Here is Chapter 5. Be warned-I may take longer breaks between chapters as I have with this one.
[SOS BEACON-FLASHBEAMED TO USM CLC-0012 ARMSTRONG. RELAYED TO USM DD-556 ORPHEUS]
[PLEASE ENTER AUTHORIZATION CODE TO VIEW MESSAGE…]
[CODE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM ALL TRANSCRIPTS DUE TO POTENTIAL INTERCEPTION AND MISUSE BY THIRD PARTIES.]
[CODE ENTERED: WAGNER, J. (CAPT)…WELCOME CAPTAIN WAGNER. MESSAGE FOLLOWS…]
[MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. THIS IS USG AR-1505 O'REILLY REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. SURVIVORS ABOARD. LIMITED OXYGEN AND FOOD STORES. SITUATION CODE DELTA NINER ONE DASH BRAVO FIVE…]
[ACCESSING RIG LINK…RIG ID: JENNER, T. (RADM) (USM CLC-0012 ARMSTRONG)…ESTABLISHING CONNECTION…AUDIO AND VISUAL LINK INITIATING…]
[TJ: You saw it?]
[JW: What the hell do you want me to do about it?]
[TJ: The Jerusalem was sent to investigate Marker Site 1A due to concerns over the loss of communications with Task Force REDACTED DUE TO LEVEL ALPHA INFORMATION. Two days before them, Bellerophon was diverted to the system, under the illusion of a routine patrol. Our operatives onboard were to collect all relevant data and initiate Base Contingency Zero. The vessel dropped out of contact a few days after arriving into the system. That's when the Jerusalem was sent. They found the Bellerophon. There was evidence of missile fire on the primary comm array and forward batteries. It was attacked, just like Command suspected. We're assuming there was a mole onboard.]
[JW: What happened to the Jerusalem?]
[TJ: Contact was lost shortly after Captain White sent a message to Marathon mentioning that he was bringing the Jerusalem over to the Bellerophon to try and rescue survivors on the secondary comm array. The last we heard from the vessel was that something had grabbed onto them.]
[JW: Wait, something? And it grabbed them?]
[TJ: Affirmative. We're still not sure what-]
[JW: So why the hell are we investigating a Guild ship? That's the CEC's job. Let them sort it out. This takes priority.]
[TJ: The CEC ship was the first one sent to Kreemar. Its black box contents and ship's logs were flashbeamed to Copernicus Station.]
[JW: So the ship was attacked?]
[TJ: Yes, and we can assume that the REDACTED DUE TO LEVEL ALPHA ONE INFORMATION got onboard.]
[JW: Was the O'Reilly attacked by the same unknowns as the Bellerophon?]
[TJ: Unknown. But we've traced the Mayday to these spatial coordinates. I'm sending them over now. We're assuming the unknowns were Unis though.]
[JW: Damn Marker-lovers. Alright, we're headed for the O'Reilly. Per your orders, I'll initiate Base Contingency Two on the Jerusalem and the Bellerophon, if they're still in one piece. Wagner out.]
[RIG LINK CLOSED.]
[WELCOME BACK, CAPTAIN WAGNER…]
[ACCESSING UNITED SPACE GUILD DATABASE…]
[SEARCH: USG AR-1505 O'Reilly]
[PROCESSING-ONE MOMENT PLEASE…SEARCHING…SEARCHING…ENTRY FOUND.]
[SHIP ID: USG AR-1505 O'REILLY]
[CLASS: MEI MEI-CLASS ARMORED RECON VESSEL]
[CREW: 30-7 BRIDGE OFFICERS, 6 ENGINEER SPECIALISTS, 8 MERCHANT MARINES, 2 SCIENCE SPECIALISTS, 1 COMMANDING OFFICER, 2 MAINTENANCE STAFF, 4 OTHER.]
[CREW IS ALSO CROSSTRAINED TO FULFILL ALL NECESSARY ROLES.]
[COMMANDING OFFICER: CDR. CARTWRIGHT, R.
[ARMAMENT: 4 AD TURRETS, 1 LIGHT-YIELD CANNON]
[VEHICLE COMPLEMENT: 2 8-MAN SHORT-RANGE SHUTTLES, 1 12-MAN SURVEY VEHICLE WITH AUXILIARY AIRFRAME.]
[FORMERLY A SUPPORT VESSEL IN THE 12TH FLEET DURING THE RESOURCE WARS, THE O'REILLY WAS LATER REASSIGNED TO THE CEC (CONCORDANCE EXTRACTION CORPORATION) AS A SUPPORT/REPAIR VESSEL. ITS CURRENT POSTING IS COPERNICUS STATION OVER THE NOVA PRIME COLONY.]
[SEARCH: Cartwright R., commanding officer of O'Reilly]
[PROCESSING-ONE MOMENT PLEASE…SEARCHING PERSONNEL DATABASE…ENTRY FOUND.]
[NAME: ROSE ELIZABETH CARTWRIGHT]
[AGE: 37]
[RANK: COMMANDER]
[A VETERAN OF THE UNIFICATION AND RESOURCE WARS, COMMANDER CARTWRIGHT IS THE COMMANDING OFFICER ABOARD THE USG O'REILLY. TECH SPECIALIST IN OPERATION BLACKWOOD. FURTHER BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION IS CLASSIFED UNDER ALPHA TWO LEVEL CLEARANCE.]
