It has been a while I know, but lucky for you all I am here to show you all the cool new chapter for Are We Alone. And I can tell you, it is a doozy, and fun to write. Been busy for me, writing all these chapter and getting them posted. Nearly midnight here and I can tell you I am sleepy.
Been a nice month for me, playing Dragon Age Inquisition, finally! Because I got it and never played it because I was so busy writing and now that I have the time I am playing non-stop. So much fun.
But enough about that, this chapter is going to be awesome because it is deep into the story and will be near the beginning of the events where the Galaxy will learn about the Shinigami. Enjoy.
Are we Alone
Chapter 04: The Butcher of Torfan
Torfen Surface
It was pure hell, fighting inch by inch over the craggy and uneven ground across the barren fields towards the Stronghold. Over one thousand Alliance marines had been deployed to assault the fortress' south-east section, aiming to take out its artillery battery so reinforcements could land.
"Get to cover!"
But that was proving to be difficult, as the Batarian's had set up some heavy weapons to keep them from moving more than an inch or above three feet from the ground unless you wanted to be shredded. Mortars and heavy machines guns and sniper perches were all over the place, making it impossible to move through the area safely.
They had taken serious losses already taking the ground they had, two hundred had been seriously wounded and about half as many were dead.
"Sir, we lost half the squad, how do we…?" He never finished as his head exploded from a mass accelerator round bursting through his cover and then his skull.
The man next to him dropped even lower, nearly lying prone on the ground as more gunfire assaulted their position. Sniper fire along with thousands of rounds of mass-accelerated machine gun rounds was hitting their position along with everyone else. There was a one in four chance you wouldn't get hit, and a one in three chance it wouldn't be fatal.
So there was little return fire at the moment, between the overwhelming gunfire and mounting wounded, standing up to get shot ain't a top priority. The only priority was getting to the damn trenches where they could actually start fighting back without risking being shot for actually standing up.
"Colonel, we have a position where you can flank them and secure a choke-point for your force to move in." The radio crackled, signalling to the commanding officer in charge of the army group.
"Marines, follow me!" Colonel Hannibal Grimsley ordered, having his men move around through cover and towards the closest over crop that sat close to a machine gun nest. If they could take that they would have an opening to get inside.
"Alright, we need to hit that gun perch, take that and we have a way in and can start taking out these bastards." Hannibal said over the comms, he looked to see the scared face of his men, he knew exactly why.
The only way to that gun perch was a twenty meter open area that gave no cover and left them completely open to enemy fire and the perch they were assaulting. More than likely most of them were going to die, and if the worse came all of them would die. Yet he knew he had to do this, if they didn't, more than just they would die.
"Form up! Wide formation, heavy's in front and weapons free and shoot anything you see!" Colonel Hannibal ordered, taking his shotgun off his lower back and pumping it for good measure.
Without another word he leaped from cover, his men following him without a battle cry or shout of protest. They knew it had to be done, and cowering would only lead to shame and death for everyone there. They made the first five meters before the first man fell, his torso riddled with holes and smeared with blood, half a second later three more joined him.
They kept running and more kept falling, bullets went flying in both directions, scoring kills on one side or the others. The Alliance took it the hardest; there were already thirty marines dead before they eventually reached the nest. Only three Batarians remained, three others were killed in the charge, small considering how many were lost.
All three were quickly gunned down by collective gun fire from the marines as they entered the nest, and taking it for themselves. But even inside they were still in danger, two more marines fell to the ground, heads blow off by snipers from further towards the fortress. The marines took cover and started reaping their own justice, sniper to sniper and machine gun to machine gun.
For the first time since they landed on the moon they had actually started to kill something with some momentum that wasn't at a snail's pace. Slowly, but surely, they were turning the tide against the defenders. But it was not without its cost.
"Sir, what are your orders?" One corporal asked, his question directed to Major Kyle, the current commander.
When the nest was taken they had lost Colonel Hannibal, he died in the charge and was still laying down there with several holes in his chest and one in his forehead. In the last ten minutes there had been three other commanders, two had been still in the crevices under fire from the mortars and machines guns and had died within three minutes of each other. Now, Major Kyle was in charge, the current ranking officer in charge.
"Keep firing, take out the nests, the more openings we make the more our men can fight back!" Kyle yelled, ducking down as a sniper round nearly took his head off, thankfully bouncing off his kinetic barriers.
He turned and started firing at the direction it came, hoping to either hit or suppress the bastard that shot at him. But it was not needed as another shot rang out and he saw a body fall from the snipers nest he had been shooting at. He turned and looked to the young woman that had fired the shot and given a nod.
"Start making your way to the other nests, snipe from a distance and then charge, counter sniping is also a go. Give our boys a chance to stretch their legs." Kyle ordered, looking around frantically as his men carried out the order.
He ducked down as a few rounds bounced off the steel barrier he was behind, and then he gasped as he saw one of his boys fell down. He was gasping for air, the side of his neck had been opened up and he was bleeding everywhere. A medic came over and tried to help, but soon he too was hit and he slumped to the side, a clean hole through his temple and a blown out chuck of his skull splattering two Marines behind him.
