CHAPTER 5: A FRIEND FROM THE PAST
July 7th, 2111. Unknown subterranean temple, Kinnor Minor (LB-328).
As she delved deeper into the ruins, Eden Morgan discovered more about the ancient civilization. The walls were covered with strange hieroglyphics and murals detailing the history of that place, although she didn't understand a thing.
She wondered if the archaeological expedition bound to the colony would get to see these wonders or would only find the settlers' mutilated remains.
Better not to think about that now, she told herself. The dim light from the flare started to fade just as she passed a tapestry painted on what looked like pieces of fur stretched over a frame.
Ignoring the urge to get out of that place, Eden glanced at the depiction of two naked creatures. One had dark skin and fiery red eyes, while the other had a bit more athletic body and longer dreadlocks. The female… How did I know it is a female? Eden wondered. She was pale as a ghost and had clear amber eyes. Both individuals were engaged in a kind of fist fight.
The flare sputtered and finally died out, leaving her in complete darkness. Eden cursed, now she had only a chemical light and she didn't know how long it would take her to find a way out. Worse yet, there was no sign of light sources or even torches on the walls. She deduced the dead city's inhabitants must have been able to see in the almost total darkness.
I must be close, she thought. The air was less stale and the wind current was stronger. She took the last of the plastic tubes and twisted it. A pale greenish light filled the corridor. Eden sighed and continued on her way.
She noticed that the tunnel sloped slightly upwards. She deduced it was some kind of access ramp and quickened her pace. When she had walked about two hundred meters, a speck of light appeared at the end.
The tunnel abruptly ended and Eden stepped out into the woods. The entrance was half-ruined and covered in a thick canopy of foliage, situated in what had once been a clearing. Eden saw the remains of a circular pool in the center. The depression was littered with decaying leaves and branches.
The sky was purple, with dark blue clouds. Eden had spent much of the night underground, and she reckoned it was an hour or two before dawn. She was tired and dirty and decided that she would get some rest. She backed up to the mouth of the tunnel and leaned against a rock, letting sleep wash over her. Eden woke up when the sun rays hit her on the face and a whip-like crackling rang in her ears. She stood up suddenly and strained her hearing, in case it was someone looking for her, but the sound didn't repeat.
Now I just have to find my way back home. Her only chance to get back home was to climb a tree and see where she was, get back to the Seeker and the colony. She located a particularly tall tree with abundant branches. Climbing would be easy for her there, so she took the lowest branch and rested his leg on the trunk… She hesitated, climbing to the top of a tree meant that the hunter could also find her.
She had no other choice. Pulling hard on her body, she climbed until she had a clear view of the horizon. Jungle covered the entire valley and she couldn't see any landmarks except the far mountains. Vega was low on the sky and that helped her to calculate the north. There, at the edge of that green hell, she saw the ridge that marked the end of the valley… and the safety of the colony. There were more than fifty kilometers of jungle and dangerous terrain in between.
Damn! She cursed. She wasn't going to make it, she needed to find the Seeker near the river and drive back. Determined, she climbed down from the tree and prepared to set off.
Her cross country walk didn't last long, the sound of rustling leaves and foliage reached her ears and Eden jumped up, fully alert. The alien hunter had surely found her and she didn't have a weapon worth her salt.
Why didn't I take a weapon off the shelf? She cursed, hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand. Not that it was much help. Steward, a former Royal marine, had been a skilled soldier and survival expert, and the monster had easily finished him off.
Eden considered running back to the tunnel. No, If she went back inside the ruins she would be dead in seconds. The temple's corridors were long, narrow and there was no place to hide in. She looked alternately to each side and up the treetops. Adrenaline pumped through her body, alert to the impending attack. Her breathing became more and more agitated, searching for a possible escape route.
-"Freeze!" A voice called. Eden stilled as she could, like prey trying to hide from a predator.
Three figures emerged from the thicket, covered from head to foot with foliage that gave them the appearance of living bushes. Updated versions of the Storm rifle were aimed at her chest with glowing green laser sights.
-"W-who are you?" Eden asked, still confused and part relieved of finding other human beings.
The man in the lead removed his hood, revealing a face painted in black and green camouflage stripes. He lowered his gun upon seeing that she was unarmed and motioned to her subordinates. They continued to guard the perimeter.
-"United States Colonial Marines." The man replied.
Eden sighed in relief. The Marines had arrived, she could go back home while they dealt with the situation. She felt a sudden sadness. Steward would be alive if they had waited a little longer, but the man was a bit stubborn. At least he would be avenged, she smirked maliciously.
-"Sergeant," Eden said, "I'm Dr. Eden Morgan, the colony's xenobiologist." She approached the soldier, offering him her hand, "glad you've arrived, we need to go back to the colony, this place is not se-"
Instead of greeting her, Sutcliffe took her arm and twisted it behind her back, attaching a pair of plastic handcuffs on her wrists.
