CHAPTER III
I stood in front of my locker for a little longer than I should have, before shrugging and reaching for what seemed like the chest piece. What I can only describe as muscle memory took over, and my hands seemed to have a mind of its own as it strapped and locked everything into place. I pulled up my omni-tool and synced it up, starting up the kinetic barrier. "cool, shields." I muttered as I walked towards the door, my helmet under my right arm. To the left of the door was a locker, open and displaying a large stockpile of rifles and handguns. To my dismay, the rifles were still locked under an arm bar, and so I begrudgingly took an M3 Predator from the rack. Signs illuminated the way to the Hyperion's Tram line, and once I punched in my destination, I decided to inspect my handgun.
I sat down in one of the soft rubber chairs, placing my Initiative standard issue helmet beside me, holding the handgun with my left hand. I twisted It around, looking at the incredible detail of the piece. The weight felt almost familiar, as did the grip through my suit. My trigger finger felt a small button, and as I pressed t lightly, the heat sink began to protrude from the side. Interesting. The momentum of the tram subsided and an electronic voice chimed through the speaker.
"Now arriving at Hanger bay one." I stood up, holstering the Predator to the magnetic leg plate, eyeing it for a second as it automatically folded in on itself, compacting to a smaller carrying size. I hovered my hand nearby it, causing it to unfold again to its true size. Interesting mechanics to say the least. I grabbed my helmet and once again tucked it under my arm as my feet stepped into the hangar. Wind was sucked past me as the tram flew once more down its tracks, en route to pick up more crewmembers.
A single shuttle was spun up and hovering in the center of the bay, with Cora and another two men standing near the sliding door. Cora waved me over as I started to approach, and I waved back, quickly closing the gap with a jog. Before I had a chance to say anything, a man with grey hair and a matching beard stepped out of the Shuttle and placed a hand on my shoulder. At his touch memories began to flow into the forefront of my mind, but for some reason there were a lot less than with Sara.
"I heard what happened. Sara is strong, she'll make it." The pathfinder – my dad - spoke. "I nodded as he turned to address the rest of the group. "Alright team, button up. We leave in five." As he said this, Cora took a step forward, her hands behind her back.
"sir, we've broken out the handguns, as per your request. Anything we should know about that?" He raised an eyebrow at her for a second, before his face turned to a sterner look. "that's what briefings are for, Cora. Back in line." Cora's cheeks turned a bit red and she took a step back, waiting for orders.
"alright team, listen up. I chose you for the pathfinder team not just because you're talented and passionate. But because your dreamers, like me. We dream of exploring the unknown. Finding the edge of the map – and then discovering what lies beyond. When people look back on this – and they will – they'll remember that we didn't give up, that we kept dreaming. That our first faltering steps in andromeda would be the beginning of everything they know. But that won't happen unless we take those steps." He took a deep breath in and out before beginning, reading his teams faces. "A few minutes ago, the Hyperion struck what appears to be a large cloud of dark matter, damaging life support and the reactor core. Habitat 7 is showing signs of a large storm that doesn't appear natural, covering most of the northern hemisphere. Our job is to land on the planet and find a safe harbor for the Hyperion, if – god forbid – she has to be grounded. I'm counting on you all. Mount up."
The team dispersed as a second shuttle landed behind them, some climbing into both. As I turned to enter the newest shuttle, the Pathfinder called my name. " Scott, don't worry about Sara, I need you sharp. Follow my lead and we'll be planting a garden down there within a month." I nodded, turning to leave. "and Scott? Mom would have been proud to see you here. Let's make sure not to let her down."
"aye aye, pathfinder" was all I could think to say as more memories of the pathfinders' wife, my mom, started to flood into my head. The lump in my throat was growing as the shuttle door closed behind me. The floor shook for a second as power was routed to the thrusters, taking both shuttles out of the bay. My eyes widened as I looked through the viewport. What looked like black vines snaked through the empty space around the planet, lighting up in red and blue at random intervals. The man standing next to me spoke up.
