Chapter 03
Everyone had assembled into the briefing room to hear the details on the upcoming mission. The room was filled with the marines as they sat on the benches, tabletops, and even on stools.
Artorus sat at one of the tables, Swanson sitting next to him.
Blake and Jaeger were standing before the group. Blake stepped forward. "Alright, People, it's time for the moment of truth." He announced, silencing everyone by holding up his hand. "The that we are going to be undertaking is an important one. what we do will determine the outcome of this entire excursion." He went on, explaining.
"Some of you may be familiar wit the 'Hadley's Hope' incident, I suspect?" She asked.
Salazar raised his hand and Jaeger nodded for him to speak. "Yeah, I've heard of it, that was the mission were all of the marines were killed and the aliens." He stated in a somewhat less dutiful tone of voice.
"Stow that complaint, marine!" Blake inserted. "This is no bug hunt, and there isn't going to be any bureaucratic bullshit from The Company, either." He added.
Salazar gave a sarcastic sigh of relief.
"We're going to a small planet in the area, called Chiris-157." Jaeger informed the group as an image of a rotating planet appeared on the wall behind her. The two senior marines stepped back to allow the others to see the image.
"Special research was being done there, in regards to the nature of the Xenomorphs." Black inserted. "Everything was going smoothly, until the Chief Scientist, Dr. Geraldy, went crazy." He added.
"The last transmission indicated that Geraldy, for unknown reasons, released all of the Xenomorphs from their holding areas." Jaeger informed the group. "Since then, we've received no contact from anyone in the research facility." He finished.
"The Company policy is different now." Blake stated. "All the living specimens are going be terminated by the Weyland-Yutani Purification Squad." Blake added.
"If the 'Death Squad' is in on this, then why are we going in?" Asked Hernandez.
"The _Purification Squad_ is going to go in and clean the place out like a tidal wave; we are going to gather up any survivors and gather Dr. Geraldy's research before they blast everything to hell." He finished.
"So they get to have all the fun, huh?" Einrich asked, feigning sadness.
Jaeger looked at Einrich and frowned at the redhead. "Bug hunts are not supposed to be fun." She replied. "You wouldn't believe how many people have lost their lives because of these things." Jaeger remarked.
At this point, a holographic projection of a strange looking creature appeared before the marines. It was an ugly creature with an elongated head and covered in a slick black exoskeleton. It had a long, ridged tail with a spiked barb on the end; and it also had claws on its hands and feet.
"Damn that's ugly!" Haggert exclaimed, but was then quieted down by the other marines around him.
"My sentiments exactly, Private." Blake retorted. "And they're mean too!" He added. "So I don't believe that anyone will miss them when they're gone!" He exclaimed with a smile.
"However, it's not going to be our job to kill them." Jaeger explained. "We're going in to look for survivors and recover any viable data regarding the research done there." She added.
"Any questions so far?" Blake asked. He looked around and saw no response, so he went on. "Good, then we'll get down to the meat of this operation." He began.
The image of the alien vanished and was replaced with blueprints of a large research facility. One was built on the Southwestern sector of the grid, while the other was Northeastern sector of the grid.
"We plan to enter through the structure in the southwestern sector- you can think of it as the 'Southern Facility'." Blake informed the assembly. "Once in, we will perform a perimeter sweep and extradite any survivors." He went on. "The secondary objective will then be to download the research data from Geraldy's tests." He added. "Do you have any questions now?" He asked.
After waiting, Jaeger received a nod from Blake, and stepped forward and spoke up. "The drop ship will bring us within a half a kilometer of the site; the APC will carry our forces the rest of the way."
"This concludes the briefing, you are dismissed for the time-being." Blake announced.
Blake and Jaeger left he briefing room, leaving the other marines to their own devices.
Artorus remained silent as the marines began clearing out of the room. Swanson remained beside him, waiting for him to break his silence.
"What are you thinking about?" Swanson asked.
Artorus broke out of his reverie and looked over at Swanson. "The hunt."
"Makes sense." Swanson replied "You are a predator, after all." He reasoned.
Artorus smiled. "Yes, and so are they." He replied, looking up at the ceiling.
***
Rita was on her way out of the room, when she noticed that two of the marines were still sitting there. She looked over at Artorus and Swanson and noticed the pensive expression on the wolf-like marine's face. "What are you thinking about, Artorus." She thought to herself, silently.
"You shouldn't stair."
Rita jumped and turned around to see Cathy looking at her- a smile on her face- and Frost standing behind her- preparing to light a cigarette that she was holding in her lips. "You startled me." She exclaimed.
