Chapter 2:Encounters
Sirens, the sound of a siren blaring can never be a good sign. The blaring won't stop, the sound actually begins to get louder and soon the screaming of the sirens becomes so annoying that it is unbearable to listen to. I finally come about and find myself lying on the floor of the room that John gave me earlier. I sit up and the blaring noises radiate through my head. A red light is blinking on the desk and I stand up and walk over to turn the lights on.
A strange looking version of the standard battle suit stands next to the desk. I walk over to it curious why it is here and why it looks the way it does. It looks to be some sort of a prototype and is much smaller than a normal suit. I press the log-in button on the front of the suit, which takes my thumbprint and for some reason recognizes me and asks me what I would like to do with the 73C41 infiltration armor model. I conclude that this suit is no ordinary armor, but a newly improved stealth model. I press the open suit button on the interface monitor that displays information to personnel when the suit in unoccupied. The suit's actuators depressurize and the front of the suit opens revealing the soft gel like interior that stabilizes the person using the suit and regulates bodily functions such as temperature and healing wounded areas.
The suit looks as though it fits me but no one can ever be sure. One inch off and the suit would crush someone. I try it anyway thinking that John put it in here for me. I undress and lay into the suit. I insert my hands into the arm sockets and lock my feet into place. I use my voice to initiate the lockdown procedure on the suit and the suit slowly closes over me. The actuators hiss as the suit pressurizes and the assisted movement activates. The standard suit weighs about half a ton so a normal human couldn't move the suit's limbs so the suit uses a mechanism to help the human move about without straining any muscles. The suit finishes the final initiations and a green light blinks on my heads-up display (HUD) indicating that the suit is ready to go. My HUD shows many important items, such as body temperature, ammo count, the suit's energy capacity and if I have a breach in my armor. There are a couple unfamiliar icons displayed in my HUD and I figure I will ask about them when I get a chance. I slowly pick my arm up and the assisted movement makes the movement feel like I am in a zero G atmosphere.
I walk out of my room and notice all the corridor's lights are out and the red emergency lights are on. I walk quickly to the end of the hallway to the door that leads me outside of the barracks. I walk out of the barracks and find myself in the middle of a giant battlefield. Most of the battle has already happened but I can still see some skirmishes occurring. Many of the defenses have fallen and the ones left are either being attacked or smoldering and will be collapsed eventually. I jog over to what looks to be like a makeshift outpost that is under a light assault. I have no weapon on my suit so I can be of no help in this fight but I can see if anyone has a spare weapon lying around, considering a dead person can't really use a gun.
I get to protection in the outpost and marines are franticly running around trying to hold the position. I walk to the center of operations and see a high-ranking officer screaming at privates to hold their positions. I walk over to what looks to be a makeshift armory and grab a standard issue C-14 Impaler gauss rifle, also I grab and extra ammo belt and 5 nova grenades. I plug in the weapon's I.D. card into my suit and an icon comes up on my HUD displaying my ammo count and what weapon I am using. I walk over to a map of the base and see many markings on the map. I see that we are smack dab in the middle of the human held ground and that we have lost almost everything else. A man taps me on my shoulder and I turn around. I see insignia identifying the personnel as a Colonel and I immediately salute.
"Hello son, do you mind if you step aside and let me peer on that there map?" he asked.
"Sorry Colonel, I was just wondering where I can be posted to offer some aid."
"I believe that bunker K18C has an opening for you."
"Thanks Sir."
I walk outside to see that the skirmish has died down and the Zerg are backing off and holding their ground outside our gun's range. I walk over to the bunker labeled K18C and jump into it to find three battle worn marines who give me one glance and look back to the battleground. I go to the empty post and peer out at the battle. The skies are jet black and thunder is heard in the distance.
"Here they come," one marine states as he loads his rifle. I shoulder my rifle and prepare to fire on the oncoming swarm.
"Only a group of Hydralisks," one of the marines laughs. I look out the gun port and see a group of the slithering snake-like creatures and guess they call those Hydralisks because they resemble a hydra from mythology. I fire a volley of deadly explosive tipped rounds into the closest Hydralisk and the bullets rip into the creature's carapace and shred the creature apart from the inside out. The other marines are busy holding their triggers down and wasting ammo on already soon to be dead Hydralisks. The explosive rounds fired from an Impaler hit a target and punch through the target's armor and then explode after they have lost their momentum and cripple a target from the inside. As the last of the Hydralisks fall over and wiggle to death. The marines from my bunker scream victory shouts and then sit back and open up a 6 pack of beer. I feel sickened by the sight that the marines are in such a carefree state.
I jump out of the bunker and begin to run over to the makeshift HQ. As I get about halfway to the HQ a wounded Zergling jumps up and tackles me. My enhanced reflexes throw the animal off and I quickly jump up and put a burst from my rifle into the creature. It shakes for a second and then goes silent. I exhale deeply and look up to see a giant hulking mass drifting in the sky. I wonder what it could possibly be. Whatever it is, it is not man made and I don't believe that the disgusting creatures that lay down at our feet are the creators. Out of nowhere the object becomes dotted with little red lights and the lights explode and lash out against the remaining Zerg. Some men get out of their bunkers and look dumbfounded. Others get out and cheer. Some don't even get out. I see the Colonel walk out the outpost and look up at the giant floating object. My attention turns back to the ship and a green light this time lowers itself to the ground not 20 feet in front of me. The light sits for a while and I notice the strangest things occur. Aliens are floating down the in light. I guess my reading science fiction novels when I was a kid finally will pay off. The aliens are using a Grav lift. A Grav lift is a device that uses gravity to slowly repel an object down to the ground.