"There's no way we didn't see this before we left. What do you think it is?" He turned and asked me through his british accent. I shrugged and looked at him, donning my helmet. "whatever it is, it doesn't look good." The Hyperion looked as if it was in the grips of a shadowy colossus, slowly fading from view as we raced through the maze of dark tendrils. The shuttle shook as it exited the mass, and soon got up to cruising speed. "Ryder, we didn't get a chance to meet back in the milky way. Names Liam Kosta, security and response specialist. You were alliance military, right?" I thought about it, the fuzzy memories clearing up to see flashes of military service around a mass relay. "I guess I was" I mumbled, trying to clear up more memories.
"that cryo pod fry your memory or something?" Liam chuckled as we approached habitat 7. my eyes widened and I felt a tingle of fear climb up my spine as I saw the planet's surface. A massive black swirling storm was engulfing almost half of the planet, and we could see the lighting even from here. "Jesus, we're trying to land in that?" I asked incredulously, being answered only by the shaking of the shuttle as we began to enter the atmosphere. As we finished our burn out through the stratosphere, we were greeted by massive, engorged black clouds. We could barely see the other shuttle through the haze.
Cora's voiced trickled through the speakers in my helmet, static overwhelming it momentarily with every flash of lightning. "shuttle two, SAM says the oxygen levels aren't safe for us, keep your helmets on at all times once we land and stay on course." I keyed my COMM link in affirmation and heard Liam Hot-mic a response. "Is this the right planet? I thought we had this all figured out!"
I shook my head as the pathfinder called out over the frequency. "keep it tight shuttle two." I was about to key my mic again to affirm, but Liam broke the command almost immediately. " Look! Port side! Is that a building?"
"has to be advanced engineering, Alec is updating the Hyperion as we speak." Cora replied as we flew towards the designated landing zone. Liam Hot-mic'd again and I put my hand over my visor, half annoyed and half incredulous. "what if they aren't friendly?"
The pathfinder started to respond when static filled the speakers. A bright flash arced across the viewport and sparks exploded out of the various displays. The ship started spinning towards the ground as I the pilot called out. "mayday! Mayday! Shuttle isn't responsive, lightning knocked out controls! Trying to regain po-"
He was cut off by the shuttle tearing in half. Liam started falling out of the hole and I grabbed his arm instinctively, his hand gripping mine back. "hold on Liam!" I called seconds before the wind tore him away from my hand, pulling me out of the shuttle as well. SAM spoke to me in his calm, calculated voice as I plummeted through the void, not even seeing the ground yet.
"Scott, an EMP seems to have destroyed the shuttle, knocking out your jump-jet as well. I will try to repair it." Wind buffeted my whole body as I was thrown through the sky like a ragdoll. Suddenly the side of a mountain appeared through the cloud cover, heading my way fast. "SAM!?" I yelled as the ground rapidly approached, only stopped by a large burst of thrust from my back. I hit the ground hard, but nowhere near the lethal speed I was at seconds before.
As I rolled to a stop, my facemask was dashed against a jutting rock, cracking the visor. My face burned as the toxic air leaked into my mask, and my omni-tool pinged as I slid to a stop. I pulled my arm up to see what it was, and it automatically started spraying sealant on the crack as it entered range. I took a gulp of half toxic air and started coughing. It BURNED! What the hell is going on? Maybe the programming is still just simulating pain...
I stood up slowly, much to the dismay of my battered joints. Looking down, I saw the pistol had miraculously stayed attached during all of that. I tried the radio in my helmet. "Dad? Cora? Liam? Anyone copy?" Static was my only answer for a second, broken up by a popping noise whenever lightning struck nearby. I jumped for a second as my HUD flickered to life. Static filled my vision for a second before turning into a shield and vitals monitor, compass and proximity IFF scanner. The scanner showed a blue dot moving behind me.
I turned and pulled my Predator simultaneously, pointing it at a very shocked Liam. "Woah! Ryder, it's me." I lowered my hand gun and took a deep breath of filtered air. "that was insane. Think anyone else made it?"
Liam shrugged. "Well I saw our shuttle crash a little past the ridge. And the original LZ should only be a few kilometers away." I nodded, noticing the LZ marker on my compass. I holstered my pistol and motioned towards the LZ. "lead the way."
My mouth dropped as we reached the top of the ridge, and I was almost frozen in place from the sight. Between the mountains we could see a giant blue light shooting into the sky. Shooting into the center of the storm. "what do you think that is?" Liam said incredulously. I regained my head enough to respond.