Kyle looked on for a moment, transfixed at the many bodies that were ahead of him and the way they had been killed. Blown out chests, head and some had limbs that were shredded to piece from high-powered and numerous rounds. It was horrifying actually, to see so much death and the manner of execution was a nightmare in on its own.
"Major Kyle, do you read?"
Kyle jerked for a moment, surprised by the sudden call for his name. He looked around for a moment before his hand went to his earpiece on his helmet.
"This… this is Major Kyle… I read you."
"This is Admiral Hackett, what is your status?" The gravelly voice of their leader brought some calm to the Major.
"We are making headway sir, but we have lost a lot of men, nearly half. And more are wounded, we need…" Kyle started, but was cut off.
"What is your status?" Admiral Hackett called again, wanting a report and not a relay of what was wrong.
Kyle was a little pissed at that command; it was obvious he did not want to know how bad things were going on down here. But if they could make the operation work and if they were going to do it, no matter the bodied needed. His training kicked in as always and he relayed the situation.
"We have secured a part of the frontal defences, were dismantling the rest now, we will be moving onto the anti-air tower soon sir." Kyle replied, keeping himself professional after being brought back by the Admiral.
"Keep it up, Hackett out."
Kyle took a deep breath and found his center before he decided to get into the fight himself. He quickly lifted himself up and moved for the nearest nest, finding that his men were already occupying it and allowing for reinforcements to get up along the edge. That was good, they could start advancing now.
For the next half an hour they fought, slowly taking out the machine gun nests and allowing the Marines a path through their defences. Contending with sniper fire and mortar rounds, but they were making progress. A little longer and they could take out the artillery tower and finally begin the main assault on the bunker.
But most of all they would get their reinforcements.
Most of the nests that had been taken had been used to keep the wounded; over half of the marines had to be kept there because they were injured in some capacity. But they still had two hundred still able to continue and finally get to the AA-guns. But it was getting more complicated; the pirates were abandoning their others posts and coming straight for them.
"Get to cover!" Kyle ordered, finding a nice little trench system they could use.
But it ended up with them mostly being surrounded with only one way to go, but that would result in them getting shredded in the retreat. They were effectively trapped in a small little series of trenches and dug out holes where they had to stay alive.
"Dammit! We can't get to the guns!" Kyle growled out, desperation and rage in his words.
He had lead his men into a damn kill zone and now they were all going to die because of it. There was no way they could hold off this many for long, they would swarm their position in no time and then it would be all over.
"We need reinforcements!" Major Kyle screamed over the comm, hoping to get some men from the nests to offer assistance.
But so far from the bunker it would impossible, they were too far out and they would be gone within a minute or two. The thought scared the hell out of him and made him wonder if this entire operation was even worth it.
"Negative Major!" Someone replied over the line. "Enemy forces inbound, unable to assist!"
The Major cursed, this was a mistake, and there was no way they could have taken this fortress without air support or reinforcements. They were all going to die on this moon and they likely were never going to get buried. This was going to be where they all die.
Why did he have to be here? Leading all these men and woman to their deaths when someone else could have? This is wrong.
"Please, god, I don't want to die." Kyle mumbled to himself, as the last of his will to fight slipped from him.
It was in that moment the fighting stopped, a silence descended upon the field as all gun halted and all voices went mute. But it was not of their own volition that the hostilities were ended, but some other force descending upon them. But then something happened, everyone felt something push down on their shoulders and for a single instant they felt as if death itself had just walked over their graves.
Hackett felt his chest tighten slightly, a horrible feeling passing through him. He looked over the bridge and saw that everyone else was hunched over slightly, as if their hearts were aching. Meaning he wasn't the only one to suffer.
In a moment the pressure started it had ceased, no longer feeling the dread and pain over his heart he straightened up and oversaw the situation. It was not good, he could see that some of the people present had actually passed out from the sudden outburst.
"What was that?" Hackett called over the bridge, looking for an answer.
"Sir… I… I don't know, it was some kind of… matter displacement field or something…" One officer said, looking over his terminal and shaking his head in confusion and worry.
"Come again Lieutenant?" Hackett inquired, moving with purpose over to the boy.
"I have no idea sir! These readings make no sense, I am detecting a massive fluctuation of unknown particles in the atmosphere yet they aren't being registered on our scanners." The officer replied, not understanding it.
He could detect the strange displacements of energy in the atmosphere because of how the matter on the ground was reacting; in fact it was so huge that even oxygen and hydrogen were being propelled away from it. It was quite literally so powerful that hydrogen and oxygen atoms were being forced away from it, which is almost unheard of.
"What the hell is down there?" Hackett ordered.
"I don't know sir; it just appeared out of nowhere."
Hackett looked over the scanners and could only guess what he was seeing, showing that the actual matter and atmosphere was being replaced with another foreign force. As what they were currently seeing was the area spanning several miles was being pushed away from something. In fact it was so large that it not only encompassed the location of the Bunkers but also the space above it.
There was no telling how this displacement of energy could be affecting their people on the ground or the danger they were in. People could be dying down there for all he knew.
"Where is it?"
"South-East of the bunker sir." The officer replied. "Right where our troops are."
