Leaving Late is not Advised

"Last we knew, they crashed approximately fifteen miles from our base. You think they are still there?"

Brouda looked over the side of the hill they were currently walking over.

Reeves nodded his head.

"There is a high likelihood the pirates are still on this planet. They had to have gone through the same storm we did, which means they might be setting up some sort of base just like we have."

"We must take that into account. If they have a base, then they have patrols. Once we come within five miles of their approximate location, we must be extra careful."

Carmine shot an incoming war wasp before it could do any damage.

"What if the space Pirates are already dead? What if they had to deal with this dark energy too?"

Angseth patted Carmine on the back for his accurate shot.

Carmine stayed silent for a few moments.

"We can only hope that their position has less interference than ours. If that is the case, we will need to get our satellite over here-"

Carmine dropped down onto his stomach, the other three followed suite, silently. They crawled up to the steep cliff their leader had been peering over, to witness a horrifying sight.

Beneath them a large group of possessed Splinters crawled all over the place.

Directly in the middle, was an alpha splinter.

Also possessed.

Carmine signalled for them to follow him, they asked no questions. The group silently snuck all the way around this cavern, thankfully there were no slip ups.

Once they were a safe enough distance away, Reeves immediately raised his voice.

"Another hive this close to our base? With an Alpha leading them?"

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious Reeves! We all saw it!"

"Obviously you don't understand Angseth, this is really bad! We have to warn everyone back at the base!"

"No," Carmine cut in sharply, "They will be fine. They already know to be on high alert. These splinters don't seem to know we are here yet, and it is of the utmost importance we find this Space Pirate crash."

Brouda nodded his head.

"Making contact with the Federation is our best bet in getting off this planet. Or surviving on it."

Reeves stayed silent for a few moments.

"Fine, but if we don't find them by the end of tomorrow, we have to head back."

Carmine and Angseth stood in front of three dead Space Pirates. Reeves and Brouda were currently watching their backs.

"We must be close to their ship. I'm sure whatever killed these guys didn't get them all."

Angseth kicked one of the bodies onto its back. There was evidence of its armor being pierced, possibly by a possessed Splinter.

Carmine laughed.

"Just a little further and we will know where they are."

Each one of them ran with a little more spring in their step, along with a dash of caution. Space Pirates were no laughing matter.

Half an hour later, they spotted a ship in the distance, a few pirates walked in and out of the ship.

"There they are. Let's mark their location and get back to base."

Carmine whispered.

Something seemed strange about how the Pirates were acting. He didn't like it, but they would find out what was going on soon enough. With the help of an entire platoon at their backs.

Angseth shifted her weight to the other side of her body.

"Don't you think we should get closer? Or maybe deal with them ourselves?"

"Too dangerous. There's gotta be a bunch of them hiding out in a nearby base. Their ship looks like it's been repaired too, so they must of been able to contact their allies."

Carmine zoomed in on the ship as much as he could with his current visor. The pirates ship looked like it could be new, with the exception of a few missing parts.

"Or they didn't have to deal with mutated splinters stealing their engine parts, and they may have come more prepared than we did."

"No Angseth, too dangerous. Plus, Captain's orders."

Angseth huffed and crossed her arms.

"I'm surprised we didn't run into much of anything on the way here. Besides those Splinters nine miles back."

Brouda looked between his comrades.

"We did climb over some rough terrain, I doubt many things live in dry rocks. Even around here. Or we just got lucky."

Reeves stood up, he had finished marking the pirates location.

"Let's get back to base. I have a bad feeling about being away so long with our comms down."

The air felt thicker around the base that day. The moment they returned they felt the oppressive feeling of dread hanging over everyone inside.

"Something must have happened. I must go talk to the Captain, you three go find out what's wrong and make sure everyone is safe."

Carmine sprinted inside once the gates were open, the other three walked over to Private Mckalla.

Mckalla was probably the toughest and roughest of the privates, not the most skilled but he possessed the most feral fighting spirit. Though, he was much more thick headed than the majority of the other marines.

"Did something happen while we were gone private?"

Angseth looked around, seeing a few damaged pieces of equipment here and there.

"A whole bunch of those purple fuckers got inside, they burrowed through the walls. Veroni got crushed by a cave in because of it. On top of all that, five marines got stuck outside the gate and killed cause its fucking faulty."