[SEARCH: Operation Blackwood.]
[PROCESSING…SECURITY ALERT. ALL INFORMATION REGARDING OPERATION BLACKWOOD IS LOCKED UNDER ONYX-ONE CLEARANCE.]
"Figures…" Wagner leaned back from the monitor. Just then, a holographic screen popped up next to his head. It was his navigation officer, Lt. Lucy Hardwick.
"Sir, we've located the O'Reilly's distress beacon. She's adrift approximately five thousand kilometers from Kreemar. Just beyond the gravitational pull."
"Divert our current course to intercept her. Prep the shuttles for boarding. I want a full download of her files."
"Aye, sir."
"De-shocking in three, two, one, we're in real space." Wagner watched as the space beyond the bridge slowed down and focused to become…a shipwreck.
"Hardwick!" Wagner barked. Hardwick and her co-pilot, Lt. Jason Evers, pulled the ship into a sharp upward bank. It was too late. The hulk loomed ahead of them. Proximity alarms started blaring, and emergency bulkheads slid down over the viewports.
"All hands, brace for-…" That was as far as Wagner got before the deck buckled beneath him and he was thrown off his feet. Collision alarms began flashing and screeching as consoles exploded. The lights flickered then shattered. Wagner saw a bulkhead coming towards him, or him to it, and then everything went black.
"Sir?"
Black…pain
"Sir, can you hear me?"
Evers?
"Evers?"
"Thank god. Sir, we have to get you on your feet."
"Ugh…what happened?"
"Minor concussion. You hit that wall pretty hard. Come on, we need to get moving."
Wagner's eyes opened. He felt the dull throbbing pain in his forehead. He reached up and felt a lump the size of an egg. Evers was leaning over him while Hardwick was checking on the comm officer, Ensign Bradley. Bradley was whimpering and cradling what appeared to be a broken arm. Still, he was better off than gunnery control officer Jess Newman. She was still at her station, her legs trapped under a fallen beam and a nasty tear in her side where she had fallen on some broken glass. Her teeth were gritted and she was doing her best not to scream out in pain.
"XO Glass, Tucker, and Murdoch are dead." Evers reported. "Commander Glass was trying to pull Murdoch from his seat when a beam skewered them both. Tucker's station blew up in his face." Evers pointed at the charred body next to Newman. Two pairs of legs were visible beneath a pile of rubble further back.
Wagner winced and stood up. He immediately fell against Evers as nausea and pain threatened to overcome him. "What happened?"
"We clipped that wreck when we de-shocked. Tore open our lower hull and destroyed the bottom three decks. Fifteen crewmen are dead, sir. Twelve more are injured, and seven are unaccounted for." Evers reported.
"Then we better…" Wagner stopped as the deck shook. Spark erupted from a few destroyed consoles and the remaining emergency lights flickered "What the hell?"
"The primary coolant tank was ruptured during the crash. We tried shutting down the engines, but systems all over the ship are starting to overload." To prove his point, several overhead beams crashed to the deck.
"This place isn't safe." Wagner grunted "Evacuate the bridge."
"Yes sir."
Wagner limped through the emergency bulkhead separating the bridge from the main corridor, followed by Bradley. Evers and Hardwick lifted the beam off of Newman, but when she tried to stand up, her legs gave out and she shrieked in pain. They had each grab an arm and drag her off the bridge. They were just in time too. There was another rumble, and the ship rocked violently. More consoles blew up and wiring and panels fell to the floor. As the doors closed, they heard the hull breach alarm sounding, and realized that the bridge had decompressed.
"What the hell was that?" Wagner grunted. Evers opened a RIG link.
"Engineering, this is Evers. Chief Ramirez, report."
"This is Ramirez…there was a gas leak that we didn't know about. Basil went in with a suit on to try and seal up some of the breaches. The moment he turned his torch on, it ignited the gas. Incinerated him and pretty much everyone else within the compartment. The explosion spread through most of the ship before we could shut down the gas…we've lost the engines, sir. The reactor's too badly damaged for me to repair with the spare parts we have."
"Get your men out of there, Chief. I want everyone in the Bunker for a situation briefing."
The Bunker, as the auxiliary command center was called, was a large sealed-off area in the center of the Orpheus. With enough supplies to last two weeks, and a second bridge, it was meant to serve in case of an attack where either the bridge was crippled or survival conditions were at their worst. That said, it wasn't comfortable, with hard mattresses crammed into shallow alcoves, and the 'food' was dehydrated rations.
Wagner was hunched over the main console, staring at the pitiful remains of his crew. Out of 89 good men and women, there were now 22, including him.
Weapons were down. There were gaping holes in the hull. The long-range comm and sensor arrays had been destroyed, preventing them from informing Earthgov of their situation or locating any nearby vessels to call for assistance. The reactor itself was largely intact, but most of the spare parts had been either destroyed or set adrift during the collision. Its casing was cracked in too many places to patch up with the remaining parts, leaking the toxic radiation from the fusion core. The entire compartment was flooded with radiation. The main problem was concerning the engines. The Shockpoint Drive was destroyed, and the entire aft of the vessel was a fractured wreck. With no spare nacelles, the ship was limited to the two secondary engines and maneuvering thrusters, neither of which would get them very far.
