-1CHAPTER SIX

PLANET P3M-299, OCTOBER 31, 1998

On October 31, 1998, SG-3, the United States Marine Corps Combat Unit and exploration team commanded by Colonel Robert Makepeace, was assigned to protect an archaeological team exploring ruins on Planet P3M-299. The archaeologists had run into some kind of trouble with the native wildlife, and had called for additional security. It promised to be a rather routine and less-than-exiting mission, overall.

Rembrandt Brown, as usual, had accompanied them, and as he stepped out of the event horizon of the planet's stargate and looked around, he shuddered slightly. The stargate sat in what looked like the dungeon of an old castle, its forbidding gray stone walls only dimly lit by the torches which flared fitfully from a couple of nearby iron holders, set into the stone with large iron pins. Evidently the planet was home to some form of native arachnid, and spooky-looking webs hung from the ceilings and covered portions of the walls. As the men stepped down off the platform on which the stargate sat, air displaced by their movements shook these webs slightly, making them look even creepier, at least to Remmy. And of course, the pile of ancient human bones lying in one corner…the skull seeming to grin at them in the eerie light…certainly did nothing to change that impression. Figures we'd be sent to this place on Halloween, Remmy thought miserably to himself. Count Dracula would feel right at home.

Colonel Makepeace, a barrel-chested and ramrod-straight Marine officer whose bulldog-like face, closely-cropped brown hair and piercing blue eyes only served to highlight his extreme professionalism, was obviously not happy either, but for a different reason. They had expected to be greeted at the gate by a member of the archaeological team they had been assigned to protect, but there was nobody here.

"Spread out and keep your eyes open," he ordered. "Something smells about this situation."

The Marines and Remmy assumed a loose skirmish formation. Remmy raised his submachine gun warily. He didn't like stepping into the unexpected any more than Makepeace did. The other Marines did likewise.

"Okay, let's move out," Makepeace said. Looking at one of the Marines, he said, "Marzetti, you take point." Sergeant Vince Marzetti, a short, dark-haired man with black eyes who looked every bit as Italian as his name, nodded and stepped forward, and the others followed.

There was a staircase leading out of the "dungeon" and the team carefully made its way up the worn, crumbling stone steps. Marzetti grabbed a torch out of a holder on one of the walls to light their way, but by then the rest of the team had put on their night-vision goggles, which made the place look even creepier to Remmy. He shuddered again.

At the top of the stairs was a large opening where, Remmy assumed, a wooden door…now long since decayed into dust…had once stood. They passed through it, and into the blackness of a long hallway. The flickering light of the torches revealed that the hall, like the dungeon, was festooned with cobwebs. Small native rodents, very similar to rats but eyeless and with small antennae on their heads instead of ears, scurried about, trying to get away from the intruders.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate rats," Sergeant Alex Baker grumbled to Remmy as he kicked one of the rodents out of his way.

"You and me both," Remmy said.

"Pipe down, both of you," Colonel Makepeace ordered, a stern look on his face.

Silently, the team made its way down the hall, which finally exited into another room, a vast cavernous space which was much larger than the "dungeon" but similar to it except for the lack of a stargate, with doors leading out of two of the walls.

"Which way, Sir?," Marzetti asked.

A thick layer of dust covered the floor, and there were clear trails made, and quite recently, by what were clearly human feet. The trail leading to one of the doors was, by far, more heavily used than the other. Colonel Makepeace pointed in that direction, and Marzetti nodded once more, leading the way.

The doorway led to yet another long hallway. After some distance, the hallway turned to the left, and as the team rounded the corner, they were confronted by a gruesome sight. A body lay in the hall. Rats swarmed over it, ripping away at the flesh. They could see that it was clearly a member of the archaelogical team. The rats scampered away, squealing, when confronted by the intruders, and Marzetti knelt down by the grotesquely mutilated corpse. Reaching down, he unclipped a name tag from the front of the dead archaeologist's olive green fatigue blouse. He frowned as he looked at it.

"It's Dr. Petersen," he said, looking up at Colonel Makepeace. Makepeace frowned in turn. Dr. Carl Petersen had been the leader of this expedition.

"Any indication of what killed him?," Makepeace asked.

Marzetti examined the body more closely. "It's hard to tell," he said. "Now that the rats have had their way with it, there's not much to see." Then he grunted. "Wait a minute," he said, rolling the body onto its belly. A crude arrow was buried in Petersen's back, the shaft evidently broken off when the dead man had fallen backward onto it after being struck. Marzetti picked up the broken shaft.

"Holy shit," Remmy said.

"I thought they said they were having some trouble with the local wildlife," Sergeant Baker said. "What the fuck!"

"What the fuck, indeed," Colonel Makepeace said. "Well, that's one accounted for. Where are the other archaeologists, and the four Marines we're supposed to be relieving?"

Just then, they heard the sound of automatic weapons fire, coming from somewhere up ahead.

"Come on!," Makepeace said, rushing forward, weapon raised and ready. The others followed. The hall turned another corner, and then, at the end of another long hall, they could see sunlight entering through what was obviously a door to the outside world. They advanced toward the light cautiously, and dimly saw a human form step out from some shadows next to the lighted doorway. The figure aimed a weapon out the door, and squeezed off a burst of fire on full auto. They heard what sounded like a hundred cats…or maybe a thousand of them…howling and screaming outside. Several arrows flew through the door, clattering onto the hard stone floors of the hallway.

Colonel Makepeace called out. "Marine! Identify yourself!

The figure next to the doorway spun around, wildly aiming his weapon in their direction. "Who the fuck is that!," the man shouted.