"Lets get going, I want to check out the V.R. rooms before the mission." Cathy spoke.
Rita smiled. "Yeah, that sounds good." She said and left the room with the two women.
***
Artorus stood up and stretched and then made his way towards the door. Swanson walked up along side him. "Are all of the Bowmen's Wolves like you?" He asked keenly.
Artorus looked at him and smiled at the unusual question-the truth was that he had not gotten this one before. "Well, we all have different fur- patterns and hair colors, but our basic body structure is the same." He replied as they walked out of the room,
"Do any of you have tails?" Swanson asked.
Artorus laughed. "Yes, some of the early wolves had tails; I don't have one because I was destined to be a soldier, but some of the 'white-collar' trained individuals of my kind have them." He spoke, elaborating further on the subject.
"You mean if they're going to things like secretaries?" Swanson asked tentatively.
"Yes, that's a perfect example." Artorus replied, sticking his hands in the pockets of his fatigue-pants. The two men made their way down through the halls.
***
Blake walked down the halls of the ship, towards his quarters. As he moved along, he passed by a strange man in gray fatigues who was leaning against the wall.
The man got up from his relaxed position and began following Blake. The Commander watched as the man caught up with him. The man had sandy-colored hair and a slender face with narrow cheekbones and pale blue-gray eyes.
"Hello, Sergeant Blake." He spoke cheerfully.
Blake looked at him. "What do you need, Able?" Blake asked.
"It's not what I need, it's only important that you make sure that the operation goes smoothly." He replied. "If you take care of that, then 'They' will stay happy." He added.
"I don't need someone like you telling me what it takes to keep 'Big Brother' happy." He replied.
"I'm glad." Able spoke with a smile as he kept pace with the more athletic marine. "Just keep in mind that both operations, including the one regarding McNealand, are paramount in keeping you and your associates out of the deep water." Able finished and then walked off ahead of him.
Blake frowned. "Asshole." He swore to himself silently
~End of Chapter 3~
Well, I hope you all like the story so far. I'd just like to thank BlackDawn, Zinic, and everyone else who reviewed my fic so far.
Oh yeah, if anyone is interested, I've drawn a few pictures of Artorus (and some of the other characters)- so if you like, you can send me your e-mail address (hopefully leaving me a review as well ~_^) and I'll send you a picture of him.
Thanks,
Bojack
Everyone had assembled into the briefing room to hear the details on the upcoming mission. The room was filled with the marines as they sat on the benches, tabletops, and even on stools.
Artorus sat at one of the tables, Swanson sitting next to him.
Blake and Jaeger were standing before the group. Blake stepped forward. "Alright, People, it's time for the moment of truth." He announced, silencing everyone by holding up his hand. "The that we are going to be undertaking is an important one. what we do will determine the outcome of this entire excursion." He went on, explaining.
"Some of you may be familiar wit the 'Hadley's Hope' incident, I suspect?" She asked.
Salazar raised his hand and Jaeger nodded for him to speak. "Yeah, I've heard of it, that was the mission were all of the marines were killed and the aliens." He stated in a somewhat less dutiful tone of voice.
"Stow that complaint, marine!" Blake inserted. "This is no bug hunt, and there isn't going to be any bureaucratic bullshit from The Company, either." He added.
Salazar gave a sarcastic sigh of relief.
"We're going to a small planet in the area, called Chiris-157." Jaeger informed the group as an image of a rotating planet appeared on the wall behind her. The two senior marines stepped back to allow the others to see the image.
"Special research was being done there, in regards to the nature of the Xenomorphs." Black inserted. "Everything was going smoothly, until the Chief Scientist, Dr. Geraldy, went crazy." He added.
"The last transmission indicated that Geraldy, for unknown reasons, released all of the Xenomorphs from their holding areas." Jaeger informed the group. "Since then, we've received no contact from anyone in the research facility." He finished.
"The Company policy is different now." Blake stated. "All the living specimens are going be terminated by the Weyland-Yutani Purification Squad." Blake added.
"If the 'Death Squad' is in on this, then why are we going in?" Asked Hernandez.
"The _Purification Squad_ is going to go in and clean the place out like a tidal wave; we are going to gather up any survivors and gather Dr. Geraldy's research before they blast everything to hell." He finished.
"So they get to have all the fun, huh?" Einrich asked, feigning sadness.
Jaeger looked at Einrich and frowned at the redhead. "Bug hunts are not supposed to be fun." She replied. "You wouldn't believe how many people have lost their lives because of these things." Jaeger remarked.