"We can still survive this." Wagner told the remaining 21 crewmembers who were gathered around the console or lounging in their bunks. "We're near Kreemar. That place is a gold mine for salvaging parts."
"Sir, these vessels haven't seen use for decades, and most of them are just bits and pieces now." Ramirez pointed out.
"True, but don't forget that Perseus Station also had hundreds of vessels coming in and out of the system. Our remaining scanners have detected a good number of them, floating without power and only with minor damage."
"There has to be an intact Shockpoint Drive somewhere out there." Hardwick said. The others nodded and muttered their agreements.
"Repairs to the hull shouldn't take long. All I need is a few dozen plates and some volunteers." Ramirez agreed. There were more agreements and raised hands to show their willingness.
"Weapons will have to be out of the equation, I'm afraid. We can't waste the time and manpower, and frankly, if we do find ourselves in a situation where we'll need the turrets, the ship won't survive regardless." Wagner said "If we do this right, we should have enough power for a shock to Copernicus, or at least within communications range. If we can't locate a Shockpoint drive…then we go to Plan B." There was a general murmur about how they would rather not do Plan B.
"Sir, do we know which vessel we hit?" Evers asked. Wagner shook his head.
"I don't know. Chief, you have men EVA doing repair work, correct?"
"Aye. I get the Lieutenant's point. We went dead right after hitting that wreck. It's about a hundred meters off our starboard bow. I reviewed the bow camera footage. It looked mostly intact. Looks recent. There's almost definitely a Shockpoint Drive onboard. Whether it's intact or not is the main question. The ship's certainly closer to us than any of the other wrecks, and we wouldn't have to waste shuttle fuel shuttling back and forth between the debris field and us. I'd like to take a team aboard and scavenge it, with your permission."
"Permission granted. Go ahead and pick your team once this meeting is done. Manning, how are we on supplies?"
"We have the Bunker's ration supplies. They were meant for the full crew, so that's four and a half weeks worth of food right there. The cisterns survived the explosion, but purifiers 1 through 5 are down. We should have enough water for rehydrating those ration packs and drinking. Showers are absolutely out of the question, and the same goes for any caffeinated drinks or anything that requires water that isn't what's on the list I'm sending to your RIG." There was a collective groan as the Quartermaster spoke that last line.
"Continue, Quartermaster Manning."
"I took a team to the Armory to see what weapons we have left. Most were either sucked out of the ship or destroyed, bur we have eight working Pulse Rifles, with full clips each, two shotguns, one Seeker Rifle, and three PF-100 Hydrazine Flamethrowers. There's about a hundred or so assorted rounds. Oxygen levels within the ship are stable, but I wouldn't recommend staying here any longer than we have to. Air's going to get pretty rank after a few days of no showers."
Manning sighed and ran his fingers through his long hair. Half his face had been heavily burned while rescuing Chief Ramirez from a fire that had broken out on Deck 4, the Munitions Depot. He was limping and was basically running on adrenaline and painkiller as of the moment. Although he didn't say anything, the way he gripped the projector and the sheen of sweat on his forehead told Wagner that Manning was in incredible agony.
"Right. Doctor Silverstein, please tend to Quartermaster Manning." Doctor Alice Silverstein, a pretty 32-year-old with dirty blond hair, nodded and led Manning over to a bed where she injected him with a sedative and he slipped into merciful sleep.
"Doctor, how's our medical situation?" Silverstein motioned for her assistant, Ensign Jenny Fleck, to answer the captain's question.
"Right Doctor…um…well the Med Bay's pretty much intact. The ER staff is working on the survivors of that explosion. We have our full supply of medpacks and bandages, so we're good on that front."
"Excellent. Alright, Chief Ramirez: Pick your team and then head out to that vessel."
"Aye, Captain. Brown, Rowan, Lee, you're with me." Ramirez and his team disappeared through the door.
"I want teams working double-time on hull repairs with what we already have. However, we came here for a mission, and since repairs will take more than a few days, I intend to finish the mission. I'm taking a small team aboard the shuttle and going to try and find the Jerusalem. Troy, Riley, Hardwick, and Harris; you're with me. Get Soldier RIGs and Pulse Rifles."
The Orpheus carried one heavy-duty assault shuttle, meant to act as a scouting/recon craft in combat situations. The long hours required in such operations meant that the vessel had enough fuel for a week's mission, and its own crew quarters.
"Sir, I'm picking up an automated RIG beacon." Harris, a grizzled soldier nearing his retirement years, said. For the last two hours, they had been scanning the asteroid belt around Kreemar for signs of the Jerusalem and the Bellerophon. The news from the ship was mixed. Repairs were coming along just fine, and the fire damage to the engine room had been repaired, mostly. The radiation leaks had been sealed, and once the necessary parts had been acquired, the atmosphere would be cycled in that compartment and the emergency showers activated to cleanse any remaining radiation. However, Ramirez and his team had identified the wreck that had caused the Orpheus's problems in the first place. It was the O'Reilly. From the looks of it, someone had blasted it the moment it reached the shock entry area. On a brighter note, they had found the ground vehicle and one of the two onboard shuttles inside the remnants of the forward hangar. Miraculously, the shuttle had survived the destruction of its ship with only minor hull scratches, and Ramirez was planning to use it to extend the salvage radius. Five full containers of fuel had also been located, enough to last a few dozen trips. The discovery of the shuttle had prompted Ramirez to organize a search for survivors; if the shuttle managed to survive, then there was a good chance that the crew might have as well.