Major Kyle could barely breathe; he took in shallow and pained breaths. Every single bone in his body felt like it was on fire, and being crushed under something. He looked around to see some of his marines had passed out and those that hadn't were on their hands and knees. Struggling to get back to their feet.
He had passed out himself and everyone else was either still out of it or like him, staggering back into consciousness while trying to make sense of what happened. Was this some kind of weapon? Some kind of strange gravitational weapon that is able to amplify the pressure in a vicinity of their choosing.
With what strength he had he looked over to the pirates, they were also affected, by whatever this was. In fact he could barely keep his eyes from closing, or keeping the darkness around the edge of his eyes from taking him completely. What the hell was going on? Even with the pressure gone he could barely feel like he was going to fall asleep in the next moment or not.
He fell to a knee and tried to regain control over his motor functions, and failed. He fell onto his back and stared up at the sky unable to lift himself up properly. Whatever had happened had sapped the strength right out of his body. Everyone seemed to be in the same boat as they tried to regain their bearings and either remain awake or try to keep fighting. But no one was doing anything.
For a few minutes no one fired a shot, still reeling from what just happened. Then they felt it again, it was more subtle this time, but none the less it was there. The overwhelming feeling of dread as something monstrous was looking down at you.
Everyone was on edge, the feeling of imminent death looming over them all.
"Fucking worthless bunch you are."
Everyone turned, the voice catching everyone in the vicinity with its harshness and deep vocalization. Their gaze landed on a man in black robes with a white cloak who sat upon a large piece of rock that allowed him to stand out against the contrasting reddish sky. He had long black hair that hang down his back, with a small black eye patch over his right eye.
"I come here and expect a good fight and you all up and start dying when I show up, how disappointing." He said, a sneer on his lips as he glared down at the people around him.
"What… the hell?" A Marine said, backing away from the man, who somehow exuded murder and crazy.
None could deny that, the aura they felt was still there, the dread and fear they felt ripped at their hearts and made it impossible for them to stand the presence of this man. His entire physical appearance was that of a raving animal looking to sink his teeth into something.
"Hey you fuck! Where did you come from! What was this shit you just did!" A Batarian pirate said, raising a pistol from several feet away from the man, who simply turned and looked at him.
The cold and murderous gold eyes of this unknown man descended upon this single brave or stupid pirate who seemed to be frozen in place.
"Fuck off."
What happened next was confusing to some, but outright terrifying all the same. The Batarian's arm dropped and then he coughed up blood; he then fell to his knees and face planted onto the ground. Leaving many to wonder how the hell that happened, and to be answered by the man who did it.
"You've got to be kidding, are you all so weak that you can't even take it when I talk with you?" The man asked, looking annoyed.
Everyone backed off; he just killed a guy by looking at him and telling him to beat it, if he could do that. Then simply looking at him could be fatal, and the fact being near him hurt likes hell that may not be far off. It even got worse when he stood up and looked over the field, giving a dismissive huff as he glared at the people around him.
"Well, since I am here, might as well get rid of you guys." He said, towering over everyone a good six feet and six inches, his single eye looking down at the remaining Alliance Marines. "Since you guys look like shit, I won't bother with you."
He then looked up at the assembled force of pirates and mercs, smiling like a madman. His pearly white teeth sparkling and his face contorted to that of a homicidal maniac. The chill they felt accompanied by the rising pressure they felt made them wonder what kind of bad things were about to happen.
"I may be here searching and doing recon, or shit like that. But since he isn't around I can kill you all I want, so, let's begin shall we?" His response was a missile to the face, before a barrage of heavy weapons fire went right at him.
It continued for a full minute before everyone had to stop and let their weapons cool. As the smoke cleared it revealed the man, completely unharmed and smirking all the more ferociously. The dread only rose along with the pressure, as if he was enjoying getting annoyed.
"Is that it? Come on, throw something at me that may actually hurt me, it's no fun having a one sided slaughter." He said, looking irritated.
His response was the shifting of the AA-gun, the massive weapon turning on its stand and aiming for the man that was standing nary a few dozen yards from everyone else. As it turned towards the man he only cocked his head to the side.
"Everyone down!" Kyle yelled, watching the massive guns turn and aim at the man who simply smirked.
Then it fired, and watched as the ground simply erupted into a miniature nuclear explosion of force. Sending a powerful shockwave through the area that knocked several merc and pirates on their asses and knocked some clean out.
The Alliance Marines were only lucky to be on lower ground where the force passed right over them, but still they were lucky none appeared to have died. He looked around, finding that debris and dust had clouded much of their vision.
"Everyone okay!" Kyle called out.
He was not met with a reply immediately, only grunts and growls; he turned to look out over the edge to see that the pirates were alive. Some appeared to have been killed by the concussive force of the explosion that decimated the area around them. He could see some were up and alive, but not in good shape.
"The fuck! You idiot, what did you do! You could have killed us all!" A Batarian pirated yelled over the comm. "What do you mean Elysium! What the fuck does that have to do with anything!"
Kyle had no idea what was going on but he made no argument, if the AA-gun had done this maybe they could survive if they retreated.
"Impossible…"
Kyle turned to the utterance, and he himself was left with a deep seated feeling of despair as he looked on at the sight.