"I don't know, but I bet we'll find out."
The wind changed direction and a plume of smoke obscured our vision. I followed the cloud to its source to see the smoking wreckage of our shuttle. Liam saw the crash too, and noticed our pilot crawling out of it. "it's Fisher!" He shouted as he started running towards the crash. Two aliens turned the corner before I could stop him and raised their firearms to meet Liam. I pulled and fired at one of them, throwing its aim off and tearing a large chunk of bone from its shoulder. It still managed to pull the trigger though.
Liam dropped to the ground as the two hostile aliens grabbed cover. "fuck! Liam?!" I yelled as I jumped behind a boulder next to me, pistol at the ready. No response. Army training man, secure before assist. I thought to myself as I peeked around the corner. It seemed the two aliens weren't exactly sure where I was, as one of them was hiding in plain view of me behind a rock. I could barely see the other one behind a warped chunk of the shuttle. Moving slowly, I aimed the predator at the unluckier one and pulled the trigger, dropping him as the round tore through the back of its neck. Green blood sprayed from the wound and it slumped to the ground with a bubbling yell. The other creature popped out of cover and opened fire on me, spraying chunks of molten rock as I ducked back into safety. The aliens rifle continually fired bursts at my cover, and I could hear the sound getting louder. He was advancing on me while using suppressive fire. My mind was racing as fear crept its way up my spine.
SHIT! he's got the advantage. What the fuck do it do? Maybe use the jump jet to try and get a surprise advantage? Throw a rock? Fuck he's getting close. I'm dying on the first level! Jump jet, let's do this in 3...2...1-
My thoughts were broken up by a distinctly different firearm report. I cautioned a look out to see the alien falling backwards, green blood oozing from a dozen different holes in its boney chest, and Liam laying on his side with a Charger submachinegun. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding and stood up. "Jesus Liam! I thought you we're dead! Why didn't you respond to me?" He shrugged as I held out my hand to help him up.
"wanted to give the bastard a surprise, if I said something it would give it away."
I punched him in the arm. "they aren't hooked into our COMMs jackass. Where did they get you?" Liam looked himself over for quickly, stopping when he saw his shoulder plate. "Hey Ryder, looks like you saved my life. Kinetic Barriers don't stop these shots." I turned to see a deep score in his shoulder plate, still glowing red from the energy of the projectile. A cough got my attention and I turned to see the pilot leaning against the hull of the shuttle. "shit, Fischer!"
Liam got to him first, pulling out his omni-tool and doing a quick scan. "Legs broken, he's not going anywhere soon. What should we do?" I stopped and thought for a second before Fischer interrupted me.
"Kirkland and Greer went looking for help, go meet up with them and find us a ride out of here. Ill be fine. Just leave me something to protect myself." I nodded and handed him my pistol.
"alright man, give us a call if anything happens okay?" I half ordered. Fischer nodded and Liam helped him hide inside of the wreckage. I took a second to do a quick scan of the aliens. The omni-tool couldn't make heads or tails of it, but stored the data for when we reconnected to SAM. I knelt down to take a good look at them.
Ashy grey skin. bone protrusions covering the body. No mask or re-breather. These are some hardy looking bastards eh? I examined its arm and noticed it still had its rifle clutched in hand. I picked up the smooth OD green machine and studied it. Might be alien, but its still got a stock, trigger and barrel. Good enough for me. I noticed a button and pressed it, ejecting what looked like some sort of battery or heat sink. I picked up the discarded one and searched the two corpses for matching pieces, ending up with a small stockpile of what I assumed was ammo. I took one and reloaded the alien rifle.
"Test fire!" I shouted and aimed at the cliff face. Three bolts of energy spewed from the gun, impacting the rock and leaving three dents of dripping slag in its wake. Liam walked up and patted me on the shoulder. "No wonder kinetic barriers don't do anything. They're designed to stop actual projectiles, not plasma or energy. C'mon Ryder, let's go look for the others." I nodded and followed Liam, more cautious than ever.