"Where?"
"Two klicks at grid point A9-9. Just off our port bow." Wagner glanced up through the cockpit viewport. Nothing. Only shipwrecks and asteroids.
"Give me the floodlights. Begin an active scan of the area." The massive floodlights fixed on the bow of the ship lit up, illuminating the area in front of them. Wagner peered into the gloom, and quickly became alert as he noticed puffs of gas coming from one of the supposed shipwrecks.
The moment that Harris activated the sensor sweep, three sets of lights lit up in the distant darkness. "What's that?" Hardwick asked.
"Trouble." Wagner said, already extending the engine pods on their struts, providing extra maneuverability for the shuttle. "Everyone, Battle stations! Troy, Riley; man the turrets!" Harris immediately fired up the engines and opened up the heat vents. The shuttle executed a sharp 180-degree turn, as the lights in the distance quickly became three fast-attack gunships. Another three gunships appeared from behind an asteroid and began heading for the shuttle. Harris jumped out of his seat and began running to the aft of the ship to man the rear turret pod.
Wagner began thinking. The assault shuttle, twice the size of a Wai Lao-class shuttle, was outfitted with two forward facing dual cannon banks on either side of the forward hull, one missile launcher on the belly of the ship, three missile fans packed to the brim with mini-rockets, and one aft turret. They also had a rack of survey charges, but the gunships, a mixture of modified civilian and stolen military models, were armed with four missile launchers and a belly chaingun. The shuttle was more maneuverable than the gunships but slower. If they tried to make a break for it, then either the chainguns would cut them to pieces or the missiles would blast them to atoms.
"Hardwick, bring us deeper into the asteroid field." Wagner ordered, taking control of the missile launcher. A wing of ten starfighters came out of their hiding spots and streaked towards the shuttle from the front. Wagner ordered Hardwick to continue forward.
"Shouldn't we be going away from the scary fighters?" Hardwick asked, gritting her teeth as she swung the shuttle into a tight corkscrew to avoid the missile one of the fighters sent at them.
"Out in the open, we don't stand a chance. In here, we have maneuverability, and that's what counts." Wagner proved his point as Hardwick turned the shuttle on its side to slide between two asteroids on a collision course. They made it through, but one of the gunships hit one of the asteroids and bounced between them before exploding.
The other gunships began to spread out, trying to get multiple angles on the nimble shuttle. The space around the shuttle erupted in fire as bullets ricocheted off the asteroids around them. Harris fired a burst from the aft turret, taking out one fighter and clipping the wing of a second, causing it to crash into the remains of an old engine nacelle.
Wagner looked ahead of them. They were approaching the wreck of an old cargo vessel, a Fortress-class carrier. If Wagner remembered correctly, vessels of that class were built with large interior corridors big enough for the supply shuttles and escort fighters that it carried to move between the different cargo hangars.
"Hardwick, take us through the portal at grid G4-6." Wagner ordered. Hardwick gripped the control stick tighter and maneuvered the shuttle through one of the entrance portals, an incredible feat at high speeds. The attacking vessels followed.
The shuttle shot through the tunnel. Harris began a nonstop spray of bullets at their pursuers, taking out three fighters as they entered the portal. One gunship collided with the wall as it swerved to avoid the stream of bullets.
Five fighters and four gunships left. They passed a collection of fuel silos. Wagner swiveled the shuttle's missile launcher and fired a rocket at the silos as the shuttle sped by. An explosion burst forth from the silos, engulfing two gunships.
"Captain, we're approaching a large area ahead. Probably one of the cargo hangars." Hardwick said. Wagner nodded.
"Once we enter, wait five seconds and then turn us about face." Hardwick's face lit up in a grin as she realizes what her captain was suggesting.
"Aye, sir."
With a roar, they rocketed into the hangar. Hardwick jerked her control rod to the left. The shuttle did a 180 turn until it was facing the tunnel entrance.
"Troy, Riley, light 'em up." Wagner ordered. The two gun operators chuckled and then began spraying the entrance with bullets. When the explosions finally stopped, only two fighters remained, and they shot through the entrance before going out through a hole in the roof of the hangar.
"They're running!" Troy cheered. Wagner wasn't so sure. A few moments later, he was proven right as the shuttle was rocked by an explosion.
"Close-range detonation of a missile." Hardwick reported. A medium-sized carrier was hovering above the hole in the roof, its missile launcher trained on the shuttle. Another missile was fired, and narrowly missed the cockpit.
"Get us out of here." Wagner ordered. The shuttle ascended through the hole before entering evasive maneuvers to avoid the missiles coming towards it. Wagner began thinking. The carrier was larger than them, outgunned them three to one, and was too well armored for them to punch through the two-foot metal plating with their bullets, but it was slower. Any missiles fired at it would be shredded by its defense cannons. Any missiles that were fired…unless…an idea dawned on him.
"Lieutenant Hardwick, prep one of the heavy warheads. Set it to cold fire with a remote-activated charge. Fire on my command." Hardwick frowned, but carried out his orders. Cold fire was usually used if a missile's launch sequence malfunctioned. Cold firing it meant ejecting the capsule from the launch tube, basically throwing it away. They had no thrust, no inertia; there was nothing to propel them into a target.