-"Hey!" Eden protested, "what do you think you're doing! Let me go!"
-"I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment." A fourth man emerged from the forest. Unlike the sergeant and the troopers, this one wasn't wearing a ghillie suit, but the standard battle uniform. A cybernetic prosthetic replaced his right arm up to the elbow. "We're not leaving until you tell us everything we need to know."
- o -
May 12th, 2111. Weyland-Yutani Corporation office at Cassiopeia station around Gas Giant HR8832h aka Cetus.
Volkov passed the security check. The guard snapped into a salute as soon as he spotted the Colonel's insignia. He was at the Research and Development Division on the far station on HR8832, one of the first colonized by the company. Weyland-Yutani established an outpost around the gas giant Cetus for further exploitation of the rest of its seven planets, two of them rocky super-Earth type planets.
He had spent almost a month recovering from the injuries sustained during a particularly disastrous mission in the Caucasus, back on Earth before being summoned here for unknown reasons by Anderson, the Division's Director. In the interim, Volkov had been reassigned to the recently formed U.A.O.R.D. Fleet, whose official duty was to maintain order on the outer colonies but in reality, its main objective was to protect the company interests, quelling rebellions before happening, discretely dispatching terrorists and carrying out corporate espionage missions.
Shortly after being sent to deep space, a civil war sprung in the outer rim colony of Torin Prime. The bloody battles fought during the two years the war lasted, were, in Volkov's opinion, an attractive hunting ground for the yautja. He searched for any hint of the hunters' involvement, as he knew that sooner or later they would come to take part in the slaughter. But four years had passed since the war ended and none of the creatures made their appearance. Weyland-Yutani had definitely disbanded the OWLF task force... or so Volkov thought, until he was finally recalled to HR8832.
-"Take a seat, Volkov." Anderson, who had been his former commanding officer during that fateful operation, began coldly as soon as Volkov stepped inside his spacious office, pointing at the chair in front of his desk. Volkov remained on his feet.
-"Why am I here, Mr. Anderson?" Volkov asked, cutting the formalities.
-"We have a new mission." Anderson said. "One that concerns you and the rest of the OWLF."
-"Have you found the Covenant?" Volkov asked.
Shortly after his ordeal in the ice of Mount Elbrus, Weyland-Yutani had received a strange and very cryptic transmission, sent by a synthetic individual calling himself David. It was sent from the Covenant, a colonization ship bound for Origae-6. On it, the android encouraged the company to investigate a substance denominated as chemical A0-3959X.91-15, a highly sophisticated evolutionary accelerant that could be used to create bio-weapons the likes of which the world had never seen. The Covenant was missing shortly after, with its whereabouts unknown. Until it was found, any advanced research on the bioweapons David had promised had stalled.
-"Oh no," Anderson shook his head and waved a hand between him and Volkov. "We've been unable to locate it yet, despite all our efforts." Anderson took out a briefcase and opened it, taking out a tablet. "Xenotech," he stated.
-"You mean…?" Volkov looked surprised. He was familiar with the term, The word was coined a long time ago, by scientists looking for extraterrestrial life in the Universe. Usually the term refers to mega structures, such as Dyson spheres, Alderson disks, and orbital rings, but actually encompassed any kind of technology that wasn't made by humans. So far, they were aware of two possibilities…
The director took a bottle from a cabin and served them two glasses. "We've found the motherlode." He showed Volkov the tablet. On the screen was a ruined city covered in dense jungle. "A group of colonists found the ruins of an ancient civilization on Kinnor Minor, and the depiction of its inhabitants matched the Engineers." The man explained.
The Engineers were an ancient extraterrestrial civilization that was thought -or so the android claimed -was responsible for seeding life throughout the galaxy. Whether that was true or not mattered little to him. What did interest them was his advanced technology, especially that of genetic engineering and biological weapons. "All lying there in the jungle just waiting for us to grab, easy cake." Anderson concluded his exposition.
Volkov let out a hiss. Easy? If there was one thing he had learned throughout his life: Nothing was easy. "Where's the catch?" He asked, crossing his arms. The last time his entire team was wiped out by a far worse thing than a hunter. He had barely escaped with his life.
-"We have hard evidence that a yautja is involved this time." The man stated.
-"A yautja?" Volkov doubted, "There have been no incidents for some time, I'd fought in the bloodiest battles of the Torin Prime civil war and they didn't show up." Volkov exposed. "They had vanished from human history."
Anderson swiped his fingers on his datapad. The screen showed the report of the Colonial Marshal, a man named Steward, along images of an autopsy and the highlighted text about "skinning and missing head and spine."
