Hello everyone, hope you are doing well. Well, that's it, almost everything is closed in France due to coronavirus. Guess full quarantine is coming soon and that I'll have plenty of time to publish this story for you guys (unless the world goes ape shit and we get a "The Last of Us" scenario).
Anyway, today we finish the Mothership Zeta arc. Please enjoy.
Damian's blood froze in his veins. The scream he had just heard belonged to one of those alien abominations, he was sure of it. No human being could utter such a scream. The long, terrifying scream ceased and gave way to a series of laser discharges and squeaks.
Damian painfully swallowed his saliva and walked down the hallway with his weapon pointed in front of him. The corridor made a right turn and then widened a bit. Four pillars occupied the small space. A laser turret was attached to the wall and was pointed at Damian. The young man placed the turret in his sight and fired. The turret came loose on the ceiling and fell heavily to the floor.
Damian stepped forward. Next to the destroyed turret, he noticed a strange object. The object was a small glass bubble on four metal feet, surrounded and traversed by metal sticks and an electric wire. The glass bubble had shattered, and sparks were coming out of the strange object.
Behind one of the pillars, Damian noticed the lifeless body of one of those screaming abominations. Next to it, the torn remains of two aliens. The abomination had probably killed the two aliens before it got eliminated by the turret.
Damian walked around the strange object on the floor and the pieces of flesh to climb a small staircase. No sooner had he reached the top, than he felt the heat of a laser beam pass close to his neck. He stumbled and rolled down the stairs, landing headfirst into the alien corpses.
Damian stood up and spat out the greenish blood in his mouth and put his hand on his neck. He felt a small burn mark but no blood. He hissed between his teeth and walked up the stairs stopping just before the end.
The next room, resembling an atrium surrounded by a balcony, was occupied by three aliens hiding behind energy shields. Judging that it was useless to waste his ammunition on it, Damian rummaged through his bag. He grabbed two fragmentation grenades from his bag. Damian pulled the pin out of the first one and threw it into the atrium. The explosive bounced off the shield and fell to the floor below. The detonation did not damage the shield, but one of the aliens was hit by a piece of metal and collapsed to the ground with a squeaking sound. Damian took the opportunity to rush inside the room.
He hid behind a pillar, probably decorative, and pulled the pin out of the second grenade. He threw it over the shield. The explosion destroyed the shield generator in a big green flash, vaporizing part of the last two aliens.
With his ears ringing slightly, Damian left his cover and inspected the other pieces, his rifle ready to fire. He was in what looked to be the crew quarters of the alien ship. Most of the atrium doors opened into a small empty room, or only furnished with a transparent cylinder, vaguely resembling a bed. A more than spartan room, even compared to the Brotherhood dormitories at the Citadel.
Damian took a new staircase and left the atrium. The corridor he entered went both to the right and the left. Damian walked to the left and after passing through a small meeting room, came across two aliens hidden behind an energy shield. The shield was facing down the corridor. After he got rid of the two aliens, Damian approached.
Apparently, the aliens were trying to stop something from getting through. Deciding the thing on the other side was good where it was, Damian turned back. The corridor was sloping to the right and had three decorative pillars. An alien stood guard. When it saw Damian, it squealed and took cover behind one of the pillars. Damian heard a door open and close in front of him. The alien burst out from behind the pillar and opened fire. Damian leaned against the wall and avoided the energy discharge that hit at the end of the corridor.
The young man responded with a burst and hit the alien in the chest. A second alien appeared and overtook its fatally wounded companion, rushing at Damian while firing its gun. Damian flattened further into the wall. The alien came up to him and stood in front of him, ready to fire. Damian smashed the butt of his rifle into its jaw. The alien fell and hit one of the pillars. A second later, its skull exploded when Damian fired a burst in the alien's head.
Damian reloaded his weapon and resumed his advance. On his left was a door leading to a small room with chairs and tables. On the right, the corridor went into the ship but was blocked by a force field and a laser turret was watching the area. Damian quickly crossed the corridor to enter the small room. There, three turrets welcomed him with a deluge of laser discharges. One of the rays tore Damian's fatigue at his thigh and he felt pain where the ray had struck. He leaned against the entrance and let himself slide to the ground. The turrets stopped firing. Damian looked down at his leg. There was a wound, as big as his thumb but it was not bleeding. The main advantage of laser wounds. When touched, the wound cauterized instantly because of the heat of the beam. That was if the beam only scratched its target. Damian heard footsteps in the room. He recognized the sound of the aliens' boots sliding on the metal.