Mckalla growled and struck the gate with his fist.

"I couldn't save them. If it were Carmine I bet he would have found a way. But I'm too stupid to do anything right. I should have been out there with them!"

Brouda rubbed the back of his helmet and Angseth softened her posture.

"It isn't your fault they died. You aren't all powerful, none of us are. All we can do is try to improve ourselves and worry about what we can control, not what is out of our reach."

Angseth squeezed Mckalla's arm comfortingly.

"She is right, it's the gates fault. And whatever this dark energy is. Save your anger for them, not yourself."

Brouda reinforced his superiors words

Mckalla stood still a few moments.

"Forget about that, how did your mission go?."

Brouda smiled inside his helmet.

"It was a success."

Gunner Specialist Triplette and Captain Exeter were both speaking when Carmine arrived.

"Captain, Triplette. We located the space pirates location. Did something happen while we were gone?"

Triplette and Exeter exchanged solemn looks.

"You and Reeves were right. There are more hives. Staying so immobile is going to get us all killed, we have already lost six men to stupid mistakes. We don't have the resources to build an effective base."

Exeter explained as the three marines began to walk into the ship.

"We have killed hundreds, if not thousands of these things and yet their numbers never dwindle. As you and Reeves suggested, we will move out to assault the pirates base tomorrow."

Triplette pointed to the map floating in front of them.

The map was updated with the information Carmine and his team had acquired.

"I would say we need to leave today. The other hives are already prepared to strike, on our way over there we found hundreds of mutated splinter hunters gathering around a mutated alpha. That does not normally happen, they could be on their way here right now."

Carmine's dream flashed in and out of his mind, he stumbled.

His two comrades grabbed his arms and steadied him on his feet.

"Are you alright?"

Triplette tilted his head curiously.

"I'm fine. We need to go now!"

Carmine shouted, different parts of the dream forced their way to the forefront of his mind.

"Carmine our men won't be ready in that short of time. We need to be fully prepared- Carmine?! Carmine what's wrong?"

Exeter caught him before his body could hit the ground.

Triplette yelled for a nearby marine to get Doctor Huxley, Carmine wasn't responding.

A humanoid in dark armor led the large purple monsters as they marched closer and closer to him.

He had already used up all his rifle ammo, thrown all his pulse grenades. The only thing left, was his sword. Carmine tossed his rifle to the ground and transitioned into the sword stance his mother taught him.

The dark power suit raised its rifle arm, and let loose.

When Carmine woke up, he heard the sound of an assault rifle being loaded. He turned his head to see Lieutenant Commander Huxley, otherwise known as Doctor Hux, suited up and ready for battle.

"Hux? How long have I been out?!"

The doctor placed his rifle down on his makeshift desk and turned to face Carmine. His face was more solemn than usual.

"Around eight hours. Its early the next day, if you wish to know."

"Fuck! We need to go no-"

"Carmine. I need you to tell me. How close are they?"

Carmine stopped short and stared at the Doctor.

"What do you mean?"

Huxley sighed.

"I know you had another dream. How close are they?"

"Hux I don't understa-"

"Your dreams have to be more than just that, dreams. I have reason to believe you are sensitive to this dark energy and possibly able to sense our enemies intentions. Now tell me."

Carmine looked at his hands. Then got on his feet and straightened his posture.

"They are closing in. I'm betting they are no more than a mile away right now."

Huxley's face hardened to stone, he may be a doctor, but that did not mean he wasn't experienced in the art of killing.

"We must tell the Captain. Follow me!"

The two marines grabbed their weapons and donned their helmets before running out the door, telling every trooper they came across to alert everyone to be ready for battle.

"Captain we need to move out now! Thousands of mutated splinters are on their way!"

Carmine and Huxley stood on both sides of their commanding officer.

Exeter raised his head from the terminal, and stood up straight.

"How did you get such information? Is there something you two haven't told me?"

Carmine wasted no time in telling Exeter the truth, they had no time for idle conversation. Huxley backed up everything he said, giving examples in how Carmine's dreams had correlated to what happened in reality.

Exeter looked between his two trusted friends.

"I will trust your judgment. Send out the word, we are leaving immedia-"

Before he could finish his sentence the nearby terminal received an urgent message. Exeter immediately opened it.