"Sergeant Harris, when I give the signal 'Evergreen', I want you to launch all three missile fans. Ensign Troy, you are to launch one survey charge when I give the signal 'Blinder.' Hardwick, give me control of the helm." Hardwick relinquished control of the helm Wagner, who sat down in the seat. "Hardwick, when I say go, you eject that warhead."
A few dozen more fighters came shooting out from behind the carrier and dived towards the shuttle. Wagner ignored them and continued his trajectory. "Sir…course correction?" Hardwick asked nervously. They were on a direct course straight for the carrier, which had turned and was thundering towards them. If they didn't change course, they would be smashed against its bow.
"Wait for it…" Wagner increased the shuttle speed "Riley, do some damage." The shuttle's cannons began firing as Riley targeted the bridge of the carrier. Immediately, the bow doors opened up and cannon fire from the hangar batteries began to explode around the shuttle. More fighters began streaming out.
"Troy, now! Blinder, blinder, blinder!" There was a flash as the survey charge was launched and detonated, temporarily blinding all ships in the area as its powerful EM pulse spread over a five-hundred meter radius. The fighters scattered, trying to clear the static from their systems.
"Sensors are offline. Same with targeting computers!" Hardwick reported.
"Good. Now we're all blind. Hardwick, eject that warhead on course 015 by 203."
"Sir…that ejects the missile behind us."
"I understand that. Launch it!" Hardwick depressed the launch button. The inactive warhead was dumped from a portal on the bottom of the missile launcher. Wagner brought the shuttle up in a steep incline. The carrier thundered by underneath them, its tech operators trying to restore its systems. They narrowly missed colliding with the carrier, their bottom hull scraping against an antenna.
"Sir, there are thirty-seven fighters on our tail. Two of them have a lock on us." Harris reported "Shall I resume my position in the rear turret?"
"Negative. Troy, your job is done. Man that turret." Troy threw a salute and then raced through the corridor to the aft turret pod.
Two fighters launched a missile apiece at the shuttle. Wagner sent it into a tight corkscrew aimed at the carrier before jerking to the side. The shuttle scraped against the hull of the carrier and just made it out, but the missiles impacted on the carrier and tore a hole through its hull. Atmosphere and bodies began to spill out. The fighters, which had spread out to corner the shuttle, flocked back to their mothership to protect it. "Harris, Evergreen, evergreen, evergreen! Blow those bastards to hell!" Roaring with laughter, Harris launched the missile fans. Larger warheads with four sets of circular modules on its tip, each with 40 mini-rockets, the missile fans launched all 160 once at an appropriate distance. The missiles would seek out the nearest vessels that had been designated an enemy by its IFF within a certain radius.
The fighters stood no chance. They were ripped apart by the sudden cloud of exploding shrapnel that erupted in space around the carrier. The carrier pilot turned this way and that, struggling to think of a next course of action. Soon enough though, the carnage would cease, and they could take out the shuttle. But they forgot about the warhead.
After launching the warhead, Wagner had made sure that it would be swallowed up by the carrier. With their sensors blinded, the crew wouldn't be able to detect that its core had been primed. Now, it lay within one of the largest areas and most volatile, the hangar, with fuel silos and munitions lying around. To the crew of the carrier, the warhead was just a cold fire castoff from the shuttle, nothing to be worried about. Then Wagner activated the remote-control detonator.
Plumes of fire erupted all over the bow of the carrier. More explosions followed, as the flames consumed the volatile materials onboard. Soon, the carrier was nothing more than a smoking wreck. Wagner did a quick scan. The aft section, almost certainly where the reactor was, was mostly intact. There were no radiation leaks. He turned to Hardwick.
"Contact Chief Ramirez." Wagner ordered, "Tell him we got him his reactor core."
[PERSONAL LOG]
[KELLER, JACK]
[TYPE: AUDIO]
[DISTRESS SIGNAL]
[There are times that I love my family. I mean, I hate them all the time (Except for you Dad, love you always. May you rest in peace), but the fact that Mom gave all our money to the Church and forced Dad and I to move to Copernicus is the reason why I met Evelyn. Captain Cartwright just called the entire crew back. Said that the higher up corporate folks ordered us to investigate a distress signal received by Copernicus's long range transceiver a few hours ago. Evelyn's not happy. We were enjoying a nice…um…stress-relieving activity when Cartwright called. Anyhow, I've got to set these pressure valves by the time Major Lack gets aboard. Keller out.]
[LOG ENDS]
"Sir, I'm picking up a EDF signal on our scanners…wait…there's a message attached to it." Wagner walked over to Troy, who was trying to triangulate the signal.
"Can you pinpoint the location?" Wagner asked. Benjamin Troy was an ensign who had been recommended by Wagner's ex-wife as a suitable engineer, having spent three years as a Class 3 Engineer in the CEC.
"Negative. Signal's pretty degraded."
"What about that message?"
"Either their comm array is damaged or the high metal content in these asteroids is distorting the audio. It's just static. I'll try to clear it up."
[Mayday…-day…-salem…this is Commander Erika Benson…anyone…this, please respond…Mayday…] The rest of the message was just static, and the only distinguishable words were 'limited air' and 'survivors aboard'.