Everyone looked on as the dust settled, the cloud disperse, and instead of a crater with nothing in it. There was the man, hovering over it and with his head bowed. His clothes tattered and his body bruised and covered in gashes. He was shaking, some thought he was hurt severely, but that was not true. He threw back his head and let out a roar of laughter that chilled everyone to the bone.
He was laughing; the sheer idea of taking an anti-air shot from a mass accelerator cannon made them shudder to think that such a thing could be joyful. The fact he survived the strike only made it more scary that he only had a bruise and a few scrapes that came from it.
"That is what I am talking about!" He yelled, glee on his face and in his voice. "Now that you got that gun there, you may actually survive against me, let's find out!"
Without a word he leaped higher into the air and descended down toward the terrified pirates, drawing a jagged and worn sword from within his robes. Holding it high he slashed down, and the very ground beneath them ruptured as if an explosion had gone off right where he had struck. Those closest were thrown away, either dead from the force or the edge of the sword or knocked out by the concussive force. But it did not end there.
He emerged from the cloud, hacking and slashing, like a madman he fought against anyone around him. Shrugging off bullets and grenades like they were nothing, smiling like a madman who had nothing better to do than massacre all these people.
"Sir, what do we do?" A Marine asked, fearful as he watched the monster of a man kill his way through dozens if not hundreds of pirates.
Kyle didn't response, the sight of this man butchering the pirates was simply the last straw for him, and he simply sat down and let it happen. He couldn't watch it, he could take it anymore, he just wanted out of this, all he wanted was to go home.
"What is going on down there?" Hackett called over the comms, the energy signature or whatever it was seemed to be disrupting transmissions, and worse still it was right on top of where there men were.
"I don't know sir, I am trying to get a visual."
"What about that energy signature?" Hackett ordered.
"We are still analyzing it, but it is impossible to identify what it is and where it came from." Another officer said, she was looking over the analysis and trying to get the computer to find some form of energy they could use to identify the particular anomaly.
"Sir I have a visual."
"Show me." Hackett ordered, and watched as a screen came to life and showed an orbital view of the fighting.
Immediately he knew what was happening, and he tensed when he saw the monster in this one.
"Another one…" The Admiral murmured, looking at the savage display of swordsmanship this one used.
But he looked to be much worse for wear than last seen, and then he saw why; the image was engulfed in a brilliant explosion and distorted, revealing that the man had been shot by the AA-gun. The image pulled back to see the destruction caused by the gun, a large crater formed and also created a descent wave of force.
But emerging from the cloud was the man, roaring and charging into the next closest batch of pirates that weren't dead. This continued for several seconds before another shot was fired, this one catapulting the man away before he charged back in. None the worse for wear, but the sight of his reddening skin was proof that he wasn't coming out of this unscathed.
But still those AA-guns had a massive hit to them. Those guns have a destructive kinetic force of three kilotons, meaning that the man was surviving blast and receiving only minor injuries was very disturbing indeed.
"Get me someone down there, I need to speak with the men immediately." Hackett ordered, snapping the men out of their trance as they watched the man butcher everything in his path.
"Dear god! He's fucking taking an AA gun like it's nothing!" A Marine yelled, hiding in a ditch as another explosion went off, courtesy of the AA gun and afterword's only manic laughter was heard.
"This is Admiral Hackett, is anyone receiving me?" The Seventh Fleet Admiral called over the comm.
"T-this is Captain Fulton! Admiral we need help down here, there is this… monster or something!" The currently in charge officer said, Major Kyle simply was zoned out, sitting on a rock and simply grazing at nothing on the ground.
"Captain, reinforcements are on-route, the attack in fully underway, but do not engage while that man is present, do not engage him or threaten him, do you understand?" Admiral Hackett demanded quickly.
"Sir? Is he… with us… or…?" Fulton started.
"Do you understand Captain!" Hackett demanded once more.
"Yes sir, I will keep the men back and wait for backup." Captain Fulton replied weakly, ducking down as another explosion occurred, coming from the AA gun.
For the next ten minutes they waited within the trenches as the fighting continued, it dying down to the people simply running for their lives. But not getting far, the monster following them and murdering them all in an instant. It was horrible; the ones in the trenches could only hear those dying screams, growing fainter and duller with each passing second. But it did not grow easier on their ears, only worse.
Another explosion sounded off, the sound coming from the AA-gun, many had suspected that the gun had landed a hit on the man again. But it was not the case this time around, it was different as there was no massive upturn of kinetic force or dust, but a resounding crash.
Instead of it firing and leveling the area once more, it had been destroyed. The massive weapon meant to destroy anything that got in its way was in pieces and falling to the ground at the bottom of the bunker it was situated upon.
Leaping out of the wreckage was the madman that had carried out the destruction of a weapon that would have taken an army to accomplish. Landing on the roof of the bunker and laughing manically.
"Damn, that was fun, all those wounds are starting to sting though." The man said.
"Kenny!" To those watching it would have been a shock to see a girl pop up from inside his clothing on his back, none the worse for wear. "You really got thrown around a lot, you should really learn to dodge!"
"Like hell, barely felt it the first time, like a mosquito bite." Kenny replied without much care. "But now, we should see about getting onto the main course."
