CHAPTER 2: BEGIN
Mizar's Deserted Palace 9:00 AM, Day 2
Flame's one manned ship arrived at the bricked pyramid at the center of the once dangerous palace. As soon as he got out of his ship, he could only stare at his surroundings. The once pure golden bricks were now crumbled and infested with moss and rust and who the hell knew what. The once towering pyramid was now half its original size, with clumps of broken stone at its foot. Any hieroglyphics of Mizar and his drones were now completely wiped out. Flames almost thought of it as a pity that such a magnificent sight, as dangerous as it was, had decimated like this.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rockets on Robbin's ship. He waited for its blunt noise as it hit to the ground, the swish of moving air as the door opened, and Robbin was already by his side.
"So...d'ya think any drones will come here?" he said eagerly.
"Well, I think you're missing the point. We're hoping they DON'T come here."
"Aw, you're no fun! Too bad the Gemini's finished off Mizar before I could enter the fray! Then he'd be sorry!" he yelled, almost like he was announcing it to an audience that wasn't there.
Flame peered down at the tribal standing next to him. The thing was much shorter than him, but that didn't mean much in Robbin's eyes. For Christ's sake, he already had a machine gun in his hand! As soon as Flame noticed this, he jerked his head back in surprise, trying to muffle a grunt shock.
"Damn, the other rebels haven't even gotten here! Put away your gun!"
"Bleh, what's it to you? I'm just...aware, that's all. Yeah, aware!" And with Robbin's words, Flame let out a deep sigh to which he chose to do nothing about but snort and look down at the ground.
More rockets came into their ears. This time it was the sound of dozens—Flames was instantly relieved—the reinforcements would surely give him space from Robbin, who was a major pain. Why'd Ish ever assign him to anything in the first place? Flames turned around to see the many ships of rebellion members, but in vain. What he thought was the noise of rebel ships was more like one giant vessel—and more to the point, a vessel with Mizar's emblem.
"Shit! Robbin, get to your ship!" he yelled as soon as his eyes hit the vessel.
He didn't think Robbin had turned around and seen what he had, but that was not so. "No way. We'll never get away in our ships! Look at the size of that thing!"
"Well, what're we gonna do? Fight a vessel full of drones by ourselves? They took down the Gemini team! We don't stand a chance!" he replied, sounding angry.
"We can buy time—hopefully enough for the reinforcements to arrive--"
"You know, that's the only smart thing you've said all day." Flames said, grabbing Robbin by the arm and running. He sprinted to the first thing he saw—the tunnels. Now the ceilings had collapsed and the walls were cluttered with rubble, but they would provide good enough defense for now. They heard the sound of an object hitting the ground behind them and began to increase their pace. Shortly before they reached the sanction of the moldy labyrinth, they saw lasers hitting the walls they were running to.
"Crap, they're already shooting! Robbin, ready your gun!" he knew saying this wasn't necessary, for the tribal already had his machine gun out, but he said it anyway. Flames himself had brandished a tri-rocket launcher, the most deadly of weapons in his arsenal. With the gun in his left hand, he grabbed a grenade with his right and threw it behind them.
It felt like forever before they reached the walls of the palace tunnels. They never stopped to turn around, never slowed down, not even when they heard a bellowing screech of beetle drones along with a grenade sounding off. Finally, they reached a door to the inside of the outer palace wall: the lobby. It was said that it was guarded by magma that only Juno could ever cross.
And there it was. Flames and Robbin stopped abruptly behind the pond of lava staring back at them. Not a sound of dread escaped from either's lips. All they did was turn to face the sound of footsteps and hold up their guns. "Still think you're ready to enter the fray, Robbin?" Flames said, trying to take a crack at a joke at such a dark time. But even the young tribal gave no reaction to it. He only held up his gun and appeared straight ahead. His fingers wrapped around the trigger, ready for the second of that blue head to look around the doorway and at Robbin. Ready for the second they met what occupied the drone vessel.
And finally, after agonizing seconds, that second came.
"The Peak", 10:00 AM, Day 2
Shine Bear lived her whole life with Tribals. She was left on Gem Quarry, a tribal colony, as a baby. As far as she was concerned, she was a tribal. Feathers stuck out from her red and green bandanna that wrapped around her forehead. She wore brown garments, reaching from her neck to her knees. Other humans treated her strangely, but she never cared. Tribals never minded her race; they treated her like their own and took care of her. She therefore considered drones as a direct threat to her family, and intended to wipe them out permanently.
Neonis, a tribal of about 18 winters age, had lived a normal life. His family was never affected in any way by the drones: he also lived in Gem Quarry, a planet that managed to escape the drone's path of destruction. He had only become involved with the rebellion when an asteroid threatened their existence. The Gemini team showed up, of course, and helped to save them from such a fate. He then decided to travel in any way necessary, to Ichor, where an underground rebellion base resided. He was, of course, captured at this foolish mission, only to be rescued by the Rebellion itself. He found it ironic and fitting at the same time.