Finally, Volkov's doubt faded in an instant. That was definitely Yautja's trademark. He would not only have the chance to seize an entire cache of engineer xenotech, but to face what he considers the ultimate challenge. He would have to get it right this time, the disastrous outcome of the Caucasus mission would not be repeated.
-"The settlement's colonial Marshal had requested a bug hunt." Director Anderson said, "They don't know what they're up against yet. But the Wellington Institute had also sent an expedition…" Anderson paused, then added, "with Elisabeth Monygham as supervisor."
Monygham, The image of a woman in her thirties appeared on the screen, the same woman he had run into at that temple in the Caucasus. The memories came back as a stab of pain shot through him under the scar. The pain was temporary, nothing that a good dose of morphine couldn't calm.
-"A ship is being refitted for you and your team to depart in a few days. Expecting to arrive in mid 2111" Anderson said, "beat the expedition team, secure the assets and deal with any interference but try to be discreet. We don't want to deal with the We don't want to have to deal with Extrasolar Colonial Administrations about the loss of a colony. Understood?"
Volkov nodded. Covering the incident in the Caucasus had been a pain in the ass for the company. Anderson turned off the screen and waved for Volkov to back off. The colonel left without saying a word and headed towards the barracks.
A day later, he was bound for Kinnor Minor colony at full speed.
- o -
July 7th, 2111. Kinnor Minor (LB-328)
The Mantis-class re-supply ship descended below the cloud cover. The Research and Development division team had completely dismantled and reassembled the ship, replacing the Mantis' sublight main upper thruster with a Yutani N-2000 tachyon shunt for superluminal speeds, as well as a coating of radar-absorbent material and weapon pods on stubby wings. It was now renamed The Wendigo. It flew low and silently over the tallest trees, almost brushing their tops.
-"Heading 2-2-7," the pilot announced over the radio. "We're in range of the colony's radar. They haven't detected us." Volkov, sitting on the co-pilot seat, smiled.
-"Roger," He replied, "Proceed to the drop point, two klicks northeast of the target zone."
-"Understood, over and out." The pilot turned back at the rear of the cockpit. "Ten minutes, get ready."
The ten men crammed into the cabin prepared their assault rifles and checked their infrared scopes. They all wore standard battle gear with ghillie camouflage and heat sinks, which made them almost invisible to enemy thermal sensors.
-"Twenty seconds," the pilot announced.
The dropship hovered above the trees and opened the cargo hatch. A carbon fiber rope uncoiled to the spongy jungle floor. A three-man team descended through it, while the pilot checked that they hadn't been discovered.
-"Proceed discreetly." Volkov ordered over radio.
Sgt. Aaron Sutcliffe tapped his earpiece lightly. The craft had inserted them at a safe distance from the main settlement but from that moment radio chat would be minimal. Volkov wanted to reduce the risk of being discovered. Bravo would act as the team scouts, exploring the surrounding area and identifying any sign of their target.
Bravo Team moved forward slowly, making their way through the dense jungle. They walked about ten meters from each other, that way they dispersed their heat signature in case any aircraft from the colony passed by.
The dropship's pilot veered around, making a pass over the jungle and a large sinkhole, looking for a place to land. The pilot located a space wide enough for the ship to land safely. He nodded at Volkov, and Volkov nodded. The pilot maneuvered the controls cautiously.
As soon as the ship touched down on the jungle floor, Volkov stepped outside, carbine in hand. The rest of his men, the Alpha team, dispersed.
-"Stay sharp," he said. Sutcliffe and the others scattered.
The ghillie suits Alpha and Bravo team were wearing were made of radar absorbent, synthetic fibers that covered an inner mesh of nanotubes filled with a cooling liquid that ran throughout the body. The suit's sensors matched the ambient temperature, making the wearer invisible to infrared sensors. The visors were made of reflective material and protected against lasers and flashbang grenades. Their weapons were made of hard plastic and had very few metal parts. They shoot light, caseless ammunition with a compressed gas system.
Those suits and weapons were an improvement over the OWLF's early attempts to circumvent the creatures' heat vision. Long ago, his predecessors had tried all kinds of insulating materials and cooling systems with poor results. Volkov hoped the ghillie suits would mask the men's heat signature enough to give him the advantage over the yautja.
Bravo squadron proceeded further through the jungle, searching the ruins found in the Seeker's vicinity. The main force dispersed in a wide circle, scouting the jungle while Volkov and a small detachment stayed behind to protect the dropship.
-"Bravo Leader here," Sutcliffe's voice echoed over the radio. "We found a HVA," the sergeant said.
-"Bravo leader," Volkov picked up the radio immediately. Have they found a High-Value Asset? "Report, did you mention a HVA?"
-"Affirmative," Sutcliffe responded, ""Half a klick north of your position."