"Yay!" The young pinked haired girl cheered.
"You guys have got to have more to fight with! After all, if you have one big gun outside, you got to have something else inside." The madman yelled, smirking proudly before raising his sword up high.
A wave of energy shot out into the sky, a pillar of golden light that seemed to warp gravity and the pressure around them. Making it lesson yet somehow grow at the same time, they felt the air in their lungs seize, yet the very earth around them seemed to crack and rise from the ground and fly around.
Many marines had lost conscious and were unable to even keep themselves from falling into the dark as the pressure built. The internal systems in their armor flaring as the shields attempted to work on countering the massive outburst of energy and save their wearer. But that made little to no difference.
"Drink: Nozarashi!" He yelled and from him a massive wave of energy exploded, blinding everyone who had the strength to stand and watch.
Then from the release of energy they saw it, a huge axe with a long, cloth-wrapped handle and a tassel attached to the top. The thing was massive, as big as a damn mako and he was holding it up in his hand like it was nothing. Those who had yet to collapse from the sheer draining effort could only watch for a few second what happened next.
"Now… lets crack this thing open and see what's inside." He laughed, slamming his axe down on top of the bunker, and soon an eruption of force exploded outward as the very surface of the planet shook.
Their final moments were in muted awe as the entire bunker was torn to pieces from a single slash, watching at the entire roof caved in and collapsed into the underground levels. Then without a word the monster of a man dropped down inside the massive hole he had created.
With that final sight the last of the living marines lapsed into unconsciousness.
Hackett felt his chest heave as he took in several deep breaths and try to figure out what had caused this sudden and explosive amount of energy to appear. He looked to his staff to see they were just as stumped as he was. But in truth he had a good idea where it came from, but not how the hell that thing did it.
"What is the situation down there?" Hackett called out, taking in a deep breath.
"Unknown, we have lost contact with the surface; we are getting no radio traffic what so ever." Someone called out.
"What about the Pirates? Are they saying anything?" Hackett asked.
"No sir, we have nothing, the entire moon is silent."
Hackett did not like this, he was certain whatever was down there was the same as the one that had been sighted on Elysium and on Akuze. If that was the case what had drawn it here? The fighting? The deaths? The threat to humanity?
'What the hell are these things after?' Hackett thought to himself privately, he couldn't reveal anything.
But with what was going on now, he was not so certain that he could keep a lid on this, not with so many witnesses. This was going to get bad, really bad.
"Get a team down there now!" Hackett ordered.
Thirty Minutes Later
Colonel Laurent landed with her team, the advance group of marines moved forward with rifles raised and ready to fight. But what they found was a field filled with mutilated bodies, mostly in pieces and scraps on the ground, a pretty nasty sight.
"Colonel, we have men at the gun nests near the outer perimeter, we have a lot of wounded here. Beginning evac now."
"Roger that." Laurent replied, before she moved forward with her small squad of twenty marines to find their people.
The next ten minutes were silent and very anxious for every single member of the team, whatever had happened here was far from pretty. The gore and smell, that even their mask filters were unable to fully filter out, made it a very bleach experience for all present.
"What the hell happened here?" One of her marines asked, she didn't respond, no one did.
But the question hung in the air for a long while, and there was no answer to give. That only made the situation worse. For moving across the battlefield with nothing to tell you what caused it was more distressing than anything they have experienced. Some would think Thrasher Maws, others would think artillery, and some would hypothesis some kind of monster.
Although the warning given to her by Admiral Hackett was clear as day that something bad was down here. He made it quite clear what she had to do if she came into contact with the thing that did this, but it made her wonder. If it could do something like this, was it really going to care what she said or not.
"Ma'am, we got survivors ahead."
Laurent looked on through the thick smoke and dust to see that there were a few dug out trenches ahead that seemed to have movement. She raised her weapon and advanced with her team, moving slowly and using the smoke to cover their advance.
"Stick to the smoke and dust, do not let them see us until we are on them." Laurent ordered.
Within two minutes they were on the edge and looking down at the barely standing soldiers within, and to her relief they were all Alliance Marines. She lowered her weapon and moved in, dropping into the trench with her team on her heals.
"Get these people checked out, make sure they are alright." Laurent ordered, before moving on to find someone in charge. "Alright, who is in charge here?"
"That would be me ma'am, Captain Fulton." A black haired man said, stepping forward and giving a salute.
"Alright Captain, what the hell went on down here?" Laurent asked, looking over to the bunker about three hundred yards from their position. The top had been caved in and the damn AA-Gun had been blown to hell.
"We were trying to hit the bunker and take down the AA-Gun, we got pinned down on all sides. Than something hit the place, it felt like the gravity got turned up ten times than what it should be." Fulton said, breathing faster than normal and looking frazzled all the while.
It was then that Lauren noted that everyone else seemed quite dejected and downright scared right now; whatever had done this scared the hell out of these people. But the questioned remained as to what did this.
"Do you know what caused it?" Laurent inquired.
"Yeah… that thing… that monster did this." Fulton replied, shaking his head and looking really spooked.
"What was it?" Laurent asked, she needed to know what she was going against.