Liam and I stopped when or radios flared up through the static. Lots of clicking and what sounded like a voice. Liam brought his Omni-tool up to try to clear out the static. "Hello! Hello! This is Liam of the pathfinder team! Do you copy?"
Static answered him for a moment before we heard a break.
"...Don't shoot!...-on't shoo-…..We Surren-" Liam looked at me with fear in his eyes.
"That sounded like kirkland! C'mon Ryder!" We both started moving full speed, coming to a large clearing full of rocks and strange black objects. More of those aliens were there and what looked like a human in initiative armor. The man raised his hands as one of the aliens approached him, rifle raised. The radios came alive again, clearer than last time.
"don't shoot, we don't want to hurt you! We're friendly! We're Frien-" The alien fired straight into Kirkland's face, his body going limp and dropping to the ground in a heap. Liam snapped, using his jump jet to propell himself forward, firing at the alien who killed Kirkland. I followed, swearing under my breath as rounds started flying around us, the energy causing the radio to blast static if one got too close. Liam's Charger tore apart his target, sending the alien stumbling backwards, leaving a trail of thick green blood and chunks of bone. I hit the nearest cover I could find – one of the strange black objects - and saw Liam duck down behind a rock a few meters away. Most of the fire was being aimed at Liam, and I took the opportunity to peek from my cover.
Three of the aliens had set up behind what appeared to be metal crates, and were openly firing upon Liam's hiding spot. I line u a shot and squeezed the trigger, sending a burst of energy bolts towards the closest alien. The bolts impacted, burning through the boney chestpiece and rupturing organs. The creature slumped down, dead. One of the aliens spotted me and yelled in its native tounge, both of them taking cover. I took the chance and told Liam to advance, combat gliding to another position. I saw dust kick up from a few feet in front of Liam but didn't hear a gunshot. The shimmer gave it away. I swung my rifle to bear and sent three shots towards the dust.
An animalistic screech answered my shots as a what looked like a cross between a lizard an dog slumped over, blood oozing from its side. "WHAT THE FUCK!" Liam shouted, jumping back as the beast appeared. We didn't have much time to think about it, as the two aliens in cover had decided to start shooting again. Liam and I both ended up behind the same Metallic Wall. "shit! They have us pinned!" Liam managed to yell in between breaths. "what the fuck was that thing anyways? How did you even see it?"
I raised my rifle and fired blindly over the wall to keep the aliens from advancing, letting the rifle run dry, then reloaded. "saw a cloud of dust and a shimmer, thought it might be some sort of invisible baddie. Don't worry about it now. We gotta take these assholes out. They got us pinned down. We need to end this now. Any ideas?"
Liam thought for a second before shaking his head. Then it hit me. "hey Liam, how about we Jump jet up and get some height advantage?"
"sounds good Ryder."
"alright, Lets do it in 3. 2. 1." I counted down with my fingers before we both jettisoned up, picking our targets as quickly as we could and letting rounds rip through the air. Liam scored a few chest shots, staggering the alien before he landed and finished the job. My target's head exploded in a cloud of green mist. I botched the landing and fell, pulling myself up as Liam checked to make sure they were all dead.
I walked over to Kirkland's corpse, then turned around, almost vomiting in my helmet. The round had gone straight through his helmet through-and-through. His face couldn't be seen through the pool of blood that had filled his helmet, pooling on the ground around him. Liam walked over to me, putting a hand on my back. "fucking monsters. We'll get them a- wait a minute. Ryder, that clicking over the COMMs. That's an S.O.S."
I leaned back up, composing myself. "know where the signal is?" Liam typed into his Omni-tool for a minute before pointing to a cave farther down the clearing. "right there, lets go." I nodded and we made for the entrance.
Seems I'll be going way more in-depth in every mission than I originally thought, considering I was planning on this chapter ending at the nexus, or at least on the way to it. Ehh, but what are ya gunna do? Should make it to the Nexus next chapter or the one after that. We'll see. Its also come to my attention that I may need an editor for this after looking at the amount of sleep I've been getting (night terrors suck) and the length that chapters are seeming to get to. If you want to, lemme know in Pms or something. And as always leave any questions, comments, or concerns in PMs or reviews. I don't own anything about this story except OC's I guess. I'm tired so I'm going to bed. ThatGuy out.