Volkov wasn't expecting that so quickly, although he still didn't know if he was referring to xenotech or yautja, although if it was the latter, they would already know. "Alpha team," he called again, "rendevouz with Bravo team at their position."
-"Roger, Colonel," Alpha team's leader responded.
It took them less than ten minutes to reach the place indicated by Sutcliffe. The place had once been a clearing in the forest, but was now covered with vines, bushes and ferns.
A large metallic object rested between the young trees, partially covered by the vegetation. The thing was about two hundred feet long and fish-shaped. Its rear, he determined, ended in a point with a small forward-curving fin at the bottom. On each side it had a kind of stubby wings, each ending in what he deduced were bulbous thrusters. The "object" had not crashed there, it had landed intentionally, and judging by the burns and skid marks, it was long ago. Col. Konrad Volkov's face twisted into a sly smile as he studied its bronze-colored surface, riddled with inscriptions and glyphs. They had found an intact yautja ship.
-"Secure the area," he ordered. Sutcliffe and the rest immediately went to work, deploying motion sensors around the perimeter of the derelict, while others assembled tripod-mounted automatic machine guns. The technician connected a portable terminal to each of the weapons and typed in commands. The screens showed the words ARMED in bright yellow letters.
Well, a smile spread across Volkov's face. Feeling more secure, he walked back to the ship and ran a hand across the surface. He must have some kind of mechanism to open the interior, the question is how long it would take them to figure it out before the occupant returned.
-"Alpha Team," he picked up the radio again, "Where are you, Alpha Team?" The radio was dead, receiving only static. "Alpha Team?"
The sound of distant gunshots reached his ears, followed by a shriek.
Volkov looked at Sutcliffe and Sutcliffe nodded. The three Bravo Team men readied their weapons and headed into the woods, but not before activating their FoF transponders to avoid sentry gun fire. Volkov went after them after ordering the rest to guard the ship and taking his assault rifle.
-"Alpha Team?" Volkov insisted after a few minutes, They were near the team's last position. Sutcliffe stopped and tapped his mic.
-"Over here." He said in a serious tone, pointing ahead, the light filtered through the thick greenery.
An orange patch suddenly appeared among the blue and green of the trees. When they stepped on the clearing, they saw A yellow-orange Seeker was parked at the base of a large tree.
Sutcliffe whistled, appearing from the opposite side of the vehicle. "Abandoned?" Volkov asked, The sergeant shook his head, pointing at the shattered windshield and the dent on the cabin's top.
Volkov surveyed the surrounding area, here and there the grass was flattened. There was no sign or Alpha team or the colonists. He then saw it, between the blood stains on the leaves there was something else, he bent down and wiped a gloved hand across the floor, picked it up and showed it to Sutcliffe and his men. His glove was covered in a phosphorescent green substance. Hunter blood.
The men immediately went on alert, aiming around and into the treetops. judging by the lack of bodies, the individual who had taken down the Alpha team shouldn't be far behind.
Sutcliffe's motion detector beeped insistently, having picked up something approaching. Thirty meters… twenty-five… Sutcliffe motioned and the men readied themselves, pointing their weapons in the direction of contact, finger ready on the trigger and watching for any distortion in the air.
Ten meters… seven… five… A dark-haired woman in torn khaki overalls with scratches on her bare arms stepped out of the thicket.
-"Get her," Volkov ordered over the earpiece. Volkov deduced she was one of the colonists from the Seeker. A witness. They needed her alive.
-"Freeze!" Sutcliffe yelled. The woman stilled.
Sutcliffe and two of his men emerged from their hiding place.
-"W-who are you?" She asked. Sutcliffe removed his hood, lowering his gun. She was unarmed and apparently hurt.
-"United States Colonial Marines." Sutcliffe said, without revealing rank or name. Part of the ruse, in case of being discovered, was that they were part of the Colonial marines requested by the colony.
The woman was relieved. "Sergeant," she walked towards him, "I'm Dr. Eden Morgan, the colony's xenobiologist… glad you've arrived, we need to go back to the colony, this place is not se-"
Sutcliffe grabbed her as soon as she was at reach, and the sergeant put a pair of plastic handcuffs on her wrists.
-"Hey!" Morgan protested, "what do you think you're doing! Let me go!"
-"I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment." Volkov made himself present. "And we're not leaving until you tell us everything we need to know."
- o -
Finally. another chapter of Hunter's moon is done, after a long hiatus. Blame that to my job, LOL. I was reluctant to post this chapter before Pandora was finished fearing it would spoil some of the action there, but editing had taken longer than expected so here we are. Call me impatient but yeah... I'm impatient, and I would go crazy if I don't post anything soon.
Don't forget to comment below. Hasta pronto...