"So, brother, what do you suspect has become of this place?" Shine Bear inquired, to start a conversation on such a barren place.
Neonis looked off the cliff they stood on, and forward to the building in the distance. As he began walking, he replied, "I doubt there's anything left...the Union took care of all the base's population."
"...Right." Shine Bear replied, still a bit doubtful. She held in her hands what she called shiners, devices that created a mad amount of light when thrown. Neonis took a stare at what she considered 'weapons' before turning his head back to the building. Geez, what a nutcase...
When they walked into the building, they found a trap door and a computer set. This consisted of several monitors and computer towers that were attached to the wall. In the center of the room was a trap door, nailed shut. Shine Bear stayed by the entrance door while Neonis walked over to the monitors and pressed his finger to one. They were touch pads, apparently, as he slid his finger from one screen to another trying to find a way to shut down the system.
He mumbled under his breath as he was denied again and again to deactivate the base's power. Finally, he turned around to Shine Bear, obviously aggravated. "The system won't shut down. We need to take out the security wires." He paused, and pointed to several circuits trailing to the trapdoor and then slipping under it. "I'll need you to go down that trapdoor and take them all out so that I can proceed to take down the power, okay?"
"Um...okay..." Shine Bear hesitated, then slowly walked towards the trapdoor and tried to move it. Soon she discovered it was locked tight. "Urgh...it won't open!" she said, stepping back. Without saying anything, Neonis took out his pistol and shot the edges of the metal trap door in seconds. Smoke emerged from the bullet holes leaving a hissing sound. Shine jumped back from the trap door as the bullets hit the door, startled. She then opened the trap door and proceeded to slip down with the wires.
"I—I see them! About five or six wires!" Neonis could hear her voice from the darkness of the tunnel underneath him.
"Great!" he yelled back, crouching over the hole. "Now take out your gun and destroy them all!"
"Um—o-okay!" came her voice, followed by four consecutive bullet shots. Then there was silence. Neonis knew something was wrong, when there were five wires and only four shots taken.
"Shine? Shine, you down there?" he yelled. Silence. "SHINE?!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
The shriek was so loud and sudden that Neonis accidentally fell down the trap door by surprise. He landed chest first on the tunnel ground with a grunt of pain. "Shine?! Shine, what's wrong?!" he called out. He could barely see five feet in front of him. He did, however, see five wires—four of which had been severed by gunshots. He got up and walked blindly through the dark tunnel.
Then he saw light. Lots and lots of light—it almost hurt his eyes. He instantly ran towards it, as ignorant as a moth to the flame. And what he found was a bruised Shine Bear laying on the ground with a shiner in one hand, already set off. The light was so brutal his eyes began to ache, and he put up his arms to try and shield his eyes. "Shine, what happened?"
"I-it...I heard something down here!" she said nervously. And suddenly, Neonis's worried expression was replaced with an aggravated one.
"That's it?"
"I swear! Something was crawling!"
"Uh-huh. Look, just destroy the remaining wire and we'll leave." he turned around, away from the light, and headed back from where he came. Shine Bear quickly looked around the hallway, got up, and trailed after Neonis anxiously. On their way out, she fired the remaining wire, and began up the ladder behind Neonis. There was a flicker of light as the remaining wire was cut, but the power began to circulate again.
"Right. Now I can deactivate this cruddy place and we can move on." Neonis muttered under his breath, so soft that he didn't expect Shine to hear it. She apparently did, as she grunted in approval, all too ready to leave this place. Neonis walked back to the monitors where he pressed the screens a series of times.
POWER
:OFF
CONFIRM
Finally, he pressed the center most computer monitor, and the light flickered, and then finally went out. Neonis walked to the door, and motioned the nervous Shine to follow. He walked just another step before he turned around, got out his pistol, and shot the computer towers several times, and the center monitor once. He honestly didn't find it necessary at all—but he did it nonetheless.
They then reached their ships and took off without any second thought. Neonis had decided they would head to 'The Spaceship' and disable that before reporting back to Ichor. Regardless of what Shine thought, there would be nothing to it at all—or that was his thought.
For while Neonis and Shine headed to their next destination, all was not well at The Peak. In the dark building where the power was shut off, the monitors themselves flickered light. Although the overhead light stayed off, the monitors came back to life.
SEND
SPACESHIP
REBELLION MEMBERS IN MOTION TO BASE
:SEND
Then, like wildfire, the same message repeated itself on every monitor, without end.
PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLEPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLET PROJECT OBULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORTPRCT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORTPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJT ONE BLLET SHORPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJCT ONE BULLET SHORT TPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT
CHAPTER 2: END