At this point, a holographic projection of a strange looking creature appeared before the marines. It was an ugly creature with an elongated head and covered in a slick black exoskeleton. It had a long, ridged tail with a spiked barb on the end; and it also had claws on its hands and feet.
"Damn that's ugly!" Haggert exclaimed, but was then quieted down by the other marines around him.
"My sentiments exactly, Private." Blake retorted. "And they're mean too!" He added. "So I don't believe that anyone will miss them when they're gone!" He exclaimed with a smile.
"However, it's not going to be our job to kill them." Jaeger explained. "We're going in to look for survivors and recover any viable data regarding the research done there." She added.
"Any questions so far?" Blake asked. He looked around and saw no response, so he went on. "Good, then we'll get down to the meat of this operation." He began.
The image of the alien vanished and was replaced with blueprints of a large research facility. One was built on the Southwestern sector of the grid, while the other was Northeastern sector of the grid.
"We plan to enter through the structure in the southwestern sector- you can think of it as the 'Southern Facility'." Blake informed the assembly. "Once in, we will perform a perimeter sweep and extradite any survivors." He went on. "The secondary objective will then be to download the research data from Geraldy's tests." He added. "Do you have any questions now?" He asked.
After waiting, Jaeger received a nod from Blake, and stepped forward and spoke up. "The drop ship will bring us within a half a kilometer of the site; the APC will carry our forces the rest of the way."
"This concludes the briefing, you are dismissed for the time-being." Blake announced.
Blake and Jaeger left he briefing room, leaving the other marines to their own devices.
Artorus remained silent as the marines began clearing out of the room. Swanson remained beside him, waiting for him to break his silence.
"What are you thinking about?" Swanson asked.
Artorus broke out of his reverie and looked over at Swanson. "The hunt."
"Makes sense." Swanson replied "You are a predator, after all." He reasoned.
Artorus smiled. "Yes, and so are they." He replied, looking up at the ceiling.
***
Rita was on her way out of the room, when she noticed that two of the marines were still sitting there. She looked over at Artorus and Swanson and noticed the pensive expression on the wolf-like marine's face. "What are you thinking about, Artorus." She thought to herself, silently.
"You shouldn't stair."
Rita jumped and turned around to see Cathy looking at her- a smile on her face- and Frost standing behind her- preparing to light a cigarette that she was holding in her lips. "You startled me." She exclaimed.
"Lets get going, I want to check out the V.R. rooms before the mission." Cathy spoke.
Rita smiled. "Yeah, that sounds good." She said and left the room with the two women.
***
Artorus stood up and stretched and then made his way towards the door. Swanson walked up along side him. "Are all of the Bowmen's Wolves like you?" He asked keenly.
Artorus looked at him and smiled at the unusual question-the truth was that he had not gotten this one before. "Well, we all have different fur- patterns and hair colors, but our basic body structure is the same." He replied as they walked out of the room,
"Do any of you have tails?" Swanson asked.
Artorus laughed. "Yes, some of the early wolves had tails; I don't have one because I was destined to be a soldier, but some of the 'white-collar' trained individuals of my kind have them." He spoke, elaborating further on the subject.
"You mean if they're going to things like secretaries?" Swanson asked tentatively.
"Yes, that's a perfect example." Artorus replied, sticking his hands in the pockets of his fatigue-pants. The two men made their way down through the halls.
***
Blake walked down the halls of the ship, towards his quarters. As he moved along, he passed by a strange man in gray fatigues who was leaning against the wall.
The man got up from his relaxed position and began following Blake. The Commander watched as the man caught up with him. The man had sandy-colored hair and a slender face with narrow cheekbones and pale blue-gray eyes.
"Hello, Sergeant Blake." He spoke cheerfully.
Blake looked at him. "What do you need, Able?" Blake asked.
"It's not what I need, it's only important that you make sure that the operation goes smoothly." He replied. "If you take care of that, then 'They' will stay happy." He added.
"I don't need someone like you telling me what it takes to keep 'Big Brother' happy." He replied.
"I'm glad." Able spoke with a smile as he kept pace with the more athletic marine. "Just keep in mind that both operations, including the one regarding McNealand, are paramount in keeping you and your associates out of the deep water." Able finished and then walked off ahead of him.
Blake frowned. "Asshole." He swore to himself silently
~End of Chapter 3~
Well, I hope you all like the story so far. I'd just like to thank BlackDawn, Zinic, and everyone else who reviewed my fic so far.
Oh yeah, if anyone is interested, I've drawn a few pictures of Artorus (and some of the other characters)- so if you like, you can send me your e-mail address (hopefully leaving me a review as well ~_^) and I'll send you a picture of him.
Thanks,
Bojack