He prepared his rifle and when the first alien appeared, he fired. The alien collapsed next to him, spilling a greenish, foul-smelling stream of blood. Damian put one of his hands into his bag and pulled out a grenade. He pulled the pin out and threw it into the room. The blast shook the walls and he curled up on himself to avoid the shrapnel flying in all directions.
Two of the three turrets were destroyed. Damian destroyed the last one with a well-placed shot. Two more alien bodies were laying on the ground or on the tables. Damian got up and walked across the room. His leg was painful, but he could still walk.
He listened for a moment, and when he was convinced that no aliens were coming, he reached into his belt pouches and grabbed the small bottle of blue gel that Sally had given him. Damian poured the contents over the wound on his leg. Immediately, he felt a gentle warmth and the pain disappeared.
Damian threw the bottle away and with got up before firing at the turret that watched the corridor.
Damian continued to walk down the hallway, which seemed endless to him, either because it really was, or because his limping gait slowed him down a bit. He reached a section of the corridor that was a little wider, guarded by two turrets and occupied by computers. Damian destroyed the turrets one after the other and went on his way. He was intrigued that he wouldn't encounter any more aliens. If the latter had to fight on one side Damian and on the other Somah, Elliott, Paulson and the others, while managing their experiments which wandered in the ship, it was normal that he met few of them.
The young man thought of his companions. He hoped inwardly that they were all alive and had not found themselves separated from each other.
The hallway led to a maintenance room, where thin streams of steam escaped from pipes at regular intervals, emitting an annoying hiss. Damian first checked that there was no turret and entered. Two small stairs led up to the upper floor. Damian walked to the one on the right when he heard a rattle just above him. He looked up and saw one of these alien abominations bent over him on a railing.
The thing was even uglier and more terrifying when seen up close. With its arm and index finger outstretched towards Damian, it screamed at him, staring at him with its pitch-black eyes. Damian felt his entire body trembling. He felt as if the thing would probe his mind and that he would lose his mind if he looked at it for too long.
Damian raised his rifle and pulled the trigger. The roar of his assault rifle covered the scream of the creature as it swung backwards, hit in the face and chest. A second creature appeared behind the first. It ran down the stairs, its long arms swinging grotesquely along its body. Damian swung a little too late and the creature grabbed his shoulder.
A superhuman force lifted him off the ground, and Damian was thrown into the hallway. The creature raised its arm and index finger and screamed back. When he saw the monster rush at him, Damian drew his pistol and put two bullets into the thing's chest. The screaming stopped and the creature fell face down to the ground. Damian got up, massaging its shoulder and picked up its assault rifle.
He heard footsteps above him and raised his rifle. The bald skull of another of these abominations appeared and was immediately hit by a burst of 5.56.
Damian climbed the steps. The floor was occupied by strange columns emitting lightning at regular intervals. Behind Damian, a small footbridge led to yet another corridor. Damian saw a humanoid form emerge from it. He aimed and fired. The bullet lodged itself in the alien's chest, not leaving it the time to push its terrifying howl.
Damian felt his heart return to a normal rhythm and couldn't help but shiver. He shook his arms and head in a nervous spasm. For good measure, Damian fired three more bullets into the bodies of the abominations. Even dead, these things made him uncomfortable and scared him.
Feral ghouls were despicable creatures and Damian had more than once felt fear when he walked through the metro tunnels of D.C.. As such, these things created by aliens were no uglier than a ghoul, whether it was a feral or not. But it was that scream, that beastly call that would tear the vocal cords of anyone who tried to imitate it that was really scary, and Damian surprised himself regretting the Super Mutant and other mutants of D.C. he was accustomed to.
Damian took care to get around the corpse of the abomination. Inside, he dreaded the next time he would have to fall asleep, knowing full well that these monsters would come and haunt his nights.
The corridor ended in a dead end with a teleporter. A little to the right, in a recess, Damian noticed a strange arch. Two rings were fixed in the ground and a faint pink light emanated from it. Damian had seen these arches all over the ship before but had never had time to really observe them in detail or to care about them.
