Phantasy Star:
A Shadow Among the Darkness
PrologueThe long journey was over. After seven tedious years of warp travel the Pioneer 2, sister ship to the expeditionary vessel Pioneer 1, reached the habitable world of Ragol. Both ships had been carrying tens of thousands of refugees from a dying world and Pioneer 1 was sent ahead to establish a colony while the second ship was finished being constructed. Once the Pioneer 2 had arrived, the crew and her passengers eagerly waited within Ragol's atmosphere for the moment they would be given permission to land and join the first ship and her crew in a new world with a hope for new life.
Though once communication between the two vessels had been established, the central dome of the colony constructed by the inhabitants of Pioneer 1 vanished under a wall of flame. The source of what had created the explosion remained a mystery and the hopes and dreams of the men and women of Pioneer 2 seemed to dwindle and fade. Principle Tyrell, in an attempt to regain order as well as the hopes of the people, sent teams of hunters to the surface to investigate the reason behind the explosion and locate any survivors of the colony.
A special military branch aboard the Pioneer 2 known as the "Holy Cross Corporation," sent several teams of hunters with superior weapons, armor, training and leadership to the surface in hopes of finding answers that everyone one aboard Pioneer 2 was so anxiously awaiting.
An older man wearing a dark gray military uniform sat behind a large metallic desk with at least a dozen small monitors set in a semi circular setup around him. He watched the screens one by one flicker on and the speakers set behind the desk pop and buzz to life after a few seconds of static. The room was enveloped in total darkness, savor the trace amounts of light coming from the small screens illuminating the man's worn face and causing his glasses to reflect the dim light. He watched the faces of men and women flash on and off the screens and heard them all check in. He folded his hands in front of his face and narrowed his eyes.
Time to see what Ragol has to offer us then…
There was nothing but darkness within the corridor. The only source of light was coming from flashlights mounted on weapons and on the left shoulders of the sixteen soldiers, sent by Holy Cross. Each of them was wearing state of the art battle armor from head to toe with cameras built into the helmets recording the never-ending sea of darkness. The white armor seemed to gleam slightly as light from other soldiers landed across the sleek surface. The mood among the troops was quiet and tense as they waded over small stones and other debris strewn about the dirt floor beneath.
The woman leading the team was several meters ahead of the unit and stopped suddenly shinning the light mounted on her Launcher at something large in front of her. The light seemed to dance slowly across a large purple colored metallic door that was at least ten meters tall and fourteen meters wide. She hoisted the heavy weapon up, which was at least a meter and a half itself, and after balancing it on the support attachment on her armor she brought up her left arm and with a firm hand pointed to the left and again quickly to the right.
Light began to bounce around the entire passageway as the troops briskly ran to their designated locations, each of which then formed up into a standard battle position. The troops carrying lighter blasters, like Repeaters, knelt about a meter from the door while the rest of the troops carrying the Blaster rifles and Launchers leveled their weapons on the door in a staggered formation so they would keep their line of fire clear.
The woman who was in command had reached at her hip belt with her left hand and removed two light packs and threw them on the ground behind them. The moment they hit the purplish dirt, they lit up the entire corridor and the darkness vanished from their view as well as an area of fifteen meters in all directions.
She narrowed her eyes to better adjust to the now abundance of light that encircled her and her team. "HC02, can you scan anything beyond the door?" she asked in a cool commanding tone. Her words echoed louder then she would have liked but she didn't concern herself too much with it.
The large and bulky white armored android scanned its overly disproportionate head from left to right and then repeated this process two more times before replying. "Negative. If there are any life forms on the other end of this door, I cannot detect them. I am sorry, commander," HC02 replied in a dry and lifeless voice.
The young woman grunted and unclasped the helmet strap underneath her chin, removed it and tucked it under her left arm. Long strands of dark black hair fell to her shoulders and her dark eyes narrowed out of frustration rather then exposure to light this time. She looked to her right and eyed one of the soldiers holding a blaster rifle.
"Heretic, would you say this was built by the crew of Pioneer 1 or is it of different origin?" She asked already knowing full well what his answer would be. Still, she tilted her head towards the man that had a strange decal on the left chest piece of his armor waiting for his response.
Heretic, a thin and somewhat crazed fanatic, though a fanatic of what was a mystery, shook his head rapidly. "Nah, boss. Whatever this is, it ain't us," he replied in a tense and almost borderline psychotic voice.
The woman nodded and turned back to her left. She felt extremely uncomfortable with him on her team, but he was by far one of the best shots with the Blaster rifle she had ever witnessed. She then eyed a large black man holding a Launcher much like herself. Though he was already looking back at her knowing she would go to him next.
"Malice, can you crack it open for us? I would like to sneak a peek if it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience to you," she said in a suppressed laugh. She knew he was just waiting for the command.
Malice snapped his Launcher into a vertical position in acknowledgement and a menacing grin stretched across his wide face. "I would love to be of any assistance to you, ma'am," he said in a deep voice as he left his designated location and approached what seemed to be the center of the door.
The young woman scoffed at the remark slightly. "I would only want or need you to open this door for me, Malice. Now get it done," she snapped in an almost hostile tone. She did not have time for his nonsense today. Not that she liked it when he did this any day. Today though everything would go smoothly and by the books because she as well as thousands of others had waited seven long years to get here and nothing was going to stop them from enjoying a new life in a new home. Nothing.