Exeter's face turned grim.

"Captain, what did it say?"

Carmine's voice shook the slightest bit.

"It's too late, the ops base is under attack."

Carmine jumped into the control room to see Reeves, Benet, Mckalla, Angseth, Brouda and six other marines fighting off the invading splinters.

He jumped into the fray, closing off their flank by slicing a few of the sneaky ones before they could jump on his comrades backs.

"We need to get out of here, this is one of their hives!"

Reeves shouted to his comrades.

Brouda was the first to nod his head, he signalled to a few of the other marines to follow him.

Soon it was only Carmine, Benet, Reeves, and three other marines left in the room.

Carmine's eyes widened when he saw two of the three marines on the other side of the room get killed, one by an alpha and the other by three smaller ones whom had bursted out of the ceiling.

He ran to try to save his last standing comrade, but it was too late. The marine had thrown a pulse grenade the same time the alpha pierced his armor with its leg.

A loud explosion stunned the splinters for a second, and killed a large group of them. Three of the alphas legs had been blown off, Carmine finished the job by firing a barrage of energy rounds in its eye.

"Reeves you need to get out of-!"

Carmine shot the splinter behind him, but it wasn't enough. A swarm dropped down from above and covered his body.

Reeves struggled to get them off, grabbing at the offenders to try and tear them off.

Carmine ran forward and sliced the aggressive insects off his friend. Once he was free Reeves fell backwards and slid down the wall.

He sat breathing heavily for a few moments, before looking up at Carmine.

Reeves saluted to his superior, then his whole body went limp.

Carmine screamed in rage and turned to charge the next wave of enemies. Benet shoved him back and threw a grenade.

This bought him time to shout his orders.

"Leave, I will shut the gate behind you. That's an order soldier!"

Carmine shook his head and kept shooting any enemy he saw in the room.

"I will not let you die Benet! Only the Captain can give me absolute orders!"

"The others need you to lead them! Go! I will hold these ones off as long as I can, closing the gate will buy everyone time!"

Carmine looked at his superior, then at Reeves. What if Brouda and Angseth met the same fate because he wasn't there to help them?

He bowed to Benet, then ran out the gate. Cutting down anything that got in his way.

"Alright you little fuckers, Benet's got a few presents for ya!"

He threw every single one of his grenades into different sections of the room, then jumped for the gate controls. He forced the gate shut with a single pull of the switch.

In the end he took many splinters with him.

Carmine sprinted forward, he had saved Mckalla and three other marines from total annihilation. An alpha had cut their advance off, with his skill and strategy the marines managed to kill it before more showed up.

"Angseth you need to come with us! You aren't going to be able to escape if you stay back there too long!"

Brouda shouted and banged on the federation blast wall separating Angseth from him and the newly arrived group of Marines.

"I need to activate the turret and close the gate once everyone is safely through, I'll be right behind you guys!"

The two marines noticed Carmine and Mckalla standing nearby. The other three marines had already moved on to check on the squads up ahead.

Brouda and Angseth looked happy for a few moments, before Angseth noticed something was missing.

"W-where are Benet and Reeves? They right behind you or something?"

Mckalla patted Carmine on the shoulder, then ran ahead.

"No. They are dead. And you will be too if you stay back there! Come out here now Angseth!"

Carmines voice was strong and commanding.

"No! You heard what I-I said before. I will not leave till every one of you is through. Now stop joking an-and get Reeves and-"

"Angseth! Snap out of it!"

Brouda smashed his fist against the gate.

Angseth whimpered slightly before suddenly growling.

"Carmine, please! I want to activate the turret and close the gate behind us! That will buy us time!"

Carmine turned to Brouda.

"Make sure everyone else makes it back to the ship Soldier! Go!"

Brouda nodded his head and reluctantly ran off.

"Angseth, do this quickly. Now! I refuse to let you die!"

Angseth nodded her head and inputted the code to activate the nearby turret, then the gate promptly shut. With Carmine behind it.

"Alright now get out here!"

Angseth turned to open the nearby hatch to exit the security room, but it wouldn't budge. She struggled to get it open, that's when they heard a high pitched screech and the sound of thousands of legs hitting the ground.