With the barrel of his gun, Damian tapped the device. Nothing happened, except a metallic noise. He put the barrel of his gun through the middle of the arch. Again, nothing happened.
Damian wasn't sure of anything, but he clearly remembered seeing one of his strange machines in the living quarters of the aliens. He carefully put his left hand inside the it, then his whole arm to his shoulder.
A gentle warmth enveloped his arm. Damian stepped forward and crossed the device. A feeling of comfort took hold of him and went right through him. He felt his leg wound magically disappear and the pain in his shoulder after his fight with the alien abomination, disappeared instantly.
For a few seconds his peripheral vision blurred slightly before returning to normal. He felt lighter and he felt stronger. He palpated his body but found nothing abnormal.
He came out from under the arch. This feeling of strength and well-being gradually faded away. Thinking back, Damian felt as if a Stimpak had been injected into every part of his body. He smiled slightly. In the midst of their scientific madness of dissecting living humans, turning them into monsters or using them as test subjects for their weapons program, the aliens had still developed a useful technology that could instantly heal wounds.
Damian found himself wondering if this device could make limbs grow back, but he put the crazy idea out of his mind. He walked away to the teleporter. The transporter was active. Damian looked around but saw no small hologram that would tell him where he would land.
After checking his weapons, he took a deep breath and activated the transporter.
(Capital Wasteland, one hour earlier)
Sarah Lyons arrived in sight of Megaton at the same time as the sun was slowly breaking through the horizon and casting an orange light over the surrounding desert. Small tents had been set up near the entrance for the caravans stopping in town. Despite the early morning hour, the merchants and guards loaded or unloaded crates of goods on the backs of the still sleeping brahmins.
Amid the small crowd of merchants and guards, Sarah passed unnoticed. She kept an eye out for Enclave soldiers but was surprised to not see any.
Her journey from the Citadel had gone smoothly. It was hard to believe that the Enclave occupied the Jefferson Memorial and had set up outposts all over the Capital Wasteland and terrorized the population. The only evidence of the Enclave's presence in the region, aside from the huge force fields surrounding Project Purity, was a small camp on the other side of the Potomac. Sarah had seen two silhouettes in power armor, framing a third silhouette in grey uniform, setting up crates and small metal structures.
She had been surprised to see that the Enclave did not seem to be watching over the Citadel. Wherever it was hiding, the Enclave probably had just enough troops to guard Project Purity and set up outposts at key points in the Wasteland, or it would have already launched an assault on the Brotherhood's fortress.
Sarah was greeted by a Protectron whose voice matrix was getting tired of repeating the same welcome message and resetting it every time someone walked by its sensors. The city was slowly awakening. Residents would leave their homes, travelers would exit the saloon or dormitory and head for the gates to resume their journeys in the Wastes, and the few traders would open their shops to welcome the caravanners or the first customers of the day.
Sarah watched the few passers-by from the crater rim in search of Damian. Sarah decided to find a better vantage point. She took a small path on her left and walked along a metal hut to a large footbridge. She approached the railing and looked down on the crater. Realizing that looking for him that way would lead her nowhere, she turned back to the house behind her and knocked on the door.
After a few seconds, the door opened on a Mister Handy. The robot pointed its three ocular appendages at Sarah and seemed to scan her from head to toe.
"Good morning, Madam. Would you like to see Master Franklin?"
Sarah raised her eyebrows. Franklin must have been a fairly common name, but if it was Damian, then she didn't expect him to be called "Master" by a robot butler at all.
"Would your "Master" by any chance be a young man in his early twenties with a Pip-Boy?" Sarah asked.
"That's right, Madam," replied the robot. "Master Franklin does own a Pip-Boy and it fits the description you give. Unfortunately, he is not at home at the moment."
"Do you know where he went?"
"It seems to me he went on an errand to the Craterside Supplies. Would you come in for a moment, I'm sure he will be back soon."
"No, that's not necessary."
The Mister Handy acted like he was tipping a hat from his head and closed the door. Sarah turned towards the crater. After spotting the store that the robot had told her about, she headed there and entered.