"I don't know… it looked human… but it couldn't be. It took heavy fire from that AA-gun and only got a rash for god sakes. It killed everyone here! It kept getting shot and didn't stop, he just kept laughing!" Fulton said, looking panicked.
Laurent didn't know if she should accept that or not, it looked human and took a damn AA-Gun blast and didn't get blown into nothing? That was impossible, nothing like that exists. But these guys were scared, and the way he was saying it made it out to be some kind of nightmare. Looking around the area she could not doubt that.
"Okay, where is it?" Laurent asked.
In that moment a massive boom sounded, she looked over to see smoke and fire rising from the outside of one of the bunkers about a click from their position. Then it exploded, debris and rubble going everywhere.
"I would say he is in there. Killing everything." Fulton replied. "We need to get out of here, he can kill people by simply being near them for god sakes, shit I was him kill a guy by saying two words."
Laurent was a little put off by that, but she couldn't let this lie down. She needed to investigate and see what the hell was going on in there. These bunkers held more than just pirates, but also hostages and prisoners, most that were to be sold off as slaves. She couldn't allow that to happen.
"Get these people back to the outer perimeter, near the gun nests, we have people picking up the wounded and getting off the surface." Laurent ordered.
"What about you?" Fulton asked, watching as she quickly made a motion as she and her team started moving off.
"Seeing what's inside that bunker." Laurent replied.
The explosions and subtle cries of the dying could be heard as they descending through the complex, the entire bunker had been gutted and destroyed by whatever had come through. They couldn't find a single body that had not been brutally or mercifully killed, they were in tattered, even just smears on the wall.
The men were on edge and had their guns raised all the time, despite moving through quickly they were going at a snail's pace. Not a single one of them wanted to make any noise or even uttered a word for the next hour as the listened to every single sound to come their way.
Mostly gunfire and screaming.
"What the fuck did this?" A marine hissed in worry,
It was no surprise; the sentiment was shared between everyone in the squad. Along with any survivors of this massacre that would be shitting their pants right about now and wondering what was going to be killing them soon enough.
"Keep quiet; I don't want anything knowing we're here." Laurent ordered,
She kept her eyes ahead of her, remembering the very words given to her by Admiral Hackett.
'Do not engage the anomaly, if you come into contact do not antagonize or threaten it, lower your weapons, simply state your name and your affiliation and go no further.'
But even that she did not feel comfortable running into this thing, the fact it had butchered its way through this entire facility meant nothing could stop it. She remembered what Fulton said, and the fact she was seeing this right now was making her have second thoughts.
If whatever did this was one man, and could kill all these people and do this amount of damage. How was her and twenty Marines going to do anything against it?
"You got to be shitting me?" She heard a loud expletive down the hall; she raised her hands and motioned for the squad to halt. "How the hell did I step out of line?"
Laurent motioned forward her squad, having them move forward slowly and quietly, not knowing what she would be finding. Her pace did not increase but actually grow slower; she could not risk them being found out by whatever was in there.
"You came to this planet and openly engaged them, not only against orders but also against the law." She heard another voice,
As she rounded the corridor she instead found much of the inner room had been given way to a large crevice. She looked up to see the many upper levels had been actually destroyed and leveled, bringing the entire facility down inside. In fact it looked like a giant hole had been dug into the bunker and leaving it hollow.
"I did some recon, and had to split a few heads along the way, what is the problem with that? Besides they aren't human, never said we couldn't kill those." She heard the rough voice ask, obviously he was talking with someone.
"Do not try to act smart here, you are too much of a fool to play at being intelligent."
Laurent moved forward and looked down inside and saw two individuals below, both of them wearing black clothing with white cloaks on their backs. With a few minor differences but besides that they looked mostly the same in attire. Thought, the main difference came with their physical appearance more than anything else.
The taller individual had long wild hair that was midnight black, his face covered in long and often hard to see scaring and wearing an eyepatch. He was a warrior type of guy, someone you would likely see fighting on the front lines in the damn terminus. The other guy was pale faced and neat, combed long hair and looking impeccable despite being in the midst of a destroyed building.
"What was that? You insulting me right now? Be careful, otherwise we may have a problem." The larger man said, smirking as he brought his sword down from his shoulder.
"Do not test me Kenpachi." The shorter man said, looking on impassively. "You were ordered never to interfere with these beings under any circumstance, regardless if you were seen or not. And yet here you are fighting and killing them, including humans. That is a violation; under no reason are humans to be killed without express orders."
Laurent looked on for a while, her team situating themselves on the edge and behind whatever cover they could to watch the exchange. It was interesting to say the least.
"Yeah, what about Ichigo and that little sister of yours, heard they got their hands dirty, since when are they able to get off scot free?" Kenpachi said, looking annoyed.
"Rukia's actions was within self-defense; those Thrasher Maws as these humans call them attacked her, and she acted accordingly and she did not go there seeking a fight, only searching for those humans that had been killed." The regal looking man replied.
"Still killed those other humans though, what about that?" Kenpachi said.
"Because they saw and recorded her, evidence of our existence is to be kept at a limit, you know how humans are. And with your actions here, that is likely going to be a problem." The long haired man said, looking slightly annoyed.