Carmine saw the first one round the corner only to get shot down by the turret.

"Angseth get out here now!"

"I-I can't! It's stuck!"

Carmine ran over to the hatch, but where the hatch should have been, there was a huge pile of stones.

A cave in. They were going deeper into the base. The whole time, they had been silently digging above them. The entire month they had been there, they had missed this crucial detail.

"Angseth! Open the gate! I will cut you out of there!"

He drew his blade and ran over to the gate, expecting her to open it. But when she looked into his eyes, despite the sea of dark splinters pouring down the hallway towards them, he didn't see desperation.

He saw determination, strength, and the desire to protect those she cared for.

"No Carmine. You get out of here. Now."

"Angseth don't you fucking dare play martyr with me! We can close the gates down the hall, it will be twice as effective! Listen to me!"

He rammed his shoulder against the nigh indestructible gate separating him from Angseth.

Carmine saw a smile flash across her face.

In that moment he knew what she was going to say.

"We both know we don't have enough time, look they are already here."

They swarmed into the security hallway, a few of them started digging into where Angseth was stuck.

"I know Samus would have done the same thing if she was as weak as I am. A-and I have always wanted to be like her. So I will be, right now."

Carmine tried slashing the gate open, but not even his blade wasn't sharp enough to get through it.

Angseth started shooting the splinters that made it through, each one going down in under a second.

"I know I won't be remembered by trillions of people like she will be when she goes, I know no one will celebrate my life like they will hers, but you will remember me forever and cherish my memory, won't you?"

"No no no no! Angseth!"

Carmine screamed in anger and sorrow, a scream that sounded more animalistic than human.

After her last statement the splinters had overrun Angseth's barrage of energy rounds. They covered her body and pierced her armor mercilessly, he knew there was no way she was still alive.

Carmine turned his head away from the terrible scene and sprinted off in the direction of the Tyr, a few splinters jumped in front of him. He sliced one and shot the other.

No matter his efforts, tears had already begun to escape his eyes.

As he pressed onward towards the satellite, he heard shots being fired.

"No! No that's not right!"

Carmine charged forward even faster to find Brouda surrounded, and horribly wounded.

The fuckin bugs had attacked from both sides, not just from the entrance to the ops base. They were tricked.

He violently cleared the area surrounding his friend and caught him as he began to fall to the ground.

"C-Carmi-"

"Don't speak, you need to save your strength so you can heal."

Brouda smiled slightly.

"Sir, it was a pleasure working with you. I sure wish we could have survived this and defeated the baddies. Like Angseth and Mckalla always talked about during our down time."

Carmine shook his head violently.

"No no no no. You will survive. You will, just hang on Brouda. I'll get you out of here. I'll get you, Mckalla, E-Exeter, and the rest out of here. You'll see! I- I promise!"

Carmines sobs told a different story.

Brouda started to shed a few tears as well.

"I-I know you will get out of this Carmine. I just wish I could have said goodbye to Reeve's and Angseth in a more relaxing setting, further in the future. I- I wish…"

Brouda's soul silently exited his body, the wounds overtook his will.

Carmine shook in anger. This wasn't fair, not fair at all.

He stood up and kept running towards the Tyr, the other Marines had already been killed before he had arrived.

"Come get it you cowardly little shits! Ill take you all on!"

Mckalla's voice rang through Carmines head, but not for long. He too was overrun.

Carmine was reminded of a recent conversation he had had with the private.

"I wish I was as strong as you are sir."

Carmine laughed.

"Why do you say that?"

Mckalla awkwardly shifted in position.

"Your presence makes everyone feel like… I don't know. Everything is going to be alright or something, I want to do the same."

Carmine smiled and clapped his comrade on the shoulder.

Carmine kept running and killing everything in his path, he dodged this way and that so they couldn't swarm him.

The sight he was met with at the ship stole all hope from Carmine's heart. The fight here had been over long before he reached it. He spotted his captain slumped up against the terminal, a few other bodies lay nearby.

Names shot through his mind.

Exeter, Haley, Triplette, Mckalla, Brouda, Reeves, Benet, Crany, Milligan, Huxley, Smythe, Starling, Brode, Vonda, Monz, Veroni, Denys, Senge...

And Angseth. That strong dreamer of a woman.

Then, the whole world went dark.