"Erika Benson?" Wagner glanced at his RIG database "She's the commanding officer of Jerusalem's special operations unit. Troy, I want that signal origin located and a response sent. Response follows: This is Captain Jared Wagner of the USM Orpheus. We have received your distress signal and are prepared to offer assistance."
"Aye, aye sir." While Troy began searching for the signal with his partner, Jenna Riley, Wagner went to the crew lounge. In it, Harris and Lieutenant Serena Hardwick were playing cards.
"Captain," Harris nodded. Hardwick threw a salute.
"So what are we playing?" Wagner asked. Hardwick chuckled.
"Five Card Stud." She said "You in?"
"No thanks." Wagner chuckled "I remember what happened the last time we played." Hardwick put on a pouting face. It had been strip poker and the game had turned pretty raunchy before Wagner had left.
"But Captain, Tucker's abs were so awesome, I couldn't help…" She trailed off and became quiet somber. Harris gave her a reassuring pat on the back. Wagner shivered, remembering Tucker's body being brought into the makeshift morgue they had set up in one of the cargo holds.
"It's alright, kid. We'll get through this." Harris told her. Hardwick gave him a faint smile and hugged the grizzled old man. He blushed.
"Hey, don't go all granddaughter on me. I already got five of them, and five's enough. Do you know how terrible it is buying presents for five over-excited seven-year-olds?" That made Hardwick and Wagner laugh. Then Troy ran in.
"Captain, I've located the signal. You're not going to like it though, sir."
[SHIP'S LOG]
[BENSON, E. (ACTING CAPT)]
[TYPE: AUDIO]
[FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS]
[Item: Commander Raphael Hernandez was declared dead officially at 2300 Hours two days ago, after an impact with the bridge deck resulted in the snapping of several vertebrae in his neck. Item: Lieutenant Sydney Lehman declared at 1400 Hours after surgery failed to remove the shrapnel fragments embedded in her stomach. Item: This brings our total number of known surviving crew, including myself and the captain, down to 6. Item: Captain Leonard White is still unconscious following the collapse of an overhead support beam that struck him on the head. Item: I, Commander Erika Sonya Benson, am now Acting Captain per EarthGov Naval Code Article 34, Subsection 2. End Item list.]
[We finally managed to send out a distress signal. Unfortunately, the chances of a rescue out here are dismal, to say the least. We-hang on. What is it? What?! You're sure? Well, strap a banana between my legs and call it a dick. Someone's responding to the distress beacon. This is Benson, signing off.]
[PERSONAL LOG: KELLER, JACK]
[TYPE: VIDEO]
[WE'VE ARRIVED]
[Camera activates to show the burning wreckage of several vessels inside a large hangar. The floor is covered with debris and blood, but conspicuously, no bodies. A sign on the main entrance to the hangar reads TRANSPORT TUBE SYSTEM 30 METERS. A young man's face moves into view. He has short brown hair and is wearing a Class 1 Engineer's RIG, and has a Contact Beam strapped over his back as well as a Plasma Saw in his belt.]
[KELLER: We've arrived. No one to greet us. Suspected as much after what happened on the Bellerophon. Whatever was on there originated from here. Someone hacked the station's automated security protocols to fire on any vessel that registers a USG or USM IFF signature. The Serpentine barely made it into the hangar. If I still had the three million credits Mom stole from my college fund, I'd bet it was her lovely Church that did it.]
[Evelyn Marcus, a pretty nineteen-year-old blonde wearing an EVA RIG Suit and wielding a Plasma Cutter, walks into view.]
[MARCUS: Jack, we've got to get moving.]
[LACK (in distance): Would you two lovebirds get going already? I don't like remaining in one place for too long.]
[KELLER: Coming! Anyway, we saw the ship…I think its name was Jericho? Jerrome? Jerusalem? Yeah, that was it. The USM Jerusalem. Anyhow, we saw the Jerusalem get torn apart by one of those alien tentacle things. I think-]
[Sound of smashing metal. Keller grabs his Contact Beam and glances off to his left. Sound of Plasma Cutter discharging offscreen. Keller fires off a blast from his Contact Beam. A bit of blood and gore hits the ground next to him.]
[LACK: Okay, everybody move it! On the double!]
[KELLER: Shit, I'm going to have to do this on the run.]
[Keller stands up and the RIG image follows him. View of him running down the corridor. Sergeant Christopher Quinn is briefly visible, wearing an armored Triage Security Suit and holding a Line Gun. The right side of his face is bloody, due to getting caught in an explosion during the evacuation of the O'Reilly.]
[KELLER: I'm now addressing the surviving EDF personnel. Sooner or later, you're going to realize that your only hope of getting off this planet is to travel to Perseus Station. If you haven't figured it out by now, go for the limbs. It's the only way to kill them. You can use kinesis to pull blades off of the dead ones and skewer the live ones. Conserve your ammo and be on your guard wherever you go; they travel through the vents. Two of them managed to put our ship out of commission for a day. I'm going to leave copies of these RIG logs at certain intervals along our way. With luck, we'll find a transport hangar. Then you can follow our trail and take a shuttle yourself. Good luck. Keller out.]
[LOG ENDS]
Owen peered through the darkness that was the security lobby. Cautiously, he took a step through the doorway. Immediately, the lights went on and the security doors opened. Six soldiers in Elite Soldier Suits ran out, wielding Pulse Rifles and Seeker Rifles. The moment they saw the trio, the soldiers began ordering Owen and Ashley to put down their weapons or they would open fire.