He growled but kept it low, but not so low that she would not be able to hear it. She smiled knowing that she got under his skin. With a quick check of her watch on her left arm, seventeen minutes had elapsed since they had reached the surface. That wasn't bad considering they found this cavern relatively quick. What bothered her was that this area seemed undisturbed for several years. Had the crew of Pioneer 1 not found this? That would be impossible since it was in extreme proximity to their core colony.
"This will take a few moments to crack, ma'am," Malice called out bringing her back to the current time and place. She watched him unclasp his Launcher from the support on the armor and place it to the ground. He also removed his customized sword from his hip belt and gently rested it on the ground.
A shuddered surged through her involuntarily. She knew he could handle all sorts of heavy weaponry, but he was most lethal with the blade. The way he moved his entire body with a deadly grace while he wielded that sword was enough to make her never want to be on the receiving end of it. She eyed the blade carefully for another few seconds while he began removing tools he would use to cut through the door.
Suddenly a there was a light beeping coming from her receiver on her hip belt and she put her helmet on and reached for it. She tapped a button and a picture of a man with long dark blue-gray hair appeared. It was Prophet. He was not among the team, which was unusual since he was one of the best Force users she had seen in action.
"Soul Fly, the man wants to know what the progress is," he said in a voice that came off to her like a snake. She could not stand him either but ignored the feeling of discomfort. She was there to do a job and she was going to get it done.
"We are working as quickly as possible. With you hogging the line, you are delaying us. Not to mention he knows what our status is. He has been watching us every second so far," she said somewhat angrily and awaited his spiteful response. She did not have to wait long.
"I am just doing the job I was assigned to do this run. I would advise you do the same," he said and snapped off from view in the receiver. Fly was having more and more doubts about this mission now. This entire thing seemed wrong somehow. Like everyone knew something except her and they weren't about to speak up either.
Ignoring the feelings of discomfort and her screaming instincts, she looked up at Malice who was just lighting the torch to cut through the door. Right as he brought the cutting torch to the door, it hissed open and anything beyond the door was in complete and total darkness. A light breeze blew just as the door fully opened and there was a deathly feel to the air.
"Orders, ma'am?" Heretic snapped. Fly turned to him and saw him curl his upper lip up repeatedly. She hesitated a moment and he turned to face her wasting no time. "Is something wrong ma'am?" he said in an even faster, more neurotic voice.
Irritated, she only grunted. "No nothing is wrong, now shut up and move up. Take it slow and keep it tight," she ordered. As her words rang out, the troops began moving up slowly and carefully.
As the soldiers moved several meters past the door, darkness completely encircled them. Even with the flashlights, they could barely see a few feet in front of them. Lieutenant Soul Fly took several more steps inside when she got the distinct feeling they were walking into a trap. Before she allowed her team to move any farther she held up her left hand and spoke as loudly as she would dare.
"All teams hold. HC01 and HC02, go to infrared mode and scan for anything that could be a potential threat," she ordered and heard the two large androids toggling the requested mode.
From the darkness, they heard something stir, followed by multiple sounds coming from what seemed to be everywhere. Fly watched her team stagger and shift uneasily as the noises grew only louder.
"HC01, HC02, what is taking so long? Can you confirm anything?" she barked out as the noises and the shuffling grew ever closer.
At the same moment, both androids responded. "Negative, commander."
Fly heard one of the troops call from the left in a frightened voice. "Something in here is moving, and it ain't us!"
A line of sweat began to form on Fly's brow and she lowered her Launcher in front of her. "HC01, 02, go to night vision and scan, something is moving in here!"
"I wonder if someone is coming out to play," Heretic muttered but she could hear it above anything else. His words chilled her to the very core. The only thing the kept the remark off her mind was the androids high pitched-whine.
"Contacts, twenty yards in closing," HC01 called out just as HC02 also began calling out something very similar, though where HC02 was they were fifteen.
Fly's eyes widened. "We need illumination now!" she screamed and both androids fired flares out. As the flares lit up, the entire room seemed to be alive and moving. And they were moving towards them.
Strange, reptilian-like creatures filled the larger corridor. Their bodies were jagged and jet-black, except for the small sections of sky-blue across their chests that seemed to almost radiate light. The creatures did not appear to have heads or elbows, though their entire arms looked like a sword or a blade and glowed the same sky-blue color as the chest. Their bodies seemed to point out in a triangular shape towards them and they wobbled back and forth on short, stubby, but jagged legs.
The hideous monsters progress was slow until the light had filled the room. Once the darkness faded, they began charging with unbelievable speed. Fly couldn't remember giving the order to fire, but she must have because her entire team was opening up with everything their pulse weapons had and directed it at the mass of creatures.
They are awful, she thought. She let the panic that held her dissipate and she lowered her Launcher began firing at the sea of creatures. While the team of hunters fired their weapons, the door behind them began closing.
"Everyone back!" she ordered, in a stern but anxious voice. Just as she began taking several small shuffles back, she heard a cry to her right, followed by several to her left, then all around her. The creatures had reached their defensive line. She eyed the strange looking things in front of her, still ten feet away but slowly gaining ground despite the damage that was being dealt to them.
With a thunderous hiss, the two large slabs of metal were back together sealing the hunters in and the light that was on the opposite side had vanished from view.