over the barricade landing just above Simms. It looked back down at him and opened its pincers ready to bite his head off. Quick as a flash Simms swung up his Steyr and blasted short quick bursts into its belly. It reared back up onto its back legs, bullets ripping into its belly liquefying its intestines in an instant. It stagged back off Simms, pincers wide, threatening Simms to come any closer.

Simms, still lying on his back, primed a grenade and side armed it. It flew right into the open pincers of the Scorpion creature's mouth. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he yelled. Everybody took cover. A couple of seconds later there was a massive fireball and a spray of blood. The other two started to retreat, but Shadow's rocket launcher took care of them both. The rest of the bugs were mopped up easily.

"Ok, looks like these guys really want us dead. Medic, patch up Simms's leg. Simms, once you're patched up get to the control room, access the mini turret system and electrify the door once we are all in. Jackalot, we need more time. Detonate the rest of the claymores. Let's open up the steel windows and grab some more ammo," said Reaper to all of his team. "Yeti, suit up. You're our work horse if we need to get to the armoury for more ammo."

They all went inside with Simms and Smoking Toaster lagging behind. Reaper stayed back to cover them.

Suddenly, another bug that seemed to be hiding behind the barricade jumped over and flew after Reaper. Cool as ice, Reaper pulled out his Desert Eagle and shot it 2- 3- 4 times in the top of the head. The bullets slammed into the bugs head spinning it around in mid air before it came crunching to the ground inches from his feet, dead.

He killed some more and stepped back into the corridor connecting to the bunker.