"Please, Ichigo killed over three thousand of these guys on Elysium and he got off scot free, and you expect me to take it up the ass when I kill just as many on some rock in the middle of nowhere?" Kenpachi growled out, looking completely vexed.
Laurent felt her eyes widen slightly, these guys were talking about Elysium? Dear god was one of these guys on that planet. If that was the case that would explain the body count she had seen, and the unknown explanation as to what had happened.
Did this mean that what happened on Elysium was because of these guys, one of these guys?
"He should never have been placed on a sensitive mission such as this; his connection to humanity is too strong. He let his own sentimentality get the better of him, and that made him act." The regal man replied with no hint of emotion. "Yet as you claim he was reprimanded for his actions."
"He didn't get shit, they told him not to do it again and now you're throwing me to the wolves for doing what he did, fucking nerve of you people." Kenpachi sneered with apparent anger.
"You broke the law." The man replied.
"Yeah, and compared to what we are up against a few thousand deaths are meaningless compared to extinction isn't it?" Kenpachi argued back.
"He is not here, and you took it upon yourself to murder thousands to prove it. This could have been avoided and now not only have we revealed ourselves, we will not be dealing with people we should not have to." The regal looking man replied, his voice grim as he made the declaration.
Laurent watched with interest as these people continued to argue, it would seem that they were not meant to be here. But what surprised her was that they were referring to humanity, and in a way that said that these guys were not human. It begged the question, what the hell were these guys.
She needed to get out of here and report this to Hackett, something was going on right now and these guys were getting involved in their fights. More than that they seemed to be capable of whipping out armies without a problem and seem to have done it before.
"Move back to the exit, we are leaving." Laurent ordered over the comms, they needed to leave immediately.
But as she turned she froze, because there was someone standing right in front of her. To her rising worry it was a young pinked haired girl, and wearing a uniform that was similar to the two below. Immediately she got the idea that this girl was just like those two, and she was right in front of him.
She cocked her head to the side for a moment and made a cute little pout, as if she was considering something.
"Hello." She said.
Laurent was stumped for a moment, not knowing exactly what to do, reply or remain completely shell-shocked and unable to say a god damn word.
"Hi, my name is Rachael Laurent, what's your name…?" Laurent asked.
"Yachiru Kusajishi." The young girl replied. "Do you have any candy?"
Laurent was floored once more; the cute and completely random question had thrown her off completely. How the hell was she meant to answer that let alone comply with it, after all if she said no there was no telling what could happen.
"Sorry, I don't have any candy." Laurent replied soothingly, hoping it would work; all the while she switched to private channel. "Get out of here now."
If her men could get out they would at least be safe if things went sour, but that stopped when she heard a voice behind her.
"Yachiru, do not speak with them."
Laurent turned and saw that right behind her was the man that had been addressing the one called Kenpachi. He looked down at her for a moment with cold and dispassionate eyes.
She couldn't speak, let alone move as he simply looked at her with those eyes that simply acknowledged that she existed and nothing else. His hand firmly placed over his sword, she would have not thought he would be a danger, but considering the other one, this guy was not something to mess with.
With what strength she could she stood up and faced him, looking him square in the eye before removing her helmet. She let her hair fall down before she looked right back at him, steeling her nerves and schooling her features as best she could.
"Captain Samantha Laurent, System Alliance Marine Core, Seventh Fleet, Fourth Battalion." Laurent quickly called out.
Yet a sense of dread crawling up her spine as he remained impassive, not blinking or acknowledging her words. For a moment there was silence as both parties stood there and looked at one another.
Then he turned and looked at Kenpachi, who now was floating on the air behind the man, and saying one last thing.
"We are leaving." The man said, turning and seemingly walking through an invisible door as his form simply shifted out of perception. The other man followed right after the young pink haired girl latched onto his shoulder, who gave a small wave as they both departed.
Laurent sagged visibly and took in several deep breaths, that was the most nerve wracking experiences she had ever felt. Never in her life had she ever experienced something like that, to be in the presence of something so powerful, armies would mean nothing against it.
She may not have seen it but the fact she knew that these things were not human and had caused all this destruction. To be in the presence of something so godly was scary, really scary.
Arcturus Station
Three Days Later
"This is bad, this is incredibly bad." Kastanie said, she looked over the report and media outlet, everything was falling apart. "News is all over this, how the hell did they get the damn recordings on Akuze?"
"Unknown, but I can say that when brass heard about this they got worried." Jaro replied, shaking his head.
You would have thought that the government would have kept this quiet, but after the destruction of Torfan the majority of the information distributed was from the Terminus. And it had distributed fast; all across the damn extranet this stuff had been leaked. Even information on Elysium had been dropped as well, and it was looking bad.
"Looks like our heads are on the chopping block now." Ines said, shaking his head as he moved from the table and to look out of the window.
The void of space did little to ease his worries, or the many starts that were seen. No his concerns were too powerful to be erased in the vacuum of space.
"We can't do anything now, can we?" Nitesh asked.
"No, the Council is already demanding answers and soon we will be getting questioned, and since we did this without sanctions we will all be getting our asses handed to us." Ines replied. "I will take much of the brunt of this, I am in charge of the Navy and ordered this to secrecy. So in that case I want you to keep yourselves afloat, we can't lose anyone else."