"Hold your fire!" Another soldier, wearing an Elite Advanced Suit with Staff Sergeant chevrons ran through the doors. Owen recognized the voice of the mysterious female soldier from earlier "They're friendlies!"
She walked up to Owen "Staff Sergeant Vera Dawes, commanding officer of 23rd Infantry Platoon. Well, former commanding officer, anyway."
"Private Owen Haines. That's Corporal Ashley Chen. We're from the USM Jerusalem."
"We know." Dawes beckoned for them to follow her "You hungry? We got some grub."
"Thanks, but I need to contact my commanding officer." Owen said. Dawes turned around, her eyes wide and attentive.
"You have more marines aboard?" She turned to stare at Pallas, who hung her head in guilt.
"We…didn't want to get your hopes up, Vera. There was no way for us to reach them, and any rescue attempt would have resulted in more deaths." Pallas admitted. Dawes just sighed and walked through the doors into the hold. They followed.
"It doesn't really matter. With your ship gone, there's no way off this hellhole. Whoever overrode my command codes back there inadvertently restored power to parts of the ship. That quarantine shouldn't have happened-it was one of the few systems we disabled when we realized what was happening. There's someone else alive onboard this vessel, and they're not friendly. If you want to contact your squadmates, I suggest you do so now, before our mysterious hacker tries to kill them too."
Owen nodded and activated his RIG. "Sergeant Acker, you copy?" Her image popped up on the screen, but the connection was so bad that Owen had to modulate the frequency for a few minutes until he could hear her.
"Barely…" Her voice was filled with static "What's going on, Private? We lost contact with everyone a few minutes ago. Then we were attacked by…something."
"It's bad, Sarge. The LCPL's dead. Jerusalem's been destroyed. And we're not alone on this ship."
"…"
"Sarge?"
"What is your current position?"
"We're in Cargo Hold One, along with eighteen survivors. Ten of them are marines. I'm patching in their commanding officer." He imput a few commands, and Acker's face popped up in front of Dawes.
"This is Staff Sergeant Vera Dawes."
"Staff Sergeant Beverly Acker. I got to say, Dawes. You really need to keep your house in order." Behind Acker, Owen saw Lindsey and Roland dragging Lena across the deck. One of her arms was badly mangled, but she was still conscious.
"Tell me about it. How much do you know?" Dawes asked.
"Aside from the reanimated bodies attacking us? We lost contact with Squads One and Two shortly after losing contact with Jerusalem. Then we ran into…something else. Corporal Amirsaleh got chewed up pretty bad before we managed to kill it."
"Acker, I'm sending you a RIG map of the tram network. Trams are out, but you can use the tunnels to get here. I highly recommend you use any weapons you have with slicing abilities against the Necromorphs…the ones you encountered. Mind telling me what this 'something else' was?"
"Big. 'bout the size of a small truck. Mottled skin. Large claws. Glowing areas. Hurled some sort of bomb-like organisms at us once we hurt it enough."
"Haven't encountered one of those yet."
"Bullets didn't do much against the bladed ones."
"Same. Nurse Brant discovered that slicing them apart seems to be more efficient. The more pieces, the better."
"Dismemberment? Huh. We have hydraulic blade attachments. I'll have my squad use them. Listen, I'd like to keep moving. I don't like staying in one place for too long. Have Chen and Haines rendezvous with us at…let's see…the Armory Tram Station."
"I can do that. Oye, Miller, Glenn! Get your asses over here! Accompany Private Haines and Corporal Chen to the Armory Tram Station." The two marines, a short blonde muscular woman and a large bald Hispanic man, saluted and began gathering ammunition and supplies. Dawes refilled Owen's backpack with Pulse Rounds and handed both him and Chen a M-34 Plasma Rifle, the militarized version of the Plasma Cutter. "We used a few spare Power Nodes to upgrade their ammo capacity and damage output." Dawes explained "But don't go blasting away like some cowboy on his first rodeo. Conserve your ammo. Go for the limbs. Follow that strategy, you should stay alive."
The look on Commander Benson's face was pure relief as she collapsed into Wagner's arms. Troy and Hardwick carried the comatose Captain White on a stretcher between them while Harris escorted the four bridge crew through the docking umbilical and into the aft cargo hold of the shuttle.
They had found the remains of the Jerusalem drifting a short distance away from the Bellerophon. All that was left of the once mighty vessel was the forward half of the ship, peeled open like a candy wrapper. Every single deck had been exposed to vacuum except the upper two decks, the bridge and the command salon. Nineteen people had survived the initial attack, but most had suffered severe injuries and died within hours. Two of the survivors they had taken aboard died shortly after they detached from the Jerusalem.
"Acting Captain Benson, I want a report." Wagner ordered. Benson sat in the crew mess, nursing her mug of coffee. She looked up at him with haunted eyes.
"All hands reported either KIA or MIA. We had three squads aboard the USM Bellerophon. They possibly survived."
"Unlikely." Wagner muttered to himself. When Benson looked at him in puzzlement, he asked her to continue.
"Captain White was injured during the attack…sir, I wish to ask…do you know what his condition is?"
"White has regained consciousness, and is being debriefed by Sergeant Harris. Continue, Benson."