There was a strange smell inside the shop. Sarah could hardly contain herself when she saw the mess the shop was in. The store was almost empty. Only three people were in it. A red-headed woman wearing a light blue jumpsuit was in the middle of a heated discussion with a man, probably a merchant, judging by the outfit he had, made to resist the numerous travels in the Wasteland. In the back of the store, a man in a leather suit was silently watching the scene.
Damian was not there either. Sarah found it strange not to find him here and was sure she had not seen him on her way.
The merchant left the shop, putting a bag of caps in the inside pocket of his big military jacket. The man at the back of the room watched Sarah for a few moments before he turned his attention to a point on a wall.
The woman in the jumpsuit began to rummage through a crate on the store counter and sang a little song.
Sarah approached her and cleared her throat to get her attention.
"Oh hello! Welcome to Craterside SuppliesHow can I help you?"
"I'm looking for a young man named Damian Franklin. I was told he was here."
The smile on the shopkeeper's face got even wider.
"My dear assistant? He lives in Megaton, that's right, but I haven't seen him for a few days."
"Do you know where he is?" asked Sarah urgently.
"He must be out in the field helping me in my research for my book. Right now, we're working on a chapter about landmines. He must have gone to Minefield to bring me one."
Sarah sighed and clenched her jaw. She left the store, as the owner looked at her with surprise. The trip from Megaton to Minefield and back should not have taken more than a day. If Damian had been gone for two or three days, it meant that something had happened on the way. Sarah left Megaton in a hurry and headed northeast.
Damian activated the teleporter and was transported to a small room. A window allowed him to see that he was on the command deck of the alien ship. Several aliens were working in front of control consoles, or computers. A gigantic bay window let him admire the emptiness of Space, the Earth and the stars. One of the aliens was wearing a different outfit, all black, and seemed to be giving orders to the others. He squealed something and turned around before heading to the teleporter.
Damian flattened against the wall. The door to the teleporter room opened. The alien entered and when he saw Damian, it froze and began squealing and calling out to the other aliens. Damian crushed the butt of his rifle on the alien's face in an unpleasant creak. He grabbed the alien by the shoulder and rotated it and, after disarming him, grabbed his throat and pinned it against him. The alien was frail, and Damian felt he would have no trouble crushing its throat.
The young man left the teleporter room, holding the alien against him. Their small size didn't make them a very good shield, but Damian assumed that the others would be reluctant to shoot one of them.
Damian was right. No shots were fired. The aliens drew their weapons, but when they saw their companion taken hostage, they didn't dare to use them.
As Damian entered the bridge, the teleporter activated behind him. Damian moved to the right and out of the corner of his eye, saw a human figure materialize. He was relieved to see Somah emerge from the teleporter followed by Elliott and his comrades a few seconds later.
Seeing the situation, Somah turned to the aliens and displayed a triumphant smile.
"Looks like the game is over," she said. "Put down your weapons and let us take control of your ship, or your captain goes down."
None of the aliens moved. Somah aimed the cannon of her shotgun at the alien's skull. The alien squealed something very fast over a tone of voice that indicated panic. The other aliens threw their weapons to the ground.
Somah, Elliott and Beckett gathered them in a room behind the teleporter, probably the Captain's quarters, and tied them inside.
Damian glanced at his companions. Sally was already circling the bridge, raving about the resemblance to Captain Cosmos' ship. Somah was inspecting one of the aliens' rifles while Paulson lit a cigarette.
"Where is Toshiro? Damian asked.
Elliott looked down.
"We don't know," he said sadly. "We were separated when we took a teleporter."
Damian was going to speak when a slight whistle sounded behind him. Right in front of the commander's seat, the giant head of an alien had just appeared. The orange hologram squealed and whistled, looking visibly enraged.
The hologram disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, and Damian felt the bridge shake.
"Look!"
All heads turned to Sally who was glued to the window. A gigantic circular mass slid down from the top of the ship. Damian recognized a death ray, attached to the shape passing in front of them. The tremors intensified when a great white light illuminated the bridge.
A second alien ship had just come out of nowhere and was slowly moving through Space.
"Damn it," Somah hissed.
"What do we do?" Beckett asked nervously.
In response, the second alien ship turned slowly, its laser cannon aimed at them. The weapon fired. The beam hit the ship head-on. The bridge shook. Damian lost his balance and grabbed the Captain's chair to not fall.
"We have to fight back!" Paulson shouted.
"And how?" Elliott asked. "This thing is going to blow us to pieces! We can't repel firepower of that magnitude!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Damian saw Sally approach a control console and activate a button. A rumble echoed through the ship and the death ray activated. The beam of energy passed within meters of the enemy ship.
"You know how to use that thing?" Somah said.
"Of course, it's just like Captain Cosmos' ship."
"It's crazy," Elliott kept saying.
The enemy ship was just finishing up firing positions. Damian turned to Sally.
"Okay Sally, how do we do this?" he asked in a hurry.
"We have to activate these buttons for the engines and these for the death ray. Somah stand here. Mr. Elliott, take care of the shields here."
"And how do I do that?" Elliott cried out.
"Press it and you'll see!" Somah shouted.
The alien ship aimed its cannon at them. Elliott pressed several buttons at random, praying that luck was on his side. The beam hit the ship. Through the bay, Damian saw the energy wave disperse in all directions, deflected by an invisible veil that began to ripple like the surface of a puddle hit by a pebble.
"The death rays! Use it Mr. Damian!"
Damian lowered his eyes to Sally. She was pointing at a switch she was too small to reach. Damian pressed the button and a great beam of energy shot out of their ship and went to hit their opponent. Once again, the beam ricocheted on the shield.
"Damn it!" Beckett swore. "This thing isn't powerful enough!"
Damian watched the enemy ship. He noticed that their shield had just gone down. The alien laser cannon struck their ship again.
"We have to find the right time to shoot! If we activate our shield, the death ray won't be strong enough to destroy them!"
"Yeah, but if we don't activate them, we're the ones who will be destroyed!" Elliott said nervously.
Damian heard a noise behind him. The teleporter had just activated. A small group of aliens materialized on the bridge.
"Those little bastards want to board the ship," Paulson shouted.
He raised his gun and began firing, as Beckett did. A few aliens had made their way to the Captain's quarters and freed the trapped aliens. Fortunately, Beckett's assault rifle fire eliminated many them.
Damian crouched behind the Captain's chair. He could hear the laser beams passing overhead and finishing their courses in the ceiling or on the porthole, which miraculously remained intact.
In the confusion, he noticed a door opening in the back of the bridge and Toshiro coming out. The impassive air the samurai usually wore had turned into an expression of anger.
"Omae wa mou shindeiru," he said before he drew his sword screaming and charged the aliens.
The bridge shook. Damian was thrown against one of the control consoles. He caught up Sally, who was falling towards him. The lights went out, and through the porthole, he saw their shields go out.
"They must have hit the machines!" Somah cried out. "Look for a command to reactivate them!"
Elliott frantically pressed all the keys on his console and Daniels went to help him. Damian drew his assault rifle and emptied his magazine towards the aliens' boarding party remaining in the teleporter room. The lights came on again. Sally had just found the generator control.
The shield activated and engulfed the ship, just before the enemy cannon fired. Behind him, Damian heard the teleporter activate again. A much smaller group of aliens materialized.
"More of them!" shouted Paulson.
"Oh, fuck man! Game over man, game over," screamed Beckett.
"Beckett!" yelled Daniels. "I swear that I'll be the one to kill you, if you don't quit complaining now!"
The soldier frantically shook his head and fired at the aliens in the teleporter room.
"Elliott stand by to deactivate the shield!" Damian said.
"What? You're crazy, man" The soldier cried out as he turned around.
"Do as I say!"
Elliott swallowed his saliva and turned to the control console. He mumbled incomprehensible things and glanced nervously between the enemy ship and the shield switch.
Damian waited. The enemy ship recharged its cannon. When he saw the enemy shields fail, he screamed at Elliott.
"Now!"
Immediately, Elliott lowered their shields. He closed his eyes in the belief that he would soon die. At the same time, Damian activated the death ray switch. The beam of energy shot out of the ship and struck their opponent.
A flash of light illuminated Space. Damian closed his eyes and protected his face with his arm. When he opened his eyes, the alien ship had turned into a gigantic fireball. The alien ship had split in two and the huge pieces of burning metal were slowly falling towards the Earth.
Damian closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. He fell into the Captain's seat and ran his hands over his face and through his hair.
Elliott screamed with joy. Beckett began a ridiculous victory dance. Sally embraced Somah, while Paulson displayed a triumphant smile on his face. Toshiro had returned to his expression and cleaned the blood off his sword while Daniels had removed his helmet and has running his hand in his hair, a giant smile on his face.
It was finally over. Damian looked around him. He was trying to realize that he had just taken control of an alien ship and destroyed a second one.
All the fatigue he had accumulated since they began their escape from the ship was being felt. At that moment, Damian just wanted to sleep soundly for a whole week. Reality caught up with him when he realized he had no idea how long he had been on the ship. What about the situation on Earth? Had the Brotherhood finally deciphered Vault-Tec's computer? Or had the Enclave already gotten their hands on a G.E.C.K. and got Project Purity up and running?
Damian massaged his temples. He had to find a way to get back to Earth as soon as possible.
"You're even better than Captain Cosmos!"
Damian turned his head. Sally stood beside him, a big smile on her face.
"I'm not much of a superhero, you know," Damian answered. "Besides, without your help, I don't know where I'd be."
"I know," replied the little girl with a hint of malice. "I'm pretty proud of that."
Damian let out a small laugh.
"Are you going back to Earth, Captain?"
"'Captain'?" repeated Damian surprised.
"Well, yes. You're the Captain of this ship now. But I'm your first mate! And then Paulson can do Jangles the Moon Monkey!"
The vision of the cowboy dressed as a monkey in an astronaut's outfit seemed strangely hilarious for Damian.
"Alright," he said. "While I'm away, you're in charge, but I want you to take advice from others too."
"Great!"
Sally ran away and disappeared through the door where Toshiro had mysteriously appeared earlier. Damian got up and began inspecting the various consoles on the bridge. Between Beckett, Daniels and Paulson who had come to thank him, he looked for a button that could activate a teleporter to Earth.
"I still can't believe we got away with it!"
Elliott had just appeared next to Damian.
"Thank you very much," the soldier continued. "Without you, I'd still be trapped in that cryo-sleep. Or worse!"
"What are you gonna do now?"
"I think we're gonna stay here. There's nothing left for us on Earth. The same goes for Paulson and the samurai. Sally's probably gonna want to explore the rest of the ship and Somah's probably gonna go back to Earth just like you."
"If I can find a way back down," sighed Damian.
"I thought you knew about this."
Damian stared at Elliott with a raised eyebrow.
"During the battle, someone must have pushed a button and if I understand what the consoles indicate, I think, I mean I think, that some sort of guidance beacon was launched and landed just outside of Washington D.C."
"And this beacon will take me down to Earth?" Damian asked.
"Well... I'm not sure. You should try using the transporter in the Captain's quarters, well, your quarters now."
Damian turned to the teleporter. He didn't know if he was going to be sent to Earth, disintegrate or just land in another section of the ship, but it was the only way to get home.
"Wish me luck," he said to Elliott, shaking his hand.
"We'll look after the ship while you're gone."
Damian entered the Captain's quarters, which was occupied solely by a teleporter and one of those pods that serve as a bed. He heard Somah coming behind him.
"They say we can go back down to the Wasteland with that thing?" said the woman.
"Looks like it."
"I'm going to let you go ahead, just to make sure you don't get disintegrated and it's safe."
Damian smiled a forced smile. A small ball formed in his belly as he stood in the center of the transporter. He took one last look at the bridge. Just before activating the teleporter, he smiled at Sally as she began to take control of the ship and settled into the Captain's chair.
The orange light from the machine enveloped Damian and he felt his body dematerialize.
That's it, Mothership Zeta is at an end and next time, Damian will resume his search for a G.E.C.K. Hope the references to sci-fi I made did not make this story part awful to read and that you liked it. I did like that DLC when I played it the first time. Breaking out of the space ship was nice, and the gear was nice. Just bothered about how a group of 5 humans will get an entire alien ship to work. Only thing I hated about this DLC? The damn alien in their space shield. Don't know if it was because of mods I installed or that they are a bitch to kill in vanilla, but I almost always had to use console command to get rid of them.
Hope you enjoyed and until next time.
