How did I get myself stuck in this mess? Eclipse thought to himself. He remembered the day he went to sign up for the tournament. He trained for years, following the tournament trends, keeping up with the latest in weapons technology, and following the different competitors. When he turned 21, he went down to the Liandri building to register as a Team captain. He had to take several tests over the last 3 years to make sure of his ability, but he passed all of them, overcoming every challenge and maintaining himself in the top 90 of his group. The process was very selective, and anyone with a score under 85 wasen't even considered.
When he got to the building, and stood in line, he looked around. He saw several odd entrants. He saw what looked like some kind of Space Marine with a Double Barreled shotgun, and even though he diden't look very agile, he still looked like he went to Hell and back. He saw another stupid ass in a blue jump suit, with golden spiky hair and a huge sword. "Bastard wouldn't last 5 minutes...".
The new rules for this year said that combatants could bring a weapon of their own, provided they were approved by the judges, and akimbo weapons were encouraged. Eclipse, being a huge fan of the old time actor "John Whoo" or something like that, had managed to get a hold of a pair of Enforcer Pistols, .45 caliber, though he saw a wide variety of guns. There was also talk of allowing teams to buy their own vehicles for use in the Onslaught ladder, but it was unconfirmed until the rules actually came out, near the end of the CTF ladder.
Though most entrants were human, he saw several Gen Mo'kai, though they stuck to themselves. He know there would be Skaarj in the tournament, but due to the Human-Skaarj treaty from the Skaarj War, no Skaarj was allowed to step foot on Earth, and would be entered on one of the Space Stations orbiting the planet. Eclipse was glad. He wasen't scared of them per say, but with the smaller, passive ones being 6ft, 275lbs, 80 muscle mass, armor-like scales, and trained from birth, or hatching, to be the most feared killers in the galaxy, he had a, shall we say, healthy respect for them.
When it finally came to be his turn, they asked him a barrage of questions, from his first car, to his last test from school. After answering their questions for 10 minutes, he was told to head through a door behind the counter. Once he did, he found himself in room with several other men and women, all standing straight, facing towards a small stage with a podium. After about 15 minutes, a man in a suit came out to the Mic on the podium.
"Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen, and Gen Mo'kai. You have passed the first phase of the tournament entry, and have been accepted. Tonight, you will sleep in your provided living quarters aboard our Space Station, and in the morning, will engage in an elimination round. Any questions?"
One of the men in front of Eclipse raised his hand. "Uh, will the Skaarj be present on the Station, and will the match be to the death?" The man in the suit laughed. "Yes, their will be Skaarj. They will be allowed free run of the station, same as you. They won't cause trouble if you don't. And that depends on what you mean by "to the death". Just as in the real thing, you will have several clones waiting. Your brain waves will constantly be down-loaded into the computer, and when you die, will be down-loaded into on of the clones, and sent out again. Of coarse, we will keep one clone of you out of combat, so you will go on living."
Eclipse inwardly frowned. Live fire weapons and full cloning for an elimination match? Liandri was rich, he knew, but rich enough to squander resources like that amazed him. Cloning was of coarse available to the public, but at an enormous cost that only the top 1/100th of 1 of the wealthy could afford, and it would still bankrupt most of them. After another hour of talking, they were loaded onto a shuttle and went into space. It wasen't his first time in space, so Eclipse slept most of the way. After an uneventful night, he began to get ready for the match.
After Eclipse woke up, he had a light breakfast, joking with several other entrants. There was an uneasy peace in the air, all knowing full well that in a few scant ours, they would become each others killers. He reported to the arena at 0900, and was given the standard armor. "Dun worry," said one of his controllers, "Afta dis youze can buy wutever arma youze want!" It thrilled Eclipse that his controller, the man responsible for sending his weapons and ammo when he needed it, could barely speak English. He was directed in the teleporter and was told he would appear with an assault rifle, although he would also have a combat knife, and his pistols to select from immediantly. As he teleported in, he listened to the announcements.
"Welcome all!" Boomed a huge voice in his ear. He knew the voice was also being transmitted out to the viewers on TV. "You are watching the Liandri Tournament Elimination rounds. Today we have 32 of the most promising hopefuls ready to kill and be killed for your viewing pleasure! Ready? Three... Two...One... GO!"
As soon as he heard the word, he ran forward and grabbed a minigun laying on the ground in front of him. Looking around quickly, he surveyed the room. Pretty much a metal box, with exposed pipes and wires all over the walls, it had 2 doors, both near the far corner of the room. He edged to one of the walls, and looked down the hallway. Seeing nothing he rushed forward. As he neared the end of the hall, he heard the sound of an Assault Rifle being fired continuously. He saw another warrior back into the hallway, firing into the room. Eclipse sprinted forward, and just as the man turned around, rammed his shoulder into his chest, sending him back back 2 meters and to the ground. Eclipse took aim, and fired. As the bullets flew from the spinning barrels, he saw the man jerk wildly, spraying blood all over the walls and the floor behind him.
"Ohh, first frag goes to Eclipse!" Boomed the announcer.
Stepping into the room, gun first, 2 blades slashed down on his minigun destroying it, while another scaled grabbed him and threw him into the room. When he hit the floor, he went into a roll, pushing the button on his belt and summoning his combat knife. Coming up in a low fighting stance, he took a step back to dodge the Skaarj's slash that would have decapitated him. Slashing back, his blade meet with the Skaarj's. When the deadlock broke, both combatants leapt back a meter to regain his stance. The Skaarj came in with 2 low slashes to the shin, and tried to surprise Eclipse with a raising slash, but only managed to graze the front of his armor. Seeing his chance, he leapt forward, slashing at the mighty warriors under arm, severing an artery. Green blood sprayed all over the Skaarj, Eclipse, and the walls of the room. The Skaarj roared in anger, his superior physiology cutting off the flow of blood to the artery, and rerouted it through several smaller vessels. For several more minutes he and the Skaarj went back and forth, neither gaining any real advantage, until another body jumped the Skaarj from behind, knocking him to the floor. Eclipse quickly switched to his pistols, and when the Skaarj looked up, fired of 2 shots into his eyes. The large bullets entered the soft yellow orb that served as eyes, and when they exited the back of the skull, were trailed by the contents of the skull, and spread his brains all over the floor and wall behind him.
Looking over at the one who hit the Skaarj from behind, he noticed it was the guy he had sat with that morning. "Hey Eclipse, that was a nice..." That was as far as he got before Eclipse fired a slug into his mouth, spilling his brains on the floor next to the Skaarj's.
"Two more brutal frags for Eclipse! He's on FIRE!" Yelled the announcer, clearly engrossed by both the swirling melee he was just in, and the 2 executions that followed.
Eclipse heard the familiar report of a Flak Cannon being fired, and dodged away from the hallway in time to see the cloud of shrapnel fly past. Wasting no time, he scrambled to his feet, and tried to look around he corner. The opponent in green armour fired again, and Eclipse ducked back a millisecond too late, and caught some flak in the shoulder. His optical sensors registered it as a flesh wound, so he shunted the pain aside. About 4 meters... He waited what seemed like an eternity, and kicked with his foot as the barrel of the Flak Cannon rounded the corner, looking for a target. His foot caught the Cannon, and pushed it barrel to the ceiling, where it fired again. Flak rained down on both of them, alot more this time. His sensors showed he had 40 left. Taking advantage of the moment the gun was pointing away from him, he drove his shoulder into his assailant. Pushing him against the wall, he realized he was still at a disadvantage. If he gets his gun back in line with me, I'm toast. But I can't risk using it on him at this range when he's against the wall! Thinking quickly, he let go of one of his opponents hands, while keeping his other hand on the Flak Cannon, and pushed on of the buttons on his belt. The Flak Cannon quickly faded away, to be replaced by his knife. The combatant in green armor looked in shock at what was once one of the most feared weapons in the arena, and was now a knife, as Eclipse twisted it out of his hand, and put it through his throat with enough force to push it through the pipe behind him. Eclipse took a step back, drew his pistol, and put a round through his heart, rapidly draining his body of the once precious fluid.
"Incredible! He can't be stopped!"
Turning down the hallway again, he started to run down it, only to be interrupted halfway by someone jumping out from around the corner with an assault rifle. Damn! Skidding to a stop, he tried to run back, only for another rifle wielding attacker to jump out. Aww, for the love of god... Both pulled their rifles to their shoulders, preparing to shred Eclipse with bullets. Dropping down to one knee, and stepping out sideways with the other, he pointed a pistol down either way. Might as well go down with a fight! All three opened fire at the same time, filling the hall with bullets. Their first few shots flew cleanly over his head, hitting and wounding each other, but both started to trace his fire down. Eclipse continually fired his pistols, and watched as one dropped to a knee, then as his head exploded in a hail of gore. Ignoring the stings of pain, he turned both pistols on the remaining attacker. He saw several spurts of blood, but his armors health indicator was dropping fast. 35...28...21...17...9... He finnaly managed to his the attacker in the throat , causing it to disappear in a flash of red.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, 2 more for Eclipse! That puts him in a 5-2 lead!"
Eclipse tried to get to his feet, and when he did, pain lanced up his leg. He looked down at what was once his kneecap, only to find a mangled piece of meat and cartalidge. Through grit teeth and sheer effort, he climbed to his feet, keeping his weight off his leg. As fast as he could, he limped down the rest of the hall, to the empty room. He had never felt pain like this before, and he was panicking, searching for a health pack, or anything to take the pain away. He rounded another corner, and saw a second too late as someone put a sniper rifle to his good knee and fired. All his senses exploded in a blazing star of agony, and he dropped to his side. Looking up, he saw the face of my man he shot in the mouth earlier, the one he had sat with. With a cruel smile, he tilted his head back and laughed. Seeing his opportunity, he raised his pistol to the mans face. Looking down, both he and the man fired at the same time, both heads popping like blood filled balloons.
"Thats a shame folks, Eclipse went down! But look at Gragskul, the Skaarj warrior from..."
The match ended soon after that, Eclipse winning 6 to 4, with the top 8 being accepted into the tournament proper.
After the match, there were cheers, there were fans and tournament workers clapping. And there was one very pissed off face waiting for him.
"What the hells wrong with you, going crazy like that! I thought we were friends! Because of you I wasen't accepted!"
Eclipse looked at him with annoyance. "Friends? Who the hell said we were friends? Even if were are, if you think I or anyone else is going to go easy on you in the arena, your friggin' stupid."
He seemed to gag for a second, then turned away and stormed off. Several people came and congratulated him, and reporters from this network and that channel swarmed him asking about how he felt, what was it like, and every other conceivable question. He answered for a few minutes, but being as tired as he was, managed to slip away and get in a waiting limo to take him back to his room.
So began his one way trip into the violence, hatred, and death of the Liandri Tournaments.