"SG-3!," Makepeace shouted back. "I say again, identify yourself!"

"Corporal Raul Jimenez, SG-5," the man shouted, lowering his weapon.

Makepeace motioned his team forward, and they soon joined the obviously terrified Corporal next to the door.

"Report!," Makepeace commanded.

Jimenez came to attention and saluted. "Sir! Yes, Sir!," he exclaimed. "Sir, about three hours ago the archaeologists asked us to escort them on a trail they found leading through the forest. They were convinced that it led to more ruins. We got about a half a Klick into the woods when we were ambushed. Hundreds of these little, furry creatures attacked us from all sides…left, right, even from above. Three of my team and all but one of the eggheads were cut down by the first volley of arrows. Dr. Petersen and I hauled ass back here as fast as we could, but the fucking furry bastards followed us. Petersen caught an arrow in the back, but he kept running and I didn't think it was too bad. He ran down the hall, and I thought he was going to the gate room to call for backup and extraction. So I stayed here to hold off the pursuit. But nobody came, until you showed up just now." The Corporal saluted again. "Sir, I am fucking glad to see you, Sir!"

Makepeace returned the salute. "Calm down, Marine," he said. "We found Petersen around the bend, dead. He never made it to the gate."

Jimenez smiled grimly. "I thought the bastard wrote me off as dead and self-evacuated," he said.

Just then there was an unworldly high pitched keening from hundreds of alien throats outside, and arrows started flying through the doorway again.

"Take cover," Makepeace ordered. But the other members of SG-3 were way ahead of him, already flattened against the walls on either side of the open doorway.

Makepeace stuck his head briefly around the doorjamb, peering out at the woods which encroached to within fifty yards of the doorway. As he did so, an arrow grazed his helmet and skittered off down the hall. Makepeace pointed his weapon in the direction from which the arrow had come. He saw several of the furry creatures…they resembled, oddly enough, little bears, clad in leather and rude cloth of some kind…scamper for cover when they saw him point his weapon at them. Then more arrows flew in his direction, and Makepeace ducked back inside.

"I can't believe it," he said. "We're under siege by the fucking Ewoks."

Remmy took a quick look outside, then looked at Makepeace. "You ain't shittin'," he said. "They do look like Ewoks!"

"Ewoks?," Jimenez asked, clearly puzzled by the reference.

Baker looked at him with shocked expression. "Don't tell me. You never saw Return of the Jedi?"

Jimenez grinned. "I'm a Trekkie, man, not a Warzie!"

Marzetti looked at Colonel Makepeace. "What are we gonna do, Sir?"

"Well, we're not going to hang around here, that's for sure," Colonel Makepeace said.

"Sir," Jimenez said, "every time I've tried to leave this position they've seen me, and they rush the door. They've got a healthy respect for our weapons, but there's too many of them. If they get in here, they'll just over-run us."

Makepeace frowned. He was relatively confident that his team could hold them back…at least while they were still in this relatively narrow hallway. But they didn't have unlimited ammunition. And if the creatures followed them to the large room which they had passed through on the way here, where they'd have room to maneuver and get around their flanks, that could be bad. Very bad.

"Stuck like flies on flypaper," he said.

"Yes, Sir," Jimenez said. "And it's worse than that, Sir. There are other entries into this complex, and if they find one of those, they could end up getting behind us in this hall and boxing us in from both sides. And if that happens..."

"We're fucked," Marzetti said, completing his sentence.

Remmy, for his part, was having very similar thoughts. The creatures outside kept howling and shouting and firing arrows into the doorway at random intervals, and the eerie, high-pitched voices of the creatures were getting on his nerves. The net effect of all this was, to put it mildly, scaring the crap out of him. And he had, ever since he was a kid, always comforted himself by singing when things looked bad. And they certainly looked bad now.

He began to hum, softly at first, and then louder. The others looked at him. Seeing he had an audience, he began to sing the words of "Cry Like a Man," the greatest hit of his musical career. Colonel Makepeace grinned, and to Remmy's surprise, began to sing with him. The duet grew more confident, and their singing grew louder. The other Marines looked at each other and grinned.

And then, suddenly, everybody noticed that the unearthly howling outside had stopped. Jimenez peeked cautiously around the doorjamb, and gasped.

"Well, I'll be damned, Sir," he said. "They've all come out of cover. They've thrown down their weapons, and they're just standing there, listening."

Makepeace stopped singing and came to the door to look out. Remmy was still singing in the background, and Makepeace could see that the creatures were listening, entranced. Makepeace motioned for Remmy to come to the door. Remmy stopped singing, handed his weapon to Marzetti and stepped out into the sunlight. He saw the creatures looking at him. Remmy held his hands up, palm outward, showing he was unarmed. Then he began to sing again. Falling back into his stage personna, he began to dance, and as he belted out the lyrics of "Cry Like a Man", the tears started to flow.

The creatures watched with rapt attention, and then, gradually, some of them started imitating his movements. Others began humming the tune in their unearthly alien voices. Remmy had never dreamed he'd ever have a backup group like this. It sent a shiver down his spine. But he kept singing.

"Jimenez," Colonel Makepeace said with a wry smile on his face, "it looks like we've made successful first contact with the natives. Get back to the gate room and inform General Hammond. We'll need a diplomatic team. Preferably one with good singing voices."

Jimenez grinned. "Yes, Sir!," he said.

Makepeace looked at the other Marines. "Marzetti and Baker, go with him." The three Marines quietly crept away, as ordered.

Makepeace laid down his own weapon, stepped outside and began to sing duet with Remmy again. Well, he thought to himself and grinned again, they say that music calms the heart of the savage beast. Who would've thunk it?