The Aliens finally reach the bottom and there are about 200 of them. I look around at are scattered forces and count about 400 men. My mind suddenly screams out at me like a voice is in it and trying to talk to me. The feeling is awkward but I push it aside for now. The new aliens appear to have no mouth and wear an assortment of armor. Most of the aliens are about six to seven feet tall and carry blue looking sword things. Behind the blade warriors is a funny looking mechanical caterpillar that is about 20 feet long and 8 feet high. The leader of the pack slowly approaches and does not talk but telepathically states:
"We come in peace. We mean you natives no harm." I was surprised when I hear him speak English but he might have already read our minds and found out our language and history. I am just a superstitious person though. The leader then says:
"We would like to speak with your leader to discuss an agreement." I notice the Colonel to begin to step forward but stops himself for some reason. I walk over to the Colonel and tell him that I will go to make sure that they do not want to take the leader hostage to make the troops uncoordinated. I walk up to the leader and we together walk to the side and discuss urgent matters.
"Your people have one option and only one option," he began speaking though not through his mouth but through his mind. "Your men must disarm and come with us peacefully so no one will get hurt. We are the mighty Protoss, the firstborn, we are noble and will not hurt anyone who surrenders peacefully."
"Why have you come to our planet and why are the other aliens also here," I say speaking out loud.
"Your planet was attacked by the other aliens and our forces arrived in time to stop them from totally decimating the entire planet. We have been fighting them for many years and they like to jump from one planet to another and infest it like rodents."
"I understand your predicament but I must decline your option, we shall not disarm and the best thing for you to do is to leave this area. We were fine before you came here."
"You shall disarm or perish, those are your options." As he finished his thought, two of the blade warriors walk up to make sure there won't be any problems, but they are too late as I have already made up my mind. I quickly reach for the supplied sidearm that came with the suit and point it right at the leader. I pull the trigger and the gun bucks in my hand. The leader falls without a fight. The two "noble" bodyguards rush at me. I manage to get one more round off before they reach me and the right bodyguard crumples to the ground. The other guard lances out at me and sticks his blade into my armor. The metal boils away and my stomach is punctured but I do not flinch, I bring the gun down on the alien's wrist blade and crush the mechanics. The blade flickers and disappears. With that the alien rears back and comes out me with his other blade. The problem was that I had already pointed the gun dead on his face and pulled the trigger as he did so. His limp body slaps on to the floor dead.
During my quick skirmish I had with the two bodyguards, the blade warriors have charged the marines and the marines answered back with bullets, many bullets. It was obvious that the warriors did not stand a chance to the awesome power of human technology. As I finish my thoughts, a lighted object hovers across the battlefield and erupts on the marine's line. Instantly 40 marines fall, the impact on the battle was so great that some men stop firing and stare at the carnage. I know something has to be done to put the caterpillar tank out of business.
I sprint to the caterpillar and along the way have to take out 2 more blade warriors. I reach the hulking beast just as it fires yet another shell out of its mouth. Ten blade warriors surround the unit as to protect it. I reload my pistol and begin running towards the tank. My pistol opens up and takes out the two closest warriors. When I am within 15 feet, I jump using my enhanced muscles and collide with the tank. I grip the side of the behemoth and slowly crawl up to the top. I reach the top and get to my feet. Below me the blade warriors begin to ascend.
I have to crouch because my torso has lost so much blood and I almost pass out from nausea. I regain consciousness and crouch lower and look at the hatch of the beast. I reach down and pull on the handle. My mechanized muscles strain and the hatch flies off its hinges. I unbuckle the strap carrying the nova grenades and trigger them all as they drop into the dark opening. 3….2….1…0. The charges explode just as the first blade warrior reaches the top. Of course I have already jumped and cleared the beast as the novas explode. The blast cripples two thirds of the so-called "Mighty Protoss".
Even though this battle is close to being over, we have sustained heavy losses and considering that the Protoss might have millions of these warriors in reserve does not give us any rest at the moment. I crouch down to relieve the pain and I look up in time to see a lone zealot with red colored armor charge at me. I stand up and jump back as his blade cuts the air where I was standing not a second ago. I regain my balance and reach for my pistol and realize that it is gone! The warrior charges me and I am stuck and must resort to fighting hand to hand.
He attempts to come down with a vertical slashing motion and I juke to the left and palm him in the face. The warrior stumbles to the side but regains his balance quickly. He jumps at my position using his back foot as an extra boost. I try to duck him but take a blade to the arm. The cut almost severs my arm from my body but is still hanging on. I let out a shrill screech of pain that could be heard through the cacophony of the battle. The warrior turns around and returns to finish me off. I turn to face him knowing I am defeated when a shimmer whisks by me. The shimmer lashes out with a shine that can only resemble a blade of some sort. The warrior's head flicks off from the rest of the body and the warrior falls to the ground with a thud. I notice the shimmer become solid and then focus itself. The alien that is standing in front of me is a Protoss. Not the normal kind with lavish armor, but instead the silent assassin wearing dark purple robes and carrying an extra wide and long sword with a narrow shaft to hold it. The robes crack with the wind and the alien begins to walk toward me sheathing its sword. My eyes grow heavy and I collapse to the floor from loss of blood. With my eyes closed, all I can hear are the shouts of marines, the rattle of guns, and the sound of death. The sounds become quieter and quieter and soon are no more. My mind becomes dark and I black out.
End of Chapter 2