"You expect us to let you take the fall for this?" Mariah asked.
This man had been the leader of the First Fleet and entire Alliance Navy for the last two decades, they couldn't let him go. It would cause outrage and chaos; despite his actions being heinous they were to protect the Alliance from scrutiny that would destroy it.
The Council will have everyone's heads for this, they had the influence and pull to make the Alliance nothing but a memory. There was no telling what kind of damage they could do, they have done it before to other races that have displeased them. People acted like it was their fault and made them out to be pariahs or mongrels, but in truth the Council made it look like that.
The Krogan people could understand, the Quarians not so much.
"You will do as ordered, all of you are on the chopping block right now and if we do not have someone take the hit you all are at risk." Ines replied.
"We lose you, we may weaken ourselves further, the Navy has been suffering for the last three decades. If you leave there is no telling how much more it could." Hackett reasoned.
This man had leverage and pull in the government that allowed him to keep the Navy as it is, a bit disheveled and undermanned but still functional. If he left there was no telling how much they would suffer for it, not only in keeping their positions but also the stability of the Fleet and its manpower.
"You will all do alright, just make sure to keep your heads down and make the Council realize we are not at fault here." Ines replied. "This project of ours is shut down. But the new one is to determine who these guys are, and what they want."
There you have it, hope you liked it.
Reviews:
A thank you all who reviewed: Krazyfanfiction1, Terror of Death Skieth, Guest #2, Guest #3, Jake Wolf, Jace Cither, Lotheon, MattKennedy, DesmondMiles-TheMasterAssassin, Lican, Guest #4, Struggle is Real, beta-reader, Law77, The Hero named Villan, Accursius, Guest #5, lazylegionspark, syjiko, bardshark, Nexagelion, Rake1810, WhoFeedYasuo, Uchiha Rai, Rythik74, Star, T-B-R, LL, JJN37, Rhavis, Guest #7, silentstrixe, Webb360, hollowichigo12, Wyrmcraft, Ahlerot, Night Shadow76, Winged Serpent of Light, Inverness, edboy4926, Tiggz, Ghost024.
Jmspikey: Well, now you can tell me just how bad you feel for those poor pirates now.
Guest #1: This is because in order to interact with these worlds they need to condense their spiritual matter and that is what makes them visible. It is like how the Heroic Spirits in Fate/Stay Night astralize, this is the same but in reverse. Where they materialize to interact with the world around them.
Yeah, and it is going to blow up in their faces.
Helkil: Okay, no problem.
Six Samurai of Dragon Order: That is something I am working on right now.
Mandalore the Freedom: Yoruichi is still around. And thank you for the praise.
Ichi-Peachy: Glad you like it and yes, the Hollow will make an appearance along with many other things.
: Working on the chapter, half way done, tried to finish it but got writers blocks. Sorry. Will be next week I assure you.
Mangahero18: Too each his own.
Tormound: True, but because there isn't any spiritual energy or spiritual realms in these worlds they visit they need to materialize in order to remain alive. If they don't it would be like being in the vacuum of space, they would simply expand and explode everywhere. It is done more to survive than to just mess with humans.
Supreme Tempest: Will get on that in time, trust me.
Alucard Bellsung: Might make an omake about it one day.
Polarpwnage: Yeah, I tend to not like those fics much. I mean if we have seen anything it is that there is an entire universe out there. What is to say that they all do not exist in the same conceptual universe as one another? I did that with all my stories. They all exist in the same conceptual universe and simply get stuck there.
Jigentou: Glad you like it, I really did like that snippet I did as well it was probably the best work I have ever done. Truly I do not think I could match it to anything else and do anything better. It was perfect.
Guest #6: That will come soon, I promise you. It will be revealed in pieces but there is a reason the Shinigami are doing what they are doing, and if you pay attention you will see that with every scene where the Shinigami speaks they will say something important, no matter how minute and unimportant it may seem.
LunarShadow 1906: Glad you like it so much, Shinigami are an exceptionally powerful being that is for sure. And in the Mass Effect universe there are few things that could potentially match them in raw power.
Byakuya facing Cerberus, give me some time with that and I might work on an omake.
Shiva1: Well the Illusive Man has always had lofty dreams and goals, this is no different. The Illusive Man didn't, that information wasn't transmitted and the files were fragmented because the console was damaged, because of this and the Alliance's interference much of the info did not get sent back to Cerberus.
It is not that they are helping out; it is that they are getting involved unintentionally; they have their duties and other things they are doing and are just getting caught up in the affairs of the mortals below. Also the reason they aren't hiding is because they cannot actually faze themselves out of sight otherwise they would actually die. They need to pull in their power and condense so much to prevent them from basically being taken apart in a hostile vacuum. Because there is no spiritual energy around or spirit realm on these planets they are technically walking in an environment that is space. So like a normal person exposed to space they simply expand and explode because there is nothing there to keep you from expanding outwards.
Guest #7: There will be those that can damage them, but it will be later on. Also Komamura is part of what could be considered a pagan god sect on Earth. Basically he is the son of a patron animal god. Meaning that they predate the Shinigami, he is the son of one of these such gods.
There you have it, enjoy.