Part II

The Master Plan

It all stopped as suddenly as it had started. The sensation of movement ceased, the roar was cut off, and dizziness subsided. The marine still did not dare to open his eyes, but then he reached up and took off his helmet. He immediately felt a familiar breeze on his forehead. He finally looked around and breathed a sigh of relief – he had appeared somewhere near his hometown, the place where the demons' primary gateway had been located. It was a rainy gray day, yet the marine considered the dark clouded sky to be the most pleasant sight after his second journey through the pits of Hell.

A groan-like sound broke the silence. The marine turned around and saw the anomaly that had brought him here shrivel and eventually fade out completely. It was a comforting thought that no evil could follow him through this portal anymore. "Yeah, that's exactly what I thought the last time," the marine murmured. He quickly surveyed his surroundings. Somewhere in the distance was the spaceport - dark and abandoned. The city ahead seemed suspiciously quiet as well. Maybe the demons were really gone for good? But if that were true, then where were the space marines?

The answer came sooner than he had expected. There were some UAC crates near a nearby old warehouse and they were unusually clean – they must have been brought there recently. And the SMC symbol that had been hastily spray-painted on the wall of the warehouse meant that a field HQ had probably been set up inside. Finally, some reinforcements! Perhaps some rations too – now that the ordeal was over, the marine had realised how hungry he was. Stimpacks could suppress hunger and thirst, but only up to a point.

The marine walked cautiously towards the warehouse entrance and then noticed a vague human shape moving inside. He waved his hand and the figure in the shadows slowly turned around and then started walking towards him in a manner that filled the marine with a strange sense of foreboding. He had seen this kind of gait before. The only people who walked this way were the...

The marine quickly ducked and took cover behind one of the crates. It was just in time as a spray of bullets was unleashed in his direction. The hot lead tore through the wooden boxes and little pieces of them flew in every direction. The attacker kept walking forward without even ceasing fire. The marine could now see him clearly – a Former Commando! But of course – after fighting so many of these creeps, the marine had learned to intuitively recognize their manner of moving.

The marine was now pinned down behind the crates and he lacked the heavy weaponry to return fire properly. "So stupid!" he thought bitterly, "Why did I have to leave behind my rocket launcher?" Now he had to deal with the situation the oldschool way – charge and a close-range shotgun blast. Just like Sergeant Osmond's troop movement exercise back at boot camp. It was all about the right timing.

The Former Commando was relentless – its chaingun was smoking heavily and the barrels were starting to become red hot, yet it would not stop shooting. It was very close now – the marine could see the red glow in its eyes. These zombies were not very good at shooting something that was right under their noses, so the marine dived right under its barrage of bullets and landed near its blood-stained boots. As expected, the Commando stopped firing and froze for a second, which was more than enough. The sawed-off shotgun barrels were pressed against the creature's chest and the trigger was pulled before it could even try to aim downward. The blast tore the zombie's body in half and the marine's face was bathed in cold slimy blood. "That'll teach ya!"

Now that the threat was gone, the space marine jumped quickly to his feet and rushed inside the warehouse. Indeed, there was an SMC field HQ inside – fully deployed and ready for action. However, the marine that was supposed to man it was already dead. He had probably been caught off-guard by that Former Commando, believing it to be one of his comrades.

The marine kneeled next to the fallen soldier's body and looked into his face. It was a fairly young recruit and this was probably his first real mission. The marine shook his head. "I am sorry, kid," he whispered, "You did not deserve to go out like this. No marine does."

He thought he should give the kid a proper burial. But this could wait for a few hours; first he had to assess the situation and see if the invasion was truly over. Besides, it was starting to rain. There was a huge gaping hole in the roof and the concrete floor was already wet. The equipment was safe for now, though. The marine finally turned his full attention towards the screens and tactical maps.

The world map showed twenty hotspots around the globe – were these the last surviving demonic strongholds? Things looked serious – the readings in the tactical schematics indicated fairly strong infestations in some of these areas. The invasion was over for sure, yet these last demon-controlled areas could quickly grow and lead to a new Hell on Earth, mere days after the first invasion had been repelled. The marine then turned his attention towards the large communications console and saw the last received urgent message:

All SMC personnel – initiate the execution of the Master Plan. The demonic invasion has stopped suddenly, and this is our chance to retake our planet. The demons still hold a number of crucial facilities around the planet, and they are trying to regroup and continue their assault, despite the unexpected shock they experienced. Your task is to attack and clear out those facilities – quickly and efficiently. Time is a luxury we cannot afford! The twenty missions have been divided into easier cleanup jobs and harder assignments that will require you to take out powerful demonic warlords. It is up to you to organize and complete all missions, then report their completion through this encrypted channel. Good luck, marines. – General Callahan

A message from High Command, transmitted from orbit. The marine suspected that there would be some remaining demons to clean up, yet he had not expected the situation to be so complicated. "Looks like I have some unfinished business," he growled. Perfect timing – he was starting to feel bored anyway. But where were the mission briefings?

The marine looked around and spotted the young recruit's backpack lying in a muddy puddle nearby. He pulled it out of the muck and examined its content. Some stimpacks, adrenaline shots, a couple of armor shards, a few soaked rations (useless), some spare parts, a fresh clip of bullets, and a document folder... waterproof and undamaged. This had to be it!

The marine tore open the envelope and skimmed through the briefing impatiently. Twenty mission sites – twenty nests of evil to clean up, each one with a code name. The first ones were various important facilities with moderate infestation levels. The last ones were true bastions of evil, the lairs of the last surviving demonic warlords on Earth, code-named Veavitdpoh, Chagrin, and Mephisto***. Surviving... but not for long. A sadistic smile was already creeping across the marine's face. Looks like it was time for some more fighting. But how was he going to get there?

Once again, the answer was just around the corner - the young recruit had managed to set up a mobile teleport hub before his unfortunate demise. And the briefings contained the coordinates that had to be punched in. Excellent. With these, the marine could warp to the mission zones, do the job and then return safely.

He pulled out the first briefing sheet. The mission was code-named "ATTACK" and included a brief description: "A small security outpost is key to keeping watch and control over the whole region. A part of the building was used as storage space, so there should be weapons and ammo, as well as other military supplies available. Low demonic infestation detected. Clear out facility and reactivate the main computer."

"Sounds easy enough," the marine thought. "This should be a good warm-up before I take down the big bad guys." With this in mind, he pulled out the sheet for the mission named "MEPHISTO" and set it aside. "I will leave you for last. I have a hunch you will be a tough one. Not that this is going to save you..."

The marine checked his weapons, counted his ammo and approached the teleporter. He looked at the dead recruit one more time and whispered: "I will make them pay, kid. This is my promise to you... I will show them that I am the Master. The Master of their doom."

The marine stepped onto the platform, entered the first coordinates and put his finger on the "engage" button. It was time to dish out some more death and destruction.

"This should be fun."

Notes:

*** These are based on the names included in Sverre Andre Kvernmo's original storyline for his levels. Veavitdpoh is an Arch-Vile and his name means "Very evil Arch-Vile in the deepest parts of Hell," Chagrin is a Cyberdemon, and Mephisto (a.k.a. "old Lucy") is an Icon of Sin / boss brain.

I hope you enjoyed this little journey.

By the way, this General Callahan is supposed to be the same person from another fan fic of mine (Phobos Trooper), which I should really update soon. It's been more than a year...

And one more thing - the Marine's choice of first and last mission is based on my personal Master Levels play scheme. I always play "Attack" first and "Mephisto" last (because it has a boss brain).

Until next time, folks :)