"Sir…what the hell happened? We were sent to investigate a distress signal. I…" Her eyes rolled up in their sockets and she slumped over onto the table. Hardwick glanced at Wagner, who just nodded and pulled out the syringe she had jabbed into Hardwick's neck. Wagner walked away from her and towards a dark corner of the room where a man with his head wrapped in bandages sat. The two other survivors lay next to him, unmoving, their mugs rolling around on the floor.
"Captain White." White glanced up at Wagner. White shook the captain's hand gratefully. "Sergeant, leave us." Harris nodded and left the cargo hold, shutting the door behind him. Hardwick took the hint and left as well. Wagner kneeled down until he was facing White. "Alpha Nine-Delta-Three-Three-Victor-Zero-Charlie-Two." White nodded gravely.
"I assume you were briefed on the situation?" White asked. Wagner nodded his head. "I sincerely hope you didn't kill my surviving crew."
"No, thank god for that." Wagner assured him "Just drugged them so we could talk privately. My crew is fully aware of our situation. Unfortunately, our weapons systems were destroyed during a collision with the wreck of the O'Reilly. Our payload was damaged beyond repair. There's no way to make a field repair."
"My ship had Havoc nukes onboard."
"I'm afraid that the launch bays on your ship were part of the three-quarters that were destroyed." White turned pale and hung his head.
"We know what EarthGov will do if we don't succeed in our mission."
"I have my crew to worry about."
"So do I." Both captains stared at each other. They knew what the other was thinking. And it was a thought that bordered treason on just the thinnest of technicalities.
"So…agreed?"
"Agreed."
[PERSONAL LOG]
[KELLER, J.]
[TYPE: AUDIO]
[RUNNING THE GAUNTLET]
[KELLER: Fall back! Fall back! No, don't help them! Keep running! This is Keller again. It's utter chaos. We reached the concourse. There are thousands of civilians trying to flee the creatures. It's a slaughterhouse. No…I told you, cut off their limbs! Major, we need to get out of here! Anyway, someone just activated the automatic quarantine. All the main gates are shutting down…no, get back Evelyn! It's too late for him. Civilians are panicking. We have to get out of here. What? Lack says that we're going to have to go through the Concourse. Oh shit…here they come…]
[LOG ENDS]
PLEASE Read & Review!
BELOW IS A PREVIEW OF CHAPTER 6:
"Accessing system…" Owen reported. Data began scrolling across the upper screen while video footage appeared on the four smaller screens. "Looks like our dead friend here was trying to activate the security lockdown before he died. Managed to shut out some key systems. It's going to take a while to completely connect to this terminal, so take a look around. See if you can find any supplies." They searched storage lockers and broke open containers. There wasn't much left, but they still found a few clips of Seeker Shells, Hydrazine fuel, Pulse Rounds, Plasma Energy, and a couple high-value credit chits.
Miller walked up to Owen, who was tapping his fingers against the terminal, watching the upload percentage increase slowly. "So…Jerusalem. Nice ship. Heard you guys were field-testing Project AEGIS?"
"Classified special ops." Owen replied "That's our job. Anything the horn-rims up top feel could blow up or malfunction, just call the good ol' crew of the USM Jerusalem! We'll happily put on the possibly radioactive two-ton tank suits! Aaannnndd…95% sync. Almost there." Miller chuckled. Ashley grinned and continued raiding the lockers. Corporal Glenn moved over to the large pile of corpses.
"Why were they piling the bodies in the center like this?" Glenn asked. He poked the pile with his rifle "It's almost as if…EAARRGHHH!" A Slasher leaped out of the pile and jumped on top of him, knocking his rifle aside. It began ripping at his armor as he struggled to break free from its grasp.
"Glenn!" Miller raised her rifle, only to shoulder it in frustration as the pair writhed around on the floor. She ran to help him, drawing her combat knife. Ashley was one step ahead of her, bashing the Slasher with her rifle butt. The Necromorph stumbled back, enough time for Ashley to aim her rifle and blast off its left arm. Miller came in and sliced through its right shoulder with her knife. The Slasher hit the floor, dead.
"What the hell?" Glenn coughed. He took out a small medpac and applied it to the laceration on his shoulder.
"Come on, we better-…" Ashley's voice trailed off as a long deep growl echoed through the common area.
"What was that?" Owen asked. He eyed the display. 98.7% sync. Ashley turned this way and that, her rifle casting eerie shadows on the terrace above.
"I don't know…it sounded close though." Another deep growl reached their ears. Then there was the sound of tearing metal and something heavy and metallic hitting the floor.
"It came from upstairs!" Miller warned just before an ear-splitting roar caused them all to wince. A trio of flashlights illuminated the terrace. A large Necromorph, resembling a gorilla and covered with large greyish armor-like plates was clutching the edge of the terrace. It had massive forearms with spiked 'gauntlet' plates. Its mouth was a maw full of long thin fangs and two large prongs. Behind the main arms, two smaller unarmored arms with double hooked talons at the end clutched the railing.
The behemoth glared at the marines through tiny beady eyes. For a few tense seconds, nothing happened. Then the display chimed BING as it reached 100%. Just like that, the creature's eyes became alert and it crouched. Then it roared and bashed its fists against its chest before leaping down, creating a miniature crater on the floor below...
STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION!